The Cricket

Jenny Kord, newly crowned CEO of Kord Industries, had work to do.

She had the public Jenny Kord. She had the private Jenny Kord. She had the Jaime Jenny Kord (that one was the most fun). Jenny was wearing a lot of hats.

It was tiring, but most people (ok, most people knew the first two) knew nothing.

Jenny Kord was restarting her grandmother's program.

Ok, maybe that was a bit harsh. For one thing, she didn't have an ounce of the bitch her aunt had turned out to be in any of her 280 separate bones.

But she couldn't help feel that she needed to be even LESS public than Victoria had ever been with her megalomania.

NO ONE, could know. It was simply too dangerous.

So as she sat in her "secret laboratory" as she thought of it in flights of hysterical humor amid panic and paranoia, Jenny could never have expected that she'd been tailed.

Dressed in a plain white business coat, tan slacks, and pumps, she kneeled in front of the specimen, taking rapid notes.

She was chief science head, data taker, analyst, technician on this particular project. She stood over what looked more like a test tube than a containment unit- in truth, the Cricket had been grown naturally, using a sample from the Beetle and having never been re-engineered beyond the original goal of the programming- to develop the ultimate protection for a chosen host.

Inside the chamber, veiny nanotech feelers spread out and seemed to feed back to the glistening, long and thin shape, and a thick crust of gold-like armor seemed to be forming around it. It looked like...well, a cricket. A Crimson Cricket, but by god if Jenny had been picking out super-names. Ew. She couldn't do that!

Suddenly, a bullet whizzed past Jenny, obviously aimed for the tank....and as she turned, she threw her hands in the air as at least ten armed soldiers stormed into her lab from the shadows- how could they ever have found this place? Jenny was terrified....until a faint red undulation of light began to come from behind her, and she had something new to worry about.

"THE CRICKET, NO!"

A woman in a helmet and full kevlar laughed. "So you DO admit to it! That's her pet project! She's the next Victoria Kord, this is a goldmine! Let's haul it away!"

Suddenly, before she could think, Jenny felt an impact on her back, sending her forward.....and there was a blast of light and nano-particles as the felt something in her back...invasively so!

"EEEEEEEEEEK" Jenny screamed. How had SHE been chosen. Oh god, this was as bad if not worse than Jaime had described. This was full on body terror, this was.....chilly? Wait?!

She landed on the ground, a large red impact shockwave knocking down the men and women in armor....

"What-""I AM JIN DAINH. I AM YOUR PERSONAL PROTECTION SYSTEM- YOU CALL ME THE CRICKET. VICTORIA-HMMM. VICTORIA KORD- DECEASED. YOU ARE JENNY KORD. NIECE OF VICTORIA. I WILL HELP YOU. I CAN PROTECT YOU FROM ANY D-DA-----DDNG-----MALF---------------------I CAN PROTECT YOU FROM ANY-"

Jenny heard the voice in her head, frozen. But she also recognized the weight and surreal misplacement of the next word, then it's ultimate consequence, and screamed as it rang in her head- "FRRR-FROM ANY- cLoThES~!"

Jenny fell to her hands and knees, a large shockwave of nanomachines once again subduing the attackers.....and felt gritty cement....oh god....under her knees. Her BARE knees. She shifted to stand up and felt the ground under her now-bare soles, some of the grit getting between her toes. She felt her mid-sized breasts swing free below her crawling posture, the air coming from aboveground through the door and tunnel on her naked back and her....holy fuck, her butt. That was air on her naked ass. A quick brush of cement on bare tummy.....Jenny screamed for a new reason, vaulting forward. She was FUCKING NAKED! WHAT?!

"JENNY KORD, I HAVE ELIMINATED THE ENEMY ClOtHes- YOU ARE SAFE FROM GARMENT FOR THE TIME BEING- DO YOU WANT MY ASSISTANCE WITH THE GUARDS?!"

Covering her boobs and throwing a hand between her bare thighs to cover her privates Jenny screamed an angry "DO IT!"

A man tried to reach up and got his jaw kicked out of alignment by Jenny Kord's bare heel as she stumbled over the men and women who attacked, knocking them out with her bare hands and feet. A series of whimpers, screams, profanities and more echoed through the tunnel along with the sound of Jenny's bare steps, as she ran in naked panic.

WHAT.THE.HELL!?!