Chapter two:

Yet another girl came into the room and introduced herself. “Hi, I am Lilli, and these are for you.” I was honestly thinking that I must be the new attraction as so many different people came in to gawk at me. Not to say I didn’t gawk at Lilli, she was short, I mean real short, but not a child, not with those breasts, and shockingly bright pink hair.

I unwrapped the package, a pair of panties, sports bra, and sweat suit. All in pink, all bearing “Hello Kitty” logos. “You have to be kidding!”

“Nope,” she replied. “It’s just temporary ‘till I can get you to wardrobe. The commander wants to brief you, you can wear that, or your backless gown.”

I muttered and went to the bathroom to change, it all fit fairly well, except the legs and arms were way too short. When I emerged she giggled. “Sorry,” she said, it was the best I could do on short notice.”

I grumbled “It makes me look like a freak.”

“Then you’re in good company,” she replied. “We’re all freaks here, but we have to go and see the head freak before we can get you real clothes.”

***

Lilli ushered me into the commander’s office, nicely labelled as such. I was a little surprised to see Daniel Davidson sitting behind the desk.

“You are here to get the ground” he started.

I interrupted “When do I get to call my dad and tell him I’m ok?”

Daniel looked angry. “You don’t. James is dead, and your father has been regretfully informed that you did not survive, ashes are being couriered to him for burial.”

I was shocked and speechless.

He softened. “It is for your protection. There are groups that are trying to collect and use us as terrorists. They would brainwash you. If you were with your father, they would capture him to make you do what they wanted you to.”

“Us? So I am a prisoner?”

“We’re the same, both changed,” he said. “This is The Beta Center, we will train to use your gift, given a safe place to live, clothes, schooling.”

I nodded mulishly. Dad was going to be devastated to lose his only son on the anniversary of mom’s death, but it was better than him being tortured. I guessed.

“As I started to say,” Daniel continued. “The ground rules are that you can not under any circumstances contact anyone from your old life. They must, for their own protection, believe that James is dead. You also need to pick a new name to fit your new identity.”

I thought for a while. “If I don’t like my first choice, can I change it?”

“We would really rather you didn’t,” he replied. “We have to create the identity from whole cloth, it gets messy if we have to change it. Just because we are a branch of Homeland Security doesn’t mean we can do anything we want.”

I thought for a while, while the WO tapped his pencil on his desk, obviously getting impatient. Finally I came up with something I thought would work. “Fine, I’ll be Nefertiti Misaki Onyx, but you can call me Onyx.”

He tapped this into his terminal, checking with me to make sure he got the spelling right. “Fine,” he concluded. “Lili will take you to Wardrobe to get you some better fitting clothes and school uniform. This is your room key.” He handed me a plastic card A-121 printed on it. “After Wardrobe you are booked to see Mr. Tubman, the staff psychologist, who will help you adjust to your new status.”

As I turned to leave he handed me an iPhone. “Can’t forget this. It’s got a map of the base loaded, so you won’t get lost.” ¬

***

As Lilli lead me to the ominously named Wardrobe, I began to understand his last comment. She lead me through so many twists and turns, up and down stairs, I was completely lost. “You trying to confuse me?” I asked.

She giggled “It’s not so bad when you get used to it, and this is the shortest route. See, here we are.”

We had come at last to two doors marked respectively “Wardrobe — Boys” and Wardrobe — Girls”.

There it was in black and white, I was no longer a boy. It felt as though by stepping through the door marked “Girls” I would be giving up everything I knew. I hesitated.

Lilli opened the door and dragged me inside. “Come on,” she said. Right at the front were what I assumed were change rooms, marked fitting. “First lets get you sized. Into the fitting room and strip down to your panties.”

I frowned. “Don’t I have to have something to try on?” I had gone clothes shopping with Misaki a few times, and that was the normal procedure for girls, pick out some items, try them on, then go back and get the right size.

“No, this is the best,” she beamed. “Go on, and don’t forget to close your eyes.”

I went in, curious, and did as instructed. There was an open drawer to put those awful “Hello Kitty” sweats in. I figured she probably meant the sports bra as well, so took it off and put it in the drawer as well. As soon as I did the draw closed itself, and a pleasant but computerized voice said “Please stand still and hold your arms out and close your eyes.”

I did as instructed and yelled out “This is very Star Trek!”. Lilli giggled. I stood still as a web of lasers scanned my body and I felt a tingling on the soles of my feet. After a short time the scan was finished and the computerized voice announced that the scan was complete, and returned my clothes to me. I dressed and exited the booth, to see Lilli looking over a print out.

“Well?” I asked.

“Six foot six,” she replied. “You had better hope he likes tall women.”

“Huh?”

She giggled again. This was getting to be annoying. “Your boy friend.”

“Lets get this done,” I replied, trying to ignore the suggestion. “I want out of this pink crap.” I snatched the print out and was instantly drawn to the words at the bottom. Apparently, there were no pants, jeans, or anything that were long enough for me. My face fell.

“It’s not so bad, there is always shorts and skirts,” Lilli said. “But first there’s the school uniform.”

“School uniform? Isn’t that a little catholic?” I asked.

“Exactly, but don’t worry, they don’t teach religion here.” With that, she went to the nearest rack and picked out a skirt, blouse, lacy bra, and vest. “According to your measurements these should fit, but try them on,” she said shoving the items into my hands. “I’ll be back with shoes in a jiffy.”

I re-entered the booth, and donned the uniform. It was as I had feared, a short grey pleated skirt that left way too much leg exposed. The bra defined my breasts, B cup according to the printout, much more than the sports bra. Then the blouse, and the black vest, that really put my breasts front and center.

I stepped out and looked at my self in the mirror, turning so I could see all angles. Ooops, the shirt wasn’t tucked in properly at the back, fixing that quickly, I looked over the outfit. It wasn’t too bad. I had seen many girls wearing a similar outfit, but I wasn’t entirely comfortable, as I knew what thought went through my mind when I saw them.

Lilli was headed back from the depths of the warehouse like ‘Wardrobe’ carrying a shoe box. I made a mental bet with myself that they would be Mary Janes. I sat on a bench as she approached and opened the box, ready to try them on. I almost won my bet, they looked very Mary Jane like, except I had never heard of Mary Janes having two inch heel. I slipped them on, and did up the strap across the instep. They fit pretty well.

Here goes nothing, I thought, and I stood up. I almost face planted, and would have if Lilli hadn’t caught me.

“Whoopsie,” she said. “It takes some getting used to. Perhaps if you wear them as we go through the rest and pick some things for you to wear out of school time. I nodded assent, and we made our way through the racks and shelves.

At first I was pretty wobbly, but I got better as we went. Since I couldn’t really fit any of the jeans and such, we confined ourselves to skirts and shorts for bottoms. She shorts, to my mind were worse than the skirts, at least the skirts leave something to the imagination. However she convinced me to pick up a pair of yellow, and another in red. I picked up a selection of T-Shirts as well, for just general lounging around in. Then I spied them!

I admit I squealed. “Those are MINE!” I exclaimed when I spotted a pair of over the knee white boots.

Lilli looked surprised, with reason, I’ll give her that. They were probably the girliest thing in the place, four and a half inch spike heel and silver stitches up the outside.

“Umm, they were a special order for one of the guys,” she trailed off as I grabbed them.

“Then they shouldn’t have left them here.” I said. “If they fit me, then they will have to get used to disappointment. Besides, these are girls boots.”

I walked to a nearby bench, caressing the boots, saying “You wouldn’t want to be on some guys smelly feet would you?” I kicked off the MJs and pulled on the boots, and after closing the zipper at the ankle they fit perfectly. I stood up and sashayed over to Lilli.

“See, they fit like they were made for me.” I grinned at her. “Besides, don’t they look good on me?”

“Umm. Well not with the uniform,” she mumbled. “If you are set on those boots, you are going to have to let me put together the rest of the outfit.”

If that was what it was going to take to get the boots, “Okay, I wouldn’t want these gorgeous boots to be ashamed of me.”

“Go wait in the change room,” she instructed me. “And no peeking.”

I went to the change room, the heels on these boots made the simple act of walking a huge tease to everyone. I hate it, but I had to admit that I loved it as well. However, as I sat in the change room, I remembered the mischievous look on Lilli’s face. I waited what seemed like an eternity, my trepidation and nervousness increasing with every passing moment.

The door opened, and Lilli handed me a pair of panties. Just that, nothing else. I looked at her puzzled. She grinned at me. “Trust me. You want to wear these with what I have for you, put these on, and then come out and we’ll get you dressed to kill.”

That sounded a little ominous, but I did as instructed. They and were little more than slips of fabric covering the absolute minimum. Thank god at least they weren’t a thong. Nervously I stepped out, holding my new boots to my chest possessively.

Lilli handed me a white skirt, and told me to put it on. I had to put my boots down, but I put them down away from the minx. I started to pull the skirt up, but Lilli stopped me.

“No higher than this,” she instructed, stopping me with most of my hip bones showing. The briefness of the panties made sense now. And looking at the skirt, any higher up, and it would be exposing me. As it was, it ended at most a couple of inches below my crotch. It had a tight wide band at the top, flaring out to a pleated design below, pure white.

“Off with the bra, your shirt won’t work with one,” she instructed again. I bit my lip, but undid it, and dropped it to the bench. She handed me a slivery shirt, and I pulled it on. It was a sharp contrast to the skirt, loose on me, and almost backless. Only the bottom was it fitted, which made some sense, that was the only place it had a back. That bottom was only just past the end of my rib cage, and was slightly ribbed. It was a halter, the straps meeting at the back of my neck, and V in front dipped down to the ribbed bottom part. I felt pretty exposed, but moving around, I could see that although it looked like it was about to fall off, any but the most vigorous of activities would keep me decent.

There was one final item, an inch wide silver choker, from which hung a slender chain, suspending a sparkling red stone right between my breasts.

“That’s from my personal stash,” Lilli said. “It’s a real ruby.”

I pulled on my boots, and admired myself. Was I nervous about this, of course, but I looked hot. “I think I need a big stick with this.”

Lilli laughed. “Not really, but you do need this.” She handed me a white clutch purse, then looked at her watch. “Oh damn, we are running behind, you were supposed to see Mr Tubman 5 minutes ago.”

I went to go get changed, but Lilli stopped me. “No time, we have to go now. Your other things will be delivered to your room.

So I went to meet Mr. Tubman in possibly the hottest thing I hade ever seen a girl wear, something that screamed “I am a girl and no one is going to forget it.” Did I mention that Mr. Tubman was the staff shrink?