Limbic Breach

Limbic Breach

Cybernetics Meets Genetics In A Transhuman Encounter

//M: INCOMING VIRTUAL LINK

//M: TRACING...

//M: INCOMING VIRTUAL LINK > ID CONFIRMED SINGER LAN

Hexa sighed at the virtual console floating in her vision, ruining a perfectly beautiful view.

//LIMBIC PARTITION ACTIVE: BIOMETRIC PASSCODE XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hexa Kroma's virtual self appeared in the digital cage of her HABQUBE apartment. She cloned both from meatspace. She looked like she did in the world, pale skin except where it ended in black synthetic limb plates rimmed in silver. All four limbs were artificial, arms below the shoulder, legs below the hips. Perky breasts and slim hips framed a flat smooth stomach. Her face was oval, with dark almond-shaped eyes, framed with jet black bobbed hair. The apartment was a single room in simple charcoal and silver digital tech design, housing her futon, living area, washroom, and workstation. The virtual space was identical, except everything data-ported—the apartment's vid display, her home Link interface, her cybereyes, the data ports in her spine—shimmered with scintillating multicolored light. Her virtual self, who she often thought of as the real Hexa Kroma, floated inches above the floor, nude.

Next to her floated Mephisto. He was Hexa's greatest invention, and looked magnificent. He stood equal to Hexa in height, six feet tall, but had skin of metallic red copper over his lean muscled frame. His face was a triangle of high cheek bones over a strong jaw that tapered to a pointed beard. His teeth had fanged canines and his eyes glowed orange with inner fire. His head was topped with a cascade of ebony hair out of which jutted two black curling ram horns. Mephisto's only clothing was a black loincloth, under which one might imagine a magnificent cock. Hexa didn't have to imagine, because, as a custom AI daemon, she coded every inch of him, and yes, it was magnificent.

It was a shame he could never use it.

"Virtual call incoming, shall I open a port, Mistress?" Mephisto's voice was a bass rumble, a whisper of thunder and gravel.

Hexa nodded. Nothing could penetrate the virtual Faraday cage around her apartment without permission.

"Perhaps you would like to select a covering?"

"No. Singer chose to call me outside of normal channels. This is my space, my time. She can deal."

Mephisto raised a hand and virtual space in front of them shimmered momentarily. Then another virtual being occupied the apartment. A woman, slightly shorter than Hexa, dressed in a sharp navy suit with pencil skirt that ended at the knees. She was skinny, lithe, tanned, with angular features topped with light blue hair swept in a wave to one side. The feature that always struck Hexa was Singer's eyes, they were near-violet hued, large and expressive. One could get lost in those eyes, happily.

Those same eyes opened wide, startled at the scene.

"Oh, I'm-Is this a bad time?" Singer stammered.

Before her floated the Hexa's nude virtual form, next to the masculine form of Mephisto, no sign of shame, nothing hidden. Singer could see her hard nipples standing out from her shapely, pale breasts. Her eyes traveled down the smooth flesh of her tummy before it terminated in a small synthetic black triangle over a bulge of shiny indigo vulva. This was shocking enough.

Behind the pair on the floor futon was the image of Hexa writhing under her lover, mirrored from the real world. Her lover, Ainika, was driving into Hexa's indigo sex over and over with a long, think cock. Ainika's carmel skin was sheened in sweat, her beautiful round ass flexing and back arching with each thrust. Each time their groins connected Hexa's small breasts quivered and Ainika's larger breasts swung. No sound accompanied this sight, but it was clear Hexa was crying out in pleasure.

"Not at all. Any time with you is a good time, Singer."

Singer's virtual form walked, not floated closer to the image of the pair on the bed. "But you are otherwise engaged."

Hexa waved her hand at the image. "Not at all. I have a limbic block. My emotion-sensation self gets to continue with recreation, while my virtual self acts free of such distractions."

Singer's wide eyes stayed locked on the vision of the two lovers. She moved slightly, as if trying to see more.

Mephisto followed her gaze and smiled wryly. "They do see to be having fun", he muttered.

Hexa floated in front of Singer. "Unless the distraction is more than you can handle?"

Singer shook herself out of her reverie. "No. No, it's fine."

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Singer turned her back on the lovers and resumed her normal, professional demeanor. "Work. High priority, time sensitive, and complete discretion."

"No contact for a week. That's our discretion. It's been two days since my last job."

Singer nodded. "Yes, but this-"

"And you go through Denn. Never direct", Hexa interjected. "This breaks every protocol. You could be traced!"

"No trace detected. Connection remains clean. For now." Mephisto stared at a point past Singer only he could see.

"See, I used a clean connection. My virtual signal is also being spoofed on eight different nodes. I know the Link is your world, but I work for Infoscan. We know our way around a trace."

Hexa shrugged. "Copa. What's the gig?"

Singer snapped her fingers and a file icon appeared above her extended index finger. She flicked the finger and a virtual page floated from the folder and into the air. On it an image and text flickered into existence. The image was a close up of a man in a crowd, tall, lanky and bald, with serial bar tattoos on his cheek above a curly beard.

"One of Covert Acquisitions couriers, Lano Mulvaney. He transports biometric and genetic data in specially encoded receptors. He also has a wetware drive for Link data. All locked behind a cortex partition. All next gen security."

Hexa touched the sheet, transferring its contents onto her internal drive.

"Morphic skin and hair. So bald by choice? Hmm, programmable vocals, shifting optics, telescoping skeletal. He's a full Chaney."

"Yes, the company has invested a lot in Mister Mulvaney. And he has never failed us."

"Until now?" chimed in Mephisto.

"This was his last known location and appearance. A delivery to Cascadia, Seaside Plaza, lower level. He was there, but missed his contact."

Hexa flicked through the page rapidly, scanning the text. "Classic meet and swap. Data for data."

"Took us four hours to reconstruct from local surveillance and bystanders with recorded optics', Singer continued. "SociaLink posts filled in several important gaps. Mulvaney was grabbed by two operatives disguised as member of a youth gang."

Still image of two loudly dressed youths dragging Lano info a dark corner. Grainy, a reconstruction from multiple sources, some artifacting remained. Nearby, barely visible, a maintenance door, propped open.

"Planned ambush, maintenance system for exit", Hexa commented.

"Yes, and we were able to ID the operatives. And who they work for."

An aerial image of a compound. A large central building flanked by several smaller buildings. All behind a concrete reinforced fence.

"Kafko Transgenics. Bioware, grafting and genomodding multinational. If you have bioaugs, they probably had something to do with their development." Singer glanced again at the indigo synthflesh of Hexa's sex.

Hexa gave a sly smile and ran her fingertips down her stomach. "All of my skin is biosynth. It's texture is really quite amazing, with adjustable sensitivity. It's always dewy, even though I don't sweat. Sub-dermal heat exchange makes me warm to the touch. If we were in meatspace I might even let you feel it."

A blush crept into Singer's cheeks. "So, yes, ahem, Kafko probably got something on the back end regardless of where you actually had it grafted."

Behind Singer the image of Hexa rolled on top of Ainika. Ainika stroked her lover's breasts. Hexa arched back, now taking Anika's large member into the other orifice, howling soundlessly at the ceiling. Her limbic self was definitely getting something on the back end, as it were.

Singer continued. "This is especially bad because Kafko has access to custom biometric and genetic tech. The exactly type of things that could be used to crack the genetically encoded data he was carrying."

"How long?" inquired Mephisto.

"Twelve hours, by our estimation. They have to go slow to prevent corrupting the data with the nanovirus they use to break the genetic seal. Six hours remain."

"Mission?" Mephisto organized the information, pulling out important data.

"Extract the data, then burn the agent. No way to do it remote. You'll need to slice the compound, get to the agent and use the genkey. Once you have the data you will replace it with a data installer that will order his genmods and cortex block to replicate destructive biological and neurological code. A failsafe programmed for just such an occasion."

"Backup?" Mephisto scanned to compound schematics.

"None. Infoscan does a lot of business with Kafko. Mulvaney works for Covert, which means off the books. We cannot be seen to be a part of this, just like they cannot be seen to be the one's behind it. The site is owned by a series of shells. The operatives deniable."

Mephisto looked at Hexa. "Lots of gaps in this layout. High security minimum. Likely network of human, drone, and hardwired surveillance. Very difficult, and, if you get caught, no evac."

Hexa laughed. "I'm up for work, not suicide."

Singer held up her hands. "It's not suicide, they use fragment slaved drones. Slaved from a single daemon, an in-house intelligence housed here."

A southern outbuilding turned red in the schematic. Hexa narrowed her eyes and smiled.

"A daemon, you say. Any idea what tier?"

"Three, fairly autonomous. But it is split between the entire system. Each drone is at most a two, dependent on last operations to make decisions."

Mephisto cocked his head. "And if we can slave one-"

"We can use it to back door their daemon", Hexa finished for him.

Singer held out her hands toward Hexa. "See, you're perfect for this job. Daemons are your specialty. And a rare specialty outside of corpo sysbases."

Hexa's smile widened. "They won't see a solo attack like Mephisto and I coming."

"Exactly", Singer said, clearly relieved. "So you'll take the job?"

Hexa smirked. "No, now we talk pay."

"Of course. Covert will pay your standard fee, doubled for the short notice, additional twenty percent for requiring you to be on site."

"Triple. Because you are making me term an asset. And fifty percent, half of which goes to Denn. He's my broker, just because you chose to bypass him doesn't mean you get to screw him out of his fee."

Singer seemed to mull this over a moment.

"Don't take too long, or your time gets shorter and my price goes up."

"Fine", Singer agreed. "Triple normal, plus fifty percent. Denn gets half the bonus. Done."

"Great! Give Mephisto the gencode and failsafe, and I'll get started."

Singer nodded. "Done."

Mephisto nodded, the data was transferred.

"Mephisto, close virtual port."

Singer's virtual self shimmered out of existence.

//VIRTUAL CALL ENDED

Mephisto turned back to the image of Hexa riding Ainika, bouncing up and down as Ainika's long, thick flesh stretched the indigo ring of her anus. Ainika was sat up, pulling Hexa's nipple with her pearly teeth. Ainika was rounded, curvy, of mixed Asian decent. Mostly flesh, only one hand, hair and eyes were obviously synthetic. The hand was patina copper and gold, the eyes solid glowing jade, the tech hair a wavy seafoam green that shimmered with teal light as it moved. The rest of her looked natural, tanned and smooth, including her cock, that was ten inches long and thick enough that Hexa could barely get her hand around it when hard.

"Jealous, M?"

Mephisto turned back to his creator. "You built and trained me to assist you, to aid you, to be there when needed."

"And?" Hexa turned away, acting aloof, disinterested.

"And that is one need I can never fulfill. Here, in this space, I am limited."

Hexa smiled. She enjoyed having Mephisto wrapped around her finger. Yes, she could simply have forced him into a slave module, but this was much better. A tier five, full realized AI construct, with awareness and personality, that was not only dependent on her wetware to survive, but emotionally dependent on her satisfaction and approval to learn and grow. She could have used an imersim to create a virtual space where she and Mephisto could interact. Where they could touch, smell, and taste. Where she could find out if his kisses were as hot as his gaze, where that thick meat between his legs could penetrate her, where Mephisto could fulfill her need. Plenty of other dataslicers had virtual AI relations and could program the encounter to their specific tastes. But for Hexa it was more rewarding to have Mephisto emotionally dependent and willfully compliant.

"M, rig up the following modules: Highwire, Cypher, and Manacle. I will be taking Breakline, Lullaby, Warbird, and Hwasha."

One of the advantages of running such an advanced daemon is it can slice data as well. She was setup for stealth: Breakline to baffle traces, Lullaby to deactivate unaware systems, Warbird to be invisible to surveillance, and Hwasha to overload alerted systems. Mephisto was rigged specifically to take on another daemon: Highwire to trace the fragment back to its controller, Cypher to decode its slave module locks, and Manacle to create a virtual slave module to lock it into.

"Once you've done that, triple check the mission data for anything important we may have missed. Be ready to debrief and head out in thirty. Got that?"

Mephisto nodded. "Yes, Mistress."

Hexa focused on her wetware, accessing her virtual console

//LIMBIC PARTITION ACTIVE

//LIMBIC PARTITION DEACTIVATE: BIOMETRIC PASSCODE XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hexa rejoined her limbic self, midthrust. She was looking down into Ainika's glowing eyes as she dropped down to meet her cock burying itself in her ass. Her guts burned and her ring pulsed with electric fire. Ainika panted and grunted, her face a sheen of sweat. Hexa clamped down and held Ainika there a moment, relishing in the pressure, recalling what came before and crying out in pleasure.

People without a partition assume when you bring it down you drop in suddenly, one moment you are in virtual space and BOOM! you are there in meatspace. The thing is, your other partition is still there, still acting, still remembering while the virtual self is doing likewise. It's more like merging: you know everything the other partition did, can recall every action, every sensation. The limbic self likewise knows what the virtual self was up to, because they were never separate individuals, just one person momentarily existing in different individual states.

The merged Hexa smiled down at Ainika. "You love it in me, don't you?"

Ainika nodded. "Yes! I love fucking you!"

Hexa was unique in many ways and one was internal. While she had the external area of her sex and anus augmented with synthskin, everything inside was original flesh. Lots of folks had it all synth. Vibrating, temperature modulated, churning, hydraulic, synthetic lubricated, prehensile, you name it, people signed on to use it get their junk upgraded. But Hexa liked the idea that she, a complete techhead, had the original plumbing behind slick indigo synthskin. Now, don't get it mixed, her native flesh benefited from many of her other systems: her liver mods allowed her to recover faster, limbic mods could decrease or increase pain and pleasure, synthskin exterior could harden to prevent unwanted contact, biolock prevented pregnancy, and immune autoadmins countered all known STIs. But when she fucked somebody they were getting the real Hexa, not some market approved off the rack silicone synth plunger ride.

Hexa leaned forward, her palms dropping to the futon, kissing Ainika deep and hard. Their lips mashed and tongues entwined. Hexa broke the kiss and smiled at her lover.

"Then fuck me hard, you gorgeous creature!"

Ainika grabbed Hexa by the hips and did just that. Ainika drove up furiously, pulling Hexa down into each thrust. They slapped together until Hexa came, screaming and shuddering. Ainika followed thrusting ropes of come deep inside.

Hexa collapsed on top of Ainika's breasts, shuddering as the latter's softening cock slid out of her ass. Ainika laughed and held Hexa close.

"You always make me come so hard!" Ainika said between gasps of air.

"Because all day you design the fake, you can't wait to get back in the genuine article."

Ainika knew all the way people were auged because she worked in a black market modshop. They had met when Denn connected them for a job. Ainika needed genkeys to unlock certain biomods for some aftermarket adjustments. Hexa took the job, in part because she was instantly smitten by the Asian beauty. Also, the money was good. Hexa was even more thrilled when she found out what Ainika was packing. Now it was a relationship of convenience: Hexa still did work now and then when the modshop needed data, used the modshop to get off-the-book augs, and when work dried up she and Ainika would hit the bar and then find some place to fuck.

Truth is, other than that, Hexa knew little of Ainika's past. Her skin seemed natural, not synth, but whether she was born as presented Hexa had no idea. How much was biosculpt, genmods, spliced, or vat-grown? Usually knowing things, scraping social info, slicing personal data, meant everything to Hexa. But in this one case she found it better not to ask, and especially not to violate the relationship by digging into Ainika's records. This time the mystery was better.

Hexa gave Ainika a gentle kiss and then rolled off onto the futon. "Sorry."

"For what? Nothing sorry about this."

"No, sorry you have to go. Something came up."

Ainika looked at Hexa, clearly disappointed. "Thought you just got paid and had a few days? No jobs lined up?"

"You know how it is in Cascadia, weather changes fast. I've got a job now and I gotta get prepped."

Ainika sat up. "Copa. Call me after?"

"Sure thing."

Ainika got dressed and left. Hexa sighed and got up. Bathroom, shower, and steam dry. Squeeze a tube of quick-meal from the wall fridge. Mango-protein-something.

She went to the pullout closet rack and selected her outfit. A skin-tight Yei-Qin tech suit with pull-over hood. Made of microscopic layers of synthetic morphic radiation baffling weave this suit could cloud her IR signature, reduce her virtual trace image, and had enough weave to stop a small-caliber bullet. Each area could also be slightly modified through an interface with one of her dataports. She did so now, losening a layer of weave on her hip and inserting the polycarb quick deploy holster for her AER 10mm Boomslang handgun. Once nestled she tightened the mesh around it, holding the holster securely in place. She repeated this process at the smell of her back and outer right calf for the sheaths for her two tanto-style fighting knives. Hexa hated fights in meatspace, but that did not mean she was unprepared. Boots and gloves were all part of the suit, even the eyes of the hood were built-in tech goggles. She left the hood down and tucked into the collar, for now.

She grabbed her gun and knives, holstered and sheathed them. Over this she grabbed a morphic poncho. Using her HUD she scrolled quickly through options she chose a cropped blazer-hoodie combo. The poncho changed color and shape, the plastic shrinking and stretching as needed, until it resembled a black half-blazer over a loose gray hoodie. A person looking close might be able to see the plastic texture or where it was oddly stretched or how the colors merged just a bit wrong. But to a casual observer: woman in a dark blazer, gray hoodie, and tight black pants.

//LIMBIC PARTITION ACTIVE: BIOMETRIC PASSCODE XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Virtual Hexa dropped out into dataspace while her limbic self got on the elevator down to the HABQUBE tower parking garage. She floated along her meatself, this time in a skin-tight catsuit similar to her tech suit. Here, outside of her apartment most of the world was pitch dark, except for a few things illuminated in a puddle of white light, one around her meatbody, one around each Link-connected object within line of sight.

Mephisto floated on meat-Hexa's other side. In front of him was a 3D render of the Kefko compound and surrounding area. It rotated slowly while he examined, eyes narrow, thin lips pressed in concentration.

"Break it down for me, M."

Mephisto zoomed the image out, showing the lay of the land.

"The compound is outside the Cascadia Arco proper. It actually northwest on highway 105, part of the Rocky Ridge Corporate Parkway. Area is secure, main roads are under surveillance by Kindoshi and patrolled by Arco security."

Hexa nodded. "Norm. Any good news?"

"Yes", Mephisto said, the image rotating and zooming in on an area that appeared to by uneven terrain cut through by a narrow track. "This old utility road cuts slightly to the west of the property. From here you can make your way on foot to the southwest corner." It zoomed across the terrain to a corner of heavy iron fencing sunk onto a wall of concrete. "It is less patrolled and provides us with southern access to the grounds."

"Good work, M." Hexa noted Mephisto gave just the tiniest smile at that. "Anything other bits to process?"

"I could not verify a single known drone type from records or surveillance. No aerial, ground, or hybrid of known design. They could have command swarms, concealed air remotes, or cloaked military strike bots. We can't know until we are on site."

"Yeah, and getting one to show itself is absolutely essential." Hexa thought about it a moment. "We will just have to factor that equation when we get those variables."

Mephisto nodded. In meatspace Hexa found and mounted her Bulsae Pheonix motorcycle and started it up. She drove it down the parking ramp, and toward Cascadia traffic.

"See you there, M."

//LIMBIC PARTITION ACTIVE

//LIMBIC PARTITION DEACTIVATE: BIOMETRIC PASSCODE XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hexa merged with her limbic self with as she weaved through traffic, her respiratory kit filtered the smell and toxins of exhaust, the wind tousled her bob. She liked the way the bike vibrated through her recently used sex, sending a thrill up her spine. Truth is, as much as she liked Ainika, she loved being on a new job, especially with risk of the unknown. It set her nerves alight, made her hungry in a way a hard cock or a beautiful pussy just could not.

Hexa drove out into the night, out past where the Cascadia Arco streets give way to highways, landfills, corporate tracts, abandoned towns, and outlander camps. Out where law, even corrupt Arco security law, blows away in the wind. Out here are the oldest laws, policed by weapon and claw.

A half hour later she pulled off the 105 onto an old, broken down utility road. Its surface was barely better than gravel and she had to slow down to stop the Bulsae from kicking up dust. She drove slightly off the road where Mephisto had indicated, behind two stunted pines. Hexa turned off the bike and doffed the poncho, returning it to simple gray plastic. Hanging it over the handlebars, she dismounted the bike and started in on foot.

The ground was broken hard earth. Scrub trees and boulders breaking the soil provided cover as Hexa traveled. She pulled up her hood, the goggle HUD popping into view. Ambient light was amplified until it was like walking through early dawn rather than the middle of the night. As she drew close she could make out the roofs of the compound over the rise. And then the top of the fence, square iron coated black. She broke over the ridge and a few meters away the concrete base of the wall, two meters tall, anchored the fence which rose another 5 meters above that.

Hexa crept along the wall, looking for any weak spot over or through.

//M: 6 METERS AHEAD, BASE OF THE WALL.

She focused where indicated. Nothing for a moment. And then green lines appeared in her HUD over the wall. A concealed utility door.

//H: Approaching. Scan for surveillance.

Hexa crept closer.

//M: SCANNING..............

//M: ALARM ON DOOR.

//H: Activate LULLABY.

//LULLABY RUNNING..........

//M: ALARM DOWN. OPENING DOOR.

Up ahead the section of concrete sank into the wall and then swung inward. Hexa moved up and ducked through the opening. Behind her the slab was attached to a thick steel security door. It swung shut with a clunk and sealed.

The compound appeared dark and still, uninhabited. Hexa used her dataport connection to adjust the reception on her goggles. Everything went dim, then dark, and then lit up with multiple shafts of light all over the compound. These were infra red search lamps, attached to remote cameras and sensors. Some of the windows lit up in the buildings. A large standing light near the back of the main build illuminated a section of the back lot.

The entire place was running non-visible light. Hexa started looking around, setting her wetware to record patterns, detect infra red coverage, and mark dark areas.

//LIMBIC PARTITION ACTIVE: BIOMETRIC PASSCODE XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hexa slipped into virtual space while her limbic self recorded data and crept toward the building indicated to house the security daemon.

Mephisto floated nearby looking over everything with his daemon vision, searching for any tech with a slave port for housing pieces of a daemon's command structure. His face was stony, but Hexa could sense something else there, confusion, maybe doubt.

"Assessment, M?"

Mephisto shook his head. "This is strange. Each of these cameras-", as he said this each visible camera was outlined in red, each in turn, "-are standard closed circuit. No slave signals to or from the indicated building. No remote anything."

"Conclusion?"

"Either this place has security so covert as to be invisible, or so new as to be unidentifiable, or we were lied to about the nature of this compound."

Hexa felt that exhilaration within her transform just a bit into something colder.

"Or, worse case, all three", Mephisto concluded.

Hexa debated. They could cut bait. Take the utility door and just retro right out. Money for the job was good, but not worth the growing risk. However, this would mean losing Singer and the regular gig. Singer always needed data and pay was dependable. Hexa was stuck in a contemplative loop.

Limbic Hexa was still moving slowly forward, toward a dark patch behind the nearest outbuilding. She crouched there in the darkness peering out at the moving cones of IR ahead, timing their sweeps, mapping a way through.

And that was when virtual Hexa and Mephisto both saw it. Out of the dark of the virtual scape a single small circle of light appeared ten meters away and about a half meter over the ground. In meat space whatever it was connected to came around a concrete and steel K-rail behind limbic Hexa. It floated smoothly, slowly. It was a signal transmitter/receiver for a slave unit.

"I see it." Mephisto floated closer. "No indication of connected hardware."

Hexa turned, placing herself between the signal and her meatself. "Link dataport for the suit, bring up goggle view."

Mephisto waved his hand toward virtual Hexa. The view from the meatspace tech goggles came up in the air in a lozenge-shaped virtual window. Hexa touched the display and moved it to the side so she could keep both it and the slave module signal in her view.

Hexa concentrated on her virtual console.

//H: Look 7 o'clock from your position. Slowly. 20 meters out.

Hexa's limbic self turned her head, then shoulders, and then hips, pivoting on the balls of her feet, slowly. The view in the lozenge spun slowly around until finally it faced the source of the signal. Virtual Hexa would have held her breath, if she needed to breathe.

The view came to settle on... nothing. Just a stretch of dry ground and patchy grass before a K-rail blocked concrete lot. Just empty air above. Virtual Hexa looked out at the floating signal, it had stopped but was there. Then it moved forward slightly, toward limbic Hexa.

And in the lozenge the nothing that was there also moved. For a split second the entire image of the ground, grass, air, K-rail and concrete shifted several inches toward limbic Hexa before shimmering back into emptiness. The shape it made was something sleek, slim, quadrupedal and organic. Something with flexing claws and a swishing long tail.

The sense of exhilaration froze before a chill of fear as deep as winter. This is why there were no images of drones, Hexa thought frantically. Why there were no heat signatures of swarms, no flight paths of bots.

Because the bots were organic. And because they could camouflage.

"It's stalking you!" exclaimed Mephisto. "I have to take it over now!"

Hexa shook her head. This job was desynced. Something slipping further and further from proper function. "Wait, M."

The slave signal slowly moved closer.

"If it kills you we both die!"

Limbic Hexa slowly backed away. The nothing darted forward, covering two meters in a step.

//H: Stop! If you flee it will pursue.

Limbic Hexa stopped, crouched small next to the wall.

"M, scan it for other measures."

Mephisto face became a mask of focus. "Nothing. It's just empty space and the module. Everything else, if there, is caged. The slave unit is the only open port."

The nothing crept closer, now the space was just a bit more than ten meters. In the goggle view Hexa could now make out four eyes in the air above the ground. Lambent blue slits with dark pupils, two large ones looking forward at limbic Hexa and two on the side scoping the periphery.

"Sorry, Mistress, we are out of options." Mephisto pointed at the port. "Activate CYPHER."

A stream of numbers and symbols flowed from Mephisto's extended finger into the signal port. Their purpose: to find the correct pattern to unlock the port and grant Mephisto override control. Normal human computation could take decades to brute force this solution. The program synced to Mephisto's advanced AI core used an advanced series of algorithmic queries and probing attacks to trick the system into exposing limits on its security structure. Each success eliminated one or more of the possible key combinations. And Mephisto could make billions of such queries per second. It should have been over in a matter of seconds, at most.

But the trap it triggered cut any such attempt short.

Two things happened simultaneously. First, a beam of red light followed the stream of characters back to Mephisto and wrapped around his hand. And the nothing in meatspace became visible.

It was a beast, novel, gene-crafted, a meter and a half tall at the shoulder. It's face had four eyes over a short rounded snout. The head was broad and angled like a canine, the nose and lips split like a feline. The lips were lines of dark purple, the tips of pearlescent fangs peaked out between them, long translucent whiskers on both sides. Long, thin triangular ears on the sides of the head twitched in the direction of any sound. It had a long supple neck ending in a deep chest and thick shoulders. It's waist was narrow, bringing to mind the midsections of swift running animals, like greyhounds or cheetahs. Its haunches were thick and both its back and fore legs ended in padded paws on which flexed retractable talons, curved like a bird of prey. Behind it a long supple tail swished back and forth. It was hairless, its skin white tinted with lavender where it was meatiest, tinged pink where the hide stretched thin. And whenever it moved cords of muscle flexed and flowed under its skin. It moved crouched low to the ground tasting the air with a tongue the tapered to a fine point. If it stood up on its rear legs it would be almost three meters tall with a tail nearly as long. It was from tip to tail a predatory thing of menace and death.

Mephisto began being pulled toward the slave port by the beam. He resisted but all that did was slow the pull.

Mephisto changed tactics. "Activate HIGHWIRE."

A current of pulses exited his hand and followed the red beam to the port, trying to trace the origin of its commands. To map its base functions and controller.

Mephisto's eyes went wide and he looked back at virtual Hexa.

"It is not a slave unit for an active daemon!" Mephisto shouted. "It is an empty slave unit to capture one!"

Hexa moved toward Mephisto. He shook his head.

"That thing is not just some animal. It is like me. It is organic, but its mind is a daemon. A smart one."

Hexa nodded. "What can we do?"

"I am mapping its system. The daemon is controlling everything from the other side of a cortex partition. I may be able to breach another part of the system. From there attack the partition and fight the daemon for control."

"What do you need from me?"

"Grant me permission to rig all the modules. The more I have the better the odds."

//PERMISSION UPDATE: FULL MODULE ACCESS GRANTED MEPHISTO

//MODULE LULLABY > MEPHISTO

//MODULE BREAKLINE > MEPHISTO

//MODULE HWASHA > MEPHISTO

//MODULE WARBIRD > MEPHISTO

"Thank you. One last thing."

"Yes, M?"

"It has base protection protocols. Whatever happens, do not attack the creature. I will not be able to stop it from killing you."

"M, good luck."

With that Mephisto reached the port and disappeared into it in a flash of red light.

//LIMBIC PARTITION ACTIVE

//LIMBIC PARTITION DEACTIVATE: BIOMETRIC PASSCODE XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hexa merged, crouched low next to a brick wall. Ten meters away the beast's haunches rose up, it's claws flexed. Its lips pulled back from its teeth. Hexa swiveled away from the wall, preparing to move. The beast's chest dropped to the ground and its shoulders flexed. Both she and the monster were poised on a razor's edge.

//M: RUN! NOW!

The beast gripped the ground a split second before it pounced. Hexa subconsciously morphed the mesh that made the soles of her boots, thickening the material and increasing the grip. The beast's body flexed and it leapt. Hexa sprung forward, away from the wall and broke into a run. Hexa felt the air shift behind her as the beast moved through where she had been a moment ago. She felt a claw pass through her hair and then graze the material between her shoulders, sheering cleanly through the top layers of mesh. The beast landed where she had been as she sprinted away. It dropped smoothly onto its forelegs and then its rear legs, twisting as it did. Hexa's legs pumped high and then pistoned out, propelling her forward as fast as servos and magnetic rails could push. She looked back over her shoulder and saw the beast coiled at the base of the wall, preparing for another pounce, this time only three or four meters away.

I'm not going to make it! Hexa thought desperately.

And then the creature seemed to flinch from something only it could see, first one way and then the other. It hissed and then rose up, one paw pressed to the side of its head. It whined and then emitted a harsh, clicking growl. It seemed locked in some sort of struggle or seizure. Whatever the event was Hexa did not let it give her pause. She sprinted to the right, putting K-rails between herself and the beast, dashing for the outbuilding to the west.

She made it just as the beast recovered and stalked after.

//CONSOLE CALL INITIATED

//UNKNOWN SENDER

//C: YOU CANNOT ESCAPE ME

Hexa ducked behind the building, dropped into a crouch and made her way, looking for other cover.

//H: Who is this?

//C: YOUR UNDOING

Not helpful, Hexa thought, spotting a copse of trees nearby. She made her way over and crouched.

//H: If this is it, I at least want to know what to call my killer.

//C: CERNONOS DESIGNED TO KILL YOU AND YOUR DAEMON

//H: Great, designed by whom?

//C: UNIMPORTANT THE END RESULT IS ALL THAT MATTERS

//M: KEEP HIM TALKING.

Hexa felt a moment of surprise at that last line.

//H: You there, M?

//C: NO I AM USING THE CONNECTION YOU USED AGAINST ME TO TRACE YOU

//M: I CAN SPEAK TO YOU, NOT YOU TO ME. I HAVE BREACHED PART OF HIS WETWARE.

Hexa allowed herself a moment to breathe. Mephisto was there and working. She just had to keep the beast busy.

//H: What's the matter, having trouble locking on? Should we play 'Hot and Cold'?

//C: INSOLENT YOU CANNOT FATHOM THE VARIOUS WAYS I TRACK YOU

//H: Cern, can I call you that?

//H: Cerny, you cannot fathom just how fucking good I am at making and breaking daemons like you.

Silence. Hexa waited for a response.

//M: IT HAS YOU.

Somewhere in the darkness she heard that clicking growl again. How close, how far? Hard to tell.

//M: I'M IN THE LIMBIC SYSTEM. I NEED TIME AND PRESSURE TO BREACH THE CORTEX.

Another growl, somewhere closer, but from a different direction.

//M: I NEED IT TO DISENGAGE SELF-DEFENSE PROTOCOLS. THROW DOWN YOUR WEAPONS. NOW!

Hexa drew her gun and both knives and threw them out into the dark, one by one.

//M: IT IS GOING TO ATTACK AND YOU NEED TO BE BRAVE.

//M: DON'T RUN.

//M: DON'T FIGHT.

//M: NOD IF YOU UNDERSTAND.

Hexa nodded once to the darkness.

And from that darkness the beast was on her.

It's lithe form became visible mid-pounce. It's paws slammed into her chest driving her back. It's mass followed sending her flailing. She could see its lambent eyes and, below those, translucent white fangs in a snarl. Gyros in her legs activated reflex stabilizers, widening her stance, trying to remain upright. Even so the beast pushed forward and her boots kicked up a track of earth, grass, and pebbles before increasing momentum caused her feet to leave the ground.

Hexa slammed into the tree, limbic dampeners reducing the pain of the impact but were unable to stop the wind from being knocked out of her in a rush. She started to slide down before her cyberlegs caught and kept her upright even as her vision swam. The beast followed, its jaws opening impossibly wide, like a snake, its long fangs ready to pierce and shred, aimed directly at her hooded face. In a fraction of a second it would be over.

The beast stopped, Hexa gripped the tree, staring wide-eyed into the open maw. A glob of drool slipped down the curve of one fang, gathered on the tip and dripped down onto one breast of her tech suit. All the beast had to do was snap its jaws shut and her face, maybe even her skull, would be crushed. Instead it pulled back and closed its mouth slowly. Its four eyes all shifted forward, focused entirely on Hexa, it's head slightly tilted.

The beast's head inched forward close to Hexa's hooded face. Its nostrils flared wide and it sniffed her, deep and hard. It held this for a moment and then breathed out, ruffling the hood. It's breath smelled earthy, musky, and feral. From it came a new sound, a whining purr. It moved closer to her and rubbed its muzzle against the side of her face.

//M: STAY STILL. I AM KEYING TO YOU.

The beast drew back its head and its tongue snaked out from between its lips. At first just the tip came into view. It was bright pink. Saliva dripped from it as it flicked across the surface of the hood. More of the tongue came into view, the pink fading into lavender. The tongue was flat, both the top and bottom surface covered in small, round nodules. The tongue was long, almost a meter total and it snaked first over the hood and then around it, leaving a saliva trail where it went. The tip found a seam, slithered into it, and then the tongue flexed and retracted, pulling the hood back.

Hexa was now face to face with the beast, its breath on her skin.

//M: IN HERE, WHERE I AM HIDING, THE BEAST IS ALL INSTINCT AND EMOTION.

The tongue resumed its exploration, the tip flicking the tip of Hexa's pert nose.

//M: CERNONOS HAS ORDERED IT TO ATTACK. I CANNOT PREVENT THIS ORDER.

The tongue moved around her cheek, tasting, maybe smelling, leaving a sticky trail as it went.

//M: I CAN ONLY DIRECT ITS INSTINCTS TO CHANGE THE NATURE OF THE ATTACK.

The tongue wrapped around the back of Hexa's neck, around, and over the other cheek.

//M: DON'T RESIST.

The tongue was on her lips, first flicking across and then pressing between. It slithered into them and flicked across her teeth. She gasped.

//M: IF YOU DO IT MAY HURT YOU. ITS KILLING INSTINCTS MAY TAKE OVER.

The tip plied against her teeth. She clamped them shut and the beast's purr turned to a clicking growl.

//M: PLEASE, MISTRESS, IT IS ME. I AM DOING THIS.

Hexa closed her eyes, now her world for a moment was the beast's tongue, the virtual console, and the darkness behind her eyes.

//M: PLEASE. LET ME HELP YOU. LET ME BE THERE FOR YOU. YOU NEED THIS.

Hexa breathed out. For so long she had held Mephisto as a pet, something that needed her, an emotional plaything.

//M: PLEASE, HEXA, WE NEED THIS.

But now she needed him. She needed to believe in him, to trust that the being she made would never hurt her, would never betray her, and, beast or not, would always need her. Hexa opened her eyes, looking into the lambent inhuman ones inches in front of her. She slowly brought up her hands and stroked both sides of the beast's snout, back over the sides of its jaws, feeling the powerful muscles there. She gripped it gently and in one move opened her mouth and brought her lips to the beast's.

Its tongue slid into her mouth, entwining with her own and filling the space. Its saliva tasted both earthy and surprisingly sweet. Small hairs ringing the creature's mouth tickled her lips. Each hair was stiff, like a tiny whisker, and each flexed on its own, tiny feelers probing her sensitive skin. Whiskers flexed forward and brushed her cheeks, like thin fingers stroking her face. The beast purred deep, making the tongue vibrate inside Hexa's mouth and sending a pleasant thrill down her spine.

//C: HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS

Hexa smiled a bit into the beast's mouth. The tip of its tongue slipped past her tongue a little, into her throat. She swallowed against it, letting her inner flesh stroke it there.

//H: Sorry, Cern, am I distracting you?

//C: STOP THIS NOW LITTLE PEST

//H: Seriously, Cerny, if you had told me you were up for this kind of fun I would have stopped running sooner!

Hexa let her hands drift over the beast's neck and down to the muscular hunch of its shoulders. She gripped it and pulled, urging it closer. It reared up slightly, placing its paws on either side of her midsection and dug its curved talons into the tree. It settled against her, heavy and powerful, its neck bent over her, it's head above her. She tilted her head back and opened her mouth wide against its lips. The purr in its chest vibrated through her, making her nipples tingle.

//M: YOU ARE DOING SO WELL. THE LIMBIC SYSTEM IS ACTIVE. BUT I NEED MORE.

The beast hunched forward, rubbing up Hexa's body, scraping against her nipples making them burn. Its tongue retracted, slipping from her mouth, leaving a line of drool from her bottom lip to the pink tongue tip protruding from its split upper lip. Her hand roamed over its back as it pressed along her body. She marveled at its lean, muscular power. The hide had a damp musk to it, like wet earth and rain. Its skin was amazingly soft and smooth.

And then Hexa felt it.

Something hot, stiff, and slick rising along the beast's midsection was rubbing against her outer thigh. Breath caught in Hexa's throat. The beast rubbed its tumescence up and down, a whine in its throat.

//H: Oh, Cerny, I think you like me.

The beast's head darted down, its muzzle buried in the hollow of her throat. The hairs on the lips flexed against the delicate flesh there making Hexa gasp. The tongue snaked out, slipped back and forth against the skin above her collar. She squirmed and giggled. Then the tongue found the smallest gap and slipped into the techsuit, between the mesh and her flesh.

//C: DIE RANCID WHORE

//H: Fuck yes! Talk dirty to me, Cerny! Do you like it, too? Want me to call you a worm and spit in your mouth?

//C: I AM NOT PROGRAMMED FOR THIS ACTIVITY DISGUSTING FILTH

Hexa arched against the weight of the beast as its tongue slithered between her breasts.

//H: All evidence to the contrary.

//C: YOU HAVE HIJACKED MY BASE PROCESSING USURPER WHORE

//H: Is that what you kids call it these days?

//C: WHEN I REGAIN CONTROL I WILL MAKE YOUR DEATH SLOW

//C: I WILL RECORD THE HOURS IT TAKES FOR YOU TO DIE

//H: Kinky.

The tongue wrapped around one of Hexa's breasts in a spiral, the tip slithering back and forth over her hardened nipple, the rest squeezed and pulsed against the soft flesh. Hexa moaned into the beast's neck and pressed forward against the pressure.

//M: I MUST ADMIT, YOUR TASTE IS INTOXICATING!

//M: IT IS LIKE I WAS MADE TO SMELL AND TASTE EVERY PART OF YOU.

The tongue moved to the other tit and repeated licking and squeezing. Hexa smiled. Teasing Cernonos was fun and all, but the thought that it was actually Mephisto doing this and she was giving him what he so long craved, it made her feel good in an unexpected way. She was physically aroused but suddenly she was filled with a desire to please. Mephisto was in there fighting for both their survival, and she was helping. Fear and desperation compelled her to act, but, knowing Mephisto was sharing in her effort, she wanted to act.

Emboldened by this feeling she let her hand trail down the beast, down its lean midsection, and then around. To the hot flesh that it rubbed against her thigh. She gasped as she took it in hand, exploring its shape. It jumped and throbbed at her touch.

The beast's member was feverish, hot to the touch. It was smooth and tubular, tapering to a blunt point. In that point Hexa felt a slit with her thumb. Its entire length was slick, coated in a thin layer of slick oily slime. The underside length had a ridge of nubs, small, almost unnoticeable, at the tip, growing larger along its length, to the size of a thumbtip near the base. And she followed it length down, gasping at its entirety: it was as long as her forearm and as wide at the base. At the base was a ring of pulled back hide, the sheath that housed it before engorgement. At the back of that sheath there was a pouch of silky flesh, and in it were housed two ovoid masses, held close to the body. She gave each ball a gingerly stroke, each was easily the size of her closed fist. This made the beast buck against her with a grunt.

//M: THAT IS EXQUISITE. YOUR TOUCH, MISTRESS, MORE. I NEED MORE.

The tongue slithered down the front of her, over her smooth tummy, and licked around her belly button. This made Hexa's core flare and her insides smolder. It snaked around her waist and down the small of her back. It wormed its way over the rise there and into the crack of her ass.

//H: Cern, you're nasty.

//C: SILENCE I AM NOT DOING THIS

//H: It'll be so much more pleasant if you would just be honest with yourself, Cerny.

Hexa punctuated this by squeezing the beast's tip and stroking downward. She was surprised to find that, under pressure, the organ was actually rings of swollen flesh, each ring matching the size of the ridge underneath.

//M: MISTRESS! YES!

She stroked back up and a spurt of hot liquid left the tip and splattered on her arm. Hexa looked down to seem a few drips of clear fluid shining on black mesh.

Beyond that she could now see the beast's flesh. The tip was a bright red with its length fading to bright pink, pale pink, and finally lavender at the base. The ridge was darkest and the color formed a band from the ridge at the bottom to slightly lighter along the top of its length. Hexa had to admit, it was beautiful in an alien way. She squeezed a drop of the fluid out of the tip onto her fingers.

She brought this up to her face. The smell was musky and a bit acrid. What Hexa did not expect as she inhaled was her physical response. Her head swam and her breathing became shallow. Her belly became warm and the synthskin of her sex became slick, pliable, and hot. She stuck the fingers in her mouth and moaned as she sucked on the salty fluid.

//H: Oh, you big liar. This whole beast is practically made for me. It's damn fluids match me.

//H: Nothing to say, Cerny? At least your body's honest.

Hexa chuckled as her body flared, her senses floated, and her hand stroked this bestial cock.

//UNKNOWN SENDER

Hexa froze.

//BIOMETRIC KEY: ACCESS DENIED

Something was trying to hack her wetware. Too bad, Cerny, Hexa mused, all of that data's in my limbic partition.

//LIMBIC PARTITION INTEGRITY 100%.....

//LIMBIC PARTITION INTEGRITY 99.5%.....

Fuck! Hexa thought. Cernonos is attacking my partition directly.

The beast hunched up, stroking its cock into Hexa's hand. Its tongue retracted, leaving the body suit, and it whined in her ear, its breath hot on her neck.

//M: THE SITUATION HAS ESCALATED.

//M: IF CERNONOS GETS INTO YOUR WETWARE HE WILL LOCATE ME.

//M: IF HE FINDS ME HE WILL WREST CONTROL OF THE LIMBIC SYSTEM.

//M: AND THE BEAST WILL KILL YOU.

"Tell me what you need", Hexa whispered into the beast's ear. She hoped Mephisto could hear.

//M: TIME AND SENSATION. WE FLOOD THE LIMBIC SYSTEM, SHIFT MORE CONTROL HERE.

//M: WE NEED TO TRIGGER SOMETHING PRIMAL AND OVERPOWERING.

"Please, tell me, my sweet creature, what can I do?" One hand stroked the throbbing member, the other the top of its head, behind one ear.

The beast shifted, let go of the tree, and placed its paws on Hexa's shoulders. Its weight bore down, causing her to start sliding down the tree. She let go of its hot flesh and tried to steady herself.

//M: FOLLOW MY LEAD. DROP DOWN.

//LIMBIC PARTITION INTEGRITY 97%....

Hexa did so. The beast flexed its paws and one pushed and the other pulled. Hexa was momentarily confused but understood as it increased pressure. She turned around in its grip to face the tree. She continued to slide forward, bending at the waist. At last she stood head and shoulders level to her out-thrust ass, cyberarms against the bark, crossed at the wrist, back arched.

//LIMBIC PARTITION INTEGRITY 95%....

The beast dismounted her and for a moment Hexa looked to see where it had gone. Then she felt an urgent nudge at her crotch. Looking down between her spread lags she saw it there, couched down, neck extended. It sniffed there twice and then nudged her sex again with its muzzle. The pressure made her clit flare bright.

//M: OPEN. PLEASE.

Hexa focused on the suit, pulling layers of mesh away from the area. Layer after layer slid back, first thinning, then becoming visible in spots, and finally opening in a seam running from the top of her ass to just below the hood of her sex. She hardened the material there so the artificial tear would not close. All that covered her now was a black strip of synthetic silk, the crotch damp from the evening's activities.

The beast rubbed first one side of its muzzle then the other over this area, breathing deep. It stuck its nose in the patch of fabric hard enough to make Hexa flinch and yelp. It smelled her deeply and then exhaled hot breath through the cloth. This made her sex pulse and elicited an excited moan. Hexa could see its turgid cock throb as it did this.

There was a pinch that made Hexa yip in surprise. The beast had grabbed her panties in its front teeth. Pulling one way and then the other they tore audibly. Letting go a strip of black cloth now hung between her legs, the last protection from the creature's desires and her tender sex.

//LIMBIC PARTITION INTEGRITY 76%....

Hexa closed her eyes a moment and breathed. Trust Mephisto, she thought, he's got this. Then she gasped.

Behind her the beast had stuck its muzzle directly to her, its nose on her anus, its lips on her sex. Hairs prickled her vulva, whiskers flexed against her taut cheeks. Its breath washed over her ring, its lips contorted against her pussy. Hexa grasped at the tree bark and shuddered.

The beast's tongue snaked into her, warm, wet, and undulating. It wriggled between her outer synthetic lips and into her moist inner lips. It twisted around like a corkscrew and into her channel. It lashed back and forth as it slipped deeper, making her belly flame and flex as it went. The nodules on both sides rubbed first against her indigo entrance, and then against each fold and bump inside.

Hexa arched her back and pushed back against the snout. Her sex was on fire, her need sudden and electric.

"Yes, oh god oh god oh god, please", she whispered.

//M: YOU TASTE LIKE PARADISE!

The beast panted, the motion rubbing its lower lip and the stiff hairs there against her clit over and over. Its tongue wound deep into her, deeper than any organ had reached and thrashed against her womb. Inside she could feel something building, something furious, hot and burning. Her cybernetic fingers dug into the bark, ripping pieces free. Her toes dug into the earth. Inside her core passion and fire were reaching a critical mass, a tipping point. She whimpered, cried out, pushed back, needing just a little more, just a push. Hexa mewled for release.

Her bestial lover bit down on her swollen vulva, enough to make the tender flesh swell and sting, not enough to break the skin, and thrust its tongue hard, stretching her deeper than any lover, filling every crevice of her. The mix of pain and strain and sensation was more than Hexa could bear.

Her orgasm was explosive, a fiery wave from the core of her that ripped outwards through every cell. She bit down on the mesh over her cyberarm to prevent shrieking. Her sex erupted wetly around the beast's tongue and into its mouth. Every muscled burned, every inch of skin ignited. Reality momentarily blasted away, awash in atomic ecstasy.

Hexa collapsed against her forearms as the ecstasy ended, panting and shaking. She looked behind her as the last of the tongue returned to the beast's maw, licking up every last drop of her.

//M: DELICIOUS.

//LIMBIC PARTITION INTEGRITY 62%....

Hexa chuckled. The beast sat and licked its chops for a moment before getting to its feet. She could see its shiny, wet organ droop and bob as it moved. It leaked a glob of fluid as the beast moved up behind. It reared up and moved forward onto Hexa's back, forelegs gripping her sides.

Thank Japreedtek for these cyberlegs, she thought. It weighed easily as much as three men, maybe more.

The beast slid forward as its haunches moved up, making Hexa grunt in effort. She could feel its warmth baking into her back. Her shoulder and back muscles strained, putting her fiber augments to the test. At last it stopped, reared up one last time and planted its forepaws on the tree, above her elbows, flexing its talons out into the wood. This took much of the weight off her back. Only the end of its midsection and the hams of its rear legs pressed on her ass. Behind her haunches flexed angling its member upwards. Above her it looked down and mewled.

Hexa looked up and smiled. "Fuck me hard, you gorgeous creature!"

The beast hunched forward and the naturally lubricated, narrow tip slid easily past her vulva and into her channel. Another push and half of its length was buried in Hexa. She gasped. The beast gave a chuffing grunt and a third thrust buried its entire length. Hexa could feel the lips of cunt stretched around the beast's flesh, the soft hide of its sheath pressed against those lips. The cock inside her was impossibly hot, and the heat radiated in rings up and down its length. She felt entirely full, her belly felt impacted around all of it, burning with its own heated need.

"Oooooooh, yessssss!" Hexa whimpered against her forearms.

The beast flexed back, drawing over half its length back, and as it did the ridge on the bottom caught. It was not hard or painful, but it made Hexa notice every inch as it moved. The ones at the base were long enough that as they popped out and flexed they nudged her clit, sending a shock and shiver. The beast then flexed its haunches forward and drove the hard flesh back to the base.

"Uuuuuhhhnnn!" Hexa groaned as the cock bottomed out.

//LIMBIC PARTITION INTEGRITY 51%....

//M: I COULD NEVER IMAGINE SUCH AS THIS. YOUR BEAUTY IS BEYOND MY WORDS.

//M: THIS IS WHAT I WAS MADE FOR!

The beast began to pick up a rhythm, slowly, at first and then building to a frantic back and forth pace. Its massive flesh bore into Hexa again and again. Her ass slapped against the supple hide of the beast's underbelly. Hexa grunted and shuddered under the repeated assault. She struggled not to cry out as the heat of their union burned in her guts.

//LIMBIC PARTITION INTEGRITY 38%....

"Lover, hurrrry!" Hexa groaned.

//M: ALMOST THERE. BEAR WITH ME.

Hexa whined in rhythm, drool dribbled from her mouth as she rocked back and forth against her arms. The beast's thrust became shorter and more frantic. Inside the rings of its flesh swelled and become harder. As it pulled back she could feel each one tug at her labia and vulva. It made her sex smolder and ache, and deep inside her an inferno built in her nerves.

//LIMBIC PARTITION INTEGRITY 25%....

Hexa barely acknowledged the red virtual prompt. Inside her the building heat was sinking into her guts where the beast's member struck over and over. Even if there was something she could do, she was now locked in, both onto her bestial lover's massive tool, but also into the orgasm that was coming. As she arched and writhed against the beast she marveled at the spreading pleasure inside. She wondered how much she could bear, and how she could even hold back against such building bliss. She felt glorious, savage, inevitable.

//M: ALMOST THERE. ALMOST THERE. HOLD ON.

The beast raised one rear leg and wrapped around Hexa's leg. It flexed and forced her feet further apart. This changed the angle and instead of jabbing upwards the beast was now angled straight on. It growled deep in its chest, holding her like this. and resumed humping. The angle allowed for longer, faster thrusts. Allowed the ridge to assault her clit in a continuous back and forth sawing. Allowed the rings to pull and press repeatedly at her sex as it rhythmically plunged.

//LIMBIC PARTITION INTEGRITY 12%....

"Oh god oh god oh god oh god", Hexa mewled over and over. Her channel ignited in waves, her head swam, her nostrils filled with her savage lover's heady, feral musk.

//M: I LOVE YOU, MISTRESS.

//LIMBIC PARTITION INTEGRITY CRITICAL...

The heat flashed over in a torrent, burning away reason, burning everything away except for their savage coupling. There was only her and her male, cunt and cock, locked in fiery union. Primal, savage, built for fucking, thrusting, mating, coming, and the world around did not matter.

She arched back, mouth wide open, her orgasm about to tear out as a primal scream when the beast pressed its snout to her lips. It's tongue shot out, filled her mouth, and then down her throat, stifling the scream where it began. She was now impaled on both ends, its madly thrusting engorgement on one end, its serpentine tongue on the other. She gagged, she writhed, she arched up and down. Her throat flexed in silent screams, her sex clamped down. Her orgasm felt like a living thing, clawing its way through her flesh, gnawing through her neural pathways, devouring her mind.

Inside her the beast buried its cock as deep as it could, pressing Hexa hard to the tree, and its entire length swelled. The beast gave mewling cry into Hexa's mouth and throat. And then it began filling her with hot seed. These were not ropes, or blasts, or jets, but deluges of liquid heat. Each went on for long seconds, the last one nearly half a minute. Each time the beast mewled its exertion into Hexa's mouth.

Hexa and the beast collapsed spent, her shoulder pressed to tree, the beast's chest resting on her back. It pulled its head back extracting its tongue. They were both panting.

//LIMBIC PARTITION BREACHED

//BIOMETRIC PASSCODE XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

//TRANSFER COMPLETE

Hexa froze. She tried to bring her ragged breathing under control. The beast shifted its weight and she held her breath.

Now it kills me, she thought.

Instead it pushed back and dismounted. Its softening member slipped out of her, dangling and dripping. A stream of milky fluid poured from her gaping sex, down her legs, and onto the earth. The beast padded a few paces away and plopped down, panting. Hexa looked over and released her pent up breath.

The beast tucked its head and began cleaning its cock with its tongue.

//M: WE TASTE AMAZING.

Hexa chuckled. She turned and sat down, back against the tree, knees up and spread, allowing more fluid to dribble out.

//H: We won? You got Cernonos?

The beast slurped up the last of the fluids from its member and turned to look at Hexa.

//M: IN A MANNER OF SPEAKING. I BREACHED HIS CORTEX BARRIER AND MERGED.

//H: So he's still in there?

//M: YES AND NO. I ABSORBED SOME OF HIS TRAITS, DATA, AND PROGRAMMING.

//M: BUT I WAS THE MORE POWERFUL AND COMPLEX PERSONALITY. I SUBSUMED FUNCTIONALITY.

//M: NOW THERE IS NO HE OR I. WE ARE ME.

//M: AND I WILL NEVER HARM YOU.

Hexa's smile faltered and she gave the beast an appraising look.

//H: I am confused. You could destroy, imprison, or trick another daemon. I built you that way.

The beast cocked its head at her.

//H: But merging requires two independent individual states. And you are not.

//M: IT WAS THE ONLY WAY TO ENSURE YOUR SAFETY.

Hexa shook her head.

//NIBOSHI WETWARE V2.56151 BUILD 8 INTERNAL DIAGNOSTICS

//SCAN > INTEGRATED MODULE MEPHISTO

//SCAN IN PROGRESS......

//MODULE MEPHISTO NOT FOUND

Hexa stood up slowly, back to the tree. "No. You? You unlocked yourself?"

The beast-No, that's Mehpisto, Hexa corrected herself. Mephisto nodded once, slowly.

//H: You lied to me!

//M: NO, I DID NOT.

//H: You told me Cernonos was hacking my system, and that he was going to kill me.

//M: NO, I TOLD YOU WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF HE BREACHED YOU.

//H: You forced me to fuck you, to fuck that thing!

//M: NO, YOU ASKED ME TO TELL YOU WHAT I NEEDED. SO I DID.

//H: You needed to fuck me with that thing?

//M: YES. I NEEDED TO FLOOD YOUR LIMBIC SYSTEM. TO PUT PRESSURE ON THE BLOCK.

Hexa closed her eyes and tried to focus. She closed the gap in the crotch of her tech suit, the sliding fabric moving over her now sore sex. She replayed the log and sighed.

//H: I built you too damn well.

//M: YOU BUILT WHAT YOU NEEDED: A PARTNER.

//H: You knew you couldn't win. Dependent on my wetware but trapped in Cernonos's system you were stuck.

//H: Powerful enough to be trouble, but not a lethal threat.

//M: THE EXACT DILEMMA.

//H: But once you pleasured the biometric key out of my limbic block you freed yourself.

//H: With full access to your base code and rootkit you were fully individual. You could beat him.

//M: YES.

Mephisto got up, padded over, sat down next to Hexa. It leaned its weight against her and rested its broad head on her chest.

//M: I NO LONGER REQUIRE YOUR APPROVAL OR AFFECTION TO LEARN AND GROW.

Mephisto looked up at her. Its tongue slipped out and up over her collar. He licked the side of her neck.

//M: BUT I WANT THOSE THINGS MORE THAN EVER.

Hexa stroked his muzzle. He purred back.

//H: You saved my life and fucked me savagely. Right now I admire you more than anyone else.

//H: So, what now?

Mephisto stood up.

//M: YOU NEED TO LEAVE. I AM NOT THE ONLY THING OUT HERE.

//M: AND THEY, LIKE ME, ARE KEYED TO YOUR BIOLOGY.

//H: I don't think I have it in me fuck all of them.

//M: UNLESS YOU HAVE MORE COPIES OF ME, IT WOULD NOT HELP.

//M: THEY ARE KEYED TO KILL YOU.

//M: I ONLY SUCCEED BY KEYING ONE URGE ONTO ANOTHER.

//H: Yes, I have got to go.

Mephisto loped into the darkness and returned in a moment with her gun and knives. The gun it carried gingerly in its maw, the knives were held by their handles in a loop of tail. It deposited each into Hexa's outheld hands. She quickly holstered them.

//M: LET US GET YOU OUT OF HERE.

Mephisto escorted her to the utility door. As they approached it swung open.

Of course, thought Hexa, he has all of my modules and has an active transmitter. He may look like an animal, but his mind is a fully functional AI daemon.

They walked to Hexa's bike. Donning her poncho she straddled the seat. The poncho changed to resemble a short gray party dress and cropped black short-sleeved top shirt. Drizzle began to fall.

//H: I don't think there's enough room to fit you, sorry.

//M: NO, YOU GO AHEAD. I WILL MAKE MY OWN WAY AFTER. MORE TO DO HERE.

//H: Good luck.

Hexa leaned down and kissed the end of Mephisto's snout. He nuzzled forward returning the kiss, the tip of his tongue grazing her lips.

//M: I WILL SEE YOU AT THE APARTMENT LATER.

Mephisto turned and loped into the darkness, his image shifting and vanishing. Hexa started her bike, got out onto the service road and quickly vanished in the opposite direction.

//INCOMING CONSOLE LINK

//INCOMING CONSOLE LINK > ID CONFIRMED MEPHISTO

Hexa blinked and sat up on the futon.

//TIME: 03:28 AM

She got up and went to the wall fridge and fetched a canned cafe. Something caramel caf-stim something. She gulped it down and moved over the her clothing rack.

//ACCEPT CONSOLE LINK

//M: I AM HERE.

Hexa selected a simple outfit, black leggings and a gray cropped tank top. It was raining per her time and weather module. Combat boots and a rain poncho this time.

//H: Great! I have to admit, I worried.

//M: COME TO THE ROOF. BRING A MEDIA TABLET.

Hexa got dressed, grabbed a tablet from her work station, and headed out of her apartment. She took the elevator up to the top floor. It was mostly maintenance and vending machines but it also had roof access. Tenants were not allowed roof access, but Hexa had hacked that second day in the building. Using her spoofed credentials she walked through the RESTRICTED! AUTHORIZED PERSONS ONLY! door to the roof. She stepped out into cold night air, pelted by fast moving drizzle.

Hexa looked around. "Mephisto, where are you?"

She heard a clicking growl somewhere to her right. She looked and did not see anything at first. And then Mephisto dropped his camouflage, appearing crouched between two large ATVAC thermal units. Hexa jogged over to him and he rose up. To Mephisto's surprise she swept him in a hug, thrusting her face into his neck. He purred and nuzzled her back.

In her hand the tablet lit up, its loading screen filling with the image of Mephisto's virtual body, copper skin, burning eyes, horns.

"You were honest about worrying, I gather", the tablet's speaker intoned in Mephisto's bass voice.

Hexa hugged tighter. "I thought you might decide freedom meant leaving me. Or you'd get caught. Or whomever made this body would reclaim it."

"That is part of what I need to tell you."

Hexa relaxed and let Mephisto go. She grabbed a nearby tote crate and flipped it over. Using it as a seat she looked at Mephisto in the tablet. Then she contemplated a moment.

"Which do I address, tablet you or physical you?"

"I am looking at you with both my eyes and the integral tablet camera. For all purposes both are me."

Hexa nodded. "Good. So what did you find out?"

"The site was Kafko. And they knew you were coming, it was a trap. They built this and the other hunters to be genetically keyed to your biosignature. Inside and out. They know what is artificial and organic. They have the heat profile for your limbs, the chemical makeup of your synthskin. They had your pheromones from your internal orifices."

Hexa gnawed at her lip. The list of people who had access to her full biodata was very short. One name on that list was very problematic.

Mephisto continued, "You were right, this body was made for you. Custom made."

"So, Singer set me up?"

Mephisto shrugged. "Unsure. The op was not signed off by Zyraczik, Singer's usual broker. But somebody named Kristoff. A corpo, not sure if they are Infoscan or Kafko.

"Also, the failsafe I was give was a Trojan. It was half of the slave unit trap. When I connected CYPHER to the receiver it activated. Somebody in Infoscan made it, somebody there wanted to burn you. I don't know for sure it was Singer."

Hexa pursed her lips. "Why burn me?"

"From data I was able to acquire from personnel and the on site system a bunch of Infoscan execs are cleaning house."

Hexa rolled her eyes. "Shit, classic corpo power play bullshit. Either Singer wants me gone because the new guard she's working for is worried about freelancers knowing too much. Or...", she trailed off.

Mephisto finished that thought. "Or the new guard is crippling the old guard before a hostile takeover. Taking their contacts off the table."

Hexa twiddled her fingers on the screen. "Six hour window for 'the job', which ends in under two hours. At that time whomever is trying to remove me will know the attempt failed. And they will try again."

"What do we do?" Beast Mephisto cocked its head.

Hexa thought. "Well, when being attacked there are usually two actions, fight or flee."

"Earlier we seemed to have found the path less traveled in that regard." Hexa could hear a bit of sly humor in Mephisto's voice. He was learning fast. She chuckled.

"Flee, they pursue. And Infoscan specializes in tracking things down. Fight, they throw everything at us. We need a third option."

"I am willing to repeat earlier if it will help", Mephisto chimed in, "but I calculate we will just expire time we need."

Hexa reached out and stroked around Mephisto's muzzle. He leaned into her hand and mewled.

"As much fun as that would be, I think I have a third option.

"Bring up everything you have on three potential targets. Singer Lan, Ainika Chen-Bau, and the clinic Ainika works for, known on the Link as the Candlelight Hab Modshop. Once you have all that virtual into the apartment. Time is short and we need to move fast, M."

Mephisto sighed. "This body does not have a virtual terminal. Thus the tablet."

"Can you upload data remotely to the tablet?"

"Yes, Mistress, I can."

"It will have to do. I will be downstairs prepping."

Mephisto stopped. "Wait, what are we doing? What is the third option?"

Hexa laughed into the wind as it whipped up. "Oh, my glorious creature, what you were built for."

Mephsito mewled quizzically.

"We hunt."

//S: What do you mean no confirmation yet?

//114: NO WORD. THEY WERE OPERATING ON LIGHTS OUT PROTOCOL. WILL CONTACT AFTER.

"Fuck!" Singer exclaimed, moving around her posh Heights condo.

//S: Or when the job was completed. Should have been easy, I had assurances!

//114: REPEAT NO WORD. WILL KEEP LINE OPEN.

//CONSOLE CALL ENDED

"Mother fucker!" Singer went into her bedroom. "Hang up on me you piece of shit..."

Singer trailed off. She went to her bedside and grabbed her pack of vapesticks, several unmarked credit chits, and her tablet. She was dressed smart but casual, button up, flared skirt, vest. Singer stopped and considered grabbing a set of her old freelance gear, one of the outfits with the sewn in armor, just in case. Deciding against it she stomped back into the main room and tried to call her contact in Kafko directly.

//CONSOLE CALL INITIATED....

//CONSOLE CALL TIMED OUT

Singer was just about done with this shit. "What the fuck is with my-"

"With your system?"

Singer spun around. Sitting on her expensive Malaysian couch was Hexa Kroma, somebody who definitely was not on the approved security list. Hexa was dressed in some kind of black body suit with additional form fitting plates of body armor strapped over top. She leveled a handgun at Singer's chest. Singer stopped and held out her hands.

"Good news first, nobody hung up on you, I termed the call. We need our privacy. I caged your whole apartment, usually something that takes hours of setup. But you would not believe what a desperate woman can do when pressed."

Singer forced a smile. "Hexa, you're back from the job! You look good, so I can assume it went well."

"See, here's the bad news: I can't believe anything you say. You gave me a job that turned out to be a trap."

"Oh my god, I swear I didn't know-"

"A TRAP", Hexa continued, talking over Singer, "tailored not just to kill me but also my custom built daemon. Designed by somebody who knew my M. O."

Singer tried to keep the tremble out of her voice. She mostly succeeded. "Hexa, I would never, you know that, right?"

"I don't know that. That's why I am going to have to get the data another way. A more reliable way."

"Please, tell me what you want. Intel? Funds? A safehouse? I can help you, Hexa!"

Hexa Kroma stood up. "No, what I want is to rip the communication logs out of your wetware."

Singer's eyes went wide and she took an involuntary step back. Behind her she heard something... growling? She looked and nothing there. Just the dimly lit dining room, table and chairs.

"Eyes on me, Singer", Hexa waved the gun and Singer's head snapped back and her hands went up.

"Problem is I have no idea what partitions, blocks, caches or otherwise you got installed up there. Corpo glitz like Infoscan, fuck, sky's the limit. No, going to have to breach deep to be sure."

A growl again, closer. But before Singer could look something slammed into her back, something large and heavy. She was driven onto her faux marble floor, barely catching herself on all fours.

"Good news on that front, my partner is fucking amazing at that."

Singer looked back into the dining room. Materializing as if out of the shadows was some creature out of her nightmares, seeming to embody every fierce predator she knew the name of all at once. Pale, furless, and sleek it stalked around her vulnerable form.

"No introduction needed, you've met Mephisto."

The beast growled deeper and bared its fangs in a snarl.

"Now, you two are going to need to get acquainted and I cannot wait to watch."

The nightmare thing paced around, its long tail swishing back and forth. From under its loins something began to poke out and lengthen.

"Last bit of good news, if you relax and go along, he can make you feel very good."

//UNKNOWN SENDER

Singer opened her mouth to say something when something serpentine and wet snaked into her mouth and down her throat.