Not the one By Dru She was not the one. The intended recipient was a wise, caring and devoted individual who would have used the limitless potential to secure peace throughout the galaxy. Susan was bitter. Having just been fired from another poor paying job she was angry and frustrated. The world was not a good place from her point of view, but she saw no choice but to live in it. What good would slashing her wrists do? That would only give those who held her down time to do other things. Her boyfriend, gone now for three weeks, had called her last night. That was the one good thing about this particular day. He had talked about how badly he'd messed up, and kept on saying how sorry he was about it, and before Susan knew it she was in his bed. They had made love all night, which was why Susan had gotten fired. "Late again, Ms Beecroft," the stern supervisor had observed. "This will be the last time." Along the way home went into a shop to buy cigarettes, only to step into a robbery. The gunman swung the shotgun around and blasted instinctively, but another woman saved Susan from a painful demise. The heroic stranger dove between gun and victim, taking the gust of death that would have blown out Susan's flame. The horrified gunman departed with haste, leaving the shopkeeper and Susan alone with the mortally wounded lady. Susan rushed to her saviours side, hollering at the shopkeeper to call an ambulance. The bleeding woman spoke to Susan, her voice very quiet. "Go to central station, you must hurry...if you want to take my place..." "Be quiet, stupid! You're going to die." "It's very important...take my necklace so they'll think your me..." Susan's mind created an image of a drug deal of some kind, and this girl collecting money from a man in Central Station. A man who knew only the necklace...not the wearer. "Okay." Susan reefed the necklace off the woman, who she now firmly believed was a courier for some criminal organization, and asked what time she had been going to make the pick-up. "Twelve thirty. You must hurry." Susan did. Not waiting for the ambulance she went straight to the station. Time was short, and she only just managed to make it. "Raelene Kirby?" A man in a black suit was quite suddenly beside her. He was huge, and held a small package. "That's me. Good old Rae..." "This is what was promised. Be careful with it, and keep it on you all the time." Taking the package, Susan turned it over in her hands. When she looked back up, the strange man had vanished. Susan did the same thing, smiling to herself and wandering into the women's toilets to sit in a stall and open her surprise package. It turned out to be a ring. Just a plain old ring made of some weird metal. The disappointment was so great she almost threw it away in disgust. It seemed a cruel joke now. But Susan slipped the ring on, and felt different about everything. There was flash of bright light, and Susan found herself in the middle of a whiling mass of colour. At first it terrified her, then she felt euphoric as the connection was made between her and an unimaginably powerful source of energy. When the whirling stopped and the colours vanished, Susan looked around in amazement. Somehow she knew what had happened. And the more she thought about it, the more she understood and happier she got. Looking down at her flabby, unattractive body, she was aware that she didn't have to look like that anymore. The ring on her finger had many capabilities. And now she would see if all this was for real. Watching her forarm, Susan started to reduce her level of bodyfat, burning it away by will alone. She kept going until she was as slim as a supermodel. Leaving the stall and making her way to a mirror, Susan changed her face so that she was more than beautiful. A part of her felt that she should be terrified as she watched her face change to become her idealised self-portrait. But mostly it was as though she had been waiting to have these astonishing powers all her life. She went out into the station, where the man who had given her the ring waited. "You're the wrong person," he accused, holding out his hand. "Give it back." "No way, fella. That other lady's dead anyway." He took a step back, frowning at the unforseen disaster that had taken place. "You don't know what you're doing. Give that ring to me before someone gets killed." "Where does it come from?" "Give it back." "You don't know where it comes from, do you?" she asked, somehow sensing his line of thought. "No. But I know that you have to give it back so we can choose another." "I'm as good as anyone else you'll find!" Susan declared. "Why couldn't I do the job?" "We haven't even assessed you yet." "I'm probably the best person on Earth for this. You know I saved a frog once?" "I'm sure you're a very nice person, but there's a lot of responsibility involved in this job." "Well, it doesn't matter. I don't know where this ring came from, but I know what it can do. And I know that while I'm wearing it, it belongs to me. And while it belongs to me I'm going to protect it and keep it safe." "It's not yours. There's a council of elders..." Susan concentrated real hard, blotting out his words, staring intently into this strange mans eyes. She could definitely sense what this guy was feeling, and the more she focused the more she could detect until she began to listen to his words before he spoke them. "Wow. This ring gives me a lot of potential." "You weren't even listening to me." "Oh yes. I heard you." She smiled, transmitting a thought straight into his head. And the ring is mine now. So fuck off. "She's learning fast," he thought to himself, unaware he was now sharing his every sensation with Susan. She frightened him, and aroused him. "And perhaps you can help me learn faster." He made to leave, but she stopped him. Knowing he would respond, Susan drew in close and embraced him with a kiss. Her body was many times harder and stronger than his, and he was powerless to resist her. As their lips met he melted into his captivity and wallowed in it. Susan delved much deeper than he suspected as she began exploring his mind for information. He twitched a little every now, but otherwise gave no outward sign of the terrifying experience he was going through. Susan had absolutely no idea of what she was doing, learning as she went. Whenever she came across something that the alien visitor (As she leaned he was) tried to keep from her, Susan simply tapped into her bottomless power source and barged through him. When she released him from the kiss he fell motionless to the ground. Nothing more now than an empty husk, his memories destroyed and his subconscious in tatters. He never said more than three words again. Susan now knew all about the ring, and it filled her with joy to find out that there wasn't a thing anyone could do about it. It was the only one if its kind in this dimension, and those who controlled it had just made a very bad mistake. Normally the ring was given to someone wise and caring, and held by them for a thousand years. But now that Susan had it on her finger, it was impossible for them to get it back from her. Because Susan was now the most powerful force in the universe, capable of anything she desired. "Sorry about that buddy, but it saved a lot of time." She deposited him on a bench, impressed at how easily she moved his body around. "Now then," she mused, wandering out onto the street. "What should I do first?" Looking down at her loose clothes, Susan decided to get a new outfit. She had always wanted to shop downtown at one of those expensive boutiques, but had never had enough money. The guy working at Greta's Wardrobe that morning had no idea how much danger he was in when Susan came into the store. He thumbed his nose at her the instant he saw her pathetic attire. "Some people have no sense of proportion," he thought returning to his duties. Susan wasn't interested in the sales assistant, and he was clearly uninterested in her. Looking at all the beautiful clothes made the rest of her environment fade into unimportance. There were colourful sun dresses, dark evening wear, glamorous garments from Europe...so much to look at and consider. Every possible mood of a woman was sewn into this big fashion outlet, but there was a downside to that. She wandered around for ages trying to spot something that stood out, and almost every dress appealed to her. Concerned that this poorly garbed creature might make off with some merchandise, the sales assistant casually moved over to her with false warmth on his face. "Can I help you, Miss?" "I can't decide," she told him, not even looking at him. "Well, let me help." When she did look at him, she noticed his eyes went a little wide and a gasp escaped his lips. He had not expected her face to be so flawless and her fatures so attractive. "You know a lot about women's clothes, do you?" she asked suspiciously. "Are you some kind of faggot?" "The first question one must ask," he began, going on autopilot while his eyes explored what little he could see of her body. "When buying a new dress, is: How much can you afford to spend?" "Money isn't a concern of mine," she informed him. "Show me the most expensive stuff you have." He shook his head, and tried to focus on doing his job. "Come this way." He led her to the back of the shop and revealed to her the latest stuff that the owner had just brought back from a show in Milan. "This is the dream section. Good stuff for a formal night out." He moved his hand to indicate another rack. "And that's from a collection of day wear by a the greatest French designer." Susan grinned, and reached for a dress. "The change rooms are just here." When Susan was gone from his line of vision the salesman regained his senses, and stood there scratching his chin. What the hell was he doing? This silly bitch was clearly just another working class fool who didn't have enough money to buy from Grace Brothers let alone this exclusive retailer. He started walking toward his desk to buzz upstairs for a security guard. But before he got there Susan had dressed and come back out. "What do you think? Any good?" He turned, and was looking at the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was thin as a supermodel and her face was surreal. The dress she wore was cut low and was designed to show a lot of body. He blurted "Perfect!" before he knew what he was saying. He had completely forgotten where had been headed. "It does look good," Susan agreed, posing in front of a mirror. "But I look like a stick insect. This will never do." The salesman went numb when he saw her use the ring. As she stared into the mirror her body began to change. Her super-slim form filled out until she was covered with enough body fat to make her look voluptuous. But that didn't please her (she looked a bit flabby), so the process reversed itself. Then she tried again, this time drawing on her power source to fill out her muscles. Hard curves popped up all over her body, becoming more pronounced every second. When Susan looked back at the salesman she found a look of terror in his eyes. "How did you do that?" "Do I look better?" "What are you? Ignoring him, Susan looked back at her reflection. "I look like a light-weight body builder." Not happy with the masculine appearance, Susan covered herself with a little body fat to soften the hard lines of her body. She still had a lot of curves, and found the effect made her look like an aerobics instructor. "That'll do nicely." She walked toward the door, and the salesman called out after her. That small piece of fabric wrapped around her bizarre shape-changing body was worth twelve thousand dollars, and there was no way he could explain this to the boss. He dashed for the security buzzer, but Susan saw him and somehow knew what he was up to. She bolted after him, her enhanced muscles giving her fantastic speed. Catching him in an instant, Susan gave the poor man a little push that sent him sprawling across the room. He took down several displays before coming to a stop. "Oh yea!" Susan exclaimed, overjoyed with her new strength. She had to use it again. "Don't!" he cried as she took him in her hand and hoisted him over her head. "I was just going to help you on your way," Susan told him, and threw the helpless man across the room at his desk. He bounced off the top of it, and knocked over his chair. Susan walked around the desk picked him up by the arm. He was clearly unconscious, maybe dead, so Susan was sure he wasn't going to call the police or anything. Making her way back onto the street in her new clothes, Susan became the focal point of every man that could see her. A smug smile drew across her lips and she swayed her hips to give them something to dream about at night. She knew that she had only dabbled a little, touching a minute portion of her available power.