Authors forward: first off. This idea is a cooperative two sided story in cooperation with SirStonewall. The original story for his side is his own, while the concept of my side of the story is built off his ideas and an old idea of mine i never had previously started.

His side of the story is called Ghosts In The Fog Redux. If you like this side, please read his side as well, for while they are cooperative and have some parts that will be roughly the same at times, many other parts between our two stories will not have the exact same scenes and will allow you to see both sides of the overarching conflict.

This story is a fun and heavily AU idea and I hope you all enjoy both sides of it as much as we are writing it's two sides.

Now then, onto the fun!

"You sure you want this ma'am? I mean, I'm not against selling it to you, but. ." The store clerk, a middle aged man of native American descent said to the customer before them.

The customer was wearing a loose black hoodie and loose black pants. They had ragged brown hair down to their shoulders, one of which seemed damaged as it sat stuck in a pushed up position and seemed misshapen. They had androgynous feature on their face, though the side of their face by their wounded shoulder had a burn scar on it that made it even more difficult to tell the customers gender at a glance. Something the clerk should have thought about before speaking.

" It's fine, I have the experience for using all of it." The customer said, their voice weak and quiet as she took the cases off the counter and stuffed them into a large duffel bag. " And I'm a man."

"Oh, uh, I apologize it's just I thought that. . . " The clerk stopped and sighed. No point in digging himself deeper. "May I ask how, that happened?" he asked as he pointed to the customers scar and shoulder.

The customer stopped and nodded slightly before going back to putting everything in the duffel. "Arson burned down the apartment complex me and my dad lived in years ago."

"oh damn, I'm sorry. Did everyone make it out alright?"

"Most people did, though it didn't matter really."

"Why?"

"Because that was just before he was ordered onto a ship that was later taken out by the fog. Can I get that air tank please?"

The clerk nodded as he walked over to a hook and pulled an empty oxygen tank off the wall, placing it gently on the counter for the customer. "What about your shoulder, is that from the fire?"

"No. when in junior high I was ambushed by a gang of asshats who attacked me with wooden bats, and a cinderblock." The customer said casually.

"No way, they didn't!?"

"They did. Threw the cinderblock from behind, it struck my shoulder and shattered it instantly. Then they proceeded to beat me with the bats until they had broken my one arm and leg, shattered the bones. Took over a year to heal."

"Well, at least they healed alright, right?"

"They didn't, my bones are permanently damaged, and my shoulder didn't heal perfectly either, if it had it wouldn't be stuck up making me look like a bad excuse of a hunchback!" The customer snapped in response.

The clerk sighed, realizing he had made things far worse. "Look, I'm sorry, but are you sure you can use all that then?" He asked as he gestured to the duffel now full of scuba gear, high end scuba gear.

"Yes, it'll be fine." The customer said as they zipped up the duffel bag and swung it over their shoulder before taking hold of the oxygen tank in their other hand.

"Alright. You heading to the lakes up north I take it?" The clerk asked as he then realized he was missing some information for his sale book. "Oh, and can I get our name for my books as well?"

"My names Alex. And no, I'm not heading to the lakes inland. I'm heading to Vancouver." Alex said as he left the store, leaving the clerk there in shock, muttering in hope for him to not lose his life like so many had.

Exiting the store and throwing the bag and tank in the back of his old Junker, Alex let out a sigh and climbed into its cab. It smelled like age and oil, but it got the job done. With a twist and a groan, his car came to life, sounding liking a dying animal the entire time as he drove down the road, into the valleys of British Columbia.

His life sucked. Losing his father less than half a year after a fire which nearly killed him, being crippled by bullies in school who took out their hatreds on him just because of his scars and naturally androgynous looks. Getting taken in by his ex-mother, who-. He stopped, growling at the thought as his phone, an old flip style phone on its last legs, began buzzing incessantly. With a sigh he picked it up. "Hello?"

"Alex I do not know where you are but you will get back home now do you hear me?! This house is not going to clean itself and I have far too much riding on my next meeting to-"

"And there's the whore herself!" Alex said loudly enough to be heard before he turned off the phone and dropped it onto the seat. His whore of a mother had taken him in after his father had passed, but they had divorced because she was a slut, before and after they had married, his father just hadn't known. When she took him in she used him as nothing more than a slave, forcing him to singly clean her house and tidy up after her habits, while never doing anything for him besides dropping him a single twenty dollar bill a week for him to buy food for himself. even when he had been attacked and bullied she only came by the hospital once, refusing to even pay the whole hospital costs before ranting and raving about how he was supposed to keep care of her house while in a hospital.

As soon as he was done school he had begun working as much as he could, keeping money hidden and stocking up for him to leave her high and dry to go out on his own. And now after four years of saving up, he was doing just that, and was already more than three days away from his mother's house of horror.

After six more hours of boring, off and on travel, accented his phone going off nearly every five minutes until the battery died, Alex got his first view of his target as he came over a hill. He stopped his car and got out to take a look.

Down before him, was the historic city of Vancouver, once a mecca of business and traffic, now nothing more than a submerged abandoned city, and the remnants of civilization grasping on to it. Getting back in his truck he drove down and in less than half an hour, came to what was left, what still stood, and what still clung to life.

What remained of Vancouver was mostly fishing industry buildings, small docks and wharfs for fishermen to keep their boats working as they dangerous went out at first and last light to get what fish they could. Buildings on the shore could clean and package the fish for sale and transport inland, and a couple small but necessary stores kept the fishermen supplied with other foods, clothing and equipment.

Unlike many cities overtaken by the rising waters years ago, few people came back to Vancouver. There was little in the way of places to live, and the fleet of fog was an ever present danger. With the massive amount of inland territory that North America had for it, most people went inland. the west coast was covered only in fishing groups that worked out of the fjords, at least until you went further south to Seattle and even further.

Of course the civil turmoil inland was nothing to laugh at either, but people wanted to be safe from the fog, even if their fellow man was just as dangerous, and harder to see coming.

Driving slowly through the fishing area Alex came to a wharf on the far end where a couple of workers were fixing up a fishing boat and leaned his head out the side of the truck's open window. "Hey, you guys got an oxygen mix for diving?"

"I suppose so, but why?" one fisherman asked, a giant of a man, who was shirtless, allowing his hair covered boy to sizzle in the sun.

"I'm an entrepreneur!" Alex said with a grin "Can I use some or not?"

The other fisherman, a thinner, but still clearly strong man, let out a sigh of resignation. "Fine, whatever it's not like we use it often anyway." he said as he pointed to an outbuilding that sat against the main building. "It's in there, giant tank on the wall miss, just make sure you close it nice and tight when you're done filling, alright?"

" Gotcha!" Alex called back as he drove his truck to the outbuilding, letting out a sigh a moment later when he realised that that fisherman called him miss. Two times in one day when he had been driving for most of the day. "Sometimes I hate my life. No scratch that, most days I hate my life." he muttered as he got out after parking it and went into the outbuilding to fill up the new oxygen tank he had bought. Judging from the way those fishermen acted they knew what he was up to, but he didn't care. It was dangerous, but if successful it could make him lucratively rich!

Once the tank was full he left the outbuilding to find one of the fishermen standing beside his truck, looking into the back of it. When they noticed him however, he backed away sheepishly, only speaking up when Alex threw the now full tank back into the back of his truck. "Scuba gear huh? Planning on helping with some fishing maybe?"

Maybe they didn't understand what he was doing, all the better then. "Something like that, you know of a dock that people don't frequent often that I could work from in peace?"

"Yeah, there's a dock about a click north of here, the home by it got punched by a fog round a couple years ago, so it's just an empty shell. People say it's haunted."

"People say a lot of things." Alex said as he got back into his truck and started it up. "Know if there's a place around here that sells canoe's or seadoo's?"

The fisherman gave him a strange look but nodded.

Roughly an hour, and a couple thousand dollars later, Alex, with a seadoo shoved in the back of his truck, came to the abandoned dock, exactly where he had been told it was. A couple hundred meters up a hill from it was the birth wreckage of a house, and by the dock, the shattered remains of a building built over it. The dock itself was tucked into a very shallow fjord, protecting it from the wind. It was perfect!

Parking his truck by the docks and easing the seadoo into the water Alex got to work organizing his equipment, then once it was all organized, her stripped out of his clothing and began putting on the scuba gear, complete with a thermal under layer.

Halfway dressed he glanced down at his body and sighed. Burns covered his entire left side, and his left shoulder was horribly mangled. As if that wasn't bad enough, his androgynous features were made worse by the years of barely enough to eat under his mother's regime. His once healthy body was thin and lanky, making it all the easier to mistake him. Gods he hated biology, a thin lanky body coupled with an androgynous face was the worst!

Finishing donning the thermal layer and the scuba suit itself he clicked on a belt and began attaching the two small weights he needed for neutral buoyancy, then went further and began placing instruments and tools, including flashlight, crowbar, lock picks , a pouch, and a small improvised explosive that would be, in theory, be useful in breaking into locked doors if the picks didn't work. Then he threw his oxygen tank on his belt, suited it up, and grabbed his helmet.

The seadoo started up instantly as he flipped its switch and in seconds he was cruising out of the dock onto the open waters and toward his target, one of the tallest buildings of old Vancouver, a building that's top still sat just barely poking out of the surface of the water, acting as a perfect marker.

Circling the building Alex could see for miles across the still waters, nothing in sight in any direction, and once he found a piece of pipe that was still securely stuck to the building, lashed a rope from it around the seadoo so it would not drift off. Once the knot was tight he connected his oxygen tank to his helmet, full sealed the helmet, and then after some test breaths smiled to himself, and fell right off the seadoo backwards into the water.

The Cold north pacific wars washed over him, and even with the thermal lar under his suit he still felt a slight chill. I would pass though once he got moving, and so he did. Kicking his feet rhythmically he plummeted down towards the broken city, and was immediately able to see it in all its grand horror and disgusting splendor.

Towers of cement and steel rose up to claw at the water's surface, most never even reaching halfway. Cars, trucks and even elevated trains littered the streets, rusting among the fish that managed to survive among the desolation. Layers of ocean plants, seaweeds, lichens and kelp covered some buildings and cars in patchy chunks, etching out meager lives from the losses. Most buildings had glass still covering them, broken panes only existing in sparse mounts, but more than enough to drown the buildings they were meant to protect.

Because of the way the currents flowed, and how quickly the city became immersed, many things from personal belongings to commercial goods had been left behind. Electronics, foodstuffs and building supplies would clearly be worthless now, if they still were even salvageable, but things like precious stones and jewelry would still hold worth even if damaged by water. They just had to be found!

Reaching street level Alex began looking around for a worthy goal, and quickly found it in the form of a massive mall, its signpost still intact, and showing the names of long abandoned store, including a jewelry store.

Slipping inside through a broken door he found the inside of the mall to be mostly intact. sort of. The first level, and all the shops and stores there were still there, albeit covered in plant matter and surrounded by school of fish. The second floor, and the roof above it however, were completely gone and pieces of structural steel and concrete littered the floor. Whatever had taken them out was big and powerful, but long gone.

Swimming down the length of the mall ale growled as he continued to find nothing, until finally at the far end right before the remains of the food court, sat the jewelry store. Its glass storefront was completely intact, as was the inside counters, though both appeared full of water.

"Jackpot." Ales said to himself as he swam over and looked inside, seeing numerous glints and shines from the display cases.

Pulling out his crowbar he set to work on the door, and a couple seconds later felt the doors lock give away with a muted clink, the door swinging open into the store as if welcoming him in. Then what as in the way Was none other than the cases themselves. The glass on them looked thick, and the locks were tiny, too small for the picks he had brought.

"Dam, I was hoping I wouldn't have to use it so soon." Alex said with a sigh as he pulled out his explosive. It was not large, about the size of a rugged watch, as that was partially what it was built out of, a steel covered watch. placing it on the lock he pressed it again it until it held firm, then carefully activated it by setting the timer to five minutes. Then he swam out of the shop and down the length of the entire mall as fast as he could.

Explosives and water were a bad mix. The concussive wave could travel much further and do far greater damage underwater, so he needed to get as far away as possible or the wave would rupture his organs, making his death very quick, but ultimately very embarrassing as well. He didn't believe in any sort of deity or gods, but he didn't want his body drifting as fish food either.

Getting to the end of the mall Alex grabbed onto a column and hid behind it, just a thud reverberated through the water. Peeking out, he could see some fish swimming away in a panic, while one a couple meters away from him seemed to be no longer moving, dead in the water.

" Glad I got far enough away" Alex murmured to himself as he swam back to the jewelry store, only to find dozens of pieces of jewelry floating about at random along with a mangled bits of steel, with rubber on one side. "They were airtight cases. Crap." He muttered as he opened the pouch on his belt and began picking jewelry out of the waters around him. it took the better part of a half hour, mostly due to the jewelry getting pushed away by his own movements, but he ended up getting all the one that looked intact, a couple having been destroyed by his small explosive.

Preparing to leave the store with his bounty, a sudden current change sent him sprawling backwards into the back wall of the store. "Ow, what the hell was that?" Alex muttered as he looked, to see a strange shadow descend on the area outside of the store. "Oh that can't be good. Do I look, or try to find my way through back doors?" Alex muttered to himself quietly as he glanced around and spotted the employee's door at the back of the store.

" . . . ah hell with it." Alex muttered as he cautiously swam to the edge of the stores entrance, using a door to stop himself.

Regret was instantaneous.

Sitting there in the middle of the mall was a sleek shape of steel and violence, a Submarine. A single submarine was not a cause for alarms however, simply because torpedoes could not track a human with nothing to be tracked. No, what caused his worry was the fact the submarine itself was a deep dark red in color, and was accented by glowing orange shapes all across its length, and a glowing sigil like an electroshocked seahorse at its midpoint.

It was a Fog Submarine, one based off the Gato class of US Subs if the shape was anything to go by.

Alex found himself unable to move for a moment, frozen in complete and utter horror. Did it notice him? Could it notice him? He was sure that it had sensors, but they would be set to locate other ships and subs. would a person be able to be caught on such sensors?

Then, to even more horror, Alex caught sight of another submarine further above them, one that was not glowing!

The fog Sub suddenly let out a pulse of sounds, probably akin to sonar, so loud that Alex felt like his head was ripping apart, and a second later the whoosh of an engine as a torpedo flew out from the front of the Fog Sub. The torpedo turned wide as soon as it went out a door of the mall, and began tracking the other submarine. it clearly sped up trying to get away, but a moment later the Fog torpedo struck the other submarine.

Alex knew he should have tried to swim away immediately but only when the telling visage of a corrosion field expanded over the centre of the submarine did he realize his mistake. The corrosion took a chunk out of the submarine, and a second later, it exploded, sending a shockwave through the water in every direction. Seeing it coming He tied to get away, but the shockwave was far faster, and sent Alex reeling backwards into the store. thrown against the wall Alex could feel not only his blood vessels tightening and bleeding out in pain, but his crippled shoulder shatter on impact with the wall, as well a his bad left arm attached to that shoulder, flail about and shatter on impact with the same wall.

"AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!" Alex roared in pain, unable to hold in his voice. He was surprised he wasn't dead already and could still feel his body, until he felt bile in his throat and coughed, Red splattering the inside of his helmet. No, not bile, blood. He could feel his lungs and heart beginning to rupture. He could feel his veins popping and constricting on a whim, and his vision blurred for a second. "Well shit, this is how I die?"

Then his vision came back allowing him to see mechanical arms coming out of the Fog Submarine, and reaching toward him, their tips covered in metal claws and spikes.

"Oh, that's how I die. . . . . . . Fuck."

Then stabbing pain assaulted his body, and everything went black.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Capture complete, holding target.

Target has sustained damage during capture, Flooding target's body with nanomaterial to preserve targets life signs.

Targets life signs stable. Target brought aboard complete.

Alert, Targets body contains evidence of severe genetic and hormonal tampering. Further data unavailable at current time.

Proceeding to Rendezvous point with target under medical stasis.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Subject transferred from Gato's hold to Medical hold. Subject is stable. Proceeding with in depth medical scans.

scanning.

scanning. . .

scanning . . . . . . . .

scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Scanning complete. detailed scans of targets biology retrieved.

Subject has 127 fractures along its bones, 5 bones complete shattered. Internal organs show extreme duress. Heart, Lungs, ruptured and 12 other organs severely compromised. brain activity minimal and undamaged.

Subject body must be repaired before installation of Union core can proceed.

Proceeding with Bodily repair. Injecting Nanomaterials.

Repairing.

repairing . . . .

repairing . . . . . . . .

Error. Error. Subjects upper left limb and adjoining bone, entire left arm and left Shoulder blade, completely shattered and devastated. Data shows past and concurrent injury. Bones cannot be repaired without impeding subjects projected capabilities.

Options –

Repair regardless of subject's potential.

Discontinue Repairs. Junk subject.

Remove effectively obsolete and worthless limb. Refashion limb of metal and connect to motor control via Union core.

Processing . . . . . . . . .

Third option selected for efficiency.

Beginning removal of shattered bone and flesh . . . . . complete.

Moving on. . . .

Error. Subject body show signs of fractal genetic and hormonal tampering at an early stage. Data suggests this has cut initial projected lifespan and endangered hormonal production and body's functional balance.

Calculating. . . . . Subjects hormonal levels are imbalanced at 49%Testosterone, 51% Estrogen. Data points to female variant of species.

Error. inaccurate biology on subjects body compared to hormonal levels. Calculating . . . . . . . .

Subject Biological Design to be rectified, Hormone imbalance corrected to assure correct bodily functions for union core to function properly when input in subject. Proceed?

Y!

Proceeding with hormone rebalancing and biological reconstruction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Complete.

Calculating subject current health.

Internal organs – repaired.

Waste arm and shoulder – Removed, enclosed and sealed, awaiting replacement. Replacement will be added alongside union core.

Hormone levels – balanced. Testosterone 7%, Estrogen 93% hormone balance sufficient.

External body – priority damage repaired, body restructured to match hormone levels and expected gender according to hormone levels. External body scarring cleaned but not completely removed.

Brain activity remains nominal.

Proceeding to Union core surgery and insertion. Prepping subject's body. . . . . . Retrieving Union core. . . . . . Proceeding with union core insertion . . . complete. Union core attached to upper spine and skull. Creating External limb replacement. . . . Complete. Proceeding with arm connection to brainwaves and nerves by way of union core. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Complete.

Testing union core connectivity within body.

Replacement limb – 100%.

Brain – 99%

Physical flesh and body -87 %

Subject shows unusually high connectivity. Will monitor connectivity in future to prevent rejection of union core in body. If no rejection occurs, subject could be used as a test for increased nanomaterial input.

Sealing subjects body. . . . . . . . Healing scarring from surgery . . . . . . . . Minimizing scar tissue on subject's torso as a . . . . . . Gift.

Subject is ready for awakening and priming of situation by fleet head. Relocating Subject to rest point delta for anesthetic to run its course.

Subjects estimated time of awaking. 0800 hours in one day.

Report complete.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The sound of waves slapping against a solid object, but not sand or stone, echoed across Alex's ears. Opening his eyes he looked up to see a sheer roof of metal, and right beside it, blue sky that seemed to go on forever.

"What?" Alex muttered as he shifted his head around, finding his body sore and unwilling to immediately react to his intents. Glancing around he saw the open to his right, and a wall of steel to his left with a door further down. He was on some sort of balcony it appeared, and he was clearly on a ship but, "Who the hell puts a bed on a balcony where it's not protected from the elements?"

"The kind with bad taste!" Came the reply of a woman's voice. Turning to it Alex found a woman standing in the doorway. Her hair was a dirty brown in color, and tied into a braided bun at the back of her head. She wore what appeared to be a naval uniform of some kind, but it did not match any Alex knew of. It was a strange deep purple color with blue edging, and a strange symbol was on the left breast. She wore a pair of dress pants and shoes of the same color, and was very clearly a middle aged woman who aged well. "Careful," she suddenly said with a grin. "I don't swing that way."

Alex tried to get up to speak, but stopped when he propped himself up and felt a weight on his chest. he looked down and found that, not only was the not wearing anything on a bed without any covers, but there were a pair of mounds on his chest, that by all accounts should not have been there.

He stared in shock for a moment, making the woman realize something was up. "Confused? Hope said you might be, I'll go call her so stay here, alright?" and just like that, the woman was gone as quickly as she appeared.

Alex stared at the doorway for a moment before looking back down at his, or was it her now, chest. For many moments she simply stared, then slowly reached up with her right hand and touched her chest. An involuntary squeak left his/her lips as he. She pulled her hand away instantly. They were connected; it was not a bad joke or prank. They were connected.

Reaching down for a half second Alex let out a sigh of resignation. "It's gone. . . . Well that kills getting rid of my virginity, at least how I hoped." She muttered to herself before blushing and letting out another sigh. "Ugh I can't believe I just said that!"

*knock knock* "Excuse me, I won't ask if you are decent, because I know otherwise, but may I come in?"

Alex turn to see a woman standing beside the door, only her shoulder , arm and a bit of one leg visible, clearly leaning against the wall and doorframe, and not looking inside. Compared to the other woman entrance, this was downright polite and respectful! "Um, okay."

immediately the woman stepped from the wall turned and walked in. she was an older woman, likely in her fifty or sixties, but still had some youth showing through, she wore a pair of simple pants and a black shirt under a white and red lab coat, and her white hair was short yet well cared for. Amber eyes stared out from behind simple glasses, showing worry and care." Thank you," She said with a warm smile. "My name is Hope. I assume you have many questions?"

"Yeah, what the hell is going on?!" Alex exclaimed as he pointed to herself.

"Well, you have been taken and implanted with a Fog union core to facilitate-"

"No I mean, why am I a woman suddenly!" Alex yelled in exasperation.

Hope looked at him for a moment before nodding and closing her eyes. For many seconds it was like she was frozen, then her mouth twitched. "Got it, she said as she snapped her fingers, an orange hexagon appearing in the air between them, seemingly covered in text. She looked at it for a few seconds before scowling. "You were a man, not a woman?"

"Up until I woke up just now, yeah."

"Oh dear." Hope said with a sigh as she tapped the hexagon, causing it to spin in the air, and spin and spin. After a couple more spins she scowled and grabbed at it, dragging it through the air until it was in front of Alex. "when you were captured it was discovered your body had a severe hormonal imbalance, and clear details of very rough genetic tampering. Simply put you had more estrogen than testosterone in our body. It appears the medical ship that implanted you took it upon themselves to balance your chemistry while it fixed your body, not realising what was likely the real situation."

"What?"

Hope let out another sigh. "Simply put, you had genetic manipulation done to your body in the prenatal state, while in the womb. It is likely that your parent, probably your mother, wanted a daughter not a son, and tried to manipulate your gender with simple infusions of estrogen when you were forming. such an act was tried many times about two decades ago, but more times than not it would not change a child's gender and would simply cause birth defects or biological issues from the resulting hormone imbalance." she stopped and let out a sigh as she pulled the floating hexagon back to her and looked over it, scowling the entire time. "It seems that when you were repaired, the ship took liberty of removing with what it called unnecessary mutations to your body in comparison to your chemistry."

"Again, what?"

"The ship that repaired you made your body female as it figured you were supposed to be because of your hormone put it even more simply. You are now a woman, and with your hormones balanced, will always be."

". . . well fuck."

"Language young lady!" Hope snapped causing Alex to flinch.

"S-sorry. But I'm supposed to be a man!"

"Not anymore I'm afraid." Hope said as she clapped her hands together, creating a large nearly seven foot tall glowing hexagon that suddenly became reflective and leaned against the wall. "Here's all the proof you will need. Take a look."

Anxiously getting off the bed and stepping in front of the mirror, Alex could not believe what she saw. Standing in the reflation was a young woman, but it was also clearly himself. His face had changed little, and still had the burn scar up her left cheek, but now, her androgynous features looked, presentable. Her skinny body was accented by slight curves in the waist, and slightly widening hips. Long legs went down from the hips, and on her tight thin chest there were two modest breasts, B, or perhaps C cups in size. She could make out her burn scars down her entire left side, but they looked muted, as if they had been cleaned and limited in their severity. Her hair was longer as well, reaching down to her shoulder blades, far smoother than it had ever before been. "Well shit, I look good." She muttered as her eyes drifted to the one other thing she noticed. Her left shoulder, and her entire left arm, had been removed and replaced by one that looked mechanical, like a robotic arm from an old movie. "Um, what happened to my arm?" She asked as she raised it effortlessly, moving the individual fingers one at a time with flawless precision."

"Ah yes." Hope said as she glanced at the small hexagon. "Just before you were captured your body was hit by an explosive pressure wave. It ruptured most of your organs, and sent you flying backwards into a wall. Your shoulder blade, which apparently was previously damaged and not healed correctly, shattered instantly, as did your arm. They were removed and replaced for quote unquote, 'efficiency'."

"I see." Alex said as she looked over the arm a bit more, and then looked back at the mirror. He had never seen a woman's body so perfectly before, and she could not deny she had a beauty to her but. . . "So my arm is no longer crippled but, you sure I can't go back to being a man?"

Hope shook her head. "The medical ship that did the operation didn't even notice you were supposed to be a man. To fix your internal organs your body was heavily flooded with nanomaterial, and took to them very well. In addition your hormones have been rebalanced. I could arguably turn you to a man, but you would look like a woman, and it would take many weeks to undo what has been down to your body." Hope explained as her expression turned grim. "Additionally, if you became a man again, you would die because the union core would reject your body completely."

"Oh I-" Alex stopped mid sentence as his mind began thinking over what she said and began realizing something. Glowing hexagons. Medial ships. Union core? "um, I'm sure I had been killed by a fog submarine, where am i?"

Hope let out a sigh. "little slow on the uptake hmm? You're currently on the Fog Hybrid Carrier, Intrepid."

"Then, then you're a-"

"Fog Hybrid Medical ship, Hope."

" . . . I'm on a fog ship. In the middle of the ocean?"

"Yes."

. . . you said I was, what, implanted with a, union core?"

"Yes."

"And that means what?"

Hope leaned backed up to the doorframe and reached around, pulling a bag into view before tossing it onto the floor. "There's some clothing, unless you like standing around in the nude. You know of the mental models right?"

"The human look some Fog ships have taken, right. Yeah I've heard of them." Alex said as she opened the bag and began sifting through the clothing within, including a few types of undergarments. she looked up at Hope uncertainly, "Um . . . ."

"You're stuck like that, get used to it." Hope replied with a sigh. "A mental model is a body that allows the fog to converse and socialize in a more human way. It helps them understand us. a while back though one of them, I'm not sure who, had the brilliant idea of conscripting willing, and more often unwilling, humans into the fog. The Union core is like a Fog's core, but it is surgically implanted in a human. It allows them to manipulate nanomaterial to an extent and control a ship."

"So they force people to work for the fog basically by making them, part fog?" Ale asked, knowing how silly it sounded as she finished putting on a pair of loose black pants and grabbed a black bra, trying to figure out how it was supposed to go on.

"Ugh, here I'll help you, but you'll have to get used to it." Hope said as she walked over and began showing Alex how to put it on as she spoke. "That is correct. Hybrids still have their human's minds, and mostly human bodies, but our bodies have been flooded with Nanomaterials from the union cores. If they are removed, even successfully, the nanomaterial in your bodies will have no idea what will do and we will die from them beginning to clog your arteries and veins. Hybrids have ships made, but we are expected to follow orders and dereliction of duty is met with extreme prejudice."

"So was basically fog hybrids forced to fight our own people?" Alex simplified it as Hope stepped back and Alex quickly threw on a tank top, seeming unwilling to look at her undergarment.

Hope hated admitting this part. Everyone got to it eventually, and the realization had broken a few people that she had met. "Yes, we hybrids are half fog, and will be forced to fight humans for the fog.

Alex brought up her obviously synthetic arm and looked it over. With the loss of the seas, and resources sometimes thin, prosthetics were rare unless they could be afforded, as such when her shoulder had been smashed, nothing could be done but let it heal which was what led to its previously crippled look. But now . . . "Heh, they can totally repair my body after I have ruptured organs, replace my completely worthless arm and make me stronger and better through nanomaterials and all I need to do is fight against humans?" A wicked grin spread across Alex's face. "I'm still unsure of being a stuck as a woman, but it beats being dead, and I've got nothing against showing those worthless bastards their place! when do I start?"

Hope looked at the one before in surprise. "Even with the union cores making the ability to ignore orders difficult, most people showed at least some resentment for the situation, if not downright anger and disdain with having to fight humans. She had seen people that had taken it better than others, or those who adapted quicker, but she had yet to see someone who seemed so willing to kill their own kind in an instant. "We need to have you meet the leader of this fleet; she will decide when you start." Hope finally said as she walked out the door and turned around. shoes, boots or sandals?"

"What? Oh, shoes please." Alex replied, allowing Hope to pull out a three different pairs of shoes. one was very girly, another looked formal, and the third looked like a cross between runners and hiking boots. Putting the third pair on she watched as the duffel of clothing morphed into a silver glowing mist and slithered own the hall. Wearing her clothing suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

"Our clothing is made of nanomaterial, but if they are being worn they can only be manipulated by yourself. So you can experiment with different style of clothing when on your own. Can you walk?"

"No, I've just been standing here struggling to put clothing on, there's no way I could possibly walk now!" Alex replied sarcastically, looking herself over in the mirror. She was now wearing a simple pair of black pants, a black tank top and black shoes. The barest bit of her belly show between them, but she didn't want to try manipulating anything until she got a better feel for it. Ending up naked out of nowhere would be less than perfect after all.

Hope glared at her, "Alright fine miss smart ass. Come along then, I'll show you to Brisky and then you can move on." She said with a huff as she capped her hand, removing the reflective hexagon, and then walked briskly out of the room.

"Ah, wait up!" Alex called as he ran out after Hope, finding that the slight sways of her hips made walking feel strange and alien to her, slowing her speed more than she thought possible.

Following Hope do the halls and up a flight of stairs and then through another short hall, the two of them came onto the deck of the intrepid, and Alex realized that it was just as much a fog ship as any other. From inside it had been clean and organized but on the surface it had the same glowing shapes and marking as other fog ships. dark blue with green glowing markings in Intrepid's case.

Alex could see the tower of another ship right beside intrepid, but could not tell what it was, though she realized that at the edge of it stood a woman in a uniform, the same woman as before.

"Yo, so how is our new sister in arms?" The asked as she turned and looked directly at Hope.

"She's doing fine intrepid. Is Brisky ready for her?"

"No idea, haven't seen her on her decks." Intrepid explained as Hope and Alex made it up to Intrepid, and became able to see that the ship beside them was a large battleship, one whose design was clearly not based on American ideals. it was rough and dangerous looking, covered in guns, and its fog coloring of a dark red, accented by brighter glowing purple sections made it ominous looking. "You could try the concept comms though. "Intrepid said with a grin that made her suddenly feel far younger than she looked.

"No, I refuse to use that to speak to her unless necessary." Hope said with a sigh as she judged the distance between the ships, then clapped her hands twice, forming orange hexagons across, like jumping platforms over the waters below.

"Why do you still clap to make things happen?" Intrepid asked with a smile. "Just will it."

"Unlike those of you who are younger, I do not have the instant adaptability to use nanomaterials so simply!" Hope retorted with a scowl before looking to Alex. Cross over to Brisky's ship, once you get onboard she'll likely talk to you and explain everything, alright?" Hope explained as Intrepid began walking away, waving as she said something akin to good luck

"Like, jump between them?" Alex asked as she looked over the ship, not noticing Hope creating more hexagons so that the hexes were right against each other and creating a solid rampway. "Is this, brisky the hybrid controlling that ship?"

"No, she's the fog controlling that ship, and our direct boss. And under no circumstances should you mention having been a man. If you do I cannot guarantee your survival. Understand?"

Alex nodded as she took a step onto the first Hex, testing its strength. It felt as solid as steel or concrete.

"Good get over there. Then we can talk afterwards." Hope said as she took a few steps back.

Alex took another step forward and looked out at the massive red machine of death before her, feeling a strange sensation at the back of her neck. "As I look into the valley of death, is this nerves, or excitement I feel?" she asked herself with a grin, then surely strode forward.