Here's another part 2, this time for  exatron! His big space cheetah just keeps getting biggerer.

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Dan Bergstrom ©  exatron
Story © c'est moi

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The smoke cleared, and Lieutenant Jefe saw that the strange shrine was left in rubble. Where once the strange, pyramidal structure built of green and gold stone had stood out along the barren landscape of the moon of Velgar, there was nothing but a cloud of dust and a sizeable crater.

“Agent Bergstrom?” Jefe hissed through her radio, turning on her radar. She was registering two life forms in the crater; the bigger one had to be the strange, burly cheetah High Command had sent out to meet her. “Agent Bergstrom, do you read?”

The cheetah groaned loudly; his black ops battle armor had absorbed most of the damage from the blast, but he still felt like he got rammed with a battle cruiser. “Yeah… I read. And bleed. Maybe. First time I’m seeing spots without looking in a mirror…” he grumbled, shaking his head. Dan Bergstrom was having a bad first day as a special agent for the Leonine Empire; his attempts to secure the remains of a lost civilization had quite literally blown up in his face. What was supposed to be the find of the century was now reduced to ruin all around his ears. His genetically enhanced body, sporting an impressive amount of muscle packed on to his lithe cheetah build not two days ago, kept him intact where his armor would have failed him. As he began to crawl out of the crater, however, the radio in his ear crackled.

“Bergstrom! Behind you!”

A massive arm immediately wrapped around the cheetah, dragging him back into the crater. Dan lashed out, striking with claws, his chest constricted, but his powerful arm tensed. He barely wriggled free from his attacker’s bicep, swelling up as big as his thigh. The cheetah gasped, looking down at the enemy. It was Devoss.

The Canidae agent, the one that had stolen Dan’s research and brought him out to Velgar’s Moon, had more than tripled in size. Every part of his body rippled with tensed, bulging muscle, from his pecs heaving up, shreds of his own space suit littering his body, to arms as round as Dan’s waist. But Devoss wasn’t fighting, or looking to kill. The fox was gasping in vain for air that wasn’t there, his eyes bulging as the moon’s inadequate atmosphere slowly suffocated him.

“Agent Bergstrom, are you still there?” Jefe radioed in.

“Uh…” Dan shook his head, rolling his own broad shoulders to lift up Devoss’ arm. “Yeah, but get here quick, I need some help.”

It was an arduous task dragging the hulking fox back to his ship, but between Dan’s enhanced strength and Jefe’s stubbornness, they dragged Devoss, now unconscious, into the ship, securing the airlock behind him.

“He’s still registering a pulse,” Jefe noted, accessing her heat-vision on her helmet before removing it. “You just barely saved him… what good it will do us.” The black panther turned sharply, narrowing her eyes at Dan. “Have you thought at all about what’s going to happen when he wakes up? Look at him- he looks like he could punch a hole through our ship.”

“He’s not that big,” the cheetah muttered, almost defensively. “I couldn’t just let him die out there.”

Jefe sighed, running her hand over her head. “No. I suppose not.” She then shoved a laser rifle into the cheetah’s hands. “But if he goes wild, you’re the one that has to put him down. Alright? You brought him here, he’s your responsibility.”

“You want me to get him a collar and make sure his water bowl is full?” Dan asked flatly.

The black panther arched her brow. “He’s Canidae- a dog, isn’t he?”

“So glad to see open-mindedness in the military,” Dan sighed, leaning against the wall as he waited for the fox to wake up.

He didn’t need to wait long. After Jefe tended both of their wounds, the fox soon roused himself awake, his eyes bleary as he looked around the ship. “Where am I…?”

“In the doghouse, if you want to think of it that way,” Jefe responded, punching in their coordinates. “You said Deletor is our next stop, yes, Mr. Bergstrom?”

“Dr. Bergstrom,” Dan corrected, rolling his eyes. He turned his attention back to Devoss, gesturing to the laser rifle in his hands. “Alright, Vulpes. It’s time you were a little more honest than you were back at the digsite.”

Devoss’ attention, however, was drawn to his rising pecs, a sheer cliff of muscle. His eyes drifted down, likewise, to his bulging arms. “It worked…”

“Hey! Vulpes!” Dan planted his foot on the fox’s cut abs, priming the rifle. “Attention up here. I dragged you in here instead of letting you suffocate, but if you try anything funny, I can shoot you or push the airlock button a lot faster than you can test that new body of yours.”

Vulpes growled for a second, tensing his arms, then let it go, sighing as he dropped his head back. “Fine. Very well.” He narrowed his eyes. “You were a lot thinner when I saw you last, Dr. Bergstrom. Where’d you…?” The fox sighed. “Let me guess. Military serum, developed from the Black Meteors Syndicate.”

Dan narrowed his eyes. “How’d you know?”

The fox rolled his eyes. “In case you forgot, Dr. Bergstrom, my field is Intelligence. I’d be a pretty poor spy if I didn’t know about these things.”

“Fine. You’re a spy. And I’m an archaeologist. Why don’t we trade what we know?”

Devoss drummed his fingers, biting his lip for a moment. “Very well. The Black Meteors Syndicate didn’t get those supplements all on their own. They found it from a shrine like the one you just helped destroy. They know about the Palamani.”

“So you’re a believer after all, then?” the cheetah scoffed. “What was that show about calling me a novice scholar, believing in conspiracy theories?”

“Because Kinlady Lenore is the Emperor’s cousin? I’m not going to play all my cards in front of a high-ranking official of my nation’s main rival,” Devoss stated. “I’ve been researching them for years, and I was so close to figuring out the Syndicate’s connection before they just… disappeared. They were closer to a cult than they were a criminal gang. Now, there’s no sign of them anywhere. Only the altars they dug up are left… so, at least finding them won’t be that much of a challenge.”

Bergstrom frowned. “What do you mean that the Syndicate just disappeared?”

“You hadn’t heard?” Devoss looked over to Jefe. “Why, Lieutenant, have you been keeping secrets?”

The panther rolled her eyes. “It was classified. All you need to know, Captain, Agent Bergstrom, is that the Black Meteors Syndicate is no longer a threat. We engaged them awhile back off the moon of Janarus, and now, no more Syndicate. General Khalan saw to that.”

The cheetah narrowed his eyes. “Then why does the military keep issuing travel warnings about the syndicate?”

Devoss gave a smile only a fox could give. “Why indeed?”

“Right, that’s enough,” Jefe sighed, grabbing something and straddling the fox’s thick bullneck. The Lieutenant quickly clasped a metallic collar around Devoss’ neck- with at least two guns pointed at him and still not fully recovered from the explosion, the Canidae Hierarchy’s agent offered no resistance.

Dan arched his eyebrow. “Dare I ask?”

“This agent is still working for the Empire’s rival. It’s a shock collar- it will keep this dog in line until we decide what to do with him,” the panther explained.

Dan and Devoss exchanged a quick look as Jefe took the controls of the ship, blasting off from the moon of Velgor. “Course is set for Deletor. Patching through to General Khalan,” Jefe announced, just as the holographic interface hummed to life. Immediately, the white tiger’s bulging, muscular frame filled the interface.

“Ah, Agent Bergstrom, Lieutenant Jefe. Did you find the altar on Velgor’s moon?” the General’s eyes narrowed. “Who is that?” He demanded sharply as he spotted Devoss on the floor.

“We, uh… had some trouble at the altar, General,” Dan rubbed the back of his head. “Captain Devoss beat us to the altar. He was using the Alien tech in question, and it… sort of blew up.”

“He blew it up?” Khalan growled, his eyes bulging with anger. “And he’s still alive?”

“He was going to suffocate in the vacuum of space- the explosion, uh… changed him. Whatever the alien tech did, it changed his body made him stronger, bigger, and-”

“Enough of your excuses, Agent!” Khalan snapped. “You are to secure the other altars, and you will not engage with them, is that understood?” The tiger veered around. “Lieutenant Jefe!”

“Sir!” the panther stood up straight.

“If Agent Bergstrom or this captive take a toe out of line, take the appropriate steps. Is that clear, Lieutenant?” Khalan shouted.

The panther’s ears twitched, nervously glancing over to Dan. “Sir, yes sir!”

The tiger grunted his satisfaction, and turned back to the cheetah. “Agent Bergstrom, this is a disappointment. Those altars are the property of the Leonine Empire, do not let them fall to these Canidae dogs! Do not fail me again.” With that, the General’s orders were punctuated with the hologram cutting out.

“Nice fellow,” Devoss muttered. “Are all the Leonine officials outright racists?”

Dan ignored the fox’s comment, turning to Jefe. “What did he mean, ‘take the appropriate steps’?”

“You can’t fill in the blanks, Dr. Bergstrom?” Devoss arched his brow as he sat up, leaning against the wall. “I thought cats were supposed to be good with innuendo.”

The cheetah ignored their captive. “Just… one serious question, Lieutenant. How’d he know there were altars, specifically? I didn’t know that much until we got to the moon.”

Jefe shifted her gaze between the fox and cheetah. “Agent Bergstrom, could we please talk about this when we’re not around another nation’s spy?” She turned her attention back to the ship’s controls. “Just… later, I’ll tell you everything you need to know. I promise.”

Dan sighed, catching Jefe’s nervous look before she resolutely turned back to the ship’s console. “Well, this is just turning out to be the best vacation I’ve ever had.”

The three took their interstellar Mexican standoff to the planet Deletor, an independent world that had only a semblance of planetary government. It was mostly arid, with only a third of the planet covered in water, and large, dry steppes and deserts dominating most of the surface. According to Devoss, the altar was located in the middle of an industrial center, Forivar, mistaken for a piece of public art. Forivar was located on the planet’s only river, nestled in between a canyon.

“We’re going to have to turn on the camouflage,” Jefe muttered as she looked over the ramshackle town, cut into the canyon side, with buildings made of scrap metal and local materials. “The crest of Emperor Leontis isn’t exactly going to be saluted as we fly by.”

“What happens when we find the altar, then?” Devoss asked. “You just plant the old red and gold and declare it in the name of the Emperor?”

“There is no we, Captain Vulpes,” Jefe snapped, flicking a switch that shifted the surface of the cruiser, hiding the Imperial Crest as they touched down on a plateau near the city. “You are in custody of the Imperial Navy, and you will stay that way until further notice. The nearest naval fleet is stationed two thousand kilometers from Deletor; when Agent Bergstrom and I have properly scouted the area, we will radio the fleet and secure the area. Simple, straight-forward, and if the locals give us any guff, we shoot until they stop giving guff.”

The fox arched his brow. “You’re not a sentimental woman, are you, Lieutenant?”

Jefe scoffed, grabbing her rifle. She pressed a button on a small handheld device, sending an electric shock through Devoss’ huge body that made him cry out in pain. With another press of a button, the fox’s metallic shock collar connected to the wall of the starship through magnetism, causing him to groan with pain as he slammed into the wall. “I feel like I just slept on my head…” the fox grumbled, rubbing at his neck.

The panther held back a smirk. “That should keep you out of trouble,” she muttered, turning back to the cheetah. “The air is breathable, so no helmets needed. I’ll scout ahead- don’t keep me waiting for long, Agent Bergstrom.”

Dan nodded curtly, grabbing his gear. Left alone with Devoss, the fox’s collar shackled to the wall and the rest of him still naked, the cheetah couldn’t help but look the fox’s bulging, rippling muscles up and down, from the way his mountainous shoulders began pressing against his thick neck to his thick, meaty torso, well-cut and sculpted, but wide and vast like the plateaus outside, judging by his heaving flanks pushing his arms further to his sides, leading down to his meaty thighs three times the size of his formerly springy legs, his decency only preserved by some very, very tight briefs straddling his thick hips that left little to the imagination. There was a grudging admiration for an exceptional body like that, even if he didn’t earn it like the tigers and lions he had seen in the gym.

“Are you sizing me up or do you have a question, Dr. Bergstrom?” Devoss sighed.

“What did you do, exactly, to get that way? You said some magic words over the tablet, then boom!”

The fox pursed his lips for a moment. “I invoked the name of the Palamani god, Roland. Deo Rolani. I don’t know if I triggered some sort of… mechanism, some ancient form of stimulant, or hell, maybe it really was magic.”

Dan narrowed his eyes. “Come on, Devoss. We’re scholars. You’re going to sit here and tell me it’s magic?”

The fox spread his hands, showing off the firm, rippling muscles on his arms, bulging like melons and his thick torso. “Explain this. With just a few words in a dead language, I grew to a massive size, and with the best scientists and most advanced technology in your Empire, you could only manage a fraction of it.”

Dan scoffed. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t while we’re gone.” He closed the airlock behind him, and took a deep breath as he surveyed the plateau. The tallest towers of Forivar peaked over the horizon, with long tendrils of smoke from industrial centers drifting up itno the sky.

When he met up with Jefe, the panther wrinkled her nose. “I know about Forivar. It breeds pirates and rogues like lice. Never before has there been such a hive of scum and-”

“I get the idea,” Dan waved the panther off, adjusting the spectacles he wore in lieu of his helmet. A small interface on the lens quickly zoomed in, giving him a much clearer view of Forivar. “Do we have a plan?”

“The Altar won’t be hard to miss. If it’s like the one on the moon of Velgor, it will be made of an alien material, green stone, where everything else is made out of metal and synthetic materials. It should stick out like a sore thumb,” Jefe explained. “We find the altar, confirm its location, then alert a Leonine commando squad to secure it for the Empire.”

“The locals won’t mind, I’m sure,” Dan murmurred.

“They will back off when the empire marches in. These pirates are nothing now that the Black Meteors Syndicate is gone,” the panther said as they moved towards the city.

“Sure. We’ll finally get that fifty first system to keep up with the Canidae Hierarchy, right?” The cheetah rolled his broad shoulders, rolling up his sleeves due to the heat, but he couldn’t quite get them past the peaks of his biceps.

Forivar was a diverse place, though, granted, it was hard to tell what was what with all the smog. A center for the black market, a hundred cottage industries had popped up, smothering the city with factories making everything from contraband drugs and vehicles to copies of Leonine and Canidae military ordinance. Dan arched his brow as he bumped shoulders with reptiles, canines, fellow felines, and a few avians, even. No one was exactly comfortable with anyone else, but they tolerated each other. Everyone was here on business illegal in all the great powers of the galaxy; the less questions asked, and the less people got their noses in other people’s business, the better. Forivar’s main market was a patchwork of colorful stalls and the back ends of cargo ships, buying and selling everything imaginable. But almost immediately, Dan and Jefe spotted their goal. Rising above the market like a mountain was a green and gold altar, covered in the now-familiar, swirling alien script.

Narrowing his eyes, Dan squared his shoulders, stooping his posture a bit and puffing out his chest, trying to play the brute. “Hey, buddy,” he said in a gruff voice, throwing his thick arm over the shoulder of a nervous looking reptile and pulling him close against his thick side. “You wanna tell me about that green thing?”

“H-hey,” the lizard tried to break free of Dan’s grasp, squirming against the cheetah’s muscle. “I’m just here to buy some drecum powder, man. I don’t know nothin’ about Trelan’s Pyramid.”

“You seem to know more than I do,” Dan gave him a toothy smile, tightening his grip. “Why don’t you tell me everything?”

“It belongs to Trelan, the leader of the Black Meteors Syndicate. His guys dug it up. But… nobody’s seen him in ages. He just disappeared. But he was big, man, like- bigger than you. All the guys he had out here were like that.” The lizard shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know how they got that way, but everyone just keeps their distance and treats it like a modern art project in case they come back, y’know? So can you let me go, now?”

“Sure, buddy,” Dan released the lizard, slapping him on the back. As the lizard skittered away, Dan crossed his arms, smirking over to Jefe. “There, mission accomplished. But before you call in the goon squad, why don’t we try something a little more diplomatic? Everything’s for sale in Forivar, right?”

“Already called them in,” Jefe said, patting Dan’s chest. “But thanks for the peace talks. Maybe there’s a bunch of young kittens you can take on a field trip if you can’t handle the military work.”

Dan rolled his eyes. “This is a mistake. Maybe we should bring down Devoss; we could use all the extra muscle we can get.”

Jefe barked out a condescending laugh. “If you think I’m putting a rifle in that overgrown mutt’s hands, Agent Bergstrom, your doctorate is in serious question.”

The cheetah rolled his eyes. “Yeah, trying to pump up our numbers with the most physically intimidating guy we know out here in a city full of criminals, what was I thinking?”

The Leonine Imperial Navy responded quickly. In less than an hour, a small transport landed on the outskirts of Forivar, and immediately, a few dozen tiger commandos rushed through the city, meeting Dan and Jefe in the market. All of them were tall and intimidating to the locals, covered in black armor and bearing laser rifles, but Dan was on par with them all at this point. As they came barrelling through the market, most of the locals gave them a wide berth; they knew not to mess with Leonine commandos unless they were specifically interested in them and their black market dealings. As the soldiers lined up in formation, some cast the cheetah odd looks, half convinced he was a fellow tiger with some very strange stripes, before their attention was called back to Lieutenant Jefe. They stood at attention as the panther prowled around them.

“Men!” Jefe barked, straightening her back and tilting her chin upward as she surveyed the soldiers. “You have been called to secure a sight of untapped power for the Emperor! Secure that pyramid with all due haste, and keep the locals away. It is now territory of the Leonine Empire. General Khalan will be in touch shortly with further instructions. For Emperor Leontis!”

“For Emperor Leontis!” the soldiers echoed, saluting the Lietenant before sprinting for the altar.

“You’re going to regret this…” Dan warned Jefe.

“Please. These locals are properly cowed; they won’t interfere. Just what are you afraid of, Agent Bergstrom?” she snapped.

As the commandos surround the altar, quickly dispersing locals away from the site, they planted the Imperial banner next to it. As soon as the flagpole had been embedded in the soil, there was the whirring of machinery, and suddenly, a blast of rifle fire flew at the commandos, hitting its mark as at least one tiger fell.

“What the frell was that?!” Jefe shouted.

They came out of nowhere, it seemed, causing the increasingly agitated crowd to panic. Six lumbering, spider-like warbots, each one the size of a tank with more armament, were bearing down on the Leonine soldiers, surrounding them. The commandos had just enough time to raise a laser grid to defend themselves before the warbots fired again, sending a hail of ballistics against the commandos.

“Gonna save the ‘I told you so’ for later!” Dan growled, grabbing his rifle and rushing towards the fight.

“Wait! Agent Bergstrom!” Jefe shouted, running to keep up with the cheetah. Even with his new bulk, Dan moved with surprising speed. He did his best to shepherd people out of harm’s way, practically picking a hysterical vendor up and throwing them out of a warbot’s path seconds before his stall was crushed. Narrowing his eyes, Dan spotted the insignia stamped on the machines’ hulls; a black star with a tail coming off of it.

“The Black Meteors,” he swore under his breath. “Looks like they forgot to pick up some toys.” The cheetah aimed his rifle and fired, only to see a small, ashen smudge on the hull. He looked back, where the commandos were throwing all their firepower on a single warbot, but to no avail; the machines’ assault went on unimpeded.

“What are these things made of?” Dan shouted to Jefe, as both of them fell back behind the laser grid the commandos had erected around the altar. “Our lasers are bouncing right off of them!”


Jefe frowned, scanning them with her visor. “It’s some sort of super kevlar mesh over a metallic hull; it’s just absorbing the heat.”

Dan looked around wildly. Most of the residents of Forivar had retreated for cover, with the warbots focused solely on the intruders of the altar. The cheetah looked over the green and gold structure, and his eyes suddenly widened as he remembered just what the last altar had done for Devoss…

He snapped his fingers. “I have a plan, Jefe. Can you pull these guys back to one side of the altar? I want all these warbots lined up in a neat row.”

“What are you going to do, Agent Bergstrom?” Jefe demanded as Dan raced towards the center altar.

“Something that’s probably going to upset Khalan, but we can deal with the general’s anger management issues another time,” Dan quipped.

Under heavy fire, the cheetah adjusted his glasses, straining his eyes as he looked over the swirling script etched all over the altar walls. He was going to take a gamble and try to invoke the same power Devoss had unlocked in the last altar; judging by the shaking of the ground and the elimination of another commando, it was their best, last shot.

“Deo Rolani… Deo Rolani- Frak. What did Devoss say?” Dan rubbed his forehead, screwing his eyes shut to concentrate. The commandos outside had lured the warbots to one end of the altar, but the machines were bearing down on them, pinning them down.

“Agent Bergstrom!” Jefe shouted. “Will you get moving? We’re getting trapped, here! We’re dropping like flies!”

“Yeah, keep yelling, I do my best work under pressure!” Dan shouted. He radioed back to the starship. “Devoss! Do you hear me?”

“Yes, Dr. Bergstrom?” There was a pause as the background was filled with gunfire and explosions. “Making friends, are we?”

“Can it. What did you say at the altar?”

Dan could almost hear the smirk spreading across the fox’s face. “And why would you need that? I thought you didn’t believe in magic.”

The cheetah growled. “Just tell me, you red fleabag!”

“And why should I do that?”

Dan rolled his eyes. “Because if Jefe and I die, then you’re stuck in the ship’s hold for good- we’re the only ones with the keys.”

There was a tense pause, then Devoss’ voice crackled back in Dan’s ear. “Deo Rolani, deo fortitudo, ni em via.”

“Thanks,” the cheetah said flatly, turning back to the altar. “Deo Rolani, deo fortitudo, ni em via.”

“Agent Bergstrom!”

“Deo Rolani, deo fortitudo, ni em via.” Dan’s eyes widened as the script began to glow, and an electric, tingling feeling enveloped his body, making his fur stand on end. Was it working? “Deo Rolani, deo fortitudo-”

“Bergstrom, look out!”

It seemed the warbots were programmed to destroy the altar as a last resort; if the Black Meteors couldn’t have it, no one could. Dan didn’t hear Jefe’s warning, engulfed by the inate energy pulsating all over the altar. Every muscle on his body was tensed, and a rush of adrenaline overwhelmed him. He could feel every part of his body pulsating, flexing and growing; he didn’t hear the whirring of the machines changing their strategy. All at once, the warbots aimed over the commandos’ laser grid, and fired six ballistic missiles that struck the altar like the wrath of an angry god, shattering the green stone structure and reducing it to a mountain of rubble. There was a dreadful silence as Jefe and the other soldiers stared with mouths agape. The panther had to admit, as annoyingly irreverent as Bergstrom struck her, she might just miss him.

But then, the rubble began to shake. Stones were dislodged, and with a mighty roar, a huge, hulking beast shot out of the debris, leaping over the heads of the commandos and slamming into one of the warbots. Massive arms with biceps swelling up like red giant stars and still growing wrapped around the metal and tore off one of the warbot’s mechanical legs, crippling it instantly. Jefe could only stare in amazement as she recognized the face of the titanic brute, with his long brown hair and glasses, nevermind the stretched and warped spots littering his fur. It was Bergstrom.

The now monumental cheetah clambered on top of one of the machines, his cliff-like pecs digging into the metal, denting it by virtue of his sheer strength. His mountainous shoulders tensed and bulged, swallowing up his bull-like neck as he dug his claws into the warbot’s hull and tore off the armor, leaving an exposed spot for the commandos to shoot it down.

His bulging thighs, pressing against each other as the tree trunk-like muscles were coiled like springs, launched him to the next machine as Dan leapt into the air. As he landed, the force of his impact dented the machine’s armor beneath his feet. Every bulging muscle, every rippling sinew was on display as his body armor had been burst apart by his growth, giving an awe-inspiring sight of his burgeoning muscles working, tensing, and flexing as he tore apart another warbot.

Dan’s rampage had rallied the soldiers on the ground, and they were quick to capitalize on the cheetah’s assault, whittling the warbots down to three. The giant feline rammed into another machine, bringing his arms together, biceps grinding into his ponderous chest as he slammed his arms into the machine, his swollen triceps slamming into the metal and crippling it.

The two remaining machines stood no chance; as Dan tore off the armor casing of one, he squared down the last warbot and broke into a run, his powerful legs carrying him with a mighty stride as he picked up speed. Slamming into the warbot, his clawed hands wrapped around the hull and tore through the metal, letting him get a firm grip on the machine. With one last mighty roar, the cheetah hefted the machine into the air, his rolling shoulders jostling his engorged biceps, as his back, a rippling, sprawling plateau as wide and vast as the landscapes around Forivar, spread out, his thick flanks making it appear as if he was still growing. With all his awesome strength, the cheetah threw the machine at the altar’s ruins, as the mass of wires, circuits, and metal landed with a satisfying crunch.

As the smoke cleared, Dan surveyed his handiwork, breathing heavily as his chest inflated with each breath, surging past his muzzle and almost obscuring his line of sight.

Jefe looked the cheetah up and down; he dwarfed all the commandos left, some of whom were cheering the giant feline. She couldn’t quite comprehend what had happened.

Dan cleared his throat, adjusting his spectacles. “So… told you it was a bad idea to call in the commandos.”

“I- I stand corrected,” the black panther cleared her throat. “Agent Bergstrom, look at you! Do you… do you feel alright?”

“I mean…” Dan scratched the back of his head, his bicep dreadfully close to pressing against his cheek. He placed his hands on his thick hips, and growled softly as his thighs swelled up dramatically with a small flex, the muscles jostling each other as they stretched his spotted pelt thin. “I… think I could get used to this. Might need a nap once the adrenaline wears off…”

Jefe ran her hand over her head, looking from Dan to the ruined altar. “We’re going to need a bigger ship, I think… but first, we’re going to need to tell General Khalan. He’s not going to be happy.”

Dan smirked, curling his arm to flex his bicep, that mound of muscle inflating and pressing up against the knuckles of his clenched fist. “You know… right now, General Khalan doesn’t really scare me anymore.”