Things at college were a little busy heading into the second-st week of csses, with plenty of big assignments coming due. I did ok on most of mine, although as usual I could have done better if I'd applied myself.

  The robotics css was the one really drove home what Talia said a while back, about me possibly having a meta-human intellect. The maze running robot was a half-year project, everyone else in my css worked on it for the entire semester. They all spent literally months designing, prototyping, programming, and testing their robots. I spent most of my semester focused on my foxification ray, then built my robo-rat in a single afternoon two days before it was due to be evaluated.

  And if my robot malfunctioned or got stuck at the first turn then that wouldn't have been anything special, but that's not what happened. My robo-rat ran the maze in record time. It didn't just beat everyone else in my css, it beat the top scores from every previous css too. The only reason I didn't get a perfect grade was I hadn't bothered with any sort of enclosure. My robot didn't look pretty, it was just bare parts on a rough frame.

  So even though my creation was the fastest one through the maze, it came in fifth in terms of the marks it got. In the prof's words, the four robots that beat mine were all finished projects. Two were cute, two were functional, but they were all fully enclosed. Meanwhile he said that mine looked rushed and unfinished. Which was a fair enough assessment.

  After all, I'd been using my time in the 3D printing b for more important things. Like this afternoon, I printed another fox-shaped enclosure for the project I'd be assembling as soon as I got back to the apartment.

  It was te Wednesday afternoon, and I was heading home by myself because my girlfriend had other pns. She was meeting her parents for dinner, which had both of us on edge. Talia was anxious because she was going to see her mom and dad for the first time after being foxgirlificated, and I was worried because she insisted on going alone.

  I offered accompany her, but Talia said she wanted to meet with her folks alone this first time. She promised I could go with her next time she got together with them.

  When I got home I stopped by my bookcase to pce my robo-rat on the shelf next to the deactivated foxification ray, before I continuing on to my desk where I pced the new 3D printed enclosure. Then I carefully set out all the other parts I'd need, and finally got settled into my chair.

  With everything ready I switched on my soldering iron and got started on tonight's project. I wasn't working on a new invention though, this would be more of an iteration rather than an innovation.

  That technology tutoring session with Talia on Sunday was an interesting experience, and my girlfriend surprised me with just how well she grasped some of the basic concepts. She even went on to demonstrate what she'd learned, by overriding a safety feature on the slutification ray before zapping us both with the device's stimution function.

  Which in turn led to the two of us having another long and enjoyable session in bed together Sunday evening. Unfortunately bypassing the safety limiter on the slutification ray resulted in a few delicate components burning themselves out.

  So that's what I was working on tonight, except rather than simply repair the original device I'd decided to repce it instead.

  There'd been a few little nagging details on my mind since Saturday night. Things my girlfriend said, things she'd implied, and things I could infer based on some of her questions and the hypothetical scenarios she'd posed.

  For one thing she'd been very interested in what might happen if the slutification ray were used on a meta-human, and what it would do if used on someone with a masc body. Then after I confirmed it would work on a meta-human and what sort of effects it would have on a guy, she became very interested in learning exactly how it functioned. She seemed especially curious about how the device's safety limits were implemented, enough so that she went on to bypass one of them in a practical test.

  On its own I might have taken all those clues to mean that my girlfriend was perhaps eager for more rolepy fun like we'd done Saturday night. Or maybe that she was even kinkier than I thought and wanted me to come up with more and better inventions like the slutification and foxification rays.

  Except I hadn't forgotten what she'd said about her brother, and the way she was almost scared of how he'd react if he found out she'd been foxgirlificated. I also remembered that back on our very first date she'd practically diagnosed me as an unregistered meta, and she seemed to know quite a lot about that process in general.

  And finally there were all the negative comments she'd made about capes. While I didn't believe for a moment that Talia might be evil or some sort of budding supervilin, she didn't seem very fond of superheroes.

  Put it all together and I was about ninety-nine and a half percent certain that my girlfriend's brother was a meta-human, and probably a superhero. He'd likely bullied her when she was growing up, and now she was afraid he'd over-react in a negative and violent way when he found out about her new situation. That had to be why she wanted to know all those details about the slutification ray. She was hoping she could use it for self-defence, if her brother ever showed up and tried to hurt her.

  And maybe it was a slippery slope kind of situation, but there was no way I'd let anyone, cape or not, hurt my girlfriend.

  So while she was out having dinner with her parents, I was assembling the slutification ray Mark Two.

  It was stronger and more robust than the original, with more advanced controls and a rger power pack. Instead of red and pink buttons the new version sported small red and pink knobs, that could be turned as well as pressed. Turning the red knob controlled the output, allowing one to set the emitters to low medium or high power. And turning the pink one adjusted the duration of the transformation. From a baseline of six hours like the original, up to a maximum of twelve weeks. And pressing either knob worked the same as the buttons on the original ray.

  Finally my conscience demanded that I added a hidden reset function, which could be used to immediately negate the transformation regardless of how long it was set to. One simply had to press both knobs at the same time while aiming the ray at the subject to reverse the slutification effects.

  All those enhancements and improvements meant the new version was too big to fit on a keychain, but it was still easily pocketable. Better still it fit very nicely into a purse. And of course it was sized to be comfortably held in the palm of the hand, specifically small hands like mine and Talia's.

  It was just about eight in the evening when I heard the apartment door open and close. I still had another ten minutes' or so of work before the new device would be complete, so I called out a greeting to my girlfriend without looking up from my desk. "Hey Talia, welcome home! How'd it go?"

  "It was good," she called back. A moment ter she wandered into my bedroom with her ears standing up tall and proud while her tail wagged happily behind her.

  She sat down on the edge of my bed and continued, "Mom and dad were both a little freaked out at how small I am now, but once they got over that they were both really accepting. Then by the time we'd finished eating dad even said I was cute! Mom too, after I promised them both I was happy like this, and that I liked being cute and pretty and everything."

  "That's wonderful news," I smiled, while my own tail swished slowly back and forth. One of my ears remained focused on her, while the other ear and both eyes were fixed on my project as I carefully soldered the power leads onto the main circuit board.

  My girlfriend watched quietly from where she was seated on my bed, rather than come up close while I was working. After a half minute or so she asked, "Is that a new ray? What's this one do?"

  "Not new as such," I replied. "It's a repcement for the slutification ray. New and improved version."

  "Aww," Talia sighed. "You couldn't fix the old one? Rachel I'm so sorry I broke it. I know I shouldn't have messed with it like that, I just got excited I guess? I was really happy about learning all that stuff, and I wanted to show you that I'd been paying attention and everything."

  Even without looking I knew her ears were probably drooping and her shoulders slumped. And her tail was probably hanging down next to her on the bed.

  I finally looked over at her and shook my head, "It's ok. I promise, I'm not upset or anything."

  "And yes I could have repaired the original one," I added, "But I figured this was an excellent opportunity to improve on the design."

  She tilted her head to one side and gave me a quizzical look, while her ears perked up a bit. She asked, "What sort of improvement? How's this one different than the first version?"

  My tail swished a little quicker as I smiled, "I'll show you how it works as soon as I'm finished. It should only take me another few minutes."

  "Aww!" my girlfriend pouted. "Tease me then keep me in suspense."

  "Maybe we'll do that ter," I replied with a smirk. Then I turned towards my desk and got back to work on the device.

  Talia watched quietly for another minute or two before asking, "You haven't had dinner yet, have you? I don't see any dishes in here, and the only dishes in the kitchen sink are from breakfast this morning."

  I shook my head, "Nah I've been busy working on this. I'll eat something afterwards."

  "I'll make sure you do," she stated as she got to her feet. "I'm going to go fix up some dinner for you, so it's ready as soon as you're done in here."

  "Thanks love," I smiled, but my attention remained focused on the task at hand.

  Sure enough it was only about five minutes ter when I tightened the final screw and the new slutification ray was complete. Then Talia arrived right on cue with a sandwich and a bottle of water for me.

  "Thank you," I smiled as she set my food down on the desk in front of me.

  "You're welcome cutie!" she replied. Then she picked up the newly completed device as she commented, "You made it bigger. And changed the buttons into knobs?"

  I had a bite of my sandwich, and my tail started wagging. I thanked her again for the meal, then gave her a quick run-down on the updates and enhancements. Her eyes widened and her ears perked up, while her tail swished back and forth in subdued excitement.

  "Wow Rachel! That's... I'm honestly surprised you did all that?" she frowned slightly, while her cheeks took on a faint pink hue. She seemed almost hesitant as she asked, "Why though? I'm not compining, I'm just curious why you decided to make those specific changes to it?"

  I had another bite of my sandwich, then watched her quietly for a few seconds as I chewed. After swallowing I finally replied in a quiet level voice, "It's what you were hoping for, isn't it? You were asking me all those questions Saturday night. Then on Sunday you wanted to learn about the safety features and limitations. So you could bypass them, right? Incase you need to use it to defend yourself against your brother."

  "He's a cape, isn't he?" I asked softly. "I'm guessing he's either the Ptinum Pugilist or the Fming Fist, since those were the two you mentioned by name."

  Her cheeks got progressively brighter and her eyes got wider while I was speaking. And by the time I was done she looked equal parts embarrassed, guilty, and nervous.

  My girlfriend carefully put the slutification ray down on my desk then asked nervously, "Please don't specute about that, ok? And please don't talk about it or mention it to anyone. I'm not confirming or denying anything, but on the off-chance that you've guessed right... It could put my brother in danger. And my parents, and me."

  "Of course love," I replied softly. "I promise."

  Talia gave me a grateful look before asking softly, "So if you thought I was pnning to use this on a cape, why did you build it? You know how much trouble we could both get in if that ever happened and we got caught?"

  I shrugged, "You sounded scared, and you told me you were worried he might attack you. I built it to help keep you safe, so you can use it to defend yourself if necessary."

  "I know it could get us in trouble," I continued, "But I don't care. I'd do anything to protect you Talia."

  My girlfriend's eyes widened while her ears drooped and her tail started slowly wagging back and forth. She smiled, "Aww! Thank you Rachel! I'd do anything for you too, you know that right?"

  "Yeah I know," I smiled back at her.

  She pulled me into a hug and the two of us ended up sharing a long passionate kiss, while our tails wagged happily.

  PurpleCatGirl