“Checkmate,” Geo exclaimed with a triumphant grin.

I glanced at my friend and shook my head. “In your dreams,” I responded, turning my full attention back to the video game that we were playing.

The game was an obvious marketing gimmick, where you could play as one of eight real-world superheroes. It had come out recently, along with a lot of commercials showing those same superheroes talking about how ‘realistic’ the game was. I rolled my eyes every time one of those commercials came on.

My name was David Cole, and I was spending one last summer at home before I went off to college in the fall. Because of that, I was determined to relax and enjoy myself as much as possible since I doubted that I’d have time to do much of that once school started.

Geo was tall and ripped, with a lean swimmer’s build. He was seven years older than me, but in spite of that, he was probably my closest friend. That wasn’t really saying much though, because I didn’t really have any other friends. Most of the time, we just hung around and played video games together.

Officially, Geo was ‘the help’, hired by my mom to clean the pool, drive her around, and take care of whatever odd jobs and errands she needed. Unofficially, he was my mom’s latest boy toy, which made our friendship all the stranger.

“Damn,” Geo exclaimed a minute later. “I almost had you…”

I smirked at that as I responded, “Almost only counts on horseshoes, hand grenades, and thermonuclear weapons.”

“I’ll get you next time,” Geo told me with his usual easy grin. “I think, I’m gonna try it as Whipcord this time.”

“Good idea,” I told him with a nod. “I think I’m going to try playing as Mister Shield.”

However, before we could start a new game, my mom came into the room. We immediately stopped what we were doing because Mom’s presence always demanded attention, especially from Geo, whom she was paying.

Mom was Marissa Cole, a forty-three-year-old socialite who looked at least ten years younger, and that was without having undergone any surgery. Of course, what she had tried instead had been far more extreme than a mere knife. She was beautiful, with blonde hair and an expensive taste in fashion.

“What’s up, Ms. C?” Geo asked, immediately standing up and abandoning his game controller.

“I need you to run an errand for me, Geoffrey,” Mom told him. “I’ve already sent the grocery list to your phone.”

“No problem,” Geo responded with his trademark easy grin.

Mom took a moment to look Geo over, smiling very faintly as she did so. A moment later, she turned and left the room, not even having acknowledged my presence.

“Your mom is HOT,” Geo confided in me with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes at that and responded, “Remember Rule One.”

Rule One, the first rule of our friendship, was that he was not to EVER talk to me about his love life, at least not where my mom was concerned. We might be friends, but some subjects were just too far over the line.

“Of course,” Geo replied with a laugh and a grin before he started off towards the garage.

Once Geo was gone, I went to see what Mom was up to. We still had plenty of groceries in the kitchen, and our cook usually took care of that anyway. Knowing Mom, she was just trying to get Geo out of the house, and I had a suspicion as to why.

I found Mom in the living room, glancing at her watch and then at the door. She looked calm and relaxed, but that was all surface level. Underneath that, she was excited and impatient.

“You got another one,” I said, keeping the exasperation out of my voice.

Mom didn’t deny it. Instead, she said, “You know what they say. The third time is the charm.”

“I think we’re well beyond the third time,” I pointed out wryly.

“You don’t understand, David,” Mom told me with a firm gaze.

I didn’t bother arguing, knowing that it wouldn’t do any good. Mom had an obsession, one that had really grown after Grandpa Jacki had died five years ago. She wasn’t about to give up now, no matter how much money she wasted on it.

The doorbell rang just a few seconds after this. I let out a faint sigh, then went to answer it, absently wondering why we didn’t have a butler for this kind of thing. That’s right. It was because Mom valued her privacy too much to keep unnecessary live-in employees.

When I opened the door, I paused in surprise. There was a middle-aged woman standing there, one with brown skin and black hair that ended at her shoulders. She was dressed professionally and carried a large case in her hand.

“You’re not Doctor Gutierez,” I blurted out.

“No, I am not,” the woman responded in an even tone.

“Doctor Gutierez is…gone,” Mom said from behind me. “This is Persia Amanti.”

“Doctor Amanti,” the woman corrected evenly before giving me a polite smile. “Hello, it is nice to meet you.”

“David Cole,” I introduced myself as my manners returned.

“Persia,” Mom said. “Doctor Amanti is taking over for Doctor Gutierez.”

I noticed that Dr. Amanti scowled faintly whenever Dr. Gutierez was mentioned. I took a mental note of that.

“We can begin whenever you are ready,” Mom said with an eagerness that I rarely saw from her as she gestured back into the house. “The nutrient bath is set up in the infirmary, which is where I have the new enhancement serum locked up.”

I nodded faintly at that since this confirmed my suspicions about why Mom had gotten Geo to leave. It also explained why our security guy, Erik, had been checking around the house so often over the last week, and why he was probably doing another patrol at the moment.

Mom wouldn’t want anyone unnecessary around if she was going to pull an enhancement serum out of the vault. That stuff was…valuable. The cheapest version on the market would cost over ten million, and Mom rarely bought the cheapest version of anything.

“I’m afraid that I will not be overseeing your enhancement procedure today,” Dr. Amanti said.

The bubbling excitement abruptly vanished from my mom’s eyes, replaced with a sharp focus. “What do you mean?”

“I came here today to discuss the matter in person,” Dr. Amanti explained. Then she glanced towards me. “Since this concerns medical information, we should probably talk in private.”

I was about to turn and leave to give them that privacy, when Mom said, “David can stay.”

That didn’t surprise me since Mom liked to have me on hand during this kind of thing. I was probably the only person she trusted to really watch her back, just in case the doctor tried anything sketchy.

“Very well then,” Dr. Amanti said.

After this, we all sat down in the living room, which seemed an odd place to have a doctor’s visit. Then again, when Mom paid doctors enough to make house calls, she could hold the meeting wherever she wanted.

“What do you mean, that you won’t oversee the enhancement?” Mom asked, her voice firm.

“Ms. Cole,” Dr. Amanti said carefully. She opened the case she’d brought with her and pulled out a thick folder. “I have been reviewing the results of your blood tests and physical exam, and I have serious concerns.”

Mom’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of concerns? As far as I am aware, I am in good health, and if not, the enhancement should correct that anyway.”

“I have also been reviewing Doctor Gutierez’ records,” Dr. Amanti said with a sour look on her face. “The man may be incompetent, but his record keeping is impeccable.”

“I would hardly call him incompetent,” Mom protested defensively. “He’s done all of my enhancement work.”

Dr. Amanti gave Mom a flat look. “Situations like yours are exactly why Gutierez fled the country ahead of various reckless disregard and malpractice charges.”

Mom scowled at that, looking like she wanted to argue, but to my surprise, she kept silent and merely nodded. Then, she took a breath and simply said, “Go on.”

“As I said,” Dr. Amanti continued, “Gutierez might have been reckless and incompetent, but he did keep good records. Because of that, I have a much better understanding of your medical history than when I first agreed to oversee your enhancement.”

“Doctor Gutierez always seemed a little sketchy,” I said, which was about the closest I’d let myself get to an outright ‘I told you so’.

Dr. Amanti gave a faint nod at that, as though appreciating that I agreed with her. She pulled another folder out of her case and then flipped through it, her expression turning sour again.

“You have undergone enhancement processes seven times,” Dr. Amanti stated with her eyes fixed on Mom. “Seven. Frankly speaking, that is completely unheard of.”

“None of them have worked,” Mom protested. “Every. Single. One. Failed.”

Mom’s tone was clipped and her eyes were practically burning. I knew how upset she was that all of these enhancements had worked, and I could only imagine how much she’d spent paying for them all. The amount was ridiculous, even for someone who lived in a mansion.

“Maybe Doctor Gutierez didn’t do them right,” Mom said. “Maybe I just need someone who knows what they’re doing.”

Her eyes were locked on Dr. Amanti, and I could tell what she was thinking. If Money alone wouldn’t get Dr. Amanti to cooperate, maybe a little flattery would help.

Dr. Amanti just sat there for several seconds, looking as though she was trying to decide how to explain things. Then she nodded faintly.

“Do you know how the various enhancement processes work?” the doctor asked.

“Of course,” Mom responded dismissively, clearly looking confused by the abrupt question.

Dr. Amanti just smiled patiently, then looked to me. “I will explain it for David’s benefit.”

“I would appreciate that,” I offered since this would help to sooth Mom’s pride. And besides, I was genuinely curious.

The doctor gave me a faint smile, as though appreciating that I was playing along. She absently shuffled the folders on her lap, though made no move to open any of them.

“The enhancement processes first appeared during the cold war,” Dr. Amanti explained, “though I don’t know which side first developed it. I have heard that the Soviets found something in the Tunguska crater and based it off that. I have heard that American and British scientists developed it together. And, I have heard that former nazi scientists from Operation Paperclip were involved. Perhaps, all of these might be true, or none of them. I do not know. What I do know is that within a few years, the process had been stolen and copied multiple times.”

“Yes, yes,” Mom responded with a dismissive wave. “And most of those who acquired the process modified it to suit their own purposes, resulting in the nearly two dozen variations that exist today.”

Since I didn’t want to be left out of the conversation, I couldn’t resist adding, “And when the public found out about all these enhanced operatives, the government stuck them in costumes and called them superheroes for propaganda.”

Dr. Amanti nodded at that and gave me a faint smile. “I believe your grandfather, Jack Cole, was one of the first of these public heroes.”

“Captain Amazing,” Mom said with a derisive snort.

She’d always thought that Grandpa Jack’s old codename was ridiculous. Of course, she was right, but his wasn’t any worse than any other ‘superhero’.

“Your family has a lot of experience with the enhancement processes,” Dr. Amanti said, focused on my mom again. “And you obviously know that each one enhances the physical body in different ways. Strength. Agility. Stamina. Intelligence. Each of these can be enhanced to superhuman levels, which is obviously the point and why they are so desired.”

“That much is obvious,” Mom said, giving Dr. Amanti an impatient look.

“What you may not realize,” Dr. Amanti continued patiently, “is HOW these processes all work.”

I leaned forward in my seat, now even more interested. Just about everyone knew that the various enhancement processes existed, but most people had no idea of exactly how they all worked. All they knew was that you drank a serum, or took a shot, and you could become far stronger, faster, and tougher than any normal human.

“At the core,” Dr. Amanti continued, “each of the enhancement processes work the same way. They all rely on a retrovirus that spreads through your body and binds to all of your cells. The rest of it… The nutrient baths, vita rays, and bio-booster serums that come with…are all fluff.”

“Fluff?” Mom asked, her eyes going wide. She was probably thinking about how much she’d spent on those things.

“They do serve a purpose,” Dr. Amanti assured her. “These are ways of providing the nutrition, calories, and raw materials that the virus needs to rebuild the body. Some of them provide more…extreme forms of energy to help with the process, or they intentionally damage your body in ways that would force the virus to repair them and build them back stronger.”

“And what does all this have to do with why you are refusing to do what you were hired for?” Mom asked Dr. Amanti, apparently running out of patience.

“This has everything to do with it,” Dr. Amanti responded. “Whenever someone is enhanced, their body is infected with a strain of this retrovirus. They become immune to other strains and cannot be infected or enhanced again after this.” Her eyes locked on Mom as she said, “You currently have seven different strains floating around in your body, and you want to add an eighth. At this point, your body is so cluttered that this would be both reckless and pointless.”

“What?” Mom gasped, her eyes going wide as she began to process what the doctor had just said.

Dr. Amanti quickly pushed forward. “But what I’m even more concerned about is all the…leftovers.”

“Leftovers?” I asked since Mom still seemed to be absorbing her previous statement.

“The fluff,” Dr. Amanti explained. “Some of those processes introduce extremely dangerous chemicals that are intended to be neutralized and consumed by the virus. Since none of the enhancements have progressed, some of those chemicals are still there.” She paused at that to shake her head. “To be honest, Ms. Cole,” she said, giving my Mom a serious look, “it’s a miracle that you haven’t already developed radiation poisoning or cancer.”

Mom’s eyes widened at that. “No…”

“I’m afraid so,” Dr. Amanti told her in a gentle tone. “At this point, your body is cluttered with the remnants of failed enhancement processes. Attempting to introduce another one would be… Well, not only would it be guaranteed to fail, but it would also be extremely dangerous.”

“Gutierez,” Mom said, practically spitting out his name. “He must have done something wrong.”

“Possibly,” Dr. Amanti responded with a sigh. “But most of these processes are very straight forward. I suspect that the first enhancement you attempted was bad. One corrupted retrovirus, and not only does the enhancement fail, but it also interferes with all future attempts.” She paused at that and shook her head. “I’ve heard of enhancements failing that way before, but none of them have ever tried it again afterwards. In fact, many of those enhancements that failed, have died in the process.”

“The fluff,” I whispered in realization. “The leftovers.”

“Exactly,” Dr. Amanti agreed in a sympathetic tone.

Mom leaned back with a dazed look on her face. “Maybe if you did it correctly…” Her voice was weak as she suggested this because she already knew that it wouldn’t work.

“I’m afraid not,” Dr. Amanti said with a shake of her head. “There are too many remnants in your body. Too much clutter. Perhaps, if we were starting with a clean slate, but… Well, it’s too late for that.”

“No,” Mom whispered. “No…”

Dr. Amanti looked extremely uncomfortable at Mom’s reaction. “We need to discuss treatment, before these toxins in your body start causing serious problems, but…” She paused at that. “We can do that another time.”

After this, Dr. Amanti put away her folders and left. Mom remained in the living room, looking dazed and almost broken. I wanted to comfort her, but I didn’t know what to say, and also knew that she wouldn’t appreciate it at the moment. So, I gave her privacy to process.

Mom had always lived in Grandpa’s shadow so it was no wonder that she wanted to follow in his footsteps. Not as a superhero since she had absolutely no interest in that kind of thing, but as an enhanced. She wanted the same kind of health, vitality, and physical power that he’d possessed. She wanted to improve, to evolve, to become better than everyone else. And ever since Grandpa’s death five years ago, she’d become obsessed with this.

I felt bad for my mom since I knew how much this meant to her, how much she wanted to become enhanced. But in the end, maybe this was a good thing. Maybe now, Mom could move on.

----------

Five miles. The meter on the stationary bike said that I’d been riding for five miles, which marked the end of my workout.

I stopped pedaling and allowed the spinning wheel to come to a stop while I just breathed hard. After a minute, I grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat off the bike and then from my own forehead. Then, I climbed off the bike and stretched.

“That was a good workout,” I announced, even though I knew it wasn’t true.

My eyes swept the room, the large home gym that was better equipped than some professional gyms. However, we didn’t have much in the way of fancy machines. Instead, there were a few benches and a lot of heavy iron weights. Grandpa had set this place up, and he had preferred old-fashioned free weights to modern machines.

Grandpa Jack had been a beast in the gym, even in his eighties. He’d been able to bench press more weight than the five other strongest people that I knew, combined. That was the benefit of being enhanced.

I never bothered to exercise myself, not more than a bike ride several times a week. I’d always intended to get into better shape, but I’d never been able to find the motivation. What was the point when one shot of an enhancement serum was enough to turn you into a world class athlete. No, one shot would be enough to make even a gold metal Olympian seem weak and out of shape in comparison.

“It’s no wonder Mom is so obsessed,” I thought aloud with a shake of my head.

That thought reminded me that we had a vial of enhancement serum locked up in the infirmary. And since Mom couldn’t use it now… Now, I just needed to figure out how to broach the subject with her, which wouldn’t be easy since she was so depressed.

I didn’t even know which version of the enhancement process Mom had bought this time or what it was supposed to improve. I would be more than happy to get most versions, but I knew full well that some versions were more dangerous than others while a few of them were overly specialized.

“Better find that out before trying it,” I mused to myself.

The last thing I wanted was to risk dying to one of the serums. Hell, what Mom was going through with the ‘leftover’ fluff was enough to make me wonder if it was even worth it at all.

I looked over at the wall, to the mirror that covered most of it. My reflection was…less than impressive. I was slender, with dark brown hair, and features that I was told would be handsome once I fully grew into them. I wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but Mom liked to say it.

Since I was thinking about the possibility of getting enhanced, I tried to imagine what I might look like afterwards. Taller. More muscular. How much of either would probably depend on which process I used. Still, I flexed my arms and tried to imagine what they’d look like with real muscle.

“That would be amazing,” I mused with a chuckle before turning away from the mirror.

A minute later, I left the gym and started walking back to my room so I could shower before dinner. Mom was a stickler for dinner time, so I didn’t want to be late.

“Hey, Geo,” I greeted my friend as we passed in the hallway.

“Hey,” Geo responded with a grin. “I’m just off to replace a few light bulbs, then your mom wants me to wash the car.”

“Sounds like fun,” I commented wryly.

“It’s a job,” Geo responded a shrug and an even wider grin. “Besides, the perks are awesome.”

“Rule One,” I reminded him.

He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Up for a rematch later?” I asked.

Geo nodded. “Sure. Unless your mom has something else for me to do.” From the look on his face, I was pretty sure that he was thinking ‘someone’ instead of ‘something’.

“Later then,” I told him before continuing on my way.

Once I was showered and changed, I made my way to the dining room. Mom always liked to eat at the same time, so I knew when to be there for dinner.

Mom never cooked, of course, at least not for dinner. Instead, she hired a private chef to come by once a day and make dinner for us, and to prepare additional snacks and meals for later on. In fact, the company she went through had several different chefs that they would send on a rotating schedule, guaranteeing a bit of variety.

“Who cooked today?” I asked Mom as I took my seat at the table.

“Carla,” Mom answered with a faint smile.

I nodded at that. Carla usually cooked delicious Mexican food, so I knew we were in for a good meal. She was way better than ‘the chef who shall not be named’, who insisted on only cooking ‘vegetable forward’ healthy food.

Then, I took another look at Mom. She was sitting there with a glass of wine in hand, looking rather pleased with herself. That was quite different from the depressed and defiant versions of her that I’d seen for the last week, ever since that meeting with Dr. Amanti. That was good, but also a little suspicious.

“You seem to be in a good mood,” I said.

“I think I may have found a solution to my problem,” Mom answered with a faint smirk. “I should find out for sure tonight.”

I was about to ask her more but Carla came into the room a moment later, carrying two plates of food. She quickly placed them in front of me and Mom, then went back to the kitchen. A few seconds later, I was too focused on dinner to even remember the conversation.

----------

It was well past dinner when the doorbell rang. It wasn’t until then that I remembered Mom’s earlier words about finding something out tonight. Out of curiosity, I went to see what was going on.

When I stepped into the living room, I saw that Mom was already there along with Erik Raines, our security guy. Raines was just about to open the door as I entered.

“Doctor Amanti?” I asked, only to see a moment later that this most definitely was not.

An old man stepped through the door, one who looked like he had to be in his seventies or eighties. He was skinny, pale, and had a balding head that contained only a few faint whisps of remaining hair. However, the most notable thing about him was that he had some kind of device over one eye, like some kind of high-tech monocle.

“Doctor Hansel,” Mom greeted the old man.

Raines closed the door then stood back, trying to be inconspicuous. However, he looked wary and his hand remained within easy reach of his concealed gun. I took note of that and then gave the old man another look.

“I’m happy that you accepted my invitation,” Mom told the old man.

The old man, Dr. Hansel stepped further into the room and I saw that he was dragging a container that looked like rolling luggage. He nodded to Mom.

“I’m happy to accept your invitation,” Doctor Hansel responded with a smile that seemed off. Raines twitched. “It has been some time since anyone sought my professional skills.”

I stared at Dr Hansel, and at the device over his one eye. I gasped in recognition, then blurted out, “Doctor Monocle.”

“Bah,” Dr. Hansel responded with a snort. “I never cared for that name.”

“You invited a supervillain to our home?” I demanded of Mom, wondering if she’d lost her mind.

“Doctor Hansel has retired form his old career,” Mom answered dismissively. “Besides, he says he can fix my issue.”

“Supervillain,” Dr. Hansel said with a snort. “I am merely a scientist.”

“Mad scientist,” I corrected. Everyone knew that Doctor Monocle was one of the first mad scientists to appear, and one of the first supervillains.

The old man snorted again. “A meaningless label they attach to any scientist who conducts controversial research.”

I was about to argue, but Mom snapped, “Enough, David. I asked Dr. Hansel here to help me.”

“David may have a point,” Raines cautiously suggested.

Mom glared at Raines. “Go check the perimeter, or whatever it is you do. We need privacy.”

“I won’t be able to protect you, ma’am,” Raines started to protest.

“Go,” she snapped.

Raines hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly nodded before turning to leave. I scowled as I watched him leave, knowing that this was a big mistake. However, I kept quiet because I didn’t want to get chased away too. After all, someone had to stay and watch Mom’s back.

“Now then,” Dr Hansel told Mom. “You said that you wanted a clean slate…a body that was clean from the remnants of failed enhancements?”

“Yes, I did,” Mom agreed.

“Good,” Dr. Hansel said. “Good. I should be able to help with that.”

The old man stared at Mom, the Lens of his high-tech monocle glowing as he did so. He did this for several seconds before abruptly turning and staring at me. The lens continued to glow.

“Yes,” Dr. Hansel mused to himself. “This should work splendidly.”

“Would you prefer to work in the infirmary?” Mom asked with clear excitement in her voice.

“Infirmary?” Dr. Hansel asked. He grinned broadly. “Oh yes, that would be splendid.”

Mom led Dr. Hansel down the hallway to the infirmary while the old man dragged his rolling luggage behind. I followed, keeping a close eye on the ‘retired’ supervillain.

When we reached the infirmary, Dr. Hansel looked around. His eyes settled on a piece of equipment in the corner which resembled a small, one person hot tub.

“Ah, a nutrient bath,” Dr. Hansel mused. “But not what we need right now. No, not at all.” Then gestured to an examination table and said, “Sit.”

“How in depth is this procedure?” Mom asked him. “Will I need to undress?” She gave a nervous glance towards me.

“Not at all,” Dr. Hansel answered with a creep smile.

Then the doctor opened his case and began pullout out several strange pieces of equipment. They were high-tech, but I had absolutely no idea of what they did. Then, he began connecting them with cables.

“Just sit there for a moment,” Dr. Hansel told Mom.

Then, he carefully stuck metal disk onto Mom’s forehead. It stuck in place as though glued, then it began to glow. Mom frowned in annoyance but didn’t seem to be bothered by it otherwise.

“Did you know,” Dr. Hansel asked in an oddly cheerful tone, “that the human soul has been scientifically proven to exist? That research has been published and peer reviewed. Ah yes, that was one of the greatest achievements of my life and the cornerstone of my later work.”

“I believe I did hear that,” Mom responded. “But I didn’t know you were involved.”

“Of course,” Dr. Hansel mused, “those who are deemed unpopular never receive the full credit they deserve. Sadly, this seems to be one of the fundamental laws of society.” Then he abruptly turned to me and slapped another of the metal disks onto my forehead, catching me with it before I’d even realized what he was doing. “Now sit down, boy.”

I sat down and felt the metal disk that was stuck to my forehead. Dr. Hansel swatted my hand away from it. I watched him suspiciously, unsure of what he was doing but having a bad feeling about it, especially after he’d decided to get me involved in whatever he was doing.

“What are you doing?” I asked him, rather than continue to keep guessing.

“I am performing the procedure I was asked to,” Dr. Hansel answered cheerfully as he began pushing buttons on one of his machines. I felt a tingling from the disk on my forehead. “Ah, this almost feels like the good old days when I had Captain Amazing tied up in my lab.”

My eyes widened at that and I reached up to tear the disk from my forehead, but it was too late. A burst of energy shot through my body, and then everything went black and numb. When everything snapped back into place, I instantly knew that something was wrong.

“What…” I started to ask, but I wasn’t sure that my mouth was actually moving.

I still felt a bit numb and couldn’t really move well. I slowly moved my hand, but couldn’t quite lift it up enough to reach the disk. The effort triggered a wave of dizziness and confusion which made me droop like a rag doll.

“Don’t fret,” Dr. Hansel said. “You’re both feeling the effects of soul strain, but that should pass soon enough. And on the positive side, such strain can sometimes result in unexpected benefits.”

With that, the mad scientist leaned over my body and began checking my pulse and breathing before removing the metal disk from my forehead. I slowly lifted my head to stare at him, but it felt heavy. In spite of that, I still raised my arm to try grabbing him, but the results were only a little better than before.

“The procedure is a complete success,” Dr. Hansel announced cheerfully. “I have done as you asked, Ms. Cole, and have given you a body that is free of the remnants of failed enhancement processes. A clean slate, as you said.” He chuckled to himself. “But maybe I should call you Mister Cole now?”

Then Dr. Hansel began to take apart his machines and pack them away. A few minutes later, he walked towards the door of the infirmary with his hand cart rolling behind him.

“Thank you for this opportunity to use my expertise once more,” Dr. Hansel said in a cheerful tone. “I can let myself out.” And with that, he was gone.

----------

I had no idea how long I sat there, dazed and confused. It could have been a few minutes, or it could have been a couple hours. But then, the dizziness and numbness started to fade. I could feel my body again. I could begin to really move again. And I started to realize just how wrong everything really felt.

It was around this time when Raines came rushing into the infirmary. He stopped at the door and exclaimed, “Marissa!” But in spite of calling out Mom’s name, he came straight to me. “Are you all right?”

I grimaced and answered, “I’ve been better.” My voice sounded wrong to my ears.

“I knew I shouldn’t have left you alone with him,” Raines said. “Next time, I’m ignoring your orders, just so you know.”

Raines looked me over, then he moved over to look at Mom. However, when I looked at her, I froze, my eyes going wide. Mom wasn’t the one sitting there. It was a slender boy in his late teens, one who looked far too familiar.

The boy turned and stared at me, his eyes going wide. He blinked, then stared down at himself. He even held his hands in front of his face, wiggling his fingers experimentally.

“Are you all right, David?” Raines asked the boy.

I blinked at that, and then, with a sinking feeling, I looked down at myself. One glance was enough to see that I was wearing Mom’s clothes, her nice blouse and skirt. Two mounds pushed out from my chest, giving shape to the blouse. I see enough flesh from the cleavage to assure me that these were real.

“Impossible,” I whispered, even though I knew it obviously wasn’t.

I stared at my hands, noting how feminine and delicate they looked. I had perfectly manicured nails and even an expensive ring on one of my fingers.

“I’m not David,” the ‘boy’ exclaimed. “I’m Marissa.”

“I’m David,” I offered, getting a surprised look from Raines. “I think…” I stared at the boy, at Mom in my body. “Doctor Monocle switched our bodies.”

Raines looked back and forth between us before exclaiming, “Shit.” I never should have left you two alone with him.

“I shouldn’t have sent you away,” Mom reluctantly admitted.

“No, you shouldn’t,” I spat out bitterly, tired of her poor decisions. “What were you thinking, inviting a mad scientist to the house and asking him to experiment on us?”

“How dare you,” Mom started, surprised that I was actually snapping at her for once.

“Well, congratulations,” I continued. “You have a body without any of those pesky enhancement leftovers. Just like you wanted.”

Mom’s eyes widened slightly, then lit up with excitement as she realized I was right. I immediately realized that I’d made a mistake in pointing this out.

“Don’t you dare go enhancing my body without my permission,” I exclaimed. “And not without me in it.”

Raines just stood back, looking back and forth between us. “Perhaps,” he said carefully, “we should make sure that you’re both unhurt.”

I nodded at that and then slowly stood up. My body now moved fine, though it felt weird and my sense of balance was totally off. I stood there for a minute, one hand against the examination table for support while I adjusted.

Mom stood off to the side, doing the same thing as Me. She looked at me, grimaced, and said, “I am sorry for getting you involved in this.”

I just nodded at that, still upset by the situation. Then I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “If Doctor Monocle can do this to us, then he can switch us back too.”

“Good point,” Raines agreed.

After this, Raines excused himself to go check to make sure that Doctor Monocle really had left and that he hadn’t left any unexpected surprises behind. I was pretty sure that Raines wouldn’t find anything. The mad scientist seemed to have gotten exactly what he wanted from the visit, though I still wasn’t sure why he bothered.

Mom and I walked to the kitchen together, though neither of us specified where we were going. It was strange to walk beside her, to walk beside someone who looked just like me. I was pretty sure that she thought the same thing.

When we reached the kitchen, Mom announced, “I need a drink.”

She grabbed a bottle of scotch and poured herself a glass, not seeming to care about the fact that she was in an underage body. Then she took a drink of it and paused with a faint look of disgust on her face before setting the glass down and absently pushing it away.

On an impulse, I picked the glass up and took a sip. To my surprise, it didn’t taste bad at all. In fact, it tasted pretty good.

Mom watched me for a moment, then shook her head and went to make a cup of tea. A minute later, we were sitting across from each other at the small kitchen table that we usually only used for breakfasts.

“How did you even get in contact with him?” I finally asked Mom.

Mom hesitated for a moment before admitting, “I found an online forum for enhancement researchers, and I asked if anyone knew of a way to clean out the remnants of a failed enhancement…or to somehow start over with a clean slate. Doctor Hansel was the only one to respond to me.”

“And I take it that this isn’t what you had in mind,” I said, pointedly looking down at myself.

“Not at all,” Mom admitted. “But in hindsight, some of his comments now make a little more sense.”

“A mad scientist,” I said with a sigh as I took another sip of the scotch. “A supervillain.”

Mom winced a little at those words and admitted, “I have made better decisions.”

I stared at her with a raised eyebrow, the same expression that Mom used on me whenever she thought that I was being stupid. I didn’t really think about how easy that expression was to make.

A few minutes later, I was suddenly hit with a wave of exhaustion. A loud yawn from my real body assured me that I wasn’t the only one who was feeling this way. Whatever Dr. Hansel had done to us, it had worn us both out completely. Then, without discussing it, we both got up and headed for our beds.

----------

I woke up in my bed but not in my body.

When I first awoke, it was with the feeling of being extremely uncomfortable while simultaneously feeling like I’d had a full night sleep. At first, I was confused, but then I quickly remembered what had happened.

I rolled out of bed, only to see that I was still in my mom’s body and that I was fully dressed. I’d been so exhausted when I’d gone to bed that I hadn’t even bothered to undress before collapsing into a deep sleep. Because of that, my clothes were a completely rumpled mess, but more importantly, the bra was pinching badly.

“Just great,” I grumbled as I looked down at myself in disbelief.

When I looked down at my body, I was startled to see something smeared all over my pillow. It took me a couple seconds to realize that it had to be makeup. Mom wore makeup, which meant that I’d been wearing makeup when I went to bed. I considered just how bad I had to look at that moment and laughed, knowing that Mom would probably freak out at the sight of me.

I shook my head and then staggered towards the bathroom. My bladder was full, but I was already dreading what I was going to deal with. Going to the bathroom in my mom’s body… The very thought was enough to make me shudder. Unfortunately, this wasn’t just something I could ignore.

When I reached the bathroom and looked into the mirror, I froze and let out a gasp. Mom stared back at me. Well, I looked like Mom on the worst possible day of her life. My clothes were completely rumpled, my hair was a mess, and I had makeup smeared on my face. I looked just as bad as I’d imagined I would.

“I should take a picture to use as blackmail material once we change back,” I weakly joked.

Normally, Mom was quite beautiful, always looking elegant and composed. However, this was definitely not normal.

This was the first time that I’d seen my reflection since we’d switched bodies and the experience was a bit jarring. There was nothing quite as strange as looking into the mirror and seeing someone else entirely staring back, much less having it be my own mom.

After a minute, I remembered why I’d come into the bathroom. My eyes went to the toilet, then I looked down at myself and groaned. This was going to be SO awkward.

I carefully lowered my skirt and panties, then sat on the toilet and tried not to think about what was actually underneath those clothes. When I finally pissed, the physical sensation was a little different but not quite as much as I would have imagined. The relief was the same though.

Once I finished my business, I wiped and then pulled my panties and skirt back up. At the same time, I was already thinking about taking all of those clothes off, especially the bra, and putting on something more comfortable. Maybe some nice comfy sweats, or even yoga pants. Did Mom even own any yoga pants?

I ran into Mom in the hallway, almost literally. We both stopped and stared at each other, neither of us saying a word. It was a strange moment for both of us.

“You…,” Mom said awkwardly with my voice, “need to clean that off.” She gestured to my face, and then in case I didn’t understand, she added, “The makeup.”

“Good idea,” I admitted a bit self-consciously. “I think I ruined my pillow.”

“There’s a reason it should be cleaned off before bed,” she said. “Come on.”

Mom led me to her room, which was more like a full suite with a large walk-in closet and a luxurious en-suite bathroom. Normally, I wasn’t allowed into her room, but circumstances had made a large exception to that rule.

“Having your body in my bed just felt wrong,” Mom admitted as we walked past her bed. “It felt inappropriate.”

“I get that,” I agreed, thinking about just how weird it was that Mom’s body had been in my bed.

We stopped at the makeup table where Mom began gathering a few items, mostly in the form of creams and towelettes, then she told me to sit in the chair. I did as she asked and then just sat there, watching in the mirror as she began applying the cream to my face and then wiping it all off, along with the makeup.

Once the makeup was cleaned off, Mom told me, “Now to wash your face with a warm cloth.”

Then, Mom grabbed a brush and ran it through my hair several times, looking annoyed as she did so. She stepped back and looked me over, then shook her head with a deep scowl.

“And you need to get cleaned up properly,” Mom finally said.

“After breakfast,” I quickly added, suddenly realizing that I was getting hungry.

She considered that for a moment before nodding agreement. “That works.”

“But first,” I added again. I reached up for my bra strap and gave Mom a flat look. “Can I change out of this?”

“For now,” she answered with an amused look.

After this, I quickly got undressed, letting out a sigh of relief when the bra finally came off. The whole time, I was careful not to look at my body any more than necessary, and Mom’s presence only made the situation even more awkward.

Before long, I was wearing one of Mom’s silk robes, which felt absolutely amazing against my skin. I let out a gasp as I pulled it around myself, then I blushed self-consciously and pretended that this was all perfectly normal. Then came the slippers, and I was ready to go get breakfast.

Mom and I went to the kitchen together and I couldn’t help but remember when we’d done the same thing last night. The situation hadn’t gotten any less strange since then. If anything, it had only gotten stranger now that it had gotten a little time to sink in.

I grabbed a box of cereal from the cupboard and a bowl, but before I could fill the bowl, Mom snatched both out of my hands. Without a word, she began to place her usual breakfast in front of me instead. A slice of avocado toast, a single hardboiled egg, and a cup of yogurt.

“Really?” I asked her in exasperation.

“I will not have you getting me fat,” Mom insisted, right before taking her cup of coffee out of the Keurig. She took a sip, then abruptly scrunched up her nose. “Ewww.”

“What?” I asked.

“There’s something wrong with this coffee,” Mom answered as she set the mug onto the table with a look of distaste.

I stared down at ‘my’ breakfast without much enthusiasm, then looked over at the coffee. It actually smelled really nice, better than it usually did. Then on an impulse, I reached over for the cup and took a sip.

“Oh, this is good,” I said in surprise.

Normally, I didn’t like coffee, but this was different. It was rich, and bitter, with sweet caramel flavoring. I took another sip, savoring the flavor.

“It looks like we switched tastes,” I said as I set the cup down on the table. I thought about the scotch from last night, which helped convince me that I was right about this. “I mean, it makes sense. I have your tongue and you have mine.” I paused at that, then smiled faintly as I added, “Coffee is supposed to be an acquired taste, and I never acquired it.” I took another sip of coffee to emphasize this point.

“That does make sense,” Mom slowly admitted.

Mom stared at the coffee mug for a moment, then shrugged. A moment later, she grabbed the cereal bowl and placed it in front of herself. Then she gave me a look that dared me to say something, right before she reached for the milk as well.

I smirked faintly as I watched Mom eat cereal for breakfast, which was something that I’d never seen her do before. However, my own stomach grumbled, drawing my attention back to my own breakfast. The avocado toast tasted a little better than I expected, though not a whole lot. Unfortunately, my breakfast went down fast but still didn’t do much for my appetite.

When we had both finished eating, I asked, “Do you think you can get Doctor Monocle to change us back?”

Mom considered this for a few seconds before letting out a sigh. “I don’t know. I can contact him through the email and phone number we used before, but that’s no guarantee he’ll respond, much less do anything. But I can try.”

“And if not,” I offered hopefully. “Maybe that forum you mentioned will have someone else who can.”

“Maybe,” Mom agreed. Then she stood up from the table and stretched before saying, “I should get cleaned up and changed too…” She looked down at her clothes, the same ones that I’d been wearing yesterday. From the look of them, she’d probably fallen asleep before changing out of them too.

I remained where I was for another minute, long enough to finish my coffee. Then I stood up and looked at my now empty plate. I was still hungry. So, with a guilty glance in the direction that Mom had gone, I poured myself a bowl of cereal. However, one spoonful was enough to make me grimace and push it away.

“Disgusting,” I said, almost wondering how I could normally enjoy something that overly sweet. “I guess we really have changed tastes.”

Since I didn’t think that I’d be able to bring myself to eat a whole bowl of cereal, I got rid of that and looked for something else to eat. A few minutes later, I had another slice of toast with jam on it, along with two more hardboiled eggs. Then, once I was done with second breakfast, I decided that it was finally time to get cleaned and dressed.

When I reached the bedroom area, I could hear the shower running from my own bathroom. Mom was obviously taking a shower, and she’d clearly chosen to use mine because all of my clothes were already there.

“Convenient,” I said with a faint nod before heading into Mom’s room.

I found that some of Mom’s clothes were already laid out on the bed for me. I noticed that the outfit she’d chosen had a pair of slacks instead of a dress or skirt, which would make it a little more comfortable for me to wear. At least, emotionally.

Once I was in the en-suite bathroom, I hesitated for a moment before closing the door and locking it. Then, I took off the robe and turned to face the mirror. Now that I’d gotten over the initial shock and my mom wasn’t looking over my shoulder, my curiosity was starting to take over.

It felt wrong and even creepy to look at my mom’s naked body, but I really needed to see what I looked like now. It seemed to be a little easier if I thought of it as MY body, and that I just happened to look like Mom. Sure, that wasn’t really true, but it did help. It also helped to try keeping my examination as quick and clinical as I could.

Mom was in her early forties, though she still looked great. A lot of that was due to diet and exercise, though she definitely had all the right curves. Geo had called her a ‘total MILF’ on several occasions, usually right before I reminded him of Rule One. And as awkward as it was to admit, I had to admit that he was right.

However, without any makeup, I looked a little older than what Mom normally did. Now, I could see the faint wrinkles and blemishes that were usually covered and well hidden.

This reminded me of the fact that Mom’s first enhancement process was some kind of rejuvenation serum, the kind that should have made her younger, fitter, and healthier. It was one of the safest and most reliable of all the enhancement processes, designed more for vanity than for creating super soldiers.

That had been seven years ago, and of course, the enhancement had failed entirely. I remembered how upset Mom had been at the time. Apparently, her social rival had already undergone that same enhancement, and it had worked perfectly. Because of this, Mom had fallen behind the other woman and had eventually lost to her completely. Mom had never forgotten this humiliation, and this had been the start of her obsession to enhance herself.

I shook my head and turned away from the mirror, having had enough of that strange experience. Instead, I turned my attention to the rest of the bathroom and the options that awaited me. There was a large shower nook, one that was almost three times as spacious as my own. And then, there was a large jetted tub. I didn’t have one of those at all.

“Decisions, decisions,” I mused aloud.

I was tempted to climb into the tub and take a nice long bath, but decided against it. I didn’t want to spend that much time cleaning up, in spite of the novel experience it would offer. Instead, I chose the shower.

The hot water felt good against my skin, perhaps even too good. I tried not to think of that or about the details of my new body as I washed up. After all, there was nothing weird or creepy about taking a shower. It was just washing up after all. Still, my hands lingered just a little longer than they probably should have in a few places.

My hair was another difference that I hadn’t really thought about beforehand. It was a lot longer than I was used to and it soaked up a lot of water. As soon as it became soaked through, it became noticeably heavier. It also took a LOT more shampoo and conditioner than I was used to using.

When I was done, I climbed out and began drying off with a big fluffy towel. It was at this point that I discovered another problem with my hair. It was still soaked with water, and the towel just wasn’t going to cut it. Still, I did my best, then wrapped the towel around my body and left the bathroom.

Mom was waiting for me in the bedroom. We both just stopped and stared at each other for several seconds. She was dressed in my clothes, though she’d chosen nicer ones than what I usually bothered with. She was also giving me a thoughtful look.

“That whole experience was…unreal,” she finally said.

“Very weird,” I agreed.

“Now,” she stated a moment later, “we need to get you presentable.”

I knew that what Mom considered to be ‘presentable’ was quite different from what I thought. Still, I didn’t bother arguing. Instead, I merely nodded my head and looked to the clothes on the bed.

What came after this was an exercise in patience. I had to sit at the makeup table while Mom dried and brushed my hair, then adjusted it so that it looked right. Then, I had to deal with the makeup. I carefully watched in the mirror as she put it on my face, feeling uncomfortable with the process while simultaneously being fascinated by it.

Then we finally got to the clothes. I was a little surprised that this part didn’t come earlier, because I had to be careful while getting dressed to not mess up my hair or makeup. Still, when I was finished, I now really looked like my mom, the version that I was used to seeing on a regular basis.

“Now, we just need the final touches,” Mom told me as she reached for the perfume bottle and her jewelry box. She paused a few seconds later and mused, “That’s strange...”

“What is?” I asked wryly. “Or maybe, I should ask what ISN’T strange?”

“Your…my ears,” Mom said in a questioning tone. “They aren’t pierced anymore.”

“What?” I asked in surprise and a little confusion. After all, I’d removed a pair of earrings a couple hours ago when I was getting undressed, and they had definitely been pierced then. I reached up to feel my ears, but I couldn’t feel any holes. “How…?”

Mom frowned at that before musing, “It must be a side effect of what Doctor Hansel did to us.”

I gave her a wry look with a raised eyebrow and reminded her, “And you thought that asking a mad scientist for help was a good idea.”

“Do you need to keep brining that up?” Mom grumbled.

“Yes,” I answered honestly. “And I’ll probably keep doing it until we’re back in our own bodies.”

----------

I leaned back in my chair with my legs crossed in a graceful and feminine manner. I hadn’t intended to sit like this, but it felt comfortable and I’d done it without really thinking about it.

Things like this had been happening all morning, though I hadn’t really noticed it until now. I wasn’t the only one to notice it either.

“That is so strange,” Mom said as she watched me with a look of fascination. “The way you move…”

“She has the same body language as you,” Raines said as he came into the room. “At least part of the time. If I didn’t know that you’d switched places, it would be hard to tell at times.”

“You’re moving a bit like me too,” I pointed out. “It must be a muscle memory thing. Sort of like how our tastes have switched.”

I took a sip from my glass of wine to prove the point. Wine was another of those acquired tastes that I’d never had the chance to acquire, but now, I had a new appreciation for the flavor. It was no wonder that Mom enjoyed her wine.

When I’d poured myself a glass just a short time ago, I’d done it mostly to see what Mom would do. She’d given me an odd look but hadn’t said anything, which actually took a little of the fun out of it.

“You’re probably right,” Mom agreed.

“It’s still a bit strange to see,” Raines added. “It almost makes me forget about what happened. Almost.”

“I certainly can’t forget,” I commented wryly.

“Me either,” Mom agreed, glancing down at herself with a sour expression.

“I put some feelers out on Doctor Monocle,” Raines said. “Some of my contacts are sure to get back to me with something useful.”

“He’s already responded to my e-mail,” Mom said, looking a little smug. “I asked him to come back for a follow-up so we can discuss the situation, and surprisingly, he’s said that he’ll consider it.”

Raines patted his gun and nodded. “If we can get him back here, I can force him to fix this.”

I gently swirled the wine around in my glass, watching it as I did so. “It seems too easy,” I said.

“That just might be,” Raines told me. “But it doesn’t hurt to try it the easy way.”

I nodded at that and set my glass down. The wine was delicious, but what I really wanted was some solid food to go with it. I was hungry. Really hungry. I’d snuck a third and fourth breakfast, each about the same size as the first two, but they hadn’t filled me up for long.

“Is Mom always this hungry?” I mused, wondering if she’d been starving herself without me even noticing.

Then I tried to distract myself by reaching up and feeling my ears, where a pair of nice earrings dangled. My ears no longer stinged from when Mom had pierced them again this morning. Apparently, she really wanted her ears pierced and she thought that I should get the full experience.

It was at this point that Geo came into the room, looking cheerful as usual. “I finished cleaning the pool, Ms. C,” he told me.

“Thank you, Geoffrey,” Mom said from my body, which earned a confused look from Geo.

“Do you have anything else for me right now?” Geo asked me. Then he gave me a wink. “Maybe you can show me what you need?”

“Rule One,” I reminded him with a wince.

Geo stared at me with a look of surprise. As far as I knew, Mom didn’t know about Rule One, which was probably why he was confused.

“I’m David,” I told him with a sigh. “And that is my mom. Doctor Monocle made us switch bodies last night.

It probably would have been better to keep what happened a secret and to just pretend to be Mom. However, Geo was around enough that he would have picked up on something being wrong before long, especially since he practically walked in on a discussion about it.

“Whoa,” Geo exclaimed, staring at me and then Mom. “That old villain? Really?”

Raines gave me a look of disbelief, as though he couldn’t believe that I’d just brought Geo in on this. Mom just shook her head and let out a sigh.

“It’s true,” Mom told him. “We were just discussing how we could get Doctor Hansel to switch us back.”

“That is so freaky,” Geo said, apparently not doubting the story for even a minute. I would have expected that I’d at least have to convince him. Then he flashed his usual easy grin and joked, “Hey, is it Friday?”

Mom gave me a flat look. “I hope you don’t plan on telling the cleaners when they show up tomorrow.”

“I wasn’t planning on it,” I told her, knowing that I had absolutely no intention of telling anyone else.

It would have been hard to keep something like this from Geo, at least for long. And more importantly, I needed to talk with someone about what had happened, just to vent if nothing else.

“Well, I have work to do,” Raines said, glancing between me and Mom before he turned and left.

Mom hesitated for a few seconds before letting out a sigh. “And I suppose I should see if there are any other mad scientists who can undo this…as a backup in case Doctor Hansel doesn’t cooperate.”

With that, Mom stood up and started to leave the room, though she paused and looked in the other direction with a strange expression on her…on my old face. There was a look of hunger, a hint of the familiar obsession. She was looking in the direction of the infirmary.

“Doctor Monocle can switch us back,” I reminded her, mostly to take her mind off what I suspected she was thinking.

“Of course,” she responded, staring down at herself with a thoughtful look. Then she abruptly hurried out of the room.

“Why do I have a bad feeling about her doing something stupid?” I muttered to myself in exasperation. “Again.”

Before I could follow that line of thinking, Geo cautiously asked, “Are you really in there, David?”

I gave him a flat look with a raised eyebrow, and expression that was probably too much like one my mom would use. “Yes, I am.”

“Are you sure you’re not really Ms. C?” Geo asked in a vaguely skeptical tone as he looked me over. “I mean, you aren’t messing with me?”

I rolled my eyes. “Have you EVER seen my mom mess with someone like that?”

He nodded in response. “Good point.” Then scratched his head before asking, “But why would some old supervillain do something like that?”

“Because Mom asked to make it so she could get enhanced,” I answered with a snort and a scowl. “And apparently, he thought that the best way to do that was to put her in my body.”

“Damn,” Geo exclaimed.

I nodded, then wryly added, “And something he said made me think that it probably had something to with my grandpa. Apparently, those two had some history.”

Geo blinked at that. “Your grandpa? Why would some old villain care about your grandpa?”

“Because my grandpa,” I answered dramatically, “used to be a superhero. He was Captain Amazing.”

“Really?” Geo asked with a grin. “That’s awesome… Or maybe, I should say that’s amazing.”

I rolled my eyes at that, then reached down for my glass of wine. After taking a sip, I told him, “Grandpa retired a couple decades ago, then spent his retirement doing all the usual calm and relaxing things…like skydiving and mountain climbing. In fact, that’s how he died. Mountain climbing accident.”

“Damn,” Geo exclaimed. “Hard core.”

“He was enhanced,” I reminded Geo. “At eighty, he looked like he was only fifty, and he was still in way better shape than any twenty-year-old athlete.”

“Dude,” Geo mused. “Now I really want to get enhanced.”

“Join the club,” I told him with a snort, thinking about my mom had been so focused on that for herself.

Geo gave me an odd look, one that shifted into one of interest as his eyes locked onto my chest. There was a noticeable bulge in his pants, one that I really didn’t want to think about. However, I couldn’t help but wondering if Rule One covered him ogling me like this.

“So,” Geo asked a few seconds later. “Doesn’t this mean that he’s actually your dad now, not your grandpa?”

“Technically,” I admitted with a forced smile. “Just like I am now technically the mother and Mom is now my son.”

Geo chuckled at that. “That is so messed up.”

“You have no idea,” I told him as I uncrossed by legs and stood up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go get another lunch because I am starving.”

----------

I sat at the dinner table with a glass of wine at hand and a plate of delicious food in front of me. The beet salad was especially good, and surprising because I normally hated beets. However, while I was enjoying the meal, Mom was experiencing the downside of our change of tastes.

“This is horrible,” Mom complained with a look of disgust.

“You’re the one who keeps telling Marcus to put it on the menu all the time,” I reminded her with a faint smirk. “In spite of the fact that I never liked it.”

I took delight in slowly raising the fork with a slice of beet on it and taking a bite. I could see the conflicting emotions on my old face as Mom managed the conflict from her usual fondness for beets and her current experience.

“At least the salmon is still good,” she muttered.

I chuckled at her reaction, especially since I understood it completely. It had been strange discovering how much my food tastes have changed. Things I used to hate now taste delicious. For Mom’s part, she discovered a new fondness for cola and Doritos.

Marcus, our cook for the day, stood in the doorway from the kitchen and asked, “How was the meal?”

“Delicious,” I told him honestly. “Is there enough for another plate?”

His eyes lit up at that and he smiled proudly. “Of course. I’ll be right out.”

Once Marcus had gone back into the kitchen, Mom fixed me with a glare. “You’re going to get me fat.”

“I’ve been starving all day,” I responded while meeting her glare. “At first, I just thought that you never ate enough, but I’ve eaten even more than I usually do and I’m still hungry.” I scowled at that, remembering the way my ears had sealed over earlier. “I wonder if this might be another side effect.”

Mom blinked at that. “I haven’t noticed any side effects like that…” She paused to stare down at the beet salad on her plate. “Other than the obvious ones.”

“My joints have started hurting off and on too,” I added thoughtfully. “At first, I just wondered if you were getting early arthritis or something, but…” I shrugged at that. “With everything else that’s going on, I thought I should probably bring it up.”

It was at this point that Marcus brought out a second plate of food for me, trading it for the now empty plate in front of me. I thanked him, then went back to eating.

Mom had a thoughtful look on her face, and she seemed a bit worried. “Doctor Amanti said that I still have some toxins in my body. Maybe this whole mix-up is causing them to act up.”

“I wondered the same thing,” I admitted.

“Then I’ll call Doctor Amanti” Mom told me with a worried look. “I’ll have to tell her about this…” She gestured between us. “But it might help to have her take a look.”

“Good idea,” I told her.

We finished the rest of the dinner in near silence, though it mostly consisted of me finishing off my second plate. Once we were done, Mom and I each kind of went our own way.

I was surprised to find Geo in the game room, examining video games on the shelf. “I thought you would have gone home by now,” I told him.

Geo stared at me for a moment before grinning. “I take it that you haven’t switched back yet.”

“Not yet,” I answered, looking down at myself.

“Just wanted to make sure,” he told me with a shrug. “I mean, that whole thing is pretty fucked up.”

I snorted at that. “Imagine it from my perspective.”

He shook his head emphatically. “I’d rather not.”

“So, why are you still here?” I asked curiously.

“You know, this is a great job,” Geo answered. “The hours are flexible, so I can come in late and leave early, and you…I mean, your Mom doesn’t care. Just as long as I do my work, am available whenever she needs me to drive her somewhere…and I keep my phone on so she can reach me.” He shrugged at that. “I can even stick around for a bit to play games with you if I want.”

I laughed at that. “That sounds good to me. I could use a little normalcy today.”

A minute later, we started on a video game, though I quickly discovered that the game controller felt wrong in my hands. It felt just a little too large compared to how it normally fit in my hands. And then as we played, I discovered that this affected how well I played. In addition, I was pretty sure that I was also missing some of the muscle memory that I’d previously developed. Needless to say, Geo kept kicking my ass.

“Checkmate,” Geo exclaimed as he beat me for the fourth time in a row. “Again.”

“This isn’t chess,” I pointed out in annoyance. “Do you even know how to play chess?”

“Nope,” he responded with a grin. “But I can kick your ass at this game.”

“Just wait till I get my own hands back,” I responded, giving him a glare.

It was around this point that I started feeling warm and a bit…odd. I wasn’t quite sure what I was feeling, only that it made me squirm a bit in my seat. Then, I finally noticed.

My nipples were hard, almost uncomfortably so, and I kind of wanted to rub them. Of course, I couldn’t do that with Geo right there. And more than that, I was starting to feel a certain moistness between my legs.

“Oh God,” I whispered in realization. I was getting turned on.

I glanced at Geo, only to catch him staring at my breasts. He quickly looked away and pretended that he hadn’t been. However, the bulge in his pants told a different story.

“Shit,” I whispered, squirming even more in my seat.

I bit my lip and forcefully looked away from Geo, trying to make sense what I was feeling. And it wasn’t just physical either. I kind of wanted something that I couldn’t put into words. And Geo… I felt drawn to him in a way that I never have before, in a way that I never would have imagined.

Then I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. What I was feeling… Mom and Geo had a ‘thing’, so this had to be because of that. Was this another kind of muscle memory?

“I’ll beat you this next game,” I said, my voice coming out a little huskier than I intended as I tried to distract myself.

“Bring it on,” Geo responded.

To my ears, that sounded like a different kind of invitation entirely. Then again, Geo might very well have intended it that way.

We played a couple more games, but I just couldn’t focus on what I was doing. I was too distracted by my traitorous body and the embarrassing awkward things I was feeling. It was becoming increasingly hard to ignore this growing attraction I felt for Geo, an attraction which freaked me out a bit.

“I think I’m done for tonight,” I told Geo, trying to keep my voice from shaking. “It’s been a long…and VERY weird day.”

“I get it,” Geo responded, giving me another odd look, one that would have gotten me to call a ‘Rule One’ violation had I seen him doing that to my mom in front of me. “I guess I’ll see you later.”

Geo left a few minutes after this and I let out a sigh of relief, even while feeling a strange frustration and disappointment. Still, I’d survived that very odd and uncomfortable experience.

“I’m going to bed,” I called out to my mom as I passed where she was working on her laptop.

“Well, good night then,” she responded, turning and giving me an odd look. “Hopefully, we can get this straightened out tomorrow.”

I just nodded at that. “I’m taking your bedroom,” I told her, already walking in that direction. “It has all your clothes, and it just feels wrong having your body sleep in my bed.”

Mom didn’t have a chance to respond to that before I was already out of the room. Even if she had protested, I knew that she really felt the same way about our situation.

Once I reached the bedroom, I closed the door behind me and locked it. Then I reached for my breasts and held them through my shirt, gasping at the sensations that came from them. And that was with both shirt and bra on.

I spotted a table that held a couple bottles of booze, the expensive scotch that Mom liked. Apparently, Grandpa Jack had introduced her to the stuff, and she’d developed a taste for it. Now, I was the one who had a taste for it.

I poured myself a glass and took a sip, enjoying the rich and complex flavors that I never would have been able to appreciate in my own body. Then I looked into the mirror, once again stunned by just how much I looked like my mom. I was even standing with the same posture.

“Here’s to new experiences,” I said, holding the glass up to toast my reflection. “Or maybe, they’re just recycled experiences.”

I was still turned on, maybe even more than I was before. I took several sips of scotch, then I went to work cleaning off my makeup and getting undressed. Everything I needed to do to get ready for bed.

Then I brushed my teeth, though I didn’t use Mom’s toothbrush. Sure, it had only been used in this mouth, but the idea was still kind of gross. Fortunately, there were a couple spare toothbrushes in the drawer.

Once I was ready, I turned off the light and climbed into bed, trying hard not to think about the fact that my body was still turned on and excited. My nipples were hard as hell, poking out and demanding attention. However, that was nothing compared to my new equipment down below. It was wet and almost aching with a demand for attention.

Before I realized it, my hands went to my nipples, almost as though of their own will. However, I couldn’t blame this on muscle memory, though I wanted to I felt them, gasping at the sensation. Then I began to actually play with them.

I felt guilty and ashamed. I couldn’t do something like this in my mom’s body. It was so wrong… So messed up… But it also felt too good to stop.

One hand finally slipped down between my legs and I gasped again at how sensitive it was down there. My fingers were immediately coated with the juices, especially when I began to slowly massage myself. Then, once I felt a little more daring, I slipped a finger inside myself.

I had no idea how long I remained there playing with myself, but it felt like hours. Once I began, I couldn’t stop. It was as though the exploration had taken on a life of its own and I couldn’t stop even if I did want to. All I knew was that this felt absolutely amazing, and it became even better still once the first orgasm arrived.

----------

When I climbed out of bed, it was with a groan and a grimace of pain. I’d fallen asleep with a smile on my face but that wasn’t how I’d woken up.

I woke up in the early morning with a bad Charlie horse, followed shortly after with a second and third. The rest of the morning was a series of muscle cramps and joint pains that seemed to pop up around my body at random. And now, I had a headache as well.

“Damn it,” I moaned as stretched and moved about the bedroom. The movement seemed to help with all of the cramps and aches for some reason.

This was not normal. Not in the least. I’d felt some of these aches yesterday, but not nearly this bad. I just hoped that Dr. Amanti could help with this, or better yet, could reverse this weird body switch and then help Mom with it. This was her body and side effects from her decisions, so SHE should be the one to deal with it.

Once I’d moved around enough to make the aches back off, I went to the bathroom and found some pain pills in Mom’s medicine cabinet. I swallowed those down without a second thought, hoping that they’d kick in soon.

Then I looked into the bathroom mirror and paused. There was something wrong. Something more than the fact that I had the wrong face.

My Mom’s face looked a little worn and tired, which was to be expected after the night I’d had. However, it didn’t look nearly as bad I would have expected. In fact, my reflection actually looked a little better than it had yesterday morning.

“What is going on?” I muttered, trying to figure out exactly why the reflections felt off.

Then it dawned on me. The faint wrinkles that I’d noticed beneath the makeup were gone. As were a few of the other minor blemishes and imperfections. My skin was soft and looked just as smooth as it did with the makeup on, though I knew for a fact that I’d removed it all last night.

I stared at my reflection, taking in the details and trying to convince myself that I wasn’t just imagining things. That would have been easy to do if it wasn’t also for the fact that my hair was a little longer. I probably wouldn’t have paid too much attention to an extra two inches, but those two new inches were coming in as a silvery white color rather than the expensive dyed blonde color of the rest of it.

These small changes surprised me…confused me…and worried me. I could imagine that new hair coming in white might be a sign of radiation poisoning or something, but that wouldn’t explain why my skin looked better. If this was poisoning, I would have expected more wrinkles.

I might have spent longer trying to make sense of these changes, but I was quickly distracted by the demands of my stomach. I was so hungry that I felt like I was practically starved. So, I quickly threw on Mom’s robe and headed towards the kitchen, in too much of a hurry to even remember the slippers until I was halfway there.

As soon as I reached the kitchen, I put a coffee pod into the machine and then began looking for something to eat. I began grabbing leftovers out of the fridge, and I even considered pouring myself a bowl or two of cereal. Sure, it now tasted overly sweet and kind of disgusting, but I was hungry enough that I didn’t really care.

I finished about three full-sized breakfasts before I finally slowed down. I stared at the remains of the food in front of me, stunned that I could be so hungry and eat so much. My worries began stirring again because this was NOT normal.

Mom came into the room a moment later, already dressed and ready to go. Well, except for shoes since she was only wearing socks at the moment. She paused at the door to look at me and the mess that I’d made during my breakfast frenzy.

“What…?” she started with a look of concern.

“I felt like I was starving,” I explained with a scow. “And I hurt all over.” I gave her a suspicious look before asking, “Is it your time of the month?”

Her eyes widened a little, then she laughed. “No. Not for another two weeks.”

“Thank God for that,” I muttered. “Then it looks like the side effects are getting worse.”

“Doctor Amanti will be here in a few hours,” Mom told me.

I nodded at that, then stood up and began to clean up after myself. However, as I stepped near Mom, something struck me as wrong. After what I’d already noticed this morning, I immediately paid attention to that feeling and tried to figure out what it was this time.

“How tall are you?” I asked Mom after a few seconds. Then I gestured down at myself and added, “Normally.”

Mom blinked at that. “I’m five-eight.”

“And I’m five-ten,” I said, looking at the body she currently wore. “So, why are we the same height?”

I looked down at my bare feet and her socked feet, then up into her eyes which were at the same level as mine. Normally, I would have overlooked this, thinking I was imagining things or something like that. However, after what I’d noticed earlier, I wasn’t discounting anything.

“We do seem to be the same height,” Mom said in surprise as she compared the two of us. “But that isn’t possible. Not unless…” She froze at that, her eyes going wide. Then she stared at me with a new intensity, one that was usually associated with her obsession to become enhanced.

“Nothing,” Mom snapped in response, her tone a bit short. “We need to talk to Doctor Amanti.”

“Agreed,” I said, still watching Mom and trying to guess what she was thinking. Considering my changes and the expression on her face, I couldn’t help but wondering if maybe the toxins in my current body weren’t the only thing to have been kickstarted by our swap. “And the sooner we get Doctor Monocle to fix this, the better.”

I quickly finished my clean-up, then went to my temporary bedroom. I took one look at the bed and made a mental note to replace the sheets, but continued into the bathroom to take a shower.

The shower was almost exactly the same as yesterday, though I paid more attention to my actual body and had an even greater temptation to explore some of those sensations. After last night, it was even harder to push those temptations aside, though all my aches and pains made it possible.

Once I was out of the shower and dried off, I sat in front of the makeup table and attempted to repeat what Mom had done for me yesterday. What I discovered was that a little muscle memory didn’t make me a sudden expert in putting on makeup. After three attempts, I gave up in frustration and just cleaned it all off.

“If Mom wants me to wear makeup,” I grumbled to myself, “she can come in here and be my makeup artist.”

A short time later, I emerged from the bedroom, all dressed up and ready to face the day. The shoes and bra both pinched uncomfortably, and the rest of the clothes didn’t fit right either, not like they had yesterday. This was a clear reminder of how things were changing, but there wasn’t much I could do about this quite yet.

“I hope Doctor Monocle fixes this,” I muttered bitterly. “Then this can all be Mom’s problems, like they should have been in the first place.”

When I went out to the common area, I found Mom in conversation with Raines. She had a soda in hand, a kind that we don’t keep around the house, and I noticed a few other junk food snacks on the table beside her. Those were all foods that she would normally never touch.

Then I noticed Geo at the far end of the room, adjusting a few things in a plastic bag. I nodded in understanding.

“Someone did a snack trip,” I said.

Mom looked self-conscious as she took a sip from her soda. “Everything tastes so different, I thought that I should take advantage of the opportunity to taste all these things you like.”

I nodded at that since I’d been doing the same thing. Of course, I’d also been eating like crazy which meant that I’ve had more opportunity to taste different things.

I couldn’t say why, but it annoyed me that Mom was sending Geo out just to get snacks. Maybe it was because it felt like she was treating this like a vacation, having fun in my body while I felt like crap in hers. She didn’t even seem to be trying to get things back to normal. Then again, I didn’t really need much reason to be annoyed. I’ve felt irate and out of sorts since I climbed out of bed, and it hadn’t really gotten any better.

“Hey, Ms. C,” Geo called to me. “I mean, David.” He paused to shake his head. “Man, that is so freaking weird.”

“You have no idea,” I responded flatly.

To my even greater annoyance, I realized that I still felt something towards him, even if it wasn’t as strong as the interest from yesterday. And there was a similar interest in Raines. I was suddenly aware his stocky and muscular build, even though it was mostly hidden beneath his jacket.

“Are you okay?” Mom asked me with a worried look.

“NO,” I snapped as the annoyance and frustration suddenly exploded into outright anger. “I’M IN THE WRONG BODY, I FEEL LIKE CRAP, AND IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!”

Mom stepped back with a look of surprise and hurt, and she wasn’t the only one who’d been caught off guard by my sudden outburst. Raines was watching me with a wary look while Geo looked uncomfortable.

Then the rage suddenly washed away and I was overwhelmed with guilt, and frustration, and uncertainty. Tears began pouring down my cheeks.

“That’s quite the mood swing,” Raines said carefully. He looked at Mom and awkwardly asked, “Would it happen to be your time of the month?”

“No,” Mom responded sharply. “And you’re the second person to ask me that today.”

“Maybe, I should take off,” Geo said as he backed out towards the hallway.

“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” Mom told me. Then she assured me, “But everything is going to be all right.” However, she didn’t really sound like she really believed it. Then she gestured for me to sit down and said, “I’ll be right back.”

I wiped the tears from my face, thankful that I wasn’t wearing makeup because it would have been smeared all over the place by now. Why the hell was I crying? Why had I gotten so angry? I didn’t even know, which left me feeling even more shaken.

“What the hell is wrong with me?” I demanded, even as the tears began to end.

“I hope Doctor Amanti will be able to tell us,” Mom said as she came back into the room. A moment later, she handed me a glass of wine and a small plate with several of the expensive specialty chocolates that she loves, ones that she never shared with anyone. “This always helps me feel better.”

“Thank you,” I said, not sure what else I could say.

I took a sip of the wine, then picked up one of the chocolates. My stomach grumbled, reminding me yet again of how hungry I was. But in spite of that, I took my time and savored the chocolate. It was absolutely delicious. It was no wonder that this was Mom’s favorite little treat.

“This does help,” I admitted a minute later.

At this point, I noticed that Geo and Raines had both disappeared. I didn’t blame them since I wouldn’t want to hang around while someone else seemed to be having a breakdown.

“Honestly,” Mom told me as she sat down and gave me a forced smile. “I’d have some myself, but I seem to have lost the taste for wine and I’m a little afraid that I might not like the chocolate as much as I normally do.”

“Then I’ll make sure to enjoy them for the both of us,” I told her as I popped the last chocolate into my mouth and leaned back. “I just hope that I don’t need to do this again.”

----------

“Please tell me that you’re joking,” Dr. Amanti said, looking back and forth between me and Mom with a disbelieving look on her face.

Mom had supposedly explained the situation to Dr. Amanti over the phone, and once the doctor actually arrived, the two of us explained it in person. Dr. Amanti had a look of utter disbelief on her face, and I couldn’t blame her.

“I’m afraid not,” I said with a sigh.

“They’re telling the truth,” Raines offered.

After what had happened with Doctor Monocle, Raines refused to leave us alone again. He was on the other side of the room, keeping a close watch on Dr. Amanti in case she tried something, which was far less likely than it had been with the mad scientist.

“You asked a supervillain mad scientist to come into your home and experiment on you?” Dr. Amanti said, glaring at me before she remembered the exchange and turned her glare to Mom instead. “And now you’re not happy with the results?”

Mom grimaced at that and weakly tried to defend herself. “It wasn’t quite like that…”

“Yes it was,” I reminded her.

Dr. Amanti literally face-palmed, then let out an exasperated sigh. “So, you didn’t like what I had to tell you and you sought a second opinion. I can understand that much, but the person you chose…”

“Now we’re stuck in each other’s bodies,” I said with a sigh of my own, “and I’m seeing a LOT of side effects.”

Of course, we’d already explained all those side effects to Dr. Amanti, but I wanted to remind her that this went beyond the body swap. My body… Actually, Mom’s body, seemed to be totally messed up because of this, and I was the one who was stuck dealing with it.

“First Gutierez, now Doctor Monocle,” Dr. Amanti muttered with a shake of her head. Then she took a deep breath and turned professional. “Tell me about these side effects again.”

“Muscle cramps,” I answered immediately. “Aching joints. I’m really hungry, no matter how much I eat. And then, there are the weird bits…”

“My body seems to have grown a couple inches taller,” Mom added with a gleam in her eye and a note of pride in her voice. “And my complexion improved.”

“Don’t forget the mood swings,” Raines offered.

“Yeah,” I muttered in embarrassment. “I can’t forget about those.”

My emotions had been jumping all over the place for the last few hours, and I’d even burst out laughing at one point for no real reason. Between that, the anger, and the tears, I really didn’t want to dwell on it.

Dr. Amanti listened intently, nodding a little as we explained. Then she turned to the two large cases that she’d brought into the house with her and she opened them up. She took a couple pieces of equipment out.

“I need a blood sample,” Dr. Amanti told me.

I held out my arm while she took it. Then, she put some of the blood into a small device, which promptly had several LED’s light up. Her eyes widened at this and she immediately stared at me.

“This shouldn’t be possible,” Dr. Amanti exclaimed. “You’re going through an enhancement.”

I gulped at that but didn’t say anything. I’d actually suspected something along those lines after seeing the changes that my borrowed body had gone through. I just didn’t understand how it was possible.

“Did you take another enhancement serum?” Dr. Amanti immediately demanded of Mom. “After I warned you about it?”

“No,” Mom quickly answered, though I knew that she’d definitely considered it. “It hasn’t come out of the vault since before our last appointment.”

“This shouldn’t be possible,” Dr. Amanti repeated. “It’s unprecedented.”

“How?” I asked in confusion. “I mean, I know that there are old strains of the stuff in here…” I gestured down at myself. “But none of them ever did anything before.”

“And they shouldn’t do anything now,” Dr. Amanti responded with a worried look. “I’ve never heard of a failed enhancement activating later on. Never. And with multiple strains in the body at the same time…” She grimaced, looking worried. “That can’t be good. Not at all.”

“Why not?” Mom asked with a sharp intensity.

“I don’t know which strain has activated yet,” Dr. Amanti said. “I hope… I pray that its only one. If more than one activated…” She shuddered. “That would be very bad.”

“Why?” I asked.

Dr. Amanti was silent for several seconds, then she explained. “Once you are enhanced by a strain, it prevents any future strains from taking hold. There have been attempts to infect someone with multiple enhancement strains at the same time, but every single one of them have failed. In most of those cases, the strains fought each other and caused serious collateral damage to the body…killing the host. In the best-case scenario, one of the strains was far more aggressive and dominant than the other, and was able to quickly take hold and lock the other one out.”

“Oh shit,” I gasped, remembering just how many strains were in my current body.

“Stay here,” Dr. Amanti warned me.

With that, Dr. Amanti turned and hurried out of the house, going to her car. She came back a few minutes later carrying two more cases. She immediately popped one of them open and pulled out what looked like a metal thermos.

“Drink this,” Dr. Amandi ordered as she handed me the thermos.

I opened the thermos and sniffed. It smelled odd. “What is this?”

“Fluff,” the doctor answered. “Highly concentrated nutrients and calories. This will give your body what it needs and should help with your hunger issue.”

“What about all those toxic chemicals?” Mom asked.

“Some processes include them,” Dr. Amanti agreed. “But this is all safe and stable nutrition. No toxic chemicals or radioactive materials.”

I took a sip from the thermos and found that it was a thick and grainy liquid that reminded me of a smoothie or protein shake, but without any of the flavoring. It tasted like chalk at best, but in spite of that, I almost immediately realized that this was what I needed. In an instant, my body was craving the stuff the way an addict’s body craved a fix.

While I was gulping down the liquid, Dr. Amanti turned to Mom. “You told me before that you have a nutrient bath…”

“Yes,” Mom responded. “It’s set up in the infirmary.”

“Good,” Dr. Amanti responded. “We need to get her into it immediately.”

Mom led the way to the infirmary while Dr. Amanti and I followed. I finished drinking the entire thermos by the time we arrived, and I actually wanted more of that nasty stuff.

The nutrient bath resembled a one-person jet tub, one with hoses and tubes connected to the outside of it. Inside, it was filled with a thick pink slime that was exposed once the cover was removed.

“Your body is starving,” Dr. Amanti told me with a grim look. “You haven’t been getting enough nutrition or calories to support what the enhancement is doing to your body, but this will help. You’ll be able to absorb the nutrients directly from your surroundings.”

“That looks disgusting,” I commented as I looked at the pool of slime.

Dr. Amanti didn’t argue. “But necessary.”

I scowled at that but nodded. “Are all enhancements like this?”

“No,” Dr. Amanti answered with a shake of her head. “Every version is different. Some are slow and gentle, enhancing your body over a period of weeks. Others are much faster and more aggressive, and those ones require a lot more resources up front.” She gestured to the nutrient bath. “They also tend to be a lot more dangerous.”

“What about those toxins in my body?” Mom asked.

“I can’t be certain yet,” Dr. Amanti responded, “but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve already been broken down and consumed. In fact, depending on which strain is active, it might be a good idea to introduce more.” She shook her head and let out a sigh. “I’ll need to do a lot more work before I can tell for sure. But for now…” She stared straight at me. “Into the bath.”

“I’ll give you some privacy,” Raines said as he quickly slipped back out of the infirmary. “I’ll be right outside if you need me.”

I began getting undressed, feeling awkward and self-conscious to be doing this in front of Mom and especially Dr. Amanti. However, the doctor was completely professional, acting like there was nothing unusual about this.

Once I was naked, Dr. Amanti gave me several shots, one after another, and then she began sticking sensors onto my skin. These reminded me a bit of the metal disks that Doctor Monocle had stuck to our foreheads before he switched our bodies, though I suspected that these were far less sinister.

A minute later, I climbed into the tub. The slime was warm and slick, feeling every bit as disgusting as I’d imagined.

“I feel like I’m climbing into a pool of snot,” I grumbled.

Dr. Amanti gave me a reassuring smile, then she attached an air mask over my nose and mouth. “To help you breath,” she explained. “It works best if you allow yourself to sink down as far as possible. Being fully submerged is best.”

I leaned back into the slime, sinking down until my face was the only part that wasn’t submerged. The bottom of the tub seemed to have been designed to hold me in this position.

My skin tingled, and I wondered if this meant that I was absorbing the nutrients through my skin. I hadn’t asked exactly how this all worked, but suspected that I probably wouldn’t understand it even if I had.

Mom and Dr. Amanti were talking, though they were far enough away from the tub that I couldn’t quite hear them, especially not with my ears full of slime. Still, I could make out a little of what they said.

“The sensors show that her hormone levels have all been spiking,” Dr. Amanti told Mom. “Which fits with what you’ve told me about the mood swings.” Then she stared at me and sighed. “Hormone shifts are normal even among normal enhancements, and they should settle down and stabilize as the enhancement progresses.”

They continued talking, though I couldn’t make out what they said, nor did I really care. By this point, I was half-asleep, though I didn’t know if that was because the nutrient bath or one of the shots that Dr. Amanti had given me first.

The last thing I remembered before I fell asleep entirely, was Mom standing beside the nutrient bath and staring down at me with a hungry and intense expression, saying, “I NEED to get my body back.”

----------

A pool full of pink slime was an absolutely disgusting place to sleep, but it was also surprisingly comfortable. When I woke up, I felt well-rested and a lot better than I had before my nap.

I slowly climbed out of the nutrient bath, taking my time as the pink slime drained away from my body. Mom was immediately there, handing me a large fluffy towel to dry off with.

“You’ll probably want a shower to clean the rest of that off,” Dr. Amanti said. “And especially to get it out of your hair.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, looking forward to it. “How long was I in there?”

“About five hours,” Mom answered.

I nodded at that, even as I looked around the infirmary. While I’d been out, Dr. Amanti had set up a bunch of equipment, most of which I had no idea of what it did.

“You’ll probably want to sleep in there again tonight,” Dr. Amanti told me, indicating the nutrient bath. “And maybe for a few hours tomorrow. But you’re progressing fast enough that you shouldn’t need it beyond that.”

“That’s good,” I said, not looking forward to getting back into that slime.

“How are you feeling?” Dr. Amanti asked me.

I considered that for a few seconds before I answered honestly. “I feel good.” I was almost surprised by that.

I still had various aches and pains through my body, but they were all duller and far less intense. My muscles weren’t cramping anymore, though they now felt more like they would after a bit of hard exercise instead. There was a completely different quality to the pain.

Overall, in spite of the remaining aches, I did feel good. No, I felt amazing. I felt wide-awake and charged with energy. And I even felt mildly turned on, which my nipples announced by sticking out and demanding attention. Neither Mom nor Dr. Amanti commented on this, though Mom definitely stared at my chest.

“It isn’t appropriate to stare at your mother like that,” I teased my mom, who blushed and looked away.

“If you want to go get washed up,” Dr. Amanti told me, “I’ll explain what I discovered once you’re done.”

“That sounds good to me,” I told her.

I noticed that someone had brought a bathrobe into the infirmary, and since it was one of Mom’s, it was pretty easy to guess who. I threw it on, feeling guilty about getting it dirty, though I sure wasn’t going to wander around the house naked when Raines or Geo might see me. Then again, that probably wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen.

A few minutes later, I stepped into my new bedroom and its en-suite bathroom. The robe came off and then I paused to examine myself in the bathroom mirror, looking over every detail with a critical eye.

“I’m being enhanced,” I whispered. That explained all the changes I’d noticed in this body, and assured that more of them would be coming. “Has anything else changed?”

The first thing I noticed was that my hair had grown a couple more inches since that morning, coming in as white. In fact, the white coloring seemed to be spreading into the older blonde parts as well. I imagined that Mom would be pissed at having white hair and would dye it again as soon as she got this body back.

I seemed to be a little curvier than I had been before, in all the right ways. My breasts were at least a cup larger than they’d been that morning, and probably another cup more than they’d been originally. They were also much rounder and firmer than they’d been before.

“Instant boob job,” I joked, sure that Mom would appreciate that benefit. In fact, I was pretty sure that this was one of the benefits that she’d wanted from being enhanced. “It’s official. I have bigger boobs than Mom.”

And then, I noticed my muscle tone. My body seemed leaner and fitter, with visible muscle tone. Now that I thought about it, it was almost obvious. Sure, Mom liked to keep in shape, but not like this.

I finished my examination, then climbed into the shower for the second time today. I was still turned on, with nipples that were poking out and some lower lips that craved attention. Unlike this morning, I gave them a little attention, enough to enjoy the sensations, but not enough to get carried away. After all, I was impatient to find out what Dr. Amanti had discovered.

Once I was done with my shower and had dried off, I put on a clean robe. It seemed pointless to get fully dressed when I’d only have to go back into the nutrient bath in a few hours. I was also pretty sure that none of my clothes would fit properly anyway. They’d been tight this morning and I seemed to have grown more since then.

I returned to the infirmary less than an hour after I left, wearing a robe that was a little tight across the chest and which showed off my improving cleavage. A pair of slippers were on my feet, but they were a bit too snug to be comfortable.

Mom had a soda in hand and was in the middle of eating a candy bar when I stepped into the room, though she immediately stopped and stared at me. Her eyes widened and the familiar but frightening intensity burned through.

“You’re starting to look amazing,” Mom said, clearly imagining what it would be like when she was back in this body. The anticipation practically rolled off her.

“You’re going to get fat if you keep eating like that,” I responded, teasing my mom with the same words she sometimes used on me. It was a good way to break the intensity.

Dr. Amanti cleared her throat, looking faintly amused as she glanced at Mom, though she quickly covered it up and handed me another thermos. I opened it up, sniffed, and confirmed that it was the same stuff as before. With a sigh, I began drinking, realizing as I did so that I was no longer hungry.

“Now that you’re both here,” Dr. Amanti said, “I should explain what I’ve found.”

She gestured to her equipment, some of which was plugged into a laptop. Then she looked me over again with a thoughtful expression.

“As you both know,” Dr. Amanti started, “that body has been exposed to seven different enhancement strains. Considering how fast you’ve been changing, I’ve been assuming that one of the most dominant and aggressive versions was the one to activate. But after looking…”

When Dr. Amanti paused, Mom leaned forward and impatiently demanded, “What?”

“I don’t know how to explain this,” Dr. Amanti said with a scowl. “But all seven strains seem to be active. They seem to be…cannibalizing each other. It’s almost like they’re combining into a new version. I’ve never seen ANYTHING like this. As I’ve said before, this is unprecedented. In fact, it should be impossible. Those strains do NOT work like that.”

Mom let out a gasp. “You said that multiple active strains can be lethal…”

Dr. Amanti nodded at that. “That should be true. SHOULD. I have no idea how this is happening…or what the end results will be. All I can say for certain at this time is that the enhancement is progressing, and that her health and stability are improving rather than degrading.”

“So, I’m still being enhanced,” Mom said with an almost gleeful tone.

Mom was so excited by this that she was seemingly no longer concerned with all the unknowns or the possible risks to my life. She was so focused on finally getting what she wanted that she probably didn’t even think about what that would mean for me.

“There is a lot of overlap between most enhancements,” Dr. Amanti mused, seeming to be thinking aloud as much as explaining it to us. “But each puts emphasis on certain improvements, and some of these ones push for contradictory changes.” She shook her head. “I have no idea what the final results will be, nor any idea of how this is even possible.”

Just then, a new voice announced, “Then perhaps I can explain.”

I snapped around and saw a familiar looking old man standing in the doorway. Doctor Monocle looked to be in a cheerful mood and completely unconcerned with the fact that Raines was standing behind him, with his hand on his holster.

“He was rather insistent that he see you now,” Raines said apologetically, glaring at Doctor Monocle. “And I knew you’d want to see him as soon as possible.”

Mom’s eyes lit up at the sight. “Doctor Hansel.”

“Hansel,” Dr. Amanti spat out with even more bitterness than she used when talking about Dr. Gutierez.

“I need you to switch us back to our own bodies,” Mom told him. She stared at me and licked her lips with anticipation. “I don’t know what you did, but you seem to have fixed my issue…”

Doctor Monocle came into the room, dragging his wheeled cart behind him. He stared at Mom for several seconds while his monocle glowed, then he turned his attention to me. He stared at me with the same intensity before he laughed.

“Oh, this is interesting,” he mused. “Oh yes. Very interesting.”

“How soon can you switch us back?” Mom demanded.

The mad scientist looked at Mom again, and in an almost innocent voice, he asked, “How does it feel being a teenage boy in possession of his own mother’s memories?”

Mom froze at that with her mouth dropping open while I gulped, considering the implications of what he’d just said. However, this moment of existential dread only lasted for a couple seconds before Doctor Monocle started to chuckle.

“Ah, the look on your face,” the mad scientist said. “Don’t fret. I truly did exchange your souls, not merely your memories.” Then he paused for a moment to rub his chin before musing, “The problem with that process is that it strains the soul and cannot be repeated again for several weeks.”

“Several…weeks?” Mom asked, looking both relieved and horrified at the same time. “So, it can be reversed…”

“What are you doing here?” Dr. Amanti demanded, glaring at the old man.

The mad scientist merely smiled. “Ms. Cole, or perhaps, I should say young David Cole…contacted me about a follow up appointment.” He chuckled to himself, then his expression turned more serious. “I noticed something interesting during the procedure, and this seemed a good opportunity to follow up.”

“Something interesting?” Dr. Amanti asked suspiciously. Her eyes narrowed. “You said that you can explain… What did you do?”

“Did you know,” Doctor Monocle mused, “that the human soul exists out of phase with our physical reality? The soul…and it’s aura…exist primarily on a different level of reality.” He paused for a moment to smile faintly before continuing. “I say primarily, because souls still occupy bodies, and that says nothing of what an aura can do.”

Dr. Amanti stared at him for several seconds before saying, “You’re talking about aura abilities.”

“Indeed,” Doctor Monocle responded cheerfully.

“What’s an aura ability?” I asked, trying to make sense of what was going on.

“Special abilities come from only two different sources,” Dr. Amanti answered, not taking her eyes off the mad scientist. “The first and most common is the enhancement process, which can enhance aspects of the physical body to levels that would be considered superhuman.”

“And the other source,” Doctor Monocle finished for her, “comes from the aura. From the human soul.” He looked at Mom and then me. “Every soul has an aura, and some auras can interact with the physical world. One person may be able to move objects without touching them, while another may be able to change the temperature.”

My eyes widened slightly at that. “Like Miss Fire,” I said, naming a superhero who was known for creating flames. I’d always assumed that she had a hidden flamethrower built into her costume.

“I am aware of what aura abilities can do,” Dr. Amanti told him while still looking suspicious. “But enhancements and aura abilities have nothing to do with each other, so why are you bringing them up?”

Doctor Monocle chuckled at that, seeming to be just a kindly old man. If I didn’t know who he was or what he’d done to us, I might even have believed that. However, I did know better.

“I happen to be an expert on the human soul and on auras,” Doctor Monocle bragged. “I’ve spent most of my life researching them.”

“We’ve already seen your expertise with souls,” I reminded him wryly.

“Far more than I ever wanted,” Mom agreed, standing there with her arms crossed and looking like a petulant teenager.

“Did you know,” Doctor Monocle continued, turning his attention to Mom, “that your father…your GRANDFATHER had an aura ability?”

“Nonsense,” Dr. Amanti responded with a snort. “Jack Cole was well documented as being enhanced.”

“Oh, he was enhanced,” Doctor Monocle agreed. “But he had his aura ability even before then. However, it was so subtle that I suspected that even he was not aware of it.” He chuckled at that and his monocle glowed again for a few seconds. “But, he could not hide it from me.”

“What kind of aura ability?” Mom asked skeptically. “Dad never said anything about having an aura ability.”

“A subtle ability,” Doctor Monocle answered. “Oh yes. Subtle but potent.” He paused at that, then leaned forward and in an almost conspiratorial tone, he added, “His aura affected his own body…made it more efficient.”

“What does that even mean?” Mom asked impatiently.

“It means,” Doctor Monocle explained, “that his ability took what was there and made it work better. He was a natural athlete and borderline genius, traits which made him an appealing candidate for the enhancement process. Then, when he was enhanced, his ability made that work more efficiently too. This is why Captain Amazing was so…amazing.”

Everyone was silent for several seconds as we absorbed what we’d just been told. However, I was skeptical that a mad scientist and supervillain would tell us the truth. To me, it seemed like he was just messing with us, just like when he’d messed with me and Mom a few minutes ago.

“Captain Amazing was more powerful than he should have been,” Dr. Amanti admitted a few seconds later. She had a thoughtful look on her face as she mused, “Other people have gone through the same process, but their results never matched his.”

“And that leads us back to the explanation you were searching for,” Doctor Monocle told Dr. Amanti, his expression calm and serious again. “I reviewed information from the procedure… I detected an aura ability at the time, and I needed to be certain…”

Mom gave him a suspicious look and asked, “Certain about what?”

Doctor Monocle stared at her with his monocle glowing once again. “You inherited a version of your father’s aura ability,” he told Mom, his tone calm and serious before he glanced to me. “You both have.”

“You’re clearly mistaken,” Mom started to protest.

“Your ability works like an immune system and stabilizer,” Doctor Monocle told Mom with an amused look. “It resists mutations and external changes…changes like the enhancement process. Ironically, the same ability that blocked your enhancements, also protected you from the residual radiation and toxins.”

“WHAT?” Mom blurted out with a look of stunned disbelief and then horror.

“Oh yes,” Doctor Monocle continued cheerfully. “Since it is an aura ability, it will work with your new body as well. In fact, since soul strain can increase aura abilities or even unlock dormant ones…” His eyes darted to me before he continued. “Your defenses are likely even stronger now.”

“Do you have any evidence of this?” Dr. Amanti demanded of the mad scientist.

I just stared at Mom, realizing that we’d already seen the evidence. Mom had gone through seven enhancement processes, and every one of them had failed. Toxic chemicals and radiation had been used in a couple of those, but she’d never suffered any ill effects. If aura abilities were real, then this explanation made sense.

“What about me?” I asked quietly, remembering that he’d indicated that I had an aura ability too. From what he’d just told us about soul strain unlocking dormant abilities, I could guess when I’d gained mine. “What kind of aura ability am I supposed to have?”

Doctor Monocle stared at me with his monocle glowing again. He chuckled before answering. “Your ability is similar to that of your grandfather. Your father.” He seemed to take a bit of joy at adding the correction. “Your aura takes what resources are available and uses them to improve your body.”

“Resources?” Dr. Amanti asked with a suspicious glare. “Like seven enhancement strains?” When Doctor Monocle merely smiled in response, she spat out, “That explains the cannibalization…and why none of this follows the usual enhancement rules.” She turned to stare at me. “An aura ability that enhances your enhancement.” Then she snorted. “In theory.”

I just stood there with my mouth hanging open, an expression that was similar to what my mom wore on my old face. I blinked several times, trying to think of something to say.

“This is,” I started weakly. “Impossible. Insane.”

“Impressive,” the mad scientist offered.

“Unprecedented,” Dr. Amanti added flatly. “Now, I have no idea how this enhancement will go.”

“You didn’t know before this either,” I pointed out.

She glared at me for a moment before nodding agreement. “I wish I could give you a better answer, but this is new for me as well.”

“But isn’t it exciting?” Doctor Monocle asked with his cheerful tone. “I can’t wait to see how this develops.”

At this point, everyone glared at the mad scientist, including Raines, who looked like he was about to draw his gun.

----------

I slowly climbed out of the nutrient bath, letting the slime drain off me before I stepped onto the towel that was placed beside the tub. Then I grabbed another towel and began to dry myself off, at least enough so that I could make my way to the shower without leaving a trail of slime behind.

“Good morning,” Dr. Amanti greeted me. “How do you feel?”

I looked at the doctor who sat there with a cup of coffee in hand. She looked tired, which was to be expected for this early in the morning. But in spite of the early hour, I was wide awake and bursting with energy.

“I feel great,” I answered honestly. Then with a wry smile, I added, “I feel awesome.”

Of course, I still had some dull aches and a headache that had been running its course while I slept. Now that I was awake, that was quickly fading away.

“That isn’t surprising,” Dr. Amanti told me. “You’re nearing the end of the enhancement process, though I still can’t be sure when yours will finish.”

“Seven strains,” I said, remembering how different my circumstances were from anyone else.

“Your body is breaking down those strains and absorbing them,” Dr. Amanti told me. “It looks like it may be taking bits and pieces from each and combining them into a single Frankenstein strain.”

I nodded at that. “What can you tell me about the strains?”

Dr. Amanti took a sip from her coffee, then reached over for a folder which she handed to me. I flipped through it and saw it contained some brief overviews of each strain and how they were supposed to work.

“Seven strains,” Dr. Amanti mused. “Three are weapons grade.”

“Weapons grade?” I asked curiously.

“Human weapons,” Dr. Amanti explained flatly. “Super soldiers. This is what most superheroes use.”

“Ah,” I said in understanding. “That seems a bit excessive for what Mom was interested in.”

“It does,” Dr. Amanti agreed. “Those are also some of the more dangerous processes to use.”

I snorted at that, realizing that these were probably the processes that introduced the toxic chemicals which had originally made us so worried. They also probably had a higher risk of failure or death than ones like the rejuvenation enhancement Mom had first tried.

“And let me guess,” I said. “Each enhancement she tried got progressively more powerful and more dangerous.”

“Precisely,” Dr. Amanti said with a shake of her head. “Doctor Gutierez should be in prison for allowing it to continue that long.”

“Well, I need to clean up,” I told the doctor. “Thank you for overseeing my enhancement. I know you probably had other things planned.”

“Nothing more interesting,” she responded with a faint smile.

After this, I excused myself and made my way to the bedroom so I could take a shower. I still had the folder that Dr. Amanti had given me, and I’d have to read it later.

As soon as I reached the bathroom, I dropped my robe into the clothes hamper and climbed straight into the shower. My first thought was to get rid of all the remaining slime and actually get clean. Once I’d done that, my thoughts turned to how good this felt.

I was still turned on. In fact, I’ve been turned on since some time yesterday, at least a little bit. It seemed to be mostly in the background unless I focused on it, and I was focusing on it now.

“Oh yes,” I moaned as I felt myself up again.

I was so sensitive now and it felt so good. I was tempted to get out of the shower and look into the drawer that contained all of Mom’s ‘toys’, a drawer that I probably would have gotten into last night if it hadn’t been for the fact that I’d slept in the nutrient bath.

“Damn,” I moaned. “I can’t believe how good this feels.”

There was still some guilt for doing this kind of thing in my mom’s body, but it was getting easier to ignore. After all, it wasn’t like I was really doing anything wrong. I wasn’t doing anything that the previous occupant hadn’t done. And besides, this body had needs, and I was just dealing with them. It wasn’t really any different than going to the bathroom because I had a full bladder or eating because I was hungry.

Once I was done in the shower, I climbed out and began to dry myself off. Then, I turned my attention to the mirror. I’d already noticed that my body had changed more overnight, but this was my first opportunity to see how that looked.

I looked like my mom, but also like a complete stranger. The woman in the mirror was like some alternate reality version of her, one which could never possibly exist.

She was tall and statuesque, with magnificent curves, long shapely legs, and the kind of muscles that spoke of countless hours in the gym. The muscles could have belonged to a fitness model, and they balanced well with her mature feminine shape.

Her features were beautiful, elegant and mature but with flawless youthful skin and a face that was framed with long white hair, sending conflicting messages about her age. This gave her an air of indeterminate age, all of which was made even more striking by her now silvery eyes.

“I look amazing,” I said as I posed in front of the mirror. I could hardly believe that was really me. “Sleeping in the nutrient bath seems to agree with me.”

I smiled at that, knowing that the nutrient bath gave my body all of the resources it needed to rebuild itself, far quicker and more efficiently than it ever would have been able to from food alone. Of course, my aura ability had probably played a large role in this as well.

Then I began to stretch my body, admiring the way the muscles rippled beneath the skin. I flexed experimentally, appreciating how nice they looked and how firm they actually felt. They felt even more solid than they looked.

“A very firm body,” I said, referring to my breasts as well as my muscle tone. They were far too firm and perfect for a woman of ‘my’ age.

I wondered how well this body could actually do in the gym. I felt strong and powerful, full of energy and ready to take on the world. Now, I really wanted to test it. These muscles weren’t just for looks.

After this, I let out a sigh and stopped with the posing. I took the time to dry and brush my hair, then I put on a clean robe. This wasn’t one of Mom’s robes, which I’d outgrown, but a larger and less delicate one. I was pretty sure that it was a man’s robe, probably taken from one of the spare bedrooms.

As I walked through the house, I was more than a little tempted to go to the gym so I could burn off some of this excess energy and see what my new body was capable of. However, I went to the kitchen instead. I was starting to enjoy my new morning routine of having a cup of coffee with breakfast, and perhaps even more importantly, I really wanted to see what was in the files that Dr. Amanti had given me.

When I reached the kitchen, I immediately put a coffee pod into the machine and then began looking for food. I ignored Mom’s usual dainty breakfast and instead focused on leftovers from dinner and a bowl of oatmeal. Now, this was a breakfast with enough calories for an enhanced.

My eyes went to the box of cereal in the cupboard, the one that was full of the surgery crap, and I looked away in distaste. Then, the irony struck me. I now had a body that could handle lots of sugar, fats, and junk food without worrying about getting fat or developing other health problems, and I’d actually lost my taste for that kind of thing.

“Mom can keep it,” I said dismissively, even though I was also amused by the fact that so many foods that I used to like no longer held any interest for me at all. “I’ll take all the things she doesn’t like anymore.”

With that, I picked up the cup of fresh coffee and took a sip. Delicious. Sure, I didn’t seem to need the caffein anymore, but I could still appreciate the taste as well as the morning ritual.

It was at this point that I turned my attention to both eating breakfast and reading through the files. Each page contained an overview of one of the enhancement processes that Mom had gone through, including known side effects and risks. I read through each and every line with a sharp focus, not wanting to miss any detail.

“A few things are starting to make sense,” I mused when I’d finished.

Now, I knew what each of the strains was supposed to do. Sure, I didn’t know which bits and pieces of each might be applied to me, but I was able to start recognizing what they were.

One of the things that I noticed was that most of those strains shared a specific side-effect. It seemed that improving someone’s fitness and energy levels gave them more of an inclination to actually make use of them. According to the notes, most people who’d been enhanced became much more active and athletic, even though they didn’t need exercise to maintain those levels.

“That makes sense,” I mused, thinking about my own desires to hit the gym.

By this point, I’d already finished my coffee and breakfast, so I decided to go ahead and visit the gym. I’d already been curious about what I could do, and after reading through those notes, I was even more curious.

When I reached the gym, I immediately realized a problem. I was wearing a robe, not gym clothes. In fact, none of Mom’s clothes would fit me anymore, so I didn’t even have the option to change clothes. But in spite of that, I wasn’t about to quit now.

I started off with the exercise bike since that was about the only piece of equipment that I usually used. I rode a mile with barely any effort, so I increased the resistance. After the second mile, I increased the resistance again, and then again for the third and fourth. By the end of the fifth mile, I felt like I was only still warming up. And then, after the tenth mile, I stopped riding. It wasn’t that I was getting tired, but that I was bored.

“My endurance and stamina are way up,” I said, stating the obvious.

I smiled at that, feeling rather pleased with myself and how easily I’d handled the exercise bike. Then I turned my attention to the weights. I’d always avoided them before. Honestly, the weights had been a bit intimidating.

“Now, let’s see how strong I am,” I muttered.

I started off with one of the smaller weights and did some curls to work my biceps. The weight was pretty light, so I went up until I found one that I could really start to feel. I didn’t know what I could curl in my old body, but I was pretty sure that this was a good bit heavier.

As I sat on a bench and slowly lifted the weight, I watched the muscles in my arm swell and relax. My muscles were definitely larger and more defined than I ever would have imagined seeing on my mom’s body, and it was almost hypnotizing to watch them work.

“Good thing they aren’t as noticeable when I relax,” I mused, sure that the curves played a large part of that. Another part was, according to the notes I read, my muscles were denser and far more efficient than normal muscles would be. That was a trait shared by most enhanced, especially the ‘weapons grade’ ones. “But I wonder what I’d look like if I really flexed.”

Just then, my thoughts were interrupted by someone saying, “Your form is bad.”

I looked up and saw that Raines was standing in the door to the gym. He stared at me for a moment, then he carefully removed his jacket and set it aside, then he rolled up the sleeves of his button-up shirt.

“Like this,” Raines told me as he picked up another dumbbell, one that was a little lighter than the one I was using. He did a couple curls, going slow so that I could see what he was doing. “It isolates the muscle for better results.”

Raines was pretty muscular, and that was without the help of any enhancement. He obviously knew his way around a gym, so I paid close attention to what he was doing.

“Like this?” I asked as I repeated the process.

He reached out and held my arm in place, “Just a little more…”

Raines didn’t ask me why I was in the gym, he just helped me with one exercise and then another, suggesting some that I’d never considered. Each time, he showed me the proper form and then let me go at it.

I never would have thought that I could have fun exercising, but I was. Pushing my muscles… Burning up some of this energy… Seeing what I could do… It felt good and I was already looking forward to doing this again.

Then, I was struck by the irony of the situation, one which was very much of my new dislike of junk food. For the first time in my life, I actually enjoyed exercising, but it only came once I no longer even needed to exercise.

The entire time we worked out, I was aware of Raines and his close presence. I was drawn to him. I was attracted to him. And the fact that I was still turned on only made this all the more awkward.

Raines was obviously attracted to me too. I saw him staring at my ass, at my tits, and at my legs. My robe did nothing to hide any of them. Of course, the most telling thing was the bulge in his pants that he kept trying to hide.

I knew what I was feeling, what my body seemed to crave, but I wasn’t sure where it all came from. How much of this came from Mom’s body and hormones, and how much came from them being enhanced? Mom did have a healthy sex life, but when you added other things into the mix as well…

“The Aphrodite Formula,” I muttered to myself, quietly naming the third process that Mom had gone through.

I was on a bench, lifting a bar that held an unreasonable amount of weight and managing far easier than I had any right to do. Raines was impressed by how much I was lifting, even though he was trying hard not to show it. He even seemed worried about his ability to spot me.

While I did this, my thoughts kept turning ‘dirty’. It was just a quick thought…a brief fantasy of taking advantage of this position on the bench. My nipples poked through my robe so hard that I was sure that Raines couldn’t miss them, and that was nothing compared to what I was probably leaving on the bench. Each time, I had to force my thoughts away from that and back into what I was doing. I couldn’t afford to get distracted while I was lifting this much weight.

My attraction to Raines might have been inherited, but I had no doubt that the intensity of these feelings came from an enhancement. The Aphrodite Formula to be specific.

Dr. Amanti’s notes said that the Aphrodite Formula had been created during the cold war for espionage rather than active fighting. Specifically, it had been created to make the ideal ‘honey trap,’ though the notes also indicated that the man who designed this particular enhancement had also intended to use it on his own wife.

I was pretty sure that I owed a great deal of my new curves and sex appeal to the Aphrodite Formula, along with my libido. After all, what good was a honey trap who wasn’t willing to use what she had?

“Why did my aura have to use that particular enhancement?” I muttered, trying to keep my focus on the bar.

Unfortunately, I didn’t seem to have any control at all over how my aura chose to improve me. Maybe, like with the Aphrodite Formula itself, it was to encourage me to actually use what I had.

Once I finally finished, I realized that I’d spent over two hours lifting weights. I was stunned at how long I’d been doing that and at how good it felt. I was definitely going to have to do that again.

“So, that was why Grandpa Jack used to work out so much,” I thought aloud, earning a chuckle from Raines.

“Well, I need to go do my rounds,” Raines told me. “If you need spotting again, I’d be happy to help.”

Once Raines left, I looked over the gym, looking forward to coming back and really pushing myself. In fact, once my enhancement was complete, I wanted to really see what my limits actually were. I was still thinking about that when I stepped out of the gym and walked almost right into Geo.

“Sorry,” Geo immediately exclaimed. Then he stopped and stared at me, his eyes going wide. “Damn. You are really starting to get that whole muscle mommy vibe.”

“Really?” I asked flatly as I instinctively stood there with my hands on my hips, glaring at him the same way my mom sometimes did when annoyed.

“And dommy mommy vibes,” Geo added as he stepped back. “Definitely dommy mommy vibes.”

I continued to glare at Geo for a couple more seconds, about to call him out for a ‘Rule One’ violation. But then, I realized that I wasn’t really offended. If anything, I actually felt kind of amused by the descriptions. Maybe even a tiny bit pleased.

Then I finally straightened up, made a show of adjusting my robe, and said, “Carry on,” before I turned and walked away. I could feel Geo staring at my ass as I left.

----------

I sat on a stool in the infirmary, wearing nothing but a robe and a towel that was wrapped around my hair, which was still soaked in nutrient bath slime. My legs were crossed in a feminine manner while I patiently watched Dr. Amanti examine the sensor logs and the results of the latest blood test.

It was well past dinner, though I’d missed the meal entirely since I’d been asleep in the nutrient bath. But in spite of that, I wasn’t the least bit hungry. The bath had taken care of all my current nutritional needs.

“This confirms it,” Dr. Amanti announced when she finally looked up from the results. “You’ve completed your enhancement, and you now seem to have a single pseudo strain bonded to all of your cells.”

“YES,” Mom exclaimed from the side, where she stared at me with a gleeful and almost crazed expression. “I look amazing.”

“I feel amazing,” I responded flatly, not liking the way that Mom was staring at me.

All of the aches and pains were now gone, without a sign than they’d ever been there in the first place. I felt…amazing. That was the best way I could describe it. Every inch of my body felt vibrant and full of energy.

“I don’t know all the details of how you’ve been enhanced yet,” Dr. Amanti continued, seeming to ignore Mom. “We’ll need a lot more testing for that, but considering all the source materials available…”

“I understand completely,” I told her with a thoughtful nod. “I know what I’ve felt and experienced directly, but it would be nice to have a better picture.”

With that, I looked down at myself, though breasts blocked most of my view of what was below. Still, I could shift my muscles and feel my body, and I already had a sense of how my body had finished changing while I was in the nutrient bath this time.

From what I could tell, these changes had been minor, just the final touchups on the work that had already been done. I suspected that I might have gained one more inch of height, another cup size or two, and maybe a slight increased in my muscle mass and definition. I was confident that there wasn’t anything more drastic than that.

As I sat there, I suddenly wondered just how much stronger I was than when I’d been in the gym this morning. I was pretty sure that my strength had increased a little bit, and I was eager to actually test it out. I wanted to test all of my new limits, not just the physical ones.

From the original seven strains, there were a number of enhancements that I might have received which weren’t quite as visible or obvious. I had strong suspicions about a couple of them, but I would still need to confirm.

“The Halstrom Rejuvenation Elixir,” I slowly said, holding up a single finger as I named the very first enhancement that Mom had gone through. “The Longevity Formula, Version three.” I held up a second finger.

Mom’s second enhancement, the Longevity Formula, was very similar to her first, but focused more on slowing aging and increasing lifespan. It had been created by a rival company from the first, though like the first, it was a vanity enhancement that was intended for the rich and influential.

“The Aphrodite Formula,” I said, holding up a third finger and smiling faintly as I did so. That one stood out from all the others. A fourth finger went up. “Professor Pendragon’s Perfection Potion.”

It was hard to keep a straight face as I named the fourth enhancement. Professor Pendragon, the mad scientist who’d developed it, was a well-known eccentric and showman. He was known for making infomercials to advertise and sell his inventions, though he always set such high prices that only the very wealthy would be able to afford them.

This particular enhancement was considered to be ‘combat grade’, which was just below ‘weapons grade’. The process itself was dangerous compared to the previous ones, but it not only enhanced overall health and fitness, it also improved brain function. It improved memory and intelligence.

I smiled faintly as I considered that particular enhancement, sure that I’d developed at least some of the benefits. I could clearly remember every detail of Dr. Amanti’s notes, and I would probably even be able to recite them word for word if someone asked.

Of course, those very notes also indicated that this process had a side-effect. People who were enhanced by it developed a need for ‘mental stimulation’. They wanted to learn new things and to mentally challenge themselves. This seemed to be the mental equivalent of my new interest in exercise, and it made sense. If you had the ability, you usually wanted to use it.

Before I could continue to list the enhancements, Mom exclaimed, “Yes, yes, I know.” She gave me an impatient look and added, “I know which enhancements I used.”

I nodded at that, though I was a little skeptical. Dr. Gutierez hadn’t been the type to make sure that Mom was fully informed about the enhancements, especially not about the risks and dangers. No, he was more likely to just take her money and do what she asked, without making sure that she was fully informed first.

Mom started staring at me again with that hungry and almost manic expression that looked creepy on my old face. I imagined that she was trying to determine which parts of my new body had come from which of the enhancement processes. That was almost pointless though because there was a LOT of overlap between the different processes.

“I can’t wait to get my body back,” Mom announced gleefully. “When Doctor Hansel comes back…”

“You can’t trust him,” Dr. Amanti snapped at Mom. “He’s even worse than Gutierez. His enhancement makes sure of that.”

“Doctor Monocle is enhanced?” I asked in surprise and a little skepticism.

“He doesn’t look enhanced,” Mom added, echoing my own thoughts.

“The Prodigy Serum,” Dr. Amanti explained a few seconds later. “It’s one of the earlier variations…one focused entirely on increasing intelligence.” She paused at that to shake her head. “It’s also extremely dangerous. There is a high chance of stroke or aneurism during the enhancement, and if you survive that, you have to deal with the side effects.”

“Side effects?” I asked.

Dr. Amanti nodded. “Changing the brain chemistry and makeup that drastically is bound to have some. In the case of the Prodigy Serum, they tend to include mania, paranoia, obsession, and a variety of other mental issues. They’re inherently unstable, which is why they’re all called MAD scientists.”

“Good thing you never tried THAT one,” I told Mom with a glare. Then I asked Dr. Amanti, “What about Pendragon’s version?”

I was thinking about the mental aspect of that one and what it might mean for me. Her notes hadn’t said anything about that kind of side effect.

“The mental changes from that one are less extreme,” Dr. Amanti assured me, “and much more stable.”

“Good,” I responded, relaxing a little.

“Though I suspect,” Dr. Amanti continued thoughtfully, “that your aura ability might actually remove the downsides of the Prodigy Serum.”

I frowned at that. “I have absolutely no intention of risking it anyway. Besides…” I smiled wryly. “Seven enhancement strains are more than enough.”

“I asked around about Doctor Monocle,” Raines offered from beside the door where he’d been standing. He’d been so quiet that I’d barely noticed him, though now that I had, my body began to respond.

“Oh?” I asked in encouragement, keeping my expression under control so that I didn’t show my real interest.

“Apparently,” Raines said, “he’s considered some kind of leading expert on aura abilities. He started off with experiments that sometimes caused people to develop them, then once he figured it out, he started doing it for hire. From what I heard, that’s how he stayed out of prison. He started giving aura abilities for the government.”

“Of course,” Dr. Amanti said with an exasperated sigh. “That makes sense.”

“Soul strain,” I added thoughtfully. “He said that soul strain can activate dormant aura abilities and strengthen existing ones.” I looked over at Mom. “That’s how he does it. He intentionally causes soul strain in people.”

“That also explains the proliferation in aura abilities over the last two decades,” Dr. Amanti mused.

“The whole body switching thing seems to be pretty new,” Raines continued. “Only in the last few years. But I did hear about a couple people who were switched back when he was done with them.”

“This is NOT someone you want experimenting on you,” Dr. Amanti reminded Mom.

Mom, however, was staring at me once again. “Once Doctor Hansel gives me back my body, I’ll finally be enhanced.” The she giggled, which sounded strange in my body. “I’ll be SUPER enhanced, and I won’t have to worry about my aura ability interfering.”

“It might interfere with the frankenstrain,” Dr. Amanti corrected thoughtfully. “But I have no idea what that would do.”

“And what about me?” I asked flatly.

“You go back to your own body,” she answered dismissively.

I scowled at that, not liking her casual assumptions or the complete lack of concern for my opinions. I also didn’t like the idea of going back to my own body, which was a bit of a surprise to me. Or at least, I didn’t like the idea of going back to my boring old unenhanced body after having experienced this one.

From what I understood of my aura ability, it worked to help me improve. It helped me to achieve my potential, whatever that potential was. Multiple enhancement strains had drastically increased the resources and potential it had to work with in my current body, but I wouldn’t have any of that once I returned to my old one. Without those, I suspected that my aura might give me a couple inches of height and make it so that I built muscle without much effort, but not much more.

“It sounds like I’d get the consolation prize,” I said a little bitterly. Mom didn’t seem to notice though Dr. Amanti gave me a curious look.

With that, I stood up to stretch my body, then gave Mom a good look. I was several inches taller than she was, and that was while I was barefoot and she was wearing shoes. I hadn’t actually measured my height yet, but I estimated that I was probably around six-foot-three. I was huge. A virtual amazon. I would hate to give this up.

“I’m going to get cleaned up,” I announced, then I started for the door. I took one look at Raines, who was still standing there, added a little extra sway to my step, and then left the infirmary.

As soon as I reached the bedroom, began what was starting to become a routine. I locked the bedroom door behind me, threw my robe into the hamper, and then climbed into the shower. I let out a sigh of relief as the hot water hit me, washing away the rest of the annoying and disgusting slime. Only once I was clean did I turn my attention to the other thing that was starting to become part of my routine, the most enjoyable part.

I was just starting to feel myself up when I paused with a new idea. Since it looked like my time in this body would eventually end, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and enjoy it as much as possible. That meant there were other things I could be doing than simply playing with myself in the shower.

I climbed out of the shower and grabbed a towel, not enough to really dry myself off, but enough to keep water from trailing all over the floor. Then I went back to the bedroom and poured myself a glass of that high-end scotch. I’d already discovered where Mom kept her special chocolates, and I helped myself to a few of those too.

“Delicious,” I said with a purr. I might have lost my taste for most junk food, but this was proof that I still liked some sweets.

A minute later, I had water running in the bath tub as it filled up with hot and soapy water. The scented bath bubble bath foamed up, giving a pleasant floral scent while hiding the actual water from view. Then, once the tub was full, I sank down into it and took a sip of my scotch.

“Perfect,” I mused.

I leaned back in the tub with my eyes closed, savoring the feel of the hot water, the great scotch, and the delicious chocolates. Eventually though, I ran out of chocolates, my glass went empty, and the water began to cool. It was only then that I climbed back out, poured myself another glass of scotch, and began to dry myself off seriously.

A short time later, I sauntered over to the bed, set the once again empty glass on the nightstand, and reached into the drawer that contained all of Mom’s toys. This was going to be a very enjoyable night.

----------

“Here we are,” Geo announced from the driver’s seat of the car.

Geo was currently wearing a chauffeur’s hat, in spite of the fact that he wasn’t wearing a chauffeur uniform and Mom had never asked him to do so. As far as I could tell, Geo liked to wear that hat while driving simply for his own amusement.

Mom and I were in the back seat of the car, which was how she usually preferred to travel. Of course, Mom had her license and would drive when Geo wasn’t available, but she didn’t like doing it. She hated dealing with other drivers.

I started to open the door to get out, but Geo exclaimed, “Let me.” He jumped out and hurried to my door, then opened it for me. “Ma’am.” He flashed me his usual grin.

“Smartass,” I responded with a look of amusement, especially when had to open her own door, and then glared at us both.

I was currently wearing some ill-fitting clothes that Geo had picked up earlier this morning. They were men’s clothes and not meant for a body like mine, but they let me leave the house without as much embracement. Besides, I wouldn’t need these clothes for too long.

This was my first time going out in public since the body exchange, and the experience was somewhat strange. People were staring at me, and in spite of the less-than-flattering clothes, the attention seemed very positive. I wasn’t surprised through because I knew just how incredible I looked.

I probably should have felt self-conscious or awkward, but I didn’t. Instead, I felt…confident. I was enjoying the looks and attention.

“It’s this way, MOM,” Mom told me, emphasizing the name to remind me that we would have to pretend to be each other for awhile.

“Of course, DAVID,” I responded in amusement.

“I’ll just stay here with the car,” Geo offered, looking just as amused as I felt.

We were standing in front of a clothing store, one where Mom frequently went to get things custom made for her. And considering my new size and build, we both suspected that I wouldn’t be wearing much from off the rack.

Once we went inside, an attractive saleswoman immediately came over to greet us, a cheerful if somewhat fake smile on her face. Then she came to a stop and looked me over, clearly impressed but barely showing any sign of it.

“Ms. Cole?” the saleswoman asked. “I was told that you had recently been enhanced.”

“Yes,” I answered pleasantly. “Unfortunately, none of my clothes fit me anymore and I’m going to need some help measuring my new sizes.”

“Of course,” the saleswoman answered. “We can get you measured and fitted right away.”

As the saleswoman led us to the back, Mom told me, “Wow. Brenda sure seems professional.”

I nodded at Mom’s way of telling me the saleswoman’s name without seeming too suspicious. “Yes, she does,” I agreed.

Brenda led us to a back room where was a round platform in the middle of the room with several pillars raised up around the sides. I gave it a curious look, reminded of some of the machines that they use in airports to scan the passengers before boarding.

“I’ve heard of these, Mom,” Mom told me. “They use X Rays to scan your whole body and take perfect measurements.”

“Not quite X Rays,” Brenda gently corrected Mom. “But close enough.”

I nodded again at the information, assuming that she was trying to tell me that I shouldn’t act surprised about the device since it was something that she’d already have experience with. Since I had been warned, I kept my expression calm, acting as though there was nothing unusual about the situation.

Just a minute later, I got to see the measuring device in action, right from the middle of the platform. I didn’t need to take off any of my clothes, not even the sneakers that I was currently wearing. All that I had to do was stand there and let the machine scan me. It hummed, the pillars glowed, and then it was over. At least, I thought it was.

“Okay,” Brenda announced. Now we need to do it again with a different position. She stood there with her arms stretched out like a T, then spread her legs a bit wide. “Like this. This will give a better measurement for when you move.”

Brenda scanned me in two more positions after this before, then announced that she was finished with the measurements. I was impressed that the entire process had taken less than five minutes. When Mom said that she wanted me to come in and get measured for new clothes, I expected a long process involving tape measures.

“All of your new measurements have been added to your file,” Brenda told me with a smile as she looked down at her computer tablet, “and we’ll e-mail you a copy.”

“That works,” I told her with a nod.

“Now then,” Brenda said, still looking at the tablet. “These measurements will be applied to the clothing order you sent in online, and we’ll begin work on those items immediately. They will be delivered to your home address once complete.”

“Very good,” I said, curious about exactly what clothes Mom ordered. I expected that I’d find out soon enough.

Mom and I left the clothing store less than half an hour after we’d entered, and we didn’t bring a single extra item with us. I smiled faintly at that, wishing that all shopping trips could be so easy.

“Now that we’ve got that out of the way,” Mom said, standing back and giving me a thoughtful look.

I just stood there, looking down at her in amusement. Thanks to the enhancement, this body had grown a full seven inches, making me five inches taller than her current body. And since we were both wearing sneakers, those five inches were quite noticeable.

“You know,” I commented with a faint smirk as I gestured back at the building we’d just come from. “I’m going to need some shoes to go with those new clothes. I wonder how tall I’d look with high heels.”

Mom’s eyes lit up at that and I could see her imagining what it would be like to have this body, and to wear those heels. She was practically drooling in anticipation which I found both amusing and annoying.

“Shoes were part of the order,” Mom finally said. “They measured your…MY feet along with everything else.”

“Of course,” I responded with a wry smile.

“And as I was saying,” Mom continued, “Now that this is out of the way, we have a few more stops to make.”

The next stop was a hair salon. Specifically, it was Mom’s usual hair salon and she’d already made an appointment.

When we stepped into the salon, the stylist stared at me for a moment in surprise and confusion until a look of recognition suddenly passed over his face. “Ms. Cole? You look…different.”

“I had some work done,” I joked.

“I can see,” he agreed pleasantly. “It really suits you, but I can see it did a real job on your hair. We can fix that right up.”

“Make sure to dye it my…her usual blonde,” Mom insisted.

“And who is this?” the stylist asked as he looked at Mom.

“My son,” I answered, feeling amused to say that. “He decided to spend some time with his mother today.”

“A very good son,” the stylist responded.

“You can wait here for me,” I told Mom, indicating the waiting area by the door. “This is mother businesses.” Mom’s jaw dropped open at that, but I was already turning to head towards the back with the stylist. And then, knowing that she could still hear me, I added, “I think I’d like to keep the current color. It’s striking.”

Once I was seated, I stared into the mirror, taking note of the silvery eyes that stared back at me. They were definitely more notable the grey eyes that Mom sometimes hid behind blue contacts. My hair was long and flowing, about a foot longer than it had been before my enhancement. And of course, it had a silvery-white color

The stylist examined my hair, making ‘ooh’ and ‘ah’ sounds. Then he finally said, “I absolutely love your new hair. It’s so soft and silky. So lustrous and vibrant.” Then he puffed up and announced, “It will be an absolute honor to work on this.”

“Enough of an honor to work for free?” I teased him.

“Not THAT much of an honor,” he responded with a laugh of his own.

Mom had ideas of how I should have my hair done, but I had ideas of my own and possession was nine-tenths of the law. She could change things once she had this body back, but for now, it was still mine and I was going to do what I wanted.

Getting my hair done as a woman was quite different from getting it done as a guy, and just because there was so much more of it. The entire experience was different from start to end, largely because of the pampering attention I received the entire time. I found that I liked that almost as much as the end results.

Eventually, I emerged from the back to show Mom my new hair style. My hair was still long, but it was trimmed and styled to look much nicer. In fact, the stylist had described it as ‘glamorous with strong notes of elegance’, though I didn’t quite understand what he meant by that. What I did know was that I liked it, and from the look on Mom’s face, so did she.

“It looks good on you…on me,” Mom grudgingly admitted, still annoyed that I’d overridden opinions on the matter. “But I wanted my hair to be blonde again.”

I just ignored that, and instead, I asked, “So, where to next?”

Our next stop turned out to be another salon, though a different kind of one. Before I knew it, I was leaning back in a comfortable chair while two women worked on my nails, giving me both a manicure and pedicure at the same time. The experience was just as strange as at the hair salon, but also oddly pleasant.

Then, once my nails were finished, a makeup artist came over. I was surprised by this since I hadn’t been expecting it. When I glanced towards the waiting area where my mom was, I noticed that she looked rather smug. Apparently, this was something that she’d only now arranged, probably to get back at me for the hair.

“You have such amazing skin,” the makeup artist told me, clearly impressed. “You don’t even need any foundation.”

“Thank you,” I responded, not sure what else to say.

“I’ve only worked on two other enhanced,” she told me. “And I am so jealous of what that does for you.”

“I’m still getting used to it,” I admitted, gesturing at my clothes. “I only finished my enhancement yesterday, and I don’t have anything that fits anymore. I’m afraid that your services will be wasted on my current outfit.”

“Well done cosmetics are NEVER wasted,” the woman assured me.

The makeup artist went to work while I watched in the mirror, taking mental notes of everything she did. She talked as she worked, saying that I didn’t need much and that ‘light and subtle’ would work best.

When the makeup artist was finished, I looked over the results in the mirror. The makeup really was light and subtle, making it hard to tell if I was really wearing any or not, though I could definitely see the results. She’d emphasized the look of elegance and sophistication, which made my current clothes seem even more out of place.

“Thank you,” I told the makeup artist. “You do great work.”

“Thank you,” she responded happily.

I went to rejoin my mom, who gave me an appreciative look while still looking pleased with herself. “You…I look incredible,” she said, the manic gleam flashing in her eyes. I knew that she was just counting the minutes until Doctor Monocle would be able to switch us back. “How did you enjoy the experience?”

“It was interesting,” I answered, holding out one of my hands so I could admire my nails. Mom’s previous manicure had been ruined during the enhancement process, a side effect from all the growth. “And I really like the results.”

As we left the salon, I suggested, “Why don’t we go somewhere for lunch?” Then I teased her, “I can have a nice glass of wine with the meal.”

A faint look of distaste passed over her face. “I’ve lost my taste for wine,” she grudgingly reminded me.

“More for me,” I responded cheerfully, before rubbing the salt in a little more. “I’m sure that you’ll develop a taste for it when you’re older.” Then, almost as an afterthought, I added, “But, you’re still underage, so you’ll have to make do with soda anyway.”

----------

I walked down the sidewalk on the way back to the car, my heels tapping with each step and announcing my presence. People kept turning to stare at me with envy or interest as I passed by while others simply cleared out of my way.

At that moment, I felt confident, powerful, and oh so sexy. It was hard not to feel sexy when you were always turned on, at least a little bit. Sure, I was learning to push it to the back of my mind and ignore it, but it was still there in the background.

Mom followed behind me, looking a bit petulant. He’d been like that since lunch, pouting over the fact that I was getting all the attention he wanted. There was more to it than that, of course.

During lunch, I caught Mom ogling the busty waitress and squirming as he tried to deal with his erection. The realization of what was going on had amused me, especially since I knew exactly how that felt. I figured, if he was boy enough to ogle women and hide an embarrassing boner, then he was boy enough for me to consider him one.

After lunch, we’d gone shopping, and I’d taken delight in dragging Mom into a few stores, then making him wait while I looked at clothes and tried things on. I considered this to be a bit of petty revenge for the times that he’d done that to me.

One of the places we found was a store that actually had clothes for women of my size. They weren’t a perfect fit, but they were much better than what I was currently wearing. They even had a pair of high heels that fit me, and which made me tower over Mom even more.

Now, I was dressed like a woman and heading back to the car with several bags full of clothes that I’d bought. Mom was carrying most of the bags, again, a bit of petty retaliation for the times that he’d dragged me along on his shopping trips just so that he could use me as a pack mule.

We were nearly back to the car when I heard a loud ‘CRASH’. I snapped around, expecting to see a car crash. However, what I saw instead had me blink. There was a woman, flying over the street while a group of costumed people chased after her.

“Superheroes,” I said in a flat tone.

From what I understood, superheroes tended to come in three categories. There were the government superheroes, ones who were usually military, law enforcement, or ‘alphabet agency’, who had been enhanced by and worked for various government agencies.

The second type were the corporate superheroes, ones who worked for some company or other, usually for PR purposes. These ‘heroes’ were all about doing public appearances, getting their heroics caught on camera, and generally being spokesmen for their companies.

And then there was the third type, the freelancers. These were the heroes who didn’t really fit into the first two categories. They were the ones who’d left the government or their sponsors to go out on their own, people who’d been able to get an enhancement without becoming tied to a sponsor, or heroes who had never been enhanced in the first place, such as aura ability heroes.

Grandpa Jack had started off as one of the government type superheroes, having been a government agent well before he ever put on a costume. Eventually though, he’d gone freelancer.

The heroes I saw now were obviously the corporate types. Their costumes included the usual corporate branding or colors that could be expected of that type. They were also quite familiar to me since they had company backed PR.

There were three superheroes and a flying woman, who wore a costume of her own. I didn’t know who she was, but considering who was chasing after her, I assumed her to be a supervillain…or someone their sponsor had hired to play the role of one for the publicity.

The flying woman was slender, with brunette hair and a purple costume. She didn’t look nearly as fit and athletic as the heroes, which meant that she probably wasn’t enhanced. Not very long ago, I would have assumed that she was flying because of some mad scientist invention that was hidden in her costume, but now I knew better. Now, I knew that she had to have an aura ability.

One of the heroes, a pink-haired girl named Sugar Rush, suddenly ran forward in a sudden burst of speed. She caught up to the flying woman and tackled her, knocking her to the ground.

“I don’t think so,” the flying woman exclaimed.

Suddenly, Sugar Rush floated up of the ground, only about a foot. She scrambled to run but her feet weren’t touching the ground, leaving her helpless to do anything. But then, the strange effect spread. When the other heroes caught up, they began to float up into the air as well.

The formerly flying woman was now standing on the ground, brushing herself off. She looked around with a fierce expression, blood dripping down her nose. And then, the effect spread out even further.

People who were standing nearby began to float as well, and then ones who were even further away began to do the same. Then, it hit me and I felt the ground move away from me.

“Let me down,” I exclaimed, starting to get worried.

I glanced down at Mom, only to be surprised by the fact that he was still standing there. Everyone else around us was now floating a foot or so off the ground, but his feet remained planted the way they should have been. However, he had a faint shimmering glow around his skin, something that nobody else had.

“HEY YOU,” Mom yelled at the supervillain. “STOP THAT RIGHT THIS INSTANT!”

The formerly flying woman stared at Mom in surprised, then she glared with a look of concentration. A moment later, she became even more surprised.

“Why can’t I lift you?” the flying woman demanded.

“I have no idea,” Mom said as he began marching towards the woman.

The supervillain glared at Mom again, apparently trying to lift him even harder. When nothing happened, the woman began to curse.

“That’s it,” the villainess exclaimed. “I am so done with this…”

And with that, everyone who’d been floating up until that point suddenly dropped back down to the ground. I reacted fast enough to catch myself, but a lot of the people around me failed to do that so landed on their asses.

The flying woman spared Mom one more glare, then she floated back up into the air and started to fly off. The heroes began chasing after her again, but this whole thing gave her a brief head start.

“What in the world was THAT about?” Mom demanded. He was no longer glowing, having stopped when everyone fell back to the ground.

“I have no idea,” I told him honestly. “But I think I’ve had enough shopping for the day.”

Mom nodded, looked in the direction that the flying woman and heroes had all run off in, then said, “I couldn’t agree more.”

----------

I stared at Geo across the air hockey table that separated us. He was staring at me with a serious look, or at least, as serious as I ever really saw from him.

“You’re going down, THIS time,” Geo announced before he shot the puck at me.

I casually blocked the puck and sent it flying back at him. It bounced back and forth, picking up speed with each round until it was almost blindingly fast. Still, it almost looked like it was moving in slow motion to me, and I easily intercepted the puck and sent it back, right into Geo’s goal.

“Looks like I win again,” I said with a faint smirk.

Geo and I had started off playing video games, but I’d kicked his ass in one game after another. The controller still felt odd in my hand, but my hand-eye coordination and reflexes had improved to the point where this didn’t matter. If anything, the controller couldn’t keep up with how quickly I could react. Geo eventually gave up on playing me, so we’d switched to air hockey to similar results.

Geo’s competitive side had definitely come out to play, though that wasn’t doing much good for him. Of course, there was also a lot of sexual tension present as well. He was attracted to me. Extremely attracted to me. And I was definitely attracted to him as well now, though neither of us acknowledged the situation. Instead, we both tried to pretend that this tension didn’t even exist.

There was also one other factor in play, one that I was slowly becoming certain of, especially after some of the reactions I’d received today while out shopping. The way that people reacted to me, how they treated me… Well, I was becoming sure of it now.

One of the effects of the Aphrodite Formula was to increase pheromone production. Any woman who took that particular enhancement had pheromones that would made people even more attracted to her, but it also made them a little more…compliant. From what I understood, this wasn’t full mind control, just a subtle influence that wasn’t much different from the influence that a beautiful woman could already have over a man.

I wasn’t sure that I’d developed these pheromones, though I strongly suspected that I had. This was one enhancement that might be awkward to possess, especially if other people knew about it. That was why I’d been silent about the very possibility, and why I tried not to even think about it.

“It must be nice being enhanced,” Geo finally said.

“It is,” I agreed pleasantly, trying not to rub it in too much.

“Why is it so hard to get the stuff anyway?” Geo asked me. “I mean, why aren’t they mass producing the processes so that everyone could get it?”

“Several reasons,” I answered.

Because of Grandpa Jack and Mom’s obsession, I’ve always been a little more informed about enhancement processes than the average person, though I’ve only recently begun to discover how little I really knew. Ever since I’d begun changing, I’ve done a bit of research, and I’ve asked Dr. Amanti a lot of questions, including this very question.

“The enhancement strain is very difficult to make,” I explained. “It can’t be mass produced. In fact, the only reason there are so many variations and so many people who have it…is because mad scientists keep making new versions.”

Geo looked a little skeptical about it. “But, didn’t you say it was like, some kind of virus? It should be pretty easy to infect people with it.”

“It doesn’t work that way,” I assured him. “You need to have a pretty high concentration of the stuff in your body before it will begin working. That’s why several people can’t just share a vial of the serum. None of them would get enough for it to work on them. And then, once it does kick in, it binds to your body and can’t infect anyone else. You could get a blood transfusion from Major Awesome, and it still wouldn’t enhance you.”

“That’s too bad,” Geo told me, looking just a little disappointed.

I nodded at that. “Doctor Amanti told me that one mad scientist tried making a version that was contagious…so that other people could catch it and get enhanced.”

Geo brightened up at that. “Really?”

I nodded again. “You remember that zombie outbreak they had in Detroit a couple years ago?”

His eyes widened. “No…”

“Yeah,” I responded. “Apparently, it’s extremely illegal to make contagious enhancements now, and people who try tend to get bullets through the head.”

“Oh shit,” Geo gasped. “Yeah, I can see why.”

We went back to playing after this, with Geo trying to catch me by surprise with a quick puck shot. I chuckled at his attempt and immediately sent the puck at an even faster speed.

After I beat Geo again, he mused, “That whole superhero thing today was wild.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I’ve seen them before on TV and in publicity appearances. This is the first time I ever saw any involved in something real.” And then, because I still wasn’t sure that it hadn’t been staged for some photo op, I added, “If it was real.”

“The wild part was how…your mom just stood there while everyone else was floating,” Geo told me. “I wonder why that villain didn’t go after him.”

I nodded at that, remembering how surprised the flying woman had been when she’d tried using her powers on Mom. “I think she did. It just didn’t work.”

Geo blinked. “Why not?”

“Mom’s aura ability,” I answered thoughtfully. “I’ve been thinking about it since then. Doctor Monocle said that Mom’s ability protected him from some things…and that the whole soul strain thing would probably make it even stronger.”

Geo started to say something else, but Mom stepped into the room and asked, “What are you two up to?”

“Not much,” I answered, “I was just telling Geo about how your aura ability protected you earlier.”

I paused to look him over, noticing that he had a soda in hand, the kind that he used to mock me for drinking. I smiled faintly in amusement, knowing that after we swapped back, I was going to use this against him as much as possible. Then I scowled, not feeling nearly as thrilled by that idea as I would have thought.

“That was surprising,” Mom told me with a sigh. “I wasn’t even trying to do anything. It just happened. Or didn’t happen.”

“Do you have something for me to do, Ms. C?” Geo asked Mom, looking just a little awkward to be addressing my body that way.

“Not right now, Geoffrey,” Mom told him. “You’re good to go home for the day.”

“Before you go,” I told Geo with a grin. Then I handed the air hockey paddle to Mom. “Why don’t you play a few games. I’m sure you’ve inherited my muscle memory for it.”

Mom looked a little skeptical, but Geo seemed to like the idea. “Awesome idea.” He pointed at Mom and dramatically announced, “I challenge you to a match.”

Mom rolled his eyes but accepted, apparently curious to see if he really had inherited my muscle memories. I stood back and watched while they played their first match, with Mom winning. It was a much closer match than when Geo and I played, and I was pretty sure that he was letting Mom win to lure her into playing more.

“And you should probably try a couple of the video games too,” I suggested, gesturing to the TV and gaming console that were set up in the corner. “I know I’ve developed some good muscle memories for that, and it would be a shame for those to get rusty.”

I waited until halfway through their rematch, then I quietly left the room, a smile of amusement on my lips. That had been entertaining and I wondered if I could gently nudge Mom into behaving even more like the old me. Considering everything that I’d been getting up to, that would only be fair.

----------

I leaned back in my chair with my legs crossed in a feminine manner and with a glass of wine held in my hand. A book was open in my lap while my laptop was on the table beside me, playing a tutorial video.

I took a sip of wine and then flipped the page. I set the glass down beside me and then flipped the page again. My eyes raced over the words, taking them in at a far faster pace than what I used to be able to do, and I could remember them far better as well.

While I devoured the book, I had absolutely no problem with paying attention to the video and remembering everything it said as well. In fact, I suspected that I could have played a second video and still be able to manage with ease.

Four of the enhancement processes that Mom had undergone included improvements to the brain, and I was really noticing the benefits. Sure, none of them really focused on intelligence, but there was no doubt that I was smarter than before.

The Longevity Formula provided relatively minor improvements, mostly in the form of protection from Alzheimer’s, dementia, and mental decline. Dr. Amanti’s notes indicated that improved memory was a side-effect of this.

Professor Pendragon’s Perfection Potion gave a much more notable improvement to memory and intelligence, but it wasn’t anywhere near as potent as what the Prodigy Formula produced. The same was true of the Omega Serum, the fifth enhancement that Mom had undergone.

The Omega Serum was one of the oldest enhancement processes, and it happened to be the same one that Grandpa Jack had undergone. It was similar to Professor Pendragon’s Perfection Potion, except stronger and riskier to use. That one focused on general improvements across the body, increasing strength, stamina, and agility, while also providing benefits to the brain.

Grandpa Jack had always been smart, but after undergoing his enhancement, he’d become a bit of a genius. He hadn’t been near mad scientist levels, but he’d become smart enough to build a fortune after having stolen the ‘seed money’ from some ‘unsavory’ individuals. That was pretty impressive for someone who’d been a coal miner before joining the army.

Over the last couple days, it had become obvious that I really had gained a need for mental stimulation. I was a good bit smarter than before, and I found myself a lot more curious, more interested in thinking things through, and in learning new things. It was a mental itch, similar to the desire I had to use my physical body and burn off excess energy.

When I finished the book, the second one I’d read today, I set it aside. I waited for the video to finish, then I finished the last of my wine and got up. A few minutes later, I cleaned up after myself and started back towards my bedroom.

“Let’s see,” I mused as I looked myself over in the mirror.

The custom-made clothes that I’d been measured for a couple days ago had begun arriving this morning, and I had to admit that they looked great. They fit me like a glove, which made them much nicer and a lot more comfortable than the clothes I already had.

“Very nice,” I said, appreciating how my shirt really showed off my cleavage while still being tasteful and elegant.

After taking a minute to simply admire my reflection, I sat down at the makeup table and went to work. I’d paid close attention to the makeup artist the other day, and I’d seen how Mom applied makeup. Now, I just finished watching a few tutorial videos on makeup to help round out my education.

“Time to give this another shot,” I said as I began picking up some brushes.

I tried to mimic what the makeup artist had done, applying lipstick, eye shadow, and a few other touches. I had a little better idea of what I was doing than I had the last time I’d tried this, and my inherited muscle memories finally came into play as the lipstick and brushes almost felt familiar in my hands.

Once I was finished, I was happy with the results. I carefully examined my reflection, seeing a sexy and elegant woman staring back.

“Perfect,” I said with a bit of a purr in my voice.

I blew a kiss at my reflection, then I got up and left my room. I added a little extra sway to my step as I walked through the house, something which was much easier to do since I was wearing heels. The movements came almost naturally in this body.

It didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for, just as he was coming in from the garage. I watched Geo, taking a moment to admire his lean athletic body.

“David?” Geo asked in surprise when he saw me.

“Hello, Geoffrey,” I said with a faint smirk. “Did you finish polishing the car?”

“Sure,” he answered, only to pause and stare at me in surprise. “Ms. C? You two switched back?”

“Yes,” I lied.

The sexual tension in the air suddenly spiked along with my hormones. This body had appetites. It had needs. It needed physical stimulation. It needed mental stimulation. And of course, it needed sexual stimulation. This body deserved far better than to have its needs ignored.

Without another word, I moved closer to Geo and gave him a long passionate kiss. I was no longer ignoring my arousal or attraction to him, not in the least. He kissed back every bit as passionately.

“No,” I admitted, whispering into his ear. “But pretending makes this much easier.”

Geo pulled back a little, enough so that he could look me in the eyes with his eyes going wide in realization. Then he paused, licked his lips, and nodded.

“Okay…Ms. C,” he said.

“You can call me Marissa,” I told him. “But just for now.”

I grabbed hold of Geo and kissed him again, just as passionately as before. I was practically dripping down my leg and I could feel his boner pressed into me. That just made me even more excited so I picked him up and then pressed him up against the wall, where I pinned him with my breasts while still kissing him.

“Mommy,” Geo squeaked out in a daze.

“Or you can call me that,” I responded in a purr before silencing him with yet another kiss.

Then I reached down the front of Geo’s pants and felt the source of the bulge. It was…impressive, at least compared to my old one. That made me self-conscious, jealous, and even more excited all at the same time.

“Oh, Ms. C,” Geo gasped.

“Who?” I asked as I squeezed his cock.

“Uh, Marissa,” he corrected himself.

“Who?” I repeated, squeezing his cock again. I was enjoying this game.

“Um…Mommy?” he asked.

“Good boy,” I responded, giving his cock a gentle stroke while giving him another kiss.

After this, I decided that it was time to move this to somewhere a little more comfortable. With that, I picked Geo up and carried him across the house, kissing and stroking him almost the entire time. Once we reached my bedroom, I threw him down on the bed and began pulling off his pants.

“What about…David?” Geo asked a bit nervously.

“Out of the house with Raines,” I answered with a smirk. “It’s only us here.”

Geo gulped and nodded in understanding, even as he stared at me with a look of lust and awe. I moved closer again, making sure that he got another good whiff of my pheromones, even though they were completely unnecessary for getting his interest. However, they doubled as a mild stimulant, and he was going to need all the help he could get to keep up with me now.

“Now then,” I teased. “Be a good boy and show Mommy how much you want her.”

----------

I set the last weight onto the rack, then slowly looked around the gym to make sure that everything had been cleaned and put away. Once I was sure that everything was in place, I turned off the audiobook that I’d been listening to while exercising.

Raines had spotted me during my workouts over the last couple days, but he hadn’t been able to do it this morning. That was a bit disappointing since I enjoyed working so closely to him, but his absence did mean that I could scratch the mental itch along with the physical one.

My eyes went to the mirror that covered one wall, and I admired my reflection. I looked like a woman who spent plenty of time in the gym, even though I didn’t need to do anything to actually maintain it.

“Who would have thought that I’d enjoy exercising so much,” I mused aloud as I thought about the last two hours. I shook my head at that and chuckled. “Strange how things change.”

I could have burned off my energy and gotten my workout a lot quicker, but I enjoyed taking my time and exploring what my limits and abilities really were. I’d been exploring those quite a bit over the last few days, trying to determine exactly what my enhancement had done for me.

A few seconds later, I turned and left the gym, heading in the direction of my bedroom so I could shower and change. Admittedly, I was still pretty clean. Even after two hours of exercising, I’d barely even broken a sweat. However, even if I’d been perfectly clean, I still would have accepted any excuse for a nice hot shower.

I found Mom in the formal sitting room, sitting in a chair with a book on his lap and a soda on the table beside him. However, in spite of the book, his attention was firmly elsewhere.

Once of the cleaning ladies who came over every couple days was busy cleaning the room while Mom stared at her ass. Mom quickly looked away when I stepped into the room and went back to pretending to read the book, a book that happened to be perfectly placed to hide an erection.

I smiled faintly, though I kept it from being too obvious since I didn’t want Mom to realize that he’d already been found out. It was amusing to see that he’d succumbed to his new hormones just as much as I had. Then again, he still hadn’t had any opportunity to do anything about them yet, other than spending a little private time with his hand.

“Hey…Mom,” Mom greeted me, glancing at the cleaning woman again.

“David,” I responded, trying to keep a straight face.

We couldn’t really talk openly with the cleaning woman there, so I didn’t bother to really talk to him. I just gave him a nod of understanding, then continued on my way.

I was nearly to the bedroom when I looked out the window at our backyard pool and saw that Geo was out there cleaning it. I paused for a moment and watched him, smiling to myself as I remembered yesterday. My body almost immediately began to respond to my thoughts.

Geo seemed to think of me as being some kind of dommy mommy, muscle mommy, super MILF, and I was more than happy to play along with that. That had been fun and exciting, and I was looking forward to doing a lot more of that.

With that, I turned away from the mirror and continued to the bedroom, though now with a change of plan. I quickly cleaned myself up, though I didn’t take a full shower. That could come later. For now, I had something else in mind.

I emerged from the bedroom a short time later, now wearing a sexy bikini, a pair of stiletto heels, a few pieces of jewelry, and a touch of fresh makeup. I wrapped a towel around my waist to act as a skirt, then made my way towards the pool.

As soon as I stepped into the pool area, I immediately had Geo’s full attention. I pretended to ignore him as I undid the towel from around my waist, spread it over a deck chair, and then laid down in it. The entire time, I made sure to give him a great view of my cleavage and ass.

“Damn,” Geo gasped, practically drooling as he looked me over. “I mean, like, damn…”

I smiled faintly at the compliment, then stared at him with a raised eyebrow. He blinked at my expression, then took a few seconds trying to figure what I meant.

“Oh,” Geo exclaimed. “Rule One…”

“Rule One is being downgraded to Rule Two,” I told him with a smirk. “There’s a new Rule One.”

“A new Rule One?” Geo asked.

“Rule One,” I stated with a sexy purr in my voice. “What Mommy wants, Mommy gets.”

Geo gulped at that and I could see just how hard he was at the moment. “And just what does Mommy want?”

“A glass of wine,” I answered with a suggestive look. “For now.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Geo responded, immediately turning and hurrying away. He came back a couple minutes later and presented a glass of wine. “Here you go, ma’am.” Then he glanced around nervously before quietly adding, “Mommy.”

“Good boy,” I told him as I accepted the glass. I took a sip, then smiled. “If you continue being a good boy, then later, I might give you a reward.”

Geo grinned, but before he could say anything, someone else stepped out into the area. It was Mom, and without the book that he’d been pretending to read earlier. If he was coming out here now, then it probably meant that the cleaning ladies had finished for the day and left. I silently cursed the timing.

“I should get back to work,” Geo quickly excused himself.

Mom sat down in another deck chair, though he kept stealing glances at me. I could see the gleam of obsession as he stared at me, the hunger to possess this body again. The jealousy was practically rolling off him.

“Soon,” I overheard Mom mutter. “Soon.”

After about ten minutes, Mom got up and left. But just when I thought it was safe to resume my playing with Geo, he came back out to the pool again, now wearing a pair of swim trunks. Mom gave me a quick look, then leapt into the water.

I waited for Mom to swim back and forth across the pool before I called out, “Having fun?”

“Actually, yes,” Mom answered. He paused to look back at me. The hunger flashed in his eyes again, but only for a moment. “It feels different to swim like this. Just about everything feels different.”

“I understand completely,” I responded, raising the glass of wine for a sip. “Everything is different now.”

Mom continued with his swimming while I enjoyed doing nothing more than lounging by the pool with a glass of wine. Of course, I would have to try out this body in the pool because I was curious to see what it was like to swim now. However, that would wait for another day, one where I could have a little more privacy. Or at least, one where I wouldn’t have Mom staring at me the way a starving man stared at a steak.

Eventually, Mom finished with his swim and climbed out of the pool. He spared me one more look before grabbing his towel, drying himself a bit, and then heading back inside.

I waited for a few minutes, then slowly climbed out of my deck chair and stretched. I finished off the wine, then looked around, suddenly hyper aware of my surroundings.

The sixth enhancement process, simply called Process VE-5, came with a few interesting enhancements. Like most enhancements, it improved health and fitness, but that version focused on speed, reflexes, and ‘combat mental enhancements’. That last part was what I was using now, a hyper awareness of my surroundings and being able to process all of it in an instant.

There were two birds on the roof of the house. A squirrel was climbing up the tree on the far end of the yard. The wind was blowing gently from the south. Geo had a very prominent bulge in his pants. And most importantly, there was absolutely nobody looking at us through the windows.

After a few seconds, I released the combat enhancement and lost the overwhelming awareness. This was a potent ability that I’d discovered during my experiments, but it was also a bit distracting.

“Now then,” I announced, grabbing Geo and giving him a passionate kiss. When we broke apart, I said, “I do believe that it is later.”

----------

Dr. Amanti took a sip from her cup of coffee as she looked at me from the other side of the table. She’d come by for a follow up appointment, and I’d immediately offered her a drink and a place to sit while we talked.

Her laptop was open on the table beside her and there was a small stack of folders. She seemed to like keeping records on paper.

“I would have expected Ms. Cole to be here for this,” Dr. Amanti said.

“I think he’s playing video games,” I responded with a wry smile.

The truth was, if Mom knew what Dr. Amanti was here to talk about, he would have insisted on being present. There was no doubt that he would have been interested, and that was the problem. He would have been TOO interested, and I didn’t need to encourage his obsessive side any more than I needed to.

“He’s been exploring that body and life a bit,” I explained, taking a sip from my own cup of coffee. “Honestly, I think he’s just keeping himself distracted until Doctor Monocle can switch us back.”

Dr. Amanti scowled at the mad scientist’s name. “You can’t trust him.”

“I know,” I agreed, silently hoping that I never saw or heard from Doctor Monocle again.

Dr. Amanti picked up one of the folders. “Well, we should discuss the test results.” She opened the folder and flipped through the pages. “Your rest results have come back good. You’re still stable and show no adverse reactions to your…unorthodox enhancement. Your hormone levels are a little high, but that isn’t too surprising.”

“That’s good,” I responded with a nod.

Then Dr. Amanti brought up some information on her laptop to show me, explaining what each part meant. I’d been doing a lot of research lately on enhancements, mostly reading things that she’d provided me herself since a lot of information on enhancements just wasn’t public. Because of that, I was able to understand some of what she showed me, but not all of it.

Once Dr. Amanti finished talking about the test results, it was my turn. I began to tell her about my own testing, and about some of the changes I’d noticed.

“I’m stronger,” I told her. “A lot stronger than I look, and my endurance is through the roof.”

“Neither is surprising,” Dr. Amanti responded. “There is a lot of overlap between the various enhancement strains, and most of them have at least some improvement in strength, stamina, and regeneration.” She gave me an amused look. “I would have been far more surprised if you weren’t showing any of those.”

I nodded at that. “Yesterday, I ran all out for an hour straight, and when it was done, I was just starting to breath harder. And my strength… I’m not sure where it falls in comparison to other enhanced, but I think it’s near the top of the versions I have.” I closed my eyes for a moment. “This morning, I beat Grandpa Jack’s best lift by about twenty percent.”

“That is impressive,” Dr. Amanti said with a thoughtful look. “But considering the versions you have and how your aura ability works, it shouldn’t be too surprising.”

“I still haven’t figured out my exact limits,” I continued, “but I am getting a better idea. I have been able to confirm some of the other features though.”

“Oh?” Dr. Amanti asked with interest, leaning forward just a little.

“I seem to have the pheromones of the Aphrodite Formula,” I admitted. “It’s hard to be sure, but the way people act around me certainly suggests it."

"Interesting," Dr. Amanti said with the hint of a smile.

“I have mental enhancements,” I added. “Both the ones from Pendragon’s version and at least some of the combat enhancements from the VE Five.” Then I gave her a wry smile and added, “I also get the need for more mental stimulation.”

Dr. Amanti stared at me, suddenly looking a little worried. “Have you been feeling aggressive at all? Any moments of rage?”

For a moment, I just stared at her, immediately understanding why she was asking about that. As she’d said earlier, my hormone levels were a little high, and one of the known side effects from one of the enhancements was increased aggression.

“No,” I answered. “No aggression. Or at least, nothing like what you described for the Berserker Strain. Instead, I’ve mostly felt…confident.” I paused at that and gave her a wry smile. “And I’ve felt the side effects of the Aphrodite Formula.”

Her eyes widened a little. “You mean…”

“Increased libido,” I stated. “I’m always a little turned on now.”

Dr. Amanti blinked several times before cautiously saying, “That must be…awkward. Considering your normal body, I’d imagine that experiencing that in this one must be very strange for you...”

“Not as much as you’d expect,” I replied with a faint smile.

She gave me a skeptical look. “That seems…surprising.”

“In a way, it isn’t really any different from how my tastes changed with this body,” I said, gesturing down at myself. “This body has always been female. It has history. It’s given birth. DNA. Hormones. Brain chemistry. I inherited all of it, and whether I like it or not, I’m pretty…integrated. I don’t say ‘my body feels hungry’. I say ‘I feel hungry’. I feel things. I think things. It’s all filtered through this body, but it just feels natural, not like it’s happening to someone else.”

“That…is an interesting way of looking at it,” Dr. Amanti said with a thoughtful look.

Mom was going through some of the same things in my old body. He was being influenced by my old brain chemistry and hormones. In fact, I’d even caught him jacking off to some porn on his computer, though he didn’t seem to realize that I’d done so. I wasn’t about to open up that conversation, at least, not unless he brought up my relationship with Geo.

I chuckled at that, then admitted, “I’ve even had maternal feelings a few times. Now THAT is a bit strange, especially when it’s directed towards my mom.”

“I imagine so,” Dr. Amanti agreed with a chuckle of her own. Then she glanced at the door and admitted, “You know, you seem a bit more level-headed and responsible than your…mother.” She paused and shook her head at that before adding, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think that you really were the parent.”

“Do you know better?” I joked before taking a sip from my coffee.

She gave me an amused look, then said, “Her attitude and…focus…is dangerous.”

“His obsession,” I stated with a grimace, thinking about all the bad decisions he’d made because of it. “Now, he’s just biding his time until he can get back in this body and finally get everything he’s been obsessing over.”

Dr. Amanti nodded at that. “Honestly, I’m not sure things will work the way she thinks, even if Doctor Monocle does switch you back.”

I gave her a curious look. “What do you mean?”

“I’m knowledgeable in enhancements,” Dr. Amanti admitted, “but not so much for aura abilities and the soul. I’m still unsure of exactly how your aura abilities work, but I can see a couple potential issues… I don’t know if this is actually feasible or not, but…”

“But?” I encouraged her to continue.

“Your unique enhancement only worked because of your ability,” Dr. Amanti explained. “If your ability was no longer present to maintain it, then it’s possible that your enhancement might start to break down. And your mother’s ability… Well, I imagine that it might try to neutralize the foreign elements in that body, much like it did before. If that happens now, after that body has already been enhanced, then that could potentially result in a situation similar to an immune system overreacting and attacking things the patient needs.”

“Neither of those sounds good,” I thought aloud. “And the possibilities aren’t mutually exclusive either.”

“No, they are not,” Dr. Amanti agreed with a scowl. “Unfortunately, I simply don’t know enough to be able to determine how likely either possibility actually is. But I do worry.”

I shook my head and let out a long sigh. “Now you have me worried.”

She gave me an apologetic look and shrugged. “Ignoring things doesn’t make them go away.”

“No, it doesn’t,” I agreed with another shake of my head.

Just then, an alarm started going off overhead. I immediately snapped my head around and looked to the ceiling corner where a small device was blinking red and making the noise.

“Shit,” I exclaimed, jumping to my feet.

“What is that?” Dr. Amanti demanded.

“Security alarm,” I answered grimly. “We need to get to the safe room.”

Dr. Amanti gaped at me. “What?”

“We get safe first,” I told her, repeating one of the rules that Grandpa Jack had drilled into us. “THEN we ask questions.”

I hurried out the door with Dr. Amanti following close behind. I needed to find Mom and Geo, then we could all get into the safe room. Mom would know to go there, but Geo wouldn’t have any idea unless Mom was with him.

Mom and Geo appeared from the other side, apparently having the same idea that I did. I looked at Mom and we shared a nod of understanding.

“What’s going on?” Geo asked.

“We’ll find out once we’re safe,” Mom answered. “There are security monitors there.”

We all started for the safe room, for the entrance which was hidden near the bedrooms. As soon as we reached the large open foyer area, Raines came in to join us. His gun was drawn and he had a serious expression on his face.

“Good,” Raines said when he saw we were all there. Then he gestured for us to continue to the safe room while he took up a position to guard us. “Hurry.”

But just then, the front door suddenly shook as something hit it with a lot of force. It hit again…then exploded inward, torn half to pieces.

A skinny man in a white and black costume rushed in through the open doorway, holding a pair of knives. He didn’t even hesitate before running straight at me with a nearly blinding speed.

My combat mental enhancement kicked in and everything started moving in slow motion, including him. He was moving faster than everyone else, but he seemed to have slowed down to a much more reasonable pace. When he tried to slash me with one of the knives, my enhanced reflexes kicked in and I raised my hand and blocked his arm, much to his obvious surprise.

“What…?” the man exclaimed.

I punched him as fast as I could. His own enhanced reflexes let him avoid my hit, but he still backed off, giving me a worried look.

“ENHANCED WITH REFLEXES,” the costumed man called out loudly.

Then, he reached to his belt which had a dozen vials strapped to it. He pulled one out, popped the seal and downed the contents in one gulp before casually dropping the container.

“The Speed Formula,” Dr. Amanti stated, apparently deciding that being professional was the best way to overcome her fear. “Weapons grade enhancement, focused on short bursts of speed. Highly dangerous, requires constant calories and nutritional replacement like the human equivalent of a hummingbird. Prone to starvation and burning out their own bodies.”

I nodded once, not taking my eyes off the costumed man. I suspected that this was probably the same enhancement that the hero Sugar Rush used. The description certainly fit what I saw with her.

Raines opened fire, shooting at the man, though he missed. The man reacted too fast and shifted his position right as Raines pulled the trigger.

I was paying close attention to this interaction, but at the same time, I was hyper aware of everything else. From the corner of my eye, I saw two more people step through the now open doorway.

Suddenly, a burst of light hit Raines, sending him flying back while his gun was knocked out of his hand. He hit the floor and slid back until he hit the wall, where he twitched and groaned.

One of the newcomers was a dark-skinned woman who looked to be in her late thirties or early forties. She wore a purple and black costume with a golden aura that flickered around her body, the same color as the beam of light that she’d used to attack Raines.

“Aura ability,” Dr. Amanti said as she looked over the woman. “Likely unenhanced.”

Then there was the other newcomer, a massive man who was nearly seven-feet-tall and bulging with more muscle than any roided out bodybuilder. His ‘costume’ consisted in a pair of green and black pants, with a green and black sleeveless shirt. Dr. Amanti didn’t need to point out that this guy was enhanced. One look was enough to know that.

However, Dr. Amanti still did so anyway. “Behemoth Process or Atlas Serum. Both weapons grade enhancements that focus almost exclusively on size and strength. Requires massive calories and is prone to damaging their own bodies.”

“What the fuck, man?” Geo demanded.

The big man looked around and his eyes settled on me, probably because I was obviously enhanced. I stared back at him, shifting position so that I could deal with him once he attacked. He moved at normal speed, so I was less worried about him than about the speedy guy.

My heart started to beat louder in my chest and all of my muscles tingled and tensed. My adrenaline was spiking, triggering some of the effects of the Berserker Formula, the seventh enhancement that Mom had taken. That enhancement focused on increasing strength and regeneration, but the most powerful effects were tied to adrenaline, which could trigger bursts of hysterical strength.

I’d felt the start of this before, back when we’d encountered that supervillain last week while out shopping. However, this was the first time that I had reason to let it go any further than this.

The large man in green came at me, moving in slow motion. I didn’t bother unleashing the adrenaline boost, not wanting to risk something that I hadn’t actually tested yet. He seemed to move in slow motion, so I shifted to the avoided his punch, only to return it with one of my own, hitting him in the stomach. It was like punching a brick wall.

“She is fast,” Green said with a gruff voice. His eyes narrowed as he stared at me. “And hits pretty hard too.”

“We don’t have time for this,” the woman in purple exclaimed.

Then, Purple held out her hands and a burst of energy shot out, spreading out like a wave. It hit me like a physical blow, knocking me back several feet before I could catch myself. However, Geo and Dr. Amanti had both been knocked to the floor and thrown back quite a bit more. Neither of them seemed to have been hit nearly as hard as Raines had been, maybe because this blast had been spread out rather than focused on one person.

“Damn,” Geo groaned. “That hit hard.”

Mom had been caught in that blast as well, but he still stood where he had been, seemingly unaffected. That reminded me of that supervillain we’d run into previously, the one who’d lifted everyone up off the ground. Everyone except for Mom.

“Doesn’t go down easy either,” Green said, giving me a curious look before turning his attention to Mom and seeming even more surprised. “How the hell? The kid doesn’t even look enhanced.”

“It doesn’t matter,” the speedster in the white and black costume said.

Then, White suddenly lunged at Mom. I saw him tensing before he moved, but I couldn’t move fast enough to stop him from grabbing Mom and holding a knife to his throat.

“Now then,” White said, his eyes locked on me. “I think you know what happens if you don’t surrender.”

I felt a surge of rage and terror, both hitting at the same time. I was going to hurt that bastard. I had to protect Mom…

I paused with a grimace, trying to figure out what I could do. Unfortunately, I couldn’t move fast enough to do anything before White killed Mom. After a couple seconds, I took a deep breath and held up my hands.

“What do you want?” I demanded.

“You have been cordially invited to a meeting,” Purple answered. “And we are here escort you.”

----------

“Thank you for accepting my invitation,” Doctor Monocle announced with a gleeful grin.

The mad scientist was wearing a stereotypical white lab coat, and he seemed particularly pleased with himself. He stood back, grinning cheerfully while watching us with that glowing monocle of his.

I quickly looked around, taking in our surroundings. We were inside a large warehouse that seemed to have been abandoned. A section of the warehouse had been converted into a laboratory with some high-tech equipment, though it looked to have been installed recently. It also looked like it could be dismantled and moved on short notice as well.

The three supervillains who’d kidnapped us were standing back near Dr. Monocle. I still didn’t know their codenames, nor did I particularly care. I’d was mentally referring to them by the primary colors of their costumes, and I saw no reason to change that yet.

All three of them kept staring at me with looks of interest, though there was some blatant jealousy from Purple as well. They’d been near me long enough to get a good dose of my pheromones, though I had no doubt that I’d still get much the same reactions even without that.

Then I glanced at Mom and Dr. Amanti, both of whom had been taken with me. They hadn’t bothered with either Geo or Raines, and they’d been left behind. None of us had been restrained, much to my surprise, though the villains were still close enough to use Mom and Dr. Amanti as hostages.

“You didn’t give us much choice,” Mom snapped at Doctor Monocle.

“You know,” I pointed out flatly, “if you would have told us that you were ready to reverse our exchange, we would have come on our own.” I couldn’t hide the note of bitterness in my voice as I glanced at Mom.

“But where is the fun in that?” Doctor Monocle asked, looking genuinely confused. “Besides, this way, I was able to do a little testing.”

“Arnold Hansel,” Dr. Amanti spat out bitterly. She glared at the mad scientist, then at Mom. “I warned you that he couldn’t be trusted. Mad scientists are all brilliant, but completely unstable.”

I nodded along since Dr. Amanti had completely earned her ‘I told you so’ moment. In fact, I’d warned Mom about Doctor Monocle when he’d first showed up at the house too, so I deserved another ‘I told you so’ myself.

“Doctor,” Purple said to get his attention. “We were promised payment if we helped you.”

“Oh yes,” he responded. “What was it…? Oh yes, I remember.” He looked at Green and White. “You two wanted to develop aura abilities, and you…” His eyes went to Purple. “You wanted to receive an enhancement of your own.”

“Exactly,” Green said impatiently.

“Yes, yes,” Dr. Monocle told them with a friendly smile. “I will get to your rewards once I am done here.”

The three villains all backed off, moving further away but still remaining nearby. They all looked impatient, especially White, who downed another vial from his belt and appeared like he was jittery from too much caffein.

“Now, switch us back,” Mom ordered the mad scientist. His eyes were gleaming with that familiar mania. “Once I have my original body back, I’ll finally be enhanced.”

Doctor Monocle looked a little surprised by that. “Why would I want to do that? I brought you here so I could study the effects of your aura abilities on your new bodies.”

“WHAT?” Mom blurted, surprised by his casual dismissal of the idea.

“This is going to be marvelous,” Doctor Monocle exclaimed as he actually clapped his hands together. “Simply marvelous…” He had the same manic look in his eyes that Mom did far too often. “Two similar yet distinctly opposite abilities. I can’t wait to find out all the juicy details.”

“Hansel,” Dr. Amanti snapped to get his attention. “You can’t just kidnap people to use them for experiments.”

“Supervillain mad scientist,” I reminded her flatly.

“Oh, I haven’t forgotten about you, Doctor Amanti,” Doctor Monocle responded to her in his cheerful tone. “In fact, I had you brought here for a reason.”

Dr. Amanti gave him a worried look. “What reason? I assumed I was just a hostage.”

“You will assist me in the research,” Doctor Monocle told her in a tone that suggested he was doing her a great favor. He gestured towards me. “I am certain that you are interested in her unique enhancements, and this is an opportunity to truly study them.”

“That…is true,” Dr. Amanti reluctantly admitted, giving me an apologetic look as she did so.

Doctor Monocle grinned. “Your expertise with enhancements will partner quite nicely with my own specialization.”

Dr. Amanti hesitated for a moment before cautiously asking, “And what do you expect to find?”

The mad scientist stared at Mom with an almost hungry expression. “I am quite interested in seeing the limits of this young man’s expanded aura ability. Since his soul strain, his ability has grown to new heights of power. Now, it not only protects his body from external changes, it also protects him from the aura abilities of others. I have never studied an aura ability of this nature.”

“And me?” I asked flatly.

Doctor Monocle smiled at me while his monocle glowed. “Interesting,” he mused. “Very interesting.”

“What’s interesting?” I asked.

“With the way your aura ability seems to work,” he answered, “I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if it found a way to improve its own defenses. To be honest, I would be quite hesitant to try interacting with your soul again. I fear that your aura might potentially try to cannibalize my own.”

I stared at Doctor Monocle, absorbing what he’d said and what he hadn’t quite said. “You have an aura ability.”

“Oh, yes,” he answered cheerfully. “I can see and interact with the souls of others. Unfortunately, to actually do anything beyond inducing soul strain, I require my devices to provide…leverage.”

“Oh,” I whispered in realization. “Oh shit…”

“What?” Mom demanded.

“I just realized,” I explained, carefully keeping my expression controlled so that I wouldn’t give away what I really felt. I knew that this was going to set Mom off. “He couldn’t switch us back even if he wanted to.”

Mom gaped at me, clearly not getting it. “What do you mean?”

“You’re immune to aura abilities now,” Dr. Amanti said, picking up what I meant. “And Hansel used an ability to switch you. Your own ability means that he can’t switch you back.”

“No,” Mom gasped again, her eyes going wide with horror.

“And it looks like you might be in the same situation,” Dr. Amanti told me.

I nodded at that, having picked up that detail as well. So far, that was only something that Doctor Monocle had mused about, not something that had been proven like with Mom’s immunity to aura abilities. Still, I was happy embrace that excuse.

It took a bit of work to keep from grinning in delight. This was one of the best things that I’d ever heard. After all, I had NOT been looking forward to going back to my old body. In fact, I’d actually been dreading it. Why would I ever want to be some plain guy when I could have a body like this?

Until this point, I’d been thinking about ways I could keep this body. I could convince Mom to enjoy being a boy, maybe find her a hot girl to date. If I made her happy enough… Well, I’d already given up on that idea since I knew that wouldn’t work. The more likely option would have been to keep Doctor Monocle from coming back and ‘fixing’ things.

Mom snapped around and glared at Doctor Monocle, before demanding, “Switch us back. NOW!”

Doctor Monocle merely shrugged. “As they said, I could not switch you back even if I did want to. Your own abilities interfere too much.” Then he smiled pleasantly. “Now, be a good patient and climb into this scanner. I would like to see how your aura and body interact…”

Mom’s eyes flared with rage, then he charged straight at Doctor Monocle, screaming as he did so. White was in motion, rushing towared Mom, and I knew that I wouldn’t be fast enough to intercept. Mom punched Doctor Monocle but was immediately hit by White.

“And I thought that I was the one with the Berserker Formula,” I growled, feeling my own surge of anger, though this had absolutely nothing to do with that enhancement.

Earlier, I’d told Dr. Amanti about how I sometimes felt a bit…maternal. That made sense since this was the body that gave birth to my old body. I had the DNA, the hormones, and the brain chemistry of a woman who’d given birth, and was feeling the biological instincts that came from those. For all intents and purposes, I was now the mother and Mom was MY son.

As soon as I saw Mom get hit, I felt a surge of maternal rage, and for a moment, all I could think was ‘I have to protect my baby’. My adrenaline spiked and I felt my muscles all tingle and tense. This time, I didn’t hold it back since I was going into full ‘mama bear’ mode.

My muscles all tensed and swelled, growing to nearly twice the size that they’d be after getting pumped from a good workout. A second later, my clothes all tightened on me until a couple seams in my shirt ripped open.

“RESTRAIN THEM,” Doctor Monocle ordered. He held his bloody nose from where Mom had punched him, no longer acting pleasant and friendly. “Sedation will only work on the one I don’t want to test, so feel free to do what you need to ensure their cooperation.”

I ran towards Mom to get White away from her, but Purple and Green both jumped into it. Purple fired one of her energy blasts, which hit Mom and washed over him without seeming to touch him at all. White was forced to jump back to avoid being hit himself.

Green charged straight at me, though I saw him coming in what might as well be slow motion. Unfortunately, my body couldn’t move as fast as my perception insisted I should be able to, but I could still move a lot faster than Green.

When Green swung his fist at me, I slipped to the side and punched him in the ribs, earning a grunt of pain from the massive enhanced. His thick muscles were able to block a lot of the blow, though not enough to protect him entirely.

I grimaced in pain as every muscle in my body burned, though I didn’t let that distract me. I couldn’t afford to be distracted right now, not when I was facing four enhanced supervillains.

I should have expected the pain, though I hadn’t. Dr. Amanti’s notes on the Berserker Formula said that the short bursts of hysterical strength came at the cost of putting immense strain on the body and damaging the muscles in the process. She’d also noted that this strain was apparently quite painful.

Even with this surge of strength, Green was still larger and stronger than I was. However, he wasn’t faster. And with the combat mental enhancements active as well, I actually had time to think about what I was doing rather than just reacting.

Dr. Amanti had said that Green’s enhancement type tended to damage the body, though I didn’t know if it damaged his body in the same way that the burst of strength was damaging mine. Somehow, I doubted it. His enhancement worked too differently.

“HIS JOINS AND LIGAMENTS,” Dr. Amanti yelled out, apparently guessing what I was thinking.

When Green punched at me again, I saw the move coming well in advance and easily stepped out of the way. I grabbed hold of his arm and yanked, pulling him off balance and then twisting until there was a ‘POP’ from his shoulder. He immediately howled in pain, even as he tried grabbing at me with his other arm.

“I don’t think so,” I snapped, kicking at his knee and hoping I could take that out as well. He immediately howled in even more pain, confirming that I had.

My eyes darted to Mom, who was backing away from White. White was slowly approaching him with his knife drawn, apparently playing with him rather than taking him down fast. I didn’t know whether to be pissed at the sadism or relived that Mom still had time.

I grimaced and grabbed Green, picking him up off the ground. He was a bit heavy, even for me, heavier than he should be. His muscles were probably a lot denser than normal, which might be why his joints and ligaments were so vulnerable. Those muscles would be putting a lot of strain on the rest of his body.

A moment later, I threw Green with a grunt, right at White. The speedster saw his friend coming in time to get out of the way, though Green landed face first on the concrete floor.

“That has got to hurt,” Dr. Amanti commented.

Purple turned her attention to me and began to glow for several seconds before she fired a blast of energy. I saw the build-up and was ready for the attack, so I was able to jump out of the way before the blast hit me.

White drew his second dagger and glared at me, then he looked to Dr. Amanti and smirked. A moment later, he started running for her.

Dr. Amanti grabbed some test equipment from a nearby table and threw it on the floor, right between her and White. He came to a stop, right before tripping over it, giving me enough time to catch up to him. He snapped around to slash at me, but I caught his arm and yanked, pulling him off balance. Before I could do anything else. Dr. Amanti kicked him between the legs, causing him to drop to his knees.

“These extreme enhancements can be pretty powerful,” Dr. Amanti said with a satisfied smirk. “But they tend to have a lot of side effects and weaknesses. And speaking of which…” She bent down and took off White’s belt, the one with all the vials. “He won’t be doing much if he can’t refuel.”

Purple had moved positions and was getting ready to fire another blast at us. I grabbed Dr. Amanti and pushed her out of the way before she got hit. Enough of the blast hit me to knock me off my feet, but I immediately recovered and bounced right back. White, who’d also been caught in that attack, was sprawled out on the ground and looking like he was completely out of it.

“DON’T YOU DARE,” Mom shouted with a furious expression, glaring at Purple, who was charging up for another blast.

Then Mom ran straight for Purple. The supervillain blasted Mom to no effect. Mom just slammed into the woman and knocked her to the ground.

Doctor Monocle just stood back and watched all of this with a look of fascination on his face. He didn’t even seem to notice his bloody nose anymore.

“This is not quite the controlled testing that I wanted,” Doctor Monocle mused, “but it is still informative nonetheless.”

The mad scientist turned to stare at me, his monocle glowing again. He seemed inordinately pleased with himself, acting almost as though things had gone exactly the way he’d planned the entire time. His bloody nose said otherwise.

Just then, the door to the warehouse suddenly exploded inward and three people came rushing in. In the lead was the pink-haired heroine, Sugar Rush, and right behind her were the same two hereos she’d been with the last time I saw her.

“RELEASE YOUR PRISONERS, DOCTOR MONOCLE,” one of heroes exclaimed, only to pause and look around. He stared at Green, White and Purple, all of whom were on the ground, then asked, “Okay, what the hell is going on here?”

The hero who spoke wore a red and white costume in the same colors as the logo of the company who sponsored him. The costume was also in a similar style to the one that Grandpa Jack used to wear, which wasn’t unusual since a lot of heroes had been inspired by Captain Amazing.

Sugar Rush stepped forward and looked around, her movements fast and a little jerky. I noticed the belt on her waist that was full of vials, just like the ones that White had.

The third hero, a woman in a green, white, and gold costume, kept her distance from the other two, which might have been related to the green glow around her body. She was a red-head with a very nice body, the kind that had probably come from an enhancement. However, the glow strongly suggested that she had an aura ability as well.

And then, I noticed the fourth person who’d come into the warehouse, well behind the heroes. He was dressed in normal clothes and carried a video camera that was currently pointed at the heroes. A camera man. They’d brought a camera man.

“Are you all right, Ms. Cole?” the hero in the red and white asked me. “Erik Raines called us and reported that you’d all been kidnapped.”

“We’re all right,” I answered him before giving a wry smile and gesturing to the fallen villains. “We weren’t expecting help so started to deal with the situation ourselves.”

“I’m…impressed,” the redhead said. “Surprised but impressed.”

“She’s obviously enhanced,” Sugar Rush said. “Not very bright of them to kidnap someone who was enhanced.”

“This is unexpected,” Doctor Monocle commented, giving the heroes a curious look. “But I’m afraid that I’m busy right now, so if you could call my secretary and make an appointment…”

Green grunted and got back to his feet, though he wasn’t putting any weight on one of his legs. He grimaced, tried looking tough, and glared at the heroes defiantly.

“Get up,” Green called to his friends.

White and Purple started getting back to their feet as well. However, before they could get ready, the heroes rushed at them. Sugar Rush went straight to White and swept his legs out from beneath him, dropping him right back to the ground.

The hero in the red and white costume ran for Purple, moving faster than most people could, though only about half the speed as Sugar Rush. As soon as he reached purple, he knocked her feet out from beneath her and took her to the ground much the way that Sugar Rush had done to White. A moment later, her hands were cuffed behind her back.

“We’ve got you now, Royal Pain,” the hero told Purple.

That left the redhead, who went for Green. He looked smug as he looked down at her, but the fact that all of his weight was on one leg and one of his arms hung limply at his side, made him look a little less threatening.

“Yes,” the redhead told him pleasantly. “Just go ahead and stand there while my aura does its thing.”

“What…?” Green started to ask, only to suddenly stumble and collapse to the ground. He was no longer even moving.

“Paralysis,” the redhead said with a sigh. “Nobody can get close to me without being paralyzed.”

“Is he…unconscious?” Mom asked as he moved over to look at Green.

The redhead gave Mom a warning look. “Don’t get too close to me or you’ll be down too.”

Mom snorted at that. “I’m immune to it. That’s MY aura ability.” There was a strong note of bitterness in his voice, and even more in his eyes as he glared at Doctor Monocle.

The heroine’s eyes widened at that and she gave Mom a look of interest. “You’re immune to auras?”

“It seems that I’m immune to just about everything,” Mom responded.

There was a moment of hesitation, then the redhead stepped closer to Mom. She paused for a few seconds, then stepped closer again. When she was standing right beside Mom and Mom showed no signs of collapsing, a broad grin spread across her face.

“Very nice,” the redhead told Mom, still grinning.

After this, the heroes focused on restraining all the villains, including Doctor Monocle. We just stood back and watched them, at least for the most part.

While the heroes were distracted, I slowly walked around the lab area, looking at all the equipment that Doctor Monocle had set up and trying to figure out what it was for. I had a decent idea about some of it, but other things left me completely confused.

My muscles relaxed and started receding back to their normal size while the pain faded a bit. However, it didn’t go away entirely and probably wouldn’t for awhile. Looking at all the equipment was a good way for me to distract myself from pain.

Then I noticed something on one of the tables, something which immediately caught my attention. I glanced back at the others, then at the heroes. None of them were paying attention to me. So, with a faint smile, I grabbed the sealed vial and concealed it.

When I looked around again, I saw that Dr. Amanti was doing much the same thing that I was, looking over some of Doctor Monocle’s equipment. She seemed particularly interested in a large scanning machine that was set up on the other side.

Mom was talking with the redhead hero, paying a lot of attention to the woman, or at least, to the woman’s body. It was amusing to see Mom staring at the woman’s breasts while trying to act like she wasn’t.

I couldn’t hear what they were saying at first, until I moved closer and heard the hero tell Mom, “…once you’re of legal drinking age.” The heroine gave Mom a speculative look. “Right now though, you’re still just a little too young for me.”

“Too young,” Mom muttered with a stunned expression.

I chuckled faintly in amusement, even as I was tempted to go over and comfort Mom. But before I could do so, the hero in red and white came towards me.

“Ms. Cole,” the hero greeted me politely. “If you don’t mind my asking, what enhancement do you have? It doesn’t look like one of the usual vanity enhancements.”

“It’s a new prototype,” I answered pleasantly, not wanting to mention the nature of my enhancement or my ability.

The hero nodded at that. “I know who your father was, and I was curious if you intended to follow in his footsteps.”

“What?” I asked with some amusement. “Put on a costume and call myself Ms. Amazing?” I chuckled at that. “No, I don’t have any current plans to go into your line of work.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, gesturing to all the captured villains. “You seem to have a talent for it.”

“I am, for now,” I told him, still amused by the idea of me being a hero. “But who knows what the future holds.”

The hero nodded at that, and I was fully aware of the way he was checking me out while trying to pretend he wasn’t. He was much better at it than Mom. He was also handsome and muscular, which was to be expected of someone who was enhanced. I imagined that he probably had some very good stamina too…

“We’re about done,” Sugar Rush called out. “The police should be here to take custody of the location.”

“Sure,” the hero responded to her. “I hope we meet again, Ms. Amazing.” He smiled as he used that codename while I just rolled my eyes.

A minute later, Mom, Dr. Amanti, and I all left the warehouse so it could be sealed up as evidence. The heroes were now completely focused on their prisoners and the police who were starting to pull up.

I put my arm around Mom and gave him a gentle hug, knowing how stunned he was by the current situation. He looked a bit shellshocked now as it really sank in that this was permanent. There would be no changing back. There would be no way for him to become enhanced. I loved those facts, but I didn’t want him to see that.

“Things will be all right,” I promised him. “You’ll see.”

“How?” Mom asked a bit numbly.

I gave him another hug, wanting to comfort him while simultaneously wanting to say ‘I told you so’ again. This whole situation was his own fault, because of one bad decision after another. That limited just how sorry I could really feel for him.

----------

Raines and I stood across from each other in the gym. He was breathing hard while my breathing wasn’t elevated at all.

“You’re picking it up fast,” Raines admitted as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. “I can’t keep up with your enhancements as it is.”

“Thank you,” I responded with a faint smile. “And I’m not going to apologize for that.”

Raines chuckled. “I wouldn’t expect you to.” Then he shook his head before continuing, “I can still teach you more moves, but if you want someone to really spar with, you’ll have to find another enhanced.”

I nodded at that, understanding completely. After the kidnapping from a couple weeks ago, I’d asked Raines to teach me how to fight, just in case something like that ever happened again. Sure, I was enhanced, but if I ever had to fight another enhanced person, I wanted to have the skill to make full use of it.

Of course, I also had the added motivation of novelty. I liked exercising and pushing my body, but there was no doubt that I’d get bored if I only did the same things every day. I was beginning to understand Grandpa Jack’s interest in some of the more extreme forms of exercise, like the mountain climbing that had eventually killed him.

“You’re absorbing everything I teach you like a sponge,” Raines told me. “It’s getting to the point where you might want to find a dedicated martial arts teacher. Preferably, one who is also enhanced.”

“Not a bad idea,” I agreed. After all, Raines had other responsibilities, and I couldn’t always count on him being able to take time out from those in order to train me. “I’ll have to look into it.”

I looked Raines over again, admiring his muscular build and his great ass. My hormones surged at the sight of him, though I had to suppress them a bit. I knew that Raines was just as attracted to me as I was to him, but so far, we hadn’t done anything about it. He was too professional to get involved with me that way, and though I knew I could convince him with a little effort, I was respecting his wishes instead.

“Well,” Raines said, just a little awkwardly, “I should get cleaned up then do my rounds.” He gave me a bow. “I’ll see you later.”

“Later,” I told him before I went to get cleaned up as well.

I climbed into the shower then took the liberty of fantasizing about Raines while I…washed. I took my time in the shower, but by the time I got back out, I was satisfied with the results.

A short time later, I was dried off, dressed, and ready to face the world. I took a moment to look myself over in the mirror one more time, making sure that everything was perfect.

I had a nice blouse that showed a generous but still tasteful amount of cleavage, a skirt that really helped to highlight my ass and legs, and a pair of stiletto heels that added a bit to my already impressive height. And then, between the jewelry and tastefully applied makeup, I looked absolutely amazing. Sexy, elegant, and powerful, all at the same time.

Once I was satisfied that I was presentable, I went to the living room and made myself comfortable. I brought out my laptop and began playing two videos while simultaneously doing a little reading. Being able to multitask this effectively really helped me learn things fast.

When I’d learned that I would be able to keep this body permanently, I’d begun doing a bit of research on several topics that would prove useful. At the moment, I was reading up on finance and investment, things that I would need to manage the family finances. Unfortunately, Mom had gone through a LOT of money to get all those enhancement serums, so I’d have to be a bit careful to make sure we didn’t lose everything.

Just as I was starting to really get into the topic, a voice called out, “Hey, Mom.”

I looked up as Mom came into the room. Or was that David? He’d begun regularly calling me ‘Mom’ about a week ago, mostly as a joke at first, but the tone was sounding less and less of a joke each time he said it. It was getting easier for me to think of him as ‘David’ too, which was probably for the best. As far as most of the world is concerned, I am Marissa Cole and he is my son David.

“David,” I responded with a faint smile.

“I brought you some coffee,” Mom…David said a little self-consciously as he presented a coffee mug.

“Thank you,” I told him as I accepted the mug.

I gave the new David a concerned look as I took a sip of the coffee. Ever since he’d found out that our new situation was permanent and irreversible, he’d been acting a bit odd. For the first few days, he was extremely depressed, barely even coming out of his bedroom even to eat. He’d gotten better since then, but he was still clearly shaken by the change.

“Interesting flavor,” I commented, glancing at the coffee. It was delicious, but there was a flavor I didn’t quite recognize.

“That’s a new blend I ordered…before,” he explained a bit awkwardly. “It finally arrived but…” He shrugged. “After waiting so long, I wanted to see how it tasted but…” He shrugged again. “Coffee just doesn’t taste right to me anymore, so I thought you might enjoy it.”

“It is good,” I said as I took another sip.

David gave me a wry smile. “I’m glad to see the money wasn’t wasted then.”

After David left the room, I took another sip, then turned my attention back to my studying. In spite of David’s interruption, I was still following along with the videos so didn’t need to rewind them at all.

“I do love these mental enhancements,” I mused aloud. “Almost as much as I love the physical ones.”

Then I paused, glancing down at my coffee cup with a sudden suspicion. I took one more sip, noting the odd background flavor that I couldn’t quite identify. My eyes narrowed and a faint smile formed on my lips. After a couple more seconds of consideration, I took another drink and went back to work.

----------

I sat at a café table with a glass of wine in hand, and a very generous lunch plated in front of me. It was a late lunch, nearly late enough that it could have been considered an early dinner instead.

Another woman sat across from me at the table. She appeared to be college-aged, with dark skin and shoulder-length black hair. Her clothes didn’t quite fit right.

“How are you enjoying the enhancement?” I asked Dr. Amanti.

“I’m enjoying it quite a bit,” Dr. Amanti admitted with a look of amusement. “After years of overseeing other people’s enhancements, it’s nice to finally get one myself.” She paused to take a sip of her own wine. “Being young and healthy again… It feels fantastic. The only downside is that I probably look too young for people to take seriously as a doctor.”

“But your patients are usually people who are getting enhanced,” I pointed out. “Or who already have been. I’d think that being enhanced yourself would actually help your credibility.”

“You might have a point,” Dr. Amanti agreed. “And thank you again for giving it to me.”

After we’d been kidnapped by Doctor Monocle’s goons, I’d found a vial of enhancement serum in his lab, the same one that he’d promised Purple in exchange for her services. It had been labeled as ‘Halstrom Rejuvenation Elixir’, which was one of the strains in my own body, so I’d given it to Dr. Amanti afterwards.

“I only finished changing the other day,” she told me. At my look of surprise, she explained, “This version is one of the safest and most stable out there, but the changes tend to be slow in comparison too.”

“Safe and stable are good,” I commented.

“Indeed, they are,” Dr. Amanti agreed. Then she carefully asked, “Speaking of which… How is…?” She hesitated to finish.

“David is…dealing,” I answered, putting a little emphasis on the name. “He took it all pretty hard at first, but he’s adjusting…”

“I would say that’s good,” Dr. Amanti told me. “But from your expression, I assume that there are issues.”

I nodded at that, then took a sip from my wine. “Issues is one way of describing it.” I gave her a wry smile. “He’s adjusting, but I’m not sure how healthy his way of doing it is.”

She gave me a curious look, then encouraged me to continue. “Oh?”

“He seems to have accepted that his new body is permanent,” I explained, “and that his aura ability prevents him from ever being able to enhance it.”

“So, what is the problem then?” she asked.

I snorted “I think that he’s halfway convinced himself that he really is the old David, and that Doctor Monocle just gave him some of his mother’s memories.”

“That’s messed up.” Dr. Amanti res[ponded in surprise.

“So is everything else about his obsession,” I said with a sigh. She nodded her understanding. “That kind of thing doesn’t just go away overnight.”

“And you think that he is still obsessed?” she asked.

“I know it,” I answered. “It’s just been…transferred.”

She gave me a curious look. “Transferred?”

“To me,” I stated in a flat tone. “I have his old body. I have all the enhancements that he’d tried to get for himself. I have become everything that he was so desperate to become, so he’s become a bit…focused…on me. Like I said, I think he’s half convinced himself that I’m the original Marissa, maybe to protect his ego.”

Dr. Amanti stared at me with a look of surprise. “That…a little surprising.” She frowned thoughtfully. “I would have imagined that he’d just be extremely jealous.”

“Not nearly as much as you’d think,” I said. “You’d think that it would be all jealously and resentment, but he’s gone the other way instead.” I gave her a wry smile. “I think he’s starting to live vicariously through me, which is a large part of that whole transference thing.”

“Really?” she asked, looking surprised and then amused. “Yes, I can see that. Like a failed athlete who pushes his son into sports, the way my father did to my brother.”

“Something like that,” I agreed with a sigh. “I think he’s still obsessed with enhancements and improving, but now it’s focused on me instead of himself.”

Dr. Amanti gave me an amused look as she took a sip from her wine. “And if he’s starting to think of you as himself… I imagine that could become annoying.”

“You have no idea,” I said with a sigh, before abruptly asking, “Can you remind me about that last enhancement serum, the one that David had originally hired you to help with?”

She gave me a wry look. “Somehow, I doubt that you’ve forgotten any details from my report, but I’ll humor you anyway.”

“Thank you,” I responded.

“The Titan Process,” Dr. Amanti said, “is a weapons grade enhancement that focuses on durability and resilience. It strengthens bones so that they become much harder to break, reduces bleeding from injuries, and overall, makes the entire body more resistant to damage.” She paused for a moment before adding, “Some people call it the action hero enhancement because things that should be crippling or fatal injuries become ‘just a flesh wound’ instead.”

“That’s what I remember,” I told her with a nod.

Dr. Amanti stared at me with a curious expression before asking, “Why are you asking about that?”

“Because,” I responded wryly, “David spiked my coffee with it this morning. I checked the vault and confirmed that it’s gone.”

“Oh shit,” Dr. Amanti exclaimed, her eyes going wide.

“My appetite is spiking again,” I told her, gesturing to my plate. “I’ve already had some of the leftover supplements that you left, but I’m probably going to need to spend some time in the nutrient bath again too.”

“I’ll…help you with that tonight,” Dr. Amanti told me with a sigh. “But if he’d do that to you without your consent…”

“I’ve already cut off his access to our finances, though I don’t think he realizes that yet,” I explained with a deep scowl. “I don’t want to risk him slipping me some even more dangerous enhancement in the future. If he’s going to behave like an irresponsible son, I might as well treat him like one.”

Dr. Amanti just stared at me before shaking her head. “Your relationship is…” She left the rest unsaid, then shook her head and changed the subject. “Your enhancement put your body through a lot of stress, and I’m not sure if this was enough time to recover.”

“It’s too late to worry about that now,” I told her with a sigh. “But I’m pretty confident that my aura will be able to handle it. That does seem to be what it does.”

“It does,” she admitted. “But your ability probably has a limit.”

“Probably,” I agreed. “But I have absolutely no idea what it is.”

With that, I paused to focus on my lunch for a bit, feeding the growing hunger in my stomach. I was really going to need to get into the nutrient bath before too long, otherwise I might not get all the calories and nutrients that my body needed for this latest change.

I was actually looking forward to this new enhancement, to seeing just how much of that strain my ability was able to salvage and adapt. From my previous enhancement, I suspected that I’d get most if not all of those improvements which would really add to my abilities. And since the Titan Process came with pain suppression as well, it would probably make it easier to use the strength boost from the Berserker Formula.

Though I’d never admit it to anyone else, I was starting to really understand David’s obsession. Becoming stronger, smarter, and sexier, seeing myself improve and grow more powerful… It felt absolutely amazing and I wanted even more. I could improve a little through study and training, but that was nothing compared to what a new enhancement would give me.

In spite of that, I had absolutely no intention of buying a bunch more enhancements, because as Dr. Amanti had warned, the changes did put a lot of strain on my body. I needed time to stabilize between each new enhancement, and I fully intended to be very picky about any new ones I took in the future.

There was no way that I wanted to risk the side-effects and downsides of those extreme enhancements like the Prodigy Serum or the Speed Formula. I suspected that my ability would filter out the worst of those, but there was absolutely no reason to roll the dice like that.

Of course, there were some very tempting enhancements out there, ones that could compliment my current enhancements and improve me in ways that I hadn’t experienced yet. One day, I might consider trying one of those, but for now, I was going to focus on what I already had…and what I was about to have very soon.

Dr. Amanti and I continued talking through the rest of lunch, and she even waited for me as I ate three desserts. Eventually though, it was time to leave.

“I’ll come over this evening,” she confirmed. “I want to run a few more tests to make sure that you’re still stable…and that your ability can handle integrating an eighth enhancement.”

“I’ll see you then,” I told her.

After we finished saying goodbye, I went to the parking lot where Geo was waiting with the car. I’d texted him from my phone as we were finishing up to make sure that he’d be there and ready.

“Ms. C,” Geo greeted me as he opened the car door.

Geo had taken to following David’s example of addressing me as though I was the original Marissa. Our relationship was a bit complicated as he was my employee, my friend with benefits, and my boy toy, depending on which roles we were playing at the time.

“Geoffrey,” I greeted him in kind, smiling faintly as I did so.

Not that long ago, I never would have been able to imagine what our relationship had become. If someone had told me, I would have thought that they were on drugs on insane.

Geo and I used to hang out and play games, but none of those games really worked for us anymore. With my reflexes and hand-eye coordination, he no longer stood a chance against me. Our old games were no longer a competition, and if we wanted to play games now, they had to be something like board games…or the more intimate ones that we now preferred.

“What is Rule One?” I asked him with a smirk.

His eyes widened slightly and he visibly gulped before answering. “What Mommy wants…Mommy gets.”

“Good boy,” I answered with a purr. I put my hand on his cheek, then bent over and gave him a passionate kiss. When we broke apart, I told him, “And good boys get rewarded.”

“Yes, Mommy,” he squeaked out.

I gave him another gentle pat on the cheek, then climbed into the car. He quickly scrambled to get into the driver’s seat, blushing brightly and squirming a bit as his erection demanded attention. I just leaned back into my seat and smirked at his reaction, thinking about his reward…and what I’d demand from him in return.

Though I hadn’t told Geo, one of the rewards I had considered for him was the Adonis Formula, the male version of the Aphrodite Formula. But now, I was thinking of a different enhancement, one of the vanity enhancements that was focused on improving sexual potency and stamina for men. That one would be a lot more affordable, and it would still be a great reward, both for him and for me.

I licked my lips and chuckled at the very thought, looking forward to this eventually happening. But for now, I would focus on his more immediate reward and how he could earn it. After all, I still had a couple hours until Dr. Amanti arrived at the house, and I intended to make full use of that time.

The End.