Figment, Part 3

Just Where Do You Get That Superhero Lycra From Anyway?

Synopsis : Rebecca has kept her best friend with her since childhood, despite knowing full well that this friend is just an imaginary one she never had the heart to forget with maturity. Putting up with this minor psychological trait, she got on with life. Until she was attacked by two vicious gangs, and the friend she knew damn well was just made up turned out to be quite real, and capable of giving her ass-kicking transformational powers.

* * * * * * * * * *

Rebecca bought two cans of Trak-Lite with considerable reluctance.

: This stuff is too strong :, she thought to herself, or rather, to Figment. She wandered out of the shop and got back into her supervisor's car. Sarah the Head Librarian gave her a lift to work every morning.

Magpie… Sarah… looked at the shiny can and her hand twitched a little as if starting to reach out to it. Then she said, "I thought you didn't like that stuff, Rebs. Unless you got it to power your walkman."

"Uhh?"

"Battery acid?"

"Ahh…"

: It's also filled with a full range of artificial additives. Not so much E numbers as Aaargh numbers. :

Figment supplied the other side of these mental conversations, as she was doing now.

: Then why did you get me to buy it? :

: 'Cos all those weird preservatives and soforth are a great source of chemicals for me to mess with. I need to stock up on the rarer nutrients and stuff we lost last night while we were hurting people. :

Rebs nodded, and opened a can.

: I can get most of what chemicals we need out of the air itself, but some trace elements need to be taken in the normal way. :

Her host winced as she gulped. She shivered and gasped as she put it down. Strawberry flavoured stars burst in her mouth, or something equally descriptive.

: Ooohhhhhh… Could I not get whatever you need without drinking this stuff? :

: Yes. You could eat this car. :

"Yum," she said out loud. Magpie grinned.

"Are you drinking that stuff to stay awake? Decided to go to the all-night rave after all?", she grinned, ready to burst out in her trademark squarking laugh. Unless stealing shiny things was her trademark. Sarah, AKA Magpie was a strange bird - and that was not as literal as she would like. Their library was owned by the government, so it was generous in taking on ex-convicts like Sarah 'Magpie' Brady. They looked at her resume and employed her without asking too many questions. One question they really should have asked was, "What's your species?" They may have been rather surprised at her answer, delivered with absolute seriousness. Luckily, while Magpie thought she was a magpie, she thought she was a magpie that wore clothes, didn't attempt to fly out of windows, could drive a car safely and hold down a job as Head Librarian.

: Rebs? There's something wrong. Some of the chemicals I'm absorbing are really odd ones. :

Rebecca smiled and just pointed at the Energy Drink Of Sportsmen.

: Nahhhh, out of the air. These chemicals shouldn't be mixed in this way. Can I borrow your nose? Thanks. :

Her host jumped in her seat as her sense of smell multiplied by a factor of fifty. Every scent now had the delightful, distinct fragrance potency of Mace.

: It's an organic base. There's something living, but not any animal I know of. Very close! :

Rebecca wiped her tearful eyes and got used to the sudden scent-nuke. Her friend never got this excited often. Whatever it was would probably be interesting to check out.

"Sarah? Mind if we, uhh, I, get out again? Sorry. I'll meet you at the library."

"What's up?"

"I, err, gotta run off."

"Hah, no excuse is a good excuse. See you later, be on time."

* * * * * * * * * *

The multi story car park was currently empty, grey halls and walls waiting for people to get out of bed and feed it with automobiles. So far all this level had was ten cars and Sgt. Becksley, getting out of his car and into his jacket and helmet. Then it also contained an out of breath librarian and her parasite.

: Wow, a car park and a policeman! :, exclaimed Rebecca to herself.

: Ohh, come on Rebs, surely you can manage more sarcasm than that! Ohhh, hold on. I think that looks pretty unusual. :

Rebecca was used to Figment's understatement. But she wasn't used to _this_.

The monster crept out from between two cars. It's body was solid, massive and dense with fur, but it's arms and legs were long, thin black leathery things like the stilt-legs of a crane, ending with sets of scalpel claws. It advanced in plain sight of the copper, opening a nightmare mouth filled with shark teeth, arranged in two rows. Becksley looked up and froze. His expression didn't change, but he did manage a quiet, dreadful sigh as he fought to gain control of his solidified legs.

: Oh hell, Figment… :

: Figment! :

: I'm here, I'm here! That's what I was smelling. I've never seen something like that before. I was scanning it… It's… a killing machine of some sort. It's nervous system is hardwired into it's pleasure centres - it likes pain, giving and receiving! :

: Whadda we do? :

: Glad you asked. Wanna be a hero? :

: What? No, but I'll settle on being that lizard thing again. I ain't got my Walkman on me though! :

Rebecca made a shrill hiss, that drew on and on. It gave her the opportunity to see her tongue turning black, and growing, and growing. She became intimately aware of her physics, and her enlarging, transforming body. Her mind was being plugged into that of Figment, made a part of that creature who knew her body so well, and could transform it as she saw fit. As their minds merged, she knew her friend by her real name.

: I don't need musical accompanyment, : said Hedonism, with cast iron tone.

This time Rebecca had the foresight to wriggle out of her clothes before they were torn to bits. Her serpentine body, halfway through transformation, was supple and multi-jointed, and seemed to just cast them off as if she was covered in oil.

Okay, fighting naked was going to be embarrassing, but not needing to watch a man get killed was worth some shame, she thought. But as she shed her dress and underclothes in several sways, she realised with some relief that like Hedonism herself, she had either lost whatever she needed to hide or her modest bits were hidden underneath the emerald scales that rapidly spread out over her body.

"No! Don't come closer!" shrieked Becksley as he fumbled for his car door. The monster raised it's claws, and then there was a sudden *slap* as a scaly elbow slammed it's furry neck and thrust it onto the car bonnet. It writhed, then fell limp, hanging from it's teeth which had buried themselves into the metal.

: Good night sweet puppy, : thought Hedonism to her host. : It took nearly three quarters of a ton strike to knock him out! Way impressive! :

Now the creature had allowed Rebecca to stay in control after transformation, and this time their minds seemed to be even closer togther than before. For example, she knew why Hedonism was such a good fighter. She knew her host's body from the inside out, whatever form it was in, and could customize it to suit. Any move by Rebecca was optimised by her parasite into a deadly, perfect action. The inexpert punch to the monster's back Rebecca aimed was turned into the poetic strike of a karate sensei with more black belts than unconscious students.

Becksley looked up at the lady-dragon thing. Her seven foot tall form looked female, even nubile in general shape, along with the unsettling way that form kept making his eyes divert to certain parts of her that should be covered up but weren't, but… in a sense… were. Her hair, coming together into braids, started to hiss and rise, then changed into a nest of wild serpents. Wings slowly unfolded from her back and grew unstoppably. Her knees and ankles rearranged their heights until her legs were like the hind limbs of an animal. The perfect accompaniment to this would be a long, lithe reptilian tail, which is just what grew next. Her stance made her stand on tiptoes, which grew outwards into true, splayed-out lizard feet, or talons. Her claws, though somehow ladylike, were still the shredding-humans sort, and the resulting appearance made him feel she was just about to breathe out and cover him with fire.

"Ooookayyyy…" he said hesitantly, trying to keep the squeak out of his voice. "If you, would mind, letting me get into my car?" He had backed right up against the wall, and was trapped in an alleyway between automobiles.

Rebecca smiled, though a grin with inch-long, dagger-like teeth is less than confidence-raising. The policeman screamed, snapped and charged her headlong in an attempt to get around her and to freedom. They both fell to the ground in a heap.

: Ouch, and, oh Hell… :

There was the sound of metal being wrenched.

Rebecca could see out of the eyes of every snake, which was an overdose of images in itself, but somehow she could cope with it. This was just as well, because despite her being on the floor, her eyesight filled with black fabric and silver buttons, some serpent gazes took in the monster, towering over them both, reaching down with it's claws.

:Hey, he's awake already : said Hedonism.

: No, really? : answered Rebecca as she flew through the air and smashed into a van, destroying it's bodywork and setting off it's alarm.

By Hedonism