The journey was long, boring, and Lilith found herself growing more and more anxious. They said they'd be taking her to a helicopter, but after that, what would happen to her? Was she in trouble?

She tried to recall the events that had led up to this mess. She woke up, did her usual morning routine, then went to indulge herself in a decent breakfast, and that was when everything went to shit.

She remembered hearing a strange sound, and then... She shivered, trying to block out the memory of the horrifying pain that wouldn't let her die. She instinctively hugged herself, trying to stop her body from shaking so much.

When she finally regained her bearings, she let out a sigh. She'd probably gained PTSD from that experience, and while she was happy to have bragging rights over her non-existent friends, she grimly thought that maybe the pain hadn't been worth it.

Poking her back, she felt the horrible state of her dress. It had been practically ripped apart, and it was a miracle it hadn't just fallen off of her yet. A part of her was amazed that she'd been the one to do this, another part was horrified, and the stingy and cynical part of her idly wondered if she would be given a free dress when she arrived at what would likely be a prison.

"Fuck..." She groaned silently, trying to prevent herself from digging too deep into her darker thoughts. She just wanted to go home, honestly, but at the same time, she just really wanted to hide from everything and everyone.

As the hours passed, Lilith entertained herself by trying and replicate whatever the hell she'd done back at the bar. Strangely enough, it was almost laughably easy to grow out arms from literally any part of her body, and if she so wished, those arms could be made of any shape, color, of form she wanted. It was... weird. Like she'd been able to do it for her entire life.

As if that wasn't enough, each arm she grew truly felt as though it was a part of her. Controlling them was as easy as blinking, and no matter how many arms she grew, she felt as though she never reached any sort of limit.

Then, almost completely by accident, she grew out a leg instead of an arm. Needless to say, she'd been amazed.

By the time the doors of her little moving prison opened, the heavily armored guards standing outside were greeted by what was essentially a writhing, shifting monstrosity with too many eyes, heads, legs, and arms.

Needless to say, when Lilith noticed that there were people staring at her with guns pointing at her, she panicked. Thankfully for everyone involved, she was able to reign herself in and reabsorb every extra limb back into herself.

The military officer from before was also there, staring at her with an unreadable expression. Lilith bowed her head, not saying anything as she was led out of the armored van. She quietly accepted a change of clothes offered by one of the guards, clutching the soft dress tightly to her chest.

She felt like a dangerous criminal, surrounded by armored guards who all looked just about ready to bash her head in at the slightest wrong move.

Finally, she was 'escorted' over to the waiting helicopter, who was also staffed by armed guards. It was a quiet affair as she entered it, quickly being directed to the back, where the officer who'd been with her since the beginning stood.

"Enter here, please." He said, although, to Lilith, it felt much more like an order. She quietly obeyed, shuffling slowly into what was essentially another closed cage.

Once the door shut close once more, she let out a sigh of relief. Sitting down at one of the furthest corners from the door, she closed her eyes and focused back on herself, more specifically, on her ears.

She didn't know if it would work, but she wanted to try anyway. She willed them to be larger and better, trying to recreate the feeling she usually felt when creating extra limbs.

Surprisingly enough, it worked. Curious, as well as a bit giddy at what she could do, she had an eye appear in the center of her palm. It was still extremely weird that she could do this, but she found it oddly satisfying.

She stared at herself through her new eye. Her ears now looked like those of an elf, longer and sharper than before. Furthermore, if she focused enough, she could hear through the silencing walls of her new cage.

"Yes, sir. She's clear. No, she doesn't seem dangerous. Yes, I can confirm she's an emergent. No, sir. Yes, she's been extremely cooperative and well-behaved. I suspect she's still reeling from everything. What? God no, sir! She's reported to have suffered an extreme breakdown before her emergence. Thank you, sir." She heard the officer say, and judging by the lack of a conversation partner that she could hear, she assumed he was talking on the phone.

"Damn, Matt. Do you call Ronald sir? I thought the man wasn't as stuck up like the others." A voice she didn't recognize spoke, his tone letting her realize he wasn't being serious.

"Shut up, brat. Focus on flying this thing. Sir Ronald will want a full report in person, anyway, and I'm not going to bail you out again if you anger the old coots back at headquarters with your shitty manners." The officer, Matt, barked. Lilith almost giggled, but the thought that they might realize she could hear them shut her up. She didn't want to spy... but she also wanted to know what would happen to her, since nobody would tell her anything.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

There was a long, quiet pause, in which Lilith could hear nothing except the whirling of the helicopter's engine. During it, she entertained herself by once again trying out her new 'powers', something that she was coming to enjoy quite a bit.

She still had no idea of how this all came to be, but as she'd always done in her life, she just went along with it. After all, being able to change the color of your hair with but a thought and grow out wings with no effort whatsoever was kind of cool, and not something to be unused, in Lilith's humble opinion.

Her improved ears perked up slightly when she heard voices speaking, quickly focusing on them and trying to decipher their meaning.

"Did you hear the news? There have been all sorts of conspiracies going on since the Siren's whisper." A voice she couldn't recognize spoke, with the man she suspected to be the pilot quickly answering.

"Yeah, man. The media's going crazy, and all those weird cults have been calling it the beginning of the end. I'm pretty sure they're all just fucking weirdos." He sneered, garnering some chuckles from the men and women in the helicopter.

"I'm inclined to believe them, a bit. I mean, have you seen what that thing was back there? It was bloody disgusting." A woman commented, causing Lilith to wince slightly.

Before she could get angry or sad over her words, officer Matt cut into their conversation with sharp words and a deadly tone. "Shut your mouth, soldiers. We're under strict orders to treat our passengers with caution, but also with respect. The higher-ups don't want to risk anything with Emergents, not until they figure out a way to deal with them."

"My apologies." The woman said quickly, and Lilith felt a dark satisfaction arising from the slight tremble in the woman's voice. Having heard enough, she returned her ears to normal.

'So, apparently, there are others like me. Chances are, they're gonna bring me in a nice and secluded place with them, where they'll be able to study us like lab rats in peace... I'm not sure if I like this.' She thought darkly. She hadn't thought about it this way before, but... She was afraid.

'I wonder what I can do with this power? I don't want to hurt anyone, but if they try and do something to me...' She shivered, feeling the ghost of pain so intense that it left her breathless. She bit her lips, focusing on herself.

She carefully took off the dress that she'd been provided, suddenly fearful that it was rigged with something unpleasant. It didn't seem like it, but her paranoia was starting to get the better of her. Besides, she wanted to experiment anyway, and it wouldn't look good if she destroyed another dress so quickly.

Spikes erupted from her back, curling around until they loomed threateningly over her shoulders. She gently touched the tip of one of them, feeling no real feedback from the spike despite something inside of her just knowing that it was a part of her just as much as her head was.

'Maybe it lacks nerve endings? Can I even add them?' She mused, recalling the spikes back into her own body. This time, she tried to will the spikes to emerge but with the ability to feel to them. Immediately, she could feel the difference, no puns intended. The air on the spikes alone was enough to make her uncomfortable, and Lilith could guess that they'd become even more sensitive than her nether region.

'Too much. Can't I just make them as sensitive as, say, my arms?' She tried again, and again, and again. Finally, six tries later, she got her intended results. Despite the spikes being made out of what she guessed were bones, they still felt as sensitive as her skin... Which made no sense whatsoever. Nonetheless, she was fairly satisfied.

When the helicopter landed, Lilith quickly returned back to her normal body. She was really starting to love exploring this new, strange power of hers, but she had a feeling her 'caretakers' wouldn't appreciate if she turned into a Bengal tiger.

The doors opened, and this time, Lilith thankfully wasn't caught with her pants down. Still, as she was ordered to follow after a man she hadn't yet met, and likely never would have had she not been stuck with shapeshifting abilities, Lilith couldn't help but feel a bit grumpy.

She'd done nothing to warrant being treated like a criminal, and yet, everyone kept a distance of at least a few meters from her, and there wasn't a moment where she wasn't surrounded by armored guards with shields and electric batons.

Still, she pushed the issue to the back of her mind, instead choosing to curiously observe her surroundings as she stepped off the helicopter. She was fairly sure this place was an island, judging from all the beaches. In the middle of it, there was a huge compound that looked to be made entirely of steel. She briefly wondered what the hell it's purpose was before she was brought here, as there was no way a thing like this had been built in the day that had taken for her to arrive here.

"Follow me, please." Another man, one in a similar suit to the one Matt wore, ordered her. He gave a short nod to Matt and the helicopter driver, who both nodded back before returning to their helicopter.

Lilith stole a few glances at them, watching with growing anxiety as they took off and left as she was left here, all alone. She hadn't known any of those people, but at least, they'd been... familiar? Familiar strangers were better than stranger strangers, after all.

She was quickly and wordlessly escorted into the giant complex, going through long, winding hallways staffed with the occasional armored guard who stole peeks at her. She idly wondered why they would all quickly look away when they saw her, but she attributed it to her powers or something.

Finally, a few minutes later, they reached whatever it was they needed to reach, which happened to be a door leading to a large, comfortable-looking cell. Coughing slightly, the officer behind her attempted to direct Lilith's attention to himself, and away from staring with open wonder at what looked like a Norwegian prison.

"Thank you, miss... Lilith, correct?" At her nod, he continued. "I am grateful for your cooperation, despite little to no explanation whatsoever. I promise that you will be given your answers soon enough, but I will have to ask you to wait for now. We are still dealing with a whole bunch of issues, and for safety reasons, we would rather keep you in the dark. I hope you can understand." Lilith really didn't, but she nodded anyway.

"We will give you a few days to recuperate from the events of the day, and then, a doctor should come to check up on you. I would ask you not to use your powers, but your compatriots in the building, the reports so far indicate them to be relatively harmless to the environment. Please exercise caution anyways." He ordered before curtly turning around and leaving.

Lilith stared for a few seconds before a pointed cough from a guard jolted her back to herself. Sighing, she entered the room, idly hearing the metal doors shut close behind her.