Chris walked up the stairs to his room. Sounds of bickering faded as he shut the door, kicked off his Nikes and sat on his bed, again feeling a leaden weight on his hip. He sighed and extracted the stone, careful not to nick himself on the sharp edges. A sense of wonderment overcame dread as he brought it out, getting a better look than he previously dared.

The pink rhombus-shaped prism refracted light into rosy hues across the floor. Felt very tough. And despite being half-buried in rubble when he found it, not a speck of dirt clung to the surface.

He rolled it over a few times, pondering what to do. What he should have done was call the police and report that he found evidence of a jewel heist. Its owner must have been devastated that something so valuable had been lost.

But his family needed money. That was where his hesitation came in. Whatever finder's fee he got would be a pittance compared to its worth. He’d get ripped off anyplace he tried to sell or pawn it, but it’s not like he wanted a fortune.  Enough to get him and his family through the next few months – until his Mom found a stable job – would satisfy him. Was that too much to ask?
	
'C’mon, Chris, that gem has got to be junk', he thought, running a clammy hand through his hair. Probably just costume jewelry that got left behind when Dazzler played Coney Island a few weeks ago. There was no way he found a giant gemstone.  That just didn’t happen! Not to people like him. He set himself up for disappointment. Genuine as it seemed, it must have been a prop. Finally convincing himself of that, he turned around to toss it in the trash.

Only it no longer sat. It floated.

He felt his jaw drop as he blinked a few times, but reality refused to change. The gem hovered vertically a few inches above the sheets, points of light refracting like a disco ball as it lazily spun. He audibly gasped.

'It must be magic!' Forgot calling the police - he needed to dial the Fantastic Four! Even so, he was entranced.

Concerns about getting some mystical disease were distant with the most incredible, beautiful sight he’d ever seen dancing in the air. As if scooping up a sleepy kitten, he cupped his hands under the gem and “lifted” it to his face. Drifted a couple inches above his flesh, and the only sensation he felt thereon was dull heat, as well as a faint pink light of its own.

"Wow." He held a piece of another world. If cogent enough, he would have been over the moon. “I – I guess you’re worth even more than I thought.” His left hand remained a platform while his right extended its index finger and thumb to gently –

FLASH!

A surge of pink light overtook his vision the moment his flesh met stone, and the strangest sensation of his life ripped through his body. Felt as if he became weightless and numb for a split second before being embodied again. Not painful, but very, very strange. He instinctively tossed the gem away, only to find that, when the light died down, it disappeared. Where did it go?! His head shot around the room, finding no trace. 'Great, I just vaporized the find of the century.'  Still, could have been worse. Better it than him.

Though, now that he got his druthers back… he felt weird. He swore everything looked a bit bigger now, as if he’d suddenly gotten a few inches shorter. Among other things. Couldn’t quite focus. He brought his hands to his head to steady himself, only to immediately find something wrong. Namely, they weren’t his hands. They’d been covered by some sort of tight blue-black gloves and seemed to have shrunken.

“What?” he gasped as more oddities cropped up. First, he didn’t feel his mouth move when he said that. Second, he didn’t say it at all. The voice that left him was no longer his own. He glanced down to look at himself, finding the pink gem!  It was now attached to his sternum, right between his breasts.

'Wait, what?!' Yep, the crystal was snugly embedded within his own body… though perhaps he wasn’t a he anymore. Not if the two mounds had anything to say. His attention didn’t focus on those as long as it should have with all the rest wrong. Vision traced up and down his body, unable to find where to start. All sort of hit him at once.

Beneath his hands, his forearms sported some silvery-gray gauntlets before transitioning back to that blue-black material. Only then did he realize that it wasn’t skin-tight – it was his skin. Her skin. Whatever. Then another silver armband around each bicep. A neckband sat around his collarbone, branching out into pauldrons in the diamond shape of the crystal. His (?) breasts were supported by more metal under and on each cup, also stretching down his flanks. The waist pinched in, and a V-shaped metal “belt” sat there to separate his torso from his flat crotch and lower extremities. Speaking of legs, they were clad from foot to mid-thigh in metallic “boots”, each sporting a kneepad with that same rhombus motif.

He should have been terrified, but this was almost like a dream. So impossible that it had to be an illusion. He’d fainted or something. That veil gave him the confidence to walk to the mirror in the corner to examine his face, or lack thereof; he wore a helmet. Rather, his face became it. Same blue-black “skin”, split into four by a cross-shaped piece of metal. In the center sat a visor the same vibrant shade of pink as the ruby. Tried to blink, but he couldn’t. That must have meant the visor was an eye if he didn’t have eyes behind it…

Almost laughed at the absurdity. This was a vivid dream. Wanted to pinch himself to wake up, but to fit his new form, he instead decided to fondle his breasts to see if that’d snap him awake. 'Can’t say I’ve ever wondered what it’d feel like to have these, but I guess I might as well find out in a dream.' A pleasant electric tingle rolled down his back as he groped them. One far too real to be a dream.

Took everything he had not to scream. Instead, he choked out, “What the Hell?” in a voice he now distinctly recognized as female. He didn’t expect an answer, but he got one.

'I take it you are confused.'

“What?!” he exclaimed, head darting around to see who spoke.

'It took a moment for me to decipher your native language from memories uploaded into this mobile weapon platform’s cortex. However, I am now fluent in American English.' The female voice came from within his own skull. Something else was in there.

“What did you turn me into?” he whispered, trying not to draw attention with any shouts. Not until he got a handle on all this. Terror flashed in his head about having to explain why he was suddenly an alien woman. Wouldn’t finishing college be fun like that?!

'You have not been “turned into” anything,' the mental speaker replied. 'Your consciousness has been transferred to this mobile weapons platform while your normal body waits in storage.' It said all this as casually as talking about the weather, and Chris found himself unable to formulate a response beyond panic. He looked in the mirror again, unable to even discern the terror he felt without a mouth or eyes. Only stiff body language remained, for at least this thing had arms and legs!

"You – you put my mind into a robot?!" This was quite literally an out-of-body experience unlike anything any human had ever been through.

'Your mind and soul, yes.' Oh, his soul, too. That reassured him. 'I am an artificial intelligence crafted by the mighty and noble Shi’ar Empire.' ...nope, didn’t ring a bell.

'You are indeed primitive if you are unaware of my creators.' Way to make him feel more like an idiot than he already did. 'I do not remember how I became trapped under rubble on your world. There was just darkness. Then, you found me.'

Chris pondered its words. Out of everything, he noticed how AI spoke of its “mighty and noble” empire. The fact its creators made it speak in such a manner aroused suspicion. Still, he was inclined to believe its testimony; not like he had much choice.  He took another look over himself, afraid.

'Fear not. You are not trapped in this form,' it said in something resembling sarcasm. If he had lungs, he would have released a deep sigh. 'That would be inconvenient.' While still sort of freaked out, his horror diminished when he learned he wasn’t stuck like this forever.

"You said my real body is in storage?" To answer his question, a video feed appeared in his field of vision like a video game HUD. Supposed it literally was, considering he inhabited a machine. If his eye was a camera, other things could be superimposed onto it. What shocked him more, though, was the person on the feed: him. His body, clothes and all, hung suspended from the arms and legs in some sort of cask. Head down, as if he were dead.

'Your brain stem remains active as higher thought and spiritual processes have been shunted to the mobile weapons platform which formerly hung from that perch. Life support systems handle the rest. In essence, your body is a husk until the process is undone.' The sight struck him as macabre, but he wasn’t sure what other ways there were to store a comatose body. Which made him turn his thoughts to the term the voice kept using for his current one.

“I take it that I’m the ‘mobile weapons platform’ right now,” he said, unable to believe the voice coming out of him. Along with being undoubtedly female, it possessed an authoritative ring that Chris Powell just didn’t have. Honestly, his curiosity was piqued. Nobody in the world would guess that the alien robot chick was him! “Though I have to ask, why does a killer robot have… you know…”

He looked down for the tenth time in a couple of minutes. His face would have heated up if could still, um, do that. Kinda wanted to touch them again, but that would be rude to the person whose body he’d just stolen, even as she seemed to be nonchalant about it. Even still, he had no idea why a Terminator needed breasts… sizable ones, at that.

'Each mobile weapons platform is constructed to mirror certain physical characteristics of the intended pilot,' it said. 'This prevents the dysphoria endemic to remaining uploaded for long periods of time. Particularly long missions may last weeks. It is a subtle but important feature to help the pilot acclimate.' All right, that made sense. The one he stumbled across just so happened to be intended for a well-endowed woman.

Chris was shocked by just how well he took this.  Living in New York during an age of marvels left him jaded. Supposed he had a lot to think about. He wasn’t about to sell or give away a sentient being. This thing, though cold and distant, clearly didn’t have it out for his species. Essentially making it a slave would have been the worst thing he could do.

'My goal is to return to my people,' it replied. Yeah, he didn’t know how he felt about it being able to probe his mind. Then again, did he want to teach it English the regular way? No, so he’d just shut up. 'However, I recognize the difficulty of that task on a primitive world such as yours. You have no sufficient space program. For all its abilities, this particular mobile weapons platform cannot travel faster than light.'

“What do you mean about abilities?” The answer dawned before the question came out of his metaphorical mouth. “Are you saying that we – I – have superpowers like this?” He waited with bated “breath” as the entity scanned his mind to figure out what he meant. Took a few moments to put the pieces together.

'That is an apt descriptor. You now have powers most of the rest of your kind does not possess.' Chris shook with excitement. What it said was beyond his wildest dreams five minutes ago. He could be a fucking superhero. 'Mobile weapon platforms are by no means common. The investment each takes to manufacture is… significant. The exact number is classified, but only our greatest soldiers are assigned them.' Well, he may not have been a great warrior, but nobody on Earth knew that!

'Seeing as I have no way to returning to Shi’ar space at this time, I am willing to be a superhero with you, Christopher Powell. You found me, after all.' He appreciated the sentiment, yet that didn’t mean he was entitled to this. 'Others from beyond your world are already taking note of your planet. Sooner or later, one of my people will come, and we can part ways.'

Sounded a little ominous, but he shook off his concern. The promise the entity gave him was much greater. He could see himself running around a couple nights a week, stopping purse snatchers, maybe getting a picture in the paper. Sounded like a good deal, so long as one of his powers was being immune to bullets. And nobody in their right mind would suspect it was a 20-something guy, which he counted as another plus.

Having another "woman" superhero around couldn’t hurt, either. Like, he didn’t think of himself as particularly savvy on gender politics, but maybe doing this would get his younger brothers to ease up on the “girl cooties” thing. He knew they meant nothing by it (and in a couple of years, they’d likely reach the age where they suddenly found women very interesting), but it couldn’t hurt. With Mom constantly busy picking up the pieces and no sisters or close relatives, they didn’t exactly have many strong female role models. And he wouldn’t be one, either, but nobody had to know that!

"One more thing. You know my name, but what should I call you?"

'I do not have a name in the traditional sense. My serial designation is RZR.' Chris couldn’t imagine not having a name, yet it didn’t seem bothered. 'And to clarify your earlier thoughts, I do not reside within this mobile weapons platform. Instead, I exist within the amulet.' The gem emitted a sparkle, as if it winked at him. 'Prior to being uploaded, this body was as empty as your real one is now.' Knowing that this body existed separately from the entity made him feel a little better. He wasn’t stealing a body if the body didn’t belong to anyone!

Then she let out something perhaps akin to a snicker. 'It is amusing. This primitive world is one where men dominate. My creators, on the other hand, are matriarchal. I may be a machine, but I see irony. You are in a strange predicament.' He looked down yet again, still trying to adjust to it all. 'Feel free to settle in.'

He was currently an alien android with tits. Confusing, to say the least. Maybe he’d take her up on the offer to, uh, explore. His single visor-eye locked onto his breasts again; from the single feel he copped, he knew the Shi’ar took their craftsmanship. He’d be upset going to war like this, but as a temporary exotic fling, this was icing on the cake. How many men got a chance like this? More to it than sex appeal, though. Now that he focused, he felt incredible power in this body’s synthetic muscles, and that must have only been the tip of the iceberg.

Didn’t have plans for the rest of the day, so he was fully prepared to test things out. Nothing was going to get in the –

“Hey, Chris? I need help with a math problem and Jon is busy.  Could you check my work?” Thank God he had the foresight to lock his door, for Jason didn’t bother to knock. The knob twisted fruitlessly; only an inch of wood protected him from prying eyes.

'Pluck the amulet from your bodice to become yourself again.' His hand shot to his cleavage and pried the stone free.  The same flood of sensation hit him again the instant it peeled free. He suddenly found himself as Chris Powell, holding a flaming pink gem in his hand and several inches taller. Hanging from the limbs made him stiff, but he was otherwise fine. Took a second to feel himself up to make sure he had all his appendages.

“Chris, I know you’re in there. C’mon, don’t play your Walkman so loud you can’t hear me!”

“Um, sorry, Jase. What can I help you with?” he said, opening the door. His brother was none the wiser about what just happened… and that kind of made Chris giddy.

“Just a couple of algebra problems I don’t understand.” Chris went downstairs to the living room and helped his brother the best of his ability.  He was never great at math, but he retained enough knowledge from high school to be somewhat useful.  Not nearly as much as Jon, who had his work cut out for him with advanced classes. “Thanks, Chris!”

“You’re welcome,” he replied, slumping on the couch and feeling the stone in his pocket. No longer a burden, it now made him lighter than air. A world of possibilities opened, and he couldn’t stop thinking about them. It’d take a long time to figure out what he wanted to do, though.

Felt himself smile as he returned to his room, hearing his mother enter through the front door at the same time. Maybe they had enough for a decent meal instead of ramen that night, maybe not. Didn’t matter right now. He had other things to worry about. Excitement overtook him as he pulled out the amulet again, which began to glow and hover.

“All right, so I just touch it like this, and…” Another blinding flash before his eyes disappeared. Good thing the curtains were drawn.

She was now back in the mirror. A bit less weird the second time around, he admitted. As much as he wanted to test those powers, he thought getting acquainted with the body would be a bit more approachable. And if RZR said it was all right… He looked down at his breasts again, then at the bed. 'Hmm, I wonder if I can get out of this metal bra…'