Chapter 4

While 2B and a few other androids were on their way to Azriel's location, the man himself was looking around the room searching for a weapon in case he needed to wack some mutated cockroaches when he stepped outside. He also realized that he was still wearing the same lab coat and jeans when he fainted which means they are really old, thousands of years old. But for some reason, they seem fresh. Just when he thought of changing clothes to something new, red tendrils emerged from his body changing his clothes into a black long sleeve casual shirt with a black vest on top and black pants with black socks and black shoes. (pic in paragraph comment)

Tendrils coming out of their bodies would scare anyone and it was the same for Azriel, except that he didn't have time to be scared as he suddenly felt fatigue wash over his whole body and fell to one knee.

It took some time for him to regain his strength and when he stood back up, he realized that he has new clothes on now. Then he remembered the tendrils. He was scared out of his mind, he thought the virus was dormant because of being frozen since he didn't feel anything unusual when he woke up. But now, he thought it is active and is going to mutate him into those mutated subjects.

He closed his eyes tight, tucked in his arms, and held his breath, waiting for the inevitable pain that would assault him when he mutates into a monster.

He waited and waited but felt nothing else happening so he peeked at his hands to see if they have mutated to become bone spikes but saw that it is still his normal everyday hand. He let go of his breath with a huge sigh, happy that he didn't die or mutate. But he was intrigued by what happened to his clothes.

He touched the 'fabric' of the clothe and felt it was smooth but also rough, it was a weird feeling. He touched his pants and shoes and they felt the same. He was obviously weirded out by the same sensations he felt from the clothes. Like it was a part of him instead of them being separate. They still act like normal clothes, as in, they still shift when moving different parts of the body.

He could pull his pants up to reveal his legs or pull his sleeves up to reveal his arms. He tried to take the shirt off and again red tendrils moved across his body for a bit to reveal that he is now half naked. He thought of wearing the shirt again but unlike the first time, he doesn't feel fatigued when his clothes came back out.

"Huh, neat," exclaimed Azriel.

Although he felt afraid the first time the tendrils came out and thought he was going to mutate, he got used to it pretty quickly thinking it was a part of him now. He is an easygoing individual who readily adapts to new situations. Like that one time, he was forced to eat insects to survive in the wilderness. He remembered feeling disgusted from having to eat an insect but the next thing he knew, he was crunching on them like potato chips humming a little song as he tried to make his way back to civilization.

"*chuckle*, who would've thought when he said survival training, he would literally drop me off in the middle of nowhere to survive on my own with nothing but a small knife. The fact that he even gave me a knife was a blessing. Haha." reminisced Azriel about his time learning under a military instructor.

He shook his head to get rid of unnecessary thoughts and refocused on the current situation. He doesn't know what the virus did to his body but he knows it would improve the body giving him superhuman abilities so he decided to try it out later. He wanted to try it out now but he knows that doing so would only make him fatigued and might even make him black out again. His body needs nutrients after being frozen for such a long time or so he thought.

His whole body has deteriorated, it was only a miracle that he survived being frozen for this long. But he knew it was no miracle. It was instead the virus that strengthened his body to survive the years of sleep.

He finally found a loose pipe jutting out from the wall near what seemed to be the exit door and pulled it free. He pulled it out with all his strength without realizing his increase in strength and fell back on the floor. He blankly stared at the pipe in his hands for a while and came to a conclusion that his strength really have increased. He didn't feel any fatigue though so he concluded that it was effortless to pull the pipe out.

With his now trusty pipe, named Steve, he made his way towards the exit. When he reached it he tapped on the panel beside it, hoping it would make the door slide open. But it didn't. The panel wasn't responsive and the door was sealed shut. With no other options, he decided to open up the panel to see what is wrong with it. He misjudged his strength again and pulled the panel too hard, ripping out the wires alongside the panel.

"Ah come on, I was just pulling it softly, why was it ripped apart!" complained Azriel.

"Hmm now that I think about it, how did I not damage the terminal when I was using it then? Guess the virus was still dormant till then." shrugged Azriel as he started to work on the wires inside the panel.

He tried tying up the wires in a way that would open the door but it didn't. He tried again but it was still nothing.

"Will I be stuck here forever?" Azriel asked himself with a wry smile.

He tried a few more times but the results were the same, nothing. So he decided to stop and see if there was anything else he could do or a vent he could climb into. He saw the terminal again and decided to see if there was a command on it to open the door.

There was. He felt stupid for not seeing it but blamed being frozen as what messed with his ability to think and see properly. At this point, he was slowly getting used to his newfound strength so when he used the terminal, apart from a few keys being smashed beyond recognition, he managed to not damage it further.

*pssh*

The door opened and Azriel made his way to it. He poked his head out the door, looking left and right, seeing if there was anything hostile. He held Steve tightly and ventured out of the room into a dark hallway. With the exception of the room he was in, which was airtight and devoid of any moisture, everything appeared to have rusted. The smell of rust and dust was very prominent as he unconsciously pulled his shirt up to cover his nose and mouth.

On the right, it was a dead end so he took left and walked slowly forward, ever vigilant for anything to pop up and kill him. Although he would have to rework his survival instincts again, he still remembered to be vigilant and not let his guard down and be ready for anything.

Along the way, he saw what used to be a bench and another door but was rusted to the point that it would fall apart just from touch. And it did fall apart with just a poke from Steve. Azriel decided to enter the room to search for useful items to survive but what he saw made him disappointed. The roof in the room has collapsed and the only thing left in the room were debris. He shook his head and walked back out into the dark hallway.

"Now that I think about it, there's no light here, how am I seeing things so clearly as if it was daytime? Guess I got night vision as well, cool." was all Azriel said as he continued moving along the hall.

He arrived at a fork in the hall where one way led right and the other left after a short while of walking.

"O.K! Left or right, left or right, hmm such a difficult choice. Steve, show me the way buddy," exclaimed Azriel as he let the pipe stand vertically and pushed it gently to see which direction it would fall.

"Alright, left it is, though I wanted to go right but eh, I will trust you, Steve," (Azriel)

After a while of silence, Azriel muttered "Ugh, what am I doing talking to a pipe, even naming it. And why Steve? So generic. Should've gone with Piper or Pipet, who knows, it could be feminine like in the french language.......Yeahhhh no, I am not good with naming at all. *sigh*,"

"Welp, onwards, towards my freedom!" exclaimed Azriel as he marched forward.