A few days had passed since Dusty's friend had wound up staying with us. Getting her better that only took those few days.

Getting her to walk was getting to be a near impossible feat. Her legs were weak and any movement she made almost always ended with her winding up facedown on the pavement if Dusty didn't catch her in time.

As it was it usually as when we were all too far to catch her when she attempted this so she wound up being covered in dirt a LOT.

And her hands...That was another challenge. Trying to get her grip back, as a forklift her lifts acted like hands, letting her grip and turn things hence why she had been so good at what she did.

Dusty spent a lot of time with her trying to at least get her hands working right again.

And we tried a lot over the course of those days. Massaging them, stress balls, and to be honest...There was even an idea of using some antique thing mom found in the shed that looked more like a torture contraption then anything else.

There was a lot of dropped things. After dropped fork number 100 I finally got an idea.

"Hey...Why are we always going back to the failed idea's? Heck even the torture device-"

"It's NOT a torture device!"

"It is mom! Anyways...I think I got one." I grinned leaning over the couch a little looking at Dottie. She looked at her hands and sighed.

"I'd be willing to try anything sans the torture contraption. What is it?"

I smirked. "The piano."

There was some blinking received. "..Why the piano?"

"Well..Piano requires a person to continuously move their fingers to keep the music playing. Grandma has that baby grand in her sitting room and it's well tuned. If massaging her hands don't work, if stress balls don't work, if no one wants to try mom's medieval torture device then that's our best option."

I got a wet towel to the back of my head from my mom for the continuous use of 'torture' device but it was worth it.

We took her up there and grandma set her up with some sheet music, showed her how to do it and...Then it was all up to her.

-Dottie-

I gulped a bit and looked over the music sheet before lifting my hands they were trembling like they had been twenty four seven since the change. I growled a little and just...Let it out.

The anger, the frustration at not being able to do my job. How scared I had been.

All of it came out at once in an angry but long piece of music, my fingers were stiff at first but slowly they became fully under my control.

I closed my eyes getting lost in the music I was making. I felt a hand on my shoulder and a gentle squeeze. "Great job." Dusty said quietly but didn't do anything else. I smiled, that was enough for me.

I continued on until I had to stop this time because my hands were cramping up. "Ow…" I hissed rubbing my right hand wincing as a few popping sounds resulted.

"Here." Andy's grandmother said holding something out to me. I took them and looked at them.

A pair of leather fingerless gloves. "F-for me?" I looked up confused. Why would she want me to have these?

"Yes, your hands won't cramp up as much, these will help I assure you. Put them on when you play or work and your hands won't cramp up as much. Just don't go at it for as long as you have." She gestured to the clock. "It's been almost an hour."

I smiled slipping them on, the leather felt cool on my skin at first. "Thank you.." Dusty helped me up picking me up.

This was one thing I did hate the most about being human, was needing to be carried nearly everywhere. It was embarrassing. At the Hayes house I could drag myself to certain places if I had to, but outside...That wasn't exactly possible.

"Hey wait a sec…" Andy said as attention fell onto him. He was leaning against the piano a thoughtful look on his face. "What if we fashioned her some leg braces? Y'know so her legs won't give out under her so fast. We have old metal, some leather, screws...And plenty of tools."

I flexed my hands and closed my eyes imagining how it would work. I probably wouldn't have much control of my knee's if it was how I was thinking...But if I could walk I could worry about that later.

And besides…

I was eager to get my hands on a wrench again. I grinned. "Let's do it."

-N/A-

Making the braces wasn't as hard as they suspected, or rather the first set. They had to be remade mainly what would hold them to Dottie since the type of leather they had used initially wasn't working to hold them on and she wound up nearly falling face first into the dirt again.

The second time around was easier and once she had them on she started practicing. First leaning on Dusty using him as support then on her own.

It took a couple of days of this before she was finally ready to try by herself.

The Hayes and Dusty watched as she took her first steps unaided...Before she broke into a run.

"YES! FREEDOM!"

"...That sounds pretty familiar to what I said after the race when I finally had all my old parts back." Dusty chuckled just happy to see his friend adjusting to her new form finally.

Dottie ran up to him hugging him. He hugged her back a little surprised. "Thanks...For everything."

"Anything for my friends."

-

HEAMIC was preparing it's next target. However there was a serious offense in one of their ranks.

There was a code, a code that held the secret to the reversal of the machine-to-human process.

Someone was trusted to destroy that code. But security footage caught one of them instead hiding it away and taking it.

Unfortunately for that person...They now had a price to pay.

Unbeknownst to him, as he was now apart of the 'capture' team rather than being the one in charge of the Change. This would be his last run with the organization..

The plan was simple...Capture the racer known as Ripslinger, rough him up a bit, change him...And see how long the supposed Green Tornado could survive being a human.

"He looks down on all humans...Was even heard saying he'd rather crush one then be caught dead near one."

"We'll see how he likes being one."

They could see him now practicing overhead. Some gulped, it wouldn't be as easy as taking down the others. This one was armed.

The Sky Slicer Mark 5...If it could shred a fellow machine's metal then Ripslinger could easily slice them all into ribbons.

"Should we knock him out in transit?"

"That would likely be best." Brody murmured keeping a watch. He was coming in for a landing..It was their chance.

"GO!"

It had happened in the blink of an eye but for the machine and the human it felt like years.

The magnets had descended and snared up Ripslinger who snarled and struggled like many a machine before them had. Brody was tackled to the ground, his head slammed against a rock dazing him.

Ripslinger was all but thrown into the transit cart, gas seeped in knocking him unconscious.

Brody was tied up dazed, glancing upwards at the sky. He felt dizzy, his head swam.

They threw him in the back of a cart as they sped off.

When Brody came to, he found himself tied still as he lifted himself up. He swallowed hard seeing Ripslinger also coming to the plane attached to restraints to keep him from moving. "W-what's the meaning of this!?"

The plane's engine roared as he too started to question what was going on. "For Flying out loud you humans are IDIOTS! ALL OF YOU!"

The voice of his boss sent chills down Brody's mind. "You are the one who should be an 'idiot' Ripslinger...And Professor Hayes...I thought we could trust you with a very simple task." His face was grim.

The scientist swallowed hard starting to shake. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry!"

They laughed in his face. He winced as one of his co-workers kicked him hard in the ribs letting out a gasp.

"You think we're not gonna punish you!?"

Brody felt himself go pale. He knew what the threat was.

It was then he realized he had electrodes all over him…..Connecting to their device.

OH GOD!
They're…

THEY'RE REALLY GONNA DO IT!

"Now...We could forgive if you told us where." His boss lifted Brody's head up to look into the man's eyes.

Brody spat in his face. "I'd rather be changed!" He snarled.

The head of HEAMIC scowled and dropped him. "...Begin."

That day...Two screams of agony and horror filled the air. One of an ex-champion...The other of man lead astray.

When it was over, their forms were reversed. Ripslinger groggily lifted himself up trying to keep balanced as he looked at himself in horror.

They….They made me one of THEM!

Brody groaned as he looked around finding himself seeing everything differently...It was all smaller now.

He took a glance at himself in the metallic walls and felt a chill of fear go through him.

Looking back at him wasn't the form he was born with...Not the dark haired scientist whose son inherited his eerie green eyes.

The eyes that now looked back at him from the body of a Cropduster.

No….

NO!

"NO!"