Riley skirts behind Doctor Hines, keeping along silently as she walks briskly through the hallways, past several unmarked doors until they finally reach a set of double doors that look quite a good deal studier than all the rest. Dr. Hines leans into a panel near the wall, and a small scanner runs up and down her eye - surely overkill, Riley would quietly think - as the doors swing open with an audible hydraulic hiss.

“It’s just through here - it will make more sense once you can see it.” She says, beckoning the nervous young man through the thick steel doors. He obliges, and they swing shut silently behind him - an electromagnetic lock engaging with a dull, heavy thunk. 

Natalie leads him down a spartan, white hallway with glaringly white bulbs lining the ceiling, metal doors with small windows like a schoolroom’s lining the hall. Natalie’s heels click on the tile with a steady rhythm, and Riley struggles to keep up with her purposeful stride, desperately wanting to dawdle behind and peer through the windows. Most of the rooms beyond them seemed to be empty, but from a few he could hear the hum of machinery or voices - but the labyrinthine nature of these halls made him fear he’d get lost if he broke from Dr. Hines, so he scrambled along after her like a baby duckling.

“Right this way -” Dr. Hines instructs, placing a palm on the side of the wall where the door rested. It opened with a click - revealing a remarkably spacious room beyond. He is ushered in, eyes wandering the walls to behold a shocking array of equipment. A low counter wrapped around the outside wall, sporting dozens of apparatuses - some that Riley vaguely recalled from his stint in highschool chem lab, and some that he couldn’t begin to guess the function of. However, what immediately drew his eyes was near the right corner at the back of the room - a large, cubicle-sized construction, that looked to have two robotic arms like the kind one might see at an auto-assembly line poking out from the top.  

A small buzz captured Dr. Hines’ attention before she could give any further explanation- and she steps around the corner, whipping out a small phone that she holds to her ear. Riley can just make out the words if he focuses “Yes?” She spoke curtly. “No, I’m in Workroom 3C  - No - “ She takes a deep inhale, pinching the bridge of her nose. “What do you mean lost - “ She covers her face with one hand, nodding slowly, her brow darkening. “I’ll be there shortly. Stay exactly where you are - not a step. ” She says icily, hanging up.

She does a sharp heel-turn, and the sour mood around her seems to have vanished entirely. “Well, Riley, I’d love to give you a more in-depth tour, but it appears something - don’t worry, it’s quite small, really - almost nothing- “she assures, the faintest hint of a smirk playing at her lips-  “-has come up that requires my attention. But, not to worry- I will leave you in the very capable hands of our Research Assistant, Miss Wade - she’ll be with you in just a moment, I’m sure - If you’ll excuse me, this is a little time sensitive.” She says, and quickly ducks through the door. 

Riley can scarcely finish saying  "Oh, I understand-" before the door has shut behind her, a flurry motion, jangling ID badges, and the whirl of a white lab coat. He feels the hairs on the back of his neck prickle as the electromagnetic lock engages again with a mechanical whirring -  clunk. He’d have no choice but to wait for someone to return.

As it turns out, he didn’t have to wait very long at all - he hadn’t been alone after all. With a loud scrape and the sounds of metallic clanging, a body slid out from underneath the strange contraption on a wheeled dolly, nearly scaring Riley half to death.

The figure sprung up with a small grunt of exertion, and looked at him with a beaming smile, taking out a pair of earbuds with one gloved hand that was moderately streaked with machine grease. “Oh! You must be ….” She snaps her fingers, lips pursed in thought. “Riley, right!” She bounds over to him, standing at a rather short height- Riley would guess that she was somewhere around 5’2”, making him a good head taller than her.

He nods. “I - Yes, that’s me.”

She pulls off one glove hastily, wiping her hand unceremoniously  on the hem of her lab coat as a courtesy, proffering a fairly clean hand to shake. He takes it, surprised at a rather firm grip and an enthusiastic shake. “I’m Molly - Molly Wade, but you can call me Molls, if you like. Everyone does!” She grins, releasing his hand. He gets a better look at her now that she wasn’t half-buried in machinery - a petite framed girl who must have been in her early twenties, with bright hazel eyes and short brown hair in a boyish cut, and a small, upturned nose. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a graphic t-shirt underneath her lab coat sporting a clearly well-loved pair of Converse All-Stars.  She was such a sharp contrast to the straight-laced Doctor Hines - effusive and friendly, casually dressed, smiling brightly - it was enough to give Riley whiplash.

“I know you're probably a little confused right now, it’s definitely a lot!” She says, placing a hand on her hip. “But don’t worry, I’ll take great care of you, alright?” She waves him over to the other side of the workroom. Her friendly attitude was refreshing - and it helped put him at ease. He saw a small cot, like one you would see in a doctor’s office, surrounded by a simple curtain on wheels, a small cart beside it. Molly patted the top of the examination table with her hand. “If you could do me a huge favor and park yourself here, we can get all the boring stuff out of the way, and I can start answering your questions! I’m sure you have a lot!” She says, and trots over to a nearby sink to wash her hands.

Riley takes a seat on the crinkling paper cover atop the exam table, feeling a bit less nervous - Molly seemed to be a lot more down to earth than Dr. Hines - she probably didn’t have as much responsibility weighing her down, he reasoned, and she was still younger. He much preferred dealing with her, a bit glad that Natalie had gotten that phone call.

Molly returns, parting the curtain and pulling on a pair of purple medical gloves. “Awesome, I’m super excited to work together, Riley!” She says, rummaging around in the drawer on the metal cart. “By the way - I think it’s super cool that there are people like you out there, who still want to help people. It feels like there aren’t many left!”

She walks over holding something in her hand, and motions to take Riley’s blood pressure with a cuff - she takes his arm warmly. “It’s really not that big of a deal, honestly - I just had the time, and figured, you know…” Riley says, sheepishly smiling, the praise not unwelcome.

Molly takes notes on a clipboard and replaces the cuff in the cart, placing a hand on top of his, gently. “Hey, don’t minimize it! You’re special.” She says with a genuine smile - a faint flush coming to Riley’s cheeks. “It takes a special kind of person to help someone less fortunate, and in an experimental setting, too! Don’t sell yourself short!”

Riley grins widely, feeling a few butterflies in his stomach, trying not to read too much into it. He laughs it off - “I bet you say that to all of the experimental procedure volunteers.”

She laughs back. “Hah, well, maybe they’re all special! Alright - I just need to give you a little poke here, okay? Can you hold out your arm for me?” She asks - and Riley offers it without a second thought, the high of casual flirtation wiping that vague worry out of his mind. Molly rolls up his sleeve and swabs the area on his upper arm with an alcohol wipe. “Just a little pinch- “ Riley winces - he had never been a big fan of needles - but it was over in a blink.

“What, I don’t get a sticker for being so brave?” He says, with a coy smile.

Molly places the needle in the sharps bin and returns the grin. “Tell you what, I’ll do everything in my power to get you one, since you’re by far my bravest patient.” She says, peeling off her gloves.

Riley laughs, finding it difficult to stop after a few seconds - the atmosphere was just so much more lighthearted and friendly now. He grins at Molly.

“Oh, one other thing! I just need you to change into this real quick, and then we can get into the interesting stuff, okay? It’s just standard procedure.” She explains, holding up a simplistic paper hospital gown. “ You can put your clothes in this bin, for now.  I won’t peek, promise.” She says with a smile sliding a plastic bin across to him, before stepping out and closing the curtain. Feeling strangely unconcerned with the development, Riley tosses his clothes in the bin in a messy pile, trying to fight the urge to smile like an idiot. He couldn’t put his finger on why, but he felt almost… giddy? Had it really been this long since he talked to a cute girl his age? He shook his head clear of the thoughts, finding himself having to focus to put the hospital gown on properly - he should have eaten breakfast, he reasoned - he was sluggish, clumsy.

He finally manages, and slides the bin out under the curtain to announce his successful change. Molly takes it, and then parts the curtain and returns.

Riley sits back on the exam table, with some effort. “So, uh - you guys really think you can help Ava?” He asks.

Molly nods. “We’re super optimistic about it! I’m actually doing my thesis on the process we’re hoping to use for her - we call her ‘Patient AH4- it’s really fascinating stuff - are you familiar with Dr. Walker’s work? I was really inspired by it, and it got me thinking -” Riley feels as if the entire room is glowing faintly, Molly’s words seeming almost musical to his ears, finding it hard to process what she was saying - it just sounded so nice! He blinks as she talks animatedly, trying to pay attention. “- and matter is basically just 99% empty space, and there was so much potential -” Riley nods along dumbly, watching Molly’s gesticulating hands trace swatches of liquid light in the air, eyes wide as he watches them dance as he catches snippets here and there.  “... theoretically infinite service life, self-repairing properties, and completely unexplored kinesthetic properties -”

Riley brought his palms into his lap, feeling like he was moving his arms through a thick syrup, looking at them with curiosity.

“Oh, gosh - I’m sorry, I got carried away, I just get so excited!” Molly says, and leans in to catch Riley’s eye. “How are you feeling?”

Riley shakes his head a little. “I feel.. .a little funny - what did you give me, exactly?” He struggles to move around, feeling weak and woozy.

“Oh, we call it compound SK90 - I’ve been working with Dr. Hines on a stable formula!” She gushes. “She’s so talented, I really want to impress her - oh, that reminds me, I’m technically only supposed to be calling you ‘Subject 4’, at least per protocol -” She grins a bit at Riley. “But, since it’s just you and me, I figured we could be a bit more informal, right?”

Riley blinks, straining. “Compound SK90…?” He says, blearily.

“Oh, it’s basically a molecular malleability agent - I’m really excited to see this variant in application, honestly!” She bounces a little in place, her sneaker soles squeaking against the tile. She snaps her fingers, pressing the heel of her palm to her forehead. “Oh, sh- dangit, Molls, there you go again - jeez- ” She pauses and regains her composure. “I’m supposed to verify you signed the forms and everything, before I tell you anything - you did, right?” She asks, snagging what looked to be a small flashlight from the cart.

Riley nods. “Y-yeah, I did - what exactly is the procedure?”

Molly flicked the switch - it was a UV blacklight, turning Riley’s hand over to shine it on his thumb, where he had imprinted the document - it glowed brightly under the beam, confirming he had indeed signed. “Awesome, just gotta make sure and all that - Dr. Hines would go on the warpath if she saw me skirting protocols! I hear another team got in huge trouble, and well, they’re probably never going to do that again, let me tell you- ”

Riley sits up a little. “The procedure, you were going to explain more…?” He said, slowly getting acclimated to his new, altered perception.

“Right!” Molly says, and pulls up a wheeled stool, sitting on it wide-stanced. “So, basically, SK90 makes the matter in your cells more malleable, right? Here, watch-” She says, reaching over and gripping Riley’s forearm, hard. His skin yields a little under the pressure - and then, to his shock, continues to yield. Her fingers sink in a good half-inch, the tomboy visibly exerting herself to squeeze as hard as she could, until she finally lets go. When her hand retreats back, there is a distinct imprint of her grip in Riley’s arm - a visible divot in the shape of her hand that starts to slowly rise back up, as if she had squeezed a memory foam mattress. Riley blinks at the surreal sight, speechless.

“It’s really cool, right?” She beams, grinning widely.

“I don’t… understand, how does this help Ava?” Riley asks, watching his forearm slowly re-form to its ordinary shape over the course of the next few minutes.

Molly is more than happy to explain. “So, you’ve heard of, like, podiatric correctional devices? Basically things like… custom-fit orthotics, Dr Schol’s, stuff like that, right?”

Riley nods, not at all certain as to where she was going with this.

“Well, the serum we injected you with allows for some fascinating properties, like the one you saw! Of course, there’s a bit of an effective window - we’re dialing exactly how long that is, exactly - before the body produces antigens and subject ductility diminishes along an exponential decay curve, but we’re working on mitigating that - ack, sorry, I’m going off topic again!” She says, playfully tapping her temple. “The key points of the idea are the malleability, compressibility, and shape memory!” She says, ticking off each item on her fingers. “Like your arm earlier, it’s back to normal now!” She adds to illustrate her point.

Riley nods, hoping she’ll get to some sort of point soon, his mind swimming as Miss Wade talks circles around him - she kept going, dropping in terms he hadn’t ever heard before, losing him in a web of jargon. 

“So, back to orthotics, insoles, right?” She says, a little flushed from her animated speech. “Thanks for sticking with me through that, I just can’t help but get into it!” She says, laughing. “You’ve heard of them, yes?”

Riley nods.

Molly points her finger at Riley’s chest. “Well, basically – that’ll be you! For Ava! While you’re compressible and malleable - we’ll basically be custom-fitting you to the specific shape of Ava’s foot, compressing your mass and size until you are the same size and shape as a shoe insole. We will be tailoring your new body to her therapeutic needs, and you’ll essentially serve as a podiatric correctional device designed specifically for Ava's needs - only, worlds better than anything on the market today!” She gushes, practically giddy. “Isn’t that incredible?”

Riley looks back at the face of the eager research assistant - blinking as his addled mind tried to piece together the implications of what she had just said. She seemed to be waiting with bated breath for his reaction - no doubt one of amazement at the technology.

To Be Continued…