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Part 5.

The next night.

Francine had opened the stage with an introduction of the main mechanics of Project Galvanika which she had done all those months ago. The public consisted of all the investors and colleagues Kessler had talked to Francine about, and even those that had opted out of investing in Galvanika. "I must remember I'm not merely realizing my dream, but also convince all these people their money was well spent." The petite teenager had them eating out of her hand so far. Her team which had remained loyal through and through weren't coming off short either. Assisting with the slideshow of pictures and graphics, Kessler was manipulating the projector with a dynamic imaging program.

"Wow, she really is young!" Charlie murmured to Shade while they stood there in the backstage. Both metamorphs were impressed.

"Seventeen, in fact! Oui, she's always been a brilliant little rascal." Pierre grinned, "My sister would hear nothing about little Frannie's decision to join this institute. Well look at what she's accomplished in a mere two years!"

"And I still can't even begin to understand what the heck she's talking about. Does your head hurt too? Hey, Kim." Charlie insisted, but then found herself deflating as she realized the chameleon was listening to music with her headphones on. With a flat stare, the scorpion continued to listen on. "Dummy, Beth's gonna be mad at you, not me." But unbeknownst to Charlie, Shade had actually become transfixed with the sight above them. Since the tall ceiling was dark, it was hard to tell for sure, but Shade was convinced there was something, or some things moving between the demonstrations stage's supports.

"Wonder if those ARE part of the show," Shade thought, her gloved claws fiddling with thr music player in her pockets as she continued to look up. Having stereoscopic monocular vision allowed Shade to pay omnidirectional attention to her surroundings, and using her chameleon sight was the only thing keeping her from dying of boredom. "Now I have to know. Sure they won't miss me." Shade stepped back and proceeded to discard her articles of clothing one by one while her scales began to mimethize to their surroundings. Charlie turned in time to see clothes falling off Shade's invisible form before she leaped at the wall and used her claws to climb up.

"Kim? Kim, what are you...?" Charlie tried to stop the chameleon but was too late in catching up before Kim vanished completely from sight. Only the clothes were left behind, Kim's discarded music player identifying the next track as: "Welcome to the Jungle". "Damnit! What the hell are you doing?!" Charlie couldn't shout, so she was left clenching her teeth together while stifling a groan. Unable to fight her curiosity back, Charlie simply kicked her footwear off and began to wall-crawl upwards. "Why does everything with this woman have to lead with her being naked?" she complained in her mind.

"Ahh, I still remember when I used to change her diapers as a petit infant. I am so proud of her. So are you enjoying yourselves, cherís?" Pierre asked as he turned around, his eyes blinking as the couple of metamorphs had vanished from sight. "Oh my. They must've left for the restroom. Excitement does that!" The scientist shrugged, ignoring the discarded clothes on the floor as he turned back to Francine.

Amongst the crowd was a heavily garbed fellow of average height. Concealed from his former colleagues, Dexter Hooper watched his nemesis speak. "Enjoy your fifteen minutes of fame, LeFleur. Because as soon as you activate your extractor, Alpha Wolf and I will make you wish you never tried to play with electricity." Hooper was going to enjoy the show from his seat.

"Warning: Intruders detected in ambush location. Not within parameters of plan."

Hooper's eyes widened. Fortunately the sound of ongoing conversations masked his voice commands. "What intruders? Helping hands? Put them to sleep quietly."

"Negative. Intruder not human," the Howler's response made Hooper look up above the stage. There was no way to see anything, but he was starting to grow nervous. "Queryfffzzzt!!"

"Howler number three down. Master, I have detected irregular biological signatures. They do not correspond to normal human beings."

"Not normal? Wolf, change of plans. Go inside and disable those intruders, NOW."

"Query: Lethal force authorized?"

"Get rid of them."

"Acknowledged."

When Charlie finally made it to the support beams she was startled by the sight of a floating quadruped device as if it was hung by a noose. "The hell is that thing?"

"Seems to be a robo-dog of sorts." Kim spoke as she became visible to Charlie, "Some places I've broken into rely on these but are so heavy and big they're stationary radars at best. This one's a much smaller version... Nimble too; bastard could see me coming. Must have infrared as well."

As she watched Shade hold the disabled robot by its neck, Charlie became confused, "What do you think this thing's doing here?"

"I don't know, but his friends don't look very happy about me shredding this one's circuits!"

"Trespassers, beware." Both Charlie and Shade perked up, Charlie's faceguard sliding on immediately. A larger version of the robo-dog in Shade's grip descended from one of the roof's skylights, its visor's LED lighting up in synch with its computerized voice. "Your presence here is not welcome. Proceed to vacate this height or face extermination."

"Whoa, a talking mutt. Sweet!" Charlie's tail uncoiled from her waist as she crawled forwards with it behind her, ogling the machine as if it was a toy. "Yo Fido, shake!" she extended her open hand.

"Error: This unit does not respond to that name. I am Alpha Wolf," the heavily modified quadruped leaned down on its support beam, its claws keeping it steady. "Warning: I am about to attack. Remove yourselves from the premises."

"You'd so win first place in a talent show." Charlie ascertained before suddenly having to force herself to shift her weight and bend back all the way to avoid Alpha Wolf's lunging tail as if she was playing limbo. The spiked tip on Alpha Wolf's tail barely grazed Charlie's chin but managed to pierce her sunglasses. "Aw man! I liked those sunnies." The scorpion quickly grabbed the metal tail and held it firmly with greater strength than Alpha Wolf's pull.

"I'm pretty sure it was trying to kill you, stop fooling around, bug butt," Shade dropped the disabled unit in her grip down on the catwalk behind them while glancing around for more of the Howlers that were backing Alpha Wolf up.

"Everyone's a critic now. Hmph!" Charlie's sleeves burst as two protrusions in the form of pincers came out of her forearms, clamping down on the robo-dog's tail to keep him in her grip as she stood back up.

"Warning: Target "Bug Butt" exhibits unprecedented levels of strength..."

Charlie glared down Shade's way, "Aw, see what you did, Shade!"

"...adjusting parameters. Howlers, Gamma Formation." Several visor LEDs began to light up around the two metamorphs at once, forcing Charlie to let go of the tail once Alpha Wolf gave the order, "Attack!"

Shade and Stinger found themselves jumping from beam to beam in an attempt to avoid incoming whips and thrusts from the machines' accurate tails. The people below were blissfully unaware as machine fought metamorph above them. Francine was well into the end of her presentation before she cued the curtains to be raised, X05 coming into view within its tank; electrodes connecting the specimen and extractor with cables distracted the crowd from the action above.

Hooper contacted his creations' leader again. "Wolf, are the intruders eliminated?"

"Negative, Master. Inhuman targets are highly evasive. Inconspicuous counter-measures unproductive. Suggest strategic withdrawal."

"No!" an anxious Hooper almost shouted at his concealed transceiver, "I have waited months for this moment, it's the perfect chance to drink in that fool LeFleur's defeat!" his mind was racing with thoughts of humiliation after what Francine had done to him. Seeing as she tested her creation successfully, wowing the crowd constantly and on top of it all, knowing that this was supposed to be HIS moment was all Hooper needed to want this all to end. "This farce must end. By my claws if necessary," he looked down at his gloved hands hiding his electrified fingers. Hooper stood up while issuing one final command: "Distract those meddling idiots, Wolf. I'm going for the prize."

Too distracted with her demonstration of how the super-batteries worked, most of the people and even Francine herself couldn't notice the garbed person making his way through by leaps and bounds. It was a domino effect once he reached the middle of the seats however. "If you want something done well...!" Hooper's shout was barely heard, but he didn't hold back about making a scene. He wanted to ruin LeFleur's project, he wanted to ruin her life. A scene was inevitable.

Security took notice of the unseated agitator and attempted to subdue Hooper once he reached the stage. Four armed guards aimed at the mysterious acrobat, "Please keep your distance from the equipment, only professionals in bioelectricity are allowed near the..."

"Funny you should mention that..." an outraged Hooper immediately lifted his right hand, energy shredding his gloves as electricity suddenly shot out from his finger-tips, focused at the speaking guard. "BECAUSE I AM THE ONLY PROFESSIONAL HERE!" The demonstration suddenly came to a stop when four armed guards were instantly flung in the air by violent discharges of electricity emanating from a person. Screams of terrors followed.

Up above, Shade was making use of her super-human agility and sight to keep up with the Howlers. Wise to the sharpness of her claws, the Howlers were mainly keeping their distance with hit-and-run tactics. In the meantime, Charlie was tanking Alpha Wolf's assault, the leader assisted by two more Howlers to tag in after each combo. "You stand no chance," the robo-dog spoke, "We are superior in number. We are better coordinated. We shall prevail, Bug Butt!"

Bracing the claws and tail strikes was managing to push Charlie down. Even her chitin armor was unable to completely absorb the relentless attacks directed at her. "We have little room to maneuver in here, and these guys don't get tired..." Charlie groaned in her mind, trying to wait for an opening was useless against machines! "You're wrong if you think this is lopsided in your favor. And my name isn't bug butt, scorpions aren't bugs for starters." Charlie groaned as she took a swipe across the cheek, scratch marks left on her mask. The blow she received had been intentional from her part however, as she immediately demonstrated by countering with a pincer-uppercut to grab the incoming Howler. Alpha Wolf was taken by surprise when Charlie rushed him and smashed him with his own follower. "I am Stinger!"

Scrambling to the catwalk on the side, Alpha Wolf made an aerial recovery by flipping and falling on all fours, "Stinger. Name change complete. Data has been saved."

"I'm starting to hate robots," Charlie groaned as the damaged but still functional Howler she had used as a blunt weapon was already up and next to Alpha Wolf. It wasn't long before the screams under them reached the voluptuous fighters' ears. "Something's going on down there! Jim might've been right about foul-play!"

"We have to hurry up then!" Shade was faring a little better, the combination of her claws, tail and prehensile tongue allowing the chameleon to swing herself to alternate positions. Due to the restricted space, the reptile didn't need her mimethization powers to funnel her enemies where she wanted them. "Got'cha!" she thrust her arm outwards at the right moment to perfectly parry an incoming attacker. Her sharp claws tore through the Howler's neck and the robot shorted out once Shade ruined the circuitry. Her fingers were burnt badly in the process, which made her cringe slightly in pain, but her hand was still good. "Sting, if you time your strike you can exploit their necks, much softer than their joints!"

"Easy for you to say!" Charlie groaned as she nearly lost her balance when Alpha Wolf and his two Howlers began to charge and spin-tackle the heroine, pushing her back on the platform. "But worth a try!" she mumbled as she tightened the grip of her feet on the beam and prepared to intercept a blow. Alpha Wolf immediately stopped, unlike his Howlers that continued their charging. Charlie pulled her arm back and clenched her fist, summoning her chitin pincers again only to thrust them out right before the attack connected. Just when Charlie thought she was about to catch a break, Alpha Wolf leaped above the deflected attacker and pounced. "Oh sonuva!"

"Your movements are a simple matter to read. You are finished, Stinger!"

"Sting!" Shade gasped as she ducked to avoid a tail slash with only moments to see her partner get straddled to the platform with Alpha Wolf aiming his tail spike at her head. Stinger struggled under the pain of Alpha Wolf's clawed paws sinking against her flesh, tearing through the dense chitin easily. "Crap, I can't get to her in time. She's gonna get a lobotomy at this rate!" Shade's mind raced as she continued to parry attacks, diverting all of her brain's processing power to finding a solution in the few seconds she had to save her friend. Without a moment to spare, Shade suddenly came up with an idea after looking at the catwalk's chain supports. "This had better work!"

As Charlie shrieked from pain, she managed to throw her head to the opposite side before the spike impaled, but she didn't know how long she had to keep this up. And then all of a sudden the platform underneath them began to violently rattle. "What the...?" her eyes widened at the sight of Shade practically flying between support beams to strike at the catwalk's chains until they finally succumbed to the chameleon's claws.

"BRACE!" yelled the reptile. Alpha Wolf became momentarily distracted as the platform began to tilt downwards. He tried to kick himself away, but found that to be impossible.

"Error..."

"That's right!" Charlie interrupted as they began to slide off the tilting platform. "You're coming down with me!" The disconcerted robot had no way to act now that Charlie had bear-hugged his chassis and immobilized his tail with her steel-hard grip. In the throes of pain coming from the bleeding cuts on her body, Charlie used the few seconds they had before impacting the ground to take advantage of her adversary's predicament and shifted their weight around. Managing to spin herself on top of the robo-dog, she let out a shout, "Mutt meet floor!"

The panic in the demonstration only grew upon Stinger and Alpha Wolf's landing. Even Hooper was forced to stop his advance towards the terrified Galvanika team. "What is the meaning of this?!" the eel-turned-scientist demanded. From the clearing cloud of dust emerged a creature not unlike himself.

"Mon Dieu, Agent Stinger...?" gasped Pierre, who had forgone regulations once Hooper began electrocuting people that approached him, and rushed to Francine to shield her from harm.

"Sacre bleu! Uncle, do you know these... people?!" a horrified Francine asked in disbelief when she saw the barely clothed female scorpion walk out with the torn head of a blinking robot. Francine's green eyes widened to the size of saucers when she took in the appearance of the robotic dog-like face. "F1D0?!"

"Th-this u-u-unit does not... r-respond... t-to..." the stuttering transformed into static.

"They don't make 'em like they used to, huh?" a sheepish Charlie shrugged while being stared at by what remained of the public, though she was glad she had managed to use the force of the slam to rip the robo-dog's head off. Hooper on the other hand was less than pleased with this.

"Wolf!" the teenager metamorph screamed. "My master-piece, m-my friend! Ruined...!" Hooper held by the side of his head, clenching his free hand. Fortunately, critical data was stored in a near-indestructible black box, which meant Alpha Wolf's AI was safe for now, but the chassis, all the hard work! The scorpion had no right to do this. "Destroyed!"

"Hooper?" Francine called out despite her uncle's insistence to not interfere. The garbed man suddenly let out a roar of both pain and humiliation. Charlie gasped as she noticed sparks of electricity cackle in his grip.

"How dare you speak my name? You, who are not worthy of it!" the aggravated Hooper raised his arm in the direction of Francine. Charlie kicked into a dash, realizing no good was going to come out of allowing the one responsible for Alpha Wolf's creation to freely carry on. Everything seemed to slow down as Charlie tried to intercept Hooper, but electricity has a way to outrun most things in this universe.

The lightning bolt hurled by Hooper was meant for Francine, but Pierre pushed her away in the nick of the time only to receive the brunt of the attack which caused a small blast that sent Pierre flying into a wall.

"DOC!" Charlie screamed, stopping mere inches away from Hooper. Her eyes froze as she heard the scientist's body fizzle and watched the once pristine lab coat now stained black.

"Tch, I missed," the garbed Hooper groaned in annoyance before he was tapped on the shoulder. When he turned around he was greeted by a solid fist.

"YOU MISERABLE PIECE OF...!" accompanied the blow of titanic proportions that would have easily killed a human. Charlie couldn't stop herself from growling as she put everything she had in that punch, thoughts of holding back lost to the sheer amount of hatred driving her to insanity. The person she owed her life to, fried by this mad man, and she had failed to protect him when he needed her the most! The force of the impact was so great that Hooper's grunt of pain was lost to the wind as his body was sent flying into a wall. Knocked down from the wall, he slid down into the nutrient vat for X05.

"Uncle! Nooooo!" Francine rushed over to her unconscious uncle, but stopped herself before touching him. She knelt by his side, knowing not to touch his body due to the static electricity.

"Stinger, are you alright?!" Shade finally made her appearance after rushing her descent towards the ground. "Whatever you did to that Alpha Wolf thing, it stopped all the other robo-dogs! I just... Sting...?"

Charlie was on her knees, eyes frozen against the ground. Shade blinked, unaware of what had happened until she noticed Pierre's state on the corner, "Oh no..."

---

Within the liquid nutrient vat, a terrified X05 attempted to swim away from its fellow knife fish. The amplified electromagnetic fields surrounding X05 only managed to stimulate Hooper's body to absorb the nutrients around him, enabling him to recover from the devastating blow he had received. Waking up faster than he should have, unbridled rage that filled his mind was instantly focused on the creature which was responsible for his transformation. It was scared of him, Hooper could not blame it. He was stronger. He could feel it, every fiber of his being was super-charged, making him superior to any human being. "But the scorpion...! The scorpion that destroyed my dear Wolf...! She's stronger, she punched me... she dared punch me!" he was on the verge of exploding before his claws reached out for X05 and gripped tightly. "It's not enough power... Not enough!!" Maw open widely, Hooper violently sank his fangs and began to force the 10ft. electric eel's electrocytes into himself, basically force-feeding electric power into his body. Hooper's bulky garbs began to stretch as muscles groaned and popped larger, his entire body overflowing with an unstoppable surge of power... and the hunger for more.

---

"It happened, Shade, it really did...! I can't do it, I can't protect anyone...!" Charlie sobbed while shaking and hugging herself. Shade grimaced, unable to find the words to cheer her partner up.

"Who did this?!" the chameleon growled out.

"I punched the living daylights out of the bastard, but what does it matter now...?!" Charlie sobbed again, cracking the wooden floor with her fist. Shade seemed to step back as all of a sudden the darkened pool by the wall started to light up. The liquid inside began to splash as the blur within stirred. Charlie widened her eyes when she realized something was coming out of it. "No... he's growing out of it!"

"What the heck is he?!" Shade exclaimed once they heard a deafening roar coming from within the straining nutrient vat. Shredded clothes started to spill out alongside liquid as Hooper's form swelled with power. The electric eel's musculature had improved from its lithe body-builder form to a serious weight-lifter build in mere moments. Electricity coursing through his veins, the metamorph's eyes started glowing an eerie white as energy cackled all around him. Well over 10ft. already, Hooper had become a living, growing battery. A hungry living and growing battery.

"The power... it's... intoxicating...!" the muscle bound predator roared again, finishing to scare off every single member of the public left in the demonstration. Hooper tightened his grip on the electrodes meant to sap power from X05's and now his body. It was only a matter of concentration for Hooper to redirect the flow and begin sucking the electricity right out of the super-battery Francine had half-filled for the demonstration. With nowhere else to go, just like with X05's body before, the electricity was making Hooper's body become larger and larger to house even more power!

Still stunned, Stinger had to be tugged away from the incoming wave of electrified liquid by Shade's elastic tongue. After Hooper's expansion caused his tree-trunk legs and thick sides crush the crystal pool, their surroundings had become extra dangerous. "Fuck, is he eating electricity?!"

"YES! And it's making me stronger and stronger!" the delirious Hooper claimed as his smooth body bulked out further, watching on as his adversaries became increasingly smaller in his field of view. "You're looking pathetic now, lizard and scorpion! Nnnngaaahhh!" he moaned out loud, the pleasure center of Hooper's brain stimulated by the process. Hooper gripped harder, tugging on the cables to the super-battery until he lost his patience and yanked the battery into his hands. "Power... more power!" he laughed, suddenly biting down on the object of his desire. His fangs easily tore through the metal, capacitors shocking his mouth as saliva came into contact with the electricity. The immense eel only hastened his growth, making himself grow taller and taller with every passing moment.

"We have to stop this guy! But how do we get close without getting electrocuted?!" Shade helplessly thought as she skipped away from the stray bolts. "This place isn't safe anymore... Francine, you have to leave!" But the young girl didn't seem to hear.

"It's hopeless..." Charlie groaned.

"Stinger, snap out of it! We have to help these people or they're gonna be squashed under this guy's nuts!"

"What's the difference?! I'll fail...! I can't do anything right..."

"It's not the time to doubt yourself, do you want Francine to end up dead too?!"

"But..." Charlie was about to object when the piercing scream of Francine's shout for help was heard.

"HE'S BREATHING!" Stinger's and Shade's eyes widely opened at the same time, "My uncle's still breathing! PLEASE HELP ME!" Charlie suddenly felt a rush of energy make her perk up, she had a second chance. Bouncing off Shade's arms, the two metamorphs nodded to each other and rushed over to the corner Francine and Pierre were at.

"H-he... he's alive... please don't let him die, this is my fault, it's all my fault...!" tears streamed down Francine's fair white skin as she looked up at Stinger and Shade, despair making her look beyond appearances. Her endangered uncle needed help!

"Francine, don't worry! I'm Stinger, and she's Shade. Despite the corny names, we'll help your uncle!" Charlie gave her hand out to help Francine up whilst Shade took it upon herself to protect Pierre. "What do you mean this is all your fault though? Do you know this steroid junkie?!"

"He was part of my project, but he tried to sabotage me so many times I had him expelled from this place. I don't know how he turned himself into that monster eel but...!" Francine stopped talking. Something had clicked in her mind. "The Xteria..." Shade and Stinger quickly exchanged looks before staring back at Francine, "X05, my genetically engineered subject, was born through Xteria assisted genetic manipulation. Hooper must've some somehow spliced himself with its genetic data...!" she gasped.

"And now he's got the munchies for electric power. Is there any way to shut this equipment down?!" Charlie was quick to ask.

"Mon Dieu, non! Not without frying yourself in the process!" Francine disgruntledly explained as she looked up at the flickering lights, "He's feeding on the whole building's electricity. And this place consumes enough power for three blocks worth of it! While he's tapped into the institute's power grid, he's going to make every breaker a hazardous thing to approach!"

The stage was starting to groan under the weight of the increasingly bigger Hooper. His eel body had become a chiseled mountain of manly muscle that would have put any body-builder to shame. His height was already approaching 20ft. tall and there was no sign of the growth stopping anytime soon! Hooper was rapidly approaching the tall ceiling as he hungrily munched on the super-battery until it was fresh out of power. When that happened, his lust for more electrical power made him swing his arm against the wall, tearing the connections straight out for his fangs to gnaw on and his hands to absorb the electricity from. While his tail swished around, more stray bolts of lightning shot out, fortunately missing the girls and Pierre. But Hooper wasn't done growing and he was definitely not done eating. "I'm... so hungry...! This feels so good...! Voltaic... feels good...!" he moaned louder.

"Did he just call himself Voltaic? Ack!" Charlie ducked to narrowly avoid another stray bolt. "There's no stopping him!"

"Then we have to leave before we get crushed under this dude's bulk! Let's go!" Shade called out, but Francine shook her head.

"No, there might be a way to stop him! I just need to get to my laboratory..."

"There's no time for that! Can't you request the stuff outside?!" the chameleon argued, Charlie suddenly standing up to punch a falling piece of debris into smaller pieces before it hit them.

"He's crushing the supports with his shoulders, they can't hold his weight! Holy hell and I thought Queen's Knights were thick!" she quickly thought.

"Francine, come back!"

"Huh?" Charlie blinked and turned around as Shade jumped away from more falling debris. Due to her carrying Pierre on her back, Shade had been unable to stop the young girl from running away. "No, Francine!" Charlie called out just as Francine briefly turned around to shout.

"I beg you, look out for my uncle! I have to get to my laboratory before it's too late!"

"Damnit!" Shade cursed, turning to look at Stinger, "Go get her back. I've to get Pierre to an ambulance!"

"Was planning on it!" Charlie leaped towards the wall and began to run alongside it with the same ease as moving on the floor.

---

When Francine reached the hallways to her lab, the place was aflame. Excess voltage had caused several malfunctions throughout the institute, "Just a lone spark could have caused all of this... Merde, I have to make it to my laboratory at all costs. Just hope it isn't gone...!" Braving the tall flames cost Francine her coat, but the alternative seemed less than attractive at the moment. She was fortunate enough to be able to open the door to her laboratory, blessing her luck when the card reader among the malfunctioning gadgets finally allowed her in. The scientist made sure to lock it behind her as she rushed inside.

"Francine!" she could hear Stinger's voice in the immediate vicinity. The scorpion had most likely seen Francine go inside. But she couldn't allow Stinger to interfere.

"Nobody can interfere, this is my fault. There's no way to approach him, there's no way to stop him... unless you're like him!" The scientist started mixing compounds in a hurry, gladdened by the remaining samples of X05 she had made sure to maintain. The result was a light-pink compound of active Xteria culture mixed with X05 tissue. "There's no time to test this... I must trust that this will work...!" She began extracting the liquid into a syringe for faster administration.

The door to Francine's laboratory blew apart at that moment, Stinger's super-human strength allowing her to breach security after a good combo of punches. Their eyes met, intentions unspoken but well understood.

"Francine! NO!"

To Be Continued...