Story Snippets

Energy Experiments

I could stand it anymore and I screamed, my bruised throat burning as I flung my tentacle across the room. It crashed through furniture and technology, wrecking everything that it hit. I looked at the wreckage I had done, the broken pieces that lay on the floor, and let out a sigh. It didn't matter. I could do nothing to change it. The scene downstairs had proven just that. I was just his experiment, his creation to kill his enemies. I was here to follow orders, not stand against my creator. Even as those thoughts crossed my mind, I couldn't stop a few tears from gliding down my scaly cheek. A despair that reminded me that I was still human somewhere in this twisted body of mine settled on my chest. I turned away from my tantrum, the bots already repairing everything, and marched toward the training rooms. If I didn't do something, then I would end up destroying the rest of the house and the man downstairs would tear me apart for it.

"Don't tell me you tried to stop him..." a familiar voice said to me and I looked down to see a fellow creation walking alongside me. The German Shepard stared right back at me with his haunted eyes, his robotic legs humming in response to his pulsing chest. A tag jingled softly around his neck with the number 01 on it.

"What gave it away, the scales or the throat..." I said dryly, not in the mood for his lectures.

01 sighed, his enhanced teeth reminding me of my fangs, "Aradia...talking back to the master will only get you killed."

I snarled at that word, the word he always used to refer to the slimy creature down below my very feet, "He is no master of mine!"'

He snarled back, "Then why are you his loyal little assassin?!" I hissed at him, blood boiling. His snarl softened and he continued walking. I followed after a bit of heavy breathing. The sound of his metal paws on the floor made my insides curl. Pain..how could he like it so much. How could he see it as something good. He loved inflicting it and it made me sick.

"I don't serve him because of loyalty 01..." I stated after a bit of tense silence between me and the canine.

"Then why?" 01 asked, "You kill for him, you maim for him. How is that not loyalty?" He looked at me, his eyes perked as he waited for me to answer.

"I'm scared." I admitted, the familiar fear creeping up my spine, "He's just a human...nothing special about him, but..." I lick my lips, the scent of 01 comforting, knowing that he's still there. "Killing him is the one mission I can't fulfill. If I try, he'll just tear me apart like he did before...he knows my every weakness."

01 stared at me as we stopped our progress. His metal claws scraped against the floor as he said, "Do you still remember the insertion?"

I nodded, the memory making my tentacle curl, "I was young...very young. The log said I was only 4 when he performed the insertion. I remember him tearing my arm off to replace it with...this." I scowled at the tentacle that hung limp by my side in what looked like shock. "That wasn't even the worst part. After he spliced in the snake DNA, I had to grow in liquid for so long. The pain was excruciating! My teeth were being forced to grow into fangs and my skin split into scales! I could see the hair I lost float in the chamber with me..." I hugged myself as a shadow of the pain that had plagued me for weeks traveled through my body. "Then came the strength. Steroids that made my muscles work extra hard were inserted and I had to float even more in that disgusting fluid. When I came out, I wish I had killed him."

01 just frowned, the tail between his legs the only thing indicating the fear that I could sense, "Why don't you just leave then?"

I snorted, "I can't. I'm proof of his illegal science and he won't let me leave alive." I let my tense muscles relax as I resumed walking, the need to do something growing as we talked, "I tried to leave...you remember the day you were told to bite my brains out." I glanced at the parts of his coat that marked where I had made him bleed. In return, his eyes flickered to my torso where I had bite marks from our battle.

We had finally made it to the training room and I marched off toward the combat robots. I needed to hit something, to squeeze something with my tentacle. 01 followed right behind me with his watchful eye planted on my back. I didn't want his pity. I didn't want his wisdom. I didn't want him to treat me like a small pup he can protect. I just wanted to forget about everything. The plan, the pain, the fear, I wanted to forget.

Before I could begin, 01 gave a gentle huff. I paused long enough for him to put a cold paw on my leg, "Please Araida, be careful. You're toeing a line that could put you in great danger."

I looked down at the german shepard, the loving dog that was turned into a creature like me, and felt a bit more human as I nodded. 01 gave a whine, a warning, before he trotted off. I watched him leave and felt a bit colder without him there. I snapped my teeth at the feeling. That man would call it weak, something that can be used against you. I shook my head to clear him away. I can't think of that monster downstairs. The murderer. I smirked at that word. I'm no better. 01 was right...I am his loyal little assassin. I turn the combat robot on and the thing sputters to life. It's movements were fluid and, I chuckled softly as I said, "Like a snake..." As I engage the mechanical punching bag, the plan runs through my mind like a ghost.

First, the flowers

Second, the animals

Third...

Humans.