Work Text:
Nothing would ever be the same again—exactly what he wanted.
Eventually the flesh he had carved away and placed within the black box would become second nature. He would not feel it anymore and the external biotech bone, muscle, and sinew would feel better. It already did in many ways.
Victor had transitioned. It was not back to the body he’d had while alive, because why would he recreate that when he could go bigger, better, and brighter? Not yet perfect, but closer to it than he had ever been. No disgusting shape and reactions from the insect he had Fallen as, and no feeling of an echo he could not shake from his last years as a human being.
Sitting up brought him awareness to everything, but he could make the movement. There was no need to relearn those motions. Hopefully that would be the case with the rest of his tests. His arms extended in front of himself before reaching up to either side of his head. The head was the same he had switched to in the previous surgery. Victor had wanted something to ground him. This head wasn’t too bad for now.
From the television set came the new neck. Eventually he would need to make it more flexible, but for now it did well with letting him turn his head and holding the weight of it on his shoulders. His shoulders were no longer as fragile as they’d been. And he only had two arms—arms which did exactly as he wished.
Victor moved his hands down over his chest and stomach. Flat. Skin without hair. There were the vents in the side which had been necessary, but maybe he could figure out a way to get rid of them from the design later.
A dick instead of a stinger was the most relief he’d felt in years. This was the main purpose of this last experiment. And they would see if he would remain stable like this or if his body would reject this, die, and reconstitute him back as the disgusting beast he had started as.
The legs were not far off from what he’d already done to them in previous surgeries, but he was impressed by how flawlessly they worked up to his hips. Sometimes he wondered if Sinners even remembered how human bodies were supposed to look, supposed to function. Other test subjects preferred to focus on emphasizing different animalistic features, or those from inanimate objects. Even those who hated what they had Fallen as seemed to prefer to look like another sort of Sinner instead of becoming more human again.
Perhaps Victor could agree. It was only that he wanted something familiar to start as his template. He could make it more than human eventually. And he had gone with a television for a head in the end, as if to mock himself.
Or to remind himself that he would be more successful down here than he had been in life. As soon as he had a body he wanted people to see.
Getting out of bed, he felt his entire body shift. It was all of what had made him initially—not able to truly move within its black box, but registering the change in gravity. It made him feel dizzy, but he did not waver or stumble. Victor took a couple breaths to steady himself before stepping forward.
He could walk. Walk to the mirror and look at the completed work. How close it was to the design he had worked out. And it was exactly as he’d hoped. Better.
Staring at his body, he moved from side to side. Perhaps he would have liked it to be more muscular, but that was a part of the improvements he had on the list as long as this worked. As long as that, in a few weeks, this body didn’t fail him and he had to start at ground zero.
He raised his arms and looked over his vents again. Actually, they reminded him of gills. They weren’t close enough to looking like them now, but what if he could make them look more like that later? Victor’s excitement brought an increase in how his fans whirled and the heart which pounded inside the black box. Okay, that was a bit much. He had to go sit down.
It didn’t make him feel weak however. He remained enthusiastic even as his body shook. That his body shook like this, from adrenaline of effort and excitement, was also good. This was a familiar reaction his mind could process. Much better than the body he had Fallen in.
Yes, this was exactly what he had wanted. There was no one to pray to anymore. God definitely existed, but he wasn’t someone to thank. Only to curse. He could pray to his own efforts, to the doctor’s supplies and tools, and work harder. No one would pull him out of this hole than himself.
When he had made his body stable, could do all of the surgeries on himself without requiring the doctor, without needing someone else to cut him apart… He could…
What? He had still sold himself to Doctor Calum. It had been better than the alternative, hadn’t it? If he hadn’t, he would still be stuck in that body. What was worse? The body? Or a lack of freedom?
He had time to think about it. First, it was time to recover. To make sure he remained stable.
Then Victor would see what came next.