Binge (F Mutant)

[psiberzerker]

I guess you could call superheroines a fetish, at some point.  (See any of my stories in this section below.)  Maybe it's the tight costumes, with underwear shaped panels, and of course artwork that overlooks basics of anatomy like having a spine.  

This one is inspired by one of my favorites:



;

Al (Fm...)

"Welcome to Semi-Freddo's, what can I get you?"

She leaned over the counter, and looked back from the ATM machines.  "Call the cops."  She set down a charge card, "And do you have milk, or heavy cream, by the gallon?"

"Uh, did you say call the cops?"

"Sh," she tapped the card down on the counter, "Don't look!"  At the guys in winter jackets, and long pants tucked into their boots, with cargo pockets, ball caps, sunglasses, and beards.  Looked like they came from the luggage store setting down cases with wheels on them.

I already pushed the button under the cash register.

"Gallons, or quarts?"

"Uh, we've got gallons of milk, half gallons of creme, and a quart of half and half.  Uh, almond milk, soy milk..." a tub of egg whites.

"I know how to make semifreddo, gimme a gallon of milk, and a half gallon of heavy cream."  She looked up, "Huh, might as well go for broke," she rolled her eyes, and grabbed a bag of cheddar croissants.

"All right everybody out!"

"Get down!"  She dove over the counter, in that dress, and heels.  I dropped the gallon jug, but she picked it up, and ripped open the bag of croissants.  "Omph, mgh!"  She washed half of the first one down, "Good!"  Milk running down her neck, and soaking into the gold ruffle on top of her dress, so it clung to her tits, and she snapped her fingers.  "Hand me the whipping cream?"  She flapped her hands.

"Don't be a hero man."  One of the robbers warned, "You're out gunned, Paul Blart.  You mind if I call you Blart?  We'll be out of your way in a few minutes, but you really don't want to pick a firefight."

Then, I heard power tools, but when I looked back from the shelf underneath the cash register, the drop safe I hoped would stop bullets, she was sitting up with her legs crossed, and her dress flat across her chest.

Her flat chest, or flatter, but I think I doubted what I was seeing at first.  You don't really pay attention to a beautiful redhead's arms in a dress like that.  "Kah!"  She dropped the paper carton, empty, and pointed.  "Is that cheese?"

I looked back at the reach in, and grabbed a block of mozzarella.  "What are you, are you gaining weight?"

She finished the gallon of milk, half a gallon of whipping cream, a stack of 5 buttery white cheddar stuffed croissants, and the power tools were getting real loud.  I thought they were probably cutting into the ATM machines to take all them money, but I wasn't sticking my head up.  I was kidding behind the drop-safe, and hoping they didn't have machineguns, or worse, rocket launchers.

She tore off a corner of the 1 lb block of cheese, and pushed me over.  Didn't say anything, but grabbed the carton of egg whites to whip into meringue.  Either to fold into the frozen deserts, or to top some of the baked things, the bakers made in the morning when they set up.  Big wide open shopping center, they call it a Plaza, but put a roof on it and you'd have a mall.   They had set up a whole row of ATM machines, instead of payphones so there's no line to wait in.  

"All right guys, that's enough.  Hurry up, don't get greedy."

"Huh!"  She got up on her knees, then set her foot up, and unbuckled the heel.  "I'll tell you about it later, I have to go to work."

It wasn't just my imagination, or even just her arms.  In maybe a minute or 2, she went from model thin to fat, and maybe doubled her size.  "Thanks," she got up in a squat, "I knew this was the best place."   To herself, she took some deep breaths, and the loose hanging part of her dress was stretched across, tight from her growing to fill it, but her boobs shrank away to nothing.  Her voice didn't change, but now if I hadn't seen her before with my own eyes, I'd think she was a drag queen, in a girdle or something.

Then, she was gone, I heard the counter creak with her weight, and it even swung back a little.  Terrifyingly, but then there was a meaty slap on the floor in front of it, and she was gone.

[psiberzerker]

I've never done this before, but I can't say I haven't thought about it.  Okay, I also took some self defense classes, after dance, cheerleading, ice skating in winter, and gymnastics in the summer ever since I figured out how I could cheat at it.

I didn't go looking for trouble, but I heard one guy say once.  "Sometimes, it finds you," or something like that.  So, I can't say that I'd been keeping an eye on these guys, I was there to stand next to the Smart® prototype and make it look elegant, while the guys went around with clip-boards, and tried to get marketing data on an upscale electric car.  

The kind of electric car you could look good stepping out of, even if it doesn't have the name Tesla attached to it.  I own a Tesla, they said that wasn't a problem, but they picked me up in a limo for the gig.  It's not a shoot, but people took pictures, so I had opportunities to pose.  Pretend it's a piano I'm leaning up against, only I don't have to hold up a microphone, as if I'm about to break into an aria.

I can't sing.  Not Opera, it certainly isn't my Talent, but I had to hide my greatest talent, because it's a little weird.  I sure don't have any crime-sense, but after the second pair of guys got together, and shook hands, I started to put 2, and 2 together.  Then a couple more started rolling their bags down either side of the barriers, blocking the street so they could set up cafe seating on the sidewalks.  Roll out racks of clothes, and a busker could juggle on his unicycle...

They got together like a flash-mob, but the dead giveaway is they had a uniform of sorts.  Blue ballcaps, to match the collars of their zip-up jackets.  No nametags, but the sort of dreadful thing you expect to see on someone there to look at your wiring, plumbing, or air conditioners.  Safety glasses, right down to the same brand, and model.  (O)akleys.  Not the Mercenaries, I couldn't tell you off the top of my head, but I'd even wager that they decided not to buy a 6 pack of Mercenary safety shades.  So, they got one of the other designs, which may or may not be ballistic rated.

And they just wandered over to the bank of automated tellers, where they used to have pay phones, back when they used to have pay phones.  "Hey ah.  I'm starting to feel a little light headded, you mind if I go get something to drink?  I need some sugar in my blood."  I lied, my sugar is fine, what I need is protein.  

"Sure," he checked his phone, for the time.  I looked around, but it occurs to me to wonder how anyone can't see that.  Even without my Fashion sense. 1 guy trying to look like an undercover cop, or special forces guy on leave, looking for an engagement ring, or platinum plated diver's watch is one thing.  6 of them, making their way over to the money machines, I watched the banks fill up before the businesses opening is another.

Good time to do it, I guess.  Friday morning, nobody really shopping yet, better top off the machines before people start showing up to withdraw it.  I walked right past White House/Black Market.

No, I majored in Marketing, with minors in sports science, and nutrition.  What kind of prodigy came up with that brand?  I don't want to look racist, so I won't be caught dead in there, nor even stop to look over the racks, but it looks like I'm stuck fighting in a cocktail dress, and heels.

Semifreddo's.  It's basically a boutique bakery, only instead of gelatto...  No, frozen custard.  They've got a Cold Stone anti-griddle, but they can't put Cold Stone over the striped awnings, with Parisesque scallops hanging down over the patio umbrellas.  The whole front of it rolled up like a garage door, designed to stop a car.  Just in case someone wanted to steal a stone slab the size of a pool table with freezer coils under it.

I tapped my Platinum card on the counter.  The only reason why I even know what's in Semifreddo is for counting calories.  Milk, eggs, fast metabolizing proteins, fats, and lipophilic precursors.  Everything you need for a growing calf, or to make a whole chick out of from scratch.  I don't have any idea how much time I have to Change, but I'm not going to be fighting anybody with the body this dress was designed to show off.

"Call the cops."  Oh good, he's got a panic button under the counter.

;

Author

She guessed, but she got 1 thing right.  They chose to buy Targetlines:



Instead of Mercenaries, because those would have been obvious.  As if assembling a fireteam like a flash-mob wasn't.  

[psiberzerker]

"I'm sorry," I set the mop down in the corner of the counter, "But I'm not going to be a very good witness."

"Yeah, well tell me what did happen."

"A bunch of guys showed up, and then that."  I waved at the "Woman."  Pulling a pair of [POLICE] sweatpants on, and the dress out over it.  "Told me to call you guys, so I hit the silent alarm, and hid behind the safe when the shooting started."  The blood stain on her dress didn't soak through, the sweat pants didn't even stick to the holes, on the front or back of her thigh.  "Is she going to be all right?"

"I don't even know who, or what she is.  She's talking to Major Crimes."

"They shot her."  Right through the leg, "I heard her yell.  "Ow!  You shot me!"?"

"What happened there?"

"Oh," I grabbed the sprayer from the sink.  "She uh.  I know this is going to sound crazy, but then she demanded some milk, eggs, cheese, and.  Well a bunch of stuff to bulk up.  I can hardly believe it happened, right in front of me."

"Yeah, we're going to get to the bottom of that part, but what did you see?"

"Huh, well.  I'm sure you're going to get something from the camera footage, but.  I don't know, it was just like I said.  She drank a whole gallon of milk, half a gallon of heavy whipping cream, a third pan of egg whites."  Chilling to whip into stiff peaks later.  "A pound of cheese, and.  I lost track."  I picked up the clip-board.  "My boss is going to kill me, but."  I bent down, to look under the reach in cooler.  "She left her credit card."  I turned over, and read.  "Arlene Jacoby."

"She says it's pronounced YackOby."  he nodded.  "Every time someone got it wrong."    "Some kind of high class model."

"Yeah, that just stopped 6 guys with machineguns."  I looked over his vest, covered in velcro patches, straps, holsters, pouches, and.  Stuff.  "You're SWAT?"

"Arced."  He turned around to show me the patch across the back.  [ARCT]  "Armed Response Counter Terrorism."

"So that's like SWAT?"

"Kinda, only more specialized."  he nodded, "Faster response, so we're the first to arrive."  After the security guys, the fire trucks, the squad cars, but before the SWAT van, and the Ambulance.  Do they have some bet, or bragging rights for who shows up too late, first?  "Now, when she hulked out."

"She bulked up, but first.  She wasn't, real busty, up here.  And that dress was a little lose around the neck, but then she started eating, and drinking.  You need that for evidence?"

He held the zip lock bag open, with an [Evidence] sticker on the front.  "I know, finger prints, but she offered to pay for all this.  Stuff, and I haven't had a chance to ring it up yet."  They could still fire me for any, or no reason after all this.  

She zipped up a Hoody, a blue one with [Police] on the sleeves to match the sweat pants, but even the man's sized one stretched over her arms, bulging out of it.  "Oh, uh.  Well first, her blood vessels stuck out, like Sylvester Stallone, only.  Well, she wasn't that big yet.  Then, those disappeared but."  I looked at the bib hanging out the bottom of the sweatshirt like an apron.  "I don't guess she really has blue blood after all."  I shook my head.  "Sorry, no offense."

"None taken, but what you're telling me is she got fat, and then she grew muscle?"

"I didn't see that, I just saw her skin stretch out, but her."  I held my hands up, "Bust deflated.  First, I don't mind saying I got a peek down the front of her dress, before she started.  Changing, she's some sort of shape changer, but."

Still beautiful.  It just makes her head look tiny, by comparison now, but before that.  It was hard to focus on work until I got the display cases stocked, and the day-olds wrapped up.  Then it was quiet, and I had time to watch her, waiting for a customer to show up.  "I don't know if you'd call it fat, she didn't look fat, she just looked a little bloated."

"I'm not going to Bust you," he laughed at his pun, "For looking at a pretty lady, but you're about to say, you saw something down the front of her dress?"

"Well, they didn't look fake.  I mean she wasn't like, super busty, she looked like a model."

"She is a model."  He held his hand up.  "She said that."    "Several times."

"Yeah, that's what she was doing, when I opened up this morning.  Just standing there."  I pointed, "Modeling that car."  Turned, and pointed down the street.  It's blocked off, for shopping, but it's the same street on either side,  "They had to take the poles out of the road to drive it in."

"Yeah, and besides."  he looked back, and winked.  "If you want to leer at a lady that can pitch a car at you, that's your own risk.  Right?  I'm going to need that card back."

"Oh, let me ring this stuff up."  It's tricky, because the menu isn't set up to sell a gallon of milk.  We order those, to make into desserts, treats, and confections to sell.  I figured what the hell, charge her wholesale cost.  I just have to keep flipping back and forth between Sysco, and the cashier program.

Meanwhile...

Cordelia (fM Witnesses)

"She didn't even look this way, though I don't suppose we have anything as nice as that gold lamé dress," that shimmered in the twilight as the sun came up to shine across the Plaza. "Over there, they had this cobalt blue car that they had to take down the posts on the street to drive in, and the Marketing people asking if you're interested in Eco-friendly electric cars, but that must be a luxury model."

I shrugged, "Sure looked like Leather inside, and I'm not a Vegan, but I pointed out that if they planned on marketing to the eco-friendly crowd, they might want to offer some options that don't have any animal products for them to sit on. They wrote that down, but I had to open up shop before the Model showed up, and I thought: IDK what all work she had done, but whoever did it knew what they're doing!"

She didn't even look like a model, even though they're hiring more plus sized types these days, that is one perfect body. A little too much in the chest, compared with super-models, but then again. This was just showing off a car, so somebody local, and I tried to look her up on my phone, but nothing doing.

"Then, she power walked past," I pointed out the window, "in those heels, and made it look easy, but she didn't even look back. Then, these guys started working on one of the ATM machines back in the back, but they had to roll their tools in, and left their van on the corner. Security came out, and this one guy came to talk to them. Pulled a slip of paper out, then a Vz. 61 Škorpion machinepistol while they unfolded it."

"You're sure it's." The copofficer looked up. "Right down to the model?"

"Yeah? I don't know if it's the 1961, but it looked like it. Wood grips, bent magazine?" Roll Eyes "They have one in the Call of Duty: Black OPs videogame, it's my favorite backup weapon," really powerful at close range, and my boyfriend likes the SPAS-12. "But he didn't unfold the stock. The other guys pulled out some kinda M-4 Carbines, but these had the cocking lug in the carry handle up top. They pulled them like triggers." I held up my pinky, curled, "Like this?"

"Uh huh?"

"The security guys reached for their tazers, but then the workmen dropped their power saws, and pulled out, whatever they were. I never seen those before, but they unfolded the shoulder stock on the side. Like this?" I tried to remember. "The left side of the guns. I guess so they don't block the casings coming out of the other side." I nodded. "So anyways, the security guys were obviously out-gunned, so they ran back to their office." I leaned over to the window, and pointed up.

"We know where they're located, thank you. What else did you see?"

"Not much, I got down behind the wall down here." I squatted, "Like this? I kept my head down, but then She came out from Semifreddos, and she put on some weight."

He just nodded, didn't even look up?

"The robbers didn't look back, because she let them walk past, and they had their hands kinda full with the cash machines. I think they had some kinda slings under their jackets, and really short barrels too, because they managed to keep them under there jackets, instead of wearing trench coats." Shrug, "I guess the workmen getup was a little less conspicuous. I didn't even think about it until security came out, but by the time they did, the car marking guys already took off."

"So, you didn't see the fight?"

"Well, I peeked whenever I could, I couldn't believe what was happening, but she looked weird. After she came out, she looked all puffy, like she had on an inflatable fat suit, but then one shot her, and the bullet broke the window, so I could hear her yell. "YOU SHOT ME!" Like that." I nodded. Then, he tumbled over there, by the tables, and when I looked back her way. Her one arm looked huge, but the other one got ripped, and muscely just like that." I snapped. "I think she's some kind of shape-shifter, but she didn't change color, or clothes. Just her shape, but anyways she was holding up 1 side of the cash machine, 1 handed like this?" I showed him, "But that was with the ripped arm, then she took the whole thing, and she yelled, "You want the money? Take it!" Spun around, and threw it at 2 of the other guys, carrying another cash machine. The other 2 dropped their's, and pulled out guns, but the guy with the Škopions?"

"Is it Scorpion, or Škorpion?"

"Oh, I never heard my aunt Jindřiška say it, but I imagine that's how she would in her accent." I nodded, "She's Slowak, but she came over here before they broke up, in the 90s? Yeah, she married my uncle, we're not related."

"Well, back to what you saw."

"Oh yeah, so anyways, their leader pulled out 2 Škorpions akimbo, and the other guys picked up the last cash machine to use as a shield, but I ducked down when the shooting started. So, I missed how she got out of it, but then she picked up the car, the blue electric one? SMART®."

"Go on?"

"So yeah, she held it up like a shield, but by the bottom. Like this?" He looked up, and nodded. "Her shoulders, and biceps where huge, but the rest of her arms looked fat, and I guess they must have like Kevlar or something in the body, because none of the bullets went through. They finally threw the cash machine in the van, and tried to drive off with it, but then she picked it up like this?" Over head, "And threw it, so they had to get out the back, and the wounded guys."

"How many wounded?"

"Um, let me see. There was the guy that shot her, he held his arm up like this, but he didn't have a sling or anything. I think maybe he broke his collarbone, or had his arm pulled out of the socket before, or maybe he was a medic? Either way, he knew how to do that, and I had a boyfriend once that broke his collar bone scating one, and he had to have his arm strapped up on his belt for 3 whole weeks, so I think that's what happened."

"I'm sure we can ask the ambulance drive, go on?" He pointed with his stylus, then went back to his notes.

"So he just held onto his jacket to take the weight off of it." I didn't have a jacket to hang onto, so I couldn't show him.

"Who else?"

"Well, the 2 guys that she threw the cash machine at were pretty busted up. So, they ran by when the shooting started, but they weren't too beaten up to run. I ducked down as soon as I saw them, but I don't think they saw me. Then, they came around in motorcycles to pick up the other 3, but they couldn't get the cash machine out of the back, with the SMART® car in the driver's side. I don't guess they could drive off with it, either, but they must build those things like tanks, because none of the money came out." Shrug, "Guess that's why they decided to steal the whole thing, huh? The Armored Car guys came to fill them up this morning, and last night for the weekend. Well, I wasn't working last night, but they usually do." I looked over at the row of cut off bases. "Huh! The Chase one should be filled up later," the one that's left. "You think that's why they didn't even bother with it?"

"No telling yet, but thanks. That'll be enough, but." He handed me an old fashion business card, only laminated. "If you remember anything else, or if you see anything suspicious. Especially if she comes back, don't hesitate to call."

Okay, if I see her again, the last thing I'm gonna do is call the cops on her, maybe give her the Robbery detective's number, so she can call him, but that's about it. Finally, he left, but the security grates were already rolled down over the windows, including the broken one, so all I had to do was lick up the doors, and step into the changing room. So, I pulled out my notebook from underneath the counter, and unzipped it to check on my mask. Sure enough, it's not damaged, but only 1 bullet hit the building, and it was way down on the other end. I got lucky, but the wire was a little bent in, just to get the zippers closed. So, I bent it back out in the corners, but I didn't put it on, yet...

[psiberzerker]

I pulled off the pressure cuff, and she slipped her arm back in the sleeve.  Zipped it up, while I wrote down:

[BP 120/80 Pulse 72bpm]  "You really should take a ride back to the hospital with us, get that checked out."

120/80.  That's not just a healthy blood pressure, look it up.  It's Perfect, textbook diastolic over systolic.  Too perfect, especially for someone who just got shot with an assault rifle.

"No, I don't want to go to the hospital, let alone back to the police station, I'll be fine.  I'll heal."

"So, you can just heal like that?"

"Huh!  I don't know, I've never had to heal a gunshot wound before, but the bleeding stopped, immediately."

"If you don't mind me asking.  I don't know any way to say it that doesn't sound even ruder, but what are you some kind of.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but.  A superhero, or something?"

"I'm a model.  I don't know about the whole, crime fighting, superhero gig.  I never had a break like this before."

"Well," one of the detectives, I guess.  "There's still the property damage."

"What property damage?  They're the ones that cut the cash machines off of the."  She waved her hands.  "Pillars or whatever."  Tiny little hands, and her arms.  They're just as long, and lean as the rest of her, if you overlook a couple of things that stand out.  But I'm a medical professional, and she's.  Not willing to be a patient, probably because she's afraid of ending up in a secret lab somewhere as a test subject.  Hell, if they ever run her through an MRI, I'd like to see what they come up with.

"So, you're a mutant?"

"I guess," she looked back, with another shrug.  "I don't know, is that what they call it in the comic books, and the movies?"

"In the X-men movies, I never really got into the comics, but the cartoons, too."  I can't help thinking she must be something like Wolverine, at least.  By the time we got there, the bullet holes had closed up, and shrunk to spots of pinkish flesh.  Looked more like needle sticks than a rifle bullet, just that was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen, and then, she started shrinking.  "Shape, changer?"

"Not like, uh.  The blue one."  She brushed her bangs back, and tucked them behind one of her ears.  "Red hair, and.  Yellow, eyes?"

"Mystique."  I guessed.

"Yeah, she the one that changes shape in the commercials?  I haven't seen the movies, either."

I nodded, "So, how is she different from you."

"I didn't even know her name, but.  Huh!  Mystique."  She smiled to herself.  Shook her head.  "Sorry, I don't know how I do it, you'd think that after 38 years."

"You don't look 38."

"I'm not, I'm 52.  I didn't want to get old."

"So you're immortal, too."

"I don't know, I'll tell you when I live forever.  If you're still around then, but I don't have to age, if I don't want to."

"So," the detective cut in, "You got super strength?"

"Yeah, now.  I guess, I can grow, super strong."

"You threw a car."

"Yeah, but not a very big one.  It's super light weight, it has to be to get any decent range out of it."

He pointed.  "Property damage."

"Uh." facepalm, "Yeah, I owe them a car, and it's a prototype.  So, it's got to be expensive, but I'll have work that out with the company."

"Smart?"  He wrote that down with a stylus, but i could see the screen from here.  Sitting in the back of the ambulance, but with the doors open, so she could leave any time.  They could try to stop her, I guess.

"Daimler Benz AG Chrysler.  Whatever part of the conglomerate I'm actually working for.  Hopefully they'll want to work out some kind of contract for the publicity, but are you going to charge me with destruction of property?  They were trying to get away with the money, so I stopped them."

"They got away."

"Ha!  Do I look like I can chase down a motorcycle, let alone 3 of them?  Why don't you worry about catching them, they didn't get away with the Money.  I just stopped the van, before you guys showed up.  You don't have to thank me or anything."

"Thank you?  You just.  Tore up the whole Plaza, you're lucky nobody was hurt."

"Nobody else was hurt?  I just got shot!"

"Well, we can't have dangerous people rampaging on the."

"So now I'm dangerous, huh?"

"You done with her?"  He asked me.

"No," she put her hands up.  "I'm done with you.  Let me go, or arrest me right in front of all these cameraphones.  You want to put me in handcuffs for doing your job?"

"Would you be able to break out of them?"

"I don't know, eventually?  I haven't tried it yet, but unless you want a publicity nightmare on your hands, or your sweats back, I'm a little beat.  It's been a bad day, and I've got to go talk to somebody."

"All right, but don't leave town."

"Not unless I get a better job offer."

mln over her shoulders.  nlm  Double back flip, she just walked off, and the detective stopped a uniform.  "Let her go."

I wanted to ask her more questions about her powers, but I got some pretty good answers.  I wonder who wants the scoop?

I wonder how much they might pay for it, but while nobody was looking, I pulled up the thin mat, and stuck a gauze sponge under it.

A gauze sponge, with her blood on it.

[psiberzerker]

I caught the tail end of the conversation walking back.  I don't have super-hearing, and they seemed to have half the police force there, running around, and making a lot of noise.

"So, I'm not fired."  His shoulders relaxed, and he nodded.

"Not yet, but we're not getting any customers with the whole plaza taped off."

I stopped at the rails for the security gate.  Still rolled up, because as she pointed out, nobody was going to show up to rob them with half the squad locking down the whole block.

"How did you get in?"  I leaned up in the doorway.

"OMG!"  I heard heels run up, and turned to see some chick.  I'm sorry, but she's young, and carrying a little black dress on a hanger.  "That was incredible, but."  She held it up, "Here."

Al, just Al on his apron looked over, then back to me.  Pulling the strings, and whipping them around to take it off.

"That dress is ruined."

"Huh!"    "You're from WH | BM?"  I held it up, and turned it around.  Checked the tag, but it's 85/15% Silk/Lycra.  Stretch silk.

"Sorry about your credit card."

"Can I get a Latte?"  I looked over at the coffee station, grinder, and French Press.  "Sorry, make that au lait."  His boss went over to get the electric kettle, and pulled a hose out from the sink to fill it up.

"I went ahead, and payed for it," the perky girl squealed, and giggled with excitement.

"Al, what happened to my card?"

"They took it as evidence.  Don't worry."  He turned to the baker, "Freddy.  I rang it all up first."

She just looked over, and smiled.  "Rest-room's back there."  She hooked her thumb, and hit the grinder.

"Huh!"  I guess the flashbacks are going to start now.  Which is weird, because that coffee grinder didn't sound anything like the robber's saws, with strange wafer blades like metal waffels.  That's what they brought with them, in the rolling luggage cases, but after I got a chance to think.  Before the action started, there was a moment of fear where I didn't know what I was going to do, but I decided.

This soap smells like a cross between lotion, and disinfectant, but it's hand soap.  So, I washed it off my hands, and pumped Purell out of the dispensor.  To wipe onto my pits, because it dries pretty cleanly, and I don't have to rinse it off.

That teenager was right, the dress is ruined, and now I remember the give against my side when the seam split.  I had just gotten shot, right before I could grab his rifle.  He fumbled for it, holding up the heavy machine like a pall bearer, but that was a lucky break.  It was all a series of lucky breaks, I was at the right place, at the right time, for once.

No, I'm not that lucky.  I feel lucky to have this curse, the body I always wanted, this beautiful young looking face, but i tried scrubbing it with hot water, and pulled on the dress.  It stretched, and i feel like I was a little harsh on her because she's so young, and where she worked.  I'm sure she didn't have a choice, or maybe she didn't research the company to find out what they mean when they put "Fair Trade" on the tag.

I bent the plastic wire around my thumbnail, and pinched it until it was dented enough to snap off.  Pulled the loose end through the shoulder strap, and settled it on my skin.

"Huh!"  Turning this way and that, there's no way around it.  It's skin, it doesn't just snap back after you stretch it that much, that fast.  Though I suppose the fresh wrinkles distract from the deep striations in the underlying muscle, which just points out the underlying muscle.

"Huh!"  That's going to take a while to lose.  I had to work out, in combat, so once I jerked the one that shot me out by the strap, he hung his gun from so it was close at hand, but he had to use both hands.  So did the other guy, and the other 4 on their respective machines, they were that heavy, but I caught it.

Not super-fast, I knew it would fall when I jerked his shoulder out from under it, so i already had my hand out, my palm, and fingers swollen with fluid to pad them, and now I've got wrinkles between my finger.  Stretch marks across the back.

I never scarred before, but then again, I never put on this much weight, and fluid so fast.  That was a lot of water weight, and I only sweat so much off in those dreadful Police sweats, but they did their job before I gave them back.

Then I realized that I could flow a lot of that back to my chest, so I closed my eyes, and cupped them, until they felt about right.  Blinked, and checked in the mirror, but the dress.  It stretches, but not in the most flattering way, and I'm still retaining a little fluid, so i kept going for a few more pules.  My heart, a little too fast, so take a deep breath, and slow it down.

:

.  .

"There."  Smooth it out, and turn back.  Compare it to my rump, then shake my head.  "Huh!"  This dress.  Makes my butt look huge, and hard, because I just squatted, and deadlifted a car.  Yeah, it's an ultra-light weight car, because it's electric, and the heavier it is, the faster it burns up it's charge, but still.

It's still a car.  One I'm going to have to pay for, but I lucked out.  Those guys, I don't think they were terrorists, but ARCT didn't have any footage when they got the call.  Everyone ran when they broke out the.  Now, what did they call them?  "Assault Carbines."  Looked like M-16s to me, but I barely felt the one that shot me.

They couldn't fight, as a team, and carry the cash machines, at the same time.  I didn't have to beat them, I didn't even stop them, honestly I just made them drop the money, and run.  

"You want the money?"  I have to smile a little.  "Here, take the money!"  That took care of the second cash machine, but then I had 3 guys with guns, pointed at me.  1 more to go, but they ran pretty fast with a cash machine between them.  I think, i remember.  "Oh, right."  G. I. Jane.  That movie about a woman in SEAL training, carrying boats, and other gear like that, and I have no idea how I knew that the batteries would stop bullets.

I figured out that most of the weight was in the bottom, between the wheels, and the graceful curves of the body on top weighed next to nothing, but as soon as I got it tipped up, I could hear the impacts, and even feel them vibrating through my shoulder.  my arm ripped, when I grabbed the falling cash machine.  Then protein rich blood flowed right in to replace it, with new fibers.  Fresh muscle, more strnght than I had ever felt before, but picking up that car.

It honestly hurt more than the bullet, that went right through my thigh, because i grabbed it before he could lift it up high enough to point at me.  It all happened so fast, now I have to process it, because i didn't have time to think, once I got to the counter.

Al.  Standing there oblivious, and smiling politely.  "Welcome to Semi Freddo's, what can I get you?"

"Huh!"  It's weird, how the only time I was scared was right before I rolled over the counter, and forced fluid down to my legs to catch me.  Then, I felt how heavy i was, when my hands slapped down on the hardwood floor.  No, bamboo, I think.  It's green, and in strips, I don't know, but it's green.  Ish.

I didn't know what to do then, but then the action started, and I couldn't think.  I just did it.  I can't believe that I did that without getting killed.  I'm sorry, Detective Ritter, Major Crimes.  I let them go, hell they even got the last machine into the van, but they weren't going anywhere with a smart car in the driver's side of the front seat.  

So, the bikes came around, and they drove off.  2 per bike.

They were good, they were real good.  They planned it, they even planned to double up on motor cycles just in case someone decided to be a hero.  Like that security guard the leader told not to be a hero.

They just didn't plan for me being there.

"Huh!  That's enough."  I went out, "Where did she go?"

"The girl that brought the dress?"  The pastry chef came around the corner, "Here you go, one cafe au lait.  Free of charge."

"Thanks, you have any cold creme?"

"I can go get some."  Al ran out, and disappeared.

I took a sip, and a moment to savor the creamy steemed milk, perfectly balanced by the smoky dark roast brewed coffee.  A little caramel note from scorched starches leaving a treacle flavor clinging to my mouth when I swallowed, and the caffeine hit my heart.

"Whole milk?"  There went my diet.  "No, half and half?"  I guessed.

"Oh, sorry.  I, should have known.  Let me make another."

"Oh no.  Don't bother, this is fine.  It's delicious, thank you."

"All she had was a can of Noxema."  All ran back, and his boss looked at me.  We both laughed.

"Thanks."

[psiberzerker]

I grabbed a large soup cup, and threw a couple ice cubes on top of the rest of the pot.  Black, this isn't a coffee shop, and I really didn't want to invest in an espresso machine, but you can't sell pastries in the morning without coffee.

French press, because it makes the best coffee.  Black, on the rocks.

"I just need someone to talk to."

So, I sat down.  "I went to the bank."  In answer to her question, "After I got the baking done, and opened up, I went to get some change for the register."

"You know why they put 4 cash machines in?"  I set the coffee down, with the ice almost melted to slivers floating on top.

"I'm in the business owner's association,"  I nodded, "but I wasn't really paying attention to that part of the meetings.  The gist of it was that the banks fought over who would get to put in a branch, there was a bidding war, and then."  Shrug, "I suppose they settled on a compromise.  I wasn't there."

"Well, I have to think that putting them all together in 1 place is what attracted the Terrorist."

"So they are terrorists?"

"I don't know.  Counter-terrorism task force.  They acted more like soldiers."

"How so?"

"Organization, cooperation, they covered each other, but if anyone said "Cover Me" out loud, either I couldn't hear it, or I don't remember."

"It's a lot to process."  I just hid in a doorway when I heard the gunshot.  Then a bunch of gunshots until the cops showed up, and it was safe to come out.  I'm still trying to remember what all happened when, and where, when all i saw was the aftermath.  The ice was gone, but it was cool enough to drink, and barely watered down.  So, I took a good drink.  "You didn't make too much of a mess."

"Thank you!"  We laughed briefly.  "Those cops kept talking about the property damage, when I barely damaged any property that wasn't the car, or the terrorists."

"Hopefully they'll clean up quickly so I can re-open."  She turned back, from the open store front, and looked upset.  "Are you okay?"

"Fine, it's just.  The way they're carrying off the machines."  I looked, but they just set one on a stretcher, with the mattress taken off, and started buckling straps over it.

"Like a body?"

"No, like the criminals, but.  I suppose they didn't bring anything, or have anything to move them.  With the ambulance, and coroner here.  They called the coroner when nobody died?"

"Thanks to you.  Um, if you don't mind me asking.  Why did they let you go?"

"Huh!  I didn't want to go with them."  She rubbed her arms, but it's surreal watching the stretch marks pull her skin back together, slowly disappearing.  Because you can't see it actually happening, it's too slow, but every time I glance back at her bare shoulders, the pink cracks are smaller, and fewer.  Her otherwise flawless skin tighter over her arms, and then there's her arms.

I missed that part too, but I saw her out there, modeling the car.  The same car she picked up, and used as a shield, to follow the men falling back, and shooting at her.  

"I didn't want to fight them, but I basically dared them.  I told them they didn't want to fight me, nor the publicity of arresting me in front of all the cameras."  A news helicopter was circling around with the police one bye then.  WPVI Action News 6 on the side.

I did see them, back up one at a time.  They didn't look over at me, I doubt they even saw me cowering there in the corner of the doorway, but they stopped, and fired a burst.  Another one back up, stopped, and fired a burst.  

She's right, none of them said "Cover Me."  They just covered each other in retreat.

I just walked right past the van, it was just a cargo van.  No logo on it, and there wasn't anyone in the driver's seat.  They left the doors open, and the engine running, but in the loading zone, I barely even noticed in my hurry to get back.  With the bank bag, I clutched it like a security blanket, even though I probably would have given it up as soon as one of them looked at me.

Then I saw the car.  Who was holding it up, as if it weighed nothing by the back tires.  Her arms, and legs.  The way her feet squished, and spread out with every step, and even bulged out through the holes torn in her hose.

"It's just so surreal."  I shook my head.

"Yeah, tell me about it, but.  You mind if I tell you."    "I never got to tell anyone, and I've been holding it back for decades."

"What?"

"My origin story?  I couldn't even tell my doctors, even when I had them take blood to see if they could find anything.  Alien about it?"

"They didn't?"

"If they did, they never said anything, but I don't have anything like a radioactive spider I can point to.  I just always knew there were certain things that no one else could do.  It amazed me how long it took say a boy to heal his scraped elbow.  I don't even remember his name, he fell off his bike, and then he showed it to everyone for weeks.  Even after it scarred up, he was kinda proud of the scars."  She thought.  "Jake?  Jack, no.  Maybe it was Joe, or John, and that's why I don't remember.  He must have been about 7 or 8, and he just got the training wheels off, but that was the first time I realized that humans.  Normal people take so long to stop bleeding, scar, and heal.  It wasn't just because he picked the scabs, though I'm sure that made it last longer, but it's everyone.  Everyone but me."

"So, you think you might be an alien?"

"No, I just feel like one.  Surrounded by normal human beings, and passing as one."

"Well," Al came back.  "If I could do what you can, I sure wouldn't hide it.  I'd be mutant, and proud."  

"I guess it's some sort of mutation, but my mom.  She never told me what she worked on, but she wore a lab coat, so.  I always suspected that she was exposed to something when she was pregnant, but she told me that she took time off, for maternity leave.  I asked her if she thought she might be exposing herself to something, but she said no.  Because she had full payed maternity leave, so she took it."

"It must be some secret project, though."

"I don't know.  She couldn't talk about it."

"So, what's it like?"  I had to ask.  Al went back to grind some more coffee, and make more pots, but he also put money in the register.  i wasn't paying attention, but he stacked up soup cups, the quart of half, and half, a box of sweeteners on the sheet pan.  Rolled it out on a cart.  The police would come near the shop, because she was in there, and looking over her shoulder it became obvious that they were avoiding it.  they wouldn't even look over here, but they had work to do, and we're the only place open that served coffee...

[psiberzerker]

I just rang up the coffee, by the pound, and took the Platinum card back to the table.  Set it down with a slap, just like she did a lifetime ago, and left it there.

"How did you get it back?"  She pulled her purse up the back of the chair.

"I told them you offered to buy them all coffee."  

"Uh, can I use your phone?"  She got up.  "Thanks," and hugged me.  "That was good thinking."  Gave me a pat on the back.  

I blushed, I swear I fucking blushed, but then aunt Freida asked her.  "You don't have a phone?"

I grabbed the basket of day olds, and dropped them on the sheet pan.  Thought to throw the box of plastic wrap on, as if I'd just wrapped them up, so they wouldn't know they were day olds.  Tossed the [Day Old] discount sign in the trash, and rolled it back out.

"Woah," then I saw a flap of black.  Cape, looked up and saw a grin under a lacy black mask like a butterfly, and a ponytail.  "Cordelia.  Wait."  I stopped her, but she tried to juke around.  "Stop.  Don't bother them right now."

"I don't want to bother them."  She tried to look around my side, under my arm.  "What're they doing in there?"

"Just girl talk."

"Well, I'm a girl."

"Yeah, but the last thing she needs is a fangirl."

"Oh."  She stepped back, so I could put my arms down.  "I get it.  You want to be her side kick."

"No, she doesn't Want a side kick.  She just needs to process what happened, and my Aunt is helping her, until the cops clear out."

"Oh, can I get one of those.  Chocolate stuffed."

"Pain au Chocolat."  I dug it out, "Go ahead, and take it, but since I already know your secret identity."    I joked.  "What's your side-kick name?"

"Oh, I."  She thought, then looked down.  Peeling off the sticker with the price, and ingredients on it, and unwrapped it, thinking.  "I don't know."

"Well, if you don't mind me saying, you look more like you're dressed up for a fetish party than a crime fighter."

"Huh!"    "I had to work with what I got at the shop."

"They had that mask at the shop, or did you just make it?"  She had been gone for a while, actually she took longer to change than the whole fight, now that I think about it.

"No, and yes.  I made it for a rave, but last night.  So, I had it with me at work, but I forgot about it."

"A costume party?  I didn't know they even had raves any more."

"Well, they're calling it a Gala, and recorded the Met Gala to play it back, but I guess it's kinda like a masked ball.  What about Masque?  I know it's taken, but you don't think Marvel would sue me, if I used that name, would they?  Black mask is taken, and.  Um."

"Well, it looks good on you.  Honestly, everything looks good on you, and working in a fashion store.  I can't help thinking, you want to be a model?"

She looked at me, doubtful.  "Why, you want me to model the day-olds basket for you, or you're secretly a modeling agent this whole time?"

"Hahaha, it's not a line.  I should have realized that's one of those lines, you hear a lot?"

"Well, yeah."  She does look like an aspiring model, she even walks like one.

"You're a teenage girl, I've heard it too, but I only ask because."  I nodded my head back at the opening to the bakery.  "You know.  Also, you into comic books?"

"Yeah, you?"

"No, ha ha.  Not really, like the old X-men cartoon, and Batman:  The Animated Series, but not the actual comic books."

"Oh yeah.  My boyfriend.  Well."  She put her arm around me.  "My ex boyfriend.  I used to go out with this guy, and he had a whole lot of them."  I know, I'm sure she's just going out with me in the hopes to get close to Her, but I don't care.  She came in all the time, enough to know that she likes the Pain au Chocolat fresh from the oven, but we never got to hang out, or anything.

Besides, She doesn't need her busting in, in costume, and fangirling all over her, but I didn't lie.  I didn't have to, she does look good in everything I ever saw her wear, because she obviously puts a lot into it.  She works at a fashion store, so she knows the language.

So, in addition to always wanting to get to know her better, I thought it might be a good way to understand Her better, too.

I don't know anything about fashion.  I barely even know anything about being a Pastry Chef yet.  I just have this aunt, that needed help at her shop.

"Right place, right time, she said."

"Who?"

"Purge."

"OMG, her superhero name is Purge?"

"Yeah.  She said as long as her superpower is weaponized bulimia, and she can't hide it any more."

"Ew, you mean she."  She made the gag me sign.  "Ugh!"

"No, but that's not the only way to do it.  My's.  Friend, I had this friend of mine in college.  She started taking laxatives, and other people online, they use exercise or whatever."

"Oh, that's too bad.  I had a friend that."  She pointed down her throat again.  "Did that, but your, sister?"  I nodded.  "That had to be hard on you, too."

"Well, I was pretty worried about her, but there wasn't anything I could do about it.  It was up to her to get help, but she's better now."

"You know what?  You're pretty cool."

"Thanks, but you're so much cooler."

"I know," she laughed.  "But thanks for noticing."

"So, you don't have any men's clothes in here?"  I overheard Her muttering something about White House | Black Market, but I only really get how racist that is.  She wouldn't be caught dead in here, I got that too.  So, as long as I can keep Cordelia in here, I don't have to worry about her bothering Her.

"But there's already a Purge."

"There is?"  I came around to look over her shoulder.  

"A bunch."  She had her phone out with a wikipedia page up, and her elbows propped up on the counter, but I was almost close enough to smell her hair.

I didn't, that would be a little creepy, but still.  I could have, if I didn't hold myself back.

"Yeah" she shrugged, "I don't guess there's a whole lot of good names that haven't already been taken."

[psiberzerker]

"So, what's it like?"

"Well, it's going to sound strange, but it's really the most like a sense of taste.  Only instead of going away when I swallow something, I can taste it in my stomach.  Feel the nutrients break down, and then when they get down to my guts, and can taste them in my bloodstream."

"Wow, that does sound strange."

"Not to me, I was amazed to find out that nobody else could."

"So then what, you learned how to control it?"

"Well, not right away.  The biggest problem with having any ability that nobody else has is that nobody wrote a book on how to control it.  I wonder, sometimes if it's not just me, but all the other people like me are in hiding, too.  Well, I was in hiding, but I suppose I should look on the bright side."

"Good news?  On the phone."

"Yeah, I had to call the company, and face the music."  I don't bring my phone to jobs like this, because I would lose the job, from paying attention to the phone, instead of the product, except on break.  "They saw the footage all ready.  Of course, it's going viral, but the marketing team already contacted Daimler AG, and there's talks under way.  They're not just forgetting about the cost of the car, you wouldn't believe how much they spent on them."

"Them?  I thought it was a prototype."

"Right, but it's a Concept Car, and this isn't the only market they're getting surveys from.  They've got more in Detroit of course.  New York, LA, London, Berlin of course."

She nodded.  "So, what can you do.  Exactly, with your body?"

"Huh!  Well, the most impressive thing to me at least is I can shift my weight.  I can't gain, or lose it.  That's the first rule of thermodynamics."

"TANSTAAFL."

"Beg your pardon?"

"Oh, my granddad.  My mother's father?  He had a lot of science fiction books, a whole library.  He said it stands for There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch."

"Yeah.  That, but I got into gymnastics first, because."  I stopped pacing, and wandered over to a side table with 2 soup tureens.  Empty, but she barely got started on anything after the day's bake, and first pot of coffee before I showed up.  Tough lids for the polystyrene bowls she uses as coffee cups, but I spun it like a coin.  "I figured out how to pull my weight in.  All the way in from my arms, and legs, when naturally centrifical force would make it flow out, slowing you down."

"Oh, conservation of Angular Momentum."  She shrugged.  "Physics nerd.  Chemistry nerd, too."

"Is that why you got into baking?"

"No, that was my Uncle Freido."

"Oh, huh!  Ahahahah."

"Yeah, I'm kind of named after him."

"What happened to him?"

"Nothing?  It's his day off, he'd rather run the business on the weekends because it's busy.  He gets bored during the week, he should come in before rush hour this evening.  Actually, could you bring me the phone?"

"Sure," I went around the counter, but I wasn't exactly a customer here any more.  While I was back there, I pulled up the receipt sticking out of the top of the printer.  "Yeesh."  Who knew that crime fighting would be so expensive?  I grabbed the cordless off the base.

"I better call him real quick."  Looking around, I peeked around the corner, but all I saw was the aluminum cart, with a sheet pan slid into the top, a big box of food service film, and a basket with a [Free for the Cops] sign stuck in the top.

"Damn and blast."  I didn't even get his number to thank him.  Well, when his aunt gets off the phone, I'm sure she won't mind giving it to me.

To thank him, and he's not only cute, he's also incredibly helpful.  I know, he's 19, but I can't tell you how hard it is to find a good man with the way I look.  "You could get any man you want," I know, but somebody let out that women like Confidence, and then the only guys with enough to be willing to talk to me can't tell the difference between that, and Arrogance.

Too much confidence comes off as Arrogant, and i don;t want to sit through another date where the whole dinner is spent letting him tell me why he's in my league.  I don't care if he's in my league, or not, Al isn't in little league, but he didn't ask.  he didn't assume, he just did what was right.  Again and again, and he didn't even seem to think about it.  Like that trick with the coffee, and pastries to get my credit card back.  I would have done that, if I had thought of it, but he didn't even bother me with it, he just took care of it.

He took care of me, good care of me, despite seeing me at my most freakish, and he didn't flex once after that.  The cops flexed, constantly, the whole time.  I saw them, and I'm talking elite SWAT/ARCT guys, the same guys I fought, only on my side turn around, and see me.  

Oh, better puff up, and beat on my chest, I wouldn't want her to think I was weak, in riot gear.  I guess, full armor except the helmets, but they don;t have to do that.  They probably don't even think they had to do that, they just do it, because I'm a beautiful woman that can swing a cash machine like a baseball bat if I have to.

I didn't know my own strength, but I suspected, and now.  Checking my shoulders, even the scars are gone.  I can't even feel them with my fingertips, but there's a mirror I can see through the window of White House | Black Market.  Of course there is, but I'm just using the mirror through the window, and I can sigh with relief that I look like myself again.

"Whew!"

[psiberzerker]

As soon as we were within range of the Coast, the pilot patched me through to the Phone system.  "We'll be coming in on approach soon."

"Thank you."  I looked up the number, and dialed.  It rang several times before switching to Voicemail.

"Hello, I'm busy right now, hopefully with a shoot.  So, if you would rather, you can reach me on MyFacePage.  That's ArleneYakOby with a Jay.  All one word At MyFacePages.net."

"Huh!"   Pulled over a touchscreen, and locked the arm.  Buckled up as we hit a turblent layer, and glanced out at the cloudbank.  Rapidly approaching, and then then the phone rang.

"Nghk, sowry,  Uh, the gnumber saibs Mercedes May Bach."

"Yes, this is she.  Have I caught you at a bad time?"  It sounds like she blew her nose.

"Gnoh, Im'b fign.  I just broke my nobes.  As in Mercedes Maybach?"

"Yes, of course they compound the names, for the ad campaign, but legally my name is Mercedes May Bach."

"Ngh!  Imba bigh fan.  I guebs you saw me on the noobs?"

"How did you break your nose?"

"Wib my fighus.  Hang on."  She blew it again noisily.  "Is that better?"

"You healed it quickly."  The quick dossier that the records team mentioned that, but there was nothing in her blood sample except an over-saturation of lipids, and glycose.  Enough to send a diabetic into a coma.

"Of course, it just clogged up for a second, but you're affiliated with Daimler AG."

"If you count owning controlling stock in my Division affiliated with."

"You're not just a spokes model."

"No, you either?"

"Are you on a plane, or something?"

"Yes," the engines were reversing, to brake.  "I'm coming in for a landing at Brandywine Regional Airport."

"Oh, what a coinkidink.  I live right around the corner."

"I know."

"So, you want me to meet you there or something?"

"It would be a waste of time, and money to fly all this way, if you didn't."

"Give me a few minutes?"

"Yes, of course.  I have a lot to unload, anyway."

;

Author note:



Copyrights, and Trademarks used without permission, All Rights Reserved.

[psiberzerker]

Mercedes May Bach
______________________________
From Celebritywiki

Born (August 4 1984) Monica Langdon-Meier, she is the niece by marriage to Dieter Meier, Swiss industrialist, and frontman of the progressive electronic project Yello, with DJ, and Music Producer Boris Blank.

Legally changed her name to Mercedes M. Bach, and debuted with the launch of the Maybach Zukunvisionen VI Protype:  

(Currently awaiting international safety approval for Production)

Early Life:

;

Purge (FFM NS Meet)

"Shit!"  The eggs boiled over, so I dropped my tablet on the bed, and hopped into the kitchen, pulling on my first boot.  At least I thought ahead to set up the sink with a colander full of ice, so I poured them in that, and turned off the stove.  "Whew!"  Zipped up the back of the boot, and closed my eyes, letting Gravity pull fluid down to my heel, and rising up on the ball of my foot until my hips leveled out, then walked back to the bed.  Pulled my other boot off the mattress, and slipped it on.  Zipped it up, and threw a jacket on over my shoulders

Tried on some glasses, and then bent the pads out to fit further down my nose, before turning to the mirror.

"Yeah," I need to comb my hair dry, but "That should do."    "What am I saying?  I don't have anything to wear to meet Mercedes fucking Maybach, and give her a ride home in my fucking Tesla?"  She said something about having a lot to unload, "I hope it'll all fit in the back seat."

No time, I just locked up, and headed for the elevator.  Tried not to freak out the whole way there, which is all of 6 blocks, and there's no traffic to give me more time to prepare, but I'm wondering if I'm actually more nervous now than I was.

"God, it's just been.  3 days."

Since I found the courage, somewhere to jump up, and throw myself over the counter into harm's way.

"Nikola, call Freida."

"Calling, Freida."

It rang.  .  ...

"Semifreddo's, canitakeyourorder?"

"Yeah, can I talk to your boss?  Tell her it's;"

"It's your girlfriend."

"Take over this batch," I heard the bench scraper stop tossing, and turning semifluid on the antigriddle.  Then start up again.  "Hey girlfriend, mwah!"

"Hey, you won't believe who I'm going to meet."

"Surprise me."

"Mercedes Maybach!"

"OMGod, the Mercedes, I mean.  The model, not the car."

"Well, it's the brand, but yeah.  The spokesmodel, and also apparently shareholder of the entire division of Daimler AG?"

"Well, why don't you bring her by the store, and say hi?  Not that I need the publicity, but thanks again for not wrecking the place when you tore up the whole plaza."

"Uh!"

"Too soon?"

"Way, too soon."

"Sorry, so seriously, though.  Stop by if you can."

"Uh, I don;t know, if you have enough for her entire.  Convoy?"

"How big a convoy we talking about?"

"Well, it looks like 3 G series, and a couple of guard bots, but I don't suppose they're going to be very hungry.  Callya back?"

"Yeah, Répondez s'il vous plaît, but I better help the new girl with this batch.  Honest to god, it's not playdough, what're you finger-painting?"

"Kaybye."

"Love ya, bye."

"Huh!"  Well, at least there's a riced out street racer of another S to park next to, even if it is filthy.  I hope anybody will look at that, instead of my base model.



;

[psiberzerker]

OMG, Oh My God!

Oh

My

God!

Okay, I got it out of my system.  It took a while, but eventually, I got kinda used to all the celebrities, when they started to relax, drink coctails, and let me show off my party tricks.

"I'm a mutant, too.  That's why I'm coming to meet Purge."  Also, Ew.  Seriously?  It's hard to believe she ever even heard of marketing, much less had a full fledged degree in it.  So, something to ask her about, when she gets here.

Call them the Jet Set?  I don't know, but they had a full bar set up in a hanger, and then that Mercedes model came over, and put her hand up.

"She's 16.  So whatever she orders."

The bartender just tapped his nose, so I ordered "Piña Colada."  He left out the rum, at least nobody called it a Virgin piña colada.  Not that I want to get drunk, but you know, there's a General right over there, probably some law enforcement or another, and maybe it could take a little of the edge off.

"Hey,"  A chill ran up my spine, and I almost nerded out again.

"Ellon,"  Mercedes' thick action, it almost sounded like Ellen, the way she said it, "Crystal, Crystal?"

I shook his hand too long, and too hard, in both hands.  "Is it Elon, or Ellon?"

"Elon, she knows how to say it, she just calls me that."

"We went to school together."  She raised her nose, and strutted off, like a.  Well, a supermodel, you know?  I guess not, me neither, but I was starting to learn.

"I understand that you have some special abilities."

"Yeah," I smiled, and didn't even have to concentrate.  I'd been chilling drinks this whole time, and I figured there was only 1 reason he'd want to talk to me in the first place, so I waited him to notice.

"Huhah!  Yeah, all right."  He finally pulled out his hand, and shook it off.  "Neat trick, how do you do it?"

"Well, the labcoats say I seem to have developed some kind of thermal equilibrium, but I think that's backwards?  I mean, that would mean I could balance my temperature, but they're investigating whether it might have anything to do with my chimaerism."

He winked, and my brown eye, then looked over at my blue one.  "So, what does it feel like?"

"Well like this, give me your hand.  Both hands this time.  I can feel hot, and cold.  Just like anyone, but it's just like holding a handful of ice in one hand, and I don't know.  Something warm in the other."  I had to concentrate, a little to go back the other way.  "Only I can control it, melt the ice in one hand, with the heat in the other."

"Amazing, but how hot or cold can you go?"

"Oh, not that cold, if you mean like freezing stuff.  I can't start fires either, but all I can really do is absorb the heat that's already there, and it has to go somewhere, so I have to let it out, or I'll start to burn up?  Yeah, I almost got burned real badly when I thought I was fireproof, and I lost all my hair, but it grew back.  I guess, you could call that starting a fire, but not really.  I mean, the fire was already there, but I can't make it like a firebender.  From the Legend of Korra?"

"Or Avatar, the Last Airbender, but I know what you mean.  The first law of Thermodynamics."

"God you are such a nerd!  I mean, I always expected you to be, or anyone as brilliant as you are.  Don't get me wrong, but you'd have to be to do all the amazing stuff you have.  So,"  Awkward, "What brings you here?"

"Oh, just exchanging some new batteries, adapted for those powered suits?"  He pointed out the guards, that looked like bubbles of armor, standing around. 

"Oh yeah, the Stahlmen?"

"Well, that's actually a prototype for the Stahlmann project, that got beat out by Rheinmetall, but that didn't end up going anywhere, and I don't want to bore you."

"Oh, no.  I'm interested, I know all this tech stuff, well not all of it, but the basics like thermodynamics?"

"Yeah, I bet you picked that up real quick, but if you don't mind.  I have to go."  He held up his fingers, "Mingle."

I knew it, I ruined it.  Stupid, I thought for a minute there I might could even, I don't know.  Maybe talk him into a date or something, but then I had to go and call him a nerd?  Good job, Crystal, but really hes like the only one that looked as out of place in this crowd as I feel, like just the way he said "Mingle."  You could tell, he totally didn't want to mingle, he just couldn't wait to get away from me, because I'm such a spaz.

[psiberzerker]

She met me in a board room, or at least some room they set up with a board table, chairs, a suitcase in front of her.  She got up, and opened it.  "Here, I got you something."  Straight to business.  

"What's this?"  She turned it around, and showed my the Mercedes logo on the front.

"A bodysuit, why don't you try it on?"

"I don't want, is this like a sponsorship?  Because if you want me to wear a logo."  She finally looked up.

"You changed your hair."  She frowned, "And your face."

"Yeah, thanks for the car,"    "But aren't you even listening to me?  I don't want to be your spokes-model, and I changed my face because that one was too recognizable."  

"Well, it's just a prototype," she lay it over the top of the suitcase, with a Mercedes logo on it, and picked at it.  "Nobody's forcing you to wear the logo."  It peeled right off, but tore when it got to the other 2 points, so she picked at it.  "I don't need another spokes-model."

"I guess not, look.  I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot."  She looked up from my flats, and her perfectly sculpted eyebrows went down to touch the bridge of her nose again.  She looked confused.  "How tall are you now?"

"6'8", give or take a few inches."  It really depends how much fluid I have pumped into my joints, so I settled down, and cracked my neck.

"I thought that you couldn't change, size?  That rapidly."

"Well, I've been practicing, but what is this?"  I felt it.  "Lycra?"

"A proprietary blend of fibers,"  She shook her head, so that's not one of them, but Proprietary probably means it's not on the market, and they're not planning on sharing it.

"And wires?"

"Those are just to dissipate the head, but for lack of a better term, it's a layer of protection."

"Yeah, I saw your robot suits out front, are you expecting a bombing?"

"No, but the Stahlmann contract was initially for Explosive Ordinance Officers, zo."  Her accent slipped, a little.  Good, she's not perfect.  "We just build from that."

"Why?"

"Because, those were the soldners that need to carry the most armor, but no.  There haven't been any bomb threats, but this meeting wasn't publicly announced, and the only organization who knows about it wouldn't jeapordize our relationship, just to steal some prototypes."

"Oh yeah?  Who's at?"

"SpaceX.  This would be the lining in one of their new suits."

"Oh yeah," I realized the armor out front, "Those suits?"

"Yes, withous the power, and articulation, for life support instead.  He is developing the life support systems as well, but they are heavy down here."

"In gravity."

"Yes, so."

"So, this is bulletproof?"  I already had my coat over the back of the chair, and the jacket unbuttoned, so I just shrugged out of it.  Topless, I don;t need bras for support, and I never did.  

She didn't even react, model to model.  We both worked in the business, and it's probably not unlike 2 football players using the same shower.

"It is designed to prevent penetration, of the materiel, and also absorb the the energy from it, but no.  It is not bullet proof, what did you do to your nose?"

"I broke it."

"You said this, on the phone.  You broke it to grow it out?"

"I'm seriously considering a sex change."  I nodded, and sucked in my chest, to stretch the neck around my shoulder.

"This would explain why you thought that growing 2 meters tall would be a lower profile, yes."

"Well, everyone looking for me is looking for a woman."

"You can do this?"

"A sex change?"  I shook my head, "No, well.  I don't know, honestly.  I'm sure it's possible, but I just don't know how to do it yet."

"Of course, you could not."  Now, she's just staring, so I self consciously pinch my underwear through the stretchy material.  "This is supposed to dissipate heat?"

She looks up, "Oh yes.  From absorbing energy.  We are also experimenting with painting it, but so far, none of the coatings can survive the temperatures from certain energies."

"Oh no, black is fine, so it's not going to burn me."

"Very slimming."  She shook her head, "It shouldn't, however you do not want to stand in fire too long.  Gunfire or real fire, this is what I mean by not bullet proof.  It will only carry away so much heat, before it will burn you."

"You want a demonstration?"  I had the fats, and stored lipophillic proteins from my chest absorbed into my blood-stream absorbed now, and a little more padding I could take off of my hips.  Thighs, calves, flexing, and extending my arms to work it into my biceps, but I have to close my eyes to truly feel the fibers slipping against each other.  The capillaries expanding, and the veins flowing back out with the richness, and the rusty flavor stripped off.

"Huh?"  I blinked, and she pulled her hands back from my arms.  

"I'm sorry, I should have asked."

"Oh, go on."  I grinned, and snuck a sniff of pheromones, coming off her hair.  Underneath the tasteful tang of fragrance, but I know that odor, well.  "Hey, you want to get outta here?"  I grinned, then winked when she looked up.

"No," she turned, and pushed the chair-back.  Out of the way, so she could put a heel up, and slip her hip over the side of the table.  Pulling the straps off the shoulder.  Braless, not much to hold up, but I gave her a hand anyway.  Already dissolving the caratin on the backs of my fingertips, I had to grow out the pads to cover the edges, so they don't scratch, her nipple.  She shifted, and picked her legs up to slip her underpants over her knees.

I'm not gay, but 1:  It's Mercedes Mayfuckingbach, and B:  I'm not a man either, but that doesn't mean I need a dick, neither.  Also, I can do some truly amazing things with my fingers that you'd have to feel to believe.

Besides, I'd do it for the bragging rights.

;

Author

She's not transgender, but it's like being the most beautiful woman possible:  Because she can, and in about half a century, she'd grown about as much as she could without her head hitting the Glass Ceiling.  

Now, there's real men IRL that are vocally threatened by Supergirl, Captain Marvel, She-hulk, and I sweartafuckingod one even said "What's next, Spider Woman?"  



Because Social Justice, so she's probably already getting death threats, and trying not to think about them.

The world wants a Hero, not a beautiful woman that can throw a car at you.  If she wants to stay superficially feminine, and publicly super human, it's either that, or this:

Superia, full on feminazi supervillainess.  I just have to point out what she wore to the party, because she was a little torn between becoming ^that, or the Hero.  Honestly, those are the only 2 choices the fake fanboys will allow.  She can't fight male privilege, but she can appropriate it, so she does.

Doesn't make her any less of a woman.