Entering the special inventions lab, Alice and Tiffany were immediately greeted by a distraught young woman in a while lab coat with shoulder length brown hair and cat ears.
“Alice, I'm so sorry I let this happen. Please don't be angry with the others. I... I...” she began.
Alice simply shushed her.
“Calm down Naru, it's okay. I'm not angry with you or the others, so please try and calm down. Is that Dr. Cohler guy here?” Alice asked, putting her hand on Naru's shoulder.
Naru sniffled and shook her head.
“N-no. He was here when we started, but he disappeared when we shut off the ray” she said.
“Who's Dr. Cohler?” Tiffany asked.
“That's just it. There isn't a Dr. Cohler working here. I don't know who he is” Alice answered.
“Tina hasn't shown any abnormalities, but she's beginning to get anxious about having to wait for you to come before we can really tell her anything” Naru said.
“Tina? The new mail girl?” Tiffany asked.
Alice nodded.
“Right. She needs not to get anxious right now, so let me see her” Alice said.
Naru nodded and let Alice past her and further into the room.
A girl with brunette colored hair wearing blue jeans and a plain white t-shirt was sitting on the floor, rubbing her head a bit.
“What a way to end my first week here, huh?” she said, looking up at Alice.
“Don't worry about it Tina. How are you feeling right now?” Alice asked, kneeling down next to Tina.
“Weird... My head's still hurting a bit. I think I hit my head and that's why I blacked out the way I did. Everyone else has been acting like there's something they can't tell me, and it's got me kind of freaked out” Tina said.
Alice sighed and ran her hand through her own hair.
“It was a top secret project. They needed me to authorize them to be able to tell you anything about it” Alice said.
“Couldn't you have done that over the phone?” Tiffany asked.
“I could have, but I thought it would be best if I came up myself. But I need to know exactly what happened” Alice said.
“Can you remember anything Tina?” Tiffany asked.
Tina nodded.
“Yeah... I was delivering mail around to the different area of the lab when Dr. Cohler came to me and said that you wanted to see me in the special inventions lab” Tina began.
“Wait, did you say Cohler?” Alice asked.
Tina nodded.
“Hey Naru, what'd this Dr. Cohler guy look like?” Tiffany asked, looking to Naru.
Naru nodded.
“Yeah. He had one of our lab coats on, tall with short black hair, and for some reason, dark sunglasses. I couldn't see his eyes because of the sunglasses though” Naru said.
“Does that sound like the guy?” Alice asked.
Tina nodded. “Yeah”.
“What happened next?” Alice asked.
“The doors. They were already unlocked. I came in, and there was this blinding light. For the love of me, I couldn't see a thing. I tried feeling my way around, but something suddenly pushed me and I lost my balance. That's when I blacked out. When I woke up, I was on the floor and no one would fill me in on exactly what had happened” Tina said.
“It almost sounds to me like this guy set you up. Not only that, but if what Alice said is true, I'm a bit worried that someone who shouldn't be here is in the lab somewhere” Tiffany said, crossing her arms.
“And you said he was gone by the time you guys shut off the ray?” Alice asked, looking to Naru, who nodded.
“Okay. Have security go over all the surveillance videos both in and outside the lab. If he's still here, we need to find him and get to the bottom of this” Alice said, looking to Naru.
“Okay. I'll hurry and get security right on it” Naru said, hurrying out, stopping only for a moment to bow apologetically before continuing out the doors.
“Alice, what's... ugh!” Tina suddenly said, grabbing her stomach.
“Tina? What's wrong?” Alice asked.
“I-I don't know. There was this sudden pain... I think I'm gonna be sick” Tina said, getting down on all fours.
Tiffany's eyes widened as she saw Tina's hand and feet balloon into tires. Her backside then stretched into a rear mounted engine compartment as her torso stretched out and formed a passenger compartment. Next, her upper body stretched out forming a dash and front end trunk compartment. Finally, her body began to change to a blue color, her face stretched out to form a front bumper and headlights. The space where Tina once was was now occupied by a blue 2007 Porsche 911 Carrera.
“Huh. I guess it passed. Maybe it was something I ate?” Tina said, her coming from somewhere on the car.
Tiffany was speechless. Alice meanwhile was massaging her temple.
“What? Why's everyone staring at me like I have two heads or something?” Tina asked, seemingly unaware of the change.
“Tina, you-” Tiffany began, but stopped when Alice motioned for her to do so.
“Okay, Tina? Tell me, how are you feeling right now?” Alice asked, kneeling down in front of Tina's front end.
“Perfectly fine now. I second ago I felt really sick and sore all over, but then it all just went away like it never even happened. Why? Why do you all keep asking me how I'm feeling? What's going on? And what is that big gun thing over there? Tell me!” Tina said, raising her voice.
At that point, her engine roared to life, the sound starting not just Tina, but everyone else in the room.
“Is that a car engine I'm hearing?” Tina asked.
Realizing there was no point in putting it off any longer, Alice nodded.
“Yes Tina. That's your engine running right now” she said.
“My what? But I don't even have a car. You sure it's not someone else's?” Tina asked.
Alice nodded.
“Yes Tina, I'm sure. That gun thing over there is called the molecular transfer ray, and it can merge the molecules of both inorganic and organic matter. It was first used by Dr. Chase. We've been preparing to begin working with the ray, but actual merging was meant to be tested for at least another week” Alice said.
“Okay, that answers one question, but you haven't told me what's going on yet” Tina said.
“I'm getting to that. I wasn't told this test had been taking place, so I don't know the exact details, but after everything Thomas has told me about the ray, it's obvious to me what's happened here” Alice said.
“Okay, what happened?” Tina asked.
Alice hesitated a moment before answering.
“I think it may be better is I just you...” Alice said, looking around the room for a moment before going over and retrieving a very well polished metal piece of metal plating. She then brought it over and held it in front of Tina's headlights.
“Can you see the reflection?” Alice asked.
“Yeah... but why am I seeing a car? Why aren't I seeing me...?” Tina asked.
“Tina... that is you right you. You were combined with the car you're seeing in front of you right now. You're still you Tina... you're just not in your regular form...” Alice said.
The reality of the situation was finally beginning to sink into Tina.
“But... that can't be me... it just can't. Tiffany...?” Tina said.
“She's telling you the truth. You really are a car right now” Tiffany said with a sad look in her eyes.
Tina was silent for a moment as she realized that the way they were looking at her, and what they were telling her... they weren't kidding.
“Th-this can't be happening” Tina said, unknowingly putting herself in reverse as she backed up, knocking over some equipment.
Alice knew she had to do something.
“Tina, I need you to listen to me. You can return back to your regular human form, but you have to calm down” Alice said, approaching Tina.
“Calm down? How can I possibly calm down?! Look at me Alice! Look at me!” Tina yelled, revving her engine.
“Tina, please listen to Alice. If she knows a way to fix this, then-” Tiffany began.
“You be quiet, shutterbug! Why are you even here right now? To take a picture of lab's newest piece of work?!” Tina yelled, cutting her off.
Tiffany flinched like she had been struck, and she had a hurt look on her face and she stopped talking and clenched her fists. She closed her eyes tightly for a moment as a few tears went down her face before simply running out of the room.
“Tina, that's enough! This isn't Tiffany's fault, so don't take this out on her! If you want to be angry at someone, be angry at me! I should have known someone was impersonating a scientist in my own lab” Alice said, now raising her voice a bit.
Tina was about to respond when Alice cut her off.
“No! You've done enough yelling. It's my turn now!” Alice said, raising her voice higher.
“How can you even say that! This is your fault! Look what you did to me!” Tina yelled.
“I Didn't do anything to you!! Now if you ever want to have any kind of hope of returning to your regular form, you're going to stop yelling, be quiet, and listen to what I have to tell you!” Alice yelled. Alice is normally a pretty cool tempered person, and it takes a lot to get her to yell the way she was at that moment.
“Look, I know you're scared right now, and I can even begin to find a way to tell you how sorry I am that this happened, but you aren't going to stay in this form forever. You can return to your human form Tina” Alice said, calming down.
“C-can you really fix this?” Tina asked, calming down as well.
Alice hesitated for a moment.
“I can't fix this yet, but I can show you how to return to your human form. You changed into that form because you were beginning to get too nervous. When you become too warm, or your body temperature goes up too much at once, you'll change into this form. There's nothing I can do right now to stop this from happening again. I can only help you find ways to reduce the chances of it happening” Alice answered.
“This will happen every time I either get too warm or my body temperature goes up?” Tina asked.
“Yes. But, you can change back into your human form by being cooled down enough” Alice said.
“So if I can get cold enough, I'll change back to my regular self?” Tina asked.
Alice nodded again.
“Yes. How often this change is going to happen is going to depend on a lot of things. You can still be a little warm without changing, but only a little. Things like intense exercise, extreme sports, the temperature outside or inside, getting too angry, scared, or irritated, and certain foods can all cause you to change into your car form. Dr. Chase, who's a friend and colleague of mine, developed special instant cooling cold patches, so I'm going to ask him to send some here to the lab. In the meantime, by keeping yourself calm and cool, you'll be able to stay in your human form longer” Alice answered.
Tina let out a sigh of relief. “Thank god. Now that I know I can at least return to my human form is already helping me calm down a bit. Would something like some ice or cold water help change me back?” Tina asked.
“Yes. I'll hurry and get some ice for you. While you're in that form, you can actually drive yourself around, so I'm going to need to help teach you how to that. But there's something a lot more important you need to do first when we get you back to your regular self” Alice said.
“What's... Tiffany” Tina said.
Alice nodded.
“She really was worried about you Tina, and all she was trying to do was to comfort you. But, you exploded and threw it in her face” Alice said.
“Oh man... I can't believe I said what I did to her. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't even have a job or a home, and all I did was yell at her... Alice, please help me get back to my regular form? I have to find Tiffany and apologize to her” Tina said.
Alice nodded.
“Okay. Just stay put while I go get you some ice, okay?” Alice said.
“Okay” Tina said.
Alice gave her an assuring smile before heading out of the room, stopping only for a moment to look back at Tiffany before hurrying out.
“Tiffany... I'm so sorry...” Tina said to herself as the doors closed.
