She was alone in her pod, they thought that she had gone back to sleep but she could feel it, crawling just beneath her skin.... the monster. It was eating her alive, devouring her from the inside out, it burned. She tries to control it, tries to calm it, but it wants out. Laurel isn't sure how much longer she can hold it back, she can feel herself changing and there is nothing they can do. The kind person that they know will vanish, the monster is coming and all hell will break loose.

"She isn't going back to sleep," Sanlio tells  Trusk and the others, "We cannot tell Winston, Dimitri or Yuri, but she is fighting it. If we give her more, it could kill her."

"What do we do?" Tahla asks.

"I don't know," He shakes his head. "Trusk?"

"Let me help you," The Teller offers, "I have a wonderful idea."

The Teller had snuck on board, he was supposed to be on the same ship as AM, but he knew he was needed here. He presses some buttons and reaches for the latch that opens the pod, when Trusk stops him, he merely gently shifts the hand aside and smiles. 

"We need her, not just her, but the monster." He opens the lid, "Embrace the monster." He whispers.

They look at each other, "Monster?" They ask in unison. 

"Oh yes," He places his fingers to his lips, "Shhh, the monster is coming and it is beautiful."

"Does AM know?" Tahla asks.

"Oh yes," The Teller nods, "That is one of the many reasons that he loves her so much, is that she chooses to keep her monster locked up inside her, where as people such as Winston lets his run loose."  He glances at Laurel, "Mishka is a monster, I have seen it, terrible thing. But her," He waves his hand over Laurel, "She is something special."

"Change Laurel." The Teller whispers, "Change."

Her body convulsed, bones snapping and popping in and out of their joints, she growls and screeches in pain and pleasure. She was five foot seven, now she is six foot five. She weighed two hundred pounds before the monster, now she weighs nearly three hundred and fifty, she was like Yuri, jacked up and pissed off. The only difference, she is and always has been ..... a different kind of monster. 

"I used Pharent to reassemble her, and now..." Sanlio begins, "The prophecy has come."

Long sharp claws for ripping, teeth for shredding, and muscle. Oh how joyous, she thought. I can feel the blood running through my veins, I can feel the wind in my hair and the passage of time. I am, a monster. 

Winston could not sit, he walks swiftly back towards the pods, leaving Yuri and Dimitri alone with some coffee. He could not get Laurels words out of his mind, "Mishka. He's dead." He shakes his head as he comes around the corner to the area where Laurels pod sits and stops dead in his tracks. Standing there, with it's back to him is a furry giant. Massive, not nearly as tall as Yuri, but built like a brick shithouse nonetheless.

It wasn't attacking, it was merely standing there, wait... Laurels pod! It was standing near Laurel! What if it hurt her? He rushes across the room and as he gets closer he is frozen in fear and horror. The thing that he is looking upon, this hairy giant...is Laurel.

"What in the name .." He begins.

She rounds on him, those green eyes were now even more intense, damn near glowing. Growling and starting to turn on him with her razor sharp nails, the only thing that stopped her was the Teller. He calms her, but the look of murder in her eyes told the whole tale. He damn near pissed himself looking at her.

"Winston," Trusk grabs him and injects him with something, "We cannot allow you to stop this, you are going to have to go to sleep for a while."

"Why?" He looks at Laurel, "Why did you awaken her? Monster. She ...is ....a ...monster." He barely gets it out before he falls to the hard metal surface. 

"The prophecy, Winston, she is the prophecy, and you cannot stop it from happening. Don't worry, Alexandre Markus knows, in fact, he loves her all the more because she told him what she is and showed him her darker side. Her monster. The monster that I told Sanlio to make." He laughs, "She survived it, out of how many?" He asks. "How many died? How many did you kill? Did the counsel kill to keep the prophecy from happening? YOU WILL NOT STOP IT this time...we are way ahead of you."

Laurel turns, looks him in the eye and cradles her belly. 

"NOOOOO!" Winston tried to shout.

"Yes, we believe that she already carries his child. She became the monster to protect it, she feels threatened by you, by the others and this..." He points to Laurels visage, "This is what occurs.."

"Bastard," Winston whispers. 

"Put him in the pod." He motions to Laurels now empty pod, "You and everyone else will accept or die."

Trusk responds, "AM, when he was injured all those years ago, what do you think we did? We used Pharent to repair him..." Winston's eyes grow large realizing what that meant, "Yes, Alexandre Markus is a monster."

All around him he heard laughter as the pod slowly closed...