by Drew Hayes
“They are?” Ren sat up carefully, a bit dubious of such claims. He’d been warned over and over again that his looks might hinder the public’s response to him, which was why his image needed to be so carefully managed.
“They are! You’re testing about where we expected with adults—most find you scary, but since you’re on the side of the good guys, they’re okay with it. But guess what? Kids, the most marketable and impressionable demographic out there, they freaking love you. Think you look like a creature from some animated movie or such nonsense. Point is, you are scoring way above what we predicted with them.” Apollo lifted his hand high overhead, and after a moment’s pause, Ren took the cue and gave him a high-five. At least with Apollo, he didn’t have to worry about accidently breaking his bones or stabbing him with his claws.
“That’s great,” Donald said, patting his friend on the furry/scaly shoulder.
“It sure is, and in celebration, I come bearing a gift,” Apollo said. From behind his back, he produced a silver bracelet no less than five inches wide with runes and inscriptions etched all over the metal surface. “Truth is, we’d ordered this for you a while back, but it happened to be ready today, so I’m going to call it a congratulatory present.”
“Um, thank you.” Ren accepted the odd piece of silver—more gauntlet than bracelet, if he were being honest. It was certainly interesting looking, though Ren wasn’t sure it went well with the primal image he had.
Apollo, clearly noting Ren’s confusion, only smiled wider. “Try it on, Medley. I promise, you won’t be disappointed.”
Ren carefully fitted the bracelet over his thick forearm, surprised by how much give it had. No sooner had it slipped across his flesh than the bottom part clicked, the two sections interlocking to form a complete circle around his wrist. The gasp from Donald was the first clue that something had changed, and as Ren examined the flesh around his wrist, he realized what it was. There was flesh around his wrist: pink, human, normal-looking flesh. Tentatively, he reached out, running a finger along the skin. It felt real... sort of. If he pushed too hard, he could sense the fur and scales that were really there, but that was only if he really tried.
“It’s just an illusion,” Apollo cautioned, watching as Ren rose from the bench to examine himself in one of the gym’s many mirrors. “As you know, we can’t give you back a true human-form. But with this, you can go back out into the world. Hit a bar, eat at a restaurant, do anything you want.”
Ren stared at the face looking back at him. It wasn’t his own—the size of his new body would have made that impossible. Instead, he looked like a competitive bodybuilder, all wide shoulders and a thick, nearly nonexistent neck. No, this face wasn’t his, but it was human. A tear slid down the pink skin of his normal face as Ren turned around to face Apollo.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.” Even his voice sounded different, less animalistic. For the first time since the night of the storm, Ren felt a flicker of hope in his stomach. A normal life was gone, that much was true, but now... now he wasn’t quite as trapped as he had been. Now there were possibilities other than being a monster.
“Hey, you earned it,” Apollo said. “And if you’re going to do this job, you need to be able to go out and let off a little steam here and there. In fact, I order you to do exactly that tonight. You too, Cyber Geek. Go out and take the bracelet for a test drive. Try a bar or a club or something fun. We already had some clothes brought to your rooms, so you can pick a stylish outfit to go with the new look.”
Donald wasn’t really one for going out to loud, social places, but one glance at Ren told him that refusal wasn’t on the table. Somehow the illusion was conveying his expression on the false face, and Ren was so overwhelmed with excitement by the idea that Donald was shocked he hadn’t sprinted out of the gym already. Whether it was his kind of scene or not was irrelevant; Ren was his friend, and this night would do him a world of good. Plus, it would mean ending the workout early, which Donald most certainly was in favor of.
“Let’s hit the showers,” Donald said. “After that, you can come to my room and we’ll make a game plan.”
Chapter 44
“Tonight, we are your instructors,” Xelas intoned.
No sooner had Tori arrived at the guild than she’d been hustled upstairs, into a large room she’d never seen before, filled with every female member of the council as well as Beverly. Lance and Warren were nowhere to be seen. Whatever was on the docket, she found herself grateful Ivan had urged her to take the nap. This was clearly more than just another night of training.
“We have planned an itinerary, secured transportation, and provided you with the necessary equipment. You are to go into the changing rooms we’ve set up and get ready for the night’s activities, which will only be revealed to you once we are en route.” Xelas pointed to a pair of curtained-off areas, no doubt only set up hours before, given their level of construction. “Beverly, you are in stall number one. Tori, you’re in stall number two. The rest of us will wait out here until you’re ready.”
Behind Xelas stood the other three councilwomen, expressions unreadable. Morgana and Stasis weren’t adorned in their usual costumes, Tori noted. Instead, they had sweeping cloaks that covered them from head to toe, even their faces obscured by the hoods drawn high overhead. Gork looked as she usually did, which was to say giant and gray, though there was a gleaming headband just above her eyebrows that Tori didn’t recall seeing before. No one was talking, so it seemed the only way to learn what was going on was to follow orders until they let her in on the secret.
Tori and Beverly made their way to the makeshift changing rooms. Pulling back the curtain, Tori found herself staring at a wide space with a small rack of clothing, a mirror, and a wide chair. All of that aligned with what she’d been expecting, but as she checked the outfit waiting for her, Tori got her first surprise of the night. It was not a new costume or some sort of camouflage. Instead, it was a black and red ensemble that would look more at home on a model than a villain.
“Um, Xelas,” Beverly said, sounding uncharacteristically uncertain. “Why are we dressing like this?”
“Sorry, Apprentice, but we’re not taking questions right now,” Xelas yelled back. “All you need to know is that tonight, you’ll learn how to blend in without the use of magical pendants.”
That explained more than Tori had hoped for; Arcanicus had told them he rented out his obfuscation pendants, so using them all the time was bound to be expensive. Learning to blend in, despite being out of their element, was a skill that was bound to come up more and more as they took on new jobs. With a grunt of determination, Tori shed her apprentice costume and slipped into the outfit they’d assigned her.
It fit well—perfectly, in fact—which was a bit worrying until Tori remembered they’d taken her measurements for her costume. She wore black pants, a red blouse, a cropped black jacket that slipped over her shoulders, and a pair of red heels she nearly tumbled out of after the first few steps. Tori had worn heels before, it just hadn’t been for quite a while. By the time she’d slipped on the last of her accessories, she’d reacquired the knack and emerged from the changing room with steady steps.
Beverly had finished first and was clad in a green dress that matched her eyes and wrapped around her in a way that left most, but not quite all, up to the viewer’s imagination. What was most striking about Beverly had nothing to do with the outfit, however. That honor went to the fact that she was staring, mouth slightly agape, over at the council members. Tori followed her friend’s gaze only to sport her own dumbfounded look seconds later.
The apprentices, it seemed, were not the only ones who had been changing. Morgana and Stasis had both shed their cloaks, revealing the stylish outfits beneath them. They’d styled their hair and done more elaborate makeup as well, making them almost unrecognizable as the two council members Tori had met before. More shocking even than them, however, were Xelas and Gork. Gork still towered over the rest of the gro
up, though by far less of a margin, but now she did so looking like a model. Long, pale-blonde hair and a creamy skin tone made her appear as though she hailed from Norway or Sweden or one of those countries Tori knew housed women who were lovely, tall, and blonde. As for Xelas, there wasn’t a trace of metal to be seen; she now looked like a tan woman with dark, short-cropped hair. It was really only the mischievous grin that gave away her identity, and even with that, Tori wasn’t sure she’d have recognized Xelas if not for process of elimination.
“As I said, tonight is about blending in, something we all need to do from time to time,” Xelas told them. Her voice, at least, was still the same. “Some of us do it with heels and makeup, while others use advanced holographic technology complete with bio-feedback. Point is, you never know when you have to be able to go down and mingle with the masses. And, after you both do your makeup, you’ll both be ready to join us.”
Morgana plucked a pair of small pouches from the ground and walked over, handing one to each of the apprentices. “Don’t worry,” she whispered while standing between them. “Xelas just likes putting on a show. Tonight will be a fun one.”
“Ahem, if my cohort would stop undermining my attempts at fear-mongering, I’d greatly appreciate it,” Xelas said. “Now then, if you’ll both go to the bathroom and get your war paint on, we can head into the urban jungle that is Ridge City.”
With little else to do in the way of options, Tori and Beverly complied and headed toward the restroom. As she walked, pouch of makeup in hand, Tori wondered what on earth Lance and Warren were going through. If they were stuck with the male council members, she didn’t envy them in the slightest. Much as she respected Ivan, he wasn’t exactly a barrel of fun. And whatever else one could say about the female councilors, the prospect of a night out with them was far from boring.
Dangerous and chaotic, almost certainly; just not boring.
* * *
Though Tori didn’t know it, at that moment the male apprentices had finished changing into suits and were heading to the garage with Thuggernaut, Johnny, and Arachno Bro. Like Xelas and Gork, Arachno Bro was employing camouflage to conceal his true appearance, while Johnny and Thuggernaut just used nice outfits. Thuggernaut was still obviously a meta-human, as not many normal people were ten feet tall and essentially carved from muscle. Since he didn’t have to worry about being recognized, Thuggernaut didn’t bother hiding what he was, though he did make sure to buy the seats behind him at any given sporting event he went to so as not to obstruct anyone’s view. While this might have been viewed as an act of kindness, it was also one of self-protection. People who got blocked sometimes decided to be confrontational, and Thuggernaut preferred to keep a low profile, something that was hard to do when forced to beat people senseless.
Unlike Tori and Beverly, the men hadn’t been given even the slightest of hints at where they were going. All they were told was to change, not ask questions, and be ready for anything. Lance was convinced they were about to go rob a casino, while Warren worried they were being marched to attend a guild member’s funeral. Luckily, they wouldn’t be in the dark for much longer, as it was a short trip to their first destination where all would be made clear. While Warren would be greatly relieved by the truth, Lance would find himself just the slightest bit disappointed. He’d been pretty set on the casino robbery idea.
That would come later, though. At the moment, they merely marched down the stairs, flanked by their senior guild members who were working as hard as they could not to smirk and giggle. It was supposed to be a serious time, at least until they got to the fight, but the silliness and fun of what they were doing kept worming through their minds. They fought to suppress the smiles that wanted to bloom on their faces, but in their attempts to look stoic all three men appeared to be suffering from stomach issues, which only confused Lance and Warren all the more.
So it was that five men, three looking like they were fighting the urge to sprint for a toilet and two looking extremely confused, entered the garage only about ten minutes before their female counterparts. They made it into the SUV five minutes before Tori and Beverly’s transportation arrived, which turned out to be a piece of very fortunate timing. Luxurious and practical though the SUV was, the guys would have been stricken by envy at the sight of what waited to bring the others out on the town.
* * *
When Tori laid eyes on the limo, her first thought was that it would probably cost more than her yearly pay at Vendallia just to fill up its gas tank. Her second was to wonder why on earth they needed not only a limo, but one that looked like it had been cross-bred with a Humvee. That question, at least, was quickly answered as Gork ducked her head as she squeezed through the back door. Tori had allowed herself to forget that, holograms aside, this vehicle was still carting around a woman who was made entirely out of metal as well as one who Tori suspected to be at least thirty percent rock. That sort of weight was bound to wear down the shocks on a regular vehicle. Plus, this afforded them all enough room to travel in comfort. While appearing ostentatious, it was in fact a purely pragmatic way to get about town.
Had she floated this theory by Xelas, the robot woman would have blinked a few times, then completely agreed with her that of course that was why this limo had been chosen. She would have done so in spite of the truth that Xelas merely liked it. Tori did not offer up her theory, however, so she didn’t get the chance to have it disproven through a lazy, halfhearted lie.
Once everyone was boarded, Morgana pulled out one of the many champagne bottles from the large cooler in the bar area of the limo, popping the cork with an expert flair and not letting so much as a single bubble spill onto the carpeted floor.
“Tonight, we are heading out on the town,” Morgana said, filling the first champagne flute and passing it off to Stasis, who kept handing it along. “And as such, we will be pretending to be civilians. That means from this point on, we are no longer to refer to each other by our guild names. As of this moment, you can call me Lynn. Stasis will be Stacey, Gork is Gretchen, and Xelas is Alexis. You two already know each other’s names, obviously.”
She continued to pour, filling flute after flute until the only empty hand in the limo, robotic driver notwithstanding, was her own. Morgana—Lynn, for the evening—carefully filled her glass, set the bottle back in the cooler, and lifted her own flute.
“Now that we’re officially out on the town, it’s my pleasure to tell you that this evening’s training is in networking. Specifically, getting to know your superiors in the guild and having a little fun while you’re at it. We do have quite a night planned, though none of it involves crime. At least, not until Xelas—pardon me, Alexis—gets a wild hair up her ass to cause mischief. But we’re going start things off with a toast to you two, the apprentices who’ve made it this far. While neither of you might have chosen this path if given the choice, we’re glad you did. Both of you have the potential to be fine members of this guild, and when the time for your last trial arrives, know that we’ll be rooting for you from the sidelines. Cheers.”
Lynn tossed back her glass of champagne, and moments later, so did everyone else. Gretchen was the only one not to finish hers, merely taking a respectful sip before setting down the glass. It rested in the mobile cup holder for no more than a few seconds before Alexis snatched it up and guzzled down the bubbly liquid.
“So, I have a question,” Beverly said, choosing her words carefully. “But I’m not sure if it’s offensive to ask or not. The last thing I want to do is start this night off by making a social error.”
“Oooh, she’d do well if she ran for the council,” Stacey commented.
“Your sentiment is noted,” Lynn replied, ignoring Stacey. “Go ahead and ask. We’ll tell you if it’s out of line.”
“Okay. I was just wondering, Xel—I mean, Alexis, how do you eat and drink stuff? Wouldn’t it mess up your circuitry?” Beverly asked.
Alexis killed the last of Gretchen’s champagne and set down th
e glass with a smile. “That’s probably a borderline question in general, but since it’s me, you’re fine. Without getting too bogged down in the science of it, I have a system that turns the food and liquid I drink into energy, just like with humans. It’s part of what helps power me, though it’s easily the least efficient method in use… one of the holdovers from my days as a fuck-toy. It’s actually the same reason I came pre-equipped with a holographic generator. Tech Lord liked to be able to take me out without people realizing he’d built his own girlfriend.”
Her usual half-mad cheer seemed to dissipate at bit toward the end of the explanation, a venomous thread of hatred worming its way through Alexis’s words.
Beverly’s eyes got so round Tori could see the lines where her eyeshadow ended. While Tori had recognized Xelas from the moment they met, Beverly wasn’t a technology-obsessed science geek who would know about the first artificial intelligence to sue for its freedom. Before Beverley could blurt out something that might be taken the wrong way, Tori set a hand on her fellow apprentice’s arm.
“Did you know all artificially-created intelligence of a certain level has the right to emancipate itself from its creator? It’s called Xelas’s Law, named after the courageous mechanical woman who sued to be free from the cape who crafted her,” Tori explained.
“Had a feeling you’d know about that,” Alexis said. The dark tone seemed to vanish from her voice, replaced by more of the happy noise that Tori was only now beginning to suspect covered much deeper scars. “Most of the original me has been changed out over the years, but I like food, so I kept the stomach. Added some taste buds though so now I can actually appreciate what I’m eating. Speaking of which, how far out are we from the restaurant?”
