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I woke up with a start to find my face buried in something warm. The female mutant that was attending me rose to her feet and bellowed, "He's awake!"

The nanite infection had many infection vectors. One of them was the classic fluid exchange. It's not uncommon for mutants to force feed things. It wasn't even the first time it had happened to me. Since I still felt human, I could only assume my inoculation was doing its job. The taste of milk was off. She was no cow.

We were indoors. A small lantern lit the room in flickering white light. I could see she was as tall as the male I was fighting with earlier. She was striped, and equine. It made me think of a zebra. She didn't seem very worried about me, and she had little reason to be. I was bound securely. My arms were behind my back, and it felt like they used fifty feet of rope to make sure I wasn't going anywhere. My ankles were tied separately to posts. I could sit up, and look around, but do little else. To my surprise, they had left my clothes, but they felt emptied of my tools and weapons.

She had talked. That put her a step up from the average feral. Maybe negotiation was possible, or maybe they just used words to lure in their prey. It was hard to tell until you tried.

"What's your name?" I tried. It never hurt to start in neutral territory, work towards what you wanted.

"Sunflower," she replied, turning to face me instead of the door.

The aches were gone. I was used to that. Nanite rich areas tended to result in rapid healing, even for inoculated. "Nice to meet you, Name's Erik."

She grunted approval, then smiled. Her teeth were flat, suited for plants, "We'll give you a better name if you join us," she said in what she was sure was a seductive tone. Before I could reply, the door swung open, admitting two mutants inside. One was a male zebra, the other was almost human, if you discounted that he seemed to be comprised heavily of studs and piercings. The zebra was not hurting for piercing either, with three in each ear and a gold chain dangling around his neck.

"You are awake," stated the male zebra, speaking in a deep rumbling 'I'm in charge' sort of voice that the other two didn't question.

"Guilty as charged."

The pierced man approached me with a distant look in his eyes. I didn't like it.

"Aaron, do not disturb him," suddenly spoke the alpha horse, and the pierced man, Aaron, stopped, and took a step back away.

"Nice to meet you, boss man. I'm on a little bit of a time crunch. I don't suppose you could untie me so I could get out of your hair?" Direct approach, worked, sometimes. Not as often as I'd have liked.

"It would be my pleasure," said the alpha as he stepped forward. Sunflower had sat herself on a stool, watching the both of us, and Aaron retreated to the far end of the room to learn against a wall.

"That's mighty neighborly of you, I appreciate it," though I was a little taken aback at how willing he seemed to be.

"There is a catch," Ah ha, there it was. "We need a service from you, man who resists our call.

"His name," suddenly spoke up Sunflower, "Is Erik. Won't we be turning him to us?"

The alpha popped the bindings on my ankles first, "Not this one. You are more useful to us as you are. An outsider, armed and dangerous. Are you a man of your word?" He stared at me, his bright green eyes studying me intently, waiting for any sign of deceit.

"I can't promise anything without knowing what I'm agreeing to," I said, sticking to the truth, "I have other loyalties that come first."

Aaron snorted, "You should let me handle him."

Sunflower shot him a withering look, an expression of pure distaste. The alpha didn't seem to pay any attention to either, still staring at me, "Good, you are a man of loyalty. Very well. Our people are besieged by the unfeeling men of iron that inhabit the old place of learning." He pointed towards what I guessed was the campus, "Pay them a terrible blow, and we will consider our debts repaid and you will be a friend to our people, even if you lack our stature and fine qualities."

He was moving around me, starting to undo the rope or vines that were holding my arms, "Tell me, boss man, do your people live on the campus?"

"No. We are the people of Telegraph. Where it ends, so do we,"he said as he yanked the last of the rope away, freeing me to rise to my feet and rub feeling back into my arms.

"Well, then there's no reason for me to refuse. I plan on visiting the campus anyway."

"There are no coincidences," spoke the alpha as he rose to his own feet, "Only providence."

Religious mutants. That could be a wild card. "So, mind if I ask why you gave me the jump?"

"We were informed by another of your coming. A man who obeys the great god of Zef."

Zephyr sold me out? "What did he look like?"

"He had the name of a distilled spirit, and had many tails. His fur was striped across those tails," he described.

"Whiskey," suddenly said Sunflower.

"Yes, that was the name he used. He said you would be of help to us."

I looked around, hoping to find my gear, but it didn't seem to be in sight, "Why didn't you ask instead of tackling me from both ends?"

"We did not believe him. He said you would be immune to our call, so we tested it first. We apologize if you are harmed." I wasn't. He knew that, I knew that. Causing someone serious harm was much harder those days. You had to outright kill someone, tear them apart, burn the corpse. Murder was never accidental.

"Lovely. And if he hadn't called ahead?"

"We would have been slower in finding you. We would have given you direct conversion on the spot."

Direct conversion, that was a pretty way to say rape. "And when that didn't work?"

"We would have thrown you clear of our territory, usually in one piece, sometimes not."

Awful pragmatic tone for dire words, "Right. Can I have my equipment back? I'm not much use to anyone going in with my fists."

Aaron had never stopped staring at me. Though, neither had Sunflower, though her look was much friendlier than his. Not that any amount of cheer could disguise that feral hunger in her eyes. She would have loved to see me with stripes, just like hers. The Promethean virus sometimes struck me as the logical extension of racism. Don't like white, black, or asian people? No problem! Just go give one a hug and you'll have someone that's comfortably like you in no time at all.

The alpha made a hand gesture that had Sunflower up on her feet instantly and bounding out the door.

"Your things are being retrieved. Sit, and I will speak of our enemies." He moved and sat on a large chair. It looked like a dentist's chair, heavy duty, swiveling. "We do not have your weapons, but we can provide our knowledge."

A thought occurred to me and I checked my comm's time. 7:00 AM. I was late. "Boss man, give me a moment, and could you tell me where we are?"

"We are at our sacred place, Zebra Tattoo, located on the Telegraph before Haste," he replied, "Will you speak to your people on your radio?"

"Yea," I was already pulling up maps and getting a bearing. At least they had dragged me closer to where I wanted to be, but I was still hours off schedule. A quick nudge and dispatch was being called.

"Rsx Dispatch, please identify."

Sounded like Mary again. Did she ever take a break? I love a woman who takes her work seriously.

I sub-vocalized, barely muttering the words, "Verify 1031022."

"We have a match, agent Cobble. What is your status?"

"Situation green, running late but intact. Contact made with social mutants. Territorial but reasoning. Ready to proceed with mission."

"Mission remains green lighted," came the female voice, "You are to proceed. Check in at arrival at staging point." A brief pause, "Good to hear from you."

My heart skipped a beat. Mary worried for me? The very idea of it made me feel like a little kid instead of a seasoned agent, but the weight of reality pulled me down quickly, "Good to check in," I said quickly, clicking off the connection before I said anything to embarrass myself.

"Are your people satisfied?" asked the alpha.

Focusing on the matter at hand, I could see Sunflower was just rushing back in with a sack full of clanking metal objects, the barrel of my faithful rifle poking out the top. I rose to accept it, and she gave it, but not without flicking a large tongue across my lips with a coy flutter of her lashes. Ferals.

"The primary danger," spoke the alpha, "Are the tanks."

"Tanks?" I asked as wiped my mouth with a sleeve, then pulled my weapons free and began slinging them back into place, both rifles on back, knife in pocket, grenade in another, assorted odds and ends scattered about, "What kind of tanks are we talking about?"

He spread his arms wide, "They are large, about as long as four men, as wide as two. They travel on treads. Once they were dead, but now they shamble in a stead of unliving, attacking any who approach."

"Sounds great, boss," I said as I adjusted my gear for comfort, "How tall?"

He looked to Sunflower, who replied, "Half as tall as one of our people. They are fearsome beasts, or machines. I was never sure."

"Enough," barked Aaron suddenly, "Enough talking, let's get moving. We've wasted plenty of time as is."

"Let's not. I'm more of a solo operator." I said, holding up a hand, "I can find my way from here."

The alpha shook his head, "You will take Aaron and Sunflower with you. They are mighty warriors and will assist you in dealing with them."

"I appreciate the sentiment..." My words were cut off as Sunflower moved to embrace me and I slapped her hands away, "Enough touching. You want me to fight, fine, but I only go for humans." Not entirely a truth, but close enough to.

Sunflower huffed in disappointment, then reached behind a bookshelf to retrieve a spear hiding behind. Aaron looked amused at the sport, "The outsider is right, this is a hunt, not a dating trip. Focus."

I waved a hand at the two of them, "I don't remember allowing you along. You just described something I don't think spears are going to do much against."

Aaron sneered, "Too bad it isn't your choice. If it makes you feel any better," He touched the studs on his hands together, electricity arcing between them, "I won't be using any spears."

Boss man rose up and left the room quietly. I barely noticed him going, focused on my two 'associates', "Right, electric control. That's a handy trick. What's she going to be doing?"

"She," said Aaron as he looked to her, "Can speak for herself. She is many things, but helpless is not one of them."

"I love you too, Aaron," she said in a joking term as she hefted the spear lightly in her grip, then held it out towards me, "Take it."

I made to snatch the length from her and found the room spinning as it crashed towards the floor. The pole-arm was a lot heavier than it looked and I barely had time to swing it into the ground, propping it instead of falling onto it.

"Nice trick," I said guardedly, "But will it put a dent on a tank?"

"I've taken out three," she said with a quiet confidence, "When I catch them alone." She took the spear from my hands and slipped it along her back where it found a harness that was hard to make out through her striped pelt, "They are not immortal, but they are trouble, especially to the weaker of our people."

I quietly tried to gauge how strong she had to be to stand there with the spear at her back without difficulty. "Are you a strong example of 'your people'?"

Aaron spit on the floor, "The strongest, toughest, most damned she devil they have."

Sunflower reached over to slap him on the shoulder, almost knocking the pierced man back into the wall, "You flattery will get you nowhere."

"This is touching. Like a strange version of the A Team all gathered up, but I do have a schedule to keep on top of, and I'm not sure how well the two of you," I pointed at either of them, "Are going to be fitting into it."

Aaron rubbed at the socked shoulder, "Tough tits. We're on you like cheese on bread. So let's not waste the day arguing about it and get on with it."

Sunflower reached over and grabbed at me. I slapped at her hands, but it was like trying to stem an incoming wave with a fan. She grabbed me around the middle and hurled me up onto her shoulder, "Time to go," she said in a musical tone, heading towards the exit with me kicking and complaining to little avail.

Aaron trailed behind us, looking up at me as I dangled there, "She does that to all the boys she likes," he said in a spiteful tone. I really didn't like that guy.