Ben gets his comeuppance

I carried my own body downstairs, taking advantage of my male muscles. It was crazy -- I could actually lift things! I flexed one of Ben's arms, almost self-consciously. He wasn't particularly buff, and I didn't feel too different when I was just walking around and not doing anything -- but when I picked up my own body it was just… easier? Not fair!

Sarah steadied the trolley while I gently lay my body inside, pushing my legs up against my chest and making sure my head wasn't bumping against anything. It was weird to push myself around from the outside. I still couldn't feel anything from that body of course, but it would ache later if I left it in a bad position.

I chucked a blanket over the body and we set off down the road towards Sarah's house. Anybody looking at us from the outside would just see my brother and Sarah casually pushing a blanket-covered trolley down the road. Nothing suspicious going on here.

A few people gave us funny looks as we walked along, but nobody said anything. I was just asking Sarah what the plan with her Dad was when I saw something that stopped me in my tracks.

Ryan Reneval. He was leaving a dingy looking house, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He saw me and I felt my chest tighten, but he just ducked his head and scowled.

I glanced down. Oh right. Ben's body.

"I'll catch up with you later." I whispered to Sarah.

She glanced over at Ryan.

"Oooooooh, riiiight. Okidoke."

Sarah hurried away with the trolley, throwing glances over her shoulder. Ben's body? The biggest bully on campus? Both of them deserving of some payback? If I could get Sarah too this would be a trifecta.

I raised my head up high and strutted right up to Ryan. From inside Ben's face, I grinned at him.

"Hey sexy."

Ryan just grunted. Oookay, that wasn't the instant fight I expected.

"Ummm... "

Well, at least the awkwardness would be all on Ben. I shrugged.

"I was just coming over to make out, buttercup."

"Suck my dick."

"That's the idea."

Then we just stood awkwardly for a moment. Maybe Ryan wasn't quite as aggressive as I thought? Or had getting overpowered by Sarah (while in my body!) really affected him? This wasn't going to plan at all.

"Some chick stole the helmet. I don't have it." mumbled Ryan.

"Oh… right…" I said. I racked my brain. How had Ryan gotten it from Ben originally, anyway? Had he stolen it? Had Ben let him have it?

"It's okay though, I don't want my money back."

"Money?" Huh?

He looked at me funny. "The twenty I gave you for a turn? Fuck you're retarded sometimes."

Twenty dollars for a turn. In my body?! I felt my blood begin to boil.

"Who-- who else gave-me-money." That last bit came out as a growl, sounding strangely deep and threatening now that I had Ben's voice.

"Uh, Jimmy, Matt, Parker, Mel…"

He saw my face and trailed off.

"I can ask around a bit if you like-"

I swung one of Ben's fists at Ryan's face, barely connecting as Ryan reacted.

"What the fuck dude I-"

I swung again, and this time hit him on the shoulder. My wrist bent back at a weird angle as the blow glanced off.

Ryan grunted and his nostrils flared, then he swung back a punch of his own…

And I disconnected.

I found myself laying on the floor at Sarah's place. She'd clearly heaved me out of the trolley herself and dumped me unceremoniously onto the floor inside. The bruises over my back and legs showed she hadn't done a very good job.

"Well?" Sarah said. "Where's Ben?"

"I just left him having a - uh - bit of a chat with Ryan." I said, smirking darkly.

"What? We need the receiver back! My Dad's going to kill me if we don't have it in time for his presentation!"

"Ah well, you know." I said hesitantly, "Maybe, um, you could walk him over here? I'm pooped."

Sarah huffed and I passed her the helmet. I wonder if she would notice I'd changed the pain settings?

Well, she'd know in a moment anyhow. Hah.

Sarah set herself down on the floor and shoved the helmet onto her head. A moment later, her body went completely limp.

Was it kind of mean to trick her into using Ben's beaten and battered body? Yes. But did she deserve it? Yes.

Damn, everybody has acted really awfully to each other since this helmet arrived. Sarah, Ben, Ryan, Jess, Me.

Great power and all that, I guess.

I walked over to Sarah's prone body and gave it a nudge with my foot. She didn't respond. I imagine she'd turn off the pain pretty quickly when she realised the situation. I wonder if I could pass it off as an innocent blunder?

A few minutes later Ben's body appeared at the door -- black eye, bloody nose, the works. Inside, Sarah scowled at me. "You could have warned me you got him into a fight!"

"Me? No-- I didn't know he'd be hurt?"

"Really." Sarah said flatly.

"Honest!" I said, trying not to smirk.

Luckily she didn't get a chance to press me any further, because just then Sarah's Dad burst through the front door. He was a fat, nerdy man who looked like a high school geek who never quite grew up. Right now he was sweaty and frazzled.

"I couldn't find it at the office, did you manage to find it in the garage--"

Mr Smith cut off when he saw Ben's battered body standing in his living room. He glanced at Sarah on the floor, and then over at me.

"Riiiight." he said. "I have a lot of questions and not a lot of time. I'll be asking about this later, Sarah."

He directed that last word straight at Ben's body, which shuffled in an awkward, feminine way.

"Sorry daddy."

"Take the chip off that boy and get into the car. I'll need your help for this presentation."

Sarah made Ben's body nod, and then sat down on the floor. A moment later and her own body woke up. She scowled at me.

Ben meanwhile just slumped to the floor, apparently unconscious. Had Sarah leaped into a body that was knocked out and zombie-walked it back?

Sarah walked over to Ben's body with the helmet, and was about to put it onto Ben's head when Mr Smith stopped her.

"What are you doing?"

"Isn't this how you get the chip off?"

"What! No! That's-- no, that's not how you get the chip off."

He reached down and did something at the back of Ben's neck, then straightened up holding the chip.

"That's how you get the chip off."

"I didn't see that." Sarah said. Mr Smith ignored her.

"Putting the helmet on somebody who's wearing the chip, that's… damn end users! You would have overclocked the feedback mechanism and triggered a safety shutdown. You're not supposed to wear them both at the same time -- why would anybody do that!?"

"I thought that's how it worked." Sarah mumbled, head down. "It was Elle's idea."

Ben began to groan on the ground and slowly sat up. Mr Smith glanced at him.

"You're Sarah's brother, right?"

"U-huh"

"Well, you can either go home and forget you saw this technology, or deal with six months of interviews and lawyers when my boss finds out some teenagers were playing with his top secret invention."

Ben grunted and shuffled out the door. Mr Smith let out a small smile.

"They never choose the lawyers."

"Right, Sarah, Elle." He looked right at me. "I bet neither of you are totally innocent here. We have five hundred investors waiting for a presentation that's now running forty minutes late. There is a way you can partially make it up to me, since you clearly have no problem playing with prototype brain-interfaces."

I glanced at Sarah. When he put it like that it did sound much more dangerous. She shrugged and followed him out the front door. I tagged along behind, and soon we were in Mr Smith's Bentley, speeding down the highway to the convention centre.

"This prototype was due to be unveiled today." Mr Smith explained to me, glancing in the rear view mirror. "I brought it home for final troubleshooting last week when it went missing."

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Sarah. "Somehow."

"Today is a make or break day for the company. We were going to demonstrate the unit publicly for the first time on monkeys."

I glanced at Sarah in the seat next to me. Monkeys?

"But since you guys have already proven it's safe for use on humans, I figure, what the hell? The audience has been waiting almost an hour overtime. Let's really give them a show."

He glanced back at us.

"Which one of you wants to wear the helmet?"

_____

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