Fox(girl)ificated 2 - Ch.1 - Meanwhile, (Elsewhere) In The City (Patreon)

** note: This chapter marks the beginning of Book Two of Fox(Girl)ificated! It picks up right around the same time as the end of Book One, but (as the title implies) we're introducing a new main character, elsewhere in the City **

** content warning: instances of transmisia & misogyny **

"That's got it," I called out after making the last connection. The comforting hum of the big transformer in front of me was music to my ears, and without even looking at my test gear I could feel the electricity flowing once again. "Power's back on for the whole neighbourhood."

My coworker grinned, "Good job Sparky. I'll call it in, you wrap things up out here. Then let's break for an early lunch."

"Please don't call me that," I sighed. "I hate that stupid nickname."

Clayton just chuckled as he headed back into the van, "Tough luck Sparky."

"Asshole," I muttered under my breath as I started putting away my tools. It was only a few more minutes before I had everything stowed away, then I climbed into the passenger seat.

As Clay pulled out onto the road he said, "I'm in a burger and shake kind of mood today, so how's about we hit up the drive-thru at Burger Brothers?"

"Whatever," I shrugged. I knew he wasn't actually asking for my input, he'd already made his mind up.

As much as I hated most of my colleagues and a lot of my job, I had to admit working for Metropolitan Light & Power was one of the best careers I could have picked. Anything that let me spend time around high voltage and high current equipment was bound to make me happy.

Ten minutes later we were in the restaurant parking lot, eating our greasy burgers and fries out of a couple paper bags as we sat in the van. I would have been happy to suffer in silence, but my coworker fished his phone out then propped it up on the dashboard so he could stream something while we ate.

"Don't tell me you watch that crap?" I asked when I saw the video he'd selected. I shouldn't have been surprised though, CC&C was exactly the sort of badly-researched conspiracy drivel that appealed to my idiot coworker.

"Hey man don't knock it," Clayton retorted. "Nobody knows more about metas than Seth. Even MaR-AID turns to him when they need help figuring out weird new meta shit."

I rolled my eyes, "Sure they do."

Clay gestured for me to be quiet as he started the video. It opened to a guy that I'd describe as your typical basement dweller. With his messy brown hair and scraggly beard, Seth looked like a thirty-something year old college drop-out dressed in a faded t-shirt with his channel logo on the front. He was seated behind a cheap desk in front of an old chalkboard covered in random notes and scribbles.

"Hey folks," the host started, "Welcome back to another episode of Capes Crooks and Creeps, bringing you all the meta news that mainstream media is too cowardly to talk about."

He continued, "So you've all been asking me to do another show on that new mystery villain who's been corrupting our city's heroes, and I'm here to give you what you want. We'll start with a quick review of the facts, for any new viewers who haven't been following this ongoing crisis."

The video switched to an image of a muscular superhero in a dark red and black spandex suit while the host kept talking, "Last October the Flaming Fist posted a surprise retirement video. Less than a week later citizens started reporting the appearance of a new cape on the streets, going by the name Fiery Femme Fatale."

Despite my misgivings I ended up watching the video while I ate. Like anyone with an interest in metas I was already very familiar with that story, and all the theories about it. As far as I knew there'd been no official word from anyone at the Metahuman and Related Anomaly Investigation Department, otherwise known as MaR-AID. No other official organizations had commented either, but it sure seemed like Flaming Fist had somehow transformed into Fiery Femme Fatale.

The image on the screen shifted to a tall shapely redhead in her skin-tight dark red suit while the host kept talking. "Exhibit A, this new so-called heroine appeared on the scene less than a week after the Flaming Fist disappeared. Exhibit B, Femme has the same exact power-set as the Fist. Super strength, check. Rapid healing and regeneration, check. He can cover his body in living flames, check. Last but not least, fighting style. Let's compare these two clips."

My expression hardened as the video host misgendered Femme, and my low opinion of the guy dropped even further. Meanwhile the photo was replaced by a shaky video clip of the Flaming Fist punching some hapless crook's getaway car right in the hood, destroying the engine and stopping the vehicle cold. That was followed by another shaky clip of the Fiery Femme Fatale doing almost exactly the same thing, punching her fist into the engine block of an armoured car some idiots just hijacked.

After that Seth appeared on the screen again, "So last October the Flaming Fist became the Fiery Femme Fatale. Disturbing, perhaps alarming, but no reason to panic. After all, he's just one cape right?"

"Wrong," the host continued after a 'dramatic' pause, "Because barely a month later it happened again. The second victim was Platinum Pugilist. He went missing some time in early November, then not long after that we got Platinum Blondie instead. And just like with Fist, this new 'heroine' has the same meta powers and fighting style as the missing hero."

The guy actually did air quotes when he said the word heroine, and by that point I was convinced the jerk was another transmisic prick. As for Platinum Blondie, I already knew about her too. I kept quiet though, since my idiot coworker was obviously eating that garbage up along with his greasy fast food.

The video now displayed another pair of images, with Pugilist on the left and Blondie on the right. Both pictures were overlayed with identical tick-lists, which the host read out. "They've both got the same super strength and rapid healing. They both have that metallic skin thing that made the Pugilist look like he was made out of platinum. And they both fight like they've got experience in the boxing ring."

"Next up we've got one of the city's D-rank capes," Seth said as the video returned to him sitting at his desk. "Not that anyone cares, but the minor speedster Aella disappeared over the holiday season. Last confirmed sighting was December twenty-first. Then by new years there were reports of a new speedster on the streets. Same power set, and another boring unimaginative name too. And check out this picture? Obviously her costume skills aren't any better as Hermes than they were as Aella."

I frowned again at the misgendering, while two more pictures appeared on the little screen. The left-hand image was a very unflattering photo of Aella, who I always thought made for a very handsome tomboy. And on the left was another unflattering picture of the hero's new look. Hermes was a tall dark and roguish looking young man, and I didn't think his costume was that bad.

Meanwhile the host's voice got even more condescending as he went on, "For those of you not up on your ancient Greek mythology, the mythological Aella was an Amazon who fought Hercules. But c'mon? Looking at our modern 'heroine', this chick ain't no Amazon. And super-speed aside I could probably take her myself. Not much to look at, no super strength, the only thing going for her is a D-level speed boost. I'd say better luck as 'Hermes' but looking at the reports all I have to say is sorry girl. You're still D-rank at best."

I couldn't hold back any longer, "Ok this guy's obviously going out of his way to be an asshole. He's not just transmisic, he's a misogynist too."

"Bullshit dude," was Clayton's witty response. "Seth just tells it like it is, that Aella's a dog. And I don't know where you get this 'transmisic' crap. According to Seth there's no such thing as trans metas."

That last dismissive comment almost pushed me over the edge. It was just one of the countless lies organizations like MaR-AID perpetuated, and I hated it. Before I could reply though my coworker added, "Anyways shut up Sparky, I'm watching this."

For a moment I was tempted to live up to my nickname and teach the idiot a lesson. I fought back my anger though. It wasn't worth it, he wasn't worth the hassle. So I stayed quiet and suffered through a little more of the show.

"Now on to the biggest one," the annoying host said. "Everybody knows the Masked Man, the city's first and only S-ranked hero. He spent four decades protecting our city, but now he's supposedly retired. But what really happened to him?"

After another 'dramatic' pause a new still image came up on the screen, depicting a small effeminate person with fuzzy ears on their head and a furry tail sticking out at the back. I'd already seen that picture too, and I had so many questions about the ears and tail. I couldn't help wondering if whatever mechanism made that guy into a ferret-boy might also have a fox-kin option.

I was distracted from those thoughts by the video host's next bit of drivel, "This is what's become of our former saviour. Now he's going by the ridiculous title 'NoodleCat-Boi', and his power set's been completely nerfed. D-rank, at best."

"Oh come on!" I exclaimed. "NCB showed up on the scene in January, the Masked Man announced his retirement in February. They can't be the same person. Even if you ignore the impossible timing, the other examples all had the same powers before and after. Why would this one be the exception?"

Clayton growled, "Dude shut the fuck up! Let me watch this, alright?"

Meanwhile the video was back on the annoying host again as he launched into his conspiracy nonsense, "Folks this is what I've been warning you about for months. Whoever's behind this, they're obviously perfecting their technique. Late last year they gender-bent two of our A-rank heroes, and one D-rank nobody. A couple months ago they stepped up their game and completely nerfed our best hero. Who's the villain behind this scheme? Which hero will be targeted next? And why isn't MaR-AID doing anything about it? Why aren't our so-called city leaders even talking about this new threat?"

"We'll try and answer some of these questions in a moment," Seth stated. "But right now, let me tell you about this episode's sponsor. If you're like me, you need your outdoor gear to be rugged, but you also want it to be warm and waterproof. That's why I -"

My coworker paused the video there and shook his head, "That's some scary shit man. Whoever's behind this is obviously taking out the capes first, so there's no-one left to defend us. Then what? What if he starts zapping normal guys like you and me? That's gotta be his endgame, right?"

I sighed and shook my head, "I seriously doubt that. If some villain had that kind of power, why would he let his victims go afterwards? Femme, Blondie, Hermes, they're all still fighting the bad guys."

"Well what about the Masked Man?" Clayton asked. "Look what happened to him, he's totally nerfed!"

That got another sigh out of me and I rolled my eyes again, "I already told you that's not true. NoodleCat-Boi showed up before Masked left. They're not the same person."

"Then where's Masked? What happened to him, why'd he disappear?" my coworker demanded.

"He retired!" I stated. "The Masked Man's got to be in his sixties Clayton, he'd been defending the city for forty years."

Clay frowned at me, "Ok genius, if you're so smart then what do you think's going on? If it's not some new super villain, who turned two of our A-rank heroes into chicks?"

I honestly had no idea who was behind it, but I really wished I did. I doubted they'd be interested in doing anything for me though. According to everything I'd heard - and I probably knew more about the subject than the host of CC&C ever would - fewer than a dozen people had been affected, but they were all capes.

So far not a single normal non-meta human had been transformed, and no villains either. I knew idiots like Clayton or Seth would take that as more proof this was being done by a supervillain, but I really doubted it. I happened to know that bad guys weren't that discerning. Most of the mean ones wouldn't hesitate to use that kind of power against civvies if they could. They'd be happy to use it on other villains too, if any happened to get in their way.

That left me with just one theory, and after a deep breath I shared it with the idiot sitting next to me. "I honestly don't know who's behind it. If I had to guess though, I think it might be another cape. Or someone working with them."

"I think Femme, Blondie, Hermes, and NCB all wanted to be transformed," I added. "I mean, they're still out there doing the job, still being superheroes right? If they were transformed against their will they'd be on down-time. MaR-AID would sideline them, and they'd have all their science geeks doing everything they could to try and fix them."

"Now I know you're full of shit," my coworker scoffed. "Seriously Sparky, why in the world would a couple real men like Fist and Pugilist want to lose their dicks?"

I finally snapped at the guy, "Because they're trans, you dumbass! They were never men, and Hermes was never a woman. Whoever did this did them a huge favour!"

"Oh fuck off," Clayton scowled at me. "Don't tell me you're one of those bleeding heart 'queer allies', are you? Anyways I already told you, Seth says metas can't be trans. End of discussion."

"Now shut up and let me watch the rest of this in peace, ok? There's only fifteen minutes left before our break's over," he added as he reached up to unpause the video.

Unfortunately for my coworker, I decided I'd had enough of his annoying show. I shifted my right arm just enough that my hand came in contact with the metal door handle, and that instantly gave me a mental map of the van's complete electrical system. I could see a clear path through the door, the frame, and up to some metal just behind the dash where his phone was sitting.

Since working on that fifteen kilovolt transformer before lunch I was fully charged up, in fact I had power to spare. So I actually had to hold back as I funnelled a pulse of electricity through the van and into Clayton's smartphone, just as his finger reached the screen.

There was a loud snap, his phone went dead, and my coworker let out a yelp as he snatched his hand back then shook it a couple times. "Fucking hell, did you see that? I just got a shock off my phone!"

"Wow Clay that must have really smarted," I pretended to be surprised. Then I added with a smile, "Maybe we ought to be calling you Sparky instead of me?"

He grumbled unhappily, "Fuck off."

** This chapter is brought to you courtesy of Camille, who commissioned it! **