Our tram came to a stop in the patchwork district and as soon as the doors opened I caught a whiff of synthetic pheromones and spilled beer. There were no cops, no syndicate. This was a human territory under the protection of the Haven Enclave and they weren't above raining hellfire down on anyone or anything that threatened their interests.

I looked up at the wall of gray clouds that covered the night sky and felt my wetware lock onto the human orbital habitat high above us. I couldn't see it but it was there, lurking in the blackness of space.

Haven was an ever present reminder of what the humans were capable of. A reminder that they were not of this world and had technologies beyond our understanding. It was a sword dangling over us ready to strike if we misbehaved.

I felt my skin itch as I thought of the raw destructive potential. Gershwin noticed me looking and followed my gaze. "Sure, it's spectacular." He said. "But if it's so great why do so many humans prefer to live down here with us?"

I shrugged and adjusted my duffle bag. Those were questions for greater minds than mine. All I knew was that this was probably the safest place in the city for us right now. Not that the patchwork district wasn't without its own dangers.

Gershwin wove through the crowd ignoring the targeted blasts of synthetic pheromones meant to rile up prospective patrons. I followed behind, very conscious of the growing stiffness in my pants.

The whole district smelled like the promise of sex. It grabbed me by the nose and dragged me deeper into that animal part of myself that I did my best to ignore. But sex was only part of it, you could find anything you wanted in the district if you had the money to pay for it.

Black market tech, drugs, weapons, mercenaries. Everything and everyone was for sale. I stopped and gawked at a human male with glass skin standing in a window. His organs were clearly visible beneath his armored epidermis. His heart beat a steady rhythm as I watched.

"Like what you see?" He asked through a speaker. "We've got upgrades inside, straight from Haven."

"No thank you." I tore my gaze away from his beating heart and followed after Gershwin. Humans were interesting creatures. If given half an opportunity they would augment and upgrade their bodies to the point of being unrecognizable. Our culture was much more strict, anything beyond basic prosthetics was frowned upon.

That was part of why I made sure nobody ever saw me naked if I could avoid it. Warhund augmentation was subtle but once you knew what to look for it was obvious that I was more than just your average Hund. I would have been thrown off the police force if they had realized what I was.

Katzen had fallen somewhere in the middle ground technology wise before the cataclysm. More advanced than us, less so than the humans. Cognitive augmentation had been common and rumor had it that they had even started working on advanced cloning. But all of that was ashes now.

Two human bouncers greeted us in front of the Pink Primate. There was no olfactory sign but a simple hologram of an ape dancing on a pole told us we were in the right place.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"We're here to see Wolfie." I told the bigger one. He looked me over then looked down at Gershwin. I became suddenly aware of my disheveled state and wondered if they were going to let me in.

I felt a ping in my wetware as one of the bouncers analyzed me with some kind of built in scanner. Gershwin smiled and put his hands on his hips, spreading his legs wide to give the scanner an unimpeded view through his clothes.

The two humans shared a look I couldn't quite decipher. The smaller one seemed to be fascinated with Gershwin. "Are you running a synthetic chassis or something?" He asked. "Because that's a fuck ton of hardware."

Gershwin shrugged. "I am what I am."

"Who did your work?" The human pressed. "Some of it looks like original Katzen biomod but there's Döbian wetware and something else I don't recognize." He took a step closer to get a better look and reached out towards Gershwin.

Instinctively I moved between them and squared off with the bouncer. He gave me a look of mild interest. "Are we going to have a problem, little doggie?" He asked.

I felt my heckles raise at the slur and I leaned in close. "You call me a dog again and I'll rip your fucking balls off."

He laughed in my face. I could smell his rotten breath and what passed for aftershave. Why did humans always stink so badly? "I'd like to see you try, Fido." He said.

I reached out with my mind and searched the local net for any sign of the Gravekeeper. I found a node and formed a connection, not looking to overwhelm or attack it, just to connect.

"Please, scan me again." My mouth said. "I think you missed something."

Fuck. I had only meant to deflect the human's inevitable hacking attempt and see if I could trick him into pinging the Gravekeeper. Instead I had ended up getting possessed again.

The human's expression went from amused malevolence to intense concentration. I could feel him probing my wetware. Then the Gravekeeper struck and it was over as quickly as it had begun.

I watched the human reach into the front of his pants with one hand and grab his balls. "What are you doing?" He asked in a panic. The hand had begun to pull and twist with gradually increasing pressure. It wasn't enough to do any damage, but at that moment we reached an understanding. Behave or be neutered.

The second bouncer went for his weapon and froze still like a statue, only his eyes moving. Gershwin looked up at me with amusement. "Shall we?" He asked, gesturing toward the door.

I felt the Gravekeeper leave me and the two humans suddenly regained control of their bodies. They wanted to fight me but I could see the fear in their eyes. Hunds weren't supposed to be able to stand up to humans. Not technologically at least.

The smaller one gave me a look of burning hatred. I leaned in close so that only he could hear me and grabbed him by the balls. The Gravekeeper couldn't hurt him but I had no such limitations.

"Don't ever fucking call us dogs." I whispered as I squeezed. "We aren't your pets and we aren't your property. You are guests here on our world and you will treat us with respect or I will force feed you your own schwanz. Understand?"

The human nodded, trying not to cry out from the pain.

"Good boy." I said mockingly as I let go. I looked over my shoulder at the other human. His hand was on his sidearm but he hadn't drawn the weapon yet.

"Just go do whatever it is you're here to do." He said. "I don't get paid enough to fuck with this wetware voodoo shit." He looked over to Gershwin. "Keep your bodyguard out of trouble."

Gershwin laughed. "I'm sure he will calm down after he's had his dinner and a nice bath. We've had a very long day."

I looked over to Gershwin in alarm. I hadn't been warned about any B.A.T.H.

"Just trust me." He said as he guided me into the building. "You'll like it if you give it a try."

I felt the apprehension rise inside me but I wasn't going to fight my father on this. "Fine." I grumbled, wondering if today could get any worse.

"There are worse things than a little hot water." My mouth said.

Fuck. I swore internally.