Stories/The Second Nature series/2 Mirror Image
From Transsexual Support
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[edit] The Realization
\"Repeat! Entire team is down! Unidentified female and subject Powerkeg appear to be fighting just beyond the pile of bodies. Over!\"
\"Can you get a reading on the female, Psyche?\"
\"Affirmative! ...\"
\"Psyche? Report!\"
\"...\"
\"Psyche! Report now! What is the reading on the female?\"
\"Unbelievable. Sir! The female appears to be Matrix!\"
\"What??\"
\"This is Metalshaper. Reading is confirmed, sir. The female is Matrix, sir. It appears that he has indeed been changed into a female.\"
\"Psyche, sir. It appears that Matrix had dormant Angelic DNA. This DNA is now active. This could account for the change in body, but until we get him... her... Until we get Matrix back to base, we cannot be sure just what has happened. There is one other thing, Sir.\"
\"Go on.\"
\"Matrix\'s power level is off the charts now. In fact, the power levels of Matrix and Powerkeg are so high that going in now would be suicide.\"
\"...Affirmative, Psyche. Keep your team clear until the situation is resolved. Tempus out.\"
[edit] Enter Necro
This is an unbelievable feeling. The power courses through me so freely now... I could get used to this. I just wish I hadn\'t had to become a girl to obtain this power. Yet... was I starting to like it? I had little time to wonder about that as Powerkeg knocked me into a wall. Well, through the wall. He was channeling his explosive power through his fists, knocking me around with enough force to make a Sherman Tank look like a mangled Asian import.
\"I am not going to lose to a bitch!\" he shouted over and over as he tried to pummel me. My shield was holding, and I was getting ideas on just how to use this new power.
\"Hey, I would\'ve been perfectly content beating your ass as a man, but shit happens. Spirit Wake!!!\" The moment I said those two words, my power exploded outward from me, knocking Powerkeg into some nearby woods.
Nearby as in half a mile away. I flew after him.
\"How...\" he started to say as I happened upon him. He spit out some more blood and three more teeth. His left arm hung limply at his side. \"You\'re not supposed to be this strong. I wouldn\'t have taken this job if I knew you were this strong!\" He tried to hit me.
\"Rolling shield,\" I calmly said, and an energy shield appeared around me, trapping his hand. I squeezed with the shield as he writhed in pain, screaming in pure agony. His right hand was only a couple of pounds of pressure more from being completely severed from him.
\"Stop right there.\"
I looked up and behind me, off to the left a little, and could have sworn I was looking at me just 15 minutes ago. He was an exact match for my old male body, except his hair and armor were jet-black, and he wore a visor to cover his eyes.
\"I figured the curse would be lifted one day. My master is insightful, but sloppy. I just didn\'t realize that a fox like you could be bred from Father.\"
I responded. More like snapped. Power-mad, that\'s it. \"Who the hell are you and what do you mean \'Father\'?\"
\"In due time, little brother, in due time. Powerkeg, you worthless sack of shit, you were supposed to destroy my brother. And what happens? You put our entire organization in jeopardy! What is your excuse?!\"
Powerkeg looked like he was scared shitless. \"Lord Necro, I...\" His sentence was stopped as he was blasted into atoms. Only his hand, gaping inside my shield was spared.
\"No excuses. You do the job or you pay with your fucking life.\" He looked at me as I turned around. \"I\'m watching you, brother, and when the moment is right, you\'re going to end up like this worthless pussy.\"
I tried to fire a Spirit Wake his way, but he teleported away and laughed. What is up with people laughing at me today? I decided to fly back towards the others. Maybe there was still time to save them.
[edit] Fire, metal, and bitchiness
\"Matrix? Report!\", Psyche called at me.
\"No time. If we don\'t get Phoenix conscious in 5 minutes, these 8 guys are dead.\" I said bluntly. \"\'Shaper!\"
\"Yo!\", Metalshaper responded.
\"Create a simple knife, 5 inch blade at least and give it to me. Now.\"
He willed his power, and in thin air, a knife appeared. His power is to change any substance into another, but either the substance he\'s creating from or the end product must be metal. I grabbed the knife and stabbed Phoenix in the heart.
\"Matrix?!?! What the hell did you do that for?!\", Psyche shouted at me.
\"The full capability of Phoenix\'s powers are classified, but you\'re about to see one of them.\" I explained. As I finished speaking, his body turned to ash, with only the blade being left intact. I looked to Psyche and Metalshaper. \"You two might want to step back. Rolling shield.\" I called, and my shield rose around me just in time to protect me from the flames produced by the pile of ash.
Psyche looked on in awe, and Metalshaper simply said \"Wow. Self- ressurrection. This must be why Phoenix serves with you despite his limited offensive capabilities.\"
\"Yeah. He can take any number of hits and just keeps coming right back. When he first joined up, some of the boys wanted to call him \'Timex.\'\"
At this point the flames calmed and Phoenix emerged from them unscathed. \"What I miss?\" he said, as though nothing had happened. He caught a look at me and went straight into perv-mode. This is why I insisted on no women in my strike team. \"So, you from around here, love?\"
\"Shaddup, perv. If you don\'t get your ass in gear in 3 minutes, 8 people are gonna be lost to us.\" I said rather matter-of-factly.
\"Matrix?!\"
I nodded.
\"Tell me you\'re shitting me, man!\" he pleaded.
\"NOW!\" both me and Psyche yelled at the exact same moment. Metalshaper turned his arm into a titanium bar and hit Phoenix in the head.
\"Ok, OK! I\'m on it. Bloody broads...\" he complained as he started to focus his power. Flames started to leap from his body, touching our fallen comrades, wrapping itself around them. One by one they began to rise.
[edit] Sense of loss
\"Ah, good, no casualties. I see you got Phoenix to do his job for once.\"
\"Yeah, Tempus, we were lucky. If--\"
\"Yes,\" he interrupted me, \"If this change hadn\'t befallen you, we\'d\'ve lost 9 good men and Powerkeg would still be terrorizing the populace.\"
\"We didn\'t get out of this intact, T. We had to leave one behind.\" I looked down. Damnit, I didn\'t want to start crying, but I was on the verge of tears despite myself.\"
\"No. You might have changed... Matrix, but now you\'re so much more than you were before.\"
\"Rachel.\"
\"What?\" Tempus asked, puzzled.
\"Call me Rachel now. I know you called me by my code name because Anthony just won\'t work anymore. I don\'t look like an \'Anthony\' anymore...\"
\"Rachel, then. Why don\'t you take a week off? This is obviously a traumatic change for you, and...\"
\"I don\'t want any time off, Tom. I want to work through this the way I always do. I wanna get back out there and bust up some bad guys.\"
A female voice called out from behind me. \"Matrix, no. I\'m making it orders. Take some time off. Starting now.\" This wasn\'t a request.
\"Yes Ma\'am.\" I said in the most surly way I could manage with my new voice. That Crystalline. She\'s purebred human, and the only one allowed in Base. \"Geez,\" I thought to myself \"she was born male but all the time was a girl. She can\'t sympathize with what I\'m putting up with now? She went through it herself! Gah!\"
I continued to bitch and moan as I got to my bunk. It was getting harder all the time to deny that this had happened to me. What business did Fate have to fuck with my life? Why\'d my own mother say these things to me? I closed the blinds, started to fix myself a drink, and got ready to lay down for a while.
\"Mmm, hot chocolate...\"
\'\'Contributed by Melissa (9/30/2004)\'\'
