Invicta crossed her arms, observing with a smug glint in her eye.
"Since I already have experimental data thanks to you, this batch will only take about… give or take, nine months."
I turned to look at her sharply and gave her my best stink eye.
"Experimental data?"I jabbed a thumb at my own chest."Do I look like a f*cking guinea pig to you?"
She didn't flinch. Instead, she stuck out her tongue and pulled down one of her lower eyelids mockingly.
"What do you think, genius?"
I pinched the bridge of my nose, exhaled slow, long, and suffering.
"Why do I even ask..."
The lab lights buzzed softly overhead, casting long shadows on the steel floor. The tanks hissed as the nutrient mix cycled.
"Anyway,"
I muttered, shifting gears.
"Got any other augments you could slap into me? You know, make me tougher, stronger, faster?"
At that, her playful smirk vanished like a switch had been flipped.
"Yeah, I got some."
She walked over to one of the holo consoles and brought up a rotating wireframe of my body, flicking her fingers through layers of flesh, bone, and organs. Her tone changed clinical, professional, dangerous.
"But it means slicing open your skull, Installing a michrochip, cybernetic eye lenses. Also, we'd have to carve up your body like a holiday turkey, cybernetic synthetic combat stimulants, nanocomposite tendons and ceramic bone grafting."
She turned to face me again, arms crossed under her chest, purple eyes with yellow-golden pupils glowing faintly.
"There's also a non zero chance your body might reject some of the augmentations. Could trigger internal hemorrhaging, nervous system overload, or spontaneous organ failure. And if that happens..."
She shrugged.
"No biggie. I'll just clone you."
She smiled sweetly.
"But it won't be you, though. Just a really convincing knockoff or I can make a copy of youre conciousness and download It Into a cloned body but I tried It already and bellieve me youll end up nothing but a vegetable after a while"
She took a step closer.
"So… still want it?"
I stared at her for a long moment. Then I looked up at the tanks, my battlebrothers floating like unbaked war loaves and back at her.
And just said.
"How long will I be out?"
I asked it plainly. No fear. Just acceptance. Because I already knew the answer wouldn't be comforting. Invicta pouted, lower lip jutting slightly, arms folding under her proud and firm chest.
"Long enough for me to die of boredom,"
She muttered. I cringed.
"Seriously? Don't you have, I don't know, hobbies or something?"
She looked at me like I'd just tried to explain string theory with crayons.
"Do you think there's anything left to do after millions of years?"
"...Urghhh."
Fair f*cking point.
I scratched the back of my neck, giving the tanks one last glance, my brothers floating like oversized, pissed off dumplings in nutrient soup.
"So..."
Invicta drawled, suddenly chipper again, her voice sing song.
"You wanna start immediately or what? Call your mom? Write a will? Shed a single, manly tear for your mortality?"
I rolled my eyes.
"No need."
I squared my shoulders and nodded while puffing out my chest.
"Just hit me up, woman."
"With pleasure..."
She chimed. I felt the prick instantly.
A sharp stab to the neck, quick and precise. I barely had time to glance sideways before my vision started blurring. My muscles locked up. Gravity turned into soup.
And the last thing I saw before the world slipped into a black void?
Invicta's face. Grinning. Radiating mad scientist energy. Eyes lit up with mischief and excitement. That wacko, borderline unhinged smile of hers.
"Sleep tight, darling,"
She whispered sweetly,
"When you wake up... you'll either be two times better than now or well youll turn out a vegetable...."
Darkness. Total, suffocating darkness.
...
FL 3D POV
The moment his body went limp, Invicta caught him mid fall with a simple thought. The labs robotic arms grabbed him and put him on the operating table.
Surgical arms descended from the ceiling like the poised limbs of a mechanical predator each one whirring softly, weapons of precision and purpose.
She stood in perfect stillness, fully immersed in the neural link interface. Every scalpel, saw, and micro thread was now an extension of her mind.
"Alright, hubby… let's make a monster out of you"
She murmured, her voice low and unreadable. His body was placed face down on the auto adjusting surgical table, clamps clicking shut with mechanical finality. Then came the first stage.
With a mental command, the scalping protocol initiated. A red laser zipped cleanly across the crown of his head, parting the top layers of hair with surgical efficiency.
A suction current swept the strands away into containment. Next came the cranial access. Twin arms powered up with oscillating micro lasers, their beams slicing a neat rectangle into the surface of his skull.
The air smelled faintly of scorched calcium. A high frequency bone saw engaged without hesitation, carving through the bone until the section lifted free with a pneumatic hiss.
The interior of his skull was revealed pulsing, wet, and intricate. Invicta stepped closer, eyes narrowing with a mix of clinical focus and subdued reverence, dozens of holographic overlays displaying his vitals and Internals hovered In her view.
This was where it all lived. Where he became more than meat. With silent command, the neuro surgical arms moved in.
One by one clusters of pain response neurons were identified and severed. No more nerve overload. No hindrance from trauma.
A surgical probe slid into the amygdala, deactivating the paralyzing fear responses and amplifying aggressive reaction speeds.
Memory retention centers were upgraded, triple the neural elasticity, allowing quicker learning and recall.
Pattern recognition and decision making circuits were rerouted to favor instinctual optimization perfect for high stress combat.
Then came the most delicate task modular sleep rerouting. She mapped his brain into distinct processing zones, altering his circadian regulation so unused portions of his brain would enter rest mode independently, cycling seamlessly while he remained awake and alert.
The need for sleep would be reduced to a biological footnote. Next, the final piece. From a secure cradle, a nanocomposite neural chip emerged.
The surgical arms Inserted It deep Into his brain and connected It to his neural pathways. In her HUD, green confirmation lights blinked in sequence.
"Close him up."
The cranial plate sealed back into place using bio adhesive and micro locks. The skin was closed by a medical grade cauterizing laser, leaving behind a neat scar.
She wasn't done yet.
Robotic arms rotated his body. His lifeless form rolled onto its back with the help of a mechanical arm. His eyelids fluttered under the sedative.
"Sorry, darling. Eyes open."
A direct signal to his michrochip forced his optic nerves to react, pupils dilating. Then came the ocular replacement.
Two micro drills descended, aligned with uncanny precision. Twin cybernetic lenses yellow-gold same as hers, slid into place, locking directly into the optic nerves and connecting to his occipital lobe.
Zoom functions: Linked. Thermal vision: Linked. Low light protocol: Stable. IFF and HUD sync: Established.
As the last diagnostics finished, the cyber elenses pulsed once with a faint golden-yellow wana be s*th glow, alive and integrated.
Invicta exhaled, not from exertion, but from satisfaction.
"Alright, time to put you back into a tank for a month,"
Invicta muttered with a grin as she took a step back, hands clasped behind her back, watching the diagnostics stream in perfect harmony down her HUD.
Everything was stable. No rejections. No misfires. No anomalies.
With a wave of her hand, the dressing servos disengaged.
"Clothes off, boys."
The mechanical arms moved like clockwork, peeling away his place uniform and underclothes.
He was stripped bare once again prepped for immersion.
Invicta didn't blink. She'd done this procedure too many times, on too many people, over too many millennia.
This one was different, sure this one was hersbut the routine was still the same.
After all for a time she did continue her original mission of making the perfect canon fodder for her creators.
Even though she only did It out of boredom. With another thought, the regenerationtankopened, hissing out pressurized vapor like an ancient beast sighing awake.
Blue tinted nutrient fluid sloshed and settled and the surgical arms lifted Dracula's body once more.
He was lowered slowly into the tank, his body sinking beneath the glowing fluid, like a g*d descending into mechanical amniosis. Tubes reattached themselves to his body. Nutrient feeds hummed to life, syncing once again with his biometrics.
The lid sealed with a thud. Readouts blinked green.
Regeneration Cycle: Initiated
Augment Assimilation: 12%
Est. Full Sync & Recovery: 90 Days
Invicta gave a satisfied little nod to herself. No celebration. Just the quiet joy of watching a plan unfold perfectly.
"Alright sleep tight"
She whispered.
"See you again after three months"
Turning on her heel, she strode out of the lab, humming an upbeat, vaguely threatening tune to herself something that sounded like a lullaby a war machine might sing to its baby war machine.