Tandy's eyes followed her around the lab until she stopped at the vat.  Her hand lightly stroked the glass.

"I know you can hear me, doctor."  Shyla lowered her eyes.  "Baby.  I couldn't let you die, but I don't yet have the ability to fully heal your body."  Tandy's brain wasn't ready for the interface, and her body didn't yet have the strength to regrow the skin and veins.  She would need to culture and clone them over a long period of time.  "Is there any pain?  Blink twice for no, three times for yes."  Three blinks.  "I'll shut off your pain receptors, baby."  Tandy's body floated in a nutrient bath, her skin pale white from the solution, but she no longer bled from her wounds.  Shyla had sealed each vein and artery, and used life support machines to keep her alive while she added enough of her technology based enhancements that she could be revived.  She lost some memory, but she was still the same woman she was before.

"The interface is almost ready.  I'll need it in order to complete repairs on your brain, and that is the first part of your treatment.  Once your brain is stable, and the appropriate parts replaced, I'll clone your damaged organs, and rebuild your body."  Shyla picked up a piece of steel bar and bent it in her hands.  "Just like I did myself not long after they killed you."  She flexed her arm.  "Titanium woven through a carbon nanofiber polymer, with replaceable and upgradable cybernetic quick response actuators.  The bone marrow is still where it should be though.  Took months to heal."  She saw the concerned look in Tandy's eyes.

"Yes, I wish you were here to do the surgery, but it was necessary."  She turned around and showed some small scars along the edge of where her neck and skull met.  "The interface works.  Each port can be replaced and upgraded, while the processors are modular. Plug in instead of solder in.  As our technology increases in complexity, we can be upgraded.  Soon, when I increase the processing power and increase storage capacity, I'll be able to repair the sections of your brain that are damaged."  She looked at the body floating there, sadness in her eyes.  "I would never do to you what I wouldn't do to myself, baby."  She said softly.  "The computer handled the surgery according to my programs.  I was awake for the entire thing.  I won't do that for you though.  This kind of surgery can take its toll on the mind."  She looked up at her.

"I'm sorry, baby.  You died because of me.  Do you want to sleep now?"  Tandy blinked three times.  "Alright.  I'll wake you up when I have made a bit of progress."  She laid her forehead against the glass.  "I miss you so much."  Tandy closed her eyes as Shyla pressed a button.

"Computer, analysis of the interface."

"Completely integrated, and working efficiently."  The feminine voice of her girl, Tandy, answered her.  She needed to hear her voice, so she programmed it in.

"Any anomalies?"

"Negative."

"And the new project?"

"Still analyzing the data.  The interface is integrated fully into the specimen, however, I am still running diagnostics on the processor's ability to integrate and be compatible.  The storage space is stable for now.  However, it must be made known that it could become unstable if the processor fails to integrate."

"Understood.  Computer, standard operating procedure for specimens captured during criminal activities are to experiment, and if experiments turn fatal for the specimen, download their brains, and decompile the data.  Normal search parameters."  Shyla rubbed her temples.  She continued to get minor lingering headaches from the surgeries she's endured, but her interface was fully functional.  The pain was related to the increase in stress, not the operation itself.  Now all she needed was the processors, storage space for additional programs, and the programs that she would use to upgrade and condition her subordinates to be absolutely loyal to her.  It was still to basic for Tandy though.

"So no change to current SOP's, Shyla?"  She rolled her eyes.

"You even sound like her too.  Yes, no change."

Shyla watched the gang from a distance, her face covered with a thin dark veil so she would be in shadows.  It was night, so the chance for someone to notice her was minimal.

"Analyze."  She watched the girls as they huddled around a barrel, fed with scraps of wood from a few discarded pallets.

"Eight targets.  One is a plant from the local police.  Her face is easily recognized from police personnel records." She heard Tandy's soft voice at her ear.

"How is the interface holding up, baby?"  she heard a soft chuckle.

"I can sit at a desk in this virtual world you built for me.  I wish you were here, but it helps to pass the time."

"Mark each target.  I want them knocked out, but not damaged.  I am doing the surgeries on them, and implanting the loyalty programs before I make them aware of me.  They will develop a strong bond as a gang, while still reserving their ultimate loyalty for me.  If they had no ability to be loyal at all, this would be a worthless endeavor."  Shyla whispered and approached them unseen.

"I understand.  What about the cop?"

"Leave her behind.  Let her become part of another group.  I'll give her to them as a gift later."  She approached the gang, and moved like a flicker of a beam of light.  She was in one place one second, then exited the shadows at another place dozens of feet away.  She was a shadow that flickered on the edge of your vision.  A ghost that no one saw before they were dead, or out cold.

Tandy knew about the systems she had installed within her own body, but wasn't quite sure how she made it work so efficiently.  Modern day actuators were good, but unless they moved on a programmed path, their responses were not quite so fast, or able to adjust to new parameters.

"You're worried about something, baby."  Shyla looked at the group on the ground.  "Is it Jill?"

"She needs the interface in order to survive, and I'm not sure she's stable enough for the integration."  she sighed softly.  "Control the van and bring it closer."  Her remotely controlled van pulled up alongside her, and she laid the gang in the back, minus the mole.  She turned the mole onto her side, pulled back her ear, and made a small cut at the line where the skin of her ear met the skin of her head.  She then pushed a small chip inside, and sealed it with superglue.

"Chip online.  Running surveillance programs now.  Where she goes, and what she says will now be uploaded, indexed, and stored for future analysis."  Shyla nodded after Tandy verified it worked.  "You should get back to the lab.  You have a lot of work ahead of you."

"Did you send a message to Coral and mom for me?"

"Yes, baby.  Your mom is concerned, and so is your sister.  You'll need to visit them on the weekend to ease their minds."  Tandy whispered inside her mind.

"I know, but even though I know it's our grandfather who did this, I can't endanger her yet.  He won't touch them, but he may use them against me in the future."  Shyla said in a firm tone.

"I think you're overthinking it, baby.  Yes, he did kill me, but he didn't attack you.  He showed you something.  He wants something from you.  He's old, and has a massive organization.  What happens if he dies, and no one of his blood rises to take the reins?"  Tandy had considered this possibility when they were cutting off her arms and legs.  She didn't cry out, but observed their techniques, and scoffed at how amateurish they completed the task.  She also pinned them with a stare.  Her stare would remain in their minds until their last moments, as she would remember each and every face.  She heard Shyla murmur softly.

"I think I see your point.  Add it to the list of scenarios.  If he wants someone to take the reins, he doesn't want a gentle transition.  His organization is filled with violent individuals.  Someone gentle, a girl, couldn't hold it for long."  She looked at the girls at her feet and smiled.

"This gang is my first step."   She gently stroked the cheek of one she's watched for a few months now.  Mer.  Mexican descent, short hair, dark features, firm lithe body, and loyal to her girls.  "Prepare for her first.  Pain receptors must be off, keep them asleep while they are operated on, and while they recover.  Muscular therapy so they don't have to work long to recover their strength.  I want to put them back where I picked them up, and to prepare a place for them. To do that...."  she heard Tandy's voice inside her mind.

"You need to erase someone already in their territory.  And their contacts?"  Tandy shivered involuntarily.  She could feel the aggressive nature of her student begin to rise.

"They will bow, or they will die."  The faces of the ones who hurt her girl were in her mind, and on her list.  If they submitted, it might save their lives as long as they were useful.

She had her plans for when they were no longer useful.