The mess was easy to find, even without help. It was noon, so all Jon had to do was follow the noise. The room was full to the brim with people eating, mostly men in black suits, but some men and women in lab coats. Every eye looked up at him and paused when he walked in, though, causing him to feel momentarily self-conscious. He nervously adjusted his glasses and used his right foot to scratch an itch on the back of his left leg.
A moment later, Doctor Bradford was at his arm, leading him deeper into the room to a table near the emergency exit.
"Jon, glad you could join us!" the beautiful doctor said.
"Thanks, I guess," Jon replied. "Sorry, this still feels really weird," he said, gesturing down to his new body.
"Why don't you get some food? You'll feel better after you've had something solid to eat."
Jon sighed and nodded, then walked up and grabbed a tray from the cafeteria line. He picked out a salad from the cooler. Then he stopped and thought about it. Why am I getting a salad? There's a cheeseburger right over there!
So he put the salad back and grabbed a cheeseburger instead, along with an iced tea. He looked around for a cash register but didn't see one, so he assumed that the meals must be complimentary here. That was probably a good thing since he didn't have any money with him anyway. Plus this skirt didn't have any pockets, so even if he did have a wallet--
"... can help you with that later today..." he overheard from one of the people talking a couple tables away.
Shaking his head a little, Jon walked back to the table to meet Dr. Bradford, who was already halfway through her lunch.
"Have a seat!" she said warmly.
"Thanks." He sat down and took a big bite of the cheeseburger. It wasn't very good, actually. It was about as bad as the stuff they claimed was 'food' at the school cafeteria, despite looking better on the outside. Jon grimaced.
"Next time try the salad," said Dr. Bradford. "It's better for your figure anyway."
"Yeah, but it looked so good," Jon said dejectedly.
Dr. Bradford looked nervously around. Then she said in a low voice, "Actually, that's not the fault of the food."
"What do you mean?"
"While you were being operated on, we made a few minor alterations to your psyche."
"Alterations? What do you mean?"
"We can't have you acting like a man when you're female superhero. You'll cause panic! We planted some default behaviours, all behaviours you can override by concentrating, of course, but if you don't, they'll default, well..."
"They'll make me act like a girl!" Jon's high voice squeaked, "Why wouldn't you tell me this before you put me under?!"
"Honestly, we thought you'd be okay with it," Doctor Bradford continued, "You were, after all, the one who requested the implants."
"Yeah, and I didn't know they were going to make me into a girl!"
She smiled, "Well, what's done is done. Besides, most of the changes, you probably won't even notice until later."
"What's that supposed to mean? What did you do to me?"
"You know, we added some trigger phrases, new fun habits, stuff like that. Little stuff. It doesn't matter anyway. Why are we focusing on this little stuff? Aren't you excited to become a superhero?!"
Jon stared into the beautiful woman's eyes, adjusted his bra strap, and seriously wondered if he was anymore.
