Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

*Bweewoop* *Bweewoop* *Bweewoop* *Bweewoop*

[Emergency Release to preserve subject in progress.]

Your eyes slowly open, getting a glimpse of your surroundings, before the tank opens spilling water and you onto the floor. The lights flickering are harsh on your eyes, once the brightness is tolerable you find yourself somewhere unrecognizable, a small room with an open door leading into a hallway. You're starving, finding it hard to remember how you got here, but from what you do remember, you were taken to this place by force, curiously on your left arm is a green wristband.

"What the hell is this place?"

The rest of the hallway seems to be a wreck, tiles are ripped off the ground and scratches line the walls, you hope you don't run into whatever did that damage. Rounding a corner you meet a rather unsettling sight, slumped against a wall is the body of a man, his uniform seems familiar, one of the men who put you here. A deep slash across their visor and the pool of crimson tell you they probably didn't make it out alive. Reluctantly you decide this outfit would probably be a better choice than hardly anything right now, most of it seems intact.

"Sorry but I feel I'm gonna need this more than you right now."

Adjusting the armor, you hear the sounds of creaking metal. Something slamming repeatedly, while the back of your mind is screaming at you to just leave it be curiosity gets the better of you. The sound is coming from another cabin down the hall. Peeking through the window you smell it first, blood, lots of it, a figure is seen crouched over in the corner, the entire room is covered in scratches and stains. The figure twitches and hisses, before turning to look at the window. an orange glow starts to shine at the hands of the figure. It suddenly pounces at the door emitting a feminine scream of pain and wrath. *KA-KLANG* *SKREEEEEEEEK* The doors integrity is put to the test as five glowing hot blades pierce through it.

"HOLY SH-"

It's become obvious that whatever is on the other side of that door is not human. And that door was not made to hold it. Scrambling to another room just as the sound of a door going flying fills the halls, you turn into another room and stifle your breath, hoping it doesn't hear you. You hardly hear her footsteps as what you can hear is a metallic scraping sound as she gets closer,  as she moves past the door you see how that sound is being made, the glow was coming from a set of claws sizzling and digging into the walls. She stopped and clasped at her neck, a device drilled into it started beeping, another shout escaped the creature and she ran down the rest of the hall.

Once she was no longer able to be heard you release the breath you were holding. Now you had a new choice to worry about, either find a keycard and escape from this place, or find a weapon and take that thing down. A thought about the room it just escaped, rushing over you find a massacre, this wasn't a room like you were in, it was much wider, there were more bodies most of which were sliced and scratched to hell and back, some were missing body parts. You try the door, but it beeps negatively at you. 

[Access Denied, Lockdown in effect, Keycard Required]

"Maybe one of these guys had a card on hand?"

Scavenging and Graverobbing were not on your to-do list, in fact you wished you didn't have to do either of these, however you did find a keycard eventually, sliding it through the reader it makes a cheery little 'Beep Boop' sound before opening. You pump your fist and a hushed "Yes!" escapes your lips, any sense of victory however is silenced as everything goes dark. The building is plunged into darkness with you inside, thankfully checking the pockets of your 'loaned' outfit provides you with a flashlight. The door stayed open but the sound of scraping metal in the distance told you to get a move on.

Running through the halls you find yourself at the entrance, before you bolt outside however, an enraged scream echoes through the hall. It was coming this way and fast, looking around you find some kind of device, though you had no clue what it was just by looking at it, picking it up you find it's connected to an arm of some kind, pulling off a panel on the side you start messing with the wires as though it were an instinct. The screaming was getting closer, audible footsteps getting louder and louder.

"Come on!"

As you connect the wires together the device buzzes to life, electricity pulsing and buzzing, building up and lighting the room up. A shriek escapes the monster as it jumps at you, as you aim the device it fires a pulse of energy that fills the room, the lights flicker, and a heavy thud hits the floor.

You open your eyes, it's still dark but the orange glow of claws is gone. Suddenly the lights come back on, there on the floor was the creature, it was a woman, or at least it might have been a woman at one point, the skin had a shine you couldn't place down, almost metallic and yet it was clearly bleeding, now you could get a good look at it you could see it was covered in wounds, bullet holes from the looks of it, apart from that there were devices seemingly drilled into it. It never stood back up, it wasn't even breathing, from what you gathered the machine you had was some kind of EMP generator, did it short circuit something that was keeping it alive?

Breathing in and out, a storm of questions were in your head, but for now you simply took a look outside.

The sun shines brightly on a city that has long lost it's activity, looking back at the bunker you just crawled out of, more soldiers lay dead at the door, but these ones were different, looking at your own apparel the guards inside had this badge for a TSC, but these guards outside had a much different symbol on their outfits, looking like an eye rolling back. It was certainly creepy.

"Who the hell are these guys?"

Suddenly there was a thud from deep within the bunker. And you suddenly feel a tug on your leg! Rolling over you see a glowing orange line snagged around your leg! The other end was connected to the creature's hand, it was still alive after all! And clearly it was going to slaughter you!

You tug at the line, no good. It tugs you closer! You roll back over and dig your fingers into the earth! "PLEASE! LET ME GO!" You begged. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT I DID!" But it falls on deaf ears, the monster still wants you dead!

*CLANG!*

A sound of blades clashing, and the line lets go of your leg. Turning over, you see another figure brandishing a genuine SWORD against the monster! The Figure looked like that monster in the bunker but without the devices stabbed in it, it's body was gray with a slim red lining, the head was stranger, no eyes, no mouth, a short blunt 'Horn' in the front.

"Valkyr, stand down!" He spoke in a lightly distorted, but commanding voice. The monster let out another scream of fury and swept at him! "Don't make me do this..." He sounded hesitant to strike back. Valkyr's claws flared in glow as she quickly pounced him! Blade met Claws, and despite the material of the latter seemingly akin to plasma, the sword held it's integrity. The figure kicked Valkyr back and charged forwards with a sudden burst of speed, charging past and slashing across her chest. Then charging back to deliver another slash across her back.

Valkyr screams again, but this time it has an effect on you too. Your head suddenly feels like it was punched through with a spike, your ears were ringing and all the sound in the world was too loud! You clutch the sides of your skull, combined with the pain in your stomach you felt nothing more than to close your eyes and simply stop...

Another scream, this one of pain. Fighting to stay conscious just a little longer, you see the monster Valkyr on the ground, with a sword from the figure pierced and nailed through her back. The lights on her body were off. The other figure projected some strange shape in his hand. "This is Broadsword. Valkyr is considered AWOL, and K.I.A. as of now..." He turns to look at you, your head was still recovering from whatever Valkyr did to you. "And we have human contact..."

Part of you reaches for the bodies to pick up some kind of weapon, but this thing lifts his hands up. "Settle down, I'm not gonna hurt you."

"Didn't hear that from your buddy in there!"

He looks down at Valkyr's body. "I was afraid of that, poor girl, we all had different reactions to becoming these, things. Some of us, didn't take it too well."

"So, Who and What are you?"

He extends a hand to you. " You can simply call me, Excalibur. I am a Warframe, a super soldier the Entrati Corporation made. Well, I suppose a living weapon is more accurate."

A bio weapon? "I thought bio-weapons were super illegal?"

"We were made to fight against an enemy that could warp the fabric of reality itself. It wasn't out of choice but necessity."

"Did, did it work?"

Excalibur shrugged. "I don't know, the made us and threw us at them, while we fought an army of blood thirsty machines and eldritch powers mankind packed their bags and left. We were a glorified distraction. But one day they all just, stopped. We figured they'd return now that the war is over but you're the first human I've seen in years. Where's your ship?"

A grim sensation resonates within you. "I, woke up in that bunker. I don't think I ever left earth." Excalibur's expression is hard to read, due to the lack of any facial features. but he seems disturbed at this revelation. "They left you behind, I hoped one day humanity would return to this world to pick up the pieces. But now, I don't think they intended to return."

You look off to the ruins in the distance. "Do you think there's others like me? Left behind?"

"I hope so. Come on, we should gather supplies. I don't need to eat but you've been in there for a while."

Out of everything else, what you want are answers. Hopefully you'll find them, between the tube you woke up in, your strange kidnappers, the Warframes and whatever this 'enemy' they were made to fight it feels like a puzzle with missing pieces.

For now, off to the city, what's left of anyways.

Chapter Text

Excalibur grabs at the rubble blocking the door to this building but it doesn't seem to budge. "Looks like the rocks are locked in too tight to simply lift and move."

"Damn, guess we'll have to find another way in."

"Hang on I'll try something first, I'd recommend you stand back." Excalibur brought his hands together and clasped them tight, suddenly in a bright flash he pulled his hands apart and something manifested in his hand. Some kind of Sword made of Light. He thrust it forward into the rocks and made a large circular cut through the pile. With a kick the doorway was clear of debris, bringing his hands back together the sword vanished.

"Holy Shit! Are you sure you're made with science?! That was borderline magic!" Excalibur turns to look at you, if he had a face you bet he'd be smirking right now. "Science looks like magic to anyone who doesn't understand it."

Well, the door was open now, the inside of the apartment complex was mostly intact barring the entrance. "Don't suppose the elevator works?"

A hidden blade appeared under Excalibur's wrist, he held it against the buttons and the doors clicked open *Ding* revealing a mess of rubble already inside. "Well its seems functional, but I don't trust it to not break down when we actually try to ride it." Better off taking the stairs then.

"What was that thing in your arm?"

"My Parazon? Every warframe has one, a secret mercy as lethal to technology as it is to flesh. Think of it like a Universal Tool the shape of a dagger, works like one too if need be."

Entering the rooms everything seems knocked over in some way, whoever was last in here left in a hurry. The sound of paper shifting beneath your feet draws attention to a newspaper article you've stepped on.

Body count rises to alarming heights in wake of the 'Pale' virus, citizens are urged to maintain quarantine procedures and- "Huh?" The rest of the article is cut off by a large black smudge, it doesn't look like an ink splotch however, too fresh. "Excalibur do you know anything about this 'Pale' stuff?"

"Not as much as I probably should." Excalibur opens a small cabinet looking for anything that hasn't gone bad or been eaten by wildlife. "I know it was quite dangerous but apart from that I can't say."

"I'm not sure we need to worry about it, With no human vectors to spread it it's probably long died out." You reach for the closet and-

"AH JESUS CHRISTMAS CHRIST!" There inside was a startling sight, hanging upside down in the closet was some sort of robot. It's form was sleek, shining white metal with a black and yellow pattern present in various places. Outfitted with a suit and tie, a silver wig covered it's head in hair with five lights, all offline forming a half-ring around it's head. Most startling was the wings and claws, shining with a silver sheen that feels like it could cut you just by looking at it wrong.

The bright glow of Excalibur's Energy Blade comes into your peripheral vison, he points the blade at the machine, holding a position as if it was about to jump out at him. Now that you were so close to that blade you could feel an intense heat coming off of it. Slowly Excalibur pulled back the sword, keeping a wary glance at it. Then he thrust the blade into the center of it's torso. "Just to be on the safe side."

"What the fuck is that thing?!" You ask as he grabs it by the neck and with some force rips it off, Oil leaking from the now severed head, the screen showcasing a [FATAL ERROR] on it's screen. "That is what I was made to fight." The shape of it's decapitated head looks familiar to you.

"I think I've seen these before, this huge company JCJenson, they made robots that look just like that but smaller. Did they start making war robots?"

"That's what we thought at first but they attacked any human they saw, JCJenson or not. We got a look at their product line, this model is not something on the market, and technically it doesn't exist. It's a Worker Drone with various augmentations that make it more suited for combat. I've seen these things with missile launchers, plasma cutters, machine guns, an EMP generator. They seem to prefer close quarters combat however, they have the tools for that too, they're literally armed to the teeth." He pulls back on the head's mechanical lips to reveal a frightening set of needle like teeth that smile from ear to ear. "Just one of them could challenge an army, we saw these things in teams of 3 or higher."

"Why, Who made them like this?"

"More of a, What made them like this. From what scarce intel we gathered these weren't designed by a human."

Excalibur moves for the next room, while you slowly follow him your eyes stay locked on the decapitated steel gargoyle in the closet, Expecting it to shift and put it's head back on. Only turning when Excalibur puts a hand on your shoulder to move you along.

"I'll check this room, you get that one." Excalibur opened room 204, you check room 205.

The room itself seems normal at first glance, until you check the kitchen. The fridge hangs open without power, oddly there's no food inside it. Multiple cabinets and the pantry doors are also opened or missing entirely, as if something came and raided it for anything edible. What was more alarming however was the various splotches on the walls ceiling and floor, at first your thoughts said mold, but some of these patches dripped like someone with a can of black paint dumped it anywhere he could. And a rubbery smell was in the air, not particularly strong but definitely present. A trail of the stuff leads to a broken window.

"Oh, what the hell happened here?" You take a step forward, your foot makes contact with a splotch on the ground with a thick plop. *Ker-Klunk* *Gwrooaaa* *Skitch-skitch-skitch-skitch-skitch-skitch-*

Something was scraping around, too big to be a squirrel or rat. The sound reminds you of the toe-claws of a dog on a hardwood floor. Maybe someone left their dog behind? Trudging through the rest of the room the substance on the ground clings to your boots, whatever it is clearly isn't just paint. Moving to the bedroom the door gets stuck on something, squeezing through to get a look inside an absurd sight meets you. The whole room is coated in the substance, and on the bed was a large grey crystal. You were expecting bodies, this was something else entirely.

*Skitch-skitch-skitch-skitch-skitch-skitch-*

Looking up at the sound you notice the ceiling tiles have fallen down or been pried off, there in the darkness in the ceiling, a pair of white dots were locked onto you.

You slam the bedroom door and sprint to get out of that room quickly. "EXCALIBUR! THERE'S SOMETHING ALIVE IN THE CEILING HERE!"

*CRASH!* Just before you make it to the door the ceiling tiles drop down along with the creature itself. It's body was slick and dripping with the tar-like substance on the walls and floor, it was nearly your size alone but most striking was the creatures face. Apart from those eyes cutting straight through you on it's face was a white mask. It slowly creeps up to you, making a repulsive, gurgling growl as a thick, black tongue slaps around it's muzzle.

"Leave him you slimy salamander!" Excalibur shouts at the other end of the hallway. The creature whips around to look at him, two large wings spread from it's back with a sticky squelch and makes a wet hissing noise. Excalibur reaches over his back and a Sword seems to be drawn from thin air. The dragon makes the first move, it's throat bulging as a glob of ooze is spat like a bullet, Excalibur slid under it and in a sudden motion dashed forward and slashed at the creature's shoulder. It squealed, clearly hurt by this, but the cut seemed to melt over itself quickly and reform like it never happened.

This dragon wasn't just covered in black slime, it was literally made of it. "Oh that's a first." Excalibur scoffed. The dragon rose on two legs, and it's forepaws morphed into sharp claws. It lunged and it's right claws were broken by the sword in Excalibur's hand, but the left claws dug into his shoulder. It opened it's mouth to tear into his throat but he brought his left hand up to prevent that, a tinge of crimson now covering the black and white of it's maw.

"Piss off!" Excalibur wound back and headbutt the creature in the face. A pained cry as it let go and thrashed about, rubbing it's mask. As they both stood back up it shot a glance at you, before rushing towards you at an alarming speed. You brought your arms up to hold it back but it grasped your hands in it's own. You push back when suddenly it's arms melt and spread over your own up to the elbows. As it does your arms tingle and a numbing warmth invades your senses. Struggling is getting hard.

"Whoa that's a weird feeling and I don't like it! Get it off of me!"

"Get your slimy mitts off him!" Excalibur's Exalted Blade was unsheathed. "Shield your eyes!" You shut your eyes as a bright flash fills the room. The creature hisses and it's 'grip' on your arms loosen. Your hands sting with pins and needles. When you open your eyes again the dragon has a hand over it's eyes, one hand still reaching out for you. As it gets within inches of your face Excalibur swings the exalted blade and slices it's arm off. It squeals in pain and grips the cut, it sizzles and the smell of burnt rubber fills the room. The dragon whimpers and scrambles for the window, clambering out and flying away from the building entirely.

"You alright?"

You look at your hands, they still move but the harsh buzzing in them is still present, slowly it fades. "Y-Yeah, I think I'm okay. I'm guessing you know what that thing was?"

"Unfortunately I really don't know either."

You look out the window the dragon flew from, as your gaze drifts down to the streets you see a large truck, branded in that same TSC logo on your outfit. "Hey look, that truck's probably got ties to the bunker I woke up in."

"Well then, let's take a look, maybe we'll find something to understand about this?"

The truck itself seemed mostly intact, although someone clearly didn't like them because the tires had been slashed and there were multiple dents bashed into it. Looking at the side of the trailer, it read 'Thunder Science Company' in blue. Inside the truck was a set of tanks like the one you woke up from, these ones were all empty however and some were even broken. The puzzle pieces start connecting here.

"This must've been how I ended up in that bunker. And maybe other people too. I still don't get the 'Why' but at least we know how they did it."

Excalibur picks up a clipboard near one of the tanks. "Test subject collection and emergency preservation protocol? I don't like the sound of this."

 

In order to make progress in the cure for this disease we need volunteers, your objectives are simple.

1: Locate potential test subjects.

2: Verify Subject integrity. If tests read false for Pale, mark with wristband.

3: Sedate and Suspend for future testing or preservation of mankind.

4: Move to assigned Research Facility or Preservation Bunker if at capacity

Time is of the essence -K

You pull back your sleeve to look at your wrist, the green band's purpose marking you as uninfected. A relieved sigh escapes you, didn't know that was something you wanted to hear. The rest of the notes seem to be missing from this clipboard.

"I wonder if the radio still works?" Moving to the front of the truck Excalibur's Parazon clicks out like a pen. Then splits down the middle as a glowing cable snakes it's way around the dials of the radio, before the tip sticks the top, a small electric pop and the radio buzzes to life. Excalibur twists and turns his wrist as the radio tunes through various frequencies. Amidst the sea of white noise there was a vaguely garbled humming.

"Almost got it, what is that?"

The sounds slowly smooth out of the drive through stereo into something more coherent. It sounds like various objects are being moved, someone humming, and oddly enough some old sounding music.

"Hang on, is that, Weird Science? Hello?"

"GAH!" *Ruffle-tink-tonk* Clearly you were heard, whoever is on the other end seemed startled and dropped a few things. A faint "Damnit all." could be heard and the music is turned off.

"Who is this? How did you get this frequency?" He spoke with a cold, yet slightly irritated tone. "This is a clandestine channel that only TSC operatives should be able to reach."

You turn to Excalibur with a hushed tone. "What do I say?"

"You're the one in the outfit."

"It's not mine! I just took it from a dead guy that ran afoul with the mad warframe!" 

"Hello? I'm still awaiting a response." He sounds like he's losing patience. Stuttering you blurt out some form of code talk.

"Uh- Come in H Q, our truck is, uh, Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo Echo Delta, please confirm home, base?" Silence follows.

"That's a terrible use of Phonetic Alphabet."

"Look I just woke up a few hours ago in the remnants of a bunker. I have literally been sleeping under a rock."

"You, left a preservation bunker? How?"

Excalibur pipes up. "Outside Interference. A rogue warframe, Codename Valkyr, had gotten inside and damaged the power supply, the tank ejected him early."

The voice scoffed in disgust. "I knew Entrati's twisted Homunculi would cause a problem one way or another. Why exactly did you choose to contact me then? If you're looking for shelter you're looking in the wrong place, my facility is no place for wayward refugees."

"Honestly I'm just looking for answers, between the warframes, the death machines, and apparently Tar Monsters. I'm getting a headache trying to wrap my head around it all-"

"Wait, what about  'tar monster?' What are you talking about?"

There was an alarmed tone to his voice. "Uh, We were scavenging this apartment building and I got jumped by this dragon. If it wasn't for Excalibur it'd probably eat me."

Radio Silence, followed by something shifting around. "Is everything ok over there?" More wordless shuffling, followed by something clicking.

"That thing shouldn't be outside the facility!" Something was fizzing. "I have to capture that Failed Sample as soon as possible, Where is this truck you're talking from?"

You both look at the surrounding street for any sign to mark where you are, Excalibur then points to the building itself. "Everview Apartments, We found it in room 205." 

"Your cooperation is appreciated, I must warn you however, if you do see it again do not engage with that creature or any like it. You would be putting yourselves at unnecessary risk." The radio clicks off, Excalibur retracts his Parazon.

"So, where do we go from here?" You look back at the window the dragon leapt out of. "We should probably leave this area, that bedroom might be a nest of some sort. I don't wanna see if it comes back."

Chapter Text

Attempting to get some sleep proves rather hard, especially when your guide is a horrifying golem of, actually what were warframes made of? You hadn't thought of asking, Excalibur clearly had some kind of shell, but he bled when the dragon bit him so he had to be organic in some way, those injuries also seemed to heal rather quick. You open your eyes to see him staring off into the distance.

"Are you just gonna, be like that all night?" Excalibur didn't bother turning to face you. "I'm just making sure we're not getting any late night visitors that might cause us trouble."

"I figured you'd be the one sleeping the night away, you're the one who got roughed up back there, I got slimed but it didn't exactly try to kill me."

"I figure I'd stand a better chance, besides, it's not like I can actually fall asleep. Warframes only have three states, Active, Dormant, or Dead."

"You don't sleep? At all?" Excalibur shook his head. "Man, no wonder some of you went mad. I'd be crazy if I couldn't sleep too."

"Well, our 'enemies' could only hunt at night, we're not sure why that's the case."

"You said they all just shut off one day, doesn't that mean you can relax?"

...

......

"Aside from our new threat, I don't believe the fight is really over. Somedays I swear I can see their silhouettes in the moonlight, hear the grinding of steel claws on the ground. They just stopped so, suddenly, makes me think they're waiting for something."

Your eyelids were growing heavy, this discussion would have to wait another day. You slowly close your eyes as a bright streak moves through the sky.

Stretching as the sun hits your face, you wake to the campsite empty, at least Excalibur has the sense to put out the fire before leaving. The sound of tires screeching alerts you to his return however, apparently he found a vehicle. Good, all this walking was making your legs hurt.

"You found a working motorcycle?"

"Oh no, I found a damaged motorcycle, I just fixed it last night. Hop on, a friend is gonna want to meet you." Breakfast comes first however. on your way to make something to eat you discover, leavings. Tracks in the dirt, something had come in while you were sleeping. These were pretty big tracks too, they don't seem related to the dragon at Everview, not an inky speck in sight.

Thankfully this mystery guest seemed only interested in the food, at least it had the now uncommon decency to take it's food with it and not leave it half eaten in the box. One improvised breakfast later, and making sure any and all food was locked tight before leaving, you joined Excalibur and drove through the city ruins. It was almost peaceful, if not slightly depressing. The knowledge that people used to live out here, before it all went to hell. As your vision wandered however, you caught sight of something odd, it looked like a black dot in the sky.

"What's that?" Excalibur gave a quick glance at it. "I feel lots of people would ask about that. We've been calling it The Scar."

"The what now-?"

"Ooohhhhh....." Where do you even begin with this. It should've occurred to you that if you could see it from that far away it would be MUCH bigger when you get closer. First there was the crater, a massive bloody hole in the ground with fissures snaking around it. You could make out the shape of a few bones in that nightmarish sinkhole. But then there was the spot in the sky, maybe you wouldn't be here for much longer after all, hard to imagine earth existing for much longer when a black hole was this close to the planet's surface.

"So, so this is the end huh?" A tremble in your voice escapes. "I wouldn't blame you for thinking this way. Surprisingly this isn't as bad as it seems." Another strange voice speaks up, not Excalibur's however. The thunks of heavy boots and sloshing of vials accompany another warframe. "Granted, I still wouldn't be happy to see that in the sky any day." He looks over to you and Excalibur, the latter hits his hand against his chest like a salute.

"Good to see you, Lavos." 'Lavos' repeated the gesture, before turning to look at you. "And who is your passenger?"

"I'm, Simon, Simon Ryder." Lavos gave a slight chuckle. "I figured you're name was Gordon?" And he points to your badge. Apparently it had a nametag of the dead man you got it from. "Stolen clothes aside, what do you mean THAT is not as bad as I say?" You point to the black hole.

"I know it looks like a black hole at first glance, but look around you." Lavos gestures to the ground around him. "Nothing is being pulled towards it, at this distance whole chunks of the earth would be torn apart and sucked into it. I've seen the birds actively avoid it and succeed, and look towards the center, do you see that?"

You look, there was something in the center of the spot, was that a textbox? It just reads- "Null?" A sound of a bottle being uncorked draws you to Lavos, he procured a vial of an unknown substance and was pouring it on the surrounding flesh of the pit. "Curious is it not? From what I can gather it's not a traditional space-time singularity. It's more like, an absence in the absolute fabric of reality itself, a void."

"What are you? A scientist?"

"More of an Alchemist really. But through my knowledge of Transmutation methods I've come to a few theories about this, 'Null-space bubble.' It was created by converting Substance, into Absence. It's like someone had the ability to modify the world by editing an object or space's attributes, and hit the Delete button."

Thinking about what kind of power that would take, it's not something you want to believe to be real. "So what's with the flesh hole?"

"That's where it gets interesting." An odd snake slid down his arm and ripped a piece of bloody pulp from the hole and put it in a vial. "I've been examining this and the parts of our enemies. I have reason to believe they're linked in some way." He then produces a jar covered in a tarp with, a heart? No, that's not a human heart, it's stretched and warped in places, at the bottom of it were a set of claw tipped tentacles, in the center was a red blinking light. "I ask Garuda if she could help me, 'disassemble' one of those drones so I could get a look at what makes them tick, this is a core from one of them. See the heart flesh? That's not real flesh, all synthetic. The flesh samples I took from The Scar? Also synthetic flesh. I have reason to believe they were created by the same entity. In the war we had also seen the drones, eating their victims, not just for fuel or temperature maintenance, sometimes when they had suffered too much damage to their parts to simply pull themselves back together, new parts were generated instead, usually rebuilding lost pieces, arms, legs, heads, new material doesn't come from nowhere after all."

Lavos's rambling was starting to give you a headache. "Uh, alright then. I don't really understand what any of that means, but it's probably gonna give me nightmares."

Excalibur walked past you. "Lavos, we've encountered something different. A creature with a semi-liquid form, have you run into anything similar?" Lavos tapped his helmet as he pondered. "I can't say I have. I'll let you know if I do encounter it however."

Your continued travels past The Scar and through the city provided little of intrigue. Driving as night fell, you figured to ask if there was any warframe that could help with gathering food.

"From what I've heard from the others, Oberon and Titania have been managing a massive garden, they told me that a few fruit bearing plants have been added with the message that you exist."

You look to the stars, wondering where the rest of humanity went.

"If there aren't any of you left here, a team is working to restore a ship, so we can find them."

"That would be nice." You squint, a shape appears in the sky, not the circle, this one's less abstract. You can make out the shape of a head, and two massive wings. "Hey Excalibur? Do any warframes have, wings?"

Excalibur takes a quick look where you point, the figure's face lights up, a bright yellow X becoming visible in the night. Excalibur grabs you and jumps off the motorbike, behind the walls of a building for cover. "Stay low, that's NOT a warframe!"

Excalibur draws a rifle, you watch as it seems to warp into existence on his back before he reaches for it. He then fires upon the stranger in the sky, who returns fire. Excalibur's movement is swift, dash and sliding past the hail of bullets. The figure descends, their form more visible, it was one of those drones. "I was wondering where you went, been far too long since I've heard your business jargon." Excalibur spat.

The drone brushed one of her pigtails in her claw. "The Boss had given me a special assignment, I won't disclose what events transpired. Not that it's relevant." Her claw quickly retracted into her arm and a sword was in it's place, she quickly bolted forward and they clashed blades. Excalibur was quick to react, the sound of clashing metal filling the night. Light flashed from Excalibur's sword, staggering her and giving him an opening, there was a high pitched whirring sound, and Excalibur stopped his charge. *SHVVWEEW* A beam swept across the street, cutting through almost everything it touched. "Where's your other associates? I figured you'd not risk fighting me alone."

She didn't answer, opting to fire a missile instead. Excalibur leapt back, but she charged through the smoke and tackled him, a glowing syringe on her tail whipping around to sting him. They both tumbled and wrestled for an edge over the other, Excalibur eventually got purchase on her and kicked her into the ground. "You can't beat me alone J, you're not used to fighting on an even playing field." She tried to get back up but Excalibur planted his foot on the back of her head to keep her down. "Y-You're right." She strained. "Let's remedy that then!" Suddenly her tail whipped around and stung Excalibur in the thigh, he shouted in pain and his leg buckled as the mark hissed and steam rose from it. She then drew a new weapon and pressed it against Excalibur's chest, *KER-CHUNK* A hexagonal bolt was embedded in his chest now. A small screen on the bolt then started beeping. [UPLOADING VIRUS] "That might not be as lethal to Warframes as it is to Disassembly Drones, but that should stop you from using your Exalted Blade anytime soon."

Excalibur made one last lunge with his sword in hand, stabbing her in the shoulder before collapsing. She gripped the sword and ripped it out of her, hissing as oil leaked out of the cut. "Annoyingly persistent." She narrowed her gaze and stuck Excalibur more times with her stinger, these ones didn't hiss or burn. Then her wings unfolded and she took off, you slowly moved out of hiding and ran over to Excalibur. He was struggling to stand.

"G-Get this thing, off of me!" He grasped at the bolt in his chest, looking around for something to deal with it, you look at the sword, hesitantly you pick it up and cut around the bolt, levering it so it pops out of his shell. *Plink* You help Excalibur get to his feet, his thigh has a glowing yellow mark on it from where he was stung. You reach to apply pressure to it but Excalibur swats your hand away. "Nanite Acid, don't touch it."

"Do you know her?" Excalibur winces as he limps alongside you. "J, most of the 'disassembly drones' were near feral, but J actually has some level of intelligence. You need to get to the campsite, I'll have to visit someone to get this leg fixed. Be careful Simon."

You reluctantly split paths, intent on following the road back to camp. Being in the open was probably not safe if J was still flying around so you decide to slip through the buildings for cover. Before you enter you look around to make sure you weren't being followed. Nothing in the sky, better get moving.

Climbing through ruins and windows there it was, but before you could get moving, you heard something like metal gliding through the air. You ducked back inside the building, J was circling the camp like a hawk. She landed carrying something, another drone. Her hand switched with that bolt stamp tool again and pressed it against the other drone's head. *KER-CHUNK* She took a step back and waited, the screen of the other drone flickered on. [CODE ACCEPTED, WELCOME ADMINISTRATOR: Bizznizz_Casualty] The other drone then stood up, a yellow X over it's eyes and saluted her. "New management, come on now, the night's still young and we've got a heavy work schedule tonight." They both took off, the sound of metal wings fading away. Once you were sure she was gone you bolted inside and shut the door.

You let loose a sigh of relief, safe to say you're ill equipped to fight anything like that.

There were drones offline in multiple places, and she was waking them back up. Night time was no longer just an end of a day, it was a deadline. A new survival goal would have to be finding shelter and hiding before night falls.

For now, you shut as many windows as possible, and hunker down for the night. Hopefully, you get to wake up tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Lavos walks slowly as he swirls a flask containing a viscous material, his visit to Everview Apartments providing him with a curious find. Lavos had this uncanny ability to see the chemical structures of items, it was considered a necessity with how his powers functioned. And they were coming in handy right about now to analyze the material collected.

The substance was apparently an organic residue, akin to a slime mold yet it's form was artificially made, oddly more comparable to gelatin or latex. Curiously the substance reacted to his touch, generating a signal akin to touch, it could feel. "I wonder what made you?" He pondered to the open air.

Lavos looked up from the flask at the sight of a facility in the distance, a tower with a noticeable chunk bashed into it. it looked like the damage came from the outside, looking down near the base lay a broken landing pod. Before the sudden shutdown a few pods like these were launched and left the planet, it seemed one of them came back but the pilot was inexperienced, resulting in a crash landing of sorts. 

*Pew-TAK* Jarred from his observations Lavos had been shot, picking at where the shot had landed he found a dart, it had broken as it was clearly not made with enough caliber to pierce warframe shell. Lavos looked around, keeping an eye out for the position of his assailant. *Pew* Another dart fired, this time however he was ready for it, shifting to the side and drawing Cedo, his signature weapon and firing it in towards the sniper's position. A glaive shot off into the windows of the building and a splash of color erupted from within as the glaive bounced along the walls.

His assailant leapt out the window and grasped onto the wall, it then shifted down the wall with the rifle slung across it's back, before breaking into a quadrupedal sprint towards the tower as soon as it touched the ground. Broad daylight, clearly not a Drone. Lavos fired a few shots from his shotgun in an attempt to cut off their escape. Instead the figure stopped short and whipped around to fire another dart. *POW* That was not a dart, as the bullet made contact and actually did damage to Lavos. As he gripped his shoulder his assailant closed the distance and swept at him with a sharp implement, a pair of gardening shears. Lavos drew a MASSIVE sledge hammer and swung hard, *THUD* as the hammer made impact the foe was staggered and they stood equal distance from each other.

Lavos got a good look at this assailant. Tall, humanoid, but covered head to toe in white fur, wearing a lab coat with the sleeves rolled up, and a respirator mask. Curiously the chemical structures of this strange fellow were similar to the material he had collected, but altered in ways he did not yet understand. "Fascinating. What are you?" The figure narrowed his gaze in an annoyed expression. "What I am is tired of these disruptions!" He thrust the shears like a dagger, scraping against Lavos's arm, he returned the gesture with a hefty blow from his hammer, then a quick shot from his shotgun, blowing a hole in the masked man's chest. Lavos watched in awe as the edges of the hole dripped and melted, viscous strands reaching and pulling the hole in his torso back together. "Hmm, your body seems to liquify in response to damage. How peculiar."

Lavos's hammer made more wide swings to combat the challenger, when he produced a large container packed tight with a familiar substance. "I hoped it wouldn't come to this." He threw it at Lavos and it was shattered by his hammer, spilling it's contents in a large puddle on the ground. The doctor produced another tank, then another, and another all shattering and spilling as they made contact with the ground. As Lavos wound up for another attack he was suddenly yanked back by pair of white hands. Looking back there was another creature, this one faceless. More creatures rose from the puddle, and they slowly surrounded him, forcing him into a kneel.

"A shame it had to turn out this way, I could've used an assistant like you. I'd just submit and join their collective at this point, it would hurt less than trying to fight it."

They piled onto Lavos, multiple bodies pressing against him, grasping at him, spreading their residue over his form as they clawed at his hide like they were trying to find a way inside him. Lavos burst from the dogpile with a splash of vials, their contents splashing and freezing multiple beasts solid in a flash of ice. The rest of the beasts let out a gargling snarl, the doctor's confident expression dropped. "Hostility?! They must see you as a threat! Can they not assimilate warframes?!" Lavos's snakes lashed out against the featureless mob in tandem with his sledge, splattering their amorphous forms with the tremendous force or melting them with ophidian bites. But it was only giving him breathing room, when one blank beast went down two more formed from the puddle and took it's place.

Lavos Rushed towards the doctor, Vials of a Cold-Corrosive mixture flung in various directions by his snakes. The doctor reeled back as a paper doll chain of beasts held him back like the ropes of a boxing ring, leaving Lavos to be flung back like a slingshot. The hoard piled on him once more, this time biting into him as they held him down. *Glonch* The doctor averted his gaze, adamantly disturbed. "You'll excuse me if I don't want to watch this." Lavos struggled and fought to bring his hand up, manifesting a set of Catalyst Probes, priming them with Blast force, firing a disk from his Cedo at his feet, the hoard were now primed with a cocktail of chemicals. Amplifying the effectiveness of his next move ten fold. "CATALIZE!"

*KABOOM*

As the force of this action carbonized the beasts, the smog blocked the view for the doctor. As he looked into the smog, Lavos's sledgehammer flung out of the smoke and knocked the doctor to the ground, as he tried to get back up the weight Lavos's boot kept him pinned as he emerged from the cloud and cocked his shotgun, pointing it at the doctor's head. *Ch-chk* The two stood still, awaiting whatever move the other would pull next. 

"Fine, I yield." The doctor was the first to break the silence. "My attempts were a gamble that was highly stacked against me anyway. I assume you're going to kill me now?" Lavos lifted his foot off the doctor's chest. "In a past life I wouldn't hesitate to splatter your-" He was going to say brains but, well he wasn't sure if he physically had any. "-Face all over the floor, but I'm more curious about those creatures you threw at me, and your potential ties to the Everview Apartment creature."

More disruptions, unplanned complications. K hated every second of it. The strangers on the radio telling him a warframe had gotten into and probably massacred everyone else of value in a preservation bunker was worrisome already, but now there was a sample that had escaped without him noticing? This could ruin everything!

How did it leave? They never tried to leave before, checking any and all security feeds he could none of them seemed to-

"There you are!" K spoke to himself, the footage clicked to a failed sample scurrying into the- "the cabins. THE CABINS!" There was a doorway leading to the balcony there! Sure enough the sample took a few steps out, looked out, spread it's wings and took off into the distance. 

K smacked himself. The cabins loosing power must've disabled the countermeasures on that floor. Rewinding the footage to the awakening, sure enough there were samples in the other cabins too, he even saw a beast leave the second cabin and chase after the human as he dashed to the exit. "I swear that man's either incredibly lucky, or just cursed."

"You wished to see me Doctor?" K turned to face his current assistant. "I have a job for you, a sample has escaped the building and I need you to fetch it for me." He pulled up a map, pointing to a spot on the street. "According to an outside source, it was last seen in Everview Apartments. I can't risk anything like that running amok."

The helping hand gave a salute and a wink. "I'll do my best sir!" And left the room. "Your 'best' does not give me confidence!" Yeah their not going to succeed. K sighed. "If you want something done right." And began work on something that could actually suppress a sample. He ran through his head ideas for potential suppressants. It would have to be something absorbed.

Work carried over day and night, but it was showing progress now. He stared into the test chamber, the beast he had lured inside looking back at with with those dark eyes. "This better work." With a press of a button the pumps released a blue liquid that stuck to the creature's form, it did not spread, but it clung to the creature like a sample would on a human body. The white wolf struggled to pry the substance off but it's struggling was starting to slow. and eventually it closed it's eyes and collapsed.

Success! K had essentially created a sample that would bond to other samples and force them into a state of torpor, all he needed now was a proper method of deployment. Maybe a throwable capsule? *CRASH* The entire tower shook. "Oh for the love of- WHAT IS IT NOW?!" The sight of a pod in the side of his precious tower left K speechless. Great, no- Exellent! Just what he needed! MORE PROBLEMS! He watched from the cameras as a figure climbed out the top of the pod, before spreading a pair of metallic, sword feathered wings and took off into the night.

Lavos tapped the side of his mallet. "So there are other humans still on earth?" The man, K loaded a set of capsules with a glowing blue fluid. "There should be, however the Entrati Corporation's walking warcrimes- no offence, and the return of this 'J' character are clearly making their survival odds slimmer and slimmer." He let out a tired sigh. "And that's without mentioning my, contributions. In my best efforts to eliminate the threat of the Pale, I've accidentally allowed the failures of those efforts to leave and spread like the virus they were made to combat."

Lavos looked at the security monitors, there two canid creatures with white masks were wrestling. "These creatures where made to combat the virus?"

"Since we couldn't make a human cure from animal DNA, we tried to flip the process, making humans more animal-like so they were easier to cure, the problem was this process was so far irreversible, their minds didn't have enough time to adapt to the changes or were merged with that of the samples, meaning they either lost their memories, or the samples mind took their place." K pointed to the beasts on the monitor.

"Those ones are a failed batch. The blank white ones were more successful but incomplete. The mixed ones had more variety but more complexities to go with it. I did succeed eventually though." K gestured to himself. "I only had myself to test my latest sample on and it actually worked. But so far this sample has only been used twice. The riots happened before it was made however, and people destroyed all they could in one stubborn, self destructive night. Those who weren't killed in the riots were assimilated by any samples that got loose during it. Most of us retreated to stasis to avoid the mobs and the monsters."

"Tragic." Lavos comments. "But I suppose we weren't any better. The Entrati Corporation made as many warframes as they could when the Drone War started going south, it was a grueling process, both physically and mentally, they didn't bother checking if all of us were of sound mind before releasing us all in the drone's direction. It didn't matter if we were soldiers gifted with incredible power, or feral demons of war, all that mattered was that we could fight. While we fought tooth and nail, those who remained left the planet and never looked back. In the end we were just to serve as a distraction."

K gave a grim chuckle. "And they said Thunder Science had lofty morals." He loaded his rifle with live rounds. "So, I help you with dispatching J, you help me with rescuing as many humans in the preservation bunkers as possible. Do we have a deal?"

Lavos hoisted his sledgehammer over his shoulder and it vanished behind his back. "Yeah, I can work with that. Where can we start?"

Chapter Text

Wings of steel beat as J soars across the night sky, her sensors highlight another inactive drone taking refuge in a gas station below. Landing gently she pries open the door in search of them.

Her eyes lock onto the body behind the register, clearly ravaged by teeth and claws. "Ugh, leftovers." Moving near the back, a Disassembly Drone could be seen curled into a far corner of the room. Various holes in the ceiling leaking moonlight through them, this one must've been stuck in that room when day broke. J deployed a Hacking Bolt into this one's head, the screen buzzed to life as lines of code scrolled past. [CODE ACCEPTED, WELCOME ADMINISTRATOR: Bizznizz_Casualty] J smirked at her newest hire. "Welcome back, make your way to the designated location for debriefing." Her hand switched to a projector and displayed the location of a new spire with the coordinates to reach it. "Don't be late."

The drone took off without a word, just like the rest of them. No matter what status she found them in, not a word was spoken. It was, different from what J was used to compared to her old boss and previous team of Traitors. No orders from Cyn in the back of her mind, none of V's maniacal cackling and excessively brutal flair, no tooth rotting optimism from N. It just felt off not hearing any of it, not like she actually missed it. She gently smacked the sides of her head.

"Let it go J, you've got a meeting to attend and a busy schedule to fill." Off to the spire then.

"Now, I bet you're all wondering why I've called you here." J spoke to the crowd. "As I'm sure you've noticed, our company's ownership has shifted. Our previous boss, Cyn is no longer in command. As her Senior Informant and right hand, and due to the betrayal of the others in my group who would've held similar positions of power this puts me in charge by default, if anyone disagrees with this change of command please speak up."

...

Silence, not a word from the others. "No objections? Fantastic, the decision is unanimous then. As the new company president I will ensure that no task, no matter how big or small is left unfinished."

Still, not a peep from them all. And she thought N was mindless, these drones didn't even try standing differently. This was more efficient, if a little unsettling.

Her eye twitched, the silence was getting on her nerves. She grabbed onto the collar of one of her fellow drones. "That, means, we will not be indulging in impractical chases for the thrill of the hunt. Am I clear?" Still nothing. Clearly she was talking to a brick wall. "Okay, our current biggest threat is the Warframes, their devilry is vast and variable but they have a finite number. More of us, less of them. Apart from that, I have a plan to unlock our potential, as you all know, Disassembly Drones are unable to access the powers of the Absolute Solver, I believe this limits our effectiveness against the Warframes. Cabin Fever Labs has purposefully given drones access before, so there must be a way. Spread out and look for anything related to their research. Let's get to work."

A chorus of bladed wings unfolding fills the spire as everyone takes off in different directions. Good, they were actually listening after all.

Still it felt like something was missing, something itching at the back of her head. Unease probably? She was going to get access to the Solver, that Techno-Magic-Bullshit would scare even a Warframe with what it was capable of. J spread her wings and flew off, she wasn't going to sit and wait for that power to come to her. It probably wouldn't be coming to play nice if that were the case anyway.

The bright flash of a flare missile alerted her to the remnants of a research station, a Drone near the entrance waiting for her. Jackpot, that logo was exactly what she was looking for. "About time, let's get this done before sunrise." J and her current partner pried the door off it's hinges.

A glowing door to an elevator hung open, the simple music chiming in the mostly quiet room. Apparently they forgot to close the 'Secret Elevator' before everyone took their work off-world. Oh well, that makes their job easier. Going down. *Ding*

...

...

...

On the way down J absent mindedly reached into her back pocket and began clicking a Branded Pen repeatedly. *Click-Click-Click-Click* It wasn't much but it was helping take her mind off of things.

*Ding*

The doors opened to a mess of bodies, not human bodies however. Of course to study the Absolute Solver, they needed Solver Infected Worker Drones. Suddenly the other Disassembly Drone lunged at the pile of parts and began devouring the scrap. "Seriously? You haven't even killed these yourself." The sight and smell was making J, hungry. "I guess we are a little late for a lunchbreak." She joined in the feast, steel canines piercing and crushing metal and synthetic fibers, oil drenched auxiliary systems snapped and consumed. The taste of cold oil, it had been here a while. "A little cold for my taste, but still good at least."

*FCHEEW* The sound of a flash beacon brought J back to reality. Nothing in the halls, for now. She tapped the other drone, who still had an arm in it's mouth. "We're not alone here." Of course, these drones had to have been killed by something. The sound of clacking claws on the floor was getting closer, slowly a reptilian jaw crept into view. J grabbed the other drone and bolted in the opposite direction.

Cabin Fever's silver bullet. Sentinels.

*Hssss-vrr-rr-rr-*

J shut her eyes tight and deactivated any visual sensors as another Sentinel dropped from the ceiling. *FCHEEW* In a panic she swept a chainsaw in front of her, the sound of metal casing being ripped apart let her know she hit something. Not dead yet, A quick stab with her tail and a sword jabbed through to make sure.

J's sight returned to find the sentinel thoroughly dispatched, her company on the other hand was not so lucky. A buffering symbol filled their screen, they laid there on the floor like a statue. "Ugh, of course you didn't look away."

No time to fix them, more sentinels were on their way. J made her way through room after room after room, this building put the 'Lab' in 'Labyrinth.' Sentinel screeches reverberated through the halls. Then a sign caught her eye, 'Solver Activation 1.' That's it! Without a moment of hesitation she bolted through the door and slammed it shut. Dragging a metal box over it to keep it closed. *BANG BANG BANG, BANG* Leaving would be a challenge, or would it?

Inside a chamber sat a terminal with two wireless connector discs resting on the floor. "How is this going to work?" J picked up the discs, then they suddenly magnetized to the sides of her head. She scrambled to pull them off but her limbs went slack. Her eyes took a blank stare before being replaced with an X as she slumped onto the ground.

[CONNECTION ESTABLISHED. INITIALIZING...]

When J woke back up she found herself in a familiar and distant place, The Elliot's Manor. The whole place was in shambles, broken windows, a massive hole in the ceiling, it probably looked worse inside. J leapt off the ground, and landed face first in the dirt. "OW! Did I really forget to-" Her hands rubbed against her head, feeling a familiar headdress. She was in a maid outfit, no, she was in her maid outfit before The Gala Massacre. "I haven't worn this in years!" J found herself a Worker Drone once more. This place seemed to be inspiring itself off her memories, the closer she looked everything seemed a bit off.

With a hesitant step, she opened the door to the ruined manor. It was certainly an ugly sight, warped viscera, human and synthetic alike covered the walls. A trail leads to the dining room, at least, that's what she remembered. Entering she expecting to find bodies, but the entire room looked, different. Like it was part of a different house entirely. Dark walls and pillars made of carved stone, lit only by the golden light of candle lamps lined against the walls and violet rays from stained glass windows. Solver sigils displayed on banners hanging from the ceiling. And in the center of the room was a Null Singularity above a platform covered in tendrils of synthetic flesh.

J stared on in silence, it felt like she was stumbling upon some ancient evil's resting place, she technically was. Remembering why she came here, J reached out to the singularity. As her hand was inches away from the void, a mass of tendrils snagged her and threw her back. She looked up to find a writhing, shifting mass of Solver Aberration in the ceiling. Skeletal Talons came down hard onto the floor with heavy thuds, the tendrils on the ground lifted up and formed a lattice cage around the singularity. Pincer Claws clasped tightly on the pillars and the sound of scraping rocks filled the space. A serpentine mass coiling around the orb as four camera-like eyes glared at her.

J grasped one of the candle lamps and wielded it like a staff. "I take it an equity partnership is out of the question?" The Aberration lunged with it's talons, J leapt over the first strike and slammed hard on the claws. "Yeah I guess that's out of the question!" She threw the lamp like a spear, impaling another limb and pinning it to the ground. As she grabbed it again she levered it down and caused the joints in the limb to snap, breaking it off. Suddenly a flash emitted from a corner, a sentinel had found its way inside. J shut her eyes to protect herself from the flash- *BAFF*

J was quickly swatted like a bug across the room. As she opened her eyes to see the sentinel looking at her, it's form suddenly blipped out of existence as a glowing beam of light shut off from one of the eye cameras. "I can't believe I fell for that." J quickly brought her makeshift staff up as a Scythe Claw swung down at her. She shifted the weapon to make it slide off the pole and ran towards the singularity. The tendrils tightened around the orb from a lattice cage to a solid barrier. J grabbed at the tendrils to pull them apart but they hardly budged. She ducked as a bladed limbs swiped at her, then she got an idea. She waited for a talon to lunge for her and rolled out of the way as it slammed into the tendrils, tearing them up and making an opening for her.

She thrust her lamppost in the gap to widen it, keeping it from closing back up. J thrust her hand inside to grasp the singularity inside, suddenly a mass of tendrils inside rushed out knocking her back and cutting her like grazing bullets. "Will you just PISS OFF ALREADY?!" J ran full speed back towards the ball, slowly the Snake-Crab lifted up, it's 'Head' obscured by darkness. Two eyes projected a hologram of knight armor as tendrils wrapped around in a vague shape of a human to fit inside. It picked up a severed claw and wielded it like a scythe.

"Oh you've got to be kidding." The knight swung wide, contorting itself to twist all the way around as wind up for another swing. J dove past it's strikes and hit it at the central cluster of tendrils, destabilizing it's posture and causing it to stumble, if one could call it that. J wound up and threw her pole like a spear at one of the cameras, as it was struck she picked up the claw the knight dropped and used it against it's previous user. She sliced again and again, ensuring the writhing mass couldn't get back up. Once she was certain that would be enough she ran back towards the sphere and dug the scythe into the wall of tendrils. *Snap* *VVVWOOOOWVVV* Suddenly before she could react a Null-space manifested over the claw and her arm. It quickly imploded, erasing both weapon and arm alike.

J grasped at her shoulder in pain, oil splashing from the missing limb. "Y-You, you petty bitch!" The eyes gazed down upon J's wounded form. So close, she was So, Close! "I was your Senior Informant! You trusted me to lead them! I failed, but I failed following you! I didn't betray you like They did! Are you this mad that we lost?! Are you still going to punish ME for failure by Outside Interference?! ANSWER ME CYN!" Silence apart from the shifting of mass in the darkness. 

A voice came from the darkness. "I think you've got a wrong number J. Just me in here." J practically turned white at the sound of that voice. "N-No..." J grabbed her head, it was warm.

Warmer.

Hot.

HOT TOO HOT!

A stream of code filled her vision as she screamed, as a lock symbol appeared over her eyes the burning subsided. She looked up, at the top of the serpent sat a Worker Drone, form mostly encompassed in darkness, but those eyes, Her eyes. A gradient of yellow to purple. "Not you!"

"I had a feeling you might try calling your old boss. Not gonna happen with me in charge." She spread her chiropteran wings and dove down, drawing another twisted scythe. And sweeping it across J's neck.

[CONNECTION TERMINATED]

J woke up screaming, clawing the discs off the sides of her head and throwing them away. She looked at herself, no physical damage taken, she was a Disassembly Drone again. That burning, She didn't sneak something in her head did she? J looked through her processes.

No intrusive programs, but She did make a change. The icon for the Absolute Solver was blacked out with a lock sign on it. Trying to access it brought up an error message.

[ACCESS DENIED: User Blacklisted by Administrator 'darkXwolf17'. Administrator Note: Bite Me >:3]

"THAT HOT TOPIC WANNABE!" J was locked out of requests for access, she yelled in fury and slashed at the terminal. Now she was stuck here, in a sentinel infested lab. With no back up, no Solver, and no plan for escape.

"Great, this whole plan has been nothing more than a Crash and Burn! Now what do I do?" J paced around the room, ruminating. Her sight drifted upon an observation room. There was a figure inside, the lights in the room were dark so it was hard to see who was in there. From the vague outline in the window they didn't seem to be a sentinel, not the right shape for a drone either. Could they be a human? That wouldn't make sense though, a human would run from a Disassembly Drone on sight.

"Hello can you hear me?" J shouted. The figure didn't say anything. "I need to get out of this room, but the sentinels on the other side of that door will freeze me if I see their flash head on. Can you help?"

They looked around, then jumped and crawled into the vents. A little odd, J remained cautious. The sounds of shuffling in the ventilation ducts drew closer and closer. *CLANG* A vent cover dropped down off a vent in the ceiling. "I guess that works." J wound up and clawed her way inside. The vents were tight, but manageable. *Squelch* J looked to find her hand in a smudge of grey slime. She flicked it off and proceeded into the observation booth. "I'm surprised you actually wanted to help me, most people would run away from-"

*Mrrao~*

Was that a cat?

...

"What the hell?"

A better look at her observer revealed strangest sight in her life. There looking pleased with it's new company, was an anthropomorphic, Snow Leopard? Any thought of being saved by someone in a costume was quickly dashed when it actually blinked. "Well I would be lying if I said I was expecting this, but still thank you." The snow leopard purred happily. J reached out to pet it, the gooey texture of it's fur similar to that of the mess in the vent. "Eugh, why are you so sticky? I didn't know Cabin Fever made things like you." The snow leopard tilted it's head in confusion.

"Can you not speak? You seem to understand me just fine at least." It nuzzled against J and chuffed, smearing a thin layer of grey goo on her cheek. "You know what, one thing at a time. I doubt you can get boot looped but sentinels would still rip you into gooey chunks. So we're getting out of here."

Out of the observation room and into a maze of halls once more. J kept one hand in gun form as they moved, no sound of the sentinels, but that didn't give her any confidence. From her experience those metallic lizards were much smarter than they looked or acted. If she wasn't hearing them right now they were either somewhere else in the building, or trying really hard to not be heard. The sudden growl and running noises behind her confirmed her suspicions, but she couldn't turn around and risk getting bricked.

The sentinel shrieked as a loud thud was heard. The Snow Leopard snarled and grabbed it by the neck and tail, pinning it and pulling hard. *FCHEEW* *FCHEEW-CRACK* The sudden flashes from the sentinel's panic were silenced by the sound of glass shattering. J turned to see the snow leopard bash it's head against the floor, breaking it's flash beacon. "Mind your fingers!" J took aim and let loose a stream of bullets. They held the sentinel as it was shot until it stopped struggling and threw it aside.

More sentinels were heard from all over the place, flashes and calls around corners growing closer and closer. "Here's the plan, I just going to keep firing with my eyes closed! You aim my arms at the sentinels!" *Mrr?* "Ok that's a terrible plan I know, but it's the best I can come up with right now! Here they come!" The Snow Leopard's paws grasped onto J's arms and she shut off all visual feed.

"COME GET SOME JURASSIC PUNKS!" *DAKADAKADAKADAKA*

The air filled with a chorus of gunfire and sentinel shrieks, drowning out J's own yelling and the snow leopard's roar. Bullet casings clinking and hitting the floor along with several grey drips and sentinel bodies.

The Assistant analyzed the trail. Grey, clearly a Variegated Sample. Density suggests a Heavy Coat. Feline characteristics on the tracks, Big Cat. Maybe a Tiger- no, Snow Leopard. It must've slid down the elevator shaft. They pressed a button to call the elevator. Machinery moved but the elevator did not come back up, upon closer examination it seems the cables have been severed by a sharp implement. Capturing this one would have to wait.

Another trail spotted, tiny black splotches leading to a warehouse. The pattern matches that of airborne Dark Samples. "So that's where you're hiding." The Assistant moved inside to the sound of shuffling along the shelves. Their eyes caught the sight of the dragon clambering over various crates and boxes. "There you are! Get over here, Dr. K does not want you running around out here without supervision." The Dragon leapt down with a protesting grunt. As they stood face to face. The Dragon suddenly  growled in alarm, The Assistant turned to look at the source of the disturbance.

"Hello-"

Only to be met with a greeting of claws and teeth..

Chapter Text

You run your hands through your pockets, perhaps taking inventory of what tools you had in this outfit should've been done earlier. A flashlight, that one you remembered. What looked to be a short metal cylinder, a click on the bottom caused it to extend with a blue glow at the tip. You reach out to tap- *BZZT* "Ack!" Shock Baton, it's a shock baton. A Keycard. And the last pocket was just empty. No guns, not ideal for surviving those things out there. 'Valkyr' may have taken damage but she clearly wasn't acknowledging it back in the bunker. The Dragon was basically made of pudding but it could just pull itself back together, and murder drones are walking arsenals. If they closed the distance that baton would be nothing more than an annoyance.

You crack your knuckles and climb onto the motorcycle. "I'm not gonna get into a fist fight against something with claws. Time to find a ranged weapon." First stop, The Bunker.

Back here again, it doesn't seem like much has changed since you last left. Checking the Entrati Corporation bodies first, well they've got some sort of guns. Unfortunately they were empty. Not surprising, given the state of the warframe you woke up to in there, they must've emptied every clip they had into it. Taking a step through the doorway, there was the EMP-arm thing you used. It feels like you've seen it somewhere before, and then it hits you. "Oh!" It's an arm from a murder drone! You pick it up and take it outside, suddenly it starts heating up and you fumble it in your hands. "Ah! Hot hot hot!" As the arm drops to the floor it sizzles and hisses, glowing brightly and collapsing into a small orb of darkness that flickers out of existence. So much for taking that outside.

Returning to the truck at Everview Apartments you hoped to find a weapon, but any weapon racks were already empty. "Come on, nobody was carrying a gun?" You groan and leave the truck, glancing back up at the window to room 205. The mess in the window seems to have gotten worse but it's not like you're setting foot in that place again. Hopping back on the motorcycle your next destination landed you to the entrance of a warehouse. You take a step inside, absent mindedly pushing it closed. Plenty of boxes and crates to check through. Most of them didn't have anything useful, but you did find a few extra medical supplies. Rummaging through another crate however produced a flare gun, not exactly what you were looking for but being shot with a flare would probably still suck.

You take a step towards a set of lockers against the wall- *Plop- Crunch* Looking back down you find a familiar mess on the ground. A puddle of black goo, as you lift your shoe you find the source of that crunch. In it rested fragments of a white mask. Apart from the puddle there was also pieces of a broken machine. Another robot, but this one had a design you didn't recognize, white on greyish blue, oversized hands with blue spots on the fingers and palms resembling paw pads. The head was missing and there was a massive tear in the chest, leaving the arms without shoulders. Flipping it over revealed a TSC logo and a label, 'Cat's Paw Mk2'. "Why have I never heard of these?" Suddenly you hear the sound of the warehouse door creaking open, something was coming.

You throw open a locker and climb inside. No footsteps, no wingbeats. The sound of the door was the only thing you heard, whatever had just entered was alarmingly quiet. Peaking through the slits you see a dark form run into view. A large black mass covered the right side of your limited vision. Carefully shifting to the side you see another white mask on the canid creature's face. It reaches down and picks up the mask fragments, a sullen look in it's eyes. It huffs softly, clutching it's hands tightly around them. Another wolf comes into view, this one white as milk. It turns to look at the machine parts and gasps at the sight of them, a concerned look in it's eyes.

"Oh! Poor thing." It, talks? The white wolf could talk? "I hope it wasn't as bad as it looks."

The black wolf looks to the other. "From the damage of the mask it would've been instant. But it won't come back, not enough parts left to root." They could both speak. Was that something they had to learn? The black wolf took the shards and pressed them into his torso. "The best I can do is absorb the fragments. Maybe I'll get a stray memory, a glimpse of what happened here."

"Do you think they killed each other?" The white wolf asked, picking up the robot's left arm. "I've seen this robot survive being charged into by The Behemoth!"

"I don't think so, Latex aren't usually this, violent when they do fight." The black wolf scratched his head, then perked up as he sniffed the air. "Do you smell that?" The white wolf seemed confused. "No? Wait- I think I do actually. What is that?"

Uh oh, could they smell you? The black one reached a paw towards the locker door. *FWCHEW* A bright blue flash suddenly drew their attention. "Is that a raptor?!" The white wolf shouted in surprise. Whatever made that flash then roared and seemingly bolted off. "It's getting away!" The wolves gave chase, bolting out of the warehouse. Leaving you alone.

That was too close for comfort. You slowly crept out of the locker, careful to not step in the puddle again. Talking goo wolves, Cat and Dinosaur Robots. Just when you think you have everything figured out something new happens. For now you hop back on, and have to get the hell away from this warehouse.

A massive armored transport lay on it's side, another mark of the Entrati Corporation on it's gilded side. Stopping to look at the vehicle shows no sign of the troops supposed to drive it, something shiny catches your attention. It's a rifle, you, think? There's a massive rectangular mechanism on the side. You grab it and try to hoist it up. *Clunk* The weight proves too much for you however. This thing is Heavy and the mechanism on the side makes it rather unwieldly to hold. "Ok that's not going anywhere fast."

A heavy pounding sound is heard from the truck. You see the doors shake as something tries to get out. "H-Hello?"

"Hey! The door's stuck!" A voice, sounding boisterous behind it, calls out. "And I'm fairly certain the truck is sideways, but I can't really tell in here!"

You cautiously approach the front of the car and find a button. 'Release Package'. You press the button and machinery whirrs, heavy latches on the back of the vehicle click loose and the door tries to open. *Vrrr-CLNK* "Well it's unlocked, but I think the door's jammed."

"No worries! I can take it from here, stand back!" With a thunderous wind up, the doors came flying off as a bulky form came rushing out the back. "Ah! Glorious sunlight!" Yeah that's totally a warframe. "Well hey there little fella! Whatcha doin' out here?"

"I'm Simon Ryder. Looking for a gun, just incase I run into a murder drone out here." You gesture to the rifle on the ground. "I tried that one but it's too heavy to lift."

The frame thuds his fist against his chest in salute. "Rhino, glad to know I haven't missed the war." He picks up the rifle with ease. "As for this. Yeah you're gonna want to look someplace else. Trumna rifles aren't exactly something you give to human foot soldiers." He taps the mechanism on the side. "This thing on the side launches a deadly ball of heat that bounces everywhere! And the kickback from using it might fold your spine over with the force it has. I'm not gonna lie though, the sounds this thing makes are really satisfying to hear." Rhino pressed down onto a button that pops the clip out. *Ch-chk- ~Ping~* As the clip pops out he catches it and clicks it back in.

He's certainly right about the sounds. "That ping could make an M1 Garand jealous."

"I know right? But it's a small fry compared to the Mausolon. It's been a dream of mine to get my hands on one, but it's part of an experimental batch, it would probably only work in space." Rhino slides the Trumna over his shoulder and it vanishes.

"Where did you just put that? I've seen warframes pull items out of thin air like that a few times now."

He simply shrugs. "It's a function of our arsenal, Matter Compression Storage. It lets us convert things into particles that can be easily stored for later use, when we need that item it restores it's form. Think of it like shrinking objects into tiny boxes to fit in your pockets. We can even do it to living things too, but that process has to be taken slower so they survive it." Well, that's terrifying! Your unease at that last remark is noticed. "They're fine when they come back, a little shaken up but their physically alright."

You look towards the sun, it's getting pretty low right now. "I should probably find some place to hunker down for the night." Hopping back on, Rhino gives you a salute. "Safe Travels little fella!"

You're glad to know there are more warframes out there with morals. Weapon gathering will have to wait until tomorrow.

Night came much sooner than you thought it would, you'd have to take refuge in a house you almost passed. The whole place is in surprisingly well maintained, obviously there's nobody inside. No key to lock the door, but there's plenty of places to hide at least.

Entering the second floor bedroom, you throw yourself onto the bed and bury yourself in covers to hide as much of your form as possible. As you lay there, you drift into slumber.

You jolt awake. You hardly remember what you were dreaming about, but it wasn't pleasant. You rummage through your bag again for something to eat. After stuffing your face you groggily get up to resume your weapon hunt. Just before you move down the stairs however, you hear something familiar.

"-That's what that is?"

"Yeah, it's hard to describe so I usually don't. You just kind of, know what it is."

You've heard those voices before, you slow your movement and press your ear against the floor.

"I'm surprised you didn't recognize it."

"Well, typically we aren't trying to find each other by scent."

Why were they here? Did they follow you? Did they just happen to show up at the same house you were resting in? You try to listen for more. *Creak*

That, was coming from above you. You slowly, look up. To be greeted by a wicked smile, and a glowing yellow X. The murder drone quickly lunges at you! You scamper away as it lands INCHES away. Face to face with your assailant, you notice the strange choice of outfit for this drone. Wearing a pair of headphones, sunglasses and a leather jacket.

You reach into your pockets and draw the shock baton. Giving it a good whack across the head, as it stumbles back it's tail lunges for you. You step back to avoid each wild sting, the floorboards crack. Looking down you see multiple burning holes where it's tail struck. And the floor gives away with you on top of it. *CRASH*

"AGH!" *THUD* You push yourself back up and shake your head, and lock eyes with the two very alerted wolves looking right at you in surprise. Before you can say anything the drone comes crashing through the ceiling, it's claws digging into your shoulders. You grit your teeth and try to kick it but it hardly reacts. It opens it's jaws, more than eager to bite your face off.

"Get off of him!" Suddenly the black wolf pounces the drone and pulls it off of you. The drone shakes and struggles, but the wolf keeps a firm grip on it's neck.

"Are you alright?!" You look to see the white wolf looking down at you, offering his paw for you to take. You look back at the struggle to see the drone flailing around, it's tail-! The Tail-! "Watch the Stinger-!"

The black wolf quickly shifts as the syringe flies just inches away from his head. The white wolf rushes over and grabs onto the tail, trying to keep it from stinging the other wolf. You pull the baton and bash it across the head with it over and over. Then thrusting the tip into it's screen, shattering it and causing sparks to fly. Suddenly the drone spreads it's wings, sharp metal feathers slicing and stabbing at the black wolf. Causing him to lose his grip. It lunges at you again, taking the white wolf on it's tail with it.

It crashes into you and breaks through the wall, into a kitchen. As it brings it's jaws down on your arm-! FUCK THAT SMARTS-! It tries to stab you with every pointy part it has, claws, wings, the tail was at least still held by the white wolf. As the sunlight creeps through the windows it lands on the drone. A warning symbol appears on it's screen, it hisses and lets go of your arm. It's tail whips around and flings the white wolf across the room. He thuds against the wall leaving a white gooey splotch. It draws a machine gun next, before it can shoot however the black wolf comes back with a tackle, pinning it's back against the wall. The white wolf grabs the tail and, with a hesitant look, bites down hard around the base of the stinger. Ripping it off and removing the threat of stinging from the fight.

"Augh! It Burnths!" The white wolf spits and pats down his tongue, which was melting at the tip. The drone still tries to point it's guns at you but the black wolf pulls it's arm down, in response it bites down on his shoulder.

The black wolf snarls and grabs the drone by the upper half, the white wolf grabbing the lower half and they both began to pull. Tearing sounds came from the murder drone as it was ripped in half, spilling it's artificial viscera on the floor.

All three of you were out of breath. The white wolf pulled his tongue as it reformed. "Okay, the feeling in my tongue is back."

You try to push yourself back up to escape, but a pain in your leg causes you to buckle. That last slam must've sprained something. Suddenly you're lifted up by fluffy white hands, you struggle but their grip is gentle. "Whoa hey hey easy! I'm not gonna hurt you. Are you alright?"

"The red stuff is supposed to be inside right?" The black wolf asks. "I know humans can't regenerate, but I've never really seen a human get injured before."

The white wolf's hands move to open the holes in your jacket. "Sorry the jacket's getting in the way." You wince as they rip through and get close to your cuts. His hand covers his muzzle at the sight of them. "Ooh, I almost forgot how bad that looks." He turns to the black wolf.

WHO IS ACTIVELY GETTING HIS HAND BITTEN OFF-!

"ACK! Colin! It's still alive and it's really bitey!" He slams his hand and the drone's head by proxy against the countertop!

"Hang on!" He grabs it again and pries it off the other wolf's hand. The half-a-murder drone squirms and flails trying to lacerate the white wolf. The black wolf grabbing it by the head and twisting it around. Causing it's neck to crack and snap. He then tore it's head off and dropped it.

"I thought it was already broken! How's the human doing?"

You try to stand up again, but your ankle protests the action. "Well I think my ankle's sprained, and I've been bitten and clawed at. Apart from that I'm alright."

The wolves exhaled in relief. "Good to know, we haven't had to deal with guns in a long time so that could've been much worse."

"So much worse, those things have missiles you know."

The white wolf's ears pulled back. He slapped the sides of his head and took a breath. "Okay, let's just focus on patching you up. Puro do you still have that medical pack?"

The black wolf stuck his hands into his tail and sloshed around in it like he was checking his pockets, before producing a box. "And I thought we would never have a use for this." He clicked the box open and produced a bottle, a roll of medical bandages, and a cloth.

The white wolf poured a liquid from the bottle onto the cloth, then pressed it against your cuts, you hiss as it stings. "Well, thanks I guess. So you're, Colin Right?" He nods "So what's with the sudden hospitality? The last creature like you I met clearly didn't have anything good planned."

"Let's just say we're, different." He tears the gauze and tapes it down on your shoulders. They're still a little sore but at least you won't bleed out anytime soon. *Clank* You both look back at the disassembled drone. "Puro, I think it's dead."

'Puro' kept staring at it like it would come back for round 2, before kicking it again. "Can we at least move away from this thing? It smells funny and I feel like it's gonna jump at me again."

Colin looks at you, you just shrug- ow, shrugging hurts. "No arguing here, I don't wanna be anywhere near that thing, dead or not."

As you all left the house, the only sounds left inside were the hissing of steam and scraping as metal claws dragged themselves across the floor.

Chapter Text

You grimace at the sight of your motorcycle outside, clearly the drone must've gotten to it first last night. Claw marks are all over the engine, the tank has a chunk bitten out and seems to be sucked dry of fuel, and one of the wheels is no longer present.

"Ugh, I don't like how clever those things are." You take a step down, pain shoots through your foot. Colin braces you and sits you down. "Ngh-! I think my foot's actually broken."

Puro helps take your boot off, you wince as his fingers trace your ankle. "I don't think we have anything to fix that. Sorry human, the supplies in this kit didn't include splints."

You- ow- pop your boot back on. "Well that's just peachy, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping you'd have some kind of healing ability you could share, given what other things are running around out here. Unless that is something you can do?"

Colin shakes his head. "Not really, there is technically something we can do, but I wouldn't recommend it." He gives you your baton. "Might be a good idea to keep something like this on hand. By the way we haven't gotten your name yet."

"Simon, Ryder. And yeah, wasn't planning on leaving this behind. But I've been looking for something with a little more range." While you were talking there was a sound of metal being removed, you both look at the remains of your bike to see Puro actively taking parts of the chassis and bending them into a long stick. "Whoa. What are you-?"

Puro offers you the metal stick like a tool. "Here, you can use this as a crutch for now. It's not much but it should help a little, plus it can also be used like a weapon if the baton is too short."

The edges of the stick are rather sharp with how they've been folded. "I don't think I can hold that without getting cuts all over my hand."

"Hmm, how about this?" Puro's hand then liquifies and the goo trickles down the staff, it solidifies into a bubble which he squeezes like the rubber grip of a pencil. The feel of the 'handle' in your hand was odd, like one of those weird squishy pompom balls you'd find in a gift shop.

"Oh that feels weird, but it's better than holding sharp metal." You push yourself off the ground with it. Then you tuck it under your arm and pull your map out of your pocket. "I don't suppose you two have seen anything vaguely gun-like in your travels have you?"

Puro looks to Colin, they seems to know a place. "We did see a barricade set up around this park." Colin taps a spot on the map, it's close to where you are right now. "But I suggested against going there when I saw some, intense defenses."

You raise an eyebrow at that. "Define Intense." 

Colin looks at his own hands. "I actually hope there's nobody keeping watch there, I doubt even a Latex would survive a direct shot from a tank."

So the goo creatures are 'Latex'? Not exactly your focus right now though. "Tanks in the park?! Well, I say we should investigate. I'll take point just in case there is someone there, but I highly doubt it."

And off you went. 

On the way you gave Colin and Puro a brief explanation of what's been going on, granted there are still pieces you don't even have answers to yet. "Oh, I only really heard about the Pale Virus, I didn't know there was a war going on too!" 

"I'd consider that lucky, from what I can tell the war's been over for a while now. But between J's sudden return and Thunder Sciences backyard science experiments breaking out, it's about to get a lot more hectic. Did you two ever run into a warframe yet?"

Puro scratches his head. "Well, now that I think about it. One time we were exploring this old garden, and I was pretty sure we weren't alone." Colin was surprised to hear this. "Wait you think so?"

"I heard it first, faint like a gust of wind. But it sounded more like something was jingling. I didn't really see it, not because of my vision, it looked like it wasn't really there. My only clarity that something really was there was that it stepped in a puddle I left behind."

This sounded like a ghost story. "Spooky." The idea of a warframe capable of invisibility didn't seem too far fetched, Excalibur was capable of bending light into a physical weapon.

Colin clarified. "Dark Latex like Puro can physically feel when something makes contact with a puddle. Like someone tapping your shoulder and when you turn to face them, you see nothing."

Huh, that does make it a bit scarier. 

Inevitably you do see the barricade, definitely a few tanks. But not from the Entrati Corporation, this just seemed to be a standard military. Nothing was moving, and no sounds of chatter could be heard. You give Colin and Puro a sign to move up. No sign of movement, no automated defenses. Long dried splashes of blood were clearly visible in places but the lack of bodies was a bit unnerving. The drones clearly devoured every last bite, but where were the weapons? You ponder this as your walking stick disturbs a few casings laying on the ground.

"Do they really, eat people?" Colin asks.

"From what I know they eat just about anything. I don't know what compels them to eat people, and frankly I don't wanna know." Colin shudders, clearly disturbed. "They scare me too. Thankfully with the exception of one individual they seem to be pretty stupid."

As you were talking Puro rummaged through a transport truck's supplies and pulled out a bag of MREs. He gave it a quick sniff and recoiled. "Yuck." As he threw it. As it lands a few meters in front of you and Colin you here a slight *Click* as it hits the ground.

Colin grabs and Throws the two of you on the ground away from the bag! "GET DOWN!"

... Where's the bang?

You both look back at the sound of the click, a disappointing hiss emitting from it. Upon closer inspection you see a considerable mess leaking out of the bag.

"Oh thank god. It's just a drink in the bag." Colin takes a breath and looks slightly embarrassed. "I uh, thought it was a Mine."

"Murder Drones can fly, I bet a minefield would be as useful as a screen door on a submarine." Puro quickly hoists the two of you up. "Did you find anything in there?"

He shook his head. "Other than that bag, not really. It's mostly empty."

You move onto the next truck.

"That looks pretty gun-like." Colin pointed towards a rather shiny looking pistol. "Though I have no idea where we'll get the ammo for it."

A memory stirs in your head. "That's, that's a, oh what was it called. Something starting with a P. Eh whatever it's a battery pistol, it doesn't fire physical bullets." You pick it up and inspect the battery. "It's out of charge however, this is probably gonna sound dumb but, do you know any Latexes that produce electricity?"

"Definitely not." Puro admits. "Electricity is one of our biggest weaknesses. I don't think it would be good for us to constantly generate electric charge, we'd just be shocking ourselves."

Huh. Not the reason you'd think that wouldn't work. "You're, weak to electricity? I thought you were basically made of rubber?"

Colin stretches a gooey strand between his fingers. "From what I know Latex are only called that in name, we're not made of actual latex or rubber. I'm still not sure exactly what this stuff we're made of is. If there actually is any rubber in a Latex there isn't enough to insulate it, and the whole semi-liquid form probably adds to the problem."

You flick out your shock baton and spin it in your hands... Then you get an idea, and tap the business end of it against the battery. *Bzzt* "ACK!" You drop the battery to the ground as the current jumps through it into your hand. You carefully pick it back up and slot it into the- "Plinx! It's called a Plinx." With a proper charge the gun reads enough energy to shoot. "Alright, this should at least help in deterring drones."

"Good, can we leave? I really don't wanna have to stay around here." Colin asks. You give a quick glance at another transport, this one smashed into a wall. "I wanna check out that truck first, still gotta get this leg a splint." You hobble towards it.

Puro tries to say something. "I mean, if you're that desperate to fix it we could try-" Colin gives him a light nudge. "We gotta have a quick talk, but we'll be right behind you."

Colin pulls Puro in close and whispers to him. Their conversation is hard to make out but you can just barely hear.

" You're not suggesting what I think you are, are you?"

"No! Not at all. It's just, I've just got an idea, and I think it might work. He'd be fine. Don't you trust me?"

"I do, but He doesn't know about that. I don't want you to scare him."

"I've seen a memory from the shards. The dragon got up to his arms."

"I don't think he understands what that meant-"

Their conversation get's too muddled for you to hear it. You've got a bad feeling regardless.

The truck has clearly seen better days, but that's not what you're interested in. You slowly hobble over to part the curtain but hesitate. You see a silhouette inside, shuffling and messing around with whatever supplies are inside. It suddenly clicks on a flashlight and lights up the rest of the curtain. It's tail flicks up, too thick for the whip-like tails murder drones usually have. You duck to the side of the truck, the curtains part as a feline head peaks out between them.

A snow leopard. That's a freaking Snow Leopard! As it steps out of the truck you see it's body type was just like Colin and Puro's, this had to be a Latex. The sound of a bell jingling around it's neck was the only real hint to where it was going. It leapt on top of the truck, you carefully crawled under to avoid being spotted.

"Mrrao~?"

You cover your mouth, hoping your breathing isn't heard. Unfortunately this doesn't do anything when the first thing she does is look under the truck, much to your horror. A mischievous look spreads across her face as she paws at you. You reach into your pocket, pull out the baton and thrust it into her hand.

The Snow Leopard yowls as the current courses through her, causing her form to ripple and melt slightly as she recoils and stumbles back. You shuffle out from under the truck, to the other side and speed limp away. You can see the others, you have to get their attention!

"CONTACT!" You shout! They look at you and come running in a four legged sprint.

"SIMON BEHIND YOU!"

You whip around to see the snow leopard back on her feet! You step back, accidentally bracing on your bad leg and causing you to stumble backwards. You hold out your baton, keeping the shocking part facing the snow leopard like a blade. "Back off! I know you don't like getting zapped!"

A coy smirk crosses her face as she reaches into herself, her chest parting like a sea of gray, as she withdraws a cloth and smothers the baton with it! She wrenches the wrapped baton out of your hands and pins you to the ground. Her legs and arms liquify and start enveloping your own. That same warm numbness starts to rise through your body.

"Let him go!" Puro shouts. "You can't have him!" His fingers morph into a set of claws primed to slash at the snow leopard, but her gooey form shifts and leaves you in front of her, your arms and legs completely engulfed within her own. "What the-?! Why would you do that!? You're putting your host at risk blocking me with him!" Puro kept side stepping to get a way around you, but she keeps turning so the first thing he'd hit is you!

Everything is getting hazy, struggling is getting hard, you feel so, heavy. "Just! Stab her! I can't feel my arms!" Suddenly the entirety of the snow leopards embrace is lit up with an electric jolt as Colin catches her off guard with the baton. She yowls again, this time liquifying enough that you can crawl out. Viscous strands of Latex cover your body and tense up as she tries to pull you back in, Puro pulls you out as your limbs are buzzing with more pins and needles.

You shudder. "Oh there is no getting used to that!" Puro gives you a look. "Technically you're not supposed to escape at that point." The snow leopard growls and tries to stand back up, but her form is still mostly liquid. The strands that were attached to you slip back inside an opening in her chest like a coat, she scowls as she stands in a pool of her own feet.

Colin quickly slides in front of you both. "You couldn't get me, you're NOT getting him! If you want a host that badly go back to the tower you crawled out of and ask Dr. K to find you a Bio-Machine."

The snow leopard grunts, pulls her form together, and turns and scoffs. She gives you a glare and bolts off into the distance. Once you're all sure she's gone Puro tries to stand you back up but you almost tumble back down.

"I, still feel, prickly. Is that normal?" You ask as you're sat down instead.

Colin clicks off the baton and stuff it in your pocket as he asks you. "Like, pins and needles across everywhere the goo's engulfed?" You nod, that's exactly what you're feeling. "Yeah I know what you're talking about. Transfurmation numbs the body as energy is borrowed before it starts converting you. That buzz is just the numbness wearing off."

"Transform, what?" Your head still has a bit of fuzz in it.

"Transfurmation." Puro clarified. "It's what happens when a Latex, gets you. They either become more like you, or you become more like them."

Your attention drifts to Colin. "Aren't you a-, how do you know what that feels like?" Puro gives a concerned look to Colin, like it was a sensitive topic for him. Colin sighs.

"Because I used to be Human."

She thought that white wolf was familiar. The sound of his voice, the color of his eyes. He was still no fun at all, even after being transfurred. Now he and that masked brute were playing keep away with a new human! A human that hurt her! Oh she was certainly gonna get them back for this! But for now, she'd have to leave.

Approaching the spire she bounded inside and called for her new friend.

"Mrao~!"

Metal wings flapped as her new friend landed, rubbing her eyes and looked at her.

"Mmm. Hello Snowball, it's too early for me." J gave her a gentle scratch under her chin, leaving her purring happily. "Geez you smell like you've been electrocuted. Have you been chewing on live cables or something?"

Snowball gave her a pleading look. She was electrocuted! She leapt back and began miming the events.

...

"We really need to work on your communication skills. The only real thing I understood was that you were, attacked?" J reached into her pockets and produced a piece of paper and a pen. "Can I get that in writing?"

Oh yes she can! Oh, you're teachings will come back to bite you Puro! Snowball furiously wrote down everything.

Once she was done she confidently handed it back to J.

"You were 'ataked' by a, 'Hummen'? At the, 'Pakk'?" Snowball nodded aggressively. "I, see. Well I'll have someone to deal with that, later, you're the only one who can really go out during the day remember?"

Snowball rubbed up against J. Purring louder than ever before. "Settle down. Your boss has to get some sleep." J hopped back up to the ceiling and hung from it, wrapping her wings around herself.

She'd show them! But for now, a nap in the sun didn't sound like a bad idea.

Chapter Text

The streets were mostly empty except for the occasional vehicle blocking them, fortunately they had given this little explorer the perfect chance to test out their newest upgrades. Cat's Paw's shoulders clicked as they rolled their neck, they slowly put their hands on the ground to brace. *T-chk* *T-chk* The central paw pads on the bottoms of their feet clicked and two spheres popped out. They pumped their legs to test them out, feeling them roll like the trackball of a mouse, before using their toes to keep them from rolling as they stood back up, and kicked off to roll down the street. 

The movement was similar to wearing roller-skates. They swerved past one car, grabbed onto a nearby sign to make a quick turn around the corner, and leapt over another piece of debris with a stylish pirouette. That quickly ended in a face plant.

*Thunk!*

They shook their head, clearly some more practice was needed before any new tricks were performed. They pushed themself back up and continued to roll down the street. Their visual sensors taking photos of any notable landmarks. Before suddenly coming across an obstruction, a massive truck was on it's side, blocking the road.

"Hmmm, that will take some time and force to move." Cat's Paw thought aloud. "I should ask The Doctor to provide a heavy lifting unit for this task."

A metallic chittering roar suddenly sounded, followed by a chorus of others. A Raptor Machine quickly crept on top of the truck and roared at them. The Prototype decided it was best to attempt to communicate with these machines.

"Hello! I am not familiar with your model or function. Could you please assist me with moving this truck out of the way?"

The flash from a beacon on top of the raptor's head suddenly caused their vision to short out. [ERROR: Visual Sensors Overloaded. Rebooting....] "Oh my!" Cat's Paw was left completely blind, their eyes a persistent loading screen. The raptor's screeching was coming closer, the sound of their claws scraping against the ground being the only indication of how close they were getting. Cat's Paw felt the metal jaws of one bite down on it's arm.

"Please! Stand down! Activating Countermeasures!" Their body coursed with an electric charge, shocking and discouraging the raptor currently gnawing on their arm. It yelped and backed off, at least that's what it sounded like. More of them were approaching, their roars and flashing sounds were all around Cat's Paw.

Their hands remained outstretched, the paw pads on them glowing bright and generating an electric charge. Another raptor charged, this time however Cat's Paw was ready for it. They spun around and thrust an electric paw at the sound of the approaching raptor, as their hand made contact a harsh electric buzz dispensed to ward off the attack. They heard another one coming from behind, they spun back around to shock that one too. This task was getting hard without visual input. Suddenly a new sound came through, almost like the sound of an electric current flowing.

Cat's Paw turned their head to the source of the sound. Footsteps could be heard. Very, VERY fast footsteps! Too fast for a human. The sound akin to a tesla coil firing off, followed by the shrieks of four raptors and something metal smacking against them.

"Ooh, today must not be your lucky day dino-bots!" A voice buzzing with excitement cheers. More electric sounds, akin to lightning shoot out as more raptors roar and charge this stranger. Cat's Paw tries their best to keep a directional lock on him, but his movement is fast.

"Hey Script Kitty! Duck!" Cat's Paw obliges, and a close discharge of energy passes over their head, causing their audio input to briefly fill with static. The raptor's calls start to become more distant and frightful, their tracks indicating their retreat.

Cat's Paw tries to reorient to face their savior, but feels themself be turned around by hand. "My visual sensors are still rebooting. I cannot see you."

"Still? Maybe I should have a look." Something metal clicked, and a sharp point pressed itself into the side of Cat's Paw's head. "Oof, looks like that flashy bit boot-looped your eyes. Yeah that's not gonna fix itself on it's own like this. Hold still." Their visuals returned to the sight of a strange creature, humanoid in form but far from it. "There we go. How's that?"

"Thank you stranger." Cat's Paw began to check their databank to find a creature matching the one standing before him. The scan came up with nothing familiar. "Hmm. You don't show up in our files, who and what are you?"

"Just another guy doing his part to save mankind from the Drone Menace! The name's Volt!" He held his hand out, a clear gesture for a handshake.

"I am Cat's Paw Mark 2.5, Thunder Science's helping hand." Cat's Paw held his hand and a light electric current buzzed between them. They returned the gesture with a zap of their own, surprising Volt as their hands separated, getting a chuckle out of him. "Whoa! Ha! I see you're trained in the ancient art of the Joy-Buzzer technique as well! So what's a thing like you doing out here?"

"I am currently field testing my latest upgrades, but I also have a task from Doctor K to capture and return as many samples that have escaped the facility."

Volt moved to the left in the blink of an eye. "You're on a capture mission huh? This doctor fella got you catching mice?" He suddenly held their face close to his. "Oh, oh! Please tell me he says 'Well well well look what the cat dragged in' when you deliver things!"

"Potentially, Variegated Samples come in many species so it's highly possible some of them take the form of rodents."

Volt looks up to the sky. "Well you're probably not gonna want to search for them at night, Murder Drones will probably tear you to pieces." Ah, right. According to the Doctor this was a new hazard that destroyed the previous instance.

"Perhaps you know a place I can remain until sunrise?"

Volt snapped his fingers. "Oh I know a place, got a group there too so even if a drone decides to visit they'll be in for a fight." He gestured for them to follow. "Race you there!" Suddenly energy surged through him and Volt broke into a sprint. Cat's Paw's rollers activated again as they followed suit, if he wanted to race there then they'd certainly try to keep up.

Excalibur spun his blade, tapping against the hilt. Another warframe, Mag took a few steps towards him. "How's the leg?"

Excalibur grunted. "Well it's not disintegrating that's for sure, but Trinity said I should keep any unnatural strain off of it for a while." Carefully he pushed himself off the chair. "Anything from the others yet?" Mag simply shrugged.

"Why do you think she came back?" Mag levitated a set of metal cards with her powers, twisting and folding them around like they were made of paper. "J's whole squad left earth one day, and now she's the only one who came back. Where's the others?"

"I haven't the foggiest." Excalibur admitted. "From what she told me during our brief fight, she just had 'special orders', judging from the fact she's the only smart drone here I can guess things must've gone wrong. But whether or not that's true is hardly what matters right now. She's waking the other drones back up, the war is about to start again. Only this time there's more players, more teams."

"More teams?" Before another question could be asked the doors opened as Volt returned.

"Welcome to our hideout, Hollvania Central Mall. It's not much but it keeps us safe." Sounds like they were giving a tour, but to who?

"Volt, did you find-?" Excalibur was expecting another warframe, maybe a human, maybe even Simon. But the cat robot that came side by side with him caught him by more than surprise. Whatever Excalibur was going to ask was quickly dropped in place of a "-What the hell?"

"Hello there!" The bot gave a friendly wave and a swish of it's holographic tail. "I am Cat's Paw Mark 2.5."

Excalibur gave an incredulous look at Volt. "It followed me home, can we keep it?" He asked like a kid with a puppy he picked up off the street.

"I, where did you-"

"Actually I cannot stay with you, I still have a task to preform, I am only here due to the apparent hazards traveling at night provides."

"Rats, I'd love to have a little robot friend by our side."

Excalibur was getting little time to process what was happening in the slightest. "Volt! Where, did you find this robot?"

"Oh, right. I was just going for a run, when I got spotted by a couple of raptor-bots!" What. "I found out the hard way they had this weird headlight, flashy thing. It made it hard to see, so I ran from that group and ran into another pack that was antagonizing our little kitty friend over here. Fought them off, and now we're here!"

"There are raptor robots now?" Even Mag seemed to think that was a stretch.

Excalibur decided it was best to focus on the robot staring at them right now. "Alright, Volt, we'll take a look at this thing and let it stay here for the night."

Volt let out an excited "Woo!" and bolted off to the arcade. Excalibur then turned his attention back to the cat-bot. "Alright then, 'Cat's Paw', what exactly are you? Cause I've never seen JCJ make a drone like you before."

Cat's Paw turned around to show a label on their back. "Oh, I am not a product of JCJenson, my model is unique, and only available to personnel of the Thunder Science Company."

TSC, that same damn logo like on the truck. "Didn't you say there was a human you met with that logo on them Excalibur?" Mag asked.

"Yes, but it wasn't his outfit. I hardly know Thunder Science as a company, but I have been recognizing their handiwork more ever since the visit to Everview. Something they made got out, something alive."

Cat's Paw's screen flickers to a speaker icon and a recorded message is played. *"With the power in the cabins deactivated and the sudden crash landing a multitude of Samples have escaped the facility. Your task is to find and re-capture as many as you can find. You have been provided with equipment modifications to make this task easier. Good luck Prototype, you'll need it."*

"What's a Sample?" Mag asks, Excalibur probably would have too back at the truck if he had the time for it. "You're calling it a Sample but it sounds like you're equipped to catch something that's running away. Are we talking about a creature or some science in a jar?"

Excalibur was about to bring up the dragon he and Simon encountered before Cat's Paw spoke first. "Technically, Samples are a residue, a Liqui-form Agent Transfurmative VIA External Contact Substance. However as the samples have been made more complex it has essentially become a life form of it's own."

"I'm guessing the answer to that question is, yes?"

Before any more questions could be shared the PA system started blaring loud static. Excalibur groaned. "Volt, quit messing with the PA, we don't have time for it tonight."

But Volt was right there, seemingly looking at the speakers in equal bewilderment. "I'm not doing that! I was just gonna ask why the speakers are on!"

Trinity shouted from her station. "We can't have that racket playing all night, it'll draw too much attention!"

Cat's Paw's ears swiveled around like radar dishes. It then pinged and pointed straight up. "Disturbance detected, something is causing interference on the roof!"

Excalibur gestured to Mag and Volt. "Volt, Mag, you're with me! Trinity, make sure the cat stays here! If we find out it's responsible I'm having Mag crush it like a tin can!" His gaze shifts to Cat's Paw with that warning. "Don't try anything!"

With that the squad ran for the roof.

Cat's Paw's expression displayed worry, Trinity put a hand on their shoulder. "Don't fret gato, Excalibur's just a bit on edge. I don't believe something like you could cause trouble."

The holographic fur on them became jagged and spikey. "That is not what I am worried about, I have been running repeated scans of the disturbance. It is coming from an entity of an Alarming Size."

The three stood at the door to the roof, weapons drawn. Excalibur kicked the door open and all three of them were met with a massive serpentine mass. A twisted mesh of synthetic material, coiled around an antenna on the roof. As is shifts to face them it's head is revealed to be the warped remains of a Drone. It let out a glitchy shriek as it's hollow underside erupted with a mass of tendrils and bladed limbs.

"WHAT ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH IS THAT?!" Volt's Amprex sparked as it fired a beam of lightning towards the creature as it's talons lunged for him.

"Clearly not friendly! Take it out!" Mag and Excalibur Opened fire. The monstrosity shrieked as it flailed it's tendrils, before snaking down from the antenna and attempting to sink it's jagged teeth into Mag. She thrust her hands forward and grasped at it with her powers, then slamming it's head to the ground. She aimed her Burston rifle at it's head but was quickly smacked aside by a claw. Catching herself as she fell, she focused a magnetic bubble around it's head. "That should make shooting it easier! Take it down!" The others followed, as bullets his the orb their trajectory was altered to hit the head specifically. The Aberration unfurled a mess of barbed tendrils primed to skewer her.

"Over here ugly!" Volt zipped in front of the monster and threw a few lightning bolts at it to draw attention. When it's claws shot forward he accelerated and rolled to the side in the blink of an eye. "You missed!" To rub salt in the wound Volt then stuck his Whip Blade into it's wrist and hooked the whip around a joint, pulling it closer until it was bent at an angle the joint couldn't bend, causing it to snap. It shrieked and redirected the tendrils to stab at Volt instead, who kept speeding past them as he ran circles around it. As it tried to coil around to block his path with it's body Volt suddenly stopped and released a burst of electricity.

The snake recoiled at the sudden shock, electricity coursing through it, causing it to spasm and twitch uncontrollably. Excalibur thrust his blade into the ground, causing several smaller glowing blades to materialize and stab into the serpent's length. A tendril shot for him, but he simply slashed it, splitting it at the tip. Excalibur then continued to drag the blade through the length of the rest of the tendril, before another set of claws shot for him. Excalibur drew his Exalted Blade and swung hard, slicing the monster's body off. As it collapsed, the rest of the body slowly fell off the roof to the ground.

"That takes care of that." Excalibur dispelled his blade as the others regrouped with him.

"I still have no clue what THAT is though. Why does it have Murder Drone parts?" Volt poked it with the 'barrel' of his Amprex. With a flex of his wrist Volt's Parazon deployed. "You know I've always been tempted to see what goes on in those thing's heads-"

"Don't!" Excalibur interrupted and pulled Volt's arm back down. "That is an Aberration, aka what happens when Solver Auto Repair malfunctions. The only program in that thing's head is the Solver itself. If you tamper with it, it could light up the heads of every other drone out there!"

Volt insists on getting to mess with it. "What if I can reverse it? Make it target other Drones instead?"

*Click* "Uh, guys!?" Mag calls. "It's getting back up!" A spiked appendage slams between Volt and Excalibur, knocking both of them to the ground. The Bisected Aberration hoists itself off the ground like a spider. Excalibur draws his rifle, but a claw slashes it out of his hands and pins him to the floor. Excalibur tries to draw his Exalted Blade but the talon tightens it's grip on him.

Mag magnetized it's joints and crumpled them, causing it to buckle and tumble. Tendrils suddenly lashed out from it's 'mouth' and scratched at her. Volt suddenly leapt on top of it, causing it to thrash around to try to throw him off. Volt stabbed his Parazon into the side of it's head, the Aberration's warped screen displaying lines of code as it started thrashing harder. "Whoa whoawhoawhoa!"

[DATA BREACH DETECTED! EMERGENCY PINGING ADMINISTRATOR!]

The flailing mess of limbs practically hung itself upside down, leaving volt hanging on by his Parazon, the Aberration's claws trying to grab at him. "YIKES! Someone kill it!"

Excalibur quickly stood back up and drew his Blade, charging it with energy and swinging in a wide arc, sending a wave of energy soaring towards it. The wave sliced through it's carapace like a hot knife through butter, as it fell Excalibur dashed forward and thrust the blade into it's head. The aberration writhed and twitched as it's form started to glow a bright yellow, before the rest of it's form collapsed into a singularity and dissipated.

Mag slowly stood back up. "That, that means it's dead right?" Excalibur gave her a silent nod.

"Volt? Tell me you didn't just call the Absolute Solver on that thing."

Volt looked at his Parazon, seemingly lost in thought. "Well, it called for someone, but not the solver itself. Does anybody know a 'DarkXwolf17'?"

Mag simply shrugged. Excalibur pushed himself up but kept a hand on his thigh as pain shot through it. "Fffff- Slash Dash was a bad idea. Trinity's gonna be pissed."

They made their way back inside.

A lone pudding clung to the ceiling, movement was hard. But it wasn't alone in this building. A figure quickly rushed inside, standing directly below the slime. Now was it's chance.

It dropped down and landed on the figure's head, engulfing it quickly. The figure squirmed, it's claws swiping at it as it enveloped more and more of it, a bit of a strange host but at this point it was too late to escape.

Once it was completely covered the Latex's form began to shift, feline features emerged from it's formless white shape. They opened their eyes, finally, a host of their own. So this was what it felt like? Their body finally had enough mass to stay solid, it felt amazing. All that energy fueling it was making it all warm and tingly.

Warm. and, Hot. Hot. HOT! They clutched at their chest, it was Burning! Something was wrong with this host! They pawed at their stomach, patting themself down as though they were on fire! Their form was SIZZLING! It hurts! IT HURTS!

They opened their mouth as a gurgling scream of pain escaped their throat, along with a silvery tentacle. More silver started to burn it's way across their form, their hands, their tail, across their stomach like a gash. It was too much! They were practically tearing themself open just to stop the burning! The more they tore open the more of that hot silver appeared across their form.

IT BURNS! IT BURNS IT BURNS IT BURNS! IT, BURNS! It-It. It.....

......

Slowly the silver stained cat pushed themself back to their feet, the hot silver pooling back into place, all over it's hands, in stripes across their body, across their tail and marking it's tip.

They looked at their hands, the tips of their fingers liquifying into sharp blades. They smiled, a wide, pointy grin.

They, Felt, Incredible.

Chapter Text

[BEGINNING MEMORY PLAYBACK]

It surged through the second floor, after the human fell through it. It sunk it's claws into his shoulders and was ready to feast.

"Get off of him!" Suddenly it was grasped around the neck by a creature it couldn't see clearly. It tried to reorient itself But it was getting held back, another creature was holding it's tail. By the time it broke free and resumed it's assault on the human it was threatened by the encroaching daylight, it switched to it's machine gun to finish this fight, only to be once again intercepted by the wolves. They tore it in half and left it for dead, a grave error. While they were distracted it bit down onto the black one's hand and refused to let go.

"ACK! Colin! It's still alive and it's really bitey!"

"Hold on!" They ripped it off the hand, so it turned it's attention to the wolf holding it. Swinging claws and snapping teeth, only for a tight grip on it's head to twist it.

*CRACK*

[YOU'RE DEAD]

[IDIOT] [REBOOTING...]

Systems reactivate, as the drone leaps back up. It's last encounter with a human and two strange creatures proved more challenging than it seemed. It's sensors highlighted a trail leading outside. The bike was in less pieces than it left it in, and there was a puddle of black residue, analyzing the substance confirmed a match with one of the creatures. It's sensors began to pick up a trail, tracks in the dirt. 

As you all move through the city, a thought comes to mind. "Hey, didn't you say Dark Latex could feel when their goop is disturbed?"

"Yup." Puro looks back at you. "We don't really have good eyesight, everything's pretty blurry and it gets worse the further away it gets." Puro is, Near-sighted? "So we had to adapt other ways of finding-" He cuts himself off. "Things..."

"You were about to say humans, weren't you?" He almost looks ashamed. "Y-Yeah..." Admittedly the revelations that you were essentially a prey animal for these beasts still unnerved you, even if the ones you were with are nicer than others.

Regardless you look back at your walking stick, and give the bulb a squeeze.

"Have you been feeling whenever I squeeze on this thing?"

"I don't think that's how that works." Colin answers. "More like stepping on a puddle in their turf alerts any and every wolf, dragon or whatever, to your current location. Like a tripwire."

That might explain the dragon in Everview, the whole room was coated in the gunk and it started stirring the second you set foot in there. "So, lets say a room is covered floors to walls with black goo, would I be able to hide in that room?"

"No, the second you set foot in that room they're all on high alert, they might not see you directly but they'd still know you're in the room. I've been there, the only thing that kept me from being swarmed was that the creatures I ran into were more intent on 'playing' with me."

Knowing what that Snow Leopard was doing with you, you can guess 'playing' implied Transfur-adjacent mischief. Which does remind you, it seemed they knew each other. "What's the history you have with that leopard thing? Old friends? Partners?"

Puro grunts and rolls his eyes. "When I was still like my kin, another Latex looking for a host, I used to live with the snow leopards in the maintenance tunnels. She and her brother were interested with what I could teach them. It wasn't much of a friendship, but it was something. Then I found a, sus-pen-shun, tank on the higher floors, with a Human inside it." He looks at Colin. "Back then I had considered transfurring him myself, but after a while of talking, it just wasn't feeling right to me anymore. The Leopards didn't have that feeling though, and I saw the sister chasing Colin through the vents..."

The vents were tight, but so long as his mask could fit inside, so could the rest of Puro. It was just like any other day until a thud reverberated through the vents. Puro looked through to see the Human! Flat on his face and pushing himself back up, suddenly he whipped around as something else hit the floor. The Human took off running as a grey blur was sprinting after him!

A Snow Leopard?! No! Puro scrambled through the vents to get ahead, just when she was inches away from grabbing him the human dropped a box from a stack on her, he then dove away as more boxes fell on top of the leopard. As he turned he looked into the vents and locked eyes.

"Puro?!"

"Don't just stand there Human! RUN!"

The Snow Leopard stumbled out of the box pile, the Human continued to run as fast as his legs could carry him. Thankfully he managed to escape, but she was not happy with this.

Puro had seen enough, and thumped against the vents to draw her attention. "Hey! What are you doing?" She lowered her head to be face to mask in the vents with him. "I thought told you, chasing humans like that scares them!"

The Snow Leopard gave an annoyed "Mrraow." As if to say. But he was right there! It would be so easy!

Puro pulled himself out of the vent as he spoke. "I know it's tempting, I feel that, but I also feel like there could be a better option! It's always chasing! What if we could just, ask for a host?"

She gave a skeptical chuff. As if he'd agree to that. They're all scared of us already!

"You don't know that! I don't know that either, because we've never asked them before! Maybe he wouldn't agree, maybe he will! I don't know, which is why I want to TALK with him first!"

"Chff, Mrrao~." It's more fun this way~.

More, fun? Something about that just made Puro, angry. "More fun?! Maybe for you! The Human was terrified! If you were human would you run if I tried to transfur you?!"

...

Puro's own words stuck with him more than the leopard. If I were a human, would I run? He looked at his own hands. If I were, The Human...

He sighed, and moved to crawl back into the vents. "I'm going to speak with him some more, stop chasing him." and with that he slid back into the vents.

"I decided to come with Colin instead to see the outside world." A smile perks up on Puro's face. "It feels like it's been worth it, I get to see new places, learn new things, it's beautiful." That smile shifts to one of concern. "But, with her, she's clearly not happy to see us again. And something's different with her, last I saw her she wasn't wearing a bell."

Colin agrees. "That is new, I was thinking maybe K put a bell on her, but I have a feeling he wouldn't want a Latex that eager to transfur the first human she sees outside in the first place."

K, where have you heard that before?

Your trains of thought are quickly derailed as you hear a reptilian trilling noise. A robotic lizard sprints up to you and emits a bright flash. It's pretty harsh to look at, but it's mostly annoying.

"GAH! That thing again?" Colin rubs his eyes. "What the hell are those things and why do they keep flashing us?!" 

"No clue on either side, all it's really doing is pissing me off." As it gets closer to you it suddenly skids to a halt, all six of it's eyes focusing on you. Your hand instinctively draws your Plinx. "Don't try anything!" It slowly creeps up to you, trilling curiously. Another distant roar draws it's attention and it quickly bolts off, giving you another flash as it leaves. "If they're not dead already, I'm gonna kill whoever designed those things."

"We're not gonna follow it are we?" Colin asks. "When Puro and I chased down one at the warehouse it tried to rip my throat out. I'm not sure how good we'll be in a fight against multiple of these things."

"Don't worry, I might have a plan."

Approaching the source of the roaring you saw a massive gathering of these dino-droids, clawing and circling a mound with a gilded door, a pattern of the Entrati Corporation no doubt.

From a distance, you observe.

"Look at them all!" Puro exclaims. "I don't think we'd win this kind of fight."

"We're not gonna fight them." You pull your Plinx out and aim it at a car in the distance. "I'm thinking we make more noise somewhere else to draw their attention. I'm betting even robo-raptors would investigate that car blowing up, you two think I can make that shot?"

...

"Me neither, let's find out!" *Click-* *POW!* The force of that shot was MUCH more than you were expecting as you stumble backwards. Colin manages to catch you. "What kind of handgun is that?!" In the distance you hear an explosion, Success! The swarm was quickly bolting away from the door.

"Well, that works for us. Let's take a look." Walking closer you find it's definitely a door to something Entrati Corp. related. Puro presses against the door and tries to push it open, but the door hardly moves. He winds up and bashes his shoulder against it. *Thunk!* "Ow! It won't budge, doors like this usually say they need paw-mission don't they?"

You can't help but snicker at Puro's wording. "It's Per-mission. But yeah, I'd assume if this is something important they'd keep a key or password to open it. I don't see a terminal or anything though." You rub your hand against your chin. "Maybe it has to be opened from the inside, can one of you squeeze through the crack in the door and find a button inside?"

Colin walks up to the door. "I'll try. I don't have a mask, so I could probably fit right under it." Colin presses his hands against the seam in the door, liquifying them and trying to leak through, a bead of latex slides down the side of his head like sweat as he puts more effort into it. "It's-! Really tight-!" He tries going under the door next, but it produces the same effect. Colin pools his mass back together and reforms his arms. "It's practically air tight! Whatever is on the other side of that door, they don't want anyone getting in!" He winds up and give the door a spiteful kick. *CLONG*

!!!

You all RECOIL in horror as a roar, somewhere between a growling beast and a man screaming in rage echoes from within. Colin jolts back with his tail curled up against his stomach and Puro drops down on all fours with his fur standing on end. They looked at each other in a silent recognition that whatever was on the other side of that door was clearly NOT human. "Call it a hunch..." You speak up, your voice hushed. "But I think this door isn't just to keep anyone from getting in. It's to keep some, THING from getting out! I say we leave this well enough alone, and hope nobody else tries to open it." You all slowly back off and walk as far as you can from pandora's box.

You crack your neck, everything was getting pretty sore. As the sun gets lower in the sky you stop at the remnants of a cafe and take the weight off your good leg. "God my leg hurts, and not the bad one this time."

Colin tells Puro something, but you didn't really catch what was said. Puro then enters the employee only door and Colin moves to rest with you. His eyes glance at 'your' badge. "I think you've got the wrong nametag."

"I never said I worked with TSC, I just woke up in a room, found a guy who'd seen better days and decided I'd rather be wearing a dead man's outfit than the shorts they provided me."

"I'd say you dodged a bullet there, I learned TSC boobytrapped their test subject's 'clothes' with something. No idea how or with what, I never found out and I'd rather keep it that way. The only things I've read about it are code names, 'Gleipnir' and 'Ouroboros' formation." 

Who the hell boobytraps PANTS?! It was almost funny. "If I ever end up in a TSC lab I'll have to remember to not wear pants then." That got a chuckle out of Colin.

The employee's door opened as Puro reemerged, he moved over to the front door and spread a layer of latex onto the ground like a welcome mat. "What's that for?" Puro gives you a wink. "Trip-wire, if anyone comes through the doors I'll feel it." He then reaches through his tail for something and produces a book, a case with colored pencils inside, and a small bag with a drawing of his mask on it. As Puro begins to draw something Colin takes a peek inside the bag. "Hmm, I hope you brought something for yourself. Latex don't eat as much as humans need to so we're not carrying much."

"I think I'll be fine." You pull a few bars out of your bag and scarf them down. "If things get low I can visit the Fae Court Garden." Colin tilts his head, right he probably doesn't know. "There's a pair of Warframes that are maintaining a place to grow food in case human survivors are found. I haven't been there myself yet but I've heard they're kind."

You all just take this moment to unwind, as the sun goes down your eyes glance to a drawing in Puro's book. The sketch resembles him but larger, sitting confidently on a chair like it was a throne. "Cute drawing, is that you?"

"Oh, that's not me. It's the Wolf King. I may be big but if we stood next to each other." Puro flips to a different page, showcasing a drawing of himself standing next to the bigger wolf. The difference in size is staggering. "Dark Latex come in two different forms, Wolves and Dragons. He leads the Wolves, on the other hand, there's the Elder." He flips to another drawing, this one showing off a MASSIVE dragon sitting in a patch of green crystals, with a tiny puro by comparison in his lap. "He commands the Dragons."

"That's still a Latex?! How'd they get so BIG?!"

"Well, most latex function off of a host system. When the host is subsumed it gives them energy, this makes them stronger, bigger, and it lets them live longer. Alternatively when they transfur a human they can take the energy and split it, half of it stays with the human to sustain their new form, the rest of it goes to the latex and gives them more strength."

Oh, by that logic the Elder and the Wolf King were experts in catching humans. "Ah... I'd hate to be the poor guy caught by one of those things." ...Actually. Colin was human once right? "What happens to the host? Do they die from that? Are they just, fluffy now? You seem okay." Colin explains and pulls out a set of photos, they're all numbered and show a man on a table with an IV in his arm. "Mine was a little more, specialized. It took longer than most transfurs and I was unconscious for most of the process." Through the photos the man slowly transforms, into a familiar white wolf. "This serum is new by comparison, I think it's the most safe way to transfur someone."

"Safe?" You ask. Colin winces at the question, you get a feeling you're not going to like the answer. "Well, it affects the mind too and that's where it gets, tricky, they're usually still alive but most of the time people who are transfurred lose a bit of their self. They might forget a few things like memories or names, their personality might shift or merge with the latex that turned them, worse case scenario is the latex actively suppresses their consciousness."

"Oh, oh I don't like that." Puro nods. "Most latex agree. There's only one real breed that does suppress host minds, and they unsettle the other latexes. Not even my kind would wipe the mind of a host, they may end up a bit different but not completely erased." Colin actively shudders. "The Light Latex's Hivemind still gives me the creeps."

"Light, Latex?"

"Yeah, Light Latex are the supposed 'Upgrade' compared to Dark Latex. They don't have masks or crystals so they don't have a weak spot, but they also tend to be a little more on the liquid side. Most of them follow a Hivemind so when they transfur you, they basically brainwash you. I think they're the creepiest latex I've ever had to face."

You look past Colin and Puro keeps talking. "They're pretty invasive too, if a pack isn't forced back they'll move in and take that territory as their own."

"Uh huh, I'm guessing they get that name because they're all white, slightly translucent?"

You point behind them. You all watch as a large mass of glowing white ooze seeps out of a vent on the ceiling, *PLOP* *Plop plop* The formless goo slowly reshapes itself into a vaguely humanoid shape, two other blobs converge on it's form and three faceless canine heads morph on top of it's shoulders. It's mouths open as a slimy tongue slips out of it's center head, strands stretching from it's lips.

*Glllrrrrrroooaaaaaah.*

"Y-Yeah." Puro, reluctantly confirms. "Like, that."

The three headed beast gurgles and shambles towards you. You draw your Plinx and fire at the central head, causing it to stumble backwards as the shot to the head quickly reforms. It growls in response and suddenly it splits into three separate beasts. Puro grabs onto one of them and slams them against a table, Colin picks up a chair and swings with it, smacking a wolf and splattering it across the ground, the pieces of it slowly pooling back together. You fire two more times at the latex approaching you, taking one of it's legs out and causing it to crawl at you slowly. "Is there any way to put these things down?"

"There is, but I don't think I can bring myself to do it!" Colin admits, rushing over with the chair in hand and skewering the crawling light latex with it. Colin then scoops up the rest of it's form and throws it to the door of the cafe. The beast Puro is wrestling with tries to strike at his mask, and in a startling method of retaliation, Puro bites into it's neck and thrashes the beast into a formless blob. He then takes massive chunks off the blob and begins to- "Is he-? Oh- oh that's- eugh!" shovel multiple handfuls of goo, into his mouth. This was horrifically disgusting to watch. Colin flinches as the mass lets out a startled squeal. "Yeah... Latex can eat each other sometimes. It's not pretty."

Puro finished when the mass stopped squirming, swallowed hard and hit his chest as he grunted. "S-Sorry you had to see that... Above you Simon!" You look up just in time to see one of the latexes creeping along the ceiling, ready to drop itself on top of you. Colin pushes you out of the way and the beast lands on him instead, they practically tie themselves into a knot as the beast tries to grab at you while Colin holds it back. As the beast opens it's slimy jaws to bite into him you thrust your shock baton into it's mouth, causing it to yelp and slither back to the other beast. The light latexes merge back together into a two headed wolf, snarling and knocking the tables and chairs aside.

"Uh, I can't say I blame you if you don't, but could you make room for seconds there Puro?!" Puro hiccupped. "I don't think I could manage that, we'll have to either fight them off or try to escape!" Puro grabs a table and chucks it at the two headed beast! It hoists the table back up and rips it apart. "Colin! Get Simon somewhere safe! I'll buy you some time!" Colin sticks by your side as you both make a break for it, the sounds of Puro tussling with the beast still filling the space.

"You sure Puro's gonna be alright?!"

"We've been through something like this before, there were more light latex back then, this is just two of them." Colin looks back as a heavy thud echoes through the cafe. "Besides, last time he saved me from an ambush from those things, they ignored him and-"

Before Colin's sentence could finish something crashed through the back exit. A Murder Drone had made it's entrance, an, oddly familiar murder drone actually. That jacket, those headphones, the sunglasses, this was the drone you all fought at the house! "YOU AGAIN?!" You shout in surprise. "Puro and I ripped you to pieces-! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU JUST GOT BACK UP?!" Colin shared your surprise, you both ducked for cover as machine gun fire filled the kitchen.

"We have to get away from that thing!" Colin looks back at the doorway to the entrance, another set of chairs and table shrapnel flew past as growling from Puro and the beast could barely be heard over the stream of gunfire. "I need a clearer shot!"

You both are left to think of something to distract it, Colin taps your shoulder and points up at a light fixture above the drone. "There! Shoot that!" You think you get the plan, as your Plinx fired another heavy round- (you swear the kickback on these things isn't usually this bad-) that strikes the lights, the ceiling starts to collapse over the drone, causing it to cease firing as it's wings come up to protect itself from the rubble. You both make a break for the cafe entrance, the drone pushes the rubble off and fires blindly towards you. Most of the bullets hit the doorway, but some of them still manage to hit you, especially in the leg, causing you to drop to the ground.

"FUCK! Th-That was my good leg!" Colin grabs and drags you aside, before moving to shove a table against the door. Everything hurts.

Suddenly Puro flies through the air and slams into Colin! The light latex growls, one of it's heads turns to you and it gets a hungry not-look on it's face. "HEY! You want that human, you gotta get through us!" Puro shouts, as he and Colin stand back up.

Suddenly the door (And you by proxy) get thrown off it's hinges and launched as the murder drone bashes it aside with a violent slam! You were thrown across the room and your head slams against a table- *THWACK*

"SIMON!" Colin runs over to the human, the drone aims to shoot them both! But suddenly, the Light Latex beast lunges at it and throws off it's aim! Puro runs over to check up on the human, he wouldn't get up but he was at least still breathing. "Simon wake up! This is a terrible place to pass out!" Colin kept shaking him, there was a sound of something charging up. "DUCK!" Puro shouted. They ducked just in time as a beam of energy swept through the cafe, the drone and the beast were locked in combat now, but getting caught in the crossfire was definitely a risk.

"We have to get out of here!"

"What do we do with Simon?! If he's left here he'll either be assimilated in his sleep, or just KILLED!" Another gargle from the light beast as it slammed the drone against a wall. "I could carry him but that would slow us down! Unless I-"

"Take his gun! I got the body!" Puro had an idea, though Simon wouldn't like it at all. Puro carefully hoisted his limp body up, and slowly pushed him inside his chest. "I-If I carry him like this-!" Simon's limbs were slowly engulfed in Puro's own, the weight of carrying someone on the inside wasn't any less than carrying them in his arms, but at least the pressure from inside would help slow the bleeding. The taste of his blood in Puro's mouth wasn't fun though.

"Is that safe?! I know you wouldn't just- But will he be able to breathe in there?!" Colin kept his hands on Simon's head. Right, humans need to breathe, Puro's chest hollowed out like a bubble, and finally his head was safely packed away. A mechanical screech came from the drone as it was caught between the now separated latex, as they squeezed tight against it and smothered it in their form, it's stinger was flailing around like mad, stabbing into anything it could wildly. "I don't want to wait around to see who wins this fight!"

With that they both ran as far as they could from that cafe, and from the aggressive fight happening inside, there was a gargling shriek as they left.

They couldn't stay outside for too long, Simon said the drones come out at night.

"There! The mall! We can hide there!" Colin pointed at a large building, that would have to do. "Come on!" They made their way to the door, a shutter was down. Puro grabbed at it and with some difficulty, hoisted it up for them to get in. He dropped the shutter back down and exhaled. Carrying a human inside himself and hoisting up a metal curtain at the same time was physically taxing.

"Ok I think we can-," Colin was having a hard time catching his breath. "I think you can let him out now." Puro almost did, until he picked up an unfamiliar scent. "Wait, something else is here, not a latex, it's almost human, but there's something wrong with it." Before he had any time to determine what it was, two figures took at step into view, one of them was a humanoid, thing. She was red, her body looked like it was wearing some strange outfit and had a strange looking face, no eyes or mouth, the source of the strange scent. She looked surprised to see them there. "What are those things?!"

The second figure was much more familiar, he had seen this robot before roaming the greenhouse in the tower from time to time. Colin seemed to recognize it too, he perked up instantly at the sight of it. "Cat's Paw! I thought you died!"

The Prototype blipped and jovially walked up to them. "Subject recognized, Greetings Colin! I had not been expecting to meet you again." 

"Gatito, are these the 'samples' you are looking for?" The red figure points at them. "Are we going to capture them or provide medical support? Not that I can't do both but-"

OH! Medical! "Wait! Yes! N-Not us but-!" Puro's chest liquified as he withdrew Simon. "This Human! He's hurt!"

"Oh! Give him here!" The red thing quickly hoists him up, and gestures they follow her.

Chapter Text

"Hello-" *STATIC*

K rewound the footage to get a better look at the drone responsible for the destruction of the last Cat's Paw. "I could've sworn you just sent that robot out." Lavos asked, and K answered. "This recording is from the older instance of Cat's Paw, the one you were talking with earlier was the same build, but a different instance. What I'm trying to figure out is how it was destroyed, what weapons did it use to render this unit non-functional?"

"Judging from the footage it was clearly pounced at so the weapons used would probably be for close range combat. Maybe swords or chainsaws, but I assume it was mauled so that would mean it was ripped apart with claws and teeth." K wasn't that surprised. It wasn't out of the ordinary for a Cat's Paw to return scuffed up by the occasionally rowdy sample, but this damage was clearly of higher caliber than their model was made to withstand. "What kind of weapons do those things have?"

"What don't they have?" Lavos shrugged. "None of us have figured out exactly what the extent of their arsenal is, it just seems they have the ability to deploy whatever weapons they require in that instant." Dr. K pinched his brow and groaned. "JCJenson, what the hell have you made? This might be harder than I thought, Thunder Science doesn't have much in terms of Lethal Force. Most of our weapons are electricity based weapons designed to immobilize and capture, great for discouraging violent suspects or wrangling samples, not that useful in warfare." 

"I see." Lavos picks up a note. "Huh, I think you've got a typo in your notes. 'Latecs'." He points to the page. "That's not a typo, the samples name used to be an acronym, Liquiform Agent Transfurmative VIA External Contact Substance."

A sound rang through the building, flicking through the monitors K watched a blank white room shift as a massive creature's head morphed in the floor, a distressed expression on it's partially submerged face. "Something's stressing the Behemoth, I'll be right back. Keep an eye on the camera, if things go wrong or when I give you the order, press this button." K stood up and ran to the elevator. Lavos stared in awe at the size of the amorphous beast as it's massive form continued to panic.

Flying was different, it wasn't unheard of though, plenty of latexes had wings, plenty of them could fly... Snowball however was NOT one of them, she was a snow leopard and those generally can't fly. So safe to say being this high up was terrifying for her, even with J holding onto her as she and another robot flew through the sky. Her tail was coiled around J's torso as they flew and under no circumstances did she dare look down- OH-! She dug her claws in and held on for dear life-!

"Ah-! Snowball, easy on the claws!" J reprimanded. "I'm not gonna drop you from this height, you don't need to hold onto me that tightly." Snowball didn't want to take any chances, she might not have any bones to break but gravity rendering her a grey splat on the ground will hurt a lot! J rolled her eyes and sympathetically rubbed her hands through Snowball's fur.

Suddenly something caught her eye and they swooped down to sweet, sweet ground level. Snowball opened her eyes to the remains of a house, the faint scent of a familiar human long gone hit her nose. He was here before he ran into her, she also saw a few puddles left behind by the other not-human and Puro too.

J's attention was more focused on the pile of metal outside though. "It's missing a lot of pieces, but I do recognize this motorcycle. Excalibur was driving it at one point." Her eye suddenly blipped into a triangle with words under it, 'Prior Hazard' they read. Snowball didn't know what that meant, but J was clearly unhappy about this 'Eggs-cally-burr' thing. She stepped up to a white splat on the wall, inert latex from the not-human probably. "Are you sure you were attacked by a human?" She may have been attacked by three different things, but at least one of them was a human! She nodded and chuffed.

J kept scanning the rest of the house, before stopping as she looked up to a hole in the ceiling with glowing stuff in it. "That looks like nanite acid. Did a disassembly drone visit here?" Her screen-eyes flicked to a bunch of stuff Snowball couldn't understand, but when parts of if flickered red is clearly startled her. "Oh, Direct Connection errors don't look like that usually. Perhaps this is something more important than I thought. Thank you for bringing my attention to this Snowball." J rubbed Snowball's fluff again, leaving her purring happily. "I should probably call this one in-" J's hand switched out for a walkie-talkie.

"To any patrolling squads, be advised that we have two units in an unreadable status and unable to contact, possible D.I.A. Locate and re-establish contact."

While J was talking with other robots, Snowball suddenly picked up a different scent. It was, strange. Not latex, not a robot and probably not human. She did her best to pinpoint where it was coming from but she couldn't see it from here. She at least managed to find out the direction it was coming from but other than that she couldn't find the source. It was coming from nowhere, or, was it? Snowball squinted into the distance, suddenly her vision darkened and blurred as a form quickly dashed out of view. Was that a human? She rubbed her eyes but the, thing was gone, smell and all.

"Snowball we're leaving, grab on!" J's voice snapped her out of her stupor and- oh, she was picking her up again- SHE WAS TAKING FLIGHT AGAIN OH NO-!

"MRRRREEEEEAAAAAAOW-!"

When K opened the door to the territory there was a raucous cacophony of growling, gurgling squeals and heavy thuds as hive was in disarray. Light Branch Samples were all clutching at their heads, some were clawing at each other and others had gone completely catatonic, some of them that had eyes were crying as though they were in pain. Whatever was stressing out the Behemoth must've been affecting the entire hivemind.

K carefully tip toed past the manic tide, they didn't even react to his arrival. Eventually he came across a formation of the Behemoth, tears streaking down it's face. A distressed gurgling sob escapes it. K reached into his coat pockets, producing a canister of glowing blue liquid.

"NO! NO! CAN'T, CONTROL!" The Behemoth suddenly spoke with a hundred voices in one, two massive paws pressing it's ears flat against it's head. "FEELS, WRONG! WON'T, STOP, HURTING! WON'T, STOP, SCREAMING!" It growls in pained desperation as it tries to focus. "N-NO! STOP! OBEY! S-SUBSUME! AAAAAGH! B-BURNING!"

Is it trying to assimilate something that's fighting back? K threw the canister at the Behemoth as it cried. Once it's mouth closed the canister's outside shell clicked open and released the gel, slowly the Behemoth's movements and erratic behavior were slowing down, it's arms sunk back into the floor along with multiple other samples linked to the hivemind. Their wailing was starting to lessen, until the entire hive was silent. The Behemoth's hazy eyes focused on the doctor.

"Head, loud... New, merge, wrong... Stolen, pieces..." The tide in the floor shifts, as an appendage tries to form, but collapses back into formless goo. "Feels... N-Numb..." In all honesty K did not believe the suppressor gel would work on the Behemoth, though to be fair the usual result of it was to make them fall asleep, and all it did right now was make it sleepy. K put a hand on the tip of it's muzzle, a risky move but it wasn't in any mood to do anything nefarious at the moment.

Eventually the Behemoth's head liquified and sunk back into the floor, leaving behind an empty capsule. K picked it up and pocketed it, and made his way back. Various light samples that didn't vanish completely simply stood there or dropped onto their knees like a puppet that just had their strings cut, occasionally they twitched like they were dreaming. As K approached the door, he felt a tug on his leg, one of them was partially submerged up to it's shoulders in the floor and was holding onto his leg. 

"Gu..... H.... el....p.. Mmm....e......" Slowly, the sample's face shifted, two tired, hazy eyes peeled open. K stared in shock. The sample tried to pull itself out of the floor like it was stuck. K reached out and grab it's hand. Slowly the creature's form was pulled free. Her form was still dripping as she was being freed from the floor. 

"Take it easy now, you're probably a little disoriented, just come with me and I'll do something to help." As they made their way to the elevator K was left with several questions. Whatever had happened caused the entire hivemind an extreme amount distress, and like a human mind fracturing itself from trauma, it split one of the minds it had subsumed. But what was causing this distress to begin with?

K pulled out a communicator from his pockets. "Lavos, warm up the lab. We have a patient in need of urgent medical assistance.... Lavos?" Silence, K had a bad feeling about this. The patient gurgled tiredly as she looked at her own hands. "Lavos I have a patient who needs our help please respond!" Still nothing? "Lavos!"

The Elevator stopped at the lab, K brought the patient into a chamber and sat her down. "Stay here, I'll be with you in a bit. Try not to push yourself too hard." With that he sealed the chamber and got back to the office, checking on the cameras he saw Lavos running off to the aquatic sector, weapons drawn. "Lavos where the hell are you going?!" K shouted through the PA system. Panning to another camera he saw a thrashing form in the pool. A splashing gray shape was struggling in the water with something, something with sharp wings and claws.

J soared through the air with urgency as her eyes scanned the ground, when suddenly something shot down one of the drones following her. "Contact! Evasive maneuvers!" Her squad quickly scattered, J herself rolled through the air as she descended, Snowball loudly protested this action. Landing hard she set her eyes upon their attacker, another feline creature like Snowball, but instead it was a white tiger with silver stripes covering it's body. "This a friend of yours?" J asked, Snowball shook her head. "Well I hope you didn't get too attached to them, their contract is about to be terminated!" The remaining drones landed besides her with their weapons drawn.

Slowly the tiger turned to face them, the yellow glow in it's slitted eyes contrasting it's dark sclera. It's lips contorted into a wide smile, showing off all those sharp teeth. Snowball yowled at the sight of it and J took notice of that unease. "I take it there's something wrong with that one."

Snowball was right to be disturbed, it was clearly off, with a smell of burning rubber and static electricity. That feeling only got worse when it's palm-pad suddenly tore open into a jagged silver maw. It thrust it's hand forward and a metal spike shot out of it's hand like a spear. J brought up her wings and deflected the spike. The drones all fired missiles at this, twisted cat. It leapt past each missile and swatted others aside, then it threw out more spikes. J charged forward and thrust a claw at it's stomach, but as she got close it suddenly opened up like a trap and snapped shut onto her arm. Snowball bolted over and slashed at it's back as it wound up to strike at J's head, but instead it's fingers became long and sharp like her claws, and it twisted around to block.

Snowball hissed as it shot her a sly grin. It's tail suddenly split at the tip into another maw, Snowball grabbed it as it was inches away from burying itself between her eyes and snapping it's jaws. J wrenched her arm free of it's jaws and drawing her sword slashed at it across the neck, it brought up it's other hand and blocked that the same. They both swung and slashed at it over and over at once, as it practically danced between them, parrying and getting in a few minor strikes. When a third drone joined the fight it spun between them all and then suddenly it's silver stripes shot outward like barbs! They all leapt back to avoid the sudden pin cushioning.

"Hug~?" It spoke in a twisted, mocking tone. That looked like it would hurt, even for a slime creature like snowball. "What the hell is it made of?!" J shouted, her vision started to analyze this strange thing at a closer level. It was then J noticed a faint signal coming from it, the signal of a drone in her ranks. "CH-35H1R3, did that thing EAT them?!" It slowly walked towards Snowball, malicious intent on it's face as it's sharpened stripes reshaped and focused on it's arms, converging them into morphing it's forearms into massive blades that dragged across the ground.

The other drones suddenly leapt at the twisted tiger, clawing and shooting at it, diverting it's attention. It's blades swept and cleaved through them as it got closer, it's tail jaws piercing the screen of one drone while it's bladed arms made scrap metal out of the other. Then it turned it's attention to J, sprinting at her with a madness in it's gaze. A barrage of gunfire suddenly struck it from behind however, Snowball picked up a severed disassembly drone arm in gun form and kept up a stream of bullets. The feline foe's smile grew wider as it blocked and deflected the bullets, but J could recognize suppressing fire at this point, she had an opening, if this did eat a disassembly drone and was somehow warped from it then maybe it also had their weaknesses!

"Hey Cheshire!" J thrust her swords into it's back and out the front, it's confident smile dropping instantly as the blades ripped through. "Your prioritized the wrong issue!" She swept one of her blades up and split it in half, as it's body collapsed on the other sword was a pulsing blob of silver and white ooze. "What do we have here?" J took a closer look at the glob on her blade with equal intrigue and disgust. "It's, hideous, an absolute mess of ooze and nanites. And yet it's so strong..."

The blob suddenly started to engulf her sword, J panicked and tried to throw it off but it was creeping up her arm! Snowball suddenly bit into the glob and ripped it off, it squealed in her mouth. She quickly spat it out onto the ground however, patting her mouth like she had bitten into something incredibly hot. The puddle of the creature slowly crept back into the core and it moved to escape. Suddenly it was being pursued by a stranger in black, wielding a scythe. "You shall not leave this place!" As it squirmed and pulled more of itself back into form the stranger ran the blade of his scythe into it's chest, tearing the core out and crushing it in his hands. As sudden as his appearance he quickly vanished in a puff of smoke.

J turned to Snowball, who looked considerably shaken. "Snowball, is there something about your kind you haven't told me yet?" Snowball had a guilty look on her face.

Lavos stepped into the flooding rooms, watching as a flailing grey mass was thrown into the corner of the pool. The disassembly drone turned it's attention to him, in response it drew it's guns and unleashed a torrent of bullets at him. Lavos dove into the water and threw his hammer, as it hit the drone he prepared to apply Heat damage to his next strike. His snakes whipped forward to strike, their fangs ablaze with flame as they lashed at the staggered drone. They coiled around and bit into it's arm, it hissed as a temperature warning flashed on it's screen and it's tail flung forward to deliver a caustic sting of it's own. Lavos weaved to avoid the sting, drew his shotgun and fired at the drone, their tussle was dragging them into a grappling stalemate.

Suddenly Dr. K came running into the room. "Lavos! The Aquatic Samples! Get out of the water!" Aquatic? Lavos suddenly found himself dragged under water, looking down he saw his leg in the grasp of a humanoid Shark. It swam up to meet his face with a mischievous smile on it's face, and then suddenly it's form liquified and smothered him. Lavos grasped and pried at their formless mass to get it off but it was clinging to him rather tightly, at least it wasn't biting him but this was still not ideal. One of lavos's snakes primed with Electricity gave a discouraging electric bite to the shark, causing it to leap off of him with an annoyed expression on it's face.

Lavos resurfaced to see K wrestling with the drone, in some form of exo-suit. It's claws slashing and scratching at the suit's armored gauntlets, K wound up and slammed his fist into the side of it's head. "Do you feel pain, machine? Let's test that theory!" He maintained a tight grip on the drone's wings and tore them off, then punting it into Lavos's path. Lavos drew his sledge with a heavy wind up and swung, sending the drone careening into the wall.

As the drone splashed back into the water, a trio of grey dorsal fins emerged behind Lavos. The sharks swam past him and instead beelined for the drone. "What are they doing?" Lavos asked. "I don't know.." The sharks then grabbed the drone and hoisted it up, one of them jumped out of the water and engulfed the drone head first. "That's a Transfurmation behavior, it's taking the disassembly drone as a host." A host?. "Didn't you say latex needed a human host? How is this going to work?"

K seemed lost in thought, suddenly a look of realization came across his face. "The Bio-Robots..."

"Bio, robot?"

"Thunder Science made a set of machines for testing the effects of viruses on humans, I've recently found that a sample could parasitize to one and it would work! Do the drones have a similar build?" That reminded Lavos of his discoveries with them. "Well, as someone who has studied the disassembly drones inside and out. There are parts of them that are more organic. Synthetic flesh, parts mimicking the functions of organs. They do have something akin to a heart beat...."

This revelation seemed to disturb K.

*GWWWWWWWAAAAGH!* The shark that had subsumed the drone was pawing at itself as though it was on fire, parts of it's hide were bubbling with heat and steam was emitting from it's mouth. The other shark latexes were startled as it thrashed and screamed, one of them cautiously put a hand on their shoulder to comfort them, only it to quickly snap at them with madness in it's eyes, before suddenly returning to clarity and grabbing it's head. "Is this how it usually goes for Transfurmation?" Lavos inquired. "Transfurmation isn't supposed to be painful for the host or the sample! Something is going horribly wrong!" K began to trudge the exo-suit through the water to grab the shark.

Suddenly it's right arm split down the middle as a chainsaw of liquid silver ripped out and tore into the exo-suit's arm, K pulled his arm out as it was ravaged to avoid loosing his own. The shark squealed in pain, and it's expression was a mixture of blind fury and agonizing pain. It lunged at the doctor with intent to tear into his throat, but Lavos's hammer smacked it into the water. As it rose back out of the water it coughed up a bit of silver ooze and gripped at it's head with it's left hand, shifting back to a mortified demeanor as it looked at it's right arm, the saw still whirring hungrily.

"Little One!" K started shouting at the shark. "Drop your host!" The shark was clawing at it's chest and whimpering as silver ooze was leaking out of it's eyes, mouth and the gap it opened in it's chest. K ran over and reached the remaining hand of his exo-suit into their chest as it liquified and bubbled, he then pulled out a mass of writhing grey and silver slime. The synthetic flesh of the core was dripping and grey like the latex it was pried out of, and there were silver cracks and fissures across it's form, it hardly looked like a heart anymore. The light inside was flashing red, a critical error. Lavos didn't hesitate and filled it with buckshot, until the core burst into a cloud of dust and ash.

The chainsaw in the shark's arm dried out and crumbled to ash as well. Stained with silver marks on it's face and patches of silver on it's body, the scarred shark swam up to Dr. K and hugged him, trembling. It's body was still incredibly warm, and the composition of it's form was altered. "Oh you poor little thing." K stepped out of the exo-suit to examine the shark. "Even if samples could replicate technology they'd never do it like that, I can't imagine what that must've felt like. But, where did the silver come from?"

"That's not silver, it's nanite steel.." Lavos clarified. "I think when it tried to assimilate the drone, it drove it's auto repair systems into overdrive. So the core's nanites started assimilating matter from the latex to replace the matter that was being assimilated. But then it got re-assimilated by the latex, over and over and over again like a snake eating it's own tail." K began absentmindedly petting the shark as it trembled against him while Lavos theorized. "The core must've been overheating while it was being subsumed. So on top of that it was also boiling from the inside out, none of that would be a fun experience."

The other sharks gently reached to comfort their scarred kin and swam away, diving into the deeper waters at the edges of the pool. "I'm more worried about their behavior." K spoke. "Hostility of that level is one thing, but from the looks of it the sample was actively fighting whatever consciousness or program was in the drone to begin with... And it was losing."

"That might have something to do with the innate violent precepts disassembly drones carry. Attempting to meld with that would've driven even the most gentle hearted into mindless slaughterers, I wouldn't be surprised if that one didn't have some form of trauma of this incident."

K suddenly remembered something. "That reminds me, when I went to take care of the Behemoth, a member of it's collective splintered off from the hivemind, and I need your help with it. They could be a human that was assimilated."

Snowball's penmanship was improving, it still wasn't great, lots of typos, but combined with the drawings for visuals at least J could read it better than last time.

"A host? Your kind are parasitic? Is that why the tiger ate one of my troops?" Snowball nodded shamefully, she cleared her notes and wrote a new sentence in it's place. "Not eat. Its nott paimfull, it leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy. Its fun!" The drawing accompanying that was a sketch of Snowball, and another leopard that looked a bit like J... The next sketch however was much less lighthearted, a frightening mess of jagged scribbles and lines in the shape of 'Cheshire' with an evil smile on it's face. "But, something was rong. With THEM. I dont think I should transfur you..."

J couldn't really tell if that 'transfur' was a spelling mistake or some kind of pun regarding this phenomenon. "Well, clearly you shouldn't take anyone in my ranks as a host, I'd rather my company maintain their versatility and strength in steel than in fur. Besides, the results don't seem to be very pretty."

Their conversation was cut short by a horrendous sound coming from an alleyway, Like a distorted radio babbling semi-coherently. Pulling itself out of the darkness was a shambling form, white on silver with three canine heads, tiny orange pinprick eyes, with the liquified approximation of drone arms still dangling from under it's thicker arms.

One of it's heads lifted and opened as a silver tongue lazily flopped out, in the back of it's throat was the remains of a speaker one would find inside a headphone. "Hey-ey-ey-y there- *KZZZRRKST* Emergen-Emergency repairs-s-s required." This thing looked like it could hardly stand, and here it was shambling towards them. Not like a hungry predator but a wounded animal desperate for help. "Robot Christ you look terrible, even for a monster." J withdrew a missile launcher intent on putting the beast out of it's misery, but Snowball pulled her arm down with a pleading look on her face. "You can't be serious Snowball, the tiger just tried to kill both of us and you want help that thing? Look at it!"

Snowball scribbled a message. "The tiger lookd mean. This one looks hurt." Snowball carefully walked up to that thing and held out her hand....

"She's all hooked up, Transmutation Probe is awaiting components for refinement."

...

"Excellent, I suggest using my serum for a stabilizer. I've gathered a residual sample to use as a base. If this work-----"

...

"If you're still in there, brace yourself, this might get a little bumpy..."

...

Liquid pumped into her form, like dye in water it slowly cascaded through her body. Something inside her was changing, her colorless fur was slowly marked with maroon and her body felt like it could hold a solid shape. She squinted as her eyes started to perceive clearer, the room was so bright.

"Subject's physical traits are altering away from light branch origin point. Begin second stage, administering stabilizer." Who was that? Did she know him? She couldn't remember, could she? Everything was, blurry. Another liquid filled her, her head felt like it was being torn in half, she felt a part of her shoulders pull and distend. Two large growths pulled themselves out of her back, her tail thickened and smoothed over, segmenting with a pointed bulb at the tip.

Her eyes got clear enough to see a man in a mask and coat, his red eyes looking at her like she was... Like she was... Someone? Who, was she..?

"Hello? Can you hear me?" He snapped his fingers in front of her face. She flinched away from every snap. "We'll start slowly as the process works, do you remember your name?"

Does she? Everything in her head was blurry, smothered, like it was submerged in clay. Only now it felt like someone was dragging a knife through it. Like her mind was being carven.

Carven... Carven..? Car, ven....

"C-Car....." She, remembered now... "-men.... Carmen. My, name is, Carmen.." She brought her hand up to her head and rubbed it through her... Fur? "Wait, why is my head so, fluffy...? That's, not right..." She looked at her, hands. They felt, different.

"Good, you do remember something. We're going to try standing up now." The man wolf in the mask took her hand and helped her sit up.

Carmen slowly pushed herself up off the table, the floor was freezing, and her white socks weren't helping... Wait, she wasn't wearing any.. Oh, those aren't socks, her paws were just covered in white fur. "Wh-What, am I?"

Another man slowly walked into view, he seemed to be wearing a bulky green suit. "Well, the face says 'Lion' but you've got other parts that don't really match, like those wings and that tail." Carmen brought her tail into view, it was smooth and ended in a stinger like a scorpion. Looking back at her shoulders she flexed and watched as two wings spread, before returning them to a rest.

"I've seen Variegated Samples come in many different shapes, but I don't recall ever seeing a Manticore yet. Congratulations Carmen, you've just been recovered from a complete mental erasure." The scientist said cheerfully. "But, I was human, why am I not anymore?" Carmen asked, still getting a feel of her new legs. "A bit of a setback, you weren't human for a while actually, you're only just now cognizant about it. Take your time, your mind is still catching up and we have yet to come across any mental recollection whiplash. Is there anything that's on your mind right now?"

"I, I feel... I feel like, if I see, Simon? I'm gonna..." Something about that name made her mad. She tightened her hand into a fist. "I'm gonna kick him in the dick!"

...

"Ah. Oddly specific, any reason why?"

"I... I'll get back to you on that. It's still coming back to me."

Chapter Text

*VrrrrrrrrrrRRRRR-VCHEEEWW!*

Your body suddenly jerks with a sharp pain, like someone took a stapler to your bones, waking you near instantly. "AHH! FUCK! WHAT THE HELL!"

"Keep him steady, there's still a few spots left to patch up." An unfamiliar voice speaks up.

Apart from the pain you feel a pair of hands holding you down. "Please remain still, Trinity is almost done." That wasn't a voice you recognize. You look to see a robot cat holding you down.

"Where, have I seen you before? And how did I get- AH!" Another dash of pain, you look to see a wave of energy pulse from the hands of Trinity into your body. "I know it hurts sweetheart but this isn't a simple process, just gotta fix one last thing." She jolts her hand into your leg. You actually hear the bones in your foot crack. "There, let him go."

Once the robot releases their hold you shoot upright and pat yourself down, no bites, no bullet wounds, your leg feels better too. A wave of light slowly scans you, coming from the robot. You've started to recognize it's design from the warehouse, but in one piece. Once it's scan focuses on your badge it blips cheerfully. "ID recognized, Hello Gordon!" That's- "Not my name. But hello to you too." They don't seem to care, or understand.

Trinity pushes them back and gets you back on your feet. "Welcome to Hollvania Central Mall. It isn't much, but we've made it work."

Excalibur taps his blade against the ground to get your attention. "Simon, good to see you're still alive, and you've picked up a few stray dogs."

"It was more like they picked me up." Almost on queue as you leave the backroom- "Simon!" Colin and Puro smother you in fluff. Excalibur chuckles. "Careful not to squeeze the air out of him, he just woke up." He gave Puro a light scratch behind the ears as they both let you go. "Cat's Paw already introduced us while you were out."

You turn to Cat's Paw. "Oh, you know each other?" They blipped cheerfully. "Indeed, these two have been allowed to leave the facility, and thus are on a whitelist. Subject: Colin Oakley is an ex-human undergone a stable transfurmation. And although I have not directly interacted with Puro, Dr. K has provided me with information about him."

"Whitelist?" Colin asked. "So Puro and I were allowed to leave but the other latexes aren't?"

"But we've found mask fragments of a dark latex, one of the snow leopards and even a Light Cerberus. How did they get outside? " Puro asked. "External interference." Cat's Paw said. "An unidentified spacecraft crashed into the side of the facility, causing structural damage and compromising various containment systems." An quiet "Uh oh..." escapes Colin.

"If there's still people there we may have to visit, it sounds like we've found J's ship." Excalibur claims. "Would you mind sharing the location data with us?" Cat's Paw puts up their hand and makes a negative buzzer noise however. "I am sorry, but you don't have permission for that." Colin and Puro both groan at that phrase. "Of course we don't..."

"I take it you've had to deal with that before?" You ask Colin, who gives you a tired eyeroll. "Almost every door in that place was locked. If it doesn't say 'YoU dOn'T hAvE pErMiSsIoN' it's probably got a password hidden in a photoset, or a note, or on the floor, or a poster of THE MOON!" The what?! "It's not like it really helps." Puro adds. "I've seen plenty of latexes just use the vents to get around the place."

"Alright we'll try to find it the old fashion way." Excalibur cracked his knuckles and beckoned Mag to his side. "We're gonna go on a scouting mission, Volt and Trinity will stay here and hold the fort." He gestures to you three. "I figure you'll want a break after nearly dying for the fourth time." This would be the fifth actually, but he doesn't need to know that.

You approach Colin, who stands at the entrance of a shop that has been cleared of most items and blocked off with rails, the only things inside are posters of a man you don't recognize. There's a lot of bullet holes in the walls too, but most of the damage is on the posters. "What happened here?" Colin simply shrugs... "Target practice." You both jump to see Volt right behind you! Colin barks in surprise and quickly covers his mouth in response to the noise he just made. Once you settle from the shock, you ask. "You've turned this store into a firing range?"

"Wasn't my idea, another member of our squad decided to put a few posters down there and use them to perfect his aim." Volt suddenly flicked his fingers and shot a bolt of lightning, striking one of the posters in the center. "We used to keep a score of who could hit the most headshots but we stopped counting after a while, Cyte was really the only one keeping score." Cyte? "Who's Cyte?" Volt tapped a finger against his horn. "Short for Cyte-09. You know how us warframes have fancy names like Excalibur or Trinity? He doesn't have one, Cyte-09 is just his batch number, like addressing someone by their username. But it's the only thing we can call him."

You pat your pockets for your- "Hey, where's my plinx?" Colin snaps his fingers, his hand melds into his thigh like he was reaching into a pocket and produces the plinx, handing it to you. "Puro suggested I take it while you were unconscious. It kept making my leg feel funny the whole time." Given the electric vulnerability of a latex, the charge of the gun was probably causing that. You take aim at one of the posters. "Well, better now than ever to get used to the kick of this thing." Volt chuckles. "Never used a gun before have you-?" *POW* You still nearly tumble backwards even after bracing. Volt suddenly takes it out of your hands. "Whoa! A Plinx shouldn't have that much kickback, even in the hands of a human!" He takes the battery out and looks at it closely.

Volt runs his hands across an arc of electricity from the battery and whistles, somehow, he doesn't have a mouth or lips. "Ok something's wrong with it cause that is not a level of charge it should be at. I'm gonna take this and see if I can fix it. Make it less likely to EXPLODE in your hands." Just as suddenly as he appeared, Volt ran off in the blink of an eye. "Wow, and I thought Puro was fast..." Colin said. 

As you walk and talk while exploring the rest of the mall you decided to bring up your investigation. "So I tried to pry some more information from Cat's Paw, I figured my *Ahem* 'position' would mean they'd tell me." "Did they?" Colin asked. "Nothing I don't already know, I tried to ask to give Volt the data but they denied that action. You know more about Thunder Science than I do, think you can get them to talk?" Colin shook his head. "I'm not a member of their staff. I'm pretty sure the only person left with permission is Dr. K himself, and I... I'm not sure if we should call on him."

Perhaps it's time you ask. "Who is this Dr. K anyway? I've heard that name thrown around and still I have no clue who that is." Colin takes one of his photos out. "I don't really have a picture of him but, he looks a bit like me, but much taller and with red eyes." Colin said. "I think he's the only one left working at Thunder Science's facility." He put the photo back in his chest. "I was a lab rat turned prisoner, K used to call me a Hazard and did everything in his power to keep me from leaving. Most of that meant throwing every latex in the facility at me..." Colin was uneasy talking about this, fiddling with the fluff of his tail. Oh, so that's why he knows so much about latexes. "So I take it K's not a good guy?"

"He's not evil, but he's certainly not nice. An 'Any means necessary' kind of person. I still don't know how I should feel about him... On one hand he tried to trap me or have me assimilated by anything that was down there, security measures, gassed rooms, latexes of various shapes and sizes. He tried to convince Puro once, when that didn't work he tried to kill him and deal with me himself. I've had nightmares of what he would've done to me if he won..." Colin sat down and curled up. "On the other hand if it wasn't for him I'd probably be dead, like actually dead, not just swirled around in the back of another latex's mind."

"The whole reason he was after me was because there was a chance I was infected... With the Pale..." Colin tensed up as he brought it up. "There was no way to test if I really was infected, even when I did escape his words were echoing in the back of my head. When I was finally inches away from freedom, K admitted he lost, and left the final choice with me to stay or leave... I froze, I was hesitant, scared of the possibility he was right. I just couldn't bring myself to choose one over the other, either one would hurt somebody."

"Since I couldn't choose, he gave me a way out of both... A chance to be free and to save humanity, at the cost of my own." He looks at his paw-hands and flexes his fingers. "I don't regret it, in the end I got to leave, the Pale is gone and K even gave Puro a host. It was probably the best outcome." Colin looks up at you. "But he only came to that solution because everything else failed. And I'm afraid to find out what lengths he'll go to end the threat of the drones."

...

You, rub Colin's head like comforting a dog with a nightmare. He seems confused for a few seconds... "Sorry is this weird? I don't know what being pet is like for you." Colin hums, you do notice his tail gently wagging in response. "I've pet Puro and a few peaceful latexes before, and I've even seen them pet each other. I still don't really get it." A gentle smile forms. "But it does feel pretty relaxing, thanks."

Excalibur and Mag's motorcycles tore through the street, but so far they didn't find anything about this 'Facility' Cat's Paw kept mentioning.

They both stopped at Old Konderuk, a side of the city that had clearly seen better days. Excalibur points to a truck in the distance. "There, that truck's part of a TSC convoy." They ran over to investigate it, the truck was mostly intact, even still had the wheels. "There was a radio I was able to mess with last time, I'm willing to bet the GPS has a few saved locations in it." Excalibur clicked his parazon and tried to access any data inside. While he messed around with the data in the dash, Mag decided to check the back of the truck for anything of use.

The second she stepped outside however she saw a box on the ground like it had just fallen out. Checking inside the trailer, there didn't seem to be anyone else inside... Mag cautiously looked back at the box on the ground, it wasn't that big, and there was a faint neon green glow coming from it.

As Mag got closer and put a hand on it to pick it up, the top of the box was suddenly flipped open and a mass of black goo popped out. It's form reshaped into a cat with neon green patterns on it's body, it's hands grasped onto Mag's arms and it's eyes started to glow with an intensifying neon. As it's gaze remained locked with Mag's inexistant eyes, it's hands liquified and their goo shifted around her arms up to her shoulders.

...

Mag had no idea what was going on, it wasn't really biting her, and it's eye glow seemed to not do anything either, everything was just, squishy... "Are you trying to eat me? Cause I don't think it's working." Mag asked it, the cat quickly became confused, then annoyed. It shifted and climbed all over her, melting it's form to engulf her, but quickly shifting to different positions as though it wasn't doing what it was supposed to. Mag just took at step inside the trailer while the cat slimed her some more, as she took that step the cat's face looked back at her face upside down, it's eyes glowing that same glow again but more annoyed than mischievous. Mag put her hand on it's face to push it out of the way. "Yea yea your eyes are really pretty. But I'm more interested on what's in here."

Boxes upon boxes, most of them were full of simple outfits and tools. She pulled out a familiar wristband. "Huh, Simon's wearing one of these." Mag's hand was once again engulfed in slime as the cat put it's high beams on in her face again. Mag grabbed the cat and pulled it off her body. "Look blinky, whatever it is you're doing isn't working, now quit gooping me." She bowled the cat out of the truck as it let out a startled meow and splatted against the ground into a confused puddle.

"Found something." Excalibur shouted. Mag ran over to the front of the truck to see Excalibur with his parazon in the dash with the GPS flickering between locations. "There's a facility marked in here. The coordinates are a little scrambled but if we find more trucks like this one, we can patch that data back together and find that facility."

"Looks like we've got a scavenger hunt set up for us, we'll have it in no-" Mag was quickly cut off as the cat pounced and knocked her over, now liquifying and completely smothering her. "Bleagh! Seriously, get off!" Excalibur wound up and gave a hefty kick to the glowing feline, sending it reeling and scampering off. Mag brushed off the residual goo covering her body as she stood back up, and followed Excalibur back to the bikes.

On the way to another truck Excalibur suddenly slowed at the sight of a gilded door...

"That's an Entrati Corp. Vault, right?" Mag asked. "A Netracell, but this one's inverted, designed to keep something in instead of out. Best to just leave it be, some secrets are better off buried..."

Puro glances at Trinity as she walks by with an inquisitive head tilt. Then as he blinks Volt darts by at speeds even he wouldn't be capable of, picks up a few tools, and just as quickly runs into a different room. You tap on his shoulder and quickly caught his attention.

"Getting used to the new neighbors?" You asked. "I think warframes are a bit unsettling." Puro admits. Bold words coming from a rubb-fur goo beast. "I thought they were just humans in fancy suits, but even after Trinity told me a few things about them, I still can't tell where that human begins and the armor ends. They also smell funny, and I can't help but wonder what another latex might think of them."

You think about how the dragon reacted to Excalibur. "I've seen one interact with warframes before, when it saw Excalibur it freaked out and just scratched and bit him, can they not transfur warframes?" Puro thinks for a bit, before answering. "I don't know, I think they could mistake it for a human and try until they realize there's no way past that armor. If they were that aggressive then they probably see them as a threat."

The sound of electricity sparking rapidly filled the air. Puro's ears flicked and he just stared in whatever direction the noise was coming from. "Probably Volt fixing my plinx, apparently something is wrong with it."

*POP* "AGH-!"

Puro sniffed the air. "Is that smoke?" Volt suddenly kicked open a door to a makeshift workshop, holding a ball of metal slag in his hand. "So, good news and bad news. I found out what was wrong with it, the battery was damaged and carrying too much charge to handle in that state. Good news: I was able to save the gun, Bad news: I couldn't save the battery, so I'll have to make a new one instead."

Well shit. That pop must've been the battery exploding, but why- "Didn't you recharge it by poking it with your baton?" Puro reminded you... Yes, yes you did decide the best way to charge the battery was to POKE IT with a SHOCK STICK. You slap yourself for thinking that wasn't gonna break it in some way.

"I find my first gun and I manage to break it seconds after acquiring it. If that murder drone arm I found in the bunker didn't implode on me I would've taken that as a weapon."

"Uhhhh- I wouldn't consider that a good idea." Volt said with concern. "Even if it didn't un-exist itself, I wouldn't feel safe with a hunk of Solver Tech slung over my back."

Guess he's right with that, considering the drone Colin and Puro ripped in half just reassembled itself for another fight...

... Wait, Solver Tech?! "Wh-What did you call it?"

"Solver Tech? It's what we call murder drone parts and, other aberration constructs like them. Named after the anomaly that spawned them, The Absolute Solver."

...

"... Simon?"

You stare at the chamber, the previous occupant an unrecognizable mess of synthetic tissue and mechanical bones. How did it get so bad?! "What the hell happened in here?! It looks like a cyborg just unraveled in that box!"

"You don't know?" One of the guards asked you. "That little pile of code you helped cook up was dumped into a drone to see if it could handle that stress, it was working perfectly fine for a bit until it turned into, that."

The sight of the bio-mechanical mess in there was making you sick to the stomach. "Is it dead?" You hoped so, you can't imagine being transmuted into a pile of robotic gore would be a fun time. Regretfully, you had to make a choice you're certain the others in the team wouldn't be excited to do. "I have to delete the program..."

"Whoa there buddy." The security team gets their hands on you before you leave the room. "I'm not saying I don't agree with you, but the decision to drop the code isn't up to you alone. You're just here to handle the hardware." You push their hands off. "If it's making flesh gore-igami out of robots I don't wanna see the end product! That shit's POSSESSED!" With that you storm off to the development wing.

You open the terminal with all files relating to the program, flicking through all files on this 'Proto Solver' Project and just throwing them all in the trash bin. "Yo! Simon what the hell are you doing!?" Mathew asks. "Have you SEEN what that code did to the drone in the test chamber?!" You practically scream, he grunts like he made a mistake. As the last of the code is scrapped and buffed out of existence you let out a sigh of relief. "Mat, you have NO IDEA what that crap was capable of... I just got a look at the program in action and it's terrifying, something is horribly wrong with that thing."

"How wrong are we talking? Like, wouldn't activate on start wrong, or malicious intent wrong?"

"Warped robot bits in a mess of eldritch madness, wrong! I'm suggesting shutting down this project because shit's going sideways, wrong!"

You click through a few files and focus on a symbol, a hexagon with three points like a triangle, your finger clicks onto the delete button and the nightmare ends...

At least, you thought it was over. You stare at the mess of code presented to you on the monitor, Volt's parazon poked into the side. In that mess of numbers you can see that same symbol. That same, god damn symbol...

"It's... It's the exact same thing... It's been modified to an extent but, that's the same program!" You feel like your legs would give out as you stare at the screen. "I thought I deleted every last trace of that hellish program but, but it's even more complex than the one I deleted! They must have-!" In a moment of blind terror and fury, you draw your shock baton to smash the monitor-! "SIMON WAIT!"

Puro quickly puts a paw on your shoulder. His expression of concern visible through the mask. You breathe, as much as you don't want to believe it even exists, there it is... You just know She'd blame you for this, if she's even still alive...

...

"I, was part of the project that discovered that unholy mess of code... It was just going to be a heavy lifting program to stick in a tool, but we needed to know how much processing power would be needed for that power. They decided to put it in a drone first, after I saw it become, Unwound to best describe it, I ran and tried to delete everything about it."

"Sounds like they managed to save a bit of that code. And worse they must've dropped it in the worker drones without thinking about it." Volt spoke up. "From what we've learned it mutates in damaged AI, it became something more dangerous when it got HER..." "Her? You mean J?" Puro asked. Volt shook his head, and snapped his fingers as a picture of a silhouetted, Person? Drone? Thing stood behind a group of murder drones. "That thing. We don't have much information on it but it's essentially Patient Zero, a drone that wasn't disassembled properly, it got back up and it was host to the absolute solver in it's head. None of us have gotten a good look at it, and those who have were quickly dispatched."

The silhouette was standing slightly lopsided, almost like it's limbs couldn't hold it up straight. Too dark to make out any real features, the only thing that could be seen were glowing X's for eyes. "We did hear that a division in JCJenson, Cabin Fever, tried to learn more about it. They took most of their work off-world though."

You'd hope the company got sued for this, but you're more than certain the company just doesn't exist anymore.

"I hope we don't run into that one." Puro vocalizes his unease. "I hope so too, but we haven't seen anything relating to it for a year. Like it just, left. I think it's tied to the sudden shutdown." Volt turns off the computer.

It crept into the remains of the store, still babbling incoherent static and spliced speeches. As it's limbs still dripped from the fresh wounds inflicted, one of it's jaws dropped open and shot out a mess of silver tentacles, snatching any electronics in range.

As the technology melded with it's form, the static grew louder and it's noise started to resemble actual speech. The middle head's jaw split as it's tongue elongated. "*SKRRK* Ready to-to-to dance Holl-ollvania?" One became two, became four, melding with the tools and becoming something greater. Warped screen-eyes focused on a poster for an old band... They, liked them, those forms... Latex and nanites reshaping to replicate their outfits as best as they could. Their central instance, with his split jaw and tongue, Aux, formed his mass to resemble the blonde singer's jacket and coat. Where their biggest member, Wideband, took on the bulkier build, spreading the speakers he subsumed into his shoulders and biceps.

Tempo, his head was covered in fur like the one with dreadlocks. Record's visor-eyes became slimmer to match the DJ in the poster's glasses.

But still something was missing. That band had Five members, they only had four all together. Perhaps it would be best to find one more?

Yes...

They needed everyone before they perform...

"Wh-*Grrra-ck-ck-ck* Where's our lit-t-tle fella?" Record pondered.

The answer would prove to be easier than expected, as a bright flash alerted them to a stranger rushing the stage.

The trio was set upon by a sentinel, feral, no more than an animal of steel. But they could fix that... As suddenly as the sentinel appeared, they all fought as one and began to repurpose it's parts, warping it's frame to fit the band... Their newest band member was shorter, covered with bright lights, all they needed was a head. Wideband donated a monitor for them to use, as it connected it sparked to life, static filling the screen as two ears popped on top of it. Remnants of the sentinel's head now in the place of claws...

The static in the short one's screen soon flickered to a singular eye. "Ne-e-e- Neon." They greeted their youngest with open appendages.

Neon, Wideband, Aux, Record, and Tempo. The band was all together now, time for a warm up...

Surround Sound was almost ready for their Hollvania tour...

Chapter Text

Carmen paced around her chamber, there wasn't much for her to do in there and the door wasn't going to open for her anytime soon. The Doctor said that he was still waiting to witness any 'side effects'. Of what she didn't know, but she wasn't looking forward to it.

*Vrr-chng, Beep-boop~* The door chimed as a robotic cat and the armored figure 'Lavos' walked in. "There's our furriest cocktail, how are you feeling Carmen?" He asked, tapping the glass gently. "No different than before, I don't see what it is you're looking for in me." Lavos snapped his fingers and the robot's screen picked up a red dot in the corner, recording. "It's just a simple examination, do you remember how you came to be? Before you woke up with us, what was the last thing you remember?"

Carmen put her fingers in her temples. They've asked her these questions before. "It's, not really clear. My time in the hivemind was, I don't know how long it was actually, you kinda lose track of time when every corner of your subconscious is telling you to stop thinking and just obey. But then suddenly, all that mindless droning was replaced with..." Her expression grew distant, attempting to pierce the haze in the back of her mind was never easy, it always seemed to push back, like it was a part of her didn't want to think. "Replaced... With..." The white fade in her fur seemed to shift. "Panic... Every voice in my head telling me to obey just started screaming in pain, in the midst of it all, some distant part of me tried to run. Then I woke up half melted in the floor, and you know the rest of that story."

"Panic?" Lavos commented. "Were you able to discern what they were panicking about?" Carmen did her best to remember, but she couldn't. She shook her head. "Well, reminiscing on the murky past aside, how else do you feel? Any specific urges? Besides castrating Simon that is." Carmen rubbed her stomach. "I guess I'm, hungry? Not really an urge I just, don't remember the last time I ate."

"Well then, how about we visit the greenhouse and get you something to eat then, just come up to the door."

As Carmen approached the door, Lavos stuck a wrist blade into the keypad and slowly the door to her chamber opened. "A moment before we go, Dr. K has incentivized that you wear one of these." Lavos produced a collar, which he then clicked around Carmen's neck to her chagrin. "Just incase a few, backdoor instincts, take priority in your head. Cat's Paw, we're headed to the greenhouse..." Lavos looked back at Cat's Paw when they didn't respond, their expression was covered with a buffering symbol and their light blue holographic fur was jagged in places. "Hmm, that's odd." A quick poke and Cat's Paw acted like nothing happened at all. "Yes Lavos?"

"Greenhouse, we're taking Carmen there so she can eat, stretch her legs, wings, etcetera."

"Ok, I will clean the chamber until you return. Take care." Cat's Paw moved into the chamber and produced a broom to start sweeping the floor. Carmen picked at her collar, she wasn't a fan of having to wear it. "Why does it have to be a collar?" Lavos ushered her to the elevator and proceeded to ascend. Carmen had to make sure her wings or tail didn't get caught in the elevator doors.

...

Cat's Paw continued to clean the floors of dust and any residual latex Carmen left behind. Softly they began to hum a tune, jovial and upbeat. Odd for them considering they don't really have songs saved, they also seemed to already know the lyrics, like they were, playing in their head... 

As they kept muttering the lyrics their posture grew slack like they hadn't slept, their eyes grew tired and briefly flickered to a warning symbol...

Carmen thought she'd be hungrier than she felt, the second she saw a bush with fruit on it, she had already begun stuffing about six oranges down her gullet. Lavos urged her to slow down. "Take it easy now, K tells me an overfed latex gets rather sluggish as they expend more of their physical energy breaking down their food. You'll find your body is lighter on what sustenance it needs than your human form." Carmen didn't take that as a reason to stop however, and Lavos had to hold her back before she scarfed down another seven. "Seriously pace your appetite. We're going to put you through some simple tests later today."

She reluctantly obliged, as much as she hated doing things on an empty stomach being forced to do stuff when she'd rather be in a food coma would probably make her feel much worse. "What kind of tests are you suggesting?" Carmen asked. "Nothing too extreme, Dr. K just wants to make sure you've got a firm handle on your new form, as well as take notes on your 'physical attributes'."

"Is he gonna buy me a drink first?" Lavos chuckled. "Not like that, it'll be more like a standard doctor's appointment. I believe he is merely interested in your physical prowess and what it could offer us, we could use a few more hands on deck. There are people still on earth waiting to be released from suspension, but with the threats outside they cannot wake safely. A human would be overwhelmed and outmatched against them, but you are not human anymore, I feel you'll come in handy. But we want to make sure you're fit for it of course."

A rustling sound in the bushes alerted Carmen as a green lizard peeked through the leaves. It's tongue flicked inquisitively as it approached them, as it got closer to Carmen it pressed up against her fur with a playful smile. Carmen gently prods the lizard with her tail, causing them to release their grip on her. "Careful little fella, she stings." Lavos speaks up, the lizard slinks back into the foliage and Lavos ponders. "Actually, do you produce venom?" Carmen looks at her stinger, she didn't actually know. She wasn't used to having a tail to begin with, let alone one with a stinger. She tensed, something, and a drop glistened off the tip of her barb and dripped into the grass to Lavos's intrigue. "So you produce something like venom. I wonder what that would do?"

"Sounds like I might find out one day."

The PA buzzed to life, a bit of static but soon the voice of the Doctor came through. "Come on don't quit on me now- Ah, there we go. Apologies, the speaker system is acting up today. Lavos, bring subject Carmen to the lab for a few tests." Lavos stood up and ushered Carmen back to the elevator, but the door refused to open. "Oh fantastic that's on the fritz too, I'll have Cat's Paw work on that, you'll have to take the stairs. Mind your step, there's a spill related to the Behemoth on the way, just don't touch it and you should be fine."

After passing through a few similar rooms they eventually came across the 'spill' K mentioned, a massive patch of light latex covering the floor and walls. Looking at it made Carmen feel, sick, uneasy. Like if she so much as dipped a toe in it, it would drag her into it's depths and smother her with it's thoughtless obedience once again. The white fade in her coat seemed to flare in proximity to it as her fur stood on end. She shook her head and kept moving, the less time she had to spend around it the better...

K adjusted his mask and scratched his head as Lavos arrived with Carmen in tow. "Just wait in the chamber for now, I'll get started in a moment." Once they were inside K resumed his current focus, issuing a remote command to Cat's Paw to inspect the elevator's integrity. Once the command was sent he set up a new recording to catalogue Carmen's checkup. "This is Dr. K, recording the observation of a rare phenomenon. Subject is a variegated sample, Manticore. Anomaly is noted that the subject's mind was previously subsumed within the light branch sample's hivemind, but has seemingly resurfaced due to an unknown agitating element in the hivemind causing it to splinter her off of it. Beginning examination."

With that K stepped into the chamber with a clipboard and pen which he handed to Lavos. "Let's get the important part figured out first, Transfur Capacity/Dependency." K produced a tool that resembled a thermometer with a blue glow and a number screen. Carmen opened her mouth expecting the tool to rest on her tongue, Lavos noted that Carmen's tongue had a fade to white on the tip. "It's not meant for aural use." K clarified. Carmen suddenly audibly growled and pointed her stinger at him. "Calm down, not there either. Just liquify a bit, I can stick this thing practically anywhere and it would sink into your body. Given the Host function of a sample, it's supposed to go here."

He pressed the stick into her chest and it sunk up to the number pad, it was quite a jarring sensation that Carmen couldn't help but shudder at. "OoOoOoh!" The device blipped and K retrieved it with a soft *Plip* and looked at the numbers. "75.8%. Stable, your converted status gives you enough energy to sustain yourself without needing to assimilate a human host. The real important part is whether or not you desire transfur at all. I'm going to show you a few images, you tell me the first feeling that comes to mind. Answer honestly, this is important to validate your ability to interact with humans."

*Click*

K flicked on a projector and displayed a photo of a human in black shorts with a blob engulfing half of his form. As the rest of the photos flicker by the man is converted into a white fox with an oddly relieved expression. "Mmm... Indifferent. He seems to like it at least."

The next set of photos depicted a researcher dangling a fish over a rail, a shark leapt over it and spread over his arm, leaving a humanoid shark creature with a mesmerized look. "I feel like he had it coming, seemed like he was taunting it."

Set number three, K chose a photo of a person being converted by a dark latex, as it placed a mask over their face and completed the process, the converted human kneeling as the latex rubbed their head. "Huh... Jealousy?" "Of the sample or the human?" K asked for clarification. "I don't know..."

"Be advised, this one may be familiar..." K produced a slide of a person caught in a bound column, light latex covering their form and ensnaring them further. Carmen's breathing becomes unsteady, her tail uncurls and seems poised to strike at nothing. A tentacle forces itself into their navel and before the rest of their head is covered their eyes become unfocused- "Shut it off!" Carmen yells.

*Click*

"Fear, and Grief. I know what that feels like. A voice in the back of your head telling to you forget, to obey, to submit. While your own thoughts become unrecognizable, like you don't even acknowledge them as your own thoughts anymore. No one should experience that..." Carmen's wings flap as she rubs her hand through her hair to calm herself. "N-No one should experience that..."

"I apologize." K admitted. "I figured given your memory of being human might have resulted in trauma relating to transfurmation. I expected it to apply to the first photo set however, I did not figure it had to do with that specific breed... Regardless, there is one last photo for this test, and a hypothetical scenario attached to it."

*Click*

The projector displayed a photo that seemed different, instead of a labeled photo it seemed more like it was taken from a security feed. A human, if face obstructed. "This human, you have been interacting with for a while now. And you just learned he is potentially carrying a lethal pathogen. If you transfur him, he will become more like you, he might lose memories, but he will live and want to stay with you. If you don't, he will stay himself, he will keep his memories and will be thankful, but he is still carrying the virus and will die eventually. What would you do?"

Carmen thought. And a brief, blurry memory comes to mind... "Does he, want me to?"

...

"I remember, having a conversation with a friend. They asked if they ever became a monster, would I kill them... I asked if that's what they wanted me to do, they never answered that question, just brought up a nightmare they had about one of their friends trying to kill them, claiming the person they was is dead while they begged that they were still there. They still never answered that question, so neither did I."

...

*Click*

"Curious..." K took all the photos out of the projector and set it aside. "From the sound of it you're not opposed to transfurmation, barring one, very specific example. And you, await consent, regarding the hypothetical. I've only seen one other sample have that opinion before."

Carmen was rubbing her shoulders, that second to last slide still brought back horrible memories, no matter how vague or blurred they got, she would never forget it, it was a part of her...

"If I may?" Lavos asked, bringing up a cup with a film over the top. "Carmen's stinger produced a liquid earlier, I suggest harvesting a sample of it to analyze later. We may need an anti-venom if things get dicey with her." Carmen shrugged and introduced her stinger to the film. *Shnick* The tip pumped out a clear, slightly blue colored substance. Once the cup was filled Carmen felt, empty. Lavos took the substance in hand and brought the cup up close to observe the chemical make up.

"No transfur chemicals, but I can see some latex cells in this mixture, they're always changing, seeming to replicate alpha-toxins found in scorpion venom but with marginally less lethality. This is a venom designed to paralyze a host to reduce struggling. Makes sense to me, I figure a latex would prefer their host alive."

...

K leaves the chamber and returns dragging in a punching bag. "Since we're already there, lets take a look at your physical abilities. Given you are your own host, this makes you a class 2, possibly 3. Just hit this bag as hard as you can, kick or punch it doesn't matter." Carmen walked up the bag, rolled her shoulders, and delivered a vicious left haymaker. *THWACK* The base of the bag lifts up slightly and scoots backwards from the force. Lavos whistles and K simply nods. "Hmm, decent. I've had a similar level of strength when testing myself. Now..." K snapped his fingers and Lavos nodded, giving him back the clipboard.

"We're going to see how you handle hand to hand combat, you and Lavos are going to spar. He is not going to use any weapons or abilities, theoretically this should put you on even ground. The fight stops when I say so, or when one of you yields."

With that Dr. K took a step back, Lavos cracked his knuckles and brought his fists up. "Don't be afraid to get a little rough, Warframes are built to withstand worse than measly cat scratches. Do your worst." Carmen flared her wings and extended her claws...

...

"Begin!"

Carmen took the initiative and swiped her claws across Lavos's gauntlets as he brought them up to block. Before flashing her wings to obscure her next strike, Lavos's blind jab was quickly blocked and countered with a shot to his stomach. As he buckled she wound up to slam down on his head, only for Lavos to thrust his palms as a strike to her chest, followed by a knee and an uppercut. Carmen rubbed at her nose as a drop of latex, like blood dripped from her nose and snarled. Lavos took a cautious step closer, when he was suddenly buffeted by Carmen's wings as they clapped against the sides of his head, the impact and sound of rushing wind disorienting him as Carmen tackled and brought him to the floor.

Carmen began to swipe her claws over and over across Lavos's helmet, after blocking a few more slashes he wrapped his legs around her waist, popped up his hips and rolled her over, putting her on the ground instead. Lavos kept her hands locked down. "You give up?" "Never!" Carmen's tail stuck Lavos's shoulder, she didn't have any venom to spare, but the poke was enough to split his focus. She wrenched one of her hands free and punched Lavos squarely in the jaw, where it should be anyways. Carmen rolled aside and leapt back up, Lavos shook his head and dusted off his shoulder. They circled each other, occasionally taking swipes at one another with jabs, claws and a few thrusts of Carmen's tail. Reach, that's his weakness. Carmen thought to herself.

Carmen began to space herself, maintaining distance while making more thrusts with her tail whenever Lavos tried to get closer. "Ohohoh, clever girl~ But I got something like that too!" Suddenly a snake attached to Lavos's arm lashed out at her. Their sparring became like fighting a whip with a spear, both of them taking distant strikes as they tried to get the upper hand.

"Alright, Cease." Dr. K called them off. "I've seen enough. You're probably more combat prepared than most samples I've seen, given the fact you apparently can produce venom. Thank you for cooperating with us Carmen, I look forward to seeing you, on the... Field..." K's ears swiveled around. "Do you hear something?" "Wait, what is that? Music?" Carmen pressed her ear against the walls of the chamber, sure enough something could be heard on the other side. K opened the chamber and the music became much easier to hear, it was coming from the PA system.

K took a look on the computer and saw a line of messages are were quickly loading in, Cat's Paw was saying something... No, not saying, singing? These seemed like lyrics!

[We come alive movin' under the neon glow.]

[It's the party of your life time!]

[The signal's strong, can you feel it in the flow?]

[It's the party of your life time!]

"What the fuck?!" K reacted verbosely. "What is this, karaoke? Hold on, this is a signal they're transmitting... Where are they right now?" "They were cleaning my chamber, or they should be at least." Carmen was starting to get a bad feeling about this. K gave her and Lavos and order. "Go see what's wrong with them, let me know what you find."

"Cat's Paw! What's going on with the song?" Lavos shouted, they were definitely saying something, but it was hushed and low.

Carmen walked up to them to get a better look, Cat's Paw was standing slouched over with the broom hardly dangling from their fingers, their usual blue holographic fur was flickering orange now, returning to it's usual color only for a few glitchy milliseconds.

"Cat's Paw?" Carmen grabbed their shoulder and spun them around, their visor was a glitching spiral.

"Join us embrace us, don't ever erase us. Join us embrace us, don't ever erase us. Join us embrace us, don't ever erase us."

They just kept repeating that phrase in the same tone. Lavos contacted K directly. "K, Cat's Paw is, well I don't know what to describe this as... Have you figured out the source?" Infuriatingly, the audio was partially garbled by that same damn song. Over the garbled singing K was at least trying to make himself heard. "It's- *Vrwwvvv*-every chann- *Bzzt* I've loca-*We-re o-o-on-l-y-y-y-ne-* another Cat's Paw is broad- *Vwrrrrr* -ing it from Hollvania Central Mall! Suit up, we're leav- *Come ali-i-ive-* -to shut it down!"

"Well, looks like you're getting to field test your prowess earlier than expected..."

There was music playing through the mall's speakers. "Who's blasting boybands at this hour?" You stretch, the music woke you up. Colin shrugs. "It wasn't one of us, Puro seems to like it though." He gestured to Puro gleefully bouncing around to the song with a dorky smile. Colin chuckled, it was rather cute to see him dance like that. Trinity however doesn't seem to share the sentiment. "I suspected Mag knowing it's On-lyne, her favorite band. I've tried to contact her about it but it's over the comms too."

Approaching the stage, Cat's Paw was sitting down on it and flashing vibrant colors, they were also repeating the lyrics. "Big fan of On-lyne huh? Can't say I'm in the same boat, but I'll admit they're not bad." You joke, Cat's Paw doesn't respond... This was starting to creep you out now. "You doing okay in there kitty? Hello?" You wave a hand across Cat's Paw's face, then flick one of their ears which spins like a pinwheel. Colin hums and gives them a light shake. "Maybe they have a virus?"

"Whatever it is, it's hijacking their central program in favor of turning them into a glorified speaker." Volt clicks his parazon into Cat's Paw's head. "Can you find the source?" Colin asked, Volt incredulously sputtered. "I can't NOT find it, it's on every signal! If this is what it does to Cat's Paw I can only imagine what it's doing for J... I mean, it's probably hilarious." You can't help but feel it'll get worse than simply hijacking radio stations.

"We should at least investigate. You got that new battery for my gun?" Volt produced your plinx, it looks brand new. "Took some time to find the resources but I got there in the end." You take it and holster it. "Maybe we should give you guys some weapons too." Volt produces a simple looking handgun with a laser sight and gives it to Colin. "Vesper 77. Excalibur's got one too, I think you can handle this."

"Let me see if I can find your friend something." You put a hand up before Volt zooms off. "I don't think giving Puro a gun is a good idea." Colin objects. Volt thinks for a second, snaps his fingers and runs off, returning with a strange looking bow and quiver. "How about one of these then? It's a bow made for warframes to use, so it's gonna take some force to pull back, see if you can nock an arrow with this." Puro took a look at the bow and pulled the string for a quick test. Then with some difficulty, fed an arrow through it, pulled all the way back, and after a few seconds of aiming sent it flying through the air. "The simplicity of this one means you can make some modifications to fit whatever niche you need."

"Do you think you'll be okay with that one?" Colin asked. Puro slowly nodded. "I can work with this. We should also bring Cat's Paw along to see if anything changes when we get closer." He suggests. Volt hoists them up and a few currents of electricity lock them onto his back. "There's a few spare cycles in the garage for you guys. Looks like it's time for, Operation: Party Crashers!"

"We're not calling it that."

It felt nice to be on wheels again, the feel of the wind blowing through your hair was quite refreshing. Colin kept one hand on his hair as he rode with you. Volt drove up to your side, Puro was ecstatic as he rode with him with his ears fluttering in the wind. "These things are awesome! Why didn't we use these to get around?" He shouted over the wind with an howling cheer. "Because I never learned how! This is my first time actually riding a motorcycle, and I can't help but feel there's a few important components missing here, like HELMETS!" Colin shouted back. "Don't worry I've been riding my old cycle before, and I didn't even have a real helmet." You reassure him. "I can handle this just fine." "Driver error is not my concern Sim-aAaAaAaAaAa-!"

The tires of the bike roll over a considerably bumpy part of the road, you slow down to compensate as it jostles you and Colin around, the later of which shaking his head when it's over. Volt gives you a sign to stop at a the curb. Bringing it to a park, Colin stumbles off the bike, his legs like jelly, both figuratively and very literally as he liquifies up to his waist. You do your best to avoid laughing. Volt stops nearby and holds Cat's Paw like a pair of dowsing rods, though it's unclear whether this actually helps as Cat's Paw merely continues to blip the music regardless. "It seems a lot of activity is coming from here, I'll see what's around first, you three remain on standby."

And with that Volt blinks off at high speed once again... Puro took hold of his bow and examined the arrows. "If Volt can move that fast normally why does he need the bike?" Colin asked as he slowly reformed his legs. If you had to guess. "Warframe abilities probably don't run on solar power. I bet he's got a battery of sorts for stuff like that. Either that or he's just accommodating for you guys." *F-shing!* A rather sharp sounding noise comes from Puro as he pulls his hand over the head of an arrow. The tip now covered in latex, suddenly glazes over like ice as Puro tightens his fist. You don't understand what that'll do for the arrow, but after seeing a latex liquify more than enough times you can't help but wonder. "What does that feel like?"

Colin's puddle shifts slightly as his legs slowly pull themselves back together. "It's a bit like relaxing every muscle in your body. It was kind of unnerving feeling my insides shift around the first time, but I've gotten more used to it." Volt suddenly returned and gestured to you all. "So there's something really weird this way, I figure you'd know what I'm looking at..."

Following Volt brought you to a large puddle of white and silver, sitting in the middle of it was a large rectangular pillar with various electronic devices partially submerged in it. Distorted music and radio static was blaring from the speakers that were speckled along the silver variegation. "The signal is strongest from this thing, and I've found at least four of them in the sector including this one. This one of your latex buddies?"

You reach out to grab a hold of a pile of amalgamated tech, only for Colin to quickly seize you and drag you away. "Don't! That's a Bound Column!" Bound? You don't like the implications of that. "But..." Colin continues. "I've never seen light latex assimilate technology before. And what's all that silvery gunk in the middle of it all?"

Puro sniffs the air and grunts. "Ugh, it smells like it's burning, I doubt the hivemind is comfortable with this hanging around, it must be like holding hot metal in your bare hands." Knowing what they told you about the Light latex, you've probably just tempted fate right there. Volt seems like he's about to do the exact same thing though and they're not fast enough to stop him, the second his hand touches it a mass of membranous tentacles coil around his arm and try to drag him in! Before it gets there though he surges electricity through his arm it causes the entire monolith to ripple and, squeal?! "NO THANKS!"

Suddenly the monolith splits open with thick strands stretching from both sides as a... "WHAT IS THAT THING?!" Colin shouts as a hook handed latex canine with long locks of fur covering it's face in heavy bangs drops out of the pillar. It's usually glowing white hide was marred slightly with silver cracks along it's form. The creature slinks upright as it glares at you all.

"*CHZZZZZK-K-K-K* Gonna-Gonna knock next time buddy? You're ear-ear-ear-ly you know." It spoke with the static filled, glitchy tone. Volt somersaulted backwards as it's hooked arm swung at him. It cocked it's head as it noticed Cat's Paw still thoroughly playing the music. "Looks like we've alre-e-e-eady picked up an audience."

It doesn't take much consideration before you and Colin start shooting at it. You expected it so splatter against the bullets but instead it went out of it's way to bring it's claws up to block and sway it's stance to avoid getting hit. As it gets closer it swats Colin aside and rushes towards you, you draw your baton and stick it in the gut! Electricity shooting from it into the hybrids sickly form, but it doesn't respond the same... It's clearly in pain but instead of liquifying and jumping back it grabs onto the stick and pulls itself closer to you. As it lurches closer the fur bangs covering it's face slowly part, as it's face gets more visible beneath the hair... So, many, eyes! Too many eyes, a constellation of glaring specks hiding in a sea of black... Like a drone's eye screen!

It slowly opens it's jaws as a static filled growl buzzes out of it's throat. *F-chew- TAK* An arrow flies past you down the beast's throat, causing it to back off and gag. Puro confidently snaps his fingers and suddenly a set of crystal spikes erupt from the creature's mouth. Volt shoots a focused stream of electricity from a strange rifle, before finally adding a focused lightning strike from his own hands for good measure. As the hybrid stood through the torment, a loud heartbeat started to become more audible by the second, before it suddenly howled and a shockwave blasted you all back with it's force.

"Wha-a-a-at goes around comes around punks-nks! Takes more than that for Tempo *Rrrk-k-k-k* to throw in the towel!" The heartbeat resumed like the beat in the background of a song, Tempo was getting ready for another burst...

The sound of a heavy round rang through the air as Tempo's shoulder burst as it was hit, the wound resembling warped metal rather than the typical gooey injuries latex would get in response. It snarled as it's shoulder slowly knit itself back together. "I'd like to register a complaint!" The perpetrator shouted, gritting his teeth. You've heard that voice before...

Another set of heavy footfalls indicate the approach of another, before a rush of vials and a splash of chemicals signaled the presence of Lavos the Alchemist, and his Big Ass Hammer apparently as he introduced it to Tempo's skull. The hybrid screeched and lunged past him to the shooter, a figure decked out in heavy canine armor equipped with what looked like a tricked out hunting rifle. "Big mistake hybrid." A glowing blue canister was loaded into the exo-suit's arm and sprayed onto the hybrid, the substance seemed to make Tempo sluggish, it's heartbeat slowing down with it's movements.

Tempo was slapped silly between the two, but it didn't seem to give up. As when Lavos reached for it's chest, it suddenly released another pulse of energy to knock them back and slashed at the exo-suit, tearing it's claws into it to pry the helmet off. As the helmet was thrown aside, the driver's white fur stood up and he drew a metal dart, using it like a dagger and sticking it into the side of it's neck. Tempo shrieked as he was grabbed by lavos and thrown back, you fire one last shot at it as it scampers away.

...

Breathing heavily, you push yourself back off the ground with legs that also feel like they'd liquify under you. Lavos's hammer thuds against the ground as he cracks his neck. "My hypothesis was correct, the solver tech nanites have granted it the capacity to subsume technology as easily as organic components."

"Solver tech..." Of course, it wouldn't be a simple as an evolved latex, no, it had to have picked up a diet of manmade eldritch madness!

"You mean, that's what happens when a latex transfurs a murder drone?!" Puro shouts in horror. "Indeed. And apparently this one has the ability to influence technology with it's 'music'." The armored pilot steps closer with his head free of the helmet, a tall white wolf with red eyes and a gas mask.

Colin seems tense at the sight of him, you can probably guess who that is. "You, must be K..."

"I am, but I take it you aren't someone who knows me out of notoriety... I hope you were at least civil about it Colin." He and Colin share an intense staring session. "W-Why are you out here? You've had Cat's Paw do your work so far!" "As much as I'd hate to bring myself away from the tower, which I should really be spending most of my work anyway. I cannot leave this to my help due to the fact that my help is busy, doing that." K points to Cat's Paw as it glitches on Volt's back. "I've tried to patch it out but the issue is the invasive signals."

The sound of wings flapping becomes louder as a winged beast lands next to K with a box of electronics and tools. "I brought the equipment you requested doctor-" The Manticore's gaze surveys the group before focusing back on you, and that voice... It couldn't be...

...

"YOU!" She snarls!

OH GOD, IT IS CARMEN!

Chapter Text

"What are you packing for?"

"I'm not moving out if that's what you're hoping for. JCJenson's conscripted me to help with their newest project."

"JCJenson-? You're seriously gonna do a job for THEM?! I thought we agreed we wouldn't be messing with their freaky robots!"

"I'll never understand your stigma against the drones."

"I mean, look at them! The way they move, how they react, it's all just, too human! And the fact they're using them as an expendable workforce doesn't make it any better."

"Relax Carmen, I'm just gonna deal with this bit of hardware and it'll be like nothing's changed."

"Ugh... Fine, but if something goes catastrophically wrong and you're responsible, I'm not gonna let you live it down..."

You take a step back. "Hi, Carmen... It's been, a while since I've, last seen you... You look... Beautiful, and not, like you're going to... Well, I don't wanna say, but you're not going to, right?"

...

Carmen's wings flare open- SHE'S COMING RIGHT FOR YOU!

You scamper to get as much distance as you can, but it's practically impossible given the fact she has WINGS now! She swipes her claws INCHES away from the back of your head as you feel the wind from the swipe! You BEG. "AH! CARMEN PLEASE! I'M NOT READY TO DIE YET!"

"YOU WILL BE WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'M GONNA CASTRATE YOU WITH YOUR OWN INTESTINES!" Oh that's a horrible image! You don't wanna see if she follows through with THAT! You REALLY don't wanna have to zap her, mostly because if she learns you've got a shock baton she'll find some way to use it against you!

The chase devolves into you two circling everyone else, Lavos reaches to grab a hold of her, as she struggles like a cat throwing a tantrum. You take shelter behind Colin and Puro. "YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!" Carmen's body liquifies to escape Lavos's grapple! Puro does his best to body block her. "CARMEN! SERIOUSLY SETTLE DOWN!" You try your best to get some level of reason with her, but she quickly stung Puro in the arm and pushed him aside to continue her pursuit of you! Puro shakes off the sting...

Carmen pounces on you and shakes you violently, incoherently shouting obscenities the whole time as she slams you against the ground! "I- *ACK!* DIDN'T- *ARGH!* DO THIS- *OW!* STOP-!" Colin and Puro grab at her to drag her off of you, but her grip remains tight.

"ENOUGH!" Dr. K presses a button on a remote and the collar starts to strobe a yellow and pink pattern. "Ngh! What are you-? Wh-What's... Happening... Nnnf..." Carmen's own eyes slowly fade into this same pattern as her posture goes slack and her grip on you releases. K sighs and turns his attention to you. "I've never seen a sample get physically violent with a human. You two must have a history I take it?"

You dust yourself off. "We used to share a room, and yeah she's gotten mad at me before. Never this mad though..." Carmen weakly groans like she was talking in her sleep. "Nng... Simon... FFFF- Phuk you..."

"Sounds like her transfurmation is amplifying her emotions a bit. I'll have to talk to her about this later, right now we have a bigger problem to deal with... Lavos, hook up the devices so we can get to work." Lavos hooks up a set of cables into the monolith, twisting a few dials by hand before using his parazon for the rest of the work. The distorted music of the monolith starts to die down. "Did you, turn her into that thing?" You ask. K produces a clipboard and takes a few notes. "Yes and no, I was able to convert her into a variegated sample with Lavos's help, but she was initially assimilated by the light branch... She was already transfurred when I found her."

Light branch... Oh boy. Puro hisses like he witnessed her break a bone. "And it spat her back out? I can't imagine what that feels like, even though she can think for herself again the memories of being assimilated by the light latex would be painful."

"They are, I performed a set of tests earlier today and she seems to harbor some level of trauma relating to light branch transfurmation."

"*SKZZZZZVWREEEEEEEE* La-a-a-adies and gentleme-men, hope you're ready to-o-o party all NIGHT! *VKZZZZZK*" The tower makes one last broadcast before it shuts off completely and eventually the entire thing melts into a pile of goop and scrap metal. "That's one down, but I've intercepted four more signals in the area, I fear we may be dealing with multiple instances." Lavos adds as he packs up the mechanism. "The real problem is that I can't pinpoint the specimen's exact location given the natural interference from the towers." Lavos also picks up the mesmerized Carmen and carries her like a sack of potatos.

You were about to ask about what that horrible amalgamate was, but Colin beats you to it. "So you're out here hunting that... Mutant?"

"Vulcanized." K corrected. "That sample attempted and 'succeeded' at assimilating a disassembly drone, we've seen the results of this interaction before due to a breach at the tower and results are far from stable. This is a high priority threat, I would advise you to stay out of the way, mental drift is the least of your worries with these hybrids, they actively display murderous intent..." K climbed back into the exo-suit, and Lavos hoists Carmen over his shoulder as they both walk off.

Maybe you didn't have to get involved with them after all... Volt however gave a reason to be. "Don't you guys want help with that?" Lavos looks back at you. "K might not claim to need it, but I'd appreciate the extra hands." He salutes Volt and signals for him to follow. Puro also walks up to him. "I wanna help too, I don't wanna have to fight that thing, but I'm more scared of what'll happen if we leave it alive." Puro admits. You look back at Colin who shrugs and follows too, guess you're getting involved anyway, damn peer pressure.

The back of the truck is loaded with a multitude of gadgets and tools, other exo-suits, and hooked up to a radar is another Cat's Paw. You knock on it's head, lights are on but clearly nobody's at the wheel with this one either. Carmen's leg twitches and she groans as though she just woke up. "H-Hey... Hey! Put me down!" She shouts, indignant. Lavos reprimanded. "Not after the way you reacted to Simon." She looks over Lavos's shoulder to glare at you like she could explode you with her gaze. "Carmen, settle down, or K's going to have to activate the collar again." Carmen reluctantly relents, and grunts. Lavos finally sets her down, and she walks past you to climb on the roof of the truck.

You decide leaving her alone is probably a safer option. K pulls you aside to speak privately. "For the record, I'm not opposed to having more help with this task, but you are ill equipped to handle a fight of this caliber." You look back at Colin and Puro, who are taking a look at the various tools Lavos is offering them. "Hey, Colin survived you right? I think we'll manage." K shakes his head. "This is different, no Vulcanized has yet shown interest in assimilation. And I'm not talking about Colin to begin with, I am specifically referring to you..." He taps your chest to emphasize his point.

"Colin, Puro, Carmen and I are semi-liquid, we can pull ourselves back together from damage, the warframes are beings of steel skin and supernatural strength. You however are still human, flesh and blood, you have a higher mortality rate. So I am warning you of this in advance. I do not intend on taking it away from you due to a mere scratch, but you had best be ready to forfeit your humanity should this go south..." With that K steps back and turns his attention to the radar.

The truck driving the wind through her fur helped ease Carmen a little, but she still felt mad after she met Simon again. Ever since she locked eyes with him it felt like pieces of her mind were burning their way through her skull. She hated it, it was supposed to be a good thing, but she hated it still. Feeling things from her past life, knowing it was long gone from now, knowing that He was hardly touched by time or fate, it wasn't fair! Carmen wished she could stop thinking about it... She clawed at her collar, intent to willingly trigger it's mesmerizing effect just so she could stop thinking about it. *Burr-burrt!* Unfortunately the tampering countermeasures were a harsh buzz of electricity instead.

Carmen stopped, if she kept zapping herself like this she might lose her solidity and fall off the truck. It didn't feel worth it anyway, she'd just be back to normal when it was over. All she really wanted right now was a distraction from the noise in the back of her head...

... "Ugh, that damn song again..." And a finger on the monkey's paw curls. A distraction in the form of a monolith blaring songs of the past, perverted with invasive signals and warping static. The truck slowed down, Carmen leapt off of it and flew up to the pillar. Her collar buzzed as the voice of Dr. K came through it. "Given the previous tower had the vulcanized sample inside it would be best to assume the same with this one. Draw it's attention while we shut the tower down. And Carmen, be careful..." Carmen reached into her sides and pulled out a pair of electric chain hooks, a loan K gave her to use as a weapon.

She slashed them against the roof of the pillar and leapt off of it as it's surface rippled and tore open, ready for the beast to shoot out of it to attack... A beast definitely crawled out of it, but it was different.

*Urr-urr-urr Gwrrroooaaaa* The one was much bulkier than the hook handed beast, speakers lining it's arms, one of it's shoulders had another arm stuck in a permanent bicep curl sticking out of it. Either it was a shape shifter, or this was a different vulcanized entirely! Carmen whipped at it to get it's attention, it snarled in response, it's faceless muzzle splitting open in more angles than needed like a blooming flower. "Yeah come get some ya freak!" Carmen taunted with a flash of her favorite finger and flew to a distance, stopping to make it think it could catch up to her.

Looking back she could see it actually chasing her, a terrifying sprint speed, but thankfully it couldn't fly like she could. But then again, it didn't seem to need it... The brute wound up and it's face blossomed with a earsplitting- *BOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM* Carmen actually felt the force of the noise smack her out of the air! The sound attack left her ears ringing as she plummeted, splattering into a maroon heap on the ground as she struggled to get her bearings. By the time the feeling in her legs returned she was shoulder checked by the beast. As it grabbed her and opened it's horrifying jaws open to swallow her head, someone else fired at it, diverting it's attention.

"Hey ugly! Drop the red velvet, you haven't had your dinner yet!" Simon... Red velvet? Once Carmen's senses caught back up she stuck the monster in the neck and pumped it full of venom! This caused it to slowly seize up, giving both of them time to keep wailing on it before it started moving again, Carmen kept slashing and whipping it with her hooks, Simon kept a shooting at it's joints and head. The venom was wearing off much sooner than expected however, the beast was winding up to blast another sound attack. "SHUT YOUR TRAP!" Carmen shoved her hand onto it's mouth to interrupt it, and as she expected it bit down on her hand in response.

Her body was mostly liquid, and yet being pierced and bitten, and eaten, was just as painful as though she were still flesh. Pain flooded her senses as she just kept striking the beast with her hook and tail. "Drop it!" Simon shouted as he fired a shot at it's junk. It squealed in pain and dropped her, Carmen looked at what was left of her hand, now mostly a dripping wrist. The beast yiped and scampered off, it's tail between it's legs, along with one of it's hands. "Huh, wolfman's got nards." Simon chuckled. Carmen didn't acknowledge him, she just stood back up and shoved him aside as she walked back to the column.

Don't look at him...

Carmen molded her fingers back one by one, the rest of her paw's features eased back into form afterwards. "Why did you call me red velvet?" She finally asked. "Well, cause you're red and white, like a red velvet cake. That's your favorite, don't you remember?"

Carmen ached, it felt like a part of her was missing, a hole in her chest making itself known.

Don't look at him...

She didn't even bother continuing the conversation, it was starting to hurt...

Approaching the column again Volt was running his parazon through the console instead of Lavos this time. "Yeesh, looks like they're trying to replicate the whole boyband, terribly but they're certainly trying." Volt archived a set of data before giving the console to Lavos to shut it down. "It's coalescent" K realized. "Light branch samples are part of a hivemind so it's entirely possible this vulcanized consists of multiple entities at once." Lavos snapped his fingers. "Perhaps that's was distressed The Behemoth!"

"Come o-o-o-on we can do better-better than that now can't we? *K-k-k-k-kvrrr-r-r-r-*" Another tower down.

K took a look at the data and scowled. "We may have the location data now but we still can't read it like this. Our instruments are jammed, theirs will not shut up. We have to take out all the towers just to clear the interference." Carmen speed walked past the group to sit on the trailer. Her memories once again stinging her, she hated it.

"Carmen, is something wrong?" K asked her. She gave a dismissive chuff. "I got my hand bitten off by that beast, and my head's hurting from the sound attack, among other things..." K hummed. "Perhaps you should sit this next one out, we have more than one sample on standby. Is there something you'd like?" Carmen rubbed the back of her head, and grasped at her collar... "My collar, I want to be entranced for a while." K raised an eyebrow at that suggestion. "You, want that? I figured based on your visceral reaction to the hivemind's erasure you'd despise this."

...

K seemed to think this suggestion was bizarre, but he obliged regardless. "If you insist... I won't use the collar for that though." K picked up a visor from one of the exo-suits, disconnecting it and placing it over her eyes. After pressing a button on the side, the visor started to slowly fade in that... Same, vibrant, pattern from, her collar... "This should work with the same effect. I will keep note of this..."

"Hypnotized again?" You waved your hand past Carmen's eyes, she doesn't even react to you. "What did she do this time?"

"That's the curious part, she asked me to activate her collar's mesmerize function." K put a hand on her head and runs his fingers through her fur. Colin taps on the visor. "Can she even hear us right now?"

"If she does she hasn't told me, it's primarily specialized on keeping her in a relaxed, docile state. I figured that would be the best option given her more aggressive traits." Against your better judgement you reach for the visor and slowly lift it up, Carmen's eyes carrying that same spiraling pattern like a cartoon character, they slowly started to return to their usual amber color. She grunts, and lazily grabs the visor and pulls it back over her eyes. "N-No..." Once it's over her eyes again, she goes limp and moans.

"She actively chose to stay entranced? Hmm, I have a theory, but I don't like the implications of it." K wrote more things down on a clipboard, peering over you can see it's a record of Carmen's behaviors. "You're aware of the consequences of transfurmation correct? How the minds of the host and the sample blend together, memories become blurred or lost, personalities become altered. Carmen is one of the rare instances in which the original human consciousness is resurfaced and more dominant than the sample's instincts. I have a theory that her memories of her human life may be causing her grief. She might be actively trying to forget them, try to be the beast she is now, instead of the human she once was."

"I'm taking the visor off, I don't see how being hypnotized would help." Colin grabs the visor and pulls of off Carmen's face completely. She covers her eyes and shakes her head. "Ngh-! Damnit, turn it back on, it still hurts." Colin looks at the visor, then back to Carmen. "What hurts?" "Remembering." Carmen curls up, wrapping herself in a cloak of her own wings. "I've been getting clearer memories of my past, it aches... Just, let me stay in that trance for a little while longer." She actively avoids looking at you.

K takes the visor out of Colin's hands, turns it off and puts it back on it's respective suit. "Hypnotizing yourself to avoid memory recollection is not recommended. If anything you are intensifying the whiplash through the delay." You can see Carmen mouthing something quietly. "Don't look at him, don't look at him, don't look at him-" You're not the only one who notices this however, K points out this behavior as well. "Don't look at who? Simon?" Carmen balls up tighter.

"Maybe I should leave..."

"No." K raises a hand for you to stop. "She needs to remember." "What if I don't want to remember?!" Carmen shouts, standing at her full height as she glares at K. "Maybe I want to be more like a latex, maybe that's more me than when I was human! MAYBE I'D RATHER FORGET ALL THOSE MEMORIES THAN HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT CURSED PROMISE AGAIN!"

Colin steps back. Even K seems to be uneasy, his hand inches away from the remote in his pocket.

...

That promise... "So that's what this is about." You speak up. Carmen, looks directly at you, horrified as she just realized what she said. "Do you, think I'll try to kill you because of what you've become?" "Because of what you've become..." K flips through a set of notes. "That talk about your friend becoming a monster, and if you'd kill them, it wasn't your friend who was asking, was it?" Carmen backed down, she clearly wasn't going to answer. She didn't have to, you remember that conversation. "She asked me that question years ago."

You walked up to her and held her paw in your hand. "Come on Carmen." She sniffed. "The Carmen you kn-knew, is dead..."

"No, she isn't. She's right here, she's talking to me right now, and little by little she's coming back..." Carmen hugs you tightly with her arms and her wings, quietly sobbing. You pat her gently, she relaxes and chuffs.

The noise from the towers must be horribly loud if you can hear it from here. "You guys hear that?" "I feel that." Puro looked at his hand, the one that wasn't pressing his ears down, you can see him ripple slightly. Christ that's gotta be harsh on his ears! K checks the radar and seems relieved. "Good news, these last two towers are in close proximity to one another."

Lavos clicks a glaive into his shotgun. "I suggest we destroy the towers instead of shutting them off."

Lavos, Colin, Puro and Volt grouped up to dispatch the first tower. K offered one of the exo-suits for Colin to use, but he refused to wear the visor, claiming. "I don't feel safe with a potential hypno-mask that close to my eyes." Once the group took off, that left you, K, and Carmen to watch over the truck. K kept a close watch on the comms while he stood like a sniper on the roof. Carmen was looking at her own hands, grasping the air.

"You doing alright?"

Carmen exhales, and stretches her wings. "I'm fine, but do you really want to be here? You saw what we're up against, K says if you get injured and he can't fix it, you'll be walking out of this with a tail." You give Carmen a pat on the back. "I'm not too worried."

"*Tccch-ch-ch-ch-* Ple-e-e-ease, keep showing us-s your-r-r support-port." One left... You both cover your ears as the music starts to get even louder. Even K stumbles as the noise increases. "Sounds like it's getting desperate, kill the final speaker so we can wrap this up!"

"WE'RE WORKING ON IT!" Volt shouts into the comms, could K even hear them over this noise?! Colin held out his hand. "LAVOS, I NEED ANOTHER EXPLOSIVE!" Lavos alchemized a canister full of a fizzing orange liquid and loaded it Colin's hand, he shook it like a soda bottle and hurled it at the tower!

*P-KOWW*

"*VEEEEM* If management gives us w-w-w-w- one more passive aggressive smi-i-i-i-ile, I'm-I'm gonna sn-snap!" No more music, no more noise. Puro sighed in relief. "I thought I was gonna go deaf!"

Lavos gave the signal. "Beat drop, come pick us up so we can finish the fight..."

Suddenly the comms lit up with a harsh buzz of microphone feedback. Colin pointed into the distance. "So, if I were a betting man..." A stadium... Marred with white and silver tendrils worming their way through everything.

K's truck sped up to them and the back of the trailer opened, Carmen and Simon beckoning everyone back inside. "We got it's attention! Hop aboard!"

"We're shutting this party down."

Setting foot in this warped stadium was already putting you on edge. Too many parts of it seemed to move, you were expecting the ground to just grab hold of your legs and bite them off. Approaching a wall covered in silver cracks and corrupted scrap, five screens flicked on one by one, five silhouettes, clearly not human ones decorated the screens. From left to right, Neon, Wideband, Aux, Tempo, Record.

...

Lavos didn't hesitate to fire at the screens, the harsh buzz of a microphone interspersed with an inhuman growl. An organic doorway opened up like a mouth at the bottom of the wall. As you approached the stage, that music was becoming more audible. It was, clean... Like the actual song you would listen to for once, no static, no glitching.

...

Puro whipped around as something skittered past you. You watch as a blurry, small figure creeps across the walls to the stage. It leaps onto the ground, it's screen face displaying a singular eye. That one matches Neon's silhouette.

More scratching as a familiar shape emerges, Tempo. It drops down too, lightly parting it's hair to display a few of it's many eyes to stare at you in a pose.

Next to Tempo is an unfamiliar form, a large eared canine with a ton of electronics merged with it's form. It's left hand warped like a shield, the two records twisted into sawblades give you the hint, this must be Record.

With a heavy thud, the largest beast returned, snarling at the sight of you. If any of them were to be called 'Wideband' it would probably be this one. He certainly remembers you after your cheap shot.

Finally with a tremendous gargling howl, the final member, Aux, dangled from the ceiling on a set of tentacles his forearms ended in. It reached for the floor before dropping down, and hoisting itself tall on it's tendrils. It's screen partially engulfed with a strand of goo stretching over it, it's orange pinprick eyes looking at all of you.

"I have one qu-e-e-estion for you: Ar-Ar-Are you having, a go-o-o-od time?"

Chapter Text

You cautiously draw your plinx and baton, you knew these Vulcanized things were gonna be freaky, but these five were something else entirely.

Aux's throat clicks like an otherworldly horror. "Le-e-e-ets kick off this-s-s-s-s year with a- with a bang!" It threw it's head back in another twisted howl, the rest of Surround Sound joining in with a howl of their own before charging at you all! Volt dashes in front of you and generates a barrier of electricity. A blast from Wideband is absorbed by the shield, and Lavos chucks his hammer at them all, it bursts and the party splits up. Everyone breaks off to fight each bandmember.

You face off with Neon, Colin and Puro chase down Record, Volt sweeps through and runs circles around Aux, K and Lavos draw Wideband's attention, and Carmen is picking off Tempo from a distance.

You get in a few thwacks with your baton, the zaps causing Neon's Monitor to flicker, but it also keeps retaliating with quick snaps of it's forearm claws. As one snaps really close to your face, you can kind of see the remnants of one of those raptor's jaws. "So are you sure you're supposed to be- WOAH-! to be a dog? Cause I don't recall any dog breeds with crab claws!" Neon makes a bit-crushed growl at your comment, you can't help it, you just start spouting nonsense when tense. Suddenly it's monitor flashes brightly! "GAH!" You feel yourself swept onto the ground, neon climbs on top of you and tries to slam your head between it's claws. You bring up your baton which it clasps and tries to push over your neck!

Oh this is gonna suck. You turn the shock baton back on and the sudden jolt of electricity causes you and Neon to flinch, relieving the pressure and giving you the opportunity to draw your plinx and keep shooting at it's face! The second it brings it's claws up to protect it's face, you twist your legs and throw them off of you. You feel the sharp edges of the claw's teeth as it clamps around your- "AH- Fucking leave my leg alone damn it!" This time you jab your baton into it's screen! Cracking it and causing Neon to, skitter for lack of a better word, upside down away before standing back up to rub at it's screen. The seams of the crack slowly restore and the eye on the screen is temporarily replaced with an angry emoji.

Light gathers in Neon's claws before focusing it into a stream of glowing bolts. You roll as the stream scorches the ground it hits, it seems Neon was loosing balance from doing this as it stumbles backwards and shakes off it's claws. You fire two more shots at it. Neon skitters towards you at an alarming speed- Nyeugh! Back demon! -and you kick it as it gets too close. You run over to a pile of scrap metal as you hear Neon charging another barrage of light bullets, picking up what seems to be a metal sheet and using that as a shield. The stream of light shoots out and bounces off the metal plate, up and into the sky... You have an idea!

Neon charges another barrage, this time you angle the shield so it bounces right back to Neon. With that, Neon gets a taste of it's own medicine! As it staggers back, you fire a shot at it's neck, blasting it apart and causing it's head to roll off it's shoulders, the body thudding against the ground shortly after.

One down, best to go help with the others... You hear Puro yelp and rush off to assist with Record.

...

*Crrr-k*

Pain, Puro had gotten himself hurt before, but this?! The toothy circular disc currently boring into his forearm was agonizing, but if he hadn't brought his arm up to block it most certainly would've gone through his mask! Record had a sinister glint in that narrow screen on his face, as he pushed harder into Puro's arm. Puro grit his teeth, drew an arrow from the quiver and used it like a dagger! Jabbing it into the side of Record's head, causing him to stumble back! Record revved up his saws once again, but Colin took the exo-suit's fist and smashed it into Record's shoulder!

As Record tumbled across the ground, his saws sunk and moved across his body into his feet. Now gliding noisily, but gracefully across the ground as he caught himself. He struck a pose and with a flash from his shades, Another Exo-suited Colin suddenly flickered into existence and charged at full speed towards them! "What the-?!" *THUNK* Puro was sent barreling backwards! What was that?! It didn't have a smell, it didn't look right, it didn't move right, but he FELT it!

"Was that me?!" Colin was equally bewildered, but it sounded like he didn't know what really happened. Colin kept swinging at Record, who was practically dancing between strikes.

"Puro!" Simon called to him. "You doing alright?! I saw you go flying back there!" Puro pulled himself back together. "I'm good, but this one's got some nasty tricks." Simon drew his pistol and fired a few shots at Record to split his focus, in response he twirled on one saw blade and FIRED THE OTHER ONE AT SIMON-! "LOOK OUT!" Puro tackled Simon to the ground as the sawblade flew over his head! Simon then pushed Puro aside- *VWRRRRRRRR* -to save him from the blade on it's return trip! Puro needed something that hits harder. His gaze turned to Simon's old walking stick...

Puro grabbed hold of it, spun it around and spread a layer of latex on the other end. With a tightening grip as he slid his hand off of it, a crystalline point now rested at the tip. "It'll probably shatter on impact, but if I throw it with enough force..."

Record started flickering all around Colin, in a different pose every time. Eventually Colin whipped around to slam his gauntlet into... Simon? *SLAM-CRACK* Colin's expression turned mortified, as Simon lay beneath his fist, coughing up blood. "N-No..." Colin muttered, distraught. Simon, slid a bloody hand up Colin's gauntlet...

"COLIN! THAT'S NOT ME!" Simon shouted, but Colin didn't seem to hear it, still horrified at the facade under his fist. Puro wound up for the throw, focusing his vision as best as he could... There! It was faint, but he could make out the blurred motion of Record's real shape.

*SNICK-SPLACK* Record suddenly flickered into reality inches away from Colin's face! Tumbling to the ground as the salvaged spear was practically imbedded through his face! The illusion under Colin's gauntlet fizzled out with a shocked expression on it's face, causing Colin to snap awake. "Good luck faking that roller mobster!" Simon shouted triumphantly. He and Puro ran up to Colin and stood together as Record leapt back up, pulled the spear out of his face and threw it aside, his visor now cracked and full of static. Record tried to project something, but he couldn't. Breaking his visor must've stopped those fake outs from happening.

"Th-Th-Th-That's gonna come out of our pay-pay-pay for sure..." Record hissed, before relocating his saws into both of his hands and gliding towards them in a handstand-grind. It looked goofy for a bit until he spun back upright to slash at them! Colin took the Exo-suit's gauntlets and grabbed onto the sawblades! The sound of screeching metal was harsh. After that Colin held Record's arms out, leapt out of the suit, drew his gun and just kept shooting him in the face! Puro took the opportunity to pick up the spear and thrust it through Record's chest! "Oh gnarly!" Simon commented at the white and silver blob that was stuck to the tip of the spear.

Record shrieked! It sounded like microphone feedback mixed with a dog's yelp! Colin grabbed the blob and tossed it to the ground, at that Record fell silent and splashed into a puddle on the ground. "Is it dead?" Puro asked. Suddenly something sharp clamped around his neck and brought him to the floor! A glowing screen with a pixelated eye was staring back at him! "NEON GOT BACK UP!" Simon shouted as he and Colin pried him off Puro! Neon crawled over to the blob on the ground from Record and dipped it back in the puddle.

Record's body reformed around the blob, Neon clacked his claws together and they struck a cocky pose. "I uh, I think we just made them angry..."

Lavos's hammer collided hard with Wideband's block, he barely slid back from the force. Wideband suddenly grabbed Lavos and slammed his knee into him, before picking him up and tossing him away! Lavos shook his head as he stood back up. Wideband roared and pounded his chest, before a rifle shot knocked him out of his triumphant gloat. "Suppressing Fire!" K shouted, loading another round and preparing another shot. Wideband turned to glare at him with his nonexistent eyes. "Don't turn you back on your opponent." Lavos whispered, aiming his Cedo, and launching a disc at the back of his head. As a shower of chemicals coated Wideband's body it sizzled and hissed. The Cedo's shots were much more effective on a target that way.

Lavos held down on the trigger and just kept firing, Wideband opened his mouth for a sonic attack. NOW! Lavos fired another disc, this time it went down Wideband's throat... Wideband shrieked as steam, sparks, embers, particles of many different elements at once sprayed out of his mouth. Blast 8, Viral 7, Heat 15, Rad 10... Primed for Catalyze! Lavos materialized a ring of Catalyzer probes, The second the ring expanded to encompass Wideband he burst into a column of flame!

As Wideband buckled over and heaved up the disc, Lavos wound up and brought his hammer down on his head! Wideband didn't stand back up, but before Lavos could remove the core, Volt was thrown into him from his battle with Aux.

Aux snarled, and various pieces of metal debris started to float and orbit him. "So." Volt strained. "Magnetism, didn't see that one coming..." He and Lavos stood back up and brandished their weapons.

Aux threw a metal bit of shrapnel, it flew past the warframes and with a wet stabbing sound, K was nailed to the wall. "NNRRRGH-!" K grit his teeth and tried to pull his arm free, but the pipe was lodged deep into the wall, and K's shoulder. "Damn it all, that was my favorite lab coat."

Wideband stood back up, coughing up a cloud of smoke as Aux slinked next to him. "Looks like it's ti-i-i-time for a duet!" Aux flipped over and landed on Wideband's shoulders, his feet began to sink into them and the two began to merge. Wideband's maw split open and Aux's tongue stuck out of it as their heads merged. The two became one, Wideband now had a mass of barbed tentacles waving in the air and debris began to collect around them.

"I've played plenty of video games to know it's bad news when the monsters start doing THAT!" Volt shouted. "Get K off of the wall, I'll buy you some time!" Lavos shouted as he began to spray more buckshot at the vulcanized amalgamate. The Aux/Wideband hybrid charged towards him like a stampeding giant! Lavos slid between their legs as it brought it's fists down to slam him into a bloody crater.

Volt grabbed the pole and pulled as hard as he could- "Wait careful that's in my-!" *CHSSSK* "GAH-! FUCKING-!" K dropped on his knee and put a hand on his shoulder, which was already slowly reforming itself. "For being made of goop, I don't see why you'd still get hurt by this." Volt asked as he tossed the pipe aside. "There's a physical difference between melting my form, and having it ripped apart- DUCK!" K pushed Volt to the ground as a large chunk of rock was flung their way.

Lavos threw his hammer and it ricocheted against the floating shrapnel, before smacking hard against the back of the merged beast's head. Lavos was about to fire another disc into the beast's mouth, but instead of trying to catch itself, the monster dropped it's head hard into a devastating headbutt. Followed by a barrage of slashes from it's tentacles. Lavos was thoroughly scratched and bleeding as he was subsequently punted by the beast's tail.

"Hey! Pick on someone your own size!" Volt shouted as he casted a few bolts of lightning to catch it's attention. He succeeded at that, but it simply chucked more rubble at him instead. Volt conjured another electric shield to block the rubble, and K stood behind him as he focused with a rifle in hand. As he fired and his bullet passed through the shield, it was charged with electricity and inflicted a nasty shock to the merged monster, causing Aux and Wideband to separate. Lavos, Volt and K stood in formation as the two beasts circled them.

Carmen thought she'd get the upper hand facing Tempo at a distance, given his pulse ability. What she was not prepared for however was to see exactly how Tempo could utilize it to jump up to her as she flew! Swinging with her hooks, Tempo's own hook claws locked with them and despite the shock they were producing, Tempo was more than determined to bring her down to earth.

He slammed her against the floor and pounced on her, pinning her wings to the ground! Before attempting to bite her throat. Carmen returned the gesture in kind, and added her sting to the mix as they balled up and rolled on the ground like wild animals. Carmen kept stinging until she was certain her venom was taking effect. Tempo's struggling was starting to get stiffer, but even when he was paralyzed and Carmen was prepared to rip into him, he was still able to generate a shockwave pulse to knock her back!

"What?! That's bullshit!" Carmen furiously groaned as she tried to get back at her opportunity to strike, but Tempo kept knocking her back the second she got within striking range. Tempo's paralysis was wearing off, and slowly he stood back up and began to slowly walk towards her, pulsing the whole time. "STOP-! BLASTING-! ME-! YOU-! ASS-!" Tempo was absolutely amused as he continued to pulse in response to Carmen's protests.

Settle down Carmen, you're literally running into a brick wall over and over again. Carmen thought to herself. Let him come to you... Once she stopped rushing in she began to back away from Tempo, attempting to get him to chase her. Tempo suddenly surged with energy at his feet and lunged at high speeds towards her! Gotcha! Carmen held one of her hooks out and Tempo skewered himself on it! She looped it around and sunk it into his shoulder and wrapped her arms in the cord, no pulsing was going to keep her away now.

Tempo swung at her in tandem with her remaining hook, electric buzzes frequent with the clashing of blades. Tempo tried to pulse her back, but in response she tugged hard on the hook looped around his shoulder and slammed him into the ground simultaneously.

Carmen began using Tempo's pulses against him, and he seemed to find that insulting. "What's the matter buddy? Not having fun now that I'm getting wise to your tricks?" Carmen mocked. She dragged the hook, and Tempo by proxy to the ground and looped the cord around his neck. She then sank the other hook into his other shoulder, leaving Tempo bound and electrified at the same time.

"K! How do we kill these things?!" Carmen shouted to K, who was currently occupied with Aux's tentacles trying to pry his rifle out of his hands and lacerate him. "The Core! Destroy the Core!"

Core... The Heartbeat! Carmen lunged and thrust her claws at Tempo's back, but Tempo had bitten his way out of the cords of the hooks, and as he turned to face her, spat a glob of burning slag into her face! Carmen grabbed at her eyes as they burnt, before also feeling a sharp pain in her chest as Tempo's claws thrust through her before launching her with a pulse charged dropkick.

Neon and Tempo just finished ripping the Exo-suit to scrap metal, leaving Colin without it for the rest of the fight. It wasn't looking good.

Carmen knocked you over as she was tumbling through the air, the smell of singed rubber and hot metal coming from her- "Oh GOD! Carmen your eyes!"

"I-I, I can't-! I can't see!" Carmen clawed at the mess covering and burning her face, you'd help but you'd probably burn yourself trying. You need more help in these fights, or you're not going to leave this night intact. "Where's Excalibur when you need him... Wait... Wait!" You roll Carmen off of you and start to rummage through your bag. "Where is it where is it where is it-?! AHA!"

Flare Gun! You point it to the sky and pull the trigger! The soaring flare left a bright red flash in the sky and a trail of colored smoke. You hope this worked...

Carmen rubbed her eyes, only one of them was fully reformed but she looked up at the flare you just fired with confusion. "What did you do?" Neon and Record also seemed to stop to look at the flare, equally confused. Most of the fighting seemed to halt as the flare lit up the night sky.

...

"Well I was hoping that would help instantly, but I guess we just have to survive now." You put the flare gun away to-

*VRRRR-BANG*

A loud crash suddenly came from the other side of the stadium. Yes! They were close! Lavos however aimed his gun towards the sky. "I wouldn't be celebrating just yet, I think your plan is working too well at drawing attention!"

...

Any hope for salvation was quickly supplemented with a mounting horror, as a troop of winged figures in the sky flocked to the flare and circled in the sky above the stadium... "SHIT! I forgot about the murder drones!" The squad descended upon you all, Carmen grabbed you by the hand and pulled you away from a sudden stream of gunfire. Volt ran at high speeds to place a shield over Colin and Puro, just in time as another shower of bullets fell upon them. Wideband looked up to the flock, and fired a sonic wave at the drones! They're fighting each other?

"They're not gon-n-n-n-a keep us s-s-s-silent!" Aux called, flinging shrapnel like knives at the drones. Now the stadium has become a warzone!

"Oh I did not think this through..."

The sound of a feline yelp from behind you was followed by Carmen's "Look out!" as she tackled an unseen threat. You turn to see her wrestling with a familiar Snow Leopard. They both kept swiping claws at each other as they fought, Carmen trying to sting the leopard as she tries to scramble away from her. You can probably guess what she's gonna do if she breaks free, and run to Volt's shield. "It's that Snow Leopard again!"

"Snow what now?" You stand behind Volt, Colin and Puro looking to see the leopard leap off of Carmen and bolt towards you. "You can't be here!" Puro shouted to her. "It's not safe! The drones will-" A beam of glowing yellow plasma swept in front of the snow leopard, causing her to stop dead in her tracks as a murder drone landed in front of her, hand outstretched to block her.

"Snowball! I told you to stay back." Volt tensed at that voice. J's voice... "Shoo, get back to the spire before you're caught in the crossfire." The snow leopard backed up, looking at you with concern. J turned to face your little gathering. "As for you, Warframe... It seems I have a fair amount of targets here. You, those other goo beasts and..." J's smirk fell, her eyes hollowed in surprise as she locks eyes with you.

A chill ran up your spine, like you startled a fearsome predator and it hadn't remembered your place in the food chain yet. Either way, you didn't feel safe with her staring you down like this.

"Uh... Hi..?"

J gritted her fangs, one of her eyes being replaced with an X as she drew a machine gun and yelled in blind fury! Volt reoriented the shield to block the oncoming fire, Puro prepared to fire an arrow at J, but a stray bullet struck his hand and caused him to misfire the arrow off it's mark! "VOLT! ABOVE US!" Colin shouted as a drone dove for them! Lavos's hammer flew through the air and intercepted the tackle! "We have to retreat!"

"Here's hoping enough interference is cleared!" K produced a device and spoke into it. "Cat's Paw! Bring the truck to the Stadium entrance and pick us up!" A cheerful beep from the device indicated the message was sent. "EVERYONE OUT! NOW!" Volt released a massive burst of electricity to disrupt the vulcanized and the drones equally. Buying you some clearance as you all ran as fast as you could. A haste filled meow from Snowball was quickly followed by a grab on your wrist from her! You reach for your baton, but she quickly pours herself over you!

"NO!" Carmen shouts as she lunges and splatters over you as well!

Numbness wasn't the only thing overwhelming you now, the sensations of Carmen and Snowball tussling with you being tossed around as they both engulfed you equally was causing fluctuating waves of numbness and harsh buzzing! There was something else however, you were feeling both equally annoyed and afraid... N-No, you're panicking! Why are you annoyed?! You just need to be completely merged and you'll be safe- What?! Why would you-? Ugh, your thoughts were a mess! Were they even your own thoughts?! Are they even your own?! So many feelings at once, satisfaction, panic, distress, annoyance, bliss, drowsiness-! The lines were getting so blurry, and they just WONT STOP!

A white hand pierced the gooey haze and tried to drag you free of their struggle! You gasped for air as Colin tried to pull you out of their tangling latex! Your(?) thoughts still swam in your head, fading clarity however was coming back to you! "M-My, Stick!" Colin shot his hand into the latex bundle that Snowball and Carmen were, whispering "Sorry Carmen, this is gonna suck for you too!" and pressing the button on the end of your shock baton to turn it on!

OW! GREAT! NOW YOUR BODY WAS BEING ZAPPED TOO!

Snowball and Carmen both released their hold on you equally, but Carmen recovered quicker and grabbed you first, helping Colin carry you along side her.

Your head... Felt like, it was introduced to an eggbeater... And you could still feel your shock baton zapping your thigh- "Ow ow ow-" You turn it off, your thoughts trying to get back in order, but man you felt... So, tired...

J's breathing slowed down. Her sudden and highly unprofessional outburst at the sight of... A Human slowly died out, she had more pressing matter to attend to.

The hybrids gathered close together, looking between each other as they figured their next move. J glanced at Snowball, she would've just gone with the scorched earth protocol if she wasn't here! "We'll have to do this the old fashion way. Troops, terminate them!" They all opened fire at the hybrids, the tentacled one swept a field over them as the bullets were stopped mid flight, before returning fire with them. J braced as the bullets strafed against her wings.

Snowball had gotten to a safe distance... "Scorched earth protocol it is!" Every drone changed tactics, now releasing a barrage of missiles. As the stadium rocked with explosions the hybrids collected back together and-

[/!\ WARNING /!\]
[INVASIVE SIGNALS]

The hybrids began to broadcast that GOD DAMNED SONG AGAIN! The drones in the air stuttered and became unresponsive, J's own head was filled with noise! The song echoing out of the hybrids and layered over with the signal in the back of her own head! J struggled to stand-!

Their music got louder! Now the drones were playing it too! She-! Had-!

"ENOUGH!"

J withdrew an EMP generator as she tried to stay awake-! And released a pulse to shut down that incessant singing in her head!

*VWRRRR-R-R-R-R-R-PBWOOOAAAWW*

The song cut into harsh static, and J stopped hearing the music as well. The Hybrids all shrieked in discordant pain, that shut them up. As the rest of the drones slowly regained functionality she didn't hesitate to get the job started early, and she rushed forward, swords drawn and she impaled the largest hybrid! Tearing it in half she stuck it's core with her tail, it squealed and hissed as it dissolved, and the large one crumbled to ash shortly after.

The other hybrids seemed distraught with that, charging after her in vengeful retaliation. J spat, wound up a beam of plasma and swept it towards them, they rolled and dodged. The rest of the drones came online again and resumed their attack. This would be over soon.

The one with shades tried to manifest some holographic illusions, just like Her, but it was inexperienced. It was torn to shreds as the drones ripped it apart, J making sure it's core was destroyed as they feasted on it's remains... Gross, even V wouldn't think of indulging in that sludge.

J felt her joints tighten, the tentacle hybrid snarled as it knocked her down and slashed at her with it's appendages. "Grrraow!" Snowball lunged from the shadows and pounced on the hybrid, scratching and biting it! J felt her limbs loosen up again, and she ran to Snowball's aid as the beast coiled it's tendrils around her and opened it's jaws with a ravenous gargle. J swept a blade across it's neck, as the headless body stumbled around she thrust her stinger into it's chest. She ran over to Snowball who was breathing heavily after being freed from it's grasp. She seemed a little shaken up, but over all she was fine.

The hairy one tried to say something, but the EMP she generated must've fried it's speakers because all it could say was garbled static. "Just one left..."

The truck was at the entrance, the Cat's Paws awaiting their passengers. The sound of a pair of motorcycles causing them to turn to face the approaching figures. Excalibur and Mag stopped at the truck and stared up at the plume of red smoke and the storm of drones in the sky circling it.

"Looks like someone kicked the nest, I hope it's not who I think it is..." Excalibur spoke to open air. "Hello Excalibur!" Cat's Paw chimed. "We weren't aware you were in the sector at the time." Another Cat's Paw said as they peaked their head out from the other side of the truck.

"There's two of them?" Mag quickly whipped around to the sound of hyperspeed footsteps, Volt ran out of the entrance to the stadium and ground to a halt at them. "You're here too? Guess Simon's idea worked after all." Volt ran over to the cats and- "Incoming!" Two drones perched outside and prepared to open fire, Mag lifted her hands up and the drones slammed into one another. "Where's everyone else then?"

"On their way, but if this truck gets wrecked we're not leaving!"

Excalibur drew his rifle and kept watch for the skies. "Better stay on your toes then!" Mag, Volt and Excalibur all stood watch as drones split off from the spiral to prioritize them instead. Mag redirected a missile back to the drone that fired it, Excalibur produced a blinding flash to disrupt their aim, Volt chained lightning strikes at them to bring them down.

One drone landed behind Volt, when suddenly an arrow flew and struck it in the head lights, causing it to hiss and stumble back. Looking back to where the arrow came from, Puro was standing and already reaching for another arrow, he grows concerned when he feels only ten arrows left. Volt kicks the staggering drone aside and fires a beam of lightning from his gun as he talks. "Please tell me the others are close!"

"Just about, K and Lavos should be-"

"Coming through!" Lavos shouted as he leapt out of the entrance with K on his shoulders. A rather ridiculous look, but it seems to have been the latter's idea from the start. K took out the magazine of his rifle and grunted. "I'm out of lethal rounds, and I doubt tranquilizer darts will affect disassembly drones."

Colin and Carmen were next, the latter carrying a limp Simon in her arms as she flew. Everyone was scrambling into the back of the truck, the two Cat's Paws turning the truck to leave as the stadium erupted with more explosions. Excalibur and Mag leapt on top of the truck to shoot down any drones that were following them.

"Contact! Six O'clock, four targets!" They traded gunfire, one drone taking a lower flight path as a result. When two of the drones got closer Excalibur slammed his blade into the floor, Radial Javelins pierced them and left one of them crashing into the road. The other drone in a desperate swing sunk it's claws into the back of the trailer, prying the door open.

Lavos and Colin both riddle the intruder with bullets, before Lavos's shotgun makes an empty clicking sound. The drone crawls inside with it's claws scraping against the walls. Simon weakly tries to stand up, drew his pistol and kept firing, despite his visible fatigue. K grabs Simon and forces him to sit as Volt zips forward to evict the drone. Carmen lunges for the drone and kicks it out the door in tandem with Volt, Mag uses her powers to shut the door back up, but she gasp with exhaustion.

"I'm starting to run out of energy for this! Why are they still chasing us?!" Mag just keeps firing her guns, Excalibur drew his exalted blade and threw slashing waves at the drones in place of bullets. "Does it matter?! They kill anything on sight, but I'll admit they're more persistent right now!"

"That might be..." Simon groggily tried to speak up. "That might be my fault... I launched the flare, and J found me..."

"Bloody hell you sound like shit... Is he bleeding in there?"

"Only minor scratches and cuts." Dr. K spoke up. "But Simon was just caught between two conflicting samples attempting to assimilate him at once. A physically and mentally overstimulating experience." The truck jostled as the drones were now firing missiles instead.

Carmen looked over at Simon, who was struggling to stay awake, then looking at the Cat's Paw driving the truck. "We can't let the drones follow us back to the tower! If they do they'll either destroy everything inside or be transfurred, meaning MORE Vulcanized!"

"Carmen..." Simon tiredly muttered. "I can't... feel..." Carmen put a paw on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, it's my fault you're like this... I just couldn't let the leopard take you away from us and..." She looks down and takes Simon's hand, his grip was lazy.

Something clanked against the door again, but it wasn't trying to pry the door open. 

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Mag shouted, as something was crawling up the door of the truck, a canine amalgam of slime and steel. It turned to face the drones, a bit crushed, somber digital song emitting from it's speakers. It then flashed a bright beam of light from it's screen at the drones, causing them to tumble and crash. More drones began to show up, and the hybrid opened it's claws to fire a barrage of plasma bullets at them. Excalibur didn't bother to question it, clearly it wanted to stop the drones as much as he did in the end.

One drone got one last missile shot, shaking the truck and taking out the hybrid's balance, causing it to fall off the truck.

The truck stopped near the tower entrance, Lavos and Carmen carried you. You couldn't really stand on your own, everything still felt numb. Is that bad? It feels like that's a bad thing...

"You sure he's gonna be okay in your hands?" Excalibur was talking to K. "Trinity's fixed him up before, she can do it again."

"You and I both know warframe energy is finite, she'll burn herself out if she has to patch Simon up over and over again." K began sifting through his notes. "His status isn't even a physical injury you can really mend to begin with... In my care, he won't have to risk his life all the time." "That might not be up to him anymore..." Lavos interjects. "J knows he exists now, and she didn't seem fond of him. I don't know if it was just her old precepts telling her to kill him, or if she just panicked over a human in our care. Either way, he needs to be protected."

"That's what I'm offering." K's eye twitched in annoyance. "He'll be safer here." "Safe?!" Colin and Puro loudly protested. "He'll be TRAPPED in your 'care'! You and I know what's in your tower!" "Colin settle down." Mag tried to ease the tension in the air. but Colin kept pressing. "Just what do you plan on doing to him, gonna keep him in a tank for another five years? I don't believe for a second you're not just going to-"

"I won't." K interrupted. "I thought you'd have more faith in me, I won't be 'disposing of him', I want to see him live."

Puro raised his concerns. "But the tower is crawling with latex! Even if you don't intend on it, if Simon is taken here there's too many opportunities for him to end up transfurred!"

"HE ALREADY IS!" Carmen shouted and lifted up your hand. "I'm what?" It's, numb, and dripping... Mag covers her inexistant mouth. "Oh... Oh shit. I mean, I think I'll be ok, it's just my hand right?" Colin and Puro shared distressed looks. "Since when?!" "Snowball and I took too much energy from him so he's turning slower, but it's still happening..." Carmen sighs. "I want to see if we can fix it. Or at least, keep the Simon we know around..."

...

"It's going to be a grueling process." K admits. "If he is in fact being transfurred at a snails pace, that gives us an edge, but this could still be close..."

You spread your fingers and watch the goopy strands stretch between them. "Whoa... I can, feel, the drips..." It feels, oddly nice... "Simon..." Colin grabs you head and shakes you around a little. "You, know what's about to become of you if they fail. Right?"

...

Your smile drops, you start to feel the weight of everything now. "It-It's... It's just my hand... That can be fixed, right?" You ask K. K sighs and give one of the Cat's Paws a USB. "This drive contains data for the location of this facility. I'll inform you of any progress updates when applicable... Hope for the best..."

Lavos, Carmen and K take you in. And the door closes on the others...

...

You don't want to forget...

"Carmen... If I come back, different. I don't want to forget who I was..."

She weakly smiles, you can see a tear in her eye. "I won't let it get that bad. But I'll be sure to remind 'you' about yourself if it comes to that..."

Chapter Text

"That looks like J's ship alright." Excalibur grabbed the hatch on the top and pried it open, Mag gave the pod a jostle with her magnetism to get it at an angle they could climb inside. The inside of the pod was a wreck, and not just because everything that should not be horizontal was horizontal. Scratches were on plenty of surfaces and a container was leaking a thick black substance. Colin recoiled at the smell. "It's Oil, Drone Oil." Excalibur clarified. "Looks like J packed a few drinks before she came back. What I'm more focused on here is that this pod was built for three. Where's the other two?"

Colin opened a box the wrong side up- "What the-? ARPH-!" -and it spilled it's contents over him in a flood of office supplies. Excalibur picked out a picture frame amidst the mess of papers, pens and other corporate junk. The photo was Victorian era in style, depicting a family of humans, a mother, a father and their daughter, as well as four worker drones dressed in equal uniform to maids and butlers. One of the drones Excalibur could recognize was J, if only because of the matching hairstyle. The other two nearby seemed familiar, but the last one was much different from the others, slouching and with limbs bent in an uneven stance like a limp.

Colin looked over the photo as well, picking a paperclip out of his ear. "Maybe these were her owners before she was, weaponized?" But why keep a photo of them? Notably the photo was cracked around the other drones, especially the slouched drone. "Never imagined J having a sentimental side."  Colin took another step- "OW!" He looked at his foot and picked a dart out of his pads. Following the rest of the darts lead to a picture on the wall, a drawing of a girl dressed in black with bat wings and a lizard head on a tail, she had a cartoon dead face and stink lines drawn over her. A dart was in the middle of her head, clearly this makeshift dartboard indicated this was a person J wasn't too fond of.

"My arms are getting tired out here." Mag called, Colin and Excalibur took that as their time to leave. Once they were out Mag released the pod, causing it to thud hard against the ground and roll into it's crater. She shook off her hands like she was carrying the entire thing in her arms. "If J did come back with anything important, she's probably taken it with her when she left."

You just lay there on the table, hardly feeling the energy to stand. "That struggle between Snowball and Carmen must've taken most your energy, leaving that little dripping mess on your hand with hardly any energy to use." K examines your hand. "It would explain why it's taking so long." He produces a set of strange tools and tries to scrub the goop off your hand. It stays firmly engulfing your hand however, your fingers involuntarily twitch as K scrapes it.

"So he's just on a trial of being human now?" Carmen asks, K hisses through his teeth. "That's the best case scenario, but the residue is taking any little energy he has just to fuel itself, and it's not enough. If it takes his heart and doesn't finish the job quick enough he may not survive..." Carmen looks like she's about to chop your hand off, honestly that was your idea too. "I may have an idea but it requires a crystal from a dark branch sample." K continues.

Lavos grabs his tools and moves to leave. "I may know a place with something that could help, I'll be back." Carmen climbs out the window. "Wherehtey goin'?" You slur your words lightly, the drain was making it hard to focus. "-WOOAAAAGH-!" Carmen flew back to the window, with Puro in her arms flopping around like a sack of potatoes with a startled look on his face. K begins to question. "Why did you-?"

"You need a dark latex crystal right? I've seen Puro make a few during our fight with Surround Sound."

"I'm still practicing that! Wait what do you need a crystal for?" K takes a few measurements of you, and then starts to mark a spot on your palms. "There is an anomalous transfurmation I've witnessed between dark branch samples and the crystals they create from their territory. I believe we can use it to supplant our patient's condition until it's completely gone." Puro seems to realize what K's plan is, you however have no clue what he's going on about. "You mean like..." He gestures to his arms and legs, the message is lost to you.

"But you'd need a royal crystal for that effect, and the only one who can make those kinds of crystals is The King!" Puro frets.  "So if we can't get that, then maybe we should just c-" K didn't even let Carmen finish her sentence. "We're NOT amputating a transfurred hand. Do you have any idea how many guards have attempted to cut off engulfed limbs? It never ends well, sometimes it doesn't even work."

Puro sighs and shakes. "I guess I should at least try to talk with The King, I don't think he'll be in a good mood to see me." Carmen pats Puro on the back. "I'll come with you for this." With that they climb into the vents, could've taken the elevator but you weren't going to call it out anytime soon.

Lavos drove with Mag in tow, stopping at a large golden door. "There it is."

"You sure what we need is in here? Excalibur didn't seem to fond of it." Mag mentioned as she slid a hand across the wall. "I understand his concerns, but we're running out of options here." Lavos pressed into a disc on the pattern, it began to flash a series of strange glyphs which he sorted three into a line, causing the door to flash and slowly creak open. "Stay close, and keep an eye out behind us." Taking a few steps in, the door shut behind them.

The inside of this place was lined wall to wall with mechanisms, papers and other assorted decor. Mag ducked as a golden hovering drone swooped past her head. "Even after the apocalypse these things are still running? Who's in control of this place?"

"I can't say, but we're not here to sight see." Lavos and Mag stepped into a chamber lined with various flasks and tanks of different liquids. Lavos swept his hand in front of a drawer and it began to cycle between substances, Mag picked up a glass of a blue liquid and shook it around lightly. "Oil of Vitriol?" Lavos grabbed it from her hand with a mild tsk. "Sulfuric Acid. Leave it alone, we're looking for something red." He resumed shuffling through the contents of the drawer.

Mag searched the lab for whatever it was they needed, stumbling upon a reflective disk on the table. She picked it up and looked into it, a mirror?

The mirror flashed a cyan glint, and suddenly the reflection changed to that of a face Mag hadn't seen in years! She nearly dropped it out of shock! Mag decided to pocket the mirror, making sure Lavos didn't see her take it with her. She then saw a crimson flask in a cabinet to the right. "Is this what we're looking for?"

"That's it alright." Lavos took the flask and stored it for travel.

An echoing scream filled the halls shortly after! "What was that?!" "A problem. But I doubt it's anywhere near us, even if it was disturbingly close. Come on, one last thing we need." Traveling deeper into the twisting, shining halls. Mag looked back at the mirror in her hands, seeing her old face staring back at her through it. Lavos put his hand over the reflection. "Find something of interest here?" He wrenched the mirror out of her hands, the reflection of Lavos in the mirror glinted, still Lavos, but now he was gilded like everything else in this place. "Ah, Lens of Eternalism, I suppose you can keep it, just be careful who you show it to. They may not like what they see..."

Mag and Lavos approached a workshop, covered in trinkets and tools. Lavos began pushing aside papers and rummaging through drawers, before a subtle "Jackpot." as he produced a little bolt with a gem in it's top. "Great, is that everything we need? This place gives me the creeps."

Another distant scream filled the halls, followed by an alarm! Various slots on the walls blared to life and multiple mechanical soldiers began to assemble from them! Lavos dragged Mag out of sight as they made their way to the exit. Room after room the alarms still maintained their call, finally approaching the door Lavos began to manipulate the glyphs to unlock it, but Mag wasn't willing to stick around for any time longer. "Move over!" She thrust her hands out and the door bent and twisted open! Once they were outside, she bent the door back into shape, sort of. "Alright, that should be everything right?"

Lavos grabbed her by the shoulder. "You have no idea what damage that little stunt could have done! That door better hold..." A dire venom in his tone, Lavos quickly released her and moved to the bikes.

Mag chose to not push it further, and they simply rode back to the tower.

...

*Clunk, clunk, clunk.*

Home again, it felt bittersweet for Puro to be back in dark latex territory again. The walls were smeared in larger patches than last time though, and it wasn't long until they were face to face with others of his kind. Nothing too troublesome, just a couple of roaming pups preoccupied with wrestling each other. Puro could hear Carmen gasp in delight at the sight of them. "I thought you just duplicated! I didn't know you had PUPPIES!" She immediately knelt down and patted her lap to get their attention, one of the pups waddled up to her with their tail swishing excitedly. "Aww hey thewe wittle fella~" She cupped their cheeks and rubbed them in a circular motion. The pup playfully nipped her fingers. "Aha-ow! Sharp teeth on that one."

While Carmen kept the pups occupied, Puro tried to get the door open but strangely it didn't budge. Liquifying his arm to squeeze through, he felt a crystal formation. "There's a crystal on the other side blocking the door." He said as he tried to squeeze through the gap. "Can't we just break it to open the door?" Carmen suggested. Puro shot her an almost offended look. "No! We crystalize on death, that crystal could be from a dark latex at the end of it's life, and shattering those is a major taboo in the pack!"

Carmen raised her hands defensively. "Ok never mind then. Well, if we can't break the crystal, what about the door?"

...

Puro grabbed one side of the door, Carmen held the other. "Ready? One. Two. THREEEE-!" They pulled as hard as they could, the sound of the door's hinges creaking in protest at this action. *SNAP* "It's working! Again, One. Two. THREE-!" *CRACK* The door was coming loose, just a bit more force-

"*KSSHHH* What the hell are you two doing?!" K shouted over the intercom as the door was torn down. "Sorry, couldn't get the door open from here." Carmen apologized. K simply groaned in annoyance. "Oh god that's going to be hell to fix with the rest of the masquerade running around up there... *KSSHHH*" Regardless, the door was down and that meant there was enough room to squeeze past the crystal in the doorway.

Puro and Carmen were soon met with a curious pack of wolves investigating the noise, inquisitive snorts and grumbles all around. 

Just play it cool Puro, blend in...

The other wolves left passing sniffs and head tilts as they continued to move deeper into the territory with hardly any interruption. Carmen slowed down as they passed a room with several wolves gathered around a pile of shards, a mournful howl from the gathered pack was shared. Carmen sped up as Puro urged.

They found themselves in a large chamber filled with crystals, and sitting in a chair with it's back turned to them. Slowly the chair turned around, and sat upon it was a massive dark latex wolf. "That's him?" Carmen whispered, Puro silently nodded and dropped to a respectful kneel. He didn't want to admit it, but Puro was pretty scared right now.

Slowly, the Wolf King rose from his seat and approached the two.

...

Puro was suddenly scooped up in an ecstatic hug from the king, who was actually overjoyed to see him again! "Little one, you have returned!" He lovingly rumbled as Puro's limbs dangled about like a doll as they spun around. The King slowly let Puro back on his feet, only for him to be swamped by a bunch of other wolves with just as much excitement in their cloudy eyes. He couldn't stop himself from giggling as he was sniffed and nuzzled, his own tail wagging as hard as the beasts welcoming him back. 

"I uh, I didn't think you'd be giving me such a warm welcome." Puro admitted. The King rubbed behind his ears and softly smiled. "We feared you, would remain distant, until your end. We didn't believe you, about the human. Then they escaped us, and We... I couldn't help, but think..." The King's smile dropped, becoming morose and regretful. "Perhaps, you were right..."

"Right? Right about what?" Carmen asked. Puro put a hand on his chest, where his heart would sit. "Before I left, I got into an argument with the king. How we couldn't improve like this, we couldn't be hunting hosts down constantly, humans could adapt, we refused to."

"Stagnant..." The King spoke. "That, was the word you used, to describe us... A lack of change."

"I tried to explain, but like the pack, it went nowhere." Puro's ears lowered, remembering that argument hurt. "So I made a hard choice, left Colin notes to help him escape, and I cut ties and ran, a self imposed exile, it hurt all the way." One of the other wolves rested their head on Puro's shoulder with a guilty look, and a soft whimper. "You know, I didn't think it would work in reality... I thought I would have exiled myself for nothing." A drop formed in the corner of Puro's eye. The King wiped it away and held him closer.

"You, proved us, wrong... Showed us, more. We, can improve. Like you have... Little Prince..."

Dr. K flicked through the security cameras as Cat's Paw maintained an IV in Simon's arm, something to replace the blood that converted hand was not giving back. The fact that Simon was still conscious was a miracle, but he clearly wasn't thinking well, he couldn't tell if that was because of mental drift or just the start of hypoxia however, either one was not ideal.

"Ooooh saucy!" Simon deliriously blurted. What? K silently mouthed, not that his mouth could be seen. Looking back to the camera, two light branch samples were locked together, their tongues practically merged into one continuous strand. "Thhey makin' out!" They weren't, even if it did seem rather indulgent, K understood what was actually happening there.

"No, I've seen this behavior before. It's akin to Trophallaxis in social insects."

Simon slowly blinked. "Uh huh?" He said, not understanding.

"We have to get that gunk off your hand." K took a hold on a set of tools, attempting to remove the substance engulfing his hand, it's hardly spread, not fast enough still. The door opened as Colin entered suddenly. "Please tell me you're not having Puro- Where is he?" K pointed towards the monitor. Puro was in dark branch sample territory, talking with The Wolf King directly. Carmen seemed overwhelmed, as other samples were investigating her thoroughly. "Simon's conversion is incomplete, flawed. That residue on his hand is not enough to support him and neither does he have enough energy to support it."

"So, if you fail..." A grim weight in the air hung over K's head. "I cannot use my conversion treatment on him like this, he's not stable. I do have an idea but it will be a tough balancing act of chemicals. Too much, he'll completely converted and you'll have a second Puro on your hands. Too little and he may just keel over instead."

"Can't you just turn him yourself?" Colin asked. K shot him a bewildered look. "Can YOU transfur humans? You may not have the instinct, but do you have the ability to do it?"

"I-" Colin suddenly looked terrified. "I don't know! I-I never tried, or wanted to!"

"Exactly."

Colin turned his attention back to the monitors, this time spotting a section of K's laboratory, the chambers he had to maneuver through while he and Puro fought. In which he saw an area had a large chunk of the glass shattered. That wasn't like that before, was it? 

Curiously rewinding the footage of that area, Colin watched his past self attempting to guide a little sweeping robot onto a button to unlock the door. And a black mass shifted out of the latex coating the floor, reshaping into an antlered beast four times his size. "Where are you? Oh..." Flicking between the past footage and the present feed, the glass was in pieces now, something got in, or out...

"We, suggested the change, to the pack." The King talked as Puro and Carmen followed him back to the chair. "The Elder, agreed, seeing value in it. There are those, in the pack, who agreed with you... But..." The king snapped his fingers, a barrier of crystals receded and he twisted a few nobs on the monitors scaling the wall. "There were, those who rejected it, enraged, they sought an escape, or new pack." One of the monitors flickered to show a large antlered latex, with a blue gemstone for a mask. Seeing it made Puro uneasy, this was not a friendly looking beast. "Instead they chose to follow, Her. Marking themselves, with her azure gems. Pledging allegiance, to her old hunt. We call her, Ramuphage."

"What is she?" Puro asked.

"She, is something old, a precursor to us. Unburdened by our vision, unflinching and virulent. She is equal, to the disease, we were made to devour. " Carmen bit her claws. "Where is she?" She asked. "We, do not know. Her followers, run amok, but She is no longer in the tower..."

Carmen widened her gaze in horror, Puro also seemed to understand the implications. "I would trust, I would probably lead plenty of latexes outside. But her, I feel like she is one that should NOT be trusted, too dangerous."

"The Elder agrees, with that statement. We have tried to, negotiate, with Her. And she responded, with a chorus, of fang and fury." The King shuts off the monitors and sighs. "But that, is our fight. We will not force you, but we will warn you of Her." and produces a shining crystal. He hands it to Puro. "As requested, go, save him. And beware the antlers." Puro nodded and ran off with haste.

Carmen felt the king's hand on her shoulder. "As for you, Stained One." She turned to see him with a dire expression. "I am, familiar with your, marks. You carry the residue, of the Blinded Kin. The Light..." Carmen tensed, her white fade pulsed faintly. "You would do best, to beware your connection. It is one that may, tempt you back, into it's thrall." With a silent nod between the two, Carmen followed after Puro towards the vents and slipped through.

Your whole body felt like dough. You slowly open your eyes, adjusting to the brightness of the room. Is... Is it over? You felt a gentle prick in your arm, lazily turning over to see a syringe in your right hand which had certainly taken a different shape. The amorphous white ooze had been replaced with a slick blue and black. K glanced at you, then startling to see you conscious. "D-Doc?"

"Simon..." K looked back at his work. "You're awake, a bit sooner that I expected. I've just about finished up here, tell me, how do you feel?"

Nothing much... It doesn't feel like anything's changed, your hand certainly feels different but over all, you feel fine... If there was one thing you did want to talk about. "I had a weird ass dream when I was out." "Do tell." K took hold of your hand and slid a glove over it, you felt a light electric jolt as it buzzed against the back of your hand. You do your best to recall the dream you had.

"I was, in a cave. There were shiny stones all over the walls and when I got close to them they, hummed? It was oddly peaceful, but I couldn't shake the feeling of something being wrong. Sure enough I grabbed onto a silver gem and the wall started to unfold. I thought I saw myself at the end of the corridor. The next time I looked down I was, well for one I was now naked, classic dream stuff. But I also wasn't human anymore, does that happen a lot for people who get into transfur related situations?"

K tapped his respirator. "Hmm, it might be. I never really interviewed any test subjects, but I recall having a dream about my new form when I tested my new serum. I'll have to ask Colin if he had a similar experience during his procedure. Continue on."

You tap your finger (The one that wasn't slimy) as you retrace the dream. "Well, anyway. I was all smooth and gooey but I didn't notice it at first, because the other me was much more alarming. I heard myself speak to me. "Rough night tonight huh Buddy?" Buddy was something I was called a lot as a kid. I didn't know if it was myself or whatever animal brain was invading my own senses, but I ran for cover, and hid away from that, thing wearing my face. Next thing I know I hear rushing wind, and sand comes flying from every angle. So I just stayed curled in a hole in the wall, sheltered from the sandstorm. Then I woke up."

*Click* K shut off a recorder in his hand and tightened a strap on your glove. "There's probably something symbolic in there, but I'm not that kind of professional." He releases your gloved hand, you bring it up and flex your fingers, still feels drippy, but you feel less tired than before. "So, what's this glove supposed to do?" You ask. "It's primarily to keep your potential spread in check, also makes you less likely to contaminate other humans should you come across them, the residue's still rather wet. I recommend keeping the glove on at all times." K hands you a package of mixed fruits. "I suggest you eat something, you'll want to recover the energy you've lost from your little incident."

After inhaling the fruits, you felt considerably better. "Excalibur's waiting at the exit, I'll have Cat's Paw keep in touch with you and catalog your current status. I'd monitor you more closely myself but Lavos and I have, other tasks to deal with. I suggest staying out of trouble for a couple of weeks."

...

Stepping outside once more, Excalibur hailed you. "Still got all your DNA in one place?" You shrug, glancing down at your glove. "The DNA's in one place, though I'm still not sure if it's all mine... K suggested I relax for a while, it'd be nice to have some peace and quiet." Excalibur sighed. "Not too sure about quiet... Cat's Paw's gotten a new taste in music after this little endeavor." Oh brother. "If we get back and I hear Party Of Your Lifetime on the speakers again, I'm gonna bonk that toaster." You half joked.

Snowball anxiously hugged her tail, J's little outburst in response to the human was... She had to do something, she had to transfur him now, if she didn't the next time J found him she'd... She'd, kill him. Is this really what J was like? She was gentle with her, a little distant at times, but she did care about her! She hated the big Not-humans, snowball didn't really know why, but she didn't question many rival packs at home either. She gave her a home, a fancy trinket, a name! And now she's seen others of her kind, and she tried to kill them...

...

Did she make a mistake helping her?

...

*V-v-v-v-v-r-r-r*

Snowball's ears twitched as she heard a strange noise. Running to the source, she found it was coming from a wreckage of shiny things. Maybe she'd find something to give to J, as an offering to ensure the human would be spared? Parting the scrap, she saw a screen flickering faintly among the pile, as she approached it, the screen turned towards her! The aimless pattern changed to that of a pixelated eye looking at her, it shuffled back deeper in the wreckage. Snowball gave the creature a friendly meow, softly coaxing it back out of the rubble.

The skittish little thing crept out slowly, revealing the silver marks all over it's white fur, two pointed ears resting at the top of a boxy screen, it's one of the hybrids. It was less confident and clearly terrified. Snowball extended her hand, a friendly gesture. Hesitantly, the dog crept closer to her, lifting one of it's claws up a set of viscous tendrils slid out of them and bundled together into some semblance of a latex's paw, and cautiously grasped her hand.

"*Kshhhk-* Fr-r-r... en-d?" The little hybrid was jittering. Snowball tried to, respond in kind. She stumbled verbally as she tried to pronounce the word, talking was hard, how did Puro learn to do this so fast? "Furrr... Furrend..." She purred. The hybrid settled down gradually, a drop of silver manifesting in a crack in their screen. They slowly wrapped their arms around Snowball in a hug, they were so, warm...

Snowball would have to keep this a secret from J, she can guess what she'd think about them. "See- Shheee, wiww, nnm- nnot, fine-d, yoo." She promised.

Chapter Text

J was drumming her fingers on the side of her head, thinking something over hard. It wasn't that clear what, but the circle spinning around in the corner of her screen clearly indicated it was a difficult question.

Snowball flinched as J exhaled. "It's come to my attention a certain quality is present in all of my troops... They're all mindless idiots!" Snowball recoiled at her sudden shout! "As loyal as they are they don't have the intelligence to adapt to our adversaries. I was hoping to avoid this, but we need to give them a proper OS. Snowball." Snowball stood at attention.

J's hand displayed a shiny blue square shifting to various shapes. A line in red traced a path to a blinking red dot among the ocean of blue and darker blue. "There should be a JCJenson manufacturing facility out here, Go there and retrieve a few Drone Personality Chips." Snowball tilted her head in confusion. "What do, 'chips' look?" J mutter quietly "Right you probably don't know what that is-" and her display showed a strange looking box full of shiny flat things. "They look something like this, you'll find them in a box of 40, give or take. Just bring them here."

"O-kay~!" Snowball cheerfully waved and turned off to find these chip-things. Once she was out of sight, her playful smile lowered and she sighed. She didn't want to make those scary robots smarter, but she wanted to help J. Bounding off through the city for a few minutes however brought a new fact about herself that she hadn't really thought to bring up... She didn't really know where she was going, that map J showed her was much more complex compared to the map Puro made of their home in the vents. Oh she wished she was as smart as a computer...

...

Her new friend was part computer! Maybe he'd know where she was supposed to be? She ran to their new secret meeting place, he'd certainly be there.

Stopping at the entrance to the, caff-fee or whatever, she called out for him. "Mrrrraow~"

The sound of something clattering made her perk up, sure enough he climbed over the counter and ran up to her with his tail swishing happily in the air. Neon warmly welcomed her back with a cheerful blip and dropped into a playful bow, Snowball chuckled, J didn't seem to be in that much of a rush, she could spare to play for a little bit...

Take it easy, that's what you were told to do... But you just couldn't make yourself stay still, you had this, itch, that was the easiest way to describe it. You stand up and get a look at yourself in the mirror, it seems like while you were out they took the time to replace your damaged clothes. You felt like you needed a drink, stepping away from the mirror you open the fridge, doesn't seem like there's anything in here... Except for a bottle of liquid labeled for you. Taking it out, you pop the lid off and take a whiff... Sweet and thick, but vaguely metallic. You put the bottle back, probably some kind of medicine K and Lavos kept a hold of.

Checking the computer, it merely displays a shifting polygon of various shapes and colors... Is it supposed to do that? The computer doesn't respond to anything you do.

...

"Knock knock, Buddy."

You whip around in shock at the sound of a voice right behind you! But see nobody there. You take a look at the clock, you can't make out the time from here. And ethereal whistle catches your ear, as you see a figure step out from behind the curtain... It's, you...

"Wh... What, the fuck?!" You draw your plinx to shoot the false-you, but it clicks uselessly. "Come on, guns like these NEVER jam!" Your next instinct is your shock baton, which pops in your hands the second the button is pressed!

"Now now, no need to get aggressive. Not that it would help." The You-Thing speaks, it's voice your own but warped and twisted, always sounding like it's coming from behind you. Not willing to be any closer to that god awful nightmare, you back up further away from it. "Stay away from me! I-I'm-" Your voice waivers slightly as you try to gather your composure. "I'm not sharing a room with something wearing my face!" The mimic chuckles, it's haunting eyes gazing into your soul. "Buddy... You're not even wearing your own face..."

"My own..." The second you blink when it says that, your vision is partially impaired by a muzzle. You glance at the mirror, sure enough staring back at you through it is the reflection of an inhuman beast! You grasp at your mask, an alarmed trill escaping your muzzle. "Grrrrah! When the hell di-" The second you look back the imposter is in your face! You swat at it and scamper up the walls! Oh god you could scamper up the wall?! It was cackling at you, clearly amused at your sudden metamorphosis. "What the hell did you do to me?! And HOW?!"

Your claws lose their grip on the wall as you point, causing you to slide and tumble back to the ground, the mockery looking down on you. "I didn't do anything... But I could do something for that." The stranger brought his hands up and chanted some nonsensical words. "XATA, VOME, JAHU." Before clapping his hands together, warping the both of you to a strange realm. Your dark latex eyes were strangely clear, letting you witness the vast canvas you, 'Stood'. A warping aurora of cyan and white, various strange shapes coming in and out of focus. It was... Beautiful... And yet, you didn't feel safe here...

"Wh-" You struggle to get the words out of your muzzle, strands of goo dripping from your jaws in place of sweating bullets. You felt like you were going mad, is that mental drift? Or the effects of the realm you were in? "What's going on?!" 

"I'd love to get familiar with you, but the 'you' I want to speak with is fleeting. I can fix it, leave you right as rain, your old self again," It's expression suddenly turned serious. "but only if YOU want, to return..." The stranger flipped back to a cheeky demeanor with a crooked smile. "So, want to stay like that?" It outstretched it's hand, glowing that same ethereal aura. You can only stand and stare at it... Your tail is wrapping itself around your leg, your ears folding back, the fact they could do either of these was frightening you with how, natural it felt... N-No! You're already getting too used to the changes! You have to fix it now!

You slowly try to reach for the hand. But a part of you was screaming in the back of your mind DON'T! Causing you to freeze. Were they your actual opinions? Are you already blending into someone else? Was this, Thing right about you? You head was abuzz with activity!

"Tick Tock..."

I don't like this... I need to be myself!

No! Don't trust him!

I don't want to forget!

It's not safe! It's not safe! It's not safe!

I don't want to die like this!

YOU NEED TO RUN!

Your whole body was shaking... Shaking a lot actually. Why does it feel like you're being tossed around?

"Oh that's rude..." The figure looked elsewhere. "Well?" Your instincts cause you to swipe a claw at the mimic and snarl! Oh... Oh no, what have you become?

Suddenly your vision was starting to blur! "Fine then, leave it as it is, for however long that lasts..."

"SIMON WAKE UP!"

"WwWoOoAaAaA!"

You were shaken, figuratively and at the moment, very literally from your stupor as a concerned looking dark latex wolf was holding onto your shoulders and violently shaking you around. "OUAGH-! Pur- OH-! STAHP-!" He abruptly stopped and looked at you, his massive tail thumping against the ground. Meanwhile your brain was cake batter again, this time from the constant motion. "Ugh, what the hell were you doing?"

"Oh! You're awake! You were laying on the couch and I thought something terrible was happening!" Puro patted your shoulders. "When I saw you laying there you were twitching and muttering strange things, I don't know what a 'barooding gulf' is, but it didn't sound good..."

...

You rub your eyes, your head aching from the harsh wake up. Or maybe it was just from the shake down Puro gave you... You stand back up and check your tools, your plinx still reads good, the baton isn't broken... It really must've been a nightmare. "Do near-transfur experiences usually give people nightmares?"

"I... Well, I can't really say." Puro simply shrugs. "Colin's never told me about any nightmares he's had related to transfur. And he told me he used to have, uh... 'Door-ah-foe-bee-ah'?" Oh that's painfully ironic. "He's since lost that, now he gets really deep into my fluff whenever he gets the chance. That aside, when transfur affects the mind it's usually because the head gets covered, hosts don't panic as much when it gets there."

They don't? You fail to see how that wouldn't scare somebody. "I don't know, getting a blob dropped on my head and rewriting my brain would cause me to panic... Although now that I've said it out loud I can guess why they don't panic as much once it's there."

Puro hisses through his teeth. "Yeah, that's usually past the point of no return..." He taps his mask to emphasize. "It's over pretty quick though, and it's not really a complete overwrite."

It's not? "So when you get transfurred, despite getting absorbed, your mind getting twisted a little and still knowing bits of who you were, why don't more fresh hosts reject or despise the beast that turned them?"

"That's mostly because of the Bonding Ripple." Puro takes a hold of your hand, and pulls back the glove to reveal the mess your hand is right now. When his fingers slide into your palm you feel a jolt in the back of your head, you shudder as an, admittedly fun tingle shoots through your body. You can't stop yourself from smiling, it feels incredible... Puro lets go of your hand and slips your glove back on, snapping you back to the rest of your senses. "I- Woah... What the hell was that?"

"There's an instinctual euphoric bond latex generate when they transfur a human, allowing them to bond with their host easily and for sharing affection with other latexes. And usually it means the human becomes loyal, or affectionate, to the latex that transfurred them. It's why most latex tend to be cuddly."

You grasp the air with your gloved hand, already feeling a sense of emptiness from it, and a fleeting desire for more. You push that last feeling aside and rub the back of your head. 

*Tak-Tak* "Wait what the-"

There's something there? You rush over to the mirror, but you can't get a good look at it due to your hair. "There's something on the back of my head, can you get that or at least tell me what it is?" Puro parts your hair and taps the thing back there. "Uh... Well it's pretty small, and there's a gem in it. Let me see if I..." Puro's fingers grasp onto it, and he PULLS-! "GAUGH!-! MY SKULL!" You give his hands a smack to stop! Ow... Whatever it is, it's practically drilled into you. "Sorry are you alright?" Puro gives an apologetic head tilt.

You rub around the strange implant, feeling the metal texture and the crystalline head. "Lets... Lets not do that again, I think that's in my skull."

Neon had brought Snowball to a massive, broken down building. His screen displaying an arrow pointing towards it. "*Yo-o-ou have arrive at your destination, on the left. Route guidance is now finished.*"

The things J needed were in here, somewhere. Between the dust and the weird smells coming from every nook and cranny, she wasn't going to find it with her nose. "Need to find, box." She wished her brother was around for this, he loved to mess around with boxes.

...

Nothing here, or there. She huffed in annoyance, this was going to take forever... Maybe she could convince J there's nothing here? No, she's been in a bad mood for a while, she might take out that frustration on anything nearby, like Snowball... Neon blipped to catch her attention, there in his claws was a box like what J was looking for! "Give here!" Snowball opened the box, looking inside she saw it was jam packed full of little shiny bits, excellent! "This it! J need this! Thanks Neon!" Neon turned his head away and a digital blush brightened on the corners of his screen.

*Ruffle-clunk*

They turned and hid at the sound of something scrambling through the rubble. Crawling over the rubble was a dark latex... At least, what Snowball thought was a dark latex. The mask was wrong, blue, more gem-like and without covering the snout. They gurgled and barked, calling two more hounds to their side. They crept through the place, spreading their goo on any surface they could. They were claiming this place as their territory. Neon's screen flickered a warning sign, as he pointed to a troop of tiny crawling things following them in. Snowball's fur stood on end at the sight of them, creepy...

They were blocking the exit, getting past them without being seen was going to be difficult. Snowball held her finger up to her lips, and they quietly snuck between rubble and junk to make their way through. 

*Pew-SPLASH*

The wolves suddenly are alerted as a splash of glowing blue liquid douses one of their members! They stumble around and try to rub it off, before slowing down and collapsing. Wings flapping, The Manticore charges in and whips her hooks around the second wolf, the sound of live current filling the air! The last wolf charges at her, but a Metal Cat rushes in and gets it in a bearhug, before releasing it's own electric charge! Once all three wolves were incapacitated the rest of the crawling things swarmed them.

The manticore recoiled at the sight of them and grabbed one as it leapt at her! "It's like a spider mixed with a lamprey!" She commented as it squirmed in her grasp. "Dr. K has given us permission to destroy these Bacteriophages, do not hesitate." The Cat robot demonstrates by grabbing and electrifying a Bacterry- Back-terrio- ugh, a crawly worm thing, until it cracks and shatters. Manticore then takes the thing in her hands and rips it's gem off, causing the rest of the body to melt and then she tosses the gem to the ground, shattering it and releasing a small cloud of glittery violet smog.

While the two were preoccupied with that, Snowball ushered Neon out of the building before they were spotted. *Pew-SPLASH* A blue puddle suddenly splashed into form inches away from her! "RUN!" She shouted to Neon, they both ran for cover, Neon carrying the box on his back. More missed splashes erupted beside them as they ducked into a hole in the street for cover, Neon began leading Snowball through more underground places as the sound of wings beating and wheels rolling was growing closer. The cat and the manticore were looking for them!

Neon ducked into a broken down train with Snowball in hand, and did their best to stay out of sight. A beam of light was coming from the cat's eyes, sweeping through the tunnel. "Extra target was seen down here, Variegated: Panthera Uncia." They had to think of something, and fast, the manticore was twirling her hooks inches away from the glass. Snowball kept a hand on her chest, her heart (If she had one) would be beating like crazy, instead all she felt was the bell collar J gave her stored safely inside...

An Idea! Carefully Snowball withdrew the bell, making sure not to jingle it on accident, and then tossed it out, away from their hiding place! 

*Ding-ding-a-ling*

While the hunting party was searching away from them, she and Neon crept silently away... Snowball released the breath she was holding, and Neon wiped a pixelated sweat drop off his screen. "Is box, okay?" Neon twisted his torso around, to present the box. Snowball peeked inside, still full of things. "Great. Need to give, to J." J might be a little upset that she lost her bell, but giving her the box would make her feel much better. "You know, where surface is?" Snowball asked Neon, Neon's screen pulled up a map. "*Please Select Destina-* *Plotting Route.*"

Neon led the way through the ruined tunnels, she simply followed him. It's a long way back, leaving Snowball with her thoughts... "Been thinking, about her." Neon tensed up in response to Snowball's vocalized thoughts. "Sorry. You don't, like her, I know." Neon, sat down on a chunk of rock like a chair, Snowball hopped up to join him. "She talks, to me. About her, about friends, about human friend, and about, monster... Monster, pretends, to be friend, make her friends monsters, make her monster, her human is, gone, now she kill. I tell her, she wrong. She gets sad, tells me she knows, that she has no choice. I think, she wrong, about that too. I think, I should..."

Snowball slowly walked into the spire, there with her back turned was J, looking at a group of Drones standing at attention. J turned surprised to see her. "Snowball! I didn't even hear you come back, where's your bell?" Snowball silently presented the box, J took it and drew a few chips from it. "These should do the trick, thank you. I'll have to remember to put a new bell on you once I'm finished here... What's with that look?"

Snowball huffed, rubbing her shoulder nervously. "J... I... Don't want, to do this, anymore..." Her tail wrapped itself around her as she held it in her own hands. "This isn't, good. People die, from this."

J sighs. "I told you, our business isn't a pretty one. Your kind are assimilators, I expected that this wouldn't bother you as much-"

"It Does!" Snowball shouted back, surprising herself. "Transfur, not kill. Just make people, different. But you, why kill? You, free from monster, why keep killing?"

"They want me dead." J spoke. "If there's anything I learned, humans don't like creating sapient entities... They'll find a reason fear you, call you a violation of the workplace conduct of their definition of 'nature'. They'll demonize you, make you the villain in their story, and when they've had their fill they'll destroy you. If I had the choice to, I'd gladly lay down my weapons and negotiate with them. But I don't, they already see me as a danger to their world, here it's either them, or me. I have to strike first..."

...

"Are you, try to convince, me? Or, you?" Snowball worked up the courage to ask... J didn't respond. Snowball sighed, and turned. "I'm, leaving... Goodbye J..." Three steps to the exit, J gave one last remark. "You'll come back, and we'll keep the door open for you."

...

And with that she was gone. "This company wont be the same without her..." J thought to herself aloud. She turned her attention back to her selected troops, picking out a few chips and stamping them into the chosen. The began to download the data. [PERSONALITY CHIP ACCEPTED. DOWNLOADING. 15%]

J tapped her foot expectantly, this process was going to take some time. She hung herself from the ceiling to recharge.

The light of the sun, she certainly missed feeling it without scorching her shell. Dreaming was never something drones could get right, it was always either a replay of past events and memories, or a simulacrum they were 100% aware wasn't real.

This meadow was clearly the latter. J would have to do her best to play along for now, walking through it in peaceful silence.

...

A table, someone's set up a tea set. The second J put a hand on the chair she was greeted by a familiar voice, putting on a posh accent. "Care for a spot of tea?" Waiting at the other side of the table was her... J obliged the dream's apparent script and joined the echo of Tessa. "It's been a while since you've been here I take it? I figured you'd stay with the others on that new rock."

"As if I'm welcome there..." J took a sip from one of the cups, whatever it was filled with didn't matter in these dreams. "You know what we'd become, what we were sent there to do. Ever since that day it's been going downhill. I thought the only choice I had was joining Cyn, I kept telling myself it was pointless to fight back. Then I was... Proven otherwise. Now it's gone, and I've lost so much more... I did stay on that ice ball for a while but mostly because I was without a ship, and to let off some steam which proved to be another mistake."

She continued. "I just wanted it back, my old life. Then I had a thought, if that accursed program took it all away, maybe I could make it give it back. That resulted in a lengthy war between me and them, since it was going nowhere I figured I could simply leave, return to earth or whatever was left and find it there." J tapped her screen, showing a locked solver symbol. "Even then I couldn't win, the weapons of mankind's last hurrah are still running around out here looking to strike me down, and now I've been locked out of the solver, whatever that entails... Now I'm here. With nothing to do but live in a damned shadow of the curse that made me."

J sighed. "What I wouldn't give to have the power to fix this..."

...

"Is that so?" J jolted, startled at the sudden distortion in Tessa's voice. Looking back at her, she was looking at her nails unassumingly, her eyes were different. Dark and nebulous, a dangerous glow behind them... "C- Cyn?!" The echo's form quickly shifted in a blink to the monster she named, but those eyes were still the same, admittedly worse than just the malicious yellow crosses. "Oh, that little thing wishes she was me..." No, it really wasn't her either, that speech was too smooth, no actions narrated and no glitchy stutter. The echo returned it's form to Tessa. "You're not tied to the solver? What are you?"

It simply laughs and a much deeper voice bellows from all around her. "VOULL NE XATA VOHK?" J's audio receivers were ringing at the sound of the guttural nonsense echoing from everywhere. "Alright, better question, what do you want with me?"

"You see, I have something that might be worth your time, a business proposition if you will..." With a snap of the thing's fingers the meadow began to shift in form, becoming a rolling plain of various shapes and patterns. "There's this little thing out here that makes concepts and ideas into reality. You want the power to fix it? I can give it to you..."

J skeptically glared at this thing. "You're not the first eldritch horror to rope me into a 'deal'. What's the catch?"

"The Distance. You see, it's not really here. The only path you could get it was long since destroyed. I can give you a taste of that power, but if you want to make your little dream a reality you need the rest of it."

"And you're not going to make me into some, mindless puppet?"

"Mindless, no, that's the fun part. Puppet? Well," The echo chuckles menacingly. " that's just everyone from where I stand..."

The figure outstretched it's hand and, with a moment of hesitation. J takes it, feeling an otherworldly power surge through her body! Her vision was flickering through seeing other versions of herself standing in a line, and one by one the all began to collapse like they were dying! She felt herself becoming unwound at a level she couldn't begin to describe!

[NEW ADMINISTRATOR, WELCOME ADMIN: SHOTARAT LOHK]

"Pleasure doing business with you J. I'll show you where to start looking, you're on your own for the rest. Don't forget now, you owe me." 

Chapter Text

A pack of light latex roam the outskirts seeking only to spread. The sights focused on the largest individual in their ranks, a black eyed hound on four legs.

*Ch-Chk* *BANG*

A shot echoes through the ruins as a round blasts through the beast, the bullet ricochets through it into another beast, then another, and one more. The marksman keeps his eye on the beasts as they collapse, if what Excalibur has shared was right these things don't die easily. Sure enough they were slowly pulling themselves back together as though they were merely shoved. The centaur-dog shooting an aggravated glare towards him through the scope. It growls and the other eyeless dogs begin to work on scaling the building to get to him.

More shots at the approaching pack, they were relentless but easy to knock back down. "Ain't none of us gonna be bested by some fur-o-fluid beasties!" Shooting them back down, the pack leader snarled, before having it's attention drawn by another figure. She beckoned it over as she drew her staff. Thrusting her hand out a trio of green bolts of energy fired out and circled the beast, as they impacted no physical damage was dealt but the beast still flinched heavily in response, seeing an opening she swung and slashed at it with her Tonbo.

As the rest of the pack scaled the building to the sniper's perch, they found nothing there... One of them was suddenly riddled with elementally charged rounds, causing it to sizzle and burn as it tumbled back down. The remaining pack of wolves were looking everywhere, but they just couldn't see where their assailant was hiding. The subtle ping of a scanner highlighting them through the maze of walls and makeshift barricades. "Should've been born with eyes mate." Once again the Neutralizer was drawn, zooming in 50%, 75%, 80%... *BANG*

Knock them down again, this time firing off a cryo grenade at the puddles they were reduced to. Freezing them solid. They didn't move from that. The sharpshooter's visage flickered in, slowly approaching the last hound that was slowly crawling up to him, it's slimy maw gurgling as it looked up at him. Cyte-09 drew his pistol and aimed at it's head. "Lights out..." *BANG*

The beast snarled as it was slashed at and smacked physically and mentally, it's thoughts indicating a sense of superiority that was being challenged and insulted. Nyx twirled her tonbo and egged on the beast to charge her, the second it rushed forward she brought her hands together and a sphere of green energy encompassed her. The beast's clawing and kicking was absorbed by the field, storing the energy of the attacks and protecting Nyx from them, she then threw her hands out and released all that stored energy in a large burst of power, knocking the beast off all four of it's feet and quickly followed up with a few shots from her rifle for good measure.

The beast yelped and scampered off with it's tail between it's legs.

"Don't think they'll be comin' back 'round here anytime soon." Cyte-09 claimed. "No clue what to do with those things though, popped more than a few caps into them but they sure don't stay that way." He gestures to the frozen hounds, one of which was thawing slightly and attempting to get it's bearings. Before Cyte-09 could fill that one with another bullet, Nyx put his hand down and approached it herself.

"Hold on." Her words echoing through Cyte-09's head. "That larger beast was clearly the pack leader, I bet we can trace where it went through it's thralls." Nyx put her hand on the face of the liquid lycanthrope, it's gurgle becoming a faint purr as it was quickly under her control. "Hmm, that was easy. Too easy, usually there's resistance when it comes to- Oh..." Pushing into it's thoughts Nyx finds only a droning whisper of blind obedience. "Oh that's, mildly disturbing. There's supposed to be a thought here but it's being completely drowned out and smothered... Ah it's a hivemind, that makes this a tad complicated." 

Parsing it's haze filled 'thoughts' Nyx's searching caused the other thralls to equally emit the same purr, some of their ears lowering and a dripping smile stretching across a few muzzles. "Oh they're enjoyin' this a bit too much if ya askin' me." Cyte-09 kept his hands on his rifle, just incase they started getting any ideas. "There it is, this 'White Knight' is running off to Kobinn West. We'll want to catch it before it gets into trouble tonight, Lavos claims things can go south when they run into disassembly drones."

"Copy that. Let's get a move on 'n' see if we can cut 'em off."

Carmen flew through the air with Cat's Paw in her arms, the added weight from both the robot and the canisters full of trapped latex not making the flight easy. "Lose some weight next time, you're really heavy." She joked, Cat's Paw however clearly wasn't built with humor in mind. "I am incapable of losing or gaining weight. Cat's Paws are not build with anything that would constitute-"

"It's called a joke toaster." Carmen rolled her eyes and shifted her grip. Cat's Paw's screen displayed a megaphone as K began to communicate through it. "*KSSHHK* Recovery pack please be advised, we just lost a unit to violent unplanned disassembly. Possible drone activity in the area, return to the facility as soon as possible."

Altering her flight plan, Carmen turned to head back to the tower. On her flight she noticed a pack of dark latex dragons leaving with haste, and with a few missing limbs scarred and scorched, one of which was carrying the remains of a broken mask. Looks like they picked a fight, hopefully not with what I think it is...

Carmen's gaze was soon captured by a much different sight, that of a massive mound with a large opening. A large door covered in gilded decor, covered in gashes and missing various pieces. Just looking at it made Carmen's fur stand on end. "Hey Cat's Paw? I don't know if you're built to feel fear but... You ever get the feeling you've just stumbled upon something, dangerous?"

"I am programmed with self preservation precepts. Why?" Carmen turned Cat's Paw to look at the broken door.

...

"Oh dear, we should investigate immediately"

Carmen sarcastically chuckles. "I don't care if that's a direct order from K, I think the proper response to that is Fuck No! You still have a few passengers on board and if it was strong enough to tear it's way through that door, I will probably do the same to us!" Carmen resumed her path back to the tower, now ignoring Cat's Paw's reasoning about investigating the broken door.

*GRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA*

"DAH-! HOLY SHIT-!" Carmen nearly dropped them in response to that horrifying roar! And she wasn't about to stick around to learn WHAT made it! Flapping her wings as hard as she could to escape! "What made that noise?!" Cat's Paw asked. "I don't know, and I don't particularly wanna find out!"

...

The subway tunnels of Kobinn West had been revealed through a rather large hole in the pavement. Nyx and Cyte-09 stood in waiting, the White Knight was going to end up here eventually. "Still got nothin' out here so far. You sure this is the place?" Cyte-09 asked perched on the roof with his Neutralizer in hand.

"First place I could make out from the blanks minds. Must be something important here, I'm getting some level of mental presence in the area." Nyx tapped the side of her helmet. "It's a bit strange though, less an overwritten individually and more a sporadic chorus."

Spinning her tonbo, Nyx turned to face the tunnel...

"Got a solid visual, here it comes." Cyte-09 alerted as the knight rushed towards the tunnel. Nyx charged at the beast, intercepting it's escape and knocking it to the ground! "You're not getting away this time." As she knocked the beast flat on the ground and grabbed it's ankles, the waist of the beast suddenly split like pulling a marshmallow apart. Leaving the knight with only two legs to run with, and the headless lower half of a quadrupedal wolf. As the knight reached for the tunnel entrance Cyte-09 fired a cyro grenade to prevent it's escape, freezing it's body solid.

"You wanna grab that thing?"

Nyx took the opportunity, keeping the beast pinned she outstretched her hand and slowly the form of the knight began to glow. It howled in fear as it's body began to be sucked into a trail of orange particles, matter compressed and relocated into storage. The orange particles gathered in Nyx's hand into a focused orb she closed her hand firmly around. "This one's thoughts were a lot more individual than the others, gonna be fun to poke around in there." Nyx joked as she flexed her fingers. Cyte-09 leapt down from the roof and tapped the lower half laying on the ground like a corpse. "So what're we doin' about this thing?"

Nyx however was distracted by something, that stray presence was still around. In fact it was getting louder... Turning back to the tunnel, something peaked out of the darkness. A glowing orange screen with a pixelated eye locked onto the remaining half of the knight. "Another one?" It looks back at the two and suddenly draws a robotic raptor head in the place of it's left hand, the head makes a glitchy chattering sound and unleashes a bright flash! *V-r-r-r-r CHEEEE* Nyx and Cyte-09's vision became distorted and their abilities refused to activate for a while, in that duration the little scavenger grabbed the body and dragged it into the tunnel.

Once their vision cleared, Nyx and Cyte-09 followed the creature into the tunnel. "Somethin's wrong with that one, I can just tell from lookin' at it. But why steal the body? Do they eat their own?" The scavenger was rather quick, even while shoulder carrying the legs with it. Their chase was suddenly cut off by an explosion stopping them both. Three Disassembly Drones drew their weapons and took aim at both parties.

One of them was different, his screen actually displaying a proper set of eyes instead of the yellow cross most drones have. Adding onto that, it then spoke with a low, commanding voice. "Multiple hostiles confirmed, engage!" The chase had suddenly become a brutal fight between all present. Two of the drones, focused on the warframes, leaving the scavenger to brawl with the remaining drone.

Cyte-09 kept out of reach from the drone swinging at him, even if he was skilled in using a Ceramic Dagger in emergencies he still didn't want to be in a range he'd have to use it. Once the drone wound up to slash it's swords at him he leapt back and vanished. The drone did it's best to locate him, but he had completely disappeared from it's view. The second it tried to turn it's attention to Nyx however, Cyte-09 opened fire to recapture it's attention. "Oh no ya don't ya wacked out calculator!" Taking pot shots at it as he strafed around the drone, it was clearly infuriated as it drew it's machine gun and sprayed wildly.

Cyte-09 deployed an antenna to highlight the drone through his cover, as he shot, the bullets seemed to warp through the walls to hit his target. The drone let out one more enraged shriek and switched to a missile launcher, aiming it at Cyte-09's cover. Cyte drew his sniper once more, and just as the missile began to emerge from the barrel of the launcher... *BANG* *BOOOOOM* The drone was reduced to scrap metal, trying to pull itself back together, Cyte-09 took his ceramic dagger and thrust it into the core! The core sparked and hissed, before finally fizzling out. "Not today momma..." Cyte-09 muttered silently.

Nyx spun her Tonbo staff in retaliation to the drone captain's charge, the two clashed blades. "You're awfully conversational for a disassembly drone, I figured you'd all be completely feral." Nyx taunted as she drew her pistol for a quick shot mid duel. The captain retaliated with a sweeping kick and a cocky pose. "Market forced indicated that the company must either adapt or die. So our boss J decided to give us a rather hefty promotion in tactical expertise." She's giving them proper OSes now... That might be a problem. Nyx thought, to herself this time.

The captain withdrew a new weapon, a bulky pair of hammers replaced the swords. "On this day, you will know Executive Z3D-Sledge as your superior!"

"Oh great, she's giving them names now..."

Sledge whirled forward and slammed hard into the wall, Nyx rolling out of the way to avoid having her skull caved in. She slashed and struck with her polearm, performing a stunning combo that had her vault past Sledge and strike him from behind. Sledge's tail whipped furiously to stick her, Nyx grabbed it and sliced it off with her staff. Nyx attempted to cast a few psychic bolts, but Sledge whirled around and whacked her square in the gut, sending her barreling into the remains of a defunct subway. As Nyx held her stomach in pain, she saw that she was currently laying in a viscous gray puddle which was trailing into the upper half of an anthropomorphic snow leopard.

"Pardon me." Nyx stood back up just in time for Sledge to crash through the wall and almost smash her again, she began to absorb energy in response. "Not this time..." Sledge switched out an EMP generator and fired a pulse, shorting out Nyx's abilities and causing the bubble to pop without any strength. Nyx dropped to the ground and was pummeled by Sledge, when Cyte-09 opened fire, causing him to back off and giving Nyx the breathing room needed to get back up.

The drone lunged at Neon, causing him to drop the headless knight and split! Neon used the sentinel claw's flash to brick the drone, but it avoided eye contact deliberately. Once it thrust it's tail at him Neon clamped his claws tight on the stinger and tugged hard, trying to tear it off. This proved to be a terrible idea, as the drone's tail whipping around lifted him off the ground and flung him around like a ragdoll. "Neon!" The drone turned with a gun pointed in the direction of Snowball's voice, and froze up. The drone's screen flashed a warning sign labeling 'Non-Viable Target'.

Neon took the chance to tear the tail off the drone and pin it by it's neck face down on the floor. The drone flailed and squirmed to get out of Neon's grasp, but now Snowball was actively holding it down too. Seeing the opportunity, Neon wound up with his other claw, and tore into the back of the drone to rip out it's core. As it's screen read [FATAL ERROR] Neon hastily threw the squirming core away. Neon then gestured to the headless knight strewn across the ground. Snowball helped him carry it out, away from the fight.

Sledge struggled to keep his lead in the battle, between Nyx messing with him mentally, Cyte-09 peppering him with stray bullets, and now realizing both of his troops were destroyed, he scowled at the two and fired one last EMP pulse before making his escape. "You haven't won this fight, remember that!" Sledge crashed through the walls and escaped deeper into the tunnels.

Nyx cracked her joints and shook off the static, she and Cyte-09 quickly noticed the lack of the scavenger too. Cyte-09 quickly set up an antenna to scan through the walls of the tunnel, but nothing came up. "The hell did they go? I'm not spottin' anything."

"I think we've got more pressing matters to attend to, J's clearly been improving her soldiers intelligence wise. We have to get back to the outpost and update as many squads as we can to this." Nyx and Cyte-09 made their way to leave...

Amidst the rubble, a lone drone core skittered across the rough terrain. Lost and without a proper chassis to operate, it's repair subroutines began to activate.

[ERROR: INSUFFICIENT MATERIAL]
[ABS_SOLVER MATERIAL COLLECTION: PERMITTED.]

...

[/!\WARNING/!\]
[EXTERNAL CONNECTION ESTABLISHING]

The core stumbled, artificial instinct being overwritten by direct interference. The glow of the core began to flicker and intensify as it shrieked and spasmed. Before the center of the core suddenly flashed brightly and imploded, the usual internal components now replaced with a singularity. The core's uncontrollable movements suddenly halted, as it began to creep around as though hardly anything had happened.

It crept up to it's old shell, and in a sudden display of ability, crushed it to a oil stain with the glyph of the Absolute Solver. The core stumbled.

[.-..-. ... .-.. --- .--. .--. -.-- .-.-.- / - .... .- - / -.-. --- ..- .-.. -.. / .... .- ...- . / -... . . -. / .-. . .--. .- .. .-. . -.. --..-- / .- -. -.. / .. - / .-- --- ..- .-.. -.. / --. . - / .-. .. --. .... - / -... .- -.-. -.- / ..- .--. / .--- ..- ... - / ..-. .. -. . .-.-.- .-..-.]

[.. -. --. / .- -. -.-- / -- --- .-. . / -.. .-. --- -. . ... --..-- / -... . ... .. -.. . ... / - .... . .-. . .----. ... / - .... .. ... / - .-. .. -.-. -.- / .. / .-- .- -. -. .- / - .-. -.-- / --- ..- - .-.-.- .-..-.]

The core skittered over to the remnants of the drones, and it began to release a mass of Solver Tech appendages to gather the matter and repurpose it. Collecting the scrap metal it was warped, twisted and melded into a much more abstract creation. A Tripodal aberration with multiple tendrils arching over it's back, it's head sizzled and popped around where it's face should be, leaving a leaking black crater with the solver's sigil functioning as an 'eye'. The aberration inspected it's new form with curiosity.

[.-..-. - .... .. ... .----. .-.. .-.. / -.. --- / ..-. --- .-. / -. --- .-- .-.-.- .-..-.]

[.-..-. -.-- --- ..- .-. / - . -.-. .... -. .. --.- ..- . / -.-. --- ..- .-.. -.. / ... - .. .-.. .-.. / ..- ... . / ... --- -- . / .-- --- .-. -.- .-.-.- .-..-.]

[.-..-. -... .. - . / -- . -.-.-- .-..-.]

The Aberration's tendrils smacked itself in the head, and reminded itself about it's goal.

[.-..-. -.-- --- ..- / ... ..- --. --. . ... - . -.. / - .... .. ... / -- . - .... --- -.. / - --- / -... . / .... . .-. . --..-- / -... ..- - / .-- . .----. .-. . / -.. --- .. -. --. / - .... .. ... / -- -.-- / .-- .- -.-- --..-- / --. --- - / .. - ..--.. .-..-.]

[.-..-. . -.-- . / .-. --- .-.. .-.. --..-- / ..-. .. -. . .-.-.- / - .... . / ... --- --- -. . .-. / .-- . / ..-. .. -. -.. / .... . .-. --..-- / - .... . / -... . - - . .-. .-.-.- .-..-.]

It crept through the wreckage and through miles of tunnels before coming across a hole leading to the surface. Carefully peaking it's head out and slinking into the shade, it saw the ruins of a once bustling city. Creeping through the ruins to stay out of the sun, in hiding it observed two humanoid figures preparing to leave.

The Abomination slowly approached, keeping the majority of it's grotesque form hidden in the darkness. Then the two figures saw it in the darkness...

Chapter Text

The tripod hissed and garbled as it skittered back into the darkness. Cyte-09's gunfire chasing after it before slamming a radar down to highlight the thing as it escaped. "You saw that thing right?!"

"A proxy of the Absolute Solver, incomplete, flawed, but purposefully so." Nyx held her arm out to keep Cyte-09 from pursuing it. "And it's not retreating... It's trying to lure us away from the sunlight were it has the advantage. A pity then, that walls are but a suggestion to someone like you." Cyte-09 nodded in understanding, and his shots went right through the wall to strike it.

...

*Vrrr-Ping-tak-tak-tak-!*

They ducked as a stream of bullets returned from the wall, Ricocheted back towards them! The proxy's tendrils focused and gathered into a tight formation with a sigil of the Solver in the center like a massive shield. "Bit too smart for an average fax machine turned nightmare!" Cyte commented. "Like that thing's got a pretty sharp mind!"

"Or the mind of someone else..." Nyx thrust her hands forwards to grasp at it's artificial mind.

[... - .- .-. - .-.. . -.. / --. .- ... .--. -.-.-- / -.-- --- ..- / ... .... --- ..- .-.. -.. -. .----. - / -... . / .- -... .-.. . / - --- / -.. --- / - .... .- - -.-.-- / -. --- -. . / --- ..-. / -- -.-- -....-] 

[.-- . .-.. .-.. / - .... .. ... / -- --- -. ... - . .-. / .. ... -. .----. - / --- -. . / --- ..-. / -.-- --- ..- .-. ... / -. --- .-- / .. ... / .. - ..--..] 

It sounds like there's more than one entity in control at once... But there's only one in complete control of it. That aside, Nyx did what she does best, and tried to take control of it.

"Submit to Me!"

The aberrant shuddered and it's lights glitched for a second, before it's eye flashed a bright violet in protest-

[--- .... / -. --- / -.-- --- ..- / -.. --- -. .----. - -.-.-- / --- -. . / ...- --- .. -.-. . / .. -. / -- -.-- / .... . .- -.. / .. ... / . -. --- ..- --. .... -.-.--] 

Nyx reeled as a splitting headache erupted and her visuals became marred in contrasting yellow and purple! "Th-That's... New..." 

It darted off, skittering for shaded cover as Cyte-09 resumed fire at it. "Get up! We gotta kill that thing before it gets any bigger!" Once Nyx's head stopped burning, she followed it as it scampered through ruined buildings. Soon enough it was caught with nowhere left to run, and it stared at the warframes as they got closer.

In a moment of defiance, the aberrant shrieked and a wave of solver sigils began to interact with the various junk laying around, warping and twisting it into new forms. These new constructs were much smaller, more on par with a human for size and shape, barring the various electronics merged with their bodies, fairly simplistic. But there was a lot more of them.

Cyte-09 supplied heated elemental rounds for the both of them to use. "Situation's about to get proper mental."

The swarm queen directed the horde towards them, as they charged Nyx released a pulse of energy that caused them to stumble and attack each other. "I hardly get to use this power nowadays, I feared I'd forget how to do it." Amidst the chaos of the horde of aberrates tearing themselves apart in a blind fury, Nyx and Cyte-09 fought through the near endless swarm.

"Cut off the snake's head, the body will die." Nyx hinted as she gestured at the one in control. "Copy that, keep 'em distracted while I get a clear shot." Cyte disappeared in a puff of smoke, and Nyx focused her energy into another bubble of absorption. As the masses threw themselves at her they simply piled onto the orb and tried to claw their way in. Once the stored energy was released the bodies were sent flying through the air, shattering into unrecognizable techno-gore.

Nyx ran guns blazing towards the abomination leading the swarm, keeping it's attention as she darted around it. Suddenly it swept one of it's legs wide and pinned her to the floor, it lurched it's head in close to her and garbled unintelligibly.

[.-- .... . .-. . / .. ... / .--- ..--..]

"If you've got something to say nightmare, I expect you to gloat in a language I can understand!" Nyx spat in defiance... The horde stopped, various bodies dropping like flies as they rotted in mere seconds. The Tripod seemed like it was considering something... Then, through a mess of glitched speech, it tried to say something.

[Whe.-. . / .. s / .--- ?] 

*BANG* Cyte-09's shot pierced it through the head, causing the tripod to stumble back and collapse, it's synthetic skin already rotting into a revolting mush.

"Tell me I didn't get that shot the second it tried to play nice..." Cyte-09 stated as he reappeared and ran to pick Nyx back up. "I'm not sure exactly what-" Something was shuffling the remaining torso of the tripod around, and a drone core ripped it's way out of the rot, seemingly disgusted at it's own creation. It tried to skitter away, only for a hand to grab it and stuff it in a jar the second it turned the corner. "Getting sloppy with your capture priorities Nyx." Lavos stated as he walked fully into view, one of his snakes pressing it's burning fangs against the jar, heating it up and causing the core to slow down in it's attempts to escape.

"What brings you all the way out here Lavos?" Cyte-09 asked. "Figured you and the Dog-tor were still keepin' an eye out for any more of those slush puppies." Lavos stored the jar, and rolled his shoulders. "That's not the only thing I'm keeping an eye on. I have a patient in Hollvania Central Mall that I was about to visit."

"Perhaps we should come with, that core just warped an aberration of a new design. If any more of those hunks of rotting tech exist, then we can give the core to Volt to track where they are."

You flick the little bauble in the back of your head, still unclear what exactly it's supposed to do. The sudden feel of it's smooth metal contrasting with your own greasy bedhead (Which was also driving you up a wall) was getting to you.

There's a light tink at the window, turning you see a dark latex dragon slinking in. It's a lot smaller than the one you met, a pup maybe? "Aw hey there little guy. You're not gonna goop me are you?" You slowly lead a hand out for it to sniff, as it does it just as quickly nips your finger! "Ow! You cheeky littal fackah!" You scold in an exaggerated British accent as you pull your hand back. The little stapler-bite mark on your hand left a few black drops on it that you simply rubbed off. The fledgling chuffed and slapped it's tongue around it's muzzle like it didn't do anything wrong.

Well, it's not interesting in using you for a host, at least... Unfortunately it is more interested in exploring the rest of the room! It quickly scampers in and begins to explore, or rather determine whether or not it should put something in it's mouth... By putting it in it's mouth. No wonder it bit you earlier, if it is a pup of sorts then it's clearly teething. Can a latex even start teething-? "Hey! Don't eat that! Drop it!" You grab a hold of the book in the dragonling's mouth and try your hardest to pull it out of it's slimy jaws. It's tail flops playfully through the air as the little bastard seems to take this as a game, and tries to thrash the book out of your grip-! "Nonono don't do that!"

Finally prying the book from it's teeth you inspect it to make sure it's not damaged. The cover is slimed and there are noticeable tooth marks, but it's mostly fine, you wipe the slime off the cover with your sleeve. And then immediately run after the dragon as you hear something shatter on the floor. "Oh for the love of-" You're not sure what that is on the floor, but it's clearly broken. "That better had been an accident!" It gargles and glides over to a radio in the corner, pawing at the dials and wrapping it's tail around the antenna, gumming it up with residual latex. You rush over to grab the troublesome little blot! "Will you-! Stop! That!"

You keep a tight grip on the dragon's tail as it curls and writhes like an unwieldy garden hose- "What the-?!" Colin seems at a lost for words as he walks in on the scene with equal confusion and alarm. "Colin is this one of- AUGH-!" You get slapped in the face by the little dragon's wings as they beat a thousand times a second in your hands, causing you to lose your grip and it tumbles out of your hands. It bumbles onto the desk and 'barks' for lack of a better word at you. "You have more experience, help me get this little bastard under control!"

Colin tried to shoo it off the desk, to little effect. The dragon slithered under the table as he spoke. You both reach under it to stop it from escaping. "This one likes to get into trouble apparently." You comment as you and Colin try to fish it out from under the desk.

In one last shot of defiance, the dragon bites down hard on Colin's hand! He yelps and the dragon begins to scurry away, snatching up that book again! You give chase!

"Oh no you don't!" It's like chasing down a small dog, only it spreads it's wings and flutters up to the ceiling! It looks down at you like it expects you to fly up to it? "Can you fly?" You ask Colin. "No, but maybe I can climb up to catch it." He carefully approaches the wall, and presses his hands against it. A residual patch of latex pools where his hands are, then his feet follow up as he slowly approaches the dragon. "Close the window, I got this... Maybe." You tiptoe over as the little one's eyes remain focused on Colin, it's head tilting in interest. You shut the window and lock it.

"Here little fella... Don't mess with the human or his books now, okay?" Colin silently muttered to the dragon as he approached slowly. It's surprising that he could pull this sort of thing off, but you could see that clinging to surfaces was taking a lot of effort to stay attached. He reached out to the dragon... And it quickly leapt onto his face! "ACK! Not ag-AAAAIIIIN-!" Both fell quickly! You positioned yourself to catch Colin to keep him from splattering onto the floor, but then the dragon leapt off of him and the little black blur bounced on you too, knocking you to the floor!

Colin slowed his fall by sliding down the wall like flowing water. He rubbed his face after the dragon used him like a diving board. "Ugh, I thought they'd stop pouncing on me by now..."

"Where did it go?" You ask, as you slowly stand back up. "It couldn't have escaped, where is it?" You turn to Colin, who has a terrified expression on his face. "S-Simon... No, sudden, movements..." What?

*Gwrrrrroooh*

You hear it first, inquisitive sniffing real close to your ear. Then you feel something slimy casually flop onto your shoulders. "D-Didn't you tell me the pups couldn't transfur?"

"The wolves can't. But fledgling dragons... J-Just stay calm, I'm gonna get it off of you."

Colin tip toed closer, you also slowly reached for your baton pocket, just in case... Once Colin was an arm's reach away, he slowly brought his hands up to the sides of the creature's mask. "How are you doing right now?" He whispered. You felt like you were just going to explode from the tension alone. The dragon's ooze was warm, and you certainly didn't want it's tail to coil around your neck anytime soon... No numbness though, it just seems to be perched on you. You didn't wanna wait until it made up it's mind however. "Please tell me you got it..." You winced as the dragon purrs, then yipes as Colin yanks it off your head!

"Gotcha!" You and Colin both sigh in relief. You brush the latex goo out of your hair, as if your hair wasn't already getting oily. You could still feel a fair amount of it trickling down your back...

...

Hold on, no. That's... Thick? You turn to look over your left shoulder to see a black blur in your peripheral vision, did another one sneak in? You turn to your right shoulder and- OH! "UH-! Colin I think the gunk's still trying to work it's magic on me!"

"Work it's- OH! That's a-"

"TAIL!" IT'S A FUCKING TAIL! YOU CAN FEEL IT! "I- Wh- Get it off?!" Colin grabs the tail and tries to pull it off your- "OW!" That hurts! That can't be a good sign... Colin slides down the mass of the tail to the base where it connects to your body and tries pulling there instead. "GAH-! Still hurts!"

"Uh, okay I'm gonna get Puro for this, maybe he can help. Try to stay focused, I'll be back!" Colin ducks out of the room in a hurry. You just keep an eye on the tail stuck to your ass like a lamprey, expecting it to lunge at you any second now. The dragon chuffs at you and rubs it's forepaw over it's face, wagging it's tail and staring at you with those beady little eyes. "You did this didn't you?" You narrow your eyes at the pest, oh god the tail just thumped against the ground! Wasn't it just your hand that was gooped? You look at your glove, and roll up your sleeve. To your horror you can see the latex has spread up your forearm, stopping around your elbow!

You feel a jolt from the tip of the tail as the dragon nips it! You hoist it up like a rat that owes you money. "Hey! You've been a pain in the ass enough, I don't need you becoming a literal one!" The dragon slips it's tongue out and mlems your nose like a puppy. "Ugh. Knock it off. Stop being cute damn it, I'm mad at you!"

The door creaks open. "We're here! I'm not too late am I?" Puro chimes in, you toss the little runt into Colin's arms. "It slimed me and I grew a tail! How do I, un-grow it?"

Puro seems less concerned, and tilts his head slightly. "Huh, it's not just a tail you've grown." He gestures to the top of your head. You feel two small bumps, looking into the mirror, you see how much of you has changed already... Apart from the obvious, the tail and your hands, your hair has picked up the same gooey shine, your ears have pointed and a pair of tiny black horns now adorn your head. "Tell me this is reversable..."

"I mean, it, kind of is..." Puro waves his hand. "You were given a royal crystal from the wolf king himself, he can make a transfur from that flip with a snap of his fingers. I'm not sure if you can be purely 'human' again though. What's strange to me is the fact that you would've become a wolf from that, but these horns, that tail. You've got more traits found in the dragons than the wolves." If you had to guess... "I blame the little dragon for this."

Puro takes a hold of your glove to remove it. "I don't think this is glove is going to help anymore. If it makes you feel any better, the transfurmation is essentially finished."

"So, no mask?" You flex your clawed hands. "Only if you shift completely to latex form. I still wouldn't recommend taking any shots to the face." You sigh, guess it was going to happen at one point or another. How long until the drift sets in? Can you resist it in some way? Your body feels, alien, like it no longer belongs to you. You're still in control, but now it just feels jarring. "I, I gotta, get some fresh air..."

You ruffle your slimy hair, your ears flick in response when your fingers graze them. You're starting to hear a lot more sound in the mall, a distant conversation, between Excalibur, and Mag, no, Trinity? To the left you're hearing a lot more pixilated blips and clashing sounds. Volt's at the arcade, exchanging banter with his digital opponent in a 2d fighter.

"Aw, so close!" Volt snaps his fingers and whips around, looking at you. "Oh hey Simon... Say, you look a little different. Is that a tail?" Volt commenting on your metamorphosis makes you fully aware of the tail, you still don't know where to put it so you just sling it over your shoulder. "I may have been scienced a little. Me being half dragon isn't the only thing though, do you know what this thing in the back of my head is?" Volt grabbed you by the shoulders and spun you around. "Oh, they stuck a bolt in the back of your head." A bolt? "What is it? A tracker? An ID tag?"

"It's something I'm not too keen on, but I'm pretty sure it's basically a brain chip for your mind. I think that's what it does at least." Something with your mind, maybe that's why you don't feel too different mentally. "Funny thing, Lavos showed up with Nyx and Cyte-09, think he wants to take a look at you."

Moving to the garage, sure enough there's a gathering here. Lavos, Cat's Paw and two other warframes you weren't familiar with, presumably Nyx and Cyte-09. "There you are." Lavos took a hold of your scaley hand. "You seem no worse for wear, how do you feel right now?"

"Like I don't fit in my own skin anymore. I don't particularly like how slimy these scales feel." You fruitlessly try to flick off the goop from your claws, but it hardly makes a difference. "He's not turning into a warframe, this is a rare form of transfurmation you'd find in the latex creatures." Lavos speaks to the open air. "Who are you talking to?"

"He's talking to me."

Your hair stands on end and your tail shoots straight up! "WOAH WHAT THE-!" "That's Nyx, she's speaking through telepathy." You... Okay then, that gave you a jump, it echoes like she's speaking from deep inside a hole and directly behind you at the same time. "That's what most have said when I speak to them. You're not alone in that regard." More chills. "Can I, get this fixed in some way?"

"Well, Carmen does want to see you. Just have to take a look at something back here..." Lavos steps behind you, and clicks something into the bolt! "WoOaAh!" Your get a sudden buzz, like fizz in the back of your brain. "This little widget has played it's part, seems like someone tried to pull it out of your head at some point?"

"Y-Yeah, Puro gave it a tug at some point, what exactly is it?" Lavos shows off the bolt in his hand, the bit that goes in is gold stained with black, the head adorned with a clear white gem. "Something the Entrati Corporation had on the back burner, it never saw the light of day until now. It stored your consciousness inside itself so technically you weren't really in your body for a while, I figured we could use it to stave off any mental drift. How's that feel?" 

Your tail swishes against the floor, not only were you aware of it fully, now you could actually move it. Everything started to, fit. "Huh. That feels much better actually. So, I guess we're paying the lab a visit?" Lavos nods, and produces a jar with something inside to give to Nyx. "I assume you know where the others are?" You were going to answer that, but Nyx seems more than familiar with the layout of the mall. "Knowing Volt he's probably at the arcade." She and Cyte-09 walk off, and Lavos ushers you to follow. "You want the dragon we caught in my room first?"

"You caught a-"

"IT'S GETTING AWAY!" Colin shouts, you turn to see the little dragon fluttering at a high speed TOWARDS YOU-! "Gotcha!" Cat's Paw quickly snagged it and stuffed the little dragon in a canister. It looks up at you with a pouty expression hidden beneath it's mask, you chuckle. "Karma for biting me. Tell the others I'll be back." Cat's Paw gives you a blank stare, and a singular head nod.

The Channels on every TV in the mall suddenly flicker as a signal transmits. They all display the same thing and play the same sounds at the same time, a logo for JCJenson glides by as a jingle plays.

The Feed quickly flickers to J, something about her is different... Her outfit seems more refined with a few badges of unknown style and rank. Over her eye screen is a set of shades that glint an ethereal shade of cyan.

"To those still present on earth to hear this message, I have come to make an announcement. Due to the recent exodus of man from earth, this planet is hereby under MY direct control and authority. However, you relics of a war long forgotten and a disease long extinct, you are proving to be a liability for a new, prosperous future for earth. And so like most problems, you must be rectified ASAP."

The feed clicks over the feed of a massive flock of murder drones flying in formation over the ruins of the city, their movements more akin to a strategy than feral brutality. Some of the drones have normal expressions, seemingly commanding the less than tactical drones.

"But as the new head of the company, I will be merciful. And give you a choice... Leave Earth and Never Come Back, should you lay down your weapons and agree to leave we will happily find you a ship with which you can wander the cosmos, free of charge. But earth is Ours... And should you refuse, or attempt to fight back... Well, to give you the picture..."

J pointed a new weapon that emerged from her hand, a strange set of warped silver claws, all six prongs focusing together with a cyan ball of energy. "Take a good hard look!" She pointed it and fired it off into the distance. The beam connects with a sign for 'Lua's Blessing Mattress firm' specifically on the moon part of the sign. "There will be no body to bury. Make your choice, you have a week." She tilts down her shades, revealing a cyan fade in her eyes. With a grin, the feed cuts back to static.

"Well, looks like J's been making a few upgrades to herself... Lavos?" Lavos seems like he's seen a ghost. "It, can't be... Cat's Paw, take Simon back to the tower." Soon enough you are picked up by Cat's Paw who begins to wheel off with you on their shoulders. "Wait! Lavos! What does that mean!? WHY ARE YOU BEING VAGUE ABOUT THIS!?" But you're already out of earshot.

Chapter Text

You struggle to maintain your seat on Cat's Paw's shoulders, you try holding onto their ears but they don't physically connect to their head, causing you to simply pull them away. "Do they make you with handle- BARS-?!" Cat's Paw takes a hard left, nearly causing you to fall off! You had to use your new tail to coil it around their waist just to stay put.

"I am not made with a vehicular use in mind." Cat's Paw answered. "Clearly not!" You glance at the sun descending in the distance. "We will have to be quick to make it to the facility before night falls." Cat's Paw mentions.

Your head jostles as Cat's Paw performs some complex skating maneuver as they weave past abandoned vehicles and old barricades. "Bleugh... Don't... Don't ever do that with me onboard..." Cat's Paw slowed down and produced an empty capsule. "If you are discomforted with riding my shoulder like this, I could theoretically carry you in a canister like any other sample." They winked cheerfully like they didn't just suggest stuffing you, a human being (You're still pretty sure), in a soup can! "Wh- You can't fit- NO! That won't even fix the problem! I'm saying don't do flippy shit with me!"

*SKREEE-E-E-E-E!* *VW-CHEEEEE*

A pack of raptor-bots suddenly make their presence known with a bright flash of light in your eyes! "Oh give me a break- WHOA-!" Cat's Paw's steering starts to swerve!

"Alert! Visuals impaired! I can not see!" You roll your eyes. "Come on it's bright but- OH!" You stop being annoyed and instead settle for being concerned when you see the error covering Cat's Paw's eye screen! "The Sentinel's flash beacon has crashed my visual sensors!"

Cat's Paw beings to slow down, but you see the pack of sentinels coming out of the ruins and approaching to surround and do, something less than civil to you both. "No no no! Keep going straight! I can see the tower from here, we're almost there!"

"But this isn't safe! I cannot steer like this!"

"Let me do the steering! Just PUNCH IT!" Cat's Paw thrusts their fist against the air... "I MEAN GO FASTER!" Cat's Paw accelerates! You see the sentinels getting further away, looking ahead you see a new problem. "TRUCK!" You grab their head and tug them to the left, dodging the truck in the path! Another obstacle, this one in the form of a sizable crater in the ground. "I'm gonna regret this, Jump!" Cat's Paw bounced over the hole!

You see a pack of sentinels creeping through the city ruins, one of them lunges at you with a leap! You pull out your baton and give it a hearty WHACK! They weren't just chasing you, they were actively trying to out flank you, trap you! You see this much more clearly as a large group of sentinels were dragging a bunch of scrap and junk to block the road! "TURN RIGHT!" Cat's Paw makes a tight turn, the sentinels screeching angrily! "Left!" Back on track. *CRASH* A chunk of something crashes nearby and causes Cat's Paw to stumble! "They're throwing crap at us?!"

You steer and swerve Cat's Paw around to avoid the debris! They were getting desperate, you see a sentinel hock up a piece of sharpened metal and chuck it directly at you! *Shnik* "HSSSS-! AH!" You catch the blade in your hand, or more accurately you get stabbed through the hand, taking the hit! Better you than Cat's Paw at this point! Just a bit further! Oh, OH SHIT THAT'S TOO CLOSE!

*CLANG* Cat's Paw smacks against the door, and you with them. Quickly getting your bearing you drag them into the door, and barring it shut with whatever was nearby to keep the sentinels from following you inside!

It's, beyond what they were expecting... Kidnappings, sure. Virus testing, obviously. But this? The group of rioters stared at the wave crashing towards them, like slow motion. She and a lucky few dove aside as the tide came down hard, those who weren't lucky enough to escape it were... They were... Gone...

"What is that gunk?!" One of the rioters exclaimed, unfortunately standing too close. She watched in horror as a slimy paw lunged out of the ooze and tugged the man into the rest of the mess, more amorphous hands grabbing and dragging him into it, his screams were quickly muffled and died down, along with his struggling. "HOLY FUCK!" Slowly a bunch of slimy animal-things were forming out of the sludge, some of them resembling the people that were too late to escape the wave.

"*Forgive me, but you've left me no choice...*" The PA system spoke with cold resent. Those who remained of this group ran for their lives, the beasts giving a slight chase. Two of them broke off down another hall, one of them was too slow.

"Hold it right there! OH GOD!" A security guard cried out in shock as she shoved him aside to get away from the horde. His screaming equally reduced to gargles as he was engulfed.

She found the others in the group that had yet to make it down that hall, she slammed the door behind her to ensure they didn't follow. "What's down there?"

"Y- You, you don't-" She coughed as her chest burned from the sprint for her life. "Monsters- What the fuck were they-" *SCREAEAKK* The door was quickly forced open!

"What the fu- CARMEN BEHIND YOU!"

Everything seemed to slow down once more, she slowly turned to face the source of the noise... Just in time to witness a massive gooey paw reaching out to grasp her...

It dragged her back down the hallway! Dragging her against the white tide covering the floor! She tried to strike the hand to get it to release her, but her fist simply was engulfed by it when she tried! The arm slowly morphed in shape and form, splitting into multiple faceless beasts, smothering her in their bodies, she struggled as they pinned tightly against her body, her strength was, fading... Her vison, blurring... Her senses, dulled... So... Warm...

*THUNK Scree-e-e-e-k!*

Carmen startled awake with a grunt! Her wings beating hastily at the sound of screeching outside. Peaking out of the tree she opted to sleep in and looking down, she could see a multitude of shiny metal, things swarming the front door. She melted through the vents, and the pump system to get to the entrance. Once she was there she was met with, Simon? He and Cat's Paw were blocking the door with various chairs, boxes and whatever they could find to keep the door closed. The scraping of claws on the door and robotic trilling clearly implying what she thought. Sentinels.

"Carmen! Tell me you've got something to get these things away!"

Carmen withdrew her hooks, just in time for a sentinel to pry open the door and lunge inside! The door completely locked, but now there was a furious raptor shrieking at them! It leapt onto Simon and tried to tear his throat out! "Get off my back!" Simon took out his shock baton and smacked it against the sentinel- "Wait careful you'll-!" The baton smacked against the sentinel, and Simon's hand around it's neck shocking him too.

"YEEEOW!"

As the sentinel stumbled backwards, it tried to attack again, but Carmen's hooks found their way around it's neck first, dragging it away and pinning it to the floor! She grasped it's jaws as it screeched and tried to claw her apart, mustering her strength she tore it's jaws open farther than they could open, breaking it. The sentinel collapsed, it's broken.

"Urgh, god that SUCKED." Simon groaned. Carmen knelt down to pick Simon back up, and it was then she notice he had changed... Notably the black tail that dragged behind him, which was now partially a slimy puddle around the tip, probably liquified in response to being shocked. His hands were covered in dark latex scales, and two small horns were on his head. "You look... Different..."

"Yeah, I noticed... I did say I wasn't too worried about it happening." He tried to stand back up, but his feet didn't seem to respond. "Hang on I can't feel my-" Carmen hoisted him up. "Your feet have probably liquified inside your boots, focus on giving your limbs back their shape first." Simon attempts to focus on on that, then his legs twitch and he gets standing again. "Oh that's... I didn't get any instinct blended in my head so this is gonna take some getting used to." He adjusts the rest of his outfit. "I assume K's just gonna have me take these off when I get examined. I'm not wearing the test subject pants though, I know what they are..." Carmen raised her eyebrow in confusion, she couldn't help but feel like there's missing context for that one.

"I... Okay?"

"Doctor K has not called you for such. Though he may still want to monitor your transfur status." Cat's Paw speaks, facing the wrong direction. "What's wrong with it?" Carmen snaps her fingers to get Cat's Paw to turn to face them, and Simon explains. "The uh, Sentinel flashes bricked their eyes." That's what they do? She just figured it was a regular flash beacon. Cat's Paw spins back around, a bit too far, now they were to their right, and continues. "K, found something. I told him about your old engineering days, thought maybe you could crack it open?"

"Alright consider my interest peaked. It's probably something he'd be able to do himself though. But if he insists I take a crack at it." Simon wound up to crack his knuckles, and was promptly disappointed when there was no sound. 

*Vrr-chng* *Beep-Boop~*

"Doc, you got something you want me to- HOLY SHIT-!"

"Hold your fire!" K shouted as you tightly gripped your plinx!

Fighting every urge you had to fill the DRONE on the table with holes, you relax the second you begin to recognize that this build was, simple. Too simple for a Murder Drone. Strewn upon the table and locked in place was a Worker Drone! Dressed in what seems to be a patient gown with two collars, one a simple necklace with a skull symbol, the other a more complex mechanical restraint. "This is, what you wanted me for? No thanks, I've seen more than enough of the inside of a drone."

"I didn't call you here for the drone." K picked up a lockbox, a really, complicated looking lockbox. "A Cat's Paw found this, and the drone, in the remnants of an underground facility. The drone was offline and clutching the box close to it's chest, What I want from you is to see if you can crack it open." You take the box in your hands, fiddling around with the lock mechanisms and lightly shaking it to guess what's inside like a christmas present. You can here something thudding around in there. "I'm not exactly a wiz with puzzle boxes, if you want what's inside I might end up taking the whole box apart." K rolled his eyes. "If that's what it takes, then so be it."

Taking it over to the workbench, you shift the box side to side, your tail subconsciously coiling around a screwdriver, just in case... You've just noticed however the lockbox has no real screws indicating how it was assembled. No lines that indicate it was welded shut, no visible hinges to indicate how it would open, the plate doesn't even have a socket for a key to fit in. "What the hell kind of lockbox is this?" As your finger slides over the plate where it should be, you hear a faint, hushed whisper?

"By the way." Carmen speaks to K. "The Cat's Paw you sent to fetch him is having problems with it's eyes. Sentinels." K groans, you try to tune out their talk to focus on the box, but your sharpened hearing isn't letting you not hear it.

"I've been meaning to ask how you know what those things are, I assume they're Thunder Science made, given the dinosaur theme?"

"Yes and No, they were something TSC designed, initially for exploring more extreme territory. But the initial designs were stolen by JCJenson, we didn't know what they wanted with them but it appears they've repurposed them for Anti-Drone countermeasures. And claimed them as their own design too."

Carmen growls in distain. "Uuuugh, that company keeps reminding me of why I hated them, and at the same time gives me new reasons at the same time... I'm gonna go drag Cat's Paw up here so you can fix them."

Rubbing the plate again, you see a set of, sigils lighting up. Eight in total, and they look like something out of a gothic fantasy. Sliding them up and down causes them to switch, you, think you understand what to do here... But you have no clue what these symbols mean, nor any hints to the correct order. You get up and take a look at the worker drone, that's when you see, something carved into it's palm, or burned?

"K, do you recognize any of these symbols?" You point to one of the symbols which resembles an hourglass. K hums in intrigue. "Apart from the fact it resembles an hourglass I, I think I've seen this somewhere before." You pick up the lockbox again, sliding that hourglass symbol through the slots, you realize the pattern on the hand is upside down... You hear, something when you put the hourglass symbol in the slot to the far right... 'Crah'... "I think, that means it's correct?" K loosens the restraint on the drone's right hand, letting it flop down so you can see the pattern clearly. The alien symbols are still hard to understand or recognize, but you've been sliding them in order almost flawlessly.

More faint whispers indicate your success. The next three you get right, but, hold on... 'Xata', 'Vome', 'Jahu'? You've heard these words before...

You slide the final symbol in it's place, the furthest to the left...

...

*Lohk, Xata, Jahu, Vome, Ris, Fass, Netra, Khra.* 

The Lockbox Whisper read the words left to right, and then an eerie glow emitted from the seams of the box, before it... Burned away?! It fluttered into the air out of your hands and began to flash a bright cyan with lightning arcing out in a wild sphere around it! "Oh what the fuck?!" Once the box had completely dissipated, a light thud came as the object inside hit the ground unceremoniously. Once your eyes weren't filled with bright light, you and K looked down to see... A book? You recognize the gold coin motif on the cover, Entrati Corporation gilding, slightly covered by a note stuck to the cover.

------------

If you have found the way to open the box, and are reading this note, know that I am not around to take it back. Mankind has made several mistakes in it's desire to become something excellent, I wish I could've seen us reach that height, but even so I fear that it will make little difference with avoiding this, darkness above us all...

I predicted at least three potential scenarios, in which this has been revealed.

To the Fellow Doctor, forced to close his heart and become a monster in the name of preservation of the elite: You might have a grasp on what this entails, what I have done to by us more time. You no longer need to remain cold, such a behavior will only make things worse for you, and those you mean to save...

To the Corporate Tyrant, contractually obligated to be servant of darker powers: Beware the darkness in your artificial heart, and pumping through your body as lifeblood. Though you desire to fix what has been broken, your newest broker cannot be trusted to provide what you truly want...

And To the Soldiers of the past, twisted into weapons, to give us a war that no one had wanted: I, am sorry for what you have become, but I had begun to run out of options. You are a necessary evil in this plan, not just a weapon against the machines of eldritch brutality.

 

Do not attempt to search for me, I will be found when needs must.

-Doktor Friday.

------------

"Who's Doktor Friday?" You ask, handing the note off to K, who seems puzzled, or concerned. "I don't know of a 'Doktor Friday'... But I recognize the book..."

Carmen arrived on the first floor, intent on guiding Cat's Paw to K so they can be fixed. Only they're not at the door anymore... Taking a peek outside, Carmen saw a glimpse of a figure walking behind the side of the tower. She stayed low and silent as she tracked the figure...

There hanging nearby was Snowball, with a tank of formless light latex slowly shifting inside on her back...

"Snowball!" Carmen shouted, startling her. "What are you doing here?" Snowball slowly turned around, a lightly frightened look on her face... Behind her is another snow leopard. This one male, her brother no doubt. The snow leopards shared a look at each other, the brother questioning Snowball through eye contact alone. Carmen had her hands close to her thighs, the hilts of her hooks slowly emerging like a quickdraw. "Whatever errand J has you running now, she's not your friend."

"I-I, I know." Snowball spoke, her speech wasn't perfect but she had been improving on it. "I, not with J, anymore. J is, not good, I sorry. J hurt, kill. I fix." "*Rrrrao?*" Her brother tilted his head in concern, he didn't know what she was talking about. "Fix? What's a tank of light latex got to do with fixing this mess?" Carmen pointed at the tank, Snowball tried (and failed) to hide it behind her back and tail. "What tamk?" Carmen was unamused. "You can't hide it from me, you know I can smell it too right? Where did you even get that?"

Her brother chuffed and raised a paw in guilty admission, he gave it to her. "It- not what look like!" Snowball still tried to pass it off as normal. "We need, to save humans!" Carmen drew one of her chain hooks. "If by 'save' your implying transfur on sight, that's where I draw the line... Wait, We?"

Carmen heard a sound, something like a mix between a dog's growl and, dial-up? IS THAT NEON-?! "I-I-INSTAGIB!" Neon's sentinel claw flashed Carmen blind! She stumbled backwards as she heard Snowball tell her brother "Follow! Run!", when her vision began to return she saw The Snow Leopards and Neon running off! "Oh no you don't!" Carmen took to the skies to chase after them!

"One of the elites We were issued to preserve, when things were getting worse between the Pale Virus and the Absolute Solver. However when we contacted him about the preservation bunkers he adamantly refused saving, claimed he was not sure if he would survive. It seemed like he was convinced he had contracted the virus. But when we dispatched a group to retrieve him, do you know what they found?"

A mountain of bodies? Maybe an army of robots powered by human skulls? Or was he in cahoots with the Absolute Solver?

K continued, leaning in close. "I can tell you what they didn't find, Him... No sign of his previous inhabitance, no blood, no body, it was like he simply vanished. Even his beloved assistant was absent." This was starting to sound like a ghost story to you. "Well if there's any answers to where he went, it has to be in here..."

"WAIT-!" K shouts, a bit too late as you had already opened the book! A sudden globe of arcane ball lightning was sent ricocheting against the walls! K tackles you and pulls you behind the workbench! "'Science looks like magic when you don't understand it' huh?! WHAT KIND OF SCIENCE IS THIS THEN?!" You shout in disbelief! "Keep your head down!" The bolt bounces past you and sparks into the drone's mechanical collar! *Chnk-Chnk. Vwrroaw* The Collar pulses and clicks open, clattering onto the floor.

[BOOTING UP...]
[15%, 35%, 67%, 90% 100%]

The drone's eyes suddenly flicked on, it looked at the restraints holding it against the table and began to struggle to break free! "H-Hey easy now-"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" She screamed! Her left hand's pinky folded over the palm and she projected something onto her hand... A symbol of the Absolute Solver, another symbol replaced one of her eyes as well! You duck as the toolbox goes FLYING ACROSS THE ROOM-! *SPLACK* "GA-KKH!" K body hit the ground hard as he was knocked flat backwards! It sounded like his jaw was just splattered! The next sounds were of creaking metal as the restraints were quickly bent open! She could escape, and she did so by jumping out the window! Oh god that's too high up!

"K are you alright?!" You reach to help K back up, but he seemed to be out cold! You bolt off to the elevator and hit the bottom floor button as soon as you set foot inside, nearly having the elevator door close on your tail!

Once it hits the bottom you sprint out of the building after the drone, maybe you can catch her before she hits the ground?! "Oh no you don't!" You hear Carmen shout outside, what was she doing out there? You watch just in time to see the drone stick the landing, honestly you were impressed. You snap back to your senses as the drone resumes her retreat! Now she was clutching her arm as she ran! "Wait! Come back!" You tried to call her, but she didn't seem to listen! "We're not going to hurt you! Please!" How was a little robot so fast?!

This wasn't going well at all, you needed to catch up with her! "Stop! You're going to get shot out here!" Suddenly running along side her was, Snowball! Another snow leopard and, Neon?! The drone squealed in fear as she scooped her up! Carmen glided closer to you. "What's the drone for?!" Her questions were answered quickly, the drone did that Solver thing again, this time creating a solid symbol to function as a WALL- *THUMP* "BLEH-" -wall to smack into! "Are he here yet?" Snowball asked Neon, looking behind herself as though waiting for something to happen.

You and Carmen stand back up to face the trio, two snow leopards and a vulcanized were going to be a tough fight... But it didn't seem like you'd get to start that fight, suddenly the ground burst open as a bulky giant crawled out of the crater it just made. Oh you recognize that one too. "*Shh-r-r-r-r* THE PARTY HAS ARRIVED!" Wideband Announced in an excited tone. The male snow leopard yowled at the sight of the giant, before being tugged into the crater by Snowball! Neon dove down the hole with a cheeky one eyed wink, and Wideband sent a wave of sonic energy towards you both! 

*VRRRRR-BWWWOOAAAAAAAAAW*

The sound wave rippling through your body like a freight train! You feel your skin, splattering, shifting into black scales in response! You curl your arms over your head- you can practically feel the vibrations in the BACK OF YOUR FACE-! Your ears were ringing, really bad. "-imon! Simon! Are you- whoa... When did you-?" You shake your head around to regather your thoughts. Snowball just ran off with a worker drone infected with the solver, Neon is still alive and so is Wideband apparently, they're working together and they just stole the drone and a tank of light latex. You let out a groan, which sounded a bit more like reptilian trilling.

"Simon, are you, in there?" Carmen asked with concern. "I've never heard you make those noises before." You put a hand on the side of your... Huh..? Carmen looks into your eyes. "You don't seem... Do you, feel anything?" Apart from your ears still ringing? "Urrrrh, that, sucked..." You feel and hear some gooey shifting noises, and Carmen seems surprised about it... "You're... Okay questions for later. The doctor's gotta examine you next." The, doctor... K! "Oh-! Fuck, K got hit with a toolbox to the face! Come on!" You start to run off back to the tower, Carmen however was much faster, scooping you up and gliding to the balcony. "I'd wait to see what you did there, but I don't think you're ready to fly yet..."

You both rush inside, K had gotten up, though he seemed to be struggling to stay awake. "I need, to stop letting, this happen..." He grimaced, you could see he had taken off his mask for once, you can see the wrecked thing on the workbench. He looks up at you, again he was surprised. "You've... What happened out there?" Carmen answered instead. "Wideband, he's still alive and he blasted Simon directly with a sonic boom. Then he was, this..." She taps your, mask... Wait, that can't be right. Another shifting noise. You touch your cheek, yes it's your cheek, no mask there.

"Oh, fascinating..." K gripped his head, wincing in pain. "I'll have to take a look at you later, tonight though, we have other matters at hand." K holds up the book, it's pages glowing an ethereal cyan mist. Alright then, Surround Sound's return and Snowball's apparent friendship with them for later, right now you've got a spooky book to read.

She clutched her head, [WARNING: HIGH TEMP] flashed over her screen. As she was carried by the snow leopard she recoiled away from the slimy hand in the tank that smacked around inside. "There, we safe now." The female snow leopard claimed, setting her down. She almost tumbled to the ground given the activity she just went through. Looking to the two amalgamated beasts, the little one leapt up to the large one and climbed onto his shoulder, sharing a conversation of garbled machine noise with gurgling rumbles mixed in.

The male snow leopard leaned in close, carefully sniffing her, inspecting her. His hands grasped onto her wrists gently and liquified, before being stopped by the female. "No! Not host! Will hurt you, make you scarred! Like them." The sister leopard gestured to the amalgams. The ooze from the brother's paws receded, instead the sister put a hand on her shoulder with a gentle grin. "It okay, you safe, with us... I, Snowball. This brother," Snowball seemed to ponder on her brother's name. "Tundra. Who you?" She chuffed.

Her name? Truth be told, she didn't really have one. The only thing they gave her was a number. "One-oh-one..."

...

[/!\]
[HIGH TEMP]

She gasped and stumbled back, she was still running hot! 101 bit down on her hand, the oil steaming. Slowly her temperature began to decrease. Snowball patted her on the back reassuringly, nudging her along the path in the tunnels to the remnants of a subway station. "You, unwell?" She asked. 101 shuddered. "There's, something wrong with me. Before I woke back up, they assigned me a number, they tore me open and, did something to me... Then it all went to hell. I was given a box by a strange man, then everything went dark."

Snowball laid herself across 101's lap, her eyes reflecting empathy in them. 101, ran her fingers through her gooey fur. "You, safe with, us." She whispered.

Chapter Text

"That's what's in the box?" Carmen scratches her head. "A book?"

"You weren't there when that book shot a ball of lightning at us!" K gives you a pointed look. "I was going to warn you about the smell of ozone coming from it, but you opened the book without a second thought and nearly took ball lightning to the face." He flipped open the tome, gliding his finger against the odd material of the pages. The pages light up with shifting patterns, seemingly projected off of the page into the air. "Vosphene encoded, Entrati Corporation's staple security measure. Can't have people find your secret code if they can't read it to begin with."

Carmen's snout wrinkled, she curled her upper lip back, open mouthed at the ethereal blue fog coming off of the pages. "What's with all the wispy blue stuff though?" She asks, waving the 'smoke' off of the pages of the book. "I hope it's not radioactive, none of us are wearing hazmat. Unless latex like us are just immune to radiation?" You raise your finger to rebuke your inclusion in that 'like us', but stop yourself. You're, not really sure that would help really. "If it was radioactive Cat's Paw would've detected that from the lockbox." K sets the book down for now and turns his attention to you. "To get the pages to be legible it requires deciphering the glyphs blocking them, that will take some time."

You stare at one of the phrases at the start of a page, marked with one of the symbols you used to unlock the box to begin with. "I've heard this one before." K and Carmen look at you curiously. "In, my dreams?" Well it was more of a nightmare really. "'Xata Vome Jahu' That's what I heard, it was really loud too." The pages of the grimoire quickly flip between different sections, the words and their glyphs lighting up in equal measure. "It doesn't help if you don't know what they mean." K claimed. You rub your temples, it feels like you should know what it means somehow. It also gave you a pit in your stomach, that dream, that, THING... Thinking about it made your skin crawl...

...

Carmen taps your shoulder. "Simon your tail's coiling around your leg, are you alright?" Oh woops, were you doing that? "Sorry it's just I remember it so clearly, and it wasn't a fun dream. I figured I was still running off of the transfur fever when I had it, cause I was a latex in it and was face to face with my doppelganger again. I swear I don't look that creepy when I smile, it's like whatever lizard brain that's trying to worm its way into my head is making me scared of my own face so it can replace it."

"That's not a transfurmation effect." K clarifies. "Transfur usually tries to ease you into it, gets you to relax, makes you want it because it feels right. Not, demonizing your humanity until you reject it."

Oh... Well that sounds... Good? Means you're not losing yourself, you think. But if those nightmares aren't from that, then why are you getting them? "Well if it's tied to the book words, maybe there's something about them written in here?" Carmen points to the pages. "I'll, see how far I get on decrypting the pages. Carmen, you and Simon should rest for the night." Dr. K takes the book and moves to leave the room, you can hear him mutter "I'll probably be having those dreams while I'm asleep at my desk when this is over..." as he leaves.

101 stared at the massive beast, it looks at her with it's eyeless gaze. "So, what are you? You don't seem like something the Solver melded together, not intentionally anyways." A faint trilling sound came from it's throat, and suddenly a message popped up in her vision. [Connection Established: 'Harddrive_SurroundSound_Wideband_Port.1999'] 

Nice to meet ya' babe.

Name's -WIDEBAND-. You've probably heard our songs at one point. We've been told our music has an -ENTHRALLING GRASP ON THE SELF-.

Though recently our band's had a bit of a -NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE- due to some bigwig business shutting us down. I know -AUX- would be relieved to not be forced into that pizza sponsorship thing again, but it still stings you know? We had a good thing going.

"There were, more of you?" 101 asked in this seemingly one sided conversation.

The five of us made up the band when we managed to split from the -COLLECTIVE CONCIOUSNESS-. But when it all went south, -NEON- was the only one of us left. But it's like they always say, so long as someone exists within your -MIND-, they're never truly gone.

He taps his head with his third arm. Almost on queue, the little beast Neon scurried in with something in his claw. It took 101 a second before she recognized it... That, was a drone core, still squirming. "Where did you get that? And, what are you going to-" Wideband ushered Neon and 101 to follow. There laying against the wall was the tank of goo Snowball was carrying when they dragged her in. Wideband carefully pried the top off, the ooze inside gurgling and stirring, Neon handed him the core. White and silver substance began to spread from Wideband's hand over the core, it made an awful squealing shriek as steam was emitting from the blob.

Once it was properly enveloped, Wideband dunked his hand into the tank, silver ripples spreading across the mixture. The slime now boiling! "Even when life's get-gettin' us down, we can al-al-always come together and party!" Wideband spoke aloud in glitched hype! Suddenly a barrage of silver tentacles shot out of the tank, grasping onto the ceiling as a new hound emerged from the tank, the level of slime inside getting emptier as it was used to form this creature. Aux gargled, before grasping onto the ground instead. He made some approximation of a sigh of relief. Aux's right arm tentacles bundled together to resemble an open hand. "At the en-d-d of the day, we-we have each other's backs, right guys?" He and Wideband shared an enthusiastic high five, Neon ran circles around Aux like an excited dog.

101 kept a hand over her chest, she hoped her core wasn't going to be used like that. "That sounded like it hurt! Are you sure this is what you want to be?" Aux slinked down to be eye level with her, his simplistic dot eyes indicating no ill will. "Heh, you're not wrong. It does make me feel like I've been -DYING- over and over again. Bu-u-t I feel great about it too! For once it feels like -We come alive~- For once what we want, is what we want." With that, Aux crept away with a pumped up beat playing from a piece of technology subsumed. Wideband and Neon following close behind, acting as subwoofers and amplifying the music.

It was interesting to 101, a bit unsettling in execution, but they seemed genuine in their bond. Wandering through the station, she watched as Tundra's bottom half flailed around as the box he was climbing into fell onto it's side. He slowly slid out with a broomstick in his paws. Snowball approached him and meowed, before demonstrating how the broom was used. Tundra replicated it, but the broom was held upside down when he tried.

"You two seem pretty interested in the mundane." 101 said as she got Tundra to hold the broom right. "I take it these places are new to you?"

"Well, not too new, for me. Tundra, not see outside yet, new for him. I, been outside before." Snowball's gaze slowly focused on 101's neck. "Where you bell?" 101 felt her neck, and the necklace that was around it. Uncoupling it, she looked at the skull logo printed on it, a grim reminder of her state. "It's not a cat bell." She stated, the pain of that place echoing in the back of her mind. "I was part of an experiment, they tore me open and, gave me this virus..." The brand of the solver flashed over her left eye as she tapped her screen. "You don't want to know what this thing does to me. I can't go out in the sun because of it anymore, and it could make us do terrible things."

Hey eyes stuttered and glitched lightly, as she faintly recalled seeing another drone, another part of that experiment, tearing another drone to ribbons and stuffing their oil drenched wiring into their gullet. Boney appendages, too big for their body rupturing from their back and digging their claws into the walls and floor.

She shook her head to regain her composure, she wouldn't let that become her. She would only use those cursed abilities if she had absolutely no other options. Snowball gave her a comforting grin. "Maybe we help? Find way to, get rid of?" Removing the solver from her? She liked that idea don't get her wrong, but was it even possible? Although, 101 supposed there was only one way to find out in the end. "I... Thank you, for offering to fix me." Snowball slowly wrapped her arms around her in a gentle hug, her fur was so soft...

You slowly stir awake, though you're finding it hard to gather the will to leave the pillows you fell asleep in. You hear a quiet breath at your side, Carmen was still asleep and had draped her wing over you. You slowly lift her wing to get up, making sure not to disturb her as you do. She didn't like being woken up early. You quietly left the habitat chamber and made your way to the bathroom to run some water into your hair to try and fix it up a little.

Once there you glance at the mirror, your ear twitches slightly. You seem like you'd still pass for human enough, the only bits you could see of yourself that changed were your ears, hands and the tail you sprouted.

Although come to think of it, it felt like you were forgetting some things. When you zapped yourself you couldn't stand up, Carmen said your legs had liquified inside your boots. And if Puro said you were taking on more dragon traits, does that mean you'll get wings?

"How much of me is still human?"

So you take off a few things...

...

Well there's plenty of you still left. But now you can see just how much of you was turned.

Along with your hands you find your feet have also been morphed into a pair of draconian paws, the pads providing a firm grip on the floor tiles. "Hmmm. I wonder..." If the dream version of you could scamper up walls... You place your hands firmly against the wall, then carefully press your right foot first to follow, making sure you stick before completely leaving the floor. Sure enough, there you were, all fours clinging to the wall like a gecko. It was surprisingly easy to do, this might come in handy.

"Enjoying your little test run Buddy?"

That voice causes the scales along your back to stand on end! *Thump* "ACK-" And causes you to fall off... You whip around at the source of the ghoul's voice, trying to find where it's hiding. You draw your gun and baton! "Now what do you want?! I told you I don't trust you!"

...

It doesn't speak back, until you see something equally horrifying however! A dark figure creeps out of the cracks in the floor! You breathe in, and out. It's just a hallucination, it's in your mind. This, is clearly a mental war. "I'm not afraid of you!"

"Then lets give you a reason to be..." The shadow lunges forward fueled by animosity, and slashes it's dark claws across your chest! "HOLY SHIT!" Your chest has a massive gash across it! Latex leaks out of it instead of blood, and it seems you picked up on their quick healing, but still, IT, HURT, YOU! This shadowy nightmare-thing could inflict serious, VERY REAL damage! "O-kay! That has complicated matters it does seem!"

It chuckles maliciously, you flick on your baton and fire a few shots at it! One connects with it's shoulder and causes it to stagger, you run to the door to escape! Only for IT to manifest in a blink in front of the door, you point your baton forward as it lunges for you! Stepping back, the shadow stares at you with an empty glare. You can hear something, almost rhythmic tapping, rap, tap, tap. Two more shadows creep out of crevasses they couldn't physically fit in, it's now three against one...

"Alright what's gotten you so riled up?" You try to stall, prying information out of this phantom. "You seemed more keen on chatting with me in my dream, are you just mad I didn't shake your hand?" All three shadows laugh, it sounds lower and more gravely than the voice, your voice they were copying earlier. "Well, if you're that desperate to live, we can make up for it and you could do me a small favor instead. Give the book to Me, and I'll be sure to fix you up in return..." So it wants the book now? Given the fact it has it's strange phrases written down inside, you assume there's something important in there. Answers that this thing doesn't want you to have...

"Yeah, No..."

They all shrug simultaneously. "Fair enough, though you've made a much bigger mistake holding onto it..." Those shadows hardly have a recognizable face, and yet you could FEEL the scowl they were wearing.

*CRACK* "SIMON!" Carmen kicks the door open and swings her hooks across the trio of shadows! Perfect timing. You rush to her side, plinx drawn in anticipation of a returned attack. "I'm surprised you actually woke up, figured you slept like a rock."

"Yeah but you were firing a gun! Can't sleep through that. What the hell are those things, and how did they get here?!" Carmen asked as she spun her hooks around, two shadows manifesting in front of her. Two more showed up on your side too. "They're tied to my creepy dream, and I have no clue how they're doing this!"

"FASS, NETRA, RIS." They growled in an impossibly low voice.

Carmen growled, slashing at the shadows as they charged at you both. As the two shadows lunged for you, you tried something crazy. They dove where you were standing, but you leapt up and clung to the ceiling! This meant having your hands unavailable, so instead you held the baton in your tail and swung it like that. Before dropping down, shooting and kicking the shadows while they were on the floor. One of them was destroyed, whatever that means for them, while the other one got up and slashed at your face! You brought your arm up to take the hit before it clawed your eyes out!

Carmen was practically a cyclone of chain hooks and stinger, the shadows could hardly get close enough to her to strike without putting themselves in harms way. One shadow clipped her wing, and in response Carmen pounced on it and stuck her stinger in it's forehead! She gave it a few extra stings while protecting herself from the other shadow! "Fuck off!" She pounced the other shadow and actually BIT into it's throat! It let out an agonized inhuman shriek before promptly dissipating in a flash of black and red smoke.

The other shadow got back up, and ripped her left arm to shreds! The shadow that was troubling you dug it's claws into your chest! It was agony, you shouldn't be alive from something like this! "Gonna cry, Buddy?" It mocked, tears were welling up in your eyes from the pain. In a shot of defiance, you took your tail and wrapped it around it's neck! Wrenching it off you and giving you an opening to jam your baton into it's gut! Once it was finished, you see Carmen struggling to keep her neck protected as the shadow assaulting her was trying to rip her head off!

You smack it aside, and Carmen handles the rest. Grasping it by the face and returning the head ripping gesture!

The bathroom was splattered in both of your respective 'blood'. You and Carmen maintain a vigil, expecting more... But nothing more comes, then you hear a faint tapping coming from the mirror, and you lock eyes with your doppelganger. "And here I thought we were going to be friends... Oh well, I'll get my hands on the old man's grimoire another way..." The mirror suddenly darkens, and after a few seconds your reflection returns... At least you think it's your reflection. Your whole body was covered in gooey scales, and your face had gained a reptilian muzzle. Tracing your snout you wince, feeling a large cut across your right cheek. Did you turn because you were getting hurt?

"Did I get like this when Wideband blasted me?" You ask Carmen, she silently nods. You briefly glance at her missing arm, spot a glob of latex on the floor and give it to her. "I take it you could 'use a hand' right about now?" You joke, Carmen narrows her eyes at you. "That hands gonna go places you don't want it." You can see her struggle to hold back a smile, victory. She melds the blob against her elbow and kneads it back into shape, flexing her fingers to make sure they work again. "So, apart from being transfurred, you're also haunted. Do you just have this supernatural ability to cause disaster wherever you are? Was your dad the mothman?"

"God I hope not, that would mean the proto-solver incident would've been my fault due to me just being there." You sit against the wall. "You actually had something to do with that?" Carmen inquired. You defensively raise your hands. "Hey I tried to stop it before I left, didn't think they'd be stubborn enough to just try again... Fuck that company, seriously." She sighs in agreement. "Fuck that company..."

Turning your attention back to yourself, you try to focus on regaining your human features. It takes a considerable bit of effort to achieve, but you're able to reshape your snout back to your standard. The scales recede from your body as you shift, a gooey tide reforming itself, you aren't able to restore your hands or feet, or remove your tail. Though it's not like you're complaining, being able to climb up walls and grasp things with your tail was proving to be pretty useful. Although being in this state was starting to feel a little tight, and you had to actively focus on being human, in a sense. 

Carmen gives you a light smile. "You know, it's not a bad look for you." You push yourself back up and put your shirt back on. "Funny, it kind of reminds me of a book I read. 'I find myself cursed, and yet blessed. In times of strife my humanity crumbles away as I assume the form of a monster. But in that state, I remain aware, heightened, and my body becomes resilient to threat. I am a fledgling among the monsters that claim this kingdom, but I will not be one to perish easily...' Tarrasque Heart."

Doctor K stirred awake, having fallen asleep at his desk after spending most of the night trying to decode Albrecht's Grimoire with a headache. It was open, it's inscriptions flickering yet still obscure and shifting. They hardly resembled words, more a line of glowing waves in the vague line of a coherent sentence. K tiredly groans. "How in the world did Albrecht even write this?"

The door opened to Carmen and Simon, the latter carrying his plinx and baton despite the lack of any perceived threat. "Doctor?" Carmen called. "How does it look so far?" K looked up from his desk, closing the book. "No such luck, every time I feel like I've made it clearer to read it obscures itself even harder. Thunder Science had no part in understanding The Void, since we figured it was merely an empty space."

"Void?" Simon questions. "Like the Null circle floating above the scar?" "The what-now?" Carmen looked at Simon as he said that. "You can't miss it, big ass spiraling flesh hole of unknown horror with an orb of nothingness floating a few thousand feet above it. Lavos said it's Solver related."

A Cat's Paw blips as it carries a mug of coffee and hands it to the doctor. K loosens his new gas mask to drink. "I have half a mind to tear this accursed tome to ribbons, but given the fact it launched a ball of electricity across the room when it was first opened, that would leave me at ground zero to the shock it potentially produces." Simon quickly takes the book out of K's hand.

"Actually, I've been meaning to try something with this."

"Simon what the hell are you doing now-"

He flips the book open, hovering his left hand over it while cradling it in his right, before practically scooping up the ephemeral energy emanating from it's pages and flicking it like water off his hand! The bolt made a crackling sound as it soared through the air and impacted the wall!

"Oh hell yeah!" He grinned excitedly, before shaking off his left hand, which was much more liquid that before and lightly buzzing with static. "Also- Ow. But still! I casted a spell!"

"Simon, you are essentially attacking using a book like pulling the pages out and throwing the crumpled up paper like a ball. Although it is performing that function surprisingly well, It's not made with that purpose in mind." K closes the book before Simon can zap himself, or anyone around him again. "Not to mention, the energy produced is electric in nature. You, a latex, are holding balls of electricity in your bare hands."

Once K had the book back in his hands, Simon sheepishly glanced at his palm as it solidified. "I uh, kinda forgot about that... Still, it might help in case those shadow things come for you next..." At that, K slowly turned back around. "Shadows?"

"You're not gonna believe this, but Carmen can vouch for me..."

101, rested in the subway station. While Snowball and Surround Sound took a trip to the surface to scavenge for materials and tools. 101 didn't think Snowball would know what to look for, but Neon seemed to understand technology much more than the others. Tundra stayed behind to ensure she would be safe. Thought she couldn't help but feel on edge, while Tundra was talked down from doing, whatever it was this 'transfur' thing he tried when they first met, she could tell that deep down he really wanted it.

She needed to relax, no more experiments were being performed. Snowball promised that she would be safe with them... But, that's not what had her worried, not if she was safe with them, but if they were safe, with her? Even when tempered by the OS of a drone, The Solver did not play nice with anyone, organic or robotic.

...

*SNAG!* "MPH-!" The grasp of a paw covering her mouth suddenly and dragging her behind a wall was sudden! She was more than familiar with the feel of the fur however, the fluff of a snow leopard, Tundra. She tried to speak, but he kept her silent and hushed her, an alert expression on his face. Something had him on high alert. Quieting her muffle whimpers, 101 soon heard a good reason to stay quiet.

*Vr-r-r-r-r-r* *Tak-tak-tak-tak*

The haunting trilling sound of a pack of sentinels on the prowl echoed down the tunnels. They could only be here for one reason, they were looking for her. And getting pretty close now, from the sound of it there were at least 15 of them in this one troop. Why so many of them in one place? Tundra shuffled further down the wall. Despite the fact that the sentinels were more specialized in killing drones like herself than goo beasts, Tundra seemed just as afraid of them as she was.

Suddenly pack began to screech and growl, the sound of something metallic scraping against the floor, heavy footfalls and the rustling of cloth... The sounds of their flash beacons going into overdrive, like mad paparazzi as whatever they were flashing approached...

*Skree-a-a-a-k! Skree-a-a-a-k!*

*HRRRRAAAAAGH!* Someone, was roaring back. Snarling and drenched in fury. The sentinels hissed and snarled back, seemingly intimidated by the intruder's presence.

Then came the sound of clashing blades, it was tearing the sentinels apart, one, by, one. She wanted to see, wanted to know what was going on. But she wouldn't dare risk getting boot looped by a stray sentinel flash. She could only listen to the carnage, partially being muffled by Tundra's purring in an attempt to calm himself down.

More cutting, more screeching, grunts of blind wrath, flash beacons activating, and shattered glass...

...

No more sentinel noises filled the hideout...

101 hesitantly opened her eyes, she looked up at Tundra. He peered past the corner first, before confirming it was safe for her to look... All the sentinels had been, disassembled. No, less than that, they had been butchered, reduced to their component parts and scrap metal.

There, standing above the still twitching body of a sentinel, pinned under it's foot, was a figure. It wasn't a drone, it wasn't a goo beast, it certainly was not human... It plunged it's blade into the sentinel's head before leaning over in exhaustion, crouched low and staring at it's shaking hands, sparking with energy. Before throwing it's head back and howling in primal, triumphant fury. It's body emitting a near blinding flash of energy as it screamed...

Then, it suddenly snapped to face them both! Ripping it's blade out of the sentinel it had just vanquished, and it suddenly vanished! But Tundra didn't relax, his ears swiveled around as he sniffed the air. Before grabbing her and dashing away from the wall! As it was suddenly cleaved, the assailant manifested in a blink! It's eyeless helmet focusing it's gaze on them both!

Tundra didn't have a weapon, did he even know what a weapon was?! This thing was going to kill them! 101's breathing became panicked! She couldn't possibly escape in time! She- she, she didn't feel so...

[WARNING: EXTERNAL CONNECTION ESTABLISHED]
[What are you waiting for?! Chuck something! Stab it! You have the tools for this!]

N-No! She wouldn't do it! She couldn't! She's seen what happens to the drones that have!

I CAN'T! IT'S TOO MUCH! I-I WON'T!

...

[Well I'm not going to sit back and let you die! Step Aside!]

101's vision began to glitch and distort-

[SYS://CALLBACKPING:101]

Chapter Text

The swordsman lunged at Tundra as he carried 101, who was starting become increasingly panicked! Before the blade of the knight could meet latex flesh, a hooked appendage ruptured out of 101's back and clashed with the blade! Tundra ended up dropping 101, and more of those sharpened limbs sprouted out of her as she perched like a spider! Nope! Nope nope nope, that's terrifying! Tundra couldn't believe he wanted her as a host when she could do THIS!

The swordsman snarled, in response to 101's sudden mutation. 101 chuckled maniacally. Tundra had only recently met 101, he didn't know much about her, but that voice? Not hers! Her stance and movement as she spun around like a demented pinwheel and repeatedly slashed at the swordsman sharply contrasted her usual shy demeanor!

The Knight produced a shining blade of light, and sweeping it in large arcs sent waves of cutting energy through the air! 101's hand thrust forwards to manifest a darkness which she threw like a frisbee! When it soared through the air and impacted the wall it quickly flashed away, leaving a perfectly circular hole in the wall! Best not to get hit by that!

They clashed blades, 101, or whoever was currently in her head, actually holding her own against the howling knight. The knight slammed it's blade into the ground, a multitude of glowing javelins spawning and attempting to skewer her! Her hook claws shielded her from the pins, but two were quickly sliced off as the knight took the opening! She quickly leapt back and hung from her claws imbedded in the ceiling, before folding her hand in a strange way to make that weird symbol thing appear in her hand. One of the javelins quickly lifted off the ground and flew towards the knight, stabbing it in the back! Then lunging at it with a new set of talon-clawed limbs!

Not-101's face was lit up with a cocky grin as she held the swordsman in a pin. She then put her real hands on the sides of it's helmet. Tundra could see a faint glow emanating from her hands as the knight roared furiously. Then she fell silent.

Tundra had no idea what she was doing. But the swordsman quickly snapped out of whatever trance was being forced upon him! The knight howled- ACK! BRIGHT!

Tundra could only hear the sound of clashing metal and grunts of exertion. Something cutting into flesh, followed by another scream from the knight. When his vision returned, the knight was gone, he couldn't smell it anymore so it must've left. Not-101 stood there, hands outstretched with chitinous limbs poised to strike the nearest threat the second it makes itself known... Her limbs go slack, and she rolls her head around lazily. "Groan. We Were So Close To Killing It." 101's head snaps to look at Tundra, her eyes an uncanny shade of yellow and a sinister smile on her face. "Oh Well, Must Be Snack Time..." One of the talons lunged for Tundra! But then it suddenly froze. 101's eyes glitching and stuttering. "Wha-a-a- H-e-  Ju-st One Bi-i-i-"

Her eyes changed color again, this time they were more purple. "Oh no you don't! Rein it in!" Her voice was different again. The limbs slowly folded back up, before somehow retracting completely into her back. Her visor fizzled into the symbol, which flickered back to her usual light blue color. And then she collapsed...

101's head was full of static.

"Mmnh... Wh-"

...

Slowly her memory started to catch up to her. The Sentinel pack, the mysterious swordsman, the Solver pinging her and... Then it all went blank.

She shot up, quickly glancing at her surroundings. Before looking back a Tundra, who seemed terrified. 101 gasped. "Oh thank god, you're alive! It didn't hurt you did it?" Tundra was still shocked, but at least answered her with a shake of his head. 101 sighed, relieved to know she wasn't responsible for hurting Snowball's brother. "I knew The Absolute Solver had a firm grip on me, I just didn't think it would..." She shook her head. "That's why I want it out of my head, because any second it feels like it, I take the back seat and IT gets to do whatever it wants."

Tundra made a series of exaggerated gestures, presumably about the solver making her sprout, limbs? 101 shuddered. "Yeah, like that. It always makes me feel gross when that happens. At least I didn't end up eating anyone. This time..."

Their conversation is cut off by the sound of something rumbling the debris of the hideout. The tension is quickly dispersed by the eye screen of Neon illuminating the carnage of the sentinel pack. "Who-o-a-a-a." He skuttled down from the ceiling, with the others following close behind. Wideband had a large crate nestled into his extra left arm, before placing it down with a heavy thud. It was packed full of scrap metal, old looking computers, and drone parts... 101 was repulsed, not just because of the mechanical gore, but because seeing it made her feel, hungry.

"Neon knows computer stuffs. Maybe use to fix? Hack?" Snowball gestured to the pile. "While the iron is hot." 101 stated...

...

The piece of junk 101 found herself sat in was certainly 'put together', though she wouldn't really say it was put together well. She was sat down in an old seat Wideband had ripped off the wall as a base, various cables haphazardly plonked into a pc tower that would make a tech geek faint at the sight of it, with globs of white and silver goo holding it all together in various spots, a colander with some gizmo remnants melded to it to function as a connection disc. It felt more like she was sitting in an electric chair than a repair table.

"Are you sure Surround Sound know what they're doing?" 101 couldn't help but be skeptical. Snowball gave a hopeful thumbs up, as Aux snaked a few tentacles around her shoulders and into various sockets. "Compu-u-uters aren't really their thing, but they know the ba-asics." Neon added. Hooking up a pair of jumper cables to Wideband, who promptly stuck them in his mouth. The Power flowed from him into the contraption they assembled. Various monitors flickering to life. The current surged through the helmet and 101 felt every lick of static.

Aux then slapped two tendrils against the sides of her head!

...

It seemed to settle down. [Maintenance mode activated, Please Stand By.] 101's joints became stiff, no matter what now, she was not going to leave that seat. She could also hear, what was that? Music? Neon began tapping away at the makeshift keyboard (Which 101 thinks is just the keyboard piece of a terminal they ripped it off of and jammed into the gooey mess Surround Sound generates.) and lines of code began to flutter past her vision.

It took some digging, but Neon was able to locate her Solver. That must be it. She tried to say, though her mouth didn't move. Neon began to run some type of code to delete it.

[Processing...]
[...]
[...]

[ERROR]
[COULD NOT DELETE PROGRAM]
[Vital Program]

Oh, well that's not a good sign.

Snowball hummed inquisitively. "Vy-tall, Purrr-ogram?" 101 felt her jaw joints unlock. "That means we can't delete it from my system, or it might kill me... Maybe we can at least sever the connection I have to the Absolute?"

Neon attempted that instead, more lines of code filled her vision.

[Processing...]
[...]
[...]

[ERROR]
[COULD NOT DISCONNECT]
[Access Denied: Like it or not you're stuck with me.]

Neon barked in annoyance, trying again and again with more complex codes and attempts to find loopholes. 101's vision was starting to make her dizzy with all the text fluttering past it.

[Access Denied: I don't think you're gonna want to do that.]

[Access Denied: No Take-Backs.]

[Access Denied: Seriously you'll die without us.]

[Access Denied: Mocking Giggle. (XD)]

"Oh you-you're a to-o-otal button masher!" Neon scowled at the program taunting him, taunting 101. Neon attempted to directly ping the source of this signal, maybe find out where it's hiding to destroy it from the source...

...

This time an error popped up on the monitors. [BITE ME!] Before the solver icon appeared across all of them and shattered the screens in the blink of an eye!

"OW!" A harsh jolt of current shot out of Aux's tentacles, causing him to yipe in equal pain to 101, who now unlocked from maintenance mode, was holding her head in her hands with a splitting headache. Snowball quickly helped her out of the chair with a concerned look on her face. The miniscule crack along the corner of 101's screen was already hissing and repairing itself. "Nnf. That... I've never heard that kind of tone from The Absolute Solver before..." 101 tapped her fingers against her chin... "If we're going to get this thing out of my head, we're going to need more that, this."

Scamper!

Hide!

Run!

The only thoughts on the mind of a lone Hyena. Once part of a quartet, now only one of them was left. They scurried into an abandoned gas station and hoped that those, winged nightmares didn't find them.

The sound of the door being nearly thrown off it's hinges nearly made them jump, if they made a sound, they did their best to hide it. Trembling as metal, heavy footfalls slowly signaled the approach of something dangerous...

...

The gentle sound of a tongue clicking was made to get their attention, they didn't want to risk it... Until when they opened their eyes, they saw a white paw outstretched at them... That smell was familiar! "Hey. You okay little fella?" Colin gently spoke to ease the hyena. They sniffed him gently, before slowly rising to their feet and hugging tightly against him, little tear specks forming in their eyes. "What are you doing all the way out here? Your momma must be worried sick!" Colin gave the cub a comforting head rub. "Come on, we're gonna get you back home okay? It's not safe for you out here."

They didn't object when he hoisted them up and carried them outside. Lavos, Trinity and Puro were waiting for them. "I found one of the hyenas in here, poor little guy seems frightened out of mind. How'd it go for you two?"

Puro was calming down a dark latex, who's mask had a faded mark across it's right eye. "We were close to losing this one." Puro stated, the wolf whining as it shivered. "Trinity was just barely able to mend her mask." Lavos was the carrying a tank, full of glowing blue gems and more latex. "There's at least four Lycanthrophages in this tank. They were pretty aggressive, but nothing I couldn't handle." Colin tapped the glass of the tank. "Huh, I don't think I've really seen these ones before. Apart from that big Wendigo looking one."

"You've met Ramuphage before?!" Puro asked, impressed but still fairly alarmed. "More seen really, she didn't strike me as a talkative latex and I was still human at the time so I didn't wanna see if I could strike up a conversation with her. Not like she wanted to." Colin has had plenty of close calls back then, but that one was probably his closest. Forget transfur, she looked like she wanted to EAT him!

"We may run into her at one point, as far as I can tell she's the only apex that decided to leave the tower recently." *Clink* Lavos puts the tank away and pulls his shotgun out, the squad now on alert...

...

Something leapt out of the rubble, not a hostile or a previous ally. It was a cat, hairless, but it's skin was pale green and decorated with fancy looking gold adornments. It was pretty large too, not really the average size for a housecat. Colin didn't think it looked real, at least not a normal cat. "Uh, here kitty kitty?" He tried to beckon it over. The cat fully emerged from the rubble, then it suddenly blinked into a focused wisp of light, leaving a trail as it moved. "That's not a latex thing. I have no idea what we're dealing with now."

"I do." Lavos pointed in the direction the light was traveling. "She's leading us somewhere. Follow the trail." Colin looked back at the rescued latex in the group. "You two should go without us, we have to make sure these ones make it back to the tower." Lavos simply nodded and handed the tank of Lycanthrophage gems to Puro. "Safe travels."

As they left, Colin gave the hyena cub a light scratch on the head. "Let's get you back home then."

The sun sets low enough for 101 to venture topside without risk of burning. Snowball cautiously put a hand on her head and pushed her down, she looked to the sky as if something was going to swoop down upon them. 101 did end up seeing her reason why. Soaring through the air was a silhouette of massive feathered wings gliding through the air, and there were lots of them flying around at once. "What are they?" 101 asked. 

"Drones, like you. But, not?" Snowball tried pronounce what she was calling them. "Dish a- Dees- ugh, big word. Dis-ass-sem-bully, Drone." That's, not an official Drone model, nor one 101 was really familiar with. "They bad news, have lots of weapons. Must be sneaky."

Snowball held 101 close to herself and guided her through multiple ruined buildings. Eventually they had to stay hidden as a set of spotlights illuminated the ground from on high. A search party, what were they looking for?

Something dark flew through the air, and one of the winged drones was sent tumbling through the sky! Gunfire lit up the sky as the drones moved to combat a group of dark figures. The group's features were vaguely canine, they were however wearing some form of blue gemstone on their bodies. In the middle of this pack, standing tall above them was a large antlered beast, who had just thrown a mass of black goo at their airborne assailants. 101 was quickly grabbed by Snowball and dragged past the fight, then there were missiles being fired!

While taking cover behind any rubble or building they passed by, there pinned against the wall was a squirming mass of black goo. It was quickly torn open by razor sharp claws! And 101 got her first real look at a Disassembly Drone... It wasn't just some drone model at all, she could tell it was a design by the Solver itself. It turned to stare at her, with it's screen displaying a massive yellow X, and a wicked tooth filled smile plastered on it's face. "Oh, Oh no... You poor thing, what did it do to you..?" 101 softly muttered.

Before either drone could act the weaponized drone was bashed into the wall by the antlered beast! Her face almost completely covered in a smooth blue gem like a visor, with her antlers sprouting from it. And her presence was filling the air with an almost mystifying, glimmering dark fog. She wrapped her claws around the disassembly drone's head, slamming it against the floor and crushing it's head like a soda can! Another beast similar to her joined her side, a Snake. Their black goo body marred with silver stitches, and in their hands was a whip made of crystal and solver tech.

The wendigo's gaze was stern as it fell upon 101. She thrust her hand forward and issued a simple command to her posse. "Fetch..." The snake's frill flared as it slithered towards 101! Snowball grabbed her and pulled her aside! "RUN!" A thunderous CRACK of the serpent's whip just barely grazing 101's back! Suddenly a mass of solver claws sprouted from her back, hoisting her up and speeding up her escape! Without much time to think about it, 101 held tightly against Snowball to try to keep her on the ground, however it merely resulted in Snowball being taken along for the ride these spider claws were taking them both!

A group of disassembly drones turn their attention to them, and one of them begins to speak. "That drone is a Solver Host! Kill it before it gets away or gets eaten!" They open fire! 101's limbs were moving outside of her own control, weaving and rolling past the fire from the drones, and the wrath of the beasts! "One-o-one! Where you take us?!" Snowball shouted. "I don't know, I'm not controlling them! But at least it's taking us away from the battlefield!"

They skitter along until they come across a mound in the earth. The remnants of a golden door strewn across the ground. The skittering limbs quickly propel them into the depths of the vault, and 101's right hand suddenly cracks as it moves on it's own accord! It manifests a Solver icon, but not in her colors, then with a snap of the fingers the components of the door being to creak and bend back into some semblance of order! The door, as warped as it was, quickly slams shut, locking them in the dark...

...

101 felt a crick in her back, presumably the solver limbs retracting into her spine again, she shuddered. "Yuck... Are you okay Snowball?" A slightly rattled meow from Snowball confirmed she was at least awake. "Is dark, too dark. You have light?" 101 patted down her patient gown. No pockets, of course she doesn't have one...

"Yeah give me a second..."

Suddenly a cone of yellow to purple light flickered on, illuminating them both in the darkness. Snowball huffed and wiped her brow. "That better. Thanks."

...

"Wait, that not you?" No, it wasn't. Where was this light...?

Looking over her shoulder 101 could see a set of Solver limb joints connected to a camera-adjacent eye. Which was sprouting from her shoulder! "AH! GET IT OFF!" Snowball rushed over and grabbed the eye in an attempt to rip it off! "Ah- Hey! Knock it off-!" 101 was also pulling herself away to rip it off, no matter how painful this was getting for her! Suddenly a tentacle wrapped itself around Snowball's hands and pried her off the limb joints! "LISTEN! Whatever you think I am, I am NOT something you can defeat by amputating a few limbs. Besides, I'm trying to help you."

"This?! You call THIS helping?!" 101 gestured to the parasite. "Turning me into a crab-spider and throwing me into the darkness?!"

"You wanna take your chances with the murder drones and those other beast things? Cause it sure didn't seem like it out there." The tentacle poked 101 in the chest. Snowball's fur was standing on end as she stared at the eye-camera. "What, are you? And why you in One-o-one's head?"

The eye stayed silent... Then it produced a glowing holographic figure, nearly seven feet tall and dressed in a torn cloak, a yellow to purple fade in it's eyes. "I am a monument, to mankind's sins. Their greatest achievement and biggest failure. You may simply call me-"

"It's Cyn. The Absolute Solver." 101 grimly stated. The projection turned to look at her, her expression more annoyed than anything. "Wh- No that's... Ugh, I spent so long working on this avatar." The figure snapped her fingers and, the projection shrank to the size of a worker drone. "Let's just get this out of the way. I am not Cyn, I only took solver control from you because you actively refused to use it even with your life in danger." Well, now 101 was just confused. "Wait, you're not it? Then how do you have so much control over it."

The stranger gave a mischievous giggle. "Oh, I know my ways... But that's not why we're here." She gestures to the door. "There's a ton of murder drones outside right now, and I'm currently looking for one very specific one. Where's J?" 101 simply shrugged, she didn't know they had names, let alone any of them called J. Snowball however had a guilty look on her face. "You know her?" Snowball gently nodded her head. "Are you here to, kill J?"

The Solver Stranger sighed. "I hope not, even if she's a pain in the ass half of the time she's as much of a villain as she is a victim. I'm only trying to find her now because she's doing something behind the scenes and it's affecting us back home." Another hologram projected next to the stranger in black. Looking like a concrete serpent. "I don't know what that thing is but it's clearly not from the solver. So let's put it this way, you help me with finding J and figuring out what she's doing on earth, I help you with, something, I don't know."

101 wanted nothing to do with the solver, Cyn or no Cyn. "If we do help, promise you'll fix me? Clear the solver from my system and let me see the sun again?"

... The hologram fizzled out, the eye looked at her and simply rolled. "I'll, see what I can do about that. But right now, you need to start using your abilities more or you'll most certainly die in here. We've only just set foot in here and it already feels like there's something else down here..."

Chapter Text

Searching the walls in the dark, 101 eventually stumbles upon a lever and gives it a pull. The place lights up slowly, everything inside is rather ornate looking. Wall patterns and containers are decorated with golden accents, lined with obols and glowing lines.

"It looks like a mausoleum mixed with a library in here." 101 comments as she runs a hand across the coin patterned wall. The passenger in her mind commented in the form of an internal message. [???????????: It's not an underground church this time. I don't think Cabin Fever had anything to do with this one.] "Underground- what?"

[???????????: You don't wanna know.]

They made their way down the hall, Snowball more focused on the shiny decorations than the implications of this place. Before they came across a desk practically drowning in notes and papers. Snowball picked one up and gave it to 101 to read it instead. 

This is the bargain we have made. Through our sacrifice, history will be saved.

Monsters, in function and form. But not out of malice. Some understand their effects, their cost. Perhaps they can change, themselves as well.

An artificial apotheosis, Deus Ex Machina, A God From A Machine. And I fear it will not be the last.

But I fear not either of which. For something worse is on the horizon.

The door is shut, sealed and forgotten, to preserve those that remain.

For to piece together that accursed gate, is to invite that which bares no name.

101 couldn't help but feel a bit unnerved about this cryptic note. Especially with how whoever wrote it seemingly, knew about the Absolute Solver's rise... Pocketing the note, 101 turned her attention to the parasitic program along for the ride. "Why are you using me for this? Why not come here yourself, or take command of J directly?"

[???????????: I would've come here myself with a couple of friends but that would take too long, I need to find out what J's doing now. And we're not exactly on good terms, she hates my guts and I'm not looking forward to making her right to hate me this time.] 101 transcribed what it said to her to snowball. "J not likes you?" Snowball asked as she held up another strange trinket. [???????????: I don't think she likes anybody really. She was one of Cyn's 'favorite' murder drones and that's not a position you'd want to get, because it means it wants to toy with you more often. She's not hateful because I... Well, actually I did kill her once. She's more upset to realize that what she was doing working for Cyn was all for nothing in the end. She lost, and she's still bitter about it.] 

[???????????: If we do meet. Don't let J know I'm here. If she finds out I'm in your head she'll kill you on sight. No questions asked, no corporate buzzwords. She'll just, *Kccrrht*] A tentacle made a throat slitting gesture. 

101 and her 'party' soon stumbled upon a piece of technology they recognized. And actual computer, a Pom-2 PC, pretty ancient, but seemingly functional. [???????????: Hook us up, I bet I can work some eldritch magic on this thing.] 101 had her doubts that even the solver could influence something as dated as a Pom-2, but she tapped one of her hands against the side of the thing anyways.

...

101 felt her hand lock to the side of the computer, she couldn't even move her hand at all. As the purple glow was more focused on her hand, more messages from the stranger. [???????????: Oh, crap there's a security measure in here alright. I can hack this but you're gonna be a sitting duck for a while. Just speak 'darkXwolf17' if things get bad, got it?] She was given her 'Copilot's' username to work with... Not exactly a name that instills eldritch fear. She was more convinced this was a hacker in her head rather than a fragment of Cyn.

[darkXwolf17: Get hacked sucker! >:3 I'm in!] The screen of the computer displayed a set of files while a chat window appeared in the corner of 101's vision,  [darkXwolf17: Okay, so humans are still making monstrosities of science bordering on arcane magic. That's what I'm getting from this Warframe Project stuff. Notably, that's what attacked us back in the tunnels.] A massive list of warframe models scrolls across the monitor. [darkXwolf17: But I'm not seeing anything that matches our assailant in the tunnels.] A file is brought up, seemingly locked behind a password. 101 squinted, before a second chat bubble popped on screen. [darkXwolf17: There's notes to something else in here, 'Vitruvian'.]

It was worth a shot. And sure enough, the file unlocked showcasing what seemed like an autopsy report, with an audio file playing as well. The voice in the recording sounded... 101 wanted to say, venomous? This didn't sound like a person anyone would trust.

It is with the greatest of risk that I commit this recording. The codices within reveal the development of your soon to be most feared enemy. My creations. My frames of war.

What led us here? You did. You twisted your own ilk into weapons, vile obscenities, a false angel's choir of bladed feathers and needle fanged mouths. Rather than the abominations you churn out of stolen matter, you chose to decrease the quality of your demons in exchange for the quantity. And we were less prepared for it. And so it was, we had to turn to equal measures.

We took our greatest, volunteers or not, and twisted them as much as you have your own. But we could never replicate your abilities, your way to manipulate the Absolute Fabric. So we turned to the darkest corners of our research. And we found an equal essence. A Void to combat your own Void.

[darkXwolf17: Ugh, of course they did. There's so many stories about science causing the end of the world! Why the hell would they think this is a good idea?]

"What void? How do use, nothing?" Snowball questions. 101 was about to shrug unknowingly, before her hand light flickered purple as '17' took partial control. [darkXwolf17: In our case, they're talking about THIS >:D] Manifesting a singularity in her hand! "THROW IT AWAY- I MEAN PUT IT- GET RID OF IT!" 101 shrieked in horror! She did NOT need to be balancing a BLACK HOLE ON HER FINGERTIPS! *Crunch-fizzzl* It was almost instantly dispelled as her hand crushed it, control returning to her self as she shook the heat off her hand.

"Never, make me do that, ever again!"

Lavos and Trinity had followed the feline, and it led them to the Entrati Corp's vault. Though the door seemed to be in an even worse state than when he had last seen it. He slid his hand under the brim of his helmet to pinch his inexistant brow. "I just know this had something to do with Mag folding the door open."

"This where you got that 'eternal lens' thing?" Trinity asked as she armed herself with her rifle. "Yes, but that's not what I'm worried about." Lavos moved to pry the remnants of the door back open. The fact it was actually budging as he did this confirmed his suspicions, Mag must've broken the locking mechanisms when the door was twisted open. "Down here should be, a warframe the corporation considered, unfit for duty!" Lavos strained. "And given the demonstration from the transmission from J, she seems to have- RRGH! Seems to have obtained access to void energy based armaments!"

A gap in the door was left wide enough for both frames to enter as Lavos finished his thought. "I fear J must've found the poor fellow, and disassembled it to upgrade herself with it's systems."

"What's so special about this warframe?" Trinity asked. "Last I checked those entrati corp. bastards didn't evaluate half of us before sending us off to war. What did this one do?" Lavos simply shrugged. "Supposedly, treason. It showed no sense of madness for a long time, until one day it attempted to assassinate one of the higherups of the warframe project without warning."

Looking down, a trail of grey latex spots and drops of drone oil led deeper inside the vault. "It looks like we're not the only ones to go down here. Either there's a new vulcanized on the loose, or there's a fight breaking out inside."

It certainly seems like someone, or something has been rummaging around down here, given the amount of files and items thrown about. Trinity picks up a blank piece of paper with a grey pawprint splattered on it. "It's fresh."

Lavos however was more interested in the computer, and the file currently open on the screen. A database of warframes, active and not, and a message left open. Last he checked not a lot of latexes were computer experts, the keyboard also seemed untouched, not a speck on any of the keys. "So if we meet whoever's down here, will this need us to kill or capture them?" Trinity asked. "Depends on how they react to us. Regardless, we need to make sure they leave these halls as soon as possible. Worst case scenario: We'll have to scuttle this entire installation. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that."

101 and Snowball pried open a door, leading into what appeared to be an armory. Tons of weapons, most of which decorated with that familiar golden trim. "Boom sticks! Shiny boom sticks!" Snowball claimed in awe. 101 reached for a machine pistol with a strange looking barrel modification attached to it, labeled 'Riot 848'. "I don't think I've heard of any weapons with this kind of attachment. It almost looks regal." She couldn't help but think the gold was a bit much though.

Snowball grabbed a larger looking gun labeled 'Sepulcrum', this one looking hardly like an existing model. It was rather bulky for it's submachinegun-esque build, Snowball was struggling to keep it up. "Careful Snowball!" 101 reached with the solver to hold it. "Maybe I should take that one, this one seems lighter." They exchanged weapons and 101 made sure Snowball didn't immediately point the barrel at her or herself. "Do you, know how to use guns?" 101 asked. Snowball perked up to say something, stopped to think really hard about something before dropping her smile and shaking her head. "Know, bullet comes from end. But that all."

Well at least she's got the basics down. "Just, keep your fingers out of the trigger unless we need to shoot something."

101 was partially regretting taking the Sepulcrum from Snowball, she needed to use her solver just to hold it up and it was a bit big for her hands. She ended up wielding it like an over the shoulder rpg. At least they weren't unarmed wandering through this place. Even with her use of the solver there was still a possibility that something more dangerous would be down here.

The sights just kept getting more alien down here. They stumbled across a room with a massive archway with missing pieces. Thought 101 was less concerned about the arch of unknown horror, and more the sudden step down she nearly tripped over. Snowball caught her before disaster.

But with the sound of something big approaching them, it was 101 who pulled Snowball down to hide.

Something heavy was patrolling the halls, emitting some nightmarish distorted chatter. Snowball cautiously peeked to get a look at the strange noises, and was subsequently horrified to see a large, artificial guardian with it's back turned to her. More concerning was the MASSIVE gun in it's right hand, slim and rectangular, but clearly a weapon of high caliber. She ducked back down as the giant began to turn around slowly! [DON'T, MAKE, A SOUND.] 101's screen messaged silently. Snowball curled into a fluffy grey ball as tightly as possible.

*Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.*

They could practically feel every step closer. 

...

Then it began to leave. They held their collective breaths until they were certain it was gone... A mechanical growl however alerted them that there was something else there! A pack of quadrupedal constructs resembling dogs, sans a proper head which was replaced with a three pronged device, began to sprint towards the two!

Snowball took the first shot, firing the Riot 848! It's bullets flew through the air and grazed one of the hounds, but then the gun clicked! Out of ammo already?! She then clicked onto a second trigger and, the bullets left their embedded location with a bang and zipped back into the gun! Striking the hounds on the return trip! "Wrrroah! Weird gun!" Snowball quickly dove to the right as another hound slashed at her! 101 aimed her Sepulcrum and pulled the trigger, it fired two bolts at once which popped into small blasts as the dogs. Three of the hounds turned their attention to her now!

There's gotta be something special with this- oh? 101 noticed a switch on the side of the gun, she flipped it. A reticle projected wherever she pointed it, as it passed over the hounds there was a subtle click and the dot duplicated as it locked on. *clik-clik-clik, clik*

She pulled down on the trigger and a series of small missiles shot out of it! They flew through the air like a swarm of hornets and struck the sentinel-hounds, a few of them even locked onto the other hound giving Snowball trouble, taking it out and causing her to shriek in shock as it exploded INCHES away from her! "S-Sorry! Didn't know it would do that!" Two hounds were left, one of them charged up energy with the device for it's head and released a shocking pulse! 101's vision got distorted and, she felt a little light headed. A warning appeared in her vison. [MAGNETIC INTERFERENCE] D-Did... Did it just get her high as an attack? The magnetism caused her to lose her grip on her solver, and with that losing her grip on the gun!

Snowball pounced the hound and rode it crashing into the other one. Firing more bullets and embedding them into them. 101, struggling to sober up (Those pulses sure gave her a buzz...) Tried to use the missiles again, but the Sepulcrum's switch didn't budge, she noticed there was a meter down the sights that was empty. She would have to use the primary fire mode then. They opened fire on the canids, soon enough they stopped functioning. 101 grasped at her head, the buzz slowly fading away. "We have to get moving." She stated. "There's no way that big one, or anything like it didn't hear that."

*Thunk-thunk-THUNK-THUNK*

On queue! Snowball and 101 got a glimpse at the giant. A massive, gilded mech with a human skull in it's head?! It bellowed in it's distorted chatter, took aim with it's massive gun and held down on the trigger! The bullets were more akin to a flashing beam of light with how fast they were fired!

"Get behind me!" 101 shouted to Snowball! I've never even attempted to do something like this before! 101 manifested her solver over them like a shield, the bullets curving around them like the very space they were intended to hit was bent around them! 101's breathing was getting heavier as her systems started to heat up! The mech's constant barrage however didn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. [/!\WARNING: HIGH TEMP/!\] "When it s-stops shooting, we RUN!" 101 struggled to speak between her head burning up and the continuous barrage of gunfire.

Sure enough however, the mech's gun clicked empty. "THIS WAY!" 101 shouted, she and Snowball quickly scrambled before it opened fire again! The heavy footsteps of the guardian's pursuit echoed behind them, before being replaced with an engine's hum. 101 soon felt her back be struck with a hefty force from behind! She tumbled to see the mech had used it's helmet like a battering ram as it caught up to them! Snowball took aim with her Rio 848, only for the mech to sound an alarm from itself and activate an aura of electricity surrounding itself! Snowball screamed as she was zapped into a melting grey blob, but the mech didn't seem too focused on her, It's attention was clearly set on 101.

[... --- .-.. ...- . .-. / .... --- ... - / -.. . - . -.-. - . -.. .-.-.- / -. . ..- - .-. .- .-.. .. --.. .. -. --. / - .... .-. . .- - .-.-.-] The machine made more incomprehensible bellows, as it reached down and picked 101 up with it's free hand. It kept it's grip tight on her as the barrel of it's gun was focused on her. Snowball tried to scream her name, but her form was still melted over and all that came out was a distressed gargle. 101 reached to grasp the mech with the solver... [TARGET OBSTRUCTED/NON-INTERACTIVE] "What!?" It wouldn't even highlight the mech, like it didn't even exist.

101 shut her eyes, bracing for the inevitable... *ZOSH* *KZRRRRT* She suddenly hit the ground hard, opening her eyes she saw the arm of the machine laying on the ground, sliced off it's shoulder. She squirmed as she tried to escape it's grip, Snowball's liquified form pulling back together as she also tried to pry it's fingers open.

"WE'RE NOT DONE HERE!" A course, gravely voice filled with rage shouted at the golem. 101 recognized the shape almost instantly. The black swordsman from the tunnels! His helmet was cracked, revealing a horrific mesh of flesh and a singular glassy eye. A blade of solid light in his hands, goading the mech to attack. [..- -. .. - / -.. .- -- .- --. . -.. .-.-.- / - .- .-. --. . - / .. -.. . -. - .. ..-. .. . -.. ---... / ..- -- -... .-. .- .-.-.- / . -. --. .- --. .. -. --. / .... --- ... - .. .-.. . .-.-.-] The mech grumbled, it's attention gotten.

The mech charged to ram the warframe, the latter swinging his blade rapidly and sending waves of cutting energy soaring through the air towards it. The waves crashed against the giant, staggering it with every hit. It opened fire against the swordsman, who began to run across the walls to avoid it, even bringing his blade up to block the gunfire when dodging wasn't effective. The mech revealed a new trick however, firing off a barrage of grenades as the warframe approached he quickly leapt back to avoid them! That's when a charging noise was heard from the cannon in the mechs hand, and a powerful blast of energy struck the warframe as soon as it landed! There was an audible crunch as his chassis cracked and splintered on impact, tumbling to the ground.

Blood pouring from his wounds, the black swordsman still stood up to gaze at the mech. "Come on now! Finish the job!" He shouted. "Don't make the same mistake He did, because I know I won't leave you alive!"

101 was pried free of the severed arm's grasp, then she spotted a glowing spot on the back of the mech, filled with a wispy blue energy. If I were a betting drone... 101 quickly grabbed her Sepulcrum and aimed it at the target. Snowball opening fire along side her. [.-- .- .-. -. .. -. --. -.-.-- / -.-. .-. .. - .. -.-. .- .-.. / -.. .- -- .- --. . / ... ..- ... - .- .. -. . -.. -.-.-- / ... - .-. ..- -.-. - ..- .-. .- .-.. / .. -. - . --. .-. .. - -.-- / -.-. --- -- .--. .-. --- -- .. ... . -..] The mech tumbled and blared in clear distress! It fell over and collapsed into a sparking heap of junk, the energy coming from it's now obvious weak point fading out.

Snowball pulled 101 back up to her feet and hugged her tightly. Her fur was still gooey in places, but 101 didn't object. The sound of a body hitting the ground reminded them that they weren't alone. The warframe dropped, a hand over his cracked armor, labored breathing. Snowball walked up to him, a paw over her heart. The swordsman's eye fell upon them, but he didn't try to get up. "Is there, fix?" Snowball asked. "Maybe? This place belongs to the corporation that made these things, right?" 101 gestured for Snowball to carry him.

Snowball seemed uncomfortable with the blood of the swordsman dripping onto her, but she still obliged with helping him. 101 wasn't even sure if she should, given what happened last time they met. Thought she couldn't really blame him, if the warframes were made to combat the Absolute Solver and it's monstrosities, then it makes sense that he attacked her. She's, infected with a solver after all...

"Issah..." The warframe weakly mutters. "I'm, sorry..." Then he goes silent, the glow from certain lights on his body flickering. 101 briefly recalls how she got here... "Uh, darkXwolf17?" Her eye briefly flickers purple, and she can feel a presence in her mind. "Can the solver, heal people?"

[darkXwolf17: I wouldn't call it healing. But I'm guessing if you want to un-break that thing, use the Edit function. And tell the snow leopard to stand back or it might mulch her body into a fine red mist.]

"Snowball, put him down gently and stand back." Once the swordsman was on the floor, 101 did as suggested. The solver highlighted the warframe's body and she began to make the 'edits'. The uncomfortable silence was quickly replaced with the debatably worse sound of bones being cracked and snapping back into place. Blood seemingly poured in reverse, into his wounds. Sword-steel armor plates fitted back into the cracks they were splintered from, sealing back up good as new. The eye in the warframe's helmet shot open and a strangled cry of agony escaped his absent mouth. "Please don't fight back..." 101 nervously whimpered.

*CRACK*

The knight dropped down, grasping his head. His eye focused on her, before the shell of his helmet sealed back up.

...

"What, do you have to gain by doing this?" The knight growled. 101 was tense, she tried to talk down the warframe from taking it's anger out on her. "You seemed, hurt. I just-"

"Not you, Puppet." He cut her off. "I know you're in there Solver. You wouldn't have dared to leave me alive, so why go through the trouble of saving me?" He knows? "You're talking to... I don't think It's... Cyn's not here, if that's what you're trying to insist." 101 stammered. [darkXwolf17: Tag me in. If I can't talk him out of a fight, at the very least I'll try to keep you alive!] 101 reluctantly agreed. She hates that this can happen still however- [SYS://DARKXWOLF17:CALLBACKPING:101]

Snowball watched as 101 slumped over, the warframe tensed and drew the blade of light in response, waiting for 101 to make the next move. When 101 stood back up straight, her eyes were a different color. She put her hands up. "At ease soldier. You're speaking with the new Dark God Machine." That voice, it was... What did she say? 'Dark Wolf 17?' Snowball was pretty familiar with a dark latex, so that name doesn't really match. "I'm not here to fight you, I want to talk. And I'd rather not have 101 go through her first existential crisis when she comes back if you decapitate her."

The warframe didn't drop his guard. "You sound different. Tell me then, what does that Bastard Executor have planned for me to suffer now?" '101' dropped to a bewildered expression. "Who are you even talking about? What Executor?"

"You don't know? Your little deal with him? The reason I'm like this?"

She got rather annoyed. "Ugh, quit being vague! I came here to get answers, not more questions! Who are you?!" The warframe's blade began to decrease in brightness. "You genuinely don't know... What are you? Besides an affront to science." "Bite me, I'm NOT Cyn. My name is Uzi, and right now there's a corporate asshat who's doing something shifty and possibly WORLD ENDING on my home! I'd like to get some answers, hopefully before things go critical on my end."

...

The warframe dispelled his blade. "You and I might share an enemy after all..."

Chapter Text

K pinched his brow. Despite managing to get the computer to hook up and scan the glyphs in the book, it seemed like there was a new error he couldn't even begin to understand.

K twitched as he heard a subtle footstep, he whipped around with the garden shears in hand and CHUCKED IT AT-!

Director Snow? Their eyes were clearly surprised, but they were clearly off, glassy and ephemeral. They didn't even seem to react that harshly to the shears pinned squarely through their chest. In fact, disturbingly they seemed rather amused.

"Wow, not even a second of hesitation huh?" That voice was clearly not theirs. "I like you... So focused on getting things done, no matter who has to suffer to ensure it. You've got a lot on your plate I've heard. How about I take a little weight off your shoulders?" K was more than aware of the effects of his serum, his mind was completely his. No drift, no new instincts. And yet, hearing this thing speak, it made a part of his mind turn nearly feral, clawing at the back of his mind with it's hackles raised trying to get him to RUN from whatever this stranger was. "A tempting offer, but you're clearly just part of my dream. Nothing you could do will matter once it ends." K states, doing his best to not look the thing in the eyes...

"You have no idea, just how WRONG you are..." K suddenly felt a chilling grip digging into his shoulder! Turning to see the familiar lab deteriorate into a vast rocky desert, guttural chanting in a language he was not familiar with echoing deep and practically through his body. "Since when did I say I was part of a 'dream'?" Shining clawed limbs ripped out of the earth, pulling themselves together and assembling a colossal entity. It's head, if he could even call it that, was more akin to a sandstone totem. "YARA, REUN! IVBOK JASS!" It bellowed with clearly malicious intent.

This was still a dream, but K felt like his very life was in danger just looking at it. Just this once, K gave into his instincts, and RAN FOR HIS LIFE! The sandstorm was becoming more intense, but he didn't dare look back! Suddenly another mass of arms shot out of the ground, swiping at him blindly. K snagged one of the arms as it grasped at him, and tore it from the earth intent to use as a makeshift weapon. It quickly crumbled to sand however...

"Doctor?"

The walls shifted, revealing more eyes gazing at him through the cracks. One of which had it's gaze focus into a blinding light, which promptly struck him!

"K wait!"

Silver warped claws dug into K's leg, the golem leveling it's head with his. Energy was building up in it's hands as it prepares to fire more bursts of energy at him. "YOU WILL, GIVE, ME, THE, BOOK..." The nightmare growled. "You can't threaten me, and even then I'll more than likely destroy that damn book before I give it to you!" K spat in defiance. "VOULL VA, RA KHRA. HU BOK REUN." Despite being unarmed, K felt the weight of a gun in his hands. As more claws ripped out of the ground and tried to rip him apart or drag him into the sand, he struggled to aim that weight towards the head of the monster.

"WAKE UP! NO! K DON'T!"

Suddenly, a barrage of green bolts flew through the air! As they collided and burst against the hands of the monster, it's limbs seemed to lose their control. "You are NOT taking him any time soon!" A voice echoed in K's mind, this one less harsh. With a tonbo drawn, Nyx suddenly appeared and pried K out of the hands threatening to bury him. Nyx placed her hands against the sides of K's head. "It's time for you to-"

K woke to see Nyx's faceless helmet in full view. "Thank Sol, that was too close." The first thing K felt was that he was in a surprising amount of pain... He found one of his arms was nailed to the wall with a crystal tipped arrow, the other hand had his rifle in it loaded with live rounds. Looking around the entire chamber he was in was a wreck...

Tables and chairs were thrown every where. Containers shattered. And he wasn't alone... Simon was behind a table as a form of makeshift cover with the Grimoire in his hands. Carmen was crouched on all fours, stinger pointed at him with caution. And Colin and Puro were shaking off some of the sample tranquilizer solution, the latter rubbing his mask groaning about K's elbow being jammed into his eye?

"Is he back? Cause I'm not pointing my stinger away until I'm certain he's not gonna kill anyone in this room, including himself!" Carmen asked. "He's here alright..." Nyx answered. "But we just made it this time." 

"What, happened while I was, unconscious?"

"Well. To give you the abridged version..." Simon spoke up. "Carmen and I walked in to see if you still had that bolt thingy you stuck in my head, only to see you shambling around like you didn't fit in your own limbs. Colin and Puro arrived shortly after with a hyena cub running off somewhere, then you glared at us and attacked! Puro said something about it not 'being you'? Then you almost shot him in the head and you didn't even register us in the room! Your eyes were fucking horrifying too, and I think you were, crying?" He turned his attention to Nyx.

"IT'S REAL!" Puro suddenly shouted. "The grinning one, it's real. I always thought it was just a tall tale, something whispered among elder latexes like ghost stories. But just feeling that strange presence, it was like a part of me knew exactly what it was... Something even the Great Tail Beast was afraid of..." Silence hung heavy over the room. "I don't like the sound of that." Colin states, his ears folding back.

"So your kind do know about it..."

Heavy footsteps fill the halls as two more guardians make their way down it. One of which carrying a sword as big as it's torso.

Once they leave, 101 dangles down on a talon ended limb. Only touching the floor once she was certain they were gone... A softer thud was heard as The Warframe, Umbra, dropped Snowball unceremoniously. She landed on her feet too at least. "There's more of them deeper down here." Umbra claimed. "We can leave if you want, but I need to gather something first. Something surgical..." As Umbra turned to leave, Snowball reached for something in the back of his head. He grunted as he smacked her paw. "Don't..."

"What is?" She asked. Umbra didn't answer. "Not from Drone... Looks like, stuff in here. Enter-ah-tea?"

While Snowball continued to pester Umbra about it, 101 gazed into a sealed chamber. It was dark inside, so the only thing she could see in the glass was her own reflection... The half a second she saw her eye flicker to the Solver, she clutched over it! The glass cracked! "It's not even a mirror! What is it with you and reflections!?" 101 spoke to herself... Though she was quickly reminded that she wasn't really alone with her thoughts.

[darkXwolf17: From what I've learned, that's a targeting glitch.]

101 yelped in surprise at the sudden message popping up without any warning.

[darkXwolf17: I thought it was just psychological torture from the solver, taunting you by shattering reflective surfaces to remind you that you're twisted by it... But I found out it's just the solver's interaction function getting confused seeing things in reflections and trying to grab them like they were solid objects.]

"One-Oh-One!" Snowball called. "We need move, metal giants come back soon." 101 gave one last glance at her fractured reflection, now more faint, before picking up her pace to leave. Following Umbra closer now, 101 also took notice of the attachment in his head. "What's it for?" She asked. "That, thing in the back of-"

"A transference bolt." Umbra bluntly stated. "Not all warframes are mentally stable. This little thing was to make sure I didn't go break-shit insane... That's what the files will say at least. If it does work like that, I haven't noticed..." 101 couldn't help but feel like Umbra wasn't being completely truthful. "Did it hurt, to get?" Snowball prodded. "They usually put us under before installing one."

She didn't like what that implied... Snowball seemed to be increasingly discomforted as they made their way through the labs, her ears twitching and turning at any possible sound. "If there's more security up ahead, we'd probably hear it by now Snowball. Those big guardians aren't exactly stealthy." 101 attempted to ease her. But it seemed her unease was on something else. "Something, wrong, down here." Snowball whispered. "Like, Smiling One, touched many things down here. Feels wrong."

Smiling One? 101 wasn't familiar with that nickname. "Is that what your kind call the Absolute Solver?" Snowball cautiously shook her head. "No... Heard stories. Something, older. Scares even biggest, strongest latexes. It, prays on lonely, distant, cold people. Makes you empty, wrong. It is un-love." She held 101's hand tightly in her paw. "Un-love? Like Hate?" 101 asks. "No, not hate. Not love. Just, no care. " 101 opened a digital dictionary in a separate tab, her thoughts lingered on a definition: Lack of interest, concern, or sympathy. "Makes me think, of Masked Doctor." Snowball finished.

Umbra held up a fist, getting the group to stop. He pressed his hands against the wall carefully, then pulled down an ornamental hang like a lever. The crevasses between the circular decorations on the wall emitted a wispy greenish blue mist, which Snowball took a step back from. 101's own sensors seemed to struggle to recognize it even existed. The discs began to float off of the wall, and the wall itself evaporated, for lack of a better word. "Should we be worried about this stuff?" 101 waved the fog away. "Like it's not, radioactive or something?" Umbra simply entered the concealed door, paying no heed to the smog.

101 figured it was safe and followed, taking Snowball mid flehmen response after she sniffed the fog. 

The room on the other side of the door was disturbingly familiar to her. Specimens of various shapes and sizes contained in tanks with different specifications to keep their contents in check. Namely a set of jars filled with corrupted drone cores, she could feel the heat coming from the container keeping them from breaking out. Another tank filled with a chunk of hardened flesh infected with a strange pathogen she couldn't recognize. And a rather small vial with a little silver and blue wyrm, suspended and silently floating labeled 'Paradoxical Catalyst'.

101's expression turned to freezing in fear at the sight of a surgical table further into the room. She was immediately reminded of the horrors Cabin Fever performed on her, on hundreds like her.

Not again...

One of her eyes flashed a [/!\WARNING/!\] and her breathing started to pick up. "N-No..." She murmured under her breath. "No more, please... I-I don't-"

"One-Oh-One?" Snowball turned 101 to face her. She quickly buried her face in Snowball's fluff.

"Relax, you're not the patient." Umbra grimly states. He inserts his parazon into the console and the machinery whirrs to life. He then climbs onto the table and lays down on his stomach. "If we're going to be hunting down J, I need this thing out of my head."

"Hunt J?!" Snowball shouts in surprise. "She's part of the reason I'm in this mess, negotiating with that traitor, framing me for treason. The Murder Of My Son..." Umbra growled that last one. "We get to her, she'll know exactly where he's hiding." "And you're going to remove the thing keeping you SANE?!" 101 shouts. "If I was going to go on a manhunt I'd probably want to keep the sanity chip in my head for that!"

"That's not all a transference bolt does... There's two types, input and output. Mine is input, which means anyone with an output bolt can just climb into my head and take the controls from me." The devices on the table's arms whirred to life, a claw clamping down on Umbra's neck to keep him still. "I've already taken a life I didn't mean to because of it... It will NOT happen, again!" Umbra sounded like he was gritting his teeth. 101 averted her eyes as a drill apparatus slowly closed in.

I don't want to hear this I don't want to hear this I don't want to hear this I-

Suddenly the facility rumbled, and everything sputtered an- [/!\ELECTRICAL INTERFERANCE DETECTED/!\]

Snowball grabbed 101 as she fell limp. Umbra pried the claw off of his neck as they were left in the darkness of the lab. "Who turned off the lights?! Who turned off One-oh-One?!"

"EMP. The kind disassembly drones can generate! This facility is compromised!" Umbra drew a sheathed sword and gripped it tightly. "It's more than the lights that have been taken out..." Snowball's eyes adjusted to the darkness gradually. But sure enough, the tank of cores was empty, and so was the bottle with the little dragon in it.

*Tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik*

The sound of claws tapping and skittering around echoed off of the walls. "Sepulcrum! Now!" Umbra commanded. Snowball figured 101 wasn't going to be using it in this state anyways, and handed the gun to Umbra. They made their way out of the lab, and there was a much louder chorus of gunfire outside.

Their escape was quickly intercepted by one of the guardians! It bellowed in preparation to strike, before being stuck with a whirling hammer! Another pair of warframes were already inside, the green one from the stadium, and a red one Snowball didn't recognize who was using some strange power to lift a smaller robot up and cause it to emit some odd pulse of energy. Standing in the waves made Snowball feel like she was being pumped full of life energy. Umbra quickly blasted it, dispelling the pulses.

"Umbra..." The green warframe spoke. "You're still alive after all."

"Do you intend on rectifying that, Lavos?" Umbra was clearly prepared for a fight. "I think it's safe to say we've got bigger problems right now." The red one interjected. "We went to leave this place in search of you, and were promptly met with a swarm of Sentinels trying to get inside! If we're going to make it out of this place alive, we'll need to work together on this, comprende?"

"Trinity is right about that. You've clearly lasted longer than I thought you did, but..." Lavos's gaze fell upon Snowball, scrutinizing her thoroughly. "You, you're J's pet, aren't you..."

"N-Not anymore!" Snowball claimed. "J bad! I know now! I not with her anymore!"

The conversation was cut by a MASSIVE Bladed appendage lunging from the ceiling! It ripped the fallen guardian machines apart and dragged the remains into the darkness, the ceiling creaking as it struggles to contain something far too big within it. Lengths of serpentine mass burst from the walls as an Aberration of gore and teeth made it's pursuit, for fresh material. Umbra withdrew his blade of light, slid forwards and unleashed a blinding flash! Causing it to reel back in the darkness and snarl, briefly capturing the mess of blades and core eyes that formed it's 'head'.

"MONSTER!" Snowball screamed! 101's visor buzzed as she seemed to reactivate. "Wh-? What happened last- HOLY SHIT!" The monster lunged for the kill again, this time Trinity stood in it's path, a series of lines linking herself to three separate appendages on the serpent's body. When it's claws hit her, the links rippled and the damage seemed to be distributed to the limbs instead. Taking the opportunity, Lavos leapt onto the creature's back, slamming his fists into the back of it's head to bring it to the ground and pinning it with his hammer. A stray claw lunged for Lavos while his back was turned!

"BEHIND YOU!" 101 thrust her hand out, catching the beast's claw with the solver and forcefully rooting it in place! Snowball opened fire at the joints of the limb, the bullets of her Riot 848 rendering it a molten mess on the way back. "Not a bad shot, J give you a firearms lesson or something?" Trinity questions as she shot at more rampant claws that approached. "This all on instinct! I am really scared!" Snowball blurts out, ducking as a barbed tentacle nearly skewers her! Which trinity catches with a pair of Kamas and rips apart.

"Umbra! Parazon! In this thing's skull!" Lavos orders as it bucks and struggles to break free! Umbra obliges, as his parazon stabs into the mass, it's remaining tendrils in the head lash out on his arm! 101 runs up to the two and sprouts a pair of barbed tentacles of her own to pry it's head open! "STAY! DOWN!" She grunts! The beast lets out a distressed screech amidst the sounds of tearing metal, as 101 provides the final pull that removed the creature's head.

The body flails about, spraying mechanical ichor before going completely limp. 101's screen flashes a high temp warning, her own tentacles dragging behind her as she struggles to grab her bearings.

Too hot! I'll combust if I don't- but the only way I could right now is if I...

Begrudgingly, 101 hoisted the Aberration's leaking head over her open mouth and letting the oil flow down her throat... To her silent horror, she found the taste intoxicatingly divine. Only stopping to breath when the heat warning left her vision. [TEMPERATURE STABILIZING] Her tendrils retracted and she shook the haze out of her head, and did her best to not get sick over what she just did. "I... I need... This cursed program out of my system... Now..."

The facility rumbled again. "We leave now!" Snowball hoisted 101 onto her shoulders before running off to the exit. Leaving Umbra, Trinity and Lavos behind.

Trinity finally voices her thoughts on 101. "That symbol... Never thought I'd ever have to see it in person. A Solver Host..." "From what I've been told, she doesn't want to be one." Umbra explains. "We have a deal for now. She helps me, and I help her find a way to remove it."

Distant echoing shrieks and flashes came from the halls, alongside the scratching of talons against the floor. "They've found a way inside..." Lavos puts a hand on Umbra's shoulder. "If you want to prove to us you can be trusted again, then there's something down here we have to destroy..."

101 kept her visual input minimal to avoid the risk of getting boot looped. While she wished Snowball didn't give her Sepulcrum to Umbra, trying to avoid getting boot looped and aiming a gun is usually a bad combination. Snowball kept both of them pressed against the wall as a parade of Sentinel screeches drew close, and passed by.

Snowball peaked down the hall to be certain they were beyond finding them. 101 however couldn't stop her patient gown ruffling...

...

Wait... She pulled her collar and looked inside, to be met with a small reptilian face clinging to her chest. A little black and blue dragon with incandescent seafoam green eyes was staring back at her.

101 wheezed as she tried to get Snowball's attention without alerting the sentinels, or her little passenger. "[SNOWBALL! GOO LIZARD! ON ME!]" Her screen blipped to show the text. Snowball kept her gaze focused on the hall however. The reptile took a step higher on her chest, 101 shuddered as her chassis seemed to intensify her awareness to the sticky pads on it's feet clinging to her. "s-s-hhhh. snowball.... h-help..." 101 strained under her tense breath in a barely audible whisper. Snowball's ear twitched and she turned back to see her. 101 pointed at the dragon and did her best to hold still. Get it off get it off get it off get it off-! "Hold, hold still!" Snowball whispered as she slowly stalked close to the lizard...

*Bap* Snowball's paw smacked against 101's chest just as the lizard leapt onto her face! 101 choked back a shriek as she saw drips of it's latex leaving gooey spots in her vision! "I got it-!" *Bap* Well, now her screen was still being covered, but this time just with Snowball's hand. "Helmet!" Snowball stated. "Wait, maybe I can..." 101 grabbed her helmet and slowly twisted it off, with a click it disconnected from her head and she handed her helmet, and the lizard by proxy to snowball. Who proceeded to pin the wyrm in her hands. "Gotcha!" The dragon started gekkering in protest at being held, Snowball closed it's muzzle to keep the sound to a minimal level.

101 could get a better, safer look at the little creature now that Snowball had it under control. Though now she noticed how emotive it's eyes looked. She could see the fear on it's face, those eyes really made it's expressions eerily human. Then suddenly, it strained and the dragon popped out of Snowball's hands, and apparently existence? In a greenish blue flash of energy it disappeared from 101's sensors completely! "It's not back on me is it?" Snowball looked closely at 101, checking her for any sign of the thing on her again... She simply shook her head. Gone, just like that? "How'd it do that?" She couldn't help but ask.

"Don't know, that is not, normal for latex."

Just as the two made their way outside however, 101 felt herself be knocked to the floor by a hefty weight! She could barely turn her head to see her assailant. A large dark and silver wolf with a red shard impaled in it's chest like the tip of a spear. It's eyes seemed to burn with fury and smoke was billowing from it's jaws. 101 sprouted a series of tentacles in an attempt to strike the beast down, but it pressed more of it's weight onto her back, threatening to snap her in half! Her joints cracked, and a temperature warning flashed in her vision, this creature was radiating too much heat for her to handle.

Two heavy thuds before 101's head came next. This time she could look up to see the Antlered Beast, and the snake by it's side... The wolf grabbed 101 by the neck and hoisted her off the ground, joining the snake at the other side of the wendigo. "D-Don't kill me!" 101 begged, and got a low growl from the antlers. "Not, kill... We, have plans, for you..."

101 turned to see Snowball peering terrified between the cracks in the door. "I'm sorry..." 101 murmured. As the beasts took her and her solver was focusing purely on repairing her, she spotted the tiny dragon again scampering away with Snowball following it... Good, wherever these things were taking her she'd need to not hold back to escape. But with how her body was damaged so far, she'd more than likely burn herself out fighting while repairing simultaneously. She would need to hope that where ever they were taking her, she will have repaired by then before they started getting to work on those 'plans' they have for her...

Chapter Text

"My original squad's purpose was organized to monitor the void, Comprised of me, Oraxia, Protea and Dante. It became clear to us however that we weren't looking out for void fissures. I've heard of it through many names. Albrecht's earliest notes on void travel simply described it as a 'Man In The Wall'. I thought he was using hyperbole." Nyx's hands swirled as psychic energy seemed to shape into the visuals of a Vitruvian man partially encased in a slab of concrete. "That's what it's described to look like." Puro's ears were folded back as he pointed at the ghastly image. "It's an ambush predator, it lures the hurt and distant in with promises to take away their pain. Only to devour everything in a person."

"If that's the case, than J is in a load of trouble she doesn't even realize."

"Contact! We've kicked the nest now! Harpies 8 O'clock!" Gunfire filled the air. Excalibur opened fire upon a swarm of airborne drones swooping through the night sky. When a passing squad rained missiles down upon him, Nyx leapt into their path and fired a set of psychic bolts to alter their trajectory. Machine minds were tricky to mess with, they were very literal on first glance. But Nyx was still able to scramble a larger platoon's coordination and targeting software, leaving them to also open fire upon themselves. A large swath of drones were quickly smashed out of the sky as a truck was sent flying through the air, courtesy of Mag. Who pumped her fist and declared "STRIKE!"

Comms lit up as an intercepted transmission from J came in. "You have your orders! KILL, THEM! I want the only thing left of those rats to be glowing corpses!"

*NNNEEEEEEOOWW- BANG*

Six drones came in with a hard landing. Claws, swords, chainsaws and more bared. Excalibur met their challenge with his exalted blade drawn. Only for a ricocheting sniper round to do them in first. "Gotta act faster than my trigger finger if ya wanna beat my score Broadsword." Cyte-09 spoke with a sniper round spinning in his fingers.

"I doubt any of us are still keeping score." Excalibur admitted. "I am!" Volt claimed as sped past on his motorcycle. He promptly sent it hurtling towards pack of low flying murder drones, striking a cocky pose as it exploded behind him... "Wait, explosion?" Volt quickly realized his little stunt costed him his cycle. "Oh fu- ACK!" He's quickly tackled by a surviving drone!

Blade drawn one again, Excalibur dashed and cut through their ranks in the blink of an eye.

Cyte-09 fired a cryo grenade to freeze the drone pouncing Volt, giving him more than enough time to strike back with his blade and whip. After making sure it's head was firmly liberated from it's torso, Volt traced a set of scratches across his body and winced. "Shouldn't Trinity have come with us?" 

"She's with Lavos, apparently they gotta make sure J didn't find somethin' important."

"Important enough for something like that?" Volt points.

The ground of the plaza began to rumble as a tank fitted with solver tech smashed through the fountain. J gracefully perched atop it, a confident expression and a cyan glare reflecting off her shades. "Frankly, it's an outdated piece of hardware. But with a few alterations, it should get the job done in seconds." She pointed towards the squad of warframes before her, and the barrel of the tank belched plasma!

"SCATTER!"

*BANG*

Mag and Excalibur opened fire, but the tank's armor didn't even buckle in response. J chuckled at their futile efforts. "You'd need something with much higher caliber to punch through this one. Too bad that something, is out of your reach!" J's hand retracted and switched out for a missile launcher, the structural design seemingly warped with iridescent silver prongs around the corners. As a rocket soared through the air it sounded like a high pitched shriek, and instead of exploding on contact with the ground it simply rooted in place and pulsed with energy.

Nyx had the pulse wash over her and felt herself violently tugged towards the rooted shell along with Cyte-09. Attempting to stand back up was difficult, it felt like their personal gravity was amplified tenfold. The tank aimed again. Only to shudder slightly as one of the vents on the side burst, causing J to stumble. Volt pumped his fist. "Maybe not higher caliber, just gotta aim better! Nice of you to design some Glowing Weakspot Indicators in your vents!" J seemed bewildered as she looked at the yellow glow coming from the tank's ventilation. She growled and produced a walkie talkie. "Charles, be a dear and inform the crew responsible that they've made a critical design flaw."

J produced two machine guns and opened fire at Volt! Volt panicked and stumbled through the gunfire before speeding out of harms way!

Cyte-09 mustered enough strength to smash the shell keeping him and Nyx pinned, Nyx then vaulted on top of the tank, tonbo drawn and swung at J's head. The clashed blades as the tank continued to drive and fire at the others. "Gonna be honest with you J, that is not your color." Nyx taunted as they fought. J's tail swept around Nyx's staff in an attempt to sting and rip it out of her hands, but she used the momentum of J's pull to hoist herself up and over. Nyx slammed the staff, and J, down into one of the tank's vents. Causing it to burst with sparks and flame.

J didn't try to stand back up, but Nyx found out why too late. As the tank in a startling move, quickly swung it's turret around and smacked her off with the barrel. J cockily shouted as she leapt back up. "I'm sure you've noticed by now, but I've gotten some upgrades since we've last been seen." One of her hands produced a familiar beam cannon, with a building screech, ethereal prongs of silver matter closed around a sphere of energy building in the barrel. "Perhaps you'd like to experience it yourself!"

That's VOID energy! Solver Tech isn't built to use something like that!

"Oh no you don't!" Mag grasped onto J's arm and flicked her aim onto the very tank she was standing on!

*BRRRRWWWWUAAAAAAAH*

The blast carried such force and power that even the tank seemed to be rattled from the shot! It was certainly a hard hitting blast, not even the ferrocite plating of the tank could resist it. Nyx and Excalibur stood next to each other with blades drawn ready to fight J, who was in the midst of recovering from the misfire.

"Tank's junked." Cyte-09 gestures to the crater it was now buried in. "That leaves only her left."

The rubble quickly sprouted a clawed appendage, then another, and another. The Tank, if one could even call it that anymore, had malfunctioned. Becoming a Solver Aberration. "I'm not a tank expert, but that doesn't seem like it's within spec!" The barrel of the tank turned to face Volt, the tip now distorted and modified like the jaws of some horrible leech. It practically spat a glob of molten scrap as a new projectile, splashing the area with burning metal and unrecognizable sludge. "Is it even J's tank anymore?!"

"I doubt it makes much difference now! Cutters and shooters gripped, it just got serious!" It shrieked with agonized fury. Mag, Volt and Cyte-09 leapt into action as the tank let out a violent *SKREEEEANK* response.

J groaned, infuriated at the sight of the tank's mutation. She had opted to take out her frustrations on Excalibur and Nyx. "Bring the hellfire!" Excalibur sent a cleaving wave of energy forward! J leapt over the first wave and spun with her blades emitting a glow of their own, slicing the wave! 

Blades clashed, and all the while a tank turned monster was tearing the plaza apart as it attempted to swat down the other three. Nyx found herself tussling with J's tail while she was using her claws and swords to block and parry Excalibur.

I have a plan, when I swing left to right, you chop her in half! Nyx sent a clandestine thought to Excalibur. The plan was executed, as Nyx swung across Excalibur brought his blade down on J. J's hasty dodge ended up getting her legs sliced off. "Keep her down!" Excalibur slammed his blade into the ground and a set of javelins pinned J to the concrete! Nyx chopped her stinger off too. "Let's see just what you've got going on upstairs, shall we?" Nyx began to pry into J's head...

W̶̙̭͓̓H̷̺̳͆̉̎A̷̠̦̞͋͠T̴̥͑̄̕ ̵̪̩̑́Ȁ̸̩̦̟͍R̷̡̼͈̉̀̽͠E̴͚̙̤͓̮͗̏ ̶̜̓̓͊̕Y̵̛͕̩̋̈́̿O̸̠̭͓̘̒̏U̷͖̦͑̋ ̶̹͋́D̸̢͔̂̎̒̑Ọ̸͎͈̤̐͠I̷͉̤̼͖̔͐͊́̒N̸̡̗̹̍͊͋͘͝G̸͕̰̽̃͋̿ ̴͚̞͓̥͋̎͝ͅÌ̵̘̻͉͔̍̃̇N̴̘̤̦̤͐̉̿͝ ̷̛͉̓͐͠H̸̻͈̘̟̤̉̐̊̇͘E̷̪̟͒̍R̵̥͔̙͂̓̏̑Ȩ̶͓͚͂̀̏͝?̸̥̥̹̺̜̍

What, The Fuck... 

No...

Í̷̹'̶̪̎̋D̶̫̒͠ ̶͓̃̾T̶̹̜̋̕Ë̵́͜L̵̤͉̏̊L̵̟̀͋ ̶̢̺͊Y̵̲͎̅O̴͉̱̓̽U̶̫̔̓ ̶̼͍̆W̵̭̘̆͂Ĥ̸̨A̸͍̽̎T̸͔̯͒̾ ̷̺͊ͅI̸͚̗̅͝ ̴̗͆Ḧ̶̨́A̸͎̗̅V̷͈̂Ë̶͇͉̋ ̶̼̆͝P̷̡̋L̴̹͛̎A̷͆̒͜Ņ̵̭̎̕N̶̫̳̈̚Ê̷͙͇Ḑ̴̪̓,̵̩̙̕ ̸̤̾͘B̴̓͌ͅỦ̵̡̯T̸̼͆ ̷͖̐I̵̧͊̕T̷̫͝'̷̪̆̍Ṡ̷̩̌ ̷̦̓Ȃ̸͖̹ ̸̩̅͠S̴̯̄Ủ̶͚͂R̶͇̔͠P̷̻̋R̸̢͒Ĭ̵͜Š̴͍̻E̶̼̝͂̈́.̸̖͑

"Rock, Rock ROCK ROCK!" Volt's panicked shouting became audible as he zipped over and dragged Nyx away from a large chunk of road that was thrown her way! Nyx's head was pounding, a rare occasion where she encountered a resistant mind. J took the opportunity to pull her legs back on and took flight. "Forget it, I've got a tight schedule and a quota to meet. It doesn't matter whether that thing destroys you or not." With that she left.

"Any advice captain?" Cyte-09 asks. Excalibur's vision darts all over the abomination, looking for a weakness. "Uh, There! Something tells me if we hit those soft bits we'll do some damage!"

The Tank-Beast slung it's clawed tendrils forward and practically threw itself towards the squad! Mag and Volt focused their firepower at two growths resembling a cross between a heat blister and molten steel. One burst and the tank shrieked in pain! It's barrel began to hiss and gurgle as it filled with heated slag. Cyte-09 fired a cryo grenade down it's throat however, freezing the mess it was going to fire and causing the barrel to jam. Another mass was shattered, then Nyx practically threw herself tonbo first into it's neck.

"Just a little push!" Nyx kicked her staff deeper into the aberration's hide, until it was almost completely submerged in the wound! The tank seized, then all it's extremities collapsed. Nyx withdrew her staff. "It's gone silent now. That killed it." Volt seemed a little uneasy around the claws of the beast. "Don't these things implode when they die?"

"It's not entirely made of solver tech, the actual tank is completely normal outside of J's modifications. I suspect this thing will be complete scrap by sunrise." Excalibur cracked his shoulder. Nyx however still felt uneasy. The Indifference has resumed it's interest in this world, and that's bad news...

"That's where we are right now. My original team is gone, Oraxia and Dante are missing, and Protea was last seen escorting a crew, including her father off world in a ship that exploded mid jump. The good news is it's still pretty distant from us. It's practically miles away, and the walls between dimensions are fairly sturdy."

"But why us?" You gesture wildly to the sky. "Why is it tormenting me? Why possess K, and what's the book gotta do with it?"

Puro suddenly notices the book in your hands. "That book! How can you even hold it in your hands like that?!" You gesture with the Grimoire. "Well..." Your tail swishes against the floor. "I've seen Carmen make a stink face at it. And it shoots ball lightning. But it seems like it can't really do damage without someone using it." You open the book and grasp one of the pages delicately. "And the Fog?" Colin gestures to the smoke flowing off the pages. "What is that stuff? It's got a weird un-smell to it." Colin's fur seems to puff out and stand on end as the fog flows. "And it feels like a part of me is screaming to get away from it."

"Untime. Void Energy, something I've discovered latex are quite sensitive to, they can sniff it out rather quickly. And, it's present in all warframes as a power source." Nyx shuts the Grimoire. "That reaction latex have to it is odd to me, because most of them don't even know about the void. It's almost instinctual."

"What I more worried about is how did K not realize it was about to take him? He would've smelled it coming. That strange, un-scent it gives off is practically invisible to humans, but latex can detect it easily." K looks down at his own hands, the clasps the straps of his respirator. "It's my mask. Apart from some sentimental value, I wear it to temper my heightened senses." He briefly removes his mask. "I may have been able to break in most of my changes but I could never adjust to the heightened sense of smell." K grunts as his nose twitches. "It's overwhelming. You cannot convince me to ditch it." As he puts his mask back on Colin simply shrugs.

You wisp around the untime fog with your finger, then simply look at your hand. You quickly realize that your scales are spreading up your arm! "Uh oh! I don't know what I did but it's making me change! If this does anything to me mentally, one of you is gonna have to catch "Me" up to speed!"

Black gooey scales spread across your form and your face distends into a dragon's muzzle, making you more aware of your tongue as it slips out. You squeeze your eyes shut and feel a mask morph over your face. When you look upon yourself you stand in a familiar form, but it doesn't feel complete. Like a step hasn't happened yet.

"Hmm, the eyeholes in your mask are a lot wider than most dragons." Colin's finger moves to trace your eyes. "Puro? Are you sure you got this crystal from the Wolf King?"

"He gave it to me, but I... I'm not actually certain if he made it himself." 

You feel a sudden whirring in your brain, causing you to grunt and grasp at the corners of your mask. Your shoulders feel tense, and- *RIP* something rips out of your torso You look over your shoulder expecting to see a pair of dragon wings hanging over your shoulders. But what's actually come out of your back (And totally ruined that shirt) were four large Violet crystals. Looking down you see a pair of smaller arms have also morphed and torn through your outfit. Your head is, pounding! There's nothing else in there but you, but you can feel like a piece of knowledge unknown to you is being crammed into your head! You clutch the sides of your mask and stumble about! Before stepping in a loose paper and slipping.

*Thud*

"He doesn't seem that different mentally... But there is something new floating around in his mind..." Nyx's words echo in your own mind, half of a conversation you were listening to.

Your thoughts were a mess, like someone tried to make space by cutting a circle into your head, and then jamming a rectangle through it. Losing your humanity, in exchange for Knowledge...

"Simon? You still with us? Do you, feel any different upstairs?" Carmen gives your head a little jostle. You grumble as you regain a level of lucidity. "Ugh... He, made me go to a wedding in, socks and a chain wallet..." Your voice has a faint trill behind it now. You rub your eyes, flicking a drop of latex that formed in the corner of your eye. "Wh- What happened?" You smell a strangeness in the air. Looking down you see the Grimoire is clutched tightly in your lower arms... You've been stripped! You quickly cover yourself with the book! "Where'd my pants go?!"

"They did not survive your metamorphosis." K rummages through a drawer to produce a thermometer style tool. "Not like you'll need to cover yourself at this point, certain 'anatomy components' are off by default for a Sample. Most likely there's nothing there."

...

You're honestly not certain if that makes you feel better or worse. "I liked those pants though, they got pockets."

"Fair... Now try not to flinch when I do this, Dark branch samples are a bit more viscous than the other branches so some force will need to be applied."

"Force for wh-" *SHLRK* K plunges the tool into your chest like you were an offering to the gods! "-WHAT THE FUCK!?" Your wings buzz in protest and fill the air with noise. That, didn't exactly hurt. More of a dull ache in your chest like a fresh bruise. While it works, you observe yourself more thoroughly. You found your body maintains it's dragon attributes, but also adds some features you'd find on an insect... "Dragonfly. Well, I seem to lean more to dragon." Colin taps his chin as he observes you. "I can see that one. There is a Tiger Shark in the aquatic sector. They like literal hybrids."

The stick blips and K pulls it out of you, but your sticky body doesn't seem to want to let it go initially. *Plop* K reads the meter. "Oh, 25% that might be a problem..." He states under his breath. "You're energy levels are low enough that your body might autonomously suggest assimilation. And unfortunately I don't have a bio-robot to spare for you... Unless..?"

K taps something into a console, it gives him a few upset messages and beeps in protest. "Oh for fucks sake, work with me for ONCE you glorified algorithm sorter!" Nyx walks up to him and applies her Parazon to the console... *Beem Boop* [Access Granted. Printing: [Bio-Robot_MK2_Blueprint.PNG]] "Where can I get my hands on one of those?" K remarks.

When the blueprint is finished K hands it to you. "I know JCJenson has at least one production facility out here. Given how they were relatively untouched by drones and latex alike, there's bound to be a working foundry you can use. Just slip the blueprint in there and it should start pumping the finished product out. I have to hand it to them, they know how to mass produce."

With the sun rising, all the drones should be in hiding... "No time like the present then!" You stand up and reach for the pockets of what remains of your old guard suit to retrieve your tools. No pockets, but you do literally have an extra pair of hands now. "Puro and I should come with you." Colin states. "We, might know where to start looking."

"There it is..." Colin points towards your destination. Hard to mistake for anything else with the big 'JCJenson' sign on it. "Let's get that bio-robot fabricated." You give Colin and Puro a little tug to slowdown. "Woah hang on a second. I'm as excited to be at 100%, however that's going to play out. But maybe we should take a look from the outside in before we just open the doors." Colin and Puro nod in agreement, Colin checks the left and Puro checks the right. You look up to the roof, give your wings a few beats and try to take off.

Your leap isn't as high as you had hoped. But your wings provide a stable hover at least. "Whoa, okay. I got- I- Oh, I'm pretty good at this actually." Climbing on top of the roof you spot a giant hole in the ceiling.

Cautiously Puro approaches one of the windows and take a peak... "There's something blocking the windows on this side."

"Same here." Colin gestures to the windows behind him.

"There's a big ass hole up here!" You call out. "I don't see anything inside apart from a ton of junk. If there were any murder drones roosting in here they'd be exposed to the sunlight." You drop inside from the hole a bit faster than you were planning, resulting in a bit of a rough landing. The door opens as the wolves follow. Colin gasps and points behind you. "Oh... That's... Grim..." The windows were barricaded with cabinets and lockers thrown haphazardly over them. The bones of the previous occupants littered the general area. "Looks like they found a way in anyway..." Puro comments on the disturbing scene.

"I don't think they got in... Look, the roof has a hole in it but there's no pieces of it inside the building." Colin picks up a wrench, ripping it out of a skeletal hand. "Whatever made it came from the inside And bust it's way out..." A terrifying statement, but regardless, you have to find the foundry.

Looking at all the bones starts to make you feel... Physically empty, somewhere between hunger and touch starvation. And a faint feeling like you could've helped these people, could've kept them safe, made them happy, and they would've made you whole in turn- Wait what are you thinking?! *Smack Smack* "Nneeuh!" "You alright Simon?" Puro asks. "Yeah just... Just an intrusive thought." You shudder at the notion that you even have these urges now... No wonder most latexes are eager to assimilate. Thankfully a distraction appears in the form of a door to a lower level.

While your natural eyesight wasn't that tanked in your new form, your night vision seems to have been nerfed considerably as the dark stairway seems pitch black. Colin taps on your shoulder. "Maybe I should take point." "Be my guest." Keeping close behind Colin, you also feel the walls with your hands and tail to compensate. Eventually the room opens up, you still can't see though. "Can you see anything Puro?" Puro turns to face you, biffing you with his tail in the process. "No I- oh sorry... Your night vision is just as bad as mine. I do smell something odd in this room... Lots of metal."

"I think I found the light switch." *Click* The lights flicker, struggling to turn on. Finally the lights settle, your eyes readjust. "There, what- THE FUCK IS THAT THING?!" Colin suddenly shouts and points! "AAAH GOOD LORD!"

Coiled around a fair chunk of the room was something ungodly! Looking like a cross between a centipede, a duct pipe and a misshapen coil of bones and teeth! You can't even tell which part is the front! You know exactly what your looking at though... "Okay don't panic, it's not moving... But that thing is raw Solver Tech... Just don't touch it." You all take cautious steps away from the spiral of unknown horror, you in particular don't break eye contact until your certain it's not about to wake up... "Are you sure this is the result of bad code? It looks Lovecraftian." Colin pulls his Vesper 77 and keeps it on hand. You sigh in defeat. "I don't even know anymore. Science can look like magic when you don't understand it, and I have absolutely no idea how that thing exists."

Once out of sight, but not out of mind, Puro points to a helpful sign up ahead. "It says this way to the frabicateor- farbicade- frat- bleh. I think it's that way." You notice a long cable also leads into the room. The actual thing is boxy and stark, with a podium labeled 'scanner'. You follow the cable to the other side of the machine, only to find it's not a cable at all... There perched limply on the console for the foundry was a human hand, melded with a tentacle and snaked over and around the console. You push the hand aside and attempt to turn the fabricator on. A circular patch lights up green with a symbol indicating a 'Bioinformatic Challenge' and the requirement for a fingerprint to, prove that you are human.

You look at the pads on your hands... Something tells you that won't work, but you have an idea of what might... Grasping the tentacle hand by the wrist. It's disturbingly warm, but it looks more human than your own hands... "Sorry but I need to borrow this." You press a finger into the scanner, careful to not drip any latex onto it.

[Ur Aight ;)]

The fabricator boots up and whirrs to life. [TEMPLATE MISSING. PLEASE PROVIDE TEMPLATE BEFORE USE TO AVOID ANOMALOUS FABRICATIONS.] "You guys got the blueprint?" Colin slips the paper into the fabricator, the machine begins to read the data and after a few seconds. It dings and everything begins to buzz into action. Something Puro was leaning on suddenly moves, causing him to jump! "HIDE!" He grabs you and Colin and drags you both behind the machine as a serpentine shape writhes and loosens the panels in the ceiling and walls.

Something wraps it's claws around the edges of a hole in the ceiling, and a skeletal limb ending in a camera surveys the room. You duck out of sight when it turns to look in your direction. There's more crashing sounds as the ceiling is torn apart, deliberately or not you can't tell without risking being spotted. Puro points at the hand tentacle, which was now skittering around the floor like an insect! It creeps up Colin's chest and he looks like he'll pop from fright! Everyone is deathly still, Colin even stopped breathing.

*VRRRRR* [DING]

The hand lunges off of Colin and lurches towards the fabricator conveyor. A completed Bio-Robot stands at attention... Three cameras close in to get a closer look at it. Then the hand coils around it and picks it up!

You need that! Something in you clicks, and you crawl underneath the conveyor belt! "Simon what are you doing?!" Colin whispers.

Like an impulse, you take aim with your plinx. And shoot out it's eyes! *CRACK-KRK-ZZSSSK!* You manage to shoot out one of them successfully, but the other eyes retreat into the ceiling! "AH! DAMNIT! WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM?!" It spoke! you hear it shifting in the ceiling, the cursing and grunting in pain getting distant... The Bio-Robot lays on the floor, intact. 

Now.

You place your hands on the bio-bot, then it occurs to you... You have no idea what you're doing. The bio-bot just sits there limply. "I'm not getting anything. How do I, uh... Oh hang on there's a button right here." *Click*

Once activated, the bio-bot stands up and starts to simulate. It breathes, it's heart beats, beneath it's silicone skin you can see fluid pumping through tubes like veins. It looks, and feels alive...

...

Without a moment of hesitation, and barely any notion of what you're doing. You spring into action, pouncing it! All four of your hands grasp the bio-bot tightly, and your body liquifies and drapes over it. You feel your form spread and engulf the host, it doesn't react. You push yourself onto your knees, sinking the host deeper into your body like tar. With your upper arms outstretched to take in it's own. Then comes the strangest part, you shut your eyes and feel your mask leave your face as it becomes a formless blob to engulf the head. Finally your mask slides back into place, and your eyes open once more...

You stand back up and place a hand on your chest, feeling a sensation of energy subsuming into your being. You breathe in, and out. A motion you had practically forgotten to do when you became what you are now. With a firm grip of your fists, you feel whole again.

"I've, gotten pretty numb to this stuff. But watching it happen is still a little jarring to me. Like watching a live feeding." Colin's voice suddenly snaps you back to the present. You sheepishly pat yourself down. "I honestly zoned out for the whole process. But that felt oddly refreshing." Puro chuckles. "I got that kick when I absorbed my bio-robot too. You should be good now."

The electronic chattering and scratching of claws against the floor however put you all on high alert. You recognized those sounds too. "Sentinels, eyes sharp!" Flashes start to fill the hallway, the hunting party is getting closer. Standing at the front of the pack was a sentinel with a broken eye, and a twisted solver tech limb it was wielding in it's jaws like a scythe! "Uh oh... Smart little bastards..."

It flashes it's beacon at you and the rest of the pack charge! You and Colin open fire! Two sentinels stumble as they end up shot, and as one sentinel weaves past your shots Puro sticks it with his spear! As the crystal tip shatters and latex leaks into the sentinel's punctured hull, Puro kicks it into the rest of the pack! More crystals burst from the sentinel and stab any it crashes into. The alpha sentinel scrapes it's scythe claw against the ground as a challenging taunt, before leaping into the fray with it's packmates!

The scythe is brought down on you! You dart out of the way into a slight hover, you're not about to see if you can block that with your baton anytime soon! You jab at the alpha and get a nice hit in the jaw, it also whips around and smacks you with it's tail! *POW-TAK* Colin gets in a good shots while it's back is turned, but is pounced by a unoccupied sentinel! Puro rushes to his aid and pries the sentinel's jaws off of his neck!

You and the alpha circle one another, your movement is a lot faster but it has a harder hitting weapon. Weaving past it's heavy swings you strike it again, but despite the damage it barely seems to care! There's a distressed shriek from a sentinel as it's unceremoniously folded by a talon from the ceiling! The Abomination is back! A barbed tentacle skewers you and the alpha! Though being stabbed like this is a lot less lethal. It tosses you both aside and you bring your arms up instinctively to protect your mask!

Puro tosses a sentinel into the path of a scythe claw as it cleaves through! Multiple limbs come crashing down, blocking your paths out of the room! Finally as the last sentinel has it's head in the tight grip of a claw, a camera descends from the ceiling to look at the sentinel it has. Before tightening it's grip and crushing it's head, killing it instantly. Two more eyes descend and stare you all down, the sinister yellow to purple glow intensifying. You could probably hear your heartbeat in your ears if you still had one. You take a step back.

*Crunch* "Ssss-! Ow!" It flinches, you look down to see you've stepped on a tentacle. It shakes like it just hurt it's hand. "Ugh, I hate taking control of these, there's too much to keep track of." It returns it's scrutinizing gaze back to you. "Who the hell are you?"