#{ i know i’m a monster } ᶜʳᵒˢˢᵒᵛᵉʳ ᵛᵉʳˢᵉ

[freewillacquired]

"Matt- Are you alright? What's happened to you?"

(for second mutation Nemmy?)

They'd been on the run now for weeks, and it seemed like maybe they had finally gotten to the point where they weren't being pursued anymore. They were wrong. Ambushed one morning where they'd hidden to sleep, Nemesis quickly made short work of the soldiers that had tried to apprehend them... but not before one of them had hit him with an accelerant and lit him on fire.

It hurt badly, but Nemesis didn't feel like it hurt as much as it should. If I'd been human still, this would've been a million times worse. Even so, after he'd killed the last of the soldiers, engulfed in flames as he did, Nemesis bounded into a nearby river to extinguish himself. The cold water felt amazing, and he could feel his body healing and regenerating itself rapidly. But that's not all it was doing...

When he emerged from the water, crawling up onto the riverbank, Nemesis... had nearly tripled in size. He was hunched over now, on all fours, most of his leather outfit torn to shreds where his body had grown sharp spikes and armored plates on his back, shoulders, and neck. There were even spikes down the backs of his arms and legs now too. His hands were now monstrous claws with curved, thick talons, and his tentacles undulated off his back and shoulders like snakes.

Hearing Wanda's question, Nemesis looked himself over as best he could. "I... I don't know!" he said, clearly upset by these new... developments. His voice was even more monstrous now, deep and resonating. "I don't think... the thirus... liked... the thire," he supposed. No sir, it didn't like fire at all. And when challenged with it, it had responded by causing Nemesis to evolve into an even more durable and protected creature...

[youmissedone]

Maybe it wasn't planned or even ideal at this exact time, but hey, it was happening, so rather than dwell on the logistics of how and when Wanda became pregnant, Carlos chose to focus on the future. He loved Wanda and wanted to be with her, and he wanted this baby as well. So why overthink it?

"I'm always careful," he said with a big grin, but he knew that Wanda knew that wasn't always true. She had a point, though, and really, he'd been thinking for a while now that he ought to try to be a little more careful with himself if he was going to be in a relationship. It wasn't just him anymore, after all, it was them. And now baby made three. Wanda was going to need his help, love, and support, and this baby was going to need his or her father. "Alright, alright... I promise. I will actively try to be more careful in the field," he agreed.

"You can keep doing field work for a little while, if that's what you want," Carlos said. "At least physically. You just have to decide for yourself emotionally when you want to draw the line and sit things out for the rest of the pregnancy. I'll support you, whatever you want to do."

"Mmm... you think so?" he asked, a bit of pride coming through in his tone. He didn't know if he would be a great father, but he was sure as hell going to try his best. "Well, I think you're going to be the best mother ever. I've got a feeling." He grinned, his hand rubbing her cheek.

“Carlos…. I have a question..”

"Sure, go ahead," Carlos said, smiling at her.

[freewillacquired]

Close Call - Receiver checks in/comforts sender after a near fatal encounter with the infected (for Nemmy)

Things were a lot easier for Nemesis than they were for Wanda with regard to the undead. He had a nearly indestructible body with thick hide and muscle that wasn't easily penetrated, tentacles that could kill almost anything before he could even get his hands on it, and fast healing and regeneration that occurred within seconds. He also couldn't be any more infected than he already is, so he didn't have to be careful about touching the undead. Wanda, on the other hand, was not indestructible, and infection was a very real threat to her.

Before they'd know what was happening, a group of several undead came after them, running straight at them. Zombies weren't like how he remembered seeing in the old black and white movies, slow and clumsy. These... were fast and terrifying. He'd taken care of them, and Wanda had taken care of some herself, but they'd gotten a little too close for comfort, and Nemesis could see the fear on Wanda's face.

Going to her, Nemesis started to rub her back with one of his oversized hands. "It's o-kay... Wan-da..." he tried to reassure her. "We got... then all. They're all gone."

[freewillacquired]

“Matt, do you wanna watch some spooky movies with me?” (For nemesis)

"O-kay..." Nemesis replied. "Dut no... ones adout nonsters. I'n stooky enougth... as it is." He laughed a little, but really he wondered how she could possibly want more spooky things when she had a literal monster for a friend. A boyfriend? Was that really what he was to her. Sometimes he couldn't believe it was true. "Ith you get scared... I can hold you," he offered, for he knew she liked the way his body temperature always ran warm.

[freewillacquired]

As Pietro eyed the tentacles, Nemesis shrugged. "Sor-ry. They did... what they wan-ted to... while I was... asleet," he explained. He'd learned that in the short time he'd been the owner of this set of tentacles to which he was attached, that they took on more autonomy while his own mind was... offline, as it were. Even so, they didn't seem to necessarily act outside of what Nemesis would do himself.

"As long... as they're not... toisonous," he said, with regard to the potential mushrooms they could find in the forest. "I think... ny eye-sight... night tell us. When I look... at things... it tells ne... in-thor-na-tion... a-dout then." Maybe he could use the visual overlay from his retinal implant to identify safe and edible mushrooms, berries, eggs, and other things? "It is worth... a try... right?"

Nemesis was suddenly afraid for Pietro, but the twins were adults and he knew he shouldn't coddle them as if they were children. "O-kay," he said to Pietro's idea of going into town himself. "Just de care-thul. Eat sone-thing... dethore... you re-turn... so you won't get sick." Wanda had said enough times that Pietro needed to eat a lot, and if he was going to run all the way into town and back after they hadn't had any food the night before, Nemesis worried he'd burn himself out.

"Yes," he said with a nod. A feast. Man, that sounded like such a great idea. "I'll keet Wan-da sathe... don't wor-ry," he promised. As Pietro ran off, Nemesis motioned for Wanda to follow him. "Cone on... Let's go thoraging!" he said with an air of epic purpose as he trudged off into the forest. His tentacles seemed to glean his enthusiasm, for they flailed around excitedly at the prospect of going hunting for food.

“Oh Matt… what did they do to you?”

Having wanted to uncover what the Umbrella Corporation was up to once and for all, Matt had gotten more than he bargained for when he was caught snooping around a facility in Eastern Europe and discovered that not one, but two entities were responsible for the illegal human experimentation going on there. Umbrella had formed some unholy partnership with another entity called Hydra, one Matt had never heard of before, and after they imprisoned him, he wished he never had.

Matt was infected with a prototype T-virus and subjected to round after round of tests and surgeries. His body grew massive and mutated out of control. Tentacles sprouted from the backs of his shoulders, the skin on his face was puled back so tightly that he no longer had lips, and his teeth were now big enough to be a bear's. He had to wear a tight leather support around his midsection to quite literally hold in his bulging body, for it had mutated enough in some places to be painfully structurally unsound. One of his retinas had been fitted with a device that allowed a digital overlay to his regular sight, giving him the ability to identify people, creatures, and weapons just by looking at them. The synthetic neuro-transponder was sewn and stapled up into his head just behind his right eye, and with it, he could not only identify targets in real time, but also receive orders by viewing them as part of the digital overlay along with the rest of his sight. He was no longer Matt Addison. They called him... The Nemesis.

Because that had been the point of all this horrific research... to create super soldiers. more importantly, to create expendable yet durable ones that could be deployed, take a lot of damage, complete certain objectives, and then either be collected or discarded. Matt had signed up for exactly none of this, but he no longer had any rights or means to complain. He'd only seen himself in a mirror a few times, and the last time he had, he went on a half-hour-long rage that took six soldiers to stop, breaking not only the mirror but a lot of expensive laboratory equipment as well. An increase in anger and violent tendencies seemed to be a side effect of the viral mutation.

Both Hydra and Umbrella had been racing to develop some kind of control chip that could be implanted into Nemesis' brain, allowing full control of him for field deployment. As of yet, they had been unsuccessful. Massive amounts of sedatives kept him docile, but whenever they tried to back off of the concentrations, he rebelled against his captors.

Matt's only respite in this terrible place was talking with some of the other test subjects, particularly a pair of twins named Wanda and Pietro. They seemed like nice people, if not a bit naïve to the true nature of the people who held them captive. Matt did his best to educated them, telling them all about what he and his other activist comrades had discovered, but the twins seemed to have an axe to grind against one of the world's most powerful billionaires, and they thought the results of this research were going to grant them he power to punish him. In truth, Matt felt bad for them, but talking to them helped keep him sane. He hadn't seen them in a long time, though, not since he'd begun to mutate...

Until, one day, his medication had apparently not been refilled, and once the IV drip of sedatives stopped, it was a matter of minutes before Nemesis was stirring. As he groggily sat up, his one good blue eyes blinking sluggishly, he looked around to see no one in the room with him. By the time he was puling out all manner of wires and IV lines from his body and sitting up from the gurney, he heard the door to his room open behind him. Whirling around, Nemesis' rage was already provoked and he growled savagely at whoever had entered... only to immediately calm down again. It was Wanda.

Standing up from the gurney, Nemesis stood calmly, his blue eye looking her over. Then she said his name - his true name - and his head bowed in a mixture of shame and despair. "Thiral... ex-to-sure..." he tried to say,his voice low and rumbling like some creature from hell. Without lips, "v" and "p" sounds, among others, were impossible to make. "Nu-ta-tions..." Yeah, "m" sounds were also impossible. He was getting frustrated. "Surgeries." Ah, that he could say.

As he looked at Wanda, the automatic targeting software in his neural implant was downloading information. Her identification came up within view at the bottom of his field of vision. It read: "Maximoff, Wanda. Human. Female. Program: Exposure to highly concentrated alien mineral substance. Health: Stable. Progress: Satisfactory. Status: Ongoing. Threat Level: Moderate."

Behind him, his tentacles undulated with curiosity. They were strange appendages, not quite having their own sentience but definitely displaying some amount of inclination outside of Matt's own voluntary movement of them. As they curiously extended towards Wanda, Matt beat them back with his hands. "Cut it out!" he reprimanded them and they shrunk back behind him. Looking at Wanda, he sighed. "Sor-ry..."

He was glad to see that they hadn't subjected her to surgeries and mutations like they had him. "Are you o-kay... Wan-da?" he asked, hoping she was. He wouldn't have wished his fate on anyone, not even his worst enemy.

[freewillacquired]

Nemesis followed her up the stairs and was taken aback by the sight of the rooms above. They looked so perfect... so untouched by the horrors outside. It was nice, but also kindof sad. If only everything could just be the way it was again. That could never be, he knew. The world these rooms reminded him of was long gone.

He looked around at the room, noticing the fish tank and the rest of the disturbingly intact and oblivious decor, before he continued to follow his new friend. When directed to the padded benches, he went over to them and looked them over. Well, it was worth a try, right? He turned around and slowly attempted to sit down. Although the bench groaned a bit under his weight, it didn't break, and so he gave the woman a thumbs-up to indicate the success.

"Yeah..." he answered her. He had been outside for a while, though most of it was fuzzy now. Nemesis wasn't even sure what had attacked him. Sometimes that happened when he was badly wounded, his memory would have holes in it along with his body. It was as if the virus didn't want him to have any memory of anything that caused him harm, choosing instead to take care of it all itself. Well this time it had failed miserably. Thank goodness this woman had been willing to help him.

"I'n kindoth hun-gry. Dut I doubt... you hath... any-thing... I could eat." Meat. That's all that would actually sustain him. It was disgustingly tragic for someone who used to be a vegetarian before all this horror occurred. "Do you hath... any wa-ter?" he asked, for that was also a need of his, at present.

Inspect -( if you want to give things a try from scratch. Nemesis always looked like he could use some company )

{ Hello! I'm so sorry, I was supposed to get back to you and I completely forgot. I don't mind starting something, but I know nothing about your muse. Your rules and bio pages aren't visible to me because your blog only comes up as an inset on my dash, not as a full page. Maybe you have it set to private or something? But that's why this is going to be a little sparse, because I couldn't find any info about your muse. Nemmy could absolutely use some company, though. ^_^ }

Nemesis was used to fending off undead, and even trying to help survivors of this apocalypse. He was just as used to getting yelled at, having rocks thrown at him, or getting shot at by those very same survivors. What he wasn't used to... was anyone actually sticking around to talk to him, much less someone caring about his welfare. So he'd flinched a little to realize that someone was now... checking him for wounds? Weren't they afraid of him? Didn't they think he was ugly and monstrous like everyone else did?

He stared for a moment, just watching them fuss over him, bewildered by their concern. "It's o-kay..." he said around his large teeth and without the aid of lips. "I can't... get in-thec-ted... any-way." At least not any more so than he already was. Good thing he wasn't contagious. "I'n not hurt.... dut thank you... thor car-ing."

[freewillacquired]

Nemesis never thought he'd ever admit to himself that there was anything good about all his mutations, but there definitely was. If necessary, he could get right into the thick of it with whoever might try to hurt them, and likely come out unscathed. He had already decided that he would be like a shield for Wanda, should she ever be placed in terrible danger. Better that he should be the one to get up close and personal with any threats, rather than her. He knew her magic was strong, but he still felt so protective of her all the same.

As he thought of this, one of his tentacles continued to gently caress her cheek, reacting to his tender feelings for her. It was so strangely validating, in a way, that she wasn't afraid of them. Nemesis could feel free to express himself with them without fear of grossing her out or scaring her. After all, they worked for him, and not the other way around. He would never let any of them hurt her, not that they had ever seemed to want to.

His one blue eye closed as her hand found his cheek. Oh, how wonderful it felt to be touched as though he was normal, and not some hulking, disgusting monster. He really couldn't get rid of the nagging thought that this beautiful, kind woman deserved so much better than him, but... if she had chosen him, then he owed it to her to accept and respect her choice rather than to continue to question it.

"I lothe you too," he said as she kissed his cheek, his tentacles moving to wrap loosely around her waist, as if to hold her. "I'n the luckiest guy... in the world," he added, smiling even though it was barely perceptible on his severely mutated face.

"Happy New Year Matt!"

"Hatty New Year... Wan-da..." Nemesis may not have been able to say the word "happy" anymore, but the sentiment was there. "Do you hath... any wish-es... thor the new year?" He knew he couldn't exactly put everything behind him, since his entire body was an unwanted shrine to everything Umbrella had done to him. There was no forgetting that. But maybe there was a chance for Wanda. She could make a new start and hopefully have a better life. Nemesis wanted that for her, for sure.

[freewillacquired]

He just didn't understand it. How...? How could she not be disgusted by him? He was disgusted by himself, for god's sake. But if Wanda really loved him, and goodness' knows she was making that clear with her adamant reassurance, then Nemesis was going to make sure that he loved her just as devotedly right back, and that she was treated like a queen. Any woman willing to love him in his current sate was a queen, as far as Nemesis was concerned.

Deep down, Nemesis knew Wanda was right. He couldn't keep wallowing in the past all the time. It wasn't like anything was going o ever change him back into- Wait. "Wan-da..." he said, the whels in his head already turning. "What ith we thound... an Un-drel-la tha-ci-li-ty... and thound... sone oth the anti-thirus? What do you think... would hatten... ith you injected ne... with it?" It was a tossup, honestly. It could reverse some of the effects of his mutations, mutate him even more, or just flat out kill him. But wasn't it worth a try?

"I need you too... Wan-da..." Nemesis said. More than I could ever make you understand. Without her, he would have fallen into a deep depression long ago. "I'll stay with you... thor as long as you want ne to," he vowed. Especially knowing how she felt about him now, he wasn't about to ever leave her, not unless she suddenly decided she didn't want him around anymore.

Because I love you

Why are you always so kind to me? That was what he'd asked her, albeit in his own way, with his speech marred by the size, shape, and abnormal anatomy of his monstrous mouth. He'd expected something along the lines of... her pitying him. Or, that they had to stick together, both being former lab experiments and all. Something like that. Instead, she'd told him she loved him.

What was he supposed to say to that? She deserved better, he'd always told her that anytime she'd shown him affection in any way. And anytime he tried to ask her what it was she liked about him so much, she never mentioned his appearance or the grossness of his virally-infected condition, as he would have expected. She only talked about what was on the inside. She only talked about him, as he really was, without the trappings of mutation and science run amok.

Wanda was just such a beautiful person, inside and out. She had to be one of the most beautiful people he'd ever met, for no one else that he could remember in his life prior to being changed into a freak of nature would have focused on what was inside. They all would have been disgusted, afraid, or even judgmental. Wanda was a rare gem of a person who could see past it all, and yet Nemesis still felt guilty, as if he'd somehow be taking advantage of her if he just accepted her love.

"I... I can't say... the word..." he told her, and he meant it literally. He couldn't say the word "love" anymore. V-sounds were impossible without lips. "Dut ith I could... I would say it... to you. That... I lothe you too..." It was the best he could do. He'd stop telling her she should find someone else if she was so hell bent on loving him, but he still felt guilty for it. He couldn't even say he loved her back. That... that's so shitty.

[freewillacquired]

For the first time in a very long time, and certainly since he'd been imprisoned in that laboratory, Nemesis didn't have any nightmares. He slept very well, in fact, the peace of mind their escape had offered as well as Wanda's warmth doing wonders for him. Pietro even joined their little heap of people to keep warm. It was nice... to have them with him, to not be alone. It made him feel a little less ugly and revolting that they were unafraid to be so close to him.

They were a mess of limbs and tentacles by the time everyone stirred, but at least they had been warm and safe together. His tentacles laid around Pietro but didn't overly interact with him, much preferring to wrap about Wanda's waist and squirm into the loose hold of her hands as she slept. Nemesis hadn't done a good job of trying no to disturb the twins when he moved, though, and soon everybody was awake. His tentacles uncoiled from everything and everyone and stretched themselves, moving around curiously in the cool early morning air.

Nemesis put his arm around Wanda when she nestled closer, nodding at her suggestion. "Nayde we can thind thood... in the thorest?" he asked. "I'n not sure... go-ing to a town... with the way I look... would de the greatest idea." He thought for a minute. "Or, I could try... to hunt sone-thing? Ith we hath a way... to cook it."

“Oh Matt… what did they do to you?”

Having wanted to uncover what the Umbrella Corporation was up to once and for all, Matt had gotten more than he bargained for when he was caught snooping around a facility in Eastern Europe and discovered that not one, but two entities were responsible for the illegal human experimentation going on there. Umbrella had formed some unholy partnership with another entity called Hydra, one Matt had never heard of before, and after they imprisoned him, he wished he never had.

Matt was infected with a prototype T-virus and subjected to round after round of tests and surgeries. His body grew massive and mutated out of control. Tentacles sprouted from the backs of his shoulders, the skin on his face was puled back so tightly that he no longer had lips, and his teeth were now big enough to be a bear's. He had to wear a tight leather support around his midsection to quite literally hold in his bulging body, for it had mutated enough in some places to be painfully structurally unsound. One of his retinas had been fitted with a device that allowed a digital overlay to his regular sight, giving him the ability to identify people, creatures, and weapons just by looking at them. The synthetic neuro-transponder was sewn and stapled up into his head just behind his right eye, and with it, he could not only identify targets in real time, but also receive orders by viewing them as part of the digital overlay along with the rest of his sight. He was no longer Matt Addison. They called him... The Nemesis.

Because that had been the point of all this horrific research... to create super soldiers. more importantly, to create expendable yet durable ones that could be deployed, take a lot of damage, complete certain objectives, and then either be collected or discarded. Matt had signed up for exactly none of this, but he no longer had any rights or means to complain. He'd only seen himself in a mirror a few times, and the last time he had, he went on a half-hour-long rage that took six soldiers to stop, breaking not only the mirror but a lot of expensive laboratory equipment as well. An increase in anger and violent tendencies seemed to be a side effect of the viral mutation.

Both Hydra and Umbrella had been racing to develop some kind of control chip that could be implanted into Nemesis' brain, allowing full control of him for field deployment. As of yet, they had been unsuccessful. Massive amounts of sedatives kept him docile, but whenever they tried to back off of the concentrations, he rebelled against his captors.

Matt's only respite in this terrible place was talking with some of the other test subjects, particularly a pair of twins named Wanda and Pietro. They seemed like nice people, if not a bit naïve to the true nature of the people who held them captive. Matt did his best to educated them, telling them all about what he and his other activist comrades had discovered, but the twins seemed to have an axe to grind against one of the world's most powerful billionaires, and they thought the results of this research were going to grant them he power to punish him. In truth, Matt felt bad for them, but talking to them helped keep him sane. He hadn't seen them in a long time, though, not since he'd begun to mutate...

Until, one day, his medication had apparently not been refilled, and once the IV drip of sedatives stopped, it was a matter of minutes before Nemesis was stirring. As he groggily sat up, his one good blue eyes blinking sluggishly, he looked around to see no one in the room with him. By the time he was puling out all manner of wires and IV lines from his body and sitting up from the gurney, he heard the door to his room open behind him. Whirling around, Nemesis' rage was already provoked and he growled savagely at whoever had entered... only to immediately calm down again. It was Wanda.

Standing up from the gurney, Nemesis stood calmly, his blue eye looking her over. Then she said his name - his true name - and his head bowed in a mixture of shame and despair. "Thiral... ex-to-sure..." he tried to say,his voice low and rumbling like some creature from hell. Without lips, "v" and "p" sounds, among others, were impossible to make. "Nu-ta-tions..." Yeah, "m" sounds were also impossible. He was getting frustrated. "Surgeries." Ah, that he could say.

As he looked at Wanda, the automatic targeting software in his neural implant was downloading information. Her identification came up within view at the bottom of his field of vision. It read: "Maximoff, Wanda. Human. Female. Program: Exposure to highly concentrated alien mineral substance. Health: Stable. Progress: Satisfactory. Status: Ongoing. Threat Level: Moderate."

Behind him, his tentacles undulated with curiosity. They were strange appendages, not quite having their own sentience but definitely displaying some amount of inclination outside of Matt's own voluntary movement of them. As they curiously extended towards Wanda, Matt beat them back with his hands. "Cut it out!" he reprimanded them and they shrunk back behind him. Looking at Wanda, he sighed. "Sor-ry..."

He was glad to see that they hadn't subjected her to surgeries and mutations like they had him. "Are you o-kay... Wan-da?" he asked, hoping she was. He wouldn't have wished his fate on anyone, not even his worst enemy.

[freewillacquired]

Her tolerance of his tentacles made Nemesis feel so much less... weird. Since all of his mutations took hold, he'd felt creepy, disgusting, ugly, and strange, but around Wanda he felt almost normal again. And since she didn't seem to mind the tentacles, he didn't bother to chastise them or pull them back. As long as they were being nice to her, he let them do what they wanted, and right now, they just wanted to wrap around her and get cozy.

Nemesis held Wanda close, keeping her warm and protected while she slept. Having someone with him to chase away the loneliness did wonders to help him slip off to sleep fairly quickly. He wasn't aware that he snored, but they were both so tired that it didn't interfere with either of their rest. Nemesis didn't wake when Pietro joined their cozy sleep pile, but his tentacles were startled for a second. A couple of them gently touched Pietro, as if to gauge what he was there for, but they lost interest quickly, returning to curl around Wanda once more. Nemesis slept through the whole thing.

When he finally did wake, Nemesis didn't want to move right away. Seeing both Wanda and Pietro so comfortable, he didn't want to disturb them, since they were really in need of rest. Soon, however, his stomach growled loudly, and some of his tentacles began to stir. He was getting hungry... and if he was hungry, Pietro definitely had to be hungry. So he gently stirred and started to stretch, knowing they all had to get up and find food sometime soon. His tentacles could help with that, being able to find animals they might hunt or things like mushrooms and other sources of protein. And DNA, he thought grimly, since he knew that was all the virus inside him cared about.

“Oh Matt… what did they do to you?”

Having wanted to uncover what the Umbrella Corporation was up to once and for all, Matt had gotten more than he bargained for when he was caught snooping around a facility in Eastern Europe and discovered that not one, but two entities were responsible for the illegal human experimentation going on there. Umbrella had formed some unholy partnership with another entity called Hydra, one Matt had never heard of before, and after they imprisoned him, he wished he never had.

Matt was infected with a prototype T-virus and subjected to round after round of tests and surgeries. His body grew massive and mutated out of control. Tentacles sprouted from the backs of his shoulders, the skin on his face was puled back so tightly that he no longer had lips, and his teeth were now big enough to be a bear's. He had to wear a tight leather support around his midsection to quite literally hold in his bulging body, for it had mutated enough in some places to be painfully structurally unsound. One of his retinas had been fitted with a device that allowed a digital overlay to his regular sight, giving him the ability to identify people, creatures, and weapons just by looking at them. The synthetic neuro-transponder was sewn and stapled up into his head just behind his right eye, and with it, he could not only identify targets in real time, but also receive orders by viewing them as part of the digital overlay along with the rest of his sight. He was no longer Matt Addison. They called him... The Nemesis.

Because that had been the point of all this horrific research... to create super soldiers. more importantly, to create expendable yet durable ones that could be deployed, take a lot of damage, complete certain objectives, and then either be collected or discarded. Matt had signed up for exactly none of this, but he no longer had any rights or means to complain. He'd only seen himself in a mirror a few times, and the last time he had, he went on a half-hour-long rage that took six soldiers to stop, breaking not only the mirror but a lot of expensive laboratory equipment as well. An increase in anger and violent tendencies seemed to be a side effect of the viral mutation.

Both Hydra and Umbrella had been racing to develop some kind of control chip that could be implanted into Nemesis' brain, allowing full control of him for field deployment. As of yet, they had been unsuccessful. Massive amounts of sedatives kept him docile, but whenever they tried to back off of the concentrations, he rebelled against his captors.

Matt's only respite in this terrible place was talking with some of the other test subjects, particularly a pair of twins named Wanda and Pietro. They seemed like nice people, if not a bit naïve to the true nature of the people who held them captive. Matt did his best to educated them, telling them all about what he and his other activist comrades had discovered, but the twins seemed to have an axe to grind against one of the world's most powerful billionaires, and they thought the results of this research were going to grant them he power to punish him. In truth, Matt felt bad for them, but talking to them helped keep him sane. He hadn't seen them in a long time, though, not since he'd begun to mutate...

Until, one day, his medication had apparently not been refilled, and once the IV drip of sedatives stopped, it was a matter of minutes before Nemesis was stirring. As he groggily sat up, his one good blue eyes blinking sluggishly, he looked around to see no one in the room with him. By the time he was puling out all manner of wires and IV lines from his body and sitting up from the gurney, he heard the door to his room open behind him. Whirling around, Nemesis' rage was already provoked and he growled savagely at whoever had entered... only to immediately calm down again. It was Wanda.

Standing up from the gurney, Nemesis stood calmly, his blue eye looking her over. Then she said his name - his true name - and his head bowed in a mixture of shame and despair. "Thiral... ex-to-sure..." he tried to say,his voice low and rumbling like some creature from hell. Without lips, "v" and "p" sounds, among others, were impossible to make. "Nu-ta-tions..." Yeah, "m" sounds were also impossible. He was getting frustrated. "Surgeries." Ah, that he could say.

As he looked at Wanda, the automatic targeting software in his neural implant was downloading information. Her identification came up within view at the bottom of his field of vision. It read: "Maximoff, Wanda. Human. Female. Program: Exposure to highly concentrated alien mineral substance. Health: Stable. Progress: Satisfactory. Status: Ongoing. Threat Level: Moderate."

Behind him, his tentacles undulated with curiosity. They were strange appendages, not quite having their own sentience but definitely displaying some amount of inclination outside of Matt's own voluntary movement of them. As they curiously extended towards Wanda, Matt beat them back with his hands. "Cut it out!" he reprimanded them and they shrunk back behind him. Looking at Wanda, he sighed. "Sor-ry..."

He was glad to see that they hadn't subjected her to surgeries and mutations like they had him. "Are you o-kay... Wan-da?" he asked, hoping she was. He wouldn't have wished his fate on anyone, not even his worst enemy.

[freewillacquired]

Nemesis was starting to crash from everything. He'd been on an adrenaline high, both from literally fighting their way out of the facility and then from making sure he got the twins to a safe place for them to rest. Now that it seemed they were safe for the moment, he felt like he'd been given more sedatives or something. Even some of his tentacles were draped over the couch, barely moving.

That is, until Wanda came to sit beside him. Then, his tentacles gently curled around her. Whether they were seeking her warmth or being protective of her, Nemesis didn't know, but at least they weren't trying to hurt her. They shouldn't, not if they were taking their behavior cues from how he felt about her himself.

All his mutations and increased metabolism meant that Nemesis' body always ran a bit hotter than humans. Whereas the "normal" human body temperature was considered to be 98.6 degrees, Nemesis always remembered the scientists at the facility talking about how he consistently ran about 102 degrees. So if Wanda was looking for warmth, sleeping close to him would do the trick.

As she settled against him, he gently wrapped his arm around her, if only to add to the warmth she could benefit from. If she really wanted to huddle against a gross, mutated monster to sleep, he wasn't going to argue. He was sure he'd get better sleep not being alone, so it was a win-win for both of them. "Thank you... thor not... leathing ne dehind," he returned as she thanked him. Wanda and Pietro could easily have just left him behind and escaped on their own. After all, he was large and very slow compared to them. But they never gave up on him, especially Wanda.

"Goodnight, Wan-da," he said. "Ith I start to snore... just eldow ne." He didn't know if he snored or not, but he figured with his face all messed up the way it was, there was a pretty good chance. Feeling incredibly sleepy, Nemesis yawned in a growly sort of way and closed his one good eye.

As is turned out, Nemesis did snore, but it was more of a vibrating rumble, like a large cat purring, than an obnoxious snorting sound. He slept about as well as he'd had since his transformation into a mutated mess, and it was all due to being free and having Wanda by his side.

“Oh Matt… what did they do to you?”

Having wanted to uncover what the Umbrella Corporation was up to once and for all, Matt had gotten more than he bargained for when he was caught snooping around a facility in Eastern Europe and discovered that not one, but two entities were responsible for the illegal human experimentation going on there. Umbrella had formed some unholy partnership with another entity called Hydra, one Matt had never heard of before, and after they imprisoned him, he wished he never had.

Matt was infected with a prototype T-virus and subjected to round after round of tests and surgeries. His body grew massive and mutated out of control. Tentacles sprouted from the backs of his shoulders, the skin on his face was puled back so tightly that he no longer had lips, and his teeth were now big enough to be a bear's. He had to wear a tight leather support around his midsection to quite literally hold in his bulging body, for it had mutated enough in some places to be painfully structurally unsound. One of his retinas had been fitted with a device that allowed a digital overlay to his regular sight, giving him the ability to identify people, creatures, and weapons just by looking at them. The synthetic neuro-transponder was sewn and stapled up into his head just behind his right eye, and with it, he could not only identify targets in real time, but also receive orders by viewing them as part of the digital overlay along with the rest of his sight. He was no longer Matt Addison. They called him... The Nemesis.

Because that had been the point of all this horrific research... to create super soldiers. more importantly, to create expendable yet durable ones that could be deployed, take a lot of damage, complete certain objectives, and then either be collected or discarded. Matt had signed up for exactly none of this, but he no longer had any rights or means to complain. He'd only seen himself in a mirror a few times, and the last time he had, he went on a half-hour-long rage that took six soldiers to stop, breaking not only the mirror but a lot of expensive laboratory equipment as well. An increase in anger and violent tendencies seemed to be a side effect of the viral mutation.

Both Hydra and Umbrella had been racing to develop some kind of control chip that could be implanted into Nemesis' brain, allowing full control of him for field deployment. As of yet, they had been unsuccessful. Massive amounts of sedatives kept him docile, but whenever they tried to back off of the concentrations, he rebelled against his captors.

Matt's only respite in this terrible place was talking with some of the other test subjects, particularly a pair of twins named Wanda and Pietro. They seemed like nice people, if not a bit naïve to the true nature of the people who held them captive. Matt did his best to educated them, telling them all about what he and his other activist comrades had discovered, but the twins seemed to have an axe to grind against one of the world's most powerful billionaires, and they thought the results of this research were going to grant them he power to punish him. In truth, Matt felt bad for them, but talking to them helped keep him sane. He hadn't seen them in a long time, though, not since he'd begun to mutate...

Until, one day, his medication had apparently not been refilled, and once the IV drip of sedatives stopped, it was a matter of minutes before Nemesis was stirring. As he groggily sat up, his one good blue eyes blinking sluggishly, he looked around to see no one in the room with him. By the time he was puling out all manner of wires and IV lines from his body and sitting up from the gurney, he heard the door to his room open behind him. Whirling around, Nemesis' rage was already provoked and he growled savagely at whoever had entered... only to immediately calm down again. It was Wanda.

Standing up from the gurney, Nemesis stood calmly, his blue eye looking her over. Then she said his name - his true name - and his head bowed in a mixture of shame and despair. "Thiral... ex-to-sure..." he tried to say,his voice low and rumbling like some creature from hell. Without lips, "v" and "p" sounds, among others, were impossible to make. "Nu-ta-tions..." Yeah, "m" sounds were also impossible. He was getting frustrated. "Surgeries." Ah, that he could say.

As he looked at Wanda, the automatic targeting software in his neural implant was downloading information. Her identification came up within view at the bottom of his field of vision. It read: "Maximoff, Wanda. Human. Female. Program: Exposure to highly concentrated alien mineral substance. Health: Stable. Progress: Satisfactory. Status: Ongoing. Threat Level: Moderate."

Behind him, his tentacles undulated with curiosity. They were strange appendages, not quite having their own sentience but definitely displaying some amount of inclination outside of Matt's own voluntary movement of them. As they curiously extended towards Wanda, Matt beat them back with his hands. "Cut it out!" he reprimanded them and they shrunk back behind him. Looking at Wanda, he sighed. "Sor-ry..."

He was glad to see that they hadn't subjected her to surgeries and mutations like they had him. "Are you o-kay... Wan-da?" he asked, hoping she was. He wouldn't have wished his fate on anyone, not even his worst enemy.

[freewillacquired]

Nemesis felt so badly for the twins, if he was being honest. They had been put through so much, and he knew that for a fact, for he'd been through just as much as they had. The way Pietro had passed out so soon after they'd escaped, after he'd gone for just a short little run to burn off some steam, was so sad to Nemesis. They both must be so exhausted. I know I am. He just wanted to be there for them, and especially for Wanda, since she had shown him such unbelievable kindness after he'd been turned into a real-life monster.

He was able to relax a bit more after Wanda insisted that they were going to be okay. She knew her brother well, after all, and if she wasn't worried about the way he'd conked out so quickly, then Nemesis supposed he shouldn't be either. So he turned all his attention to Wanda and to making sure she was comfortable and safe enough to get some rest too.

"Ith you want to," Nemesis said, although he couldn't understand why Wanda would want to rest against him. "I'n o-kay. Don't wor-ry a-bout ne. I'th learned... to sleet any-where I can." It was hard to get comfortable when one's whole body wasn't the size and shape it used to be. He'd learned to make the best of it, which meant sleeping strapped to a gurney, sitting upright, sitting or lying on the floor, literally anywhere. "I'n a lot nore conthortadle with you here, Wan-da." Being alone... wasn't something he wanted right now. With her next to him, he actually did think he could get some decent sleep.

“Oh Matt… what did they do to you?”

Having wanted to uncover what the Umbrella Corporation was up to once and for all, Matt had gotten more than he bargained for when he was caught snooping around a facility in Eastern Europe and discovered that not one, but two entities were responsible for the illegal human experimentation going on there. Umbrella had formed some unholy partnership with another entity called Hydra, one Matt had never heard of before, and after they imprisoned him, he wished he never had.

Matt was infected with a prototype T-virus and subjected to round after round of tests and surgeries. His body grew massive and mutated out of control. Tentacles sprouted from the backs of his shoulders, the skin on his face was puled back so tightly that he no longer had lips, and his teeth were now big enough to be a bear's. He had to wear a tight leather support around his midsection to quite literally hold in his bulging body, for it had mutated enough in some places to be painfully structurally unsound. One of his retinas had been fitted with a device that allowed a digital overlay to his regular sight, giving him the ability to identify people, creatures, and weapons just by looking at them. The synthetic neuro-transponder was sewn and stapled up into his head just behind his right eye, and with it, he could not only identify targets in real time, but also receive orders by viewing them as part of the digital overlay along with the rest of his sight. He was no longer Matt Addison. They called him... The Nemesis.

Because that had been the point of all this horrific research... to create super soldiers. more importantly, to create expendable yet durable ones that could be deployed, take a lot of damage, complete certain objectives, and then either be collected or discarded. Matt had signed up for exactly none of this, but he no longer had any rights or means to complain. He'd only seen himself in a mirror a few times, and the last time he had, he went on a half-hour-long rage that took six soldiers to stop, breaking not only the mirror but a lot of expensive laboratory equipment as well. An increase in anger and violent tendencies seemed to be a side effect of the viral mutation.

Both Hydra and Umbrella had been racing to develop some kind of control chip that could be implanted into Nemesis' brain, allowing full control of him for field deployment. As of yet, they had been unsuccessful. Massive amounts of sedatives kept him docile, but whenever they tried to back off of the concentrations, he rebelled against his captors.

Matt's only respite in this terrible place was talking with some of the other test subjects, particularly a pair of twins named Wanda and Pietro. They seemed like nice people, if not a bit naïve to the true nature of the people who held them captive. Matt did his best to educated them, telling them all about what he and his other activist comrades had discovered, but the twins seemed to have an axe to grind against one of the world's most powerful billionaires, and they thought the results of this research were going to grant them he power to punish him. In truth, Matt felt bad for them, but talking to them helped keep him sane. He hadn't seen them in a long time, though, not since he'd begun to mutate...

Until, one day, his medication had apparently not been refilled, and once the IV drip of sedatives stopped, it was a matter of minutes before Nemesis was stirring. As he groggily sat up, his one good blue eyes blinking sluggishly, he looked around to see no one in the room with him. By the time he was puling out all manner of wires and IV lines from his body and sitting up from the gurney, he heard the door to his room open behind him. Whirling around, Nemesis' rage was already provoked and he growled savagely at whoever had entered... only to immediately calm down again. It was Wanda.

Standing up from the gurney, Nemesis stood calmly, his blue eye looking her over. Then she said his name - his true name - and his head bowed in a mixture of shame and despair. "Thiral... ex-to-sure..." he tried to say,his voice low and rumbling like some creature from hell. Without lips, "v" and "p" sounds, among others, were impossible to make. "Nu-ta-tions..." Yeah, "m" sounds were also impossible. He was getting frustrated. "Surgeries." Ah, that he could say.

As he looked at Wanda, the automatic targeting software in his neural implant was downloading information. Her identification came up within view at the bottom of his field of vision. It read: "Maximoff, Wanda. Human. Female. Program: Exposure to highly concentrated alien mineral substance. Health: Stable. Progress: Satisfactory. Status: Ongoing. Threat Level: Moderate."

Behind him, his tentacles undulated with curiosity. They were strange appendages, not quite having their own sentience but definitely displaying some amount of inclination outside of Matt's own voluntary movement of them. As they curiously extended towards Wanda, Matt beat them back with his hands. "Cut it out!" he reprimanded them and they shrunk back behind him. Looking at Wanda, he sighed. "Sor-ry..."

He was glad to see that they hadn't subjected her to surgeries and mutations like they had him. "Are you o-kay... Wan-da?" he asked, hoping she was. He wouldn't have wished his fate on anyone, not even his worst enemy.

[freewillacquired]

Well, it wasn't a no, but she didn't seem too confident or happy about it. Nemesis didn't blame her at all for that, but... maybe it was an option if the virus ever tried to steal his mind away from him. It gave him hope, and that's what really mattered. "Let's... as-sune... you won't hath... to do that... at all," he said, also trying to think positively. It was much easier to do that with Wanda staying by his side so loyally. If he was alone... he probably would've slipped into madness by now.

As they settled down to rest, Nemesis saw Wanda reaching for him and wanted her to be able to, without her having to scrunch herself to one side of her own bed. So he crawled off his bed, and pushed it closer to hers. Climbing back on it again, he curled up as best he could with his spiky and angular new form, his head laying close to Wanda as his single blue eyes watched her. Her hand petting his head felt so good, both physically and emotionally.

"Mmm..." he hummed, which came out more like a growl, but at least it was an idle-sounding one rather than a threatening one. "It did," he admitted. He hadn't realized just how tired he was until he was curled up on a bed with Wanda petting him. His blue eye closed, and before long, he was asleep. There was a hollow-sounding rumbling associated with his breathing, as his huge lungs caused his chest to expand and contract with each breath. The regular, rhythmic sound of it gave away that he was asleep.

"Matt- Are you alright? What's happened to you?"

(for second mutation Nemmy?)

They'd been on the run now for weeks, and it seemed like maybe they had finally gotten to the point where they weren't being pursued anymore. They were wrong. Ambushed one morning where they'd hidden to sleep, Nemesis quickly made short work of the soldiers that had tried to apprehend them... but not before one of them had hit him with an accelerant and lit him on fire.

It hurt badly, but Nemesis didn't feel like it hurt as much as it should. If I'd been human still, this would've been a million times worse. Even so, after he'd killed the last of the soldiers, engulfed in flames as he did, Nemesis bounded into a nearby river to extinguish himself. The cold water felt amazing, and he could feel his body healing and regenerating itself rapidly. But that's not all it was doing...

When he emerged from the water, crawling up onto the riverbank, Nemesis... had nearly tripled in size. He was hunched over now, on all fours, most of his leather outfit torn to shreds where his body had grown sharp spikes and armored plates on his back, shoulders, and neck. There were even spikes down the backs of his arms and legs now too. His hands were now monstrous claws with curved, thick talons, and his tentacles undulated off his back and shoulders like snakes.

Hearing Wanda's question, Nemesis looked himself over as best he could. "I... I don't know!" he said, clearly upset by these new... developments. His voice was even more monstrous now, deep and resonating. "I don't think... the thirus... liked... the thire," he supposed. No sir, it didn't like fire at all. And when challenged with it, it had responded by causing Nemesis to evolve into an even more durable and protected creature...

[freewillacquired]

Nemesis wasn't so sure that Pietro wouldn't mind him hanging around his sister, regardless of what his intentions may be. The young man seemed to be understandably very protective of his twin, after all. But Wanda knew him best, and if she said he wouldn't mind, then Nemesis supposed he should just trust her judgement. And of course, she was safe with him. They both were. They were his friends, and frankly, they had gone out of their way to help him too. Especially Wanda. "O-kay," he said, hoping Wanda was right about her brother.

He chuckled to find out that Pietro had already faceplanted onto the bed in one of the rooms and was out like a light. The adrenaline of their escape was beginning to wear off for Nemesis as well, and in what was probably inadvertently a rather monstrous display, he opened his great maw and yawned. Even his tentacles were feeling heavier and more lethargic to him.

Sitting down on the couch next to Wanda, Nemesis began to feel a bit guilty. "Wouldn't you... get detter rest... in an ac-tu-al ded?" Bed, but... yeah, he couldn't quite say that anymore. "The couch isn't as good," he said. It'd do for him, but surely Wanda would rather sleep in a bed like an actual person. Nemesis on the other hand, probably wouldn't even fit in a bed anymore.

“Oh Matt… what did they do to you?”

Having wanted to uncover what the Umbrella Corporation was up to once and for all, Matt had gotten more than he bargained for when he was caught snooping around a facility in Eastern Europe and discovered that not one, but two entities were responsible for the illegal human experimentation going on there. Umbrella had formed some unholy partnership with another entity called Hydra, one Matt had never heard of before, and after they imprisoned him, he wished he never had.

Matt was infected with a prototype T-virus and subjected to round after round of tests and surgeries. His body grew massive and mutated out of control. Tentacles sprouted from the backs of his shoulders, the skin on his face was puled back so tightly that he no longer had lips, and his teeth were now big enough to be a bear's. He had to wear a tight leather support around his midsection to quite literally hold in his bulging body, for it had mutated enough in some places to be painfully structurally unsound. One of his retinas had been fitted with a device that allowed a digital overlay to his regular sight, giving him the ability to identify people, creatures, and weapons just by looking at them. The synthetic neuro-transponder was sewn and stapled up into his head just behind his right eye, and with it, he could not only identify targets in real time, but also receive orders by viewing them as part of the digital overlay along with the rest of his sight. He was no longer Matt Addison. They called him... The Nemesis.

Because that had been the point of all this horrific research... to create super soldiers. more importantly, to create expendable yet durable ones that could be deployed, take a lot of damage, complete certain objectives, and then either be collected or discarded. Matt had signed up for exactly none of this, but he no longer had any rights or means to complain. He'd only seen himself in a mirror a few times, and the last time he had, he went on a half-hour-long rage that took six soldiers to stop, breaking not only the mirror but a lot of expensive laboratory equipment as well. An increase in anger and violent tendencies seemed to be a side effect of the viral mutation.

Both Hydra and Umbrella had been racing to develop some kind of control chip that could be implanted into Nemesis' brain, allowing full control of him for field deployment. As of yet, they had been unsuccessful. Massive amounts of sedatives kept him docile, but whenever they tried to back off of the concentrations, he rebelled against his captors.

Matt's only respite in this terrible place was talking with some of the other test subjects, particularly a pair of twins named Wanda and Pietro. They seemed like nice people, if not a bit naïve to the true nature of the people who held them captive. Matt did his best to educated them, telling them all about what he and his other activist comrades had discovered, but the twins seemed to have an axe to grind against one of the world's most powerful billionaires, and they thought the results of this research were going to grant them he power to punish him. In truth, Matt felt bad for them, but talking to them helped keep him sane. He hadn't seen them in a long time, though, not since he'd begun to mutate...

Until, one day, his medication had apparently not been refilled, and once the IV drip of sedatives stopped, it was a matter of minutes before Nemesis was stirring. As he groggily sat up, his one good blue eyes blinking sluggishly, he looked around to see no one in the room with him. By the time he was puling out all manner of wires and IV lines from his body and sitting up from the gurney, he heard the door to his room open behind him. Whirling around, Nemesis' rage was already provoked and he growled savagely at whoever had entered... only to immediately calm down again. It was Wanda.

Standing up from the gurney, Nemesis stood calmly, his blue eye looking her over. Then she said his name - his true name - and his head bowed in a mixture of shame and despair. "Thiral... ex-to-sure..." he tried to say,his voice low and rumbling like some creature from hell. Without lips, "v" and "p" sounds, among others, were impossible to make. "Nu-ta-tions..." Yeah, "m" sounds were also impossible. He was getting frustrated. "Surgeries." Ah, that he could say.

As he looked at Wanda, the automatic targeting software in his neural implant was downloading information. Her identification came up within view at the bottom of his field of vision. It read: "Maximoff, Wanda. Human. Female. Program: Exposure to highly concentrated alien mineral substance. Health: Stable. Progress: Satisfactory. Status: Ongoing. Threat Level: Moderate."

Behind him, his tentacles undulated with curiosity. They were strange appendages, not quite having their own sentience but definitely displaying some amount of inclination outside of Matt's own voluntary movement of them. As they curiously extended towards Wanda, Matt beat them back with his hands. "Cut it out!" he reprimanded them and they shrunk back behind him. Looking at Wanda, he sighed. "Sor-ry..."

He was glad to see that they hadn't subjected her to surgeries and mutations like they had him. "Are you o-kay... Wan-da?" he asked, hoping she was. He wouldn't have wished his fate on anyone, not even his worst enemy.

[freewillacquired]

If there was anything good about being a mutated mess, it was how durable he was. Not only did it make doing things a lot easier if he was less afraid of causing himself serious bodily harm, but he also didn't have to worry as much about upsetting Wanda by injuring himself. She was so good to check on him all the time, though. Truly, no one else had cared about him as much as she had, especially since he was handed his... unfortunate laboratory-related fate.

Like Wanda, he was truly grateful to be out, but also to be among friends. Nemesis was actually afraid of being alone right now, because that would mean he'd have nothing but his own thoughts to keep him company. Given what had happened to him, his mind kept going to some pretty dark places, and he didn't want to think about that stuff for very long. Wanda helped to distract him, and Pietro did too. At least if something were to happen to him, he knew that Wanda still wouldn't be alone with her brother by her side, because he knew that Wanda had a lot of difficult and upsetting thoughts to contend with as well.

Nemesis supposed he should have predicted Wanda not being happy about him wanting to remain outside the cabin to keep an eye on things. It was a decent thing to do, strategically, but she seemed to want them all to stay together. "I doubt he'd want ne hud-dled with you..." he said when Wanda suggested they all stick together for warmth. Pietro seemed to still be very wary of him, and he totally understood why. If a giant mutated monster had tried to move in on my sister, I wouldn't've been too happy about that either, he thought.

It seemed Wanda was going to be too bothered by Nemesis staying outside, however, and so he had no choice but to relent and go inside. Getting through the narrow doorway again was... interesting. He almost bumped his head, but he managed it well enough. The ceiling, while a bit low, was still high enough for him to stand at his full height of over seven feet, so that was at least something. "We should try... to get sone rest," he suggested, actually feeling pretty tired himself. And if they needed to run again should they be found out, it was best that they got some sleep now while they could.

“Oh Matt… what did they do to you?”

Having wanted to uncover what the Umbrella Corporation was up to once and for all, Matt had gotten more than he bargained for when he was caught snooping around a facility in Eastern Europe and discovered that not one, but two entities were responsible for the illegal human experimentation going on there. Umbrella had formed some unholy partnership with another entity called Hydra, one Matt had never heard of before, and after they imprisoned him, he wished he never had.

Matt was infected with a prototype T-virus and subjected to round after round of tests and surgeries. His body grew massive and mutated out of control. Tentacles sprouted from the backs of his shoulders, the skin on his face was puled back so tightly that he no longer had lips, and his teeth were now big enough to be a bear's. He had to wear a tight leather support around his midsection to quite literally hold in his bulging body, for it had mutated enough in some places to be painfully structurally unsound. One of his retinas had been fitted with a device that allowed a digital overlay to his regular sight, giving him the ability to identify people, creatures, and weapons just by looking at them. The synthetic neuro-transponder was sewn and stapled up into his head just behind his right eye, and with it, he could not only identify targets in real time, but also receive orders by viewing them as part of the digital overlay along with the rest of his sight. He was no longer Matt Addison. They called him... The Nemesis.

Because that had been the point of all this horrific research... to create super soldiers. more importantly, to create expendable yet durable ones that could be deployed, take a lot of damage, complete certain objectives, and then either be collected or discarded. Matt had signed up for exactly none of this, but he no longer had any rights or means to complain. He'd only seen himself in a mirror a few times, and the last time he had, he went on a half-hour-long rage that took six soldiers to stop, breaking not only the mirror but a lot of expensive laboratory equipment as well. An increase in anger and violent tendencies seemed to be a side effect of the viral mutation.

Both Hydra and Umbrella had been racing to develop some kind of control chip that could be implanted into Nemesis' brain, allowing full control of him for field deployment. As of yet, they had been unsuccessful. Massive amounts of sedatives kept him docile, but whenever they tried to back off of the concentrations, he rebelled against his captors.

Matt's only respite in this terrible place was talking with some of the other test subjects, particularly a pair of twins named Wanda and Pietro. They seemed like nice people, if not a bit naïve to the true nature of the people who held them captive. Matt did his best to educated them, telling them all about what he and his other activist comrades had discovered, but the twins seemed to have an axe to grind against one of the world's most powerful billionaires, and they thought the results of this research were going to grant them he power to punish him. In truth, Matt felt bad for them, but talking to them helped keep him sane. He hadn't seen them in a long time, though, not since he'd begun to mutate...

Until, one day, his medication had apparently not been refilled, and once the IV drip of sedatives stopped, it was a matter of minutes before Nemesis was stirring. As he groggily sat up, his one good blue eyes blinking sluggishly, he looked around to see no one in the room with him. By the time he was puling out all manner of wires and IV lines from his body and sitting up from the gurney, he heard the door to his room open behind him. Whirling around, Nemesis' rage was already provoked and he growled savagely at whoever had entered... only to immediately calm down again. It was Wanda.

Standing up from the gurney, Nemesis stood calmly, his blue eye looking her over. Then she said his name - his true name - and his head bowed in a mixture of shame and despair. "Thiral... ex-to-sure..." he tried to say,his voice low and rumbling like some creature from hell. Without lips, "v" and "p" sounds, among others, were impossible to make. "Nu-ta-tions..." Yeah, "m" sounds were also impossible. He was getting frustrated. "Surgeries." Ah, that he could say.

As he looked at Wanda, the automatic targeting software in his neural implant was downloading information. Her identification came up within view at the bottom of his field of vision. It read: "Maximoff, Wanda. Human. Female. Program: Exposure to highly concentrated alien mineral substance. Health: Stable. Progress: Satisfactory. Status: Ongoing. Threat Level: Moderate."

Behind him, his tentacles undulated with curiosity. They were strange appendages, not quite having their own sentience but definitely displaying some amount of inclination outside of Matt's own voluntary movement of them. As they curiously extended towards Wanda, Matt beat them back with his hands. "Cut it out!" he reprimanded them and they shrunk back behind him. Looking at Wanda, he sighed. "Sor-ry..."

He was glad to see that they hadn't subjected her to surgeries and mutations like they had him. "Are you o-kay... Wan-da?" he asked, hoping she was. He wouldn't have wished his fate on anyone, not even his worst enemy.

[freewillacquired]

"O-kay," Nemesis agreed. It made sense, to just assume the best and take things one day at a time. Hell, right now, he was taking things one hour at a time. He was pretty sure no one else had ever gone through what he had before, and so there were no plans laid out, there wasn't a rulebook to follow. He didn't know what to expect from his own body at all, and that made for a very jarring existence.

"Do you think... that ith, one day... i do lose nyselth... that you could en-ter... ny nind... and thind ne a-gain?" God, had his speech gotten even worse with even longer teeth? Pretty soon he wouldn't be able to communicate with her at all. Even so, the hope of getting reassurance that Wanda could somehow find him buried in his own mind if the worst happened was greater than his embarrassment at not being able to speak properly.

For now, just knowing he wasn't alone and realizing that Wanda was depending on him every bit as much as he was on her helped Nemesis to carry on, despite his horrific situation. She was so sweet and he truly cared for her. Nothing and no one was ever going to hurt her. Not while he still lived and was in his right mind.

"Should we... get sone rest?" he asked, feeling suddenly very tired. Had all that mutating drained his strength, or was he simply coming down from an emotionally stressful event? Maybe he could sleep, if he was sure Wanda was safe and now that he had a bed that actually accommodated his ridiculous size. He curled up on his bed, in his dog-like position, with his strange, alien-like head laying on it and looking over at Wanda. He wondered if she could sleep, though, or if she was still upset by what had happened.

"Matt- Are you alright? What's happened to you?"

(for second mutation Nemmy?)

They'd been on the run now for weeks, and it seemed like maybe they had finally gotten to the point where they weren't being pursued anymore. They were wrong. Ambushed one morning where they'd hidden to sleep, Nemesis quickly made short work of the soldiers that had tried to apprehend them... but not before one of them had hit him with an accelerant and lit him on fire.

It hurt badly, but Nemesis didn't feel like it hurt as much as it should. If I'd been human still, this would've been a million times worse. Even so, after he'd killed the last of the soldiers, engulfed in flames as he did, Nemesis bounded into a nearby river to extinguish himself. The cold water felt amazing, and he could feel his body healing and regenerating itself rapidly. But that's not all it was doing...

When he emerged from the water, crawling up onto the riverbank, Nemesis... had nearly tripled in size. He was hunched over now, on all fours, most of his leather outfit torn to shreds where his body had grown sharp spikes and armored plates on his back, shoulders, and neck. There were even spikes down the backs of his arms and legs now too. His hands were now monstrous claws with curved, thick talons, and his tentacles undulated off his back and shoulders like snakes.

Hearing Wanda's question, Nemesis looked himself over as best he could. "I... I don't know!" he said, clearly upset by these new... developments. His voice was even more monstrous now, deep and resonating. "I don't think... the thirus... liked... the thire," he supposed. No sir, it didn't like fire at all. And when challenged with it, it had responded by causing Nemesis to evolve into an even more durable and protected creature...