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    Footsteps echoed in the stagnant air of an abandoned factory. Sunlight poured in through cracks in the ceiling, yet those inside still had to squint to see anything in front of them. It was all so dull, and a bored W was the worst kind to have around. She was still on edge taking orders from Rhodes Island’s doctors thanks to her history with them, but excitement seemed to follow them wherever they went.
    Mama John’s had reached out to Rhodes Island to clear out a factory platform following its rediscovery. Details were sparse in what they produced here but it had to be food related at the very least. It was far less exciting than Raythean’s platforms but eh, W would take any field work. She sighed and glanced around the dusty factory floor. For an industrial building it felt oddly… whimsical. Lots of winding tubes looped this way and that. The myriad colors were faded and logos on the walls peeled off, but it seemed closer to a theme park. W wondered if there was any worthwhile originium left behind.
    “Please pay attention to any materials left behind.” Kal’tsit’s dry voice broke W from her thoughts. “We’ve received reports of certain… volatility caused by them. If you stumble on any such materials, keep a safe distance away and inform our defusal team.”
    “Damn, were they making bombs in here?” W smirked and leaned on a nearby machine. “Like… bomb pies?”
    “No. While Mama John’s did not inform us of their material sources, we were at least told of side effects should any raw ingredients or experimental products be ingested. Such things were noted in the brief you were given before we arrived. You did read the brief, yes?”
    “Suuuure I did! Took a nice long read of that lil pamphlet before I tossed it right in the trash.”
    Kal’tsit pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed as she continued to lead W through the factory.
    “In any case, the Doctor has planned for us to handle a stretch of the factory floor while the primary squad covers the larger floor. Once we sound the alarm we will begin our work and draw the enemy through here to clear the wing.”
    “What kinda raiders go after an abandoned food factory?”
    “You failed to read my brief after all didn’t you?”
    “Write less next time you hag.”
    Another sigh, then Kal’tsit continued.
    “This factory relied heavily on automated workers. Years without maintenance have seen them run amok with little care for what they view as ‘ingredients.’ Some infused originium slugs have also mutated with certain raw materials housed here. Should they reach you I will call for an emergency retreat.”
    W scoffed at that last part.
    “Oh yeah? And if they get to you first?”
    “An impossible scenario.”
    “Riiiiight…”
    With the overview out of the way, W got into position atop a nearby machine. It seemed sturdy enough to hold her weight despite some of its rusted bolts. Kal’tsit stood a few meters behind before marking a spot on the floor. Seemingly satisfied she looked back to the main entrance as the Doctor gave directions to the main squad.
    “We appear to have some time before the operation begins. If you plan to explore I would recommend going no further than the building’s entrances should an emergency occur. I will remain here.”
    “Whatever you say, Doc. I make no promises!”
    With that, W jumped to a nearby catwalk. The machines below made a metal maze of the floor but she could spy a few scrapped machines. Some were rusted beyond recognition but a few flickered on and off. It would take a miracle to find anything worth salvaging.
    “Rusted, rusted, rusted…” W looked from machine to machine but lingered on one in specific. “Oooh this one seems promising!”
    ‘Blueberry Bonanza’ was a generic name if she had ever heard one but it was the only nearby machine with working… well, anything. The merc hopped down and inspected it closer. It hummed and crackled with energy still, and W smiled seeing its maintenance panel. All she had to do was gently pry it open and--
    “Scree?”
    She came face to face with an infused originium slug, but unlike others this one had a blue hue to it. W slowly moved the panel back in place but the slug was faster as it leapt on her face. She sputtered and scratched at the thing as it clung tight.
    “Grah! Get the fuck off me you stupid--hrk!”
    Shink!
    Thinking fast, W grabbed her combat knife and made a blind stab at the slug’s carapace. Luckily she struck true and killed it, but that was a hollow victory as the body pulsed before--
    SPLOOSH!
    The slug exploded in a shower of dark blue innards and left W’s head and upper body covered in the gooey insides. She stood stunned for a moment before she sighed. No amount of low grade salvage was worth dealing with a potential nest of these creatures. She slammed the panel back in place and headed back to her position. Kal’tsit looked ready to ask about the blue stains but went silent seeing W’s “Ask me about it and I will actually bomb you” face. The Sarkaz did her best to clear her mind and focus. Some of the leftover slug gunk left a sticky sensation in her hair that she tried her best to push out of her mind, but W was not someone that could just ignore such an annoying feeling. Even as the operation began and the first few slugs trickled in she wiped at her hair to free herself from it.
    “Incoming automaton.” Kal’tsit spoke up from behind as Monst3r became charged with a red aura. “Be careful of their armor. Your launcher may not suffice to break its defenses.”
    “Yeah, yeah…” W groaned and fired another grenade forward. The automated workers were creepy with their dead eyes and permanent smiles. Their movements were uneven, as if they would fall apart any second but clung to this last chance at life. A shame they had chosen W’s path.
    Beep!
    “Boom!” The merc let out a devilish laugh as an unlucky robot found one of her mines. Scrap scattered around the area. “You were saying, you old hag?”
    Her medic companion remained silent as more slugs trickled in. Unfortunately, Monst3r could only handle so many before the wave of critters overwhelmed the beast. So focused on the little ones that a lucky robot breached the front line. Its head snapped up to W and Kal’tsit before a sharp sound bellowed from its mouth.
    “Stolen company property detected! Authorities have been alerted, please comply!”
    W had seen many horrors in her life as a mercenary. Watching a humanoid robot leap at her with cold, unfeeling eyes was perhaps a new champion to consider for her list.
    “Hey! Get--Get the hell off me!”
    “Stolen company product detected, please comply!”
    “What property?! There’s just rusted junk around here!”
    “Please comply! Please compl--”
    Crack! SMASH!
    W watched as its metal head was torn off by Monst3r, replaced by the more familiar cold gaze of Kal’tsit.
    “When you wandered off…” She began, coming down to W’s level. “What did you find?”
    “What’s this an interrogation? Don’t we have a lane to worry about?”
    “Pressure has been diverted to the main squad. We are to retreat, though after this incident…”
    Both looked to the crumpled metal remains.
    Grgle…
    “Hng…” W winced and rubbed her waist. “I mean, I found a working machine. Figured I’d snag some of its originium to make a few extra mines, but some slugs turned it into a nest.”
    “And did you… ingest any remnants of the slugs?”
    “Ew, no way.” It made W’s stomach churn even considering the thought. “Those things are terrible raw.”
    Grooooan…
    “Interesting…” Kal’tsit pulled a small flashlight from her pocket and held W’s chin like this was a standard checkup. “Yet despite that, you appear to be turning blue…”
    “Eh?”
    Some not so gentle rubbing from Kal’tsit followed.
    “It does not appear to be a stain. As I speak, it is also spreading quite rapidly from your nose to cover your face.”
    “Is old age finally making you go loopy?” W shifted to get up. “Maybe I can knock some sense into you!”
    Click!
    The flashlight turned off and Kal’tsit stepped back. Her gaze showed no emotion as she stared back at W, who simply rolled her eyes and got up. She clutched her waist. Her stomach felt sick. ‘Turning blue,’ hah! W had heard her fair share of bullshit but this was a new kind. She pulled out her still stained knife and polished it before taking a look for herself. Her eyes went wide in an instant. A splotch of blue had appeared on her nose and had spread further out. Her cheeks, her chin, even her neck: everything was shifting blue with each passing second. W peeked down her shirt. Yup, ‘everywhere’.
    “O-Ok this is new. You uh, got any magic cures or anything up your sleeve, Kal?”
    “Mm, perhaps if we were close to the landship. I haven’t seen a case like this in quite some time, I’ll admit. Despite its mythos in certain media what is happening to you is theorized to be caused by originium spliced produce. Furthermore--”
    W felt her eyes glaze over as the lecture began. But her attention shifted from the medic to a new queasy feeling, like she had just gone through a night of hardcore drinking. Her stomach bubbled. She grunted and tried to soothe it with little success.
    Grgghh…
    “F-Fuck…”
    Something dropped and she felt her weight lurch forward with a low groan. A bloating like no other came over W as her waist pushed out. Her gray top rose up as the deep blue of her stomach made its debut. The Sarkaz pulled her shirt down to cover it but her body continued to swell at a steady pace. W groaned from how sick her stomach felt but things literally grew worse when she felt something wet on her chest. The thin fabric looked soaked. W had an inkling as to what caused it….
    “It would seem the effects are more potent on Sarkaz.”
    Kal’tsit’s monotone voice finally reached W again.
    “Cut the crap and fix this already! Bad enough I look horrible in blue: this damn swelling is--guh…--really uncomfortable!”
    “Hm…”
    With that familiar cold gaze, Kal’tsit took silent measurements of W as she swelled bigger and bigger and bigger…. As the seconds turned to minutes, her skirt stretched while her black leggings tore down the sides. Her body lost its former lithe silhouette as years of fitness went down the drain in a fraction of the time. Her arms and legs appeared much more plush, almost fat as they too grew alongside W’s waist, chest and rear. Not enough to beat the sheer size of her body, but just so that her movements slowed to a crawl until all she could manage was simply standing still and trying not to tip over. That proved too large a challenge for the fruity bombardier, however, as a sudden surge of growth caused W’s weight to shift backwards. She rocked back and forth as she stared up at the ceiling.
    “Kal’shith…”
    Juice had filled up other areas yet with nowhere else to go W was left desperately swallowing to keep her ability to speak. Her cheeks were like a gnawbeast hoarding its nuts for the winter as juice dripped past her lips. She heard footsteps and craned her neck as best she could before W spied Kal’tsit by her head.
    “Monst3r…”
    A low growl sent a shiver down the merc’s spine before something sharp pushed against her sphere-like form.
    “Ghgh! You’re a genuine--Mmmf!”

    W could do nothing but let out muffled noises of panic and threats against Kal’tsit as she was rolled through the maze of machines. The worst part was she was still swelling despite dwarfing the other woman. Her body had to be larger than a small automobile by now yet it continued to groan and swell. The tightness was overwhelming as her body gradually ran out of room and grew drum tight. Every small pebble sent a shock of panic across her form before she swore up a storm. W’s head sunk into its divot bit by bit as her chest started to block some of her vision. The constant rolling also made her dizzy and, as the cool breeze reminded her, she doubted there was any way to salvage her outfit between the damp juice stains and large tears.
    Yet even as she felt more eyes from the main squad spot her in the distance, W felt she forgot something incredibly important. Something that she would never, in all her years as a proud Sarkaz mercenary, ever even consider to forget.
  Beep!
    Oh right--
    BOOM!
    An explosive shower of juice rained down inside the warehouse. Ground zero was painted blue as Kal’tsit looked down in silence.
    “Guuuuuh…”
    Now at her normal size (albeit naked and stained blue) W was left in a loopy daze.
    “We found one of your mines, I take it?”
    “Yuh-huh…”
    “And they were calibrated for the automatons' weights?”
    “Yup…”
    “Which your former state far exceeded?”
    “Screw you, hag.”
    Both shared a long sigh as they shared a silent promise: this incident would remain off the record.