Factory Reset

Chapter Thirty-One: Obsidian Black

"Then what the fu-"

"Listen." Catalyst pronounced, his voice booming despite spoken like a whisper. His visor's eyes took on a wispy white appearance as his little needle like appendages all over his body started to glow a divine white.

This simple action immediately had a profound effect on the group, with all but Hannah affected by it. Mason felt a cold chill wreak havoc on his spine, the glowing blue aura surrounding Axel dissipated, and Marissa could feel a jolt of energy.

"This building is co-existing with all four types of Boson Energy and Particles, matter and ant-matter. These things colliding with each other creates a Boson Field around this whole thing. Protogen aren't and, haven't been, affected by it for millennia."

Catalyst softly touched his claw, squeezing the very tip until some white, viscous substance started to slowly drip out, "We aren't because we have it inside ourselves and are made to wield it. Other creatures, even those born so that they can wield, are negatively affected by the vast power array."

"Increased aggression, spatial awareness, hypersensitive senses: These all are some symptoms that are caused by it. We need you to help us, which is why I am telling you all this. You cannot harness Boson Energy properly, and as organic lifeforms, you are more adept and more powerful than even us when wielding it."

Catalyst sighed and produced a clicking sound with his visor, turning to the Eon-Gate, "We have something called U9GR3. A sort of biomechanical creature that can tether itself to other life forms, organic that is. We developed it specify for teams like Obsidian-1"

Mason felt a little overwhelmed there. He could barely keep up with what was being dumped on him, and with the intense feeling of the power that Catalyst wielded, he was in a slight daze. Axel felt strangely silent, as though put down by the energy spike, and Marissa seemed rejuvenated and listened on.

"It easily can harness different types of Boson Energy, and can allow seamless use with its host. This is what would give us a fighting chance to stop this wa-" Catalyst perked up, his ear twitching as he communicated with Ion, and a long and drawn out squeaking came from behind them. The door.

"Damn. B-04's here. Get inside the Eon-Gate now, Amerinthia will explain everything." Catalyst said, taking a single needle out from his body and stabbing it into the right side of his visor, straight through the logo and into the soft insides.

He withdrew the needle with a single point of blood on it, and handed it to B-64. He put on a grimace and quickly ran back the way they came. B-64 watched him for the moment, before turning around and facing the Eon-Gate.

B-64 understood what he had to do. Plunging his hand deep within the writhing stone like substance, his claws moved around until he gripped the handle of it. He twisted the notch open, flying it out.

The entire inside was a swirling black mass, inky and barely reflecting any light. He grabbed Axel and Marrisa, tossing them inside the inky void, and before Mason had a chance to ask what was going on, he grabbed Hannah and him and flung them in too.

He turned his head to look back, and he could see the faint outlines of five different protogen. Grimacing, he pressed a button against the handle and tossing himself in, the door closing by itself and slamming shut, before descending into the floor.

The insides of the void were rather sticky, Mason noted, as he took in a breath the second he was thrown into it. He felt like he was floating, although his paws made contact with a hard floor, he couldn't quite grasp on how to describe it.

There was no ceiling, as it seemingly stretched on infinitely. Mason's entire body was bathed in a harsh red light, as were his friends. They all felt out of place, and they could feel that they did not belong there, and that something wanted them out.

Once he got his bearings, B-64 gave a short trill to get the others' attention and nodded his head backwards. Mason took his hand and Hannah's, and they took off to follow B-64.

Even though they could see a horizon, they found that the plane they were on was curved somewhat, able to see the curve despite them perceiving that it went on longer. Soon enough, they could see other figures, and by then they had been walking for ten minutes, all very quiet.

B-64 grimaced as he saw what those figures were. Three of them he recognized, and only one he didn't.

The Macabre women only known as Mistress Red turned her shriveled and burned head, smiling as the group approached, "I must say... The two of you look swimmingly well together." She spoke in her native tongue, archlanchian, though even Mason and his friends could tell she spoke in pain.

B-64's visor showed a frowning face as he heard what Mistress Red said, and knowing her, she most likely said it out of spite than any true meaning. The other three members of Obsidian-1 were silent.

"Who here is Amerinthia?" B-64 asked, straining to get his voice across to the rather weak mind-link receivers they had around their heads. Once Mistress Red was able to get the message, she turned her body and pointed to one of her team: The one with the normal and mechanical arm.

"Catalyst said you would know what to do with this." B-64 stated plainly, a little disgruntled that he had to speak to the team. He was somewhat sympathetic, as he remembered how it felt to have his team annihilated, but his anger towards them only quelled somewhat.

Amerinthia nodded and turned to her teammates and, which Mason had just noticed, a large field containing multiple jars and chemicals. Each one gave off a foul stench and changed color rapidly.

Amernthia pricked her finger with the bloody needle, and quickly passed it on before her body started to shake. Small webs of biomechanical wires shot through her body and twisted around it like a snake, causing her muscles to spasm rather violently.

This was all for the sake of helping the Obsidian-1 Team to get able to communicate with them all even if just barely. That little needle contained a sort of living code, which then uploaded information directly into organic minds. It had just enough information on the language to suffice.

Once they were all sufficiently introduced to the needle, which was promptly tossed away, Amernthia was the one to speak, "Time to start." She said, her voice quiver and stuttering as her native species rarely used their voices.

Axel peered at the chemicals and jars, biting his lip somewhat, "I assume that's that Upgrade thing Catalyst was talking about?" He sneered at it, as the wriggling pile of almost liquid rubber seemed rather unpleasant, and he couldn't imagine wanting to actively touch it.

Amernthia nodded, gulping as she prepared to speak again, "Train you have to. Control power before battle."

"Battle?" Marissa asked, slightly perturbed. Mason looked at her oddly, had she forgotten the whole saving the earth thing? He decided not to dwell on it directly, and just get ready to have to touch the Upgrade thing.

________________________________________________________________________________

So, I do admit that the idea of a living organism interacting with a host to "Upgrade" their biological self isn't exactly a new idea...

But hey, Heya!

So, yes I did base this idea off of Venom, as well as partially upgrade from Ben 10 (The design is amazing, in my opinion), but I feel like it gives is something to do rather than what I had originally, which was just a suit. Like, fabric and some metal and some other material.

And I know there has been a notable lake of action so far, but it'll kick back up soon, as I have a lot of stuff to explain and not a lot of time to do it. I hope I'm doing my idea justice, 'cause it took almost six months to  think up all this stuff.

But, yeah, please tell me what you think about this chapter! Major props if you've made it this far into the story without archiving it because it's that bad, and thanks for just reading it in general!

~Candle