Author note: Just in case you thought the first chapter wasn't gratuitous enough, here's the director's cut.
Tsugumi was suddenly distracted by a woman's voice. Rather than being broadcast through one of the chamber's audio modules, however, it seemed to echo from somewhere deep inside of her ear.
"Connection established. I'm prepping her cerebral cortex for installation."
Behind her, thousands of tiny holographic shards flickered into existence and slowly combined into a single form. It looked like a visual glitch with a vaguely human shape. A pair of women's hands extended from the pixelated mist, pushed the periscope away from Tsugumi's head, and gently pet the cat ears on her headset. Tsugumi began to feel numb as tiny surges of static jumped from hologram's fingertips and spread across her head.
On the other side of the connection, Ada was reclining in her seat with the viewing dome still covering the upper half of her head. In her panoramic visor she could see a perfect 3D representation of Tsugumi and a basic rendering of the Funeral Parlor command chamber. Every time she interacted with her virtual copy of Tsugumi, the hologram performed the same actions with the living version.
"Relax, Tsugumi," the voice whispered through eerie white noise.
Tsugumi gasped. The intruder knew her name.
The transparent hands moved down her head, grazed over her real ears, and reached her shoulders, leaving nothing but a feeling of tingling numbness anywhere they went. To her shock, the conductive fibers in her dark blue jumpsuit amplified the effects of the phantom hands on her body. It felt like she was naked and they were touching her bare skin. Ada watched Tsugumi's exaggerated reactions and became intrigued.
The hands phased through Tsugumi's shoulders and moved outward, tickling her armpits through her skintight suit. When Tsugumi winced and tried to squirm away, the hands reached around her and lightly cupped the front of her chest. The virtual intruder seemed to be interested in Tsugumi's bust measurements, and she shrieked and tightly crossed her arms to protect herself.
"You don't need to be shy, Tsugumi. This is standard procedure for all female cybercrime detainees," Ada explained in her ghostly static voice. "I'm just inspecting the merchandise."
She moved her hands to Tsugumi's shoulder blades and trailed downward. Her fingers poked curiously at the data studs on Tsugumi's lower back, causing the numbing feeling to shoot through Tsugumi's entire body and leave her nearly paralyzed.
"It's all going to be mine in a few minutes, anyway." At her console, Ada was licking her lips. "I'm sure this all must be a bit embarrassing for you, but I need to make sure I'm slipping into someone who meets my minimum specifications. Don't worry, though. I'll be done before your friends even know I was here."
Ada's fingers playfully brushed Tsugumi's tailbone.
"Now try to stay calm so I don't have to use the less pleasant option. All I'd have to do is short circuit your equipment and make it look like you died from a freak aneurysm if I think you're going to be trouble."
Tsugumi shook her head to regain her senses. Ada's hologram was meticulously studying every inch of her hips and backside when she gathered the strength to look over her shoulder.
"Who are you? Get the hell off of my system!"
Ada snickered and pinched Tsugumi's left rear cheek through her jumpsuit. The electrical sting made Tsugumi jump with a sharp "Ow!" It was just enough to keep her in her place.
"I'm afraid it's too late for that," Ada spoke coldly as she went about her business, analyzing the material of Tsugumi's bodysuit and testing the firmness of her curved posterior. "You've been found aiding a terrorist cell and conspiring against the GHQ. Delaying your punishment would be a threat to national security."
She tugged on a small portion of the suit on Tsugumi's behind to test its elasticity, then watched closely as it snapped and jiggled back into place. Tsugumi gnashed her teeth, convinced Ada was just doing this to humiliate her. In actuality, Ada had reviewed archival footage where Tsugumi was able to manipulate holographic terminals by nudging them with this same part of her body. She didn't want to pass up an opportunity to perform a thorough risk analysis.
Ada's hands followed the length of Tsugumi's legs and arrived at her feet. She squeezed each of Tsugumi's toes through her spandex boots and stopped once all ten were accounted for. The scrambled hologram then rose to its original height behind Tsugumi.
"Everything seems to be in order here," Ada said cordially. "I'll have to strip you down and get a closer look once I'm all situated, but you don't seem so bad for a resistance whore."
Ada nestled one hand on Tsugumi's shoulder and used the other to brush her long black hair. It could have been a sisterly gesture in a different situation.
"Now, do you have any allergies or medical issues I should know about? Are you addicted to any drugs? How about Aunt Flo? When does she usually come to visit?"
"Ugh, shut up you freak!" Tsugumi shouted in disgust. Simply getting her hands to squeeze into fists was a struggle. "Do you actually expect me to help you?"
"No, not really," the hologram slowly shook its faceless mannequin head. "But I wanted to give you a chance to make this easier for both of us. I figured you would insist on being Little Miss Freedom Fighter until the end. I'll just have to take things step by step until I can go back to GHQ and get a comprehensive physical."
Tsugumi suddenly wobbled to keep her balance. The dizziness was overwhelming her.
"Almost set. I'll do what I can so it's not TOO painful for you, but I can't make any promises. The other girls I've disciplined were always wheeled up to me on a gurney, so they never felt a thing. You're a bit trickier to get inside of."
Ada kept one hand on Tsugumi's shoulder and used the other to tenderly scratch her head. She continued to speak with growing enthusiasm.
"This will be the first time I've ever pulled off a high-priority transfer with an on-duty enemy operator, so it's going to be pretty slick. I need to be up and around as soon as I'm fully inserted, otherwise your allies might notice the difference and I'll lose my cover. It's going to be a learning experience for both of us. Or at least it will be for the first few seconds, before your psyche is obliterated."
Tsugumi's drowsy eyes slowly grew wide with fear.
"If everything works out, maybe I'll assume your identity completely. Tsugumi could be remembered as the brave double agent who planted the seeds of discourse in Funeral Parlor and became the hero of the GHQ."
"Are you nuts?" Tsugumi regained some of her composure and growled. "I don't want to have anything to do with those assholes!"
"Heh. The little cyberterrorist caught with her tail between her legs wants to tell ME what to do?" Ada mocked her defiance. "All the more reason I should clean up your record, then."
Tsugumi's vision blurred as her world went into slow-motion. She suddenly felt all of the weight in her head disappear. Ada let out a small foreboding laugh.
"Ah, looks like the last of your neural receptors just opened for vacancy. And in we go."
Both women were ready to play their part. Ada eagerly took the plunge. Tsugumi clutched her temples and screamed.
When the procedure was over, Tsugumi stretched her arms at her sides and sighed contently. Within a few seconds, she could feel something warm dripping down her upper lip. She touched her nostrils with her index and middle fingers, lifted her hand to her eyes, and saw red on her bare fingertips. Short nosebleeds were sometimes a side effect of rougher transfers, and this time it certainly didn't surprise her. She slipped her fingers into her lips and purred as she got a tiny taste of her new blood.
Wiping the rest of her nose with the back of her hand, she looked down to get her first in-person look at what she was wearing.
"Hmm... a fully functional interface suit. I'm surprised someone got one of these to actually work."
She paused for a minute to analyze her holographic surroundings. When she returned to her keyboard, she muted her radio transmitter and opened a secure channel.
"Ada here. I'm in."