Chapter 1

Issue 1.1

Nico Burns sighed as he put down the power screwdriver. As he looked at his latest project, he felt an intense sense of satisfaction. He straightened up to his full six foot height and stretched, which prompted his back to pop in three different spots. The eighteen year old chuckled as he considered his creation. Between the Masked Monkey or whatever revealing the classical tricks and those two Vegas magicians with the TV shows (not to mention the internet), it was getting hard for a young up-and-coming magician to come up with new and creative illusions. His black hair flopped in his dark brown eyes and he made (another) mental note to visit a barber. The young man wasn’t particularly well built, but then again, there wasn’t a lot of excess mass on him period. His tanned skin came from neither the sun, which he saw precious little of, nor a bottle, which he wouldn’t use in the first place. Rather it was a ‘gift’ from his unknown father (whom he’d been told was Hispanic) and Japanese mother. He looked around the garage at the various paraphernalia of his ‘profession’ before he walked into the, very, small house that he’d been renting since he turned eighteen and could do so legally. He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and casually gulped down half of it as he walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch. His vision blurred for a second as he reached for the TV remote.

The TV itself wasn’t new, but it wasn’t obsolete either.

Nico drank the other half of the water bottle, and was considering going back for a second bottle as his vision blurred again. Nonetheless, he thumbed on the TV and was surprised to find instead of the music videos that he usually preferred, there was some sort of press conference.

On the TV screen the banner read, “Markus Grey, CEO of Grey Industries Unlimited, Inc.” The man wasn’t that old, only in his mid-forties at the latest, yet his hair was solid grey and Nico idly noticed that Grey’s eyes were grey as well.

He snorted, “Now that’s a joke and a half.”

On the screen, Markus raised his hands, “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, thank you for coming on such short notice. As you know, I generally prefer to set these things up several weeks in advance. However, I come before you today with news of a potentially disastrous Public Health crisis.

“Several months ago, scientists at Grey Pharmaceuticals Genetic Research division discovered an anomalous section of genetic sequences. Without going into details, they found what they believed to be the Mutation Sequence. For simplicity’s sake, it’s what allowed Cro-Magnon to make the jump to Homo Sapien without millions of years of evolution and why there’s no tangible evidence of the leap between primates and primitive humans, the so-called ‘Missing Link”. As a part of their research, they developed a highly experimental formula that would stimulate this section, promoting very rapid mutations.

“As many of you already know, last month there was an attack on Grey Pharmaceuticals, Los Angeles, where the formula was being developed, that destroyed most of the building. Initially we believed that the formula had been destroyed. I’m sorry to say, we have since discovered that we were mistaken.”

Nico shook his head as his vision swam again and his head began to ache. He noticed there seemed to be an aura of some kind around the furniture. He briefly wondered if he might have inhaled something he really shouldn’t have when he was putting his trick together when his attention was drawn back to the TV.

“Just today,” Markus Grey said, “Grey Industries has confirmed the Mutation Formula, which was being prepped for initial trials, was in point of fact stolen by a terrorist organization for unknown purposes. Furthermore, we have confirmed that the terrorists have already released the formula. They have, in point of fact, secreted samples of the formula into products such as soft drinks, bottled water, and deodorants. You can find a full list of the products that we have discovered have been compromised, at Grey Industries website. The companies involved are cooperating with a voluntary recall of the affected products while Grey Industries is compensating them for the loss of revenue and damage to their reputations.”

The teenager closed his eyes as everything suddenly seemed too bright.

He heard the scene change on the television to someone reading a list of companies whose products were known to have been contaminated. He groaned loudly, and instantly regretted it, when he heard the name of the company from which he bought his bottled water.

Nico opened his eyes and the aura that had been surrounding objects had disappeared. It had been replaced, however, by the fact that the objects themselves were now glowing. Everywhere he looked, objects were glowing, even the walls. It reminded him eerily of the computer movie; only instead of seeing code, he’d swear he was seeing energy.

His headache had been building and it was finally too much for him and he lost consciousness.

Nico awoke an unknown amount of time later to find the television still on. And it was glowing just like everything else. Thankfully, it didn’t appear the he could see sound waves.

On the television, he could hear the public service announcement still going, telling anyone who’d been affected to notify the government immediately.

Nico snorted, and was surprised to find his headache mostly gone. “Trust the government not to immediately label all of us ‘dangers to society’ and lock us up for study? Yeah right. Civil Rights, what are those?” Okay, so maybe he was a tad bit bitter.

Finding himself more than slightly thirsty, and no longer trusting his ‘safe’ bottled water, he made his way to the kitchen. Going to where the cupboard was supposed to be, he noticed that though the entire cabinet front (like everything else) was glowing, the glow where the handle was supposed to be was slightly different; brighter maybe or perhaps just a different shade?

Nico shook his head to clear the random thoughts and opened the cupboard. His new vision was apparently screwing with his depth perception however, as when he went to grab a glass, he misjudged the distance and his grip slipped. The glass hit the countertop and shattered.

“Shit, shit, shit,” the young man said. Somehow, he could see the individual fragments of glass. Without even realizing how or why, he started to visualize the pieces combining back into their proper shape and fusing, restoring the glass to perfect condition. His heart almost stopped when he saw first one, then many, pieces move. In a matter of seconds, the glass had seemingly reassembled itself. He, carefully, picked the glass up again and ran first his finger, then his nail over the surface trying to find any flaws, any imperfections, anything to prove that it had very recently been in a thousand pieces. Finding nothing, he put the glass back down as his hand started to shake violently, “What the hell is going on here?”

He stood up and walked to where the Meditation Room was supposed to be, maybe an hour or so of meditation would clear his mind enough for him to operate.

Alan ‘Doc’ Brown blew into Nico’s place without even bothering to knock; after all, he’d caught his mate in fellatio more than once. He stood just a bit under the other young man’s six feet tall, with skin that was the color of old coffee, and was thinner through the shoulders with hair that was best described as a dirty blond. “Hey bro,” he called out loudly as he walked into the kitchen. He grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and chugged half of it as he strolled into the living room. He plopped down on the couch and casually flicked on the TV. A second later, he’d surfed to his favorite porn station and finished the water. Without looking, he tossed the empty bottle to the side and managed to get it in the waste basket. He heard a noise from the side and looked over to see Nico walk in, “Heya bro.”

The magician cocked his head, “Doc?”

Alan stood up at his friend’s inquiring tone, “Yes?”

“Oh thank heavens,” Nico said. “Man, I really need your help.”

Doc followed his friend into the kitchen, noting that the other man was moving unusually tentatively. Once they were both seated, he said, “Alright mate, you’re starting to scare me. What’s up?”

Nico sighed, “Have you been watching the news today?”

A derisive snort was the quick answer, “You know me mate. The media is little more than a mouthpiece for an oppressive government, even the so-called ‘conservative’ stations.”

“Well, you’ve missed out on a doozie of a story today then man. Apparently this R&D firm...”

Alan listened as his mate relayed what he’d heard on the news. When Nico was finally done, his response was swift in coming, “Bullshit. I’m calling bullshit on this whole thing. I don’t know how even puppet talking heads could let themselves be used like this.”

Nico cleared his throat, “Um, man...”

The blond man looked at his best friend for several seconds before his eyes widened, “No ... please tell me you’re shitting me dude.”

Burns smiled crookedly, “I shit you not.”

What followed was almost a full minute of nonstop profanity from Alan Brown.

Nico sat back and smiled as his usually reserved friend completely lost the plot. When the blond started to wind down, he said, “Feeling better yet?”

“Sort of,” Alan grumbled.

“Good,” Nico said sternly. “Now, I need help figuring out what ... the... hell is going on.” He took a deep breath and continued, “You probably noticed how tentative I was when I asked if it was you? The reason is, something’s happened to my vision. Instead of seeing physical ‘walls’ I’m seeing glowing barriers where I know the walls are. I’m not seeing an old friend; I’m seeing a glowing humanoid shape. I’m at a loss mate.”

Alan nodded slowly. His nickname wasn’t merely an unfortunate coincidence of his surname. He was a certified genius and he bent his not inconsiderable intellect towards solving the enigma before him.

Nico smiled as he sat back in his chair, though he might not be able to actually ‘see’ his mate, watching him work through a puzzle was always a treat.

After a mere five minutes, the blond nodded, “Alright mate, I think I’ve got the answer for you, but I don’t think you’re going to like and it’s going to require a certain amount of background information. Alright?”

The young magician nodded slowly.

“Alright,” Doc said in his Lecturing Voice, “science has demonstrated, rather conclusively, that the universe is simply made of energy in various forms and states. Some of the lower energy states, we perceive as ‘solid’ matter. I think what you’re seeing is the universal energy in its natural state. You said you reassembled a glass right? That means you can directly manipulate it as well.” He smiled wanly, despite being relatively sure that his mate couldn’t see it, “In some ways I envy you man. Your potential is pretty much limited only by your imagination.”

Nico snorted, “Maybe, but right now, I can’t see much of anything that makes sense. Hell, I can’t even look at Steph when she shows up.”

Doc snorted in response, “Come on man, think! You can directly manipulate the energy. Use it to form a filter.”

The dark haired young man blinked. “Alright,” he thought to himself, “I’m used to thinking outside the box for my shows. Looks like I’m going to have to get used to doing so in Real Life as well.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and focused, imagining a band in front of his eyes that shifted things back to how he would see before. When he opened his eyes, he saw his old friend sitting across the table from him, coal black skin and all. “Doc,” he said a moment later, “I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again; man, you’re a genius.”

“I know it,” he said as he reached up to rub his temple. He must be coming down with something as trying to puzzle out Nico’s problem had given him the grandmother of all headaches. “Hey man, I’m gonna go lay down for a bit, I’ve got a migraine coming on.”

“You alright man? You don’t usually get bad headaches, at least not out of the blue.”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. It’s been building since shortly after I got here. You been working on anything new?”

“Not really,” Nico said as he stood up. He walked into the living room and froze when he saw what was in the trash bin, “Dude, when you got here, did you snag a bottle of water out of the fridge?”

“Yeah,” he said before he noticed his friends concern. “Is there a problem bro?”

“Yeah,” Nico said despondently. “That little contamination thing? You know the one that seems to have given me powers? Well, I’m pretty sure I got it from the bottled water.”

“Oh hell,” came the fervent response.

“Yeah, let’s get you laid down man.” Once he got Doc laid down, Nico kept watch over the other man, while getting a handle on switching his vision modes.

Stephanie Harris was breathing hard as she slowed from a run to first a jog and then a walk as she approached the house she shared with her boyfriend Nico. She mentally snorted in a most unladylike fashion, “Boyfriend my muscular and well fucked ass. Keeper is more like it.” They’d been together since long before either of them understood what ‘together’ meant. The young woman was barely even five feet tall even in shoes and stretching slightly, with long vibrant red hair that was currently pulled back into a ponytail and her crystal clear green eyes were alight with a dangerous combination of intelligence and mirth. As a nod to the mid-80’s temperature and matching humidity, she was wearing a bright pink sports bra and jogging shorts to go with her running shoes. As soon as she was in the house and had the door closed behind her, she eagerly pulled off her sports bra, revealing her 44DD’s had their nipples pierced. Without conscious deliberation, she bent at the waist to untie and remove her shoes then slid her shorts off to reveal her bare cunt. She’d decided to go for her daily run commando style. With a sense of regret, she grabbed a half-cup bra that she kept by the door and slipped it on. Properly attired, she strode into the kitchen and grabbed the last bottle of water out of the fridge. She carefully took a long, slow draw, being very mindful of how her stomach reacted to the cold liquid. With just under half the bottle gone, she checked the garage for her man. To her surprise, he wasn’t there. “He said he was going to be spending most of the day working on that new trick.” She finished the bottle and tossed it in the trash before she started her search of the rest of the house. To her even greater surprise, she found Nico in the guest bedroom, apparently sitting vigil over Doc. “Hey lover,” she said quietly, “what’s up?”

“Wild day, Doc got caught up in it as well. Making sure he doesn’t have any issues before he comes to.”

The buxom redhead nodded in acknowledgement if not understanding, “Just so you know, I grabbed the last bottle of water out of the fridge.” She was more than a little concerned when he looked at her and the color drained from his face.

“Y-you haven’t seen the news today, have you?”

“No-o-o,” she said extremely carefully. “Why?”

Nico sighed, “You might want to sit down babe, I have something I need to tell you.”

Steph listened with a combination of fear and ... something else as her man laid out the story, “So, you seem to have gotten powers from this whole cock-up, think Doc might have gotten them also, and now, because I drank the contaminated water, I might get them as well?”

Another sigh, “That’s the gist of it, yeah. How are you feeling? Onset seems to be quick, twenty to thirty minutes or so.”

“Pretty fuckin’ good actually,” she said. “Surprisingly so after my run. If anything’s off kilter, it’s that I feel almost too good.” Suddenly, she staggered as her head began to swim, “Okay, maybe not so good.”

Nico was instantly on his feet and had her sit down, “Alright baby doll, what’s wrong?”

“My head’s spinning and my back’s itching like a motherfucker.”

He cautiously felt her back and to his extreme dismay, he could feel something moving around under the skin. Without a conscious thought, he quickly undid her bra.

Nico watched in a combination of fascination and horror as his girl ... changed. Her face stretched, becoming a muzzle, her arms swelled and her fingers ... stretched, creating what, for all appearances, were claws! When her skin started to turn red, he started to get worried. A worry which wasn’t eased when he felt the skin and it felt like actual scales under his fingers. Of course that was nothing when real, actual, motherfucking WINGS! sprouted from her back. After that, she seemed to sag slightly before righting herself. “Stephanie, babe, are you in there?”

The ... young woman (?) looked at him through yellow, slitted eyes and nodded. “Nico...” is what she intended to say, but instead a mild screech came out.

The only thing that let the young man keep his cool was the fact that he could see the intelligence in her eyes. He carefully stepped back and visually took her in.

Currently Stephanie (?) was almost a match for his own six feet. She was covered in reddish-gold scales. Her arms were still somewhat spindly, but her legs were even more heavily muscled and ended in wicked looking talons. When she screeched at him, he saw a lot of very pointed dentition and a very long, very pink tongue. “She’d love to have that normally,” he absently thought to himself. She also seemed to have sprouted a rather lizard-like tail which he had missed. “If she could breathe fire, I’d swear she looked like a dragon.” He took a deep breath, but before he could say anything, there came a noise from the bed.

“Could you at least gag her if you’re going to fuck her while I’m trying to sleep,” Doc said. Then he opened his eyes and saw ... In a disturbingly calm voice, he said, “Nico, is there a dragon in my room?”

“I think so Doc, yeah,” the young man said cautiously as he turned to watch his friend sit up.

“Alight, I hereby rescind and retract any and all previous comments about this being bullshit.” He looked at the dragon-like creature for a moment, “Stephanie I presume?” When the creature nodded slowly, he swung his legs off the bed so he could properly face the other two. “Well, this is a fine mess,” he said with a slight smile.

Nico looked at his mate, “Man, I hate to ask but...”

“Aren’t I taking this a tad bit too calmly? Normally, I would say yes, but in this case, I have your word, backed up by the fact that my mind is moving faster than I can ever recall it doing, and finally, there is a creature that should not exist in modern times calmly sitting in my room reacting as though it were actually Stephanie. Now, this could all be a delusion brought about as a consequence of a psychotic break, but if that is the case, I intend to enjoy it whilst I can,” he ended with a smile.

Nico ran his hand through his black hair, “Alright, first things first, we need to find out if we can get Steph here back to normal.” At a snort from the young woman/creature in question he amended it to, “Well, as normal as she can get.”

Being mindful of her claws, the former redhead cuffed her boyfriend on the shoulder gently.

“Oof,” he said as he was knocked forward. At his girl’s inquisitive chirp he said, “Yeah, I’m fine, but you’re going to have to been ridiculously careful. You’re a lot stronger now, Beautiful.”

Doc got a faraway look his eye for several seconds before saying, “Alright, I believe it should be possible for her to change back.” He nodded slowly, “The key will be her mental state.” He looked intently at Stephanie, “I think you need to be calm and relaxed. Take the deep breathing exercises you usually use when deep throating someone and apply them. They should help you relax.”

Stephanie closed her eyes, both sets of eyelids (which was a hell of a surprise for her), and took a deep breath. A few breaths later, she could feel a cool wave of serenity sweep over her followed by the strangest sensation she’d ever felt; sort of like she was moving without going anywhere. When she felt a cool breeze on her skin, she opened her eyes and found she was once more looking up at her lover. “I’m back?”

Nico nodded, “You’re back. Oof,” he said as he was suddenly hug-tackled by his girl. He hugged her back even as he chuckled.

Doc chuckled even as his eyes briefly tracked to the redhead’s naked ass, “Maybe a threesome is in order?” He blinked, normally his libido wasn’t very strong and it was Stephanie who initiated the sex. Still, “So, what do you two say to a threesome?”

“Hell fucking yeah,” came the expected response from the redhead.

On the other hand, Nico frowned, “Later. We need to figure out what we’re going to do first.”

Stephanie said, “You fuck my ass while I blow Doc then you switch positions. Maybe tie me up and spank me while you two are recovering.”

The young magician exhaled sharply and scowled even as he closed his eyes while pinching the bridge of his nose. “I meant,” he said more sharply than he’d really intended too. He drew in a deep breath, held it for a four count and slowly released it. In a much calmer tone of voice he said, “I meant in the long term. We three aren’t going to be the only ones who received powers out of this fiasco.”

Doc stood up slowly, “Perhaps we should relocate to the kitchen. Stephanie’s mind might be a little less inclined to go into the gutter if we’re not in a bedroom.” He wasn’t surprised when both of the other two snorted. He was well aware of Stephanie’s sex life after all.

Nico had used straight tap water to make up a pot of coffee while Stephanie had, reluctantly, gotten dressed and made a pizza run.

Meanwhile, Doc had grabbed one of the notebooks that Nico kept on hand for sketching out various ideas and was in the process of filling it with ideas of his own. Ideas for new and strange creations. Admittedly the cold fusion reactor would be a godsend for some of his other ideas and the containment foam bullets were something Law Enforcement would be lining up to buy; a completely non-lethal method to contain a suspect was something they couldn’t afford not to buy. He paused briefly to consider the expansion factor built into the foam. Chemistry had never been his strongest suit, that had belonged to a slightly younger student, but the formula for that was ... intense. Alan sighed; the ideas were coming faster than he could record them, but they were so disjointed so as to make no coherent sense.

The backdoor opened and Stephanie breezed in. The redhead deposited four boxes of pizza on the counter before she stripped down so she was only wearing her usual half-cup bra.

Food and drink was quickly disbursed then the three teenagers gathered around the table.

Nico sighed, “Alright, I’ll start by stating the painfully obvious. We three aren’t the only ones who’ll have gained powers. The question becomes, what, if anything, do we do in regards to that?”

Doc frowned as he took a bite of his pizza, “I’m not sure. On one hand, if you and Steph are any indication, not to mention popular literature, then conventional Law Enforcement is going to be helpless before any determined assault by newly empowered mutants and, humans being humans even with powers, some are going to go bad. On the other hand, however, there is the fact that, simply put, vigilantism is illegal. If we step in to prevent crime, we may well be labeled as a part of the problem.”

Stephanie frowned as spread her legs slightly wider under the table, “But we can’t just sit back and do nothing.”

Nico nodded, “Nothing is precisely what we won’t be doing.” At the other two’s confused looks, he sighed, “Look, it’s going to take at least a few weeks for everything to percolate through. So we likely aren’t going to be seeing a mutant crime wave in the immediate future. That being the case, we need to use that time to figure out how our powers work. For example, Stephanie, we know you got a strength boost out of that change and the flight is fairly obvious, but can you do anything else. I’m not even sure where to start testing my own powers. Doc, you have any idea what you got out of this cock up?”

Alan nodded, “In addition to an increase in mental acuity, I seem to have acquired an improved aptitude for creating things.”

Nico said, “Which means that you’re going to need time and materials to build any sort of gear you’d need before we could actually go out and be heroes.”

The redheaded young woman frowned, but reluctantly nodded in agreement, “Alright, you got me there.” She smiled brightly, “So, can we get down to the fucking now?” She swallowed nervously at the cold, hard look that question got her. She’d seen that look directed at her only a few times in the years she’d known Nico, but it was a rather pointed indication that he was reaching the end of even his legendary patience. “Um...” She swallowed to clear her throat, “So, uh, what, what do you want to do now?”

Nico closed his eyes and drew in a deep, soothing breath. He held it for a count of four before releasing it. “Alright, Doc, do you have any ideas floating around that would be quick to produce and easily saleable?”

The dark skinned young man got a faraway look in his eye for several seconds before he started nodding slowly, “I think so. I’ve got an idea for a machine to extract the oil from various organic forms and process it into industrial grade plastic. The hardest part to get would be the casing.”

The magician nodded, “Get me the dimensions and requirements.” At his friend’s confused look he said, “Remember, I have a low level machine shop out in the garage for my tricks.”

Alan nodded, “Ah, I didn’t realize it was that extensive. Still, I should be able to get the chemicals I need from the local hardware store for under $100, at least for a small demonstration model.”

“Alright,” Nico said with a sigh, “if we’re going to make money off of this, we’re going to have to create a business and I don’t want any of us as the face man for this. We’re going to be able to drop out of sight at a moment’s notice, which the president/CEO of a company can’t do, no matter how Iron Britches made it look.”

Doc had been in the process of taking a drink when that was said and thus ended up trying to choke.

“Fortunately,” Nico continued despite the mild glare the other guy was giving him, “I know a guy who should be just about perfect for the job.” He sighed, “Doc, get me the specs for the stuff you need machined then I want you and Steph to get to the hardware store. If possible, I’d like to get this thing started today.”

“Um, sir,” the redhead said tentatively, her arms were folded across her chest and she was looking down at the tabletop.

The young magician made a mental note to tone things down a bit in regards to Stephanie; she only called him ‘sir’ when she knew he was beyond pissed at her. He reached out and gently cupped her cheek. He had to use a little pressure to make her look him in the eye. He smiled gently, “Yes beautiful?”

“I ... I ... um, I’m supposed to go in tonight for a shift,” she said tentatively.

Nico nodded, she usually went in at seven and it was already three. “Alright love, you’re right, there’s nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow.”

Alan cut his eyes away from the pair; they were so deeply in love that it was nearly sickening on occasion, but still refreshing nonetheless.

Stephanie worried her lower lip for a second, “I’ve been a good girl, right?”

“Ah,” he thought to himself, “that’s it. She wants the reward I promised her if she behaved during the meeting.” He mentally reviewed her behavior even as he stood up and circled around the table. As he leaned down to kiss her, he reached his decision. “Yes, you’ve been a good girl, but if you’re going to get your nap in before work, we don’t have time for much.”

She looked up at him hopefully, “A blow at least?”

Nico nodded, “I can do that.” He then turned to Doc, “You want to hang around while I deal with this or cut out?”

The dark skinned genius snorted, “Dude, I’ve helped you fuck that little bitch stupid, you think I’m going to get upset watching you work her throat over?”

The young magician nodded as he straightened up.

Alan’s wince was almost imperceptible as a sound very like a small caliber gunshot echoed through the kitchen as Stephanie was literally smacked out of her chair. Intellectually, he knew the fiery redhead got off on the rough treatment and degradation, but even calling her rough names was enough to make him slightly edgy. Despite that, he’d fucked her as hard as he could because, in the end (in every meaning of the phrase), she enjoyed it.