Immortal Assassin - Book 1 - Immortal Assassin - 2 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 -

One of the odd little advancements in technology that has occurred in the last few hundred years is the IFF pin; IFF standing for Identify Friend Foe. Originally this type of electronic device was devised to keep ships and aircraft from firing on one another and then later on combat vehicles and spaceships.

Recent developments in miniaturization however found one enterprising individual looking at the IFF pin in a new way, after working out the mechanics of it he was able to miniaturize it down to the size of a thumb nail and then sold the design to various star nations for use with their ground troops.

However not satisfied with the sales from that he went on to market it for commercial and private use as well, although it lacked most of the functions of the military units it found a niche amongst sales people and the rich during parties.

The main purpose of the commercial designed IFF pin is in the case of sales people or business is to broadcast their advertisements and information to any openly receiving other IFF or E-PADD in the vicinity while the Rich and famous use these to identify and either find friends or evade those they don’t wish to talk to. Although in recent years IFF pins have become extremely inexpensive and most people can be found wearing one on a day to day basis.

© 625 2E Elyena Firecat Author, Archeologist and One-Third Owner of Sargasso Deeps

In Her Book - The Technological Stagnation of the Human Race and Its Ancestors - Vol. I

Theban Cluster - Caruthers Sector - Caruthers System - Caruthers World- Caruthers City

Syntheria Arms Apartment Tower - Penthouse Apartment of Suzie Marlowe - Living Room - Suzie

Monday August 10th, 725 2E - 20:45 CST

Suzie was still sitting in the living room wearing the pantsuit she had worn to the board meeting, it was actually very comfortable and it ought to be. And it ought to be considering how much I had spent having it especially tailored for comfort, she snorted in thought.

Rubbing one of her blonde eyebrows she set the E-PADD aside and started to go into the kitchen when she heard the Penthouses elevator ding and then swish open. Pausing for a moment she had to think if she was expecting anyone and then queried her AI to see if she’d had something scheduled that she’d forgotten.

“No there is nothing on the schedule,” CHCCC-14 informed. “We aren’t expecting any company and it isn’t time for the food delivery service to re-stock the kitchen,” he informed her.

“Thanks Chuck,” she said and paused to listen.

“Hey, Sylvester is Miss Marlowe in,” she heard a muffled male voice ask.

“Yes, Officer Martine she’s in the living room right now relaxing after a long day at work,” Sylvester answered and Suzie had to smile as his faux British accent hit it’s stride.

“Well uh…,” Suzie couldn’t make out the rest of what Martine said after that.

“This is most unusual officer,” Sylvester protested.

“Hey Sylvester I’m just doing my job,” Martine said in a slightly louder voice.

“I’m sure you are officer, but this is most preposterous,” Sylvester said something else that Suzie couldn’t make out.

“Well I’ll leave it in your hands Sylvester,” Martine said and she heard the swish and ping of the elevator doors again.

Walking into the penthouse foyer Suzie was confronted by a scene she had never expected to witness in her own home.

Theban Cluster - Caruthers Sector - Caruthers System - Caruthers World- Caruthers City

Syntheria Arms Apartment Tower - Penthouse Apartment of Suzie Marlowe - Foyer - Sylvester

Monday August 10th, 725 2E - 20:47 CST

Sylvester was sitting in his charging carriage next to the elevator doors with the in the Foyer with the stations hatch open perusing a selection of British comedies that CHCCC-14 had downloaded the night before.

He was just starting to get engrossed in the first episode of Ab-Fab when an icon popped up on his HUD indicating that the Elevator was being summoned to the lobby.

“Odd, the Miss isn’t expecting anyone and it isn’t grocery day,” he internalized to himself. Leaving his charging carriage he bobbed over to in front of the elevators as the HUD indicator showed it was on it‘s way back up to the penthouse.

Waiting patiently the elevator finally reached the 250th floor and the doors opened with a ping and swish as the pressure equalized between the two areas.

“Ah, Officer Martine what can I do for you today?” Sylvester greeted and then noticed the other two occupants of the elevator. “Are these your children?” Sylvester asked puzzled wondering why Officer Martine would bring his children here.

“Uh, that’s kind of why I’m here Sylvester,” Martine said sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck.

“Well do come in,” Sylvester said ushering them in. “May I take your coat and hat Officer Martine?” Sylvester asked. Normally Martine wore a rumpled suit that seemed to be the day to day uniform of most Galactic Patrol Detectives but today he was wearing the dark blue mono-film duty suit that most other officer’s wore it having a brown stripe running up each leg indicating his department, the letters GP at the top of the stripe at his hips and the words Galactic Patrol picked out in blue along the length of the stripe. Martine was also wearing the peaked cap of a uniformed officer and the standard duty waist length jacket.

“No Sylvester I’m not staying long,” once again Martine scratched at the back of his head in that nervous gesture again. “Hey Sylvester, is Miss Marlow in?” He asked as if he had something he really didn’t want to do.

“Yes, Officer Martine the Miss is in the living room relaxing after a long day of meetings at corporate headquarters,” Sylvester said frostily as his British accent spiked at this unexpected interruption to his owner‘s privacy.

“Well, uh, Sylvester you see Child & Welfare services asked me to deliver…,” Martine paused looking at the kids. “Er, bring these kids to her. I guess her lawyer has been trying to contact her all day but she hasn’t returned any of his calls,” Martine said sheepishly.

“I know her Lawyer has called only once since yesterday but has not left a single message with an Urgent notation on it,” Sylvester told him.

“Sylvester I have to get back to duty,” Martine said handing a disposable E-PADD to the auto-butler.

“This is most unusual officer,” Sylvester protested taking the E-PADD in one skinny arm.

“Hey Sylvester I’m just doing my job,” Martine said tiredly.

“I’m sure you are officer, but this is most preposterous,” Sylvester argued. “You can’t just leave two children here and then totter off like nothing is happening especially since the Miss has had a rather stressful day and has plans for the evening,” Sylvester continued to protest.

“Well I’ll just leave it in your capable hands then,” Martine said stepping backwards into the elevator and stabbed the button for the lobby.

“I say Officer Martine,” Sylvester started but was cut off by the closing doors. Sylvester could have easily overridden the controls for the elevator and not allowed it to leave the penthouse level but Galactic Patrol Officer Alex Martine with his attitude and abrupt manner had made it abundantly clear that things were out of his hands at this point.

Theban Cluster - Caruthers Sector - Caruthers System - Caruthers World- Caruthers City

Syntheria Arms Apartment Tower - Penthouse Apartment of Suzie Marlowe - Foyer - Cecilia

Monday August 10th, 725 2E - 20:52 CST

Cecilia was getting annoyed as she stood with her brother Ned in the large foyer of the penthouse apartment. They had been brought to by Officer Martine; he’d been nice enough but the Auto-Butler they were now confronted with had a rather snotty British accent.

Looking around she thought it was a nice enough foyer; it had a rich dark gray wood paneling that had abstract whorls and designs in it and the floor was of a similar shade of dark gray tile or slate. Tasteful pieces of art or rather photographs of various scenes decorated the wall; one was of Caruthers System’s sun setting over the tips of the cityscape turning dark black and blue glassed Hab-towers into glistening, glowing spikes there glass sides reflecting with reds, oranges, purples, and pinks. There were also some potted plants tucked discreetly away in the corners and a small sitting group in the middle of the foyer and of course the Auto-Butler hovering silently on it’s counter grav system.

As Cecilia stared down the silver orb of a robot her brother Ned had knelt down to tie his shoe. At the movement Cecilia had glanced down and when she looked back up she saw another figure step into the foyer with a look of surprise on her face.

The woman she saw couldn’t have been older than her late twenties to early thirties maybe even as young as her late teens; that was one of the major problems with telomere enhancement treatment procedure it was always hard to tell a person’s age.

She had short cut blonde hair, bright blue eyes that had a slight Slavic look to them which Cecilia also shared. The woman’s lightly tanned skin showed a slight dusting of freckles across nose and cheeks, and her outfit was an interesting affair. A high necked black long-sleeve Nanno-rubber top glistened under the overhead lights the skintight shirt showing off and defining the muscles of her arms; a white ascot with lace around the edges accentuated rather than take away from the top; she also wore white suit pants that Cecilia guessed were made of silk, and black high heeled shoes adorned her feet. Cecilia also noticed that while the top didn’t show off the woman’s wares it did accentuate her high, firm breasts, and with 12-year olds pubescent reaction she suddenly felt embarrassed at her own under endowment in that area.

As she had entered the foyer the woman had started to speak. “Sylvester was that Officer Martine I just heard…,” she trailed off as she took in the two children in rather scruffy clothes standing in front of the elevator doors.

Cecilia openly studied the other woman unashamed of her scrutiny but feeling a little low class after taking in the woman’s outfit. She herself was dressed in a plaid school uniform complete with skirt, jacket, and knee socks. The uniform however had seen better days; patches covered several areas and threads were starting to unwind from her socks. Her brother Ned was dressed similarly in a boy’s uniform with shorts. Cecilia felt embarrassed and then angry that she felt in embarrassed in front of this woman she had no whose identity she had no clue too.

A startled expression passed from the woman’s eyes as they became cool and expressionless as she put her hands on her hips in a manner similar to their mothers. Cecilia had to bite back a sob at that thought.

Theban Cluster - Caruthers Sector - Caruthers System - Caruthers World- Caruthers City

Syntheria Arms Apartment Tower - Penthouse Apartment of Suzie Marlowe - Foyer - Suzie

Monday August 10th, 725 2E - 20:57 CST

Suzie looked the two children over and then turned to Sylvester with her hands on her hips; she made the look of startlement disappear from her face and replaced it with one of cool calm.

“Sylvester what is going on here?” Suzie demanded.

“I’m not really sure Miss,” Sylvester said and handed her the disposable E-PADD that Martine had given him.

Suzie took the E-PADD switching it on, and as she read it the look of calm was replaced by one of startlement again and even through the tan her skin took on a pale tone.

“This is a joke right?” Suzie asked more harshly than she intended; the E-PADD clasped in her hand so tightly that she knew her enhanced strength was leaving divots from her fingers in the case.

The little boy started crying at the look on her face and tone of voice; he couldn’t have been more than four or five years old.

The girl bent down next to him hugging and murmuring something reassuring to him and then brushed the tears from his face as he stopped crying and then looked over her shoulder at Suzie with an angry expression.

The look the girl gave her was pure venom and Suzie worked to get her emotions and facial expression under control and also managed to loosen her grip on the E-PADD.

“Sylvester why don’t you show,” Suzie looked at the E-PADD again. “Cecilia and Ned to a pair of the guest rooms and get them settled in,” Suzie ordered.

“Certainly Miss,” Sylvester then turned to the two children. “Come along now children we’ll get you each a room and shower or bath then let you rest after your long trip,” Sylvester ushered the two kids out of the foyer and up the stairs to rooms that were just down the hall from the master suite.

Suzie backed against one of the walls of the foyer and banged the back of her head lightly against it. The E-PADD in her hand said that Cecilia and Ned Marlowe were her niece and nephew from her brother Karl Marlowe. “Any clues as to how this might have happened Chuck?” Suzie said sub vocally to the AI imbedded in her chest.

“Uhm, it’s probably my fault to a certain degree,” CHCCC-14 said. If an AI could sound sheepish, CHCCC-14 certainly did.

“Oh, and would you like to expand a bit on that answer,” Suzie thought a bit tartly.

“Okay when you decided to re-enter the world of the living you said you wanted the cover identity as simple as it could be and if at all possible retain your real name,” CHCCC-14 paused.

Suzie made a go on gesture with her hand for the AI to continue.

“Well when I set up the identity for you I hacked into the Neo-Prussian Empire birth and death records office and found that your parents decided to have another child after you entered the Emperor’s Own 1st Black Pariah Regiment. Well that son had another son, and then that son had a son and so on and so forth, the last generation before this, I made it look like at some point before the children’s grandfather married that he had a little girl that was given up for adoption and that’s how I created your cover identity,” the AI told her.

“Oh the webs we weave when we wish to deceive,” Suzie made a disgusted sound and pushed off the wall. “And you neglected to inform me of this information why?” Suzie growled at the AI.

“You told me to set it up and not to bother you with the details,” CHCCC-14 said with indignation in his mental voice.

“So I guess it’s a bit of my own fault,” chagrin colored her words as she walked from the foyer to the living room and set the E-PADD down on the coffee table in front of the couch.

“By the way Suzie it’s nearly 21:00 hours you have slightly over three hours before your meeting with Santiago,” CHCCC-14 reminded her.

“Crap,” Calling Darius will have to wait till tomorrow then,” Suzie said referring to her lawyer Darius Matisse.

“Maybe you should see how the kids are settling in before anything else, as tired as they looked they’ll probably go to sleep soon without any problems,” the AI reminded her.

“You’re right,” she said walking slowly up the stairs and nearly bumping into Sylvester in her distracted state.

“Ah, sorry Miss,” Sylvester apologized bobbing slightly.

“Not your fault Sylvester,” Suzie reassured her auto-butler. “Are the children in their bedrooms?” She asked him.

“Yes, the little one Ned is already fast asleep I barely had time to get him out of his coat and shoes before he fell asleep,” the Auto-Butler told her.

“What about Cecilia?” Suzie asked.

“She is in her room currently unpacking her stuff. I noted that she only has a couple of changes of clothes and those are rather on the ragged side,” Sylvester told her in his usual efficient manner.

“We’ll have to take care of that then,” she said and then paused. “Get a hold of Sanya and tell him I’ll need the limo tomorrow after I get done talking to Darius,” Suzie ordered.

“The limo Miss?” Sylvester inquired.

“It’s not like I can fit three people in the Aston Martin,” She told him.

“Quite right Miss,” Sylvester answered.

Suzie started down the hallway again and then turned back to the Auto-Butler walking backwards. “Also make an appointment with the Range Rover dealership for late tomorrow evening as well, it looks like I’m going to need a bigger car,” she ordered and then turned back around.

“Yes Miss,” And the silver orb bobbed away already making calls over his internal comm system.

Suzie walked into the girl’s room to find her already changed into a rather worn long shirt and was hanging her school uniform up on a hangar in the closet. The girl’s duffel bag that had been crammed with items now sat deflated at the foot of the bed and one of the drawers was slightly open with a stack of small clothes sitting on top of the dresser and ready to be put away.

“Look, I apologize for my reaction,” Suzie said carefully. Did I know I had a brother, Suzie internalized to CHCCC-14.

“No,” he quickly replied.

“I didn’t even realize I had any living relatives let alone a brother and niece and nephew,” Suzie tried to explain to the girl.

“That’s alright I’m sure as soon as you talk to your lawyer he’ll explain things and we’ll just be shuffled off to another orphanage,” Cecilia said not even turning in her direction.

The girl said the words matter of factly with little emotion at all and went back to putting her clothes away. When she moved her small clothes from the top of the dresser and into the drawer there was a wooden framed photo of a blond haired man and woman who Suzie assumed was the girl’s parents.

While the girl had her back turned Suzie just shook her head, she’d leave the girl alone for now, there was still the meeting she had to get ready for and she needed her head back in the game.

“I’ve got a business meeting to take care of later tonight and I have to get ready for it, so I’ll leave you to get some sleep. If you need anything just let Sylvester know,” Suzie left the room after that.

Theban Cluster - Caruthers Sector - Caruthers System - Caruthers World- Caruthers City

Syntheria Arms Apartment Tower - Penthouse Apartment of Suzie Marlowe - Guest Room - Cecilia

Monday August 10th, 725 2E - 21:15 CST

After bedding an exhausted Ned down with the aid of the Auto-Butler Cecilia entered the room where she had left her duffel bag and started unpacking it. She set aside a long night shirt and started filling the drawers with her meager supply of clothing and the few things that needed it she hung up including her school uniform after changing into the nightshirt.

Putting her last stack of clothes on the dresser top in front of a picture of her parents she had set up there earlier. Cecilia paused as the blonde-haired woman entered the room.

“I‘m sorry for the way I reacted earlier,” the woman tried to apologize. “I didn’t know that I still had living relatives let alone a brother and his children,” the woman told her.

“That’s alright I’m sure as soon as you talk to your lawyer he’ll explain things and we’ll just be shuffled off to another orphanage,” Cecilia said coldly but shortly felt a stab of regret at being mean to the woman who hadn’t really done anything wrong having been thrown into this situation without foreknowledge just like her and Ned.

Cecilia pulled the last stack of small clothes off the top of the dresser and put them in the drawer trying not to slam it shut; when she turned she noticed that the woman was gazing at the picture of her parents.

Cecilia turned her back on the woman and heard her stand up.

“I have a meeting later tonight I have to get ready for if you need anything just ask the Auto-Butler,” and the woman left the room closing the door quietly behind her.

Theban Cluster - Caruthers Sector - Caruthers System - Caruthers World- Caruthers City

Syntheria Arms Apartment Tower - Penthouse Apartment of Suzie Marlowe - Bedroom Hallway - Cecilia

Monday August 10th, 725 2E - 23:45 CST

Cecilia was bored and not all that tired so she read from one of her books for about two and a half hours and then getting bored again she sat and stared at the wall for almost ten minutes before she heard movement out in the hall. Moving to the bedroom door she cracked it open and saw her Aunt walking down it from her bedroom.

She had on a full length black leather overcoat and Cecilia could see the shine of glossy black Nanno-rubber at her neck and covering her hands, she had on what looked like combat boots but a closer look revealed that they had three inch platform soles and heels to match.

What kind of business meeting is she going to that she needs to dress like that, the girl wondered.

She watched some more as the woman walked down the stairs seemingly with ease and even a liquid cat like grace in the oversized boots. Watching she saw her enter the foyer and disappeared. Moving to the railing over looking the living room Cecilia heard voices from the foyer but couldn’t make out what they were saying and then the conversation ended with the ping swish of the elevator opening and closing.

Cecilia cracked a huge yawn and decided that she was tired enough to go to bed.

Caruthers World - Caruthers City - Syntheria Arms Apartment Tower - Penthouse Apartment of Suzie Marlowe - Suzie’s Bedroom - Suzie

Monday August 10th, 725 2E - 23:30 PM CST

Before getting ready for her meeting Suzie finished up some loose ends that had been left lying around; mainly her budget book. She needed to see how much money she had left after paying bills.

You’d think as a trillionaire playgirl I wouldn’t have to worry about money, she thought with dry amusement but it wasn’t that simple. She allowed her self a somewhat decent sized allowance from the money she made from her MACE stocks but most of the money was rolled back either into the company for projects that she wanted to see personally done and the rest went to charities. As for her money from contracts; while it was usually a pretty sizable sum most of that was split into smaller amounts and seeded across the galaxy in numerous banks and investments. Those accounts she never touched in case an emergency arose to where she would need large amounts of funds.

If she was going to get a vehicle large enough to be considered a soccer mom; her lips quirked at that thought; she needed to make sure she had the funds for it.

Finally done with her budget book Suzie got ready for the night, taking another shower she wiped herself down with a body lubricant and started to put on the outfit she would wear for the meeting.

While the top she had worn with her pant suit had been formfitting the glossy black Nanno-rubber full body suit she was struggling into was literally skintight. The only thing more formfitting that she had in her wardrobe was her Sister 14 personae and for a meeting with Santiago she couldn’t go as her since she actually needed to be able to act emotionally.

The fact that she didn’t have any body hair other than that on her head, eyebrows and eyelashes helped as well as she started at her feet and slowly pulled the glossy black Nanno-rubber full body suit up her legs; there wasn’t even room for panties under the suit. When it was high enough she slid her hands into the arms one at a time and snugged the material tight, then finished pulling it up herself, when the material was up over her shoulders and back she ran a gloved hand up the magnetic seal on the front of the suit to the collar which stopped just below her chin. For now she left the cowl draped down her back, it wasn’t quite time for that yet.

Walking into the closet she turned the shoe carousel and pulled a pair of high heeled knee high glossy black combat boots with three inch platforms from the rack and slid them on over her suited feet and legs. It took awhile to run the laces through the eyelets and get them knotted properly.

Once the suit and boots were on she grabbed a black leather duster from the coat section of her closet and slid into it cinching it closed and grabbed a small duffel bag which she dumped a few items into it’s almost full space.

Leaving her bedroom Suzie noticed that Cecilia was peeking from her bedroom through a small gap between the door and frame.

Suzie just kept walking as she ran a finger between the ones on the opposite hand making sure that the glossy black material was properly seated and would allow her full dexterity if needed.

Satisfied with it Suzie walked down the stairs into the Foyer. “Make sure the kids don’t get into any mischief while I’m gone,” Suzie ordered Sylvester.

“Do you have a return ETA Miss?” Sylvester asked.

“Hopefully by four Sylvester, but with Santiago you can never tell,” Suzie answered as the elevator doors pinged open and she stepped aboard.

Instead of going out the main portico Suzie elected to ride down to the parking garage where her DB338 was stored. Getting in she started the car up and left the apartment building.

A few blocks from her destination Suzie flipped a few switches on the center console and an electric charge flowed over the car changing the black paint to a dark lustrous metallic blue; the windows turned opaque and the serial plate on the front and back changed to ones registered under someone else’s name.

Suzie’s destination was a small ramshackle enclosed parking garage in a not so great section of Caruthers City its location was somewhere between the city proper and the red light district.

As she pulled the DB338 to the entrance of the parking garage a laser scanned her serial plate and started to open. Even though the door was splotched with rust and looked like it might fall off its rollers at any minute it slid smoothly upwards after confirming her identity.

Pulling into the garage she found the spot assigned to her and parked the Aston Martin. Reaching back over her neck she pulled the glossy black Nanno-rubber cowl over her head and snugged it under her chin. With the cowl in place only an oval of her face was left showing. Reaching into the duffel bag she pulled out a re-breather mask and cinched it over her face with the straps by the time she was done the effect almost made her look like Sister 14.

Getting up out of the car she took off the leather overcoat and tossed it onto the passenger seat and reaching back in she pulled a pass-card and a pre-loaded credit chip out of the bag and slid them into separate slit pockets on the inner thighs of the suit and sealed the magnetic slits of the pockets with a swipe of her thumb.

While the outside of the garage had been disgusting and ramshackle the interior was brightly lit and well maintained. Suzie passed dozens of expensive cars, limos, SUVs, and motorcycles on her way to the elevator that would be the last leg of her journey.

Getting in character Suzie added an extra bit of sway to her hips and started to sashay as she passed other groups of people leaving and getting into their cars. Most of them wore little too no clothing, some were just as covered as her in Nanno-rubber, mono-film, or leather, several of the men passing by gave her second looks; even the ones already with gorgeous women.

Suzie had to smile under mask a bit at that last. Reaching the elevator she pulled the pass card out of the slit pocket and slid into a recess where buttons would normally be and the elevator opened, stepping inside she slid her card in again and tapped her destination into the control panel.

When the elevator doors opened again Suzie strode off the elevator and didn’t even look around.

Loud music thumped in the background and various incense, smokes, and other odors filled the air, some of them rather on the narcotic and illegal side. The mask served a two fold purpose of protecting her from whatever was swimming in the air and to disguise her features.

All around her men and women of just about every age category talked, laughed, yelled, and shouted over the music and a cramped dance floor flowed and surged as the dancers gyrated and spun. Varicolored spotlights stabbed out at random intervals or flickered with a hypnotic stroboscopic rhythm. Hanging above the dance floor were several dozen bird style cages with completely naked singles or couples either dancing or doing more intimate things that shouldn’t have really be done in public.

Passing numerous rooms with either no doors or huge glass windows showing scenes of sadomasochism; the crack of leather on flesh from those rooms no longer made her jump as she passed them. Pseudo torture and not so pseudo torture, several rooms also had huge orgies going on in them. A couple of the rooms even had low level female sorcerers performing Tantric sex rites to boost their power.

There were also dozens of rooms with just people simply sitting around, eating, drinking, and getting high off of any number of illegal substances.

The last few rooms she passed had airlock style doors and were labeled private in those rooms who only knew what was going; probably everything from a person’s deepest fetish dream, from business deals, to illegal activities, either singly or combined all together.

Flesh Bender was a fetish club for just about anything you wanted to get into and some things you might not even realized you wanted to.

Flesh Benders only had a few rules.

Rule #1 - Anything Goes.

Rule #2 - Don’t Ruin Other People’s Fun.

Rule #3 - No Telling.

The last rule had some rather dire consequences if it was broken. She had heard tales of undercover police officers disappearing from the club after they were found out.

Passing the last few rooms on the level she was on she entered a moderate sized open space and found Augustus Stefan Santiago holding court.

Devilishly handsome with his braided locks and coffee colored skin, Santiago would gut you while he was still smiling and telling jokes.

It was rumored that during high school someone had used his initials in a derogatory manner; that person was later found spread over an entire city block in a rather gruesome manner. Santiago however had never been implicated, no one was really sure if that had been the first person he had killed or not.

She saw Santiago sitting on the couch at the back of the room with a court of beautiful men and women in various stages of dress, undress, and fetish gear. Approaching the group Suzie increased the sway of her hips and walked quickly through the group to snuggle herself into Santiago’s lap and pressed her Nanno-rubber clad body against his as if they were lovers.

Suzie almost had to laugh at that; while Santiago pretended otherwise he was as gay as they came and his tastes ran more towards plump hairy men, but they used this ruse to cover up his passing on new contracts to her.

Santiago was the owner of Flesh Bender and while the authorities had tried to nail him for numerous things they never stuck. He had some rather interesting evidence of city officials doing interesting things in his club.

Dressed in his usual style of open button up shirt, leather jacket, and pants Santiago wrapped his left arm around Suzie as she snuggled into his lap. “Well if it isn’t my little black rubber kitty,” he said running his right thumb caressingly between her inner thighs causing a thrill to run through her body.

“Hey Poppy,” Suzie husked out effecting a light Latino accent.

“I haven’t seen you for awhile my little black rubber kitty,” he said increasing the pressure and speed of his caress. Even if he was gay Santiago still knew how to set a woman off and Suzie leaned into him letting out a rather audible sexual purr.

The little black rubber kitty referred to Suzie’s cover identity when in Flesh Bender as Katherine Montez.

“Oh I’ve been rather busy poppy,” Suzie told him resisting the urge to squirm in his lap as he still rubbed her.

“Oh I’m sure you have my rubber kitty,” Santiago said and shifted her slightly around in his lap so that he she was draped with her legs on either side of his and leaning against his chest with her masked face next to his ear.

“I think I’m going to take my little rubber kitty for a ride,” he told his court and standing up he picked Suzie up in his arms as if she weighed nothing at all. Still carrying her he slid a pass-card into the slot next to one of the airlock style doors and it swung open and then shut as they entered.

Setting Suzie back on her feet Santiago gave her one last heavy caress that sent her stumbling against the black leather couch in the room.

“You enjoy doing that way too much,” Suzie said breathless from the feeling of his fingers. Pulling the re-breather mask off to show flushed skin under her tan and bestowing a glower on him.

“If you would actually have sex once in awhile,” Santiago teased her with a smirk. “It wouldn’t be so easy for me to do,” he told her continuing to smirk.

“You wouldn’t understand it even if I tried to explain it to you,” Suzie told him shaking her head.

He just shrugged and draped himself indolently across the black leather couch.

Suzie herself sat in a matching overstuffed chair.

“Here’s the rest of the money for the Senator Caldwell job,” Santiago said and flipped a pre-loaded Cred-chip at her.

The chip was snatched out of the air by a black Nanno-rubber clad hand before it had made more than two rotations and Suzie opened up one of the suit’s slit pockets and pulling out the Cred-chip she had placed there earlier and connected the ends together. Running her thumb over the small HH keys the money was quickly transferred to the one she had brought with her and she tossed the other on the floor to grind to dust under her three inch heel.

“Good clean kill by the way the cops are still scratching their heads on that one,” Santiago told her with his brilliant white smile.

“Thanks,” Suzie said replacing the Cred-chip in the slit pocket. “Do you have another contract for me?” She asked.

“Actually I do my dear, but you have to do me a favor,” Santiago said leaning forward.

“What would that favor be?” she asked suspiciously.

“I just need you to hang around for awhile, drape yourself over me and do some dancing,” he told her.

“It’ll cost you extra,” Suzie said coldly.

“How much extra?” Santiago said leaning back and grinning because he knew Suzie would agree to do it.

“An unspecified favor in the future,” She told him.

“Agreed,” Santiago replied and handed a Moly-chip to Suzie. “That’s the new contract, a rather interesting but deserving person if I may say so myself,” Santiago commented.

Suzie raised a delicate blonde eyebrow; rarely did Santiago make comments on contracts.

“You’ll see when you read the file,” he told her as he stood up. “Now my little rubber kitty, time to earn that unspecified future favor,” he said reaching a hand out to pull her off the couch.

Placing the mask back over her face she left the sealed room on Santiago’s arm leaning into him heavily and Santiago with a certain sadistic pleasure kept rubbing his fingers between her thighs. Suzie for once didn’t really mind it since the favor she intended to get out of this little job would be pretty large. Although she was still rather annoyed at the fact that for some reason her reaction was to purr like a kitten.

Suzie spent the next three hours either draped across Santiago’s lap while he made deals with various shady characters. She recognized several local Galactic Patrol higher ups, politicians, business men, some Russian Mafioso. There was even a representative of the Seven Deadly Sins; one of Lust’s proxies by the color of her eyes, nails and the lipstick she wore, as well as her hair color; her porcelain white skin was split by a lazy sexually charged grin that was just a bit too wide.

When Santiago had to excuse himself to take care of a club matter the Seven Deadly Sins representative moved up next to Suzie on the large couch that the three of them had been sharing, and before Suzie noticed it the woman’s stark white fingers were between her legs.

Suzie vibrated with sexual tension as the woman’s fingers made a slow swirling motion over her tightly clad thighs and she couldn’t do much as the sensation exploded with warmth from her nether regions to her head.

“Hands off my little black rubber kitty Lisette,” Santiago commanded coming back and lightly pushing the woman away from Suzie and placing her in his lap again where she draped her self languidly against him. “How bout you showing us how you dance my little black rubber kitty,” Santiago told her.

Suzie felt half in a dream as she crawled out of Santiago’s lap and entered the dance floor where she bobbed and weaved with the same liquid cat-like grace that she brought to every thing, her movements enhanced by the warm pleasure that flowed through her.

Lisette pouted a bit, “You should let me have her.” The Seven Deadly Sins Horseman said pushing herself up against the mobster and trying to push a metallic pink nailed hand down the front of his pants.

Santiago grabbed her hand before it was too far down his pants and placed it back in the white skinned woman’s lap.

“I don’t play that way,” Santiago told her. “As for what we were discussing I’ll consider it, it might be good for business to have a chain of Flesh Benders across the galaxy,” Santiago said with a musing look.

“I still need some entertainment,” Lisette told him pouting even more severely.

Santiago considered for a moment, and then waved his hand at one of the servers. “Janelle why don’t you accompany Ms. Lisette to one of the private rooms, and provide her with anything she needs,” Santiago ordered the short busty young girl. He knew that Janelle was a spy for either one of the local mob enforcers or an undercover Galactic Patrol detective; so what better way to get rid of her than let one of Lust’s Horsemen make the problem disappear for him.

“Yes Mr. Santiago,” she said leading the woman towards one of the private rooms.

Santiago turned back towards the dance floor to watch Suzie dance, she had been acting rather oddly tonight, and she seemed to be almost in a trance as she danced with cat like grace on the crowded floor of the night club, the varicolored-colored spots and strobes reflected off of the glossy black material of her catsuit as she gyrated slowly with grace through the crowd.

“She probably just needs to get laid,” he murmured to himself.

Theban Cluster - Caruthers Sector - Caruthers System - Caruthers World- Caruthers City

Flesh Bender Fetish Club - Private Room - Lisette & Janelle

Tuesday August 11th, 725 2E - 02:45 CST

Janelle led Lisette to one of the private rooms and shut the door behind them.

“What can I do for you Miss Lisette?” the twenty-something asked the woman with the odd porcelain white skin.

“Just stand there for a moment dear,” Lisette said.

The young woman stood a bit nervously as Lisette walked around her in a slow circle as if examining a piece of merchandise.

Lisette was a Horseman of the Seven Deadly Sin known as Lust and as one of the powers bestowed upon her by her mistress she could incite lust and sexual energy in others.

Lisette slowed and stopped behind the girl, “Take your shirt off darling.”

The girl followed the order, it was simple enough, and she’d done it enough times for other clients.

Lisette stepped closer to the girl and Janelle felt the woman’s cool breath on her neck and then the cool smooth touch of her hands slowly making light circles and whorls across her back and neck moving ever more slowly downward she undid the clasp that held the girl’s skirt up and tossed it aside. Underneath the skirt she was wearing a pair of opaque gray mono-film tights and Lisette ordered her to take those off as well.

By that point the girl’s respiration had slowed dramatically and her pupils had dilated to the point where the green of her eyes was obscured by pools of black, and she followed Lisette’s commands woodenly.

Slowly rubbing her hands over the girl’s body Lisette could feel Janelle’s sexual excitation rise while to outward appearances she seemed in a trance. Lisette dipped porcelain white fingers into the girls womanhood and slowly spun a finger around, the girls respiration stayed the same as did the dreamy look in her eyes but small moans and whimpers escaped her partially opened lips. When Lisette had her at the point she needed her to be she stepped back behind the shorter girl and laid her lips against the space right behind her ear and probed with her tongue. At the tip of her tongue was a small Nanno-metric needle and it easily punctured the skin and into the brain.

What most people didn’t understand about the Mu and the Seven Deadly Sins is that they were basically emotional vampires. The Seven Deadly Sins themselves didn’t feed directly but through their Horsemen and once a person had become a Mu a small wormhole was created in their brain and any emotions created were siphoned directly to the Seven Deadly Sins themselves.

The needle inserted in Janelle’s brain released Nanno-machines that created a miniature wormhole and Lisette felt as the girl’s emotions were slowly drained away to her Mistress Lust; as more and more of her emotions left her the girls skin became paler and took on a shiny ceramic sheen.

Soon Janelle’s body was like Lisette’s all pure white; she had become one of the lowest of the low; a basic Mu that would be returned to Halliburton and used as a psychic food source and as basic manual labor or just kept by Lisette as a pet. Her lips, nails and eyes took on the distinctive pink color of her new mistress, the pink color that adorned Lisette, although instead of just her iris and pupils turning the dark pink her entire cornea turned the same color as well and a large sleepy sexual grin became permanently stretched across her lower face.

It took an hour for the transformation to complete itself and by that time Lisette was satiated and ready to take her new pet home with her.

“Come along my little Mu and get redressed,” Lisette ordered the now will less Janelle.

The former woman quickly re-donned her clothing.

Lisette made a tching sound looking the girl up and down. “We’ll definitely have to get you some new clothes little one,” She paused with a thoughtful expression on her face. “I know what we’ll do we’ll go on a little shopping trip tomorrow,” Lisette said treating the former woman as is she were nothing but a toy.

Taking the Mu by the hand Lisette left the private room and waved gaily to Santiago as she swept past in the crowd and headed for the elevator to the parking garage above.

“Well one loose end taken care of,” Santiago said quietly to himself and then sat back to watch Suzie dance some more.

On the dance floor Suzie lost track of time as she danced, her mind was in a blissful fog as the Horseman’s touch still affected her nether regions.

Theban Cluster - Caruthers Sector - Caruthers System - Caruthers World- Caruthers City

Syntheria Arms Apartment Tower - Penthouse Apartment of Suzie Marlowe - Foyer and Den - Suzie

Tuesday August 11th, 725 2E - 07:23 CST

Stronger, faster, and able to heal from most wounds, yes; Immortal, possibly; still needing sleep, definitely; smarter, Suzie was starting to doubt that one as she entered the foyer of her penthouse. It was already almost 07:30 in the morning and she would need to make a call to her lawyer as soon as his office opened at 09:00 a little more than an hour and a half from now.

Not liking the choice she was going to have to make Suzie still felt odd from her encounter with the Seven Deadly Sin’s Horseman, or would that be Horsewoman she thought to herself and snorted quietly.

Suzie had remotely deactivated Sylvester so that she wouldn’t have to put up with his worrying and huffing about her being out so late or so early as he would point out. Heading into her den cum office she bolted the door behind her and stripped out of the Nanno-rubber catsuit as fast as she was able to and checking the security camera system in the penthouse, and reactivating Sylvester. Suzie saw that Ned was asleep in his bed curled up and with one hand fisted in the comforter his hair sleep tousled; Suzie smiled at that; he was a cute kid. When she checked the camera in Cecilia’s room she saw the girl had buried herself under the thick comforter and had even pulled the two pillows up over her head. Suzie remembered doing the same thing when she was that age.

Turning from the security system she slid the picture of Bambridge Park at night aside and keyed a code sequence into the pad revealed. Walking into the small hidden room that the sliding wall revealed she pressed a button on the wall and it slid back into place with a click.

Standing with her hands on her naked hips Suzie looked tiredly at the metal framed bunk with its thick black cushion. She really, really didn’t want to do this but if she was to have any energy at all for the next day she’d have to quickly rejuvenate the nannites that now took care of her internal functions.

Normally the nannites only required her to sleep for about five hours to replicate properly but if she were severely injured or needed to be up and about in a short period of time she would have to use the bunk in front of her. Nicknamed the “Pariah Bed” by the scientists that had refined the Black Pariah Nanno-Virus that Emperor Nathan IV had traded from the Falcra it basically held the Black Pariah in place while a Nanno-tank under the bed flushed out the older and dead nannites and replaced them with fresh ones.

“Initiate Reversion Process,” Suzie sub-vocalized.

“Initiating Reversion Process,” CHCCC-14 answered.

Sister 14 felt extremely tired and leaned her glossy black arms against the pad of the Pariah Bed as she sat down; rolling over onto her back she set her arms palms down by her sides and the back of her heels with her feet perfectly vertical.

“Activating magnetic seal,” CHCCC-14 informed and soon followed with. “Magnetic Seal Activation Confirmed, initiating Nannite replacement and stasis rest,” the AI confirmed.

Sister 14 felt a slight sucking sensation as the magnetic seal engaged and held her in place.

A spot on each wrist of her Nanno-rubber skinned arms puckered and became a collared seal as a thin black hose rose from either side mating with the collars. Soon Sister 14 and Suzie were both asleep and the Nannite replacement was being processed by the automated systems as the bed slid up and back against the wall.

Theban Cluster - Caruthers Sector - Caruthers System - Caruthers World- Caruthers City

Syntheria Arms Apartment Tower - Penthouse Apartment of Suzie Marlowe - Secret Arms Room - Suzie

Tuesday August 11th, 725 2E - 08:30 CST

The black padded bed slid back down the wall and locked in place, hoses retracting from the sockets in her arms Sister 14 stood up from the bed and did some stretching exercises and cycled through the various functions of her HUD. Everything was back to 100% normal. Walking over to one of the walls she pulled a pair of FN Five-seveN FS pistols from the wall as well as several spare magazines. “Pack into Flux Space,” She ordered the AI in her chest and as she pressed each piece of hardware down into the palm of her hand it seemed to melt into nothingness as it was stored in the fifth dimensional space inside her body.

“Initiate Reversion Process,” Sister 14 ordered.

Suzie left the small hidden room in her den and took a long hot and soapy shower in the bathroom off the den and changed into the clothes in the small closet in the den.

She grabbed a black spider-silk pant suit this time, and a white short sleeved Nanno-rubber top with a v-neck to it; it would show off quite a bit of her cleavage which in the next few hours she just might need the advantage that it afforded her. She also wore sensible low heeled shoes that would be good for hours of walking and put on a choker of black pearls also pulling an exact copy of her other watch from the jewelry box as well.

Leaving the den she double checked to make sure she had switched Sylvester back on and entered the kitchen and started preparing the kid’s meals which by monitoring their bio-rhythms he knew they would be staggering down the steps in only a few short minutes.

Theban Cluster - Caruthers Sector - Caruthers System - Caruthers World- Caruthers City

Syntheria Arms Apartment Tower - Penthouse Apartment of Suzie Marlowe - Dining Room - Cecilia & Ned

Tuesday August 11th, 725 2E - 08:55 CST

When Cecilia and Ned finally stumbled down said steps still rubbing the sleep from their eyes they were confronted by a full course breakfast at the dining room table.

Cecilia cleared the last of the sleep from her eyes and saw that the woman was already dressed in a black pant suit with a glossy white top on underneath and sitting at the table. She had a cup of coffee in front of her and was perusing an E-PADD as she aggressively bit off chunks of a power bar in the other hand.

Little Ned paused next to her not sure what to do; seeing his confusion Cecilia shepherded him to one of the chairs at the table and helped him into it, the chair itself adjusted it’s seating area and height automatically and Ned let out a little squeal of delight.

Cecilia wasn’t very impressed, a chair was a chair, she also glared a bit at the amount of cleavage that their so called Aunt was showing off with that glossy white top.

Her Aunt put down the E-PADD that she was reading and looked at Cecilia. “Cecilia I’ve got to call my lawyer, you and Ned enjoy your breakfasts if you need anything just let Sylvester know and he’ll get it for you,” she told the girl with a small smile.

Cecilia just nodded her head and joined Ned in eating the huge breakfast in front of them.

Finishing off her energy bar their aunt left the dining room with a faint click with every step and entered the den closing the door behind her.

“This place is really cool,” Ned said looking around with the innocent wondering eyes of a four year old.

“Don’t get to attached Ned,” Cecilia told her brother. “Once she’s done with that call she’ll probably ship us off to another orphanage,” Cecilia said without much feeling.

“The Miss would never do such a thing,” Sylvester said refilling the girl’s glass of orange juice after she had drained it completely. “She thought she was an orphan herself and has spoken many times of having a family of her own,” the Auto-Butler cut himself off abruptly after that.

“Then why doesn’t she just get married to a nice guy?” Ned asked.

The Auto-Butler let out a little sigh. “I really shouldn’t be telling the Misses private details but due to the effects of a botched Nanno-treatment when she was only eighteen she was rendered sterile,” the silver orb explained.

Cecilia suddenly felt horrible about the way she had treated her Aunt since they had arrived at the penthouse apartment, but it had been a long three months since their parents had died in the air car accident.

First the two had been sent to an orphanage in their hometown of Stratenburg and then on to an Imperial Orphanage in the capitol city of New Hamburg. At the New Hamburg orphanage they had languished for a month and a half until they were put aboard a dingy little passenger ship and then dropped off on Caruthers World at yet another orphanage. Finally yesterday they had been taken to the Caruthers City Galactic Patrol Main Headquarters and given into the care of Detective Martine who had brought them here.

The two children finished their food quite handily; which wasn’t surprising considering they had been subsisting on foods that were below their required nutritional and caloric daily intakes.

“Now children run along and get cleaned up, the Miss should be done on the phone shortly and she has quite a surprise for you once she’s done,” Sylvester told the two children and shooed them away from the table and started cleaning up the empty plates.

Cecilia hadn’t noticed it the night before but both guest rooms that they were in had their own bathrooms as well and she helped Ned clean up quickly and put on his last set of actually clean clothes; while worn they were clean; she had made sure of that.

Cecilia sighed exasperated as she washed the excess syrup and bits of pancake from her brother’s face. After getting him presentable she unpacked some of his toys and told him to stay put in his room till she came back.

Returning to her room Cecilia took a shower and dressed quickly in a light yellow summer dress that she had received for her birthday the year before. Looking around for a mirror she didn’t realize it until she muttered something rather loudly about a mirror that the back of the closet door swam for a second and a mirror emerged from the smart material of its surface.

Now that, Cecilia had to admit was pretty darn cool. With a mirror now she finished getting cleaned up. Taking up the long strands of her hair Cecilia made two long braids that ran over her shoulders and down her back.

Just as Cecilia was finishing up her hair there was a polite knock on the door, and she hurried over to open.

Her aunt was standing in the doorway and gave her a small smile. “Are you and Ned ready to go?” She asked.

“Yeah, let me go grab Ned,” Cecilia told her returning the small smile with a tentative one of her own.

“Okay, I’ll be waiting in the foyer for you,” her aunt told her and left.

Going next door Cecilia had to straighten Ned’s clothes again but at least he had stayed in the bedroom playing with his toys and had not wandered around getting into trouble.

Taking him by the hand she led him downstairs into the foyer where their aunt was giving her butler some instructions.

“All set then?” their Aunt asked with a faint smile.

Both children nodded and she pushed the button to call the elevator which they soon boarded and were taken to the lobby of the tall Hab-tower and out the front doors where Suzie’s limo was waiting.

“Wow, cool,” Ned yelled and tried to rip his hand out of Cecilia’s grip but she held tight as he tried to get a closer look at the huge vehicle.

A large rather Asian looking fellow in a dark suit and sunglasses smiled at Ned. “Wait till you see the inside,” he told the little boy and held the door open for them.

Ned rushed into the limo and started bouncing up and down on the plush seats in the rear of the limo and pressing buttons.

“Please don’t do that Ned,” Cecilia said admonishing him before he could set off the cars self destruct system or something or other.

“Isn’t this awesome Ceci,” Ned said still bouncing in the seat as he used his sister’s nickname.

Cecilia had a mortified look on her face as her Aunt got into the limo.

“Don’t worry he can’t hurt anything,” her Aunt assured her.

Cecilia was finally able to calm the four year old down and they watched some cartoons together on the Holo-Vid’s screen.

Theban Cluster - Caruthers Sector - Caruthers System - Caruthers World- Caruthers City

Syntheria Arms Apartment Tower - Penthouse Apartment of Suzie Marlowe - Den - Suzie

Tuesday August 11th, 725 2E - 09:02 CST

True to her word Suzie entered her den and closed the door, walking over to the large desk where she stabbed a button on the HH panel near one corner and a Holo-Vid comm came online.

“Dial Darius Matisse, Office, Private Line,” Suzie ordered the comm verbally and was soon glaring at the law firm’s icon as the comm connected.

“Hey Suzie, it’s about time you returned my call,” Darius Matisse started to say.

“Cut the horseshit Darius,” Suzie snapped and watched as the man ground to a halt before he was able to complete another sentence.

“Is there some reason you neglected to inform me that I was the sole living relative of two orphaned children?” She growled angrily.

“Well I did try to get a hold of you,” Darius wheedled.

“Darius, if you had truly wanted to get a hold of me you could have used my personal comm code or put a priority request on the message you left with Sylvester.” Suzie explained coldly.

“Now obviously since I’m paying you way more than your scraggly ass is worth I want you to write up and finalize the adoption process papers and get them to me by tomorrow afternoon to sign,” she ordered him.

“You, you’re actually going to adopt the kids?” Darius asked surprised.

“Yes I am Darius I take family responsibilities very seriously,” she explained.

“It may take me more than a day,” Darius tried to weasel.

“Tomorrow, noon, in, person, here,” Suzie bit off each word separately.

Darius cringed at each word as if shot.

“They’ll be there by noon tomorrow,” he sighed out.

“Good boy, make sure all of the I’s are dotted and the T’s crossed,” Suzie ordered and before Darius could say anymore she shut the comm unit off and it slid back into the desk’s surface.

“I need to get a better lawyer,” she grumbled to the empty room and then got back up and went out to the dining room to find that the children had finished their breakfast and Sylvester had already cleaned away the dirty dishes and loaded them into the auto-kitchen.

Suzie headed up stairs and knocked lightly on the closed door to Cecilia’s room and when the girl opened it she gave her a small smile. “You guys ready to go?” She asked.

The girl returned her smile with a faint one of her own. “Let me go and grab Ned,” the girl answered walking past her.

“I’ll be in the foyer then,” Suzie met the two of them there a few minutes later and was giving Sylvester some instructions about answering comm calls for the future especially if they came from her lawyer Darius Matisse.

“I’ll certainly prepend an urgent notice on any of his future calls,” Sylvester assured her.

Turning away from Sylvester Suzie gave the two kids a faint smile. “Ready to go then kids?” She asked.

The boy and girl nodded to her and she pushed the button to call the elevator and the three of them boarded and headed for the lobby.

George opened the front lobby door for the three of them and Ned stared at his shiny brass buttons as they walked out of the building and were confronted by Sanya standing next to the limo.

When Ned saw the monstrosity he yelped, “Wow, cool,” and he tried to pull his hand free of Cecilia’s to get a closer look at the limo.

Sanya gave the little boy a smile. “Wait till you see the interior,” he told the little boy as he opened the door for them.

Finally able to pull his hand free of his sister’s Ned jumped into the limo and started bouncing up and down on the plush seats and pushing buttons.

“Quit that Ned,” the girl admonished her little brother and Suzie had to hide another small smile at the girl’s tone.

“Isn’t this thing way cool Ceci?” Ned said bouncing on the seat again using what Suzie assumed was a nickname for the girl.

Suzie still hiding her smile behind a cupped hand as she pretended to cough entered the car and saw the mortified look on the girl’s face. “Don’t worry he won’t be able to hurt anything,” She reassured the girl.

After a few more minutes while Sanya and the driver Garvin finished up a couple of minor details before they left the girl got her brother interested in some cartoons on the Holo-Vid.

While the two watched a local cartoon show Suzie pulled out an E-PADD it was a non-descript model and the wireless connection had been disconnected. Suzie pulled out the Moly-chip that Santiago had given her the night before she slotted it into place and started to read up on her new contract.

Upon seeing who the contract was she felt a small thrill flow through her. Aurora Morgan, the little rich bitch starlet of the space ways, less talent, and even less personality. She made Hanoi Jane of old Earth look like a saint.

Reading on she found out some things she hadn’t even suspected about the woman. It seemed she funneled funds to terrorist organizations and had even somehow gotten her hands on classified information and sold it to other terrorists resulting in the death of an entire UNSF Ranger Battalion three years earlier. Included in the file were some video clips; one of which showed Morgan actually shooting a female hostage dressed in a Claremont Confederacy Naval Uniform.

It seemed that little miss Morgan had been a busy little beaver over the last couple of decades. If her fans knew about this they’d probably roast her alive. No they probably wouldn’t, she thought with disgust. No they’re just as rabid and foaming at the mouth as she was.

Scanning through the rest of the information Suzie saw that Morgan’s security detail included a dozen generic black suits but she paused when she came to the man personally guarding the woman.

Eric Barstowe’s dark complexioned face stared fiercely out at her with gray eyes in the digital photo; but a wicked grin eased some of the fierceness from his face. His nose had been broken and improperly reset, she wondered why he had never used Nanno-surgery to have it fixed, and with the short styled hair it gave him a certain rakish air. Give him an eye patch and gold tooth and he would be mistaken for a pirate on the Spanish Main of old Earth.

Scanning his personal information she almost let out a grunt of dismay, former Theban Cluster Fleet Marine Corps SOCOM and AADT. He had spent another couple of decades as a mercenary until attracted by the money he could earn in the PMC field.

There might be a bit of a snag there, she thought to herself. She’d have to set up a way to kill the woman without giving her personal watch dog a chance to catch Suzie. Looking at his picture again she wondered why someone with his background would be guarding someone like Morgan.

Theban Cluster - Caruthers Sector - Caruthers System - Caruthers World- Caruthers City

Caruthers Hilton Penthouse Suite - Eric

Tuesday August 11th, 725 2E - 09:30 CST

Remember the money, remember the money, ran like a mantra through his head as Eric once again wondered why he had taken this job.

“I am going shopping and there is nothing you can do to stop me,” Shrilled Morgan.

“Miss Morgan I’m not trying to stop you from going shopping,” Eric tried to explain. “I’m just asking that you allow me to send some of the security people ahead to each shop to check them out before we go,” he explained patiently.

“That’s not necessary,” She told him.

“Miss Morgan, I…,” Eric started to say.

“No. My agent hired you I didn’t. If you want to protect me you’ll have to do it yourself I don’t need an entire army of goons traipsing around with me and ruining my public image,” Morgan ordered.

“Fine Miss Morgan, I’ll be sure to tell the army of goons to stay behind and I’ll personally see to your safety,” Eric said through clenched teeth not adding the words stupid bitch to the end of the sentence.

Morgan sniffed as if she had won some argument; which in a way she had; but at least he’d be along to keep her stupid neck from being chopped in half if some irate individual or rabid fan decided they just had to have their own personal piece of Aurora Morgan.

Eric watched as she grabbed a lightweight but fashionable jacket from her valet and then followed her out to the limo.

Theban Cluster - Caruthers Sector - Caruthers System - Caruthers World- Caruthers City

Sylph’s Boutique - Suzie

Tuesday August 11th, 725 2E - 10:05 CST

Suzie’s armored limo dropped the trio off in front of Sylph’s Boutique; a high end clothing store for women in one of the more expensive portions of downtown.

Normally Suzie had her clothes tailored by one of the shops that specialized in suits but she thought Cecilia and Ned would enjoy getting out to see the city they would be living in and she definitely needed to get the children some new clothes, so she had decided to start with Cecilia and get her clothes shopping done first.

Sylph’s really was a high end shop Suzie realized as they entered and were basically greeted by a hostess that was just about to shoo the kids out; Suzie had taken a couple of minutes to talk to Sanya and tell him to park the limo at a downtown garage until they needed it.

“Is there a problem,” Suzie asked calmly as she came in the door behind the children.

“Sorry Ma’am these children are just in the wrong store is all; I’ll be with you in just one second,” the Hostess told her.

Suzie looked around and then pointedly at the store’s logo over the check out desk. “This is Sylph’s Boutique right?” She asked innocently.

“Yes it is ma’am,” The clerk had paused in her attempts to shoo the children out.

“Well then they are in the right place,” Suzie said coldly.

“Pardon me?” The clerk asked confused.

“I said,” Suzie repeated. “They are in the right place, they are also with me and my niece needs a new wardrobe,” Suzie paused for a couple of seconds. “Of course if you don’t want our business,” Suzie said starting to turn around.

The Hostess had a look on her face as if she had just been hit between the eyes with an axe handle. “My apologies ma’am, do come in and sit down,” the woman gushed all apologies.

Suzie gave her a frosty smile as the woman led them into a private dressing/sitting room; the room was decorated in teenager style with bold colors and posters of the currently famous rock and movie stars that were popular with the teenage set.

Suzie and Ned sat down on a large leather couch while the woman showed Cecilia how to use the call buttons and the dressing room.

“One of our personal assistants will be in shortly to help you,” the hostess said and left the room before the sound proof door shut they heard her gushing over someone that had just come in the door.

A few minutes later the door opened and a medium height young woman with spiky blonde hair with blue highlights came into the room. She was wearing a white pseudo-cotton peasant’s blouse, a black skirt that reached just above her knees, and calf length combat boots with a two inch platform sole, her legs were also encased in white opaque mono-film tights under the skirt. Her ears glittered with an array of earrings and piercing and a watch adorned one wrist while the other had a black leather band around it.

“Hi I’m Holly Haffenbakker I’ll be your personal assistant today,” the young woman who couldn’t have been more than half a dozen years older than Cecilia said brightly and immediately walked up to Cecilia and shook her hand.

“Now,” She said brightly. “Where would you like to start?” She asked Cecilia.

Cecilia blinked in slow surprise at the young woman’s energy and enthusiasm then looked over at Suzie with a bit of confusion.

“Holly I think we’ll start with some casual everyday clothes,” Suzie supplied the answer for Cecilia.

“Alrighty then let’s get some measurements,” Holly said and pulled a remote from a pocket in her skirt. “Okay sweetie just stand still while the sonic laser grid takes your measurements,” Holly told Cecilia.

A light grid formed over Cecilia and Suzie could see her dress flutter slightly as the sonic laser took her measurements after a few seconds it snapped back off.

“Okay let’s take a look,” Holly said cheerfully and pulled an E-PADD from another pocket and keyed it on.

“Okay now what style of clothing do you prefer?” Holly asked.

“Well, uh, Mostly T-shirts and slacks or jeans,” Cecilia said hesitantly looking at Suzie who just nodded.

“Okay, hmm,” Holly mumbled and tapped some keys on her E-PADD and then walked over to a section of wall. Pulling at the section of wall it whirred out and arrayed on the rack attached to it were several different styles of t-shirts, blouses, jeans and slacks.

Cecilia after trying several different cuts of jeans and slacks finally chose a dozen pairs of jeans and slacks in a basic cut with slightly flared pant legs as well as two dozen different blouses and t-shirts.

“How about some skirts and dresses now?” Holly suggested.

“Uhm, okay,” Cecilia answered.

“Okay here we go,” Holly pushed the rack back in and pulled another section of wall out showing a selection of skirts and dresses. Cecilia ended up choosing half a dozen outfits and also took several pairs of matching mono-film tights to go with them.

“Okay how about formal clothing then,” Holly said.

“Sure,” Cecilia said finally coming out of her shell.

By the time they got done shopping several hours later Cecilia had enough clothes that she could go a month without wearing the same outfit twice and she came away with a dozen new pairs of shoes for various occasions.

Next to Suzie on the couch Ned’s stomach let out a low rumble.

“Oh dear, sounds like someone is hungry,” Holly said smiling at the little boy.

Suzie looked at her Movado, the hands were pointing directly at 14:00 hours. “Well it has been close to six hours since they’ve eaten. So it’s not too surprising that a growing boy’s stomach would let out a grumble if not fed properly,” she said looking up at the personnel assistant from the watch. “Holly since you helped us out so much today how about I treat you to lunch?” Suzie asked.

“Well I’m not sure if Ms. Apllenapp would let me eat lunch with a customer,” Holly said suddenly embarrassed.

“I’ll have a chat with Ms. Apllenapp and we’ll fix that little question,” Suzie said standing up and taking Ned’s hand in her own. He latched onto her hand without reservation as they left the fitting room.

Theban Cluster - Caruthers Sector - Caruthers System - Caruthers World- Caruthers City

Sylph’s Boutique - Eric

Tuesday August 11th, 725 2E - 14:00 CST

Eric was about to pull his hair out as Morgan walked through the door to Sylph’s Boutique without letting him check the place over first.

Of course that wasn’t surprising she had made it abundantly clear from the first that she was barely willing to tolerate Eric and the other security personnel and was only doing it to keep her agent off her back.

The Hostess was fawning all over Morgan in such a way that Eric wanted to sick up.

Over the next several hours he about went cross eyed as Morgan must have tried on every outfit the place had. Finally she decided she had enough outfits and ordered that they be delivered to her suite at the Hilton.

Eric winced at the thought of the poor bastards back at the hotel having to go through each one of those hundred or so packages with a fine toothed comb.

As they were leaving the private dressing room Morgan just about bumped into someone coming out of the room next door and didn’t even apologize but then Eric felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he heard the bells over the door tinkle.

Neo-Prussian Empire - Hamburg Sector - New Hamburg - New Imperial City

Somewhere In the Bowels of the Imperial Palace

Tuesday August 11th, 725 2E - 14:00 CST

Nathan received the report he had been waiting for; the children had been delivered to a woman named Suzie Marlowe and apparently she was willing to adopt them, the description fit Sister 14 perfectly.

How was it that Sister 14 was able to revert to her previous human form? The Black Pariah Nanno-Virus derived from the Falcra Nanno-Virus was not supposed to allow that, another mystery on top of the Black Pariah’s disappearance those many centuries ago.

Nathan contented himself with plans of what he would do to Sister 14 once she revealed herself. His first order of business would be to infect her with the newest and strongest strain of the Black Pariah Nanno-Virus and then once he found a new body he would make her his plaything.

But first things first he had to make sure that she was actually Sister 14 and not some woman who just happened to be a descendent of the same family.

Nathan left a small portion of himself to monitor that situation as he worked on other plans.