[M->F TGTF, Instincts/Muscle Memory Changes]

[Non-con, Deception]

Nathan looked around the dark, dingy basement. He was in a part of The City he didn’t know and he didn’t trust, but, in his eyes, fate had forced him here. A friend of a friend of a friend had reached out to Nathan, and let him know that there was a solution to his particular problem. This extended acquaintance hadn’t offered much explanation of how this problem would be solved, but Nathan knew it was likely a creative solution.

It’d been minutes, and his eyes finally adjusted to the dim lighting. More clearly now, he could see the pair of men sitting opposite him at the small plastic folding table, and a sheet covered object behind them. A quick glimpse around him confirmed that, yes, the men in each of the four corners of the room were indeed holding large rifles. Nathan took a moment to ask himself - internally of course - if this was worth it. Then he thought about what brought him here, and couldn’t say no.

For years, he’d been working on a pet project at home, a piece of software that was quickly making more and more money and potentially soon would be profitable enough to leave his day job. Of course, it was completely divorced from his professional career so that there’d be no conflicts of interest. Except, his manager accidentally let it slip to someone higher up on the totem pole that this pet project existed.

The speed with which the lawyers seized the software was incredible to Nathan. Apparently his employment contract had a clause in it that anything he made outside of work was the property of his work. Despite the legality, it didn’t make anything feel more fair, and Nathan let his grievance be known to anyone who would listen, as well as many who wouldn’t. Eventually, Nathan made his way to the owner of the company, Mark, who offered little in the way of sympathy.

“Keep your head down, do your job, and we’ll see what comes of this,” was all Mark had to offer. It wasn’t enough for Nathan, and after some choice vocabulary, Nathan was escorted off the premises with a stern instruction to never return. His final check would be mailed to him, along with the contents of his desk. He was terminated.

Nathan brought himself back to the present, and the cold cellar he currently was in. The past would give him a reason to move forward, and he nodded at the men across the table. They nodded back without a word, and set a briefcase on the table. They opened it, and inside of it were two vials. One pink, one blue. Digging into his pocket, Nathan pulled out an envelope and set it timidly on the table. His life savings - and then some - was in that envelope, and then men wasted no time in counting it. Seemingly they were satisfied, because they smiled and nodded at the gunmen, who relaxed their grips on their rifles.

“Two liquids.” The man on the left spoke first. Nathan suddenly realized they were twins. Identical, down to the smallest detail. He supposed it spoke to their ability at what they were going to provide him.

“The first you will drink is the pink liquid.” The second of the twins spoke, seemingly alternating back and forth.

“This has been made with the genetics of the target.”

“You will turn into her.”

“Then, when your job is done, you will drink the blue liquid.”

“This has been made with your genetics.”

“You will turn into yourself.”

“Questions?”

Nathan looked back and forth between the twins, before gesturing at the vials. “I know how you got my DNA. How’d you get Cassandra’s? And how will she not be a problem during my job?”

The twins smirked. “We have our ways.” They gestured at the large, sheet covered object, and simultaneously with each other, ripped off the sheet. Beneath it was a statue of a woman, frozen in perfect stillness. Nathan studied it for a moment, before gasping. “Consider Miss Cassandra neutralized.” They each raised their hand to placate Nathan’s coming objections. “She is not alive currently, and she is not conscious. She is mere stone, and stone does not think, or breathe. But she can, and will, be restored. She will live, once you finish your job.”

Nathan slumped in his seat, shaking his head. This was real. A woman, innocent in all ways except the man she married, was petrified, because of him. Because of the money he just put on the table. His stomach twisted, but he resolutely stood and closed the briefcase.

“Thank you. I understand.” Without another word, Nathan left the basement.

 ===

Nathan looked around his apartment. It was sparsely decorated, as money had been tight. Just having an apartment downtown was costly, most people lived in the suburbs of The City. That said, it was home, and everything in it made it all the more homely.

Rushing through the small space, he was quickly in the bedroom. Shopping bags littered the corner of the room, but Nathan’s concern was on the bed in front of him. The briefcase loomed ominously from its position on the blanket. It was a black hole of attention, and Nathan couldn’t help but to stare. Slowly, gingerly, he clicked it open. It hadn’t been opened since the dealers had shown it off, and Nathan breathed a sigh of relief that the contents hadn’t been an illusion or fantasy.

It was real. His chance to get his work back, make the money he rightfully deserved, and screw over the people that needed it. With a sudden and intense conviction, he grabbed the vial with the pink liquid, removed the rubber stopper, and swigged down the entire contents in a single gulp.

For a long moment, nothing happened. Nathan wondered if it was even going to do anything after minutes of awkward silence, or if he’d been ripped off yet again.

Then, for a short moment, everything happened.

Bones creaking, then strangely melting and deforming as they reshaped themselves. Nathan collapsed to the ground, shaking and twitching as his body changed on a fundamental level, leaving a panting, sweaty mess of a person on the floor. Seconds felt like minutes, minutes like hours as his body reconfigured itself back into shape, albeit a new one. Once the shifting mostly subsided, slowly but resolutely, Nathan forced himself to stand as the changes still surged through his body. He was shorter - significantly shorter. He was used to standing at nearly six and a half feet tall, but now he was more than a foot below that height. A sudden tightening sensation locked Nathan in place for a moment, his skin and muscles tightening to his new frame.

Staggering to the bathroom, he gasped at the sight. His face was surreal. It was his features across the shape of a face he didn’t recognize. He lifted his hand gently to his face, holding long and delicate fingers against his face. Even his hands were different, and he realized just how much of an adjustment this would be. Literally everything about himself would be gone, and he’d just be this new form. His face was feminine, with angles and arches he didn’t recognize. Moles and freckles were gone, and his skin looked supremely smooth. He batted his eyes, and watched as the girlish face in the mirror returned the motion. His fingers - now sporting long nails - ran through his hair. Nathan could feel it growing, cascading down his back and over his shoulders. What had been blond with a hint of brown was now so dark of a brown, it almost looked like a chocolatey black. He played with the locks between his fingers, shivering. It felt good, strangely.

Nathan forced himself to tear his attention from his head and to the rest of his body. It’s not like the transformation had been idle there, and he had to rapidly take in the changes. His skin was a darker color; not tanned like he first thought, but naturally toned with rich and warm colors that was a stark difference to his formerly ghostly pale hue. He had breasts now, and sizable ones at that. While there actually were a rather typical C cup for most bras, in Nathan’s diminished hands they felt massive. Their plush texture and gentle curves felt smooth and sublime to his senses, and he couldn’t help but get turned on as he touched them.

That’s when he noticed it. Looking down at himself, past his chest and across his taut stomach with the waspish waist, dead centered in his widened feminine hips was his male member. It was a shadow of its former self, and was actively shrinking and pulling against his body. The arousal he felt made no difference to its size or stature, instead, Nathan felt a hollow ‘need’ like he never felt before. It disappeared from view, and Nathan was no longer a man. His entire body, head to toe, had been reformed and crafted into the shape of a woman.

Not just any woman, of course.

He, now she, was identical to Cassandra, in every way down to the genetic code. Even twins wouldn’t be so identical.

Of course, as Cassandra, Nathan’s body was filled with all new sensitive nerve endings that she had accidentally activated by touching and feeling during the changes. So she was a very lustful, hungry Cassandra, and quickly discovered how to sate her own needs with her newly granted anatomy.

 ===

Nathan got dressed, using the clothes from the shopping bags in her bedroom. It was strange, looking around at a space she was familiar with, but from the vantage point of someone much smaller and shorter. It took more steps to cross the small rooms, and she could only reach things that were formerly at head height as her male self.

It was surreal, and Nathan couldn’t wait for the chance to see everything from her formerly male perspective again.

Unbeknownst to her, she never would again.

Dressed, Nathan was as ready to go as she would ever be. Only keeping a single key to her apartment, which she hid deep in a secret compartment of the new purse she had bought in preparation for this day, she walked away from her home, vowing to return with what was rightfully hers.

While waiting for the public train to arrive - the easiest way to get to Cassandra and Mark’s home from downtown - Nathan realized that she had put on makeup as part of getting dressed. She blinked, gently touching her face and checking her appearance in her phone’s camera app. It was flawlessly applied. A shudder ran through her body at not even noticing that her instincts and muscle memories had changed. She thought through her memories; she was still herself, and her past was her own. But… being ‘Cassandra’ would be easier than Nathan had thought, if her instincts were now correct. Slipping into her new life would be…

‘Hang on,’ Nathan thought. ‘Her life. Her. She.’ Nathan shook her head. Despite the changes being hours ago, she only just realized she was thinking in feminine pronouns. The mental changes seemed to be making things as simple for her as possible, but it was slightly unsettling. “Hi, I’m Cassandra,” Nathan whispered to herself, gasping. “Cassandra. I’m…Nathan…no, that doesn’t feel right.” She was simply unable to refer to herself as Nathan while feeling natural about it. As far as her brain was concerned, she *was* Cassandra. ‘Freaky.’

By the time the train had pulled up to the outskirts of The City, Nathan had come to terms with the more subtle effects of the changes. Riding the bus from the train station to a stop in the suburbs near his new temporary-house, Nathan might as well have been Cassandra. She was dressed similarly, and was posed elegantly while tapping her long nails against the screen of her phone. It was comfortable, easy.

Though, Mark waiting for Cassandra at home wasn’t quite as easy to handle.

“Where have you been?! I’ve been worried sick, I was about to call the cops. You never went to your appointment, you didn’t let me know what was going on, you just vanished! And now you walk up wearing some outfit I’ve never seen before?” Mark couldn’t stop yelling to breathe, but something struck Nathan. Mark was genuinely concerned about Cassandra, his eyes full of tears and his voice hoarse from crying.

Immediately, Nathan felt bad about ignoring the texts and calls on Cassandra’s phone that she had been just using. She tried to think of a way out of this situation, something that wouldn’t arouse suspicions, and only one thing came to mind.

Nathan flung herself at Mark, grabbing hold of him and hugging tightly. Wordlessly they held each other on the stoop of the suburban house they shared, rocking back and forth. And Nathan had to admit, it felt good to be held and loved like this. A pang of sorrow struck him, and she choked back tears.

“I’m sorry… baby,” Nathan whispered, shutting her eyes. “I just needed some time out, I didn’t want anyone to worry.” She smiled up at the man, acutely aware of the height difference, and did her best to smile.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” whispered Mark back. “So long as you’re ok, let’s get some dinner going.”

 ===

Apparently, making dinner together was an old tradition of Mark and Cassandra’s. Based on how many times Mark brought up that he missed it and how nice it was to be doing it again, something told Nathan that it was a tradition that fell out of fashion. Strangely, the same with affection and being generally sweet to each other. It was almost as if Mark and Cassandra had fallen out of love.

Not that that mattered to Nathan; in her eyes, it just made her job easier to complete. But there was something strangely sad about it all. Mark clearly cared and loved his wife, so was Cassandra the one who fell out of love? Was their relationship more complicated than that? Still, it was easy for Nathan to slip into the role of a loving wife that showed plenty of affection, making dinner and sipping wine and talking.

Nathan made up some story about where she was that day, and Mark accepted it without question. Then ended up snuggled together in bed while they ate the oriental food they had prepared together, and Nathan found herself strangely drawn to the man she was sharing a bed with. She had always been someone who didn’t mind playing for both teams, so to speak, so being next to a man with little more than underwear on didn’t bother her. Instead, the affection and care Mark showed was impossible to ignore, and Nathan couldn’t help but to feel safe there in his arms.

 ===

There was never a good time to really bring up the software project. Without Mark’s laptop password and the combination to their safe, Nathan wouldn’t be getting anything she deserved back. So, an evening turned into a couple days, and a couple days turned into a week, and a week turned into a month.

It’s not like Nathan wasn’t working on softening up Mark in that time, their relationship as a married couple was growing stronger by the day, already far stronger than it had ever been with the real Cassandra. They were just a better couple, even if Mark and the original Cassandra did love each other in a different way.

Which led to Nathan’s concern. She was falling in love with Mark. It couldn’t be ignored. The idea had occurred to her during her time as a stay at home wife that perhaps she could just enjoy the riches of her hard work here, being a spoiled woman with a loving husband. It was tempting.

 ===

Mark arrived home from work particularly frustrated one day. Cassie - Nathan had decided to, even internally, set aside her old male name - greeted him with smiles and love, but something was wrong.

“I just feel guilty, you know? They said… no, I shouldn’t talk about it.”

“Baby,” Cassie cooed, the love in her voice thicker than even she realized. “Just tell me, I’m here for you for everything aren’t I?”

Mark sighed, collapsing onto the couch. “My company acquired a piece of software from one of our employees. His contract with us legally required us to take it, about a month ago.” Cassie stiffened imperceptibly, biting her lip. This was it, this was her chance. But would she take it? Could she take it? “We’ve been trying to find him for the last month. I felt bad about essentially stealing his work, and wanted to make him an offer. A promotion and a pay raise, to help make up for it.”

Cassie gasped. That… that would have been perfect. “What… what happened to this guy?”

With a shrug, Mark closed his eyes. “No one has found him. The police have just declared him dead. So… that’s that, I guess. Why do I feel like I still messed up though? Like, would he have gone missing if we didn’t take his software, or offered him the promotion sooner?”

Cassie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It all would have worked out if she had stayed as Nathan, but now… now she had the money, for less work, and a loving husband? She paused, reflecting. She couldn’t go back to being Nathan. That whole life was gone now, her apartment probably ransacked by the cops looking for her. Instead, she could live this life: Cassandra’s life. It was perfect, and had everything she wanted and needed.

With a smile, Cassie turned and snuggled up to her husband. “You feel like this because you’re a good guy at heart. That’s why I’m here with you, every single day.”

 ===

“Miss, stay calm, please.”

“Yes, you need to stay calm.”

Cassandra looked around frantically, in a corner of the dark basement that didn’t have anyone already occupying it. Men with large guns and a pair of twins that spoke to her each holding a briefcase. “Where am I? What’s going on? Why does my voice sound different!”

The twins sighed in unison, shaking their heads. “You’re here because of someone else’s choices.”

“Someone else’s money.”

“Someone else’s problems.”

“Your voice is different because you were a statue for the last six months.”

“Your voice is different because we couldn’t change you back into yourself, Miss Cassandra.”

“There’s already another Miss Cassandra living your life, Miss Cassandra.”

Cassandra looked frantically between the two as they spoke. “What do you mean, someone is living my life? It’s my life! I should be the one living it! Six months?? What did you do to me?!”

The twins sat down on the chairs across a plastic folding table and sighed once again.

“We have a lot to explain.”

“A long story.”

“But know this:”

“We will do anything you want to help make this right.”