A cloud of bullets slapped my body. Staggering backward, I fell on my ass. I may be indestructible, but I was as weak as normal human Erind.

The fuckers continued shooting.

Instead of raising my arms to shield myself, I splayed my body on the floor, pretending to be dead. They fired a couple more times to make sure I was down. I could somehow feel the slight vibrations on the floor as they cautiously approached me.

Turning my lone eyeball to the right, I noticed that our room door had several tiny new holes from the ricocheting bullets. Deen's Guardian Angel should've told her to get away from the door. And no way she would leave my unconscious body behind.

Given that I was still Pino, I assumed everything was good.

Good for me.

The rest of the hostages weren’t fairing that well, judging by all the shouting and shit. Instead of trying to discern what was happening inside, I tuned out the hostages and focused on what the two Tea Party members were mumbling to each other.

"—got out?" I didn’t wholly catch what Bastard One said. Their masks and tech gear stuff covering their faces stifled their voices.

"Are they supposed to look like this?" Bastard Two kicked my head.

"Dunno, man. Reckon they’ll get pissed we killed one?"

"Let's just shove this back in."

"In the room?" Bastard One peered into the biggest hole in the door. "You crazy? The worms are already fucking out!"

The other terrorist knelt to examine me closely. He poked my eye with the end of his gun. "This thing really dead? No bullet holes—"

I raised my right arm and pointed my index finger at his chin. The tip of my finger opened with a slight hiss as an ethereal projectile shot into his body. As soon as I felt our thoughts link up through the blue thread, I blasted him with a command. I concentrated on imposing my will on his body before he realized someone else was inside his head.

"Should we report—?" Bastard One didn't get to finish his sentence as a few rounds entered the back of his head, splattering his brains on the door.

(Todd! What the hell?) Bastard Two exclaimed in his head and also in mine.

Todd doesn't sound like a terrorist’s name, I mused as I ordered Bastard Two to shoot his own head.

It didn't quite work because it was difficult to point the end of his long arm at himself. The seconds he fumbled with his gun gave him time to gather his thoughts. Jolted by the death of his friend, Bastard Two fiercely resisted my order. Perhaps his instinct of self-preservation also kicked in.

(No! Get the hell out of my head!) He tried turning the gun towards me.

(Shoot yourself), I repeated as I got up. I didn't expect him to be able to do that; I just wanted him to get locked, resisting my thoughts.

Bastard Two’s horribly shook as his muscles received contradicting commands.

I punched him right on his chin—the best way to knock out someone. Nostalgia filled me as I remembered the night the 2Ms attacked my old condo. Good times.

(Help! Help me!) Unfortunately for him, he didn't get immediately knocked out. I was too weak. He was still standing, trying to point his gun at me, forgetting I was bulletproof. (Get out! Don’t control me!)

(You’re making this difficult for both of us.) I continued hitting him.

Even though I was literally punching like a girl, I had metal knuckles. He shrieked in my head, calling for help from other Tea Party members. Next, he thought I was an Adumbrae trying to control him—which was kind of true, just not the way he assumed.

He blared a prayer to the Mother Core in my head. Too dramatic. The noises from the room beside me also irritated me, and I took it all out on Bastard Two.

As he fell to his knees and his consciousness faded, silence in my head returned. (You still awake there? No? Time to kill—) Wait…I should make him a puppet instead of killing him! After all, that was the point of turning into Pino. A puppet would help me deal with whatever the fuck was inside the room.

I hurriedly pumped him with my power. I felt the energy in my chest flow down my arm and through the blue thread connecting us. Everything felt natural as if I should be doing this all along.

Bastard Two's clothes and balaclava mask started to rip as he rapidly grew like a balloon. A very muscly balloon. Through the tears on his clothes, I observed his skin turning red. The striations of his engorged muscles became prominent as they pressed against his thinning skin. Webs of veins enlarged and began to pop.

His visor cracked as his head widened; its broken pieces fell to the ground. His deranged bloodshot eyeballs bulged out of his head. There was something poetically ironic about people turning others into monsters but ending up also becoming monsters themselves. I live for dramatic moments like this.

I stopped the flow of my power. If I didn’t let up, he’d become stronger but would also die faster from his body getting pushed to the brink.

“Your name is now Todd.” As my puppet, I decided to call him something more decent. The name of the colleague he killed sounded like dramatic fun. “Destroy the door, Todd,” I commanded him. “And go inside.”

Todd grabbed the metal bar securing the door and forcefully yanked it away. Chunks of wood and concrete flew. Then he backed up a bit before ramming the door, shattering it into matchsticks. As he entered, the shouting inside grew louder.

I picked up one of the guns on the floor and followed him.

"Aah! More monsters!"

"Help! Don't let me die!"

"Just stay calm, everyone! Stay behind me!" It was Deen who said that.

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She and Imani were in front of a small group of hostages bunched on the far side of the room. They must've fled to the opposite end to avoid the gunfire in the hallway. Among them were Tesh, his wife Kiera, and the annoying Praying Man. Through their feet, I saw my Erind body on the floor, shoved against the wall.

In total, nine of them, including my body, were in the corner. They positioned themselves there to have an easier time defending against the incoming parasites. They used two squat tables as barricades.

A few squished parasites were on the floor near them, a couple more on the tables. Imani was squeezing a fat slug to death with her aug-arm while Deen was holding up a chair coated with the black slime from the parasites. They seemed to be doing well for themselves.

The rest of the hostages weren't so lucky.

Window Guardian was lying on the conference table next to the metal crate with empty canisters. His body convulsed as tiny tentacles wiggled out of his mouth. He did manage to kill some parasites, evidenced by the black pools around him.

Other than a couple more unconscious people here and there, the rest of the hostages were by the window. The glass was bloodied and full of cracks, but they never did manage to break it. The tentacles that burst out of their piled bodies slowly entwined each other.

I confirmed with Pino's unique vision that, other than Deen's group, the parasites got everyone else in the room.

The green glow covering the victims’ bodies, indicating health, was fading and slowly turning to gray. Focusing on the less fortunate hostages, I saw the red outline of the parasites burrowing inside their bodies, connecting to their spines and brain.

How long would the parasites take to gain complete control of these bodies? I hadn't seen anyone infected from the start—Oh, I have! The kid living a couple of units down my room. Lisa or something? Stella and her goons infected her with parasites out of spite. I did recall that the little girl grew scales instead of tentacles, so that might’ve been a different kind.

In any case, my heroic Pino face would take charge of the situation.

Seeing me approach, Imani raised her aug-arm. Funny how her stun gun and my powers shoot out of our fingers. Deen held her back, whispering something to her. Hopefully, the Guardian Angel was telling her not to be stupid.

"Don't be afraid. I'm here to save you!" I announced. Kind of difficult to convince people not to be scared of a metal mannequin with a gun accompanied by a muscular hulk.

With the wide view of my cyclopean eye, I spotted a slug zipping as fast as a rat toward Deen's group. This was my chance to demonstrate that I was on their side. I pulled the trigger and strafed the floor. I didn't hit the worm because my aim sucked.

But Todd was there to help.

Moving at a shocking speed, given his size, he rushed to head off the worm. He stepped on it with his oversized foot that had burst out of his boot. Along with crushing the worm, he also cratered the ground with his stomp.

The hostages screamed in terror; it might've looked like Todd was charging them. They cowered further into the corner. Someone even stepped on my Erind body.

These fucking people are all going to be fodder later! Except for Kiera because she hurriedly hugged my body to protect it.

"My name is Pino," I said to them. I mentally ordered Todd to back away. He was ruining my heroic moment. "And I'm here to save you. Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah, right!" Imani said. She furiously pointed her finger at me. “Don’t come any closer!”

The disbelieving faces of the hostages behind her showed they had the same sentiment. Pretty understandable. Or maybe their expression was disgust at the smell of the parasites. I almost forgot how nauseating their stench was.

Nah, that's not it. They just don't buy what I'm saying.

Deen put her chair down. "Imani, let’s listen to what this…uh…has to say first." Yet, she looked conflicted as she tried to lower Imani's arm. She didn’t think I was a friend at all, but her Guardian Angel must've whispered something to her.

She shouldn't know anything about Pino. I never told Deen about the actual events of the night the 2Ms attacked my condo, only broad strokes of it. Something along the lines of Myra and Johann saving me. And that was it.

Deen never asked for more details, probably thinking about my mental health. She tried to shield me from trauma whenever she could, even if it was overreacting.

“Are you a member of the Tea Party?” Imani demanded. “And what in Mother Core’s name are you?”

I gestured with my gun at the slug Todd had killed. "As you can see. I'm on your side." I tried to make my creepy metallic voice sound affable. "I'm an enemy of the Tea Party and want to stop their plans." I pointed to the hostages with tentacles growing out of them. "We don't have much time, so you should—"

"But what are you?" Imani repeated. "You didn't answer my question."

And it's an excellent question. Should I pretend that I was a Corebring? No way they were going to believe that, right? My old story that I was an Adumbrae on the side of good—which was close to the truth—was more plausible. But would Imani agree to work with an Adumbrae? That was like against her whole thing.

Then the perfect story came to me.

"I am," I dramatically said, "a top-secret android made by Greaves and the government." Bullshit spewing was off the charts. But this story was more palatable than the truth. Without a better explanation, they would have to accept what I told them.

"Holy shit!" Tesh exclaimed.

"An android? Wha-? I don't understand." Imani stopped struggling to free her aug-arm from Deen's grasp.

That gave me another idea. I extended my right arm. (Todd, remove my forearm.)

He grabbed my limb with his meaty fists and separated it at the joint. The people gasped. Todd let my forearm fall to the ground. I concentrated on pulling it back in place.

"Yes, an android,” I said. “But not just any android. My AI was developed with technology stolen from the Corebrings." That elicited more surprised reactions. I put a finger to my temple and intensely stared at them as if I was reading their minds. "You must think I’m the Tea Party’s target."

Some of them nodded.

"You're only partially right," I said. "There are other valuable pieces of technology hidden in this building that the Tea Party wants to get their hands on. That's why they locked you in these rooms." Despite the situation, I enjoyed making up stories. "And the full extent of their plans are far worse than robbery. With those parasites made from Adumbrae parts, they plan to turn you all into monsters!"

"What the fuck was that about Adumbrae parts?" cried out a guy at the back of their group.

"Mother Core bless us..." Praying Man started praying.

"Are you saying these are Adumbrae?" Tesh said, pointing at one of the worms they had killed.

"No. But they are made from Adumbrae bodies collected by the Tea Party from their black market trade." I nudged my head to Window Guardian, who sat on the conference table. It looked like a bunch of spaghetti that came to life was trying to get out of his mouth. "The Tea Party is going to turn all of you into that and release you into the city. While the police are distracted fighting the monsters, the Tea Party will make their escape."

"Just like what happened in La Esperanza," Imani said, recalling what I told her earlier as Erind. I was certain that telling her the same thing as Pino upped my credibility.

“We’re going to turn into Adumbrae too?” Kiera said.

“Yes,” I replied. Sure, let’s go with that.

“Mother Core!” Praying Man exclaimed. “That can’t be!”

Other tentacle zombies were standing up. The group of hostages by the window was merging, turning into a weird-ass ball of bodies bound by tentacles. A fight was coming right up.

"Listen to me," I firmly said. "Anyone infected by the parasite is already gone. Do not think that they are still human, do not try to save them, and do not let your conscience bother you. We will kill any infected creature, or they will kill you. Understand?" I said that to the whole group, but that was meant for Deen.

All of them nodded, including Deen and Imani.

"Now, go to the door and leave this room. I'll take care of these creatures." I sent a command to Todd. (Throw that ball of people out the window!)