=====A=====
I checked my phone before I walked down the steps into the subway, couldn't get a signal down there after all, and found an email telling me that the project wasn't compiling as of last night, and they were trying to figure out what was responsible. I wasn't too worried as we had plenty of ways to revert the project to a working state, but I didn't like how close this was happening to release of the next patch.
Three days of planning, six weeks of coding, one week of testing, and to top it off the tradition twenty four hours of panic before release, I thought to myself as I sent a brief reply before entering the subway.
Lucky for me I was just in time to catch the train pulling into the station, and as I checked my phone one last time before I lost the signal I stepped onto the train e̙̱͖̩ͦͩ̋v͕̜̘͖͙͍̦̏ͣͯ̋̑͐̾̇̚͡e̱͓͑̀ͨ͋̚͝r̵̟̙͎̯̲͔͐͛ͨy̢̤̱͓ͤ͛̕t͇̮̫͔ͥͧ̄̑̿̆h̾̊̋͋̋͏̵̡͉͇̞̩̮i̮̳̙̙͇̖̫̖ͬͨ̎́͋ͤ̆n̹̣̙͂͛̒ͬ̅̈͠ġ̜͓̣͙̟̙̘̰̏̇ͧͣ ̣̗̯̘̹͇͈͊͛w̟͎̙̱̖̏̔̇̑̓͢a͈͎͓͖̱͇ͤ͂ͬ̾̈́̓͐̉ͅs̸̷̡̱̪͙̞̩͓̲͛ͪͦ͒̊ ̷̗̻͌̒͐n̢͗̉́́̓̚͜҉̣̞o̵̳̼̼͈̓͌̍t̖̳̘̘̳̻̖̼̺ͨͭ̃͌̅̿̊̀h͎̜͔̿̂͡i̯̜ͩ͟ṉ̢̟̻̹͔̰ͨ́̒ͥ̇̅̽͜ĝ̸̗͚̗͉̩̻͈͎̀̑̒̆̍͜ ͥ̀҉̯̗̹̜͖̱̳̠͕̕a̴̛͉͈̣̪̓̏̊ͪ̉̀ͥ͛͢nͧ̈̒ͪ̍̽̈͏̠̝͚͘͝d̮̬͓̲͇͇͙ͫ̾͐̇ ̟̣͖̭͉͙͙͐͆ͩ̈́̓̒̄ͧ̀͡s̼̝̙̜̥̭ͦ̓t̛̰̺͉͇̝̜̠ͫ̅̄ͯ̇͋̎ͣr̦̩̈̏̃͆̅ͪ̑̄͟ę̤͎̭͖̙ͭ̍̇ͥͥͫ̓͌̕t̵̞͂͐̐̂̉̆́c̶͛̉̉҉͚͙̤͎͉̲̱ȟ̥̱̥͚͚͚̼̅͂̉̑͐i̵̝̗̦͔͈̫̳͆͗̇̊ͬ͘n͌̏ͣ̎̄̑͐̕͏̞̙̝̞̮g̛͚̮̔̑̑̉̈͠ ͧ̐ͤͦ͏͕̣͍̠ͅt̶̟͈̭̼̣̊̈́̒̾ͭo̶̩̘̒̔̾͂̍͒̈́ ͎͕̝̞̓̅̔i̋́̏ͮ͏̢̟͈̹͔̻͓̭̜̦n̲̭̬̼͇̓ͩͮ̐̋̆ͤf̝̹͙̖͍̪̟͂̃͌ͫ̾ͫ͌̑̍͘͟i͇̲̩̘ͥ͊ͩͦͤͪ̈ń̴̘̰̲̥̘̫ͨͩͦ̑ͧ͝͠i̛̤̿͛ͅtͪ͐͒͒̓̔̚͠͏̟̼̻̱͠y̹̖̺͍̹̻͚͈̖̿͗ͫ̋̿ͤ͡b̸̒̉͑ͫͦ̇͊͋͆͛̋͑́͟͏͍͙̣̹̀ë̴̢͔̙̰̠̾̈́͐̓̿̍̿̈́͂̚͢͡c̢͎͚̩̜͈͕͑͂ͣͬ̎͞ắ̷̠̮̯̮̱̪͎̳̮̳͉̘̖̖̻͚͉̓͒̂̓̽͊ͥ͗̂͢͞͝ûͦ́ͯ̉҉̹͖̼̺̙̠̫͝͝ş̼̹̣̳̳̞̥̟̣̜̲̠̯͋̇ͧͥ̋ͦ̾́ͫͯ̎͞͝ͅȩ̶̛̮͖̣̜͉͇̩̮̦̞̳͍͇͖͓̃ͯ͋̔̄̏̑ͩ̅ͥ̐̔̔͘ͅͅ ̸̢̛̼̦̲͚̺̝͙͛ͣ̋ͭͪͤ͐͛̀̇̓ͥͮ͜w̴̱͙̤̙̼͚͆͂͗͗̕͡͞ͅȩ͆̾̅ͥ̀ͨͯͣͧ͑ͥ̑̈́ͭ̀͆̓̄̚͠͏͎̜̤̹̪͇̜̮̠̝̩̪̳͈ ̶̷̹̞͈̙̪̦͍̥͎̯͕̎ͧ̈́ͪͬͪ͋͐͐ͥ̐̀̊̏ͩ̕aͥ̈́̑̃̔͟͏̲͈̩̹ļ̯͖̠͔̩̙͍͖̘̳͈̣͙̖̰͎̜̪̫́̃ͫ͛̊͝ḷ̛͖̟͚̳͚̿ͮ̋͆̓ͤͨͧͪ́͛̃ͮ̒̃ͨ̋̚̚͘͟͠ ̸̈́̊ͩ̌̅͊ͭͯ҉̵̶͚̹̟̟̮͚̰̯̝̤̫̻̪͇h̦͚̬̥̯̙̣̬̱͇͉̠̫ͩ͒ͤ͛̌ͯ͛̏͗͝ͅa̴ͣ̓̈́̎̍̕҉̮͓̣̯̦̙̟̲͇͖͇̳̗͚͇͎͔ͅv͋ͤ͐̀̔ͤ͒̓́̄͊̕͡͏͎̪̫̻̥̲̹͍͎͕̞̤̳̰̘͠͞ͅé̢̛͛̓̐̏̈́ͩͨ̓ͣ̆̀̿̍̄̓̉ͨ̚͏̩͙͎͚̯̙͇̻̼̩̮ͅ ̧͂̍ͥ̾͆ͥ̇̅̌ͣ̀͊ͬ͋̏͗ͩ̀ͮ͏̀҉̠̪̤̮͕̖͎͚̫̩̝̝̗̹̺ͅt̶̵͚̟͈͖̀ͧ̑̽ͣ̔̓͛̌͌ͩ̒͝o̸̢͚̫͕͔ͯ̓̑ͩ́͜͜ ̧̛̛̭̱̭͇̞̇ͪ͌ͦ̒̋̈́͛͂̊͌ͭͪ̊̈́̀d̓͌ͧ͌ͨ͋̓̿͆̐̿̉̾̊͗҉̧̻͇̹̰͍͇̜͓͕̗͚́͡oͥͤ̄͒ͭͦ̑ͦͦ́̽ͮ̒ͧ̒ͮ҉̝͇̜̩̞̬̠̦̮̫͖ ̎̆ͫ́͒̄ͥ͛ͤ͏̼̫̻̖̼̗̹̰͙t̴̵̤͙̹͙̣͙͓̫̙͆̏̃̔̎̐̓̍ͫ̎̋̆̑ͨ̓̕͟h̃͒̊ͨ҉̫̮͕̲̦̝̦͓͜ǐ̸̺̤͍̩͙̺̘͈̫̭̩͗̿̃͜ͅs̔̐̎ͩͫ̊͒̾͌͊ͫ͏͇̦̯̦̙̞̱̯̝̮͈̘͠ ̶̊͆̇̾ͪ̉͂̈́ͫ̈́̎ͤ̆ͣ̔̋̓̀͢҉̴̙̖͇͚̼̮̮̝̥̠s̵͗́ͩ͒͑̌͌̽͏̶̫͓̗̀o̱̠̣̯͗̓ͫ͒ͩ̂ͩ̓͟͟o̵͇̘̥̥̭͎̹̫͎͚̠̪̠̖̫͙̯̼̊̑͂̉ͫ͌̀̀́̚n̛̔̃̐͒ͦ̋ͯͫ̋̑̎́̑̊ͪ́̀̄̚͜͝҉͉̣͓̙̪͔͝ȩ̩̘͍̹͖̺̋͂̈́̌̔̐̎̌̊̉̓̒ͯ̄r̨̛̖͖̹̰̼͕̺̣͎̟̥̹̬̻̤̜͆̃ͨͪ͗̂ͭ̔͋ͮ͑ͣ̄ͣ̀́͡͠ͅͅ ̷̡̛̛̟̘̮͕̤̲̱̹̥̺̮̳̳̳̘̬̥̉̒̇̔̌͛̂̃̅̒ͥ́o̵̶̫̤̗͙͇̖̥͌ͩ̎̋ͣ̂̆̒̓ͯͩ̾̂ͥͨ͗ͭ̚͘͜͢r̶̡͓̙̥̠̺͙̞ͤ͑̓̌̉̇̋ͦ͘ ̈ͮ̄͐̓͒̚͏̸̝͕͕̦̠̝̤͈͍̻̘̺̥͖̭̳̰̝͟ͅľ̵̹̺̻̝̪̿̄̏ͩ̿̀̕a̋́̎́̑ͮ͑͂̈̈́̆̾̇̓͗ͭ͡҉̸̙̼͚̺̪͕͞t̷̸̡̛͈̦̫̳̔̅͗͆̕ẻͦ̊̂̓̅͂͛͐̉̏̍̓ͧ҉̸̸̞̼̳̳̳͍̠̫̙̩̭̦͇̱̟ͅr̸̸͓̙̜̜̝̫̊̆ͧ̿̓̈́̈́ͣ͐̒̚͜
Ț̯ͮ͐u̷̝̼̭̲̮̬̘r͚̻͚̤͛ͣ̈́ͫ̀͠nͤ̀̄̇e̫ͥ͋ͭ̓ͧͯ͡d͌̓ͮͧ͟ ͗̓̓̚͏̙ả̈̇̚t̲͎̞̥̥̓̋͛ ̣̰̦͊ͣ͛ȁ̠͖̼̘͚̜ͯ̚͞ ̣̳͈̙ͬ͝r͓̣̪̗ͅĭ̽͋͐̒̏̽҉̦̣̭̟͚̪g̭̹͔̙̬̘͎̔̂̌̂͂͋ͫ̀h̒̅t̰ͥ ̗̙͓̫͇͇ͮͅȃ͕̖̹̞̼̻͂ͨ͝n̗͇̹͇̺̞̕g̷̱̥͂ͦ͗l͕̯ͭe͉̟͓̙͉ ͫͭtͯ̇͌̊̀ͫ͏̦̞̯o̩͑͆ͣ̀̈́̔̀ ̶̙̩̖͙̅͊̆ͯe̲̠̙̺͉̣̐͒ͩͮͭͫv̦̜̦̯͙̈́ͨ̆͊̆͗ͅḛ̭ͩr͚̟̖͚̫̒ͅỵ̰̩̥͉ͪt̜̹̯͠h̘͈͕̽͗̿́i̠͚̼ͧͪ̇̌ͥn͓͈͉̄̐͛̓̅ͤ̋͡g̠̣̹̞͎̣̘͌́̽ metal table hard and cold against my back as my limbs refused to… wait, what?
I gave a start (or tried to) as I suddenly realized that I was not on the subway. What tipped me off was how subways didn't put their passengers on hard metal slabs looking up at incredibly bright lights that made it impossible to see anything else. "W-what? What the fuck? Where am I? Why can't I move?!" I shouted as my head whipped side to side as I tried to see something, anything to help me figure out what had happened. Try as my might there was hole in my memory, and the last thing I remember was getting on the subway for work.
Was there an accident? An attack? Am I in a hospital? I thought before I felt a sudden pit of dread in my stomach.
Oh god, is that why I can't move?! Am I paralyzed?!
There was movement in the corner of my vision, and I turned my head hoping it was someone who could help me. But whatever I was going to say next died in my throat at what I saw.
What stepped out of the darkness into my vision wasn't human. Humanoid perhaps, but the word
reptilian was the first thing that came to mind. The head reminded me of some kind of dinosaur with an expanded skull in the back, and the way it tilted its head as it look at me was birdlike. Green scales covered it where I could see it's body, but most it's body was covered by some kind of jumpsuit. It was a little shorter than me if I had to guess, and the stilted way it moved along with the shape of its legs and arms made it clear that it wasn't built in the same manner as a human.
My response to such a sight was as eloquent as it was insightful. "Oh what the fuck."
The… thing let out a series of hisses and growls which I think was it speaking, but I couldn't understand it. Granted I don't think I would have understood it if it was speaking English because
holy shit lizard people were real. My thoughts completely froze up at that. In all of my craziest thoughts about what secret conspiracies might have littered the world, I never would have guessed that one would be true.
I snapped out of my mini-fugue as the lizard thing gestured and a small drone of some sort floated out from behind him. It was, almost comically, shaped like a small flying saucer, and it had something clutched beneath it in a claw like appendage. I couldn't get a good look at it, but it was about the size of my fist and looked chitinous, it's dull grey color non-reflective. The drone floated over to me and promptly opened its claw, dropping the object onto my chest.
I had only about a second to tilt my head and look at the insectile thing before it suddenly deployed its small sharp legs into my chest.
My first scream was more out of shock than pain, but the following screams came shortly after when I felt the thing start to burrow and expand through my torso. Even as I screamed though I could see the grey material start to spread across my chest, and as I saw my body start to soften and dissolve I realized that it was
consuming me.
And I could feel every painful inch as it worked its way up to my head. I… oh god no. I don't want this! I DON"T WANT-!
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It was dark, silent, and everything felt wrong.
It was complete bullshit is what it was.
It took me a while to realize that I wasn't dreaming. It can be hard to tell when you suddenly find yourself blind and… paralyzed? Insensate? Point is I had this weird tingling sensation where my body was supposed to be, and all I had were memories of what had just happened to me, which featured pain, terror and I giant pile of I have no fucking clue. I tried to calm down by focusing on breathing… except I couldn't breathe. That made it worse and should have caused my heart to start hammering in my chest… except I couldn't feel my heartbeat.
Of fucking course.
One might be a little confused at my response to the cascade of utter horseshit that I was experiencing, rather than the pants-shitting terror that would be reasonable. Well, aside from the not knowing if I was even wearing pants, a descent into cursing was how I typical dealt with things going tits up in my life, even if it only was internal. Honestly, I wasn't usually like this, but it made me feel a lot better than falling into despair and terror. And hey, a recent study showed that in addition to boosting your tolerance for pain, cursing also increased your resistance to horrify existential dread too. I mean, it was a sample size of one, but I was willing to believe it.
In any case, I'm not sure how long I spent like that, panicking over and/or mentally swearing at being in a disembodied nightmare I couldn't wake up from. However, I'm good at adapting, and eventually I managed to force myself to calm down. I forced all of my fears and my uncertainty down into my mental vault, which I was sure wouldn't cause me any physiological issues later. Before I could figure out what was going on, I needed to pull myself together, get my body back under control, or just get feeling back. Not that I knew how to do that. For all I knew I was in some kind of coma or… no, not going to think about that. Have to assume that's not the case. So, lacking any other type of direction, I fell back on pop culture.
Wiggle your big toe.
And after a few seconds of trying… it worked. I think. I could feel the big toe of my right foot. It didn't feel quite right, but it was fine for the moment. Encouraged by this, I started to work my way up. My other toes, my ankles, my legs… sooner than I would have thought I was moving, even if I was still blind. I tried to push myself to my feet-
And I immediately fell onto all fours, fingers and toes digging sharply into the floor. I remained still for a long moment, the positon feeling… strangely comfortable. I slowly tried to stand again and again lost my balance before I could get fully straight. I twisted as I fell and I landed on my hands and feet with surprising grace. After a moment I started to suspect something I started to pat down my body. My sense of touch was muted, but it didn't take long to figure out why. Almost everywhere I touched my body was hard and plated, with several ridges popping up in strange places. My torso was inhumanly proportioned and too narrow. My arms were spindly and ended in claws, my legs were digitigrade, and my head was elongated and completely smooth save for a maw of razor sharp teeth.
And as a long ridged tail swept between my legs, I found I was missing something.
The fact that I couldn't even curse due to a lack of proper lips or tongue made this such complete bullshit.
--------------------
Eventually, I calmed back down. Mostly because I had nothing else to do. Once I got moving I quickly discovered I was trapped in a small rectangular room, which seemed to be made entirely out of metal or something close to it. Even after stumbling around till I found a door didn't help, as no matter how much I clawed at the thing I could barely scratch it. I was so frustrated at my own powerlessness that it drove me up the walls.
Literally.
Well, I guess there's a bit of a silver lining to this, I thought bleakly as I sat on the ceiling, my claws somehow finding enough purchase on the smooth metal to let me remain where I was.
Of course I would have preferred the radioactive spider.
I let out a hissing sigh, enjoying what little I could from the act. I didn't understand how this was possible. Lizard people were one thing, but a full body transformation into…
Ok, let's review, I thought as I released my grip and fell to the ground, landing deftly on my hands and feet as I did so. It was only about a twelve foot drop to the ground, and even in my blinded state I could sense when to brace for impact .
On my way to work, I was apparently abducted by lizard people, who decided to experiment on me using some… thing, which in turn fused into and/or consumed my body. Later I wake up and find that said body is now, if my impression is correct, a xenomorph knock off. I moved slowly as I once again tried to stand on two feet, this time attempting to use my tail to properly balance myself. The sharp point on the end twitched erratically as I fought to get it under control. Wish the damn thing came with a manual for how hard it was to control.
Which actually made sense, oddly enough. My brain was not wired for a prehensile tail, so it was a miracle that I could use the thing at all. Then again, I suppose it was a miracle that my mind was still relatively intact, let alone alive. I still couldn't feel my heart beat, and most of the other tiny sensations inherent a in a human body that you just kind of tune out were now so very obvious in their absence. In their place was… tingling wasn't quite the right word. When I focused on my new body, it was almost as if chittering were somehow tactile, for all the sense that made. Vibrating in anticipation, like it was waiting for something.
Yeah, well I'm waiting for some goddamn eyeballs, I thought sullenly. The reason I was blind was that I quite simply didn't have eyes anymore, just a smooth carapace where they should have been. And yet there were times where I swore I could see fragments of things for the briefest moments, a faint outline or impression. I let out an irritated growl with as much force I could muster, satisfied by the noise but surprised by the sudden, odd constriction of muscles I didn't know I had.
Suddenly I had a sort of mental snap, and with the sudden sensation of my mind crossing its eyes I saw the room in a burst. Not an image per se, but I perceived the entire room as an impression of surfaces and corners, the impression of angles and distances in a way I never had before.
And in an instant it was gone again and I was back in darkness. I remained still for a moment before a flexed those unknown muscles in my throat in the same way, and again the image popped into my head.
Ultrasound, I realized.
I can 'see' ultrasound. That explains a lot.
I spent what I think was the following hour pacing about my cell, getting used to my new 'sight' and balance. Not that it helped my current situation much, as I was still locked in god damn box.
Why, I thought as I moved restlessly.
Why would they do this me? What do they gain out of it? Is this what they wanted to happen? At the least, I couldn't have been a total failure considering that I was still alive, but what more did those who I assumed were my captors want? If they planned to turn me into some kind of living weapon they hadn't done a great job of endearing me to that prospect. You'd think that they would have fit me with a sort of control collar at least.
I stopped in my tracks as a thought occurred to me, and I started to pat down my body once again. Nothing said that a control mechanism had to be a literal collar, and I honestly wasn't sure which parts of my body were actually my own. Unfortunately, with my sense of touch so altered just feeling around didn't help much in that regard. I focused on myself as hard as I could, trying to feel every odd sensation that-
Suddenly that 'chittering' sensation grew, and I got a very acute mental picture of what my body was shaped like. I also noticed four spherical objects lodged in my chest which I somehow knew were not a part of me. I tried to push through the disorientation of have yet another mind bending perception forced onto me and tried to analyze said objects best I could. If only I could somehow pull them out…
Slowly, as if by instinct, I felt the carapace of my chest start to fold and shift, and my internals started to follow suit.
What the hell?
Before I could think too much about that though, there was sudden reaction from the spheres and AARRRGH!
I screamed as electricity arched from my body, and I fell to the ground in a twitching heap. As the pain ripped through me I felt everything go fuzzy and dark, like I was slipping back into where I was before.
No. No! I won't go back to that! I mentally screamed as I forced myself to stay conscious, to keep myself together. Moments later the electricity cut of and I was able get my senses back. And when I did, I noticed something.
I had, just a little bit,
melted. I was like a wax figure that had been left out in the sun a little too long, and I saw droplets of material start to slide off me to the floor. Before I could panic though I saw those little bits of myself slow to a stop before they melded right back into my body.
That… was informative in a number of ways.
Before I could reflect on that much though, the door to my cell suddenly snapped open, and I felt myself being dragged forward by an unseen force. I tried to resist, but I hadn't recovered from my previous ordeal and my body twitched uselessly. Moments later I found myself dragged onto a small hovering platform, and I felt the air snap and charge around me.
I finally managed to pull myself up on my haunches and take a look around with what I had decided to call my 'blindsight'. I was now in a hallway about five meters across where the walls and ceiling bulged outwards, like I was in a large tube. Aside from a few curves and outlets there were a number of doors lining the walls in both directions, most likely more cells. I didn't have long to look at them before the platform I was on started to move, and I noticed a pair of lizard people fall in step beside it. Although I suspected what would happen, I reached out towards one of them only for an electric jolt to force my arm back as it reached the edge of the circular platform. Forcefield. One of them let out something that I think was a laugh before spouted off some more noises.
I didn't know what it said, but I was sure it was being a dick.
I shook out my hand as I studied my surroundings. Just where the hell
was I? This had to be a base of some kind, but how the hell did I get from the city to here? Was it underneath the city? I mean, there was the other possibly, the slightly more obvious one some people would say, that I probably wasn't on Earth any more… but I honestly wasn't sure if that was more plausible than underground technologically advanced reptiles. Personally I hoped it was the latter, because the former implied terrible things about my chances of seeing home again.
I let out a breath to dismiss such thoughts, instead think back to what I had just learned back in my cell.
I think, I thought to myself as the glorified cart hovered down the hallway,
that I'm now made of some sort of shapeshifting material. Maybe.
It made a degree of sense given how I just saw myself nearly come apart. And… what if when I couldn't move before it wasn't because my limbs were paralyzed, but because I didn't actually
have any at the time. The last thing I remembered before that was being dissolved by that grey thing, after all. It was entirely possible I was rendered a puddle of goo after that interaction. Which meant, if I could pull myself together from that into my current form, there was a good chance that I could turn back into something at least close to human.
Now if I could only figure out how. At the risk of being tazed again, I focused on what my human body should look like and… nothing happen. I focused harder, but I remained stubbornly unchanged. I grunted in annoyance before I decided to narrow my scope and just focus on the shape of my head. After a few seconds of concentration my skull started to slowly constrict and become more round. Encouraged by this, I started to imagine my eye sockets and felt two impressions start to form on my face.
However, I stopped almost as soon as I started as one of my escorts let out an angry sounding growl as it turned to face me. I went still as it stared at me for a few moments before it was satisfied and turned back to face forward.
For later then, I thought, though there was something bitter in it. I had a feeling that there was a lot I was missing about just what my new body was and how it worked, and I wasn't sure if I would get the chance. Especial since even as I started to consider the ways I could test this I found the cart reaching the end of a hallway and hovered through and open door, my guards stopping before they entered themselves.
The new room was very large, or at least I assumed it was as my blindsight failed to show me any walls beyond the slightly curving one at my back that faded into my personal darkness. In front of me looked to be a number of large blocky shapes, forming walls, ramps, pillars, and all manner of things I would generally call obstacles. To be honest it reminded me of a laser tag arena. Or a Halo multiplayer map.
That thought filled me with an abrupt sense of trepidation, which was not helped when the door behind me slammed shut and the force field around me suddenly dropped. Of course, the inhuman roar from a short distance away that followed was just drove the point home. I quickly got on my fours and darted towards the nearest structure, hoping to get cover from whatever had made that noise. For better or worse it wasn't long before I found out. Crashing though one of the pillars nearby was… something. It was about the size of a huge bear that was heavy and broader on the front even as it moved on all fours. It reminded me a bit of a bulldog, though its head was triangular and had forwards pointed horns. Oh, and the whole thing was covered in rigid armor plates, because apparently fate decided that I hadn't been kicked in my non-existent nuts quite enough.
The thing paused after this destruction for a brief moment before its head twitched and it let out another roar, giving me a great view of how its mouth opened along to perpendicular seams. It then swung its head around towards me before it charged. I let out something like a screech before I spun and scrambled up the side of the wall I was next to in a desperate bid to get away from the thing. I managed to get to the top of the wall just before the creature slammed into it, smashing a gaping hole clean through.
I stared down at the thing as it started to turn, perched precariously on the unstable wall.
This is a combat test, I thought to myself.
They made me into a weapon and now they want see how well I perform. And I'm guessing failure is the sort of thing they would learn from and I… wouldn't. So that meant that if I wanted to lived, I was probably going to have to kill this thing. Which to be honest… I didn't really care to do. Screw Shinji Ikari, I'll run away all I damn well please.
But that wasn't an option here, as I was pretty sure I was trapped in here with the thing. And so, without any clever third options coming to mind, I pounced off the wall the moment before the creature slammed into it, landing deftly on the ground before I instantly turned and bolted at the thing. It started to turn but before it could completely face me I was already on it, leaping up onto its back and trying to sink my claws into it. It didn't really work though, as its armor plates merely scratched a little at the contact.
Why the hell do I even have these things?! I thought to myself as the – you know what, I'm just going to start calling it a bearasaur – the bearasaur started to buck to try and remove me. I managed to catch a glimpse of something strange about the plates near the base of its neck before it simply rolled over, and I was forced to leap off. Abandoning that idea, I ducked back in and tried to strike at its legs, at its joints where it was less protected. Unfortunately, even though I was faster and quicker than the thing, the creature was much better at fighting on all fours than I was. The result was less a skillful series of hit and run strikes as it was me frantically slashing and dodging out of the way. Such as it was, it wasn't long before the thing landed a crushing blow on me.
Everything distorted as I tumbled through the air, and I skipped a few times off the ground before I crashed into a pillar with such force that I left a dent. I… didn't feel a lot of pain though, something which caught me off guard. That impact should have crushed every bone in my body… wait, did I even have bones anymore? I really needed to figure this out at some point. And it wasn't that moment, because before I could even get back up the bearasuar was on top of me, boxing me in and trying to tear me to bits. I screamed as I slashed back at it but I could never land a solid hit in, the creature always moving to block with its armor or horns.
I started to feel panic as the sensation of my body grew fuzzier with every hit. This wasn't working! Even as I managed to pull and arm back to simply shove or punch the damn thing, I knew it wouldn't work! I needed something else, something stronger, something harder-!
As I cocked my fist back I felt my fingers fuse together and harden. My arm and part of my chest suddenly grew in size, and with a scream I hammered my fist into the side of its head. The bearasaur stumbled and I awkwardly rolled to my feet. I cast a glance at my modified limb before I looked at my other one. A second and a bit of effort later the two matched, and I hunched forward from new weight.
…Screw it, I'm rolling with it.
This time when I stuck at the thing, it's plates cracked and shattered under the force of my strikes. The thing roared in pain and hit back, but I could take it. Cuts mended themselves, dents popped back out, and I was started to get too damned pissed to care about what modicum of pain it was causing me. Soon enough I got lucky and crushed its forward right knee, which caused it to collapse just a bit. Following a hunch, it was enough for me to bring my fist down onto its neck, crushing the plates that had looked odd to me. When I pulled my limb back I saw why: there had been something embedded underneath it, a box with odd protrusions that clearly marked it as artificial. Without hesitating I shifted my limb back into a claw and drove it into the device.
The bearasaur thrashed and roared, but as soon as it started it stopped, collapsing fully in a heap. As I pulled my hand back I found it covered in bits of metal and flesh, and I paused as I tried to process what just happened. I had just killed something, and… I felt nothing. I knew it was fighting for my life, that it was a monster-
Or was it? I mean, I looked pretty monstrous at the moment, and it clearly had some kind of control mechanism, much like the ones in my chest.
Have… I thought with a pit of dread forming in my abdomen,
Have I just killed another test subject? Another human? Oh look, there was the feeling of horror and remorse. I absent mindedly looked at my hand, but I froze when I saw (and felt) the bits of tissue and machinery meld into my flesh and disappear.
What?
Before I could think on that further though, I heard sounds of combat coming from some distance away, roars and screams and the like. I let out a sigh before I reverted back to all fours and carefully made my way towards it. As much as I wanted time to process everything that had just happened (and just stay away in general) I couldn't afford to not know what was going on. Just… push it down for now.
I quickly skirted around several crate sized blocks as I tried to get closer to the source of the noise. From the sound of it there were several different combatants from the various screeches, roars, and other sounds I couldn't quite place. I almost reconsidered entirely before I heard an odd yell out, having caught it for how… normal it sounded. I crept closer and peeked my head around a corner towards an open space, though I had to wait a moment for my blindsight to adjust to the acoustics. As I finally got a clear picture of what I was looking at, I froze.
It was a woman. A perfectly normal human woman, with long length of hair trailing down her back. Another test subject. Though it seemed while I wasn't the only person they abducted, at least one of us got off lightly in the body modification department. Hell, considering the way she grabbed a horned beast with one hand and hurled it a full ten meters before it ploughed into a ramp with a sickening crunch, I would say that she got a much better package than mine. In one hand she wielded something like an oversized machete (which given the odd, bone like shape of its handle I suspected was torn out of another creature) which she used to hack into a wolf like beast charging her.
As she was focusing on that though, I noticed that something was creeping up behind her, a massive centipede creature rearing its pincers back to take off her head. I didn't think about it or hesitate before I launched out of cover, clearing the distance in a blink before I slammed into the thing. It was much less armored than the previous abomination I fought, so my claws found purchase to sink into as we tumbled. It snapped and hissed at me, but I quickly identified a metallic device attached to the underside of its head before I brought my tail around pierced it straight up through it.
By the time we skidded to a stop the thing was still. I
really hopped that I was wrong and these things weren't other victims, because otherwise I had killed another person on the basis that they looked freakier than the person they were attacking. I had no context for the current situation, no idea if the woman attacked them all first or the other way around. But I didn't have time to think about it, so all I could do was trust my instincts and hope I wasn't wrong. As I rose I noticed that the woman had turned her attention towards me, her stance aggressive though she remained where she was.
I turned my head back towards her. Not to look at her, as I was becoming increasingly aware my blindsight didn't care about the facing of my head, but to give her a simple nod before I leap at the wolf thing that was coming back for another pass. I didn't know if she got the message that I had her back, but I had to hope that she did and wouldn't take the chance to stab me in mine.
I clipped wolf thing and knocked it off its charge, noticing its six legs and smooth skin as I tried to rake into its flesh. We both skidded to a stop before we charged again, darting at each before breaking away again and again. I could only land glancing blows due to its skin, but the hexawolf couldn't penetrant the harder parts of my carapace at all. After a few exchanges it was clear that I had the advantage, and the creature started to slow as it lost more blood. It hesitated for a moment before another pass before it juked hard and ran, running out of my sight.
I decided to let the thing go, as there were still two more which the woman was currently dealing with. One looked to be an oversized boar-thing she was current shoving back and the other… wait, where did the other SHIT!
I remembered that my blindsight could see all around me just in time to avoid getting slammed by the multi-armed ape creature that had crept up behind me while I was distracted. Its limbs were thin and long, and at each of the elbows of its two arms they spilt into two forearms. It growled at me as I stumbled back up onto my hind legs, and was caught by surprise as I felt my back hit something. I looked back to see the woman looking over her back at me, and she gave me a brief nod before she turned back to her own opponent as it was getting up. Back to back as we were, I suddenly felt myself wonder how the hell I ended up here, abducted and in some kind of death pit fighting against abominations with a woman I had just met.
Eh, still better than my last date.
I didn't get a chance to think about it more before ape moved in towards me, and I charged it in kind. I went to slash at it but the thing bent at a weird angle to duck out of the way before it grabbed my wrist. I tried to pull away but it quickly snatched my other wrist before pining down my tail with its foot. It then constricted the rest of it limbs around me even as I snapped my teeth at the collar around its neck. I could feel my body compress and creak as it showed surprising strength for such thin limbs, and the sensation of muted pain started to build.
I wasn't having any of that. I had no idea what I was doing, but I figured
the hell with it and focused on that chittering sensation, imagining the back of a hedgehog. Spikes erupted all over my body, piercing though the ape creature's limbs as it shrieked in surprise and pain. It let go of me but I stepped in even as it started to stumble back. A vicious sickle blade grew from my arm as I speared my hand into its collar and straight through to its neck, riding it to the ground as I did so.
Before I knew it I was done, and I pulled myself upright as some of the gore slid off of my hand (the rest, along with the remnants of the collar, being absorbed into it). I turned to look at my impromptu ally to find her leaning against the wall, a disembowel boar creature next to her. Her posture was tense and her breathing heavy as she stared at me. I didn't have enough skill with my ultrasound to make out the finer details of her face, but it was easy to tell that she was wary. Everything else in here had tried to kill her without a second thought, so what made me different? And more importantly, could she trust me now that we were the only ones left?
In that moment, I knew I had to convince her. To be honest I had not even given thought of escape until that very instant, instead having focused on trying to figure out what the fuck was going on, but I knew that I would need her if I wanted to get out of here. I needed an ally, someone I could trust in this insane place. Our jailers had to be watching, and I wouldn't have much time. But how hell could I get her to trust me when I couldn't speak and looked like a nightmare?
I only hesitated a moment longer before I stood up as straight as I could and started to shift my head, picking up where I had left off. It was risky, but our captors had allowed me to shapeshift earlier a little, so I was willing to bet they would let me now if they thought I was getting ready to attack her. And indeed that was what she thought as well, as she raised her blade in a guard position as my features started to change. But I wasn't trying to make myself more threatening. Just the opposite.
My head finished becoming more human like, and a proper brow form above my newly forming eye sockets. I didn't bother trying to make actual eyes, just orbs covered in such a way to look like eyes. The flesh around my mouth softened and segmented, forming into something not quite scales and not quite shell but something in between, enough that I could get some rudimentary lips. In my throat was where the more complicated modifications occurred, as I frantically guessed at the proper structure of human vocal cords.
"Hhhhhaarrrch-" A managed to say as I tried to work my new mouth, shifting things around in my throat as I flattened my tongue and teeth. Her grip tightened on her blade as I tried again. "Hhhll. Hllaaa. Hhaaaallpp."
I took a breath and put my hand to my chest. "Hhalpp…. mmme." I strained out. I extended my hand to her, both my stand and my hand open. "Hhalp… mme."
There was a long moment where she did nothing, and I waited to see if she was going take my head off. Then finally she relaxed, and her sword fell down by her side.
I didn't have long to enjoy it though, as the moment she took a step toward me electricity surged through my body and I was on the ground in pain. The woman shouted something, but I could only just make out drones moving in and restraining her before everything went black.
--------------------
They left me in my cell for long time after that, and I finally had some time to think, not that it did me that much good. I had already figured that the lizard people had enrolled me in a sort of living weapons program, but I still couldn't figure out the end goal. I wasn't exactly planning on being cooperative, so how were they planning on controlling me? And for that matter, who were they planning on fighting? Was there an impending war with the surface world? Uhg, I didn't have enough information. And considering I didn't really want to think about all those monsters/maybe people I killed, I fell back on the other thing I really wanted to try out: Shapeshifting.
And I quickly found out that it was bloody difficult. Or at least, it's hard when you aren't making weapons and have to do everything manually. That was what I had figured out after what I think was day or two of personal testing. I had been wary to experiment of my own after the first time, but a few tentative attempts resulted in no electric shocks. I suspected they wanted to see what I could do as much as I did, and would only punish me if I tried to tamper with what I had dubbed the control orbs. So, I spent most of my time seeing just what the hell I could do. And the answer was 'not nearly as much as I felt I should have'.
One of the first things I tried to do was resume my efforts to change into at least something close to human, but I was met with only mild success. I managed to get my legs back to plantigrade, and my proportions slightly more human like, but my face… Imagine that you need to sculpt a human face out of clay. Now imagine that you have no art training, and have to do it in a pitch black room by touch. Now imagine that your hands have been replaced with calloused walrus flippers. That was what it was like trying to manually shape my flesh. Worse still was how long it had taken me to change; though I could alter every part of my body at the same time with no extra effort so long as I wasn't too specific on the details, getting even close to human had taken hours.
And oddly enough, I could change back to 'xenomorph' in a few seconds no matter what. In addition to that, anything else I tried to shape (simple things like blades, bludgeons, even simple geometric shapes), all naturally formed with Giger-esque aesthetics, with ridges and organic curves wherever possible. It seemed that my body wanted to shape anything it turned into along a certain theme… and things like the finer details of the human form were outside of that.
Which wasn't great when it came to making the orbs in my head actual eyeballs. Though to be fair a lot of that might have been because I had only a vague idea how eyes were structured. It was a small mercy that I had somehow managed to get them photosensitive from just randomly trying things. Which was a bit suspicious in and of itself. I thought back to the fight earlier, when those bits of flesh and tech were absorbed into me. I wasn't certain… but it seemed to imply…
Well, at least when the time came, it gave me an idea of what to do with those control orbs.
I was snapped out of my thoughts when I felt a sudden tremor, followed a split second later by the sound of an explosion. I tensed and waited, and soon after that I heard what could only be alarm sirens.
Hmm, I guess one of their experiments didn't go quite as planed? I thought with a vicious grin (which made me feel better for the simple fact that I could do it). If I was going to break out, now the best time to try… but I still had to get out of my stupid cell.
And unfortunately, even with my newfound transforming skills, I was just as successful as last time. No matter how much I slashed, smashed, or stabbed at the door, the damn thing didn't budge. I was starting to consider trying even more exotic configurations before I heard something through the door. It was faint, but I swore I could hear shouting, impacts, and a few other things I couldn't identify.
There was a moment of silence before a massive impact dented the door inwards. A second one followed it and it bent even more. I managed to duck to the side of the cell before the third one hit and the metal slab flew into the room. And standing right in the doorway was the woman from before, her first extended, breathing heavily and looking incredibly pissed.
I had no idea how she managed to get free or find my cell, but I was not arguing with the miracle. I walked towards her and nodded. "Thank you. I hope you know how to get us out of here." I said, glad I had spent so much time making sure my voice worked. Now we could actually talk to each other.
"Cor nock toresh nal voerkeni saul." She replied.
That… was very unhelpful. And what even was it? Mongolian? Klingon? Well, looked like we'd have to stage a breakout from the lizard base using nothing but pantomime. I gave her the 'lead on' gesture and she did so, sprinting after her as she tore down the corridor. Although I might have been faster if I switched back to my quadruped form, felt far more comfortable just running with human-ish legs again, and I had a feeling that I would need every advantage I could get if I wanted to get out of here. Judging by the number of alarms going off, I had a suspicion that escape wasn't going to be easy.
And sure enough, after the woman led me through a number of corridors we turned a corner and almost ran straight into a group of lizard people. There were five of them in total, and each was carrying a sort of strange thin rifle, with multiple barrels and prongs sticking off of it. I had no idea what those things did, but I was sure I didn't want to find out first hand. I dove to the side to take cover in a doorway as one started to level their weapon at me, and while I didn't see anything happen I heard a loud hum and the air next to me suddenly spiked in temperature.
Laser, I guessed.
Going to be really annoying considering I can't 'see' them.
My companion did not immediately take cover, and instead raised her hand towards them. My blindsight did manage to see what happened next, as the space around her hand seemed to ripple in my vision before several bolts of something streaked towards our captors. Most of the reptiles managed to scramble out of the way, but one was too slow and took several shots which detonated on contact. With all of the noise it was hard to pick out any details but I knew that it wasn't going to be getting back up.
I briefly turned my attention to the woman as I wondered why she hadn't shown that ability the last time we met, before I refocused on our opponents and charged out of cover, trying to close the distance before they realized it. There was no way I was going to just hide and let my savoir only risk herself after she had already freed me. It was a risk, but I had no ranged options, so melee it was. Unfortunately, I got just shy of striking range of one before it let out a hiss and tapped a button on a device attached to its arm.
Once again I felt electricity rip through me from the control orbs in my chest, and I stumbled as I felt myself lose cohesion. Part of me had been waiting for this to happen ever since I stepped outside my cell though, and I prayed that I had acquired enough skill shapeshifting to do what I was thinking. Forcing down all the pain, I turned my attention inwards and imagined spikes. An instant later the orbs were speared through with whatever material my body was made out of, and the electricity was cut off.
Though I didn't want to, I couldn't help but fall to my knees as something unexpected happen. I felt my internal spikes suddenly branch and grow inside the implanted devices, tearing them apart from the inside out, and as they did so I felt something in the back of my mind. When I looked up and saw one of the reptiles standing over me a rush of need and instinct caused my forearms to expand as I felt new, complicated structures form inside them. My claws lengthened, and as the transformation finished electricity began to arc between my fingers.
Didn't know I could do that.
I stared at this for a moment I before turned my attention upwards without raising my head, perceiving that the reptile next to me was frozen in fascination at this. Big mistake. The moment the thing started to open its mouth I shot upwards, driving my newly formed Lightning Claw into its mouth and straight into its brain.
The thing's body spasmed as I whirled it around to put it between me and the others, just in time to it catch a laser blast in my stead. I reached down to grab the rile still clenched in its fist, and on a hunch I tried to replicate what I had just accomplished. Sure enough my hand twisted and unfolded into branching spikes that consumed all but the forward third of the weapon. My arm shifted to accommodate, and a second later I was doing a Samus Arin impression. I lifted the weapon towards one of them and willed it to fire, and though I didn't see anything the one I pointed it at clutched at the sudden hole in its chest before it collapsed.
The remaining two tried to rally, but my ally was already on them, and a few brutal blows later they down as well. I finished consuming the gun before my hand shifted back to normal, and I could only give the bodies a glance before we were on the move again. I… had definitely just killed two sapient beings. I knew I was going to have to deal with that later (and wasn't that becoming the theme of my life as of late), but we needed to escape first.
It wasn't long before we came to a much bigger set of doors than the ones we had been passing before. The woman stopped in front of them and raised her hands, another series of bolts rippling in my vision before they exploded against the metal. However, it didn't seem terribly affected by it. She roared as her fists smashed into the door, but it was a lot sturdier than the one to my cell. After a few more tries I held out my hand to get her to stop, and after a few moments I identified what I thought was a control panel next to it.
Without pause I stabbed my hand into it and deploy my spikes. There was a second or two I was worried that I had overestimated my new abilities before a new presence made itself aware in my mind. It was… difficult to understand. I got the impression of systems, complexity, but it was presented in a way that was alien to me. It was like having someone tap on your arm in different beats with different materials and different rhythms; you could recognize that there was a langue at play, but you had never even considered that paradigm.
Still, I pushed deeper and deeper, trying to understand as much as possible even if I had to damage it more and more to do so. Just before I started to wonder if I had gone too far I felt the same sort of mental revelation you get when you finally get a magic eye picture to work and everything aligned. One mental command later the door opened, revealing a wide room with a number of consoles lining the walls, and several lizard men looking at us in surprise.
The woman strode into the room, her hands rippling in my sight as she extended them towards them. "Kreshik mor t'alc! Vaashen!"
I walked up beside her, Lighting Claws raised. "And we out of fucks to give!"
What? It wasn't like they could understand me either.
As it turned out, these particular goons were not security forces like the ones previous. And they quickly fled from our presence as fast as their lopping gait would allow. After they were gone the woman walked to a console on the far end of the room, pressing buttons and tapping at panels. I had no idea what she as doing, not in the least of which because my blindsight couldn't see what I assumed were the screens and holograms she was looking at. However, she wasn't at it for long before she let out a grunt of frustration and stepped back before looking at me. "Telos dor?" She said as she pointed at the console.
Understanding the request, I walked forward and placed my hand on the device, this time melding my hand with it much more smoothly as I tried to limit the amount of damage I caused. Whether or not that helped though, I found myself reeling slightly as my mind connected. I had thought the door was complicated, but this was a whole order of magnitude more complicated. I felt the beginnings of a headache as I was bombarded with information, sensations, ideas that I could barely parse. I was looking at a puzzle that I could barely understand, let alone solve.
"Shen? Mela orthos?" The woman next to me asked.
"Hey, this is actually a lot more complicated than it looks, ok?" I said back.
"Torack mel. Toresh na relma!"
"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure these lizard folk had no idea what they were doing to me either, so were all flying blind!"
I could tell from her stance that she was frustrated, that she wanted to get out of here now. She looked between me and the door, and a small bit of fear ran through me. Would she just leave me? At that moment I expected that she would either do just that or start yelling at me more in a language I couldn't understand.
What I didn't expect however was for her to suddenly grab the back of my head and mash her lips against my own.
I froze, all of the thoughts and processes running through my mind suddenly coming to a halt at the contact. I felt something ripple through me from the point of contact, like an imagined electric jolt running though my body. And perhaps the sensation shook something loose in me, because after I felt a moment of light headedness, the blurriness in my vision resolved and sharpened. And the first thing my new eyes saw was my savoir as she pulled back from me.
Her face was one of classical beauty, gorgeous and framed by her hair, but that was almost secondary to everything else I noticed in that instant. Her skin was a burnt orange hue, and her hair was far more red than any normal shade. And the eyes that stared so fiercely back into mine were an almost solid emerald green, with only the iris showing a slightly deeper color. More than anything else though, as impossible as it was that she could even be real… I knew who she was.
"Take control of the security if you can, and try to make your escape. I must go back to save my sister." Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran said as she rose into the air, her hair trailing off into fire around her as she pulled away. A second later she shot off back through the door we came from and disappeared out of sight.
…
What.
=====A=====
Hello, Sufficient Velocity. I've been meaning to cross post this fic over from SB for a while now, and I'm finally getting around to it. For those of you not already following this over on the other site, this is my attempt at some derivative, self-indulgent nonsense which people seemed to like for some reason. I get to posting more chunks of this when it's not past midnight my time.
