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The picture wasn't flattering. I was slumped against the wall, one leg bent beneath me and the other outstretched. My head was tilted back, eyes closed, as I leant against the wall. A trail of blood trickled down my arm, joining the pool that came from the cuts in my back. It was an image of exhaustion, of pain, of being too far gone to take any more.

And of course, it was on the front page of every newspaper. I didn't even see it being taken, but now I was staring at my lowest point in every shop window. The shop owner at my local newsagent had taken a look at me, when I went out to pick up some supplies, and given me a copy of every one. "It's not every day you're on the front page of a paper, let alone all of them!" he had said, after asking me how I was.

After I'd been patched up, and interviewed, and finally released to go home, I spent ages reading reports and evidence on what had happened. Obsessing. The numbers, that was the thing. No one was pointing out that the numbers didn't add up. 16 injured, 1 dead. Except, I could only find 13 who were writing about their miraculous escape, or god granting them mercy, or their luck. All of them had got off more lightly than me, possibly because they hadn't fallen onto shattered glass.

That left one injured, probably worse than me. And one dead.

No one was giving their names!

The bomber had to be dead. They kept calling it a suicide bomb. That must mean he was dead. And the last injured one...

No-one was talking about someone being in hospital, so that meant it had to be someone they wouldn't talk about in public. And the Korps - they were kind of military. They certainly didn't tell us how many of their troops were in the city, as the papers were keen to say. If Lily was hurt, they wouldn't splash it al over the papers. And how could she not be? She was lying on the bomb when it went off. That was probably why so many had come through unhurt. And all that armour she had been wearing must have help, it was the super advanced fluidic reactive stuff, right? That had to help.

I dropped the paper on the stack and lent back in my chair. Then I winced and bent forward, feeling the cuts and stitches on my back in detail. The doctors had spent an hour picking the glass out of my back.

I don't think the papers had spent much time talking to the Korps. Most of the columnists were trying to blame the Korps, like putting checkpoints was making targets rather than keeping people safe. And reading what they'd written, it was kind of believable. They spread this story of a city under control of Korps outsider, blocking off streets and harassing citizens, and acted like them fighting back was just natural. If I hadn't seen Lily throw herself on a bomb to protect everyone... And if I didn't know that this whole thing had started before the Korps came in, with bombs outside medical 'Change' clinics, and that half the Korps people were locals, just trying to keep their city safe.

The papers didn't care about that, though. Just about making the most sensational news they could. If there's no news, make news...

But none of them mentioned an injured Korps lioness.

I found videos of the attacks, looking at the news on my phone. Three of them, co-ordinated, at checkpoints around the city. The one I was at was the most dramatic: Lily, dressed in that combat armour, barrelling through the crowd that scattered around her. Her target - a nondescript man I couldn't have pulled out of a line up - was frozen in place, coat open and showing the packages and wires wrapped around his waist. She leapt onto him, slamming him onto the ground, snatching at his first with one gauntleted hand, and then - the camera shook, and went black.

One thing I'd noticed, the cameras covering the blast didn't show the actual checkpoint. I thought about the wolf I saw, who was shaking the strange gun, and how surely the Korps must have had cameras over their own checkpoints. And how they supposedly had back doors in every security feed, and collected all our information.

The other two checkpoints were weird. Some people had pointed that out, but the media wasn't making a big deal out of it. In the south checkpoint, it was a tall man with a thick beard and intense eyes. His long coat was tight around him, despite the heat, as he strode along determinedly, head down and eyes fixed forward. And then - he stopped. Stopped dead, not even his expression changing. Then people began to move away, and then run, as a Korps trooper ran up to him. She was some kind of bird, blue, and she flicked his coat open. He didn't react as she reached into his bomb vest, fiddled for a second, and then pulled the whole thing off and tossed it into the street with. The man collapsed like a puppet with strings cut, twitching as another trooper ran up to cuff him.

At the eastern checkpoint, the bomber was a jowly man. He froze in mid step, then lost his balance and fell on his side, rolling slightly as the Korps trooper disarmed his bomb.

Both of the men just froze, not moving at all. I thought back to the strange gun that the wolf had been shaking at the checkpoint, the one that wasn't shown in any of the footage. Some kind of freeze gun? It would make sense, if they were trying to keep it a secret, and messed with footage, and squashed conversation about it...

None of which gave me any clue what had happened to Lily. Had no-one bothered to ask about the heroic-

I paused, looking up. Had any of the papers, with a pretty obvious bias, actually asked the Korps? They'd quoted a press release, but not any interviews. Had they just not asked?

Could I ask?

The first entry when I googled was a phone number. Everyone said the Korps came to you. They made you offers, tailored to just what you needed. And I suppose they had already come for me. Now I was going to have to go to them.

Modern phones made it so easy. You didn't even need to copy the number, just tap, and the call began. It buzzed twice before there was a click, and a cheerful, female voice said, "Good morning! You've reached the Korps. How may I help you today?"

"Uh, yes, I was wondering, if, um, it is possible to, uh, talk to a Korps tr- member? I think she might have been..."

I trailed off, feeling foolish for not having every word already lined up.

"I can see she someone is available. What is her name?"

"Lily," I said. I realised I didn't know her full name.

"Okay! I'll see if she can talk right now."

No name. No sounds in the background, like a keyboard. And, I noticed, no breathing sounds. Just silence for about five seconds.

"Hi, Kevin!" I jumped at the voice. "I'm afraid I can't put you through at the moment, we do not allow unsecured calls to our hospital wing. Is there anything else I can help you with today?"

"Hospital wing?" I sat up. "Is she - how is she, I mean, I know it must be bad, but nothing's saying how she is-"

"I'm afraid I can't give personnel details out. If you would like more details, please use a secure connect method to our hospital wing."

"Secure? What do you mean?"

"RCGs contain an encrypted messaging service."

"That'll work?"

"If Lily wishes to speak to you, that would be the best method."

"O-Okay," I said, glancing over to my ripped jacket. "I- thank you for that."

"You're welcome! Is there anything else I can help you with today?"

I thought for a second. "N-no, thank you."

"Okay! Have a nice day!"

The call was cut, almost as soon as her last word had been said. I got up and picked up the ruins of my jacket. The fall through the window had really done a number on it. I hadn't thought about the RCGs in my pocket. They would have been in front of me when I landed, but there was still a chance they'd broken -

No. Not even scratched. Either lucky, or the Korps built them strong.

Could I do it? Actually put them on? Take that risk?

Why was I even considering it? If I did put them on, what would I get that I couldn't, simply by waiting? I couldn't magically heal Lily with my words. There was absolutely nothing I could do. And what would I find out, that she was dying? That she was slowly getting better? That she'd got off with nothing more than a few scratches? What did I want to find here?

And then I thought: And what would Lily think? She'd be pleased to see I was falling for her, wouldn't she? That I was so desperate for any news of her, so needy for her that I was willing to do the one thing I feared the most...

The one thing I'd fantasised about the most...

The metal parts of the RCGs, the bits that clamped onto your temples, were open and waiting for me.

I'd always been turned on by the thought of being changed. And when it stared happening, the Change clinics and behind them the Korps, I feared it, as much as it attracted me. All the Korps members said the mental stuff - it didn't change them, just let them be who they wanted to be. And who did I want to be?

For all my stories about changing myself to something else, it wasn't about the end. I just wanted to change. If I was in the Korps, and I said I loved the new me, then... I wouldn't be the old me. As long as I wasn't happy with myself, as long as I couldn't see a happy ending, I'd know the glasses weren't making me one of them.

I slipped the RCGS on.

They touched lightly at my temples. When I moved my hand away, they didn't fall. The room was tinted pink, but it wasn't as strong as I thought - I could still pick out every single colour. And... that was it. No boot up, no HUD, just a tint. Did I need to turn them on somehow? No buttons on the side, or top...

"Is this thing on?" I said.

A wave passed over the visor, like a distortion. I couldn't place it, but they were definitely doing something. "How do I use these? Is it voice activated? Call... Lily."

Lily's face appeared, in the bottom left of my vision. It was actually happening! I was actually using them! It was a profile picture, her staring at me, head tilted down and a look on her face that was half seductive and half threatening. It flashed, in time with a ring. Not an actual sound, but a feeling. Would she pick up? Would she be in any condition to pick up?

The picture disappeared. No message saying unreachable, no user not found, nothing. Was it broken? Hesitantly, I tapped the metal attaching it to my head.

"Not going to say hello, sweetie?"

I jumped up, turning around, and then fell back in my chair. Lily was there, leaning casually against the door frame. She was IN MY FLAT!

"Hayabaah!" I said, neatly stating my feelings.

"And it's nice to see you, too," she purred, raising an eyebrow.

"How- how did you get in here?" I said, clutching the arms of my chair.

"Get in?" She stood up straight from where she lent against the door frame. Her bald head - did it count as bald if she had fur? - almost brushed against the top of the frame. Her outfit was - I had seen her in armour, and in that big coat, I had seen her cleavage, but this showed off the full power of her body. As she moved, muscles rippled under shining golden fur, shifting the black silk that hung over her chest. It hid her nipples, but I could see the full round swell of her breasts beneath, the loose fabric gathering at her waist where a cat's head buckle held a belt together. The way the curtains of silk below swung, I couldn't see, but I felt sure that there was nothing under there. "Oh, Kevin," she said, running a hand over the net sleeves. "I'm standing in the same place I've been for the last couple of days."

I boggled at her. "You've been... standing in my door?"

She laughed, and shook her head. "Okay, no, I haven't. I'm not really here. See?"

The lioness waved a massive arm towards the wall - and straight through it, like it wasn't there. Or she wasn't. "The glasses have video calling, you know. Audio too, but I have the time to make a full production of it."

"You're not really here? God, you look so real!"

With one finger, she tapped the RCGs. "This is good tech."

I nodded dumbly, feeling my heartbeat calm. "O-Okay. I-um, sorry. I really wasn't expecting that. I mean - " I remembered why I had called her. "You're okay! Not dying!"

She paused for a second, and then a little smile creased the corner of her lips. "What, you think a little thing like lying on a bomb is going to slow me down?"

"Well, I though it might! I thought you were dead, or something! And it turns out that you're better off than I was..."

I trailed off beneath her gaze. "Sorry, I know it must have been bad, worse than my back, but you look - like you weren't hurt at all!"

She broke her gaze and smiled, letting a little huff out of her feline nose. "Yeah, well, I'm fine now. I was a mess when they dragged me into surgery."

"...A mess?"

She nodded. "Still, Korps doctors know what they are doing. So long as you don't mind waking up half way through to someone going 'She's alive! SHE'S ALIVE! Ahahahah!'"

"...They really did that?"

"Well. I was pumped full of anaesthetics and restorative nanites, I may have hallucinated that."

"Oh, uh, hah."

"Yeah, I'm sure they waited until I was out of surgery to do that."

"And that's it? They can just fix you up that easily?" I rubbed one of the stitched up cuts on my back. "Wow, I wish they had what ever that at the hospital."

"So you've changed your mind about having Korps work their magic on you now?"

"No!" I blurted out, then saw she was joking. "Oh, I mean, it's just, my backs' still hurting, and you look like nothing happened to you at all..."

"I do, do I?" The lioness said, standing up and stalking towards me. I tensed up for a second, before remembering she wasn't really there. "Perhaps you could tell the assholes that won't let me out of this room!"

She strode past me, and hurled herself onto my bed. If she had been real, her weight would have trashed it, but she didn't even disturb the sheets. "I'm still stuck in the hospital wing until the medics give me the all clear. They won't even let me out of this room."

She sighed and ran her fingers through my ruffled sheets. The didn't move, but it looked almost like they did, and I didn't see her pass through the ridges - an optical illusion, surely. "I know it's for my own good, but I'm so fucking bored in here! All my squad have to go out on patrol while I'm stuck here going mad with boredom, staring at the wall." She snorted a laugh. "Well, I've got a different wall to look at now, so thanks for calling, sweetie."

"Oh!" I said. "Ah, ha. I should say - I wanted to say thank you, too. For saving my life."

Lily turned her head to give me a curious look. "You know, that's the first time someone has said thank you? My CO said I was a credit to the unit, the squad says I did a good job, but that's the first time I've been thanked."

"...Oh." I had no idea what to say to that, and I felt my cheeks flush under her intense stare. "No-one else has tried to get in touch? No-one from the press?"

"Hmph. No, they've got a press conference arranged for after-" She glanced down at herself, then back at me. "-After they let me out of this room."

"Oh, right. It's a shame, though. If people heard more about the Korps, I think - I think they'd know that you were good people..."

She snorted dismissively. "People see what they want to see. We're here if they want to know what we're like, but most people don't like the view outside of their heads. They aren't interested in playing nice. There's so many conspiracy theorists convinced that anyone who says anything good about the Korps is being brainwashed..."

She trailed off, staring up. I twisted my fingers together, not sure what to say. "Well, I used to think the Korps was a bit, y'know, dodgy, but the whole saving my life thing has really helped."

"Hnh. Want to say that in the press conference?"

A sudden thrill of fear ran through me. "Wh-what? Like, in front of people?"

"Sure!" She propped herself up on an elbow and focused on me. "Having one of the bomb victims actually stand there and thank us for our service? That'd be damn good PR!"

I shrank back in my chair. "I'm not good at that kind of thing... public speaking and the like."

She waved a hand. "It's not going to be in a big public place! We can do a conference in the Korps base - nice and safe! Yeah, with a few vetted journos there, audience of Korps members, it'll be a nice atmosphere, nothing for you to be afraid of."

I gulped. She had saved my life. Or at least, from being hurt worse. I owed her. If I didn't say yes... was I that asshole, who wouldn't pay back the good done for me? "Okay," I whispered, looking down.

"Hey," The lioness said, swinging round to sit on the edge of my bed. "I don't want to make you do anything that you're not comfortable with."

"I'm okay with it. I mean, I do have to talk to people everyday, y'know?"

"Maybe you should come to the Korps,look around the place. Get to know the land."

My pulse beat fast. Go to the Korps building? Where they actually inducted people? Transformed them?

Except where else would this press conference be held? I'd have to go sooner or later.

Lily stood and strode to the door. "You know where to find us, sweetie. I'll be waiting for you."

She stepped out of my room, and faded from view as the call dropped.