The remote was too powerful to simply hand back to Todd, not without understanding it and the situation better, at least. Staring at the device, Mick found it hard to believe just how much such a little thing could do. But he could not deny just how powerful it was, as unreal as it seemed. He was now a living testament to its power, as was the woman out on the couch with Todd.
The woman...
Mick turned his gaze to his door. He again thought about how ragged the woman looked. To him, even for a fashion statement, the damage to her clothes was excessive. It really left him wondering just how on board the woman was with her transformations, or if she was even aware of their cause.
It would be easy to tell, he realized. If they woke up and the woman was back to normal, then she would certainly be happy and relieved if Todd had forced her into the situation. If she was in on it, she would be confused and probably try and help Todd find the remote. If it was the latter, then Mick could simply return the remote to them. But if was the former...
If the woman was being taken advantage of, there was no way he could let Todd have back something he had shown he was so ready to abuse.
Mick stepped out of his room and peered at Todd and the woman. Both were still soundly asleep. Confident then he would not be discovered, Mick raised the remote and pointed it at the woman. He scrolled through the controls, looking for how to remove her extra arms and breasts. He saw the settings to do so, but then much to his relief he saw something even better: a reset form function. He chose it and pressed the activation button.
With the darkness of the room and his eyes having become accustomed to the light of his room, it was hard to see the transformation occurring. But he could just barely make out the woman's form, and it did seem her extra arms were receding into her body.
The woman stirred, the sensation of the transformation rousing her from her light slumber. Mick almost retreated into his room then, but instead he waited to see the woman's reaction.
Nancy's grogginess and the unfamiliar surroundings left her disoriented for several seconds. Where was she? Who was she sitting next to?
Then, one by one, the memories returned. The changes in size. The extra arms and breasts. Todd taking care of her despite the strangeness of the situation. It wasn't a dream.
Or was it? Nancy frowned as she realized she felt different. Slowly, she reached a hand to under her arm. She felt the hole she had cut into the shirt, but there was no arm. She padded at her chest underneath her breasts, but the skin was flat; no extra breasts.
Was she back to normal?
Nancy looked over at Todd; he was still fast asleep and unaware she had awoken. That was okay; she could let him sleep. She just needed to look in a mirror to make sure nothing else had taken the place of the arms and breasts.
She got up slowly, careful to make sure she did not disturb Todd. Once on her feet, she walked around the couch to head towards the bathroom, only to then see Mick peering out from the doorway to his room. Nancy froze and a shock of cold flushed through her veins. How long had he been there? How much had he seen?
Mick waved shyly. "Hey, sorry to scare you," he whispered.
"It's... okay," Nancy muttered back. "Did you need something?"
Mick glanced away for a second. "I, uh..." He looked over at Todd, checking that he was still asleep. "I needed to see how you reacted."
Nancy frowned. "To what?"
"To not having extra arms anymore," Mick said. And breasts, he would have said, but arms was enough; he didn't need her thinking he had been peeping her.
Nancy blinked. "You... saw that?"
Mick nodded. "Yeah. But I didn't know what was going on, so, uh... I removed them."
It took a second for Nancy to realize what he said. "Wait, what? How?"
"I took Todd's remote. I... wasn't sure if he was taking advantage of you or not."
Nancy felt her body freezing up as terror and fury began to fester in her gut. "What remote?"
Mick's expression went from nervous to serious in an instant. "He didn't tell you?" He held up the remote for her to see. "He was using this to change you."
"That can't... what?" Her voice began to rise, but she clapped her hands over her mouth as she realized it and she looked back at Todd to see he was still asleep.
Todd. The one who had been so calm about her mysterious changes and helped her escape the university unseen. The one who had been so kind and reassuring about something so frightening. Suddenly it made sense why he had been so calm, why he had been so eager to 'help' her: he had known. No, not just known.
It was all him.
Nancy stepped back, away from Todd. "He... he did that?" she whispered.
"The remote was in his pocket. It can change people with just a few buttons," Mick explained.
Nancy hung her head. For a moment, the terror and fury quickly bubbling to the surface fought over which would show. She wanted to grab the remote from Mick and start using it on Todd, to put him at her mercy. But she also wanted to run, to leave and never think about this again.