Emerald Princess - Chapters 16-20 (v2) free porn video

This novel is set in the universe of the Whateley Academy. It takes place after the first generation characters have graduated, but I was in the midst of writing this before the 2nd Generation Canon came out - my apologies that it doesn't directly tie in there! This is fan fiction for the Whateley Academy, and may or may not match the timeline, characters, and continuity, but since it's fan fiction, who cares? Most likely it will not match the canon of the universe. I believe this is the first work that was written with the ABDL community in mind. What that means is there will be babying, diapers, bottles, and everything a baby does at certain points of this book. If that's not your cup of tea you may wish to find another story. Please keep in mind this story is a work of total fiction, and resemblance to real people or places is unintentional! If you would like to know more about the canon universe visit www.whateleyacademy.net This work is Copyright ©2016-2020 Baby Sofia, and may not be distributed or reproduced on any website or print edition without expressed permission. Emerald Princess ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 16: Traps ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ IN THE CASTLE I was woken up oddly. Something wasn't right as I stirred in my crib. I opened my eyes and wet my diaper some more as I spied a threat. "Ah, did the little baby wake up?" Rosemerta asked. "Why, do you want to sleep in my crib?" I asked nervously. "No thank you Princess," she replied as she stepped towards me with a silver dagger in her hand. I debated what to do since I wouldn't be able to get out of the crib on my own. Caireen would come if I cried, but there was enough of a teenage boy still in me that the idea of crying before this monster felt wrong. "What are you going to do?" I asked instead as I tried to buy some time. "Well, before King Camulus wanted you kidnapped and unharmed. After what you did to me last time though, he's willing to let me harm you a little... even said I was welcome to take a bit of your essence as a souvenir..." My eyes blazed as I stared at her. "Come and get me then!" I told her while I initiated my shield spell. "Sounds like a plan," she said as she stepped forward with the dagger trying to stab me over the top rail of the crib. Suddenly there was an explosion of light, a boom, and Rosemerta was explosively flung across the room. I knew Caireen must have done something with the crib to ward off Rosemerta specifically. Unfortunately for the crib though, it seemed to have been a one-time spell that destroyed it, leaving me standing on a small bit of rubble. I drew in essence and began a binding spell Caireen had taught me in the last few days. I was pleased to see golden tendrils wrap around her stunned body. "No!" she screamed. She began to try to shape into a bat again, but the tendrils just locked around that smaller form. I toddled over to a small table that a vase with flowers sat on, emptied it out, and walked towards the writhing bat. I carefully used a nearby toy block to help push it into the vase just as Caireen and twenty guards entered. It was almost comical as they stood there looking around in shock. Caireen being the goddess that she was figured out what had likely happened before anyone else and she came over to me. "Baby, are you okay?!?" "I'm fine! Your ward against Rosemerta worked like a charm!" I told her with a smile. "The only thing I had to do was that binding spell you taught me. She was silly and tried changing into a bat, so I put her in this vase." I had put on my best 'look mommy at what I did' face on. She picked me up and squished me with a tight hug for a moment. I watched her look into the vase and she said, "Bring that creature down to the throne room for judgement in one hour. Do not let anyone come near it." As if to make a special point she created an additional cage that wrapped tightly around the vase. I could sense that if anyone other than her tried to open it bad things would happen. "At once, Your Majesty," one of the guards said and took six others with him as he left. "The rest of you please guard outside and see that we discover how the creature made it back into the castle. That feat should have been impossible!" There was a chorus of groveling as they left and Caireen looked at me. "Well Princess, you did very very well there!" "Thank you," I told her. "I guess we have work to do now though, so let's get you fed, changed, and ready for the trial." Caireen took the time to nurse me, fed me some mashed fruit, and then changed what was by that time a very wet and messy diaper. She dressed me in a formal dress that matched the one she was wearing in color, but clearly said I was a baby with the high waist style. With the petticoats pushing the skirts way out I felt ridiculous, but also knew I had to be ridiculously cute! The tiara on my head, plus the matching dresses, told anyone who looked that I was her heir and daughter. She carried me to the outer door of the throne room and said, "Count to sixty and then follow me." I wasn't alone though; ten guards formed a formation around me to completely protect me. As I counted in my head, I couldn't help but think about how close I had once again been to me being kidnapped. More than anything though I couldn't believe that King Camulus would be stupid enough to send the same failed vampire to come and attack me. Surely, he had to know that Caireen would set up wards specifically for her? Something about this smelled worse than my diaper had a while ago. I began looking around and stiffened as I noticed there was something very wrong with the armor the guards were wearing. Her guards were all armored in an expensive Mithril chain mail that had been gifted to her army long ago. These guys all had simple steel chain mail except for one. 'Shit!' I decided it was better to play along for the moment, so other than taking the time to charge my shield I just said, "Open the door for me please." The one soldier that I recognized as being legit followed the order and held the door open. "Right this way Your Highness." "Thank you. By the way Sir, I really like how shiny your chain mail is compared to everyone else's." I watched his eyes narrow as he took in what I had seen. "Run Princess!" He screamed as he drew his sword. For a moment I debated about standing and fighting, but he pushed me through the door and stayed on the other side to buy me time. Not wanting to waste his life, I ran as fast as I could down the hallway to the throne room. Caireen watched me come down the hallway running and had a smile that quickly turned to fear. I heard the sound of the armored figure bearing down on me and decided this was as good of a spot to fight as any. I turned, planted my feet, and surged three ley lines into a bolt of energy straight at the man. Happily, he dropped, but seven other soldiers followed him down the hallway. I quickly used a spell I'd learned to make fire and sent a stream of it racing down the hallway towards the seven. With that I turned to run to Caireen's arms. "Mommy!" I found myself screeching and mentally beat myself over the head. 'Seriously? Did you need to officially make her another mother?' I then said, 'You nurse from her breasts, she's a mommy.' Three last stragglers tried following me the final steps but were cut down by soldiers that were loyal to Caireen. "What the Hell happened?!?!" Caireen screeched angrily. "I think it was a trap to get us down here," I told her. "Rosemerta was just a ploy?" I nodded. "Where is she?" "In here Your Highness," another soldier said and pulled the sheet off of the cage. The vase was tipped over to where we could see in it... It was empty. THE REST OF the 'day' I spent in Caireen's Castle saw a massive search being made for Rosemerta. I was certain she'd somehow escaped after some of the fake guards released her. How they had released her from the bindings Caireen and I had done I wasn't certain, but we knew she was out there and still very dangerous. Just before I had been put to bed that night Caireen received news that one of the villages on the outskirts of our kingdom had been attacked. It was going to be a full- on war was my last thought as she soothed me to sleep. In the 'real' world I was woken by Camille trying to change my diaper without waking me up. "Oh, I'm sorry Sofia, I didn't mean to wake you..." she said. I sighed. "Believe me, I'm really glad you woke me up..." Camille's voice changed suddenly. "What is going on in the kingdom your highness?" "How did you know?" I started before shaking my head. "It's not good. King Camulus made an attempt to kidnap me a week ago, and tried repeating that today... His spies were given the task to kill Caireen and I if they couldn't kidnap me." I saw instant worry from both the spirit and host. "Princess Sofia, you may be in a great deal of danger..." "Believe me, I already know. I fought off one attack which was really a feint before they tried for real later. My real fear is they'll stop underestimating the baby... King Camulus's troops have already started advancing on our kingdom, yesterday they took one of our villages that borders the kingdoms." "Your highness if there is any way myself or our people may serve you please let me know. I can put you in touch with our queen..." I smiled with the thought that she was referring to one of the Team Kimba members I had heard so much. "Maybe at some point, but not yet. And today I still have to figure out what I'm doing. You're leaving, right?" She nodded. "I figured I would take you over to Doyle and see if Hannah was being released today." "If not?" I asked. "Well let's jump off that bridge when we come to it. Do you want a bottle or something before we go to Crystal Hall for breakfast?" I shrugged. "While we go?" She smiled at me. "Sure sweetie." I watched her fill another bottle with some milk from a pouch in the fridge, and then magically warmed it up. Before she gave it to me though I watched her check my backpack to be sure it was stocked with plenty of supplies. She threw a couple more diapers in there and some fresh bottles. "Do you want a refrigerator and freezer compartment in here?" she asked. I looked at her and suddenly smacked myself in the head. "I don't know why I never thought of that..." I watched her do the spells quickly and then she began putting some of the milk from the fridge in there too. I saw her looking at dates and she seemed to sort some of them. She saw me looking. "I'm putting some of them in the freezer, you know you can freeze breastmilk, right?" I shrugged. "No I didn't." "Should be good for like a year." "You realize with the amount Hannah pumps she could freeze everything in the next few weeks and probably feed me solely off of that for like two years?" "Not with your appetite." She smirked and zipped my backpack. She handed me the warmed bottle, threw one strap of the small backpack over her shoulders, grabbed me, and we were off. At Crystal Hall I must have been asked where Hannah was a half-dozen times, and another half-dozen times, 'where's your mommy?' For her part Camille had a number of girls that seemed genuinely jealous that she got to babysit me! All-in-all it was a pretty miserable breakfast, following a miserable day in Caireen's world. "Let's go see how Hannah is doing!" she said as she picked me up after finishing our breakfasts. As she carried me out, I noticed just how empty the hall felt with about half of the school already gone home for the holidays. For some reason as we walked into Doyle, I had a sinking feeling that things might not have been better. That feeling may have been directly related to the power doing weird things with the lights, and a radiant green color as we approached Hannah's room! Doctors seemed to be trying to get her blood as we walked into the door of her room. "You shouldn't be bringing a baby in here right now!" one doctor ordered Camille and tried to push us out the door. "I'm not a baby," I said to him. He looked at me before patronizing. "I mean a big girl, only adults in here right now." I sighed. "I'm eighteen, is that adult enough?" With that I wriggled out of Camille's arms, walked right past the flabbergasted doctor, and jumped up onto Hannah's bed. "What's going on?" I asked her after a quick hug. "They don't know... right after you left, I started having some weird EMP like discharges and instead of the pyrokinetic charges going when I wanted them to... things just started flashing green." 'Any ideas Caireen?' 'I'm guessing the shock from yesterday?' 'I know... any ideas to help?' 'Let me through...' "Hannah, do you feel like you're upset?" Caireen's voice came through. She shrugged. "No more than anyone would be who's stuck in the hospital?" "Have you pumped milk tonight?" Caireen asked. "Like every hour," she sighed. "the doctors keep wanting to test it." "I do have one idea, nurse Sofia, maybe it'll calm down your discharges here?" With that Caireen turned us back over to me and I looked at her. One of the doctors that was still in the room looked at me and said, "Wait, what?" I looked at him impatiently. "You were told about our bond?" He nodded. "You know that milk in theory is being made for me?" He nodded. "Well, Caireen's only thought is that since Hannah hasn't been nursing me specifically it may be the problem?" "Oh... worth a try," he allowed. With that Hannah kind of shooed him away while sitting up carefully. She bared her breast to me and I began nursing. No matter if I closed my eyes or not, the flashing green was getting to be really annoying! I tried sensing if there was anything physically wrong with her with my magic, but it was like there was a weird wall up around Hannah. 'Caireen?' 'Keep nursing,' she said, 'I'm looking.' When she shifted me to the other side, I felt Caireen sigh, 'Sofia I don't think this is anything that's specifically going to be fixable for a few days. Her system is just out of whack with the discharge and the way your magical shield impacted her abilities... I'm guessing it'll be three to five days before she'll be better.' 'She'll get better?' 'She should.' 'Will she be able to go back to our room?' I asked. 'With as bad as those electrical fluctuations are the doctors are never going to let her out of here like this.' I discovered I was nursing on an empty breast a few minutes later and popped my head up. There was absolutely no change to Hannah's state even though she seemed more relaxed. She cleaned up and redressed herself. "Well I feel better Sofia, but I don't think it fixed anything," she said. "No, Caireen thinks it's a matter of time." Camille's voice changed. "I suspect it will actually go away a little quicker without Sofia here. I sense it may be re-charging the problem right now." As if to emphasize it there was a little pop and one of the monitors seemed to blow in the corner. "Great," Hannah said. "Look Hannah, I was getting ready to offer this to both of you, but seeing as how you're stuck here and Sofia probably should be elsewhere... Sofia, do you want to come with me to New York City? I bet we could still get another train ticket? Or actually you're probably free..." Hannah looked nervous. "What if the MCO recognizes her?" "I'm not saying yes yet, but..." I told her, but changed my hair to blonde and my eyes to a natural, but pretty blue. "You should keep that," Hannah said with a smile, "it suits you. What about facial scanners?" "Well they work by taking some measurements of the geometry of the face, so..." I moved my eyes just slightly closer together and my nose was made smaller. In general, it looked like my bone structure was just a little bit smaller. The doctor that had come back into the room said, "Fascinating." "There's another reason it would be a good idea Han," Camille said. "Sofia told me about her upcoming assignment, if she went with me, she could hang out with my family and little sister." I groaned. "And pretend to be a regular baby the whole time?" "Better there than here not knowing who's going to take care of you?" 'She's right you know; it would be a good test run.' "Do your parents know about me?" I asked Camille. "They will, and I'm not saying you can't be yourself some of the time, but let's just say you pretend for my sister's sake?" "Go," Hannah told me. "But..." "If you don't go, how are you going to get out of your crib?" "Umm..." "All of our friends are basically gone on vacation, what happens if someone decides to pull a prank? There are a million reasons, but this will also keep you from being bored in our room." I thought for a moment. "Only if I can take the textbooks with me and get caught up?" Camille nodded. "We can do that. Let me go call my parents really quick." She stopped for a moment. "Sofia, why don't you go ahead and give me your parents number so my parents can talk to them if they want?" I pulled my phone out of the pocket I had the purse in and sent her the contact information for my home and mom. "I'll be right back," she told us. I took the opportunity to snuggle into Hannah. "I really don't want to go," I told her. "You need to though," she told me. "She's especially right about the baby experience." I sighed. "I know." She squeezed me. "Besides, it'll do us both some good probably to have a few days of space." I turned my head to look at her. "You don't believe that any more than I do." Tears started coming from her eyes. "I know." I hugged her and let her hold me tight for about a half hour before Camille came back in. "Okay I called my mom, she talked to your mom, and it's all set Sofia!" "Are you sure you'll be okay?" I asked Hannah. "I'll be fine Princess," she reassured me. "Do you want to make a list of things you need from your room and we'll swing them back by on our way?" She gave us a list and Camille carried me back across the campus to our room. "Okay Sofia, we've got to get moving quick. Can you find the stuff that Hannah said she needed?" I nodded. "Sure." I started climbing over her desk, her bed, going through her drawers, and even found some of the cookies that were still there from our mom's last week. I put everything inside the backpack I had made bigger for her and smiled at Camille, who had her own pile of things. She had the diaper bag my mom had sent me, my bag, Esmie, my teddy bear, and a few other things like a stroller. "Where'd you get the stroller?" I asked. She shrugged. "You had a doll stroller in the box. I started with making it bigger and then made it more like my sisters." I nodded. "Hanging out with Hannah so much I forget other people can do magic..." "You said you wanted your books, which ones do you need to take?" I grabbed all of my textbooks from the pile I had left on the floor and carried them to my bag. They all went in their places that I had made for them there. I thought for a second and then grabbed the laptop that I had been given on my desk and put it in there too. "Not sure how much time I want to let you get on the computer if we're planning on you pretending," Camille told me. I shrugged. "I just figured it would be good to have it. We'll be gone five days?" she nodded. "I just don't want to get to the point I need it and not have it." I watched her give the room one last look. "Anything you can think of that we forgot?" "You grabbed my clothes?" I asked. "Yep, plenty of dresses and outfits to choose from... and plenty of diapers, wipes, etc. too!" I groaned but was glad she had those. "Where are they?" I asked. "I made your diaper bag larger," she told me with a smile. "Let's change you one more time before we take this stuff to Hannah and go catch the shuttle to the train station." I sighed, but held my arms up to her for her to pick me up. It was a quick change, I wasn't all that wet even, and then she sat me down in the stroller and buckled the built-in harness around me. I looked up kind of depressed at her and she laughed. "Here, suck on your paci for a while," while placing one of my pacifiers in my mouth. I groaned but sat back in the stroller as she messed around a bit around the back where I couldn't see. The stroller itself was actually very comfy, with a little table in front that I could sit stuff on. I had a feeling it also leaned back for naps like my sisters had. I didn't like the fact I couldn't really lean forward to see though due to the harness straps. "Almost done Princess," she called to me. True to her word a moment later she pushed me out the door and towards the elevator. One of the upperclassmen that had stuck around was in the elevator. "You know Sofia you get to be a cuter baby every time I see you." I blushed. "What's up with the extra baby gear? Where's Hannah?" she asked Camille. "Yesterday Hannah tried a new trick with her powers and had a bit of an accident on the firing range. Sofia here put a shield up to save her with her magic, but didn't take it down before Hannah did the mommy thing of trying to pick up her baby with the near-death experience..." The girl laughed a bit. "Her shield was still up?" "Got it!" "So that should have just knocked her down?" "Normally, but apparently she had some sort of odd reaction with that and her powers so she's in Doyle for a few days until it clears." "So, Sofia needed a babysitter..." "I am right here you know," I said having pulled the pacifier out of my mouth. They both laughed. "So you look like you're packed to go somewhere, meeting your family?" They talked then about things other than me as the elevator doors opened and we began walking towards Doyle. There we didn't have much time Camille said, so she handed Hannah her bags and other than a quick hug from her I was pulled away and back in the stroller to go on a new adventure. THE RIDE ON the shuttle to the station was pretty uneventful. Camille had called ahead and they had a car seat ready for me to sit in, grabbed our luggage, and we were on the road. Once there she buckled me back in the stroller and said, "Okay Sofia, let's see how long you can keep up the eighteen-months stuff." I started to sigh, but chose to smile and say, "Baba!" instead. She smiled at me and produced a warmed bottle for me that I nursed while she sorted out her ticket, our luggage with the porter, and then finally picked me up out of the stroller that was stowed and carried me onto the train still sucking on a now empty bottle. I noticed Camille was getting looks like Hannah now and I felt sort of bad. "Auntie twain!" I exclaimed as we sat down in a row of seats. "Yep Princess, we're on a train!" She smiled, knowing I knew it was a game worth playing. Around us there was an older grandmotherly lady, a mom and a girl of about six, and a man that kind of stuck out as being odd with a hat across his face and looking like he was trying to sleep. Something about him was off though. "She's adorable!" the grandmotherly lady said. "How old is she?" "She's eighteen months," Camille said with a smile and clapped my hands together for some reason. "she said Auntie?" "Yeah, she's my sister's baby. She's unfortunately in the hospital this week. Her husband is staying with her, so they asked if I could take her." She tickled me and then squeezed. "I couldn't say no to her. Plus, this way she gets to see her Grammy and Grampa, huh?" For the next several minutes they talked and then the mother of the six-year-old girl, who I knew now as Kelsey, would chat. I was kind of bored so I started making fussy sounds. "Is her diapee wet?" The little girl asked. "I don't know," Camille said with a smile. "I guess we should check, that would be a really good reason for her to be fussy huh?" "Uh-huh!" she said. "My dolly fusses at me if her diaper is wet too!" She showed Camille her doll with absolute pride. Camille chose that moment to pop open a few snaps on my romper legs and said, "Well what do you know, you're exactly right!" to the little girl. "Do you want to help me change her?" I buried my head in Camille's shirt. 'Really?' I begged in my head. 'Baby, remember?' Caireen reminded me. 'You can't care.' I sighed internally but just fussed some more so that Camille picked me up and asked her mom. "I'd be happy to take your daughter to the restroom while we change little Sofia here?" Her mom smiled at us. "Thanks!" Once we got to the bathroom, she told Kelsey, "Go potty first and then we'll change her diapee together." I was sat down on the ground while she dug into my diaper bag for a changing pad, diaper, wipes, and everything else. I thought she would set me on the changing table, but instead she just laid the mat down on the ground. Kelsey came out excitedly. "I help now?" "Wash your hands first," she told her. I was left on the ground while she helped her before she came back and sat me down. "I never changed a diaper before..." the girl said a little worriedly. "Don't worry, I hadn't ever either, but my mommy showed me just how I'm going to show you!" "Okay!" she giggled. Thankfully at that moment Camille chose that moment to put a pacifier in my mouth. I sucked on it as if my life depended on it! She had her undo the snaps along my legs while she said, "Good baby," to me. It may have been the longest ten minutes of my life, but Camille actually let her do almost all of the work of wiping me and putting a new diaper under my butt. The only thing she did was make sure that the tapes were tight. By the time we got back to our seats I was feeling something between being mortified and something else... accepting? Back seated I spit my pacifier out and said, "Baba?" Camille warmed a bottle up surreptitiously before handing it to me to drink. "We have a few hours before we'll get there, Sweetie. Why don't you take a nap?" I was warm and comfy in her arms so I ended up taking her advice. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 17: Wittle Baby ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I WOKE UP in Caireen's arms in a rocking chair. "Shhh," she said to me as she patted me gently. "We both had a long day here yesterday." I nodded. It couldn't last though as a knock came at the door of my room. "Your Majesty, may I come in?" She spoke clearly. "Yes, come in." "Sorry to disturb you, Your Majesty, but we just received word that King Camulus is on the march again." Caireen's top general, General Slane, came in with a look on his face that was as somber as a funeral. "Any idea what his endgame is?" "Our spies and our scouts believe he is heading here, Your Majesty." "Well, at least he's not dilly-dallying," she said thoughtfully while holding me tighter. "When can we expect him to make it here?" "I believe it will be four to six weeks, Your Majesty. We'll try and make that longer with our forces, but there's no way to know." I shifted my body to where I could look up at Caireen. "That should be long enough to plan an ambush, shouldn't it?" "Maybe..." "How large are his forces?" "He is marching twenty-thousand troops Your Majesty." "How many do we have?" I asked Caireen nervously. "Ten-thousand - if we lose no one to stopping them from advancing..." "I need to think about this, if you have any ideas draw up your plans. I want to see you and all senior commanders in the throne room just after noon. Take that time to plan and figure out what we need to know to survive this and kill that monster." "Yes, Your Majesty." I looked up at Caireen and saw a nervous fear on her face. "We can make it through this," I reassured her. "Oh Sofia, you are indeed the daughter I always wanted. I'm not so certain as you are here. Too many things in play..." "Well, let's figure out that plan and get things sorted out!" I told her confidently. She tickled me. "I guess you're right. I bet you're hungry though first!" I was fed, changed, and we headed down to the dungeon practice room once more. We stayed down there for hours working on spells. Our only breaks were for her to nurse and change me. I noticed that it seemed she had almost a class schedule approach to teaching me now. First, we would spend some time practicing gathering more essence from ley lines. At this point I could only laugh at the amount I had begun with, as it seemed limitless for me now. Like at Whateley her castle ran over a major artery that would scare the other students in my class with the amount of power available. I could now tap into that without effort, and it meant that my spells became more and more powerful - and destructive. Caireen would then move into a session on healing spells for a while, then onto wards, some more practical spells for cleaning and other mundane tasks, and then finally she finished off with combat techniques. "Okay Sofia, this is the last one I want to teach you today," she said to me as I breathed a little heavy from creating a magical napalm torch. "The Asian cultures have always talked about the Yin and the Yang bringing balance to life?" she asked. I nodded. "My Tae Kwon Do sensei was big into that back in Los Alamos." She smiled. "This is basically looking at the Yang to fire. You always need to be able to switch tactics to something opposite what you're doing if an opponent keeps evading your attacks." I nodded. "Yeah... so Yang to Fire... Water?" She smiled. "Think further..." I thought for a moment how Fire was highly energetic with particles highly energized. 'What's the opposite?' "Ice?" I asked. She smiled and patted my head. "Good girl!" A couple weeks ago that would have made me blush, but instead I felt pride at being told that. 'I sort of wish she'd even give me a sticker!' I smirked to myself. "So, what about Ice? You've already taught me how to freeze water?" She smiled. "This'll be very much the same thing. Tell me, what are human bodies made up of?" I sort of felt the blood drain from my face. "Water... you want me to freeze the water in their bodies?" She nodded. "It is a little cold of a tactic to use," I forced a smirk at her bad pun. "but it takes less energy than a fire spell." For another hour she instructed me by bringing in a few pigs, chickens, and other animals for me to try it on. I had been reluctant at first until she told me they were for the servants' dinner eventually. It was scarily easy to do so with the animals. "People... They're the same?" I said. I couldn't help but feel a little bit of bile come up the back of my throat. "Yes, the exact same." "Why does this feel crueler than so many other attacks?" I asked her. She shook her head. "I do not know the answer to that Sofia, other than maybe it speaks to a deep-down fear you have?" After a little while longer she said, "Come my little princess, we need to get you fed, changed, and then I need to have a chat with my generals while you take a nap." IT WAS ALWAYS startling to wake up immediately after getting comfortable in one world, but it was even more so when I woke up in Camille's arms instead of Hannah's. I squeaked a little. "Shhh... It's okay Sofia, Auntie has you." I groaned when it all came back, but chose to keep up the good baby act and just squirmed a little. My diaper was really soggy and I wanted a new one soon. If I was really going to be pretending to be a baby there really was only one way to ask for a new diaper, I started crying. "Oh, shhh baby," Camille said softly. "I'm guessing you want a new diapee huh?" she tickled my side. My body sort of was on autopilot now and I just started crying more. She picked me up and took me back to the bathroom and changed me quickly on the changing table. "There, all dry now!" she said to me while giving me a hug a few minutes later. Several minutes later we were back in our seats with her holding a bottle of warmed milk for me. "Better now?" she asked when I finished. I nodded. "Ready to see your grammy?" she asked me with a smile. I whispered. "My grammy?" "Well, if I'm Auntie, and you're my non-existent sister's daughter..." "Oh," I said. When we pulled into the train station, we quickly found my stroller and our luggage. I was quickly fastened into the harness for the stroller and we were off to find Camille's parents. I could tell when she had found them as she sped up a bit in her excitement to see them. "Come here!" her mom said and I watched from my seat as she hugged her mom and dad. Her dad was holding her baby sister, so she also got her own hug. "Cassidy, I want you to meet someone!" Camille said as she took her from her dad. "This is Sofia!" Suddenly I had a bigger toddler in a cute purple dress coat and pigtails staring inquisitively at me. "Hi," she said to me shyly. "she's a wittle baby!" she said excitedly while jumping up and down to her sister. "Why yes she is! Not a big girl like you!" her mom said as she came down to my level. "It's nice to meet you Sofia, Camille has told me all about you." I blushed. "Nice to meet you too," I said softly. "Shhh..." she said. "We'll talk more when we get to our hotel." "Do you have everything Camille?" her dad asked. "I think so," she said. "Ready, Cassidy Bug?" Camille asked her little sister. "Uh-huh!" she said excitedly. "Uppy Cami!" "I need to push Sofia," she started to say, but her mom interrupted. "I've got Sofia, you can hold Cassidy," her mom told her. "Okay," Camille said and looked at my face to make sure I was okay with it. I gave her a slight nod and just kind of zoned out as I was pushed through the train station. I was just wondering how we were getting to the hotel when I realized we were at the entrance to a subway. Without warning, hands appeared out of my view and picked me up and I found myself in the hands of my 'grammy.' "You are so light!" she told me quietly before bouncing me up and down. "Honey, can you get the stroller folded up?" "Yes sweetheart," her husband said. I looked at her more closely from my view from her hip. Camille's mom didn't really look that much like her. While Camille was fairly petite, her mother while not severely obese, was larger than her. Her face was kindly with her hair styled very nicely down below her shoulders. It was obvious that she was dressed in expensive fashions just based on the way the clothes flattered her larger frame. When Camille mutated, I knew she had changed a lot to look more like the elves, but I could tell she had her mother's chin and nose still at least. I watched as she placed a pass for the subway through the card reader before carrying me through. I had read the sign that said children under forty-four inches were free, so I had no doubt that applied to me. I felt fingers tickle my side, and she asked, "Ready for a ride?" I gulped as a subway car screeched to a halt in front of us. I knew a baby would behave in one of two ways, cry and hide, or smile and be excited. A part of me, a large part of me, was nervous about it for some reason, but I chose option B. "Yay Grammy!" I said with a smile. She shifted my position as she found a seat sitting across from Camille and Cassidy. I couldn't help but smile as I watched Camille tickle and play with her sister that she hadn't seen since the beginning of the school year. It reminded me of how I used to be with Lily, and made me really homesick all of the sudden. Camille noticed my look and worriedly mouthed, 'Are you okay?' I nodded. Before I could even think of somehow pretending to be a baby and tell her how depressed I was though her mom began playing patty cake with my hands, followed by peek-a-boo, and several other embarrassing baby games before we reached our subway station for the hotel. I pretended to have a blast while she did so, giggling and smiling. 'Good girl,' Caireen told me. As we got off the subway, I caught signs that we were at 59th Street - wherever that was. Just before we boarded another train, I felt the intruding hand from Camille's mom checking my diaper. I was pretty sure it was wet by now. "Aww... you're wet aren't you Sofia?" She squeezed me. "We'll get you out of that wet diaper when we get to the hotel!" Like my own mom she couldn't seem to keep her comments about my toileting quiet. Camille looked sympathetic and apologized with her eyes. Cassidy said, "It's okay, you're just a baby Sofia," she told me. "One day you wear big girl panties wike me!" And with all of the discretion that a toddler has, she pulled her dress up to show me her dry pull-up. "Cassidy," Camille scolded lightly and pushed her dress back down. "Big girls don't show everyone their panties." "Sowwy Cammy..." Camille just hugged her so she knew she wasn't mad and we boarded the next train. I watched the people as the subway car sped towards wherever our next stop was. A teenage girl about our age smiled at me and waved. I shyly smiled at her and waved back with as awkward of a motion as I could. "She's adorable!" the girl said to Camille's mom. "Thanks," she told her with a smile. "How old is she?" "Eighteen months," she said with a smile. "Learning all sorts of things now and running around with nothing that slows her down." She squeezed me for a moment. A ding announced that we were at 5th Avenue and 59th Street and everyone stood up with Camille's mom placing me on her hip. 'Cassidy really missed Camille,' I said to Caireen. 'Yes, I think she did. You may be spending a lot of time in 'Grammy's' arms on this little vacation,' she told me. I sensed a smile behind her voice. 'What?' I asked. 'I do believe you're finally getting in the spirit of things here Sofia,' she said. She didn't elaborate any more as we moved through the crowds towards an escalator. I just played my role as the good baby and looked around. An older lady just in front of us smiled at me and waved nicely. A guy behind Camille glared at me the whole time and I had to wonder if I had gone in my diaper without realizing it. As I looked at him more there was something that seemed vaguely familiar about him, but I felt certain I didn't know him. Camille's mom bounced me in her arms as we neared the top and she said, "Want to ride in your stroller now?" I just nodded, I didn't really care one way or another. Walking around on my own in New York City was probably not a good idea I decided as the crowds seemed to thin a little. I looked around some more and realized we were in front of a huge hotel that I recognized, even before I saw the name - it was the plaza. I remembered watching a movie about Eloise at the Plaza as a kid, and I couldn't deny I was really excited to stay there! Camille must have felt the same way. "We're staying at the Plaza?" she asked excitedly. "I figured if we were going to meet you in New York City for Thanksgiving it would be a good place to stay," her dad said with a smile. "I can't believe it!" Camille said, obviously excited. 'What's the significance of this hotel?' Caireen asked. 'You're asking me a question?' I asked, kind of startled. 'You have access to my memories?' 'It's kind of jumbled there...' I smiled again myself, 'Probably because I had to pretend not to like that movie and the books... Eloise was a fictional little girl who lived at the Plaza full time and caused all sorts of mischief to happen. She and this hotel have almost become synonymous, I guess... I remember as a little girl wanting to come here... They have a room that's a special suite with her name in it. I'm sure we're not staying there though.' 'Hmm... You said when you were a little girl?' I turned red, 'I was sure even younger that I should have been a girl... too bad I had to take the route I did to be one.' Before our conversation could go any further, we walked through the doors and into an amazing hotel. "Why don't we go up to our rooms and change Sofia and drop your stuff off," her mom directed. "Can we come back down to the Eloise shop then?" Camille asked. She looked like she had lost about ten years of age herself right then. Her mom laughed. "Yes, then we'll go get a bite to eat." I sucked on my pacifier as my stroller was pushed down halls they obviously had gotten to know before we arrived. An elevator ride later and we were pushed down to a set of adjoining rooms. Sadly, it wasn't THE suite! I saw a portable crib in one of the rooms and knew I would be the one sleeping in it. As I looked at it, I couldn't help but notice it was so plain compared to my others! "Cassidy why don't you go potty?" Camille's mom asked as soon as we got in the door. "Cammy help me?" she said as she dragged her sister towards the bathroom in the other room. "Mom, Sofia's diapers and stuff are all in the bag," Camille said. "I figured," she told her with a smile as I was lifted from the stroller and placed on the couch. Camille's mom laid out my changing pad and lay me back on it. "So, Sofia, how are you doing? Your mom is worried about you." I smiled at her, grateful for a chance to not pretend for a few moments at least while Cassidy was elsewhere. "I guess I'm doing okay. It's really weird not being with Hannah right now... and missing my family for Thanksgiving is already making me feel a bit lonely." I realized that was the first time I had even admitted that to myself. She nodded as she wiped me gently. "I hope you'll think of us as your extended family this week. Have you ever been to New York?" I shook my head. "No, I'm kind of excited to see things actually." "I hope we'll be able to see a lot of those things this week! We came here to visit with my sister's family - they live in the Upper West Side not from here, right along Central Park. We'll go to their apartment for Thanksgiving Day. Tomorrow we'll go out to Ellis Island and Liberty Island so you can see the Statue of Liberty. Tonight hopefully we'll be able to go ice skating tonight." "Cool!" I told her. "Do they make ice skates small enough for me?" "If they don't, I'm sure Camille or you can magic some up?" she smiled as she finished dressing me and Cassidy walked in. She simultaneously pushed my pacifier in my mouth as she picked me up. "Were you a good girl?" she asked her. "Yes mommy, I peed and pooed!" She pointed towards Camille. "Cammy saw me!" Camille smiled and looked at me. "Is Sofia all clean and dry now?" I held my arms out to her and she grabbed me from her mom and hugged me. "Yes," I told her. Before I was forced to do any more acting her dad reappeared from somewhere and said, "Everyone ready?" After an elevator ride downstairs, we went to the Eloise shop. They had left the stroller upstairs and Camille carried me and the diaper bag for a few moments before I wriggled saying. "Down!" I walked up to a display of cloth dolls and instantly fell in love with them for some reason. "Aww..." her mom cooed above me as Cassidy also joined me. "Mommy?" she asked. "I don't know..." she said with a smile. I watched her also take and look at the tags for ages and thought for a moment. Her eyes latched on mine for a moment. "Pwease?!?" Cassidy begged. She would probably have gone into a full toddler meltdown if she hadn't said, "Well I guess I'll have to buy one for all three of my little girls, huh?" I looked up at her and noticed Camille apparently was beaming - apparently happy not to be left out. There were a few other items picked up like some books before we checked out and I was being once again carried by Camille's mom while holding the doll. "Thank you," I told her. "You're very welcome," she said as she hugged me. "What are grandchildren good for if you can't spoil them!" Apparently, dinner was to be in one of the hotel restaurants that night. Her dad had reservations and we were quickly seated with just a couple glares from the Ma?tre D. A highchair was brought over for me, but Camille's mom held me instead of putting me in right away. "Cammy can you give me one of her bottles?" "Sure mom," she told her. I watched as she reached in the bag and found one of my milk bottles and discreetly performed a quick spell to heat it. "Here," she told her. Her mom seemed surprised that it was warm and glanced at her. She sat it down on the table in front of us for a moment while the waiter took our food orders. I wasn't asked, and I had a feeling I was going to have to share with her mom. Camille stopped the waiter though and said, "Can we get an extra plate of pasta for my niece," she said pointing towards me. "Certainly," he said and walked away. Camille's mom shifted me into the crook of her arms as she popped the cover off of the bottle. I watched as she instinctually tested it on her wrist before pulling my pacifier from my mouth and replacing it with the bottle. I hadn't realized how hungry I was and ravenously nursed. Camille had passed over a bib that she used as a burp cloth when I finished. I was cuddled for a moment before finding myself strapped into the high chair with the bib now around my neck. I found myself a spectator as Camille's dad, whose name I discovered was Jack, began pressing her about how things were going. "So how are your classes going?" "Good," she answered as she nibbled on a piece of the bread that had been left at the table. Camille's mom, Ashley I learned, passed me my own piece after giving one to Cassidy. Cassidy was sitting in her booster seat quietly coloring a coloring book her mom had handed her. "Just good?" her mom asked. Camille sighed. "I have extra help all the time you know... it's really not that hard for me." 'Hmm... I really should talk to Camille more about being an avatar,' I thought to myself. 'She is a very similar young lady,' Caireen replied. "How about friends?" her mom asked. "Well, Esmie and I..." I sat on the sidelines and was actually entertained to hear about Whateley from her eyes. She didn't tell any secrets, or anything normal people who weren't at Whateley shouldn't know, but she had plenty of stories I'd yet to hear. As the conversation petered off her dad asked, "So any boys?" I watched her nearly choke on her water right then. Thankfully for her sake she was saved by food being sat down in front of everyone. Camille's mom directed them to put my plate in front of her and Camille. I really wanted to just bring out my silverware, but I knew if I was really trying to pretend to be eighteen months, I probably wouldn't be that coordinated. Instead I let Camille and her mom trade turns feeding me the small plate of alfredo. Annoyingly I was still hungry when I finished the plate, but the idea of a baby my age finishing the plate definitely wasn't normal - two plates would just paint the mutant picture on me. I found my pacifier hanging from my shirt and began nursing on it hoping it would help my hunger. "She's a really good eater!" the waiter said with a smile. He had a very grandfatherly way about himself. "She didn't eat much for lunch today," Camille told him. "Yes, I remember my daughter used to skip a few meals and then all of a sudden eat. Toddlers never make sense!" Camille's mom laughed. "My kids have all been the same way!" Camille picked me up out of the high chair and felt my diaper. "Mom I need to change Sofia; do we want to just go upstairs to the room or find a bathroom down here?" "Why don't we go upstairs and change her and grab their strollers. Then I thought we could take a stroll down 5th Avenue towards Rockefeller Center." "Any chance we could go up to the top of Rockefeller?" Camille asked. Her mom shook her head. "Not tonight, I think we can do that tomorrow - we bought tickets for everyone this morning." "Cool!" I sat contentedly on her hip as she carried me back upstairs while her mom carried her sister. Camille wasted no time laying me on the bed on top of my changing mat. Cassidy had quickly been taken potty before she climbed on the bed next to me just as she pulled the second tape from my diaper. "She's poopy!" she told her. "Just a little," Camille said agreeing. I hadn't even noticed, but just turned off the caring about my embarrassment. Babies my age don't do anything else and I had to get over that. Once she had a new diaper on me, she made her own run to the bathroom to go pee and wash her hands. Cassidy played with her new doll and I wondered where mine was. I looked and saw it peeking out of my diaper bag so I pulled it out and held mine too. Cassidy was miming changing a non-existent diaper on her doll. I was just about to pretend to copy her when Camille came back out and her parents pushed both of our strollers. "Come on baby, let's put you in your stroller so we can go for a walk!" Camille cooed. I let myself be threaded into the harness of the stroller and let my pacifier drop. "Baba!" "Oh, are you hungry still?" she asked me with a smile. It sounded like Cassidy wasn't going into her stroller as quietly as I was. "Pwease," I told her. She dug around in the diaper bag and handed me another bottle warmed up and we were off. Along the route we somehow ended up mixed in with a tour group whose guide was explaining that the city was laid out on a grid and very consistent on spacing. I listened to him explain that the saying a 'New York Minute' meant how long it took to walk a block. I quickly grew bored of sitting in the stroller since I could only see so much from down there. I squirmed a bit and Camille checked on me as we were stopped at a street waiting for a crosswalk. "Uppie!" I told her as I pulled my empty bottle out of my mouth. She sighed. "I'll get you out when we get there. Only a few more minutes I think..." I groaned as she put the pacifier back in my mouth and took the empty bottle. I sulked a little as we walked down the street. I could just see this gigantic church that loomed over the street when she finally pulled me out of the stroller and placed me on her hip. "Daddy can you push her stroller?" Of course, since I wanted out so did Cassidy. The crosswalk allowed us to cross and I watched us near a Lego store! "Can we go?" I whispered to Camille. "I knew you were going to say that..." she said back to me quietly. "Mom, I need to get a gift for a friend at school, may we stop by here really quick?" Her mom looked at her and then me. I blushed a little, but she smiled and said, "Sure!" That led to a walk around the store and the amazing displays that were there. We walked out of there with a set of Duplo blocks for Cassidy, a set for me, and the set of Disney Princess themed ones for Camille's 'friend.' I was all smiles as I was deposited back into my stroller and buckled in. Before I knew it, we were now at Rockefeller Plaza and walking towards the skating rink. Her dad had picked me up out of the stroller while her mom carried Cassidy, Camille managed the strollers and headed to rent some skates with tickets. It turns out this was planned for quite a while as I learned while waiting that only a hundred and fifty people were allowed on the rink at a time. Camille leaned the stroller back to being almost a bed and then quickly lay me in there before covering the stroller with a blanket. "We need to change your diaper before you go out there," she told me. "I've never ice skated before," I told her quietly. "You're a baby, why would you have?" She smiled at me. After a quick and discreet diaper change, she laced the skates onto my feet and I was carried over to the ice rink. It was here that I learned Camille was almost as much of a novice as I was, but her mom was a master! She was soon teaching Camille, Cassidy, and I in turns. I fell on my butt several times and for once was grateful for a diaper as it cushioned my fall. One of the times a nearby teenage girl came over and said, "Oh is she okay?" "She'll be fine," Camille said from a few feet away as she tried to get to me. I just smiled. "I good!" I stood shakily back up and started skating again. With my short height and mutant powers, it wasn't like I was going to be hurt! With that realization I became the fearless toddler that I had seen on ski slopes so much of my life. Camille became frustrated that she couldn't keep up, calling, "Sofia get back here!" Her mom laughed at her. "I'll go get her." I had been so focused on getting faster and faster I hadn't noticed Camille calling my name. It was a bit of a shock then when I was picked up suddenly and hugged. "You're a natural!" I smiled when I realized who it was, but for a moment I almost panicked. I returned the hug around her neck and quietly asked, "You grew up skating?" She nodded as we skated back towards the others. "I was competitive with figure skating until high school." "Cool!" I told her. "How come Camille is so bad?" "She's always been scared to go ice skating and would scream as a kid if I tried on the rare occasion we were near a rink. I gave up," she shrugged a little. We had just made it back to the edge of the rink where Camille held onto the rail when I caught a massive flash of an explosion destroying the Statue of Prometheus above us! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 18: World's Collide ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ WITHOUT HESITATING I quickly threw a shield spell around Camille's family and myself! I instinctively knew Camille had to have done the same time, but even still there was a shower of sparks and I felt my shield lose some energy as a blast wave of metal and concrete hit my shield. All around us people were screaming in pain, babies were crying, and total chaos reigned around the rink. I noticed that the ice had cracked in a couple places and that we were the only ones that seem to have escaped the attack unharmed. "What the hell is going on?" her dad screamed. Camille looked at him from the ground and said, "Shut up Daddy and get Mom and Cassidy out of here!" I was just debating on whether it was wise to go ahead and unveil myself as a mutant when Caireen decided for me. I felt my new costume materialize, complete with my pacifier face mask. "I thought you were pretending..." Camille's mom started to say as I leaped out of her arms. "Screw that," I said, "I can't let people die!" I watched Camille quickly perform a spell to remove her ice skates as she put on her own costume magically. As I watched her, I realized my own ice skates were gone too, and I just hoped my shoes would keep traction on the ice. I began scanning for the enemies that would attack this place. 'Terrorists, mutants?' I asked myself. I found myself drawn to a single figure that curdled my blood and caused Caireen to scream in rage within me. Impossibly amidst the chaos above us, and standing where the statue had been, stood... Rosemerta! I found myself moving quickly across the ice towards the remnants of the statue, tuning out the bodies I had to jump over. I silently hoped that not everyone around us was dead. As I reached the end, I watched heavily armed police officers shoot their automatic weapons at her. She just laughed them off and kept her eyes on me. "Princess, that's right, come to me!" She leaped off of the ledge that remained and I watched her arms morph into wings to glide in front of me. 'Do not underestimate her Sofia,' Caireen urged. 'We must hold nothing back here!' I nodded internally to her and used one of my blast spells to attack her. Impossibly she dodged the spell and laughed. "Oh baby, is that all your mommy has taught you?" I swore and began trying a number of other attacks that Caireen had been teaching me. All of them were ineffective or she dodged. Suddenly Camille was there and I watched as she attempted a spell to bind her with golden tendrils of magic. It reminded me of the cage she must have slipped out of in the castle. Sure enough, she laughed and with the swipe of her hand it vanished. Impossibly a second later the cage rematerialized around Camille. She stepped back towards me and I closed to attempt to kick her in the knee. I failed to move fast enough though! Rosemerta caught my foot, then grappled with me, turning me over her knee. "Bad Baby!" she screamed at me while bruising my butt with her swat. Before she could land another swat, I charged my skin with magic and she dropped me. "Gah!!!" she screamed. I noticed I caused her hands where she had been holding me, to start smoldering. Some more cops began shooting at her as she started to come at me again. "Stupid mortals," she said and without warning she flew off and up towards the group of officers. "Watch out!!!!" Camille tried to warn them but it was too late by the time she rid herself of her bonds. She killed seven officers in seconds and returned towards us. "We have to end this now!" I told her. She nodded. "Any ideas?" Rosemerta landed in front of us and began coming closer to me. "I can't wait to spank that bottom of yours for real Princess - that was just a taste of the punishment coming your way. I can't believe you've been so lucky!" She was within a couple paces now. "It's not luck," I told her. "What do you call it?" "Courage," Camille answered for me. I looked down at the ice beneath her feet. With that I knew there was only one spell I had not yet tried against her and shuddered with the hopelessness that it brought me. I didn't stop to think about it anymore though and invoked the spell Caireen had taught me to freeze a person. "Wha?!?!" She had enough time to say before her whole body turned solid. I looked at Rosemerta and wondered if she would be dead or just temporarily disabled. That was when several bullets went through her frozen head and gory shards of iced brains exploded everywhere. I looked up at Camille with tears in my eyes and my arms held up to her. Out of the corner of my eye I just caught the sight of a familiar looking man wearing a hat running away from the edge of the upstairs area. 'He was on the train...' CAMILLE HAD HELD me for several long moments while I cried before we became aware of the police officers that had guns leveled at us. "Identify yourselves!" one officer commanded. "I'm Sora, and this is Emerald Baby," she said in a calm voice. "Why did you destroy the statue?" One screamed at us. I was flabbergasted and about to respond when a costumed superhero appeared. "Officer, I believe you are wrongly accusing these heroes." I twisted my head and looked to see a lady who appeared to be the heroine called Lioness from the Empire City Guard. "They were right here when it happened!" "Yes, we were here, but we were just skating." Camille said calmly. Before he could speak again another man in a suit came towards us. "Agent Carmichael, FBI," he identified himself to the others. One of the officers started. "This is..." "Officer, you will stop there. Emerald is a member of the Agency, and we have no doubt that she was only protecting her family and other civilians. You may meet us at our office to question her for more details, but understand she will not under any circumstances be detained." "Agent Emerald," he said looking at me. "We have Sora's family in a vehicle up on the street level. We'd like to go down to the office and get an official statement." "Sir we had to change rather quickly into our costumes, would you be able to keep the security footage safe?" Camille asked. "It's already done. It is imperative that Emerald's identity being known." I nodded. Camille carried me up to the street level. All around us was chaos as paramedics performed triage and did their best to treat the wounded from Rosemerta's attacks. Sadly, I saw several sheets being dragged across individuals. A paramedic was screaming as he realized the futility of treatment with a little girl who was Lily's age. I found fresh tears going across my face, 'Caireen how could she do this?' 'She was a monster,' she responded. 'Is she really dead?' 'Maybe...' she said simply. 'Is there anything I can do for...' 'Sofia, one of the sad things with monsters is they will always exist. All you can do is attempt to extinguish them before they harm too many. Today could have been much worse.' 'She was there for me, wasn't she?' 'Yes.' "Sofia?" Camille asked, "Are you hurt?" I looked up at her and saw her own tear streaked face. "Not too bad physically," I responded as we had a door of a black suburban opened for us. "Camille!!!" her mom practically screamed in relief as she hugged her. Her dad did his best to do the same while holding a shaking Cassidy who I saw had an accident with everything, but seemed to be fine otherwise. I used a spell to change her clothes to a new set and dried her. Her dad and mom looked at Camille, who pointed at me. "Sorry, I know wet clothes are no fun." "Neither are stinky pants?" Camille asked me. I shook my head. "Anyone happen to grab my bag?" Camille's mom looked guilty. "Sorry sweetie." I sighed, 'Any chance Caireen?' I felt her thinking to herself, 'For now just this one time. You know how to do it.' 'Really?!?!?!' I asked excitedly. 'Really. Don't forget to include the cleaning spell!' I thought to myself for a moment to make sure I wouldn't mess up the spell before using it. Camille looked at me in shock, she had felt the change since she'd been holding my bottom at the time. "You changed yourself?" she asked. "she said this one time she would let me!" I smiled and hugged her. Camille's parents looked a little lost about the whole thing. Cassidy was lost to the world in shock while nursing her thumb. "She hasn't been allowed to change herself," Camille told her mom. "But you just did?" "My spirit finally let me!!!!!" I smiled and squealed a bit. "Maybe someday soon I won't have to depend on everyone else for that." The ride after that was noticeably less aromatic for everyone else, so I'm sure they were all quite content with the results. Our crowded vehicle pulled to a stop in front of the building that the FBI's main offices in New York City were headquartered, and I felt a little in awe. The door was opened for us and Camille carried me on her hip up to the first security point. After a few nervous moments we were all through and everyone was given visitor badges except me. I almost squealed again as it was kind of cool to be given a tag instead that said 'Agent Emerald.' "Please come this way," an agent said while directing us to a bank of elevators. When we exited them and were led to a waiting room. Looking at Camille's parents. "I'm sure one of you will want to be in the room as we debrief your daughter and 'granddaughter,' would the other mind staying here with your other daughter?" Camille's mom and dad seemed to do some sort of mental conversation before he passed Cassidy over to her. "I'll go in with them." "Thanks," he said simply and we were led further down past open office bullpen areas and to another conference room. "Would you like anything to eat or drink?" he asked us. "Juice?" I asked tentatively. "Does she need a bottle for that?" he asked Camille. "She'll be fine with whatever you have - she's older than she looks," she said with a smile. Camille sat down in a chair next to her dad and proceeded to squeeze me tight. "Hannah is going to kill me..." "Oh shit, she'll find out from the news..." I said panicked. "No, I texted her on the way," she told me. I hadn't even noticed - that was sad. The door opened again and an older agent held out his hand. "I'm Agent Caruthers, I'm in charge of this office for the Bureau." "I'm Sora, this is Emerald, and this is my father," Camille introduced. "Also known as Camille and Sofia," he said with a smile. "Sir you know you aren't supposed to..." Camille's dad said. "Don't worry, this room has been swept twice today. I actually need to get Sofia up to speed for some changes in her assignment coming up while she's here. That's how we made it to the scene so fast, we were going to be making contact with her... We'll only use their codenames when the wonderful officer from NYPD and the MCO representative show up in a minute." "MCO?" I asked nervously. "Don't worry, you're safe from arrest due to your credentials Emerald," he told me. "Oh, which I see they gave you a name badge, but they didn't give you a proper badge and shield yet, did they?" He smiled. He handed me a folder badge like I had seen on TV all of my life. When I opened it, I read my code name and saw the golden shield with an eagle at top. 'Federal Bureau of Investigation' and 'Department of Justice below it with the picture from my MMID. I felt a bit in shock as it blew my mind to have one of these. "This is..." "Really cool?" he finished for me. "I must have practiced flipping that open a hundred times the first day I got mine." His smile was genuine and I was grateful to have an ally in that room. I smiled back at him. "Thank you sir." "You might put that away for now, but I think you'll need it when the local MCO idiot gets here." I gaped at him. "I see you have as low of an opinion of them as I do." "Probably lower," he admitted. "Depending on the officer the NYPD sends down be warned there are too many of them on the Humanity First rolls right now." I nodded. "The one that tried to accuse us initially is probably one of those." Barely two seconds after I had placed it in the same small purse that I carried my MMID in, the door opened again. Two men walked in at the same time, one dressed in a suit, and other more casually with an NYPD Detective's shield on his belt. "Detective, let's get this fugitive in handcuffs already and get her out of here," the man in the suit said. "Detective you might want to disregard that order until you get all of the facts," Agent Caruthers said as he interposed himself between us. "This mutant blew up a statue in Rockefeller Plaza! What more facts do you need?" The man in the suit argued. "Sir, you are?" Camille's dad asked coolly. "Agent Kenton, MCO division head for New York City." He turned his head for a moment and then looked back at Caruthers. "This mutant also has an outstanding warrant for her arrest in connection with terrorist actions in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She and her accomplices attacked MCO agents as they fled and are responsible for the deaths of two agents and the destruction of millions of dollars of property!" "Are you finished yet?" Camille's dad asked. 'Has Camille ever said what her dad does?' Caireen asked. I thought back hard, which with my improved memory didn't take long, 'I'm sure she's never said.' As if to prove that right he pulled out a folio badge and said, "I'm Jack Jennings, D.O.J. Special Counsel." I looked at Camille who somehow both looked proud and embarrassed at the same time. The MCO agent looked back at him and said, "No I'm not finished, I won't be finished until she's in our custody." "That won't be happening," I heard Agent Caruther's and her dad say at the same time. "Let's introduce everyone properly first." Somehow, I caught a little nod from him and so I pulled out my own badge. "Agent Emerald, F.B.I." I was proud of my flip out with no practice and inwardly squealed. "But..." "And this is my daughter, Sora," her dad said protectively placing his hands on her shoulders. "she's Agent Emerald's friend ,and she's staying with us for the holidays." The NYPD detective seemed to have a bit more common sense. "I'm Detective Nance," he had just said before the door opened again, this time Lioness came in and joined us. "Hello again," she said to everyone. I swore her gaze landed on Agent Kenton and bore through him. "Now that everyone's here why don't we take our seats?" Agent Caruthers motioned calmly around the conference table. Lioness sat down next to the other side of Camille and I, while her dad was on her other side. The detective and Agent Kenton sat across from us and Caruthers sat at the head of the conference table. "Now then," he said, "I'm hoping we can all behave professionally to determine what happened here today. Agent Emerald, would you please start?" I sighed. "Yes sir," I answered. "How in the hell can you claim she's an agent, she's a baby!?!?!" Kenton seethed. "If she's a baby how could you think to arrest her as a terrorist ten seconds ago?" Mr. Jennings asked smoothly. "She's a mutant!" "Well, perhaps she's not just a baby then?" he asked. "You really do need to make up your mind, you can't have things both ways? As it stands Agent Emerald is eighteen years old, it's unusual for the FBI to have an agent that young, but there is nothing against them doing so." He shut up and seemed to pout; I could imagine steam coming out of his ears. "May I begin?" I directed towards the others. I decided this was a moment to shed the baby persona as much as possible and jumped from Camille's lap onto the table to stand in front of her. "I came here with the Jennings family for Thanksgiving Break when some other plans fell through. Sora and I arrived this afternoon and we had walked down from our hotel to the Plaza for some sight-seeing. Her mom had arranged for us to ice skate and we had just been skating for a while, and I had gotten a little way away from Sora." I tried to think back if there were any warning signs before then. "Her mom had just come to get me to rejoin her family when the statue overhead exploded. I instinctively put up a magical shield around all of us to try and protect everyone." I looked at Camille and she nodded her approval. "I did simultaneously as well. It's a good thing both of us did it, since that explosion was intense." "I'll say, Rockefeller and all of the nearby buildings are evacuated pending structural assessments. We think there's significant damage to a couple of them," Detective Nance said. "I think they'll be all repaired sufficiently for now," Lioness said, "My team, and another, were working on it when I left. I was a little bit intimidated then with the thought that a major superhero group and I now were sort of working together. "What happened next?" Lioness asked me gently while she seemed to be nervously doing something with a staff she carried. "I made sure everyone was okay and changed into my costume to try and avoid recognition." She smirked at that, but I continued. "As I jumped out of Camille's mother's arms, I noticed a figure who must have been responsible for the attack. She recognized me and began attacking me." "Recognized you?" Detective Nance asked, his eyes narrowing. 'Careful Sofia, you can't let out too much.' I sighed. "We've had some run-ins on another... astral plain of existence. I didn't think she could exist in the normal world." "Go on," Mr. Jennings coaxed. In about ten more minutes I had told the full story of the fight from my perspective. It was like the debriefings I'd heard some of the other kids talk about the last week from their combat simulator time, and just as frustrating to me. A cell phone announcing a text sounded off and I watched Agent Caruthers look. "Okay, here let's watch the video of this to confirm their story." What amazed me most about the video, shot from an NBC camera that always was directed at the plaza, was the fight was really over so quickly. From explosion to the bullets to Rosemerta's head, just three minutes had elapsed. I looked at the edge of the screen and sure enough saw a man run as soon as he saw Rosemerta destroyed. "Looks like it confirms their story to me," Agent Caruthers said. "You have the remains of the villain in custody, correct?" he asked the MCO agent. I could tell he was angry. "No, somehow she thawed out, regrew her head, turned into a bat, and flew away!" I would have laughed if it wasn't so familiar. "That's not the first time I've seen her do something impossible like that," I responded aloud. "Who is she? And... what is she?" Detective Nance asked. "Her name is Rosemerta and she's a vampire," I told him. Agent Kenton snorted. "There's no such thing." "Not what you all have in your common myths. Vampires were real long ago, but they didn't suck blood, they fed on essence from magic users they attacked. For her to be as powerful as she was - she has killed a lot of people..." "Why was she there?" Agent Caruthers asked. "If I had to guess it was probably to kill me," I said honestly. "What?" Mr. Jennings asked in tandem with every other voice in the room. "In the other plane that I spoke of, we have a war that just started. She has tried to capture me several times there, and her King attempted to kill me in the last attempt. I never would have dreamed that she would be able to appear here. I wonder if that means others?" "I'm satisfied that Agent Emerald did nothing that makes it even possible for you to think of arresting her today," Agent Caruthers said to Agent Nance. "But what about the outstanding warrant?" "She and all involved have been given immunity for all parts of the incident," Mr. Jennings stated. "By who?!?" he practically screamed. "By the Attorney General for United States of America," Agent Caruthers answered coldly. "Detective Nance I appreciate your much politer behavior than you've demonstrated in the past. We may be able to get along better in the future thanks to that." He nodded. "Would you please help escort Agent Kenton back to the scene so he may conclude his investigation?" "Sure," he said simply. I could tell there was no love lost there, but apparently maybe he was turning over a new leaf. I watched as Kenton spluttered some more but allowed himself to be led from the room. "Now that he's gone, what else is going on?" Mr. Jennings asked me. 'What do I say?' I asked Caireen. 'You can trust them, but make them swear on the secret.' "I will share everything with you, but only if you take a vow to not disclose it to anyone outside of this room." Caruthers looked a little hesitant, but in the end they all agreed to be bound by an enchanted oath that I gave. I spent a half-hour giving them all a cliff notes version of the war in Caireen's Kingdom. When I was done, I said, "There may be a clue in that video, can you zoom into video with this system?" Caruthers nodded. "Devisors are handy to have around. Where?" I pointed at the man and as the image cleared and I got a good look at him I shuddered. "He looks like an older version of King Camulus's son that he wanted me to marry." "Not good," Camille said. "Not good at all," I told her. "Are they like avatars or actually from the other realm?" Camille's voice changed to her spirit's. "I can't say, but either option is very bad for all of us. I know of his father and he's a ruthless man." "Just why are they so interested in you?" Lioness asked. "My avatar spirit is a minor goddess," I said. At me calling her a 'minor goddess' I felt Caireen gripe. "In the other realm she is the queen of a great kingdom. When she joined with me, she chose to make me her daughter there. I guess that means that I'm the heir to the kingdom. King Camulus wants me to marry his son so he can take over our lands." "He wants a baby to marry a grown man?!?" Lioness asked. I sighed. "Well he'd like to use some sort of magic to bring me back to my real age." "Even still, that would be awful," Mr. Jennings said. "Not going to lie, I'm not a fan of that plan - and neither is Caireen!" I scowled a bit at it all. "Should we go ahead and arrange for me to go back to Whateley? I hate to endanger your family." He shook his head. "No, you and Camille handled that just fine, and we'll get some extra protection now from the Empire City Guard now if I had to guess." Lioness nodded. "You're adorable, if anything happened to you here it would be unacceptable to us." "What about the casualties from today?!?" I asked angrily. Agent Caruthers shook his head. "It's not the first time something like this has happened. You'll notice that it took three minutes for the whole thing, and really police opened fire seventy seconds in. The casualties were from the initial blast and the police officers she attacked..." "How many?" I asked coldly. I was sure that chill in my voice was especially unnerving given my size and its pitch. "Fifteen dead, twenty in critical care, eighty-six serious condition, and another hundred needed light care." I felt the tears run down my face and let Camille pick me up and give me a hug. I stayed there for a few moments before I calmed down some. I fought with all my might the urge to ask for a pacifier or place my thumb in my mouth. After I calmed down, I gave Camille another squeeze and turned to look back at the rest of the group. "What do we do now?" I asked. "Well, it's late and you probably should head back to your hotel," Agent Caruthers said, "I do need a few moments with you alone though before you leave, Agent Emerald." I nodded and motioned for the others to go. Lioness came by and said, "This wasn't your fault," and gave me a hug before she left too." "Okay Sofia, I don't have a lot of extra time to waste with everything here. Agent Sanders is on his way here to the city as we speak and he needs to meet with you tomorrow. He said we need to get some time in for you at a range, and maybe a few other quick training exercises in a simulator. Fortunately, you go to Whateley and already had martial arts experience before then." "I think they said we would be going to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty tomorrow." "I understand that's your morning plans. I think we could go ahead at lunchtime get Lioness to bring you back here first to meet with Agent Sanders, and then you can go back with her to the Empire City Guard's headquarters. They have a good training facility there that you can work at." I nodded. "So until then?" "Lioness will escort you back to your hotel, and then another Guard member will take over for her there with being a bodyguard so she can get some rest." I sighed. "So much for thinking I could have a quiet holiday." He laughed. "Agent Emerald, you go to Whateley - I swear we have a major incident from at least one of their students in this city every single holiday break! The only city with a worse rap is Boston!" I laughed lightly. "I've heard plenty of stories." I hated that mine was now one of them and people had died. Their ghosts would probably haunt me forever. He offered me his hand which I took it and shook it. "Sofia, you did nothing wrong, you can't blame yourself for what happened. The only thing you can do is keep pushing forward and do your best to stop things like this from getting worse - which is what you did!" "Thanks," I told him awkwardly and then I jumped off the table and walked to the door that he opened for me. Outside Camille and Lioness waited, I held my hands up to Camille and she carried me on her hip down the hallway to her parents and Cassidy. She felt my diaper and sighed. "You really need a new diaper Em." "Em?" "Emerald is a lot to say!" she defended herself. "Next thing it'll be Emmy" "Hmm... I like that!" I groaned. "Unfortunately, my diaper bag and everything is still in the locker we put everything in?" Camille's mom was standing there and shook her head. "No, here you go," she said and handed the missing bag to Camille. "One of the agents was kind enough to grab it for us. The stroller will be locked up in evidence until forever, but at least you have everything else." I nodded and smiled a bit. "Let's go find somewhere to change that diapee," she told me with a smile. Fifteen minutes later we were in another unmarked suburban heading back to the Plaza. I nursed a bottle all the way back doing my best not to burst into tears. I fell asleep sometime before we got to the hotel and didn't remember them putting me to bed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 19: Tourists ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I WOKE UP looking through the bars of my crib and seeing no sign of anyone else. I found myself standing at the bars of a new crib and couldn't help but wonder where Caireen was. Having no other choice, I started crying at the top of my lungs to get her attention. She came in and said, "There, there, baby, let's get you cleaned for the day." "How are things here?" I asked. "We'll talk about that in a while after your bath. For now, I want you just to act like a normal baby and take a break." she told me. Somehow, I forced myself to smile and hugged her. "There's my little baby girl! I bet she would like her nice warm bath!" I was actually kind of hungry and decided to act like she expected and reached for her dress. "Oh, I hadn't even thought of how hungry you probably are!" She turned around and found a cushioned window seat in the hallway and began nursing me. While she nursed me, I couldn't help but think of all of the deaths that were my fault from yesterday. Not to mention all the deaths that were occurring and would occur here while Camulus sought to catch me, and to bring Caireen to her knees. I felt the tears going down my face when she suddenly moved me to her other breast and began speaking softly. "There, there, baby. Just relax for a time, the world has gone mad, but for the moment you are safe here..." When I was finished, she burped me and took me to the oddly modern bathroom with running water and a beautiful clawfoot bathtub. She undressed me and herself before slipping into the water with me. She massaged some soap and a cloth against my skin gently and I couldn't help but relax some more. Caireen washed my hair gently, and I realized how rarely she'd bathed me here. After she was done scrubbing me, she splashed water at me - occasionally tickling me or playing with my toes until we both had the giggles. Eventually she sighed and called for a servant who handed her a towel that she swaddled me in. "Your Majesty, I took a set of clothes for Princess Sofia to your room so you both may dress there?" "Thank you, Fiera," she told her with a smile. She carried me through a couple back passages to her room. I was quickly diapered and placed in a beautiful green dress that was more ornamented with frills, stitching, and embroidery than anything I had ever worn before. She carefully placed my tiara on my head, kissed my head, and then placed me down on her bed. I watched as she dressed in a regal gown that matched my own. It was the perfect mother and daughter set of dresses. 'I might just have to make a set of these for Hannah and I to wear on campus,' I thought to myself. "Okay Sofia," she said while opening her arms up, "let's go find some place where we can talk." It felt so comfortable and safe in her arms; something I really craved after the chaos and death in the real world. I still couldn't believe that people had died, and all because they happened to be where I was... Caireen walked through the hallways to a room covered with maps and charts that I knew had to be the war room. Several of her generals were in the room and all snapped to attention and bowed to Caireen. "Your Majesty, Your Highness," her top general greeted us. "General," Caireen said and she stepped towards a chair at a circular table that seemed grander than the others. A matching highchair was to its right and I was sat gently in it before she took her own seat. "Princess Sofia, I am so sorry for the loss of life in your world," the general began. "I regret it more than I can say." "How did that happen?" I asked forcefully. "Gut feeling?" He asked to which I nodded. "I believe that she and King Camulus have decided that the best way to utterly defeat us here was to send others to take residence in bodies of people in your world and attack you there." "So, these are avatars?" "Well, his son at least should be... I'm unsure of Rosemerta. Nothing she does makes sense. If she was simply an avatar what you did and the shattering of her head from the gunshots should have killed her!" "What if she's a mutant with extraordinarily high regen?" I asked Caireen. "It could be that... but I think she had stored enough essence to travel there... and do whatever it is she does..." She sighed. "Either way she can't take hits like that forever without dying. I highly recommend next time though you immediately burn her remains. We will do the same if we capture her again in this world." "And Camulus's son? Maponus." "Yes," Caireen answered. "What kind of crazy person names their kid that? And they want me to marry him? And have... with him?!?" I was near the verge of tears and couldn't even imagine having that with him! I held back from crying though, took a deep breath, and asked, "So, what are they going to try next in my world?" "I don't know," was the simultaneous reply from her and the general. For the next hour we dissected every bit of the attack before Caireen carried me to a quiet place window bench to nurse me. When we returned, I was shown an update on where King Camulus's forces were. "How soon will he be here?" I asked nervously. "We believe he'll be here sooner than our original estimates. Maybe even by the New Year in your world," one of the General's men answered. Plans were revised and arguments went on and on about the placement of troops and when to abandon villages in their path. Most of the civilians were being evacuated to the castle's surrounding areas until they got closer. They could be held inside the castle walls for a very long siege. The concern was the siege wouldn't be long as Camulus had somehow broken through the defenses of several other similar castles recently with impunity. As I was getting tired of the round and round nature of the discussion, Caireen picked me up and we left them to it. She led me down to the dungeons and said, "Okay, we need more attacks for you..." Caireen spent a couple hours teaching me some new possibilities for doing things like Camille did with the tendrils to capture Rosemerta. "But it didn't work with her!" I said exasperated as I failed in my seventh attempt to ensnare a doll on the ground. "You have more than one enemy Princess," she told me, making a chill run down my spine. About the time I had finally succeeded ten times with that new spell there was a knock on the door. "Enter!" Caireen called loudly. A man dressed in what looked like nineteenth Century fencing clothing came in. "Your Majesty, Your Highness," he said with a low bow. "you asked for me to come?" "Yes, Sir d'Artagnan, I did." "What may I do for you?" "Please teach my daughter how to fight using this blade," she said and pulled out what would look like a long knife to an adult, but to my size looked like it was a little longer than a short sword. "Great, I'm like a Hobbit with a dagger..." I groaned. "Your Majesty?" he asked confused. "But she's just a b?be..." "She will approach her training with the maturity of one who has come of age, she must be able to fight when the time comes. We both know this war won't end without an attack here." He looked at me again and pondered things for a moment before saying. "It will be my honor Your Majesty. I will insist on some proper clothing?" "As long as I don't have to have fur on my feet," I agreed. Both of them looked at me like I was mad. I just shrugged and was soon clothed in what I could only think of as nineteenth Century fencing clothes. "These contain a spell that will keep any blade from cutting or piercing them," Caireen told me reassuringly before patting my diapered rear and sending me towards d'Artagnan to begin my training. That began two hours of abuse while he taught me the fundamentals of wielding the blade. I'd love to say we were having a film worthy knock down fight by the end, but the most I had done was swung the blade and stabbed the blade in what would otherwise be katas to me in my past Tae Kwon Do experience. By the time Caireen fed me dinner and lay me down in my crib I was feeling exhausted. "Caireen... was that THE d'Artagnan?" I asked sleepily. She kissed me on the forehead. "Yes Princess, but that is a story for another time." THE SOUNDS OF news on the TV and Camille moving around in our room woke me up. I sat up and stared at the screen through the crib bars. The scrolling bar at the bottom was giving updates about damages and casualties while a reporter stood in Rockefeller Plaza... or rather what remained of it. "Last night Rockefeller Plaza was rocked by a huge blast where the famous statue of Prometheus stood. The statue itself is seen on footage exploding like a large bomb. Following that we see a battle that is clearly begun and waged by mutants with no regard to the civilian population at hand. CNN has just obtained footage of this battle; this is exclusive and you'll only see it here." "Mom! Dad!" Camille quickly hollered through the adjoining room door while noticing me standing and watching. The footage started with a view panning around the buildings nearby and some of the bright signs down one of the nearby roads. The person had just reached a view of where you could see the statue, but not the ice rink, when the explosion happened and you could see the person fall to the ground. Screams, cries, and panic reigned then as the entire video became chaos. The videographer somehow dodged the fleeing crowd though to get to a view of the rink from the top level. Camille's mother and family had fled before then, but they managed to catch Camille and I as we ran up towards Rosemerta who was standing in the former statue's footprint. It was kind of scary watching myself and Camille fight her. I winced when she grabbed me and my nose landed on the ground. Then when I had finally frozen her, and the bullets rang out, the video cut back to the talking heads who discussed everything about the event. "There you have it ladies and gentlemen! We have no idea of who was on what side here, but given Lioness shows up and seems to defend the girl and very short mutant we have to believe they were on the good side." "Is that short one a baby???" one of the anchors asked incredulously. "She seemed to be the one that took the villain out too?" "It looks like it. Our staff is working on the video and enhancing it. Mike, do you think we have a zoom available on this yet?" Over her ear you can see her receiving instructions. "We hope to do better, but let's see what they've got so far." The video zoomed into where we were speaking to the police. You could see devisors were involved because there is no way someone's cell phone should have had the resolution to view us close enough to make a larger image of me. My pacifier mask kept my lower face from being seen, but it was pretty clear I was in a very short and juvenile dress with a diaper cover, over what clearly had to be a diaper. My cute shoes and tights seemed to only encourage the thought. The tiara on my head glistened and you would never have expected me to be able to do more than appear in a beauty pageant. Of course, that had been my intention since it could surprise an attacker. The tights were made of the latest Kevra, along with the dress and mask. "Okay, I have to say she is adorable!!!!" the lady anchor said. "She looks like she takes some of the costume designs after that Disney Cartoon that my daughter loves so much!" "Adorable but deadly, did you see how much damage her blasts did to the walls where she missed? The other girl was just as bad! How can we..." The TV was turned off and I saw Camille and her mom both looking at me concerned. I just shrugged. "Guess that was inevitable. At least so far they haven't found a video to figure out who I am?" The both nodded and Camille picked me up to give me a hug before saying, "We have a little bit of time for a quick bath before we go to breakfast." I nodded. "Okay." She gently picked me up out of the crib and laid me down on a changing pad she had sat on the bed. My nightgown and diaper were removed and I was carried over to the bathroom where Camille had already made a bath with some bubbles. I watched her quickly to see we were alone before she cast a privacy ward. "How are you doing Sofia?" she asked me. I shrugged with bubbles on my arms. "I don't know. People died yesterday because they just happened to be where I was. How am I supposed to be?" I could feel the tears in my eyes as Camille lifted my head and her voice changed. "Princess it is not your fault in any way. Monsters will always exist in every world - the only thing we may do is fight them till our last breath, or theirs. Yesterday you never hesitated and I know that Queen Aunghdadhail herself would have been proud. As it is, I'm certain that Queen Fey will at some point want to meet you." I just stared for a moment before muttering, "Thanks..." Camille's voice returned to normal. "Okay, so we have all morning that you're going to have to go back to pretending I think." I nodded. "I don't think anyone has video of me changing into my costume, but I'm sure there are enough cameras they can make a master list of people and babies to look at." Camille nodded. "I think you need to be sure to act like a normal baby this morning as we go see the Statue of Liberty." "Then it is still open?" I asked, kind of surprised. "The mayor came on and said security everywhere has been tightened, but at no time will he 'give in to terrorists.'" I sighed. "Okay." Camille took a few more minutes to wash my hair, soaped down my body, and then she played with me for a few minutes. Unlike when Hannah played with me, Camille used her magic like Caireen. I watched the bubbles in my bath change colors, become moving animals, dolls, castles, and we just had fun together for a bit. As she dried me off, I asked, "Do you do that for your sister?" She shook her head. "I try not to do magic around her so she doesn't accidentally tell someone something she shouldn't. I do some things every now and then, but my parents ask me to limit it." I nodded. "Lily definitely loved when I would play with her since I would create clothes for her dolls and bears..." I grinned. "Mom didn't like it - especially one time her... well that didn't work out so well." "Oh?" she asked as she ran a comb through my hair. "This sounds like a juicy story!" she smiled at me. "I don't have to tickle you to get this out of you, do I?" I gulped. "No need for the tickle monster to come out!" She laughed and playfully reached for my belly. "So... story?" "Okay, okay!" I squeaked. "I was making her a really cute princess dress... but I forgot to create a diaper for her outfit. She went to show Mom, and let's just say it was a good thing we were in the kitchen... the puddle she excitedly made would definitely have been worse to clean up anywhere else!" She laughed at me and continued to help me feel calm. Yesterday had been a nightmare and I just hoped today wouldn't be the same. A diaper was quickly taped on me, followed by a cute onesie with a short skirting to it, and then leggings over that. "Do I need to make a couple more strollers?" Camille asked her mom. "Can you?" "Sure," she said. I watched two strollers form in the space next to the door. They weren't the same as the ones from yesterday, instead looking like a matched set of pink and purple strollers that looked pretty comfortable. "Those look like Amy's daughter's stroller," her mom told her with approval. "Yeah, I thought of hers with them. We think Sofia needs to appear to be as innocent as possible today... I know that these work with those infant seats too." A moment later an infant style car seat with a handle appeared. "What?" I said nervously. "Well Sofia, they're looking for the mutant that's short and just happens to look like a baby, right?" I nodded, "Yes," feeling Caireen nodding with approval. "The idea of a baby who can still fit in and be carried in an infant carrier isn't likely to be noticed, right?" "Right," I sighed. "So how are you going to carry me and it? I remember getting tired of carrying my sister in hers when she was about sixteen pounds..." "Well, aren't you only twenty pounds?" I sighed. "Yes." "Then trust me, with my exemplar strength, there is no reason for you to worry. Besides," she said with a smile as she began helping my arms into my coat. "the reason I made these is that the seat goes into the stroller." Camille's dad came in a moment later with Cassidy in his arms. While I was laid into the car seat and strapped in, she was strapped into her new stroller. She had loved the pink one, so my car seat found itself being latched into the purple one. I hated the lack of movement possible as I sat strapped in there! I was grateful that a pacifier was pushed into my mouth by Camille as it let me soothe myself without saying anything I shouldn't! I sighed and just lay there as I was pushed down the hallway unable to really see anything other than Camille. 'This is worse than the stroller yesterday,' I whined. 'Oh hush, you know you look adorable in this, and the point is that I guarantee absolutely no one would possibly believe you are the baby who was on TV.' 'I hope you're right,' I told her. When we reached the elevator, an older lady looked at me and said, "Oh my, she has to be one of the most adorable babies I've ever seen!" "Thank you," Camille's mom said. "How old is she?" she asked. "Almost a year," she responded. "She's so cute!" I sat there while the torturous conversation went on about me with no interaction from me. Thankfully elevator rides never last forever and we were soon moving again. A restaurant in the hotel must have been decided on before I was woken up, because they knew where we were going and we were quickly seated. "Two high chairs?" the hostess asked Camille's mom. "Please," she said. Cassidy was sat into a high chair, and a bib placed on her by her mom. I didn't remember her having a bib yesterday, so I wondered if that was just because of it being breakfast? I was picked up out of the carrier and placed in a high chair as well and silently sighed in relief. I was half afraid I would be left in there like a newborn! I looked around a fairly high-end restaurant with nice crystal glasses and was sure that babies were not among their favorite patrons. I looked at Camille and said, "Baba!" "Okay, hold on Princess," she said with a smile and dug into my diaper bag. A moment later I was hungrily sucking on a bottle of Hannah's milk that she had warmed. 'I'm glad they managed to get that back...' I told Caireen. 'Wait, did you just say you were...?' 'Yes, I did, I miss her,' I added sadly. 'I know,' she said, 'maybe they'll let you call her again in a while?' 'Maybe...' Somehow during all of this there was a little bit of pancake placed on the table in front of me out of reach, already cut up and covered with some syrup and some eggs. Camille's mom took the empty bottle from me and began giving me a bite of my food every couple of moments while she fed herself too. Embarrassingly some of it ended up on my bib, face, and even a little in my hair. "So how are we getting there, Dad?" Camille asked. "We're getting a ride from your Aunt," he told her. "Cool," she said excitedly. When we finished her mom wiped my face with baby wipes, an intrusion I hated a lot, and then a finger found its way to my diaper and she said, "Camille why don't we go change Sofia, and take Cassidy to the big girl potty, while Daddy pays the bill?" As the supposed infant in this whole scene my opinion mattered not, so I was quickly strapped into the infant carrier with a pacifier placed in my mouth, and soon swinging from Camille's elbow as they walked to a nearby bathroom. She sat the carrier and my diaper bag down on the ground next to a large built in counter. Like always things were quickly and gently taken care of with my diaper, before I was once again strapped into the carrier. I kicked my legs a bit as my carrier was left on the floor next to a toilet that Camille sat down on. I was glad she had faced me to where I wasn't locked into looking at her at least, but the sounds of her peeing into the porcelain throne made me jealous. I heard Camille's mom talking to Cassidy. "Sweetie you need to tell me if you need to go potty..." Cassidy's sniffles could be heard from where I was in the carrier. "Let's get a new pull-up on you..." I felt bad for Cassidy as I heard her mom cleaning her up, but at least she had the ability to potty train! After what seemed like an eternity Camille picked my carrier up, washed her hands, and we all walked back to the table where her dad waited. He stood and helped Camille lock the carrier back into the stroller. "When is Aunt Michelle going to be here?" Camille asked him. "She called while you were in the bathroom and said she's outside waiting for us outside the main entrance." "Well then, let's not keep Michelle waiting any longer." I could hear the smile in Camille's mom's voice. They moved a lot faster once Cassidy was in her stroller and we were both wheeled through the hotel quickly to the main doors. When my seat popped out of its place in the stroller, I could see that we were getting into a... limo? Lots of excited conversations happened before we actually got in and I was introduced to my 'Great-Auntie Michelle,' who suitably cooed over me before my seat was latched into one of the parts of the back limousine bench by the driver and Camille's dad. Cassidy sat in a car seat that was already secured for her, and then I noticed another person who was just quietly sitting towards the front end of the limo. I looked for a moment and had trouble recognizing her for a second due to her not being in costume, but I realized it was Lioness! I waved at her and she waved back at me before making a 'shhh' sign to her lips with her finger. I frowned around my pacifier but nodded. I was definitely bored as I sat there sucking on my pacifier. Auntie Michelle seemed to notice because as she talked with everyone she asked, "Does she have a teething toy or something?" "Yeah, she also has a new doll she likes somewhere in here," Camille said as she went looking into the diaper bag for things, I knew weren't actually in there. A second later I had a brightly colored teething toy being dangled in front of me and I let the pacifier fall out so I could pretend that I was chewing on it. Embarrassingly it actually did feel kind of good to chew on. Camille also brought out my new Eloise doll and sat her next to me in the car seat. I became the center of attention for a few more minutes with cooing and other things coming from my auntie. Cassidy soon grew tired of not being played with and started crying about something. That re-focused the attention on her and I was able to just sit there quietly, mortified as I realized I seemed to easily appear to be a helpless baby. WHEN WE REACHED our destination and got out from the limousine, I was surprised to discover we were in New Jersey! Aunt Michelle explained to Camille that even with the drive out to New Jersey, it was quicker to travel there to get the ferry, and would be faster to get on a ferry later to come home. My seat was reattached to the stroller and we were taken through security. My diaper bag had to be opened and the liquid from a bottle was examined. "It's just breast milk," Camille's mom said, clearly a little annoyed. The lady looked like she was going to raise a fit, but another of the workers came and whispered in her ear before we were waved through. I looked at where Lioness was the best from my view and saw her wink at me. "Baba!" I told her mom as she held it in her hands. She sighed. "You just want to make us change your diaper sooner, huh?" She tickled me as she placed the bottle in my mouth and reclaimed the teething toy for the bag. Camille must have done a spell from next to me because it wasn't cold like I was afraid of. Thanks to our strollers, I figured we were pretty much stuck on the lower level of the ferry going out to the island. I was surprised though when a couple of trips together carried both Cassidy and I upstairs. To my relief I was let out of the harness and held on Camille's mom's hip, while Aunt Michelle held Cassidy on hers. "Ooh, can you see that?" she asked Cassidy. "That's the Statue of Liberty!" I sort of tuned her out as the announcements from the boat discussed emergency procedures and then told some of the story of immigrants coming to America. Time really did seem to pass quickly as we were unloaded onto Ellis Island. "Let's take Cassidy to the potty really quickly and change Sofia again before we start looking around," she told Michelle as Camille and her dad pushed our empty strollers behind us. Her mom ended up handing me to Camille to change while she dealt with Cassidy who excitedly shouted that 'She was a big girl!' When she successfully made it to the potty! She really was so cute with how excited and proud she was that she had made it after missing every time since last night! Lioness kind of hung back with us, but not really appearing to be part of our group. I really wanted to talk to her, but a baby having a conversation with her would just draw attention, so I just patiently sat when they placed me back into the stroller and watched stuff go by. The morning would have been a lot more enjoyable if I hadn't had to pretend to be a regular baby. Pictures were taken of all of us everywhere, but my favorite ones were in the great hall upstairs. It wasn't overly crowded when we took the picture so you could see the vastness of the space and the cool tile work everywhere! 'Maybe someday when you let me pretend to be older with that spell, I can come back and actually enjoy myself?' I suggested to Caireen. 'That would be fun actually,' she acknowledged. 'I know this is boring... Sorry.' I was allowed a little bit of time to walk around holding Camille's hands, but not much was out of the carrier. Shortly into that bit of freedom in the gift store I found my body forcing me into a squat, and groaned. THE REST OF the visit to Ellis Island went by quickly after a swift diaper change. We boarded the ferry and headed to Liberty Island to get a better look at the Statue. I noticed that helicopters and flying superheroes all seemed to be warily guarding against attacks from above. It proved unnecessary while we were there though. After lunch I watched Camille and her mom having a quiet conversation with Lioness. Camille came over to where I stood on a bench and whispered. "She's going to go ahead and take you to your meeting." She looked nervous. "they suggested I not come along so there's less chance of you being recognized. I nodded but sucked my pacifier a little more. "Baba?" I asked. She smiled at me and whispered. "Okay I'll get one warmed up for you. You do realize that regular people can warm up bottles too, right?" I blinked at her and shook my head. She gave me a hug, placed me back into the carrier, placed the nipple of a warmed bottle into my mouth, and then handed my diaper bag over to Lioness. "We'll see you both at dinner?" she asked hesitantly. "Absolutely, I love taking my little cousins' baby for the day, but you won't catch me wanting to deal with all of those diapers all of the time!" she laughed. I just sat there and pretended I was a good baby as she cooed at me and played with me. I made sure to fuss when I 'realized' that I wasn't with Camille or anyone else. She just pushed a pacifier back in my mouth though and picked me up out of the seat to cuddle with me. Something about her body heat was off. I also realized that I wasn't actually looking at any of her real skin! She had some sort of projection on her face that my hand went through as she held me. I reached out and felt soft fur. It took everything to keep me from saying, 'Kitty!!!!' 'I thought it might have been a costume last night,' Caireen acknowledged. We'd both seen the fur. 'GSD must be rough, but at least she probably is pretty cute underneath that for real.' Lioness looked at me with a little bit of a glare and I realized I probably shouldn't pet her without permission. She smiled at me as I gave her a small baby hug as an apology, and I stayed still while we waited to get off the ferry. As I kind of expected she placed me back into the car seat and pushed me down the pier to a waiting vehicle. The car was a simple looking yellow NYC taxi van, but somehow, I had a gut feeling it wasn't a regular taxi. The second she swung my seat in to buckle it in I could see I was right. I passed through a magic ward and into a large bus like space, complete with TV screens and maps all over the walls. She placed my stroller to the side, and buckled the seat into one of many available. "What is this?" I asked while pulling my pacifier out into my hand. "This, Your Highness, is one of our autonomous vehicles we use as a remote command post as needed," Lioness said. "Can you go ahead and change into your costume?" she asked. I activated the spell to do so and she made some sort of purring noise. "You are beyond adorable, Your Highness," she said. "Why do you keep calling me, Your Highness?" "Because you are a Princess, I've encountered Queen Caireen before this, and I have absolute respect for her Majesty, and now you as her daughter." I felt Caireen come to the surface to speak. "When was this?" "I was just a young kid when I was pulled into your world. You kindly set me free from the people who had kidnapped me." Caireen cursed inside my head and I was taken aback as that was so unlike her! "How do you remember?" "When I mutated as a teenager the memory came back. I thought it was just a dream though until I met you yesterday." "I am grateful that you are able to help now, and I'm even more grateful to see what you've become," she said. I could feel her leaking tears out of my eyes. It was one of the first times I could remember her taking this much control over me. "I am going to let my daughter take back over, I am glad to know that she has an ally such as yourself here." I shook my head. "That was weird," I told Lioness. I watched her change into her own costume and turn off the generator over her face. Now that I was closer, and I knew the fur was real, I couldn't help but admire how pretty and cute she was. "You're beautiful by the way," I told her. "As are you," she smiled. "Are you ready for this meeting?" I shook my head. "No, this was supposed to be a vacation," I told her. "So, can I stop pretending to be a helpless baby now?" "I think that's best. If you can pretend to be as unhindered as possible as Emerald you can probably distance yourself from how you appear out of costume." I nodded and thought for a second. "Can you hand me my diaper bag?" I asked her. She looked at me oddly but handed it to me, probably half expecting me to drop it since it weighed as much as I did. I quickly did a spell and put it away in a space next to where my small purse was. Lioness looked at me oddly. "Well, you don't think it's a bad idea to have the same diaper bag running around with the baby?" "Smart, and you can still hand it to me to change you?" I nodded and suddenly looked at my diaper. "Like right now, huh?" I sighed. "Well we are stuck in traffic..." She pulled me illegally out of the car seat after I handed her the diaper bag for a change, before I put it back and she re-buckled me. The ride ended soon after that and she gave me a hand getting out of the car in the garage we had parked. This time she let me walk beside her into the massive Federal Building instead of being carried. 'So, am I like the human sidekick to the big kitty?' I asked Caireen. She laughed at that, 'More like my toy baby doll,' she told me. She led me up to an office on a different floor than we'd been in last night. "Okay Agent Emerald, I'm going to wait out in the lounge they have while you meet." I looked up at her and nodded, before stepping through the open door into a smaller conference room. Agent Sanders and Agent Caruthers both stood as I walked in. "Agent Emerald, good to see you again!" Caruthers said and offered me his hand. Sanders was right behind him and did the same before giving me a helpful boost onto a chair that they had thoughtfully placed a booster seat on. Even with it though I was still barely able to see over the edge of the table. I ended up standing up and jumping onto the table. "If you don't mind since I'm so short I'd prefer just to sit here?" I asked. "No problems at all," Agent Caruthers said, "I'm mainly here in a supervisory role, Agent Sanders is your actual agent in charge." I nodded. "So what's new?" I asked. "Well first thing I have to say is that last night you threw a huge wrench into our investigation..." "Sorry," I said, trying to keep tears from coming out of my eyes. I wasn't sure I would ever feel anything but a need to cry about last night. "Not in a bad way ultimately since I think you may have given us a lead. You saw this picture of the man you called Maponus?" He asked as a screen came alive with that photo again. I nodded. "He's the son of a King that my avatar spirit and I are at war with." "Well he also happens to be smack in the middle of the investigation of the daycare we need you to investigate." "What?!?" I asked and felt Caireen's rage. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 20: Briefings ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "HIS NAME HERE is Jacob Wells, but incidentally his code name is Maponus." I fumed. "So he's the one abusing children?" "He is at least involved on the planning side of this ring. We've only seen him go to the daycare twice in the last year, so we had discounted him as a major player though." "Doesn't his involvement mean that my cover would be blown if I went in now?" I asked. "Not necessarily if you can go soon he might not even be there. He really doesn't seem to appear around the daycare center that often.. You've already demonstrated this morning while you were with the Jennings that you can pull off the baby act. My agents couldn't believe what we had told them..." Caruthers chimed in. "When do I need to go?" "Well we would prefer within the next week..." "I'll miss the finals at school," I said. "If the mission goes on long enough for that to be the case, I'll work with Mrs. Carson to get you excused or be able to make them up." I shrugged. "I'm not sure I'm trained enough - and what if he recognizes me?" 'I think it's a risk that those real babies need you to take,' Caireen said gently. 'You're not alone, I'll be with you and I'll bet that Hannah won't be far either.' He gave me a blank stare and a bit of a shrug as a response. I sighed. "I'll do it - what else do you know?" We spent two hours going over everything about the case and I was shown evidence in the form of video and images that I would probably never be able to get out of my head. They had shown me what they had though so I could be aware if I was being taken to one of the places they had been filming. "What does Maponus have on his MID?" I asked eventually. He pushed a couple buttons and I looked at his MID card on the screen with his picture: MID 66-859382-1382-4 Name: Jacob Calvin Wells Code Name: Maponus Birth Date: 5-2-1992 Age: 23 Years Height: 6'3" Weight: 210lbs Exemplar: 2, ESP: 3, Wizard: 2, Regen: 2 "Well at least he should be less powerful than I am..." I said. "The ESP bothers me though. I'm guessing he's been using that to help with this?" "Unknown, we hadn't even really paid that much attention to him before you pointed him out. We really thought his involvement was very minor - no one believed him to be a big part of this operation." "If you want my guess, he's very involved," I said aloud. Then quietly to myself I added. "and now I wonder if he would even wait until I was an adult again..." I shuddered and felt Caireen put her arms mentally around me for a hug. "I certainly hope you have success both here and in your other world," Caruthers said sympathetically. "Okay, what now?" "Now?" He said with a smile. "I think first you probably need a little bit of attention from Lioness, and then she's going to take you back to the Emerald City Guard's headquarters for some training time." I nodded. "Okay, when do I see you again Agent Sanders?" "Next Friday I'll come pick you and Agent Emped from school, brief you, and she'll place you in the daycare on the Monday after." I nodded. "Okay." I jumped off the table and walked out the door once he had opened it for me. I was still capable of opening doors with some minor gymnastics, but the act of playing baby the last couple days had really made me hesitant to do it myself for some reason. I walked on up to Lioness at a table and said, "I'm done, could you help me in the bathroom first before we go?" She smiled and said, "Sure!" ABOUT AN HOUR later we arrived at the Emerald Tower where the Empire City was headquartered. "Hmm... Emerald Tower, seems like something I should have been destined to visit," I joked quietly to Lioness who carried me on one hip. "I had thought about that when I heard your code name," she said with a smile and a light touch of a large claw to my nose. The entrance seemed like your average office building, but when she briefly held a wristband to the control panel in the elevator, I watched a whole new set of options appear on a hidden touch panel. She pressed the one that said 'Headquarters' and I felt us begin to move like any normal elevator. Suddenly though she pressed a 'halt' button that was illuminated on the new options. "Emerald, could I get you to help me with a prank?" she asked me. I smiled. "It depends?" "Just follow my lead?" I raised my eyebrows. "I'll try?" She gave me a quick squeeze and smiled before pressing the button to start the elevator back up. When the doors opened, we stepped out into a room that looked like any other office building. Really on first glance we could have been back in the FBI office we just left. The figure that came from one of the offices though in a blue form fitting suit, with a large gun at her side, and a gold helmeted head definitely helped me see things were far from ordinary! "Aww, she's adorable! Who is she?" the figure asked Lioness. "This is my baby girl," Lioness said with a squeeze so as to give me a hint this was what she was talking about. "Your what?" she asked a little louder. "When? How? Who?" I decided to play the baby and pointed towards her. "Wook Mommy Bwoo!" "That's right baby, she's blue! Can you wave at Doctor Thunder?" She waved my arm for me at her and said, "Why are you so surprised?" "When were you even pregnant?!?" "Well, I am part cat, so I had a much shorter pregnancy. Remember when I was gone for a couple months last fall?" "Umm... yeah... but...? Who's the?" Lioness shrugged. "Some one-night stand after I got done breaking up a robbery last year." "But..." I chose that moment to turn back and forth between them and then put my head against her shoulder as if I was hiding and she patted my back. "It's okay, she's nice!" I looked back at her and gave a smile back at her and I sensed that the joke had reached its climax as she said, "You don't mind babysitting her for me the next time we get a call on my shift?" "Bwoo!" I said again randomly. There was a whole moment of pause while Lioness gave me another squeeze as she apparently felt like she had accomplished her goal. Even with a mask covering the other ladies face I could tell the other lady was far beyond confused. In fact, as she removed her helmet Lioness started giggling. "Okay, what's going on here?" the lady asked. Lioness laughed and squeezed me. "Thanks for playing along Emerald!" "What?" "Doctor Thunder, this is Emerald Baby, the FBI Agent we were asked to help out?" she bounced me lightly on her hip and gave me another squeeze. The confusion seemed to lift a little, but she asked, "Wait... She's the mutant? But she's a...?" "Didn't watch the news last night?" Lioness asked. "Uh..." I made the universal, 'I want down wiggle' and Lioness set me on the ground. "I'm Sofia, codename Emerald Baby," and curtsied to her. She began to laugh herself. "Well it's very nice to meet you Sofia, I'm Doctor Thunder - the leader of this group of loonies!" she said with a smirk and a glare towards Lioness. "I will remember this Lioness..." "It was worth it!" Lioness chuckled. "Dynamo, did you get that on video?" A man in a black suit came around the corner and I could see he was somehow directing a very small drone back towards his hand. "Yep! Thanks for warning me of the opportunity!" Dr. Thunder sighed and looked at me. "Like I said, loonies!" I smiled. "I'll probably fit right in with you all then!" "So, what's your story? Lioness mentioned that she had been convinced to spend a couple days helping a mutant agent for the FBI train, but she didn't apparently tell me everything?" "You want the long story or the short?" I asked. "Well... enough?" I nodded. "I was an eighteen-year-old senior getting ready to graduate in Los Alamos, NM when I mutated a couple weeks ago. Apparently, I was fixated on how my baby sister was spoiled with attention or something when I suddenly manifested and experienced a major burnout. The next thing I knew I woke up in the hospital and everything and everyone seemed huge!" "But I'm guessing your mutation wasn't just shrinking?" I shook my head. "No, I lost my potty training and my body has a lot of the same cravings and needs as a baby." "That's awful," Dynamo said sadly. "Well it's not great... Add to that I have an avatar spirit and you create the perfect situation where I'm definitely loonie enough to fit in with a bunch of loonies!" I said with my most perfect baby smile. "I think she's onto us!" Lioness stage whispered to everyone. Everyone laughed at that. "So why did the FBI ask for us to help train you and equip you?" Dr. Thunder asked. "Well it seems that my first undercover mission is getting moved up sooner than everyone expected," I began. "They think it's important they get me into a daycare soon to figure out what's going on. Also, yesterday one of the suspects was spotted near our battle down at Rockefeller Plaza." "How?" "Damned if I know," I replied. "My... spirit... takes me to her world each night when I go to bed. In that world we have a war that is ongoing versus a king that wants me to marry his son so he can take our kingdom. My spirit... she's a queen... said absolutely not, even when they offered to age me back to an appropriate age." "So that started a war?" Lioness asked. "He wants her kingdom, since I won't marry him, the only way now is by force. The suspect we saw yesterday looks exactly like his son does. He has the exact same name too for his codename, so we believe he's an avatar with that spirit." "Wow, if you were ten years older you would have fit right in with those crazy Kimbas..." a new girl said as she walked in. She looked to be in her early twenties but didn't offer her name right away. "That's what I've heard." I nodded. "Well, now that I know what you're facing let's get you first to the range so I can show you what I can come up with for some weapons for you," Dr. Thunder said. Lioness who was holding me then said, "Do you need something to drink first?" I looked at a digital clock on the wall and realized it was almost three in the afternoon already. I pulled my diaper bag out of its holding area and reached in to find a bottle. I handed it to her. "Any chance you could warm this up for me?" She laughed. "Sure baby girl, but only if I get to hold you while you drink it?" I turned red, but smiled and clapped. "I get to cuddle with the kitty!" Dr. Thunder and Dynamo laughed and Lioness groaned. "You're dangerous to have around here..." Lioness walked me back through the offices to a full kitchen they had for the heroes to use. She sat me on the ground as she warmed the bottle up the old-fashioned way by microwaving a tub of water and I got to watch it sit and warm up. 'This takes forever...' I groaned. 'Well it is easier when it's fresh...' Caireen goaded me. 'I wish Hannah were here...' I sighed. As if somehow picking up on my mood Lioness picked me back up and hugged me. "Who is it you miss? Camille?" I shook my head. "It's kind of a long story..." She laughed. "Aren't they all?" Dr. Thunder appeared in the room. "I'm going down to the lab, come on down when you're done." "Okay," Lioness replied. She looked back down at me. "So long story? Seems like every mutant, and definitely every student at Whateley has one." I nodded. "Yeah." "Well?" "I manifested this form like I told you all. A week later my mom, my grandma, my best friend Hannah, and my baby sister Lily, were picking up some pictures at a photo studio in a mall in Albuquerque when someone tried kidnapping me. I think it was some sort of Humanity First moron, but no one has ever told me," she pulled the bottle out of the water and checked it on her wrist before setting it back in the water. "How did you get away?" "Well my spirit had taught me a couple defense spells, but in the end, I instinctively used some sort of charge all over my body that made the guy drop me like a hot potato. I managed to bounce back up and ran towards where I hoped I could find my mom. Hannah was standing there at the entrance hallway to the food court and I jumped into her arms..." "And...?" "Well Hannah chose that time to mutate herself." Lioness nodded as if she'd heard stories like this before. "What happened?" "Well she sent this pyrokinetic blast towards some of the people chasing me, and simultaneously her BIT became that of a mother..." "A mother...?" I sighed. "The perfect mother for me as a baby. Her DNA changed to match mine and she developed some other... attributes..." "So, I guess that's why this milk smells like breast milk?" "You can smell it?" "Remember, I'm part kitty." She smiled and squeezed me. "I'm not surprised her mutation did that. You're like the cutest baby girl ever, it would be impossible not to want to protect you." She smiled and pulled the bottle out and decided it was good. She walked to a nearby room with a couch and sat down before settling me down to feed me like any other baby. As she popped the bottle in my mouth, I found myself relaxing in her furry arms. It wasn't Hannah, but it was still very reassuring. "Well I can understand odd mutations. At least you've managed to stay 'cute' through this. I was so horrified when I mutated and my fur began to grow in..." I looked up around my bottle at her with wide eyes. "It was a lot easier when I switched to Whateley - at least there weird is almost normal - but it's tough to have people see you like that." I pushed the hand holding the bottle in my mouth away. "But you're so pretty!" She pushed it back in and smiled at me. "I'm glad you think so. Some others have thought so too. The only real bad part is when you meet someone allergic to cats," she said with a wink. I giggled and nearly choked to death so I got back to the business of emptying my bottle. She told me a few stories while I did so and I was almost sad when I finished the bottle and found myself on her shoulder when she burped me. "Well, ready to go to work?" she asked me. I shrugged. "This was supposed to be a vacation." She laughed. "Get used to it, I have a feeling you're going to be one of those mutants that will never really get a true break." I nodded and looked around curiously as she led me down the hallway and then behind a false bookcase to a hidden elevator that took us some distance underground. "So, this is the lair of the superhero group?" I joked with her when the door opened to reveal a shiny stainless-steel corridor that fit right in with every bad comic movie ever. She laughed. "I think Doctor Thunder decorated it this way to live up to the clich? as much as anything." She carried me down a few corridors with an occasional sight of some mad experimental lab going by before we arrived in a large room with a long workbench filled with tools and guns and a range down one side. Dr. Thunder looked to be adjusting a sight on a small pistol. "Everything taken care of?" she asked us. I nodded as Lioness sat me down on my feet on top of the table. "For now... So, what was it the Bureau wanted me to see you all for?" "Well first they said they had a pistol you trained with at Whateley this weekend, but they asked if I could come up with a better one for you and maybe some other firepower." I nodded and smiled. "Yay toys!!!!!" I hopped up and down a little bit and enjoyed a look of concern from Dr. Thunder. "You may be the smallest and youngest looking mutant ever... but I think you may be the scariest too..." I heard Lioness laugh to my side where she was absentmindedly playing with some tool. "You're too kind," I said and curtseyed. "Well anyway, before I start giving you 'toys' as you put it, I want to see if you can handle them safely." "Okay!" I said and walked over to her. "What's first?" "This is a special pistol that I've devised to shoot several different types of rounds," she paused and picked up three different bullets. The first looked like a twenty-two-caliber round. "This first one is like a twenty-two-caliber round, but has more powder behind it to give it an equivalent energy of a two-two-three rifle round." I held my hand out and looked at it. "How do you have that much energy behind it?" She just smiled. "I'm good at what I do," she added a shrug. The next round was bigger and I learned it was related to a nine-millimeter round and looked as large, even though there was considerably more power behind it as she said it would act more like a fifty-caliber round and be capable of stopping a car engine or getting through tank armor. The final round looked like it was as big as the gun barrel, I didn't even know how it would get in. "This is an explosive round Emerald, it's the equivalent of a mortar shell upon impact." "How does...?" "Better to just smile and nod," Lioness advised. "I've long since given up figuring out how she does it. You can be sure though they'll work as advertised!" "Can I try them?" I asked tentatively. "You can use the first two in here... The last round you can try back at Whateley, just make sure you let Gunny know what you're planning on shooting, and he'll arrange for a chance to try it out. I know he'll be jealous," she added the last bit with a smile. For the next hour I got a chance to try out the pistol and the rounds. It was perfectly sized for my baby hands and the weight felt comfortable. I could shoot the pistol all day long and not tire at all. When she felt I was past the point of needing to practice for the moment she provided a cleaning kit that I used carefully on the gun before loading it with some of the twenty-two-caliber rounds. Somehow the gun changed the opening of the barrel depending on which round was chambered at that moment. The clip actually allowed for rounds of both types to be loaded simultaneously and a flip of the safety allowed selection of the rounds. She provided several clips that had the larger rounds placed in one side too. I had no idea how, but a total of forty rounds were in each clip - it made no scientific sense, but that was just part of her mutant abilities. "Someone is stinky," Lioness said as I put the gun away in a pocket of space along with the spare clips. I groaned. "Of course I am..." "Would you like some help?" she asked me. I nodded. "Please?" I pulled my diaper bag back out of the space it was in and found myself laying down next to the cleaning kit on Dr. Thunder's workbench. She kind of looked at us both a bit annoyed at us using it as a changing table, but didn't say anything. Her staring would have bothered me a week before, but at this point it had become just another normal part of my day. I felt Caireen give me a mental hug and a pat on the head as I was redressed without a fuss. "My baby sister never behaved that well..." Lioness said with a smile. "No real kids for you then?" She grimaced. "I'd say you wouldn't understand, but I have a feeling you do. Dating opportunities..." "There's someone out there for you," I told her with a smile. "at least you're not jailbait for life..." "More like lethal injection..." Dr. Thunder said, "Of course it sounds like you're getting ready to go into the lion's den of people who don't care. Are you sure you want to take part in the mission they're preparing you for?" I stood up then and walked to where she was tinkering with another project while she waited for my change. I looked up at her face and said, "If those of us who can fight monsters choose to do nothing, then the innocent will be hurt. I may very well get hurt doing this, but I would rather it be me than a real baby..." I felt a tear come to my eye but I forced it back. She looked down at me thoughtfully before giving me a hug. "Then you better make it out of this safely." She let go and said, "Alright, are you ready for a few more toys and some training?" I nodded and held my arms out to her. "Up?" She laughed, picked me up, and then proceeded to take me to a room marked 'combat simulators.' "Have you been in the simulators at Whateley yet?" Dr. Thunder asked as she sat me down on the ground next to a disc shaped platform with a rail around it. "Umm... I've heard about them, but we've only been there a couple weeks." I replied. "Well then, you won't have too high of expectations then," she said with a smile. "Ours works well, but the ones Whateley have are pretty much unmatched anywhere but in the military." I nodded. "Whateley does seem to get a fair share of toys..." Lioness laughed behind me holding my diaper bag that I had never gotten around to putting away. I decided it didn't matter right then. "So what do I do?" "Well, first thing is we have to get you measured for a suit. Can you come stand over here?" she asked pointing to a clear booth with a door attached to some box. I followed her directions and jumped when a bright light scanned me quickly. "What now?" "Pick a color," she told me. "Umm... purple," I answered hesitantly. A moment later a ding came from next to me and I watched her pull out a shrink-wrapped purple outfit. "Let's get you dressed," she said with a smile. "Here, I'll help her," Lioness said. Quickly I was stripped of my clothes, and then my diaper, before she helped me into a skin tight purple spandex suit that covered my entire body, including my head. Only my face was left uncovered. The suit reminded me of the one at the testing center that I had made a mess in. "Umm... you do realize I'm not potty trained, right?" I asked them both. They both nodded. "The suit is washable and waterproof," Dr. Thunder said. "You wouldn't be the only one to ever pee in one either," Lioness added. I just looked at them and waited. "Okay then... what now?" "Now you come here and stand on this pad," Dr. Thunder instructed. I walked over, feeling like it was weird to do so without the bulk of a diaper around my body. I just hoped I didn't do more than pee in it! I took my position in the center of the circle and she handed me a helmet that looked to have been hastily modified for my size. I saw only darkness for a moment before the simulator turned on and I was suddenly in a daycare facility with figures frozen all around me. "Whoa," I said, "what's going on?" Over an intercom in the helmet I heard Dr. Thunder's voice. "Emerald we've been asked to run you through a couple runs of scenarios at the daycare you'll be inserted into. I think we'll only have time for one today, Friday you'll come back. Your mission objective is to blend in and only break cover in case of danger to you or another baby." I nodded. "Roger that." "Beginning simulation," she said, "good luck!" I assumed she pushed a button on her end because I suddenly found myself being carried towards a desk by someone. "I'm here to drop off my baby girl for her first day of daycare," she said. "She's adorable!" "Thanks! Umm... I filled out forms the other day, what else do you need from me?" "Well it looks like you have her diaper bag there. Do you have any bottles that need to be refrigerated?" she asked her and then cooed at me for a moment. "Aren't you just the sweetest little thing!" I hid my head back in my 'mommy's' shoulder then. "Sorry, she's a bit shy. I think we're both going to have a tough morning here." "It's okay, everyone experiences it at some point and she'll be right here for you when you're ready to pick her up." "Here are her bottles, I brought five of my milk and she can drink regular formula powder I left in there, or whole milk too, but she just prefers mommy's milk still, huh?" my virtual mommy tickled me a little and I smiled up at her. "Well they say it's still best for them until the age of two if you can keep doing it. There aren't a lot of mothers who pull that off though." "Don't I know it!" "Well, looks like your little princess has everything she needs. I see she's even got a bear here in her bag. Why don't you bring her down to the crawler room and we'll let her play for a few minutes and talk," the lady said. With that said, their ruse to drop off a baby who had never really been away from her mother was played on me. I was dropped off in a room of about ten other babies with caregivers following them around. A toy doll was shown to me and while I played with it my 'mommy' disappeared. About that point I felt my diaper fill and I did what a good baby would do and screamed at the top of my lungs! One of the ladies working in the room came over and said, "Oh baby, what's wrong?" in a typical mothering voice. I soon found myself on a changing table getting cleaned up, but refused to stop crying. "Mama!" I cried. "Oh, sweetie it's okay," the lady tried to reassure me. "Hey, did her mother drop off any bottles by chance?" "Whose?" "The new girl that's having a meltdown in my arms," the lady said a bit annoyed. "I think so, let me look." I continued to cry until a nipple was pushed into my mouth with milk. Amazingly to me the simulator somehow made me feel like I was drinking milk, but I was pretty sure I wasn't. I played for the next couple hours - making sure to mostly crawl and only occasionally toddle around. Before I knew it, I was being pulled away from some dolls to be fed lunch of some softer foods, given a bottle, and then brought to a crib for a nap. While I was laying there, the caregivers began having a whispered conversation that I was still able to hear. "He wants the new girl done today..." "Why in the world would we move that fast?" "It's a traumatic day for her anyway and she doesn't really talk yet. Mama and baba are all I've heard from her so far." "When?" "As soon as she is asleep," I heard the voice respond. I kept my eyes closed and pretended to sleep while I was picked up and carried down the hallway and through a couple turns. When my clothes started getting unbuttoned, I opened my eyes and saw I was in the target's photo studio. The lady and a man were in there and I felt like throwing up as I saw several things around the room that had no business being in a daycare. The man started to try and take my diaper off and I decided enough was enough. I let loose a spell that sent him flying backwards while I reached into the pocket of space that I had placed the pistol and grabbed it. "FBI, don't move!" I yelled. The man launched himself at me and I fired, or at least tried to. I'd forgotten the safety! He was on top of me a moment later wrestling the gun from my hands. I used my enhanced strength to hit him in the groin and he backed off for a moment. Unfortunately, at that moment he took the gun and aimed it at me and the simulator went dark. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Please consider leaving me a comment in the reviews if this is your first time reading this about what you think! My postings will be up on WattPad at least a few hours before here if you don't feel like being patient for the next postings. Chapter 21 (the first new chapter!) will be on Friday mornings roll over. I'll post here again on Sunday's roll over, and then it'll be Wednesdays and Saturdays until this is finished. Thanks for taking the time to read!!!