Outside the office, Jeffries, Carrie, and the security guard leaped from their seats as they heard the sounds of a pained scream, Larry's shout followed by loud choking gasps, and ominous noises. "Something's gone wrong!" Jeffries exclaimed.
They threw open the door and gasped at the sight they saw inside. A tall, hulking man dressed in black wearing a hockey mask was standing in the center of the room carrying a bloodied sword. On the floor near him Ryan Leeson lay on his back in a pool of his own blood. Nearby, Arnie Amspoker lay on his side bleeding from a slash on his stomach, and Larry Eastbrook lay on his back, his bloodied hand clasped against his throat, choking and gasping.
"RYAN!" Jeffries shouted. Carrie screamed.
The security guard, meanwhile, charged straight at the slasher, grappling with him and managing to knock the blade out of the killer's hands. The slasher responded by grabbing the guard by the throat and tossing him across the room. The guard was sent crashing through the window, which shattered into a million pieces of glass as the guard fell several stories to the street below.
Carrie, meanwhile, had raised her Restoration Gun while the killer was distracted with the guard. She zapped the slasher, who then turned into an attractive brown-haired female figure skater.
The young woman looked confused. "This isn't the ice show." Then she looked around, and saw the blood, and the three mortally wounded men lying on the floor. She screamed -- a high pitched, terrifying scream, and then ran from the room.
Jeffries turned to Ryan, and saw that he was still breathing. Carrie saw Larry choking and gasping as he tried to keep blood from leaking out his throat wound, and noticed Arnie was still breathing as well.
"They're not going to live long enough for the ambulance! Get the Transformation Guns!" Jeffries shouted. He was trying desperately not to panic, seeing his best friend bleeding out on the floor and about to die.
"Are you sure?" Carrie shouted.
"It's the only chance they've got!" Jeffries shouted. He and Carrie rushed back to the door, reaching the Transformation Guns they had left behind. Carrie grabbed the Babe Gun, while Jeffries grabbed the Jock Gun. They rushed back inside, knowing that they could not spare even a second.
Carrie zapped Ryan with the Babe Gun while Jeffries zapped Larry and Arnie with the Jock Gun. Jeffries turned to Carrie and said "Wait, is that the Babe Gun?"
"I think so. Why?" Carrie asked.
They turned to the fallen men. Each of them changed. Larry and Arnie suddenly became a lot more muscular, physically fit, and athletic in appearance, and as they did, their wounds suddenly healed and disappeared as if they never were.
More spectacular, however, was the change to Ryan. Ryan's mortal injuries also healed and vanished, but his figure also reshaped itself into that of an attractive young woman. Ryan's short brown hair grew to shoulder length, and looked shiny. She looked like she could be a very attractive actress who could be a leading lady in a comedy or adventure movie.
"When the Babe Gun is used on a male subject, he becomes a female." Jeffries said.
Larry and Arnie were slowly stirrring. Ryan, too, appeared to be regaining consciousness.
"I ... I'm sorry." Carrie said, her voice breaking.
"Don't be." Jeffries said. "You saved his life, that's what matters."
Ryan opened her eyes. Her vision was slowly coming back to her. She wasn't sure where she was, only that she was lying on her back on the floor somewhere. She knew she had been in serious pain earlier, but now the pain had gone away completely, as if it never was.
She remembered what happened just before she lost consciousness. She had been stabbed. She had been run through with a sword. Was she dead?
No. She realized she was still in the land of the living. She felt the wetness of blood on her shirt, even though she was in no pain.
She could hear voices around her as she stirred. "Larry, you're all right!" Carrie's voice? "Arnie, are you okay?"
"I think so." A voice she remembered as belonging to Arnie Amspoker said.
She heard the voice of her best friend, Randall Jeffries. "Ryan, are you all right?"
Her vision focused on the room. She saw Jeffries standing over her. She wasn't sure how to answer. Was she all right?
After a moment, she knew she had her answer. Of course she was all right. She felt fine. And she felt calm, at peace with herself and her femininity. She felt like a strong, capable, confident, and very feminine woman.
Which she wasn't before she blacked out, but she most certainly was now.
"I'm fine, Jeffries. I'm fine." she said, in her new female voice. She now was seeing clearly. She saw Jeffries standing over her, and she turned to see Carrie Brierton helping Larry Eastbrook and Arnie Amspoker over to the couch. Both men had blood on their clothes, but looked perfectly fine. In fact, they looked more fit and athletic than Ryan could ever recall seeing them.
Jeffries helped her to her feet. She felt a bit dizzy, but the dizziness was going away. "Thanks. I think I can stand up now." she said.
"What happened?" Larry was asking. "I shouldn't be able to talk. The guy slashed my throat, but now I'm good as new. Even better than new."
"We zapped you with the Jock Gun." Carrie explained. "You and Arnie. It was the only way to save you."
"And I got zapped with the Babe Gun, didn't I?" Ryan said. She looked down at herself, saw the large but perfectly sized breasts underneath her bloodstained shirt, and smiled.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know." Carrie said.
"Don't worry. It's okay." Ryann said. "You did what you had to. I'm fine."
Arnie turned to Jeffries. "One minute I was bleeding out all over the floor, the next ... I feel like I could run a mile. Score a touchdown. How'd you know those Transformation Guns would save us?"
"I didn't." Jeffries admitted. "I just had the idea that they could, as long as they were the type that caused physical transformations."
"And it turned out you were right." Ryann said, with a smile. "Thank you. Your quick thinking saved us."
"I was desperate. You had nothing to lose." Jeffries said. "I'm glad it worked. Even if you're a girl now."
"I'm okay with it." Ryann said. "I feel better than I've felt in a long time."
She felt a profound sense of joy from the combination of her survival and being in her new, feminine form. Of course she knew how the Babe Gun worked, as she had been there when Rachel explained the concept of it. She knew the Babe Gun contributed a lot to her newfound feminine confidence, but she didn't think it mattered. She was a woman, and she was alive.
However, she knew she couldn't just think about herself. She looked around the room, and realized there were two important people missing.
"Wait. Where's Coakley? And the security guard?" she asked.
"The killer threw the guard out the window. I'm afraid he's dead." Jeffries said sadly.
"And Coakley?" Ryann asked.
"I zapped the slasher with the Restoration Gun." Carrie said. "He turned into a woman dressed as a figure skater, freaked out and ran off."
At that moment, there was commotion from the hall outside. Ms. Hitchens and others from the Marketing department were approaching, followed by others attracted by the noise that had ensued from the office.
Ryann was glad she had survived, and Larry and Arnie had survived. But she knew that she and her friends would have some explaining to do.
