"Now I think there is a real problem."

"Which is?"

"I can't remember some things that I should be able to," he said. He glanced down at the cat rubbing against his leg, and nudged it away. What did it want that made it keep doing that? It was becoming pretty bothersome. He'd nearly tripped over the damned thing a few times now.

"Give me an example," Bison said.

"I tried to recall if I had any upcoming events to deal with in Spain," he replied, unconsciously twirling a braid around his finger. When he realized he was doing that, he wrinkled his nose and stopped. What was he, a little girl? Well, maybe she was, to an extent. Cammy had been 'activated' at the age of eighteen, but had only been conscious for a few years now. She could think and behave in a child-like manner sometimes as a result. She had a lot of growing up to catch up on, and it obviously frustrated her sometimes. "But I found myself unable to do so. I could only think of what Cammy had planned for the next few weeks or so." Not exactly anything exciting. Meeting some friends, and a whole lot of loafing around.

"Naturally," Bison said. "You're using a different brain now. You aren't going to be able to remember some of the things you would in your own body because you simply don't have access to them."

"How do I remember anything about me at all, then?" Vega asked. What a confusing mess all of this was.

"Some memories are integral parts of who you are. That integral part of you is what has been traded for Killer Bee's own. You have certain memories that will always stay with you, and they aren't just stored in your brain," Bison explained. "However, something like an upcoming plan isn't quite as special yet-there's not really much to remember, after all." It made a little more sense to him. He couldn't remember an event that hadn't happened. "But..."

Vega sighed. There was always a 'but'.

"If you notice any deterioration of more personal memories, notify me immediately. It's one thing to be unable to remember things you have planned for later, but if you start forgetting things like what your home looks like, or even something so mundane as a favorite food, it could be a more serious problem," Bison said.

"Like what?" Vega asked, planting a hand on his hip. Again, he cringed and stood up straight. He didn't feel right behaving like that.

"The body could be adapting to you," he said. "Readying itself for a permanent change."

"No, no, no. That isn't happening."

"It's only a possibility, not necessarily a certainty," Bison said. "But as I said, keep an eye on what you can and can not remember." With that final warning in mind, the two finished the conversation. Vega tossed the phone at the couch, and dropped down beside it, staring up at the ceiling. How could this have happened? He'd been himself after the experiment. He'd thought it was a spectacular failure. Nothing had happened. The android body remained empty and lifeless, and he woke up with a bit of a headache, but that was about it. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he had felt strange in the following days. It was like being sick, but not entirely in a physical way. It was difficult to articulate, but the closest he could come to describing it was as if he'd never really woken up from sleeping. And then, he did-in a completely different body. But why Cammy's?

The phone rang. He looked down at it, and read the screen. He wrinkled his nose, an almost automatic reaction to the name displayed there. Chun-Li. Cammy and Chun-Li were friends. He gripped the phone hard, clenching his jaw. Why was Cammy friends with herwhile refusing to even associate with him? He inhaled deeply to try to keep himself from getting too worked up over it. The thought struck him that he could sabotage their friendship right now if he wanted to. The opportunity had presented itself quite cleanly to him, so he answered the phone.

"Hey, how's it going?" Chun-Li asked cheerfully on the other line.

"Horribly, since you've called..." he said, ready to come up with some more complaints. He never finished voicing them. Chun-Li was Cammy's friend. And it made him furiously jealous. But she must've made Cammy happy to some extent. He frowned, and put a hand to his head. Cammy would be upset with him if she lost one of her friends as a result of his behavior. The long-term consequences outweighed the short-term benefits, so he changed his mind. "Just teasing, of course," he said. Now he regretted ever picking up the phone-he had to really talk to her, and pretend to be friendly all the while.

"You have the strangest sense of humor sometimes," Chun-Li said with a bit of a laugh.

"I'm British," he responded half-heartedly.

Chun-Li laughed again. "Well, I just wanted to make sure that you'll still be able to pick me up from the airport tomorrow?"

He suppressed a groan, briefly consulting Cammy's memories in order to confirm these plans. Chun-Li would be in England for a week. And Cammy had offered to let the woman stay with her. How delightful. "Of course," he said, unable to really force a cheerful disposition. He didn't want to be around this woman. Not without a sharp object to peel her skin off with.

"Is everything all right?" Chun-Li asked. He'd never heard her concerned tone directed at him before. But then, it wasn't really. It was for Cammy. Because they were friends, and friends cared about each other.

"I'm fine."

"Okay," Chun-Li said. "Well, if something's bothering you, you should let me know, okay?"

Where should I begin? he thought, but said, "Of course, but I'm fine. See you tomorrow afternoon?"

"Yep, I'll be waiting for you!" They exchanged good-byes, and he hung up the phone, feeling completely defeated. It wasn't fair that this woman was such a good friend to Cammy while he was something to be repulsed by and hated. He buried his face in the pillow on the couch, suddenly overwhelmed with the need to sleep.

Cammy woke up and for a moment was still convinced she was dreaming. She put a hand to her head, eyes wide, staring around the room. Why was she in an unfamiliar place? This wasn't-

No. It was her home. Her home, not Vega's, not the mind she was currently manipulating. Not the mind wrought with worry over why it hadn't woken up in a familiar bed. Not the mind that had just served up an awful nightmare for her. Something was chasing her-him, it was him in the dream. Hunting him down, and when it caught him, it wouldn't kill him. It would make sure he suffered first, suffered like he'd made so many people suffer. And relief wouldn't come with death-this thing would own his very soul. As with most nightmares, she began to wonder why she'd been so frightened while it was happening. Really, she never even caught a glimpse of what was chasing her. But she was lost and alone in some dark, crowded place. All of her movements felt too slow, and her feet had felt made of lead. She sighed, rolled over and curled up into a ball.

After a few minutes of recuperation, she inhaled and forced herself up. After going to the bathroom and splashing water on her face-and still being quite startled at seeing Vega in the mirror-she headed out of her bedroom. He was on the couch, asleep. It was early in the morning, still, and she generally was not an early riser. But Vega was, apparently, and now she knew she'd never get back to sleep. She looked for some food in her kitchen, but realized her typical breakfast foods weren't going to make Vega very happy if she ate them. So she settled on toast and put a kettle on to boil. She wasn't terribly hungry anyway. She thought of organizing her things, getting all of the stuff which she'd never want Vega to go through and putting it all away somewhere. But, she knew that was senseless. He'd be able to know all of her hiding spots, and even if she thought up a new one, it wasn't likely to matter. She thought too much like herself and he'd be able to figure it out. There wasn't a whole lot to hide anyway, and if he really wanted to know something, he could just use her mind to remember it.

She made her way over to her laptop on the coffee table. She usually sat with it on the couch, but that piece of furniture was currently in use. Glancing up at her own sleeping form, a bizarre sensation came to her. It wasn't just that it was surreal seeing herself through someone else's eyes. But there was a funny feeling-a warm but also sad feeling, a sort of yearning. And then she frowned. It was coming from Vega's brain. "Sick," she muttered. If there was anyone she'd never want taking an interest in her, it was him. But it seemed too late to change that. Turning her eyes back to the monitor, she tried to ignore those thoughts entirely.

She checked her e-mail every morning. She'd opened two different tabs, looking through both accounts but...why were all of the e-mails in the first account in Spanish? She made a noise as she realized she'd logged into Vega's accounts without even thinking about it. It was such an automatic thing-for both of them, apparently-that she hadn't even noticed she'd entered his information. She logged out of the first, but the second was more peculiar. There was a pop up announcing that she needed further authentication to access the server. Without having to think much about it, she entered the necessary user name and password.

This one looked sort of like a typical inbox. But there were no logos or names to identify the client. She glanced up at the address bar. She'd entered an IP address. Highlighting the numbers, she copied them, opened a new tab, and pasted it into a whois search. It returned information for some place in Mexico. Pressing her lips together, she searched the same address again. This time, it was somewhere in Sweden. She sighed a bit, then tabbed back over to the inbox. At the top left was his e-mail address. It was peculiar-just a string of numbers at another string of numbers. All of the addresses on the incoming e-mails had similar formats. The meaning of the subject lines hit her all at once. These were past assignments, or some still upcoming. Information about shift changes, blueprints of buildings, security codes, all the sorts of things an assassin or saboteur might need to know about his target and their whereabouts. Biting her lip, she contemplated what to do with all of this. Here was pretty solid evidence connecting Vega to Shadaloo, not to mention a wealth of information on various operations. All she had to do was start forwarding e-mails to herself, and then she'd have no problem getting him in court. Maybe she could even put a stop to some upcoming assassination or other insidious mission.

But then, her decision was made for her as Vega rolled over, rubbing his eyes and laying on his back. She quickly logged out of the account, cleared the browser's history, and went about logging into her own accounts this time. "Jesus!" she heard her own voice cry. It made her jump, and she looked up at Vega.

"What?" she asked.

He sighed irritably, then rubbed his eyes again. "Just...strange, waking up to the sight of myself."

"Really, I thought you'd be overjoyed," she said, a little irritated. Why did he have to wake up? Just a few more minutes, and she would've had him, turned him into a fugitive, if not a prisoner.

He rolled his eyes, but switched topics. "How long have you been awake?"

"Not long," she answered with a shake of her head, keeping focused on her messages. Not a whole lot from actual people, but she did get something from Chun-Li. She began to smile, and at nearly the same instant, a strong wave of irritation and annoyance swept through her. She closed her eyes. Now why was she so upset at the sight of Chun-Li's message? Then she understood it was Vega's brain that was bothered, not her own. She glanced up at him as he pushed himself into a seated position. "Why do you hate Chun-Li so much?"

He seemed surprised by the question. "What's that got to do with anything?"

She shrugged. "Just wondered." She opened the message, and then nearly gagged, reminded of her plans for the week. "Oh my God, she's going to be staying here with me for a week! With you me!" She tangled her fingers in her hair and whined.

"Stop," Vega said. "That's embarrassing, what you're doing."

She glared at him. "You'll kill her!"

He narrowed his eyes. "Would you miss her?"

"Of course I would!" she cried. "I can't let her stay with you, it'd be downright cruel!"

"Would you miss me, if she killed me?"

Cammy blinked, taken aback by the weird question. She made a face, furrowing her brows, her lips parting just slightly. "Why would I ever miss you?"

He seemed hurt, and looked down at his hands. "I suppose you wouldn't."

Cammy logged out of her account, ignoring him. "I have to figure out a way to tell her not to come over. We can't see each other at all this week." She sighed heavily. "This is incredibly inconvenient, you know. I wanted to spend some time with my friend, and you're ruining all of it."

"I'm very good at ruining things," he said.

"Oh ha ha," she said. "Why do you have to be so awful? Is it in your genetics? I don't get to see her that often, and when I finally do, I have to spend it in your body, thanks to you and your awful friends-except they aren't your friends, people like you don't have friends! Ugh!" She fell back onto the floor, staring up at the ceiling and not-so-silently fuming. "I hate this. I hate you, and Bison, and all of those other horrible people that continue to ruin my life."

Vega didn't answer, unless one counted walking away as a response. She turned her head to follow him, but he disappeared into the bathroom without saying another word. Again, she rolled her eyes. He probably hadn't even heard anything she just said. Probably too busy staring at himself or something. How was she going to convince him to tell Chun-Li to leave her alone for the week? And how could she put it politely? She supposed she could tell her friend that she was very sick, but that would make Chun-Li even more inclined to come over. There were very few valid excuses, she supposed, for not seeing a friend at all for the entire length of their rare visit. But what else could she do to keep her friend safe? She bit her lip. How would Chun-Li react to her saying that she'd switched bodies with Vega? She'd never believe her. And why should she? It was one of the most outlandish sentences she could think of.

Sitting up, she reached for her phone, and composed a message to confirm their meeting. Maybe something this bizarre was better to deal with in person.