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Note: This story is based loosely on the "Lykan Invasion" series by Nex Canis, and my previous "Vanguard". Reading the other stories is not strictly necessary, but would be an aid to comprehension.

Daichi said "What-"

Lex didn't think. He acted.

Before his counterpart had gotten the word out, the Lykan's right arm turned into a blur that caught the cylinder and hurled it into the corner. Replaying the scene later, Daichi would be struck by the way the rusty light coming from the thing struck Lex's hand. It was a nice bit of lighting, and it made the Inago wish, once again, that he had listened to his Hive-Father and gone into art.

"-is-"

The cylinder was still in the air when the larger being stood up and threw the table after it. The weapon--it had the be a weapon, right?--bounced off a wall and landed in a corner, with the table arriving a second later, having inverted itself along the way.

"-that?" Daichi finished.

There was a dull thump, and an increase in air pressure, and the table in the corner exploded.

Daichi found reflexes he didn't know he still had taking over, hurling him against the wall next to the window, where the sniper couldn't see him. Lex was, incongruously for his size, lying on the ground, using the lower portion of the windowframe to hide him from view.

He grinned at the security chief. "That...was a bomb."

Everyone else was panicking.

Daichi found his own hands shaking as he drew his Accelerator Pistol. A second later, he snapped a cam onto the lower rail from his bag of tricks, and connected it to his personal wireless receiver. It took him three tries to mount it, and he closed his eyes.

Breathe.

(they tried to kill me in a coffee shop not even a warzone this was supposed to be an easy job)

Breathe in. Like a tide. Breathe out. Like an ocean. Breathe in. Breathe out.

"I think the shooter is on the second floor, across the street" said his counterpart. "'Course, don't quote me on that."

Lex was swelling somehow. Daichi stared at his chest, noted the way clear panels opened up as the materials stretched. The skin underneath grew hairier, his face was changing shape-

"I need the window clear," said Daichi in a voice that was far too calm. "Can you knock out the kleerplas without exposing yourself?"

Lex curled a shifting fist around the leg of a chair nearby, and the window shattered a moment later.

"Thank you." Daichi poked his gun around the frame. There should be no reason for anyone not to be looking at the coffeeshop that a bomb had just went off in, especially with all the inconsiderate people rushing out of it screaming. He noticed an open window on the second floor of a building directly across the street, with someone's elbow barely visible. Given the angle, they were likely holding something long close to their body. Like a rifle.

Daichi wished he had gotten the full combat suite instead of just a security program. Albeit a heavily modified one, but still.

The other being seemed noticeably less human now, and his smell had changed too. He smelt much more of that previously subtle not-quite-human scent, and Lex looked up from his supine position. "Any ideas, chief?"

"I wish I had armor-piercing rounds, shoot at him, and try to distract him while you sneak across the street through the back door."

"What if he sees me and shoots me?"

"Then I'm going to have to explain this to Bastion Security when they show up. Get ready in three, two one, go!"

Daichi swung his upper arms around the windowframe, using his cam to sight on the window without exposing himself. He had a slight advantage in that his weapon was smaller, and could be bought to bear faster than the cumbersome grenade launcher the assassin had used--

Wait.

With a standard grenade launcher, the projectile would likely have bounced off the kleerplas, especially from the angle it was fired at. Even if it had made it through, it wouldn't have had enough momentum to stick in the table. Which meant he wasn't dealing with a thumper here. More likely a grenade rifle, or gyrojet, or something with a powered launch. If the assassin had any more projectiles, he could probably turn Daichi into mist without actually seeing him at all. All he would need was one good shot.

So be it. If he had to risk his life to unravel whatever was going on, it was a small price to pay.

"Koketsu ni irazunba koji wo ezu," he said to himself.

He pulled his gun back, and dropped the power cell. His implants told him it was fully charged, but he had learned by now not to rely too much on technology. It read full, and he slotted it back into the weapon. He turned down the speed on the gun's projectiles; it wouldn't do to overpenetrate. He also shifted it from shaving off the metal in its magazine in beads to ribbons. Still aerodynamic, but with a much shorter range, much more battery drain, and--this was the important bit--more visibility, especially when they'd be zipping past the shooter's elbow. Nothing to bounce it off of, and he needed to suppress the guy, not scare him off.

His head buzzed.

"I am in the alley," growled the Lykan. "Perhaps you would like to begin firing before I get some interesting and not very fun at all holes."

"Wouldn't that be a shame," Daichi murmured. "Suppressive fire."

He tasked his lower pair of eyes to thermal, and his peripheral vision caught Lex darting across the street through the screaming beings. First on two legs, then on four. He reached the alleyway to the building the sniper was in and vanished from sight.

Daichi waited a second or two, then sent a stream of fire through the sniper's window. Which exploded.

"Um...did I do that?"

Silence.

"Lex? Lex? What's the tactical?"

"I'm fine. The target dropped a thermal grenade, and was killed."

"We needed him alive!"

"It's not my fault he was an idiot!"

Daichi swore in three languages. "I'll be right up."

By the time the Inago found the apartment, Lex was at the tail end of his...deflation. His suit was moving back into its normal configuration, the clear panels closing, his face...well, Daichi didn't want to look at his face. He looked at the sniper for a second, then realized he didn't want to look at him all that much either.

"Are you allowed to...cut loose like that?"

"The Council allows beings to do a lot of things in the defense of themselves, another, and the public, even if those actions would not be permitted under...normal circumstances." Lex shivered, emitting uncomfortably organic noises. He sounded oddly gruff, compared to his normal baritone.

Daichi forced himself to look at the sniper. Thermal grenades could wreak havok on a body's water, and Daichi couldn't even tell the guy's species. Just another warm body, cooling quickly.

"Something's wrong," he said.

Lax looked askance. He seemed to be having problems with his teeth. Something hot tried to surge its way out of Daichi's throat, and he closed his eyes, breathed deeply.

"Snipers aren't supposed to stay in one spot. You fire, you displace." Breathe in. Br eathe out.

"Maybe he didn't expect to come back."

"Then he'd have been a suicide bomber. Would you like an explosion with your coffee" An odd sort of laugh. "Venti trauma to go, whipped cream!"

"Are you all right?"

"No. I was five seconds away from horrible explodey death. Thanks, by the way."

"Actually, I was saving myself. You just happened to be there."

A more normal laugh. "How did you do that with your clothes?"

"What, this old thing? Lykan standard. StretchEd and breathes, in addition to the usual 'protect everyone from the Big Bad Wolf-juice'. Even has a quick-release for use in--" A delicate cough. "--emergencies. In the Lykan territories, we spend most of our time naked. When we opened up, we had to start wearing clothes again for the ambassadors and tourists." He smiled wistfully. "We get a lot of tourists."

"I'll bet you do," murmured Daichi absently, trying to find his emotional still pond. Unfortunately, something was bugging him.

"What was he doing here? What did he hope to accomplish? Did he have a spotter? What was he trying to do?"

"What was he playing at?" Lex added.

The Inago's antennae suddenly snapped around to bear on the Lykan. "What?"

"I said, what was he up to?"

"You said 'playing at'."

"Same difference."

"Playing."

Lex was a wee bit concerned. His counterpart was slowly rising, an odd look on his face. "Are you okay?"

"They've been playing us both for fools."

"How so?"

"This isn't a conspiracy," He waved his hand at the room. "It's a play. The murder, the note, the trail of clues, they've been leading us like ants after sugar. No wonder this whole thing sounds like it was written by some adolescent being on the Net who watches too much mystery holos!"

"How can you tell?"

"What kind of killer shoots someone at point blank in a well-lit alley and then fails to notice the big note in their hand? No, they had to have planted it there, so the investigators waste time trying to find the killer before the "deadline" while they get on with their real plan! What kind of killer tries to take out people with a grenade instead of bullets? He could've taken us both, and it probably would've cost less! If you have explosives, just tape one to the bottom of every table, take out the whole cafe, why not?"

"Interesting theory," said Bation Security Officer G-whatshisname from the doorway. He was backed up by several large beings of various species with equally large guns. "Perhaps you would care to explain it."

"It wasn't my fault this time," Daichi said absently. "I was just having coffee. Well, technically tea, but-"

"Do you have transport?" Lex asked.

"No, we all walked here," snapped the cop.

"Can it fit two more?"

The cop frowned. "If I leave few men here to guard the scene until Analysis gets here, yes."

"Then we'll explain on the way to the Embassy Row."

"I call shotgun," Daichi added.

It turned out the passenger's seat of the transport actually had a shotgun.

"I always thought that was just a metaphor," Daichi said for about the fifth time, as the transport pulled in for a discreet landing around the corner from the embassy. "What's the tactical?"

"Cameras reported a rose delivery van parked in Embassy Row in front of the Felidian Embassy for an extended period of time." Garry-was it Garry?-said. "No one has come out or got in, though we didn't see when it was parked there. We're proceeding on the assumption its a threat."

"And?"

"The Feldian Ambassador is very allergic to roses, Inago," Lex said gently. "Just walking down the sidewalk with that van there could probably kill her, if she didn't carry a stimpen. It's public knowledge."

Daichi winced.He should have known that.

"Maybe it's some deliverybeing taking a nap on his lunch break."

"Who doesn't respond to any radio or personal calls?

"Okay, maybe."

"Can we get sensors on it?" asked one of the B-Sec Special Assault Team members.

"Nope," Daichi answered. "It's my embassy across the street, remember? Even if we did have scanners--which would be a violation of several treaty agreements necessary for the Inago to continue to operate on this station--these hypothetical scanners would not be able to penetrate the trees and wall at the border of our embassy grounds. The Felidians would have pretty much the same problem, even if we did manage to convince them of the threat somehow."

One of the SATs raised a hand.

"Yes?"

"If the trees and such are a problem, why are they there in the first place?"

"I didn't have the job when they landscaped the place, and I'm glad for it. You ever tried to talk sense into a politician?"

Everyone laughed. You didn't end up in this job unless you were jerked around by some desk jockey at some point or another.

"Bottom line, we need to find some way to know what we're dealing with."

"UAV?"

The officer snorted. "Over Embassy Row? Even if we were willing to risk being called on the carpet, I don't want to spend the next week filling out paperwork."

"What about handheld devices?"

"We've got a thermal scanner, but I think they'd see us coming."

"Maybe we could find a disguise?" suggested on of the SAT-beings.

Daichi used his upper arms to rub the spot between his primary eyes, which had just started to ache. The transport was small with all the cops and their gear, not to mention the sheer overwhelming presence of Lex. "I need some air."

He pulled back the door, and stepped out into the alley, where he found a Pomatian-food deliverybeing staring at him. The back door to the restaurant swung shut, and the being's leftmost eyestalk twitched as several heavily armed beings exited the van behind the Inago. It turned an interesting shade of puce, and took half a step backwards.

Daichi looked it up and down, and smiled. "Hi! What's your size?"

"I didn't mean me!" Daichi tried to protest, some time later.

Lex looked up. "It was your clever plan," he pointed out, and finished fitting the thermal scanner into the bag.

"Yes, it was. My plan. For someone else. Someone please explain to me why I have to be the one to risk my life?"

"Because you're the smallest," said the blue-armored cop, and flashed a grin.

"Oh, ha ha."

"You're the only one with alternate vision," Lex explained. "If the scanner doesn't work, or can't pick up anything, we have the old Mark 1 Inago Eyeball as backup."

"So nice to be wanted," Daichi murmured. "Why can't you it? Lykans have a good sense of smell, right?"

"The Felidians smell almost as well as Lykans, loath as I am to admit it," Lex said. "Several of them have walked past the van into the embassy without noticing anything out of the ordinary. It's probably sealed and filtered, and even if it wasn't, I wouldn't be able to determine how many bad guys are in there without sniffing around for a while." He smiled. "I think they'd figure out what I was up to at some point."

"So that leaves me," Daichi said. "Jumpsuit, check. Bag?"

"Check," said Lex.

"Thank you. Delivery? Thanks. Check. Well, don't wait up--"

"Daichi--"

Daichi turned to Lex. "Yeah?"

"Try not to die."

The bug nodded, and stepped out of the alley.

"So, uh, when do I get my uniform back?" he heard the deliverybeing say behind him.

The Relian in the driver's jumped as a being rapped on the window. It was wearing a cheap-cotton jumpsuit, and carrying a large bag with several disposable food containers in it.

"Yo!" it said.

The driver turned to his companion, whose eyes narrowed. "Get rid of it!" he hissed, at a frequency below the range of most beings.

The driver rolled down the window. "Can I help you?"

"I got a delivery here for-" the stranger glanced at his pad "--Romeo Eliunis Lian?"

"There is no one here by that name. Please go."

"You sure?" The being leaned on the van, the pack at its side banging against it, and peered nosily into the window. "Whatcha up to here, anyway?

"We're lost," said the Relian in the second's seat, leaning over with what it thought was an ingratiating smile. "He doesn't want to ask directions." Silently, it rolled its eyes and mouthed "Men!"

The deliverybeing chuckled. "I hear ya. Alright, I guess I got the wrong address." It glanced at its pad again. "Son of a--I'm supposed to be at Embassy Street, not Embassy Row. I don't have enough time to--okay, thanks, folks."

And off it scampered, disappearing around the corner. The Relians watched it go, their scales shading slightly towards red with relief.

"Won't they recognize us?" came a voice from the rear.

"He didn't even realize I wasn't a female," the passenger snorted. "We'll be fine."

"--And one of them appears to be a transsexual, or at least female-identifying." Daichi handed the scanner back to the blue-armored security officer.

"You touched the van with this?" The cop ran a lead into his pad, and from there to the transport's display system.

"Yep. You said that was the best signal, right?"

"So it was. Okay, people, we've got six Relians, two in the front cab, four in the rear. All of them armed with Sonic weapons. I'm not sure how they expected to get those past the sensors, but that's not our problem. Our problem is coming up with a good tactical plan."

Daichi leaned against the wall of the transport, eyes closed. He heard plans floated back and forth, outlined, discarded, refined, and finalized, all in the space of a few minutes. Even Lex was contributing.

"--Do we have enough smokes?"

Et cetera.

Eventually, it went quiet, and someone tapped him on the shoulder. He opened his eyes.

Lex was looking at him. "You're in front of the shotgun."

Daichi leaned forward, reached behind him, handed Lex the weapon.

"I don't have the build for assault; I'll stick with my Accelerator and the transport, since I prefer stealth and subtlety."

Lex racked the weapon dramatically. "I don't."

"Lex?"

"Yes?"

"You just cocked a deadly weapon in a tightly-packed van full of Special Assault Team members."

Lex blushed. "Oops."

One of the beings waved in a friendly, no-harm-done fashion.

"Good thing it wasn't actually loaded yet," Daichi sighed. "Good hunting."

A few seconds later, the alley was largely empty. The Inago turned to the Pomatian deliverybeing, who was still standing around in their undergarments.

"Hang on, give me a few seconds to change. Sorry about the wait. The Embassy will pay for it. I hope. Hotei, I'll pay for it myself, if it comes to that."

From somewhere nearby came the dull thump of a smoke grenade. The deliverybeing flinched.

Daichi paused before entering the transport. "Say! You guys sell spring rolls?"

"So then," continued Lex, "we hit our jammers and advanced on the van. The smoke grenades were blocking any infared or visual sensors they had, and we banged on the side of the van and asked them to come out." He took a pull at his Venusian Creme.

Daichi stared into his synthsake, trying to focus. It was his third drink. "I hope you asked nicely."

"Since we had the active scanners--that fancy headgear that was in the van--we could tell their race, names, gender, weapons, whether they skinned their knee in the fifth grade, and they couldn't see us at all. We informed them of this fact." Some of Lex's drink had gotten caught in his beard, somehow.

"Naturally, they wanted to fight." The hybrid was wondering if eating a dozen spring-rolls with sake a few hours later had been a good idea. Then again, the throbbing in his head had started a during the debriefing, long before Lex dragged him to a bar to celebrate. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, dancing hand-in-glove with the high-stress day.

"Naturally. So we used our sonic weapons to give them a little incentive."

"Don't Relians have that little bone in the ear?"

"Something like that. It took a few tries, but they eventually saw reason." Lex drained the glass. "I had a chat with C-Sec Analysis on my way out after the debrief. Evidence indicates that they weren't going to attack the Felidians. They were going to attack you." He rapped his cred on the countertop. "Barkeep! Another!"

"Me? What do they want with me?"

"No, sorry, I misspoke." To the barkeep: "Thank you. Keep 'em coming. Not 'you', Daichi J'n, I meant 'you', the Inago embassy."

"Wait, what? Why would they do that? They were competing for an Inago trade agreement with--" Daichi stopped.

Lex grinned. "With the Lykans. They had disguises, plans, the whole nine yards. It might not've been foolproof, but it probably would've thrown up enough smoke to kill our chances of getting the agreement."

"Which is still far from certain, I'd like to point out."

"Noted."

"You said something about 'plans'."

"Oh, right, they had your embassy's plans."

Daichi spewed sake across the counter and the bar. "What?"

"Oh, I don't think you've made the bartender too happy."

Sure enough, the Mustelan was headed in their direction, a frown on his furry face. Some quick negotiations, and the barkeep had gained a large tip and Diachi had gained another serving of sake.

"As I was saying, your embassy used to be a house, yes?"

Daichi rubbed his temples with his upper hands. "Yeah, back before our embassy moved from--I see where this is going. Anyone could just walk in, look around, and get a rough idea of some of the changes we've made. Since when did Relians get so clever?"

"Remember when I saved your life?"

"Hard to believe it was less than a day ago."

"The guy whose apartment that was was one of the conspirators. He worked in the Bastion Registry office. Low-pay, moving files and making cafstim, but it was enough to get him access to some unimportant building records. Problem was, he met an...interesting young Inago about that time, and started to have regrets."

"How do you know all of this?"

"I'm guessing, from what B-Sec showed me of the evidence they gathered."

"They didn't show me anything."

"You didn't have a chance to ask before I dragged you out here, remember? Anyway, he probably tried to warn his friend, and got them both killed. Some bright spark decided to take the chance to muddy their tracks even more."

"All warfare is based on deception," Daichi quoted.

"That's a new one. Anyway, they probably never counted on you figuring out that they were framing the Lykans."

"Whopee, I'm a sd'onk hero," Daichi snarled. "I'm gonna get drunk, and then I'm going to bed."

"I think I'll join you."

Several hours later, a large amount of empty cups, glasses, mugs, and bottles had collected on the counter.

"So how..." Lex began. "So why do you Inago hav' nanomachines in the first place?"

"There was this guy. There was this guy, and this guy he wasn't a guy at all!"

"How could he be a guy and not be a guy? That's crazy!" Lex punched his counterpart lightly in the shoulder. "What was he, a girl?" He snickered at his own sparkling wit.

"No, he wasn't a girl. He was made of nanomachines!" Daichi took another swig, or sip, or whatever.

"Back up. People are made of...people. not nanomachines. So he can't have been made of nanomachines, 'cause logic."

"Humanity was in a war, see, and they made a copy of this guy, and put it in some nanomachines, and they shot if off into space. He was s'posed to turn things into a copy of him, right?"

"Right!"

"Except that he landed on the wrong planet. My planet. He ended up changing a scout into a new body, but never gained control of it. He was just on ride-along in the scout's head, a disembodied voice and facts."

"Worse'n being married."

"Yesh. Yes. Anyway, the nanomachines were broken, and as soon as he got back to his hive, they started changing the other guys too."

"So they started turning into more copies?"

"Not exactly. They were...changed in different ways. Everyone they touched was changed. An' everyone they touched, and it eventually got into the ecosystem, an' now everyone on the planet has some kinda nanos."

"Huh. So when did the nanodude land on Inago and start messing your bishness up?"

"'Bout..." Dacichi summoned enough focus to call up the information. "'Bout four hunnert yearsh ago."

Drunk as he was, Lex still managed to do the math. "Wait...waitwaitwait..."

Daichi waited. "Yeah?"

"I forget. Oh yeah! Us Lykans had already in-found Earth by then!"

"So?"

"So how...sohowcanyou..."

"It's pretty simple, really." Daichi took another pull at his drink. "Something went wrong. Maybe he steered into a black hole, or flew too close to a star, or maybe a decimal point was in the wrong place. Bottom line is, he didn't just go to the wrong planet." He sniggered. "He went to the wrong universe."

Both beings laughed loudly.

"Alright. Alrightallrightallright. Lex, it's your turn. Yours. Where did Lykans come from?'

Lex spread his arms in a shrug. "Nobody knows. Records lost long ago! We found and colonized Earth a long time ago, and we've done so much interbreeding since that there's really no difference between humans and Lykans anymore. Thatsh why we call the planet Lykia now."

"Not so different from us, really."

"Not so much."

"To things in common."

They clinked glasses. Some spilled. Neither noticed. They drank.

"Leksh?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm told Lykans will hit on anything that moves."

"More or less."

"Why haven't you hit on me?"

"Professh...professh...we had a job to do."

"And now I'm sitting in a bar. Drunk. I'm drunk. You could've slipped something into my, mymymy drink-"

"You saw the bartender pour it." He turned to the bartender. "Dinchoo? Dinchoo pour it?"

"Wouldn't be much of a security chief if I wasn't careful that way. We're both drunk, right?"

"Right."

"Job's over, right?"

"Right."

"Lykans will sleep with jus' 'bout anything, right?"

"Right!"

"That means, we're either about to become friends or sleep together. I prefer my own macrospecies, but I expected you to make the shoffer. Offer."

"I thought we were friends already."

"Answer the question."

Lex thought for a second. "My species has evolved enough for us to be able to...mate with other species wit'out changing them if we wanna, and we wouldn' change anyone who doesn't ask for it. 'Sides, you're not my type." Lex made a face.

Daichi was juuust drunk enough not to care. "Hermaphrodite?"

"No. Bug."

Something hummed through the hybrid's skull, and he winced. "Hang on." He subvocalized the "Receive" command. Then he did it again, because his implants couldn't recognize him through the slurring.

"Got it," he said a few seconds later, and hung up. "Barkeep. Two stims."

"Duty calls, eh?" Lex remarked. "Mus' be drunker'n you look, Daichi."

"Call me J'n. One of them is for you. The ambassh-embassy-the boss would like a word with you too."

"Ooh, maybe I'll get a medal!" Lex said as they left the bar.

"Chief Daichi, Chief Lex," began the ambassador, after complementing the former on his coat. "I'm making a recommendation that the Lykans be allowed to open an embassy on and begin trade with the homeworld. In addition, several prominent hive queens will be visiting the Bastion, and meeting with their Lykan counterparts."

Daichi's jaw hung open. Less than a day ago, he would've jumped up and started yelling, but the situation had changed. "What?" he said.

"They'll be acting as private citizens, of course, so they don't have to seek approval from the Diet. They will also be bringing along their own security forces, and hinted that they would appreciate some help in such matters."

"I'll have to start talking to them right aw--"

"You misunderstand, Daichi. I meant both of you."

The Inago stiffened, and shot a look at his counterpart, who looked equally astonished.

"They were impressed with the way you handled the situation."

"I'm flattered, but this is kind of fast." The stim wasn't working; he still couldn't focus properly. "Wait. Something's bugging me here."

The ambassador paused, just for a second, before answering, but it was enough to set Daichi's heart pumping faster. "What's the problem?"

The security chief's lower hand edged towards his weapon, and he scanned for any ambush points. The window seemed secure, and the only other entrance to the room was the door being the Lykan. He could feel Lex swelling behind him, growing, in response to his friend's uneasiness. It was oddly comforting, to have someone at one's back. Wait--

"Why are there Lykan guards outside with our own?"

"In honor of our new partnership--"

"The partnership hasn't been ratified yet, there was a recent attempt on your life, and I am the chief of security!" S'd'lnkhit, that stim had done nothing for him. His head wouldn't stop spinning.

"A show of good faith-"

"And what's that smell?"

"The Lykan ambassador-"

"Where's Hl'p'r?" The security chief looked around the room. "He wasn't at his desk, and it's not his lunch break."

The ambassador's mouth opened, but for once, they didn't have an answer.

"Mochi ha mochiya," said Daichi. At the code phrase, the desk obligingly turned into a one-way mirror, automatically brightening its contents but leaving anyone inside in the dark. As it happened, the ambassador's assistant was inside.

More accurately, the ambassador's assistant had been...changed. They were larger now. Limbs were dense with muscle. Carapace was interspersed with grey and black fur, and Hl'p'r turned away, as if they could tell he was looking at them. Their face had been pushed out, distended into something not quite human, not quite fully Inago, something with whiskers and a wet, black nose. After a few seconds, they turned back to their previous task.

Daichi took a step back from the desk. And then another. He could smell the distress scent he was suddenly putting out--

For a second or two, there was nothing but the sound of dripping.

"The Lykan ambassador was here recently," said the Ambassador calmly. "He made some very-oh!-persuasive arguments. Hl'p'r here was quite convinced. Isn't that right, Lex?"

Daichi stopped backing up, and turned to face the grinning Lykan. He seemed so much bigger than he had the last time he had transformed, even if he was still mostly-human. His ears were poking up, crawling up the side of his head like--well, like some small insect.

"It was all a setup, wasn't it?"

"Yep." The clothing strained to contain him, muscles visible through the kleerstretch fabric, and Daichi wanted to touch them.

"You Lykans actually were working with the Relians, weren't you?"

"Yep."

"If the kidnapping attempt had succeeded, you would've had to have long, private meetings with the embassy senior staff and security, including me, during the investigation. If it failed--"

"The Lykan ambassador would, of course, personally come to thank your ambassador for your co-operation." Lex glanced at the table. "And her personal assistant, it seems. Don't worry; we'll attend to them in time."

Daichi struggled to keep his head clear, fighting the heat rising in his chest, his limbs. He couldn't think of much to ask. "Are you really my friend?"

"Yes. And in a few minutes, much, much more."

"The Lykan guards-"

"All posed to add a curious new additive to your embassy's climate control system. In about...whoops, they did it thirty-five seconds ago. Better hurry if you want to warn them!"

"My drink-"

"I didn't slip anything into it. I did, however, put a little of my secret ingredient in mine. Did you know that toasts were originally developed so that if someone's guest had poisoned in their host's glass, it would be in the guest's glass too? All I did was reverse the idea. A bit flashy, considering the climate control thing, but I like to be secure." Lex reached behind him and sealed the door.

One more question, as Daichi fell to his knees, drowning in the heat and that smell. "Why?"

"Lykia has stagnated. Every living thing on the planet is Lykan in one way or another, much like your entire ecosystem has nanomachines. We want to expand, to branch out. With nanotechnology, we won't even need Alphas to convert people psychically; we could spread just by touching people. Or their plants. Or their pets. Or anything organic, really. All these new species, blended together. It'll be perfection."

Daichi could hear them now; the presence of the dozens of Lykans on the station, like a radio with broadcasters just warming up. Even the Inago being converted in the embassy--and the species elsewhere in the Bastion--though they weren't as loud as the fully-converted Lykans. It dwarfed even the Great-Mind; a relentless pressure upon his mind that forced him to the ground, clutching the sides of his head. He couldn't even resist as Lex bent down, and relieved him of his accelerator pistol, placing it on the table near the door.

"J'n, remember when I said you weren't my type?" Lex tapped the release, and the clothes slid off his body with barely a whisper.

"Y-yes?" The Smell was so much stronger now.

"I lied."

ENDF

"A Lykan" 2/3 by Eulalie "Nequ" Quentin partially based on stories by Nex Canis 2011 CC By-SA-NC