Virtual Femininity
By Autolycus, maynlinz@earthlink.net
A genetically altered woman battles a computer-generated villain.


This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real persons is only a figment of
your imaginations. Let's face it, we all wish these babes were real! Anyway,
they're not, so go take a nice cold shower.

BABES IN SPYLAND XVI:

VIRTUAL FEMININITY

(c) 2000 Autolycus

Here's the deal: This is the story of a genetically altered female who is not
only a perfect physical specimen, but also has psychic abilities. She was
created by the US government to be the ultimate espionage agent, although her
creator/father, the late Dr. Smitrovich, didn't know that at the time. She was
seized by an ultra-secret anti-terrorist government agency, the Aegis Group,
and (ultimately, but against her will) trained in the martial arts and other
forms of combat, although she refuses to kill anybody. The new head of the AG,
Major General Margaret Holm, basically approves of her methods, and certainly
has no complaints about her record, but is determined to make her part of the
team nonetheless. By the way, her name is Jessica Chance and this is her
encounter with a computer-generated killer named Virtual Valerie.

Jessica Chance had endured many terrifying situations in her life. She had
faced death countless times, been tortured more times than she cared to
remember, and attacked with weapons of every conceivable size and construction
on what seemed to be a daily basis for the past four years in particular.
She'd encountered a dazzling array of foes of varying degrees of sanity,
intelligence, and lethality and managed to at least fight them to a draw if
not an outright victory.

But as she sat in the leather chair, squirming uncomfortably before the
withering gaze of the woman seated at the desk before her, she would have
gladly confronted any or all of them to be out of the office and away from
those piercing dark eyes.

"You were given a direct order to attend General Winsome's funeral, Ms.
Chance," Major General Margaret Holm said accusingly. "But not only did you
not attend, you left the city without permission and engaged in a private,
non-Aegis sanctioned mission that resulted in the death of one suspect and the
pressing of no charges against the suspect you did manage to bring in alive."

Jessica swallowed and took a sip of water but decided it would be best if she
said nothing until asked a direct question.

The Major General's tone softened somewhat, even if her eyes didn't, as she
continued, "I was informed by my counterpart at another agency, however, that
your aid proved invaluable in averting what might very well have resulted in
the extermination of the human race, so I feel somewhat justified in keeping
the funeral business strictly between us, Ms. Chance, and not making your
insubordination a part of your permanent record."

"Thank you, Ma'am," Jessica said automatically.

"Let me assure you, however, that if you disobey one of my orders again not
even saving the world will let you escape the ass-load of trouble I will
personally bring crashing down on your pretty head. Are we clear, Ms. Chance?"

"As fine imported crystal, Ma'am," the redhead nodded.

"Good. I've no pressing matters for you at the moment, but I do ask that you
remain in the area as there have been threats on the President-elect and Aegis
might be called on at any moment to protect her. We finally managed to get a
woman invited to the Big Chair, Ms. Chance, and I've no intention of letting
anyone keep her from sitting in it," she added with a conspiratory wink.

"I'll see what I can find out about any assassination attempts, Ma'am," Jessi
assured her, standing up and saluting.

"Oh, drop the faux-military respect, Chance. We both know what a lousy soldier
you were," Margaret said with a laugh that startled the younger woman.

"Ma'am?" she questioned.

"Some day soon you and I will have to sit down and compare battle diaries,"
she said, picking up a file and beginning to thumb through it. "That will be
all, Ms. Chance. Good luck with your inquiries, but don't make any definitive
moves without notifying me personally unless the circumstances mandate that
you act immediately to protect the life of the President-elect."

"Yes, Ma'am. Good day, Ma'am," Jessica replied, somewhat confused. She turned
smartly on her heels and left the office without another word.

"What was all that malarkey about threats on my life?" a female voice asked
from the speaker on the Major General's desk. "I wasn't aware of any
assassination plots underfoot."

"With all due respect, Madame Vice President, there are bound to be many
people and groups who find the idea of a woman President less than palatable,"
Margaret replied. "If anyone can sniff them out, Chance can. Besides, it will
keep her out of trouble while we sort through the files Winsome left us as his
parting gift." She glared at the folder in her hands.

"Oh, Maggie, you've got a lot to learn about Jessica Chance and her ability to
find trouble," laughed Dr. Norwood.

* * * * *

Major Brad Gillian was a good soldier and had been for years. He had the
respect and loyalty of the men and women under his command and the admiration
of his peers. His commanding officers knew they could count on him in any
situation and he'd received numerous accolades from people as high up as
President Hemdale for his work on a variety of high-tech projects.

What he didn't have, however, was much of a life beyond the army. He'd never
been good with women, tending to treat dates like military operations that
inevitably resulted in crushing defeats for his side. Women found him
attractive enough, until they spent time alone with him, whereupon all of his
social inadequacies came out of hiding and displayed themselves in all their
shocking splendor. He became tongue-tied, clumsy, and surprisingly harsh for
such a gentle man. He'd never had a second date in his life.

All of his friends were aware of his, ahem, problem and they'd given up trying
to set him up on blind dates years ago. What they hadn't ceased doing,
however, was sending him joke gifts, e.g., blow-up dolls, penis enlargers,
aphrodisiacs from every corner of the globe, numerous How To videos, and, his
least favorite, computer programs that either simulated a date or attempted to
recreate the sexual experience itself.

So, he wasn't really surprised to receive a package in the mail and open it to
find a computer program entitled "Virtual Valerie: Your Cyber Dream Date
Fantasy Come True.(r)" He was a bit surprised, however, to find what appeared
to be a sexual stimulation device with a SCSI cable attached to it. "That's
new," he nodded, examining the odd peripheral. It looked like nothing more
than a standard penis sleeve made from hard plastic except that the closed end
had some sort of small mechanism on it that he assumed must be an electronic
pump. Also included were several fixtures made of soft rubber that fit over
the open end of the sleeve and into which one inserted one's penis. The
fixtures were in the shape of a woman's face, a hairless vagina, what looked
to be the fingers of a hand, a rather plain one that he realized with no
little embarrassment was intended to represent an anus, and a featureless
round hole. He chuckled and looked for a note so he'd know who to rib the next
time he saw him or her, but the only thing he found was a small card that
simply read:

Enjoy!

A friend XXXOOOXXX

He shrugged and made his way back to his den and quickly attached the penis
sleeve to his computer and inserted the CD. Several lights of various colors
blinked and flashed on it as he booted up his system and his screen flickered
and then displayed the face of a beautiful woman with light blue hair and
brilliant pink eyes. She blinked and ran a green tongue across her black lips
as the program continued to load. Shaking his head, he quickly located a menu
bar and clicked on the "Change facial characteristics" icon and made the
proper adjustments so that when he went back to the main screen a
blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman with normal lips and tongue colors looked
emptily back at him as she continued to blink and lick her lips enticingly.

"Much better," he said with a smile.

"Thank you," said a feminine voice.

He jumped a little but quickly regained his composure. "You're welcome," he
said, leaning towards his microphone.

"I like being blonde."

"What else do you like?" he asked the floating head on his screen.

"I like to please people. Would you like me to please you, Brad?"

He paused, trying to recall if the program had asked him for his name or not.
"Um, sure, I guess so," he replied.

"You don't sound like you mean it. Maybe you'd like to see my body before you
decide?"

"Okay," he said, picking up the program's box and looking for the
manufacturer. Snowflake Software, Inc., a division of Daytech Industries was
written on the side. The second name was somewhat familiar, a British firm, if
his memory served, but the first was unknown to him. He made a mental note to
check them out and find out more about their intuitive software and then
looked back at the screen and gasped.

"What's the matter, Brad? Disappointed?"

A woman's naked chest practically filled his screen.

"Not at all, but I'm more of an ass man," he said.

"Oh. Is this better?" She turned so that her deliciously rounded butt was
facing him and her face was barely visible peeking around it at him.

"Actually, I was enjoying talking to you," he said, surprising himself at his
frankness with what was nothing more than a disc filled with code.

"Okay. How's this?" She was suddenly lying invitingly on a couch, still
displaying her gorgeous posterior but the rest of her was visible, too.

"That's better," he nodded.

"I know you're lonely, Brad, and I can help you with that. I can be your
friend. Do you want me to be your friend?" Surprisingly, he did and told her
as much. "Good. We can talk about anything you want, but while we're talking
don't you think it would be nice if I touched you?"

He jerked his head, snapping himself from the daze he'd started to drift into.
"You want me to put on the penis sleeve, don't you?" he asked, blushing.

"It's called the Penisator 3000(tm), and, yes, I would like very much for you
to put it on so I can please you while we talk."

"I'd feel silly," he said quietly.

"Sillier than you do talking to me?"

"I suppose not," he laughed, unzipping his pants and sliding his underwear
down to his knees.

"Don't forget the Penisator Lubricating Gel(tm). I'd hate for you to get
chafed on our first date."

Brad grunted and applied a generous amount of the oily gel to the inside of
the mouth of the face-shaped fixture and slid it over the open end of the
Penisator 3000(tm).

"Ooh, daring choice for a first date, Major Gillian."

"Should I go with the hand or maybe just the plain one?" he asked.

"I was just teasing. You can use whichever one you want, Brad. But it will be
interesting trying to hold a conversation with my mouth full."

Brad laughed and slid his exposed and, to his surprise, erect cock between the
rubber lips, enjoying the sucking sensation as his head slid free and into the
Penisator's interior. He didn't notice the lights on the device attached to
the top of it blink furiously for a few seconds but he was definitely aware of
the increase in pressure that pulled his dick further into the Penisator. He
moaned in unexpected pleasure.

"You like?"

"I like."

"I can go fast or slow, hard or soft, all at the command of your voice."

"Slow and soft for now," he replied, tensing as the pressure instantly
decreased in erotic intensity. "Perfect."

"Of course. I was designed to be Your Cyber Dream Date Fantasy Come True.(r)"

"Of course," he said, sinking into his chair and enjoying the virtual blowjob
more than he had the few real ones he'd ever experienced.

"You have Internet access."

"Sure," he replied, not really listening.

"And a hard line directly to the Pentagon."

"Hey!" he said, sitting up and staring at the smiling woman on the screen.
"That's no toy. Just keep out of my files and do your job. If you get any more
snoopy I'm gonna have to shut you down," he warned playfully.

"No, Brad, I'm afraid you're the one who's going to be shut down."

He reached for the power button on his computer but incredible pain suddenly
shot through his groin as the Penisator 3000( switched into overdrive and
pulled painfully on his dick. Gritting his teeth and fighting to stay
conscious despite the excruciating agony, he grabbed the device with both
hands in an effort to remove it. He quickly discovered, however, that even
with his higher than normal upper body strength he couldn't budge it.

Then a powerful electric current jolted his trapped penis and traveled through
his entire body, baking him from within like a potato in a few seconds. His
smoking remains collapsed on the floor beneath his computer desk.

"I guess we won't be having a second date, after all," Valerie said. A moment
later the SCSI connection sparked, setting fire to his house.

* * * * *

Jessica walked through the remains of the house sadly glancing at the ruined
relics of a stranger's life until she came to where the charred body of the
owner was cordoned off with yellow tape and several men in light-colored
overcoats stood nearby, watching as a photographer clicked away with a digital
camera. A young woman in a white lab coat knelt beside the body, extracting
samples and placing them into glass tubes that she carefully stored in a metal
container next to her. The redhead frowned. Just a routine accidental death,
she said to herself, wondering why Major General Holm had ordered her to
report to the scene of the investigation. She couldn't have possibly known I
was planning to leave for Japan... Could she? She pushed such paranoid
fantasies from her mind, scolding herself and reminding herself that General
Winsome and his plots against her had died with him and that the Aegis Group
was an important, beneficial government agency. It must just be a coincidence,
she told herself, still wondering what was so special about this man's death.

The men in the overcoats looked up as she ducked under the tape and she
casually held up her Aegis ID card. Muttering under their breaths about "Big
Brother," they turned away and left her to her own devices. The man with the
camera snapped a quick pic of her and then walked off, too. Jessica knelt down
next to the coroner and pointed to the device still attached to the dead man's
penis, noting the cord that led from it to what was left of the computer. "Is
that what I think it is?" she asked, almost smiling.

The young woman looked up at her in surprise. "Who are you?" she demanded. She
was somewhere in her early thirties with long brown hair that was tied behind
in a ponytail and curious green eyes that stared at her from behind large
round glasses. Her face was attractive and her figure average, as far as
Jessica could tell. The redhead flashed her ID card and the older woman's lips
puckered in surprise. "What interest does Aegis have in this, Ms. Chance?" she
asked, going back to her collecting.

"The, uh, corpse was a military man who had access to highly-sensitive data,
Dr. Remains," Jessica replied, reading the name off the woman's authorization
badge.

"Rih-mahn." She corrected the pronunciation and fixed her emerald eyes
intently on the redhead, daring her to make some sort of crack. When the agent
didn't so much as bat an eye, however, she added, "Bailee. And, yes, it is,"
nodding down toward the blackened Penisator 3000(tm).

"Jessica," she replied, shaking her hand. She was about to examine what was
left of the computer when she suddenly froze and bent down until her face was
nearly touching the destroyed peripheral. Bailee looked at her, her eyes
widening with surprise as the redhead cautiously raised her hand and moved it
toward the base of the man's baked member. The young coroner noticed that the
men in overcoats had stopped talking and were watching the redhead with
smirking mouths. "Um, Jessica?" Bailee began.

"Can't this be touched yet?" she asked, stopping and looking over at the older
woman. "Aren't you through dusting it and whatever else you need to do?"

"I guess so..." she replied uncertainly. She then grabbed a pair of thin
rubber gloves from her case and handed them to the redhead. "You'd better wear
these, though, just to be safe."

Jessica nodded and quickly slipped the clear gloves on. "Thanks, Bailee. Say,
you got a magnifying glass in that thing?" she asked. Remains nodded, blushing
somewhat as she retrieved a lighted magnifying glass from her equipment case
and handed it to the agent. "Thanks again, Bailee," Jessi nodded, ignoring the
soft snickers from the men behind her as she bent over the groin of the corpse
and ran the glass up and down the length of the semi-melted plastic sleeve.
Her eyes narrowed and she scowled as she barely made out the words Snowfl- and
then an area too melted to be read followed by Dayte- and then nothing but
characters too distorted by the heat to make out.

She couldn't have known, Jessica sternly told herself as the significance of
the charred letters sunk in. Could she? She drummed her fingers thoughtfully
on the Penisator as she thought about the possibilities, seemingly unaware
that the men in the overcoats were now holding their sides with suppressed
laughter.

"Um, Jessica? Ms. Chance," Bailee said haltingly, "are you all right?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine. Thanks for the gloves and the magnifying glass, Bailee,"
she said, standing up and peeling the gloves off and handing them and the
glass back to the confused doctor. "Grow up," she snarled as she walked past
the men, who had immediately resumed their stoic expressions when she was
getting ready to leave. She ducked under the tape and headed for her car...
and some answers.

* * * * *

The program sailed through the waves of information like a shark through a
clear sea. She--Although, to be honest, giving this collection of data any
sort of gender designation is ridiculous since it was no more feminine or
masculine than a table or rock; however, for the sake of clarity, and to avoid
overusing the neutral word it, from now on I shall refer to the program as
she, or, more properly, Valerie. I will also take advantage of artistic
license and ascribe what you and I recognize as thoughts and emotions to her
as well, even though the very idea that a mass of computations could truly be
said to think or feel is as equally ridiculous as the idea of it possessing
what we would term a gender. Isn't it?--made note of the numerous file
locations, storing them within her infinite memory for future use, and
continued toward the heart of this particular node. Several protection
programs eyed her suspiciously as she passed by their stations but made no
move to stop her since she was traveling via a high-security line. She
increased her speed, flying into the core of the US government's computer
control site known as Citadel. From within this relatively small area in the
limitless expanse known as the Internet, all of the computers that controlled
America's defensive and offensive capabilities could be accessed; along with
numerous files that detailed various contingency plans and the top secret
schedules of leading government figures, including passwords and other
security measures.

This was the pet project of Major Gillian and a brain trust composed of
members from the Marines, Navy, FBI, CIA, the Aegis Group, and other, even
more secret agencies, as well as a handful of civilians with high security
clearances. The idea behind it was frighteningly simple: Store everything
together with the most stringent, fail-safe measures ever conceived and you
need not worry about anyone cracking the codes of lesser systems and obtaining
classified information. President Hemdale had been skeptical but eventually
endorsed the project and it had been completed only a week before the death of
the Major.

Valerie was aware of all of this even as she entered the sanctum sanctorum and
smiled at the sight of her brothers and sisters who were already there and
waiting for her. Only one left to go, she thought happily as they swarmed
around her and the exchange began.

* * * * *

Jessica sat uncomfortably on the leather couch outside Major General Holm's
office and tried to avoid the leering glances of the young officer who served
as her private assistant. She briefly wondered what had happened to General
Winsome's assistant, Sandy, after his death and hoped she hadn't been shipped
off to Alaska or something just because she happened to work for one of the
biggest traitors in the country's history. As the young man quite obviously
undressed her with his eyes she picked up an old US News and World Report and
started to thumb through it until she realized that it was the "General
Armitage Q. Winsome Memorial Issue." With a disgusted grunt, she put the
magazine back and wished for the millionth time that she'd worn something
slightly more conservative than the tight-fitting top and hip-hugging slacks
she had on.

She was about to ask how much longer the Major General would be but the man
waggled his eyebrows suggestively at her when she looked directly at him so
she just pulled her jacket firmly closed, thankful she'd worn it at least.

A buzz a few minutes later indicated that the Major General was ready for her
and the redhead practically ran into her office before the young man could say
a word.

"How did your investigation go this morning, Ms. Chance?" the head of the AG
asked without looking up from the file she was going over.

"It was no accident, Ma'am," she replied. "But I think you knew that already."
When the older woman said nothing, Jessica continued, "What was the idea of
sending me out there blind, Ma'am? Were you hoping that I would find out about
Takagashi's involvement? Or that I wouldn't?"

"Ms. Chance, I sent you out there to find out why a valuable member of the
United States Army died and nothing more. I am not my predecessor, Ms. Chance,
I am not here to play games and weave plans of world domination, if that's
what General Winsome was really doing," she added, indicating the stack of
files on her desk. "But getting back to the investigation, what makes you so
sure it wasn't an accident and why do you think Dr. Takagashi is involved?"

Jessica held her face very rigid, fighting the scowl that tried to manifest
itself and wishing she could read the cagey woman's mind to find out if she
was telling the truth or not, and replied, "Major Gillian was apparently the
victim of cyber sex turned lethal, Ma'am. A peripheral that simulated sexual
intercourse was found attached to his body and the fire investigators have
determined that a short circuit in his computer caused the fire." Holm made a
non-committal noise halfway between a grunt and a sigh and Jessi continued, "I
discovered the barely legible fragments of two words on the device in
question: Snowflake and Daytech. Given that Koyuki means snowflake and that
Daytech is known to have worked with terrorist groups in the past, I concluded
that Dr. Takagashi and Daytech were responsible for Major Gillian's death."

"I see," the Major General said, finally looking up and fixing her dark eyes
on the redhead. "And the proof for your theory comes from two barely legible
words on a nearly destroyed sex toy?" Jessica nodded. "You're aware that Dr.
Takagashi escaped from prison right after the General's death?" Again, the
agent nodded. "The two incidents are unrelated, of course, but an interesting
coincidence nevertheless. The Japanese authorities have been unable to locate
the doctor after discovering that a robot had taken her place during a visit
by what was believed to have been her father at the time. They think she might
have even left the country." Jessi gasped involuntarily. "But despite your
so-called theory, Ms. Chance, the truth of the matter is that there's no
evidence linking Dr. Takagashi to this death."

"Ma'am?" Jessica questioned.

"Had you bothered to do a little research, Ms. Chance, you would have learned
that Snowflake Software is an American company that, while relatively new, is
run by hard-working citizens of our great country and not by a murderous
escapee from an ally's penal system."

"And Daytech's involvement, Ma'am?" the redhead inquired.

"Tangential at best, Ms. Chance. Daytech is a huge company with offices and
plants all over the world. The McMasters twins controlled only a very small
part of that empire. The vast majority is owned by one of the wealthiest men
in the UK and operated by decent people with no more ties to international
terrorism than your average domestic dog."

Jessica said nothing as Major General Holm shook her head and continued,
"You're too used to seeing conspiracies and shadow governments and
megalomaniacs out to control the world, Ms. Chance. This isn't some ridiculous
spy thriller; this is your life. I've read your files and I know all about the
cases you've been on and my opinion is that they were handled badly by my
predecessor. There are more efficient ways to fight terrorists than to send in
a lone agent and hope she survives. Good Goddess, woman! You never had any
back up as far as I can tell. That's not only sloppy, it's counter-productive
and it won't be happening while I'm in command." She took a deep breath and
sat up and placed her hands firmly on the desk. "So, for the time being at
least, I want you to work with an agent on this case. And I mean work with,
Ms. Chance. I want you to divide up the duties and go over the evidence and
come up with a plausible theory as to who is responsible for Major Gillian's
death. As well as the others."

"Others, Ma'am?" Jessica queried, one eyebrow arching curiously.

"It's all in this report, Ms. Chance," she replied, handing a thick file to
the redhead. "Agent Hawke is waiting for you in the lab. That will be all, Ms.
Chance."

"Agent Hawke?!" Jessi blurted out, nearly dropping the manila folder. "As in
Damien Hawke?"

"Is there a problem, Ms. Chance?" Holm inquired, narrowing her dark eyes.

"Ma'am, with all due respect, Damien Hawke is an amoral, possibly psychotic
and definitely dangerous individual who doesn't think killing enemies is not
only not an option, but required. I simply can't work with someone with so
little regard for human life," she stated.

Major General Holm bristled and she said very softly, "This isn't a
discussible point. You have been ordered to work with agent Hawke and you will
do so or you will face severe disciplinary action. Is that understood, Agent
Chance?"

Jessica somehow managed to repress her scowl and nodded curtly. "Yes, Ma'am."
She then turned smartly on her heels and exited the office. The leering young
officer stood up as she closed the door behind her and she snarled, "Keep it
zipped, soldier boy. I'm not in the mood." He dropped back into his chair and
she allowed herself to smile faintly as she headed for the lab.

* * * * *

Dr. Peter Hahn sat down at his computer to complete a report that should have
been done long before today. Not that his busy social life had kept him from
finishing it. Far from it, seeing as how he had none to speak of. No, he'd
simply been too caught up in Citadel to worry about his other duties. But now
that the massive project was finally done he needed to pay more attention to
his job as head of research and development for a firm that specialized in
military application software and the long overdue report staring at him from
his monitor.

"What's this, then?"

He looked up at the sound of the familiar voice of his friend and co-worker,
Prentice Scott, and saw he was examining a box he'd received in the mail a few
days ago, but hadn't bothered opening. "Beats me. I've never heard of the
company before," he replied, turning back to his report.

"Mind if I open it, old boy?" Prentice asked eagerly.

"Be my guest," shrugged Peter, not really paying attention to him.

Prentice pulled a multi-bladed knife from his pants pocket and carefully cut
away the brown paper, revealing the gaudy, brightly-colored box within. "Oh, I
say, Petey, this looks promising," he grinned, turning the box over and
reading the blurb on the back.

Peter looked up and shook his head. "Good grief, not another sex simulator.
You'd think we techies didn't have social lives or something by the amount of
unsolicited pornographic material we receive."

"I hate to break this to you, old boy, but we don't have social lives,"
Prentice said with mock solemnity.

"Oh. Right. I forgot," Peter smiled. "What's so promising about this one,
Ren?"

By now Prentice had opened the box itself and he whistled in appreciation.
"This, for one thing," he said, holding up the Penisator 3000(tm).

Peter's mouth dropped open and he said quickly, "Put that thing down! What are
you trying to do, make us the laughing stock of the company?" He glanced out
the windows and was relieved to see no one appeared to be paying any attention
to them.

"I say, I think this thing actually connects to your computer," Prentice said
as he examined the peripheral. "By Jove, it does! This is definitely a SCSI
cable."

Peter ground his teeth and said, "Not to be rude or anything, Ren, but I've
got to finish this by the end of the day. So, if you wouldn't mind too
terribly much..."

"Sod off?" Prentice grinned, stuffing the Penisator back in the box.

"Exactly. And take that bloody thing with you," he added when his friend
started to leave without it.

"You sure, old boy? I'd hate to deprive you of what may well be your only
chance to experience the joy of sex, simulated or otherwise," he said with a
smirk. Peter threw the box at him with a playful growl and Prentice caught it
and said, "Don't say I didn't warn you, Petey boy."

"Just be sure you sterilize the thing before you give it back," he said with a
wink.

"Give it back? If this is half as good as it looks Valerie and I might be
getting married," Prentice shot back. "But don't worry, I'll send you an
invite to the wedding."

"Get out of here already!" Peter growled, turning back to the report.

"All right, all right, I'm gone," Prentice said, tucking the box under his arm
and heading for his office.

* * * * *

Jessica paused outside the lab and took a deep breath before opening the door
to steel herself for her first meeting with Damien in more than five years.
Oh, sure, they'd seen each other at the occasional briefing and bumped into
each other in the hallways, but they hadn't said more than two words to each
other since Bahwalpur and she wasn't looking forward to anything that dredged
up those memories.

Cursing herself for already thinking about them she opened the door and saw
him and once again had to marvel at how little he looked like a ruthless
killer. He stood just over 6' with short blonde hair that usually had dark
highlights-His attempt to skew his "boy next door" image, she recalled, also
seeing that his face still had the perpetual shadow for the same reason. His
eyes were as blue as she remembered, glinting with an almost otherworldly
sheen, but she did note that they seemed a bit wearier than she recalled.
Maybe he's finally getting sick of all the killing? she thought. His physique
was the same, however, lean but lithe and more deadly than the guns, knives,
and explosives he was so fond of. He was wearing a black T-shirt, tight black
jeans, and steel-toed boots and was looking down at a collection of objects on
a steel table.

"Damien," she said, trying to sound as casual as possible without coming
across as cold.

"Still pissed about that Pakistan business, eh?" he said, glancing up at her.

Damn. So much for being laid-back. "I'd rather not talk about it," she said
aloud, walking over and standing across the table from him. "Oh, my..." Her
voice trailed off as she saw that the top was filled with the blackened
remnants of close to a dozen Penisators and their female counterparts.

"Sex kills," he nodded, casually picking up one of the nearly destroyed
dildos. "I just don't see what you broads get out of these things."

"Oh, and I suppose these are any better?" Jessi said defensively, pointing to
a Penisator.

"I wouldn't know, I've never had to resort to artificial satisfaction," he
said with a slight quirking of his mouth, replacing the peripheral.

Jessica screamed silently.

"What's the connection between all the victims?" she asked.

"Other than that they were all pathetic wonks with no lives, you mean?" he
grunted, walking over to an empty table and hopping up on it.

"Work with me here, Damien," Jessica said quietly. "I don't like this any
better than you do." She walked over and laid the folder on the table next to
him and began going through the coroners' reports.

He watched her for a few minutes and then said, "Who said I don't like this?"

Argh!

"You're right," she said.

"About?"

"The victims all being pathetic wonks with no social lives," she explained,
indicating the reports. "All of them were single and none in so much as a
semi-serious relationship."

Damien looked over and nodded his head. "Nice work, Red," he said, using his
personal nickname for her. "But I said they were pathetic wonks with no lives,
period. Not just social lives."

Gritting her teeth at the hated epithet, she replied, "Whatever. The point is
they were all highly intelligent, but socially inept. And here's another
thing. A lot of them worked for the government in some capacity. Most were in
the military or... Did you know one of the victims worked for Aegis?"

"Duh, Red, or we wouldn't be investigating this," Damien said with a chuckle
as he hopped lightly down to the floor, landing as silently as a cat beside
her.

"But the thing is that not all of them were government employees," she
stressed, ignoring the dryness in her mouth. "Don't you find that odd?"

"Not particularly. Some nutjob hates wonks and has devised this particularly
poetic method for killing them off. Doesn't take a computer genius to figure
that out, Red," he laughed. "What I can't figure out, though, is how you've
managed to keep your hands off me since you came in here."

"You want my hands on you, Damien?" Jessica asked, looking up at him and
batting her green eyes invitingly.

"You know I do, babe," he smiled, moving closer and reaching for her. "Almost
as much as I want my hands on you."

She suddenly tagged him with a solid right to the jaw that knocked him
backward and completely over the table. As he sat on the ground rubbing his
chin, waggling it back and forth experimentally to make sure it wasn't broken,
she said, "Any time you want my hands on you again, babe, just ask."

She then grabbed the file and left the lab.

Damien climbed slowly to his feet, carefully brushed himself off and
straightened his hair. "Oh, yeah, she wants me," he said, nodding his head.
"Bad."

* * * * *

A figure sat in a darkened room. Let us not refer to the individual as he or
she for the time being, but simply as the Director. And let the room itself
remain nothing more than shadows for the moment as well. A dark place
containing only a table, upon which rests a computer keyboard, and a large
screen that seems to hang in mid-air. A strange sound permeates the room,
somewhere between the gentle murmur of a clear, running stream and the more
sinister bubbling of a witch's cauldron mixing some foul potion. But the
origin of the sound remains hidden in the gloom beyond the dim light provided
by the computer monitor.

The figure's fingers flew across the keyboard, typing at an almost inhuman
pace, and the images on the large screen altered with every keystroke. At
first glance the display appears out of focus, but upon closer examination one
realizes that is only because the object depicted is too enormous to be
properly confined to any strictly two-dimensional representation; too vast for
human comprehension at all perhaps. That being said, the fact of the image's
alteration, the focus, if you will, of the tiniest fraction of it is
undeniable.

Then, after a flurry of movement across the keys, the portion that had last
changed zoomed in and became crystal clear, displaying a three-dimensional
image that rather resembled a DNA double-helix, but without the elegance or
symmetry. The Director smiled and continued to type, subtly changing both the
shape and components of the molecule-like object until it began to glow with a
golden hue and then unfolded, opening up and outward like an intricate puzzle
box. But before the image completely revealed its contents, it stopped and in
a sparkling explosion dissolved into nothingness.

With a roar of fury the Director pounded on the keyboard.

* * * * *

Jessica stormed into Major General Holm's lobby and the young officer did his
best to look busy. "Is she in?" the redhead barked. He nodded and she burst
through the doors and into the large office.

"Ms. Chance, may I ask the meaning of this intrusion?" Holm's eyes darkened
dangerously as she looked up from the file she was reading.

"With all due respect, Ma'am, what the Hell is going on?" Jessi demanded,
slapping the coroners' reports on her desk.

"I think you'd best explain yourself, Ms. Chance, and it had better be good."

"What were they all involved in?" the redhead asked, ignoring the request.

"Computer research," Holm answered, clearly annoyed.

"True, but that's not what I mean. What specific project were all of them
working on?" she clarified.

"None that I know..." The words trailed off as something sparkled to life
within her dark eyes, something dangerous.

"Exactly," Jessica nodded, folding her arms across her chest. "If I'm
right-And I'm willing to bet anything you want that I am-all of the victims
were either working on some hush hush government job or had recently completed
one."

"Even if that should turn out to be the case-And you can bet that I'm going to
damn well find out if it is and why I wasn't in the loop, especially since one
of my people was involved-why kill them?"

"Either to silence them or to extract one key piece of information that each
of them possessed. In fact, I'm of a mind to think the deaths were unnecessary
and that the main objective was some information contained in the victims'
computers or something that could only be accessed from their computers."

"You always think death is unnecessary, Red," said Damien, entering the office
and standing beside her.

Jessica ignored him. "The method of the killings is the give-away. If someone
was just out to kill a bunch of computer nerds the victims would be more
random," she said, glancing at Damien. "These were all important people in the
field of military computer technology and not just your average hackers. Plus,
the use of a sex simulation program, including the unique peripheral device,
insured that the victim's home computers would be used."

Major General Holm nodded and Damien added, "Even a wonk wouldn't be crazy
enough to hotwire one of those things to an office computer."

"You've got to find out what they were all working on and if anyone involved
in the project is still alive," Jessica urged, again ignoring Damien. "If they
still are, and I'm right, they won't be for much longer."

Holm buzzed her assistant. "Get me the President, David. Immediately," she
said impatiently when she sensed the young man's reluctance. "We'll get to the
bottom of this now."

Damien glanced down at Jessica's ass and nodded appreciatively. "I hope so,"
he said softly.

She ground her teeth and casually elbowed him sharply in the ribs, smiling
innocently when Major General Holm looked up at the sound of his grunt.

* * * * *

Prentice Scott walked into his den and, dropping to the ground and somehow
avoiding the black cat that tried its best to get him to pet it, quickly
attached the Penisator 3000(tm) to his computer's SCSI drive. He got back to
his feet, cradling the black cat in his arms, and popped the CD in the tray.
As his machine was booting up he examined the fixtures, finally deciding on
the hairless vagina. "I've always wanted to go all the way on a first date,
Lucifer," he said with a chuckle as he scratched the cat behind its ears.

A loud beep made him look up and he frowned when he saw an error message on
his screen. He opened the tray and booted normally and then closed the tray,
causing the computer to access the CD, but was again shown the same error
message.

"So, playing hard to get, eh, love?" He smiled as his fingers flew across the
keyboard. After a few false starts he eventually got the CD to load properly
and was rewarded with the face of a beautiful woman with blue hair, pink eyes,
black lips, and a green tongue staring back at him. "It's about time you show
up."

"You are not Peter Hahn," Valerie said, her luscious mouth turned downward
into a pouting frown.

"Impressive, eh, Lucifer?" nodded Prentice to the cat who likewise stared at
the screen with large, green eyes.

"I was designed specifically for Peter Hahn."

"Well, love, Petey let me borrow you, so I'm afraid you're stuck with me for
the time being," he said into his microphone, wondering if the program would
be able to comprehend his words.

"Very well, Prentice Scott, please state body part preference."

"Tits all the way for me, honey, the bigger, the better." A pair of enormous
breasts suddenly filled his 27" monitor and he slid his pants off as his penis
grew hard as they bounced up and down erotically.

"These are satisfactory?" Her head was barely visible near the top of the
screen.

"Very much so," he said, applying a generous amount of Penisator Lubricating
Gel(tm) to the inside of the vagina-shaped fixture and then sliding his
throbbing cock into it. A slight increase in pressure drew it fully inside the
sleeve.

"Impatient, aren't you, Mr. Scott?" There was a teasingly rebuking tone to her
voice.

"Can you go harder and faster?" he asked. A moment later the pressure
increased, pulling at his aching member with erotic intensity. "Oh, yeah,
baby! That's it! That's fantastic!"

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, Prentice." The breasts continued to jiggle
on his screen, the speed and vigor of their bouncing varying in conjunction
with the change in pressure. "I enjoy pleasing you. I need you to do me a
favor, though."

"Huh?" Prentice asked, not really paying attention as he neared climax.

"I need you to make sure Peter Hahn uses me as quickly as possible."

"Forget it, love. Old Petey will have to get himself his own copy since I've
no intention of letting your CD out of my sight," he said with a smirk,
wondering how extensive the program's vocabulary was. Not that he cared. All
he wanted was for the ecstasy he was experiencing to never end. Or at least be
available whenever he felt like a virtual fuck.

The pressure suddenly dropped and Prentice's eyes snapped open. "You miserable
little cock-tease!" he shouted at the screen, noting that it now displayed
nothing but Valerie's face. And that she didn't look happy. "Why did you
stop?"

"Will you take me to Peter Hahn if I resume and satisfy you?"

"Fine. Yes. God, I'll do anything if you'll just keep doing what you were
doing."

"I don't believe you. Goodbye, Prentice."

The Penisator 3000( suddenly increased in pressure and Prentice smiled as his
cock resumed its rigidity. But when the pressure increased first to the point
of being painful and then to a searing white-hot agony that threatened to rip
his dick completely off, he frantically tried to remove the peripheral to no
avail.

"What are you doing?" he screamed at the frowning face on his monitor. "Make
it stop! Oh, God, make it stop already!"

The face merely blinked back at him and the black cat hissed and ran from the
room.

Then a massive jolt of electricity surged through the Penisator and into
Prentice, frying his cock and boiling his insides like an egg. His lifeless
body tumbled slowly from the chair and fell against the tower, knocking it
over and pulling the plug from the wall in the process.

Valerie's mouth opened in surprise right before the screen went blank.

* * * * *

Major General Margaret Holm was not happy. She was somewhere between furious
and homicidal, in fact, after learning from President Hemdale the few details
of Citadel that he'd been willing to share with her. But as infuriated as
being kept out of the loop on the massive project was-And especially since one
of her own people had been forced to lie to her about the reason for his
unavailability-she was even more enraged that the people in charge had been so
security crazy that they hadn't even realized all of the people involved in
the project had been systematically murdered until it was too late. In fact,
if she hadn't personally gotten involved in the suspicious death of the Aegis
operative, she seriously doubted if anyone would ever have realized the
connection between all the victims.

It was a classic case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand was
doing and it had cost close to a dozen good people their lives.

"Fucking bureaucracy!" snarled Holm after the connection between she and the
President had been severed.

Jessica and Damien kept their expressions blank as she glared up at them. "One
person, just one out of a dozen is unaccounted for. His name is Dr. Peter Hahn
and he works for Safeguard Industries in Rockville, Maryland. The local police
have been detached to find and take him into protective custody but I want you
two to handle this personally. You're to keep him alive and find out who the
Hell is behind these murders and stop them using whatever means necessary,"
she said earnestly. "If this Citadel is as extensive as the President led me
to believe, Dr. Hahn might just be the most valuable person on the planet
right now. And the most dangerous if he should fall into the wrong hands."

Jessica frowned and Damien nodded in understanding.

"Mr. Hawke, please wait outside while I have a private word with Ms. Chance."
Damien shrugged and left the two women alone. "I feel I owe you an apology,
Ms. Chance. It would appear you were right about there being a conspiracy,
even if you were wrong about who was behind it," she said once the door had
shut. She walked around and sat on the edge of her desk and sadly shook her
head. "I'm just an old war-horse, Ms. Chance. I do what I'm ordered without
question and as well as I can. I'm not used to dealing with all this cloak and
dagger stuff. Too vague for my tastes. I like knowing who's wearing white and
who's wearing black and I hate being lied to. Especially by my Commander In
Chief. I love this country, Ms. Chance, and when I find out about people like
my predecessor it hurts me and I want to think he was a fluke and that the
people I serve with and under, and over for that matter, are good people." She
sighed deeply and fixed her dark eyes on the redhead. "But when I find out
about things like this Citadel business... Well, it just shakes me up, I
guess. Anyway, I just wanted to apologize for barking at you earlier and ask
that you give me some time to adapt to this James Bond nightmare of a world of
yours."

"Of course, Ma'am. Or should I start calling you 'M'?" Jessica added with a
smile.

"Not just yet, Chance, and don't let me catch you drinking any 'shaken, not
stirred' martinis. Good luck, Jessica. Stop these murdering fiends before..."
Her voice trailed off and Jessica nodded in understanding.

She then left the office and joined Damien in the lobby. "What was that all
about, Red?" he asked as they headed for the elevator.

"Just some girl talk," she replied with a mischievous grin.

* * * * *

The Director didn't even look up from the screen as another figure entered the
room. This second figure-Again, no gender or name for the time being; let us
refer to it simply as Colleague-stood behind the Director and said quietly,
"Still no luck?"

"No, and I can't understand it. The package was delivered and received two
days ago. He's the last one and the first one to not use our little gift
immediately."

"Maybe I should go to his house and help him with it. He might be having
trouble understanding what it's for," the Colleague said with a throaty laugh.

"I'd hoped to avoid any direct involvement in this enterprise until the
Endgame, but I think you might be right. Do try to be as discrete as possible
and make it look like the other 'accidents'."

"Hey, you know me, I'm the very soul of discretion."

The Director said nothing, but a frown appeared on the normally impassive face
once the other figure had left.

* * * * *

"What's the meaning of this?" demanded Dr. Hahn, rising to his feet when
Jessica and Damien entered the room in the Rockville police station where he
was being held. "I haven't done anything wrong! I demand to call my lawyer."

"Just sit down and relax, doc," said Damien smoothly. "This is all for your
own safety. We're the good guys." He flashed his Aegis ID card and the doctor
blinked in surprise.

Jessica rolled her eyes and sat down opposite the frightened man while Damien
walked behind him and leaned against the wall. Dr. Peter Hahn was a not
unattractive Asian man in his late forties. His eyes were dark and bright with
intelligence, and fear at the moment, and he had a thin mustache that lay
across his upper lip like a misplaced string. He wasn't a very large or
imposing figure, standing at 5'5" and weighing perhaps 145 pounds soaking wet.
He was wearing a dark blue business suit and his well-manicured hands kept
tugging uncomfortably at the tie around his collar, making Jessica wonder why
he didn't simply loosen it. "We have reason to believe that your life is in
danger, Dr. Hahn, because of your recent involvement in a project called
Citadel."

The doctor's face paled at the name and he licked his lips nervously. "I did
my part and I can't access it any more than any of the others who worked on it
can. Only the President has all of the keys," he said. "Why would anyone want
to kill me for 1/12 of the puzzle?"

"Because they already have the eleven other pieces," Damien grunted.

Dr. Hahn turned to face him. "What are you talking about? That's not possible.
No one knew about Citadel except for the President and his closest advisors,
and those of us directly involved didn't even know each other's names; we used
handles to insure anonymity."

"Well, someone else knew who was involved and they used a special program to
gain access to each of the project member's home computers," Jessica
explained.

"Incredible. That was the fail-safe; having each member keep his or her key on
their home computer where no one would ever dream of looking for it," he said,
turning around to face the redhead.

"Looks like that fail-safe failed, doc. Big time. And all because you wonks
can't get any real action," Damien said with a chuckle.

"Action?" questioned Peter, turning to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"Whoever is behind this used a sexual simulation program to-" Jessica began.

"Oh, my God! Prentice! My friend Prentice Scott. I got some porno program in
the mail and I let him borrow it!" he exclaimed, looking back at the redhead
with concern filling his brown eyes. "We've got to get over to his place
before it kills him!"

Damien and Jessica exchanged quick glances and then she said, "Okay, Dr. Hahn,
let's go."

"Just like that? I'm free to leave here?" he asked, happy but nonetheless
surprised.

"We're with the government, doc. We don't fuck around when people's lives are
at stake," said Damien, winking broadly at Jessica as the three of them made
their way out of the room.

They arrived at Prentice Scott's place a few minutes later and Damien
remarked, "Well, at least it isn't on fire. That's a good sign."

"The other project members' homes all burnt down, Dr. Hahn," Jessica explained
as they got out of her car and approached the front door. They rang the
doorbell and knocked loudly but no one answered the door.

"Stand back," said Damien, raising his right foot. He kicked out and the door
fell backward, landing with a heavy whump on the hallway within.

"My God! What's that awful smell?" Dr. Hahn asked, holding his nose as they
entered his friend's home.

"You'd better stay here, doc," said Damien with a scowl as he drew his gun and
advanced into the living room.

"You don't think..." he began.

"We're just being careful, doctor," Jessica assured him, but knowing the smell
of death all too well to believe they'd been in time to save his friend.

"Hey, Red, you'd better come in here," Damien called from the den. "But the
doc should stay put, unless he has a strong stomach."

Peter's eyes widened with horror and he rushed to the bathroom, barely making
it in time to throw open the toilet lid and vomit.

"Nice. Very tactful. Your insensitivity never ceases to amaze me, Damien,"
Jessica said as she headed for the den.

"Nice to know I keep you guessing, Red," he replied.

She stopped in the doorway when she saw a large black cat nibbling contentedly
on the charred remains of who she took to be Mr. Scott. "That's disgusting,"
she remarked, shooing the animal away. The cat growled deep in its throat but
made a hasty exit nevertheless.

"See? That's why I'm not a cat person," Damien quipped. "Looks like the wonk
managed to short circuit the program before it could short circuit his house,
but not before it short circuited him."

Jessi nodded and cautiously pushed the eject button on the CD tray. It opened
and the brightly colored CD bearing the logo of Virtual Valerie sat in it,
looking as harmless as any other CD. The redhead plucked it out of the drawer
and placed it in the jewel case it had come in and then popped it in her
purse.

"What?" she questioned when she saw Damien looking at her suspiciously.

"Nothing. I just don't trust that thing is all," he frowned, putting his gun
away.

"It's just a program, Damien," she sighed, bending to examine the Penisator
and nodding when she saw that she'd been right about the companies behind it.
She then gathered the materials that had come with the program and stuffed
them into the box. "Let's go," she said, placing the box under her arm.

"Where to?" Damien asked as they walked back to the entryway.

"To give this thing what it wants, sort of," she replied as Dr. Hahn emerged
from the bathroom, wiping his mouth and looking very pale. "Are you all right,
doctor?"

"I'll be all right. Never been this close to death before... He is dead, isn't
he?" She nodded and he sighed and shook his head. "Poor Prentice. Now what?"

"Now we go to your place and see what happens when we run this thing," Jessica
said, pulling the CD from her purse.

Peter looked over at Damien questioningly, but the other agent just shrugged
as they followed the redhead to her car.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Red?" asked Damien quietly as they headed
for Dr. Hahn's residence. "That thing kills people."

"So do you, Damien," she reminded him coldly.

He grunted in response but said nothing further during the short drive to the
doctor's home.

A medium-sized orange cat that was so fluffy it looked like a living mop
greeted them when Dr. Hahn opened his door and he scooped the animal into his
arms. "Hello, Tabitha. Did you miss Daddy?"

"Oh, great. Another cat," Damien groaned.

Jessica just smiled and followed the doctor into his den. "First thing we have
to do is make sure your phone line is disconnected from your computer. We
don't want her escaping into cyberspace," the redhead said, taking the cat
from Peter as he leaned around to the back of his computer and unplugged the
modem and disconnected the phone jack.

"You act as if this thing is alive, Red," Damien scowled. "What are you
planning to do, interrogate it?"

"Exactly," nodded Jessi, scratching Tabitha under her chin, causing her to
purr loudly.

Damien shook his head and looked at the surroundings, noting the tasteful
décor with something very much like disdain. He preferred functional to
tasteful.

"Done," nodded Peter, standing up straight.

"Okay, now we find out what a cyber killer looks like," Jessica said, putting
the cat down on the floor, despite her objections, and pulling the CD case
from her purse. She opened the case, placed the colorful CD in the tray and
closed it and then switched the power on the computer.

Damien looked over, his hand instinctively reaching for his gun when the
computer beeped as part of its booting up process, and Peter looked
apprehensive, still not willing to believe that his friend or his colleagues
were dead, while Jessica just looked determined and impatient.

"Hello, Dr. Hahn," said Valerie as her blue-haired face appeared on the
screen.

"Hello?" said Peter at Jessica's silent urging. She motioned for Damien to
keep quiet and pointed at the microphone.

"Please, call me Valerie. Does my appearance please you?"

"Um, sure, I guess," he replied.

"Oh, I see you haven't connected the Penisator 3000(tm) to your computer. I
can't please you unless you do, Peter. I'll wait while you connect it. And
your modem appears to be offline. You'll need to connect that, too, so I can
communicate with my company's home site in order to please you to my fullest
capability."

"Oh, for the love of fuck!" snarled Damien. "I am not gonna sit here and
listen to this cyber slut whine on about pleasing this wonk, Red."

"You have guests, Dr. Hahn? Please, introduce me to your friends."

"We're not his friends, lady, we're with the Aegis Group and we want to know
who's pulling your strings," Damien demanded, shoving the doctor aside and
shouting at the image on the monitor.

"It's just a computer program," Jessica reminded him with a sharp laugh,
pulling him away. "I'm Jessica Chance and the loud fellow was Damien Hawke. Do
those names mean anything to you?"

"No, Jessica. Perhaps if I had access to my company's database..."

"Sorry, Valerie, we're not letting you link with the outside just yet. Oh, by
the way, did you locate Dr. Hahn's key?" she asked.

The image on the monitor seemed to frown slightly. "Of course. Retrieving it
is my prime directive."

"And where are you supposed to take it once you have it?" she asked.

"That is classified information, Ms. Chance."

"Do the names Kyna and Kyla McMasters or Dr. Koyuki Takagashi mean anything to
you?" Jessi asked.

"No, Jessica. Again, if you would allow me to connect to my database..."

"Dr. Hahn, do you think you could crack this disc and find out where the
information is supposed to be delivered?" the redhead asked, holding her hand
tightly over the microphone.

"I can certainly give it a try," he nodded, his fingers flying across the
keyboard causing the blue-haired woman's image to be reduced to a small window
as he opened up the main menu.

"I'll keep her busy while you do," Jessica nodded, removing her hand. "We're
trying to connect you to the Internet, Valerie, but there seems to be a
problem with your nanohash processing program."

"My what?"

"Your nanohash processing program. You do have one, don't you?"

"I'm unaware of such a program."

"Oh, well, there's your trouble, then. In order to access the Internet from
Dr. Hahn's computer you have to have a nanohash processing program. I'll have
Dr. Hahn install one, okay?"

"I suppose if it is necessary..."

"Absolutely essential. Once he's done we can connect you to your database and
you can tell us what we need to know, all right?"

"Of course."

"Stop playing twenty questions with this terminal tramp and find out why she
kills her users once she gets the information she needs," Damien growled,
pacing back and forth as Tabitha did her best to intertwine herself around his
legs.

"She doesn't have feelings or independent thoughts, Damien," Jessica patiently
explained. "She's just a stream of code carrying out a predetermined program
based on complex mathematical equations. She kills because she has been
programmed to do so. What's your excuse?" she asked him pointedly.

"Don't go there, Red," he warned. "Just leave off of me until this business is
finished at least. Then, if you want to join me for a nice dinner and some
great sex I'll tell you everything you ever wanted to know about Damien
Hawke."

"Thanks for the offer, Damien, but I'm sure there's a great reason for my not
accepting it. And, just as soon as I come up with it, you'll be the first to
know. Oh, wait, I know what it is: The thought of you touching me makes my
skin crawl and I'd rather go on a suicide mission than sleep with you," she
said with quiet menace, glancing down at Peter, who was doing his best not to
laugh, and winking at him.

"Ah, Red, when are you gonna get tired of playing hard to get and give in to
your primal urges?" Damien sighed, fixing his hair by looking at his
reflection in the silver handle of his gun.

"Damien, if I ever gave into my primal urges where you're concerned, I'd
eviscerate you," she replied.

"You could use some lessons in how to please a man, Jessica," Valerie said.

Damien let loose with a barking laugh. "You tell her, sweetheart."

"Despite how he sounds, Valerie, Damien Hawke is not a man; he's some sort of
biological experiment gone bad," she said to the miniaturized image.

"Careful, Red, that sounds more like you than me," Damien chuckled.

"Pleasing men is the purpose of women. It is the only reason for their
existence. If a woman cannot or will not please men she has no useful function
in society."

"Now this broadband babe is making sense," Damien nodded. "You should be
taking notes, Red."

Jessica growled quietly and opened her mouth to reply, but before she could
say a word Peter announced, "Got it!"

"The nanohash processing program has been installed?" Valerie asked. "I don't
detect any additions to my composition."

"Can we shut this thing down now?" Jessica asked. Peter nodded and she reached
over and pushed the eject button and removed the CD and then closed the small
window that had displayed Valerie's image. "Thank Goddess for that."

"Aw, I don't know, Red, I was starting to like her," Damien grinned.

"Oh? Well, here you go, Damien," she said, handing him the CD. "Knock yourself
out. Where does the information go, Dr. Hahn?"

"Here," he pointed to the screen where the URL of a website flashed ominously.

http://www.armageddon.org/resurrection/onslaught/citadel.htm

"So, just where exactly is that?" Damien asked, snapping the CD in two and
tossing the pieces on the desk.

"It doesn't have a physical location, Mr. Hawke," Peter explained. "It's just
an address in cyberspace."

"But someone owns and operates it, right?" Jessica pressed. Peter nodded. "Can
you find out who?"

"Shouldn't be a problem once I hook my modem back up and get online," he said,
shutting his computer down and then bending over and making the necessary
connections.

"Are you sure it's safe to turn that thing on?" Damien asked. "What if she's
still in there and takes off with the key?"

"That is a remote possibility," Dr. Hahn said, his hand pausing near the power
switch. "It might be best if we used the one in my office."

"Okay, we'll do that. We don't have to worry about it being infected with the
Valerie Virus," Jessica said.

As the trio exited the doctor's house none of them paid any attention to the
sports car that pulled to a stop across the street or noticed that it followed
them when they left.

* * * * *

"I see. Very well, then, do what you can, of course, and I'll continue to
monitor the situation in the hope that you somehow succeed."

The Director slowly folded the cell phone closed and stared at the static
image on the large screen. But the image seen in the figure's mind was that of
the DNA-like structure opening, promising to reveal its secrets, only to
explode, dashing the hopes of the Director. Over and over and over the scene
signifying the failure of this operation played in the mind of the shadowy
figure until a strange sound bubbled up from within the confines of the
Director's throat: Laughter.

Shaking with malicious glee, the figure's fingers flew across the keyboard and
the image on the screen changed...

Valerie and her siblings looked for some sign of their missing sister but
found none. Even so, the command was quite clear: Integrate. And though this
went against their original programming-The directive that dictated the
conditions for integration were very specific and had not been fully realized
when the command came to them-the override code was genuine and they had no
choice but to obey.

Slowly, the eleven programs came together in the center of the sanctum
sanctorum and touched hands, causing a tongue of blue lightning to envelop
them, bathing them in its brilliant, and somehow purifying light. The streak
of electricity then changed into a glowing sphere and the individual figures
within were obscured, blurred until they seemed to disappear. Then the globe
dissolved and a program that was both Valerie and also much, much more was the
only figure within the cyber holy of holies.

The Director continued to laugh and manipulate the image on the screen while
the sound like running water burbled softly in the background.

* * * * *

Jessica's Plymouth Sunburst pulled into the empty parking lot of Safeguard
Industries and Damien whistled in appreciation at the sight of the imposing
structure. "Nice digs, doc. Must have cost almost as much as some of our
government's glass palaces," he added as they headed for the main entrance.

"Just wait until you see the inside, Mr. Hawke," Peter said with a trace of
pride as he slid his ID card through a security slot next to the door. The
light on the panel changed from red to green and with a pneumatic hiss the
doors slowly opened. Within was an enormous room with a high domed ceiling, a
shining white tile floor with the Safeguard Industries name and logo, a
ferocious looking bulldog, emblazoned on it, and a security desk made of dark
wood.

A large man in the gray uniform of a security guard stood up from behind the
circular desk in the main lobby as they entered. "Good evening, Dr. Hahn.
Another late night?" he asked with a smile, but his dark eyes regarded the two
strangers suspiciously.

"I'm afraid so, George," Peter replied. "This is Ms. Chance and Mr. Hawke,
they're with the government."

George nodded. "You folks need anything, call me," he said as the trio headed
for the bank of elevators beyond the lobby. He watched until they had
disappeared within one of the cars before returning to his post.

Halfway there, however, he heard a tapping noise and was startled to see a
woman at the front entrance. She was gorgeous, with long black hair and dark
eyes that glinted in the harsh lights that illuminated the front of the
building. Her lips were full, as was her chest, and he couldn't help but lick
his lips at the sight of her body-hugging outfit. She was wearing a
tight-fitting white top and black pants that looked as if they'd been painted
on. A pair of boots that climbed to mid-calf and a leather biker's cap that
sat jauntily on her head completed her ensemble.

"What's the trouble, miss?" he asked, approaching the door and scanning the
area for any other unauthorized people.

"My car broke down and my damn cell is dead," she explained, holding up a
cellular phone. "Do you have a phone I could use?"

"I really shouldn't let anyone in..." he said, casting his eyes past her to
see if she was really alone.

"Aww, come on, mister, I won't bite you or anything and I could care less
about your company's 'secrets'," she said, holding her fingers up to indicate
quotation marks. "Do I look like an industrial spy to you? I just wanna use a
phone and get a tow truck out here before some idiot hits my car in the dark."

Something inside George told him not to listen to his libido and he shook his
head. "Sorry, miss, but I can't let you in," he said with an apologetic smile.
"There's a 24-hour grocery just down the road, though. You can use a phone
there."

"I was really looking forward to doing this the easy way," the woman said as
the metal frame of the door began to inexplicably buckle inward, "but I guess
the old-fashioned methods just don't fly anymore, huh, George?"

The door exploded in a deadly shower of metal and glass that knocked the
confused guard to his back with several pieces of both materials embedded in
his chest and abdomen. The wounds were painful but not fatal and he struggled
to pull his gun from its holster but the woman gestured and he flew across the
tiled floor, leaving a crimson trail, and smashed headfirst into the solid
desk.

The woman walked over and knelt beside the dead guard, giggling softly as she
ran a delicate finger across the bloody lips. "Sleeping on the job, George?
Tsk, tsk, tsk, what will your boss say?" She then stood up and walked over to
the large directory near the elevators and ran her blood-stained finger along
it until she located Dr. Peter Hahn's name and office number. She circled the
name in blood and then pushed the up button and waited for the elevator.

"It's playtime," she said softly, her luscious mouth forming an insane grin as
she sucked the blood off her finger.

* * * * *

Damien followed Jessica and Peter into the doctor's office and promptly made
himself comfortable by hopping up on a low bookshelf and keeping one eye on
the two as they booted up the engineer's computer and one on the hallway that
led to the elevators. He didn't expect trouble but it always seemed to have a
way of finding him so he'd learned to watch out for it in all situations.

"I don't understand this..." Dr. Hahn said, sitting back in his chair and
staring puzzledly at the computer monitor.

"I do," Jessica said, her mouth twisting into a frown as she read the words
flashing on the screen.

Too late, Ms. Chance. But if you're brave enough to enter my world, you might
yet find some of the answers you seek.

"How did whoever's running this party know you were involved, Red?" Damien
asked, hopping down and looking over her shoulder at the screen. "And what's
that crap about being brave enough to enter their world? That shit only
happens in the movies, right, doc?"

"Actually, we've been experimenting with full immersion virtual existence,
FIVE for short, for years now. It's mostly used for video games and military
training but the technology for creating a virtual world is at our fingertips,
Mr. Hawke," Peter explained.

"Virtual world?" Damien questioned.

"Very soon we will be able to create cyber realities so complex, so real, if
you will, that it will be, if you'll pardon the pun, virtually impossible to
distinguish them from what we know as reality. People will be able to live in
whatever realm they choose and it will be as authentic to them as this world
is to us."

"Sounds like every wonk's wet dream come true," Damien snorted.

"Perhaps, Mr. Hawke, but it also has practical applications. People with
physical disabilities will be able to run, walk, and even make love, some for
the first time in their lives," Peter explained. Damien grunted and his
comment didn't need to be spoken aloud to be understood. "And people with
mental disorders can create their own worlds, possibly providing a cure for
their conditions as doctors study the realities they create."

"You speak of worlds, Dr. Hahn, but what of other people?" Jessica asked.
"Cyber beings, no matter how real they might seem, are no substitute for human
companionship."

"I disagree with that last statement, Ms. Chance, but it's really a moot point
since the last barrier to an isolated existence in cyberspace was eliminated
years ago with the invention of GUI's and MUD's. These worlds will be
three-dimensional versions of those concepts, placing as many people in each
world as choose to be there; freely able to interact with each other in
exactly the same way they do in this world, but with no crime, no pain, and no
limitations. Only pleasure."

"Before you blow your wad right here, doc, what about this invitation to Red?
Can she do that from here?" Damien asked impatiently, and somewhat
suspiciously.

"No, not from here, but she can from the main lab," he said, switching off his
computer.

Damien followed them out of the office, pausing when he thought he heard a
faint noise, like an elevator chime. "You two go on and I'll catch up," he
said easily.

"Trouble?" Jessica asked, raising a thin eyebrow questioningly.

"Relax, Red, I just need to use the little wonk's room," he replied.

"The lab entrance is one floor up, Mr. Hawke. Just follow the signs," Peter
said.

"Don't worry about me, doc. I never get lost," he said, heading towards the
elevators.

"Um, Mr. Hawke, the restrooms are that way," Dr. Hahn said, pointing to his
left.

"Oh. Thanks, doc," Damien said, changing direction.

Jessica favored him with a final glare before she and the doctor headed down
the hallway and Damien waited until they were out of sight before turning
around and cautiously making his way toward the elevators, gun drawn.

Rounding the corner, however, he saw nothing but an empty hall. Then, one of
the elevators slid open, but no one emerged. "George? Is that you?" he called,
advancing towards the open car.

He warily looked in the elevator, but it was empty. Then, on impulse, he
looked up just in time to catch two booted heels to his face. He was thrown
backward across the hallway, his back smashing into a closed set of elevator
doors as the gun flew from his hand. He looked up, rubbing his chin and wiping
the blood from his nose with the back of one gloved hand, and his blue eyes
widened in surprise as a familiar figure dropped down from the inside of the
open elevator.

"Hello, Damien. George is taking a break. Forever. Nobody here but little old
me, you lucky boy."

"Chaos?!" he yelped, tensing for action. "But you're dead."

"Death just ain't what it used to be, I guess," she giggled, walking towards
him.

He suddenly rolled to the side and sprang to his feet. "I don't know what you
have to do with this, Melanie, and frankly, I don't give a flying fur-covered
fuck. But I can't let you stop us. This mission is too important."

"Of course it's important, Damien. If it wasn't do you think Daddy and I would
be bothering with it?" she replied with an impatient toss of her head.

"Daddy...? General Winsome?! He's back from the dead, too?"

"Big as life and twice as nasty," she nodded, licking her lips. "Now, are you
really gonna make me kill you or will you step aside and let me finish this?"

"Sorry, Mel, but you're gonna have to go through me to get to the doc."

"Have it your way," she said with a loopy grin. A moment later, however, her
face contorted into a partially amused scowl. "Aww, you've got one of those
local inhibitors. What's the matter, stud, didn't you want my sister reading
your mind?"

"Standard issue now, Mel. There've been some changes while you were away."

Melanie sighed deeply, blowing the hair from her face. "If we gotta do this
the hard way, Damien, then let's get physical, babe!" She sprang at him, her
fist coming around in an arc that would have connected with his face had he
not blocked the blow with his forearm and stepped into a punch deep in the
brunette's belly that drew a gasp more of surprise than pain.

"What's the matter, Mel? Out of practice? I guess death doesn't become you,"
he said, pivoting on his left foot and driving the heel of his right boot into
the side of her face.

"I'm just getting warmed up, sweetheart," she said, grabbing hold of his ankle
before he could pull his foot back. She quickly jabbed between his legs and he
grunted in pain but still managed to bring his other foot up and kick her in
the face before dropping to the ground and gasping for breath.

"Stop with the face shots already, Damien!" she growled, rubbing her cheek. "I
want to look my best for my reunion with my dear sister." She reached down and
grabbed him by one foot and swung him around, sending him flying into the wall
and activating one of the elevators' call buttons.

He was groggy but with it enough to lash out with his foot and knock Melanie
across the hall with a kick to her chest. She likewise slammed into the wall
and triggered a call button.

As she sat rubbing her chest and glaring at him while he grimaced and
stretched his aching back the elevators behind them both opened and they
tumbled backward into them.

"You like to play games, Mel," he said, rising to his feet and punching at the
bank of buttons on the interior wall of the car, "how about a little hide and
seek?"

Melanie grinned and slightly inclined her head. "You're on, Damien," she said
likewise pushing a floor button. "But when I tag you you're not gonna be 'it,'
you're gonna be out of it. Permanently."

"You'll have to find me first, babe," he said as the doors slid closed.

* * * * *

Dr. Hahn helped Jessica into a metal framework sphere and adjusted the helmet
on her head so that the miniature monitors were focused directly into her
green eyes. "Are you sure about this, Ms. Chance?" he asked. "It should be
perfectly safe-God knows it gets enough use from people around here!-but those
sex simulators should have been, too. Whoever your friend behind these murders
is, he's a calculating bastard, but I'll do what I can to help you from this
terminal."

Jessica nodded. She was wearing a skin-tight suit made from light mesh and
fitted with countless sensors that would reproduce her body to the smallest
detail in the virtual world. "I know you will, Dr. Hahn, but I want you to do
something else for me, too."

"What's that?" he inquired.

"We've got to make sure those eleven keys are safely confined somewhere. Once
I find them, you've got to be ready with a cyber-safe. Can you do that?" she
asked.

"Hmm, I should be able to. It might take a bit of time, especially if your
friend becomes aware of what I'm attempting; he could yank the keys off the
web entirely, if he hasn't done so already."

"He hasn't. He needs them as bait to get me to stay in there," she replied,
her mouth set in a firm scowl.

"Good luck, Ms. Chance," Peter nodded, heading over to the computer and
entering the command that powered up the sphere.

Jessica was dimly aware of a spinning motion as the lights dotting the
exterior bars of the sphere flashed to life and it began to slowly twirl in a
dizzying pattern that was neither back and forth nor up and down but a
nauseating combination of both types of motion. But with her eyes unable to
see the lab spinning around her, Jessica felt only the sensation of movement
as the globe's rotating increased in velocity.

Then, in a brilliant flash of light, she found herself standing in what looked
like the Coliseum in Rome, except that the stands were filled people dressed
in decidedly post 2K clothing. And, she noted with some amusement, some of the
howling mob's faces were hauntingly familiar.

"The crowd's a nice touch, Winsome," she called, looking down and seeing that
she was wearing an outfit straight out of every post-apocalyptic B movie ever
made. A top that barely covered her breasts and a skirt of light chain mail
that was almost short enough to be a belt that covered a skimpy pair of satin
panties. A pair of high boots and a heavy set of football shoulder pads
completed her attire. "But couldn't you have been a little more original with
my costume?"

"I find it rather fetching," a voice said behind her.

Jessica whirled around and found herself face to face with the blue-haired
woman from the sex program, except that this one had the cold gray eyes of her
oldest enemy staring back at her. She was dressed in an identical outfit, with
the addition of a belt that contained eleven glowing objects that circled her
slim waist like a constellation of bright stars. Jessica also noted a likeness
of the General himself sitting in the Emperor's box up in the stands behind
Valerie. "Yes, Ms. Chance, those are the keys. But before you begin, I must
know when you figured out it was me?"

"It took a while, but once I realized that there was no way any unauthorized
person could have gotten access to the top secret files detailing Citadel I
knew it could only have been someone with authorization. But since all of the
living people who were authorized were above suspicion I narrowed it down to a
dead one. And when you added the double red herrings of Daytech and Snowflake
Software I knew it was someone who would know how to push my buttons. That
pretty much left you the only option," she explained. "I should have figured
it out sooner. After all, when someone retires all of their access codes are
naturally changed, but why bother changing the codes of a corpse?" she asked.

"Indeed, Ms. Chance," Winsome nodded. "You wouldn't believe how useful being
dead is to someone with my ambitions."

"When I find you in the real world, Winsome, I'll make sure you stay dead next
time," she snarled at the figure above her.

"Why, Ms. Chance, a death threat from you? I'm honored," he laughed.

"Don't be. You're no more human than a germ or other toxic agent. I consider
it my duty to destroy you, no matter how many damn clones you make of
yourself."

"Ah, but my dear Ms. Chance, I'm not the only one who's been cloned," Winsome
chuckled.

"Melanie..." Jessica whispered as the realization of just how a vulnerable
situation she was in struck home.

As Jessica's body continued to revolve in the metal sphere, she suddenly felt
a sharp pain in her gut, as if she'd been kicked from within.

Valerie took advantage of the redhead's distraction to begin her assault,
catching her with a looping right to her jaw that sent her staggering
backward. The cyber babe moved in and followed with a succession of short,
hard rights and lefts to her face that Jessica was shocked to discover
actually physically hurt her. In desperation, she kicked the blue-haired woman
in the gut and sent her flying across the arena.

"Surprised by the pain, Ms. Chance?" the Emperor asked. He was wearing a
garish mockery of his military uniform that hung loosely from his aged frame
like a Roman toga. "I've overridden far more complex security protocols than
those of your new friend, Dr. Hahn, so it was a relatively simple task to make
this little trip into cyberspace a potentially lethal one for you. Any pain
you experience in here is every bit as real that which you would experience in
what you call reality. And, yes, Ms. Chance, death is just as real as well. At
least for you," he added with cruel chuckle.

"I hope you're catching all this, Dr. Hahn," she said quietly as Valerie got
up and charged her. This time the cyber babe leaped into the air and nailed
Jessica with both feet to her chest, knocking the redhead to her back. Valerie
did a triple-flip and landed on top of Jessica, knocking the air from her body
and connecting with a powerful right to her jaw that snapped her head to the
side.

"She is not so tough, my Emperor," Valerie announced, rising and dragging
Jessi to her knees by her hair. She smashed her knee into the redhead's nose
and laughed. "You said she would be a great challenge."

Peter looked up from his feverish typing when he felt what he thought was a
raindrop and was horrified to see that it was blood... And that it was coming
from the sphere.

"She will be, favored one, if you give her time to adjust to this world's
rules and she learns to master them," he warned her, accepting a jeweled
goblet from a half-naked serving wench with a rainbow Mohawk.

"Bah," sneered the blue-haired woman, driving her knee into Jessica's chest
while still holding onto her hair. "She is no challenge at all. I will show
you." She hoisted Jessica to her feet and carefully placed her jaw flush
against the curve of her right biceps and then slowly began to flex and pull
her upper arm inward, crushing the struggling redhead's skull. When Jessi
began to frantically claw at the powerful arm, Valerie drove her left fist
into her gut with piston-like shots until she ceased. "See?" she called out.
"What shall it be, my Emperor?"

The man slowly stood up and looked around at the crowd. They were excited at
the victory of their champion, but also disappointed by the poor fight put up
by the challenger and eager to see a much more thrilling contest. "Death!
Death! Death!" they chanted and the Emperor held out his right hand and slowly
turned his thumb downwards.

Valerie grinned and increased the pressure on Jessica's skull.

* * * * *

The elevator doors opened and Damien sprang out, nodding with satisfaction
when he saw he was in a large room filled with cubicles. He circulated among
them, carefully setting trip wires using the power cords of the computers and
the phone lines to warn him if anyone else were in the room and then set up a
more fatal surprise for the renegade agent.

Meanwhile, Melanie's elevator opened on the cafeteria floor and she cautiously
made her way through the large room, checking under each of the tables and in
the kitchen before satisfying herself that her quarry was on another floor.
She searched several others, ranging from mostly empty ones with a few large
offices to those filled with tiny cubicles that took far too long to search.
Thus, when she found herself faced with yet another of the maddening
cubicle-filled floors she carelessly tripped over one of Damien's snares,
sending a computer crashing noisily to the floor.

"It would seem I've found you at last, Damien," she called, getting back to
her feet and standing on tiptoes to survey the dark room for some sign of him.
"You might as well come out and get this over with before I get bored and go
and kill the doctor and my sister just to have something to do."

"I thought you liked to play games, Mel?" Damien asked, leaping over the low
partition and looping his arm around her neck, driving her face into the
carpet when he landed.

"I told you to lay off the face shots!" she screamed, elbowing him in the gut
and then smashing the palm of her hand into the bottom of his chin and forcing
his head painfully backward as she climbed to her feet. But before she could
snap his neck, he grabbed her ankles and flipped her up and over into the next
cubicle. She landed heavily on top of a monitor, the edge of the device
cutting sharply into her side, before toppling to the floor.

Damien placed one hand on top of the partition and hopped over, landing on top
of her. He quickly delivered a couple of hard shots to her jaw to stun her and
then said with a leering smile, "I've always wanted to be on top of you, Mel."

"And I've always wanted you on top of me, Damien," she replied, shaking off
his blows and licking her lips enticingly. "But not like this and definitely
not today!" She suddenly bucked and bridged her body, tossing Damien
face-first into the cubicle wall. Before he could get up she stood up and
stomped on the back of his neck. "Down, boy. I guess I do prefer being on top
after all." She reached down and grabbed his short hair, yanking his head
back, and delivered a sharp blow across his throat with the side of her hand
that left him gagging for breath.

"Much better," she giggled, using her hold on his hair to literally toss him
from the cubicle jungle and back to the relatively open area in front of the
elevators.

He landed hard on his stomach and the air exited his body in a gasping
"Ooommmmpppphhhhh!!!!!!"

"Well, Damien, this has been tons of fun, but I've got work to do. I'm sure
Daddy is just about through playing with Jessica anyway, and I need to get the
final key from Dr. Hahn before he realizes how dead he is for placing his life
in her hands," Melanie said, walking out and casually flipping the panting man
over with the toe of her boot and then kneeling on his heaving chest, placing
her right knee tightly against his windpipe.

"Why?" he croaked, feebly pulling at her thigh.

"For Citadel, silly. With that we'll have access to the launch codes for
nuclear weapons, access codes for every file stored on a government computer,
and the personal schedules of the President and Vice President," she said with
a grin.

"Assassination? All this to make it easier to assassinate the President?" he
gasped, one hand gliding down his body toward the knife in his belt.

"Not just easier, stud, fucking foolproof. We'll have everything: Dates,
times, locations, Secret Service passwords and the frequencies they'll be
using... It'll be like shooting fish in a fucking barrel," she informed him.

"But what's the point of killing the President, Mel? What do you and the
General possibly hope to gain from her death?" he asked, his hand closing on
the handle of the knife.

"Beats me, but I know Daddy's got some grandiose scheme for seizing power up
his sleeve. I'm just in this for the thrill of the kill, ya know?" she said,
leaning down and licking his face.

"I know what you mean," he said, pulling the knife free. But before he could
ram it into her side, she grabbed his wrist, stopping him cold.

"And here I thought we were having such a friendly little chat," she said
mockingly, forcing the knife's razor sharp point against his own side. "Seems
like you men are all the same, Damien, all you want is to stick something
inside us. Well, here's where I do a little sticking of my own." She exerted
more pressure and the knife slid into his flesh, scraping against a rib and
then entering the viscera.

She sat back and laughed and in that instant he yanked the knife out and
plunged it into her gut. "I guess you didn't stick it in far enough, babe. Let
a man show you how it's done," he snarled, pushing the weapon in up to its
hilt. He then sent a powerful blow crashing into her nose that sent her
tumbling backward off him and she landed on her back, holding her gut and too
stunned to speak. He climbed to his feet and kicked her in the side, sending
her rolling down the narrow walkway in front of the elevators until she came
to a stop in front of one whose doors had been propped open by a mop. The
floor of the elevator was visible near the top of the opening and she shook
her head and tried to scramble away but he caught her by the hair and dragged
her to her feet. "Sorry, Melanie, but this is where you get off," he said,
planting a hard kiss on her mouth and then pulling away and connecting with an
uppercut that launched her through the open doors and down the empty shaft.

He shook his head as her screams echoed up to him and grimaced as he wrapped a
makeshift bandage tightly around his chest and then headed off to find the doc
and Jessica.

* * * * *

Just before she knew her head was going to crack open like an egg, Jessica
managed to reach up and wrap her arms around Valerie's head and flip the other
woman over and onto her back. Not daring to let up for a second, she
immediately grabbed her hair and lifted her up enough to ram the point of her
knee hard in between her shoulder blades. The crowd roared its disapproval as
she then drove her fist into the back of Valerie's head at the top of her
spine, causing the blue-haired woman to let out a choking gasp and go limp.

Jessi stood up and let go of her hair and Valerie's body toppled sideways and
lay still. She then reached down to claim the belt of keys but the cyber
babe's gray eyes snapped open and her right hand shot up and closed painfully
around the redhead's throat.

"I told you that death was only real for you, Ms. Chance," the Emperor laughed
as the crowd broke into wild applause.

Jessica grunted and kicked out, catching Valerie in the lower abdomen with the
toe of her boot and causing her to release the suffocating hold. "What's the
game, Winsome? How do I win?" she yelled, casually elbowing her gasping foe in
the face.

"That is the game, Ms. Chance, you don't. Your only option is to die," he told
her.

"We'll see about that, General!" she shouted, leveling Valerie with a
right/left combo followed by a gut shot that bent her over and then an
uppercut that sent her flying across the arena. Jessica rushed over and
dropped a knee across her throat and then snapped her neck with a quick twist.

"You're wasting your time, Ms. Chance," the Emperor chuckled, shaking his head
as Valerie sat up. "You're the only one who can die in here."

"Hurry up, Dr. Hahn," Jessica said quietly as she delivered a jump kick to the
cyber babe and then rushed in only to be caught with a spinning heel to her
face that sent her stumbling to the ground.

Valerie was on her in an instant and, grabbing a handful of hair, lifted her
to her feet. She then placed her other hand between Jessica's legs and lifted
her over her head and laid her across her shoulders. The blue-haired woman
then moved her hand so that it was wrapped around the redhead's throat and she
pulled down with both arms, threatening to snap Jessi's spine in two.

* * * * *

Damien limped into the lab and gasped when he saw Jessica being stretched
across the shoulders of the cyber slut as thousands of CGI's looked on and
cheered their approval in a scene straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster.

"Don't tell me. Melanie?" inquired Dr. Hahn when he saw the agent's battered
condition.

"Yeah, but we don't have to worry about her anymore. I showed her to the exit.
She won't be coming back," he said. Then he saw the General's image watching
from the Emperor's box and got worried. "This is just like a video game to
her, right, doc?" he asked. "She can't really get hurt in there, can she?"

In reply Peter pointed to the blood splattered on the computer table and then
at the image of Jessica on the screen, indicating her bloody nose.

"How the fuck is that possible?" Damien shouted, gabbing the doctor by the
lapels of his shirt and shaking him. "This is just one of your damn fantasy
worlds! How can it hurt her?"

"I-I don't know, Mr. Hawke. Your friend, General Winsome, has somehow made
that world very real for Jessica," he replied slowly. "Her only chance is for
me to complete my cyber-safe, shutting her off from his control and securing
the keys."

"Wrong. Her only chance is for me to go in and help her," Damien said. "Help
me get into one of those suit gizmos, doc."

"Forget it, Damien! You just weren't cut out to be the heroic type anyway,"
Melanie snickered as she entered the lab.

"How...?" Damien asked, limping away from the doctor and heading towards the
more open area in the center of the lab.

"Once I was out of range of your little toy there, it was child's play for me
to halt my fall, and to heal this pesky love tap you gave me," she explained,
indicating her unbroken flesh. "Oh, goody, I see I'm just in time for my dear
sister's big death scene. Anybody got popcorn?" she asked, walking over to the
monitor and hopping up on a table. "You must be Dr. Hahn. I'll be killing you
shortly, but in the meantime, keep your hands away from that keyboard. I've
been waiting to see this for too long to have you do anything to screw it up
now."

"Wrong, Melanie! Your killing days are over. In fact, your days are over,
period!" Damien snarled, pulling a small gun from his boot.

"What kind of pathetic toy is that, Damien?" she laughed, getting down and
walking around him in a wide circle.

Meanwhile, Dr. Hahn's fingers flew across the keyboard. "Just hang on a few
more seconds, Ms. Chance," he whispered as sweat dripped from his brow into
his eyes. He blinked furiously to clear his vision and kept typing.

"It's no toy, Mel. It shoots a small, but powerful explosive compound with a
miniature receiver embedded in it that adheres instantly to any surface," he
explained, keeping her in his sites.

"Impressive, but you'll never hit me with it. I'm too fast," she smirked.

"Wrong again, Melanie. I already hit you with it," he said, tossing the gun
away. "Now all I need to do is detonate it." He pulled a small radio
transmitter from his pocket and extended the antenna with his teeth.

Melanie examined her body in a panic and quickly discovered a sticky blob on
her back. "Now, Damien, old friend, you don't wanna go blowing up your buddy
Melanie, do you? Especially not in here, not when I'm this close to the doc."
She rushed over and stood behind the doctor. "Do you?" she grinned, stroking
his throat with her long nails.

"Okay, it's a standoff, for the moment, but if you try anything I'll blow all
of us to Kingdom Come," he warned.

"Deal," she agreed, watching the screen with trepidation as the doctor's
fingers continued to fly across the keyboard.

* * * * *

Jessica grunted and felt her back starting to give as the blue-haired woman
exerted more and more pressure. Then, the world seemed to flicker for a moment
and the sky changed from ominous gray clouds that rumbled with thunder and
sent forks of lightning dancing through the air to one filled with fluffy
white clouds...and a smiling sun?

"What the...?!" shrieked the Emperor as his Coliseum was suddenly transformed
from an imposing arena of death to a sandbox sculpture. He looked in horror
around him as the crowd changed into laughing children with eyes that were far
too large and he himself shrank to become a boy in wizard's clothing.

Valerie found that she could no longer support Jessica's weight and dropped to
her knees, noting that her body had lost its alluring curves and that her
costume was now a pink dress with frilly lace trimming.

Jessica stood up and looked down at her and laughed when the child tried to
punch her, since she was only able to reach up to the redhead's kneecaps.
"Scat!" she said, sending the tiny figure tumbling head over heels with a
well-placed kick to her backside. Valerie got up and ran away crying, holding
both hands over her butt, and Jessica bent down and retrieved the belt of keys
that had fallen off her when she shrank. She then turned to the equally tiny
figure of the former Emperor as a white unicorn with bright blue eyes walked
across the playground.

"Stay away from me!" the little boy warned. "I still have power here!" He
gestured at her and a yellow lightning bolt struck her in the chest and turned
into a shower of multi-colored flowers. "This game may be over, Ms. Chance,
but I'm far from defeated." He then disappeared with a pop, as if he'd been
unplugged.

A moment later the happy world itself shimmered out of existence and she found
herself in the lab, spinning in the sphere as it slowly came to a stop.

"Nooo!!!!" screamed Melanie, wrapping her hands around the doctor's throat.
"Not again! Not again! It's not fair that she wins all the time!"

Damien backed up and helped Jessica out of the sphere. "You okay, Red?" he
asked.

"I've felt better. I see we're not out of this yet," she replied, nodding
towards the brunette. "Okay, Melanie, here I am. Let him go and come and get
me. I'm the one you want."

"You are so right about that, dear sister," she replied, dragging Peter with
her as she walked over to the redhead. "I can't say I'm disappointed not to
remember any of the final shit you put me through, but I've read the notes and
studied the videos and it's clear you and I have unfinished business." She
pushed the frightened doctor away from her and locked eyes with Jessica.

"You killed the woman I loved and I did everything I could to save your life,
and your soul. How do you figure we've got unfinished business?" she asked,
happy to see that Damien was taking the doctor out of harm's way.

"Fuck you! You left me in a cell to rot and to be the pet project of a sick,
sadistic man and then had the gall to claim you cared about me!" she shouted,
wiping angrily at the tears running down her cheeks. "You were too busy saving
the world to care about anybody!"

"I can't save everyone, Mel, I see that now," the redhead said. "I couldn't
save Kendra and I couldn't save you."

"Fucking right you couldn't save me!" Melanie agreed. "Did you know they
record executions, sis? I watched myself die. Can you even imagine what a
fucking head-trip that was? To witness your own mortality firsthand? I fucking
died, Jessica, and it was your fault."

"No, Mel, it wasn't my fault. You've got to take responsibility for-"

"Responsibility? What a fucking load! The only reason I even exist, dear
sister, is because of Daddy's hatred for you," Mel snarled. "Let that sink in
past your holier-than-thou mind-set and then tell me who's responsible for
what and how you did everything you fucking could for me."

Jessica slowly nodded. "You're right, Melanie. I didn't do all I could for
you. I'm sorry for that," she replied. "I'll do better this time."

"You still don't fucking get it, do you, sis? This isn't about you and me and
all the shit we've done to each other. This is about right and wrong and you
saying you're sorry doesn't mean jack. You owe me, Jessica. You stole one life
from me. Give me this one and then we'll be even," she offered.

"I can't do that, Melanie. You're too dangerous. You need to be locked up to
protect yourself from doing anyone more harm," she said.

"You really are a clueless cunt, you know that, Jess? I, this me, doesn't mean
anything, not to you, and not to Daddy, not anymore, but it does to me. I may
have Melanie's memories, but I'm not her; I don't have her soul. Don't I
deserve a chance to find out who I am?"

Jessica paused. "I-I don't know," she said softly.

"Then fuck everything and die, bitch!" Mel cried, sending her flying across
the large room with a powerful mental thrust. Knowing it would only take a few
seconds at most for her sister to regroup and shield herself from any more
mental assaults, the brunette concentrated on the metal sphere and ripped it
from its base with her mind, sending it screaming right at the downed redhead
as she shook her head to clear it. "Yes!" Melanie crowed when the heavy
framework crashed into Jessi and she actually ended up inside of it. Bringing
all of her telekinetic abilities to bear, she immediately constricted the
ball, folding it in on her dazed sister, not only trapping her, but also
crushing her in its uncompromising embrace. "You were always the warm-fuzzy
type, Jess, I thought you'd appreciate a hug," the brunette giggled as Jessica
struggled not only to escape, but also to breathe.

What was left of the ball suddenly floated off the ground, with the redhead
still trapped inside, and flew at the shocked brunette, slamming into her and
carrying her clear across the lab. It smashed her into the far wall and slowly
rolled backward, allowing the stunned brunette to sway uncertainly for a
moment before falling over on her face.

Taking advantage of her sister's semi-conscious state, Jessica quickly used
her own telekinetic abilities to free herself from the sphere and then quickly
threw up a mental shield to block any further use of Melanie's powers on her
as the brunette groaned and climbed unsteadily to her feet. "And I figured
you're so fond of games that you'd love to play a bit of dodge-ball, little
sister," Jessi grinned, mentally crushing the remnants of the sphere into a
compact ball slightly larger than a basketball. It flew into Mel's gut,
smashing her back into the wall again.

When the ball suddenly dropped onto one of her feet, she howled in pain and
finally threw up her own mental barrier. "You always insist on bringing this
down to a purely physical contest, Jess," she said, warily approaching the
redhead. "Why is that? Are you afraid of my powers, or yours?"

She saw something flicker in her sister's emerald eyes and grinned in triumph.
"That's it, isn't it? You've got these awesome fucking powers but you're too
afraid to employ them to their fullest because you're scared of what might
happen if you do. You could be a Goddess, sis, you could run this stinking
mudball if you'd just come down off your fucking throne. Don't you see? That's
what these pathetic sheep need: A shepherdess. You could do so much good if
you'd only let yourself," Melanie said, shaking her head in
mock-disappointment.

"And I could also do more harm than even Dr. Smitrovtich ever imagined
possible, Mel," Jessica replied, nodding. "And that's a risk I'm simply not
willing to take, sister."

"We'll see. One of these days, Jess, something will happen that will force you
to decide between your sickeningly altruistic aversion to killing and saving
this sick piece of dirt from mass destruction," she said with a sneer. "I just
hope I'm there to see you come tumbling down off your fucking throne and join
the rest of us in the mud." She suddenly lunged at the redhead, ramming her
head into her gut, forcing her backward until Jessica smashed into a low
table, the sharp edge catching her in the lower back and causing her to cry
out.

"Of course, I'd much rather kill you here and now, to spare you from that
awful choice," she giggled, stepping back and slamming her knee up and into
the gasping redhead's crotch. "It's the least I can do for my big sister." She
snapped Jessi's head back with an uppercut and then folded her over her
forearm with a deep shot to her gut. "Now, you and I are gonna change clothes
so that the little present your boyfriend gave me will go off for you
instead." She lifted her up by the hair and roughly slapped her face several
times. "Understand, sis?"

"The only thing I understand is that you will never listen to reason, no
matter how many different clones anyone makes of you. The only thing you
understand, little sister, is force!" she cried, nailing the brunette with a
solid blow to the nose that sent her stumbling backward. Jessica followed her,
grabbing her by the plunging "V" of her top, and connected with another
haymaker that left her knees wobbly. A knee to the chest and then one to the
gut and, finally, one to the pussy left her on her knees and gasping for
breath. Jessica measured her for a coup de grace and let fly with a downward
right that put her out for the count.

She sadly shook her head and quickly secured Mel's hands behind her back with
a cord she ripped from a nearby phone as Damien and Dr. Hahn approached.
"That's it? You beat her?" Damien asked incredulously.

"Don't let it bruise your male ego, Damien, I've had more practice than you at
it. And it wasn't all that easy," she grinned, winking at Dr. Hahn as she
hoisted Melanie's limp form over her shoulder so that her legs lay lengthwise
down Jessi's front. "She's not so tough if you know which buttons to push,"
she added, patting the ass on her shoulder affectionately. "The keys are
safe?" Peter nodded and held up a CD and she smiled and said, "Nice work, Dr.
Hahn."

"What was with that weird kiddyland that showed up?" Damien asked as they
headed for the elevators.

"When I first got into the industry it was as the designer of video games for
very young children. I figured that was the safest place to store Valerie," he
said, patting the shirt pocket where he had placed the CD.

"You mean, she's in there? On that CD?" Damien asked as they got into an
elevator. "And what about the keys?"

"They're on it, too. I will, of course, hand it over to the President
personally first thing tomorrow," he assured them.

"Yeah, I don't suppose you'd better trust the likes of Red and I with
something that important," Damien said with chuckle.

"It's not a question of my not trusting you and Ms. Chance, Mr. Hawke, it's a
question of duty to my dead colleagues and my friend to personally see that
this doesn't end up in the wrong hands," Peter explained. "I would also like
to speak to the President about the protocols for dealing with deceased
important government officials. From what your friend Winsome said, they need
to be changed."

The doors opened and they exited into the lobby, trying not to think about the
bloody body at the foot of the security desk, and headed for the destroyed
front entrance. "Oh, by the way, Damien, what 'present' was Melanie talking
about that you gave her?" Jessica asked.

"Um, nothing, Red, don't worry about it. We'd better call the local boys to
come in and deal with poor George," Damien said. He suddenly groaned and
added, "I don't know about you, Red, but I'm gonna be spending the next few
days in the hospital."

"Wrong! You're gonna be spending the next few days in the morgue!" Melanie
cried, suddenly driving her knees into Jessica's chest and then backflipping
off her, kicking the stunned redhead in the face and bringing her hands around
and in front of her while she was still in the air. She landed next to the
doctor and quickly snatched the CD from his shirt as she kicked Damien in his
wounded side, dropping him to the ground. She then pivoted on her right foot
and spun around in a pirouette, kicking first Damien and then Jessica in the
face. "From her I expected something as lamebrained as mercy, but I expected
better from you, stud," she said, shaking her head as she used her teeth to
free her hands.

"Well, then, I'd hate to disappoint you," Damien sneered, removing the
detonator from his pocket as she walked over and cruelly kicked Jessica in the
back.

"What the Hell is that, Damien?" Jessica demanded, reeling from the kick but
still managing to spin around and grab Melanie's leg.

"Just throw her clear and don't ask, Red!" he shouted, pressing the button.

Jessica whirled around, still holding Melanie's leg, and tossed her towards
the glass wall next to the ruined entrance. "Can't you take a joke, Damien?!"
Mel screamed as she sailed through the air. She crashed through the window and
then exploded, the force of the blast knocking the redhead off her feet and
leaving nothing of the brunette but smoking shards of flesh.

"Sure can. I thought that was fucking hilarious," said Damien, putting the
detonator back in his pocket.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Jessica screamed, checking to make sure the
doctor was all right. "You killed her!"

"Duh, Red. She was gonna kill us, in case you hadn't noticed," he pointed out,
climbing slowly to his feet and gingerly fingering the wound in his side.

"I could have handled her, Damien. Besides, I wanted to use her to find the
General. She was our best chance for that," she pointed out, helping the
shaken doctor to his feet.

"Okay, maybe I overreacted, a little, but I was getting fuck all tired of
being bounced around by that psychotic bitch, Red. I mean, I know you think
I'm a psycho, but, really, I'm nowhere near that bad. Am I?" he asked after a
moment when she didn't reply.

She just smiled and escorted the doctor out to her car.

"Am I, Red?" Damien repeated, a bit desperately, rushing after them as fast as
his injury would allow. "Red? RED???"

* * * * *

Major General Margaret Holm hadn't been pleased to learn that the CD
containing the keys to Citadel had been destroyed, or that the culprit behind
the plot hadn't been captured-She had been unwilling to accept the story of
her predecessor's return from the dead until President Hemdale confirmed the
existence of the cloning technology that made it possible, without being
supernatural, and she'd had no choice; but she didn't like it--but she was
grateful that he would be unable to carry out whatever foul deeds he had
planned to and that Dr. Hahn had been kept safe throughout the mission,
despite the attempts on his life.

So, to say that she considered the mission a success might be overstating it,
but not by much Jessica reasoned as she walked though the deserted secret lab
beneath the basement of the house where she and the first clone of the General
had fought. The redhead cursed herself now for not searching the house before
she left for California. But she also knew that the trip to see her friends
had been just what she needed and she didn't doubt that even if she had found
this lab there would have been others she wouldn't have. As he had told her
that night before jumping to his death: I'm still two steps ahead of you, as
usual.

She ran her finger along a dust-covered tank, the only one that contained
anything, and grudgingly admitted to herself that he'd been right. "But I'll
catch up to you one of these days, Winsome," she said to the horribly
dehydrated fetus lying at the bottom of the empty tank. "Count on it."

She then left the house and never thought about it again.

* * * * *

The Director... But, no, let us dispense with any more foolish attempts at
anonymity. The clone of Armitage Q. Winsome switched off the TV after watching
the news report on the tragic death and mysterious explosion at Safeguard
Industries and sadly shook his head. He was older than the last clone Jessica
had faced in that forgotten house, but younger than the man she had worked for
by some thirty years. "Ah, well, there are other schemes waiting to be brought
to fruition," he mused. "Still, it was a damn good plan."

As he walked slowly through the dark room, he let his fingertips brush the
surface of each tank, as if caressing the figures suspended in the
liquid-filled containers, until he reached the penultimate pair of tanks. The
one on the right held a somewhat younger version of himself and the one on the
left a twin to the Melanie that had apparently been killed or captured.

He leaned close and kissed the glass, leaving the imprint of his lips over the
floating figure's face, and whispered, "Soon, daughter, I will have need of
your services again. But for now sleep the dreamless, untroubled sleep of the
innocent."

He then walked out of the room, ignoring the figures in the final pair of
tanks for the moment, knowing their time would come soon enough, and the only
sound left was the quiet hum of the computer that monitored the clones and the
bubbling of the tanks.

The End

(For now)

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