I could see that Bunny was wired with pent-up energy buzzing through him. He seemed the complete opposite of Jeremy--the person he was about to become.
"Bunny, you've earned this ride, so go ahead," Erko says.
Bunny jogged excitedly towards Jeremy, rubbing his hands. "Man this is going to be so trippy." He circled the Dupe and peered into its face. "He's so fucking cute." He looked at the original in the tube. "This is him right?" Miller nodded. Bunny pushed his face up against the glass. "Oh man, I'm going to have so much fun. Can he hear me?"
"No," Miller replied.
Bunny giggled uncontrollably, rubbing his groin through his shorts. "The other guys tell me he's so smart," he smirked again, "and when I get inside, I get all those smarts as well." He fell silent for a moment and looked up at Jeremy. "They call me a retard, but I'm not, just slow. I'm good with my hands, and follow orders." He groans deeply and stares at the ceiling for a moment.
"Hey Bunny, snap out of it. Just get inside the kid, and beat yourself off in private," Miller exclaimed.
"Yeah, yeah. Private."
I watched as Bunny moved behind the Dupe--they're about the same height. He kicked off his trainers and peeled off his shorts. His eyebrows twitched as he pushes himself inside. The Dupe closed around him, sealing again. In the tube, Jeremy struggles and jerks--for a while, but calms eventually.
The Dupe looked up, blinked a few times, and his brow twitched. His eyes widen, and a smile creased his face. He looked at his body touching and feeling his torso. "My tats," he whispered and touched his face, "my scruff." He looked at Erko, "I'm Jeremy," he taps the side of his head, "I can feel him, like he's standing over my shoulder," he paused, "whispering to me." Jeremy's dick starts to swell. "Fuck, this is so intense," he gasped and grabs his member jerking it a few times. He lets out a low growl.
"Hey!" Miller shouts. "Get dressed, and go! We've got work to do here."
Jeremy blinked and looked around. "Huh?"
"Get dressed and go!" Miller repeated.
The kid pulled on his long shorts, and trainers. He turned to leave, but stopped and stared at the real Jeremy.
"GO!" Erko yelled.
The kid jumped and looked at Erko before scurrying off.
"Retard," Miller muttered.
"So you enjoyed the demonstration?" Erko asked.
"It's amazing, what about the other tubes?"
Erko looked at Miller. "Empty," he replied.
"So why are you telling me all this?"
"We need our people in powerful places. You've been with us for a long time, and I know you've been wearing that suit for just as long. Most of my men can only stick it out for a week at most. I need someone who can live in it for a month, possibly longer."
"I can do that," I told him, hoping to get some more information. "But who?"
"I can't tell you that, but I'm glad I can count on you." He turned to Miller. "That job I told you about, I need you back inside Brozek. Erko's men are getting restless, I'd go there myself, but I've got something I need to deal with here."
"You want me to go back and kick some ass, slap 'em about a bit," Miller asked.
"Exactly."
"No problem," he said with a grin. The shutters to cabinet three roll up, and he leads a docile Brozek Dupe to the front. He whispered something in its ear. "Ok, open up," he said, and the back of Erko's right-hand man opened. Miller--who's smaller--stepped inside the muscle giant, and it sealed.
I looked over to tube three where the real Brozek laid. His body tensed, veins on his arms thicken--he's fighting, but then he relaxed.
"I want to reset the key," he said the Pol and Brozek nodded. Erko tapped on the console a few times. "Ok Brozek, the new key is 'You only live twice.'"
"Ok, got it," he said and left.
"What's the key?" I asked Erko.
"Security. Each Dupe has a unique passkey. Say the phrase, and it puts it into lockdown, and it obeys the first person it sees. Handy if the Dupe is running empty and one of my men needs to get inside."
"Can you use the key if the Dupe is occupied?" I asked.
"No, the consciousness of anyone inside always overrides the key."
"So when do you want me back? I mean to get inside this other guy?"
"Go home, relax. It'll be a few days, I'll be in touch." He held out his hand, and we shook. He pulled me towards him and hugged me. "No hard feelings, about before?" he asked.
"No, we’re good," I replied and prised myself free of his grip. "Look, I gotta go. If I'm disappearing, I've got shit I need to take care of." He nodded, and I left the lab. After pausing at the front doors, they gave me the go-ahead to leave, and I was back outside.
---
My mind was racing, but I tried to keep calm. I needed help, some of the big guns from HQ. Turning a corner, I stopped and pressed myself against the wall, I looked around nervously. Satisfied I wasn’t being watched I made a call to Danny—my partner, who was still wearing the teenager disguise.
He answered. “I thought you’d be calling,” he told me.
The comment threw me, “Why? What have you heard? No, don’t say anything. I’m coming over.”
“OK, but make it an hour.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen!” I growled.
“Thirty make it thirty.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“I’ve got someone here,” he mumbled, “a girl. Just keeping up appearances, you know as a teenager.”
“Get rid of her! And what’s Ivan’s status?”
“He’s good.”
“I need to check on his on the consignment, something's broken.”
“But—“
Before he can finish I hang up, I’m feeling exposed. Without Menshikov’s memories to draw upon, I’m more likely to be discovered.
As I returned to the apartment, I tried to think of who Erko would want Menshikov to replace. It had to be someone senior, but they’d be well protected. I thought about the Marine’s he’d already replaced; one running Comms at HQ, the other two in key positions. Erko had to be finalising his plans, getting his men into position.
“She gone?” He grunted and acknowledgement. “Where’s Ivan,” I asked looking around.
“He’s not here, left about ten minutes ago.”
“What? You know I wanted to see him!”
“He said he needed to go to the gym, work out. I got his status before he left, everything was fine.”
“You’re his handler, you could have stopped him,” I muttered. “He’s a damn AI-suit. He does what he’s told!”
“I know! But he’s got your personality, your mind inside that AI. He’s just as stubborn as you,” he moaned, then added, “and just as arrogant at times.”
“But you had control, you could override.”
“Yeah, but the girl was coming over. Who wants their ‘dad’ in the house?”
“Something’s broken; I need to check on Menshikov.”
“The band?” Danny asked.
“Connection stopped, can’t access his memories anymore,” I said and tapped my head.
“I got a call from Tech’. They said the network was down. Did you check your own band?”
“No, I haven’t had the opportunity to get out of this suit to check.”
“I wouldn’t bother, they said it would be back in two hours,” he told me.
“Two hours. I guess I could just stay low until the network comes back online again.” Danny looked relieved. As my partner and link back to HQ I filled him in with what I’d discovered, and he made notes. “Make sure you raise this to the highest level. They’re about to insert someone into HQ, we need to snuff out Erko’s plans before he can implement them.”
“Who are they going to replace?” Danny asks.
“I don’t know. That’s why I need Menshikov’s memories, so I can go back and find out.”
Danny pulled out a laptop and logged in. I watched for a while as he started to transcribe the report. I knew this was his strength, taking my verbose dialog and producing a coherent document for HQ. His young face frowned as he worked, his eyebrows worked as he tapped at the keyboard.
“I’m going,” I told him, “I shouldn’t be here.” He nodded, and briefly looked at me before returning to the laptop. I trusted him to file the report; I knew I’d hear from him again soon, with HQ’s response.
I left and decided to return to Menshikov’s gym. I was hopeful I’d find Ivan there, and I could check the real Menshikov for myself.
As I made my way, I felt tightness across my chest. It could have been the restrictive nature of the suit, or anxiety. I made sure to keep to the back streets, not wanting to bump into anyone that might know Menshikov. But my heart skipped when I heard a shout.
“I’ve done nothing wrong,” I muttered, backing up against the wall.
“You have no idea who I am, do you?”
I looked closely at the Dupe. He was the same size and build as the suit I was wearing. My mind raced, this guy was new to Erko's gang. Maybe it was a way back in, a uniform opens doors.
“Schulz?” I replied, reading the name patch. Before he answered, I reached out and grabbed his shoulder twisting him around. Reaching around his throat, I pulled him in with a choke hold. He struggled, kicking backward and slamming me against the wall; once, then again. He started to weaken, as I tightened my grip further.
"Come'n you fucker!" I growled in his ear, "Give up! I need your fucking uniform."
He gripped my arm--tightly, and I struggled to keep him down. A second hand found its way taking my other wrist. I took a few breaths as he began to free himself from my hold. I bared down using all my strength, but he started to force my arms. Then I realised; the Dupe he was wearing, the safe-guards were off. He was using the suit's full strength.
He released himself and twisted my arms around. I was cursing, as he grinned in my face. I yelled out in pain, as he used his full weight against me. "You have no idea who I am, under this jerks skin?" I might have had a chance if I was still connected to Menshikov.
"No," I said with a gasp as he twisted my arms behind me. We were face to face, our lips almost touching. I struggled again and remembered the security key Erko mentioned. "You only live twice," I yelled. He paused for a moment and stared at me. I said it again, "You only live twice."
A sneer peeled across his face. "Nice try, but that ain't gonna work on me," he snarled.
End of pt6, >> pt7
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