[i]'...that gives you about five minutes once the door's open. The shift moves then. Get your stuff and leave; we can celebrate after. Okay?

...Lindsey?"

"Mm." She grunted, her eyes not moving from the keypad. If she concentrated hard enough, she could hear the scrambling of data within its circuitry. Keys had to be seconds away.

CLICK, and her fingers nearly tore the handle from the door as she wrenched it open, dashing inside. Her eyes did the customary sweep, but her mind did not move from the dimly lit samples.

Three years; from the curious crates aboard the cruiser to the scrap of data on a wiped hard drive that Keys had spent a week putting back together to a single picture of a guard furtively scurrying beneath a security camera; carrying a baby reptile in his arms.

It was two months just to get a copy of a single access card. Sylvir had traded his archive of governmental data just for blueprints to the facility. Another month's worth of planning and increasingly-frantic review of how the incursion would work.

All for the tiny scrap of scaled pelt, now twirling between her fingers.

It was such a small thing; two inches of bioprinted skin that glimmered faintly beneath the low light. A tiny sample from Mythica's most closely guarded creation. She would marvel all the more, had it been anyone but Mythica.

She sucked in a breath, and closed her eyes, curling the scrap around her ring finger.

Keys was talking again - two minnutes, it was time to go. She unhooked the walkie talkie from her belt and tossed it unceremoniously onto the table, uncaring. Three years.

She had earned this.

It was just like the dolphin - the way Mythica built its creations synchronizing perfectly with her shapeshifting. The scales rippling over her palms as her fingers curled, the taloned digits already extending, gouging into the table under her. Her teeth pushing, fighting against one another as the canines rapidly elongated, her tongue lolling out of her mouth. Her next breath came heavy, her spine jolting as her neck slipped another link free. Energy, already collecting in the back of her throat as her tailbone shoved hard against the seat of her pants. She gripped harder into the table, and the musculature of her arms bulged. She pulled, and tore a hunk of wood free, her teeth aligning just in time for a broader grin as the tail erupted, far too thick for even the flexible fabric to hold it.

"NhgGHhH..." She snarled, gripping again, and she forced more mass into the tail, link upon link pushing it past her knees and thumping it into the floor. A distinct POP resounded as her shirt tightened upon her chest, already exposing silvered scale upon her midsection. She curled her toes against the boots, and groaned with satisfaction as the talons easily tore through, scratching at the floor as pressure built upon her backside. Her leer widened as her skull began to deform, the draconic snout already taking form.

"YesSs[b]SRRR[/b]..." She groaned again, louder. Her hair was parting, silvery threads working through as horns ground underneath. Her tail lashed, and she heard the SNAP of metalllic table leg give way, the computer bank sliding down before thumping into a nearby filing cabinet. She turned, panting noisily, and felt her heels begin to arch. The table that reached her chest now barely approached her hips, and seemed to be falling away all the faster. "[b]BigGgRRRR...[/b]"

"Lindsey!" Keys finally broke through her reverie. "They're thirty seconds out! You gotta get out! Go!"

Her snout locked into place as she reached for the walkie talkie. "[b]NaAhHRR[/b]" Oh, how she loved how her voice had changed. "[b]Let 'em come.[/b]"

"LINDSEY!"

She tossed it aside, watching as it missed the table completely, thumping into the wall twenty feet away. "[b]HeHh.[/b]"

The door burst open.

The sight was familiar; a half dozen guards dressed in Mythica's green-and-black, each staring at the mostly-shifted beast before then. The click of a half-dozen assault rifles. A brief hesitation, then a barked commander. Surrender, or we will shoot.

She grinned.

"[b]No[/b]", she could finally say.

She set newly grown claws against the tile, and called the new energy forth. A brief churn, and her maw opened wide.

The blast cut through the door, the floor beneath it, and the hallway behind it. A dozen bullets disappeared in the flash, and the group screamed in unison.

She lunged.

--

"Lindsey!? LINDSEY!?"

She picked up the walkie talkie with a scaled hand, taking a deep breath. "[b]Alright. RrRready to go.[/b]"

The voice froze for a moment. "Are...are you alright?"

"[b]TuRRRnurn the cameras back on and see.[/b]"

A longer pause.

"...oh. Oh my goodness."

She growled with delight.[/i]

**********************

Story written by Lunarkeys, art by Jakkal, Lindsey is mine!