"What about a test subject?" Talia asked. "Lord knows Night City is full of enough bums that will shoot up anything for a few hundred Eurodollars?"
Travis thought over what Amelia and Talia said. On one hand, Amelia was right, there was no telling what else it might do to him and the last thing Travis wanted to see was that bird beaked bastard of a ripperdoc if he could help it. I mean sure, being a cybernetics surgeon in Night City of all places practically demanded the word sleezy to be somewhere on your resume for you to even be qualified. Still the thought of seeing that particular ripperdoc after a failed experiment with artificial growth hormones made Travis more than willing to puck a test subject off the street.
Ethics were a luxury few could afford after all, even more it was a heavily taxed luxury at that in Night City. Then again the only thing worse than something going wrong with the injection would be something going right a little too well. Shaking his head, Travis ran his hand through his hair and sipped on his energy drink if only because he'd already extinguished his cigarette.
"Not exactly a fan of that either, pretty sure the shareholders would throw a fit if they saw a forty-foot hobo running around Night City." Travis said and set his can down onto the desk. "Not to mention they could just as easily scam us and run away with any money we'd offer them and maybe even the hormone."
"Oof, yeah could you imagine what might happen if someone like the Animals gang got ahold of something like this and decided to fuck with it a little more?" Amelia said shuttered at the thought. "What about on a smaller scale, maybe like animal testing? I mean I know that's not much better than human testing either…"
"I don't think that's viable either, when's the last time you saw something like a rat running around Night City? Honestly, it's amazing we even have trees and grass in some of the plazas in the city center." Talia said as she crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned back in her chair. Her frustration in not having an answer never making it too far as Amelia laid her head across Talia's shoulder as the two began to silently ponder a solution together.
Travis couldn't help but turn back to the screen as he watched the percentage of the loading bar tick by as his vision slowly began to tunnel. His mind a blank slate, little more than white noise or radio static if anyone were to press their ear up to his head and take a listen. This moment of blanked out meditation only barely aiding in the intrusive thoughts about perhaps scrapping the idea all together.
Before Travis could get too deep into his own mind, his eyebrows perked up as the chime of what sounded like an egg timer. The loading screen at his computer switching to another window displaying the project was completed while the door to the synthesizer opened. Taking the vile from the inside of the synthesizer he looked at the clear contents before turning to Talia and Amelia who were looking to him and waiting on what he might say next.
"Seems like a waist to not use it now." Talia said.
"I don't know why but I was expecting it to glow in the dark or something or at least be like a radioactive green maybe." Amelia said.
"Right? I was thinking about that too, I know it's silly but I was expecting it to be like it is in the movies where for some reason when they open the container a bunch of white smoke comes billowing out and-" Talia cut herself off as she snatched at Travis's wrist just as he was reaching for the trash. "You're not seriously planning on just throwing it away are you?"
"What options do we really have? I mean we don't have any animals to test it on and I'm not gonna go out to the pet store and ask for one and I'm certainly not going to risk my reputation on a hobo just for a few inches." Travis said before watching as Talia plucked the small vial from Travis's fingers and fished around her jacket for her injector.
Though it didn't seem like it, Talia's own arms and legs were a form of advanced cybernetics that looked and felt completely natural. The only way anyone might be able to tell the difference being the contact points against her pelvis and shoulders where her arms and legs attached. Because of these cybernetic enhancements, Talia was subject to a few daily doses of beta blockers herself and kept an injector on hand in case she needed it.
Popping out the empty beta blocker cartridge and tossing it away, Amelia and Travis watched in horror as they saw Talia load the growth hormone vial in its place. Before she could get too far, both Amelia and Travis leaped onto Talia and held her wrist and hand to keep her from going any further. The sudden jolt forward nearly knocking Talia out of her chair.
"Abso-fuckin-lutely not!" Amelia snapped.
"Yeah, I'm with Amelia on this one babe, there is no way in hell I'm letting you test this on yourself of all people!" Travis said in a mirrored tone to Amelia's.
Talia paused for a moment as her wide eyed and slackened expression of shock from before slowly softened as she let out a gentle scoff. Using her free hand, she gently uncurled Amelia's fingers and pressed a kiss to her knuckles before doing the same to Travis's hand and pecking a kiss to his lips.
"I appreciate the concern you two, but let's think about who is the most qualified to even be taking this stuff to begin with." Talia said as she held up the injector and set it down on the desk, assuring both her partners she wasn't going to take it without first hearing their concerns. "I'm old enough that I have a hormonal regulator installed to keep my menopause symptoms from ruining my day, if anything my regulator will kick in when I inject the growth hormone and ensure any problems that could come up are handled."
Travis and Amelia looked to one another with an expression that said the same thing between the two of them. She had a point, even if neither would admit it out loud. Upon Travis sighing and begrudgingly accepting, but not protesting much further than that, Amelia followed suit. Not before swiping over to the computer however and pulling up a program she'd previously installed for Travis.
"At the very least we should have some record of this test so I'm going to tap into your hormone regulator so I can get the info that it's processing and maybe even kick it into overdrive in the event something goes wrong." Amelia said as she pulled up the program and with a few keystrokes already found a signal for Talia's hormone regulator. Programs like this easily making maintenance on cybernetics, both internal and external, that much easier. "I figured it would already have this too, but in the event that something goes wrong we can sort of force a shutdown inside your body and flood the hormone through your liver to process it out."
"Worst case scenario, we deal with it like a hangover," Talia began. "Best case scenario you guys have to help me go clothes shopping~" Talia said with a wink and a smile before giggling at the way Amelia and Travis blushed.
"Babe, are you sure about this? You really don't have to test this on yourself I'm fine being a little short for a while. I mean I could even get my legs replaced with something a little longer if I really wanted to be taller."
"And what look like an ostrich while you're at it?" Talia teased before giving Travis's arm a reassuring stroke before her eyes softened on him as she cocked her head to the side. "I wouldn't do this if I didn't feel safe my love, besides I don't mind gaining a few extra inches and I know you won't either."
That last remark causing Travis to chuckle under his breath in only for a lack of words to really say. His head instinctually turning away from Talia as if to try and hide the blush burning at his cheeks.
"You ready over there Amelia?" Talia asked.
"Program is set up, emergency flush is ready just in case. Were good to go." Amelia said.
"Bottoms up!" Talia said as she pulled up her shirt and pressed the injector into her abdomen. With a press of a button and a sudden click and whoosh, the contents of the growth hormone vial emptied into Talia's body.