Day and Night

Twenty One

"Wait... I saved Tony Dacon?" Dominique Destine aka Demona blinked at her guest.

Eliza Maza nodded, sitting on the other side of Demona's desk. The office was huge, and normally pretty imposing. "Frankly I'm not sure to thank you or scold you," she admitted.

Dominique scowled. "They started shooting as soon as I came into sight... I was mostly just defending myself," she admitted.

Neither brought up the fact that she had probably killed the assassins. And if she hadn't, Dacon probably had. No bodies had been found, and it wasn't like they could charge Demona for anything. Plus, self defense applied.

Eliza sometimes mourned how her clear cut sense of right and wrong had gradually gone away. Still, what do you do...?

"I don't follow crime in the city much," Dominique admitted, "do we know who staged the attack? Or why?"

"There were several attacks, nearly at the same time, of mid-level gang leaders. We think it was all done by the same organization, a new faction headed up by someone claiming to be Mace Malone," Eliza said.

Dominique just kind of looked blank.

Eliza sighed and decided to leave explaining it alone. "Hudson wanted me to remind you to be careful when you go out patrolling," she finished, "there's a worrying number of advanced weapons on the streets."

"Thank Hudson for me," Dominique said mildly. She suspected the warning was from Goliath, but he didn't want her to know.

"I'd better get going," Eliza got up, "your assistant seemed unhappy about squeezing me in."

"Sorry. I am tightly scheduled," Dominique admitted.

As the office door opened Alicia was seen talking to a attractive redhead with, interestingly, a fox head tattoo on her cheek. "Ms Maza. Dominique," Fox Xanatos smiled.

"Come right in," Dominique nodded.

As the office door shut Foz looked her over. "David heard about you being shot," she explained her visit mildly.

"I'm FINE," Dominique rolled her eyes.

"Was Maza checking up on you too?" Fox asked, amused.

"She heard about it from a police source, it seems," Dominique said grumpily. "I'm still a bit tender, but that's it."

"Fair enough," Fox conceded. "David has a favor to ask," she added.

"Oh?" Dominique wondered.

"We want your help in putting pressure on my Father and Cyberbiotics," Fox admitted.

"Preston Vogel," Dominique guessed.

"We're certain most of the illegal weapons coming into NA are via his connections," Fox said flatly. "But father refuses to act."

"Halcyon is fiercely loyal to his people," Dominique reminded her, "you need iron clad proof before he'd act." Privately, she suspected Preston had something he was holding over his master. What, she didn't know, but...

"True," Fox sighed, "but I'm hoping threatening contracts with Cyberbiotics might at least get Father to rein him in, at least."

"It's worth a try," Dominique conceded, "what's your plan?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Anton Sevarius watched the man walk, move and turn with perfect control. Once he had been a private eye following his niece, but that was all done now. He had been lobotomized, and augmented both biologically and via cybernetics.

"Who are you?" Anton asked.

"Experimental subject 23," the creature replied.

"Well done," Anton smiled. "What is your purpose?" he tried this time.

"To serve Anton Sevarius and advance science," 23 answered.

Anton beamed, "Nicely done!" He clapped his hands happily.

23 tilted his head questioningly, but remained silent. Another of his creations watched curiously, his body covered in a armored shell, his arms and legs also partially covered in grown armor. He looked tired, as if all the added weight hurt.

"Yrs, yes, Mort, I'll give you your shot," Anton sighed as he carefully reached under a armored arm to inject a narcotic.

If 23 was a unexpected success, 'Mort' was a unexpected failure. He was supposed to be a armored tank, but the strength augmentations hadn't taken peoperly. He ironically wasn't strong enough to carry his own shell, and was in constant low grade pain. If Anton didn't need to study him to figure out what went wrong, he'd have already put him down.

"Huuuuh," Mort sighed happily as the drugs kicked in.

"23, escort him back to his pen. Gently," Anton ordered his creation.

Anton walked over to his desk, then sat down. Money was covered for now... augmenting the Pack for Dacon had been profitable. But he was still having issues with his mutates, and every success was matched by two failures. It was frustrating.

"Ah, well. That's science for you," Anton murmured.

23 returned from his errand, standing at attention by the desk.

Anton sighed, "I should probably get you pants, too."

Unbothered by nudity, 23 calmly waited.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Unaware of her uncle's activities, Alicia Sevarius was finishing up her paperwork. It had been a long day, and she had put an extra hour or two in to make up for the day that she lost to caring for Demona. Even when she wasn't there, the paperwork still built up.

Alicia shut her computer down, then got up to knock on the door to the office, "Ms Dustine? I'm heading out."

From the part open door there was a sound sort of like, "Zrrrhm."

Alicia pushed the door open, then carefully peered inside. She blinked, taking in the unusual sight before her: Dominique Destine, sound asleep.

The tall, gorgeous redhead was sitting in her comfy chair, laying back. She had taken off her suit coat, and was sitting with her legs stretched out and leaning back in the chair. Her hands were clasped over her tummy, and she was occassionally snoring softly.

'So cute...,' Alicia found herself thinking.

Shaking her head to try to stop that reaction, Alicia cautiously advanced into the office. She reached Dominique's side, then gently shook her shoulder. "Ma'am, you have to get up," she said to her tentatively.

Dominique shifted slightly, then her eyes opened. "What...?" she blinked.

"You were asleep, ma'am," Alicia quickly said.

Dominique shook her head, sitting up as she muttered, "Well, that's embarassing. Sorry you had to wake me."

Alicia tried not to pay attention to how well Dominique's breasts filled out that white blouse. And she either was bra-less, or was wearing something nearly invisible. The suit coats her boss wore clearly hid a LOT.

"Hmm?" Dominique gave her a odd look.

Aicia realized she had gotten distracted, "Sorry. It's fine, I was just getting ready to go and realized I hadn't seen you..."

Dominique looked outside at the slowly setting sun, then smiled slightly. "Thank you," she practically pushed Alicia to the door, "I'm going to finish up what I was working on, then go."

"But Ms Destine...," Alicia started as she was hustled out.

"Take one of the company cars home," Dominique added as the door closed.

Alicia frowned, wondering WHY Dominique was rushing her off. Still, she had done her duty awakening her boss...

She took the elevator down, then called for a driver. Soon one of the light armored cars arrived, and they headed out into the twilight. Alicia sat back tiredly, knowing she should probably have walked. Still, taking a car was safer.

"Have a good night," the driver smiled as they dropped her off.

"Thank you," Alicia smiled as she went inside. She took the elevator up to her suite, unlocked the door and dropped her briefcase. She disrobed and jumped into the shower, determined to wash away the day's sweat.

Emerging in a robe, a towel wrapped around her hair, Alicia opened her fridge. "Well, leftovers maybe..." she muttered, opening up a container from two nights ago. She popped it into the microwave, then poured herself something to drink.

As she settled in to her dinner, Alicia finally let herself think of what she'd seen. "GOD Dominique was adorable..." she murmured.

To be continued...

Notes: Yeah, I know. Where's the ACTION? I plan to have the 'New Pack' in action next episode. I also still need to decide which in the group is the 'mole' for Xanatos. Assuming I still go with that idea.