McMillan Tech Industries, former office of Martin Stragey
Ryann looked through the door, and saw Ms. Hitchens and the others from Marketing approaching.
Ms. Hitchens looked through the open door, and gasped in clear shock and horror at what she was seeing.
Ryann couldn't blame her. She supposed she'd react the same way if she saw two familiar MTI employees and a woman she didn't recognize in blood-stained clothes, in a room with pools and drops of blood all over the floor. Not to mention the shattered window and the bloodied sword on the floor. Randall Jeffries and Carrie Brierton, meanwhile, looked normal, if clearly rattled by recent events.
"Don't worry. It's all right. We're all right." Ryann said in a calm tone.
"Yeah." Jeffries added. "Things got a little crazy but it's okay now."
"A little crazy?" Carrie asked.
"Yeah, I was almost killed." Larry Eastbrook said, rubbing his throat to be sure it was intact, which it was.
"Make it a LOT crazy." Arnie Amspoker said, making it clear that though he was glad to have survived, he wasn't in the mood for understatement.
"What happened in here?" Ms. Hitchens asked.
"It's a long story." Ryann said. "Maybe we can talk about it outside." She heard the approach of more people, likely some people from Rachel's group back at the waiting area. "There's more room to talk with everyone out there. And a lot less blood."
"Wait. Who are you?" Ms. Hitchens asked.
"Ryann." Ryann said, pronouncing the name Rye-Ann, with the emphasis on the latter syllable. "Ryann Leeson. I don't blame you if you don't recognize me."
Jeffries, Carrie, and the others stared at Ryann in surprise.
"Wait." Ms. Hitchens said. "I thought it was Ryan." She pronounced it 'Ry-en', with the emphasis on the first syllable.
"It's Ryann now. Spelled with two n's." the new woman replied, with a smile. "I could add an e if it helps."
"How did you...?" Ms. Hitchens asked.
"Like I said, long story." Ryann replied. "Let's talk about it in the hall." She noted the arrival of Dr. Elaine, the accounting executive turned female doctor who had assisted Rachel with the Board members, and actual medical doctor Dr. Bryant, along with two security guards.
"Sounds like a good idea." Jeffries said. "Let's do as she says."
Ryann smiled back at Jeffries, and confidently walked out of the office, with her friends following her into the cubicle center.
McMillan Tech Industries Lake Point Branch, Marketing Department, cubicle center hall
After some quick questions and answers with Dr. Bryant and Dr. Elaine to assure them that Ryann, Larry, and Arnie were physically in perfect health, the group grabbed a bunch of chairs from the cubicles, and arranged them so that everyone could sit down while Ryann told her story about what all happened in the office.
Aside from Ryann, Jeffries, Carrie, Larry, and Arnie, the group assembled included the secretary Ms. Hitchens, the helpful Dr. Elaine, the physician Dr. Bryant, a few Marketing employees, the two security guards, and Peggy Pegany. Peggy Pegany had agreed to sit and listen, as she genuinely wanted to know what had happened just as much as Ms. Hitchens and the rest. The security guards had replaced the duct tape that had previously restrained her with handcuffs, and then placed yellow crime scene tape over the door to Stragey's former office.
They were soon joined by Darby Adaway, the new Department Head of Marketing who had been hiding in his office for the last few hours. "I've finally had enough of hiding. I want to know just what's going on here." he said.
Before Ryann began her story, she turned to Dr. Elaine. "Is Rachel going to be here?"
"Rachel's tending to McMillan and the others with Dr. Fairlane and Dr. Andrews." Dr. Elaine replied. "And the figure skater who ran into the waiting area screaming at the top of her lungs."
"Coakley?" Larry asked.
"We think so." Dr. Elaine said. "We had to physically restrain her. She was in tears, ranting incoherently of how people were dead and that it might be her fault. Dr. Fairlane and Dr. Andrews were still trying to calm her down when I left to come here. Rachel stayed behind to help them."
Ryann gave a relieved sigh. At least they didn't have to go searching for Coakley now. "We should probably tell her that we survived, and we're back in new and improved versions." she said, referring to herself, who had been transformed by the Babe Gun, and Larry and Arnie, who had been transformed by the Jock Gun.
"I guess that's one way of putting it." Larry chimed in.
"I don't think Dr. Fairlane will let the rest of us talk to Coakley until she's sufficiently calmed down." Dr. Elaine said.
"That's okay. It can wait till later." Ryann said. At the moment, she felt they had plenty of time.
With a great deal of confidence that would have seemed strange to her former self but felt completely natural to her current self, Ryann launched into the story. She didn't feel like she had to reiterate too much about what had happened before the incident in the office. Just about everyone present knew about what had happened to the Board members, with the exception of Peggy Pegany, who was hearing about the transformations for the first time. "So that nurse that ran past here...?" she asked.
"Was Stragey, yes." Arnie Amspoker chimed in.
Peggy was noticeably subdued in her manner after that, and was silent as Ryann began telling the story, starting from when they began using the Restoration Guns on Coakley in the office. She calmly explained that the Restoration Guns only worked one transformation at a time, so that it would take twenty zaps to undo twenty transformations, and that they were giving time and space between each one to give the transformations 'breathing room'. She talked of how she and her companions got to speak with some of Coakley's personas. "Some of them were nice enough, and we asked whether or not Coakley wanted us to continue, but Coakley kept wanting us to keep going, so we did. It all worked out pretty well until we got to one that was not a friend."
Ms. Hitchens, Dr. Elaine, and the rest gasped as Ryann told of how Coakley transformed into a horrifying silent slasher, and mortally wounded Ryan, Larry, and Arnie. "I didn't see what happened next, since I was unconscious and all, but when I came to, Jeffries and Carrie had come to our rescue. They zapped me with the Babe Gun, and Larry and Arnie with the Jock Gun, and well, here we are." she said.
"So you're saying the Transformation Guns healed you?" Dr. Elaine asked.
"Obviously." Ryann said with a smile. "We awoke, changed into our new forms, but intact and without a scratch. There's not even any scars left."
"At least not any physical scars." Larry added. "I'm still surprised I'm still breathing. And talking."
"Truth is, I didn't know if it'd work, but we had to do something." Jeffries said. "They would have died long before the ambulances arrived if we hadn't. I had this idea that maybe the right Transformation Guns could undo someone's injuries, but only if they were the kind that caused physical transformations. The Mime Gun wouldn't have worked, because it doesn't really physically change people - it just dresses them up in mime outfits and makeup, and makes them only able to communicate with gestures. But the other two Transformation Guns we had with us -- they could do the job, and it turns out they did."
"So all in all, things turned out okay." Ryann said. "For us, anyway."
"You don't feel ... strange?" Ms. Hitchens asked.
"You mean my being a woman?" Ryann asked. "I'm okay with it. In fact, I'm more than okay with it. You don't have to worry about me."
"I wasn't really a sports kind of guy," Larry said. "But now I feel like I'm ready for whatever game you'd like me to be in. Soccer, baseball, you name it."
"We're both a lot more physically fit now than we used to be." Arnie said. He turned to Jeffries. "That Jock Gun of yours does wonders."
"It sounds like you're all okay with your changes." Dr. Elaine noted.
"I'm fine with this. Beats some of the others I've experienced today." Larry replied.
"It's just as well." Dr. Elaine said. "What would happen if someone used a Restoration Gun on you?"
Ryann exchanged glances with Jeffries, who she considered her collaborator in coming up with the concept and rules of the Restoration Gun. She turned back to Elaine.
"I think I know where you're going with this," Ryann said. "And you're not just talking about our feelings, right?"
Elaine nodded. "I'm just wondering if any of you would stay healed if someone used a Restoration Gun on you, deliberately or accidentally."
"Truth is, I've been wondering that myself." Arnie said. "I don't think there's anything to worry about. Let's try it and see."
Before anyone could stop him, Arnie picked up his Restoration Gun, and aimed it at himself.
"WAIT!" Ryann and Jeffries shouted almost in unison, but it was too late. Arnie Amspoker zapped himself with the Restoration Gun.
