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Chapter Five - Changing of the Guard

There was an eerie silence in the facility hallways as August made one last security check along the pathway that they were transporting such a dangerous specimen along. The second that the one that had been known as Serathin stepped off the train the entire base and all personnel were confined to their quarters for the duration of the transfer. Since the unfortunate incident that had fused the heavy steel door that led out of the caverns they were going to have to transport a living, breathing Bal'Kar from outside the facility to the special quarantine area they had prepared. While they had prepared for such an event it still unnerved the Siberian tiger that they were about to move an extremely dangerous creature through a populated area... but at this point they had no other choice as he got on his radio and signaled to Nate that it was time to move.

There was a voice on the other side that gave him the affirmative before informing August that they were on the move. Though he could have gone up and escorted them the entire way he decided to wait near the observation deck, keeping the air-lock open on both sides for what would soon be the last time. Due to the immense weight of the specimen they had to take a specific path through the facility, and though the scientist knew what the time table was he couldn't help but check his watch every thirty seconds. He knew better than to get on the radio to ask them of their progress and the security team couldn't keep him updated as they went.

Finally nearly half an hour after August had radioed in he could hear the loud sound of metal rolling on metal coming from further down the hallway around one of the corners. August felt his stomach tighten into a knot as he continued to wait for them to show themselves. When they did it was the two heavily armored military personnel that took the front, followed quickly by two others dressed up in hazmat uniforms that seemed to be taking scans of the area. It was behind them that caused the tiger to get very nervous as four more in heavy hazmat suits flanked a containment cell that contained the Bal'Kar. The thick, solid steel had little room for the occupant to do much more than stand up and had a small viewing window where August could see those glowing green eyes looking straight at him.

"So you're the one that ordered the tentacle monster?" Nate said as he came up from behind and set his hand against the container. "Next time we bring one of these creatures let's try and lighten the load a little bit, between the weight of the Bal'Kar and the containment unit there's probably a set of divots that lead from the front entrance to here."

"Well hopefully this is the only time that we have to make such a journey," the tiger replied as he motioned for them to continue to move into the observation deck. As they moved past him he could feel the floor shift under his feet, which was impressive to him considering that it was all rock and metal underneath them. "Do you think the elevator is going to be able to handle him?"

"It'll handle him," Nate replied. "The containment unit plus him, not so much. You're going to have to let him out of the cage before he sets foot inside of that elevator car... which means that if you want to accompany him you're going to have to suit up, yourself."

August sighed and nodded, taking his clipboard and handing it to the other feline before beginning the process of putting on a containment suit. Though they were specifically designed with protection from the Bal'Kar in mind, it did so by sacrificing comfort and mobility. Of course if a Bal'Kar was after you it was unlikely that you'd be outrunning it, anyway, August thought to himself as he put on the bulky clothing. With a little help from Nate and a dragon that was going to be the overseer of the airlock he finally got himself completely suited up, complete with an air tank that was attached to his hip.

Once he was done he followed the transport team out into the area of the facility that they called the observation deck. It was designed in order to look at and study the Bal'Kar in a more natural environment to try and get insight into how they lived. Even though Serathin had essentially said that there was no way they would coexist, he was hopeful that along with the tests they were about to undertake that perhaps that opinion could also change. Of course it wasn't the only reason either, the researcher turning his head to look at Nate one last time before the airlock closed and the entire room began to depressurize. Once they were given the green light he and the other suited researchers moved the containment cell over to the single elevator that led down into the cavern and August told them to open it up.

There was a hiss of air as one of the hazmat suited people punched in the code to the door and it opened, the heavy steel slowly opening before Serathin stepped out. "Well that was certainly an enjoyable ride," the draconic sabrewolf said as he stretched his body. "Had I been in there much longer I would have gotten a cramp or something."

"A cramp would mean that you have actual muscle and bone," August shot back, causing the Bal'Kar to smirk at him. "Step on the elevator, it'll take you down to your new home."

"Not going to come with me, Dr. Winters?" Serathin asked, the tiger shaking his head as which caused him to roll his eyes. "Well I certainly hope that you would reconsider, after all this is a new place for me and I'm going to need the grand tour. Plus I'm sure that head of yours is filled with all sorts of rules and regulations that you want to put on me before we begin this whole testing process that you want to perform."

There was a moment of silence as the others looked at August, and for that moment he was thankful that the hazmat suit visors were tinted so they couldn't see the look of frustration on his face. He knew that this creature could turn at any time and take out the crew that was here, possibly the entire base, which meant that if he was just luring him down there to convert him it would be a lot of subterfuge for nothing. Still, he felt very uneasy at those glowing green eyes staring at him while Serathin waited for his answer. After about a minute of contemplation he heard the muffled shock of the others as he nodded and stepped into the elevator with him.

Even though it was just the two of them August could feel the metal under his feet straining slightly from the weight as they made their way down. Part of the tiger wondered if the industrial lift was going to fail on them, but eventually they got to the bottom of the cavern and the doors opened. Serathin stepped out first with August right behind, using his radio in his suit to inform them that they were out of the car and to initiate the decontamination protocols. When the feline looked back the hybrid was smirking at him, which caused August to frown as he asked what was so funny.

"The lengths you're all going to to try and preserve those so-called bodies of yours," Serathin stated simply as he started to walk into the cavern and looked around. "A little cozy, but I think I can make this work. Looks like there's a lot of room for outward expansion."

"Outward expansion?" August replied as he kept pace with the Bal'Kar. "This entire mountain is one big metamorphic core, it took several tons of explosives for us to make the space just for this facility. All you're going to do is wear down those bashers of yours to get rid of all the gneiss and granite this place is composed of."

"We'll manage," Serathin replied as he went over to one of the walls and put a hand against the stone, his blue-scaled fingers turning black for a few seconds before returning to normal. "Anyway Dr. Winters, I don't believe you came down here just to tuck me in, I'm sure you have all manner of things that you want me to follow as long as I'm here enjoying your hospitality."

Up until that inquiry August had been wearily eyeing up the Bal'Kar until the statement of rules snapped him out of his observational mode. "Yes, while you're here at Starpoint I expect you to make good on your part of the deal not to try and convert the members of my team," he explained as he gingerly sat down in one of the reinforced metal chairs. "In exchange we're going to make sure the tests that we run on you are completely non-invasive and at the same time I will try and dig up the information your kind want on Dr. Sarkov. Now whenever someone comes down to the cavern area you will be in your guise form with no controllers present, this is to help prevent accidental... contamination. You are also not to release your spores unless specifically asked to and all of your extract is to be contained to this cavern area, if our biological detectors pick up anything in the facility I will not hesitate to lock it down and evacuate to leave you here to rot."

"I suspect that would only be long enough for the plasma furnace you have here to overload and sterilize the entire area," Serathin replied, chuckling when August was taken aback slightly. "I would think that such a facility that was created specifically for the purpose to house a Bal'Kar wouldn't have an ultimate fail-safe, it wouldn't be the first time you've tried to blow us up. Regardless, I find your terms to be quite agreeable, if not a little restrictive, so if that's all you want to discuss then I would ask that you head back up to the safety of your perch so that I can stretch my legs so to speak."

August nodded and got out of the chair, giving a wave and heading back to the elevator before stopping and turning around. "I know the accommodations are rather sparse," the tiger admitted. "If you need anything brought down or some sort of furniture then just let someone know and we'll try to make it happen. I have to say that we weren't sure what accounted for creature comforts for the Bal'Kar."

"I'm sure I can make it work," Serathin replied, waving back as his fingers once more began to turn black and merge into one digit. "I would hurry back, not sure how much longer I'm going to be able to hold back."

August found himself swallowing hard as he saw the draconic sabrewolf's tongue begin to poke out past his lips and turn an intensely bright green. He quickly picked up the pace and got back to the elevator, the doors closing behind him before lifting him up with much greater ease than the ride down. As the hiss of gas escaped containing what they believed to be a potent enough solvent to try and neutralize any Bal'Kar cells on his body, he turned his attention to the window that looked out into the cavern. As he rose higher and higher into the air he could see that Serathin had waited very little after he went up as even from the thick glass he could see the creature's body beginning to expand. By the time August had gotten to the top of the observation deck the draconic sabrewolf had doubled in size, and even from their height he could see that large patches of fur had been replaced with shiny black skin.

The four that had been there to help roll in the containment cell were all watching with August in awe as Serathin thrashed about, glowing green goo beginning to pool around his contorting body as tentacles emerged from his sides and legs. His form quickly became less discernible as that thick tongue continued to push out of his muzzle, dripping with goo that splattered onto the floor while more tendrils pushed out of his muzzle and head. Soon only the saber teeth were able to tell them that they were looking at the same creature as those head tentacles continued to grow, turning same bright green as the tongue while energy seemed to crackle from their tips. August quickly ordered everyone out, not only so they could decontaminate the entire observation deck but also because he didn't want anyone watching as Serathin's tail swelled into a Bal'Kar abdomen while his cock grew thick and shiny while leaking a similar substance.

August was the last to leave and as the airlock closed behind him he could hear an unnatural roar that caused him to turn around. In the gap between the shutting doors he saw the glowing green eyes of the Bal'Kar staring at him along with the pair from his controller tentacles as his height shot up so quick that he was almost eye level with the observation deck. Their eyes remained locked on one another before the doors finally closed and the feline shook his head to try and rid himself of the image. As he and the others continued to stand there they all looked up when they heard yet another safety measure go off, the entire room filled with intense light for a few seconds before hearing the pressure start to normalize.

The process took a couple minutes and when they were finally done they took off their suits and carefully put them into a bin so that they could once more be processed. When they all stepped out August saw Nate sitting there waiting for him, though the smile that seeing his boyfriend caused was quickly diminished when he saw the panther hunched over. "Are you alright, Nate?" the tiger asked as he quickly rushed up to the panther and helped him to sit alright. "You're not looking so good..."

"Just tired is all," Nate quickly replied with a dismissive wave of his hand, August handing him a bottle of water that he drank a few sips of. "That was a rather long trek to go from the train station to the caverns and constantly wondering if this thing was going to burst out and melt us or something did a number on the nerves. A little rest and I should be fine."

"I told you that you didn't have to do that detail," August said as he helped Nate up and kept the panther's arm around his shoulder while they walked through the still empty facility. "Any number of guards that aren't in your condition would have been happy to trade places with you in order to have the bragging rights of escorting a Bal'Kar."

There was a moment of pause and when the tiger looked over he saw that the other feline had a frown on his face while he looked down at the floor. "I had to do it..." he said after a few moments of pause. "That should have been me in that containment unit, or at the very least down in those caverns. Had it not been for Serathin's intervention I would have been the one sprouting tentacles and having to have three layers of containment protocols between me and you..."

"You can't keep punishing yourself like this, Nate," August scolded with a scowl on his face. "Serathin would be down in that cavern whether you were the intended recipient of that serum or anyone else in this base. The fact that he's so agreeable to wanting to help is a blessing; who knows what would have happened if it had been you or some random soldier, it sounds like the Bal'Kar aren't one for negotiation typically and this one just happened to have more of a flair for diplomacy than others. If we can find a way to harness those regenerative powers then I won't have to drag your lazy butt to bed all the time.

Both Nate and August chuckled at the joke but the levity was short-lived; both felines knew that the treatments they had been hiding from the rest of the facility were starting to fail, which was the reason for the desperate act of turning him into a Bal'Kar in the first place, and with the added stress put on them to try and make this experiment work after the death of Major Amaro. August wondered just how much longer Nate would be able to keep up the act, or even if they should at this point given his failing health. The thoughts weighed heavily on his mind and it was likely the same for Nate as the two remained in silence until they got to Nate's room. Though the tiger wanted Nate to move into his room, they knew that it wouldn't look for them if they did so as they walked inside.

August heard Nate sigh loudly as the panther deposited himself on the bed, laying there as the tiger went to the nearby cabinet in order to grab the various pills he had to take before bed. As he sat there with the handful of medications shuffling around his palm August felt a mix of feelings; anger that the love of his life was dying, sadness that their greatest hope of cure created a monster, and at the end of it a small amount of hope that all wasn't lost. With Serathin still willing to bargain and the best scientific team he could gather August was sure if anyone could crack the Bal'Kar code it was going to be him, not only saving Nate, but possibly the entire world as well. He knew it was what had to be done, he thought to himself as he gave the panther all the pills and something to help wash it down. When Nate had finished the two continued to cuddle for a while before August had to go and announce that the lockdown was over.

After making sure that the hazmat crew had done its job of sterilizing the route through the facility that Serathin had traveled down he got on the loudspeaker and announced that people were now free to move about in the specified areas of the facility. Even though people could move, though, they were still limited, now that the Bal'Kar was in the building August could finally test the containment methods used to keep the entire facility safe from a potential contamination breach. Whether accidental or intentional the scientist didn't want one puff of spores from the Bal'Kar to infect everyone in the facility, and there were also a number of failsafes they had to try to make sure anyone that was transformed into a Bal'Kar couldn't sneak in and sabotage systems. There was a lot of work ahead of him, the exhausted tiger thought to himself as he flopped down on his bed, and he knew that this was just the beginning...

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The next day August once more walked through the hallways of the facility, admiring the job that the cleanup crew had made to make it look like nothing happened there. It was especially impressive since he knew that one of the things they used was fire and there wasn't a melted light or scorch mark to be seen. Once more the hallways were mostly empty, but this time it was because everyone was hard at work in their respective stations, and although there was still a minor quarantine near the observation deck most of the facility was now open.

At least that's what he thought until he heard something that caused him pause. It sounded like two people talking in muffled tones or whispers. With an eyebrow raised in equal concern and confusion August quietly hunted down the source of the noise until he was standing in front of one of the exercise rooms the facility had for those who wanted to stay in shape. When he put his head up towards the door he confirmed his suspicions, it did sound like multiple people were having some sort of conversation that was actually quite loud. Unfortunately with the two sets of doors, one for the changing room and one going into the gym proper, it was still hard to make out what was being said, which prompted August to walk in and see what was going on.

When August immediately got through the second door; however, he wished his curiosity hadn't gotten the better of him, immediately recoiling back at what he saw. The first thing his eyes were drawn to was the rather muscular female german shepherd with her back against a weight bench, her training shorts around her knees and her top completely off as her breasts bounced on her chest. The reason why her chest was jiggling up and down were the two males that were on either side of her, the light of the gym glistening off of the lithe lizard man's scales as he plowed her pussy while the canine's muzzle was occupied by the ripped orca that had his cock halfway down her throat. If that wasn't enough there was a fourth male that was behind the orca that was even more muscular than the one in front of him, and from the look of the male rhino's face and the way his hips thrusted forward it was clear what he was engaging in.

"What the hell are you all doing!?" August said loudly, causing all four of them to suddenly scramble. The german shepherd nearly screamed as the cocks that had been buried deep in her throat and snatch were suddenly removed and was kept up on the bench only by the other two males that also started to scramble. It was almost comical in a way, especially when the rhino continued to give a few more thrusts into the orca before pulling out of his rear and going for the shorts that were around his ankles.

"Dr. Winters!" the lizardman said hastily as he struggled to grab his jockstrap and pull it up, though even with it up it still kept his admittedly pert backside in view of the tiger. "We... uh..." as they continued to scramble to get decent the tiger realized that they were the four that had been on the guard for the containment unit. "We just came here to blow off some steam together and then one thing led to another and... well..."

August quickly waved his hand and continued to remain turned away as they finished getting dressed, though every so often he snuck a glance to watch them try to tuck their erections into their stretchy pants. Even when they got completely covered up it was clear they were still horny as they continued to move to hide themselves. "There was nothing that I indicated when I gave you a day off that you can do that," the tiger said as the four security guards continued to look away. "I should get HR to write you all up for public indecency... but in this case I'm going to have you go to the infirmary instead."

"The infirmary?" the lizardman said. "Why do we have to go there?"

"Because you four were exposed to the Bal'Kar yesterday and now you are having sex in the weight room," August stated simply. "They are creatures of lust and if you've been exposed to something that we don't know about you have to go to quarantine until it's clear that you are mentally and physically free of contamination. Now take a few moments to calm yourselves before going out and then talk to the doctor, and then if you get cleared and feel the need to get frisky again at least do it your rooms this time."

It was clear that the four were still embarrassed at being caught as they nodded and told Dr. Winters they would do so immediately. August thanked them and left, shaking his head as he did so. Part of him wondered if they would go back to it when he was gone but as he stood there for a few minutes and saw the four of them file out towards the infirmary. Once it was clear that they were heading in the proper direction August sighed and walked back down towards the mess hall.

There he found Nate waiting for him at their usual table, the panther sipping on a mug of tea. With the energy sapped out of him from yesterday and yet another treatment he had to undertake Nate had to take the day off as well, though he looked better than yesterday August was still concerned as he sat down. "You look slightly more troubled than usual," Nate said as soon as the tiger had settled in and slid a different mug towards him. "I'd say a penny for your thoughts but I'd probably need a dollar."

"At least," August said with a sigh as he sat back. "I caught the four guards that I gave a break for today having sex in the weight room, told them to go to the infirmary for quarantine. All I can think about is that if they're about to go all tentacle monster on us, even despite the fact that a fully secured containment chamber holding is a Bal'Kar, I wonder how long it would be before the rest of us succumb."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it," Nate said, taking a sip and smirking slightly as August looked at him in confusion. "At least two-thirds of the security crew are fucking each other, probably the same amount of scientists, too. I know for a fact that two of them that were guarding the Bal'Kar have been written up having sex somewhere they shouldn't have been."

The tiger sighed and rubbed his face, though inside he felt a small semblance of relief at the news. "And why wasn't I informed of this before?" he asked the other feline. "Given we have a lust monster on our hands that would have been good to know how horny our staff seems to be."

"I think it's more boredom and need for connection than just straight-up sex," Nate clarified. "As for leaving you in the dark, we all know how much stress you're under and decided to keep this as an internal matter. Our HR department is rather top-notch, like that quad with all the tails that likes to hug everyone, they kept everything in line for you while you get to focus on the big drippy squid."

August just nodded and the two talked for a while longer before the tiger had to move on to yet another failsafe drill, this time testing out the pressure sensitive flooring in their water treatment system. Though he had told Nate he could bring him back to his room the panther just shook his head and got up himself, slowly walking back towards the dorms. As August watched the panther turn and leave it reinvigorated his desire to go through with this experimentation. After seeing what had happened with the four security guards he had an inkling to shut the whole thing down... but there was too much at stake to give up now and he walked back down the hall with renewed determination.