A rather fetching dark blue woman with curly ram horns and black lipstick adjusted her silver trimmed glasses.

“Firstly, thank you for choosing me as your approved therapist. My name is Adela, I have already read your file, but I want you to know anything you say is confidential.” She smiled as Jack sat in his chair with an intense look. “So firstly, how are you doing in general?”

“Not bad, except I hate my side job and plan to quit permanently, and I struggle daily with these almost uncontrollable urges to have sex with Gizzy, not because she’s attractive but because she’s so ugly that it fascinates me morbidly. Her wife too, for the same reason.”

“Very interesting, how long has this been going on?” she asked, looking puzzled.

“It’s not, I was just making sure you weren’t Gizzy as a hologram, The fact that you didn’t even blink or argue seems legit.”

“Not a very trusting person, are you?”

“I assume everyone has a strategy, and I know Gizzy’s strategies. One second.” He said, checking his phone. “Yep, you check out. Background check, retinal scan, and Vinn said when I opened with that comment, that Gizzy didn’t even bat an eye, so she’s not listening in either. Okay now that we’ve established that you’re an actual independent therapist with a clean record, here’s the real issue. My wife may accidentally kill me during sex.”

“A little rough is she?” smirked Adela

“She’s a venomous mutant hybrid that needs human blood and/or flesh to live, and her sexual appetite has increased. Twice now, she has accidentally bitten me and had to administer an anti-venom shot. She has also dislocated my shoulder and didn’t realize it, and it seems like about once a week she gets an abrupt craving and needs a mass feeding to settle it, or she gets aggressive.”

“Oh, so you were not kidding. Have you talked to her about it?”

“I have, and she feels terrible about it. She’s such a docile and calm woman normally, very shy and reserved, very normal sex drive, but ever since the change she went through, I can’t keep up with her. She needs to feed to satisfy her fix, the bottled blood works medically speaking, but she just doesn’t get the satisfaction.”

“It sounds like her feeding instinct is triggering her sex drive, and she’s getting them confused. Normally when someone has an addiction or fixation that gets confused with their sex drive, the solution would be to find a balance and keep the fixation satiated, but in this case I feel like encouraging her to eat people may not be the best idea. Has she tried different kinds of blood to see if there is a more satisfying variation?” she asked, reading the file on Vicki in more detail, most of it blacked out.

“She prefers Delmarian blood to human, and human to anything else. She finds the Eridani samples unpleasant and when she tried Nicole’s she threw up. Vinn has been volunteering daily vials, but it doesn’t seem to curb her sex drive. I think the actual attack is what she psychologically craves, and when suppressed too long it just becomes sexual frustration, and then it’s up to me to quite literally stick my neck out there on the line and accidents happen. Is there a way to simulate that in the hologram room?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never dealt with that before, but it’s worth looking into.”

Zeph sat down in the chair as the therapist shook his hand.

“I’m Zeph, and uh, God you have lovely hair, I don’t mean to be unprofessional, and I’m not trying to make a move or anything, but you’re a very attractive lady.”

“Well thank you.” She smiled.

“Okay good, you're not just mom in disguise, I just had to be sure.” He sighed, looking more relaxed.

“I’m noticing a pattern there. You don’t live in the houses, you realize that healthcare only covers current members of the house and direct family, like children or parents.” Zeph slapped down a wad of cash mid-sentence.

“So the problem is: I’m dating Dee, and it doesn’t really feel like we’re dating. I’ve never dated a human before, and it’s kind of an open relationship, so like cool we get to like hook up with other people and shit. Except we’re not hooking up yet, so I’m kinda just single still. What’s up with that? When we met, and she found out I was wealthy and hot, she was super into me and dating this asshole. Now the asshole’s gone, and she wants to hang out but no sex. I saved her life, you would think that would HELP my chances, but it’s like it ruined it. She got like a cuck fetish or something. Dates a guy and bangs everyone BUT that guy?”

“You’re saying she’s been hesitant about sex ever since you rescued her…from being abducted and almost sold as a sex slave?” she said, intertwining her fingers and waiting for it to sink in.

“Awe shit. She’s all traumatized by the thing, and it’s not me, I just got shitty timing. Damn now that I think about it, that would kinda fuck with your head. So I’m just dumb, then?”

“Those are your words, not mine. I would say you were ignorant to her feelings and perspective. It’s only been about a week, she may just need emotional support and time.”

“Yea, that makes more sense. This whole time I was worried it was me.” He chuckled. “I gotta get some books on how to be like, supportive and shit.”

Dee sat in the chair, looking lost and annoyed.

“I’m kinda just scared of his dick.” She shrugged. The therapist blinked a few times and scratched her head.

“So in case I misunderstood this, you like Zeph, you find him attractive, and you are not traumatized by the abduction…but you ARE scared of his penis?” she recited to be sure.

“I just got out of a relationship with a Delmarian who was not exactly a gentle giant. You ever date a Delmarian?” she asked.

“No.”

“They recommend life insurance to do that. They’re not wrong, it’s a whole thing. I looked up Human and Osirians in the dating database, and it just said -don’t- in red letters. What is that supposed to mean? He’s half the size of the guy I just dated but somehow MORE dangerous? You didn’t see him the night he rescued me. He took direct gunfire point-blank like it wasn’t shit, and then grabbed a big Delmarian war veteran and just casually twisted his head off. Like a damn bottle cap. He’s Gizzy’s son, you’ve seen the videos of the festival…he’s THAT species. I’m not gonna survive the sex!” she barked.

“You do make a very valid point.”

“I went out with him BEFORE knowing that, and the more research I’ve done, the scarier it gets. They’re radioactive, They’re so overpowered it feels rigged, he’s got a nuclear bomb in his chest just…like ON at all times. I barely made it out alive dating a living weapon made of meat and bone, and now I’m dating one made of alien armor, synthetic glowing stuff and nuclear whatever. What is wrong with me?” she asked.

“Am I ugly?” asked Clutch, looking depressed.

“Of course not.” assured Adela. “Beauty standards are subjective and everyone has a type."

“So I’m only ugly to most people, great. And I don’t know what to do, I don’t belong here, what do you do when you’re supposed to do something, trained for it, given orders, and then you meet people and don’t wanna do it?”

“You’re referring to your military career? Vinn told me you ran away from the Delmarian Core, don’t worry, this is a safe and confidential place. He wanted me to talk to you about it if you felt ready. He used to be in the core, you know. He trained his whole life for war and then there was no war, and adapting to civilian life took some time and he adapted. He thrived.”

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“You don’t understand. It’s an honor thing with my people. I’d be shaming my parents and my grandparents if I didn’t…perform my military duty. But I don’t wanna be that. Vinn seems like a nice guy, I like him, and he’s not like other men in the core. He’s like…free. But my mom won’t understand. She’s very traditional.

“And living with your father is probably not thrillin for her, I know.”

“What?”

“Vinn…your father. He said you were his daughter, that’s why these are free.”

“Yea, of course he’s my father, but you know, I just met him for the first time the other day. My expectations were a little different.”

“And having a human stepmom must be unusual for you.”

“Yea, she is kinda dinky, and really weird. But she took me to the hologram mall and I got a makeover. I’ve never had one before. Vinn didn’t even seem to notice it, and then I met a boy at the gym, and he almost didn’t notice I existed at all. I’m pretty hard to miss, so why am I so easy to ignore?” she asked. “Unless someone has a job for me, like My mom reminding me I’m a soldier, not a civilian, or Gizzy trying to make me the spokesperson for Snailey-O’s. I feel like a valuable object, but not a valued person."

“You’re just going through a lot of new feelings and a new environment. You’re still young, you’re still trying to find who you are and who you wanna be. You don’t have to be what anyone else wants. You have the right to be yourself. You may not be an adult yet, but you will be soon, and you’ll be able to choose your career and your life goals. For now, just keep your options open, don’t dedicate your entire existence to any one thing. Try things, experiment, within reason of course, nothing dangerous or irresponsible, but there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be a kid instead of a soldier, especially now that Gizzy eliminated the need for most of the soldiers. A lot of people are mad about that, a lot of high ranking Delmarians lost a lot of military power at that moment, but a lot of soldiers gained freedom and choices, and you have every right to choose a military field like your mother, or a civilian life like your father. Apparently, construction work pays very well for some reason.”

Clutch sat down on the couch next to Vinn and gave him a weird smirk.

“Your daughter?” she asked.

“Hey, therapists of that caliber are not cheap. Money’s been tight lately. You needed professional someone to talk to, you got 400 credits per session?”

“Holy shit.”

“Yea, welcome to the world of finances. You’re lucky she didn’t ask for ID."

“Did you ever meet your parents?” she asked.

“Nope.” Gave me to the core, died before I got out.

“I bet you’d do anything to meet them.”

“No, I’m over that expectation. Maybe they wanted me, maybe they didn’t. Maybe they were good people, maybe they were terrible people. Doesn’t do any good now to speculate, they’re dead.

Does Nicole have parents?” she asked.

“Oh yea, they seem nice. I talked to them a few times, They don’t know I’m an alien. Earth is still off limits, they just think I’m some tribesman from across the planet.”

“She lied to them to be with you?”

“It’s complicated, but sometimes you gotta omit details for security reasons. We mostly told them the truth about my personality, my job, my hobbies and my feelings for Nicole. In the end, it doesn’t matter what I look like, they’re just happy she’s happy doing what she wants to do, and glad she found someone who loves and protects her. That’s what family does… Hopefully. Hopefully they support your dreams. Sorry you ended up like me, orphan of the core, lost and confused. But you got more than I did when I got out. I got severance money and a living cubicle. You got friends and a nice place to crash for a while till you get things figured out. And you got out of the core early. That’s a blessing. I’ve seen the brainwashing ruin people, turn decent people into mindless drones for the cause.”

“Like the Kraken?”

“No, started out pretty much a dick, they just made him more dangerous.”

“You killed him for honor though.” She puzzled.

“No, I killed him to protect my wife. If not for her safety, I’d have told him to take his challenge and blow it."

“Dee told me about Hyde and the abductions.”

“Son of a bitch, Dee. I swear, you tell her a secret and before she leaves the room 12 people know. You have to stay quiet about it, Clutch. There’s a lot of politics involved and a lot of damage to a good cause to be done, if it got out.”

“Got it.” she said, nodding and smiling.

Clutch opened her laptop and stared at her mother’s face.

“Report.” She said coldly.

“We can’t ever start with ‘how was your day?’ or hello honey, I miss you.” Clutch sighed.

“You know I miss you. But this is work time right now. Have you gathered any valuable information on Gizzy or the Hyde project?”

“No, nothing much. Nothing we didn’t already know.”

“We need confirmation that the Hyde project failed. My sources are convinced he was behind the human trafficking, and Gizzy is covering it up to save her ass. A man like Hyde doesn’t die in some tunnel saving humans, and he sure as shit doesn’t turn good just because of some cloned piece of human ass. She is covering her mistakes, and she is a member of this council playing god. We need some form of proof it wasn’t General Stone behind it all. That old sack of shit was evil, but he was no mastermind. He was the fall guy, killed for the cover-up. I know Gizzy killed Hyde. I just can’t prove it.”

“Mom, I’ll find the evidence, but I don’t think I can kill Vinn.”

“Excuse me?” she gasped.

“Vinn did nothing wrong, what’s the point of honor if you have to kill someone innocent to get it?” she asked. “If Gizzy is your target, then I’ll fulfill the mission, but I can’t kill Vinn. He’s a nice guy with a wife and friends.”

“He’s not the real Vinn, honey. Look, my sources found his DNA in the cloning lab, samples of his blood, brain scan records. She’s cloning Delmarians, Honey. You know that’s wrong. They’re soulless husks, under her control, and the law forbids it. Her enemies, her friends, what next, council members she can’t sway? Someone gets stabbed in the back and comes back conveniently agreeing with her? She is dangerous, destroying our way of life, our moon, and Vinn may even think he’s the real one, we don’t know how her brainwashing works. But he’s not real. He’s a mirage of someone she probably killed to get rid of. Just memories and lies implanted in someone else’s body. Just like Nicole, Just like Vicki, Just like Jack, and even her own son. None of them are real people anymore, they’re just puppets, shadows of real people who are gone, and she may have killed all of them herself, or just the ones that she needed. That is a house of ghosts and the only thing walking in that compound with a soul, is you. And you have a job to do, and that is to defend Delmar against any enemy off or on our soil. Right now she is the biggest threat to us, and she is too powerful to take head on.”

“I understand, but whatever Vinn is, whatever they all are, they still feel. They’re alive. Just like us. Why does fighting evil require killing innocent lives, even if they have no soul?”

“Because those lives are already gone. You would be freeing them. Their lives have ended, and their soils passed to whatever afterlife they may have, and their memory is trapped here where it doesn’t belong. Vinn is dead, just like your father, and killing him in the pit would bring honor back to your house, and free him of this dream. I don’t know what souls humans have or don’t, but he was Delmarian and as long as his memory is trapped in that shell he’ll never be at peace. He’ll be hollow, like her. Like all of the Osirians, just mechanical drones covered in enough synthetic meat to convince people they are a living thing. Copies of copies, manufactured of sin and greed and lust for power. They are not our friends, and the humans are just their pets. I won’t let them domesticate Delmar and copy us one at a time. You are the hope of this moon. Find me the evidence to bring her down from this council, shed light on her lies, and free Vinn from his flesh prison so that he may be where he belongs…in the underworld, with the ancestors, among the polished stone and gold cities where we belong when we die with honor. Earn yours as well, child. You can be so much more than just a soldier.”

“And after I do this, and earn my honor… I can be free? Do what I want and be who I wish to be?” she asked, fighting back tears.

“Anything you want, my dear. You will have more than earned your keep. Heroes get to live as they want. Those who fall in the pursuit will be rewarded in the next life. Don’t be blinded by the enemy, or broken by the ghosts she leaves behind. They are lost and cold, but you must be strong, or so many more will end up like them, Delmarians, like you and me, animated flesh without purpose, and nobody will say a thing. She has already flipped 2 council members to her ideals, I fear they may no longer be Delmarians at all, and their families never even got to burn their bones and mourn their passing. You are facing true evil.” General One-Fang said, looking sad and solemn.

She closed the laptop, her say teary-eyed expression changing to cold determination as the white rabbit stared her down from across the table.

“She’s doing excellent work, give her time and some faith.” He said with a smile.

“She’s going to get herself killed with that doubt and hesitation. She can’t kill Vinn."

“Then you will have to do that for her when she fails. And you need to start trying to act like a mother. You’re not very convincing.”

“I never had a mother to raise me, nor a child to raise, and you expect me to know how to act like one to this girl? I am doing everything I can, while you sit in your den. Perhapse you should find a young soldier boy and become their father, show me how it’s done.”

“Now now, One-Fang. We may not be friends, but we are on the same side. We will both do the part we were given and she will do her part. She is strong, you give her too little faith and far too little love. She may not be your daughter, but she is someone’s daughter, and she is risking her life to save our people. She is risking more than you are, you could even say. Even if she succeeds in bringing down Gizzy, and fails to kill Vendetta, you should have a fair chance killing him yourself. He is a clone, he is without heart, he is weak, and you would show no mercy or hesitation sending an abomination to the grave. So relax, let your puppet girl risk her life and do the hard work, while I do all the scheming and risk my neck, and if you can act like a mother for just a little while longer, maybe you won’t have to get in that pit and fight one last time. Have some faith, One-fang. A true believer should have it without having to force it so much.” He said, standing and making his leave.