[Vfw-times] Story : Figment, Part 12

[Hedonism]

Feedback on this story will be gratefully accepted. Plus I'd like to see how
many people are still reading it. Enjoy, I hope :)

To read the episodes preceeding this, go to my Webpages:
http://users.transfur.com/hedonism/

Figment, Part 13

The Concealed Snakepit

By Hedonism

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

Rebecca is on a mission to find out what happened to Figment after her
beloved friend was stolen out of her body. Her friend's captives, or
possibly murderers, are a sinister organisation of serpent creatures called
the Union Of Coils. These creatures are said to police and protect the
people in the world that have hidden supernatural abilities, chiefly
'Werecreatures' that can assume animal form. According to John, a Yuan-Ti
(snake creature) in human form, the Union of Coils knew Figment was actually
an evil parasite that possessed her, and when removed from her body the
creature died. Rebecca accompanies John to the Yuan-Ti nest where all this
occurred to find out the truth. Unknown to her, she is being followed in
there by fellow human Sarah 'Magpie' Fritz and two Werecreature self-styled
super heroes, Nicey and Amanda. They are valuable allies in a hidden world
where she may be completely surrounded by enemies.

* * * * * * * * * *

Rebecca parked the car and accompanied John to the Union of Coils building.
Unsurprisingly, it didn't say "Union Of Coils Secret Base".

" Embassy of the Republic Union of Caora? Where's Caora?"

"To humans, it's a tiny country somewhere near Brazil," replied John as they
approached a side entrance. "Or it would be if it existed. This isn't an
embassy for any place. It's an embassy for a people. For all the non-human
species, or the humans that have powers and know of things that most people
don't."

"But it's still a secret base?"

"Yes."

"How very James Bond."

"Errr... Yes. I used to think so too."

She followed John through a rusty metal door marked "Staff Only" and tried
to stop shaking. She had no idea what it would be like in there. The unease
was making her feel odd, and she kept flexing her fingers and hands.

They were in a corridor with polished green marble walls. Well, so far so
good.

"Bet you were expecting to be knee-deep in snakes by now," said John with a
wry smile. His sounded a lot more confident now he was on home territory.
Rebecca felt a switch of roles - now she felt like a hostage.

At the end of the corridor was another metal door. A roof-mounted camera
turned gently above it and a man in security garb sat behind a glass panel
in the wall.

"Just act nice and normal, Rebs, nothing... unusual will happen until we - "

The guard opened the window and seized John by both shoulders, and the lad's
eyes opened wide. His captor's mouth opened and long, sharp, wet teeth slid
free.

"Hey, it's John! In one piece!" he shouted to someone else in the back. "The
boys've been lookin' around for you!"

Rebecca looked slightly embarrassed and hung back as two burly guards came
out. Neither noticed her.

"What _happened_ to you? What we heard didn't make sense!"

"Ahhh... Did you hear that I was kidnapped by two librarians?"

They both laughed loudly and nodded, and John went red. He glared at Rebecca
with a tortured, accusing expression.

The guards finally noticed Rebecca standing there. Their smiles lessened.
One pulled a false human tongue out of his mouth and let the real serpentine
one loll free.

Ah yes, thought Rebecca. I think _this_ is the bit where things start
getting weird again.

The serpent-tongued guard licked the roof of his mouth, letting that obscene
black forked thing run against a hidden organ for tasting trapped scents.

"Who's this? Smells... undesirable..."

Rebecca stepped back and eyed the door back out. It didn't have a handle on
this side.

They can smell if I'm human?!

"It's okay," John murmured to the big man. "Just starting..."

He flicked out his tongue again and savoured whatever scents he was plucking
from the air. Rebecca felt a little nauseous at this, and glad she had
showered this morning.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. Just follow John inside. John, you'll have to report to
Chief Tobruk."

As they went past, the second guard put his hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay. I hope you adjust to things. And I hope you have the faith to
come through. If you don't... we'll look after you, don't you worry..."

Rebecca looked at her shoulder. He didn't seem to be too concerned that his
hand was there. Nor about lifting it up and patting her on the head.

They walked through the door into a mass of stylish cubicles, like the
changing rooms at a clothes shop. Rebecca straightened her hair
self-consciously and said, "What was that about?"

John walked into a cubicle and closed the door.

"I'll be ready in a second. Hold on a sec."

"Okay, but what was all that..."

There was a six-inch gap under the door and she could see his feet. And his
clothes as he dumped them untidily onto the floor. When he stripped off his
socks, she could see his feet were covered in pale white scales. Rebecca
clutched her stomach as his toes fused together and his feet withered. She
was still nowhere near used to witnessing transformations.

"Unlike..." There was a slick sound.

"Unlike mossst Werecreaturesss, we can't change to look fully human.
That'sss why we need the falsse tonguess."

Something hairy landed on the ground. It was John's scalp.

"Not to mensstion the wigss, and falsse eyebrowss."

Rebecca felt sick and light-headed, even while she was expecting this to
happen, and despite having undergone similar transformations herself. A
scaly mass hit the floor and pressed against it, something that looked like
an extending white snake's tail. His shrunken feet lifted up out of sight.

"It'sssthe will of Ssseth that we are alwayssssserpentss, insside. Even when
we're humanss."

The door opened, and out of it slithered a very long snake. He was white
along his band-scaled underside, but had a rough diamond pattern on his back
in several shades of red. He was about Rebecca's width down most of his
body, and she had no doubt he could crush and kill her without trying. His
head was larger than a normal snake's, about the same size as his human
cranium used to be. He had arms of a sort - a couple of four-foot long
tentacles that moved bonelessly and looked like serpents themselves. They
split at the ends into three fingered 'hands'. He looked like a living form
of the ghostly serpent that had knocked her unconscious on the last day she
was with Figment. Unlike Nicey and Amanda, indeed unlike Figment, there
wasn't a trace of human features on John's animal form.

Rebecca stepped backwards until she was trapped in another cubicle. She
looked over the serpent's body, her eyes almost wide enough to form circles.

"Do you think it suits me?" he asked, the corners of his mouth twitching
upwards.

* * * * * * * * * *

A Yuan-Ti crossed the room and looked again at a tall tube in the corner of
the room. He slithered over to it, lifted a square of darkened glass with
his three fingered hands and looked through it. The black tube was
transparent when examined through the glass, allowing him to see the little
scaly pile of huddled flesh at the bottom.

The specimen was kept as weak as possible, drained of all but the barest
minimum of the emotional input required to stay alive. But despite the
depravations, it's mind remained utterly amazing. The animal looked up, knew
he was observing it by taking readings from the surface of his mind. As well
as allowing him to see through the creature, the glass allowed the
transmission and receipt of psychic power that was normally blocked by the
tube.

Ignoring the subject's weak mental pleas, he turned his psychic attention
away from the uninteresting conscious parts to the incredible hindbrain.
This organ was capable of calculations that bested any computer his species
had, indeed probably out-calculated all the computers in the whole world,
put together. The parasite's hindbrain used this calculative ability to
control the states of individual molecules, trillions at a time. This was
what gave it the power of transformation over it's own body, and in the body
of it's host, and even items and people around it. The possibilities
inherent in that power were endless, and because they lay in a parasite, the
power was mobile.

He wanted the power for himself. With a simple lobotomy, he could destroy
the creature's conscious and give himself direct access to the hindbrain.
This was what he had ignored procedure for, _this_ was what he risked jail
for...

Hmmm... the creature was actually begging.

He was glad it didn't have a normal digestive system, or things would be all
messy in there.

The subject's mind was adequately weakened by starvation and exhaustion. He
could now start the lobotomy. With sensitive and careful scrutiny, he
powered up his beloved machines.

* * * * * * * * * *

Rebecca walked ahead of John, trying to get away from his heavy tail as it
swung from side to side in order to propel his body forwards. They passed
other Yuan-Ti, the same shape as John but different colours and sizes. They
talked to each other in frightful sequences of sibilant hisses. There were
other creatures here as well, a menagerie of Were-things of all shapes,
sizes and species. Most had human proportions like Amanda and Nicey, but
there were one or two vast exceptions. She stared around like the new kid on
the scene that she was, gawping impolitely at these monsters as they talked
and walked (or slithered). Most of the Were were clothed, but it wasn't
mandatory. The general consensus seemed to be that if they had something to
hide, they hid it.

John chuckled as he watched her lock her eyes on a Were-kangaroo female,
dressed in an expensive suit. They slowed to a stop.

"Do you think she has a pouch or something?" she asked.

The kangaroo shot her a comical looking but seriously intentioned insulted
stare.

"Yess, Jermaine hasss. And ssshe can hear you."

Rebecca walked away quickly. By the time she reached a safe distance a blush
had consumed her face.

"Hold on... How do you know that she's got a, you-know... no, don't answer!"

John shrugged.

"Company sswimming pool. And one Offissssce party."

"I bet she photocopied it as well... Okay, where's the doctor?"

"Firsst we musst report to Chief Tobruk."

Rebecca nodded and looked around some more. She must have let her
hopelessness rise to the surface because she felt John's tentacle land on
her shoulder.

"It'ss okay... We'll help you get over Figment..."

Rebecca picked up the tentacle between finger and thumb. Caring intentioned
it may have been to put his scaly mitten there, but it looked horrifying so
close to her face. She let it drop to his side. John looked unhappy himself,
the serpent features conveying his expressions well.

"You'll help me get Figment back! And I don't want to stay here any longer
than I need to."

He now looked even more miserable. The same sort of expression as on her
first boyfriend when she dumped him.

"I wassshoping you'd be a bit... happier, at sseeing all thiss. Or at leasst
more accsssepting."

Rebecca got an unwelcome sensation. She rubbed her tongue over her teeth,
clenched and unclenched her hands, tried moving her arms. Everything felt
just the tiniest bit wrong.

"Why do you want me to accept this place? Why do you want me happy at all
this?"

John didn't answer, but he retreated a little, as if her frail body was
going to hurt him in some way. Rebecca boarded a train of thought that was
bound for an unpleasant destination.

"Your species... the Scientist said you could bite people and turn them into
more of you."

John sighed heavily, as if this was the saddest thing in the world. He
nodded.

"When did you bite me, John?" she asked as boldly as she could. It was a
shot in the dark.

John backed further away from her. For a species that enforced a great
secret, he was poor at keeping his.

"I can't threaten you, John. I just want to know."

"I, I did it to presserve the sssecret! Humanssmussstn't know we exssisst!
If thosse who know aren't humansss, then they are lesss likely to tell! And
I thought we could care for you better if you were one of uss. I thought _I_
could care for you, in Figment'ss absssencsse!"

He looked around as if anticipating an attack from nowhere, or as if
expecting his god to do something nasty to him.

Rebecca shuddered. She looked at her hands and arms, convinced she could
feel something going up her skin. No, there wasn't. Not yet.

"Not the bite, Rebecca. The venom transssformss people."

Rebecca felt the tears rim her eyelids.

"The coffee? Back at the Scientist's house? I thought it tasted pretty
strong. I thought, no wonder you gave yours to me. I like strong coffee..."

"It wasssn't sstrong until I put my venom into it."

Rebecca crashed the train of thought, sat down on the ground, placed her
hands over her face and wept.

John curled his tentacles and hunched up as small as he could manage. He
never felt so miserable since his childhood.

"So the guard let me in because I was starting to smell of snake? That was
all that starting crap you and they were talking about?"

"Yesss."

"How long do I have?"

"Before you turn into one of us? It won't be complete for fifteen more
days."

Rebecca looked up. She smiled a little and wiped her face on her sleeve.

"Good," she said through choked sobs "Then it won't get in the way of me
finding Figment."

* * * * * * * * * *

The two serpents stared at each other's unblinking eyes as they talked,
illustrating their conversations by waving their two arm-tentacles in a very
human way. Certainly an odd scene, except in the Union Of Coils Embassy. The
primarily black snake was called Thomas Tobruk, which is an odd name for a
snake, again except for here. The average serpent doesn't wear a high
calibre pistol, strapped halfway down it's body. And most snakes don't have
the job of Internal Security. Maybe only fifty, in this building. They had
the unfortunate lot of being the policemen of the policemen, and therefore
they were more disliked than any Union Coil, because they were also despised
by their fellow Union members. Rebecca and John stood in the background of
the operating room, as they had been requested to.

"So you continue to claim the creature was evil, or at best, uncaring to the
point of sociopathy," said Tobruk. For the benefit of Rebecca he was talking
in English. His hissing sibilance was barely noticeable through years of
speaking with a forked tongue.

Doctor Jagar nodded.

"Yes, I stand by my report."

The doctor, a Yuan-Ti that resembled an enormous rattlesnake, was similarly
proficient at speaking without the trademark Yuan-Ti lisp.

"And she was in complete control of it's host?"

"Yes."

"But you offer no reason why she didn't kill a single officer? Despite
having shown enough strength to break their necks quite easily? Given their
armour, it would have been easier to kill them by twisting their necks than
to punch them unconscious."

The doctor remained quiet, as if smugly convinced that his report was more
correct than any truth.

Rebecca paced the room, and noticed the doctor's snaky eyes fix on her
whenever she moved towards his equipment. When they entered the room, the
doctor didn't greet her, didn't try to console her over the loss of Figment.
In fact, he ignored both John and Rebecca and just talked to Tobruk.

"And that none of the thugs were killed when they encountered her? And the
Fire reports say she rescued civilians? Apparently she even showed some form
of co-operation with the... vigilante... Critter-Man."

Tobruk carefully separated the word Vigilante from the rest of the sentence.
He said it with distaste.

"I can only tell you what I know from the scans, Tobruk."

"Well, I want to see the brain scans. And her remains."

"You won't get much from dust. She disintegrated after leaving the body."

Rebecca looked up, tears in her eyes. Jagar was still looking at her, but
there wasn't a trace of sympathy in his face. She noticed that her random
walking was taking her towards a table. Whenever she diverted her course and
listened in on the conversation she was winding back up at that table. She
started to wander on purpose, tried to keep from thinking about where she
was going.

"That's what I want, doctor."

Jagar sighed and retreated to a rack of shelves. He picked up a jar of
unpleasant looking dessicated powder. Little lumps of greasy gristle were
mixed in. The label had a reference number that matched the report he handed
to Tobruk.

Rebecca shook her head as if in a daze. She had managed to ignore her
movements and, yes, they had taken her back to this simple plastic table.
She leaned in closer to it and noticed the doctor was squirming slightly.

"Rebecca?" he called with distate and maybe undue haste, "Your parasite.
Take it home if you want. Maybe I can put a ribbon around it."

His angry, speeded up monotone hinted that he didn't want her here. Rebecca
ignored him and leaned further over the table. and looked at a rack of
surgical knives, a square of darkened glass and a kidney dish.

: Rebecca! : screamed Figment inside her head. The psychic voice was so loud
she stood bolt upright. The three Yuan-Ti were all looking at her now.

"Figment?... Oh god, yes, it is! Yeah, I want to take her home, but she
_ain't_ in that jar!"

The voice had come from the table. No, from the square of glass. She picked
it up.

"Put that down this instant!" barked Jagar furiously.

Rebecca looked into the glass, but all she could see was darkness. Except
when she moved it over that big black tube in the corner...

She suddenly felt a horde of information flooding into her mind. All coming
from Hedonism. The parcel of words nestled in her memories.

The doctor sighed and shook his head sadly. Tobruk eyed him suspiciously
then slithered to Rebecca.

Jagar slipped to a table. He picked up what looked like a mobile phone and
dialed in a few numbers.

Rebecca froze. Her consciousness faded as she heard the tone and the command
he implanted into her earlier shut down her body. Tobruk watched her relax,
her arms falling to her sides, and whipped his head towards the doctor. His
tentacled hand was halfway towards his gun when Jagar brought up his other
hand, clutching a silver pistol, and shot him in the forehead.

The black serpent looked confused for a moment, then flopped to the ground,
his once living coils now like lifeless rope. John screamed and wound
backwards rapidly, reaching for the door. The doctor pressed a second series
of numbers and a different tone sang through the air. John twitched a little
then stopped and relaxed utterly. He awaited the doctor's commands.

"Stupid cow," muttered the doctor to Rebecca, furiously. He held out the gun
to her and she took it as if accepting a returned library book.

Figment stood up inside her tiny prison and thumped her fists weakly against
the walls. The sound never escaped.

Why does this have to happen to _me?_ thought the doctor despairingly.
Sometimes life was so _unfair!_

* * * * * * * * * *

The cleaning lady looked up from her task of cleaning away an unpleasant and
tenacious stain that she put there herself a few minutes ago. She watched a
handcuffed Rebecca being escorted out of the Operating Theatre by five
Yuan-Ti soldiers. Each wore green ballistic armour down their long bodies
and helmets on their serpentine heads, as well as holstered pistols and
assault rifles. It looked like a lot of trouble to go to for restraining a
librarian.

Sarah looked down quickly as Rebecca glanced towards her. If she had
recognised the cleaning lady for who she really was, the girl was being
clever by acting dumb.

Sarah prodded a spare Yuan-Ti. He muttered and broke away from the group.

"What happened here?" she asked in a nosey tone. She flashed her false sharp
teeth. That and the beautifully drawn patches of scales made her look like
she was beginning the transformation.

"A human tried to kill Doctor Jagar. She wassspisssed at the losss of an
imaginary friend or ssomething, excusse my French. Luckily he hypnotissed
her before sshe could do it. But Chief Tobruk'ssdead, poor basta... poor
guy."

"What's going to happen to her now?" she asked with careful sympathy in her
voice.

"She'll be held in custody, then she'll probably go to jail. Could be a life
sentence."

Sarah nodded and got back to work. The cleaning chemicals hid most of her
human scent, and what was left was masked by the Yuan-Ti smell in the
overalls she wore, stolen from a chloroformed serpent sleeping peacefully in
a store-room. All the same, she decided not to push her luck in talking to
this snakie. Besides, there were probably _loads_ of stains in the detention
sector of this building, so she'd better go and clean them up now.

By Hedonism

The Scientist, Nice Rack, Amanda Hugnkiss, Beverly Bunny are © Jesse "Karva"
Blough

The Yuan-Ti, Ssseth are © ReynardFox