Growing into the Job, Post 505: A Day at Far Horizons: EPIRI, 2:05 PM

Evolution Pharmaceuticals Innovation and Research Institute (EPIRI)

Monday, 2:05 PM – Study Clinic, Private Treatment Room 7

Rachel Keller | Product Study #F8-040-RK

The needle of the strange double-barreled syringe slid in smoothly, disappearing into the thick curve of Product Study #F8-040-RK’s deltoid; the first had gone into her sternum. The injection site was firm - solid, like trying to jab a needle into a damn tire. Sammi Hanes  - intern, learning how to do these things - let out an appreciative whistle.

“Crikey, your arm’s a bloody brick, mate.” She shook her head, pressing the plunger down with steady pressure. “You sure you need this stuff? You’re already built like a fuckin’ She-Hulk.”

Rachel Keller chuckled - low, soft, and utterly unbothered. She sat comfortably on the edge of the padded exam table, legs crossed at the ankle, broad shoulders relaxed. She was still in her workout gear from this morning, and - yes - probably still had a pump from a killer shoulder workout. There was an ease to Rachel, a quiet confidence that made the whole process feel normal - which, for Sammi, was a wild contrast from their last patient. Adrienne had been all dramatic flinches and whiny demands. Rachel? She took it like she’d done this a hundred times before. It had maybe been a few, a handful, but she handled it like a pro.

Silvia Braccio, arms folded, observed from beside them. “Don’t get cocky, Sammi, concentrate. Keep your hand steady, finish the injection.” Her tone was cool, but there was a hint of amusement in her expression. She had to admit that Sammi, despite her ultra-casual approach to healthcare, the Movement, and life in general, was a hoot.

Sammi scoffed but obeyed, letting the last of the serum push through. “Yeah, yeah. Don’t stress. I’m a bloody natural.” She withdrew the needle, and this time remembered to press a gauze pad firmly against the injection site. 

Rachel had barely reacted. 

Sammi smirked up at her. “You’re a tough sheila, I’ll give ya that.”

Rachel gave her a small, knowing smile. “Thanks.” She rolled her shoulder a little, flexing out the muscle instinctively. The shift of her arm sent deep shadows playing over her biceps - big, and perfectly sculpted, even at rest. It was the kind of physique that once she would’ve thought impossible for a woman, or at least on her. But Rachel had left those old limitations behind.

“Alright,” Silvia said, “that’s done. Sammi, toss the needles in the sharps container. I’ll take the tube.”

The glass tube of the syringe, Sammi knew, would be reused and she handed it to Silvia. She did as instructed, tossing her long silver hair over her shoulder as she carefully slipped the two needles into the red plastic container on the wall. She could feel their patient looking at her, thoughtfully. 

“Wasn’t your hair a different color when you came in?” Rachel asked, “Like, red?”

“What? That’s bonkers,” Sammi laughed, turning back to the room, “Anyway, isn’t silver your favorite color?”

Rachel paused, finding it unusual that they would know something like that, but was able to shrug off the strange sensation that she was being watched in more ways than she knew. In the meantime, the intern had a question for her

“So, Ms. Keller,” the thin, pretty girl with the definitely-used-to-be-red-but-was-now-silver hair asked, “Waht’s it feel like, the poke? When the Product goes in?”

Rachel considered the question for a moment, rolling her thick shoulder again. It wasn’t an unfamiliar sensation - not anymore, after a number of sessions like this - but describing it? That was something she hadn’t really been asked to do before.

“The poke?” she echoed, glancing down at her arm, where a small red mark was already fading. “Barely felt it. You’re good at this.”

Sammi grinned at Silvia, waggled her eyebrows, clearly pleased with herself. “Bloody oath I am.”

“But the product…” Rachel’s brow furrowed slightly as she searched for the right words. She exhaled through her nose, thoughtful. “It’s cool, almost chilly. Like - spreading out, deep under the muscle. Not uncomfortable, exactly. More like…a flush. A surge.” She flexed her fingers, then made a fist, watching the way her forearm shifted. “Like something waking up.”

Sammi nodded along, clearly intrigued, and saw how Silvia was paying attention as well. Making notes, in fact, on her tablet. “Does it hit all at once,” Sammi asked, “or is it more of a slow-burn thing?”

“Both,” Rachel decided. “At first, it’s subtle - just a little shiver, a little tingle that goes up and down my spine. Then, it’s only later, I’ll notice things. A little more strength, a few more plates on the bar. The way my body just knows what to do in the gym, like it’s adapting faster than before.” Her lips quirked in a small, private smile. “Like it’s ahead of me, sometimes.”

Silvia, listening from the counter where she was checking Rachel’s chart on the tablet, let out a small hmm. “Sounds about right.”

There was a beat of quiet, then Rachel straightened a little, the humor in her expression shifting into something more serious - curious. “Actually,” she said, “since we’re talking effects…” She glanced between the two other women, considering her next words. “There’s something I wanted to ask…”

Silvia arched a brow. “Sure. What’s up?”

Rachel leaned forward slightly, resting her hands on her thick thighs, fingers gripping her knees and causing her mighty forearms to flex. “It’s about some girls at my gym. Clients, customers, friends - they started calling themselves ‘Big Body Girls’.”

Silvia made a small sound of recognition, nodding. She was familiar with Rachel’s gym, at least in passing - Big Body Gym had been a local institution, run by Rachel’s husband, a bit older guy. As far as she understood he was a former professional bodybuilder, and opened the gym long before Rachel herself had started becoming its defining presence. She hadn’t heard much about these women, though, yet.

“They’re getting strong,” Rachel continued, “stronger than they ever thought they could. They push hard, train hard, and they’re seeing results like nothing else. I know I have something to do with that, this effect I can have on people-”

“No shit,” Sammi murmured.

“ - but they want more,” Rachel continued, tone thoughtful. “And I want that for them, too. I heard there’s a treatment - something different than what I get, something, like, well  - something that could help them take things to the next level.”

Sammi chuckled, knowing what the patient was implying, but Silvia’s response was more measured. She tilted her head, considering Rachel carefully before speaking.

“You’re talking about The Program,” she said at last.

Rachel’s brows lifted slightly. That was the first time she’d heard a name put to it. “Yeah?”

Silvia nodded. “Well, it is available for us here, and if we ask the right people we might be able to get your girls in, start on treatments,” she began explaining. She herself had been on Program (though not the variant this subject was obviously asking about) for a short while, before her assignment here. “We could accelerate their progress, get them big, quick. If that’s what you want.”

Rachel heard the way she phrased it: If that’s what you want.

There was something unspoken there.

She sat up straight again, folded her arms under her powerful chest, and considered Silvia in return. “Alright,” she said slowly. “What’s the catch?”

Silvia’s lips twitched - just slightly, like she appreciated the fact that Rachel had caught on so quickly.

“The catch,” she said, “is that if they’re on Program, they’ll build up an…immunity, to you. They won’t be as… subject to your influence. Your…sway. Do you know what i’m talking about?”

“I think so…” Rachel answered.

Silvia gestured, vaguely, toward Rachel. “Right now, your girls are feeding off you. Your pheromones, your presence, your leadership, the way you’re growing - it’s all affecting them, whether they realize it or not.”

Rachel frowned, processing that.

Sammi, leaning a hip against the counter, jumped in. “What she means is, right now, they listen to you. It’s the Product. It gives you control over the sheilas in your hive. If they go on Program, they won’t need you in the same way. They might start making their own calls.” Sammi’s grin became catlike. “Don’t want the worker bees strayin’ too far from the queen, do we?”

Rachel sat with that, weighing the idea.

She’d known, of course, that her presence had an effect. She’d seen it firsthand - how her girls pushed themselves harder when she was around, how they seemed to thrive under her guidance. She knew the injections she was getting had something to do with that. If they start on this other stuff, she thought, will they see me differently?

Silvia was watching her reaction. “So,” she said, arching a brow, “is that really what you want?”

“Well, no,” Rachel said, nodding her head and starting to come to terms with her growing disappointment.

Silvia studied Rachel for a long moment, taking in the slight downturn of her lips, the way her arms remained folded - defensive, disappointed. No, Rachel had said. She didn’t want to lose her sway over them. And Silvia could understand that.

She took a step forward, voice measured but intent. “Rachel,” she said, drawing the woman’s eyes back to hers. “I think you’re looking at this the wrong way.”

Rachel’s brow furrowed slightly. “How do you mean?”

Silvia tilted her head, considering how best to phrase it. She could be direct - this woman seemed like the type to appreciate that. “You’re thinking like a trainer,” Silvia said, “not like a queen.”

Rachel blinked.

Sammi, watching from the counter, grinned. “Ooh, now we’re talkin’.” Meanwhile, she’d been admiring Rachel’s arms for a while, taking things into memory. Maybe I’ll use that later, freak out some frat boys.

Silvia ignored her. “You’re the reason those women are getting stronger. It’s not just because they train harder, or eat right, or want it badly enough. It’s you. Your presence, your influence, your new pheromones - you are what’s driving them to push harder, to surpass their limits. You want them to get bigger, so they do. You want them to be strong, so they become strong.”

Rachel swallowed, something electric flickering in her gaze. “You’re saying it’s not just the workouts,” she murmured, half to herself.

Silvia nodded. “It’s you. The more important it is to you - the more you want them to grow, the more you need them to…” She let that idea hang for a moment, “...the more they will.”

Rachel exhaled through her nose, thoughtful.

Sammi, ever the instigator, leaned in slightly. “Y’know, could be real fun to test it out,” she mused. “Push ‘em harder, see just how big they can get if you really put your mind to it.”

Rachel’s gaze flicked to her, then back to Silvia. “And you think that’ll work?”

Silvia shrugged, but there was a knowing glint in her eye. She’d seen what Subject MM1-A had done here, to the Far Horizons hive. Inadvertently, maybe, yes - the girl barely knew what she was doing. But the effects were undeniable. 

Rachel sat back slightly, rolling her shoulders. Her girls were already growing at an impressive rate, faster than they had any right to. And if she really thought about it… hadn’t it always happened when she was there, when she was pushing them, willing them to do that extra rep, put on that extra plate?

Silvia watched her closely. “They don’t need Program, Rachel. They just need you.”

Something in Rachel’s chest tightened - excitement, realization, power. And just like that, the disappointment was gone. She exhaled, slow and even, before giving a small, knowing smile.

“Okay, then, If that’s all we need, a change in my mindset,” she agreed, “I’ll lean into it.” She considered it already, how big she wanted them - and herself - to be. I’m going to make us all INSANE.

Silvia returned the look, pleased. “Great. Now…” She picked up her tablet, “...let’s schedule your next appointment.”

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