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Chapter 9 by JackSimth JackSimth

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As the pair zooms across the landscape, the doctor sees what Victor meant by ‘good sheep’: There's a marked police car in the road, completely surrounded by a few hundred of the fluffy little prey animals, milling around and blocking the way. The police car keeps honking at them, but that seems to only attract them more… the police car is inching forward through the fluffy mass, slowly.

They do not, however, go straight to the airport: The pair stops at the doctor's temporary residence to pick up his laptop and a few other things he can't easily replace. The doctor also takes the time to call ahead to the airport for his ride home, and further to unload the rental car, and tie everything to Angela… because the next stop is to return the car.

That goes smoothly: The car's axles give out as the doctor gets to the rental place, and the main body of the car crashes to the ground, crumpling the metal and shattering the glass, leaking fluids all over the rental place's parking lot. The doctor walks calmly up to the rental counter, and hands over the keys, “I am turning in my rental car. I went with the full insurance, so I will not be sticking around for the inspection. Receipt, please; I am in a hurry.”

The clerk confirms the doctor's words on his computer and hands over the receipt, then follows the doctor out… pausing and screaming something the glasses refuse to translate when the wreck responds to the remote… but he gets very quiet when Angela smiles at him, and Benjamin climbs back aboard. The last words they hear from the clerk are in English, “Have a nice day. Please visit someone else next time.”

Airport security is also no trouble: Dr. Beaux's temporary THUNDER badge gets the strange pair waved through after a quick call to confirm its validity (there were many pitched tents while waiting for that call to complete).

There is a mild wrinkle at the plane itself:

“She's not going to fit through the door, sir,” a stewardess clearly prepared with the doctor's dossier holds up a hand as the pair approaches.

The doctor pauses as the wolf woman looks worried, “When do we need to start taxiing?”

“Another hour, Sir,” she responds.

The doctor nods, “Okay then… please load our stuff, and see that we're not disturbed until right up to the wire…” then assumes the Lotus pose and turns on the music; Angela copies him, and the doctor leads her through a session.

They get on the plane with five minutes to spare… and immediately start on Angela's ESTA paperwork on the doctor's laptop, tethering to his phone (the doctor places an order for a half-dozen sheep the same way). They even get the approval as they land, by which point, Angela is dressed in her own clothes (minus a bra - none of them fit anymore). The immigration agent doesn't even seem to notice that her hair no longer matches when he checks her passport… but that may be because he doesn't meet her eyes, instead watching her wonder twins bounce as she breathes. Or maybe it's because he knows women change their hair a lot.

Ironically, it's the doctor who's tapping his fingernails nervously in the hired airport shuttle back to his oversized house. Angela picks up on it, “Like, why are you…?”

“I haven't ‘eaten’ properly in two weeks,” the doctor shrugs, “I'm pretty much ‘running on fumes’ right now. If anything happens to me, whoever is closest will end up as lunch. I want to get home and ‘eat’ as soon as possible to keep that from happening.”

The wolf woman in human form frowns, “But like, I totally watched you…”

“Different kind of meal,” Benjamin interrupts, “I could have ‘eaten’ in the forest before, but I didn't want to accidentally catch you in it initially, and afterwards there was a lot to do and I didn't want to spook you, so I couldn't ‘eat’ safely. I don't really like talking about it because it makes people uncomfortable… but you're going to be living with me for a while, so I will show you so it doesn't catch you off-guard… and so you know what you're risking, staying with me.”

“It like, can't be that…” the blonde woman starts.

“You can judge that for yourself in a bit… we're here,” Dr. Beaux comments as the van pulls onto his property.

The doctor quickly tosses his things onto the porch and immediately walks around back.

Angela follows, puzzled, and raises an eyebrow when she sees the green pool water, “A house this big and you can't afford to….”

She trails off as the doctor's eyes turn black for a heartbeat, and half of the green slimy swimming pool is cloaked in a light-sucking void.

“Ah,” Angela tilts her head as light starts playing normally again and half the pool is white. “That's like, not so bad… everything totally eats, duh, so what if you like, happen to eat some algae by way of like, projecting a totally creepy soul-sucking void?”

“It's not just plants, it applies to…” the screech of a big rig using old brakes rings out, “...well, come and see.”

They walk around front, the doctor acting a bit more relaxed, in time to see the truck driver - a beefy man in farmer's overalls, a straw hat, and little else, his arms bare and bulging with muscles, stepping out of the cab. He greets the doctor warmly, “Ah, good to see you doctor. I have the paperwork here…” he hands over a clipboard and pen, speaking up a bit to be heard over the noise of the sheep ‘chatting’.

“You know the drill Henry, I need to make sure they're alive and in good enough health first,” the doctor chuckles darkly as they walk to the cattle trailer.

“Sir, respectfully,” the trucker laughs, “‘good enough health’ for you is, historically, ‘not dead’ - it's part of how you get the deal you do, we can sell you cattle that won't pass an FDA inspection.”

“I still should check,” Benjamin shrugs.

“Like, why does he call you ‘Sir’?” Angela raises an eyebrow as they walk to the back, wrinkling her nose at the smell of the animals.

Benjamin shrugs as the delivery man opens the back, then stands clear “I was born a male, grew up as a male, and still think of myself as one. Probably always will. This body is a side effect of my power.”

“Have you considered…” Angela begins as Dr. Beaux steps into the trailer.

“****, surgery, and/or talking to a mystic?” The good doctor laughs as he enters the trailer and looks around, “I help other people with exactly that professionally, my power undoes it all and more instantly.” He steps out and turns to Henry, “Seems in order…” he signs the papers, and his eyes suck the light out of their immediate environment for a heartbeat. Simultaneously, a similar black void encompasses the entire trailer, which goes eerily silent other than the sound of meat hitting the floor after the darkness yields to the sunlight, “Thank you. If you'd be so kind as to wait a bit, my companion here should see something.”

The trucker shudders, “No problem. At least I don't have cleanup today… those corpses always just feel wrong.”

The wolf woman in human skin raises an eyebrow, and Doctor Benjamin Maddox Beaux nods at her, “Go on in. They are simply dead: All six sheep. As is every insect, bacterium, virus, or mold spore. If you were to stomp your foot on a rusty nail in that trailer, you would not risk tetanus… unless you tracked it in on your shoe or something. It is perfectly sterile.”

The woman purses her lips, and walks in. A moment later, she walks out, a bit pale, “Okay, so you're like, a meat eater. How….”

“It works exactly the same on people. When I'm backed into a corner, that is how I defend myself,” the doctor shrugs. “But that's little more than a big gun, most superheroes and supervillians have that. The dangerous portion is that I can only control it about ninety nine percent of the time. Specifically, my power reacts to keep me unharmed and free. I keep a store of power handy to supply it - which is why I ordered these sacrificial lambs.”

“Ah, they were all supposed to…” Henry interrupts.

Benjamin interrupts the interruption, “They were all adult sheep. I was speaking metaphorically.” He shakes his head as the delivery driver nods, then the doctor continues, “...because if I don't have any power stored, and I so much as stub my toe, prick my finger, or inhale a cold germ, my power will - quite against my conscious desires - snuff out the life of anything or anyone nearby until it has enough to fix me up. If I happen to be out of power when a bomb goes off on my back, there's going to be two blast radii, not one… and I will walk away unscathed. I have tested this, and have yet to find a limit on my range when this happens.”

The driver speaks up while Angela is still processing, “Well, if that'll be all…” the doctor nods, and the driver continues, “...pleasure doing business with you as always.” The man tips his hat, secures the trailer door, heads back to the cab, and drives away.

After he is well and truly out of earshot, the wolf lady speaks up, “So like, you ARE suicidal.”

The doctor shrugs, “I was. A lot of trans folk are, if untreated. I possibly still am… I certainly don't actively seek ****, as the cost of failure is far too high. But… now that you know enough bullets put into ME could kill YOU, do you still wish to stay?”

The wolf considers a bit, then bursts out of her clothes and begins licking the doctor's face, knocking him to the ground.

Laughing, Doctor Benjamin Maddox Beaux accepts the answer, "Okay then, Angela, you followed me home, I'm keeping you.”

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