Factory Reset

Chapter Thirty-Two: Of Flesh and Upgrades

Axel gulped as the few remaining members of Obsidian-1 brought them before the stark white table, a blinding contrast to the dark void they were inside. The four jars atop the table had the same writhing substance inside, only each one of them were different in many types of ways.

The right-most one, where the team had situated Mason, was a large writhing red thing. It was nearly solid and barely see-through, and it was one long tentacle colored many different shades of red, often shifting from neon to nearly black. It was the strongest physically, as it's container had numerous cracks in the strong glass.

The one left to it, Axel's, was a bit different: For one, it was a light blue color and almost completely see-through, with the tiniest fleck of light shimmering against the dark lid of its container. Although the void was completely silent, Axel could tell that if the lid was undone, it most certainly would have gurgled.

The next one, Marrisa's, was much more different than the others. It was a heavenly white color, a shining golden aura being emitted from it. Despite this almost divine color, it was rather spikey and sharp, with jagged edges pulsing as it repeatedly stabbed the glass. It called to Marrisa,

The final one, though it had no one in front of it, was clearly meant for Hannah. Despite this, Obsidian-1 hadn't tried to do anything with her, instead giving her off to B-4 to hold while they made the others bond with Upgrade.

It was a dark grey material, completely solid and unmovable, and was completely stagnant. Just looking at it made them depressed, as although they were essentially upgrades to living creatures, they were still living creatures with a mind.

"They are alive-" As Amerinthia explained, "-Once bonded for a time, they think in you language. They talk with you, they think with you. But right now, they do not think, just feel." They still didn't shed much light on those things, and certainly didn't quell the fears created by Mason or the others in touching them.

Luckily, it was more of a case-by-case ceremony, as Obsidian-1 didn't want to overwhelm them all. Unluckily, since Mason was the first one put there, he was the first one to interact with his Upgrade. He gulped, but followed along.

"They transform to what you want. Like pet, but smart." Amerinthia told him as she pushed him towards the thing, "Transform into a hidden item to use- Mine is this." She brought her arm up, and now that Mason could see it, her entire arm was an upgrade. He wondered how she lost it.

Amerinthia grabbed the glass container that held his Upgrade and brought it up to her face. She observed it for a few seconds, nodded her head, and slowly undid the cap. Mason fidgeted uncomfortably as he observed it.

She placed the nearly unscrewed container back on the table and quickly threw the cap off, just to grab the wriggling tentacle with her good hand and squeezing it tight, as to not allow it to bond to her.

"Here. Grab." She told him, outstretching her arm and presenting the Upgrade to Mason. He hesitantly brought his hand up to grab it, fearing the worst. Amerninthia, impatient and without much time, just shoved the thing into his hand.

Mason felt a scream well up inside him as the tentacle slammed into his awaiting hand, seemingly melting into a searing hot pile of red mulch before quickly spreading across his entire arm as tiny sparks of molten magma seared off of him.

It overlapped the clothes the protogen made for him, creating clothes for him out of its own metamaterial. They took on the appearance of molten rock and metals, and it gave off a large amount of heat that although not painful to Mason himself, seemed to warm up the air around him to a large degree.