Threads burst out of the ground to surround the creature. A bipedal form stepped out with an entirely blank face like a mannequin.

The cockroach beside it looked up at the being that was so many times taller.

“Huh? Aren’t you just gonna blow over with a gust of wind instantly?”

The hands of this faceless being began picking up fistfuls of the powder that lay all about them and placed it through a hole in its back that opened up. The range of motion wasn’t at all constrained by the skeletal structure most creatures would have struggled with. Slowly, fistful by fistful, the powder began to leave a small crater in the middle of it. The last handful was placed through the top of its head and sealed off by pushing aside the excess powder.

Meanwhile, the cockroach was finishing the consumption of its original body and taking on its fourth transformation, this time leaving a thin membrane over its shell.

“This… This isn’t good at all! Everybody can still see my shell!”

The faceless being tilted its head down at the small bug below.

“Hmmm, you need thicker skin.”

“No shit sherlock, but first I need to reclaim my body before that and grow back up again!”

“This will probably take a while… won’t it.”

“Yeah, better get used to moving around while you wait! By the way… How much energy does it take to keep that shape together?”

“Not a lot actually. By weaving my threads in and out, I can form an intricate mesh that stays together by itself and hundreds of threads inside me allows for the constraint of how much the body expands while the powder prevents compression. This form takes nearly zero energy consumption to maintai… Hey what’s wrong?”

The cockroach had taken its original body and ran off far away to sulk in a corner…

“This isn’t fair! Ahhh! Why must life be unfair to us animals! We have to spend so much effort transforming our very bodies to change form while that plant...No. Not a plant. Creature… Not a creature either… Monster! It’s a monster! That monster is so enviable! All the talent in the world wasted on it! Here I am, sacrificing my own blood and sweat to transform into that human form so we can explore the surface! Sweet sweet energy! Here I come once more! … Could I grow any slower? This’ll take years… Luckily Senny doesn’t seem to be having much luck either… now he’s basically five worms in one! Hah! Like that’s gonna help!”

--Loading dock--

A dark shape suddenly burst out of the hole that contained the second opening from the ground. Unlike the elevator shaft, this one was not emitting smoke but rather creatures. The shape showed its glistening tan shell as the sun began to creep up behind the blurryflat line littered with rectangles on sticks like kebabs.

Bullets immediately flew out at it that shattered against its shell. Under the merciless hail of fire however, a stray bullet managed to strike the beetle’s eye which tunneled straight through into the beetle’s brain. Under the hail of bullets, no one could distinguish the fact that the beetle was in fact already dead.

Under the cover of the dust emerged several other creatures which began approaching the police which had formed a perimeter around them. Out of the dust flew a large hummingbird the size of a man into the sky. A single missile streaked across the sky and collided with the bird high above the city, high enough to view the desolate wasteland that lay beyond before scattering into the wind in the form of ashes.

The other five, caught between the storm of bullets from all directions, became swiss cheese but red.

Seeing the red mist from all of this, the police ceased their fire and were greeted with the bloody shapes of five and an unmoving body of the sixth.

The vice captain peeked out from behind a van.

“Did we even scratch it?”

“Dunno vice captain, maybe we gave it a concussion?” replied a policeman.

Another policeman interjected.

“Heh, let’s rip off it’s legs then.”

“Sounds good, how about you do it!”

“Hey man, I’m not getting close to that thing!”

“Awww come on, carry out your idea! Got no balls if you don’t!”

“You’re paying for me drinks today…”

“This early in the morning? You must be kidding.”

“Nah man, never too early for drinks.”

“Heh, must be crazy.”

“Sure am!”

--Apt. #496--

Both Leonard and John were sitting around listening to the audio of the television in the background as they got ready for work.

“Damn so they burned the whole place down…”

“Hey Leonard, I was just thinking… Do we still have a job?”

“...”

“I mean Leonard! That place was practically burned to nothing!”

“John...I just realized… We might’ve screwed up.”

“Shit what do we do now Leonard… Are we forced to move to that place?”

“I think we’ve got a decent amount of pesos between the both of us right John?”

“Shit Leonard we’ll get mugged immediately…”

“Hold on! Hold on! John, why don’t we find work elsewhere? Should be simple enough right?”

“Leonard! Who’ll accept us!?”

“John, look we’re researchers right? They’ll be sure to give us more funding when they see the damage that the animals have caused!”

“Bullshit Leonard. The fire did all that damage! You also think any of the other research groups would accept us after all we’ve done?”

“They should value talent right John?”

“Hah, as if… Talent can be overcome with sheer numbers...You’re worthless Leonard… So am I… they value cooperation more now…”

“How about a factory worker? Should be fine right? That’s still in the slums man, unless you’re talking about those ones… No… Those wouldn’t work… We know jackshit about how they work…John how screwed are we...”

“Heh we know jackshit about anything else other than what we did…”

“John! I’ve got a great idea! Why don’t we introduce cheap injections in the slums! They’ll be sure to love it!”

“Heh, like what Leonard? They suddenly want to work harder?”

“Nah man, like they can gain an advantage in their conflicts by just being stronger!”

“Then what? We’ll still live in the slums and be caught up between their conflicts! Who knows if we’ll be targeted for making that! Leonard! I don’t want to die yet!”

“How about we sell it both sides then John?”

“We’ll get targeted by both sides then! No… What if we take the injections?”

“How’ll we get funding? John, we’re practically broke remember?”

“Well… remember our failed serums?”

“Don’t tell me…”

“Yeah… I kept them as souvenirs… “

“Heh, do they work?”

“Well… They do… But Leonard… The problem is they work a little too well if you know what I mean…”

“Alright, if we’re gonna be strong then we might as well go all the way.”

“Man, let's wait a bit to take these… Maybe we’ll get reassigned…”

“Doubt it John… “

The two entered a study with three bookshelves against the walls which covered their respective walls, save for the last one which was only half full with books.

Under the desk which faced the fourth wall and the door, rested a minifridge. Cold air spilled out to reveal rows upon rows of tubes.

“Hey Leonard, if you could be any animal, which one would you pick?”

“How about an elephant?”

“Uh… How about another one? Our facility wasn’t large enough to fit an elephant…”

“Crocodile?”

“Yeah sure no problem. Which one do you want?”

“Huh I get a choice?”

“Yeah well I mean, there’s only one real serum that sorta works… It gave the lab rat scales on its back…Well I mean it did gain a ton of strength...”

“Yeah sounds great! We can probably cover it with some clothing. So we’ll take it now?”

“I don’t see why not.”