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A new text message reached Otto's phone and he twitched at the notification sound. A message came through to Shakira's phone at the same time, but she groaned and left it on the conference table. Otto stopped pacing, took a slow breath, and dug the phone out of his pocket. He opened the message, read it, sighed, and rubbed a hand over his face.

"Text from Hoshi. Jack and the girls are okay, so far. So is the rest of the team. And Ramirez delivered Winslow to the courthouse without a scratch. Looks like the team acting as decoys and Shadow's idea of sticking Winslow in the trunk worked like a charm."

"It was pretty brilliant, yeah. I wonder why no one ever thought of it before." Shakira nudged her phone and sighed. "Hoshi probably sent me the same message, but I've been flooded with texts from my whole family. I'm not even gonna look at it and risk reading something that'll piss me off."

Otto nodded and sat beside her. Her phone had been going off every minute or two, and each message had upset her more than the previous one, until she'd slammed her phone face-down on the table and left it there.

"Your whole family's giving you shit about us, huh?"

"I think I've heard from every last one of 'em, even the ones I haven't seen or spoken with in twenty years." Shakira shook her head and glowered at the phone. "So many of them never cared enough to contact me in all those years, even when I was in the hospital with half my face ripped off, but now they think they have a right to give me a hard time about ... what happened between you and me."

"Wow, that sucks. I figure they should have to earn the right to give you crap about anything." Otto glanced at his phone and dropped it back into his pocket. "I've been expecting my mom to call or text me, but so far she hasn't. Could be she just doesn't care. She never cared when I ran away from home, so I guess this shouldn't surprise me."

"You two still haven't patched things up, huh?"

"We took some small steps, to the point where I spent a weekend with her a while back, but everything kind of fell apart the night she barged into my room and caught me jerking off." He shrugged. "She completely freaked out over that, so I figured this would send her into orbit. But I haven't heard a peep from her."

"I kind of wish I could say the same about my family." Shakira took her glasses off, slouched in her chair, rubbed her hands over her face, and combed her fingers through her dreadlocks. "I even got a scathing text from my uncle Walt. He's one of the weirdest motherfuckers I've ever met, and he's lecturing me about something I had no control over. I'd try to explain that part of it to him and all the others - that some telepathic degenerate screwed with our heads - but none of 'em would believe me."

"Yeah, even with all the weird stuff that happens every day in this city, at least it's all products of technology, and therefore explainable. A pervert mentally manipulating people into having sex in front of him while stands there and jerks his gherk, however, probably seems a little far-fetched. And the guy getting assassinated right in front of us just makes it sound like even more of a tall tale." Otto let a quick breath rush out, causing his lips to flap.

"I guess we'll have to live with the fact that we'll never know how or why he did it, unless the investigation turns up a new lead. But y'know what? I think I can live with it. Because he'll never screw with anyone else. He was stopped before he could decide that watching people have sex wasn't enough of a thrill anymore."

"Yeah, he never had a chance to make people do anything that would injure someone." Otto gave her a shaky smile. "All things considered, what happened with you and me could've been a lot worse."

"True enough. As terrified as I was while it was happening, it ... turned out okay. I mean, I didn't get knocked up and neither of us were hurt, so I guess that's one in the 'win' column."

He nodded and let out a relieved sigh. "The whole time it was going on, I was afraid the guy would make me hurt you. If it hadn't been for that - and, of course, the whole thing being forced on us - then it would've been the best day of my life. I mean, you and me, uh ... " His face grew hot and he cleared his throat. "Well, it was fantastic. I came so hard, I'm amazed I didn't launch across the room and slam into the wall."

Shakira snickered. "Yeah, uh ... well, like you said, it could've been a lot worse."

"Heh. Yeah. I wanted it to happen ever since we met. Just not the way it did. Like I said earlier, if it happened at all, I always hoped it'd be because you loved me. But this guy -"

"Well, I, uh ... I - I ... never said I didn't." She tried to make eye contact, but couldn't quite manage it.

_Wait. Did she just ...? _Otto stared at her and blinked several times.

"I mean, there must be a reason I kept wanting to hang out with you. To, um, to the point where we've been pretty much inseparable for the past few months. I don't know, maybe it was a subconscious thing. Or something I didn't want to admit to myself for obvious reasons. I don't know, maybe the pervert picked up on that, somehow." She shrugged. "Assuming he's not the one who planted this idea in my head."

Otto's heart pounded hard enough to shake his whole body. He gave himself a moment to regain control, but still couldn't stop a hopeful smile from appearing.

"So, does that mean we're ... um, y'know ..." He reached out slowly and grasped her hand. When she not only didn't pull away, but closed her fingers around his hand, his pulse revved up even more and his smile grew until it nearly pulled several muscles in his face.

Oh, hell, I hope it looks like a smile and not a rictus.

She tried to speak for several seconds before she got her voice to work. "I don't know. There's a part of me that wants it to happen. Maybe there always was. Assuming, again, it's not an idea that guy stuck in my head. Or both of our heads."

"I've always felt this way about you, since the day we met." Otto chuckled and held her hand between both of his. "I talked about it enough during our video podcasts, so it's a matter of public record."

"Yeah, you've always been up front about that. Very affectionate, in your own warped way." She laughed softly and stared at the table. "To be completely honest, as much as I objected when you told me that you fantasize about me when you masturbate, deep down I thought it was actually kind of flattering. I couldn't admit it, especially on one of the podcasts, but I thought it was awesome that someone could really find me that attractive. After a lifetime of being made fun of because I'm fat, and never even getting to first base way back when I was still trying ..." "You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, and fuck everyone who says you're not."

She laughed. "Well, thanks. It means a lot to know even one person who feels that way." She placed her other hand over his. "And I really like how your first thought after we woke up in that motel room was to keep it quiet and get rid of the evidence to keep me out of prison. When I was your age, all the guys I knew in school would've bragged to all their friends at the first opportunity. You wouldn't have said a word if that whackjob hadn't taken a video of us and posted it online."

Otto shrugged, smiled, and gazed into her eye. "It's because I love you."

She turned away abruptly. "It's just ... it's not just the chances of ending up in jail. If we stay together, eventually I'll grow old and feeble while you're still relatively young. My dad was sixty when I was born, and my mom was only in her early thirties. I saw it happen with them. You can only imagine how rough it was on her, watching his body wither and his mind fade away. And me - he died when I was still in high school. I don't want you going through anything like that."

"And for all I know, I could get hit by a bus tomorrow and end up brain damaged or paralyzed. We don't know what the future will bring. We don't know what kinds of technological advances will come up over the next few decades. You might be worried about nothing." He reached over to stroke her cheek. "Even if we're only together for another five minutes, I'd prefer that to a lifetime without you."

"That's sweet, but ..."

Otto leaned closer until his mouth was mere inches from hers. She almost pulled back, but suddenly she lurched forward, as if to say, "Oh, screw it." She pressed her lips against his and he slid his arms around her. They held the kiss until both of them had to come up for air. They stared at each other, gasped for breath, and finally grinned.

"I'm insane," Shakira muttered. "I've got to be, to even be considering this. Or maybe you're just a bad influence on me." She chuckled and leaned forward to rest her forehead against his.

"Once the boss pushes the paperwork through, I should be legal enough. Until then, we'll have to keep it under wraps. We'll have to come clean about it eventually, but we can pick something to say was our first time together. One we're willing to talk about. We can just keep all the others to ourselves."

"You sound like you're assuming there'll be a lot of sex in the meantime."

"That's absolutely what I'm hoping." He grinned and she snickered.

"I'd be full of shit if I said I'm not tempted. But ..."

Otto grinned again and glanced at the table. "Y'know, Corona told me recently that this room was where Jack and Taura had sex for the first time. Right here on this table." He arched an eyebrow and his smile turned lascivious. "I'm thinking we should try to make it an office tradition."

Shakira glanced at the windows and tugged on her collar. "Good thing the blinds are already closed. I've already done enough to get me into serious trouble."

"Well, if you're worried about privacy, there are showers in the basement. Y'know, the ones Ramirez and Hiro put to good use."

Shakira fanned her face with her hand. "Just so you know, if we do this, I am not calling myself 'Ms. Fellatio.'"

Otto burst out laughing. "Don't worry. As you may have already guessed, that's not my real name."

"What is, though? I mean, if this is gonna be a real relationship, that's a little piece of information I really should know."

"Promise not to laugh."

"Uh, okay. Sure. I promise."

Otto took a deep breath and let it out quickly. "My real name is Mortimer Durr."

Shakira clamped her lips together and held her breath for at least ten seconds before regaining her composure. She released a long breath and said, "You're kidding."

"I wish. I can show you my birth certificate if you want. It's right there on the line."

"Wow. That's, uh ..." She cleared her throat. "Now that I think about it, I might be okay with 'Ms. Fellatio' after all."

He grinned. "Thanks for not laughing, though. You can probably imagine the amount of crap I had to take before I dropped out of school."

"I can, yeah." She giggled suddenly. "But at least you're not German, because then you would've been Herr Durr."

Otto burst into laughter again. "I never thought about that before. And now I won't be able to stop."

She chuckled, sighed again, and shook her head. "I can't believe I'm actually thinking about this. This is so wrong."

"I disagree. Respectfully, of course." He smiled, leaned over, and nudged his forehead against hers. Please say yes. _Please say yes._

She laughed softly, beamed, and put her arms around him. "Alright, alright. Looks like I'm not gonna be able to talk myself out of it, so ... let's see how quickly this gets me into even worse trouble."

Yes. Yes! YES! Otto embraced her and let out another relieved sigh. "You've made today the best day of my life."

"Ah, so, it's all downhill from here, then?" She grinned.

"Not at all. I'm hoping for lots of horizontal in our future."

Shakira laughed until she couldn't breathe, snorted, and continued laughing. "Y - you ... little horndog!"

"Damn right." He leaned in for another kiss.

Both of their phones emitted an odd buzzing tone, and they turned to stare at hers, still resting face-down on the table.

Impeccable timing. Damn it. Otto reached into his pocket and grasped his phone. Just when I've got a hard-on that could punch through solid steel ...

"That's not a text notification," Shakira muttered, reaching out to her phone and hesitating. "I've never heard that sound before."

"Maybe it's the Emergency Broadcast System, or something similar." Otto glanced at his phone's screen and raised both eyebrows. "It's a Justice Foundation app. It must've auto-installed."

"Huh." Shakira brushed her dreadlocks out of her face and poked at her phone's screen. "Looks like I have access to the Foundation's computer and security systems already. I didn't think Machiko even had time to set it up before she joined the team in the field."

"She might've had Hoshi or one of the AI tank-bots do it. It'd probably take one of them only a few seconds."

"Could be." She poked and flicked her finger at the screen for a few more seconds and then gasped. "The police are here. Two squad cars are parked out front and four cops are trying to get in the main doors."

No. Otto shook his head. Oh, hell, no!

Shakira took her glasses off and buried her face in her hands. "Three guesses who they're here for, and the first two don't count."

"Yeah?" Otto began typing a reply to Hoshi's latest text message. "We'll see about that."

---

"We need to get everyone out of this building," Jack whispered as he watched the three enemy troops marching along the balcony. "Once we get all the bystanders to a safe distance, we can finish these things off."

"Right," Boiler said over the comm. "Light 'em up until their self-destruct goes off, and then just let 'em blow."

"Exactly. We might even be able to hack them through their comlinks and detonate 'em remotely."

"My gun should be able to hit one of 'em hard enough to trigger the kaboom. If we can get 'em all to stand near each other, one shot is all it'll take."

"The rest of us will work on getting everyone out of here, then," Machiko said.

"We'll keep the mercs busy as long as we can." Jack scowled at the figures sweeping each room ahead. He switched his eyes back to IR for a second and shook his head. The heat patterns were similar enough to the average human, but far cooler than they should've been. Roughly the temperature of a fresh corpse, with multiple tiny hot spots throughout their bodies, probably heat generated by the cybernetic components keeping them mobile. That alone would've been enough to tell him what he was facing, but there was also the mechanical way they stomped forward and snapped their guns around to aim at potential targets.

And the way they suddenly pivoted to face him directly even though several walls stood between them.

Jack's guts turned to ice and he took a step back.

The floor under his boot creaked - then crunched and started to buckle.

Oh, fuck! He spun and tried to leap across the room, but the beam under him snapped and he plunged through the collapsing floor. His face and chest whacked the edge of the hole on the way down, the impact flipping him over, and he crashed down on his back.

"Jack!" Corona shrieked over the comm, followed by an identical cry from Taura. Before he could speak, he realized footsteps were approaching. He heaved himself upright and braced his feet under him just as another trio of cyber-zombies appeared in the gaping hole in the wall between motel rooms.

"Boiler," Machiko snapped.

"I see 'em." The thumping of footsteps came over the comm barely a second before Boiler's eight-foot, hyper-muscular frame crashed through the half-rotten wall and plowed straight into the zombies. She held her arms out to the sides to be sure she caught all three of them, and drove them across the adjacent room and through the outer wall. They smashed through and landed in a heap in the parking lot. Boiler rolled forward, came up on her feet, and burst into a sprint while the cyborgs were still picking themselves up.

"I'm okay," Jack whispered as he rushed through the hole Boiler had made on her way in. "Taura, how's it going with those bikers?"

"Still trying to draw them away. It'd be so much easier if I could just tell them why shooting the zombies is a terrible idea, but they're not listening."

If they're that stupid, we should clear everyone else out and let the idiots get blown up. Jack didn't even suggest it, knowing Corona and Taura would never agree to it. Their hearts had always been kinder than his. Still, he said, "They may be a lost cause. We'll do what we can, but when everyone else is clear, we need to stop these things."

"I know." Taura sighed. "Inform us when everyone else is out of the blast radius."

"Will do," Machiko replied.

"Corona," Jack said, "how are things on your end?"

"Not bad. So far I haven't run into any dead guys. Think I've taken down most of the normal ones by now." She paused for several seconds and sucked in a quick breath. "Aw, shit."

---

Corona jumped through the nearest partly-crumbled wall the instant she spotted the trio of cyber-zombies emerging from a room at the mid-point of the abandoned motel. They detected her sudden movement and their heat signatures advanced on her.

"Aw, shit," she whispered.

A whimper came from behind her and she turned abruptly to find a pair of teenage girls huddled in what used to be the bathroom. She held her hands up and then raised a talon to her muzzle.

"Shh. You need to get out of here - I mean, far away from here. Shit is gonna start exploding any minute now."

They stared at her. She pointed at the balcony.

"Bad guys doing bad things. I'll try to lead them away from you, but you need to get out now. If you've got any friends here, try to take them with you." Corona lunged through the hole in the wall as they scrambled to their feet and out of the room. She glanced to the right and found the undead cyborgs only a few yards away. She let out a startled yelp, jumped over the warped handrail, grabbed on, and hoped it would hold together.

It snapped clean in half as she arched toward the gravel and badly-cracked pavement. She tried to tuck her shoulder and roll forward, and ended up sprawled on her back. She grunted, lurched upright, and glanced at the balcony just as the three zombies jumped off, flipped in midair, and landed in a crouch with their guns pointed at her. She gasped and sprang at the nearest corner of the building, flinching as they opened fire and blasted chunks out of the wall and ground directly behind her.

"Might need a little help, guys!" She found more missing doors and partly-collapsed walls ahead, but there was no point in trying to hide. They already seemed able to detect her body heat through the walls. She crept back to the corner, braced herself, and waited for them to appear.

"I'm done with the bikers," Taura whispered, accompanied by the clopping of her hooves in the background. "Had to knock them all out to get them to stop shooting. I'm on my way."

"So am I," Jack said. "Everybody else, keep evacuating the motel."

"I found a sexbot in one of the upstairs rooms. Looks like someone abandoned her there. Try to get her out, too, if you can. Doesn't seem right to just leave her here."

"We're on it," Machiko replied. "We've almost got everyone out. We'll carry as many of the bikers away as we can."

Footsteps approached from around the corner and the zombies stomped into view without hesitation. They raised their assault rifles.

Corona tackled the one in front. At the same moment, Taura appeared at the back of the group and swept the straggler's legs out from him with a spinning kick.

Six of 'em, Corona noted as she wrenched the rifle out of her opponent's hands, ejected the clip, and hurled the empty gun across the street. That adds up with all the normal mercs we took down. Looks like they're all right here.

The zombie's fist snapped into the side of her head before she'd fully registered the movement. Everything blurred past her as she spun and plowed into something metal. Her vision started to clear as she collapsed, and she realized she'd bounced off a rusted-out truck. She pushed herself back to her feet as the zombie lunged at her.

Past it, Taura knocked the gun out of another zombie's hand, spun and hurricane-kicked it in the side of its head. The impact shattered the bones in its neck and its head twisted at a disturbing angle, but it continued fighting back with a flurry of punches and kicks.

Must have an alloy supporting structure running through its neck. Corona shivered and jumped back from her opponent to give herself some maneuvering room. The zombie continued its charge and she boosted herself into her combat state. Everything around her appeared to slow down, but the zombie kept approaching at only slightly less than normal speed.

Uh-oh.

It raised both arms, preparing to crash its fists down on her head. She whipped her arms up and crossed them to block the blow, The impact jolted her and the pavement under her feet cracked, but her superhuman strength and her armor's servos helped her hold up against the assault. She grunted and twisted to the right to throw the zombie off-balance. It slumped over, staggered, and regained its equilibrium, and lashed out again. She blocked each punch and kick, but just barely.

Come on, guys, get the bystanders clear so we can take the gloves off. She leaped aside to dodge another lunge, and the zombie plowed into the old truck. It scooted the truck several yards across the lot before turning to face her again. Preferably before these things fucking kill us all!

She risked a quick glance to the right to check on Taura. One of the zombies near her was sprawled on the ground with both legs broken in several places, but it still dragged itself toward her. At the same time, Taura blocked a jab from another with one arm and drove her other fist straight into its face. She followed up with a punch to the gut and a kick to the chest that sent it into a backflip and landed it face-down in the gravel.

Corona caught a glimpse of Jack a few yards past Taura, mostly dodging blows from three other zombies and working his way back to the rest, trying to lure them into a clump so Boiler could take her shot.

The zombie in front of Corona charged again. She plucked the sword handle from her belt, extended the blade with a flick of her wrist, and lunged to the left. The zombie blurred past her and she spun and rammed the blade into its back, right into its spine. The cyborg started to turn, putting enough pressure on the sword to pull it from her grasp, before it collapsed, its spine severed.

It clawed at the ground, turned, and pulled itself toward her. The blade protruding from its belly poked into the gravel and slowed its progress, but it grasped the blade with both hands and snapped it off.

Corona backed away. Oh, fuck me. Her body shook from the effort of maintaining her combat mode, and she had to drop out of it, leaving her trembling and gasping for breath. She watched the zombie for another few seconds, decided it was moving too slowly to be an immediate threat, and turned to face the rest of them.

Taura whipped to the side to avoid another punch, grabbed the zombie's wrist, braced her other hand on its shoulder, and wrenched its arm backward. It shoulder ripped out of its socket and dangled limp - but then Corona caught a muffled whirring and the shoulder pulled back into place.

Jack tackled another of the zombies and slammed it into the motel's front wall. His armor's servos boosted his strength enough to shove the zombie through the wall and its support beams. He whirled around to face the rest while the zombie picked itself up.

"We've got everyone clear," Machiko reported. "You three, get the hell out of there. Boiler, as soon as you've got a clear shot, light 'em up."

Three zombies swarmed Taura and dragged her to the ground. She sucked in a deep breath and screamed.

Corona rushed forward, heart pounding, and hauled one of them off her. Jack grabbed another, yanked it away, and hurled it into one of the balcony's supporting beams. The ten-by-ten shaft of wood snapped in four places and the balcony sagged. The zombie hit the ground and slid for several feet before leaping back upright. Taura managed to pull her right leg up, brace her hoof against the remaining zombie's chest, and push. The zombie launched into the balcony's underside, smashed clean through, slammed its face across the handrail on the way down, hit the edge of the hole, tumbled over, and plopped back to the ground.

"Let's go!" Corona helped Taura stand up, and then all three bolted to the nearest street corner.

"Farther," Machiko said, and they continued sprinting for another block. "That should be far enough. Boiler, let 'er rip."

They turned back to the motel a split-second before a long muzzle flash from Boiler's gun illuminated the whole parking lot. Corona zoomed in with her helmet camera to get a better view. The flash lasted long enough for them to watch a zombie's head and upper chest vaporize. The rest of its body flopped over, its half-melted cybernetic components exposed.

"Looks like that did it," Boiler said. "I can hear the power build-up. I'm outta here."

Corona caught a glimpse of her sprinting off to the left. A few seconds later, the faint whine of the self-destruct device reached her.

The detonation shook the ground even this far away, ripped the entire end of the motel to shreds, and tore apart the rest of the zombies - and then their destruct mechanisms activated.

"Here we go," Boiler said with an audible grin in her voice. "Just like popcorn."

Seconds later, the rest of the zombies blew, one by one, blasting apart everything nearby and gouging deep holes in the ground. The power pole on the street corner toppled over, yanking several lines down with it.

"Oh, boy," Jack muttered. "The power company's gonna love us."

"We're scanning the wreckage," Machiko said. "That got 'em all. Winslow's been delivered safe and sound, and we'll get the civilians to a safe place and then see if we can find them somewhere to live. After that, I think you three can have the rest of the day off. You've earned it."

"Best news I've heard all day," Jack said with a grin before embracing each of the girls. They held each other for a long moment and let everything from the last few minutes sink in.

Corona finally laughed and slipped an arm around his and Taura's shoulders. "Y'know what I'm thinking? I'm thinking we should head back to our little warehouse loft tonight and have boatloads of sex!"

Jack's grin broadened. "I stand corrected. That's the best news I've heard all day."