FSE

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"Whoa!" Shakira stared slack-jawed as Ramirez, Hiro, Montoya, and Otto filed into the conference room. The blood splattered all over the first three drew her attention instantly and she almost didn't notice Otto's total lack of clothing. When it caught her full attention, her heartbeat revved up and she sucked in a deep breath.

Machiko, Rocky, and Ralphie leaped to their feet and gaped at them.

"The good news is, we found the guy who screwed with our heads." Otto braced a hand on the back of an empty chair and didn't even try to conceal his goods. "The bad news is, someone sniped his head clean off before we could get him into the car." He waved at the other three. "They're wearing some of it."

Shakira nodded and had to pull her gaze away from him. "Machiko told me what happened after she got off the phone with Ramirez, but I didn't expect all that blood. Are you all okay?"

"Well, we're not hurt." Ramirez put her arm around Hiro and glanced at Otto. "Hiro's really badly shaken up, and Otto's gonna need some new clothes. Um, obviously."

"The sniper landed a shot near me and I panicked." Otto shrugged. "No idea how I did it, but I phased through the car door _and_Ramirez on my way into the back seat."

"I've seen it twice now," Ramirez muttered, "and I still don't believe it."

"Neither do I, if that's any consolation." Otto pulled the chair back and plopped into it. "Dunno what the hell we're gonna do now."

"I've sent Hoshi, Mickey, and Lefty to investigate the scene. They'll collect samples, scan the area, and search the guy's trailer. With any luck, they'll find out who he was and who his connections are." Machiko glanced at Otto and chuckled. "They'll also bring your clothes back when they're finished."

"Okay." Otto sighed. "At least this guy won't be screwing with anyone else now, but still, it'll drive me nuts if we can't find out how he did what he did - and why."

"Boiler is still searching the area for the sniper, but so far she's turned up nothing." Machiko glanced at the other three and motioned at the door. "We've got showers and a laundry room in the basement. They were already there when we started setting up in this building, but I never expected we'd actually use them."

"Good," Hiro mumbled. "I - I need to clean this blood off before I puke again."

"I didn't catch much of the splatter," Montoya said. "I'll just run home and change into a new shirt." He aimed a lopsided grin at Ramirez. "You and Hiro got drenched, though. If you don't shower before that stuff dries, you'll crunch every time you move."

Ramirez managed a quick laugh, and Hiro leaned over and retched. Ramirez patted his back and turned toward the door.

"Okay, kid, let's go get cleaned up. It'll give us an excuse to just stand around and do nothing for a couple hours."

He nodded and trudged after her, his wings drooping and his tail dragging on the floor.

"I'll let you all know as soon as Hoshi and the others find anything." Machiko turned back to Otto. "Jack, Taura, and Corona have to get back to their previous mission this afternoon, but there's time for them to bring you a fresh change of clothes from the house."

Otto shrugged. "Eh, I'll just wait for my clothes to be retrieved from the crime scene. With all the cameras in the house, there's no way the viewers won't notice Jack or one of the girls going into my room and coming back out with some of my clothes - again. It'll just set off a bunch of speculation, and I'm sure the audience is already gossiping enough about me and Shakira."

"Yeah, I've made a point of not checking any of the show's message boards." Shakira nudged the phone in front of her. "As it is, all the software coding jobs I had lined up have been canceled. They all dropped me the instant they got wind of that video. So now the only income I have is from that stupid reality show."

"Well, at least there's that. I just hope you're not booted off, though, at least not until you can land a steady job."

"Like that'll happen." Shakira slouched back in her chair and rubbed her hands over her face. "My life is ruined. Even if I can stay out of prison, this'll follow me around for the rest of my life. I'll be forever known as the woman who fucked a thirteen-year-old boy."

Rocky laughed softly. "I've seen the video, and it's pretty clear that Otto's the one who was fucking you. Rather enthusiastically, I might add."

Not helping. Shakira flicked a scowl at her, shrugged, slumped forward, and propped her forehead on both palms.

"If you'd like, I could bring you onto our team." Machiko smiled. "We could always use more hackers. You wouldn't be put in the field. You'd have a nice office right here, and you'd have a steady income in case you do end up kicked off the show. Plus, being on the team would give you some protection from the police."

"I'll take it." Shakira managed a shaky smile. "Whatever it takes to stay out of jail for something I was mind-controlled into doing."

"I'll start the ball rolling, then."

Shakira's phone rang. She glanced at the screen, groaned, and sent the call directly to voicemail. "That's another thing - my mom's been calling me every five minutes. Last time we talked was several months ago, so you know why it's so urgent all of a sudden. And I just can't deal with it right now."

Otto leaned across the table to lay his hand on hers. "Try to keep calm. We'll get through this. Everything'll be okay."

She tried not to roll her eye. "I'll believe that when I see it."

---

"Think this is it." Ramirez pushed the door open and smiled at the sight of a row of shower stalls lining the wall to her left. She glanced to the right and found three urinals and a pair of toilet stalls at the far end and a set of wash basins closer to the door. The scuffs on the floor and wall tiles, faded green paint on the stall dividers, and the scratches on a couple of the mirrors told her that the equipment in here was quite a bit older than the furniture and paneling in the rest of the building.

She wondered what the building was previously used for. Have to check into that sometime, just for curiosity's sake.

"Oh, finally," Hiro mumbled.

"Haven't been in here before. Kept planning to come down here to use the shooting range, but stuff keeps getting in the way. Anyhoo." She turned the overhead lights on, found the switch for the vents, and flipped it. The air was filled with a soft whoosh. She closed the door and followed him to the shower stalls.

He let out a relieved sigh, darted into the first stall, and turned the water on. Ramirez chuckled.

"Most people get undressed first."

"Couldn't wait. Had to get this blood off me." He let the water spray over his hands until the red sloshed away and revealed the light blue skin beneath. Then he ducked his head under the stream, wiped his beak off, and raked his talons through his hair.

A bloody clump plopped to the floor with a wet slap. He stared at it, hunched over, and dry-heaved again. "Shit! I think th - that was part of his brain!"

_Eww._Ramirez stepped up behind him and rubbed his shoulders. "Take it easy. I know it's pretty screwed-up, but try not to think about it."

"Sure. That easy." He took a few slow breaths and pointed a thumb at the back of his shirt. "Uh, would you mind opening that? It's hard for me to reach."

"Sure." She pulled the Velcro flaps apart and he slid his arms out of the sleeves.

"Thanks." He draped the shirt over the divider, took his shorts off, and dropped them on top of the shirt.

Ramirez took a few steps back, planning to walk over to one of the other stalls, but she couldn't tear her gaze away from him.

Damn, what a body. His muscles were impressive, but not huge. There could always be too much of a good thing, and she'd always found insanely gigantic muscles kind of off-putting. But Hiro's physique was not too big and not too small.

It's ... perfect. She shook herself out of it and rushed over to the next stall. Aw, hell. I should take the one at the far end._She shrugged, undressed, and hung her clothes on the next divider._Whatever. He's already seen it all. Let's not make this weird.

That thought almost made her laugh.

She washed the blood and gore off her face and out of her hair, glanced around, and realized there was no shampoo or soap. Marvelous. Oh, well, this'll have to be good enough until I can go home and shower again. She turned the water off. Fortunately, the laundry room was also down here; she and Hiro had passed it while looking for the showers.

No towels, either, she noticed as she continued glancing around. She sighed and walked across to one of the mirrors to check for any blood or bits of ... whatever ... she might've missed.

Hiro turned his shower off a moment later, stepped up to the mirror beside hers, and raked his talons through his hair again. She caught him sneaking a peak at her and reminded herself that she'd done the same a few minutes ago.

Her pulse raced and her breathing quickened. She turned away quickly.

Aw, shit. I can see where this is going, and it'll just cause more problems.

She turned to grab her clothes, but stopped as soon as Hiro entered her line of sight. She flicked her eyes over him before she could stop herself, and caught him doing the same to her. Again.

Uh-oh. Don't do it, Ramirez. No matter how much you want to. She forced herself to turn away, gather up her clothes, and carry them to the laundry room. In the corner of her eye, as Hiro picked up his own clothes, she noticed he was at about half-mast.

Shit. No. Don't go there. She stepped into the laundry room and was relieved to find the washers and dryers didn't require quarters to operate. She caught another glimpse of Hiro and tried not to hold her breath. Shitshitshitshit!

She found a box of detergent packets on the nearly empty shelves above the washers and dryers, poked it to see if any spiders scampered out of it, and then made sure the washer was empty before she put her clothes in. When living in her first apartment, one afternoon she'd gone into the laundry room and found several large lumps of soggy shit in the washer. Either someone had shat his pants and just dropped them in without emptying them first, or someone had just taken a dump directly into the washer and then started it - she'd never even tried to find out which. From that day onward, she'd made it a habit to check public washers before putting any of her clothing into them.

"Plenty of room for yours, too." She plucked a detergent packet from the box, waited for him to deposit his clothing, and emptied it into the washer. She started the cycle and tried to point her eyes anywhere_except_ at Hiro. "So. Uh. Got about half an hour to kill before we put 'em into the dryer."

"Yeah." Hiro kept his gaze aimed straight at the washer.

Ramirez glanced around the room. "Bah. No furniture except that folding table over in the corner."

He nodded and gave her a quick sidelong glance.

The silence continued for a few more seconds.

"You're beautiful," he said softly.

Uh-oh."Um ... thanks." She tried to keep her eyes off him, but turned to take another long look, anyway. She simply couldn't stop herself. He's ... cute. For a living weapon. And such a nice guy. I could do a lot worse.

She turned away again and stared at the timer on the washer's LED screen.

I haven't even been interested in dating again. Been just fine on my own for the past six years.

Still ...

No. Just, no. That's a bad idea. And all kinds of squicky.

"Lola." Hiro took a deep breath, sighed, turned to face her, but still couldn't quite make eye contact. "I wish we could -"

"I know. We shouldn't."

"Why not?"

"We've talked about it before."

"I'm not above begging." He winked.

She snorted and hopped up onto the washer before she realized she was going to move. And that was another bad decision. The fast, gentle, rhythmic vibration of the washer had a certain ... _effect_on her, and she tried not to giggle and squirm. Her heartbeat sped up and she almost gasped.

"We both want to." Hiro's glowing eyes finally met hers and he arched a brow ridge. "You okay? You're kind of flushed, all of a sudden."

"I - it's the washer." She laughed. "It's a lot like the one my parents had when I was Otto's age. It vibrated the exact _right_way to - well, I discovered completely by accident that I could have one hell of an orgasm by starting it, sitting on it, and then ... well, y'know."

She realized he was directly in front of her, resting his hands on her hips. So close, his breath tickled her lips.

Oh, no. This is a piss-poor idea. I've got to put a stop to it.

Her heart pounded.

"We'll have to spend more time down here, then." Hiro laughed softly and nuzzled her cheek.

Stop it, Ramirez. He's just a kid. We can't. We just can't.

She moved her legs apart and scooted forward a few inches.

Oh, for fuck's sake.

His eyes opened wider and his beak parted in surprise. She raised a trembling hand and traced her finger over its edge.

"How would this even work, anyway?"

"We can figure something out." He raised his hands slowly to her breasts and she gasped again.

Goddamn it. I'm not gonna be able to stop myself, am I?

She shrugged and kissed the tip of his beak. He paused, leaned closer, and drew the tip of his tongue over her lips.

This is gonna get me into serious trouble.

She parted her lips and let her tongue brush against his for a moment. She couldn't tell if her shaking was caused by her racing heart or the washer's vibration.

"That was ... uh ... kinda hot, actually," she whispered. He let out a quick breath.

"That's a relief."

She chuckled.

He glanced at the washer beneath her and added, "If you think that was good, just wait until the spin cycle starts."

She burst out laughing, and when she caught her breath, she realized they had their arms around each other.

Oh ... hell with it. She stopped fighting herself and just let it happen.

---

"Find anything?" Hoshi glanced up as Boiler squeezed through the trailer's front door and hunched over to avoid bumping her head on the ceiling.

"No." Boiler sighed and clenched her fists. "Whoever shot the guy slipped right past me. Didn't even show up on IR."

"He might've been wearing a new type of armor with thermo-optical stealth systems. There are fourteen weapons and defense-systems manufacturers based in Neon City currently developing advanced armor for the military and private contractors."

"And those are only the ones who have been open about the projects they're working on," Mickey muttered as he plugged one of his gadgets into the dead guy's laptop on the coffee table.

_Terrific._Boiler crossed her arms over her chest. "Any luck in here?"

"Not much." Hoshi swept her hand over the media center and the bookshelves holding more innocuous knickknacks than actual books. "So far, we've found nothing that could tell us anything about him. Lefty's searching his bedroom, but it's much the same in there - everything is ordinary."

"Since this guy had a kink for mind-controlling people into having sex in front of him and whacking off while he watched them, I expected to find all kinds of porn and sex toys and whatnot." Mickey grimaced as his passcrack finished bypassing the laptop's security measures. "Don't be surprised if the shit I find on his computer scars me for life."

Boiler chuckled and took a slow look around. Ordinary. Hmm. "It's like this guy was going out of his way not to be noticed."

"That's understandable, given the kind of 'hobby' he had. Especially if one of the local corporations had an interest in him." Hoshi raised an eyebrow.

Boiler nodded. "If one was trying to recruit him, or already had him on the payroll, they would've had someone keeping an eye on him. And if that's true, they either panicked or decided to cut their losses when they thought we were about to haul him in."

"If we're lucky, we'll find something on his laptop that'll point us in the right direction, like an email he didn't bother to delete or a deposit in his bank account." Mickey prodded the screen, tapped a few buttons, and poked the screen again. "Oh, boy. Just found his video collection."

Ugh."Not sure I want to see this." Boiler sighed and walked around to stand behind him. He opened the most recent file, a video player loaded, and the video started.

"Yep, that's Otto and Shakira." Mickey stopped the playback and loaded the previous file. "At least he didn't record anyone after them, unless he just didn't put the new vids on his computer."

"There's that, at least." Boiler grimaced at the screen, which showed a human teenage girl having sex with a minotaur. "Shit. The poor girl's terrified."

"Yeah." Mickey shook his head slowly and stopped the playback. "Looks like he took videos of all of his victims, but as far as I know, the one with Otto and Shakira is the first he ever actually posted online."

"I wonder if he simply escalated his twisted shit, or if someone ordered him to upload that last video? Like the fake video of Hiro and Ramirez humping it out in someone's back yard - could've been an attempt to derail my parents' current investigation by distracting them with this."

"He certainly had someone protecting him," Hoshi said, pointing at the files on the screen. "Pulling strings to get all the other cases shut down after the investigations had barely started."

"Yeah. Whoever it was, they're probably the same people who sent the sniper after him. They must've been keeping someone nearby in case he was compromised. For whatever reason, it seems they decided to kill him rather than risk us getting our hands on him." Boiler raised a brow ridge. "Or maybe it was someone who knew one of the victims and set out for revenge when the case was closed prematurely."

"Hmm." Mickey closed the folder and powered down the computer. "We can check into the victims' families and friends and see if any of them have the right background and access to the kind of hardware the sniper must've used to stay invisible."

"Worth a look, at least. But if it's a dead end, we won't be left with any leads at all, unless you find anything else in his computer." Boiler rubbed her hands over her face and turned back to the door. "Think I'll go lend my parents a hand with the witness transfer. At least then I'd actually be accomplishing something."

---

"What's the plan?" Jack glanced around the underground parking lot and hoped he didn't look nervous. Last time he and the girls had been in a place like this, they'd been attacked by a squad of cybernetic zombies with self-destruct mechanisms built in, and had almost been killed. And Shakira had gotten half of her face torn off and her left eye ruined by shrapnel.

Corona and Taura stood beside him, once again wearing their new combat armor, as he was also. Ralphie and Shadow stood in front of a row of obviously government-issue SUVs. Winslow slumped against the vehicle on the right and stared at the ground while Shadow glared at him. At the far end of the lot, Ramirez and Montoya strode toward them.

"I'm just sayin' you've got a bit of a glow about you." Montoya's voice echoed across the lot despite his attempt to keep it soft.

Ramirez blushed and shook her head quickly. "It's nothing!"

Montoya cocked his head for several seconds and grinned suddenly. "You fucked Hiro, didn't you?"

Her blush darkened and she flicked a narrow-eyed glance at him. "None of your business."

"I'll consider that a 'yes.'" He chuckled. "It's about time. I had a feeling about you two."

"More like you kept egging him on."

"Come on, I know you. You weren't being mind-controlled this time, so it wouldn't have happened if you didn't want it to. I've seen the beatings you've given guys who tried to force themselves on you."

Ramirez let out a sharp sigh. "Fine. Yeah, we totally did it. Happy now?"

"Yep." He fired a shit-eating grin at her.

"Good. Can we focus on the job now?" She surged ahead of him and joined the rest of the group a few seconds before he caught up with her. "Hiro is with Machiko and Rocky. They'll be keeping an eye on things from the air."

"I'll be joining them as soon as we're done here," Shadow said.

Ralphie nodded and glanced around at the others. "Okay, here's the plan. Jack, you and the girls will head out in your car just like you did last time. We've been loaned some agents who will drive those SUVs. You'll all head for the courthouse in the city center, each of you taking a different route. If anyone comes after Winslow like they did last time, they'll have to divide their forces to go after each vehicle."

Corona arched a brow ridge. "Which one will Winslow be in?"

"None." Ralphie grinned and pointed at a dented, rusty old sedan parked in the aisle across from the SUVs. "He'll be riding in that, with Lola and Enrique in the front seat. They'll quietly head out a few minutes after you've all hit the road. We're hoping any opposition we meet will focus their attention on the government vehicles and your hearse."

"Oh, we get to be decoys again." Jack gnashed his teeth. "Hooray."

"Well, aside from the bad guys knowing what your car looks like from your previous encounter, that thing is too much of a monstrosity _not_to draw their attention. And the three SUVs will also be natural targets for them. But don't worry, like I said, the boss, my wife, Hiro, and Shadow will be backing you up from the air. Also, our AI tanks will assist from the street, and Boiler just notified us that she's joining the aerial team."

"That should tip the odds in our favor." Jack still didn't know what to make of the eight-foot-tall draconid who claimed to be his and the girls' daughter from the future, but she could definitely take care of business when the shooting started.

"The top Argus Defense Systems executives are being arrested as we speak, their corporate bank accounts frozen, and their operations shut down. We're hoping the sudden chaos will prevent them from interfering with the transport, or at least minimize it."

"I'm not feeling good about this," Winslow mumbled. "The SUVs are armored. That piece of crap isn't."

"Don't worry, nobody will know you're riding in it." Shadow smirked. "You'll be in the trunk."

"What?" Winslow gaped at her.

Ramirez snickered.

"That part was my idea," Shadow added with a quick glance around at the others.

"You can't be serious," Winslow whined.

"You'll be completely out of sight." Shadow grasped his shoulder, steered him toward the car, and gave him a shove. "Suck it up. It'll only be for a few minutes."

Ralphie laughed, regained his composure, and turned back to the rest of the team. "Just follow the route on your GPS. Good hunting, everyone." He walked over to the middle SUV.

"You sure you're up for this?" Corona pointed at his chest. "Your wounds haven't had much time to heal."

"I've got a team of agents in the back of the car and my wife in the air, plus a few other surprises. I'll be fine." He smiled and climbed behind the steering wheel.

"Alright, let's lead these guys on a merry chase." Jack sighed, walked over to his car, and climbed in. I just hope the poor thing holds together. Haven't had a chance to fix all the bullet holes from the last fight.

He waited for Taura and Corona to get in, and then started the engine.

"So, Taura," Corrie said with a forced giggle, "do you think this might be a good time for your driving lesson?"

Taura stuck her tongue out at Corona.

Jack managed to laugh, but it was short-lived. He shoved the gear shift into first, nudged the accelerator, and eased up on the clutch.

"Alright, let's get this over with."

His hands gripped the steering wheel hard enough to make his arms tremble as he followed the GPS path through the city streets. As the minutes passed, he found himself growing even jumpier.

"Ah," Corona said, and Jack twitched. She pointed at something beyond the blown-out rear window. "I spotted one of the spider-tanks. Can't tell if it's Adam or Jamie, though."

"Jamie's the one with the blue trim," Taura said. "Adam's got red trim."

"Ah, that one's Jamie, then."

Boiler's voice came through Jack's helmet comm. "How're you guys doing?"

"Well, we're about a quarter of the way there," Corona said. "This is like waiting for the other shoe to drop, though."

"Stay alert, but try not to get too worked up. The private security company ADS hired might've told them to piss off after taking so many losses in our last fight. We might not run into any resistance at all."

Corona nodded and let out a quick breath. "I sure hope so."

"Contact rear," Machiko snapped over the comlink. "Multiple armored SUVs approaching your position, Jack."

Boiler snarled. "Aw, fuck me."

Jack took a slow breath and kept glancing into his mirrors, hoping to spot the attackers before they could light him and the girls up.

"Well, shit. Here we go again."