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Victoria

The feeling of getting used to someone else's body will never get old. Weight, height, centers of balance, senses. All things that change from animal to animal. I'm a hyena this time. For some reason I keep thinking about fish; I must be hungry. That was another downside to possessing adults. Kids' minds are so scattered and random that it's easy to keep my own thoughts separated from theirs, but there's a lot of crossover with adults. I'm sure if the person in my body was conscious they'd be thinking of revenge. They'd probably take one look at anyone in that lab and feel an enormous amount of rage and not know why.

I don't know where I am, but I'm here. The body stops walking only for the split-second it takes to accompany me--whatever invisible part, or parts, of me that travel through the air--but keeping up the momentum I feel is important. Maybe it'll give me a clue as to what I'm supposed to be doing here, in this mostly-empty hallway. There's a pudgy, black-furred wolf in a white lab coat walking in the same direction a ways in front of me. Aside from her, there's no one. Makes sense. It's super late. Which makes me wonder what she's doing here.

I think I'm at a far enough distance away so she won't notice me, not that I think she would care. That's just my paranoia kicking in. The clothes I'm wearing don't resemble anything close to civilian wear, and they don't look like military uniforms. It's slate-colored, reinforced in the joints, close-fitting to the point of being painful, and I'm carrying a gun? Who am I?

The wolf ahead of me stops, placing her paw on a scanner by a doorway. I don't stop walking, but I slow down enough to scan the area, looking to see if there's anything I need to note. The door slides open, the wolf walks in, the door slides closed. A few seconds later I'm at the door, pausing my walk to investigate. A scanner in front of a door usually signifies living quarters of some sort. That much I've gathered from being here for a month. But this door doesn't have a number next to it like living quarters do, and it doesn't have that lupine scent I expected it to have if this was indeed the wolf's private room. No, it smells like cleaning products. Disinfectant, alcohol, latex. She was wearing a lab coat, so it must be some kind of lab. What...what if it's mine?

_ Well that's a hefty thought, Vic._ I've never seen my prison from the outside, but I don't recall it smelling like cleaning products. I've also never seen that wolf before. I suppose she could just work in a different part of it, but that seems like a bit of a stretch given how compact all the rooms have to be on the ship. Here I go getting my hopes up again. If only this were an escape plan. I have a gun, a strong body, and it's late. No one would be expecting me. I wouldn't even have to risk losing any of my team members. So, why don't I just....go and rescue myself?

What a stupid idea. I have nowhere to go, I haven't made any contact with my team members, and I'd risk this person's life. All for a swift attack and the hope that I could change people's minds. It would be way too drastic.

I wouldn't have noticed placing my paw on the door if it weren't for the sudden thud against it. There's another one. I place an ear against the cold metal. I hear whimpering, then a muffled scream. Oh, God, she's in trouble. Okay, should I help? Should I run? She works in a lab, meaning she probably works for the Pets. But she's screaming, meaning there's probably an uninvited guest in there with her. I don't know who she is. I don't even know who I am. Every life is worth something. Every second I waste out here could be another wound in her body. I'm capable. I have a gun and a strong body. But how do I get inside?

I try the scanner first, frantically pressing my paw against it. It turns red. "Access denied," it reads. Well, fuck it. I tried being polite. I take out my gun and shoot the damn thing. Sparks fly. An alarm goes off. The door opens. I rush inside.

The wolf is standing in the back left corner of the room, protected by a large storage closet, but she's separated from her attacker, a coyote, by a long metal counter with a shelf on it. By the looks of it, he can't get a good shot at her, not if she stays still. That's all I get before I trade bullets with him, ducking behind a thankfully solid cart of various lab equipment.

I can't see the coyote from this angle, but I can see the wolf to my left. "Stay where you are!" I yell at her. She doesn't seem to find my eyes in the cracks between the supplies on the shelf next to me, but she nods.

Bullets fly past me before I can see what the attacker is doing. I return his shots with my own over the top of the cart, getting a feel for this pistol. Very little kickback, but I can't tell how accurate I am.

The gunshots cease. I hear him grunt. then a big crash. I take a chance and pop my head and arms up from behind the cart, firing as fast as these fingers will let me. None of them make contact with the coyote, but the holes in the cabinets between us, and the ones behind him, tell me I get pretty close to his head. I duck again as soon as I run out of bullets and he returns fire.

He pushed over the shelf that was on the counter. That's what the crash was. I need to do something quick before he reaches her. Luckily I have a whole other clip full of bullets. I reload as fast as I ca--wait a minute. These are stun bullets? Okay, new strategy: don't just aim for his head, aim for any part of his body I can see.

I don't have a clear shot in my current position. I have to move. The moment his firing stops I sprint around the cart and behind the center counter. I can't get to the wolf from here without losing my cover. I can't see her either. Before I can think of a good plan of attack, bullet holes appear on my side of the counter. Shit, shit, shit, he's shooting through the counter. Whatever gun he has is a lot more powerful than mine.

I'm forced onto my back to escape the death pellets, as close to the ground as I can be. I turn my muzzle in the hopes that I can decrease the chances of it being blown off. Think, Vic, think. I see that the counter isn't built into the floor. It's raised just enough to get my paw under it with my pistol. I fire under the counter in a sweeping motion, hoping I can catch at least one of his feet. I do. He falls onto the ground with a thud, and I fire a few more times in his direction to be sure. Then I breathe.

When I think it's safe, I stand up cautiously. The emergency light is still flashing, the alarm still shrieking. I walk around the counter and peer around the corner to see if the coyote really is down. He is. Breathing, alive, conscious, paralyzed. Bleeding a little where I shot him, not that I care. I kick his gun away.

"It's alright," I tell the scared wolf hiding next to the storage closet. "He's down." I can't speak too much for this person whose body I've used. I should leave before security gets here.

"Th-thanks," she says. She shakes as she stands. The reflection of red light on her name-tag catches my eye. I read it between flashes. Nim Phiron - Botanist - Lead Researcher in Growth and Development.

So this is Nim. Good to know, but I can't stay. "No problem. There's a gun on the ground over there. Keep it by you but don't pick it up in case security needs to match the paw prints the coyote left on it with his own. I'm gonna go sit down for a bit." I don't wait for her reaction. I pick a chair off to my left, sit down, and leave this body. Nim can explain everything to whoever I was. Security should arrive and handle everything from there. In the meantime, I can float around and think about what all this means.

Stun bullets highly suggest that whoever I was is working for the Pets. The pistol, however, is military class--not something a normal civilian would carry on Loana, nor a weapon security on Petri would normally have access to. I've never seen a suit like that either, whether in the military or anywhere else. So, either this person has special privileges--which means she's very important to the Pets--or she's acting on their own agenda.

I also have to take into account what Romix and Bivik were talking about the day they interrogated me. They mentioned Nim Phiron by name, said she was making good progress on something she was working on. If the two of them knew about it, it's safe to say the Pets do, too. That, and the title of Lead Researcher would be pretty hard to hide from them.

What I don't understand is the hyena's role in all this. Protecting Nim seems like the most logical reason why she was down there. The suit, the bullets, and the pistol all make sense if that's the case. That means the Pets knew Nim was in danger. Great. Mystery over? Sure, maybe that one. But why is that kind of equipment up here in the first place? I suppose I can guess--to deal with me, or any other self-righteous, trigger-happy rebel who hates them. Well, at least I have the upper paw in knowing what's coming.