Bridie Hyding 04

Half-Hydden

When Bridie had received her new uniform, she had decided it might be time for a new look all round. She had resisted getting a new outfit, one that would transform as her body changed between its super and non-super forms, because, to be honest, she didn’t want to be in her non-super body. But for one reason or another, Bridie had been spending more and more time as an ordinary human being and it had become faintly ridiculous to be wearing baggy, ill-fitting clothes when reduced to her smallest proportions. As Ban Mor, the powerhouse heavy-hitter of the local Flying Squad super-team, she was seven feet tall and covered from neck to toe in muscles bursting with supernatural strength. But when she became ever-so-ordinary Bridie Buchanan she was five-foot-nothing of skin and bones. It wasn’t practical to change clothes all the time. She’d needed something that could cope with her superhero lifestyle.

Her best friend on the team was Bian, the size-changing hero known as Hi-Lo. Being able to shrink to insect-size or grow to creature-feature giantess height meant an outfit that adjusted with her changes was an absolute necessity. It was Bian who had suggested to Bridie that something made of the same quantum-uncertainty fabric that she wore was the way forward. Each member of the Flying Squad had a costume and equipment budget. Bridie had rarely dipped into hers, but Bian convinced her that this was exactly what it was for. The new outfit had the same purple and green colour scheme of her old one, but the new design had inspired her to update other aspects of her appearance.

‘I love it,’ said Bian to Bridie in the headquarters’ mess room. She was admiring her friend’s new haircut. In her Ban Mor form, Bridie had long hair that fluoresced gently with an uncanny damson hue. As a human, her hair was usually shorter but still shoulder length. Bridie had never done anything with it, not wanting to waste any thought on how she looked in her unsuper guise. Now, she sported a carefully styled bixie cut that was not only garnering praise from Bian, it was making a statement: finally, Bridie was taking pride in her ordinary appearance.

‘Why have you never changed your hair before?’ asked Bian.

‘I couldn’t,’ replied Bridie. ‘My purple Ban Mor hair is practically indestructible. I’ve never been able to cut it. Fortunately, I’ve never had to. It hasn’t grown since I was a little girl. It’s only since I discovered my human side that it’s become an issue.’

‘I’ve noticed it getting a little longer of late.’ Bian was unconsciously altering her height to get a better look at Bridie’s new ‘do, growing to check it out from above, then shrinking slightly to inspect it more closely.

‘That’s because after years of nothing happening, it’s started growing when I’m human. When I change back to Ban Mor, little-by-little, it’s kept the extra growth. And since I can’t cut it when it’s purple - and since I’ve got a brand new outfit that fits my tiny little ass – I thought I’d get a brand new style for my tiny little head too.’

‘What does it look like when you’re Ban Mor?’ asked Bian.

Before Bridie could answer, the air was rent by the warbling of an electronic klaxon.

‘Orange Alert! Orange Alert! All active Flying Squad personnel to report to hangar bay immediately.’ The speakers giving off the alarm broadcast the voice of Dr Auto, the current leader of the Squad, as she issued the urgent call to arms. ‘Repeat: this is an Orange Alert. Transports 1 and 3 departing for Hot Zone in two minutes: mark.’

‘Looks like we’re about to find out,’ said Bridie. She closed her eyes and began her transformation.

There it was. Hidden deep within when Bridie wore her very human body. The fire that raged so hard it made her a force of nature, impossibly strong and all but indestructible. At the moment nothing more than a candle flame. Time to let it grow.

The heat suffused Bridie’s body, spreading out to the tips of her fingers and toes in seconds. The moment it touched her scalp, her hair shifted to the luminous purple associated with Ban Mor. It kept Bridie’s bixie cut and this fierce new look drew a smile from Bian as she waited for her friend. After weeks of uncertainty, where Bridie’s unwillingness to acknowledge her unpowered self had hindered her transformations, she now put in to practice the shifting exercises that ensured a smooth and swift change.

Drawing on the energy flowing through her, Bridie raised her arms and tensed her shoulders. She always gasped at that first jolt of growth as the muscles at the base of her neck suddenly grew. Maintaining concentration, she swung her hips and gyrated, welcoming the pangs that let her know her skeleton was elongating. In perfect proportion with her increasing height she began to bulk up. Jutting out her butt as her hips and thighs thickened, taking a deep breath to encourage the expansion of her chest and torso. On another occasion she would take her time and enjoy the intoxicating sensations of each change. But this was an emergency. Time to push her body to its ultimate form.

Except that didn’t happen. Usually at this point, the momentum of the transformation only needed a final impetus and it would be swiftly completed. But Bridie had ceased to change, her height arresting at just over six feet tall, her muscles, although impressive by any standard, were only a fraction of the size she usually enjoyed as Ban Mor. It took her a moment to register what had happened. When she realised, she attempted to restart the process, grunting and gasping with effort as she tried in vain to attain her goal. But Bridie resolutely remained in a body somewhere halfway between her human and superhuman extremes. It was little comfort to her that her new uniform had expanded perfectly to accommodate her incomplete change.

‘I can’t get any further!’ exclaimed Bridie to Bian. ‘I can’t access all my strength. Something’s wrong!’

Bian took her hand, grasping it firmly to offer sympathy even as she summed up the reality of the situation. ‘Then half will have to be enough. We’re in the middle of an Orange Alert – we have to get going.’ She squeezed Bridie’s hand in encouragement, receiving a nod of understanding for her efforts. The two heroes sprinted out of the mess and hurried toward the hangar bay.

Later, when the heroes had returned, Bridie took stock of what had happened. She sat on the bench next to her locker in the changing room and looked at the bruises and scratches that covered her hands and forearms. They didn’t amount to much considering the feats she’d just undertaken on her latest mission: smashing giant metal robots; rescuing bystanders from under battle-shattered masonry; punching missiles and detonating them before they could be launched. But not so long ago, even this amount aggressive action wouldn’t have left a single mark on her. She wasn’t in pain, but the mild discomfort she felt hurt more not because of its severity, but simply because it existed at all.

Bian had just finished showering and was back in her everyday clothes – a battered pair of jeans and an unzipped red hoodie over a grey t-shirt. She often lost track of her size after actively using her powers on a mission and her clothes hung baggy and loose on a body she’d remembered as being smaller than the one that had fitted them perfectly that morning. She saw Bridie brooding and went over to sit beside her. She placed a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

‘You were pretty amazing out there,’ she said to her friend. ‘I was twelve feet tall and I wasn’t causing half the damage you were. You’re my hero!’

Bridie gave a chuckle at the exaggerated praise, but her mood didn’t improve any.

‘It’s the hair, isn’t it?’ Bridie suddenly announced.

Bian didn’t quite follow. ‘What?’

Bridie ruffled what was left of her bixie cut, the bright purple locks now in post-battle disarray.

‘I told you I hadn’t ever had my hair cut before. I know it all sounds a bit “Samson”, but I think my power has always been connected to my hair in some way. I mean, the glowing purple’s a bit of a giveaway, isn’t it. And I hadn’t made the connection before, but in the three months since I took on my ordinary human form, the three months that my ordinary hair had grown a little longer, I had actually become stronger.’

‘You never mentioned that,’ said Bian.

‘I wasn’t entirely sure,’ replied Bridie. ‘it was difficult to remember just how strong I’d been after spending some time as a regular human. But now I’m certain.’

‘Well, that’s your answer then,’ said Bian. ‘Change back to human. Let your hair grow again. It’ll take a while, but you’ll recover your strength.’

‘I thought about that, but I can’t shake the worry that this is it. That it isn’t my hair, it’s some other problem. And that if I give up what strength I have, I might never get it back again.’ Bridie looked at her bruises again and then looked back at Bian. ‘I was effective enough today. Should I just stay as I am? Or should I risk that I could be more again. Mor again, even.’

Bian gave a rueful smile. ‘I’m not going to answer that because I think you’ve already made up your mind.’

Bridie smiled back. ‘I have, but I thought you might be able to talk me out of it.’ She closed her eyes and prepared to revert to her human form. Almost immediately she felt the fire within her, diminished as it was, grow weaker still. With a series of shrugs and shivers, she cast off the extra bulk of her height and muscle.

In the years to come, Bian wished again and again that she had stopped her friend from making that decision. But when the last hint of purple faded from Bridie’s hair, neither of the two heroes had realised that that would be the last time that anyone would see that unique, effervescent colour.

‘Here goes nothing,’ said Bridie.