Daisy's Japanese had never been very good. She couldn't produce anything philosophical; she was stuck in a loop of keep going and you're strong and variations thereof.
"Miss, you're so annoying," the maid said, managing a weak smile. She was breathing hard. "I think the worst of it is past..."
She didn't finish the sentence. There was a soft thud. At the fifty-five-second mark, Matsumoto Maki—jaw still clenched—finally couldn't hold on any longer and passed out cold.
"Danger! Get her out!"
"Miss Matsumoto is fine. Her enhancement is complete. The radiation poses no further risk to her."
Daisy watched her maid's chest rise and fall with shallow, steady breaths. Not dying. She relaxed slightly.
She sat alone for another half a minute. Then what she'd been expecting finally arrived.
It was like thousands of tiny needles pressing in from every direction at once. The radiation energy worked steadily against her cellular defenses before finally breaching them and pouring inward. The energy came in rivulets from all sides, overwhelming barrier after barrier until it collected at the center.
A faint prickling along her skin—then the heat ignited.
"—ah—"
She felt like a mountain a kilometer tall (roughly 3,300 feet) and several kilometers wide, and something of equal size and height was hitting her head-on. The wave came carrying an irresistible force, trying to break through everything in its path. The mountain had stood since the formation of the world. It had never moved.
The first wave hit with tremendous force. Daisy held herself as tightly as she could—and still lost the fight against the soul-deep rush of pleasure. A moan escaped her before she could stop it.
The wave couldn't move the mountain, but the force of its passage stripped away a layer of impurities from the stone.
The second wave followed. The third. The mountain shed its flaws while absorbing the energy of the surge; it grew taller, more solid, its roots running deeper.
In practice this meant Daisy stopped fighting her own reaction. She gave in and surrendered to an unparalleled pleasure.
She couldn't have counted the waves. Eventually Danger informed her the radiation had been fully expended, and she was free to come out.
She pressed one hand against the floor and stood slowly. Her expression was a little embarrassed. At least Maki had been unconscious—she had no idea how she'd explain what had just happened.
"Danger. You recorded all of that, didn't you?"
"Yes, Miss. Your brain cells showed unusually intense activity during those ten minutes. I consider this a highly anomalous phenomenon—"
"No—it's completely normal. Delete it—actually no, save it at maximum security clearance. I'll review it when I have time. It might contain clues about the enhancement."
She carried Maki out of the chamber. They measured radiation levels first—everything had returned to normal baseline—then Daisy showered, bathed her maid as well, and carried her princess-style back to her room.
It was the first time Daisy had ever been in Maki's room, now that she thought about it. Setting aside the full-body and half-body photographs of Daisy on the walls, the décor was actually quite restrained.
"Get some rest." She valued this important assistant a great deal. She tucked the blanket over her maid, pulled the curtains, and backed out quietly.
"Danger—why do I feel like nothing happened? I don't feel any different."
She was padding around the villa in her bathrobe and slippers, running through everything she could think to test. Strength, speed, endurance, gravitational and electromagnetic manipulation—all felt the same. Nothing resembling the Fantastic Four's new abilities. Everything was identical.
Had the cosmic radiation just... given her a really good time and nothing else? This had to be a joke.
"Your baseline is excellent, but at this stage your cellular structure remains unstable. Rest is recommended."
Daisy couldn't argue with that. The experience had left her with a mild physical fatigue she hadn't expected. She took Danger's advice and retreated to her enormous master bedroom.
She slept through the night. In the morning, Lorna's departure for school woke her, and she shuffled half-awake into the bathroom.
She picked up her toothbrush. Then she saw the woman in the mirror and nearly dropped it.
Pale blue skin. Slightly yellowed irises. Sclera that was roughly a third wider than a human's. She opened her mouth—it looked like there were two extra teeth.
She looked at her arms. Blue.
That's me. The recognition landed a moment later. What happened to me?
The irritation was immediate—but the years of training held. She breathed, settled herself, and began to assess carefully. At her current ability level she had some intuitive access to her own genetic state. She could already sense that nothing here was working against her. The change was benign.
What kind of "benign evolution" produces this hideous look?
She stood there for fifteen minutes, working through the sensation in detail. She was still herself—just with an extra option available. Before, there had only been one mode: running. Now there was apparently also walking. Then she opened her eyes to find herself back to normal. She exhaled.
So. A transformation ability. Unlike the newly awakened Fantastic Four, she wasn't approaching this for the first time—her mastery of her own abilities was at least at an expert level.
She found the state again. Under a minute this time. The blue-skinned woman looked back at her from the mirror.
This time she observed carefully. The transformation had no effect on height or weight. Her proportions were unchanged—everything where it should be. The only difference was skin that had been smooth and even now felt noticeably rougher.
A wave of weakness rolled over her. She clenched her fists and took stock of her strength. If her normal baseline was somewhere around ten tons of force, right now she was at maybe one ton. Possibly less.
She ran a few simple acceleration tests. Faster than a regular person—but incomparably slower than her baseline state.
Her vibratory ability was gone entirely.
Did the transformed state have its own ability set? She spent a while moving around her room searching for any sign of a new power. Nothing. At least nothing she could find.
What a useless transformation. She was genuinely annoyed.
She got dressed, scowling, and walked into the lab. The full diagnostic suite was there, and Danger to assist with the analysis. She wanted to know exactly what she'd acquired.
Two hours later she had the test results from her blue-skinned form in hand.
"Danger—are you telling me that when I transform, my genetics transform with me? That I become a Kree?"
She'd already shifted back—the rough skin was uncomfortable—but Daisy flipped through the diagnostic report to the final page and actually felt her breath catch.