Once she recovered enough to shake off the disorientation of the dive mixed with the upload of her new friend, she was able to finally make out the conversation. She heard Nick questioning Moyra on why they were in the area. Her answer sounded plausible, along with everything else that was covered. Moyra's tone, from what she could tell through the conversation going on in her earpiece, sounded honest. From what she could gather, she was telling the truth.
As she was settling in on the conversation, waiting, Nick buzzed on the earpiece for her.
"Hey, Tiff, got a second?"
She tapped her earclip in response, hailing him back.
"The software was giving me some trouble... Nothing I couldn't handle though... Do you need my assistance?" she asked in a chipper tone compared to earlier.
"Yeah, did you get that?" he asked, checking if she was in on the conversation.
"I did. I'll be up momentarily. Give me a minute."
"Need me to bring the fob?" he asked, mildly concerned.
"Nope. The field only stops people from entering, not leaving..."
And with that, she stood tippy-toed on her digipads, arms stretched as far as they'd possibly go, neck stretching upward as she tried to limber up. Then she brought one leg up to her head, swapped to the other, doing the same. She stood in place for a few seconds—*Flashstep*—then disappeared, reappearing outside the field looking like a poofball of fur.
Nick tried to keep a straight face but managed a crooked smile without outright laughing at her. Her slitted eyes and tight-lipped muzzle said she knew how ridiculous she looked and wasn't amused as she tried to pat her unruly fur down.
She looked over at Moyra, then Nick, then back to Moyra as she walked toward Nick. Tiffany sat so close to him that she was practically in his lap. Her body pressed so close that she was squishing into his side. Her tail crept around his back, when he looked down to see her fluffed tail plop into his lap—more frazzled than usual— he was pretty sure it wasn’t the static from the camo field. He kept glancing at her, then Moyra.
Moyra’s already small, glowing red eyes shrunk even more so as Tiffany looked like an overprotective mom next to Nick, staring the Pharose down. A small melodic growl started to roll from Tiffany’s core.
Nick softly reached up, placing his hand on her lower back, making small circles with his palm. His touch seemed to snap her out of protection mode as her face shifted from aggressive to her poker face. Her tail relaxed, as her fur unfrazzled and settled.
She looked over and down at him, her eyes larger than usual, realizing what she was doing, and nodded an apology to him. Then she looked over at Moyra with squinted eyes and pursed lips—not offering an apology, but a warning.
Nick finally broke the awkward silence between the two as he spoke up, slapping his hands together in front of him in a quick, deliberate gesture.
*Smack*
"Well, I'm sure we’ll be having company soon. How should we handle this? From talking to her, I think her only crime was bad employer decisions, and she seemed to try to sabotage the rats the best she could without getting herself killed or disappeared." He paused for a moment, looking at Tiffany to get her attention. "—And obviously sitting close to me..." he teased, giving Tiff a playful wink.
She turned her head away, looking at the ground as her red cheeks flushed whitish pink for a moment. Her tail moved from his lap and curled behind him, lightly slapping him in the back of the head.
*Thwap!*
He flinched a little but didn’t move.
"So what do you think we should do with her? She did kinda save your life... and the humans, and even brought them to town... as far as I know."
Tiffany looked at him, then slowly looked at Moyra—not aggressively, but with her usual neutral poker face. She continued to stare at the Pharose... thinking.
"Is it true you took the humans back to town?" Tiffany asked.
Moyra seemed to ease up a bit, no longer feeling the press of intimidation—just simple questions, which was a welcome change from the threat of blood a moment ago when the Lupas was staring her down like easy prey invading its territory.
"Aye, ma'am. Ey did as he said..." she replied, gesturing at Nick, her gaze shifting between Tiffany and the ground in front of her.
Tiffany looked at her with a thoughtful squint, continuing to question Moyra about her dealings.
"And it was brought to my attention that you assisted my... partner when I was... incapacitated?" she asked. Tiffany’s hands were clasped in her lap like she was conducting an interview. Moyra was feeling the brunt of the other end—like this was the closest she’d ever come to applying for a job—as her poorly fitting flannel shirt started to moisten from her sweating.
Tiffany’s nostrils flared slightly as she took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she remained deep in thought.
Then she heard a voice.
*As hard as it is for me to be positive about things, I can vouch for her innocence... Remember the tip-off to the G.S.A. I mentioned? Ask her about her laughable investigation she attempted when she felt things weren’t right.* Glitchet blurted out to Tiffany, causing her to mentally sigh as she opened her eyes to look at Moyra.
"So... tell me about your investigation when you felt things were... off with your... very questionable employment choice."
Moyra gave her a glare at this but stayed cooperative.
"As Ey told Nick..." Moyra started, only to be cut off by Tiffany in a glowering tone.
"That's Dickson to you." she replied, emitting a guttural growl.
"Aye, believe me, lass, Ey was trying to get some DICK-in, but he kept shooin’ me away like a fly, so he did," she replied in a mischievously coy balk of laughter.
"You know very well what I meant!" Tiffany growled out, trying to keep the pot in her head from boiling over.
Moyra, at this point, couldn’t help herself and wanted to push the joke further.
"Ey bet he didn’t tell ye about our little arrangement about eh date, did he?" Moyra asked, leaning toward Tiffany with the biggest smug grin Nick had ever seen on the creature's face. He was starting to feel real uneasy about it—not for himself, but because he didn’t know how Tiffany would react to the taunts.
Tiffany just stared at Moyra. Her only response was a looped, "But... but... but... he—"
Time seemed to freeze in her mind as she withdrew. The only thing she felt at that moment was the pot containing her emotions erupting in a violent spew in her head—and Glitchet not being the voice of reason.
*Good... good... Let the hate flow through you... also, I take no responsibility for you listening to my terrible advice.* Glitchet commented in his best dark emperor voice.
Tiffany partially heard some of what Glitchet said, but all she could see was red, everything else was just a blurry drone. The only thought going through her head was: This... this Moyra was trying to steal the one thing in her life that she recently found that made her happy... and she wasn't about to give that up.
She snapped, lunging at the stunned Moyra and wrapping her long, clawed fingers around Moyra’s muscularly thick, oily brown-furred neck, giving it a light squeeze and shake.
"Why you little!" was all Tiffany could get out as she shook Moyra’s head, making it comically look like a wobbly maraca.
Moyra gripped Tiffany’s wrists, trying to loosen her grip, but couldn’t budge her.
"Ack—ack—aak—" was all Moyra could get out.
Nick jumped up and leapt onto Tiffany’s back. He reached forward, grabbing Tiffany’s ears and pulled—hard—like reins on a horse.
"Yipe!!!"
Tiffany snapped out of her red haze. Her bubbling emotions were immediately stomped down and fizzled out—except one. It was like a light switch being flipped as her hormones overloaded her senses, causing a system shutdown and a cascade of sensory collapse.
Immediately, her grip loosened as Moyra choked out a breath. Nick kept pulling until Tiffany’s body went rigid, spasmed, then rolled off Moyra. Her body fell limp, twitching sporadically, laying sideways on the ground—her eyes the size of dinner plates as she panted haphazardly.
Then he smelled the wave of musk...
*Maybe I pulled too hard...? Well, at least I found her off button... or was that an on button?* he thought, unsure by the smell, as he looked down at Tiffany as he gently struggled to roll her onto her back while she still spasmed.
Moyra sat up, getting her breathing under control. Nick sat next to his partner, waiting for her to recuperate while looking at Moyra.
"Ey think ye friend needs to brush up on 'er sense of humor," she gurgled gruffly, still rubbing her throat.
Nick nodded in response, knowing what she meant.
"Yeah... sorry about that... it's... a work in progress," he admitted as he leaned on Tiffany, patting her side lightly.
"El... Ey apologize... Ey didn't realize you were claimed..."
Nick's head perked up at the last part she uttered.
"Claimed? Wha—waaaait, we've just met..."
That usual coy smile crept across her face as her eyes narrowed, looking at him.
"Ye have some real ballocks offerin' a date with me with 'er chained to ya."
Nick's calm expression faltered as she pointed that out. His gaze drifted to the ground, then to the still-stunned Lupas behind him.
"I'm sorry about misleading you..." he started, looking off to the side.
"Mislead? Ye sure not outright lied?" she accused, as he looked at her sheepishly.
"Actually, you asked for a date... you didn't specifically say with who... which I planned to honor."
With this, she slit her eyes at Nick, still feeling like she was played.
"I'm not going on the date... unless you want to make it a double date, where Tiffany and I come along—"
Nick was interrupted by a happy *thump-thump-thump-thump* of Tiffany’s tail as he said this, along with what he thought he heard—a light rolling whimper, almost both cute and sad.
"El, as much as Ey wanted you for a date, Ey guess a runner-up prize is better en nuthin'."
He smiled slightly at this.
Their light chat and apologetic exchanges were interrupted by a heavy shuffle of Tiffany's suit on the damp grass. Moyra slightly shrank back as the Lupas sat up woozily and looked at her, eyeing her hard. Then her gaze softened as she sat on her knees and bowed deep, her arms outstretched, palms up toward Moyra.
"I'm... deeply sorry for doing that... even if you two had an agreement, I shouldn't have acted like that toward you. It was... unprofessional, and out of character. Please accept my apologies?"
Moyra was a little taken aback by this but extended a thick paw, placing it gently in Tiffany’s open palm.
"Ey fergive ye... ya oversized nut job. Besides... Ey'm pretty sure if ye wanted me dead, we wouldn't be having this conversation now. So... it's fen. Besides, Ey ain't so fragile that Ey'd break so easy," she said, giving Tiffany a playful wink.
Tiffany sat up, looking at both of them, then Nick.
"Sorry I overreacted... I... I don't know what happened," she said, looking at Nick with an apologetic look.
"I'm... sorry I wasn't up front with you about this. Probably could've avoided this whole situation..." Nick's gaze drifted away as he said this.
Tiffany put her hand on his head, lightly ruffling his hair. She looked back at Moyra with a serious look on her face, thinking about some of the things she still wanted to ask before the interruption.
"So before I so rudely interrupted you."
Moyra returned to her business mode, continuing her story.
"As Ey was trying to sey... Ey started digging when things seemed off at best. Found some log manifests and some other info that made me realize who Ey was working for."
*Ha! She probably couldn’t find herself on a galactic star chart if it was plotted for her in advance!*
Tiffany rolled her eyes at Glitchet’s outburst, then shushed him as she mentally told him to keep his comments to himself.
"Moyra, did it seem the info came to you... easier than it should’ve? Like someone sent it?"
She paused, thinking back—remembering when she was trying to search for info on some of the panels while left alone. It was strange. The panels she used seemed to already know what she was looking for, offering up shipping manifests and a light amount of small details that hinted... something wasn’t right. Almost as if the system didn't like the people it worked for.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
"Hmmm... Ey'd say it was unusually easy... it's like it knew what Ey was lookin' for..."
*See... told you... That's okay, no one ever listens to me anyway... If it'd help end this charade, I could send you her credentials. She's clean for the most part as far as the Fratelli family is concerned... or ignore me, see if I care. It's not like I'm a sentient database floating in your neurolink or anything...*
Tiffany froze momentarily at this, listening to Glitchet.
*Glitchet? Can you send that to my HUD?*
Moyra and Nick looked at the zoned Tiffany, who decided to leave in the middle of the conversation. They glanced at each other, then back at Tiffany—who sat, eyes dilated, and appearing not to be home.
*Ugh... fine, but I won't like it... but if it'll stop this back-and-forth drivel, I'll relent. Sending to your HUD now... maybe... Just remember, disappointment is always just one click away.*
Tiffany’s eyes refocused as she shook her head slightly, coming to. She looked back between Moyra and Nick, who both looked confused, if not a little concerned.
"Excuse me for a moment, you two. Sorry—I... gotta check something..."
She gave an apologetic look to both as she tapped her collar, ejecting her helmet. She watched as her HUD blinked to life, a series of glyphs, numbers, and other markings scrolling across her faceplate in a green-on-green display.
Everything the Fratelli family had on Moyra: her last five security jobs, her lackluster love life, her family—mother still alive and well, living comfortably on Pharose5; father recently deceased; two brothers—one missing, the other sentenced to a prison colony in the outskirts of the Vega quadrant.
But like Glitchet and Nick said, her only crime was accepting a crappy job from an anonymous employer—one who stayed hidden until it was too late. And if she wanted to stay alive, she had to keep her head down. Tiffany was satisfied with what she’d seen regarding Moyra—enough to clear her of any charges.
*Hey Glitchet, you wouldn't also also have info on Fatelli warehouse locations or the rest of the Bio-storage would you?*
*My aren't we hopeful... didn't I tell you to keep that possitive mindset to yourself?... It's infectious.*
*Glitchet! Keep this up and I'm putting you back into the security system in the cryotube!*
*Sigh... Calm down... If they were smart, they’d have moved everything after the leak. Which means my location data is outdated. So no—sorry. However, if you tap me into a network linked to theirs, maybe I can ask the other networks for assistance... but you didn’t hear that from me.*
*Couldn't I just put you in the original panel I hacked—the terminal that looped the security feed—and connect you to it?*
*It could work... but they’ll get an alert that the cryo tubes were tampered with. When I originally contacted you, that access was one-way. I’m not privy to anything else—my connection to the network is isolated. The panels that report tube contents are part of a separate system... which, in a way, puts us back at square one. They’d pack up and move before we get there. Besides, I’m just a sentient program, not a miracle worker... That feature is subscription-based.*
Tiffany rolled her eyes at this, slightly frustrated by the events and how she kept running into walls...
*So let me get this straight... You could lock me out of the panels and keep me from releasing the people in the tubes, but you can't connect to the system without alerting your previous employers that they have intruders?*
*Oooo, she can be taught! Give her a prize!*
*You seem pretty useless then,* she mumbled unhappily.
*Says the biomass to the synthetic,* replied the AI.
*Sigh... Fine. Thanks for this much, Glitchet,* Tiffany replied, retracting her helmet and looking back at her two lost and expectant friends.
"Tiff, you okay? You've been acting weird this evening," Nick said with a worried look.
She nodded, a weak smile crossing her face.
"I guess the fatigue is getting to me," she offered with a soft laugh. "Moyra, would you like to stay on Earth for the time being, or would you rather I see if I can get you a shuttle to somewhere safe?"
Moyra looked at her, somewhat surprised but pleased. Aside from getting choked over a miscommunication, they’d treated her pretty well.
"Ey would like to stay, if that’s set right with ye..." she said, fumbling with her meaty paws and looking at the ground. "Besides, Ey’m... kinda interested to see what Mr. Dickson has planned for my part of the deal," she added with a grin, eyeing Nick.
"So would I..." Tiffany said, slowly nodded at this, then turned her head to look down at Nick.
*Gulp* Nick swallowed hard at this as a curious Tiff and a mischievous Moyra both looked down at him in an unsettling manner.
Tiffany looked at her gauntlet and started tapping some things on her crystal screen.
"Ms. Moyra, thank you for your cooperation. You're free to go. I'm sending instructions to Jarvis, my service droid. Wait with him by Nick's bike..."
"Ye have a bike?! Is it fast? Ey want a ride! Please, sir!?" she asked, sitting straight up with excitement—like an overexcited kid given a coupon for a free toy in a toy store.
"Ummm, eh...?" Nick was at a loss for words at the overexcited river noodle that was practically vibrating with excitement.
Tiffany reached over, placing both hands gently on Moyra's shoulders to keep the overexcited noodle from vibrating in place like she was on a sugar high and get her attention. She leaned in, looking her in the eyes.
"Moyra, we can talk about this later. Please go now, look for Jarvis and wait.
She then wrapped Moyra in a friendly hug, confusing the burly river noodle.
"Once again, I'm sorry about earlier. Now go. When you get to him, shift to your human form and stay that way unless you absolutely have to."
Moyra nodded quickly as she was released and scurried back into the same brush she had originally scampered out of.
"Well... this has been an interesting night..." Nick sighed, leaning back and looking up at the sky. The rifts of clouds still caused the full moon to wink in and out of view.
*Sigh...* "Are you sure you'r ok? I really wasn't expecting that from you with Moyra... not that I can blame you." Sigh...
She nodded that she was fine, then paused.
"The voice in my head is a bit obnoxious, but I'll manage for now."
Nick looked at her skeptically, holstering his gun.
*Eh-hem... If I had the emotional energy to care, I'd be offended. Besides, I've already warned you—that's a feature, not a—*
*Glitchet! Hush, please!*
*Ugh... fine. This is where I'd go to my room... if I had one.*
The mental eye-rolling had become a staple of their conversations—and probably wouldn’t change. Possibly.
Nick had no idea what she was talking about, but he just rolled with it for now.
"So why are you arguing with yourself?" Nick asked perplexed, she looks at him trying to think of the best, simplest way to explain the situation.
"I decided to help out a program that assisted me in unlocking the cryo tubes...short version, it's temporary till I get it a body or place to store it."
"You... have an AI... in your head? Is that safe?" he asked, looking at her uneasily.
"He's in my storage device, in my neurolink. So he's not physically connected... somehow he can talk to me though. Eh, it should be fine."
Nick just stared at her, stunned. Then he shook his head in mild disbelief, accepting that he was more or less just along for the ride.
"Annnyway... so, what's the ETA on the transport?" he asked, glancing at his watch.
"It shouldn't be long now... maybe fifteen minutes tops," she replied as she sat hunched over next to Nick, drawing small circles in the dirt with a claw.
"What are you doing over there?" she asked, watching Nick type something on a small box. It was smaller than her cell and didn’t look like a phone.
"Messaging Adam. Asking him to meet me at the edge of town in about a half hour."
"So what is that?" she asked curiously, pointing a clawed finger at the box.
"Oh, this? It’s just an old pager we use for work call-outs. This is one of the few modern-ish ones that can actually send and receive messages."
She brought her face in close, sniffing it out of curiosity. Her whiskers and wet nose tickled his arm and fingers, making him snicker.
"How does an artifact like that still work?" she asked in amazement, eliciting a chuckle from Nick.
"Well, one—it’s local government equipment. Of course it’s going to be an antique. And I’m about as surprised as you that it still works. Two... where do you get off criticizing me on outdated tech when you didn’t even know basic pop culture references?" he teased, smiling.
She returned the small smile as she leaned in closer, planting a hand on each side of him. Her sultry grin widened, her canines protruding from her thin black lips.
"I believe we both still have a couple of days off... and I expect you to make it up to me by catching me up on your pop culture knowledge. Also... the grilled meat, among other things..." she said heatedly, leaning in to kiss Nick on the lips.
Nick stopped her briefly.
"Isn't this being *unprofessional*?" he asked with a small smile.
Her face sadly drooped as she nodded slightly in agreement with his statement. Her eyes shot wide as she felt his hands caress her face, drawing it closer to his as he leaned in—continuing what she had intended to start. She reached up, gently placing her hand behind his head. He, in turn, caressed the thick tufts of fur—a mixture of soft down and coarse, short strands—at the base of her muzzle.
They embraced, lost in a moment that seemed to stretch into infinity. Her quick, hot breath brushed against his face, mingling with the odd but welcome sensation of her cold, wet nose briefly nuzzling his cheek. Her supple, leathery palm cradled the back of his head, claws gently tracing the top of his scalp. Their hair and fur ruffled together in a sudden, continuous burst of wind.
Tiffany’s eyes—closed, ignoring the sudden interruption and savoring the first bit of peace she’d had all night—slowly opened as she sat upright with quiet grace, looking upward.
Nick followed suit, turning to see what she was looking at... nothing.
That is, he would’ve seen nothing—if it weren’t for the overcast clouds blotting out a patch of stars in the night sky.
She nudged him, pointing up at the cloud-covered sky.
"Watch the clouds. They're about to touch down," she said with a grin, loving every minute something new amazed him.
He turned, leaning comfortably against her side as he watched the direction she was pointing. That’s when a large rectangular shape separated the clouds. The shape was still invisible—only its outline visible, highlighted by the cloud cover.
Before it touched down, Tiffany placed her hand behind Nick’s back to brace him.
*Boooooosssssh*—a blast of hot air shot out in all directions as the landing compensators activated, followed by the deployment of landing gear.
The invisible object began to shimmer, little by little, from front to back as it became visible: an Airstream-style Greyhound bus-shaped vehicle with the aerodynamics of a cinderblock appeared, landing on the ground. The only windows Nick saw were two flat, square plate-glass panes on the front of the flat-nosed craft. A bubble-windowed hatch on the side hissed open after touchdown bathing both of them in a cool yellow light.
"Someone call for a pickup, it's not another dead body is it?" A short creature sporting a technician uniform called out from the hatch in a loud voice with a chuckle.
So I have I think a workaround for a secret chapter that If I do, Ill leave a link out of respect for the website. How many would still read if i had an extreamly graphic sex scene? Or I could elude to it tastefully
