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Mad Science

Graduation

By XP Author

Austin sat on the table within the well lit lab room. The young bat heard his heart beating rapidly in his chest, his breath coming a little quicker than normal. Even with what he and his cousin had done in these rooms, he felt very exposed in just his underwear. The dark fur on his chest contrasted with the white along his legs and arms. The bright lights above shining directly down on him made him feel like he was on display. In a way, he kind of was.

"Nervous?" The voice made him jump a little. Belle had been working so quietly that he had forgotten she was just outside the room.

He laughed awkwardly, running a hand over the tuft of hair atop his head. "A little." She stepped into the room, and as always, he was struck by her unusual features. It was not the shape of her curvy body, but the details. The webbing between her wings glowed a noticeable yellow, as did her nose and even the insides of her ears. When she opened her mouth, it had the same glow. Her eyes as well, but not yellow, instead green like emeralds. Her vibrantly red hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, held high between her large ears. She was very pretty to him, an opinion he had done little to hide from her, despite both their blood relation and near 20 years difference in age.

She stepped closer to him, reaching out her long fingers to rest gently upon his shoulder. The touch was almost electric to him. "Relax. I've had to go through this a bunch of times. You'll be fine."

He smiled to her, trying to calm his breathing. "Yeah... I know. First time jitters." He shifted a little on the table. It was an uncomfortable slab of cold metal under him. His hands brushed one of the straps at the edge, and he got a thought. "Do I have to be tied down for it?"

Belle shook her head as she went back to preparing everything. "No." She paused, then gave him a smirk over her shoulder. "I mean, unless you want me to tie you up..." She winked at him. That did not help his heart rate.

He let out another nervous chuckle. "N-no... that's okay..." He laid his head back, though the hard surface of the examination table offered little aid in relaxing him.

When the older bat stepped closer, she reached over and picked up an odd looking large metal ring. It had a few lights on it, and wires attached to nearby equipment that he had yet to learn the purpose of. "Lift your head up just a little." He obeyed the command, and the ring was slid onto the top of his head. With a few clicks of some sizing mechanism in the back, it was tightened to fit snugly, though not painfully tight around his cranium. "There."

Austin set his head back down. "What's that for? Monitoring brain activity?"

The woman smiled at him. "Partially, yes. I'll explain more after the process is complete. Don't worry about it right now." She glanced at a monitor just behind his range of vision. He saw the light of the display come on, probably related to the device she just attached, but he could not see the readout. His natural sonar was also pretty useless when it came to reading digital screens, so he was left in the dark on this one. However, he trusted his cousin. She had taught him a lot in the months he had been here as her lab assistant.

This whole thing was being done to give him his first augmentations. A kind of graduation present as he was now officially her lab and research assistant, not just the help. Like Belle, he had a fascination with science and all it could do. Specifically genetic research, pushing the body to new heights. He also had an interest in robotics, specifically what cybernetic augmentations could bring to the table. After showing off some of his potential designs, Belle had been quite impressed and taken him under her wing to further encourage the young man. She was something of a black sheep in the family, not only for her odd passion, but also for her odd origin as a successful genetic experiment by her 'parents.' Her unusual coloration was the result of that experiment. She continued their passion for what most considered mad science, and was more than eager to pass it on to her cousin.

Seemingly satisfied with whatever was on the display, she nodded and got another small piece of equipment from a nearby tray. Turning to him, she gave him a big smile. "Alright. Preparations are all complete. Are you ready to begin?"

He nodded, hearing as much as feeling his heart thumping nervously in his chest. "Y-yes. I'm ready. Is this going to hu-AH!" He winced as something sharp stung at his shoulder, accompanied by the brief hiss of rapidly released gas. His arm tingled a little afterwards.

Belle pat his wing gently as she set the hypo-needle down beside her. "Sorry. Best to do it when you're least expecting. That way you don't tense up."

He smirked. "That makes sense..." He flexed his fingers a little, the spot still tingling. It felt like it was spreading a little, but dulling at the same time. "Is it going to hurt?"

She gave him an odd look, a mix between an apology and excitement. "A little, yes. But don't worry. I'll be here the whole time. I've gone through this exact thing a number of times. You will be fine."

He nodded again, taking a deep breath to calm himself, then another. And another. After a minute, he realized it wasn't just to relax. Even with the deeper breaths, it felt like he was struggling to breathe. "Belle..." He said, a little fear in his voice. A large wing-hand rested against his chest, reassuring him and gently holding him down. He saw the smile on her face, the look in her eyes. He knew the look, having seen it and probably held it as well. She got that look whenever she was testing something new, watching a subject writhing on the table. It was the looks she got when someone was about to die.

"Shhhh. Just let it happen." She cooed down at him softly. He opened his mouth to talk, but suddenly did not have enough breath to speak. The tingling numbness was coursing through his body now, his wings totally deadened, spreading down to his legs. She gave her a panicked look, staring into those glowing green emeralds. There was compassion in them, mixed with her eagerness for this particular experiment. Had she tricked him? Was this just another experiment to her? He had trusted her. He wanted to struggle, but her wing-hand held him down with ease, his muscles unresponsive.

"Relax, Austin." He barely heard her as his heart thumped wildly in his ears. "It'll all be over in a moment." It did nothing to help his panic. At least she had not lied that he was not in pain, mostly because his nerves were rapidly becoming deadened, numbed to any feeling. His head was getting foggy, dizziness swirling his thoughts and vision. Even his sonar was off, warping the essence of the room around him like he was underwater. He felt her lips suddenly on his, a kiss he had not expected. The shock of the suddenly intimate touch had the effect of halting his struggles. It was the first time she had ever kissed him like this. He had wanted it for a long time. Wanted her, silly as he knew that was.

He lay there, completely stunned as she continued to kiss his lips. The numbness was spread to his whole body, along with a chill that no freezer could hope to produce. Her warmth was the only thing he felt now. Not even that of her hand he assumed was still on his chest. Just her lips, her breath, her heartbeat. It was not his heart he was hearing anymore, for it was too weak to register. The only feeling was that kiss. It was the last thing he felt before the darkness claimed him, slipping into the stillness of death.

* * *

His eyes snapped open, panic still gripping at him. Everything was strange, cold and numb, but not from within, but outside his body now. Sound was muffled and distorted, his vision blurred unnaturally. Even gravity seemed oddly devoid of its grip. As the gurgling sound filled everything around him, he realized he was underwater... well, not really water. It was a thick, viscus liquid, slightly bluish. As it drained away, he realized there was a breathing mask on his muzzle, forcing highly oxygenated air into his lungs.

The liquid was drained away quickly, and a moment later, the sound resistant surface in front of him opened. His sonar immediately picked up the outside, giving him a vague 'look' at his surroundings. No, not vague, it was actually quite accurate. A hallway he did not recognize, but knew was a part of Belle's underground lab. Tall tube-like structures lined one wall. He was inside one of them. The floor was smooth metal, the walls opposite the tubes lined with displays.

He pulled the breathing mask from his face quickly, taking a gasping breath. As soon as he tried to step forward, gravity reaffirmed its grip on him and he collapsed to the floor, coughing and shivering. Whatever the thick liquid was, it dried rapidly once exposed to the chill air. He groaned, his head still foggy, his eyes stinging each time he tried to open them, his muscles aching. He had little frame of reference to describe the feelings, each new and familiar at once.

"Finally awake." He flinched as Belle's voice sounded nearby. She crouched beside him, draping a warm towel over his shivering form. "Sorry. The first time is always the worst. Just take your time and catch your breath. It'll pass in a few minutes."

"W-wh-wha..." He couldn't get even the first word out through the shivering. He wasn't even that cold, but he was shivering like he was utterly freezing.

Her touch was very light against him, brushing the tufts of fur atop his head back a little. "Sorry, I would have warned you, but I thought knowing might put you off of this." She continued to gently smooth his fur a little. "You're new body is sorting itself out, learning what it is to be alive."

He opened his eyes, wincing the moment he did as it hurt. "N-new....?"

She giggled softly. "Oh yes. It's the only real way to effectively augment the DNA in any meaningful way. Sure, a retrovirus could encourage your muscles to grow more dense after a while, or your bones to harden, or any number of other minor changes. But it's very inefficient and slow. So instead, I clone a new body with the full changes already implemented, rapidly grown to... relatively the same age, and then effect a mind-transfer."

"Mind..." His thoughts were a jumble with this new information. "I'm... a clone?"

"No. Well, yes and no. You're in a new cloned body, but you are still you. The original mind." She gently pat his shoulder this time. "You remember right up until the moment you died right?"

He nodded. "Yes." He flinched. "Wait, died? You did kill me!?" He started to try and sit up, but while the shivering had started to lessen, he still felt a little weak.

She lifted her hand away, but did not move away. "Yes, but it is a part of the process. I've tried to find a way to do it without that step, but it always fails... usually resulting in massive brain damage. It seems the mind will not fully let go of the old body unless it dies first." She chuckles. "I'm sure theologians would have a field day explaining how it's the effect of the soul or something." She hesitantly reached out again, gently touching his wing. When he did not tense up or lash out, she rubbed it slowly. "You're not upset with me, are you? I've had to go through this, too..."

He managed to fully sit up now, the towel covering him falling away. "I..." He took a moment to try and organize his thoughts. "A little... You should have just told me." He sighed softly. "But I understand. I just thought you had... I dunno, lied to me and were just going to use me as another experiment..."

Belle couldn't help but laugh at this, standing back up. "Do you really think I'd be so callus as to just throw away the best research assistant I've ever had?" He looks up at her, seeing her hand extended to him. He can't help but smile and take it, letting her help him back up to his feet. He still felt a little unstable, but at least he didn't feel as if he was going to topple over again. After following her down the hallway back towards the lab itself, he actually felt more stable than he ever had before. He had not noticed it until now, but his body felt somehow stronger. Still very much his body, but different in subtle ways.

He also realized that he was still completely naked, a blush coming to his cheeks. Not like his cousin had not seen him completely naked before, but that didn't make it any less embarrassing. "Um... s-so... what were all the changes you made?"

The older bat taps her chin. "Well, most of the same ones I have. More dense musculature, a slightly enlarged heart, and stronger but lighter bones. You shouldn't feel very different weight-wise, but I would recommend taking a test flight later to get used to the changes. You should also find your stamina much improved. Not just from the larger heart, but you'll also have a more efficient oxygen distribution throughout your body, so your muscles won't get as tired as quickly."

He held up one wing, looking at the tan webbing between his fingers. "No glowing?"

She laughed a little. "Sorry, that's much harder to reproduce. Not without much more drastic changes to your base DNA. It would take a lot more testing before I could add that to you." She glanced over at him. "If you even want it. You won't be nearly as effective at stealth." She chuckled. "Trust me. It's pretty hard to sneak up on someone when you're a walking flashlight."

He nodded, lowering his wing again. "I guess that makes sense... I probably shouldn't get that then. One of us should still be a capable hunter, after all."

She gasped. "Oh, you cheeky little runt!" He could not help but smirk at her reaction, but they both had a chuckle about it. Just before they stepped into the lab, she stopped and turned to face him more directly. "There is one other thing I managed to give you. Well, two, but one is a side effect of the other."

Austin stood in front of her, tilting his head. "What's that?" He gasped as she suddenly leaned forward, her excessively long tongue slipping out of her mouth. Before he could flinch away, she ran the thing along his neck and up to his ear. He backed up several paces. "HEY! I thought you said you weren't going to get rid of your lab assistant so quickly!" She just stood there, smiling at him as the long, glowing, tendril-like tongue slowly slithered back into her mouth. He blinked several times, suddenly coming to a realization. Nothing felt numb or tingled oddly where she licked. He reached up to touch his neck. "D-did you not use the toxin?"

"I did. Full potency." She clicked her tongue, a look of disgust on her face for a moment. "Still bitter..." She hated that aspect, even if it was an exceedingly powerful weapon. "I gave you an immunity to it. Or, to be more accurate, I have given you your own toxin, and as a result, you have become immune to mine."

He stared at her, then let his own long tongue hang out, flicking it up a little to look at it. While, as a bat, it was naturally long, it was not nearly as long or tendril-like as hers. It looked no different to him. He slipped it back into his mouth so he could speak. "So... I can make a neurotoxin, now?"

Belle shook her head. "No. Not exactly. The full potency lethal toxin is from the jellyfish. What you can produce is a little different. And... not from your tongue." She nodded at his fingers. "You don't seem to have noticed your little talons are a touch sharper than before." He lifted a wing and looked at the tips of his long fingers. Sure enough, the small claws at the tips seemed slightly pointier than before. "You can produce a very powerful paralytic from the tips. It will excrete from very tiny pores within the claws to coat them slightly. It's derived from scorpions."

He looked up in surprise. "Scorpions? I'm part bug now?"

"Arachnid." She corrected. "And only very slightly. It's actually the most drastic change I made to you. Figured it would help, since you're going to be, as you put it, our only capable hunter." He blushed as his own words were thrown back at him. "An odd side effect that I have found to adding a toxic aspect to a creature previously devoid of one is an exceedingly increased resistance to other toxins, venoms, and poisons. Including those not produced by their own body. I would be immune to your paralytic scratch the same way you are now immune to my tongue." She sighed a little. "You don't know how hard it was coming up with a lethal mixture that works on me when I want to upgrade my own body. Especially one that doesn't feel like screaming agony in a vial."

He stared at her, his surprise still evident. He suddenly got a renewed respect for her, only now fully understanding just what she meant when she repeatedly said she had been through this before. Her first time must have been gruesomely painful, and utterly terrifying, not knowing if the process would fully work or not, no one there to help her after she emerged. She had been working alone since she was a teenager, younger than he was now. She had gone through so much, refining the process over and over to make it as painless as possible, having done it on herself countless times before he ever entered the picture.

With no warning, he suddenly wrapped her in a hug. She blinked, but smiled a little, gently patting his back. "Um... this is nice..."

He gave her a warm squeeze. "I just wanted to thank you."

Her smile softened, patting him still. "You're welcome." After a long moment, she cleared her throat. "Your dick is rubbing against my leg."

He squeaked, suddenly withdrawing and taking a step back. His wings shifted low to cover himself, especially since he suddenly realized his still exposed sex was getting embarrassingly hard. "S-sorry!" He forgot just how much her scent effected him. Being pressed that close only made matters worse.

She smiled, leaning in and giving his cheek a gentle lick, making him produce another embarrassed squeak. "It's fine." She kissed his cheek gently this time, then turned around to actually enter the lab. "You're still adorable." He was left stunned in the hall as she walked away. Did she just call him cute? He had never hidden his attraction to her, but she never really reciprocated. He always thought she just considered it like a kind of crush she could tolerate. Then again, she was oddly encouraging when he played with that squirrel the other day... Maybe... "Coming? We still have to dispose of your old body!" Her voice called out.

He smiled to himself. "Y-yes." He stepped into the lab. It was going to be a very strange thing to see his own corpse, but... well, he would just have to get used to that. Then the thought struck him, one he could not shake. He really wanted to be here when she upgraded herself next. He just knew she would make such a sexy corpse herself...

If he was lucky, he would not have to wait long to find out.

* * *