[TS-14] MK-AC-01 Unexpected Soldier

[Lord Pouchlaw]

Colonel Aaron Catholic, age 24, Army: Special Forces Division

[TS-14] MK-AC-01 Unexpected Soldier.
By Darrel Vanwinkle (Lord Pouchlaw)
12/21/2022

Chapter 01

Fort Jackson, SC; USA North America.

"Today we are to embark on a fantastic project, gentlemen. We will need a volunteer to work with the chosen Black System Operations Labrador Retriever. We would prefer to have a soldier whom has no family at home. The hours will be long and likely very trying to get the dog to do as we like. If you meet these qualifications, step forward out of line and we will do background checks on each one of you. You will also get a physical to make sure you are in the right health."

In addition to a Colonel, seven other soldiers stepped out of line to present themselves to be tested to be the newest project.

One soldier said to the Colonel, "Why would you volunteer for something like this? Aren't the rest of us expendable before someone like you would want to take this ride?"

The Colonel replied, "Just in case the others prove inadequate, they will have me as a back up volunteer. Besides, the only woman I ever loved was killed in the line of duty a week before we were to have gotten married; so I have no family at home."

When the physical had ended, the Colonel was drawn aside by one of the project scientists where he was told, "I am not sure I trust the privates, Aaron. I pushed for an officer to be selected for this project. Privates might have mental issues when dealing with a canine. You are well established and I think you could handle the pressures that you would be involved in. You didn't fall all to pieces when your lady love was killed in action over the Middle East. She knew the risks and you knew the risks. Come with me after the head brass begins to process the privates for the integrity tests, which I feel they will fail."

Aaron quietly replied, "Okay, Hank; you're one of my only friends in the Army. The moment I can get away, I'll join you."

Later within the Colonel's personal quarters, he had taken a necessary shower to remove the sweat and stink of the summer sun they were experiencing currently. Now he stood in front of his dressing room mirror admiring his naked body and somewhat good looks. Five foot eleven inches tall with an athletic slender build at first glance, Aaron often worked out at the base gym to build his strength and perform what the brass would call girly gymnastics. He had black hair, aquamarine eyes and lightly tanned skin from simply being assigned to this base. He then got dressed in his Colonel's uniform and boots as he placed his cap on his head and he went to the exit of his quarters to go to his meeting with his friend.

[Get used to this one description because YOU, the reader, will likely never see it again.]

Evading his superior officer and several base guards while en route to his destination seemed suspicious to the Colonel since at any other time, they would be over at the mess hall getting dinner.

Since the training base was not under official lock down, he continued to be suspicious from all the guards he saw as he while going over to Hank's place.

Hank lived directly behind the research facility instead of having excellent quarters like the other scientists had on base. Another suspicious circumstance. Arriving at the door, Aaron gave the secret knock and when the door opened, he stepped inside and he placed his hands up behind his head and waited. Hank emerged from where he had been watching as he ran a bug finder up and down Aaron's uniform and boots entirely. Thankfully, no tell-tale beep was produced and Hank took his guest downstairs into his private labs. "I am so glad you got here without getting tagged. Although the base is not under official lock down, since they announced the start of their project, the base has been on secret alert against assailants whom would want this project to fail. The other scientists have said that my methods are not according to regulation because of that, I've been downgraded in the project. Most of these pompous scientists are from the failed Project Our Hero base in Rhode Island. When they learned what I had been working on, they swarmed in and took over my project and research while getting the brass on their side to downgrade me in my own project. However, I still have one trick up my sleeve which they will learn the hard way after I activate it."

Aaron smirked. "You were always good with the diarrhea pranks back in college. Is that similar to what is going to happen with the others?"

Hank grinned. "I hate to target the privates, but if I am not running my project, then they all get the runs. You are the only one I trust. I just hope you don't hate me after you have this done to you."

Aaron arched an eye as to what Hank was implying before he, without warning, felt an injection into his body from behind his neck from a hidden mechanical syringe on a robotic arm. Hank caught his friend and guided him over to a cot in a medical kennel like room. He then removed all of the Colonel's clothes and left him laying there on the cot while he went out and watched the progress on a secret monitor. Vital signs were monitored as the process began to take hold. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my Quad Counties Toonium Research, Aaron. Tricking Krypto the Super Dog into donating some of his Kryptonian saliva was not easy, but I got it and now we will have a government issue super dog to do jobs for us."

At the head brass' main officer, a few patrol guards reported, "Col. Aaron Catholic is not in his quarters, sir. He seems to be missing. There has been no reports of his leaving the base at all. You told us to keep an eye on him since he volunteered for the project and now, no one can find him at all, sir."The Base commander picked up his phone and he called the Project scientists. "Aaron Catholic is missing, doctors! Do you have him there? And what further reports do you have for me from the labs?" The reply he got was the following: "Every Private we administered the serum to developed chronic diarrhea and barely got into the restrooms to empty out their bowels. The Colonel is not among them, sir. However, he volunteered as a backup volunteer in case the others failed the process."

Another scientist said, "I do know that Dr. Hank whom had been secretly working on this project without consent is friends with the Colonel. If you were to raid his private labs, you might find the Colonel there, if it's not too late."

The Base Commander got up and dragged several armed guards with him as they converged on Hank's quarters in the back of the base. Finding all of the doors and windows locked, he ordered the guards to break in and shoot any resistors.

When Hank heard the break in upstairs, he pulled a lever to seal off the entrance to his underground labs. Thus when the guards searched the ground floor, they found nothing. A metallic door in the back led into the main research labs and when they searched that building, again, they found no trace of Hank nor Aaron. "Sound the base alarm! No one IN nor OUT without my authorization!" And Hank heard the base alarms going off. "Oh well, like Radar before me, time to make ourselves scarce. Robots, use the underground drive tunnels to evacuate the research labs. And bring our test subject with us. I gave him the empowerment serum."

Despite security being on high alert to prevent all movement from leaving or entering the base, it was to no avail as Hank, his robots and the test subject were removed from Fort Jackson and taken to Aaron's home town to a place Hank owned locally that had not seen use since the boys left town to work for the military. It had once been the city's old storm bunker in case of atomic war or tornadoes, but Hank had revamped it to be a verifiable research fortress. Choosing the better part of valor just to stay on the government's good side, Hank contacted Pentagon Head Secretary Hannah Seasons and General Osric Sloan to inform them of what had gone down and how he had to move his project out of Fort Jackson. He even mentioned the scientists from Our Hero, which made Osric growl. He despised them.

Hannah declared. "Don't run off again, Hank. Osric and I will come and authorize absolute permissions with the government to continue your research. How is the test subject taking all of this?"

Hank replied, "I am keeping him unconscious for now so the changes can complete themselves without driving his sanity out of his mind. The ignorant Our Hero scientists were going to let the Privates stay awake throughout the transformation. They would have gone crazy."

Osric remarked, "And now you know why I don't like those idiots."

End of Chapter 01

[Lord Pouchlaw]

Chapter 02

Project Heavenly Howlers; Kingwood, WV, USA; North America.

Hannah and Osric finished their inspection of Hank's new base. "This is a nice arrangement, Hank," said Hannah. "Not bad for your hometown."

One robot then said, "Master. Test subject is waking up. Transformation complete." Hank said to his guests, "You two can watch from the monitor for your own safety. I need to go in and instruct him on how the restoration to his human self occurs." And he turned on a monitor as he went into the test subject's chamber.

Aaron, having not being aware of his new form, had lifted his head and when he saw Hank he said, "I feel a draft, Hank. I should kill you for poking me with a needle. If you chipped me, you are so dead."

Hank said, "Calm down, old friend. No chip; I swear. Now listen to my instructions so we can get you back into your clothes. For the record, we had to leave Fort Jackson. We are back in Kingwood at the moment." He then had Aaron clear his mind and he explained that the empowerment source came from Krypto the Super Dog and since Super Dog and Superman came from Planet Krypton, then the word of transformation was the same as their home world. "Thus, you could say, Great Krypton, but only the second word causes the transformation. At the moment, you are not human, Aaron. You are in the Labrador Retriever form. Clothing makes the change when you transform from now on. I made sure we didn't lose any of your clothes you were wearing when you came to see me. Now give this a try."

Aaron asked, "What decides the fur coloration on the empowered dog?"

Hank replied, "Unless you were a Platinum Blond, then there is no chance of looking identical to Krypto. Since as a human you had black hair, your body fur is also black. Thankfully, your eye color and your voice stays the same. Now change back so I can be relieved that I programmed the empowerment serum in the right way. Once you get used to your super dog form, we can send you on missions. However, my nickname for your form is Midnight. But if you want to call it something else, let me know what name you want to use. Now please take your human form back. Just focus on your sexy human form and I will live to see another day."

Aaron hopped off the bed and landed on his new paws as he ignored the pain and he struck his pose and he exclaimed, "Great Krypton!" A globe of darkness enveloped Midnight's dog body as he felt his human form return and he no longer felt the dog fur all over his body. "Now I really feel cold, Hank. Hand me my clothes. I know I am hot but that doesn't mean I want to expose myself to the public." The globe of darkness subsided and Aaron appeared as naked as he had been in his human form. Hank handed him his undergarments, socks, uniform and shoes. Aaron got dressed and he said, "If I am not chipped, how would you keep track of me later?" Hank said, "We will give your canine a collar and backpack combo. The GPS and communicator would be in the front of the collar." Aaron grinned.

The gold collar with double crossed arrows formed the insignia on the front of the metallic dog collar while a Jungle Green backpack made for a dog would be positioned on the canine's back.

Aaron struck his pose and he exclaimed, "Great Krypton!" A globe of darkness enveloped his human form as he felt himself lowering down into the quadruped canine form. When the darkness subsided, Hank helped him into his collar and backpack combination. "This isn't too shabby, Hank. How are we going to explain this to the government. I know you originally wanted to showcase this project as a Spy Dog endeavor for the government's usage where a human entering a foreign nation might be noticed where a dog wouldn't be." Hank said, "The initial form is only part one of the project, Aaron. Brace yourself as I do this next part. Like Krypto and Superman, the light of the yellow sun will activate the rest of your powers but only in your canine form. Sadly, And please don't kill me... this is a one way ride."

He pulled a lever and a shaft of pure yellow sunlight shown down from sky light in the ceiling as Aaron felt his body super charge with solar energy. The next thing Aaron knew, he was floating in mid air and then he started playing with all of the other powers he knew the Super Dog had. X-Ray vision would be super fun. "You have forty-three cents in change in your right pants pocket and a pack of Wrigley's gum in your left pants pocket. X-ray vision seems to work." And then he was flying around within the test subject chamber. "Hannah and Osric are having a discussion about how to put my form to good use. I activated my super hearing. Hannah is saying that she doesn't think a lowly scientist should be in charge of this project. In other words, she is starting to act like the Our Hero scientists. Osric is saying that the choice should be ours since we know each other. Osric is completely on our side; his heart rate didn't skip a beat. I think we need to confront those two so they know that we are not stupid." And Hank and Midnight left the test chamber and were soon in the guests' midst. Hank said, "If I cannot be in charge of my own project, then I will inform the Quad Counties that you had me steal material from their park to make this project work. They already don't like you people." Midnight said, "Where Hank goes, I go."

Osric arched an eye as he looked pointedly into Midnight's eyes. "You were testing your super hearing, weren't you?"

The Labrador nodded his head. "Hannah was starting to act just like the Our Hero scientists whom convinced the Fort Jackson commander that Hank should not be in charge of his own project! Remove Hank and I won't do as anyone says anymore! I'll go public!"

Osric Sloan looked at Hannah and said, "They are within their personal rights since Aaron is the one stuck with the canine at the moment. He and Hank are old friends, so we should let them stay together; later when we learn how the program works, we could try it with different scientists; but I get the feeling, just as Hank told us that they intended to do at Fort Jackson, they would botch the whole thing. These are the people whom deliberately made Lt. Lazarus Greene's project fail when he was first introducing Our Hero to the government. It was as if these so-called scientists didn't want the empowerment process to work. I investigated Our Hero once and their practices never matched up with Lt. Greene's guidelines."

Hannah said, "Independent scientists are easily tempted by loads of money from foreign investors. Aaron, you know your friend; how likely would Hank switch sides if enough money was presented in front of him?"

Aaron growled. "Hank has never sold out before at anything. People have waved money in his face and he reported them to the principal at the high school."

Hank then threw in, "Just because you were a never convicted supervillain in your earlier years whom would have sold out in a heart beat is no reason to assume that others would do as you did."

Hannah blinked her eyes. "I don't know what you are talking about, Hank. That is a nasty accusation."

Hank reached over to a monitor and tapped in a code and on the screen was a Canadian Newspaper article with a wedding picture of Hannah Seasons and a Canadian superhero involved in Mackenzie's empowered forces division. The man's name was listed as Henri D'Avignon Burke AKA Polar Plexus, a powerful Psionic superhero under Mackenzie's Special Forces RCMP command. The rest of the article explained that the hero had taken a leave of absence to witness the birthing of his child and promptly was never seen again. There was a movement going on to launch a full scale investigation on the Seasons family to get to the truth of this matter. A follow-up story revealed that Psi-Khan had been unmasked in New York City by accident and a camera man had taken her picture. The photo revealed Hannah Seasons wearing the Psi-Khan costume albeit without the mask. The expression on her face was pure rage since her mask had been knocked off her face by accident and the cat was out of the bag at that point. At the time, the heroes did not know whom she was, but somehow, the Canadian newspaper had gotten a hold of that picture when they realized that the woman in costume was the same woman marrying the now missing agent. "Care to explain yourself, Psi-Khan? Do I get to stay in charge of my project or does the Pentagon get to see this news story? I was keeping quiet when I saw that you were the woman in the photos, but now it's ultimatum time. This is my project and I mean business this time. You pull my plug and I return the favor and then the whole continent gets to see you squirm when Mackenzie visits Washington D.C. asking about the woman in the photos by her civilian name."

Osric Sloan then said, "At the end of the seventies, I interviewed Madame Borva and I offered her a deal to remove her past dealings from the public legal records in exchange for all forty some odd civilian names of the United Crime Syndicate on both sides; she complied."

End of Chapter 02

[Lord Pouchlaw]

Chapter 03

Osric then grinned. "I've known your real identity for a while. But since you were never convicted for Psi-Khan's crimes, I was letting you give your civilian life a chance to monetize the profits of an honest legal job. I would advise that you let Hank stay in charge. Or else I help Hank when I reveal to the entire government who's been snooping through their records. I am also aware of Borva Bay, an illegal criminal gambling town just South of D.C."

Aaron remarked, "I haven't gotten to use my new heat vision on a crook yet."

Hannah said, "Fine. Under the agreement that you never sell out. I want Osric to hear you give your word."

Hank looked Osric directly in the eye. "I swear to always be loyal to the US Government as long as Col. Aaron Catholic is not at odds with them. If he gets the shaft, my deal with you people is over. Then you get to deal with Atticus."

Osric remarked, "A word of advice, Hank... drop the word Project from your research if you want to retain control over your work. To call it a project implies that the government has permission to take over the operation on a whim. I have an independent study of my own going on which is called Dream Boy Junior. The original Project Dream Boy was a spin-off of Our Hero and the same scientists went in and screwed up the entire research effort. When they hear that someone else is having more success than they are having, they get a commission from the government to get permission to go in and get the new project under authorized control. Otherwise known as, 'We gotta screw it up!'. That way, they can report back that the project was falsely reporting successes."

Hannah said, "He's right. Now that we have seen that Heavenly Howlers can be done under the proper circumstances, we can keep the 'Our Hero turds' away from you. And please; Kevin thinks his father is still alive. I know it won't last long. Henri defended me from Kevin's Psionic mind-lashes during birth. Henri took the full brunt of Kevin's attacks; if Kevin were to learn that he killed his own father by accident, then he would be inconsolable. Kevin's full name is Kevin Burke Seasons. I now need to get the true story back to Mackenzie so she doesn't think I killed my own husband. He was always so good to me, despite my wanting to work until the day of my birthing Kevin. After Kevin was born, I retired Psi-Khan and applied for work in the Pentagon as a secretary. My crony Ivan Kingsley was an inspiration."

Osric added, "Perhaps when Aaron isn't performing government missions, he could conduct Rescue Dog services locally for the public. The kids would likely love to see the new doggy."

Osric then said, "We need to go conduct a surprise inspection on Fort Jackson. Come on, Hannah. We need to let the dog fans work."

Hannah grinned. "I am itching to confront the Our Hero scientists whom had abandoned their acquired project up North." And the two big wigs left.

Aaron took off flying within the outer chamber. "Never treat me like a dog, Hank. Is there a catch to these powers that you are monitoring?"

Hank replied, "Yours was the first time I had ever worked with a transformation trigger. As in, use the dog form sparingly. I really don't want you to get stuck like that."

Aaron landed and changed back into his human form. "A transformation time limit. I wish you had mentioned that in front of Seasons and Sloan. If I get stuck, I will not be silenced. I will make you out to the mad scientist instead of the nice friend. Dr. Jekyll cannot wait to change your kids into beasts if you let him. Tell me the truth, what was the fluid source of the empowerment you injected me with?"

Hank replied, "You heard what I told the others; I got the saliva donation from Krypto the Super Dog at Holiday Land. He normally lives in the Quad Counties; but I got lucky to see him at Holiday Land and he had been complaining about a bad taste in his mouth. I used some of my mint swab sticks to take a saliva sample from his mouth and tongue. Afterward, he said that his mouth tasted all minty. He thanked me and headed off to help his friend Ace the Bat Hound."

Aaron nearly exploded when he heard that part. "HANK! Krypto lives in Toonium Central! The damned shit is in everything in the Quad Counties! Food, water, poop, saliva and even their blood if they are toons! You contaminated me with Toonium!"

He was still growling as he headed for the outer door. "I need someone to help me get this shit out of me! I don't want to be a damned toon!"

Hank replied, "If you're to be out and about, stay in your human form and only change if the person offering to help asks you to change. I'm not sure if the GPS tracker will work in the Quad Counties. And don't have sex with anyone."

Aaron growled again. "You are a pervert, Hank! What a quack!" And he went out the door.

Commandeering a Kingwood police car with the promise to bring it back, Aaron drove down to the Quad Counties in the state of Georgia making a few fueling stops along the way. Getting directions from a few toon cops, he was soon headed into Comita, the superhero mecca of the Quad Counties. Locating Star Labs in the city was not difficult; but when they tried to prevent him from going inside, he blatantly told them, "My mad scientist of a friend stole Kryptonian saliva from Krypto's mouth and injected the fluids into my blood stream. Either let me in to get help, or else, I'll go PUBLIC! I am sure the Safe Visitation Committee would love to hear how I am being denied medical help!" Superman got called in at that point and he arrived with Lois Lane. Aaron explained his sorry tale to Superman and Lois.

Lois remarked, "What an idiot! I thought everyone knew that Toonium was flowing throughout every toon in the Counties!"

Superman said, "Star Labs cannot help you with this; Instead, I need to take you to Montropolis to use their Anti-Toonium Electrolysis Extractor to get this shit out of you. It won't feel good while you're getting this done. The problem with using saliva as a base is that over time, the saliva evaporates and all that is left behind is the Toonium fluids. The more stable way to go would be to get a Kryptonian blood transfusion but that is just as painful as the extractor. Your friend should have known better. Since the ending form was to have been a government issue super dog, then Krypto's blood would have to be used. He is sometimes squeamish and I am sure he will also be upset that your friend tricked him."

Aaron said, "Superman, I don't want to lose my human form when making use of the black Super Dog form. Hank said that the fur color was always dependent upon the human's natural hair color. Lois would be a black super dog while Jimmy would be red."

An hour later, Superman had Aaron at Montropolis where he spoke to their experts about cleaning Aaron's condition and possibly giving him what was promised to him. Two different versions of Krypto arrived when Superman used the dog whistle; one was the 60s/70s version and the other was the newest version that Warner brothers were developing for a brand new children's series involving the super pets. When Superman asked which Super Dog that the human scientist had swabbed the mouth of with the minty swabs, the primary version wagged his tail and nodded his head. "Oh my gosh... he is super saturated in Toonium. The new age Krypto would have been far cleaner." He then explained to the dogs what had been done. The classic Krypto hung his head and looked sorry.

Aaron said, "Since my stupid friend tricked him, I cannot be mad at Krypto."

Classic Krypto barked and wagged his tail over the fact that this nice human was forgiving him.

End of Chapter 03

[Lord Pouchlaw]

Chapter 04

The new age Krypto actually spoke. "I've heard some mad scientist plots before, but this one really takes the cake. What was your black super dog name going to be, Col. Catholic?" Aaron replied, "The idea was to call myself Midnight the Special Forces Super Dog. I was to have had a transformation trigger that would permit me to change forms when the human was needed or when the dog would be more inconspicuous."

Krypto said, "I can see the benefit in that. But for the love of God; NOT from a saturated Toonium source; you could lose your humanity entirely if you stayed in dog form for too long. How many times have you used the dog form up to now?"

Aaron thought back. "The initial transformation and the initial use of the transformation trigger so I could be human again. He had me get dressed into my military clothes and then he had me change into the dog form again where upon he put my new Special Forces Gold collar on me as well as my Jungle Green backpack for dogs. Then he pulled a lever which bathed my dog body in Yellow sun light. After that, I was testing my powers that I knew Krypto would have. After we got rid of Osric and Hannah, I got Hank to admit that there was a transformation time limit and I shifted back to my human form immediately. I was angry. Then he revealed where he had gotten the fluids sample and I almost wanted to kill him. I knew I needed help at that point. So I traveled down here via police car to get professional help."

He then added, "I haven't used the dog form since. How close to the threshold am I?"

New age Krypto looked to Superman and then they both turned to Aaron. "You were wise to seek help after the second time as the dog," remarked Superman. "Had you changed into the dog three times, your human form would have been gone."

Krypto then said, "We need to extract the Toonium out of you first, then I will give you the clean super blood transfusion."

Aaron said, "The word of Transformation is the same as your home world, except I was putting the word Great on the front of it. But only the home world name word could cause the transformation."

Superman said, "If we don't detox you and fix this empowerment madness from an amateur, then the next time you became the dog, you would be stuck. Since the fluid samples came from the classic Krypto, you could even lose your voice over time."

Krypto said, "Your friend should be spanked for playing recruiter like this. Even General Osric Sloan said he would never want an empowerment from a Toonium source."

Aaron remarked, "Then let's get this started. My initial transformation occurred while I was unconscious."

Superman said, "I am glad you brought that up; to fix this, you need to be unconscious for the detox."

Aaron sighed and stood up straight. "Do it, I am ready."

After that, the Colonel was unconscious for the extractor detox and the preparation of the new age Krypto blood transfusion. Had he been awake, he likely would have gone out of his mind screaming.

Even Hank's faulty transformation trigger had to be removed and destroyed since it was contaminated. With a new and safer transformation trigger in place and a pure donation of new age Krypto's blood transfused into Aaron's bloodstream, Superman and Krypto were looking at a screen that showed Aaron in his military uniform on one side and the black super dog known as Midnight on the other side. The gold collar with the Special Forces insignia on it along with the Jungle Green backpack were impressive. "I am glad we were able to stabilize and save Midnight," stated Superman. "He has that important look about him." Krypto added, "I just hope his friend Hank wasn't going to do this to any other soldiers." Superman made a face when his dog said that. "That sounds like something DUMB they would do."

At the end of the process, Aaron was revived and he was informed that he should only change into Midnight once per twenty four hour period. After changing back to a human, he should avoid the power for a full day or risk getting stuck that way regardless. "We cannot perform this operation twice in a real world human. The next time, you might have to turn to the Arranger in New York City. He never does anything for free. Your friend almost killed you by accident. We've done what we can. The monitors say there is no Toonium within your body at all. I think you should return home. We have added a call frequency into your cellphone and your dog collar for getting a message to either myself or to Krypto just in case you get into some trouble somewhere."

For the drive back, Aaron chose to call Osric Sloan to update him on what had happened and how he no longer trusted Hank. Osric would meet up with Aaron in Kingwood and then escort him over to Dreamboy Junior in Cherokee, North Carolina.

Dreamboy Junior; Cherokee, NC; USA, North America

Upon arriving at Sloan's personal training center, Aaron saw the Arranger and his wife the Attorney. Osric explained what the cuckoo friend had attempted to do and of the fix Superman and the new age Krypto attempted to perform on the Colonel and then money changed hands and Arnold Ranger began examining Aaron Catholic. "Boy, people love to play god. Tell me Aaron, would you still want this empowerment as it was promised to you? I ask because Superman never repaired the next dog change issue. They simply assumed it was repaired. I would say Atticus pulled the super strings to mess up the attempted fix. I am glad you called Sloan before heading home. I can repair this entirely."

Aaron said, "I like the form's idea, but I don't want to be stuck as a dog. Even if it occurs eventually, I don't want a Kryptonian base. Kryptonite and red sun light as well as magic all seem like lame weaknesses that everyone on Earth seem to have access to."

Arranger said, "There is a fix I can give you that would be like a slap in the face to Superman. Super Duper Crazy Cat originated from a Green Star world. Dogs were unheard of there since the primary inhabitants were feline. But they did have canine species in the wilds. If we replace the Kryptonian Dog with Capniptonian Lupine and alter the appearance so it appears to be a Labrador Retriever, no one would be the wiser. But in order to make this work, we need to flip your base form. Instead of a human whom becomes a dog, you would be a dog whom can become human. We replace the transformation word with something easier to remember and leave it at that."

Aaron suggested, "Suppose the transformation would occur at will when I raised my paw to my forehead above my eyes in the saluting motion. But no, I might salute myself by accident. Let's just make it at will. Could you add shadow phasing to the super dog powers?"

Arranger grinned. "I could see the benefit of your having that power. Just hold still while we make the repairs."

When the Arranger wove his elder power, nothing else could hold a flame to his ability. This must have been why several 60s villains always trusted him. Can't Catch Me, Missed Me, Stop Sign Man. But the Arranger wasn't making a dumb villain this time; he was crafting a government issue super duper crazy dog. Midnight the Special Forces Dog. He was glad they opted for the Jungle Green Backpack; capes were so out of style. The special forces insignia on the collar definitely proved that Midnight was an Army dog. "Give it a try."

Aaron struck his pose as his body became a shadow of its former self as it flowed down into the canine shaped form before solidifying to reveal Midnight. Then he reversed the process and he changed back into his human form. "So far so good. How often can I use the power, Mr. Arranger?" Arnold replied, "I've extended your power use as the dog to three times a day before requiring a full meal." Aaron smiled. "I hope this is the last of the surprises in store for me." Arnold said, "If you break the trigger, then its the dog from then on."

End of Chapter 04

[Lord Pouchlaw]

Chapter 05

Aaron then said as a follow-up, "Could you make it so anything I envelop with my shadow ability destroys Toonium, reverting it to its non-magical components? I don't want any left over surprises. I'd like to be part of the cure and not just be a carrier of the contagion. I am suspicious that everyone keeps saying that I could get stuck as the dog even though the Toonium has been removed. I mean, there isn't a chance of it reforming, right?"

The Arranger had been about to get up and then he looked at Aaron carefully. "I think you are getting wiser the more you deal with this shit. Since I haven't left yet, I will grant that. Keep in mind, every time you transform, your entire body is being saturated with the Destructo Anti-Toonium Shadow Mist. If a pile of dust forms where you had been standing, then you nailed it. It reforms no matter what anyone does. Silicon is the only thing that can contain Toonium, meaning glass products or sand. If the transformation trigger breaks, get word to me and I will work on restoring your human form. I hate failing at anything. I have a reputation." And one weaving of the power later, Aaron transformed and exactly as he predicted, the pile of dirt and dust lay right where he had been standing. Arnold said, "Vile shit!"

Osric then stated, "Can you remove the magical reproducing properties that is empowering this shit from Aaron's body?"

Arranger said, "Honey, come here. I am going to attempt a dual effort of double the Elder Power to remove this vile garbage." After his wife came over and laid her glowing hands on her husband's shoulders, the attempt was made.

An eerie voice stated, "Unauthorized removal of Toonium Enchantment detected. Cease and desist or be bathed in a Toonium tidal wave."

Arranger said, "Magical protection from the originator. But there is one way around this; I had to get his help in doing something similar once before."

Aaron asked, "And whom might that be?"

Arranger said, "Everyone's favorite New York City cab driver, Monty Springfield. He is more than he appears. He can make Elder Powers seem like child's play. Let me send him a message and then we will secure a room for you to weave his awesome powers."

Moments later, what appeared to a five foot tall mouse man with miniature faun like horns on his head and wearing the uniform of a border patrol officer arrived in their midst. His prehensile tail was adorable. "Border Captain Fusion reporting as requested. What is the issue?"

The entire story was laid out for Fusion exactly as Aaron recalled it and of every cure attempt that has been performed on him, only to have this vile Toonium shit return each and every time. "Oh and... pardon my manners, you are turning me on."

Fusion giggled. "Its no crime in admiring my body. I am open minded when my wife is busy elsewhere. We don't live up each others butts. As for your Toonium infection, there is only one way to get rid of it. Normally when even a trace of the shit gets into your blood stream, it goes wild and spreads throughout the new host. You become nothing short of Albert Atticus' newest slave. I don't like explaining how I do this in front of a Toonium Source, so I will explain things after I clean you up. First of all, change back into your human form and strip entirely butt naked. Since I turned you on, you can do the same for me."

Aaron changed from his dog form back into his human form which resulted in yet another pile of dust around his feet which he stepped out of and into a sand box that Fusion had summoned. "Now hold your pose. Damned, you're hot. Too bad I didn't nab you before I met White Parrot." Memorizing the exact after effects that Aaron was asking for along with the suggested power changes and curative powers the Arranger and Aaron came up with, Fusion summoned what appeared to be a rolled up scroll of old brittle vellum that had arcane markings all over it. Then he muttered an indecipherable language older than time from before the Tower of Babel and he threw the old scroll at Aaron's feet in the sand box.

A massive power blast went off scouring anything Toonium touched into oblivion. Sand was thrown all over the chamber. Standing in the nearly empty sand box in his black Labrador Retriever form was Midnight wearing the collar and the backpack. When he attempted to change back into his human form, nothing happened. "Fusion... its not working; I'm stuck." Fusion examined him before saying, "Vile shit indeed. It activated a self-preservation mode and when it got destroyed, it took the human form with it. The body you currently have is all there is left. But before you go berserk, I can recreate your sexy human form as an added form so you can be human when you need to be human. That's another reason I wanted to see your hot human body."

Fusion now worked with the Hellhound version of the Catniptonian Lupine in Labrador Retriever form. Fusion had no qualms about playing around with Hellhounds; and Aaron took good looks to the next level. "Word of warning, Aaron. You can't just turn human and attempt to stay that way. When you sleep, you will automatically revert to your hard-on inducing hound form. As for what I did earlier, I made it so the minty swabs that Hank used were silicon based and when the Toonium Saliva sensed the silicon, it refused to stick to the swab. Hank did get the DNA from the Kryptonian Classic Krypto minus the Toonium, but trace amounts of Toonium were still present due to Hank handling the samples, thus contaminating them himself. Still the new age Krypto would have been a safer source."

He then added, "Please don't go public with this shit. There are thousands of transformation addicts out there whom would swarm the Quad Counties just to get the transformation they hoped to achieve. They would deliberately throw their lives away. They have conventions."

Aaron made a face of disgust on his hound muzzle. "The furry crowd; I've been hearing about them. They would rather be animal people than to be human."

He then smirked, "There's a rock song that nails what these people need to heed. You Can't Always Get What You Want, by the Rolling Stones from 1969."

Fusion giggled, since he was around during that age. "...But if you try sometimes, well, you might find, You get what you need... Oh, Yeah... You get what you need..." He then winked at Aaron whom got erect again. "I was driving my cab when they made that song."

The Devil Mouse then helped Midnight to make his erection go back down and the following session was to set up the secondary required human form for Aaron to make use of. After the man got dressed, he was back in his Government issue hound form again. "I guess this is it; even with Imperial Scroll power on behalf of God, Toonium proves to be more powerful than the Heavenly seat. Not even Lucifer came up with something as vile as this."

Lucifer appeared as a goat man in a snappy suit briefly. "I tend to do as God bids, which is to test his flock. I would never mess with Cat Lord Toonium." And he vanished.

Midnight said, "Damned... he is a snappy dresser; whom is his tailor?"

Fusion grinned. "You can't afford it. I need to get back to New York City; whom all needs a lift?" The Arranger and The Attorney joined Fusion and all three vanished out of the room.

Osric Sloan came over and hugged Midnight. "Now you know why I avoid Toonium like the plague. Spend enough time as a human when the Colonel needs to be present and then just before bed time, change back into Midnight for the full night's rest. I am sorry this is your life now. At least the human form without Toonium is preserved." Midnight sighed. "Is Hank affected by Toonium still?"

Osric said, "There is one way to find out. I have Toonium Detectors that sound an alarm when in close proximity to Toonium. If it goes off when I visit Heavenly Howlers, then the answer is yes. And you recall what you went through to get back to as normal as you could get."

End of Chapter 05