[Vfw-times] Story : Figment, Part 3

[Hedonism]

Figment, Part 3, by Hedonism

Bet That Hits The Spot

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 liking for 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 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 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, she knew why Hedonism was such a good fighter. The creature
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 almost as
many black belts as 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
legs, shaped like an animal's, would pitch her forwards if it were not for
the long lithe tail and splayed lizardine feet to counterbalance. Her claws,
though somehow ladylike, were still the shredding-humans sort, and he had
the feeling she was just about to breathe out suddenly and cover him with
fire.

"Ooookayyyy." he said hesitantly, trying to keep the squeak out of his
voice. "If you, If you... If, you, would mind, letting me get, into my car?"
He had backed right up against the wall, and was trapped effectively 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 face filled with black fabric
and silver buttons, some of the serpents were gazing serenely on 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