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This is the thirteenth story set in my Legacy Universe and like the others is a stand alone story. You don't have to have read any of the others to understand this one, but it might help to have read Hardshell and Marvel and Meyhem. Since the list of my other Legacy Universe stories has grown so long, I am not going to list them all as I have been doing in the past. The Infiltrator By Morpheus I slowly walked down the corridor with my boots making a nice click with every step, announcing my presence before anyone saw me. The fact that I wore taps helped. Those were the metal clickers that drill instructors frequently wore on the heels of their boots to help create a more crisp and distinct image. I wasn't a drill instructor, but a disciplined and controlled image was every bit as important for my job. When I stopped at the heavy metal door that was my destination, I absently reached down to my hip to check my sidearm. It was a rather unusual weapon, far more advanced than anything available to common soldiers. It fired several kinds of rounds, including a high powered one that could blow a hole through armor plating and a taser round. My sidearm was even customized to me, scanning my fingerprints and DNA before it would fire. If anyone else tried using it, it would be about as useful as a paper weight. Once I was satisfied that my sidearm was secure and loaded, both of which I'd already verified when I put it on, I glanced over my uniform. My uniform was actually a gray and red light weight body armor and it was in perfect condition, just as it had been when I put it on less than half an hour ago. Since I was satisfied that everything was acceptable, I looked into the optical scanner by the metal door and announced, "Edward Briggs reporting for my shift." Then I had to wait just several seconds as it verified my identity and confirmed it to the people on the other side. A moment later the door opened and I stepped through, seeing two other men dressed identically to myself. "Hey Eddie," one of them nodded to me. "Glad you're here... I can't wait to go home and take a shower..." "Have fun Mitch," I told him with a nod as he left, closing the heavy door behind him. Once the door was sealed, I nodded to the man who remained with me and looked over the room. It was actually more of a short hallway than a room, and there were eight other doors besides the one we'd come through. Of course these doors were all different from that one and more importantly each of them sealed in a very dangerous criminal. My name is Edward Briggs and I was a guard at the most dangerous prison in the entire world, Mount Prometheus. Physically Mount Prometheus is an extremely secure complex built inside a hollowed out mountain and created for the sole purpose of holding developed prisoners. The fact that we kept their powers neutralized and under control didn't make them any less dangerous. Some of these people had literally killed thousands single handed. "Any problems today?" I asked my partner Neil as I started my shift. "Toxic has been acting up again," Neil told me, "and Ms. Bitch threatened to disembowel my entire family. About the usual." I nodded at that and started to walk around, looking at the various cell doors. I knew exactly who was held behind each of them, having not only studied their files, but also having dealt with them personally for the last two months since I'd been transferred into D section. Mount Prometheus was broken up into various sections for security purposes, each one having its own separate backup power and security systems. Each of them also only held eight prisoners. Each section had two guards on hand at all times and a central monitoring center could send reinforcements at a moments notice. Neil and I were assigned to D section, a medium threat level area. But in spite of the fact that these prisoners were classified only a medium threat level, I had no doubt that any of them could be quite lethal to me. I might be 6 foot 3 and in great shape, but several of them could literally snap me in half with almost no effort and others could do even worse things. Fortunately Mount Prometheus had a lot of experience keeping those powers from being used against us. As I walked past each cell door, I looked into the cell at the prisoner inside and mentally reminded myself of who they were and what crimes they'd committed. It was always good to stay on your toes around these people, even if their powers weren't active at the moment. In the first cell was our prisoner Manticore, a cyborg who'd been created by the villain Cyberius. He was tall and muscular, with several cybernetic grafts and implants, the most noticeable of which was the metal scorpions tail that came out of his spine. When Manticore was at his best, he was strong...very strong. He could bench press a car, had razor sharp claws, and that nasty metal scorpion tail that was filled with some extremely corrosive acids. I always wondered why they hadn't surgically removed the tail, but it was tied into his nervous system in such a way that his lawyer argued that removing it might kill him. Personally I thought that might be a good thing, but it wasn't my decision to make. The next cell contained Ms. Bitch, some kind of magic user. I didn't understand magic, but I knew she'd been responsible for some pretty nasty deaths. She'd been convicted of killing 29 people in a particularly gruesome fashion and was suspected in the deaths of at least a dozen more. I looked over the next two prisoners, then stopped in front of Toxic. She was sitting back in her cell, trying to look innocent and friendly, though I knew it was only an act. Her expression shifted slightly and I could see the dark predatory look in her eye that I took to be her real personality. "Good morning Angela," I said, intentionally using her real name since I knew she hated it. "You know I'm going to kill you," she responded in a casual tone, even smiling as though talking about her favorite TV show. "You've said that several times," I responded calmly, feeling pretty confident since she was locked behind the cell. Toxic was actually quite pretty, but I thought of that more as a camouflage to her true nature than anything else. She was 5 foot 4, had a very nice and athletic body. She had shoulder length green and black streaked hair and tended to wear green makeup and nail polish when not in custody. I was also well aware that if she were free and able to use her powers, she could probably follow through with her threat without breaking a sweat. Fortunately she was locked up and even if she wasn't, I was a damn good shot. "I hear you've been acting up again," I said calmly, rather enjoying these little exchanges that Toxic and I frequently had. "You know you'll never get out of here on good behavior if you keep misbehaving..." "But I'm a bad girl at heart," she smirked, "I am going to get out of here and when I do I'll kill you and everyone else who held me..." "That's nice to know," I told her, then grinned, "oh... I just saw the lunch menu today. It's fish sticks...your favorite." "I hate fish," she spat out angrily, "When I get out, I'm gonna kill everyone in your kitchen... They deserve to die for feeding me this crap." I just smiled politely and commented, "Maybe I should take you to visit my high school cafeteria then..." Then I told Toxic, "Just be thankful we're not feeding you MREs..." "MREs?" Toxic gave me a suspicious look. "Meals Ready to Eat," I explained, "military rations." Toxic nodded, then suddenly jumped straight at me. I quickly stepped back, feeling a surge of fear in spite of the fact that I knew she couldn't get past the door. She was just messing with me, and as much as it annoyed me to admit, she'd gotten to me. I'd already drawn my sidearm out of instinct. Now Toxic stood back and watched me with a smirk, "It's only a matter of time, guard..." I was embarrassed at the way I'd reacted and tried to cover it up and regain my dignity by calmly turning and continuing my daily tour of the prison cells. I kind of rushed through the remaining cells, returning to my position by the door, right next to Neil. He gave me a look to let me know what he thought of my exchange with Toxic, though he didn't say anything aloud, for which I was grateful. The next several hours of my shift were uneventful, with the exception of the psychotic Sister Vicious being transferred to another section for some more psychiatric testing. And since other guards were brought in to escort her, Neil and I only had to be concerned about her during the short time between her being moved from her cell to leaving D section. The most difficult part of my job is the boredom. Since the prisoners are locked up and under control we have to deal with long periods of nothing happening. That's also the most dangerous part, since when you let your guard down, that's the perfect time for something to go wrong. I have to ignore the boredom and remain alert in spite of doing nothing but staring at the cell doors for hours on end. I scowled, trying to keep myself alert and aware, doing the same mental tricks that I had when I spent long hours on guard duty in the Marines. That kind of thing is one of the main reasons they like to hire former military to be guards at Mount Prometheus. We tend to have more discipline when it comes to remaining alert during long hours of boring guard duty. Neil looked at his watch with an impatient expression and I knew exactly what he was thinking. He had less than an hour left on his shift and was eager to get out of here. I knew exactly how he felt. Long periods of boredom mixed with an awareness that you were surrounded by very dangerous people could really get to you. "Almost time for DJ to get here," Neil said unnecessarily. I just nodded, feeling a little envious since my shift wasn't even half over. Just then my radio came to life and I heard an excited voice blaring through my ear piece, "Code 39 in L section..." "Code 39," I gasped, turning to Neil. Both of simultaneously blurted out, "The Key!" Mount Prometheus was a highly secure prison facility, but even we've had a number of escapes over the years, and nearly every one of them has been attributed to the Key. No one knew much about the Key and that lack of knowledge made him into our boogie man. The Key could somehow get through any and all security measures no matter how extreme they were. He could have been an extremely successful villain, slipping in and out of bank vaults and even Fort Knox at will. But for some reason he avoided doing the dirty work himself and set himself up as a super villain insurance agent instead. Instead of selling normal insurance, they'd pay him to get them out of jail if they were ever caught. He normally broke his clients out before they ever made it to Mount Prometheus, but occasionally he made an appearance here... such as he appeared to be doing right now. "Shit," I cursed, drawing my sidearm and holding it at the read ready. If the Key came into D section, he'd find me ready to take him down. Neil mimicked my actions and took a position on the opposite end of the hall. "What's going on?" Ms. Bitch shouted from her cell, noticing that something was up. That drew the attention of the other prisoners who started to watch with interest. "Something seems to be wrong," Toxic mused, her eye looking around, ready to notice any opportunity no matter how small. My radio continued to blurt out reports, reports which grew more frantic, "Code 39 in G section. Code RED in G section... He let them out...!" That voice terminated in a scream. "I hope he's not going for Alpha Core," Neil exclaimed with a look of nervousness in his eyes. "That would be bad," I agreed in an extreme understatement. Alpha Core was the most secure area in all of Mount Prometheus, where all the most powerful and most dangerous developed prisoners were held. Prisoners such as Mistress Meyhem, The Annihilator, Blaspheme...and that rogue hero Force. If they were to get loose... If the Key were to penetrate the Alpha Core, they just might activate the nuclear fail safe to prevent an escape. And if that happened, it would all be over for me and just about everyone else inside Mount Prometheus. The radio continued to blurt out reports, mostly about the breakout attempt going on in G section. All the reinforcements in the prison would be split between going there and trying to catch the Key. Of course no one had ever caught the Key yet. "Code 39 in R section," the radio blared in my ear, followed moments later by, "Code RED in R section..." I heard more yelling from the line before the guards in R section went silent...perhaps for good. I wanted to rush to help them, but I knew I couldn't. My duty was to stay here, to lock down D section and keep it secure. I felt a cold chill running down my spine even as the adrenaline surged through my veins. This was wrong... I'd never heard of the Key doing anything like this before. It was completely against his normal method of operation. From everything I'd heard, he normally showed up, grabbed the prisoner he came for, and vanished before anyone even knew he was there. The few times people had even caught a glimpse of him had been almost pure luck. But this...this was something completely different. I squeezed my firearm tightly, my finger feeling almost itchy on the trigger. I wanted to just get this done and over with though forced myself to remain calm and focused. I had a job to do and I was going to do it. "Damn," Neil muttered, whispering some prayers that I couldn't quite make out. "What the hell is going on?" Manticore demanded from his cell. Toxic just watched us with a look of intense interest, not hearing what Manticore had just asked. The cells were specially designed to prevent much communication between prisoners. However Ms. Bitch in the cell beside him had somehow heard and exclaimed, "It's a breakout..." "Shut up," Neil snapped at her, looking extremely worried. I was worried too, though I probably did a better job of hiding it. Suddenly there was a flash of red light and he was there...the Key. He was about average height and rather slender in build, dressed entirely in a costume of red and scarlet. He had a red mask that covered his entire head so I couldn't make out any features at all, not even his skin color. Around his waist he wore a belt that held a large white metal key ring, filled with at least a half dozen old fashioned keys that looked as though they'd be perfect for opening a pirates chest. Even as I took in the sight of the Key appearing in the middle of the corridor, I was yelling, "Code 39 in D sector," into the radio and aiming my gun at him. Before I could get off a single shot, the Key threw a glowing green ball onto the floor. It exploded on impact in a flash of light that blinded me for just a second. I pulled the trigger, but my gun exploded into sparks...as did Neil's and all the cell doors. I squeezed the trigger again to no effect, then gasped in horror as all eight cell doors opened at once. "Code RED in D sector," I yelled into my radio. The prisoners all started to come out of their cells, except for Manticore who was actually laying on the floor inside his cell with sparks coming from his body. It seemed that whatever the Key had used to knock out our weapons and the cell doors had also knocked out the technology in Manticore's body. While I was noticing this, the Key held out his hand and made a glowing red portal of energy open in the air. "Ms. Bitch and Toxic," the Key said, his voice muffled a bit by his mask, "come with me..." Ms. Bitch snarled and suddenly threw a ball of glowing red light straight at Neil. He tried jumping out of the way but wasn't fast enough. A moment later he was dropping to his knees and screaming in agony. That only lasted for several seconds though before he died, his body broken and twisted in unnatural ways. "It's good to have my powers back," Ms. Bitch sneered, turning her attention to me. However Toxic suddenly got between us and grinned evilly, "No... This one's mine..." Then Toxic came at me, throwing a fast punch which I just barely managed to block. I was well aware of the fact that this first punch was just her playing with me the way a cat plays with it's prey. I'd read her file and knew exactly what she was capable of and just how easily she could kill me. She was a developed with enhanced strength, speed, agility and reflexes, not to mention something much more dangerous. In spite of the fact that I towered over her by a foot, she was at least three times stronger than I was. Now that she had her powers back and I was unarmed, I didn't stand a chance. But I sure as hell wasn't about to give up. I grimaced and braced myself, then tried to punch her back. Of course Toxic easily avoided my fastest attacks and I had the feeling that she was still intentionally slowing herself down in order to keep playing with me. "We don't have time for this," the Key warned her. Toxic scowled and suddenly caught my arm in mid punch, immediately twisting it in such a way that she tore the cartilage in my shoulder and elbow and shattered several bones. I didn't know the details of the damage she'd done though, only that my entire arm exploded in pain. However Toxic wasn't done and swept around, delivering a powerful kick to the middle of my back. I heard a crunch and then started to collapse to the ground before she caught me and held me up. Then Toxic held out one of her hands and I saw it begin to glow green. Even through my pain I realized what this was. This was her other power...her really dangerous power. It was some sort of neurotoxic touch, the ability which had earned Toxic her name. "Toxic... Ms. Bitch," the Key said impatiently, "we have to go now..." "Hey, take me with you," a big muscular brute named Slammer demanded. But the Key responded, "You're not on my list..." Toxic snarled and grabbed my good arm with her glowing hand, sending a surge of new pain through me. This pain shot through my entire body, even the parts that had become numb and lifeless. It was a burning agony, as though someone had injected acid into my veins. "You're dead little man," Toxic whispered to me before she dropped me unceremoniously and vanished through the glowing red portal with Ms. Bitch and the Key. Six other prisoners remained in D section, not their cells, but I no longer cared about them. I cared about little except for the burning agony and the darkness that was quickly closing in on me. The last things I was aware of before I lost consciousness were the reinforcements finally bursting through the door and a voice on the radio screaming, "CODE 39 IN ALPHA CORE. MY GOD...WE'VE GOT A BREACH..." -------------------- Beep... Beep... Beep... The ever present sound of the heart rate monitor filled my ears. It wasn't very loud, but I couldn't escape its sound, which managed to cut through even the TV in the corner. It seemed at times that I would never be rid of its incessant beeping. I grimaced and shifted position in my hospital bed to get a better look at the clock. Then I muttered a brief curse and wondered where the nurse was. She was more than an hour late with my pain killer and I needed it bad. Back when I'd been in the Marines, I had a buddy who'd been injured in combat, and who'd gotten hooked on pain killers while healing up. That addiction eventually got him kicked out of the core. At the time I'd been pretty ashamed of him... thinking him weak and pitiful. Now I had a much better understanding and a whole lot more sympathy. My whole world consisted of pain, frustration, boredom and depression. This was all that was left to me since Toxic had left me for dead in Mount Prometheus two months ago. She'd left me broken...shattered...a shell of a man. But I knew I wouldn't even be that for much longer. Toxic had utterly destroyed my body in a matter of seconds. She'd left one arm so badly mangled that it would take a lot of time and physical therapy to make it even halfway useful again. Her kick had crushed my spine, leaving me paralyzed from about the waist down. And then there was the fact that she'd grabbed my other arm with her neurotoxic touch. I looked over to the stump of my arm and winced, sickened by the sight. Toxic's poison had killed the flesh of my arm and left it so contaminated that the doctors had to amputate it, in order to save my life. Unfortunately they'd been too late and some of the poison had already spread to the rest of my body. It latched onto my nervous system, sparking almost constant pain...even in places that I can't otherwise feel. And more than that, it was killing me...slowly and painfully. "That bitch," I grimaced, pausing for a spasm of coughing. I could taste a little blood coming up. Normally Toxic's power would have been enough to kill me almost immediately, but she'd been locked up long enough that it had been severely weakened. So instead of a quick death, I was left with a lingering one. And not for the first time I wished that she had killed me then. I wished that I'd died doing my duty instead of being left broken and useless. Of course I hadn't been the only casualty of the breakout. I had to keep reminding myself of that when I felt the self-pity getting too strong. That day had been a disaster for everyone at Mount Prometheus. A lot of guards had been killed, crippled...or worse. The Key had escaped with a dozen prisoners, including several from the Alpha Core. A few more prisoners had even managed to get the rest of the way out on their own, while the rest were contained and forced back into their cells. It was the worst breakout in Mount Prometheus history and the biggest disaster for the guards. I grimaced and looked at the clock again, "Where the hell is that damn nurse?" "She'll be in a little later," a voice surprised me from the doorway. I looked up and saw a man standing there. He was probably in his forties with dark hair that was fast turning gray. He was dressed in a gray suit and held a briefcase, but he didn't strike me as a business man. In fact his body language reminded me more of a cop or soldier, perhaps influenced by the character adding scar on his jaw. "I instructed the nurse to hold off on your painkillers until after we've had a chance to talk," the man stated, "I need you able to think clearly." "Who are you?" I demanded, staring at him suspiciously. The man didn't say a word as he locked the door behind him and then pulled out a small device the size of a remote control from his pocket. He held it out and slowly waved it around the room with a serious expression. Then he put the device back into his pocket with a faint nod. "I want to ensure we have privacy for this conversation," the man said with a serious expression. "You were looking for bugs," I stated, becoming more suspicious. As a prison guard for a prison full of developed villains, this wasn't the first time I'd run across the idea of being bugged. Some people want to find out everything they can about those watching over the prisoners, looking for any weak spots they can exploit. I wondered if this was more of the same, though I didn't see what I could offer anyone now. I've been out of the loop for two months. The man wordlessly came to me and held out a badge and ID. He didn't flash his badge quickly like you see in so many cop shows, but actually held it out long enough for me to get a good look. Either his ID was genuine, or it was a damn good fake. "My name is Donald Rice," he said unnecessarily, giving the name that was on his ID. "I'm with DAD." "The Developed Affairs Department," I said grimly. The Developed Affairs Department was a small federal agency that focused on crimes involving the developed. They were sort of like the FBI for the super powered set. They liked to keep their existence quiet, so most of the public hadn't really heard much about them, but you couldn't work at Mount Prometheus and not know about them. "You here investigating the breakout?" I asked, bracing myself for a lot questions about the Key. Not many people had seen him before this so I was a relatively rare witness. I'd already been questioned about the Key and the breakout several times, but government investigators loved being redundant. "Yes and no," Rice told me with a scowl. "I am here about the breakout, but probably not for the reason you think." I shifted in my bed, wincing at how much even that much hurt. I scowled in annoyance, my eyes darting to the door as I wished the nurse would come in with the pain killer. But that wasn't going to happen just yet. I took a deep breath and forced myself to stay focused on the matter at hand. "You do understand," Rice stared at me grimly, "everything we talk about here is highly classified." I nodded at that, not needing him to explain what that meant. As a former Marine I was well aware of the importance of protecting classified information...and the penalties for revealing it. Of course those penalties didn't concern me much at the moment but I still took the label of classified very seriously. "We know who's responsible for the breakout," Rice stated. I grimaced, "The Key." "No," Rice shook his head, surprising me with his answer. "I mean the people who hired him. The Black Guild." "The Black Guild?" I asked. I'd heard the name mentioned once or twice back in the prison, but I didn't really know much about it. Rice set his briefcase down and then took a seat in the chair beside my bed. He scowled thoughtfully, then explained, "They started off as a loose knit group of developed criminals who worked together on occasion for common benefit. Unfortunately for us, they've grown larger and more organized. We have reason to believe they hired the Key and orchestrated the breakout in order to free and recruit a number of specific prisoners. But why they went through so much effort and why they wanted these specific prisoners we don't know." I just nodded, not sure what to say to this information since I was mostly wondering why Rice was giving it to me. "The Black Guild was behind it..." I said that more as a way to encourage Rice to continue and get to the real point than anything else. "Unfortunately," Rice told me, "we don't know nearly enough about the Black Guild and their operations. We don't even know for certain how extensive their organization is, though we've positively nearly two dozen active developed members and believe there are at least that many again. This isn't even counting those they recruited during the beak out." I winced, but more from pain than from how bad this Black Guild seemed to be. However Rice took it as acknowledgment of how nasty this group was and I didn't disabuse him of that notion. Still he hadn't gotten to the point as to why he'd come to me. Rice continued, "They were difficult to deal with before, but they've recently begun organizing and breaking down into specific cells. Intelligence indicates that they're preparing for something big, but we still don't know what it is." "So," I said a little more gruffly than I'd intended, "why are you telling me this?" Rice stood up again and stared at me for a long moment before finally answering. "Because we have an opportunity to infiltrate the Black Guild and find out what they're up to." He gave me an intense look as he added, "And we want you to be our mole." For a moment I just stared at Rice, sure that he was joking. Then I burst out laughing, but it quickly turned into a very painful spasm of coughing. Rice watched me with an expression of sympathy as I coughed up blood for nearly a minute, not saying a word. Once I finally stopped coughing, I winced in pain, wishing the nurse would hurry up and get her ass in her with the pain killer. Then I turned my attention back to Rice and snorted, "I don't know who you think I am..." "I know exactly who you are," Rice answered, opening up his brief case and pulling out a folder. He opened it up and continued, "You're Edward Hayworth Briggs, thirty-six years old and never married. You joined the Marines straight out of high school, and after serving eight years you left to work for a private security company. You worked there for six years before applying for and being accepted for a guard position at Mount Prometheus." "And where in that," I demanded sarcastically, "does it suggest I'm even remotely qualified to infiltrate a group of super villains?" Then I vaguely gestured at my body with my cast covered remaining arm, bitterly spitting out, "And I sure as hell ain't in any kind of physical condition..." "Your physical condition is irrelevant," Rice told me after a moment. "In fact, it's one of the reasons you were selected as our best choice." That made no sense to me and I was hurting too much to be polite, "What the hell are you talking about?" Rice didn't seem any more bothered by my abruptness than he had by any of my other comments. He continued to remain calm, though he did look pretty tense. Whatever this was, he obviously thought it was pretty serious. "Our intention is to have our agent exchange bodies with a known developed criminal and recent recruit of the Black Guild," Rice finally said. I stared at him in disbelief, sure he was joking. But before I could say anything, he held up a hand to forestall my comments and continued, "We've confiscated a body switching device, which was ironically enough invented by a Black Guild associate known as Dr. Nasty." "You have a body switching device," I said quietly, taking him seriously for the first time. "How we acquired the device is classified," Rice told me with a nod, "but the events surrounding it gave me the idea of how we could slip in an agent. They won't suspect someone who's already been proven as one of their own." "But why me?" I asked him seriously. "Surely you've got your own people... Hell, there have to be a lot of people more qualified than me." "Because," Rice answered slowly, "the body swap is one time only. When we acquired the device, it was effectively out of power. We discovered afterwards that it has just enough residual power to perform one more mind exchange." He gave me a very intense look. "Whoever we use can't go back to their own body." "No wonder you don't have any volunteers," I responded thoughtfully, imagining that most people wouldn't willingly give up their body and life. "So you looked for someone who wouldn't mind getting a new body." Still, I had to ask, "There still has to be someone better for this than me." "Probably," Rice admitted, "but we don't have time to find them. We have a very limited window of opportunity." "What do you mean?" I asked with a scowl. "We've just recaptured one of the Mount Prometheus escapees," Rice told me with a deep scowl. "One who's been confirmed as a recent Black Guild recruit. We only have several days to switch our agent with the prisoner and get her back before they notice her absence and become suspicious." I just nodded at that, though I was so distracted from my pain that I missed one important detail at first. Then I blinked, "Her?" I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, "Your prisoner is a woman..." Rice looked a little embarrassed at that, but then he opened his briefcase again and pulled out another folder. He opened it and set it on my lap, letting me see several photos of a woman. It was a woman that I immediately recognized as well. "Toxic," I bitterly spat out the name of the woman who'd killed me. I glared at Rice, "You've got to be kidding me." "Yes," Rice responded almost apologetically. "She is the one we recaptured." "You want me to become a woman?" I spat out angrily, "You want me to become HER?" "I know it's not ideal," Rice sighed as he sat back down beside me, giving me a steady look. "Ideally, we'd have a qualified female agent who could do this. Unfortunately we don't have time to find the right one. You are our best option in the short time we have." "Why her?" I demanded coldly, "Why not one of the male prisoners in Mount Prometheus? There sure are enough to choose from." "That wouldn't work," Rice explained patiently. "The Black Guild would get suspicious if someone who was known to be in Mount Prometheus suddenly appeared trying to join their organization. And secondly, DAD doesn't have authority over Mount Prometheus or the prisoners. Our only chance was to capture a member of the Black Guild and replace them without anyone finding out. Toxic..." He pointed to the pictures on my lap, "she's our only choice." I was silent for a long moment as I thought about what he said. I couldn't believe he'd even suggest such a thing as this, especially after what Toxic had done to me. "You are the best choice for this mission," Rice stated, glancing through one of the folders again. "You're a trained soldier who knows the value of completing the mission at all costs. You've read Toxic's files thoroughly, and more importantly, you have personal experience with her. You know the way she speaks, acts, and interacts with others. You know her habits and mannerisms. You know things that can't be picked out of a file. No one remaining in Mount Prometheus has your level of experience dealing with her, and that experience will be invaluable in impersonating her." "Great," I grimaced, never having imagined that the time I'd spent watching over Toxic and having those oh so enjoyable conversations with her would be turned to this kind of purpose. However Rice wasn't through giving me reasons as to why I was chosen for the mission. "Whoever goes through this will have to end their old life for good and you don't have any close friends or family to leave behind, only a brother that you haven't seen in five years." "Four years," I corrected him, suddenly having regrets about the distant relationship I had with my only sibling. "No close ties," Rice agreed. Then he stood up again and looked down at me with a sympathetic expression. "Your body is broken and crippled," he said, starting to explain why I should accept his proposal. "And you're dying. The doctors tell me you probably won't live another three months." I nodded faintly at that, trying to keep my emotions from showing on my face. I just gave him a steady look, trying to show that I wasn't afraid of death. Of course I was bluffing but he didn't need to know that. "This is probably your only chance," Rice told me, giving me a very steady look. Then his tone shifted and he changed tactics again. "The Black Guild is an extremely dangerous organization. You've seen the damage they caused when they organized the breakout, and that was just a preliminary to something else...to something even bigger. Who knows how many innocents could be killed if they're not stopped." Rice continued on for a minute but I barely heard him. I shook as a spasm if intense pain rushed through me, hurting most on the arm that I no longer even possessed. These phantom pains were particularly nasty since I knew there was nothing that could be done about them. Rice paused, looking as though he wanted to call the nurse for me. But if he did, our interview would be over and he didn't want that until he got an answer. Once my current spasm had passed, I bit back on the remaining pain and weakly told him, "You were saying..." "If you turn this down," Rice told me quietly, "we will find someone else. They won't have as much intimate knowledge about Toxic and they'll have to sacrifice much more than you...but we can find someone else." He paused for a moment to return the folders to his briefcase. Only then did he continue, "If you accept... If you accept, you'll have a healthy new body and a new life. And once this is over, we'll put you in witness protection and set you up with a new identity. It's your choice, but I need a decision fast. We don't have much time." "What about Toxic?" I asked curiously, "What happens to her?" Rice scowled, "She'll be transferred into your body and will then be secured and loaded with pain killers for the rest of her life." He didn't look as though he was pleased with that, though he probably saw no other options. "A living hell," I whispered. I sank back into my pillow and let out a long sigh, though it came out sounding more like a grunt. I needed to think about this... This was a major decision, one that was even larger than when I'd made the decision to enlist. But even as I thought about it, I knew that I'd already made my decision. I'd made it several minutes ago and was only considering the consequences. I've always considered myself a practical man, and though there were a lot of things about this offer that I didn't like, I couldn't escape one undeniable fact. This was my one and only chance to survive. I might not want to be a woman, especially not HER, but my male pride was nothing compared to my survival. However not all of my reasoning was so self-centered. This Black Guild had caused a lot of death and destruction when they caused the breakout at Mount Prometheus, and if I could do anything to stop them from doing it again I would. After I'd considered my decision for nearly five minutes, I stared at Rice and said, "So, I'll get a healthy new body, a chance to stop the bad guys, and I'll get even with the bitch who did this to me..." Then I gave him a cold smile, "So what's the downside?" Rice nodded at that, letting out a faint sigh of relief. "We'll get things started right away then." He nodded to me as he turned to leave, pausing at the door. "I'll send the nurse in but you might not have much time for the pain killers. We're going to be moving fast." And with that he was gone, leaving me to wonder if I'd made the right decision. However when I started coughing up blood again, I knew I had. -------------------- The building was nondescript, the kind used in nearly every strip mall across the country. There were spaces in it for a half dozen shops, all but two of which had been closed. The door we went through still had the sign above it for the timeshare liquidation company that used to be there, though the closed and going out of business signs made it clear they were long gone. This was not the kind of location that one would be suspicious of, nor would it enter your mind that it was really an operations center for a government agency. At least it had never entered my mind and I never would have guessed if Rice hadn't told me. At the moment I was being pushed in my wheelchair by a nondescript middle-aged woman who worked for Rice. She had brown hair pulled back into a bun and was dressed so that she'd blend in at any grocery store or park without drawing any attention. Of course since she was working for Rice I knew that there was more to her than meets the eye. The woman whose name I still hadn't been given pushed me through the abandoned office to a spot in the back. She pulled a fire alarm to the side, revealing a hidden key hole behind it. She silently entered a key and turned it, then waited patiently for a moment. Then a section of the wall slid open, revealing a hidden elevator. "Going down," the woman told me with a faint smile as she pushed my wheelchair inside. "We'll meet up with Agent Rice again in just a few minutes." When the elevator stopped descending, I found that we were at one end of a long concrete hallway. The woman said nothing as she began pushing my wheelchair again, nor did she need to. I already knew that we were just going to the sub basement of a DAD owned building a short distance away. The abandoned store front was just a back door entrance for people that shouldn't be seen actually going there, such as a prospective undercover agent like myself. "There used to be a real office back there," the woman told me casually, "it was a front of course, but it closed down when the agency moved to a newer facility about ten years ago." The hallway ended soon enough with us at a thick metal door that looked almost like it belonged on a safe. This door had an electronic security keypad with a hand print scanner, both of which my guide quickly used to unlock it and let us through. "Right this way," she told me, as though I could have gone somewhere other than where she pushed me. This side of the door was much nicer than the concrete hallway we'd just come from, though still noticeably outdated. The tan carpets looked worn and should have been replaced several years ago, but since the building had been in 'official' use for ten years, there probably wasn't any budget for it or enough people using it for anyone to care. We'd barely gone inside when Rice greeted us, "Good...you made it." He looked at his watch and nodded faintly, "I hope there were no problems." "None worth mentioning Agent Rice," the woman responded. "So what now?" I demanded, hiding my apprehension behind gruffness. "This way," Rice said, turning and walking down another hall while my guide pushed me after him. We went into another room where there were two more men waiting, both of them dressed in nearly the same kind of suit as Rice. One was a skinny blonde guy while the other was a stocky Hispanic. Both of them stared at me with impassive expressions, though I thought I noticed a glimpse of pity behind the eyes of the Hispanic. "These are Agents Miller and Vasquez," Rice gestured to the two men. Then he nodded to the woman who'd been pushing my wheelchair, "You've already met Agent Cullough." "We hadn't exactly been introduced." I looked to her, finding it hard to believe she was a federal agent. A housewife yes...a DAD agent...no. Of course that would probably be an advantage in undercover work. "You can call me Debra," she said holding out her hand before taking a look at me and pulling it back with a blush of embarrassment. "This is my team," Rice gestured to the three people around him, "they're the only ones besides the two of us who know the details of this operation. The fewer people who know, the less chance there is of a leak." I nodded at that, knowing full well that if the wrong people found out about this, I'd be killed at the very least. Then I winced as a surge of pain hit me, making me wish I had more pain killers on me. However I'd kept my last dose light enough that I'd be able to think clearly. "This is the device I told you about," Rice said, nodding to Miller and Vasquez who went to a large curtain on the other side of the room and pulled it aside. Behind the curtain was a large machine that looked like it had come straight out of a mad scientists lab...or a torture chamber. There was a mass of machinery about the size of a vending machine and which looked like some sort of strange computer. Two chairs were positioned along the sides of it and there were even a pair of helmets that had cables running from them into the machine. I couldn't quite decide if the whole thing looked ridiculous or impressive. "It isn't too late," Debra told me with a worried expression. "You can still back out..." Rice glared at her and she shut up. However he turned to me and asked, "Do you fully understand what you're getting into? Once we start, there's no turning back...ever." I just stared at the strange looking machine, thinking about what this would me for me...for my life. It was then that I was hit with another spasm of pain and a bout of coughing. I coughed up more blood, a clear sign that my the poison in my body was tearing at my vital organs as well as my nervous system. I turned to Rice, even more determined than before. "Let's get this started," I told him grimly, biting back the pain I felt. Rice nodded, then turned to Miller and Vasquez, "Bring her in." Miller and Vasquez quickly left through another door in the room. Almost immediately after they were gone, Debra said, "We're going to have to strap you down...for afterwards." It took a few seconds for the meaning of her words to sink in, then I nodded, "Okay..." With that Rice and Debra began to strap me into my wheel chair. Even though I was paralyzed from the waist down, they still strapped down my legs, along with my torso and cast covered arm. I could barely move around as it was, and now I was completely and totally helpless. However I refused to show how uncomfortable this made me feel and tried putting on a brave face. "What's that?" I looked a the syringe in Debra's hand. "A very strong painkiller," Rice answered my question. "We can't give it to you yet since we want your mind clear for the transference, but it should help keep Toxic under control afterwards." Just a minute later Miller and Vasquez returned. Vasquez came through the door first, holding a firearm of the same model that I'd used at Mount Prometheus. Miller followed closely afterwards, pushing an extremely sturdy looking wheelchair that had a familiar person strapped to it. "Toxic," I whispered, feeling a surge of fear at the sight of her. I couldn't help but remembering what she'd done to me the last time I saw her. But that fear quickly turned to rage and loathing. The moment I saw her, I lost all regrets and guilt about what we were going to do to her. Toxic was not only strapped into the chair with some very solid metal constraints, but she also had a power inhibitor collar around her neck. Rice and his people certainly weren't taking any chances with her and I wholeheartedly approved. The fact that Toxic was snarling and looking pissed only brought a smile to my face. "I'm gonna kill you when I get loose," Toxic hissed to Vasquez, then paused to stare at me with a look of surprised recognition. "YOU? I thought I killed you..." "You did," I spat at her, meeting her eyes and refusing to look away first. "It's just taking a while..." Toxic stared at me for a moment and then actually burst out laughing, taking a cruel delight in my suffering. "Perhaps you should end it quickly then," she sneered, then added, "or you can let me go and I'll finish the job..." I continued staring at her, my heart now fully hardened to what was to come. "I hope you remember how much pride you take in what you've done when it's your turn to deal with it." Toxic just rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Rice, "Fine... you've made me see what I've done. Now I'm going to feel all guilty and have something to think about when you take me back to Mount Prometheus." "I know better than to expect you to feel guilt," Rice responded grimly, then added, "and who ever said you were going back to Mount Prometheus?" "What?" Toxic asked in surprise. With that Miller and Vasquez quickly pushed Toxic's wheelchair to the machine while she struggled to get loose. Of course their constraints and the power inhibitor collar both worked to keep her from escaping, but she wasn't about to let that stop her from fighting it...for all the good it did her. "What the fuck are you doing?" Toxic screamed out with a growing fear in her voice. "You're going to put me in the electric chair...? I thought you were cops..." She let loose a vicious barrage of profanity and threats while they put the strange helmet on her. "Your turn," Debra told me, already moving my chair to the machine as well. Once I was strapped in with the helmet on my head, she injected me with the syringe, saying, "It'll take just a couple minutes to really kick in." I have to give Rice and his people credit for being fast and efficient. Rice was at the controls of the machine, turning it on almost the instant Debra had backed away from me. I felt a strange humming building up around me and then through me. Then it hit, a sudden surge of something hitting my brain and causing everything to be torn away and thrown into darkness. Reality returned to me in a snap and all my senses flooded back to life. Sight, sound, and everything else came crashing back with enough force to leave me dazed and confused. I had no idea how long I'd been out of it, but I knew immediately that something was very different. It took me a moment longer for my senses to resettle enough that I could actually look around. "What...did...you...do...to...me...?" a man said from the side, though his voice was weak and unsteady. It took me a moment to realize that it was my voice, or at least my old voice. I blinked in amazement, realizing that for the first time in months I wasn't in pain. I didn't feel any of the pain and agony that I'd been suffering through. In fact, I felt amazingly good. "I think it worked," I said, surprised by the sound of my own voice. It wasn't my voice, or at least not the one I was used to hearing. Instead, it was a woman's voice. I tried reaching up to feel my face but my hand was was held down and tightly constrained, as was the rest of my body. However I was delighted to note that I could feel my legs...that I could wiggle my toes. I never would have imagined that something so simple could excite me so much, but that was all it took after several months of paralysis. "Is that you Briggs?" Rice asked me with a serious expression. "Yeah," I responded, then realized that he was waiting for the password we'd set up earlier. "The password is Hippopotamus..." "Good," Rice smiled now that my identity had been confirmed. "Let me get that," Miller said, taking off my helmet but hesitating a moment before he began undoing the metal constraints that held me. Once I was released I slowly climbed out of the wheelchair, feeling wobbly and unbalanced. But at the same time I also felt light on my feet and so very healthy. I took my time, marveling at the sensations from my new body but trying to remain focused enough that I wouldn't lose my balance and fall over. "It worked," I whispered in awe, looking down at myself and seeing a pair of breasts pushing out from my chest. "It fucking worked..." I looked at Rice, surprised that I hadn't noticed how tall he was before. Then I quickly reminded myself that I was in a new body, one that was nearly a foot shorter than I was used to. It was strange to think of myself as being short, but there was no doubt that I certainly was when compared to my old self. It was then that I noticed a burning smell. "What is that smell?" I asked, looking around and then noticing a little smoke coming from the body switching machine. "We used the last of its power and pushed it too far," Rice explained, "it burned out." "We thought that might happen," Miller told me with a scowl. "But it doesn't matter. It's not like we had the power to ever use it again anyway..." "Oh," I responded, feeling strangely numb to the idea that my old life was gone for good. "What did you do to me?" Toxic demanded from my body, still strapped into my wheel chair. She winced, "It hurts..." I stared at her without any sympathy or pity. "Most of that's from your neurotoxic touch," I reminded her. "It's attacking the nerves and slowly killing everything else." Toxic stared at me with a look of horror, "I'll kill you for this..." "You already tried that," Debra reminded her, "and look at where you are because of it. You're not in a position to ever hurt anyone again." "You did quite a job on that body," I almost smirked, "it only seemed fair that you get to try it out yourself." Toxic started to blurt out some profanity laced threats but then suddenly went into a nasty coughing fit. I knew quite well what she had to be feeling at the moment. Her lungs would feel like they were on fire and she'd be tasting the blood in her mouth. I felt nothing except relief that it wasn't me and never would be again. After Toxic stopped coughing, she didn't have enough energy to continue her threatening rant. In fact her eyes were starting to glaze over and her expression was going blank. Obviously the pain killer that Debra injected me with before the mind switch was kicking in. "What's going to happen to her now?" I asked, more out of curiosity than any concern. After all that had been my body for over three decades, and though I was glad to be rid of it I still wanted to know what was going to happen to it. "She's been given a death sentence now," Rice said quietly, "the one she gave you. We'll keep her secure, isolated and on pain killers for the time she has left. We might have put her in your body, but there's no need to be any more cruel about it than we have to be." Toxic quickly descended into a dazed state, too drugged to offer even a token verbal resistance. I wasn't even sure how much of her environment she was aware of at the moment. I just hoped she could still feel the pain through the pain killers. I know it wasn't very nice of me, but I wanted that bitch to suffer. A minute later Miller and Vasquez wheeled Toxic out of the room, taking her to wherever they were going to store her. I hoped it was a cold and uncomfortable prison cell, but I had a feeling that it was more likely to be a nice comfortable hospital bed. That was more than that psychotic bitch deserved. Once they were gone Rice turned and stared at me with a strange expression. I could imagine what was going on in his head and how disconcerting it would be talking to me like this. Of course that couldn't match what it was like for me to be in the body of the woman who'd murdered me. "You should probably clean up before we start," Rice said uncomfortably, "we haven't let Toxic near a shower since we captured her." He nodded to Debra. "I'll show you the womens shower," Debra told me with a nervous smile. I nodded, feeling strangely numb as I followed after Debra. I looked back at Rice who was still staring at me oddly, then turned my attention to the matter at hand. I had no doubt that having me take a shower now was more about giving me a chance to check out my new body than it was about getting clean. However if they had the good manners to keep up the pretense I wasn't about to stop them. "Here we are," Debra told me when we stepped into the locker room. I looked around, immediately feeling like I was out of place because I'd gone through the door clearly marked 'women'. Of course I knew that I'd have to get used to that because it now applied to me. From now on, the boys room would be forbidden to me, while the women's room would be where I belonged. It was a strange thought to get my mind around. In spite of that, the locker room didn't look any different than any other locker room I'd ever been in. It almost could have been the same locker room I'd used in my old high school, scaled down for use by only a dozen people at a time. The group shower stall had three nozzles in it and was big enough for three men...or three women to shower at the same time without touching. All in all, the sheer familiarity helped me relax. "I'll be back in an hour so we can get started," Debra told me with a scowl, "we have a lot to do and we only have two days to get you ready and inserted." Then she turned and left the locker room, leaving me to myself. "An hour is a long time to clean up," I muttered to myself as I looked at the shower stall. Of course I was well aware that the time wasn't for cleaning but for the inevitable exploration of my new body. There was a practical reason for them giving me this private time as well. After all how could I impersonate Toxic or any woman if I wasn't familiar with her body. I decided to take it one step at a time and be professional about it. It was an easy decision to make, though much harder to follow through with. Fortunately the discipline I'd learned in the Marines helped me maintain my focus for the most part. I slowly pulled down the zipper on the front of the orange prisoner jumpsuit Toxic had been wearing and then removed it. A few seconds later I was standing there naked, all except for the power inhibitor collar that I still wore. It was the one constraint they hadn't removed after the body switch and one that I felt extremely apprehensive about. After all the thought of actually using the very power Toxic had used on me was enough to make my stomach knot up. After a moment of absently touching the collar around my neck, I finally looked down at my body, gulping as I did so. A single glance was enough to reveal what I already knew...that my new body was definitely female. And as nasty as Toxic was, I had to admit that she had a nice figure with great muscle tone. I spent several minutes just standing there and looking down at myself before I slowly walked to the mirror, feeling almost like a prisoner walking to his execution. It was kind of ironic because I wasn't the prisoner with the death sentence and this had actually been my reprieve. When I reminded myself of that fact, I felt much better. "Toxic," I said when I stared into the mirror above a sink, seeing her face reflected back at me. "My face," I reminded myself, knowing that I'd have to start thinking of it as such. After all it would be mine for the rest of my life. I ran my fingers across my face, finding its smooth contours strange and unfamiliar. Then I opened my mouth to look at my teeth. I felt almost as though I was examining a horse I was thinking about buying, except this was an animal I'd already purchased lock, stock and barrel. After I'd spent several minutes just looking over my face, I turned my attention to the rest of my body. I performed a relatively quick examination, then went over it again, running my hands over my skin and trying to stay focused. The goal was just to familiarize myself with my new body, but my heart was racing with a strange mixture of nerves and excitement. I had to admit that I was growing more curious by the moment. "Strange," I finally said, looking down at myself, "very VERY strange..." My new body was quite different from the old one, being much shorter and thinner, not to mention the whole gender thing. Instead of being rough and hairy, my skin was sort and smooth, though I did have a number of new scars, courtesy of Toxic's criminal lifestyle. And when I stared at my feminine hands, I had to remind myself that they were the hands of a killler...the hands of a woman who murdered people for fun and profit. But now they were also my hands. "I already had blood on my hands," I muttered, thinking back to my time as a Marine. But this was different... There was a drastic difference between killing enemy soldiers during war and murdering innocent people. "Damn." I shook my head with a grimace and tried to shake those thoughts from my mind. I didn't want to sit here philosophizing about what it meant to have the hands of a murderer. Instead I focused on doing what I could to get ready for my mission. That meant getting cleaned up and ready for whatever Rice had in mind to help prepare me. My shower started off as a quick and efficient way to get clean, but it didn't quite stay that way. While I was washing I found myself running my hands over my body and exploring every inch of my new skin. I even started to check out my new sensitive parts. It wasn't the first time I'd had my hands on tits and twat, but it sure as hell was the most interesting. When I finally finished my shower, I'd spent at least ten times longer in there than I'd intended. I was definitely cleaner than when I'd gone in, as well as a little more familiar with my body. Of course just playing a little grab-ass with myself wasn't going to make me feel at home and comfortable in my new body, but it was a start. I took my time stepping out of the shower stall, still a bit distracted by the reality of my new body and aware that I still had at least ten minutes before my hour was up. That was plenty of time to throw the jumpsuit back on. But when I looked at the bench where I'd left the dirty jumpsuit, I was startled to see that it was gone and in its place were a towel and small stack of new clothing. "Good," I muttered as I grabbed the towel, glad I wouldn't have to put on the dirty clothes again after taking a shower. I quickly dried off my body, then went to work on my hair. It was thicker and longer than my hair had ever been before, so I knew it would take a bit of work. "Pain in the ass hair..." Once my hair was as dry as I was going to get it with a towel, I turned my attention to the clothes. I held up what seemed to be a one piece body suit that covered everything from the neck down, though it was missing any arms or sleeves. It was mostly green though it had some black trim, including a black belt with a black metallic skull on it. It was a costume, Toxic's super villain costume to be exact. I'd seen pictures of her wearing it. "Of course" I said, not too surprised. I'd already known that impersonating Toxic would require me to dress up and act like a super villain. I just hadn't expected someone to sneak in and drop the costume off while I was taking my shower. I blushed as I thought about what they might have seen me doing then shook it off. "They obviously want me to start wearing it now." I stared at the costume for a few more seconds though, just trying to figure out how to get into it. Once I did, I climbed in through a slit in the back, then reach back and pulled up the tiny zipper to close the slit. The outfit was lightweight, flexible, and a perfect fit. It even seemed to have built in athletic support for my breasts. "Not bad," I grudgingly admitted as I ran my hand over the costume. I guessed the material to be that half spandex and half kevlar stuff that was so popular among the developed set. After a moment I put on the rest of the costume, snapping the black belt with the black skull buckle around my waist and then putting on a pair of fingerless green gloves. I noticed that the gloves both had metal knuckle guards which were bound to make any punch I threw more damaging, which was obviously the intention. I spent nearly a minute looking myself over and making sure my new outfit was properly adjusted. As strange as it was, I had a long ingrained habit of keeping my uniforms crisp and clean when I wore them and that extended to this one. If I was going to wear this outfit, I wanted it to fit properly and look its best. When I was satisfied, I turned and went to the mirror above the sink again. I stared at myself for a moment, fighting back the knot in my stomach at the sight. Whenever I'd seen Toxic at Mount Prometheus, it had always been while she was wearing her prison uniform and not her professional costume. But still, I somehow looked much more like her than before. Unable to resist the temptation, I glared at my reflection with a cold and lethal look, trying to look as evil and dangerous as I possibly could. The reflected image was so much the Toxic that I knew that I nearly scared myself. If I could keep that up, maybe I really could get away with impersonating her. Just then I heard Debra's voice coming from the door to the locker room, calling out, "Are you decent?" I quickly glanced at the clock and saw that it was about an hour since Rice told me to get showered and cleaned up. "No," I called back with a faint smile, "but I am dressed." Debra came into the locker room and paused to stare at me, her expression carefully guarded as she did so. She finally nodded, "You look so much like her..." "That is the point," I reminded Debra, glancing at myself in the mirror one more time before giving her my full attention. "What now?" "We'll get you briefed and then start your training," Debra told me as she led me to another room, "you have a lot to learn if we're going to pull this off." Debra took me to a room that looked almost like an off