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Part 7.

"We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you the latest news." Every television or public streaming service over the internet was interrupted with a message of alert. "This just in: After a disastrous development in the National Institute of Science and Technology's demonstration for teenage prodigy Dr. Francine LeFleur's purported world-changing energy source project, the city of Boulder, Colorado has become the setting for science fiction come true." Francine's profile was added to the news anchor's screen as he talked, "Following the appearance of alleged monsters during Dr. LeFleur's demonstration, two creatures of gigantic size have burst forth from the destroyed institute. Sources indicate all of the assisting scientists, businessmen and members of the press have successfully vacated the premises, but the police's efforts to cordon off the area have failed as the immense eel-like creatures continue their violent quarrel!"

Shoots of the battle of titanic proportions were provided on screen, but each of them had horrendous quality and even the best of them quickly had their images and sound devolve into pure static when the equipment used to film became compromised by the growing electromagnetic interference. "Live coverage of the bout appears to be impossible due to interference, but we have just received word that the military is evacuating all non-personnel dealing with this catastrophic event. Residents of Boulder have almost entirely been evacuated. We urge every civilian to stay away from the city, and if you're somehow watching this at home or anywhere in Boulder, proceed to the nearest military squad as they will protect and escort civilians to safety!"

---

"We got the bombs already?" Shade asked as Charlie threw her a satchel of EMP charges. They got in the transport van. "These guys work fast. Can't believe how quickly they got everyone organized. So why are we going to the power plant ourselves?"

"It's the obvious place for THEM to go." Charlie explained, referring to the giant eels, "According to Francine, they're slowly growing addicted to electricity, so all they'll want to do is get stimulated from now on. You saw how Voltaic went nuts over all that electricity he soaked up earlier? It doesn't do much for him right now."

"I get it, they need a bigger outlet. But if we don't wanna risk the possibility of them chowing down the whole city's power grid, why don't we shut the power plant down for insurance?"

Charlie shook her head, "If we do that, they'll know what's up. I noticed how Francine was acting after her transformation; their abilities let them detect other sources of power nearby. If we can't get them to head for this power plant then..."

"They'll just head for the next power plant." Rogers interjected while coordinating his division to assist the military with S.W.O.R.D.'s forces. "And if we deactivate that one, they'll continue romping through, destroying everything in their path." There was a moment of silence.

"This day just keeps getting better and better." Shade groaned. Rogers adjusted the dial on his instruments to allow communications in the form of Queen's voice to filter through.

"They're on the move! Francine's calling herself Galvanika now and they're competing for who reaches the plant first," the queen bee explained as she relayed information from the skies. Without choppers being able to fly near the gigantic and growing metamorphs, Queen and her Knights could easily sweep the area for stragglers and help the military while at the same time provide a live feed for her own team. "They only stop to fight until one of them feeds from power lines and outgrows the other. They're steadily making progress!"

"We see them. It won't be long now..." Rogers observed after their driver had pulled over at the power plant, "Queen, bring your Knights and assist Stinger and Shade with the charge deployment."

Once Queen had arrived and equipped herself with a satchel of charges, the seven metamorphs stood side by side in front of their captain.

"We're waiting for our number-crunchers to figure out the right frequency, it shouldn't be long." Rogers allowed himself a small sigh before he looked at his agents with a serious frown, "I would be lying if I said this is going to be an easy mission. It's the first time the metamorph division actually comes out in public. You realize it now, don't you? It's our only chance to shine." The three female metamorphs stared back at Rogers, "The rumors from months ago are now confirmed on the public's eye. Every working TV set's tuned to this disaster. Every internet channel is streaming this however they can. The world's scared, unable to decide what to do or think. If we can't get this plan to work, we'll lose our one and only chance to convince people not every metamorph is destructive or malign."

"No pressure, Jim." Charlie thought.

"You're an odd bunch," Rogers continued, "But you work well together. You were meant to work together. Now it's time to demonstrate it to every man, woman and child you've sworn to protect, agents!"

The three nodded simultaneously, "Yes, captain!" they shouted in unison. Queen and two Knights left for the base of the plant to begin the placement of the charges. Shade was brought up by a Knight but the fourth Knight meant to take Charlie stopped when Rogers threw a small device to the scorpion. "Stinger, this is the remote detonator for the EMP charges. Use the dial to set the frequency when I radio it to you, and detonate the bombs once Voltaic and Galvanika are in range of the blast; the closer they are to the plant, the better. I have to drive away to avoid the incoming interference and still be able to maintain radio contact. If we're unable to provide the numbers, the default frequency should completely stop them on their tracks. Any questions?"

Stinger's face-guard slid on, "Get those digits, Jim." Rogers didn't respond as their eyes locked on each other. The scorpion jumped at the remaining Knight before they flew off together to allocate the other EMP charges.

"Godspeed, ladies."

---

"Stop! Stop! Mine!" A recently grown 100ft. tall Voltaic roared, every one of his footfalls leaving enormous prints on the asphalt. The massive eel man had become sluggish after his monstrous expansion, but he managed to catch up to a similarly slowed down Galvanika moments later, seizing her by the tail to pull her back.

"No! Galvanika better...!" the light-blue finned female glared back, twisting her hips in an attempt to free herself. "Galvanika take!" But Voltaic would not let go.

"Never!" Voltaic shouted, "Power... power is Voltaic's! Rival no good!"

The struggle continued while the S.W.O.R.D. agents armed the entire power plant. Queen was flabbergasted, "My god. They're gigantic, and they grow bigger each time they feed on electricity? This is going to get ugly fast!"

"Not if we hurry up!" Stinger and her partner Knight were criss-crossing the building, deploying charges as fast as the scorpion could set them.

"I don't think that's what she means, Sting! Look up!" At Shade's insistence, Charlie looked up only to see Boulder's night sky had been covered in thick, stormy clouds.

"Alright, now tell me FireCracker's holding a bank up, oh and why don't we throw in Omega taking the president hostage while we're at it?!" Charlie sarcastically groaned, then suddenly everyone heard a thunderous boom following the sky lighting up. "Crap!" the ground seemed to explode, a hole appearing in front of the plant as a bolt struck down, "What're the odds?!"

"I'd say they're pretty high," Queen observed, "Their electromagnetic fields grow with them, and the closer they get here, the more they'll affect the electrical currents above us!"

"Non-nerd explanation?" Shade back-flipped from one of the plant's antennas, being moved further away by the Knight assisting her.

"It's going to be raining electricity around here soon!"

"Damn, Jim!" Charlie barked at her communicator, "How're the numbers coming?!"

"There's... time..." static disrupted the message, "...finish the..." it was nearly impossible to hear the scrambled words.

"Well no pressure..." Charlie mentioned after hastened the pace of her charge deployment, "But tell them to hurry the hell up, we almost have them on top of us!"

"No good, Voltaic stop you!" Galvanika stomped towards the power plant but was stopped when a roaring Voltaic pounced on her from behind. The three agents saw the 100ft. tall giantess fall like a tree with her male counterpart on top; the ground shook as her immense breasts squashed against the floor a mere distance from the building.

"Let go! Galvanika must feed!" the addicted female stretched her open hand out, as if begging the power plant to get nearer. Her brain couldn't pay attention, let alone recognize the other metamorphs on top of the power plant. All she could see were the bolts of lightning striking the ground around and on them, falling from the skies. She had never felt so hungry before in her life.

"No, not enough for both! Voltaic feeds alone!" the muscular growing giant claimed, pressing his weight against Galvanika, but it was futile. Both of them were growing larger and larger, the electricity from the storm attracted by their respective fields only to be absorbed and converted into energy to fuel their growth. 110ft. tall became 120, then 130. Their eyes became glowing white spheres of light, representing their rising levels of strength.

"They're attracting the lightning bolts! This is nuts!" Shade landed on top of the maintenance shack, followed by Stinger.

"Queen! How's the base of the plant?"

"All done!" the towering female bee reported after joining back with her team, "My god, are you listening to them talk? They're losing their mind to their power!"

Stinger looked down at the transmitter in her hand, "We're out of time, and Jim hasn't called yet. I wonder if the static really is too much?" she winced, looking at the default switch on the remote detonator, "If I default on the frequency, they'll both die. I can't even begin to guess what the right frequency is!"

"Can't you try a random one?" Shade proposed, but quickly got a shake of the head from her arachnid ally. Charlie remembered Francine's words before she began her growth.

"If I get it wrong, they'll simply absorb the blast and worsen the problem. Default or random are both bad!"

"Damnit. On the ground! Incoming!" Shade jumped behind the maintenance shack, quickly followed by Queen and Stinger as a looming shadow flew over them. Galvanika had finally managed to get Voltaic off, and had hurled him across the power plant.

"YES! Galvanika wins! Yes!" the curvaceous titan announced as she held her claws up in victory. Her 150ft. tall black scaled form was absolutely gargantuan. Before Galvanika could bend over to grasp her claws on the station however, two scaly arms thrust down her way. "Not enough for both!" the eel woman roared as she caught Voltaic's claws with hers. The two locked into a struggle with the power plant in the middle below them as the prize. The storm above them raged, making the three heroines accelerate their escape from the plant.

"No winning for Galvanika!" Voltaic pushed back, his muscles bulging as he pressed back against his rival. "Voltaic supreme!!"

"Look at them. They're clashing like titans in the ring!" Charlie observed in her mind, dumbfounded by the spectacle her black eyes were beholding. "They never realized all the destruction they caused, or are capable of causing!" She had seen the destructive potential of metamorphs: FireCracker nearly burning down a hospital full of innocents, and Slaughter butchering dozens of people with his bare claws; but she had never before dreamed of anything like this happening because of the Xteria. "I hope I never go out of control like that."

The ensuing war for power enveloped the gigantic beings in a cackling dome of electricity that was only amplifying the storm above them. The harder they struggled, the more stray bolts jumped from their clashing electromagnetic fields, prompting Queen and her Knights to stay grounded for the time being. "They're growing from the storm alone... oh no!" a horrified expression was shared by the trio of metamorphs as Galvanika and Voltaic both thrust their tails down, impaling the power plant to begin the extraction of electrical power.

"Sting, this is it! We gotta detonate it!" Shade shouted.

"I still don't have the frequency!" Stinger shouted back. "Jim hasn't contacted me yet...!"

"Fuck the digits!" Shade growled, "We give them anymore time, we'll be turned into an exotic animal fried dish!"

"Jim!" Stinger was gripping her communicator around her head, "Jim respond!" she begged. But the interference had become greater than what they had foreseen thanks to the storm. "Damn, it must've gotten damaged!"

"Sting, I don't like this anymore than you do, but you have to do it! There's no other way to stop this!" Shade insisted, "If you can't do it, then I will!"

"No!" Charlie leaped back when Shade attempted to swipe the remote from her hands. "We can't kill them! It's the Xteria driving them mad; you can't blame them for this!"

"Like hell I can't!" Shade leaped forwards to try to catch Charlie, but the scorpion back flipped away.

"Kimberly!" Queen shouted. Shade looked back with a glare.

"Voltaic's the asshole that started this, and Galvanika was ready for this outcome when she told Sting about her plan! We can't endanger everyone because of a tiny chance at saving two people! Make me the one responsible for their deaths if you want, but if we don't stop them, there's a chance no one else will!"

"Let me try contacting Jim one more time!" Charlie yelled, snapping her mandibles together in frustration at Shade. Chameleon and scorpion locked eyes for a brief moment, Queen staring at the two in worry that they might start a fight in the middle of the disaster. Shade's fangs grit together, fists shaking.

"Why do you have to be such a hard head?!" the chameleon stomped the ground in annoyance. Charlie's body didn't flinch, her tail at the ready to sting if necessary. Queen's throat was tightened into a knot, unable to think up what to say to break the tension.

And then all of a sudden, Charlie felt a vibration in her chest. The three females perked up to the sound of a loud ring emanating from Stinger. The raven-haired scorpion looked down at her chest, blushing slightly as she kept her distance from Shade while swiftly fishing her cellphone out of her cleavage. Charlie's eyes widened and her facemask slid off, jaw almost falling off. She opened a new text message only to find a picture with a string of numbers on it attached. "It's... numbers!"

"The correct frequency?!" Queen asked hopefully.

"Enter it then!" Shade exclaimed. Charlie wasted no time. It was their only chance! Using the dial to adjust the frequency of their EMP bomb to match the numbers on the picture, Stinger readied the detonator. She could only hope the insulated charges had survived the increasingly stronger electromagnetic field.

"It's in! Here goes nothing!" There was a single click before a flash of lightning covered the skies of Boulder. Everyone saw white for only a couple of seconds, but it seemed like an eternity to the S.W.O.R.D. agents. A loud blast signaled the start of an expansive electromagnetic pulse generated at the center of the near 200ft. tall monsters. The pulse wave amplified itself several times over before it finally started canceling the creatures' electrical fields, dissipating their energy as they became engulfed in the ensuing explosion. Everyone became blinded again as thunder struck like the roar of a mighty beast.

"They've stopped...! Watch out, they're falling!" Queen announced before using her feelers to command her Knights to swipe both Shade and Stinger off the floor. They risked the storm above to get away from Galvanika's massive rump from bearing down on them as she fell and lost her consciousness on her side. Voltaic followed the same path on the opposite side of the power plant. Both giants had been defeated by the blast!

"Did it work? Please tell me that was the correct frequency...!" Stinger's eyes couldn't stop staring down at the sleeping giants.

"They're... shrinking!" Shade concluded after watching Galvanika's body start to reduce in height. No doubt the same was happening to Voltaic.

"The monsters have been stopped!" cried out a voice below them. Stinger, Shade and Queen all looked down to see the armed forces of the U.S. military gathered with many familiar faces, all of them S.W.O.R.D. operatives. "The plan worked!!" there was a round of cheers and hugs as the soldiers dropped their weapons. Men and women of Boulder were there; glad their city hadn't to suffer anymore, happy that their town did not have to be bombarded or worse. They were simply glad to have avoided the final option to stop the creatures. The situation had finally been contained!

The skies seemed to clear with the heroines finally landing back at the ground level. The loudness of celebration was suddenly interrupted with an uncomfortable silence as the normal humans that weren't from S.W.O.R.D. spotted the seven metamorphs. Rifles went back up, prompting the girls to freeze on the spot. "Oh great, just what we needed..." Stinger was about to put her arms up before a sudden shout ordered the soldiers to stand down.

"Hold your fire, men!" the commander of the operation walked forth with Captain James Rogers side by side. "These are the specialists that covered your asses while we dealt with the civilians!" Commander Roy Ferguson approached a disbelieving Charlie and rigidly stuck his arm out, "It's handshakes you should be offering them!"

"O-oh... D'aww, it wasn't that big of a deal, really!" Stinger's face seemed to gain color as she swiftly took the war veteran's hand in a friendly shake. Shade and Queen exchanged glances before smiling at each other.

"It was, young lady. While it was in our power to stop those creatures, the recoil of bombardment and other large scale attacks can potentially endanger more than the target area," Ferguson explained.

"Roy's right, Stinger." Rogers continued, "Who knows what the full damage of that would have been? Or even if conventional explosives and ballistics would have worked?"

"I'd say you metamorphs just saved the day." Ferguson nodded. Stinger seemed confused at how alike the two leaders seemed in mannerisms.

"You know each other?" The two men wanted to speak at the same time, but after a brief exchange of glances, Ferguson continued after Rogers nodded.

"Jimmy and I go way back. Let's just say his trust in you girls earned you the chance to deliver. And deliver you did! Those monsters are history." Ferguson brought his hand up to salute. Rogers smiled proudly and saluted as well. The entirety of the small army behind them imitated their respective leaders. "Your country salutes you, agents Queen, Shade and Stinger!"

Queen found herself speechless, overwhelmed by self-fulfillment of the kind she had never felt before.

Shade smiled and put her claws on her hips as she finally relaxed, letting out a sigh of relief after the potential fight that did not happen. "This super-hero business's actually starting to grow on me."

Stinger lost count after fifty salutes. "All this just for potentially saving the world? Gee, it's alright, really! Just doing my..." she briefly paused, about to soak in the glory of the moment before her mind went back to Ferguson's last words. "History...?" Queen and Shade tensed up as they looked at Charlie and then at the confused captain Rogers. "Hold on, Jim. Why are you guys talking about Galvanika and Voltaic as if they...?" they turned around to find no giantess. Charlie immediately ran off.

"Stinger, wait! Shade, what's going on?" a baffled Rogers asked. Shade was at a loss for words as well.

"Sir," Queen interjected, "The default arming frequency wasn't used."

"What? But I told Stinger to use it! We ran into a dead end since the electromagnetic fields continued shifting..."

"The interference must've scrambled the message," Shade mused, "But that raises the question: If you didn't send the frequency to Stinger's phone, then who did...?"

"Pierre?" Queen suggested, but Rogers explained the old scientist was still on strict bed-rest for recovery.

---

Charlie ran through the ruined area surrounding the destroyed power plant. During the little amount of time Galvanika and Voltaic had used to drain power, they had unwittingly smashed the structure down with their tails. It was fortunate the bombs were well secured against interferences as well as shock, or else the plan wouldn't have worked. "But why did it work?" the heroine asked herself as she perched herself atop one of the many knocked over trees to better survey the area. There was a gigantic imprint in the shape of a body that unmistakably belonged to Francine LeFleur's new form. "Francine!" Charlie called out to no avail. "Shit...! Shitshitshit... They were shrinking! Did they shrink to nothingness...? Who the hell sent me that frequency...?" Stinger reached for her cellphone again, bringing up the picture with the frequency on it. It was then that she noticed the scrolling bar on the touch screen. A simple slide with her index was all it took for Charlie's eyes to nearly pop out of their sockets. The paper on display had red rouge on it, indicating it had been kissed by a pair of lips.

A hand-written message to the right of the kiss clearly read...

"A spot of help, For my special davushka."

With the last word obviously written in Russian, the identity of the mysterious sender was immediately revealed to Charlie. "Omega...? Lexine?!" she suddenly shouted, looking about for the bat metamorph. Had she been around the whole time? With their bat ears, there was no doubt Omega and her Betas could have heard everything, from the commotion at the demonstration to their plan of action. "Show yourself!" demanded Stinger.

"Urk..." a weak moan suddenly brought Charlie's attention down to the rustling bushes by the destroyed woods. Charlie leaped down and rummaged through the leaves only to find the curvy eel woman now known as Galvanika curled in the fetal position, shaking from the cold.

"F-Francine! Oh thank god, you're alive!"

Omega could wait.

But the night had a way to conceal even the most obvious of items and people from sight. Hanging from a sturdy tree branch, the genius metamorph known as Omega was perched, watching her beloved scorpion carry the eel woman to safety. "Beautifully executed, miliy." Omega smiled from afar before she spread her wings and took to the air, soon joined by a Beta.

"Mother, we could not find the one called Galvanika before Alpha did," the man-bat explained, "But we have captured the one known as Voltaic."

"Horosho," Omega smiled, her golden hair fluttering against the wind. "Be a dear and head back to the institute for our new friend's black box, will you? I find the idea of an artificial intelligence fascinating... I'd do it myself, but Chimera has so little patience for guarding our home."

"Immediately," the Beta separated from the group.

After executing their orders, the Betas and Omega flew away from Boulder's peaceful night, concealed by the jet black curtain covering the sky.

Voltaic was only half-conscious, he could vaguely hear conversation, still recovering from the lustful high of his earlier expansion; he was now back to his build and height from before the growth started. He was being carried, arms glued to his sides as what felt like paws surrounded his mid-section. There was a brief moment when Voltaic opened his eyes only to look at the hundreds of feet of distance separating him from a fatal drop.

He passed out.

---

I couldn't believe it. It wasn't us that saved the day. Omega sent me the frequency, I just know she did! How many obsessed Russian scientists do I know? The real question is how the hell does she have my number?! Those ears of hers must be picking up a lot more information than we're aware of. That's what terrifies me the most. I already have a guess of where Voltaic disappeared to.

It wasn't long before the entire nation, closely followed by the rest of the world, began to discuss what had happened in Colorado last night. There was no end to the public outcries demanding the government to take the stand for its mess about covering up the existence of metamorphs for this long. As usual, politicians denied everything, but this actually worked in our favor. Secret Worldwide Operations, Rescue and Discovery's metamorph division was praised for its decisiveness and recommended by the high ranking commander Ferguson, who we worked together with in saving the city from Voltaic's madness. It looks like we're all getting a raise soon, though I'd settle for some Chinese take-out after tonight.

Despite all that, we're still seen as a threat to national security. Turns out that fish that grow 200ft. tall when they eat electricity are frowned upon in society. They probably were more concerned about all the indecent exposure though. Fortunately for Francine, Ferguson and Jim explained what her plan of action had been, and her actual role in distracting Voltaic, the actual villain, to buy us time to execute the plan. She's under surveillance and Project Galvanika's officially finished, but at least Galvanika herself is well and alive.

So far, the jury's out on whether we'll really be recognized as heroes or monsters, or heck, fellow human beings to start with. But there's one thing for sure...

Metamorphs can't be unseen now.

---

A few weeks later...

The metamorph division's cubicles were twice as large now. After public request for security against the metamorph threat, S.W.O.R.D. had been commissioned by the government of several of the United States of America, as well as some other nations, in order to not only prevent and contain wild metamorphs, but also protect and treat victimized ones.

"Damn, where the hell's the training room now? I hate moving," Charlie groaned as she walked down the halls of the metamorph division.

"West wing, Madam Richards. You're in the R&D department." Charlie's eyes snapped wide open at the French accent in that female voice's phrase.

"Oh oui! You're being very scatterbrained right now, non?" the thicker voice of a male made Charlie snicker a bit as she turned around to greet Pierre and his niece.

"You guys!" the scorpion greeted metamorph and uncle, "Francine, I hear you're finally free to go. Taking a tour of the facilities?"

"Oui oui. I need to get accustomed to the surroundings after all." The electric eel gave Charlie a joyful smile, reminding the heroine of the prodigy's age.

"This girl's something! Brave and smart... sure didn't dawdle when things turned bad. Could use a lesson or two from her myself..." the scorpion thought to herself as she smiled and stretched back, "Ah well, I can skip training this morning. Want me to show you around, Frannie? We can go for donuts!"

Francine smirked at the sudden familiarity the S.W.O.R.D. agent took on with her, "I'll pass, merci. I really need to get the layout of the place down, or else I'll have to keep bothering uncle every morning." Charlie blinked in surprise.

"You mean...?"

"Oui!" Pierre grinned and stood prouder than ever, "Say hello to your newest teammate!"

"Frannie?" Charlie insisted. The electrical metamorph's eyes narrowed with a confident smile.

"From now on... Galvanika."

The End.