At first, I didn't recognize her - it was a female soldier, holding out her hands in a sort of peace offering. But then I remembered - it was the same female soldier who had talked to me back when my tits were literally smothering half the city. She'd been friendly to me then... but despite that, she was still one of the ones keeping me here, locked away from the world like some kind of mutant.
Though...I guess in a way...I sort of was.
A mutant with breasts that could grow on a whim. What a power.
"Bronwyn - hey. I just want to talk. Okay?"
I crossed my arms over my bare chest and glared at her. "Yeah? Unless it's to tell me when I'm getting out of here, I'm not interested."
"It's not that simple--"
"And I want to see my Mom. I want to know what happened. I want you to stop treating me like some kind of science experiment!"
Ava let out a sigh. "I can give you some answers, okay?"
The intercom crackled to life. "Her heart rate is up," came a male's voice, sounding cranky. "Get out of there."
I glared up at the intercom. "Go fuck yourself!" I snarled at it - though it was true. I could feel my breasts suddenly pressing against my crossed arms. Ava noticed it as well, looking over at me.
"Not helping," the woman said.
"I repeat - get out of there."
Ava turned back to me. "Bronwyn. Please. Just listen to me, alright? We're not entirely sure what's happening to you right now. We're trying to figure it out. I know it doesn't seem like it - but we're trying to help. I need you to calm down. If you don't, the gas will trigger, and we'll have to start all over again. I can explain some of it. But I need you to calm down. Regulate your breathing. Relax."
"You're breaking all sorts of protocol right now!" the voice snapped.
Ava whirled on the intercom. "She's scared!" the soldier snapped. "And can you blame her? We're going to have to explain these things to her eventually!" Ava turned back to me. "Look - I'm staying in here. If the gas turns on, we both get knocked out - alright?"
Oddly enough, seeing the soldier yell at the voice had a sort of...calming effect on me. I don't know. Maybe it was just nice to see someone else giving the voice over it some shit. I mean, a part of me was still suspicious. It was entirely possible this was all a show, put on to make me trust this woman. But...well, I didn't exactly have a whole lot of options.
"Alright," I said cautiously. It was harder to cover my chest with my arms now - but they'd stopped getting bigger for the moment. I went over to the cot and sat down slowly. "Go ahead."
Ava nodded. "Alright. So. Here's what we know. When your mom was pregnant, she was hit with the Breastinator for a considerable amount of time. Because you were still developing, it had a devastating effect on your DNA...one that wouldn't become apparently until you hit puberty."
I blinked rapidly. "And the person that did it was my Uncle, wasn't it."
Ava hesitated. "Yes," she said.
At the same time, the intercom had crackled and said, "That's classified." Followed shortly by: "Damn it Ava!"
I stared down at the ground, feeling my heart-rate start to pick back up. The pressure against my arms trying to cover my tits began to increase.
"Hey," Ava said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "It's fucked up. I know. Just breathe. Alright?"
I stared at her for a moment, and then nodded jerkily. I closed my eyes and tried to control my breathing. Sure, no problem. Focus on it later. Confirmation that my own Uncle had turned me into a freak. Cool, cool, coolcoolcool. The pressure on my arms increased.
Damn it.
Alright. I can do this. Calm down. Just relax. Think about...anything else. Hamburgers. Hamburgers? Really? Is that the best I can come up with? I never was good at improv - at trying to come up with something on the spot. Especially with charades. Poor Ashley had teamed up with me a few times for charades, and we'd always lost cause I wouldn't know how to try and act out what was on the cards. Still, it was always fun and Ashley never seemed to mind.
Eventually I realized that the pressure had lessened. My breasts were a lot heftier than they had been at the beginning of the conversation. But they weren't getting any bigger.
Ava was sitting there still, waiting patiently.
"Okay," I said. "Go on."
"Sure," Ava said. "So. When you hit puberty, hormones mixed in with the latent energies imbued by the Breastinator to cause a steady increase in growth."
"Yeah, I think I noticed that part," I muttered.
"I know. It ended up resulting in...the incident you experienced with the explosive growth."
"...Yeah."
"Anyway. The energy had begun to taper off - the effects had been dramatic to be sure, but it was wearing off. And then you were hit with a concentrated ray of energy from the Breastinator once more."
"My Uncle. Again," I growled. More pressure on my arms. "Fuck!" I hissed. I closed my eyes, letting my breathing steady itself. I could feel my breasts inching larger and larger, to the point where I couldn't put my arms around them entirely. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.
Just relax.
Find your happy place.
Use the fucking force.
Relax.
The growth slowed once more. "Okay," I said in a strained voice.
"We were able to stop the suspect - your Uncle - and obtain the Breastinator from him. But the energy had already been expended."
I shook my head. "How much...how much of the city did I..."
Ava held up her hands. "Look. It wasn't great. But we managed to slow it down. But that created...a new problem."
I snorted. "No kidding."
Ava sighed. "We used the Breastinator ASAP to try and stop any further growth, and then to reduce your size. But the amount of energy that required...it caused the Breastinator to break down. Or more accurately - it made the fucking thing explode."
"...Shit. That can't be good, can it?"
"It...wasn't ideal," Ava hedged. "But we thought it was fine at first. The energy seemed to still be working to shrink you back down to more normal sizes. We took you here--"
"And where is here, exactly?"
"That's classified!" the voice over the intercom snapped.
Ava smiled apologetically. "Sorry. But he's right."
I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."
"We took you here, and began to monitor your vitals. We took blood samples, DNA samples, the works. And...well. Your genetic code is something we've never seen before. That much energy has had a permanent effect on it. I think some of the abilities of the gun were essentially absorbed into your genetic code."
"...Shit."
"Yeah. Shit."
"Does that mean....could I learn to control it?"
Ava shrugged. "We just don't know. We've been trying to figure out some solutions. I'm sorry that these tests have been rough on you, but we're trying to find the exact triggers that result in growth. If we can find a way to suppress those triggers--"
"That's enough!" the voice on the intercom snapped. "She doesn't need to know the particulars--"
"Will you shut the fuck up?" Ava demanded. "...Sir," she added a moment after.
The intercom was silent. Ava winced slightly.
"Probably going to regret that later," she muttered to herself, before looking back at me. "Anyway...if we can find a way to suppress those triggers, that would be the best for everyone. But until then, the best thing you can do is try to find a reliable way to stay calm. And you'll understand our caution for wanting to keep you here. It's for your safety, and frankly, the safety of everyone else. I'm not trying to be mean here, Bronwyn. But your growth before destroyed half a city. And that energy is still in you. As far as we can tell, there is no upper limit on the amount they can grow. Okay? That's what - that's the scary part, at least for me. I know it's not fun for you. I know. But what if it got out of control again? It might be more than just a city at risk. The entire planet could be in danger. And I'd rather not find out how that would go."
I looked down at the ground, feeling tears start to form.
"Oh," I said. Great. Fantastic. My tits - world-ending threats. Just fantastic, gotta love it. Totally normal. Everything's cool. I screwed my eyes shut. Just...fucking fantastic.
"We're trying, Bronwyn, we really are. We've already tried using several suppressor enzymes to block the specific parts of the brain from communicating during emotional responses. It should have worked. But the energy that's contained within you - it just ignores that. Bypasses it like it's no issue. We - there's no explanation for why. Until we can reliably control this..."
"You'll keep me here," I muttered.
"...Yeah."
"Great."
"I know it's a lot to take in. And this is a lot to ask for. But will you work with us? Instead of against us? Help us understand this?" She held out her hand.