“This day just gets worse.” Vinn sighed as he sat in a chair and the girls did his makeup, an IV running from his arm to a donation jar and Nicole applying glue to his nose. Gizzy stood next to Jack, arms crossed and staring.
“Something still isn’t quite there.” He said, checking the reference photo as Vicki slathered his fur in bleach lightener.
“Don’t we have like…portable hologram things that can just make me look like whatever?” Vinn asked.
“Yea sure, They’re not a specialty item or anything, I’ll just go to the spy hologram store, place it on back order for next month when shipping isn’t delayed on the entire moon, get a Delmarian sized emitter, and then risk your life and blow the mission if it cuts out at any point because they struggle rendering moving hair over moving hair, and you’re covered in hair playing another Delmarian covered in hair. That’s way easier than this would be, and Dee can probably survive another month if she’s been taken and put in someone’s basement.”
“You’re hard to argue with, you know that?” Vinn muttered as they dyed his fur gray from about the mid-chest up and to the fingertips. “I better not have to get naked for this.” He added.
“You plan on getting naked in front of the seller for some reason? We’re just getting far down enough to cover everything a tank top could show, and a little extra to be sure. So if they insist on going to the bath house, you’re screwed.” Gizzy noted. "Now we can’t make you shorter, but the hunch should hide that a little bit. Nicole, this is your part.” She said, handing her the molar microphone. “It’s a voice changer and a communication device we can track. Just don’t bite down on anything hard.”
“Open wide dork.” She smiled, giving him a kiss on the nose before remembering it was covered in prosthetic rubber. He opened his mouth fully as Vicki stared in horror, and Nicole got her face right up there and both hands in his mouth to install it.
“Horrifying.” Vicki said.
“Hey, don’t be like that. He has feelings.” She protested. “Come here.” She motioned.
“Why?” Vicki cringed.
“Because everyone falsely assumes Delmarians have dog breath, and this will be faster with two people.”
“Fine.” Sighed Vicki, taking the toothbrush and the yellowing paste and reluctantly getting her face very close to Vinn’s gaping maw of alligator-sized teeth. “Okay, there’s no breath smell, I’m kinda surprised.”
“Anks alaought.” Vinn said
“Stop talking! Your tongue is way too close to my head.” Vicki ordered sternly. He wrinkled his nose. “Vinn I swear to god if you sneeze right now.” She said backing up.
“Quiddit!” pointed Nicole. She went back in close and kept brushing on the yellowing paste.
“And this part you’re gonna hate.” Gizzy said picking up the bone saw.
“Vinn, you’re so brave.” Nicole said, hugging him as he frowned and looked sad. Gizzy began sawing down his antlers to 4 inch stubs to fit the 3d printed fakes.
“Was it painful?” Nicole asked.
“There are no nerves in them, it’s just basically petrified hair. Kinda vibrated my brains a little. It’s gonna take forever to grow back.” He moaned childishly.
“Oh, we'll glue 'em back on with a medical dowel pin. Now THAT looks like the guy. A close family member may not buy it, but it’s a dead ringer for the pics.” Gizzy said. Holding them up and scanning them with her eyes. 98.3 percent match.
“So do I still look hot, all old and gray?” Vinn asked Nicole.
“I’m gonna be totally honest, the gray was kind of a vibe at first, and you had some serious hot dad energy, but the less like YOU ya got, and more like this guy, shit got weird, and the yellow teeth are really killing my mood. But you still get hugs.” She said, hugging him.
“I mean, that’s fair.” He nodded.
“Here’s your cane, remember to use it, you're pretending to be 35 years old and a war veteran.”
“I met this guy before, in training. I really never took him for a piece of shit. That’s a bit of a bummer, honestly. They guy was kind of a legend. Lost all respect for him now. Human trafficking. Never would have called it."
“Well, if it makes you feel better, he’s dead now.” Gizzy mentioned. “Ate some bad mushrooms in his breakfast platter. Really sad. Probably looked like a heart attack. Hey, you’re lucky we found someone halfway close to your size and facial structure who’s a disposable human trafficker. Be glad you’re not wearing a 300 pound fat-suit and another layer of fur. You’d be marinating in your own sweat the whole time.” she said.
“Yea, this is way less bad.” He said as Nicole climbed up in his lap and leaned face to face.
“Now, don’t you dare get yourself hurt, or I’ll bite your ears. Not, like, super hard, but hard enough that you know you’re being scolded.”
“Seems contradictory but okay.”
“I love you. Be safe.”
“We all got body armor on. We got healing shots, we got…my blood in a flask for Vicki because that’s super normal to have, we got weapons. We got this" he shrugged.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“And why can’t I go with him?”
“Nicole, this isn’t cosplay, it’s espionage and murder. You won't even kill bees.” Jack explained. “They’re just minding their own buzzness and wigglin their little booty for flowers.” She said, looking pouty.
“Exactly." Gizzy sighed. "You’re not a killer. Everyone else here has killed people before. You don’t need that on your conscious, and we don’t need the hesitation. What we DO need is surveillance, and you know computers. So you keep us informed and watch the screens. Just think of it as a video game. Your mission is to keep your players alive, and we get one try.” Gizzy explained as a short blonde entered the room.
“Who’s that?” asked Nicole.
“That’s me.” Said the blonde and Gizzy at the same time, creating a weird echo as the other Gizzy sat down and went offline. “Breaking out the old Charlotte body for a while. God, I hate this thing.”
“What’s bad about it?” Vinn asked.
“It’s living human tissue and real human eyes. It’s fucking gross.” She cringed. “Everything is just…moist and sloshy.” She added. “But it’s for the mission. They can detect Osirian bodies from 50 feet back. This is all obsolete shit.”
“Are you still overpowered as shit?” Vinn asked.
“Compared to an Osirian body, no this is a little bitchlette princess pansy body with bullshit for defenses and armor. Compared to like…you guys, I could still kill everyone in this room in 30 seconds and none of you could do anything about it.”
“Your words are always comforting, you know?” Nicole said with an annoyed brow and scrunched nose.
“Oh pipe down I’m on your side. Someone has to get deep in the nasty underbelly of this and that means they’re probably never coming out, show of hands, who else can turn off their ability to feel pain, lacks the ability to bleed to death, has been legitimately tortured for information and comes with a self-destruct sequence? Yea exactly. You’re welcome, my sacrifice will surely be remembered for centuries.” She yawned with a sarcastic font. “Man, how do you people reach anything?” Gizzy/Charlotte said, trying to get into the top cabinet for a cigar. Vinn shook his head
“Hobbits.” He sighed. "Absolute shirelings the lot of them.”
Hyde stepped into the dark room, holding a plate of food, ham and cheese, cold on a roll and a milkshake. Dee glared at him, looking more hurt than angry but very much angry.
“Eat.”
“They’re gonna kill you.”
“Eat the food, Dee.”
“They’re gonna hunt you down and Jack is going to fillet you like a damn beef cutlet. You could take me back home and leave, and they wouldn’t have a reason to hunt you down, but as long as I’m here, they’re looking, and if you…” she said breaking her threat as she recited the words in her mind, realizing the horrible truth of what was likely coming for her. She began to cry, refusing to show the emotion as a tear escaped and ran down her face. “Hyde why? How could you do this to me?”
“Dee, this isn’t about us, or very little of it is. This is not vengeance for what you did, I don’t enjoy your suffering, you just showed me that humans are all the same deep down and so are we. We are what we’re born to be, and frankly Dee, you are a convenient target who trusted me and walked willingly into a trap, and you will fetch a high price for your value. That’s it. It’s a business opportunity, and you are just unfortunate to be you. The cheating, the friendship with Nicole, what we had…none of it matters. This isn’t as personal as you think, that’s just an irrational human emotion struggling to understand her place.”
“Did you ever even love Nicole?”
“Of course I did. Even monsters feel, sometimes.” he admitted.
“Then how could you do this to her? You’re taking away her friend, she will be devastated. As shitty of a friend as I am and as much as I don’t deserve her grieving, she cares, and she will hurt from this.”
“Don’t you see, that’s why I’ve gone to such lengths to set up the story. You ran away with someone, as you tend to do, and you are happy to be out and free. She’s not mourning you because she thinks you’re happy. And I could have just killed you for revenge, but I’m making sure you get the best master in the bidding. Don’t you get it, Dee…I’m doing you and her a lot of favors. I’m just…born a little evil. The strong survive and become that way. It’s an evil world. I could do so much worse, torture you, sell you to someone who has much darker desires than I could ever manage. You are born human, and humans must be domesticated. Why do you still believe I’m picking on you for what you did to me? I’m still helping you.”
“You’re selling me as a slave! Don’t pretend that’s best for me. You know me, You know humans need freedom and space to be themselves to be happy. You’re taking everything from me, you piece of shit, and THAT is why neither Nicole ever loved you and why Vinn keeps winning her heart. Because he’s not the monster people think your species is…and you are exactly what our nightmares predicted. You’re not better than the humans who work for you. You’re too stupid to see that this isn’t personal, You’re too demented and damaged to understand your own motives. You’re a slave to your own damn animal instincts, grow a pair of balls and be a real man, like Vinn. Let me go, and just leave. I’ll tell them you rescued me, I’ll tell them a fake location where you went, you can still fix this, not US but yourself.”
“Do you understand you’re not the first human I’ve sold off? I can’t undo that. Those actions are already done, and I have customers currently interested in you. There’s no way out of this, your future is set, you will be what you are meant to be, and it’s up to you to understand your place. If you accept that, you may be happy.”
“You know what’s gonna make me happy? Watching Jack put a bullet in your face. He’s gonna take your head as a trophy just like Vinn, and I’m gonna laugh my ass off when he does. That’s all you are…a trophy head. A wild animal, a dumb dangerous brute with no heart and just enough brain cells to be dangerous, and when animals can’t be controlled, they put them down. You’re just an exotic head for a wall. None of us are going to mourn you. You should have just stayed dead the first time.”
“Maybe. But destiny had other ideas. Why, is a mystery.”
“You know the only mystery? If Gizzy clones you back just to kill you publically herself or if she lets Jack have the honors, and you just disappear without a trace. I hope she puts you back in that arena and beats you into hamburger again, except this time she lets you bleed out in front of everyone. And this time, No Evee to cry for you. Nobody will cry for you. Not after they know what you’ve done. It’s just gonna be bloody entertainment for everyone.” Dee said viciously.
“You think Gizzy will save you? She’s the one who set me loose. It’s all just part of her experiments. She probably bought a few of the humans herself. In fact, if one of her surrogates bids on you…it’s only fair I let her win."
Zeph/Claybourne stood in the empty arcade, still hoping Dee would show up. Maybe she would change her mind. He paced the floors staring down and puzzling what sort of man could A: out-donate him, and B, charm her more than he could. It didn’t make sense. A richer, better looking fan? He knew something was wrong, for entirely incorrect reasons. He stopped and spotted something on the floor. A few strands of blonde hair hooked into a splinter in the floor, like she had been dragged across it. He picked it up, recognizing her scent and hunkering down to the floor to examine the scene further. The smell of gunpowder, but no blood. Then he caught the slightest hint of another smell, a familiar one. The cheap and distinct combination of aftershave he had to tolerate every time he visited his dealer.
“Mike, you son of a bitch. You really can get me anything.” He said, heading out the door.