Splicers Chapter 2

Story by BLDR on SoFurry

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#2 of Splicers


Hello, Elizabeth again, nothing quite like a nights sleep in a nanogel bed. The stuff is amazingly supportive, but you can sink into it like air, never needs cleaning or replacement. The only thing better is being kept warm by ones mate. Rina woke me up in her usual manor, tickling me with her tail. "I'm up, I'm up." I say as I sit up, my tail wrapping around hers, seizing its movement.

"Oh poo, your so cute when you sleep." Rina said as she grabbed a bowl of cereal and shoved it into my hands.

I looked at it and sighed, "You know, if you like how I look when I sleep, then let me sleep." I say before starting to eat.

"Yeah, but then we'd be late for work, and you have an appointment first thing today." Rina said as she got up and grabbed my nanosuit's belt and bracelet for me and hers as well. Finishing my breakfast I slipped on the belt and bracelet, hitting a button on the bracelet a hologram appeared, moving my fingers I selected the outfit I wanted for the day. A simple white lab coat with a yellow blouse and black slacks. Soon enough the nanobots formed the outfit and I was dressed and ready for work. Nanotechnology has made life far simpler, no more need for large wardrobes if you can afford a nanosuit. Ours were gifts from Genemods after Mr. Reynolds hacked their systems and started this whole mess, even on our current salary we wouldn't of been able to afford these.

Heading downstairs we got into our car, an older model that Rina wanted pretty badly, its old turbine engine spun up and hummed quietly as it lifted off the ground a few inches. Its streamlined shape with two pods on either side behind the cabin made it look more like a ship then a car, but it was quick and a fun drive. Rina throttled it up and we were off, humming down the roads towards the tower that was Genemods.

I held my bracelet up to a scanner, the door clicked open and I entered the building heading for the elevator to my office, Rina followed suit, we worked on different floors and it was easier to take different elevators. Exiting the elevator I walked down the hall, the door to my office unlocked and I opened the door, the lights and the computer turned on sitting down in my chair I checked my messages, I had two appointments today with potential clients, and a splice to work on for a third, an easy day.

The first appointment came and went, a simple job that any two bit splicing tech could handle, but she wanted me to do it. Seriously, eye color, hair color and skin pigmentation are the easiest and safest to work on.

The second one though was fun, a girl about the age I was when I spliced, she was quite pretty to be sure, sun bronzed skin, blue eyes, blond hair, and the face of a viking goddess, so of course my first question is, "Why did you come here today?"

"Well, I kinda wanted to look like this..." She said pulling out a thumb holo, a picture of a four armed girl with a snake for a lower body appeared. "Think its possible?"

I smiled, a challenge. "I think we can do something, but you know the issues that arise with a splice as complicated at this one, right?"

"Yes, I know, new limbs tend to be tricky, and completely getting rid of one set for another is hard to do." She said, her voice was sweet and innocent.

"And you realize it will be multiple steps, we can't do it in one go. And since we've never gone as far as this before we'll need to run tests on blanks." I said referring to clones that are created for the sole purpose of genetic testing, soulless, nearly brainless bodies on which "human" testing is done. Much safer then actual human testing and results of any test done are just as good as on a real person. While some believe the blanks have souls, they are little more then dolls, they don't have any kind of response to outside stimuli, their brains only have activity in the areas directly corresponding to keeping their hearts beating and lungs breathing, IV drips keep them alive for the months they live. Each one is created specifically for its job and only take a few weeks to mature. The blanks we'll use for her splices will be exactly like her except brain dead.

"I understand, price and time aren't important, I want this done right." She said looking at me her face was deadpan.

I smiled, "Good, I'll get started first thing tomorrow, I have two other splices queued before you. I'll get the blanks going right away if you can give me a DNA sample." I said pulling out a cotton swab and plastic container, giving me a sample from her cheek I put it in the plastic container and label it before dropping it into a reader.

"If you could... I was wondering if before I leave if you could give me scales like you?" She said blushing lightly.

I laughed. "Well it isn't everyday I get someone asking for a splice like mine. I have the formula on file, would only take a few mintues to synthesize it. Question is, how far do you want to go today? The goal is gold eyes, but the cross pupils are something else, the tail would prove a good start to your eventual goal, scales are a given. A little tailoring shouldn't take long to do and it would give us a good starting point for your eventual splice. Though you'll have different ears then you wanted. You sure that is okay?"

The girl nodded. "Actually, I kind of like them..." She said quietly.

"Good, then Ms. Diane Wordsly, I'll have the formula within the hour." I said before hitting a button. "Horus, do me a favor and contact my previous two apointments, tell them they'll be delayed, I have a more pressing matter, or better yet, get me Katrina, she might be able to finish them."

"Affirmative, Katrina is on the line." A masculine voice replied

Katrina's face appeared above the desk. "What is it honey, need some help?"

"Yeah, you have time to do mix up two splices, one is just about done, just needs the final revision, the second one is an easy one, shouldn't take long. I have a more interesting case to work on." I said smiling.

"Yeah sure, I'll get them done, needed a break from this project." Rina said looking at the details, suppressing a laugh when she saw the second project. "Is this, they could get this done at a corner shop. Why did they come here for it?"

"Don't ask me, but if they are willing to pay the fees, we can do it." I say looking at Diane.

Dropping the connection I look back at Diane. "If you want to get something to eat I suggest it, getting spliced at this level is going to take some extra nutrition, have a good meal, the bigger the better, and come back. I'll be done by then."

The girl nodded. "I'll hold you to it."

It was an hour later, I had finished adjusting the formula for her and as if on cue she entered as I finished double checking the actual product. "Right on schedule, if you don't mind we are going to head to medical wing, the rooms there have better scanners."

"Are you expecting problems?" The girl asked as I stood up.

"No, but I'd rather be prepared."

"In case something happened to me like it happened to you? The experimental stuff that you got injected with when you were spliced." The girl said smiling as she stood, staring at me.

"That can't happen again. But that makes me wonder if your here solely to get spliced, or if you wanted something different?" I ask, looking at her, her splice formula in my hand.

"I want to get spliced, don't get me wrong, but I did my homework, I wanted to know who was doing it. Make sure I was getting the best." She said looking at me.

"Then you should of gone for Katrina, she's a whole level above anyone else."

"Yes, but she isn't the one that intrigued me like you." The girl said smiling as we exited the main tower, heading for the medical building, kept separate in case of an outbreak of anything.

"So, what intrigues you about me?" I ask as we walked down a relatively abandoned path.

"I know about your second job." She said completely deadpan. "I know what you do for the Section 3 Investigators."

I laughed. "Really? Me? I have enough work here." I don't know how she knew, but she did.

"Don't play with me, I know who you are, that is why I wanted you to do my splice. I know you can do some amazing stuff, like how you can change from Reptile Girl into how you look now." She said as she pulled out a second thumb holo, this one was me mid change, it showed my normal face but with the mixture of green and gold scales on my body and wearing the uniform to boot.

I sighed. "So you know, you tell anyone?" I said as I stopped walking, looking down the path in both directions to make sure no one was around.

"Of course not, I may not know why you do it, but I know what would happen if this got beyond me and probably that girl you live with. I also know that you have access to the Accelerated Evolution and Predator mods that got mixed in with your splice."

I interrupted her, "No, I refuse, those are too unstable to splice someone with. I'm still trying to figure out what other effects its having on me and Katrina."

"I wasn't going to ask you to splice me with them, just wondering if you knew if someone else who might have access to it is giving either of them to those Kingdom members?"

"I don't think so, the formulas are on a secure server, I can't even get access on my terminal, I have to go to them, only me and Katrina can access it, well my father could when he worked here, but he was against the further use of it in humans till more testing had been completed. Yes they are using some high grade mods and splices, but none are as strong as the Predator or AE mod, probably the only reason I am still breathing." I say as I start walking again. "We'll talk more later, I am taking the night off, stop by my place, I'll leave you the address before you leave, lets get to work on your first splice. We have other things to talk about. While I was looking over your requirements I found something interesting. Poison glands filled with a powerful aphrodisiac, planning on having some extra fun? You know those are restricted, I can't do that without you getting all the required approvals. Now at first I thought that you were springing this on me to get you those or you'd go public with who I am."

"Nope, just hoping you'd overlook it for me, I won't go public, just wanted to say I respect what you are doing." The girl said as we got to the building, going inside I lead her to the room I reserved for the afternoon. I waited as she undressed, just her bra and panties, "Lay down and close your eyes, the sedative will have you out within a few minutes." Doing as said she laid down on the gurney and I injected her. Starting up the scanners I watched her vitals and made sure no irregularities formed, the scales started, just a pattern upon her skin, her hands completely covered, the patter continuing up her arms to her shoulders before tapering off, the with her legs, leaving her inner thighs skin. I watched as the scanner said her eyes changed colors and soon shape, her tailbone started to extend, pushing the skin with it, I watched as it soon pushed out from one of the legs of her panties, the pattern on it as well, as I watched over the hours the tail grew, inches turned to feet, the patterns pushed out, actual scales forming in the proper areas. Soon enough it was done, she was groaning as she woke up, I watched her eyes as they opened, gold with slit irises as they were supposed to be. "Looks like it all worked." I said as she stretched, her legs, her arms, she looked at her new tail and smiled.

"Wow..." She said looking at her arms, getting up she looked at her legs. "This is amazing." She said as she worked on her legs, soon pulling her tail out she looked at it as it twisted around in her hands.

"Good, now, I've got other work to do." I said as I gave her a piece of paper. "Get dressed, you can leave whenever you're ready."

The rest of the day passed more or less normally, Katrina only finished one of the splices, so I finished the simple one, calling it a day we returned home. After telling Katrina about Diane Wordsley's discovery of me she only had one things to say, "Well, crap. What do we do now?"

"Simple, she's coming over in a few hours, we are going to discuss it and hopefully she'll remember to stay quiet as she said she would." I said to Katrina as I went through getting things ready, tidying up piles of research papers that were scattered about. Soon the door bell rang, going to the door I opened the door, the girl was there, her tail in her hands, she was playing with it. "If you keep playing with it like that it'll fall off." I say grinning, the girl drops her tail and looks at me. "Don't worry, we are just going to talk." I say as I lead her in.

"I'm sorry... I shouldn't of been so... I shouldn't of pried into you so hard..." She said quietly.

"Don't worry." Katrina said as she entered. "We can handle it, won't be the worst thing we go through having someone else to talk to about what my mate does at night."

"Exactly, now she can have someone else to talk to when she is worried about me." I say as I sit down in the living room Katrina follows suit and soon the girl does as well.

"So... you aren't going to do anything to me?" She asked as I shifted my tail under me, she was doing the same, obviously still getting used to the new appendage.

"Not at all, might ask for you to give us your number so we can contact you when we need someone to talk with." I said smiling.

"Really?" The girl said looking at me. "You aren't mad?"

Katrina and I laughed. "Hell girly, this is the best thing for us, now we have someone else to talk to!" I said excitedly. "As long as you keep our secret I'll see about greasing a few cogs in the system to get that extra splice for you."

Diane smiled and launched across the room, hugging Katrina, her tail finding its way around me. "Thank you. Thank you so much." She said quietly.

I smiled grabbing her tail pulled her down between me and Katrina. "Your welcome, just remember, this is between the three of us, destroy anything you have on me that can link me to my alter ego."

The girl nodded, "Yeah, all of it is right here." She said handing me the holo thumb from earlier. "I didn't leave anything on my computer. I know these are more secure." She said looking at it.

"Good," I said, easily crushing the device in my hand, "This is something we don't need to worry about, now." I said as I dropped the pieces into a trash can where they were incinerated.

She looked at me. "So are you always so strong? Or do you have to will it or something? What is changing like?"

I laughed then looked at Katrina. "Well, the strength is there, kind of, the more I need the more I have it seems, never quite found my limit. As for changing, that is kind of strange at first, the feeling of changing bone structure is kind of strange, almost painful at first. But it gets less and less strange and eventually its barely noticeable."

Katrina was smiling, while Diane's attention was on me, Katrina decided to surprise our guest, knowing the windows were one way she didn't need to worry about the neighbors. The first thing I saw was her body started to be covered by the orange fur as her face pushed out.

Diane turned when she heard purring coming from behind her, her mouth fell open, "you too?"

"Yep, me too, though I don't go out, I am not as tough as Liz here. One of the reasons the formula's aren't in use, too unstable, if the results can't be made uniform, we can't sell it, not to mention the fact that the AE mod's funding ran dry and the Predator mod was canceled when the politicians got word of what happened, so we are the only two that even got 'tested' on." She said as she put a hand on Diane's shoulder.

I smiled at Diane. "As for changing, we can do it at will now, basically it was supposed to be subconscious needs causing the change, but a conscious decision can cause it as well, such as her decision to look more cat like, I can look more human or reptile like at will, I don't like the idea of people being able to change at will, imagine, a guy walks into a store, robs it, walks out changes his looks and no one knows the better."

"I can imagine, with all the splicers its hard enough to stop them as is, if that got loose, they'd be in control of this city." Diane said curling up against Rina's side. "Do you like doing this as well? I never did before today?"

I laughed. "Yeah, you'll find the reptile in you will like being in a warm area, curled up against a warm body, in front of the fireplace, on a nice rock under the sun. Your not cold blooded per se, but you'll find the warm weather is going to be a lot more enjoyable. The cold weather a lot less tolerable as well. So remember, when you get that big tail, keeping it warm is going to be a pain at times."

She looked up at Rina and then to me. "I guess I'm going to have to make sure my bed is nice and warm on those cold nights. Right?"

"Yep, though luckily we are in the equatorial region so it shouldn't be that bad." I said as I stood up. "So your parents doing okay with us splicing you?" I ask as I get up.

"Well they are right pissed off about it since my Dad has his own firm that does splicing, but I know they just handle the small stuff. You guys have the experience with the more advanced stuff." she said as she looked at me then Katrina. "I'd rather trust the doctors who are used to major splices then those who can barely do a simple splice without screwing it up."

"Your parents company isn't bad, its just that they rush their work. If they spent the time to do all the procedures, not just the required ones, they'd find their splices were better." Katrina said looking at her.

I smiled. "Well, if you have anything else you need to know, go ahead and ask, if not I'd like to get to bed early tonight, its been a while since I really had a good nights sleep." I said as I stretched. "I'll call you when the next splice is ready. Okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'll get going and face the wrath of my dad."

"Good luck," I said as she left. Watching from the front window she drove off. "You know who her parents are?" I asked as I turned from the window.

"Nope, not really." Rina said as she walked down the hall, heading for our room.

"The Wordsley's, owners of Wordsley's Genetic Incorporated, the primary providers of cheap splices. You know, the guys who can't handle anything major because of lack of proper testing." I said smiling.

"Crap, you mean..." Katrina said as she looked at me.

"Yep, I'm in charge of splicing the daughter of our competition." I said grinning like the cheshire cat.

"You think she's a ploy to get our company's formula's?" Katrina asked.

"I don't think so, once the catalysts have metabolized they are undetectable." I said as I walked up to her. "You know that, besides, she is paying, so I am not worrying about it, I already have the first half of the payment." I said as I got got my nanosuit to dissolve back into its belt, I was just about to pull off my bracelet when I heard the phone ring. Katrina was already in the room and picked it up. "Yeah, she's here." She said before tossing me the phone, grabbing it I put it to my ear.

"Hello, how may I help you?" I asked.

"Elizabeth? Its me, Diane, my parents, my house... there are splicers, police everywhere... the police won't let me near, they won't tell me what's happening. Can you help me?"

"Yeah, I'll be over in a minute." I said, tossing the phone to Katrina I sighed. "Something's up, I'll be back whenever." I said as I worked my nanosuit's controls, the suit quickly started to form, not the lab outfit, my 'lizard girl' outfit, the material clung to me like a second skin as my face started to shift, my scales turning to green, legs shifting as I walked, turning to a jog as I went for my bike. I smiled, my suit had gold accents going up the inside of each limb and my belly, the gold on either side of my bust but leaving the actual area the suits primary color, a jade everywhere else except my tail which had a spiral pattern of the jade and gold going down it.

I got on my moped, hit the button and smiled as it changed, nanotech is a truly amazing breakthrough. Getting on I hit the throttle, tearing out of the garage and down the streets towards the Wordsley's estate.

My suit shifted to a dark, almost black, blue, as I set the bike to autopilot after climbing up a few hundred feet, dropping off I saw the layout of the building and the location of splicers on the rooftop of the mansion. 'geez' I thought to myself 'lots of splicers for a robbery, probably hostage, get some money and skip town maybe, or shake down for splices.' The nanosuit filled the gaps between my legs, arms and tail as I dropped down, slowing my descent, the suit's material didn't flutter, didn't make a sound as I dropped, right on top of a female wolf splicer, she fell and went unconscious without a sound. I quickly made my way inside through a skylight. Despite the heavy outside appearance, the inside was nearly abandoned until I peaked in a back room, there were several of the mansions staff tied up, two splicers were holding them hostage, both with pistols. I went down the hall a ways and, using the nano suit to create a string I tied it to a bust, laying it out a ways I snuck back and quietly climbed the wall, clinging to the ceiling with my feet and a hand. I used my free hand to give the string a quick tug, the bust fell, and just as quickly as it was made it was gone. Almost too predictably the two left the room and headed in the direction of the broken bust, neither bright enough to check in my direction, much less straight up, I dropped down on them, clunking their head together I knocked them out before heading back for the servants, quickly untying them, "Listen, stay quiet, stay put." I said as I took their bindings and tied up the splicers I had knocked out. I unloaded the pistols and tossed the magazines away, "Listen, where is Mr. and Mrs. Wordsley?" I asked one of the maids.

"The Masters office, third floor, west wing, you'll find him last door on the right." Said the cute little cheetah.

"Thanks, now listen, stay put until the police get here, I still need to clear out the rest of the splicers and get your boss safe." I said grabbing the rest of the bindings. "Oh and feel free to repay any unkindness they gave to you, just try not to break anything." I said as I left.

I found two more walking the halls, like the first two, a quick clunk of the heads and they were down, quickly bound and tossed in a side room in case any more were walking around. As I made my way into the west wing of the mansion, I encountered a few loners, it was almost too easy to evade or take them out. It wasn't until I was getting near the office that I found trouble, splicers were easy, most of them got cheap splices that were more appearances then anything, modders, now those were the trouble, overly strong, hard to knock out, and with the senses that you'd think a splicer with the ears and nose of a wolf should have. There he was, a big one too, muscles like bowling balls, obviously over dosed a couple of times for that effect, but that was the things with mods, you could keep using them, they'd keep pushing you bigger, until your muscle mass made it so you couldn't breath, but you could keep modding, the dosage was the recommended amount to keep your appearance and flexibility while upping strength for the most part. I closed my eyes, listening for him to come closer as I concentrated on bringing out something I rarely used. The feeling of the skin and scales on my arms coming loose before the muscle started to push them into two long ropes above my wrists. Opening my eyes, I saw the six foot long whips. As soon as he was in range,I quickly whipped my right arm out, the whip on it wrapping around his neck, pulling on it quickly he fell over on his front, not wasting a moment I got on top of him, the whip let loose and I grabbed his wrists, pulling back hard I pushed on the back of his neck with my foot, my toes wrapping around and cutting off circulation through his aorta, he groaned before passing out. I quickly bound him with the everything I had before pulling his boots off and grabbing his socks, luckily they were a full boot length, stuffing the first smelly rag into his mouth I tied the second one around to keep him gagged. I ripped his pant legs off and used them to tie his legs together. Leaving him where he lay as I had no way of moving him quickly, I was off again, the quick scuffle didn't make a lot of noise, but it was enough, one of his friends saw me, bellowing she charged me, 'so much for stealth'. I thought as I braced, one whip back, as she got close I gave her a good whip across the face. The behemoth of a woman fell, I rushed forward to try and get her pinned, but as I got on her back and went to grab her arms, she got up, and rushed back into a glass case, the case broke, a sliver of glass entered my back. I almost lost grip on her, my whips wrapped themselves around her neck, and started to tighten. She went to slam me back again, this time I got my foot back, spun her around and she fell into the glass. Cursing I let my whips go, she was hurt bad, a piece of glass was in her neck. "Damn it girl..." I said as I got off of her, I grabbed a piece of cloth and wrapped it around her neck, she was lucky, the piece missed most of the vitals, but punctured her airway. "Stay put." I said as I applied a patch, it worked immediately, slowing the bleeding and putting her to sleep. "Good girl." I said getting off.

I walked towards the office door, a man inside yelled. "Eh! Keep the down the racket!"

Smiling to myself, 'these people are idiots' I thought. "Sorry boss, I slipped." I said as gruff as I could.

"Well don't!" He replied, I heard him speaking as I got closer to the door. "Now Mr Wordsley, our agreement was simple, you provide me crew with your best splices and mods, and we don't hurt your family. Now me crew has been getting their arses handed to them left and right by this Reptile Girly, she's been making it harder then ever for use to operate, just last night my three biggest modders got taken down like they were nothing, and I am getting bloody tired of this happening." he said before I opened the door.

"Well I must say, those modders, they put up one hell of a fight." I said, my wound was already healed, even relaxed as I saw the guy had no weapon and didn't hear anyone else in the room. "Even your big lugs you brought here with you today were tough, but you messed up, the people you used were hardly more then street toughs, used to ganging up on a single target. They didn't know anything about how to fight by themselves, much less against an equal in strength or one who can move faster." I said looking at the man, he didn't look modded, at least not as much as his thugs, and he wasn't spliced. "By the looks of you, you are the guy who sits in a corner, your strength lies in your friends, who all but a few, who are currently outside being dealt with by the cops if the butler made contact, are tied up. Sorry to say, that big girl you had outside though she got hurt, she'll survive." I said, whips at the ready. I heard a noise behind me, but I was too late, a shock ran through my body, my muscles all spasmed before I fell to the ground. The man laughed and ran up to me.

"Oh, this is the girl? The one who's been giving me all the trouble? I've seen pictures, but damn, you have one hot body!" He said excitedly. "Oh, you didn't hear my friend did you? Just got him dontcha know! 100% cyborg, me mates brain is in him, he had an accident, would of died if I didn't save him." He rolled me over, I saw what got me, a large tin can of a robot. "Stole that thing off a military train a while back, figured out how to use it too, but couldn't find someone loyal enough to put in it. When you tossed me friend around, he was hurt dontcha know, bones broke, bleeding out, I saved him, cut open his head and tossed his brain in this thing, aint that right bud?"

The robot made a laughing noise. "Affirmative." Was its response.

"I don't think he's completely back with me yet, but he's getting better." The man said before kicking me in the side. "Now that I've got ya, I don't need these losers anymore. The cops can't stop us, the government couldn't care. With you gone we'll run this city within the week! Hey bud, do me the favor, two shots." He said to his mechanical friend. "Then lets take our friend with us. Cops won't touch us with this broad."

"Tha... That's what..." He kicked me again, this time I felt ribs break. I cried out, the shots rang out, I looked up and saw the Wordsely's. Diane's parents were dead, shot in the head. I lost it, I don't remember much, other then the blood, the oil, my claws ripped through the bosses chest and arms, the cyborg was sparking when it grabbed me, threw me through the window. The next thing I remembered was some one, I think it was Sean, yelling at me to wake up, he was dragging me, I remembered getting tossed into the back of his car, he was driving, taking me somewhere. My ribs were screaming at me with every breath, at least that meant I was still alive.

"Hey, Lizzy, wake up, you need to wake up." He said as he drove. "I need you to tell me where to go."

I gave him an address, my home address. I remember him pulling up my driveway and getting out, next thing I knew I was in my bed, Rina in a chair next it, Sean in a corner.

"She going to be okay?" Sean asked Rina.

"Yeah, she'll survive, her body is already repairing the damage." Rina said, her face was creased with worry though. "Thanks for bringing her here."

"So, I'm guessing she's really Elizabeth."

Rina nodded. "Yeah, she is."

"She doesn't do this by choice does she?"

"Not really... But maybe, if the Kingdom's leader is gone, and the source has dried up, maybe she'll be able to live normally again."

I opened my eyes, my body was back to its normal state. Rita spoke up quickly, "You had one hell of a bad night."

"Tell me about it." I said groggily, my ribs no longer hurt.

"Well apparently the whole conversation was recorded, showed you getting clobbered pretty good by that robot before you took out the robot and the boss. Apparently you got the big one this time, both the supplier and the boss." Sean said from the corner. "I got a copy of it all. And don't worry, I won't tell anybody about this. I'd rather leave that for the audiences to figure out." He said smiling.

"The Wordley's?" I asked, knowing it, but needing to hear it.

"Both of them died. Their daughter is with the cops, she is safe." Sean said quietly.

"I messed up... I should of known, how could I of missed that thing?" I said quietly, it was my fault, if I had noticed it, I could of stopped it..."

"Then he would of killed them while you dealt with something you could barely survive, that thing was built to deal with modders, yeah, your quick and strong, but you aren't invincible." He said as he walked towards the bed. "You were lucky he threw you out the window and I was there, you might of died if it wasn't for me."

I turned over and pulled the blankets over me.

Rina looked at Sean. "Go home, you need rest." She said to the man. "I'll call you when she can talk again."

"Yeah, been a long night." he said, I heard the door open and close. Rina got in the bed with me, wrapped her arms around me and soon we drifted off to sleep.

The next morning we both called off of work, claiming a case of food poisoning. I hadn't eaten, Rina had tried to get me to eat a few times, she had gone to her lab in the basement, I never go down there, its her personal space, like the work room behind the garage is mine. Some time afternoon I remember waking up, Rina was talking to someone, I didn't recognize the voice at first, getting up I wrapped myself in the blankets and left the room, walking down the hall the voice became clear, I stopped before either of them could see me, falling to the ground I curled up in the fetal position. They probably heard me as the voices stopped. Diane, was the first to me, she sat me up, and sat next to me, leaning against me she said. "I'm sorry..." I said quietly before starting to sob. Diane just pulled the blankets from around my head and kissed my cheek.

"Thank you." She said. "Thank you for stopping it, for trying, for surviving. I'll miss them, but I know my dad wasn't working with the most favorable of crowds, and well, my mother saw me as a nuisance... Dropped me off with the maids first chance she got. Blamed me for ruining her figure..." She let loose a slight chuckle. "Most parents love their children and would do anything for them... My father always said I had to work if I wanted to live, my mother, well she only told me to get out of her sight."

I looked over at her, surprised to hear what she was saying. "You mean..."

"Dad loved me, wanted me to be able to live on my own when they had passed." She said quietly. "But he was always busy, always had work to do somewhere. We weren't really close... Mary, the cheetah, she said she saw you, she was more like a mom to me."

"She's rather young..." I started, my sobs had stopped, I had started to listen.

"She's 26... started with us when she was 16 as a part timer, watched me, played with me, and even taught me what she could." She said quietly. "She's the one who convinced me to splice, to go with what I want... She... she knows about you..."

"How did she?" I asked quietly.

"She found out last night, after the police let me out she took me to her place, we talked for most of the night. It slipped when I was talking about how you showed up. I said I met you, the real you... She knows, she drove me here, she's still here, waiting for me... She wants to make sure I'm alright..."

Rina went out to get the cheetah from her car.

I looked at her. "Don't worry, my secret probably won't be secret for long anyways, I left enough blood behind for them to get a solid DNA match to find me..."

"The people you work for won't cover for you?" Diane asked she curled up against me.

"I don't know. This hasn't really happened before..." I said quietly.

Soon the cheetah from the night before was lead in by Rina, she rushed to Diane's side. "Diane, are you alright?" She said ignoring me.

"I'm fine... My friend here though... I told you about her..." Diane said looking at me.

"Oh... your... Thank you, thank you so much." The cheetah said as she put her hand on my face. "I never imagined you'd be so pretty in real life."

I got up and headed for my work room, the bike was back in it. Dropping the blankets in a corner I started to tear apart the bike, needing something to do I worked on doing a long overdue overhaul.

Mary helped Diane up who hurried after me only to be stopped by Rina. "She needs space." She said quietly. "She's the only one allowed in there..." Rina said quietly.

"But she could be hurting herself." Mary said quietly.

"She wouldn't, she's not that kind of depression, after her mother died, she spent a whole week ripping apart her computer and putting it back together. Something about it lets her put the events in order, get things right in her mind. She'll come out when she's hungry." Rina said as she sat down on the sofa.

"I was wondering... Me and Mary really don't have a place... she was living at the mansion, and well the police won't let me in there..." Diane said looking at Rina.

"You can stay here for now, the guest room is on the right, across from ours, sorry, we don't have two spare rooms." Rina said quietly.