Everything hurt, Alexandra groaned as she took another step forward.

“[Fixing current mismatch of muscles on lower body finished, starting fixing upper body muscles.]” Main Core reported as she felt a wave of relief course her lower body.

That had been the biggest mess of this all, she had one leg longer than the other, and worst of all was the fact that the shorter leg was also chubbier, as if Ale had decided to dump all her flesh in one leg to compensate for the missing muscle mass on the other.

That girl had problems, got annoyed at the fact that the body wasn’t working up to normal standards, and decided to throw caution to the wind and finish the body shift only to leave her at the helm.

It would be funny if not for the fact that she had been hurt all over the place, and half of her organs had been turned into pudding. Mango-flavored pudding.

She had tasted it.

“Thank you, keep feeding the modified [Blueprints].” Alexandra said aloud as the newest iterations of the simplified [Blueprints] got sent to her, so she started doing the update to her body, fixing the damages and feeling her body normalize (Or at least the lower half of her body). “Update the material and stretch it to match. Leave a clearance enough for high-speed movements.”

And after that Alexandra felt the new data enter her [Consciousness Stream] and she acted as the instructions said, it was easy enough to tie the orders and sent them once after the other, the Nanites worked quite well enough when one marshalled them step by step.

Unlike how Ale had attempted to by just giving rough orders and hoping for the best, at least the nanites acted while leaving enough coherence around, and since they moved around using her bloodstream, they had made sure that one was functional. So it helped her survive long enough to solve the problems caused by Ale’s patchwork.

“[New blueprint instructions finished calculating, sending updated instructions.]” Main Core was the MVP, she almost felt bad for the fact that it was isolated from doing any meaningfull interaction with the world.

So Alexandra decided to not think too much about that and instead accepted the [Blueprint] and re updated it whole, she felt her body normalize and change to the most normal form she had before, the changes started going and soon enough she felt better.

“There! God, it is so much better when I don’t need to cannibalize O2 from the sewers!” Alexandra sighed, she would get her revenge later. But for now… “Did he answer?”

She needed to make sure that she was presentable, Ale had seeded the idea about going to meet with Sam to ask about the stupid bracelet the blonde asshole gave her, which was fair, since they needed to make sure about the background about this before showing it to her more immediate social area.

It would not do to show without some confirmation, also, meeting with Sam was a great plus.

“Hmm….there it is! Main Core! Emulate his voice and read it for me, also add some suave and sensual intonation!” Alexandra said raising the phone dramatically and waiting for the voice to play, “Also, check the integrity of my [Consciousness Stream] strand to make sure there isn’t any Alexa leaking.”

That last one was the important one.

“[Starting emulation of voice sample…Analyzing memories, done.]” Main Core then took a dramatic stop and continued in a deep sensual voice, “[Thank you for calling in advance, I am a little under the weather so I will need to see you in a separate location. If it is important, go to the same site where you saw me last time, walk in, and continue going in. You will see a a door on the ground, knock it two times, and then walk half a meter back. I will meet you there.]”

Main Core then stopped speaking and, after a few seconds, and then as if he had taken those few seconds to recover, continued, “[No evidence of any mix of data found, there may have been some brain chemistry mix up since host had a damaged brain for a few minutes. There is also the fact that host is in fact Alexa too.]”

“Sassy Main Core, this is why you lose real-world interaction privileges.” Alexandra said shaking her head and reading up the text message, it had indeed the same words as what Main Core had said, “Thanks for letting me in with such little time, it has serious ramifications to me, so I’ll see you there…and sent.”

Alexandra sighed and carried on, she had fixed her body, her clothes had needed replacement since the design that Ale made…didn’t really fit her body type, that armor was way too small on the design and stretching it only made more vulnerabilities on the torso.

The plates weren’t made to stretch, and increasing the size or making it fit to her body type only made it look…weird.

She of course could reduce the size of her bosom to fit into the aesthetics, “Under my dead body.” Or not, either way she was currently wearing once again the pair of jeans, combat boots and a black T-Shirt.

She would see about making a new body armor for this body…and maybe one for Alexa too, lest she continue pestering them on the background.

“YAY! I also want a pounce armor!” …So she had been indeed the reason for the Pounce naming sense huh. Alexandra had thought that when Ale ended with that, but this really confirmed it.

It was…weird, she could see her [Consciousness Stream] as a whole, and also how it diverted into three main strands. So that really settled the doubt about whether they were divergent thoughts or not.

So had she become what Eleanore had said? What was it? A System? She knew that they could probably return to a whole, but even like this, they were basically the same, and it did help them mix around better…They would need to speak about this later on…

“Main Core…can we speak among ourselves during the Maintenance?” Alexandra asked while walking on the road to Sam. It was very quiet, with the exception of the sound her boots made against the floor and her own voice.

What had happened with all the rats?

So far she hadn’t seen any, what she could see were scratches on the walls and some evidence of blood on the walls here and there, weird. Had some kind of [Predator] encroached on the area?

….Ah.

“I forgot to bring food!” Alexandra screamed in horror at that, she had planned to bring something to eat next time, but the rush of coming here and made her forget it. Well not her, Ale had been the one to forget about it…

Right, it had been Ale, not her. She was innocent, perhaps she could ask Sam for forgivenes about her…her….no wait, if she was diverging then what was Ale to her?

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Not my fault!” “She forgor! she forgor!” …

“Can we mute them?” Alexandra said aloud, the mere fact of recognizing the multiple [Consciouness Stream Strands] made it so much easier to listen to their bickering at the back.

Before, she could barely make the sound of Alexa, since…well, Alexa liked to scream…very much. But hearing Ale at the back…

If they interrupted her while on her not-date with Sam…

“Now listen here, you both scream at me while I am speaking with Sam and I’m throwing all the mango to the trash…No, wait, I’ll eat it, then remove it from our body so you can’t get the aftertaste. And as a finisher, I’m drinking as much beer as I can find.” Alexandra said glaring at a metal plate in one wall, it had a reflecting surface so it was a good way to glare at herself, it was a good thing that no one was nearby.

Namely, Sam.

“...okay…” “Not the mango! You are evil! Cheapskate self is evil!”

The response was as much as she had thought it would be, so Alexandra nodded and carried on. She was half way throught the sewers route to Sam’s lair. So there was hope that this was an isolated event and she could find some rat along the way, perhaps if she processed the meat herself…Her Nanites should be able to deal with it, and some transference of heat ought to be enough to cook it.

Maybe if she played around with the amino acids on the meat, she could season it?

“Yes, we will do that. We may be able to make a steak or something, it will be kind of focused on the meat with very little else since we can’t grow vegetables with the materials at hand, but better than nothing.” Alexandra said she could make this work. Now she only needed a rat.

----------------------------------------

“Where are the goddamned rraaaaaaaaaaaatssssssssssss!” Alexandra screamed in frustration, she was around two minutes away from Sam’s lair…

And had been like that for almost half an hour.

She had gotten a new message while coming asking for half an hour, so she had taken this chance to roam around Sam’s area of influence and found very little to almost nothing to hunt.

No rats, organisms on the water, hell, even the biomass with dubious quality was gone. She had found some remains of webs, probably from Sam’s hunts or perhaps some organism prancing around on his territory?

She wasn’t sure; what she knew for sure was that many of the webs were gone. Had he removed them? Or had a stampede of escaping rats triggered most of them. Alexandra didn’t know, but the fact that she was running out of time was the same.

“Let’s…let’s just go I guess…I’ll just ask him for forgiveness for not getting dinner, and blame it on Ale. Yes, we will do that, good idea me.” Alexandra ended up deluding herself and, to be sure, asked again, “Are you sure nothing is leaking my way? I feel dumber already.”

“[Negative, host is showing the normal amount of emotional intelligence expected of the average Human affected by an hormonal instability provoked by a member of the opposite sex.]”

“Oh, then that is good. Since I am acting as a human. So there is no problem.” Alexandra nodded, and transforming part of her hand into a blade, she used that as a mirror to make sure her appearance was in order.

She looked back at the reflection and found nothing out of place, the strands of hair that were on her face made her look good, the rest of her hair settled itself in place to the sides and tied itself into a ponytail.

That made her look quite beautiful, even though she was the most gorgeous of them all, she could fall for herself, it was quite the good looks, even if she said so.

“She is wasting resources!” “Appearance is important, though.”

“[Host, the time is up.]”

… so much going on the back.

“Fine, let’s go.” Alexandra sighed and dismissed the partial transformation, making up her mind she started walking towards Sam’s lair.

On the outside, however, there was a new sign, one that hadn’t been there before.

[Beware of the spider. If you are a Hero, this is a danger zone, and your life may be forfeited beyond this point. If you are a villain, beware that there will be no second chances. And if you are a vigilante…You will die if you walk inside.]

[You all have been warned.]

“Ominous, but there is no mention about me…So I should be fine, right?” Alexandra said, her more logical side spoke to the fact that this was a dangerous warning, one that was probably left here by Sam.

So she should be wary about it, had something happened?

But her less logical side spoke differently, Sam had invited her to his room. That meant that she should totally go there, besides she had to show him her bracelet! They needed this to bond over now that Ale had forgotten to bring a meal!

Or perhaps…she could be the meal?

She wouldn’t mind him taking a bite out of her, so long she could take a bite out of him…

“No! Alexandra! Focus! We need to settle things first, then make out later, yes. That…Gosh…stupid hormonal brain…” Alexandra said shaking her head, she didn’t mind it that much though, the fluffy feeling in her stomach was quite nice sometimes…

“Sam?” Alexandra said in a louder voice outside the entry, “I’m coming in!”

She was of course shouting in a low voice, she didn’t want Sam tell her to leave because there had been an unconfirmed danger, or to tell her to come back with dinner. But she also wanted to make sure he knew she was here in case there was something he needed to do.

Either way, there was no answer, so she walked in.

Inside…was quite lackluster, there was no evidence of the webs that had been there before, or the table she had made, which was obvious since Sam had said that he would take it to his apartment.

Alexandra did notice the area where she had made it, since the floor was more brittle and weak there, but besides that, nothing else.

What she did notice, however, was that there were remains of blood on the floor, making a pathway deeper into the lair. As if someone had brought something here, killed it, and then dragged it away…

Several times, and also painted it on the floor to make sure whoever came would know about it.

It was quite useful since it helped show Alexandra the direction she needed to go, Sam had already told her on the text, but this was a nice way of showing her where to go. Sam was quite gentlemanly, yes.

“Isn’t…this a warning symbol?” “Dunno, it looks weird, Alexa would have painted something else, maybe a hand? A cat? Alexa liked being a cat.”

For now Alexandra ignored those two at the back, she was too busy keeping her face straight and her steps even. She walked into the darkness and slowly adjusted her eyes to the low-light environment; it was a good thing that Ale and Alexa had gotten the [Cat Blueprint] before.

As she walked in and her eyes adapted, she started noticing small things all around, marks of blood on the walls too, and scratches on the wall. These were not made by claws or something like that, but instead, these were small enough to be the size of a [Human Hand].

Had Sam hunted [Humans] too? Daring…dashing…He was indeed a good target to be a [Mate].

No wait, was he a [Mate] candidate?!?!?!?

Was….was she even of…Well, even if she wasn’t of the same species, a sample was all she needed to match his [Genetic] makeup, and her nanites would make sure anything would match!

Yes!

She was perfect for him! Nothing wrong.

“Indeed, nothing wrong. Now…I only need to find a way to wall out Alexa and Ale and we can have some privacy!” Alexandra nodded. At her idea, it was a good idea if she said so.

“But I want to see! We just got popcorn!” “...I’m not seeing you gushing over him, I want to see his lower half, the design seems promising.”

…just not.

“Aaaand an open room with a single circular hatch? That seems barely enough for me to fit in though…” Alexandra said as she walked into what seemed to be a big room, as she had described, it had nothing on it.

It was… oddly familiar.

“[Design matches combat testing ground, modifications seems to include reinforced flooring and walls, and there doesn’t seems to be any Cameras or speakers.]”

“Interesting…why did they make it like this?” Alexandra said, walking to the hatch in the middle; as instructed, she knocked on it a few times and then jumped backward.

She had gotten some samples from it while her hand touched it, and the thing was…heavy.

It seemed to be almost five meters thick, and it was the most reinforced thing she had ever seen so far; not even the walls of her den had this much material on them. Granted, her den didn’t seem to be designed with the idea of her….escaping.

A flaw in the design that she should use to bother Alexanders the next time she met him.

“Why am I even thinking of meeting that asshole again? He should learn from Sam; he isn’t even that good-looking.” Alexandra grumbled.

Soon enough she felt vibrations on the floor…and that was worring, since the floor should be reinforced, what the hell was this room, a simulacrum to fight under duress because a poor footing site?

*CRASH*

And there, Alexandra heard the sound of something hitting a wall. Hard.

A few seconds after the most horrible screech she had ever heard sounded (And she recorded, it was good for intimidation purposes, she had, after all. Been stunned by it), followed by the sound of gears grinding as the hatch opened slowly and a hand bathed in blood hit the ground around as if looking for something to grab unto.

After it didn’t find anything a second hand showed and with great effort they pulled. The first thing Alexandra saw was Sam’s hair, silky smooth and obsidian black, she envied that silkiness, would he be weirded out if she asked for a few strands of hair?

“[Host, please focus. We are under extreme amounts of danger right now.]”

Danger? Why? They were with Sam right now…He was handsome, no one handsome was dangerous, unless they were dangerous because they were handsome? In which case, Alexandra loved being in danger.

What followed was Sam’s handsome face with his crimson shining red lovely eyes that seemed to lick her body all over as if she was a piece of meat to be devoured. Alexandra could respect that.

The only problem was that after licking her up and down and making an attempt to extend his hand towards her…His eyes returned to focus as if normal, toning down the Predator on them to normal more boring levels.

“Oh, Sorry about that, you got me in one of my lower half's mating seasons,” Sam said, laughing awkwardly. He was even more what was the word? Adorable? Cute? Handsome? Hot? She didn’t know.

No wait, his what season? There were season for that? She wasn’t ready! What was she supposed to do! Did she need to prepare something?

“So? What did you need?” Sam asked her while Alexandra was worried about what she was supposed to do, and cursed the fact that Main Core couldn’t access the Internet to search for that.

“Ah, right… I got this thing and was told that it would serve to prove my background, but the source is…an asshole. So, do you know anything about these things?” Alexandra said raising her right arm and making sure the bracelet that Alexanders gave her was visible, especially the engraving of the Golden Eagle with the scroll.

“...Oh…Yes, I know about those things,” Sam said, eyeing her arm as if it were a piece of food; he even salivated a little…

Should….should she give him a hand? Or perhaps an arm? Would he rather have a leg? Her legs were more thick and meaty, especially her upper leg, compared to her arms there ought to be more meat there…

No wait, he knew these?

“What can you tell me about them?” Alexandra said giving one step forward and stopping when Sam flinched, then taking one step back till he seemed to return to normal.

This…did he hate her? Did she not have enough meat? She had plenty! she could change!

“Can you help me?” Alexandra decided to ask, “What do I need to do?”

She would do anything he asked her, not because he was hot, but because…no wait, it was precisely why she would do anything he asked!

…Yes.