X-0rc231

It was supposed to be easy. Guard the shipment. It’s happened so many times before. Each time, Adrian and his guys were bored as fuck just waiting all night while nothing happened. The only sound was the waves lapping against the dock, maybe the creaking of the old buildings. Or just the three of them screwing around. But for some reason, tonight was different. Ed wasn’t answering his damn radio.

“Ed, report.” Static. Adrian groaned. This wasn’t completely unusual, if he was being honest. The radios were shit, and Ed had a bad tendency to nod off somewhere. He glanced over at Mik, his towering bear of a guard and gestured off into the night. “Go find him, please. And make sure he stays awake!” Mik nodded and walked away, leaving Adrian all by himself. Not that he had any reason to be concerned.

At least not until five minutes passed without anything. “Mik? Ed? Report in, please.” The radio hissed static back at him, and in that moment he could feel his heart rate spike. The frog was alone. He pulled out his gun, but didn’t want to completely panic yet. There was still time left before that. Instead, he just made sure to take a position better suited for shooting anyone coming in the front door.

It wasn’t a long wait. After only waiting a few more minutes in the quiet, creaking metal of the warehouse, his radio crackled. Nothing came through, but Adrian grabbed it anyway and said, “Mik? Ed? I swear, if you two are trying to play some sort of-”

“Sorry, boss. I found Ed.”

Adrian’s blood ran cold at that. It certainly didn’t sound like one of his guys coming through with shitty quality. And there wasn’t supposed to be anyone else on this line. His hand trembled as he held the button on his radio to respond, “Who are you? And what do you mean foun-”

His response was cut short by a sickening, crunchy thud landing near him. It was, perhaps fortunately, obscured by darkness, but the shape of Ed was still recognizable... broken as he was. Adrian muttered, “Oh, god...” while aiming his gun up towards the ceiling. All he could see was a red light. One that wasn’t supposed to be there. One that was angled at him. As he pulled the trigger it moved, darting to the side. And then it seemed to jump towards him.

Adrian flinched, half-expecting whatever it was to land directly on him. But instead, it landed ahead of him with a loud CLANG that resounded throughout the warehouse. The red light looked at him again. He opened fire again, firing right at the figure in front of him, but the bullets were just ricocheting off of it. One whizzed right back by his face, slicing his cheek and scaring him to the ground. A very repetitive, robotic sound started to emerge from the thing in front of him. Something that he quickly came to realize was cruel-sounding laughter.

“Oh, Adrian, you should know better than to play with guns. You’ll shoot your eye out.” The thing started to rise up, and it was then he realized they were humanoid. They were wearing a long, dark trench coat with a red turtleneck underneath. Their head was just one streamlined block of metal, with a jagged edge along the bottom underneath a singular red optic. Their hands and legs were both sharp, clawed-looking things... too long and spindly. And when they finished standing, it was clear they towered over him.

Adrian stammered, “W-Who the fuck are you?! What did you do to them?!”

The robot’s lens contracted as another cackle came out, making Adrian feel stupid for asking such a question. “You could ask Ed, but he seems... Well, I think you can tell. As for Mik... He’s just all torn up about the whole thing.”

Adrian growled and aimed his gun again, steadying it as best as he could despite the terrifying monster before him. They just tilted their head, and right as he went to pull the trigger, a metal hand slapped his. Several fingers broke instantly, while his gun went flying into darkness and a bullet shattered a distant window. He let out a cry of pain while he bent forward, clutching his hands. The robot took a few steps forward, quickly closing the distance. Then they reached down, wrapping their fingers around the frog’s neck and hoisting him into the air effortlessly.

While Adrian struggled in their grip, trying not to suffocate, they simply tilted their head... Making a decision. “You asked who I am. X-0rc231. Xor, for short. A mouthful, but don’t worry. You won’t have to remember a thing.” Adrian expected his own neck to snap any moment, but instead something much worse followed. He felt another robotic hand start supporting him from the bottom, but it wasn’t to keep him from strangulation. The jagged line along Xor’s head parted with harsh and jerky movements, revealing a dark hole and the framework of a maw.

The frog’s feet found themselves inside it first, scraping against metal edges. There was nothing soft or organic about it, at least until he felt them slide into a rubbery tube. It was then, although already too late, that Adrian realized he should be trying to resist the horror that was happening to him. He started trying to twist his body out, but it seemed to just serve to drive it further in. Not that Xor seemed to need help with the process.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?! Just fucking kill me!” Adrian was already inside up to his waist, his legs bending uncomfortably into that hot, tight throat. He could see the bulge he was making in Xor’s throat, and he didn’t want to imagine being actually inside it in a few minutes.

Xor’s response managing to come through clearly, if oddly distantly, made him jump. “Seems like a waste of good food. Don’t worry, you won’t have long afterwards.”

“I’m not fucking food!”

“That’s what they all say. Too bad organics never fight hard enough.”

“Oh god... why me?!”

Xor shrugged as they gulped further, that red light now shining brightly right into Adrian’s face. “Luck of the draw.” The frog was almost entirely inside of them, and if they were being honest, they couldn’t wait for this whole ordeal to be over. These three had hardly offered any fun. But they did always enjoy the feeling of filling their stomach. Xor let go of their meal just in time for his head to slide into theirs. “Have fun in there,” they said before yet another schlulk pulled him into darkness.

The robot’s innards immediately attacked his every sense. It was far too cramped for a space clearly capable of holding an entire person, and it seemed to resent being expanded as far as it was. Loud whirring and bubbling around him made him want to hold his ears shut, if he wasn’t busy trying to push back against being crushed further. There was a stench of plastic and rubber, but worse than that was the acridity. It burned at his skin and eyes and he could even taste the bitterness of it in the air, like battery acid on his tongue. “Oh, god, please... I’ll do anything, just... just let me out of here!”

“Not an option. But the good news is, you won’t be kept around too much longer. I’ve got places to be, and that chamber of mine can reduce you to a soup-like homogenate in 30 seconds. I’m just taking my sweet time because I like you so much.” Xor grazed their hand across their distended gut, a lumpy, textured and rubbery mass. It made their turtleneck ride up, showing off a slick, black belly underneath. They did always enjoy the feeling of someone sitting heavily inside them, struggling uselessly. Even a concealed blade wouldn’t let them out, it just amused Xor. And it wouldn’t survive what came next either.

Being told so directly what was going to happen drove Adrian to a primal, fearful state. Even if he could feel how useless it was, the frog started shouting, kicking with sudden and fierce strength. Xor actually found themself amused as one kick managed to produce a pretty tall lump. “Oh, now you’re a fighter. Too bad it’s too little, too late.” Still, the kicking continued, Adrian hardly responding with anything other than desperate rage. Xor quickly grew bored of this, especially as their meal was starting to bump other parts of their insides.

“This conversation has been nice, but I think I’d prefer you a little more inanimate now. So long, froggy.” Xor’s hands squeezed into a fist as they activated their digestion, and within seconds... nothing happened. This had never happened before, but Xor tried once again to start it up anyway. Nothing. They actually felt something come up-- which Xor suppressed like a stifled belch, exhaust lightly fuming out the sides of their mouth. The robot suddenly clutched their gut firmly, locking Adrian into place between its walls and forcing him to stop. They leaned down close to their own belly and growled, “You motherfucker. You just had to be a bitch, didn’t you? Couldn’t just accept your place as robot fuel? Well now, you’re going to have to take the long way there.”

They then let their belly drop, letting out an irritated digital growl. It seemed like their meal was at least somewhat calmer now, whether from exhaustion or the lack of imminent threat, they couldn’t tell. They didn’t want to give him the wrong idea, but not being able to instantly digest the frog really was problematic. A seven-foot robot walking around town won’t earn many lookers on its own (in fact, it’s usually the opposite), but one with a squirmy, complaining gut might. Especially since they were struggling to tie their trench coat around it.

Xor let out a long groan. “I have to give you props, you sure did fight enough. But you’re not getting out of there. Wouldn’t you prefer it ended quickly? Instead of feeling every agonizing second as you melt into slop?”

Adrian let out a weak moan, shifting uncomfortably as he responded, “I... I don’t want to...”

“You picked the wrong profession for that. There is one way I could make it easy, even with you breaking my insides so rudely. You wanna give it a try?”

The frog squeezed his eyes shut hard, not wanting to believe he was really considering the offer. But he was in agony. The squeeze felt like it came close to breaking his arms, his entire body burned, and he felt like he was constantly choking. He didn’t want to be digested before, but... “I... okay. What do I... what do I need to do?”

Xor put their hands on the side of their belly again, their optic developing a sadistic glee as an ‘eyelid’ shutter rose up from beneath. “I only need one thing from you. I need you to beg me to crunch you up. I need to know you really want it.”

Their gut was silent for a moment as Adrian quietly whined to himself. His words were seizing in his throat. He squirmed in place from both his thoughts and futilely attempting to seek relief from the chemicals stripping away his body. He finally coughed and said, “You fucking monster. I hope someone kills you one day. But... Please... Just end this!”

“Care to be more specific? How, meatbag.”

Adrian slammed his fist against the floor of his elastic prison, but restrained himself from squirming further. He needed it to end. “Fucking... just crush me.”

“You didn’t say the magic word~”

“PLEASE!” For Adrian, it was over seconds after he said it. There was a sudden crushing pressure on his sides, immense pain, and then nothing. Xor had pressed deeply into their own gut, hands buried as they did. A short cacophony of cracking and popping later, and their belly was certainly stilled. Xor slowly pulled their hands back out, allowing their gut to sag back into place, a little smoother now that their meal was broken up more.

They waited a few moments for any sort of reaction besides idle twitching, but none came. They let out a robotic sigh, satisfied with their own work. Then a completely natural huuuuuORRRPh echoed through the warehouse as they let out the remaining oxygen, crushing down their gut into a more ‘natural’ looking shape. At least one that was less recognizable. Even if it still hung below their waistline, this one they could actually hide under their jacket without worrying about it being seen. They patted their belly one more time, feeling it slosh around... and walked off into the darkness of the night.

*/epilogue.\*

“Fucking HELL!” Pascal shouted, his controller bouncing across the floor after he spiked it like a football. It took his headphones with it, disconnecting him from the immersion of the screen singularly lighting the room. His defeat sprawled across it, still taunting him while indistinct sound (and probably actual taunting) came from his headset on the ground. The teal calico balled and unballed his fists, running his hands over his ears, swishing his tail agitatedly.

He reached for the headphones to put them back on and continue his rage-inducing night of gaming, when he realized he could hear something. Outside. Metal scraping against brick. Like a car slowly running against it... Except he was seven stories up. And focusing on it, he could hear more distinct clinking with it. He hesitantly walked towards the window it was coming from, although he felt too afraid to actually get close, let alone open it.

Instead, he stopped short. Unconsciously holding his own breath so the only sound was something from his headset behind him, his console, and whatever was coming. A scrrrrrrrrrape accompanied by clink... clink... clink... A red light started to wash onto the window sill from below. The optic producing it slowly came into view, a robot with a security camera of a head, metal as dark as the night around it. Its sharp metal fingers reached up and tapped on the window firmly, but not as to break it.

Pascal sighed, letting his whole body relax. He walked over and unlatched the window, pulling it up and then backing up so the robot could climb inside. He said, “What’s wrong, couldn’t take the stairs today? And what were you doing, dragging a safe up here?”

Xor let out a digitized growl as they pulled themself into the window, quickly running into a problem: Their gut. Something that should not be there, but was nonetheless making their life a pain. That sloshy sack became tightly outlined by the window frame, highlighting the depth of it. Xor’s irritation only grew as they heard a scoff from Pascal. They pulled one of their arms back across the threshold, folding it unnaturally to do so. And with that arm, they pushed hard on their underbelly, making it sloosh out and then slap against the inside wall.

From there, Xor was able to easily pull the rest of themself inside. They crawled onto the ground like a spider, ignoring their gut scraping across it. Once their legs were on solid ground once more, they were able to finally stand up proper. Every part of their body seemed to snap and click into its proper place as they did, unfolding into a towering imitation of a humanoid... along with an uncharacteristically large belly hanging from their middle.

It was at the perfect height for Pascal to be nearly forced into direct eye contact with it, until he looked up further. Not feeling threatened by the seven-foot-something robot, he said, “Wow, been eating a lot? I didn’t know robots could get fat.”

Once again, Xor let out a digitized growl as they focused on their little feline roommate. “That’s because we don’t. This little piggy decided he wanted to take the long way to becoming biofuel. And if you keep asking questions, you’ll join him.”

Pascal just rolled his eyes and said, “Yeah, yeah. But how many roommates are gonna ignore whatever homicidal nonsense you get up to? Besides, you need the rent help.”

Xor just put their hands up against their face, then made a loud scraping noise as they dragged their claws down their head. “I... am going to go to my room. And I’m going to fix this,” they smacked their gut, causing it to let out a wet glorp, “so it never happens again.” Then they stomped past Pascal, letting their belly push him out of the way.

Although right at the door, Xor had to clutch the doorframe and groan. Whatever sensors usually gave him pleasure from such a weighty, squirmy gut must be at their limit. They’d been full up for... maybe an hour or so now, even if its contents were liquefying and draining away that entire time. The point was, they weren’t supposed to be like that for so long, and it was making Xor... queasy. Or its simulate approximate.

They could feel their roommate’s amused look practically burning into their back, so they turned around and shot them a red glare. "Not a WORD. If you come in and bother me before he's gone... You're going to be the test subject of my repairs!" With their pathetic threat delivered, they lurched into the room, slamming the door behind them hard enough to make the lights flicker.