Cat's power was similar to Max's. Flesh shaping allowed her to manipulate other people's bodies but not her own. That was the general description of it; however, she went a fundamentally different route from the young man.
She focused all her development on the healing part of her power, not the mutating one. This, combined with the fact that the girl had a hunting style guideline and limited herself to only a supporting role, stunted and hindered her own growth. That was why she could only do a limited amount of stable mutations on Max, but her unstable and dangerous mutations were a lot easier for her.
In the last part of her life, she was forced to progress quickly, and she chose the path of turning people into tools rather than straight improvements.
So, in the spare time they had, Cat focused on getting some upgrades instead of mutating Max more.
With the hydroponic grounds cleaned, they had access to a lot of facilities. It was in disrepair, but the seed vault was intact. In just a few hours, Cat and Ange could have the underground farm fixed. They just needed to repair the electricity, and they would have enough food production to feed a small town.
Full access to the seed vault was extremely useful. Max got a lot of ideas from plants. It was kind of tricky to make it work with animal cells, but his power made sure to expand his already huge mutation list with those boons.
Inside one bathroom, Max decided to begin his upgrades. They were the only places where he could get some privacy.
The first thing on the list was fucking with his nervous system again.
Olivia had told him that it would be a good idea to reduce his need to sleep, so he went with that.
Max managed to find a crude copy of something that he saw one time in a nature documentary. Dolphins could only sleep with half of their brain turned off, so he tried to do something similar. However, there was a problem looming on the horizon.
[Warning! No more space in the skull; please pick a mutation that increases the size next time.]
Max gains:
Artificial short sleeper: By making various changes in the endocrine and neural systems, it is possible to reduce the 8 hours of sleep required to 4.
The next mutation was focused on increasing his utility as a 3D human printer and making a setup for further upgrades for both his inhuman system and his chemical warfare.
He made what was basically a secondary liver over the old one. An extra organ that could produce a lot of different chemicals to use as medicine. When needed, Max could just spit them out.
Max gains:
Panacea factory: The user gains the ability to metabolize hundreds of different chemicals created by plants. This allows, in theory, the synthesis of any plant-based medicine created by humans. He still needed an external source to know the exact dose of each drug, but in theory, he could create any medicine known to man.
After that came a basic need for the young man. All these extra organs were starting to cost a lot of oxygen to keep up, so upgrading his lungs was a must. This would not only improve his stamina but also open the door to more extreme mutations that required better oxygenation.
Max gains:
Enhanced Lungs: Lungs that operate at 200% performance compared to a set of normal human lungs, combined with integrated high-pressure sacs capable of providing oxygen for six hours.
Finally, there was the fanciest mutation he got from the plants in the place. From all the exotic seeds sealed in this vault, there was one that piqued his interest with the mutation that it unlocked: biological grenades.
Max gains:
Ecballium grenade: Based on the squirting cucumber reproduction system, the user can create fleshy hand grenades. Those avocado-sized explosives can contain any substance or drug that the user can create, and once thrown, they will explode in a 6-meter radius from the bomb. It takes about 5 minutes to create, and a normal person can hold up to 6 of them attached to his body.
After he was done, Max's mind felt a lot clearer from the extra oxygen. The young man only needed to test his new weapon, so he began to create one in the palm of his hand.
Flesh began to bloom from his fingers and wove together into a thick black spherical shape filled with what was basically water to test the explosive power without causing collateral damage.
Once that was done, he stood on the other side of the bathroom and threw it against the wall.
The second it impacted against the white tiles, it exploded with a wet splashing sound. More akin to pressurizing a water balloon than a proper grenade.
("That was . . . anticlimactic . . .") Max was disappointed by the strength of the grenade. Still, if he filled them with something more murky, like tar or blood, it could become an acceptable way to blind his opponents.
Olivia rushed inside the second she heard the explosion. "Hey! Are you alright?" She yelled with her pistol at hand just in case.
"Yes, just trying something new. However . . . it is usually Ange who is trying to flirt with me in the bathroom," Max answered with a teasing tone.
The tanned girl made a smug smile. "She is busy messing with her eyes and brain. So that job is mine now," Olivia muttered as she got closer to him. This was her golden chance to fulfill her plan.
"So . . . how do you want to do this . . ." Max got closer as he prepared to kiss the girl.
With a quick movement, both lips crashed.
Olivia was taken aback a little bit by how long the man's tongue was as he managed to get that dirty, fleshy thing inside her and quickly scaled the situation.
The boy groped the girl as if his life depended on it. Like he was about to fall off a cliff, and that was the only thing he could grab.
She felt blood rushing to her head as this took her by surprise. Olivia's power was focused on finding out the best way to seduce him to her side, so she was not expecting her job to be that easy. Then it was when the realization crashed: HE wanted to seduce HER to his side.
Olivia felt extremely uncomfortable. It was always that way when someone didn't want to do exactly what she wanted. Having a man touch her in that way felt bad, then . . . strange, and eventually those cheeks got used to the sensation of the hands squeezing them.
He was extremely aggressive. Olivia's tongue tried to run to the back of her mouth, but Max quickly grabbed it and forced her to interact with him. Grappling with it and giving only one option to the girl. Stay and enjoy it.
In order to resist the allure of the strong manhandling of her body, she tried to use her power to peek inside Max's mind to see what kinks he had.
Olivia's crotch began to get hotter. The slit cried small tears of pleasure as it dampened those old panties she had been using for three days straight. There was no time to change at the end of the world.
("He wants to do WHAT to my ass?! Another one of those perverts . . .")
She let herself enjoy this for a moment. It actually felt nice having some time to relax and enjoy someone else doing the plotting instead of her.
Olivia felt hotter than when reading smut fanfics. She had tried a lot of media, movies? One of the actors had really bad knees, and the actress had licked her friend's asshole a few hours before kissing that man. Animation? It was just stressful to think about all that work and crunch. Even books had that problem. However, smut scenes written with one hand by a horny young woman in their free time? That did the trick.
The more she gave up, the more she began to get comfortable and reciprocated the kiss. Instead of a grappling contest, the girl's tongue submitted and obediently danced with the other one.
She hugged him, enjoying the strong back of the young man as he did with her lower back. Olivia went closer, leaving zero space between the two young adults' bodies as they kissed.
("He is better than my favorite electric toothbrush . . .")
A few seconds after this, the girl recovered her senses and quickly broke the kiss. Even if it did, small bridges of saliva still connected the two.
("Puta madre . . . that was intense but . . . it also felt nice.")
She was breathing fast, recovering from the air stolen from her lungs. Olivia wanted to look at him with scorn and a serious face, trying to be dominant. What Max got was a fox panting with her tongue out and a completely lost gaze.
"Do you—" He asked with a soft smile.
Before Max could end the sentence, the girl already knew the answer. "Hmph, fine! I don't need my powers to know what you want next," Olivia teased him, and then squatted in front of Max.