Since "Megan" seemed to be the one in charge and wanted to yap about hurtful things, I took a second to notice all of the differences in their features. Her face was much thinner now, elegant but more severe. The eyes were the biggest change as now they were just a field of blue.

"Sally's" face was now equally severe but her bone structure was more bold, maybe even masculine. Her eyes were now just reticules. Fitting somehow.

"It doesn't have to be this way..." Megan started.

I tuned it out, I figured I had a moment to initiate a few plans.

I cast a Regrowth on myself. While the flare of mana gave the action away, neither woman reacted to it.

" ...Despite the words of my colleague, we are not here to kill you. Just agree to come with us, and all this doesn't have to get any worse." Not Megan said. She wanted me to drop my guard. Whether to actually capture me, or to just end me, I couldn't say.

My next step was contacting Alina, 'Remove all non summon exceptions on the lists and activate the secondary Pylon network. Leave me, Jaina and the tower visible to everyone.'

'By your command, Executor.'

"If you want me to come along, peacefully, I think a few answers are in order." I kept my voice as neutral as possible.

"My bio monitor says he's up to something." "Sally" barked. Drawing not Megan's attention.

"Of course he is. That's the way the game is played, Ingrid. I've told you before, they always have plans, we always have plans. The fun is in seeing whose plans work better." "Megan" turned back to me, "That's her name by the way, Ingrid. Mine's Velma for the record. I figured that'd be one of your questions. Ask your next one."

At that moment, Jaina's spell finished and a Water elemental Coiled around her. She looked terribly distressed. Probably felt violated. I know I did. Sexual activity with an enemy is a horrible feeling. Guess I should be glad I hadn't gone all the way with them.

Jaina's emotions roiled like the water of her elemental. Hmm. No way I was going to get a good read on her feelings. Only thing I was sure of there was that she hadn't been part of this little kerfuffle.

Ingrid grunted, "Didn't know she could do that." She backed up to her rifle. Pure aggression wafted from her in waves. She pointed her weapon at Jaina.

Velma shook her head, "Doesn't matter, they can't do anything to stop our people." Confidence.

She sure was certain, wasn't she. Maybe she was right, I doubted it though.

"When?" I asked. I wasn't sure I cared anymore, but the question came out anyway. Bizarrely, I was just empty inside right then. My anger was faded, my concern was muted, even my pain was almost gone.

"When, what? Velma responded, she knew what I was asking, she thought it would be more fun to drag it out.

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"When did you switch with the real Nomads?" Now that my kidney's were mostly healed, I slowly started pumping mana into my aura letting it grow.

"Oh honey." She shrugged, "About a year ago. If you are wondering how Miss friendly over there was able to convincingly act like Sally, it was a personality imprint chip that was copied from the real deal. Same for me. It's why she's so grumpy, it overrides your own personality. Deep Cover Agents like us don't get to control it." She grinned, it was much more disturbing on this face.

That revelation hurt more than I cared to admit. I had hoped, perhaps, that some of it had been real.

"It's also why Arasaka jumped us. It wasn't about you, it was about us." She tapped her chest with the pistol. "They didn't want us to find out what they had buried there."

I nodded. Pursed my lips. "Who do you work for and why me?"

"Militech. Technically, a branch of the NUSA, but you understand how it is." She knew I didn't. "As to why you, I think it's obvious. Advance materials and technology." Air quotes, "Magic and more. Sadly, without you we can't control it, or we'd have just put a bullet in your brain. Kind of like we did to your friend, who you are almost standing on." The twisted grin went into a full horrible smile.

Of course, I looked down. I wished I hadn't.

I hadn't thought much of the rug when we came in. A fur rug fit in with the décor. Though I suppose the golden gleam should have given it away. There was no other identifying factor, no head for instance.

I wanted to deny it.

But I knew.

Now that I was paying attention to it I could feel the divine energies trapped in the fur.

All that remained of Lumi.

Suddenly, I wasn't seeing Lumi's fur I was seeing Ruger's.

Hmm. What was that feeling inside? Oh. I was angry. Very angry.

My aura erupted filling the whole room. The cast to the green light was perhaps a little off from normal. Somehow this didn't bother me.

Here's something most people don't think about. Did you know there was always some E. Coli present in your intestines? What would happen if I caused it to rapidly reproduce and grow? What about all the other harmful bacteria that hang out in our bodies, but don't have the numbers to do much harm?

My mind had always shied away from these darker ideas. But right now? I couldn't be bothered to care about why it was wrong.

There was something enjoyable about watching Ingrid start vomiting blood almost immediately. But no she couldn't die yet. Even as she was torn apart from the inside, I kept putting her back together. It required hardly any effort so why not.

I could feel her pain as if it was my own, so I made it hurt more by exciting her nerves. After all, I deserved it for failing so spectacularly.

Her screams were a bit annoying though. Easily fixed by altering her vocal cords. Regrowth really was a versatile spell. So many options.

With Velma I had locked on to several groups of cancerous cells, Fueling their growth into large ponderous tumors before excising them, back into small clusters. Rinse and repeat. Less overall pain than with Ingrid but a few little changes in her fluid pressures, and her life was now one of endless misery.

Thankfully, she didn't scream anywhere near as much as her little friend. The look of horror on her face, though. Priceless.

The really hilarious part? They were climaxing the whole time. I wondered how long it would take to complete fry their brains with pleasure? Maybe we would try that later after I had calmed down. Right now it all mixed together so they really didn't comprehend what they were feeling, not completely. It just hurt.

They should have passed out, but there was no way I was going to allow that. Oh no, I don't think I'll ever let them sleep again.

After all my new toys need to be always ready to be played with. It was only fair after what they did to us.

I turned to look at the third lady present.

I had accidentally rendered Jaina into a gibbering orgasmic puddle on the the floor. The Elemental dispersed, after it was disrupted by my aura. It seemed my mana far exceeded hers at this point. I still didn't think she had done anything unforgivable. So I had no desire to punish her, this was just a side effect of my anger.

I didn't even feel any strain as I pumped out tons of mana.

Emotion really is fuel.

And I was very upset.