Jon followed a series of signs toward the cafeteria, walking through bland, featureless corridors. He wasn't alone. The facility was filled with soldiers, scientists, and white collar executives in their fancy suits. However, he soon determined he was the only 'girl' there.
That wasn't to say that there were no women staffed there. Though men certainly outnumbered the women, there was about one woman for every two men. He saw female soldiers, female scientists, and female executives in smart pantsuits. However, there were no other 'girls.' There was no one younger than maybe thirty, no one dressed flirtatiously, no one all made up, no one smiling pleasantly, and certainly not walking seductively the way he was.
The men seemed to notice this, too. He caught sight of them looking him up and down, clearly liking what they saw. Of course, they had no way of knowing he was really a boy. The doctors did such a good job on him, he wasn't surprised straight men were attracted. Especially considering that the women here looked like no fun, stern and professional. Whereas, Jon smiled and gave them something nice to look at.
His cheeks were hot with residual arousal, and his blush deepened now with embarrassment. Yes, he understood it. That didn't mean he was the slightest bit okay with it. He just hurried along to the cafeteria, his heels clacking on the cement floor.
When he arrived, he found it bustling with employees eating and talking. Hanging over everything was the delicious scent of food. He grabbed a tray and headed to the line, when a man in a suit yanked the tray from his hands and set it down on a table.
"Oops-a-daisy, not for you, my dear," he said, giving a quick shake of his head. Jon noted his eyes flicking up and down as he not-so-discreetly ogled Jon. "You're on a liquid diet, I hear. Nothing but special protein shakes for our girl."
Was Jon imagining things, or did the man emphasize 'girl'? Was this dude mocking him? He glared in response... or, at least, he tried. Instead, he smiled sweetly and giggled. It wasn't until the girly laughter left his lips that he realized he wasn't doing what he meant to do, and then it was too late to adjust.
The man wrapped his arm around Jon's shoulders and led him to a table where Dr. Bradford, Dr. Takeda, and Mr. Smith were waiting. The man guided him to sit next to Dr. Bradford and then sat on the side with Dr. Takeda and Mr. Smith. Dimly, he realized that this way the men were on one side and the 'women' were on the other. But, that couldn't have been intentional, right?
Dr. Bradford set a tall glass full of a thick white liquid in front of Jon and slipped a metal straw inside. "Drink up. You'll need your strength. This shake is packed with nutrients to help you recover and adjust to your altered body."
Mr. Smith nodded. "I want you field ready as soon as possible. The entire world may be at stake."
That sounded exciting! Eager to get to his new job as a superhero, he took the straw in his mouth and sucked. The shake turned out to be thicker than he anticipated, and he sucked hard. Finally, it rose up the straw and was pulled into his mouth. The taste... It wasn't great. There was an unpleasant saltiness and a slimy texture, but he supposed the nutrients were the important part. He just wanted to get his strength back.
The men watched him with a strange intensity as he drank. He couldn't figure out why. Was something supposed to happen?
Finally, he was done. He licked his lips. Damn, that thing left a weird aftertaste! "What was in that, anyway?"
"Oh, estrogen, testosterone-suppressants, some added calories, things like that," Dr. Bradford said. "Enough to make you the superhero we need. Leave the details to me."
Estrogen? Jon supposed he needed it now that they made him look like a girl, but it kind of made his skin crawl. He was looking forward to being a superhero, but he would be happy when he could get to the stone and change things to be a male superhero.
"I see you've met Mr. Martin," Mr. Smith said, nodding at the man beside him. "That's good. You two are going to be working closely. He's your new handler."
"Nice to meet you, my dear." Mr. Martin stuck out his hand for Jon to shake.
Jon stuck out his own hand but, for some reason, he held his hand palm-down and didn't take Mr. Martin's hand. Before he could figure out why, Mr. Martin took Jon's hand, pulled it to his mouth, and kissed Jon's fingers.
"Aw, such a polite girl." Mr. Martin laughed.
Jon definitely heard an emphasis on 'girl' that time. He snatched his hand back and turned to Dr. Bradford. "What's up with me? I'm doing these things, and I can't control them!"
"Your mental conditioning is working perfectly," she said. "When you were anesthetized, we put you into a hypnotic trance and gave you approximately thirty thousand mental triggers to help you pass in your new body. I've observed roughly twenty already. The vast majority, you'll never notice. It will work smoothly in the background to help you perform all the simple tasks a young woman learns naturally growing up: how to walk, how to talk, how to move in every minute way. As you gain familiarity with your new morphology, more of your mannerisms will become optional, but I want to keep you on autopilot, so to speak, for the time being."
Thirty thousand? Thousand? Jon was going to act like a girl, and there wasn't anything he could do about it?
"For now, I want to concentrate on your training," Mr. Smith said. "If you'd like to ask Dr. Bradford anything more, now would be the time. Otherwise, Mr. Martin and Dr. Takeda can help you get started."
Jon wanted to ask her about his shrunk penis and why he couldn't orgasm, but that was hardly something he could discuss in front of all these people. He wracked his brain for anything else he wanted to ask her but was drawing a blank... He shrugged and gave his response.
