Chapter 3

Violet was refitting a reconditioned starter motor to a client's Land Rover, but her mind wasn’t on the task. It had been a week since her meeting with Naira and she’d been struggling to concentrate the whole time, losing her concentration into the whirling thoughts in her brain

‘Why only Now?!? Why not when she was here?? Why too late?!? Her thoughts spiralled
Why do I get it Now, when she’s *gone*!! A faint snarl escaped her grimacing mouth, tears slowly leaving her eyes

THEY TOOK HER!! The *KNOW* what happened!! Why did they take her body??! Couldn’t even say goodbye’ 

At that point she just curled up, huge ugly sobs wracking her body on the garage floor, the ratchet she was using falling to the floor with an echoing clatter, the sound loud enough to summon her business partner, themselves another Close friend of Many years. They came running in to see what happened, and dropped to their knees next to her, shocked to see her in such a state as she NEVER showed any emotions these days

“Vee, what's wrong??” They managed to gather her up into their arms, the sobbing showing no signs of stopping “Violet, try to calm, tell me” concern etched into their face, completely at a loss what to do, before realising some words were being snarled out within her sobbing “Them” “took” “body” “know”
“Violet” they said “I don’t understand what you’re saying”
Suddenly she tore from their arms, spinning into a unnervingly familiar feline attack stance, her tear soaked face an ugly mix of heartfelt pain and untold fury, a snarling growl coming from her throat
“They took her!! They *KNOW* what happened!! They CAUSED it!! THAT'S WHY THEY TOOK HER BODY!!” Violet spat out, her eyes red raw from sobbing blazed with fury, before very quietly, almost calmly “I will make them pay” followed by growling

Her friend shivered, they knew this side of her was there, but to see it back was staggering. They’d seen the gentle side of her feline nature, the purring when she was with her girlfriend, and hints at the more wild side if friends were threatened. But this was something else. And to come out of the blue....

They slowly moved and pulled her into a hug gently, before starting to talk again “Vee, where has this come from? What's brought this back?”

Violet stiffened in their arms, before folding in on herself as the sobbing returned with “she’s gone”

They sat like that for 20 minutes more, until sobbing slowed and she finally started to get herself under control and she left their arms and sat back against the wheel of the Land Rover staring into the middle distance. Eventually her friend had to ask “Violet, what was that?”

Violet turned her eyes, bloodshot and red, staring into her friends dark calm ones sighing “somethings changed. Do you remember Naira?” her friend thought for a second “your other friend, the biohacker?” 

“Bioengineer now, but yes. I saw her bout a week ago. She’s made a breakthrough in limb replacements.”

Her friend looked perplexed “that’s great, but I don’t follow”

“Well the breakthrough is that whilst the brain can’t control a replacement arm, she has figured out how it can control a limb it Never had before” her friend still looked confused, so she continued “she says she can give me a tail! And not only that but Proper feline ears, that actually work! Covered in fur and everything!”

The realisation on her friend’s face was divine, even bringing a faint smile to Violet’s lips “Ahh! So you’d be how you always wanted! And you say fully working ears? So no more….that” they gestured to her hearing aid “exactly” she replied.

The smile on her friends face faltered “but won’t that be expensive? Isn’t the tech expensive?”

Violet shrugged “she figures around hundred and sixty thousand PoundDollars all in” Her friend gasped in shock “Fucking hell Vee! You’d have to sell *Everything* Ary, Aryette, All of them! Not to mention a couple of organs for that!!”

Violet snorted “we both know I’m not attached to my organs. But don’t worry. Go get the tea I know you’ve forgotten and I’ll explain” 

At that her friend walked to their bench, whilst Violet rose and walked across her side of the garage to Ary, her beloved Land Rover, opened the passenger, bent inside, and after a minute standing up holding a tablet, before walking back over to where her friend was watching with their oversized cup of tea. Violet lent against the desk, before thumbing the tablet into life and letting it scan her eyes for verification.

“Ok so this already has your eyes set on it, you have access, it’s hidden under the passenger seat in Ary.” Once on the desktop she opened the secure banking app on the device, before handing it to her friend when the total for an account was shown. Her friend nearly dropped it when they read just over eight hundred thousand PoundDollars, stuttering out “WHAT?? How? Huh??”
Violet gently took the tablet from them, shutting it down and casually returning it to Ary, shutting the door and turning to face her friend “that was from the government. After the accident. It was their blood money to keep me silent I think, I don’t really remember exactly. But I refused to touch it. There was a million in there till I sent some to Naira for materials. And don’t worry if anything goes wrong, that’s set to transfer a quarter to you, a quarter to Naira and the rest divided between the others. I Have to do this”
Her friend silently drank their tea, before simply saying “I know you do Violet”

Meanwhile at Naira’s studio a week later she sat at a workbench, surrounded by jars and machines, all kinds of lights flashing and screens showing processes with timers counting down. In a vat some fur can be seen ‘growing’, the same vibrant shade of rich purple as Violet’s hair, but with some faint darker patches showing. Naira herself could be seen working frantically checking and rechecking everything to do with the additions she was going to make to Violet, whilst muttering occasional things like “must be Perfect” “they Have to work” to herself before jumping to her feet loudly proclaiming “Yes! Another Perfect result!” sitting back down she smiles to herself before grabbing her phone and calling Violet, and when she answers Naira simply said

“I think we’re all ready”