Soon after Karyn said the wish, Jon's whole body language changed. The girl suddenly was more relaxed and focused, and the fear was gone. The fear was instead replaced with a look of embarrassment.
"I've really made a fool of myself, haven't I?" Jon said. "I'm sorry."
Sarah loosened her grip on the transformed Jon.
"It wasn't your fault. It was the Random Gun's." Karyn said
"Okay, are you sure you're back to your old self?" Sarah said.
"I'm okay. I just ... made things even worse by chickening out when I could have fixed things." Jon said.
Sarah nodded. "You got that right. My friends and I have spent the last few hours trying to clean up your mess."
Karyn nodded. It looked like Jon had regained his previous personality. She knew, however, that she would not know right away whether the wish had worked on others.
McMillan Tech Industries, upper floor, waiting area near meeting room
The waiting area near the meeting room had been converted to a place for the five transformed people in the board room to recover. Rachel McLewis, with the help of many of the staff on the floor, had pushed couches and chairs together to provide comfort for the transformed people who had fainted from transformation shock. She was assisted by a doctor and a nurse, but both of them had to confess that they were not actually licensed professionals, but people from Accounting who had been zapped by the Random Gun a half hour ago and been given medical knowledge.
The Random Gun created doctor seemed to know what she was doing, however, as she urged everyone else to be gentle with their patients. "Let them wake up gently," she had said. "Given what you've told us about what happened, they don't need more shocks."
Rachel acknowledged that it made sense. The five transformed people were slowly stirring. Rachel still didn't know which of the transformees was which. For example, the Roaring 20s flapper could be Ms. Stallsworth, or Mr. Quarterson, or Mr. McMillan, or Mr. Coakley, or Mr. Stragey. She wouldn't know who was who until they were capable of telling her.
In the meantime, someone from Marketing who had been zapped with the Mime Gun handed Rachel her cell phone. Rachel had dropped it back when Mr. Stragey had kidnapped her. She thanked the mime, and he responded with a smile and a wave.
The cheerleader was groaning. "Are we still on for practice? The game's only a week away."
The others were saying odd things as well. "I'm in the fast lane," said the flapper.
"Are we having extra innings?" said the baseball player.
The Asian nurse groaned. "Please, let me treat the others."
The female ninja just shook her head silently, and refused to answer when asked her name.
Rachel realized they were still delirious and would not be coherent for a while. The fact that they had gone through not only twenty physical transformations each, but also some accompanying personality changes most likely did not help matters any.
As she waited for them to recover, she checked her cell phone. She noted someone had posted a news update on McMillan Tech Industries' web page and their social media accounts. It leaked information about the Transformation Gun chaos at MTI, and mentioned Mr. McMillan and the others being incapacitated after an explosion in the boardroom.
When she saw that the report claimed that both Clay Dankworth and Dr. Jerry Chance were confirmed fatalities, Rachel knew who the unknown poster was. It was the woman now calling herself Jerri Blazestorm.
Quickly, Rachel got in touch with her contact from the local news, Eva Edevane, who also had connections and contacts with two of the cable news channels. She told Eva to leak the following news to the press, but not to tell anyone her name. The news was that Mr. McMillan and the others were alive and being treated by attending physicians, and to confirm the death of McMillan Tech Industries Chief Operating Officer Clay Dankworth. Eva promised she'd forward the information to the news channels and not reveal her source's name.
It was soon afterward that the cheerleader began appearing more lucid. "Sarah?" she said. She stirred, looking at herself. "Wait a minute. I'm not a cheerleader."
Rachel turned to the cheerleader. "Who are you, then?"
"It's my daughter who's the cheerleader. I'm Richard McMillan, the CEO of this company!" The cheerleader groaned.
"It looks like you still have a bit of a headache. Transformation shock." Rachel said. "I'm not a medical doctor, but I know you need rest. Try not to stress yourself too much."
"I DO know me." the flapper said. "I'm Nicholson Quarterson."
McMillan Tech Industries basement lab complex, main lab
Ryan Leeson and Samantha Duncan had tried pleading with Jeffries, to no avail. They had tried threatening him with various Transformation Guns, but he called their bluffs. They tried arguing with him, but got nowhere. He still had no intention of telling them the combination to the storage locker where he had stored the Restoration Guns.
And then he groaned. A change in his demeanor came over him as he struggled with the duct tape Samantha had tied him up with. "Oh, no." Jeffries said. "I went all super-villain on you, didn't I?"
"Jeffries?" Ryan asked.
"Yeah." Jeffries replied, in a tone more in keeping with the Jeffries Ryan had known prior to the Random Gun zapping him. "I think I'm myself again. That mad scientist persona the Random Gun gave me seems to be in retreat. Oh, God, I wish I'd never come up with that thing."
Ryan and Samantha looked at Jeffries carefully. He didn't seem to be acting.
"Are you okay?" Samantha asked.
"I think I will be in a bit. Just untie me." Jeffries said.
"Wait. Are you going to tell us the combination to the storage locker now?" Ryan said.
"Yeah, might as well. What a screwed-up plan that was." Jeffries said. "There's no way the world would have paid us money to zap them with Restoration Guns. They'd have just overpowered us and taken them for themselves. All we'd succeed in doing is pissing off a lot of people."
Ryan and Samantha gave relieved sighs. "Looks like the old Jeffries really is back." Ryan said.
"Anyway, I want to be the first person you zap with the Restoration Guns once you get them." Jeffries said. "I don't want to look like this mad scientist guy any longer than I have to."
He then proceeded to tell them the combination.
McMillan Tech Industries Lake Point Branch, ground floor
Jerri Blazestorm, punk rock woman, was now looking for the way out of the building. She knew the building was under lockdown, but she wasn't about to let that stop her. She had done all she wanted here: she had seen Mr. McMillan and the board get subjected to a series of humiliating transformations, she had leaked news on the boardroom incident on MTI's web site and its social media accounts, and she had quit her job here. There was nothing left for her to do but leave.
Suddenly, she felt a headache. She felt the presence of her old persona, the horrible, sick creep Dr. Jerry Chance, attempting to regain control. Some unknown force was acting remotely, trying to restore him to prominence.
"No, no!" Jerri shouted. "Get back, asshole! Get back! Down you go! Down, down. down!"
And as she said this, Dr. Chance's persona began to retreat again. Jerri was in control, and in fact was stronger than before. She knew right away what was going on.
It was zapping herself with the Punk Gun that did it. If someone was trying to undo the Random Gun's personality effects, well tough luck. The Punk Gun had only strengthened Jerri's persona - her new defiant punk rock woman personality wasn't just a Random Gun product anymore. It was also a Punk Gun product, and it was also who she felt she really was.
In her mind, she imagined herself beating Dr. Jerry Chance with a club until he disappeared into a hole in the ground. And as she did so, she smiled. And laughed. "Yes! YES! And stay gone, asshole! YES!"
Jerri triumphantly marched forward to the exits to the building. As soon as she found the way out, a new life would await her, far away from McMillan Tech Industries and the rich jerks who ran it.
She wasn't too concerned about Rachel, or Ryan, or Samantha, or the others. She knew they could take care of themselves, and would probably emerge on the other side of this mess perfectly fine.
As for Jerri, she looked forward to good times ahead.
The Gibson house, Jon's room
Karyn was relieved that Jon's former personality was back in charge. She hadn't restored Jon to his former self physically - she would leave that up to Jon. But the Jon she knew was in the driver's seat again.
"Okay." Sarah said. "You said we could take turns wishing once we had the stone. Now what?"
