The totality of self, in all its horror and splendor. Alter Ego

                                                            Prologue

The hum of the engine was all Angela Blackwell could hear as she charged down the road that night. She once had a peaceful yet hectic life as the east coasts most talented biologist, a loving husband and two beautiful children. That was all to change. The scientific community held her in such high regard that eventually her husband Jonathan, a famed biochemist, became jealous. He'd become so jealous that he'd stolen her research and claimed it as his own on several separate occasions. When she learned of this Angela was heartbroken. She confronted him about it he became enraged. He told her without him she was nothing. After that frightful encounter she insisted that they separate but he and his "associates" insisted she stay. Fearing for her life and the safety of their unborn children she did just that. They committed themselves to work together, but it was not to last. Angela had been working on an agent that would redefine the word virus, fostering irrefutable healing instead of debilitating sickness. When she had finally created a sample with an amount of stability Jonathan decided to test it on her. In the end she had no choice but to run away.

Angela had no idea where she was going but she had to get as far away as she could. She'd driven until she finally ran out of gas in a small rural town in Maryland. Adamsville was the type of town that not many people knew about and that served Angela just fine for the years ahead. She spent most of her life after her husbands’ betrayal in seclusion, working on a cure for the virus her husband forcefully injected it into her blood. The "Alter" virus was originally meant to promote accelerated tissue regeneration for the critically injured but it did something different to the young scientist. Angela suffered an uncontrollable rage as a side effect to the virus and had to regularly inject herself with sedatives to remain in control. She couldn't afford to miss one dose or her mindless rage may have harmed an innocent passer by, or worse her newborn twins. The years of solitude would have been unbearable if not for them. They served to keep Angela focused and dedicated, so that one day she could be the mother her children deserved. It made her happy that they didn't know that their lives were scattered and chaotic but she knew, as they grew older she'd have to tell them the truth if she could not find a cure.

The years seemed to speed on and Angela feared she'd never find a cure. Feelings of despair and sorrow filled her mind but she could not afford to stop. This was not about her. Her children needed a mother and she was determined to give them one. Angela had been working six long restless hours when it happened. A knock at the door broke her concentration. She starred at the screen through blurred vision, then to her syringe lying in front of the keyboard. Everything seemed to echo. Because she was so heavily sedated it took a moment for her to process the likelihood that she'd have a visitor, but when she did she ran upstairs to her kids playroom and told them to hide. The thundering sound of wood splintering reverberated through the house followed by the sound of dozens of footsteps. Seconds later the door to the playroom swung open and four men stormed into the room stepping to either side of the door. "Found her boss" one man smirked. Another man stepped into the doorway looking Angela in the eye. It was Jonathan. "Angie, Angie, Angie." he laughed "After all this time I finally found you." Angela gathered her children and moved backwards towards the wall. "Come now Angie," he started. "That virus in your blood belongs to both of us. I just want access to the fruits of our labor."

"You infected me.” she muttered in a low voice. "And on top of that you try to steal my research, and call it "our" labor..."

"In any event," he sighed. "I've come for your blood not your life. You have survived the virus and suffered minimalistic side effects. Can you imagine the application of what you have become. Countless diseases cured. Third degree burns, literally erased. What’s more with the accelerated tissue regeneration we could insure the highest bidder the worlds most unstoppable solider!" The two young children trembled in their mothers’ arms not knowing what was going on. One of them, fearing for her mothers’ safety rushed to attack. "Bianca no!" Angela yelled. The man quickly grabbed the little girl up by her arm and her twin fought against Angela to get to her. "Now now little one. Is that any way to treat your father?" The young girls eyes grew wide and her father tossed her onto the floor. Angela felt a familiar pain creep into her head as Bianca scrambled backwards towards the wall accompanied by her sibling.

"You did this to me. Make it stop.” she moaned. Angela stood trembling, one hand searching for something to lean on. One of the men ran over and twisted Angelas' arm behind her back. "Let go of me!" she screamed.

"You brought this on yourself Angie" Jonathan said stepping closer looking into her eyes. "You couldn't just play by the rules. You had to...." He stepped back when he noticed her eyes shifting to another color. Soon an intimidating red hue began to burn through her soft brown irises. The man holding her arm gasped in disbelief as she began to pull away from him. He could have sworn he felt her thin wrist swelling in his hands but before he could complete his thought Angela spun around freeing her arm and punched the man that held her in the jaw sending him spiraling to the floor. The rage took hold of her again, and without her sedatives she found it progressively difficult to control herself. In a blind fury she mounted the man and beat him viciously in the face shattering his nose and jaw. She raised a fist to deliver the final attack but two others pulled her off.

She writhed and screamed at the top of her lungs. The young ones ran into the closet out of fear just as their mother forced the men that held her together sending them tumbling to the floor. They watched in horror as Angela covered her face and veins crept up her arms. She starred helplessly at her arms as they began to expand. "What's happening to me!" she screamed doubling over. Her entire frame shook as it began to expand. Her arms filled her sleeves and runs began to appear in her stockings. The front of her blouse began to pull open due to the increasing pressure provided by her swelling breasts and her expanding torso. A look of shock and fear appeared on the changing womans face as she looked down at herself. She raised her hands noticing they too were much larger. Subsequently the motion of her arms had caused her now enormous biceps to shred through her sleeves followed by her triceps reducing them to ribbons. At the same time she felt her feet fill her shoes. Suddenly the back of her shoes popped open unable to contain her much larger feet. She kicked them away noticing that her stockings were too almost completely destroyed. The rage within her seemed to be growing just as she was. One of Jonathans men stood flexing his fingers inside of leather gloves as he prepared to attack again. He launched himself at Angela, and with as much force as he could muster, slammed his fist into her stomach. Nothing. His eyes grew wide as he watched her blouse rip apart where his fist was revealing rippling abdominal muscles. He was certain he'd shattered his hand. One of the remaining three stood up pulling out a knife and ran to help the other. He hadn't taken three steps before Angela took the man who punched her by the leg and slapped the man with the knife across the room with his limp body. She then beat one over the head with the other over and over. The two men lay motionless in a bloody mess as Angelas frame continued to grow. She took a deep breath and felt her belt pop, dangling on either side of a skirt that was now being torn by growing thighs. "Boss?" the last man said looking around for Jonathan. Angela's body began to grow taller and wider by the second. She'd reached a heavily muscled 6'6" before the change stopped. Her mind was awash with savage rage. Her clothes were reduced to rags and her ability to think was greatly compromised. Jonathans last henchman made a break for the door, and the sounds of his retreat caused Angela to charge in a blind fury slamming him clear through the side of her house reducing him to a crippled bloody mess. People in the street stopped to witness the display, shocked at what they saw. Angela raised her arms into the air and let out a loud bellowing yell. She roared menacingly and suddenly fell to the ground motionless. Blood ran down from the back of her head and Jonathan stood over her, smoking gun in hand. Angela's body slowly reverted to normal and he covertly collected a sample of her blood, making his escape.