“I’m sorry, Mama. I wanted to help Aunt Whale.”
“Enough that you would defy me?”
The toddler returned Elise’s glare with one of her own. “You always said grown-ups shouldn’t fight. But you and Aunt Whale were fighting.”
Elise couldn’t stop herself from sobbing at the sweet innocence of her daughter’s words. “Oh, baby, I’m sorry. You’re such a wonderful girl.” She pressed her daughter close to her as she swam back out to the living room. “I’m sorry to you as well, sister. You have acted honorably and yet I treated you with suspicion and hostility.”
“It’s all right. I’m glad she’s safe.” And by all appearances Killer Whale was glad to see her niece safe. Perhaps Ariel’s love really had changed her.
Elise handed her daughter to Killer Whale. The little girl actually kissed her aunt’s cheek. “Thank you, Aunt Whale.”
“You’re welcome, child.”
Elise let the tender scene go on for a couple of minutes before she took Ariel back. She had to fix the little girl with a stern gaze. “Now, I’m going to take you home so you can apologize to Ursula for running away.”
“Yes, Mama.”
After that, despite what Ariel had said about grown-ups fighting, she would take her soldiers to track Midnight Spectre down.
***
When Sally woke up, she was surprised to still be alive. She thought Midnight Spectre would have killed her by now. Her second surprise was to realize she didn’t have any aches or pains from running into Midnight Spectre’s energy barrier. The superspeed helped her to heal quicker, but it still should have taken days for her to heal. Had she been unconscious that long?
She tried to look around, but there wasn’t much to see except a lot of dark blurs. A light came on to momentarily blind her. Her vision cleared a little after a few seconds, but the room was still blurry. Something cold was pressed into her hand; as she held it up, she realized it was a pair of glasses.
The room finally came into focus. Sally looked around and then gasped. In the vanity across the room she saw not herself, but a teenaged girl with bright red hair that almost matched the zits dotting her face. Sally raised a hand and watched the girl in the mirror do the same. “Oh God. What happened to me?”
“The same thing that happened to your husband about twenty-five years ago,” Midnight Spectre said. A cackle accompanied this. “Omega’s drones destroyed most of the Crystal Lair, but I was able to find what I needed: that chemical Storm and Dalton injected into Allison to make her a teenager. I guess it did the same for you.”
Sally stumbled out of bed. She ran across the bedroom, but it seemed to take an eternity. It seemed so pitifully slow to move at normal speed after years of superspeed. “It made me normal too, didn’t it?”
“That’s right. Wouldn’t want you to run off, would I?”
“Why didn’t you just kill me? Why go to all this trouble?”
“I need some live bait for your husband.”
“Please, leave Allison alone. She can’t do anything. Not by herself.”
The old woman cackled again. “I know how resourceful she is. I also know how much she cares about you.”
“You’re a monster!”
“Of course I am. I’m an unholy science experiment gone wrong.”
“Robin—”
“Shut up!” Midnight Spectre backhanded her across the face. Sally tumbled onto the bed, where she lay whimpering until she heard the door click shut. Then she got to her feet to go over to the window. From the look of it she was in a hotel in the southwest. Santa Fe or Albuquerque would be her guess from where she’d passed out. She was on at least the fourth floor, too high for her to try jumping, especially not in this scrawny little body.
She collapsed on the bed with a huff. If they survived this, at least now she and Allison could be together as a couple again. Tears came to her eyes as she thought of what would happen to Jenny. They would have to let Allison’s mom raise her until her real parents were old enough to take her again.
That was if they could survive this and if they could go back in time. She rolled over on the bed to cry into her pillow with frustration.
***
“I hate this dress,” Tonya whined. She ran a hand over it to try to smooth out imaginary wrinkles. After that she turned her attention to her thick bangs. “Being little sucks.”
“We gotta find a way to get back to the jetcopter. Then we can call for help,” Melanie said.
“How are we gonna do that? We can’t even get out of here.” They had taken refuge in the Hall of Mirrors, the one place Garlak couldn’t find them because it was far too confusing for her to navigate. The downside was that Melanie had to see an infinite number of herself in a light blue dress, the right side of her face decorated with little blue stars.
“There has to be a way.”
“What difference does it make? Even if we do, we can’t do anything. I’m only as big as one leg of my suit right now.”
“If we can get that weapon from Clownface, maybe we can find a way to change ourselves back.”
“Yeah, right.” Tonya pulled her knees up to her chin and then wrapped her arms around them. “Face it, we’re stuck like this. If we’re lucky she’ll kill us before we have to go through puberty again.”
Melanie snuggled close to Tonya to comfort her. The last thing she needed was for her only ally to regress into a child. “Come on, you’re still a brilliant engineer. If anyone can do it, you can.”
“So brilliant I ended up here.” Tonya motioned to the mirrors around them. “Look at me! I look like a dolly!”
“You’re pretty. There’s no shame in that.”
“I don’t wanna be pretty! I wanna be a grown-up again.”
“Tonya—”
“Leave me alone.” She got to her feet and then staggered off through the Hall of Mirrors. Melanie watched her many reflections fade away. She sighed to herself. This was all her fault. She shouldn’t have rushed into this situation. And she shouldn’t have asked Tonya to bring Garlak here; that had led them all into the trap.
She was crying softly to herself when a hand touched her shoulder. She assumed Tonya had come back, but then she looked up to see it was Paul. He was still an adult and when she looked into his eyes, they were unchanged. “Paul?”
“Hi, Mel. Garlak said you’d gone in here.”
“She’s too stupid to find us.”
“I suppose so. I’ve got a plan, but I need your help.”
Melanie wiped at her running nose and then at her eyes. “I can help. What do we do?”
“If we can get to Tonya’s equipment, we can get some of the antidote. Once some of these girls come to their senses, Clownface will have her hands full.”
“How do we do that?”
“She’s keeping it in an equipment shed. If someone creates a distraction, I think I can get in there.”
“A distraction?”
“Can you do it?”
“I think I have something in mind.”
***
The first part of the plan was to get Tonya on board. It took a little prodding mostly on Paul’s end to get Tonya to agree to help. “This better work,” Tonya grumbled. “I don’t want to embarrass myself for nothing.”
“Come on, it’ll be fun. Like the first time you were a kid.”
“The first time I was a kid I didn’t have to wear this stupid dress.”
“If you ever want to get out of that dress, we gotta do this.”
“Whatever.”
They emerged cautiously from the Hall of Mirrors, like prairie dogs popping out of their holes. They only had to follow the screams and squeals to locate Garlak. She had Diane pinned to the ground near the Ferris wheel. Diane was much bigger than the cavegirl now, but she still thought of herself as a toddler who couldn’t possibly fight back against Garlak. It pained Melanie to see Diane in such a state; they should be able to fix that soon enough.
Melanie took a deep
breath and then trotted forward. She tapped Garlak on the left elbow. “Tag! You’re it!” she shouted. She hurried back a few steps before Garlak could turn around.
“Me not it!” Garlak roared.
“Are too,” Melanie sang.
“Yeah,” Tonya seconded.
“Me show you who it.”
Melanie and Tonya took off, giggling as they ran. She looked back over her shoulder to see Garlak gaining on them. Much of her muscle had turned to flab, but she was still stronger than even most of the teenagers here. And she wasn’t hampered by these dumb, slippery shoes Ms. Cash made her and Tonya wear.
They ran past the storage room Paul needed to access. He was already in position in the dunk tank. His gills would let him stay down there for days if needed. Melanie didn’t expect it would take that long.
She turned her head and stuck out her tongue to razz Garlak. This prompted the cavegirl to roar again. Melanie forced herself to run faster. She was almost there—
A hand seized her by the hair. She screamed from the pain burning through her scalp. Garlak yanked her off her feet, to lie flat on the ground. She wasn’t there long, as Garlak picked her up and then hurled her against the strongman game.
“Now you it!” Garlak shouted.
“Am not! You cheated.”
This next part was her least favorite part of the plan. It called for her to ball up while Garlak beat the hell out of her. She wasn’t sure how much she could take, not as an eight-year-old. On schedule, Tonya tried to shove Garlak away. Garlak in turn pushed Tonya back a good ten feet to land on her rear.
Melanie doubted it was an act when Tonya began to cry. “I’m telling!” she wailed. She took off running in the direction they’d come. Garlak considered going after her, until she saw Melanie trying to slink away. Then she decided to throw Melanie back onto the strongman game hard enough to ring the bell at the top.
The next few minutes were a haze of blinding pain, worse than when she’d been shrunk into a little girl. She allowed herself to cry and scream as loud as she could. That would help sell it as real. She doubted she could stop herself anyway.
She wasn’t sure how long it was before she finally heard Clownface say, “Young lady, you shouldn’t play so rough with your toys.”
“She say me it,” Garlak protested.
“Well, I’d say she learned her lesson.” A shoe pressed against Melanie’s sore ribs to turn her over. “You have learned your lesson, haven’t you?”
“Yes, Miss Clownface,” Melanie said through gritted teeth. It didn’t take much acting to shout, “I wanna go home! I want Mommy!”
“Oh, don’t worry, sweetie, you’ll be fine and dandy soon enough.” To Melanie’s horror, Clownface pressed the pink gun into Robin’s hands. “Would you do the honors, honey?”
“Aw wight.”
Robin aimed the gun down at Melanie. She didn’t know what would happen to her if it were used on her again. Would she become a toddler? A baby? Would she disappear entirely?
Before Robin could fire, a red cloud wafted over them. Melanie began to cough violently, too violently to see what was going on. She did hear the familiar hum of the alien weapon. She groaned with pain a few seconds later when something heavy landed on her stomach.
She blinked a few times to see it was Robin on top of her. Clownface must have dropped her because of the gas—
No, that wasn’t it, Melanie realized as the cloud dispersed. On the ground in front of her, she saw a little dark-haired girl swimming inside a black sweater. The shot from the alien weapon Melanie had heard must have hit Clownface. The pink gun lay in front of her. She reached out for it with a hand hidden somewhere within her drooping sleeve.
Robin was too quick for her. She snatched the weapon away. “You should take better care of your toys,” she said. She fired the weapon again. Clownface screamed as she again shrunk, this time disappearing within the sweater. From inside of it came a plaintive wail. Melanie dug within the material until she found a baby with a thick cap of black hair. The baby’s face turned red as she continued to scream.
“Did you have to do that?” Melanie said.
Robin shrugged as she usually did in these circumstances. “The bitch had it coming.” Then she pressed against Melanie, running a hand through her hair. “You’re a cute little kid.”
“So are you.”
Garlak got to her feet and roared. Melanie looked to Robin. “I think we should get out of here.”
“Screw that.” Robin raised the gun again, but Melanie batted it away.
“Don’t! She’s on our side now.”
“Your face says differently.”
“She’s just confused.” Melanie held up her hands. “Garlak, it’s me, Melanie. I’m your friend. Remember?”
“You not friend! You make me little.”
“I’m sorry about that, Garlak. We’ll find a way to fix this. I promise.”
“You lie! Me kill you!”
Before she could carry through on that promise, Paul seized the cavegirl by the back of her ill-fitting T-shirt. “I think someone needs a timeout,” he said. Garlak continued to scream and roar as she was dragged away.
“Hey guys. Look who I found,” Tonya said. She had Diane’s hand in hers.
“You look like you had a run-in with a freight train,” Diane said.
“That’s about how I feel,” Melanie said. She snatched the alien weapon from Robin’s hand and then tossed it to Tonya. “It’s time to get to work.”
“Sure thing, boss,” Tonya said. She skipped off with the pink gun in hand.
Robin wrapped an arm around Melanie’s shoulders. “I think there’s a lot you need to catch me up on.”
“Sure, but can it wait until I take a nap?” Melanie asked an instant before she passed out.
Chapter 25
Melanie woke up and barely stifled a scream. Robin opened her eyes and then smiled. “Hi, sleepyhead. You feeling better?”
Melanie shook her head. Most of her still felt like a piece of steak that had been tenderized with a sledgehammer. She looked around to see they were lying on piles of clothes in the dressing room Ms. Cash had taken her into. “You shouldn’t be here, Robin. We can’t do anything. Not like this.”
Robin rolled her eyes, a gesture Melanie had dearly missed. “Don’t be stupid. I’m just sleeping next to you. Like a sleepover. Didn’t you do that when you were a kid?”
“No.”
“Well neither did I, but they do it on TV all the time. Relax. Everything’s going to be fine.”
“How can you say that? What if we’re stuck like this forever?”
“It won’t be forever. We might have to grow up again. Jasper and your mom can raise us. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll suck, but there are worse things.”
Now that she’d wiped the tiger face paint off, it was easier to read Robin’s face. “What happened, Robin? Did you kill Captain Howe?”
“No. It was the other me. The impostor. She switched places with me and left me in the loony bin. I was so doped up I couldn’t see straight. Not until she used the weapon. Then I ended up being doped up by Clownface.” Tears bubbled up in Robin’s eyes. “I didn’t mean to do this to you. I didn’t know what I was doing—”
“I know. It was the clown juice. I don’t blame you. I blame me for walking into the trap. I’m so stupid.”
“That’s not what I’ve heard from your friends. They said you raised a whole new Super Squad.” Robin wiped the tears away and then smiled. “You actually got Hitter, Ion Man, and Neanderthal working together?”
“Yeah. It was a little dicey for a while, but we were just starting to gel. Before all this. Now I guess we’ll have to be the Super Squad Junior.”
“What you did, it’s amazing. I never could have done it.”
“I was doing what needed done.” It was Melanie’s turn to cry now. She was glad to have Robin here to hold her, even if they were seven-year-olds right now. “It’s been so hard. I’ve missed
you so much. But I knew you didn’t do those things.”
The door to the dressing room flew open. Diane looked down at them. She had changed into a T-shirt and jeans to look a little more grown up. “If you tots are done bawling, we got a problem.”
“What sort of problem?” Melanie asked, dreading the answer.
“Tonya’s cracking up. I think you’re the only one who can talk her down.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Melanie smiled tiredly at Robin. “No rest for the weary.”
“Give ‘em hell, kid.”
“Thanks.” She groaned as she got to her feet. She might look eight, but right now she felt eighty. She looked up at Diane. “I don’t suppose you could give me a lift?”
Diane rolled her eyes almost exactly like Robin. “Fine, hop aboard the Outcast Express.” Melanie gratefully climbed onto the older girl’s back. She tried to remember the last time she’d gotten a piggyback ride. It was probably when her father had still been alive. Diane looked back at her. “I don’t think I’m ever going to live this down.”
***
Diane hadn’t exaggerated the situation at all. If anything, she had undersold it. Melanie toddled into the room accompanied by the sound of tools clattering. She heard Tonya scream followed by something heavy hitting the floor. Then came sobbing.
Tonya had melted into a corner of the room, her face pressed in her hands. Melanie hobbled over to her, getting down on her knees so they’d be level with each other. “Tonya, what’s wrong?”
“I’m so stupid,” Tonya said through her hands. “I’m just a stupid little kid. I’m never gonna figure it out.”
“Come here,” Melanie said. She leaned Tonya forward to hug her, even though it brought a fresh wave of pain through her ribs. “You’re not stupid. And you are going to figure it out.”
“Am not.”
“That’s not what a big girl would say, would she?”
“I don’t care!” Tonya’s hand found a wrench to hurl across the machine shop.
“We can figure this out. You and me.”
“Great. Two stupid little kids. That’ll do a lot.”
“It’s not so hard. I did it once before, inside Dr. Roboto’s monster. All we have to do is figure out how to do it again.”
Girl Power Omnibus (Gender Swap Superhero Fiction) Page 67