“Let me out!” Zephyr exclaimed slamming on the door. Immediately she punched it four times in the span of a blink before performing some sort of spin kick R4 hadn’t seen outside of a martial arts flick.

  “I don’t think it’s goin’ ta’ budge.” R4 pointed out. “Tier 1 steel, not th’ cheap stuff either.”

  [[Nyan, and don’t forget the NGPD just put up a lockdown. It’s shoot on sight out there, and I don’t want my cute kittens getting shot after wandering out. Also, DON’T LEAVE ME WITH THE WARLOCK!!!]]

  “T4bby, I’m goin’ ta’ remind ya’ that I’m a warlock, an’ that th’ reason I’m a warlock is ‘cause ya’ hired me. Everyone ya’ hire is a warlock.” She gestured to Zephyr, “Technically even Zephyr would qualify.”

  “Technically not, warlocks let an AI into their cyberware and use a Hax’bit to channel their patron’s power. Some have a handler, like me, or a mascot depending on the patron’s whims and power.”

  “So firs’ and foremost, we have to figure out how we’re going to survive through the lockdown. Zephyr, how bad do y’all, Zephyr,” She stepped forwards whipped Zephyr around, and locked her in a hug. “Breath in, breath out, Breathe in, Breathe out.” R4 stayed there a few minutes, at first holding Zephyr tightly as she tried to break free and run, yet she would have more luck breaking through a steel cage.

  [[You have gained 40 empathy exp]]. E4 patted Zephyr on the head before letting her go. “Feelin’ better?” Zephyr nodded. “Ok, so walk me through how these lock down things usually go, ‘k?” Zephyr looked at her, a strange look in her eyes. “Um, Zephyr, what are you,” The kiss came suddenly and ended just as quick. “Um… ok?” Both immediately turned red. “Interesting fear response. So, Zephyr, what is a lock down.”

  “Lock down, right right.” She took a deep breath, still extremely red beneath her normally pale skin. “So during a lock down officers and drones will shoot anyone outside their home on sight. The drones aren’t the greatest quality, so if they see a shape they will often shoot through windows. Black out curtains are a must.” She shot a look at the door, then the server room door. “But being stuck with a warlock, we have to try to get away.”

  “No, no we do not.” R4 replied, drawing her firearm and checking it over. “Th’ moment that varmint lost the element a’ surprise it bolted with its tail between its legs. Th’ knife it used was a scalpel, and it hit right at th’ most critical spot. If I wasn’t tier 1 I would be dead.” She looked at Zephyr shrinking back, “I’m not helpin’ my cause here am I? Well, the flip side is, it’s just usin’ a scalpel. They’re sharp, but they’re small. I’m bettin’ it can’t do a lot a’ damage unless it gets real close an’ hits just right.”

  “You’re bluffing hard right now, aren’t you?”

  “Shhh.” R4 trilled. “Our first step should be ta’ secure T4bby. She’s th’ client an’ controls th’ building. If we lose her who knows what th’ backup Ai might do.”

  [[Mrow, the backup AI is a K4e5 Militech server in the attic.]]

  “Old Kill Eye? Didn’t those get banned after one flooded itself with carbon monoxide to treat a termite infestation while the inhabitants were still inside?”

  [[Purrrrhaps.]]

  Immediately R4 downed a water bottle from her bag, before crushing the plastic and stowing it in her bag. “Zephyr you have a faster reaction time than me and a better gun. I need ya’ to follow me an’ shoot anythin’ that isn’t a cat or me. I’m goin’ ta’ make sure that thing doesn’t get at T4bby’s server, then we can see ‘bout findin’ a spot ta’ wait out this lock down.”

  “But I’m still tier 0.”

  “I don’t need you to kill it, just get it to hesitate for one critical moment, I’ll do th’ rest.” R4 replied with a smile and much more confidence than she actually felt. “I’m going to zip down there, find whatever hole that thing tried to hide in, and put a tier 1 grate over it. Then I just need to put some reinforcement over the computers and T4bby should be good to go.”

  R4 carefully opened the door, moving slowly and watching with her ravager eye for any source of movement. While she saw in color in normal light her dark vision was in black and white, so the many shadows that existed within the basement looked as if someone had filmed those areas in black and white and transposed them onto a color image. She quietly stepped over the charred spot, then over her own blood spatter towards T4bby’s computer set up. “It came from that direction, so keep yer’ eyes up.” She heard Zephyr take her firearm off safety and got a quick look at the stats.

  “Solid iron.” R4 quipped. “Make sure to grip it in two hands, I don’t know how fast this thin’ is. Ya’ might jus’ get one shot.”

  “Thanks,” Zephyr swallowed hard, “I was trying not to think about that.” Despite her nerves her hands did not shake, her eyes watched the shadows waiting for a threat.

  R4 quickly moved towards T4bby’s computer. It did not seem to be damaged save for the cord that had exploded. She quickly scavenged what she could from it, adding some material from her own reserves, before applying a layer of bone armor. The end result looked like oversize snake scales with the plug taking the form of the head.

  [[Mrow, can you make it look like a cat’s tale?]]

  “With time and resources yes. With a warlock hidin’ somewhere in th’ vents not so much.” R4 replied. After giving the chord a good whack with her claws, blunted so they acted more like brass knuckles than claws, she smiled. “Looks like th’ bone’s holdin’ up. Now let’s find us a varmint.”

  The search was short, but still troublesome. T4bby had made her home for cats, and included several passages for them to traverse. R4 found she was far too large for these passages, so had to settle for using her jointed camera to peer in there. A few times she found a curious cat looking back at her, which she passed off to Zephyr who ensured they were escorted out of the basement. R4 checked every passage she could, yet found nothing. Finally the cause of her distress was located.

  “T4bby, we have a problem.” R4 spoke, looking up a vertical air shaft. “It went up. I kin’ see a bunch a’ little holes where it cut itself handholds and climbed up.” She eyed a few small blood spatters where the warlock cut itself on the sharp metal. “It’s bleeding, but it looks minor. I think it cut itself.”

  [[Hssss, get a sample. I have a DNA scanner around here somewhere.]] R4 quickly had a bone pipette which used capillary action to draw up the sample. Immediately it began to resonate gently, information being drawn from the device to her phone and then sent elsewhere.

  “Getting impatient Red?”

  “Trust but verify. Also I’ve been meaning to test out some facilities Mara has been building.” With a bit of work R4 managed to slip from the vent, where Zephyr had readied the scanner. It was a small box with several glass components, one of which R4 plugged her sample into.

  [[(??ω??)… This is going to take longer than I thought Mrow.]] Tabby texted after a few moments. [[(???) Come on you machine, work.]]

  “This DNA is well protected. Some manner of enzyme is interfering with my tests as well, causing the DNA to unspool and degrade beyond use. Whoever is behind this, they’re good.”

  “Doesn’t that increase th’ risk a’ cancer though?” R4 asked, “Those DNA eating enzymes.”

  “I doubt this entity is concerned with that. They’re also stored in small vacuoles, so the actual interaction is minimal until the cell is ruptured, such as during testing.”

  “Or until th’ right trauma hits ‘em. Might even be intentional, a safeguard fer’ in case a’ betrayal.” R4 sealed off the offending shaft with a vent made from bone. “Y’all have any explosives fer’ a booby trap or should I just set an alarm so y’all know something’s in here?”

  [[Nyan! (?????)No explosives in my server room!]] R4 nodded, made a note on her phone, and set up a few bone spikes that, if something tried to break through the vent via brute force, would make her point quite sharply.

  “Ok, that’s ‘bout as secure as we kin’ make this place. An’ that’s the end a’ th’ contract.” T4bby made a confused meow sound from the speakers. “The work on your servers is done, an’ this place is as secure as I kin make it from a warlock.” R4 heard a tone from her phone as the gig was completed, and a tired meow. She tried to put on a bold face, but after a moment she sighed. “Fine, I guess I kin’ check over yer’ vents ta’ at least make it hard fer’ th’ little blighter ta’ get around. Maybe he’ll leave ya’ be if th’ vents get th’ crown a’ thorn treatment.” She went on to describe what she was thinking, which was a rather simple design but brutally effective. T4bby considered it before sending her a job, which she passed to Jun to look over

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  “T4bby, did ya’ account fer’ Zephyr in th’ contract or are ya’ jus’ hopin’ she’s goin’ as a knock on?” A moment later Zephyr’s phone buzzed.

  “Um, I don’t know about this? Warlocks are dangerous.”

  “An’ that’s yer’ decision. But I’d feel horrible ‘bout it if ya’ helped an’ didn’t get paid.” R4 found her way to the stairs out of the basement. “After all, like Th’ Good Book says, y’all shall not muzzle th’ ox when it is treading out the grain.”

  The primary staircase of T4bby’s building was dull concrete with an odd rubberized padding on the steps, most of which had been scraped and scratched. At T4bby’s request R4 skipped the first floor, though T4bby did not mention why. Within the stairs Posters of cats were everywhere, mostly a variation of the cat clinging to a tree branch with the phrase “Hang in there,” but plenty of others. One showed a cat in a fireman’s helmet modified for its ears directing the way down to the exit. Cameras watched every floor, yet R4 quickly noted they were not operational. “T4bby, any reason th’ cams are fake?”

  [[Mrow, copper thieves. The cameras you can see are fake, but there are real ones hidden]]. R4’s phone buzzed as she received a link. Clicking it she saw herself, despite the fact the camera she could see was clearly a fake. The Lok-1 symbol on it was real, but it was just a chunk of plastic they produced to give the illusion of security. Just below it was a cute poster of a tabby cat with a blue police cap and black shades. Hidden by the shades was a tiny camera lens.

  “Oh, that’s not going to make me paranoid.” R4 joked. “Any of th’ cameras,”

  “Move!” A woman in jean shorts and a spiked black vest pushed pack R4 and Zephyr, a gym bag half zipped with clothes ready to spill out beneath her arm. She surprised R4 enough that she stumbled, her reflexes kicking in as she did a flip, her handgun seeming to spring into her grip yet the woman was already down the stairs.

  “Hey!” A male voice called. R4 immediately raised her gun towards the voice, only to see a slim man with thin strands of hair covering his face and trailing down his head. The man was as pale as the wife beater he wore, his only other clothes a pair of hastily donned jeans he was holding up with one hand and a pair of slippers. “You get back here,” He saw the gun aimed at him, “doll…” He quickly stepped back into the hallway he had emerged from, the door slamming shut.

  “What was that?” R4 asked. When no response was forthcoming from T4bby she continued to the second floor. Immediately she got to work boobytrapping the vents. The design was rather simple, but clever for it. On the outside it looked like a ring of bone spikes with a plate behind it. For someone in the hall it would take a few minutes and thick gloves to remove the thorns, actually spikes of bones protracting from a ring of woody material R4’s tool arm had access to that was softer and more durable than bone and which was more than happy to supply the bone with nutrients in exchange for resonance.

  “Mrow?” R4 immediately banged her head, and caught her hand on some of the thorns. Gently extracting her hand from the vent she saw a fluffy white cat curiously watching her, a swath of blue fur marking on its head shimmering as it watched.

  “Hey kitty, don’t go,” The cat immediately went into the vent and rubbed against the thorns, which tangled in its fur. “Hey, out a’ there.” She gingerly extracted the cat, who gave a hiss for her insolence and demanded to be petted in recompense. “Fine, but that’s going ta’ be an issue.”

  “What?” Zephyr asked, watching over her with her pistol in hand. Her eyes were wide and alert, and from how she looked down the hallway at the apartments it seemed a single sound was all it would take for her to empty her magazine at the source. R4, by contrast, was holding a prisitne white cat in her lap.

  “The thorn barrier. I’ve got it set up so if someone tries to break through they’ll need enough force that they’ll get tangled up, but I don’t want the cats to hurt themselves on it.” R4 considered the matter. “I guess I could use a second plate, but that would increse the cost by fifty percent.”

  “What about pen wire?” R4 looked up at Zephyr curiously. “A client Mom trades with raises rabbits, and he keeps them contained with this thin mesh stuff. Cats aren’t much bigger than rabbits and the wires are pretty thin so it shouldn’t take too much material.”

  “That, might work.” R4 tried a few variations, finding that square wire was too easy to deform but a hexagon pattern seemed to work pretty well. Her tool arm could easily make the wire, but twisting it into the right shape was time consuming, until R4 decided to just use telekinesis to do it.

  “So that’s telekinesis.” Zephyr said as R4 twisted the wire into shape in mere moments. By this time a few cats had shown up, and a black and white tabby was currently perched on her shoulder. “Where did you get such high end chrome, wait, don’t tell me, your patron.”

  “Yep, it’s neat stuff.” R4 replied, finishing up. She placed the wire and gave it an experimental push. “Looks like it’s working, resonant signal looks good, going to need to slip back into the server room to set up a feed if we want it to stay up long term.”

  “Or you could, and hear me out, make it a subscription service and charge to come back and top it off.” Zephyr replied. R4 shot her a look and the woman shrugged. “It’s how things are in Nu’Grav.”

  “I could, or I could jus’ make money from comin’ back fer’ regular maintenance.” R4 replied. “There’s plenty a’ work if yer’ willin’ ta do it.”

  “R4, you have a lot to learn if you want to make it in Nu’Grav.”

  “An’ if ya’ were on th’ other side a’ th’ coin which would ya’ want ta’ be true?” R4 asked as she got to work on the next vent. As she went the second one went faster, and for the third she folded the wire as she walked so it was done before she even started on the rest of the trap.

  “It’s not about what you want to be true, it’s about not being a gonk about the reality as it is.”

  “Perhaps, but it makes me feel better to treat others as I want to be treated.” R4 replied, getting on her knees to finish the third vent. With a gesture she pulled a great plume of cat hair and other junk from the vent, balling it up without touching it and shoving it into the trash chute. “As the Good Book recommends.”

  “You’re worse than Mom about that.” Zephyr replied shaking her head, “This is Nu’Grav. Morals are nice, but they’ll get you killed.”

  “And I’ll be able ta’ answer my God honestly when I give my account.” R4 replied, affixing the last part of the trap. She rose, stretching, before turning towards the stairs. “Besides, I don’t have to make it here long term. I just have to get my degree and go home. If I don’t make some huge profit here, what of it? All in service ta…” She put out a hand to stop Zephyr. “Eyes up, this isn’t good.”

  Before them, peeking out of the doorway to the stairs, a cone of blue light shone upon the floor and wall. R4 put a finger to her lips and crept closer. She quickly got on her phone, [[T4bby, do you have an automated security bot in the house?]]

  [[Mrow, Princess is hunting. She will not hurt you.]] With a low Whirr Princess stepped forwards. She was a pretty standard quadruped bot, four backwards facing legs with a camera on the face and another on its back. The waist high robot was constructed from tier 1 steel with detachable tier 1 orange and black tiger pattern plastic coverings which provided ablative armor for the durable yet expensive to fix parts beneath. While similar robots R4 had seen tended to have an arm that extended from its back this one did not. It did, however have a pair of cat ears, whiskers, and a collection of blue LED lights. It turned to R4 and gave her a (?????) before wiggling its ears. R4 rubbed the thing’s head, taking the time to notice its ears were actually directional microphones, before it stalked off its tail antenna high in the air.

  “No claws? Guess T4bby just wanted a monitoring bot.”

  “That thing’s tier 1, I’m betting it’s got enough force in its motors that if it body slams you it’ll put you in the hospital.” R4 pointed out. “I’ll also note there were panels hidden in the sides, either for grabbers or possibly hidden guns. Probably not quick enough ta’ catch th’ warlock hidin’ in the vents, but if we kin’ flush it out that thing might finish it off fer’ us.”

  Moving up to the second floor R4 noticed the rooms were further apart, and there were only two vents. “The higher you go the bigger the apartments?” She asked one of the cameras, knowing it couldn’t hear her but the ad below showed a cat scuba diving, and that cat had a camera hidden in its mask. T4bby did not reply, but it was of little consequence. R4 moved quickly, finishing the floor quickly.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” R4 looked up to see the same man in boxers as she saw chasing after the woman not so long ago. Immediately something felt off.

  [[Pssss. Nothing about the Warlock.]] R4 got the text and sighed.

  “Pest problem. Somethin’ got into the grate and T4bby is handling it.” She looked this way and that before adding, “Somthin’ bigger than th’ cats. Might be better ta’ stay inside with a locked door.” Immediately she shot a look at the fake camera. “But y’all didn’t hear that from me.”

  [[You have gained 20 subterfuge experience. Keep it up slick.]]

  “Right. You didn’t happen to see the license of the vehicle my escort left in? She left quite a mess, smashed my cat bot right up.”

  “Not within scope.” R4 replied. “If ya’ need repairs, my card.” She handed him a business card made from bone, still warm from her tool arm. “ ‘Sides, th’ place is locked down. Car wreck leakin’ somethin’ nasty outside. Stay in yer’ room and max th’ scrubbers.”

  “I don’t suppose I could borrow your solo for a bit, just until I nod off.” The man asked, the question drawing a strange look from both R4 and Zephyr.

  “I’m not a solo, and I’m definitely not a joy toy.” Zephyr replied, looking quite put off by the implication. “If you can’t sleep pop a zolp and that’ll knock you out.”

  The man rolled his eyes. “I don’t need a joy toy gonk, I need…” He yawned, his teeth lighting up and flashing red thrice, “I need sleep. I need to reboot”

  “Wait… have you been having nightmares too?” R4 asked.

  “Yes, the man in the hat has finally left, but his F***ing cat showed up.” The man off in the distance, “No offense to you Smithers.”

  R4 froze, her mind racing. How did this man know her name, did he, “Mrow.” A black and brown tabby replied before continuing on its way. R4 turned, and noticed the cat had the name Smithers on its collar.

  “R4, you can’t be honestly thinking about this.” Zephyr looked a little worried.

  “It is beyond scope and’ interferes with the job at hand.” R4 replied. She noticed that, next to his room number 305 was the name Winston. “Mr. Winston, I cannot help ya’ in this. Though I will warn ya’ if ya see somethin’ crawlin’ ‘bout bigger than a rat call Princess or whatever security ya’ got ASAP.”

  Winston looked skeptical but shrugged. “I guess I got my service iron, not that it’ll do much to a borg.” With that he returned to his room, grumbling under his breath.

  “What was that about?”

  “I’m not sure. Come on, we have more work ta’ do.”

  The remaining traps took a few hours to place, and a few times they were forced to pause and explain to the residents what they were up to. As the light of day began to break R4 heard a ping from her phone, indicating she had finished the final trap.

  “Well, that’s that.” She packed up her tools and checked her phone, “An’ good thing too, I’m almost out a’ material. Goin’ ta’ need a,” Unwillingly her jaw stretched into a yawn, “Refill. Time fer’,” She noticed the worried look Zephyr was giving her, “Bed… what’s wrong.”

  “What’s with your teeth?”

  R4 tapped her teeth, noticing her fangs had extended. “Scrap, do those things always pop out when I yawn?”

  “No, you’re just tired and hungry.” At that her stomach growled again.

  “Guess it’s ‘bout time fer’ a snack. T4bby, th’ traps are up, y’all got a cafe in this hab?”

  Descending the steps back to the first floor they had skipped R4 noticed a group had gathered by exit.

  “What’s goin’ on?” She asked, drawing eyes from the crowd. She quickly identified most of them as tier 0, though there were two tier 1 individuals. They wore mostly pajamas, but one of the tier 1 individuals wore a white shirt and blazer with a pair of gym shorts, likely just out of a video meeting.

  “And who exactly are you?” the other tier 1 individual asked. R4 immediately picked up on the press cap and tan suit coat which bulged under a bulletproof vest. “You’re not from here, and there are two of you.” He scribbled something on his palm, which likely meant he had an app that was recording his notes.

  “Case y’all haven’t noticed there’s an emergency order goin’ on, we techs are getting’ called all over th’ place. This here’s my second in case things go south.” R4 gestured to Zephyr. “T4bby can verify us. So what’s all this then?”

  “Take a look, it’ll be on the scream sheets soon enough.” The crowd, really just eight people, parted to reveal a grisly scene.

  Immediately R4 recognized the face of the woman, the same escort Winston had hired, lying next to her bloodless skeleton.