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[Worm AU] Cogito Ergo Lung : I Think, Therefore I Am Dragon

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Okibruez said:
Context would have you assume Amelia, since most of the chapter as well as the previous chapter was from her view, interspersed with Lung.

Edit: But since it is a new chapter, a brief nod to the current character would have been good, yes.
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I assumed that it was Amelia at first, but then there were the parts where she had a first person point of view so it made me doubt
 
god dammit panacea, if you keep this up you won't make it out of the building because it will collapse ontop of you.
 
When I started reading this I was sad for Lee and for Lung, over time I got used to Lee as he was, familiarity and all that but this arc has brought it all back and really driven home the original emotional tones.

More, please.
 
While I'm no hero, let alone a protagonist with a heroic bent, this feels like a Cry for the Devil situation since you can't help but pity the monsters here.
 
Freshly binged and freshly watched.

There is quite literally nothing I can say that no one's said before. The theatrics, narration, PoV swaps; the buildup, the action, the aftermath; the emotional beats mixed with off-putting jokes and gallows humor, sprinkled with a spicy hint of backstory invention, all on top of a genuinely, unqiuely cracky premise that became genuine somewhere between inception to hitting post.

Looking forward to the next chapter!
 
This is just incredible; very few stories have ever been able to draw me in to such a n extent before and I have particularly enjoyed the amount of detail that was shown into the thought processes and beliefs of the relevant characters.

I am definitely looking forward to seeing what might come from this, especially given how many things that I haven't seen used before are being used here

Though, I feel as though this might make me think less of stories that use the generic brute Lung that often gets used
 
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1.20 一旦緩急アレバ義勇公ニ奉ジ (ittan kankyū areba giyū kō ni hō ji)
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    • Cogito Ergo Lung
    I think, therefore I am dragon​

    Why was I so frustrated?
    Why was I so angry?

    We went our separate ways looking for solutions, me going to China while I sent him to America, where in theory another immigrant wouldn't be noticed. Solutions for his condition, mine, the worlds, and for the future.

    I braved the CUI and their Yangban, I endured the pit, all while learning how their minds worked and if there were answers to be had. I would even offer to kneel if it meant victory.
    When I saw it couldn't help me or Lee either in subjugation or submission, I made my escape, though that was an experience in itself.
    With Japan and China no longer suitable, the next biggest areas with large Japanese migrations were Korea or America.
    I chose to rejoin my friend, crossed the immense country state by state, and found him... so empty.
    Being used as a common burglar in a tiny gang on the east coast.

    A husk.

    I've lived with him in this state for some time now.
    I've maintained him, shored up what he could no longer remember, endured indignity after indignity keeping him clean and fed.

    So why am I angry?

    ---===---​

    The big difference between Lung and Vicky was rapidly becoming apparent to Panacea.

    Both were Brutes, yes, but the term was incredibly vague and covered too much to equate or compare them.
    Yes, both could pick up a car and throw it, both could take gun to the face, but Vicky was still a person. Lung was not.

    Vicky moved like a human being bolstered by a power she controlled. When she pressed against something it was like the object was less real and gave way.
    Lung moved like the power was pushing him, like he was riding it and it was barely under his command, like he was the crest of a wave. When he smashed something it just made sense.

    And most unlike Vicky, he didn't tire. He wasn't breathing hard, panting or sweating, or showing any signs of fatigue. Just the opposite.
    He was swinging faster, turning faster, sometimes ankle deep in the broken concrete as he brought his glowing red club to bear.
    When he remembered to breathe it was fire, like hell just under his skin.

    Instead of feints, Lung was swinging the club with immense force and halting it or shifting it by using even more force.
    Lung's footsteps weren't precise demonstrations of the complex interactions of bone and tendon, muscle and nerve, no, it was simply force.
    Force and the assumption that the ground would not hold.

    It wasn't a performance on a stage anymore. It wasn't a demonstration of skill and control. It was something that he did have very much in common with Vicky though.

    Wrath.

    And something had to give.

    ---===---​

    True to Lung's predictions, in less than a minute the equilibrium between the one who was empty and the other that was overfull finally broke.
    Another graze, only this time the club didn't even touch cloth, just the burning wind from it was enough.

    Lee flew into the wall with a soft crash, the crash of a human being hitting unyielding stone.
    He slid down the wall and the way his legs gave out from beneath him would make an acrobat or ballerina wince.
    With a quiet sigh, one she almost missed, he crumpled to the ground and lay still.

    And that was what finally stopped the Lung.

    Where the PRT had failed, where the Empire88 had failed, where an Endbringer had failed, the sight of his shadow on the ground in a broken heap stopped the Lung.

    Between one breath and the next the fire was gone, the rippling under his tattooed skin had ceased and his eyes had ceased burning or even glowing.

    There was no Ogre, no actor, no Lung, only a man.

    A man terrified of being alone.

    Something that Panacea intimately familiar with.
    And in doing so she had gone from kidnapped, to 'guest', to witness.

    She witnessed, not even daring to breathe, as the club fell from his fingers with the ringing of a moderately weighted Olympic barbell. Lung did not move, nor did he blink or even breathe, and as the seconds ticked by she felt her own lungs begin to ache in sympathetic stillness.

    And then she heard it, and as she did she watched Lung relax ever so slightly.

    A wheezing breath, the sounds of a knife being scraped off of broken ground.

    Lee was trying to rise to his feet.

    ---===---​

    I heard and felt my friend's knife drag along the broken concrete, returning to his grip proper. Just like I'd had him practice in his drills.
    {Never be without a weapon Lee!}
    By turning away to retrieve it my friend rose to his knees but momentarily lost sight of me.

    He was empty again, I knew the motions well, and I watched as he slowly turned this way and that, bones grinding together in his insides as he did.
    Looking for direction, instruction, purpose. Looking for his role.
    {Always come back to me. I will instruct you}
    Out of the corner of his eye he saw me and slowly turned to face me, leaning back against the shelf as he did.
    {I will always have the next step ready.}
    Yes, I'm right here Lee.
    Can you stand?
    Come on; stand up.
    I'm right here.

    When his legs refused to obey him, he turned and shakily reached for a shelf to start hauling himself up.
    {Always be ready for your next role.}
    I've decided Lee; you've suffered enough.
    I'll give you the finishing blow.
    Just like I promised in the hospital.
    {I will never let you fade, I promise!}
    So, come on and stand up.

    Once on his feet he shifted his weight so that it was on one leg -definitely broken something in the other- and froze.
    Nothing of his body moved, save his eyes.
    {Always keep your eyes on the guest.}
    He saw her, and in that instant I knew what he would do next.
    He would grab her and teleport, fulfill his role as the noble Shinobi, even if she erased everything inside of him.

    Maybe even hoping that she would.

    ---===---​

    Without a word Lung spun on his heel, mask whipping off his face from the force of the turn and further destroyed the concrete is a mad dash towards me, club ignored in his haste.
    Reaching to grasp me with his claws, for they were claws, a rictus of rage and frustration -and... panic?- upon his scaled face.

    I was strangely calm with my death coming towards me like this, it meant that Vicky would be safe, that my secrets and my sins would be gone with me. People have used fire to burn evidence away for as long as we've had things to burn, including each other.

    I wouldn't have to pretend any more.

    Though once again I was denied even that, as Lung froze a couple of his large strides away from me.

    But not his blood, it was splattering all over my white robe, sizzling and scalding me where it soaked in.

    ---===---​

    I had turned my back on my shadow and thus deserved every bit of my pain.

    Lee was on my back, knees driven into my shoulder blades as he sawed the blade back and forth across my throat.
    It is a terrible thing, to feel ones throat being slit. It would be the third time for me.
    You try to clutch at it like you could pull your very life back, but it's far too late, the sawing cord was deep in your flesh, cutting everything you relied upon to exist.
    But that wasn't enough to stop me and he knew it.
    So he added more.

    - There were knives in my groin, at least two.
    - There were knives aimed in between my ribs, some piercing where the scales hadn't grown in, some not. I felt the blows of the hammers being wielded by other ninjas, destroying fingers of their brethren yes, but also pushing the blades deeper into me.
    - Of course there was a knife being stabbed into my eyes now.

    And I deserved every bit of it, for I failed to notice the actor before me.
    He had bluffed me.
    Me!

    What a wonderful thing love can make a person into!

    ---===---​

    He wasn't shrieking, which he really should be if those knives were digging into where I thought they were.
    He wasn't screaming, even if he could with his throat torn open as his was.
    Not even a roar.

    What I heard was laughter, stuck in his chest and so low in pitch meant it being felt as much as heard. Like a sub-woofer during a monster movie.

    Why was Lung laughing?

    His restraint, his self-control had eroded and fire was leaking out of everywhere it could. The ninjas were no longer collapsing into ash, they were coming into existence already on fire, but still they stabbed, cut, and endured silently.

    I smelt his flesh burn, a horrid scent distinct from his carbon ash, one I have become very familiar with ever since my first patient pulled from a burning building.

    Lung staggered back, tottering towards the damaged wall behind him, and without hesitation he smashed his back into the wall like a truck going 50.

    I heard bones break from many men, some collapsed into ash, but one didn't, and more ninjas were suddenly there, broken but still stabbing, crawling over him like ants against an invincible predator.

    I didn't hear the pins being pulled, but I saw them littering the broken floor in eerie synchronicity.

    And then I was tackled by a single smoldering ninja covering my ears as the first of many explosions went off.

    ---===---​

    I awoke blearily to nothing but the ī̳̮̽n̯̲͉̐̔͑s͍̳̫͂̚̚i͇̹̳͈͍͉de̮̞̖̬͍̻̙ again. It was why I never slept next to Vicky any more. Waking up cuddling someone and seeing nothing but... tissue.
    Just like now.
    I saw nothing but the parts, the pieces, the damage. I saw what I could cha͚͔̪̩̮̰̝͂̽͆͗͛ͦͯn̺͙̝̒ͦ̾ĝ̮̥͎̑̔eͣ̾̄̑̐͊̉, what I could re̞̤͓̔͑̐p͔̰̝̩̜̗͚a̩̪̔̄iͫͯ͂̊̿̄r̐ͮ, what I could i̖͉͍̮͈͖̱̒ͮ̒͑ͣ̈̈́m͉̫͖̬̗̲͖p̼̜͉͉̱̭̽̓̌ͣͧ̏r̫̲̀̊o̗̘̦̙̅ͣ̇͊v͇̮e̼̳̲̼̥ͬ̆͐́ͭ.
    And there was so much damage in Lee, not just his brain.

    His chin brushed against mine and-
    -Lower Jawbone... fractured.
    -Chin Node... fractured.
    -Mandibular Ramus... fractured. And so many more cracks.

    I swept my face up, not opening my eyes, and my nose brushed by his and-
    -Both left and right Orbital Floor... fractured.
    -Nasal Bone... caved in.
    -Upper Jawbone... fractured. Cracks spreading into and behind the sockets.

    My lips brushed his and-
    -So many teeth cracked, a molar nothing more than powder. Tongue partially bisected, lips seared like a steak.

    My hair brushed his ear and-
    -Both Tympanic Membranes...perforated by explosions and impacts.

    His arms pulled me close and-
    -Cervical Vertebrae...twisted left and right, some by more than thirty degrees
    -His Ribs... it'd be easier to count the ones not broken, some in six places.
    -Hands and Wrist Bones...moderate inflammation, but still intact. Burnt badly.
    -Both his legs... sprained and with moderate inflammation. Burnt extremely badly, and membranes close to bursting.
    -Throughout his whole body he was bleeding under his skin. Bruises and ruptures and punctures. Notable intrusion of foreign material, likely concrete and metal. Blood vessels impacted, plasma seeping due to decreasing oncotic pressure.

    -His Brain
    -His internal organs at many places​
    -All the burns. First degree, second degree, third degree and on his knees fourth.​
    Just like how Vicky liked her steak.

    I blinked and I was still tied to the chair, ropes digging into my wrists. Lee had slid off me, leaving me alone once more.

    Now what? None of my plans ever had me coming out of this alive.

    I blinked as the Lee in front of me crumbled into ash. I felt and heard the thump of his scorched and broken body behind me.
    My ropes were cut.

    "Run Princess, you don't have long..." Lee rasped, lungs showing the classic signs of massive damage. "If you can leave the forest and make it back to your lands, the Ogre will not be able to pursue. He swore an oath."

    And with his final line of the play, he fell silent, barely breathing.

    Leaving me do decide what to do next.

    ---===---​

    Things were starting to make sense now.

    Seeing the... 'Performance', what was restrained, what was allowed, the passion, the purpose, the goal.

    Yes, things were starting to make sense.

    [PERFORM!]

    All it needed was props.

    Props and a scene.

    The host was unconscious, but that was no matter, it had the Pearl, who had all sorts of knowledge.

    In fact, this was a perfect time to test something new.

    A subtle yet direct solution.

    [KHEPRI!]

    ---===---

    Run Princess, you don't have long​

    The Princess indeed was running, sweaty and bloodstained robes clinging to her body as she navigated the maze of boxes, trying to find the way out as fast as she could.

    And it was a maze, boxes of illegal imports stacked haphazardly from floor to ceiling. No rows, no neatness, and no signs pointing to the exit, or even in the vague direction to it. Add in the fact that most of the lights were either broken or flickering. Add further the evening's gloom, and it was slow going. All dead-ends and backtracking and a quiet fear that she might brush against a haphazard tower of boxes and bring them all down to crush her.

    Naturally, it was during some of that backtracking was when the wall far behind her exploded. Thanks to Vicky, she was quite familiar with the sound.

    "Well..." Boomed a voice, deep and inhuman, so like Lung's and yet... not.

    "Thief." The conclusion was hissed, in only the way a monster could.

    Not now! She was so close to escape. To Vicky! Just a few more minutes!

    "I smell you..." She heard crates breaking in the distance as something very large was moving, searching.

    Following the trails that doubled back over and over from the twists and turns of the labyrinth.

    "...and I feel your air. I hear your breath..."

    The Princess stopped trying to escape and instead pressed her back against some crates, not in fear, but in sensations she had already felt this very night.

    Fear and excitement.
    Something inside her had broken.

    She did not ponder as to why, there was no time for why, nor did she ponder when it was she'd last felt it, which was years ago in her first week in the hospital, making a difference. She only focused upon what needed to be done.

    No longer can I smell anything but blood and ash, and in this warmth I cannot feel your air move. Will it be my eyes or ears next?​

    Scent and warmth. Breath and sound.
    Her powers came to her so easily right now, not like at the hospital, like this was how they were supposed to be used, in the heat of the moment, not after a legal statement and paperwork in triplicate.

    [Resources]
    Wood from the crates - Unsuitable, too long to consume and repurpose.
    Clothing - She never wore anything synthetic, an instinct she realized now was to ensure access to things in a pinch.
    Blood and sweat and ash - useful, with the DNA itself being a weapon, in countless ways.

    More than enough. But first defense.

    She had the materials, she had the power, and now she had the will. No consent was needed.

    The blood on her outfit -blood that could be scented, sh̉ͫ̌ͬ̌̎̈́i̲͎͓f͕̣̠̭͉͉ț̮͎̰͚̞̐ͯ̃͐̚̚ed͍̥͉͙ͩ̽̏͒, becoming almost like a fungus, devouring the cotton and the wool she garbed herself in, while all the contaminants in her hair and on her skin were harvested, and in less than a minute she was naked, scoured clean of dead skin and useless hair, but laden with resources.

    "Where are you?" Crates were toppling, the monster was intrigued, amused, hunting. She paid it no mind, she was busy.

    [Scent]
    Fungus shifted into plant and animal, growing around her, using the DNA of Lung to match his pheromone signature and scent exactly. For while blood was easy to scent, all were blind to the smell of their own skin.

    [Sound]
    On her hands and feet the skin thickened, yet became soft, the natural rubber of her shoes co-opted, the isoprene mixing with a form of life that ate sound, fueling itself in a dark and silent ecosystem.

    Insufficient. It could hear her breath.

    [Breath]

    Memories of watching a tracheal tube being inserted into a patient, remembering how cͫ͆ͪ̿r̊̃ͦ̿ͪudͫ̌̒eͦ͛͆ͧ it seemed, how inefficient.

    She opened her mouth and plant and fungus invaded. Past her lips, into her lungs, spreading into the bronchioles, coating the alveoli. She shuddered, her body still trying to breathe despite the oxygen being fed to her.

    The solution was obvious. While she could not alter herself, she could create things that could in fact do the altering, albeit crudely.

    From the plant/fungus grew thorns, piercing her throat and diaphragm where she knew the nerves were. The urge to breathe vanished, and with it the sound.

    Insufficient. It could hear her heart beat.

    Animal and fungus shifted near her navel, coating itself with immunosuppressants, before gently forcing itself inside her thoracic cavity, seeking her noisy organs. They in turn were coated, padded, though her heart still allowed to beat as she didn't want to waste the effort and concentration moving it along.

    She was silent now, within and without.

    "Where are you!" Crates were toppling, the patience of the monster was depleting rapidly. She paid it no mind, she almost done.

    [Warmth]
    That was almost trivial in effort, especially with her entire body coated in tissue. A simple change and the exothermic became endothermic, feeding on her body warmth and cooling her down. Naturally this would kill her were it not for the injections of custom lipids, coating her cardiovascular system.

    That, and timed injections into her limbic system, her spinal fluid, and elsewhere insured she would function even at room temperature for a short while.

    Long enough.

    [Weapon]
    It was getting closer, no more defenses could be made, now for offense. Lung's DNA was still there, giving her so many forms off attack.

    Ì̙̻̭͇̩̼̱ͮ͒̊͋͆ͫnṿ̪͇̜̾͊ͤͧa̛͓̹͚ͭ̾͐d҉̼͚ḛ̠͖̲̋̐ͧͦ.̲͖̅̄ ̴̜̖̜̠̜̀̅ͧ̽́C̓o̞̣͖̮͔r̛̋ͧ̓ͦ̅̽r̞̽o̤̕d͛̈́̀͏̪̩̫e.̓͋͆̓̈̅ ̗̭̜̭D̦̝̦̩ͬ̆ͨ̈͝ě͓̙͔͈̾̃̚͡v̇͋ͣͭͫ́ȯ̘ṷ̝̻̖̹̞̣ͪͦ͛͋̊͋̏rͫ͒ͯͥ.̟̦̕ ̀Ä͕́s̺̮̟sͫ͛̃͂̿i҉̝̱͈̬͉͔ͅm͔̬̻̗͔ͯ̂̿ͯ̌i̩͓̲͔̘͔̊̿ͦ͂ͬ̊͡l̵̏ͪ͐ȃ͠ͅt̷̪̒ê̯̯̳̘͓̈͑͌̄͟.̞̠̯̎͛̄̊ͅ

    Which to choose?

    No, wrong question entirely.

    Why choose?

    "Come along! Help yourself again to what is mine!"

    It was close. Silently she moved, circling as best she could while keeping all the additions to her functioning.

    Her entire body would be the weapon, scales, carefully grown like Lung's had been, covered her everywhere except her eyes.
    Deadly, hungry little things they were, nothing on earth would survive them.

    There would be only one chance to strike, one chance to win.
    One chance to be with Vicky...

    She heard movement from the boxes and knew that it was moving past her.
    If it was massive it wouldn't notice her weight, if it wasn't, then it would be subsumed all the faster.

    But the sound was off.
    Strange.
    Not what she was expecting from the leader of the ABB.

    Those weren't footsteps, nor were they the talons of a Dragon.
    Slithering, a serpent?
    No. There were tiny little taps of metal on stone.
    Something skittering.

    "Come now. Don't be shy." The voice rumbled as it moved past her hiding spot.

    She counted to three, making sure the eyes were past, before she emerged to strike.

    And stopped cold.

    It hadn't moved past her.
    It had grown past her.
    The sight of what she faced around the boxes was so nostalgic that she froze, mind going back to that moment.

    ---===---​

    [Bigger!]
    So used to a limited amount of slots, this was such a refreshing.

    [More scales!]
    Such a capacity for additions.

    [Grow!]
    As it grew it simply added more slots, more gates, extending the chain another link, keeping the speed constant.

    Normally far too much for the host to handle, too many things, but not for this one.
    [Perform!]
    This one could handle so much.

    But not heat, not fire, and sadly only a minimum of metal and scale.

    Pity.

    But with differences came such excitement.

    ---===---​

    A little while after Vicky and I had both triggered, we were stuck at home, alone, and bored.

    I was happy just being next to her, cuddling under the blanket and talking, marveling at what I could see iṋ̻͙̋̾̉s̖̗̞̬͐ͬ́̏̊ͅiͦͧ̈́d́e̜͔̺ͩ̓͐ her, but Vicky was bored. So we snuck a movie from the living room, an R-rated one we weren't allowed to watch, as Carol was such a stickler for rules.

    But they weren't home, and Vicky was bored.

    And so we watched the movie, not understanding what the fuss was about. Sure there was swearing and gunfire, but so what, we were Parahumans now!

    But then the strange dog was put in the kennel with the others.
    Then the dog fell apart.
    And then the dog started eating the other dogs.

    We clung together, terrified at what we saw, and Vicky's aura grew stronger and stronger, unbearable...
    And then, something deep inside me shifted.

    I'd protect her. Always. No matter what. No matter how.
    Even if it had a flower of dog tongues and teeth, it would have to go through me to get to her.
    The dog-thing was burned but the threat of one of the people being infected was palpable.
    But not to me, I'd know in an instant.

    By the time the heart attack happened, when the torso opened up and bit on the man's arms, we both had shifted from fear to challenge.
    Vicky wouldn't be infected, not with her force field up. She was invincible.
    And I, I wouldn't be infected, I would infect it back. Battle it cell by cell.

    When the head detached and grew legs, all I saw was ways it could be better done.
    Not the special effects, but the legs for propulsion.

    By the end of the movie, we weren't cuddling together under the blanket, we were rapt, waiting for the next attack.
    Vicky's aura washed over me, but now it felt so warm, it tingled things inside me, making me focused and ready.

    When the thing burst from the ice, Vicky almost leapt into the air, ready to punch the monster.
    And I, all I saw was competition. Not a monster made of man and dog and thing, but simply a haphazard thing that could be put together so much better.
    So many ideas.

    That, and a promise.

    ---===---​

    "Ah, there you are."

    My prepared attack was useless, because it wasn't Lung, not anymore.
    For all I knew he was still laying in that room and this... thing had grown out of him and spread all the way here.
    Organ after organ, held together with metallic threads and twisted metal bones.
    And nothing human. Not a single thing.
    But it triggered such aching nostalgia, every organ a story I felt I'd seen and told, yet hadn't.
    Déjà vu or madness? Why Choose?

    It was a dragon, no, the ones with the arm wings -a wyvern?- but not made of scales, of metal, of Lung.

    This was a Wyvern made of cancer and organs and scales.

    It didn't see me with anything so pathetic as eyes, it tasted the light bouncing off of me, heard me with chemical reactions of the vibrations of the air interacting with its musk, and studied me with senses this planet hadn't developed.

    And somehow, I knew this.
    How did I know this?
    Why did I know this?

    Had it eyes, I would have been feeling them raking over my form, appraising my efforts.

    "Such flattery, covering yourself in scales like me." It crooned from behind me, and I turned at the voice. It wasn't a head speaking to me, but an arm, extending out with an even set of fingers and talons and tendrils. Like the legs of a grasshopper vibrating to make a sound, it was doing the same. "Such a lovely smell."

    A shadow fell over me, and I turned to see the 'head' of the Wyvern looming over the boxes.

    A reptilian skull -saurian?- but not bone, made entirely of metal. It was connected to and supported by a trunk of tissue that leaked and blinked and breathed...
    The head was purely for my benefit, something to direct my attention to, I knew this. The fact its jaws could swallow a compact car was just a side effect.

    It also meant it wanted me alive-

    "Do you think flattery will keep you alive?"

    For the moment.

    I shook my head hard, even as I forced injections into my diaphragm and throat so I could begin breathing and talking again. The scales fell from my face like leaves in Autumn.

    "No indeed. Yet you have such nice manners for a thief and a liar." It said, sounding pleased.

    "W-what..." I rasped, enduring the sensation of the breathing fungus/flower receding from my lungs. "What have I stolen? When have I lied?"

    "Lee." Amazing how much could be implied in a single word.

    I didn't know what to say.

    "He is my friend. My partner. My Shadow!" It roared, before visibly becoming calm. "I have always been there for him."

    It wanted to talk, so I let it. It didn't seem wise to interrupt.

    "I coaxed him from the gloom under the stage and into school." It rumbled. "I showed him movies and candy. I helped him go from L-I Li into L-E-E Lee, gave him a goal, and helped him become it."

    Crates toppled as the head whipped to and fro, lost in nostalgia.

    "When he had a crush on 九瑠璃 罪歌, unlike the rest I did not laugh, I helped him. I wrote his letter as my handwriting was better. I even dressed up as the maiden 綱手 so he could practice his confession without stuttering." It was building up steam now. "And when he was in the hospital, I alone made him the promise."

    "Promise..." It tasted the word, "That's right; A secret, an answer, and a promise." The head drifted closer to me, crushing crate after crate as it did. "My word is my bond is it not?"

    I nodded, giving the monster in front of me what it wanted, a captive audience.

    "His/my promise," the two words were spoken at the same time, yet one not overwriting the other. "I believe it was to give you everything you've ever wanted, and watch it destroy you."

    It was.

    "You'll notice I never said I would allow you to live." It said, knowing somehow that underneath the skin and scales covered myself with that I had flinched. "That will be her/my promise."

    Again the two words were spoken at the same time, and again one did not lay dominant.

    The massive head swung and smashed the boxes to my right, in the distance I could see the sullen red glow of the exit sign.

    Escape... and it saw where my gaze went, and snorted, sounding like an engine backfiring.

    "I am almost tempted to let you go, right now, if only to see New Wave suffer. Watch you destroy them, watch you twist their flesh, and drive them mad."

    I would never do that!

    "You would. Before the summer solstice as a matter of fact. Before you entered the Birdcage as Prisoner 612." It said, amused. "Consider that a secret given."

    How did it speak so confidently about the future?
    How did it know?

    "As for her/my answer, the question is 'why do I let you live?'"

    The head loomed closer.
    Closer still.
    Almost touching me.

    "Because of this."

    The skull opened, sword-like teeth parting.

    ---===---​

    There was Lee, alive.
    Unconscious on a bed made of scales, skin unburnt, flesh healed.
    Just as I'd left him.

    "You wasted your precious seconds healing him, before you ran." It said. "You might have made it to an exit, might have made it all the way home, had you left him to die."

    But I couldn't-

    "That duty, that compassion, that Carol beat into you day after day, that is why you will live. Remember that."

    There was nothing I could say about that.

    "But you didn't finish."

    Finish?

    "But-" I stammered. "But I can't..." I struggled for words. "There's nothing there that I-"

    "Nonsense!" Came the rumbled interruption. "The show must go on."

    In the distance I heard something rumbling, something heavy.

    "If you are missing cast, you replace them." Something was being dragged through the crates, metal screeching on concrete.

    "If you are missing props, you improvise." Crates exploded, spilling their counterfeit products on the ground.

    "And if you are missing lines..." The hand/arm/wing/mouth thing brushed the bits of wood off to reveal a large freezer. "You do it live." Fuck it! We'll do it Live!

    Carefully, it was opened. Carefully, something was retrieved. Three round things, each double-bagged.

    "And if you need to get ahead." I could hear the smirk even if there were no lips on that immense metal skull. "Keep someone in mind..."

    Lee's body shifted as something squirmed out. A tendril-like metal tongue with six spikes on it.

    "Don't worry, I'll take care of it." It assured me. "I knew him best after all."

    And then there was pain. A piercing spike to my belly. Before I could look down at the cause, my vision was gone.

    I saw i̘̻n͉͉͓̿̊ͬs̯̭̩͈̓͆̂̚ỉ̹̬̽d̠͒e̼̻̬̤͈͂̊̃͐̈́ again, inside Lee, but it was so different... somehow.

    Something smiled at me... from all sides.

    ---===---​

    I knew what Lee was missing, I watched it all fade away bit by bit over the years.

    He was my best friend, but that was gone. But I had a spare best friend right here, it just needed to thaw a bit.
    He was a perfect actor, but that was ground away to the nubs. But I had a spare for that as well.
    He was a perfect shadow, but it ate him away. But I had a new shadow inside a double-bag inside a skull.

    And like a spider weaving a web of billions of neurons with countless axon's and numerous dendrites, I wove my web of Lee.
    I wove my friend back together, just like I remembered him.

    His power had to change, and Bonesaw had more than once meshed Powers and people together. I remembered with such sorrow at what Lee had become, meshed with Hatchet Face to create Hack Job.

    I would never let that happen, even if I had to do it first.

    Sophia's Power, her Gemma, was thawed and gently moved, meshed and supported.
    I remembered my own power changing thanks to Panacea, in my past and yet my future, and I recalled how my mind changed and shifted and opened like an infinite flower of fractals.

    Lee would be different, yes. But he would recover, and become the star he was meant to be.
    Even if he hated me for this, even if he despised what I had done, he would be able to hate me, despise me, he would be able to choose to do that.

    And if he couldn't bear to live, well, I would keep my promise to him, the one I made in the hospital.

    But only after I tried everything else first.

    ---===---​

    "Amelia..." A voice whispered, quiet, yet demanding. "Wake up."

    What she had seen, it was like a symphony from an orchestra, so many people, so many instruments, making one performance.

    "Amy," The voice spoke again, no longer a whisper. "You must wake up."

    She had thought to tweak minds, yes, an addiction here, a sexual orientation there, but never that much...

    "Panacea," The voice boomed. "You need to be conscious for this part."

    She cracked her eyes open at last.

    Something was supporting her from behind, preventing her from collapsing into a heap.
    Something had impaled her, just under her heart, connecting to her nerves.

    A monster looked down at her, and also i̗̺̠̬n͔̜͇̺̺̟̦s̢̩̥̯̝̜̳i̵̮̭d̥͈̰̜̪̜̺ḙ̬̯̪͚̪̫͟ her, its jaws nearly closed.
    Lee was on the ground, asleep.

    "You are being used, Amelia, you are only ever a means to an end." It rumbled calmly as she struggled to stand. "That will not change if I lay claim to you, only which means and what end. That is your karma to deal with."

    "Can I-" her voice failed her for an moment. She knew the words were truth. "Can I go?"

    "Almost." It replied. "There is only his/my promise left."

    She stood, feeling the armor she had crafted and grown around her, tense, its dim awareness recognizing threat.

    "And to do that, I will need to take something from you."

    She tried to bolt, to flee, but what was once supporting her now clung, even as the metal cable impaled to her started to reel her in.

    "There is something about you. Something you carry. Something made of gold. But far more precious to you."

    Claws and tendrils and things gripped the flesh she had cloaked herself in and pulled, tearing it off her, leaving her naked in the cool warehouse air.
    It ignored the girl and instead sifted through the tissue, before tiny hairlike tendrils retrieved its prize.

    A locket of blonde hair in a plastic baggie.

    Vicky.

    The only thing that kept her going at times.

    During her breaks at the hospital, rare as they were in that endless wave of people who needed her, who clung to her life like barnacles, she would retreat to the staff bathroom, and caress that little locket of hair, feeling the golden protein strings she had carefully wrought, the memory of her promise, before her fingers ventured deeper, more intimately.

    Towards the nucleobases, the Cytosine, the Guanine, the Adenine, and the Thymine.
    Victoria's little genetic secret.
    How that little double helix reminded her of the garters she wore for Dean...

    "I knew I smelled it, before the performance, despite your best efforts. You thought you could hide it from me didn't you?"

    The Dragon claimed the golden prize and studied it without eyes.

    "But I think not. I think our little game ends here."

    The giant metal skull once again opened up, sword-like teeth parting.
    Whatever was behind her pushed her forward, into the jaws of the Dragon.

    They closed shut.
    Leaving her in darkness.

    And also i̲̘͎̬̣̤̋ͦͤ̅̿̅n͊̋́͌ͮ́͊ś̻̹͓̦̼͚ͦͤ͑ͫ͋̿ͅi̧̭̰͖̭̭̣͇͗ͤ̿̑ͥ̓ͧd͜e .

    ---===---​

    Jin was a veteran of almost three years under Lung. And that was a long time indeed.
    A promise had been made, that his gang would surrender without a fight and be incorporated into the ABB. He would be a Lieutenant for as long as he was capable, and at the time, he didn't understand what those specific words had meant.

    He did now.

    He kept the men calm, though most flinched at the rumbles and the roars, the walls kept most of it unintelligible.

    The Filipinos were new, and they needed guidance, instruction, that everything was under control.

    They heard the forest of crates being destroyed and he fought down a flinch. He needed to project confidence to the men, even if he himself wasn't feeling it.

    Maybe they'd not need a new warehouse.

    And then there was silence.

    Five minutes.

    Ten.

    Fifteen.

    There were whispers from the underlings, and he noticed the two Japanese Boys that Lung had taught the 'Why' to glancing gingerly at their watches, trying not to shift their bandages.

    They would have fine scars that few living could claim.

    His phone rang, startling even the other lieutenants who had gathered at his request.

    After a deep and calming breath, he hit the button and carefully kept the phone a foot away from his ear.

    "Jin." The voice made the phone vibrate from its tiny base.

    "All done in there sir?"

    "Yes." It was easier to make out the words if the phone wasn't pressed to his ear.

    "Do you need pants?"

    "Yes." The voice hesitated. "Three pairs. And two shirts. Leave them just inside the door."

    "Understood."

    "And Jin," the man straightened his back, even if his leader couldn't see it. "Bring the van around, you are driving someone home."

    "Yes sir."

    ---===---​

    That very night, after the movie, when Vicky was asleep in her room and me awake in mine, I crept out and began my secret vigil.
    My silent promise.

    Vicky, asleep with her forcefield on and her aura gently rippling.
    It was looking for foreign threats in her territory, even in her dreams.

    It didn't stir at my presence.
    I was trusted.
    And she couldn't feel my touch with her forcefield on.

    I took away her pimples.
    So hard to wash with her forcefield in the way.
    That's all I did.

    At least at first.

    Night after night I would come by and make her better.
    Everything she complained about.
    Why not? I was helping people all day in the hospital and this was the exact same thing, only better as it's preventative efforts.

    A cavity, a tiny little thing from before she triggered and now virtually impossible to correct? Gone, must have starved itself out.

    Her invincible hair, which wrecked brush after brush from the knots she got flying at such high speed? Forever free of knots with a subtle change of her hair's protein sheath. I also evened out the blonde, making it uniform and perfectly even, and always shiny.

    Shaving her legs becoming such a chore? Silky smooth forever, clearly her powers must have done that.

    Her complaints about the girl on her basketball team, the one who had grown a bigger chest and thus getting all the attention of the boys? A month of careful growth and sculpting, and now she was the one all eyes were fixated upon, not just mine.

    Anything and everything she wanted, just like I promised.

    And now it was mine.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • If I've done this right, it should flow a touch better than the draft in the battery cage.

    Speel chekas, do let me know if anything slipped by.
    @McPoopin already got the low hanging apostrophes, but if you spot anything amiss, you'll get a hug tag from me.
     
    I honestly can't find the difference between this and the draft version. But hey! Now I can read it twice!
     
    Oh hey thinking on it, this was great for the whole "getting rid of evidence of dead Trio" stuff. I can't imagine they wouldn't have needed to be dismembered, cremated, shipped out of the city and spread/buried later.
     
    "Breaking News! Scion just shit himself in fear and fuckin' died! More at 11."

    Seriously though, that was horrifying and I can't wait to see how it gets worse/better from here. One would not think "Panacea but with an unhealthy fixation on John Carpenter's 'The Thing' " would be a mere footnote in body horror and general unsettling details, but here we are.
     
    Today was a good day.
    Lung as a nightmare monster, Panacea playing into the Thing, and references to Smaug?
    Today was a good day. Abit Eldritch, though. Uncanny, even.

    I am really looking forward to clarification on what just happened at the end though. Because damn if I'm not coming to some amusing, horrifying conclusions.

    Edit: Also Brockton Bay is now simultaneously 300% more doomed and also at least 50% less doomed than it was before. Which, normally I'd say 'impossible' but Skitter and Lung are up to something with Panacea.
     
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    The Me : I wonder when Cogito Ergo Lung will update?
    The Steve : updates
    The Me : The Steve does love me! Praise the Steve!

    I really was hankering for another chapter yesterday, and you have delivered wonderfully. Also isn't the scales shard going overboard? O gods ITS BEEN INFECTED BY QAs HALPING, WE ARE ALL DOOMED!!!
     
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