by Eric Vall
“She sounds like an abomination!” the gray-haired woman snapped. “An abomination with disgusting views of the world! How anyone could think that way… it blows my mind. Men are meant to be servants from the moment they emerged from the womb.”
“That’s where you’re wrong!” Valerie cried, stepped forward, and placed her closed fists on her hips. “Charles is so intelligent, smarter than any other person in this whole damn town, but not only that, he’s kind, sweet, and tender! None of you ‘aristocrats’ gave him a chance because you believed the same thing that’s been passed down for centuries. You’re nothing but a sheep, Delphine, you follow along blindly behind the rest of the wealthy people and never bothered to open up your damn eyes! Men aren’t toxic! The society you live in is!”
“So, Charles,” Delphine smirked, leaned back, and smirked. “You created a sex doll that spouts off andro-centric rhetoric you wanted to hear. Should I congratulate you? You’re certainly not going to get it from me, oh gods, just wait until the Duchess finds out about all of this, she’ll find it hilarious. Maybe she won’t kill you, she’ll simply use you as her fool in the courts. This is a joke, right? She’s just wearing cat-ears and a tail to fool me? There’s no way this is real, Charles.”
“This is all genuine, Delphine,” I stated, stepped forward, and placed my hands around my back. “Valerie is real, the machine is real, and the Duchess’ plot is all authentic. Look at my creation, Delphine, there is no way that this woman beside me isn’t real.”
“T-Then, you’re mad,” the gray-haired woman sputtered. “Or I’m mad… There’s no way that all of this is true, no logical way any of this could be true.”
“Take a good, hard look,” I grinned. “Look all around you, Delphine. All of this is real, and once I’m finished fixing my machine, your little friend there in the cell across the room will go into compartment A, and then bang! Boom! I’ll have a brand-new monster girl, and she won’t remember her life as the horrible Delphine Vallantine.”
“There’s no way you can do this…” the gray-haired woman whispered. “You… you just can’t.”
“There’s where you’re getting stuck.” I reached out, grabbed a wrench, tossed it into the air, and then grabbed it with the other hand. “I can do this, there’s no one here to stop me.”
“No, I’m wrong.” Delphine shook her head, pointed at the middle of my chest and grimaced. “You’re the mad one, you’re utterly insane, Charles Rayburn. You’re a monster! How did I not notice? How hasn’t Edony noticed? Or has she simply ignored it in hopes of getting what she wants? How have you tricked her into thinking that you’re sane?”
“I haven’t tricked anyone.” I threw back my head, ran a hand through my messy black hair, and cackled. “I’m the sanest person in this room! How could you say such a thing? Ah, yes, I’m sorry, Delphine, but I’m going to have to cut this little conversation short, I have to fix my machine first, and then we can finally move on with the experiment.”
“I’m so excited!” Valerie threw her hands into the air, spun in a circle, and then gripped her tail between two hands. “You’re going to be my little sister! I know you’re a bit older than me, but once you go through the process, I’m sure you’ll be the same age, or a little younger! Don’t worry, Delphine! Oh… how set are you on the name ‘Delphine’? I don’t particularly like it, but it’s alright, we’ll most likely change it once you go through. Ooooh, I love the name Daisy! That’s a cute name for a bear-girl! What do you think, Charles?”
“I like it!” I grinned, turned toward my machine, and gripped a sheet of corrugated sheeting. “But we’ll decide once the experiment is finished, it’s better to get to know her first before we name her, especially since you’re the one who named yourself.”
“Well, you helped me pick out my name, Charles!” The feline-woman giggled. “That’s why I love it so much, so, yes, let’s wait until she’s here, and then we’ll decide.”
“Excuse me?” Delphine shrieked, her hands formed into fists at her sides and her face burning bright pink. “Have you forgotten you have a powerful, rich woman locked in a cell? If someone were to walk in right now, all of you would be executed!”
“Not me,” A.B. tittered. “Can’t kill a reanimated brain, plus, they probably wouldn’t even suspect me.”
“Yes, yes, we get it, A.B.” I snorted. “You are not included in any of these crimes against humanity, not only that, how would they arrest you? Take you out of the tank and place a single shackle around your brain-stem?”
“Oh gods, you are mad.” Delphine slapped her closed fists to her forehead, paced the inside of the compartment with wide, terrified eyes. “You’re talking to a brain… a brain in a tank, in a lab with a feline-human hybrid. How… how did I get myself into this mess?”
“For one, it’s my laboratory,” I corrected. “And two, you wanted this, you tried to peel back the layers of ‘the Alchemist, Charles Rayburn.’ As you said before in your office, it’s a bit unexpected, right?”
“I meant that you showed up at my manor asking for a consort contract!” the gray-haired woman screamed, raised her fists, and beat them against the window. “Not that you were some type of mad… scientist creating monsters in your laaaab!”
“I’m not a monster,” Valerie pouted. “I’m just… a little different from most women!”
“I don’t care, you’re disgusting!” the gray-haired woman roared, and beat at the window. “Vile! Horrendous! Grotesque! The ugliest thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on, and if I weren’t trapped in this compartment, I’d destroy you with a single swipe of my hand!”
Delphine’s voice was drowned out by an even louder sound, my head whipped in the direction of the cells and saw as the massive brown beast stood on its hind legs. The brown bear threw back its head, dropped open its mouth, and bellowed at the stone ceiling. The creature’s curved talons wracked against the bars and Delphine’s eyes widened from across the room.
“Why do you have a bear in there?” the gray-haired woman squealed. “You’re more insane than I first thought!”
“Ah, yes, that’s our little friend.” I nodded, pushed the sheeting toward my machine, and opened compartment A’s door. “And then, she’ll be… you? I’m not sure how to explain it to an outsider. You and the bear will become… one being through the process of the experiment. She’ll have some of your traits, maybe even your cryokinesis, but she won’t have all your memories or your horrible personality, she’ll most likely receive those from our furry friend over there.”
“My… my life will end, and everything I’ve done will be meaningless?” the gray-haired woman gasped, pressed herself against the cold, metal wall, and stared forward through the glass.
“But was your life that important?” I replied. “I mean, Delphine, look back at your life and ask yourself, ‘do I do anything of real meaning?’ Or were you just a terrible woman who did awful things to those around her? You treated your servants and employees as if they were mere beasts with the ability to speak, I saw it for myself. Did that make you feel good? At the moment, it happened, but ask yourself, did it matter how you treated them? Because my answer… is yes. If you hadn’t been this horrible, horrendous person, maybe I wouldn’t have chosen you.”
“Why not the Duchess, huh?” Delphine squawked as tears formed in the corners of her eyes and dribbled down her wrinkled cheeks. “She’s wealthier, stronger and… meaner than me, why me?”
“Edony?” I knelt, turned my head, and glanced over the crest of my shoulder. “No, absolutely not.”
“And you’re reasoning behind this?” Delphine sobbed, peeked over at the still raging beast, and then stayed glued to the wall. “Why couldn’t you have used her?”
“Well, the Duchess is far too powerful, not just in the sense of her abilities, but if she were to go missing, everyone would know.” I scoffed. “You should know this, Delphine, just because you’re the number two around the city doesn’t mean that anyone would be entirely
concerned if you disappeared. In fact, I’m sure your manservants, guards, employees, and most certainly your consorts will be relieved that you’re gone. I used to think my sole purpose on this earth was to better it with science, and that hasn’t changed, but now, I think one of my many purposes is to rid this world of horrible women like you. Maybe I haven’t chosen the Duchess yet, but eventually, maybe I will. Women like you, the aristocrats in this town, are what makes it terrible, and I will cleanse Edenhart of all of you, one by one.”
“You… you can’t do that.” Delphine shook her head. “You’ll kill the whole town.”
“Sure, maybe,” I shrugged. “But then, each time I take down another horrible woman, it’ll be replaced with a beautiful, intelligent, and loving monster-girl. That’s the type of future I want to live in, where men can live in peace alongside women, not what we’re currently surviving in.”
“That will never happen,” the gray-haired woman snapped, curled her hands into fists, and wiped away her tears. “I know it, and you do too, Charles.”
“Maybe so,” I scoffed. “But with each woman that I convert, we move a little closer to that reality. Alright, the floor is replaced, now, compartment A, it won’t take very long, Delphine, just be patient with me.”
I moved across the room, grabbed the welder, metal sheeting, and dragged them over to compartment A. I slowly dismantled the glass bell jar, set it aside, tore out the panels where it used to be, and then dragged over the new paneling. I placed the helmet over my face, snapped on the welder, bent my knees, and slowly began to weld the pieces together.
I could hear Delphine shouting in the distance, but the active welder drowned out most of the words she spewed at my back. Nothing she said made any difference to me, she’d never change my mind, I was doing this for the sake of improvement and science, and what I’d said was true. I wanted to change the world, to shift the view of the male sex into a better one, and I wouldn’t stop until it was done.
Valerie’s shadow danced across the walls in front of me as she twirled, leaped, and rolled across the stone floors. I knew how excited she was to have a little sister, and I wanted nothing more than to give that to her. I wanted to provide the feline-woman with anything she wanted, hell, I’d find a way to tear down the stars if she asked for them.
I did quick work of creating the new and improved compartment A, sat back on my haunches, and took in the colossal booth. Then, I nodded once, stood from my position, turned, and grabbed the new door. I fitted it into place, bolted it in, swung the door open and closed, and then welded it flawlessly into place. I sighed softly, pressed my lips together into a thin line, nodded, placed my hands squarely on my hips, and then stepped away.
“The bear will need another shot of the tranquilizer,” I stated. “And before you say it, Valerie, we’re not allowing you to ride her into the compartment, that’s totally out of the question.”
“Dangit.” The feline-woman pouted, flipped through the air, and crouched on the corner of the examination table. “But it was so much fun, and she liked it!”
“She was heavily drugged, and I’m sure if you tried it again, you’d be mauled,” I cleared my throat.
“Let me out, Alchemist!” the gray-haired woman shrieked. “If you dare lay a hand on me, I’ll kill you right here and now.”
“I expected this to be your reaction,” I smiled kindly. “I’m personally not going to lay a hand on you, but you’re already in my machine...”
“Y-You can’t!” the stout woman shouted, drew back, and scuttled toward the back of the compartment. “Let me out right this instant!”
“We’ve already been over this, Delphine.” I tutted. “I’ll do whatever I want, whenever I want. I recall once you told me that you had a way of getting things that you wanted. I may be a man, and oh so much lower status than you, but I too have that ability. Also, I’d like to remind you, you’re certainly not in a position to be demanding things from me.”
“Charles… you can’t… please.” Delphine finally broke as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I’ll do anything, please, just let me live. I can give you money… prestige… a bigger manor with a larger lab… I’ll do anything, just don’t kill me!”
“It’s too late,” I grunted. “You should’ve thought about those things before you treated my gender so horribly. I understand it’s part of our society, and you’ve been raised to feel this way your whole life, but a second of kindness, even a single act may have spared you. I have no other choice, Delphine, than to put you down… like the bitch you are.”
The room fell eerily silent as my words echoed off the walls. They seemed more potent than I intended, and chills raced up and down my spine. I’d used the phrase mongrel, how many times had I heard that word hurled at me from the mouths of aristocrats? I wasn’t a mongrel beast, all of them were, and what I was doing now only solidified that feeling within my body.
Delphine’s watering eyes dried instantly, and her jowls snapped shut. Her face was pale, her dried lips a pinkish color with emotion, but her hands stayed curled into tiny fists at her waist. I knew she didn’t listen to what I said, my words were utterly meaningless to her, but I’d said them, I’d finally uttered what every man had thought at some point in his life.
“Do you think your little speech will make me feel different?” the gray-haired woman spat at the frosty glass of her containment unit. “That I’ll suddenly feel sorry for everything I’ve ever done to my servants and consorts? You must be stupid and mad--”
I didn’t allow her to finish her tirade, I slammed forward, and slid the metal panel over the glass window closed.
“Now, for the bear,” I sighed as Delphine’s screams were muffled behind the door. “We’ll use the pulley system for it. I don’t quite have the energy to lug it around.”
“It’s alright, Charles,” Valerie simpered, hopped from the shelf, and hurried over. “You dose the bear, and then we can use the pulley system to get it inside compartment A. Then all you need to do it get your blood into compartment C.”
“Thank you,” I breathed. “I appreciate your help so much.”
“Of course, Charles!” the feline-woman giggled, grabbed the pulley ropes, and swung them closer from the overhead contraption. “I love you, and I want to help you with your work.”
I sighed, turned toward the pacing bear in the first cell, lifted the spear, and aimed at the soft spot between its neck and shoulder. I thrust forward, hit my mark, and pushed all of my weight against the spear until the needle disappeared into the bear’s fur. The colossal creature yelped, pulled away, swiped at the spear with a massive paw, and bared its teeth at me. I hastily removed the spear from in between the cell bars, leaned against it, pressed my lips into a hard line, and waited.
It took a few dozen seconds for the tranquilizer to work through the bear’s system, but before long, the enormous beast wavered on its four feet, stumbled forward, and crashed to the floor by the cell entrance. It wasn’t entirely asleep but docile enough for me to open the door and prepare to load it into the pulley system.
“Here, Charles!” Valerie sang, skipped over, and rolled the rope and pulleys back to me on the metal track.
“Good, good.” I nodded. “Will you help me get the bear into the ropes? I know the pulley system can support its weight, it’ll just be difficult doing it by myself.”
“Of course!” the feline-woman giggled, raced forward, and then flipped twice.
Valerie and I managed to wriggle the ropes underneath the bear’s massive weight three times, wrapped the cords around its feet, tied them together, and then worked the length through the pulley system. We cranked the lever together, strained against the weight of the bear until it lifted off the ground, and then pushed it toward the open door of compartment A.
The cat-girl’s eyes glittered excitedly, and she licked her lips and hopped around happily as we pushed. I may have been exhausted from the day’s events, but my heart beat wildly in my chest. We were so c
lose, minutes away from the second experiment, and I couldn’t seem to calm myself down.
“Alright, one more push,” I urged. “There we go!”
Valerie and I tugged the hanging bear into compartment A and let it hang there for a second as we worked at the lever. The two of us lowered the enormous beast to the ground, untied all of the ropes, retrieved them, and then backed out of the room. I swung the door closed, fitted into place, and then locked it.
“Go stand by the wall,” I instructed. “I’ll only be a second.”
“Alright, Charles.” The feline-woman giggled and skipped away with her chocolate brown tail swinging behind her.
I crossed to the third, much larger compartment and stood just outside of its open doors. I glanced down at the dried blood on the seams of the metal, glanced down at the scabbed over hand, brought it to my mouth, and bit down on it viciously. I held the reopened cut in between two fingers, held it out over the beaten copper floor, and let a few droplets fall. I wasn’t sure how much blood was needed, but I already knew it wasn’t much, so I allowed three beads to fall out. The scarlet liquid hit the shiny metal with soft, muffled pings, and then spread out into larger circles. I pulled my hand away, held it to my chest, covered the wound with my sleeve, and then slammed the doors shut with the heel of my shoes.
“Ready?” A.B. bubbled. “Oh, I’m so excited! I can’t wait to meet our new friend! Oh, gods, I’ve never had this many friends… are they going to talk about me behind my tank? Will I be ostracized from the group? Oh, lords, maybe we shouldn’t do it, I can’t be a social pariah! We can’t do it, Charles, I’m too handsome to be left out of the group!”
