HOLIDAY WEEKEND SPECIAL!

ON SALE – FIREWORKS – 60% OFF!

ONLY AT PARTICIPATING AKEA STORES


Alan Rourke looked at the sign and smiled. It was a tremendous deal… and as one of the chairmen on the city council, he was sure he could get a good deal for fireworks. The council was preparing for their annual fireworks display in three weeks, and what better place to get them than at the place where there were so many good deals?

Alan went to one of the storekeepers and requested that he speak to the manager of the store in order to get a good price range.


"$75,000," Desire frowned. "That's your proposed budget?" She asked. It was two days later, and the council was meeting to discuss what the plan was for the display.

"No," Alan said. "That was the proposed budget," Alan said. "If you look on page 19, you'll see the contract I worked out with the AKEA stores."

"I've never heard of AKEA," Desire said, her frown deepening.

"They just opened," The mayor said. "It's brought quite a bit of profit… Mr. Rourke, what are you getting at?" Alan grinned. He had a bombshell for them.

"If you look at the contract, you'll notice that AKEA is selling fireworks at 60% off," he continued. "Now, with the adjusted budget, we could order up to 60% as many fireworks at the same price, or the same amount of fireworks at 60% of the original cost." Alan paused for a dramatic effect. "Not only that, but the manager informed me that not only will he give us the 60% discount, but because of the contribution the city has given to AKEA and the size of the order, he is willing to add a further 15% discount onto that." Everyone stared at him, dumbfounded.

"So… we buy from AKEA, and save 75% of the budget we were originally about to spend?" The mayor asked.

"Correct," Alan beamed. The shocked silence continued, the only sounds came from Desire frantically searching through the contract in an effort to find the catch. The surprised look on her face said that she couldn't find one.

"Mr. Rourke, good job," The mayor said. "It's settled. AKEA will supply our fireworks display. Mr. Rourke, I'm placing you directly in charge."


After the meeting had adjourned, Alan was pulled aside by the mayor.

"Let's talk about a promotion," he said quietly. Alan smiled. He knew that he had made the right decision.


THREE WEEKS LATER


It was the night of the celebration, and Alan was standing with the mayor. As per tradition, the mayor was the one who lit the fuse to start the celebration. It was a good photo opportunity as well.

"You did a good job," The mayor told Alan, who was standing next to him as the crowd of roughly 10,000 people gathered in the central park to watch the epic fireworks display. "I'm proud of you." Alan beamed as the clock struck 10:30. Time to begin.

The mayor stepped up to the podium and began to recite a speech, and Alan sat down behind and to the left of the podium. He smiled, then frowned as someone tapped him on the shoulder. He looked over to see Desire scowling at him.

"You missed something," She whispered to him.

"Not now," He said, ignoring her.

"I think something is going to go wrong," She persisted. "AKEA is up to something, I found a clause, something you missed."

"AKEA is legit," He protested, watching the mayor. "Don't make me call security."

"Call them, because we need to stop the ceremony," She hissed. "Don't you get it?" She said as the mayor pulled away, applause from the crowd overwhelming them. Alan couldn't hear Desire over the crowd as the mayor went over to the fuse. He smiled as he was handed a torch and posed for a second over the very large fuse, smiling at the cameras as they took pictures would accompany the follow-up story in the newspaper. The mayor lowered the torch to the fuse. The crowd died down in anticipation of the fireworks and Desire said, "…the ceremony, now!"


There was an explosion… followed by bright red and white lights as the first firework went off.


"See?" Alan said. "Nothing to worry about." More fireworks went off, all going according to plan and in the order they discussed. Desire watched in trepidation, seeming to sigh in relief as nothing out of the ordinary appeared to be happening.

"I'm glad to say that I was wrong," She said. There was a pause in the fireworks and someone screamed. Alan and Desire froze, looking out into the crowd, staring as a large section of people began to branch away, running, watching as this seemed to spread. Something was happening… but what? A fire? Alan stood, trying to find the source of the chaos before things got out of hand… his eyes widened as he saw the source of the problem with his own eyes.

As the sparks and ash from the fireworks fell over the crowd, spectators began to transform, some growing fur, others growing feathers, some simply shifting gender. Alan couldn't believe it, but he was seeing it with his own eyes. He felt something land on his shoulder and looked down, giving a gasp at the sight of the hot debris burning a small hole in his suit, touching his skin. He brushed it off quickly as he started growing brown fur.

"Get the mayor out of here!" he said to some guards, who were already heading towards the mayor. Alan noted with a sinking stomach that the mayor began growing white feathers, a beak growing out of his face. Alan blinked, clutching his midsection, falling to his knees as he felt something shift inside him, fur continuing to spread across his body, teeth starting to lengthen.

"Alan!" Desire said, moving forward, calico fur becoming apparent over her body.


The next few minutes were a blur for Alan, but the next thing he knew, he was leaning against the side of an ambulance, strange weights on his chest and a large one above his ass, watching as thousands of people, some in mid-transformation, some already completed, running away frantically. Alarms were blaring from people who had crashed their cars. Alan looked up and moaned, seeing the ashes of the fireworks (which were still going on) drifting in the wind.

"This stuff is going to spread over half the city!" The mayor said, albeit in a much higher voice. Alan looked and did a double take, seeing what looked like a humanoid eagle with a very female figure motioning to others around her. Alan noted that there were only wings, no hands. A part of Alan's mind thought that it would make signing anything very difficult.

"Alan?" Desire asked, now a calico humanoid cat. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Alan said, stopping as he heard his… her new voice. She looked down and gave a scream, noticing that she, like the others, was a humanoid animal: a beaver. The mayor strode up to them.

"Miss Rourke," The mayor said, clearly angry. "Did Ms. Danielson show you the clause she found in the contract you wrote with AKEA?"

"N-no," Alan said, worried. The mayor looked over at Desire and nodded. She took out a folder and opened it, showing her a picture of the contract, page 23, then pointing to an enhanced image of the same page. Alan's eyes widened at the hidden text.


CLAUSE 19, SECTION 42. UPON 14 DAYS AFTER THE SIGNING OF THIS CONTRACT, AKEA DOES NOT ACCEPT AND IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE DONE TO PROPERTY OR PERSONS AS A RESULT OF DEPLOYMENT OF AKEA'S CELEBRATORY TF/TG FIREWORKS.


Alan didn't read the rest, she couldn't.

"This means that everything the city is going to have to pay for in order to repair the streets, the property destroyed by stampedes, the renovations to buildings to accommodate those with new forms, all of this is going to come straight out of the city's pocket," The mayor clarified. "You may have saved us thousands of dollars on fireworks, but you cost us millions of dollars in repairs and restorations." Alan barely heard all of this, her mouth open slightly as she surveyed the damage. All of this… this was her fault. She barely heard the mayor firing her, barely felt the guards escort her to a park exit, barely realized that her phone was ringing until someone running by told her "your phone is ringing!"

Alan picked it up, hands shaking. She had lost everything, her job, her carreer, her money, her life, her gender, her humanity…

"Hello?" She said into the phone.

"Is this Alice Rourke?" A woman asked.

"No, this… this is Alan," She said.

"I'm sorry, I thought this was Alice… Alice Rourke, worked with the city council as the head of Human Resources, then Public Relations, then almost directly underneath the mayor… up until about three minutes ago," The voice said.

"Who is this and what do you want?" Alan asked, close to tears.

"My name is Anna Mendes, CEO and co-founder of AKEA. We are in need of a new head of Public Relations, and your name came up." Alan, or rather Alice, she realized, blinked. Perhaps there was hope. Working for AKEA… it was a multi-billion dollar company… things started looking better.

"When do you want me to start?" Alice asked.

"ASAP," Anna replied. Alice nodded, smiling, and made her choice.

"I'll be at your headquarters on Monday," Alice Rourke, the new female anthro beaver said.