The Kumo Story

[3kul]

((I'm in the mood to tie up some loose ends, care to finish this story off with me Shaon?))

"Ah, that's quite specific."

The Kumo wants to know about my most dangerous work, Serpells thought to himself, this is incredibly bad. Some of the stuff in that part of the lab was quite deadly, and would be nearly impossible to get back into their containers if set loose...

As he was thinking along these lines, Serpells remembered a conversation that he'd had with Kumo a long time ago. 'Do you think it is wrong to get rid of someone who wants to hurt other people, Kumo?' One Mistake had already hurt people, and no doubt intended to continue in his murderous ways if Serpells allowed him to.

'The One Mistake made by my former colleagues will not be made by me,' Serpells thought to himself. 'This monstrosity will not leave my lab alive.'

Tapping away on his clipboard, Serpells deactivated the necessary security locks and firewalls to grant them access to this part of the lab. He led the Kumo up the ramp at the back of the lab to the large dome and an apparent dead end. Upon arriving there however, the dome rose up to reveal that it was in fact an elevator.

The pair entered, the doors shut and they began to descend. "So, Number 856, what exactly do you intend to do once I've showed you my research?"

[Shaon]

The monster grinned a hideous grin, one suitably fit for a monster.

"Why, my dear creator, that depends on how well you decide you comply with me."

[3kul]

((ah, typical Shaon post, way too short! ))

In other words, he's just reinforcing his 'do as I say or you die' threat. But it seemed strange for One Mistake to be so careless about this research - without Serpells to explain it all it was virtually worthless to someone who would know so little about such a science... Which meant that One Mistake either considered this knowledge to be a bonus rather than a necessity or that he had somebody else who could help him with this sort of thing if Serpells should die...

Neither of which were things that he could confirm with One Mistake, as the Kumo would probably give him about as much information as he had just then.

The elevator stopped, the doors opened and the two stepped out. This room was a much more complex looking lab, with large amounts of machinery and containers surrounding it. In the centre was a deep looking pit filled with vegetation of some kind. A small ball floated up to Serpells, inside of which was sealed a tiny humanoid creature - it looked a bit like a child, except that it had three arms and mouths all over it's body. It looked like it was crying, although the orb containing appeared to be soundproof, and thus it's cries went unheard.

"This is the most important creature down here, a Weeper. Even if you ultimately decide to kill me you mustn't harm it any way, as it's the only thing that the experiments are weak against."

He wasn't sure as to whether or not One Mistake had decided to kill him, but he knew that regardless of this he needed to get this crucial bit of information made clear. If some of these experiments got loose and the Weeper wasn't there to stop them... Well, that would be the end of the Human Homeworld, that much was certain.

"There are fiv- I'm sorry, four subjects here that exhibit the Parasitian's... unique method of consuming and adapting biological material to combine with their own."

He held out his clipboard for One Mistake to see, showing the creature what he had. "You'd probably be most interested in the Kumo varient, although that's one of my earlier works so I wouldn't consider it to be a very good specimen compared to some of the others..." The clipboard showed a security camera that had been placed inside on of the containers, although you couldn't actually see much as whatever was inside had filled the place with some sort of wispy web. The information displayed on the creature revealed various details - what it had eaten, how big it was (about the same size as an average Kumo), etc.

"Then there's the attempt at an aquatic lifeform with the Parasitian tongue, that one yeilded some interesting results." The clipboard flicked to another container, this one full of water with something murky darting about in circles. "As I recall I used a kind of slug as a base for this one, but the Parasitian abilities allowed it to evolve far beyond what the original was capable of." A flash of teeth and glowing eyes flickered past the camera as the clipboard displayed more information - this creature was amphibious, twice as big as the last experiment and had several warnings next to it's living requirements.

"This one is a look at perfecting the tongue's physical capabilities." The clipboard flicked to another container, though this one was much less impressive - all that was in it was a small toad-like creature, and it wasn't even moving. "Ah, that one needs to be slowed down a bit." Serpells added, tapping the clipboard a few times. As the footage slowed down, it became apparent that whilst the toad creature itself wasn't moving, it's tongue was whipping about it's container at a blinding speed. The statistics for the toad-creatures abilities weren't that impressive, aside from it's ridiculously high intelligence levels and the lightning-fast tongue movements.

"And uh, finally, exploring the limitations of the tongue's abilities." This creature appeared to be a bizarre mixture of things. It had scaley plates of hard bone, long locks of hair, slimy blobs all over it's body, wings - any kind of distinct feature that One Mistake had ever heard of or seen on another living thing was on this creature.

"So if you could just let me know which of these we should start on I can get to discussing them in a bit more detail."

[Shaon]

One Mistake looked momentarily distracted, before recovering.

"You had slipped. Are you telling me everything, Serpells? Or do I have to resort to more dangerous measures in order to learn the truth?"

At that thought, One Mistake was clearly pleased at a potential victim.

[3kul]

((Sorry I've taken so long to reply, your post was so short I barely even noticed that it was there ))

Serpells closed his eyes as if he were in pain, for he had sincerely hoped that the Kumo would not have picked up on his blunder.

"The fifth one... Is a combination of everything. It's extremely dangerous though, and I... I'm afraid that I cannot allow it to be released under any circumstances..."

He trailed off a little as he noticed the glint in One Mistake's eye, the kind that he'd seen many a time in Youngest Sister's eyes that was usually stopped by Byule. This was not Youngest Sister though, and there was no Byule here to protect him, which meant that no matter what, he had to get this point across.

"Kumo, there is no way that you could even hope to survive a confrontation with this organism, let alone actually live long enough to do whatever it is you have planned with it."

There was really no other way to word this, though he knew that it would greatly displease One Mistake. Hopefully the creature had more sense than ego.

[Shaon]

((He might be smart, but he's also very egotistical. Go figure.))

One Mistake snarled. How dare his hostage attempt to harm his ego!

But his intention wasn't this. No, far from it.

"Fine, then. I will not see this horrible unbeatable experiment of yours.

You are smart, I imagine you have already figured out what my intentions are.

But I will continue, no matter if you know or not.

What extent can you change already existing, non-Parasitian beings?"

[3kul]

Serpells sighed, thankful that One Mistake had some shreds of sanity floating around inside his head. Of course, this new line of discussion was not much better than the previous one, and Serpells dreaded the thought of what One Mistake was getting at, though he knew it to be inevitable.

"Parasitian cells are highly adaptable, and as such they're ideal for any kind of bodily modification. I'm currently limited to biological additions of course, but eventually I will be able to expand my research into other kinds of transplants, mechanical and such." He closed his eyes, not wanting to say this but seeng no other choice. It was a damned if he did, damned if he didn't kind of situation, but he found himself selfishly clinging to the sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe, One Mistake would let him live.

"As far as I can tell, there's nothing they can't do."

There, he'd said it, and in doing so had set the wheels of fate turning. He was about to create a nearly unstoppable monster, and there was nothing that he could do about it.

Tapping a few times at his clipboard, Serpells set the room to prepare itself for the operation that was about to take place. He didn't need to ask One Mistake what he wanted done, he could already guess what kind of power the monster sought from him, but he found himself asking just the same. Perhaps, once again, this was out of a foolish sense of hope.

"What did you have in mind, Number 856?"

[Shaon]

((Aaaaugh brain stop comparing Double-P to the Kumo Team and OM to Ergo PROXY))

OM could perceive exactly what Serpells was thinking. The scientist was his pawn.

"Your hope is misplaced, doctor. You know exactly what I want to ask.

You know it is possible. You do not want this, but you fear too much for your life.

I wish to have a Parasitian's tongue."

[3kul]

Yes, Serpells had already known the answer to his question, but to hear the reply out loud still left him feeling the bitter sting of the Kumo's words. He had little choice in the matter, for 856 was right - in the end, Serpells was just too fearful for his own life. For the sake of his life's work, that which he was going to use to save the populace of the Human Homeworld and later on the entire multiverse, he could not have it simply die here alongside him. If he surrendered to the Kumo and fulfilled his demands, maybe he'd let him live...

No. You can force the Kumo to let you live.

It was as if another voice had surfaced in his mind, an alternate conciousness that spoke in a way Serpells was not used to thinking. With this new door opened to him, Serpells knew exactly what to do - not only could he prevent One Mistake from killing him, he could stop this monstrosity from ever harming another innocent again.

The surfacing of this new knowledge was as bizarre as it was brilliant, but Serpells did not allow this secret plan to show in his emotions or his actions. "... As you wish then, Kumo. Please position yourself on the table so that I may begin the operation." A table slid out from the wall next to One Mistake, and several mechanical arms extended down from the ceiling, a wide variety of surgical tools attached to the ends of them.

"This will take less than five minutes, so whilst you probably wouldn't have let me anyway, there is no need to knock you out for any amount of time." One Mistake seemed satisfied with this, climbing on to the table and lowering himself so that Serpells could easily access his mouth - much like their own Kumo Jinrui, he seemed used to how things worked in a laboratory.

Tapping a few buttons on his clipboard, Serpells changed the corridor locking system to direct his Protectors back to their rooms. He may be safe from One Mistake after this operation, but they would not be, and he needed to be certain that they were somewhere that the Kumo could not get to.

He then set to work on the formula for the Parasitian tongue. He had never altered it like the 'other' voice in his head suggested, but it was so surprisingly easy that he found himself wondering why he'd never considered it before.

Probably because it is not the sort of thing a saviour would waste their time on.

The voice didn't seem so strange with it's suggestion there, but it was becoming increasingly unfamiliar. That had been what he was thinking, and he did agree with it, but it was not the sort of thing that he'd say to himself... Still, there was little point in worrying about the voice now, as it was proving to very helpful.

"There, I've adjusted it to work better with your unique anatomy." A lie, the Parasitian cells would adjust themselves for that once they were inside One Mistake, but he had no chance of knowing that. "Hold still please." He injected the formula into the Kumo and stood back, waiting for the changes to take place. "Try to ignore the initial discomfort, the cells have to reorganize your entire body to allow for you to get full use of your new Parasitian tongue." He was surprised to find himself talking in such a clinical manner, but to the Kumo it probably seemed that he'd broken down and was simply doing as he was told.

((I'm not sure if Kumos actually have tongues or not, so I figured that I'd just let you take care of him growing one Shaon The main difference that OM will be experiencing is that he doesn't control everything that the tongue does. Which will probably annoy him quite a bit, I imagine.

Excuse the slight powerplay too, I didn't think you'd want to have to make a one line post saying 'Kumo got up onto the table'.

EDIT: Ugh, censoring is lame :/))

[Shaon]

((Doesn't matter, It's exactly what I'd post))

Discomfort.

Whatever. Nothing could harm him.

The first sensation was the one of growing a tongue. Be glad you probably won't ever have to experience it, because it's probably quite nasty.

After the sensation seemed to stop, the Kumo was eager to test out his tongue.

He began to move back into a standing position, when it hit him.

He physically stumbled, unsteady.

Hunger. Unbearable, insatiable hunger.

He could barely control himself, if at all.

The tongue had very much a mind of its own.

This wasn't planned -- this shouldnt've happened!

This couldnt've-- he must've--

"Serpells." He muttered, with pure hatred in his voice.

"Serpells, you are going to die!" He yelled, lunging.

His tongue, for whatever reason, decided this was an excellent proposition and followed its host's lead.

[3kul]

"W-weeper, release!"

Frantically tapping at his clipboard he scrambled back, all too aware of what One Mistake's new tongue could do to him, Serpells prayed that this all worked out as he had planned. The glass orb carrying the small creature from before shattered, emptying it's infantile contents in front of the now-deadlier than ever Kumo.

Fearing for it's life, the young creature begins to cry, scurrying to get behind Serpells as it does so. Tears were streaming down it's face as it shrieked in terror, though to Serpells these shrieks were as silent as it's crying. He did nothing to calm his creature, it was the only thing protecting him from One Mistake now.

One Mistake on the other hand, could hear it's cries quite clearly. More specifically the very sound waves would feel like an electric pulse throughout his body, preventing the Kumo from moving any further. It wasn't a particularily painful process from what Serpells had gathered from his research, but it was a numbing process in which the body suddenly became a useless dead weight that refused to do what the owner wanted it to do. According to one of the Parasitians that he'd tested it on, it was like what they imagined dying to be like, if your mind was still left to it's own devices in the corpse.

The Weeper had been specially designed by Serpells as his one and only defense against Parasitians, and it would keep him safe the next time he travelled to their Homeworld. Assuming that he ever got around to it that is, as things were he had to take care of his own Homeworld first. Straightening his jacket as he stood up, Serpells began to regain a little confidence. As a Kumo, One Mistake had been strange, unfamiliar and dangerous, but as a Parasitian... Well, he was still dangerous, but it was nothing that Serpells hadn't had to deal with before.

"Don't bother trying to get up 856, the Weeper's cries echo throughout every cell in that new tongue of yours. He's not going to be calming down anytime soon either, so you might want to listen closely as I explain the finer points of Parasitian life."

He paused for a moment's effect, taking care to double-check over the Kumo to ensure that he was truly being affected by the Weeper. He knew that the sound waves emitted by it's cries were enough to totally immobilize any Parasitian, but he had yet to fully understand the Weeper's abilities, so he didn't want to take any chances here. He had only created the Weeper as an Anti-Parasitian, with no particular aim in mind - this ability had been realized by pure chance, though there wasn't much of a way to tell when the Weeper would calm down, so he had to make this very quick.

"You're probably experiencing an intense hunger right now, something that is no doubt made worse by the fact that you didn't ever experience much hunger as an ordinary Kumo. As you've no doubt gathered by now, I've managed to trick you, although I'm certain that you had no way of predicting this little twist."

"You see 856, the Parasitian tongue that you bear is a little different from the standard tongue, yours is a mixture of a blessing and a curse."

"This tongue will move based on your instincts, so whenever you move to so much as harm a single cell of any organism the tongue will assume that you wish to eat this creature and proceed to do so."

"However," Serpells added, positive that Kumo had already realized what this meant, but he felt that by saying it aloud it would ensure that One Mistake realized the reality that he would be forced to live with. "As you are no doubt aware, the Parasitian tongue changes the body of it's owner, adding the genetic material of it's prey. For better or worse, you will now be forced to eat whomever you consider harming, taking on their genetic material as your own."

If Kumo hated him before, he'd really hate him now, but Serpells was satisfied. With this, One Mistake was no longer a danger to anyone. "The desire to eat alone is maddening for any Parasitian who is denied such an indulgence, but your special condition coupled with a desire for power like yours? I don't like to think much of what will become of you, 856."

[Shaon]

One began to slip and stumble, as his many legs folded under him.

If only he could move... then the arrogant tone in Serpell's voice would cause him to speak no longer.

He hated being wrong.

Too bad if he ate something, he needs to kill someone after this.

As he couldn't exactly speak, crumpled on the ground with his tongue lolling about, he instead directed his thoughts ((No, OM isn't telepathic. He's just wishing he was)) of anger and rage at Serpells and the creature behind him.

[3kul]

Serpells sighed to himself. Furious as the Kumo was, this was indeed over. All he needed to do now was find a way to get rid of the creature, though there would be plenty of time to do that.

As Serpells approached the lift that had led him here, One Mistake noticed that he was gradually regaining movement in his body.

"Not bad, my mirror, not bad at all."

A gravelly voice echoed throughout the lab, not unlike the one that Serpells had heard several moments ago, telling him to force the Kumo's hands. He turned about to see who was speaking, and was met with a terrifying sight.

A swirling black portal had appeared in the far wall, though as it had gone unnoticed by both Serpells and One Mistake up until now there was no telling how long it had been there for. The portal appeared to be similar to the blue one they'd seen earlier that day, though it was much smaller and more controlled than before, barely making a sound.

The owner of the voice appeared to be a man, if you could call him that at all. He was a hulking beast of a creature, twisted and black, smiling as he clutched the helpless Weeper in one of his large claws. The Weeper appeared scared to the point that it could no longer even open it's mouth, let alone unleash it's screams.

"This... 'Weeper', I believe you called it? An interesting creation, though it's nothing I haven't encountered before."

With a single arm movement that seemed like a casual throw, he hurled the Weeper through the clear glass-like material that covered the pit in the floor. The infantile creature smashed through the surface like it was a thin sheet of ice, slamming into the hard floor of the enclosure unconscious.

"Parastian abilities are wasted on the likes of you, Kumo." The gravelly voiced creature said to One Mistake, addressing him casually. "This is how it's done."

Snapping his other hand out, he seized a tiny creature from mid-air. It was the size of a small bird, and didn't appear very threatening at all, though Serpells' facial expressions said otherwise. "...What? ...Who?" Was all that he could manage as the gravelly voiced stranger shot a dark glance back in his direction. "A creature with a tongue for a body? Not bad mirror, but between the two of us it seems that I'm the more advanced one." Closing his hand tightly, a crunching sound could be heard as the stranger seemingly crushed the tiny creature, smiling to himself as if he'd just been told a funny joke.

"I won't take much of your time mirror, just your Kumo. The warp portal's not going to last forever after all, and I really don't enjoy to be reminded of your existance."

The stranger moved back towards the portal, revealing his spider-like legs for just a brief moment. Serpells had no idea who this was, but it seemed that almost as soon as he'd just incapacitated one seemingly unbeatable foe another one showed up. It was obvious that he couldn't stop this person, so he could only hope that Kumo would be led to his death in following him.

"Get a move on Kumo, unless you planned on staying here." The stranger says in a commanding tone. He doesn't seem to care for One Mistake that much, but he seems intent on taking the Kumo with him, regardles of how One Mistake felt about this.

((MirrorSerpells is shaping up to be a bizarre character, I get the feeling I might enjoy RPing as him

Btw let me know if I need to fix anything in this post Shaon.))

[Shaon]

One Mistake casually stood back up, as if nothing happened.

He shook his legs, one at a time, in order to make sure they are all functioning.

Walking towards the portal, he paused when next to Serpells.

He ducked down in the imitation of a bow.

"I thank you for your participation. I would better pay your hospitality, but it seems something important has come up."

With this, he stood back up, only ducking down again in order to fit into the portal.

Eight-foot giants have to do that.

[3kul]

The stranger grinned, glad that this Kumo had proven to be so obedient.

Laughing to himself as he quickly thought of something clever to say, he imitated the Kumo's bow and grinned towards his counter-part from this dimension. ~From one Serpells to another, keep up the good work.~

Cackling away at this, he entered the warp portal after One Mistake, disappearing as suddenly as he'd appeared. The warp portal closed instantly, leaving Serpells to wonder what exactly had just transpired here. "A second Kumo appeared, then I gave him a Parasitian tongue, and now somebody has taken him away..." He didn't really want to think about it, feeling physically and mentally exhausted, and only paused to get the Weeper into a new orb. The creature was terribly injured, but it would heal in time as he knew that it could.

Slowly making his way back up to the main lab, he deactivated the Sanctuary's lock-down procedure, releasing the Protectors from their holding cells. They rushed out to find their Saviour, pestering him with all manner of questions, but he dismissed them all with a wave of his hand and a single sentance. "We should resume searching for Byule." He felt a new sense of urgency in his work here on his Homeworld, and he retired to his personal quarters to contemplate how best to do this, leaving the Protectors wondering what the hell had happened.

The words of that monstrosity of a man still lingered in his mind as he lay himself down... 'from one Serpells to another'... Serpells knew that he had no living relatives, so this statement had to be incorrect... Didn't it? Overwhelmed with worry and concern, the Saviour found himself gradually drift into slumber.

Clak, clak, clak, clak.

Hard steps on a hard surface, the stranger and the Kumo had exitted the warp at their destination.

"One Mistake, 856, whatever you're called, you are a creature of great curiosity to me, but little else."

The stranger's voice was full of command, talking down to the Kumo, and he slammed a giant set of doors open. They were now in an enormous lab, filled to the brim with all manner of scientific equipment and scientists working frantically. One Mistake might be surprised to recognise some of them, though they may be subtly different from the ones he originally knew.

"As you are now, that tongue is useless to you. More of a disability than anything, as it's going to force you to eat whatever useless genetic crap that you try to harm."

A white wisp of a creature suddenly slithered up next to him, slowly bulking up to reveal something made almost entirely of thread-like hairs. She grinned at the new arrival and winked, though didn't say anything until she was sure that she'd be able to. "But my mirror counterpart isn't as clever as he likes to think he is, and I can fix that little problem for you... For a price." He stopped walking to open a new set of doors, opening to an almost pitch black hallway. Most normal people would barely be able to see through this, though the white hairy creature and the large black stranger seemed to have no problems at all.

"Eternal allegiance 856, that's what you'll give me in return for me turning you into one of the most powerful creatures in the multiverse." He grinned as he elaborated on what this would mean for the Kumo. "You will be a general to my armies, and we will unleash a new wave of destruction upon the pitifully weak masses that inhabit the universe that mirrors ours." Giving an equally wide grin that seemed a lot less foreboding than that of the dark stranger, the white creature added her own opinion to this. "Sounds fun, doesn't it? <3"