Prayer into the Dark, Part 2
#29 of Codename: Stinger
The plot thickens! ...ALREADY?!
Part 2.
The pain had receded, but her panic had only grown immeasurably. All the young girl could do was flail her limbs in an effort to swat away at the blood-like substance oozing out of her every orifice, coating her like chocolate sauce on a scoop of ice-cream. As if it had a life of its own, the battle against the imprisoning goo was quickly lop-siding in favor of the unthinking entity, slowing its host's movement down. Sticking to her like glue, it spread over her badly burnt body and soon engulfed her in a tight, form-fitting film of a black-colored shell. As the relentless, hardening ooze advanced towards her neck, the panicked girl began to tear up. "Am I being eaten? I don't feel hurt anymore; this... this doesn't hurt at all, in fact, it feels good, too good! Why does it feel good?! Stop it, stop it. No, don't do that!" she screamed in her head as the mask finally snapped off in favor of the ooze creeping over her mouth and nose, her face and then the rest of her head, sealing her within impregnable darkness once again. But it did not stop there.
One after another, the scientists returned to Dr. Masters' side as he contemplated the inhumane metamorphosis take place, like a bewildering scene from a B-rated horror movie. They didn't know that their patient wasn't in any danger, much less pain, but it was hard to ignore the impression of the second phase of her transformation. More blood-like ooze suddenly spilled out of the immobilized girl's shape, immediately sticking back to the black shell like a second layer of protection. It went down her legs and up her sternum, covering every inch until it had hardened again, finally snapping the injector tube off her body. A third spurt of the substance happened only to repeat the process, then another, then another, then another one. The shell was starting to lose its human shape, favoring a growing oval shape that was starting to fill the confines of the rich-nutrient vat.
"It's... fascinating. With every layer of chitin generated, more nutrients are absorbed at an even faster pace, redoubling the process' efficiency!" Dr. Masters then realized that not only was the biological process forcing his patient into a chrysalis-like state, but that same chrysalis was on the verge of outgrowing the holding chamber. "Step back!" he suddenly raised his voice, gesturing with his arm. "Do not stop the treatment, but don't stay close. It's dangerous!"
And the team didn't need to hear that a second time. Dr. Masters joined them behind the consoles and observed from a safe distance as the large black chrysalis pressed against the glass and began to crack it. It wasn't a matter of the chrysalis being abundantly heavy; it was more a contest of size vs. capacity. Soon enough, the contest ended in the favor of the shell, which tore through the front and the back of the crystal chamber, causing it to explode violently.
Schmidt couldn't have been more ecstatic, "This... this is NOT what our projections promised us. What am I going to tell them?!" he thought with a growl as he banged his fist on the desk out of frustration, "It's over. It's not going to work, it's...!"
The aide shouted, "Holy shit, look out! Glass is raining everywhere!"
The electrocardiogram's readings flat-lined. A large amount of glass flew out in all directions, filling the area with glass shrapnel.
"Dr. Schmidt, keep your head down!" Dr. Masters called out, but his frustrated colleague did not respond. He tried to reach for his arm to pull him down, but Schmidt let out a piercing scream when one of the glass fragments struck his face, falling on his back. "Oh no...! Grab the disinfectant and gauze. We need to operate on him right now! The rest of you, load the patient on a bed and be sure to begin the proper scans. I want to know about her status. Don't waste any more time!"
"Y-yes sir!" the unanimous acceptance of his entire crew was only muffled by Schmidt's screams of pure agony. Dr. Masters and his aide had to operate on the spot to lower the risk of infection and stop the blood loss. After anesthesia had been applied and they had finished pin-pointing the exact location of the embedded glass shard, extraction commenced. "He's lucky; the shard could've pierced into the brain."
"We can't talk about luck until we've finished treating him. Damnit, Schmidt, what were you thinking?" Dr. Masters groaned as his fast hands moved to disinfect the affected area around the right eye. He grit his teeth tightly, "It's worse than I thought. The glass severed the connection to his receptors."
"It's not a complete loss. At least he can still be saved," said the aide, "It is fortunate you reacted as fast as you did, Doctor. Dr. Schmidt will live."
"But... he will not be able to use this eye again."
Post operation and after Schmidt had been delegated to a specialist, Dr. Masters hurried back to his laboratory, where the rest of his team welcomed him. "How is she?"
"She? What part of this thing resembled a woman anymore?" one of the researchers groaned as the several digital reports were submitted to the lead scientist.
Dr. Masters made no additional commentary, but he did notice a severe lack of concurrence. "Where are the others?"
"They left, Doctor. They resigned their positions. Said they couldn't believe what you did to the patient." Another researcher said, "We're here to witness the truth though, so we'll stick with you to the end."
"I see." Eugene Masters wasn't the type of man to stop to gauge others' impressions of his self. He was concerned with seeing his duty through to the end, and he firmly believed he had taken a step forwards in helping his patient. "I thank you for your vote of confidence. Now, let's review the new charts. It seems our work has only just begun."
"Doctor, I'm afraid that won't run for me," the same aide interrupted Masters, clearly dissatisfied. "I think I speak for everyone who's left here when I ask what exactly it is that we've just witnessed."
Dr. Masters took a deep breath. He hadn't planned on hiding anything, but circumstances were looking less than ideal; he needed to calm his men down. He looked over his three remaining team members and nodded in their direction, "This is one of the many outcomes I'd been expecting, Adrian." He made sure to look at each of them in the eyes, "As you know, the Xteria's composition allows great versatility when it comes to its combinative functions. Simply put, it acts both as catalyst and recombinator. It is no secret that we have been using animal DNA to carry desired qualities from one organism to another."
The team leader walked around the table, the gigantic, dark chrysalis like a macroscopic version of an insect pupa. "Praying Mantis DNA, and its ability to molt, in this case."
"You don't mean...?" Adrian gasped. Dr. Masters nodded back at his aide.
"What we're witnessing here is simply what the Xteria's true nature is about."
"But this kind of metamorphosis... This did not happen with the other animals!" objected the only female of the group.
"I understand your concern, Jessica. The human genome is more complex, our genetic diversity opens up several chaining paths that a mutagenic organism could take advantage of. It is likely that the Xteria's harmonized both genetic codes into an entirely new genome that is neither human, nor insect."
"Doctor, what are you saying?" Adrian interrupted, "What's happened to the patient? What's going to happen to her?"
"It should take time, but from what I'm seeing in the charts, she is currently undergoing metamorphosis, an advanced type of it," Dr. Masters explained, "Her biological systems are adapting to the new constraints within her modified cellular makeup. Since this strand of Xteria was meant to simply cultivate a short-term ability to help with dermic regeneration, it is not adept at what it's attempting to do; that's why it's taking time."
"What IS it trying to do?" the third team member finally spoke. Dr. Masters took another deep breath and stared at the chrysalis.
"That is what we must find out, Mortimer. At this point, all I'm telling you is what I can deduce from our preliminary scans, but I really haven't a consolidated idea about the process itself."
"And you still decided to go through with this?!" Jessica snapped, "Oh my god, never mind killing her, you're saying you willingly went with the possibility of turning her into a... she's going to turn into a freak if she ever comes out of this thing!"
The doctor had no counter-argument, but he wasn't about to let himself be dragged down. "I'm a doctor, first and foremost, Jessica. Saving lives is what I do, and this patient was slowly slipping away from us. I have no intentions of justifying myself with this, but you must understand that whichever the end result is, I am going to save her life."
"But doctor, she's right," Mortimer added, his eyes looking down at the massive chrysalis, "Whenever the patient comes out, if she ever does, there's no telling if she'll be back to normal."
"She's conscious. She escaped a coma. Is that not enough for you?" Dr. Masters scornfully replied, "Right now, she's deep asleep. Her arrhythmia is gone, no more hyperventilation. Her skin will regenerate, and she will be able to leave an operating table with her life intact. I call that a victory in my book."
"But..." Jessica tried, instead being interrupted by Dr. Masters again before she could articulate.
"You may disagree with my decision, and like the others, the choice to go or to remain is yours. But let me tell you this," he firmly stared at each of the three pairs of eyes looking at him, "This patient entered Humani with a problem, and I am going to take care of it until she leaves here. With, or without you."
Heavy silence took over the operating room as serious pondering went over the team's collective thoughts. There was no telling how the metamorphosis would carry on, much less if Dr. Masters' deductions were headed in the right direction. In the end, it was too much for Jessica and Mortimer. The room was left with only two people in it. Adrian walked to the doctor's side with a firm expression in his face. "I'm sticking around. I hold only the highest regard for you, doctor. I believe we're doing the right thing," he smiled with a nod. Dr. Masters, although showing signs of tiredness, returned the smile. "Well! I was thinking of running some more CT scans and testing for composition. I can't say this is the most comfortable cottage for a young girl to fall asleep in, haha. ...too soon?"
"No, it's okay, Adrian," Dr. Masters shook his head with a small laugh, "Please go on. I will review the present charts and cross-reference with the existing Xteria data." Adrian nodded and went over to the equipment while the tired team leader began to work on a computer.
The truth was, the doctor's heart weighed heavily. Had he acted rashly? Unthinking of the consequences? The girl was on death bed, but she was now alive, whatever the future held in store. He reached out with a hand to feel the chrysalis' firm yet warm surface. "Protection from the outside, huh..." he thought as he stroked the tough shell caringly.
She was still alive. Her beating heart was proof of that. But it wasn't just her heart; all of her body was beating, radiating some sort of heat which she could only compare to standing next to a huge furnace. She still couldn't move. "How many days has it been already?" the girl asked no one in particular. "It feels like I've been trapped in here for my entire life. My life..." she repeated in her head, "What life? Ugh, head hurts..."
What she tried to remember was making her head pound. Thinking of her surreal experience inside the tube ironically made her feel better. "Why do I feel at home? It's like I'm dreaming. But if this is a dream, why is everything so dark? I have to be awake. But if so, why does this feel so out of place? Like a dream..."
The more she thought about it, the less her situation made sense. It all came back to figuring out who she was, but she couldn't remember. It's like that part of her had been taken away, never to be found again. Her only consolation was the constant pleasant tingling running throughout her body. The crawling under her skin had stopped and all that remained was radiant warmth of which she could only compare to a hand massage. She imagined two soft hands caressing her once agonizing body into bliss, every touch sending pleasant jolts through her skin.
What she didn't know was that a biological miracle was occurring within, and manifesting both internally and externally. Bones, articulations and muscle were shifting and changing in size and density, as well as shape. She could only snooze as the creaking of her old withered skin was pushed away by newly grown tissue. Her pelvic bones were expanding, causing her hips to widen in order to accommodate enlarging thighs and buttocks where muscle and weight concentrated. Her legs turned longer, yet muscular tone that would put professional athletes to shame was gained. The lower body was becoming instrumental, joints and articulations constantly strengthening to be able to support great weight and exert great force. The girl's feet experienced more pronounced changes, making her quietly squirm as her toes slowly came together and fused into a pair of claw-like digits. Many times she attempted to curl her new toes, but as before, her body would not respond the way she wanted it to. "What's happening to me...?"
At one point, pressure began to build in her forearms, feeling as if something was sliding within, stretching the insides. Then she felt the object slowly make its way out, right under the elbows. "Am I bleeding again?" the thought made her mind race, before she realized the object had stopped its exit mid-way. "What? Why did it stop like that?" she wasn't just concerned about the fact something was coming out of her forearms, let alone what it was, but the fact she somehow knew it still had some of it left inside her. "C-can I move it? This is the first time in such a long time that I can move anything in my body. Just what is it?" she wished she could clench her fists and move her arms in order to touch whatever item it was that kept protruding out of the back of her forearms, curious beyond retribution. "These things feel so strange...!" she thought, mentally pulling on them to retract back inside of her, before she willed them back out. With all of her practice, the girl eventually ventured to estimate the curious extensions reached well over the length of her fingers. "If only I could tell what these things are! Nngh... my head feels funny."
It was subtle at first, but she could swear the pounding had returned to her head. The reason for that was due to a pair of little lumps which had appeared at the middle of her cranium, slowly yet progressively growing longer. They were different to her hair, slightly thicker and definitely less articulate, but they were definitely there. "Wait, my hair? My hair?! I had no hair..." her memory quickly flashed back to the tube. Her entire body's skin was missing, there was no hair either, but she was sure she felt it there! For some reason, those two thin twig-like objects let her feel the mane of hair which had grown over her head.
Her eyes had darkened over down to the sclera, and she could definitely feel something over her mouth and nose, like a mask had been placed over. It didn't impede her breathing, much less make her uncomfortable, but the suddenness with which hardening material had once more started covering her body alarmed her. "What is happening? I feel so different... I feel... stronger. I feel like I can..." her arms then began to finally twitch ever so slightly. Her eyes widened larger than she had ever been able to do. Her hips had begun to twist, toes scratching at her prison as the feelers above her head twitched.
The clock was about to run its final tick.
December, 1999.
Dr. Masters and Adrian were in the middle of running tests when they were visited by an eye-patched Schmidt, who looked grouchier than ever. "Ah, Dr. Schmidt. How goes rehabilitation?" Adrian was the first to greet him.
"Splendid," the short man sarcastically replied, walking towards their test subject. "Do I take it we still haven't made any progress with this hunk of useless chitin?"
"We've been observing some great changes under the last few months, Dr. Schmidt," Dr. Masters informed, "Unfortunately, just like before, we are unable to use echography to draw any conclusions just yet."
""Just yet."?!" Schmidt growled, outraged. "This thing took one of my eyes, Masters. The least it could do is hurry up with whatever it's doing in there."
"Patience, my good man. She's alive and well, her vitals have never been more stable."
"Who cares about that meaningless data? The board wants to know why we're playing around with an oversized cocoon instead of bringing them results with the Regenerative Xteria project," Schmidt groaned, bopping the side of the chrysalis with his hand. Something within stirred, but nobody took notice of it.
Adrian felt the need to intervene, "Now look here. We've already submitted our report to the board of directors and explained the situation. They have approved an extra month of examination. It's not like it's draining any resource just by lying down on an observation table."
Schmidt didn't even look at the medical aide, instead directing his glare at Dr. Masters. He was about to continue on with his complaint, when suddenly a resounding crack buried the laboratory in a seemingly endless mute. Like a busy nut-cracker, the loud sound emanating from the table only served to draw the three scientists to the shaking chrysalis. The black shell was beginning to tear apart, and whatever had been inside for all those months was now starting to come out.
"Avelyn..." Dr. Masters thought as he took his reading glasses off. Adrian and Schmidt were speechless as well.
The girl within the chrysalis had finally had enough. "I finally am breaking out. Can't believe how easy to break this stuff is!" she thought as she waved her arm around as if she was striking Styrofoam. "Hmm, maybe these things will help me get rid of this shell faster!" focusing a little, the extension on her right forearm protruded out and, after bringing her arm back, she thrust it forwards.
"Holy mother of god!" Schmidt cried as he nearly jumped out of his skin when the chrysalis's top burst apart with what seemed to be a widely serrated blade coming out of it.
"Is that what I think it is, doctor?" Adrian asked, prompting a nod from Dr. Masters.
The lead scientist observed the sleek design of the object in question, finding it rather peculiar since it did not adhere to the usual design of a praying mantis's raptorial legs. "But it's like an extension. A raptorial extension, if you will."
"Who cares what it's called, Masters?! Is it safe to come out?!" Schmidt cried from under Adrian's desk, his black eye patch denoting his past bad experience with sudden structural collapse.
The girl inside the chrysalis pulled her extension back and was overjoyed when light began to filter. "I can't believe it; I'm going to make it out! Let's use the other one." She pulled both of her arms at once, shifting on her rump as she aimed both fists towards the light while her left forearm produced its extension as well. "Let me OUT!" she cried out in her voice, finally. It came out muffled due to her mask, but with the kick of her legs and the thrust of her arms, her freedom was secured.
And with a final, loudest crunch, the chrysalis split down the middle, bursting apart as the creature within pushed her legs back and sprang herself right out of the makeshift hole. She shot outside like a cannonball, but didn't measure the power in her legs correctly, misjudging the amount of necessary strength. As a result, she bashed herself against the ceiling on accident and then fell down on top of Adrian, the younger researcher stifling a scream that came out as a little shriek instead.
"Adrian, Avelyn! Are you two okay?!" Dr. Masters approached them with a shout. He crouched besides them and gently pulled the young, chitin-armored girl off his medical aide.
Adrian quickly recovered. "I-I'm okay, doctor. But more importantly, is she...?"
"What did you call me?" the brown-skinned mantis asked with her antennae twitching up to attention. Dr. Masters was relieved to hear her speak and shook his head with a smile, deciding to use English instead of German since that's what the girl had spoken.
The curious appearance of the young female didn't seem to disturb Dr. Masters as they had all initially prepared for. Aside the dangerous looking raptorial extensions and certain anatomical differences, his patient looked very much human. "No. Pay me no mind. What's your name? Are you feeling well?"
"I'm outside that blasted thing, I don't think I've ever felt this good and my name is..." the girl paused. "My name is..." she repeated and stopped again, her head suddenly hurting again. "Ugh." The raptorial extension on her right forearm receded and hid itself under her skin as if it had never been there. She brought her hand up to hold her head, "I... I can't remember."
"Just like I feared..." Dr. Masters thought to himself. He had been expecting the patient to show amnesia, but the suddenness of her appearance had taken him by surprise; and by extension, his softened heart was causing him to choke up on his words. Adrian understood it and also was at a loss for words.
"Who am I?" the mantis hybrid asked, her black eyes showing almost palpable concern detectable even with half her expression covered by the chitin face-guard. "Who are you?" she asked next, "Where is this? Just..."
"Shh." Dr. Masters whispered, "You will be alright. I am Eugene. You were a victim of severe full-body burns, and you were brought here for treatment. In order to save you we... I had to implement a new procedure."
"Eugene? Are you a doctor?" the female insect asked with a frown. Dr. Masters nodded and gave her a soft smile, "Do you know who I am?"
"You're my patient."
"What is my name?"
"I'm afraid we don't know. I don't wish to lie to you, my dear. It seems you were involved in a big fire, where you came into contact with the chemicals that burned all of your skin off. Unfortunately, you were disfigured during the accident, and your rescuers were unable to identify you. Whoever it is that you were, I cannot say."
The young girl looked down, the antennae drooping backwards at the middle. Adrian quietly crawled towards the doctor and the young female. "Doctor, she looks..."
"Beautiful, I must say," Dr. Masters nodded to himself as he stood up, hoisting the girl in his arms. Adrian was flabbergasted, but he decided not to say a thing. It was true, however, that the patient's appearance had drastically forgone her human vestiges in favor of insect-like features. Light brown skin, almost tan-like, covered her entire body. Black chitin armor, her exoskeleton, had grown over her hips and down her thighs and buttocks. It had also covered her upper chest, upper arms, neck and half of her face in the shape of a mask. The somber-like dark eyes looked unsettling the most. Somehow, however, the sight of Dr. Masters holding that scared, sad girl was endearing to Adrian. "Here, we have to get you somewhere warm. Are you hungry?"
The girl nodded slowly as Dr. Masters turned to his assistant, "I'm sorry, Adrian, but could you fix something up for our patient? I'm sure her stomach would appreciate a sandwich or two."
Adrian left his reservations at the door and stood beside his mentor. "Right away, doctor. But will she be able to eat with that... uhm, mask... on?"
Dr. Masters looked down at his patient with a concerned stare. Having been hearing the two talk, the masked mantis's chitin suddenly receded to reveal a very human-looking pair of young lips and row of pearly white teeth. "You're absolutely fascinating, dear."
Soon enough, the two scientists went out to their meeting room, with Adrian leaving towards the kitchen in order to prepare a snack and some coffee. The sole person in the office that remained crawled out quickly after they all had gone out. "My god, what was that? It was hideous!" Schmidt held by the side of his head as he quickly processed all that had just happened, and all that he had heard. "No, this works in my favor. That blade looked dangerous, and it tore through the cocoon like paper," he said as he looked at the remains of the subject's chrysalis, "Interesting... very interesting!"
"Here you go uhm..." Adrian approached Dr. Masters and his patient, both seated next to one another while the doctor used his stethoscope to check her lungs and heart, setting the plate with a pair of simple ham and cheese sandwiches. "Wh-what should I call her?" he whispered to the doctor once he had removed the stethoscope.
Dr. Masters looked down at the teenager and gave her an encouraging nudge, "His name is Adrian. He's my assistant, and he helped you through this." She nodded and shyly grabbed a sandwich, starting to devour it like the meal her stomach had been waiting for months. "Hmm, what should we call you?" She looked up with the almost entirely eaten snack, and she found herself shrugging.
"You called me Avelyn before, Eugene. Should that be my name?" the patient asked.
"Until you remember your true name, if you like it, it's yours," Dr. Masters laughed heartily, eliciting a small chuckle from the less wary Adrian. "It's nice to meet you, Avelyn."
"I'm glad you're back with us, Avelyn." Adrian nodded as he handed the doctor a mug with black coffee. Dr. Masters calmly drank it as he put his glasses back on and titled them over the bridge of his nose.
"Where am I?" Avelyn asked after hastily finishing her second sandwich. "What should I do now, Eugene?"
"You're at the corporation we work for, Avelyn. This is Humani. We devote ourselves to research and development all sorts of things related to the field of science," Dr. Masters explained, "You were brought to Germany from Spain."
"Spain? I..." Avelyn groaned as she held by her aching head. "Oww..."
"Shh. It's okay. Don't try to remember anything too complicated just yet. You suffered through a lot, and you're not ready to begin recollecting. As for your other question..." Dr. Masters looked over to Adrian and then down at his patient, "We'll figure it out as we go from here. I promise we will help you."
"That's right, Avelyn, you can count on us. Uh, sorry my English isn't that good," Adrian apologized with a goofy grin.
"Haha, that's right. We'll have to teach you a bit of German, Avelyn. But don't worry, like I said, you're in good hands." Dr. Masters gave the mantis girl a reassuring smile.
"R-right!" Avelyn finally smiled, her antennae perking up at the same time. Already she was starting to grow to trust the two kind strangers. Whatever her past had been, she wasn't alone anymore at least, and she wasn't in pain. She evidently owed it to them. After her alien experience all those months ago inside the tube, Avelyn was relieved to finally be breathing unfiltered air again. She looked down at her open hands, contemplating her body in silence.
"Does your appearance scare you?" Adrian curiously asked before he saw Dr. Masters' piercing glare, "Ah! I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it, Avelyn."
But Avelyn shook her head, "This actually looks kind of cool. Am I a mutant?"
"Well," Dr. Masters rubbed under his chin, "Not quite. It may be complicated to understand at first, but let us say you are a metamorph, Avelyn."
"A metamorph?" Avelyn repeated, raising an eyebrow. "I liked mutant better."
"What kind of teenager are we dealing with?" Adrian asked in his head, fighting not to laugh out of amusement as he finally saw a disconcerted look on Dr. Masters' face.
"If you like it better, Avelyn. But mutant isn't a pretty name for a pretty young lady like you, haha!"
"Fine. Metamorph it is."
The three laughed a bit, unaware that Schmidt was taking notes, peeking through the crack between a door and its frame. "Metamorphs, eh? That's most interesting. A promise to help it, Masters? What drabble. You have no idea how much help IT will be to ME!" he thought to himself with a malicious grin.
To Be Continued...