A/N: The contents of this chapter may not be suitable for all audiences. Please read at your own discretion. (gore)
Surprisingly, the Supernatural Forces decided to let Cecilia live while they continued to study her. Blood tests, tissue samples, various electromagnetic readings, and other tests were part of this.
To Rogork's and Alesha's horror, this meant that the rate of their parasite body's growth was discovered. An early X-Ray, which had been taken on the first day of incarceration, revealed that Cecilia's body was already over 60% composed of parasite biological material. Full-body MRI's were then taken. This meant that an entire day was spent lying down as still as possible inside the cylindrical MRI machine, listening to music on high volume while the machine made irritatingly loud noises including buzzing, clicking, and internal thumping. It was incredibly uncomfortable.
Cecilia, being an irritable and impatient high schooler, messed up a few of the images by moving during the scans. The Supernatural Forces' scientists insisted on redoing those images. Of course, she hated that idea, and they reluctantly gave up after getting her to promise she'd undergo another full-body MRI if the parasite really somehow left after the 7th day. Instead, they arranged to take X-Rays of her every 8 hours for the rest of the time she was incarcerated.
On the second day after her arrest, the day the parasite had claimed would be its last in their world, the Supernatural Forces did something else surprising.
Cecilia was escorted to a medium-sized room, which, as every room in this place seemed to be, was constructed entirely of concrete. Three men sat strapped to metal chairs, which were, in turn, bolted to the floor. Her wrist restraints were removed and she was left alone with the room's occupants, given neither explanation nor instructions.
Did they construct this room just for … whatever this is? The parasite's female voice asked. Why do they have a room precisely the right size with precisely three chairs bolted to the floor? It feels almost like a movie set.
[Maybe,] the parasite's agender voice said. [Usually interrogation rooms would only have one chair, and torture chambers don't really have a need for three, do they?]
Shut up, Cecilia demanded mentally. Does it really matter?
The man strapped to the middle chair, a scrawny fellow with an evil-looking face, whistled at her. "Hooee, they brought us a cutie? Thought I'd never get ta see another girlie before I die!"
"Look at those anklets, dumbass," said a burly-looking, heavily tattooed man sitting on the scrawny one's right side, which was to Cecilia's left. His voice was powerful and Cecilia found that her gaze lingered on him. Her mouth started to water.
The burly man continued, "They had her locked up like us but left her here without restraint. What do you think that means for us, Stache?"
The last word appeared to be his nickname for the evil-faced, scrawny fellow, probably taken from his rectangular-shaped mustache.
Ignoring the conversation of the other two, the final strapped-down man introduced himself. "Hello, young lady. Call me Fitz. Might you tell us who you are?"
Tearing her eyes from the burly one, Cecilia took a look at him. Unlike the others, his appearance was rather unremarkable. He looked like just your average joe.
But as soon as she locked eyes with him, Cecilia's heart started racing and her mouth, which had only been watering slightly, opened and she began drooling uncontrollably.
Something about that man, something intangible, seemed powerful. There was no visible reason for her to suspect he was strong. He had an unremarkable face, gentle eyes, a clearly below-average fitness level, and was even a bit overweight. Yet something in her knew: this man was dangerous.
Her fingers twitched, extending into claws.
Oh no, the female parasite's voice said; yet Cecilia could barely hear her. She was already entranced by the man -- no, the mate -- in front of her. A strong one. A very strong one. His heart would make strong children.
Without further delay, Cecilia lunged forward, plunged her clawed fingers into his chest, yanked out his heart, and bit deeply into it.
Ecstasy.
The flesh of the heart met her lips, still thumping, and the bite she'd taken slid over her tongue, warm and slimy. Its juices oozed, filling her mouth. She took another bite, then another, savoring the way the blood flowed down her arm and face. Somehow, the way the excess blood covered her was nearly as satisfying as eating the heart itself.
Fondly, she looked at the body of the man in front of her, which was convulsing as he died. Even though his heart was removed, that did not mean he died immediately; he screamed once, his pierced left lung filled with blood, he coughed, and his convulsions slowly died down. A cluster of fleshy lumps formed in the cavity where his heart had been. Their children.
Then, as if waking from a trance, Cecilia screamed, covering her mouth, and backpedaling. "Not again!"
She glanced around fervently, finding cameras in the upper corners of the room. There was no way they hadn't seen that.
… Is this what they were going for? The female parasite wondered.
[Probably,] the parasite's androgynous voice answered. [Three men of different strengths, from the sounds of it, probably on death row. The middle one mentioned something about dying soon.]
"You're kidding me, right?" Cecilia fumed quietly. "No way, they can't be that cruel! Making me eat them even though I'm human!"
Inside, a part of her was still exulting in how it had felt to eat that heart, and she felt an undeniable attachment to, or a perverse fondness of, the gross-looking fleshy eggs in the man's chest cavity. She wanted to feel disgusted with herself for everything that had just happened. Even as she wished for that, she found she couldn't. Something in her had changed beyond recognition and she could no longer deny it.
"This is all your fault, bloody parasite," she seethed.
[I won't deny that,] came the parasite's simple response.
While Cecilia was grappling with what had just happened, so too were the other strapped-down men. "Told you," the burly one said after a moment of silence. "Dangerous."
"Shit, shit, shit!" Stache cursed, having wet himself from fright. He was shaking at the sight of her. "I'm just a hacker! Selling some old farts' personal data isn't a crime deserving o' this!! Let me out of here!"
Stache screamed, thrashing against his restraints, howling unintelligible protests and otherwise frantically trying to escape.
The burly man was afraid, too. Yet his approach was different: he tried to analyze the girl in front of him. Was she even human? It was just for a few seconds, but he could've sworn he'd seen her grow claws, and the way she'd acted afterwards was strange. He didn't need to see inside the victim's chest cavity to know something was off about the girl.
Before too long, the girl stopped talking to herself and looked up. After checking the cameras and the door again, seeing no change to the room, she walked up to the burly man. His heartbeat accelerated somewhat as she approached, fearing he'd meet the same fate as the other one.
In an attempt to get ahead of the situation, he spoke before she could. "Am I about to die like he did?"
"... I don't think so," Cecilia answered, looking uncharacteristically thoughtful. "Unlike Stachehead there, you look a bit tasty. Not as much as the strong guy though."
"Strong guy?" He asked, confused. Though their restraints were fairly tight, before the girl had entered, they'd all been able to see each others' faces at least. Nothing about the man who died seemed particularly strong to him.
"Yeah. Didn't look it, but he was powerful. The alien says he probably had some kinda powers or somethin'. Well? Who're you?"
"... Ah. Call me Switchblade."
She kicked his shin. "Nah, not that. Your identity. Occupation, why you're here, stupid. Why'd they lock you up with me?"
"Can you take it?" He sneered. "You might be a monster, but can you handle knowing who I am?"
Cecilia snorted. "What are you, mafia? I'm probably going to die soon anyway, so what's the big deal?"
"Yeah," he replied. "I'm mafia. On death row for murder. He's on death row too, for selling the personal data of some big shots. The guy you killed didn't tell us anything, though."
--
Ah, so that's how it is, the female voice of the parasite said in response to the mafia guy's explanation. They're on death row like you said, so they're experimenting with what counts as "strong" enough to trigger your killing instinct.
[Technically, it's a mating instinct,] the other voice replied.
Technically, it's a mating instinct that involves killing the partner, the female voice corrected. So calling it a killing instinct is still accurate.
… So it's okay if I kill this guy, too? Cecilia thought, mouth watering. Though he didn't look as delicious as the first one, he still seemed plenty strong and it was getting hard to hold back.
[Sure,] the androgynous voice answered.
Wait!
But Alesha was too slow. Cecilia pounced on Rogork's permission to kill -- or more precisely, the man strapped down in front of her. She tore out his heart, ate it, and licked the blood off her fingers. In short order, a pouch of fleshy eggs had formed in the space where his heart had been.
No longer seeming disgusted with herself, Cecilia smiled.
Was she enjoying this?
Damn you, Alesha cursed at the System. You really do corrupt everything you touch, don't you?