“What the fuck are you even saying?!” I yelled into the phone.

“You are a slime. One of your traits is that you can only be killed if your core is destroyed. With the amount of liquid you’ve consumed, you can make yourself impervious to bullets and other weapons. I’m sending you the location. Be there at midnight. Please… I’m asking this not as a government official, but as a friend,” Aku voice sounded like she was pleading with me.

“There’s no way in hell I’m taking part in a police raid!” I hung up the phone and slammed it on the bed. What the fuck was Aku thinking? I’m not a hero. I just want to live a normal life. Things just keep happening around me and I keep reacting to them.

“You okay?” Heather was in the doorway.

I put on my best face, “Yeah! Just Lily calling and reprimanding me for today,”

“What happened?” Heather’s face was full of concern.

“Oh… I overslept and it took me a while to get to work… Sorry about that,”

Heather pulled me close and stroked my hair, “It’s okay… Just remember to wake up on your own,”

“Thanks babe,”

That night, I lay there in bed. The clock read eleven o’clock. Right now, Lee was preparing to raid a hideout for a gang. I took the color out of my hand and started at the orange goo. The slime reminded me just how much had changed in my life in the past few months. My phone had a notification that I hadn’t looked at yet. A feeling of guilt washed over me. After a few minutes of thinking, I finally made up my mind. Grabbing my phone and a set of clothes, I ran out of the house…

“You actually came,” Aku said as I walked up to her. We were a couple blocks away from the hideout.

“I’m only doing this once. Never again,” I told her.

“Okay… let’s get the briefing done,” we walked over to a group of officers in SWAT gear. Lee was among them.

“Everyone! We’ve finally gotten a lead, let’s not screw this up,” Lee called to everyone.

“Here’s the plan,” Aku began, “There are three entrances to the building; the front, a loading dock in the back, and the roof. Lowe, Dee, Frey, and Lee will take the front. Ole, Pull, Zee, and Meer will take the back. Jay and I will take the roof. Backup is three blocks away. We want to incapacitate not kill. If necessary, resort to lethal force. Set radios to 5. Now let’s get into position,”

Lee and I were in front of our group. I was supposed to act as a shield and catch any enemy fire. Preparing myself for infiltration, I amped up my density. Lee tapped my shoulder.

“You can still get out of here if you don’t want to do this,” he said.

“I made up my mind. I’m here and I’m staying,” this definitely wasn’t something I’d normally do, but there was the fear of people being hurt without me. Heather was definitely going to worry, but this was only going to happen once.

“Go, go, go,” The door was locked. If we wanted to go about this stealthily, we would need to pick the lock… or… I stuck my hand to the door and stuck some slime into the lock. Shaping it into the form of a key, I unlocked the door. We charged in and began sweeping the area. Suddenly, gunfire rang out. I hid behind the wall and peeked around the corner. Men were forming around the back door. It must’ve been locked as well so they had to force themselves in.

Taking a deep breath, I charged into the fray. Bullets seemed to just absorb into my skin. It tasted like I was eating a fork. One by one, I began to knock out the guys who were standing around. I noticed that every one of them was human. Some began to run up the stairs, only to be struck down by Aku and Jay. Eventually, the gunfire stopped and we successfully raided the building.

“Search the place!” Aku commanded.

After ten minutes, we managed to scout the entire building. Most of the floors were empty, but the bottom floor had a lot of stuff. Crates of drugs and guns lined the place. I didn’t really want to take part in the whole thing because of how sickening the whole ordeal was.

“Lee!” Dee called.

Lee went over to him, “Holy shit…”

Aku and I joined him. What they were looking at was a map of Seabrook City and some of the surrounding cities. There were a few points circled and a couple routes marked. I scanned the area and found one circle near a town I was very familiar with… New Zalt.

“This is the same gang Heather’s brothers were a part of,” I told Aku.

“What?”

“Heather had two brothers that got caught up in drug trafficking. Something happened and they were found in their car in a ditch. Police didn’t even bother digging deep into it,”

“Fucking hell,” Lee said, “That could mean two things. Either the police there were incompetent…”

“Or bribery,” Aku finished, “Now I’m really glad you called me instead of the police,”

“Me too,”

This was almost too coincidental. I stopped some kidnappers who just so happened to be a part of the same gang Heather’s brothers were a part of. My mind was reeling from putting those pieces together. I felt really tired.

“I’m gonna go,” I told Aku.

“Got it. I'll send you your reward for doing this by the end of the week. Stay safe,”

The drive home, I was thinking about what I should tell Heather. I could try sneaking in, but if I was caught, I would just be more suspicious. Also, I just found the gang that killed her brothers. ‘If I told her, she might do something reckless. I should keep this to myself for now. Plus, I’m not going to do that kind of stuff anymore.’

Now, I needed to think of an excuse. One of them, which would technically be the truth, is that Aku asked for my help with a project of hers. Another would be I just went for a night drive and got lost. I sighed… I really didn’t like keeping secrets like this. It just made me feel guilty and it would get to the point where I just caved.

I climbed the stairs and entered the house. The lights were still out so Heather must’ve still been asleep. I took off my sweatshirt and pants and climbed into the bed. Heather shifted about a little. She was so cute when she slept. I gave her a kiss and fell asleep hugging her.

In the morning, I woke up to my own alarm. After getting up and dressed, I went into the kitchenette to see Heather making breakfast.

“Morning, slime girl. Eggs and sausage okay?”

“Sure is!” I said enthusiastically. We ate in silence without even looking at each other.

“Did you go out last night?” Heather asked. Ugh… she was awake.

“Yeah… Aku texted me asking if I could help her with something,” I didn’t like lying to her. In fact, I felt so guilty. In the past, I lied so often that it became a bad habit. Eventually, the guilt of it led me to try to always tell the truth.

“Okay,” she sighed, “Are you sure that’s all?”

“Yeah. I told her I wouldn’t help her like that anymore so I’ll be here at night from now on,” I reassured her. It seemed like all the tension she had was released when I told her that. She came over and hugged me.

“You know… I really don’t like you doing dangerous stuff. Please… just promise me you won’t do that again,” I only realized now that she probably heard me yell at Aku last night. Ah jeez… I was so stupid. I lied to her and she clearly knew what was going on.

“I’m sorry. I promise I won’t do it again,” I told her.

Heather smiled, “That’s all I needed to hear,”

She kissed me on the forehead. I pulled her close and kissed her on the lips. The contact sent signals right to my brain that made me want to do it with her. I managed to get myself off her in time for me to go to work.

“Have fun at work my little slime girl,” Heather said to me as I left.