Augmented Form

“Form?” Indigo asked. She couldn’t understand what Sarta meant by that. As far as she was aware, she was still the same. She certainly felt the same beyond the backpack thing sticking out from behind her.

“See for yourself” The staff alongside Sarta walked out, and they brought a mirror for Indigo to see herself in. After staring for a short while, she realized that the figure in the mirror was herself.

Her face was similar, hair and irises were still green, and her skin was still a deep bronze. But the whites of her eyes were tinged a color somewhere between dark blue and purple. Her lips too seemed to be colored similarly. And her body was far more muscular than it had ever been before.

Moreover, the thing coming out of her back seemed to be a muscle of some sort. A heart, that’s what it reminded her of. It reminded her of a time she saw someone try to run from the security robots at Blundex. They shot their ribcage open, and a heart, much like the thing she could see behind herself wound up fully exposed.

Like her eyes and lips, the muscle hanging from her back was a sickly purple. Indigo put her hand on top of it. Its texture was fibrous, elastic, and wet. She grasped it as hard as she could. She could feel it was made of hard fibers, much tougher than she’d have thought. It was rather gooey too, and it seemed to be separate from her body, as she didn’t feel anything when her hand or other things touched it.

The heart had two valves, a short one coming from the top, and a longer one that was currently resting on the ground. She recognized that longer valve as the one that had been shooting out liquid not too long ago. Did the liquid come from her? Probably not. If that had been the case, she’d probably feel faint from blood loss. Though that still begged the question of where it came from.

“Truly wonderful, another outstanding achievement for Blundex!” a doctor chimed in

“You may note that your physical abilities are much higher now. And also that you have that truly beautiful organ, product of the miraculous Blundex solution. That is something that only came to be because of how the solution adapted to your specific body. Nobody else will have anything like it. Isn’t it amazing?”

Sarta frowned at the doctor’s explanation but ultimately agreed. “Now that we’re done with the entrance ceremony, we are about ready to start studying your abilities and honing them.” Indigo rolled her eyes. “So, more hanging around labs and hospital beds then.” “You won’t be of much use if you don’t even know what you can do, dear. And we don’t have the time to let you figure it out all by your lonesome. You’ll be grateful when you don’t die.” The Queen put a hand on Indigo’s shoulder without concern for her current appearance. “I guess, if I die, I’d rather put up a good fight at the very least.” Replied the girl. “I like you more and more by the day. For now I have to leave. The staff will take care of the remaining preparations.”

A large gate opened up from a wall on the far end. Everyone in the room went in that direction. More machines and medical equipment than Indigo thought existed lay inside. Wall to wall, there was not a single spot where there wasn’t something that threatened to perform painful analyses.

Electrodes sending painful electric signals through her body, samples of the heart behind her taken with scalpels, fluid samples, full-body scans, and more. They made Indigo undergo all kinds of painful studies so that they could really pinpoint what her newfound appearance actually did. To her, it seemed eternal, and when they told her it was over, every muscle in her body relaxed at once.

“Now one last thing,” said the doctor that had been checking Indigo most recently. The medic brought a syringe out and injected the girl in her arm. Instantly, Indigo felt how the large organ behind her dissolved. Her body gradually shrank, living behind a trail of pain throughout. Aside from that, she was back to normal.

Or so she thought. Upon taking one step, Indigo’s vision became blurry, and before she noticed, she started to fall forward. The doctor was quick to catch her and help her stand up. “Don’t move too quickly. Your body consumed a lot of energy due to the effects of the Blundex solution.”

The rest of the medical staff was quick to help her get to a room beside the one where she had her studies done. This last room was surprising in how normal it was. It had a wooden table fit for a dozen people. Chairs and dishes lay in wait for someone to use. And it was easy to tell that was Indigo in this case.

The staff helped her sit down. They set several platters with obscene amounts of food in front of her. Two nondescript bars, in particular, were placed right in front of her. Seeing so much food made her uneasy. The amount before her was more than what her whole family ate in a week. “Can I take some of this home for my brothers?” Asked the girl, “We’ll pay you for your work today, and that should help you out. But if you don’t eat this, you will feel very sick soon. “

Things still didn’t sit right with her. But even so, there was nothing more expensive than being sick. She couldn’t afford to get sick because her siblings couldn’t make enough money to deal with that. That was enough coaxing for her to eat.

She held one of the two white bars in her hands. “What do I even do with these?” “These are Blundex Hypercal bars. Specially made for fighters, they provide a huge number of proteins and nothing else. A fantastic invention to serve fighters who’ve been improved by the Blundex solution.”

Indigo looked at the staff person. SHe waited for them to say something else about the bars, but received no response. Without waiting further, she took a bite of it. While she’d have previously described things as tasting like nothing, the bars she was eating literally tasted like nothing. Her stomach registered that something big came in, but aside from the way it crumbled into fine dust, she might as well have been drinking water.

When she finished the bars, she started to work on the rest. Sweet potato puree, a lot of chicken with a sauce she couldn’t quite place, rice, apples, and a huge amount of vegetables were waiting for her. In spite of her uneasiness, she found that after the first bite, it was easy to eat the whole of it. No matter how much she ate, she didn’t feel full until she was nearing the end.

Then, the staff gave her an envelope. Inside of it, she found more than enough money to make it comfortably through the month.

“We’ll be meeting here again for your training tomorrow. Same time as today. for now, feel free to rest.”

Indigo made her way back home on the same train as before. When she arrived, the only one present was Bluth, who was tending to his strawberries. “Hi sis,” said Bluth without looking at her. His voice lacked the usual chipper demeanor that she was familiar with.

“What’s that look about?” Asked Indigo. “It’s the Poinck family. Nobody’s seen them since yesterday.” Replied Bluth. Indigo nodded, Bluth was old and smart enough to know that if someone went missing in the Wild Streets, chances were they wouldn’t be seen again. But he wasn’t used to seeing the people he knew just vanish just yet.

“Come here, come here” Indigo gave the boy a hug and pinched one of his cheeks. “Stop that, I’m not a baby” Said Bluth “I’m sorry I need to recharge my Bluth energies” “That’s not a thing sis!” “It sure is, if not I couldn’t recharge them” they kept it going for a bit, until Bluth was in a slightly better mood. Gray arrived soon after.

“What kept you?” Asked Indigo. “Lot’s of trash to pick up today,” Said Gray. He was somewhat well put together, so people in the main streets didn’t mind letting him pick up their litter. He got a compliment or two from older women while he was at it too.

The 3 of them talked for a bit, and once more Indigo slept early, even earlier than the day before. She was worried that she might sleep all the way into the afternoon otherwise.

“Training is tomorrow. and then—”