Temple to Rubber Medusa
by Oddleaf (ao3)
Ilia never expected to be stealing artifacts when she joined the White Fang. Treasure Hunting wasn't exactly in the job description… Unfortunately, Sienna wanted this particular item found and wouldn't stop sending Fang agents out until it was. Ilia is the latest to be assigned the task following the strange disappearance of the grunts who’d previously gotten the assignment.
Both the trip into the jungle and the trek through the overgrown area was horrendous. Far too many strange insects. The only upside to the whole thing was that the temple containing Ilia’s prize was only 10 minutes from her dropoff point. Odd…the maps said it was farther.
Oh well.
Ilia decides not to look a gift horse in the mouth and goes into the black, strangely glossy building, using an abundance of caution once within to make her way through the odd hallways inside. As Ilia gets further and further in the building she starts to understand a few important things.
- The temple is one dedicated to depravity. Unreadable runes tell her nothing but the images of crude bondage gear show all she needs to know.
- Every single surface is both impossibly smooth and glossy, seemingly made of….latex.
- Everything is perfectly preserved. The drawings and runes alike look brand new. Almost as if the temple was built yesterday.
Ilia's walking becomes more careful and slow as this information registers. By the time she passes through the open entrance of a new, larger hall she's moving very little with each step. A perfect pace to take in the horrors on display.
Statues.
A lot of them.
Around 30 can be counted from just a quick look. The constructs line the sides of the room, each placed upon a tall, sleek pillar the same glossy black as everything else in the temple. They're rather colorful. Each one is a different, shiny hue of the rainbow. Each one has a different pose. Each one is nude…
Some depict people Ilia knows.
No coincidence on Remnant could be strong enough for it to be accidental that Ilia spots numerous statues of agents within the Fang. Ones sent on this very mission.
Trifa in glossy gray with her arm out, frozen in a pose that suggested she was about to attack.
Deery stuck in a light brown, the poor Faunus made to squat low with a large, clearly forced grin on her rubberized face.
A newer recruit named Justine Case, converted into an orange rubberdoll. Stuck on her knees with her mouth wide in shock and her arms bent as if trying to defend herself.
A small voice in the back of her head says that the poor Faunus were totally petrified in rubber somehow. Another says that the likelihood of that isn't very high, but not zero. A voice much louder than both tells her to run . Ilia comes extremely close to listening to her last thought, even beginning to turn around before remembering that Sienna's irritation and approval are far too important to risk.
The spotted Faunus turns to the pedestal at the end of the long hall and gulps, beginning a terrifying walk. She's fhe most careful she's ever been in her entire life, keeping her eyes peeled for any sigh if danger while holding her whip rapier in a ready stance.
Her care and trepidation prove to be less necessary the longer she's not ambushed. When she reaches the pedestal holding her prize she's slightly disarmed, still anticipating anything and everything even as her guard lowers a little.
A terrible mistake.
The artifact Sienna had craved for so long turns out to be a sculpture of a woman's head. Seemingly made from black latex as well, because of course it would be. The item looked to be fashioned after Medusa, a Faunus in human folklore. The fangs within a permanent sneer. Hair made of snakes. Literal ruby eyes.
All signs point to the snake creature of legend, yet the idea of it being her makes little sense to Ilia. Sienna hates the legend of Medusa, so why would she want-
Whatever. Questioning the reasoning of the High Leader would lead nowhere good.
Ilia reaches out with extreme caution and attempts to grasp the Medusa bust.
Wrong move.
The statue's eyes flash once and Ilia is immediately doomed.
Sqrk!
The Chameleon girl doesn't even get enough time to finish gasping before her entire body turns into pure rubber, shifted into black gloss from head to toe so quickly that her hand still hovered above the relic.
She couldn't move if she tried. Not anymore. She's been completely frozen. Rubberized into a statue, just like the others lining the large hall. And like those statues she gets to be displayed as a warning to those who come after. Ilia’s petrified body sinks into the smooth, polished floor.
When she surfaces again, it’s on an empty pedestal on the right side of the hall, her form much like before. Arm forward to grasp at a treasure she can't have. The only changes are the nudity, the widening of her eyes, and the clearly forced wide grin on her face, symbolizing her perceived greed.
Do not cross Medusa.