Author's Note: Since villains are mostly portrayed in two dimensions, I thought it might be nice to have one fleshed out for your reading pleasure. This is a villain's story. It does not have a happy ending. The main character is not going to be a fluffy person, but I won't be overly gross or cruel with his/her portrayal. It's just meant to show how an average person can become evil with a little push in the wrong direction. Kudos to djkauf for betaing this for me. Pic Credit: Found at Comicvine. I think Darth Hell created it. Star Wars and recognizable characters from that universe belong to George Lucas et al. The lessons quotes are also property of Lucas.

Chapter One

“Mom, where did you put my comics?”

Don’t you hate it when your mother goes into your closet in some vain attempt to bring order to your life?

“They’re in the basement along with your Star Wars toys.”

“Action figures, Mom. When they’re still in the original packaging, they’re called action figures.”

I turned around and headed to the basement door in the hallway.

“I threw the porn out.”

There was a brief stab at my heart and a region much lower. “Damn,” I whispered to myself. “Wasn’t mine. Kenny must of stashed it in there.”

Whenever you’re busted with anything sexual in nature it’s best to deny and then place the blame on someone else, preferably a younger sibling.

“Kenny’s eight, Josh.”

“It’s the internet, Mom. Kids these days, they’re curious. You can hardly blame them for looking when the internet is full of free porn… not that I would know. I mean…”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Quit digging yourself in deeper. You’re just making it worse. And don’t bring those toys up here. You know your father still holds a grudge.”

How could I forget? Back, a billion years ago, when disco was queen, my father was a screenwriter in L.A. He met a fuzzy-faced man and sold him the script for a science fiction film. Sci-fi wasn’t that big back then, at least not the space opera kind.

Sure you had Star Trek, but that was TV; it didn’t count.

The thing is, Dad had a dry spell running and they were apparently short on funds at the time. I blame it on pot. Anyway, he met the fuzzy-faced person and sold him the script for ten grand, which by the way was a fortune back then. The guy turned around and actually talked a studio into making it into a movie.

Are you seeing where this is going yet?

Yes, my father is the unluckiest guy on planet Earth.

In 1977 Star Wars made about a gazillion dollars. That film and its sequels are still some of the highest grossing movies of all time. Then you take into account all the merchandizing, cartoons, comics, books, etc., and you can see why my father has a sore spot for the fuzzy-faced man.

No, I’m not insane. We’re not allowed to say his name in the house. That’s why I keep my action figures in my closet and not lying around my room.

I flicked on the downstairs light and looked at the wooden stairs that entered the darkness below. If there was one thing that I was scared of in this world, it was the basement. It was a semi-irrational fear bordering on a phobia.

I got stuck in there once when I was Kenny’s age. The door jammed and Dad was in the backyard mowing the grass. He couldn’t hear my screams. I was eight; give me a break.

The only memories I had of the time was squirreling myself in the back corner trying to make myself as small as I could. To keep busy and try not to cry, I would replay the Star Wars movies in my head. Of course I couldn’t remember everything so there was a lot of skipping around. Ben Kenobi was the one that destroyed the Death Star and Han Solo was Luke’s brother.

That’s how messed up my head was at the time.

When I ran out of movies, I started making things up, like a hundred years in the future of the movies.

Luke’s great-great-grandkid was a part of the Jedi order and he’d fight the Sith. Except the Sith weren’t just a Master and Apprentice like in the movies, they were an Order all unto themselves. At the top of that order was a girl, a red-skinned Twi’lek by the name of Darth Talon.

I may have been eight, but I hung around the right type of people. It was cool to think of sexy Twi’leks, even though I wouldn’t have a clue about what to do with one if she was standing right in front of me. They danced in skimpy outfits; that’s all I was concerned about.

Talon was no ordinary dancing Twi’lek, she was a Sith Lady. They’re the bad guys, but at the time, I wanted to cheer her on. Nobody got in her way; if they did then she’d chop them down with her lightsaber or zap them with her Force Lightning, or crunch their throats with her Force Grip.

I cheered the bad guy or girl rather, because I was scared and when you’re scared you lash out. Fear leads to Anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to Ben & Jerry’s. Eventually, Dad found me, took me there, and got me a big waffle cone, so I’d chill out.

Ever since, I would avoid going down into the basement by myself. This time, though, I had to retrieve my stuff.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs I flicked the light on that illuminated the large basement, which made me feel loads better.

It was pretty standard as basements go: cement floor, canned goods and bottled water for when hurricanes came and knocked the power out. It was one big square, about the size of the house.

Looking around, I spotted familiar boxes in my corner; the same corner I spent the better part of one morning eight years ago.

Taking a deep breath, I let it out and then walked determinedly over to the corner and started to drag my comic box to the stairs. With that accomplished, I returned to open the other box that most likely held my action figures.

It did.

Standing there, sifting through what Mom packed away, I felt a little of the fear again. That same fear that held me in place, with my knees under my chin and my arms wrapped around my legs. Even at sixteen, I felt the fear and it made me angry.

I wasn’t some prepubescent child who was scared of the dark anymore. I was almost an adult and had more important things to worry about, like what to do after high school, and whether or not Blue would let me let me past third base any time soon.

It was then that I decided to conquer my fears. If I didn’t, then I’d always be scared of a stupid basement.

Moving the box out of the way, I sat down in the corner, like I had nine years previous and crossed my legs akimbo.

The slight smell of dust, old cardboard, and a tinge of mold filled the air, while I worked at purging myself of my fear.

I know, it sounds a little New Age’y and all, but I felt like I’d lived in fear for too long. Call it an epiphany if you want.

Little tendrils of fear kept creeping up and down my spine, which was frustrating after ten or fifteen minutes. It was ridiculous; the whole situation, I mean. There I was, on the precipice of adulthood and I was scared of a room. My stomach started feeling queasy and I couldn’t keep the thoughts of darkness out of my head.

Eventually it became too much for me and I lashed out in anger at the brick wall, slamming the heel of my hand against it.

One thing to think about when visiting my basement is the cinderblock walls. They’re those foot long, cement colored, blocks that make up seventy-five percent of the wall space. The other twenty-five percent, one wall, was made up of red brick, like the kind you’d see on the outside of any number of average houses in any residential neighborhood.

I was told that they were there to shore up one wall that was structurally unsound. Did I really care? No, not really.

The thing I’m getting at is that the mortar that held the bricks together at the point where I slammed my fist against the wall, crumbled a little bit. Three bricks caved in slightly around said mortar.

I wasn’t that strong, and I wasn’t one of those super-powered metahumans or anything like that. The mortar was just that weak.

That totally took my mind off of the fear I was feeling. My senses went to the other extreme, curiosity.

“What the heck?”

I examined the brick and mortar closely. With a single finger I dug at the seam, withdrawing more of the crumbling sand-like filling and after a short time I was able to remove a single brick.

“Ohh, this is cool. A secret hiding place!”

Growing up, I’d always wanted one. Somewhere to stash toys that my little brother couldn’t steal or an older sister couldn’t tease me with. It was a tad bit late in my adolescence for hiding things from my siblings, but it was still a cool find all the same.

Thoughts of making a time capsule and sealing it away for future generations entered my head. We’d done a project like that in school earlier in the year.

I dug out another brick before I noticed something in the darkness behind the wall; a red glow.

Looking through the hole, I couldn’t exactly see what was glowing because something was in the way. I grew frustrated, but I wasn’t stupid enough to stick my hand through the hole without knowing exactly what was in there. I’d seen way too many horror movies in my lifetime to know that was a really dumb move.

What I needed was a flashlight.

~O~

“Mom, there’s a hole in the wall in the basement.”

She looked at me oddly. “What?”

“It’s in the corner where the newer brick is that Dad told me was to reinforce the old stuff.”

“Oh.” She seemed to consider that for a moment. “Do me a favor and move your things back up to your room so your father doesn’t see them.”

That brought a frown from me. I wasn’t the one that moved them down there in the first place. Grabbing a broom, dust pan, and a flashlight, I said, “I’ll clean the broken pieces up and set them aside.”

“That’s thoughtful of you, Josh.”

See what I did there? The dutiful son helped out his family in their moment of poor construction crisis.

Back in the basement, I aimed the light into the recess behind the brick wall. There seemed to be a good five feet between the opposing walls and shelving erected as well. It was the items on the shelves that piqued my interest, mainly because I couldn’t see them.

What would you do in my place? Of course I tore at the bricks.

The mortar crumbled away with little resistance until I opened up a three foot space to the floor.

It was immediately apparent that whoever laid the brickwork wasn’t shoring up anything, they were hiding something. I was just hoping that it wasn’t a dead body. I’ve seen those types of movies as well, and considering how I was recently very frightened of that specific corner, it stood to reason that simple things like this would bring to mind visions of creepy horror movies.

Working my way inside, I tried to avoid touching any of the surrounding brickwork. There was no telling how stable it was. Being buried underneath all that wasn’t in my short term goals for the day.

Once I was through I stood up, brushing the dust from my jeans and finally got a look at the thing that was glowing red.

It was a four-sided pyramid made of metal and clear plastic or glass of some type. Beside it were three other pyramids that weren’t glowing, and a large multisided thing that seemed to be made of the same materials.

Briefly, I directed the light down the rest of the way and saw a number of different things on the one shelf that ran the length of the wall, but my attention was quickly brought back to the one item that originally got my attention in the first place.

I was so intensely curious about what I’d found; that’s why I touched it.

I know, I know: never mess with anything out of the ordinary when it’s obviously been sealed away for a reason.

The metal was cool to the touch. It sent a shiver up my arm that I discounted as nerves.

Grabbing the top of the pyramid, I lifted it with one hand while I sat the light on the shelf with the other. Then I sat it on my open palm.

Satisfaction ran through me at my newfound treasure. It was mine; I found it. My thoughts ran quickly to my parents and siblings. They’d definitely want it, or at the very least, not let me have it, along with all my other treasures. They’d want to me to share. There could be no sharing. Mercy, compassion, loyalty, familial obligations: all these things would prevent me from claiming what was rightfully mine.

Looking down at the hole in the wall, I formed a plan.

~O~

It took three trips, but I removed everything from the basement that was concealed behind the brick wall. I didn’t waste time figuring the purpose for any of the items, only that they were safely hidden from all others. Then I set about resealing the wall.

There was plenty of grout mix left over from building a grill on the back porch the previous summer. I mixed in some water and went about replacing all the bricks as best as I could. My father taught me how to do it properly back then.

All the while, the red pyramid was no more than a foot away, pulsing, soothing my nerves, as I worked.

The evening came and just as I was finishing up sweeping the last of the dust away, my father came downstairs.

He eyed me suspiciously, I could see clearly that he was searching for my treasure, but he couldn’t find it.

“Your mom said there was a hole in the wall?”

I nodded, holding myself back from accusing him of deceit. “I took out all the bad mortar and re-laid the bricks. I just finished.”

Backing away as he approached. I grabbed the pyramid and hid it casually behind my back. My father inspected the work and nodded with a smile on his face.

“Looks good. Good job, son.”

I smiled back, even though I knew everything he said was lies.

“Why don’t you go get cleaned up. Your mom has dinner almost ready.”

“Yes, sir.”

A quick sleight of hand and I had the pyramid in front of me, grasping it tightly. I set the broom aside and made my way upstairs to my room. After locking the door I grabbed a change of clothes and rinsed any dust and grime off in in the shower.

Setting the pyramid under my pillow, I looked at it one last time.

“I can’t take you with me. They’ll see you and take you from me. I’ll be back soon.”

It took almost all my will to set the pillow on top and exit the room, but I did.

~O~

“What was behind the brick, Josh?” asked Mom.

I nearly dropped my fork when I snapped my head up. “What?”

Dad was slicing off another piece of roast beef and Kenny was pushing his peas around the plate in a vain attempt to make it look like he had eaten some.

“Dad said that there was quite a hole down there,” she explained. “Was there anything behind it?”

“Oh… no… just the wall.”

Was she part of this too? Did she want my treasure? Maybe she saw me bringing some of the stuff to my room. It was just like her to take my stuff. After all she was the one that was always sneaking around in my room. She threw my porn away. Maybe it was her all along.

“Well, Dad said you did a good job replacing the grout. That calls for a reward this weekend. Do you want to go to the movies with Eric and Matt? Our treat.”

Why? So you can steal all my stuff while I’m out of the house? “Uh, no, that’s okay.”

That was stupid. Why would I turn down a day at the movies for free?

“I mean, it’s my house too. We should all pitch in and help out where we can.”

Mom’s eyebrows slowly rose in delighted unbelieving shock. “Okay, who are you and what have you done with my son?”

My mouth opened slightly when I realized I way overdid it with that last statement. “Well, that’s what Dad always says.”

“Kath, let him alone,” said my father. “We want him to act like an adult and when he does we can’t make fun of him.”

She giggled. “I’m just teasing you, honey.”

Finishing off the last of the potatoes I looked over at her. “May I be excused?”

She nodded, still smiling at her joke.

When I got back to my room, I locked the door again and nearly tripped over my feet to toss aside the pillow and grab the pyramid once more. Sitting on the bed, I cradled it in my hands and sighed.

“I’ve got to think of a way to carry you around with me.”

It pulsed red in response. It probably wasn’t a response since it pulsed red all the time anyway, but still.

“What are you?”

~O~

"I am Darth Talon, Dark Lady of the Sith. Those who use the dark side are also bound to serve it. To understand this is to understand the underlying philosophy of the Sith. The dark side offers power for power's sake. You must crave it. Covet it. You must seek power above all else, with no reservation or hesitation. The Force will change you. It will transform you. Some fear this change. The teachings of the Jedi are focused on fighting and controlling this transformation. That is why those who serve the light are limited in what they accomplish.”

The sound of her voice was hypnotic, soothing, penetrating.

"True power can come only to those who embrace the transformation. There can be no compromise. Those who do–those who try to walk the path of moderation–will fail, dragged down by their own weakness. Those who accept the power of the dark side must also accept the challenge of holding on to it. By its very nature the dark side invites rivalry and strife. This is the greatest strength of the Sith: it culls the weak from our order.”

I could almost feel her breathe on my neck: first one side, then the other.

“Yet this rivalry can also be our greatest weakness. The strong must be careful lest they be overwhelmed by the ambitions of those working beneath them in concert. Any master who instructs more than one apprentice in the ways of the dark side is a fool. In time, the apprentices will unite their strengths and overthrow the master. It is inevitable; axiomatic. That is why each Master must have only one student. You will be mine. Will you embrace this change and become my one apprentice?”

~O~

My breath came in a quick pant as I woke a moment before my alarm activated. At first, everything was a jumble, like I woke in the middle of a dream, and the next moment I was calm, examining my room in the pre-dawn light.

My body ached a little, like I slept in the wrong position for too long.

Throwing off the sheets, I sat up and looked at the pyramid on my bedside table. I was comforted by its presence.

Donning jeans and a tee shirt, I slipped my feet in a pair of cross-trainers and slid the pyramid into my backpack. On the way out, I stopped in the kitchen for a couple of Tylenol and some orange juice before heading out, getting on my bike, and pedaling to school.

During all of my classes, I was distracted. Blank paper was before me and at the end of each hour it would be full of doodles, symbols that were familiar and yet not, something that looked like schematics of things I’d never seen before, and pictures of faces that I’d never encountered.

Even during lunch, Blue, my girlfriend, noticed my lack of attention.

“What’s up with you?”

“Hmm?”

She tossed her brown hair behind her shoulder. “You haven’t flirted with me once today or listened to anything I’ve said. It’s my new skin cleanser isn’t it? Do I have a pimple? Are you grossed out?”

I shook my head. “Blue, you’re fine. I’ve just been distracted. Dad’s got me doing a project at home and I’m trying to figure out a way to work on it.”

She looked at me blankly. Well, I didn’t date her for her amazing conversational skills. “Are you taller?”

I blinked at the abrupt topic change. “Uh…”

“Your nose looks smaller.”

Subconsciously I reached up and touched it. “I was achy this morning. Maybe I’m going through another growth spurt.”

“I think your lips are thicker too.”

With a sigh I stood. “I better get going. I was late to History on Friday. I don’t want Pierson to give me another tardy notice or I’ll be in detention.”

“M’kay. Call me tonight.”

“Uh-huh.”

~O~

By the end of fifth period, my hips and legs were killing me. In fact, my entire body was screaming at times. Since I hadn’t had a sick day all year, the school nurse gave me permission to go home after she called my mother.

When I got out to my bike, I noticed the legs of my jeans, which normally drag the ground, were above my ankle socks. Sure it was okay to walk around in, but riding a bike was a different matter. I’d be showing skin, and for guys, that wasn’t too cool. Guys just don’t wear Capri’s. They weren’t quite that high, but any hint of ankle skin was a no-no.

In response, I pulled my jeans down so they barely hung on my hip bones. My shirt was long enough to cover any embarrassing crack cleavage I might show when I bent over the handlebars.

I had to adjust my seat as well. When I sat down, it felt like I was riding a kiddie bike.

Who knows what was happening, but somewhere along the line, I seemed to have gained about four or five inches in my legs, virtually overnight.

Heck of a growth spurt.

All of that went to the wayside. I just wanted to go home, eat some soup or something, pop four Tylenol, and get some sleep.

~O~

"Form IV: Ataru. Though it is aggressive, it is focused, and its best use is in combat against a single opponent. Form VII: Juyo. It is a powerful form. Deadliest of all. But it is dangerous, for its master as well as its opponent. These two forms you will master."

As seductive as her voice was, it was just as powerful and just as dominant.

“Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, you gain strength. Through strength, you gain power. Through power, you gain victory. Through victory, your chains are broken. The Force shall free you.”

The scent of her was in my nose. The sleekness of her skin was enticing my body. The words she spoke found hidden places in my mind.

“Darkness is a friend, an ally. Darkness allows us to understand others, to see what they value when they believe no one else is looking. It allows us to be honest with ourselves, to express those values that we would disavow in the light. The light blinds us. It is only in the dark that we see clearly, and there is a great dark hidden among these worlds."

~O~

The pain was worse, if that was possible. My ribs felt compressed, my spine was screaming, and the top and back of my head pounded. The sound of my alarm going off sent a subconscious signal to my arm and hand to shut it off, but I couldn’t move them. I could only groan.

“Josh! Wake up!” Mom called from the hallway, but I didn’t have the energy to respond.

The sound of knocking interrupted my misery and then a gasp of Mom’s breath on the intake let me know she was in the room.

“Oh my God, Josh. Your hair!” The bedside light clicked on and I felt her hand on my cheek. “You’re burning up. We need to get you to the doctor… the hospital. Can you move?”

I squeezed my eyes shut and barely shook my head.

I faded out sometime after she picked up the phone on my nightstand.

Flashes of light brought me around: the inside of an ambulance, a woman in blue scrubs and a white coat, needles, and then a blissful floating.

~O~

“We’re running his DNA in the labs, Mrs. Walker. It takes time,” an unfamiliar female voice said.

“Do you think he’s a metahuman?” asked Mom.

There was a brief pause. “All the cases files that are available to us have shown that metahumans primarily change rapidly, sometimes instantaneously, unless there are outside factors involved. At the moment, it’s impossible to tell, but I wouldn’t rule it out.”

Mom didn’t say anything to that.

“What I can tell you is his skin isn’t burned. The redness that you see is his pigmentation. His hair follicles are nonexistent and he doesn’t have any more sebaceous glands to produce them. The changes in skeletal…”

“What about his head? Those bumps?”

The woman sighed. “They’re growing. His skull is thinning in that area and it appears as if his brain is actually increasing in size.”

“Is it some sort of cancer?”

“We don’t think so. Even the most aggressive forms of cancer don’t grow at this rate.”

“There is one important thing that you should be aware of Mrs. Walker.”

Mom’s hand slid over the top of mine. “What?”

“His blood tests show that Josh is producing large amounts of female hormones and virtually no male hormones. The levels are more along the lines of a girl beginning her adolescence.”

All of the shop-talk about what was happening to me, I sort of expected. It was the last part that made my eyes snap open.

“I’m a girl?” I said in a strained voice.

Mom squeezed my hand a little harder and the red-haired doctor leaned over the bed, smiling at me.

“Good morning, Josh. Tell me how you feel.”

Her eyes ticked to the monitors beside my bed.

“You said I was a girl?”

“Not quite. I said you were producing female hormones which can be found even in the most masculine of men, just not in such high quantities. We’re trying to find out why, and it would help if you could tell me how you feel.”

“Nauseous.” When the doctor nodded understandingly, I gave her the short list of pains, which basically included everything. My body didn’t hurt as much as it did when I first woke up though.

“That’s because we have you on a morphine drip at the moment. Actually I’m somewhat surprised that you’re this lucid.”

After giving me what I’m sure was a standard speech to calm my nerves, the doctor left. Mom was busy sitting beside me, stroking my hand.

“Where’s Dad?”

“Dropping your brother off with your aunt. She volunteered to watch him until we get you back home.”

Strangely enough, I was fairly calm about the whole thing. I’d spent the day at the hospital before, getting my appendix taken out when I was twelve, so it wasn’t like this was a new experience.

“How do you really feel, Josh?”

I raised my eyebrows up. “Um, my head’s kind of cold, sorta. Not cold really, more like there’s something missing. I’m bald, aren’t I?”

She nodded with sympathy.

I swallowed and looked at the ceiling. “Do I have any hair anywhere?”

Mom shook her head. “Eyelashes. That’s all they could find.”

Letting loose a shaky breath, I went ahead with my next question. “Blue said I looked different at lunch yesterday.”

I got a nod for that one.

Rolling my eyes around, I closed them briefly. “Is there a mirror?”

She winced slightly. “Do you think that’s a good idea right now, Josh?”

Mulling the thought over in my head briefly, I nodded. “I think the drugs are helping.”

Mom let go of my hand and rolled the bed table — those things that hang over the bed. If you’ve ever been in the hospital before then you know what I’m talking about — over and popped out one of the recessed trays. There was a cheap mirror, that didn’t look like it was made with real glass, which she adjusted for me.

I reached out to move it to where I could see myself properly. That’s when I noticed the color of my skin for the first time. It looked like I was severely sunburned, like third degree type red, only without the blisters that normally accompany that problem. I paused and turned my hand around.

The skin was a uniform color; it didn’t lighten on the palm side. My fingernails were all a flat black color and a little longer than I normally wear them. I couldn’t remember when I clipped them last, but it wasn’t more than a week ago. They couldn’t have naturally grown over a quarter of an inch in that amount of time.

It still felt the same. It was my hand; it looked different, thinner fingers and smaller palm, but it didn’t feel odd.

Brushing the thought of the change aside I reached out for the mirror and tilted it to show my face. I almost wished that I hadn’t. I didn’t look anything like before.

Even taking into account the total lack of hair and eyebrows, it appeared as if I was wearing a completely new face. The worst part was that no matter how much the doctor led me to think that my body was producing a little more girl hormones than normal, I was distinctly female.

My nose was shorter and much thinner. My lips were full. My face was thin and almost angular in places. Two things stood out more than anything else: my eyes were yellow with tinges of red along the outside of the cornea and the sides and back of my head were noticeable different, like something was growing out of both sides. It was almost as if…

“Mom, do you have your cell with you?”

Of all the things I could have said or did, I don’t think she was expecting me to say something along those lines.

She blinked a couple of times and then reached for her purse to pull out her Nokia. It had web access, which I did, and typed out a search inquiry.

When I found what I was looking for, I pulled up a decent picture of it and then reached for the nurse call button.

“Josh?” said Mom.

“Yes, can I help you,” the nurse interrupted.

“I need to talk to my doctor. I know what’s wrong with me.”

“I’ll page her, honey,” the nurse responded.

“Josh, what is it?”

Turning the phone around I showed Mom the picture I pulled up of a Lethan Twi'lek.

~O~

You’re probably confused at this point, especially with the words that don’t exist in the English language. Well, they exist; you just won’t find them in Webster’s Dictionary.

A Twi’lek is an omnivorous humanoid species originating from the planet Ryloth.

There, does that make things any more clear? I thought not.

It’s a race that a certain fuzzy-faced man made up for a certain multi-million dollar movie back in the days of disco. Getting the picture now?

I was a Star Wars alien.

The Lethan portion of the Lethan Twi’lek meant that I was red-skinned. They come in all sorts of odd skin colors like green, orange, brown (not African), yellow (not Asian), blue, gray, pink, black (again, not African), white (not Caucasian), red, and purple, all in varying shades and hues.

Their defining feature was the things growing out of my head. They’re called tchun-tchin or lekku. They grew out to at least their shoulder blades or even down to their hips and further.

One other thing about them that you might find interesting, or horrifying like I do. Twi’leks main type of commerce from their home planet was slavery.

You remember who they are in the Star Wars movies now? They were the dancing girls, and sex slaves that wore nothing but bras and loin cloths.

Out of all the aliens in that messed up galaxy, I had to be saddled with that one. I’d never be able to show my face in public again.

At least I wasn’t Greedo.

~O~

The doctor looked at the picture and then back at me a few times. It seemed like she wanted to say, “No, I think you’re wrong.” But I knew better. With as many freaky metahumans popping up left and right, me being a Twi’lek wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.

I even pulled up the Wookieepedia page on the race so she could read about them. The more she read, I could see the realization on her face.

After she handed the phone back to my mom, she gave me her undivided attention.

“From what we know about the metagene, we know that sometimes outside influences can alter the change. I’m not saying you’re metahuman since we haven’t received the DNA workup yet, but the indicators are there. Were you watching Star Wars when this happened?”

I shook my head. “My dad is kind of hardcore anti-Star Wars; long story. So, we don’t have any of the movies, but I’ve seen them.”

“Your toys,” Mom chimed in.

“Action figures, Mom.” I shook my head again. “They were still in the box. I barely glanced at them the other day. That wasn’t it.”

The doctor crossed one arm under her breasts and stood the other on end to cup her chin in thought.

“I hate to ask this question, but seeing as how you brought the subject to my attention…”

I gave her a quick nod that it was alright.

“Do you have any… um… unusual thoughts, desires…?”

I almost laughed, but considering the situation I refrained. “You mean do I have the desire to get up and pole dance? No. I’m still me, or at least I think I am.”

She nodded and I watched as her cheeks pinked a little in embarrassment.

“I want to get another MRI of you. From casual observance, I can tell you’re still changing, and I need to see the progression.”

“I am?”

She nodded and pointed to her head. “Your… um…”

“Lekku.”

“Right, your lekku are protruding at least four or five more centimeters since your mother brought you in this morning.”

I gave her a slow blink. “I guess that explains the headache I have.”

~O~

By dinner time, they were a foot long and my skin had changed colors again. Instead of the dark burned red that I woke up to, it was more of a crimson color. It was either that or a shade called lust, and you’ll have to pardon me if I want to go with the former.

My fingernails had extended even more; three-quarters of an inch. It felt like I had talons on the end of my fingers. The doctor didn’t want me clipping them until the growth stopped, but allowed my mother to shape them so they’d quit snagging everything when I move my hand. The thing was, they were pretty tough, so she didn’t have much luck at that task.

Dad showed up with my laptop and my backpack so I could keep up with my schoolwork. It was at my request. Yes, I was that bored waiting for my body to finish whatever it was doing.

Every three hours I went in for another MRI.

Other things were changing as well.

My muscles, all of them, were shifting into a more feminine shape. My ribs had compacted into more of a Vee-shape and my chest was swelling.

My waist was becoming nonexistent and my hip bones were altering their shape as well.

Throughout all of this, I was on a constant morphine drip. It was enough to take the edge off the pain, but not enough to really knock me out or make me loopy, which still impressed the heck out of the nurses and doctors.

Oh, yeah. I have three doctors now. Someone was flown in from a place called STAR Labs in Chicago. Apparently, they still hadn’t had a chance to study someone in mid-transition. They were always consulted after the fact.

~O~

"Equality is a lie…A myth to appease the masses. Simply look around and you will see the lie for what it is. There are those with power, those with the strength and will to lead. And there are those meant to follow–those incapable of anything but servitude and a meager, worthless existence.

"Equality is a perversion of the natural order. It binds the strong to the weak. They become anchors that drag the exceptional down to mediocrity. Individuals destined and deserving of greatness have it denied them. They suffer for the sake of keeping them even with their inferiors.

"Equality is a chain, like obedience. Like fear or uncertainty or self-doubt."

She stood in front of me, but my eyes were closed. I felt her barely touching my skin. Her breath tasted of cinnamon and the tone of her voice was reminiscent of silk.

"Information is a commodity. It can be traded, sold, and purchased. And in the end, currency is only as useful as the secrets it can buy."

Her lips hovered above mine, her tongue teasing, before she kissed me.

"All that I know, I shall share freely with you. All I ask in return is that you keep an open mind, and use this knowledge for the benefit of only one being: yourself. It is not out of greed that I ask this of you, but out of respect. Of all those who might have stumbled upon this device, no one is more deserving of my knowledge than you."

My head felt woozy like I was coming out of a dream, but I know I was still there with her.

“Your change is complete, my apprentice, and my time with you is over. Take these lessons I have freely given and you have freely accepted and continue the life I started so long ago. I name you after myself so that my legend will live throughout, Darth Talon.”

~O~

I sucked in sharply all the air I could manage.

It was all there, everything she taught me, every word of twisted Sith wisdom that she could instill in me. I’d finally realized that I’d been living in a haze for the past few days and the ramifications of what was happening to me.

“Josh?”

I opened my eyes and looked into those of my primary doctor. “Discontinue the morphine, Doctor. I have no need for it now.”

My voice wasn’t my own. It was hers; the smooth, seductive though emotionless voice of hers.

“Discontinue the morphine, nurse, she has no need for it now,” the doctor said with a blank face.

I tugged briefly at the restraints holding me. Sometime in the night I had been belted down.

“Release me from the restraints,” I said as I looked deeper into her eyes.

“Josh?”

It was my mother. “I’m ready to go home now, Mom.”

“You’re ready to go home,” she said. “I’ll bring the car around.”

The nurse was looking at the doctor and my mother oddly until I turned to her. “Resume your duties. Nothing has happened here.”

It was all quite surreal. I was using the Jedi Mind Trick, or the Sith version I assume. I wasn’t going to harm anyone, but I needed to get out of the hospital and find some way to counteract what Talon had done to me, or the Earth was in for one hell of a time with a Dark Lady of the Sith running loose. Time was of the essence.

“Bring me some clothes and discharge me, now,” I said to the doctor.

“I’ll bring you some clothes and discharge you now,” she said before stepping out of the room.

When I was alone, I threw the sheet back and swiveled my legs over the edge of the bed. Looking down, it was worse than I thought.

Included with the crimson skin, I was decorated with dozens of tribal-like tattoos, all across my body, everywhere.

Cautiously, I slid down until my feet touched the floor. There was no trial and error as far as balancing went. It felt like my natural body, even with the new changes, including the addition of two fairly impressive breasts.

“Hold it together, Josh. You can have a breakdown some other time.”

I crossed the cold tile floor into the bathroom to see myself in the mirror. The change was complete, alright. I swallowed down a slightly panicked gasp when I saw the lekku had extended to my lower back. I barely concentrated on them and I could see them move.

That knowledge was in my newly expanded brain as well. The lekku were slightly prehensile, and if there were other Twi’lek to talk to, I could use them to speak without actually saying anything; like sign language.

The tattoos were on my face, head and lekku as well. One completely covered my left eye and the other looked almost like an arched eyebrow. There was no disguising this, not all of it anyway.

Using the Force — whatever it was in reality — I knew I could make people think I looked different: skin color, texture, slight anatomical changes, but hiding the lekku would be impossible except for a few people at a time.

I turned my head and winced at the place my ears should be. In their place were ridged cones instead, pointy end facing outward.

“I’m a freak.”

TBC...

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