16. Experimentation and Invasion

(Matt's PoV)

June 8th, 2011.

Going back to our regularly scheduled trip.

I don't know if sparing those guys is the best move, but I can at least say I tried. The good thing about having perfect memory is that I remember all their faces, so if they "relapse" so to speak, I'll know.

I like solving problems, not letting them fester.

That mood-killer aside, I'll pass through Indiana and Illinois on my way to Kansas City. I've heard the state of Missouri still dishes out death penalties.

At least with those people, I can test the more intrusive aspects of biokenesis, particularly its effects on the brain.

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June 12th, 2011.

There were fewer people on death row than I thought and getting in the prison to touch one of them was risky... or would be, but Caby walked me through the camouflage systems and we were in there in no time.

The experiments themselves were very productive. As soon as I touched him and thought about changing his brain chemistry I knew what I had to do to get him to feel whatever I wanted him to.

I could make him angry, sad, in love, depressed or ecstatic. A quick search told me this particular guy I was experimenting with was a somewhat famous serial killer, so I might have gone a little bonkers and tested pretty much all I could think of on him.

The results? Well, messing with brain chemistry affects the whole body. Making small alterations is fine, but if you mess it up too much, some other bodily functions get affected.

Let's put it like this: if I make an already happy-disposed person happier in general or happier when some specific triggers happen, it's basically fine, according to this one test I did. However, if I start changing things drastically - like making a generally happy person suddenly depressed - the body almost gets whiplash and tries to fix itself. It's not pretty.

Not saying it's impossible, just time-consuming and complicated. Good thing I don't plan on using this often, if at all.

It was weird seeing the guy change expressions and tones of voice as I changed his brain. The weird kind of weird, the kind I don't like seeing...

I could say the experiment is concluded, but I don't know if it was a success...

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June 18th, 2011.

It's been a few days and I decided to pick up the pace.

I would love to extend my impromptu road trip through the States, but I don't know much about this world other than the Kaiju invading and that one clue I got about the Hoover Dam.

I don't know what is in there since those servers are on a closed loop not accessible through the internet. Still, that's my best lead so far, since that place was mentioned in other servers I accessed.

With that in mind, I sped through Oklahoma and New Mexico, now getting to Arizona.

The media mostly moved on from the Blue Alien. I say "mostly moved on", but I mean to say they covered that one appearance so much that audiences were sick of it by now. Everyone wanted to know more about the Alien, but not the same 10 things everyone always talks about.

The main point people noticed and commented on was my ease of controlling technology. Of course, given that I gave them blueprints of new solar panels and better radiation-isolating technology, it doesn't take a genius to understand that I either have a very high understanding or some control over it.

Some people even suggested magic! Preposterous, I say!

They also want to know more about my interaction with General Deshaun; the man was interviewed extensively. He made sure that I was painted in a negative light at every opportunity he had, saying I was a menace to mankind and that my blueprints had trackers or were designed to fail.

Needless to say, the scientific community proved him wrong with their analysis. I asked Caby to keep the articles that analyzed the techs pop up more when the theme is researched. They sure tried to suppress them.

The scientific community is a hive of activity to this day. Some tried to debunk the blueprints, others tried to understand it and a few gifted ones posted articles trying to improve upon it. They are all theoretical in nature, but there are a couple of businesses already building prototypes.

They took a while to start production because they found that some of their machinery wasn't able to manufacture the necessary components.

On another note, the military made another attempt at Pentecost; so much bullshit happened where he lived, that he just picked up his things and moved to the other side of the U.S.

They waited to see if I dropped my guard to finally strike. I asked Caby to stop the Integration process just so he could comb through all the servers that could be accessed remotely. We prepared a very special surprise for anyone that tried to fuck with that guy again.

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It was an eventful week, that's for sure. Now I'm a few hundred meters away from Hoover Dam and it all looks... normal? It's a tourist attraction and I even see (through the telescopic vision of the Scarab Armor) some people hanging around and taking photos, enjoying the morning sun.

|Scan successful. Some armed individuals were identified moving through the crowd, though they were dressed in civilian clothing. They all have the same type of disguised short-wave radio device, which might mean they have communication between themselves or with the possible base. Initiate deeper geological scans?|

'Go ahead.' I say as the armor opens around my mouth and I eat some Lays..

Caby starts scanning the whole place deeper and I ponder how to approach this. I don't know for sure there's a base here, but with the data on the other base and this radio peculiarity here-

{It could just be the radio the security use to communicate, you know~}

-I would like to make sure. 'That is a valid explanation, but better safe than sorry.'

Oh, and I was eating because I discovered very drastically that I still need sleep, however little it is now. The whole "soul sustains the body", only works for the explicit things the Protections said. That means sleep is still needed. The other things being so well sustained (and my bond with Symby) help staving off the need for sleep for a long while, but it still needs to be met. Eating and breathing seem to extend the time I can stay awake.

And I like Lays, sue me.

|Scans show deeply structured foundations around the dam - expected for such a construction. The foundations also sustain facilities leading downwards. The scans show two elevator shafts as well: one fit for human use and one big enough for big machinery to pass through. The scans were stopped by a strange frequency - it resembles the technology found in the Anomalous dimension, although much more refined and powerful.|

That is concerning. The scan... failed?

'Yeah, we're going in there, pulling out all the stops.'

As I turned the rest of the Lays bag in my mouth and started psyching myself up, Symby spoke up.

{You know, I could help you boys 'scout the place', if you want~}

I narrow my eyes, 'How so?'

{I can spawn another symbiote-}

'I think it's better if you don't. I don't want a Carnage situation.'

{So rude. Ok, I can split a part of me and go there myself. I can't fully detach from you without a long and painful process since we're bonded now, but this much should be doable...}

The hesitation at the end is alarming, 'What is it?'

{...What~?} Is she trying to divert the topic?

'Speak up, Symby. If whatever is in there can stop Caby's scans then it needs our full attention. Don't keep any secrets now.' I try to convey all my seriousness about the situation to her.

{Okay, Okay! It's just going to hurt me like a bitch, but I can do it! Meanie...}

I blink a few times, expecting a convoluted problem.

'Huh... sorry? No, I mean, I'm sorry. Do you think that if this part of yourself was affected by something or someone in there, you could recover? Or would it hurt you now and in the long term?'

{Hmmm, I can't say for sure~ It's going to hurt a lot now and I'll be kinda loopy as I try to control the other piece of... me? But I should be fine if it dies, as I have a looot of biomass being force-fed into me. Besides, I'm a symbiote! I'm not just going to go in there in my slime form; I'll get into one of the sus guards and when they go down, I'll be there~!}

'Ok, that's doable. You split yourself - sorry about that - cover me with the get-up we use to disguise the antennae and I touch one of the guards. Try to stay hidden or take complete control of them as quickly as possible, ok?'

{OK! Now... uggggghhhhhh} And she proceeded to moan and grunt like a constipated person for a good 10 minutes.

Joy.

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I dislike crowds. Brushing against people, bumping into people, touching other people... people. I don't hate people as in I'm a loner or can't make friends, I hate the 'regular people'. I can't say I thought I was a "Main Character" back in my homeworld, but some people just scream Annoying Crowd sometimes.

Loud, unreasonable, dumb, lazy, stupid, Karen or Kyle. The adjectives go on.

That makes tourist attractions not really work for me, at least when they are crowded. I can enjoy it if I turn my "no fucks given" mode, so to speak, but I generally prefer spending time with close friends or just exploring on my own.

... ok, maybe I am a bit of a loner, sometimes.

Focusing back on the task at hand, I weave through the crowd with the ease my smaller frame allows me and get reasonably close to the human-sized access elevator. My long-sleeved shirt grows a strangely black glove over my left hand and I pretend to bump into a person just to the side of one guard.

The "glove" stuck to that person's clothes and when they turned to see who bumped into them, Symby jumped to the guard, slipping into their clothes and out of view, for now.

As we planned before, the Scarab armor - already in camouflage mode - covered me and I literally disappeared in the crowd.

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(Symby's severed part's PoV)

Fusing with people was supposed to feel nice, but only the ones compatible with us. So getting into this girl was not a fun experience; not for me and not for her.

"Command, I'll have to take a leave for health reasons - requesting replacement for position I-56, India-56." She basically whispered into the radio, breaking into a cold sweat.

Seriously, our compatibility can be considered only below average, but I'm only working with a fraction of myself. I need to "take" more from my supposed partner. She does not have that much to give me, however.

I'll have to change bodies as soon as possible.

She exchanged a few more words with the command on the other side of the radio and eventually was cleared to go down the elevator into the facility. On the way there we passed by another guard: He was close enough for me to consider jumping to him but just far enough that it was too risky to try.

Damn it!

She got to the elevator and pushed the buttons in a specific order, leaning into one of its walls. The ride was long and I could feel she was already developing a fever and would soon start becoming dizzy. I need someone else, fast!

When the doors opened, she spoke to some guards and answered a few security questions - they seemed to know her and skipped a few, seeing her obvious health state.

She stumbled through a few more doors, punching unnecessarily long security codes (Which I memorized, just in case Matt asked me about them), and finally got to a lounge-like area, where she promptly lay on a couch.

Just as I was thinking about leaving her and going through a vent or similar small passage in my slime form, two more people entered the room.One wearing obvious medical gear and the other wearing a military-looking uniform.

"Lilian, what are you feeling?" Said the soldier-looking one.

"I don't know... maybe the heat got to me? I'm not... feeling very good, is all..." She tried to put up a strong front, but I could tell; a few more hours of this and she would die.

The soldier boy tried to get close to her, but the medic stopped him.

"Let me examine her before any physical touch." Was his stern warning.

When he touched her general chest area, to examine her heart rate, I climbed up his arm and started to fuse with him.

As soon as I got into place, I almost recoiled - this was even worse than the girl! It was such a reaction that even the doctor suddenly lurched forward in a coughing fit.

"Doctor?" Soldier boy held the doctor by his shoulder and I was not letting that chance pass me by.

I climbed up his skin this time, proud that none of them felt me doing so.

As I fused with him, I felt that this compatibility, while not ideal, was doable enough for the job.

I started taking over (this guy actually put up remarkable effort!) and pat the doctor on the shoulder two more times before getting up.

"Well, doctor, I'll leave you to it. Lilian, you can talk to me when you feel better, ok?" I said, putting "my" trembling hands behind my back. The doctor and Lilian were still feeling bad but will recover in due time.

"Cough cough Sure thing. You can return to your post." Said the doctor, finally getting a hold of himself.

I hesitated, combing over recent memories of the body, before nodding and going to my objective.

Luckily for me, this guy's post was inside the main area.

Walking through more security checkpoints - these with no guards, only keypads - I eventually got to the main facility.

It's a massive underground space, with gigantic machinery and some modified access cranes holding entire labs and tools to try and chip away the thing they built this whole facility around: a massive fucking... cube.

Now, I don't have a clue why this cube is so special, but I can definitely see it's special. It has these geometrical shapes and squiggly lines that look like hieroglyphs. And of course, it's fucking MASSIVE. It's also cracked in some places, but from the look of things, it wasn't anything these humans did.

A curious detail is that I don't feel any different here (besides being in another body, of course), so maybe that weird frequency thing only works for things outside?

Some official saw me looking at the cube and barked a few orders at me, prompting me to keep walking to "my" post.

I just thought... how do I get out now?

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(Matt's PoV)

{Ok, I'm back~ So, good news and bad news, boys! The good news is, there's a HUUGE cube down there; massive, check; cracked and with light coming off of it, check; weird circuit-like lines and hieroglyphs, check. It's all kinds of weird and sus!}

'... and the bad news is?' I ask, skeptical.

{...My other little piece is going to die, drowning down a toilet pipe!} She bawls.

A sigh escapes my lips, 'Rest in peace, little Symby Junior. Anything else?'

{Oh! The weird frequency you guys were worried about, I didn't feel it in there.}

'That's actually good news-'

|Can you feel it from here?|

{...}

'...'

|...|

{...no?}

UGH.

'Ok, camouflage and we go in. Caby, what's the success rate of the integration between the Scarab Armor and the Nanites?'

|The success rate is now at a stable 73%. I still do not recommend doing it now, as many far-off parts of the Nanites have not yet been reached.|

'Damn! Ok, no power-ups before the go. We do it now. Stop the process; full attention here.' Symby has the decency to feel ashamed, but I brush past it. 'Don't worry, you tried. At least give me the memories of your time there, please?'

{ok...} This is the saddest I've ever felt her be.

'Symby, I know you're sorry, but please, get your head in the game. This could be dangerous and I'll need both of you to watch my back. So, cheer up, ok?'

{Ok.} I feel our connection grow stronger again and see flashes of memories she passes me.

Passwords, Passkeys, security questions... the way. Got it.

'Let's get in there.'

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It's now 3 p.m. I've spent the past two hours or so observing the guard's movements and listening to their radio frequency. They don't speak a lot into it and when they do, they speak mostly to their command center. The command center has all the good stuff: all the frequencies from up here (both these civilian-clothed ones and the actual security of the touristic part of the dam), connections to their underground facility, and even an encrypted channel that did not see chatter while I was monitoring it.

I did look into it and the access this command center gives to the underground facility is surface level at best.

They really went all out with the security of the place.

Still, I had their systems bent to my whim with a well-placed touch and Caby's influence controlled everything. A request for the elevator brought us in there and down towards the facility.

'I'm tense... it's fine, it's fine. Symby, double coverage. Underneath.'

{On it!}

'Other than that... I'm ready to activate my aura at any time. It's ok, it's just a cube... yeah, right.' I mentally eye-roll. I don't believe it at all.

The elevator pings and I silently move out of it. The soldiers on the first checkpoint look confused at the elevator, one of them even radios the command center asking why the elevator got down without anyone in it. Of course, the communications were off for now.

I started to hover as lightly as I could, provoking a steady, but low hum. The soldiers were confused for a second, but the elevator closing and starting to go up again distracted them and I slowly made my way above them, only getting down to go through the door.

It's all going great, they are trying to contact command and are not paying attention to the door slowly opening-

I dash upwards as fast as I can silently move, just in time for a guy to come through the door. He almost closed the door, but a fast spider-like arm held it open for me.

They started talking about a comms failure and I slipped into the door.

'I'll have to knock out the guards on the next guarded checkpoint.'

Passing door after door with a simple touch (all isolated security panels), I finally reach the last checkpoint before the main facility.

The soldiers here are talking to each other about how the comms are not working and that the place is quarantined.

As soon as I got close to the checkpoint's door, Caby chimed in.

|The anomalous frequency starts here. I cannot access the outside frequencies anymore. Trying to decrypt...|

While he does that, I get right behind both of them, quickly flare my aura, and bonk them both on the back of the head. I didn't hit one of them quite right and he fell with a grunt, but I quickly socked him in the face and he went out like a light. I made them both fall into a deep slumber, just in case they wake up.

With that out of the way, I touched this last door and I finally could sense the interior of the facility.

Technology galore, all over the place. The door opened as I gawked at the sheer amount of technological devices and machinery around here. It was a great view, but knowing what is that cube is priority. The moment I interfaced with the panel, I felt the technology all around.

It's grand, majestic, almost if... alive. The wires, the cranes, the routers, the fridges, the ar conditioners, everything was in harmony... but something was wrong.

Looking right at the Cube smack dab in the middle of the facility, it pulsed with an almost silver light to my eyes, enticing me to come over and touch it-

{MATT!}

The whole reason I'm here is right there, I just need to reach out and grab it.

{DAMN IT! ARRGHH!} I felt a pulsing in my head, a pulling in my stomach, a feeling like something was wrong.

But this feels right. 'I think I'm ready, Caby. Start the integration process.' I intone, as I slowly hover over to the Cube. Idly, I felt like this was my objective... but I already knew that, right?

{Armor, do something!}

|... Integration process initiating.|

{NOT YOU TOO!}

This annoying buzzing aside, it's time.

The Scarab Armor stops enveloping me and I land just a few steps from the gigantic cube. I can already feel it's energy pulsing, eager to flow into me and change me. Make something greater out-

|Integration process initiated.|

"What?" I said and blinked. My hands were a few inches away from the cube.

{Thank god! Matt, that thing had you acting weird! You weren't even hearing me!!}

I frown, 'Why? Or rather how?' I was starting to feel a steady itch run through my whole body. 'Caby said something about Integration?'

{Yeah, as soon as he said it, you snapped out of it! Is this really what we are here to get?}

I take a look at the cube, even as I hear the movement of people around and behind me. I was spotted.

This cube gave me a feeling of... wrongness. It's like this is what I've been looking for, but it... shouldn't be? 'What the fuck?'

{Matt, if this is the thing, then do your thing! The guys around are NOT happy you're here!} Just as she said, the movement around me was intensifying.

'If there is a thing, this is the thing alright.'

But how do I do it?

|Integration process hindered. EVO nanites resisting integration.|

'Why did I start this shit now!?'

"WHOEVER YOU ARE, PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR, YOU ARE SURROUNDED!" A voice spanning the whole place vociferates. Looking around, several soldiers are pointing their rifles at me. Some of them were reaching for side arms, while some others were picking up higher caliber guns or explosives.

'... I gotta do it, don't I?' The Scarab armor and the nanites were not available during the integration... the integration itself was not going well. I could probably take these guys with just the Symbiote, but the thing is right there. 'Maybe if I just touch it, it's over.'

{When you were weird, you wanted to touch it! Be careful.}

'It sounds crazy, I know. But it feels like I need to touch it to be done with it.'

"SHOOT IT!!!" The voice bellowed again. The soldiers started to shoot.

I took a deep breath, even as the bullet impacts jabbed at my body. "I hope I'm right." And I took a step forward and touched it.