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"Jackson, are you listening?"

The sudden 'huh??' and moving of his head back and forth in surprise told the lead trainer everything she needed to know. She scoffed, grabbing onto his arm none-too-gently and shoving him forward down the hall. "H-hey, I'm gonna tell HR!"

"Like they give a shit. They hardly know we exist." She shifted her clipboard a bit under her arm as she started to walk a bit faster. The tall scientist looked very official with her bright blonde hair pulled up into a bun and her pristine white lab coat. Everything about her screamed professional and brilliant scientist, right down to the pens and beakers in the pocket at her breast. She worked hard to get to the point she was at, and she carried herself with such confidence. Her brisk pace down the hall spoke of how important she and the work she did was...which couldn't exactly be said about Jackson.

Jackson Yander was about as exciting as his name - slightly weird but overall highly forgettable. With a mop of scraggly black hair, dull brown eyes, and a stature that indicated he had been outside maybe five times in his life told another everything they needed to know about his personality. He was fresh out of graduate school, but his maturity and attention span indicated he was hardly smart enough to pass middle school grammar. And yet, despite everything about him saying he was incompetent, including himself, Jackson somehow managed to finish fairly far ahead in his class and score a pretty nice job in a government research facility. It just so happened to be one of the most prestigious, secretive, and very highly serious research institutions at the forefront of all the biggest challenges of modern science. And...it just so happened to be a job Jackson applied at because it sounded like it was easy.

Fortunately for everyone at the company...he got the job. Hooray for them.

But ignoring Jackson's complete and total lack of care, social tact, and ability to read even the most basic of social cues, he really was a brilliant person. He spent the majority of his teenage years researching how to make more efficient technology that could communicate with complex microorganisms because he felt his takeout didn't taste good enough. He spent the early half of his 20s redefining some scientists' concept on nanotechnology because he was waiting for a video game to come out. And his latest contribution to the scientific community was helping redefine the method for PCR to ensure it would have fewer mistakes and yield a higher outcome, because he got bored waiting for the cycles to run. Jackson was fueled by laziness and boredom, which to be fair could lead to remarkable discoveries. Or remarkable explosions, one or the other.

Regardless, it was very clear why ViscFlo Labs wanted to hire him. Considering they were one of the larger contractors through the federal government, they needed skilled scientists to work on some of their most sensitive projects who would also ensure all the information they worked with stayed highly classified. Jackson might have been a complete and total dunce with common sense, but he respected the scientific method and need for confidentiality when working on sensitive projects and experiments. It was increasingly clear in his interview that he could work well on his own and make sure his research was efficient, effective, and essentially silent.

But as the two were walking down the hall, the head trainer was getting more and more frustrated with Jackson. She looked at him walking by her side, noticing everything about him just seemed...apathetic. The way he walked with a hunch, how his eyes meandered around the hallway with no real purpose, and the way his body language seemed to have absolutely no confidence or self-worth in it as he walked around the building. It was...despicable. It went against everything she stood for in her years upon years of study and practice! But she had no say in the hiring process, so it was her job to make sure he knew what he had to do. "Now listen because I'm not one to repeat myself-"

"That sounds like a pretty bad trait for a trainer..." He hardly got the words out before she grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him into the wall, her icy glare boring deep into his very core as she stared into his eyes. Her nails were digging into his ill-fitting lab coat he received quite literally an hours ago, and he let out a weak cry of distress at the pain.

"Listen here you little shit-" She said in a quiet whisper as a pair of scientists passed by them, laughing and pointing at the head trainer's latest lackey. "I've been with this lab for years, probably well before you could even hold a beaker or knew what an Ehrlenmeyer flask was. So you shut your little smart-alec pie hole and let me do my job once. We don't hire people to be dumbasses and have to hear the same fucking protocol fifteen times, we hire people to do the damn job. So Shut your damn mouth and listen. Capiche?" Jackson nodded. Very quickly. He wasn't exactly born with a strong backbone, so the second someone challenged his snarkiness, he was likely to fall into line. "Good...now then, where was I?

"Oh right, the experiment. You've already signed all the appropriate paperwork, so all that remains is to go over the actual protocol for your experiment. Essentially...we're a top secret confidential space for a reason. The only people who know the full protocol for what we're working on are the higher ups who don't give two shits about the lab monkeys doing the work for them, i.e. you and me. I don't know what the outcome of this research will be and I know very limited information about what we're studying. That said, I do know this job has good perks in that you get basically unlimited use of these lab spaces and equipment if you don't ask questions and do what you're told."

"Wait, unlimited use??" He said while showing interest in the first thing that struck his fancy since entering the lab. "Like...I can come here after hours and just work on projects? Or research things? Or work with equipment I've never us-"

"Yes, gods are you dense or something? Unlimited use is unlimited use. If you break something, put in the proper paperwork and it'll be replaced the next day. This place doesn't joke around, and we basically have an unlimited budget. Why? Don't know. How? Don't care. All I know is some of the greatest scientific discoveries of the last three decades all started out here. So as long as you don't royally fuck up, you're basically set for life at this job. Didn't you know that when you appl...no, I can tell you didn't." She sighed as they continued walking down the hallway before they came to a door with no label on it. All the other doors seemed to have name plaques or at the very least a sign on the side that said what it was. But as they stood in front of it, the head trainer pressed a button on the panel next to the door and it slid open to reveal a dark room. "Go on."

Jackson looked up at the trainer, at least a head taller than him as she nudged a hand forward to indicate that he should enter the room. He stopped for a moment, head turning to the dark room as he slowly took the first step in. He could hear his footsteps echoing against the walls, feeling as if the room was much larger than he was anticipating. He could see vague outlines of shapes all around him, but he couldn't see what they were exactly. Then, with a flick of a switch and a sudden burning of his retinas, Jackson covered his eyes with an arm, grimacing before he felt comfortable opening them again. What he saw took his breath away. The room was a pristine, untouched labspace with every single apparatus, device, everything imaginable that he could use for any experiment that could come to mind. He was in absolute awe, walking slowly up to the first table in front of him that had a...very sad excuse for a welcome package. There was a poster that was made from scotch tape and construction paper that said 'Welcome, Jackso.' They ran out of room before they could add the 'n,' and it seemed as if there was some confetti, some balloons, and a name plaque with his full name engraved on it.

"...We're not exactly the best at welcoming new people, but enjoy, I guess. The name plaque goes on your door, and it's some sort of customary thing that you put it on yourself. So...yeah, this is your lab. There's a lot of paperwork for you to fill out in the desk along the wall, and that's how you order equipment, samples, lackeys, and more for your experiments. So...yeah."

"Wait, lackeys?" He asked curiously, turning back to her with a glowing light in his eyes. "You...you mean I get my own research assistants!"

"Something like that..." She said slowly, her voice seeming to trail off idly as she looked away suspiciously. "Basically, we have a group of lab drones that are highly intelligent AI. They don't communicate aside from digital sounds and beeps and the like, but they're made out of a highly sterile latex substance made in house. So they're incredibly helpful, fully dextrous, and take commands fairly easily. It's pretty convenient, let me show you-" She smiled for the first time since he walked into the lab on his first day on the job, walking over to an intercom on the wall before pressing a button on it. There was a bit of static on the other side of the intercom, but she whispered a few words into the speaker before a sequence of affirmative beeps echoed back at her. She nodded lightly to herself before stepping away from the speaker, and almost as if on cue, the door opened and a strange figure walked into the room. Jackson turned to look at it, and what he saw made his eyes go wide and his breath stop in his throat.

"This is the Self-Knowledgeable User Need Kinetic Drone, prototype a-481. These drones were created by our lab a few years back to help in doing some of the grunt work, and it turns out hiring interns and college students is very expensive. So though we spent a lot of money creating the first model, these new ones are surprisingly cheap!" She almost sounded like a salesperson talking about how great her car is, crossing her arms as she walked around in a circle around the creature. It was jet black and the light reflected off of it in a very strange way, almost as if it were smooth and made of something akin to latex. It had small receptor-like ears on the top of its head, and in place of a face was a long...almost muzzle like apparatus with a clear display screen where one would expect eyes. Some lines of code passed along the viewfinder as if it were receiving a command at that exact moment.

"The technology that went into making these is remarkable. I was part of the crew that worked with updating the software and biotech that goes into making them immune to any and all infectious agents being harbored on the outer layer. There's years of blood, sweat, tears, and love that went into all of these drone units, so we make sure to treat them well."

"That's...amazing, but why are they shaped like-"

"Like skunks?" Her counterpoint was surprisingly quick, almost as if she expected that response. She just raised a brow at him before letting out a light laugh, pushing the glasses up on her nose before pressing at the base of the drone's neck. "You're not as bright as we all thought if you can't piece that one together. Self. Knowledgable. User. Need. Kinetic. Drone. SKUNK Drone. As for why, because they're a lot less creepy than if we had humanoid androids walking around. Plus our CEO's a furry. Go figure." She shrugged, finishing pressing some buttons at the base of its neck before the display screen lit up in an animated expression. It had two digital slits for eyes, oddly expressive as it made a few more beeping and almost animal-like noises. It's large tail flowed in a flick in the air, showing off every bit of its shiny surface as it could. It walked on two legs, but as the command went through, it brought its arms up to its chest and showed it had only three digits on their 'hands.' Jackson tilted his head curiously at it, walking a bit closer as he lifted a hand to poke at it before the head trainer slapped it away.

"Hey, careful! They may be cheap drones for us, but they're still very valuable. Plus, they can be very easily compromised if a tool is mishandled. So be very. Careful. Drones are one of the few things that we won't accept if we get a fast turnaround for needing more." This statement caused Jackson to look at her slightly confused, scratching the back of his scraggly head as he examined the drone a bit closer.

"But wait, you said they weren't that expensive I thought?"

"Correct. That doesn't mean it's not a time consuming process. Have some humanity with how you handle your drones." She said in a more judging tone, almost speaking ironically as Jackson had to think on what she just said. "Seriously though, be nice to them. And...frankly, don't ask questions about them. We're top secret to the rest of the world, and the drones need to stay here. Which means we don't ask questions about them. We just use them. I know, I know. It's really suspicious. Well, you're already working at a top-secret laboratory doing mystery government work, so...get used to it." She gave him a wink before heading out, the skunk drone giving an automated chirr before it started to bound on all fours after her. Jackson had to admit that it was kind of adorable, but the secrecy and mystery was...way too appealing for him to ignore. He hummed to himself, thinking in a way that was sure to get him into trouble before something fell into a tube connected to the wall by his door.

"What the..." He mumbled to himself, looking at the source of the sound as it seemed like there was a communication method or some sort. There was a container with a manila envelope in a sort of containment area, with a tube not unlike those he saw at banks. With a wary look, Jackson walked over to it and took the container out, opening it up and taking out the manila envelope. As he opened it and spilled the contents out onto one of his tables, he dug through the files and did a bit of reading. "Oh...I guess this is how I get my work assignments. Kinda...impersonal, damn." He quietly said to himself, reading about the transformations he'd have to run and the plasmids he'd be working with for his first project. He let out a bored sigh, shrugging to himself as he looked around the lab at all the equipment at his disposal. "Well...at least I get to play around with all this later. Guess I'll get to work on that transformation, then some fun~" He grinned to himself, walking over to one of the lab benches as he started to get the solutions, organisms, and supplies he needed. Work now...

...fun and dangerous projects later!

~

The transformations didn't seem to be as boring as Jackson was expecting. It turns out working in a state-of-the-art lab with all the most expensive toys to play with made it so work went a lot faster than he was used to. It took him a couple of hours, but he was expecting it to run him around ten. Instead, it was only six! He went to his computer and typed in the results, making sure to outline everything as neatly as he could because he personally hated reading write-ups that were messy and unclear. But as he hit send on the message and leaned back with a crack of his spine, the resounding sigh felt all the more satisfying. "Aaaaand done." He hummed to himself, wiping his hands on his lab coat to wipe off the sweat. He looked around the lab, realizing he could go home now that his work for the day was done...or alternatively, he could play around with all the neat lab equipment he had!

It was a pretty easy decision for him.

But first, there was something he'd been thinking about all day. He looked at the callbox on the wall, walking over as he examined it curiously. It was very clearly the same intercom the lead trainer used when she ordered the drone...and as he pressed the button to act before the thought, he was surprised when a trill of a beep came out from the intercom. He paused for a moment, trying to think on what to do next before clearing his throat and leaning in closer. "Can, uh...can you send a drone to my lab? I need some-" Before he could even finish his sentence, another couple of beeps that sounded positive echoed as he heard the line go dead. Jackson blinked, staring at the intercom before he could register if it worked. He stared for a moment, thinking back to when the trainer called one in before and recalled that it was immediately-

The opening of his lab door took him by surprise, taking in a sharp breath as he turned toward the entrance which now stood open. Standing there in a somewhat creepy human-like but hunched-over stature was one of the SKUNK drones, admittedly less adorable when it wasn't in the skunk form. He hesitated for a moment before walking over to it, swallowing nervously as he felt...strange having such a creepy looking android in his lab. Still, as he walked around to the back of the drone, he saw the panel the trainer was messing with. It seemed complicated...but there were only a few buttons with a number of commands on them. He saw one that said 'Skunk mode' and another that said 'Affectionate personality.' Those seemed like two very...strange buttons to have on a drone, but at the same time, Jackson wasn't here to question it. Yet. He pushed both buttons and waited for the change.

It was almost instantaneous, the chirring and beeping that came from the SKUNK drone before it perked up and went into more of a hunched stature as if it were perched back on two animal like hindlegs. It was remarkable how much the drones looked like skunks aside from the latex and panels on the front of the face and back of the neck. It was uncanny...and terribly creepy, but at least this mode made him feel less like he was in a sex dungeon. And maybe that was the point? Shaking his head a bit, he walked back over to the lab table where he had a few of his tools and a microscope. "Hey, do you have voice command? Come here, I want to see something." The drone chirred and beep in the affirmative before bounding over toward Jackson in an adorable little prance. He couldn't help but smile at the motion, his mind racing as he was thinking about all the different questions he had about these drones. The echo of the lead trainer in the back of his head reminded him that it was a bad idea...but at the same time, to hell with that!

With a grin that only a mad scientist can muster, Jackson sat down at the lab bench and started to fiddle around with some tools. "Alright little guy, I know she said we shouldn't bother with you...but fuck that." He laughed, picking up a small razorblade as he unceremoniously grabbed at that tail. The skunk drone let out two soft beeps in warning, turning its head and cranking its 'ears' toward Jackson as he felt along the surface. "Huh...interesting. It really does feel like a latex sort of material, but it's...different somehow? Like it's soft and doesn't feel quite the same. Interesting...did they bioengineer the material??" He said in a soft tone of awe, rubbing and patting along it lightly. He was impressed...more than impressed, he was in pure disbelief! It was one thing to bioengineer a material, but the entirety of the drone's skeletal structure was seamless. There were no ports for charging, no areas that looked like they were imperfections...it was all just smooth and flawless. He rubbed along the tail, bringing another light cooing trill from the drone as Jackson couldn't hold back a laugh. "Geez, you're almost like a dog or something..."

As he was still petting along the tail, Jackson deftly raised the scalpel in the air and very fluidly cut it along the surface. The sound that came out of the drone was certainly unexpected...but he was starting to feel as if there was a reason he shouldn't be experimenting with the drones. It let out a loud whirring alarm noise, a siren blaring as the display on the front of the drone's head turned a deep red. It was like a trespassing warning or something similar. The sudden screeching noise made Jackson jump back and off the stool he was sitting on, careful to keep the part of the drone's exterior covering on the scalpel before putting it in a petri dish and rushing over to the panel on the back of his neck. He looked frantically for the panel on the back of the drone's neck, noticing it was flashing the words 'SEAL BREACH DETECTED' flashing in similar cautionary red letters. He frantically looked for some way to turn it off, pressing a few buttons at random as he started to panic. Would he be fired on his first day? He couldn't lose this job already, it was way too good for him to go away! He couldn't help if he maybe completely ignored everything that he shouldn't have done, he just wanted to make sure he knew all the secrets of this mysterious and suspicious organism that he was warned to leave alone. Where was the harm in that??

But as he was panicking and frantically pressing buttons on the back of the SKUNK drone's neck, it suddenly made a strange beeping and whirring sound before moving back into a position like it was sitting on its haunches. The panel flashed a rainbow of different colors before turning a deep blue that reminded him of computers going out of commission. Jackson stared at it, pausing before shifting around to look at the screen a bit closer. On the display were the words 'ENTERING RESTORATION MODE. FUNCTIONALITY RETURNING IN 60 MINUTES.' As Jackson read those words, he let out a sigh of relief. It seemed like whatever he did worked somehow...but the restoration mode seemed like a weird one. He took another look at the part he cut out of the tail and was a bit surprised to see it almost...flowing. Like it was some form of sentient liquid! He didn't even cut out a large part, but it was enough to cause some sort of massive meltdown in the drone. That said...it made him curious about the sample he cut out of the drone's tail.

With a renewed purpose, Jackson walked over to the table again where the specimen was sitting in the petri dish, still open to the air. Even before he looked at it under the microscope, what he saw was absolutely remarkable. His eyes went wide and brows lifted as he noticed the small sample was rippling and almost convulsing. It was only a small portion of the tail that he cut out, but even that portion was acting like it was an injured part of the drone. Almost as if they were one in the same. He was absolutely fascinated by it, picking up the petri dish before he put it under the microscope and flicked on the light. After a few seconds of adjusting the magnification and focus, he put his eyes up to the eyepieces and looked at his sample. At first, it was too low of a magnification to really see anything different...but as he zoomed in and brought it better into focus, he couldn't believe what he saw.

"Holy shit..." He said quietly under his breath, his usually lackadaisical attitude having disappeared completely for science mode, picking up a pair of forceps as he started to pick lightly at the substance, turning it over so he could see the underside as the activity seemed to pick up exponentially. The molecular structure of the substance was in a constant state of activity. The top seemed to still be mostly smooth, but the edges and the underside were frantically rippling and billowing, and he couldn't make out a familiarity of the molecules to anything else he had seen. It looked like some sort of polymer, but the more he poked at it and moved it around, the more foreign it seemed. "Did they...really make a biotech material? I was just kidding before, but...fuck, if this is what they're capable of...boy did I land the right job." He shook his head, smiling to himself as he kept examining the structure of the substance.

"Huh...it looks almost like it's trying to make more connections and rebuild itself. Is that what restoration mode meant or something?" He looked temporarily back at the SKUNK drone in a state of stasis as the time was continuing to tick down on its display. He stared at the drone curiously, pushing away from the lab bench before walking over to the prone being. He looked around it and went back to the neck panel, noticing it was inactive. He put a hand to his chin, rubbing it lightly before looking at the tail. Remarkably, the small black nick was already fixed, and it was completely smooth again save for a small ripple where he figured was likely where he made the cut. "Interesting...it's already fixed, but it's still in restoration mode. Is losing even a small portion of itself such a shock to the system that it can't function if there's any sort of nick? That seems like a pretty fatal design flaw..." He mused a bit more out loud as he poked lightly at the spot. He did notice it was notably more fluid...and even felt like it was colder at that spot. Though it might've mended itself, it certainly hadn't seemed to integrate with the rest of the surface just yet.

"Fascinating! It's almost like it has to create a new substrate, but I wonder what that means for the specimen I had. Plastic probably won't make a good growth medium, but if it's trying to regrow itself, then it probably needs a matching substrate that it can-" He stopped as he approached the microscope again, looking in the lenses as he realized the specimen was gone. He froze with a sudden sinking feeling that something wasn't quite right. But not only that...if there was a small sample of biotechnology moving around the lab and his trainer came back tomorrow and found it...he was out of a job! "Fuck...fuck fuck fuck. Uh...ok, it's definitely not on the drone because I was watching that the whole time..." He took a few short breaths, trying to calm himself down a bit before he put his hands on the table to try and steady himself. "Ok...it has to be around here somewhere. And I'm sure I saw a bioscanner somewhere in the- AH, fuck."

Jackson pulled his left hand back and shook it in the air, feeling a strange pinch on the side of his thumb. "Fucking...was that a spider? Didn't think bugs existed in such a high security lab..." He bit his lip lightly, frustrated that he was so careless for the moment before he picked his hand up to put his mouth around the bite, a habit he'd picked up long ago. He had to think about it...it couldn't have gone far, so it just had to-

"Ech, fuck!! That's disgusting..." He hacked as a strange taste hit his tongue, sticking his tongue out and gagging a bit before he looked down at his hand. He turned his left hand over toward his thumb, trying to figure out what happened before the color paled from his face. He felt everything drain from him as he looked at his thumb and could see something familiar. It was small...but sure enough, sitting on his thumb was the black, smooth rubbery specimen he had on his slide. And he just put it in his mouth. He hacked again, coughing as he doubled over and put his hands on his knees, trying to make sure none of it got into his throat. He stayed in that position for a moment or two, pausing after a bit of time passed before he pushed back up to a standing position. "Ok...ok, don't panic. It's just...don't panic." He reassured himself, moving back to the table as calmly as he could before picking up the pair of forceps and poking at the spot. It jiggled around slightly, but it seemed to be stuck to him like some kind of leech. He grunted, picking at it with the forceps again as he tried to pull it off.

Try as he might, there wasn't anything he could do to get it off. He could feel it trying to peel off of his skin, but it wasn't working...and the sharp pain was coming and going in waves. Eventually, he tried to stab at it to pry it off before he let out a sharp cry and dropped his tool on the ground. It bounced off the floor with a sharp clang, Jackson grabbing his wrist as he looked at the strange material stuck on his hand. "Ok...ok, ok, ok. It's just a highly developed piece of biotechnology that was...looking for a new substrate to bond with and regrow. But...s-surely it's not compatible with carbon-based substances, right? I...I mean, it looks like it's plastic. It couldn't-"

He didn't have time to finish his thought before he felt a sudden jolt of indescribable pain in his hand. The muscles all stiffened and tightened, his hand wringing in a terrible and painful pose as he arched his back with a cry. He shut his eyes and gritted his teeth tight, the pain burning like a fire as it temporarily seemed to shoot up his body and through his limbs. But just as suddenly as it appeared...it was gone. He took in a deep breath, gasping and panting as his body shook suddenly. "Whuh...wh-what the hell was..." He panted to himself, feeling a few beads of sweat forming on his brow as he thought about it hard. This was a dangerous situation, and he was dealing with some sort of microorganism that he hasn't seen before. Not only that, but it seemed to be grafted to his skin. He turned his hand over again, looking at the black spot on his hand as he noticed it looked different. Instead of looking like a foreign bump on his skin, it looked like it actually sank into his hand and was now a part of it. And that's when a cold rush of realization hit him. That sudden pain throughout his body wasn't the small spot grafting to his skin...

...it was connecting to his nervous system.

Jackson raced across the room, knocking some stools over as he ran and went to grab one of the emergency manuals off of the bookshelf. He pieced through it as fast as he could, the sweat coming down faster on his brow as he flipped page after page after page. "Chemical burns...infectious agents...fires...God damnit, where is it??" He yelled louder than he intended, his hand starting to feel oddly numb as it twitched, tearing a page accidentally. He gasped, looking down at it as he noticed the substance was spreading like a web along his hand. He gritted his teeth and continued to read for what felt like his life, unable to find the information he was looking for before he screamed suddenly and threw the book across the room. It opened in midair with a few pages flying out as it bounced against a table and slid along the floor. Jackson held his wrist, looking around the lab nervously as he was still unfamiliar with what all he had. His head searched along the tables, rows, and even bookshelves to find something, ANYTHING that could be of use in killing the biotechnology. If it grafted to his nervous system, then it would hurt like mad to get it off, but it shouldn't be impossible. He had to act quickly.

Unfortunately for him, quickly was getting quicker by the second. The web of black rubber-like material was starting to span across the entirety of his hand, pulsing and sinking into his skin and starting to spread up his wrist. He winced, feeling a pusing along his arm and into his chest as Jackson couldn't hold back a gasp of pain. His arm was twitching as he grabbed at it and held it tight. It almost felt like his body was fighting against him...and as he felt that cool material slide over his fingers, they started to go numb as he was finding it harder and harder to grasp onto anything easily. Two of his fingers were sticking together, Jackson trying to pull them apart as the black substance literally stretched between them and forced them back to each other. He grunted as he leaned over a rack of various chemicals, letting go of his arm as he started searching through the various labels. He was frantically searching for one in particular, his other fingers starting to feel tight as his thumb also twitched a bit. Finally, his eyes went wide with a gasp of victory as he grabbed the vial with his free hand and flicked the lid off. But just as soon as he picked it up, his slowly blackening arm flew through the air and slapped the bottle across the room.

Jackson watched in shock as he saw the golden powder soar through the air for just a split second before it burst into a cascade of glass and chemical. It fell to the ground, reacting with some of the dirt he spread around the room. Everything was so unexpected...and he couldn't control his hand as he clenched it in a fist. "This...fucking bioorganism is reeeaaaally starting TO PISS ME OFF!!" He yelled to no one in particular, raising his arm in the air as he slammed his hand down on the cold metal of the fume hood. Shockingly enough...he felt no pain. He felt nothing but a strange jiggling as the black mass spreading along his arm just seemed to wiggle but ultimately absorb the extent of the impact. He stared at it in confusion, bringing it closer to his face to examine it. "I...didn't feel anything? Shock absorbent and practically moving as if it had a mind of its own?? What...what the fuck did they make down here..." He said in a silent gasp of awe, not even wanting to think of how advanced this technology had to be. But as he was turning his almost unrecognizable hand around in the air in front of him while trying to separate his now three fingers on it, he caught a strange glimpse of something falling to the ground before him.

His hair.

Jackson's eyes went wide as he watched a strand of his hair fall off of his head and didn't even feel it. It was like something out of a nightmare...but as he felt something cool slipping along his scalp, he moved his free hand to it and felt something cold...almost moving. "N...no." He whispered silently, pulling his hand back as he saw more of the biotechnology spreading down his middle finger. He couldn't believe it. He hadn't touched his head at all...but when he realized he slammed his fist down in that fit of rage, he didn't even realize his hand brushed against a lock of his hair...the same lock of hair floating down to the floor in that exact moment. He was dumbstruck, moving his hand back to his head to try to pull it off but only spreading the strange substance onto his forehead. He grunted in frustration and tried to wipe it off, refusing to accept the futility of trying and letting out a few more cries of frustration at the whole situation, feeling it slowly spread down his face and onto his nose. He watched as the drop on his nose didn't seem to be the same as the others...but instead it was clear?

There wasn't much time to think about the difference as the clear goo seemed to almost turn...thinner. And it stretched across the span of his vision almost instantaneously, as if there was some kind of pre-programmed system in place. "Wh-what the hel-" Jackson started before a flicker seemed to spread along the thin and clear goo. It rippled with life, the microorganisms making up the substance almost springing to new life as a strange shock ran through Jackson's head. He cursed quietly, putting his three-fingered hand to his head as his other hand wasn't far behind, not even paying attention to if he spread it further along his body anymore. His hearing in one ear suddenly felt muted, almost as if something were covering it before a cold rush of something made him shiver. He didn't have the time to focus on it before another strange flicker ran across the clear 'screen' in front of him. Jackson grabbed at it, trying to pull it off but only spreading more and more of that goo along his face. The strange sensation sent a shiver all through his body, light pain striking here and there but nowhere near as much as when it fused with his nervous system. He was thinking his body was adjusting...and there was no scarier thought than that.

• b r e a t h e -

"...?" Jackson paused as he swore he just saw the word in his vision. He looked around in confusion, the word almost seeming like a flash in his mind instead of something he saw. A dream, almost...fleeting and yet stuck in his mind. "Breathe...?" He said to himself, suddenly more aware of his breathing. He realized he was taking short huffs of breath for the past couple of minutes, needing to calm down and think this through. He took a few steps back, leaning against one of the tables as the top half of his face and both his arms up to his elbows were completely covered in the black goo. A white stripe was forming from the center of the strange visor covering his eyes up the middle of his head, and two small, triangular nubs were pushing up out of the top of his head. He didn't have the mental capacity to think of what to do, not when he wasn't breathing. So he took a few deep breaths and tried to calm himself down. "E-easy, Jackson. Just...th-there has to be something I can do to-"

• o b e y -

Jackson blinked. There it was again! Some strange, fleeting word that was in his mind for a split second before it faded away. He looked around in confusion, uncertain of what he just saw before another shock raced through his head. He couldn't comprehend what he had just seen...but he could've sworn it was the word 'obey.' "Obey...obey what?"

• s t r i p . f o l d -

Another shock in his temples as he gasped suddenly, holding his head with both hands as he only had three fingers he could use on both. They shone with a black glint in the dim light of the lab, clenching as his head smoothed out and the two triangles on the top of it spread out further into the air. They felt a bit strange...but Jackson could swear he was hearing echoes down the hall from them. They twitched at first, shifting back and forth as his body adjusted to having his ears in a new location...but it seemed almost natural after just a few moments. Shockingly natural. Eerily natural. But there was another compulsion that was taking over Jackson's thoughts. He felt weirdly...uncomfortable. A dull, deep bass was ringing in his ears just barely out of his ability to hear it, but he could feel the vibration hitting a strange part of his mind that he couldn't identify. His eyes were fixated on that screen in front of him, almost staring at it with an unfocused gaze as his hands moved to the hem of his shirt. He grabbed at it awkwardly with his new, smooth hands, pulling it up almost mechanically and rubbing them along his chest accidentally.

The shirt was taken off without much of a challenge, the substance not seeming to be even slightly interested in going onto the shirt. Jackson was about to throw it onto the table, but suddenly something stopped him. Instead, he folded the shirt neatly into a square and put it on the table in a nice pile. He looked at it blankly for a second, shaking his head as he felt a weird shiver along his chest. Unwittingly, Jackson moved his hand to feel at it and shuddered as he felt the black biotech slide almost effortlessly off of his hand. And yet, it didn't seem to diminish in the slightest. Instead, the black goo spread faster along his chest, covering one of his pecs as the substrate shifted from black to a pure, shiny white. He was watching it change before his eyes, opening his mouth as he felt something cold rush into it. His focus suddenly came back, hacking as the feeling of almost rubber slid along his tongue and down his throat before something large started to form from within.

• c o n t i n u e -

His eyes went wide as he had to keep his mouth open, a strange weight forming in an almost tube shape before his cheeks felt heavier. He didn't have time to react as another jolt, less painful this time, shocked his head. It was almost as if the substance was stopping the pain from the electricity...but it was still affecting his mind in a manner he couldn't explain. His now claw-like hands moved to his belt, quickly undoing it and working to unbutton his pants at the same time. He pulled them down, underwear following along quickly as he could feel the cool latex-like substance brushing along his thighs. Jackson wasn't a fit or attractive individual by any stretch of the imagination, but something about the way he watched the black and some white substance streak across his legs filled him with a warmth he couldn't describe. It was almost like he knew it was good...knew it was right. He felt a shiver of that same warmth wash through his body as he kicked his shoes off and removed his socks in the same vein. They were all quickly folded and placed in a neat pile, the being that no longer looked like Jackson standing nude in his lab as his body was in various parts of change.

His legs were covered in streaks of black, chest in a strange splotch of white, head almost completely covered with a strange bulb where his mouth used to be as it was spreading out. The substance was dripping off of his head and down his back, the color shifting as the organism seemed to spread primarily along his spine. Jackson could feel a few jolts of pain and almost unnatural twitches from the substance fusing with his body along his spine, but it all faded in his mind as that visor seemed to shift. The outside was fogging up in more of a cloud-like greyish white, but the inside pointing at his eyes was starting to twist and swirl. His eyes followed the changes almost instinctively, watching as the transparent visor started to take on different colors...bright colors. All colors of the rainbow and some he didn't even recognize, watching as they spun and wrapped around his eyesight. They were...breathtaking. His jaw hung a bit slack, that low bass thrumming still in his ears with the brilliant lights rolling around in his vision while he felt his muscles starting to relax from the biotech spreading all over his nude body.

• g o o d b o y -

This time, the words didn't fade. They seemed to burn in the visor and his vision as he tried to mouth along to the words...but that tube and what almost felt like a bulb pushing slowly down deeper into his throat didn't allow him to form any words. The substance was forming almost a large sphere in front of his face...and as it reformed over the minutes, it started to look shocking like a muzzle. A barely formed and rubber muzzle, but one that resembled the SKUNK drones almost perfectly. Were he able to comprehend what was happening, Jackson would've put his hands along it and tried to pull it off. But there was something clicking in his mind that was telling him he shouldn't. Couldn't. Almost like it would be wrong to even think about trying it. And something about that message...that he could still see so clearly on that visor...something about it seemed so finite. He was already a good boy. He couldn't change that. He shouldn't. He wouldn't.

• t o u c h -

Another jolt, but this time it felt good...almost like a massage that struck all of the sore spots he didn't know he had. Almost like every good feeling in the world was radiating from his body. But it was all starting to focus in one area, and as he moved his three-clawed hand to his inner thigh to spread more of that black substrate along his skin, there wasn't a second of hesitation before he was caressing his sac with his fingers. He let out a moan that came out as a strange, mumbled mess of words as the 'mask' around his mouth rippled from the sounds. The tube in his mouth and throat seemed to shift as he made the sounds, his hand dancing idly along his balls as he covered them quickly in more of the black stustance. He couldn't focus on the sensations anymore as he had to obey the words in his visor. And as he continued to moan and hum, his voice suddenly went silent. His body didn't seem to react much at all, but after a moment the noises returned. However, they weren't coming out as Jackson's voice, but rather beeps and chirps, almost like a robot.

• s t r o k e -

There was more than enough of the biotech along his inner thighs and his sac that they practically merged together. There was no semblance of Jackson's scrotum hanging below his legs anymore, but as that next command burned in his eyesight, he let out a trilling beep of affirmation. His hand instantaneously moved to his shaft, covering it in the goo without a second's hesitation. The jolt of pleasure that ran up his spine was like nothing he'd ever experienced in his life, legs practically turning to jelly as he shook in pleasure. He gripped his shaft eagerly, pulling his claw down to the base as his foreskin was quickly covered in that same goo. This time, it didn't cling in the same way. It almost flowed up to the head and seemed to cover it almost immediately. His arm seemed to be stuck at the base while the goo covered every inch of his cock, finally released as he started to stroke it. The organism was almost vibrating along the outline of his penis, filling him with even more pleasure with every second that went on.

• s t r o k e -

It commanded him again, and he had to obey as more of that goo was spreading down his back, up his legs, along his feet...covering every inch of him faster as he felt the pleasure rippling and coursing through his length. His hand moved up to the tip and back down, that very act feeling so foreign as the rubbery substance squeaked in the process. At the same time, it was so smooth...so warm. Everything felt like absolute bliss as he was only just starting and was already rock hard. His shaft was pulsing and twitching with a vigor he'd never felt before, his mouth hanging as open as it could as the lights in his visor started to flash amidst their swirls. He could feel something strange at the base of his spine as some of the organism seemed to push off of his body before pressing hard between his cheeks and into his ass. His body tensed for a moment before relaxing again, another warm jolt of pleasure coursing through his veins. He'd practically lost control of his body, the cold substance working its way deeply into his body with each passing second as he started to work up and down his shaft a little bit faster.

• s t r o k e -

Jackson could feel the biotech pushing deeper and deeper inside of him, the cold sensations deep in his anus making his hips buck suddenly into his hand as he had to hold onto the table for support. The beeping and chirping sounded as close to moaning as he was able to make while beads of pre were starting to bubble at the opening of his shaft...before they seemed to dissipate immediately. The substrate on the head of his cock rippled and seemed to come to life as the pre was formed, almost as if it was...fueling it. Another bead and another ripple, Jackson feeling a strange surge of energy inside of him as it did. He kept stroking, that cold sensation in his inner walls getting more and more noticeable the deeper it went. He couldn't think about anything except his pleasure. He couldn't focus on anything except those words. He didn't dare do anything except obey the commands given to him, and the resulting pleasure was the best reward he could ever ask for. It was like heaven on Earth, and he couldn't even remember what originally brought him to this lab. It had to be something important...but what could be more important than this pleasure and obeying those words?

• s t r o k e -

That's when Jackson suddenly let out a louder, much more shrill beeping as the substance pressed deep enough into his body to surround his prostate. The changes all seemed to freeze as the pleasure boiled to an ultimate high, his back arched into the air, and he gripped hard onto the table. He couldn't handle it as a large burst of pre shot out from him, but it all seemed to just be a black stream that instantly pulled back to his body. The ripple from that substrate intensified as he let out a moaning trill. He could feel a weight pulling at the back of his body, the base of his spine tensing as something was almost fusing with it. It fanned out quickly as he let more of his pre drip freely out of his cock, slowly pulling into the black mass of his body as it throbbed and pulsed with each stroke. The colors and flashing in his visor were getting more and more intense with each second, the pleasure rippling and rolling through his body while his pre continued to bubble and disappear immediately in that black substrate. His whole body seemed to ripple every time it happened as if it were feeding him...fueling him...giving him more energy to stroke harder and harder and harder.

• s t r o k e -

He could hardly process any thoughts that weren't obeying those words flashing before his eyes. It was all so overwhelming...anything that represented Jackson before this 'accident' was completely unrecognizable, his hands now three-clawed appendages, his feet formless masses that led up to a digitigrade stance, his sleek and rubbery black tail gaining more and more mass as his pre kept bubbling out. A singular white stripe spread up the back of his body, ending at that visor which was now beeping to life with a digital display of 'eyes.' One couldn't even look in them and see any vestiges of Jackson within, instead only seeing another SKUNK drone stroking at the last bit of his penis just barely visible from his shiny black crotch. His breath was coming in ragged pants from around that tube, the resulting beeps and chirps were coming out faster and faster from the done, his hand struggling to grasp at his shaft as his body was shaking faster and faster. He continued to lean against the table for support, his almost fully formed tail flicking and thrashing around in the air behind him as he was fighting against the pleasure threatening to bring him to the ground. Those lights kept on flashing. His hand kept on stroking. His voice kept on beeping. His body kept on shaking. The substrate kept on rippling. More and more and more of that pleasure as the visor urged him on with more and more subliminal messages. His thoughts were gone, replaced with those commands from the visor as the drone could think about and see nothing else. Then with one final flash of that bright, swirling light, Jackson took the final plunge into permanently losing his identity.

• g o o d d r o n e . U n i t J - 4 k 3 x Z 1 N -

• n o w . c u m . -

The command was like a jolt of lightning throughout the new drone's body as the visor flashed a warning and it let go of the table. Its back arched high into the air as its hips bucked heavily, the last bits of its rubbery black penis shooting out his seed in black strings. Most of them shot out and landed right back on his crotch, but one or two managed to separate themselves from the substrate with the white seed splashing on his chest. But it didn't stay for long as it all was absorbed into the rubbery substance covering his body, disappearing almost as soon as it appeared. The substrate rippled and vibrated heavily all over him, the visor flashing warm lights as he could feel his energy increasing as he continued to ride out his orgasm. He could feel the pulsing and pressure deep in his body, practically massaging his prostate as he rode the climax harder and harder. His body and mind were overwhelmed by everything, thoughts getting hazy as he was thrusting into the air on the floor in an on-coming blackness. His vision was going dark, his body was overwhelmed, his attention could only focus on those words as everything else was fading out around him.

• G o o d D r o n e . -

• G o o d D r o n e . -

• G o o d D r . . . . . . .

~

• . . . -

• . . . -

• . . . -

• . . . U n i t r e b o o t , c o m m a n d Alpha/4983-wake -

" Just couldn't keep your paws off 'em, could you?"

The voice was the first thing the new drone heard as its vision returned, the visor powering back up and humming to life as it looked up to find a strangely familiar person. She was grinning wide and kneeling down next to the drone, as two other drones were at her sides. "New hires go one of two ways. They either listen when I tell them to fuck off with their curiousity like good drones, or we turn them into our own good drones. Easy to see which one you were." She snickered before standing up, the two other drones grabbing the new drone by the arms and pulling it up. Its feet were struggling to support itself, but it was still managing to power all of its systems. The scientist sighed, turning her back to that drone as she walked toward the door. "Unit J-4k3xZ1N, status report."

The drone formerly known as Travis stood at attention suddenly, its vision fading to a black screen as a series of words and commands started to scroll along the visor, eventually giving a full report of its power levels, serial number, time of operation, operating system, and more. She listened to the report as it came out in a robotic monotone before she let out a frustrated sigh. "Of course, you took up all your power in the change and letting our organism bind to your nervous system. Damnit, men just don't cum like they used to..." She put two fingers and pinched the bridge of her nose, clearly frustrated as she headed toward the door and waved for the drones to follow. The two drones that came with her pulled the new drone between them as they walked down the hall. The new drone couldn't focus on what was happening, but it was taking in all new sites as there were literally hundreds of drones paired with the scientists. As they walked through deeper parts of the facility, there were countless projects and apparati that were completely unrecognizable...but one door they walked in particular took the new drone's interest.

"Not that you care...or can understand, but new drones have to hear these words so whatever. That bioexoskeleton that's permanently grafted to your body? Neat little thing - turns out it runs on human proteins, too. Not that much, either. So we've essentially created a never-ending powersource. The only downside is it involves your body to fuel it. How you might ask? Er...no, you didn't. But shutup, I talk to myself a lot." The drones all just mindlessly stared at her as the new drone's aural receptors were focused on the intake of the information, tilted toward the trainer. "Whenever your power is about to run low, you will return to this room." She signaled her hand to the room they were in, which was more a warehouse than anything else. There were literally thousands upon thousands of the drones all hooked up to some sort of machine, tubes attached to the mouths, under the tails, and on the crotch. There were various types of fluids flowing between all of them, primarily white and clear as each of the drones were rippling at various levels of intensity.

"It pisses me off a bit when a guy tries to study them. You and your fucking refractory periods...women are so much easier 'cause we're...ahh, never mind. Just get this one hooked up to a new machine. It'll need at least two days of charging before it's ready to serve any of us." The drones nodded and the new drone took in the information of where to return for charging as they took off surprisingly quickly. It wasn't long before the former Jackson was hooked up to one of the stands, not even needing to be secured in place as the rubbery body bonded with the platform it was placed against. Almost immediately, tubes came down from around him as they attached to his mouth, his ass, and his crotch. It took a second or two, but as they connected, deep within the drone, Jackson felt his body suddenly come to life. He gasped, feeling that familiar deep pleasure waking up again as he was stimulated in all the ways his body craved. The tube pressing against his crotch found his shaft buried deep within that black latex-like substance and slid over it, stimulating and pleasuring it while the other behind him found his prostate and started vibrating against it. In his already permanent state of arousal, it didn't take much until he was already leaking pre-cum that was quickly taken up into the tube. It quickly moved up the system and was fed into the tube pushing down into his throat, aided by the substrate that already provided the path. Only a minute or so passed before the pleasure was too much and he was already cumming hard. His body shook a bit, but it stopped soon after as the latex-like substance rippled and was energized from his own cum.

• C h a r g i n g p r o g r e s s : 2 4 % -

The pleasure kept rippling through him over and over, his cum pressing into that tube in a constant stream as he was milked like some sort of breeding stock. He...rather, it was unable to think of anything but the commands instilled in it by that visor and by the scientists around him. It was a drone that was hand crafted for serving, and it was useless if it wasn't charged. Its hips bucked slightly as the first time was always the hardest, but it would be a good and obedient drone. It laid as still as it could while the substrate was recharging from its high-energy night previously, and the drone could feel itself starting to power down.

• P o w e r s a v i n g m o d e a c t i v a t i n g -

It couldn't keep its visor on, the last image it saw before it went into sleep mode was another drone being placed into a charging station that had a small nick in its tail, hardly visible anymore. The drone thought nothing of it, and its vision went entirely to black as it was pleasured over and over and over again for the next two days.

It had to be ready to work.

Word count: 10,538