So much for my nice little plan.

As Lucy had the thought, Rikorlak went whooshing by in another loop. She had to admit he had good control over his appendage, flattening it until it was shaped almost like the basic fin of a fish.

A pretty blobby, sphere-shaped fish, but still.

It allowed him to move around faster than the guards, and he was taking full advantage of that fact to lead them on a chase around the pit. The other microbes huddled in large clumps around the geysers, shaking slightly as the water around them gurgled with the shouts of guards and Rikorlak’s taunts.

Guess it’s time to fight.

It was a relief, in a way. Lucy enjoyed planning when she had time to sit and think, but with the parasitic fungi still growing inside of her, it felt good to actually do something, to finally release some of the aggression she held toward her captors.

I may have decided to stay for my own benefit, but they were still gonna eat me!

And with the guards trying to move her along while others chased chaotically after Rikorlak, fighting seemed the way to go. She still hoped to end it fast and get out as quickly as she could to minimize the chance of Pincer-Hands showing up, but sitting around waiting for the guards to catch Rikorlak would be a waste of time as well as opportunity. So fighting it was.

But first…

Navigating her interface quickly, Lucy bought the flagellum.

It felt a lot how she imagined growing a tail would feel, or a new arm. She could immediately feel the power inherent in the new part of her body, but it was awkward at first, more than doubling her length if it was extended all the way.

But it was strong. With barely a flick, Lucy sent herself catapulting through the water, faster even than Rikorlak was managing with his fin.

Whew. This thing's got some pep!

That left her with zero points. If she wanted enough to find the right enzyme, she would have to get them by taking down some bad guys.

Hopefully they give more points than the bacteriophages.

Nervous and strangely excited, Lucy took a few deep breaths to Oxidize. Her energy was still low from the fungus draining her while she was talking before, but for now she would have enough. If the guards were tougher to kill than she expected, she would have to try either Oxidizing or feeding while she fought.

Letting her cytoplasm exchange freely with the sulfur-infused water around her, Lucy readied her spike.

The guards around her had turned to see what was going on as her flagellum grew, but they were used to prodding around docile microbes, not fighting back against armed organisms with experience fighting.

Limited experience, sure, Lucy thought, as she brought down her spike in a newly formed appendage, piercing the wrinkly membrane of the guard closest to her. But that first spike monster was scarier than these guys!

Another guard tried to run her through with a spear arm, but to do so it had to come in close, and as the tip of hardened flesh poked painfully into her membrane and caused a single point of damage, Lucy pulled out the spike from her first victim and stabbed it deep into the next, reinforcing her appendage for extra strength as she ripped her dagger free and sent greenish cytoplasm spurting out into the water.

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Just as she killed the second guard, a rush of blue molecules flowed into her from the first as it succumbed to its wound.

[+2 EP]

Not terrible.

The larva organisms, it seemed, were easier to deal with than she had imagined, at least in a small group that hadn’t seen the attack coming. Even as others split off from chasing Rikorlak to subdue her, she dimmed her Awareness and took another deep, Oxidizing breath of sulfur.

Before they reached her, she let go of the skill and pushed herself lightly to the side with her flagellum to get a better angle, forcing the guards to rearrange if they wanted to come at her all at once. It sent her way farther than she expected, but she was able to correct back into position.

Man, this thing is like a jetpack!

She wasn’t sure that was the most apt comparison, but it sure felt right. Lucy’s new tail caught against the water and propelled her forward with a strength and certainty completely unmatched by her old cilia.

As the guards approached, Rikorlak went careening behind them with a loud whoop.

Analytics, huh? She mentally shook her head. If they both made it out of this, Lucy had a few more questions to ask him.

She took full advantage of the distraction as a couple of the guards turned, floating herself up through the water with little more than a thought and a forward push. Before the larvae-like organisms could turn to face her, she was upon them.

It was sickly satisfying to plunge through their membranes with her dagger-spike, and Lucy felt animal glee rush up inside her as she turned the tables on her captors. They had stabbed at her and infected her and confined her, and now she took her revenge.

Eventually another hitmarker floated by to let Lucy know she’d taken a point of damage, but it was only when she extended forward for a strike at the same time as one of the larger organisms thrust its spear out at her. It penetrated to her cytoplasm with a tearing pain, but the spear-arm was briefly stuck in her membrane, and it was short work to finish off the guard who had done the damage.

Then, as Rikorlak continued to circle and distract, Lucy got to work, settling into the grim efficiency of her task as she punctured membranes and spilled cytoplasm left and right.

At one point she thought she was in trouble as a net she hadn’t seen coming closed in around her, but before its thrower could pull her down into a vulnerable position, Rikorlak slammed into the guard with a wet thwop as their membranes connected. Each went flying in opposite directions, and with her new speed and strength Lucy was able to push herself free, and the net loosened and fell from around her.

In a surprisingly short amount of time, Lucy found herself standing amidst a half-dozen or so bodies. Her membrane heaved and her appendage shook from the effort and the rush of combat.

Turns out fighting is a lot easier with an upgraded body and an accomplice.

She had accumulated 10 points in total from the fight, and as she took a moment to Oxidize and regain her energy, she gained another. Her hit points were halved, though in the haze of battle she hadn’t realized she’d taken that many hits.

See, now it looks like a real painting of hell, she thought, as she looked around at the corpses.

The others had fled, either for reinforcements or just to save their own lives. Lucy reflected that that wasn’t very bug-like of them, but she supposed these weren’t really insects, just some microscopic organism that happened to resemble them.

But what about the winged dude? Microorganisms definitely don’t have wings, so I don’t know what the hell is going on with him.

As Rikorlak circled back around to her, Lucy gave him a salute with her spike, raising it horizontally near the top of her membrane. He nodded up and down with his whole body then wiggled his fin approvingly at her as he saw her flagellum, apparently finally giving in to the whole “no speaking” thing. She saw that he too had taken a few hits, and though he was able to move through the water, his movements were strained, and his fin-appendage had retracted almost completely.

Then he floated over behind her, and Lucy remembered the small red-membraned microbe the guards had taken as well, who was now pressed low into a divot in the ground, shivering in fear as it hid.

Uncharacteristically hesitant, Rikorlak slowed as he approached before carefully nudging the microbe’s membrane. The cowering organism inflated slightly and seemed to be looking around, before letting out a single tiny yellow molecule that Lucy heard as a quiet, surprised voice.

“Oh. I guess…”

The voice trailed off, and the red-membraned microbe stood up to its full height as it looked around at the bodies of the larvae, then back to the herd. Its channels opened like it was going to say more, but then they snapped firmly closed, and it wriggled over to Lucy before awkwardly bumping her membrane. Lucy wasn’t sure, but she thought it was a thank-you.

Then the red-membraned microbe squiggled back over to the herd, and she and Rikorlak stared at each other. But before she could decide exactly what the next step was, a mad chuckling sound echoed from above, shaking the water of the pit.