Chapter 2: Symptoms

Her eyes flickered open as she awoke and looked around her apartment, groggy as the sun light broke through the window to shine down on her face. Morning had risen and with it the memories of last night. Looking down she found her two sons asleep in her arms, their mouths still latched to her leaking breasts as they clung to her. Grimacing she looked over to the stained laundry and her uniform, kicking off her boots and flinging her sticky white costume away with her bare foot. Karen picked herself up, cradling the two grubs in her arms, and made her way to her bedroom. She gently loosened their mouths from her wet nipples and set the pair on her pillows, kissing their foreheads before sauntering out down the hallway to the bathroom.

Finally calm after the excitement, Karen relaxed into her other form, her skin turning a translucent green and her hair mutating into a mass of tentacles. Spikes and claws extended, adorning her body as she washed herself in the shower. The burning lusts had died out for now, making her clear headed once again. She let the cool water cascade over her chitinous scales and instinctively reached for the shampoo. Karen paused. Using chemicals to keep clean seemed so quaint now.

Karen sighed in relief, feeling refreshed as she stepped out to dry herself off. Her clawed toes clicked on the tiled floor as she looked over herself in the bathroom mirror.

"Damn... Kate was right, I've got some real pumpkins growing off me." Hefting one of her I-cup breasts with her clawed hand, she felt liquid slosh inside. She twisted and looked at her backside, willing her tentacles out of the way to see well. Where once she would have looked athletic now she was full bodied, her hips and ass had grown into a round apple bottom, with stout thighs and thick legs. Her waist had lost its waspish frame. It was now more hourglass-shaped as her belly looked padded and soft.

"I can see why she was staring at my ass all night." Even her face had rounded, becoming heart shaped, her lips plump and luscious to match. In some more primitive parts of the world she would have looked like a fertility goddess, but with the reptilian eyes, razor-sharp claws, teeth and scaly tentacles she looked MORE like the fabled monsters of old.

Suddenly, she heard something: a wet splash followed by a heavy thud from the living room. Wrapping a towel around herself and willing her human guise back she stormed out of her bathroom only to stand stunned at the sight before her.

Lyta's chrysalis hung ruptured and dripping like a rotten tomato while a wet woman crouched under it, coughing up a lungful of slime. Karen stepped slowly around her couch and looked the woman over. She had long blonde hair clinging to her down to her lower back as her delicate fingers brushed slimy golden locks out of her eyes. Her eyes were a sparkling blue and full of life, with a face that would have left men stuttering. Where once was a little girl now sat a beautiful young woman with an athletic figure and curves to make any cheerleader jealous.

"Lyta?" Karen gasped. Blinking at the sound of her name, the blonde bombshell looked up and smiled.

"Mommy, I'm all grown up now." Standing up on wobbling legs Lyta leaned forward and embraced her mother, nuzzling the crook of Karen's neck and hugging her for all she was worth. "I could feel you from far away, but I lost you when you disappeared! Where'd you go?"

Blinking at her daughter’s fluent speech and awareness Power Girl looked at the chrysalis and back. "I was... called away. Mommy had to do something important but looks like she had another accident on her way home."

She showed Lyta the two sleeping grubs curled up on the pillows. "Who are they, Mommy?"

Thinking the question over, Karen shrugged before smiling down at her daughter. "They're your two little brothers, Lyta. Meet Leo and Jacky."

Karen spent a few hours getting to know Lyta. The two of them bonded over breakfast, devouring enough food to feed ten people. Apparently, the cocooning process was also quite draining. Lyta smiled as she helped Karen clean the dishes. Power Girl quickly learned that Lyta seemed to have some kind of genetic memory, knowing everything that Karen knew by the time she was born. She also didn't seem to care for clothes, having no compunctions about simply remaining gloriously nude. Karen tried to wear clothes, but she'd clearly outgrown any of her civilian garb. She gave up trying to squeeze into a pair of sweats and stayed unclothed too.

"Pancakes are yummy," Lyta said, drying the plates. "Can we have them every day?"

"I dunno, baby," Karen shrugged, writing down a list of food to get. Jacky and Leo nursed contentedly on her breasts. "We should probably eat a balanced diet."

"But we can metabolize just about anything humans can without consequences, mommy," Lyta argued. "And we should eat what we want."

"You've never tried broccoli, so how do you know you don't like it?"

"Because you've tried it, and you don't like it." Lyta concluded. Before Karen could debate that, her JL communicator buzzed.

"Power Girl, it's Superman," she heard. Her heart went cold as he continued. "We're holding a meeting here, and we need your input. It's about that shuttle crash."

"Uh, I'll be there in an hour," she said, trying to keep the anxiety out of her voice. "Lyta? I gotta go, honey. Can you look after your brothers for me?"

"Sure, mommy," Lyta nodded. "We can watch TV together." Power Girl handed the boys off to their big sister. Lyta squeaked as she felt their mouths latch on to her nipples. "Oooh, that feels nice... I wish I made milk, too!"

"Don't spoil them," Karen said, pulling on a fresh suit. "I'll be back in a little while."

***

Power Girl stepped off the teleport pad and went to the meeting room. Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Batman, Green Lantern, Batwoman and Green Arrow were at the table. They seemed surprised for the moment at her developing physique, but didn't say anything.

"Oh good, you're here," Superman nodded. Wonder Woman looked concerned, Green Lantern kept furtively glancing at her chest and Batman was his usual stoic self.

"Power Girl, can you tell us what happened when you tried to rescue the astronauts?" J'onn asked.

Karen swallowed, and explained what happened that night, going over details about seeing the shuttle explode and the pilots struggling with black slime trying to get into their suits (omitting any mention of it getting on herself), J'onn's eyes went wide. "This is most ominous..."

"What, what was it?"

"Eons ago, my people fought the White Martians," J'onn explained. "Their lust for conquest was such that they created a weapon, a terrible weapon that warped bodies into a new form, biologically separate from my race but able to conceal themselves physically inside a healthy body... Even telepathy did not reveal the sleeper species."

Power Girl listened quietly as J'onn continued. All of this seemed to resonate a deep, disturbing truth within her. Something that she wanted to deny, but found she was growing more and more to accept. He went on to explain that the species could regenerate and adapt to any situation or environment. The carriers of the "disease" (a term Karen found herself bristling at) went mad when the engineers discovered too late that it empowered their baser impulses, acting almost like animals. Even worse their new strengths had a cost, increasing their metabolism to dangerous levels. They bred like locusts, devouring anything they could to keep going.

"By the end of the war, the green zones of Mars were barren wastes," Sighed the Martian Manhunter. "There were small pockets of resistance, but we knew the end was near. Our only solace was that the species was trapped on our world, in a hell of their own making. They were little more than sinew and bone by then, turning on each other when no other resources could be found. When they went too long without food, they dissolved into an unformed sludge. When I was brought here to Earth in the present day, I learned that Mars was a lifeless world. While I mourned my race, I was glad to know that the species that killed us was also gone."

"Seems that isn't the case though," Ollie said. "The astronauts must've got a sample of that crud."

"We can only hope that it died with them," Batman said grimly.

"Bruce!" Wonder Woman admonished. Power Girl stood up and walked out, firing a glare at the caped crusader.

Green Arrow sighed. “Real smooth Bats.” Shaking his head. Diana got up to follow Karen, and found her looking out one of the vast observation windows at the slowly turning Earth.

Power Girl's mind roiled with conflict. She knew she couldn't have sex again, not after that story. Another part of her, one that was getting stronger, was curious about just how much she was capable of now.

"Don't let him bother you," Diana said.

"Huh?" Karen blinked. "Sorry, Diana, I was just thinking..."

"I know," the amazon nodded, patting Karen's arm. "It's never easy to lose someone you're trying to save. It can be stressful." Power Girl realized Diana was still talking about the rescue attempt. "You know, if you're feeling down, you can always come to me for a sparring session. It's a lot better for you than, ah, ice cream and cookie dough."

Karen looked at Diana with an incredulous expression, but her face softened when she realized Wonder Woman was concerned about her increasingly-zaftig figure.

"You know what... Sure." Smiling at her friend and team mate, Power Girl followed the Amazon princess to the teleportation pad, typing in co-ordinates to the Hall of Justice back on Earth.

As soon as the flash of light dissipated, both women found themselves in the open lobby of the Hall. Local heroes and civilian pedestrians wandered around admiring the place like it was a museum.

"Come on, if we hurry we can have the gym all to ourselves," Diana said, taking Karen's arm. Smiling happily, Karen followed her down the hallway, making their way to the training room and locking the door behind them. "I like to come here every so often,” Wonder Woman said, flexing in a warm-up. “A warrior needs to train constantly if she is to stay sharp."

Stretched her arms Karen twisted her body to get ready, but her eyes roamed over Diana's Olympian physique. She stared, almost licking her lips as she examined the warrior princess both inside and out. Diana was a perfect specimen of Amazonian physiology.

Power Girl's costume creaked and strained in places, reminding her that she'd need to let it out soon or face a wardrobe malfunction. Shaking her head, she joined Diana in the sparring ring and raised her fists.

"Ready? Go!" Like a blur Wonder Woman lunged at Karen, ducking one of her punches as she swung one of her own. Karen dodged it and swung her leg around, a roundhouse kick that sent the Amazon stumbling back before both women regained their fighting stance. "I'm still quick Di, try something else."

Smirking, Wonder Woman dropped to the ground, stopping herself with her outspread fingers before springing her legs out to double kick upwards towards Power Girl's face. Rearing back Karen dodged the strike and shoved the red boots aside just as Diana spun around and leapt up in the air, twirling gracefully and landing right behind the white and blue heroine, grabbing both of her arms and putting her into a lock. "Not quick enough..."

Karen's heart was booming in her chest. She found this combat exhilarating! Diana was so graceful and beautiful. She savoured the closeness for a moment and pulled her arms free!

Unseen by the Amazon, Power Girl had made her wrists gelatinous, squirming free of her stony grip and spinning around to wrap Wonder Woman in a bear hug. Diana was shocked by the sudden reversal as the two dropped to the mat under them. Power Girl began to laugh with amusement and Diana's resolve slipped as she chuckled and shook her head.

"So, what was that about cookie dough and ice cream?” Karen teased with a smug grin, looking down on her opponent, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “Looks like YOU'RE the one not on her game." Unfortunately, the pressure of her grip on Diana was too much for her straining costume.

She gasped with embarrassment when her top popped open and released her full breasts, dribbling mother’s milk into Diana's open mouth. Snapping back and covering herself, Power Girl blushed madly and fumbled her breasts back into the confines of her suit as Wonder Woman sat up and wiped her lips, involuntarily swallowing the milk in her mouth.

"I...I...I...Uhm..."

“Don't worry, Karen,” Diana soothed, patting Power Girl's arm. “I'm not a stranger to ah, milk. On Paradise Island, some of my more ample sisters had been known to lactate unexpectedly. Do you feel better?” Power Girl nodded when Diana helped her up.

"I... I feel a little better, thanks Diana." Sharing a smile with the Amazon princess the two hugged before Karen left, waving goodbye and heading back home early. Once she was out of sight Diana felt a strange warmth come over her. She wiped her brow and found herself sweating.

"I must have caught something earlier, perhaps I'll retire tonight as well."

***

Karen soared through her window and closed the blinds. Sighing in relaxation she peeled off her costume, setting it by the window before strolling into her apartment, nude like before.

"Welcome back, Mommy," chirped Lyta from the couch, waving at her mother as she entered the living room. Power Girl stopped dead and looked up at the wall. Next to the dried-out chrysalis Lyta had emerged from the night before were two more throbbing cocoons. Her sons were nowhere in sight.

"When did THIS happen?!" wondered Karen, moving up to press a hand against the fleshy walls and see the silhouettes of her twin sons.

"Just a few minutes ago, I fed them some of the chips in the cabinet and they... Well, that." Lyta shrugged. Karen let her hand fall away and shook her head. She was beginning to worry about the speed things were progressing. Too tired to fret about it, she joined Lyta on the couch to watch TV and tell her about her day.

***

Diana huffed and fanned herself as she made her way back to her penthouse suite. Feeling tired and feverish, she staggered her way to her bedroom, collapsing on the bed sheets to let sleep claim her. She didn't even bother to undress. Just as she finally fell asleep, dozens of tentacles sprouted from her flesh, shredding her clothes and enveloping her in a cocoon over the bed frame. Her body remained visible through the mottled glossy green and brown membrane while she dreamt through it all peacefully.

***

The next day…

Karen slipped a wad of money to the deliveryman, latching the door once he'd gone and dragged in the groceries.

"Sure glad they deliver," she mused while putting the food away. She'd ordered enough food to feed a whole wedding reception, and she was sure it wouldn't last long with the appetites her family had. Karen smiled at the thought. She had a family. It wasn't something she'd hoped for, but now she couldn't imagine life without one. While she was stacking cans in the pantry, she heard a noise from the living room.

"Oh, ooooh," Lyta groaned, deep in the throes of lust as she watched a rerun of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Karen saw her masturbating on the couch, her legs splayed open, a pair of fingers pumping in and out of her squelching pussy and a thumb on her clit. "Oh Xander, I want you! Please fuck me..."

The girl's facade wavered and her skin became translucent green chitin, horns curling from her head and hair becoming segmented tendrils. Spikes and fins erupted from her arms and legs as her fingers and toes became claws, and Lyta let out an inhuman hiss. Smirking, Karen thought her daughter was absolutely beautiful.

She let her own human form slip away, becoming the voluptuous alien creature she was coming to accept, and approached her daughter on all fours, following the scent of her pussy like a bloodhound.

"Allow me," she chirred to Lyta. Her daughter looked down to see Karen licking her lips. Lyta let her fingers slip free as Karen brought her mouth to her moist, quivering womanhood. Karen's long, segmented tongue slithered out of her mouth and rolled across Lyta's clit, making her daughter squeal and shudder. The snaky organ plunged into Lyta's pussy, rippling and writhing instinctively as Karen gauged her daughter's reactions. Lyta grunted and cried out, arching her back and groping her melon-sized breasts, smearing them with the pussy juice all over her hands. Karen curled her tongue dexterously, rubbing vigorously against Lyta's g-spot.

Karen felt her daughter stiffen, and Lyta's pussy clamped on her tongue, individual muscles flexing and pulling at it like a milking machine. Karen knew that if it were a penis, Lyta would have practically sucked the organ dry! Her womb would be sloshing with millions of sperm, and she'd soon know the feeling of motherhood. The thought chilled Karen a little.

Lyta collapsed against the couch, panting. Her pussy twitched weakly, letting Karen's tongue go. Karen settled in next to her daughter and stroked her gently-waving hair-tendrils with a claw.

"Anytime you feel the need, you come to me, okay?" Karen said. "We're not like... humans. We must be careful whom we mate with."

Lyta nodded breathlessly. Karen knew deep down it was only a matter of time before Lyta gave in and had sex with someone, ANYONE. She hoped she could at least delay things as much as possible. Then a wet cracking sound caught her attention. The two of them looked up as they heard the cocoons cracking open. A shower of slime was followed by two forms falling to the floor, landing on their feet. Slowly standing they looked around until their eyes fell on Karen.

"Mother!" they said in unison, embracing her as she stood. Karen could see that they were indeed perfect human specimens, tall and blond with athletic, hairless bodies. What's more, she saw that they were also quite hung! They had impressively thick cocks that looked to be almost eight inches when soft, and testicles like apples.

Jacky and Leo grunted as they held her and Karen could feel them growing hard as they pressed against her. Her pussy grew moist at the sexual contact... but Karen steeled herself and pushed her two sons away, resisting her urges. Their expressions became confused as she held them at arm's length. She sighed and looked at her three kids.

"I... I know this is sudden for you three but, we have to lay down some ground rules." Karen closed her eyes for a moment and gathered her thoughts. Lyta pouted and Leo and Jacky grimaced as their erections started to harden. It took everything Power Girl had not to stare and drool at the foot long bowling pins jutting out from between her boys' legs.

"First off, n-no sex with anyone outside this apartment,” Karen pronounced, ticking each clawed finger. “I gave birth to you all in just minutes and there's no telling if a human could survive that!" Seeing them all nod hesitantly she continued. "If… If it gets too difficult to deal with just... Jack off somewhere in the house, just clean up after yourself when you're done." The two boys nodded again, albeit reluctantly. "And above all else don't screw each other, I'm not about to be the mother of some inbred hillbilly mutant sideshow."

Leo stepped forward, grabbing onto his erect and still-dripping cock as if to contain it. He and Jacky slipped out of their human appearance, giving Karen a look at what the male version of her new species looked like. Some of the features were still the same; green translucent scaly skin, spikes and fins over the arms and legs and a bundle of tentacles slithering and coiling from their scalp. The major difference was the armored growths on their chest, shoulders and legs. Almost as if they had been built to fight. What's more, their cocks swelled and transformed into oblong, bestial organs, the heads inverting into thick spade like shapes. Barbs sprouted on their shafts. "Wha-what if we can't jack off, mother? What if the pain is too much?"

Karen glanced at her daughter and looked back to Leo sympathetically. "Then I can do this..."

She guided the large handsome creature to sit at the couch and knelt down before him. Knowing that she was crossing a line, Karen spread his legs wide, shooing his claws away as she grabbed his erection. She could feel the thing pulsing in her claws, heat rushing up its length regarding the foot long member before her.

Unlike a human penis, its tip was barbed, like a spear. Opening her mouth wide open and letting her slithering tongue dance over her sharp teeth she engulfed his member and started sucking. Trailing her long tongue around its length, she pressed her massive breasts against him to keep his hips from thrusting up. While she sucked him off, she could feel his claws stroke through her tentacles, her appendages wrapping gently around his arm as she pulled away to lick up his shaft and dive back down.

Looking aside with her peripheral vision Karen smiled around the cock she sucked on to find Lyta following her example, guiding Jacky to join Leo on the couch and then going down on him. Karen's eyes bulged when she felt Leo tense. A torrent of cum poured down her throat as her son groaned, holding her head steady. It felt like gallons as she gulped again and again to keep up with the deluge. Leo's cock soon began to flag, spurting its last pulses of thick semen in Karen's mouth. She let his cock fall from her lips and panted, catching her breath.

Power Girl licked her lips clean, sitting up to kiss her son on the forehead as he slumped back, tired and sated. Her belly practically sloshed with liquid! Karen felt full, like she had just drank a gallon of pancake batter, rich and creamy like melted butter. Her stomach stuck out more as it sagged slightly off her torso, running a clawed hand over the soft paunch she sighed.

“Goodbye, abs…” She stood up, regarding her sons. Lyta wiped her mouth and joined her, showing off a little potbelly of her own after swallowing Jacky's load. Both boys looked satisfied and sleepy. Patting their arms as they began to doze she whispered in their ears. "If... If things get that rough again, let me know."

***

Later that night…

Karen rolled onto her side and sat up, rubbing her head with a groan. The strange dreams made her sleep fitfully, anxiously tossing and turning. They weren’t nightmares as such. The dreams were more like long lost memories, visions of a past she never had. Lyta slept peacefully on the other side of the bed, her back to her mother. Her tentacle hair flicked and twitched with a mind of its own, like dozens of cats' tails.

Karen was about to fall right back to sleep when she heard noises from the living room, like hoarse grunts and moans. She swung her legs over to get out of bed and her toes squished something on the carpet floor. Looking down, she found a puddle of thick fluid pooling by her bed and lifted her foot to examine it. The goo was almost yellowish brown with the texture and consistency of half-hard gelatin.

On an impulse, Karen licked between her toes and grimaced. It tasted stale and sour, with a vile jellylike texture, like half-cured epoxy! More resinous puddles led out the door. She shook her foot clean and poked her head out the door in curiosity, sniffing out a scent that made her loins tingle. Her eyes widened in shock and she stifled a gasp as she took in the scene before her.

“So tight, too much pressure…” Leo was sitting on the couch while Jacky leaned against a wall on the other side of the room. Both were in their human form and struggling with throbbing erections that appeared to require two hands to keep down. The air was thick and heavy, making Karen flare her nostrils at the scent of perspiration and precum filling the living room. She squirmed behind the doorframe, her fingers digging into the solid wood like it were styrofoam, hips twitching in sympathy and desire.

“Come on, COME ON!” With a guttural moan Jacky bent forward, his foot long cock aimed downwards as it let loose a torrent of thick sperm, his hips bucking from the effort while his testicles visibly contracted pumping out a gallon of hot cum onto the tiled floor. It seemed like a full minute before the pulsing torrent abated and his erection went limp. Jacky held his knees as he leaned against the wall, his chest rising and falling with each laboured breath. He staggered over to the armchair and collapsed with a grunt.

Leo gripped at his own erection like he was fighting with it, gritting his teeth as his length .throbbed under his fingers. With a low growl, his own foot-long organ began spraying out like a hose, coating the wall in front of him with thick fluid that turned waxy and opaque as it dripped its way down. Spent, Leo leaned his head back on the couch, panting for air before his breathing slowed. Sleep finally claimed both boys, their breathing slow, deep and regular. Karen turned away and covered her mouth, not wanting to let out a moan. Her heart hammered in her chest as she tried to slow her breath down. She cupped her sex with clawed fingers and found herself dripping wet. She realized just what that sticky resin all over the floor was!

The sight and smell of all that cum had nearly broken her resolve. It took everything she had to just keep control and not straddle one of her sons to him to erupt inside her starving womb. Steeling her nerves, Karen sighed, her heart rate slowing and shifting back to her human appearance once she got a hold of herself.

“That was too much…” she groaned. “WAY too much.” Regaining her composure, the zaftig woman wearily moved back to her side of the bed and rolled into her pillow to sleep, squeezing her eyes shut to block out the dreams again.

***

Two days later…

“Is this all you got for mommy, Leo?” Karen purred breathlessly. “Come on, I know you can do better!” She pumped his shaft and smirked, tracing a clawed finger over the two swollen orbs at the base of his cock. Her tongue slithered out and teased along its length, swirling up to the pulsing tip. Leo groaned and dug his fingers into the couch, gouging the upholstery until the stuffing bulged out.

“Still too much pressure? Maybe this'll help.” Moving up, Karen sandwiched the thick barbed cock between her scaly J-cup breasts, squeezing them around the twitching spear-like pole. She watched Leo, gauging his reaction. His erection throbbed hotly between her breasts and she could feel his pulse quickening. Karen wrapped her lips around the head and began sucking at it like a straw. She could feel the thing swell, blood pumping hard to keep it solid like steel, and the taste of precum danced on her swirling tongue like the promise of ecstasy. A claw gripped at her tentacle hair, forcing her head down to take the cock all the way to the hilt. She opened her gullet to the invader just as her mouth and throat flooded with hot fluid and a low growl filled the room.

Karen gulped down another thick, buttery load of Leo's sperm, her son clutching her scalp as his cock pulsed and spurted in his mother's mouth. Jacky lay on the bed, dozing peacefully as his own load dripped down the wall, its surface already hardening into a yellowish cement-like resin.

Her sons had been busy the past few days. There were stains, splotches and puddles of cum all over the apartment, crusting in corners and coating the walls. The carpet was almost completely obscured, covered in rippling, textured resin. Most of the furniture was now glued into place, feet and legs festooned with thick frozen dribbles of alien cum like melted beeswax. It smelled musky and robust even when dry, giving the whole apartment a sensually wild odour, like the den of an animal.

Leo groaned and relaxed on the couch as his softening cock slipped from his mother's lips. Karen stood, wiping her mouth, and burped, stroking her belly. She'd quickly learned that the boys' sperm was rich in calories, protein and fat, and she found she'd developed a taste for it. It had definitely impacted her figure, taking her from curvaceous to full-figured, resulting in her body developing a sensuously rounded pear shape, but she didn't lack for muscle. Beneath her soft fatty tissue were sinews and muscles like steel cables. She seemed to have gained some height as well, making her more than 200 pounds. She wore it well, though.

Lyta was snacking too, having made herself a roast chicken. She eagerly devoured it, drumsticks, wings and all, her saw-like teeth grinding the bones to paste and licking the grease from her fingers. She'd gotten larger too, thanks to her brothers' cum, blossoming into a woman with the proportions of a plus-sized lingerie model.

Karen patted her son's head and went into her office, intent on finishing her new Power Girl costume. The suit had clearly become too small, so she decided to stitch together a few of her old ones to make one that would fit. Mother or not, she was still Power Girl. She passed by the bathroom and realized that she hadn't used the toilet in almost a week. Her metabolism must have reached perfect equilibrium, converting everything she'd consumed into usable resources.

Her head bumped the doorframe as she went into her office, and something just snapped inside her. With a feral roar, Karen tore into the wall, smashing and splintering the drywall with her claws, burning the wooden frame down with heat vision until all that was left was a pile of crumbled plaster and smoking cinders. Leo and Jacky looked up in amazement at the sight of their mother, her breasts heaving as she stood in the cloud of dust that used to be a wall.

"Mommy, are you okay?" Lyta asked, coming up behind Karen and squeezing her shoulder.

"Yeah, baby, I just..." Karen shook her head. "I'm starting to hate these walls. Our... home looks better this way." She had almost called it a "nest" but caught herself. She quickly finished her new costume and reverted back to her human form, pulling the reinforced garment on. A corset like framework of metal struts moulded her torso into an almost cartoonishly-proportioned shape.

But at least she resembled her old self.