by Eric Vall
“Not exactly tactical,” Jenny said with a smile, “but you really can’t go wrong with Mary Jane flats. Now, do you want to go try them on?”
“I can’t just change right here?” I asked, and Jenny burst out laughing again.
“Ohmygod, you’re killing me, girl!” she guffawed as she headed toward the back of the store. “Follow me. And bring your boyfriend, too. I’m sure he’s gonna want to see this.”
I looked back and saw Tony had been watching us the whole time. He gave me a smile and a small wave, but I motioned for him to come over.
Jenny led us back to a wall covered with several white doors. She walked up to the one labeled “six,” rapped on it twice, and then opened it when there was no response.
“Take this one,” she explained. “Just come on out when you’re done.”
I walked through the door into a small room barely big enough for me to move around in. There was a mirror on the right side and several small hooks embedded in the wall, along with a wooden bench that came up to about my knees.
I quickly stripped off the white shirt and the nylon pants and then replaced them with the clothes Jenny had given me. They felt a bit more snug than the ones I’d been wearing, but they looked undoubtedly better. The blue and silver shirt hugged up tight against my breasts, though not in an uncomfortable way. As far as the pants, they were essentially only there to cover up my human sex organs, and they gave me as much mobility as I’d have if I was naked.
Finally came the shoes. They were uncomfortable, and my feet were cramped inside of them, though I really didn’t care. I would have gone barefoot if I could have, but I needed to follow the “norms” of 2019. So, I slid the flats on, grabbed the door, and stepped outside.
Before I was fully even out of the room, I heard both Tony and Jenny gasp.
“W-wow,” the dark-haired man stuttered. “You look … you look really good.”
“What he’s saying is you look sexy as fuck!” Jenny exclaimed and then quickly looked around. “Oops. Gotta watch the language around customers. But seriously, you’re killing it in that outfit, girl. I mean hell, you were already a knock out when you first came in here, but now. Woo!”
“It is quite comfortable,” I admitted. “The shoes weren’t at first, but they are getting better.”
“Can she just wear this up to the counter?” Tony asked the brunette woman. “She’s going to be wearing them out of here, anyway.”
“That’s fine,” Jenny said with a nod. “I’ll get you guys all rung up.”
We followed the employee up to a counter with a small computer and a display screen. She typed in her input, and then a few numbers popped up on the screen facing us.
Tony reached into his back pocket, pulled out a small leather square, and then opened it. He withdrew a plastic rectangle, swiped it into the machine, and then Jenny handed him a long piece of paper that popped out of her computer.
“Does it take money from your bank account?” I asked as I nodded to his plastic card.
“Yeah,” he answered as he smiled at me. “Don’t worry about it. You look great in that outfit, and I feel bad you didn’t have anything else to wear.”
“You’ve got a great guy,” the woman said as she winked at us.
“Yes,” I whispered as I turned to look at Tony. Our eyes met for a few moments, and then he smiled and gestured toward the exit.
“Ready?”
“Yes,” I repeated, and then we walked toward the door. My shoes got more comfortable with each step, and I had to admit I was growing more used to the feel of the new clothes against my skin.
“Have a great day, guys!” Jenny said as we sauntered to the exit.
As soon as we were outside, Tony turned to me and grinned.
“So?” he prodded. “Do you like the outfit?”
“I do.” I nodded as I looked down at my new clothes. “It may not be the most practical, but it certainly looks nice.”
“It looks really nice,” Tony muttered as his face turned red. “Really, realllly nice.”
I got the strange fluttery feeling in my chest once more as I felt my skin begin to grow warm and my face blush.
“I-I appreciate your comments,” I managed to choke out. “They are very kind.”
“It’s nothing,” he said as he smiled at me. “I uhhh, just, you know. I like you is all. Come on, let’s go.”
Tony turned to walk, and I quickly fell in step next to him. But every step I took made my stomach knot.
He said he liked me.
He didn’t know I wanted to kill him, of course. All he knew was that I was a woman spending time with him. He was only being nice.
Maybe I did not need to kill him?
What if I found the woman first, and just killed her? That should prevent Alexander from ever being born, would it not? The Hive might not agree entirely with the plan, but it was a solution that might be easier to implement.
“No, I am just making excuses,” I muttered to myself. “I need to complete the missio--”
“You okay?” Tony asked, and I turned to see him smiling at me.
“Fine,” I said. “Just talking to myself.”
“Oh, I do that all the time,” he laughed. “Helps me work out problems.”
“It does?” I asked.
“Sure,” he said. “Hearing it out loud sometimes helps.”
As we walked down the street, my eye caught a pair of human females exiting a nearby building. Upon first glance, their hair seemed to be red. However, my systems quickly told me they were originally brunettes and had coated their hair with a red dye.
“Why would these two women change their hair color?” I inquired as I gestured to them.
Tony’s face contorted into a cringe as the two women shot me dirty looks, but I simply ignored their glares.
The dark-haired man looked at me like I was from another planet for a second, and then he rubbed his chin curiously.
“You’ve never been to a salon?” Tony asked.
“No,” I replied.
“Hair dyeing is a pretty common thing, especially in this city.”
“Is it a recreational activity?”
“It’s kinda like what just happened at the boutique,” he explained. “Some women think changing their hair color makes them more attractive.”
“Do you think it would make me look more attractive?” I asked.
“Uhhh.” His face went red for a moment as he rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “That’s kinda a ‘no-win’ question there. I mean, your hair already looks beautiful, but we gamers have always had a thing for neon-haired girls. I think it’s because, like, seventy-percent of female characters in games and anime have it.”
“Would you be more likely to tell me your secrets if I dye my hair?” I asked.
“Ummm,” he blinked at me a few times and then scrunched his nose, “I don’t really have any secrets.”
“Everyone has secrets, Tony,” I stated.
“What are yours?” he asked.
I opened my mouth to answer, but then I closed my lips and smiled slightly.
After I killed Tony and his mate, I would kill myself. At the most, I had another day or three to live. Maybe I should experience everything these human women did for fun?
“I shall get neon-colored hair,” I decided.
“Uhhh, you sure?” Tony asked as I walked toward the doors the two red-haired women exited from.
“Yes. I want to.” I’d been constructed to have blonde hair, but I honestly didn’t care about something as trivial as that. If changing my hair would increase my chances of getting Tony Amin to tell me about the woman he wanted to impregnate, then that was what I would do.
“It’s a decision that’s kinda permanent,” he said. “You might not like it after you--”
“Nonsense,” I scoffed as I walked up to the door of this “salon” and opened it. “I want to look my best for you.”
As I entered the building, I caught t
he distinct whiff of chemicals mixed with bleach, citrus, and burning hair.
This was what human women did for fun?
“Hi there!” a natural redheaded woman in an apron said as she walked up to a computer. “What can I do for you today?”
“I want my hair to match this shirt,” I announced.
I wasn’t sure what color Tony was going to like the best, but even a machine like myself knew that matching colors were visually appealing.
“Uh … okay,” the woman shrugged, “so you want to just go straight blue hair, orrrrr--”
“Yes,” I stated. “Blue.”
“I don’t know about--” Tony started to say, but the woman pinched her fingers in the air, and he stopped talking.
“Boyfriend?” she asked him.
“Yeah,” he said.
“Sit down over there,” she ordered him. “I’m gonna take care of your girl here.”
“Oh, okay,” Tony replied, and then he sat down and gave me a wide grin.
“Alright, sweetie,” the redhead said to me as she gestured back behind her. “Come with me.”
I followed the redhead back to a rotating, black leather chair and sat down. Then the woman put an apron over my body and began to run her fingers through my hair.
The first few times she touched me, my entire body went rigid, but then I began to appreciate the sensation of her fingers on my scalp, and I relaxed some.
“Have you ever dyed your hair?” she asked.
“No,” I answered as the tension fully left my shoulders. Her fingers did really feel good on my scalp, and I started to not care a human was touching me.
“You’re hair is just gorgeous,” she cooed. “Such a beautiful blonde color and so thick. You don’t even have any split ends. I’ve never seen hair this healthy. What kind of product are you using?”
“Product?”
“You know, to clean and condition it?”
“I use soap provided for me by my mother,” I answered before I realized I was probably revealing too much.
“Oh, so family secret huh?” the woman laughed. “Well, can I give you some advice?”
“Advice?” I asked as I wondered how she knew anything about my mission.
“Don’t go full blue,” she continued. “Just do the ends, maybe the bottom half. You have such a nice blonde color. I think it will look stunning if you do a fade. If we do it, and you don’t like it, then I can do the full blue. Deal?”
“Fine,” I said. Of course she would not know anything about my mission. The chemicals in the air must be damaging my brain.
“Great!” the redhead exclaimed, and then she began to dig out several strange tools. She grabbed a pair of latex gloves, a bottle of paste composed of a concoction of chemicals, and a brush. The woman then walked over behind me and got to work.
“Soooo, tell me about your boyfriend over there,” she whispered as she massaged my scalp some more.
“He is a man, and he is a friend,” I explained.
There was a long pause, almost as if the woman had expected me to keep talking. Then she moved on to tying up my hair into four different buns on the back of my head.
“Well, he’s handsome,” she said. “How long have you both been together.”
“Together?” I asked.
“Oh, you know, dating?”
“I went over to his house last night,” I explained. “We played a videogame during our lunch break. Then he asked me to go to the movies with him tonight.”
“Oh, so you just started,” she whispered.
“Yes,” I said. “I asked him about other women, and he said he had a crush on his manager, but she is pathetic.”
“Well, let me tell you, sweetie, you are drop dead gorgeous. There is no way any man would cheat on you.”
“I keep asking him about other women, and he claims there aren’t any others, but I know there must be,” I said, but then I realized I was telling this hair-worker some of my secrets. It probably did not matter. She could not thwart my mission. It was just harmless conversation, and it did feel a bit relaxing to speak with her.
“Why do you think there is another woman?” The redhead moved in front of me as she picked up the bottle, squirted some of the liquid out into a bowl, and then dipped the brush into it.
“Because that is what I was told,” I explained.
“Who told you that?” the redhead asked as she leaned my chair back.
“My mo--someone I trust.”
“Maybe she was lying?” the redhead scoffed.
“Impossible,” I answered.
“Ehhh. I’m looking at him out of the corner of my eye, and he looks like one smitten kitten.” She zipped back around behind me, and then the brush started tugging at selected strands of my locks.
“I do not know what that is,” I said as she brushed.
“He likes you,” she clarified. “A whole bunch.”
“That was what I want--” I said, and then my voice caught in my throat. I was designed to infiltrate human society, but was it possible Tony was now focused on me instead of the woman who he would soon impregnate?
No. That was impossible. The Hive had specifically used the paradox equations to prevent that from happening. Mother would not have sent me here if it would have meant Alexander would not have been born.
But that was exactly why the Hive had sent me back.
Was that the key? Maybe Tony eventually did impregnante Renee to produce Alexander, but my presence thwarted their relationship, and now the future leader of the human resistance would never be born.
Maybe I didn’t need to kill Tony. Maybe my job was already done, and I could spare Tony’s life.
The thought should not have given me pleasure, but it did, and I pondered the ramifications while the woman continued to work on my hair for approximately twenty minutes.
Then I ended up back where I started: if I could not figure out who Tony’s mate was tonight, then he still needed to die. It was the purpose of my existence, but the thought made my chest feel heavy.
“Alrighty,” the redhead exhaled as she finished wrapping the last bits of foil around my hair. “Now, we need to let it sit for about thirty minutes.”
Thirty minutes? I wanted to protest, but I feared I was already too deep into the process to back out now.
“I believe I’ll just sleep,” I lied. “Could you wake me up when it is all done?”
“Uh, sure.” The redhead shrugged, and then she walked away.
I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes to give the illusion I was asleep. I had already gotten my required shut-down time, but I really, really didn’t want to keep making conversation with that woman, and Tony was too far away to engage in conversation without everyone around us hearing.
The minutes ticked by quickly, and then I felt the woman’s slender finger tap me on the shoulder.
“All done,” she announced. “Let’s get that foil off you and see how it looks.”
I opened my eyes and sat up in the chair, and then the redhead started to pull off the aluminum. As she did so, I saw the strands of hair underneath were now a bright, neon blue.
When all was said and done, the entire bottom half of my hair was an aqua color. It was not a hue I was used to seeing on humans, so it felt unique.
“What do you think?” she asked as she put her hands on her hips. “Not enough blue?”
“No,” I shook my head, and the aqua strands fluttered around my shoulders, “I like this. I really do.”
“That’s what I like to hear!” The woman in the apron smiled. “Now, let’s go show your boytoy over there.”
The redhead removed my apron and then motioned for me to follow her back to the front.
As soon as Tony saw me approaching, his heart rate began to increase. Strangely, my systems also told me his blood flow was beginning to concentrate in his groin area.
“Well, mister male acquaintance?” the woman chuckled.
“You did an excelle
nt job,” he whistled as he got up, walked to the counter, and produced his plastic card again. “You’ve earned every single bit of this tip.”
Tony swiped the card in the miniature computer, and then he was handed a long strip of paper. He scribbled something down onto the paper, handed it back to the woman, and gave her a nod.
“Have a great day, you guys!” the redhead called out happily as we headed for the door. “And thanks for the tip!”
As soon as we were outside, Tony stopped and looked me up and down.
“Damn.”
“You seem to like it,” I said as I watched his eyes roam over my shoulders.
“That hairstyle makes you look ten times better than you already were. Not that, uh, you didn’t already look sexy as hell before.”
“You think I’m sexy?” My face was warm again, and my heart was beating too quickly given I wasn’t exerting my muscles and requiring more oxygen.
“I, uh, totally think--I mean, you’re really, reaaaaallly … ” Tony mumbled under his breath before he looked away abruptly. “Hey, are you ready to catch our flick? I think we can still make the ten o’clock showing of Under Attack, if you’re up to it. Do you like war dramas?”
“War? I like that.”
“Excellent,” Tony said in a strange voice, and then he frowned when I didn’t respond. “Come on, you’ve never seen Wayne’s World?”
“I do not really watch movies,” I said with a shrug.
“Well, if we want to continue dating, that’s gotta change,” Tony laughed.
My heart sank into my chest as we began to walk to the bus stop.
He wanted to continue dating, but I just needed to find his mate. As soon as I killed her, I could figure out if I could let him live.
If I could not figure that out tonight, then he would still have to die.
We waited at the bus stop for a few minutes, and he asked me about my parents and traveling on military bases. I gave him elusive answers until a large red-and-yellow vehicle pulled up. Its brakes screamed against its rotors as it came to a halt, and then Tony and I boarded.
He handed the operator some sort of key card, watched it get swiped twice, and then motioned for me to walk with him.
Tony and I found a few empty seats near the back of the vehicle. We sat down next to an elderly man reading a large, unfolded piece of paper, and soon another older man in a trench coat sat down a few rows away from us.
