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Zack and friends meet Cher again.

NOTE: The rest of Shifting Consequences, all the way up to chapter 53, is up on Tili and my patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tandz $4 a month is all it takes to see ahead in time on "The Tishen Transformation" and my stories. You get other perks too! I will still post chapters of SC weekly. It will never be a pay-only thing.

Shifting Consequences--Chapter 48: Traveling Together

By Zmeydros (Lucien Quinn)

As Cher drives to Hudson, Wisconsin, her heart picks up speed. Do they blame her? Did they get severely injured? Does Bella still like her? Why is she so fixated on Bella? Is it because Bella is the first woman she's ever had sex with? Wait, is Bella technically a woman?

Cher furrows her brow as she looks off into the dark distance broken only by the tall streetlights along the highway. The people she's on the way to pick up changed her life, changed her perception of the world. Before, she just thought life was an endless string of problems and complications that she had to find her way though. Being good at her job was the only meaning she could hold on to.

Pure joy, vibrant joy is what they brought into her life. It burned away the pessimism she put between herself and the pain of dashed hopes. She had figured that having no hope for the future would protect her from the misery of things not working out the way she wanted. That worldview is gone now.

She can't help but hope for the future. There's so much she wants to experience. She's close now. Mal's strange video game-like GPS says there's only three point eight miles left.

* * * * *

Glenn pulls into the parking lot. There are trees all around them and the area seems healthy and full of life. They could change the plates and the color of the car and drive straight into Minneapolis, but Mal must have had a reason for them to go with Cher. It's probably the only way they can follow through on what Mal has planned. As he was driving, he realized that they could all change their appearances too and maybe even live off the radar, but they'd still be fugitives. They'd have that hanging over their heads for the rest of their lives.

Living as a fugitive seems to be glorified in the movies and there are stories of people that evade the law for nearly their entire lives. Still, it has to be stressful to know people are looking for you and that your whole world could be toppled by someone discovering who you really are. No... Whatever Mal has planned has to be better than that. Confronting one's fears and problems is the best way to live.

Glenn looks at each of his friends. "Cher should be here any minute."

Bella nods. "I think you and Zack should take on your real appearances so she knows it's us."

"If I took on my normal appearance, I wouldn't fit into these clothes. I'd have to change out in the middle of the parking lot or try to change inside the car. I doubt I'd be done with that and transformed before she arrives. Also, I think it's best if we don't take on our real faces again until this is all over." Zack frowns. What he can't say just yet is that he strongly prefers to be in a female body right now. He spent most of his life as a male and having the shapes of the opposite sex feels really good. Liberating even. Will he always prefer to be this way? Always is a long time and if he had his choice, he'd probably run around as a herm dragon. He nearly misses Glenn's reply as he thinks about this.

"Also, we're the only people here and we know what she looks like. It won't be too hard to convince her that we're the people she came to pick up." Glenn says.

Bella fidgets with her hair and then entwines her fingers in various ways. She has no response to any of it. There are so many scenarios running through her head. A whole battalion of troops showing up because Mal has decided that getting them in jail is more interesting than helping them. Cher double-crossing them because she's mad that they attacked federal agents. Cher bringing them in as trophies. Mal says they can trust Cher, but Bella's never clear on how much they can trust Mal... She's known Mal so long and she knows he gets some very strange whims.

Glenn gets out of the car as he sees headlights coming up the road. His palms sweat as he wonders whether they've all made a big mistake. There could be soldiers in that vehicle ready to start shooting the the moment the doors open. Or, there could be people with night-vision equipment all around them ready to take them all down. Can Mal really ensure their safety? He doesn't seem to be able to control everything. He shakes his head as the car gets closer. This is their chance to stop running. Why is he getting cold feet now?

They could have just driven into the city without Cher. Why did Mal set it up so that they would be driven into the city by Cher? The more he thinks about it, the less it makes sense. It's not like their car or their faces could be tracked. They all kind of forgot about the fact that none of them looks anything like what they used to. Also, their car isn't the same color or have the same license plate. Why did they do this? Why did it seem like a good idea? There must be some reason that Mal wanted them to be dependent on Cher. What does he want to happen?

Zack gets out of the car along with Bella. Then Vale gets out. Cher's car pulls up beside theirs. As Cher gets out of the car, Glenn holds his breath and freezes in place. His eyes look for a gun or other passengers. When Cher looks at all of them and smiles shyly, he lets the air flow out of his lungs and relaxes his shoulders. The confidence she had when she found them the first time is not present. She doesn't even seem to want to make eye contact.

Glenn watches as Zack, probably the most forgiving soul in their entire group, walks up to Cher and hugs her. At first, Glenn thinks she's in pain, but then he sees her heave and hears her cry softly. He starts walking over feeling his heart fall a bit in his chest. What happened to her? Was she really concerned about meeting them? He puts his arms around Cher as Bella and Vale make their way over.

Zack asks, "What's wrong."

"I'm so sorry." Cher says through a sob.

"About what?" Zack looks up at her.

"You could have been caught." She wipes away some tears.

"So you did call the feds on us?" Vale says.

She shakes her head. "NO! They came early."

"Why didn't you try to stop them?" Bella furrows her eyebrows. She wasn't expecting Cher to care about them this much.

"I--" Cher sighs and takes a couple deep breaths managing to stop herself from crying so hard. "I wasn't supposed to be there, I was only ordered to report your location. If I had been caught, I would probably have been kept under observation and possibly be put in jail. I'd be no good to you then."

"You weren't supposed to meet us?" Zack tilts his head.

"I was ordered not to, but I had to meet you because my instincts told me that you weren't a threat to society and I thought the hunt for you might be immoral." She sniffles and looks at Zack.

Zack looks into her eyes. "Cher, you risked being put in jail over that?"

"I joined the FBI to help make the world a better place, not to put harmless teenagers in jail." She shakes her head. "Once I found out that you could transform, I understood why they wanted you and I knew you'd never be free if they caught you. I was terrified that they were going to catch you, but there was nothing I could do."

Bella kisses Cher on the cheek. "I remember when you first transformed. I had a feeling you were a good person. That's why I was so confused when I thought you sold us out."

Cher looks at Bella and tries to say something, but her eyes drift to Bella's lips and she falls toward them kissing Bella suddenly. Bella's eyes widen in surprise at first, but then she kisses back. She's never had a middle-aged woman kiss her like this. She licks across Cher's lips and Cher Mmm's into the kiss. Cher soon realizes what she's doing and pulls away blushing heavily. "Sorry, I just... Thought I'd never get to do that again."

Bella feels a bit dizzy and like she's on the edge of starting to transform. She can even feel her fluke pressing out slightly. To have someone suddenly start kissing her like that is actually pretty hot, no matter the age gap. "I actually liked that. I never thought you were the lusty type."

"I'm not." Cher looks away from all the stares. "It's just, I have been through so much emotionally the last few days that I feel a bit ungrounded."

"Also, I was your first lesbian experience, wasn't I?" Bella smirks.

"Yeah..." Cher sighs and then looks at Bella with an eyebrow raised. "I'm not sure it was a lesbian experience. You have quite a large..." She blushes and looks away.

"Orca cock?" Bella offers.

Cher stays quiet feeling really shy with everyone's eyes on her. This sort of thing was never discussed in a group when she was growing up. Well, this sort of thing wasn't discussed at all. Hermaphrodites like Bella weren't even something she would have thought possible.

Bella feels heat rush to her sex as she remembers Cher moaning while riding her. Her face tingles as she feels her male slit start to form. She takes a deep breath and tries to calm herself. She really wants to give Cher what she's been craving. To have someone hooked on her in this way is absolutely delicious.

Glenn clears his throat as he smells the familiar scent of Bella's arousal start to permeate the air. "Let's get in the car and start heading to Cher's place before we start an orgy in the parking lot."

Zack laughs and lets go of Cher.

Cher starts moving toward the driver's side door and the others let go of her. "We're actually going to Don's place. I got drunk and transformed him, so he's one of us now. My place is too small for us anyway."

"What does he turn into?" Vale asks.

"A very handsome fox," Cher says as she gets into the car.

"I call dibs," Vale says as he gets into the passenger's seat.

"Dibs on what?" Cher glances at Vale.

"On sexing him up." Vale grins.

Cher blushes feeling embarrassed for Vale even though Vale doesn't seem to have any modesty at all. Then a strange thing happens. Cher stops feeling embarrassed and realizes that she feels the same, but about a certain orca. "Well, then I call dibs on Bella."

Zack and Glenn laugh for a moment and then Bella joins them. Vale and Cher just look at each other for a moment and then start laughing with them. Bella is the first to speak. "I accept your dibs."

They laugh again.

Cher starts the car. "I'd say we should save the horniness for tomorrow, but I realize that I haven't had any lack of libido since I started transforming."

Zack leans forward and looks at Cher after buckling his seat belt. "Why would we save our horniness for tomorrow? What's happening tomorrow?"

"Having sex in the conference room at work, but it's a long story. I'll tell you once we're on the road." Cher says as she starts the car.

Most of the drive back is occupied by Cher telling her passengers about everything that's happened at her workplace and Deron's plan.

When Cher's done explaining, Zack says, "I don't think just transforming the leaders will do all that much and it seems that people genuinely enjoy transforming. I say we just transform everyone in the building."

Bella and Vale look at Zack with a smirk, but Glenn gives Zack a wide-eyed stare. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Everyone in the building?!" Cher pulls the car over. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, think about it." Zack looks at his friends and then Cher. "My friends are all furries and liked anthropomorphic characters before they were transformed. You and me weren't into it before we transformed and, as far as I know, Don wasn't into it either. Heck, I didn't even know I liked having breasts and a pussy or sex with herms." He looks at Bella for a moment and Bella grins at him. "The transformation has far more pleasure than pain involved."

Cher blushes as she thinks about when she first transformed. "I never would have thought to try transforming. I don't think anyone could have explained what was going to happen to me in a way that I would have understood. I'm not the type of person that likes change..." Cher puts her head in her hands. "I don't know how to figure out whether we are doing something against people's will if we can't know their will until they've tried it."

Glenn nods. "Bella, could you cast a spell that has people think it is just a dream or something and then nullify the transformation if they don't like it?"

"Hey Mal, could you help me do that?" Bella asks.

A stuffed lion appears. "Yes, if you go through the effort to change everyone in the building, I will make sure that it doesn't result in pain and suffering. Remember that the people who transform will be free of disease and the ravages of aging. People who do not want that gift will be very very few."

Cher sighs. "Some of them will think they are making a deal with the devil."

"Trying to stereotype me in that way will leave them confused. Like a warm downy cactus in winter. Changing all those people is going to be so fun to watch! I'll even help the people that opt out find jobs elsewhere. I enjoy subtly influencing people's lives." The lion paws at Cher's headrest.

Vale pets the stuffed lion. "I wouldn't call your influence on my life subtle, but I can see why you'd want to be so agreeable in this case."

"Puurrrrecisely. Just go with your plan and I will back you up. I have an agreement with Cher that we will try to avoid a collapse of her organization."

Bella smiles. "You're so nice when you're getting what you want."

The lion looks at Bella. "Isn't a sense of well being expected when the average sentient being that roams the surface of this planet gets what they want?"

Vale and Zack laugh. A few seconds later, Zack says, "I love the way you put things."

"I agree, I put things on other things or in other things very well." The lion disappears with the sound of an old-fashioned camera flash.

"I am going to leave this to you guys and Mal. All I want is for my coworkers to be happy and go back to our original mission. Catching criminals. Chasing down people who have no malice is just insane. All the effort we put into finding you could have been better spent solving actual crimes." Cher gets back on the highway.

Glenn's eyes widen as he thinks of something. "Investigating the video they caught of Zack changing and then coming after us after we performed a jail break is actually not that far from what they're supposed to do."

"Yes, but the fact that their first reaction was to put Zack in jail and prepare all the paperwork for holding him indefinitely was going way overboard. Any sane person would just ask Zack to have a chat in his home after looking at Zack's psych profile and criminal record. We didn't even let the local police perform their own investigation of the incident. They may have held Zack a couple days, possibly to protect him from Bella, who everyone at the school said was the aggressor. Sorry Bella, but you were the leading suspect and you were reported to have escaped since you couldn't be found for questioning." Cher glances at Bella in the rear-view mirror.

Bella nods. "I totally understand. It would be odd if they didn't implicate me."

"True. First thing I will do when we get through this is see to it that all your cases are closed. The tape of you transforming is going to be labelled a hoax and the incident at the school is going to be labeled as a theater production that got out of hand. I'm going to have to add to your file that you are a master of special effects." Cher taps the brakes when she sees a reflection up ahead. It's a deer, but it appears to be facing away from the road. She can barely make out its outline. Last thing she wants is to hit a deer on the way back.

"I like that plan. I don't want to end up without a high school diploma." A big smile spreads across Bella's face. "When we go back to school, I'll get to tell everyone that Zack and I are going steady."

Zack tilts his head. "I... I never thought about the possibility that we could go back and continue our lives. We're lucky that we're so close to graduating." He looks at Cher. "Can Glenn go back to his job?"

Cher shrugs. "I will clear everyone's names. There shouldn't be a problem. If I talk to Glenn's department, I think I can convince them that it was our mishandling of the case that caused the problem and not him."

"Can I make sure everything is erased? Like the video, emails, everything? I don't want anyone digging all this up again," Vale says.

Slowing down at an intersection, Cher says, "Yes, you can, but you will have to talk to Deron about that. If there are files still in existence outside the FBI, the discrepancy will be obvious."

"Sounds good..." Vale shakes his head. "About going back to our lives, I'm not sure I can. Everyone knows me as a woman who lived like a man. I am not sure I could convince them that I got an entire sex change in a few days. Even if I was able to go back, I wouldn't want to be apart from you guys. I was kind of wasting my time at school anyway. I have all the skills I need to get a high-paying programming job already. I was only staying in school because my parents wanted to pay for it and insisted that I get a degree."

Glenn looks into Vale's eyes. "Well, then you can come and live near us after you've said your goodbyes."

"Yeah! I can start my life as a man... Male herm? Whatever. You guys can help me with all the sex change paperwork." Vale kisses Glenn and then high-fives Zack and Bella.

"What about us all living our lives in our anthro forms?" Bella asks.

The moment Bella asks the question, Zack is filled with confidence that everything will work out. "We can plan that out when we're all together. I'm sure it's a solvable problem."

"I'm going to just stay in my job," Cher says. "I think it will be an odd workplace with people transforming and having sex and stuff, but what we do is high stress, so we might be even more effective with a way to release that stress."

Glenn looks out the window. "I guess other people in their lives will be transformed as well. It's only a matter of time until the world at large finds out about this transformative sex phenomena."

"True." Cher tries not to think about the implications. It is so hard to know what will happen.

After shifting in his seat so that he can cross his legs the other way, Zack says, "I think transforming more people will make things better rather than worse. Most people will probably like it and quash the fear."

Vale holds up a finger. "I know, we should show some doctors that we are perfectly healthy and our resistance to disease. Maybe transformation could be prescribed for terminally ill people or other people that need it."

"Did Mal ever say it gets rid of all ailments?" Glenn asks no one in particular.

The stuffed lion appears in his lap and he jumps as it says, "The transformation cures all physical ailments. If someone transforms into the right kind of reptile, they can even grow back limbs. They can choose another form after that. Mental ailments... Well, the transformation can help some, but curing all mental ailments would make people boring. And I think many mental ailments are treated like diseases when they are not doing any real damage. From a certain perspective, any deviation from the norm is a disease. I think that perspective should be killed with a fire so hot that it would melt the face off of the color chartreuse."

Everyone but Cher laughs. She raises an eyebrow. "A cure for everything? Wouldn't that put doctors out of work?"

"No, taking care of your body is still necessary. The first transformation solves problems, gives the person a clean slate. If they mistreat the form I have given them, I do not believe they should get off scot free. Preventative medicine will be important and severe injuries, like those in a car crash, will still kill people or need trauma care. If I handed it all to everyone on a platinum platter, they wouldn't be able to maintain their willpower. Ever seen what happens to extremely spoiled children? Those who take care of themselves will live far longer than the human life span. STD's and unwanted pregnancy, the two main deterrents for sex will never be a problem again, however. The reason is that I want to counter the societal stigma against sexual contact."

"Unwanted pregnancy a thing of the past?" Cher's jaw drops.

"Yes, people will have to want to get pregnant to have it happen. Humans evolved to the point that they could enjoy sex for reasons other than procreation. Like day old lettuce at a trampoline race, I believe their biology has not caught up with their minds." The lion licks its paw.

"Are you experimenting on us?" Glenn asks.

"No, an experiment has a control and is looking for a positive or negative result. Like if you are trying to see whether pineapples cry when they smell images of synthetic fragrances. You are looking for tears or no tears. My meddling is different. I am just watching the complex fractal pattern of changes that my involvement in this reality is bringing forth. You could say I am going to analyze the data I collect and apply it to something else, but that is looking at it from the perspective of a scientist. Perhaps I am an artist and all I am doing is creating something that is beautiful to me and makes a statement--an unintelligible statement." The stuffed lion disappears the moment Glenn attempts to ask another question.

"Sometimes I wonder if I'm... we're, just a form of entertainment for him and nothing more." Glenn sighs.

"Well, even if we are, think about how much people liked 'Game of Thrones' and how mad people got when 'Firefly' was cancelled. We may be safer as a form of entertainment than another type of relationship with him." Cher chuckles.

"But what happens if we're canceled?" Glenn asks.

Bella puts a hand on Glenn's shoulder. "I doubt he'd remove the magic or do much of anything. If he gets bored with us, he'll probably just stop watching. Removing his influence would probably be more trouble than it is worth and it would make him look bad to the other gods he interacts with."

"Of course there would be other gods. It would be too simple otherwise." Cher laughs, wondering if she's feeling completely sane. This is still a lot to take in.

"That makes sense." Glenn relaxes.

They don't talk about much of importance throughout the rest of the trip to Cher's house. Zack's brain is tired. There's so much to think about. If they follow through on his plan, they're going to transform a whole building of people tomorrow. Then they're going to be free. Even though he's been on the run for less than a week, it never seemed like returning to his old life was a possibility.

Things are just falling together and all this time he thought they were falling apart. He gets out of the car not really hearing what anyone is saying and looks at Don's house. It's nice and simple. Not too big, not too small and the yard is disheveled just enough to let people know that Don works hard at his job or that he has lots of hobbies and one of them isn't yardwork. Zack is going to guess that Don works hard since that matches Cher's description of him the best.

Bella is distracted by the fact that Cher called dibs on sex with her. To think this FBI agent who seemed like a mostly normal career woman has a crush on her is just bizarre. The power of the transformative experience they've all been through cannot be underestimated. Though, it is also possible that it is simply due to the increase in Cher's libido. Finding someone who hasn't at least thought about what sex with the same gender would be like has to be difficult. An increased libido probably results in an increased sexual curiosity. There are probably people who would try stuff with the same gender or a herm and decide it wasn't for them. Attraction is such a confusing thing. Bella has no idea, but the fact that she's having sex with Cher remains and that excites her. She can feel her cock starting to press against her panties. She transformed into human form, but she didn't remove all her features, she still has her male slit.

As they walk up to the door, Vale wonders what Don looks like. He knows Don turns into a fox, but he doesn't know much else. Cher's brief description didn't really give Vale much of a mental picture.

Cher opens the door and says, "We're here!"