FSE

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Melody kept glancing back over her shoulder as she walked from her car to the Swann Clinic. Every movement of a drone out of the corner of her eye, every buzzing speck against the night sky, made her wonder if NUBio was about to pull up in a black van or descend from some stealth aircraft. She'd seriously considered leaving her phone at home, for fear that Chimera was watching or listening to her through it.

Compared to just a few hours ago, things felt different when she entered the lobby and waiting room for the clinic. She thought she knew who her enemies were, and she thought all of the major players in this affair were physical beings with a face she could hit if it came to it.

Her nose twitched at the disinfectant scent, and she didn't want to think about how bad it might've been for someone with a vulpine nose. The waiting room wasn't as busy as it had been when she and Lawrence had come in, with just a couple of morphs in one corner and a single dirty human in another.

She walked up to the mesh-encased counter, where the calico from earlier still sat.

"Dana Simmons, please?" Melody asked.

The cat looked up at her, wrinkled her brow, and recognition flickered in her eyes. She picked up the desk phone and hit a few buttons. She watched Melody close and muttered into the phone that she needed Dana to come down to the lobby. Melody smiled a silent 'thanks' and had a seat nearby.

She tried not to think too hard about it all. Tried not to think about how she'd learned that, apparently, a true AI could exist. That a mercenary who'd terrorized her friends -- whom she'd _shot_on more than one occasion -- was ostensibly on her side and didn't even take it personally.

(Incidentally, while she knew the rich were different, it had never occurred to her that having enough money could make you bulletproof.)

She also tried not to think about how she'd gotten within spitting distance to an actual honest-to-goodness kill squad with their guns trained on her.

Dana appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Melody jumped, startled out of all of the upsetting not-thinking she was doing.

"Melody, is everything okay? Where's Lawrence?"

"He's fine, just lying low," she said as she caught her breath. "But that's why I'm here. Is there someplace we can talk privately?"

Dana nodded and waved Melody along as she calmly walked down a corridor. Melody quickly followed. The doors were labeled only by numbers, and all she knew was that this was a different direction than they'd gone to see Dale earlier. The fact that that was still only a few hours ago was enough to make her unsteady on her feet if she let her thoughts linger on it.

The mouse girl in the nursing uniform took her through a door into a room with a small kitchenette. The break room included a coffee maker that was probably old enough to drive and a pair of appliances that could only be described as 'vintage.' She recognized one as the first microwave she'd seen in at least a decade and the other -- with a hinged front door, a metal rack inside, and a bunch of dials on one side -- she couldn't recognize at all.

The scents were a mishmash -- nobody had spared for any NoseBlock (real or bootleg) in there, so the room held traces of disinfectants, food, coffee, and a half-dozen different species of morphs. Dana went over to the coffee maker, put in a pod and a cup, and withdrew a cup of hot coffee a moment later. She set it on the table with some powdered creamer and sweetener and gestured to a nearby chair before making another cup for herself. Melody looked around and had a seat as she waited for Dana to join her.

"So what's going on?" the mouse asked.

"Oh, where to start," Melody sighed.

"Start with Lawrence."

"Okay. Lawrence is hiding out. NUBio is properly after him at this point."

"He was breaking into their systems on that tablet earlier, right?" Dana asked.

"Yeah."

"I ducked out to get back to work when it looked like things were getting personal with you, him, and his dad, and I missed you on the way out, so..."

"So Lawrence was looking for a guy named Reginald Robins that worked with NUBio. He found him, in a coma, in a fancy upscale hospital. He was hooked up to one of those dream machines they have, and Lawrence patched in."

"You can do that?" Dana asked, eyes wide.

"Lawrence can. He's worked with the tech before, I think his company might make the device they were using, I dunno. But he patched in and -- oh, by the way, Reginald is that Dr. Landau guy -- there was someone else in there with him, this hacker that's been poking at NUBio as well. Lar got some info from him, and we met up with -- with a guy working with said hacker, and he led us to a safehouse."

Dana frowned as Melody changed directions mid-sentence like that, and Melody couldn't help but also frown. She didn't want to lie to her friend, but this was not the time or the place to explain Neal. There might not have ever been a time or place.

_I hate you a little bit for putting me in this position, Lawrence,_the raccoon thought to herself as she took a breath to continue.

"So Lar is keeping his head down, but he was hoping you could swing by his place and take his dad a note." She pulled the folded piece of paper out of her purse and handed it to Dana.

"You tell Lawrence when you get the chance that what he's working on had better be some sort of miracle cure if I'm going to be running errands for him," Dana said, her ears laid back slightly, her tail flicking behind her. "I'm not kidding, this is getting ridiculous. Linda's this close to going to live with her family for a month."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Melody sighed. "This is getting really messy and I'm worried." The word 'messy' brought to mind the scene of carnage they'd fled from just a short while ago, and she felt sick for a moment.

"Worried about him or about you?"

"Both? Can't it be both?" The raccoon's voice came out like a croak as she became less sure she wasn't going to throw up.

"It can be both," the nurse said, trying to be soothing.

"I should... get out of here. Let you... let you get back to work, and I can get home, and... and try and figure all this out."

Dana frowned. "You okay to drive home?"

"I... yeah. Yeah, I'm okay to drive." She offered Dana a weak smile. "Thanks for asking, though."

She got up, realizing she hadn't even touched her coffee.

"Leave it," Dana said when she caught Melody's gaze. "Somebody will be along soon enough who'll be willing to drink it." She winked, and Melody found the gesture slightly reassuring.

"Thanks, thanks, I... I should go." And without another word, Melody shouldered her purse and all but fled the room before she mentally collapsed, threw up, or both.

* * *

"Tom, I think Lawrence has lost it," Melody said as she came into the shop. She didn't quite slam the door behind her, but she closed it hard enough that she winced at how loud it was.

Tom looked up at her from the counter. He had his goggles on as he stood over a disassembled phone. A customer, an androgynous otter morph with a few notches in their ears, stood across the counter from him.

"Sorry," she said when she noticed the customer. "I'll just be in the back."

She stepped through the door from the store to the living area in the back and just tossed her purse onto the couch with a loud groan of frustration. She sat down next to it and rubbed her face in her hands.

A few minutes later, she heard Tom come in. She knew without looking up that it was him from the rhythm of his footsteps, as distinct as a voice. She leaned back against the couch and looked up at him.

"Sorry," she said again.

"It's fine, I was just replacing the guy's battery. Not a big deal, he's gone now and I've got the '15 minutes' sign up. Is Lawrence okay? Last I heard you guys were hitting up that fancy hospital."

"God, Tom, it's... where to start." She sighed and stared off into space for a moment. "Have you ever heard of a hacker named Chimera?"

"Maybe?" he said, unsure. "Not that it means that much, it's not a small community. I could ask around."

"Can you do that? Discreetly? Maybe on the phone, not on the net?"

"Has Lawrence gotten wound up with some hacker he doesn't know?"

"You've got no idea," Melody said with a manic, nervous laugh. "First off, he's an AI. Excuse me, 'digital life form.'" She made air-quotes.

"Bullshit."

"I thought the same thing, but I've been talking to this AI on and off for the last hour or so. He's pretty convincing. Oh, also, remember that panther mercenary from the other day? Yeah, he's got some trick that can change his fur color. _And_he's working for the AI."

"What the fuck did you two get up to today," Tom flatly said, his jaw set.

From start to finish, Melody gave him a recounting of everything that happened starting from when she met Lawrence and Tyler to when she left Lawrence at the safe house. She toned down the violence in her retelling so as not to alarm him, but thoroughly shared everything else.

Tom's jaw, once set, hung open for a few moments.

"I'm getting a beer," he said, getting up and shuffling off to the fridge. He came back with a couple of freshly-opened bottles and handed one off to Melody. She nodded her thanks and took a swig.

"So how do we save him from himself?" she asked. "Because I think this is going to get m-- bad. It's getting bad."

"When NUBio sends an entire hit squad after you, you're already pretty well-screwed. Though I'm not gonna deny, I'm having trouble disliking anyone -- AI or not -- that saves my sister from being murdered and thrown into a hospital incinerator."

"Yeah, but I'm worried that Lawrence is going to get himself killed. When I left, he didn't much trust Chimera either, but I've known him long enough to know he'll get over that and fall into what he thinks is an adventure."

Tom just frowned, unable to argue with that.

"You think that Chimera just wants a body, or is there more to it than that?" Tom asked after a few moments.

"Can't imagine what else it could be. Chimera needs Lawrence for his skill-set. At this point, making a last-minute change would push Lawrence further into paranoia and possibly drive him away. Or if the plan is still within his understanding of how this thing would work, Lawrence would know enough to see a double-cross coming." She shook her head. "Seems like too big of a risk to be anything but on the up-and-up. I'm just more worried about what collateral damage might happen in the process."

"You think Chimera would sacrifice Lawrence if something happened to make it choose between a body and our friend? Or that it might throw him to the wolves to buy itself time?"

"More or less. Also, that's rude to say about wolves."

After a moment, Tom busted up laughing, the kind of gigglesnorting laughter sometimes needed to release tension. Melody gave him most of a smile, a shadow of dread still lurking behind her gaze, but lessened some with the moment of levity. She took a drink of her beer and leaned back into the couch cushions, fears and worries and slivers of ideas all chasing each other around inside her head.

"Do you still want me to look into Chimera?" Tom quietly asked, suddenly solemn. "Because, knowing what I know, I dunno if I could do that without tipping him off."

"Maybe just... see if there's anything floating around out there about him already." It took Melody a moment to realize she'd reflexively answered Tom, just thinking aloud. "I think I've got another idea on how to dig something up on him without getting him onto you."

She grabbed her purse and headed back into her room to change back into street clothes and move things to her backpack.

* * *

Melody kept a firm grip on the backpack strap as she strolled into the semi-abandoned mall for the 'Evening Market.' It wasn't the late-night rendezvous she'd attended with Lawrence only... what, a day and a half ago? She shook her head at that realization.

The market had a slightly different scent going in earlier in the night rather than almost morning like last time. She wasn't sure if the building still had a proper cleaning staff or if it just aired out during the day. It smelled more like a collection of stores and less like people had spent all night leaving behind trails of frustration and desperation. The scent of bad coffee, while embedded in the carpeted sound-muffling walls, wasn't as prominent as it would be at the end of the night.

It was early enough that many of the storefronts used by local merchants of all stripes (and spots, natch) were still closed up, with tables and kiosks covered in tarps. The mall was waking up, slowly, one entrepreneur at a time. Despite the change in landmarks, Melody remembered the place well enough that she was able to find her way without stumbling around into the people who mostly showed up to power-walk through the mostly-empty building.

A familiar brown-furred arctic vixen lounged behind a table with displays of circuit board jewelry. Her finger lazily swiped across the cash register screen with the obvious body language of turning virtual pages in a book. An ear flicked and swiveled towards Melody as she approached, and a moment later Elizabeth turned to face her and blinked.

"Melody!" she said with a friendly smile. The smile fell after a moment as she looked around. "Did something happen to Lawrence?"

"Not yet, though I'm a little tired of being asked that," the raccoon said without missing a beat. "But that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Is this a conversation you need to have with Steve? Because he's not here at the moment."

"Shouldn't need Steve for this. This is more about the hacker community, and something tells me you're more up on the networking than he is. No pun intended."

Elizabeth's ears perked up. "Flattery gets you everywhere, especially if it's accurate. Okay, then."

The vixen set out a 'back in 5 minutes' sign and waved Melody into the store space behind the counter, past the boxes of homemade jewelry.

"Do you actually sell those?" the raccoon asked. "Like, enough to matter?"

"You'd be surprised. But yes, yes, sometimes we do. Sometimes people buy a bunch of them as a cover for paying Steve for his work. We've got a few with special functions. But that's neither here nor there. What did you need?"

"Lawrence and I have crossed paths with a hacker who's tied up in everything we're doing. I don't know this hacker stuff, either the people or the actual hacking, and I just don't trust him."

"And you want me to look him up for you? Ask around?" Elizabeth asked in a neutral tone.

"I don't want you to betray a confidence, or put yourself in danger, or anything like that. But on the off-chance you or Steve have heard of this guy..."

"Wait, do you think he's dangerous?" she asked.

"I don't know," Melody said with a groan, rubbing her face with her hands for a moment. "I know he's got dangerous people working for him. I think he's capable of dangerous things. I think his end goals are ones some people might kill for -- or get an ally like Lawrence killed in the crossfire."

Elizabeth frowned, ears flattening thoughtfully.

"Go ahead and tell me his name." She moved to the computer set up in this ersatz office. "If I don't know him myself, I can make a discreet inquiry or two. Steve might know him, too."

"Where is Steve?"

"He's at home, asleep, undergoing a brainwave treatment."

"Wait, seriously?"

"That sensory rig he wears to do his hacking causes some strain on his system. So sometimes when he sleeps he hooks himself up to a thing that does the neurological equivalent of having a chiropractor work out the kinks in your back."

"That... doesn't sound worth it."

Elizabeth shrugged. "He'll take it as an alternative to getting a brain implant."

"Fair. So, the hacker... his name is Chimera."

"Is that all you know about him?"

Melody paused a few moments and considered what details would be dangerous to share. She also went over what she knew to determine what she could safely describe to the vixen.

"He uses an anthro avatar, but not like a regular morph species. It looks like a blend of dog and cat, it's weird," she began. "I don't know what else he's done, but I know he's been toying with NUBio and he might have an interest in AIs."

"He does sound familiar, though we haven't had any personal dealings with him." The vixen turned to the computer and opened up a few programs that Melody didn't recognize. "I know someone who might know something; I'll bounce him a message."

"How long will it take to hear back?" Melody asked, trying not to sound too worried.

"Jex doesn't sleep more than an hour a day," Elizabeth said as she typed a message and sent it out. "He'll be busy, because he's not allowed to not be, but at the very least we'll get an acknowledgment pretty quickly."

"So why aren't you hacking, too?" Melody asked. "Why just Steve?"

"I do my share," the vixen said with a grin. "I just do it vicariously and by keyboard, rather than plugging in. I write scripts and tools, including most of what Steve uses. I forge the swords, he swings 'em."

"But why?"

"I don't have an interface implant of my own yet, and Steve's rig doesn't work well with fur unless I wanna shave big swaths of my upper body." Her nose wrinkled at the idea. "I'm not as twitchy about interfaces as Steve is, but if I'm gonna get my head drilled for an implant I want it to be _really_high grade. So I'm saving up to get that done."

Melody winced at the mental image of Elizabeth's head getting literally drilled, and the vixen caught it out of the corner of her eye. She laughed softly.

"It's not that bad, really. Go to the right doc, it's easy enough to have put in."

"You're talking about brain surgery!" Melody said.

"I'm talking about _very cool_brain surgery. But seriously, it's not as invasive as the movies make it look, especially if you're getting the good stuff. Higher-quality is built into a smaller package, and a lot of the physical integration is handled by the implant itself. Ask Lawrence about it sometime. This sort of thing is _literally_his field. Also, he has one."

"Yeah, I've seen it," Melody said with a repressed shudder.

Elizabeth opened her muzzle to say something then stopped when she heard a 'ding' from the computer. She immediately turned to the messaging program.

'Haven't really talked to them, but I know of_Chimera, yeah,'_the message read.

"Great, ask him if Chimera's dangerous," Melody said, perking up.

"Okay, okay, hold your horses," the vixen said as she typed out the question and sent it.

'Not as far as I know. Busy one, though. Mostly goes after nastier corporations, NUBio especially. Could probably arrange a contact if you wanted.'

"Not necessary, thanks," Elizabeth said for Melody's benefit as she typed. "Friend of Steve's is already dealing with him, and we just want to make sure he'll be okay."

A few minutes passed.

'I'd mostly be worried about collateral damage. Chimera hasn't gotten anyone killed as far as I know, but things happen and NUBio is a very_bad enemy to have.'_

"My friend's already on their bad side," Elizabeth replied. "But we'll keep that in mind."

"Is there any way I can meet with this guy and talk to him directly?" Melody asked, self-conscious about the notion of 'collateral damage.' "Not that I mind the help, but I feel like I'm being a bother at this point."

"I could ask if he can scrape together the time to do a streamchat," Elizabeth said to the raccoon. "The alternative is eating the cost of a ticket to Vegas."

"Yes, please," Melody sighed. "I don't want you more involved than you have to be, and now I'm starting to get paranoid." She self-consciously rubbed her hands together.

Elizabeth frowned and looked at Melody like she was considering saying something. After a moment, she decided against it and turned back to the computer.

"I'll give him your contact info, he'll reach out to you when he can," she said as she sent Jex another message. "His job keeps him busy, so who knows when that'll be."

"I appreciate it," Melody sighed. "Thanks."

"I'm not going to pretend I know every tiny part of the situation you guys are caught up in, but have faith that things are going to be fine."

"Faith would be easier were it not for the day I've had, but I'll keep that in mind," Melody said with a weak smile.

"Well, I mean, this does bring an old Russian saying to mind, or at least what I'm told is an old Russian saying," Elizabeth said after a moment. "'Pray to God, but row for shore.'"

"Problem is, what's 'shore' in this context?" Melody asked.

The vixen pondered that a moment, thoughtfully tilting an ear. "It sounds like what you want is to get what Lawrence wants out of NUBio without having to work around Chimera or risk getting caught up in whatever he's doing."

"A cure for the Reversion," Melody thought aloud. "Or at least a decent treatment. Maybe... maybe Jex can help with that?"

Elizabeth frowned. "Maybe. Though you'd think that some hacker would have gotten to it by now."

"Until a few days ago, I didn't have reason to think they'd have it other than 'conspiracy nut' paranoia. Also, there's..." Melody paused for a moment, unsure of how much Elizabeth knew and how much she'd be safe knowing. "...things I know that may give him some incentive to try."

The vixen's ears flattened for a moment, aware of the gap in what Melody wasn't telling her and clearly not liking it. She just gave the raccoon a challenging look.

"Lawrence found out that NUBio might have a cure for the Reversion that they're withholding," Melody admitted after several moments' consideration. "They're not responsible for it, but they know where it comes from and they're more interested in profiting off a treatment that's bad enough that patients have to keep coming back but good enough that they want to."

"Yeah, I'm not terribly surprised," the vixen said with a sigh and a shake of her head. "I'm definitely down to help with whatever you've got in mind, within reason. And I bet once you talk to Jex he'll feel the same."

"Okay, then," Melody said. "A plan's coming together in my head. What do you think I'd need if I wanted to take a run at NUBio?"

"To start, you obviously need a way into one of their facilities." Elizabeth thought a moment. "After that... There's a lot that hacking can cover, but you'll need to actually get a team inside because I'm sure some of what you want will be airgapped."

"I figured you'd be talking about equipment to pick locks and things," Melody commented.

"Equipment is less important than people with skills, and those people usually bring their own. So from the top, I'm thinking..." The vixen dramatically counted with her fingers. "You need someone who can BS your team into the place. You'll need someone capable of navigating physical security. Digital support, either outside or on-site. And then someone who'll cover your ass if and when things get violent. So that's you plus..." She made a show of looking at her hand. "...four people. Minimum. Total of five."

"That's a lot of people. Can't I find people who can do, like, two things and cut that down?"

"First off, good luck with that. Second, you need extra pairs of hands to make sure your bases are covered and people can support each other, without having too many cooks. Crime is an art, but there's _some_science to it. And the science suggests a five-person crew."

Melody paused at that. She'd failed to consider that what she was planning was technically crime. At best, vigilantism. Sure, 'greater good' and all that, but this suddenly felt more serious. For all that Melody had gotten on Lawrence for getting caught up in the feeling of adventure, here she was, planning an honest-to-goodness heist.

"I wouldn't happen to be able to get you in as one of the people on this crew, would I?" the raccoon asked with a weak smile.

"Hey, I said I'm on-board. As long as I'm not going to get shot at, you've got some help from me. Though there might be people who are better for this than I would be."

"I'll keep that in mind. Is there a secure way I can reach you, instead of having to come back here?"

"Tom knows a safe way to get through to me. Will that be enough, or do you want him kept out of this?"

"That's fine, I'll want him involved in some way anyhow." Tom was the person she trusted most and she wasn't going to cut him out now. "Thanks for your help, you've given me a lot to think about," Melody said with a smile.

The raccoon fidgeted with her backpack. She looked around the makeshift office. The vixen typed something into the computer and stood up to hug Melody.

"What's that for?" Melody asked, a little confused.

"Just seemed like you needed it. Just remember, this whole mess doesn't begin and end with Lawrence. You're not alone. Now, whomever you're dealing with next, give 'em hell."

"Will do."

Melody quickly returned the hug and stepped back out into the mall. Elizabeth followed her, taking down the sign and returning to the register. By the time Melody reached the door outside, the road she needed to take was clear.