*Snap*
*Snap*
*Snap*
The American Agent Leon Kennedy ran away from yet another snap from the scissor-like mandibles of the creature chasing him.
It had started as a simple investigation mission to gather information about the possible location of the president's kidnapped daughter. Needless to say, it didn't go as planned. The mission had turned crazy before it had even began. First his transportation had been killed, then the only road out had been cut off, and then all of the townspeople had turned against him and started actively trying to kill him.
It only got worse from there. Cults, mind controlling parasites, and even genetic experiments. It sounded like something you'd find in a movie. Unfortunately, it was an all too real reality for him. Luckily, he'd had experience with extreme situations. You've probably heard about how he had been one of the survivors of the Raccoon City Incident. It was the entire reason he had been hired to work for the Secret Service, and inspired him to learn how to be cool under pressure.
But we're getting off track. Let's get back to the present.
In his search for the president's daughter, he had fallen for a trap set up for him and was now having to fight this monstrosity of a creature. It looked like a centaur crossed with a chimera as far as he could tell. He hadn't gotten a good look at it. He barely had enough time inbetween attacks to get a shot off already, so he didn't have time to stop and stare. He'd used up a sizable chunk of his ammo resources so far, but the creature was resilient. It even went so far as to have the plaga parasite bursting out of its back keep fighting after the main body died, with it taking control of the lower half and taking the upper half's place. However, Leon was determined to end this battle here and now.
*Snap*
Stopping after a couple of steps, Leon turned around and raised his magnum in front of him. He knew he was completely safe after the fourth strike attempt. While the creature in front of him was a formidable foe, it was not the least bit intelligent. It always followed a set pattern of attack, even if it meant taking a direct hit. In this case, it would always snap at him four times before roaring at him in frustration.
Aiming with his laser sight, Leon calmly moved his aim to the middle of the parasite's mouth, which was now wide open. Pulling the trigger, Leon could almost imagine the bullet tearing through the inside of the parasite, wreaking all kinds of havoc inside of the creature.
Giving out one last roar, the creature finally subsided to the pain. The legs holding it up gave out, and the parasite fell limply onto the corpse of its former host.
"I'm glad that's over." Said Leon as he wiped the sweat from his brow.
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Darkness. Darkness everywhere. I can see a light...it's getting bigger. I feel dizzy... the light is almost here.
Suddenly, gravity took hold as the light engulfed me. I felt myself falling through the light before hitting the ground hard. I could feel myself coming into consciousness....
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I awoke to a pain pulsating from my head.
God. My head is pounding. Ugh, It kind of hurts to think, too.
My eyes shot open.
Wait a second! How am I thinking at all?
The sound of a familiar voice echoed from my memories
"After the procedure, you won't be human at all. You'll lose any cognitive abilities. You'll just be a mindless beast..."
Trying to remember more, I found my memory to be a bit hazy. Everything after the operation was just a blur. With some effort, I recalled how I came to be known as "U-3".
I was elected as the best (and only) candidate for a special operation the scientists in the Los Illuminados, a deranged cult bent on world domination, had come up with. It was very different from the procedure used to create the formidable "Regeneradors". Where-as the procedure to create the Regeneradors focused on metabolism and the regrowth of limbs, the U-3 project focused on combining certain aspect from very different animals into one plaga-mutated being. With the plaga inside of me, then no matter how little of my mind remained afterwards, they could still control me at their every whim.
Speaking of which, the plaga inside of me is acting strangely subdued. Before, it would influence my actions like a drug, always nudging me into doing this or that based on the whims of its controller. Interestingly enough, while the plaga always had full control over me and my co-workers, it never did anything to influence our personalities. We were still cracking jokes while slaughtering outsiders.
Outsiders...
A flash of memory swept through me at that word.
An American agent.
Dirty blonde hair.
Dim blue eyes.
A bright black shirt.
A bright flash of light.
Ngh! The pain!
With an inhuman groan, I let the painful memory slip away into the haze of my mind. I decided to try and take my mind off of things by taking a look around.
Groggily, I stood up. My body felt numb, but I was surprised at how I could already easily move around in the alien body. I suppose it's either a result of the plaga's natural ability to adapt to all kinds of hosts and communicate between them flawlessly regardless of species, or from having at least SOME part of my mind stuck inside this body while I was feral, retaining lots of muscle memory.
I gave my new body a quick check over. Out of the changes, the most noticeable was that I no longer walked on two legs. Instead, everything from the waist down was replaced with what seems to be a mix of a lion's leg, and a centipede's torso. Though it was the size of a lion's torso, no fur grew anywhere. Instead, it was the same color as a human's skin. The centipede torso continued past the lion legs , but bent upwards at an angle reminiscent of a snake. Instead of a head, however, the centipede torso was connected to my human torso at the stomach.
Looking my human body over, three things were most apparent.
1: my left arm was now a fleshy prehensile tentacle. To my surprise, I seemed to be able to extend it to be almost twice as long, and then retract it back to normal length as if nothing ever happened. Seeing as how I could dexterously wrap it tightly around my other arm, it seemed to be good enough to hold things, provided they were big enough not to slip out.
2: my bottom jaw was now split down the middle and extended past the top jaw, resembling mandibles. Out of my mouth hung a long, cylindrical tongue, ending at a point. It suspended itself naturally in the air, but I found I could control it if I wanted to. It looked to be about a foot long, but I couldn't accurately tell without a mirror.
3. My right hand now had claws.
I checked myself for any sign of an exposed plaga. Finding none, I turned my gaze to my surroundings.
With a quick scan of the area, I determined I was at the edge of a forest, with the trees lined up a couple of yards behind me. Considering that the industrial island I was on had absolutely no forests at all (unless you count the "iron jungle" of the factories), it's pretty safe to say that I'm either back on the mainland, or somewhere else entirely.
The sun is only just reaching over the horizon, turning the sky into the light blue between night and day. Along the edge of the forest a couple of yards to the right of me is a small cottage. It's a good thing it's only morning. While I'm sure my mother would love me all the same, I'm fairly certain that my horrible visage would bring unwanted trouble.
The forest seems to be a good place to hide. Although I have no idea what my diet consists of now, I'm willing to bet I could still eat meat. While I could not possibly hope to be fast enough to catch any of the forest's prey, I'm fairly certain I could challenge the area's predators and kill them for a meal.
Turning towards the forest, I start to walk to it. Before I could get very far, however, I could tell that something was very wrong. With every step I took, I could feel a part of my rational mind leaving me, being replaced with a horrifying numbness instead.
I quickly backed away from the forest before I could lose myself any further. To my massive relief, I could feel my mind returning with every step I took back. The numbness was hurriedly fading away as well. By the time I arrived back where I started, the numbness was completely gone.
While my mind was still cloudy, and it still slightly hurt to think, I was thankful I had caught the forest's effects in time. I shuddered at the thought of losing my miraculously regained intelligence and going back to being a mindless creature.
Hmm...if the forest is somehow dampening my intelligence just by being near it, then can I fully regain my mental capacities by getting far enough away from it? I guess there's only one way to find out.
I turned around to walk away, only for my lion-ish legs to bump into something.
"Oof! Hey! Watch where you're-- AAAAAHHHH!" A feminine voice screamed.
Looking down towards the source of the voice, I see something that was small enough to escape my normal field of vision: a small mint green horse with a human-like face and a horn on its head.
What.
"Wugh." I expressed in my all-knowing glory.
Well, if the horse didn't have an expression of absolute terror before, then it sure did now.
Whoops. I guess I kind of forgot about the part where you need a normal mouth to talk.
The sound of a door being flung open could be heard to my right. I look over to see a yellow horse with a pink mane. Her eyes lit up with surprise and horror when she saw me.
"Flu-... Fluttershy, i-is this another one of your exotic animals?" The green horse asked in a shaky voice.
I looked towards the green horse, and then looked back towards "Fluttershy" for her response. Before she could even shake her head 'yes' or 'no', however, a flash of green streaked towards her. She wore an expression of surprise for half a second before being tackled into the house. The door mysteriously slammed shut behind them without any apparent cause. I then heard the sound of locks clicking and furniture being moved.
If my mind wasn't all fogged up, this entire incident might have moderately shaken me up. I say 'moderately' because when you're part of the Los Illuminados (whether you want to be or not), you learn to take things in stride. Things like having a mind controlling parasite inside of you.
Shaking my head, I started to walk away from the forest when an errant thought popped into my head.
What if they call the authorities?
I tensed up at this for a few seconds, before remembering two things:
1. It's talking horses. I doubt they have cops.
2. Even if they do have cops, what are they gonna tell them? 'Hey, I saw a monster outside my house.'?
I chuckled inwardly at myself for a moment before running away from the forest at full-speed, eager to regain my full intelligence. So eager, in fact, that I didn't notice a nearby rainbow take on a life of its own and blind-side me.
"Hold it right there, Mister!"
I'm really beginning to miss being able to talk.