[[Warning: The following post is not for the squeamish.]]
Almost as soon as the noxious gas enveloped Kiki's body, her breathing became labored and her reactions more sluggish. She was able to push herself forward for a little ways, but it became more and more difficult as it became more difficult to breathe. She was on her hands and knees before she made it to the next set of conveyor belts. She collapsed as she spotted Xerxes running away, not even looking back. She wasn't sure if she should be angry or glad. It was getting hard to concentrate.
Kiki knew she should try to demorph, but just couldn't manage to focus.
At least they didn't catch me, she thought as her eyes refused to stay open any longer. She let the sounds of the dieing factory sooth her as she waited for death.
...
Some muffled voices and a pinprick in her neck. She was lifted at the arm pits as her lungs suddenly expanded. A coughing fit overtook her as she was dragged somewhere. “Hurry!" one of the carriers said. "We’ve only got about five minutes before the gas disperses. We have to get out of here before we’re exposed and stage two begins!”
Slowly Kiki regained control of her eyelids and opened them just in time to see herself set face down on a cart. Wherever the cart was being pushed, it was being pushed quickly. Kiki tried to will the rest of her muscles to cooperate, but it was slow going. A twitch here and there was all she could manage, but whatever they put in her still seemed to be working.
It wasn't long before she was back where she came from. The center column of rooms. Even with her morph's naturally blurry vision, combined with the effects of the gas, Kiki recognized the reception area when she was pushed inside. However, instead of going to the break room, they turned and headed down a hall behind the secretary's desk.
Kiki could move her arms floppily by the time she had been maneuvered into some sort of storage room. "Quick, get him into the chair before he regains too much motor control." The two men worked to lift her and put her where they wanted. As they did, Kiki got a much better view of where she was.
It was a small secluded storage area of some sort. There were storage racks holding boxes of varying sizes, probably supplies. And in one corner there was a janitorial station with a big sink, mop buckets, and a big grate on the floor to empty liquids into. The only thing out of place was that there was a chair placed above the grate. A chair with arm, leg, and head fasteners.
Kiki was swiftly placed in the chair and strapped in, head and all. Her resistance was easily overpowered in her still-recuperating state. She tried to ask they what they wanted, but all she could manage was, "What.. want?"
The guy who seemed to be in charge smirked. "You, Maggen. We want you. Why don't you make it easy on us and come on out? Tell us where you ship all your products to."
Kiki stared at him in bewilderment.
"No? Unfortunately your host body will be too big of a nuisance to carry around with us when our brethren bring the fleet of ships for extraction. And I don't have time to try and convince you." Kiki heard something slide across the floor and a lid being opened. "Luckily I brought these." The man held up a wooden peg, a
small circular saw on a handle, and a bottle of violet liquid with black smokey swirls billowing around inside.
"What are those for?" Kiki asked. She managed a complete sentence this time. The man made a motion toward his helper and he quickly stepped over and put the wooden peg between Kiki's teeth. She tried to struggle, but the harness around her forehead held her tight.
"The liquid will make you incapable of remaining attached to your host's brain. The peg is for you to bite down on while I remove the top of your host's skull." Kiki's eyes widened and she immediately began thrashing her body with all her might, even as the man turned on his saw and leaned in. "Hold still! Unless you want to be damaged in the process. I don't have time to go slow."
Kiki froze stiff at that, but couldn't help but close her eyes as tears welled up.
This can't be happening, this can't be happening! She still almost couldn't believe it even as she felt the whirring blade touch the skin of her scalp. And then further. The blade was sharp enough that there wasn't as much pain as she expected, but just knowing what was happening made the entire process unbearable. She was pretty sure she felt a tooth crack against the wooden peg. The moment the saw tuned off, Kiki started sobbing to herself.
"Let's see what we have here," the man said as if he were casually looking in a refrigerator. Kiki felt a bit of air and the tug of a few stray hairs, but that was it. Then she heard something thump to the floor as the man let out an audible gasp. Kiki soon found the wooden peg being ripped from her mouth as the man demanded to know, "Where is your yeerk!?"
Kiki could only sob in response.
"What should we do, Tamin 282?" the subordinate asked.
"Shut up, let me think." Kiki worked up the nerve to pry open one eye and saw Tamin pacing in front of her. "He must have abandoned his host when he knew it was going to die. A slim chance outside the host could be better than zero chance within. Go search the ground for him. The gas's effect will be slower on a simpler yeerk biology. In the meantime I will see if I can at least extract the data we need from his host. Go, hurry!"
Kiki opened her eyes wide again after hearing his command. She had a good idea of how the yeerk planed to extract information. "Whatever you want to know, I don't know it," she pleaded. The man ignored her. She struggled against her arm harnesses again, but they were still too tight. "Please, don't!"
With great effort, Tamin slid Kiki's hefty bulk sideways and pushed her chair over so she was leaning against the sink, ear right near the lip. He then proceeded to turn on the water and tested the temperature. Once satisfied, the yeerk moved to the counter next to the sink, took an arm and unceremoniously swept the contents onto the floor.
"You better be worth this," he said as he sat on the counter and proceeded to lie down with his head hovering over the sink. The man pulled out a handheld dracon beam and turned it to its lowest setting. One pull of the trigger and the controller was unconscious.
"What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?" She pulled at her restraints again, but as always, they were too tight. She heard a plop and spotted the yeerk of the controller on the counter now in the sink below. Once the water rose high enough, it would be able to enter her ear canal and wrap itself around her currently exposed brain.
"What do I do!" Suddenly it hit her, all too obvious.
Morph you idiot.The water was only a couple inches away, so she doubted she could get into a smaller form quick enough, but the yeerk would learn her secret soon anyway, so she might as well at least try. She focused on her own body.
Almost immediately she could feel gravity's effect lessen on her. Her waist was less strained as it supported her sideways body. Her work jacket and what was left of her morphing suit were looser on her.
The water was only an inch away now. Out of the corner of the improving vision of her eye she could see the yeerk circling. The color of her nose darkened and it shrank in size. The harnesses around her ankles suddenly felt looser, and then... Her wrists! Her wrists were girl-sized again!
She struggled to pull her hand free. The harnesses were still tight around her knuckles. The water was splashing at the corner of her ear now. Running over the side of the sink. She felt the slimy feelers of the alien slug, pawing at the edges of her earlobe.
Her left hand pulled free and instantly it was up by the side of her head, grabbing the yeerk away before it could crawl in. She threw it against the far wall as hard as she could manage. "Arahgh!" The yeerk bounced lightly off the wall and into a dirty mop bucket.
She used her free arm to push against the sink and right her newly petite self. Pulling her second wrist free, Kiki cautiously moved her hands upward to the head harness. To her relief, she felt a full head of tight curls. She hurriedly undid the rest of the fasteners and stood up.
She was trembling terribly from the whole ordeal. Spotting her old scalp still laying on the floor didn't help matters either. She briefly wondered if she should do something about the unconscious man, but quickly decided she didn't have time even if she did have any ideas. She needed to get out of here.
Eyeing the door, she quickly gave up that option. The other controller was out there and whatever protection they had given her against the gas was probably just morphed away. Kiki quickly scanned the area and came to rest on the grate in the floor. She crouched down and flipped it open. It was dirty (and now bloody) on the bottom, but there was a sizable drainage pipe leading away from it. Not big enough for a person, but maybe an animal.
Kiki ran through the short list of morphs in her head.
Bird, bug, or... weasel? No, mink. That's what it was. Mink was a morph she had been forced to acquire by her yeerk back at the end of the first invasion, but she had never used it. Still, the furry critter seemed like her best bet. Stopping only long enough to throw aside her coat tape a couple layers of duct tape around her chest, Kiki hopped down the two feet to the bottom of the drainage basin and concentrated on the furry form.
Fur sprouted from her toes and traveled up her legs. Her legs also shortened even as her torso elongated. Her lengthened spine made it very awkward to stand up, so she moved to all fours. Her ears slid up the sides of her head and her nose became pointy. With the addition of a tail, her morph was complete.
And none too soon either. Her keen ears picked up the sound of the door opening and the subordinate talking. "I couldn't find him and stage two is-" Kiki heard something get dropped, but she didn't stick around to find out what happened next. She darted down the pipe.
The pipe was dark and small, but her mink mind didn't care. To it, this was home. And to Kiki, it was escape, freedom, hope.
<<Xerxes, if you're still out there, I'm on my way.>>