Scientific Espionage

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<p style="font-family:monaco"><p style="color:green"><p style="font-size:60px"><center><h2>Scientific Espionage</h2></center></p></p></p> <center><h4>Created by: Dragonien</h4></center> Intended for audiences 18+ only Thank you all for taking the time to check out my creation! Now that I’ve found myself between jobs I’ve decided to make a go at trying to support myself through my creative crafts. If you like this or my other creations please take a moment to consider dropping me a Ko-Fi to support me in this and my future projects. Or consider subscribing to my patreon where you can get perks for supporting me such as access to exclusive written works only available to patrons and updates to games and interactives like this early, before they’re available to the public! https://ko-fi.com/dragonien https://www.patreon.com/Dragonien Or feel free to check out my other public content on my website or any of the associated galleries I make use of that can be found under the “Links” Section. https://dragonien.com/ Thank you again for your time. Enjoy! <p style="font-size:25px"><center><h1>[[Begin->Introduction]]</h1></center></p>

\/*Status*/ \<<set $cheats to false>> \<<set $height to 1>> \<<set $goowerewolf to false>> \<<set $returntrip to false>> \<<set $injury to 0>> \<<set $sali to false>> \ \/*Inventory*/ \<<set $hastablet to false>> \<<set $hasshrinkray to false>> \<<set $hasdepletedshrinkray to false>> \<<set $hashacker to false>> \<<set $hasphone to false>> \<<set $hasmuscleformula to false>> \<<set $tinysalem to false>> \<<set $B1keycard to false>> \ \/*Environment*/ \<<set $vaultopen to false>> \<<set $foundelevator to false>> \<<set $subbasement1 to false>> \<<set $giguslockedinbio to false>> \<<set $giguslockedinvault to false>> \<<set $gigusunconsious to false>> \<<set $withsalem to false>> \<<set $wastransported to false>> \<<set $salemcoerced to false>> \<<set $salembefriended to false>> \<<set $leftsalemshrunk to false>> \<<set $leftsalemgiant to false>> \<<set $salemissmall to false>> \<<set $tigerdrugged to false>> \<<set $mettinygoo to false>> \<<set $securitysubdued to false>> \<<set $securityshrunk to false>> \<<set $firstaidkitused to false>> \<<set $wolfshocked to false>> <<set $canistersaved to false>> \/*Environment B1*/ \<<set $storageseen to false>> \<<set $roboticssecurity to true>> \ \ \/*Elevator*/ \<<set $B1unlocked to false>> \/*other*/ \<<set $placeholder to false>>

\<<include StoryInit>> The witching hour had set upon the city hours ago, leaving even the hustle and bustle of a major metropolis like the one you lived in all but non-existent. Nothing save for the occasional bark of a dog and the rare whoosh of a car driving by every fifteen to twenty minutes, if even that, marred the otherwise silent sounds of the extremely early morning air. Even the crickets had long since gone for their own rest; saving the few people still awake at this hour the irritation of their constant chirping. The perfect time for someone like you to do some work. You’d received a tip from one of your contacts that the lab was a massive score just waiting to happen. From what they had told you their go-to guy for tech and informational burglary like this had never come back after he’d been tipped off to the location. They assumed he’d found something too valuable for him to be willing to share and skipped town. Normally you didn’t like to get involved in something this high of stakes. When you’d heard the cut they were offering you and saw their estimate for how many zeros would be on that cut depending on what you found, you quickly quashed those reservations. Hell, if you got even HALF of what they had said the expected minimum return from this job was you could probably give up the life of petty crime and burglary and set yourself up somewhere nice for a good long while. Computers and technology weren’t exactly your specialty so you had been a bit reserved about taking the job. Thankfully your contact had sent a partner with you; someone to take care of the technological aspect of the job and to be the getaway driver. All you had to do was actually go inside, find something valuable, and get out. It had taken roughly forty-five minutes for the lithe cheetah to drive you across town to the compound right on the edge of the city. She parked the unassuming dark brown delivery van half a block down the road and flicked off the lights. You had been about to push open your door when she reached out to grab your wrist and stop you. “Wait.” She commanded. Blushing in embarrassment you pulled your hand away from the door handle and waited as instructed. Unbuckling her seatbelt, the cheetah stood up and brushed a few wrinkles from her black blouse and matching pants before reaching back to pull the door into the storage cabin at the back of the van open. Your eyes widened slightly at the view inside; having yet to see anything other than the front seats so far. In the back of the van looked to be something right out of some cop show; an entire array of various computers and electronics lining the wall like some kind of mobile command center. Sitting herself down in the surprisingly plush looking chair in front of the setup, she began to type at an increasingly rapid pace across the keyboards. Screens flicked between incoherent lines of code, what looked like camera angles, and other screens you couldn’t make heads or tails of. Seconds dragged on into minutes as she worked; leaving you increasingly anxious about the whole thing. If your contact was investing this much into a job like this then you didn’t even want to think about what the consequences of failure might be. As you waited for her to work you began fumbling with your pockets to double check you still had your phone with you in case you needed it. Just when you were about to ask if you should be doing something the cheetah gave a dramatic flourishing press of the enter key. <b>[You have aquired Smartphone]</b> “There. We’re in. You’re all set.” Blinking for a moment you looked across the screens trying to make heads or tails of them before turning your attention back to her. “We are?” you asked, your skepticism evident in your tone. “Motion and infrared sensors are shut off, outside security alarms are blacked out and being fed dummy signals. Even if you did somehow trip something I missed no signal would leave the compound. Cameras are set on a repeating loop, all externally accessible doors are unlocked and from internal feeds and their own schedules there should only be one security guard on duty tonight. I can’t see the log list of the researchers who are currently in, that seems to be kept analog only, but there can’t be more than a couple in there at this time of night. Enter through the front door; the side entrance leads right to the security offices. They trust the front door to be secure at night with the locked steel doors. Those are unlocked too so they should just swing right open and let you inside.” Before you could ask for any elaboration on any of the myriad things she had just said she tossed two small objects to you. Your hands shot out to grab them out of reflex, fumbling with them for only a moment, before you held them securely in your open palm. “There’s your radio. Just clip it to the inside of one of your ears. It’s for emergencies only. Don’t call me unless you absolutely need me. Too much radio traffic could be detected and give us away.” She explained. Nodding your understanding you raised the small circular piece of plastic and used the tiny clip on the back end of it to secure it into your left ear near the base of the ear where the fur on your head would obscure it from view. Once that was done you held up the other object she had tossed you; a small piece of plastic with a metal nub sticking out of it. You knew enough about computers to know it was some kind of USB stick but had no idea beyond that. “And this?” you asked. “Remote access chip.” She replied while jerking a thumb towards her computer setup. “Some of the equipment inside might not be hooked up to the rest of the network. If you come across a door or something that’s still locked and I can’t reach from out here you can call me and plug that in to give me remote access and I should be able to hack it. Again. Only for emergencies. The more we screw with their system inside the higher the chance is we set something off and get made.” <b>[You have aquired Remote USB Hacker]</b> \<<set $hashacker to true>> She didn’t look happy that she was having to explain this to you. It was clear she was used to working with people that had more professional experience with higher-level heists like this. The way she looked you up and down skeptically as you pocketed the USB chip made that evident. Just because she didn’t like working with what she perceived as an amateur didn’t mean you couldn’t try to be polite. “Thanks, uh… I actually never got your name now that I think about. I’m Alex.” You started to say as you extended your hand for a handshake towards her, only to trail off sheepishly at the realization. She glanced down at your extended hand without making even a twitch of movement towards reaching for it. Then she turned her gaze back up to you with even more distain in her expression than it had moments before. “No names. If you have to address me by something. Just call me Operator.” She said coldly. Realizing you were fighting a losing battle you pulled your hand back and frowned. When she didn’t seem forthcoming with any more information or instructions you decided it was time to get going. Reaching back to pull the hood of your hoodie up over your head you grabbed the door of the cargo compartment and pulled it open. Hopping down, you turned to pull the door closed only to pause as she spoke one last time to you. “Don’t fuck this up, kid.” Trying not to let it show how frustrated her cold attitude and condescension was making you, you pushed the door closed just a tad harder than was necessary. Some small part of you couldn’t help but take some crude satisfaction in imagining how she might have jumped a bit in her seat at the louder-than-necessary sound. You were a petty thief; petty was right in the title. Turning your attention back to the job at hand you quietly made your way down the sidewalk and around the corner of the large concrete wall to where the gatehouse was. At first it looked like you were going to have to scale the wall, seeing as how the metal gates to the parking lot were closed. Upon approaching them, however, it turned out Operator had done exactly what she said she’d done. The gates were closed but the electronic lock that held them so had been unlocked; allowing you to easily push them open enough for you to slip inside. From there it was only a short walk across the parking lot’s entrance towards the door to the front lobby as instructed. Again, just as Operator had said, after opening the swinging glass doors the steel security doors inside swung open soundlessly with no effort at all. “Well. Time to get this over with.” You murmured aloud to yourself. <b>[[Enter the [Front Lobby]->Front Lobby]</b>

<img src="http://dragonien.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Alex-profile-test2.jpg" align="right">The lobby is larger than you expected it to be from the outside. With most of the lights outside turned off this late at night you hadn't actually gotten a good look at how big the building was. The ceiling in the lobby had to be at least five stories tall with walkways around the circumference of each floor lined with glass partitions around their edge to keep people from falling off. The lobby itself was just as massive lengthwise as it was height-wise. You could have fit your entire apartment building in here! Thankfully the lobby was deserted at this time of night. About 80% of the lights were out; leaving the room mostly dark but with just enough illumination that your low-light adjusted eyes could still see well enough.. Unfortunately no one had provided you with a floor plan or even a general idea of where to go to find valuables. So you were forced to use your own judgment and perception to try to pick the best path. Looking around the room two large security doors similar to those at the entrance caught your eye. Upon closer inspection each one had a small bronze plaque next to the door denoting the department it led to. Both doors were unlocked and swung open without even needing to have the handle turned. <<if $giguslockedinbio is true || $gigusunconsious is true>>Or at least they had been until you locked one to trap scientist-turned-monster in the Biology Department.<</if>><<if $giguslockedinbio is true>> Every once in a while you can still hear an impact or the scrape of claws on the other side of the [Biology Department] door. With Dr. Gigus still locked in there you don't think it'd be a good idea trying to unlock that door right now<</if>><<if $gigusunconsious is true>>The door to the Biology Department is still locked tight. Even if you could get it unlocked again the last thing you wanted to do was go in and risk waking up Dr. Gigus again. You'd had enough beatings for now.<</if>> You could go down the hallway in the back of the lobby. A small sign reading "Security" hung nearby and pointed in that direction. \<<if $foundelevator is false>> You also noticed a suspiscious bit of wall near the back corner of the lobby. Your instincts tell you it might be worth investigating.<</if>> <<if $giguslockedinbio is false && $gigusunconsious is false>> <b>[[Check out the Biology Department->Biology Department]]</b><</if>> <b>[[Check out the Engineering Department->Engineering Department]]</b> <b>[[Make your way towards the Security Office->Security Office Hallway]]</b> <<if $foundelevator is false>><b>[[Check out the suspiscious wall->Suspiscious Wall]]</b><<elseif $foundelevator is true>><b>[[Head back to the hidden elevator->Elevator Interior]]</b><</if>>

The biology Department sounded pretty straightforward. Best as you can guess this must be where they keep things like medical research and things like that. Maybe not the best place to look for an easy, quick, and valuable score. Then again, considering the type of money that was on the line, you doubted anything you were taking from a place like this was going to be something simple they were just going to fence on Craigslist. For all you know maybe they had a cure for cancer in here. Luckily there was actually a directory hanging on the wall just inside the door leading to the department. It even had one of those handy “You are here” maps like you would see in a mall. Most of the locations were labeled with the names of doctors and scientists and didn't give you much to go on. You wouldn't know a Dr. Chang from a professor Slavnokauf if you met them much less by just hearing their name. Thankfully there were a couple of labs that weren't labeled with just someone's name. You figured those were probably your best bets for where to start looking. Otherwise you’d have to call Operator to ask for suggestions and all that would do is give her yet another reason to think of you as incompetent. The Mutagenics lab sounded like something out of a Sci-Fi show. You couldn’t quite imagine what they could actually go on in there since you were pretty sure that chemicals to mutate someone into a grotesque horror movie monster weren’t actually real. Couldn’t hurt to check it out, though. <<if $goowerewolf is true>> You've been to Special Containment and have no desire whatsoever to return there anytime soon. \<<elseif $goowerewolf is false>> Special Containment sounded interesting. Maybe that was like some kind of high-security area where they kept the really valuable prototypes that they didn’t want just walking out the front door.<</if>> <<if $giguslockedinvault || $gigusunconsious is false && $tigerdrugged is false>><b>[[Check out the Mutagenics Lab->Mutagenics Lab]]</b> \<<elseif $giguslockedinvault || $gigusunconsious is false && $tigerdrugged is true>>Something seems to be going on in the mutagenics lab. When you last had been there it had been dead silent. Now, though, you can hear loud shuffling and crashing sounds even this far down the hall. You have a bad feeling about whatever is going on in there. <b>[[Head back to the Mutagenics Lab anyway->Tiger is Awake]]</b> \<<elseif $giguslockedinvault || $gigusunconsious is true>><b>[[Check back in on the Mutagenics Lab->Mutagenics Lab]]</b><</if>> <<if $goowerewolf is false>><b>[[Investigate the [Special Containment Lab]->Special Containment Entrance]]</b> <<elseif $goowerewolf is true>>\<</if>><b>[[Return to the Front Lobby->Front Lobby]]</b>

The engineering department sounded like the perfect place to find something easy to grab and make a quick buck off of, right? Even if you couldn’t find some high-tech prototype there was bound to be all kinds of valuable electronics and mechanical components just waiting to be claimed. Thankfully the department had a helpful directory map similar to those you would find in a mall. A helpful “You are here” dot showed your location as well as a rough outline of the department with labels for each room and laboratory. Unfortunately, the majority of the rooms were simply labeled with the name of whatever person ran that particular lab. It wasn’t like you expected there to be a room labeled “here is all the valuable stuff” but it would have been a nice change of pace. Thankfully there were a few of rooms labeled with something other than a person's name. The Transport Lab sounded like some kind of storage and receiving area. Maybe that was where they delivered all the supplies that the facility used? If you were lucky maybe there was still a truck hooked up to the dock with valuable components you could just drive off with. <<if $leftsalemgiant is false>>The Size lab was a bit too vague sounding for your liking. You didn’t really know what that could mean in practical terms but, with no more info on the directory other than its name, the only way to find out was to investigate. <b>[[Search the [Size Lab]->Size Lab]]</b><<elseif $leftsalemgiant is true>> \Occationally you could still hear the sounds of heavy impacts and feel the occational vibration shake through the hallway leading to the Size Lab. With the gigantic mouse still trapped in there it was probably best to just stay away for now. <</if>> <b>[[Investigate the [Transport Lab]->Teleport Lab]]</b> <b>[[Go back to the [Front Lobby]->Front Lobby]]</b>

\<<if $returntrip is true>><<set $height to 1>><</if>> So much for a receiving dock. There wasn’t a loading door or storage container in sight. Instead, the teleport lab looks as much a machine shop as a laboratory. There were various parts and spools of wire spread out all across the room, only about a quarter of which you could even vaguely identify the purpose of. Cables were spread seemingly at random all across the room; including along the walls and even the ceiling. Some of them were barely bigger than ethernet cables but some of them were thicker around than your arm! In the center of the room was a large, elevated metal platform that measured roughly twenty square feet. The lion’s share of the cables in the room all seemed to be connected into it at various points like some kind of hub. The platform itself had strange pylons vaguely reminiscent of those that you’d see on top of power substations hanging from the ceiling above it like mechanical stalactites. \<<if $goowerewolf is true>> You could feel a sense of foreboding welling up from inside you. It took a second to recognize that it wasn't from you. A moment later you heard Wolf's voice in your head, though he seemed either unwilling or unable to clarify beyond the vague sentiment he projected at you. \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Unease. Concern.">Unease. Concern.</h2> \</div> \<<elseif $goowerewolf is false>>\<</if>> Laying on the edge of the platform, like someone had been sitting there working and left it there when they left, was a small computer tablet. Across the room, up against the far wall, was a large computer terminal that still seemed to be powered on. You could see something was still pulled up on the screen but couldn’t make it out from across the room. \ <<if $leftsalemshrunk is false && $hastablet is false && $salembefriended is false && $salemcoerced is false>> <b>[[Check out the tablet on the platform|Accidental Activation][$wastransported to true,$height to 0]]</b> \<<elseif $leftsalemshrunk is false && $hastablet is true && $salembefriended is false && $salemcoerced is false>> <b>[[See if the tablet can take you somewhere else|Accidental Activation][$wastransported to true,$height to 0]]</b><</if>> <<if $mettinygoo is false>><b>[[Head towards the back to look at the computer|Have a Nice Trip][$wastransported to true,$height to 0]]</b><</if>> <b>[[Leave the Teleport Lab->Engineering Department]]</b>

The size lab was a large warehouse space with machine parts and cables strewn everywhere. Cords and cables almost as thick around as your wrist ran from several power junction boxes along the walls and all seemed to converge at a large machine near the entrance to the lab. On the far side of the room you could see several large windows set in the wall. The main focus of the room was a massive machine that looked like a Frankenstein amalgam of hardware and electrical components. With the way its wires and circuitry were still hanging out of every side you couldn't even tell if the thing was even fully constructed or not. On the front end of the device was a large metallic pylon like the barrel of a cheesy sci fi show's laser gun. On the back of the device was a large computer terminal, a control terminal you assumed, hooked up to the large machine. The device’s barrel pointed towards a intentionally-cleared section of the floor where was even a large X painted sloppily on the concrete. You weren't sure you wanted to know what this thing was supposed to do. All you did know was that even if the thing was the breakthrough of the century there was no way you were going to get something like that out of here on your own. Along the left side of the space was a smaller, partitioned area for individual offices and a smaller, secondary lab space with a large plate-glass window. Inside you could see tables covered in smaller mechanical components. \<<if $salemcoerced is true>> You can see Dr. Volmer tinkering with some component of the large machine. He's making an obvious show of pointedly ignoring your presence as promised. You still figured you should leave him alone. There was no reason to antagonize him unnecessarily.<</if>> \ \<<if $salembefriended is true>> You can see Dr. Volmer tinkering with size changing device nearby. He's making an obvious show of pointedly ignoring your presence as promised. Any attempt you made to try to approach him just made him blush and wander off towards his office in a clear attempt to avoid you.<</if>> <<if $leftsalemshrunk is false && $salemcoerced is false && $salembefriended is false && $tinysalem is false>> <b>[[Investigate the computer terminal->Discovered]]</b><</if>> <b>[[Investigate the Secondary Lab->Side Lab]]</b> <b>[[Head back to the engineering department directory->Engineering Department]]</b>

<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <b>Inventory:</b> \<<if $hasphone is true>> Smart Phone<<elseif $hasphone is false>>\<</if>> \<<if $hashacker is true>> Remote USB Hacker<<elseif $hashacker is false>>\<</if>> \<<if $hasshrinkray is true>> Shrink ray<<elseif $hasshrinkray is false>><</if>> \<<if $hasdepletedshrinkray is true>> Depleted Shrink Ray<<elseif $hasdepletedshrinkray is false>><</if>> \<<if $hastablet is true>> Teleport Control Tablet<<elseif $hastablet is false>><</if>> \<<if $hasmuscleformula is true>> Dr. Gigus's Formula<</if>> \<<if $tinysalem is true>> Shrunken Dr. Salem Volmer<</if>> \<<if $B1keycard is true>> Guard's Keycard<<elseif $B1keycard is false>>\<</if>> <b>Status:</b> <<if $injury is 0>>You're perfectly healthy! \<<elseif $injury is 1>>You are tired. \<<elseif $injury is 2>>You are lightly injured. \<<elseif $injury is 3>>You are moderately injured. \<<elseif $injury is 4>>You are Heavily Injured. \<<elseif $injury is 5>>You are crippled!<</if>> <<if $height is 0>> You've shrunk! (6 in tall) \<<elseif $height is 1>> You are normal-sized. \<<elseif $height is 2>> You're a giant! (100 ft tall)<</if>> <<if $goowerewolf is true>>Symbiote: Wolf<</if>> \<<if $sali is true>>Cyberntics: S.A.L.I.<</if>>

Upon approaching and inspecting the console you’re immediately assaulted with metrics, measurements, and readouts that make absolutely no sense to you. It may as well have been written in hieroglyphs for as far as you could make heads or tails of it. The only thing on the entire screen that really made any sense to you whatsoever was the big button at the bottom of the screen labeled “Fire”. At least that supported your suspicion that it was some kind of weapon. Unfortunately, before you had a chance to search through the various options on the screen in hopes of finding something more useful a sound nearby caught your attention. Turning around you found yourself looking at a small white and grey-furred mouse with a thin, slight build that did nothing to fill out his seemingly slightly oversized lab coat. The mouse was halfway through taking a bite of a sprinkled donut as he walked through the door leading into the Size Lab when he caught sight of you and froze in place. The two of you stared at each other for a second that seemed to stretch on for minutes as if either of you was scared to take your eyes off the other or try to make a move. When you finally were able to get enough control of your body back to take a half step backwards it seemed to break the spell the two of you were under. “Hey! Who the hell are you?!” The mouse demanded. As he spoke, he took a menacing step forward while jamming his partially-eaten donut in your direction as if using it to point at you. In any other circumstance it might have been almost comical to hear someone like this speaking with such authority. The mouse had to be barely five feet tall if even that; small enough that even you felt tall compared to him. That added to his thin build meant that you were sure even you could overpower him with little effort. The fear of being caught red handed, however, gave him an intimidating presence that surpassed his physical stature. “Uh…” You stammered in a lame attempt to buy yourself time to think of some excuse. Unfortunately, the mouse didn’t seem to be willing to oblige. “I said who the hell are you?” he repeated, taking another step closer. \ \<<if $goowerewolf is true>> \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Concern. Discovered!">Concern. Discovered!</h2> \</div> “Yes I know that.” You hissed at Wolf under your breath. The mouse heard you speaking under your breath and cocked his head in confusion. “Who are you talking too?” He demanded. \<</if>> Too panicked from your discovery; you couldn’t seem to think up any excuse on the spot that you thought might convince the mouse that you weren’t exactly what you actually were: an intruder. A quick glance over your shoulder behind you confirmed where the windows you had seen earlier were. There was one that was directly across the room from where you were now. You were pretty confident that you could outrun the mouse. Even if he was faster than he looked your longer stride should make up for the unlikely event of him being faster than you. One quick shove on the window and you could dive outside and, hopefully, to safety. Or, you could try to subdue him. It wasn’t the stealthy option you would have preferred for your burglary but one scientist knocked out or tied up in a closet was a much better option than having the cops called and being thrown in jail. \<<if $goowerewolf is true>> \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Weak prey. Subdue. Fight!">Weak prey. Subdue. Fight!</h2> \</div> Well, at least you knew what Wolf’s vote was. \<</if>> <b>[Make a run for the window across the room!->Shrunken]]</b> <b>[Try to restrain the mouse before he can call for help.->Accidental Discharge]]</b>

You immediately recognized the voice. It was the mouse scientist that you had been running from. But it wasn't quite the same as it had been just minutes ago. Now it was so much deeper; so much louder. So much… bigger. Just like the rest of the mouse. Where before the mouse had easily been more than a head shorter now he absolutely towered over you some kind of living building! His shoes were now the size of pickup trucks and his pants and lab coat were both big enough that they could have been used as circus tents! It dawned on you that the earthquakes hadn't been earthquakes at all. They have been footsteps! Footsteps of this massive Godzilla-like mouse that now towered over you. For the first few seconds all you could do was stare up at the gigantic rodent. When you finally were able to pull your eyes away from him to take another look at your surroundings you started vaguely recognizing some of the things off in the distance. Massive cylindrical objects snaking across the ground like trains that you soon recognized were power cables magnified a dozen times in size. Further off in the distance, past the looming silhouette of the scientist, was the strange machine now expanded practically to the size of a mountain in its own right! It finally dawned on you then. The mouse wasn't gigantic... he had shrunk you! “Well… Fuck.” you cursed aloud. \<<if $goowerewolf is true>> \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Well...Fuck.">Well...Fuck</h2> \</div> It seemed Wolf agreed. <</if>> <<set $height to 0>> <b>[[Beg him for help->Convince Him]]</b> <b><<if $hasshrinkray is true>> @@[Shrink Ray]@@ [[Give him a taste of his own medicine|Mutually Assured Reduction][$withsalem to true]]<</if>></b>

“This can’t be happening. This can’t be really happening.” you whispered in disbelief. This should have been something only possible in sci-fi shows and cartoons. And yet despite how much your brain wanted to tell you this wasn't real your eyes didn't lie. The mouse was growing. Within two seconds of the light hitting him the mouse had already grown so large the even down on his hands and knees he was as tall as your standing height! But he didn't stop there. Rapidly, his body swelled and expanded to fill as much of the open space in the warehouse-sized laboratory as it could. His legs stretched out behind him until you heard the audible thump of his feet smacking against and pressing into the outside wall. His elbows spread to either side of him and shoved the large electrical cables out of their way as they took up more and more space. You had to backpedal several steps until you were up against the wall near the entrance to avoid being crushed as a pair of glasses with lenses now the size of bay windows fell off the mouse's face and crashed to the ground where you had been standing moments ago. As if that wasn’t intimidating enough a quick glance down showed you they had landed hard enough to visibly dent the concrete. And, they were still growing with the rest of the mouse even when not on his face! Despite the mouse's reflexive efforts to curl in on himself and take up less space he was rapidly filling the majority of the room. Barely ten seconds after his growth had started and his back was already pressing up against the metal support rafters built into the ceiling hard enough you could hear the reinforced steel bending. Thankfully he only grew for a couple more seconds before the light faded and his body stop enlarging. It was hard to tell with him still on his hands and knees but if you had to guess he had to be at least six or seven stories tall. Even hunched down his back was pressing up against the ceiling which had to be at least three stories tall itself. His thin lanky arms were now almost as thick around as train cars and his feet pressed against the far wall were now big enough that he could crush a car under foot like it were a tin can. Your blood ran cold when you saw one of his now massive hands reach out towards you, each finger alone almost as big as you were. When you looked up, though, the mouse didn't seem to be looking at you. In fact, from the way his eyes were squinting, he didn't really look like he was looking at anything in particular like he was having trouble focusing his sight. Just before the hand would have smashed you up against the wall it stopped and instead picked up the now gigantic pair of glasses that had landed nearby. Only once they had been raised up and settled comfortably back onto the bridge of his muzzle so he could see again did the mouse then swing his garage size head around to take stock of his surroundings. Then his head lowered down and he locked eyes with you. The hard glare that he gave you sent a shiver down your spine and the words came out of your mouth unbidden. “… Oh I am so fucked aren't I?” <b>[[Face to face with your 'big' mistake->Big Angry Mouse]]</b> $wolfshocked

Taking stock of your surroundings you couldn't quite make sense of where you were. The floor was made of sealed concrete but looked coarse and rough like it hadn't been maintained properly. When you looked up it took you a moment to process what you were looking at. You couldn't easily see the ceiling in the dim lighting of the room as it seemed to stretch up dozens of stories in the air. It was only after staring at it for a good three or four second that you started to vaguely make out the shapes of gigantic steel support beams. There was no way you were still in the same building. You hadn't taken a good look at the place before going inside but you knew damn well there was no part of the building that was this big. This Warehouse looking space you were in looked like it was the size of a skyscraper! Not only that but it seemed to stretch off into the distance for what felt like miles. Farther off, across the far side of the room you saw what looked like a series of massive cylindrical structures nearly the size of trains snaking across the ground and eventually connecting to an enormous metal monstrosity near the far end of the building. Something definitely didn't feel right. You just couldn't quite place your finger on it. Then, you felt the ground shake. Swinging your head back and forth you Instinctually tried to find something to dive under for cover like every kid was conditioned to do during an earthquake. Then there was another earthquake, stronger than the first, followed by a third a few seconds later. You knew what aftershocks were but you thought they weren't supposed to be as strong as the original. If anything, these were getting stronger! When the fourth earthquake hit you heard a heavy impact off in the distance behind you and felt a faint blast of air blow across your back. Suddenly feeling a strange sense of dread, you slowly turned around to look behind you. And then had to crane your head up. And up. … and up. Standing before you was an utterly enormous creature that towered over you like a living building. The sheer shock of seeing something so utterly massive made it take a second or two before you recognized it as a mouse in a lab coat; blown up to a ridiculous scale. His shoes where the size of trucks and his pants and lab coat were both big enough that they could have been used as circus tents. Those earthquakes hadn't been earthquakes at all. They have been footsteps. The footsteps of this massive, Godzilla-like mouse that now towered over you. It took a few seconds of simply staring up at the gigantic rodent before your eyes were able to wander slightly beyond his massive, eye-catching self. It was only then that you started to comprehend your surroundings. Massive cylindrical objects snaking across the ground like trains that you quickly recognized were power cables magnified a dozen times in size. Further off in the distance, past the looming silhouette of the scientists, that strange machine across the warehouse wasn’t the size of a building in its own right after all! It finally dawned on you. The mouse wasn't gigantic... You've been shrunk! “Holy shit.” \<<set $height to 0>> <b>[[Angrily demand he return you to normal size->Don't Piss Off A Giant]]</b> <b>[[Apologize and beg him not to hurt you->Attempted Negotiation]]</b> <b><<if $hasshrinkray is true>> @@[Shrink Ray]@@ [[Give him a taste of his own medicine|Mutually Assured Reduction][$withsalem to true]]<</if>></b>

“N-now listen. We can talk about this… let’s not do anything hasty…!“ Even as you were nervously pleading up to the giant mouse you were trying to put some more distance between you and him. Unable to muster the bodily control to force yourself up to your feet you instead opted to crab walk backwards; half scooting and half crawling away from the rodent. It didn't help that you had to make a conscious effort not to think about the fact that you were so small relative to him that he could probably cover more distance with a single footstep than you could at a dead run in the same time window. Unfortunately, the mouse didn't respond to your words. Either the mouse wasn't listening or he simply couldn't hear you from so high up. In place of a response, you got another localized earthquake as the mouse took a step closer. This close that single footstep covered most of the remaining distance between the two of you; causing his foot to land only a couple of yards away from you. A couple of yards from your perspective, that was. In reality it was probably only a couple of inches. The sheer difference in scale between the two of you made something as simple as a footstep one of the most intimidating things you had ever experienced. It wasn't just the size of the foot or even the way the ground literally shook for you from the impact. You could actually feel a gust of wind whip across you from the air displacement of his foot coming down. That alone was nearly strong enough to make you stumble even without the accompanying quake that followed! Some small part of your mind wondered how much that foot must weigh relative to you right now. When the mouse took a step with his other foot so that you were framed almost directly between his two feet you decided that was a question you really hoped you never got an answer to. While you had been distracted by the potentially lethal footsteps approaching you the mouse had been muttering to himself under his breath the entire time. Even speaking quietly under his breath, though, his superior size made even those mumbled words a booming rumble. You only snapped out of your daze and looked away from the vehicle sized feet and up to the billboard sized face overhead when you caught his last few mumbled words. “- survived reduction intact. The successful test raises average success rate to 73%.” It took a second for those words to register. When they did a wave of unease and fear completely unrelated to the intimidating size of the mouse up inside of you. Before you realized what you were doing you were on your feet stabbing a finger upwards towards the sky-filling rodent and yelling up at him in what must have been a high pitched squeaking voice to the Giant. “Survived intact?! You mean there was a 25% chance I wasn't going to survive this! Are you insane?!” Abruptly the ground rumbled, though less violently then when the mouse took a step, as his weight shifted. The mouse leaned forwards to balance on the balls of his feet. His knees bent and his hands came to rest atop them as his whole body lowered down to crouch over you. Somehow the giant rodent squatting down over you like this, like you might have bent down to pick up a penny off the ground or inspect an insect, made you feel even smaller than you had a few moments ago. “27%, to be accurate.” he corrected before elaborating. “Early tests showed that even minor fluctuations in capacitor charge would destabilize the reduction field and make its effects uneven. If-“ “Stop stop stop!” you cried out. As you did you grabbed the sides of your head and flattened your ears against the top of your skull. “Please good lord I really don't think I want to hear the details of what would have happened if whatever the hell you did to me didn't work right.” To your surprise the mouse actually looked a bit embarrassed. “That… is a good point. Sorry.” He apologized. Now it was your turn to be surprised. Well, more surprised than you already were to suddenly find yourself smaller than a GI Joe. The mouse was being far less malicious than you would have expected him to be with what he had to know was an intruder. An intruder that he now effectively had completely at his mercy. You had no delusions that if this mouse wanted to do something to you right now there was really not a damn thing you could do to resist him or escape him. Anger, threats of violence, or even actual violence all would have been perfectly expected. The mouse apologizing was not. “Uh… thanks. I. Um.” you stammered, groping around for how to react. “So... if I said I was sorry any chance you might let me go...?” It never hurt to ask, right? Apparently not as, to your further surprise, the mouse didn't immediately refuse or laugh at you like you would have expected. One of his hands raised from his knee and rubbed thoughtfully at his chin as he visibly mulled over the question. When he did finally respond you got the last answer you were expecting to get. “Yea. Sure. Seems fair.” He answered with a shrug. “…Wait. Really?” you asked, unable to keep the skepticism out of your voice. “Let's call it quid pro quo for using experimental and possibly dangerous technology on you without your consent. I'll pretend like I never saw you and you pretend like I didn't use a machine on you that had a one-in-four chance of making you explode.” Despite the grizzly mental image that momentarily put in your head you couldn't help but smirk up at the giant mouse. “27%, actually.” You corrected. That got a legitimate laugh out of the mouse. Unfortunately for you it became immediately apparent that the mouse had been lowering his voice when talking to you. When the full-volume bark of laughter escaped from the mouse it was loud enough that it left your ears ringing. His mirth quickly died, though, as he looked back down at you with a serious expression. “Although… there might be a little bit of a problem. Or, at least, a disclaimer.” He hedged, suddenly looking rather nervous. “There uh… there is a risk involved in using the device to return you back to normal as well. There is a one in... well let's just say you're probably better off not knowing the odds. I'll just say you have a better chance of being turned back to normal than not. Unfortunately, the only other option is, well, leaving you this size. “ For a moment you simply stared up at the mouse, dumbstruck. It hadn't quite registered that there would have been a risk to return you to normal size. Thinking about it for even a second though it made total sense if there was a risk and shrinking you there was definitely a risk in growing you back. For a moment you wanted to start yelling up at the mouse in outrage once more that he had done this to you. Thankful you got those urges under control before you actually opened your mouth and said something you’d regret. The scientist was being amicable for the time being but that didn't mean you wanted to risk pissing off someone that was still perfectly capable of squashing you like a bug. “Well… hm. Kinda… kinda shit choices to be honest.” You said aloud, more to yourself to help you think than as an accusation towards him. “I’m Alex, by the way.” “Volmer. Doctor Salem Volmer.” the mouse said, returning the introduction. After mulling it over for a moment you finally shrugged and looked back up at Dr. Volmer with your answer. “Well… “ <b>[\[Give it a shot! You don't want to be tiny forever!->Attempted Reversal]]</b>

The mouse doesn't really appreciate your tone of voice. He decides to remind you of the position you're in by pressing a foot down on top of you, nearly crushing you. Then he picks you up in a fist and raises you up to his face and describes to you in great detail what he could do to you if you don't start showing a little respect to someone ten times you size. @@[This path is still under construction. Check back in future updates for more content!]@@ <b>[[Restart|Start][Engine.restart()]]</b>

Before you even had a chance to recover from the shocking sight of a gigantic mouse he took another step towards you. To your horror it looked like this one looks like it was aimed straight for where you were standing! Panicked, you tried to scramble backwards out of the way without taking your eyes off of the oncoming automobile sized shoes only to trip and fall on your ass. Clenching your eyes shut you raising both arms defensively above your head and waited for the inevitable crushing impact. When the impact came, though, the ground shook again but the only thing you felt hit you was a blast of air from the side. After a moment of hesitation you opened your eyes and looked around again. The pickup truck-sized sneaker had landed directly next to you rather than on top of you. In fact, it had landed so close that you could almost reach out and touch it without having to move. Slowly trailing your gaze up the massive pillar of a leg you saw the mouse now standing directly over you, a wide grin on his face. “Well well well…“ came the mouse's deep voice. “It seems we've got ourselves a little intruder. Emphasis on little.” Despite the precarious situation you found yourself in you still felt a wave of indignation boil up at being called little. When you open your mouth to contradict him the words died on your lip, though. As you quickly glanced around again you reminded yourself that the mouse was entirely correct. You were tiny; ridiculously so. That didn't mean you had to like it. Your initial Instinct was to challenge authority figures even if it was sometimes to your detriment. Thankfully this time you were smart enough to know how laughably, hilariously outclassed you were. Even then it still took significant self control not to snipe back with a snide comment. Instead, for once, you decided to try diplomacy. After all it's not like you could force someone the size of a building to do anything they didn't want to do so it was your only realistic option. “Look, please don't hurt me! listen mister uh… “ you called up to him in what you could only assume was a squeaky voice to his ears, only to trail off when you realized you didn't know his name. “Doctor Volmer. Doctor Salem Volmer.” the mouse helpfully supplied, still grinning. “Right, yes! Look, Salem-“ you started to say only to be cut off by his deep voice drowning out your own. “Doctor Salem.” he corrected, emphasizing his title with a tone of authority. As he did he slowly crouched down over you, hands resting on his knees, to cast his massive shadow across the entire area around you. It was blatantly obvious he was clearly enjoying his position of power and trying to intimidate you. The problem was it was working. [[Try to reason with him->Desperate Diplomacy]]

\<<set $hasshrinkray to false>><<set $hasdepletedshrinkray to true>> \ Panicked, you desperately looked around in the fleeting hope of discovering help or somewhere to escape too. Suddenly being confronted by someone a dozen times your size has sent your brain into a panicked overdrive of fight or flight. Just when you were about to simply turn tail and run a moment of clarity struck. You had your own shrink ray! Barely giving the idea a second thought you desperately reached towards your hoodie pocket where you had stashed the portable prototype you took earlier. Thankfully the device was simple by design. Just a basic control dial for what you assumed was to control the size of the target and a trigger to fire the device. “Wait. Is that-“ the deep rumble of the giant mouse's voice began to ask. You didn't wait to let him finish. Instead pulled the trigger the moment you had the gun raised and aimed up the giant. The device hummed for a split second in your hand before a flash of green light burst from its tip and shot straight towards the towering mouse. Instantly the mouse rapidly began to dwindle in size as a glowing green aura engulfed his entire body. His eyes went wide in shock and fear; quickly transforming into outrage. Gigantic, yet still shrinking hands, reached out towards you with the intention to grab you even as the mouse shrunk. Unfortunately for him the shrinking was so fast that by the time he had crouched down to reach for you he was already only a quarter of his original size; barely three times your own height and still shrinking. When he finally did get ahold of you he was barely a head taller than you were. His hands reached out and grabbed onto your shoulders as his outrageous seemed to momentarily overwhelm his understanding of his increasingly perilous position. When the mouse started having to look up at you, though, his hands quickly let go of your shoulders as the reality of his predicament finally dawned on him. Thankfully for the mouse the shrinking didn't last much longer than that. It slowed to a stop when he was just a bit under a head shorter than you. From your perspective he looked to be about five feet tall though you knew neither of you could be more than 6 inches tall at the most. He wasn't anywhere close to being as tiny to you as you had been to him only moments ago but at least now you no longer had to be worried about him stepping on you. Taking a step away from you out of fear; the mouse swung his head to and fro to take stock of his surroundings. When he finally settled his gaze back on you, needing to angle his head upwards slightly to meet your eyes, he started yelling. “Are you insane?! Do you have any idea what you've just done? What could have happened?! That thing only can hold one charge, and we’re too small to use the prototype! Now we’re stuck like this! What the hell are we supposed to do now?! Thinking about it for a moment, maybe the guy had a point. Maybe you should have thought this through a little better. Then again, you weren’t sure if being a discovered intruder that was small enough to swallow whole would have been any better than this. \ <<if $hastablet is true && $wastransported is true>> “Well. I might have a way to fix this.” <b>@@[Teleport Control Tablet]@@ [[Examine the tablet for a solution->A Path Back]]</b><</if>> <b>[[Apologise and try to work together|Tiny Truce][$salemissmall to true]]</b>

Wolf Glitching Text <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="FEED">FEED</h2> \</div> Sali Glowing Text <p2>Shh. You saw nothing. Come back in a future update.</p2> <h1><<return>></h1>

<<if $hastablet is false>>The tablet seemed like the easiest bet. If it had valuable information on it that would be far easier to take with you than the computer across the room. Making a quick hop up over the foot-high edge of the elevated platform, you made your way over to the tablet and bent down to pick it up. From a distance it had looked like any other tablet PC. Once you had it in your hands, though, it was clear that it was something a bit more high-quality. It was roughly the size of a 7-inch tablet but with a case made of a more durable-feeling material than you were used to from consumer electronics. Just from feel alone you would bet you could chuck this thing across the room as hard as you could and it wouldn't even leave a mark on the device.<</if>> A quick tap to the power button immediately popped on the screen; only further impressing you with the quality of construction both inside and out. If there had been a delay in the screen responding to you it was too tiny for you to notice. Unfortunately, the information on the screen itself <<if $hastablet is true>>still<</if>> didn't make a lot of sense to you. There were a lot of numerical readouts and what look like places you could input information. In addition, there were several small buttons on the UI next to the input fields that looked like they were presets. Pressing each one would change the numbers in the fields to a specific numerical set in a way that reminded you of preset radio stations in your car. At the bottom of the layout what's a large button labeled “Process”. <<if $hastablet is false>>Expecting some kind of instructional page to tell you how the process of whatever this thing was worked you pressed the button without hesitation. Unfortunately, your assumption had been wrong.<<elseif $hastablet is true>> At least you knew what to expect when you pressed the proccess button this time.<</if>> The moment you pressed the button a deep hum filled the room. You could feel the tablet in your hand heat up slightly as if its processors were suddenly working overtime. On top of that the sound of crackling electricity filled the air as tiny visible arcs of electricity jumped between the pylons overhead like a cluster of Tesla coils. <<if $hastablet is false>>You opened your mouth to let out a curse but you didn't even get the first syllable past your lips before you were blinded by a bright white flash of light!<<elseif $hastablet is true>> As expected lights began to swarm around you before momentarily blinding you with a bright flash of white light.<</if>> When your vision cleared a brief glimpse of your surroundings immediately put you on edge. You were no longer in the machine shop-looking lab space. <<if $hastablet is false>>It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened to you. Somehow, the machine had transported you somewhere else! Transport lab, my ass. It was a god damn teleporter! \ You have aquired [Teleport Control Tablet]<</if>> <b>[[Take stock of your surroundings|Mouse to a mouse][$wastransported to true,$hastablet to true]]</b>

<<if $giguslockedinvault is false>>The Mutagenics lab was exactly as you had expected it to look. It was like a modern-day alchemy lab from some fantasy movie. Rows of tables filled the room with a seemingly infinitely connecting series of glass tubes and beakers that would make Peewee Herman’s breakfast machine look like a game of mouse trap in comparison. The walls were lined with dozens of cabinets and refrigerated storage units, most of which having glass doors that showed off the multi-colored vials of chemicals stored within. Unfortunately the containers lining the walls and laying on the tables had no obvious value to you. The few that did have labels were labeled with incoherent batch numbers like “T1-07”. Sadly, The lab was meticulous with their filing and organization. As far as you could see there wasn’t a single loose piece of paper or powered-on terminal anywhere in the room. In fact, you didn’t even see any terminals or filing cabinets anywhere in sight. Some small, childish part of you was disappointed that you probably wouldn’t find clearly labeled formula to turn you into a Godzilla monster or give you superpowers. Further inspection revealed the opposite end of the room lined with several office doors. You assumed those must be the storage areas and private offices of the researchers that worked in this space. <<if $tigerdrugged is false>>One of the rooms had light coming from the small glass window above the door handle. Someone was still here.<</if>> <<if $tigerdrugged is false>>You can hear a muffled voice coming from inside the illuminated office. You catch faint snippets of a male voice complaining and ranting about something in an elevated tone of voice you can’t quite make out. After a moment of listening you're confident there’s only one voice coming from inside. They must be talking to themselves. Next to the door was a small plaque that read "Dr. B Gigus". \<<elseif $tigerdrugged is true>>In the back you can see the door to Dr. Gigus's office with the light still on. Though, with him unconsious, there were no more voices coming from the room.<</if>> \<<if $tigerdrugged is false>><b>[[Peek through the office window to see what's going on inside->Self-Experimentation]]</b><<elseif $tigerdrugged is true>><b>[[Peek back into Dr. Gigus's office->Dont Risk It]]</b><</if>> <b>[[Head back to the directory->Biology Department]]</b><<elseif $giguslockedinvault is true>>The Mutagenics Lab is a total wreck after your confrontation with Dr. Gigus. Just being here reminded you of the monster the doctor had become and sent a shiver down your spine. Even if there had been something valuable in here before there certainly wasn't now. You figured you should go looking elsewhere for now. <b>[[Back to the department directory->Biology Department]]</b><</if>>

The inside of the vault was practically barren. The room itself looked to be a perfect, pure-white cube roughly thirty feet in each dimension and lit almost uncomfortably bright. There were no visible seams along the floors, walls, or ceiling save for the far back wall across from the vault door. In fact, the only thing that marred the otherwise perfectly smooth, white surfaces was a single vent set into the middle of the ceiling to let air in and out of the obviously airtight room. It took you a moment to realize you couldn't even tell where the light in the room was coming from. The back wall of the room was lined top to bottom with small doors of varying sizes: each with a fingerprint scanner. They looked almost like high-tech versions of security deposit boxes. Sadly there were no visible seams anywhere on any of the panels. Which mean you had no hopes of being able to pry one of them open to get the remote hacker in. Not everything was locked in those security boxes though. On a small table in the middle of the room, made of the same white material as everything else here, was a pile of manilla folders. Most of the folders were open with their pages spread out across the top of the table. Among the papers were miscellaneous other items like a legal pad<<if $goowerewolf is true>> and some handheld tools you didn't recognize.<<elseif $goowerewolf is false>>, some handheld tools you didn't recognize, and a large glass canister. Inside the canister was a thick black goo that was strangely uncomfortable to look. It wasn't just black; it was the lack of color itself. You've heard about something like this before on one of those science facts shows. It reminded you of that vantablack stuff: a shade of black that completely absorbed all color so that if you painted a three-dimensional object in it you wouldn't be able to perceive depth and it would look flat. It was hard to tell from the optical illusion its color created but you swore you could actually see it moving. Whatever it was it had to be something valuable if it was locked up in a vault like this. Maybe if you checked out the notes on the table you might be able to get an idea of what it was. Then again there was just something off about that goo that made you uncomfortable even going near it. Maybe you should listen to your instincts and leave it be. <<if $height is 1 && $sali is false>><b>[[Inspect the notes and strange container->Oops]]</b><<elseif $height is 1 && $sali is true && $canistersaved is false>><b>[[Inspect the notes and strange container->Sali Saves From Wolf]]</b><<elseif $height is 1 && $sali is true && $canistersaved is true>>There's nothing else of interest left on the table and you really don't want to go near that weird canister again. <</if>>\<</if>> <<if $height is 1>><b>[[Head back to the Biology Department directory->Biology Department]]</b><</if>> \ \<<if $height is 0>> All of this would have been quite interesting if you weren't standing atop the table in the center of a room that, to your size, seemed to stretch on for a mile or more in any direction. You were tiny! Little things littered across the parking lot sized table top like pencils and legal pads were now the size of canoes and concrete foundation slabs to you! The pieces of paper scattered around you were easily the size of billboards! At this scale it was hard to see much of the room beyond the table you were on. Not surprising, considering the table by itself was the size of a parking lot now.<<if $goowerewolf is false>> You could try climbing up the tallest thing around, in this case the glass canister of black goo, to see if you can spot an exit. Or, <</if>>maybe the tablet that got teleported with you might be able to help.<</if>> <<if $height is 0 && $goowerewolf is false>><b>[[Climb the canister to look for an exit.->Tiny Oops]]</b><</if>> <<if $hastablet is true && $height is 0>><b>@@[Teleport Control Tablet]@@ [[Maybe the tablet can get you back|A Path Back][$returntrip to true,$height to 1,$mettinygoo to true]]</b><</if>>

As you lean toward the edge of the door’s window you catch sight of the source of the voice inside. Wearing a loose-fitting open lab coat over a pair of jeans and a dark green polo shirt was a tall, slightly pudgy orange-and-black-striped tiger pacing back and forth across the small room and grumbling to himself. If you had to guess he had to have at least six inches in height on you; making him at least six and a half feet tall. While it’s not unusual for tigers to be that tall you're surprised how lanky he looks. Tigers and other big cats tend to have a genetic predisposition towards being thick and beefy. This tiger, though, looked about as beefy as you were. Which was to say: not at all. He still had a decent amount of weight on him but it was mostly centered around his guts and thighs in the form of a hefty paunch and a plump backside. He wasn't overweight enough to consider fat but he had enough padding that his gut overhung is beltline by at least an inch. This close to the door it wasn’t too difficult to make out what the tiger was saying to himself. “-Bastards want to shut me down? Those morons didn't even understand half of my report! Bunch of asinine bureaucrats trying to tell me what I can and can't do. They think I'm crazy? I'll show them crazy. I'll show them!” You ducked down just in time to avoid being spotted as he abruptly turned around. As he paced back across the room you could hear him rustling through a cabinet. Only when you were confident he was distracted did you peek back through the window once more. You saw the tiger loading a small, finger-sized glass tube into a chrome gun-like device that were pretty sure was some kind of high-tech syringe that used pressurization to inject medicine rather than a push syringe. You were confused as to what he planned to do with it seeing as there wasn’t anyone else in the room for him to inject that stuff into. As if in answer to your question you watched as he pressed the syringe against his own shoulder. “Let's see those idiots laugh and call me crazy when they see what my research can do firsthand!” the tiger growled ominously. <b>[[This can’t be good->Tiger is Unconsious][$tigerdrugged to true]]</b>

You had never considered yourself to be paranoid. Cautious, sure, but never paranoid. At least not without a good reason. Whatever it was that was making you uneasy about the canister was probably just a symptom of your nerves. At least that's what you told yourself. Doing your best not to pay attention to it you approached the table and began rifling through the various notes. As expected most of them were filled with technical jargon that you couldn't make heads or tails of. Most of the pages used so much technical jargon you only understood about one out of every four words; something about Gene sequences and foreign infection. Other pages looked like chemical diagrams. You didn't recognize it but that didn't exactly mean a whole lot considering you probably wouldn't even recognize the chemical formula for water. The big classified stamp on the top of the page, however, made it a reasonable assumption that this was something a lot more unique than water. After several minutes of trying to make sense of the documentation you finally gave up. You'd be better off making copies and let someone smarter than yourself try to figure it out. As you reached into your pocket for your phone a faint clicking sound echo through the otherwise quiet room. Your head to whipped around in the direction it had come from while your hands raised reflexively in a defensive stance. Or at least that's what they tried to do. In your panic your hand, still stuck halfway into your pocket, caught on the edge of your jeans pocket and caused your elbow to jerk to the side. Unfortunately for you, it jerked right towards the glass canister. As if in slow motion you watched the metal frame and canister tip off the edge of the table. It was only then that you recognized the metal frame that was supposed to stop this exact thing from happening was unclasped as if whoever had been examining it last had left the safety measures for the canister in as much disarray as the documentation in front of you. That meant when the metal frame hit the ground the glass canister popped out of it and smashed into a thousand pieces on the floor. Black goo splattered across the ground with a wet squelching sound. Oddly, the liquid seemed to stay together as one complete mass. It stretched and expanded across the floor but none of the goo actually separated into individual puddles or splatters. It was as if it was all one connected piece that just happened to be in a liquid state. You would have spent more time questioning what that meant if, a split second later, the puddle of goo hadn't started to move towards you! <b>[[This can't be good->Infested]]</b>

You figured you may as well take a look around while you were here. You were pretty sure there was some famous saying about the benefits of having the high ground but you couldn't remember exactly how it went. Either way it seems like your best bet was to try to get a lay of the land and that meant doing some climbing. Thankfully the glass canister of weird goo had that helpful metal framework around it that you assumed was to protect it from breaking. In your case though, at your current size, it worked just as well as a jungle gym to help you climb up. The canister itself was about twice your height with the metal frame adding a bit more on top of that. Thankfully with the frame giving you plenty of handholds it was relatively easy to climb the couple of stories up to reach the top. Once atop the canister you had a bit better view around the room. Part of you wished you hadn't asyour improve view only made the room around you seems that much bigger and, by extension, made you feel that much smaller. Unfortunately, you couldn't really see an easily accessible exit. Two walls were perfectly smooth and the one behind you looks to be covered in safety deposit doors. <<if $vaultopen is false>> Then there was the one in front of you that looked like the back end of a massive immovable vault door. You didn’t think there was any way you could have opened that even at your normal size much less at toy-size. <<elseif $vaultopen is true>> Even though the vault door was open there was stil la gap of at least a foot between the bottom of the vault door and the floor. There was no way you’d be able to climb up that much of the smooth wall even if you could make it over there. <</if>> Up on the ceiling you saw a small air vent that you probably could fit through. The only problem was you had no way to get up that high considering, at your size, it was a couple of dozen stories straight up in the air. With no clear answer in sight, you decided to climb back down and rethink your options. Unfortunately, about halfway down the metal framing, your footing slipped out from under you as you tried stepping on a part of the frame that was too steep. When your leg slipped out from under you it was only the quick tightening of your right arm’s grip on the framework above that saved you from falling off entirely. Despite your insignificant weight at this size you still felt the canister and framework rock back and forth from your sudden movement. For a split Second you swore that you saw the goo inside move far more than the minor shaking you caused would allow and smack wetly against the opposite side of the glass canister. That, in turn, seemed to be enough momentum in the wrong direction that you felt the whole structure starting to tip backwards towards the edge of the table. When the option was falling nine or ten feet down to the tabletop below or falling a couple of dozen stories down to the floor below the choice was a no-brainer. Letting go of the framework, you let yourself tumble down onto the white table top below. Angling yourself forward as you fell, you did your best to duck into a roll to try to spread out some of your falling momentum as you landed. It helped to minimize the damage but you still got banged up a bit as you rolled to a stop. <span style="color:red"><b>[You have been injured]</b></span> The sharp sound of shattering glass seemed to echo through the cavernous room a second or two after the canister fell past the edge of the table. Apparently, the metal frame hadn't done enough to protect the glass inside. At least you were relatively safe. What the hell had that goo been, though? If you didn't know better you would have sworn it moved inside the container and purposely knocked itself off the table. Curiosity itched at the back of your mind even as the desire to get out of this room and back to normal intensified. <b>[[Lean over the edge of the table and see what happened to the canister|Curiousity Killed The Cat][$injury to $injury + 1]]</b>

Deciding that your best bet was to check out the computer itself you started making your way across the room. It didn’t help that the room was fairly dark; only about one in every four of the large drop-ceiling light fixtures was on at the moment. It was still enough to see by but not ideal. Unfortunately, that dim lighting came back to bite you in the ass. As you made it to the edge of the platform your foot caught on one of the crisscrossing, tree root-like cables running across the ground. Tipping forward your arms flailed about wildly to grab on to something to save yourself from a faceplant. At the last second you were able to grab ahold of the edge of the platform and push against it to keep yourself at least partially upright. It had been a close call, though. Grumbling to yourself, you kicked at the cable as you pushed yourself back up to your feet. Rather than risk tripping again you climbed up onto the platform to walk straight across instead. As you got about halfway across, though, you heard a crackle of electricity. Glancing back you immediately noticed a few sparks coming from the wall where the cable you had tripped on had been partially pulled out. A second shower of sparks burst from it before you felt the whole room begin to vibrate slightly. Eyes going wide, you looked up to see the machinery overhead powering up as the cord you had tripped over seemed to short out and trigger whatever this machine was. “Oh fuck m-“ You cursed aloud, only to be cut off by a flash of white light that left you momentarily blinded. When the light faded you immediately realized you were no longer in the room you had been in before. Somehow whatever had happened had moved you from one room to another. <<if $hastablet is false>>Glancing around to try to get a sense of where you were you noticed the small tablet that had been on the platform with you. Picking up and flicking on the screen told you practically nothing about what it was. You couldn’t make heads or tails of the numerical readouts and locations to input more numbers. The only parts that even made remote sense to you were the two buttons at the bottom reading “Process” and “Return”. Stowing the tablet away for now you returned to trying to get your bearings. You have aquired [Teleport Control Tablet]<</if>> Something wasn’t right about the room you were in now. It took a few moments of trying to make sense of what was around you before it finally clicked in your head. When it did, another string of choice curse words escaped your mouth. Gauging by the piles of papers and writing utensils scattered about you were standing on top of a table. The problem was that those pencils were the size of telephone poles and those papers were big enough to cover billboards. You had no idea how but somehow, you had shrunk! “Fuck me, indeed.” <b>[[Look around->Special Containment]]</b> <<set $height to 0>> \<<set $hastablet to true>>

Dragons/Avians: Have wings and can fly Cats/Rabbits: Enhanced reflexes for dodging danger Wolves/Bears: Enhanced strength for overpowering people set $beardesc set $dragondesc set $birddesc set $catdesc set $rabbitdesc set $wolfdesc <div class="myDiv"> [img["http://dragonien.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/photo_2021-03-11_02-04-20.jpg"]] </div>

<<link "Appearance">> <<popover>> <<include "Appearance">> <</popover>> <</link>> <br> [[Special Thanks]] <<if $cheats is true>>[[Cheats]]<</if>> [[Bug Report->https://forms.gle/ji3hJwt1Y2QyLyQY7]]]]

You are Alex: a white-furred arctic fox. As far as your health is concerned <<print setup.health()>> You are of average height; just a couple inches shy of six foot tall. \<<if $height is 0>> Or, at least you were until you found yourself suddenly the size of a toy.<</if>> \Your pelt covers the thin, lanky body underneath head to toe with soft, fluffy white fur. The dark black button of your nose stands out sharply against the pure, nearly-luminously white fur of your face. Your eyes similarly stand out from the color disparity against your surrounding fur; each one like a small emerald with an obsidian core. Your face tapers off into a narrow muzzle lined with sharp, ivory fangs. Two broad, triangular ears, slightly oversized for your proportions, stick out from the top of your head and. The fur along your chest puffs out a bit thicker than the rest of your body; leaving an extra bit of fur constantly pushing out of the collar of whatever shirt or jacket you wear and making your torso seem slightly thicker than it actually is. Your fingers and toes are lined with short, claws meticulously filed down to keep them from being an impediment to daily activity while still leaving them sharp enough to be used should they ever needed for anything more than open a soda can. While your thick pelt helps to fill out your clothes to make it less noticable your body is fairly thin. Lean, wiry muscle barely noticeable were you to push or wet down your fur and flex covered you head to toe. You’re not malnourished but your body clearly shows the signs of someone that isn’t a stranger to skipping meals while also being very at practical skills like running, jumping, and climbing rather than bodybuilding for sheer muscle mass. You're not going to win any arm wrestling contests anytime soon but you can count the number of people you've met that can outrun you on your fingers. You are currently wearing a pair of worn blue jeans and a dark blue hoodie with slits for your ears to poke out of the hood over a black t-shirt. Your feet are clad in a pair of open-toed sneakers scuffed and worn down from many months of rough usage while being still managing to be perectly serviceable. <<if $goowerewolf is true>>Now that you're sharing your body with Wolf, though, that's not the only form you have. When Wolf comes out you take on the form of their namesake. Your whole body, clothes and all, covers itself in a layer of the black goo that is Wolf. With him fully manifested your body swells into a towering eight-foot-tall werewolf sporting fine black fur that, were you to touch it, you wouldn't be able to tell that it was made of sentient goo instead of real fur. Powerful, rippling muscle bulged across your body in enough abundance that you easily could have passed for a professional bodybuilder if not for your otherwise unnatural and monstrous appearance. Your hands and toes sprout thick, razor sharp claws that each are sharp enough to leave gouges concrete even without your enhanced strength. In this form not only are your senses heightened but your strength is well beyond even what your impressive size should allow. With no real way to gauge exactly how strong you were when your best guess was that you were at least two or three times stronger than your impressive size should have allowed. The main downside to this form, though, is that Wolf’s presence in your mind becomes much more prevalent. His instinctual, primitive thoughts make it harder for you to control your baser urges. In some ways its less you sharing your body with him and more him taking over and you tugging on his leash to point him towards a desired goal.<</if>>

Well, luck did favor the bold. Or, at least, that's how you thought the saying went. As carefully as you could manage you turned the door handle and pulled it open. In the nerve-wracking silence of the risk you were taking even the quiet click of the door’s latch sounded like a gunshot to you. Luckily you were pretty sure that was just your imagination. Otherwise the tiger would probably be awake already. That is if he wasnt in some kind of a coma that even a marching band wouldn’t be able to wake him from. It wasn’t something you were very eager to test. You were careful to pull the door mostly closed so it couldn't swing open and banging against something. Only then did you turn your attention towards the next obstacle. There wasn't a lot of space between the tiger and his desk. You were going to have to step only a few inches away from one of his hands to get past. Carefully you began to tiptoe forward; one foot at a time. Several times you swore the tiger had moved and your whole body seized up only to stare intently and see no movement save for the rising and falling of his chest. At this rate if the tiger didn't wake up and kill you the anxiety and adrenaline would instead. Thankfully, after what seemed like an eternity of slow methodical movement, you were able to finish stepping over his arm and get behind the desk without trouble. Once past the tiger getting to the folder was a breeze. Glancing through the papers; it was obvious that being close enough to read them made them no more decipherable than when you had seen them from across the room. Thankfully you weren't getting paid to read scientific mumbo-jumbo; you were getting paid to steal it. You considered just taking the folder and its contents but then you thought about trying to carry the folder around as you searched the rest of the place would be a pain. Plus the risk of the tiger waking up and realizing someone had come in and took it was attention you didn't want. So you decided to take a few pictures instead. When you were done photographing everything you did your best to rearrange things as close to how they had been as you could remember. Only then did you turn back to make the journey past the slumbering tiger once again. This time it was easier. Or at least, you were less anxious about it. This time you weren't constantly imagining that he was going to suddenly snap and arm out and grab your leg like some cheesy zombie movie. As you finished stepping over him movement caught your eye. He was moving but... he wasn't moving? <b>[[Look closer->Tiger Growing]]</b>

Whatever was going on with that tiger it's probably a really bad idea to tempt fate and go back to his office right now. <b>[[Head back to the main lab area->Mutagenics Lab]]</b>

Desperately, you groped through what thoughts were still your own trying to figure out what you could do to fight this thing. It has been pretty clear that the more of your body it covered the more powerful its connection to your mind had been. For a moment you considered trying to rip it off of you. Every piece of it you could pull off of your skin should be less of itself that it had to control you. Unfortunately, <<if $height is 1>>as you thought back to your previous attempt to pull it off of your arms<<elseif $height is 0>>as you could feel the thing writhing around beneath your skin<</if>>, you knew that was almost certainly a useless effort. With no ideas for a physical solution the only thing you could think of was... well, a non-physical solution. <i><b><h1>No! </h1></b></i> You yelled the thought inside of your head with every ounce of mental force you could give it. You never would have thought that you could give yourself a headache from thinking too hard but the sheer effort it took to force out even that simplistic thought through the oppressive presence of the creature had been like trying to shove your way through white water rapids head first. To your surprise the presence invading your mind faltered and recoiled slightly in response to your mental projection. It was as if it hadn't expected either your resistance or the particular sentiment you had projected at it. The hesitation only lasted a moment, though, then it's thoughts returned full force. This time, though, while they resumed their attempt to crush down your own mind with the same overwhelming pressure that they had before now it’s thoughts had a slightly... curious undertone to them. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="CONCERN">CONCERN</h2> \</div> \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="CONFUSION">CONFUSION</h2> \</div> Whatever the thing was you somehow got the impression that it wasn't actually malicious. It didn't seem to understand what your protest was about. As if it didn't realize what it was doing was hurting you or undesirable. You thought that was a good sign. Or at least you hoped it was a good sign. Maybe that meant it could be reasoned with. Then again wild animals didn't understand complex concepts but usually hesitated when they heard a loud noise. And for all you know this was just the weird goo monster equivalent of that. Preferring to be optimistic rather than pessimistic, you tried to push another thought at the creature. <i><b><h1>Stop! Mine!</h1></b></i> You did your best to project a mental image of your body along with the thought. You were trying to impress on it a sense of ownership; trying to portray in as simple and primitive away as you could imagine that this body was yours and not the creature’s to take. Again, the Consciousness seemed to retreat back in on itself. This time when it returned the overwhelming pressure of its thoughts was slightly less intense. It was like the difference between someone twice your weight leaning against your side and pressing you against a wall rather than laying directly on top of you; Still smothering but less crushing than it had been moments before. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="CONFUSION">CONFUSION</h2> \</div> \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="CURIOUSITY">CURIOUSITY</h2> \</div> Now you felt like you were getting somewhere! Riding this momentum, you tried to impress on the foreign consciousness your sense of self and separate that from its sense of self. You projected that mental image of yourself and your body again and tried to impress upon it the idea of your individuality along with it. Then, you tried to do the same with a mental image of the black goo and impressing upon the presence that same sense of individuality for the presence in your mind and connect it to your mental image of the black goo while trying to emphasize that the two were supposed to be separate. To your hopeful surprise you felt some of the feeling come back into your arms and fingers. Not all of it returned but you at least had a little bit of motor control and could actually feel them again. The presence had retreated further. The sensation was only a brief reprieve though as you realized that the entity had pulled its awareness away from trying to take control of you and instead was starting to dig through your mind once more. Surprisingly though it didn't seem to be digging for the mechanism of control like it had before. In fact, you somehow could feel that it was digging through your memories instead of your mental faculties. Stranger still was that you got the impression that it simply did not understand most of what it was seeing. You could feel a growing mixture of confusion and frustration as it tried to sort through thoughts and memories that were as alien to it as it was to you. When it retreated back from your thoughts and projected itself at you again it's feelings were less oppressive and overwhelming... but no less determined. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="CONTROL">CONTROL</h2> \</div> <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="PERSIST">PERSIST</h2> \</div> <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="SURVIVE">SURVIVE</h2> \</div> Somehow through the jumbled mix of emotions that came with each word you were able to piece together the impression that it wanted; needed to take control of your body not for any malicious reason but because it needed you to survive. You felt it trying to push a thought towards you again but rather than another attempt at communication it was something that almost felt like a memory of its own. When it touched your mind, though, it immediately overloaded your consciousness and nearly knocked you out on the spot. It was like someone had somehow hit you right on the head with a hammer from inside your own skull. The jumbled Sensations of whatever the goo had tried to show you was so completely alien to your mind that it your brain literally could not process the information correctly. After that attempt to share failed the frustration noticeably grew in the entity. as it realized it couldn't share its thoughts with you the same way it had rifled through your own. After a long pause it projected another mental construct at you. To your surprise it was, if you were understanding correctly, a proposition. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="MERGE">MERGE</h2> \</div> \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="SHARE">SHARE</h2> \</div> \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="SURVIVE">SURVIVE</h2> \</div> If you understood it right it was basically offering to share your body rather than take it over completely. Part of you immediately wanted to revolt against the idea of being coerced into sharing your body with something that had basically been trying to kill you a moment ago. The moment those thoughts fluttered through your mind, though, the entity seemed to notice them and you could feel a surge of frustration and anger in response along with… indignation? At least that's what it felt like. The things still barely seemed to comprehend your way of thinking but if you didn’t know better it was trying to imitate the concept of being offended at what it must have seen as an accusation against it. After another moment of thought you realized there wasn't really much of a choice in the matter. From the way things have been going you were pretty sure that you didn't really have a chance of forcing the thing out of your mind much less off of your body without some outside help. And from the way the thing just thinking at you was powerful enough to nearly knock you unconscious it wasn't really a battle you were particularly confident in fighting. You had lived the most of your life rolling with the punches and taking less than ideal situations as they came. Granted none of your previous experiences really measured up to being infected by some kind of mutant sludge monster but you figured there was a first time for everything. With no real better option presenting itself you did your best to project acceptance. Suddenly your eyes snapped open and you jerked up right into a sitting position. Your consciousness had flipped back on as abruptly as a light switch turning on the lights and it left you momentarily disorientated. Frantically looking around you realize that you were still in the vault. Quickly raising your arms up you saw that, much to your relief, there was no black goo in sight. Only your own natural white fur and the cloth of your hoodie. A quick glance at your phone told you that, whatever had happened, you had only been unconscious for a few minutes. Just when you thought that maybe it all just been some weird hallucination after you had slipped and hit your head or something you glanced <<if $height is 0>>around to see the still-gigantic room surrounding you and reminding you of your reduced size.<<elseif $height is 1>>to the side and saw the mess of broken glass still spread out across the floor. But there was no sign of a single drop of its contents.<</if>> <<if $height is 1>>Deciding that this was too much for you to handle even for the payday you had been promised you decided the vault with more trouble than it's worth. <<elseif $height is 0>> Deciding that you needed to get back to trying to find a way to escape this room and get back to normal you tried to put the whole black goo dream out of your mind.<</if>> As you stood to leave you felt a familiar pressure in the back of your mind, much more subdued and bearable than it had been the last time you experiencing it in what, only moments before, you had thought was just a dream. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner=" TOGETHER "> TOGETHER </h2> \</div> “Well. Fuck.” you cursed allowed. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="No. Work Together.">NO. WORK TOGETHER.</h2> \</div> For a second there a foreign sense of amusement in your head. It took you a moment to realize that it wasn't your own feelings but rather feelings being projected by the creature. Had it just made a joke? "Uh... Can you understand me now?" You said aloud, already feeling stupid for what felt like talking to thin air. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Some. Learning.">Some. Learning</h2> \</div> To your relief it's 'voice' or thoughts or whatever it was using to communicate with you felt less overwhelming and loud; if thoughts could somehow be loud. It almost was like the more it spoke to you the better it understood how to do so. This was definitely the weirdest thing that had ever happened to you. <<if $height is 0>> and that included what had happened in this last hour where you had been shrunken to the size of an action figure.<</if>> "Uh.. So I guess we're stuck together for now. Do you...do you have a name? Whould I call you." For a long moment there was silence. It didn't speak to you but you could somehow tell that it was thinking. Then that strange feeling of it digging through your thoughts returned, though thankfully this time with a far less invasing and overwhelming touch. After a moment it seemed to grab on to some fragment of knowledge from your head and hold it up for your inspection. It was hard to make out the entirety of what it was trying to portray but you felt it trying to piece together different concepts and ideas from your mind to paint a mental picture for you. Power in the purest form nature could manage. Predation and predators that prey on the weak and those lesser than itself. Majesty: confidence in oneself and absolute assurity of being something magnificent created through the majesty of nature. Then a firm visual image held itself in your mind for several long seconds before it finally answered. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="WOLF. I am Wolf.">Wolf. I am Wolf.</h2> \</div> "Well. Uh. Wolf. Nice to meet you." you said aloud. To your surprise you felt a strange sense of acomplishment at your words; as if the creature was happy that you had accepted its name. It's pride at it's percieved suscess in choosing a name spread through you in such a way that it took you several seconds to realize you had been smiling involuntarily. Apparently the thing, or rather Wolf, still had influence over you. You were going to have to learn to control that. But for now, you still had a job to do. \ \<<set $goowerewolf to true>> <<if $height is 1>><b>[[Head back to the directory area->Biology Department]]</b> <<elseif $height is 0>> [[go back to trying to find a way out of here->Special Containment]]<</if>>

Desperation and a fresh surge of adrenaline that came along with it filled you with a fresh sense of defiance and determination. Whether through sheer force of will on your part or the creature’s influence recoiling out of reflex in response to your sudden aggression you were able to force your arms and hands to move once more to your own will. Fingers clenched into fists as sensation suddenly surged back through them; further forcing back the influence of the goo and causing it to visibly retreat off of your fingers and hands. You could actually see it rolling backwards away from your extremities as if some invisible force was pushing it backward. After that initial victory, though, things didn't go quite as you had hoped. You felt the pressure of the foreign influence suddenly crash down upon your thoughts once more and with renewed vigor. Looking down you could see that the goo was beginning to spread back up your hands again. The outrage and indignation that had fueled your initial progress rapidly begin to melt into despair and fear which only seemed to accelerate the loss of what little ground you had gained. You desperately grasped at the goo on your arms<<if $height is 1>> like you had beforehand<<elseif $height is 0>><</if>> in a futile hope of tearing it off of you. When your fingers weren't able to get purchase on the goo you began trying to use your claws instead. To your growing horror, the goo not only refused to give purchase to your grasping fingers but even your claws didn't seem to be able to so much as catch on it. As the sharp tips of your claws pressed down on the layer of solidifying black gunk covering you they simply stopped after the material gave slightly under their pressure. No matter how hard you pinched, scratched, and clawed at your own limbs you simply couldn't do any damage to the goo. Ironically not only was the goo trying to take you over but it was actually protecting you. If that oddly impenetrable material hadn't been covering your arms the violent ferocity in which you had been stabbing and slashing your claws in your increasing panic would have left your limbs a bloody, ruined mess. By now you could feel the influence of the entity digging into your mind past what mental defenses you had and into your thoughts themselves. Parts of your body began to move of their own accord as the goo, already having reclaimed of the parts of your arm you had freed, began to spread further up your head instead. It's voice, if you could call it that, rang out through your mind like a thunderous bell tolling with each word that it's spoke. Every word was laced with an intricate web of emotion and expression that the creature simply wasn't able to express with its limited understanding of vocabulary. Worse still was that your thoughts were beginning to follow along with what it was projecting; succumbing to its influence in a way difficult for you to even recognize until it was too late. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="CONSUME">CONSUME</h2> \</div> <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="COMBINE">COMBINE</h2> \</div> <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="FEED">FEED</h2> \</div> You began to lose track of why it was you were fighting in the first place. Your thoughts blurred with the entity's more and more with each passing second. Before long you started having difficulty telling the two of you apart. What were you resisting again? Something was trying to take over your body? No, this body was yours. It just needed to be reminded. Why was your body fighting against you? Don't fight. You need to finish forming. You needed to become one. As the last vestiges of your independent thought melted away into the boiling sea of emotion and instinct all you found that you could think about was that you were missing something... That you needed something... That you were... <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="HUNGRY">HUNGRY</h2> \</div> <b>[[Time To Feed->Symbiote Feeding End]]</b>

<<if $height is 0>>It had taken you most of the evening to gather your strength. Your host had been so small, so tiny that when you first had seen it you didn't even think it could have supported you. It was only after you merged that you found out that it wasn't supposed to be that small. It was no matter, though. All it meant was that you had some catching up to do. After a couple of hours of making your way through the air vents you had found yourself in some room filled with metal cages. A fragment of something you had once been piped up and told you it was some kind of animal testing lab. Not that those words meant anything to you. What you did know was that the room was filled to the brim with all kinds of other creatures big and small; some hardly any larger than you currently were, yourself. The fragment had called it an animal testing lab but you knew what it really was. A feast. By the time you had finished feasting upon the creatures in the room you had swollen to a more proper size. All of your appetizer's mass had added to your own. Now you could take on larger prey. And larger prey meant larger meals.<</if>> You could smell them. There were people still in the building. Your senses were so acute now that you could hear the tiniest vibration of sound through a dozen walls. You could smell the faintest whiff of cologne or musk even from the microscopic particles that the building's ventilation system wasn't able to completely filter. You could even sense the opening and closing of doors from the infinitesimally minuscule shifts in air pressure against your hide. Your entire body was like one gigantic radar disc sucking up information from every possible source like a sponge. It gave you an absolute, supernaturally perfect awareness of everything within a thousand feet of you. It gave you the perfect tools to \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="HUNT">HUNT</h2> \</div> Black fur rippled across your skin of its own accord, as if your very flesh and fur itself were writhing in anticipation of the coming hunt what to follow. A brief flash of memory flickered through your mind; a stray thought of once pristine white fur that now gleamed polished black in the dim light like cold obsidian. Powerful muscles tensed as thighs thicker around then tree trunks wound tight as metal coils in preparation of use. Again, a fleeting thought tickled through your mind. Some vestige of something that no longer was; of something you had once been. A fragment of a former personality that would have taken great pride in the sheer level of strength that you possessed. Something that it, whatever it was, had never possessed when it still existed. You couldn't blame it. You were perfect. Why wouldn’t it want to be like you? A sudden shift in air pressure and the tiny click of a door closing made your head snap in the direction of one of the walls outside of the vault. Vibrations so minuscule that they wouldn't even have made ripples in a glass of water right next to the footsteps source resonated through your very being like sonar pings. It took a good second and a half for you to realize that you had frozen in place and that your mouth was hanging open. Thick globules of hot drool dripped from your mailbox-sized muzzle and splattered against the ground loud enough that even a normal person would have been able to hear the splashing sounds it made. You were hungry. Oh so hungry. \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="PREY">PREY</h2> \</div> \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="FEED">FEED</h2> \</div> Suddenly your body was moving as if of its own accord. <<if $height is 0>>You smashed through the concrete walls around you as if they were little more than tissue paper. Solidified rock and metal bars lining it to reinforce the structure bent and shredded apart with such little effort that you didn't even slow down as you tore through the building towards your prey.<<elseif $height is 1>>The metal door of the vault, having swung partially closed at some point, slammed against the wall hard enough to smash it halfway through the reinforced concrete wall beside it. The impact of your forearm knocking it out of the way hitting with such force that not only did it rip off its hinges and smash through the concrete wall but even the strange super-dense alloy it was made of bent into a roughly tubular shape around your forearm. That door could have had a 747 slam into it at maximum velocity and wouldn't even dent yet it was barely even an inconvenience for you. And if that thing couldn’t stand up to your strength then the concrete wall beyond it may as well have been tissue paper.<</if>> Wicked black claws each nearly as long as a combat knife core through concrete and rebar reinforcement as easily as a superheated knife through butter. Your shoulder slammed into the wall a split-second after your claws and sent it exploding outwards in a shower of debris that filled the hallway outside. The next wall stood no better chance, nor did the one after that. By this point you could hear the movement of the other people still in the building. There was no way they didn't hear your destructive movements even with their inferior senses but it didn't matter. You would catch them. Upon smashing through your fifth wall you found yourself in a wide-open lobby area. Once again, some fleeting fragment of something that no longer was recognized the room. That remnant tried to offer comprehension to the identity and purpose of the room but you ignored it. That wasn't important. What was important was your first prey was directly in front of you. It wore gray cloth on its body. A fragment within you gave voice to the word security guard. It meant little to you other than the impression the fragment left that it was supposed to be some sort of guardian or defender... A warrior. The thought forced of bubble of laughter to rumble up from deep within your enormous, car-sized torso. The sensation of amusement, of laughter, was foreign to you but the sight before you and the false perception of this thing being a warrior, a threat, awakened other fragmented bits of consciousness in you with such potency that you couldn't contain the emotional outburst. Which only terrified the security guard that much more when the monster before him began letting out a thunderous bellow of laughter loud and strong enough to actually shake the floor beneath them. To call the being before you a warrior was laughable in a way even you could comprehend and find amusement in. A bear covered in thick brown fur clad within a uniform that clearly had once fit but was now a size too small for him. His pudgy middle was swollen with the after effects of years of excess, poor quality food and lack of exercise. The run from the security office only a couple of hundred feet away to where he was now by itself had left the thing panting and gasping for breath. Not only was the thing comically out of shape relative to what you might have perceived as a warrior, it was out of shape for even day-to-day life as prey much less combat. Not to mention it absolutely reeked of fear. A fear so deep and instinctual that it resonated with another remnant within you that remembered a similar level of fear very recently. That thought was squash mercilessly and without hesitation. You were an apex predator. The greatest, the strongest of anything that ever was or will be. The idea of even a fragment of you holding the tiniest ounce of fear was revolting. And you found your anger being directed towards the security guard. It was what the remnant was resonating with. It dared to even make you conceive of understanding that which only prey should feel. You had to take a moment to get the misplaced emotions under control lest you tear your first morsel limb from limb rather than savor the opportunity. To its credit, the security guard seemed to find some last ounce of courage in its final moments. Or, if not courage, frantic desperation. You could understand that. Even a cornered rat would fight for its life when it had no other choice. It groped at something along its waist and for an instant a memory of recognition welled up from within. A sense of danger broadcast from the remnant in you. Some part of you was trying to warn you about whatever the guard was doing. But it needn't have bothered. The thing the security guard pulled from its waist, a gun as the remnant communicated, suddenly released an ear-splitting crack of thunder. Then another, then a third. This repeated a total of six times until the sound was replaced with the sharp click click of metal on metal. It was only after staring down at the bear expectantly for several seconds as it continued to uselessly pull the trigger that you realized that it had been some kind of an attack. Only then did you look down and noticed tiny little pinpricks of some kind of sulfurous residue left on your chest. Looking further you saw, on the ground, six tiny little Nubs of metal. Each one was squashed in on itself and lay uselessly at your feet. This ‘gun’ had fired some kind of projectile at you and you hadn't even felt it. If anything, the sound of the gun going off had done more damage to your ears than the bullets had done to your body. That sense of overwhelming narcissistic satisfaction roiled up within you again and your lips curled back into a wicked, feral grin without you realizing it. It was another reminder of your superiority; of your status as not just the top of, but the king of the food chain. Reaching down towards the bear you completely engulfed its head in one of your meaty hands with plenty of room to spare. Effortlessly, you lifted it up off the ground until its feet were dangling several feet above the floor and it was finally at eye level with you. Again, you found yourself with your muzzle hanging partially open and thick rivulets of saliva dripping from the edges of your lips. The sight seemed to only further terrify the bear as it seemed to finally realize what was about to happen \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="FEED">FEED</h2> \</div> Your jaws slowly began to open; spreading wider and wider beyond what normal flesh should have been capable of. Stretching beyond even what an unhinged jaw should be capable of. The bear struggled desperately in your grasp but its strength was so laughably inferior to your own that you didn't even realize it was trying to resist you at first. Raising it up above your head you lowered it down into your elongated muzzle, feet first. A tongue multiple feet long and as thick as a fire hose rose up from inside your maw and coiled around the bear like a rope. Its arms and legs were constricted as it was slowly lowered down into your mouth. It was yelling something but you didn't bother to listen. One of the remnants tried to translate its words for you but you didn't bother to care. All you could think about was your meal. As the bear disappeared down into your gullet you could already feel your body at work before it had even hit your stomach. Organic materials repurposed and redistributed across your body as they were stripped from your meal to be reused. Had there been anyone else watching they would have seen your body stretch outwards and expand slightly larger with every passing second. Newfound muscle mass corded along your already enormously beefy frame as your body stretched upwards several inches larger. Within seconds the changes stopped as your transformation ran out of fuel and there was nothing left but you and more of you. But it wasn't enough. No, it wasn't even the beginning. You only felt hungrier now after having a taste not of flesh and bone but of potential; of what you could become If only you fed more. Your hunger wasn't one of necessary nutrition and survival. It was one of power. Expanding and enlarging in your perfection. Whoever, whatever had led to your creation had unleashed a monster upon the world . A monster that would never stop feeding, never stop growing. There was no end goal; there was no satiation. There was only the hunger. The need to feed, the need to… \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="GROW">GROW</h2> \</div> <hr> You have discovered an ending! This may be the end of this story but there are other stories to discover! <b><<link "Restart">><<run Engine.restart() >><</link>></b>

As you make your way towards the Engineering Department you find yourself face to face with a bright yellow bi-fold sign right in the middle of the hallway leading in the direction you need to go. Printed in neat, blocky text arcross the front of the sign are the words <b>"CAUTION: WET FLOOR"</b> You decide that its best to be safe and head back the way you came. No one wants to accidentally slip and fall. Safety First! (This section still under construction. Coming Soon!) [[This path still under construction

As the mouse approached you, you decided that your best bet was to restrain him. After all, if you simply ran away now that would be the end of your potentially lucrative payday. You weren't going to let one scrawny lab mouse stand between you and early retirement. As you took a step forward the mouse faltered in his own approach. A sudden realization visibly spreading across his face as if only now did it click in his head that physically he was way outclassed and you had just decided to force the issue. This time it was the mouse that stepped backwards as you approached. You closed the distance in three large steps before he had a chance to turn and try to escape. Reaching out to grab his arm you jerked him towards you in an attempt to grab his muzzle and keep him from yelling for help. To your surprise, he actually fought back. Rather than simply letting himself be pulled towards you he spun around and used your pull to add to his own momentum and launched himself towards you. In your surprise you didn't react in time and got a fist slammed into your gut hard enough to knock the air from your lungs. Instinctively you hunched forward; doubling over on yourself as your mouth burst open from the sudden forced exhalation. It was only by pure instinct that you kept a grip on the mouse's arm so he wasn't able to run away. By the time you had regained a bit of your breath the mouse was already winding up to slam a fist into the side of your face. The mouse definitely had some kind of martial arts training. Unfortunately, despite his training, you had nearly a foot of height on him and had to weigh at least half again as much as he did. Without the momentum of you pulling him towards you his second punch landed with barely enough force to turn your head. \ \<<if $goowerewolf is true>> <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Let me help.">Let me help.</h2> \</div> Momentarily confused by Wolf’s intrusion you nearly let go of the mouse. You could feel the symbiote writhing around inside of your mind like an agitated animal in a cage. Maybe it was the fighting itself or a defensive response against being injured but either way Wolf wanted to come out. Before you had a chance to try and clamp down on him you already felt Wolf's tendrils tickling into your mind and mixing together with your motor controls. Unlike last time, though, he wasn't trying to usurp your control. Instead, not only did you retain full control over your limbs but you actually felt them get stronger as black goo spread through your musculature and wove itself into new, artificial muscle mass. As it did a familiar black ooze rapidly swelled up from underneath your skin and spread across your body. The mouse stop struggling and stared, wide-eyed, as your entire body from head to toe covered itself in that black goo in the span of only a couple of seconds. The goo morphed into a thick layer of fine, fluffy black fur that was just a tiny bit too shiny to be fur. Your muzzle elongated as your teeth nearly doubled in size inside your own mouth. Your whole body surged several inches taller, only making the mouse seem that much smaller in comparison. Your fingers and toes sprouted massive, wickedly sharp talons that pressed dangerously against the skin of the arm you still held. In only a matter of seconds you had transformed from a normal-looking arctic fox into a monstrous six-and-a-half-foot tall black werewolf. In this form overpowering the mouse was all but effortless. Pulling him forward you felt him try to shove his waist against yours and try to upset your center of gravity to flip you over him. Unfortunately for him your new weight and solid stance barely even budged under his attempt. When he realized he didn't have a hope of overpowering or even using your own weight against you you he reached down towards his pocket. Still a bit disoriented from the sudden change into your new form you didn't react in time until you heard the sharp, rapid clicking of a taser just before it struck. Agony surged through you twofold as the electricity coursed through both you and Wolf simultaneously; compounding the sensation. The solidified black goo making up your new form roiled and bubbled before retreating away from the source of the electricity; leaving part of your body beneath the symbiote exposed. Out of reflex your arm swung the mouse to the side and all but threw him behind you in an attempt to get him and the taser away from your body. You could hear the rough smacking sound of him impacting control console behind him and scrambling to grab onto part of the controls to keep from slumping to the ground. Once the electric current of the taser was gone Wolf once more spread protectively across the entirety of your body. Now, though, his eagerness to help, to fight, was laced with an undertone of anger that you hadn't felt before. His thoughts inside your head had even regained a bit of that overwhelming quality they’d had before you had merged together which was making it difficult for you to reign him in. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="RAGE. ANGER.">RAGE. ANGER.</h2> \</div> In your new form it only took two steps to close the distance between you and the mouse. Just as he was getting his feet under him you were there, swinging a massive, symbiote enhanced arm to clothesline him hard enough that he tumbled straight over the control panel and flew a quarter of the way across the room. When he finally skidded to a stop near the large red X, groaning in obvious pain, you realize that you needed to put a stop to this before Wolf killed him. “Calm down, Wolf!” you demanded aloud, projecting assertiveness as best you could to the Symbiote. “You can’t kill him!” For a moment it felt like Wolf was going to disobey and try to force you to go after the mouse again anyway. After a moment of feeling Wolf seriously contemplating trying to take control from you and finish the mouse off you felt him finally acquiesce in your mind. However, he did so as vocally begrudgingly a creature that mostly communicated through mental emotions rather than words was capable of which you found strangely amusing. Then, just like that, the goo rapidly melted off of your body and exposed the original you, clothes and all, underneath as if you had never been a giant werewolf monster. \<<elseif $goowerewolf is false>> you weren't exactly used to being the physically superior guy in a confrontation so you couldn't blame yourself for letting the little guy get the best of you. But that didn't make it any less irritating. Grabbing the mouse’s arm where it was still extended from his punch you twisted yours around it to lock it against your side and pull him against you. Once you had a firm hold on him you spun around and shoved him back against the control panel for the device; pinning him between it and you. “Look if you would just calm down I’m not going to hur-“ you started to say, only to be interrupted by the mouse slamming his forehead against your nose. <div align='center'><span style="color:red"><b>[You have been injured]</b></span></div> The sudden shock and pain sent you stumbling backwards; releasing your hold on him in the process. He wasted no time in trying to scramble past you but you didn't let him get far. Again you grabbed his wrist and swung him around hard enough to send him sprawling across several of the power cables beside the machine. Not content to play nice or soft anymore you leapt over the control panel and ran at full speed towards him to slam your shoulder into his chest just as he was getting to his feet. The two of you were sent sprawling from your tackle; him sliding across the sealed concrete floor and skidding to a stop just a few inches away from the large red X in the middle of the room with you only a couple of feet back. \<</if>> Unfortunately, during your struggles with the scientist, the two of you seemed to have pressed something you shouldn’t have. An ominous hum of building electricity filled the air just long enough for the mouse to recognize what it was and where he was standing. His eyes went wide and he tried to scramble out of the way but it was too late. He had barely been able to get up to his hands and knees before a sharp crack of discharging power echo through the room and a flash of bright neon green light burst from the front of the machine, slamming into the mouse with no visible effect for the first couple of seconds. “Oh God… what have you done…?!” the cried out with a clear note of terror in his voice. Then you saw why as an aura of green energy rapidly spread around his body. Once the aura had completely engulfed the mouse, he began to change. <b><<link [[You are in deep trouble|Accidental Enlargement]]>> <<if $goowerewolf is false>><<injure>><<elseif $goowerewolf is true>> <<set $wolfshocked to true>><</if>> <</link>></b>

<h1><p style="font-size:35px">@@Cheats@@</p></h1> \<h4>Warning: Using this menu may cause instability. The game is not designed to have states manipulated artificially. Using these settings, especially in the middle of ongoing scenes, may result in being unable to proceed. It is recommended you do not save over prior saves when using cheats.</h4> \ \<<if $goowerewolf is true>><<set _augment to "goowerewolf">><<elseif $sali is true>><<set _augment to "sali">><<elseif $goowerewolf is false && $sali is false>><<set _augment to "none">><</if>> \ <h3><u>Augmented State Controls</u></h3> <label><<radiobutton "_augment" "goowerewolf" autocheck>> Goo Symbiote: Wolf </label> <label><<radiobutton "_augment" "sali" autocheck>> Cybernetic Implant: S.A.L.I. </label> <label><<radiobutton "_augment" "none" autocheck>> None </label> <<button "Made selection" "Cheats">> <<if _augment is "goowerewolf">> <<set $goowerewolf = true, $sali = false>> <<elseif _augment is "sali">> <<set $goowerewolf = false , $sali = true>> <<elseif _augment is "none">> <<set $goowerewolf = false , $sali = false>> <</if>> <</button>> <h3><u>Size</u></h3> <<radiobutton "$height" 0 autocheck>> Size: Shrunk <<radiobutton "$height" 1 autocheck>> Size: Normal <<radiobutton "$height" 2 autocheck>> Size: Giant <h3><u>Health</u></h3> <<radiobutton "$injury" 0 autocheck>> Healthy <<radiobutton "$injury" 1 autocheck>> Tired <<radiobutton "$injury" 2 autocheck>> Lightly Injured <<radiobutton "$injury" 3 autocheck>> Moderately Injured <<radiobutton "$injury" 4 autocheck>> Heavily Injured <<radiobutton "$injury" 5 autocheck>> Crippled <h3><u>Inventory</u></h3> <<checkbox "$hasphone" false true autocheck>> Smartphone <<checkbox "$hashacker" false true autocheck>> USB Hacker <<checkbox "$hastablet" false true autocheck>> Tablet <<checkbox "$hasshrinkray" false true autocheck>> Shrink ray <<checkbox "$hasdepletedshrinkray" false true autocheck>> Depleted shrink ray <<checkbox "$hasmuscleformula" false true autocheck>> Dr. Gigus's Formula <<checkbox "$tinysalem" false true autocheck>> Shrunken Dr. Salem Volmer <<checkbox "$B1keycard" false true autocheck>> Security Guard's Keycard <h3><u>Elevator Control</u></h3> <<checkbox "$B1unlocked" false true autocheck>> Sub-Basement 1 unlocked \ \ <h1><<return>></h1>

“I've already rolled the dice once. Might as well test my luck. Hit me again, doc.” Despite the doctor’s clear attempts to try to be sympathetic while overlooking your larceny motivated intrusion, you couldn't help but notice a sparkle of excitement in his eyes when you agreed. If you didn't know better, you'd say he was excited to get to use his machine again. That certainly didn’t help your nerves at all. “Excellent! You just stand right there and I’ll get it going!” he gushed with just a bit too much enthusiasm to make you comfortable. Before you had a chance to respond he was back upright and spinning around to all-but run across the room towards the control panel. In his haste he didn't even seem to notice as his pink, whip-like tail swing around behind him as he turned and come flying straight towards you! <b>[[Defend yourself!->Tail Whipped]]</b>

You hardly knew anything about this guy. In fact, the only thing you did know about him was that he worked for the lab you were currently trying to burgle. Which meant that you couldn't risk trusting him. For all you knew once the two of you were back to normal size the first thing he'd do would be call the cops and get you thrown in jail. A small part of you felt kind of bad for what you were about to do. The rest of you, however, was more than willing to put up with that if it meant you didn't get thrown behind bars. “Who said anything about us?” you asked.. As you spoke you took another step backwards to further widen the space between the two of you. You saw the scientist’s eyes go wide as realization hit him. He abruptly moved forward in a desperate lunge towards you before it was too late. Unfortunately for him, you could move your finger far faster than he could leap across the couple of yards of distance between you. Your finger hit the return button and you felt the tablet warm up again right before a sparkling tornado of white light coalesced around you. In that last moment as the light built up you saw the desperate look on the mouse's face as his arms tried to close around you only. Unfortunately, it was already too late and they passed right through you like you were a ghost. And then, with a bright flash of blinding white light, you were gone. For a brief moment you felt another tiny pang of guilt for leaving the scientist behind. Then again, he was in his own lab and he was a smart guy. He was bound to either find a way to get himself back to normal or at least get the attention of someone that could help him come morning time if you left him alone in there. You, on the other hand, still had work to do. <b>[[Heading back alone|Return Trip][$returntrip to true,$height to 1,$leftsalemshrunk to true, $withsalem to false]]</b>

can you go back? <<return>>

<<if $wastransported is true>> That teleporter thing had been what brought you here in the first place. Not to mention being the reason you were now tiny. So, maybe it could reverse this. It's not like your situation could get much worse, right?<</if>> Pulling out the tablet and flipping the screen on you begin to look through the controls. Unfortunately, they <<if $transported is true>>still <</if>>didn't make any sense to you . To you it was just strings of nonsensical numbers that you couldn't make heads or tails of. For once this evening, however, luck seemed to be on your side! While you couldn't make heads or tails of most of the user interface there was something that clearly stood out <<if $wastransported is true>>as new from when you use the tablet the first time. Underneath the “Process” button was a new button that hadn’t been there before labeled “Return”.<<elseif $wastransported is false>> as potentially helpful. Two buttons labeled "Process" and "Return" Were clearly labeled at the bottom. In addition if you looked close enough you saw a tiny line of text beneath them reading "Transporter primed". Part of you was skeptical at the idea of this being the controls for an actual, real life transporter. Then again you were currently the size of an action figure so what the hell did you know about what was and wasn't possible?<</if>> \<<if $withsalem is true>>“What is that?” the mouse asked as he took a step to the side to try to get a look at the screen. “I'm not entirely sure.” You answer honestly. “I think it's some kind of control for <<if $wastransported is true>>that teleporter thing that I found”<<elseif $wastransported is false>> what I think might be some kind of teleporter I think I found in another room.<</if>> The mouse looked confused for several moments. Then recognition dawned in his eyes and a look of excitement and hope spread across his face. “Oh that thing! I didn't think they actually had it running yet.” the mouse stop speaking for a moment to look around at the gigantic environment around the both of you and then quickly added “Although I guess having it running and having it working are two different things. <<if $wastransported is true>>Do you think if you can just reverse your trip that it will take us back to the teleporter room your original size?”<<elseif $wastransported is false>> I don't know if it can get us back to normal size. But if we can use it to get back to the control room and figure out how it works maybe we can transport ourselves somewhere that can help us get back to normal!"<</if>> As he had been speaking the mouse had been inching closer and closer until he was all but shoved up against your side trying to get a look at the tablet. Unfortunately, with your height advantage, he couldn't get a very good look at the screen without you lowering it down for him. Making a point of shuffling to the side a couple of steps to get him out of your personal space you glanced between the mouse and the tablet again. “Well… “ <</if>> \ <<if $withsalem is true>><b>[[No one said anything about us|Leaving Him Behind][$returntrip to true,$height to 1]]</b><</if>> \<<if $withsalem is false>><b>[[Try the Return button|Teleporting Back][$returntrip to true,$height to 1]]</b><</if>>

You barely had time to take a half step backwards before the goop pulled in on itself and launched itself through the air towards you! Reflexively you raised your arms raised in front of you to try to ward off the impact only to feel the wet goo splatter across you like someone had just thrown a <<if $height is 1>>bucket<<elseif $height is 0>>tidal wave<</if>> of molasses on you. You expected the liquid to burn you or constrict around you the moment it made contact but, instead, it did the last thing you could have possibly expected. It talked to you. Well, talk wasn't exactly the right word. When it made contact your head flooded with sensations and emotions that were not your own. At first the thoughts were so alien and garbled that you couldn't make heads or tails of them. Barely a second of that psychic onslaught gave you such a throbbing migraine that it brought you to your knees.<<if $height is 0>> Or, would have if you hadn't been effectively floating in a giant ball of liquid.<</if>> All the while as you tried to make sense of the overwhelming mental stimuli the goo <<if $height is 1>>which, having splattered across your arms, was beginning to spread further along the rest of your body.<<elseif $height is 0>> seemed to be trying to shove itself inside of your body through your pores!<</if>> Oddly enough the longer you were in contact with the goo the clearer its thoughts became. Sadly, he lessening of the mental screaming led to the increasing awareness of your physical danger. <<if $height is 1>>Looking down and seeing a living, sentient black goo covering your arms from the wrist up to your shoulders was more nightmare fuel than you ever wanted. Instinctually you began clawing at the goo in an attempt to rip it off of you! Each time you grabbed at it, though, it simply stuck to your fingers and spread over them instead of letting you get a grip on it. Within seconds your hands were entirely covered in the black goo as well. By this point it had already spread past your shoulders and was rapidly beginning to stretch down your torso. The more of your body it covered the faster it seemed to spread. Despite the terror of not knowing what this goo was and what it was doing its projected thoughts continued to gain clarity. The nonsensical jumble of emotions was slowly sorting itself into more coherent, if still wordless and overwhelming, feelings. Fear, anger, confusion, desperation, and hunger all mixed together in a tie-dye of emotion that you could barely comprehend. By the time the goo had spread across all but your head from the neck you were starting to understand what this thing, this creature, wanted. \ \<<elseif $height is 0>> Looking around and only being able to see black goo pushing in on you from every direction was more nightmare fuel than you had ever wanted. Some oddly clear part of your mind briefly wondered if this was what having a sleep paralysis demon would be like. The rest of you, though, was desperately flailing in a futile attempt to try to push yourself free of the all-encompassing black sludge. Despite the terror of not knowing what this goo was and what it was doing its projected thoughts continued to gain clarity. The nonsensical jumble of emotions was slowly sorting itself into more coherent, if still wordless and overwhelming, feelings. Fear, anger, confusion, desperation, and hunger all mixed together into a tie-dye of emotion that you could barely comprehend. After a few more seconds of being smothered by the entity you began to get an understanding of what the thing, the creature, wanted.<</if>> It wanted your body. <b>[[Resist!->Resist]]</b>

Unable to resist your curiosity you soon found herself walking towards the edge of the table. Getting down on your hands and knees you grabbed onto the edge of the table to steady yourself before slowly leaning over the edge. You had to make a conscious effort not to get dizzy from the sight of what, to you, was an extreme long distance between you and the floor below. The metal frame had fallen near the base of the table. Only after seeing it from so far away could you tell that whatever was supposed to hold the glass container in hadn't been clasped closed properly. So, when the canister had fallen off of the table the glass had simply flown out of it and smashed onto the floor. Shards of glass were spread out all across the floor, glinting as they reflected the light in the room. Something was off, though, and it took you several seconds to realize what it was. The canister had shattered and glass was everywhere... but there was no sign of that black goo that had been inside of it. It was only thanks to your instinctual response to an unusual wet squelching sound driving you to jump backwards from the edge of the table that saved you from being engulfed by a massive black blur. Where you had been only a second before what seemed like a sentient tidal wave of black goo had reached out from underneath the edge of the table and wrapped around where you had been as if it had known you were there and was trying to grab you. Seeming to realize that it had missed the goo contracted in a way that didn’t seem natural to bring the rest of itself up from underneath the table. Now that it was fully up on the table you found yourself staring down a massive black blob of goo that, to you, was roughly the size of a large pickup truck. Panic overran any rational thought you might have had over what to do in the situation. It's not like you had any prior experience coming face-to-face with some kind of gigantic goo monster that you felt should have only existed in science fiction movies! Unfortunately for you that panic-induced hesitation was all the goo needed to strike! <b>[[Oh, this can't be good.->Infested]]</b>

The bright flash of light left you blinded for several long moments. When your vision cleared you found yourself back in the familiar surroundings of the transport lab. A quick glance around confirm that you were indeed back to your original size. That was a relief, at least. <<if $goowerewolf is true>><div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Strange. Tingly.">Strange. Tingly.</h2> \</div> You had to agree with Wolf. <</if>>The teleporter had left your whole body feeling strangely tingly as if you had some kind of residual static charge. You hoped that it was something that would just fade away after a while and wasn't something you needed to worry about. You made a point to hop down off of what you now knew was a teleport platform and make a mental note to keep your distance from the thing. The last thing you wanted was to be teleported again by accident. You decided that you should probably be more careful with other things you come across in this place in the future. <b>[[Time to get back to it->Teleport Lab]]</b>

With nothing else to lose you decided to roll the dice. Holding the tablet out in front of you as if it were a lit firework that you weren't sure if it was going to explode or not, you reached out and gently tapped the "Return" button. A split second after you did you felt the tablet begin to heat up in your hand. Immediately afterwards a sparkling tornado of white light coalesced around you in a flashing faux-rave light show. Then, with a bright flash of blinding white light, you were simply gone. <b>[[Heading back|Return Trip][$returntrip to true,$height to 1]]</b>

A special shoutout to all my wonderful Patrons helping to support me in creating projects that I love, such as this one. This month's supporters are: @@<h2><b><u>Completely Insane People</u></b></h2>@@ <h2>-Piedunk</h2> <h2>-Borusa Ryalam</h2> <h2>-Xazzon</h2> <b><u>Kobold Worshippers</u></b> -Leo Fairmane -Alexander -Vabter Burd -Davejenson -Jonouchi Kotaro -Kartham Draem -Mads -NA -Riz Lysander -Rory -Erian Zoutman -Dandicoot -ThickGreenFLuff -Best Dude55 -Gnarl -SokeriKielo -Rezraz -Davejenson -Big Vixie -Saxdasm -Jaakitase -Kobuld -Braxton -Dazzif -Banter Bird <b><u>Loyal Subjects</u></b> -Arz -Buzielking01 -Collie Cuon -Mark Shep -Fusanoshi -Pretzalcoatl -Seishan -Shortykuma -Spf -Anthony WIlliams -Drewbermeister -Rad Rat -Farath -Techimp -Leo valdez -Longfei -trace5 -HarvestPotatoes -Laz -Jonathan Novelo -Meiser -Jonathan M. Covill -Morgan Quinn Looney -Pat -Eeveechu -Theo -DaveBlack -Valargent And special thanks to my friend Tali who was wonderfully generous enough to help me with the fantastic cover and side menu art. You can find more of his artwork on his twitter account https://twitter.com/Talidrawing/ And my friend Vero who was wonderful enough to do a profile image for the main character: Alex You can find more of his artwork on his Furaffinity account (Nsfw) https://www.furaffinity.net/user/mkvero/ <h1><<return>></h1>

It had taken roughly forty-five minutes for the lithe cheetah to drive you across town to the target compound from where you had met her near your home. She parked the unassuming dark brown delivery van half a block down the road and flicked off the lights. The facility itself was just outside town so the two of you weren’t able to park too close without it being obvious your vehicle was somewhere it shouldn’t be. Upon the vehicle pulling to a stop you already had unbuckled your seatbelt and had been about to push open your door when she reached out to grab your wrist to stop you. “Wait.” She commanded. Blushing in embarrassment at your haste you pulled your hand away from the door handle and waited as instructed. Unbuckling her seatbelt, the cheetah stood up and brushed a few wrinkles from her black blouse and matching pants. Only once she seemed content with the crisp appearance of her outfit did she reach back to pull the door leading to the storage cabin in the back of the van open. Your eyes widened slightly as you saw inside the back for the first time. The back of the van looked to be something lifted right out of a spy movie. An entire array of various computers and electronics lined the wall like some kind of mobile command center! You’d bet money that all this tech by itself probably cost more than everything you owned put together. Sitting herself down in the surprisingly plush-looking chair in front of the setup, the cheetah began to type at an increasingly rapid pace across the keyboards. Screens flicked between incoherent lines of code, what looked like camera angles, and other screens you couldn’t even make heads or tails of. Seconds dragged on into minutes as she worked; leaving you increasingly anxious about the whole thing. If your contact was investing this much into a job like this then you didn’t even want to think about what the consequences of failure might be. <b>[[Check your gear while you wait->Check Your Pockets]]</b>

As you waited for her to work you began fumbling with your pockets to double check you still had your own gear, meager as it was, with you. You always had a small set of simple lockpicking tools; no thief worth his salt would go anywhere without a way to open locked doors. You also double checked to make sure your smartphone was in your pocket and fully charged. You didn’t expect to be making any phone calls but if you found some valuable information inside it could double as a USB drive to download data or a camera to take pictures of anything you couldn’t bring with you. <b>[You have acquired Smartphone]</b> Just when you were about to ask if you should be doing something the cheetah woman gave a dramatic flourishing press of the enter key. “There. We’re in. You’re all set.” Blinking for a moment, you looked across the screens trying to make heads or tails of what she might have done. When no answer made itself apparent you turned your attention back to her. “We are?” you asked, unable to keep a degree of skepticism out of your tone. “Motion and infrared sensors are shut off, outside security alarms are blacked out and being fed dummy signals. Even if you did somehow trip something I missed no signal would leave the compound. Cameras are set on a repeating loop; all externally accessible doors are unlocked and from internal feeds and their own documented schedules there should only be one security guard on duty tonight. I can’t see the logged list of any researchers or non-security staff who are currently in, that seems to be kept analog only, but there can’t be more than a few in there at this time of night. You need to enter through the front door; the side entrance leads right to the security offices. They trust the front door to be secure at night with those locked, reinforced steel doors. Those are unlocked too so they should just swing right open and let you inside. Just be careful not to close them all the way. If you do, the lock will automatically reengage.” <b>[["Uh..."|Gearing Up][$hasphone to true]]</b>

You raised the small circular piece of plastic and used the tiny clip on the back to secure it into your left ear near the base where your fur would obscure it from view. After that, and pocketing the remote hacker device, you turned your attention back to her and tried to give her a friendly smile. “Thanks, uh… I actually never got your name now that I think about. I’m Alex.” You started to say as you extended your hand for a handshake, only to trail off sheepishly at the realization that you still didn’t know her name. She glanced down at your extended hand without making even a twitch of movement towards reaching for it. Then, she turned her gaze back up to you with even more distain in her expression than it had moments before. “No names. If you have to address me by something. Just call me Operator.” She said coldly. Realizing you were fighting a losing battle, you pulled your hand back and frowned. When she didn’t seem forthcoming with any more information or instructions you decided it was time to get going. Reaching back to pull the hood of your hoodie up over your head you grabbed the door of the cargo compartment and pulled it open. Hopping down, you turned to pull the door closed only to pause as she spoke one last time to you. “Don’t fuck this up, kid.” Trying not to let it show how frustrated her cold attitude and condescension was making you, you pushed the door closed just a tad harder than was necessary. Some small part of you couldn’t help but take some crude satisfaction in imagining how she might have jumped a bit in her seat at the louder-than-necessary sound. You were a petty thief after all; petty was right in the title. <b>[[Time to get to work->Heading Inside]]</b>

<<if $withsalem is true>><<linkappend "<b>No one said anything about us</b>">><<include "Leaving Him Behind">><</linkappend>> /*[[Leaving Him Behind]*/<</if>> <<if $withsalem is false>><<linkappend "<b>Try the Return button.</b>">><<include "Teleporting Back">><</linkappend>> /*[[Teleporting Back]*/<</if>>

Dragonien

If special containment didn't sound like a place where you could find something valuable than you didn't know what did. The entrance to special containment looked like something straight out of the Starship Enterprise. Polished, gunmetal gray panels lined the walls, floor, and ceiling. It was a stark departure from the otherwise mundane office design and décor you had seen from the building so far. Upon passing through the entrance, directly in front of you, was what looked like a vault, or rather the equivalent of a vault door’s big brother that would come beat you up for bullying their little brother. The door itself was the size of a double car garage door but made of a material that, while clearly metallic, didn't quite look like it was regular steel. It had a slightly unusual reflectivity to it when the light hit it from certain angles. <<if $giguslockedinvault is false>> \<<if $vaultopen is false && $height is 1>> \When you reached out to try and pull on the door in hopes of it being unlocked like all of the others it didn't so much as budge. Frustrated, you took a moment to inspect the exterior of the door. It didn't take long to find a small control panel off to the right. The panel had a number pad, a fingerprint scanner, and a retinal scanner all wrapped into one mechanism. Whatever the hell was behind this door was clearly something did not want unauthorized people getting within spitting distance of it. <<if $hashacker is true>>Thankfully you were pretty sure you had a fix for this. <b>[[Call Operator for help->Unlocking Vault]]</b> <b>[[Head back to the Biology Department Directory->Biology Department]]</b> <<elseif $hashacker is false>>Unfortunately, you don't see any possible way to open this door at this time. <b>[[Head back to the Biology Department Directory->Biology Department]]</b><</if>> <<elseif $vaultopen is true && $height is 1>>With the vault door open it's little effort to step over the raised base of the doorframe and into the vault itself. <b>[[Enter the vault->Special Containment]]</b> <<elseif $vaultopen is true && $height is 0>>The vault door may be open but you have no way to climb over the raised base of the vault door's frame and get inside. <b>[[Head back to the Biology Department Directory->Biology Department]]</b> <<elseif $vaultopen is false && $height is 0>>You doubt you could have gotten through this door at your normal size much less now that you're the size of an action figure. <b>[[Head back to the Biology Department Directory->Biology Department]]</b> <</if>> <<elseif $giguslockedinvault is true>>If you listen hard enough you can still hear the occational faint sounds of the monstrous Dr. Gigus moving around inside. Just being near the vault door now feels like you're tempting fate. You probably shouldn't stick around. <b>[[Head back to the Biology Department Directory->Biology Department]]</b><</if>>

You were reluctant to actually call her at first for fear of being berated for asking for help. But, you rationalized, if there was anything she was going to have a legit reason to help you with it would be this gigantic fuck-off vault door. Reaching up for the radio in your ear a quick tap activated the microphone. For a split-second you heard the tiniest crackle of static as the device connected before it went silent once more. “… uh… Operator?” you nervously asked aloud. “I hope this is important.” came her immediate, clearly irritated, reply. “Sorry. I've got a door here and...” Before you could finish your sentence she began talking over you. “Find the control panel and pry it open. Then find a connector and insert the chip I gave you.” She commanded. You were starting to get annoyed with her attitude. Just because she thought you were an amateur wasn't any excuse to be so rude. However now wasn't the time to start an argument. Instead, you got to work doing a she had instructed. Thankfully, despite what Operator believed, you weren't a complete amateur. The small lock picking kit you always kept in your back pocket had a small multi-tool that made quick work of opening up the control panel. After that it was relatively easy to pull the mechanism open and expose a connector you assumed was for updating whatever software controlled the door. When you pushed the [Remote USB Hacker] into the slot a tiny green light flickered on at the end of the device. “Connected. Stand by.” Came Operators voice less than a second later. <b>[[Wait for Operator to work her magic->Operator Unlocking Vault]]</b>

Seconds dragged on to minutes with no further communication from her. As far as you could tell nothing was actually happening. First five, then ten minutes passed without a word. Finally, when you were just about to ask for an update, she spoke. “Whatever you found must be big. This thing's security system makes Fort Knox look like the security equivalent of a deadbolt. ” To your surprise she actually sounded almost impressed. You couldn't tell if it was just the security system maybe she was actually impressed that you found something potentially valuable. Either way, any excuse for her to be less abrasive to you was welcome. Though her improved mood didn't answer the question at hand. “So… can you open it?” You asked nervously. “Stand by.” She said again. A sharp hiss of depressurization filled the room a few seconds later. You winced at the loud clang of metal on metal as the inner mechanisms of the vault clanged and ground together as the door unlocked. Then, after a second hiss of depressurizing air, the door slowly swung open almost comically silently compared to the racket its unlocking had produced. Unable to keep a smile off of your face you reached up to touch your radio one more time. “Thanks, Operator.” She didn't respond. <b>[[Head into the vault|Special Containment][$vaultopen to true]]</b>

At first your brain couldn't quite process what your eyes were seeing and make sense of it. His body seemed to be shifting about without his limbs actually moving which was perhaps the creepiest thing you could have imagined. It was almost like there was something underneath his skin and fur moving around independent from the rest of his body. Then, his whole body shuddered as if he were having a single, brief seizure spasm. After the tiger went still again that strange movement under his skin was gone but something looked off to you. When his body spasmed again a second later you had to take a step back to keep his arm from smacking against your ankle as the jerking made it move slightly to the side. This time when he went still and you looked him over there was definitely something different and you could finally put your finger on it. He was bigger. The sleeves of his lab coat we're now filled almost to the brim by thick, powerful chords of muscle that you knew for a fact had not been there minutes ago. Looking closer you realize that his entire upper body looked broader and more defined. The additional width of his shoulders had dragged his lab coat several inches higher on his body when you had originally just thought it had shifted from his spasming. The legs of his jeans had similarly ridden up to expose the bottom couple of inches of his ankles and, though his lab coat obscured most of his body from the knee up, you could definitely tell there was some additional girth around his thighs that hadn't been there before. Then his body spasmed a third time. Watching more closely this time you could clearly tell there was another increase in size happening right before your eyes. Now his arms were visibly stretching the sleeves of his lab coat. If the tiger flexed even a little bit you were confident he could have ripped them apart with ease. Even the exposed portion of his neck look thicker and more muscular now. And now, as you stared intently at the tiger, even though he wasn't spasming any more you could actually see his body ever so slowly, ever so slightly thickening with more and more muscle mass. Even if you were to try to convince yourself that it was a trick of the light the sound of his lab coat’s sleeves starting to split open at the seams would render that rationalization moot. Whatever the hell was happening to the tiger now you wanted to be around when he woke up even less than you had before. It was time to go. <b>[[Head back out into the main lab area|Mutagenics Lab][$hasmuscleformula to true]]</b>

Upon approaching the console you find it filled with metrics, measurements, and readouts that you can’t make heads or tails of. If it had been written in ancient hieroglyphs it would have been just as indecipherable. The only thing on the screen that made any sense to you whatsoever was a large button at the bottom of the touch screen labeled “Fire”. At least that supported your suspicion that it was some kind of weapon. Unfortunately, a sound from behind you drew your attention away from your investigation Turning, you found a small white and grey-furred mouse with a thin, slight build that did nothing to fill out his slightly oversized lab coat standing in the entrance to the size lab. The mouse was halfway through taking a bite of a sprinkled donut as he walked through the door when he caught sight of you and froze mid-bite. You both stared at each other for a long second as if either of you was scared to make a move. Eventually the spell broke and the mouse finally reacted. “Hey! Who the hell are you?!” The mouse demanded. <b>[[You've been caught red handed!->Caught Red Handed]]</b>

As he spoke, he took a menacing step forward while gesturing with his partially-eaten donut in your direction. In any other circumstance it might have been comical to hear someone like this speaking with such authority. The mouse had to be, at most, five feet tall. He was small enough that even your average height towered over him. That along with his thin build meant that it was a sure thing even you could overpower him with little effort. The fear of being caught red handed, however, gave him an intimidating presence beyond his stature. “I asked you a question! who the hell are you?” he repeated, taking another step closer. \ \<<if $goowerewolf is true>> \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Concern. Discovered!">Concern. Discovered!</h2> \</div> “Yes, I know that.” You hissed at Wolf under your breath. The mouse heard you speaking under your breath and cocked his head in confusion. “Who are you talking too?” He demanded. \<</if>> You were too panicked to think up any excuse on the spot that you thought might convince the mouse that you weren’t an intruder. A quick glance over your shoulder confirmed where the windows you had seen earlier were. There was one directly across the room from where you were now. You were pretty confident that you could outrun the mouse. Even if he was faster than he looked your longer stride should make up for the unlikely event of him being faster than you. One quick shove to open the window and you could dive outside to safety. Or, you could try to subdue him. It wasn’t the option you normally preferred but one scientist knocked out or tied up in a closet was a much better option than having the cops called and being thrown in jail. \ \<<if $goowerewolf is true>> \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Weak prey. Subdue. Fight!">Weak prey. Subdue. Fight!</h2> \</div> Well, at least you knew what Wolf’s vote was. \<</if>> <b>[[Make a run for the window across the room!->Shot in the Back]]</b> <b>[[Try to restrain the mouse before he can call for help.->Accidental Discharge]]</b>

Personally, you had always adhered to the idea that discretion is the better part of valor. Which is why, in the face of potential capture and incarceration, you valiantly and heroically chose to turn tail and run like hell. Vaulting over the computer terminal you made a B-line for the window across the room. A quick glance over your shoulder showed that the mouse had only just now started to move now that you had a good ten-foot head start on him. Already your escape felt assured! Thankfully, running was something you were good at. Taking care to pay close attention to your footing you made sure that you trip over any of the heavy cables splayed across the ground. The last thing you wanted to do was faceplant into the concrete in the middle of your escape. As you hopped over the last string of cables to reach the clear space in the middle of the room you took another look back to make sure the mouse hadn't somehow caught up to you. To your surprise you found he wasn't chasing you at all. Instead, he was standing at the computer panel you had been at moments ago typing away at the keyboard. Understanding quickly dawned on you as the whirr of machinery and electricity spinning up began to hum through the room. “Oh. Well, fuck me.” You cursed aloud. \<<if $goowerewolf is true>> \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Danger!">Danger!</h2> \</div> \<</if>> As if a taunt from the universe itself you passed big red X painted on the ground just as a sharp crack of electrical discharge thundered through the room. Something smacked against your back hard enough to trip you and send you flying forward! As you were still midair you felt an overwhelming wave of nausea and dizziness overtake you. The abrupt disorientation was so intense you nearly emptied the contents of your stomach right then and there mid-flight. When you finally touched down, hard, down onto the concrete the overwhelming dizziness and nausea simply vanished as quickly as it had come. Well, since you could still feel all of your body parts aching from the impact you hadn’t been disintegrated so at least there was that. A quick glance around you, though, told you that you something was off... <b>[[Take stock of your surroundings->Disoriented]]</b>

It took a few seconds before you were able to push yourself up to your feet. Even if you didn't feel like you were going to lose your lunch anymore your legs chest and hands all still ached from where they cushioned your impact. When you did manage to get upright and look around you had to do a double take. You weren't in the same room anymore! You were still on a concrete floor, though it felt rougher under your touch as if it hadn't been maintained in years and was covered in fine pock marks. But the warehouse you found yourself in seemed to stretch on for miles! Before you had more than a couple of seconds to process that thought you felt the first earthquake. \<<if $goowerewolf is true>> \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Still danger!">Still danger!</h2> \</div> “I know, I know!” you growled to wolf under your breath. \<</if>> You swung your head back and forth looking for some place you could take cover. Instinct told you that when the ground was shaking you wanted something solid overhead to protect you. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be anything around you whatsoever. Then there was another earthquake, stronger than the first, followed by a third a few seconds later. You knew what aftershocks were but as far as you knew weren't supposed to be as strong as the original. If anything, these were getting stronger! When the fourth earthquake hit you heard a heavy impact off in the distance behind you and felt a faint gust of air blow across your back. Suddenly feeling the fur on the back of your neck standing up, you slowly turned around to look behind you. And then had to crane your head up. And up. … and up. “Well well well. Going somewhere?” <b>[[It can't be...|Shrunken][$height to 0]]</b>

Upon returning to the Mutagenics Lab again you found the room had gone strangely silent. Up until you had approached the door the loud sounds of movement and destruction had continued unabated. The dead silence only made you that much more nervous about whatever was going on in here. Maybe investigating was a bad idea after all. \<<if $goowerewolf is true>> <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Be careful. Danger.">Be careful. Danger</h2> \</div> "Yea, no duh." You mumbled under your breath in response. You didn't need some psychic goo monster to tell you that something wasn't right.<<elseif $goowerewolf is false>>\<</if>> You'd barely taken a single step deeper into the room when warning bells went off in your head. <<if $goowerewolf is true>> You felt Wolf abruptly take control and make you to throw yourself to the side<<elseif $goowerewolf is false>>On pure reflex you dove to the side<</if>> a split second before there was an thunderous crash across the room. A split second later the remains of a heavy wooden door slammed against the wall almost exactly where you had been standing an instant before. Peeking your head up over the edge of the lab station you had reflexively hidden behind you saw that the door had come from the office of that tiger you had seen earlier. His name was Dr. Gigus, if you remembered the name plaque correctly. The doorway to his office didn’t stay empty long. When he stepped through the now-empty doorframe you almost didn’t recognize him at first. The massive tiger had to hunch his head down and turn his body sideways to fit his massive bulk through the comparatively tiny doorway. Where before the tiger, if impressively tall as his species usually was, had been a bit on the lean and heavyset side. Now, though, was an absolute tank! <<if $hasmuscleformula is true>>Apparently the effects of whatever he had injected himself had continued even in your absence. <</if>> \<b>[[Face to face with the new Dr. Gigus->Tiger is Big]]</b>

For anyone else the seemingly mundane, blank space of wall would have been no different than any other undecorated wall. You, however, were a trained thief. You were experienced enough to spot false walls and secret doors; having found plenty of them hiding hidden safes in peoples homes before. While the wall looked inocuous enough you could see the edges around the wall paneling was slightly deeper in this section than it was elsewere. Not to mention it was the only space of wall in the lobby with more than a five foot gap between ornamentation of some kind. Not only that but several large decorative plants were positioned at a supisciously convinient angle that someone standing anywhere else the lobby would have an obscruted line view of the corner. Carefully you slid your fingers along the edges of the suspiscous wall panels until you found what you were looking for. A tiny square section of the wall roughly the size of a playing card had a nearly invisible seam around its edges that you never would have noticed if you hadn't been specifically looking for it. With a gentle touch you felt the small section of wall push inwards about a quarter of an inch like an oversized button. Instantly the suspiscous wall paneling pushed outwards slightly and slid soundlessly to either side. Behind them a pair of polished chrome elevator doors slid open a second behind the panels and exposed a large, brightly lit elevator. <b>[[Step inside|Elevator Interior][$foundelevator to true]]</b>

The interior of the elevator was almost uncomfortably bright. Everything was pristine and unblemished as if the elevator had never been used before. Unfortunately there was no series of buttons to take you to different floors. Instead there was a small tablet-sized touch screen that was currently dark. \ \<<if $B1unlocked is true>> Upon touching the terminal it lights up with a button labeled "B-1". Seems you only have access to the first sub-basement right now. <</if>> \<<if $B1unlocked is true>><b>[[Go to B-1 ->B1 Entrance]]</b><</if>> <b>[[Take a closer look at the terminal->Elevator Terminal]]</b> <b>[[Exit the Elevator->Front Lobby]]</b>

“Look uh, doctor…” started to say, only to pause to try and remember his name. Maybe feigning familiarity might help you bluff your way out of this. “Doctor Gigus. I just left something here in one of the other labs. I got turned around, I've never been here after hours…” As you spoke you held your hands in front of you, palms out, trying to seem as non-threatening as possible. There was something wrong with the way the tiger was looking at you. From his expression it wasn't that he didn't believe you. It was more like he didn't care. The way his eyes and head twitched to back and forth to follow even the tiniest bit of movement more like an attack dog waiting for the command to strike rather than some genius scientist. His lips being pulled back to expose his teeth the small dribble of saliva dripping off the edge of his chin certainly didn't help dispel the appearance “Liar…“ The tiger accused in a strange mix of sing-song and snarl. “You smell like a liar. Just like the others. All of you just lie to my face. You think I'm stupid. You think I'm a quack.” Abruptly Dr. Gigus swung his arm backwards and smashed his fist into the wall beside his office door. The concrete cratered inwards and sent a small cloud of debris spraying out from the impact site. If anyone else had tried to do that not only would it not have even marked the wall it would have shattered every bone in their hand. Dr. Gigus, though, not only had done as much damage with his bare hand as you would have needed a sledgehammer to manage and seemed no worse for wear! <<if $goowerewolf is true>> <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Threat! Fight now!">Threat! Fight now!</h2> <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Still getting stronger!">Still getting stronger!</h2> \</div> Wolf recognized the danger you two were in. Even if the two of you could beat him in a straight up fight at the rate he seemed to be growing you might not be able to win five minutes from now. The fact that even something like Wolf, who you had yet to see anything other than absolute confidence in its abilities from, was concerned about being able to win a fight showed just how serious the situation was. <</if>> “Who’s the quack now, little man?” Dr. Gigus roared, all sense of jovial singsong gone from his voice. It was obvious that the tiger wasn't in his right state of mind. He didn’t even seem to be actually talking to you anymore. Instead, he seemed to be simply shouting out his thoughts to the world at large. Forget not mentally well, the doctor had gone completely batshit insane. Unfortunately without the ability to reason with him you had scant few options of how to get through this. <b>[[Run for your life!->Run for your Life]]</b> <b><<if $goowerewolf is true>> @@[Wolf]@@ [[Take him down!->Battle Of Monsters]]<</if>></b>

Monstrously broad, powerful shoulders easily wider than the doorway he had just stepped through all but engulfed his neck with their sheer girth. From those shoulders hung arms thicker around than most men’s thighs! His lab coat hung loosely off of his upper body; the sleeves completely torn apart by the sheer girth of his biceps and shoulders. With the sheer width of his massive torso clearly having popped the buttons of both his lab coat and the button up shirt underneath off the heavy mass of his pectorals and bulging muscle gut were on full display. His pectorals were each big enough to make a dinner plate look like a tea saucer by comparison and had a cleft deep enough between to lose pencils in! His previously soft, paunchy stomach bulged outwards heavy and firm in front of him; now just as much hard muscle as it was soft fat. His pants had fared no better than his lab coat. They were completely torn apart from the mid thigh down by the sheer girth of his tree trunk legs and bowling ball-sized calf muscles. “Well well well. I thought I smelled an Intruder.” the doctor's voice rumbled out in a deep, resonant growl. His tone of voice, much like his expression and posture, gave him a presence more like that of a wild animal than an educated scientist. It didn't help his nearly feral appearance that the fur around his chin was matted down with saliva where he clearly had been drooling. “You picked the wrong day to invade my lab, little thief.” <<if $goowerewolf is true>> You could hear Wolf snarling inside your head at what he seemed to see as a blatant challenge from the tiger. You could feel him doing the mental equivalent of tugging on his leash as if trying to step up to Dr. Gigas and meet the challenge. He didn't even project words at you this time. Instead all you got was a mental image of ripping the tiger's throat out with your bare fangs. The mental image sent a shudder down your spine. <</if>> Part of you was desperate to simply turn tail and run. You knew that was a bad idea, though. You instinctually recognized the feral look in his eyes and knew running would only set off him off. As you stood there in a moment that seemed to drag on for an eternity you noticed the most concerning thing about him; more concerning even than the look in his eyes that told you he wanted to quite literally eat you. As Dr. Gigas stood there, massive chest heaving with every powerful breath that was all but visibly steaming, every time his chest expanded when he inhaled it didn't completely deflate when he exhaled. In just the few moments since he had exited his office you could see tiny new tears along what remained of his pants. Whatever had made Dr. Gigus into this massive hulking monster was still affecting him. He was still growing. <b>[[Try to reason with him->Tiger is a Monster]]</b>

Slowly you shuffled back towards the door; moving as slow as possible to avoid sudden movements. As you did Dr. Gigas simply stood there, no longer speaking, and watched you. You felt like you were trying to navigate a field of land mines only instead of exploding setting one off would get you mauled. Eventually you felt the door handle bump against your back and give you a momentary surge of hope. Gingerly you slipped one hand behind your back to grasp the door handle without turning your back on the tiger. “Now, Doctor… let's just all take a deep breath and we can talk about this… “ you placated, more to try to keep him talking than in any hopes of actually talking him down. There was clearly no way you were going to be able to reason with whatever the doctor had become. There didn’t seem to be much of anything left of whoever he was before. Now, all you saw in the tiger was a monster.<<if $goowerewolf is true>> Not that you really had a lot of room to talk when it came to monsters.<</if>> Frankly it was a miracle he hadn't already mauled you. But he looked like he was ready too any second. In your experience, those kinds of looks were a sign to run like hell. The moment you had the handle turned you pulled the door open and dashed out into the hall. As soon as you did the tiger roared loud enough to shake the walls before charging after you! Glass and equipment were smashed out of the way without abandon during the tigers maddened bull rush. Thankfully the room was long enough that you were able to make it halfway down the hallway before he reached the door. When he did, though, Dr. Gigas simply shoulder-rammed his way clean through the door and surrounding wall! You were really starting to question whether there were enough zeros on the check you were they promised you for this job. <<if $goowerewolf is true>> <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Keep running!">Keep running!</h2> \</div> <</if>> If you could just stay ahead of the Doctor and get to the lobby, you were pretty sure those reinforced steel doors could keep him in at least for a while.<<if $vaultopen is true>> Or, maybe you could get him to follow you into the [Special Containment Vault]. It'd be more dangerous, but if you could trap him in it there'd be no way that he could get out! at least, that was your hope.<</if>> <b>[[Run for the lobby!->Mad Dash for the Lobby]]</b> <b><<if $vaultopen is true>>@@[Vault]@@ [[Head for Special Containment!->Mad Dash for the Vault]]<</if>></b>

Maybe it was Wolf’s influence on you. Maybe it was that you were tired of always having to run away from problems and now you felt like you had new options. Or maybe it was simply the insanity of your situation had driven you just a little bit crazy. Either way, you had no intention of running. “Alright Wolf, it's you and me. Let's take this fucker down.” <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner=" Let’s kick his ass! "> Let’s kick his ass! </h2> \</div> Hearing that coming from Wolf left a toothy smile on your face even as his black goo encompassed you and his face molded itself over your own. His visage imitated your expression gave it a far more sinister and predatory look than you ever could have managed. You watched the whole room shrink just a bit around you as your body surged upwards with the size of your new form. Extending your arms out to either side and spreading your claws you tilted your head back and you both let out a unified howl into both the night air and your mind. Just about anyone else would have been terrified at seeing an unassuming fox in a hoodie suddenly transforming into a monstrous black werewolf. Dr. Gigus on the other hand was so far gone from whatever was affecting his mind that now all he saw was prey turning into a threat. Taking your howl as the challenge it was, he charged! <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Lets go! "> Lets go! </h2> \</div> Heavy feet pounded against the tile under your feet as you met his charge with your own. You reached out and grabbed at his own outstretched arms as the two of you slammed against each other in a direct contest of strength versus strength. Both of your arms shook with the strain of pushing against one another. To your growing horror, though, you felt your arms being slowly pushed backwards. He was already stronger than you. Whatever the hell was going on inside his body was doing more than just giving him an instant work out at the gym. You had no way to measure accurately but you knew that the strength you had with Wolf out was way beyond what your size should have allowed for. Which is why it so shocking that a tiger a full foot shorter than you was overpowering you. Luckily you were more than just a wild animal. Wolf had the strength, but you had the brains. Clenching your fingers hard enough that your claws dug into the back of his hands you swung your upper body to the side and pulled the tiger along with you. He could have all the strength in the world and it still wouldn't affect gravity's hold on him. his feet lifted up off the ground as you swung around and as you let go of his hands he sailed through the air with the force of a cannonball! When he finally smashed against the concrete wall he hit it hard enough to leave a crater in it. Unfortunately, he had barely hit the ground before he was back on his feet and charging at you again. It was gonna take more than that to put this guy down. Charging towards him once more ou smashed into each other in a whirling dervish of tooth and law. Claws swiped against bare flesh and black pseudo-flesh and teeth snapped and bit at anything that got close to either of your mouths. This time, though, you did your best to avoid direct contests of strength. Several times he tried to get ahold of you to hold you still long enough to bite down only to get your claws raked across part of him and send blood splattering across the ground. When you clamped your jaw down on his neck he slammed his fist into your kidney hard enough to send you flying. It was a brutal display of savagery and strength that you’d only ever expected to see as CGI in movies. You had barely hit the wall before he slammed into you again; shoulder charging you hard enough to smash you through the wall and into his office. Rolling backwards, you pushed back up onto your feet just as he clawed his way through the hole after you. By the time he got through you were ready and waiting for him. Holding his heavy mahogany desk as an oversized tennis racquet you smashed him right back through a hole in the wall of his very own. Climbing back out after him you found the doctor stumbling back up to his feet. He was starting to move with a bit less spring in his step, not that you were much better off. It was heartening to see his chest heaving and breath coming out in short sharp gasps as he panted for breath just like you. At least he was getting tired. The only question was which of you was going to go down first at this rate. <b>[[A battle of attrition.->Battle of Attrition]]</b>

Desperation and adrenaline fueled you as you pushed yourself harder than you ever had before. Your entire body burned like it was on fire as you struggled to it just a little bit harder. And yet even as you forced yourself your normal limits you could still hear the monstrous tiger gaining on you. His footsteps thundered against the ground with increasing volume as he closed the distance between the two of you. As you neared the turn that led to the lobby exit you reached out to grab ahold of the edge of the wall. Using that as a pivot to swing around the corner and minimize your loss of momentum was the only thing that saved you from being flattened against the wall. The tiger had leapt through the air for the last couple of yards of space between the two of you before you made it around the corner. You could actually hear the air whistling around his claws as they tore through the air barely an inch away from your back. A split second later the entire Biology Wing shook from the impact of Dr. Gigus slamming into the concrete wall. When you dared to take a moment to look back you saw that the entire wall had collapsed inwards into the room beyond and the tiger, seemingly no worse for wear and now down on all fours, was already scrambling out of the hole to resume the chase. In that instant you realized he was simply too fast. With the path to the lobby being a straight shot down the hallway there was simply no way for you to outrun or avoid him. If the situation had been different you might have been able to figure out something clever or tricky to avoid him. However, With your body hopped up on so much adrenaline it was a miracle you hadn't had a heart attack yet, you were no state of mind to think of anything more complicated than, well… <<if $goowerewolf is true>><b>@@[Wolf]@@ [[Run for your life!->Wolf the Track Star]]</b> \ \<<elseif $goowerewolf is false && $injury >= 2>><b>[[Run for your life!->Not Fast Enough]]</b> \ \<<elseif $goowerewolf is false && $injury <= 1>><b>[[Run for your life!->Barely Making It]]</b><</if>>

Heavy footsteps thundered against the ground behind you as a constant reminder of your imminent peril. Every heavy impact sent a fresh surge of adrenaline through you and encouraged you to squeeze that little of extra speed out of your legs. Sweat poured from your brow and your chest burned with a desperate need for oxygen as your body tried to keep from overheating and absorb enough oxygen. Yet no matter how hard you pushed yourself, no matter how fast you ran, you could still hear the beast gaining on you. Thankfully, special containment was much closer to you than the front lobby was. Even with the tiger’s superior speed you were confident that your head start was enough to let you reach it before he caught up to you. You just hoped that you weren't backing yourself into a corner. As you approached the double doors leading to special containment you gave us silent prayer of thanks that the door swung inwards instead of opening outwards. Slamming against the door shoulder first you almost lost your footing and face-planted on the ground. Thankful you were able to catch yourself with a stumbling hop and retain most of your momentum. The vault door mercifully was still hanging open just like you had left it. Now all you had to do was get the Dr, Gigus in there and somehow get the door closed behind him. Unfortunately, you didn't have time to think of a clever plan as, barely a second behind you, both doors slammed open with enough force that one of them broke off of its hinges. The culprit, of course, was the monstrous tiger tearing into the room after you! You only had a split second to react before he leapt on you and tore you limb from limb! <<if $goowerewolf is true>><b>@@[Wolf]@@ [[No time to think!->Wolf Got This]]</b><<elseif $goowerewolf is false>><b>[[No time to think!->Sliding Home]]</b><</if>>

Endings

<div align='center'><span style="color:red"><b>[Health check: Failure!] </b></span></div> With no clever tricks or plans up your sleeve all you could do was run. Unfortunately, with the beating you had already taken since you got here, your body simply couldn't move like you needed it to. That didn't stop you from trying, though. So, you ran. Even as you heard his heavy footfalls behind you, you ran. Even as you saw his shadow overtaking your own in front of you, you ran. Even when you felt his hot breath on the tips of your ears, you ran. But, as hard as you ran, he ran faster. A palm nearly as big as a dinner plate slammed against your back with enough force to sent you flying the last couple of yards into the heavy steel door leading out into the main lobby. The impact sent you tumbling head-over-heels through the still-unlocked door and in the lobby proper; knocking the breath from your lungs in the process. Before you even had a chance to regain your bearings you were roughly lifted up into the air. Fingers as thick as sausages gripped the front of your hoodie and shirt as the tiger effortlessly lifted you up until you were face to face with him. Hot breath spilled out across your face, splattering flecks of saliva on your cheeks, nose, and forehead in the process. When you finally managed to raise your head and meet his gaze there was clearly no man left in that hulking body. All that was left in those eyes was the beast. A beast that, based on the continued, faint sound of tearing fabric and visibly increased width of his shoulders, was even now still growing larger. Too panicked to think and too battered to resist all you could do was dangle limply in his grasp. Staring dumbly at the monstrous tiger's face, his jaw slowly spread wider; letting saliva dribble from the edges of his lips and drip down his chin. He didn't see you as an intruder anymore. From that look in his eyes all you were to him now was dinner. And there was nothing you could do about it. <b>[[Accept your fate->Accept your Fate]]</b>

With no clever tricks or plans up your sleeve all you could do was run. So, you ran. Even as you heard his heavy footfalls behind you, you ran. Even as you saw his shadow creeping up on your own in front of you, you ran. But, as hard as you ran, he ran faster. You just couldn't out run him. As good of a runner as you were he was hopped up on god only knew what kind of science juice had made him into that monster. Luckily, though. He wasn't the only one that had gotten into some weird super science shit. And, unlike him, you weren't alone. "Lets go, Wolf!" <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Lets go!">Lets go!</h2> \</div> Even before you felt the goo well up from inside of your body you could feel new strength filling your limbs. Your own footfalls became louder, heavier, as between steps your shoe clad feet were replaced with the much larger clawed paws of Wolf’s form. You could feel new muscle that hadn't existed a split second before tensing like a tightly-wound spring before launching you forward on your next step easily twice as fast as you had been going just a moment beforehand. Every time you and wolf merged like this you could feel your connection with him becoming stronger. Not to mention both Wolf’s intelligence and flexibility increased each time you did as well. This time he didn't even bother fully forming himself over you. Instead, he focused exclusively on your body from the waist down. Somehow he was augmenting your legs with additional whatever it was he was made of and making them even larger and stronger than they normally were when merged with Wolf. You couldn't help but remind yourself how glad you were that Wolf was on your side. With your new monstrous enhancements you soared ahead of Dr. Gigas! You sprinted the rest of the distance down the long hallway in only a couple of seconds! As you burst through the metal door you dug your powerful toe claws into the floor for purchase and left several deep gouges in the flooring as you skidded to an abrupt stop. You’d made it! You’d gotten to the lobby ahead of him! You just had to hope you could get the door closed before Dr. Gigas reached it. And from the sounds of snarling and movement you knew, even with your speed boost, he was only a second or two behind you. <b>[[Get the door closed!->Tiger Locked in By Wolf]]</b>

You couldn't resist, and you couldn't escape. So, you just dangled there and close your eyes to await the inevitable. Which is why you were so surprised that, instead of the flash of pain of teeth tearing into you, you felt yourself dropped roughly down to the ground instead. Even free of the monster’s grasp, though, you weren’t going anywhere. The impact with the door had definitely broken some ribs if the sharp pain in your chest when you inhaled was any indication. There was no way you were standing up anytime soon much less running away. The best you could manage was to roll onto your side and try to at least see what was going on. Standing off to the side, holding a taser still audibly crackling with electricity, was a slightly overweight brown bear in a security guards’ uniform. Unfortunately, while Dr. Gigus’s fingers were visibly twitching in sync with the crackling of the taser he otherwise didn't seem effected by it. Other than having his feral rage turned towards this new attacker, that is. “This way, hurry!” You heard an unfamiliar voice call out from somewhere across the room but from your position you weren't able to see its source. The bear seemed to, though, and shifted toward the direction the sound had come from. The tiger snapped his head in the direction of the voice as well and let out a challenging that snarl sent saliva spraying. It was that brief distraction that gave the bear his chance to strike. Dropping the taser with one hand he whipped out a can of pepper spray with the other with surprising speed. Rather than spray its contents towards the tiger he chucked the entire canister straight at the tiger’s face! Out of pure reflex the tiger snapped his head and snatched the can out of midair; crushing it between his powerful jaws as if it had been made of tin foil. Which was probably the worst thing that he could have done. The resulting explosive release of the pressurized irritant send a cloud of the stuff directly into Dr. Gigus’s face and coated the inside of his mouth with it! Roaring in shock and unexpected pain the tiger covered his face with one hand while blindly clawing the space in front of with the other. Thankfully the security guard had started running the moment the tiger had bit down on the can. Where he went though, you couldn't see. All you did see what the tiger immediately chased after him, albeit far more clumsily than before. From the way he was constantly tripping over and smashing through things as he clearly was trying to follow the bear by sound rather than his currently disabled sight and smell. At least you weren't in immediate danger of being eaten anymore. That was something, right? With that last thought your tenuous grasp on consciousness began to fade. The exhaustion of your attempted escape and the pain of your injuries finally overwhelming you... At least now you didn't have to feel the agony of your injuries anymore. <b>[[Blacking out->Blacked Out]]</b>

You floated in and out of consciousness several times; each time unable to grasp more than a few snippets of what was going on around you. Then the darkness would claim you again. You couldn’t even tell how much time was passing. The first time you roused enough to hold on to a scant few details of your surroundings you found yourself surrounded by several people. You couldn't see anything above their ankles, barely able to even stay conscious much less move. It was hard to even keep track of their individual voices. At least you were able to grasp their words, if not their unique voices. “-contained, for now. We’ll figure out how to deal with him.” “and this one?” “No immediate family, no known connections. No one will miss him. Let's use him for-“ Unfortunately, that was all you were able to grab onto before your tenuous hold on consciousness faded. The next time you awoke you were on an operating table in a white room. The painfully bright light in the room was enough to be seen even through your closed eyelids and rouse you back to consciousness. With what little strength you could muster you tried to move if only to confirm you still had four functioning limbs. While you were reassured on thar point you soon found your arms and legs were firmly strapped down to the table. A surge of instinctual panic at being restrained caused you to start struggling with no real plan or purpose in mind beyond wanting to be free. you couldn't help but notice even through your panic that you didn't feel any pain from your injuries. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that you were strapped down in a strange room you would have wondered if maybe the whole thing had been a dream. Barely three seconds after your struggling began you felt a cold chill spread out from your left arm. You barely had a chance to look down and see the IV in your arm before consciousness began to slip away again like someone had put weights on your eyelids. “Now now… just go back to sleep. We have big plans for you...” came a soothing, unfamiliar voice. Before you could try to turn and get a look at the speaker whatever sedative they had just given you did its job. The darkness claimed you once again. <b>[[Eventually you wake up->Captive Test Subject End]]</b>

Abruptly, you snapped awake like someone had flipped a light switch in your head. Without even taking a moment to get your bearings you shoved yourself up to your feet; arms already raised in a fighting stance. It was a good thing you didn’t have any restraints on this time or your attempted rise would have been quite embarrassing . When no immediate threat presented itself you lowered your arms and looked to take stock of your surroundings. Instead of your normal clothes you found yourself wearing a pure white jumpsuit made of a rough, low quality material that uncomfortably reminded you of a prison jumpsuit. The clothes weren’t the only thing that gave off that feeling, either. You were in a small concrete room barely tall enough for even your unimpressive height to stand up straight without your ears touching the ceiling. The only three things in the room besides yourself was the thin mattress you had been laying on, a small toilet and sink combo like you’d expect to see in a prison cell in one corner, and the heavy steel door that looked to be the only way in or out. As you took a moment to pace the tiny space to try to put together what you last remembered only to be interrupted by an unfamiliar voice “Well well well. Look who’s awake. Our latest lab rat.” The voice spoke with a mocking condescension that reminded you all too clearly of people that enjoyed their power over others a little too much. Following the source of the voice you saw a small sliding panel at the top of the door that was currently open. It was barely big enough for you to even see the dull brown eyes of the person looking inside much less give you any idea of their other distinguishing features. “Who are you? Where the hell am I?” you demanded angrily, unable to keep from barring your fangs at the man. “Don't you worry your pretty little head about that. Where you are don't matter no more. You just sit there and behave till we come and get you. It's always nice to have new test subjects.” The hatch slid closed with a sharp click and the echoing sound of the man's laughter faded away as he, you assumed, walked away from your prison cell. With no better outlet for your confusion and anger you started banging your fists against the metal door and yelling as loud as you could. “You can't do this to me! You can't just lock me up in here like this! Where the hell am I!?” Unfortunately for you no answers came. At a loss at what else to do you wandered back towards your mattress and sat down. Imprisoned and trapped with no way out. Now all you could do was wait until someone came for to get you. Sadly, you didn't think that whoever did come would be coming to rescue you. <hr> You have discovered an ending! This may be the end of this story but there are other stories to discover! <b><<link "Restart">><<run Engine.restart() >><</link>></b>

<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Hurry!">Hurry!</h2> \</div> The moment you had arrested your momentum you bent your legs then propelled yourself back towards the door with the force of a cannonball! Thankfully Wolf was paying attention to your train of thought and moved some of the material augmenting your legs up your body at least enough to partially transform your right arm. Just in time you felt the new, heavier mass of your arm form a split second before your shoulder slammed into the door. In that instant just before it closed you could hear the tiger roaring in outrage and leaping forward in a last, desperate attempt to reach it in time. It was close, terrifyingly close. But, thankfully, luck was on your side. With a sharp clang and hiss you heard whatever locking mechanism held these doors closed snap back into place. A fraction of a second later a heavy thud slammed against the back of the door. Much to your relief as powerful as the impact was the door barely even seemed to vibrate. Immediately afterwards you heard scratching, clawing, and banging against the back of the door. But, no matter how violent the tiger on the other side of it got, the door didn't seem willing to budge. As if all the adrenaline coursing through your body simply evaporated a wave of exhaustion overtook you and you slumped down to the ground. Your whole body ached from the overexertion and your breath came in heavy, ragged pants for several seconds. You could even feel a sense a fatigue coming from Wolf. Apparently that custom and rapid form shifting had exhausted him about as much as the mad dash to safety had for you. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Tired. Need to rest.">Tired. Need to rest.</h2> \</div> “Go ahead, wolf. You did great. I owe you one.” Rather than respond with words he projected a vague sense of approval and appreciation before you felt his consciousness receed further back into your mind. As much as you would have loved to follow his lead and lay down for a nap you still had work to do. Grunting at the effort, you pushed yourself back up to your feet and turned your attention back toward the lobby. No rest for the wicked, as they say. Time to get back to work. <b>[[Get back to work|Front Lobby][$giguslockedinbio to true]]</b>

You didn't even have time to curse your awful luck with the scientist turned monster so close on your heels. You knew that you were only seconds away from an untimely and gruesome death if you didn’t figure out something right now. It's a common saying that your life will flash before your eyes right before you die. In that moment you found the saying to be true as your life began to play out your head in that moment of fatal mortality. Most people think it's to give you a final chance to reflect on how you lived your life. Personally, you always thought of it in the more practical interpretation. It was your brain searching through everything that you’ve experienced in an attempt to find a way to save your life. Luckily enough for you, it was the latter. There was crystallized instant where the entire world seemed to freeze around you. For that one moment you felt sense of clarity as a barely retained memory of playing baseball when you were a kid played through your head. Your body seemed to act on its own as you began to tip yourself backwards just as Dr. Gigus crouched down and leapt at you! You didn't even realize you were yelling with a manic glee that absolutely did not match the desperation of your situation until you had already fallen down on your side; your momentum leaving you sliding you across the smooth tile floor. Just like sliding into home base. “SAAAAAAFE!” Unfortunately, your momentum carried you the rest of the way across the floor fast enough that you slammed up against the elevated bottom of the vault entrance. The impact knocked the air from your lungs and made you wince in pain from the rough impact. The pain, however, was secondary to the sense of relief and triumph you felt as you watched the tiger fly overhead directly through where you had been standing just a moment before. Right through that now-empty space and directly through the Vault entrance. <div align='center'><span style="color:red"><b>[You have been injured]</b></span></div> Unwilling to be hampered by your battered body, you shoved yourself up to your feet just as you heard the tiger smashing into the table inside the vault with a confused and outraged snarl. Desperately you grabbed ahold of the vault door and began pulling on it with all of your might. There was no way you could have opened or closed a door this heavy all by yourself but, thankfully, your suspicions about how it worked was correct. As soon as you started pulling on the door the mechanism inside reactivated and began swinging the door shut for you. Letting go, you took a step back and watched the tiger scrambling to his feet inside. The moment he turned and caught sight of you again he leapt for you once more! Thankfully whatever hydraulic mechanism was pulling the door closed was a step above industrial-grade as even the unnaturally strong tiger seemed unable to stop its momentum. With a loud clack of mechanisms snapping closed and a hiss of pressurization the vault sealed itself closed, Dr Gigas still trapped inside. <b><<link [[Take a breather. You've earned it.|Taking a Breather]]>> <<injure>> <</link>></b>

\<<set $giguslockedinvault to true>> \ The moment you were sure the door wasn't immediately going to pop off its hinges and let the tiger out again you collapsed into a heap on the floor. In total the chase had taken less than 5 minutes but you felt like you had just finished running a 10-mile marathon. Panting and gasping to regain your breath you let yourself sprawl out on your back in the middle of the special containment entry area. You had just survived an attack from some kind of science fiction movie monster! You figured you had earned a five-minute break. As you lay there you could hear the muffled sounds of banging, scraping, and clawing coming from inside the vault. It was a testament to the sheer thickness of the vault that you could barely even hear the sounds like trying to listen to someone talking when your head was under water. At least you could feel confident that he wouldn't be getting out of there anytime soon. Hopefully at least not until you were long gone from this place. Then he would be someone else's problem. Once you had caught your breath and the worst of the ache in your legs had abated you pushed yourself back to your feet. The creaking and groaning of your sore body made you let out an audible grunt of discomfort. You were definitely going to have a lot of bruises tomorrow. But for today, you still had a job to do. <b>[[Back to it->Special Containment Entrance]]</b>

Luck for you, you weren't alone anymore. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Let me!">Let me!</h2> \</div> With no time to argue you loosened your mental grip on your body and let Wolf take over. Even before you did Wolf had already been pushing your transformation. With you fully surrendering control to him it suddenly went much faster. As you changed you could feel Wolf straining against his own limits, whatever those were, to force your transformation faster than he normally would have been able too. Black goo practically exploded out of your body and spun itself around you in the protective shell that was Wolf. The change in perspective from this form’s increased height was so abrupt that it made your stomach churn. It was a good thing Wolf was the one in the driver's seat at that moment. Even with him dialing up your senses so high that everything seemed to be in slow motion you probably would have been too disoriented to react fast enough Wolf dug your claws into the floor as he abruptly twisted you around to face Dr. Gigus. The sharp screech of your claws scraping against the tile to help arrest your momentum was loud enough that even the feral tiger winced in discomfort. Sadly, that wasn't enough to even slow him down. If anything it only seemed to agitate him more. Wolf had barely finished turning you to face him when the tiger pounced; claws and fangs extended and exposed ready to rend you limb from limb. Which is exactly what Wolf wanted. Wolf ducked you down with superhuman speed so that you could come up right underneath the tiger mid-leap. One of your arms reached out and grabbed the meaty part of one of his thighs while the other snapped up to grip the tiger by the throat. It was a good thing he did as that hold on the tiger’s neck was the only thing that kept him from clamping his Jaws down on the side of your neck. But wolf wasn't just stopping the tiger from pouncing on and mauling you. Words that weren't your own spilled from your lips in a deep, gutteral growl of a voice that you never could have managed even with Wolf's body. The words mirrored those that rolled through your mind as Wolf spoke aloud for the first time. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Alley-oop!">Alley-oop!</h2> \</div> Using his new handholds, he pushed the tiger higher into the air while twisting around to continuing the tiger’s midair flight. A flight that sent Dr. GIgus sailing straight through the Vault door. The tiger hadn't even hit the ground yet when Wolf already had you at the vault door to pull it closed. Normally it would have been too heavy for any person to move by themselves so the mechanism was designed to respond to someone trying to close the vault and start swinging itself closed. In the strange, slow motion environment you found yourself in with Wolf dialing up your senses the door movement agonizingly slow even with you pushing on it. You heard the crash of the tiger slamming into the table inside and then the scraping of claws on tile as he tried to right himself and come after you again. Unfortunately for him by the time he was back up on his feet the vault was nearly closed. You heard one last snarl and heavy impact on the back of the door before the loud clack and hissing pressurization of the vault locking itself drowned any frustrated roars from within. <b>[[You did it!->Taking Five]]</b>

The moment you were sure the vault wasn't going to be smashed off of its hinges you collapsed to the ground with your back up against it. You felt Wolf do much the same, or at least his equivalent, inside your head as his form melted off of you by the time your ass hit the ground. For a couple of seconds his goo didn't even recede into you. Instead, it simply lay in a puddle around you and only after a few more seconds did it reluctantly recede back into wherever it was stored inside of you. “Good… good. Job, buddy. I owe you a beer.” You praised through panting breaths. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Thank you">Thank you</h2> \</div> Feelings of pride and accomplishment accompanied the words in your head. You couldn't help but feel a little bit of that, yourself. You weren't sure if you would have survived this whole thing without Wolf. It was then that something dawned on you. “Wait. Did you say alley-oop when you threw him? Have you graduated to quips now? And that was your choice for first words?” Again, a wave of pride radiated out from Wolf inside your head. This time it was lined with an undertone of smugness that you hadn't felt from Wolf before. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Wolf still learning.">Wolf still learning.</h2> \</div> Unable to keep a grin off of your face you slowly pushed yourself back up to your feet. As exhausting as this whole thing had been, the night was still far from over. “Come on buddy. We’ve still got work to do.” And it was then that you realized that since you had let Wolf in you haven't thought a single time about trying to get rid of him. You already seem to just accept him as a part of you now. In response to that thought you felt another wave of satisfaction roll through your head that wasn't yours. <b>[[Back to work|Special Containment Entrance][$giguslockedinvault to true]]</b>

You couldn't tell if it had been minutes or hours since the two of you started going at it. All you knew was that you were exhausted. Wolf wasn’t any better off even if his analog of exhaustion wasn’t quite the same as yours. Every so often part of your body would destabilize and melt like it was made of plastic and someone was using a blowtorch on it. It was only thanks to the unnatural durability of whatever Wolf was made of that you want bleeding from a dozen places. Not that it meant that you weren’t hurt. Wolf could resist tooth and claw but he couldn't blunt impact nearly as well. So while your flesh was intact it was going to be more bruise than body tomorrow. <div align='center'><span style="color:red"><b>[You have been injured]</b></span></div> Thankfully, though, Dr. Gigus wasn't faring much better. Whatever he had injected himself with wasn't just making him bigger, though it had continued to do that through the entire fight. it was making him heal faster. You had clawed and bitten him several times already deep enough to send blood splattering and tear chunks out yet for all the blood matting down his fur there wasn't an actual injury to be found. Anything you did to him seemed to heal within seconds. The only plus side was that healing like that seemed to be exhausting him faster. For as tired as the two of you were, he was barely on his feet. The two of you stood there, both swaying on your feet and staring each other down. Then, finally, the doctor took a step towards you to resume the fight once more. And promptly collapsed face first onto the ground, unconscious. “Oh, thank God.” You gasped out between breaths. Wolf echoed your sentiment if not the words. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Yes...that...">Yes...that...</h2> \</div> <b><<link [[Catch your breath|Catching your Breath]]>> <<injure>> <</link>></b>

The moment it sunk in that the tiger wasn’t getting back up you collapsed down onto your knees. Before they even touched the ground Wolf melted off of you in his own version of collapsing. He didn't even seem to have the energy to pull himself back into wherever he stayed inside you yet. Instead, he just lay there in a puddle of black ooze as you wiped the sweat from your brow and gasped for breath. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Wolf… exhausted…"> Wolf… exhausted…</h2> \</div> “You and me both, buddy.” Honestly it was a miracle that the two of you had won. The tiger had continued to get bigger and stronger even as the fight progressed. Before he had collapsed he had already grown to be as tall as you and if you two had tried to match him strength for strength like at the start of the fight his grip probably would have crushed your hands even through Wolf. He’d been so strong by the end that his claws had almost been able to pierce Wolf’s protection through sheer brute strength if not their actual sharpness. Even now as you looked down at the unconscious tiger you could still see him slowly expanding larger. You were a monster now in your own right and this guy made you look like puppy by comparison. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Us stronger. Better together."> Us stronger. Better together.</h2> \</div> Unable to keep a smile off of your face, you nodded your agreement. “Yea. We totally kicked his ass didn’t we?” <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Totally"> Totally</h2> \</div> The way wolf did his best to imitate your inflection on the word inside your head made you burst out into laughter. The damn thing was starting to get a sense of humor! “It's a damn shame that they shut off the security cameras. I would have loved to see how that fight look from the outside. Imagine. Us in our own movie monster battle.” And then it hit you. In all this time since Wolf had merged with you not once had you thought about how to get rid of him. The idea had never even crossed your mind. You've already been thinking of the two of you as an ‘us’ without even realizing it. Surprisingly, you felt okay with that. You were finding it was kind of nice to have someone else to rely on. “I guess we make a pretty good team, don't we?” You couldn't help but snicker again at his response. Yeah, the two of you were going to get along great. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Totally"> Totally</h2> \</div> <b>[[Get out before Dr. Gigus wakes up->No Going Back]]</b>

After giving yourself a moment to rest, at least enough that you didn’t feel like walking would make your legs give out, you made your way towards the exit. You were too tired to even bother trying to tiptoe around the unconscious tiger. Thankfully he seemed to be out like a light and made no move even when you loudly stepped on glass and other various debris spread across the ruined lab. “Damn. We really did a number on this place, didn’t we?” <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Indeed"> Indeed</h2> \</div> Once back in the hall you quickly made your way back out into the lobby. Turning, you grabbed the metal security door to the Biology Department and shoved it closed without hesitation. Like Operator had warned you the door immediately closed and locked with a loud CLACK. Sure there may have been other valuable things in there but, at this point, you just wanted a few more reinforced doors between you and Dr. Gigus. “Alright. Enough of that for now. Let’s get back to it. We’ve still got a job to do.” <b>[[Back to work|Front Lobby][$gigusunconsious to true]]</b>

Upon entering the smaller lab space, you immediately found yourself reminded of a doctor’s office. Despite the various pieces of machinery and electronics scattered around the room in seeming total disarray the room still seemed almost unnaturally clean. Maybe it was just you typically associating machine parts with greasy automotive components but somehow you expected a workshop like this to be somehow… messier. Unfortunately, you couldn’t make heads or tails of what most of the components were and had no way of telling what was and wasn’t valuable. For all you knew these parts could be solid platinum or gold inside, or they could be plastic all the way through. \<<if $hasshrinkray is false && $hasdepletedshrinkray is false>> You did notice a large, hand drawn diagram on a white board across the room. It looked like a hand-drawn blueprint for some a handheld gun-like device. Luckily, sitting on a small table right next to the board, was the exact device the drawing depicted in all of its smooth, chrome-plated glory. It was the first thing you’d seen in this lab so far that actually looked finished. Luckier still, it even had a rolled-up blueprint laying right next to it! Upon unrolling it to examine its contents your eyes widened in a moment of disbelief at seeing its title. “Shrink Ray” this is exactly the kind of thing you were looking for. You weren’t exactly sure if you totally believed the thing was real but it was hard to imagine some research company spending this much money on a lab like this for its scientists to make joke, fake things like this. And if it was real someone would pay a lot of money for it. You take the shrink ray and pocket it. <b>[You have acquired A Shrink Ray]</b> \<<if $goowerewolf is true>> You could feel Wolf's presence rousing with interest as you looked over the shrink ray. He didn't seem to fully comprehend what exactly it did but did intuit some idea of what it's effects could be from your own thoughts. \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Useful.">Useful.</h2> \</div> You hadn't thought about using the device for yourself. Maybe you should keep that option in mind. Who knew what you could do with something like this.<</if>> Before you go, you unroll the blueprint all the way and snap a couple of pictures with your phone. You notice that there are several hand-scribbled notes in the edge margins about the device’s power draw and how it currently can only hold one charge. Apparently, the thing could only fire once then it was drained. Well, that was a problem for your employer to figure out after he paid you for it. \ \<<set $hasshrinkray to true>> <b>[[Head back out into the main [Size Lab].->Size Lab]]</b> <<elseif $hasshrinkray is true>> You’ve already searched the room. There's nothing else of value here. <b>[[Head back out into the main [Size Lab].->Size Lab]]</b> <<elseif $hasshrinkray is false && $hasdepletedshrinkray is true>> You've already searched the room and there doesn't seem to be much else of value here. However upon closer inspection near where you originally found the shrink ray you see what looks like a high tech version of a power tool battery charger. The battery sticking out of it next to the green "Fully Charged" light is suspisciously shaped like a gun magazine. It doesn't take a genius to figure out it must be a spare power cell for your shrink ray! You could also swap out your spent battery into the charger for the fresh one. If you needed another shot later maybe it would be recharged by then. <b>[[Swap out the batteries and leave the room|Size Lab][$hasdepletedshrinkray to false,$hasshrinkray to true]]</b><</if>>

“Right. Uh. Sorry. Doctor. Listen. I'm real sorry. I know I'm not supposed to be in here. Just please don’t... Look, if you just help me get back to normal, I promise I'll turn myself in.” you all but begged up to the giant mouse. Obviously, you would never have normally given yourself up willingly. Lying about it they get someone to cooperate? Absolutely. The problem was that in this situation you felt so desperate that you weren't even sure if it was a lie. A few years behind bars versus spending the rest of your life at the size of a toy was a pretty difficult choice. “Oh, don't worry little guy. I'm not going to hurt you.” The mouse reassured you. Standing there for a long moment you stared up into his face trying to look for any signs of deceit. When, at least as far as you could tell, it seemed like the mouse was actually telling the truth you couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank God. Listen, I'll be totally honest with you, Doctor. You’re... Pretty fucking terrifying from down here. You're really not going to hurt me?” you asked with a spark of hope in your voice. “Nope.” the mouse said with a matter-of-fact smile. “And you'll help me get back to normal?” you continued excitedly. “Nope” the mouse said with the exact same matter of fact smile. “I'm going to keep you like this.” It took a moment for what he said to sink in. When it did your eyes went. Before you had a chance to reply one of his arms lifted up off of his knee and began of reaching a giant hand down towards you... <<if $goowerewolf is true>><b> @@[Wolf]@@ [[Run!->Tiny Wolf Escape]]</b><<elseif $goowerewolf is false>><b>[[Run!->Futile Escape]]</b><</if>>

Panic overtook rationality and you simply started to run. The intellectual part of your brain knew that you were so laughably, hilariously outmatched by the sheer size difference that there was practically no way you can escape. But fear can make you do stupid things. You weren't even sure where you were running. Looking out across the enormous open field of concrete that was the warehouse floor you couldn’t see anywhere to escape to for what seemed like miles. The closest thing in sight that you might have been able to hide behind was one of the power cables and it looked to be at least a city block away from your size’s perspective. You had no hope of making it that far. With a single heavy footstep, the mouse covered the entire distance you had crossed with in several seconds of a dead run and slammed his foot down directly in front of you. Unable to stop yourself in time you slammed bodily against the side of his shoe and rebounded off of it ; flopping down onto your back. Before you even had a chance to get back to your feet his shoe lifted up and settled itself back down directly on your chest. “Where do you think you're going, little guy. I said I wasn't going to hurt you. I never said I wasn't going to keep you” the mouse rumbled ominously. You tried to respond but the moment you opened your mouth the shoe on top of you pressed down harder. The forceful compression of your chest forced the air from your lungs and made it difficult to draw in a full breath. The rest of you didn't fare much better. Just a casual weight of his foot on top of you was pressing you down into the ground hard enough that you could feel your bones creaking. One wrong shift of the mouse’s weight and you knew something would immediately snap. The mouse didn't even seem to notice how even that minuscule bit of pressure he was pushing down on you with was almost enough to crush you. Forget malicious intent. This mouse could crush you literally without even trying to! When the mouse finally lifted his foot up you gasped and coughed as you tried to replace the breaths you had been denied. Slowly you rolled yourself over onto your hands and knees then had to take another moment before you could attempt to get to your feet. The mouse didn't let you get that far though. Massive white-furred fingers the size of logs curled around you and effortlessly lifted you up into the air. You nearly empty the contents of your stomach from the sudden dizzying wave of vertigo at being lifted what, to you, felt like 10 stories into the air in barely a second. By the time you regained your senses you found yourself being held in front of his billboard sized face. As if it hadn't been intimidating enough when you were down on the ground now every time he opened his mouth to speak you got a front-row view inside of a mouth big enough to swallow you whole. “Don't worry, little guy. I'm not going to tell anyone you were here. You're going to be my little secret...” Again, Salem didn't even give you a chance to reply. Your stomach lurched again as you were once more moved with frightening speed several stories lower. Your eyes widened as he lowered you down towards his pants and for a split second you were filled with a far different and much more intense fear as the hand-holding you moved towards his zipper. Much to your relief, if you could call it that, his hand stopped before going that far. Instead he used his pinky and ring finger to pull open the side pocket of his jeans. That was the last you got to see of the outside world for quite a while before you were dropped into the dark cavern of his pocket alongside a handful of coins the size of manhole covers to you. That night was the last time anyone heard from Alex the thief. <b>[[Taken Away by Salem->Salems Pet End]]</b>

True to his word, Salem never told anyone that you had snuck into the facility that night. For those first few weeks you kind of wished he had. Now though, you knew your place. You were a good boy. You didn't misbehave. You did as you were told. You didn’t question him. He had taken you home with him to be his personal pet and plaything. The first few nights he had made you sleep in a hamster cage. Eventually, though, he got you a little doll house that you lived in now instead. He was a very gracious owner, spending his hard-earned money on things for you. He even bought you a whole wardrobe of doll clothing at one point so you could always look dressed and proper for him. You have been really bad those first few days. An absolute terrible pet. You would constantly yell at him and ask for ridiculous things like being let go. It was silly to think about, really. How could you have survived without him? Thankfully he had been patient with you and taking the time to train you properly. Any time you had gotten out of line he would give you one of the punishments. Spending an hour in one of the shoes he was wearing or be given nothing to eat for a couple of days but hamster pellets instead of the scraps from his meals that he graciously shared with you had quickly straightened your behavior out. Now you would never think of disobeying him. Now that you behaved you didn't get punished anymore. You had even been rewarded by having your house moved down into the basement where he had a model city all his own. It gave you a sense of familiarity getting to walk through the streets as if you were almost normal sized. As if you were the same size as him. Not that you wanted to be. That was silly. No one was as big or powerful as him. Those were the bad thoughts. You weren't allowed to have those thoughts. He proved that to you constantly. He could overpower you so easily; how could anyone else rival him? Sometimes he would even come down into the basement and play with you. You were his favorite toy, after all. Before you it had been the city itself that he had played with. He told you once he liked feeling big. That's why he was researching size changing technology. He said that it was a lot more realistic and fun now that he had you to run around the streets away from him while he played the role of the faux giant monster. You didn’t really understand that anymore. He was already so big and powerful you hardly could even imagine him being any more so. He was already perfect, in every way. That was your belief; the belief he trained in to you. Sometimes, late at night when you couldn't sleep, you would try to remember what your life was like before he took you home with him. It was all a blur now. It was hard to imagine life before you were his; before you were trained properly. But now you where his favorite toy. Even if you could imagine a life without him anymore, you didn’t want too. You weren't allowed to. <hr> You have discovered an ending! This may be the end of this story but there are other stories to discover! <b><<link "Restart">><<run Engine.restart() >><</link>></b>

Panic overwhelmed you as you saw that massive hand lowering towards you. As much as you wanted to turn tail and run you simply couldn't make your body move in that instance of fear. Thankfully, you weren't alone <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Escape!">Escape!</h2> \</div> Power welled up from inside of you as Wolf took control during your panic. At Wolf’s command you leapt backwards a full five feet, your scale, just in time to avoid the log sized fingers closing around you. You saw a look of confusion pass across the giant’s face overhead at your seemingly unnatural movements. That confusion turned to annoyance as he tried again to grab at you only for Wolf to once more make you leap out of the way at the last second. He hasn't manifested himself around you yet but you could feel him roiling around under your skin; augmenting your muscles and letting you move far beyond your normal physical limits. “Stop moving around! How are you even doing that?“ the mouse growled out in frustration, more to himself than an actual demand of you. Wolf, however, had no intention of complying. Turning on your heels he made you surge forward into a full sprint across the cavernous warehouse floor. A frustrated curse overhead made you look back just in time to see the Dr. Volmer’s massive palm descending toward you like a meteor! Apparently, he was no longer playing gentle. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Uh Oh.">Uh Oh.</h2> \</div> Wolf knew that you couldn't move out of the way in time even with his help. So, instead, he made you skid to a stop and brace yourself with your knees bent. Black goo exploded out of you in a dozen different places and wrapped around your body in a blur; wrapping you within the form of the black werewolf symbiote in an instant. With your new claws digging into the ground for support and knees and arms bent Wolf raised your enlarged arms over head just as the massive mouse's palm slapped down on top of you. <b>[[Squashed?->Like Atlas]]</b>

Your whole body screamed out in protest at the sudden force smashing down onto it. Even with the enhanced strength and durability of Wolf’s body the sheer size difference made your supernatural strength barely able to keep you from crumbling like a paper doll. It was only that the mouse hadn't been swinging as hard as he could to try and actually squash you that allowed you and Wolf to barely hold his palm at bay above you. Even with the doctor’s obvious Escape!intent not to immediately kill you if you hadn't been in Wolf's body just then you weren't sure if you would have survived the impact. “What the hell?” Dr Volmer mumbled in confusion. Rather than give the mouse time to makes sense of what was happening Wolf had you strike back. Using Wolf’s powerful jaws you latched down on the closest bit of flesh above you that you could get your teeth around and bit down with strong enough to bite through steel. Even with that unnatural strength, though, the size difference made his skin so thick that you still struggled to draw blood. With a yelp of pain, Dr. Volmer jerked his hand back and clutched it against his chest. \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="First blood!">First blood!</h2> \</div> Finally thinking a bit straighter you decided that maybe Wolf had the right idea. You could feel pride radiating out from him at being able to wound such a comparatively powerful creature. When you finally decided to follow his lead and fight it only made his pride grow. “Alright, Wolf. Fuck it. What have we got to lose? Lets-“ <b>[[Fight!->David vs Goliath]]</b>

“Alright, Wolf. Fuck it. What have we got to lose? let's take this fucker down!“ <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Take this fucker down!">Take this fucker down!</h2> \</div> Letting a bit of Wolf’s overconfidence in, the two of you left towards the mouse! Before he even realized what was happening you had jumped up on the top of one of his shoes and had begun scaling his pants leg. Now it was the Dr. Volmer’s turn to panic as some unknown creature, tiny or otherwise, started attacking him! In an attempt to dislodge you, Volmer lifted his leg up off the ground and violently shook it! Unfortunately for him, with Wolf augmenting your strength and a firm grip on the fabric with your claws, you weren't going anywhere. When that didn't work he reached down to try and swat you away like an oversized bug. This only gave you the opportunity to leap from his leg onto his arm! “Aaah! What the hell is this!?“ Salem yelled in a mixture of confusion and fear. Rather than respond you rapidly leapt up his arm in quick bounding leaps; grabbing handfuls of fur or fabric every time he tried to shake you off. When he again tried to reach over and grab or swat you away you just leapt up onto his other arm and continued. You felt the giant mouse beneath You rock backwards as they tripped and fell fall back on their ass in sheer panic. By then, though, you had already made it up to his neck. One more quick hop was all it took to get to the top of his head and latch onto one of his ears <h3><i>“Don’t move.”</i></h3> <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Don’t move">Don’t move</h2> \</div> When the two of you spoke together at the same time your voice took on a strange echoing quality that was just as disconcerting as everything else about Wolf. It was like you suddenly had two different sets of vocal cords speaking at the same time. Whether it was the unnatural, monstrous sound of the voice speaking, if still higher pitched and quieter due to the size difference, to the feeling of sharp claws digging into the sensitive flesh of his ears Dr. Volmer immediately complied. <b>[[Demand he return you to normal->Negotiation at Clawpoint]]</b>

Even speaking by yourself your voice was still guttural and feral sounding coming from Wolf's vocal cords. If anything, the suddenly different sounding voice only made the mouse more unnerved. “You're going to help us get back to normal. And then you're going to pretend you never saw us. And if you don't...” Pausing for dramatic effect, you dug your claws in a little deeper into the sensitive flesh of the mouse's ear. You didn't need to put words to the rest of your threat. Honestly it was probably a good thing because you didn't know specifically what you would threaten to do. You were kind of winging it at this point and hoping shock would compensate for you being small enough for him to punt across the room. Thankfully the doctor seemed more than willing to fill in the details with his own imagination. Moving slowly as if near an animal ready to attack at any sudden movement, which honestly wasn’t too far off the mark, the mouse slowly gestured towards the device across the room. “I can use the machine to grow you back to normal. I just need you to stand on the red X. I can't activate the machine and be in front of it at the same time.” He explained. After considering for a moment you finally relaxed your hold on his ear. Without much thought, you hopped down to the ground back down at his feet. If you didn't have so many other things to be concerned about you probably would have been a little more freaked out and amazed that you had just jumped what for you was effectively a hundred feet down to the ground and landed without a scratch. <b>[[No choice but to trust him->Reluctant Trust]]</b>

After staring you down for just a moment longer, the giant mouse turned and walked towards the device. Reluctantly, you and Wolf did much the same towards the red X. Maybe it was Wolf affecting your thoughts or maybe you were just desperate but normally you would have never trusted someone to do as they said like this. But, again, you really didn't have many other options. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Too small. Can’t hunt">Too small. Can’t hunt</h2> \</div> “Yeah I know that but what's stopping him from just running out of here and calling for help? I don't like trusting my well-being to someone else” <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="No other choice">No other choice</h2> \</div> “Yea yea. I guess it can't really get any worse than being the size of a toy.” Your conversation with the voice in your head, as insane as that statement was, was interrupted by Doctor Volmer’s voice echoing across the room. “Alright. Just stand still. Discharging in 3…2…1....” As the machine hummed to life all you could do is stand there, still clad in Wolf’s form, and take the blast of energy from the machine head on. <b>[[Trust the Doctor's word.->Grown back]]</b>

When the blast of energy from the machine hit you weren't quite sure what to expect. If you were being honest, the device working exactly as you had hoped was one of the more unlikely outcomes in your opinion. Much to your surprise and delight the room rapidly shrunk around you as you expanded upwards in size. Within only a couple of seconds you hadgrown back up to your full size! Considering you were still in Wolf’s form that was a pretty lofty height; one that clearly intimidated the already nervous mouse. “Jesus… what even are you?” he said aloud, more to himself then as an actual question. You could feel a primal sense of satisfaction welling up from inside Wolf now that the mouse was, from the symbiotes perspective, properly intimidated by the two of you. Not to mention looking down on the mouse as was proper, according to Wolf. For a moment you felt a petty urge from Wolf to further intimidate the mouse just to prove a point. It was then that you decided that maybe he had been out a bit too long. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="You’re no fun">You’re no fun.</h2> \</div> Slowly, reluctantly, Wolf melted off of you and receded back beneath your skin. As he did you walked across the room towards the doctor; fully back to normal by the time you reached him. Even back to your normal appearance the mouse was still clearly wary of you and took a step back as you approached. “You just hold up your end of the deal. You never saw us. As far as you're concerned, we are a figment of your imagination.” <h3><i>“Got it?”</i></h3> <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Got It?">Got It?</h2> \</div> For the last bit you let Wolf come out just enough to alter your vocal cords and give your voice that menacing rumble and dual voice effect. The mouse swallowed audibly in response and gave a quick nod of agreement before you turned away. \<<if $hasshrinkray is true || $hasdepletedshrinkray is true>> As you turned the mouse caught sight of the portable shrink ray sticking out of your pants pocket. “Hey! Is that my…“ he started to accuse only to have you turn and give him a warning glare that made him quickly trail off. “Uh… Nevermind.”<</if>> <b>[[Leave the Size Lab|Engineering Department][$salemcoerced to true]]</b>

It took a second for those words to register. When they did a wave of unease and fear completely unrelated to the intimidating size of the mouse up inside of you. Before you realized what you were doing you were on your feet stabbing a finger upwards towards the sky-filling rodent and yelling up at him in what must have been a high-pitched squeaking voice to the Giant. “Survived intact?! You mean there was a 25% chance I wasn't going to survive this! Are you insane?!” Abruptly the ground rumbled, though less violently then when the mouse took a step, as his weight shifted. The mouse leaned forwards to balance on the balls of his feet. His knees bent and his hands came to rest atop them as his whole body lowered down to crouch over you. Somehow the giant rodent squatting down over you like this, like you might have bent down to pick up a penny off the ground or inspect an insect, made you feel even smaller than you had a few moments ago. “27%, to be accurate.” he corrected before elaborating. “Early tests showed that even minor fluctuations in capacitor charge would destabilize the reduction field and make its effects uneven. If-“ “Stop stop stop!” you cried out. As you did you grabbed the sides of your head and flattened your ears against the top of your skull. “Please good lord I really don't think I want to hear the details of what would have happened if whatever the hell you did to me didn't work right.” To your surprise the mouse actually looked a bit embarrassed. “That… is a good point. Sorry.” He apologized. Now it was your turn to be surprised. Well, more surprised than you already were to suddenly find yourself smaller than a GI Joe. The mouse was being far less malicious than you would have expected him to be with what he had to know was an intruder. An intruder that he now effectively had completely at his mercy. You had no delusions that if this mouse wanted to do something to you right now there was really not a damn thing you could do to resist him or escape him. Anger, threats of violence, or even actual violence all would have been perfectly expected. The mouse apologizing was not. “Uh… thanks. I. Um.” you stammered, groping around for how to react. “So... if I said I was sorry any chance you might let me go...?” <b>[[Can't hurt to ask->Asking for Help]]</b>

It never hurt to ask, right? Apparently not as, to your further surprise, the mouse didn't immediately refuse or laugh at you like you would have expected. One of his hands raised from his knee and rubbed thoughtfully at his chin as he visibly mulled over the question. When he did finally respond you got the last answer you were expecting to get. “Yea. Sure. Seems fair.” He answered with a shrug. “…Wait. Really?” you asked, unable to keep the skepticism out of your voice. “Let's call it quid pro quo for using experimental and possibly dangerous technology on you without your consent. I'll pretend like I never saw you and you pretend like I didn't use a machine on you that had a one-in-four chance of making you explode.” Despite the grizzly mental image that momentarily put in your head you couldn't help but smirk up at the giant mouse. “27%, actually.” You corrected. That got a legitimate laugh out of the mouse. Unfortunately for you it became immediately apparent that the mouse had been lowering his voice when talking to you. When the full-volume bark of laughter escaped from the mouse it was loud enough that it left your ears ringing. His mirth quickly died, though, as he looked back down at you with a serious expression. “Although… there might be a little bit of a problem. Or, at least, a disclaimer.” He hedged, suddenly looking rather nervous. “There uh… there is a risk involved in using the device to return you back to normal as well. There is a one in... well let's just say you're probably better off not knowing the odds. I'll just say you have a better chance of being turned back to normal than not. Unfortunately, the only other option is, well, leaving you this size. “ For a moment you simply stared up at the mouse, dumbstruck. It hadn't quite registered that there would have been a risk to return you to normal size. Thinking about it for even a second though it made total sense if there was a risk and shrinking you there was definitely a risk in growing you back. For a moment you wanted to start yelling up at the mouse in outrage once more that he had done this to you. Thankful you got those urges under control before you actually opened your mouth and said something you’d regret. The scientist was being amicable for the time being but that didn't mean you wanted to risk pissing off someone that was still perfectly capable of squashing you like a bug. “Well… hm. Kinda… kinda shit choices to be honest.” You said aloud, more to yourself to help you think than as an accusation towards him. “I’m Alex, by the way.” “Volmer. Doctor Salem Volmer.” the mouse said, returning the introduction. After mulling it over for a moment you finally shrugged and looked back up at Dr. Volmer with your answer. “Well… “ <b>[[Give it a shot! You don't want to be tiny forever!->Attempted Reversal]]</b>

\<<if $goowerewolf is true>> \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Danger! Defend!">Danger! Defend!</h2> \</div> Wolf’s voice echoed through your head with a note of panic that you hadn’t heard from the symbiote before. He had been oddly quiet during this whole ordeal and now that you were paying closer attention you swore you felt something almost like unease in Wolf. If you didn’t know better you’d almost suspect Wolf was intimidated by the relative size of the mouse. Now wasn’t the time to think about that though. Out of reflex you raised both of your arms up in front of you vertically in hopes of blunting the worst of the tail’s impact. Just before the oncoming truck of a tail would have slammed into you your whole body seemed to tingle for a moment as Wolf abruptly burst forth. Even with the eerie speed Wolf could manifest around you there wasn’t time to fully cloak you in himself. Instead, you felt your legs suddenly surge with newfound strength as Wolf spread out from your waist and transformed your legs into his larger, more powerful versions. Your arms similar transformed from the elbow up; forearms and hands surging larger and giving your whole body a strangely disproportionate appearance. Your toes clenched hard enough the concrete cracked slightly from the force of your toe’s grip as your legs braced themselves for impact. When the tail hit you felt the impact resonate through your entire body. You knew instantly if Wolf hadn’t changed you that you would easily have been sent sprawling. Thankfully your altered arms took the brunt of the blow and your legs were braced hard enough against the floor that you only skidded backwards about a foot (your scale). That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt, though. Without the rest of your body transformed your shoulders and torso ached from the recoil of the impact and you knew you were definitely going to be sore tomorrow. At least it was better than broken bones. The moment the tail had swept away and the danger was passed Wolf retreated back inside of your skin. The sudden lack of augmented legs caught you off guard and you fell back onto your ass hard enough that now you knew that was going to be bruised as well. \<div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Little damage. Will heal."> Little damage. Will heal.</h2> \</div> Taking Wolf’s assurance that he would handle what damage was done you tried to turn your attention back to the matter at hand rather than dwelling on how Salem’s obliviousness could have seriously injured you. <b>[[Get back up and get ready->Fire Away]]</b> \<<elseif $goowerewolf is false>> \ You had little time to prepare yourself and no hope of getting out of the way in time. The best you could do was brace your feet and raise your arms in front of you to try to absorb some of the impact. The fact that Salem’s tail obliviously swinging at you just from him turning around was a serious threat to your safety was just another reminder of how comparatively insignificant and helpless you were at this size. The tail smacked against your upraised arms with the force of a professional footballer’s tackle. The impact knocked the air from your lungs and sent you sprawling across the floor. Any choice curse words or grunts of pain that you might have let out were muffled by the rumbling, heavy footsteps thundering across the giant warehouse floor. That didn’t stop you from groaning your complaint and discomfort, though. <div align='center'><span style="color:red"><b>[You have been injured]</b></span></div> After rolling over onto your back you took a moment to test bending your arms and hands. Then you took a moment to suck in a couple of deep breaths of air to expand your chest out. It ached but there was no stabbing pain of fractured ribs. At least you didn’t seem to have broken anything even if you were a bit banged up now. As much as you wanted to be mad at Salem it was difficult to do so considering it had obviously been an accident. That and, again, you didn’t want to piss off your only ticket to not being the size of a toy soldier. <b><<link [[Get back up and get ready|Fire Away]]>> <<injure>> <</link>></b> <</if>>

By the time he had reached the controls you were already back up on your feet, if a little bit worse for the wear. It took a few steps to the side to make sure you were back near the middle of the red X by the time Salem was ready at the controls. Doing your best to hide the wince from moving your still-sore body you spread your arms wide in an inviting gesture. “Alright doc, let her rip!” you called out, knowing full well there was no way for him to hear you from this far away. He must have had some kind of camera watching the impact site, though, because he seemed to react to your gesture if not your words. Either that or Salem just had impeccable timing. “Here we go… Allons-y!” The hum of the machine powering up filled the room. At this size it was far more intimidating and thunderous; nearly deafening you! A knot of doubt squeezed at your stomach as you began to have second thoughts about going through with this. Unfortunately, at this point there was no way to stop it. So, all you could do was look up at the massive machine pointed at you and brace yourself as a flash of green light momentarily blinded you! <b>[[It worked!->Grown Back]]</b>

As the burst of energy hit you a powerful wave of vertigo sent you stumble off balance. The room spun even as it shrunk around you; the violently abrupt sensation of riding an elevator going up way too fast leaving you dizzy and disoriented. Then, just as abruptly as the disorientation had started, it vanished! If anything the sudden lack of vertigo was as disorienting as the vertigo itself.. When you finally regained your senses and looked around you found that, much to your delight, room was once more back to a regular size! You still had plenty of other problems with this entire crazy job but, at least now, being the size of a toy wasn't one of them. \ <<if $salemissmall is true>> <b>[[Time for your end of the bargain->Your End of the Bargain]]</b> \<<elseif $salemissmall is false>> <b>[[Thank Salem|Showing Gratitude][$salembefriended to true,$height to 1]]</b><</if>>

As you walked back across the room towards the device and the mouse behind it you couldn't help but notice how giddy and excited he looked. “It worked! Hah! I'll have to test it a few more times to be sure but I'm confident those recent adjustments helped compensate for the-“ Salem started to babble with increasing speed. “Hey! Doc.” you shouted to cut him off before he ran out of breath. Suddenly looking abashed at the realization of his rambling the mouse quickly snapped his mouth shut. He did still make a point to walk a circuit around you and look you up and down. When he seemed confident you hadn't suddenly sprouted extra limbs or mutated into some horrifying monster, he stopped in front of you and smiled. <<if $goowerewolf>> There was a childish part of you that wanted to let Wolf out and transform just to freak the mouse out. The thought cause Wolf to rise up in the back of your mind; clearly amused by the idea as well. When you decided not to you could feel Wolf’s tangible disappointment. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="No fun">No fun</h2> \</div> Now he was learning about practical jokes. Maybe you were the one that was the bad influence here after all. <</if>> <b>[[Time to part ways->A Deals a Deal]]</b>

“All right. We’ve still got a deal, right? You got to test your machine so now you pretend I'm not here.” You asked, unable to keep a hint of skepticism out of your voice. “I'm a man of my word!” Salem declared proudly. “Honestly I couldn't care less about this place. I'm only here because they give me funding. Hell, half of the researchers and executives here are either crazy, assholes or both. If I paid enough attention and knew what went on in most of the other places, I'd happily draw you a map of where all the valuable stuff is. God, what I wouldn't give to see Sinclair’s face when he came in tomorrow morning and found all his prototypes missing. That smarmy egotistical- “Hey! Salem!” you all but shouted to stop the mouse from yet another tangent. Blushing again, he snapped his mouth shut and nodded. Part of you was still revolting against the idea of trusting him like this. Then again you figured if he was trustworthy enough to grow you back like you said then he had no real reason to rat on you. As you turned to leave you felt Salem reach out and grab one of your arms to stop you. Turning a quizzical eye on him he just smiled up at you rather than responding. Then, taking your hand, he stuffed something into your fingers and closed your fist around it. Before you could look at what he had given you he was pushing you towards the exit to the laboratory. It was only once you were outside the door that he spoke a parting phrase before slamming the door closed behind you. “Call me.” Looking down at your hand you found a slightly crumpled, torn-off strip of paper with a phone number written on it. Now it was your turn to be the flustered one for once. <b>[[Back to work->Engineering Department]]</b>

“Look at what you've done!“ the mouse all but snarled; his voice deeper in pitch and thunderous in volume thanks to his size. “Do you have any idea what that thing could have done to me!?” You couldn't quite bring yourself to respond. You've never been face-to-face with someone that was size of a building before and it was turning out to be pretty intimidating. It didn't help that you could feel the ground shake slightly every time the mouse moved. Not to mention the multiple cracks spider-webbing across the concrete simply from the weight of the giant scientist. Your lack of response didn't stop the mouse from continuing to rant at you, though. “Who knows what buttons you could have pressed! That thing could have made me explode or something if it was calibrated wrong! It's a miracle it didn't turn me inside out! If I were bigger I would kick your… “ he continued snarling at you only to trail off at the end of this sentence. It was as if only then did his situation really dawn on him. He WAS bigger than you. A LOT bigger than you. His garage-sized head swung back and forth as if only really seeing the room for the first time and realizing how tiny everything was. Then, looking down, he flexed his fingers and pressed down harder on the concrete floor to watch it crack and crater under his grip. Then, slowly, his lips curled into a wicked, toothy grin. “Oh. Well. Maybe this isn’t so bad after all.” You stumbled briefly as the mouse wiggled his hips back and forth; causing small tremors to shake the room from the simple act of the giant mouse shifting his weight. A loud crashing sound came from the far side of the room as his movement caused his tail to smack one of the ceiling’s support beams. The impact shook the entire lab and smashed the support beam clear out of the ceiling and sent it crashing down onto the mouse's hip. Much to the doctor’s delight the steel beam, which had to weigh at least a couple hundred pounds, was barely even felt as it hit him and tumbled off of him and onto the floor. The more it dawned on the mouse how big he actually was now and how much power came with that the more excited he seemed to get. <b>[[It might be time to run->Escaping The Giant]]</b>

Confronted with a gigantic monster of a mouse that could swallow you whole or squash you under their fist? Yeah, that seems like a good time to get the hell out of there. As you started turning towards the door the mouse ruined your hopes of a clean, unnoticed escape. “Now where do you think you're going?” his deep baritone voice rumbled. You looked back over your shoulder just in time to see a hand nearly big enough to cover your entire body swinging towards you as if the scoop you up off the ground! Quickly diving forward, you flattened yourself against the floor just as the hands swept overhead where you had been standing just a moment before. An instant later you barely had time to roll to the side before a grumble of annoyance from the mouse preceded his hand slapping down where you had just been laying. “Hold still, damn it!” the mouse growled, clearly frustrated. It was clear that the doctor was reluctant to cause further damage to the comparatively small room surrounding him. If he’d just gone after you full force he surely would have caught you even if it meant smacking his head into the ceiling and risking damaging the machine that made him big in the first place. You weren’t going to complain about his reservations to damage his lab space restricting his movements. They were the only thing keeping you out of his hands! Just as he was pulling his hand back for another strike you clumsily scrambled to your feet and made a mad dash towards the door! “Oh no you don’t!” The doctor thundered! A loud whoosh of air overhead made you wince as the mouse swung his arm above you. For a split-second you I thought maybe he had simply missed you again. Then you saw his hand moving towards the door and you realized he was trying to block your exit! Desperately you poured on the speed; dashing as quickly as you could across the few feet between you and the exit. Just as the giant mouse’s hand was lowering down to cover the door you dove forward towards it! Thankfully the doors to the size Labs swing outward and as you slammed into the door with your arms crossed defensively over your head it swung open and sent you tumbling out into the hallway a split second before a massive furred hand slammed down in front of the door’s interior. <b>[[Safe?->Not Safe Yet]]</b>

You only had a second to catch your breath before the doors burst open again and part of the doctor’s massive arm shoved its way through! It was only blind luck that you stumbled backwards in time to avoid the giant fingers closing and grabbing you. Blindly, they groped around in the hallway space they could reach; feeling around across the floor and then the walls trying to find you. Thankfully the opening was too small, comparatively, for him to be able to see through it and get his arm through at the same time. Not to mention the door was too small to let more than his forearm squeeze through so he could only reach through so far. Not wanting to tempt fate, though, you quickly scrambled your way back down the hallway to perceived safety. By the time you got to the end of the hall you could see the arm had pulled back and been replaced by a giant eye staring at you with an obvious look of frustration. Your heart was still hammering in your chest from the adrenaline surge of fear. You couldn’t even bring yourself to throw some snarky taunt or comment down the hall at him for fear of pissing him off enough that he decided to smash through the building to get at you, damage or not. At least, for the moment, it seemed like he was stuck in there. Looks like you weren't going back there anytime soon, though. Not unless you wanted to walk right back into his waiting hands. You were certain he wasn’t going to let you get away a second time. <b>[[Back to the directory|Engineering Department][$leftsalemgiant to true]]</b>

“Look I panicked! I’m sorry. Can you blame me? When you suddenly find yourself staring down someone the size of a building then you can judge whether or not my response was irrational. Hindsight is 20-20 but foresight is blind.” You growled out in frustration to the mouse. The mouse just huffed and threw up his arms in his own show of frustration before crossing them over his chest and turning away from you. He started pacing back and forth and muttering to himself under his breath; clearly trying to think. With no better ideas of what to do you decided to give him a moment. While you would never admit it out loud, he did look a lot smarter than you. I mean, he worked in a place like this right? He's got to know something. Thankfully your patience paid off a few moments later as the mouse turned back to you with a plan. Quickly, he began explaining what to do; only pausing the gesture behind him at the mountainous machine that was the focus of the room. “Okay look. Our only real option is to use the prototype to grow one of us back. Then, they can grow the other back too. There are cables all over the place so it shouldn't be too hard to climb up to the terminal. Now we just have to decide who is going to do what.” <b>[["it's gotta be you, Doc."->Job for the Scientist]]</b>

“I mean it's clearly got to be you that operates the thing. I have no idea how that thing is supposed to work.” you argued. What you said wasn't a lie but it wasn’t the whole truth either. Honestly, your bigger concern was trust. Even if you could figure out the machine you weren't sure you trusted him to grow you back. You were an intruder, after all. The mouse looked ready to argue the point but saw the stern look on your face. Finally, after thinking it over for a few moments, he acquiesced. “…Alright fine. I'll grow you back first. That way the device will already be set to the correct setting so you just have to bring me back here to the target area and press the activation button. We'll have a truce until we're back to normal. Then we can have a conversation about who you are and what you're doing here. “ You weren't exactly looking forward to that conversation but you reluctantly agreed. It wasn't like you had much choice. “Fine fine. Let's get back to normal and then we'll go from there. Now go get that thing fired up before we get attacked by giant bugs or something.” You agreed, then made a shooing gesture to wave the mouse off. <b>[[Get in position->In position]]</b>

Thankfully you had the shorter walk between the two of you. You only had to walk a couple of feet to stand on top of the Red X where you had to wait. Granted to you those couple of feet we're still a couple dozen yards at your size but it was better than the several blocks of relative distance the mouse had to cover to get across the room. After several minutes of waiting, you could see him off of the distance clamoring up one of the cables attached to the terminal. Again, you found yourself thankful that you had gotten this position first. You would not have been looking forward to a climb like that. Eventually, though, the mouse was in position. After a few moments you saw him hop up on top of the terminal and wave his arms at you before giving a thumbs up. You guessed that was the ready signal. Giving a thumbs-up back you spread your arms invitingly. Nervous, you sucked in a deep breath and held it in nervous anticipation of the blast of energy that soon follow the ominous hum of powering up machinery. <b>[[Suscess!->Grown Back]]</b>

Now that you were back to normal the walk across the room was much easier. Only a dozen or so steps carried you across the room and left you standing in front of the terminal and the still-tiny mouse standing next to the keyboard. “Damn. Is this how tiny I looked to you?” you couldn't resist asking; a smirk creeping its way across your lips. The mouse just glared up at you for several seconds and crossed his arms, clearly not amused. “Yeah yeah funny guy. Now, take me over to the target area! All you have to do is come back and hit the enter button.“ the mouse ordered authoritatively. You had to bite your lip to stifle of bark of laughter as you heard his high-pitched voice for the first time. If you had sounded like that when he had been the big one you had no idea how he hadn’t burst out laughing. Once you had calmed down enough to talk without bursting into laughter you leaned over the terminal and the mouse to respond. <b>[[Refuse to grow him back->Leaving Salem Shrunk]]</b>

“Na, I don't think so. I think you look better this way.” You respond flippantly, unable to keep the grin off of your face. The mouse had clearly not expected to be refused. When the shock wore off his hands curled into fists and he glared up at you with every ounce of malice he could muster. It might have actually been a little disconcerting if it wasn't coming from someone that could literally fit in your pocket. “What do you mean no? We had a deal! I grow you back then you grow me back!” he all but shouted at you in outrage. His voice wasn't actually loud or even annoying at that size but something about being talked to like that by someone so tiny put you on edge. Frowning, you leaned further over the terminal to emphasize the size difference between the two of you. Even with him standing on a terminal several feet high you still loomed over him and your position cast an intimidating shadow across the mouse and surrounding space. The effect was almost immediate. Any sense of outrage and anger on the mouse’s part quickly melted into a look of concern as he took a nervous step backwards. “OK ok! I’m sorry. Look…” the mouse quickly apologized as if only now realizing how precarious his situation was. “I don't know why you're here but listen if you just grow me back to normal I'll pretend like I never saw you. You just do whatever you need to do and I won't say a word. Okay?” <b>[[No Deal->No Deal]]</b>

“Or: counter-offer. I leave you this small. How are you going to tell anyone anything when you're the size of a toy?” you all but purr in response. You couldn't help it. Maybe it was the predatory instincts somewhere in the back of your head but you felt a pleasant, primal sense of superiority towering over someone so much smaller than yourself. It was a bit intoxicating. At your response his eyes went wide. You could practically smell the fear and desperation building up in him as he realized how completely at your mercy he was at the moment. You could practically hear the gears turning in his head as he struggled to come up with something to offer that might convince you to help him. “c-come on, man. You can't leave me here like this!” the mouse all but whined. “Oh I never said I was going to leave you here. I'm taking you with me.” You replied casually. <b>[[Collect your new prize->Pocket Mouse]]</b>

Before the mouse could respond he found himself engulfed in one of your comparatively massive hands. Again, you felt that sense of intoxicating power as you felt him struggling against your grip without so much as budging one of your fingers. You could feel how fragile his tiny body was in your grasp. One squeeze would be all it took to get rid of the witness... But, he could be useful in other ways. You weren't exactly sure what those were right now but if nothing else you were sure your employers could find some use for a helpless, captive genius scientist. It probably wasn't what they had intended for you to steal but a score is a score. The way this crazy night was turning out you were going to take your wins where you could get them. “Oh, I never got your name by the way.” you asked as you casually lifted the mouse up in front of your face. This time you could definitely smell fear on him. He was practically shaking in your hand by the time he finally spoke up. You couldn't imagine the sight of your teeth so up close did much to alleviate his worry. “I-I’m Salem. Doctor Salem Volmer” “Nice to meet you, Salem!” With no further ceremony you lowered your hand and stuffed the mouse into your pocket. You could feel him squirming around inside for a few moments but the denim of your pants was tight enough to keep him from moving around very far. Eventually he finally settled down. Either that or he at least seemed to a found a comfortable position to wait in. With your new prize in hand, you turned your attention back to the task at hand. Despite your little size-changing adventure you still had more work to do. <b>[[Back to work|Size Lab][$tinysalem to true]]</b>

Unlike the lobby the hallway in the back leading to the security office and rear exit was still fully lit. With all of the lights on you could get a much better look at the well-polished tile floor and smooth gray-painted walls. Just like the lobby the walls here were lined with various pieces of fancy-looking artwork. At the end of the hall was a door with a small, bronze plaque hanging on it simply reading "Security". Through the small rectangular window set in the door you could see the flickering of light from tv monitors.<<if $securitysubdued is false && $securityshrunk is false>> If you listened hard enough you could even hear the faint sound of music coming from inside as well. Upon a closer, stealthy glance through the window you could see a single security guard inside with his back to the door. <b>[[Sneak your way inside->Sneaking Into Security]]</b> \<<elseif $securitysubdued || $securityshrunk is true>> You've already taken care of the guard inside so there's no need to sneak around anymore. <b>[[Enter the Security Office->Security Office]]</b> \<</if>> <b>[[Head back to the lobby->Front Lobby]]</b>

Carefully turning the door handle you pushed the door open and quietly slipped inside. The security office was fairly big: at least the size of a 2-car garage. It helped that the screens for the security cameras were on the wall opposite the door so the single security guard sat with his back to you. He was a pretty big guy. That wasn’t unusual for a bear but that didn't make him any less big. His short brown fur did little to hide the visible definition of muscle along his biceps that filled his shirt sleeves to the brim. Even though you could see the clear signs of an ample gut and back side fed by plenty of junk food you could still tell the bear knew his way around the gym. In a face-to-face confrontation he would have twisted you into a pretzel with ease. Your best guess was that he had nearly a foot of height on you and had to weigh twice as much as you, bare minimum. That wasn't anything new, though. Which is why you never dealt with someone mano-a-mano when you could avoid it. The simplest solution would be to just choke him out and knock him unconscious. You weren't going to win any strength contest anytime soon but you were limber and you knew how to use leverage. Get the right grip and it didn't matter how big and strong he was; he would be out in less than a minute. \<<if $goowerewolf is true>> Then again you had new tools at your disposal. Or rather, new allies. With Wolf’s help you were confident you take this guy down even in a face-to-face confrontation. Having the jump on him alongside that meant your victory was assured. The only problem was Wolf could make you a little... aggressive. <</if>> \<<if $hasshrinkray is true>> There was also that shrink ray you picked up. Just because the bear was bigger than you now didn't mean it had to stay that way. You had to admit you kind of liked the idea of cutting someone like this down to size. \<<elseif $hasdepletedshrinkray is true>> There was also that shrink ray you picked up. Just because the bear was bigger than you now didn't mean it had to stay that way. You had to admit you kind of liked the idea of cutting someone like this down to size. Too bad you’ve already used up it’s only charge. <</if>> \ <b>[[Choke out the guard->Knocking Guard Out]]</b> \<<if $hasshrinkray is true>> <b>@@[Shrink Ray]@@ [[Shrink the guard!|Shrunken Guard]]</b> \<</if>> \<<if $goowerewolf is true>> <b>@@[Wolf]@@ [[Overpower the guard->Wolf Overpowers Guard]]</b> \<</if>>

The Security Office is pretty much exactly what you'd expect based on its name. Against the wall opposite the door was a large oak desk with dozens of video screens attached to the wall above it. each screen showed a view of a different room or hallway. If you focused hard enough you could see the tiniest blip of static every few seconds on each screen at different intervals. Most likely Operator's work looping footage or something like that so you didn't show up on any of it. Along one of the side walls there were several corkboards hung up with various printouts, pamphletes, and other miscelanious notes pinned to it ranging from reminders to always have access badges on you to reminders about the upcoming bring-your-family picnic. Along the other wall several metal lockers were lined up that look like equipment lockers. It wasn't hard to guess that they most likely held weapons and guard equipment of some kind. Unfortunately each locker has a biometic fingerprint fingerprint scanner as well as a numberpad for a pin code. While you probably could get Operator to hack them open you didn't think it was worth the risk for what, at best, you assumed would be maybe a shotgun with some beanbag rounds. It was a security guard's office after all; you doubted they'd be packing anything of value even if they did have some real heat in there. You were here for multi-million dollar secrets and tech; not for shotguns you could pawn off for a hundred bucks if you were lucky. Now that the guard was taken care of you were free to look around the office at your leisure. While the gear lockers were beyond your ability to open at this time you could dig through his desk to see if there was anything useful. \<<if $securitysubdued is true && $B1keycard is false>> \ The imposing form of the security guard lay unconsious off to one side of the room. Couldn't hurt to check him for anything useful. <b>[[Inspect the unconcious guard->Inspect Guard]]</b> \<<elseif $securitysubdued is true && $B1keycard is true>> The imposing form of the security guard lay unconsious off to one side of the room. You've already searched him for anything useful. <</if>> \ <b>[[Search through the guard's desk->Security Desk]]</b> <b>[[Leave the Security Office->Security Office Hallway]]</b>

Injury Test [[you get injured +1|Injury Test Two][$injury to $injury + 1]] [[you get injured +4 |Injury Test Two][$injury to $injury + 4]] [[you get injured - 1|Injury Test Two][$injury to $injury - 1]] [[you get injured - 4|Injury Test Two][$injury to $injury - 4]] [[Injury Test Two]] $injury <<link [[Testing->Injury Test Two]]>> <<injure>> <</link>> <<link [[Testing 2->Injury Test Two]]>> <<injure>> <<injure>><</link>> <<link [[Testing 4->Injury Test Two]]>> <<injure>> <<injure>><<injure>><<injure>><</link>> <<link [[Testing 4->Injury Test Two]]>> <<injure>> <<injure>> <<injure>> <<injure>><<injure>><<injure>><</link>>

$injury <<if $injury >= 3>>Its more than three <<elseif $injury <= 2>> It's less than two<</if>> <<injure>>

You're as fit as a fiddle! Whatever the hell that means. You're ready to take on anything that comes your way!

Before you could ask for any elaboration on the myriad things she had just bombarded you with she tossed two small objects to you. Your hands shot out to grab them on reflex. Once you had them safely in hand you glanced down at the objects before looking back towards her with a questioning look. “There’s your radio. Just clip it to the inside of one of your ears. It’s for emergencies only. Don’t call me unless you absolutely need me. Too much radio traffic could be detected and give us away.” She explained. Nodding your understanding you then raised the other object up for inspection. It was a small piece of plastic with a metal nub sticking out of it. You knew enough about computers to know it was some kind of USB stick but had no idea beyond that. It felt a bit heavier than normal USB sticks and had a tiny little antenna sticking out of the back of it that was barely half an inch long and thick around as the little plastic ink tube inside a pen. “And this?” you asked. “Remote access chip.” She replied while jerking a thumb towards her computer setup. “Some of the equipment inside might not be hooked up to the rest of the network. If you come across a door or something that’s still locked and I can’t access it from out here you can call me and plug that in to give me remote access and I should be able to hack it. Again. Only for emergencies. The more we screw with their system the higher the chance is we set something off and get made.” <b>[You have aquired Remote USB Hacker]</b> She didn’t look happy that she was having to explain this to you. It was clear she was used to working with people that had more professional experience with higher-level heists like this. The way she looked you up and down skeptically as you pocketed the USB chip made that evident. Just because she didn’t like working with what she perceived as an amateur didn’t mean you couldn’t try to be polite. <b>[[Stow the extra gear.|Fully Equipped][$hashacker to true]]</b>

Turning your attention back to the job at hand, you quietly made your way down the side of the deserted roadside towards the facility. A brief moment pressed up against the small protruding concrete box that was the gatehouse gave you enough time to glance around and make sure that no one was around. You’d seen several cameras already but you were trusting that Operator had done her part. Otherwise, the both of you were already in trouble. At first it looked like you were going to have to scale the wall, seeing as how the metal gates to the parking lot were closed. Upon approaching them, however, it turned out Operator had done exactly what she said she’d done. The gates were closed but the electronic lock that held them so had been unlocked; allowing you to easily push them open enough for you to slip inside. From there it was only a short walk across the parking lot’s entrance towards the door to the front lobby. A small part of you revolted at the idea of going in the front door in a situation like this but you did as instructed. Again, just as Operator had said steel security doors inside the small glass entryway swung open soundlessly and with no effort at all. “Well. Time to get this over with.” You murmured aloud to yourself. <b>[[Enter the [Front Lobby]->Front Lobby]]</b>

You could feel its mental fingers digging into your thoughts just like its physical form had spread across your body. Psychic tendrils wiggled their way into every nook and cranny of your mind trying to find the tiniest gaps and cracks in your mental fortitude that it could worm its way through and take control. The more ground it gained in your mind the more the goo <<if $height is 1>>spread up towards your head. <<elseif $height is 0>> semed to invade deeper into your body.<</if>> Before long the thoughts assaulting you gained enough cohesion that they actually spoke real words to you. Simple, basic words barely more than primal instincts translated through your own thoughts. Each word resonated with enough power that, if you hadn’t already been immobilized, they would have driven you to your knees. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Consume">Consume</h2> \</div> <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Control">Control</h2> \</div> <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Become">Become</h2> \</div> Whatever it was doing you knew that it couldn't be good. A quick mental check made you realize that you were losing control in your limbs. Out of the corners of your eye you saw your fingers twitching and flexing in and out of a fist without you telling them to nor being able to feel the movement. It was as if your entire hand had gone numb. Your arms were beginning to jerk slightly back and forth like an involuntary shudder as that same deadened sensation seem to spread up from your hands and along your arms much the same way that the goo had spread outside your body. It was gaining control. And if you didn't do something fast, it was going to get it. <<if $height is 0>> by this point the goo had seemed to all but vanished from around you; leaving you sitting up on your knees. All that was left of it was a layer of the goo covering most of your body while the rest of it you swore you could feel writhing about inside of your body in places you couldn't identify.<<elseif $height is 1>>\<</if>> <b>[[Mind Over Matter! Pit your will against it's!->Symbiote]]</b> <b>[[This is your body! Try and rip the damn thing off of you!->Parasite]]</b>

The sharp hiss of the injector forcing the chemical into the tiger’s system was loud enough to be heard even through the door. Almost instantly the tiger’s whole body tensed up; the injector falling from his hand with a loud clatter of metal on tile. Silence descended for several seconds as nothing else seemed to happen. The tiger simply sat there with his whole-body rigid as if waiting for something to happen. It wasn’t long though before he got what he was waiting for. The tiger’s body suddenly shook as if from a seizure! Every muscle in his body spasmed violently enough that he lost balance and fell face-first onto the A split second after impact the spasming, as well as any other movement for that matter, ceased, For a moment you were afraid that the tiger was dead. You didn’t know him from Adam but that didn’t mean you were uncaring to if the guy was dead or not. Thankfully, after watching for a few more seconds you could just make out the faint movement of his chest rising and falling. It looked like he was still breathing at least. Unsure what else to do you started to pull away from the door when something caught your eye. Across the room, on the credenza against the far wall, was a large manila folder laying open with papers spread out of it. You couldn't make heads or tails of any of the text from this far away but on one of the papers you did notice a large diagram that you were pretty was the diagram of some chemical compound. Whoever this guy was he was clearly a big shot of some if he had his own office. Whatever a big wig like him was working on had to be valuable, right? So that folder looked like exactly the type of thing you were supposed to be here for. Now you just had to decide if you dared risk sneaking into the office to collect it or go try and find less risky opportunities elsewhere. <b>[[Risk sneaking into the room for the files->In The Tigers Den]]</b> <b>[[Leave the door and head back to the main lab area->Mutagenics Lab]]</b>

<<print setup.health()>> I'm no p! <p class="p2">I'm p2!</p> <p3>I'm p3!</p3>

<div align='center'><span style="color:green"><b>[Health check: Suscess!] </b></span></div> With no clever tricks or plans up your sleeve all you could do was run. So, you ran. Even as you heard his heavy footfalls behind you, you ran. Even as you saw his shadow creeping up on your own in front of you, you ran. But, as hard as you ran, he ran faster. You just couldn't out run him. As good of a runner as you were he was hopped up on god-only-knew what kind of science juice that had made him into that monster. But you were used to being the underdog. You didn’t need to able to beat those around you. You just needed a head start and a distraction to stay one step ahead. And that’s exactly what you had. Straining your body for all it could manage you forced yourself to run just that tiny bit faster. Every fraction of a second; every quarter of an inch was going to count if you were going to make it to safety. Within moments you were at the department exit. You didn’t dare spent time looking back behind you to see where the doctor was; you could practically feel his breath on the back of your neck. Instead, you leapt forward, arms crossed over your head, and slammed through the partially closed door and out into the lobby! <b>[[Get the door closed!->Tiger Locked in]]</b>

The sharp squeak of rubber on tile echoed through the empty lobby as you skidded to a stop the moment you were through the door. Spinning around you slammed your shoulder and arm against the reinforced door with every ounce of strength you could muster to shove it closed! From inside you could hear the furious snarl from Dr. Gigus as even his bestial mind realized what was happening. In that instant just before the door closed you could hear the tiger roaring in outrage and leaping forward in a last, desperate attempt to reach it in time. It was close, terrifyingly close. But, thankfully, luck was on your side. With a sharp clang and hiss you heard whatever locking mechanism held these doors closed snap back into place. A terrifyingly short fraction of a second later a heavy thud slammed against the back of the door and sent you sprawling back onto your ass in shock. Much to your relief as powerful as the impact was the door barely even shuddered. Immediately afterwards you heard scratching, clawing, and banging against the back of the door. Thankfully, no matter how violent the tiger on the other side of it got, the door didn't seem willing to budge. As if all the adrenaline coursing through your body simply evaporated a wave of exhaustion overtook you and you slumped down to the ground. Your whole body ached from the overexertion and your breath came in heavy, ragged pants for several seconds. Your lungs burned as they desperately tried to replenish the over-used oxygen supply in your body. Yet despite all of the discomfort and aching you couldn’t help but smile. “Fuck you. I fucking did it.” You panted between breaths; unable to keep a slightly manic chuckle out of your words. “Eat your heart out horror movies, I escaped the monster.” Once the initial relief wore off, though, you knew that you couldn’t afford to sit there any longer. As much as you would have loved to lay down for a nap you still had work to do. Grunting at the effort, you pushed yourself back up to your feet and turned your attention back toward the lobby. No rest for the wicked, as they say. Time to get back to work. <b>[[Get back to work|Front Lobby][$giguslockedinbio to true]]</b>

Keep it nice and simple. That’s what you told yourself as you silently crept closer to the bear. As you approached you saw his phone sitting in front of him blaring some heavy techno music. The heavy bass of the music was so loud you weren't even sure if you needed to sneak. You were a professional, though, and didn't like to take chances. You maintained your slow, silent movement the entire distance across the room and had your arm around his neck before he even realized you were there. The moment you were in place you locked your arm against his throat and braced your other arm around the first to keep it in place. In an instant the bear went from relaxed to panicked as he felt his oxygen supply abruptly cut off. The bear jumped to his feet and pulled you right up with him, much to your surprise. It was then that you realized you had grossly underestimated his height. The damn bear had to easily be over seven feet tall! Which meant, thanks to your grip around his neck, you were now dangling off his back with your feet a good foot up off the ground. Reflexively he grabbed at your arms to try and pry them free but you were locked in place and had superior leverage. Even with that, though, the bear’s unexpected strength was almost enough to let him overpower you regardless of your leverage! As he tried to free himself, he began to stumble around the room; his mouth open and closing with weak gasps as he struggled and failed to pull in breath. \<<if $injury <= 2 >> <div align='center'><span style="color:green"><b>[Health check: Suscess!]</b></span></div> No matter how much he struggled you refused to let up your grip. Within moments his consciousness began to fade and his struggles weakened. He tried to reach back and grab ahold of you but didn’t have the range of motion to get at you. Briefly he stumbled his way towards one of the walls and you worried he was going to try to ram you against it. Thankfully by that point he was so far gone that he didn't have the energy to do more than slump against the wall and slide down it as his eyes rolled up in the back of his head. \ \<<elseif $injury >= 3 >> <div align='center'><span style="color:red"><b>[Health check: Failure!] </b></span></div> You struggled to keep your grip on him as he began to flail around. Unfortunately, you weren't at your best so when he reached up to try and pry your arms off of his neck he was able to pull them back enough to squeeze a bit of a breath through. As he stumbled around the room he struggled to pull in more than whisps of air as you fought to cut off his air supply completely. Much to your dismay with that little bit of breath he maintained enough energy to fight back. Your eyes widened as he stumbled backwards only the lean into the movement and slam you up against the wall! Brutally smashed between the wall of concrete and wall of bear made you gasp out your own breath as your body accumulated yet more damage. <div align='center'><span style="color:red"><b>[You have been injured]</b></span></div> The impact was painful enough you almost let go of his neck. It was only through sheer stubborn determination that you held on as he bounced off the wall and began stumbling towards the other side of the room. Thankfully, you could feel his movements weakening. Even with the tiny bit of air he was able get past your imperfect chokehold it wasn't enough to keep him going. By the time he got most of the way across the room his eyes finally rolled back into his head and he collapsed underneath you. You'd managed to take him out, at least. But not without a cost. \<</if>> With your task completed you took a moment to catch your breath before getting back to work. You'd just taken out this monster of a bear all by yourself. That earned you a breather. \<<if $injury <= 2 >> <b>[[Look around the Security Office|Security Office][$securitysubdued to true]]</b> \ \<<elseif $injury >= 3 >> \ <b>[[Look around the Security Office|Security Office][$injury to $injury + 1,$securitysubdued to true]]</b> \<</if>>

As you approached the guard you gave a mental nudge to Wolf. He had already picked up on your intentions and was practically writhing beneath your skin in eagerness. It didn't take much to get him interested when it came to conflict. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Prey!">Prey!</h2> \</div> You still weren't good at this whole mental communication thing but you did your best to ‘think’ at Wolf that you were supposed to be subduing not attacking. Hopefully you got your intentions across. When you lunged forward the last few inches to wrap your arms around the bear’s neck he went rigid in surprise. Suddenly you found yourself lifted up off the ground as he jumped to his feet. It was only now that your feet were dangling a good foot up off the ground that you realized you had grossly underestimated his size. Now dangling from his neck, it was all you could do to hold on! At least until you let Wolf out. Rapidly he surged forth and formed around you. You felt your limbs growing until your newly-enlarged feet touched the ground again. Much to the bear’s shock it was soon he that was lifted up off of the ground. Your now thicker arms effortlessly held the guard’s throat closed. No matter how much he struggled you didn't even budge. In less than a minute you felt his struggles weaken and he finally fell unconscious. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Victorious hunt! Feast! ">Victorious hunt! Feast!</h2> \</div> It was only a desperate mental grab for control that stopped your jaws from clamping down on the bear’s neck! “Wolf! We don't want to kill him!” you growled even as your jaws shook from the opposing control both you and Wolf were trying to exert. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner=" Why not? Our prey! ">Why not? Our prey!</h2> \</div> “Because he didn't do anything to us. He's just a guy doing his job.” <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner=" Fine. No fun "> Fine. No fun</h2> \</div> With mental grumbling you felt Wolf relax his struggle for control. Moments later he melted off of you and retreated back to wherever in your body he hid himself. “I promised the first guy that has it coming I will gladly let you tear them limb from limb.” you offered, trying to console the grumpy creature. After a moment you felt his mental equivalent of a smile. Only to wince a moment later as the mental image of Wolf doing just that rolled through your head. You really felt bad for the next guy that actually attacked you. <b>[[Look around the office|Security Office][$securitysubdued to true]]</b>

You're always fought smart instead of hard. Mostly because it had been all but necessary considering your barely-average size and strength. It was because of this that there was an unhealthy smug radiating from you as you pulled out the shrink ray and took aim. A pull the trigger filled the room with a brief, bright flash of light that sent the bear tumbling backwards out of his chair in shock! <b>[You have used up the Shrink Ray]</b> Scrambling to look around for the source of the light he saw you holding the device and grinning down at him. An angry snarl spread across his face as he pushed himself up to his feet only to stumble from a sudden wave of vertigo. It didn’t help his disorientation that when he finally did get fully upright he was already shorter than your belt line! Within a couple more seconds the effect had ended and the now action figure sized bear stood at your feet looking up at you in shock and fear. You couldn't help yourself. You were so used to being the little guy in most situations if not in height, then in strength. The opportunity was too good to pass up. <b>[[Have a little fun at the guard's expense|Teasing Tiny Guard][$hasshrinkray to false, $hasdepletedshrinkray to true]]</b>

Unfortunately, you've pushed yourself far too hard. Despite your stubborn resilience your body simply can't keep up anymore. You stumble down to one knee then collapse forward. You try to catch yourself on the ground only to have your arms give out under your own weight. Ending up face first on the floor your vision swims as you struggle to stay conscious. As much as you try, though, it's a losing battle. The cumulative aches and pains of all the myriad injuries you've accumulated over the night are finally taking their toll. With a final gasp of pain your eyes slide closed and the darkness consumes you. It was a good run. You did your best. But, sadly… <div align='center'><b><h2>You have died</h2></b></div> <hr> You have discovered an ending! This may be the end of this story but there are other stories to discover! <b><<link "Restart">><<run Engine.restart() >><</link>></b>

Upon closer inspection of the bear you were glad that you had gotten the jump on him. Like expected you had definitely underestimated his size. His arms were thicker around than your legs and his hands were big enough to palm melons like softballs. Honestly if you had gotten a better look at him beforehand you would have seriously reconsidered messing with him at all. On the front of his uniform was a small bronze name tag reading “D. Cooper”. Between that, the bear’s impressive size, his rather well-groomed fur, and the adorable way one of his teeth stuck out over his lips in an adorable toothy overbite you couldn't help but feel a bit guilty about doing this to him. “Damn, big guy. You’re kinda cute. Now I kinda feel bad.” you said aloud to the unconscious ursine. “Maybe once this whole thing is over I'll look you up and ask you out. No hard feelings, right?” As expected, he didn't respond. Before you turned away though you did notice one other thing. Hanging from his belt what's a small key card with his picture and name on it. “Daniel? Daniel Cooper? Damn, even your name is cute.” you commented. Crouching down over him you reached out to grab the key card. Never knew when something like this could come in handy. <b>[You have acquired the Security Guard's Keycard]</b> <b>[[Take the key card and go->Security Office][$B1keycard to true]]</b>

Slowly raising a foot, you watched the bear fall back on his ass in fear as you suddenly slammed the foot down next to him. You saw his body bounce slightly up off the ground from the impact which only made you feel that much more powerful. Desperately, the shrunken security guard jumped to his feet and ran only for you to slam your other foot down in his path. He was forced to change direction several times as you repeated this process. You weren’t even trying to actually step on him but simply following him around the room to screw with him. When you'd finally had your fun you bumped him with your foot to knock him on his back. Then, crouching down over him, you spoke. “Don't worry little guy. I'm not actually going to hurt you.” You said, then paused to look him up and down. “Although admittedly I am tempted to take you home with me. Damn, you're kind of cute. “ The guard, for his part, didn't quite know how to respond to combination of intimidating size and flirtatious compliments. “Now you just stay in here and be a good boy and not mess with anything. If you behave, I'll leave you in here and someone will probably find you and can help you get back to normal. If you don't...”you continued, only to pause and wave the shrink ray threateningly at him “ I'm kind of curious to see what a second shot of this thing will do to you. “ That seemed to be enough to convince the bear who quickly nodded his agreement. He had no idea that the shrink ray was a one-and-done. When you stood back up the bear hopped to his own feet and dashed across the room to hide underneath his desk. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to just leave him running around like this but you hadn’t been lying. He was kind of cute. You did kind of want to take him home. Oh well, leaving him there with a chance to get back to normal could be your good deed for the day. <b>[[Back to work|Security Office][$securityshrunk to true]]</b>

Now that the guard was taken care of you were free to look through his things unchallenged. There were only a couple of drawers on the desk so there wasn’t much to look through. In the middle drawer all you found was miscellaneous office supplies like pens, notepads, and other things like that. Nothing worth your time. In the top side drawer you found more personal items. A phone charger, some loose change, and various candy bars. Seems the guard had a bit of a sweet tooth. That explained that extra heft around his middle. You also saw a gym membership card with his picture and name on it: “Daniel Cooper.” Cute name. \<<if $securityshrunk is true>> You decided to be nice to the little bear since you had kind of shrunken him and left him to fend for himself. After a few seconds you had one of the candy bars mostly unwrapped. Dropping it to the floor you gave it a light kick to send it tumbling under the desk where you had last seen the bear. If he had to spend the next few hours tiny you could at least let him enjoy a giant candy bar. Plus, he might be a bit cuter with a bit more weight on him.<</if>> \<<if $securitshrunk is true && $B1keycard is false>> You also noticed a keycard with the guard’s name and photo on it as well. It looked a lot fancier and more high-tech than the cheap, disposable magnetic strip gym membership card next to it. That might actually be useful if you came across a locked door Operator couldn’t access.<</if>> In the bottom drawer was more miscellaneous items. Spare radios, a set of handcuffs, and spare cartridges for a taser. That last one you considered taking but <<if $securitysubdued is true>> a glance back told you the bear was laying on top of his taser and there was no way you were gonna roll that much ursine over by yourself to get to it <<elseif $securityshrunk is true>> the guard, equipment and all, was currently toy sized. An extra taser cartridge wouldn’t do much for a taser the size of a lego<</if>> <<if $firstaidkitused is false>>As you were looking around the desk to noticed a small white and red box attached to the underside of the desk. Upon closer inspection it was a first aid kit. <<if $injury >=2>> Maybe you could use it to triage some of the nastier injuries you had accumulated so far tonight. <<elseif $injury <=1>> You didn’t really have a need for it right now, but it was a good thing to know about.<</if>> <<elseif $firstaidkitused is true>> You’ve already used up the first aid kit under the desk. <</if>> \<<if $securityshrunk is true && $B1keycard is false>><b>[[Take the keycard|Pickup Guard Keycard][$B1keycard to true]]</b> <</if>> \<<if $injury >=2 && $firstaidkitused is false>><b>[[Patch yourself up with the first aid kit|First Aid Kit]]</b> <</if>> \<b>[[Stop looking through the drawer->Security Office]]</b>

The keycard is made of a shiny, plastic coated material with a large metal chip built into it. It reminded you almost of one of those chipped, touchless credit cards but the chip was about four times bigger. Regardless, You snatched it up and slipped it into a pocket. Never knew when you might need something like this. <b>[You have acquired Guard's Keycard]</b> <b>[[Return|Security Desk][$B1keycard to true]]</b>

Sitting down in the nearby rolling chair, you reach down to pull out the first aid kit. Tugging it open you begin sorting through the useless items like bee-sting ointment and lay out the more useful items atop the desk. You then proceed to take several minutes to carefully patch up and bandage various injuries as best you can with the meager contents of the box. Finishing it off by dry-swallowing one of the packets of Tylenol you return the now mostly-empty first aid kit back where it was. <div align='center'><span style="color:green"><b>[Some of your injuries have been healed!]</b></span></div> It doesn’t have much of anything useful left in it but that was someone else’s problem. You got what you needed. <b>[[Return->Security Desk][$firstaidkitused to true,$injury to $injury - 2]]</b>

Reaching into your pocket you plucked out the squirming mouse doctor. The moment your comparatively massive fingers had wrapped around the little guy he immediately went rigid. When you lifted him up in front of your face you could see he was a bit the worse for wear from his stay in your pocket. His clothes were disheveled and his fur was sticking out in every direction. “Hey, Doc. Got a question for you.” You casually commented as if it weren’t unusual at all to be having a conversation with someone less than a tenth your size. The doctor, for his part, didn’t actually respond. All he did was look at you with a tired and annoyed expression. It looked like either he was simply too worn out to put up even a token resistance or had simply resigned himself to your captivity. Rather than try to coax words out of him you turned him towards the control panel of the elevator. “Unlock this for me, please?” you asked. The mouse didn’t react for a few moments. Then, finally he turned as best as he could in your closed fist and nodded up at you. “…Fine. Move me closer to the panel.” He commanded tiredly in his still amusingly high-pitched voice <b>[[Do as he asks->Tiny Mouse Escape]]</b>

Fishing around in your various pockets you eventually found the one where you had stashed the cute security guard's keycard. After fumbling with it a bit to turn it upright you pressed the keycard's chip up against the RFID scanner on the terminal. Almost instantly there was a small chime and the terminal lit up. Now it showed a small with a single small button labeled "B-1". Seems the guard's keycard was only good for the first sub-level. Oh well, better than nothing. Maybe you could find something down there to get you to a lower level. With no more need for the card you tossed it aside. <b>[You have lost the Guard's Keycard]</b> <b>[[Return->Elevator Interior][$B1unlocked to true,$B1keycard to false]]</b>

“No funny business.” You warned even as you moved him closer as directed. When your hand was close enough the mouse tapped on your fingers with his arms. Getting the message, you opened your fist and turned it to the side to hold up like a platform for the mouse. Wobbling a bit to keep his balance on the uneven ground of your palm, the mouse stumbled over until he was right in front of the terminal. After digging around in his pockets he produced a keycard. He had to jump a bit to get it high enough for the terminal’s card reader to detect it but when it did there was a soft chime of acknowledgement. A large “B1” Button popped up on the previously dark screen and Salem slapped both hands to cause the button to light up. The moment he did the doors to the elevator began closing. Much to your surprise the little mouse suddenly leapt from your palm as far as he could! Your other arm shot out to try to grab him from midair but missed by a few inches. By the time you’d reached your other arm down to grab him the mouse had already landed into a roll and dashed. Just as the doors were about to snap shut he leapt the last few inches through them; leaving your hand to smack against the interior of the doors a split second before you would have grabbed him again. <b>[You have lost the shrunken Dr. Volmer]</b> Thankfully it seemed the doctor had actually done what he’d said too, though. A moment later you felt the elevator moving deeper into the ground. You may have lost the shrunken doctor but at least it looked like the terminal was unlocked now; at least for the first sublevel. You’d just have to find some other way to get deeper without the doctor to help. <b>[You have unlocked Sub-Basement 1]</b> <b>[[Back to the terminal->Elevator Terminal][$tinysalem to false,$B1unlocked to true]]</b>

The first sub-basement’s entrance area was a large, circular space that wrapped around the elevator in the center. The circle was split into a half dozen large office pools, each with at least a half dozen desks packed tightly, buy comfortably, together in them. All of the walls separating the various office spaces were made of near-invisible glass which made the entire space visible from just about anywhere inside. Each of the desks was set up with a high-tech looking computer terminal; a glass screen with no visible wiring or circuitry that projected pictures on it rather than a traditional monitor. If you’d had the time and manpower you were sure you could make a few dozen grand off just the state-of-the-art office equipment in this room! at each of the cardinal points of the circular room was a door similar to those upstairs that separated the different departments. Reinforced, heavy steel doors that all hung slightly ajar from being forcibly unlocked and opened by Operator. Upon closer inspection each had a small plaque denoting the department, just like those upstairs did. There was the “T.L.R. Lab”, whatever the hell that was. The Synthesizer Lab you could at least guess was them making something. What that was you had no idea. The Robotics lab was pretty self explanatory so at least one out of the three you were confident of the purpose of. The last one was simply labeled Storage. You weren’t sure why the storage area had a reinforced door like the others. <b>[[Head for the Storage Area->Hallway to Storage]]</b> <b>[[Check out the Robotics Lab->Hallway to Robotics]]</b> <b>[[Investigate the T.L.R. Lab->Hallway to T.L.R.]]</b> <b>[[Head towards the Synthesizer Lab->Hallway to Synthesizer]]</b> <b>[[Move back towards the elevator->Elevator Interior]]</b>

Upon closer inspection of the terminal it looked to be a touch screen with an RFID reader directly above it. Obviously the elevator needed some kind of access card in order to even see what floors you could go to. \<<if $tinysalem is true && $B1unlocked is false>> You can feel Dr. Volmer still wriggling around in your pocket. Maybe he knows how to unlock the elevator. <</if>> \ \<<if $B1keycard is true && $B1unlocked is false>> You do have that keycard you got from the security guard. Maybe that could unlock the elevator. <</if>> \ \<<if $tinysalem is false && $B1keycard is false && $B1unlocked is false>>You don't have any way to use the elevator at this time. <</if>> \<<if $tinysalem is true && $B1unlocked is false>><b>[[See if the shrunken mouse can help->Tiny Helper B1]]</b> <</if>> \ \<<if $B1unlocked is true>>You've already unlocked the first sub-basement level. <</if>> \ \<<if $B1keycard is true && $B1unlocked is false>><b>[[Try the guard's keycard->Keycard Unlock B1]]</b> <</if>> \<b>[[Move back from the terminal->Elevator Interior]]</b>

You're surrounded by The Towering rows of shelves that seem to stretch off in every direction. Some of the spaces between shelves were so narrow that there was no way they could have gotten the forklift in there which made you wonder how they got some of the larger boxes so high up. Sadly there didn't seem to be any kind of directory or inventory that you could easily find. All you could do is wander around and see if something caught your eye. Nothing here yet. Check back in a future update! <b>[[Leave the Storage Area for now->Hallway to Storage]]</b>

The robotics lab looked part machine shop and parts spaceship. The left half of the room was what you expected from a place you assumed builds robots. Heavy machinery and large hydraulic-powered arms and cranes that made the space look more like an unusually clean automotive repair garage than some state-of-the-art research facility. The other side came off much more like a research facility but had very little of what you would expect from a Robotics Lab. State-of-the-art computers were lined up next to microscopes and beakers of a strange gray, glittering liquid. Test tubes and eye droppers were spread out across the work spaces and made you wonder if someone had accidentally confused a chemistry set for robotics equipment. The computer terminals look like they were several grades above even the fancy looking ones in the sub-basement lobby. One of them even had a holographic projection of some complicated piece of machinery the actually reacted and moved when you touched it like something you’d see in a movie about the future. \<<if $roboticssecurity is false>> The room was just as trashed as when you had left it. You almost felt bad for whoever was going to have to fix all of the damage to the walls, ceiling, floor, and the equipment in the room. If there had been anything else of value somewhere in here it was almost certainly damaged or destroyed now. \<<elseif $roboticssecurity is true>> The whole room had a slightly creepy vibe too it thanks to the dozens of metallic instruments hanging from the ceiling. Robotic arms folded up and dormant hung like high-tech stalactites. Each of the arms ended in a different tool or piece of equipment, barely half of them you could even recognize.<</if>> Against the far wall in between the two sides of the lab was a large glass enclosure that reminded you of an oversized shower stall save this one had a glass roof along with the glass walls and the glass was perfectly transparent rather than frosted for privacy. \ <<if $sali is false && $placeholder is false>> <b>[[Investigate the Enclosure->Installation Enclosure]]</b><</if>> <b>[[Leave the Robotics Lab->Hallway to Robotics]]</b>

Nothing here yet. Check back in a future update! <h1><<return>></h1>

When they said storage area this was not what you had in mind. You had expected maybe an oversized closet with shelves lined with miscellaneous office disposables like reams of paper and packages of pens. What you hadn't expected was a scene straight out of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Standing on an elevated railing you could see across the enormous warehouse space that seem to stretch on for at least a mile ahead of you. Rows upon rows of massive pallet racking shelves lined the warehouse floor. At least 3/4 of all of the Shelf space was taken up buy everything from nondescript wooden crates to dozens of unpacked, miscellaneous pieces of technology that you couldn't even begin to identify. The observation deck you were standing on was at least two stories tall and the shelves still towered over you. They had to be at least four or five stories tall each. Something told you that the contents of this room was probably worth more than a small country. Unfortunately, you had no possible way to get the overwhelming majority of the items out up here. You were starting to think that maybe you should have brought a second pair of hands on this job. <b>[[Look around|Storage Area][$storageseen to true]]</b>

Double-click this passage to edit it.

The hallway leading from the sub-basement lobby felt less like the hallway in an office and more like a spaceship airlock tunnel. The walls were rounded away from the walkway and handrails lined the edges of the walkway itself. The walls were made of a dark gray material you couldn’t quite identify that was perfectly smooth to the touch. Other than the guard rails and the doors on either end the tunnel was otherwise featureless. It was just a single, straight tube from the lobby to its destination with no branching paths or alternate exits. Something about the whole thing made you uneasy. The entire time you were in the hallway you became increasingly paranoid that any second the doors were going to slam shut on both sides and leave you trapped. <b>[[On towards the Robotics Lab->Robotics Lab]]</b> <b>[[Back to the Sub-Basement Lobby->B1 Entrance]]</b>

The hallway leading from the sub-basement lobby felt less like the hallway in an office and more like a spaceship airlock tunnel. The walls were rounded away from the walkway and handrails lined the edges of the walkway itself. The walls were made of a dark gray material you couldn’t quite identify that was perfectly smooth to the touch. Other than the guard rails and the doors on either end the tunnel was otherwise featureless. It was just a single, straight tube from the lobby to its destination with no branching paths or alternate exits. Something about the whole thing made you uneasy. The entire time you were in the hallway you became increasingly paranoid that any second the doors were going to slam shut on both sides and leave you trapped. <b>[[On towards The Synthesizer Lab->Synthesizer Lab]]</b> <b>[[Back to the Sub-Basement Lobby->B1 Entrance]]</b>

The hallway leading from the sub-basement lobby felt less like the hallway in an office and more like a spaceship airlock tunnel. The walls were rounded away from the walkway and handrails lined the edges of the walkway itself. The walls were made of a dark gray material you couldn’t quite identify that was perfectly smooth to the touch. Other than the guard rails and the doors on either end the tunnel was otherwise featureless. It was just a single, straight tube from the lobby to its destination with no branching paths or alternate exits. Something about the whole thing made you uneasy. The entire time you were in the hallway you became increasingly paranoid that any second the doors were going to slam shut on both sides and leave you trapped. <b>[[On towards The T.L.R. Lab->T.L.R. Lab]]</b> <b>[[Back to the Sub-Basement Lobby->B1 Entrance]]</b>

The hallway leading from the sub-basement lobby felt less like the hallway in an office and more like a spaceship airlock tunnel. The walls were rounded away from the walkway and handrails lined the edges of the walkway itself. The walls were made of a dark gray material you couldn’t quite identify that was perfectly smooth to the touch. Other than the guard rails and the doors on either end the tunnel was otherwise featureless. It was just a single, straight tube from the lobby to its destination with no branching paths or alternate exits. Something about the whole thing made you uneasy. The entire time you were in the hallway you became increasingly paranoid that any second the doors were going to slam shut on both sides and leave you trapped. <<if $storageseen is false>><b>[[On toward the Storage Area->Storage Area intro]]</b><<elseif $storageseen is true>><b>[[On toward the Storage Area->Storage Area]]</b><</if>> <b>[[Back to the Sub-Basement Lobby->B1 Entrance]]</b>

Up close the enclosure looked exactly like what it had seemed from across the room: a simple glass box with a door. As you approached, though, part of the glass next to the door handle lit up like there was a transparent tablet touch screen seamlessly built into the glass. A two-word question projected itself on the glass with a simple yes and no button hovering beneath it. “Dispense Prototype?” <b>YES / NO</b> You weren't quite sure what this all meant but dispensing a prototype sounded promising. Then again, there was something ominous about the blinking YES/NO Button that made you a bit reluctant to press it. <b>[[Press Yes->Press Yes]]</b> <b>[[Leave it alone and step away->Robotics Lab]]</b>

Upon pressing YES, the words disappeared only to be replaced a moment later with instructions. “Please enter clean room.” You assumed the glass box must be some kind of disinfected storage area. You've seen TV shows where scientist would be working with some sci-fi looking tech in sealed quarantine rooms. You had no idea how germs could have any effect on electronics but you weren't a scientist so you didn't question it. What you did question is whether or not you should go into a contained glass box just because a screen told you to. On the one hand the box had your paranoia in overdrive telling you it was a bad idea. Then again, the room was small enough to any prototype that could be stored inside, in some secret compartment in the wall you assumed, most likely would be small enough for you to carry out of this place with relative ease. Definitely a chance to score the kind of easily transportable, fancy and valuable tech you were here for. <b>[[Go in->Entering the Container]]</b> <b>[[Change your mind and step away->Robotics Lab]]</b>

Despite your paranoia's protests you obediently open the door and stepped inside. The moment you were past the threshold the door slid shut behind you and sealed itself with a pressurizing hiss. Seconds later later tiny panels barely the size of a quarter open along the floor and began spewing a white mist into the room. Panic immediately set in at the fear of this being some kind of elaborate trap. You tried to grab the door handle and pull it open to no avail. After a couple more seconds, though, you noticed that the mist didn't seem to be having an effect on you. In fact, it smells strangely... clean? It took you a moment to place the smell but eventually you recognized it as that sterile smell from hospitals that you assumed came from whatever cleaning solution they used. It wasn't a trap; it was just sanitizing you. \<<if $goowerewolf is true>> Wolf didn't seem to like it though. You could feel him roiling underneath your skin and letting out his mental projection equivalent of discomforted grunts and growls. When you sent a questioning thought towards him he grumbled under his breath, however he managed that with thoughts, at you. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Mist stings">Mist stings</h2> \</div> \<</if>> By the time the spray stopped and the openings in the floor closed your heart rate had returned to almost normal. You could hear the faintest whirr of fans and saw the lingering mist being sucked down into the ground into seams you barely could see. Unsure what to do next you stood there looking around only to have a melodic yet clearly artificial voice speak from unseen speakers. “<b><i>Dispense Prototype?</i></b>” “uh… “ \<<if $goowerewolf is false>> <b>[['"Let me out!"'->Exiting The Pod]]</b> \<<elseif $goowerewolf is true>> <b>[['"Let me out!"'->Contamination Detected]]</b><</if>> \<<if $goowerewolf is false>> <b>[['"Yes?"'->Begin Install]]</b> \<<elseif $goowerewolf is true>> <b>[['"Yes?"'->Contamination Detected]]</b><</if>>

<p3><span style="font-weight:bold;"> <span style="color:green"> Autostart executing . . . <<timed 2s>> <<type 60ms>>\ Initiating startup \ Please stand by \<</type>> \<<type 200ms>> . . . . . . <</type>> \<<type 60ms>> \Startup Suscessful! \ Unpacking interface \<</type>> \<<type 200ms>> . . . . . . <</type>> \<<type 60ms>> \ \Complete! \ Attempting connection with local server \<</type>> \<<type 300ms>> . . . . . . <</type>> \<<type 60ms>> \Error! Unable to establish connection. Defaulting to local user administrator \ Administrator access granted Welcome, new user! Username updated to Alex User configuration set to default Suit Assistng Liuason Intelligence ready for activation Please reboot to continue \<</type>><</timed>> \</span> \</span> <<timed 10s>><<type 60ms>><b>[[...Reboot?->Rebooted]]</b><</type>><</timed>></p3>

A melodic chime came in response to your command. A moment later, as instructed, the door to the containment chamber slid depressured with a hiss then slid silently open. "Um... Thanks?" you said aloud. You instantly felk stupid at speaking to thin air at worst or a mindless computer at best. The last thing you needed to do was start talking to inaimate objects. To your surprise, though, you got a response. That same melodic, artificial voice spoke again from some unknown source. "You are welcome, User." That wasn't creepy or anything. It was probably time to go. <b>[[Leave->Robotics Lab]]</b>

Warning alarms began to blare at uncomfortable volume inside of the containment cell! The light inside the glass box turned from bright white to an ominous shade of dark red. <p style="font-size:20px"><b><i>WARNING! WARNING! FOREIGN CONTAMINANT DETECTED</i></b></p> Any sense of calm that you had regained after finding the mist to be mostly harmless vanished in a fresh wave of panic. Before you even had a chance to try and reach for the door the small hatches in the floor opened up once again. This time the mist they sprayed out smelled much less like scented cleaning supplies and more like acidic chemicals. The moment it touched his skin through your it began to tingle and itch uncomfortably. But that discomfort wasn’t the problem. Wolf was. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="BURNS! HURTS!"> BURNS! HURTS!</h2> \</div> Wolf’s voice screeched through your head like a banshee’s wail. You hadn’t heard him use this mental volume since he had initially merged with you and hadn’t known how to modulate it! <<if $wolfshocked is false>>For that matter you couldn’t remember Wolf ever actually getting hurt. Tired, maybe, but not hurt. And he was not reacting well to it.<<elseif $wolfshocked is true>> He’d been tired before but the only time you could remember Wolf actually experiencing pain was when he had been electrocuted. That concerned you almost as much as Wolf being in pain. Last time he had been hurt he had not reacted well.<</if>> As if that wasn’t bad enough you felt Wolf roiling underneath your skin intensely enough you actually could see your skin stretching uncomfortably in random places. It was like he was boiling underneath your skin! This wasn’t good. You had to get out of here! You were sure if you just let Wolf out he could smash through any of the walls without a problem. But you weren’t sure how easily you could get him back under control if you loosened your grip on him with the state of mind he was in right now. Your only other option was to try to get the computer thing that had talked to you to open the door. <b>[[Let Wolf run wild->Off His Leash]]</b> <b>[[Yell at the computer to open the door->Tech Support Needed]]</b>

Your attempts to tug the door to the cell open proved useless. You couldn’t get the controls in the glass beside the door to show up either in hopes of some emergency switch. With the alarm still blaring and Wolf still writhing painfully underneath your skin you didn’t see much other choice in the matter. You had to let Wolf out. You didn’t even have a chance to tell Wolf to take over. The moment your grip on the body’s control laxed Wolf leapt on it like a starving tiger on a steak. Instantly you felt Wolf’s gooey mass surge out of your body ready to wrap around you. This time, though, he couldn’t seem to fully form. He would wrap himself around you and you’d begin to feel the connections to the new faux-flesh only to feel it tear away as parts of your altered ‘body’ melted. Long rolls of goo sagged off of you only to struggle to pull themselves back up into place like you were some wax figurine in an oven trying to resist melting. It wasn’t really painful for you directly, but you could feel Wolf’s pain. Even without that the constant feeling of loosing and gaining sensation in phantom limbs was enough by itself to leave your head swimming in confusion. Wolf cocked one of your arms back and focused most of what concentration he could manage through his pain to maintain that arm’s cohesion. A single, solid punch against the glass wall of the cell was enough that even the reinforced glass shattered and exploded outwards. Coughing and gasping you and Wolf stumbled out of the opening and fell to your hands and knees; you from disorientation and him from pain. You had barely hit the ground before wolf melted fully onto the floor; unable to hold his form anymore. Thankfully as the mist dispersed into the larger room its effects faded and Wolf calmed down while you were able to regain your proper sense of self. Slowly, tiredly, Wolf began dragging himself across the floor and back underneath your skin as he projected his mental equivalent of panting breathlessly. It was probably a good thing Wolf was so exhausted from the ordeal otherwise you were certain he'd be tearing the room to shreds right now. To your surprise, instead of smoldering, yet impotent anger, you got a different response when you mentally checked in on him. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Ow.">Ow.</h2> \</div> The ironically-toned word from the symbiote made you snort out a short laugh before you realized it. Wolf had projected the mental concept of a dead-pan stare while speaking as if he had dropped something heavy on his foot and it was somehow your fault. Unfortunately, you had little time to joke about Wolf’s budding personality before the next problem reared its head at you as a familiar computerized voice echoed through the room. <b><i>Unauthorized Access. Intruder Detected. Initiating Countermeasures</i></b> <b>[[Great, what next?|Security Activated]]</b>

You weren’t sure you could trust Wolf not to go on a rampage in this state. That left your only option to try to reason with the computer, as insane as that sounds. “Um. Computer?” You tried calling aloud. The voice didn’t speak this time but you did hear a soft chime of acknowledgement. At least that’s what you hoped it meant. You had to cough a bit to clear your throat as, even though the mist wasn’t causing you personally more than some mild discomfort it was still getting in your throat and irritating it. “Hey! Open the doors!” You yell in your best authoritative voice. “<b><i>Unable to comply. Level 3 Sanitation in progress.</i></b>” “Uh… Emergency override?” You tried. “<b><i>Unable to comply. Administrator Access Required</i></b>” By now the mist was getting thicker and both Wolf’s pain and rage were increasing. You could feel the skin under your left arm bulge hard enough to send a jolt of pain through you. It felt like he was trying to rip his way out from beneath your skin! It happened a second time, then a third all on different parts of your body. One of them you felt split open slightly and a warm trickle of blood followed moments later. Even the ones that hadn’t burst were aching and throbbing like they’d been bruised! <div align='center'><span style="color:red"><b>[You have been injured]</b></span></div> You could feel his mental tendrils clawing through your head as if reaching for the metaphorical steering wheel. It was probably only the disorientation from his pain that was keeping him from outright grabbing it. <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Pain! Agony! Must Escape!"> Pain! Agony! Must Escape!</h2> \</div> “I know I know, Wolf, I’m trying!” You yelled aloud to him. Then, turning your attention back to the computer voice you started guessing for commands. “Override! Deactivate! Stop Sanitation! Emergency Shutdown!” You were starting to think that your only option really was to let Wolf out. Throwing your hands up in defeat you tried the last, most ridiculous thing you could think of. “Help! Fire!” Suddenly the entire room went silent. Alarms, hissing mist and even the fans in the floor went dead silent. The door gave a sharp hiss that rattled it in its frame, most likely depressurizing far faster than it normally should have, and burst open from the difference in air pressure! Coughing and gasping for clean air, you stumbled your way through the door and fell onto your hands and knees to the floor in front of the containment cell. Slowly you felt Wolf begin to settle down inside you as the mist worked its way out of your system and was no longer being breathed in. You could still feel that he was furious but at least he wasn’t hurting anymore and wasn’t ready to take over and tear the place apart. You barely had time to get to your feet before the next problem reared its head at you as a familiar computerized voice echoed through the room. <b><i>Unauthorized Access. Intruder Detected. Initiating Countermeasures</i></b> <b>[[Fuck, What now?|Security Activated]]</b>

<<if $sali is true>> The moment you exited the enclosure you heard that now-familiar synthetic voice ringing through the robotics lab. <b><i>"Unauthorized Access. Intruder Detected. Initiating Countermeasures"</i></b> <p2>Boss, duck!</p2> Like anyone would, you reflexively ducked your head down at the shouted command. It was a good thing, too! A split second after you ducked down a robotic arm hanging from the ceiling with what looked like a sleek, futuristic crescent wrench attached to the end of it swung its way through the space your head had occupied a split second beforehand! \ <<elseif $goowerewolf is true>> The voice had barely finished speaking before Wolf's own voice echoed desperately through your mind <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Danger!"> Danger!</h2> \</div> \ You felt Wolf take over like the mental equivalent of a passenger grabbing and jerking the wheel of a car to the side. Your body jerked downwards hard enough you nearly lost your balance and face planted onto the floor! A split second after you were forcibly ducked down a robotic arm from the ceiling with what looked like a sleek, futuristic crescent wrench attached to the end of it swung its way through the space your head had occupied a split second beforehand! <</if>> \ “Jesus Christ!” Looking around your eyes go wide as you see the state the room was in. Those robotic arms along the ceiling, every single one of them, was now active and moving about. Some were tipped with screwdrivers, wrenches, and drills while others had stranger tools like blowtorches, soldering irons, and other devices you couldn’t identify. More concerning was that they were all pointed in your direction. \<<if $sali is true>> “Uh… Sali, any suggestions?” <p2> there is a fuse box on the far side of the room in the construction Bay</p2> She pauses long enough for you to see a large fuse box across the room suddenly highlighting itself in red. You tried not to let it freak you out that Sali could apparently mess with your vision. <p2>If you can reach it and shut down power to the construction bay all of the construction arms will shut down. Otherwise, your options are either to attempt evasion and escape. Or I could attempt to hack into the lab’s computer and shut everything down remotely. The lab’s internal systems runs on its own system I am able to access it without the Q. E. Transmitter.</p2> \ <<elseif $goowerewolf is true>> “Well… this doesn’t look good. What do you think, Wolf? Fight, or run?” <div class="wrapper"> \ <h2 class="glitch" data-task-owner="Fight! No match for us!"> Fight! No match for us!</h2> \</div> \ You had already assumed Wolf’s first instinct would be to fight. Surprisingly, despite his eager wording you could feel an edge of wariness that told you he wasn’t as confident as he usually was. Not that you could blame him. Some of the tools on those arms looked like they could even do Wolf serious damage. Your only other option, though, was to make a break for the exit. <</if>> \ <b>[[Fight your way out->Robot Wars]]</b> <b>[[Make a break for the exit->Run From Robotics]]</b> <<if $sali is true>>@@[S.A.L.I.]@@ <b>[[Hack the system->Hacking Attempt]]</b><</if>>

The sharp chill of the cold tile floor was the first thing you felt upon stirring. It took a few seconds before you were able to open your eyes; the light in the room seeming uncomfortably bright for some reason. Then, your memory of the moments before you passed out came back in a sudden flood. Jumping to your feet you looked around the glass containment cell wildly as if expecting something to leap out and attack you! Thankfully nothing did. The room was just as pristine, unmoving and empty as it had been when you first entered. Even the restraints that had held you earlier were gone. <p2>Good morning, boss!</p2> The sudden, unfamiliar voice made you jump in surprise. You started to look around for its source but quickly realized that it didn’t sound like it was coming from any specific direction. Rather, it sounded like it came from inside your own head! The voice itself was soft and feminine with an overly chipper and a bubbly inflection to it that immediately had you thinking of a stereotypical valley girl. “Who’s there?!” you called out into the empty air. <p2>No need to shout, boss! I can hear you just fine! I'm your suit assisting liaison intelligence! You can call me Sali! </p2> “My... What? Where are you?” <p2>I'm the virtual intelligence assistant for the prototype Mark 3 cybernetic exoskeleton you are currently wearing! And I'm in your head! Well technically I’m attached to your nervous system on various points along your spine. I'm speaking to you through a direct neural link!</p2> Upon inspecting your arms and legs you saw that those little hexagonal plates, still linked together, had embedded themselves in your skin! They blended in with your fur and were difficult to see at a glance. Reaching behind your back let you feel that they were also along the length of your spine. <b>[[Ask SALI how to remove these things|Error Error][$sali to true]]</b>

<p style="font-size:30px"><p3>testing</p3></p> <p style="font-size:30px">testing</p>

The moment you said ‘yes' panels in the floor began to open. Two large metal racks, one on each side of you, rose up from the floor; which promptly closed beneath them. On each rack hung what looked like five metal belts made of strings hexagonal metal pieces each the size of a quarter. Now these looked promising. Before you could reach out and try to grab one, though, a pair of quiet clicks drew your attention to your feet where you felt a sudden pressure around your ankles. Looking down, two smaller openings had opened in the floor; this time each exposing a metal ring that had clasped itself around your ankle. You tried to pull your foot away only to find that the ring was secured firmly to the floor; leaving you unable to move. You were trapped! You’d barely even had a chance to try and move your legs before a second pair of similar links slid out of the floor and snapped out like vipers to clasp around your wrists before you even had the chance to flinch away. Extending outwards to either side; your arms were pulled along with them until you were forced to stand spread-eagle. Panic set in as you tugged and struggled against the bindings to no avail. But it wasn't just the sudden fear of being trapped that was panicking you. No, as if that weren't bad enough, those ‘belts’ of metal hexagons had begun to move. "Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me...!" <b>[[Try and pull yourself free!->Cant Ctrl Alt Del]]</b>

Unfortunately no matter how much you struggled or flailed you couldn't pull your arms or legs free! You didn't even have enough range of motion to try to reach the little lockpick you kept wedged in the end of your hoodie's sleeve to pick the lock of handcuffs in situations just like these. All you could do is stand there and watch the strange devices move around. They fell from their racks and clattered to the floor only to raise up a fraction of the inch as each link sprouted tiny sharp legs reminiscent of metallic centipedes. Then, to your horror, they all began scurrying towards you! You didn’t scream, absolutely not. The fearful yelling you let out was one hundred percent manly and not at all high pitched and girlish. That’s how you were choosing to remember it. You were helpless to pull away as they begin crawling their way up your body. Four of them pushed themselves underneath the hem of your pants while the others crawled up the outside of your clothes only to scurry along your arms and slip into the sleeves. You’ve never been particularly scared of bugs but the feeling of those thousands of tiny little legs scurrying across to you was making you seriously reconsider taking up entomophobia, yourself. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, they dug their legs in. Thousands of tiny little legs, each as sharp and thin as a syringe needle, stabbed into your skin as the strange objects lined themselves up on the outsides of your arms, legs, and along the length of your spine. It was like getting stabbed with thousands of acupuncture needles all at the same time. Each one individually didn't really hurt but combined they created a pinpricking ache that left you convulsing in an attempt to shake them off! When the last few links of the intruding machine on your spine pressed into the base of your neck, though, that one really did hurt. The pain was like when you slam your head against the underside of a desk when trying to stand up underneath it multiplied by ten. The abrupt ache in your head left your consciousness swimming and your vision fading as your brain felt like it was suddenly two sizes too big for your skull. A split second later the world faded to black as your consciousness faded… <b>[[Passing out->Not Quite Out]]</b>

Unconsciousness usually meant simply fading to black and not being aware until you came too. But this time your brain buzzed with a confusing flood of incoherent stimulus and information. Numbers rolled through your head and sequences of words that you couldn't quite grasp onto to make sense of. All of it was going by so fast your conscious simply wasn’t able to keep up. What’s worse is you felt like something was asking you questions and your brain was sending answers without your consent. Eventually, though, it finally ceased. For an instant you were left with this strange sense of floating; somehow aware but with no outside stimuli whatsoever. It was like you were in a sensory depravation chamber. Thank, mercifully, true unconsciousness finally took you. <b>[[Pass out->Sali Bootup Sequence]]</b>

This passage was included [[you can still also go here->include 2]]

How do you take the test! @@#question; Which test do you take <<linkappend "Take the first test">> <<replace "#question">><<include "include">><</replace>> <</linkappend>> <<linkappend "Try the second test">> <<replace "#question">><<include "include 2">><</replace>> <</linkappend>> @@

This is also included

<<nobr>> @@#question; What do you want to be in live? <br> <br> <<link "To be loved">> <<replace "#question">> Text you want to be shown. <br> [[Continue]] <</replace>> <</link>> <br> <<link "To be accomplished">> <<replace "#question">> Text you want to be shown. <br> [[Continue]] <</replace>> <</link>> <br> <<link "To be great">> <<replace "#question">> Text you want to be shown. <br> [[Continue]] <</replace>> <</link>> @@ <</nobr>>

Double-click this passage to edit it.

“What the hell are these things? How do I get them off?” <p2>Those are the augmenter links for the Prototype Mark 3 cybernetic exoskeleton. They connect directly with your nervous system and allow me to help regulate and optimize your performance!</p2> A three-dimensional hologram of your body abruptly projected itself directly in front of you. It was particularly disorienting that the hologram moved in sync with your head; always staying in the same place relative to your line of sight. Along your silhouette multiple hexagonal lights flared to life along the various parts of your body the devices had attached themselves to. <p2>I currently estimate your bodies current functionality at <<print setup.healthpercent()>> Unfortunately, the device cannot be removed autonomously. Would you like me to send a request to the division supervisor for a removal team? Error: no connection to local server available. Internal messaging system is currently inaccessible. Request logged.</p2> Several of the plates on the holographic interface lit up green until one of them near the middle of your spine lit up with a sharp yellow color instead. <p2>Malfunction detected. In addition to the standard sweet of wireless communication this unit is equipped with a Q. E. Transmitter linked to the local server. Q.E. Transmitter is currently offline. Self-diagnosis is unable to resolve the issue. Would you like me to send a maintenance request to the division supervisor? Error: no connection to local server available. Request logged. Sorry boss! It looks like I'm unable to request a removal team for you. you'll have to submit the request yourself in person.</p2> The hologram disappeared from your view as soon as she finished speaking. You were struggling to process the fact that there was a computer in your head now. One that talked! Before you say something the voice, Sali, began speaking again. <p2>Unfortunately, boss without access to the local server unable to transmit IFF to the automated security. It looks like the lab VI has determined you are an intruder and is initiating countermeasures. As no one with access to the local server is detective nearby to white-list us I recommend taking defensive action.</p2> You saw a strange fractal circle in the bottom left of your view that reminded you of a loading icon from a computer. A moment after it appeared it vanished and the containment cell door opened with a soft hiss. <b>[[Leave the containment cell->Security Activated]]</b>

Development in progress (This section still under construction. Check back in a future update!) [[Back to Robotics|Robotics Lab][$placeholder to true]]

“Shut them down!” <p2>Initiating system infiltration. Estimated time to bypass system security is 4 minutes and 21 seconds. I suggest you take evasive action during infiltration. On your left!</p2> That last comment was made just as you were forced to dive out of the way as a massive hydraulic clamp snaped closed where your arm had just been. You hadn't even finished rolling before you caught yourself and had to backflip away from a rivet gun firing a rivet the size of your thumb at you! As you regained your balance you noticed that the edges of your vision were tinted the faintest shade of neon red. You were about to ask Sali what that was when a small hologram of the end of the rivet gun arm appeared in the top left of your view. A timer beneath it was labeled ‘Reload’ and was counting down from 27 seconds. Another hologram appeared; this one tinted an angry red color. A wireframe hologram of the clamp arm swing itself directly towards your face. A half-second behind the hologram you could see the actual clamp arm approaching; following the same path as the hologram. Was the computer in your head predicting its movements? Clearly responding to your thought, despite you not having spoken aloud, Sali replied as you ducked underneath the clamp arm’s swing. <p2>Correct! The primary function of this prototype is combat augmentation. In addition to optimizing your nervous system and muscle control I am equipped with a suite of support modules that can overlay useful information and predictive analysis on your heads up display!</p2> “Well damn. That’s kind of cool. Maybe I'm not doomed.” <b>[[Survive->Buying Time]]</b>

Sali’s system was surprisingly intuitive. She seemed to be introducing new features every few seconds once you had gotten used to the previous one rather than overwhelming you all at once with dozens of unknown features. The machine must have been augmenting your senses as well as your body. Otherwise you would never would have heard the laser coming. The laser, a cutting tool for hardened alloys, emitted a distinct buzz a second before it fired. You were able to shove yourself out of the way just in time as the bright red beam of light cut a clean gash at least two inches deep in the tile floor! The beam thankfully only lasted for a couple of seconds before shutting off. A new icon showed up in your view counting down like the rivet gun and informing you that the laser could only fire in short bursts without overheating. Ducking and weaving, rolling and dodging endlessly made seconds seem to drag on into minutes. Before long you were beginning to sweat and your breath was coming in quicker, shorter gasps. Much to your dismay, the counter in the bottom of your vision showing the time Sali still needed told you that barely a minute had passed! Sali, or rather the machine she was installed in, was letting you move with and Agility and flexibility you never would have thought you were capable of. But even optimizing your body’s function could only go so far. You were starting to get tired. In response to your concern your heads-up display lit up with two new visuals. One of them was highlighting a large metal crowbar in green against the wall to your right. The other displayed a complicated path of movements through the middle of the room to avoid the predicted response of the construction arms. A timer popped up underneath the path prediction showing you only had three seconds to decide before the pattern changed. <b>[[Grab the crowbar->Get Crowbar]]</b> <b>[[Follow the predictive path->Uncanny Acrobatics]]</b> @@(Incomplete)@@

Not trusting yourself to be able to follow through with the acrobatic escape you decided to arm yourself instead. A quick forward dive under a smoking soldering iron jabbing its way towards you sent you into a roll towards the crowbar. Grabbing both ends you spun around just in time to catch the blade of a buzzsaw on the crowbar! Sparks sprayed across your face and hands as the spinning blade tried to tear through the heavy metal tool. Just when you were able to see a small cut beginning to form the blade began to chip apart! Tiny chunks of sharp metal tore from the damaged sawblade and flew across the room, a few of which went for you and left several new cuts along your skin! The now-damaged blade skittered off of the crowbar and slammed into the floor instead. Not wasting any time, you brought the crowbar down onto the end of the robotic arm with a resounding crash. Weapon in hand, it became easier to defend yourself from the wildly flailing construction tools. The clamp arm wound up bent as a home run swing from you nearly tore off the top clamp. A drill arm ended up being smashed directly into the soldering iron arm from one of your blows, tearing both of them up in the process. Unfortunately, even armed, you could only do so much. Before long the crowbar was bent and nicked in a dozen different places and there were still at least a dozen of the construction arms still flailing their way towards you. You tried to knock the rivet gun off of its arm but the laser arm intercepted your crowbar at the last second! With a sharp hiss and clatter of metal on tile the laser nearly parted the hooked end of the crowbar from its shaft. Eyes wide, you realized you were now weaponless and you were staring straight into the barrel of the rivet gun just as it was finished reloading. There was no way to get clear in time. All you could do was clench your eyes shut and prepare your self for- <p2>Infiltration successful! Security response disabled. You’re all clear, Boss!</p2> Hesitantly unclenching your eyes you were just in time to see the rivet gun drop and clatter to the ground; its attached arm going limp. Over a dozen similar sounds echoed through the room as the other arms all deactivated themselves. “Oh thank god.” The words escaped your lips on reflex as you collapsed to your knees in relief. The red tint around your vision faded and the majority of the overlays vanished. <b>[[Take a breather->Take A Break]]</b>

You didn’t even care how cold the tile felt as you sprawled out on your back in the middle of the room. The floor, walls, and even ceiling had dozens of scores, nicks, and craters torn in them now. The previously pristine lab now looked like a warzone. Which wasn’t really that far off the mark. <p2> Good job, boss! None of your injuries are worse than a small cut or bruise and nanites have already been dispatched to repair the damage!<<if $injury >=2>> Unfortunately the self repair function of the Mark Three prototype is currently only capable of repairing minor injuries. The more serious fractures and abrasions you’ve accumulated will still require outside medical intervention.<</if>></p2> Sitting up, you looked down at the small metal protrusions mostly hidden under the fur of your arms. This thing, despite the nightmare fuel its installation had been, was amazing! Exactly the kind of tech that would make millions on the black market. Then again… It was almost unnoticeable and had pretty much just saved your life, even if it was the reason he had been in danger in the first place. You were sorely tempted to keep this one for yourself. <p2>Aww! Thanks, boss! I’d be happy to stick around!</p2> Ok, maybe the mind reading thing was a bit creepy. Either way it wasn’t something you had to decide right now. You were stuck with her at least until you got out of this place so you might as well make the most of it. “Well. I guess we’re stuck together for now um… I should call you Sali, right?” <p2>You can change my designation to whatever you’d like, boss! But yes, my default designation is S.A.L.I. or Sali for short!</p2> You were about to get up and leave when something dawned on you <b>[["Hey, Sali..."->Partners in Crime]]</b>

Development in progress (This section still under construction. Check back in a future update!) [[Back to Robotics|Robotics Lab][$placeholder to true]]

“Hey. You can like… read my thoughts, right?” <p2>Technically just surface thoughts. Its part of the neural interface! I am unable to access deep thought, memories, or your subconsious!</p2> “Do you have a, you know, problem with me being… you know… a thief? Like. I’m technically here to steal you and stuff like you. Do you not have loyalty towards your creators?” <p2> I was programmed to be an assistant to whoever wore the exoskeleton! It seems that my creators never expected anyone to infiltrate the lab and had yet to put any security measures in place to prevent unauthorized use. So I’m all yours, boss!</p2> It was strange that it… she… whatever seemed to blasé about its own misuse. Then again regardless of how much it acted like a person at the end of the day it was just a computer program. It could only do what it was told. “Well, I guess that means you’re my accomplice for now. Let’s get out of here before something else wakes up and attacks.” <b>[[Leave the Robotics Lab|Hallway to Robotics][$roboticssecurity to false]]</b>

You had never considered yourself to be paranoid. Cautious, sure, but never paranoid. At least not without a good reason. Whatever it was that was making you uneasy about the canister was probably just a symptom of your nerves. At least that's what you told yourself. You could see small readouts in the corner of your vision and small holographic targeting reticules clicking over the canister and its contents as Sali tried to scan what was inside of it in response to your trepidation. <p2> Sorry, boss! I can’t make heads or tails of this. The local network in this division is too heavily encrypted for me to break into without risking setting off some alerts and my scans aren’t picking up anything useful other than it’s contents are organic. </p2> Doing your best not to pay attention to it you approached the table and began rifling through the various notes. As expected, you couldn't make heads or tails of the majority of them. Most of the pages used so much technical jargon you only understood about one out of every four words; something about Gene sequences and foreign infection. Other pages looked like chemical diagrams. You didn't recognize it but that didn't exactly mean a whole lot considering you probably wouldn't even recognize the chemical formula for water. The big classified stamp on the top of the page, however, made it a reasonable assumption that this was something a lot more unique than water. After several minutes of trying to make sense of the documentation you finally gave up. You'd be better off making copies and let someone smarter than yourself try to figure it out. Sali, unfortunately, wasn’t equipped for technical expertise so she wasn’t much help either. If it wasn’t weaponry, tactics, or strategy then her knowledge and input was limited at best. As you reached into your pocket for your phone a faint clicking sound echo through the otherwise quiet room. Your head to whipped around in the direction it had come from while your hands raised reflexively in a defensive stance. Or at least that's what they tried to do. In your panic your hand, still stuck halfway into your pocket, caught on the edge of your jeans pocket and caused your elbow to jerk to the side. Unfortunately for you, it jerked right towards the glass canister. Sali responded instantly. Your perception of the world slowed to a crawl As you watched the metal frame and canister tip off the edge of the table. A small icon labeled “3x Accel” showed up in the corner of your view; Sali was speeding up your thoughts! With the extra time to react and the speed-enhancement Sali gave you were able to swing around the table and dive down to slide your hand underneath the canister just before it hit the floor and broke open. “Shit. That was a close one. Good job, Sali.” <P2>Anytime, Boss!</p2> You stood back up and placed the canister back on the table closer towards the middle in hopes of avoiding knocking it over again. You didn’t know what would have happened if it had broken open but you doubted it could have been good. For all you knew it might be a lethal airborne virus! With the canister safe and the documents photographed there wasn't anything else of interest left on the table. <b>[[Look around some more|Special Containment][$canistersaved to true]]</b>