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Part 2.

I came back to Phoenix a week after Omega's incarceration. The organization was conducting an investigation on her. Both Beth and Kim had been inducted into the organization with their own codenames, Queen and Shade, respectively, in return for amnesty for their crime sprees. I had some time off and it was around that time that dad had collapsed while at work and had been hospitalized; mom wanted me around. I know, I know, she's such a worrywart she can get so annoying; guess that's why she's a teacher. Dad has to be the toughest hijo de puta that I know, even for his age. But I didn't come out here just for that only. I... was feeling lonely.

Seeing both Beth and Kim hang around each other normally; heck, Beth had been hanging around Kim without being a metamorph herself for a long time; it made me feel jealous. I realized then that I hadn't talked to any of my old friends or seen my parents in ages ever since I became Stinger. I wanted to see them, but covering up a tail and black eyes can be really hard. Even with a disguise and excuses about photosensitivity and a sudden weight gain, I wasn't confident I could fool mom or dad, so in the end I avoided them completely. I was really afraid of showing myself to mom especially; in her panic she would probably page a giant to come squash me under their boot.

But I was still on break, so I decided to see about meeting my friends from high-school. They wouldn't be hard to fool with excuses; they hadn't seen me in years. I gathered with three of them, all studying in college while I was stuck playing year-round reverse Halloween. We went to the Crib, that fancy night club you always hated? It got better music over the years at least. Things were cheery for a while; I was ready to dance away all my problems into the night. I was startled to find my ex-boyfriend and high-school crush, Garret Thompson, at the club. I couldn't even go say hi. I hadn't been with anybody in... well, almost a year already. I felt both good and bad at the same time, like when you see an ad on TV with your favorite food, but you realize it's impossible to go get it. Dang, I remember being so frustrated that night I disappeared into the restroom! I just wish that had been my biggest worry that night.

Before I could tell what was going on, I heard a voice behind me ordering me to stand down and give up my valuables. I couldn't believe it, especially since I used to be a cop and Interpol; granted, both for very short times, but the irony didn't escape me. That robber didn't, either. With scorpion strength and speed, you just stop being afraid of being held at gunpoint. I called the police, but then I heard the radio on the robber's pocket go off. The whole club was being held up; a hostage situation. If I didn't respond I would make them suspicious, so I did. Thankfully, my chitin facemask let me muffle my voice and a quick quip let me get away with it. I couldn't wait for the police however, not knowing that my friends were being held up. So I discarded my clothes got my exoskeleton up. In a way, I was thankful to those robbers for letting me get rid of that silly fat girl costume, it makes me feel silly, and I had already been feeling enough pressure.

It was the first time I felt so good about being a metamorph. When you're able to cling to the ceiling and walls like you're still on the ground, sneaking around becomes a cakewalk. Nobody ever expects you. It was almost intoxicating to see the fear in the gangsters' eyes when I took them down one by one, freeing every hostage as I went through them. I was feeling the most confident in my life... too confident, perhaps.

Suddenly, I was faced with one of the robbers who, upon seeing me, panicked and grabbed one of the hostages, who happened to be one of my friends. She was getting the side of her head pressed against the robber's Uzi; I couldn't risk doing anything stupid. My surprise escalated further when I realized the robber was young; he couldn't have been older than sixteen. I tried to reason with him, but he was not only afraid and angry, he was also cocky as all hell. In time, the police arrived, and I gave him the opportunity to run; I was ready to give chase, but not before I checked up on my friend. I couldn't tell her who I was in reality: That would just create a confusion I didn't need right then. In fact, my friend was so scared of me that it didn't look like she cared I had just saved her from getting her head blown apart. I knew Phoenix's finest would lead everyone to safety, and with all the robbers who hadn't escaped having been knocked out by me, they would take care of things.

I chased the kid, whose identity I learned later, more out of concern for his safety than wanting to punish his silly butt for robbing. His name was Redd "Rex" Phillips, and he was one of the many cases of neglected youth; school dropouts, alley rats, basically anyone willing to do anything for money and reputation that they can't get through normal means. The more I came close to snagging him, the more pride I felt in the way I was instilling the fear of being hunted in him. I was convinced that my strategy was effective: Make him feel bad enough that he would turn into a boy scout for the rest of his life. But again, I was being overly confident, and I was punished for it; Rex was punished for it. The kid never surrendered. He escaped into an abandoned warehouse and I gave chase, where I thought to corner and catch him, but he struggled so much he woke up "something" within an open cage. All of a sudden I saw a pair of jaws come out and nearly tear the confused teen's throat out. I saw blood gush and panicked, rushed over Rex's side and pushed the creature away from him in time to prevent his death. The creature fell to the ground, some sort of strange reptile. It spontaneously combusted and I was aghast with amazement, but Rex's condition quickly brought me back from the moon. I raced through the rooftops of every building until I got to the nearest hospital and anonymously delivered him to an emergency room. Fortunately, a nurse found Rex and he was treated immediately. I had saved his life, yet it never felt like a victory to me; it still doesn't. I could have delivered him gift-wrapped to the authorities when I had the chance, but instead I chased him down where he nearly got killed. All I had managed to do was barely fix my own mess.

Or so I thought. Then next morning I was alerted at the hospital's rooftop by mom's screams through the cell phone. I hurriedly asked what was going on when an explosion below alerted me to the reality of things. The hospital was burning down, the same hospital I had brought Rex to; the same hospital dad was in. I forgot all about the need to keep myself hidden from the public and rushed down to help my parents out, who were both unconscious with mom having collapsed on top of dad to protect him. Thankfully, getting them out wasn't a problem. Outside I found a panicked mass of hospital staffers, the police and some firefighters gathered at the entrance, ambulances and paramedic teams on the rush. I was making people panic by being there, but I had to deliver my parents to safety. I was so afraid, but upon realizing more people could be trapped inside, I rushed into the hospital to help the firefighting team. When inside, I asked one of the fire fighters about the situation, and was amazed he didn't panic from my appearance. More than anything however, I nearly choked when he told me the reason for the fire wasn't an equipment malfunction or an accident at all, but intentional. One of the patients had become engulfed in fire, apparently immune to it, and was in the process of setting everything on fire himself. I rushed out to investigate, leaving the scene to the experienced firefighters, and what I saw made my heart skip a beat.

I couldn't recognize them at first, but the flaming villain outside was none other than Rex, while his opponent was Garret Thompson, one of the firefighters. Rex was laughing like a madman, crazy, overwhelmed by his newfound powers. Calling himself FireCracker, he was hurling fireballs everywhere, threatening everyone around him. I feared for Garret, so I took advantage of Rex's overconfidence and stunned him with my neurotoxin. It worked, but only for a bit. His flames died out, and then his body went through a transformation like me. He metamorphosed into an iguana man, something like a salamander and began to blame me for his freaky appearance. I decided to take his anger towards me as a chance to draw him away from the hospital and innocents, and began to taunt and bait him across town. It wasn't hard to keep him focused on me, since pissing people off is my specialty. I had the idea that if I led him back to that warehouse where he got bit by that strange creature I would be able to find a clue on how to stop him. While I wasn't able to find an antidote or anything easy like that, I did use a bit of brain work and remembered reptiles don't like cold. A can of industrial cooler was what saved my bacon from being fried. The authorities seized FireCracker and put him away in the same prison as Omega.

It seemed to me like metamorphs could be created even without her interference. The thought terrified me; what if there were others trying to do this? I feared the answer, but eventually, I would know about it. It happened shortly after I heard that Omega had broken out, taking FireCracker with her and her Betas along. I was in the middle of being scolded by the chief of divisions while Jim, as usual, covered my ass. I also got a scolding from Jim, but also a new case; we hadn't been able to find Omega yet after all. Our team had zoned in on some juicy rumors about two large reptilians around the New Jersey coastline, by the bridge. Queen, her Knights and I were dispatched to investigate.

I met two large dinosaur metamorphs there. I know, really weird. But reanimated fossils in the shape of metamorphs don't surprise me when I've seen advanced metamorphosis change a person so many times. It's like being unable to switch out of a Dr. Who marathon. After a while, you learn what to expect; even though I still think seeing Godzilla there would've been way cooler. And less... much less intimidating than what I eventually saw later on the next day. We got off to a rough start, but Alina and Christy eventually confided in us to tell us about the two-faced Minerva corporation, whose "Shadow Division" had been experimenting with radioactive materials and fossil DNA to cross humans and dinosaurs for some sort of freaky project. No doubt this smelled like Xteria research to me. Worse still, Jim revealed to us that two mysterious disappearances from the NJPD investigating Minerva, and that made our saurian friends react badly. I then learned about Milton Miles, a detective friend of Christy, who they told us was likely captured when he tried to get them back. Christy was set on going back to the facility to rescue their friend, but she had a twisted ankle still healing, and there was no way we could convince the higher ups to let two recently admitted metamorphs out in the open on a speculation. Unlike the higher ups though, I didn't give a rat's ass about the rules. There was a life at stake, I couldn't sit still.

It turns out I wasn't just right. I was so right that I wished I'd been wrong. Unable to sit still, I decided to pay a visit to a port-side storage area under the Minerva Company's name, after talking about it with Christy and giving her my word I'd try to find Mr. Miles. The good news is that I found him; the bad news is that I found no one else but him. I... I can't talk about it in detail; the visions of that day still haunt my dreams. Mr. Miles was also part of an experiment by the deranged scientists working in that laboratory, but something went wrong. Mr. Miles's metamorphosis didn't come out mostly right like with Christy and Alina; he was driven crazy, turned into a mindless killing machine with zero appreciation for human life. It was fortunate for me to even find a single survivor, let alone make it out with just minor wounds. If there ever was a point in my life when I had endangered myself and actually saw my life and loved ones flash right in front of my eyes I...

Anyway, it took me some great effort, but I could put Slaughter down. The way he laughed and talked was burnt into my head. It shouldn't have ended the way it did... When I finally got the witness out, I went back to the store house, but it suddenly went up in flames. It wasn't Slaughter that did it, it was somebody else; someone with wings, someone that carried Slaughter away with them. What scared me the most was that they had a scorpion tail like mine; there was no mistake. I could only think about Omega.

Breaking then news of Mr. Miles's physical and mental transformation to Alina and Christy was almost as tough as my fight with his alter-ego, Slaughter. This however was good enough for them to join our cause, not as fighters, but as researchers. After all, who better to understand advanced metamorphosis than metamorphs themselves? Which leads me to our newest addition to the team, Galvanika.

You would like Frannie. She's so small and cuddle-able, like doll. That's when she hasn't eaten electricity though. A big smarty-pants though, she designed the suit I'm wearing under my civvies, but that just adds to her cuteness. Hmm, maybe I should stop calling her cute; gets mad when I do. Anyway, as a scientist, Frannie was trying to revolutionize the world with some sort of cleaner way to get electricity, by using electric eels and their special organs. Don't worry; it was actually way less gross than it sounds. Frannie told us that one of her laboratory partners was a rival of hers who specialized in robotics, and her project had been funded by stakeholders rather than his. As a result, the guy tried to sabotage Frannie's project, which, unbeknownst to him, had implemented Xteria research. You can take a guess where this is going.

Frannie wasn't aware of metamorphs to begin with. It turns out one of her colleagues had suggested to ship in Xteria samples from a laboratory in Colorado, which via genetic manipulation was implemented into the genus of eels they were working with. While making his attempt to ruin the project, Dexter Hooper got bit by the same eel, which transferred all the properties of the animal to him, and turned him into an electric eel metamorph called Voltaic. Like a stupid comic book, right? Well, it doesn't end there with us just waltzing in and saving the day. The guy was smart. He bid his time, built himself a small army of killer robots and, like a fucking drama queen, waited until the reveal of Frannie's project to strike.

Where did the organization fit in all this? It just so happened that Frannie's uncle was coming to her demonstration, and I was overjoyed to learn the identity of this person was none other than Dr. Pierre. The doc who saved my life back in the desert, remember? Anyway, doc invited us to the demo, which we went to. Wish it had been for the pleasure of sight-seeing, but Jim took the opportunity to assign us to watch over the demonstration in case there was foul play about; this was a new energy source we were talking about after all. The doc was more excited than any of us, he flew Kim and me to Boulder, but Beth had to stay behind since she can't hide her extra abdomen and the fact she's 7ft. tall with just clothes.

The demo was actually hard to follow; too many technicalities and talk about physics. Kim soon found me a distraction though, as she noticed Voltaic's robo-mooks looming and waiting to strike. We intercepted and fought against the formidable Alpha Wolf, Voltaic's prized creation. Thanks to Kim though, he was no match for us and we eventually beat him. This attracted the attention of Voltaic though, who went in for the kill personally. I tried to stop him, but wasn't fast enough, and I nearly got the doc, who was protecting Frannie, killed. I never felt such rage before; I'm just glad it was against another metamorph, but I let loose so much strength it would've probably made a normal human being turn inside out from the impact of a punch. That blow did feel good, but only for a few seconds, as I still believed the doc had been electrocuted to death by the defeated Voltaic. If Frannie hadn't been screaming for an ambulance to save her uncle, I would've probably stopped functioning then. Ever since... well, you know. I just don't deal well with death. At least I knew the doc was still alive. But you think we could relax yet? Heck no. Voltaic woke up, angrier and bigger than ever. He swelled past us and got more and more powerful as he began to feed on the electricity surrounding him; at the rate he was growing, he was going to become unstoppable. Kim and I rushed to help Frannie and the unconscious doc, but Frannie had a plan in mind. She was going to fight a giant eel with another giant eel.

I wasn't able to stop her. Being the doc's niece, I didn't want her of all people to get involved in the world of metamorphs; being turned into a metamorph isn't the end of the world, but Frannie is only 17; just like with FireCracker, this felt unfair on many levels. But Frannie... she's way more mature than I gave her credit for. She wasn't just doing this out of a sense of self-loathing, of broken pride or anything silly like that. Frannie turned herself into Galvanika to give us our best shot at eliminating a threat that could have escalated into a world-wide disaster in less time than any counter-measure could've been developed for it. She gave us directions and began to feed on electricity, forsaking her humanity in return for the power to face Voltaic. It was like an old sci-fi tale, with two giant monsters clashing above a city, feeding off electricity and growing even bigger and more bestial as time went on. Kim and I could only watch as Frannie battled her counterpart, and the masses fled to avoid being crushed. I briefly wondered what it must've been like for Frannie, being so tall, with us looking no bigger than ants to them. I wonder if she could even think about anything other than growing more powerful than Voltaic? In a way, their rivalry had grown out of control with their bodies.

Jim arrived with Beth and our team of specialists to implement Frannie's plan with the permission of the local military. While civilians were evacuated, Shade, Queen, her Knights and I were dispatched to place EMP charges around a working power station that acted like bait for the two eel monsters. Frannie's plan involved setting off the charges when they attempted to absorb the electricity, inverting the polarity to cause them to shrink instead of growing, but there was a catch... Only the correct frequency would invert the polarity at the exact point necessary. If we failed to calculate the correct number, we had to use the default frequency, and the explosion would overload them instead. If they were overloaded, they would both die, ending our problem...

We successfully armed the bombs, but the frequency didn't come. Both Galvanika and Voltaic, grown to massive proportions, soon began to fight over the power station; it didn't look like Frannie was going to stop either, she was dead set on the meal they were fighting for as well. Kim wanted me to detonate the charges; they were too close for us to miss the opportunity. I couldn't do it however, I couldn't sacrifice either of them; two creatures made by the Xteria, an unfeeling tool responsible for their transformations. Kim had valid concerns, but I simply couldn't. It's just... how do you make that choice anyway? She was saying she would make herself responsible, but just... One life or millions? Is there an easy way to reason it out? I found my answer however. Just when everything looked bleak, when I thought it was all going to fall apart on me, my phone rung and I got the code. The plan had worked... We managed to find Frannie after digging through the rubble their collapsed giant bodies had created before returning to their normal size.

I was satisfied. Happy that no lives had been lost that day. Even Voltaic's. Yes. He was a jerk, but nobody deserves to die. We can't decide who lives or dies, we can only try to stop ourselves and others from making that mistake. I just didn't know, back then, that there was a looming shadow watching, their ears and eyes all over us. Things are never easy... are they?

To Be Continued...