I never expected to become addicted to eating teeth when I immigrated to the Republic.


    You get used to the enamel after a few days. It''s like an orange peel hiding the sweet pulp inside. Just below the dentin, the innervated pulp was more addictive than heroin, even more than memtabs.


    I wiped the blood from my chin. Sanguinous drool covered my shaking hands. Neon blue lights in the night made the blood look like black ichor. The blue district wasn''t easy on the eyes, but the wealthy liked it enough to fake admiration.


    I pulled some more teeth from the man’s mouth, savoring them but not taking too much time. After a moment to digest, my hands stilled. My strength had returned.


    “Hurry up, Petya!” Tevon beckoned as he wiped the blood and bone dust from his mouth. Eat too fast and you look like the monster you are. I preferred to take my time, making the uncivilized act as civil as possible. It was a futile gesture but helped to soothe the guilt. Regardless, I lost the guilt after the first few months. If you need to eat teeth to survive, it''s best to not get hung up on the morality of it.


    “I''m almost done.” I crunched the molars with my own. My teeth were unbreakable, but the guard''s molars were still tough to crack.


    “Please,” Ali whispered.


    I waved him away, taking a final look into my victim’s mouth to make sure I would leave my plate clean. “They won''t hear us. Deleon ran the checks and blasted an EMP on their neurospaces. I''ve been watching the time and we have a good three minutes left until they reboot.”


    “Only three minutes?” Ali shook as he popped a few teeth from his pocket into his mouth. I can’t stand teeth if they’ve been out of a mouth for more than an hour, but Ali wasn’t as picky. The skinny kid always had them on hand. Kid. Zeg, I''m just a few years older than him and just as gaunt, but his timidity makes him feel like the baby of the crew. I was just like him. Give him a couple more weeks and he won''t be as skittish. I pushed my hair back up into its wave, sides shorn, making it look like a skunk sat on my head with the bleached stripe in my gray to match. Tevon thought the stripe was juvenile, but I wanted something after the hypothalamic implant tainted our hair color. Mine had gone from brown to a dark black, while the others had a variety of greys. At least I didn''t have Ali''s buzz cut that made him look so young.


    Ralia leaned down and kissed Ali on the cheek. The three of us laughed while he squirmed. The print of her red lips remained, though no one could tell if it was from blood or her ever present lipstick. Her parted, ear-length gray hair looked teal under the blue neon lights. “Which is why I''m here to make sure their emergency signals aren''t broadcast inside. Three minutes? Pssh, all the time a girl could ask for.”


    Ali''s face remained red. “Did the master hit the guards’ neurospaces inside the facility?”


    “Master?” Ralia laughed, her eyes flashing as she pressed her finger against one of the guard''s temples. “Zeg, you''ll have to ditch that ‘master’ thing soon.”


    “Respect is good,” Tevon added. “It''ll keep him safe.”


    Ralia jumped to the next guard''s temple. The flashing returned to her eyes. “But not sane.”


    “Deleon said there were a few inside, but he couldn''t see them all. Their walls are breach blocked.”


    “Then how does he know what''s in there?” Ali asked.


    “‘Master knows all,” Ralia chided, as she finished wiping the last guard''s neurospace. “Signals have been killed. Nothing more than corpses now.”


    I walked over to Ali and nudged him. “It''s all good. Deleon cleared it so we know it''s possible. Most of the guards were out here, we know that much. Zeggin’ bastards left a feast to fuel us before going in.”


    Ali stared at the ground.


    “Everyone had enough?” Tevon asked.


    We all nodded.


    Tevon sent out a message to our neurospace group chat with Deleon and Doctor Cut.


    Tevon: Heading in.


    Deleon: Take out the first one you see inside. Have Ralia send me the data from his neurospace and I''ll get a rundown for the facility.


    Ralia: Sure thing, daddy.


    We all chuckled, knowing the disgruntled middle-aged man would be squirming behind his desk.


    Tevon walked ahead of the group and we followed in tow. Though our feast of teeth fueled us with inhuman strength, he was the only one with a build fit for such power. He was a true giant among us. I still didn''t know the extent of our abilities from eating teeth. Some questions were best left unanswered. I already found myself less human by the day.


    “Ralia,” Tevon said, “we need you at the door, too.”


    “Should I be surprised?” She winked at Ali as she strutted past. At least her jacket wasn’t as flashy tonight. The blue fit the lights and her style well, but she wasn’t my type. Maybe because she flirted with everyone, so who knew if she was into anyone? We tried not to worry about those things. We had a job, one forced upon us, but it helped sustain us. Maybe if we made it out of Deleon’s grip, we could think about the more mundane things in life.


    Ali kept his distance but watched Ralia work on the pad next to the door. Her eyes flashed as she touched it.


    “You watching, Al?” she asked. “Tell Del you want to learn and he can mod your Bite implant. Is it that or–”


    My attention fell away as her self-aggrandizement rambled on.


    Tevon looked down at me, a head taller than all of us. His emotions were hard to read with the metal band over his eyes. The implant claimed to improve upon human eyes, but I had found tech promises to be less reliable by the day. I would have refused Deleon’s hypothalamic implant if it hadn’t been forced into me. We all had our reasons to fall into Deleon’s trap. Despite our differences, we were unified in our suffering.


    Tevon breathed through his nose, his nostrils flaring, but a lack of wrinkles on his forehead gave a hint to his mood.


    “What''s up?” I asked. I wanted my fix. Socitab, memtab, either cybernetic drug sounded nice. Would I have enough time to leave and hit it?


    Tevon scratched his head. His hair looked like blue turf sticking straight up. I wondered how close turf was to the grass that had long gone extinct.


    “Can I… cut your hair?”


    Ralia laughed. “Zeggin’ Tev! You made me lose my focus. I’ll have to start over again.”


    “Can I?” Tevon asked me.


    “No! Again, you zegging creep. What is your problem? Stop asking me!”


    “Ah, come on, Pet. He’s just trying to show his love.”


    “Get back to the code, Ralia. He doesn''t care about me. He asks everyone and who knows what he does with all that hair.”


    Tevon was at a loss of words.


    “You have weird interests, Pet. You can’t get off of those socitabs.”


    “It''s not the same. How long are you going to be?”


    “Two minutes.”


    “Two?” Ali quivered. “But you said we only had three before their neurospaces reactivated.”


    “More like half a minute, hun.”


    Ali groaned.


    “Don’t worry, I’ve got it under control.”


    I tapped into my neurospace and sent a message.


    Petya: Deleon, give us another blast. Ralia needs more time.


    Deleon: On it.


    “That was fast!” Ali breathed.


    Fast to do what he needs to get what he wants. Slow to actually care. “I’ll be back in a minute, Ralia. I need a fix.”


    “No prob!”


    I stepped away, tapped into my neurolink, and threw on some music. Tevon and Ralia knew that I preferred to do jobs with my mind in my own space. Distraction and annoyance free. Ali seemed to think it was odd. Frankly, I wouldn’t care except that I liked the new kid. He was into the same art-house surreal mind shows that I liked and had shown me a couple of decent ones in our downtime.


    I scrolled through my playlist in my mental interface, hovering over Punk Runner, but decided to go with something that made me feel happier. My mind had been set on melancholia for months. It was rare for me to step outside of the mood. Ever since Deleon took me in, I found it soothed the pain to romanticize my dwindling happiness. Ali liked the same style of music too, but even his taste ran too depressing for me, just like his favorite mind shows. I should have been worried about him, but he seemed happy enough, only a bit nervous.


    I tapped on my guilty pleasure playlist that I chose not to name. The songs still had a melancholic taste, but they were more focused on love and longing, if not lust. The first song began with synths that shook my mind, placing it into a new sphere of consciousness. I had listened to it enough for it not to disrupt the jobs. Finian technology had transformed music into a new cerebral experience.


    Let’s Eat by Naoma played, giving my thoughts their own soundtrack. Naoma, the ‘Neon Idol,’ pop singer worshiped almost solely by young girls who longed for love and heartbreak alike. I hated that I liked some of her songs so much. They were catchy and hit the mood right. Regardless of the factory-produced lyrics, I liked to listen to her and similar artists whenever I used socitabs.


    Memtabs were my favorite fix, but they were expensive. They were almost a mindshow, letting one relive the purest nostalgia. My generation had been trained to become nostalgia addicts by marketing schemes and the idea that the past was always better, making memtabs a lucrative business. If not for us, the memtab manufacturers–the Memoryrunners–would have never been a part of the government. What a mess our actions had put us in with that.


    I checked on Ralia, making sure she was still working on the system. It looked like I still had some time so I pulled up my consumable files and tapped on a socitab, my cyber-drug of choice, letting Naoma’s lyrics take me for a ride.


    If not for you, I would have been empty.


    Because of you, I am once again.


    Again.


    Again.


    Play me again.


    Connection. Love. Belonging. Physical touch along my spine. Appraisal. Respect. Every shade of admiration, anything that could make one feel important, rushed through me alongside Naoma’s ballad. The socitab experience was concentrated social gratification. The whole world followed, liked, and worshiped you in the social neurospace for a mere moment. None of it was real, but the sensation was.


    I turned off Naoma’s song and reverted back to my synth ambience playlist as the feelings of gratification dissipated. I felt immediate withdrawals, but did not have time for more as the door opened before Ralia.


    I told myself that I could have another fix after the job, knowing that I would need it. As long as it was available, I’d use. If it wasn’t, I would get more. Deleon was a zegging shac, but at least he kept my supply full. I wasn’t happy that I’d developed the habit but told myself that it was better than the insatiable need for teeth. We all had that problem and would for as long as Deleon’s zegging hypothalamic implants remained.


    Just another excuse to tell myself that there was no problem with using fixes. Using them was like when artificial sweeteners were the big hit, until someone whistle-blew the fact that they were some of the earliest substances linked to mental-tech manipulation. Enough companies had their excuses as to why fixes were “unhealthy” and “unnatural,” but every organization had a motive. Corporate benevolence was a thing of the past. How else would the government have finally given up the guise of politicians, admitting that they were corporations? Life seemed a lot clearer since the ruling parties became companies, CEOs no longer needing to hide between politicians. Then again, life was never clear.


    Technology birthed lies.


    I waved for Tevon to lead the way. He touched my hair as I passed and I slapped his arm. Ralia’s smile was huge, but she bit her bottom lip to contain it.


    I patted Ali’s shoulder and moved him to the back. He gave me a faint smile. I nodded and turned down my synth ambience to hear the others.


    “The zeg are those?” Two guards pointed their light rifles at us.


    Tevon stepped before us with a blue light shield the size of his body. He charged them both and knocked them down, not giving him a chance to react.


    Tevon retracted the shield, and Ali dashed forward. His metal hands transformed to blades with an indigo lining as he decapitated their helmeted heads.


    “Pulse! That''s what we need, Ali!” I whispered as I stepped forward to look around. The hallway went on for a few meters before splitting in two. The walls were lined with blue plating and artificial light with a holo of a naked human that spun in place at the end of the hall. Nudity had lost its shock-value in the present light era, but even in the past, it was not uncommon in medical facilities. This was the third Deleon had sent us to in the last month, but none of them had what he “needed.” Whatever that meant, we could only guess. We eliminated the threats, sent him their data, and he would direct us from there.


    “Sorry I used indigo light,” Ali said.


    “Why?” Ralia said with her arm around his shoulders. “Don’t worry about expenses. We’ve gotta rely on the high end of the spectrum. You saw they had blue energy shields and you did what you needed! Tevon should have used something else. If they had indigo rounds, they could have pumped us fulla’ light!”


    “I know, but–”


    “Al, baby, don’t worry about the price of the light. This is all on Deleon’s bill.”


    “But–”


    “She’s right.” I said. “We live poorly and hesitate to use even green light, but you need to realize that everyone in this district is using something better than that. Pray we don’t have to use violet to counteract their light attacks. A little indigo is no problem. You did well.”


    Ali nodded.


    I wondered if he was using too much light back at the hub. Deleon kept things strict like that. The zegging bastard molested us with his systems, except on missions like this when we needed to be as technologically silent as possible.


    Still, there were times when it was needed.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Petya: Any reading on the inside?


    We waited a minute before receiving a response.


    Deleon: Take the left.


    We all made eye contact and nodded. Our attention shot back to our neurospace as a new message arrived.


    Deleon: Plenty of guards and a lab on the left, but I can’t read what is inside. Petya, take the right. There’s a large warehouse. Roaming guards, no one focused on a single point. Made just for you. Everyone else, take the left.


    “Aw, Pet doesn’t get to see this girl in action.” Ralia ran her finger down my face as if it was a tear.


    “Make sure Ali stays focused and confident.” I whispered to her.


    She winked, and I knew she would take care of him. Despite her chaos, she knew when to be serious.


    I nodded at Ali, then looked at Tevon. “Keep your zeggin mind off of my hair, or anyone’s hair, for the sake of the light.”


    Before I could hear his response, I turned up my synth ambience and walked ahead of the group and turned right. With music in my mind, I cast aside my other concerns and focused on my duty. I pulled my neurospace up and put on my punk runner playlist. The synth ambience drained away and the melancholic tech-heavy music took over. I would save Naoma and the happier music for later. Punk runner was pure music, not the Finian mind-experience ‘new stuff.’ I needed focus if I was to do what Deleon referred to as my specialty.


    No guards stood before me in the hallway, only a staircase. What lay beyond, I could only guess.


    Punk runner blasted into my consciousness, and I ran.


    The staircase led to a door and continued to ascend on the right in a switchback rise. I took my chances and climbed. If Deleon wanted me to use my specialty, so be it.


    I felt the teeth that I had eaten burn within, fueling me as I soared up the stairs without the pace of my breath changing.


    I reached the top after five flights, not finding a single guard along the way. A simple access pad locked the door at the end of my path. I was nowhere near as skilled as Ralia, but this door was nothing compared to what she had faced at the entrance.


    I reached for the handle and ripped it off, then reached through the hole with a small indigo blade in my hand. Using the light implant in my neurospace to spend the indigo light, I ignited the blade and cut the door’s bolt. Much to my relief, I pressed the door open without any alarm.


    I stepped through to see a guard walking away from me, a light rifle secured against his right hip.


    I dashed with silent footsteps. I could hear everything, even with the music blasting in my mind, but I did not need to listen to know I ran no louder than as a spider.


    With hands faster than a light shot, I spun the guard’s helmeted head three hundred and sixty degrees. The pop of their neck was muffled by their energy shield. Sure, it would have protected them from a light shot or strike from anything lower grade than indigo, but close combat was not their typical threat.


    I felt a slight hunger as I burned the tooth storage that powered the agility mod of my hypothalamic implant and knew I needed to satiate it before going too far. I pried the helmet free and ripped the guard’s jaw from his head. As I gnawed on the lower jaw’s teeth, I threw the helmet back on him.


    The gore and dead eyes weren’t a problem. They were an unpleasant sight and would be for anyone who discovered him. It was an odd thought, caring for someone’s macabre discovery, while ignoring the murder committed by my hands. It wasn’t murder, was it? Does a predator commit murder as it feasts upon its prey? It’s nature, and I had become a part of it. I had no problem with death. I told myself this and made sure that I lived by it. Deleon held me with a promise. If I complied, so would he. I could not relent. I suffered and slayed so others would not have to.


    My mind drifted back to the task at hand, my hunger satisfied for a moment.


    As I ran onward, there was no longer a wall to my right, but an opening. I slowed my pace and stepped up to the railing to peer out into a room five stories tall. Guards patrolled each floor, many of them stood with another at their side, presumably chatting as they looked out over railings like mine.


    I tried to look down for anything unique on the first floor and recounted the levels below, seeing now that my count was wrong. This new ground level was two more floors below what I had thought was the first level. A thin blue light, like those used by the guards for energy shields, covered the bottom floor, rather the top of the new level. Regardless of what was happening on the ground, I knew we had to make it there. The people I saw below the light wore hazmat armor rather than the guard armor worn by everyone we had seen throughout the facility.


    How many guards did the facility usually have? The Pharma market had exploded more than ever before since techbone became such a common condition. With a shot at a seat in the ruling parties, the corporate competition for power in the Republic of Capital became as intense as any mob war in the so-called virtual era before physical light changed the world. Sure, the Tech and Entertainment competitions were intense, but nothing compared to Pharma. People killed for the knowledge used to heal. Thinking of Pharma as philanthropic was laughable. It was a business and, as far as I believed, always has been. Even more than that, it had evolved beyond business. Its lucrative nature meant power. Today, that power meant a government seat. After the SocStans lost the last election, Pharma regained power.


    Power in Pharma meant presidency. Deleon was shallow. He wanted what every other Pharma wannabe hoped for. Market domination. In our neo-capitalocractic nation, that meant government sovereignty.


    Ralia: Almost done, Pet?


    I was relieved to see that she had sent a personal message. I knew Deleon could tap in if he wanted to, but I would rather not have him push me. He knew I hated it. I was fast but could only do so if left to focus on the job and not a time.


    Petya: Zeg. You’re done?


    Ralia: Just wrapping up. Lettin’ Al do his thing. Boy needs more practice.


    Petya: Stay back. Let me do this on my own.


    Ralia: Whatever.


    Petya: Please.


    Ralia: I’ll try. Tev will probably get bored. Haven’t found anything so far.


    But I have.


    Petya: I won’t be long.


    Ralia: Stay safe, babe.


    She sent a kissing sound that played in my mind with her last message. Zegging girl. At least someone can keep the light on in the group.


    I hopped over the railing, hanging on to the edge to peer down to the floor below, and swung onto the next level. The acrobatic skills programmed into my Bite were top-tier, but they couldn’t prevent an injury from a seven-level drop. Regardless, I doubted I could cut through the blue light shield below. Even if I could penetrate it with enough indigo cuts, I had to approach the people below with caution. Deleon was interested in their research and I didn’t want to throw myself unprotected into an area that required hazmat suits. My immunity was superhuman, but nothing living could be completely invincible.


    Deleon: Watching you.


    Zeg, that would never not be creepy. I hated the man and was glad that I could in my mind. At least he couldn’t reach me there, as far as I knew.


    Petya: And?


    Deleon: You’ve got a lot around you. Send me a shot.


    Thank the light he couldn’t see through my eyes. We allowed–or were forced to allow–our current level of observation with every mission. At least we knew there was a choice, even if it had been taken from us.


    I let him in for five seconds, showing him my surroundings. No guards had found me on the sixth level yet. I looked over the edge and showed him the blue shielded bottom level.


    Deleon: We need them eliminated. You’ve found it, at least I think you have. Can’t have any witnesses.


    “Can’t have any witnesses.” That zegging phrase never left us. It was as tied to our hypothalamic implants as our need for teeth. He held that confidentiality with the hope of curing techbone. If his future implants turned people into fiends like us, that shac was going to kill his zegging self before we could.


    Petya: on it.


    Another message came in.


    Ralia: I’m not telling you to hurry. I know that bothers you. I’m just informing you that Tevon is veeeeery interested in seeing what Deleon sent you to do. Love ya, Pet. Don’t hate me.


    Tossing the image out of my interface, I blasted my music in my mind and ran around the sixth floor. I ran into two guards, killing them as I had the guard above, but took no time to eat their teeth. I continued to repeat the process, killing like a shadow and pouncing on my enemies. The process repeated, two guards per level, until I stopped three floors above the base.


    Ralia: Coming in. Figured I’d warn ya. Blame it on Tevon.


    Zegging Tevon.  His impulses are probably all screwed up from using his supply of illegal fixes back when he dealt. Who am I to talk? At least mine are legal.


    I skipped ahead a few songs until the right one hit. The name and artist escaped me, but it was one of the perfect songs for a night drive. Fast, but still melancholic, with a synth wave to seal the mood. Concerns aside for a moment, I descended to the next level to do what I could before they arrived. Not knowing how big the facility was, I could have a few minutes or seconds.


    To my surprise, the next guard I met while running was walking counterclockwise, unlike the others who kept to a distinct pattern. I had ways to sneak around those who were stagnant, but facing someone in a head-on sprint was a different game.


    Before he could shout or trigger an alert, I shot a neuromuffler from the gauntlet on my right wrist. The needle hit him in the chest with a spark of violet. It was an expensive shot, but Deleon loaded me up for the job. With the others about to barge in, I likely wouldn’t need the rest. Regardless, a few more moments of silence could mean the difference between five targets remaining and ten.


    The guard grasped his helmet. A ringing headache now pulled his arms and mind off of any weapon. Having your neurospace become a deafening and blinding static was far from pleasant. I was sure he was screaming, but no sound would escape his throat for another minute.


    I picked him up as I slammed into him, saving him from throwing himself off of the edge, only to be killed a second later as I broke his neck.


    “Zeg, no!” Tevon shouted as he entered.


    “But why not?” Ralia added to their conversation that I did not care to follow.


    “Because!”


    I shook my head and completed my circle around the floor, relieved that no one remained. I peered over to the edge and saw the open door Ralia and Tevon had entered from a floor above me. Blue light shots from below blasted into steel crates behind which they hid.


    Ralia laughed with Tevon next to her.


    I moved closer to the edge. No one seemed to have noticed me. Tevon probably thought his shouting could help distract any guards. Sure, it would for a moment, but moments before, no one else had been aware of any threat in the room.


    Petya: Deleon wants us to hit the bottom floor. Work your way down and take out any guards. No witnesses.


    Ralia: As usual.


    With the edge next to me, I turned and swung down a level without stopping to look for a guard. Ralia and Tevon could take care of them. I continued down to the bottom floor, dodging a few shots as I swung down the railings and gaps in between floors. Once I reached the metal rim around the blue light floor, the shots ceased. I clung to the wall, sure that someone would spot me soon enough.


    Tevon shouted back and forth with the guards, but Ralia was tempered enough to keep silent. None of us had any range weapons. Deleon said that we were “above” things like that. He had our bodies and the so-called “gifts” granted to us by the hypothalamic implants.


    A few guards cried out, but they were on the opposite side of Tevon’s shallow blurts. I was quick to judge Tevon, but it was well deserved. He was usually lazy and when he chose to act, it was impulsive. Otherwise, he just pissed me off. Still, I loved the guy. I couldn’t feel otherwise. It used to be the three of us until Ali joined us. We’d lost some allies much worse than Tevon, which made me appreciate him.


    Still, he really knew how to piss me off.


    Feeling that the guards above were sufficiently distracted, I circumvented the blue panel in search of some entrance. Looking down, it did not surprise me to see that those in hazmat suits were stirring in a panic, their eyes looking up at the light rifle shots.


    They pointed at me.


    Zeg.


    Half of them ran into another room while the other half ran to a wall, pulling light rifles from a rack hidden from my view.


    They pointed their rifles at me but did not fire. They couldn’t. Their shots would either be sub blue or they couldn’t transverse the light without breaking it. Were they expecting me to break it? Light used to be such a simple phenomenon. Ever since its physical form was discovered, its usage became more complex. I could step right through blue, break it, or it could be impenetrable. Every guess was as good as the last.


    Nerves hit me again, noting that they were a step ahead of me until I figured out what the light was. Zeg, I didn’t even know what they were doing and why I wanted it. What would happen if their isolated area was opened? Deleon was thorough with his planning but never let us know exactly what we were doing. I assure you, sir, we’re not trying to steal your research or lack thereof. We’re just trying to survive.


    I felt for something I could toss onto the light to test its durability. Tevon beat me to it.


    With a primate’s call, the zegging behemoth jumped from his floor into the center of the blue panel. Just because our implants could take such a fall, did not by any means it was a wise decision.


    His impact shook the light as if he landed on elastic water that rippled from his landing point. He bobbed up and down a few times until the light found its equilibrium once again. The people below turned their rifles to him, some gradually turning to face me after they had a moment to calm themselves. I can only imagine that their fright matched my frustration.


    “Tevon! The zeg are you doing?” I shouted.


    The rifle firing above had ceased, but I still heard grunts and shouts as Ralia and Ali finished off the guards.


    Tevon pulled out a pristine cleaver with a slanted top and flicked on the violet edge. “Gotta move, Pet. You’ve been dickin’ around for too long while we took care of business.”


    “You see their hazmat suits?”


    He shrugged and crouched. “If you get sick, eat some teeth. It always works.”


    “I know, I–” I had been doing this longer than him. I wasn’t in the mood to argue. Let him screw up the job if he wanted. We had nothing to protect against every pathogen, but I put some hope into my mask. The masks were in no way intended for medical protection, but it would be better than nothing.


    I tapped into my neurospace and activated my mask, though it was more of a helmet. The black chord that hung around my neck opened and covered my head.


    The metallic shell had a thin sliver visor that was supposed to act like Tevon’s optic implants. Who knew how close it came to his false eyes. It was completely black with clear lines traced throughout that would accept any light color I chose to fill it with. We rarely needed to conceal our identities. We were low life criminals that would have suffered with the rest of the poor in the orange district, would it not have been for Deleon giving us the hub in the blue district in exchange for “service.”


    If anything, the masks could help save us from a direct shot to the head. Violet or blue, it did not matter. The mask’s system could detect a shot before it hit. If we were focused enough, dodging would be no problem, at least when facing a single opponent.


    Tevon plunged his blade into the blue beneath him, burning the violet for a second. Rather than shattering or retracting, the blue light melted and stretched thinner. I jumped atop the light with Tevon as it brought us down with the speed of dripping honey.


    He threw a blue shield up as they fired indigo rounds.


    “Zeg!” he shouted as a shot flew through the shield right into his shoulder.


    I stepped out from behind him and shot two neuromufflers at the frontmost enemies. The others held back from firing for a moment as their allies shook and clenched their heads.


    “Now, Tev!” I shouted as I ran. I jumped atop my first target, almost gliding in the air for a moment as I kicked their body down hard enough to crack their head on the ground. I jumped onto the next one.


    Tevon charged in with arms spread wide to knock down three enemies.


    Our instincts worked twice as fast, helping us take out anyone aiming at us before they could manage a shot.


    Their hazmat coverings provided no throat protection as I hit them with quick strikes, feeling their bones crunch.


    I finished my job, for that is all that it was. Tevon completed each kill with a grin, even laughing as he did so. Regardless of how numb I felt, killing was never a joyous thing, just an obstacle. Was Tevon’s joy a byproduct of his past career or something that spawned from Deleon’s assignments?


    I raked my fingers through my hair, sure that I would leave blood streaks in it, then scratched my eyes with my wrist. Tevon bashed the heads of his final two targets against each other well past their death.


    “It’s not bad here, Pet. My throat doesn’t hurt, and it smells fine.”


    “Lucky for you, carbon monoxide is no longer used.” My neurospace connected to my mask, and I tapped in for it to run an air reading.


    ENVIRONMENT CLEAR. NO THREAT DETECTED.


    My mask retracted. I sent a message out to Ralia and Ali.


    Petya: Bottom is clear. Come down when you’re good.


    “On it!” Ralia shouted from above.


    I heard her running footsteps above us. Ali shouted a complaint.


    “How are they going to get down?” Tevon asked. “Can''t jump like us.” He tapped the back of his neck, the hypothalamic insertion point. “They aren''t as good as we are.”


    “I’m the only one with the acrobatic mod,” I said. “Keep jumping like that and your legs will break. I don’t care if your mod makes your bones thicker. Gravity–” I ran after Tevon as he moved over to the bodies and kicked them over for inspection. “Whatever. Just be cautious. They had protection for a reason.”


    “Whatever it is, there’s bound to be a cure for it.”


    “What about techbone?”


    “You can’t catch it without an implant.”


    “I know, I’m just–” Leave it alone. I looked around the lab, ignoring Tevon after he had already put my prattling out of his mind.


    The lab was lit by the same blue light used by the city, though it was a touch darker, still not quite indigo. Three rows of four long tables filled the area with cabinets against the wall. The tables were empty, though fallen canisters and metallic tools littered the floor and had been shoved in disorganized ways into the compartments below the table. They cleaned up in haste once they saw us coming but still did not have time to remove a large tank of violet liquid that took up most of one of the table tops. Three tubes connected it to the ceiling.


    I moved closer, noting that there was something inside the tank resting on its base.


    My attention shot back to Tevon as the ringing clash of metal hit the floor.


    He held a cupboard door open, looking at the floor as a few more fell. They looked like large syringes, but none of that mattered to me next to the large tank.


    A door beeped to my right. Ralia and Ali exited from a green-lit passage that soon turned blue.


    “Whatcha find?” she asked.


    I pointed to the tank, and she ran to it.


    “Zeg me!” she shouted!


    I looked through the illuminated liquid. A naked humanoid laid prone with a mask attached to its mouth. It was hauntingly gaunt and its head was a depressed lump, as if air had been let out of a balloon. Three syringes connected to tubes covered each limb. Its feet, though they faced up, did not hold their shape. The being before me was completely boneless, yet it lived.


    I almost vomited. “It''s a zegging jelly fiend.”


    “Huh.” Ralia placed her hands on her hips and shrugged. “Interesting. Well, we can take that back to the hub. I need a pick-me-up. All this work is tiring. Let''s eat some teeth, boys. We’ve got plenty of bodies!”