“Alright team, Zoe seems to have drawn some heat from another corp - we’re gonna help her take care of it.” Alex turns to Zoe and says, “If you’re cool with us doing that, of course.”

“Sure, I wouldn’t really know where to begin. Maybe head out and talk to my lead courier?”

“I think that’s a good start. Hugo, take Zoe and Egregor to visit her former boss, let’s try to get in touch with his contact at Saturn. Maybe we can come to some kind of agreement. Harvey and I are going to try to dig up what we can on the cargo you were carrying - I would bet our forensic espionage folks have some info. I’ll dig around in our network and see what they found.”

“Sounds good, I’ll prep the vic. Zoe, follow me - I’ll drive but I’ll need you to help navigate.”

The trio head over to the motor pool, and Hugo leads them toward an unassuming-looking utility van. Egregor takes the back of the van, opening up a hatch on top and taking a meditative position in the open cargo space in the vehicle’s rear. Zoe and Hugo take the front seats, Hugo barely fitting into the modified driver’s seat built for his huge frame.

“Ok Zoe, if you punch the address into the display I’ll get us there. I don’t really know the area, so you’ll have to point out a good spot for me to stash the vehicle. I don’t want us to stand out if we can.” Hugo starts the van rolling, heading out of the hangar and onto one of the many highways that run through the corporate megastructure.

“Cool, the place you’ll be looking for is an old diner in midtown, basically under the freeway overpass. There’s a couple abandoned buildings a block away that aren’t claimed by any of the gangs yet, so we should be able to park there and walk over.” Zoe sets up the nav computer for the destination, and the autopilot takes over for now.

“So I was thinking, it might make the most sense for me to head in there solo - if the folks there see me with some people they don’t recognize, especially with the recent trouble I seem to be in they might get some interesting ideas.”

Hugo looks over to Zoe, a concerned expression on his face. “Yeah, I don’t like it but you’re right. I’ll be following nearby just in case anything happens, but you’re still pretty green. If you get injured or worse we’ll all be in a world of shit.”

“I’ll be fine - besides, none of those folks know that I’m a highly advanced sneaking machine now, so if I need to I’ll pull one of my secret ninja techniques…”

“Ninja techniques, huh? I usually just resort to punching or shooting things - seems simpler.” Hugo smiles. “I think that’ll work. Egregor will provide air cover, so if those Saturn punks have drones circling the place he’ll knock them out of the sky.” Egregor silently gives a thumb’s up from the back.

Over the next half hour the autopilot finds its way through the evening traffic, and eventually exits off the freeway. Hugo takes manual control of the van, and drives to the stash location avoiding passing by the target building. He pulls into an alleyway behind an abandoned dumpster, and parks the vehicle. “Ok, you head into the building and I’ll follow behind you. I’ll keep my distance, but I’ll be able to help out if you get in trouble. Sounds good?”

“Good.”

“Any questions?”

“None.”

“Cool. If you need my help, hit me up on comms. You’ll do great.”

Zoe nods, and sends her voice through the neural link. “Thanks, I’ll keep you updated if I get anything useful.”

Just before stepping out, Zoe hooks back into her mental library of outfits and picks out a hoodie and jeans, in the hopes of avoiding recognition by the locals or anyone watching nearby. She makes her best attempt to look casual, walking toward her former employer’s hangout and passing the familiar run-down buildings and gray market street salesmen. One of the vendors, selling scrapped electronics from a cart, waves to her. She waves back, and walks a little faster.

She makes it into the door of the diner without incident, and looks around quickly. The normally nearly empty diner is even more devoid of life now, with only the automated meal-making equipment and her former boss in his usual booth.

“You got some nerve showing up here after that last job. Hopefully whatever you got for that cargo was worth it.” Her former boss stares her down from his booth, and slams his coffee cup down.

“I didn’t sell it, I crashed my bike and almost died! I’m surprised those Saturn folks didn’t have the thing set up for tracking, they would have seen that package eat shit on the highway halfway there.”

“You almost died? You look pretty ok from where I’m sitting.”

“Oh, things are a little different now…” Zoe holds up her hand, and the skin turns translucent for a moment, exposing the cybernetic skeleton underneath.

“Holy shit - I guess you got some help from some real fuckin’ players… If you’ve been secretly working for one of the corpos this whole time, I don’t wanna know anything about it.”

“Not exactly - I got recruited by Argus right after I disappeared. They basically caused the accident that fragged that cargo. Well, sort of. Anyway, I work for them now and they want to get this all wrapped up. Either payment for the lost cargo and the dropped job, or we do them a favor in kind. Could I get your contact at Saturn? I’ll explain everything and we’ll get them out of your hair.”

“I don’t usually give up my contacts, professional courtesy and all - but if you can get them off my back and get the jobs flowing again I’ll drop you the info. Same number?”

“Same. Thanks for all you’ve done, you kept me alive out here. You’ll probably never see me again, so be safe.”

 “Will do. Try not to get killed - corp goons don’t last long out here.”

Zoe turns and exits the diner, the finality of closing out a chapter of her former life hitting her like a wave crashing.

As she heads back to the vehicle, passing a dark alleyway, she sees something move in her peripheral vision. A hooded figure in a raincoat steps out from a covered doorway, holding a cheap off-white plastic pistol. He lifts it up, and Zoe feels a white-hot pain blast through her midsection with a loud bang.

Zoe falls limply to the street, and the hooded man says “Saturn sends their regar-”. Then, from out of the alley a gray-green blur smashes into the thug like a derailed freight train. The would-be assassin is blasted into the concrete pillar next to him, bounces back halfway, and falls to the ground unconscious.

“Are you ok? Shit!” Hugo disarms the knocked-out assailant, kicking the gun away and quickly patting him down for any other weapons, then runs over to Zoe.

Although in a considerable amount of pain, Zoe looks down and sees a hole in her stomach, just above the hip bone. Through it, she can see her nearly see-through nanogel interior and some of her skeletal structure, and past the exit wound she sees the sidewalk she’s lying on. She says “That can’t be good”, as Hugo reaches for a medical kit strapped to his armor and kneels next to her to assist. The blue-ish gel inside Zoe’s abdomen quickly forms back together and closes up the hole, and Hugo says “That’s, um, different. I haven’t worked with a Mimic yet - so you’re basically made of jelly?

“Am I.. hurt? I’m confused. I think I feel fine now, which is weird.”

Hugo replies “Looks like it probably zipped through without hitting anything important. You’d know if you were really hurt - they turn our pain sensation way down, but it’s definitely still there.”

“Oh good, that might have been nice to know before getting shot!”

 “If I did my job right, you wouldn’t have been in danger. I’m really sorry - if you want to file an official complaint I’ll understand. I’ll even show you how to do it.”

Hugo helps Zoe stand up, and she brushes herself off - now looking like she wasn’t just aerated by a wannabe assassin. “If I did that it’d probably be both our asses, maybe the whole team - my dumb ass came up with our part of the plan, remember? She looks down and checks her now repaired clothing and stomach. Looks like no blood no foul, so I guess I’m good to go.”

“Perfect, thanks. I owe you a massive favor. Anyway, let’s try to figure out who this asshole is before he wakes up.” Hugo pulls out a flat rectangular box from his kit and walks over to the shooter. He grabs his head, props open an eyelid and holds the device in front of his face. “Let’s see what we can find on this dude. A few seconds later a name and description appear in Zoe and Hugo’s vision, describing some low-level contract street thug.

“Just some random. Damn, this guy probably doesn’t even know why he was hired to shoot you and say some dumb line. Maybe better luck with the contact? Let’s head back to the van.”

A buzzing noise approaches, and a small drone moves in to hover nearby. From it, Zoe and Hugo hear Egregor ask “Are the two of you undamaged? I was not able to see the shooter from the air but it looks like the situation is under control. I see no other suspicious movement in our area. Well, there are two people trying to steal a car a block away, but they appear to be attempting to steal a dead vehicle.”

“We’re fine, thanks for the update. We’re heading back now and we’ll set up a call to see if the Saturn agent will work with us.”

In the van, Hugo rotates the seats around to face the back cargo area, and Egregor sits on a cushion against the back doors. One of Egregor’s drones detaches, and walks to the center of the cargo space. Egregor says “I’ll initiate the call.” Within a few seconds a holographic projection of a disinterested-looking man appears, and he says “Saturn dispatch, state your business.”

Zoe replies, “I’m a courier who wasn’t able to deliver a package, and one of your goons tried to take me out. I’d like to explain what happened and figure out how to get the order reimbursed.”

“Delivery number?”

“R-06652743.”

The agent turns and types something into a display off-screen, and turns back after a few seconds. “That class of cargo has a standard recovery contract on it, meaning we automatically contracted out the retrieval job to the lowest bidder. It’ll take a bit for us to look up the cargo value and call off the job - we take no responsibility for how the retrieval task is carried out. I suggest you lay low until we retrieve the contract and give you or your insurer the chance to pay up.”

“Fuck, dude - you guys just kick the job out to some random thug? Also he did a terrible job - if he managed to kill me how would you guys ever get the package back?”

The courier dejectedly replies “I don’t know - that’s like ten levels above me. I just farm the jobs out.”

Hugo interjects “One sec, I might be able to get some more info - our forensics team recovered whatever was left of the package.”

“Forensics team? Who do you all work for?”

“Argus.”

The man now looks very concerned. “Oh shit. I don’t want anything to do with megacorp drama; this better not turn into an international incident.”

Hugo messages the team “Any progress on the data back at corp? We’re in touch with the guy responsible for the delivery.”

Alex replies “Conference me in, you’re not gonna fuckin’ believe this one. Her voice joins the call with the agent. Ok, so the package’s makeup was approximately 60% organic, mostly carbohydrates and starches, 15% plastics, 25% other. Our forensics folks brought back a goddamn smashed cake and party supplies! Like, really? A black-market courier for some fucking cheap cake?”

The agent looks totally defeated now. “Why in the hell? Fucking interns! They put the wrong code in the system so now we’re paying some team of thugs to threaten a megacorp over a fucking cake! I’ll fix this right now, don’t worry about payment - it’s probably from some slush fund anyway.”

“Sounds good, thanks.” Hugo closes out the call and Zoe slumps back in her chair.

“Sorry for wasting everyone’s time. If I knew how ridiculous this whole thing would be I’d have.. I don’t know. I barely got started here and I’m already way over my head.” Zoe slumps forward in her chair and puts her head in her hands.

“Hey, it’s alright, you did well. I’m glad we got this whole thing wrapped up, and with very little drama. Well, other than the whole shooting thing. Again, sorry about that, I should have cleared the area better while you were inside.”

“It’s fine, looks like I’m tougher than I thought. At least this body is. This whole thing has been a whirlwind, and I.. I feel lost. Even this body is just pretending to be me.”

Hugo turns closer and puts his huge hand on Zoe’s shoulder. “Zoe, we all come here from different places. I was a mess when I first showed up on the team, and Alex was able to help me out big time. We’ll probably have a few more tough moments here and there, but we’ll always be close to help out.”

“Thanks Hugo, I think I’ll feel better once we get back and I decompress.”

“No worries. If you ever need to talk, let me know - I went through a lot to get here so I might be able to help out a little.”

Back at the company, the team walks Zoe through some of the after-mission tasks. After going over some of the vehicle maintenance and cleanup, they head over to the makeshift conference area to review the mission. Although the review is honest to the point of being pretty harsh, it’s clear that Alex is interested in everyone’s improvement and keeping the team safe.

The team say their goodbyes for the evening and they each go their separate ways back home. Zoe hops on the subway back to her housing block, and as she walks she notices a weird feeling in her side. She wonders if the bullet did some damage she didn’t notice until now. She walks into the bathroom to get a better look at herself, reabsorbing her clothing and checking her abdomen for anything unusual. She can’t see anything from the outside, but the strange gritty feeling is still there.

An idea hits her, and she walks forward, leaning against the counter. Placing her hands on the sturdy countertop, she concentrates on a spot in her lower back, and feels the familiar click of a joint disengaging. She pulls her upper body up and toward the bathroom mirror, and a faint blue line appears on her waist. She pushes herself upward and forward, and her torso completely separates at the waist. Once she regains her balance, using her arms to hold herself up, she quickly figures out how to walk her upper body around to face her own lower half.

She carefully sets her torso down on the counter to get a better look inside her stomach and hips. Peering down into her detached waist, she sees her cybernetic spine and pelvis along with the thin bands of synthetic muscle holding everything together. Something shiny and gold colored catches her eye. It looks to be pressed up against her pelvis, partially wedged between artificial muscle and bone. Cringing a little, she pushes her hand down into her lower body to fish it out. She shudders slightly at the sensation of forcing her hand into herself, the gel parting to make way.

“Yikes, that looks like part of the bullet.” grabbing hold of the sharp fragment and withdrawing her hand, slightly overwhelmed by the feeling, she takes a second to compose herself. She examines the sharp piece of copper for a moment, and whips it into the trash. Looking down into herself, a stray thought enters her mind, and she imagines the cut at her waist sealing up to reduce her creeped-out level. Her body complies, and the cut area smooths out and turns into more simulated skin, giving the top of her hips a rounded-out appearance.

“Much better.” She takes a few steps, and doesn’t feel anything unusual anymore. She tests out her lower half’s balance by walking around the room a couple times. “Huh, never seen my ass from that angle - not bad at all.”

Zoe carefully lowers her upper half to the floor, and hand-walks herself to her bedroom. Lying in bed, she walks her lower half in the room, and says to it “Come here often?” She cocks her hips and struts toward the bed, hopping in to meet her upper half. She flips her legs over, her ass facing up, and uses one of her asscheeks as a pillow.

“That was one hell of a day; what say you?” A couple seconds pass. “Not the talkative half I guess.” She reaches up and pats herself on the other cheek.”It’s ok, I’ll do the talking and you just keep looking good. And getting us around, of course.“

“So what do you think about Hugo? He’s gotta be like seven and a half feet tall. Looked like he’s big everywhere too - either he’s hung like a horse, or he was smuggling a daikon in his pants.” She imagines the mechanics of that, and her lower half responds approvingly. “Oh, you’re naughty. Good thing I’m stretchy.” She flips her upper body onto her stomach, and rotates her lower half over.

She leans her lower half back and spreads her legs, putting her torso between her thighs and giving her a close-up view of her pussy. She slides a finger inside, and feels the familiar warm pleasure, smiling and getting more ambitious. She hooks her finger upward inside her, directly hitting her g-spot, and lowers her head, taking a tentative lick.

She wastes no time diving in, licking and sucking aggressively. She slides her tongue into her slit, and as the desire for her tongue to go deeper crosses her mind, her body responds. Her tongue tingles as the AI steals a little material from the rest of her body and figures out the mechanics of a much longer and thicker one, and she swirls it around deep inside herself. She feels the peak approaching as she attacks her lower half with her mouth and fingers. The intense orgasm overwhelms her, and she quickly withdraws her tongue, which flops wetly down onto the mattress. As it slowly retracts back to a normal size, she laughs at the novelty of the whole thing, and lies down on her thigh to recover.

A few minutes later, she hand-walks her upper body to a more anatomically-appropriate spot on the mattress, and pulls her hips up to reconnect. The nanogel reseals everything back to normal, and she stands up - doing a couple stretches to check everything out.

Zoe spends the early evening cleaning the apartment, and around dinnertime she feels a little hungry, something she hasn’t felt since before the accident. “I wonder what Hugo’s up to? I don’t know anywhere to go, or even what I should be eating - maybe he’s got some advice?”

“Hey Hugo! You doing anything this evening?”

“Laundry, mostly. What’s up?”

Zoe replies “apparently I still need to eat, know any good places to go?”

“Yeah, there’s a good noodle bar not too far from your place, want me to send you the coordinates?”

“Awesome! Want to meet me there? I hate getting dinner by myself.”

There’s a delay of a minute or so, and Zoe gets a little worried she may have been too aggressive. “Sure, I’ll head over there in about a half hour, I need to throw some stuff in the dryer.”

Zoe runs to the shower, cleans up quickly, and gets ready for dinner. She has to remind herself it’s only dinner with a coworker, but in the back of her mind she’s hopeful to solidify a new friendship, and maybe more.