#shapeshift

A few minutes earlier

Phillis walked into the bar and was determined to meet up with Milan’s old contact in the area. Get in. Get out. Get back to her new friend with the watch waiting for her in the car. When she saw the handsome bartender waiting inside, she knew they were in the right place.

The man was all neatly trimmed stubble, muscle, and tattoos. Not an inch of him could be more daunting or alluring for the right individual. He towered over the counter as he narrowed his eyes at Phillis who entered unphased by his impressive presence.

“I heard this place looked better on the inside.” Phillis speaks, looking back towards the door wistfully. Her brief glances revealed a sophisticated lighting system and a well-maintained building interior. Something you wouldn’t be able to tell from the outside.

“Who’d you hear that from?” the bartender grunted with a furrowed brow, not expecting that phrase. His curious voice having an edge to it.

“An old friend. I believe you two met and… bonded over drinks before. I believe he had some S.o.t.B.” Phillis stated, turning back to the barkeep with an arched eyebrow.

The man blushed but maintained a stern look. “Fuck. You’re a friend of Milan’s aren’t you? You can drop the code stuff I had a feeling someone like you would be coming along. Haven’t heard from him in days.”

Phillis let a tired smile slip. “Then I hope this’ll be quick. I’m here to pick up a case Milan left here before he went on mission two days ago. From what I know you’re much smarter than the average bartender and when Milan… made contact with you he left something here for safekeeping. Do you have it?”

The man sighed. “First off princess, it’s Reggie. Second, your boy has a lot of nerve if he thinks he can just send his lacky in without calling and not answering my tests-“

“Milan was taken Reggie. You know what he does. I need what’s inside that case to help get him back.” Phillis said finally letting out a little more genuine expression.

Reggie stared at her stunned for a second before letting out a sigh. “That idiot. I make one safehouse for the guy and he gets into shit before he can even use it. When I get my hands on him I… Ok. Fine. I’ll be back in a second. Help yourself to whatever. It was a slow night anyway.” The bartender went back to another room, walking off angrily.

Unfortunately, Phillis knew this wasn’t the only guy Milan had pissed off. The guy had a knack for connecting with people and gaining intel. However, that was a double-edged sword when he could get too close too fast. No one was ever terribly mad at him, but there was a certain limit that others reached when he didn’t even bother to call the next day.

As Phillis reminisced about the good times she’d had with her partner, she failed to notice a pair of men coming in with suits. Once they got within a few feet of her, she’d already started typing on her phone and caught their reflection on her screen.

“We found her.” One of the men in suits said as he got even closer to her.

“You’re coming with us,” the other said as he grabbed Phillis’ shoulder.

However, they were met with the woman just shaking her head. “I don’t think so,” she said.  With a single tap on her phone,  she revealed the program she’d run to hack the lights in this building. Every single lighting fixture in the place went dark, allowing Phillis to duck out of reach from her two assailants. No one in the room could see the two bottles Phillis had picked up from the bar, but they could definitely hear them break over the heads of the two men after her. Once the lights returned there were two unconscious men on the floor. She looked down proudly at her handy work, but her expression changed once more when more suited individuals flooded into the bar.

She was about to put up more of a fight before they began pointing their guns at her. Phillis knew when she was beat and raised her hands up tentatively. Behind her she heard Reggie begin to open the door to re enter the room, so she raised her voice and said, “What the hell do you want with me? Leave the people INSIDE the bar ALONE.”

Reggie appeared to have got the message and stopped in his tracks as one man emerged from the crowd.

“Always the fighter. Rumors of your tenacity precede you Agent Phillis.” The man greeted, loosening his tie and unbuttoning his shirt.

“Wait… that voice… Mousier Ramiz? You…. Look different than the last time we saw you.” Phillis said shocked.

“Well, the wonders of modern technology. I won’t bore you with the details, but I will press you for yours.” Ramiz pushed Phillis into the bar counter firmly with surprising ease.

“Tell me where the watch is.” Ramiz said flatly.

“What makes you think I even know where it is?” Phillis growled back.

“Funny. Your friend said the same thing. Though you and I both know you’re much smarter than he was. Now my men have confirmed the faint energy readings in the area, and we found you. Now speak up before we escalate this further.” Ramiz says producing his gun and pressing it firmly against Phillis.

A quick scan of the room didn’t show anything immediately helpful to her in this moment. She could move, attack, or dodge, but all those actions wouldn’t outpace a bullet at this range. Phillis thought she was out of options until she heard what sounded like an approaching stampede.

Suddenly the doors burst open and a bunch of burly sweat men from the nearby gym entered in!

“Bartender! Let’s get some drinks!”
“We’ve got a hungry guy over here let’s fill em up!”
“Someone turn up the music in here!”

All the men in suits were completely caught off guard with this display, but that brief confusion gave Phillis an opening. She hit another button on her phone and the lights began to strobe! This disoriented Ramiz long enough for her to hop behind the counter. Reggie saw this as his opening too and opened the door to activate the sound system nearby. In a matter of moments this dreary bar was blasting music and strobing lights.

“Alright guys what’re you having!” Reggie called out causing a row of hefty men to charge the bar! All of them requesting two drinks, one for them and the other for a special someone.

Cal came in at the rear, panting and sweating amidst a group of burlier men who would refuse to leave his side. They were offering some protein bars and some belly rubs with every step towards the bar, and they weren’t stopping now.

“Fuck. Why does this taste so good? I never have eaten this much, but I love it.” Cal muttered with a mouthful of granola. Despite feeling less nervous Cal could continue to feel himself sweating from the body heat of his new admirers.

Before long, drink after drink was being presented to him. Cal wasn’t much of a beer or wine guy. In fact, he hadn’t had more than 3 shots of anything since his 21^st birthday. However, instinct seemed to be taking over and he began pounding away pint after pint. Each gulp sending pleasurable shivers down his spine. Or was that the various hands roaming his body? The heat of the moment seemed to be tinting this scene with rose colored glasses as now Cal felt more at ease and excited.

His attention began to drop towards his bulging belly. The guys had offered him some clothes along the way, but he was quickly taking them off. Unlike his other bodies Cal felt more relaxed than ever when all he had to do was eat and drink to his heart’s content. Not only that, but it was clear he’d kept his attraction to guys this time. Sure swimming as the water template and running through the fire as Ignis was cool, but this body felt the most fun! He was having fun!

Cal waddled over to the bar pushing aside the strange suited men, while rubbing his big gut around his admirers. “I’ll uh take two Uh…. Wait is that you Ph-“ Cal began before he was shushed. Peaking out from behind the counter was Phillis who appeared to be ducking out of sight.

“Cal?! Why’d you transform?!” she screamed at Cal with a whisper.

Even her stern comments couldn’t get Cal down at this point, so he just smiled and replied, “Phillis I’m having so much fun! This body is the best. What was I doing? Oh right! I saw these guys coming to the car and changed so I could help you! Is this helping? Damn I need a drink! Bartender! Another round please!”

As Cal called for this, a majority of the patrons cheered. Phillis let out a sigh. “Phermonic controls are certainly manifesting an… unexpected side effect. Though I won’t argue with efficacy. Cal. I need to find my contact and you need to change back. It’ll be easy to track once you leave a crowded room, but hard once the signal weakens. It’ll at least buy us some time… so uh… get busy.” Phillis says shoving Cal into the crowded mass of shirtless men all vying for his attention.

While Phillis reached Reggie by the sound system, Cal was confused and stumbling around the center of the bar where patrons had begun dancing. He wasn’t sure what was happening with all these hot guys pumping and grinding around him, but he sure liked it. He began to take in just how good it felt. He was being swarmed on all sides, feeling strong hands stroke his broader back, tight abdominal muscles tickling his stomach, and even a few roaming fingers reaching their way to his hardening crotch. Cal found himself embracing all of it, lifting up his huge ham sized arms to the sky as he danced. To his surprise, even more joined the dance floor after that, all with the express purpose of getting closer to Cal’s musky pits. Cal could even feel a few tongues going in deep and licking up Cal’s sweat as he danced around the room.

The room soon smelled like a drunken gym as drinks were being spilled everywhere. This was an amazing party Cal never wanted to end. His dick was thinking the same thing as the grinding got even tighter around him. Being so turned on for so long, Cal couldn’t hold back. After the room had reached peak pleasure a low moan could be felt from the center of the dancing masses and Cal blacked out for a second.

When he awoke Cal was in a mass of men who were equally collapsed. All moaning and muttering in pleasure.

“Shame that big guy is gone now. He was the life of the party.”
“Fuck I’ve never felt anything like that.”
“I’m definitely coming back here next week”

Now with a clearer head and an embarrassing stain in his pants, Cal stood up and headed to the exit where Phillis was waiting. She held a small silver brief case in her hands and seemed to be one of the only people standing amidst the room of people on the ground.

“That… was unexpected. No time to dawdle on that though. It got us a way out. Let’s go Cal. Post phermonic bliss will only last so long. They’ll snap out of it soon.”

Without a clue as to what she meant Cal followed her out.

“Damn. It was so hot in there I was sweating up a storm! What was that? What was I doing just now… it felt so good? I never knew having such a big bulging hairy stomach could feel so good… my hand… their hands…” Cal said surprised remembering the fluttering feelings that had started only moments ago.

Phillis shook her head with a laugh as she opened the case. “It’s a template that was one of our riskier ideas. An agent form that could persuade with the use of the pheromones produced by the human body. You… managed to take it to a new level with how much body heat you generated with those guys.”

“I guess so. It really…. Made everything feel like… more. I wanted to help you at the bar. We all went to the bar. I wanted to eat, they gave me food. I wanted to dance and-“

“And you knocked everyone out with how good you felt.” Phillis completed. “Unexpected, but effective. I’d love to have measured your pheromone levels at the time. But that’s besides the point. I’ve got what we need right here.”

As they got back to the car, Phillis opened the entirety of the case to show Cal. “This is essentially a portable charging station for the watch. Should it ever get drained or damage, this case was good to provide enough energy to repair any damage sustained by missions. Place your wrist right here.”

Without hesitation, Cal placed his wrist inside and the machine clamped around his wrist. There was a light whirring sound and a moment later the device released his wrist. The watch now shined pristine and new in the moon light.

“Incredible. Ok. Now we could see if Milan stored any info on the watch!” Phillis began to type some info into the watch when they heard a slam. The doors to the bar slam open as some dreary looking men in suits stumble out. The first one out was Mousier Ramiz!

“Crap. They’re awake. We need to getaway fast. Prioritize speed over stealth.” Phillis clamored into the driver’s seat and pressed a few buttons. Soon the vehicle compacted inside shifting into the image of a large motorcycle.

“Woah! You can drive a motorcycle?” Cal said surprised.

“No. But you can.” Phillis takes Cal’s wrist and presses 3 buttons simultaneously as a bright light shines the way forward.

Art by Celrasa

what if we can shapeshift but we just don’t know how