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Val was early. But then she was usually early.

The unused M1A rifle was a heavy weight across her back—heavier than usual. It and the Glock-17 at her right hip seemed at odds with the tranquil green forest she'd come through on the way in. They weren't military, but Apex Security ran a tight ship, and she almost felt at home again. She'd left her car at the abandoned lot where they'd asked her to rendezvous, provided her ID and birth certificate, submitted to a full-body scan and a DNA test. And that was all before they'd even driven her out to the base.

Outside, it was like most other military bases: reinforced concrete walls, guard towers, barbed wire, plenty of patrolling guards. After passing through two gates, both requiring her ID again, she finally saw the inside. The exterior was familiar, but the inside was more like a high-tech corporate lab, polished white walls, sterile air, varying species wandering back and forth in crisp white lab coats. She could've heard the low hum of the air scrubbers from a mile off. At first she thought they were for viruses or something, but she saw no biohazard symbols, no hazmat suits, or anything else to reinforce this idea. Plus, these were the same standard scrubbers they used in most places to prevent pheromones from building up—they had the same in military barracks, and supposedly in college dorms.

She was led through the halls by guards in full body armor, gas masks muffling the few words they spoke to her. Directories told her where they were headed, but she kept her nose to herself, never so much as glancing down an alternate hallway. Past security, the main research wing, the personnel quarters, the medical bay, and finally, they came to the "Containment Zone." There was, of course, more security. What the hell was all this for?

After a few key card doors, a door that had to be opened by a guard behind half an inch of bulletproof glass, a long ass elevator ride into the bowels of the bowels of the Earth, followed by a bank vault door that could only be opened by its two guards' biometrics, and one final blast-proof bunker door that took years off her life with the time it took to open, she reached the site of her assignment.

Behind that final door was a force field. That was the only way she could describe it. Based on the sleek, silvery, rectangular frame whose seamless design didn't match anything she'd seen inside the base, she could only guess they hadn't been the ones to put it here. No one's military had this kind of defense technology, at least as far as she knew. Either this private security group had access to revolutionary tech, or... No. It couldn't be theirs. The whole base had been built around it.

The only instruction they'd given her was "Don't cross the yellow line." And after that whole entry procedure, her partner was late. She'd been staring at the yellow and black stripes on the floor, forty feet from the glowing wall of blue energy, for at least five minutes.

She considered calling her father, but figured A, they wouldn't allow outbound calls, B, there'd be no signal down here even if they did, and C, he wouldn't have much to tell her. She could at least see if she could text him that she was on assignment, in case anything happened, but he'd probably only reply with "Okay," or at most, "Watch your back." It wasn't that he didn't care, just that he had other ways of showing it.

The door started opening again and it was at least 15 full seconds before it was high enough to walk through, at which point an arctic wolf came striding in at a half-run, almost a charge. His step faltered when he looked up and saw the wall of energy, his eyes wide—one blue, one brown.

"Well, shit," were his first words. "When the assignment said 'Investigate subterranean structure of unknown origin,' I thought maybe it meant secret bunker or something. This is... literally aliens..."

The last word had all the awe of someone whose entire worldview had just been turned upside down, his multicolored eyes filled with a million questions. She pushed off the wall she'd been leaning on and approached him.

"Which means whatever's past that barrier, they're counting on us to get in and get out with whatever intel we can," she said.

He immediately snapped to, his eyes darting from her as she spoke back to the energy field, his hand going to his sidearm. His face was now one of determination—not the look of a soldier ready to follow, but a commander ready to lead.

"Right," he said, stepping forward.

She caught his arm.

"We haven't gotten orders to head in yet," she said.

"Oh," he said, ears flattening back for a moment. "Right."

"You don't have to worry," said one of the armored figures. "Nothing inside this structure has ever killed anyone we've sent in."

Val had thought he was a guard, but this one walked with authority—possibly a feline, maybe another canine, but hidden by the armor and gas mask, missing his tail. That kind of injury was common enough; they tended to be easy for foes to grab, easy to get pinned under falling debris, leading to plenty of situations where he'd've had to cut it off himself. It was equally possible he'd done just that preemptively. And it had the added benefit of making him harder to read. As much as an ear twitch or the dart of an eye could tell you, the tail gave away a lot of emotion.

"Hasn't killed anyone... yet," the white wolf beside her said, cocking an eyebrow.

The figure gave a slight shrug.

"Right," the white wolf said. "So, go in assuming they won't attack, but don't piss 'em off, is that the idea?"

Maybe you'd know what "the idea" was if you'd let them do the brief, she thought.

"What do 'they' look like?" the arctic asked, still pressing. "Can you even give us an idea? We've already signed your phone book of an NDA."

"We can't," the figure said.

"Can't or won't?" the white wolf challenged. Val sighed and his ear twitched at the sound. "Hey, I just want to know what I'm walking into here," he said defensively.

"We can't tell you. The inside is different for each team we send in," the figure said. The white wolf's brown and blue eyes went wide again.

"So, what is this, the Canadian Area 51?" he asked, hands on hips. The figure shrugged in that non-committal way again.

"We just call it 'The Facility,'" he said, then held out a hand, palm up. Resting there were two tiny blue capsules.

"Swallow these," he said. "They're internal bio-trackers. They'll let us read your vitals while you're down there."

"And they'll let you come get us if we get stuck?" the white wolf asked, reaching to take one.

"Theoretically, but we haven't needed to," the figure said. "Getting out is actually pretty easy. You'll see what I mean."

Val took one of the capsules and swallowed it. The arctic wolf took the remaining capsule, looked at it skeptically, and downed it, tilting his head back with a gulp.

"Command," the figure said into his headset, "are we good on the bio-trackers, over?"

A pause. "Copy."

He straightened, then nodded to the two of them.

"Good luck."

Then he spun around and marched back through the massive bunker door.

"This is Apex Security Command," said a feminine voice through Val's headset—from how he tensed, the arctic wolf was getting it too. "Radio check."

"All clear, Command," she said.

"Copy that, Command," said the white wolf.

"Affirmative," the voice said. "Arvel Braddock, you are designated Echo 1. Valeria Wilson, you are designated Echo 2. Over."

"Copy," she said.

"Copy that," he said with a smirk.

"Good. Please proceed into the Facility."

***

Val stepped forward with as much confidence as she could muster, but it was like being ordered to sweep a minefield—which she'd never done, but she imagined it was similar to this feeling of not being entirely sure whether the next step would kill you or take your leg. The white wolf—Arvel, they'd called him—hesitated at the force field, but she stepped on through.

She had expected a heat to it, maybe even a slight burn, but it was cool. Like stepping into a pool of water which had somehow been oriented vertically. She moved forward, sank into it, and the cool sensation was gone as soon as the energy passed over her fur, settling into a pleasant ambient temperature.

She stepped into the interior of some kind of antechamber. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all the same sleek, silvery material, the corners rounded so you couldn't quite tell where one surface ended and another began, and there was another smaller energy field on the other side of the room, about 6 feet by 6 feet, just enough space for one or two people to walk through.

But what her eyes immediately settled on was a dark grey wolf standing to the right of this force field at nearly the same height, hands folded neatly behind his back, chest pushed out, ears standing straight. He was dressed in cargo pants and a green shirt that seemed slightly too small.

"Whoa," she heard Arvel murmur, and turned back to see a white paw sticking through the energy field, fingers outstretched. "I expected it to be tingly, but it's like liquid or something."

"Braddock," she said. "Come on."

She heard the arctic wolf take a breath and then step through, the blue energy rippling around his form. Val could've sworn she felt the temperature drop a few degrees as he entered. Was it adjusting for his species' naturally thick fur? This indicated this place didn't just change in response to new visitors, but wanted them to be comfortable.

There was a scent, too. It took her a second to acknowledge it, but it was there, a lightly floral scent like the kind of aromatherapy she imagined would be used in a spa. She turned back toward the opposite wall with the smaller energy field and the other wolf—only now there was one more, a white wolf of 5'4", her hands behind her back as well, but her short snout angled down, head bowed slightly.

"Uh, Command?" Arvel said. "Was there supposed to be someone else here?"

"Affirmative," the voice said. "Proceed."

Val stepped forward, matching stride with Arvel, but couldn't shake the feeling that she was about to initiate first contact with extraterrestrial life. Were these two a part of the place? The other wolf hadn't appeared until Arvel stepped inside, with the temp drop, so had the structure manifested her somehow?

And why me? Val thought. Why should I get to be part of such an important occasion, one of the first to meet something from another world?

But no—she and Arvel weren't the first. The base up top would've taken awhile to construct. That meant Apex had been studying this place for years, or at least months. So they weren't the first, just two of many.

"What do we even say?" Arvel hissed. "'Hi, welcome to Earth'?"

There was a new tension in his voice; he was clearly uncomfortable not knowing how to proceed, and maybe even more uncomfortable to have to ask.

"We've sent enough teams through to gather specific data about interaction," Command said. "Our assignment for you is more free form. You may interact with them however you like."

Arvel scoffed. But then he tightened up with determination again, his steps getting more confident. He must have shaken off his nerves. Val did the same, stepping up to the other two wolves right alongside him.

The two on either side of the energy field turned and regarded them, the dark grey male meeting Val's eyes with a confident smile, the arctic female with a softer one for Arvel. The male had rich brown eyes, like mahogany wood, and that smile—No. Get a grip, Val, she thought, her hand lingering near her sidearm. This might be a trick to lure her into a false sense of security.

But then again, Apex had told them the Facility hadn't killed anyone. "Yet," Arvel's voice in her head reminded her. The male's eyes darted down to her hand as it inched toward her Glock, but his smile only widened, and it was soft, friendly even, and somehow she found it reassuring. Without saying a word, he'd told her she wouldn't need her weapons here.

She looked over at Arvel, who seemed equally stunned by the presence of the white-furred female. Her eyes were almost as white as her fur except for the large, black pupils. His hand also hovered over a weapon, a combat knife sheathed against his thigh, but the look on his face was less distrust and more pity, like he wouldn't be able to bring himself to kill her if it came to it. He blinked and steadied, fingers flexing near the hilt of the weapon, ready to grab it as he shook out of it and snapped back to soldier mode. But in response, the white she-wolf's eyes widened and Val saw a glimmer of... not fear, but a soft sadness, the she-wolf's ears flicking back like she'd been reprimanded for doing something wrong, though she didn't know what.

"Right," Arvel breathed. "Don't piss off the aliens."

The arctic female gave a snorting laugh that trailed into a light giggle.

"Aliens?" she said. "That's what you think we are?"

Val glanced between the two, the male still in his authoritative posture, still looking directly at her, but now with a knowing smirk. The female, on the other hand, was still only speaking directly to Arvel (who had gained a smirk of his own in response to the she-wolf's laughter).

"Alright, what are you then?" he asked, crossing his arms. He looked from her to the dark grey male, then back to her again.

"We're what you might call interfaces," she said. "You have touch screens and buttons to interact with your technology, right? That's kind of what we are."

"So you're... what, holograms?" Val asked. She posed the question to the female, since she was the chatty one, but the male was the one who answered.

"No," he said. "You'll have to find out what we are."

She arched an eyebrow at the challenge in his voice.

"Hey, what gives?" Arvel asked, looking between the two again. "I can only 'interface' with this cutie and my partner can only chat with tall dark and handsome here?"

"She wasn't even here until you walked in," Val said to him, nodding toward the white female. Arvel cocked his head, looking at the mysterious female with interest.

"Huh," he mused. "They did say the place changes based on who goes in, but spawning in whole living beings? That's fucking wild."

"The temperature dropped too," she said. "Soon as you stepped in through the energy field, it got a bit cooler."

"So... this place knew I'd like it cool," he said, eyes darting around like the featureless walls, floor, and ceiling might tell him something new. "But is that just 'cuz I'm an arctic and you're a grey? Or did it read our minds? I'm thinking it's that last one since this adorable little ball of fluff is just my type. What about you? Got an eye for this charmer?"

Arvel nodded toward the darker grey male, blue and brown eyes gleaming with intrigue. She made a sound somewhere between a cough and a scoff. The dark grey male was now giving her a smirk that made her unable to look him in the eye. Her heart beat faster, and jumped a bit more when she remembered Apex was not only listening in, but had a read on her vitals.

"He's... not bad," she muttered, feeling a warm blush under her fur, her ears pinning back. "You really think this whole place is reading our minds?"

"Yeah, talk about an invasion of privacy," Arvel murmured, a hand on his chin as he looked between the two unfamiliar wolves.

Apex Command came in over the headsets. "If you're uncomfortable with remaining here or proceeding further, feel free to leave. But you'll forego compensation. And of course you're still required to maintain total secrecy regarding anything you've seen here."

Not like anyone would believe us anyway, Val thought.

"Nah, after the trouble of getting this far?" Arvel scoffed. "I'm seeing this through. Plus..." He smirked at the small white she-wolf, who beamed up at him cheerfully. "... a place that can read your mind is disconcerting, to say the least, but so far it seems to be using that power to good effect."

He turned to face her, hands resting on his hips as he cocked an eyebrow.

"What about you, Val?" he asked. She blinked. She hadn't expected him to actually remember her name.

She glanced at the smaller energy field, a doorway leading deeper in, then the other two wolves, the "interfaces". She'd be lying if she said she wasn't at least a little curious too.

"Let's go," she said.

***

"Whoaaa, check out the floor," Arvel said, stopping mid-step several feet from the inner energy field. Val almost walked right into his ass when he bent over, and she sighed at him, but crouched to observe what he was referring to regardless.

The floor was the same smooth silver material as the rest of the place, but when either of them stepped forward or touched a part of it, the surface shimmered and rippled slightly. Arvel lifted a hand and set it down, watching the floor ripple, only for it to solidify after a single small ripple which faded quickly. He did it again, bringing his hand down harder and watching the ripple spread slightly farther. He raised his arm, ready to swing down, but Val caught his wrist.

"Don't piss off the aliens, remember?" she said. She glanced up at the white she-wolf, still smiling cheerfully. "Or... whatever they are. If they're a part of this place, maybe damaging it is a bad idea."

Val let go of his wrist as he relaxed his stance, but when he looked up at the she-wolf, she could tell he hadn't dropped the idea.

"Anything to say about this?" he asked the living interface. "If you can read my mind, shouldn't you know what I'm going to ask?"

"Sure!" the she-wolf said, curling her tail around to hug it endearingly. "But I can't answer you unless you ask aloud. Sorry. It's the programming."

"Okay," Arvel said, glancing at the floor. "What happens if I hit the floor really hard?"

"Do it and find out!" the cheery arctic wolf said. "It won't hurt you."

"That's not really an answer," he said. "Or are you programmed to also be cryptic?"

"Only when answering certain questions," she giggled. "I can't just give you all the answers, where's the fun in that?"

He studied the cute she-wolf for a second, then muttered, "Hell of an interface."

Then he lifted his arm and slammed a fist into the floor. The silvery surface rippled out from the impact like a shock wave, and Val could feel it pass under her feet.

"Weird," Arvel said, grinning. "Didn't even hurt my hand." He looked at Val. "You try."

Her ear twitched.

"This isn't why we're here," she said.

"Go ahead, Echo 2," the voice of Command said. "Plenty of teams have gotten curious, you two are far from the first to try this. It'll just yield more data and strengthen our findings. Or, who knows? Maybe we'll find something new."

She paused, then lifted a hand and lightly smacked the floor. Arvel was right—it didn't hurt at all. It was like hitting a pool of water, which then turned to a soft foam, then into a smooth, solid floor.

"That is weird," she murmured.

"Do it again," Arvel urged.

She did, balling a fist this time before slamming it down, harder. The floor rippled again, but there was a push back, like it was pushing up against her fist.

"Hang on, is that different?" Arvel asked, bringing a fist down. The ripple he caused passed under her again, but she focused on the epicenter where his fist hit, and saw that the surface caved downward, pushing in like it was catching his fist.

"Now you again," he said.

She drew in a breath through her teeth and clenched her fist, bringing it down with a grunt. There was a definite push, the floor rippling under their feet the same as always, but the ripples pushed against her fist, shoving it up and away from the floor.

"The hell?" she said.

"It's like it doesn't like you," he said.

"Yeah," she said, looking at the material and flexing her fingers. It still hadn't hurt her hand at all.

"Why's it absorb my punches but reflect back against hers?" he asked, looking up at the white she-wolf, but she just glanced away in response. Arvel scoffed. "What, nothing to say? Guess it's the programming."

"What if I try my guy?" Val said, nodding toward the dark grey wolf. "My... uh... 'interface' or whatever."

Arvel smirked, but nodded. "Yeah, go ahead. If the floor reacts differently, maybe these two will too."

She stood up and turned toward the wolf.

"Why does this place react differently to our impacts?" she asked him. He barely glanced at her, turning away quickly. She'd been similarly snubbed when she'd slipped up in her Army days and accidentally asked for classified information.

"Guess we're not allowed to know," Arvel said. "Yet."

He glanced around the antechamber.

"Let's try the wall," he said.

"Seriously?" she sighed.

"C'mon, you don't wanna just try it?" he asked. "What if it's different?"

He walked up to the wall left of the small energy field without waiting for a response, so she didn't offer one, just watched as he wound up and hit the wall with a full-force punch. The surface rippled same as before, and this time almost swallowed his arm as it absorbed the impact. She was a little worried he'd charge into the wall at a full sprint next and he would just disappear into the material. But it solidified just as quickly as before, leaving an undamaged wall and his fist unharmed. He turned and nodded her forward, indicating for her to do the same.

She sighed, but stepped up, and curled her fingers into a fist. Her fist hit, sank into the wall, rippling the material, but then it formed into an oblong protrusion that shot out at her. It forced her fist back and she quickly lost her balance, toppling backward. She expected to land on her ass hard, but she sank against the floor just like how it caught Arvel's fist, softening her landing.

"Whoa, you good?" Arvel asked.

"Fine," she said. "It didn't even hurt."

Wait, but shouldn't it have—

"Hang on," he said, putting the same thought to words before she could finish it. "If the material this place is made of shoves back against your impacts like that, shouldn't it have pushed up against your ass?"

She wouldn't have put it like that, but she nodded, getting to her feet. They both looked at the floor where she'd landed skeptically.

"Here," Arvel said, then spread out his arms trust fall style and tipped forward.

"What—" she started forward to grab him on instinct, but then it hit her what he was doing.

He hit the floor with a soft thud, not the heavy impact she'd expected. It rippled and he sank about half an inch into it before it smoothed out and solidified.

"Weird," he said, pushing back onto his feet. He looked at her. "Now you do it."

She'd expected him to say this, but with the way things had been going, she wasn't eager to test this.

"I'm not gonna—" she started to protest, but he'd already swung his foot out, kicking her legs out from under her.

She landed the same as before, the floor catching her like soft foam and then hardening into a floor again.

"Still good?" he asked.

"Well, my ankle hurts," she snapped, scowling up at him.

"But the rest of you is fine?" he pressed.

"Yes," she sighed, sitting up.

"The floor didn't have any push back?" he asked. She shook her head and started to get to her feet, but looked up at the sight of the dark grey wolf—her side of the interface. He knelt down without a word and pulled off her boot, tugging down the sock beneath to expose the ankle where Arvel had kicked her.

"What are you..." she said, but trailed off as the male wolf started gently but firmly kneading his fingers into her ankle. "Whoaaa..."

Where he touched, the pain of the still-forming bruise faded into nothing. Then he slipped her sock back up, slid her boot back on, re-laced it, and stood promptly.

"What'd he do?" Arvel asked.

"He... fixed my ankle," she said flexing the joint of her foot. "I mean, it wasn't that bad to begin with, but now it's fine..."

She stood, looking down at her foot, testing the weight. No pain at all. She looked up at the dark grey wolf curiously.

"More evidence the place wants us to be comfortable, I guess," she said. "Adjusting the temperature when you came in, these two being geared toward us, and now..." She looked down at her foot, lifting it and moving it around again. "...this."

"What's up with the floor, then?" he asked. "My theory: it's some kind of nanotech or programmable matter of some kind. It changes based on what we do to it, adapts to our preferences."

"But the floor and walls only reacted differently when we hit them intentionally," she said, catching on. "They'll catch you when you fall and stop you from hurting yourself, but if you attack the place, it reacts. Doesn't explain why it just lets you punch it and shoves back at me, though."

"I've got a theory about that, too," he said. "It has to do with these two."

He pointed two fingers at each of the interfaces, the male and female wolf manifested by this place.

"This goes against the whole idea of the 'don't piss off the aliens', though," Arvel said, "so I don't know if it's a great idea to test this theory."

She raised her eyebrows.

"You want to attack them?" she blurted. "You're right, that does sound like a bad idea."

"A previous team's totally been sent in to test this, right?" Arvel asked. "Why would they send us in with guns if we weren't allowed to use them?"

"Echo 1 is correct," Command came in. "Previous teams have attempted combat with the interface units."

"'Attempted' combat'?" Val asked.

"We don't have to use guns," Arvel said. "I just want to see what happens."

He walked up to the smaller white wolf. She didn't look guilty or sad like she had when his hand had gone near his combat knife. Instead, she just closed her eyes, brow scrunched as she braced for impact. Arvel lifted a hand, palm flat, ready to smack her across the face.

"Shit, I actually feel bad," he murmured. But he brought his hand down anyway. There was the dull impact of paw pads on fur and the arctic she-wolf gasped. Her head turned with the strike and she lifted a paw to the side of her muzzle.

"Sorry," Arvel said, grimacing. But she just giggled, tail wagging.

"It's okay!" she said, cheerful as ever. "You were just curious! I can take more than that! Try your guns next, if you want!"

Arvel blinked.

"Uh," he said, "I'll wait on that." He turned to Val, and her heart sank, ears twitching. "Okay, now—"

"I do mine," she cut off. "I know."

She let out a long sigh and brought up her fists. But the look in the dark grey wolf's eyes made her hesitate. There was a watchfulness in them—not a threat, just a warning. She swung anyway.

Her fist never hit. The grey wolf moved in a blur, and suddenly she was up against the wall, his hand pressed to her upper back, keeping her there. She grunted through gritted teeth, pushing off the wall, but his hand stayed firm. The dark grey wolf kept her pinned for another second, then pushed a bit firmer against her back before releasing her. She spun around, half expecting him to hit back, but he was standing with his hands behind his back again, professional and commanding as ever. Apparently, pinning her for a bit was all the reprimanding he was going to do.

"Interesting," Arvel said, looking at the dark grey wolf. Val hoped he couldn't see her blushing from the undignified event—and that if he could, she hoped he didn't connect that it wasn't just embarrassment coloring her cheeks. "So again, the question is, why's this place allow me to attack it, but not you?"

"What if we try and switch?" she asked, looking at the arctic she-wolf. He raised an eyebrow thoughtfully and shrugged, stepping up to the dark wolf.

"You go ahead first this time," he said. "Just... go easy on her, yeah?"

"Don't feel like you have to extend him the same courtesy," she said, glowering a bit at the dark wolf. Arvel chuckled.

Val raised a fist and swung. But she hit nothing. Where the shorter she-wolf had been, her strike passed through air. The little snowball had dodged. Val stepped back, fists still up, expecting the white wolf to counter the way the darker male had, but she didn't. She just returned to her original position, smiling as cheerfully as ever.

"Alright," Arvel said. "Also interesting. Shit, guess it's my go."

He took a breath, raised his fists, and donned a cocky smirk. He swung, but the dark grey wolf dodged the flying fist. Again, Val braced to see a counter-attack, but it didn't come.

"Interesting," Arvel said again, multicolored eyes gleaming. He looked at the arctic she-wolf. "So, you only react to me by letting me hit you. Just like how the floor sinks in. Or the wall. But boss-man here counters her moves, just like the floor pushes back against her deliberate hits."

"But they just dodge us when we switch up," Val said. "Why's that?"

"They're not designed to interface with both of us," Arvel said, glancing back and forth between the two. "She reacts to me, he reacts to you."

Val nodded. It made sense. The white she-wolf had only appeared when Arvel entered. She was his interface.

"Okay," she said. "Why the different reactions? Why does the place seem to push back against me and yield to you?"

"Well, it doesn't always push back at you, and it hasn't always yielded to me," he said. "Your guy answered when you asked if these two were holograms, and my girl over here has been plenty cryptic toward me when I asked about other stuff."

"They'll answer questions from either of us, but they respond differently to our attacks," she said. "Still doesn't explain why it reacts differently."

He smirked in a way that made her heart rate spike with uncertainty. What the hell was he planning?

"Should I assume you've got another theory for that?" she asked.

"I do," he said.

The voice came in over their headset again, but it was more distant, quieter.

"No, it's going to be awhile, they're still experimenting with the floor and asking the 'interface' questions."

"What?" said an even more distant voice, with a note of sarcasm. "The super high-tech sex bots didn't distract them?"

"Command, your mic's on," she said. The owner of the feminine voice cleared her throat.

"Apologies, Echo Team," she said.

Arvel turned toward Val, ears perked, eyes wide. "Sex bots?" he mouthed. Val frowned. Apex compartmentalized for a reason. Had they compromised the op by revealing classified intel?

Also... 'sex bots'??

"Are we clear to proceed with the assignment, Command?" she asked.

There was a pause.

"Confirmed," the voice said. "Proceed at will."

"So..." Arvel said, drawing his sidearm. "Guns next?"

She scoffed.

"Uh, no," she said. "Considering how it went when I tried to punch my guy, I'll pass on that."

"You suuure you're not curious?" he asked, giving that unnerving smirk again. "Seeing him pin you like that was kind of hot."

Her face burned.

"No, I am not—I don't see what that has to do with—" she stammered.

Oh—sex bots. Interfaces. Now that they knew a bit more about these things, pieces started falling into place in her mind. The reason the place pushed back at her and bent to him...

"Did you also do the entrance interview with Apex before taking the job?" he asked. "And the... uh... 'personal' questionnaire?"

She nodded. The questions had been unusually invasive. Not just orientation, sexual health and history, but 'What fetishes/kinks do you enjoy?' 'What sex positions have you tried? Which are your favorite?' and the memorable 'Do you consider yourself sexually dominant, submissive, or a switch?'

That was it. How this whole place worked.

"Before you proceed..." the dark grey said.

"...There's just one little thing we need to know..." the white-furred she-wolf said.

They both spoke together: "Do you consent?"