Hi! So this story was inspired by pumpkinnubbin's "Experiment Gone Wrong" and as the awesome friend that she is, she helped me write this. First fanfic I'm publishing here so I'm a tad anxious about it. I hope you will all enjoy reading it as much as enjoyed writing it.
Disclaimer: Nothing but the idea belongs to me. -sobs-
Parts in italic are Helen's thoughts.
That's all! On with the story.
Helen Magnus woke up slowly and with difficulty. She was usually a morning person but it appeared today wasn't the case. She blinked sleepily, trying to clear the fog obscuring her thoughts. She blamed this on her latest mission, from which she had come back the day before completely exhausted.
Once her vision cleared a little, Helen looked around her and frowned.
"I didn't remember my bed was that big." she thought.
From her point of view, the bed was huge, the end of it impossibly far. She yawned and lifted a hand to cover her mouth, or tried to. She gasped when her hand came into view, or should she say paw? Her mind went blank before fear and confusion surged through her as she tried to untangle herself from the bedsheets, rolling around and waving her paws wildly.
"What on Earth?"
She had to get a look at herself, try to understand what was going on. Finally, she was standing on the edge of the bed, looking down at the floor. She silently cursed herself for picking such a high bed.
"I can do this." She told herself repeatedly, bending her front paws slightly as she prepared to jump. She took a deep breath and steeled herself before jumping down towards her carpeted floor. And landing flat on her face. She let out a strangled gasp that sounded more like an undignified meow as it echoed around the room.
"Ow! This is going to take some getting used to." She got up on her paws shakily and made her way slowly towards the full length mirror on her wall, stumbling along the way. Coordinating her four paws required more effort than she would have thought. Finally, she was able to look at herself in the glass and she froze.
Her reflection looked back at her, blue orb-like eyes sparkling and looking surprisingly wide in a thin, elegant face. Long, white fur covered her slim body, her puffy tail swaying behind her, movements not unlike those of a snake. Realisation dawned on Helen and a pitiful meow escaped her. She was a cat. Helen Magnus had been transformed into a cat.
"Wonderful." she thought bitterly.
Her mind replayed their mission in her head, knowing her current condition had to be related to it somehow. She focused and suddenly, her eyes widened. They had been exploring an ancient tomb in Egypt for a supposedly exctinct abnormal. Local population had complained about strange events occuring that could have been provoked by a survivor of the specie. In the tomb, they had stumbled upon a room full of ancient artifacts, displayed on pedestals of various size and shapes. Helen had ordered her team not to touch anything. She was planning on having a team of experts come later to retrieve everything. They had lingered in the room for a while, studying the writings on the walls when she had suddenly tripped on the uneven ground, catching herself on a pedestal, making it sway a little to the side under the force of the impact. The relic resting on it had threatened to fall and smash but she had caught it with both hands. Everyone had stopped breathing then, waiting for some hidden trap to click into life, like in the Indiana Jones movies. When nothing happened for a couple of minutes, she had straightened up and released her breath in a relieved sigh before carefully placing the item back in its place. Everyone had brushed off the incident with a laugh and the mission had continued without any further surprises.
"Until now. " Helen thought. When all her exams had come back clear, she had been reassured there was truly no consequences to the incident in the tomb. Clearly, she had been wrong about that. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on her bedroom door.
"Magnus, are you awake? Sorry to wake you up but it's nearly 11am and we're waiting on you to start the debriefing." Will's voice came muffled through the door.
Helen's head whipped towards the door in surprise. She never slept in. But then again, she had never woken up as cat before either.
"Guess there's a first time for everything." she mused.
"Magnus? You alright?" Will said after a few minutes, knocking on the door again.
She tried to answer that she was fine, force of habit, but all that came out was a loud meowl.
A second later, her protégé was poking his head through the door cautiously, knowing better than to startle his trigger-happy boss.
"Magnus? I'm sorry to intrude but I heard a strange noise and I was wondering what –" his words died on his lips when he noticed the white cat staring at him, eyes wide and somehow panicked.
Will frowned and stepped into the room, looking around for his boss. He noticed the empty bed and turned his head back towards the cat.
Helen started to walk towards him, still clumsy but at least she didn't fall down this time. She stopped at his feet and looked up at him somehow expectantly. After a few seconds, she sat down and wrapped her tail around her paws, her gaze never leaving his.
Will looked into the cat's eyes, somehow captivated. There was something about those eyes that looked familiar.
"Where are you coming from?" he asked the cat quietly before looking around once more. "Magnus? Magnus, there's a cat in your room." When no answer came once more, he returned his attention to the cat and crouched down in front of the animal. He extended a hand as if to stroke her fur and Helen recoiled, looking at his hand strangely. Was he trying to pet her?
"Well, I do look like a cat. But still…" she mused.
Will retreated his hand and he gasped. The cat's expression had been so…human somehow. He had seen that expression before. He continued to examine the animal's features when suddenly, his eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up to his hairline.
"Holy crap, wait a second. Magnus? Is that you?" he said, his voice panicked and amused at the same time.
Knowing she couldn't speak, Helen nodded her head a couple of times, glaring at the tone of his voice. She couldn't find anything funny about her current predicament. She waited for Will to process the information, wishing she could tap her foot in annoyance when he kept staring at her, trying to hide a smile and failing miserably. He seemed to notice her glare because he suddenly sobered up, turning a chuckle into a cough.
"How the hell did you manage that?" he said before straightening up and thinking about his next plan of action. "I need to warn the others. Maybe Henry can figure out what happened to you." he told her, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. Helen nodded again, silently agreeing with him. She must have gotten lost in thought because the next thing she knew, Will's hand was trying to pick her up from the floor, one hand under her belly. She meowed in indignation and pawed at his hands, tearing the skin with her claws. He yelped and let her go. Her stomach lurched and she landed with a soft thud. She was ruffled and hissing at him.
"Don't ever do that again. I'm still your boss." she scolded him in her head.
He looked at her, holding his bleeding hand with his other one, his expression confused.
"What the hell Magnus? I was trying to help you!"
"I can walk just fine, thank you very much." she hoped he would get the meaning behind her glare and apparently he did because he started walking towards the door, waiting for her to follow. She did so a couple of seconds later, making sure not to trip over any of her paws. He held the door open for her and she walked past with her head held high.
They walked to the elevator slowly as she was still adjusting to her new body. It took them longer than usual to reach Henry's lab but by the time they arrived, she had gotten the hang of walking with four paws. Henry was typing furiously on his keyboard and he didn't even notice the two newcomers until Helen went to sit by his chair and meowed loudly. His head snapped up and he looked at his feet, a smile spreading on his face.
"Hi there! Where are you coming from?" he asked before looking at Will with a puzzled expression.
"That's Magnus." Will deadpanned, chuckling when Henry's eyes widened and he turned his head back to look at the cat so fast that his neck cracked loudly.
"What? You're kidding, right?" he asked, looking at the cat who stared back at him with amused eyes.
"Nope. She can't talk, obviously but it's her. I'm fairly certain she understands everything we say so be careful. Also, mind the claws." he said, showing Henry his bloody hand.
Henry gaped at the cat and got up before crouching in front of her. Will was right. He couldn't explain it but he was sure this was indeed Magnus.
"Doc? Are you alright? Well I mean besides…you know, the obvious fur problem." he asked, frowning.
Helen would have laughed if she could. Her eyes shone with amusement and she nodded at Henry before turning her head towards Will again.
"Any idea what could have caused this?" he asked Henry, who was fascinated by the cat, a grin on his face .
"What? Hum, no, not yet. Doc, have you ever heard of something like that happening?" Henry asked her.
Helen thought about it for a while but came up with nothing that reminded her of her current situation. She shook her head, feeling a little panicked. She forced herself to remain calm though, knowing full well that she needed to keep a clear head if she wanted to solve this quickly.
Henry reached over and carefully stroked her head in reassurance. She was surprised but she didn't protest, appreciating the intention.
"It's okay, Doc. We'll figure it out." he said soothingly.
She ducked her head and avoided his gaze, hoping he was right.