4:22 AM — Phoenix, Ash's Apartment
I slammed the apartment door shut behind me and locked it. Twice. Then slid the chain. Silence. Except for my breath. Still shallow. Still sharp. I dropped to all fours.
My hands— my claws gripped the tile like it might slide out from under me. I could still feel it. The impact. The screams. The pleasure. I crawled to the bathroom, not trusting my legs. My tail dragged behind me. When I reached the mirror, I looked up—and there she was again.
Herja.
Or...rather...'me'.
No, just a new exo-armor now. After all that's what the human body was, just armor that the spermazoa grew around it. Just naked, breathless, gleaming flesh. Covered in blood that wasn't his. Still beautiful. Still terrifying. I stood. Slowly. Then turned the faucet. Cold water gushed. I cupped some and rinsed my face. It didn't help. The blood didn't want to come off. Not all of it.
I looked at my palms. At the dried edges of crimson. The scent. The taste. I hesitated. Then raised a finger to my lips.
One lick.
Sweet.
Metallic. Electric. Like licking a live wire made of syrup. I moaned. Just a little. My pupils widened. A pulse rippled through my chest—down into my gut, up into my throat. Then I felt it. The blood—the kill—was being used. Absorbed. Integrated. My muscles rippled. Tiny sparks danced across his biceps and tail. His reflexes sharpened. Just slightly. But noticeably.
Herja said nothing. But she watched.
Meanwhile – 4:24 AM — CENO Surveillance van. Agent Marla Cruz sat in a dark-lit van, blue screens flickering across her glasses. A low beep chimed once. Then again. Her brow furrowed. She tapped her screen. "Bloom event?" She zoomed in on the data. Unauthorized. No registered clan ID. No echo signature on file. No cradle.
"Where?" she whispered. A topographical map bloomed on the display. Marla's eyes narrowed.
"Bio-signature readings at 155th and Englewood." Another window opened. A pulse-wave energy scan. The faint residue of a high tier orgone discharge, just hours old.
Marla stood. "Shit."
"Control, this is Marla. We've got a Class 4 Bloom on surface layer. Solo sig. Unindexed." A voice crackled through her earpiece. "You think it's the Herja-X Crystal?" Marla's mouth was already tight. "It's him, Ash has bonded with the Herja-X Crystal. I've been on detail for the past 72-hours." She looked at the raw waveform again. It matched no species profile.
4:27 AM — Ash's Apartment Complex — Rooftop Shadows
Felicity Grey sat like a gargoyle on the corner ledge of a neighboring building, legs pulled under her, hoodie down, eyes alight with predator fire. She'd followed the beast-girl since that first perfect leap across the skyline. Watched her drop thirteen crime lords like wind-blown cards. Then slink home dripping in blood and wonder. Now the window on the 4th floor lit up soft yellow. Felicity zoomed in with her cybernetic eye.
A grin spread across Felicitys face, it couldn't be a mere coincidence, could it? Ash lived at this complex, and in all that time of stalking him she had not once see the beast girl enter or emerge from this place.
5:03 AM — Ash's Apartment
I stirred. Groaned. Blanket wrapped around one leg. Sunlight bleeding in through the curtains. The tail flicked once, then thumped against the bedframe. I grumbled. The sheet dragged across my skin. Warm, soft, wrong. Still half-asleep, I rolled over, blinked blearily, and sat up.
"Ughh, gotta piss…"
I staggered out of bed and shuffled down the hall on bare feet. The cool tile made my feet giggle. The Bathroom night light was on, so I didn't bother turning on the light. The lid was already up just the way I had left it. I took a wide Stance wide. Eyes squinted shut.
Then—
PSSSHHHHT.
Warm spray hit the back of the bowl! Only the angles were wrong. The direction was wrong. It hit the seat. Then the wall.
"…What the—?"
My eyes snapped open, I looked down.
"OH MY GOD."
I screamed, and a high pitch girl scream filled the bathroom! I stumbled backward, fell over into the bathtub with a loud THUNK, smacking my horns against the shower wall.
"I—I'm—STILL—NO—NOPE—"
I scrambled to my feet, panting, staring at the mess on the floor and the very feminine anatomy that I'd just pissed entirely around.
"…I dreamed that. Right? That was a dream." I looked at the mirror. Raven hair. Tiger-stripe bio-armor. Amber eyes that looked way too calm for how hard my heart was pounding.
"…It wasn't a dream."
I covered my face. Then remembered everything. The alley. The crystal. The snowy field. The transformation. The rooftops. The screams. The kill. I sat down on the closed toilet lid, head in hands. "Okay… okay. Just breathe. You're not crazy. You just… turned into a demon-woman and murdered a rooftop mafia council in Arizona. At night. Naked."
I looked up. "Holy shit. I'm a naked rooftop ninja murderess."
"…Okay that part's kind of cool."
5:06 AM — Phoenix, Surface-Level CENO Station
Marla Cruz buckled the chest plate of her matte-black surface rig. She checked the pulse-dagger at her thigh, popped a stim-tab under her tongue, and gave a sharp nod to the junior officer across the desk. "Drone surveillance pick up anything?"
"Just fuzzy movement near the Biltmore district—thermal scans got messed up. Probably a cloaking field or passive Vein saturation."
Marla's jaw ticked. "He or she is feeding. Or 'it' fed." The tech looked up, suddenly nervous. "Ma'am… if this thing bloomed without a trace and already killed, shouldn't we… escalate?"
Marla shook her head. "Not yet. If we scramble a wraith team, we'll spook it. Or worse—awaken it further. I'll make contact first." She turned and grabbed her coat. "Whatever Ash Cross is, he's alone. But it won't stay that way." She paused at the door. "…We may be looking at a Zohar-class rogue."
Then she was gone.