Several relatively only slightly bizarre weeks later...

“DiDi! DiDi!”

DiDi raised an eyebrow as she looked up, just as Frankie Raye burst into her office. She was obviously trying hard not to burst in flame, but that didn’t make DiDi’s brow furrow.

She set aside the paperwork she was working on smoothly as Frankie ran up to her desk breathlessly, leaning over it.

“I, I have a big problem!” she said urgently.

DiDi made a show of looking behind her. “So, you didn’t go to Johnny first, who would take you to see Reed because-?” she asked archly. “Also, blonde looks good on you.”

Frankie flushed and clutched her hands. “I’m not... I am Johnny!” she blurted out, staring at DiDi and daring her to laugh.

“Huh.” DiDi looked at her hair, and steepled her fingers. A small fridge to the side opened, a bottle of blue stuff floated out, and pressed into the side of Frankie’s face until she grabbed it. “Sit down, drink that, and we’ll talk when you’re done.”

“I, but-!” she spluttered, waving the bottle.

“Sit down, and we will talk when you’re done.”

Something in DiDi’s voice raised all the hackles. Frankie sat down in the comfy chair for guests in DiDi’s office, pulled off the bottle’s cap, and tossed back a mouthful of the blue stuff inside.

“Mmmm-mmm-mmmpf!” she blurted out, trying to open her lips and finding them frozen shut as cool silk and cream rampaged around her mouth in a sweet explosion, and finally plummeted down her throat. She gasped as a sucking cold wind followed it, and had to ignite her mouth to free it from the chill.

DiDi absolutely ignored her antics, a fine fountain pen scrawling her signature here and there as the papers shuffled themselves in and off in front of her. She read and memorized them with a glance, and the mountain of paperwork seemed to flow by past her.

Obviously Frankie wasn’t going to get through the bottle quickly, as her flames wouldn’t even approach her mouth while she was trying to drink it. Completely disgruntled, she started to say something, an eyebrow rose in dire menace, and she slunk back in the chair.

It was ten minutes before she could finish the bottle, and looked around for where to deposit it. It zipped out of her grip and deposited itself into a recycler station in the wall.

“Calmed down?” DiDi asked smoothly, stopping her rolling flow of paperwork.

Frankie blinked once. “Uh, yeah, I’m... a little better?” she hazarded.

“Now, that’s Johnny’s hair color, accent, word choice, body language, and control of fire. Given how crazy this life is, getting bodyswapped or something is far from the last thing I’d expect to happen to one of us, given how much it has happened to others.

“Also, I just saw the news feed on something happening at Empire State with you, so explain. If you start getting agitated, I have another bottle.”

“No, no, I’m... not fine, but better.” Her eyes looked around. “Kind of expected you to go for some kind of telepathic confirmation...:

“Shoot a Firefinger Cantrip.” Frankie blinked at the suggestion, and then flicked her fingers. An elegant arc of flame swirled out from her index finger, and she waved it in midair for a few seconds before it petered out. “Yeah, that’s Johnny’s magic, too. If you aren’t him, you’ve got his magic, his memories, and his reflexes, so without a deep mindprobe, I can’t prove otherwise. Go on.”

“Right! I was ambushed at Empire State by Skrulls!” She paused to see if DiDi was going to interject, but DiDi just waited. “They used something on me that started overloading my flame. I tried burning for height, but it was happening just too fast. I was about to go nova right in the middle of the ESU campus...” DiDi just kept her hands folded before her and continued to listen. “Frankie realized I was overloading, and flew up to see if she could help. When she realized what was going on, she opened her Nova Core up and forcibly drew everything inside when I let go...”

DiDi did take that opportunity to say something. “You were in a state of quantum instability, and during the moment of release and draw you were sucked into her Fire Core.”

“Yes!” she exclaimed, slumping in relief, hands flying to her belly. “I’m, I’m right inside here. I can feel my body burning inside her Core.” Her lips bit in agitation. “Well, it’s not as distracting right now as it was before, uh...” she flushed as she realized why she’d been fed the drink. “Oh, thanks...”

“What happened next? Did you catch the Skrulls?” DiDi asked calmly.

“No, they ran and changed while I was trying not to torch the campus, and then when all this happened, I totally lost track of them. I, I kind of panicked, and came right here...”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“And how is Frankie?” DiDi asked calmly.

“She’s... kind of right behind me in my head, talking to me, but I’m all in control, and I don’t know why. I can hear her, and feel her, and we’re kind of sharing thoughts and...”

“Now that you’re all calmed down, you’re trying REALLY hard not to think about how much you want to get laid.”

She opened her mouth, closed it, and started to shake her head, but DiDi just ignored it. “The quantum signature of your body is being broadcast out through hers by the Core. While she’s absorbing your continuous fire output, you’re in command. Can you shut down your fire output? That would return command to her, but you’ll probably find yourself totally cut off and isolated from everything inside her Core.”

“Uh, there’s another problem...” she murmured, finding it hard to meet DiDi’s eyes.

“Yes?”

“Frankie... is a Skrull? Was a Skrull?” Her face twisted slightly. “I mean, she was born a Skrull, but she’s not now? She’s human now, and has an Nova Core to prove it...”

“Technically she has an Ultra Core, not a Nova Core. It’s why she could go mono-Element,” DiDi corrected him. “And you are right, it has to be attuned by species, and Skrulls can’t have one. However, she is a former alien, interesting. You are sharing thoughts?”

“Y-yes...”

“So, you have access to her memories? Thoughts? Emotions?” DiDi pressed.

“Yes...” she said softly.

“Does she love you?”

She swallowed once. “Yes,” she confirmed softly, blushing lightly.

=============

And I love all my readers, but....!

If you're not reading this on Royal Road, you're helping pay a thief. Please read it in its original home, it's still free! You get the foreword and afterword, author comments, and comments from people with questions! I have not given permission for this story to be copied by a bot and posted ANYWHERE ELSE.

=============

“Do you love her?” DiDi went on. Her lips worked, trying to say something brash, arrogant, sarcastic, or funny, and finally just failed.

“Yes...” she confirmed, face totally red now.

“Is she going to betray you or your family for the Skrulls?” DiDi went on, ignoring the blushing completely.

Her eyes flickered hard. “No. The Skrulls don’t even know she’s alive. She doesn’t want to see them come to harm, but she knows how they treat people of other races. Knows very well... and she’s a spy and a soldier... She, she was supposed to replace Alicia...”

DiDi rolled her eyes. “I can’t imagine a better place for a shapechanger than right next to the people who have the most experience with them. ”

She snorted and grinned despite herself. “” she replied in fluent Skrull, blinking as she did.

“,” DiDi informed her.

“Okay, understanding Skrull is freaking me out a little,” she admitted after a blinking moment. “Is there something I can do about this?”

“You, no. We just have to somehow figure out the quantum signature of yourself and your body before your body completely disperses into and is assimilated into her Fire Core. You have your Matrix, right? How many Valences is it showing?”

Her eyes crossed for a second, looking at something not between them. “Um, all five? I just hit Nine with everyone else a couple weeks ago, after Ben got back from his honeymoon.”

And hadn’t that been an eventful trip, DiDi thought. Ben and Alicia had ended up taking a sudden diversion trip down to Subterranea, gotten whisked off to an alien planet after saving the moloid tribe there, beat the crap out of a bunch of other invaders who hadn’t done their research on Terra, won a dance competition (Alicia had loved dancing ever since getting her Ultraspecs, and Ben was more than happy to entertain her), celebrated the festival on San Samal where Ben played the rocky idol and central party-goer, got caught up in AIM shenanigans with wild robot-smashing, and thwarted another one of Diablo’s kooky schemes for taking over an island paradise. It had all culminated nicely with a set of fisticuffs when Blastaar somehow tracked him down and crossed over to reward him for getting married with a knock-down, drag-out brawl, only to find that the Rock of the Fantastic Four had gotten oh-so-damn durable over the years, and eventually Blastaar chose to run away rather than get outlasted and beaten down.

It about kept pace with the craziness of the rest of the team, and now this was happening.

“Core plus all five Valences?” DiDi asked archly.

“Yes.” She wove her fingers deftly, fire sparking at the tips, and Seals of the irregular symmetry Elemental Fire preferred materialized around her.

“Well, I guess we don’t need to call Reed. Nobody short of Galactus is going to be able to undo the two of you soon.”

She blinked in shock. “What?” Her eyes dashed between the Seals still holding on her hands, ready to unleash a positive torrent of literal Firepower. “Because of my Valences?!” she exclaimed in shock.

“No, they’re more like a measuring stick indicating level of Attunement. You know how long it’s taken you to get a Matrix that strong and Attune the Fire to you.” She nodded helplessly at DiDi’s words. “Well, your Matrix is fully Attuned to you, only right now you are totally mixed up with her. Just what the Hell did those Skrulls shoot you with...” DiDi shook her head as she got to her feet. “You should have had a tracking spell you could access with your Ring...”

She glanced at the Ring on her finger, the Spell Knowledge aspect of it fully active. “Oh, crap...” she muttered. “We were panicking just a little bit...”

“Eh, we have time, they aren’t getting away. At least we can make sure it doesn’t happen to the others.” Her eyes widened at the words. “Yeah, you were just the easiest to get to. Having Frankie around saved your life...”

“Her name is actually Lyja,” she said in a low voice. “Frankie is her cover identity...”

DiDi just lifted an eyebrow. “Perfect, then. I’m calling you Frankie LJ Raye, count it as your cover identity. I imagine between you knowing everything a human is supposed to know and her being an accomplished spy, that shouldn’t be difficult to pull off at all?”

Frankie blinked once. “Uh, no. We can totally do it,” she admitted, straightening up and adjusting her body language promptly, looking abruptly confident, poised, and ready to burn something.

“Good.” DiDi snapped her fingers, and her Dynamo outfit, bearing a distinct resemblance to the blue and white FF outfit, but in deep burgundy and dark yellow, popped up. “Did Johnny’s uniform survive, Frankie?”

“No, I don’t think so, but I Attuned it to my magic, so Instant Outfit should work...” She also snapped her fingers, and flames wooshed up... but her clothes didn’t change at all. She frowned as she looked down at her blouse in consternation.