Seeking Strays - Chapter 93 - Locked Door (Patreon)

My grotesque, corrupted hand made me want to puke. Even just looking at it sent bolts of dysphoria through me, which only grew more and more sickening by the moment. It was a clear, physical reminder that I could never be normal. That I was a broken thing just waiting to break fully.

It curled into a fist as if it could hear my thoughts, and the claws dug into the rough padding. Like a mutt’s paw, it was covered in thick pads instead of a human’s skin. I could barely even feel it as the sharp claws dug in hard enough to draw blood. Fucking filthy.

Rend popped out without any hesitation. The spectral blue nanites formed into sharp claws that I brought toward my hand as I held it over the sink to make the cleanup easier. I stopped just short of slamming down. Was this… was this really such a good idea? I just patched things up with Sylvie, and something told me she wouldn’t approve of what I was about to do. 

“Finally grow a consciousness, Operator?” Vigil sat on the counter watching me. The plushie did not look happy… or as unhappy as a silver wolf stuffed animal could look. And, you know, as unhappy as an unfeeling robot could be.

”I have one. That’s the problem.” Did he mean conscience? I sighed, and Rend popped back into my body. I didn’t even have the mental capacity to congratulate Vigil on his tone.

I leaned forward heavily on the counter and looked up at myself. Honestly, I looked terrible. Like worse than usual terrible. Heavy bags hung from my eyes, making my already feral red eyes look even more menacing. My curly silver hair was a total mess, and I looked like I’d just gotten out of a brutal back alley street brawl.

At the very least, I’d changed clothes at some point. Or Sylvie had changed me while I was passed out from my psychotic break. I had on a tank top, leaving my bandaged arms fully exposed. I raised my human hand to my chest, and fixed a button so it didn’t look quite so… promiscuous. Then again, it’d be saying more about the other person if they thought I looked sexy covered in bandages and with a mutated left hand. My silver tail, still looking extremely scruffy, shot up to cover my hand so I wouldn’t have to see it. 

“Thanks, by the way,” I said after a moment. “And sorry… I didn’t treat you very well yesterday.”

”I could not lose you.” Vigil’s glowing eyes flickered. My tail gave a soft swish at his words. “It would make finding the Grail Knight problematic.”

”Heh, you really know how to cheer a girl up.” Despite my words, a soft smile toyed across my lips. I shook my head and lifted my monstrous hand. After a moment, I used the Universal Chroma to shift the black parts of it to silver. “How’d you inject me?”

”Not easily.” He lifted his legs. They were completely rounded off like any other plushie. The image of him fumbling with the syringe while trying to put me back on my meds almost made me laugh. “This unit has never missed having a normal chassis more.” 

He could miss things? I stared at the Titan Core suspiciously. “You would’ve been too big.”

”Affirmative.” Vigil fell silent at my words. I saw how big his Titan chassis was back at the downed ship. He wouldn’t have been able to even fit in my room, let alone pick up a small needle.

”Hey… is there any chance this could be fixed?” I waved my werewolf hand at him. That was the real reason I dragged him into the bathroom with me.

“Perhaps a chrome hand?“ Vigil asked. So he also thought cutting it off was the right call? Great minds really did think alike.

”Won’t work.” My healing-factor was too strong. They tried to rig me up with chrome back in the kennel, but it was extremely agonizing once my body forcibly started to mend itself and push the chrome out like it was a foreign body. Even the usual tricks didn’t work.

’Course, that didn’t stop them from trying and trying again. Pretty sure they even developed a next generation kind of medicine to help normal people deal with cyber-rejection, so at least there was that. It, uh, did not work on me no matter how much they wanted to make Barghest a cyborg. The only reason my Nanite Strains were fine was thanks to the Immuno Mask. Even being anomalous couldn’t save them from my fucked up body. 

“Don’t you have anything? Or knowledge of anything, at least?” I asked. 

”This unit is unsure… theoretically, Genome Stabilizers could help.” The Biosystems popped up in front of my eyes as he spoke. “They are an uncommon medicine even by the Dominion’s standards, though there is a chance we could acquire them.”

++ Catalogs Available: ++

| Blackwater Consumables Catalog - 100 V |

Blackwater Consumables… it was the last Catalog of the three that were offered to me. Just to be sure, I went ahead and checked the daily rotation in the Blackwater Anomalous Catalog like I did every time I woke up, but there wasn’t anything for me in it.

If Genome Stabilizers were rare by the Dominion, then they would be impossible to find in Silverport. “You think there’s inhibitors in the catalog too?”

”Potentially…” Vigil’s eyes flashed in speculation. “The cost effectiveness would not be nearly as high as buying them on the black market.”

“Heh, right.” Money flowed much easier than Vitae. Unless I went on a killing spree and slaughtered people by the hundreds. Even then, I saw from the Fog Crawlers that consuming the same source over and over again started to give diminishing returns. 

| Subject: Reyna Vargriev

Subject Species: Silver Wolf Apex

Subject Profile: 

STR - 3.0 ACU - 1.3

AGL - 2.6 PSI - 2.8

RES - 0.8 ANM - 0.2 

Traits: Regeneration, Rage, Mutant, Witness, Stygian Growth Serum

NLC - 10/158

=Blackwater Anomalous Biosystems V7.77

=Blackwater Anomalous Rend

=Blackwater Anomalous Universal Chroma

=Templar Basic Immuno Mask(10)

Vitae: 166

Blackwater Catalogs: Basic Nyter, Blackwater Anomalous |

My stats went up! I tried to celebrate that at least mentally, but there was honestly too much on my mind to give it much focus. STR finally hit 3 times a normal, healthy human. ‘Course, it wasn’t to the level of supernatural, technically. The best strongman weight lifter in the world was probably around a 4.5 or so, but my muscles also weren’t ballooned out to the point my mobility was limited.

My Vitae also shot through the roof. 25 for the Anarch’s heart, and I’d killed probably hundreds of those Fog Crawlers when they swarmed on me after she died. It was more than enough to afford the Catalog and risk it. Cutting was still my number one solution outside of that. 

“Are you, uh, still manipulating my Biosystem status?” I asked.

”Affirmative.”

I nodded my head a few times. It was convenient most of the time, but now wasn’t quite the time. ”Could you not for a bit? I… I need to see the damage.” 

“… are you sure, Operator?”

”Yes, Vigil. I’m sure.” What? It wasn’t like the Biosystems were going to call me an abomination or something, right? Heh… yeah, there was no way. 

| Subject: Reyna Vargriev

Subject Species: Silver Wolf Apex (Pending)

Subject Profile: 

STR - 3.0 ACU - 1.3

AGL - 2.6 PSI - 2.8

RES - 0.8 ANM - 0.2 

Traits: Regeneration, Rage, Mutant, Witness (Pending), Stygian Growth Serum, Aberrant, Corrupted

NLC - 10/158

=Blackwater Anomalous Biosystems V7.77

=Blackwater Anomalous Rend

=Blackwater Anomalous Universal Chroma

+++++

=Templar Basic Immuno Mask(10)

Vitae: 166

Blackwater Catalogs: Basic Nyter, Blackwater Anomalous 

59 Warnings! |

Heh… Aberrant? I’d almost rather it call me an abomination. At least I knew what that meant. “Why are there two pending notifications?”

“The Biosystem’s biomonitoring seems unsure on how to classify you, Operator. This unit believes it has to do with your Aberrant trait.” His eyes blinked a few times. “As for the warnings, there is no need to worry.”

“Oh, good! No need to worry. It’s just 59 warnings.” I was very, very worried. 

”… this unit will show you the most prevalent of the warnings. The rest are things that should be taken care of in due time, or byproducts of the main issues.” The status window blinked out, and a new one popped up.

| Warnings:

Biological Divergency

Mild Psionic Corruption 

Unstable Genome

Mark of the Netherworld

Prolonged Exposure to Psionic Corruption

Unstable Mental Health (compounding)|

“Those are the worst ones?” They didn’t look so bad. The first two were definitely thanks to getting off my meds. The first three, actually, if Genome Stabilizers could actually help me. “Mark of the Netherworld?”

Vigil’s eyes swept over the status window like he too was reading it. ”It appears the nun from the cathedral Overlap is to blame. This unit is unable to detect such a thing, so I am unsure.” 

Great. As if I didn’t have enough things to worry about. Some multi-dimensional demon hunting me down was just the tip of the iceberg. It was a very, very big iceberg, too. Hell would have to get in line behind Hades and Harbor.

Prolonged exposure to… why was that a warning? Did Psykers not corrupt wherever in the Dominion? The Biosystems made it seem like Psionic Corruption wasn’t normal. There wouldn’t be a warning about prolonged exposure otherwise. “Compounding Unstable Mental Health is a little unnecessary.”

“Operator, if I hadn’t injected you, you would’ve fully turned by now,” Vigil said flatly. “Can you really say you’re in a perfect condition?”

“… fair enough.” I shook my head. I didn’t want to think about it, so I quickly shuffled through the status screen and bought the Blackwater Consumables Catalog.

| Black Ichor-B - 150 V 

| Chimera-B - 25 V

| Templar Clotshot-B - 15 V

| Templar Medigel-B - 15 V

| Templar Genome Stabilizer(6m) - 1000 V

| Templar Universal Nanite Repair Fluid-B - 15  V

| Drewster Brewster Witchblood(banana)-B - 50 V

| Drewster Brewster Warhound(tropical)-B - 50 V

| HedgeField Genome Stabilizer(1m) - 50 V

| WageMage Golimer-A - 625 V

| Next >

“What’s with the letters after everything, Vigil?” It was the first thing I noticed. 

“It’s an efficacy grading system. Basic, Advanced, Supreme.” Vigil easily cleared up my confusion. “Beware, Operator, there appear to be a lot of illicit drugs banned by the Dominion here.”

“Like Chimera and Black Ichor?” They sounded like drugs. Not to mention they didn’t have a corporate creator tied to them like everything else.

”Indeed. Chimera is a temporary mutagenic substance, and can create temporary Reavers. Black Ichor is a controlled carcinogenic that can totally repair tissue at a 75% chance of permanent genome damage.” So he had knowledge about drugs in that tin head of his? It would’ve been nice if he kept some other details too. “Ask me before buying anything.”

”There’s only one thing I’m buying anyway.” My eyes locked onto the HedgeField Genome Stabilizer. It would last a month, which was honestly extremely manageable considering I ran through inhibitors twice a month if not more on bad weeks. The six month variant from Templar, on the other hand, was crazy expensive. “This is what you were talking about, right?”

”Indeed.” Vigil’s eyes flashed dimly. 

Heh… It was yet another drug I’d have to be on if I wanted to remain myself. I still thought just cutting it off was the best bet, but I had a feeling it’d grow back just as warped and corrupted. According to the Biosystems, my very DNA was corrupted, which meant my body would just grow back the werewolf hand thinking it was doing the right thing. 

I shook my head and bought the Genome Stabilizer. At the very least, it shouldn’t be impossible to upkeep. I got 30 Vitae a month just from surviving, so I’d only need to consume a few creatures to stay myself. Funny how that didn’t even seem so bad anymore compared to everything else. 

The air in front of me split in two, and an ominous rift opened up. A small gun-like device tumbled through it into my outstretched hand. The rough padding along the fur covered hand awkwardly clutched at the thing. Thankfully, it’d be gone soon and back to normal skin and flesh. Assuming this thing worked anyway. 

Vigil swept the gun-thing in my hand with a red light. “There should be a button on the PulseHypo that’ll turn it on. Line up the green dot with the red circle in your elbow. Hold it slightly away from your skin.”

“PulseHypo?” I found what he was talking about almost immediately. It was in the same spot a safety would be. The moment I clicked it, a short blue light shot out of the barrel.

I followed his instructions and lined the PulseHypo up with my arm. A holographic array of blue lines—my veins I realized—ran up along my arm where it swept. There were several small red nodes all throughout my arm, but the biggest a large red circle right where he said it was. The moment I put my finger on the trigger, a green laser sight marked my skin.

The moment I pulled the trigger, a sharp hiss of air erupted into the air and a jolt hit my arm. A Blackwater rift opened up and swallowed the PulseHypo once the medicine was administered. The greedy bastards…

”Am I supposed to feel different—“ My words died in my throat as what felt like fire erupted across my left hand. The fur rapidly fell out, turning the werewolf hand pitifully naked in an instant. I leaned forward heavily onto the counter, panting as every single nerve up my arm screamed in unison.

”You may feel a slight sting as the Genome Stabilizer temporarily fixes your genetic code.” Vigil oh so helpfully informed me. 

“Yeah.” My wolf ears flattened. It felt like there were millions of scalpels impaling every part of me. If this was what he considered light, I never wanted to experience heavy pain.

In real time, the warped and mutated flesh slowly started to shrink back down into my normal pale skin. My bones cracked, reshaping to how I’d originally been just a day before. Or close enough, anyway. My fingernails had darkened and hardened, looking more and more like the claws of a wild mutt. I usually painted them, but…

I carefully stretched out my hand, and felt the air against my skin. Crazy how much I took just looking normal for granted. I lightly stroked the back of my skin. It was like nothing even happened. If I let the nails on my right hand grow out to match, there’d basically be no sign that something was wrong. 

This wasn’t a total loss, either. Just most of one. I at least spent 150 Vitae, which put me significantly closer to my goal to open up the Blackwater Relay once more. I only needed to spend 125 more. I was getting closer and closer. Maybe one more month, and I’d unlock more catalogs?

”Reyna!” Sylvie knocked on the door. 

“One sec.” I grabbed Vigil off the sink and unlocked the door. I was originally planning on cutting it off, so I didn’t want my sister walking in on me.

”It’s all—you fixed it?” Her eyes immediately locked onto my hand. She grabbed it, and held me close as she ran her fingers over me. My tail swayed softly behind me as I in turn watched her.

”I told you.” A touch of pride filled my voice. I would’ve fixed it regardless. She just needed to trust me more. I would’ve even got a chrome hand if I needed to, regardless of the fact that I’d have to continually prune the stump to keep it from growing back. 

“Yeah… yeah, you did. Regeneration is your psionic ability, then?” She let go of my hand. 

“Um, part of it.” I couldn’t quite meet her eyes. I used to be so good at lying, so why couldn’t I tell a good one to her anymore? “I’m about to fall over. Will you wake me back up when Quinn gets here?”

”Don’t worry about it, big sis!” She pulled me into a tight hug, and rubbed her cheek affectionately against mine. “Go sleep on the couch. I’ll have everything cleaned up!”

”S-sorry…” My tail lowered as she guided me to the couch like a stray lamb being led back to the herd.

“It’s fine, it’s fine!” Sylvie waved off my concern. “I get to help you for once, so I’m pretty happy with it!” 

“You help me all the time, Sylvie.” She was literally my will to live. If that wasn’t helping me, then I didn’t know what was. 

“Maybe, but this is different. Leave it to me!” She looked so very cheerful. I should’ve just cleaned it myself, but the words died in my throat at her expression. Instead, I let myself be lured back to sleep. This time around, though things were far from perfect, the love and affection I felt were genuine.

— — —

AN: Yeah, the decision to go back on that Overlap was exactly what I needed. Thank you all for your words back then! It really helped me figure out what I wanted.

Oh, and next chap Sylvie POV, promise. I did see the requests for it.