"Hmm?" I didn't want to. I wanted to stay like this forever. No more worries. No more impossible battles. Let me melt into a puddle of joy and forget.

"Now, Taylor," he said firmly.

I sighed, and groped at myself with my new power. It was clumsy still, but it was getting better. I could feel the infant shard within me communicating with the one I'd already possessed. Coaxing it to help. Comparing their mutual data on the old me, and restoring the parts that could be compatible with my new existence. It was surprising how little had needed to change, really.

I was finally starting to adjust to the new senses that let me see my symbiotes, but I'd yet to sort through the knowledge Master had given me about their nature. I'd been otherwise occupied, to my great satisfaction.

"Okaaay," I groaned with a newly-formed mouth. "What are we doing, Master?"

"Make yourself look human, sweetie," he directed. "Your allies are coming for you."

Human. Right. What did humans look like? For a moment I couldn't remember. Then my new shard showed me the memories it had copied from my own mind before I shattered under an intensity of pleasure beyond anything humans had been designed for.

Two arms. Two legs. I'd been a runner, so long legs sculpted with muscle. Only one orifice? That would be hard. I folded myself through the higher dimensions, making my outward self look normal while hiding the fun stuff deep inside. That would be good enough, right?

Master chuckled. "Yes, that will work. Keep at it, but listen. When they kill me, you're going to find a spark in your womb that you could use to recreate me. Don't. I've tried my best, but I was never much of a fighter and living like this... well, you'll understand once you've recovered. Take the child shard I've given you, and do what you can. Let me stay dead, and use your own judgement in deciding how to live instead of trying to figure out what I would have wanted. That's my first and last order to you, Taylor."

"Yes, Master," I responded. "But I really don't want you to die. Does it have to be like this?"

"I'm afraid it does. My shard is too strong, and I don't have enough control over it.You'll never be free of me while I'm alive. Try to do better than that with what I've given you, alright?"

I nodded, but there were tears in my eyes now. I'd only just found the place where I belonged, and it was about to be torn away from me. I tightened my grip on the tentacles that still penetrated me, caressing them as best I could.

"Good girl. A little more work on your form, please. Human girls only have two breasts, and they aren't the size of basketballs. Any last questions?"

I groped through the fog of memory that was slowly returning. He'd promised me information about something. "Um... Cauldron? Entities? Why can I feel my shards?"

He shrugged. "There's something different about the one I got. It doesn't talk, exactly, but it lets me know things. You've read some of the data on the Entities people see in their trigger visions, right?"

I nodded, and he went on. "Right. From what I've been able to piece together, there were two of those things approaching Earth. One of them is responsible for giving powers to everyone who triggers. The other one died somehow, and Cauldron's power-granting formula is made from its body. But the second Entity encountered a third one not long before it died, and exchanged a lot of shards with it. Some of them didn't get assimilated before the second entity died, and I got one of those."

"I'm not sure what the real purpose of the shards is, but ours act differently than normal ones. Most of them are like little robots sent out with strict instructions, and once they plant themselves in someone they just kind of sit there being the mechanism that makes powers work. Mine has always been more active, and a lot more cooperative. It doesn't understand humans at all, but it tries to be helpful. The child shard we gave you should be the same. I think it's supposed to be better at understanding humans, or at least give you a more controllable version of our powers."

There was a hollow boom of metal on metal not far away, and Master flinched.

"Time's up, Taylor. Be brave, be strong, and good luck."

Then the tentacles sped up again, and I couldn't focus on anything but pleasure until long after the fighting was over.

August 17, 2011

"You don't have to push yourself, Taylor," Jessica said soothingly. "No one expects you to just go back on patrol like nothing happened."

I sighed. "You're not getting it. Look, I appreciate the sentiment, and I'm completely on board with the whole `make sure Taylor hasn't been turned into a psycho' part of this program. But you're treating me like a rape victim, and I'm not."

Jessica's face adopted a careful blankness. "No?"

I sighed in exasperation. "I know Mindscramble banged me like a drum, Jessica. Believe me, that's an experience I'll never forget. I just don't have the instincts that would make it feel like rape anymore. I've read those links you gave me, but all that stuff they talk about? I don't feel anything like that."

"What do you feel?" My therapist asked carefully.

"Bored. Frustrated, like a caged tiger in a zoo. But about getting kidnapped and used by a monster villain? It was an amazing experience, and I'm completely fine with it. I wish he'd survived capture, actually. Can you imagine how fun it would be to have someone like that as a nemesis?"

"Taylor? You're, um, radiating a bit."

"What? Oh, sorry." I cut off the aphrodisiac scent with an effort. I noticed she was a bit flushed, and grimaced.

"Damn, I'm really going to have to practice controlling that. Not that I wouldn't happily seduce you, but intellectually I know it would cause all kinds of problems."

"Ahem. Yes, please don't seduce your therapist, Taylor. So, you identified as heterosexual before. How do you feel about this change in orientation?"

I leaned back on the couch and smiled. "It's kind of neat, actually. It's like I used to have this huge Rube Goldberg maze of instincts in my head that made everything related to sex and relationships incredibly complicated, and now it's all been swept out of the way. It makes things very simple. If I like someone I'll be happy to have sex with them, it doesn't matter what gender they are. As horny as I've been since I woke up, I'm really hoping I can find someone who's interested."

She eyed my new body for a moment, and looked away. "I, ah, suspect that won't be a problem, Taylor."

Before Mindscramble took me I'd been tall, skinny and a bit lacking up top. Now my human disguise had curves a porn star would kill for, and I could adjust the details at will. Yeah, I didn't think it would be a problem.

"So, these changes don't concern you?"

I sighed. "Of course they do, Jessica. From the inside it feels like I'm completely sane and perfectly well adjusted, but everyone keeps looking at me like I'm nuts. Part of me is terrified that I'm going to turn out to be hopelessly broken somehow. I already know I'm going to have to go around reminding myself not to seduce every attractive person I meet for the rest of my life. But what if there's something more serious that I'm just not getting anymore?"

"Well, let's address that. How do you feel about killing people, Taylor?"

Oh, boy. This was going to be a loooooong session.

But I could control myself. I was a patient, calculating predator, not a rampaging monster like Echidna. I could behave myself while the PRT reassured themselves that I was as sane as I felt. Wait out however many weeks or months it took them to restore me to active duty, and then score them a few victories with my newly expanded powers.

Then, when their thinkers had moved on to more urgent problems, I'd make my move.

January 13, 2012

F.O.R.R.E.A.L.

Communicating with Victoria was a painfully slow process, and the specialist's plodding approach to the endless recitation of letters didn't help. But she was by far the best choice available, so I suffered through it.

"For real, Victoria. But this is the first time I've ever done this, and there are side effects. I've got permission to try it on you if you agree, but I need to walk you through the pros and cons first. Ok?"

The face at the center of the room blinked twice, firmly. "That's a yes," the specialist said tonelessly.

"Alright. The first thing you have to understand is, this isn't a healing power. A few months ago I was caught by a villain whose power basically turned him into an inhuman sex monster, and he passed on a piece of that to me. One of the powers I got is the ability to assume a sexy form, which is how I pass for human now. I can do something similar to you, and then you should be able to shift back into yourself. Well, close enough at any rate. You can see I'm not exactly the skinny nerdgirl I used to be."

YES. H.O.T.

I smiled. "Thank you, Victoria. So, there are some other side effects. I've picked up a stranger power that keeps people from noticing anything abnormal about me, which helps a lot if I slip up with the shapeshifting. For example, your facilitator here thinks I look completely human right now. Don't you?"

I waved my tail at her, and the middle-aged woman eyed me dubiously. "Yes, Miss Hebert. Implausible top-heavy, but human."

I smirked, and turned my attention back to Victoria. "See? So that's a plus. Physically I'm classed as a Brute 3 now, and I'm pretty sure that will stack with the powers you already have. That's the good side. But the down side is pretty scary looking."

I shifted. My tail grew two feet in length, and the end split into a half-dozen tentacles tipped with an intimidating assortment of meaty knobs, suction tips, tendril fringes and grasping digits. Victoria's eyes went wide.

"Exactly," I said. "This involves sex, Victoria. Probably a day or so of kinky, twisted, depraved stuff that no normal person would want anything to do with. It all seems like great fun to me now, and if we do this you'll probably end up liking it. You can't go through something like this and not have it affect you. They tell me that my sexual instincts have been completely rewritten with this nymphomaniac predator mindset, and the same thing will happen to you."

"Now, as someone who's already gone through this I have to say that I'm pretty happy being what I am. I'm still me. I still care about the same things I did before, and I don't usually have any trouble acting like a normal person. But it's up to you. If you want to take the chance I'll be happy to try to make you like me, and I'm pretty sure it will work. If not, I'll find someone else and you can wait for the next cape with a suitable power to come along."

"So, what do you think?"

W.H.Y.M.E.

"Huh. It's true, we weren't exactly friends. But I never thought of us as enemies, either. I certainly never wanted anything like this to happen to you. I suppose I still feel some guilt, for not being able to save Amy before Jack Slash got to her."

"Of course, the PRT is letting me do this because they want you back, and they figure even if it doesn't work there's not much chance of making things worse."

U.G.L.Y.

I sighed, and let my eyes roam over the artfully arranged landscape of feminine curves that filled most of the room. Wide hips flowing into strong shoulders decorated with perfect breasts. Narrow waists and flat tummies arranged in delicate columns, arching backs and parted lips, feet with toes permanently curled in ecstasy. Each individual part was a vision of perfection, and the whole scene was enough to make my breath catch in my throat. The humans all thought her condition was horrifying, but to me she was beautiful.

My perceptions warped with a sharp sting of neural reconstruction, and suddenly I could see her the way they did. A twisted ruin of disfigured flesh, so disturbing it was hard to look at. But right now that was a useless perspective. I blinked it away, and felt my broodmistress shard shift the pattern back into storage. Maybe someday I could call it back out and try it on again, but for now I needed to be a monster.

"You aren't ugly to me, Victoria. No, seriously, I told you my perceptions were warped, didn't I? I think I see you the way Amy did, at the end."

L.O.V.E.A.M.Y.

"I know. However this works out, I promise you I won't get in the way of that. Maybe we can even get her out someday."

D.O.I.T.

"Alright, Victoria. There's some paperwork the PRT guys want filled out first, and then we'll give it a try..."

January 14, 2012

Sunrise found us cuddled into each other's arms, basking in the afterglow. I'd finally released my hold on human form during the night, returning to the hungry mass of probing appendages and gaping orifices that was my natural state. The form Amy had given Victoria had plenty of targets for my efforts, and once the brood shard I'd planted in one of her wombs took hold her broken submission quickly blossomed into eager acceptance and reciprocation.

Not that her transformation was anything like mine. Instead, I was currently buried in a pile of Glory Girl duplicates. The ones that held me in front and behind were human sized, but there were dozens more ranging from half-size all the way down to insect scale. A few of the latter had explored far inside my body during the night, and were currently celebrating their discovery of my secret spawning chambers with an impromptu orgy. The insect soldiers I'd been breeding weren't really equipped to join in, but fixing that had proved trivial.

"Your girls are insatiable," I giggled.

"Mmm hmm. I've been in heat for months with no relief, so don't expect that to change anytime soon. You know, I keep having this urge to call you Mistress."

I hugged the Victoria in front of me. "That's fine for sex games, but not in real life. The last thing I need is mindless, brainwashed minions."

The Victoria behind me shifted, hands cupping at breasts. "How about smart, loyal ass-kicking minions? You saved me from a fate worse than death, Taylor. I'd love you for that even if you weren't my... whatever this feeling is."

"I know, Victoria. I feel it too, you know. We're linked now, part of something greater. We'll never be alone again."

A tiny Victoria landed on one of my exposed breasts, and grinned at me. "I pity the fool that tries to separate us. We carry each other's seeds, don't we? If one of us dies we'll be reborn, just like the Blasphemies. Did you get some of my power in there, too?"

I felt the fresh bud hidden in my belly, slowly linking with the others. It had appeared at the height of Victoria's transformation, when her human self was completely lost to sensation. My broodmistress shard had suddenly pounced on her symbiote, partially merging with it in a way that I suspected was some kind of alien sex thing. Then the change peaked, and it... gave birth? Fissioned? The latter might be more technically correct, but it had felt like the former. It was a living, healthy child shard I'd gained from the transaction, not a copy or fragment.