Chapter 256: Here to Help & Here to Harm
Malachi and Aubrey stepped out into the medical wing where all of the women who had been rescued were being treated.
It was easy to see that quite a few of them were still fearful of his alien appearance and the snakes coming out of his lower back.
Despite the fact that there were others who knew of his good deeds and even who he used to be, it was easy to understand how they might still be fearful after everything that they had just lived through.
His hope was that if he acted relaxed enough, he would seem more friendly and less imposing to the room full of survivors.
"C-Can you help us…?"
One woman who Malachi had personally saved was not afraid of him in the slightest, though she did hold onto her bulging stomach with no small amount of worry.
"It's Gia, right?" Malachi asked with a comforting smile. "Don't worry, I think my sister and I have come up with two solutions to all of your problems."
At this, the women inside the medical wing seemed to visibly perk up.
Malachi reached for a small syringe in Celeste's hand.
It was already filled with a familiar black liquid, and he held it up for all of them to see.
"I hope you girls aren't squeamish, because we'll have to give you all a littleee poke in the stomach with this guy here."
"Umm… what exactly is that?" Another woman asked.
Malachi scratched his cheek as he tried to think of a way to explain the syringe's contents quickly.
…But there was none.
So even though it was unethical, he lied just a bit.
"A little medicinal concoction our medical team cooked up.
This will get rid of the fetal abominations growing inside of you and break them down until you can pass them safely.
The best part is, there won't be any adverse effects to you girls' health at all."
Needless to say, the 'concoction' inside of the syringe was actually Mal's body fluids.
By injecting them into the fetuses while they were still developing, Malachi could tamper with their genetic makeup.
One of the first things that Tsath had taught him and Cami was that every being would not be able to tolerate the process of N'Kai alteration.
There were a myriad of factors, but the most surefire way for the whole process to go to hell was if it was ingested by beings or creatures who were still considered to be in the child stage of development.
Their bodies just simply are not strong enough to cope with all of those dramatic changes at once.
They'll pass away pretty painlessly, and their bodies will be dissolved into a sludge that the mother can push out.
The girls might have to strain a bit, but other than that they will be completely fine.
Before Malachi started jamming needles into stomachs, Aubrey stepped forward to pose another solution for the few who looked somewhat conflicted.
"My brother has given you option one , and now I would like to give you option two."
Most women looked fairly confused by this.
Malachi's solution was already perfect, so why did there need to be any others?
"If… and I do mean if…" Aubrey began. "A few of you do decide that you have no problem giving birth, then there are special accommodations we can make.
The goddess Isis has made me a powerful magic user. I can create enchanted tattoos and graft them onto the skin of any offspring.
It'll make them less impulsive, angry, and destructive. They will be no different from normal, human children."
It was easy to see that this plan had gone over much less smoothly than Malachi's had, and understandably so.
These women had just gone through a horrible, terrible, nightmare that no sentient being should have to endure.
They didn't want to have recollections of it running around their new home at any time.
"And of course as a courtesy I would also wipe your memories of everything that you endured if you only ask." Aubrey added.
At this, everyone seemmed to perk up like new once again.
The chance to really move on and forget… it was all that any of them ever wanted.
Malachi wrapped his arm around his sister and rested his head on hers.
"At the end of the day, we are just trying to give all of you lives that you can live with.
No one, and I mean no one is going to judge you all for the choices you make today, and if they do then I'll boot their asses out myself.
Life's hard enough already out there. We aren't going to make it difficult for each other in here too. Ain't no exceptions."
The girls looked at each other before nodding in understanding.
Malachi finally released his sister and headed toward the bed of the girl from earlier; Gia.
"Alright, little miss. Tell us what you want to do, step-by-step."
The nineteen year old girl seemed to need only a moment to think about a potential answer, because she gave one right away.
"I…" your-MVLeMpYr-source
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While Malachi and Aubrey were trying to make life better for their battered women in their care, Joanne finally woke up from a peaceful night's sleep.
For the life of her, she had never imagined that sleeping in a bed filled with seven different people would be so comfortable.
It really felt like she was a part of something even larger than herself.
A real, loving family.
Even her daughter's snoring and Nadine's drooling could not piss her off.
She was just in that good of a mood.
Especially since she saw another occupant already sitting up on the bed waiting for her.
"Hello, Cami..!" She whispered with excitement.
Excitedly, the young girl crawled over the mass of bodies in the bed so that she could reach Joanne.
She playfully flopped onto her face, and the two of them devolved into giggling messes.
Joanne lifted Camille into the air above her head and held her like a precious stuffed animal.
And since Camille was in a teddy bear onesie, that assessment wasn't that far off.
"Seems like your daddy left us in the middle of the night, huh?"
"Abua, ada."
"N-No, when I call him daddy it means something totally different… and I thought you were sleeping, tyke."
"Bu."
"Alright, well I'll know to tickle you first next time to check."
In the midst of Cami's adorable giggling, a blaring alarm erupted throughout the generated compound.
This caused everyone still sleeping to sit up instantly and look around in a daze, but everyone already knew what this sort of alarm meant.
"They're here."