Magnetic Personality- Part One by: Moongoddess Lawrence Dane, a 45 year old Systems Engineer, feels his life has been wasted.When his Meta turns, what will he do with his second chance?

Author's Note: A Retroactive Continuity, or Retcon if you will, is the altering of previously known facts in order for the universe to conform to new story lines. This Retcon universe belongs to Lilith Langtree, and I thank her for allowing us to play in her sandbox. Big thanks to Lilith, djkauf, Donjo and enemyoffun for beta reading and editing. This is a retcon of Polaris in the Marvel Comics Universe. Marvel Comics owns the character and all rights associated with him/her/it. All other characters that appear are copyright their creators / re-creators and only used with permission. Image copyright VOC.

Chapter One

“‘we have met the enemy and he is us’ Pogo”

Meta: A prefix appearing in loanwords from Greek, with the meanings “after,” “along with,” “beyond,” “among,” “behind,” and productive in English on the Greek model: metacarpus; metagenesis; metalinguistics. (From Dictionary.com)

Once upon a time this was the dictionary definition for Meta, used mostly in medicine, engineering, science and philosophy. It was a prefix, not a noun and you didn’t hear it in everyday speech. That is until Jade turned up and told us about her Green Lantern Corps. She told us how a very small portion of the human race had what she called the Metagene, and how under the right circumstances, it would activate and change the person into a ‘Metahuman’ or super-being.

Lawrence Dane sat in the server room at Wayne Tech and shook his head. His thoughts were wandering again; he sighed and tried to focus his attention to the server diagnostic he was working on. There had been a rash of hard drive problems in the past month and he was chasing down the cause in his job as senior diagnostic technician. Larry had worked hard since he got his job with W.E. at age 21, pretty much to the exclusion of everything else. Even his most diehard friends rarely saw him except online. The fact was, at age 45, Lawrence Dane was a recluse; he went to work in the tech caverns and then went home to his cave in the basement of a low-rise.
Examining the next drive showed the same thing, failure due to massive data corruption. He’d have to send another memo out about why magnets and computers didn’t mix. He also made a mental note to also return the 30Tb drive to Best Buy, as it hadn’t even initialized when he connected it to his home system.

“Cheap junk,” he muttered to himself. With another sigh, he powered down his workstation and forwarded his work line to the company cell phone.

“I’ll have to requisition a new phone from supply as well, this one keeps cutting in and out,” Larry said to no one in particular, as there was no one around at 7:30 in the morning. He left the building, nodding at Al, the day security guard, who was just coming on shift.

“Another hard day’s night Mr. Dane?” Al asked with his perpetually stale joke. Larry forced a dry chuckle and gave his customary rejoinder.

“I should be sleeping like a log, Al.” and left the building for the empty parking lot. That and the occasional “have a nice day” were pretty much the only words he ever said to other humans; everything else was text or email. He stopped at the twenty four hour mini mart and picked up some groceries and a newspaper. Larry was old fashioned that way, preferring his news in print form to the telemedia or online sources. Getting back in his car he turned on the radio and started to drive home.

“…other dustup over the Mojave Desert by several Metas, witnesses are unsure as to who was involved or if any bystanders were hurt. We’ll have more information as it becomes available. 7:55 on Toronto’s morning drive. Weather and traffic are up nex…” Larry switched of the radio’s blather.

“Metas again,” he grunted as he pulled into his parking spot at home and got out of the car. The morning sun was rising over the treetops but very little of it would get into Larry’s Cave, as he sometimes referred to it. He opened the door and tossed his keys into a bowl of change on a door side table.

He headed straight to the bathroom and after getting out of his work clothes, Larry climbed into the shower and adjusted the water to his liking.

“45…balding…loner, spells either loser or assassin, and I haven’t the balls to even cheat on my taxes, so loser,” towelling off, he put on a threadbare bathrobe and walked to his kitchen to make tea.

There was a spark from the outlet that jumped to his forefinger as he plugged the kettle in, but it didn’t hurt so he paid it no mind. Tea made, he sat at his table to read the news.
“Funny thing,” he pondered as he turned the pages, “Metas in Japan, the US, but none in Canada.” He folded the paper and took his now empty cup to the kitchen sink. Yawning, Larry headed to his bedroom and the sweet release of sleep.

Chapter Two

“’Electricity is really just organized lightning.’ George Carlin”

Waking hurt that evening. Larry ached in every bone and muscle and his nerves felt alternately like fire and ice. He sat up and reached for the bottle of pain relievers that were beside the bed. There was a crackling noise and his clock radio died, Larry blinked, what the hell was going on with electronics lately? He popped two tablets and slowly stood up to dress. In the washroom while brushing his teeth he could have sworn his eyes had a greenish tinge to them. He blinked and shook his head. As he left the washroom, the light burned out.

“God, what a weird day, well, it can only get better from here.”

He left his home and went to his car for the drive into work. He clicked the unlock button on the fob, which failed to unlock the car. Grumbling under his breath he unlocked the door with his key. Once inside, he tried to start the car, which made a wheezing, grinding noise before falling silent. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and bit back a string of curses, the ache in his head getting worse while all around him, the lights in the parking lot exploded with showers of glass and sparks. He shoved at the car door pushing it open with greater violence then he intended and half ran, half staggered out of the parking lot of his building and into the street.
His blind headlong run led him through the darkness, through people’s yards into a large field of high tension transmission towers. Arcs of high voltage struck him repeatedly as he fell to his knees and started to glow brighter than the lightning-like bolts hitting him. He curled into a tight ball and passed out.

…

He woke in darkness, deep black like velvet, and the stars were so bright they looked like diamonds scattered across the cloth. He started to uncurl but everything seemed… odd, different but similar. Sitting up, Larry pushed the hair out of his eyes and looked around; everything for miles around was blacked out with screaming sirens shattering the night. He stood up and half staggered, half walked to the nearest sidewalk and headed towards his home. It didn’t take long for a police car to pull up alongside.

“Pardon me miss,” the officer on shotgun started, “are you alright?”

Larry jerked his head around and stared at the officer.

“Excuse me?” he sputtered.

“Well,” the cop replied, “you’re walking naked through a citywide blackout, you look sort of pale and you’re weaving all over the sidewalk. Did someone assault you or did you get hurt?”
Larry stopped suddenly, he realised he was naked and something else. He remembered the breeze on his skin, and he remembered lightning hitting him over and over again. He quite sensibly collapsed into a heap on the sidewalk. The cop’s eyes widened in surprise and he quickly grabbed the radio microphone.

“This is unit 5467; we need a bus at our location immediately, Victoria Park and Eglinton!”

…

Larry regained consciousness two days later with daylight streaming into the window of the hospital room. There was hair in his eyes again and in the sunlight it looked green.

“Weird trick of the light,” he thought and tried to roll over. He couldn’t, as he quickly discovered that he was held down by straps at his wrists and ankles. He started yelling.

“Hey! Hey! God dammit, someone help me!” A nurse ran into the room, followed almost immediately by a doctor.

“It’s ok, miss, we’re here, we’re here!” the nurse tried to calm Larry. The doctor held his legs down as he thrashed and the nurse tried to make sure that the IV needle didn’t break in his arm.
There was a groaning noise like metal twisting and the heart monitor exploded in a shower of sparks, the voices around seemingly receding into the distance as the lights flared. All Larry could think about was being trapped and wanting to escape. There was a sharp tearing noise and his hands were loose, he jumped to the floor in a crouch and caught a glimpse of movement in the mirror. Larry stopped dead in his tracks, the person staring back in shock and fear was not him. The person in the reflection was much younger, had long green hair, green eyes and was female, yet she matched his every movement, every blink. He decided that passing out was a very good option.

...

Waking was easier this time and as expected, he had been strapped down to a bed again. There was a nurse sitting to his right, apparently waiting for Larry to regain consciousness again.

“There you are,” the petite blond chirped with a smile, “Better now?”

Larry cleared his throat and attempted a smile.

“I guess, if you call waking up as an entirely different person ‘Better’,” he replied, grimacing at the alto voice he now possessed.

The nurse nodded.

“We sort of figured that out about the same time you did, Ms. Dane,” she sighed, “we really haven’t any protocols in place to deal with metahumans yet, I am sorry.”

Larry scowled, “Ms. Dane, I suppose I better get used to that,” she turned her head toward the windows and saw the wrecked equipment for the first time.

The hospital bed looked like someone had taken both ends and twisted it and the heart monitor was a small pile of debris on the floor.

“Did I...?” Larry gestured with her chin. The nurse nodded.

“Don’t worry about it Ms. Dane, we think it’s covered.” Larry looked back towards the nurse and noticed her id.

“Next question Ms. Caplin,” she began awkwardly, “who identified me as, well, me?”

Nurse Caplin took something from the table beside the bed and held it in Larry’s line of sight.
“The police officer that found you backtracked you to your...um point of origin and found the charred remnants of your clothes, your melted keys and what was left of your wallet. It was this,” she held up a badly blistered plastic ID, “that allowed us to figure out that Larry Dane was your name and you never looked like this before two days ago.”

Larry scowled again, “So two plus two equals me?” she blew air out between pursed lips, “pardon me for saying, but that’s a crock in this day and age.”

“You’re right... fingerprints and a DNA work up were done, the prints were smaller, but they matched those on file with Wayne Tech security,” the nurse looked nervous, “The DNA wasn’t exactly a match though, more closely matched to a female blood relative.”

Larry closed her eyes and leaned back into the pillow and giggled, “I’m my own goddamned sister, jeez that’s rich!” she started laughing harder, tears running down her face, “The jerk with no family is his own Effing little sister!” the laughter grew ragged and rapidly became sobs of despair as Larry Dane broke down. Nurse Caplin quickly administered a sedative and Larry settled into a troubled sleep.

...

When she awoke next, Larry noticed that Nurse Caplin was not at her side and she could hear a commotion in the hallway. There was a thudding noise against the wall and the door opened to show a young woman in a green and black bodysuit with a white symbol on her chest. A green glow emanated from her right hand as she closed the door behind herself.

“Hello Larry, I’ve been looking forward to meeting you,” she said with a smile.

“You’ll have to forgive me for not getting up,” Larry responded snidely, “I’m a little tied up at the moment. Now stop me if I’m off base here, but you would be Jade?”

The girl in green smiled and gestured with her ring and the straps at Larry’s wrists and ankles came undone. Larry rubbed his wrists.

“Well thanks for that anyways, they were starting to chafe. Have a seat.” she gestured to a chair. Jade sat down and seemed to be listening to something, then looked directly at Larry.

“We are here to find out what you intend to do with your abilities.” It wasn’t quite a question.

Larry snorted in disbelief. “What I intend to do with my what?” she almost laughed aloud, “my life has been ripped away from me and you want to know how I intend to use my abilities? Oh I don’t know, settle down, raise a family... Jesus!” she glared at the woman in front of her.

Jade struck that odd listening pose again. “Yes, she is using sarcasm as a defence mechanism.”

“Who the fuck are you talking too?” she demanded of Jade. The Green Lantern held up her right hand and pointed at her ring.

“The ring was asking me if you were serious in your answers,” Jade smiled, “Now I’m sorry if I seem brusque, but it seems that your local law enforcement didn’t want you disturbed.”

Larry covered her eyes, “and you took that to mean go right in? Pardon me if I haven’t had a chance to give this,” she waved her hands across her body, “much serious thought. Look kid, if I go on a rampage, feel free to give me a beat-down, but right now, I haven’t got a clue as to my standing as a Canadian, let alone a Meta.”

Jade nodded, responding to the ring, and then looked at Larry with compassion in her eyes.
“Take this, Larry,” a small silver ring materialized in her hand. “When you’re ready, you can just speak my name and I’ll come to you.” The ring floated across the room into Larry’s hand. She looked down at it then looked back up, but Jade had vanished. The door to the room burst open and Nurse Caplin rushed in followed closely by a slightly dishevelled police officer.

“Are you ok Ms. Dane? She didn’t hurt you, did she?” the blond girl asked. Larry looked bemusedly at the ring in her palm, then at the nurse.

“What? Oh no, she wanted to talk. I told her I wasn’t ready,” she sighed, “though I suppose I should expect that sort of thing from now on.”

“She had that nameless charm, with a strong magnetism, which can only be called, 'It”.
Elinor Glyn

After several conversations between doctors, it was decided to leave Larry unstrapped, which suited her just fine. Lucy Caplin was assigned to his case, much to Larry’s surprise and delight. She had grown fond of the little blond and actually would talk freely to her about all sorts of things. She was slightly less forthcoming with the battalion of Psychiatrists, Psychologists and councillors who were paraded through her room, all wanting to know how Larry was adapting to the sudden sex change.

“Gee, let me think...poorly?” she caustically shut down another dunderhead.

The psychologist was trying to get Larry to admit that this was something she had actually desired. What Larry didn’t admit aloud to anyone was how natural this body felt. She had been walking around the room and caught herself as she moved past the mirror. The reflection was moving exactly as it appeared to be. No clomping around, no truck driver in drag, she seemed to flow as long as Larry didn’t think about it. Lucy noticed right away and Larry admitted to her that the body seemed to be...comfortable.

“I don’t know why Lucy, it’s like cruise control or autopilot,” she said, “as long as I don’t think about it I’m fine.”

“Well, you certainly don’t need poise lessons,” the nurse giggled, “but you will need lots of other help. Oh...I have good news! You’ve been cleared for visitors,” she smiled sunnily.

“You’re really the only person I want to see, Lucy,” Larry replied as they sat at a table that had been brought into the room, “I don’t want to deal with the outside world,” she took a sip from her cup of tea.

“Well, the outside world wants to deal with you Lar,” Lucy countered, “Starting with a passel of lawyer types. Sorry.”

“Not without my own attorney,” Larry replied grimly.

Several phone calls later, Sarah Hallowell was vetted, cleared and secured by three levels of security and law enforcement and got to see her old/new client.

“Good lord! Larry?” she eyed the green haired girl searching for any familiar traces of the man she had known for nearly 15 years. Sarah was tall, slender and fiery, like her hair.

“Right here shyster,” Larry waved her over to the table, “boy will you earn your retainer this time,” She grinned as Sarah came up close and examined her closely.

“There in the jaw line and the ears,” Sarah declared, “smaller and smoother, but defiantly Dane.” she turned to Lucy who had watched the exchange in amazement.

“Sarah Hallowell, I’ve looked after Larry’s legal affairs for some time now,” she explained, “and you get to know certain things about a person after a few years.” She shook Lucy’s hand.

“Oh, sorry, Lucy,” Larry blushed and quickly introduced his nurse to the Attorney, “Sarah Hallowell, this is Lucy Caplin. Lucy has been at my side from day one helping me cope with all,” she waved her hands across her body, “this. She’s kept me relatively sane.”

It was Lucy’s turn to blush. “Don’t believe her Ms. Hallowell. Larry has been amazing, considering the circumstances.”

Sarah watched the byplay with considerable amusement, she had never seen Larry defer to anyone in the time she knew him, let alone show embarrassment, “and perhaps this change was for the better,” she thought.

Larry waved Sarah over to a long table that the hospital had liberated from the cafeteria and pulled out a chair “you can set up here Sarah, I’ll take the middle and Lucy can be on my right.” she said. Sarah nodded, opened her attaché case, pulled out an iPad, and attempted to power it on. The screen remained blank. Larry glanced over.

“You’d better have a legal pad in there Sarah,” she said, “Electronics and I don’t seem to get along anymore.”

Sarah scowled “this is going on my bill if it’s damaged, Dane.” She couldn’t keep a straight face and started grinning.

Larry giggled, then looked downright shocked. “Did I just...” her lawyer and nurse just nodded and smiled. She scowled “ok, send in the clowns,” she said sourly.

Over the next 5 hours there was a seemingly endless parade of government and corporate liaisons all wanting indemnity for the series of events that led up to Larry’s current state and all bearing large settlement cheques to ensure her silence. It seemed to her that she had repeated her statement about the incident at least 70 times. It was coming on 5 pm when the mob thinned to a trickle.

Larry put her head on her crossed arms and sighed. “Are we done mommy?” she snarled.

“Just one more on the list Dane, suck it up,” Sarah smiled, “you are pretty grumpy for someone with several million dollars in settlements and an agreement with Wayne Tech to give you a disability pension.”

Larry turned her head towards her lawyer and looked at her. “I guess, I think the finality is setting in. I’m this me now...forever,” tears rolled down her cheek.

Lucy reached over and dried Larry’s tears. “Hush now... it’s ok... I think both Sarah and I will help you adjust,” the petite blond woman soothed, “we’ve both had practice.”
Larry smiled.

“I think I’ve got a new first name for you Larry,” Sarah said, changing the subject, “Lorna.”
Larry thought for a moment, Lar and Lor were close enough names, “OK,” she said, “I’m Lorna Dane now.”

The room door opened and a very good looking redhead strode in. Her bearing was military, even though she was dressed in an expensive business suit. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lorna, My name is Heather McNeil Hudson, here on behalf of The Canadian Government, Department H.”

End part one
Magnetic Personality

Next Chapter: Lorna is recruited to Department H. The Canadian Government’s covert operation to find and train Metahumans in Canada.