Ape-Woman Transformation Pt. 02

Charlotte would have liked to see just what Michelle looked like but, well...she was going to look even better than her, a prime example of human-ape power combined. There was no telling, not quite, what her drug would or could be used for, though that wasn't quite Charlotte's concern.

She didn't want to do better than Michelle, not really, but she was not one to push away an opportunity. Moreover, she had snatched opportunities from the jaws of defeat time after time before and that was not about to be something she'd cast aside so easily then. Formulating the components into pill form, so it would be easy to take, she set several of them to set, with no outer coating, in a tray, covered in a sterilised environment.

She didn't test it first. Time was of the essence, after all, and if Michelle could handle her transformations with a much less developed pill, well...she would have no trouble at all, she was sure. And she would have both Oliver and Michelle when she transformed, able to guide her.

Following Oliver's directions, she drove up the mountainside, cursing when the path narrowed to a windy, twisty track. But it was not too much for her to handle, even when the terrain got rougher for her in her little, practical city car, and she pulled up outside the cabin to a pacing, worried Oliver.

"Hey," she said, softening her tone more than usual as she got out of the car, her bottle of prototype pills tucked into her pocket, everything she needed already on her person. "How're you holding up?"

She was not particularly fond of Michelle and, truthfully, she had taken more than a little of her research when allowed access, even in the emergency, to her files. But that didn't mean that she didn't care about either of them, that she wanted to see him frustrated and worried and trapped. It wasn't fair to anyone to be put in that position.

"Yeah... Yeah, no, not good... Not good at all."

Oliver took a shuddering breath, drawing himself up tall, though he didn't want to let it all out. He didn't know Charlotte well, though she really had been a last resort for him. Even calling the police had been higher on his list of "things he could do" than calling her and trying to get an antidote.

"Look, I don't think a full antidote is possible," Charlotte said, giving his arm a comforting squeeze and then retreating her touch, respectful, at least, of him and his relationship. "Not yet, anyway, we need a lot more time to look into that. Kind of sounds like you wouldn't be interested in that anyway... But maybe a temporary reversal, so we can get her out? I have something here...it's not tested, I'd need Michelle to test it."

She showed him what was in her other pocket: a small packet of dissolvable strips that could be placed on the tongue to take in the drug.

"It'll work...hopefully," she admitted, though she didn't want to sound as if she was lacking in confidence at all. "But we've got to get down there. What did the news reports say?"

"Not so much the news reports," he said, "but...a friend of mine got access to one of their streams, to the admin side."

"So..." Charlotte grinned. "He hacked them? Nice! Did he mess up their system some too?"

"Uh, I reckon so, but that's beside the point," Oliver growled. "Let's get going, I've got the co-ordinates, I was just waiting for you. It seems to be in a big cat sanctuary. Their IP address was apparently easy enough to track once he was in."

But Oliver didn't really care about stuff like that, more worried about Michelle and where she was. With the afternoon turning slowly into evening, twilight descending on the mountainside, they buckled up in Oliver's car, heading to the facility.

It turned out to be a prime location to keep an ape-woman creature, even though the hunters did not know what exactly they had captured. It was not licensed to hold animals (if Michelle could be classed as an animal in any way, it depended on the local laws) but the hunters clearly seemed to have broken in and were keeping a very low profile. Their vehicles were parked around the back of the abandoned sanctuary, though the cage was covered with a thick, heavy tarp. It was not all that discreet, however, for it could be merely tugged aside to see what was under there. And no one parked up with a cage like that could have been doing so for any sincere, just reasons.

"Here..." Oliver muttered. "We need to get in. Shit, these guys have guns."

Charlotte shrugged.

"Look, that's serious, yes, but we need to get her out and gone from here. If they can't see us, they can't use their guns. Simple, but we've got to be careful about this. There's not that many of them, from the number of vehicles here, but they're not exactly the smartest bunch either. They could shoot first and ask questions later too, as much as they could just miss us."

Oliver sighed. Like that was going to make him feel better. At least they weren't about to shoot Michelle when she was transformed, locked up wherever she was, which was something good. She would be, apparently, valuable to them, already being streamed online for them to make money from advertisements, though Oliver just wanted her home.

Home... Back in their home, together, away from prying eyes and people who sought to use them, to bring harm to them. They didn't need much to be happy, no huge extravagances in their lives, but they needed to be safe. Even if things had spiralled out of control with her transformations, though they could take steps, in the future, to ensure things came right in the end.

They would not break, just because of one big incident. No, they would learn from it and apply all they had learned to their lives going forward.

Perhaps it was a bit more of a scientific approach to it, logical and clear, but he was sure too that Michelle would have approved of that?

They waited for nightfall before sneaking inside, though the hunters and guards there, big lugs who seemed to have been hired for their muscle and attitude alone, were not all that different to avoid. No one else came to infiltrate the sanctuary and, well, it was old enough too that some walls had crumbled and tall fences had holes in them, cut over time from teenagers and other youngsters who were interested on getting inside simply to get away from prying eyes.

"Ugh... Watch the ground..."

He winced, stepping over some drug paraphernalia, though the broken bottles were problematic too. If they stepped on a bottle and smashed it, that would alert the hunters to their presence.

Stealth... Oliver tried to breathe in slowly and deeply, controlling himself and his emotions, calling on his ape-form. Alas, he wasn't able to force himself into his other form, not with how little experience he had of it. When he transformed, it felt like he was being ripped from one reality and shoved into another, forcibly transforming even though he knew, after a couple of transformations, how to lean into it and to let the changes ripple out through him. He saw the world through a different lens when he was in an ape-man body, rugged and hairy, boasting so much more muscle mass and agility than he ever though he'd be able to as a man.

Well, he'd never liked the gym, even though he was outdoorsy and enjoyed that sort of thing with Michelle...

"Rrrraaaaaawwwwrrrr!"

Oliver started, back straight.

"Michelle..."

Continued in part three of three.