The front entrance to Bionic Capital HQ looms large. Zef remembers his interview, how he'd thrown up in that bush right there, how much he'd sweat through his binder.

Somehow, that day felt more intimidating than this one. The brief conversation with Gray steels his resolve, and his fear takes a backseat to the certainty of what he must do.

They go through the front doors and pile their handbags into boxes to be x-rayed at security. The weapon-detection gate senses nothing on them; it's only equipped to detect firearms, bombs and surveillance bugs. Gray's implants make him a walking, talking, weapon, but it counts for nothing. His gild is too uniquely identifiable. Avoiding detection means he can't use them in plain sight.

The security guard greets them. "Welcome to Bionic Capital." Zef's skin still crawls. He recognizes the guard. She's Rylan's goon, the one they keep running into.

She doesn't recognize Zef in turn. Their disguises, the voice modulators, the false implant data, it all works.

They make their way toward the elevator, walking a staggered distance apart as though they happened to arrive at the same time but don't know each other. The familiar, shining height of the atrium isn't large enough to contain the enormity of Zef's anticipation. It's quiet and loud. Employee's footsteps echo in the cavernous space as they rush around, coffees in hand, but the void above seems to swallow the sound. Zef feels it all in claustrophobic five-dimensions, every sense prickled.

He reaches the elevator first and politely holds it for Gray. Many others press inside. Gray stands in the back corner directly beneath a security camera and behind Zef. It's a good thing Gray is short; he's easy to cover.

They ride up. Gray focuses on the security camera above him. His tattoos glow faintly under the thick layer of foundation as he downloads information about the camera system for Damo to peruse. By the time they reach their floor, Damo's voice comes through their implants.

>>I'm in. Disguised myself as an algorithm built to recognize shifty things like weapons. I won't be snitching about anything I see today, but you two should try and make this snappy.

Not like they were planning on dilly dallying. First, they need access to Rylan's office. It has only two entrances. The one through her receptionist's office— unviable due to the receptionist sitting right there—and Rylan's private parking elevator.

The elevator was an ostentatious, multi-purpose thing. It's where Rylan parked her obscenely expensive car(s) securely while she worked. It gave her private access to her office, sure. Not like CEO's had to use anything as banal as the front door. But the elevator also stopped at the ground floor atrium with an optional glass window effect to display new gadgets and inventions. Or, you know, show off Rylan's wealth. A false promise of what others could achieve if only they worked hard enough. Ridiculous, but it would come in handy today.

Once they have Damo squatting in the building's security cameras, they exit the elevator on a floor with very few people milling around. When Damo tells them the coast is clear, they head towards the wall with a fancy water feature and hit the hidden button to call the elevator. When it arrives, the waterfall parts, the wall behind it opening. Inside, the elevator is easily twenty foot deep and ten feet across, bright white, and hunkered in the middle of it is the Vitali. The elevator doors shut behind them, and Gray presses the button for Rylan's office.

Zef regards the car like a dog that once bit him. "Never wanted to see this thing again."

Gray surprises him. "I'm kinda fond of the thing."

"You are?"

"Yeah. First ride I took you on, isn't it? If I could steal her properly and not get caught?" He whistles. "In a heartbeat."

Zef flushes that a good memory of him could override so much bad. He suddenly wants that for Gray. Wants it fiercely. How often has Gray ever told Zef what he's wished for? He asked, once, and Gray said he had so little memory of what it was like to dream of future things that he didn't know.

They reach the floor and a door on the opposite side of the elevator opens. This one leads, not into HQ's vast atrium, but a well-lit hall with a few doors to boardrooms and one with a gold plaque. Rylan's office. They head for it, waiting until Damo gives them the all-clear before going inside.

Zef forgot about the glass floor and all the windows. The second he steps into the room and looks down, his heart catapults into his throat. Gray steadies him.

"Forgot this place was nightmare fuel," Zef mutters.

"Yeah. Reckon it was always a power play with her. Make people afraid. If you didn't have a phobia of heights coming in, you'd leave with one."

He circles around to her computer, gesturing to unlock it. The hack takes Damo a sweaty two minutes, but once he's popped it, Gray gets to work. He wears gloves that compliment his outfit, but they have the added benefit of leaving no fingerprints on the desk. Zef lingers over his shoulder, watching him run the Project Serenity search. All the related project files spawn across the holographic screen.

Zef couldn't remove them from Bionic Capital databases. Not without raising suspicions about exactly who had invaded in the first place. What he could do was tinker the design enough that it wouldn't work.

It takes a lighter touch. While Gray downloads the unaltered files onto a data drive, Zef changes the local and backup files with a few programming errors. They're the kind of thing a knowledgeable developer might be able to change, but for anyone who doesn't understand exactly how the tech is supposed to work? They'd be searching ages.

It's not a perfect solution. But it's the least conspicuous thing he can do.

He checks the time on his HUD. They've been here twenty-four minutes. "Time to wrap this up."

"My turn," says Gray.

He takes over again, working with Damo to find the data fort. If not this computer, it has to be one inside the building.

>>I've got good news and bad news.

Zef's heart sinks. "Assuming the good news is you found the data fort."

>>Yeah. It's this computer. Bad news? Not just this computer. There are a few backups in the building.

Gray makes a quiet noise of frustration. "So?"

>>So, have a little faith. I planned for this. It just might take a little longer than we'd hoped.

Zef anxiously watches the clock as Damo rigorously hacks each of the backup computers. Time, in these circumstances, isn't a commodity they can afford to waste. They'll be expected at the meeting soon, their absences noted.

Gray paces. Zef looks out at the city and tries not to vomit as ten minutes becomes thirty. Damo updates them as he goes, but he insists it's not worth rushing. They have time, and it's better they're thorough. Snap Gray's leash for good.

Finally, Damo's triumphant voice tells them,

>>Got it! All right, Gray. You're up.

They have ten minutes. Just enough time to install the virus that will scramble Bionic Capital and cover their tracks. Gray hurriedly takes a data drive from his pocket and shoves it into the computer console. After a few gestures, his finger hovers over the 'installation' command.

"Ready?" he says.

"Ready," Zef answers.

He taps the command and they head immediately for the door to the hallway. As they go, Damo monitors the virus's installation. Realistically, it will take five minutes. After that, the virus will infect the data fort, backup files, and rinse through Bionic Capital's networked system in rapid succession. It will be both immediately apparent and immediately detected by their protection software, but Damo assured them this little bug was homebrewed. A little piece of vengeance. None of their software would recognize it until it was too late. To add a sprinkle of further protection, there were commonalities between this virus and ones frequently used by CyberSuite. Enough to make the connection, not enough to get the virus immediately flagged and quarantined.

They really needed to be out of the building by the time it installed, though.

The hall to the elevator feels infinite. They get halfway when another door opens. Zef's stomach drops when he sees who comes through.

Nav.

They see Zef. Or rather, they see Katarina, and say, "There you are. I was waiting for you."

This isn't part of the plan. It is, in fact, a capital "P" Problem. Zef might pass for Katarina at a glance, on camera, or to people who don't know her, but up close? He's fairly sure the disguise won't pass a cursory sniff test with Nav, who spent the last couple nights talking to Katarina up close and personal.

His voice modulator speaks with her timbre and accent, but Zef has to try and recall the exact words the real Katarina might use when he says, "This place is big. I got lost."

Gray intervenes, "We could meet you in a second. Where are the bathrooms?"

"I really need to speak to you before the meeting starts," Nav insists. Their forehead looks a little shiny. Nervous sweat. "Alone. It'll only take a second."

Worried about casting too much suspicion or giving them away, Zef says, "Okay."

A look crosses Gray's painted face. A brief flash of panic. Zef pretends not to notice and follows Nav into the room they just vacated. It's an unused conference room with a panoramic view of the city and a massive holoscreen projection on the opposite wall.

With the door shut, Nav says, "Did you get a chance to look at the files I sent?"

Zef goes with the safest lie possible. "No, I was—" He recalls the spiked deserts. "A little indisposed after yesterday."

"I really can't wait for an answer much longer. Rylan's riding my ass, telling me to apply pressure. She wants you to squeak it through the ethics committee, but I'm telling you, it's not ready for market. Not yet."

Zef's mind whirrs. They must be talking about Project Serenity. Katarina's belligerence in the elevator suddenly makes a little more sense, if she's butting heads with Rylan over getting the new tech EU certified.

"I understand," Zef says hurriedly. "I'll read it by the end of the day. Promise." A lie he feels bad telling. This will complicate things down the line for Nav if Katarina can't come through for them. Something he'll have to figure out when there isn't a countdown in the back of his head.

Nav looks at him with distressed confusion. "Are you— all right? You look—"

"It is my stomach, the brulée. But I promise, I'll look. If I approve something not above board, I'm boned in the unfun way, too."

As it leaves his mouth, he realises it doesn't sound like anything Katarina would say. At the same time, the holoscreen on the wall flickers, lags, then flares alive with—

Um.

Porn?

Desperately fake, overzealous moaning disrupts the eerie office silence. The smaller tablets built into the meeting table erupt with so many flesh-coloured pixels. Just pussy and dick as far as the eye can see.

Yep, that's porn.

Nobody informed Zef the virus rearranging the guts of Bionic Capital's servers and covering their tracks would be a porn virus, but he takes advantage of the distraction. He runs, holding his stomach for verisimilitude regarding the brulée. He doesn't look back to see if Nav follows, or how they react.

Gray waits by the elevator. He stops chewing his fingernail the moment he sees Zef and punches the button. The elevator stands ready, the Vitali shining inside. They hit the ground floor, where hopefully the chaos of the porn virus will cover their retreat.

"Did they recognize you?" Gray asks.

Zef's throat feels scratched dry. "I think— Maybe— I don't know."

Gray's face settles into the sort of dead mask Zef never wanted to see again. "You get out of here, I'll go deal with them."

"No!" Zef grabs Gray by the shoulder. "Nav's good. Nav's— they're trying to stop Rylan's rollout of Project Serenity. I don't think they'll out us to her."

Gray gives Zef a searching look. "You're sure of that?"

Zef compiles all he knows about Nav, which is painfully little. They worked together only briefly and didn't do a lot of sharing about their lives outside Bionic Capital. During that time, they'd shown just as much enthusiasm for making tech that could actually help people as Zef had. Conversely, they'd been extremely protective of keeping their job when Zef seemed suspicious on his first day.

He doesn't know if he could count on solidarity between them as trans people, but he definitely can't let Gray hurt them.

"No. I trust Nav. And I don't even know if they figured out it was me. We have to get out of here, anyway."

Gray studies him a moment. A short nod. Zef breathes a sigh of relief.

The elevator sweeps downward, his stomach hovering behind his navel, when Damo's voice comes through their implants.

>>Uh, guys? Security's abuzz. I think they may have connected the dots.

"Where are they going?" Gray asks, tense.

>>They're converging on the elevator doors.

Zef normally doesn't emote, like, out loud. But the wail of despair happens anyway. A blended noise of adrenaline and frustration. Why can't anything just run smoothly? If he'd just escaped Nav sooner—

Gray doesn't react at all except to look at the Vitali.

"No," says Zef.

"It's the only way."

"It has cameras. If you use your implants to unlock it, they'll know it was you."

There isn't time to argue. The elevator slows to a stop just as Gray rips off a steel stiletto and smashes it through the driver's side window, unlocking it. Zef piles in without further complaint. As the elevator doors start to open, security arrayed around them in a fan, Gray murmurs,

"Always wanted this car, but I won't mind trashing it, neither."

He stamps his foot on the gas.