Preparing for

You stretched as you got out of bed.

You didn't actually need to sleep, of course. You'd advanced so far beyond human that such ordinary biological functions were simply optional, and had been almost since Emily, Zoe and Chloe had merged into a single being. Still, though, it was pleasant to lie comfortably, next to the woman you loved, who still did need sleep, and had been quite exhausted from your activities of the last few hours.

Kazumi was remarkably imaginative. She'd been **** as yet to use your gift, but even without it she'd brought you to heights of ecstasy you hadn't thought you'd ever experience. She broke through the mental barriers you'd swiftly slammed into place since that incident.

There was no excuse for what Reginald Brooks had done to you. He was a greedy, self-serving pig who had his position only due to superstition. Any competent manager would have seen through it to his inadequacies, and in time you'd planned to ensure his downfall. It wouldn't have been that hard. It was clear that he was more led around by his cock than his brain, and sooner or later you would have arranged for that to cause sufficient scandal to **** him to resign in disgrace or be fired.

Still, it would have taken some time. The most straightforward way to accomplish the goal was to present him with opportunities to behave inappropriately, more and more in public settings, until he became too much of an embarrassment to Hideki for it to be feasible to remain employed, and leave his reputation sufficiently in tatters that he wouldn't be able to find comparable employment elsewhere. But even doing that would have required a substantial amount of time to steel yourself to undertake the project, given what he'd done the first time you met.

Kazumi had broken through all that hesitancy. She'd been the final piece in allowing you to take your **** on him now, rather than waiting still, and take a more fitting **** than if you'd simply used your newfound control to alter events precisely to your liking.

Waving a hand, a full-body mirror appeared in Kazumi's small living room, mostly dominated by her TV. You took in your nude form.

It wasn't something you'd much cared about since you'd initially come into being. Emily had quite enjoyed Zoe's ample bust, and the firm strength Chloe provided, and that had largely been that. Your frame was tall, broad and solid, with well-defined muscles and lush curves. By any reasonable standard, you were an extremely attractive woman.

Still, though, there was always room for improvement. For this meeting, you wanted to ooze both power and sex, be someone whom Reginald would find irresistible in more ways than one.

You weren't overly concerned with surprise dampening your desired reaction from the Director. He was more familiar than most with what Project Inside Out had aimed to accomplish, and would know that a degree of shapeshifting that did not require any substantial alteration in mass was well within the realm of possibility for you.

Your face you left untouched, but you grew out your snow-white hair, enjoying how by shaking it you could make it drape over your breasts and tickle your nipples. Those same breasts you decided to enlarge, leaving them perky but making them draw the eye as you gave them a natural bounce that served to make you more alluring. You left your lower torso as it was, but your hips flared out further, exaggerating the effect of your natural gait, and your ass grew even more, until you knew that the shake from your movements would be completely irresistible to Dr. Brooks. A rump as huge and inviting as yours would lead him to think that you had enjoyed your previous encounter enough that you were back for another round, possibly asking another favour.

But at the same time as you wanted to arouse him, you also wanted to intimidate him. Muscle built up under your impenetrable skin, becoming firmer, harder. You weren't as muscular as a bodybuilder or a weightlifter, but they rippled under your skin as you moved, turning about to see how your form reflected.

Finally, you made yourself taller, enough to overtop Reginald by just enough to **** him to crane his neck back to look into your eyes but not so much that he could stand across from you and observe your cleavage without being obvious about it.

Taking in the entire package, you thought about letting a few images of your body slip onto the internet. You had little doubt what sorts of reactions and memes the images would garner. Maybe you'd do it after you took care of this. You liked the way you felt in this body. Quite aside from what you'd become and what you could do, presenting this physical presence made you feel more confident, more powerful. It made you feel sexier, and Kazumi had made you much more willing to embrace that side of yourself, too.

You saw her in the mirror, peeking around your body, admiring your waves of hair, sculpted back, thick thighs and titanic butt. She wasn't taken aback by it; you'd had ample opportunity to demonstrate your shapeshifting the previous night.

"What's the occasion?" she asked.

You turned around, letting her take in your massive breasts and cut abs. "Got a debt to repay," you said. "Remember what I told you about Reginald Brooks?"

Kazumi nodded. "What are you going to do to him?"

"Not entirely sure," you admitted. "I'm not just going to kill him or erase him or anything like that. That would be too easy."

"I'm sure we'll come up with something fitting."

"We?" you asked, not having expected Kazumi to want to join you.

"We," she affirmed. "Dr. Brooks came to our lab every now and then. He never went too far, but given how he looked at me, it was pretty clear what he thought of me. Didn't matter what sorts of contributions I was making to the projects, it was obvious he would have preferred I contribute rather more personally if he could have gotten away with it. Of course, he actually did it to you, so if you'd rather take care of matters personally, I understand."

"No," you decided. "You have as much claim to seeing his comeuppance as anyone else he harassed, Kazumi. If everyone could be there, I would, but given the nature of things, I think a more private event will be preferable."

Kazumi nodded agreement. "Planning to show up in the buff?" she asked. She was already dressed in casual clothes, the sort she'd wear in the office when she wasn't in her lab.

"Not quite." Your skin rippled, and a lab coat grew out of it. The coat was mostly open, and short, barely getting around the curve of your huge rump. In front it was closed by only one button, which was clearly straining to hold it closed around your bust. Other than that, it was open, leaving your abs on full display. A G-string wrapped around your waist, only just covering your bare mound and getting completely lost between your cheeks. Not wanting to make yourself any taller, a pair of glitzy flats appeared in your feet. The coat was sleeveless, leaving your arms entirely on display, and Kazumi admired every bit of smooth skin as you stretched and turned to show yourself off to your girlfriend.

"If that doesn't get the reaction you want out of him, nothing will short of outright mind control," she said approvingly.

"He told me I was an 'obedient little doll'. Well, I'm not obedient, I'm not little, and if I'm going to be objectified like that, I'd rather be a statue."

Kazumi nodded.

"You going to do anything special for the occasion?" you went on.

"Nah," she said. "I'll try it out sooner or later, but for now I think I like the contrast between us. Anything I do can come as a surprise."

You nodded. Moments later reality was unweaving itself again, Kazumi's apartment no longer existing around the two of you as all of existence rebuilt itself to place you in your old office at Hideki.

--

"What will I do now, Hala?" Emilia King asked the genie as the two sat in her private sitting room in the King mansion.

"Whatever you wish, Emilia."

"Whatever Juno lets me do, you mean."

"You are as bound, or not, by that as anyone else, Emilia," Hala pointed out. "The only difference is that you know it."

"And that makes all the difference," Emilia said. "The illusion is shattered."

"Don't let that paralyze you into inaction. Juno's ascension is an irreversible fact. Turn your thoughts away from futile resistance and toward how you can enjoy your new lease on life."

"You sound like some sort of hostage-taker."

Hala shrugged. "I am here to serve you, Emilia. I can assure you that Juno has no desire to control you, to dictate the decisions you make or do not make. What would most disappoint her, if that's something you care about, is for you to sit here, doing nothing. You deserve a second chance, Emilia. You should not ever have had to suffer for the actions of your grandfather."

Emilia's smile was twisted. "What of them now, though? I have read my grandfather's journals, which nobody else living should have seen, though one page went missing years ago. Even without it, and despite the physical deterioration, it is quite clear that there is something momentous to come in the next few years."

"Prophecy is never perfect, Emilia. The future is always in flux, and while events had proceeded to the point where any other outcome was almost unimaginable, the crisis has been averted in this timeline."

"At a cost even greater than what was originally paid."

Hala shrugged. "It may yet prove to be a cost worth paying. It may be that Juno can cross the tributaries of time and..." Hala fell silent.

"And what, Hala?" Emilia pressed.

"That's not for me to say. The decision will be Juno's and Juno's alone, should events unfold in a way that the opportunity presents itself to her."

"There's a lot that you both can't say," Emilia observed.

Hala simply shrugged.

"Juno told me that you would grant any wish I ask," Emilia said, changing the subject.

"Within what mild limitations she has imposed, yes. Anything you ask, whenever and however often you ask it."

"Then I want Safiya back," Emilia said. The genie had been away on other business when Emilia first met Juno, and was no doubt now trapped within the Goddess's very being.

Hala nodded slowly. "That is not entirely for me to grant," she said, holding up a finger as Emilia was about to object, "but neither is it impossible."

"Juno's got to consciously OK it, you mean."

Hala gave Emilia a helpless look. "Another point of possibilities. If she had been with you, no doubt she would have recognized my vessel and you could have done what was needful."

"There were other matters which I thought more important. Had I realized the extent of Juno Ternion's activities, I would have kept Safiya closely at my side."

Hala nodded, then held out a hand. A familiar pair of gold-rimmed glasses appeared in it.

Emilia took them, put them on, feeling their comfortable weight settle on her ears and nose. They had soothed her, ever so slightly, all those years of her affliction, but they rightfully belonged to another. She took them off and cleaned the lenses.

A familiar flash of light resolved into another woman, clearly recognizing both Hala and Emilia and unsure who to address. She took the glasses Emilia offered her and settled them on her face.

Hala broke the silence. "It is not your fault, Safiya. You served well and faithfully."

"Majesty," the other djinn said. "I have failed. I should not have--"

"You did as you were trained, as you were bidden," Hala said, cutting off her subject. "What happened was unpredictable. We all did the best we could do. That it was not enough is not shameful."

"It's good to have you back, Safiya," Emilia said, not liking how despondent her only real friend was clearly feeling.

"It is good to be back," Safiya agreed. "After what happened, I had thought all would be lost."

"That depends on your point of view, doesn't it?" Emilia observed.

"What need have you of me, though?" Safiya said. "Clearly you no longer need the services I performed, and even if you did, my Empress would be far better suited to the task."

"Reason not the need, Safiya," Emilia said, standing. Safiya also stood, and Emilia embraced her. "I want my friend back."

--

"So this is where the magic happened," Kazumi said, looking around your private lab.

"Where it started, anyway," you agreed. "Right there. That's where I was when Emily, Zoe and Chloe fused into a single being."

"The research that went on here must have been incredible. I wish I could have been a part of it."

"It was certainly... interesting," you said. "But it wasn't without its tumult. Eventually you would have been reassigned when the project was discontinued."

"Discontinued? When?"

"Years ago. Long before you or Emily ever came to work at Hideki."

"Then how did you come to be now? If Project Inside Out ended, then what?"

"It ended... officially. Unofficially, things go on. Work is classified under different budgets. New funding is secured."

"Tina and Lina," Kazumi said.

You nodded. "Pieces of the puzzle, though with military rather than medical applications. Still, without the regenerative ability of Zoe and Chloe, no ordinary human could ever have survived integration with Tina and Lina."

"And in doing so, they created the ultimate weapon."

"I'm not a weapon, Zumi. I'm someone who wants to live her life the way she wants to live it."

"But to do that, you had to become someone nobody would dare disturb."

More irrefutable claims. It was true: if you hadn't done what you did, you would have been constantly hounded simply for what you were, even threatened with erasure from history should Emilia King have released Hala. Given what had entered your conscious awareness only a short time ago, you knew that even at the end you had come within moments of nonexistence. The detour here for the Ascend had been both needless and extremely risky. If Emilia had reunited with Safiya before you reached her warehouse, you would have ceased to be. There was no doubt in your mind on that point.

Which was largely why you had let Safiya go from your clutches. Emilia was a good person, and she deserved the company of the genie who'd been her constant support since the terrifying loss of her grandfather and the rest of her family.

Kazumi interpreted your prolonged silence as an indication to change the subject. "Are you sure you want to go walking around dressed like that? I get it for once we're in the Director's office, but you're still, officially, an Assistant Director here, Loe. You're sex on legs, but showing it off like that is probably a good way to get canned the same way Reginald should be."

"If the higher-ups want to fire me, they can. I'm doing them a favour getting rid of that incompetent fool Brooks--he wasn't always like that, but time took its toll--and it's not like I can't come back here if I want to. If they do get rid of me, it won't do them much good anyway. They'll find my spaces quite impossible to repurpose, and will probably just end up having to put them on permanent lockdown."

"What about me?" Kazumi pointed out. "People know Emily and I are friends, and some of them are aware that Emily's part of you. Any scandal you cause could blow back on me, and while I know I don't need to do it now, I like my work here, Emmy."

"Don't worry on that front. My actions are my own, and I'll see to it that you keep your job here if that's what you want."

"Is it best if I don't ask how?" Kazumi said.

You gave her a faint smile.

"Well, I'd still rather not be seen directly with you. That sort of direct association would probably require a bit more papering over than I'm comfortable with."

"Then don't be," you advised her. "You have it in you now. Focus on being invisible."

To your eyes you saw two different laboratories. One of them was the laboratory as it truly was, the way you ordinarily perceived everything now, the dance of the skeins of existence itself forming all that was around you. In that vision Kazumi was almost no different, standing where she had been, only a slight alteration to her nature indicating that anything had changed.

But the other vision was how other beings would perceive the lab. To their eyes there would be only one person in the room. Kazumi had quickly realized that she had to not just be undetectable by visible light, but, just in case, also be undetectable by any other conventional means. Her magical cloak was so thoroughly impermeable that only yourself and Hala could have seen through it, just as you and Kazumi were the only people who could see through whatever supernatural illusions Hala might summon.

"That's not quite good enough," you pointed out as Kazumi started walking around the room, smiling as she saw no reflection in one of the mirrors.

"What do you mean it's not enough?" Kazumi started making faces in the mirror, relaxing her invisibility only enough to allow her mouth to show.

"Someone could run into you," you reminded her.

"I'd fall through the floor, though," Kazumi said.

"Focus, Zumi. Just like you're doing now with your mouth. Make yourself solid to the floor, but intangible to everything else."

"You'll catch me if I fall, right, Tin Woman?"

"Of course I will," you assured her.

"All right." Kazumi focused first on reinforcing her connection with the floor. You could see inside her mind as she visualized herself still being supported by it, having gravity act on her body while the floor provided an opposing ****, and then pulling her body out of phase with everything else. You knew from when you'd done it that it was a strange sensation, as if you were forcing yourself to exist in two states at once. Or, perhaps more accurately, forcing the rest of reality to exist in two states at once relative to you.

Kazumi started walking around, slowly, gingerly at first, but soon picking up the pace as she became more convinced that she'd gotten it right. She ran laps around the lab, disturbing nothing in her wake, until she made a spiral on your position and ran at top speed toward you.

"Hey, no fair!" Kazumi said, lying on the floor with a broken nose that she quickly healed. "You did that on purpose!"

"Not really, Zumi," you replied, helping her up. "I exist. Nothing anyone else can do can change that. I exist in all ways that it is possible to exist. You've effectively pushed yourself into a different mode of existence, but I also exist there. I could let you pass through me, but that would be something I'd have to do on purpose. I didn't expect you to try to run through me!"

"You should've," Kazumi groused. "Anyway, let's go give this jerk what he's got coming to him."

"He's in a meeting right now. Probably going to take another ten to fifteen minutes."

"Perfect," Kazumi said.

"Perfect?"

"Time enough to walk up the stairs. Race you!" She darted straight through the wall and made for the fire escape staircase. You let her go. You'd make it up there in plenty of time, and Kazumi would find Dr. Brooks' office thoroughly impenetrable until such time as you were ready for the confrontation.

There were a few people using the staircase, whether out of preference or for exercise. You didn't have to go down any hallways, thankfully; the fifth and twenty-fifth floors were dominated by their singular purposes. You drew eyes, of course, but people at the Spiral City building knew that you had some sort of supernatural capability. They just assumed that you were trying out this new look.

"Took you long enough," Kazumi teased, before adding, "but I can't get in. Come on, Junie, let's take this guy down."

"He's still in a meeting. No sense disturbing everyone else. They're good people, by and large, certainly all better than he is."

You turned yourself invisible a few minutes later as the other meeting participants made their way out of the Director's office. Scanning it with your mind, you made a few undetectable cameras appear in the ceiling.

It wouldn't be long until you had all the evidence you needed to get your boss fired for good.