Chapter 44 - My SI Stash #44 - Assimilation by Satire Swift (Young Justice) (1/2)

-I remember this SI Fanfic making me binge Young Justice and damn it's good. It was 2016 when I started this fic and it's still ongoing and strong! Author is pretty consistent on his stuff, I went half way into this fic by just searching the plot of YJ on Google, it's really up to you if you want to start this animated series~

*The SI ”Machina” can assimilate any technology he consumes. We'll see some Starfire action somewhere down the line. []~(￣▽￣)~*

Sypnosis: What does it take to be a superhero? Powers? Circ_u_mstance? The people around you? The willingness to embrace being something other than human? Whatever it is, you'll have to pick it up. Because we all have to do it sooner or later.

Rated: M

Words: 322K

Posted on: forums.spacebattles.com/threads/assimilation-young-justice-si.436294/ (Satire Swift)

PS: If you're not able to copy/paste the link, you have everything in here to find it, by simply searching the author and the story title. It sucks that you can't copy links on mobile (´ー｀)

-I'll be putting the chapter ones of all the fanfics mentioned, to give you guys a sample if you wan't more please do go to the website and support the author! (And maybe even convince them to start uploading chapters in here as well!)

Chapter 1.1

I checked my phone before I walked down the steps into the subway, couldn't get a signal down there after all, and found an email telling me that the project wasn't compiling as of last night, and they were trying to figure out what was responsible. I wasn't too worried as we had plenty of ways to revert the project to a working state, but I didn't like how close this was happening to release of the next patch. Three days of planning, six weeks of coding, one week of testing, and to top it off the tradition twenty four hours of panic before release, I thought to myself as I sent a brief reply before entering the subway.

Lucky for me I was just in time to catch the train pulling into the station, and as I checked my phone one last time before I lost the signal I stepped onto the train

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Ț̯ͮ͐u̷̝̼̭̲̮̬̘r͚̻͚̤͛ͣ̈́ͫ̀͠nͤ̀̄̇e̫ͥ͋ͭ̓ͧͯ͡d͌̓ͮͧ͟ ͗̓̓̚͏̙ả̈̇̚t̲͎̞̥̥̓̋͛ ̣̰̦͊ͣ͛ȁ̠͖̼̘͚̜ͯ̚͞ ̣̳͈̙ͬ͝r͓̣̪̗ͅĭ̽͋͐̒̏̽҉̦̣̭̟͚̪g̭̹͔̙̬̘͎̔̂̌̂͂͋ͫ̀h̒̅t̰ͥ ̗̙͓̫͇͇ͮͅȃ͕̖̹̞̼̻͂ͨ͝n̗͇̹͇̺̞̕g̷̱̥͂ͦ͗l͕̯ͭe͉̟͓̙͉ ͫͭtͯ̇͌̊̀ͫ͏̦̞̯o̩͑͆ͣ̀̈́̔̀ ̶̙̩̖͙̅͊̆ͯe̲̠̙̺͉̣̐͒ͩͮͭͫv̦̜̦̯͙̈́ͨ̆͊̆͗ͅḛ̭ͩr͚̟̖͚̫̒ͅỵ̰̩̥͉ͪt̜̹̯͠h̘͈͕̽͗̿́i̠͚̼ͧͪ̇̌ͥn͓͈͉̄̐͛̓̅ͤ̋͡g̠̣̹̞͎̣̘͌́̽ metal table hard and cold against my back as my limbs refused to… wait, what?

I gave a start (or tried to) as I suddenly realized that I was not on the subway. What tipped me off was how subways didn't put their passengers on hard metal slabs looking up at incredibly bright lights that made it impossible to see anything else. ”W-what? What the f_u_c_k? Where am I? Why can't I move?!” I shouted as my head whipped side to side as I tried to see something, anything to help me figure out what had happened. Try as my might there was hole in my memory, and the last thing I remember was getting on the subway for work.

Was there an accident? An attack? Am I in a hospital? I thought before I felt a sudden pit of dread in my stomach. Oh god, is that why I can't move?! Am I paralyzed?!

There was movement in the corner of my vision, and I turned my head hoping it was someone who could help me. But whatever I was going to say next died in my throat at what I saw.

What stepped out of the darkness into my vision wasn't human. Humanoid perhaps, but the word reptilian was the first thing that came to mind. The head reminded me of some kind of dinosaur with an expanded skull in the back, and the way it tilted its head as it look at me was birdlike. Green scales covered it where I could see it's body, but most it's body was covered by some kind of jumpsuit. It was a little shorter than me if I had to guess, and the stilted way it moved along with the shape of its legs and arms made it clear that it wasn't built in the same manner as a human.

My response to such a sight was as eloquent as it was insightful. ”Oh what the f_u_c_k.”

The… thing let out a series of hisses and growls which I think was it speaking, but I couldn't understand it. Granted I don't think I would have understood it if it was speaking English because holy shit lizard people were real. My thoughts completely froze up at that. In all of my craziest thoughts about what secret conspiracies might have littered the world, I never would have guessed that one would be true.

I snapped out of my mini-fugue as the lizard thing gestured and a small drone of some sort floated out from behind him. It was, almost comically, shaped like a small flying saucer, and it had something clutched beneath it in a claw like appendage. I couldn't get a good look at it, but it was about the size of my fist and looked chitinous, it's dull grey color non-reflective. The drone floated over to me and promptly opened its claw, dropping the object onto my c_h_e_s_t.

I had only about a second to tilt my head and look at the insectile thing before it suddenly deployed its small sharp legs into my c_h_e_s_t.

My first scream was more out of shock than pain, but the following screams came shortly after when I felt the thing start to burrow and expand through my torso. Even as I screamed though I could see the grey material start to spread across my c_h_e_s_t, and as I saw my body start to soften and dissolve I realized that it was consuming me.

And I could feel every painful inch as it worked its way up to my head. I… oh god no. I don't want this! I DON”T WANT-!

It was complete bullshit is what it was.

It took me a while to realize that I wasn't dreaming. It can be hard to tell when you suddenly find yourself blind and… paralyzed? Insensate? Point is I had this weird tingling sensation where my body was supposed to be, and all I had were memories of what had just happened to me, which featured pain, terror and I giant pile of I have no f_u_c_k_i_n_g clue. I tried to calm down by focusing on breathing… except I couldn't breathe. That made it worse and should have caused my heart to start hammering in my c_h_e_s_t… except I couldn't feel my heartbeat. Of f_u_c_k_i_n_g course.

One might be a little confused at my response to the cascade of utter horseshit that I was experiencing, rather than the pants-shitting terror that would be reasonable. Well, aside from the not knowing if I was even wearing pants, a descent into cursing was how I typical dealt with things going t_i_t_s up in my life, even if it only was internal. Honestly, I wasn't usually like this, but it made me feel a lot better than falling into despair and terror. And hey, a recent study showed that in addition to boosting your tolerance for pain, cursing also increased your resistance to horrify existential dread too. I mean, it was a sample size of one, but I was willing to believe it.

In any case, I'm not sure how long I spent like that, panicking over and/or mentally swearing at being in a disembodied nightmare I couldn't wake up from. However, I'm good at adapting, and eventually I managed to force myself to calm down. I forced all of my fears and my uncertainty down into my mental vault, which I was sure wouldn't cause me any physiological issues later. Before I could figure out what was going on, I needed to pull myself together, get my body back under control, or just get feeling back. Not that I knew how to do that. For all I knew I was in some kind of coma or… no, not going to think about that. Have to assume that's not the case. So, lacking any other type of direction, I fell back on pop culture.

Wiggle your big toe.

And after a few seconds of trying… it worked. I think. I could feel the big toe of my right foot. It didn't feel quite right, but it was fine for the moment. Encouraged by this, I started to work my way up. My other toes, my ankles, my legs… sooner than I would have thought I was moving, even if I was still blind. I tried to push myself to my feet-

And I immediately fell onto all fours, fingers and toes digging sharply into the floor. I remained still for a long moment, the positon feeling… strangely comfortable. I slowly tried to stand again and again lost my balance before I could get fully straight. I twisted as I fell and I landed on my hands and feet with surprising grace. After a moment I started to suspect something I started to pat down my body. My sense of touch was muted, but it didn't take long to figure out why. Almost everywhere I touched my body was hard and plated, with several ridges popping up in strange places. My torso was inhumanly proportioned and too narrow. My arms were spindly and ended in claws, my legs were digitigrade, and my head was elongated and completely smooth save for a maw of razor sharp teeth.

And as a long ridged tail swept between my legs, I found I was missing something.

The fact that I couldn't even curse due to a lack of proper lips or tongue made this such complete bullshit.

Eventually, I calmed back down. Mostly because I had nothing else to do. Once I got moving I quickly discovered I was trapped in a small rectangular room, which seemed to be made entirely out of metal or something close to it. Even after stumbling around till I found a door didn't help, as no matter how much I clawed at the thing I could barely scratch it. I was so frustrated at my own powerlessness that it drove me up the walls.

Literally.

Well, I guess there's a bit of a silver lining to this, I thought bleakly as I sat on the ceiling, my claws somehow finding enough purchase on the smooth metal to let me remain where I was. Of course I would have preferred the radioactive spider.

I let out a hissing sigh, enjoying what little I could from the act. I didn't understand how this was possible. Lizard people were one thing, but a full body transformation into…

Ok, let's review, I thought as I released my grip and fell to the ground, landing deftly on my hands and feet as I did so. It was only about a twelve foot drop to the ground, and even in my blinded state I could sense when to brace for impact . On my way to work, I was apparently abducted by lizard people, who deiced to experiment on me using some… thing, which in turn fused into and/or consumed my body. Later I wake up and find that said body is now, if my impression is correct, a xenomorph knock off. I moved slowly as I once again tried to stand on two feet, this time attempting to use my tail to properly balance myself. The sharp point on the end twitched erratically as I fought to get it under control. Wish the damn thing came with a manual for how hard it was to control.

Which actually made sense, oddly enough. My brain was not wired for a prehensile tail, so it was a miracle that I could use the thing at all. Then again, I suppose it was a miracle that my mind was still relatively intact, let alone alive. I still couldn't feel my heart beat, and most of the other tiny sensations inherent a in a human body that you just kind of tune out were now so very obvious in their absence. In their place was… tingling wasn't quite the right word. When I focused on my new body, it was almost as if chittering were somehow tactile, for all the sense that made. Vibrating in anticipation, like it was waiting for something.

Yeah, well I'm waiting for some goddamn eyeballs, I thought sullenly. The reason I was blind was that I quite simply didn't have eyes anymore, just a smooth carapace where they should have been. And yet there were times where I swore I could see fragments of things for the briefest moments, a faint outline or impression. I let out an irritated growl with as much force I could muster, satisfied by the noise but surprised by the sudden, odd constriction of muscles I didn't know I had.

Suddenly I had a sort of mental snap, and with the sudden sensation of my mind crossing its eyes I saw the room in a burst. Not an image per se, but I perceived the entire room as an impression of surfaces and corners, the impression of angles and distances in a way I never had before.

And in an instant it was gone again and I was back in darkness. I remained still for a moment before a flexed those unknown muscles in my throat in the same way, and again the image popped into my head. Ultrasound, I realized. I can 'see' ultrasound. That explains a lot.

I spent what I think was the following hour pacing about my cell, getting used to my new 'sight' and balance. Not that it helped my current situation much, as I was still locked in god damn box. Why, I thought as I moved restlessly. Why would they do this me? What do they gain out of it? Is this what they wanted to happen? At the least, I couldn't have been a total failure considering that I was still alive, but what more did those who I assumed were my captors want? If they planned to turn me into some kind of living weapon they hadn't done a great job of endearing me to that prospect. You'd think that they would have fit me with a sort of control collar at least.

I stopped in my tracks as a thought occurred to me, and I started to pat down my body once again. Nothing said that a control mechanism had to be a literal collar, and I honestly wasn't sure which parts of my body were actually my own. Unfortunately, with my sense of touch so altered just feeling around didn't help much in that regard. I focused on myself as hard as I could, trying to feel every odd sensation that-

Suddenly that 'chittering' sensation grew, and I got a very acute mental picture of what my body was shaped like. I also noticed four spherical objects lodged in my c_h_e_s_t which I somehow knew were not a part of me. I tried to push through the disorientation of have yet another mind bending perception forced onto me and tried to analyze said objects best I could. If only I could somehow pull them out…

Slowly, as if by instinct, I felt the carapace of my c_h_e_s_t start to fold and shift, and my internals started to follow suit.

What the hell?

Before I could think too much about that though, there was sudden reaction from the spheres and AARRRGH!

I screamed as electricity arched from my body, and I fell to the ground in a twitching heap. As the pain ripped through me I felt everything go fuzzy and dark, like I was slipping back into where I was before. No. No! I won't go back to that! I mentally screamed as I forced myself to stay conscious, to keep myself together. Moments later the electricity cut of and I was able get my senses back. And when I did, I noticed something.

I had, just a little bit, melted. I was like a wax figure that had been left out in the sun a little too long, and I saw droplets of material start to slide off me to the floor. Before I could panic though I saw those little bits of myself slow to a stop before they melded right back into my body.

That… was informative in a number of ways.

Before I could reflect on that much though, the door to my cell suddenly snapped open, and I felt myself being dragged forward by an unseen force. I tried to resist, but I hadn't recovered from my previous ordeal and my body twitched uselessly. Moments later I found myself dragged onto a small hovering platform, and I felt the air snap and charge around me.

I finally managed to pull myself up on my haunches and take a look around with what I had decided to call my 'blindsight'. I was now in a hallway about five meters across where the walls and ceiling bulged outwards, like I was in a large tube. Aside from a few curves and outlets there were a number of doors lining the walls in both directions, most likely more cells. I didn't have long to look at them before the platform I was on started to move, and I noticed a pair of lizard people fall in step beside it. Although I suspected what would happen, I reached out towards one of them only for an electric jolt to force my arm back as it reached the edge of the circular platform. Forcefield. One of them let out something that I think was a laugh before spouted off some more noises.

I didn't know what it said, but I was sure it was being a d_i_c_k.

I shook out my hand as I studied my surroundings. Just where the hell was I? This had to be a base of some kind, but how the hell did I get from the city to here? Was it underneath the city? I mean, there was the other possibly, the slightly more obvious one some people would say, that I probably wasn't on Earth any more… but I honestly wasn't sure if that was more plausible than underground technologically advanced reptiles. Personally I hoped it was the latter, because the former implied terrible things about my chances of seeing home again.

I let out a breath to dismiss such thoughts, instead think back to what I had just learned back in my cell. I think, I thought to myself as the glorified cart hovered down the hallway, that I'm now made of some sort of shapeshifting material. Maybe.

It made a degree of sense given how I just saw myself nearly come apart. And… what if when I couldn't move before it wasn't because my limbs were paralyzed, but because I didn't actually have any at the time. The last thing I remembered before that was being dissolved by that grey thing, after all. It was entirely possible I was rendered a puddle of goo after that interaction. Which meant, if I could pull myself together from that into my current form, there was a good chance that I could turn back into something at least close to human.

Now if I could only figure out how. At the risk of being tazed again, I focused on what my human body should look like and… nothing happen. I focused harder, but I remained stubbornly unchanged. I grunted in annoyance before I decided to narrow my scope and just focus on the shape of my head. After a few seconds of concentration my skull started to slowly constrict and become more round. Encouraged by this, I started to imagine my eye sockets and felt two impressions start to form on my face.

However, I stopped almost as soon as I started as one of my escorts let out an angry sounding growl as it turned to face me. I went still as it stared at me for a few moments before it was satisfied and turned back to face forward.

For later then, I thought, though there was something bitter in it. I had a feeling that there was a lot I was missing about just what my new body was and how it worked, and I wasn't sure if I would get the chance. Especial since even as I started to consider the ways I could test this I found the cart reaching the end of a hallway and hovered through and open door, my guards stopping before they entered themselves.

The new room was very large, or at least I assumed it was as my blindsight failed to show me any walls beyond the slightly curving one at my back that faded into my personal darkness. In front of me looked to be a number of large blocky shapes, forming walls, ramps, pillars, and all manner of things I would generally call obstacles. To be honest it reminded me of a laser tag arena. Or a Halo multiplayer map.

That thought filled me with an abrupt sense of trepidation, which was not helped when the door behind me slammed shut and the force field around me suddenly dropped. Of course, the inhuman roar from a short distance away that followed was just drove the point home. I quickly got on my fours and darted towards the nearest structure, hoping to get cover from whatever had made that noise. For better or worse it wasn't long before I found out. Crashing though one of the pillars nearby was… something. It was about the size of a huge bear that was heavy and broader on the front even as it moved on all fours. It reminded me a bit of a bulldog, though its head was triangular and had forwards pointed horns. Oh, and the whole thing was covered in rigid armor plates, because apparently fate decided that I hadn't been kicked in my non-existent nuts quite enough.

The thing paused after this destruction for a brief moment before its head twitched and it let out another roar, giving me a great view of how its mouth opened along to perpendicular seams. It then swung its head around towards me before it charged. I let out something like a screech before I spun and scrambled up the side of the wall I was next to in a desperate bid to get away from the thing. I managed to get to the top of the wall just before the creature slammed into it, smashing a gaping hole clean through.

I stared down at the thing as it started to turn, perched precariously on the unstable wall. This is a combat test, I thought to myself. They made me into a weapon and now they want see how well I perform. And I'm guessing failure is the sort of thing they would learn from and I… wouldn't. So that meant that if I wanted to lived, I was probably going to have to kill this thing. Which to be honest… I didn't really care to do. Screw Shinji Ikari, I'll run away all I damn well please.

But that wasn't an option here, as I was pretty sure I was trapped in here with the thing. And so, without any clever third options coming to mind, I pounced off the wall the moment before the creature slammed into it, landing deftly on the ground before I instantly turned and bolted at the thing. It started to turn but before it could completely face me I was already on it, leaping up onto its back and trying to sink my claws into it. It didn't really work though, as its armor plates merely scratched a little at the contact.

Why the hell do I even have these things?! I thought to myself as the – you know what, I'm just going to start calling it a bearasaur – the bearasaur started to buck to try and remove me. I managed to catch a glimpse of something strange about the plates near the base of its neck before it simply rolled over, and I was forced to leap off. Abandoning that idea, I ducked back in and tried to strike at its legs, at its joints where it was less protected. Unfortunately, even though I was faster and quicker than the thing, the creature was much better at fighting on all fours than I was. The result was less a skillful series of hit and run strikes as it was me frantically slashing and dodging out of the way. Such as it was, it wasn't long before the thing landed a crushing blow on me.

Everything distorted as I tumbled through the air, and I skipped a few times off the ground before I crashed into a pillar with such force that I left a dent. I… didn't feel a lot of pain though, something which caught me off guard. That impact should have crushed every bone in my body… wait, did I even have bones anymore? I really needed to figure this out at some point. And it wasn't that moment, because before I could even get back up the bearasuar was on top of me, boxing me in and trying to tear me to bits. I screamed as I slashed back at it but I could never land a solid hit in, the creature always moving to block with its armor or horns.