The weight of what I was intending to do to myself hadn't settled in until I was alone in the upstairs office, with the door latched shut.

For a moment it was enough for me to see the absurdity of how I looked within the office space; a ghoulish looking creature at odds with the mundane furnishings. Seeing the vague monstrosity of my appearance in the black PC monitor reflection was in itself enough to reaffirm my resolve.

Slip was also aware of the magnitude of the decision I was facing, and spoke in his resonating voice inside my mind.

Burgess, he resonated, Are you sure you want to do this?

"Don't you want me to?" I said, aloud.

There may be other ways forward, Slip resonated, What you're about to do may have irreversible consequences.

"I know," I said, "But what choice do I have? I need to get stronger if I'm going to survive. I need to be stronger in order to be a more effective hero. And, on a purely practical basis, I need to be able to walk around without looking like I've been flayed from the neck down. Unless you have an alternative in mind?"

Slip didn't respond.

"Yeah," I said, "So it's either stay the same and hope for the best. Or become better. I've already lost my true face for now – thanks to you, I might add – so what will it matter changing even more?"

It matters greatly, Slip resonated, You've seen with Soaks, Lure, Chips, and many others from the Wedder Gorge facility what happens when you abandon yourself to the power. You must remain in control.

"Then I'm sure this is the way forward," I said, "Because undergoing this metamorphosis is how I gain control. The only other alternative would be to give up on being a hero altogether and to just accept whatever bad happens to me and my family, and everyone else who I could help with this power."

Burgess, Slip resonated, Have you truly considered what it means to be a hero? Not what Azad believes a hero is. But what you believe?

"Here's what I believe," I said.

And it was then I remembered back to saving Joanne's life. And before Joanne saving the lives of those Pied Piper officer bastards back down in the underground Wedder Gorge facility complex.

"It's not about me," I said, "A hero doesn't make doing the right thing about themselves."

Who is to say there is a right and wrong, Burgess? Slip resonated, rhetorically.

"There has to be," I said, "Because I don't want to live in a world where saving people in need isn't the right thing to do."

Even if it comes at great cost to yourself? Slip resonated.

"I was never going to amount to much anyway," I said, "At least this way what little potential I have with this power is being put to good use. Is that enough of a justification for you, Slip?"

If it is for you, Burgess, Slip resonated.

"Sure," I said, "Let's go with that."

I had an instinctual idea of what I needed to do next, because Clang and Snap had already done the same thing in order to bring about their own transformations.

Releasing a nervous breath, I sat myself down, crosslegged, in the middle of the cramped office.

I closed my eyes, and willed myself to enter into a place within my mind that would best help bring along the transformation.

What followed was very much in line with how I had come to understand how my Intuition power worked. Rather than find myself within a place within my own mind, like when I had done so shortly before losing control to the Fox-Frog-Monster for the second time at Sisterslake; I instead found myself caught within what felt like a dream.

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Images – memories – of things I had seen were coming back to me. And each image had its place and purpose. My Intuition, much like when it created meaning out of the smudge in my mind's eye, took those memories and derived what it could to enable the transformation which, in the real world, was taking effect.

The first memory to come to mind within the swirling maelstrom all around me was of Xandra.

I remembered her fighting with the Fox-Frog-Monster the second time I had lost control.

What I remembered in particular was the image of Xandra creating blood-spears out of her own blood.

How had she done that? I wondered.

Blood-bending, Slip resonated inside my head, but also because her rubbery-DNA is much more malleable post-transformation. Without the transformation of her DNA into the rubbery substance, she would not have the control over her own blood to the degree she currently does.

But how does she solidify her blood into spears? I wondered.

She has partial control over her own DNA, which has been standard when using the power from the very outset, Slip resonated, so long as she is in physical contact with her own blood, she has a good deal of control of making the blood a liquid, a solid, or some variation of either.

I see, I thought.

Can we do something similar? I wondered.

Yes, Slip resonated, Don't forget some of Xandra's DNA has been channeled into you.

It was then the memory of Miss Toontastic's hand at my shoulder when trying to save Joanne's life appeared inside my thoughts within the multi-coloured dreamspace.

And then I recalled being within the mansion, sparring with Clang during our training session, and me as Slip slipping out of his grip thanks to the dishsoap-like resin I had coated my Slip-suit with.

That, I thought, we can use that resin.

Use it how? Slip resonated back.

For blood, I thought, Can we do that?

The maelstrom all around me became a vortex of colour and light. It was as if I were seeing the very power itself working away to accomplish the childish whimsy of my thoughts.

The vortex settled.

Yes, Slip resonated, That can be done.

Then let's do it, I said, blood-resin.

The vortex started up again, swirling, crackling, and humming with immense power.

And then the image changed again to the Fox-Frog-Monster in the corridor of the abandoned textile facility – bone-covered, glowing red-hot between the cracks; the bodies of the dismembered Pied Piper Task Force officers strewn in pools of blood and organs on the tiled flooring.

And yet again, way back, to Blain fighting Adam in the exercise area at the Wedder Gorge facility.

Blain, with his bone-gloves.

Bones, I thought, We need to reinforce our bones.

With what? Slip resonated.

Of course Slip knew. He could read my mind. But it was helpful to have him guide the process anyway.

Metallic gold, I thought, Can we do that?

Slip didn't answer in words. Instead he showed me, via a sudden memory flooding my mind, of Azad, as Clang, with his hand at my shoulder channeling his power into me in order to help save Joanne's life.

We have the substance committed to memory, Slip resonated.

Use it as inspiration, I thought, I want our bones to be stronger and more resilient, but not to the degree Azad has done to himself. We need to remain light, if that's possible.

It's possible, Slip resonated.

That's including the sinew and tendons? I thought.

Yes, Slip resonated, metallic-with-rubber-flesh-bones, and with rubber-flesh sinew and tendons.

Work in the blood-resin with the sinew and tendons too, I thought, it'll need to be that way because of the blood-resin.

Will do, Slip resonated.

The maelstrom all around ebbed and flowed like the interior walls of a beating organ made of light.

Slip and I continued on working through the finer details of how the power was going to transform my body into its next upgraded stage. It was so clear how that progress was going to be made now that we had reached it. Much like with the Intuition power in general, the progress of all I had seen and done was reaching its latest culmination.

Among the many new aspects of the transformation taking effect, there was something I had to make sure was specified with Slip before it was overlooked.

Slip, I thought, I want you to create a perfect recall of all my memories, as well as how I look as Burgess.

What is the purpose of that? Slip resonated.

Again, he knew perfectly well, but he also knew helping me work through it helped the entire process we were going through together.

I want to be able to tap into that memory of myself at will, I thought, I don't want to forget who I really am. Creating a perfect memory of Burgess for me to tap into will help with that.

Very well, Slip resonated.

And I knew Slip was doing as I asked because all the memories of my life flooded my mind, like looking through a picture album that somehow had taken a snapshot of every second of my life – enough albums to fill the library of Alexandria, and then some.

And all too soon it was time for the transformation to reach its end. Despite going over thousands of minute aspects of the change within my own mind alongside Slip, I would have to wake to see what we had accomplished together.

The maelstrom slowed, the beating organ of light slowing to vague pulsations.

Even within my disembodied state within the dreamspace I couldn't help but feel afraid.

What if I had chosen the wrong aspects to change? What if I would wake to find I had transformed myself into an even more ghoulish creature?

The time to make any additional changes had come to an end. The dreamspace was closing, and the light of reality was pouring in.

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