AOE Saga:

Suspicious Kinds

Chapter 2: Mad Scientist, Madder Plans

Matt groaned as slowly became conscious again. He opened his eyes to see what was going on. He was in a metal room, so he guessed he was indoors. But the strange part was that instead of being bolted, like most of the buildings and spaceships he's been in, the metal tiles were mortared with some sort of blue-violet slime. He tried to walk forward but something was holding him back. Matt looked at himself and saw that he was shackled to the wall with the same slime that was the mortar.

He looked around the room a bit more and saw Silvia and Chris shackled in the same manner he was. Silvia was awake too and looking around as well. Chris was still unconscious. Matt also saw a couple of cabinets but nothing of real importance. "Where do you think we are?" asked Matt. "We're probably in some sort of laboratory base," said Silvia. "How long have we been out cold?" asked Matt. "I'm not sure but not too long," said Silvia. "I've only woken up about a minute before you did." "Who captured us?" "I haven't seen anyone yet, but judging by the cannon, Dehydrator Balls, and those droids, I say we're dealing with someone who's an expert at technology. And I think the reason he's not here yet is because he's waiting for all of us to wake up. Which unfortunately means waiting for this rock-head." "I heard that," said Chris as he regained consciousness. He looked around and asked, "What the heck is going on?"

As if to answer Chris's question, the tiles in the center of the ceiling moved apart. Behind them was more of the slime-mortar. The slime dripped down to the floor and started to take a more solid form. As the last bit of slime dripped down, it formed a man-like shape. Then patches on the slime seemed to grow harder and changed from blue-violet to metallic silver. The legs became encased up to the knees with the metal and grew clawed feet and two robot-tentacles on each ankle. The torso was now covered with battle-armor that had something like a green dial in the middle of the chest with two green gems on either side of it. Two tiny cannons appeared on the shoulders. Then a very long metallic tail sprouted from the middle of the back. The arms had formed and now metal armor has grown and now covered the elbow and the six-fingered hands. Then robot-tentacles sprouted from the shoulders and wrapped around the arms down to the elbows. Then more robot-tentacles sprouted from the elbows and twined down to the hands. Finally the head and neck developed. A mouth filled with sharp teeth appeared. Then the head was covered with a helmet with short metal spikes on the scalp that were flat against the head. And last of all, a green visor appeared on the front of the helmet. In short, the slime has formed into a slime-creature with human features and battle-armor.

"Well, well, it's about time you all woke up," said the creature with a high-pitched, slightly electronic voice. A horizontal line on the visor wiggled whenever the creature spoke. "I wanted to talk to you guys first before I started anything but you slept to long. I had half a mind to start before you woke." "Wait, how long has it been?" asked Silvia. "About 7 minutes, and now that you're all awake I can start chatting with you. My name is Splicer. I have taken you to my lair for a bit of experimentation for my benefit. Which I hope will go well." Just then a computer monitor popped out of the wall and beeped. "What now?" grumbled Splicer and walked over to the computer screen.

"What is that thing?" asked Chris. "I know it's insane, but I can't tell what it is?" Matt studied Splicer closely. He met some insane aliens before, mainly Splitters or EXP Virus victims, but this kind of craziness seemed more specific to a particular species that Splicer must be a member of. And the slime was also very familiar. Then it was as if a light switch has been flipped on in Matt's head. A picture formed in front of his mind's eye; first a pile of slime slowly drying up; then several Splitters each being covered with a slime-like creature which was fusing with their bodies. "It's a Symbiote," said Matt in the same way someone would say, "It's a dead rat." "What's a Symbiote?" asked Chris. "They're a race of parasitic beings," said Silvia. "They're also called living costumes because of the way they completely cover their host's body like a costume. They make their host perform death-defying stunts to feed off their adrenaline, which often leads to the death of the host." "How do you know so much about Symbiotes?" asked Matt. "I've read about them in Emperor Hamsterviel's databases. And I think I've met them before, but I'm not quite sure where." Just then Splicer had finished whatever business he was doing.

He had overheard the conversation behind him perfectly. "Very good observation," said Splicer. "You are correct. I am a Symbiote. But there is one thing you don't know about me. I, like all of my species, am forced to attach myself to a host. But I want to be attached to more than mere flesh. That's why I've bonded myself to this techno-organic battle-armor, as well as a bit of recombinant DNA. However because of my lack of an organic host, I'm afraid I'm a bit unstable." "Yeah, we already knew that," said Chris. Splicer growled and said, "I meant physically unstable. But I'm afraid that my mind is also destabilizing. That's why I've brought you all down here. You see, I've discovered that assimilating DNA that is even more recombinant than mine, I can stabilize my body and mind for an almost indefinite period of time. What better recombinant DNA to assimilate than that of genetic experiments?" "So why did you have to capture them instead of just getting samples?" asked Matt.

"You misunderstand," said Splicer. "In order for the experiments' DNA to stabilize me, I have to reduce all the way back to their genetic templates. Fortunately Emperor What's-his-name has been creating all of the experiments I need. But no kind of experiment DNA stabilizes better than that of an original experiment." "A what?" said Matt. "An experiment that was created from scratch and not made from another creature," explained Chris. "And to my delight," said Splicer. "I found not one, not two, but fourteen original experiments! With their DNA, as well as that of the two EXP victims and the Shadow Clone, I will be stabilized forever! Or maybe longer."

"But they'll be destroyed if you do that," said Matt horrified. Splicer shrugged and said, "If you want an omelet, you have to break a few eggs. But that's not what I'm going to do to you three. I've been analyzing your DNA while you were out. You're all experimental but there's too much human in you for the Dehydrator Balls to affect you." Splicer paused for a few moments, "In fact, something about your human DNA seems strangely stronger than that of any human I've ever encountered. There's a strong bond of some sort, especially between you two," Splicer pointed at Matt and Silvia, "But for the life of me, I can't figure out what it is. Anyway I figured that you're too valuable to be dissected." Matt, Chris, and Silvia sighed with relief. "Instead, I'll merge with one of you."

"But you said you didn't want an organic host," said Silvia. "Yes I really don't. But I figured it would give me more strength and stabilize me more. So I want to get the host with the best physical form and powers as possible. I tried a few, but they weren't too great after a while." "What happens to them?" asked Matt. "I drain their genes and discard the rest." Then Splicer spat out a skeleton from his body. The skeleton looked like it could have belonged to a Splitter. "It belonged to a Splitter," explained Splicer. "I found a way to cancel out the disintegrating effect death has on them. Now for my next host, I'll pick," Splicer scanned over the trio and then pointed at Matt and said, "You. But you need a bit of editing." "'Editing?'" said Matt. Splicer snapped his fingers and a machine rose out of the floor. It looked like some sort of capsule big enough for an adult human. "This machine will add more of the EXP Virus to you genetic configuration, making you the perfect host." "Good luck getting me in that thing." "That won't be a problem." Splicer snapped his fingers again and the slime holding Matt to the wall pulled him into the capsule. Splicer closed the capsule and said, "Don't worry; if there's going to be any pain at all, it will be extremely painful." Then he pulled the switch.

A surge of energy ran through Matt's body. He gritted his teeth against the pain. He could feel his body starting to transform. But he was not going to let that happen. He pressed his will against the energy, fighting back against the force. He felt his armband vibrating with power. Outside he heard Splicer said, "My, this human has a lot of resistance in him. I've never met anyone with so much willpower. It's that armband that giving him the strength against my machine." Splicer paused for a while. "I suppose I could turn up the power voltage to make it more powerful, but that might destroy this human… Oh, well."

Splicer pulled another lever and the pain intensified. Now Matt was screaming at top of his lungs. Chris and Silvia would be holding their ears if they weren't wearing their helmets and if they weren't stuck to the wall. "I don't know how much of that I can take," said Chris. "Don't worry it won't last long," said Silvia. "You mean Matt will be transformed?" "No I mean that Splicer is overloading that machine with too much energy. And Matt's willpower is too strong. If Matt doesn't give in, which we know he won't, the machine will be pushed past its maximum, and eventually ex-" Silvia was cut off by the machine Matt was in exploding. The released energy fried the slime holding them to crisps. Splicer was thrown to the wall and was hot-glued to the wall. Chris and Silvia broke off their restraints easily. "Let's get out of here," said Silvia. "But what about Matt?" asked Chris. They heard a groan behind them and they turned around. They saw Matt walk out of the smoking remains of the capsule. He didn't look any different, but maybe that was because he was still wearing his helmet.

"Are you okay?" asked Chris. "I've been shook up a bit, but I think I'm okay," said Matt. His voice seemed normal so the machine must have not transformed him. "Let's get out of here before he wakes up," said Silvia, pointing at the unconscious Splicer. "But we have to find the experiments," said Matt. "We'll do that on the way out," said Chris, pulling Matt out the door.

What will happen to our heroes? Where are the experiments? Did Splicer's machine do anything to Matt? Look for the next update to find out. It won't take long because all of my exams are almost over.

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