The instant her hand came away from the bracelet, the air rippled around Cameron, and her clothing shifted, sparks of magic visibly dancing upon the fabric. Black cloth spread from her wrist, quickly obscuring the bracelet, and working it's way up. The short-sleeved shirt fused with the new material as it met the hem, and began shifting to take on the new color. At the shoulder, the fabric sharply merged from black to emerald green, spreading across her shoulders. A grey turtleneck materialized, peeking out from under the suit jacket, and four rank pips whispered into existence. On the other shoulder, the green shifted back to black, and raced down her arm, terminating at the wrist. In the meantime, a wave of black flowed down her torso, pausing briefly at the waistline to jump to her pants. As the wave of black resumed it's course, the casual jeans changed, becoming a pair of neatly creased slacks. The well-worn tennis shoes warped for a moment, taking on a shiny black covering, and shifting to become formal dress shoes. A hand phaser materialized in a small holster on the right side, while a science tricorder filled a pocket on the left, completing the transformation of her clothes.
Then Cameron herself began changing, and the uniform adapted fluidly with her as she became taller. Within moments, she had high cheekbones, and her warm hazel eyes changed tint, becoming a striking green that sparkled with mischief and matched her jacket's shoulders perfectly. Her mousy auburn hair, which had been kept somewhat short, lengthened luxuriously, and shifted to jet black. A short loop of leather bound her hair into a loose ponytail at the base of her head.
She examined her hands, front and back, then looked up at Alex. "Well, that was certainly interesting." she said. Her eyes closed for a moment, then opened again, a new intelligence shining brightly from sparkling emerald depths.
"You remind me of someone…" she said softly, walking closer to Alex.
The young warlock gulped slightly. "Yes." he said softly. "I remind you of Ajax, do I not?"
"How do you know that?" she demanded.
"Because I created you, and I created Ajax. I also aided in the creation of Devin Powers." Alex replied.
Her gaze turned murderous. "Why?" she demanded.
"Will you accept my words as truth?" Alex replied. "If not, then I do not know how to explain it to you in a way that you will accept."
"I will hear your words, then render judgment."
"Good." Alex said. "You are Amaranth, a dragon capable of taking human form. You are bonded with Ajax, who was one of the few who survived the destruction Archangel Project. He was later inducted into the Perseverance Project because of his tenacity. He passed a written test, then later passed a basic survival test, and was placed in cryostasis. The plan was to revive him, and continue experimenting when the political scene became more accepting of genetic research of this type.
You on the other hand, managed to stay under the radar until the year 2020, when you were captured attempting to break into an Itex office in search of your partner's whereabouts. You were placed in cryo as a means to get you out of the way, and eventually, and man named Hank Algren found you and had you thawed out. He recruited you into the FSB, and eventually sent you to find Chakotay, on Earth-2. Chakotay aimed a phaser at you, and you nearly attacked, but had a flashback to the time when you were being tutored by a Vulcan named Sajah."
"How do you know all this?" Amaranth demanded.
"I'm a writer and a warlock. Not just that, but I'm the person that wrote YOU into existence." Alex replied. "I've followed your adventures in my mind, and it is only now that you have existed outside of a text document on a server, or outside of the confines of my mind."
"Then, to gain me freedom from you…" Amaranth trailed off, and drew her phaser. "I have but to kill you."
"I would prefer you didn't fire." Alex said levelly. "It only works at the stun level, but I'm still in no mood to be hit by it."
Amaranth narrowed her eyes, but returned the phaser to it's place. "Why have you brought me here?" she asked at last.
"Because I want to make a TV show." Alex replied.
"So you want me to perform for you?" she asked. "I'll not do it."
"Why not?" Alex demanded.
"I am a dragon, and you expect me to perform like some sort of toy for you?" Amaranth retorted.
"I created you." Alex snapped. "I could undo you very easily."
"But you will not." Amaranth replied. "I may be human in form, but my crystal fire still works."
"On most things, yes." Alex replied. "But not on myself. I have taken measures to protect myself, in the event of a situation like this. I may be young, but I am not stupid."
Amaranth looked at Alex for several moments, a small war taking place in her mind. Eventually, she said "What do you require?"
"I just need you to make a stealth landing." Alex said.
Amaranth cast a glance at Alex, but leapt straight up. As she reached the apex of her jump, her form shifted, skin and clothing merging to become stunningly green scales that were as hard as diamond. She circled as she climbed, quickly gaining altitude, leaving Alex to set up the camera.
When he was finished, he switched the camera on, and aimed it into the sky, where Amaranth was circling.
"Am I to land now?" she asked, a slight tone of condescension hidden in her voice.
"Yes." Alex replied, tracking the green dragon.
She seemed to rotate in the air, not falling, then suddenly, Amaranth was hurtling out of the sky. She flawlessly pulled out of her dive, and circled twice at low altitude before she swooped close to the ground. When her massively clawed feet were two feet away from touching, she seemed to ripple in the sunlight, and Amaranth was back in her human form, landing lightly on the ground.
The blinking red light switched off, and Alex stood upright again. "Thank you." he said.
"Why did you not tell me that there was another entity in my mind?" Amaranth asked.
"Because she's the host." Alex replied.
Amaranth looked herself over. "No, I look like me." she said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, because of the bracelet." Alex explained. "You see, everything that makes you who and what you are is on the bracelet. The host put on the bracelet and was changed to match you…on the outside, anyway. Her mind was simply pushed to the side, as an observer. She felt everything you felt, heard everything you heard, saw everything you saw, even heard all your thoughts. Cameron can't actually take control until the bracelet is removed again."
"So, I remove this bracelet, and my entire existence is tied up inside of it?" Amaranth asked.
"No." Alex replied. "You already exist. The bracelet is simply an enabler that allows for your existence in this reality."
"Then I would like to return to my own reality." Amaranth said. With that, she removed the bracelet.
"Oi, I look good!" Cameron said, looking at herself.
"Not for long." Alex replied. "That will wear off in about fifteen seconds."
As Alex spoke, the long black hair returned to it's previously short length, reverting to mousy brown. Within moments, Cameron was back to her old self, including her clothing. "Too good to hope for, I guess." she said sadly.
"Some adjustments could be made, if you wanted, but Amaranth's character is a dead ringer for Anette Olzon. You'd know her from Nightwish, if the name rang any bells." Alex said. "When I was obtaining a picture for the bracelet, I promised that whoever was using it would only be using it on set."
"Alright, well that was certainly a lot of fun." Cameron said. "Can I go back home now?"
"Actually, if you aren't opposed, I'd like to do a second out-take, if you are willing to operate the camera?" Alex said.
"Okay." Cameron said. "But let's get this done quick. I didn't set my TiVo to record the Simpsons, and I don't want to miss it."
Alex chuckled, and Cameron huffed slightly. "It's important to me." she said, mock complaining.
"Alright, I'll make this quick."
Alex promised. He pulled out a string that had probably been white long ago. A key dangled from it, glinting brightly in the sun. Once it was around his neck, and securely tucked under his shirt, his clothes began to change. The shirt developed a pair of hemmed slits in the back, and became longer. Likewise, the slacks he'd been wearing became a mildly battered pair of blue jeans. The classy black shoes became worn hiking shoes, and a heavy-duty cloak unfurled from his shoulders.
Underneath the cloak, a pair of wings grew out, as Alex gained three inches in height. He blinked a few times, refocusing, as his eyesight became sharper, and his neatly trimmed hair became somewhat longer, standing up and back in a perpetually windswept style.
His eyes closed, and they opened again, Alex had been replaced with Ajax. He looked at the piece of paper in his hand, and nodded softly.
"It is my pleasure to meet you, Cameron." Ajax said, holding out his hand to shake. "My name is Ajax, and I'm here for a brief scene, specifically, a flyby."
"A flyby?" Cameron repeated.
"Not to be confused with a Flyboy." Ajax replied merrily. He pointed up the valley. "I'm going to be flying from there to…" he pointed down the valley "there. My pass will take me about ten feet off to the side of your camera position." He unclasped his cloak. "I'll leave this here." he said, folding the heavy fabric. "I don't typically fly with it, and only really use it for formal occasions."
After he had set it down, he jumped upwards, vigorously pounding the air with his wings. From tip to tip, he had a twenty-foot span, and every inch of it was being used for takeoff.
Once he'd stabilized, he began flying up the valley, before turning around, and flying back the way he'd come. The pass was low, and relatively slow, considering his top speed, then he turned back to land nearby.
He quickly removed the key from around his neck, and began walking back towards Cameron, ignoring the changes that were occurring.
"Did you get a good flyby?" Alex asked, beginning to pack up the camera.
"Yeah, it was great!" Cameron replied. "You know, I never thought I'd be working a camera."
"You won't be working a camera." Alex replied. "Not if this goes through. There is one other thing though…"
Their surroundings shifted, and they were back in Cameron's apartment, though Alex continued talking as if nothing had happened. "Voyager ran fifteen episodes in the first season. I'll be doing the same, to make it more attractive to Paramount. The next season, they ran twenty-six episodes. At best, you'll be appearing at the tail-end of the second season. I'm really sorry about that."
"Why wait until second season?" Cameron asked.
"Well, I'm not the writer. However, you've got a good backstory that's I've helped to create."
"Oh?" Cameron asked, flipping on the TV.
"Yeah, you've got a Defiant-class starship that can be controlled with your mind, and has an entity living inside of the computer banks, essentially serving as an A.I. You had a run-in with Q, meditation lessons with a Vulcan who's actually somewhat warm, and were tasked with following Chakotay to Earth-2. If you want to know more, read The Path of Destiny by RobertCanary. For a look at what's going on in Exodus, you can read his story, Star Trek: Exodus. They are both quite good, though Path of Destiny is massive…382 chapters at last count, and it's not done yet." Alex stopped speaking, and checked his watch. "I need to get going." he said. "Have fun watching the Simpsons." With that, he was gone.
=/\=
A/N: Well. Sorry for taking so long, real life happened, something hit the fan, and things got busy. I've had this ready for a while, aside from some editing, but didn't have the time to finish and post it, which I'm doing now. As always, review, and I'll get back to you!
A/R:
stephanopolos: I'm glad for you. Care to elaborate a little next time?