When Arnval turned away, all conversation within the suburban sharply died, and I didn’t feel like picking up where he left off. Thus, the cabin was shrouded in silence as Marinette deftly drove at high speed through the multilane traffic travelling down the I-16, an enormous tunnel that traversed the city from deep underground.

The rhythmic nature of the traffic around us was a signature sign that the vehicles were being operated by their onboard Assisting Intelligences, rather than by the humans sitting behind the steering wheel. In a way, so too was Marinette because she was following instructions that I occasionally glimpsed projected on the inside of her sunglasses.

It made me wonder to what extent our lives were influenced by the Assisting Intelligences and Artificial Awarenesses that kept the city running smoothly.

Maybe influenced wasn’t strong enough a word.

Should I say controlled instead?

And if I thought of it along those lines, how much of my present predicament was the result of some A.I. or smartass Awareness playing a game of chess with us as pieces on a board. Was something or someone out there running strategic simulations on how we would all react to a multitude of situations?

In that case, what was my role?

Was I a queen, a knight…or a pawn?

I frowned as I looked out my window and wondered if it wasn’t my role that was important but Mirai’s very existence.

In other words, how valuable was she to others?

I already knew she was important to Erina and House Sanreal, but was she worth all this trouble to House Cardinal?

My thoughts circled back to what Tabitha had told me back in the dormitory apartment.

House Cardinal believed Erina was in trouble and they were willing to offer her sanctuary from House Novis. But they also wanted me to compete for them in the Gun Princess Royale because Tabitha said I had the makings of a future Gun Empress.

Could I trust what she’d told me?

Based on recent events, trusting Tabitha was foolhardy.

It was like skating on thin ice.

Yet what if she’d spoken the truth?

Should I confront Erina and ask her if she had betrayed House Novis to the Empress in order to stop Clarisol from taking Mirai’s body for her own? And was House Novis truly thinking of taking their pound of flesh from my former sister?

I’d told Tabitha I didn’t care what the Sanreal Family did to Erina, yet that wasn’t true because a teensy, weensy part of me continued to feel a familial attachment to her. Thus, if Erina was indeed in trouble with House Novis could I abandon her to her fate, or could I protect her by accepting Tabitha’s offer?

Honestly, I didn’t know but considering what I’d endured as a result of Erina’s actions, I was a little surprised to find myself caring about what happened to her, and I saw this as a sign of weakness within me.

If Erina knew how I felt, she would probably laugh.

My eyes sharply narrowed as a dark thought scurried across my mind.

What if she does know? What if she’s relying on me to protect her when the time comes?

If that was true, then Erina was a bigger opportunist than I could have imagined. But it also meant that she knew me better than I knew myself.

In a solemn voice, Marinette lifted the shroud of silence within the cabin by announcing we were nearing our destination.

I focused my attention on what I could see out the windows as the large suburban powered out of the immense tunnel by driving up an inclined exit. Seconds later, we emerged back into daylight that was filtered at an angle between the city’s towering megascrapers. This gave the streets a striped appearance.

Marinette drove the suburban down a main street for a few hundred meters, then maneuvered over to the kerb by cutting across a handful of lanes, before slowing to turn into a side street.

Looking up at the buildings surrounding us, I tried to get my bearings.

Failing that, I anxiously cleared my throat before asking, “Where are we?”

I hate to admit it, but I sounded a lot more subdued than usual. Being burdened with more questions than answers was weighing heavily on me.

Surprisingly, Arnval sounded a little somber himself.

“Ring Three, District Eleven,” he replied as Marinette steered the suburban off the street and into a building’s side entrance. It was wide enough for heavy rigs to pass through and led into a large subterranean loading dock. The place was far from deserted, with workers and forklifts hurrying about as they loaded and unloaded numerous parked delivery trucks.

Marinette was unusually careful as she drove the car across the expansive loading area toward a set of garages located at one end of the dock.

She stopped in front of a garage, waited for the door to roll up, then parked the car inside.

After switching off the engine, she gave Arnval an expectant look. “We go?”

“We go,” Arnval agreed as he unbuckled his seatbelt. “Everybody out,” he commanded before climbing out of the big suburban.

Erina and Marinette exited the suburban quickly, but I hesitated before opening my door because Mirai’s nape tingled.

Maybe she was getting a bad vibe, but I had little choice but to get out of the car.

With a curt wave, Arnval gestured for us to follow him. “Move it. We don’t have much—”

He stopped sharply as a second black suburban almost ran him down as it thundered to a halt across the garage’s exit. Before he could yell at the driver, the passenger door was flung open and a young Simulacrum woman jumped out.

She circled around the front of the idling suburban as it rumbled like an impatient beast.

“New orders,” she reported while pointing at me. “We need her clothes.”

“Huh?” I gasped loudly and stared at her in confusion.

Arnval stood perplexed but a second later he snapped his fingers as though comprehending the method behind the madness.

He whirled around and instructed me in a clipped tone. “Change clothes with her.”

“What?” I gaped at him and the girl in turn. “Are you serious?”

“Yes, I’m serious.”

Somewhere off to my left, I heard someone – probably Marinette – stifling her laughter.

It sparked a rebellious fire within me.

“Not happening,” I snapped.

Arnval strode up to me. “Listen to me because I’m only going to say this once.” He risked life and limb by poking Mirai’s chest. “We’re going to lead Hexaria across the city on a wild goose chase, and we’re going to use your uniform to do so.”

The penny dropped somewhere in the depths of my mind. “Oh….”

“Now strip and change clothes with her.”

Arnval pointed at the Simulacrum girl and she sheepishly waved back at me.

I ran my gaze over her a couple of times, hesitated over her bust, then remarked sourly, “Her clothes won’t fit me.”

I have to mention that the first place Arnval looked was down at Mirai’s chest.

“Hmm,” he murmured then turned to regard the Simulacrum girl who squeaked and covered her meagre bosom. “You’re right.”

“Yep, your plan’s a bust. Pun intended.”

“Oh really?” Arnval inspected Marinette’s appearance for a second before coming to a decision. “Change with her.”

“What?”

I looked at Marinette who’d been hiding her smile behind a palm.

She stopped smiling in a hurry. “Excuse me?”

“Strip and change with her,” Arnval said. “Hurry, before Hexaria gets here.”

Marinette grew rigid for a moment before she wilted. “As you wish.” Exhaling loudly, she then waved at the open garage door. “Everybody out.”

Arnval backed away and Erina hurried out of the garage.

Marinette then walked over to a big red push button mounted to the wall beside the entrance. When she slapped it hard, the roller door came down automatically, sealing her and I inside the garage. Weak lighting from overhead strip lights spared us from having to change our clothes in the dark. She undressed behind the suburban, but I chose to strip out of my uniform by hiding beside the vehicle.

My whole body trembled.

I was embarrassed while also exceedingly nervous.

Marinette was a Simulacrum, but she was nonetheless a pretty brunette with shoulder length auburn hair, and I soon discovered she had an abundant chest as well.

She came into view when she rounded the back of the suburban, carrying her clothes in a neat bundle, including her low-heeled boots.

At sight of her naked body, I cried out and dropped my clothes as I slapped my hands over my eyes.

That earned me a stifled laugh from Marinette. “We’re both girls you know.”

No, we are NOT! Definitely NOT!

Then realizing I was naked as well, I hurriedly squatted and turned away from her. “Just leave the clothes there,” I bade her in a trembling voice.

“Oh, brother,” she breathed out. “Here. And I’ll take these—oh, you are a big girl…”

I flushed hotly knowing full well she was referring to Mirai’s bountiful chest.

“Can you just go now!” I hissed at her while feeling my cheeks and neck burn from embarrassment.

“If you don’t hurry, I’ll open the door.”

In a panic, I stopped covering my eyes and glared at her. “Don’t you dare—ah!”

Marinette was getting in dressed in full view of me.

Forgetting myself, I stared at her in awe of her smooth, alabaster skin and slim body.

Wow….

I couldn’t disagree with Arnval.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

She does have a big bust.

“I’m opening that door soon,” she warned me.

I choked in fright that quickly turned into panic. Grabbing the bundle of her clothes that she’d deposited on the ground beside me, I turned my back to her, then fumbled with the unfamiliar outfit.

I can’t believe I’m doing this! This is all Tabitha’s fault!

Dark thoughts ran through my head as I pictured what I’d do to Tabitha if and when I got my hands on her.

To my relief, Marinette wore a white sports bra. That made it easier for me to slip Mirai’s bosom into it though her breasts stretched the material to its limits. After that came the white, high cut, hipster briefs, followed by the white blouse and dark business suit. Mirai was a little taller than Marinette so the trouser legs felt marginally short, but otherwise the suit – with its peaked lapel and feminine cut – was a very close fit.

Then came the ankle boots.

Slipping Mirai’s feet into them, I found myself standing on a two-inch heel that tested my balance. I had to take a few cautious practice steps to get a feel for walking in the unfamiliar boots.

Standing nearby, Marinette suggested I straighten my back when walking. “Push out your chest a little more and pull your shoulders back. It’ll help you balance.”

I followed her advice, though I felt overly self-conscious under her gaze.

She nodded very faintly before smiling in admiration. “You look good.”

That was all I needed to hear.

Blushing red, I glared at her but was distracted by a loud banging on the garage’s metal door.

From outside, Arnval demanded to know, “What’s the hold up?”

Dressed in my Telos Academy uniform, Marinette skipped over to the door’s control button, then gave it hard slap.

As the door spooled upwards, I felt like I was standing on a stage with the curtain being raised, revealing me to an impatient audience.

There was a long moment of stunned silence as I was stared at by Arnval, Erina, and the young Simulacrum woman.

However, their attention quickly shifted onto Marinette when she asked, “What do you think?” She then surprised everyone by striking a girlish pose. “Do I look like a high school senior?”

Upon hearing that, the trio scrutinized her a little more closely. Soon, they were nodding to themselves in admiration before trading mysterious looks.

“What do you think?” Erina asked. “Could she do it?”

“I think she looks good,” the young woman replied. “Very believable as a high school girl.”

As for Arnval, he thoughtfully stroked his chin. “I’ll admit, she’s a head turner.”

Erina and the young woman gave him dark looks that he promptly noticed.

“What?” he asked.

My former sister narrowed her eyes at him. “That’s your assessment of her? That she’s a head turner.”

“Do you disagree?”

“That’s not the point we were trying to make.”

“I’m fully aware of what you were trying to say.”

Marinette slowly raised a hand. “Excuse me…I was joking.”

However, her remark was taken seriously by Erina. “Her believability as a high school girl is something worth considering. Especially now that Isabel will soon be attending school.”

Arnval nodded in agreement. “We’ll need discuss it later.”

Marinette shook her head. “No, really. I was just joking.”

“And I said we’ll talk about it later.”

She raised both hands as though warding him away. “Boss, seriously. I’m too old to be a high school girl. I mean, just look at me.”

I frowned weakly at her. “Actually, you look a lot younger than Erina.”

“What was that?” Erina fumed at me.

I sneered faintly at her. “I said, she looks a lot younger than you. She can easily pass for a high school senior.”

As Erina glared hotly at me, Marinette grew pale and started edging out of the garage as though intending to escape.

Unfortunately for her, Arnval grabbed her by the arm before she could flee.

“Come on,” he growled. “We’ve wasted enough time here.”

He pulled her toward the rumbling suburban awaiting nearby.

“Wait,” she protested. “I can’t drive in these shoes.”

“You won’t be driving. You’ll be sitting in the back.”

Opening a rear passenger door, Arnval hustled Marinette into the backseat, while the other Simulacrum woman resumed riding shotgun up front.

“Hold on,” Marinette objected. “I’m not accustomed to being a passenger.”

“It’ll be safer for them if you don’t drive.”

“But my hair is too short.”

“The windows are tinted.”

“But Lady Isabel’s breasts are much bigger than mine.”

Arnval leaned close to her. “Do you seriously think Hexaria will notice?”

“Maybe? I don’t know! But still—”

“Mari!”

He cut her off sharply, eliciting a surprised squeak from Marinette. “Y—Yes?”

Despite standing some distance behind him, I could clearly hear the concern in his voice. “Watch yourself out there. Hexaria is—”

“—unpredictable,” Marinette agreed in a suddenly somber tone, but then smiled confidently up at him. “Don’t worry. We’ll be careful. Besides, we have Raine covering us from above. And we have the rest of Spartan watching our backs.”

That may have reassured Arnval.

I couldn’t see his face from where I was standing, but I saw him nod at her before he firmly closed the passenger door.

Through the tinted window, I watched Marinette’s faint silhouette wave goodbye as the suburban backed up a few feet. The boxy vehicle then executed a tight, three-quarter turn before racing out of the loading bay. It narrowly avoided a delivery truck that was nosing into the entrance and soon roared out of sight.

Leaning sideways for a better look at Arnval, I noticed his jaw muscles twitching after he’d witnessed the near miss.

I couldn’t stop myself from needling him. “Didn’t you say they’d be safer if she wasn’t driving?”

Clearly not amused, Arnval inhaled loudly as he regarded me over a shoulder. “Let’s go.”

“Go where?”

“Just follow me,” he gruffly replied before marching swiftly toward the back of the loading bay.

I snickered as I watched him walk away but was distracted when I noticed Erina quietly appraising me. “What? If you’ve got something to say, spit it out.”

“The clothes do make the woman,” she observed. “You make quite the lovely young lady…when your mouth is shut.”

At first, I blushed in embarrassment, then my cheeks grew hot with anger.

However, I decided not to lash out at her.

Why? Because I felt that somehow I just had to break free of that vicious cycle.

Getting angry at Erina wasn’t doing me any good.

That’s the short answer.

I’ll save the long answer for another time.

However, having said all that, I couldn’t restrain myself from sniping at her. “Are you telling me that I have a future in private security—?”

As soon as the words left my lips, I experienced an epiphany that felt like warm sunlight on a winter’s day.

“That it!” I cried out.

“That’s what?” Erina questioned me.

“I can be Mercy’s bodyguard!” I clapped my hands over Mirai’s chest. “Even better—I can be Mercy’s double and keep her safe from her raving fans!”

Erina appeared deeply skeptical. “You get anxiety attacks in a crowd, and you’re going to protect Mercy Haddaway?”

My elation cracked and crumbled.

Damn it…she has a point, I grudgingly admitted then flinched sharply when Arnval suddenly appeared before me.

“If you two are done discussing career choices—let’s go!”

And with that, he again stormed off to the back of the loading bay.

Erina took a deep breath, and then shook her head while briefly closing her eyes. “Come on before he decides to come back.”

As she walked after Arnval, I remembered the roller door was up. Ducking into the garage, I slapped the push button against the wall, then hurried out as the door came down.

I jogged lightly after Erina and almost twisted an ankle in the process. Catching myself at the last moment, I regained my balance then walked, rather than ran, after my former sister.

Falling into step beside her, I curiously asked, “So where are we? What is this place?”

“My guess, it’s a subsidiary of the Telos Corporation.” Erina walked a little faster and beckoned me to hurry. “We’re being left behind.”

Arnval had arrived at the elevated rear of the loading bay.

While there were no trucks on the high ground, numerous forklifts zipped about as they ferried cargo pallets between storerooms and waiting vehicles.

I kept a close eye on my surroundings lest I find myself swept up in the frantic ballet of men and machines going about their business.

We caught up to Arnval as he neared a wide swing door at the back of the loading dock.

From within his trench coat, he produced a security card that he used to unlock the door. Yanking it open, he revealed a wide corridor that he quickly strode into.

It surprised me a little that he wasn’t waiting for us. Instead, he charged on ahead without sparing us a glance.

Jeezes, what’s the rush? I grumbled at his back.

Erina hesitated for a moment before following in his heavy footsteps, her heels clacking loudly on the permacrete underfoot.

I also faltered at the doorway.

Swallowing hard, I stared with uncertainty into the maintenance corridor because it reminded me of when Ghost had guided me through the depths of the Sanreal Crest. At the end of that journey, I came face to face with Mirai’s immense Sarcophagi, but what awaited me on this occasion?

Ghost spoke reassuringly into my ears. “Princess, it will be fine.”

I was a little surprised to hear from him.

He’d been silent throughout the wild car ride.

Then again, he had a habit of popping up at moments like these.

Whenever I needed a gentle nudge, I’d find Ghost either beside me or at my back.

“Why should I believe that?” I whispered to him.

Honestly, I appreciated his support, and I did find comfort in his presence, but my suspicious nature viewed it more like coercion.

“Because I promised not to lie to you.”

The doubtful look on my face was at odds with my reply. “…fine, I trust you….”

After I stepped into the maintenance corridor, I closed the swing door behind me, then once again risked jogging in pursuit of Arnval and Erina, catching up to them a short while later.

Arnval led the way as though he knew where he was going, making turns at intersections with nary a thought.

I had to admit, the urgency he betrayed was beginning to unsettle me to the extent that I expected to go around a corner and come face to face with Tabitha. Thus, I was fairly relieved when he stopped and used his security card to unlock a door midway down a corridor. Pulling it open, he then urged us all inside.

I was last through the door, closing it behind me as I stepped into a large, squarish, and very empty room with pale white light radiating from the ceiling.

The anxiety I’d been harboring abruptly eased, replaced with a stark bewilderment.

Standing with arms akimbo, I gave Arnval a perplexed look. “Where’s the treasure?”

From his trench coat, he’d retrieved something that resembled a holovid player’s remote. He was fiddling with it when my remark caught him off guard.

“What?” he brusquely asked.

I waved a hand about. “Why the empty room?”

He stared at me for a moment, then resumed operating the remote in his left hand.

Unhappy at being ignored, I crossed my arms and started to glare at him.

However, Arnval belatedly explained, “The less clutter the better when translocating.”

“We’re jumping?” My surprise quickly soured. “Oh wonderful. I just love feeling like toothpaste being squeezed out the bottle.”

Arnval ignored my complaint, but Erina looked visibly bleak at the news.

I knew she was afraid of flying, but she appeared equally unenthusiastic about translocating.

Seeing her like this, she was a tempting target for the smartass in me.

“Did you bring your barf bag?” I asked her.

She inhaled loudly before grumbling, “I don’t suffer from motion sickness.”

“Oh, sure you don’t,” I mocked her, then suggested, “Why not cover your eyes and count to ten?”

Arnval glanced thoughtfully at Erina.

I couldn’t help wondering what he was thinking, and for some reason I remembered what Tabitha had said back in the apartment.

Her warning that House Novis suspected Erina of betrayal crossed my mind.

After that, I couldn’t deny that the look Arnval gave Erina made me uneasy.

Swallowing quietly, I watched him continue fiddling with the remote. “What are you doing?”

He didn’t reply, but a heartbeat later, a projecbeam window about the size of an A5 sheet of paper appeared above the device in his hands.

It displayed something akin to a scrollable map with a few red dots scattered across its surface.

This prompted me to ask, “What is that?”

Erina gave me a distracted glance as Arnval grudgingly answered, “It’s a means of locking onto the beacon at our destination. There’s a beacon located beneath this room. That serves as a point of origin. But we need to tell the translocation engine where we want to go.”

Translocation engine?

I bit my lower lip nervously as I watched the scrolling map center on a red dot in the middle of a blue ocean. “So then where are we going?”

“The only place we can go until your troubles with House Cardinal blow over.” Arnval pressed a couple of buttons, then quietly announced, “We’re locked in.”

Hearing the announcement, Erina looked displeased as she folded her arms across her chest.

Was it because she knew where we were going? Or was it the imminent translocation that had her feathers ruffled?

While mulling that over, I suddenly remembered what I’d meant to ask Arnval back in the car. “Wait a minute. Where’s Straus?”

Arnval’s thumb hovered over a big green button on the remote. “With any luck, she should be there already.”

“And where is there?”

“You’re about to find out.”

With that, he mashed down on the button.

Having experienced a few translocations in as many days, I swallowed anxiously as I knew what to expect. But that didn’t make the familiar, disagreeable, and unwelcome sensation that swept over me any easier to stomach. In fact, the combination of disorienting weightlessness and pitch-black darkness that swallowed the room threatened to upend my guts. I clamped down on them, and took deep, even breaths as the weightless feeling transmuted into the impression that I was perpetually falling into a bottomless abyss.

That didn’t last long, and soon I felt like I was being squeezed through a garden hose.

Unable to breathe, I kept my eyes wide open.

Mirai’s wetware told me the experience lasted only seconds, yet it felt like a minute before I was funneled out into bright sunlight.

Blinded, I reflexively shut my eyes, but then quickly realized something was wrong.

The translocation process had ended but I was again experiencing a freefall.

With a roaring wind in my ears, and my clothes plastered to my body, there was no denying something was seriously amiss.

What the Hell is going on?

Prying my eyes open, I struggled to look around me.

The sight of Erina and Arnval swimming helplessly in the air almost gave me a seizure.

However, when I looked below me, I instantly regretted opening my eyes.

WHAT THE FREK?

A palatial villa surrounded by acres of lush, verdant garden was rushing up to meet us.

Or rather, we were falling toward it.

Actually, we were headed for a watery landing in an immense swimming pool the size of a small lagoon.

In freefall beside me, Erina screamed at the top of her lungs.

“Arnval, you ass—!”

Then we splashed into the pool’s crystal blue waters.