"Hey, Rocky, got a spare cell for our buddy, here?" Ramirez gave the mugger a shove, sending him staggering through the doorway toward Rocky and Shadow.

"Sure. Machiko said you'd be bringing a guest." Rocky turned and waved a hand down the hall. "Right this way."

Wow. How can she stand up straight? Otto tried to pry his gaze away from Rocky's chest. Don't stare at her tits. Don't stare at her tits. Don't stare at her tits.

Ramirez and Enrique escorted the "guest" toward the door at the end of the hallway. Shakira and Hiro followed, and Otto tried to hang back. If Rocky walked in front of him, he wouldn't be able to see her chest.

Damn. I bet they have their own gravitational pull.

Rocky cleared her throat. "Yes, they're real."

He sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to stare. It's just, well, how can I not?"

"It happens." She rolled her eyes. "All the time. One of these days, I'm having them reduced."

That would be a tragedy.

"It's okay, Otto," Shadow said, "I'm having a hard time not staring at your pants."

"Ah, you've seen the video, too, eh?"

Both draconids nodded. Otto chuckled.

"Well. I'm famous. How about that." He shrugged and caught up with Shakira.

"Let's just try to focus on business," Shakira grumbled.

"I'll do my best." Otto dropped back a bit, kept his eyes aimed at her backside, and smirked.

"How's your husband doing?" she asked Rocky.

"Still recovering, but they let him out of the hospital a few days ago. He should be fine before much longer, but I'm making sure he takes it easy." Rocky raked her talons through her long, orange hair. "I'm still amazed that he survived. I was right beside him when those bastards shot him. He didn't even have his gun drawn, and they just opened up on him. If I hadn't been there to return fire and carry him into our headquarters …"

"Sorry."

"He'll be okay, though. Say what you want about this goddamn city, but there's definitely an advantage to living in a place where most of the technology is beyond the bleeding edge."

"Can't argue with that."

"Here we go." Shadow opened the door, revealing an elevator. They rode it to the basement and stepped into a room with a curved desk on the left and a bank of monitors behind it. A young woman in jeans and a leather jacket sat at the desk. "Hey, Hoshi. Got a new guest to tuck away."

"We've got plenty of room for him." Hoshi touched a button on the desk and the door behind her slid open. She grasped the back of the mugger's hoodie, lifted him with one hand, and carried him through the door.

Otto whistled. "Damn, she's strong."

"Beyond the bleeding edge." Rocky chuckled.

The sound of a cell door locking came from the chamber beyond and Hoshi reappeared.

"What about our other guest?" Shadow said.

"He's still in the lounge on the third floor." Hoshi tapped the side of her head. "I'm linked with the security system and have him on-camera at all times."

"Good." Shadow crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at the floor. "I hope his information is accurate. Hope he's worth protecting."

"We'll find out once Jack and the girls find those files."

"Yeah." Shadow sighed. "I can't believe I let that weasel stick his dick in me."

Rocky put her hand on Shadow's shoulder and opened her beak, but before she could say anything, Hoshi frowned and cocked her head.

"We've got a proximity alert."

Otto raised an eyebrow. "What does …"

"The outside cameras are tracking four incoming SUVs. One is parking in front of our building, the second in the lot beside us, the third in the alley behind us, and the fourth on the street opposite the lot."

"Shit!" Rocky snapped. "The last time this happened, Ralphie got shot in the chest and our whole building got blown to hell." She nudged Shadow's shoulder and pointed at Otto, Shakira, and Hiro. "They're probably here for Winslow. Get these three out of here. We'll evac Winslow."

"I'm not leaving Lola." Hiro planted himself beside her.

"You don't work here. You're a civilian – and a kid."

Ramirez touched his arm. "Hiro, please, do as she says."

"I've been combat-ready since the moment I came out of the tank. I can help."

Rocky sighed. "We don't have time to argue. Lola, you and Enrique try to keep him from getting his head blown off while the rest of us deal with this." She turned to Hoshi. "We'll grab Winslow and head for the armory."

"Shit," Shakira moaned.

Otto glanced at her and saw her eyes darting back and forth. Uh-oh, she's starting to panic. He wondered why he wasn't on the verge of pissing himself in sheer terror. Maybe it was because this simply didn't seem like it could really be happening.

He grasped her hand and she looked sharply at him.

"Easy." He smiled. "Don't lose your head."

She took a slow breath. "Right. Sure." She pulled her hand away. "Let's go."

He took one step forward before the elevator doors parted – with no one anywhere near them.

"Heat signatures," Hoshi snapped, reaching out to grab Hiro. "They're cloaked. Take cover." She shoved him behind her desk.

The air inside the elevator rippled and Otto backed away and bumped into Shakira. He looked up and found her staring straight ahead, trembling, a sudden upsurge of fear preventing her from thinking clearly.

"Get down!" Rocky yelled, whipping out her hand cannon and aiming it down the hallway.

Otto shoved Shakira out of the doorway.

A muzzle flash appeared to erupt from empty air in front of the elevator. More followed, seemingly in slow motion as she tumbled to the floor.

Something slammed into his right side and a weird tingling sensation spread through his chest before he managed to get clear of the doorway.

Behind him, Rocky cried out and staggered backward, but was still able to keep shooting.

Otto hit the floor and scooted over to the wall, flinching at each gunshot.

Several seconds passed before he realized his back was touching the wall – his actual back, without a shirt between his skin and the metal.

What the hell?

Before he could give it any thought, Hoshi backed past him, blasting away, ejecting the spent magazine and inserting a fresh one in a single motion, and continued firing.

"Fall back." A bullet struck her forehead, blasting a piece of artificial skin off and revealing the alloy skull beneath. She didn't even blink. The cell block door opened again. Hoshi twitched her head toward it. "Go."

The air beside Otto rippled like heat waves. Even though he couldn't see more than an indistinct shape, he sensed someone turning to stare momentarily at him.

He lunged forward, thrust his right hand out, and his palm contacted something metal. Another tingling sensation rushed through his whole body and down his arm, concentrating in his palm – and a black flash burst out of his hand and briefly outlined an armor-clad man. The jolt rocketed the intruder into the far wall, leaving a dent in it. The black glow faded, leaving random parts of the man's armor phasing in and out of sight, its systems damaged by whatever the hell had overwhelmed them.

"What the hell?" Otto stared, slack-jawed, and shook his head slowly. What did I just do? And how? And how did I know how to do it?

A hand grasped his arm and he jerked his head to the right, flinching and raising his other hand. He found Rocky leaning over him, hauling him to his feet and clamping her other hand over her left breast. Blood seeped between her talons.

"Get under cover," she grunted.

Hoshi fired one last shot and her gun's slide locked in the open position. She dropped it without hesitation and charged into the hallway.

Otto peeked around the corner and found her grappling with another distortion in the air. It lifted her off her feet and slammed her into the wall, but she kept her grip. She braced her feet on the wall and pushed, ramming the cloaked intruder into the opposite wall. She spun and rammed him into the wall again, shifted her grip, turned and bent over, and the humanoid-shaped distortion flipped over her and crashed to the floor. Hoshi crouched over the rippling shape, grasped part of it, and gave it a quick, violent twist.

Bones crunched and the sigh of a final breath faded into silence. Hoshi turned, scowling, glancing around, and finally stood.

"No more heat signatures detected." She picked up the rifle he'd dropped and slung it over her shoulder.

"What the hell just happened?" Hiro said.

"They slipped in while our attention was on the SUVs. These can't be the only ones." She looked around at the others. "Everyone alright?"

"I don't think the bullet hit anything vital." Rocky leaned against the wall, keeping her hand pressed over her wound. "Feels like it didn't even get through my … well …" She looked at Otto.

Otto stared back at her. She doesn't look surprised. It's like she already knew about … well, whatever the hell I did to that guy.

He glanced around and found his shirt -– and his pants, underwear, socks, and shoes -– piled in the doorway. He looked down at himself and gasped.

"What the hell is going on? Why the fuck am I naked?" He picked up his shirt and gaped at the holes in it, where the bullet had passed through.

"Just a guess," Shadow said, "but when you phased through that bullet, letting it pass harmlessly through your body, you also phased through your clothes." She picked up the other hostile's discarded rifle and aimed a shaky smirk at Otto. "You never did get the hang of that."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Trembling, heart pounding, he turned to Shakira and wondered which of them looked more horrified. "What that fuck am I?"

"That can wait. We're not in the clear yet." Hoshi marched toward the elevator. "Let's get moving."