[Morpheus]

Omega

By Morpheus

Mary scowled as she stared at the wall, at the picture of the super hero group known as Team Omega which hung on it. All five members of the team were in the picture, dressed in their costumes and posing for the camera. The sight of the picture was almost enough to turn Mary’s stomach.

"Damn," Marry muttered, briefly tempted to tear the picture off the wall and fling it down the hallway. Of course, that didn’t exactly seem all that appropriate since she was standing in the middle of Team Omega’s headquarters.

Then Mary took a deep breath and forced herself to relax. Getting mad at a picture wouldn’t do her any good. Then again, nothing she did would do any good. All that she could do was accept what had happened to her…or what hadn’t happened to her.

It wasn’t that Mary hated Team Omega, or even disliked super heroes in general. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Her problem with Team Omega wasn’t that she hated them, but that she envied them…that she should have been one of them…

Mary let out a sigh, remembering when she had been approached about joining Project Omega, a program with the purpose of creating a new group of super heroes. And they had told her that SHE had the right genome and that with the proper catalyst, she could develop a power matrix…an internal energy field that would give a person super powers.

Even now, Mary could scarcely believe how simple the process to give them all powers had been. The people running the project had taken her and the five other subjects and placed them into a sealed chamber, where they activated a nuclear reaction in an extremely rare and extremely expensive material. They had only been able to acquire a small amount of the material…and it could only create enough radiation to activate power matrixes in six people…of which she had counted herself immensely lucky to be one.

The activation experiment had worked as planned…for the most part. But even though the other five subjects had each gained the super powers that they had been promised, something had gone wrong for Mary. Various tests showed that she had developed a power matrix, but she showed absolutely no signs of developing any powers and the tests gave absolutely no hint as to her having any either.

In the months afterwards, Mary had been stuck in their headquarters, undergoing countless tests to determine what her powers might be and attempts to activate them…all to no avail. And at the same time, the other subjects had been given costumes and code names. They had gone out and saved peoples lives, fought super villains and got to do the things that Mary had been looking forward to. They had become super heroes, while she had been left behind, being nothing but a mascot…if even that.

Of course, the others had changed, and a lot more than just gaining powers. Each of them had a power matrix, though some of theirs did more to them than just give them powers. And then there was the way that that their powers and experiences with them had changed their perspectives, about themselves and the world around them.

Tank had been a slender 5 foot 10 black guy, who had gained about a foot in height and a whole lot of muscle, as well as radically enhanced strength and invulnerability. After he had gained his powers, he had shaved his head as he thought the bald look would make him look tougher. Mary thought that he had been decent enough before the activation experiment, though after he had gained his powers, he had gotten more confident…even acting macho and cocky.

Soldier was a self described ‘super soldier.’ His power matrix had amplified his strength, speed, agility and reflexes, pushing them all to the Olympic levels…to the absolute pinnacle of human ability…and then 50% further. But more than just becoming the ultimate athlete with a slightly superhuman level of fitness, his powers also acted to keep him in that state…giving him a healing factor of sorts which could heal nearly any injury in an amazingly short period of time, as well as providing him with a superhuman level of endurance.

Mary hadn’t really liked Soldier much before he had gained his powers as he took himself far too seriously, or as Mary liked to think, he acted as though he had a stick up his butt. But since gaining his powers, his attitude had gotten MUCH worse and she could barely stand him.

Then there was Desire, who had been a very plain looking girl until her power matrix had made her super sexy…literally. Her matrix had transformed her body, making her into the sexiest, most gorgeous woman that Mary had ever seen. She could easily have graced the cover of Playboy or countless other magazines. And then there were her powers, which were partly psionic and partly due to pheromones. Desire could get any man…and even some women to become so entranced by her that they would eagerly do whatever she wanted. It was a powerful ability, though she had to touch her target for them to get the full effect and then it only lasted for a short time.

"Damn her," Mary muttered, feeling jealous of Desire and just how lucky she had been.

Of course being transformed into a virtual sex goddess had changed Desire in other ways as well. She had gone from being a shy girl to being confident, outgoing and flirtatious. There was no doubt that she was the center of male attention and she seemed to enjoy reminding other women of this fact.

A moment later, Mary stared at Getaway in the picture on the wall. He was a teleporter, though every time he used his powers he put stress on his body. The further he teleported or the more weight he carried, the more stress his body suffered. Because of this, he could only teleport 5 miles at the very most without killing himself, and that distance was cut to less than half if he carried a single other person with him.

"Damn him," Mary spat out at the thought of the handsome young man.

Mary glared at his picture on the wall, thinking about how they used to be close…or least about how they had been on the way to being close. Before the activation experiment, there had been some sparks between the two of them and they were well on their way to a serious relationship. But then Desire had transformed and Getaway had suddenly become very interested in her. There was no way that Mary could compete with Desire…

"No woman can," Mary muttered.

She looked down at herself, knowing that she didn’t look bad at all. In fact, she was quite pretty…being a 24 year old woman with red hair and a decent figure. Of course she knew that could never make it into Playboy or anything like that, but she’d never had any problem finding dates either.

"At least not before HER," she spat.

And then there was Lady Arise, a telekinetic who could move things from a distance with just the power of her mind. She could even lift herself this way, giving herself the ability to fly.

Lady Arise was a very pretty young woman of mixed Japanese, Hispanic, Cherokee and Irish decent, which managed to give her a somewhat exotic appearance. But more important to Mary was the fact that she was a nice person, and the only one of Team Omega that she still considered to be a friend.

Mary let out a sigh as she tore her eyes away from the picture, not wanting to look at it anymore. Seeing them all there in their costumes just reminded her yet again on what she had missed….and how close she had actually come to fulfilling her dream of being a super hero.

"They get to be heroes," she muttered bitterly, thinking of all of the things that the others had done while she had been left back at the base…doing nothing.

At first, the others had been mostly sympathetic to her situation about not having powers, and perhaps even a little hopeful that her powers might reveal themselves. But sympathy turned to pity, and then eventually contempt. She could see it in their eyes whenever she passed them in the hall.

"Maybe if I went through another trigger event," Mary thought aloud, thinking that if the activation experiment hadn’t really worked for her, then maybe she just needed to try it again. However, that particular method wouldn’t be very practical as they no longer had any of that rare metal they’d used in the nuclear reaction.

Of course, Mary reminded herself, another trigger event might not do any good either, even if she was able to find a means. The tests that they’d given her after the activation experiment said that she did have a power matrix… Unfortunately, it just didn’t seem to actually give her the expected powers or do much of anything else for her.

Mary took a deep breath, telling herself not to think about it anymore. After all, it wasn’t like it would do her any good. She’d already been thinking and worrying about her lack of powers since she had gone through the activation experiment with the others several months earlier, and that hadn’t done anything except make her even more frustrated.

With that, Mary let out a long sigh then turned to look at the rest of the room that she was in. It was the game room, one of the common rooms in the headquarters which had been set up for the team to relax in during their down time. It was one of the rooms that Mary had spent quite a deal of time in herself as she had little better to do when not taking those tests, which they had pretty much ceased bothering with.

After Mary had gotten comfortable on the couch and turned on the large screen TV, she had just a minute to watch before someone else came into the room. She looked up to see Soldier in the doorway, his uniform white with dark gray as a secondary color. In fact, his uniform was nearly the exact same as every other member of Team Omega, save that each had a different primary color.

Soldier paused to look at Mary, scowling as he did so. She could see the contempt in his eyes and couldn’t resist snapping, "What’s your problem?"

"You," he responded coldly. "You shouldn’t still be here. You had your chance and you just don’t have what it takes. You should just give up and go home…."

Mary jumped to her feet, glaring furiously at Soldier. "You bastard," she snapped at him. "I have just as much right to be here as you. In case you forgot, I am still a part of Project Omega…"

"But not Team Omega," he reminded her, rubbing salt in the emotional wound that was still painfully raw. "I don’t even know why they chose you for the project because you’re obviously a waste of space that we could have had for another team member…"

That was the last straw and Mary went to slap Soldier’s face as hard as she could. However, she’d forgotten about his enhanced reflexes and his hand snapped out before she’d even realized it and grabbed her arm. His grip was tight…painfully so, causing her to wince.

Suddenly, Mary felt a strange cold chill where Soldier was gripping her arm. It was just along her skin, but then as quickly as it had appeared, it was replaced by a burning surge which seemed to flood out of Surge and into her body…

Mary and Soldier both gasped in pained shock at the same time and dropped to the ground. By the time that she had dropped to her knees, the burning pain had already passed, only to be replaced by something else entirely. A strange feeling rushed through Mary’s body…a feeling of intense health and physical well-being. She felt good…better than good. She suddenly felt better than she had ever felt before in her life or had even imagined feeling.

"What the hell," Mary exclaimed, getting to her feet and scarcely noticing that Soldier was motionless on the floor. She was too distracted by just how good she felt…by just how alive she felt.

Then Mary noticed her body and let out another gasp, surprised to see that her entire body had become more muscular and toned. Every muscle had become firm and solid, giving her a much more athletic appearance.

"Oh my God," Mary whispered in amazed disbelief. She felt so strong and healthy that she couldn’t believe it. In fact, she felt as though she could do just about anything.

With that, Mary couldn’t resist the impulse to do cartwheels across the room. It was so easy…and made her realize that her balance seemed to have suddenly gotten much better as well. And the moment she had stopped with her cartwheels, Mary jumped right over the pool table, then stood up and stared down at herself in awe.

"I can’t believe I did that," she exclaimed.

Somehow in her immediate excitement, Mary remembered the strange surge that she had felt going from Soldier into her. She closed her eyes and was surprised to realize that she could sort of feel it inside of her. But more than that, she realized that she could now feel an empty space inside of her… It wasn’t physical, but the only way that she could think to describe it was as an ’empty space’. She hadn’t even noticed it until it actually had something inside of it…that surge of energy that she’d gained from Soldier.

"Oh shit," Mary blurted out as she suddenly realized what that surge of energy had to be. She had somehow taken Soldier’s power matrix… She had taken his powers…. That was why she felt like she did, why she could move like she did.

Mary’s eyes immediately went to where Soldier was laying motionless on the floor as she remembered him for the first time. But she knew that he was still alive because she could hear his heartbeat… She gulped in realization, realizing at the same time that she could smell him as well.

"Damn," she stared at the unconscious Soldier in amazement. She could smell him… She could hear his heartbeat… She had his enhanced senses along with the rest of his powers and she wasn’t sure what to think of that. "I have his powers…" Then she grinned to herself, "Well I do deserve them more than that asshole…"

For a moment, Mary just stood where she was, her mind awhirl in thoughts and realizations. Obviously, this was what her own power matrix did… Her power matrix had let her take someone else’s matrix…and the powers that went with them.

"I can finally join the team," she exclaimed, "I can prove that I have what it takes…"

But first, Mary chuckled to herself, she had Soldiers powers…for who knew how long, and she wanted to test them out while she could. And since she was still in awe at just how sharp her senses had become, she closed her eyes, wondering what else she might be able to see or smell.

After a moment of stretching out her senses and trying to see what she could hear, Mary realized that she could hear something. She could hear the rest of Team Omega talking several rooms over. However, her excitement at hearing them talking at such a distance was shattered as she realized that SHE was the topic of conversation.

"Look, she’s getting underfoot," Tank’s voice was saying.

"Her tests have proved to be rather inconclusive," responded Mr. Baxter, the man who acted as the liaison for Project Omega and the financier. "It does not seem that her situation will be changing anytime soon…"

"And to think," Tank said, "We might have had someone to shoot energy beams instead…"

"We could use an energizer on the team," Lady Arise admitted. "But there’s nothing we can do about that…"

"What I think he means," Getaway’s voice added, "Is that it would have been great if Mary did have that kind of power… But she doesn’t. She doesn’t have any powers and she isn’t doing any of us any good by staying here."

Tank’s voice quickly added, "Exactly."

Mary was horrified by what she was overhearing, though not to surprised. She knew that they didn’t have a very good opinion of her since she hadn’t developed any powers and knew that sooner or later they’d want to get rid of her. She just hadn’t quite expected it right then…especially not after she’d finally found her powers.

Then Desire’s voice announced, "I think that she should leave. She doesn’t belong here…" She sounded a bit smug, as well as sexy, and Mary clenched her fists as she heard the words.

"But she’s one of us," Lady Arise argued. "We all came here together…including Mary. We all went through the trigger experiment together…including Mary. She’s one of us…"

"She’s NOT one of us," Tank half growled. "She was…before we all got our powers. But let’s face it…she got left behind. She doesn’t have any powers and can’t help us do what we need to do. All she does is take up space here…"

For several minutes more, Mary silently listened in on their conversation as they talked about her, getting more and more clear about just how little they needed her there. Lady Arise was the only one who even spoke up for letting Mary stay.

Eventually, Lady Arise admitted, "I guess it is dangerous for her to stay here… Who knows what could happen…and if she can’t take care of herself…" There was a moment’s pause before she finished, "Maybe she should go…for her own safety."

Those words slammed Mary, making her gasp in disbelief. Lady Arise had been the only one of them that had remained her friend, and even she had betrayed Mary in the end. Mary clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms and drew blood, though her new healing abilities quickly went to work fixing that.

"She stabbed me in the back," Mary whispered, tears threatening to come to her eyes as she thought of the betrayal that she had just heard.

"Then it’s decided," Desire told the others, "We tell her that she has to leave…"

"Agreed," Mr. Baxter told the others. "It would be best if she didn’t remain here any longer…"

There was a moment of silence before Getaway said, "I’ll tell her…" He didn’t sound all that happy about it.

"They’re going to kick me out of here," Mary spat out bitterly, getting furious at the betrayal. Well she’d show them. She glared in the direction where she knew the others were gathered, no longer listening to them but determined to show them…to make them change their minds. "I’ll show them that I have powers now and they’ll have to let me stay!"

Mary looked to soldier for a moment, seeing that he was beginning to move, though he wasn’t quite ready to get up yet. And once she had reassured herself that he would indeed be all right, she turned and started marching straight towards the room that she knew the others were gathered in.

However, she was only halfway there when she found herself face to face with Getaway. The teleporter was a handsome young man, with dark hair and a standard team uniform that had blue as the dominant color.

"I have something important to tell you," Getaway started grimly.

But before Getaway had a chance to tell her that she was supposed to leave, Mary blurted out, "I have powers now… Look…"

Getaway was a little startled by that announcement, and Mary took the opportunity to do a short series of back flips, showing her new agility and athletic abilities. She was sure that this would show him…

But as soon as Mary finished her back flips, Getaway snorted, "Sorry…but gymnastics don’t count as super powers…" Then he blinked for a moment, "Do you look different…?"

"But…," Mary started, already pissed off by what she had heard and getting more pissed off at by the moment. The way that Getaway was looking at her… The patronizing expression… And her mood wasn’t getting any better as she remembered the way he had dumped her… "Then FUCK YOU!"

Mary didn’t even bother waiting for Getaway to tell her that she was being kicked out. Instead, she was going to go straight to the others….or better yet, to Mr. Baxter. All that she had to do was convince him…

However, even as Mary quickly moved around Getaway, he used his powers to teleport right into her path again. Then he stood there, blocking her as he prepared to tell her the news.

"We need to talk," Getaway told her firmly.

For a brief moment, Mary considered using her new abilities to jump right over Getaway’s head, though she was feeling too impatient and angry for that and by the time she’d had the thought, she was already shoving him out of her way. But as soon as she had her hands on his chest, she realized that she could feel it in him… And in an instant, she just KNEW that she could take his power matrix the same way that she had taken Soldiers.

There was a brief moment when Mary just stood there, trying to absorb that realization. And at the same time, she couldn’t help remembering all that Getaway had done…or how he had betrayed her. The old saying about ‘hell hath no fury…’ ran through her head, and on a sudden impulse, she reached for his power matrix…

"Oh yes," Mary gasped as she felt the same cold chill followed by the burning surge which she had felt with Soldier.

Getaway gasped, "What the…," as he staggered and collapsed to his knees.

But Mary just burst out laughing at the realization that she now had Getaway’s teleportation abilities as well as Soldier’s enhanced physical ones. She could feel his power matrix inside her…in the ’empty’ space along with Soldier’s. In fact, she could also feel them merging with her…becoming a part of her. And in a flash of insight, she realized that she couldn’t give them back if she wanted to…

"But I don’t want to," she said aloud, feeling excited by the thrill…by the fact that she finally had the powers that she had been dreaming of for so long.

And more than that, Mary could feel the ’empty’ space… It wasn’t empty anymore, not with two people’s power matrixes inside of it…but it wasn’t full either. There was still more empty space…room for more power matrixes…

"What did you do to me?" Getaway demanded.

He looked unbalanced and staggered where he stood, but he obviously wasn’t unconscious like Soldier had been afterward. Mary could only assume that this was because Soldier’s powers had been much more integrated into his physiology, so the removal of them would have stressed his body more.

"What did I do?" Mary smirked at him, feeling more than satisfied by this sudden turn of events. She felt almost giddy as she exclaimed, "I stole your powers…the same way I stole Soldiers…" Then at his shocked look, she added, "That’s MY power…"

"You can’t do that," Getaway snapped, trying to look stronger and more stable than he obviously was at the moment.

"But I did," Mary glared at him, "And I’m going to do it to the rest of the team too…"

It wasn’t until that very moment that Mary decided that this was indeed what she was going to do with her new powers. They had turned on her…treated her with contempt…and worse… So now it only seemed fair that she showed them what she could really do…

Then Mary laughed at the shocked look on Getaway’s face and concentrated on using her new powers. She felt the world tear around her and she vanished in a flash of green light, only to appear again just a little further down the hall.

Mary took one more look back towards Getaway, feeling guilty for what she had done, though only for a moment as she remembered how he had dumped her for another woman and had just been about to kick her out of the headquarters. Then she turned and continued towards the others, eager to let them in on her little surprise.

When Mary stepped into the next room, she paused in the doorway to look around. She silently scanned the room, seeing that the rest of the team were all within. However, her eyes settled on Mr. Baxter first. He was a middle aged, balding man with thick glasses…the stereotypical bureaucrat. She didn’t really have anything against him, especially as he was the one who had offered her the opportunity to participate in Project Omega and become a super hero in the first place.

After just a moment, Mary moved her attention to Tank, who stood there in his green and dark gray uniform, reading through some file… Mary suspected that it was either the file on one of the super villains that they had fought that morning, or a report on the incident that he was looking over before turning it in.

Desire and Lady Arise were off in the corner talking to each other, each in their own distinctive uniforms. Desire’s costume was primarily pink…which Mary thought appropriate considering her powers, with a secondary color of a red. Lady Arise on the other hand had a primary color of red, with her secondary color being a golden yellow.

"Let’s see…," Mary mused to herself as she looked at the others.

"Oh…you," Desire commented as she noticed Mary. "Did Getaway talk to you yet?"

"I ran into him," Mary smirked as she stepped closer, eager to teach that snobby bitch a lesson. She remembered when Desire had been an ordinary young woman, even if she didn’t.

But just then, Getaway stepped through the doorway, staggering only slightly as he called out, "Watch out! Keep away from her…"

"What?" Tank frowned in confusion.

Getaway pointed straight at Mary, "Her powers kicked in…and she used them to steal mine and Soldiers… Now she’s after all yours too…"

"That’s bull," Tank started to snarl.

Mary cursed at the interruption and jumped at Desire, covering a good deal of distance…far more than she ever would have been able to before stealing Soldier’s powers, when she suddenly froze in mid air. She hit the ground but couldn’t move and it took her a moment longer to look up and realize that it was Lady Arise, holding her there with her telekinetic powers.

"Did you see that jump?" Lady Arise gasped. "She does have powers…"

"I thought you were my friend," Mary spat out as she glared at Lady Arise, "But you’re just like everyone else…"

And with that, Mary used the powers that she had gained from Getaway and suddenly teleported right behind Lady Arise, where she was free of her former friend’s telekinetic influence. And before Lady Arise could react to her new location, Mary grabbed her and ripped the power matrix from her…

"YES!" Mary exclaimed as she felt it rushing into her, moving into the ’empty’ space along with what she had already taken from Getaway and Soldier. She could feel the new powers inside of her…

"Protect me," Desire commanded, touching Tank and Mr. Baxter and putting them under her influence. She stared at Mary in obvious fear and exclaimed, "Don’t let that bitch near me…" Even Getaway who hadn’t been touched fell part way under the control of her power and joined the other two in marching towards Mary.

Mary let go of Lady Arise, who was still shaken from having her power matrix torn out of her and collapsed to her knees. Then Mary nervously stepped back, bracing herself to fight Tank…until she realized that she didn’t have to.

"Come to mama," Mary exclaimed, suddenly charging forward, using her new agility to easy dodge the men who were coming at her. And as soon as she led them far enough towards the door, she teleported all the way to the other side of the room where she was much closer to Desire, and much further from the men.

"She’s over here," Desire screamed out.

"You’ve been a stuck up bitch since you got those powers," Mary spat at her, stretching out her newly stolen telekinetic powers for the first time. She concentrated and used her will to feel Desire…then to pick her up and pull her right into her waiting arms. "So I think it’s time to take them from you…"

Mary felt an enormous thrill of satisfaction as she grabbed hold of Desire and tore the power matrix from her. She gasped as the now familiar burning energy flooded through her skin and into her body, into the formerly ’empty’ space.

A moment later, Mary dropped the now unconscious Desire onto the ground, smirking as she noticed that Desire was shrinking…losing her curves and sexy appearance. She was quickly reverting back to the very plain looking girl that she had been before she’d gained her power matrix and the sexy body that came along with it.

"Oh yes," Mary gasped as she felt another sensation rushing through her body, one different from anything that she’d felt before. It was a strange tingling rush through every fiber of her body and a twitching of her flesh as though it were changing. "Oh YES!"

There was no doubt in Mary’s mind that her body was changing… She could feel it. She even gasped aloud as her chest began to swell outwards, causing her shirt to strain at the seams until it tore open. Hair tickled her shoulders as it grew longer and more luxurious, the red color becoming more brilliant. Her entire body underwent a thousand changes, each one directed to one purpose…becoming sexier.

Once the changes were finished a short time later, Mary looked down at herself in awe, amazed at the changes in her own body. Her figure had improved immensely, turning into something very much like what Desire’s had been. There was no doubt in her mind that she had indeed absorbed Desire’s powers… She certainly now had the body to prove it.

"I’m sexy," Mary exclaimed, amazed that even her voice had become smooth and sexy. Then she looked up at the men who were staring at her in obvious admiration of her body and laughed. "Do you like the new improved me?" And as she took another glance down at herself, she grinned, "I certainly do…"

Then Mary looked down at the plain looking girl on the floor who had been Desire such a short time ago. Like Soldier, her powers had been heavily tied into her physiology, which resulted in her body taking a lot of stress when they had been ripped out. Mary almost felt sorry for the girl for losing so much… Almost. As soon as she remembered how snobby Desire had been, all traces of guilt vanished.

Mary looked up at Getaway, Tank and Mr. Baxter who were staring at her…along with a still staggering Lady Arise. But since she had already taken Lady Arise’s powers, Mary ignored her to focus on the men.

"I have an idea," Mary said with a smile, looking straight at Tank as she tried to test out her new powers. "Why don’t you come over here Tank and give me your powers… After all, you know that you want to make me happy…"

"Make you happy," Tank nodded with a somewhat dreamy look on his face. He was still dazed from when Desire had touched him so it seemed that Mary didn’t need to.

Mary laughed at the reaction, amazed by just how easy it was. Tank was already under her power and walking towards her, and she’d barely had to do anything. She’d known that it was easy for Desire to get her way with men, but not that easy….

"Ignore her," Lady Arise called out to Tank, "You’ve got to fight it…"

Then Lady Arise tried to run to them, though only managed to stagger enough to get in between them, attempting to block Tank’s way. But Mary just smiled and used her new telekinesis to life her up in the air and move her across the room, where she was unceremoniously dropped to the ground.

"You already had your turn," Mary told her, "Now it’s his…"

As soon as Tank was within arms reach, Mary wasted no time in touching him. She stretched out her will and concentrated on pulling out his power matrix… It flowed into her just as easily as the other ones had.

"Oh God," Mary exclaimed as she felt her body transforming yet again.

There was a huge surge of power in all of Mary’s muscles and she could feel them all tensing and growing… In fact, her entire body was tensing and growing. Her clothes grew tighter and tighter on her until they all nearly exploded and tore to shreds. However, she barely noticed this as she was more intent on the amazing sensations that flooded her entire physical being.

Once Mary had stopped growing, she paused for a moment, staring down at herself and being amazed at just how big she was. She was enormous…now 6 foot 8 and bursting with huge muscles. But the transformation wasn’t entirely done yet. Her body began to shift again, this time with the muscles pulling back and into her flesh, becoming less obvious and leaving her with a body that was still huge, but huge and sexy, with muscles that were compact and powerful rather than bulky. She realized that this was obviously Desire’s power matrix acting to ensure that she remained extremely sexy.

"Oh my God," Mary whispered, continuing to stare down and admire her statuesque body. Her was solid and ripped with muscle, yet extremely feminine and sexy at the same time. But there was more than just her new appearance. She felt…powerful. She felt more powerful than she had ever even imagined she could. She felt as though she could do damn near anything that she wanted. "I feel like some sort of goddess…"

Then Mary finally looked over at the people who were surrounding her, seeing the looks of absolute amazement and even adoration on most of their faces, realizing that this made her feel even more like some sort of goddess. However, she knew that most of this was due to the powers which she had gained from Desire, and which were causing the men around her to go nuts. She would have to consciously turn it down. The only ones who were not completely zoned out due to her powers were Tank and Desire who were still unconscious and Lady Arise, who was staring at her in shocked disbelief and amazement.

"Do you like the new me?" Mary grinned down at them all, amazed at just how small each of them now seemed to her. Even Tank, who was now reduced back to his original height of 5 foot 10 seemed short in comparison. "This feels incredible…"

"Give us our powers back?" Lady Arise demanded, her voice shaking. Then she demanded, "Why are you doing this?"

Mary frowned down at her, taking a deep breath before smugly stating, "Because all I wanted was to be a super hero. I was one of you… I went through all of the same things… And I had just as much right. But you all gained powers and I didn’t. Or at least I didn’t seem to," she corrected with a faint smirk. "And when you all got powers and I didn’t, you treated me like shit. You treated me like I didn’t get them because I somehow was less worthy of being a hero than any of you. You all patronized me and treated me with contempt, acting like I was some kind of inferior because I didn’t get any powers…"

"Give me back my powers," Lady Arise pleaded.

"I can’t," Mary admitted, feeling just a little guilty at that. "Once I take them…I can’t get rid of them." She shrugged, not really wanting to get rid of any of them either. Having those powers felt far too good… Especially after she’d waited so long to gain the powers and become a super hero.

With that, Mary closed her eyes and stretched out her senses, amazed at just how sharp and clear they now were. She smiled faintly as she heard Soldier several rooms away, now awake and cursing his lack of powers and the clumsiness he felt now that he was back to normal human levels rather than superhuman.

After a moment of this, Mary stretched to her new full height, laughing a bit a she thought about what she now had to look like. She was eager to see herself…to see what she looked like now that she’d gained Tank and Desire’s powers.

"I have to check this out," Mary told herself.

With that, Mary used the powers that she’d stolen from Getaway to teleport to the other side of the complex, right into the middle of the uniform room. She immediately turned to look at the large mirror which was embedded in one of the walls, gasping as she did so.

"That’s me?" She could barely believe that the awesome creature staring back from the mirror was herself.

Mary had turned into a tall, statuesque amazon. She now had a body that was both extremely solid and sexy looking. And though she didn’t understand exactly how, Desire’s power matrix had managed to work with Tank’s…letting her have his powerful muscles, but keeping them much more subdued so that they actually worked to enhance her generous curves and sex appeal rather than interfere with them. Somehow…it all worked…and amazingly well at that.

But of course, Mary’s body wasn’t the only thing affected by the changes that the power matrixes brought about. Her face was not just pretty as before…but gorgeous. Even her face had become extremely sexy. Her eyes…formerly a rather plain looking brown, had become a brilliant green that almost seemed to glow. And her hair, while still red, was now a much more bright and brilliant red, which had grown much longer and cascaded down to her lower back in waves.

"Unbelievable," Mary exclaimed in utter amazement. Every inch of her body had changed…becoming bigger…stronger…sexier…BETTER. "Oh yeah…"

It was only then that Mary fully realized that she was completely naked. She didn’t really feel modest about that since she no longer had anything to feel modest or ashamed about at all. It was a body that deserved to be shown off. However, she realized that she probably should get some clothes…

"Like I can get anything off the rack," she muttered to herself, remembering that Tank…and even Desire to a lesser degree had that problem. Or at least they’d had that problem before the took it away from them. "A small price to pay for gaining this…"

Then Mary looked over to the corner of the room where a device which looked somewhat like a large round phone booth rested. She smiled and stood inside, silently thankful that they’d built it large enough to handle Tank. Because of that, she didn’t even need to duck in order to fit in.

"Let’s see," Mary mused, pushing the button that she knew would activate the machine. She stood inside of it for several seconds while scanned all of the measurements of her body. "That should do it," she said once the scan was done.

Mary moved to the front of the machine and hit a few buttons, smiling as it gave a 3D image of her body…and showed how the costume the machine was designed to create would fit that body. She looked it over, knowing that it was currently set up to create the basic Team Omega standard costume…though it could also be adjusted to create other designs. However, at the moment Mary didn’t feel patient enough to create a completely customized costume…especially since that would take a bit of time to program. So she set it to create a Team Omega costume for herself, with the primary color set as crimson and the secondary as the same gryy that most of the team had used.

"That should do it," Mary told herself as she hit the button, knowing that it would take a short while for the machine to actually create the costume. But while she waited, she could think of other things to do.

With that, Mary teleported her to another room, then immediately used her telekinesis to disable to video camera that was monitoring the room…by tearing it out of the wall. She smiled as she looked over the exercise room, having watched the others use it countless times to test the levels of their powers. But what interested her most at the moment was the weight machine that Tank used to test his strength. It was even set to close to his maximum weight.

"Just what I wanted to try," Mary grinned to herself, feeling like a little girl in the candy shop. She went to the machine and grabbed hold of the bar, eager to see if she really was as strong as Tank. "Here goes nothing…"

Mary took a deep breath then lifted. And to her surprise, she not only lifted the weight but managed to do so much more easily than she had expected. It wasn’t easy, but she didn’t have to use all of her strength either.

"Wow," Mary exclaimed as she set the weight down.

She stared at the settings to verify that it was indeed set to near Tank’s limit, which made no sense to her. Mary frowned and increased the weight by several hundred pounds and lifted it again, repeating the process several more times before she thought that she was getting near her own limit.

"That makes no sense," Mary muttered to herself, frowning thoughtfully. "How can I be stronger than Tank?" Then it suddenly dawned on her. "Soldier…"

Soldier’s power matrix had amplified his strength…and hers, to its peak and then beyond. So what if that very same power matrix had taken the new strength that she had gained from Tank, accepted that as her new ‘normal’ level and amplified that the same way? And the more she thought about it, the more sense it made.

"Incredible," Mary thought aloud. She’d had no idea that the powers she had taken could work together to augment each other like that.

Just then, Mary heard someone outside of the door to the exercise room. They were trying to be quiet about it so that she wouldn’t notice their presence, but she could still hear them. She could even smell them.

"Soldier and Tank," Mary mused to herself as she recognized the scents.

They’d probably figured that she was there because the video camera had been removed. But just because they found her didn’t mean that they could do anything to her. In fact, she had no doubt that she could stop both of them without having to lift a finger. However, she didn’t really feel like dealing with them at the moment so teleported back to the uniform room.

"It’s finished," Mary grinned as she saw that the machine had finished making her uniform.

Mary picked up the uniform, admiring the colors which she had chosen herself, and the very special material. The uniforms were all made of a very special fabric which was very comfortable…not to mention extremely difficult to cut or tear. And Mary rather liked the idea of wearing clothes that were nearly as tough as she had become.

After admiring the uniform for just a few seconds, Mary wasted no further time in putting on. It fit perfectly, which was as she expected since it had been specifically for her measurements.

"Just perfect," Mary said as she turned to admire the uniform in the mirror. It was largely crimson, with about a third of it being dark gray. And it was skin tight, covering everything from her neck down.

As soon as Mary saw her reflection, she let out a faint gasp of delight. The reflection was amazing… She looked absolutely amazing… However, what truly brought tears to her eyes was the fact that she was finally wearing a Team Omega costume…after having longed to wear it for some time.

"Very nice," Mary smiled.

Of course, Mary realized that with a body as magnificent as her own, she would need a costume that could show it off a bit more. Maybe something with short sleeves that showed a bit more skin and cleavage. But that could wait for later. Right now, she was quite pleased to just wear the costume that she’d just made.

Then Mary heard the sound of several people rushing down the hall and stopping just outside the door to the uniform room. "Oh," she smirked, "they’re coming for me again,"

For a moment, she thought about staying there and confronting them, about driving the men mad with desire and putting them under her spell again. Or maybe she could show them around a little with her telekinetic powers, reminding them that they can’t lay a finger on her now unless she let them.

However, Mary didn’t really like the idea of picking on people who couldn’t defend themselves anymore. It just didn’t seem right. And she’d already proven her point to them and given them each a good dose of humility so there was no need to do more.

Instead, Mary remembered what she’d been thinking of how her new powers might work with each other…and she had an idea that she wanted to test out. Getaway’s powers had always been limited by the amount of stress that they put on his body. The further he teleported or the more weight he carried, the more stress he suffered. And if he took too much, it would kill him. However, thanks to the powers that she had gained from both Tank and Soldier, her body was now capable of withstanding a great deal of stress. She could withstand a LOT more than Getaway could even imagine.

"So I should be able to teleport a lot further," Mary reasoned aloud.

Then Mary smiled and teleported to the furthest point that Getaway had been able to jump from the headquarters. It was 5 miles away, and Getaway had not only been well rested before doing that jump, but had been so wiped out that he had barely been able to even move for several hours afterwards. When Mary arrived at her destination in a flash of green light, she let out a sigh of relief

"It worked," she exclaimed.

Mary hadn’t been completely sure that her plan would work and felt a huge thrill in the knowledge that it had. Whenever Getaway made any teleporting jumps more than a few hundred yards, he felt sore and tired…with the effect getting stronger the further he teleported. And Mary just teleported to the furthest point that Getway had been able to…and she hadn’t even felt the hint of those side effects. In fact, she felt as though she could teleport a hundred times the distance…at least.

"I feel like I could do ANYTHING," Mary laughed. She couldn’t resist trying that experiment again…this time with a little more push.

A moment later, Mary teleported again, this time teleporting halfway across the country. As soon as she appeared in her new location, she felt a momentary dizziness and ache in her muscles. However, the symptoms were faint and vanished almost immediately, leaving her feeling just as impossibly strong, healthy and energized as she had felt before teleporting.

"Between Tank’s invulnerability," Mary mused to herself, "and the endurance I got from Soldier… I can probably teleport all the way to the other side of the planet… And with the healing factor I got from Soldier immediately fixing any physical stress…"

Mary shook her head in amazement at the way her new powers were working together, augmenting each other. She was stronger than Tank and could teleport much further than Getaway… Now she couldn’t wait to find out how else her new powers complimented each other.

With that, Mary flexed her arms, staring at her powerful muscles and savoring the unbelievable strength which flowed through them. Then she laughed aloud, "God I love this new body…"

Then Mary smiled, deciding to play with her new powers even more. She took one more look around her destination and teleported again, this time into the middle of New York. Mary couldn’t resist the opportunity to show her new body and powers off in front of a lot of people, and New York seemed the perfect place for something like that.

"So many people," she grinned to herself.

For a minute, Mary just stood where she was, fully aware that a great many people on the street had stopped to stare at her. Of course, she knew very well that she was well worth staring at now. Not only was she wearing a super hero uniform, but she was incredibly gorgeous and had a very unusual physique.

"The physique of a goddess," Mary smirked. And there were so many people staring at her with open awe and admiration, not to mention lust.

And then, just to show off a little, Mary used her telekinesis to float up into the air and then fly up to the top of one of the buildings. The people that she left below stared up at her in awe, obviously not seeing people using super powers right there in front of them every day.

Once Mary had settled down on top of the nearest building, she closed her eyes and stretched out her senses, trying to make sense of all that she was hearing and smelling. There was so much information that she wasn’t sure that she could make sense of it all, though she was determined to find a way. And she seemed to be getting better and doing so with every passing moment.

Mary listened to the sounds of the city for a minute before suddenly realizing what some of the more distant and vague sounds were… She was hearing screams and explosions. And as she focused on those particular sounds, they came to her clearer…clear enough for her to realize that there was a serious problem.

"Where…?" she gasped in surprise, opening her eyes and looking around again.

After staring in the direction that she thought the sounds were coming from, Mary saw a small bit of smoke rising from the distance. A normal pair of eyes would not be able to make out the detail from that distance, but since she had stolen the power matrix from Soldier, her eyes were no longer quite normal.

There was only a moment of hesitation while Mary tried to decide what she had to do, then she reminded herself that this was what it was all for… She had gone through everything that she had…done everything that she had so that she could be a super hero. There was no way that she could ignore a possible chance to finally be one.

Mary stared into the distance, to where she could see the plume of smoke. And with that, she gathered up her concentration and determination and teleported to a building nearby.

"Now let’s see…," she exclaimed as soon as she arrived, immediately looking around to see what the problem was. Then her eyes went wide and she blurted out, "Oh shit…"

There were not just one, but TWO giant metal robots stomping down the middle of the street. They were both identical, both painted gunmetal gray and standing fifty feet tall. Each one stepped on cars…and even on people without seeming to care or even notice. Their very passage caused a trail of destruction.

But the giant robots weren’t the only threat to the people of the city. There were other robots…nearly a dozen of them, all nearly identical to the giant robots save that they were only 7 feet tall. And these ones were actively going after people, grabbing cars and throwing them at the running civilians.

And then there were the soldiers. There were several dozen human soldiers, each wearing armor that had a slight resemblance to the robots…enough to show that they were definitely tied together. And if their armor wasn’t clue enough, there was the fact that they were shooting at the buildings, apparently herding a large number of people…though to what purpose Mary couldn’t even guess.

"What the hell is going on?" Mary gasped, feeling simultaneous surges of fear and excitement. In spite of her eagerness to test out her new powers and to prove herself as a hero, she knew that this was all beyond her experience. What if she messed up? What if others got hurt because of her? "I can’t let that happen…"

Mary took a deep breath and then jumped right in, deciding to go for the biggest targets first. She used her telekinesis to fly towards one of the giant robots, where she punched it as hard as she could. Her punch was enough to knock it backwards a bit, as well as putting a nice dent in it’s chest. However, one punch was not enough to finish it.

"I guess I’ll just have to hit you again," Mary grimaced, her confidence boosted by the effect that her punch had on the robot.

"Don’t let that bitch interfere!" one of the men in armor screamed up at the giant robot, which showed no sign of actually hearing him. Then to the other armored men, he exclaimed, "Our master the Mechaizer will be furious if we let any of these so called super heroes interfere with his plans to destroy the city!"

Though Mary was focused on dealing with the giant robot, she could still hear the armored men talking to themselves. She could hear them talking to each other about their master, the Mechaizer, and his plans to create terror by leveling half the city.

She’d heard the name before. In fact, while she’d been stuck at the Team Omega headquarters while the others were out fighting villains, she’d tried preparing herself to become a hero herself by using that time to read through the files on various super heroes and villains. There was little doubt in her mind that she had probably read through more of those files and knew more about the various heroes and villains than any of those who had been official members.

"The Mechaizer," Mary muttered to herself, trying to remember what she had read from his file.

Then she remembered that the Mechaizer was some sort of genius megalomaniac who had plans of creating his own empire, based off of the power of his powerful robotic technology. However, she also remembered that he didn’t like getting his hands dirty and preferred sending armies of mercenaries and machines to do his dirty work for him.

A moment later, Mary’s thoughts were cut short as the giant robot took a swing at her. It hit her and the impact sent her flying back and into the wall. She left a large indentation before teleporting out, to the air right in front of the robot where she used her telekinesis to levitate.

"You aren’t supposed to hit girls," Mary yelled at the robot, landing on it’s shoulder and grabbing hold of the head. Then, using her newly acquired strength, she tore the robot’s head right off of it’s shoulders and casually tossed it to the side. "It’s so easy…"

However, the robot didn’t just suddenly stop dead like Mary had expected. Instead, it staggered around, apparently blind and without direction. Mary jumped off of it as it bumped into the wall of a building, causing half the side to cave in. Then as if flailed around, one of it’s feet came down on one of the smaller robots, which crunched under the weight. The larger robot completely lots it’s balance at this point and fell down, right on top of one of the armored soldiers.

"That’s got to hurt," Mary smirked.

But as the robot was trying to get back up, Mary decided that it would probably be a good idea to keep him from doing so. And with that, she landed on his back and used her bare hands to tear off a large section of plating. Then as soon as the robot’s insides were revealed, she used her telekinesis to reach inside and tear them out. Mary didn’t know what she needed to remove to stop the robot for good, so she just kept tearing at everything she could until it stopped moving entirely.

"One down," Mary muttered to herself as she looked up and at the small army that surrounded her, "A hundred to go…"

With that, the soldiers and the smaller robots all started opening fire on her. Mary winced for a moment, then let out her breath as her skin only tingled where they hit her. And after a moment, she even grinned, deciding that this was rather fun. But when one of the soldiers fired what looked like a ray gun at her….which actually stung, she decided that it was time to do something about them.

"That hurt…sort of," Mary exclaimed.

Mary didn’t think that it was a good idea to let this go any longer. Not with these robots and soldiers causing so much damage to everything around them. So she looked at the smaller robots and stretched out her will, using her telekinesis to pick them up and throw them into each other. She used the power of her mind to crush one right where it stood, then to send another one flying straight at the remaining giant robot.

"Take that!" Mary called out, telekinetically tossing one robot right into a cluster of the armored soldiers, then turning and punching another robot that had gotten too close to her, putting her fist straight through it’s chest.

One of the soldiers took advantage of Mary’s momentary distraction to rush right up to her, putting his gun barrel merely inches from her chest and firing. It didn’t hurt her, but the thought that he would actually do something like that was enough to get her angry.

"You bastard," Mary growled, about to punch the man but then holding back at the last moment as she realized that he wouldn’t survive her punch. Instead, she just grabbed his shoulder and pushed out with the powers she had gained from Desire. Suddenly, the man’s expression had turned to one of complete worship… "I think I could get to like this part," she nearly grinned.

It only too Mary another minute to finish neutralizing all of the smaller robots. However, her attention shifted back to the second large one as it was stumbling down the street and away from the main battle zone… It was looking for more people to hurt and more destruction to cause.

Then Mary’s eyes went wide as she realized that there were people looking out the windows of the buildings near it…and even a few careless people who had stayed nearby to watch the excitement. "What idiots!" Mary exclaimed, hardly able to believe that anyone could be so stupid as to hang around in the middle of a fight like that. She knew that before she had her powers, she would have run like hell had a couple 50 foot robots and a bunch of smaller ones had come storming down the street.

"It’s going to crush those people," Mary blurted out, then gasped in horror as the giant robot slammed a fist right into the side of the building.

For a moment, Mary thought about charging the giant robot like she had the other one. However, she immediately remembered the way that it had stumbled around, and all the damage that it had caused while doing so. If she was going to take it out, she needed a way to do it without any of those rubber-neckers getting hurt.

"I’ve got it," Mary exclaimed, silently preying that her idea would work.

And with that, Mary teleported onto the giant robot’s shoulder, just as she had the previous one. But instead of just tearing off it’s head, she grabbed hold, closed her eyes and teleported, hoping that her body could handle the stress of teleporting that much material. Getaway could only teleport one…maybe two other people at the very most, and then only for a short distance. She was teleporting a weight MANY times more than he’d been able to, as well as teleporting it further than he’d be able to teleport another person.

The instant that Mary felt the world snap back into place around her, she winced faintly at the aches that seemed to hit every muscle in her body. However, she didn’t have time to focus on that as she still had a robot to deal with…as well as another problem. She immediately looked around and saw that she had teleported herself and the robot exactly where she’d intended…into the ocean about a mile or so away from New York.

"Rust you fucking bucket of bolts," Mary exclaimed as she tore the head off of the robot, even as it had already more than halfway gone under the water.

Mary used her telekinesis to lift herself from the robot and to levitate in the air as the robot sank beneath the waves, thrashing around as it did so. She just smiled and let it, knowing that it couldn’t very well do any damage out there in the water, away from any of those stupid rubber-neckers. But then, just to make certain, she used her telekinesis to tear into the robot just a little bit more as it sank beneath the waves…no longer moving at all on it’s own.

"Stupid piece of junk," Mary spat out.

For a moment, Mary remained where she was, levitating above the water while the aches in her body quickly faded away. She smiled at that, silently thanking the healing factor that she had gained from Soldier. The near invulnerability that she had taken from Tank let her survive the stress that such a teleportation put on her body, but the healing factor ensured that even when her body did suffer a lot of stress, it was able to almost immediately recover from it.

Then Mary took a deep breath to prepare herself and teleported right back to the scene of the battle. However, the only ones left for her to fight were the two dozen men in armor. And after dealing with all of the robots, she had a feeling that they would be easier in comparison.

"She’s back," one of the armored soldiers called out the moment that Mary reappeared in front of them. He fired a short at her with some sort of energy weapon, and though she knew that she could easily survived a hit from it, she acted out of instinct and quickly dodged the blast. She smiled as she dodged the next one as well, absolutely loving the reflexes that she’d gained from Soldier.

"Not that I really need them," Mary told herself, though they certainly were rather nice.

But then Mary snapped her attention back to what she was doing. These soldiers were still all heavily armed hadn’t stopped causing havoc on the city street. She was going to have to deal with them, and fast…before more innocent people got hurt.

With that, Mary ran forward, grabbing one of the men by the front of his armor and lifted him off the ground with one arm. He felt so light… She frowned, absently tossing him into one of the other soldiers before looking around for her next target.

Mary scowled, reaching out with her telekinesis and picking one of the other soldiers up from twenty feet away. She loved the look of surprise on his face, then paused as she realized that she could feel something else. There was

[Cesar]

I have really enjoyed how you began the story to build the characters then how you gave the power to Mary and how theirs effects augmented each other. She can literally become a goddess if there are more people with a power matrix. The possibilities are endless and can’t wait to see more. Thank you again for starting such a grand story.

Grey Deth

[Deadly Pixxxie]

That’s a story worth of a movie deal.

EXCELLENT! 😀

[Mark Newman]

Very good story, as usual Morpheus. I was hoping her opponent would have some more powers for her to steal and then decided you chose robots so you wouldn’t have to address that plot complication just yet.

Now, what if she ran into Rogue and stole her power absorbing power? Sort of like wishing for more wishes.

Mark

[BlackKusanagi]

I like. Nice Job.

[Anonymous]

Freekin’ awesome job man! do you have plans to continue it?

[JimmyDimples]

Very nice story… sorry I’m late with the kudos here…

😀

… but where’s the rest of it? Did the character limit per post clip it?

[Morpheus]

Yes, it did cut off the story when I posted it. I posted the rest of the story under a post called Omega 2

Very nice story… sorry I’m late with the kudos here…

😀

… but where’s the rest of it? Did the character limit per post clip it?

[Author]

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