H.E.R.O. - Metamorphosis

by Kevin Rau

It didn't take long to get home. I threw the bloody clothes in the washer right away and started a cycle. I hoped some of that blood would come out. I flicked on the news to try to catch some useful information while I cleaned up and changed.

  Then, I caught my image in the mirror. My iris had become slit, and the color was totally different. They were now green, and the pupil was catlike. Some of the light reflected from them, causing a glowing look, as though I had a colored light behind each eye. Now I understand why I see in darker areas better.

  The nose looked normal, but my mouth was wrong. I had to stare at my image in the mirror for a minute before I realized my mouth was ... wider. I grinned, and ... wow. I had fangs – the upper and lower canine teeth were far longer, and larger at the base as well. Damn sharp now too. My jaws opened wider. That's just strange. Well, it's far better than being a wolfman, I still look human. More catlike than wolflike though.

  I’m damn glad that pain is gone. Huh, my muscles are larger. I was still very well defined, and nothing like a body builder, but I liked it. The feet appeared normal, and my hair the same. No noticeable changes elsewhere. Bummer. Wait, the ears were different. The shape was slightly different, as in the cone area to direct sound, and they had a slight tip to the rear top now. I wasn’t up on my biology, so I wasn’t sure what that would do yet.

  I quickly cleaned up and changed. Note to self: claws cut yourself. These babies were not retractable, like a cat's claws. For that matter, they were not like any animal's claws that I was aware of. The entire fingertip was hardened and sharpened into a point, with the lower joint down to the tip now being made of some dark brownish black material. They actually reminded me of what you would see on a picture of a demon or devil. Strong, very strong material – this was not bone, and I didn’t have a nail on top of it.

  I don't want to alert anyone at a hospital until I'm ready to break them out, so I'm not sure I want to keep these babies out in the open, they look downright wicked.

  I heard the news talk about the meteor shower while I cleaned up, and discovered that there were other “trouble” spots in the city. New supers that were not in control of themselves were being brought to Iron Cross General Hospital. One guy apparently created the look of the sun around himself, and let out a lash of fire that set his home on fire.

  I'm damn sure I won't be able to just walk around a secured facility, so I'm hoping that there are still windows, and tall buildings nearby. I changed, and grabbed a pair of binoculars, plus a pair of metal cutters. Yeah, these babies ought to make fast work of most restraints. After a moment's thought, I picked up a sledgehammer to bring along as well. Energy booster pills as well. If either Lance or Stephanie were sedated, hopefully the pills would counteract whatever my friends had been given.

  Wait a second; now that I've cleaned up, I realize my sense of smell is far more acute. That could help me out. So, that's why I could smell different people’s blood so clearly. I'll have to remember to avoid bloodying my own nose when I want to smell something.

  I grabbed a shirt from Lance's dirty laundry basket and put it in a plastic baggie. I couldn’t believe how well I could smell, well, Lance. I looked around the living room, but couldn’t think of anything here that would work for Stephanie. Screw it; I'll stop by her house. Hey, I could pick up a change of clothes for her as well, she'd like that, and it'd give me a reason to, ah, look at her things.

  I brought a change of clothing for Lance to throw in the car as well. I know Lance, he'd give me an inquiring look, and raise an eyebrow at me if I brought Steph some clothes, but forgot him.

  Before I left the house, I tried scratching the concrete on the driveway. The claw dug in easily. Typing would be a bitch without a soft fingertip though. I shook my head and headed to the car.

  I drove over to Stephanie's house. It was nighttime, so it was easy to nab her hidden key to let myself in. My car's been here many times before, so that shouldn't raise any suspicion.

  After heading into the house, I looked for her clothes hamper. I smelled a few articles of clothing, but focused on shirts, because if I had to give her a pair of underwear back and explain that I took it to smell and track her down with, I would probably hear a mouthful. Though both seemed to retain her scent pretty well....

  I selected a shirt and put it into a plastic bag. Come to think of it, her entire places smells distinctly of her. Is this what dogs smell? Maybe that'd give me a reason to smell her.... No, not going down that road, she'd club me, though I'm sure I'd like it.

  I spent a few minutes going through her drawers, and wished I had more time to lounge around in there. I felt pretty dirty minded going through her clothing, and grinned at the thought. I picked out some skimpy panties, a hopefully tight shirt, some pants and socks, and a pair of tennies. I grinned wickedly.

  I threw the fresh clothing bag in the trunk. I headed out then, and drove quickly to the hospital. I parked near a side entrance, parking the car so I could make a fast escape if I had to carry Stephanie, or in Lance's case, drag him.

  The place was busy. The emergency exit had a lot of squad cars already in the area. The police had a heavy presence, it would make this more ... interesting. Smoke came out of one smashed up police car right in front of the entrance. I wondered if a fight had broken out that could provide me with some chaos to work with.

  I got this crazy idea of tying a super long rope to me so I could just rappel and run along each level to look in the windows. Doubt it'd work, but I needed to come up with something clever.

  Hmm, I could mug a cop and temporarily use his uniform, but that might cause more trouble later on. I could do the same to a hospital worker. I'm not good enough with computers to try to hack into one ... unless I force someone else to log on, and do a search for one of their names.

  I figured I’d try the smell route, being as internal rooms wouldn’t have windows. The sledgehammer I left in the car, that'd attract too much attention, same with the binocs. I took the paper bag that contained the plastic bags of the worn clothing with me, and put the metal cutters in the paper bag. I took a deep breath of her shirt before I closed it back up, hoping to memorize her scent.

  I was about to take a side entrance when I realized that I'm not doing anything illegal … yet, and the emergency entrance was the one most likely for her to have gone through if she were unconscious. It would also give me a chance to see what was going on up front. I concealed the claws as much as possible by making a fist shape. The paper bag helped a lot on the left hand.

  I walked fast, around to the front entrance, and found a number of police officers standing around a squad car. The engine smoked slightly, and the front looked like the driver plowed into a tree, except there was no tree. None of the windows remained in the car. I'm surprised they haven't called in a fire truck. The sidewalk was ripped up, and a spattering of blood lay here and there all over the concrete. I got a strong whiff of Lance's scent in the area. Did he already get into a fight? Holy shit, did he bash up the roof of this cop car and bust out the door? Great, the shit's going to hit the fan now. I might as well not hold back at this point.

  The windows within thirty or forty feet of the entrance were all shattered. A custodian still worked at cleaning up the glass around the emergency room entrance. I could see a fight damaging a few of them, but every one of them was destroyed. Very strange.

  I smelled Stephanie's scent as well, but it was faint, confused with the smell of so much sweat and blood. Damn. I headed into the emergency room's waiting area, the place was busy. I went up to the counter, and looked at one of the counter ladies. She was a big woman, real big. Sandy brown hair puffed out like some kind of mane. Almost scary looking. She studiously ignored me until she happened to glance up and caught sight of my eyes. Then, her jaw dropped and she stared at me.

  “I'm here to check on my sister, Stephanie Quinn; she came in a little while ago.”
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  She looked like she debated telling me to go wait in a line or something, so I stole a line from Lance, “Please, I'm really concerned, and our Dad lives in Boston, so I'm the only one she has around here.” Damn, I'm not smooth enough; I should have brought chocolate or something to try to bribe someone in this situation. I'm too used to intimidating people. Bah, intimidation works often enough, don't kid yourself.

  She looked momentarily appeased, did some quick typing, and said, “I'm sorry, she's in the quarantined area due to the meteor shower, and is listed as being allowed No Visitors.”

  I asked, “Can I get the name of her doctor so I can at least find out her condition?”

  “Dr. Antais is her physician, but he's bound to be extremely busy tonight with all the activity.” She waved at all the people in the emergency room. “He's also probably staying with patients in the quarantined area, and you won't be allowed in there.”

  I thanked her, and wandered for a moment, while I tried to think of what to do next. I overheard some guys talking about how this huge guy charged the police car, and then the 'scream of doom' that shattered every window and laid out every person nearby. He just mentioned the bug man attack on the big guy right out in front of the entrance when I realized he might be talking about Lance.

  I couldn't help myself. I needed information. I stepped over to the speaker. He looked like a nerd: glasses, rumpled hair, and he wore ill fitted clothing. His t-shirt had a slogan of some kind that stated “THAC0.”

  I caught his attention with my right ... claw. His eyes focused on the claw for a few seconds, and then moved up to my face. I gave him a wide smile, and made sure my canine fangs were easily visible. He looked properly unnerved.

  “What was the big guy wearing, and what did he look like?”

  “He was huge, definitely a super. Way over six foot tall, built bigger than a pro wrestler. His costume was body fitting on the upper body, although I think he wore dark jeans. He was all wet, and his face and arms were bloody. Darker hair, and that's about all I got a good look of. There were people in the way, and then the bug man attacked him.”

  “Did this guy bust out of the police vehicle?”

  “No, the bug guy busted out of the squad car, and injured two officers that brought him here. The big guy is the one that stopped the car from hitting the hospital.”

  A guy a few seats down piped up, “Don't forget the cop that yelled that he was under arrest, and shot the super. They were saying that the bullet didn't even faze him.”

  I asked, “The bug guy got shot?”

  “No, the big guy got shot.” Big guy, bug guy, clarify things, bookhead.

  He continued, “The police are really twitchy tonight. I've already seen some crazy looking people brought in tonight, and at least a dozen injured officers have been brought in just in the last hour. Hell, the news is talking about a bomber at Green Park Mall just an hour or so ago.”

  That makes some sense, confusing a super with a bomber. I hope they don't start treating that as a terrorist action though; they'll dig more, and call in heavier hitters. “So where are the big guy and the bug guy?”

  “Dunno. The big guy grabbed him and leaped out of the crowd out there right after the woman screamed and destroyed the windows.”

  Well, that changes a lot. Lance wasn't being arrested or detained after all. Not only that, but it sounds like he got away. I'll ask the police later what happened with him; see if they'll help me out. Not yet though, in case he's not on good terms with them.

  Chapter 7 – Rael Stromm, Superspy

  Rael's Viewpoint