Fox(girl)ificated 2 - Ch.2 - A (Nice) Walk In The Park (Patreon)

** content warning: internalized transphobia **

"No!" I cried out as the sound of crackling electricity filled the air, while my gut clenched in fear and confusion.

High voltage lines laying on the ground next to the car suddenly arced, and I was temporarily blinded and deafened by the overwhelming surge of untamed electrical power. I reflexively reached out towards the people in the front seats, but my hand struck some sort of invisible barrier. Pain flared up my arm and -

"Damn it," I sighed as I found myself laying in bed, heart racing from the nightmare.

A couple fingers on my right hand were numb from where I'd accidentally hit the wall in my sleep, and the acrid smell of burnt electronics told me I needed a new alarm clock. Again. Fortunately this was my day off, so at least I didn't have to worry about being late for work.

It was always the same nightmare, for the last sixteen years. Or was it seventeen now? Had I missed the anniversary again? I'd have to check the calendar on my phone. That was in the living room though, I'd long since learned not to leave any valuable electronics nearby when I slept. Not that the nightmares happened every night. Not anymore. I was pretty sure the last one was five or six months ago, so I was definitely doing better.

On the other hand I was awake, and there was no way I'd be getting back to sleep again any time soon. Not after that. I grumbled to myself as I got up out of bed, then shuffled past the washroom and directly into my tiny kitchen. Despite being covered in perspiration from the nightmare I really needed my regular morning fix before I could even think about showering.

My old reliable Mr. Kaffe sat waiting for me on the counter. The white plastic had long since faded to a dirty beige colour, and the matching glass carafe was long gone. At some point in its history a former owner had tried to repair the old coffee maker, but accidentally managed to mis-wire it in about the most dangerous way possible.

I placed my left hand on the cold metal warming plate and my right hand over the switch. Then I let out a long sigh as I felt the mains current buzzing through my arms and across my chest. Yeah, Mr. Kaffe was always ready to wake me up in the morning.

Suitably refreshed and a little more alert after my morning fix, I was finally ready to deal with the dysphoria-fest that awaited me in the washroom. As usual I made it quick, and I'd learned to dissociate a little which helped. So while I went through the mechanical motions of showering and shaving, my mind was mostly somewhere else.

I found myself thinking about those changed metas again. The ones people were talking about, and the ones they weren't. Fiery Femme Fatale. Platinum Blondie. Hermes. NoodleCat-Boi. Little Owl. Stone Man. May-Hem. The Flea.

All of them were capes, and half of them were well-known heroes who'd obviously been transformed. The others were all new additions to the city's roster, but they didn't act like they'd just come into their powers. They'd been around, but kept to themselves before. Then something changed, to give them the confidence to appear in public. And all that happened in the last seven or eight months.

It was only capes though. As far as I knew, no civilians had been changed. Not that they needed it, non-meta trans people could turn to the traditional medical options for transition. It was only metas like me who were denied by our very nature. My meta healing was E-rank at best. I still got hurt, still felt pain. It was just enough to ensure hormones wouldn't work on me, and surgery was impossible. All the drawbacks, none of the benefits.

I hadn't heard of any villains being transformed either, which is what convinced me this was something the capes were keeping to themselves. They obviously couldn't go public with it, whatever 'it' was. That would mean admitting they'd been lying all along about trans metas.

And if it was the capes behind it, then there was no way I'd ever get the chance to benefit from it. If I registered now they'd look at my background and realize I'd been unregistered for years. No way they'd help me after that. Odds were they'd lock me up instead.

I'd never done anything worse than petty theft and vandalism, but using meta abilities for any kind of crime made me a villain. So if I wanted to take advantage of this new treatment, there was really only one option open to me. Step up the villainy, figure out how the capes were doing it then take it for myself.

"Yeah right," I scoffed as I pulled on my oversized hoodie. As usual I'd finished my morning routine while my mind was elsewhere.

As I headed for the door of my little basement apartment I sighed, "I'm no super-villain. I don't have any underworld connections. And I sure as hell don't know any capes. The only way I'm going to find out who's behind this is if I literally walk into them on the street."

It turned out that despite the nightmare I'd actually slept in a bit, so it was getting close to eleven in the morning when I left the run-down apartment building. I didn't really have anywhere to go or anything to do, but I didn't feel like moping around at home alone.

The weather turned out to be really nice, practically summer despite only being the third week of May. In fact it was so nice I decided to go visit a nearby park. The city had hundreds of them, although some were just a little square of green surrounded by tall buildings. Out in the suburbs you had acres of open space, with sprawling lawns and playgrounds and bike paths or walking trails.

Where I lived on the edge of a commercial district next to an industrial park we got the occasional public garden space. Bigger than a single lot, not quite as big as a whole block, they were usually manicured lawns with some flower gardens and a few trees. They tended to have an assortment of benches or picnic tables too, each bearing the name of the rich person or corporation who made it possible with their tax-deductible donation.

Still, green was green and despite the total lack of power lines they were nice to visit for a while. The nearest one was about a half hour away on foot, and it even had a pond in the middle. So at this time of year there'd be plenty of migrating ducks using it as a stop-over point.

I visited my bank on the way, to get some cash from the machine. Payday wasn't until next week, but that never stopped me before. In fact apart from being close to home, the main reason First Metropolitan got my business was their security. Specifically the fact that it was about twenty years out of date.

A little pulse of electricity scrambled the machine's camera before I stepped into view, then I had all the time in the world to send targeted surges of voltage through the keypad. The ABM wouldn't even register what happened, as I bypassed its computer and took direct control of the motors and sensors. I had it count out a dozen twenty dollar bills, which were then delivered out through the dispenser. I pocketed the money and continued on my way like any other customer.

When I got to the park I found it wasn't overcrowded, despite the beautiful weather. Probably because this was Monday, and most people were either at work or school at this time of day. So I enjoyed a nice peaceful walk as I gradually made my way around the pond. I stopped to look at the spring flowers in the little gardens, then sat on a bench and watched the ducks swimming around in the big pond.

After an hour or so the emptiness in my stomach demanded my attention, and my thoughts turned towards breakfast. Or maybe lunch, considering it was past noon by that point. I usually avoided the little cafe next to the park due to its prices, but considering I had a pocket full of free money I decided to treat myself.

The place was busy, not surprising since it was lunchtime on a nice day. The line was moving pretty good though, so I wasn't going to complain. Plus it gave me time to look at the menu board above the counter, while I tried to decide if I wanted breakfast or something more like lunch.

Eventually I found myself at the front of the line. Behind the counter was an absolutely beautiful petite young woman with long black hair and gorgeous eyes. Her outfit was perfect too. Black leggings, long flowing tunic top, and the cafe apron seemed to accentuate the swell of her bust. Heck even her name was perfect, assuming the tag clipped to her apron wasn't lying.

She was a lot smaller than me, like at least thirty centimetres shorter. She looked to be a bit younger too. I was twenty-four, she was probably twenty-two or twenty-three. Right around college age, which made me think she was working shifts as a barista to pay her tuition.

Apart from being absolutely knock-out gorgeous there was one other detail that really caught my attention. Sticking up above her hair were a pair of fuzzy triangular feline ears, while a long furry feline tail slowly swished back and forth behind her. Both were the same jet black as her beautiful hair.

She smiled brightly at me, "Hi there, what can I get for you today?"

"..."

I stared back at her completely speechless. It felt like my brain had just split down the middle, with the analytical logical half reeling at the sight of a real live catgirl. That part of my mind was thinking about how this might be the first civilian I'd encountered who'd obviously been through the same process as NoodleCat-Boi and May-Hem. NCB was part ferret and May was a wolfgirl, but animal species aside this person was clearly no longer fully human.

Meanwhile the emotional part of my mind had teamed up with my heart to swoon hard. I'd just discovered that love at first sight was a real thing, and cupid's arrow hit me hard.

"Hello?" the vision of beauty before me asked again. Her ears flicked as she tilted her head slightly to one side, "Do you know what you wanted to order?"

It took another second or two before my scrambled thoughts came back together, and the logical half broke the news to the emotional side. This girl probably had to deal with creeps leering at her all day long, the last thing she needed was me doing it too. And before I got carried away with crazy fantasies I reminded myself that she wouldn't be the least bit interested in a nobody like me.

Even if she somehow saw past my sunken cheeks and hawk nose and messy hair, if she was looking for a guy she'd be sorely disappointed once she got to know me. And if she preferred girls... Well in that case I was an even bigger disappointment. My body was so far away from being feminine it hurt.

So I pushed aside the pain and anguish, along with the silly thoughts and stupid fantasies. Instead I gave her a self-deprecating apology, "Sorry, until I get my caffein fix my brain just doesn't work right. So um, can I get a medium latte with two shots of vanilla please? And um, could I please get the ham and egg croissant?"

"Sure thing cutie," the gorgeous barista replied with a friendly smile, while my brain momentarily stuttered.

I knew that had to be an hallucination, because there was simply no definition of the word 'cute' that could possibly apply to me. In fact it took me another second or two to realize she was talking again.

"Sorry?" I asked as I stared at her, almost lost in her gorgeous deep blue eyes.

She flashed me a heart-melting smirk then flicked her ears and repeated herself, "I said what name should I put on the order?"

"Oh," I mumbled as I my eyes widened and the colour drained from my face.

There were a few names I liked, but I hadn't made any decisions yet. I was loathe to tell her my legal name though, it was so masc it made my skin crawl. That just left the nickname everyone called me, but I hated that almost as much as the legal one.

After another second or two she prompted me once more, and in my panic I said the first thing that came to mind. "Kit. Call me Kit."

"Alright Kit," she flashed me another smile as she finished ringing up the order. "That'll be fourteen thirty-five."

I fished out one of the twenties I'd just got from the bank machine and handed it over, "Here. Keep the change."

That earned me yet another smile, "Aw thanks Kit. You didn't have to do that, but I appreciate it. Anyways it'll be a couple minutes, they'll call your name when your order's up."

I just nodded, then as I started to turn away I realized I'd been so caught up in the whole interaction I forgot to ask the most important question of my life.

I turned back towards her and leaned closer. I lowered my voice and tried not to sound too creepy or desperate as I asked, "Please, you have to tell me? How did you get your ears and tail?"

She looked up in surprise, then her expression shifted to a knowing smile for a moment. Unfortunately that's where it all came crashing down. The friendliness, the smiles, the possible flirting, of course it was all just an act. Or more likely, just my over-active imagination.

"Sorry Kit," she apologized as her ears drooped. "I have to take care of the next customer right now. Maybe next time."

"Right," my shoulders slumped and I shuffled over to the end of the counter to wait with the other nobodies.

I almost missed it a couple minutes later when some guy said, "Kit? Order up for Kit."

"That's me," I mumbled as I grabbed the insulated cup and the paper baggie with my food in it.

The place was packed so I had no hope of finding a table inside. Instead I made my way back out to the park, where I eventually sat down on a bench overlooking the pond. I had a gulp of my latte, which admittedly was delicious. Then when I opened up the bag to retrieve my meal I discovered an unexpected surprise inside.

My heart skipped a beat as I pulled out a little white business card. The front was printed in crisp black ink, with a stylized fox logo next to the name 'Doctor Fawkes'. Below that it listed an address, clinic hours, a phone number and a website. And at the bottom it stated, 'Free Consultation - By Appointment Only'

The real mind-numbing part was on the back of the card. There was a brief hand-written note there, from the cute catgirl barista.

"Hey Kit! The person you're looking for is Rachel Fawkes. Tell her Luna sent you~ <3"

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