Chapter 10

“You CANNOT be serious Violet!!” shouted Naira “Are you SERIOUSLY suggesting we try to drive YOUR Land Rover, not only registered to You a known dissident to the government, but also Famously yours from back before everything changed! Hellfire Vee YOU yourself posed on this very Land Rover in a bikini you’d made from the old wing on the centre spread of an international magazine!!”

Violet chuckled as she shut Aryette’s engine down “True, but since I was declared ‘dead’ after the accident Aryette is legally owned by Sy, so he’ll be able to get her out. Plus like I said, he’s got contacts. Now come on, let’s head in”

With that she slid smoothly out of the driver's seat, and once Naira had joined her, walked along the corridor to the main parts of the Garage, stopping next to the familiar green bodywork of Rosie, her business partner and friends' beloved Discovery where the sounds of a impact driver could be heard from underneath, and a pair of legs stuck out from the side

“Hey Sy, what you modifying on her now?” called Violet, as she lightly rapped on one of Sy’s knee’s.
“Fuck sake Vee, you scared the crap out of me!” came the shout from Sy, along with the metallic clang of tools hitting the floor, moments before Sy shot out from under the vehicle, pulling earphones from his ears, from which Violet could clearly hear ACDC’s Whole Lotta Rosie playing.

With a slight smile Violet extended her hand down to to Sy for him to stand up
“Didn’t hear you come in” said Sy as he righted himself standing up, before turning to look at Violet
“HOLY FUCK!!!” he shouted, noticing her ears, causing her to wince and step back hissing, her tail thrashing behind her “Sorry” he said, quieter “....did it work then?” he asked incredulously

Violet recovered “they seem to, surprisingly well. There are some oddities but we’ll talk about that shortly” turning slightly to bring Naira  beside her “You remember my friend Naira don’t you dude?” 

Naira gave a small wave as Sy took his gloves off “Yep you mentioned her often, though it’s been years since we’ve seen each other, I’m Sydewaze or Sy for short” with which he held his hand out for Naira to shake it, which she did smiling

This prompted an eyeroll and slight groan from Violet “always so bloody formal! Come on, I need a coffee” with that she turned and walked off to the habitat area of the Garage, the other two following her gently swaying tail

Upon reaching the kitchen area Violet went straight for the kettle, filling it at the sink and putting it on to boil “take a seat guys” she said, gesturing towards the lounge area with its two big comfy sofas & single armchair “do you want tea, coffee or other Naira?” she asked as Naira took a seat

“Green tea if you have it” Naira replied, taking a seat on the sofa along with Sy

“Ah shit, my tea!” exclaimed Sy, making to stand again

“Don’t worry Sy, I’ll grab it” said Violet, with a smile, before striding out the room towards the garage, her footsteps almost silent despite the chunky heels on her boots. In a minute she returned, and walked straight over to Sy handing him his oversized teacup, still three quarters full with cold tea

“Go on, finish that and I’ll make you a fresh one” she said as Sy finished, handing her the mug, with which she returned to the kitchen area, rinsed the mug and laid out two others, making coffee for herself, with sugar, and looking for the green tea in the cupboard, hunting for a few moments before stepping back, head tilted and one ear up & one down “Sy, do you know where the green tea is dude?” 

“Errm, it’s something you drink and I detest, so probably top shelf next to your energy drinks” Sy replied, as Violet stood taller and looked “oh yeah, here it is!” as she pulled the box from the cupboard, and turned fluidly back to the kettle. Once the drinks were made Violet carried them over to the others, before smoothly curling up on the end of the sofa across from Naira & Sy, as they each sipped their drinks.

“So…” began Sy after a moment “obviously they work in movement, do they work for hearing though Vee?”

“Yep” Violet replied “better than ever!”

“And no problems then?” he asked

“None exactly no, both the ears and the tail work better than I ever hoped they would!” answered Naira “the level of movement, the reactions seem almost instinctual already, and the fact Vee feels pain from the tail..”
“How’d you discover she can feel pain??” interrupted Sy

“I sat on my tail” replied Violet with a shrug

“Heh sounds about right tbh Vee!” laughed Sy “That explains why you’re back sitting more how you always used to from before…” Violet’s eyes and ears twitched slight at the reminder “..sorry” finished Sy meekly, then with a small sigh “but yeah, that’s more how you always used to ‘sit’ for as long as I’ve known you, at the farm and anywhere you felt comfortable” bringing a slight blush to Violet’s cheeks.

“So what happens now though?” asked Sy “I mean, body modifications are still illegal with the government. Look at how they reacted to ear pointing and tongue splitting back in 2019!”

“Yeah, I had to change my whole business because of that Dr Evil numbnuts!” groused Naira 

“Wait, was that the guy who chopped paying customers' ears off?” Sy asked, looking at Naira

“yeah, without anaesthetic. Got 3 years for grievous bodily harm, deservedly!” Naira replied, with clear distaste. 

“True, but you’ve just cut Violet’s ears off haven’t you?” asked Sy

“Only one of them, and that was no great loss. And I wasn’t conscious at the time!”  shrugged Violet “Anyway that’s not important” she continued 

“Not important! Vee I know you’ve never been exactly subtle, but now you’ve 2 feet of purple cat tail and big purple ears!” interrupted Sy “No matter how low a profile you try to keep somebody is bound to notice them! And as you’ve always said, they’ve more guns than you”

Violet rolled her eyes “whatever, that’s Not important. What is important now is what I heard. I heard Her Sy. Her”
“..I don’t follow, who do you mean Vee?” Sy answered, slightly confused

“HER!” Violet Seethed, her tail thrashing as she sprang from her seat to nearly pounce at Sy “Who the Fuck do you think I of all people would mean?? I Heard Her!” she snarled, her ears flattened against her head. Sy reacted to this by jolting backwards further into the back of the sofa, just barely stopping himself from moving to push Violet away “Fuck Vee, don’t do that!! And you surely don’t mean..”
“Krymson. Yes I do” interrupted Violet, relaxing back but still clearly agitated

“How is that even possible, isn’t she….you know” Sy asked, his words faltering slightly at the end
“She’s not dead Sy. There was never a body discovered in the wreckage, and the Police covered everything up whilst I recovered. But last night as I relaxed just before sleep I Heard her!”

Before Sy could speak again Violet carried on “and yes it was Her. I could NEVER mistake her voice Sy! Please don’t doubt me on that” she finished with a slight glare

“I...don’t doubt you Vee, but I just cannot see How” Sy murmured

Naira spoke up “looking through the connection logs for her ears etc this morning, it seems when she isn’t actively controlling them they can use the connections in within them to connect into networks, and using the interface with her brain and the the re-writing I did to some parts there it appears her subconscious uses them to seek out things”
“That sounds scary as fuck to be honest Naira” Sy answered “so you messed with her brain, and now she can connect to the internet through her ears? How is that even possible?”
“Well the ears and tail each have their own links, using a hyper secure hybrid of RFD and WiFi, which once installed can only be accessed with retina scans of Violet and myself.”
“But how did you mess with her brain?” Sy asked, clearly concerned with this
“I used a modified version of BrainSuite, and implanted the biological commands taken from thousands of scans I took from my own cat over the past few months” Naira explained “To be honest it wasn’t that difficult to add the commands to Violet’s brain, her being OtherKin I think helped her brain sort of latch on and accept them, and the limbs”

“I do feel more Right than everrr before to be honest” added Violet with a slight smile

Sy sat back into the sofa quiet for a few moments, his face showing the thought his mind was doing to process what they’d said. After maybe five minutes he lent forward, his hands steepled

“Ok, so given that all of that makes about as much sense as I’d expect from Vee” Violet stuck her tongue out at him in reply  “Where then is Krymson? If you can hear her do you know where she is?”

As Violet visibly slumped slight, her ears drooping at that a quiet “no” left her mouth, before Naira stepped in “I can only trace slightly where the connection went once it left my domain, I’m not that good at hacking to trace it fully to a location”

“Right….soo...what now then?” Sy questioned

“Simple” answered Violet “I need to get the data to Lillith and Anubis”

“Who?” asked Sy

“My friends from years ago, from the Sanctum. The Best hackers I know, hell I’d not be surprised if they already know I’m heading to them!” mused Violet

“Ok, so where are they then?” Naira looked away, as Violet looked slightly embarrassed “..where are they Vee? I can Tell from your face I’m not going to like this”

Violet sighed slightly “That’s where I need your help Sy. They’re in Sheffield”

Sy almost reeled in shock “Fucks sake Vee! I’d guess they were outside CityScape, but that’s over the border in the Celtic Union Vee!”

“I know Sy. But I Have to go.” Stated Violet, her eyes a blaze of determination stared at Sy, never breaking eye contact “I’ll go alone on my knees if I have to”

Sy held Violet’s stare for a moment, before sighing “you bloody would as well! I suppose I should be thankful you’ve got your personality back finally” that earned him a raised eyebrow from Violet

“I’ll have to check some contacts, I suppose you’re stupid enough to demand we use your bloody Aryette aren’t you?” 

“Of course” replied Violet

Rubbing his hands over his face Sy replied 

“Figured as much, nothings ever easy with you. Ok, I’ll see what I can do”