Mer and Leen decided that it was time to tell the other members of the gang, and let them in on the new abilities they had.  She called them all together, and had their best fighter be the one to show the results of the combat programs.

"Mer, what's going on?"  Brit asked her quietly, while Mer looked excited.

"Brit, stand here in the middle."  Mer said.  She frowned but listened to her leader, and her friend.  "Now, I want you to attack me.  Boxing, and show me what you can do."  Brit frowned.  "Do it, Brit.  Don't worry, and don't hold back."  Mer said with a smile.  Brit put up her fists.  She was known as one of the better fighters among their gang, so the rest weren't sure what Mer was up to.  Then they saw it.

Mer blocked half a dozen shots that should have landed.

"How did you do that!"  Brit said in surprise.  Mer smiled.

"It was a gift from our backer.  Everyone has the ability to learn these skills."  Mer picked up the cable that Shyla gave to her, peeled back the flap behind her ear, and smiled as she plugged it in.  "Who wants to jack into me and learn some karate?"

"Wow.   She did all this for us?"  Mer nodded.  Jan was quite excited.  "This feels like it cost a fortune!"  Mer smiled.

"If I understand...it...correctly...?"  She then looked like she considered the cost when she didn't before.  "Wait....Boss?"  She heard a soft chuckle.

"Yes, Mer, I am listening.  If this was done by an organization other than mine, it would cost upwards of three million per member."  Mer's face cleared of all emotion, other then shock.

"Three million?"  She asked quietly.  "You spent three million on each of us?  To make us stronger?"  She heard another soft chuckle.

"It's my tech, Mer.  No one else has it.  It did cost me hundreds of thousands in materials, but the designs, and my time is where the cost would be.  There is no one else alive who can do these operations."  Mer felt a featherlike brush across her mind, and shivered slightly.  "You girls are important to me.  You are worth it."  Mer looked up at Brit.

"What did she say, Mer?"  Brit had heard the amount blurted out, and found it difficult to stay standing.

"We're important to her.  Hundreds of thousands in costs, not to mention her time, which is worth millions.  She said we're worth it."  Mer felt shaken to her core, while the others stayed quiet.  The new girls looked at the gang.

"Um, excuse me, what did she do to you?"  Mer smiled, and for the first time in a long while, she had the shimmer of tears there.

"She enhanced us so we could survive.  See this?"  The girl nodded.  "This is a dataport.  We can work together, build a 'mental construct' is what she called it, and learn to fight in there.  There are programs we can download, and spend all our sleep time doing combat training inside that construct.  After we learn how to stabilize the connection, we can talk to each other without the cable."  She saw Jenni lift up her head.

"Really?  Talk inside your dreams?  Or do other things?"  Mer rolled her eyes.

"I think so.  And before you ask, she said that if you're good, she'll change your punishment collar into an interface beneath the skin, with a dataport for updates and upgrades.  You won't ever be released from being our pet though."  Jenni lowered her eyes.

"But I can crawl into your mind when I'm asleep?"  Jenni asked softly.

"Tell her that it will be possible, but because her start was so rough, she'll be limited to a cable connection, unless it's an emergency.  If she decides to call out inside the mental link and it's not an emergency, she'll be punished."  Mer nodded at Shyla's judgement.  She related the rules, and Jenni pursed her lips.

"Well, that sounds good to me.  I'm the pet for the club anyway.  If I can't call for help during an attack, something might happen here that I can stop with a warning call."  The new girl quickly raised her hand.

"Can we be 'enhanced'?"  Mer smiled at her question.

"She said that you can, but there are two types of enhancement. Full reinforcement of your skull.  It would mean that you could take a bat to the head and shrug it off easily.  The other level is just the computer interface.  You would be in recovery for a month for the interface, but two months for the more advanced one.  Just so you are also aware, in time, she's going to offer us a complete skeletal upgrade as well."  Their eyes went wide.

"Skeletal upgrade?  What does that mean?"  Brit asked quickly.  She looked excited, but concerned at the same time.

"She would do multiple operations to replace our bones with metal ones.  Fully cybernetic skeleton, but human organs.  Depending upon the level of upgrades we ask for, I'm assuming that our organs could also be replaced if needed."  She heard a soft chuckle at her ear.

"Good forethought, Mer.  Yes, if you get injured, I can regrow your organs, or replace them with synthetic organic replacements.  Don't get reckless, but as long as your head is still intact, I can probably even revive you from a decapitation.  It will take a lot longer as your body would need to be rebuilt from scratch, but you would live."  Mer listened carefully.

"You would do that for us?"  She asked quietly.

"Without a second thought."  Shyla smiled as she saw Mer lower her head.

"Why?  Why?  Nobody loved us before!  Nobody.  Nobody."  Leen rushed to her side, and she felt the hands of her girls try to hold her close.  All of them then heard her voice in their heads, excluding the new girls who were not yet integrated.

"Because you're my girls.  You belong to me."  Then someone else raised her hand.

"Um, what about me?"  Jia raised her hand.  "I wouldn't mind being enhanced so I can jack into their dreams."

Mer smiled as she listened in to Shyla's instructions.

The gang members spent the morning sharing programs, and practicing within the construct.  So far, only Leen and Mer were able to stabilize a connection they could access when they wanted to.  The new girls looked at the excitement and happiness on their faces, then looked at each other.  They nodded.

"Mer?"  The new girl, Kata, short for Katherine, spoke up.

"Yeah?"

"We want this.  Can she enhance us?"  Kata asked her.  She looked serious.

"She can, but you have to understand that these enhancements will also reinforce your loyalty to the club, and to her.  If that is what you want, she'll reinforce your loyalty, and treat you like one of us.  One of her girls." Mer said firmly.

"We understand."  Mer held up her hand.

"There is something else.  No males.  And something that you may have a problem with.  We can fuck anyone who is our pet, or who is not one of the club members.  We fuck others.  No one fucks us.  We can go down on each other, or our pets can, and we can fuck our pets as much as we want, but no one fucks us."  Kata frowned as Mer laid it out.

"Why is that?"

"She called us her girls.  We belong to her.  She is the one who will fuck us eventually.  When things calm down.   Those who have their virginity will lose it to her.  Those who do not, must remain celibate except for oral sex, and she will give it to us in due time."  The other girls looked at each other, then back at Mer.

"Does that apply to us as well?"  Kata asked quietly.  Mer put her hand to her ear, and nodded.

"Yes, it applies to you as well.  When you become one of us, she'll become jealous of who you allow to fuck you."  Mer shivered slightly.  "I felt her get angry once when I pictured Jenni giving it to me.  Really angry.  You don't want that picture in your mind."  Kata bit her lip.

"So....no men.  No sex other then oral, and we can fuck whoever we want.  She wants our loyalty.  Whoa, she not only wants us loyal to the organization, but she wants us to be her girl!  Her girl!"  There was quite a difference to being a member of a gang and being Shyla's girlfriend.  Her lover.  Mer smiled.

"Yes, she wants us to be faithful to her in all ways."  Mer smiled and blushed when she heard Shyla's response.

"Hmph! I thought it would take you a few years to figure that out."  Shyla sounded put out by the fact that they now knew her need.  "I wanted you to learn it slowly, and realize the depths to what I need."

"Boss.  Not what you need.  What we need."  She felt her smile softly.

"Soon, Mer.  I will mindfuck you so hard, your body will feel it for days afterward."  Shyla gave her an image that went through their connection, then began to roam inside her mental space.  She felt it like Shyla had just stroked her neck, and lightly brushed her most sensitive area.

"And this is only the tip of the iceberg."