★Memorable Author: [El_Roy_1999] The Procedure

[El_Roy_1999]

"Okay, so since you're not going to help us protect humanity and defeat the Friends, can you at least tell us how to become stronger?"
"Stronger? Of course. I know enough about the Ancestors to tell you that you have to exert yourself to do that. They don't give things away for free."
The monster laughed.
"Also, you should be very careful. Invasion was only the first step. There's more coming. And I doubt you will like it."
I blurted out:
"What's going to happen?"
"You'd like to know that, don't you? Well, it's pretty easy. The Friends and the Siblings are not on your side. They've more in common than you'd think. So guess what: They understand how humanity works. They're going to get you to ingratiate you in front of them, then they're going to let you kill each other and then, finally, they're going to be best friends over your sad corpses."
I stared at July, but she just seemed amused by the prospect of extinction. I said:
"We've got to do something."
"Do we? You, as a human, are afraid. That's okay. The world has changed. You'd do better to accept this and adapt."
"You can't mean that, July."
"Why not? It's useless to argue."
"So you're going to leave it at that?"
"I never said that. I'm just not going to be part of your stupid conservative worldview. Change is good, it's necessary. You can't go back."
"But I preferred the way it was."
"Sucks to be you."

[El_Roy_1999]

I blinked. Had I wasted my hope on this? I shook my head.
"No. I'm going to fix all this. I don't need your help. I'll manage. You stay with your weirdo friends and your monster shit. I've got a world to save. Just don't come crawling again if you realise that giving up your humanity was a bad idea."
I turned around and walked away.
I could hear her say to the creature:
"There you have it. Humans."
I could have sworn there was a chuckle. Still, I walked away as quickly as I could. I tried to retrace my footsteps, but as you might have expected, I was soon lost.
The light of my torch wasn't nearly enough to find my way and my traces and footsteps down here were probably too faint to be seen anyway.
I cursed to myself. Wonderful. First July turns on me and humanity, then I lose my way in the depths of the earth. I was probably going to starve to death if I didn't die of thirst before that. I know self-pity is not the malest characteristic to have, but right then, I just felt sorry for myself. It's not as if my life had been easy before all this, but now, it had definitely gone to hell. Fuck all this.

[El_Roy_1999]

Down there, I not only lost my way, I also lost my sense of time. I must have wandered about in these caves for hours, maybe days. I came across glowing algae or fungi or something and let them grow on my torch, at least allowing me to not break my neck in the dark.
I have to admit, I was still pitying myself, but I wasn't going to starve to death. I managed to find some water which hopefully wasn't toxic and slowly started to get a feeling for the caves.
Slowly, I was realising that July was right. The world had changed and there was no going back. People turned into monsters, extraterrestrials fought wars on our planet, animals turned into weird crystally beasts. There was no way to return to a world of petty crime, terrorist threats and discussions about the future of marriage. Well, maybe it eventually would, but I'd probably would be quite old by then and wouldn't be able to appreciate it. I'd be angry about this. Certainly. Over that absurdity, I had to laugh. I must have been quite a sight, deep under the earth, walking around in a claustrophobic cavern and whooping like an idiot.
Still, all this was too absurd to even consider. I pictured myself on a porch, watching the half-Friend children ride on their anti-gravity scooters and going "damn kids, can't appreciate what a veteran of the great space anarchy did for them. Back in the day ..."
Ah yes, I was losing my mind.
For example, I just saw Wanda.

[El_Roy_1999]

"Ed?"
That's when I slowly began to realise I might actually be seeing her. I stared at her, wondering whether she was actually there. She walked towards me, but I wasn't sure it was her. There was something ... different.
Of course. She had actually submitted to whatever weirdo procedure the Friends had given her. Indeed, she had turned into something strange.
I mean, her face was still her old one, but ... her eyes. They were now pitch black, without irises or the white thing, whatever it's called. Instead, she had many small eyes, like an insect. It was really frightening to watch. She had also grown taller. Like July, she was now walking on tiptoes, but she was also tremendously long. Her body had become broad and muscular in the shoulders, with a slim waist. Each one of her shoulders was as big as my head, with long, wiry arms covered in string upon string of muscle. She wore a black and blue skintight outfit, styled to look militaristic. It was probably something the human soldiers of the Friends wore when on official business. In the wilderness, I had only seen the robes and the simple military uniforms.
Despite her strange shape, she did look human enough at first.
Reluctantly, I answered her:
"Wanda? Is that you?"
She knelt down next to me and took a sniff. Her eyes blinked. There was something deeply wrong about her eyelids. That's when I realised they were constructed like camera shutters. That was unsettling. She said:
"Ed, how long have you been down here? You're completely dehydrated."
"Ah."
"Ed, we're going to take you with us and get you something to eat and drink. Is that okay?"
By then the situation had long since crossed any line of understanding. I nodded vaguely. She handed me a water-pack on which I immediately started suckling. Behind her two equally strange people assembled a stretcher and loaded me on it. Around that time, I lost consciousness, so everything became very sketchy.

[El_Roy_1999]

Reserved for Mod use

[El_Roy_1999]

When I woke up, I was in a hospital. At least I thought so. As I drifted in and out of consciousness, I began to understand that this was actually a prison cell. I was in the Friends' hands. I recovered slowly. Apparently, the combination of dehydration and years of very bad living had taken their toll. I also have to admit that I just enjoyed having a clean bed and a nice place. Being in prison beat being homeless. One of the sad, yet eternal truths of the world.
Of course, this couldn't go on forever. I didn't have a goal in life left, but I didn't want to rot in prison, even though that meant three meals a day.
Honestly, that was the time when I had to decide what I was going to do with myself. My previous plan was just drifting along, continuing a fight I hadn't yet found out I couldn't win. Now that that was decided, I still had no plan. Should I join the Friends, maybe even become one of these hybrids myself? Should I just try to set up a business? Who was I kidding. This world didn't need me anymore and I had to admit, neither did I need it.
As I was musing along, the door opened. In came two people from the Friend-Human-relationship Bureau. And Wanda. Mutant Wanda.

[El_Roy_1999]

She wore a sleek black business-y outfit that hugged her enormous body tightly, repeating the hexes the Friends loved. She had kept her familiar dark skin which I had once loved to caress and had added some shades to prevent people from seeing her eyes, I guess. I didn't see the point. Anybody with even half a brain could see that she was a hybrid. She smiled and said:
"Are you better, Ed?"
"I am. How about you?"
"Never felt better."
She sat down next to me on the side of the bed. She still towered over me.
"Ed, we know it's been hard on you. Your underground activities have been straining on you and you've been in a really bad shape." She looked at her pad. "You wouldn't believe the parasites and diseases we managed to pull out of your body. You must feel so good now, just no longer feeding all this stuff."
I sighed:
"Actually, you're right. I do feel better."
"That's wonderful. With our history, I couldn't just ignore all this."
"With our history ... It's all moot now anyway."
"It is. But I still don't want you to be hurt. That would be cruel and pointless."
"If you say so."
She shrugged.

[El_Roy_1999]

"Anyway, I have a proposition for you."
"Is this the part where you want me to rat on my friends?"
"What? No. The Friends don't think like that. No. I wanted to offer you an apartment and a job. Nothing special. Just some simple administration work. Pencil pushing."
"But why?"
"I pulled a few strings and I can't watch your chaos anymore. We used to be married, remember?"
"Every day."
She put her hand against her forehead.
"That's something you'd say."
"I know. I still can't forget that."
"For me, it was easier. As I said, you can have the apartment and the job. A place in our future."
"So, what do I have to do for this?"
"Just say yes."
"That's all? No names and numbers? No secrets?"
"We know most of them anyway. No. The only thing we really want is that you tell us if July shows up."
"I see."
"It's not that much of a sacrifice, seeing how she has decided to go full monster."
I thought about it. All in all she was right. Was I losing something? I couldn't tell.
Finally, I agreed.

[El_Roy_1999]

So I got a normal life. Not a good one, just a normal one. I ended up with a nice two-piece apartment, a job at the Friend-Human-relationship bureau and I even got one of these weird matte-black cars the Friends and their allies are driving. This is the life, I guess. I had a nine-to-five with little to no responsibility. Actually, I never understood what I was supposed to do at my job anyway. I was supposed to research information on the history of Friend-Human-relations and write down essays about it, but since there wasn't much history yet, I quickly ran out.
I also have to admit that I had given up internally. Outside, I was merrily chatting away to the other people in my office building, but inside, I was just lost. I guess this was being ungrateful somehow. After all, my life did come with quite a few perks: First, I did end up with enough disposable income to enjoy the finer things of life. Not the really fine ones, but good, healthy food and occasional partying in the evening weren't completely impossible. Second, I got back together with Wanda. If I'm honest, I have to admit that she probably did that to keep me in check, but on the other hand, we did have a history, so yes, maybe she did still have feelings for me. I did have some for her.
We went to a big Friend-Human party where one of the Friends held a short and difficult to understand speech to which she reacted with a weird chirping noise. I guess this is the Friend way to show appreciation. After the party, we left and, I have to admit, we were completely drunk. I barely managed to walk. We somehow managed to reach my apartment and I offered her some coffee or something. Anyway, we were up there, then on the bed, then we slept with each other, I guess.

[El_Roy_1999]

When I woke up again, I did feel normal for the first time in years. I was sleeping in my own bed, with my wife at my side. In the darkness, I couldn't see her, I could only hear her breathing. It was very relaxing to have her back next to me. I lay awake for a while. I was thinking. Maybe this was what I actually wanted. Maybe I wanted to live a normal life in a world gone mad. In a way, both July and Wanda were right: There was no way to go back to normal for everyone. But that didn't mean I couldn't have that.
I could feel Wanda stir. She mumbled:
"Are you awake?"
"Mhm."
"Let me guess. You're thinking about life, the universe and everything."
"You guessed right."
"Happens to me too. Being back with you is nice."
"Yes, it is. It's like old times."
She rolled over, making the mattress quiver. Of course, that brought her changed body back to mind. The spell was broken in an instant. However, I heard her say:
"Tell me, Ed, would you believe I never tested this new body fully?"
"I hadn't thought of it."
"Well, then, let's."

[El_Roy_1999]

Somehow, there was a slight blue glow lighting the room. It clearly came from Wanda's mutant body. She climbed on top of me, her broad shoulders wider than mine. She slid her hand between my legs and began to touch and caress my dick. Suffice to say, I had a boner within seconds. She cooed:
"Whoa, that was quick."
She began stroking it until it was completely hard and slipped her cunt over it. I lay my hands on her waist and slid them up, reaching her flaring lats. I squeezed her muscles and was amazed by their tightness. Meanwhile, she had began riding me hard. I tried to keep up with her, holding my butt as hard as I could as she went into full grinding mode. Seconds later, she was slapping her ass against my thighs, pounding me with incredible ferocity. She gasped and grunted, always increasing her speed and intensity. I was amazed. Back in the day, Wanda occasionally got on top, but never like this. The hybridisation had turned her body into a perfect machine, powerful enough to make any athlete blush. She even managed to lift me by my cock only. I couldn't believe it.
I desperately tried to hold back my ejaculation, but was forced to give up when she suddenly deployed some weird internal tendrils that began to stroke me.
I came with a howling scream. This hadn't happened to me in decades.
She grinned, finally cumming and terminally soaking the sheets.

[El_Roy_1999]

At work, normalcy was almost stiffening. I had inane conversations at the water cooler with colleagues, sat through meetings and even went on social gatherings. The Friends had taken to human sports a little and enjoyed participating. Their strength, speed and height made the playing field rather skewed, but I had to admit that it was exciting. Also, more and more human athletes applied for improvement, which further changed sports. Honestly, the first time I saw a football player just leap over the defence line and running along at the speed of a motorcycle, I was amazed. Of course, this meant big changes for professional sports. The discussions got equally lively.
One day, I was hanging out with Baz and Tanaka, two guys from work who were into baseball and MMA. The conversation on the first subject was still mostly nostalgic since most traditional teams had not yet recovered. Combat sports, however, were up and coming. Anything was fine to get rid of all the anger and frustration. After all, the world was no longer ours. Baz and Tanaka were watching a video on their smartphone.
"Hey, Ed, watch this!"
"Is this another scat video?"
"Nah. Just some really crazy fight."
"Okay, let me take a look."
I bent forward, half expecting to see someone shitting into another person's mouth. The joys of co-workers.

[El_Roy_1999]

Instead, I was treated to an amazing fight. The contestants were clearly improved and were attacking each other at break-neck speed. It was fascinating to watch the fluidity of their motions and their ability to evade attacks with incredible precision. We were instantly engrossed by the action. Finally, one of the fighters managed to get inside the other's defence and started pounding away at him. The blows were hard and on target, so the victim was soon forced to the ground and defeated. The victor paraded around with raised fist and basked in the adulation of the crowd. The master of ceremonies climbed back into the ring and announced the next fight.
Baz said:
"Watch this. The next thing is fucking insane."
"... and gentlemen, here's the final fight for tonight. A fight you have been waiting for and which, I dare say, might be the most fascinating piece of violence you might have ever seen. As you know, we are always on the lookout for new, passionate fighters. For tonight, we have our resident champion in the red corner."
A hulking man with clearly improved features climbed into the ring. He was easily ten feet tall, with long, extremely powerful legs and muscle-bound arms that reached to his knees. He probably had the longest reach any fighter had ever had. I seriously wondered who they would get to challenge this monster.
"In the blue corner, a challenger that has proven her mettle in several underground tournaments. She is known for her unorthodox fighting style and her cryptic improvements, which are different from anything you have ever seen."
Was this for real?

[El_Roy_1999]

Of course, it was July. I barely managed to suppress a curse. She climbed into the ring and I could see she had transformed further. The first thing I saw was that her already large shoulders had become even more enormous. She was a little shorter than her opponent, but easily as broad as he was, maybe even more. Her arms had become even larger and longer. When the bell rang, she immediately attacked the guy. She didn't bother with any showmanship or posturing. Instead, she launched herself in the air and shot her arms at him, the muscular flesh extending to strike him. Her opponent jumped out of the way. You could almost hear the ring groan from the strength of the blow. The other fighter attacked her from the side, but as she fell, she twisted around, her arms creating a spiral of fists and muscles. Her competitor was grabbed and thrown against the ring's walls. He rolled, got back to his feet and charged her.
July just twisted around and evaded his blows at break-neck speed. You could see his frustration. He roared in anger and tried to get hold of her, but she was like water. Every single blow failed to hit its mark. She recovered her stance, did a kind of cartwheel, landed behind him and slung her arms around his torso. She lifted him, squeezed and then did a German supplex which produced a noticeable crack as the guy landed on his head. He didn't have enough yet. He tried to get up and used his legs to free himself.
That's when something hopelessly confusing happened. Out of nowhere, July suddenly had a pair of shorter extra arms that grew out of her torso below her original ones. She began pounding her victim's face at full speed. It mustn't have caused much damage, but it was clear that the guy was surprised. He tried to recover, but then, July's neck stretched and she headbutted him, knocking him out. She stood up, her bonus arms folding themselves back into her torso. She lifted her arms and did a victory lap around the fallen fighter.

[El_Roy_1999]

"Insane. I told you. What do you think, Ed?"
"Yeah, man, I don't know. I think all this is getting out of hand. People don't look like people anymore."
"That's true. Daria from accounting went to a big trade fair recently to see the new developments in biometrics. Apparently, all the new mixes between humans and aliens are screwing up the devices, so we're going to have to spend a lot of money on updates."
Tanaka was clearly annoyed:
"For real? Again? Ed, you weren't around, but the last upgrade took months. They changed the entire system over two weeks, but it locked everybody out of the toilets."
"I never really understood why we needed a permission handling system on the fucking toilets anyway."
"Whatever. My point is, if they update the system again, this whole place is going to be in complete chaos. For weeks."
"Yeah. Remember when Ashton got locked out of the kitchen? Just when the President was there and they couldn't even fix her some coffee?"
"Poor fucker."