The Vespidian

Arc 2: Me, Myself and Neon Nurse

Chapter 7

Morning came quickly. It had only been a few short, sweet hours of rest. I wanted nothing more than to just bury my head into the pillows and sleep, but an alarm started buzzing. It was coming from outside of my room, and I stared out the glass at Neon Nurse’s sleeping form. She did not slumber in a bed, instead a tube-like thing with wires connected to all sorts of parts. On the second repeat of the alarm, she woke, pulling herself free and tidying up.

“Oh, look at you up so early. Did you sleep well?” She asked, checking on me.

“Yeah, it was good to not be scared.”

“Am I that comforting to have around?” Neon Nurse grinned to herself, opening up the room to let me out.

“What are we doing today?” I asked, following her back to her lab.

“Not too much, just some more tests. I need to scan your brain and the rest of your body. Robo Snakes and Worms can find out a lot, but I need a map to see what is going on. Eventually, we can start seeing where your brain activity is. I am curious about a whole host of things involving it. Don’t worry, it is just a scan. I will not be cracking your head open and getting my hands in there. Though I would love to do that.”

“Well, that is both scary and reassuring. Promise me you won’t go sticking your hands in my brain.” I smiled slightly.

“Silly, I would never do that to a patient unless they were undergoing a cybernetic augmentation. I may not have a degree, but don’t you worry. I am a talented physician; after all, I operated on myself, you know.”

“How did you do that?”

“Well, it was not easy, let me tell you. Do you know how hard it is to take your own brain out and put it into a new body? I could go on about that for hours, but for now, just lay down here, and I am going to scan your head.” She pointed to a flatbed that could be fed into a vast machine.

I hesitated for a moment, but it did not look too different from a cat scan or MRI machine. I laid down, and she fed me into it. Things got dark then a dull blue light started to move. My abdomen lay flat between my legs so that it could be scanned properly. I felt weightless for a few long moments as the light moved steadily over my body. It stopped in a couple spots and went back up a few inches, then continued. It took a few hours to thoroughly scan everything. All the while, I just lazed about in there, imagining myself somewhere else. At last, it ended, and the bed gently exited. I sat up light-headed.

“How was it? Any pains or discomfort?” Asked Neon Nurse.

“Not really, just a little disoriented.”

“Oh, that always happens due to the anti-gravity field. The scans went exceedingly well. However, there was an anomaly. You have a microchip in your brain.” She pointed it out on the screen, and there certainly was a tiny metal chip there.

“What is it?”

“Hard to say, but I think it is a tracking device. At the least, that is what the frequency analysis said. It seems harmless to your health, though, so I would not worry about it too much.”

“Can it be removed?” I asked, worried that Molotov might know precisely where I am.

“I would not try it. It is lodged right up in there. Honestly, your brain is far more complex than I first thought. Everything is larger, for instance, and an extra heart and mini pair of lungs in your brain. If I look at this correctly, you have three hearts and three sets of lungs. Your brain has its own circulatory system, which would explain a lot, including how it could sustain itself at three times the mass of a human brain.”

“Three times the size?”

“Yes, and there appears to be an organ to create and process pheromones in your abdomen. When you vent, it releases something of a breeding signal to potential mates. We would have to do a lot more testing on this, though. We are breaking new grounds here.”

“So every time I vent, I am essentially saying come fuck me?” I gave her a strange look.

“That would depend on your state of arousal. But from what I have tested so far, bugs, particularly of the Vespula, Formicidae, and Anthophila variety, are driven into a mating pitch when exposed to your smell. Wasps, bees, and ants for the layman. Especially the Queens, they congregate and wallow in the stuff.”

“So my smell makes wasps, bees and ants go mad?”

“Indeed. It also affects humans to a lesser degree. I can only imagine what two of your species would do if they interacted. Who knows, you might be able to communicate through nothing more than pheromones.”

“Does that mean I could control them?”

“Possibly. Everything is theoretical at this stage, so testing is required.”

“My brain hurts; let’s give this a break. I want a burger.”

“You want to go outside?”

“Yeah, is that a problem?”

“It is a little bit. You are under quarantine. You might carry diseases, microbes, viruses, fungus, and all manner of other things that could harm humans. I am perfectly safe because my body is an enclosed environment. Still, the higher-ups are worried that a plague might spread.”

“Fine, just send me back to my room so I can sleep this off.”

“Don’t be that way.” She pouted. “There is so much we can learn from you.”

“Fuck that; I want a burger.”

“I can get you food. Just stay here and don’t wander off.” Said Neon Nurse wagging her finger at me. I nodded absently.

Though she said not to wander off, she locked the room, so I had no choice but to stay. There was not much to do, so I sat patiently. The room buzzed with little robos. They scurried around doing things; every single one of them had a purpose. I did not know what they were doing, but they sure did. Vials and tubes were ferried to various stations, all while mechanical arms worked on more robos. Neon Nurse’s lab was autonomous. She did not even have to be here for it to work.

Something was mesmerizing about seeing the pieces put together with such precision. Each fitting together ideally to create a new and wondrous machine. Robo limbs were churned out at an astounding pace and neatly stacked in boxes for transport or storage. I was beginning to see where she was making all that money. Where was she getting all of the raw materials, though? This was some high-grade-looking stuff, after all.

The robo spider sat on the table, mostly complete, the outside at the least. It was more of an empty husk with wires dangling out. The overall design was like a black widow. I shuddered, imagining this thing if it ever started walking around. It was fascinating that Neon Nurse could make these things. My poking made it topple over on the table. Shit. Did I break it? It looked alright, so I just left it there. Sadly, Mittens was not here to play with, although I get the feeling he would attack me rather than be my friend.

Neon Nurse returned after about a half-hour. However, she was not alone.

“Hey, Vespidian, you will never guess who I ran into. To think we would be so lucky!”

A face I thought to never see again followed her in. It was Dr. Arbor. She looked a lot more put together than she had before. She wore a fresh new lab coat, thick black rubbery gloves, tall standing wading type boots, a seamless dark green bodysuit covered her, making all of the curves stand out. There were still deep dark bags under her prismatic eyes, but her hair was tied diligently, and I could smell that she had taken a shower recently. The gas mask vented when she saw me. My eyes gaped, and I coward away to the far side of the room. There was only a table between us, and I could see her hands twitching with glee. Neon Nurse watched us with interest.

I snarled at Dr. Arbor. She wearily took a step back.

“Seems I agitated her.” She muffled out.

“You stay the fuck away from me, you crazy bitch!” I screamed at her, arming myself with robos to lob at her.

“Calm down, Vespidian. I ran into her in the lobby, and we started talking. She wants to help you.”

“Help me? Help me! She dissected me while I was alive!” I threw one of her robo scorpions at her. It bounced off of her helmet with a low ding.

“Wait, please hear me out on this. I need the help. You are too complicated for me to figure out by myself. Organics is only half of my specialty; Mutigene is out of my league. It is her specialty.”

“Why her!?”

“She is the best. We talked it over and decided to work together for your benefit.”

“I don’t care. She shoved her hands into my brain!”

“It was only a few fingers.” She replied, dismissively, “I was hoping to give you Telekinesis; I had a hypothesis that I could augment your abilities by probing your gray matter. Sadly I failed, though. Although I will concede that it was a little too much. Now listen Dear, I am not here to hurt you. Yes, Mommy is not here to hurt her little girl.”

“You are not my mom!” I screamed at her, throwing a table. “I am certainly not your little girl!”

She ducked, I had forgotten how quick she was, and the table slammed Neon Nurse against the wall. She groaned a little reaching out from under it. “That hurt. Calm down, will you? Dr. Arbor has agreed to tone back any experiments and explicitly ask you first for permission before she does anything.”

“I regret what I did to you last time we met.” She said with tired eyes. “I was not exactly in the right mind back then, so don’t judge me on that. I was sleep-deprived, and I was hyped up on one of my concoctions to test it out.”

“You ripped me to pieces and made me watch.” I shuddered, feeling the tears flow down my face.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” Dr. Arbor said, reaching out towards me. My hand grappled it out of the air, and I bent it until it snapped. Her sharp scream filled the room, and I held her down. She did not really resist much. She cried. “Please listen to me. Vespidian, I just want to make sure you are developing healthily.”

“Explain.” I grit out.

“Vespidian, calm down; you might kill her.” Said Neon Nurse pulling at me desperately.

“Just let me go, and I will explain everything.” She groaned.

Reluctantly I released her and sat on the table. Dr. Arbor’s arm was set back into place with a snap, and she shrieked with pain. Her heavy breaths made it apparent I really had hurt her badly. Not like I feel bad, she deserves worse. She sat across from me, vents foaming with green mist. She wobbly held the arm with her eyes closed.

“Explain what you meant by developing.”

Dr. Arbor wheezed. “Listen, what I am about to say does not leave this room. Molotov does not even know about this. Chimera must never learn of this. I do not want them stealing my research subject. All data we collect from now on will be heavily encrypted to prevent cyber leaks, in fact, disconnect the system from the internet and all external lines.”

Neon Nurse nodded, and I wearily said. “This had better be good.”

Dr. Arbor nodded. “This form you have now is something like a larval stage or rather an adolescent form for you. I realized it after the last operation. You might molt, or you might make a cocoon at some point.”

“This is going to get worse?” I started crying. “Fuck, if I look like this now, what the fuck am I going to turn into?”

Dr. Arbor shook her head. “I don’t know. This is why we need to study you. Now listen, it will not be nearly as invasive as what I did last time. I might need to see what is going on in there, but you will be sedated and won’t feel a thing the whole time. You will just go to sleep and then wake up feeling perfectly fine.”

“How long until I change?”

“I wish I could tell you. Honestly, I do. I just don’t know. Vespidian, you are literally the progenitor of a new race. Your gestation period could be months, could be years for all we know. This is uncharted territory here. There will be a limit to how strong you can become in this stage, much as a child’s body can only support so much muscle growth or development.”

“You have any idea where the limit might be?”

“From my tests, it is looking like Rank 5 to 6 depending on what power you focus on. Your regeneration is already rank 5, in case you did not know. It might progress to 6 if you train it diligently.”

“How would I train it?”

Dr. Arbor articulated. “By getting hurt a lot. Your power grows the more injured you are. Granted, it has limits. If you lose an organ or limb completely, you will not be able to regrow it at your current strength anyway. In this regard, it would be good if you allowed me to do thorough examinations. It would be killing two birds with one stone. However, if you are not comfortable with it, I will not force you. I really, really need you to work with me on this as such. I am willing to do anything to appease you, anything.”

Neon Nurse interjected. “I tried that already. She is not into women.”

“Well, of course not. She is not sexually mature.” Simply replied, Dr. Arbor. “In human terms of her physiology, she is prepubescent. I know. I have had my hands all through her body. This is not to say that she will not have urges. Quite the contrary, actually. Due to her chemistry, she will likely already be searching out potential mates. She might even escalate into full-blown copulation. It just means that she cannot breed at the moment.”

“So no eggs?” Asked Neon Nurse looking like she was about to cry.

“No eggs.” Nodded Dr. Arbor.

I glared at them while they conspired about my unborn children. “Stop talking about me like I am some sort of cattle or lab animal.”

“Of course you are not.” They both smiled... I am getting a bad feeling about this. What was that saying? Birds of a feather flock together?

“Don’t you look at me like that!” I yelled at them.

“No need to worry. From now on, we are going to take good care of you.” Said Neon Nurse.

“I know her better than you do.” Said Dr. Arbor. “Now then, I know what your weakness is, Vespidian.”

“Oh, really, and what the hell is that?”

“Well, physically, it is fire, acid, loud noises, bright lights, and strong smells.”

“Fire and acid?”

“Yes, your regeneration is hampered by burned flesh. You will have to rip it off or cut out the seared area to recover in quick succession.”

“That is good to know.”

“Yes, it is. However, I was getting to your mental weakness. Food.”

“You damned quack. Food? Really that is the best you got?” I laughed at her.

“I have observed you from the moment you changed. I know how you tick, what makes you tick. I know that deep down, you love pain but don’t want to admit it. After all, that is one of the defining traits of a Regenerator. They are pain addicts and deliberately get hurt so that they can experience the euphoria of pulling themselves back together.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? What euphoria? It is nothing but pain. I am not a Masochist.”

She gave me a puzzled look, thinking it over. “Well, that is very strange indeed. To think you were so many firsts. You would be the first Regenerator that did not like pain, crave it, and seek it out. At the least that I have met. It is usually how they die when they take things too far and get too damaged. Oh.” She said, trailing off. “I seem to have done a terrible thing to you then. I would have at the least sedated you if I knew that you did not like pain. Honestly, I thought I was doing you a favor. Usually, they beg me to rip them apart piece by piece, and I have to tell them no. Molotov is going to be furious if she realizes she actually drove you away instead of getting you addicted to her torture.”

“Wait, what?”

“Oh, you did not know? Didn’t you find it weird that she started escalating her punishment, especially when you did something right? You see, Regenerators have a certain chemical in their brain that is produced when they use their power. It is addictive more so than most drugs.”

“What are the side effects?”

“Not much you just wanna feel more of it so you will get hurt to activate the power. Have you really not been feeling it? I hear that it is better than sex.”

“I think I would know if I was creaming my pants every time I grew something back.”

“So I see. That explains a lot of your aberrant behavior. Well, I suppose I should take advantage of your personal weakness. Hunger is your most primal of needs, and I am willing to buy you as much food as you can eat.”

“Bullshit.” I snarled at her.

She set a briefcase on the table between us and opened it. My antenna squirmed, smelling the meat. Inside there were three things: A raw, bloody piece of meat, a burger covered in just about every ingredient, the thing was dripping everywhere, and last but not least was a sizzling steak seasoned to perfection.

The mandibles clicked, and my mouth watered. Damn it. I had not eaten anything all day. I wanted it bad, but I was not going to let this bitch know that. I looked away from it with a scoff.

“Playing hard to get? Oh well, more for me, I suppose. I thought it would be a nice peace offering to feed you.” She said, pulling the meat away. I clutched her hand reactively.

“Let’s not be hasty here.” I hated myself, but damn it, I was starving, and that food looked so good.

She nodded, and I stingily took the burger, opening it wide to eat it. Both of them were gazing at me, and it made my skin crawl. I faced away from them and ate. The familiar taste filled my mouth, and I grinned, smacking away, enjoying every moment of it. It was short-lived soon; I was reaching for the next. The bloody meat disappeared between my hard lips, and the chewing was independent of my jaw.

They kept watching with giddy eyes. What the hell is so fascinating about watching me eat? Fucking weirdos. At the least, they have good food. I lazily took the steak and flopped it in. It melted in my mouth, and I shuddered with joy. I don’t know where she got that thing from, but it was amazing.

“So what if I like to eat? You got a problem with that?”

“No, of course not eat as much as you like.”

I scowled, “I don’t need your permission to eat.”

“When did I say you did? Have you calmed down now?” Asked Dr. Arbor.

“Yes,” I grumbled.

“Alright, let me set out some terms. After every operation, I will feed you. There will be no procedure unless you agree to it. Sound fair?”

“I want money too and, and you have to tell me in explicit detail exactly what you are going to do to me before I agree to anything.”

“Money, how shallow are you?” Said Dr. Arbor, holding her limp arm. “This is for the betterment of all mankind, or rather the replacement of it.”

“How does ten thousand an operation sound?” Interjected Neon Nurse.

“You gotta buy me dinner too.” I crossed my arms, looking away.

“Deal.” Smiled Neon Nurse. “We will do a little test today, just preliminary stuff. More scans mostly and cross-checking our findings so far. There could be discrepancies, and so we need to go over everything very thoroughly.”

“Alright. Hey, how did you find me anyway?” I asked.

“Well.” Said Dr. Arbor. “This was the logical place that you would run, and you may or may not know about the tracking device I stuck in your head as a precaution three months ago. You see, we can’t exactly allow you to escape out into the wild. That could be bad on any number of levels.”

“What is wrong with me doing my own thing?” I asked, squinting at her.

She rubbed her hand on her coat nonchalantly. “I don’t mean to brag, but you are my own personal doomsday device.”

“What the fuck are you on about? I am like rank 3. Everybody beats my ass.”

She patted me on the shoulder, and I was tempted to rip that arm off but restrained myself. I wanted to hear what this doomsday nonsense was about. “Not now, of course. I mean in the future. Well, I won’t go into too much detail that would spoil the fun. I will tell you, though, that I have a very bright future planned out for you. It involves ruling the world. I will leave it at that.”

“You are fucking nutters. Your head is fucked on so many levels.” I shoved her away and crossed my arms. “Why are all of the crazy people coming out of the woodwork to bother me? Where are the normal people for the love of my sanity? Why can’t anybody be normal?”

“It is not nice to call people crazy.” Said Neon Nurse, wagging her finger at me.

“She is talking about taking over the world! How is that not delusions of grandeur? This is some stereotypical villain shit. How can you just go along with this?”

Dr. Arbor huffed and took a deep breath. “My dear sweet Vespidian, genius is but a step away from insanity. One day you will see. After all, long ago, everyone knew that the world was flat. Everyone knew that the earth was the center of the solar system. All have been proven false. Humanity does not know shit about anything. We have not even explored all of the ocean. Hell, we haven’t even gotten ten percent yet. We think that we know things, but time and again, the creator ruins the plans of mice and men.”

I stared at her. “You believe in god?”

“Oh yes. Though God is a bit of a stretch. Someone or something designed everything. I don’t know if it is a god or just some great designer. There is no other possibility.” She said, closing her eyes. I could tell this was going to turn into a rant. “Are you telling me you believe that two atoms smashed together and started the universe? The universe is endless and beyond our comprehension. To believe that something so diverse and unfathomable was created by mere chaotic chance is simply foolishness. The Spore has proven to me time and again that not only are we not alone in this galaxy. Not only that but also there are beings far surpassing us in both knowledge and age. For you see, even the Spore was created even though it creates life. You might be wondering why I believe that evolution as originally hypothesized is false, given my field of expertise. It is very simple, really. I believe in intelligent design that has deviated from its original course, Mutation in other words, though similar to evolution, it is different. As for the bible and this so-called sin crock of fanciful ideas, I am not inclined to believe that.

“All that I have seen after dissecting millions of organisms and delving into the very code of DNA leaves no room for chance. There is not a possibility that we were not all created. I could go on and on about the nuances of mutations, but I seem to be losing your attention. So here is some food for thought. If we were created by someone, where are they now? Were we just some experiment? Are they still observing us? Does this designer walk amongst us, or have they left to another world? Everything happens for a reason. Therefore something is guiding the course of events, nurturing certain aspects of our being, bringing to fruition plans far-reaching and beyond our mortal comprehensions. We are all but pawns in some higher being’s game.”

I stared at her for a long moment, then sighed. I guess this is what I get for taking her seriously. “If there is a god, he is a fucking asshole. No compassionate being would subject humanity to all the horrors there are out there. So what? Someone is watching us right now for their own amusement? Toying with our fates for their sick and twisted fun. You are crazy. Keep your crackpot theories to yourself.”

“I was simply explaining you are free to believe whatever you wish. Most are skeptical, especially those in the scientific community,” She replied, not even phased. “Ah, though I will correct you, there is a being that is watching us for their own amusement, The Puppeteer, it is-” she paused, taking a deep breath before sighing, “A horrifying entity. As powerful as it might be, I highly doubt it is a god or what created life.”

“I don’t care about your science and religion, mumbo jumbo. Let’s back up a little. About that tracking device, does Molotov know about it?”

“Of course, she knows there is a tracking device in your brain; it was her idea to put it in there. How the hell do you think that I found you? Do you know how pissed she is? I had to abandon my research, well, all the stuff there. I have backups so we can begin immediately.”

“Why did you come here?”

“... I was fired after that little episode.”

“You were fired?”

“Well, actually, I had been kidnapped to work on that project, but after I saw you, I started working on it willingly.”

“You were kidnapped?” Asked Neon Nurse.

“It was terrible.” Nearly cried, Dr. Arbor. “That little bitch broke into my lab, killed all of my baboons. My poor, poor babies. They did nothing wrong! She murdered them with her bare hands no less, and then she got me with a sleeper hold. Called me her bitch the whole damned time until I blacked out. When I woke up in Dr. Tesla’s lab, she whipped me with that damned Mr. Incentive, or whatever the hell she named that thing. Then they told me to see if I could fix you. That is how I got involved in all of this mess. Although I will say meeting you, sculpting you into existence was worth every moment of pain, I think of it as akin to the pains of birth.”

I covered my antenna. “Just shut up, will you!? I don’t want to hear about your problems.”

“Is Dr. Tesla going to be alright working with her?” Asked Neon Nurse.

“Likely. He has that giant cyborg squid to hide behind. She will come crawling back to me though, they all do! No one is better at bioengineering than me. Especially not with Mutigene.”

“Squiddy is still doing good?” Asked Neon Nurse.

“Oh yeah, he is fine. Last I saw, he was learning the alphabet.”

“He is learning? I never programmed that into the cyber brain.” Smiled Neon Nurse rather pleased with her creation.

Then Dr. Arbor cut in. “I took the cyber brain out and put an orphan brain we found out on the street in.”

“You are a monster!” I yelled at her.

“You misunderstand. It was a mercy. The orphan had a week to live, so I gave him a new lease on life. The poor bastard had polio and a fatal heart disease. In fact, he is rather happy now.”

Neon Nurse thought it over. “Well, I suppose that is a good use for the body. I hope he enjoys it.”

“I am sure that he does.” Said Dr. Arbor, then she looked over at me. “As for you, my dear sweet Vespidian. I want samples. Blood, urine, the works.”

“Do I have to?” I cringed.

“Ten thousand dollars.” Smiled Neon Nurse wagging a hero league credit card in my direction.

“I know, dear. You have been through so much already, it will likely not even hurt. I hear Neon Nurse is very good with her needle. Unlike me, I got sloppy after letting the machines do everything all the time.”

“Fine, I guess.” I held out my arm, and to be expected, Neon Nurse was flawless in her execution. I did not even feel the needle, and she only took a quarter of what she did before.

“Drink this now.” Said Dr. Arbor handing me a red pouch.

“Is this blood?”

“It is. You need it to replenish your own. Do you not remember me feeding you blood during the operation? I suppose you did blackout a few times. Drink it all up, and you will feel better.”

I was skeptical at first, but under their watchful eyes, I gave in and drank. It had the familiar taste of iron, copper? It was metallic. Strangely it actually tasted pretty good. It was so juicy, and it really hit the spot. Thus I was content, and she kept poking me with things, taking samples of this or that. Honestly, she was having a field day, but the moment she pulled out a Robo Worm, I reared up like a cobra, and she reluctantly put it away.

The day was less than exhilarating. I dozed and napped through most of it. I felt relatively safe with Neon Nurse watching over me. I have no idea why she felt safe. Perhaps, when compared to others, I had dealt with her manic compulsions were benign. It might just be physically and emotionally run down at this point. It ended faster than I thought, and I was escorted back to my room. I curled up in my bed. It was so nice to sleep. The vague idea that Dr. Arbor might not be a total nut case came to mind. I wanted it to be true, but somewhere deep inside, I knew things were not going to go well. They never did. Well, at the least, there is always the option of killing her if she tries anything.