Hawaii Ch 5

Though the departure with this Wankia gal was sudden, I didn't get much time to talk anymore.  Michelle dragged me to the room after that.
She was still digging through her luggage as I emerged from the bathroom wearing something a lot more comfortable.  "Remind me why you and I are suddenly sharing a room?"
"Because Shelly and Emina wanted to spend more time together.  They're sisters, and they've never shared a room."  At least it was convincing that she had planned otherwise.  "Sounded kinda tragic to me, so I let them have their way."
"You're not planning on going out tonight already, are you?"
She retrieved a small jewelry box from her things.  "I'm glad I put luggage locks on this time."
"Michelle?"
"You bet I am."  She clasped the necklace around her neck.  A moment later, she focused and turned her left hand into a tire before it shrank back into a hand.  "He's gotta be up to something.  He's had three years to be up to something!"
"Just make me one promise."  I sat across from her on my bed.
"What?"
"That you'll not rush into anything foolishly.  Especially after what happened last time."
She smiled and headed for the door before putting her key card in her pocket.  "Don't be silly."
I didn't back down.  "Last time you rushed into something, you got caught off guard and tore your family apart.  Or am I mistaken?"
That stopped her in her tracks.  
"I can't stop you from going, but promise me you'll be careful.  Observe and retreat.  Okay?"
"I'll be careful.  Goodnight."
"Somehow I doubt you'll be gone that long.  It's a small island.  Likewise - the rental car is traced to you, while Summer-"
"Is a part of me."  She opened the door.  "Don't wait up."
The door closed a moment later.  "Just don't do anything foolish."

Michelle started her rounds at the lobby and toured the facilities.  Though many of the resort amenities closed at eleven PM, some like the outdoor pool and the cabanas did not until one, though lifeguards went home at ten.  Indoor facilities like the game room and the private theater showed nightly movies, but only from eight o'clock and closed once the movie - often a cable movie or something Hawaiian from the resort staff's library - ended.  
There was also a weight room and steam chamber, but Michelle knew to keep away from there.  She hadn't forgotten the last time she was inside a steam room, where she was placed under another mind control serum from Dr. Leo's goons.
After walking along the waterfront and the resort's private beach, Michelle convinced herself that she would have to enlist Emina or Shelly to search the nearby waters in case Leo had built anything underwater like he did in Eluthra.  
Convinced that there were no secret labs on the surface of the resort grounds, Michelle passed through the lobby towards the front.
"Miss?  Are you heading into town at this hour?" the front desk attendant asked.
"I am.  Unless I can't get back inside?"
"Only a few clubs are open on the weeknights, and the town shuts down around nine, just so you're aware."
"I'm not going out to party," Michelle replied.
"Well, do you have your room key, then?  You cannot get into any of the exterior doors without a room key after midnight."
"I have it."
"Then enjoy yourself."
Michelle pulled open the glass doors.  "We'll see."  On the north end of the property, Michelle kneeled to the pavement.  Convinced that there were no witnesses, she focused her attention on her hands, which turned into tires.  Her feet soon did the same, and even though it was a cooler night she proceeded to transform into Summer.  
The shadowy blue vehicle started its engine, turned on its headlights, and drove away looking for any sign of Dr. Leo.

I passed the time playing solitaire.  Shelly and Emina were busy doing sister things, and didn't seem to want my company.  Nauridia and Tony were probably at an anatomy lesson, and certainly didn't want any company either.
Seemed like a real quiet way to end what had been an exciting, if not frightening, day.  No more jumping out of planes for me.

From behind a warehouse near the airport - which was actually labeled as a storage shed for produce grown on the macadamia nut plantation further inland - Summer came to a stop and began to shrink back into her human form.
She had noticed a bright orange Pontiac Sunfire parked out front.  The rear view mirror had what resembled one of Shelly's scales hanging from it.
Now human, Michelle returned to her feet and checked the cargo door of the warehouse.  Light seeped out through the door, which had been closed improperly and was ajar.
She could hear voices.
"…our last shipment went well.  But if we keep losing planes to foolish endeavors, certainly we'll have to rethink our shipping strategy and our operation may have to refinance."
The voice belonged to someone that Michelle did not recognize.  But the second one….
"Were you able to recover the black box from the DC-3?"
Yes, Michelle realized.  That had been Dr. Leo.  What did he know about a crashed DC-3?
"My divers reported that the cockpit had suffered from extreme electrical interference, which must've shorted out the controls and the laptop that was keeping everything operational.  Once lit up like a Christmas tree, all it took was a single shock to disable the entire system."
"Which explains why we could not locate the wrecked plane at the predetermined coordinates that you provided."
Dr. Leo grumbled.  "Give an old friend a cheap plane, cheap pilots and cheap controls… I'm still miffed that you boys left the parachutes aboard."
"It's FAA regulations, boss… they failed the inspection without them…."
"You've failed your objective!  You had one job to do… and you failed."
"Why would you want them to crash land, boss?"
Michelle's eyes widened.  Someone slowly crept behind her.
"Don't you remember anything!  The idea was to bring them to the testing area, not kill them."  He paced the room.  "Goons in the Bahamas are so much more reliable."
Suddenly, Michelle found herself gagged and picked up.  She kicked and struggled as she engaged her necklace and turned her feet into tires, kicking backwards against the goon.  He continued to hold on to her, even as her legs began to grow longer.  Her hips were beginning to expand.
But the commotion outside already gave way her location.
"Something's happening outside.  Take care of it!"
Three more goons slid the cargo door open.  "It's her!"
Michelle's lower body was quickly expanding into a convertible as she scrambled to pull herself free from the goon who could no longer hold on.  Without a working engine, her rear tires were useless.
"Use the neural inhibitor!"
One of them fired a yellow beam, striking Michelle in the chest.  Though her transformation was slowly creeping into her upper body and even changing her hands into tires, the sensation quickly stopped and froze her changing body in mid-transformation.  Now as an odd car-human hybrid, she could only sit there and flail her remaining arms as the goons all surrounded her.
Dr. Leo appeared in the open doorway.  "Bring her inside.  Quickly."
The goons all surrounded her and struggled to pick her up.  "She's heavy, boss!"
"Use the fork lift if you have to!  Just get her inside and close that door, quickly!"

"If she starts to change any further, fire that neural inhibitor again," Dr. Leo ordered now that Michelle was dangling from a forklift, her upper torso, head and arms human while the rest of her, hands included, were all car.  
"I knew there was something going on here," Michelle said at last.
"All you heard was a small problem regarding my supply business.  Dynamite Cargo is responsible for the third greatest volume of macadamia nuts on this corner of the island."
"Then why is this warehouse empty?" Michelle asked.  She moved slightly on the forks of the forklift, as she was all but supported by her breasts and her fenders.
"Should I fire it, boss?" a goon wearing a newsboy cap asked.
Dr. Leo nodded.  He fired the handheld rifle-shaped laser towards Michelle, striking her in the armpit.  She went limp and slumped low, her arms and tires dangling towards the floor.
"A shipment left this afternoon."  Leo took the inhibitor rifle from the goon after whispering something to him quietly.  He then addressed all of them.  "The three of you clear out."
"Call us if you need us, boss."
"I am alone," Michelle replied.
Dr. Leo chuckled.  "Brave.  Foolish, but brave."  He waited until his goons had went into the other room.  "If its of any news to you, Miss Peyton, I haven't had the materials to make my mind control serums since I left Eluthra.  The key ingredient was from a rare plant in the Amazon that is far too expensive to recreate synthetically."
"Boo hoo."
"What I told you earlier was no lie.  Aside from this neural inhibitor, which was the last project I was able to work on at Chase Labs - as a hobby, mind you-"
"Bullshit."
He raised his voice.  "I have had no plans to advance my scientific goals any longer.  I am a resort operator.  That's all."
Michelle's body began to stretch slightly as her chest disappeared and turned into underbody metal.  
Dr. Leo raised the inhibitor.
"I'm not doing anything."
He lowered the laser.  "Your body is capable of completing the transformation, yes."
Michelle's body slowly continued to transform.  Her arms straightened and her tires joined with a linkage as her head and shoulders began to stretch into a hood and a windshield, while her face formed into the headlights, bumper and grill.  She was now completely Summer.
"Certainly you are more comfortable now?" Dr. Leo asked.
"I'm so grateful that you keep my well being in mind.  Especially since you tried to kill me!"
"Kill you?"  Dr. Leo put aside the inhibitor ray.  "My dear Summer, you are far too valuable to simply kill off.  Besides, I have told you before, you are my greatest creation -"
"I am Dr. Chase's creation!"
Leo continued unabated.  "And I am no longer interested in the science of Turbo Teen.  I am an entrepreneur, that's all.  On the contrary, I would hate to see you injured."
"Then why want me out of the way?"
He went over to a break area with a refrigerator and a few tables near the corner of the space.  "Because your girth will surely damage my delicate experiments."
"Which are…?"
"I am conducting an experiment in green energy that will lower the resort's electrical bill to nearly zero.  Surely you value the environment?"
"Since when do you give a shit about the environment?"
Dr. Leo retrieved a small bag of ice cubes from the freezer.  "I've met with many environmentalists who have came to Hawaii for its natural educational talents.  Volcano hunters, turtle students, those who are on a tour to the Galapagos Islands… all of these natural wonders need to be protected."
"That doesn't sound profitable!"
He smiled as he tossed the bag of ice onto her hood.  "You have no idea.  Corporate America has certainly seen 200% returns on green industry practices just in the last five years.  With the recession and the oil crisis looming, everyone's hoping to make money in alternative energy venues.  And what's greener than getting free electricity?"
"Paying for it like everyone else."  Summer could feel the ice melting on her hood as she began to shrink.  Her automotive features were beginning to fade away.
Dr. Leo crossed his arms and sighed.  "It's just like we discussed last time we met.  You do not trust me, and I can see that there will be no reasoning with you so long as you do not trust my intentions."
Michelle's head and upper torso had already returned, as did her legs, stomach and waist.  She was now suspended across both forks of the forklift, weighted down only by her tires which were still attached to her hands and feet.   "There's no trusting you."
Leo nodded.  "It seems, then, that I will never earn your trust.  Even if I had it once."
Michelle was now fully human.  She could move, and held onto one of the forks of the forklift before dangling from it with her hands and dropping to the ground.  "You never had it."
"Ahh, but I did.  For about four days, in fact.  I remember."
"Oh?"
"The first four days you knew me, when you first became Summer.  Memories, memories."
"Yeah, memories."  Michelle crossed her arms.  "Just think how much better my life would've been if I hadn't met you."
Outside, a police car pulled up as blue and red lights flooded the area and seeped into the closed space of the warehouse.
"A shame we couldn't have gotten to know each other on more favorable terms.  I regret now that we could not have the same relationship you share with Thomas."
The door was slid aside as a pair of uniformed policemen appeared.  "Did you report trespassing, Dr. Leo?"
"Yes.  Please return this young woman to her hotel."
"Are you charging her with trespassing?"
Dr. Leo shook his head, smiling.  "No no.  A case of misunderstanding.  She is in fact a friend of mine, but it is past her bedtime."
"So I shouldn't arrest her?" the second officer asked.
"I would consider it a personal favor, Officer Auge, if you escorted her back to the Koolahula Resort."
"Very well.  Come on."  The officer motioned for Michelle to follow.
Michelle gave the doctor a knowing stare.
"We will discuss everything tomorrow night at dinner, my treat.  Enjoy your evening."
The officer opened the back door to the patrol car, and Michelle climbed inside without incident.
"Thank you, Officer Auge."
"Right."
Both police officers returned to their vehicles and turned off their lights.  Officer Auge put the car into drive and exited the warehouse parking lot.
After a silent ride, he pulled up to the valet station at the resort and exited the car before opening the back door from the outside.  "You'll be sure not to bother the doctor again, right?"
"As long as he's not doing anything illegal, officer."
"And if he is, you'll call me."  He closed the back door.  "Don't take the law into your own hands."
Michelle stood back as he climbed back into the driver's seat and took off.  "My own hands, officer?  If only you knew what my hands were capable of."  She put her finger between her neck and her sapphire necklace before heading toward the lobby door.
Finding that the lobby doors were locked, she used her key card and went inside.  The front desk was unattended, but by the time she headed towards the elevators someone came to the desk..
"Ah!  I thought I saw a police car at the valet station."
"Nope, just an ordinary car."  Michelle pushed the button for the elevator.  
"Ah."  He went into the back office.
Michelle smiled to herself.  "Me."

For the next few hours, I felt like I couldn't sleep because Michelle all but refused to.
"Michelle… please go to sleep."
"This cannot stand, Gregory!  I know he's up to something, I just know it!"
I rolled over under the covers.  "Listen.  I know that you were only trying to follow your instincts when you went after Kane Rider.  I also know that you cannot ignore those instincts.  But it's two AM, and this is supposed to be a vacation."
"Which is why I've been doing all the driving?"
"No," I pulled the covers over my head.  "Which is why you rented the Dodge Caliber."
"So that's how it is?  I suddenly begin to turn into a car…" she adjusted the air conditioner a quarter turn colder, "and I'm suddenly responsible for being everyone's personal escort service?"
"We've never asked you to do that.  Often times it's just easier for everyone…"
"How is it easier?  Easier for me?"
"Easier because we only have one car to deal with."
"So I need to be dealt with now?  I'm a liability?"
"No."  I sighed beneath the covers.  "You're not a liability.  Please don't make this about you."
"But it is about me!  If it wasn't about me, we wouldn't be here."
"You are here.  I'm happy that you're here.  You're my friend.  That is more important than anything."
"Friends listen to each other.  Friends don't take advantage of each other."
"Nobody's taking advantage of you!  We've always thought that you enjoyed driving.  You've never complained before.  If you've always felt this way-"
"This is just pointless.  The real threat is here, on this island, and all you can do is sleep."
"It's two am!  Nobody conquers the world at two am!"
And it went on like that.  For another two hours.  Finally, at around four o'clock between brief moments of silence, turning off and turning on lights, pounding the pillows and a great deal of pacing, Michelle finally began to yawn.  Though she normally wore something lighter when she slept - such as a t-shirt or boxers - she simply turned off the lights and just slept atop the covers.  
I might've been tempted to say something reassuring, but I figured that would just light the fire again.  So I let sleeping dogs lie, and finally attempted to get some sleep myself.

Around eight thirty, the room phone rang.  I heard it, but I slept on.
Nine o'clock.  This time I answered it, not even bothering to open my eyes.
"Yes?"
"Greg, are you and Michelle up and about?" Shelly asked.
"No."
"There was this breakfast place down the road I wanted to try."
"Go for a swim and come get me later.  I didn't sleep."
"No?  Why?"
"Shelly, darling…"
"All right, we'll postpone it for an hour.  Emina and I will go for a swim and then we'll come back."
"Great.  We'll shoot for ten."
"Hopefully they'll still be open."
"Me too.  Goodnight."
"Okay."  Click.