Making monster girls 10.., p.5
Making Monster Girls 10: For Science!, page 5
“I can’t believe it,” the blonde woman whispered. “Josephine, is this true?”
“Yes.” The heiress grinned. “She’s one of my sisters now. I helped guide her to our side, and in the end, she was one of the reasons we managed to take the city in the first place.”
“I almost can’t believe it…” the lead Harlot muttered, pressed her lips together, and then lifted her gaze to mine. “So, it’s true? You’ve taken over seven cities, and now, you’re going to take the capital, too?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “But first, we needed to come and rescue you and your women.”
“Thank you,” the tall, blonde woman sighed, smiled, and stepped a little closer with her hands outstretched. “Thank you for helping us, Charles Rayburn.”
“I’m sorry it couldn’t have been sooner,” I grunted. “We knew that you’d taken control over this part of the city, but we didn’t know that the Queen had finished her super-soldiers and would sic them on you.”
“They’re not finished,” Beatrix shouted over the crowd, and the women quickly parted to reveal the redhead hunched over one of the super-soldiers. “All of the wires and electrical components are all sorts of fucked up. These were rushed…”
“So, that can only mean one thing,” I uttered with a shake of my head.
“What is that?” Josephine asked.
“They threw these together and then sent them out to attack the Harlots,” I explained.
“They were so hard to kill,” the blonde gasped. “They wiped out half our mass in minutes… and they were only--”
“Prototypes,” Beatrix grumbled, lifted her head, and stuffed her hands into her pockets. “Yeah, you can tell from the way that parts of them are fully finished, but other areas are completely rushed. See these seams?”
I stepped closer and bent beside the petite scientist as she pointed to an area of the super-soldier’s right arm. I glanced down at the shiny, silver metal and then met her gaze evenly.
“If you look at the welding, it’s perfectly even,” the redhead uttered. “It looks like a master put all of this together. See how the molten metal looks kind of like a seamless braid or tightly squiggled line? That’s nearly perfect and probably done by a person who’s had a lot of practice, but if you look at the left arm. See this?”
“It’s just a straight but uneven line,” I uttered and then shifted my eyes to hers.
“Exactly.” The petite woman nodded. “See this? Where the metal is super thick? That shows where the welder moved too slow, and then this thin area is where they went way too fast. This was thrown together by a lot of amateurs. Maybe even a person who’s never done welding or isn’t very practiced at it. They needed to get these finished and fast; then they just rolled them out to attack the Harlots.”
“I’ve used a welder quite a few times,” I murmured. “But I practiced a lot before I moved on to my bigger projects, like my machine. How much practice do you think the person has had if the work is this bad?”
“Minimal to none?” The redhead scratched her head and shrugged. “But if you peel back the faceplate of the screen and look at most of the electrical components, they look pretty good, except a few of them are put in the wrong places. The scientists and inventors rushed all of this, and it clearly shows.”
“That’s terrifying,” I grumbled, and Beatrix raised her head with furrowed eyebrows.
“What is?” the redhead asked.
“They sent unfinished projects,” I went on. “And they still managed to do this much damage. Do you think there’s more we could learn from these if we took them into the submersible and then dissected it?”
“Of course.” The scientist nodded. “I’m sure that despite the terrible work, there’s still plenty we could learn from one of these big, bad boys. It might take a little while, but I could probably pry off the dome, so we could get a better look at the brains and what’s connecting all of it to the main power source. I mean… if the brain is still in perfect condition, and from the looks of it, the dome of this one hasn’t been damaged too badly.”
“Can you and Celty get it back to the submersible, so we can examine it?” I asked.
“I think we can.” The redhead nodded. “We may need Daisy’s help since she’s a lot stronger than the two of us combined.”
“Of course, I can help.” The brunette stepped forward, smiled softly, and then bent to grab the super-soldier’s shoulders. “It might be a little difficult, but I think we can do it.”
As the three of them lifted the metal man and hauled him toward the submarine, I shifted my attention back to the Harlots. All of them were huddled closely together, and a few of them eyed the Drake Legion warily. They knew they were Harlots from their proximity to Josephine and me, but they looked drastically different than the rest of them. I didn’t think it’d sunk in that they were monster-women, and that was the reason for the spiraling horns and thick, scaled tails. Immediately, the lead Harlot’s dark-blue eyes met mine, and her severe expression softened. It seemed that she’d already taken a liking to me and felt comfortable enough to approach me without fear or apprehension in her eyes.
“What happened?” I breathed, stood, and turned toward the group of Harlots. “Start from the beginning, please.”
“We’ve held this position for the last three weeks, and the guards were relentless,” The blonde explained. “But we could handle them perfectly fine… They’re low-level aristocrats with average abilities. Every few days, the attacks would pause, and we assumed that the Queen was convening with her war council and preparing for the next step. Yesterday started much differently than we’d expected. We knew eventually she’d send out the high-power guards, but we certainly didn’t expect the Royal Honor Guard.”
“Royal Honor Guard?” I balked. “Who are they?”
“I assume you know of the Soul Suckers by now,” the blonde stated. “But these are entirely different from the sect of Soul Suckers. They’re highly augmented Soul Suckers. Their families are rigorously put through forced mutation until they’re no longer human but more akin to monsters. It was a difficult task to fight against them, and we lost a lot of women in the battle, but despite everything, we fought through and won. It was grueling, and there were moments when we didn’t think we’d make it to sundown, but when it finally came, we knew that we’d won.”
“I’d never heard of the Royal Honor Guard,” I uttered.
“Neither have I,” Josephine said. “Of course, I knew about the guards and the Soul Suckers in general, but the Royal Honor Guard?”
“They’re extremely powerful,” the Harlot hissed through her teeth. “But the best way to take them out is to wear them down over time. They may be strong, but their endurance is nothing. Their bodies are weak from the forced mutation. I believe that Calistia thought they’d swoop in unexpectedly and then overwhelm us. Still, I don’t think the Queen understands our numbers’ strength together, especially when a few of us come from her augmented crop. So, the Queen did the last thing she knew would cripple us… and sent out the metal hounds. They nearly killed all of us. My women were broken and bleeding in the cobblestones. I had to reach out to our leader in hopes that our last letter would reach her, and… thankfully, it did.”
“What happened when the super-soldiers arrived?” I said, and the blonde woman crooked an eyebrow.
“What does it look like?” The Harlot spread her arms wide and gestured toward the carnage around us. “They destroyed everything in their path, killed fifty of my women in a total of two minutes. I’d never seen such horrors in my life, and I’ve been a Harlot since I was ten. They came down from up there.”
The blonde woman pointed above our heads to the lip of the second ring. For a second, I didn’t quite understand, but as my gaze shifted downward toward the broken cobblestones, I realized what’d happened.
“They jumped?” I grunted. “From that far above?”
“Yes.” The Harlot nodded. “Just stepped off of the second ring, fell through the air, and slammed down to the street with no scratches on them. Seconds later, they started attacking. They’d backed us into a corner, and there was no way that we could fight against them. We tried everything, combined all of our powers and strengths, but it made no difference even then. They ripped our numbers to shreds… then you arrived. We thank the heavens, and whatever beings are watching over us that you did or all of us would be dead. My forcefields can only withstand so much, and with ten of those creatures attacking, I would’ve lost all of my strength, and my women would’ve died.”
“But you didn’t.” I smiled. “You survived, and now we’re here to aid you until the rest of my army arrives.”
“I’m so sorry I didn’t receive your letters,” Josephine bleated. “I wish I could’ve come sooner, and maybe then… we wouldn’t have lost so many.”
“If what you’ve said is true,” the blonde woman in front of us stated calmly. “That you’ve conquered cities, overthrown marchionesses, and brought peace to the men who live there, then I believe the women who died here over the past few days did so willingly. Maybe not happily, but they did what we always thought would happen. Lives will always be lost for the sake of a cause, and if you genuinely believe in it, you willingly die for it. As Harlots, we accepted that when we joined the association. All of us knew that it could very possibly happen to one of us one day, but that made no difference in our choices. I became a Harlot because I saw the world for what it was, a massive garbage heap with a chosen few at the utmost top, and decided to turn against it. None of us are free until all of us are…”
“That’s how I feel,” I growled, stepped forward, and stood in front of the horde of Harlots. “No one deserves to live like this.”
I spread my arms wide and gestured toward the segregated rings then the dilapidated houses in the distance. The blonde Harlot nodded, and when her eyes met mine, tears brimmed in their corners.
“No man deserves to be treated as if they are vermin or worse,” I grunted. “I’ve spent most of my life scurrying in the shadows of aristocrats like a scared, diseased mouse. Even now, after listening to your affirmations of support, there is still a part of me that remains as a scared mouse and tells me not to trust you. As a brute, aristocrats will tell you that you can trust them, and even though their words sound genuine, there’s poison dripping from their forked tongues. Of course, every Harlot I’ve met has been nothing but trustworthy, but there is still part of me that whispers not to trust a word you say. Isn’t that horrible? The meek and terrified part of me that once cowered in the presence of nobles still lives on within my being. I don’t think it’ll ever die. It very well may live on within me for the rest of my life, but I hope that once I become king, it finally shrivels up and dies.”
“I hope that when you’re surrounded by us, Charles,” the lead Harlot murmured and then smiled softly. “You will consider us your friends and comrades. We’ve been followers of Josephine and Eveline for a very long time. I came to the Harlots when I was just ten years old, and I’ve been a part of it ever since then. I hope that eases your mind about us. We’re here to support and aid you in the coming battles. As we’ve said before, we’re more than prepared to die for our cause.”
“What is your name?” I uttered, and the Harlot’s eyes widened, and then she smiled again.
“Hazel,” the lead Harlot breathed. “Hazel Shilton.”
“It’s wonderful to meet you, Hazel,” I murmured, stepped forward, and offered her my hand.
“No.” The blonde shook her head. “It’s an honor to meet you, Charles Rayburn. We all admired Josephine before any of this happened. Half of us wanted to be her… such an inspiration. She’s a kind-hearted soul with a thirst for justice and peace. Even though we couldn’t change the society we lived in, she guided and taught us how to be kinder women. We modeled our lives after hers and treated the men we employed as humans. I know it sounds stupid and trivial, but a lot of the time, it was the most that we could do in our daily lives.”
“It’s not stupid or trivial,” I stated. “Even if it wasn’t much, it was still something. You treated them like human beings for the first time in their lives, and in this world, that’s the only thing a brute can hope for.”
“It’s how I met my husband, Warren.” Hazel laughed, and her cheeks flushed red before she covered her grinning mouth with a single hand. “It’s so strange to say those words aloud… but I finally can with you here. We may not be married in the eyes of the law and society, but he is my husband, and I can’t imagine myself being with anyone else but him… or without him. I see the way that Josephine looks at you, Charles, and it’s the same way I gaze at my husband. She’s in love with you, and I’m sure that with her by your side, you will rule this country fairly and bring back the balance that was lost so long ago. One day, my husband and I and our children will walk down these streets without the worry of being caught or found out.”
“I hope to do so.” I nodded, smiled, and then slipped my hand into the drake-woman’s. “When we arrived, I thought that all of you had lost hope… That you thought that Josephine wasn’t coming to rescue you, but I’m glad to see the sparkle back in your eyes.”
“Charles,” Celty’s curt voice interrupted the conversation, and immediately, I turned to face the robotic woman. “Beatrix is ready with the super-soldier if you’d like to head in and examine it with her.”
“Of course!” I nodded, then turned back toward Hazel and the rest of the Harlots. “If you would excuse me, I’d really like to tear one of those things apart and see what’s inside.”
As I stepped away, Josephine came closer to the group, and they murmured in a group. Each of the women looked almost starstruck to be standing in the presence of Josephine, their current leader of the Harlots, and I stifled a soft chuckle as it rumbled up my throat. My boots thumped against the cobblestones, and before long, I lifted my legs and hopped down onto the submersible’s deck. The door inside was left open, and when I stepped inside, I shielded my eyes against a blinding white light.
“Oops!” Beatrix cried. “Sorry about that.”
As my eyes adjusted, and I stepped closer, I realized it wasn’t a light that blinded me but reflected the yellow glow on the super-soldier’s surface. The gigantic being was laid out on top of the scientist’s work table, and the redhead worked diligently as she grabbed various tools from the wall’s spinning wheel. The super-soldier was so large that only half of it fit on the table, and its long, thick legs hung off of the side of the workspace. She set them down neatly on the table beside the creature and then pressed her tiny hands to her wide hips. In one hand, the little woman clasped a large wrench and, in the other, a small, ball-peen hammer.
“Ready?” the redhead asked and lifted both of the tools into the air. “I think it’d be best if we took the helmet off first… if you can even call it that. It’s bolted and welded into place. We may need a goddamn can opener to get this thing open.”
“Would you like me to retrieve the can opener?” Celty probed, and Beatrix chuckled then shook her head.
“No, it was just a joke, Celty.” The scientist tittered. “I think Charles and I can manage with the tools I have laid out.”
“We’re going to need a grinder.” I rolled up my sleeves, pushed the fabric over my elbows, and then stepped closer to the table. “Do you have one of those? If not, you may have to ask Celty to get the can opener out. Usually, the only way to get through something that’s been welded shut is to use a grinder or a saw.”
“Well, damn,” the scientist barked, bent down, and then searched through a few of the worktable’s cupboards. “Oh! There it is! I thought I broke it a long time ago, but apparently, I didn’t.”
The petite woman held a small device in the palm of her hand, and I nodded. The grinder was small enough to be held in one hand with a large, serrated wheel on one end. When the handheld device turned it on, the blade would spin and cut through basically anything, including rock and thick metal.
“Should we even bother unscrewing the bolts?” Beatrix asked, grabbed a welder’s helmet, and slipped it on over her insanely curly hair.
“No.” I shook my head. “If you cut above the bolts, we should be able to slide the dome right off without any damage to the brain or its jar.”
“I wish we could’ve saved the brain,” the scientist admitted. “But I doubt that it was even close to human at this point.”
“What do you mean?” I asked and grabbed the safety glasses she offered me.
“Well, think about it,” the redhead urged. “Women have had abilities for hundreds of years. They’re acclimated to the effects and changes within their bodies. Not only that, but when they have them, it runs through their veins. The serum they gave us seemed highly concentrated, and we were supposed to inject it directly into the brain. That’s basically like taking a massive dose of a potent drug but doing it so it’s directly absorbed into your cortex. By the time we saw them, they probably weren’t even human… They were just overpowered beasts with mech suits to go along with it. There would’ve been no saving them. You saw the brain matter, didn’t you? Well, pieces of it… If my guess is correct, these aren’t human brains anymore.”
With that, the petite scientist tapped a small button on the back of the grinder, and it immediately whirred to life with a loud buzzing sound. The redhead snapped her welder’s helmet down and then leaned closer to the table. She sliced through the thick metal, and orange and yellow sparks flew through the air then fizzled anticlimactically. As the petite scientist cut along the helmet, it opened up into almost a small, black mouth, and before long, she knelt and worked her way around the back of the dome. Right as she reached my side of the worktable and met the area where she’d started, she snapped the grinder off then set it aside.
Beatrix hurried to the other side of the table, and the two of us took off our protective gear. As she brought her hands toward the metal dome, I did, too, and we lifted the helmet off together. Underneath the metal was a clear, circular glass container, and inside of it was the brain, but it barely resembled a human brain at this point, and I stared down at it in horror. It had the general shape of a brain like Celty, A.B., and Jonathan, but it was bulbous and bloated three times its average size. The liquid suspending the brain was a bright, neon green, and it took me a second to realize that the brain’s surface was the same color.
