10 Minute Tales, Part 2

Aug 13 - Metamorph

They kept following him. Days, now, he had never been able to rest. They knew about his powers, they wanted it for themselves. He couldn't afford to let them take it. He had to hide, but they could sense him. No matter what form he took.

"Okay, think..." he sighed, resting in an abandoned back alley. They hadn't tracked him quite this far yet. "They know any form I take... how? Can they sense a soul or something?" He looked up, tempted to fly. The last effort, however, had ended badly, and he had barely escaped. He was not risking that again. He could theoretically swim for it, but they had chased him away from anywhere with a river or an ocean. He sighed, looking up and down the alley. He was getting hungry. At least he could deal with that easily enough... he shrank himself to the size of an ant, grunting as his bones cracked and his flesh rippled to take its form. He scurried along the ground to find even a crumb, antennae twitching for any scent... kind or malevolent.

-----

He wandered for a while but found food eventually, nibbling away until he was full. Retreating into the shadow, he turned himself back to normal, clothes forming easily around his body. He stood up straight, sighing in relief. Still unse-

"Nice trick." a voice commented. He turned to look, stunned. "Bet you couldn't do that again easily." He turned to look, stunned. It was a woman in a lab coat. She seemed different than his pursuers, at least, but there was no mistaking it. She was there to study him. He turned to run, but she was... somehow in front of him again. Another Touched?

"What do you want with me?" he asked, raising his fists in defence.

"With you?" she looked him up and down. "Nothing." This threw him off for a moment. "With your powers, however... I want to understand. To aid. To improve."

"To... improve?" his fists lowered a little, still cautious. "H can take whatever form I want, right? So what's so self-improving about that?"

"That's the question, isn't it?" she asked, looking him over behind the safety of her dark glasses. "How can something so powerful improve further? By becoming stronger. After all, you're trackable still, aren't you?"

"... how much more do you know?" he grumbled, surprised she already had that much.

"Come with me if you want to find out."

"And if I don't? If I want to keep running?"

"Then you'll make more than one enemy today. How do you think I found you already?" she adjusted her glasses. "How do you think they are finding you? Finding us?"

"... they have... they have a Touched?"

"I'm very surprised that you know that name." her cocky grin dropped to a stern expression. "Even the Vanguards aren't supposed to know it."

"Really? That's what I've always been calling them. What a-"

"Coincidence doesn't exist. Not in this line of work." she turned to face into the street. "Pick a disguise you like. You'll be keeping it for a long time."