Official Report
1328 Maryzell Ln
Tondzaosha, Idaho
Amelia sat bolt upright, chest heaving as she panted for air. She raked her hands out, but they only passed through empty space. The agent peered around, eyes not yet adjusted to the dark.
Her mind beginning to register she was not under attack, she cupped her face, sighed, and slid her hands away. She pressed one of them down on the surface upon which she laid. It was soft yet springy like a bed. Sure enough when she looked down, she discovered that it was just that. She peered about, seeing well enough now to make out a chest of drawers along the opposite wall and a door to her right.
“Good, you’re awake.” A voice spoke out of the gloom behind her and to her left and she jumped, leaping to her feet, hand slipping inside her blazer for her pistol, but stopped when she spotted the face of her mysterious rescuer.
“How you feeling?” The woman asked, tilting her head, a very slight smile touching the corner of her mouth.
Amy massaging her temples, but nodded. “A little confused, but otherwise fine. How’d we escape?”
“You don’t think you’re the only one with powers, do you?” The woman’s smile broadened into a grin and a low throaty chuckle escaped her mouth.
Amy jerked her head sideways, turning to gape at the mysterious woman. There was something about that laugh…
“You’ve seen how I can project an image of myself. I can do other stuff too, mostly just illusions and light tricks, but they can come in handy in a pinch. I called up a dark haze the police couldn’t see through. Once, we gave them the slip, I took the Pygmy into an underground parking garage, jacked us a new ride, and brought us here.”
Amy nodded, a sour taste in her mouth. What the woman did to ensure their escape may have been necessary, but it didn’t sit right with her. As an AEGIS agent, she made a vow to uphold the law. Breaking it, while necessary, went against everything for which she stood.
Her new friend drew closer, and Amy found herself looking into a pair of emerald eyes, a near twin to her own. Amidst the disorder of their escape, she never spared the other more than a sidelong glance. The agent gasped, a hand clasped over her mouth as she took in her rescuer’s features.
The younger woman bore a close physical resemblance to the agent. She had the same dark hair, green eyes, olive complexion and even an oval-shaped face. She was quite pretty, and there were enough similarities that most any passerby would surmise they were sisters. Her lips were thinner, and her nose wider, but there would be no mistaking the parallels.
The rescuer lacked the older woman’s curves, but Amy hadn’t developed those through ordinary means. No, this girl bore the same boyish figure and wide shoulders that the agent possessed after her transition, but before her transformation.
Amelia’s mind raced. Among her siblings only one other took after her mother in the looks department and it had not been Erica.
“Brian?” she asked, her eyes wide with disbelief.
The girl nodded, her lips trembling as she met the other woman’s gaze. “Yeah, sis’ it’s me. Just do me a favor, though. Call me Teressa.”
Tears stained the agents cheeks and she threw both hands out, clasping her sister’s face before enfolding the other woman in her arms, her body racked with sobs.
After so many years, to find ‘Brian’ in such a way seemed unthinkable. She gave up hope of ever contacting any of her siblings, afraid that her parents poisoned them against her. Now she found that the one she had been closest to had undergone a transition like herself. It was an irony, not lost on Amelia, but one which she would overlook if it meant having her sibling back.
She cursed herself, ruminating over her childhood, attempting to recall any signs that her younger sibling was trans, but try as she might she could not conjure a single instance that even hinted the younger Van den Broeke was trans.
She pulled away, still sobbing, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes, but failing as they just kept coming. “You never said anything, if I had known—”
Teressa shook her head fighting back her own tears, but did little better than her sister. “You know how our father was and how he treated you. I thought maybe that if I tried hard enough I might hide it, and be the man that asshole wanted me to be. Then they took you away and the state scattered us to the four winds. They sent me to live with uncle Aaron, you remember Aaron, don’t you?”
Amy nodded, understanding what the other was trying to say. Aaron, their father’s half brother, was a youth pastor and staunch conservative. To his credit he treated his children much better than his younger sibling, but he wouldn’t have tolerated any behaviors he viewed as degenerate any more than Lucas had.
“But enough about that,” Teressa smiled, still sniffling, but wiped the last of her tears away. “Tell me about you. Amelia van den Broeke, the big time AEGIS agent. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first laid eyes on you. God, that body! If I didn’t know better I would swear you were a cis-woman.”
Amy let a smile touch her face, before emitting a long sigh. “I suppose I am. It’s complicated. I passed pretty well after my transition, but I wasn’t what you might call curvaceous. Then I got caught up in an incident in New Hebron and I ended up looking like this.” She paused, motioning down at her body.
“It’s not something I can discuss, but let’s just say sometimes strange things happen to AEGIS personnel in the field. It’s how I wound up with this body and… gained the powers used against the police.”
Teressa eyed her, a sober expression on her face. She pulled a strand of hair out of her eyes, tucked it behind her ears, and smiled. “God, if the evidence weren’t staring me right in the face, I would say you were yanking my chain, but even with surgery most trans-girls wouldn’t come close to a body like yours. I’m happy for you, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous.”
Teressa paused, pursed her lips, a mischievous grin creasing her features before she at last spoke again. “I take it yours is an isolated incident? There isn’t a chance you would be able to spread the wealth is there?”
Amy regarded her sister. Though the statement seemed to be made in jest, the agent knew better. Even when they were young, Teressa had always hid her feelings behind a wall of humor. It wasn’t the most healthy of coping mechanisms, but when you had a father like Lucas van den Broeke, you managed the best you could.
She frowned. What would Teressa think if she found out she was pregnant? Amy put the thought aside. That particular bit of information could be revealed later.
“Ah well,” Teressa said, a grin stretching across her face. “Can’t blame a girl for trying, can you?”
“About today.” Amy cleared her throat, looking to change the subject.
“Today, you walked into the mother of all clusterfucks,” she bowed her head. “We can talk about all that tomorrow. You need your rest. I really only wanted to make sure you were okay.”
Amy bit the inside of her cheek and peered down at her hands. She’d lost consciousness after stopping the police car. When Sapphira had first gained control of her powers, they’d been erratic. Though her power set may have been similar to her lover’s, she thought it possible she had developed a different limitation. It would explain why she’d lost consciousness.
She glanced back up at her sister and nodded. There was no telling what use of her new abilities had done to her body, or… her child. “That’s probably a good idea.”
Teressa took several long minutes fussing over her, and offering her assurances that she was safe, before saying her goodnights. Once the other Van den Broeke had departed Amelia sank back down into bed, hand on her belly and closed her eyes. She did not, however, go to sleep.
Instead, she reached out with her mind, feeling for the fetus growing within her womb. Though it was only just beginning to take the shape of the infant it would become, she knew it at once for what it was. She searched for signs of damage or injury, but sensed nothing.
She did not detect an awareness, but the child radiated… contentment for lack of a better word. It was a primal, simple emotion, lacking the complexities of even the youngest child, but it was more than she expected.
She emitted a soft sigh all the tension and anger fading away, and without quite knowing how, the agent drifted back to sleep.
