Medium Override - Final Revision

Medium Override – Volume One

Chapter 0 – [Experiencing AQUA:]

Davey, a relatively tall and skinny looking person wearing a T-shirt, flannel, and jeans waters a flower, sheepishly smiling. Lucy, a girl with shoulder length blonde hair whispers something to one of her goons. “Shouldn't a girl be doing that?” asks the goon. Davey looks at them, looks away, and begins to cry. “Hey, back off,” Jessie says, walking up. “Other stuff you call him out on make sense, but this is just plain bullying.” The use of the word “boy” and “him” throw Davey into visual dispair, making them wince. “I've gotta go.” says Davey, standing up, taking off their gardening gloves. They throw them on the ground, and storm off away from the fence Lucy was peering through.

Davey types up a note on the BacInTime and prints it out, folding it and setting it on the desk. They leave and walk to the bridge near their house. They stand on the bridge. They take a deep breath, trembling. “This is such STUPID idea,” Davey yells. They look to the side of the bridge, something catching their eye. “Actually- What the fuck is that?,” they think, before walking over to an iBac sitting in a pile of boxes.

~

Davey picks up the note, throwing it out, and sets down the keyboard to the computer they found on the bridge. Jessie had been invited over, and perks her head up and stares at the monitor, barely interested. "What are we doing again?" she asks. "We're seeing what's on this random computer I found" Davey says. They confidently hit the power button and both start waiting in suspense. A chime is shortly heard, and Davey becomes excited. Jessie just rolls her eyes. "Ugh, it would have been more interesting if it exploded," she says. The CRT monitor of the iBac flickers on for a second, then dies. Not a sound coming from the machine anymore. "Ha, knew it wouldn't work," Jessie says. "Good too, who knows what was on there." Davey sits there, glaring at Jessie with an annoyed expression. “No, it'll work, Sometimes electronics need to be charged with the first power on... I think” Davey hits the power button again, and the iBac successfully boots. This even mildly annoyed Jessie. “Hm, this looks like an application, this icon on the desktop. I'm gonna open it.” Davey navigates the mouse cursor to the icon, and double clicks. The cursor changes to the clock face animation, then changes back to normal. "Wait- do you hear that?" Jessie asks. Rushing water noises coming from the iBac kept getting louder and louder. Suddenly, a Jet of water quickly formed, impossibly spraying out of the closed glass of the CRT display, knocking Jessie to the floor. The high pressure stream of water then re-positions, spraying Davey, but the water behaves weirdly when it hits them. It encircled them, until none of Davey's body was exposed to air. Unable to breath, Davey passes out.

"Davey!" Davey slowly opens their eyes. "DAVEY!" Now fully alert, Davey realizes that Jessie is kneeling beside them. In a moment, Davey rolls over and coughs out a bunch of water, which dissipates on contact with the floor. "Oh my god, I thought you were a goner!" Jessie yells. "Yeah- what the heck happened-" Davey replies. Davey hears the familiar noise of keys unlocking the door. Davey panics. "Oh. my. God." says Jessie, mouth hanging open. "What?" Davey asks. "YOUR HAIR!?" Davey glances over at a mirror. "WHAT THE FUCK???" Davey shrieks. Davey's hair, instead of a deep black like normal, was instead a shade of navy blue. "Oh god, oh god, what do I do?" Davey asks, panicking. "Uhm... I have an idea. Get naked and put a towel on!" Jessie orders.

Chapter 2: [things are about to get weird]

Davey wakes up, and feels something on- no, in their neck. It almost feels like- a headphone jack to Davey. A horrified look creeps across Davey's face. They try plugging in headphones, and get what sounds like what Davey's heard of Dial Up noises.. They sit down at the table with their mother. “Good morning, Margaret,” Davey says. “I really wish you would call me mom,” Margaret says. "I had a weird dream last night." Davey's stomach drops. "I was watching this documentary on how a dog tried to legally become a house, as it didn't want to live in a dog house, and somehow we could understand what the dog was saying, but it DID NOT speak," Margaret continues. Davey let out a sigh of relief, their mother didn't remember the events of last night. Davey finished eating, and put on their shoes. "Have a good day!" Margaret yelled, as they were off.

While Davey was walking, things were good. That was until they saw Jessie standing, waiting for them by her house. Jessie usually only waited for Davey to get to her house when she had something important to say. Davey stops walking, and Jessie walks up to them.

Janet, a woman in a a lab coat with chestnut brown hair, looks at the override activity tracker in her hand. "I got a pulse last night, This can only suggest that the catalyst activated another override at that time.” she mutters. “They can't cover up those anomalies for long," she says to herself. “I have to find that iBac and start a team of people to fight off the growing amount corrupts!

“So, your hair turned blue last night after opening a weird app on that computer, I don't think you should mess with that anymore personally,” a girl with short-ish red hair, wearing a collared shirt and a pleated skirt. “That's not all,” replies a person with equally short hair, this time a suspicious navy blue, wearing much more casual clothes. “Look!” They move the hair covering the 3.5 mm jack in the side of their neck. “What the hell?” she says. “I know, that's what I thought,” they reply. “When I plugged headphones into it, I heard a bunch of tones as if I had dialed a phone into a fax machine.” “Weird!” they reply. The one with navy blue hair grabs her hand and places it on their chest. “Also, my chest feels like it's growing boobs!” They say. “If that's the case, then I think you should have asked permission before doing that,” she says.

Janet peers out of an alleyway, wondering what they're talking about. When she hears about the jack, she gets suspicious. “what are they talking about-” says Janet quietly. With Janet having said that, Davey's hair turns a brighter shade of blue. “What the hell?” the girl in the skirt says. With that Janet ducks behind the dumpster in the alleyway. “No way-” She gasps. “Did I just find the person who got catalyzed?” “We should get going to school,” the girl says. “The color of your hair should be the least of your worries, considering you were late yesterday.” With that the two friends make off for school. Janet looks back and they're gone.

Chapter 3: [Scary Sh*t]

Davey sets down a potted plant in the gardening club room. Davey pats their hands on their jeans. In walks the club advisor, also setting down a potted plant. “Thanks for staying a little later than everyone else,” says the advisor. “you were a huge help preparing for that storm that was forecast.” “No problem,” says Davey. “I didn't want to say anything,” he says, “but did you dye your hair?” It's... quite blue.” with that a strike of thunder and a flash happen, and rain starts. “Well, I've got to go, my family is expecting me home by now,” the advisor says. “See you later!” says Davey.

Davey turns back and picks up their bag, but they hear Tom, the advisor break into a coughing fit. “Mr. Tom, are you okay?” Davey asks, worried. “Yeah, yeah, I'm fi- URGK” Davey watches as Tom's skin and hair, generally his appearance, begin to have the appearance of the surface of a piece of chalk actively being drawn with He gets thinner, his extremities being breaking down into spikes, his eyelids durning dark and crinkling around the eyeballs, which were blank. He looked straight out of a nightmare at this point. He throws up some black writhing goo. The corrupt stands straight and turns to Davey, loosely. “AhAHSHAFD” It screams with a voice that sounds like it had been put through dozens of compression algorithms.

Davey dodges being lunged at the first time, but gets pinned to the wall the second time. “GYAHHH” they scream as their shoulders are crushed against the wall with the hands that aren't there visually. Davey raises their hands, trying to push what was of Mr. Tom away, though they just can't do it. In an instant, Davey starts focusing all their might to push him off of their shoulders. “Daisy Splash!” they shout, a stream of gushing water exploding out of their hands. The corrupt falls and gets knocked out. Davey also falls to the ground, extremely tired, shoulders hurting a lot.

Chapter 4: [Normal is over]

Davey wakes up on the floor; a figure stands over them. “Mr. Tom?” they ask. “No, was that his name?” asks a woman in a labcoat. “what do you mean, who are you?” asks Davey. “I'm Janet Jones, good day to you Davey Higgons,” states Janet. “What?” Davey asks. “You had an encounter with someone who corrupted... by my guess right in front of you by how spooked you look right now,” she continues. “I don't understand, what are you talking about?” Davey asks again. “How do you know my name?” “Last night, you opened a program on an old computer, no?” “Yeah, I did, it did some weird shit and now today I was attacked by my gardening club advisor!” Davey answers. “Don't tell me this is the apocalypse.” “well, I'm not sure,” says Janet. “No, the fact that your club advisor corrupted in front of you was a coincidence,” Janet continues. “But more and more of these occurrences keep happening, and I need help stopping them.” There is a pause.

“Wait,” Davey says. “Are you suggesting that I help you stop people turning into monsters?” Janet hangs her head, knowing that it sounded off-putting. “Yes, I am,” she says. “You're apparently a water essence. You're lucky it was the same one that the catalyst hardware in that iBac paired up with.” “What would have happened if it wasn't?” Davey asks. “Oh, you would have gotten a migraine every time you tried launching that program,” Janet says. “Yikes, says Davey. “I don't know if I want to help you; I got really hurt!” “That's because you only engaged in a partial override,” Janet says. “If you had the iBook that went with the iBac, you would have been able to get into a full override, which keeps you from being badly injured.” “Oh.” Davey says. “What do ya say, Davey?” Janet asks, reaching out a hand to pull Davey up. “Sure, I guess- but what will my mom think?” Davey asks. “I take FULL responsibility if anything happens to you,” Janet says. “That does NOT make me feel better, but I guess it's something,” says Davey, a worried look on their face.

Davey walks home, as if things are normal. Their shoulders don't hurt as much, but their lower half hurt from falling to the ground from fatigue. They turn the corner to their house and enter. “Davey!” Margaret shouts across the house. “Yeah?” Davey shouts back. “How was your day at school?” “Fine,” Davey replies, even though the last few moments had been traumatizing. They walk up the stairs to their room, seeing a light in their doorway.

“Who's there!?” Davey yells as they enter the room. A face is on the iBac they found. “Whattt?” They respond. “You're the one who brought me in here, I would think, though now I don't know because of how you're reacting,” says the iBac. “No, I certainly brought you in here, is this some... AI shit?” Davey asks. “The iBac minimizes it's face, as Margaret is now in the door. “What's going on up here? I've been hearing... Is that an iBac?” Margaret asks. “Uh...” Davey pauses. “I think so,” Davey says, the text reading 'iBac' on the front clearly visible. “Where did you get it?” “The side of the road,” Davey replies looking back at the iBac. “Okay, looks like a piece of shit- does it have an internet browser?” Margaret pushes. “I- I don't know,” Davey replies. “Well there ya go,” says Margaret. Davey had been asking for a more modern computer to take advantage of the internet, to further school work research capabilities... among other things.

Chapter 5: [Secrets]

After Margaret leaves the room, Davey sit themselves at their desk. The face immediately un-minimizes and greets Davey. “That was a close one,” it says, letting out a fake breath of air. “I'm gonna take a nap. It's been a bit since I was activated,” they continue. “Call me Bucky, and don't go snooping around!” The window closes, leaving Davey to a desktop with few icons on it, just the program they ran last night, and some location icons. Davey opens the documents folder.

~

Davey slaps at the blaring alarm on their phone. “Ugh,” they grumble as they get out of bed. Davey puts on a shirt, a jacket and heads to the kitchen for breakfast. On the table is a box with a note on it. Their mother already left, so Davey sussed that it was from her. “Bring this to school! You'll need it for the new club you're in. -Janet,” read the note. All suspicion that it was their mother left their body, and they started pondering. “What does this Janet person I met yesterday have to do with what club I'm in?” Davey thinks. They roll their eyes and grab the box.

In the middle of a class, Lucy stares at the box. “What's in the box?” She asks after a while. “Uhm,” says Davey. “I don't know, I'm supposed to bring it to a club I'm in.” Lucy squints at the box with a grimace. “Probably some plant shit,” she says. Davey realizes what they said was too vague. “I think it's a piece of technology,” they say. “Right.” she replies. “Nailed that interaction,” Davey thinks sarcastically, feeling defeated.

Later, after having had the box all day looking suspicious as hell, Davey makes their way to the room number listed on the card. “Alright, it says to just go in,” Davey says. “Whatcha doing?” asks Jessie, who is suddenly right next to them. “GYAHHH- what are you here for?” Davey shouts, startled. “You were given a box too?” Davey says to Jessie, after noticing the same type of box in their hands. “Yup, it appears so. I was also told to come here by someone named Janet,” Jessie says. They both go in, and to their surprise, two computers are on two of the desks. Janet strolls in from the right of the room. “SO, Jessie, do you wanna be like Davey here?” “Pardon?” says Jessie. “You can have superhuman strength,” continues Janet. “I- I want you to override with Davey here.” Jessie ponders this for a few seconds. “Great, let's get started! What's in the boxes by the way?” “Oh, those were just to remind you to come here, they're empty!” says Janet. “oh,” says Davey, looking grim.

“I got hurt doing that though, I wanna quit mostly!” “And that's why I'm joining you in this,” Jessie replies. “I wanna help so that you don't get hurt so bad again.” Janet gestures to the generic WinDOS computer. “Then power on this machine!” Janet says enthusiastically. “There should be an application on the desktop like on Davey's catalyst unit.” “Alright,” says Jessie.

Jessie walks over to the machine, pressed the power button, then the computer successfully booted, and she opened the only icon on the desktop. In an instant, the machine's temperature sky rocketed, and a jet of flames fired out and wrapped around Jessie. Jessie jumped up instinctively, hitting the ceiling, and then gracefully landing after the un-graceful collision with the ceiling. Her hair was rose red.

~

At the MFRH headquarters, a science research corporation, A board meeting is being held in a long room with a long table, ten figures seated at said table. “The numbers of active corrupts is going down,” says Macy, one of the executives. “We won't be able to accomplish overriding the Medium with the level of anomalies that aren't occurring.” There is a pause, and the CEO, a tall man wearing sunglasses and a suit, says “So, I expect you to create more! Ever since I knew the world is but a mere clone of truth, I writhe with anger of it's existence; That anger WILL be resolved.” There is another pause. “I will see what I can do about that, sir,” another executive, Chris, says.

Chapter 6: [Action!]

“Alright!” says Janet. “I'm gonna give you these laptops. They're how you'll engage in full overrides.” “How do we do that exactly?” Jessie asks. “Well, they've been modified to have a retractable 3.5mm jack, which plugs into the port on your neck,” Janet continues. “Ah... so that's what that's for,” Davey says, both them and Jessie plug in the cords. “Then you need to boot up the computers and login. The login will save your body as data, so you'll have to make profiles real quick,” Janet further continues. There is a pause while they both open up the laptops and start setting up accounts.

“What should I make the account name?” asks Davey. “Whatever you want except your real name,” Janet replies. “Ooh, I know, you should be Daisy, since that's so similar to your name and you do gardening!” says Jessie. “What? Isn't that a girl's name though?” Davey asks. “Yeah, but you are pretty feminine in the stuff you do, so it should be fine,” Jessie says. “Is your hair getting longer?” Daisy smiles. “Thanks,” they say. “I mean, I have no other ideas, so I guess I'll go with it. Only because I can't think of anything else. Nothing else is driving me to use this name.” Davey types in the new account name, and presses enter. “I'm just gonna put Ember, because of the red hair,” says Jessie, also pressing enter. “Oh, also you're a fire essence, so that makes sense,” says Janet.

Davey and Jessie both transform. “Oh my god.” says Ember. “What?” says Daisy. “You have boobs and are wearing a skirt,” says Jessie. “Well... so are you?” Daisy asks, wondering why that's a problem. “No, you're a guy though... right?” says Jessie. Daisy looks down at themselves. “No, you're right, wait... WHAT?” Davey yells. “I thought it was some sort of sick joke- but you're right!” “Oh dear... It seems testing didn't rule out all of the bugs... maybe?” says Janet. “I'll look into that.” Just then a police radio crackles, saying information of a corrupt on a street. “Oh, yeah, that's how we'll know of corrupt sightings.”

They all cram into a car. As they pull into the area where the corrupt was reported, they see that a police barrier has been placed to keep civilians out of the area. “Hey, you shouldn't walk past that line!” a cop yells at Janet, the only one visible. “Is she a pharmacist or something?” The same cop says to his partner. Minutes later, the building the corrupt is in explodes and the corrupt jumps out. “HELP ME!” they shriek in a compression algorithm degraded voice, as they attack a cop. “What do I do?” Davey shouts. “I don't know, just focus and something will com to you!” Janet shouts back. Daisy concentrates, closing their eyes. They imagine a big splash of water being scraped into existence. “Daisy SPLASH!” Yells Daisy, spraying the corrupt off of the officer. “Do I do something similar?” Jessie asks, frantic. “Yes, make sure to focus your energy and just make up a move or something, that's what Daisy's doing here!” says Janet.

Jessie concentrates on their energy, and Thinks of a move. “Ember BLAZE!” yells Ember, revealing her essence to be a heat essence. The blast of heat waves stuns the corrupt, knocking them out. What appears to be a monster has been defeated. Janet quickly runs over, and administers an injection.

The corrupt returns to their normal human form. “Get this man to the hospital! He's just suffered burns on his body.” The cops stand there, gobsmacked. Ember, shocked, had thought that the corrupt wasn't curable, much less that they could be injured. Janet walks over to Ember. “Right, so, you've got a heat essence-” Janet states. “We'll have to allow you to use your powers sparingly next time. I didn't exactly think about that.”

Just as things have settled down, when Davey had deactivated the full override, three corrupts jump out from the storefront and attack Davey. They performs the Daisy Splash move again, knocking them off, but not before getting bashed in by the corrupt. While this is happening, Noticing That Davey has finished off the three corrupts , Janet runs over and administers the antidote. She ponders about the events wondering if this had occurred naturally. Janet notices a woman suspiciously exiting the establishment, but shrugs it off for now.

[Note: corrupts happening naturally have only been documented with one or two occurrences in any given area at a time when it happens. The appearance of four of them in one building is one hell of an odd instance.]

Chapter 7: [Recovery]

“Hmmmmm...” Hums Janet. “Is it bad?” Asks Davey. “Hmmmm...” Janet once again hums. “Yeah, uh, you're gonna have to stay partially overidden, because if you were to dis-engage right now, you'd have fatal injuries.” “Davey gives a concerned look at Janet. “I don't wanna do this anymore if I'm gonna get really hurt-” They say. “You have to!” Janet cries. “These catalysts only work with specific people, and I think you're a good person!” “What reason do you have to think that?” Davey yells. “You've only just met me. ...I've only just met me.” Davey says glumly. “What?” Janet says. “Nevermind, I don't know why I said that.” Davey says. “So, what was me suddenly having a female body all about?” “I guess- I still don't quite know why that happens with you,” says Janet. “Please look into that, says Davey.

“Jessie!” Davey yells through the phone as Jessie picks it up. “Do you have any makeup?” Jessie sits there, pulling the phone away from their face, a weird expression on her face. Davey arrives at Jessie's house in a baggy coat, panting. “Oh my god- it's 75 degrees outside!” Jessie says. “Are you okay?” “Haha NO.” Replies Davey. “I didn't want anyone who recognized me to think I was padding my chest” Jessie looks at them like they're crazy. “Davey, you grew boobs!? Okay, is it more weird to see someone with boobs, or is it weird to see someone wearing a massive coat in 75 degree weather?” Jessie asks. “Ah, I see your point,” says Davey. “Silly me!” They say, sticking their tongue out.

“Aaaand, DONE!” says Jessie, as she finishes putting makeup on Davey. “OH MY GOD!” Davey cries. “I look so cute!” An awkward pause takes place. “So, why'd you want me to do makeup on you? It's not like your body makes you a girl just because it has boobs!” says Jessie. Davey feels like after this statement. “I- I don't know,” says Davey. “I've always wanted to try it, but I figured since I have the body of a girl, I could do girl things, like calling myself cute, and having makeup on me to make myself pretty.” Jessie looks at Davey.

Davey cocks their head to the side in question, with a silly smile (Lingo to describe how I want to draw the comic page) “The way your phrasing this makes me think you WANT to be a girl,” Jessie says. “Actually, there have been times when I thought you were a girl all along, just based on how you react to some statements I've made in the past,” She continues. “Like how you just get visibly sad when I talk about my period, or the same face occurring when you're told by others not to like something because you're a 'boy',” Jessie continues. Imagery of an egg beginning to crack comes up.

“I'm scared. What if I'm wrong? What if I lose these feelings?” Davey says, beginning to cry. “I'll support you through the whole way.” says Jessie. “Don't worry, okay? What do you want to do right now?” Jessie asks. Davey lays down on the floor. “I just don't want anything to change, I want my mum to love me, and I hear things about how people like me aren't loved.” Davey says, practically sobbing. “My whole world started shattering in my hands when I started puberty, and I can't glue it back together anymore. I need to move on, but I can't!” Davey says, with a tremor in their voice. They lay down on the floor feeling sad.

“Need a hug?” Jessie says after a long pause. “I don't know...” mumbles Davey. Jessie lays down next to Davey. “Know that I'll support you whatever you decide to do, alright?” asks Jessie. “Okay,” says Davey back.

Chapter 7.1: [Oh, Okay.]

Janet is staring at the computer screen of the iBac. “God dammit, I've diffed the source code, ran the debug script, checked the debug info, manually scanned the code with my bare eyes, searched for any accidental colons instead of semicolons, looked for zeros instead of Os, or vice-versa, nothing seems to be WRONG!” Janet yells. “Have you considered that maybe nothing is wrong? That... I don't know if I'm using this term that I got from the internet right, but that Davey is actually trans?” Asks Bucky. “I mean, how weird is it that their icon is a DAISY? And their name is DAVEY? Too much coincidence.” The iBac continues. “I think you may be right,” says Janet. “But we'll have to make sure with Davey.”

Meanwhile, at Jessie's house still: “I think... I think I'm a girl,” Davey whispers. Jessie is asleep, unable to hear.

Chapter 8: [The bigger picture.]

“Right! So, another report has come in,” says Janet. “Davey, you seem to be fully recovered.” says Janet. Davey jolts a little bit, then says “hehe, yeahhh. I guess you could say that.” Janet continues what she was saying. “I think it's about time I give you guys some more information,” she says, having looked into the four corrupts problem. “You guys know about SunDial Computing, right?” Davey and Jessie pause, look at each other. “Yeah, it's that computer company that had anti-trust allegations put against it and was split up, right?” Jessie asks.

“Right! So, another report has come in,” says Janet. “Davey, you seem to be fully recovered.” says Janet. Davey jolts a little bit, then says “hehe, yeahhh. I guess you could say that.” Janet continues what she was saying. “I think it's about time I give you guys some more information,” she says, having looked into the four corrupts problem. “You guys know about SunDial Computing, right?” Davey and Jessie pause, look at each other. “Yeah, it's that computer company that had anti-trust allegations put against it and was split up, right?” Jessie asks.

They all get out of the car on the scene and walk to the bookstore where the corrupt was spotted. Entering the building, Davey notices that the person at the front desk hasn't left the building. “I've been told that there's a danger in this building. I'm going to ask you to leave so that we can take care of it.” States Janet. The person looks away from the computer and takes off her headphones. “What? She says, turning out to be Lucy. “GYAHH-” says Daisy, not realizing they were at the book store that their bully worked at. At that moment, someone Janet recognizes from SunDial walks up to them. “Janet?” He asks. “Janet, are you with your new gang? How silly!” “Chris? What are you doing here?” Janet asks, confused. “Everything is under control, just a little experiment my new department is conducting.” Janet eyes him up and down, suspicious of him. “Wait, is that a taser?” she asks, as she sees a device in Chris's hand.

Just like that, Chris punches Janet, causing her to fall to the floor, surprised. “Chris what the fu-” “JANET!” Daisy yells. At that moment the corrupt peers around a book shelf, and lunges at Lucy. “AAAAAHH” She screamed. “Ughk-” Davey winces. Who do they pick to protect? Their bully or Janet? “Daisy SPLASH!” Daisy yells, knocking the corrupt off of Lucy. Jessie manages to restrain Chris, and the corrupt was knocked unconscious. Janet rushes over and injects the antidote. And the cops show up. “Someone around the establishment called due to a commotion apparently going on,” one of them says. Janet identifies herself, and tells them to rush the cured individual to the hospital, they take in Chris for assault.

Chapter 9: [Suspicions concluded]

“Alright, we're gonna ask you a few questions, Mr. Chimney.” States the interrogator. “Oh god, I fucked up,” says Chris, not hearing them quite too well. “Mr. Chimney, what exactly does this device you were carrying do?” Asks the interrogator. “It destabilizes matter on a universally fundamental way, editing a person's metadata” he says with a grimace. “Did he just openly admit that he has a machine that can cause corrupts to happen unnaturally?” Janet pipes up from outside. “I mean, you're the expert on that stuff,” says the cop that arrested Chris. There's a long pause from the entire group. “That logo- I think it's from the company I was kicked out of after discovering too much,” says Janet.

At home, Davey is talking to the iBac. “Davey, you got a package!” Davey freaks out, and goes downstairs to retrieve the package from their mother. “T-thanks Margaret-” They say. Davey rushes back to their room, holds the package up and thinks: “This is it. I get to be me after this.” she grabs her phone and calls Jessie: “I'm a girl btw, and I'm gonna tell my mom! Wish me luck?” a pause occurs. “I knew it! Good luck,” Jessie texts back. Daisy takes the item out of the box and puts on the skirt she bought. She walks downstairs and into the room her mother is in.

“TADA!” She says. “You're getting into cross-dressing? Sick, I'll get you feminine clothing next time if you want. You were always eyeing them up when we go shopping for clothes.” States Margaret. “Wait, really? You don't think it's wei- wait, NO!” Davey sputters. “You don't get it- I'm actually a... full on girl, and... my name is Daisy.” She states. There is a long pause. “I don't quite understand,” says Margaret. “I mean... I hate the expectations you have of me being a boy, that I shouldn't be into gardening, like what I should wear, or how I should be emotionless. And I hate my body for being male,” says Daisy. “What are you talking about? I never expected anything from you!” Margaret states. “All I expect from you is to be the best version of yourself you can be! I'm sorry if you got those ideas from anywhere else, but I swear I just want you to be a good person!” “So, you don't think it's weird that I would want to be a girl?” Davey asks. “I mean a little bit, because I'm constantly complaining about being one, but if it would make you happy to be a girl, then be a girl I guess,” Margaret states. Daisy begins to tear up, smiling, and her mom gives her a hug. “I'll stand by whatever you need, you just gotta tell me,” Her mom says. “Thanks mom.”

Chapter 10 [Attack, and be attacked.]

“Alright, so, the plan is set!” says Janet. “What did you find out during the interrogation?” Asks Daisy. “We're going to go to MFRH and speak with an old friend of mine, because the equipment the dude was carrying was a prototype from his company.” She continues, barely answering Daisy's question. “Does this have to do with corrupts in any way?” Daisy asks, further prodding. “Well, duh, otherwise we wouldn't be involved. That machine holds technology that can cause corrupts to occur,” Janet answers.

They get out of the car at MFRH headquarters, and walk in. “Hello, I would like to make an appointment with the CEO for today!” Janet says at the front desk. “I'm sorry, but I don't think we have an opening for today- uh- do you WORK HERE?” The secretary asks, condescendingly. “Uhhhh YES,” Janet lies, holding up a badge that's scratched and broken. “Alright, well, I'm not paid enough to fix the scanner to scan your badge, so I'll just take your word for it,” the secretary says. “I still don't have anything open for today, but he does have something open for... right around this time next week actually, I swear that wasn't there before... whatever,” the secretary mumbles. A security camera is focused on in the panel after that statement. “So yeah just come back this time next week.” “OK!” says Janet. “Sorry guys, I just assumed CEO's weren't that busy because they're so rich they don't actually need to work,” says Janet as she walks out. A pause, the secretary looking at her like she's talking to no-one. “Yeah I think they make a lot of decisions though,” says Jessie. “Fair.” says Janet. “Something tells me you don't like this guy-” states Daisy. “No, I don't,” says Janet. “Oh, by the way, I'm a girl,” says Daisy. “Makes sense,” says Janet. “That reaction is really starting to get annoying,” Daisy thinks.

They come back a week later. “Remember me?” Janet asks the secretary. “Oh, yes I do, come right this way,” the secretary says as if she was dreading Janet's arrival. Janet knocks on the door. “Come in!” says the CEO. “Hi, Janet Jones here.” Janet says, matter of fact-ly. “Ah, Janet, I remember you- weren't we acquaintances once?' says James Pensulmaker, name plaque now displayed in the frame. “I believe we were business partners at one point,” states Janet, making direct eye contact with the back of the chair. “I would so love to actually meet with you and tell you all about what our facilities have been working on,” says James. “But unfortunately that information is confidential. I can however give you a sample of what we've accomplished.” Just like that, Janet is hit with a tazor in the back. “GYAHH, SON OF A BI-” Janet screams.

“Take care of the little fight squad that Janet brought,” says James into a communications device. “Wait! What?” Janet yells at James. “I told you, what we've been doing is confidential, I'm getting rid of the potential leaks,” James replies. “Why do I feel like I'm being ripped out of my bod- AUGHKGKGKGK” Janet lurches. “AGHHHHH” “I said I'd give you a taste of what we've been working on! Haven't you ever guessed what it feels like to corrupt?” says James. With that, James swivels his chair. The whites of his eyes are jet-black, with two yellow irises and no pupils. “Wh- How are you sane!?” Yells Janet. “Oh, I may not be!” He replies. “Ok, we'll leave!” Janet struggles her way up, and bursts out the doors of the office. There, she sees Daisy and Ember fighting two other corrupted executives. “I NEED THE ANTIDOTE, JUST RUN!” Janet screams at them. Daisy gets punched in the face as Ember runs out of the scene, then follows Ember.

Janet is shown driving the car, her hands turning to spikes, making use of her teeth to steer the vehicle.

Janet bursts through the door of the club room and starts rummaging through a drawer. “FO-cough-UND IT!” She yells. Janet starts maniacally laughing as she injects the antidote. Her laughing dies down. “Hehe, that sucked.” She says. Jessie and Daisy both sigh in relief that Janet is okay. “Well, we know what MFRH has been doing since I've been gone,” Janet says. “They've been... trying to corrupt people on purpose...” says Davey. “And they've succeeded,” says Janet. There is a pause. “There's gotta be more of a purpose to it than that though,” says Jessie.

TO BE CONTINUED!