(Episode XIII) (End (2/2))

When the spikes were retracked, it unveiled what N’atural transformed to. A breathing, oak-brown cocoon… Sack, it couldn’t be a shell due to how fleshy it was. Stylized as well, it’s as if the creature was curled up—but clearly different from the vein-y form. Dinosaur-lite, had a frill-crest hybrid on it’s “head”, the eyes far apart and tons of spikey details along the body. And more shocking thing was brought to the forefront when looking at such a thing.

One could see the true N’atural lifeform, slowly growing inside of the shroud.

“DON’T GET TOO CLOSE, MEN!” Conrad sounded panicked and Tabby felt tears forming in her eyes again. “FIRE FROM A DISTANCE AND SAVE YOURSELVES IF IT FAILS!”

A row of Enforcers formed a firing line—ways away from the monster and started firing the beams at full blast.

It happened again, but the spines struggled to reach their victims as soon as they stopped their fire.

They scrambled away, and right on cue, Dizzy Bombs were deployed right on top of—five in total from a singular Diamond.

The creature took the hits, shaking side to side as they all went off one after the other. No effect.

Then it begun to expand three times it’s size.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!” Diana screamed, running away further along with the rest of the Extant people down the street.

It stopped growing, and then quickly compressed—causing a shockwave of force to crack the streets under her. It expanded again, and did the same deal. It did this over and over and over again, five times in a row to the point that a massive crater was left in it’s wake.

The panic and the damage done caused the Researchers to fumble, knocking into the Null Void and causing it to break into pieces, and said pieces begun to glow an unhealthy light. One Extant Researcher covered their mouth, or at least as much as they could with wearing a stocky hazmat suit. They picked each other up and caught up with Diana.

“IT’S REBOUNDING EVERYTHING WE THROW AT IT!” a voice proclaimed.

“That’s the trick--!” Diana shouted. “THE TRICK IS THAT IT REFLECTS DAMAGE BACK IN THIS FORM, THE FUCKER!”

“W-what do we do, then?!” one of the people asked in despair.

“We can’t do anything anymore! It has what it fucking needs!” Diana spat back. She pointed, despite—wait, she’s the only one right there that could see what’s happening, due to her siVis. “Gather everything! She’s going to transform again!”

“Gather what?!”

“Everything! Anything!” For all of the crude anger she displayed, it was clear that Diana was scared along with the rest of them, as well as this being partially her fault.

In the ruins of the street, the Lens scaled the crumbling debris to look into N’atural’s crater.

The lifeform inside of the cocoon was getting bigger, and begun pushing against the tightening veil.

Squishing sounds, errant popping and crackling, and gushes of liquid pouring onto the ground.

What came out first, were the row of spiky platelets along the creature’s back. Despite the orange ooze coating them, they were a pristine marble.

Two monstrous legs erupted after, firmly planting themselves side to side, with a row of horns scaling upwards from each muscle until they formed an elongated spike, curving over her legs.

Spindly, scythe-like arms ripped their way out of the sack and reached up to tear off the rest.

As the monster’s long neck coils upwards, she raised her frill-crest crowned head, closed eyes that were on the sides of the head, opened her three-sided beck open, and roared. A mournful, shuddering downpitched siren.

DIE VERWANDLUNG: BüHNE FüNF

After she was done roaring, she settled in a stance. Leering, her claws porched forward from her arrow-like body. She shivered and stretched forward, almost like a cat, as if this transformation took hold. She tucked her arms under herself, blending in as if they were random plates below body.

“What were we supposed to do…?” Tabby couldn’t place that voice. But it was another example of how she captures the moment someway, somehow.

N’atural bolted, as the monster’s form was surprising agile and able to pick up speed as it went forward.

“THERE’S NO REBOUND SHIT NOW--!” Diana pointed and ordered the Enforcers forward. “SLUGGER THEN LASER, NOW!”

The troops moved forward, some keeping on as the other stood behind after a ways in. The forward marchers fired their beams of crimson light, impacting the creature as it charged before them, to buy time.

They couldn’t spare a second.

N’atural lowered her head, causing her crown’s edge to act as a shovel, slamming into the troops and snapping her head upwards—flinging the four out of the eight onto her back.

Her platelets begun to flex, to move and acted as a blender to cut up the Enforcers in multiple ways as they were practically juggled by her—and she darted forward, leaving them behind to writhe on the broken ground.

She kept going, in the face of molten slag hitting her face, roaring in defiance as she caught up to the other Enforcers. It just didn’t matter, the amount of slag that acuminated, as she tore out her claws again. She stopped, begun swiping at the soldiers and unlike before, every hit was accurate, and it hit hard. The Enforcers were literally thrown away, left and right.

Yet the true horror was what happened next.

The Enforcers under the monster, were squirming, shouting in agony—a series of screams begun to pick up soon after.

They scrambled to take the armor off, which was dangerous and unneeded—they were set to be Burrowed, they can’t help themselves here.

One person. One poor soul ripped off the armor on his arm… And his wound began to grow teeth.

The others, same thing, casting off their armor around their wounds, and they begun to transform—not the people themselves, but the gashes that N’atural gave them. It wasn’t just teeth, it was hair, it was eyeballs, it was nails to the point of becoming claws---everything became wrong.

And as if the surreal horror wasn’t enough, their gashes became worse as they contorted, bleeding more and more as they all screamed in agony.

But she did stop to perform this—this attack, looking towards the base with Conrad, Diana and Mr. Davenport.

She started to dart forward again, such a juggernaut that she stepped over the broken Null Void—a surge of green energy hitting her left foot, but uncaring.

But what happened next, had to be seen to be believed.

After gaining enough momentum, she jumped up so high, that she glided across the base entirely, over them, and proceeded to aim herself and crash into Dr. Taber’s Memorial Research Center. The Lens could only capture the plume of dust from behind the base. And sadly, she could only capture their faces.

Conrad’s was lowered, deep in shadow, constantly shaking his head. Diana was frustrated, face etched in a scowl and was constantly shouting out.

Davenport… Was weeping, biting his fingers as he stared wide-eyed. Staring at nothing, but everything weighing on him.

Conrad lifted his head up. “Everyone—out of the canopy. Now.”

There weren’t any “if, whys, or buts” in response, just that the two looked at him, and did what he asked, along with the Extant Enforcer squad that were dispatched to protect them as a last resort, with him using his motorized chair to follow after. Davenport fumbled and pressed a button on some small device that caused the base to shink down into the ruined street.

N’atural was in the busted open lobby, only the blacken frames of that part of the building remaining, clawing her way down to where she thinks is the Nexus, but the Shiftication was fighting against her, trying to reinforce itself.

As Conrad looked on, there was a twinkle behind his glasses-surrounded eyes. He noticed something.

And as the Lens fumbled to look towards N’atural, Tabby noticed it too.

Her scales were starting to peel off around the left foot.

“I need you boys to understand—” the Lens shot back to Conrad from afar, who turned to the Enforcer group. “This might end up killing you, as well as me. But we don’t have a choice in the matter. But I’ll be with you, don’t worry about me.”

The Lens looked at N’atural again, who looks like she’s given up on trying to claw her way into the Nexus, and turned herself around to look at something that was blocks away.

And Diana’s words earlier echoed, pounded within Tabby’s head.

She was on the verge of passing out.

N’atural backed up, took another darting-sprint, and jumped across whatever the remnants of Extant were doing, and made a book towards the barrier.

It wasn’t until a green blast that hit her back, not only stopped her in her tracks, but caused the Lens to look towards Extant.

Two men had the pincers of the Null Void at the end of their rifles, as the other two supported them by gripping their shoulders, with Conrad in the middle.

“WE’VE COULD HAVE SAVED YOU, N’ATURAL!” Conrad screamed, and was pained to. A cough followed, and a nod. The men fired again, causing the beast to roar out and try to face them, only to get hit again on the side of her maw.

“SOMETHING IN YOU—HATES THIS! HATES DOING THIS! YOU HAD A CHANCE—YOU HAD A CHANCE TO CHOOSE! AND YOU STILL CAN!”

The creature swayed her head, almost human-like. Way too human like.

Tabby couldn’t believe it. She wanted this back and forth to end finally. Whatever the result was, she just ended this to end.

N’atural’s back begun to snap, break apart into small pieces, and soon the monster’s maw begun to peel away too, as she made a terrible mix of a strained chirping sound and a wail.

The footage showed Extant moving forward, but Conrad’s own face was beginning to peel away.

It didn’t hurt, Null Rays. It just itched, then robbed any kind of feeling away. When you realized you scratched away a chunk of your face. It doesn’t kill, just take a toll as you try to grow things back over time.

Conrad knew he didn’t have much time left, naturally or otherwise.

“WHY DID YOU CHOSE THIS PATH?! WAS IT EASIER?! SO THAT YOU COULD GET OVER THE PAIN QUICKER?!”

Another round of blasts, striking the beast as it continued to make the pitiful noise it made before, reeling backwards as much as it could.

“AT THE END OF THE DAY,” his voice becoming gravelly by the second. “THEY’RE GOING TO LOOK AT THIS—LOOK AT YOU—AND SAY YOU DID ALL OF THIS FOR ATTENTION—THAT YOU COULDN’T STAND TO DIE IN SECRET AND HAD TO GIVE SOME LAST SHOW! ALL OF YOUR COMPLEXITY, ALL OF YOUR PROBLEMS—NEVER LOOKED AT AGAIN, THEY’LL NEVER KNOW OR BOTHER TOO!”

The monster… N’atural just stopped in place, despite shivering as she felt herself peel away.

“YOU WANT THAT?! YOU WANT TO PROVE THEM RIGHT?! DO YOU?!”

N’atural looked down at what could’ve been her hands, but couldn’t do that as she wanted too as well.

Without warning, she bashed her head into the street. Over and over and over and over and over and over again, roaring in pain that wasn’t physical. Doing her best to rip away the monstrous face she’s gained.

The Lens moved towards a brief, green flash.

The haggarded Enforcers jammed the Null Ray Ray (Tabby was too tired to come up with something better) into their M.A.R.s, glowing unhealthy in their hands that were beginning to shake now.

Conrad, hunched over, just moved his decaying hand. He couldn’t speak anymore.

They threw the unstable gun at N’atural’s feet, and upon impact, exploded.

This sent the large creature to stand completely up as it roared in misery…

…Only to stumble back enough into the barrier.

It happened so fast. There was nothing that could’ve been done.

Everything and everyone were subsumed into a blanket of white, expanding light. And said light was sucked back into the point where it began, popping out of an unstable existence.

Tabby quickly got up and looked herself over, only the adrenaline helping her with that. She had to see what happened.

She glanced over her left and saw a crowd who were just as dumbfounded. Only separated by a large divide where the barrier once was. No sounds. No cries of joy, nothing. They were like her, trying to figure out what’s happened.

Then she looked to her right.

N’atural… Actually N’atural, was panting and sweating, within the peeling away carcass of her monster form—still merged at places, namely her face. She was literally half and half.

She stumbled, her fingers—human fingers—shaking as she felt the right side of her face. She begun to cry with her sole eye.

But that was the footage.

What Tabby’s eyes, and the world’s eyes settled on, were the bodies of the brave Enforcers and Conrad Miller, head of Extant, merged into the street.

Mr. Davenport cried out in terror, still covering his mouth as he was struggling to breathe. Diana Blake could only cover her face and mutter “shit” to herself.

And N’atural basked in her freedom for about a minute, before seeing the sight for herself. No cries, no reaction, nothing. Just pure dread expressed on one side of her face.

She turned towards the crowd, who were beginning to react. A clusters of shouts, panic, rage…

They truly became a mob, directing all of that towards her.

N’atural tried to back away, honest-to-god fear took over her, and her ruined body couldn’t allow her to move yet.

SHADOWPLAY

She snapped to the right again, facing down a Diana that has become a shadow of sorts, with her actual body behind her, suspended. It was clear that the shouts and audible gasps of the crowd—the idea that Diana Blake has siVis—doesn’t even register in the Professor’s mind.

“You’re humanoid-ish, now…” The voice of Diana came out of the show that was approaching her. “Sorry luv, you’re going to be locked away for a long time.”

N’atural grabbed her head, and started to shake.

“Please, it’s going to happen again—I just got freed, pLEASSE—” she begun to hiss, showing that this isn’t a bluff.

Tabby didn’t know what to do. She had half a mind to run in-between them, to buy some semblance of make-believe time for something good to happen for once.

But that concept is just impossible now.

Without warning, various metallic tendrils grabbed or burrowed into N’atural. Weaponized Shiftication, when that was promised that it couldn’t be other than defense.

Coming from the ruins of the buildings that voluntarily didn’t want Shiftication. Another lie, that people had a choice.

She was being dragged away, into a rising hole-trap that opened it’s maw quick and was waiting for her.

Desireé cried out, before being spirited away.

“I’M SORRY, I’M SORRY--!”

And with a swift motion, she was thrown in and buried, as the trap went back into the ruined street.

Tabby looked at the shaking Davenport, who pressed a button on his remote. It wasn’t lost on him, as he went on his knees, clutched at his head and begun to sob noisily.

Finally, everyone was free to lose their minds.

Tabby couldn’t film the initial reactions, much less stop it.

For she instantly passed out as it got worse.