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Merc's Metamorphs

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Chapter 23: Pawn to E4

Frank lost track of his classes after the meeting and he didn't join his boyfriends for lunch. He was stuck in his head, thoughts moving a mile a minute as he considered the ramifications of what he'd learned. Not only was The Chessmaster someone who knew about him, the young man was astounded that it was someone he also knew, but had hardly expected. There was a certain amount of upheaval with which he was forced to contend and that made focusing on anything else difficult. In fact, he didn't snap out of it until he was stepping out of his final class for the day only to find Christopher waiting for him.

The Asian student offered a warm smile. "Hey, Frank... the guys and I didn't see you at lunch and I got worried."

Frank felt a warmth seep through him. Offering a half-genuine smile, he reached out and slid an arm around Cy's hip, walking with him. "That's 'cause I a lot on my mind... as you could imagine. I needed some time to process."

Christopher leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Are you feeling any better?"

Taking a moment to consider the question, Frank found himself modding. "A little. I mean..." he glanced around, censoring his thoughts into something that wouldn't be as incriminating if overheard. "...it's not every day you find out a secret like that about someone you've known for awhile."

A passing student, seeing him walk so close to Christopher misinterpreted the statement and gave him a thumbs up and a wink. The gesture made Frank smirk, and saw Cy do the same out of the corner of his eye. They kept quite until they left the central quad and were on their way to the dorms. It was Christopher who broke the silence. "So... what now?"

Frank let out a long sigh. "Well.. first I head back home and apologize to Juan and Chance and apologize for flaking today."

Christopher opened his mouth to say something but, Frank noticed, the words didn't come out. There was another brief pause before the Asian student visibly switched gears and interlaced his fingers with the ones of Frank's hand that wore the glove. "Do you feel up to telling me about how you ended up with this?"

Frank thought about the question for a moment, offering up a smirk as he glanced slyly at his boyfriend. "You REALLY want to hear THAT story?"

Nodding, Christopher confirmed "I do. It's not every day someone randomly stumbles across something like that."

Smiling a little wider, Frank shrugged. "It really isn't that interesting of a story, Cy... you sure?"

Pressed further, his boyfriend gave his hand a squeeze. "Yes. I really do."

Shrugging, Frank chided him further. "Okay, but fair warning: you'll be let down by just how boring it--"

Cy stopped, leveling his gaze at the joking Latino. "If you don't want to tell you you can just say so, Frank. Really."

Realizing that he was getting the biggest raise out of Christopher that he was going to get, Frank relented. "It fell off the back of a truck."

Shooting him the stink eye, Christopher let go of his hand. "Alright. It's not something you want to talk about. I understand."

Frank stopped in his tracks, stepping back to join his boyfriend, embracing him around the shoulders while chuckling. "No... honest! It fell off the back of a truck!"

Cy stared at him incredulously, likely waiting for the punch line but, when Frank said nothing further, the Asian student's eyebrow raised. "Really?"

Nodding, Frank held his hand over his chest. "Honest. It really DID fall out the back of a utility truck."

Rather than get snippy, Christopher simply reached back out, took hold of Frank's hand, and continued walking. "Alright... you will have to explain THAT one. I cannot think of the last time I saw a single fingerless glove hanging out of the back of a moving van."

Smirking, Frank walked with him. "ACTUALLY, it was a utility van, like I said. It belonged to a museum in New York... this was just after I'd graduated high school."

Cy kept pace with him, his free hand reaching up to rub his chin in thought. "That MIGHT make a little more sense. An artifact like that might have been transferred to a museum once it was uncovered."

Frank shrugged as he opened the door to the dorm building for his boyfriend. "Yep... the box it was in went flying out of the back when the van went around a corner and hit a patch of water from where they were testing a fire hydrant-- guess it didn't have great wheels because it skidded, the driver over-corrected, and I had to jump out of the way to avoid getting smashed."

The two of them went to the elevator as Cy questioned further. "So the first thing you thought of was to root through it and take what you wanted?"

Stepping into the elevator, Frank hit the button for the right floor and continued to explain. "The van didn't even slow down and it was too far to flag em down. Besides, it happens all the time when you're in the city; if you don't take something others will. Almost everything inside was broken, but the glove--" he held up his hand, showing it off "was perfectly fine. I figured it didn't shatter like the pottery because it was leather. Lucky me, right?"

Christopher let out a sigh, shaking his head before winking, speaking with joking sardonicism. "I suppose that makes sense. Apparently you were good at working the system even before becoming a net positive Metamorph group."

They both concluded the discussion of that as they approached the apartment. Frank unlocked the door and they both entered as Juan and Chance, seated on the sofa, turned to regard them. Chance spoke up first, eyes on Christopher. "Hey! You found him!"

Juan was a little more reserved, rotated with one arm around the back of the sofa. "You okay, Corazon? We missed you at lunch."

Frank nodded, moving around to the front of the couch so he could share a hug with Juan then Chance. "Yeah... I met The Chessmaster."

The next ten minutes was spent working through the fallout of dropping that particular topical bomb. All four of them were seated at the dining room table once Juan had brought the dinner platter to the table; Frank had always been a huge fan of bandeja paisa but it wasn't the easiest thing to prepare on a night after everyone had classes and he was surprised that a huge sharing tray piled with various meats, red beans fried egg, rice, plaintain maduro, and all of the other wonders of Colombian cuisine.

The food helped disburse some of the tenseness caused by his admission, providing Frank time to elaborate as they all sat together and started to serve up. It also gave him a moment to plan his answer to their numerous simultaneous questions. He decided to start with a simple statement. "Christopher told me that The Chessmaster wanted to meet, so that's what we ended up doing between classes."

Juan sat up a little straighter. "You mean The Chessmaster was on campus today?"

Frank nodded. "Yes. Christopher and I spoke with him during morning schedule between classes."

Chance was much more direct with his questioning. "So... who is he? What does he look like? Is he from around here?"

Noticing Christopher's gaze from his right, Frank glanced his way before looking back to his other boyfriends. They'd promised no secrets, but there was another precedence set. "That doesn't matter."

Juan dropped his fork. "What? Of COURSE it matters!"

Surprisingly, Chance was the calmer of the two. "Dude... we already got over it when Cy said he didn't want to tell us about him."

Christopher nodded. "Right. His identity is ours to tell. Just like I wouldn't ever reveal who any of you are, it wouldn't be fair if I betrayed his trust."

Frank nodded with a sigh. "He's right. Metamorphs keep our Human identities secret for a reason, so we know the importance of anonymity. He may not be a Metamorph, but he's in just as much danger... or maybe even more since he can't change forms."

It was Chance's turn to drop his fork. "He's an Altered?!"

Juan sighed, pulling a cheese arepa apart. "No, amorcito... he means The Chessmaster is a Human. Metamorphs at least have the possibility of protecting themselves if they haven't changed when they're in trouble, but a Human is defenseless against the Powered."

Frank quickly jumped in. "Right... and he opposes Legendary Unlimited. After what I heard from him about them, I'm not surprised he's scared about revealing who he is."

Despite Juan's expression looking like the neutrality was forced, he kept a surprisingly stable tone. "And you trust him, Corazon?"

Spending a moment to think about the question, Frank ultimately nodded. "Cy trusts him, and our discussion was open, honest, and... to be honest, he had a lot of really good advice."

Chance raised an eyebrow as he took a huge bite of chorizo. "Like what?"

Thinking about the answer, Frank chewed on a crunchy piece of plantain, swallowing before answering. "Well, he knows what's going on with the State Department's interest in Merc's Metamorphs and he has a few ideas as to what they have going on."

Juan leaned forward. "...like?"

Setting down his fork, Frank reached for his glass, but didn't drink until after he stated "He seems to think that the State Department is going to contact me soon... The Chessmaster said that we're going to have some state-sanctioned activity this weekend."

Cy piped in. "Technically he didn't stay 'state-sanctioned'... it's more likely than not that the feds would disavow involvement in whatever they have planned for us."

Juan raised an eyebrow. "Did you say 'us'? I thought we agreed that you were going to stay in reserve since you're not trained for the field."

Rather than wait for Juan's statement to be addressed Chance interjected. "You think it's possible that The Chessmaster is some kind of government stooge?"

Both Frank and Christopher spoke at the same time. "No."

The Asian student let Frank tackle elaborating. "He said he wants to help us break free of government control."

Chance didn't relent. "When you say 'us' do you mean Merc's Metamorph, or the United States as a whole?"

Cy answered the follow-up question. "The Chessmaster isn't an anarchist, he just objects to state puppets and people in power pulling strings."

Juan spoke again, returning to his unanswered question. "And where does that leave The Rook exactly?"

Frank sighed. "To be honest, I'm still not sure about having The Rook in the field-- like we said: he's not trained for it... but The Chessmaster also made a good point about us sticking together."

Chance started shoveling up some shredded pork onto an arepa, speaking before taking a bite. "I thought we all agreed he'd be safest staying home."

Christopher spoke up for himself. "To be honest, I'd feel safer going along with Merc's Metamorphs than trying to hide somewhere hoping I'm not found out."

Frank doubled-down. "Plus, if you think about it, The Rook has some pretty handy powers that I'm sure we could put to good use in the field."

Chance swallowed his bite of food, the loaded arepa hovering near his mouth so he could ask his next question. "Not to sound like a stickler for details or anything, but what would that do to our Net Rating?"

Juan provided an answer. "The Rook doesn't have a Net Rating yet since he hasn't really done anything... if he's working with Merc's Metamorphs he'd adopt their score."

Christopher interjected. "Technically team ups can happen without scores being combined, so I'd think for the first few missions The Rook would still be a Net Neutral on his own until it can be documented that he's truly joined the team."

Frank nodded. "Well... once THAT happens it'd be a good way to help protect him-- Merc's Metamorphs can help secure a 'Good Guy' rating for him.... right guys?"

Juah nodded. "True... and for that to happen, The Rook would have to actually take part in the missions and be seen working along with Merc's Metamorphs to get that recognition."

Chance swallowed his latest bite of food. "Okay then... so how 'bout it? We all good with adding a fourth member to the field team?"

Everyone around the table nodded, and it was a done deal. Smiling, Frank reached out and took hold of one of Christopher's hands; Juan and Chance shared the other one. They all spoke in unison "Welcome to the team."

* * * * *

The rest of the school week was a matter of 'hurry up and wait' for Frank. It was a surreal situation in which life continued like it always had but in the back of his mind (and in the forefront during quiet moments) the young man knew that he was waiting for something to happen... something big. Merc's Metamorphs had gone to great lengths to stay away from anything governmental or political but, over the course of the prior two weeks they had been pulled into it without any real opportunity to say no. He hated it.

The message arrived Friday morning before he'd awakened; it was waiting for him when he checked Merc's cell: the state department had a job for them. He took the time to familiarize himself with what little information was available in the attached protected file, got dressed, and went out into the main room. As usual, Juan was already up and sitting at the table, scrolling through what was probably the news on his tablet as he sipped at his morning coffee. Chance was just exiting his own room. "Hey... bed-head is a good look for you, Frank."

"Fuck off, Chance." Despite the harsh greeting, it was mellowed as they shared a kiss, and went to the table to each give one to Juan.

Once all of them were seated, Juan's eyes migrated back to Frank. "Something up, amor? You're looking pale. Estas infermo?"

Frank shook his head, setting Merc's cell on the able. "No... not sick. We have a mission from the State Department."

As expected, both his boyfriends tensed a little. Chance was the first to recover. "Alright... so what's up? What do they want us to do? Destabilize another South American Country? Santagua was--"

Juan silenced him with an elbow. "Mocoso."

Chance smirked. "Bless you. Need a tissue?"

Frank pulled the attention back to him. "I don't have all the details. We're due for a briefing at Vance Air-force Base in Oklahoma. Special projects division."

Juan scowled. "Air-force usually implies travel, corazones... we can't do that and still keep our Metamorph forms. I don't think any of us really want the government knowing who we are, Net Positive or no."

Chance's smile disappeared. "We have classes... can't just disappear.... and... yeah... the whole Metamorph thing. There's no way we'll manage to hold our forms if they plan on shipping us to who-the-hell-knows-where."

Frank, who'd had longer to consider it than his boyfriends, had already thought up their best case scenario. "We can leave early tonight and get to Oklahoma City before midnight... that'll give us some flexibility."

Juan picked up on the plan quickly. "That would help us maximize our time to be in our Metamorph forms after showing up on base."

Smiling, Frank nodded. "Right. Not only will it give us the most amount of time in our Metamorph forms but it means I won't have selected my powers so, if it starts to look like there'll be problem then we can get the fuck out."

Chance let out a sigh. "That'll solve the immediate problem, but then we'll have the feds after us. At this point I don't like ANY of our options."

Juan reached out and patted Chance's hand. "Maybe... but if we stay close together then Demon can help us keep on our toes. It'll be a lot easier to pass through walls and fences if we stick to someone who can phase through solid material."

That reassurance seemed to help. Puffing out his chest, Chance brushed his bangs out of his face. "Well, sure... and being prepared will help too. I don't gotta wait to be a Metamorph to make a difference. I should have some time today between classes to spend a little time scouting out the area online-- check out street views, see unclassified satellite imaging... that sort of thing. Better to be prepared rather than going in blind."

Frank reached out and patted both his boyfriends' shoulders. "Sounds like a plan. I'll let Christopher know. Let's all plan on skipping our afternoon classes and meet up back here so we can organize things and head out."

Juan downed the last of his coffee in one go before standing up. "I'll swing by the commissary and grab some packaged sandwiches. This is going to be Cy's first time out in the field and we should take a few minutes so he'll know what to expect and understand how we do things... it'd be a good idea to have something to eat while we talk."

Chance nodded, also standing up as he patted his slightly padded gut. "Sounds like a good idea... I always work better when I'm not working on an empty stomach."

Frank laughed. "Yeah... except when we were in Louisiana that one time and we had to shift right after you ate that huge bowl of gumbo."

Juan joined Frank in laughter, but Chance only scowled. "Ugh... throwing up as a Human into the muzzle of a Metamorph is no fun... everything coming up while your body's going through the changes... you two just better hope YOU never have to go through something like that, god damn it!"

Frank and Juan laughed louder, but the offered hugs to Chance in comfort; in the end he ended up laughing too. It was a good start to a stressful day.

* * * * *

The afternoon meet-up went exactly as Frank had expected; Juan spent most of his time going over the 'how-to' 'what-to' and 'when-to' of being part of Merc's Metamorphs while everyone ate their sandwiches. Frank took his turn to talk going over a discussion of their transportation of equipment and what to do when they change into and out of their Metamoprh forms. Chance had enough time to polish off his sandwich (and a bag of chips he'd grabbed on his way from class) while everyone else was speaking so he was able to conclude the discussion by explaining their 'go bags', which consisted of two bags: one they'd put their Human clothes into, and the other which already held their Metamorph uniforms.

Cy, as usual, seemed to catch on quickly, quickly and efficiently reiterating the plans using his own words to confirm that he understood. By the time they had all eaten and final prep was concluded, the four of them were heading toward the roof. Chance, in the front, called back to everyone "I put a 'no entry' sign on the exit onto the roof so we should be free to get changed without having to wait for some privacy."

Their exit onto the roof was also flawless which, as Chance promised, was vacant. As Juan and Chance got undressed Frank showed Christopher where they stored their bags onto of the stairwell and explained that he'd set up his powers to make transportation as easy as possible. He explained shrinking everyone to make teleportation easy, and then how he could make little within-eyesight 'hops' to get somewhere he hadn't yet visited. Cy nodded thoughtfully. "Ah, yes... because you cannot teleport somewhere you have never been. That makes sense."

Before long, the four of them were naked and Frank, smiling as he gazed at the enjoyable view of his boyfriends, elected to start their change before he got TOO distracted, and then his focus to the alterations within his body. He closed his eyes, paying attention to his breathing, and measuring the process of his shifting into his Metamorph form by how long it took for his breath to get from his lungs to his nose-- once he was a Kangacobra it had almost twice as long a distance to travel, and he could feel it as it exited. It was a trick he'd long-since learned to help him ignore the unpleasant sounds and occasional unpleasant sensations of his bones popping, shifting, and reshaping.

The Rook's Christopher-like voice cawed out softly, a hesitant vibrato. "I... don't think I am ever going to get used to that feeling."

Demon, who was closest to the Raven, smirked. "Sure ya will... some of us even kinda get off on it."

Merc knew exactly what the Pitbull was getting at even before seeing that Demon's tongue was sticking out of the side of his muzzle gleefully, elbowing The Rook as he gestured toward Bruiser; the Orca was on his hands and knees: semen painted the floor beneath him. Only once Bruiser saw all eyes on him did he bother responding indignantly, still panting. "What? There's nothing wrong with enjoying the change."

Merc smirked. "Hey... no judgment!"

The Kangacobra waited until his team gathered around him before he activated his first power: control over size. One by one he reduced his team, picking them each up and setting them into his pouch before activating his second power. Merc's Metamorphs had never been in Oklahoma City, but Merc remembered job they'd done in Tulsa in early Spring, meaning they didn't have too far to go. In less than an hour they were on the outskirts of their target destination, giving them plenty of leeway.

Remaining on the outskirts, Demon shared some of the information he'd collected, but Merc was only half paying attention; he was watching The Rook, who cast a far-off gaze, into the distance. He jumped in surprise when the Raven's dark-brown orbs began to low white. "Hey! You okay, Rook?"

The Bird was very nearly giddy. "I can patch into security cameras! I can even see through them!"

Bruiser offered a muted grunt. "That could be useful."

Demon chuckled. "Hey... you may be field-worthy after all, birdy!"

From there, the four remained off of the raised shoulder of the highway long enough to drop their travel bags, but The Rook asked for Merc to wait a minute before shifting them back into their Human forms. The Bird also had to calm them all down when a car pulled up on the side of the road above them. "I drove it here."

Christopher had a LOT of explaining to do as the four of them got undressed; apparently The Rook had a LOT of control over digital technology and, with automobiles becoming more and more computerized, they were within his capacity to use. Chance laughed at that, reaching over and ruffling the Asian student's hair. "Dude! No more walking a half mile into town."

Juan was a little more cautious. "And what about the car's owner?

Cy smiled mildly. "Chance mentioned the hotel we were going to stay at-- I brought this one from that parking lot, so we'll return it right away."

Chance grinned even wider. "Yeah... and it's not like he has to worry about any security cameras catching us since he can control em!"

Juan wasn't convinced. "Except that doesn't work when he's in Human form."

Climbing up the embankment, Christopher called down at them. "I brought it out so that it wouldn't be seen by any... and I can get us back the same way."

Still smirking, Chance gave Juan a gentle punch to the shoulder. "See? Field-worthy!"