CHAPTER 2: ipisMAN

The heat subsided. Dan felt something acting up deep inside his bowels once again. He knew something was not right. He began to recall what had happened in the past, that made him this way. He flashed back Ateneo, his lessons, his friends, his teachers, the chemistry lab, a couple of suspicious characters, his job, McDonalds, slipping in a puddle, eating a cockroach, waking up home..."wait." He suddenly blurted out. Chemistry lab, a couple of suspicious characters, a cockroach that caused abnormal bowel movements... "Something IS not right" he figured. He fixed up the pieces, and he formed a conlusion. The cockroach he ate was radioactive. He remembered visiting the chemistry lab to examine the architectural design of the place. As he strolled across the narrow pavements of the lab, Dan was amazed on what he saw. A cockroach, yellow in color, was flying around a small cage. Dan veered his head closer to the cage to be able to see more of this creature he had never seen before. He was amazed. This cockroach was agile, unlike any other cockroach he saw. It was strong, so strong that when it beats it wings, it creates shockwaves that was distributed inside the cage. He was awestrucked. Dan read the nameplate on the cage. "Cockroach Beta 1.7, specimen #82, UNSTABLE! Keep away from outside..." As Dan was finishing reading the plate, two unfamiliar faces then barged in the lab.

"GET OUT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE! THIS IS TOP SECRET INFORMATION YOU ARE DEALING WITH!"

One of the people yelled.

"Oh, um, i'm sorry. I was just here to examine the architectural design of the Chem lab. I was looking around..."

Dan replies.

"Hmph. Nonetheless, get your face out of here. Marami pa kaming gagawin...na hindi dapat makita ng ibang tao..."

Dan hurriedly rushed out of the room, in fear of what the two might do to Dan.

"Yes! that cockroach I ate, must be the cockroach I saw in the..."

Dan dropped on the ground, grasping his stomach. He began seeing double, trpile, quadruple, until suddenly he began seeing distant objects, and also bacteria. He began hearing things he had not heard before, like the eerie screams of the insects, and the yells of bats. He was sweating cold liquid out his body. His skin was discoloring, turning into a vermillion as he continued on grasping his stomach in pain. He grew a thick shell in his chest, arms, and legs.

"Uurrrkkk...whats happening...WHAT'S HAPPENING!!!"

He sprouted wings in his back. It flapped conituously as Dan's pain continuously rises, until suddenly,

The pain stopped.

Dan stood up, wondering on what's hapening. He began walking around the house. It had a different feeling now. He doesn't feel the constant pain when he walkes on his calluses. He does'nt feel tired after jogging around. He felt like a new man. He walked around, and stopped on a mirror.

He wondered who he was looking at. It wasn't that ordinary, average guy he's had seen through the mirror for all those years anymore. It was an alien-like creature, with a helmet, similar to a cockroach's. It was yellow and had wings, and it had an exoskeleton, fiery enough to scare even the toughest of SWAT teams. This "alien" was Dan now.

"Unstable...so this was what it meant. I'm one with the cockroach now..."

"I am...IPISMAN"