FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

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It is an old saying that nothing exists in a vacuum. Both nature and society operate with many pieces of the whole, acting and interacting, creating something new in turn. Still, it is a lesson that few learn easily and history is full of the mistakes of those who fail to realize what happens when certain things that should never be combined inevitably are.

Chapter 1-04 (Hybrid)

Early morning light spilled through the wall made of milky glass bricks, illuminating the moderately sized one room apartment. Numerous potted plants lined the apartment; some hung front the ceiling, others spilled over the edges of tables and there was even a small section of old trellis set up in front of the window for climbing plants to cling to. As the sun rose and the light filled the apartment more and more, Emile Forest started to stir, shifting a bit in bed before he sat up. His honey colored eyes slipped open and he looked around softly before stepping out of bed.

While Emile cleaned up well for his work as a therapist, on his own he seemed quite relaxed. His light brown hair brushed the nape of his neck, a soft bit of stubble covered his cheeks and his naked body glowed a creamy white in the pale morning light. He picked up a mist bottle from a spot by the bed, swishing the faintly blue liquid around inside of the bottle before he started to mist the plants. The beads of moisture glittered in the light as they clung to the leaves and Emile's smile only grew.

Sometimes Emile wondered about the path his life had taken him. His parents had sent him to Trinity to become the foremost expert on psychology just as they had been and their parents had before them. He had even been named after a famous sociologist... but that was not Emile's passion. His longing, his calling, had always been plants. He had accepted being sent to Trinity because the world's foremost experiments with new species of plants had been at Cellucore, one of the founding companies of Trinity.

The plan had been to earn enough money as a therapist to slowly transition into his field of interest, but one year of practice had become two, then three. It was almost as if every day his dreams were further away. Emile moved around the apartment, pausing when he noticed a particularly vibrant lime green flower blossom on one of the vines. He slowly brought the mister down to his side, moving over to the vine, looking at the flower.

With a gentle caress, Emile felt the waxy, almost spongy blossom and the faint liquid it held inside. It was the cornerstone of his entrancing serum, the serum that had got him his success. Emile looked at the vine for a long moment before he plucked the blossom, wincing a bit as he did. He always felt a little guilty harvesting it, but it kept the plant producing. Emile brought the flower over to a small machine and dropped it in, turning the machine on. The flower was pressed, blended and then spun, extracting the needed ingredients drop by drop.

Emile felt another bit of shame as a few drops of the precious liquid entered the vial. The serum had afforded him his success, allowing him to get to the deepest levels of one's subconscious for treatment, but even that had been corrupted by his frustration. Without knowing where he was supposed to be in life, Emile had started to gain his satisfaction vicariously through others. He learned his patients' darkest, most sensual sexual memories and had them re-live them in detail, imagining him in their place.

"Not today..." Emile whispered, pulling the vial from the machine once the LED had turned green. Emile closed his eyes, "Today I do some good in this world." Emile said, opening his eyes to cork the bottle. Today he would only use the serum to help someone. ****

The automated bus system of Trinity was unrivaled anywhere in the world, though there were a few places even they didn't go. Sometimes the roads were too narrow or the traffic was too unpredictable even for adaptive artificial intelligence. For Orleans Avenue, it had been a choice by the community. As Gideon and Slater walked down the street hand in hand, it was easy to see what the neighborhood community had been going for.

Cobblestone streets ran between brick buildings and the lamp posts were quite retro. The street side shops and cafes had apartments or lofts built above them and the entire neighborhood seemed settled with a bit of old world charm. There were flower box planters in the window sills and a few stray cats running around. There wasn't anything quite like it in all of Trinity, that being the reason Gideon had dragged Slater out of their own apartment for a day on the town.

"Gideon, they say vampires love this area. Are you sure we should be out here?" Slater asked with concern.

"Only the rich vampires live in South End and they only come out at night. Even when they do, they wouldn't be caught alive on Orleans. It's too 'lower class' for them. Come on, it's going to be fine." Gideon said. They passed a bistro and a bakery and were nearing the end of the street when a relatively small store front caught Slater's eye. Unlike the other buildings, two entire walls of the lower floor were glass, creating a completely transparent view of the three way stop of Orleans Avenue and Cross street, beyond which was a vast park bordering the fringes of the richest estates in the entire town.

Slater moved over toward the shop, his eyes drawn to the windows. Glass shelves had been set up along both walls, allowing the sunlight to enter and come across a vast array of merchandise ranging from crystals to glass vials of potions to blown glass art to common gem stones and polished rocks. The effect was a rainbow of color casting across the store floor. Slater's jaw fell as he saw it all.

"Can we go? Please?" Slater begged, pulling on Gideon's arm. Gideon smirked and reached up to stroke Slater's blond hair.

"Of course we can go, we're here to experience the city and have fun." Gideon said.

"Having extra money in your pocket has to help." Slater said. Gideon shrugged as they approached the store front.

"Well, working at the miracle pet clinic has some perks. I'm just glad the boss isn't asking questions." Gideon said.

"And charging a tiny bit more." Slater smirked.

"Instant healing to pre-injury conditions is a rare offer these days." Gideon replied, reaching out for the door to the shop. As he rested his hand on the door handle, the metal felt particularly cool against his skin. Gideon was a little surprised, though it was still pretty early in the day. He pulled the door and it opened, an old copper bell jangling to announce their presence. Gideon moved in and Slater followed, looking around curiously.

While the two glass walls were bathed in sunlight, the other two walls of the shop looked almost too dark. The shelves were built like wooden cubby holes painted black. The cubby holes were filled with more relics and items and plants, though they seemed more weeds and insects. The two looked around slowly, Gideon heading to look at the crystals while Slater drifted toward the cubby holes, running his hands over some of the items. On the back wall a curtain shifted as a young man stepped through. He had blond hair that was almost frizzy, flowing down to his shoulders. His eyes were hazel in color, practically gold. A smile crossed his lips as he saw the two potential customers.

"Welcome to Leo's Curio shop. I'm Leo." The blond said.

"Curio?" Slater asked.

"Like curiosity?" Gideon asked. Leo nodded.

"There isn't any place in Trinity with more trinkets, baubles, charms and artifacts than I have... at least ones tailor made to improve your life in one way or another." Leo said proudly.

"I know you don't live in East End, but if this stuff was valuable, wouldn't someone have smashed the windows for a grab and go by now?" Gideon asked. Leo gave a slight smile.

"They're welcome to try, but the windows are enchanted." Leo said. Gideon all but rolled his eyes.

"Enchanted... next you'll be telling me you have voodoo dolls in stock." Gideon said. Leo chuckled.

"No, those have to be custom ordered... They're voodoo dolls after all." Leo replied. Gideon grew even more agitated at that.

"Come on Slater, this is just... for tourists or something." Gideon said, edging for the door. Slater was torn between what he was looking at and Gideon wanting to leave. Eventually he stopped what he was doing and turned to go, but Leo reached out a hand and rested it on Slater's shoulder.

"If you ever change your mind and decide that you don't want to believe in the trappings of science, feel free to come back." Leo said. Slater looked into the man's gold eyes for a moment before he moved off, the two leaving the shop and heading down the street.

"Can you believe that guy, enchanted windows... It's probably just carbon coated glass and he told some customers that it was magically protected." Gideon said.

"Not everything can be explained away by science, can it? I mean... what about your abilities?" Slater asked. Gideon blushed.

"That's different, that's just a science we don't understand yet, unlocking parts of me that were dormant... or something." Gideon said.

"How about we have a chai tea and leave it at that?" Slater asked. Gideon nodded, smirking at that. Back at the shop Leo stood in the doorway, his mane of blond hair flowing a bit in the wind. He watched the two disappear before moving back into his shop and passing through the curtain. The back room was little more than a warehouse of merchandise though a stairwell to the left led up into the apartment. Leo passed crates from Egypt and Greece and moved over to his work table. A thunder egg had been hollowed out and a digital clock had been slipped into the center. Leo had been working on connecting the power source when the customers arrived, but to his surprise the clock was on... and counting down.

The digital display did not register a normal increment of time, instead showing eighty six thousand, four hundred and twenty two minutes and eleven seconds. Leo watched the seconds tick by before the minute advanced, though after a few more moments the momentary surge of power had been used up and the display faded to black again. Leo slowly turned, looking back to the curtain that led to his shop, wondering what sort of people had just visited his shop. ****

Deep green tea spiraled out of the tea pot into the small glasses, swirling around the porcelain. Emile set the tea pot down before he sat in his chair again, looking across the desk at his client. Sergio Loche had been a client since Emile had opened his practice, though Sergio had never seemed quite as agitated. Emile looked into Sergio's eyes gently.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about what's bothering you? I can't tell anyone Sergio, it's doctor patient confidentiality." Emile said.

"I-I-I can't, it's... I want to Doctor Forest, but it's safer if... No, no." Sergio said, wrapping his arms around him tightly. Emile knew that the secret was eating him up, it wasn't healthy at all.

"At least have some tea Sergio." Emile said. Sergio hesitated, looking at the drink. It had always relaxed him before, or so he remembered. Sergio took a breath before he lifted the cup and sipped at it, though the tea stained his lips as he drank, leaving them faintly green. The sweet, aloe taste flowed over his tongue and the effects began to settle in. Sergio relaxed, his eyes dilating a bit as he leaned back in the chair. Emile watched as his patient's muscles relaxed for the first time since he had arrived. Sergio's heart beat slowed, he stopped sweating and he let out a deep, lingering sigh.

Emile smiled, taking the cup of tea, swapping it out for an identical fresh one he could pour new tea into once the trance was over. Emile tried to figure out where to start with Sergio, though a few moments of peace certainly wouldn't hurt either. Emile flipped through the notes he had on Sergio before noting a trend. While he hadn't been to such critical levels of stress in the preceding weeks, there was a slow build.

"Sergio, how is work going? The new project?" Emile asked. Even in his trance, Sergio stiffened a bit.

"It... isn't..." Sergio hesitated. Emile tensed a bit. First Slater had resisted the trance and now Sergio. Emile worried even more that he was exhausting his favorite plant, but when Sergio sobbed, Emile realized that Sergio's defenses had melted away. "I've never seen someone die before..." Sergio sobbed. Emile's eyes widened.

"Who died? What happened?" Emile whispered.

"Doctor Lawrence... I told her not to go in, but she thought it was alright, that nothing like that could be dangerous... and at first it was fine, but... Oh Linda..." Sergio murmured, shaking gently.

"Sergio, it's alright to talk about it, you are safe... You are safe here with me." Emile said.

"I'm not safe anywhere, they know I am a liability.... They're following me." Sergio admitted.

"Who is following you?" Emile asked.

"They are... The men from work." Sergio whimpered.

"From Cellucore?" Emile asked gently. Sergio nodded, a tear streaming down his cheek. Emile took a breath. Some were more coherent in their trance while others weren't able to verbalize everything before their brain had jumped to a new track, but it sounded like Sergio had seen something bad and was on a short leash because of it.

"Sergio, whenever you start thinking about what happened at work, I want you to think of all the good times you had there, with Linda and with the others. You'll focus on the positive. You know it's safe to deal with the problems later... Focus on your work and keeping your superiors happy for a little while longer." Emile said. He had to keep Sergio alive and safe until he could figure out a way to help him better.

"Think of the good... focus on work." Sergio murmured.

"And when you wake up, you're going to feel like a weight has been lifted off of your shoulders." Emile added, pouring a fresh cup of tea for Sergio. He pulled out a small eye dropper from his desk and leaned over, dropping a single drip on Sergio's lips. The liquid seemed to evaporate from his body heat, but as it did, Sergio stirred a bit more. Emile had just enough time to hide the dropper before Sergio blinked and looked around.

"What... was I saying?" Sergio asked. Emile smiled gently.

"That you were a bit tense." Emile replied. Sergio looked down at himself before pausing, rubbing his arms a bit before he took a sip of the new tea.

"Well, I guess all I needed was a bit of tea. I haven't felt this good since I started on the new project." Sergio said softly, "Those were heady days..."

"I imagine they were." Emile said. Sergio smiled, though he spotted the clock and his eyes widened.

"Is it already ten thirty? I must have really let my mind wander." Sergio said, "They're going to kill me if I'm late..." Sergio murmured. Emile nearly jumped at the turn of phrase.

"You work today?" Emile asked.

"Yes, I took an early lunch for the appointment, but it's alright. I still have enough time I think. I'll have to risk the nexus bridge, but it'll work out. Thank you doc, I really feel a lot better." Sergio said, standing and moving out. Emile sprung to his feet, moving out of the door with Sergio.

"If you need time off from work, feel free to take it!" Emile tried, but Sergio was already out of the office and down the hall. The secretary looked at Emile in surprise but Emile turned and moved back into the office, closing the door behind him. He stood there for a moment before he felt compelled to go to the window. His fingers plied the blinds apart gently and he peered out, seeing Sergio pull out into traffic. A moment later, a car down the street pulled out and moved to follow.

"What have I done?" Emile whispered softly. ****

Sunlight streamed down through a skylight into one of the many horticulture labs at Cellucore. Some of the light was refracted around, illuminating a scrim around the upper edge of the lab, giving ambient light to the racks and racks of foliage, though the sterile white and light gray floors seemed a contrast to all the plants. Sergio worked away on the plants, splicing pieces together, germinating seeds, setting up formula mixtures. It was the newest step in two hundred years of hybridizing, but above it all were the watchful eyes of Sergio's superiors, gazing through the two way windows as if the horticulture lab was an operating theater.

The men looking on dressed very different to the scientists, wearing finely pressed suits made of the most refined materials. Their hair was shorn short, their faces clean shaven. It was hard to tell one of them apart from the rest. Even their watches were identical, rated the most practical for the business year. One of the men looked at Sergio with doubt.

"He looks different, doesn't he?" he asked slowly. The others looked and considered.

"Fewer errors." One piped up.

"More relaxed." Another said. The first grimaced.

"Exactly. A man doesn't hold a secret like the Lawrence case so easily, least of all a man like Sergio Loche." The man said, turning to look at the lithe man in the back of the room, "Lahey, what did he do?"

"He went to his shrink for a regularly scheduled appointment." Lahey replied. The man posing the question grimaced more.

"And if you can't trust your shrink with your secrets, who can you trust?" the man whispered.

"Director, you aren't suggesting he gave away all the details, are you?" one of the others asked. The director chuckled.

"Does it even matter? What if he mentioned Linda? What if he mentioned the night blossom? Any piece of the puzzle spells disaster for us unless we can clean up the pieces. We're on the verge of curing half a dozen diseases and all we have to do is get past this bump in the road..." the director said.

"What are we going to do?" Lahey asked.

"Dig up everything you can tell me about his doctor. I want to know what the most likely accidents are regarding his lifestyle." The director said.

"Cellucore will never condone this..." Lahey replied.

"Just like they don't condone the ultraviolet pills that protect the well to do vampires, or the profits such a rare medication brings them? Cellucore will endure the death of one citizen. He's only a therapist after all." The director said. Lahey slowly nodded before he moved out of the lab and into the room beyond. With every step he took away from the lab he felt better until he finally reached the computer lab and felt almost human.

Lahey lowered into a chair and opened a search engine, typing in 'Emile Forest'. A split second later he had twenty billion responses. He grimaced before he narrowed the results to Trinity and soon got a website address. He followed the link and found the doctor's web page regarding what services he offered, what his education was in and various other biographical information. Lahey flicked through the pages, realizing that posing as a patient was an easy way to get to him, but something slowly started to stick out to Lahey as he went through the pictures... there was a plant in every one.

Lahey started focusing on the pictures, identifying aloe plants, cacti, sensitive plants, bug eaters and all manner of flora. Lahey leaned back in his chair for a moment before he decided to check something on a whim. The internal Cellucore database was opened and Lahey entered Emile Forest's name once more, only this time there was a single entry. Lahey leaned forward in anticipation as he opened the file. The screen filled with a purchase history from the company, the purchase of hundreds of different kinds of seeds, bulbs, sprouts and plant grafts to hybridize.

"He's a plant nut..." Lahey murmured before he realized the irony of it all. Everything had started because of a plant... a plant that held the keys to solving age old mysteries. Lahey sprung to his feet and made his way back into lab, causing the director to spin around with a glare on his face.

"This better be important." The director shouted.

"We use the plant..." Lahey said. The director's eyes widened in shock at the audacity of his subordinate, but he slowly narrowed his eyes to a look of consideration.

"Tell me more..." he said softly. ****

The bus had come to a stand still on the Nexus bridge in the center of the three islands, traffic clogged up as everyone tried to take the shortcut. Gideon sighed, looking at the monitor. All other busses had been redirected to avoid delays but they weren't so fortunate. Every so often the screen would shift to the Polarity Industries logo, followed by apologies for the delay before switching back to the traffic grid. Gideon was so lost in thought that when a hand rested on his leg he almost jumped. Gideon turned to look at Slater before blushing.

"Sorry..." he said softly.

"You've been stressed out all day, what's wrong?" Slater asked. Gideon considered.

"It started a few weeks ago, a feeling like something dark is pulsing through the city and I haven't been able to find it. I hate being constantly anxious." Gideon said. Slater chuckled.

"It isn't a walk in the park, trust me... But you've got to learn how to adapt like I did. You're right; I spend too much time in the apartment just wanting to be close to you but we need to get out, get away from the stresses of the job sometimes. After my appointment we should go to the spa and get pampered and then tonight we should have a romantic moonlit picnic." Slater said.

"Do you remember what happened the last time we had a night time picnic? You almost died..." Gideon said.

"Yeah, but it was totally worth it." Slater smirked, leaning over to kiss Gideon. Gideon melted into the kiss, wrapping his arms around his lover. The two lingered for a long moment before parting.

"So, all we have to do is get through your appointment." Gideon smiled. The bus suddenly shifted forward but rather than stopping a few feet ahead, it continued to move. It seemed that the traffic was starting to let up.

"Thank goodness." Slater beamed happily. ****

Slater and Gideon had arrived at Doctor Forest's office with less than a minute to spare but the discussion of going out and about had been a good segue into the day's discussions. Slater had been talking for almost a half hour before he paused mid sentence. Emile quirked his head in surprise.

"Did you lose your thought?" Emile asked. Slater shook his head.

"No, I just realized there was no tea today." Slater said. Emile tried to suppress his own blush before shaking his head.

"I didn't have any today..." Emile said, feeling guilty. After the strange incident with Sergio he was worried about the consequences of his actions and he had been pulling back a bit. Still, he was there to help and Slater was his patient, "So you have a romantic evening planned?" Emile asked.

"Yeah, Gideon needs to get away from the stress of his work at the veterinary clinic. They're expecting everyone there to perform miracles, but I know getting out will be good for me too." Slater said. Emile smiled at that.

"It really is, and it really shows how far you've come since we started having our sessions." Emile said. Slater nodded.

"I remember when I first started that Gideon had to drag me here practically in chains. I didn't want to leave his place for anything." Slater said softly.

"Life isn't easy where you came from. It isn't easy anywhere, but particularly on the streets. I'm just glad that you were able to get a footing." Emile said.

"And someone that cares." Slater added. Emile smiled.

"He certainly does care at that." Emile added before a chirping came from his desk. Emile looked at it and took a breath, "My, time sure flies. Do you feel that today's session helped you?" Emile asked. Slater nodded.

"I think it helped clarify a few things for me and give me perspective. It was very good." Slater said. Emile grinned.

"Then it seems our work is done here for today and you can go have some fun." Forest grinned. Slater nodded and stretched a bit before he stood up.

"Thanks again doc, take care." Slater said, moving out of the office, taking a quick glance to the wood carving above the door. Gideon sprung to his feet and took Slater's arm, moving out of the office with him, leaving Emile sitting at his desk. For so long he ended a session by getting rid of the evidence of what he had been doing, but there was no tea to brain wash anyone with. He had done some good the old fashioned way and it simply felt good.

"Doctor?" Came the call of his receptionist. Emile had expected her to be gone on her trip to the mainland already. He stood up and moved into the waiting room, spotting her at the door with a delivery man.

"Susan, you're still here." Emile smiled.

"I had to come back for my keys and I met him on the stairs." Susan said.

"Doctor Forest?" Lahey asked, lifting the hat of his delivery uniform, "This package needs to be signed by you." He said.

"You have this?" Susan asked. Emile nodded.

"Go ahead Susan, I'll take care of everything." Emile said, accepting the delivery tablet. He pulled out the stylus and signed his name to it and Lahey handed over the package as Susan moved out of the office. Lahey glanced sideways, relieved that the receptionist was leaving. He had hoped only Emile would see him.

"So what is it?" Emile asked, starting to unclip the plastic latches on the reusable box.

"I wouldn't know sir, just a delivery man." Lahey replied. Emile got the latches open enough for the sides to come down, and to his surprise, thick velvety leaves emerged. Nestled inside the box was a small pot holding a flower with the most marvelous green and purple blossom. Emile let out a coo as he slipped the pot from the box and lifted it up.

"I've never... seen a plant like this before... and that's saying something." Emile whispered before he looked at the box again, setting the plant down. He pulled out a slip of paper. It was an invoice for the shipment. It had Emile's bank information but stated that the order had been held up. Emile's eyebrows lifted before he wondered if he had ordered some exotic species of plant late some night and not realized it had been backlogged.

"Well, have a good night sir." Lahey said, moving for the door. Emile glanced at the Clock and saw it was only three in the afternoon.

"And a good afternoon." Emile said, picking the plant up and heading back to his office. Lahey shut the door behind him and moved down the stairs, pulling off his hat and unzipping his jacket before he made it back to the street, folding the uniform up under his arm as he took the path that would get him away from the building as fast as possible. With luck he would only have to visit one more time to collect the evidence. ****

Gideon hadn't anticipated heading back to South End for a second time that day, but as he felt the hands of the masseuse working his muscles, he realized how wrong he had been. He let out a soft moan, his face squished into the rubber ring pillow as the fingers pressed into his back and worked down around his spine. Normally Slater would have been jealous of another man touching Gideon, but he too was lost in his own massage. Gideon didn't realize how much stress had built up in his muscles and he was glad to finally be letting it go.

Gideon closed his eyes and relaxed his entire body, feeling the slight air currents in the room, smelling the faint essential oils used in the massage cream. It was enough to put him perfectly at ease, and after his long week it was enough to allow him to pass out. Gideon felt his mind slip down through the levels of sleep before he found himself reenacting his day in the haze of unconsciousness. He felt himself walking down Orleans Avenue, reaching out for the door of the Curio shop... but he wasn't reaching for it with just one hand, two large hands gripped the door. He felt the cold metal against the balls of flesh on his paw pads as the wind ripped through his fur. The door before him opened and he stepped in, but it wasn't normal at all...

The light coming through the windows in the room stopped half way across the shop, striking some sort of barrier running down the middle. The light and the dark, the good and the evil. He looked around and saw faint auras around the items; blue, green, purple, pink - it was chaos, a collection of everything and nothing. Gideon took a step further into the shop but as he reached for the dark side he felt a chill run down his spine as if the ground was falling from beneath him and he had a long way to fall. The sensation caused his tail flick around in nervousness. As the puff ball of black fur hit his leg in his dream, Gideon's eyes snapped open again.

He panted gently, his heart racing before he realized it was just a dream... a very strange dream at that. Gideon paused for a moment. It wasn't the first time he'd had a dream where he wasn't human and it wasn't the first time that he felt that there was a looming danger below him, but this was the clearest it had been. Gideon considered what he had seen in the dream, the eclectic mix of items at the shop. They didn't come from the same place, there wasn't a coherence to them except that one side of the shop was light and one was dark, just like it was trying to appeal to consumers of both.

"We're going to have to go back to that shop sometime." Gideon said out of the blue.

"That trinket shop?" Slater murmured from where his face was smashed into the pillow.

"Yeah..." Gideon said, making up his mind.

"Okay, but not before the picnic." Slater replied. Gideon considered.

"Alright, not before the picnic." He agreed, giving back into the massage. ****

The faint clatter of keys echoed in the office, muffled by the many potted plants but echoing off of the faux wood bookshelves. Emile was not a man easily distracted, but when he had a mission before him he was relentless. He'd spent hours combing Cellucore's database and then the entire hypernet for any plant remotely close to the one he'd been presented with. The purple blossoms and lighter green base was tantalizing. Emile had gotten close a few times, but it just wasn't right. The closest plant in the database was the plant he used for his serum, but even it was a distant relation.

Doctor Forest leaned back slowly and paused. He was used to getting hit with a beam of sunlight when he reclined. He turned, looking out of his windows, realizing the sky was not filled with daylight but instead had settled into a soft pink. Emile grimaced, realizing just how long he'd sunk into his pet project. Still, he hoped he had done some good. It seemed that Slater had made some good progress at the very least.

Emile stood up and moved to tidy his office for the night, putting everything in its place. As Emile moved, the light outside continued to dim as the sun sank and the moon rose. The last stray strands of sunlight left the windows, plunging the room into dim artificial light. There was nothing abnormal about the transition to night, nothing different in the office either - save for the unusual plant. Ever so softly, the purple blossoms started to open up wider, the waxy interior portion segmenting and splitting as well. Inside was a pocket of tiny yellow spores, spores that started to release like microscopic cotton wood balls.

Doctor Forest bent down to pick up a few books, moving to slide them back into their proper places, but as he lifted the books he started to feel a little short of breath. At first it was a faint pressure on his lungs, a tightness he experienced after running... but it was getting worse. He started to wheeze for breath, his lungs all but whistling as he tried to pass air through his wind pipe. Emile turned around in confusion, his eyes scanning the room before he spotted the flower and its differences.

Emile approached the flower, but a few steps caused his condition to deteriorate even faster. He stumbled a bit, his brown hair falling across his face. Emile grabbed his shirt and pulled it up over his nose like a make shift dust mask, taking a few labored breaths. He reached up to check his own pulse, his fingers pressing to his neck. His heart rate was slowing, his blood oxygenation was dropping. His skin was warm and clammy, almost rubbery with sweat. It had the hallmarks of a severe allergic reaction.

Doctor Forest moved for his first aid kit before he stopped in his tracks, glancing back at the flower... the flower that had been a mystery to him, a mystery he couldn't resist. It was the perfect bait and it held his attention just long enough to get him close to the pollen or whatever was happening. It had been a trap. Emile grunted sharply and moved to open the window before he stopped, knowing that doing so would expose others to the pollen. He had to get out of there, he had to contain the plant.

Emile stumbled for the door, fumbling for the knob. His fingers slipped twice before he got it open but as he left, he rammed his shoulder into the doorframe. The wooden sign resting on the top of the frame shook off the edge and came down, hitting Forest before landing on the floor, splitting down the middle. The carved saying had been split down the middle, "Let this be your entrance to good health." Now starting with 'trance'. Emile paid the sign little mind, moving for the office door.

The doctor stumbled out of his office and moved down the stairs, coughing and wheezing. He was deteriorating fast. Getting away from the plant wasn't helping. His body was still rejecting the pollen. Emile moved down the stairs, glancing at his wrist, noticing his skin was growing paler. He could feel his muscles aching, even his bones. Whatever it was, it was severe... too severe for an epinephrine pen, but that wasn't the only recourse Emile had at his disposal.

"Homeopathic..." Emile said hoarsely to himself, moving out of the front door. He had studied plants for so long, he knew their properties by heart... and he knew the cure waited at home in his own garden. Emile managed to make it to his car, getting inside before he turned the key on and merged into traffic. Thankfully it was a bit light as he swerved down the road, feeling dizzier by the moment. Around the corner Lahey peered out, glad to see that the trap had worked. He knew Emile would be found dead soon. The only thing he had left to do was to clear the Night Blossom out of the office once morning got there. It was all a matter of time now. ****

The door to Doctor Forest's apartment slammed open as Emile used the last of his strength to get home. He toppled to the floor in a sweaty, panting heap. His hair was disheveled, his skin deathly pale and his body sweating up a storm. He tried to force himself up but his limbs didn't work in the slightest. He grunted sharply, trying to summon the last of his strength. His fingers clawed at the floors before he managed to push himself up an inch, then another.

Soon Emile was up enough to crawl forward into the apartment, feeling each inch he gained as if it were a mile in a marathon. His blood shot honey colored eyes looked around the apartment before he started to identify his targets. It took just over a minute for him to reach one of his plant stands loaded down with flowers, resting in front of the glass cube wall. He reached up and grabbed at some blood red leaves with green stripes, plucking them off the plant. He brought them into his hand, using his finger to break and braise the leaves before he tipped them back into his mouth and started to chew.

The taste was incredibly bitter, almost like burned pistachios with a dusty aftertaste, but Emile knew what he was doing. He had to give his body a boost, to trick it into responding to stimulus differently. The bitter taste drew his focus enough that he managed to grab onto the stand and pull himself upright, but doing so sent him into a coughing fit. Emile lifted his sleeve to blot the liquid as he always did but as he removed his arm, the sleeve of his shirt was now stained red with blood. He was running out of time.

Emile turned and moved for his work table, falling against it, knocking several glass pods down with germinating seeds. He grabbed at what he could reach, pulling off seed pods and plant stalks and vials of extracts. The corks were tossed aside as Emile tipped back bottles, guzzling the contents like shot glasses before he moved back to his plants. He broke some, chewed some and took some in whole. Whatever he was doing didn't seem to be having much success yet. The doctor's fevered brain tried to run through the checklist. He had stimulants to keep his body going, he had antioxidants and other extracts to cleanse his body, but he needed more. His body needed a complete reboot.

Forest moved around, coughing up more blood, feeling his vitality draining from him. His body was too wrapped up in dying to process what he needed to live. He needed to reset himself, he needed to be in a safe and comatose state... he needed to be in a trance. The word jumped out at Forest like a neon sign. He turned slowly and looked at the wall of the strange lime colored plant and the machine he used to extract it.

Emile moved toward the wall with staggering steps, feeling the right side of his face starting to go numb. Even as his body failed around him, his mind continued to tick on, leaving the doctor shocked that the answer had been there the whole time. He collapsed against the wall, sliding half way to the floor before he managed to pull himself back up to his feet again. His fingers numbly plucked off some of the lime green flowers by accident but Emile soon caught them and put them into the extractor.

While his strength was weak, Emile was wasting no time. He added more and more of the flowers, packing the extractor full until there was no more room. He kept plucking until the vines before him were bare and the plant was left with nothing but its rich, waxy leaves. Only then did Emile turn on the machine, watching it start to spin and press and whir. With the machine on, Emile leaned into the wall and slid down onto his ass, gasping for breath that wouldn't come.

Each breath was fruitless, feeling as if it was breaking ribs but not bringing him any air. Emile had never felt so terrible in all his life. His left foot soon lost its feeling, only a faint tingling signaling the change. Emile knew that the plant they had tried to kill him with was shutting down his nervous system, burning it out as it went, but he was going to beat it at its own game. The machine spun down before beeping and Emile reached up, fishing for the cup, sliding it out.

His hands shook the cup he clutched but he managed to avoid a spill, bringing the small glass vial that had collected the extract to his lips. He'd always added it to tea, always made it sparingly. He'd never made such a strong dose. There was a chance it could put him into a coma, or worse, but Emile didn't care anymore. It was the only way to save his life... and it was too poetic to ignore. Emile tipped the vial back and felt the oily extract slip over his lips. The pungent taste filled his senses, the hypnotic blend having a faint citrus bite to it beneath layers of aloe, sage and cucumber.

Emile suddenly felt far dizzier, his center of balance thrown far off, but unlike before it was a good dizzy. Emile smiled a bit as he wobbled and fell to the floor. Before he even realized it, his cheek was on the carpet, squished ad his shoulder was off center. Emile struggled to hang onto his consciousness but his thoughts became fewer and further between. Soon Emile's eyes grew glazed with contentment as he stared into the distance, waiting for verbal prompts that would never come.

Emile's heart slowed, his mind quieted and his body started to process everything in a different way. The blood flow in his body shifted away from his brain and his muscles, the deadly spore no longer causing as much damage to what it had targeted... but somewhere, deep inside Emile, something else had started to happen... something he never could have anticipated.

The inhaled spores had taken root in his lungs, emitting a toxin to kill the tissue that had started to reject it. It was the night blossom's primary method of spreading, turning unfavorable conditions into favorable ones... but the body the spores had taken root in was changing. The PH balance shifted, the chemicals and molecules in the blood stream changed. Everything Emile had done to save himself had changed the very chemistry of his body.

The genetically engineered spores that had taken root deep inside his lungs no longer found themselves being rejected by the body. If anything, it was starting to be a welcoming environment. The spores stopped producing the toxin and Emile's body stopped attacking the spores, allowing the plant to start germinating... but it didn't just take root, it started to spread on a much more fundamental level. Bonding with the familiar DNA of the serum in his blood, the night blossom began to rewrite Emile's genes. Traits were plucked out and replaced. The properties of the calm inducing plant were combined with the prolific nature of the night blossom. They were becoming a hybrid, but not just of each other. It was a more complex system than that, one with Emile at the center of it.

Emile was still lying where he had collapsed, his body barely alive. A few drops of blood still leaked from his mouth, but as the crimson stain ran down his cheek, the new secretion started to darken from red to green. The veins running through his pale skin shifted as well before his skin tone itself altered. His organs struggled with the change as chlorophyll began to flood his system but soon his body began to adjust. His heart fluttered and began to reshape in his chest, but the most drastic change was coming from where it had all started - his lungs.

Doctor Forest's chest began to expand gently, his pectoral muscles firming and his chest cavity expanding. His lungs were starting to grow a bit larger as new nodules and pockets formed. The very function of the lungs was changing. The plant genes craved carbon dioxide while his human body craved oxygen, each symbiotically linked. The new tissue adjusted at the atomic level to draw in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, ensuring that in any environment that Emile would be able to survive... if he survived the change at all.

The doctor soon twitched a bit involuntarily as change spread out through the rest of his body. Oil glands changed to produce aloe, the wall of his skin cells firmed to make him more resilient; his spine received extra layers of protective fibers. His fingers shifted and moved a bit, but they were uncoordinated flashes of life, nothing compared to what his conscious state of mind handled. Emile shuddered and shifted, his muscles growing stronger without swelling much... if anything, his body seemed to be streamlining itself.

The change had been subtle at first, but Emile's body was clearly becoming softer in places. His biceps and triceps smoothed out, his hips rounded, his shoulders sloped and his neck elongated. It was as if every aspect of his physical features were being improved, polished and advanced. Even his brown hair became silkier and longer... and as Emile's body refined, his skin continued to shift, taking on a green hue just like the blood that flowed through his veins.

Emile's body had changed so much in just a few minutes, but the exterior was nothing compared to the changes his internal anatomy was undergoing. It was as if his DNA was trying to discover what it was as it was being written, working disparate elements into one unified whole. Everything from the macroscopic to the microscopic level was being altered. Even Emile's scent had changed from the slight tang of sweat from the everyday working man to an oddly sweet oaky scent.

As Forest's body slowly fell into an odd sort of harmony, his mind started to try and reassert itself. His blood still flowed with the trance inducing serum, but it was that serum that now acted as part of his life blood. Emile's brain adopted the complex chemical as a new form of neuro transmitter and began altering to produce it and with the facility to produce it came the ability to process it. Emile's eyes slowly opened, his golden irises contracting.

His lips parted, feeling dried and chapped. A purple tongue emerged, pushing a thick, sweet saliva across his lips to wet them. Emile slowly reached out a hand to grip at the floor. Incredibly tiny, stiff hair like fibers emerged from his finger tips, giving him impressive grip as he hoisted himself up, his hair cascading across his shoulders. The doctor reached up to brush his hair away from his right ear, an ear that was now pointed and elfin looking.

Emile looked around the apartment with concern for a moment. Nothing seemed familiar. He slowly rose to his feet before he looked down and saw that he had strange fabrics strapped to his body. He pulled at them and tugged them off, tossing them aside before sighing with relief as his naked green body was exposed to the night air. He turned and moved through the apartment, looking at all the plants. He reached out and gently caressed a few leaves, but when he turned to see the serum plant he felt a sadness creep up inside of him.

"What happened to you my friend?" Emile asked, reaching out. He stroked the vines of the plant gently in sorrow, but as he did he noticed that the plant seemed to respond. The vines thickened, bright new growth green began pushing out and soon tiny buds began to form, the start of new flowers. Emile was stunned at the change, but then he soon wondered why he should be surprised. The plant was better and that was good. There was no reason to be surprised.

Emile turned and moved around the apartment, reaching out, stroking the plants and talking to them. Flowers grew plumper, stalks stretched longer and fresh oxygen spilled out into the room more than ever before. Whatever had happened, it was clear that Emile's love of plants remained. Emile moved toward the plants by his bed before he cringed, his eyes clenching shut. His mind was invaded with visions of his alarm clock, of suits, of the highway, of an office, of a wooden sign and there were conflicting emotions of pride and fear and lust and joy and concern all mixed together.

Emile reached up and held hi temple, overwhelmed by the flash before he started to open his eyes again. Something had happened to him. It wasn't natural to forget who you were. Emile knew he had to find out, he had to make things right. He moved to his bed and slowly turned, trying to reenact his flash. He moved from the bed over to the kitchen area and then to the door, intent on rediscovering the truth. His fingers turned the knob so tight that it popped loose of its constraints, but the door still opened. Emile moved out without any regard to being naked, having no memory of social morays. The only memories he had were puzzle pieces to fit together. ****

Lahey rubbed his hands together, feeling the cold in his bones. It had been a long night but he was still worried. There had been no accident of a tragic death, no car accident ending the life of a preeminent doctor. Trinity news loved to share depressing information like that. Lahey checked his cell phone again before looking up at the horizon, watching the sky turn from midnight blue to brown to faintly yellow as dawn approached. Against his better judgment, Lahey returned to the street outside of Doctor Forest's office. He had to clean up the evidence after all. He'd worn a thick plush coat but he'd forgotten his gloves. For a while he'd taken his beanie cap off his head and put it around his hands, but that made things even colder.

He was trying to figure out the best way to warm up when something startled him. A light came on in Forest's building. Lahey looked up, his eyes widening. The light had come on and something brushed against the curtains. It hadn't worked - it hadn't worked and Emile had seen his face. Lahey felt his heart race. There was no avoiding it now, no clean break. He couldn't go back to his boss a failure. Cellucore would annihilate anyone caught doing what they were doing and he was the perfect fall guy.

Lahey reached into his coat and soon withdrew a small black and silver gun as he moved for the building door. He swung it open and moved up the levels before he came to Emile's office, but the door was already open. Lahey wanted to charge right in, but it was still too early. He checked his phone and then glanced into the office, watching and waiting as the first rays of the sunrise crept in. As the light grew brighter, Lahey grew bolder. He stepped through the threshold and across the pile of papers, navigating his way around an overturned table... though he froze when he saw a green, naked ass bent over by the doorway.

Emile crouched above his broken sign, holding the wood. Other than the plants, it was the only other thing in the office he felt connected to. His fingers traced over the letters repeatedly, focused on the broken word of the second piece. Trance, trance, trance. The words filled his head. Still, as Lahey approached Emile shifted. He could smell the carbon dioxide being exhaled and he could smell the synthetic fibers in the man's clothes. Emile turned, looking at Lahey with a curious expression. Lahey brought the gun up.

"Who are you?! What... What are you?!" he demanded. Emile slowly stood back upright, turning to face Lahey, an ample uncut shaft swinging before him from beneath a thick brown bush. Emile looked down at the sign and then up at Lahey.

"I am Trance." He replied with a soothing, sultry voice. He took a step forward toward Lahey but as he stepped, he stepped into the sunlight. As the light hit his green skin, he moaned softly in delight, a smile crossing his green lips, "Yummy." He whispered. Lahey didn't know what to do, he was completely lost in shock. He backed up toward the door and moved to leave, but then Emile's back arched. He remembered the man, he had seen him before.

Emile's hand lifted up and as if they were extensions of his own limbs, two plants shot out vines that wrapped around Lahey's ankles. The sudden growth depleted the plants of their nourishment and the centers started to wither and die, but the vines remained in place. Lahey grunted, toppling forward onto his stomach, the fun skittering away from him. Lahey rolled over, looking up at Emile before gasping.

"It's you... it didn't kill you, it..." Lahey paused. Emile moved forward, reaching out for Lahey but Lahey put his feet on the door frame and pushed off. The potted plants went flying despite being tethered to him, crashing into pieces. Lahey turned and bolted down the stairs. Emile took a few more steps before he cringed again, rubbing at his head, remembering the pain in his lungs and the blood on his lips, knowing that someone had tried to kill him... and it was that man.

Emile pushed off and lunged down the stairs, bounding after Lahey. Lahey shot out of the front of the building and ran down the street, hearing a rumbling growing behind him as shrubs exploded outwards like grenades. Lahey had absolutely no idea what he had awoken. He fumbled in his pocket for his phone, pulling it out.

"Director, it didn't work... He didn't die, he mutated. The doctor is something else now, he's-" Lahey cringed as sparks erupted from a transformer above his head, the street light exploding. A long, leafy vine had grown up around the metal and into the box, causing the short. Up ahead Lahey saw that several more vines were creeping all over the place. Not wanting to risk a hanging, Lahey turned and headed in an entirely new direction, dropping his phone as he ran. ****

The picnic had turned out marvelously for Gideon and Slater, evolving into an over night camping experience in the park. They had set up a tent, gone to bed with hot cocoa and smores and slept a few hours... but their young libidos had gotten the best of them again. Slater panted hard on all fours, feeling Gideon pounding in and out of his ass with quick and rapid succession. Slater loved the idea that they were in a public place, going at it like animals. Gideon's hands slipped up and down Slater's hips, squeezing the flesh as he rode his partner's ass. Slater roared in delight, his balls swinging around as he was filled.

"Fuck me hero, chase evil away from my darkest depths!" Slater called out. Gideon blushed at that but spanked Slater's ass cheek.

"Behave." He murmured. Slater grinned at that, loving when Gideon was in charge. He clenched his ass down tighter around the rod, panting and moaning before he could take no more. Slater fell forward onto his crossed arms as his cock began unleashing his hot sperm all over the place and his ass soon fluttered around Gideon. Gideon threw his head back and shouted out in delight as he came as well, feeling the hot spurts of his cum enter Slater's ass. With both of their orgasms reached, their momentum slowed. Gideon soon laid against Slater's back, the two falling onto their inflatable mattress, panting.

"You are a god..." Slater moaned.

"I'm just a man, one that's very in love with you." Gideon murmured.

"Then I am a god." Slater replied. Gideon gave his lover's ass another light spank in punishment before he cuddled up, wrapping his arms around Slater's mid-section. He tried to get comfortable enough to go back to sleep, but something was wrong. Gideon tried adjusting, then shifting, then sliding around. Soon Slater picked up on it, "What is it?" he asked.

"I... Something feels off. The energy around here just changed." Gideon said, holding out his hand to the floor of the tent, moving it back and forth.

"The energy of us or the park?" Slater asked.

"The park, most certainly. It's like... did you ever have your ear sort of pop on its own and then buzz for a few moments before going back to normal?" Gideon asked. Slater nodded gently. Gideon took a breath, "I feel like the part of me that heals things just did that." Gideon explained. Slater slowly sat up and pulled off of Gideon, reaching over for a duffle bag. He unzipped it and pulled out a sleeve, the sleeve Gideon had become very familiar with as Meta's costume. Gideon looked surprised.

"We better be ready, just in case." Slater said. Gideon nodded gently. He moved to climb into the uniform, pulling the head piece into place over his eyes, though he looked down and realized his erection was still showing, pinned to his abdomen in the suit. Gideon looked at Slater who was already masturbating in awe of his lover. Gideon rolled his eyes and moved out onto the grass, feeling even stranger. As he watched, the grass around his feet started to grow even longer.

There was a slight breeze, sweet smells, and then a scream. Gideon broke into a sprint across the park, rounding boulders and jumping past the trees before he saw something he never expected to see - a man caught in a web of plant vines. Lahey was struggling to get free, moaning and straining... and just on the other side of him, a lithe and very naked green man approached like some sort of male forest dryad.

"You took something from me... You took who I was, my memories. You ended me." Emile whispered.

"I... I was just doing it for my boss, I was ordered to do it. Let me go and I'll give you his name!" Lahey pleaded.

"I don't think you will be that fortunate." Emile said, reaching out.

"Stop right there!" Gideon called out. Both Lahey and Emile turned, spotting the latex laden super hero. Gideon hesitated. Usually people asked who he was before he continued, but he decided to move on, "No matter what this man has done wrong, justice can be served in a fair way, a way that helps many."

Emile looked at Meta for a long moment before he cast out a hand. The plants beneath Gideon started to move around his feet but as Gideon felt the constraints, he created a bubble around himself. The vines were spread out, grasping at an invisible barrier. While many would have been shocked by the display, Emile reached a hand up and rested it on Lahey's cheek. Lahey was confused, but as he felt a dozen tiny pinprick's on his cheek, he started to feel better. As a concentrated dose of the serum coursed into his body, Lahey's muscles relaxed and he looked on in a hypnotic daze.

"Who sent you to kill me?" Emile asked.

"Director... Jarvis..." Lahey replied.

"From where?" Emile questioned.

"Cellucore..." Lahey answered. Emile nodded before coming to the most important question, the question that had been plaguing him since he woke up.

"Who am I?" Emile whispered. Lahey looked into the gold eyes of the green man and replied with the answer foremost in his mind.

"You are Trance..." he whispered. Trance's gold eyes looked sad, but that had been the answer he was expecting. Gideon stood near by, uncertain what to do. It seemed like an interrogation, but the first he'd seen where the prisoner was enjoying it more than the interrogator.

"And what did you try to kill me?" Trance asked. Lahey struggled, no longer feeling connected to the thoughts and ideas he had before. Trance's slightest touch had opened his eyes to everything.

"The director thought you knew too much, that you heard things... He told me to stop you... I'm so sorry Trance." Lahey murmured.

"I don't know anything now... I don't remember anything but... but my flowers... and my sign... My wood sign." Trane murmured. Gideon inhaled slightly, looking at the green skinned man. It was a little hard to tell at first, but as he studied the features it became more apparent.

"Forest?" Gideon whispered. Trance flinched as if he'd been hit, clenching his eyes shut. He had glimpses of mountains of files, a wave of guilt, emotions washing over him from his time as Emile Forest. He shuddered and stumbled back a bit.

"No, that can't be me... not him..." Trance begged.

"Doctor Forest, we can get you help... We can resolve this all the right way." Gideon said. Trance looked up slowly at Meta, sizing up the hero.

"I just wanted to help, all I wanted to do was help... But you won't let me, no one will let me... They want to kill me." Trance whispered. Gideon took a step forward and lifted his hands.

"Doctor Forest, you're hurt but I can help. I can heal your mind." Meta said. Trance looked at him for a moment before he remembered how weary he had been as a human.

"Stay back!" Trance said, lifting his hands. Gideon took another step but Trance moved his hands. The grass holding the terrain togetherbegan to release, pushing apart. Gideon grunted as he sunk a few inches, but before he had time to respond Trance had started to accelerate the growth of near by ivy. It fanned out like green fire, the thick strands wrapping around Meta's ankles. Meta grunted, trying to get free. He tried to generate a bubble but the vines were too entangled already so Gideon reached down and began draining the life from them.

Trance let out a scream as he fel the plants wither and die around Meta. He tried to shield himself from the symbiotic feelings, but as he shielded his face he realized that his fingernails had extended into long, deadly looking points. He hesitated before he aimed his hand at meta and willed himself to attack. The fingernails shot off like small needles, replaced with more human looking nails beneath. The projectiles arched out and hit Gideon in the shoulder, causing the hero to gasp in pain.

Gideon reached up to pull the spines from his shoulder but they were curved a bit almost like rose thorns. Still, he managed to get them out one by one... but he was already feeling dizzy. Trance sent more vines his way and Gideon managed to deflect them as best he could, though his vision was starting to get distorted. Gideon stumbled to one side, narrowly missing another barrage of spines.

As Gideon dodged more blows, the lenses of his goggles shimmered as the heads up display activated. A tiny screen appeared with Slater's face. Slater tried to catch up with what was going on through the micro camera in the meta mask, gasping.

"Is that my therapist?" Slater asked.

"Doctor Forest, you have to... have to calm down..." Gideon said, slurring a bit. Slater's eyes widened.

"Meta, your pulse is way wrong, you have to get out of there!" Slater said.

"Can't, have to save... have to save..." Gideon struggle. It was fairly clear he'd been drugged, though unlike Lahey there was no up side. Trance listened to Meta slurring, shaking his head.

"You want to save them but you can't, no one can. They are all doomed. It will take another level of consciousness for any of them to be saved... We have to start over, go back to nature." Trance said before he looked at Lahey, "And I have no further need of you." He said with frightening clarity. Lahey called out as the vines started moving across him, shifting and reconfiguring before unceremoniously dropping him to the ground in a heap. Trance turned and began walking away, not focusing on Meta in the slightest.

Gideon rushed forward, fearing that Tance's prisoner was dead. As Gideon rested his hand on Lahey to turnhim over, Lahey screamed in fear that he was about to be attacked by some stranger. Gideon gasped in shock that Lahey was still alive but he looked back up at where Trance had gone... or at least where he had assumed he went, seeing no trace of the naked green man after all.

"Where is Trance?" Lahey murmured.

"His name was Doctor Forest, we have to find him and get him help." Meta said. Lahey shook his head.

"No, we have to help him. He's... the most amazing man... that has ever walked this earth. I love him, I love him with all of my heart and soul. We'll have to help him do whatever he wants. Don't you see?" Lahey asked, looking at Meta. Gideon's eyes widened behind his goggles, wondering just what kind of trance that this new villain had put his victim into. Clearly it wasn't going to be an easy day to sort everything out.

"I'm going to have to take this guy for a toxicology study." Meta said into his radio.

"We should really find some allies we can turn to in the city. We can't keep running all of this out of the back of your day job." Slater said. He was sure that the radio frequency they used was uncrackable but even so, they had agreed to try and keep certain things vague to protect their identities.

"Well for now we do it the old fashioned way. I'll meet you at the usual." Meta said, hoisting Lahey up. Lahey smiled haphazardly, gazing into the distance at all the nice plants in the park, wondering when his master would come back. ****

Director Jarvis' footsteps echoed as he moved down the long cement hallway, the faint red glow of security sensors placed in lines at feet, hip and head level lighting his way. Jarvis had moved through ten different kinds of security before he reached his destination, a single metal door with four bars, five locks and one tiny slat. The director reached up and opened the tiny slat, revealing a narrow view of the padded white room beyond.

Sitting in one corner was a twenty five year old wrapped in a straight jacket. His healthy bronze colored skin contrasted the white fabric and room, his black hair coming up like the spines of a hedgehog. As the door slit open, the captive's eyes opened slowly, the most brilliant and sightless silver irises scanning the surroundings.

"What has happened with the night blossom?" Jarvis questioned.

"The clocks are wrong, the clocks are broken, the clocks are backwards. Coming, coming again, again and again, time is running out. Time is running up. Life, light, space, ice..." The figure whispered.

"PSYLOCH! The flower!" Jarvis asked. The figure twitched before the silver eyes moved to the door.

"Made a plant, made a plant with a mind. Made a plant to kill my night and heal by day. Plant had a better idea, your plant had a better idea. Trance, Trance is a better idea." Psyloch whispered, "Time to hide, time to run. Bad call, phone call, lost the phone, lost it all." Psyloch said before a smile crossed his lips. Jarvis grimaced. Lahey had probably lost his phone, a phone full of evidence. He closed the slat and turned, moving back the way he had come, wondering why he trusted any of the words that came out of that crackpot's mouth.

Back in the room, the young man looked around at the walls, seeing the hallucination of images floating before him. A broken alarm clock, a crystal clock, the numbers on watches running down... he saw faint faces, images only he could see, but ever so slowly he looked up at the ceiling before he let out a scream and closed his eyes as tightly as he could manage, hugging himself even tighter inside of the straight jacket. ****

The door to the apartment eased open, admitting Gideon with a large grocery bag. Slater sat up from where he had been sitting on the couch, playing video games to pass the time. Gideon moved over to the computer and set the bag down, pulling out an external hard drive and an analyzer from the pet clinic. Next Gideon pulled out three glass vials full of blood and slid them into the slots. The software was uploaded to the computer before it started analyzing the scans, comparing against the computer's own files and online databases. Gideon turned and moved over to slump on the couch. Slater reached over to caress his hair.

"I take it things didn't go any smoother?" Slater asked.

"I had to steal his wallet to figure out his name, but... he was oddly cooperative, just damn annoying. He wanted his love to return, to see that green skin again. Whatever the trance is, it doesn't seem to be wearing off. At least not yet." Gideon said, taking a breath, "Anything interesting in the news?"

"There was a gang attack at the harbor. The Midnight Dawn pack and the Velvet Glove Clan went after everyone present on some sort of recruiting drive." Slater said.

"Vampires and werewolves on East End? There's no stopping it now, this is madness. Those are both fairly new gangs though, maybe I can step in, try to set them right." Gideon said.

"You'd look hot with fangs, either way." Slater grinned. Gideon stuck out his tongue, but in the mirth there was a chirp from the computer, then several more. Gideon stood back up and moved over to the computer. He wasn't surprised to see one of the notices was for an unrecognized compound, but he was surprised when the computer indicated that the substance in Lahey's blood had been encountered in another sample. Gideon flipped through the pages before coming to it, his jaw dropping slowly. Slater looked over, watching Gideon's responses before he stood up and moved over, putting a hand around Gideon's back, "What is it?" he asked.

"The drug that Lahey was laced with, the one that brainwashed him. The computer found it somewhere else." Gideon said softly.

"Where?" Slater asked. Gideon reached out and opened the other file.

"In your blood stream... trace amounts, back when we took those base ling readings in case we needed them again." Gideon said. Slater's eyes searched the screen for some sort of explanation before one escaped his lips.

"Doctor Forest was drugging me?" Slater asked.

"I'm going to go back, try to see how far back we can get." Gideon said. Slater said nothing, looking at the screen as his arms came up around his torso, hugging himself for extra security. ****

The door to Doctor Forest's apartment had been left open when he went to work. His computer, stereo and most of his electronics in general were gone, but that didn't worry him in the slightest. He walked in, his green skin glistening with a slight dew. The flowers had grown in his absence, spreading across the walls and floors and even the ceiling in a few instances. The dryad managed to walk to where his mister as, extracting it from a leafy cocoon before he started going around, misting the plants as he always had.

The air was rich and clean with fresh oxygen, but Trance was savoring what little carbon dioxide was left in the room. He watered as many plants as he could before he set the mister down and moved over to his bed. Even his mattress had been covered in tiny spindly vines. Trance turned to face away from the bed before he flopped back onto it, laying on the vines. They branched off in several spots, curling around his wrists like bracelets and spiraling down his arms and legs.

The vines curled artfully across his chest, making a start bust spiral around each nipple, but more than that they were taking root, growing into his skin. Trance took no notice, embracing the bondage to the plant life like anything else. He was part of nature now and nothing phased him. Life would blossom and change, giving way to an entirely new kind of life. Trance just had to make sure that the bad man from the office never came back. He wanted his life to be different now, to have a fresh start. As the sun outside continued to rise, the sunlight spilled through the windows, washing over Trance. He basked in the light, feeling his body gaining nourishment from it. He truly found life to be splendid.