Meanwhile, on the other side of Iron Creek City…
Inside the quiet, sterile walls of the Gene Association's private lab, Alex was still resting inside the medical pod, completely unaware of the dark net closing in on him outside those walls.
Knowing that Alex wasn't in any immediate physical danger, Mira returned to her own work at her desk, occasionally rubbing her temples as she tried to figure out how to handle Lily's wild, pheromone-induced situation.
Time slipped by while he was asleep. It was already evening outside, and Alex had been inside the pod for more than six hours.
Suddenly, the heavy glass doors of the medical pod hissed open.
Thick white fumes spilled out, crawling across the cold floor tiles. Inside the pod, the figure began to twitch and shift.
Mira, who had been resting her eyes, snapped awake at the sound.
She stood up quickly and walked over. What she saw made her breath catch in her throat.
Inside the pod, Alex was covered from head to toe in a layer of gray, leathery skin.
It was etched with micro-scale patterns, exactly like the dead skin left behind by snakes during their shedding season.
But this was human-shaped, and the casing looked thick and suffocating.
As seconds ticked into minutes, Alex's movements became more frantic.
He suddenly gasped, his eyes flying open.
His pupils narrowed into sharp, reptilian slits, surrounded by striking, glowing blue irises.
Panic instantly flooded his mind as he realized he was trapped inside his own dead skin.
He felt like he was suffocating in a tight, leathery sleeping bag. His breathing turned ragged, his heart pounding against his ribs.
"What is happening to me? Why can't I move?" Thrashing wildly, he pushed his hands out.
To his surprise, the thick skin tore easily, ripping apart like wet tissue paper.
He scrambled out of the pod, his chest heaving.
Thankfully, he was completely naked when Mira put him inside; he didn't even want to guess how painful it would have been to peel this off if it were stuck to his clothes.
As he took a shaky step forward onto the cold floor, the rest of the dead skin began to peel and slough off his body, falling in dry, heavy flakes around his bare feet.
The cool air of the lab hit his exposed body, and he gasped.
His skin was incredibly, overwhelmingly sensitive.
Every tiny shift in the air current felt like a feather brushing against him, sending strange, electric shivers down his spine.
He stopped a few feet away from Mira, catching his reflection in a full-length medical mirror mounted on the wall.
"Ahaa?!!" Alex froze. He stood completely stunned, his breath hitching as he stared at the person looking back at him.
His eyes immediately darted down to his chest.
There was no massive, sudden growth on his chest or hips like he had dreaded, and his little brother was still resting between his legs.
But the relief only lasted a second before pure shock took over.
Almost his entire body was covered in beautiful, micro-silvery snake scales.
They caught the harsh lab lights, shimmering across his legs, arms, and back.
The only places untouched by the scales were his most sensitive areas—his stomach, his inner thighs, the area around his groin, and his chest.
His face, too, was half-covered in the delicate silver patterns, framing a jawline that had softened dramatically.
His skin, where it was bare, looked completely flawless, pale, and ridiculously soft.
His jet-black hair had grown noticeably longer, cascading past his neck in smooth, silky waves that looked better than any shampoo commercial.
"What... What the fuck is this? Is this the Gene ability? Scaled Dermis?" he whispered, staring at his glowing blue, slit-pupil eyes.
But as soon as the words left his lips, he slapped a hand over his mouth.
The voice that came out of his throat wasn't his.
The deep, boyish tone he was used to was gone.
Instead, it was slightly high-pitched, soft, and undeniably feminine. It sounded like a young girl.
"No, no, no…" A heavy knot of dread formed in his stomach. His mind spiraled into chaos.
"I'm turning into a monster... I'm really becoming a Demon Enchantress." The fear of losing his humanity, of losing his manhood, crashed over him like a tidal wave.
His trembling hands slowly lowered to his chest. As he looked closer, the panic intensified.
His chest wasn't entirely flat anymore.
There was a very distinct, soft swelling there, like a young girl just hitting early puberty.
The buds were undeniable, and right at the center sat soft, perky, pinkish-red nipples.
With a shaking finger, he brushed against one of them.
"Ah...!" A soft, sweet moan slipped past his lips, completely against his will.
The sensitivity was insane.
Just that light touch sent a jolt of warm, confusing pleasure straight down to his lower belly.
He quickly moved his hand away, his face flushing a deep, embarrassed red.
"Hey...Alex," Mira's voice was soft, breaking through his chaotic thoughts.
She stepped closer, holding a data pad, her eyes scanning his new body with a mix of fascination and undeniable awe.
"Don't panic, Alex. Your vitals are stable. You've just completed a major phase of your Ecdysis."
"D-Don't panic?!" Alex cried out, his voice cracking into an even higher, girlish squeak.
Tears of frustration pricked the corners of his eyes. "Mira, look at me! I have scales! My voice... my chest! I-I touched it and it felt so...much like breasts.." He couldn't even finish the sentence, shame burning through his veins.
He wrapped his arms around his small, sensitive chest, trying to hide himself.
His mind was a battlefield. One half of him was terrified of the changes, mourning his lost masculinity and terrified of what Uncle John or anyone else would think if they saw him like this.
"This… How can I explain this?" But the other half, the deeply buried instincts of the Enchantress felt an odd sense of rightness, a bizarre satisfaction at how pretty and smooth his new body felt.
Mira didn't answer right away. Her fingers tightened on the data pad, as she checked the clinical data of Alex's transformation sent by the medical pod.
Heart rate 118 BPM and climbing. Epidermal conductivity: off the charts. Pupil dilation: fixed at 95 percentile.
But that wasn't what made her breath shallow.
As a scientist, she reminded herself. You're a scientist. But the Enchantress DNA that was spliced into him began manifesting slowly, unknowingly making her thoughts go wary, "so... beautiful!!."
"My chest," Alex cried, still hugging himself. "Damn It... it's tingling."
"Describe it clearly, maybe I can help you..." Mira stepped closer, acting Professional. Her voice only wavered slightly.
"Like… It's like someone's blowing cold air on them. But also warm. Both at once." His slit-pupil eyes, that impossible sapphire blue… Fixed on her face, searching for reassurance. "And my skin, Mira. Everywhere. Just standing here feels like I'm being... I don't know... it's weird to even describe."
The word hung between them.
Mira's throat tightened. "Hypersensitivity is an expected side effect. Your nerve endings are essentially brand new. The outer dermal layer you shed was insulating you from, it should be alright within a few days."