The Maidens of U.N.I.C.O.R.N.

By Marcus Lycus

Chapter 4 – Nature of the beast

“Clear the area! Hazardous material coming through!” Castellan said.

“Get out the damn way!” Gorki added.

The two walked quickly through the halls of UNICORN with Obata behind them monitoring a motorized cart.

Finally they arrived at a subbasement lab. They waited for the titanium vault-like door to unlock and open.

It had been almost a week since the incident at the café, since then Castellan had experienced a few more hallucinations. One involved jealous infantrymen gang-raping her in the gym. It only ended when some troopers found her in the equipment room, her spandex shorts soaked and her hands pantomiming sucking cock. Castellan managed to run before any of them said anything. Since they she’d heard rumors but no one believed them. Yet.

In another she was having sex in a pit while she and her lover’s nude bodes were bitten by rattlesnakes. She could still hear their hisses and feel their sharp fangs, still feel the venom burning through her veins. She’d woken up naked on a beach. She’d had to steal some laundry and hike back the UNICORN headquarters. She still wondered how she’d gotten out there or what sick imagination had come up with the situation. Both times she had seen the same face, the one from the bondage scenario. Her mysterious ‘master’.

It was getting harder and harder to hide her condition. Mai-Lynn was getting more nervous by the day. When she wasn’t hallucinating some humiliating sex scenario she was haunted by images of herself drooling in a cell in Hokkaido.

++Are you well captain?++

++What? Yes! Fine lieutenant! Fine! Why do you ask?++

++You seem a little jumpy captain++

++Well I’m not! Maybe I’m just anxious about the Hydra!++

++Yes captain++

Mai-Lynn glanced at the cart. To tell the truth she was a bit nervous about escorting the Hydra sample. Inside, frozen at near-absolute-zero temperatures was a sample just eight inches long that branched into three sections. To a normal person it looked like a root or maybe some tentacle but Mai-Lynn knew it was one of the most dire threats in the world. It was part of the Hydra.

No one knew where the Hydra came from or how it was created. The name came from the Hydra of myth, where if you cut off one head two more would grow back, this Hydra could grow and reproduce from even the smallest fragment. The alien growth would lodge itself inside human hosts, growing inside them until it hatched in an explosion of fanged tentacles. A sample like this one had killed dozens of students at a Japanese girl’s school. UNICORN gunships had to sterilize the entire site with plasma. Only this small sample had been allowed to survive. If it got loose in UNICORN headquarters… Mai-Lynn shuddered at the thought.

Gorki watched the officer out of the corner of her eye. Castellan was clearly disturbed, her normally immaculate hair was unwashed and askew. Her eyes twitching from left to right, her involuntary responses all indicating fear and anxiety. Gorki could even hear the strain over the comlink. Misako was hiding something as well. Gorki wondered what her best action was. Standing by Castellan is she had some sort of breakdown was out of the question. Turning her commander in for a complete psychological evaluation would be prudent, but would brand her as a snitch among the other officers. It seemed the best thing to do was wait and see, and be sure to turn on Castellan once it was too late.

The door finally opened. The tech Klaus was waiting on the other side.

“Come in captain, I’ve been waiting for you.”

***

“How much longer?” Castellan asked.

“A bit more time, this isn’t a Christmas goose we’re thawing out.” Klaus snapped back.

The two techs were carefully thawing the sample inside a secure containment unit. Even after an hour, the temperature was -121 degrees. Castellan tapped her foot nervously. Until the Hydra sample was thawed and Klaus was satisfied they could contain it, the four of them were locked in the lab together. The thick walls even cut them off from wireless communication with the outside. For the cyber agents it was like being blind.

++Be patient captain++

++I don’t like being here. I don’t like being here with him++

Natasha nodded. She understood her captain’s discomfort. In fact since she had seen her captain play the role of ‘Mai-Mai’ she felt she understood the problem better than Mai-Lynn.

++He’s perfectly competent. Look Ensign Obata is fine with him++

++Ensign Obata is incomprehensible. I think Colonel Gu gave her to us as a joke++

++Captain? Such harsh words, you sound like me++

++I sound like you? Ouch, now that’s harsh!++

They shared a private laugh over the comlink. Mai-Lynn smiled. It had been a dream she reminded herself. Lt. Gorki is my friend, at least I can count on her.

“I’m going to check the central computer” Mai-Lynn said and plugged herself into a terminal. As usual these days the first thing she did was scan her onboard systems for viruses or signs of tampering. As always she found nothing.

She started uploading updates and checking her messages.

“It’s alive! Alive!” Was the next thing she heard. Obata was pointing at the sample, it was definitely twitching. The four agents crowded around the transparent case to look. One of the three branches was wiggling a bit, another suddenly jerked. Then the third shoot forward like a missile hitting the side and cracking it. All four gasped. Klaus jumped backwards. Gorki drew her guns. The sample thrashed a bit more, lashing the sides but there was no more damage. They all breathed a sigh of relief and leaned over the tank for a better look.

The ends of each stalk opened three ways forming grotesque mouths lined with suckers and small fangs. Tubular tongues extended and tasted the air. Slime dripped from the three heads.

“Gross.” Was all Gorki could say. The other mutely nodded.

“Now imagine a mass of these the size of a whale, with thousands of tentacles snaking through a girls' school grabbing students and pulling them in. That’s what the team in Osaka was up against.” Klaus added. “Amazing creature. They say it feeds on human fluids. Even the smallest bit can infect a person.”

“Shouldn’t you do something about that crack?” Castellan asked. Klaus nodded. “Pass me that sealant tank.”

Natasha passed over the tank of sticky polymer and Klaus sprayed the side of the container with it. “It’s a bit haphazard but it will hold for now. This stuff is strong.”

“If we’re finished here-“ Castellan began.

“Not quite…” Klaus said. He turned the hose and sprayed Obata with it. The polymer hardened instantly, pinning her arms.

Castellan and Gorki already had their weapons out but Klaus just turned his head and sent the signal ++SHUT DOWN++

The two cyber agents collapsed in heaps.

Klaus started laughing hysterically. From the floor Mai-Lynn could see worms crawling under his skin.

“Smallest bit remember? Smallest bit! I bet the bit that got through and hit me was smaller than a mosquito. And it needed just minutes to grow up big and strong.” He drew back his fist and effortlessly smashed the armored container. He picked up the sample and raised it to his mouth. He swallowed it whole.

“Such an amazing life form, it can make use of all of the host’s abilities and knowledge. Everything, it’s like we’re one. But my baby needs more food to grow. More and more and more.” He said pointing at each of the women in turn. “Where oh where will I get it?” He laughed.

He tore off his jacket and turtleneck. The women could see the worms writhing under his skin, coiling like muscles. He tore off his trousers, all three women gasped in horror. His dick had been replaced by a five headed Hydra, each with opening and closing mouths. Each tentacle hung halfway to his knees, they twitched and writhed on their own, mouths opening and closing. One hissed.

“Who’s first?” The tentacle penises twitched and writhed. “Eenie, meanie, minie, moe!” One each of the tentacles was pointing at Natasha and Mai-Lynn but three were pointing at Misako. Klaus laughed and turned.

Mai-Lynn frantically tried to speak, or move, or send a comlink signal. Nothing worked. This was so humiliating. Being humbled so completely by her own enhancements.

Unlike Mai-Lynn and Natasha Misako could still speak and act. She tried to climb to her feet but Klaus knocked her back to the ground with one blow. She screamed, he kicked her a few times. Her arms were pinned by the polymer coating but her legs were free to kick. But strengthened by the Hydra inside him Klaus ignored her. He knelt down and pulled her jerking legs apart.

Misako screamed in Japanese. The writhing Hydra heads stretched forward tearing through her panties and stockings. They bit her inner thighs and sucked on the blood. Finally one dashed forward and was inside. Misako’s screams became a single howl of pain as the tentacles swarmed inside biting, tearing and sucking at the tender flesh within. Klaus’ skin became flushed red, he seemed swell in size and growled. His fingers burst like sausages and tentacles slithered out. They swarmed over Obata’s writhing body. They wrapped around her breasts, around her waist and neck, and one plunged down her throat. Three more Hydra heads spawned from his mouth like obscene tongues. He turned his head 180 degrees towards the two helpless agents.

“MMMOOORRREEE” he said with three tongues.

He tossed Misako aside with a twitch of his tentacles; she hit the far wall with a thud and slid to the floor.

But then she arose, worms twitching obscenely under her skin. Her head was twisted at a right angle and flopping uselessly. She laughed too. From between her legs a single long tentacle sprouted, it hissed at Natasha.

“RRRIIISSSEE” Klaus said with three voices. And suddenly Natasha and Mai-Lynn were free. Weapons were out in less than a second. Natasha’s high-velocity rounds struck Obata dead on, blasting loose chunks of flesh. The single tentacle dashed ahead and locked its mouth onto the Russian woman’s neck. The pistols fell from her numb fingers.

Mai-Lynn swung her neural rods at Klaus’ tentacles, she knocked out three or four but the rest slithered over her body. The rods were crushed, her arms pulled apart. More slithered in, biting her through her armored bodysuit. Two got to her neck and slipped under the collar, under the suit. Another entered through a sleeve, another at the ankle. Mai-Lynn’s body was covered with slime. The tentacles twitched and her bodysuit shredded. She was naked and held aloft by the tentacles. Klaus, Obata and Gorki moved around her. She could see worms slithering in the flesh of Gorki’s neck and up her temple. There was look of pure horror on her face.

“T-this isn’t real!” Mai-Lynn yelled. “It’s not real!”

She felt Obata’s tentacle probing between her legs, Natasha’s hands on her breasts, Klaus’ tentacles slithering and biting her everywhere.

The worms were inside her now.

She felt her limbs torn apart. She screamed and screamed.

***

Castellan jerked awake again. She was in the lab! But everything was back the way it was. The Hydra sample was inert in its tank, Klaus and Obata were checking their readings, Gorki was bored. Even the temperature gage had barely budged to -118 degrees. Castellan checked her internal chronometer, only a minute or two had passed since she plugged into the central computer.

She relaxed. No one seemed to notice anything amiss with her. But Gorki carefully noted it. The time to act might be sooner than she expected.

Castellan opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to think of something to say but there was nothing. Nothing to say. Nothing had happened. She settled back down and tired to forget the sensation of being torn apart by her friends.

After another hour the temperature rose high enough and the sample started to twitch. This time Castellan stood well back, with her weapons already out and ready. The sample twitched a few times and then curled into a ball. It never even came close to the sides. She breathed a sigh of relief.

The lab door opened, Gorki and Obata left. But Castellan lingered. During her last hallucination the expression of lust on Klaus’ face, it was familiar. She had seen it before. In Gu’s office, while she lay helplessly on the floor. She knew right away that memory was real. That it was the key.

“Captain Klaus we need to talk.”

“Captain Castellan?”

“The Modred case. What exactly did you do to me?”

He shrugged. “Exactly what you were briefed on, I downloaded your cover identity and locked out your enhancements.”

“And?” She demanded.

“I don’t know-“

“My memories are coming back you know.”

“Oh…”

Klaus looked defeated. He sighed and slumped his shoulders. He leaned against the wall.

“There were… there were certain modifications the Colonel asked for. He asked me to make sure you could not reactivate your enhancements yourself. He wanted you to need an external signal. He was afraid the stress of the mission might be too much, you might be tempted to bust Chesterfield too early, before Modred arrived.”

“Nonsense! I have successfully completed 23 undercover missions! And UNICORN regulations strictly forbid-”

“I know, I know. But orders are orders right? And that wasn’t all. You knew what the mission was; you knew you’d be programmed to be a sex slave right? But there was more. There were skill downloads, things from all kinds of porn sites to make sure you were some kind of perfect lover. And more that that, certain biofeedback routines, modifications to how your body interprets stimuli, to make you enjoy it. To make you a multi-orgasmic slut who gets off from whipping and bondage and having guys cum on your face!”

Castellan looked like someone had hit her in the gut. Memories flashed by of herself licking cum from her fingers and begging for spankings. Gu had done that to her? Gu and Klaus! She wouldn’t rest until these two were in the brig!

Klaus pushed a button and the heavy lab door swung shut. Castellan didn’t notice.

“Even after I was done with the programs there was more. Gu was worried that you would look too clean, too unblemished to play to role. So we took you up to his office and beat the crap out of you. Then Gu raped you.”

Memories came back, the belts landing on her body, begging and pleading and apologizing in a sing-song voice. Gu’s metal hand on her breast.

“And you know the worst thing” Klaus was smiling now, enjoying Mai-Lynn’s discomfort, “I never got to sample my own work.” He squeezed her breast.

Mai-Lynn raised a hand to stop him, but he leaned close and whispered in her ear. “We had Natasha delete the programs after the mission of course. We’re not stupid. But the funny thing about us cyborgs is there’s a lot more to us than just the hardware. The machine and the mind, working together, that’s the whole idea. For almost a month those programs messed with your mind, messed with your body, I bet the instincts are still there.”

He licked her neck and squeezed her ass; she snuggled closer to him and put her arm around him. “They may always have been there. I read your psychological files. You joined UNICORN as a teen. You experimented with sex in training but found it unfulfilling. You stopped being interested in it. Like many strong determined women you can’t achieve orgasm, you can’t surrender control that way. Which is why you need to be made completely powerless before you can climax. I did some digging; you were pretty into orientalcumwhorebondage.biz and orientalcocksuckers.com for a while there. Even using them on official computers. Did you enjoy your fantasies? Did you enjoy being a sex slave? Your time as Mai-Mai was probably the first time you’ve enjoyed sex in your whole life. And you did enjoy it a lot. I saw some of the videos Gorki and Obata took. I’ve never you seen you looking happier.”

Mai-Lynn was panting. Klaus nibbled her ear. “Sucky-sucky?” She whispered.

“Fucky-fucky” he answered.

Mai-Lynn released the magnetic locks on her bodysuit and it peeled away like a snakeskin. She propped her butt on the lab counter and opened her legs. Klaus dropped his trousers and thrust right in.

It was amazing. Her muscular control was better than any woman alive; it was like fucking a velvet vice. And her throbbing pussy was as hot as a sauna and as wet as October.

“Ah! Yes, oh yes!” she yelled and threw back her head. She wrapped her arms around Klaus’ neck and he lifted her off the bench. He spun her around and fucked against the cold concrete wall thrusting in and out until he could take no more and shot deep inside her.

They both fell to the floor spent.

***

“So now what?” Klaus finally asked. They were laying side-by-side on a fire blanket in a spooning position. He had his arms around her waist and his head on her shoulder. She was holding his hands and breathing softly. He rubbed his leg between her legs, she purred.

“I don’t know.”

“I could rewrite the program you know. More safeguards, let you override it at will. Let it be something for role-playing, something for fun.”

“I don’t know.”

“Course you can still press charges. I might get arrested but Gu would definitely get life in Hokkaido for what he did.”

“I don’t know. I just don’t know. I… I have a lot to think about.”

“But?”

“But, you are right. This was the first time I could let go. This was… this was nice.”

“And?”

“And I’d like to try it again.”

He kissed her neck and squeezed her tight. She turned her head and kissed him back.

They got up and got dressed. Mai-Lynn straightened Klaus’ uniform and tucked in his turtleneck. He kissed her on the cheek. He checked the Hydra sample, it was still sitting harmlessly.

In few days Klaus knew he would either be fucking the most desirable woman in UNICORN, or on a one-way trip to Hokkaido. ‘And I thought the tech service would be dull’ he mused. He opened the lab door.

“ARG!”

The taser round hit Klaus dead center, he fell to the ground twitching and screaming silently. Castellan drew her weapons and turned to attack.

++Captain wait!++

Natasha was on the other side with a half dozen UNICORN troops. She cleared her throat and announced “Captain Henri Klaus, you are under arrest for illegal modification of UNICORN programs and endangering the safety of a mission and fellow officer. Your enhancements have been deactivated and you will be placed in custody pending trial.”

Two UNICORN troopers picked him up and slapped on cuffs.

++What is the meaning of this?++

++Captain it’s just as you suspected. Klaus and Gu did tamper with your programming, and they used me to cover it up. Oh captain I’m so sorry++

They marched towards the elevator; another squad arrived escorting Colonel Gu.

“You! You cunt! You whore! This is your fault! I know it! I-ugg” A trooper slammed him in the gut with his rifle butt silencing the Chinese officer. “Sorry ma’am. He won’t bother you again.” The trooper apologized.

Natasha just shook her head.

++Thankfully the new Colonel figured it out and ordered their arrest++

++New colonel?++

++Yes captain. You’d better hear the story from him, he wants to see you in his office++

***

Captain Castellan stood at attention outside the office door. She straightened her beret. She wished she had time for a shower before reporting here. But the new colonel wanted her now. A work crew was already taking down Colonel’s Gu’s nameplate. She caught sight of the new nameplate, ‘Colonel Greggor’. The name seemed familiar for some reason.

“Enter.”

She opened the door.

The office was also in a state of flux as a group of workers moved out Gu’s belongings and moved in new boxes. One of them hung a picture on the wall, it was a young, moderately handsome man. Mai-Lynn recognized it as the ‘master’ from her bondage fantasy. She gasped.

The new colonel was standing by the window, silhouetted against the sunlight. All Castellan could see what that he was big. He turned, “Ah Captain Castellan, I never got a chance to thank you properly.”

Castellan froze. It was Modred. Modred, the former Major Greggor of UNICORN back in uniform and wearing a colonel’s eagle.

He smiled; the fangs sparkled in the sun.

“I suppose you are shocked.”

Castellan’s mouth opened and closed.

“After all I did not expect to be back on duty so soon after your rescue.”

“My… rescue sir?”

“Of course since I was under deep cover you were told it was a capture mission. But the real records are all in there.” He pointed at the central computer terminal. “Orders for me to pretend to go renegade to infiltrate terrorist organizations around the world as a mercenary and finally to come back in from the cold with vital information. All in there. Properly dated and authorized. Thanks to you.”

“Me sir?”

The last of the workers finished, he left and closed the door behind him. The two were alone. Modred dropped the pretense. He waved a hand and Castellan was paralyzed. Again.

“The problem with being so clever is there are so few chances to show off. So I hope you won’t mind it I take this one. So there I was, with one arm, no power pack and an army of UNICORN agents coming to bring me in. My only resource was one lovely agent, and a bit of sloppy encryption. A normal criminal would have been finished but I’m far from normal. I needed only a few hundred seconds for formulate a new plan. And a few hundred more to execute it. UNICORN forgets that I did a lot of the design work on the central computer and other systems. They forget that even if you change the passwords and update security the system is too complex to ever be completely secure. And they forget how powerful the systems installed in this body are. I wrote the fake orders and a virus to upload them and then installed them right into your pretty little head. Every time you logged in to the central system it uploaded a bit more. First it changed the security codes for the prisoners. Instead of scanning my mind, the central computer spread its legs and gave me access to everything inside.”

“No, no one detected anything, it’s not possible.”

“Mai-Lynn, you have tetrabytes of data in your head. My programs looked like every other bit of UNICORN software. I should know, I wrote a lot of it. The scans your friend did just showed them to be Urdu language lessons or specs for a VX power suit. Nothing to be concerned about.”

“But how did you get out?”

“It was impossible to escape, we both know that. You saw me in pieces down there. The only way I was getting out was for UNICORN to let me out. So one fine day the tech teams got a proper set of orders to put me back together, give me a uniform and take me to see the Security Council. The Security Council looked at the archives, looked at the dated and sealed orders on their oh-so-secure system and restored me to active duty. Even promoted me for my heroic efforts.”

“But surely someone must know!”

“I also had to rewrite the memories of a few. Luckily I had a lot of time sitting in that cell. And you know how convincing my simulations are. So now General Austin has vivid memories of personally giving me this assignment. A half dozen other officers remember reviewing it. And the rest? Most will assume they were out of the loop; it was a deep-cover assignment after all. Colonel Gu has probably figured it out but he’s been involved in enough dirty schemes over the years to get him sent to Hokkaido for the rest of his life. Let him yell and scream about me being a renegade, who’ll listen? I’m now the number four officer in UNICORN. And the only one who knows the truth is you.”

Mai-Lynn sat silently, it didn’t seem possible but here they were. “So you were the one making me hallucinate, creating those simulations.”

Modred smiled. “I thought my little Mai-Mai deserved a reward for her hard work.” He pointed to the picture on the wall. “Handsome devil isn’t he? That was me before my enhancements. I used it as your master in the sims. I do hope you enjoyed them. Without you I would be a pile of spare parts on their way to Hokkaido. How did it feel to be a €60 million sex doll? Was it exciting? Did you like it Mai-Mai?”

Mai-Lynn jerked. Something was going inside her internal computers.

He slapped his lap. “Well Mai-Mai, why don’t you show me how happy you are?”

She stood up.

***

Hours later Captain Castellan walked out of the office, Natasha was waiting.

“Well? What did he say? Was he grateful? Did he mention me? Are we being promoted?”

“I…” Castellan thought for a minute. Strange, the meeting had lasted hours but she couldn’t recall any details about what the colonel has said. “No, nothing like that.”

Natasha fanned her nose. “Well captain, I’m surprised he wanted to talk to you for so long, please find a mint, your breath stinks!”

***

One week later Captain Castellan marched into Colonel Greggor’s office for her weekly meeting and saluted. The colonel nodded and continued to study the reports in front of him. The captain marched behind a screen in the corner. Her white uniform jacket, turtleneck, white skirt, belt, stockings, bra and panties were each hung over the top of it. The sound of zippers and grunts came from behind the screen. Then the sound of pouring.

Finally a woman emerged from behind it. She was dressed in a latex corset that compressed her already narrow waist and lifted her modest breasts, which were left bare. Below it was a frilly lacy skirt puffed out by numerous petticoats. Dark stockings covered her long legs, held up by lacy garter belts, and high stiletto heels covered her feet. Around her neck was a leather dog collar trimmed in white lace and a lace cap on her head. Her hands were covered by smooth latex gloves that made it almost impossible to hold anything without serious effort. Nonetheless she balanced a tray of iced tea with one hand. She walked gracefully to the colonel’s desk and curtsied. She poured him a glass and put down the tray.

“Sucky-sucky?” Mai-Mai asked.

The colonel grunted and gestured below the desk. Mai-Mai giggled happily and crawled underneath.

Afterword

So there it is. Parts of the plot were inspired by Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell which played with the question of how do we know what is real if memories can be added or edited like computer files?

Inspiration also came from lots of hentai anime. I mean lots. The Japanese, they’re just sick. And the movie Flypaper where Lucy Liu has sex while being bitten with rattlesnakes. I hereby decree “Lucy Liu being bitten by snakes during sex” is the best new fetish of 2007!

Please e-mail me with any comments, complaints or suggestions. Remember feedback leads to more stories!

Marcus Lycus

(Marcus_Lycus@hotmail.com)

October 2007

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