As Brittany exerted her will over the world above. Deep below in the R&D labs, they continued to work their magic.

The world was a hazy memory. He knew he was ‘Brad’ and that he existed as a concept, but otherwise his experience of life was merely perceptions of light and touch. His form shook from the bass of others’ voices when they spoke. He could feel it when they fed him. Otherwise, he was nothing. All his thoughts came and went. Memories of a past life would pop up and then disappear. What was left of his nerves worked in a limited capacity. Warmth is what he currently felt. The thought of ‘comforting’ flashed into his thoughts and then disappeared.

Amanda hummed to herself as she walked into work for the day. An ice coffee in her left hand, she sipped on it regularly to try to cool herself. One never got used to New Orleans’ oppressive summer heat, they only learned how to live with it. She wore tight-laced white air-force ones and blue-jean leggings. A white tee on top.

She tapped her keycard and waved at the security guard. A big gruff former Marine. She found it funny how she still stood inches taller than him. But at the same time, she also found him cute. A lot like Brad. She knew she had a type. The guard found her cute as well; little did he know just what her cute exterior was involved with.

As most of her coworkers ascended to their respective departments, Amanda descended to her world. Though she was low on the R&D totem pole, she still loved her job. Especially on days like today. Floor B5 shone on the Elevator’s counter. Amanda stepped out into the hyper cooled air of the lab.

“Hey! Ready for the big day!” Amanda was greeted by the chipper voice of her coworker, Amelia. A black girl just a couple inches taller than Amanda’s 6ft 7inches.

“Oh my god. Absolutely. Like, this is what every psychology student dreams of, right? The opportunity to probe places the human mind has never been before?” Amanda replied giddy as she sat at her desk and plopped in her chair. Her white sneakered feet lifted from the floor and kicked happily.

“Brad and Tanner are ready for their big day, too.” Amanda winked.

“Oh. No. No socks I’m assuming?” Amelia asked.

Amanda nodded with a grin.

“How long of a walk?” Amelia followed-up.

“Oh. 3 quarter mile. Nothing.” Amanda informed her coworker.

“In this heat!? Those poor fella-,” Amelia stopped herself. The R&D guys and gals were careful not to refer to the deatomized individuals as such. “Those poor test subjects…”

“Eh. Wasn’t that bad. I didn’t feel like my feet were sweaty. It was really comfy actually.” Amanda leaned back and finished off her coffee.

“Well, I’m not touching them now that they cooked under your funky feet.” Amelia held her nose.

Amanda stuck out her tongue and stood back up. She could feel Brad and Tanner’s forms mold to her feet. How good they felt honestly made her sigh.

30 minutes later, Amanda, Ameilia and 5 other R&D techs stood around a tank full of light blue liquid. A large version of the Snotgun hung above the tank.

“First subject please.” A tall brunette motioned to Amanda.

Amanda had removed Brad’s form earlier and placed him in a plastic tray. She looked down at the living putty and smiled. Her foot print was still very much visible in Brad’s ‘body’ and his body was slick with her sweat. She wondered how he felt about things.

“Cold”. “Uncomfortable”. Brad’s thoughts bubbled.

“Bombs away.” Amanda gave a dramatic salute and dumped ‘brad’ into the tank.

The blue liquid bubbled and frothed and then the ray hanging from the ceiling fired.

Brad screamed as he reconstituted. His body regrew at the expense of great pain.

Amanda stood with her arms crossed as she watched her prisoner of the past 3 months come back to life. She wondered how he would feel about her after this. If he even realized he was her living insole the entire time.

45 seconds later, Brad lay motionless in the tank. His thoughts went from “Cold. Scared.” To thinking about Amanda having locked him in this room. How pissed he was. It was if the last three months never happened. However, he felt a small emptiness as if he had lost something.

*thomp* *thomp*

“Wakey wakey sweat rag.” Amanda tapped the glass of the tank in which Brad’s nude body floated. His dick floated limply between his legs in the liquid. Brad’s eyes shot open with fear as he looked at Amanda.

The team pulled Brad from the tank and seated him nearby. Dried and dressed back in the familiar yellow jumpsuit. He sipped on a cup of bone broth as one of Amanda’s coworkers poked and prodded his body while another asked him questions.

“Look. The year is 2027. My name is Brad Bergendorf. I’m 31 years old. I live in New Orleans. My crazy ex somehow kidnapped me.” He shouted angrily.

Very good. Amelia calmly noted Brad’s response.

“So you don’t remember anything of the past 3 months?” Ameila asked.

“Why do you keep asking that? Literally 2 seconds ago I was standing in front of that bitch pointing a gun at me and next thing I know, I’m waking in a fish tank.” Brad kept a finger pointed at Amanda who looked on with no emotion.

In the back of Brad’s mind, the thoughts percolated. “Warmth.” “Comfort.” Brad closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

“Headache?” Amelia asked.

“No. Just. Just weird thoughts.” He shook his head.

“Like what?” Amelia looked into his eyes.

“Warmth. Comfort. Happy…” Brad stared at the floor.

“Interesting.” Amelia replied.

As they talked, a voice came on the PA.

“Ready for subject number 2.”

Brad watched as Amanda removed her left shoe. Her bare foot flexed and folded in the open air. Her toes splayed. Brad watched on, disgusted. He was unprepared for what followed.

Amanda pulled the blob that was Tanner from her shoe. His ‘body’ perfectly molded to fit her sole. With a ‘shlorp’ he was dropped from the shoe into an awaiting tray.

Brad watched intently as the mysterious blob was taken over to the tank and dropped in. Flashing lights, frothing, and deafening sounds occurred for the next minute. Brad couldn’t believe his eyes. Where there had once been an insole form Amanda’s shoe now floated a full grown man.

His eyes grew wide as the horror of reality hit him. He pointed at the tank.

“I -. Me. Her. What!?” He grew pale.

Amanda walked over to Brad and smirked. She stooped down. Her bare feet pressed firmly into the bare concrete floor of the lab.

“Finally putting 2 and 2 together?” She stared into Brad’s eyes. “That’s right. Tanner over there was my special little test for the past 3 months along with you. Anything I wanted to do with you, I did. You were powerless to stop me, in fact it sounds like you liked it.”

Brad felt his mind split. The memories of his life as a blob began to become more clear.

All the thoughts of warmth and wet, was that him under her foot.

“Now don’t be too confused. You both also made great bike seats. Oh, and when I got done fucking other dudes, you were very absorbent.” Amanda rubbed in how she had used Brad over the last 90 days. “And you oddly very useful for cleaning the lint out of my pockets and my dirty keyboard.” Amanda’s eyes cocked to the side, “In fact, you were more useful as that thing than you ever were as a man.”

Brad’s mind was torn. He wanted to fight back against Amber’s words, but he did remember how happy he was. Or at least he remembered he was.

“Turn me back.” He looked at Amber.

She simply laughed in return, “Of course we’re gonna turn you back you fucking idiot. Jeez, did you think you were being Mister ‘I had an epiphany’ and this was a movie or something? No. You’re mine, dude. I’ll turn you back, turn you on, turn you inside out. Your job is just to answer Miss Amelia’s questions here and be a good test subject.” Amanda turned and walked from Brad and Amelia, her bare feet smacked against the floor.

Brad turned pale, “Am I really going back into one of those things?” Brad pointed as another lab tech removed her shoes and the blobs within.

“Yes, but we got some work to do first.” Amelia replied.

Brad lay sedate on the table.

The next step in testing was to implant an enhanced neuro chip with an artificial nervous system. Testing had shown that the Snotgun left neuro chips and other non biological matter untouched. Vilecio hoped to leverage this discovery.

Once again, Brad walked into the white room with Amanda, Snotgun in hand. This time, however, he knew what was coming. He tried to beg and plead. He cried, but Amanda had Science to do.

Amanda stood over Brad’s deatomized form. This time, however, he was not just a formless helpless lump. He moved ever-so slightly, as was expected.

His mind backed-up to the Neuro-chip, Brad was now fully aware of his new form. He was cold and hungry. He needed something. He knew this was part of Amanda’s plan.

Amanda placed her bare right foot forward. She watched as Brad slowly puddled around and under it. He could hear and feel, but was still overall blind.

Brad’s thoughts were processed by the neuro-chip and transmitted to Amanda’s phone. She opened the app to watch his thoughts appear in real time.

“Sadistic Bitch.” Brad conveyed.

“If you truly feel that way.” Amanda peeled her foot away from the brown goop.

“No. Please. Cold.” Brad’s thoughts appeared on her app.

Amanda laughed at how he hated, but absolutely needed her.

“Okay. I’ll let you be my insole, but only if you really get between the toes.” She forcefully stepped into Brad and pressed as hard as she could. The purple painted toes wiggled under the artificial lighting of the room as Amanda watched Brad ooze between them. The accumulated dirt and toe jam  were quickly consumed by him.

“Belong.” Appeared on screen.

“Very good Brad. That’s where you belong.” Amanda smiled. “Now hold on tight, we’re gonna go out tonight and find a real man who I actually deserve.

“Warm. Happy.” Flashed briefly on the screen before Amanda slid her phone in her back pocket.

"Send in Tanner." She let the girl in the control room know. "I need a matching pair..."