The Pulse was thumping loud and steady, bass rattling slightly in the walls, mood enhancement fog rolling out of the air vents. The crowd was alive, unaware of the shady business operating upstairs. Kaela and I met in the line outside, I was taken aback by her glamorous club attire, a skimpy green sequin dress over lace tights showing off her muscular fit frame. Her eyes were dressed in gold, and her natural hair was hidden under a styled red wig. I had to glance away to keep from blushing at first glance. She scoffed, ready to focus on the mission, we'd deal with feelings later.

  Moth had us on the list under fake names, and we slipped in quickly with ease. Inside the club was a sensory overload tonight, and I felt like we were back in the Flicker for a brief moment. It was packed, which made for good cover, but meant we had to be careful with our distractions, a crowd this big would be dangerous in a panic. We split up, Kaela posting up at the bar and scanning for Rats while I moved towards the back. I found a place in the back where I could pose as a wallflower waiting for someone while staying close enough to the bathrooms to slip in and make my swap. I'd need to time it carefully so as not to raise a flag on the security cams.

  I couldn't see the booths clearly from downstairs, but I could see the lights at the top showing the numbers and indicating when the booth was occupied. Seventeen was currently inactive, so either Moth's intel was off or the deal hadn't happened yet. I hoped for the latter as I scanned the room and clocked Kaela making a sweep.

  "I'm not seeing any Rats. Hell, I'm not seeing any gang folks for that matter. It's sparkling in here." Kaela chimed over the comm.

  "Well... it's Chromeline, guess they have some standards."

  "They let you in."

  "Funny." I scoffed. "Focus up, the target booth just lit up. I'm making the swap."

  Kaela moved to the dance floor, fading into the dancing crowd with her head on a swivel as I slipped into the bathroom. I had to wait for an open stall, watching girls taking their fill of various drugs before returning to the floor. Once I finally made it in I quickly discarded the outer dress, and hit the macro to change up my skin tone and tattoos. My HUD lit up with an alert, a message incoming.

  [INCOMING // ENCRYPTED BURST]

  [//VIRUS SCAN...ALERT//FILES ATTACHED//...SCAN CLEAR//]

  ??????? Words whispering. Hands shaking.

  One becomes two for the taking.

  Wings will flutter to cleanse any mess-making. ???????

  [message deleted...]

  I checked the attachments, an image of the target letting someone in a suit into the booth, a logo on the suitcase: Ashline Arms. That was the corporate front for the Rats, a low tier arms dealer that made most of their profit selling gear they picked off corpses in the Ash. That tracks with the lack of cutters, they went clean for this deal. I thought. This gives me a chance to recover the assets and send a message.

  My heart fluttered and I felt a flush, some of the mood fog must have slipped past my filters when my systems reset to the new appearance. I shook it off, tucked my spare dress in a sealed plastic bag behind the toilet for later, and took a deep breath ready to get things moving.

  "Okay, I'm heading out and up. Once you confirm the distraction, we go radio silent."

  "Roger." Kaela answered clear and focused.

  I stepped out of the bathroom in my club persona, acting a just a little tipsy and bouncy like most of the girls for hire. Security would likely know I wasn't on the staff, so Kaela had to draw enough eyes for me to slink upstairs unquestioned. I scanned the room for her and caught her moving to the far end of the bar near the lower VIP booths, open tables for big spenders to watch the crowd and mingle when desired. She was sizing up marks and moving in to do something. We hadn't planned anything specific so that it would feel more organic and not raise any red flags.

  I quickly grabbed a couple bottles from the bar, empty but you wouldn't know it at a glance, good enough to look like I was delivering drinks. Voices began to rise from Kaela's location, two drunk men in expensive suits shouting at each other while Kaela acted like she wasn't involved. One of the men was soaked in some kind of drink, and looked ready to throw a punch. A faint security alarm rang from a nearby bouncer's radio and bodies began to move that direction. There were more than I expected, but they were all focused on the shouting match.

  "Go!" Kaela whispered sharply before cutting the comm link.

  I spun around a bouncer on his way to join in and casually strolled up the stairs, focused. On the second floor, the vibe was different, staff was less hectic but still on edge. Servers delivering drinks or being lead into booths, all routed from a podium near the back. The floor manager was hardwired into a tablet and looked to be barely holding things together. One eye was hidden behind an implant, but the other was darting around the room tracking all the people coming and going. Before I could make it more than a few steps, the eye locked on me.

  "Hey, new girl! Booth sixteen is waiting for this tray and everyone's swamped. Help me out here!" they called out.

  "Sure thing, boss!" I called back and headed towards them.

  I felt my pulse rise and did my best to hold back my nerves. I had hoped to slip into the booths unseen, now I really had to trust disguise would hold. I grabbed the tray from the bar near the podium and carefully carried it over to booth 16 where I had to pause and try to figure out how to get inside. There weren't any buttons or panels that I could see, I started to knock but the door light flashed and the door slid open. It must be operated by the guest or the floor manager.

  Inside the booth was a small group of business men in various stages of intoxication, celebrating something. One had a tie around his head and was dancing on the table while the others were cheering at a laptop beneath him. They cheered louder when I stepped inside with the tray of drinks. One of the men swooped over, handing out the drinks to his friends, and shoved a fist full of bills against my chest. I shivered slightly at his touch, it lingered against my breast for a moment and I found myself craving more. The pheromone levels in the booth were off the charts, and I could help but blush as I took the cash, letting my fingertips drag softly across the back of his hand. The men returned to their party and I took a deep breath as I stepped back on the floor.

  I brought the tray back to the bar and scanned the floor, most of the booths were occupied, and servers were popping in and out of them at regular intervals. The floor manager was waving people down, pointing and shouting orders, and doing their best to keep things running as smoothly as possible. I started picking up on details, the lights on the booth numbers would blink when an order went out and they flashed different colors that seemed to line up with the type of order. Drink orders were blue, food was yellow, other substances were orange, and when the lights flashed purple the staff would enter not carrying anything. If the light turned pink, I didn't see them come out for a long time. This was presumably an order for company, which could be casual or explicit based on the holo-menus on the walls.

  "Newbie! What was your name again? Chrissy... Kristen?" The floor manager barked.

  "Kirsten!" I replied, going with the flow.

  "Right, anyway... I don't like giving people pinks on their first night, but we have a priority order for seventeen and you're all I've got. Don't worry you get premium pay, and you can ask for tips. Take care of them and you can have a break to clean up."

  I needed this opening, but it was going to be a huge mess if anyone came to check on us. I was going to leave bodies in the booth, the situation was getting more dangerous by the minute. I gave the manager a confident look and sultry smile.

  "Don't worry, I've worked places like this before. I can handle it!" I chirped, bouncing with fake enthusiasm.

  He shrugged and handed me a string of condoms. "Alright! I'll have backup bringing any drink orders, yours will be watered down but make sure you pace yourself. I don't want to have to drag you out in front of a client."

  I pocketed the condoms and nodded as I started off towards the booth. My breath quickened, each droplet of sweat leaving a trail of sensation down my skin. Tracers began to bloom on the edges of lights as I moved through the river of servers. Bodies that bumped against me left noticeable hints of longing as they moved away and I had to shake my head to focus.

  I ran a quick system scan, and as I suspected the mood fog was penetrating my filters. It

  wasn’t supposed to be this strong in here, but there was no denying the effect. I tried to increase the filtration settings but it gave me an error, something was causing it to operate at minimum levels and preventing me from fixing it. I could reset them, but it would take a full system reset which would drop my disguise. That wasn’t the only problem either.

  I glanced up at the blinking purple number seventeen and took a breath, putting on an eager smile just before the door slid open to reveal the two men inside. Heat surged through me as I entered the booth, more arousal than the fog alone should have caused. My jaw clenched as my S1R3N suddenly went into overdrive again, dumping raw sensation straight into my nervous system.

  [S1R3N CRITICAL ALERT]

  !! CHEMICAL FLOOD DETECTED !!

  Hormonal cascade: 340% baseline

  Pheromone emission: MAXIMUM

  Override control: UNAVAILABLE

  Internally I scrambled, trying to force the module to let me manually tune the settings, but there was no response. I was ravenouslyTwo securely locked cases sat on the table surrounded by empty drinks and a platter of drugs. These two really liked to party. I tilted my head and waved excitedly as the door closed behind me, locking me in with my prey.

  “See Vic?” the man on the right said to the other. “They got some hot bitches for us here!”

  This was my primary target, the fixer Moth wanted gone. The man on the left was the Ashline Arms, about to become a bloody message to the Rats about not fucking with OmniCore property. Wrong place… wrong time, fucker. My grin widened as I moved to sit between the two of them.

  My HUD flashed a warning about the air quality. I muted it. I had enough distractions as a wave of sensation rolled up from the cool leather seat against my thighs and moisture pooled between my legs. They could tell I was more than ready.

  “Hi boys, looks like a party in here. Celebrating?” I chimed, settling in to my spot.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Just biz, gorgeous. Good, lucrative biz!” He said, clapping Vic, the rep, on the shoulder.

  “And now that you’re here, the party is looking much nicer.” Vic said.

  “Aww, you flirt! We good on drinks? Need anything topped off?” I asked, glancing back and forth between them slowly.

  “We’ve had a bottle already, and the coke is nice and strong here. We all know why you’re here, right Mace?” Vic said, running a hand across my shoulders, sending flutters through my nerves.

  As if on cue, the privacy screen on the door darkened, sealing the booth. No more sound or light from outside. It was the perfect environment for the kill, but I couldn’t make my move. I was melting into the seat, my body was sluggish and everything felt incredible. My eyes drifted to an incense burner on the back wall that seemed very out of place. They had brought their own concoction to layer with the club’s fog. Fuck…

  Hands moved across my body, undoing the straps of my dress and caressing my exposed flesh. I giggled and gasped at the touch despite myself, my body craving the touch and hungry for more. Vic’s hand slid up my spine and into my hair, gripping it firmly and pressing my head down to Mace’s lap. His hard cock flopped from his pants and audibly slapped my cheek which caused us all to chuckle. Vic pulled my hips up, exposing my ass as he pulled my panties to my knees and inserted his face between my cheeks. His tongue probed at my asshole hungrily and I squealed at the new sensation.

  Mace took the opportunity to slide his dick into my open mouth, a piercing clinking gently against my tooth causing me to adjust my jaw. It was bigger than I expected, reaching deep into my throat and filling my mouth completely. I should’ve bitten down and draw blood, produced the blade from my arm implant and sliced the men to ribbons right there and then, but my eyes were losing focus as they rolled back in my head. Vic’s tongue found my clit and lapped at it vigorously as Mace gripped my hair and began to bob my head up and down, running my tongue along his swollen shaft.

  Quick gagging sounds escaped my throat as I let Mace work my head harder and faster. I tugged his pants down out of the way as he leaned back and lifted one knee for a better angle. He lifted my mouth from his cock, pulling my head back by my hair and giving me a chance to catch my breath. He spit on my face, and gripped his dick with his free hand, again slapping it against my cheek for a moment. I moaned loudly as Vic inserted a finger into my ass. Mace slammed my head back down forcing his cock deep into my throat and pressing my chin into his balls.

  My body was wracked with pleasure and sensations, my mind raced trying to make sense of anything but I couldn’t focus. The mixture of drugs in the air and my S1R3N on full blast had me feeling insatiable, and I could already feel an orgasm building as Vic continued to eat me out from behind. I moaned and squirmed as Mace began to pump his hips, slamming his hard cock in and out of my throat so hard my face bounced off his stomach with each thrust. Vic switched positions, sliding his dick into my pussy, and sending a whole new wave of sensations through me.

  I was losing myself in the moment, and that was going to compromise the mission if I didn’t act soon. I was going to have to reset my systems and get my filters active again. It was a risk, but these two wouldn’t be recognize me, not that it would matter for long. My legs began to shake as Vic and Mace slammed into me from each end right as I hit the reset. Now or never, Nyx…

  The weight of the room hit me like a truck as my filters went down entirely, my mind was swimming and I could feel myself about to cum hard as my vision went dark for a moment. Thirty seconds… I thought, as the display in my HUD lit up with the restart process. The men were starting to speed up their thrusts, it was a race to see who would finish first. Twenty seconds… The broadcast from the S1R3N shut off as it leveled out from the reset, but I was still feeling the heightened arousal.

  My skin reverted to its natural color as my back began to arch, one of them said something but I couldn’t hear it, and they didn’t stop. I felt my systems syncing one by one, the filters kicked in and my biometric monitor started working to counter the effects of the mood fog. Ten, nine, eight, seven… I counted as the lust and ecstasy began to fade away. I just needed my weapons link to come on-line. Four, three, two, one…

  The reset completed, all systems green in my HUD. I pushed back against Vic, arching my back and climaxing as the Umbra Talon flickered into view from the back of my hand.

  “What the fu—“ Mace shouted just as the blade plunged up through his throat into his skull.

  A hot, wet, sticky load of blood sprayed across my face as I slammed my weight down to pin Vic to the seat. I adjusted my positioning, pulling my hips up from his lap and pressing the blade straight through his chest into his heart. His eyes went wide and then faded out of focus as I made a quick turn of the blade before removing it. I fell back into the booth pushing the dead bodies to the floor and taking a moment to catch my breath. I still needed to get these cases open and find recover the documents.

  "Fuck!" I shouted, remembering I needed to pull data from Mace's personal link.

  I turned a glass of meted ice up to rinse some of the blood from my skin as I reactivated the disguise. I wiped away as much of the blood and water as I could with one of their shirts and then moved to examine Mace's head, hoping that I hadn't damaged the personal system. Everything looked intact but I wouldn't know for sure until I connected and started pulling files. For the second time in a week I was jacking into a dead man's personal link port.

  With a quick scan I verified everything was intact and began the transfer, slotting an empty data chip into my system to hold the data. There were a lot of encrypted files but that was Moth's problem, not mine. I grabbed a stack of napkins from the table and blotted at the blood on my body while I waited for the transfer to complete. I skimmed a few logs to ensure I was getting what I needed, contacts, transaction records, the variety of incriminating evidence you'd expect to see on a fixer. The transfer finished and I disconnected.

  I shifted my attention to the cases on the table, fingerprint locks sealing them both. I pulled the men's hands up to the table, tapping fingers to scanners until the locks flicked open giving me access to their contents. One case with obvious Ashline Arms branding contained a signature blue and silver data stick with a lightly embossed eye one the casing. I slotted it into my system to check the files, there was quite a bit of information, but it all screamed OmniCore. Curiosity struck, and I skimmed through the stick and noticed there were encrypted chat logs and reports from other departments unrelated to the weapon.

  "Could be worth checking later..." I mumbled as I stowed the stick in my boot.

  The other case was packed to the brim with a mixture of foreign bills, a telltale sign of an off-books deal. It would require a decent amount of leg work to convert and deposit in the local banks, but those in the know would be able to move it quickly. Ashline Arms was handling the deal, but this had the stench of Rats all over it. I decided to scatter the bills to make the scene look more chaotic if anyone intercepted before Moth was able to clean the booth. I had everything I needed and it was time to find a way out of the booth without drawing too much attention.

  I pinged Moth to confirm the package was secure as I scrambled back into my clothing hoping there wasn't visible blood. There was no response for a moment, until the lights in the booth started to flicker and glowing Moth floated up the panel on the inside of the door. The screen on the wall shifted to a CCTV feed of the mezzanine showing a large man in a trench coat stepping in front of the floor manager's podium, clearly blocking his view of my booth. I took a breath and hit the panel by the door to leave. I glanced back as I slipped out and caught a 'Do Not Disturb' sign scroll up on the exterior door of the booth behind me.

  I tried to call Kaela on our secure comm line, but there was no answer. Hopefully she was ready for extraction, but I needed to get out of sight to drop my disguise. I moved with quick confidence across the walkway and down the stairs with only a short glance to check the man was still blocking the view of my exit. The bouncers downstairs had returned to their post, but they were more concerned about people sneaking upstairs, not down, and I strolled right past.

  I moved quickly but casually towards the bathrooms, careful not to draw attention. Luckily there wasn't a line this time, and I was able to get to the stall I had used earlier to stash my dress. I stripped and swapped clothing, ditched the wig, and then moved out to the sink to check my appearance and freshen up a little before leaving. I pinged Kaela by text this time, but still got no response while I washed my face. I sighed and held a few deep breaths to try and clear out the remnants of the mood fog from my lungs and come down from the events in the booth.

  I turned off the faucet and as I reached for some towels to dry my face, I heard a faint sound like a whimper or groan. I tilted my head, realizing for the first time how eerily quiet it was in the bathroom. I gazed over my shoulder in the mirror, and noticed someone's feet sticking out from one of the stalls. My pulse quickened.

  "...Kaela?" I called out as I turned around.

  One of the legs shifted slightly, and the body slumped to the floor, apparently sliding off the toilet. I could see her face under the door, skin pale, eyes wide and unfocused, and a bit of blood on her neck.

  "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck...." I rushed over and pushed the door open.

  Kaela was sprawled out on the tile barely breathing, and fading fast. I dropped to my knees beside her up and checked for wounds. She was mostly fine, just a puncture on the neck, but she was a bit limp and cold to the touch. I lightly slapped her cheek a few times to try to get her to focus, but she just groaned and closed her eyes.

  I rang Moth on a secure line.

  "Why are you—" they started.

  "Kaela's down! She needs medical attention fast!" I blurted

  "Who? Fuck..." they sighed. "Get them to the alley out back, sending support."

  I scrambled to my feet, lifting Kaela with me and supporting her on my shoulder. I'd have to act like she just had too much to drink and hope no one clocked the blood on her neck. I stumbled out of the stall with her and pushed past a couple concerned looking people on the way in, not stopping to explain. I spotted the rear exit as we emerged from the bathroom and pushed past people making out in the hallway, not caring if the door had an alarm. It didn't.

  Outside was a dimly lit alley, the usual piles of trash and a handful of people smoking or staying out of view of the street for their own reasons. Most of them scattered as we burst out and I leaned Kaela against the wall. I tried getting her attention again, but only got a few weak groans in response. A moment later, the big man in the trench coat came around the corner and rushed over pulling a syringe from his pocket. He injected her with whatever it was and she coughed and twitched a few times before going limp again.

  "The fuck was that?" I shouted.

  "Meds, to keep her stable. What happened to her?" A raspy voice answered curtly.

  "I don't know, I found her like this in the bathroom after the mission. She was just here to be a distraction."

  "Her neck, blood?" he said, pointing.

  "Yeah, I saw that too. Stabbed maybe?"

  "You got the boss's package?" He asked.

  I gave him a quick nod as a car screeched to a halt at the end of the alley and sounded its horn twice. The big man pointed with his thumb.

  "That's for you both then, go."

  I scooped Kaela up once more and carried her to the car, a limo. The door swung open revealing Moth on the inside.

  "Get in, let's get the hell out of here." Moth shouted, ushering us inside.

  I did my best to get Kaela into the car gently, pushing her up into one of the seats and climbing in behind her as the door slammed shut and the tires screeched. I laid her out across the seat and knelt on the floor beside her.

  "We gotta get her to Saint, at OmniHQ" I snapped.

  "Do you have my package?" Moth asked dryly.

  "What?"

  "My package! The data from the fixer! Do you have it?"

  "Yes, here, you insensitive prick!" I growled, shoving the data stick into their waiting palm.

  Moth smirked and took the data stick, slotted it to check the contents. Once they were satisfied it was what they needed, Moth pushed me to the side pulling a first aid kit from under the seat. They started examining Kaela's body for wounds, and still only found the puncture in the neck. Moth wiped away the drying blood and found a second puncture hole as well and paused for a moment, glancing sideways at me before attaching an external monitor to her personal link.

  "She's lost... a staggering amount of blood. How big of a mess did you make?" Moth asked, scanning over the vitals readout.

  "Me? I found her in the bathroom like this after I made the hit upstairs." I replied confused.

  Moth squinted their eyes, but if they had more to say about that, they let it go. They opened the med kit and rummaged through it for a moment before pushing it aside and pulling a larger box from another compartment hidden under the seat. This box produced a variety of blood bag and an IV drip hanger that Moth began assembling to hang from the roof of the car. They rifled through the bags of blood, checking Kaela's blood type on the monitor before attaching one of the pouches to the drip line, and adeptly jamming a needle into the vein in her arm. I wasn't sure why Moth had this much medical equipment at the ready, and I was more surprised at how adept they were at using it.

  With the blood flowing, Moth again rummaged through their kit looking for something. They produced some kind of clear fluid and injected it into the blood before tossing the needle into a medical waste pouch. Their eyes lingered on the wounds in Kaela's neck and then scanned over the rest of her body as if looking for something. It finally hit me, they were looking for the blood. Kaela was missing a lot of blood, but there wasn't a mess, just a small patch on her neck and a few dribbles in the stall.

  "Call your Saint, tell them to be ready with a proper transfusion kit and some adrenaline. She'll live." Moth said flatly, sliding back into their seat. "We'll be there in fifteen minutes."