Melty Mercury from Outer Space (Chapter 2)

Summary: Nikki is taken over by an extraterrestrial symbiote that changes her into a metal slime girl. While this comes with great power, she's unsure if she can control herself, or handle the extra baggage that comes with it.

[Story Listing]

[First Chapter]

Chapter 2

Well, Nikki was in an awkward spot. She'd have to take the bus back to her apartment—a far cry from the stretch limo she had hoped to afford after her meeting. She grabbed an apple from a convenience store operating within the university, and was trudging along down the long path to the front gates to reach the bus stop.

She came to a stop, recognizing a familiar face whom she was above to cross paths with. An older gentleman, roughly in his sixties, strolled along the walkway, slowing down as their eyes met. 

Nikki swallowed. She didn't much care to see coworkers outside of school, but serendipity was a bitch sometimes. She forced a smile.

"Oh! Principal Diefenbaker!" She waved gingerly with a smile.

"It's Walter. Honestly, Nikki, you make me feel like an old man when you go on like that." Diefenbaker shook his head, tapping his walking cane on the concrete. 

"...Oh. Sorry, um, Walter." Nikki mentally checked herself. "S-sorry, it's just... w-well, you were still the principal when I was going there, a-and it kind of stuck-"

"I'm aware, I'm quite aware." Diefenbaker nodded. "I'm still sharp as I ever was. I wasn't expecting to find you here, however..."

"Oh! I just... needed something looked at, it... it's nothing." Nikki's cheeks flushed as her head turned to the side. She didn't want to admit to her fluke of a meteorite. "...I-I guess I can say the same for you too, though, heheh."

"Ah, yeah. I was about to speak with the headmaster. There were a handful of advanced placement courses I wished to consult with her on." Diefenbaker's head rose to survey the building, its authentically art deco architecture looming over campus. "A storied school such as this should be quite revelatory to our, ahem, more studious academics..."

"Ah. Right." Nikki nodded slightly. "I'm sure the kids'll get a kick out of, uh... fault-line mapping." She scratched her neck. 

"Say, Nikki, do you have any plans today?" The older gentleman tilted his head quizzically.

"...Eh??" Once again, Nikki's face went beet red. She didn't expect the principal to be so forward about his solicitous intentions. "U-uh... w-well, I-I still need to exercise, a-and I usually do that alone, so-"

"Ah, that's a relief." Diefenbaker chuckled. "Once you're done with that, can you find time to submit an outline of your lesson plan for the coming semester?"

Nikki paused briefly, her beleaguered expression shifting to a look of concern. 

"...When did you want it by?" Nikki asked blankly. "I thought- I believe that we didn't need those prepared for another week?"

"Ah, that was the case, yes. But we have some new hires coming on this semester—actually, a fair number of new hires—and they're rather busy acclimating to the new setting. We want to ensure they have the time to settle properly, and chart a proper course for our students..." 

Diefenbaker spoke with a wispy tone and a gentle smile—one that did little to ease Nikki's nerves. 

"...Which, of course, means that we don't want a proverbial log jam at the end of the week. I was hoping to call upon some of our veterans to set an example for the new help. You do hope to set a good example, yes?"

Veteran!? This is my second year, I don't know shit!

That's what Nikki wanted to blurt out, but she figured Diefenbaker wouldn't respond positively to a response like that. She forced her grin even wider then.

"Sure!!" Nikki replied with a smile mirroring that of a slasher villain. 

"Ah, good, good. It hardly needs to be finalized, but I would much like to see a draft of some kind tomorrow morning." He tapped his cane affirmatively. "You can fax it to me at your earliest convenience."

"Great! Can do!" Nikki nodded enthusiastically. Anything to keep her job; this blasted high school was always hiring new blood...

"Well then, I should run ahead to my appointment, so... please excuse me." With a nod, he shuffled down the walkway, leaving Nikki to her own devices.

"...Who the hell still sends faxes? We have computers! And clouds! And computers in the clouds..." Nikki rubbed her face. "Urrgh! I'm gonna have to print it and hand it in. The IT department really needs to show him how a computer works."

She took an angry bite out of her apple, beads of juice splashing against her cheeks. She had hardly worked through the damn thing, gabbing with the principal. 

"...? O-oh, the bus is... over there. And I'm here and... crap!" 

Nikki forgot herself, making a mad scramble for the bus stop.

"WAAAAIT! I'M COMING!!"

---

After a tedious bus ride, Nikki ended up back at her apartment, the will to exist siphoned from her very being. She tossed her bag to the floor and staggered to the kitchen. She had a hell of a craving for... something. Maybe a bowl of frosted wheaties would help perk her up; they were her fav, after all. 

Heading to the small kitchenette, she wasted no time pouring herself a bowl and digging into it. The little cereal squares were big enough to be enjoyed by hand, and the single bachelorette lifestyle passed no judgment on the barbarian ways of living. Picking at the dry cereal, she grinned to herself. She liked how the sweetness of the frosting complimented the natural wheat flavour. 

...And then it was all gone. Nikki clutched the bowl and tossed it into the sink. This was how she usually tried to delay the inevitable. 

She sighed, rising from her chair. "Welp... guess I better get started with the syllabus."

She staggered over to her work desk, slumping down to get started. Her laptop was still resting, but she fired it up and opened a word processor. At least from here, she could boil down her course for the coming semester into the core essentials.

...Now if only she could remember what she was aiming for. Her brain was a little fried after the upheaval in the morning. She slurred a swear under her breath, burying her head in her hands. She got up early for such a resounding disappointment...

Vrrrt. Vrrrrt.

"Tch." Nikki clicked her tongue. That was her cell phone she left on vibrate, dancing around across the desktop of her work station. Swiping it, she took a cursory look at the caller ID.

"MOM", it said in all caps. Nikki groaned, and took the call.

"Heeeey, moooom." Nikki greeted her over the phone, trying to sound excited. "I'm fiiine, just doing some school work. ...The thing I told you about? Um... it wasn't much of anything, don't worry about- ...um, I already... tossed it out..."

Right, Nikki let her mom know about her discovery. Nikki chuckled sadly, leaning back in her chair.

"Noooo, I didn't quit my job. I'm not that dumb, mom. ...Yeah, I'm saving money. ...Mm? Did I meet anyone..."

Of course, mom was asking about her social life. Always bugging her about grandkids. The economy was bad enough living alone, and Nikki didn't much care to bring someone else into the world. She never had much of a motherly instinct anyway. 

...Well, she was meeting Brad a lot lately, but Nikki really wasn't sure if that was gonna go anywhere. With a wry smile, her eyes lowered.

"...No, I'm not seeing anyone. Hey, listen, mom, I appreciate you calling, but I got a pile of work to do... yeah, that's what I said... ah well. I'll talk to ya later, okay?"

Nikki nodded. "Buh bye." She lowered her phone, staring ahead to the computer screen. And the blank word doc that she was met with prior to the call.

She was just about to get started on her work proper... until she experienced something strange.

"Nn..." A wave of fatigue washed over her. She was feeling a little hot under the collar, her skin feeling flushed. She was feeling oddly dizzy.

"Ogh..." She groaned, staggering with an uncertain sway away from her desk. Her bed was only a few feet away. Her eyes were already fluttering...

Whoomp! She was out like a light as soon as her head hit the pillow...

---

Nikki found herself in a mysterious place. It wasn't like the world she knew. She stood atop a strange plane that stretched infinitely across in all directions that she could see.

She pivoted, looking all around her. All she saw was an inky blackness... and a monochrome, silvery surface, flat and featureless. Watercolour-like patterns swirled just beneath her feet with every movement of her body.

Nikki felt compelled to get going, to figure out the terrain. She took one unsure step after another in the direction she felt was right. 

A deafening silence gripped this strange dimension; Nikki was left to the sound of her own breath. It hung heavily in her throat. There was a powerful loneliness eating at her. Where was everyone? She wasn't alone, right?

She could feel a presence, but she couldn't see it... was she being watched? The more she focused on her own thoughts, the more she noticed a faint sound in the background. Like static, a thousand faint whispers joining together in a quiet dirge.

Suddenly, she felt something grab for her ankle.

"...Ah!?" She stumbled and cried out awkwardly, her head turning to look down. Her eyes widened. There was a hand emerging from the silvery subtance, and its grip was tight! She could feel its pressure against her skin...

Oddly enough, it wasn't painful, but the strange sight was distressing enough! With a sharp gasp, she tried to run away...

"N-no!"

Another hand grabbed her other ankle. Nikki couldn't move her feet, their grip was so powerful! She tipped over, bracing herself with her hands. As if in response, more hands emerged from the substance, her fingers linking together with the silvery hands that materialized from the ground beneath her. 

She winced, her head filling more and more with a din of staticky background noise. It was like she was trapped in a crowded room, and everyone was speaking. They were speaking to her, but they were all speaking at once, their words overlapped one another and she couldn't make out anything. She writhed in a desperate bid to feed herself from the tight grip of the hands holding her down...

...But from the ground, more hands emerged, reaching for her legs, her arms. Her breath became haggard, her bloodshot eyes looking up for any kind of escape. The floor beneath her shook and quivered ecstatically; what previously resembled steel flooring now dipped and ebbed like an endless ocean.

A shadow fell over Nikki. Her head tilted up anxiously as her struggling paused. 

"...!"

The last thing she saw before everything went black... was a silver wave, towering her by ten feet, descending upon her helpless body.

---

Bing bonga ding! Bing bonga ding! Bing bonga ding!~

"Hah!!!"

Nikki suddenly jolted up from her bed with a sharp gasp, her skin clammy, pale, and covered in goosebumps. Her eyes shot wide open, nearly bugging out of her eye sockets. She gasped for air, her covers thrown about in a mess.

Her nose wrinkled in astonishment and confusion as she looked around, her breath heavy in her chest. Her hands clutched at her sheets anxiously. She had to take it in.

Right. This was her room. And she was in her bed.

"...Was... was that a dream...?" Nikki uttered to herself. She couldn't believe it herself, it felt so real. Too real...

As herheart rate slowed down, she took in her surroundings more carefully. This was, in fact, her apartment, just a few blocks from McDaniels University. Her swedish-inspired assembled furniture, her favourite bean bag chair, her desk for studying, piled with various intimidating books on the finer points of marketing. And there was a framed photo of her favourite cat, Monty. Those orange and black splotches on his face were a sight for sore eyes. 

"How long was I asleep..." Nikki moaned, glancing at her bedside clock. Her eyes widened in surprise. Now it was approaching 1 in the afternoon. She must've been conked out for at least 4 hours!

She moaned, chastising herself mentally for napping so long. That was going to throw off her circadian rhythm something fierce...

Nikki came back to reality, groaning as she rose from bed. She felt like shit, she felt incredible sore all over. She never felt like this after a night of exercise. Did she overdo it after all? She wasn't sure how she was going to face the day...

She felt bloated too. She didn't eat anything out of the ordinary, but she lowered her hand to her belly. It protruded very slightly, the signs of overeating. And her whole body felt like it was burning up. She must've been coming down with some kind of fever. Feverish pangs of soreness, hunger, and nausea hassled her all at once.

"Ugh..." She frowned to herself, taking a good look at her belly. She wasn't sure what she possibly could've eaten to produce pudge like that. It felt like every healthy eating guide contradicted each other nowadays. Carbs are good! Carbs are bad! Eat eggs, don't eat eggs, keto is dangerous, keto's fine, aiyiyi...

Nikki realized, he would have to face herself before anything else. She pulled up a stool and faced herself in the mirror. Her eyebrow perked up slightly, not quite recognizing herself in the mirror..

Normally she had her hair cut short, but somehow, just overnight, it had grown out another several inches, her hair draping down her back. Puzzled, she ran her head through it, allowing it to fall to the wayside. She knew hair grew quickly in her family, but this... this was pretty irregular.

A curious idea came to her for a quick makeover. As if it had been whispered into her ear. Her hands moved on her own, reaching for some hair bands by the wayside. Clutching her hair, she took half of her long, flowing hair, and pulled it over to the side. She stroked her hair as her hands worked to style her hair. 

It was strange, she had never tried such a look before. But something was telling her that the look would be perfect on her. Her hands moved almost by themselves with seemingly practiced precision, before lowering in her lap. In just a few minutes, Nikki had styled her long hair into a pair of twintails. 

She tilted her head from side to side, turning back and forth to view from all angles. It was a good look on her. She smiled slightly to herself... but only slightly. 

Her stomach gurgled. Nikki groaned, clutching her stomach. She was absolutely starving. And the intense heat in her body was feverish. Maybe eating something would help. Then she could nurse off her fever. She vaguely remembered passing out before she could get started on the work she had to do...

She rose to her feet, staggering over to the kitchen counter like a zombie. She hoped there'd be anything remotely edible. Swinging open the fridge door, Nikki reached for the milk, giving it a sniff to see if it was good...

"...Ech, nope." Nikki recoiled, dumping its contents in the sink nearby. Her stomach gurgled again, crying out for sustenance. She winced, her eyes drifting to the fridge. She needed to cool off her fever somehow... but nothing in the fridge was fit for consumption.

She went to the sink, reaching for a glass to fill with some water. She hoped a glass of water would help hydrate her, and cool her right down, but as she turned the handle...

"Ha!? Seriously??" Nikki sighed. Instead of the crystal clear water she expected, properly treated with the proper blend of chemicals, it was brown and murky. Nikki understood that the apartment building—and indeed, most of Bismarck's facilities—were connected to an underground well. She heard of the treatment facility receiving more and more cuts on the news from the budget, but she didn't think it would affect her...

The brown water indicated low levels of iron. Bad for cooking, cleaning, consumption... Nikki probably should've just dumped the glass out. There was a vending machine down the hall that would work in a pinch, with clean bottled water...

"...Hah..."

And yet, Nikki didn't move, her eyes locked on the murky glass. She knew she shouldn't drink it, but the feverish dirge in her body was so intense. And there was something deep inside her that craved it. Badly. Her stomach gurgled in anticipation.

"Nn..." Her mind said no, but her body said yes.

With a careful hand Nikka reached out and raised the glass to her lips, hoping the worst that would happen was an unpleasant taste...

"...!"

As soon as she took her first sip, a wave of bliss coursed through her body. The oppressively feverish aches of her body subsided, swelling into a pleasant warmth, like a hug that embraced her whole body. Her legs quivered slightly, and she couldn't help but moan in delight. It was like sitting under a waterfall, a wave of refreshment washing all over her. She'd never gotten this kind of feeling from anything... well, ever.

It took her only a few seconds to empty the glass—a drop trickled down the corner of her mouth, but her tongue quickly moved to lick it up, before returning to the glass. When it was empty, she lowered it to the faucet and filled it up again, before drinking it all up once more. Nikki moaned between gulps.

After three tall glasses of mineral slurry, Nikki was satisfied, and the good feelings subsided. She paused, staring at the sink, as a worried look reemerged once again. 

"...Why the hell did I..." Nikki rubbed her head, thinking clearly again. That was insane, and pretty dangerous! She couldn't imagine what kind of bacteria could be lurking in that water. Like the brain-eating kind...

Still, there was one thing that came as a relief; Nikki's fever had dissipated entirely, and her stomach grumbling had quieted. She felt fully satisfied, like she didn't need breakfast at all! Heck, she felt more energized than most mornings. She felt absolutely radiant... maybe a little water logged, but she couldn't complain. If she wasn't feeling sick, it was fine, right?

She smiled to herself, lowering the glass. Maybe she'd be ready for a good workout day after all...

[Next Chapter]