Seth and Mongrel meet in front of the enhancement room, a specialised room for mongrels and scouts.
"Are you ready?" asked Seth
"As I'll ever be"
"It will hurt like hell"
"This isn't my first time, Seth"
Seth chuckled "You remember the first time we got enhanced together? You fainted like a baby"
"That was one time," shouted Mongrel.
"Still more than the amount I have fainted, hahah"
"Oh ya pain in the ass" grumbled Mongrel before opening the door and walking in to get his body enhanced before Seth could.
'Haha it is always fun to rile up Mongrel' Seth thought to himself.
When he followed behind, Mongrel was already being taken to another room, with a superior look on his face he waved at Seth.
"Have fun" said Seth
Mongrel disappeared into the room and Seth walked up to the only other person left in the room. I am here for the under dermis metal implant, Scout grade"
"I know you Mr Berg, and as you are the only Scout on this ship I believe that last part was unnecessary"
"Sorry ma'am"
"Doesn't matter. Come on, let us get you ready for it" he said as he guided Seth into a room on the exact opposite side of the room from the one Mongrel went into. He was about to be in a world of pain, but it would be good as he would be able to survive better and help Maria.
Being laid down on a bed, the same man held a clip board and asked him standard questions.
"Are you sound of mind, have you been drinking or ingested any other poisons, are you able to get a new enhancement, do you understand the risks etc"
"Yes, no, yes, and yes" Seth answered the questions. It was standard procedure they had to do before each enhancement. Even though Seth only had a few enhancements he was used to the process, what he did not understand was the following.
"Are you aware this procedure cannot be reversed?" said the man.
"You saying this procedure is different?"
"Yes."
"What about when I get a new mutation"
"You will have to consider it from now on"
"But the others I could always take off to ensure my mutations where always the most important"
"This one is different" repeated the man
"But how is it different?"
"The metal is unknown"
"I thought you knew what it did"
"We do, just not why it moves"
"But the Mongrel grade doesn't move"
"Different metal"
"You found two new varieties?"
"I am unable to answer any more questions. Mr Berg, do you want the procedure or not?"
"Please continue with the procedure"
"The metal will be injected under your dermis all at once. Your body will adapt but it will feel strange and weird"
"How long will the procedure take?"
"About an hour, most likely, with prep time but your body will have to slowly change so you will be held up here for close to a week"
Seth growled. A full week he would be stuck here, but he would have to do it. He needed something that could protect him.
"Do I have your consent to begin the procedure?"
After pausing for a minute, remembering all the pain the last enhancement he agreed.
The man began to move quick, applying a numbing cream over the entirety of his body, before readying a machine that looked more like a torture device than a medical one.
Needles came from all angles around him ready to pierce his skin. They covered his body so wholly that each square inch had a new needle.
The man behind the device had a cold look on his face as he prepped. When he was almost done moving the metal contraption over his body he began to fiddle with his ears. Seth could not get a good look at it as he was instinctively focusing on the needle in front of his face, at last he tore his gaze away from the point of the needles and managed to see the man putting in ear plugs.
'shit this is gonna hurt'
Almost to drive home this point, the man walked in front of him and held out a rubber mouth guard "bite down on this please" said the man.
When he opened his mouth the cold rubber was thrust in. He bit down as the needles moved towards his skin, ready for the pain but there was none. He waited and waited but nothing. He slowly opened his eyes and saw the needles had pierced his skin but he had not felt it.
He saw the restraints and could not understand. Was he just extremely tough, more so than other scouts, why did he need to be held down when it didn't hurt.
The metal flowed through the tubs and soon into the head of the needle. When it came out of the end of the needle he understood. The pain gripped his body, like ants biting and clawing at his flesh while on other parts of his body a red hot poker was being plunged into his muscle.
His body spasmed as much as it could within the restrains. They strained and creaked but held his body firm as he was gripped by agony.
Finally, the pain slowly subsided as the last of the liquid metal was injected into his body.
The metal was settling inside his body. He was tired, almost passing out. What happened next was a blur as he fell in and out of sleep, the needles were removed and he was wheeled into a new room. The light was blinding, he was unsure if he was still restrained or not as he still could not feel the outside of his body, the blurring and flashing in and out of sleep finally ended as he slowly fell into a deep sleep.
Seth was in a room full of white that expanded endlessly when he got closer to the edge of it, forever out of his reach, the middle of the room was a shimmering silver blob.
The blob slowly moved closer to Seth and he backed away, but no matter what he did he could not move further away from the silver entity. Slowly it moved forward towards him and engulfed his body. He kicked and struggled but it was for nought. The liquid blob was unable to be hurt and eventually it had swallowed him. He was engulfed in black as his body was falling. He reached up to scream but the silver liquid covered his mouth. He ripped and clawed at it to no avail until he hit the ground, his body jolted awake and he was back in a room filled with white.