Throughout the night we had practiced our respective focuses relentlessly. With Mindal focusing on bodily control, Rathor on image, and myself on speech. By the time the clock displayed 0300 Mindal was bending his body into incomprehensible shapes, Rathor looked exactly like he had before the transfer, and I was speaking completely fluent standard dialect once more.
At this point I called both of them back over to sit down on the couches and after a short request from me, we all felt a short jolt of electricity as the woman updated our nanite control. As soon as the transfer was complete, I morphed my arm into a sharp spike with a simple thought, like I had always known how to do it. I then reverted the arm back to it's normal form before testing out the new image ability, picturing my previous body's image within my mind and watching as a wave of white flesh spread across my body.
"This is amazing!" I said in amazement. As Mindal and Rathor both tested their new abilities.
"I agree" said Rathor with genuine happiness on his face. "It's been torture not being able to move or speak for so long."
"Now that I think about it, this is the first time we've been able to have a conversation with you Rathor." Mindal said with genuine interest. "If you don't mind, we'd like to hear how you ended up in this program."
"Not at all. If we're going to be lab rats together, you might as well know what kind of man I am."
"I started out as a Sergeant in the military engineering corps. We handled building all kinds of things, from vehicles and weapons, to the bunkers deep below the surface of Urtol. I was even lucky enough to be assigned to the Warship Design Bureau for a short time, designing and building starships for the Federation armada."
"I loved my job, despite the grueling paperwork and funding requests, so I worked hard at it, designing new weaponry to aid our soldiers on the field of battle."
"Eventually I did a good enough job that the Federation decided to promote me a few times until I made Sergeant Major, placing me in command of an entire base of design teams."
"After being assigned to my position, I started noticing certain parts would be unaccounted for. Upon further investigation I found out my commanding officer had been stealing and selling the parts on the black market, making a tidy sum in return."
"I confronted him about it, and he offered to bring me into the fold but I refused, promising that I would report him to the proper parties and left him there fuming."
"As I was passing through one of our test hangars, on my way to the regional commander's office, one of our test projects, an autonomous tank, "Malfunctioned", and ran me over, crushing my spine in the process and leaving me completely paralyzed."
"Luckily the hangar was full of crewmen who immediately brought me to the medical wing, saving my life."
"When I woke up I was devastated, realizing I would never be able to speak again, let alone walk, and that's when the Colonel approached me"
"He told me that the crewmen had found my LCD pad with data of my commanding officer's malfeasance, and that the Federation was offering me the chance of a life time as a reward for my service."
"I had accepted without thinking twice, moving my eyes up and down in agreement, and the Colonel scanned my wrist to a piece of paper and brought me here."
"Wow" Mindal said. "That fucking sucks. I'm sorry someone like you had to be injured like that while trying to do a good thing." I nod in agreement before Rathor responds.
"It did fucking suck, but now with this new body, I do indeed have the chance of a lifetime though, I'm not exactly what sort of price I'll have to pay in exchange."
"I think I might have an idea about that." I said. "The Colonel mentioned something about combat training, so I'm guessing the Federation is going to use us to fight."
Rathor and Mindal both nodded as they considered this before Rathor spoke again.
"That makes sense. I feel invincible in this new body and I never get tired, so I wouldn't be surprised if they use us to clean out more dangerous areas in the Federation."
Mindal and I nod in agreement before Mindal speaks up.
"Well now that we have that out of the way, how about we put these bodies through a real test?" He says as he places his elbow on the plasteel coffee table between us.
"What do you mean a real test?" I say. "We've already been testing these bodies out for almost the entire night."
"Yes but we haven't tested them against each other yet" He says with a smirk and gesturing towards his arm on the table.
I smile and place my elbow on the table and interlock my hand with his to begin our "test" while Rathor observes from his seat on the couch.
Rathor gives us a sharp "Go!" and we both start straining against each other, each trying to force the other's hand against the table.
Mindal slowly starts to force my hand over and I start to think, trying to figure out a way to gain more leverage.
I suddenly get an idea and smirk at him, which causes him to look confused, before I plant my feet hard into the ground.
I focus on the nanites in my feet, commanding them to latch onto the floor, and a sharp CRACK resounds through the room as sharp spike dig into the floor.
Before he can react, I heave my entire body weight into my arm, with my feet supporting the effort, and smash his hand through the table, causing him to fall over onto his face.
He lets out an accusatory "Hey! That's cheating!" And I just laugh loudly as he picks himself up off the floor.
Rathor is bent over laughing, having witnessed my victory, and Mindal looks at him as if he'd been betrayed.
"You too?" Then he turns back to me. "Let's go. You, me, round two right now!"
I oblige and place my elbow on the table again as we lock hands.
We continue our arm wrestling competition for the next 3 hours, rotating opponents every couple of rounds, until the clock reads 0600, and right as I'm about to beat Mindal for the 200th time, we're interrupted by the Colonel's voice over the intercom.
"What the hell are you doing?!" He says, startling me and allowing Mindal to slam my hand through the abused table.
"Better luck next time." Mindal says with a smirk and I roll my eyes as we all stand up and face the observation window.
"Just getting used to our new bodies sir." I say as I feel a jolt of electricity, signifying the syncing of all our data from the past 3 hours.
"How do you look like normal humans?! When I left you last night, all of you were black, swirling atrocities!" The Colonel says as he angrily gestures towards us.
"How could you say such ugly things about us sir?" I say as I feign being hurt.
"We discovered a way to make out bodies look human again, so hopefully we can blend in a little better."
Calming down the Colonel rolled his eyes before nodded and clearing his throat.
"Anyways, with that aside, we're going to begin combat testing today so if you'll all please enter the box we can be on our way."
After he finishes speaking a glass box large enough to hold all three of us is wheeled into the room by armed guards, who open it and step back while keeping their weapons trained on us.
"Is that really necessary?" I say. "We have a pretty good grasp on our capabilities so far, we're confident we won't injure anyone."
"Unfortunately yes. Until I verify what you're saying through the combat testing, you'll have to be transferred between testing sites in that box. However, if you do well enough during testing today, I'll consider letting you forgo the box."
We all sigh and step up into the box before the guards close us and wheel us out into the hallway.
We travel with the Colonel and doctor for a few minutes, passing labs filled with scientists that stare at us in wonder, until we reach a gigantic plasteel door.
The Colonel scans his wrist and the door slowly parts in the middle, with both halves slowly sliding open with a groan, revealing a massive room, similar in size to a starship hangar, and the guards push us inside, depositing us in the center before joining the Colonel and doctor and a small observation room mounted high in the ceiling of the room.
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The room is filled with dirt, rock, and even trees to where I could almost believe I was back on the surface.
The walls, floor, and ceiling were thick, plasteel reinforced concrete, similar in construction to the walls of the bunker Mindal and I had been stationed in. The ceiling was nearly 100 feet above our heads, populated by large, bright lamps that simulated sunlight.
After all the men are in the observation room, the box opens with a sharp hiss, releasing us from our prison.
As we exit and get a good look around the Colonel's voice sounds over the intercom again.
"All right gentlemen, we're going to run a series of combat tests. We're going to introduce some enemies for you to fight. You can either work together to defeat them, or take them on solo. The choice is yours. Oh, and please try not to cause too much collateral damage Lieutenant, we don't want a repeat of the concrete slab."
I look sheepishly towards the observation room before a loud alarm sounds and a door opposite to the entrance opens.
Out of the door walks a small, four legged, furred animal standing about three feet tall. It has yellow eyes with black, slit pupils, and a mouth full of so many teeth I questioned how it was possible for the thing to eat.
Mindal looks towards Rathor and I, before saying "Stand back, I got this one." And he ran at the creature at a full sprint.
Now a normal human's sprint is only about 15 miles per hour, but after our night long practice session, we'd gotten our sprint up to nearly 40 miles per hour.
It takes only a few seconds for him to span the 500 foot gap between us and the creature, and when he finally reaches it, there isn't even a question of who will win.
When he gets within two feet of the creature, he plants his foot hard into the ground, sending spikes into it to anchor himself. And, too fast for the creature to react, he swings his leg around with his full body weight, making contact with the creature's chest and sending it flying with an impressive display of blood and viscera.
When what's left of the body slams into the wall at over 200 miles per hour, it splatters like a water balloon, leaving a circular stain of blood and guts in its' place.
The jaw of everyone hit the floor except for the three lab rats, as we all had a pretty good idea of our capabilities after last night's arm wrestling competition.
The Colonel's voice comes over the intercom and he coughs nervously before speaking.
"Very good Sergeant Mindal. I'm going to start the next test now so ready yourselves."
Rathor and I both nod as Mindal heads back towards us at a light jog and the alarm blares again, signaling the entrance of the next enemy.
The next creature to walk through the door was completely different.
It was some kind of two legged lizard, covered completely in scales. It stood nearly 10 feet tall and sported five, deathly looking claws on each arm. Two yellow, reptilian eyes within its' face and a pair of massive, curved horns adorned its' head.
I looked towards Rathor, and he nodded at me, before sprinting towards the creature, and the lizard charged to meet him. Instead of stopping near the creature and throwing a powerful kick like Mindal had, Rathor chose to barrel through the creature using his full momentum.
When the two opponents met, Rathor slammed into the lizard with his full force, denting the chest of the creature inwards and causing it to stumble backwards.
Rathor, backed away, gaining distance do he could build momentum for another attack, but when the met for the second time, the lizard was ready for him.
Arms wrapped in rippling muscle braced against him before he could make contact, slowing his momentum and allowing the lizard to strike.
It swung a massive arm at him, with a hand of sharp claws intent on removing his head from his shoulders. But as soon as the hand got within a foot of his neck, Rathor suddenly grew a third arm from his chest and caught the attack!
I watched in amazement, hardly believing what I was seeing! That wasn't one of the abilities we had discovered last night so he must have just made that up on the fly!
I stood there impressed with his ingenuity as I watched the rest of his fight.
With Rathor holding the arm, the lizard started to panic, twisting and pulling in an attempt to free itself. Rathor then placed his two original arms against the chest of the lizard and his third arm began to pull.
A sickening popping and tearing could be heard throughout the room as he applied more and more force to the arm, until finally, a loud POP was heard throughout the room and the lizard's arm was freed from its' torso in a glorious spray of blood.
The lizard roared loudly and tried making a desperate attempt at escape, pushing with its' remaining arm against Rathor's chest and scraping its' feet on the concrete floor.
As the lizard struggled, Rathor's grip stayed firm, not allowing the lizard to gain even an inch of distance.
With his third arm now free, he cocked it back and swung it at full power into the lizards face with a sickening CRUNCH, passing through the front of its' face and exiting through the back of its skull, showering the floor in blood and brain matter.
After his attack, the lizard's body fell limply to the floor and stayed there, leaking all manner of bodily fluids onto the ground.
The Colonels voice then came over the intercom to congratulate Rathor and begin the next test while he simply wiped the blood off his hands onto the corpse below him.
As Rathor walked back to join us Mindal and I excitedly congratulate him on discovering the new ability before I feel a jolt of electricity and feel a new packet of knowledge in my mind.
Then, as we're speaking, the alarm once again blares and the door opens to reveal my opponent.
Exiting the door 500 feet away, is an enemy I'm all too familiar with.
An enormous, plasteel Kryssik.
Not long ago this creature had nearly been my demise, but with knowledge of its' weaknesses, and a much stronger body, I was entirely confident that I would be victorious.
Mindal and I share a look, before I begin my assault. His face says it all.
You'd better not lose to that thing.
I did not intend to disappoint.
I start running slowly, building up momentum, until by the time I'm within striking range of the monster, I'm travelling at nearly 60 miles per hour. I plant my foot into the ground, and command my nanites to anchor me, and as I feel the spikes extend into the concrete, I take a page from Mindal's book and deliver a devastating kick the main body of the Kryssik.
As I attack I can see my leg, as if in slow motion, passing through its' thinly armored front left leg in a spray of sickly yellow blood until it meets the main body of the monster, leaving a large dent in its' exoskeleton, sending the Kryssik flying.
The monster sails through the air for several hundred feet, until it collides with the wall, shearing of several more legs and destroying a huge chunk of the wall, but leaving its main body intact.
As the Kryssik falls to the floor and tries to use it's remaining five legs to regain its footing, I sprint over, arriving in mere seconds to dish out more punishment.
While the monster scrambles, I use my left arm tobrace against the side of its' head, pinning its body against the wall.
I cock my right arm all the way back and focus on the nanites within, forming them into a long, dense spike close to a foot long.
I once again use my feet to brace against the ground, shooting spike deep into the floor, before I throw my entire body weight into my hand and drive it straight through its' head, punching a massive hole in its' armor with a loud metallic screech.
Despite the massive hole in its' head, the Kryssik still scratches at the floor with its' claws, making a desperate attempt at escape.
I withdraw my hand, only for it to return over and over, causing massive amounts of damage and tearing apart its' exoskeleton.
Despite this the monster still lives, now weakly clawing the ground, so I think for a few seconds before attempting something new.
I punch my arm through its' head, but this time I change it up a bit.
I focus on the nanites within the spike and picture them flowing throughout the body of the Kryssik, filling its' entire body.
Almost instantly, I feel condensed nanites leaving my main body and entering through the hole in its' armor until eventually, my entire body now resides with in it's exoskeleton.
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I watch the Lieutenant's battle with pride, as he completely dominates this monster that had shredded us just a week prior.
I stared in awe as he executed a perfect kick, sending the Kryssik flying into a wall, only to following it, not letting up for a second.
He punched hole after hole into the head of the monster as if its' armor were paper, leaving devastating wounds until he suddenly paused his onslaught, seemingly in thought for a moment.
Suddenly, his entire body started flowing like water into the open wound his hand was lodged in.
This continued on for several seconds with more and more of his nanites entering until finally, there was nothing left.
The Kryssik, no longer being held against the wall, finally succeeded in regaining its' foot and it rose to its' feet.
It looked around for a few seconds before laying eyes on Rathor and I, and began to slowly make its' way over to us.
We both ready ourselves to fight, as there was still no sign of the Lieutenant, and prepare to meet the monster head on.
As we begin our charge at the monster, it continues towards us for several seconds, until stopping abruptly. halting us in our tracks.
The Kryssik falls to the ground and begins rolling and thrashing and we finally catch sight of just what the Lieutenant was up to.
Across its' entire body, sickly, yellow blood leaked through every wound, crack, and eye, with blood pouring out of its mouth.
Suddenly a loud creaking was heard throughout the room, as its' armor slowly started to bulge outwards.
Rathor and I both look on in amazement until finally, after reaching some unknown breaking point, the entire body of the Kryssik explodes outwards violently, in a shocking display of gore.
Blood, guts, and armor pepper the walls of the room with a massive, black ball left in their place.
As we watch the black ball slowly condenses, shrinking down to nearly a quarter of its' former size, before it grows a pair of arms and legs with a head soon following.
The black figure slowly changes color until it reveals the gleeful face of Lieutenant Clark, covered from head to toe in blood and guts.
He strides proudly over to us before saying with no small amount of pride. "I just had kill that thing in style, plus I got a neat trick out of it too!"
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As I stride past Mindal and Rathor like the happiest man in the world, I feel a familiar jolt of electricity as they both just stand there staring at me in awe.
We all return to the center of the room and await our next round of testing before the Colonel's voice is heard over the intercom once more.
"I.... I think that's enough for today. The cleaning crews are going to lose their shit when they see the mess you guys made."
"I think it's safe to say you all have a firm grasp on your abilities so we can go without the box for now, but keep in mind, if you damage anything or hurt anyone while outside of confinement, the box will be permanent."
I offer a cocky salute, while Mindal and Rathor just nod in acceptance, and we wait patiently for the Colonel and doctor to exit the observation room with their guards.
When they finally meet up with us at the exit, the doctor and guards look noticeably paler, while the Colonel simply has a huge goofy grin plastered across his face.
I stretch my arm outwards towards the exit door and the Colonel steps forwards to open it, and leading us back to our lodging.
Once we all enter the common room, with the airlock closing behind us, the Colonel spoke, informing us of the next steps going forward.
"I'm sure the Federation will be extremely pleased with your combat tests. Going forward I'll authorize you to be escorted to the cafeteria during meal teams as long as you all stay in human form. We don't want to frighten anyone after all."
All three of us nod before he continues.
"I'm going to send of the footage of your tests to the base commander. But from what I can guess, you'll all be deployed to a combat zone within the next couple of days to give you a real combat test and see how you do."
"I can't say for sure if you'll all be fighting together but I would definitely expect them to send at least two of you together to gauge how well you work as a team."
"With that said, you all performed exceptionally today so I'm rewarding you with the rest of the day off to rest and recover. And for god's sake all of you take shower, you're covered in all kinds of nasty shit."
We all give a "Yes sir." In agreement and head to our respective rooms to definitely shower, but not exactly "Rest and recover."