by Indiana Jones
I was glad to finally get back home. I needed to see how Kathleen was doing and try to learn better control of my magic. I just couldn't get used to being a raven-haired bombshell. I didn't think I ever would.
I hovered over the roof of my home for a moment thinking how would this change my relationship with Kathleen. Could she, would she still be able to love me as I am. I still had feelings for her and they had not changed but could we function as man and woman now that I was a woman.
I felt a chill run through me, but I wasn't sure if it was from the night air and this flimsy costume or my own apprehension. I continued to descend into my place and landed in the small room that we called a living room.
Kathleen was asleep on the couch. Not that I could blame her. It had been a rough night and her whole world had changed radically. She looked beautiful, an angel wrapped in the comfort of sleep. I didn't want to wake her and I could use a little sleep. I kissed her gently on the forehead and pulled the blanket over her. Then nature called. I turned off the lights so as not to disturb Kathleen. Upon retrospect, that wasn't the smartest thing to do. I thought I would wake her up as I stumbled in the dark still somewhat unused to my new proportions and centers. If it were not for my marital arts training, I never would have been able to pull off all that I had during the last evening.
I closed the door and turned on the light, almost happy to see again. Until I saw the reflection in the mirror. I hadn't changed out of my costume when I came in and it really shocked me to see the beauty that I had become. I turned and stared into the mirror for a few moments mesmerized by the image. It moved when I moved, the chest heaved to and fro as I sighed. The costume and the pouty frown began to have an effect on me that I had not anticipated. I began to feel strange. A funny feeling took hold of my gut and a warm feeling began to build from the lower half of my body.
"Well at least my mind hasn't changed." I murmured then changed out of my costume and into the clothes Kathleen had given me earlier. I hurriedly removed them and then rushed to the toilet. It took me a minute but I realized I was going to have to sit down like I had seen Kathleen do. I had no idea how to use the equipment but I figured nature would just take over. I didn't know how right I was. When I released it I thought I was going to have an orgasm.
I didn't know what to do. With these government people after me, our friends on the run and God knew where. Then I realized I had left Mitch in the clutches of those government men. He may have been a jerk, but he didn't deserve that. No one did, except for maybe those government men.
I yawned wide as I wiped myself and then flushed. I turned off the light but grabbed for the flashlight that we kept in the bathroom in case the power went out. I crept into the living room and checked the couch to see if Kathleen was still okay. I sighed as I watched her sleep. Then I went into the bedroom and stretched out on the bed. I wasn't about to wear lingerie, though I certainly had the body to try Kathleen’s out, so I decided to sleep in the nude at least until I could figure things out. Physically anyway.
I awoke much later than I expected. It was well into the day and I could hear voices coming from the other room. I shook the sleep from my head and walked into the living room to find Terry sitting in the chair across from Kathleen. Make that a gawking Terry with his jaw on the floor. Kathleen smirked and I blushed a crimson that would rival the devil. Without thinking I changed into my costume and rushed back into the bedroom. I quickly dissolved my armor and donned some of Kathleen’s clothes.
I walked back into the living room slightly blushing and sat next to Kathleen. "Terry, what are you doing here?""I heard about a fight between 'Mantra', 'Wonder Woman' and 'Silver Surfer' on the news last night. They said it had something to do with the Raucous Chicken. I put two and four together and came up with you! I'm so sorry!"
"Take a breath!" I said sarcastically. "Breathe evenly. That's right. Good. Now. It's not your fault Terry."
Terry looked away from me as he realized he was staring at my new cleavage. "If I hadn't made you wear THAT costume, you could have been Indiana Jones right now. The real Indy!"
"Terry, you didn't make me wear this and you didn't cast the spell that caused this. It is, and I repeat, IS NOT; your fault!" I said, as best I could muster with my new dulcet voice.
"That's right Terry, and it didn't all turn out bad!" Kathleen said in an overly sweet honey voice. The kind you would hear in a fifties sit-com. She kind of beamed for a moment then snapped out of it as we stared at her. She looked like she was going to be sick.
"Anyway, I have these powers and who, knows, I may be able to change myself back!"
We sat talking for a while about the pros and cons of becoming Mantra. But then I remembered that I had unfinished business. I had to find Anita and Mitch and figure out how to keep them and me safe from the dark man and his people.
I asked Terry to watch over Kathleen while I flew out to take care of some business. I went back into the bedroom and tried to sit in the lotus position. Amazingly, I slipped into the position as if born to it. I chalked it up to Mantra being able to do it in the comics and to the fact women are more flexible and lithe than men. I didn't know if what I was planning would work, but I could try. I concentrated on the lines of power that I could see. But I couldn't find what I was looking for. I tried almost everything I could think of, but nothing worked. Then, it hit me. Why not use my 'mantra'.
I closed my eyes and concentrated. "Change, Growth, Power!" I chanted over and over in my mind. I don't know how long I sat there but I could feel it working. The lines of power flowed into me and out of me connecting me with the power I sought. Then subtle insights crept into my mind and I could see for the first time that maybe there was something I could do about my condition.
I broke my concentration, not losing the string I was looking for, and I grabbed one of Kathleen's pendants from her jewelry box on the dresser. I held it in my palm, closed my fist tightly about it and chanted aloud. "Change, Growth, POWER!"
The locket began to glow and I knew I had gotten it right. I ran into the living room and hugged Kathleen. She squirmed slightly because of the awkwardness of our breasts rubbing uncomfortably together. Then she realized how bad my last day had been and she hugged me even tighter.
"Here, wear this!" I told her breaking our embrace.
She took the heart shaped pendant with a puzzled look on her face and asked, "Why?"
"It means we have a shot at a normal life!" I said gleefully. "As long as you wear it, you'll be normal!"
She donned the pendant even as I changed into my armor. She thought had a serious look on her face as if she were concentrating on something. "Hey! You're right! I'm not confused anymore!" she shouted happily. "Does this mean you can do this for yourself? You can be a man again?"
"I don't know! But it shows we might have a shot, the magic doesn't seem to affect you as strongly. But I have to go. I have to find Anita and Mitch!"
"Why do you have to go? Why can't you stay here and figure out how to turn yourself into a man?"
"I'm a hero now!" I told her taking her in my arms. "People depend on these powers now. Like Spider-Man always says...'
She reached up and kissed me on the cheek, "I know, with great power, comes great responsibility. Just come back to me. Please?"
I smiled at her, then turned and winked at Terry. Then I flew through the ceiling.
"He, she, uhh whatever; will come back to me right terry?" I could hear her ask sadly.
"I don't think anything in the world could stop him!" Terry answered.
I didn't know how long I followed that string of energy and I was amazed that they could have transported her that far that fast. I was somewhere over Nevada by the time I caught up with the source of the string. But at last I knew where they were keeping Mitch, Anita and several others whose strings all merged in this one spot.
"Area 51? You have got to be kidding me. They think we're aliens or something?" I said to no one in particular as I descended to the ground. Near a seemingly deserted building.
I could somehow sense that a complex ran very deep under the building, but I wasn't quite sure just how I sensed it. I also knew that I was lucky they were still holding those people in some sort of staging area. If they had taken them into the complex I would probably never get them out.
I could sense there were about a dozen men dressed in Storm Trooper reject armor holding the same kind of high-tech weapons they used to knock me out the day before. I knew I didn't stand a chance with a direct assault. They sucker punched me then but I could probably block it if I could see it coming. I had to do it fast and quiet, there could be an ugly hostage situation if they discovered me.
I quickly did a scan of the area to make sure that no one would 'accidentally' discover me as I was phasing through the wall. I didn't know if anything could affect me while I was in that state, but I didn't want to take the chance. After all they were all pretty high-tech weapons.
Luckily for me the staging area was some sort of storage depot. There were several boxes around that hid my entrance into the building and kept my location a secret. There were only about nine men standing around the room. The arrogant pricks all had their backs to the poor 'people' that were clustered in a stupor in the center of the room. I spotted Mitch right away. The silver metal donkey was hard to miss and looked pathetic as if someone had been mistreating him. I spotted Anita second. She looked out of it as if she had been drugged. Of course, I thought to myself almost wanting to kick myself. They were keeping them doped up. They must have learned their lesson from their experience with Ed and I. No wonder the smug bastards didn't even care. I knew they needed a swift kick in their complacency.
I sat in the middle of the crowd of unfortunate souls and took up the lotus position. The guards looked back occasionally, but they just dismissed one more costumed 'freak'.
I began to chant lowly even as I felt the power build up within me. I could feel my will twisting the fabric of the magic that floated about us. I felt it follow my commands to wake these people from their stupor. It was almost like a computer program. I could ask it to differentiate between things and evaluate conditions. I didn't want to wake up some unknown evil and unleash it uncontrollably on the world, whether they were in control of themselves or not. Most of the people were beginning to snap out of it and I reached out once again with my magic to contact them and ask them to remain as if they were in a stupor and to wait for their chance to attack.
Finally, when I was sure everything was just right, I got up and walked to the guard in front of the staging area door. I felt loath to do what I knew I had to get his attention.
"Excuse me sir," I said in the weakest most childish voice I could muster.
"Huh?" the guy said turning to me. Every other guard almost got whiplash turning to see the babe in the golden armor that barely covered her body. All of their eyes practically bulged out of their heads like they were on some sort of cartoon.
"I really could use some company for tonight. This costume is so cold." I felt disgusted with myself. I am either going to have to wipe these guys’ minds or kill them, I thought.
The guy smiled wide and took off his helmet. I was almost horrified to find it was a woman. My jaw hit the floor. Her long hair hung in a braid, which had been kept up in the helmet.
"I ... I ..." I stammered not quite sure how to handle this.
"Someone call the doc, time for the next dose!" She shouted. She grabbed the hood on my cape and pulled it down then grabbed the back of my hair. I closed my eyes expecting to taste concrete instantly. In stead I felt her hands pulling at me then something soft and warm press into my mouth. I heard several whoops, whistles and catcalls. But only for a moment. I don't know how long it lasted but it felt good and let myself get lost in it. I don't know if it was my imagination, but I think I might have kissed back a little.
Then all hell broke loose. I think their prisoners took advantage of what they thought was my distraction. I realized what was happening and I brought my fist up and into the midsection of the gorgeous Viking that had grabbed me. Only to bring back the burning aching wreck that had been my hand. I had forgotten the armor. I looked around to see the various powered being taking out the few guards that were still up and kicking. I was about to turn and run when I painfully realized that something still had a hold of my hair. I turned to find the woman still smiling at me. I think it was her intention to use me as a hostage, but she never got the chance. This time taking into consideration the armor, I directed a blast of cold wind into her face. It hit her like a packed snowball. It only dazed her, but I finished it with my boot to her head.
I smiled and then turned to the dozen superheroes, witches and other things that were now my army. "Come on! Everybody with super strength grab one of the comatose people. They might be bad guys, but they deserve to be free until they prove themselves evil!"
The people cheered at that and began grabbing things. A Spiderman seemed to be having trouble lifting the donkey that was Mitch. I guess I should have known he would still be as dense as a donkey would be with the Surfer's body. I cast some magic that transformed him back into a person but still in a stupor. He wouldn't be any trouble this time.
"Let's move 'em out!" I shouted and ran for the front door. Somehow, I should have known it was not going to be that easy. There in front of us stood a pretty formidable army of high-tech looking tanks, vehicles and armored men with guns.
I stopped short then prevented anyone else from coming outside and forced the few who had emerged with me back inside the building. Not that they needed much encouragement. "Oh, boy!" I whispered. I tried to regain my composure and not look as panicked as I felt. It wasn't working, everyone whose expressions I could see were worried to the point they were turning white.
"I think we have a chance." I finally said. I tried to muster my best Patton voice. "We have super powers, we have the tactical advantage. They don't think we'll fight and they think that their machines can stop us. But we have the element of surprise. Also we have a secret weapon! One with the power cosmic!"
I told everybody my plan and we began to implement it even as the person in charge of the facility began to demand our surrender.
"This is General Roy Gaines. Prepare to surrender or we will be forced to open fire. That is all!"
I sneered then laughed. They wouldn't open fire, obviously they need us alive and they wouldn't destroy the entrance to their facility. "Now remember," I said tersely, "No funny stuff or you go back to being the jackass that you are!"
Mitch gritted his teeth but reluctantly said, "You're the man. Figuratively speaking of course." I was almost shocked, but I didn't let it show. It would probably chock him if he knew the truth, but I didn't want to blow my cover.
I phased myself and several of the heavy hitters through the floor and we managed to sneak beneath the army that had amassed against us. We popped up just in time to hear the General give us only 30 seconds to comply with his demands. I launched a bolt of fire into the air and the fun started.
All the troops turned their heads to find the source of the flare, and when they did the whole thing turned inside out for them. The people in the facility launched their attack at the same and managed to take out the front line of the foot soldiers standing before the heavy artillery.
Not to be outdone our big bruisers: a more than slightly miffed she hulk, a guy wearing some sort of manga battle armor and a rather large minotaur; began to smash tanks. The Spider-men were kicking butt, as the soldiers could not begin to target them all, much less hit them. Some of the heavy artillery though, began to fire and I was beginning to wonder where Mitch was. I was going to send out a spell to turn him back into a donkey when he came streaking out of the staging area and started slicing tanks in two like they were butter. My estimation of him rose a notch, when I realized, he was only doing this to get away. Once he was finished he would soar off to create who knows what trouble.
The battle was over fairly quickly as the soldiers retreated leaving some of their heavy armor in tact but useless. The general sounded panicked as he ordered his troops to fall back. He of course was leading the retreat personally. Officers! Last in, first out.
As the soldiers ran we all cheered. I noticed that Mitch had taken off. I had no idea when he jetted, but I could only hope that he at least stuck out the heavy fighting. I knew I was going to have to track him down and get rid of his power before he hurt someone else.
"Yeah! That's the way you do it. Such a simple maneuver but it worked," I said to whoever was listening. I turned to Anita and asked, "So how did they get you here so quickly?"
She turned and pointed to a part of the compound and said, "They have some sort of 'space plane' that brought us here. I was drugged for most of the trip, but I could tell the trip didn't take long at all."
I thought about it and thought, that was out of the question unless one of these men happened to be a pilot and happened to know the latest in Area 51 technology. I had to figure out how to get these people back to their homes, and I didn't know if I could levitate this many people.
"Uhhhm, c-c-could I say something?" One of the Spidermen said. "I looked at him oddly then said, "Sure why couldn't you?"
"I'm just so nervous about everything." He sounded like Woody Allen with a normal, non-annoying voice.
"Well?" I said waiting impatiently. Everyone else looked at him the same way.
"Why is everyone staring at me. I don't do well under pressure!"
I rolled my eyes and he got the hint. "Okay, okay. I was brought here through some sort of transporter device!"
"You're kidding?"
Everyone else looked rather stunned as well.
"N-n-n-n-o. Its, really, I mean over there!" he said and pointed to a hanger like structure across the open compound.
I looked and something caught my eye. "Magic!" I shouted.
Everyone followed me over to the hangar. I was getting to worry about my role as ipso facto leader. We entered the building and right in the center of a chamber lined with computers, oscillators and a million other machines I couldn't being to describe was a strange organic looking chamber. It vaguely reminded me of the chamber from 'The Fly' but less formed and lumpy. The analogy sent a shiver down my spine but I just shook it off.
I ran to the computer to see if I could figure it out. The machine was basically a Windoze NT server. Their was even an application sitting right on the desktop that said Transporter Activator with the almost laughable sight of a small 'c' in a circle right above the last letter.
"This is too easy." I mumbled to myself as I brought up the program and began to follow the instructions on the screen. Suddenly a window popped open asking me for relational spatial co-ordinates. I knew what it meant, but I had no idea how to find the numbers much less where to send everyone.
Then something caught my attention. It was a small 'search' button in the dialog box. "This is just to convenient!"
I thought for a moment then typed in, "raucous chicken". A few heart pounding minutes later the 'searching' box disappeared and the original dialog box reappeared with a set of numbers entered into the field. Nervously I hit the activate button and the strangest things happened.
The lights grew dim. From everywhere a sinister chanting began and mysterious symbols set into the floor around the chamber began to glow an eerie white. The chanting grew louder and a fog emanated from the chamber and completely covered the floor. The whole thing vaguely reminded me of a Lovecraft story called 'Dreams in the Witch House' or something like that.
Then the chamber opened. It revealed a doorway through which fog was pouring. As it cleared, everyone could see the familiar interior of the now infamous, Raucous Chicken. Everyone clapped, cheered and hugged each other but I silenced them.
"We don't even know if that really is where we think it is. I think I should test it before we go any further!"
Everyone thought it over and realizing I was right, decided to let me volunteer. Geez, I hated being the leader.
I summoned a mystical shield about me. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and stepped through the portal.