Someone from her past

Once again we knocked on Hanako's office door.

The green woman poked her head out at us and grinned. She wore what was essentially a leaf bikini top and her flower petal skirt, all in green and purple.

She opened the door fully and waved us in. "Good, you're here early, let me finish with this and we can depart." Her hooves clacked on the tile and her petals rustled as she went behind her desk. Elegant fingers blurred on the keyboard.

Annie curled up on the armchair in the corner like she owned it. Sam and I stood, taking in the room. It was pretty small and felt smaller due to all the overstuffed bookshelves and potted plants. So, about what I expected from Hanako.

A few minutes passed in near silence, Sam had been acting odd since lunch. I opened my mouth to question her right before Hanako pressed a few final keys and leaned back with a sigh. "Done!" She turned off her computer and gathered some papers to put in her bag.

The Dryad marched out without another word. She poked her head back in. "Come along, if we don't convince the Subject this is real today, she'll be quite cross with me."

We walked through the halls briskly. Hanako refused our questions. 'The walls had ears' as she said.

When we made it to the parking lot Annie hopped forward. "Who did you find so quickly? I thought it would take a few weeks."

"As did I!" She kept strutting to her car, glancing at the nearly empty parking lot with suspicion. "I believe I mentioned an Ex on Monday? Well, we parted amicably enough and when I learned she was working in the city for the next week, I contacted her." Her voice wavered, was she nervous? "I ran afoul of academic politics and lost my chance at my doctorate. It's been several years since we last spoke." She struggled to unlock her sedan.

"Are you alright Hanako?" I couldn't help but ask as she fumbled the keys. Sam's eyes flashed and the car unlocked. I shot her a thankful look, the android smiled sadly.

Hanako blushed. "I may be a little uneasy. My relationship with Gemma was...good. Very good. She almost left the university to follow me, but I said some very hurtful things. I..." Her face crumpled, flowers wilting.

Annie hugged her. Sam and I joined in soon after.

After a moment, Hanako regained her composure. "My apologies." She sniffed. "When I contacted Gemma through a video call, she immediately noticed my physical changes. However, she reacted with subdued curiosity, like I merely cut my hair in a new style. When I broached the topic of how Mason's...anomalous semen could help her. She got very angry, but agreed to meet with us. We have to do this this evening."

"Is Gemma the trans woman you mentioned? You think I can help her transition?" I was kinda excited honestly, I hadn't done anything too evil yet, but I was still looking forward to helping someone with this weird power of mine.

She nodded firmly. "Yes, she is very wary of the required surgeries and lacks the resources to take that much recovery time. She has hormone treatments, but that only does so much."

I clapped my hands together. "What are we waiting for then? Let's go!"

Annie cheered, "Yeah! Go team!"

Sam asked, "Where are we meeting her?"

"There is a small park about twenty minutes from here, it has many secluded paths and shaded areas, so we'll have some privacy. Here's the address, follow me in your car."

Annie chose to ride with Hanako, while Sam opted to sit next to me. As we got to my car, I saw a silver shimmer again. It vanished behind a building when I turned to look at it.

"Mason?" Sam turned to the same corner of the building. "Did you see something?"

I shook my head. "Probably just glare from a window. It's nothing." We got in and started the car.

Sam licked her lips nervously. "Mason, do you remember lunch earlier?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"You and Zoey stared at each other for a solid three seconds before you had your little dizzy spell and she freaked out."

My grip on the steering wheel tightened. "What are you saying?"

"If you have some kind of super power, what's stopping other people?"

I had no answer to that. "We can worry about this later. If Zoey or anyone else has laser eyes or whatever, they've stayed quiet."

"Or someone is suppressing the information." She said with surprising bitterness.

I glanced at her, a suspicion building. "Sam, I've let it slide until now, but..."

She crossed her arms defensively. "Go ahead."

"Why haven't you said anything about your parents? Have you even contacted them?"

"Mom 'ran off' when I was little, and Daddy dearest was tired of me embarrassing him in front of his bosses at events, so he dumped me here." She grinned at me and leaned into my side hug. "Best decision he could have made."

"So is your dad... military?"

She nodded into my side. "He's pretty high up the chain. He's a colonel and he spends a lot of time at some secret Area 51 kinda place when he isn't jacking off his superiors and their senator buddies." Her voice grew thick. "He used to be a pretty good dad ya'know?"

"Whenever you feel ready to say more, Annie and I are here."

She rubbed her eyes. "Thanks, Mason."

A few minutes of companionable silence later, I followed Hanako's car onto a side road that led to a forested hill.

We pulled in to a small parking lot with some picnic tables in a clearing. A tall, skinny woman with curly black hair and slightly dark skin leaned against the only other car in the lot. She was dressed in torn jeans and a fitted blouse that showed off her toned abdomen and pushed up her small breasts.

She frowned at us. "Hey Hana. Long time, huh?" Her voice was slightly deep for a woman but not what I would call masculine.

Hanako seemed like she was going to offer a hug, only to let her arms drop lamely. "Hello, Gemma. I... It's good to see you again." Annie squeezed her hand in support.

Gemma frowned harder. "Well, let's get this over with." She spun on her heel and stomped towards one of the trails.

Hanako wilted.

That could've gone worse? I grimaced and led the others on the trail.