Find a way into the investigation

You're not going to abandon a job that you've started. Especially when you've just acquired the greatest tool of your career.

More importantly, you've just worked out exactly what you were stealing to begin with. A guidance chip? Sure, your army officer disguise was perfect for that, but what if it wasn't a guidance chip at all? These pens are incredible, and something tells you that you're only seeing the first signs of what they can do. This is nanotechnology at its finest. Didn't they say they'd implanted a chip in you? Again, nanotechnology.

The chip isn't a guidance chip for a missile. It's for whatever this pen is called. Guidance... it could mean anything.

You compose yourself, and rise up again, walking out to the mirror. The nurse's face greets you: her eyes, her cheeks, her smile. You flick a strand of your bright red hair out of your face, and take a deep breath with your borrowed lungs.

"Right," you say, the nurse's voice echoing as you adjust your new cleavage. "Time to get back to work."

You need to get that chip, and the nurse identity isn't going to pass. You walk through the corridors, again half-smiling to co-workers you don't recognise. This isn't helpful. You need to get out of medical and in to the real action.

"Hey, Anna." You give a non-committal half-turn as the voice calls you from behind. It's one of the soldiers from earlier. He comes up right to you, and you change your expression to one of expectation. Evidently, you are Anna.

"Hey yourself, Jones," you say, noting the man's name emblazoned on his duty shirt. He gives you a smile. It's strange; Anna's body is a full three inches shorter than yours, and so you find yourself in the unnatural position of looking up at the military man.

"We've made a sweep. No sign of him."

You do your best to look disappointed. "Great. So I got choked and you didn't even catch him?"

"I'm not the one with the slow reactions," he observes. "How'd you even let him get the drop on you, anyway?"

"I was giving him an injection," you respond. The solider just rolls his eyes.

"Shit. So you're telling me we didn't even get the tracer into him?"

"I think Ms Bell injected..."

"She didn't inject shit," the soldier sighs. "You know as well as I do that tracker chip is worthless without the nanite protocols. You really fucked up this time."

You try and act as you imagine Anna would: not upset, but defiant.

"Well, maybe if you guys had something beyond a delayed reaction, it wouldn't be a problem."

"Whatever. You need to report to Colonel Branner. This is a joint military-civilian contractor operation. I'll tell Bell what happened."

"Forget it, I'll do that," you say, hoping it will delay the search. "Might as well take responsibility. Where's Branner?"

"Industrial labs."

You nod, and walk off down the corridor. That's exactly the answer you wanted, you think, as you smooth Anna's hair back and saunter along in your nurse's uniform, confident in your disguise. The Industrial Labs is where you'll find the chip.

*****

You get in with a minimum of delay, and it quickly becomes apparent just how good this disguise truly is. As Anna, you're expected to give a retinal scan just to get in to the secure area, and you pass without incident. This is where they caught you before; your schematics of the building and its secretive corporate research/defense contracts wing had said nothing about a retinal scan, and those were too complex for you to mimic. Now, though, you don't even hesitate as the doors swing open to let you through.

You guess Branner will be in the executive chambers, but that's not something you're going to worry about now. As Anna, you make a sharp turn to the right, side-stepping in to the women's changing rooms. Another employee is there, towel around her waist, about to step inside a shower. The tech doesn't pay you a second glance, though you afford her a longer look. She's African-American, with shoulder-length hair and an attractive shape with athletic curves. She's got an attractive face too, with dreamy eyes and a slight pout. You offer a half-smile again as you step toward a locker, and she returns to the shower.

It doesn't take long for you to find the static-proof overalls, or to don them. Anna's flame-red hair takes a little effort to collect in the hair net, but then you've never had to do that before: it's always been a wig or your own, much shorter locks. Eventually you're in the protective equipment, and ready to step in to the lab itself.

The whole place is white. Polished tile floors, sterile benches, computers neatly pushed up against the wall. Entering gives you a blast of frigid, stuffy air - it's a climate controlled environment. That much you expected: this is a specialized weapons lab, after all. The men's entrance is on the other side of the lab, and the other two sides are dominated by a long window of tinted glass. Obviously some people like to watch the experiments here.

The rest, you already know: it was part of your preparation. Two cameras, each with a 90 degree pan. You look up and catch one in your peripheral vision. You'll have 15 seconds once the camera pans away. The pass code is - unless they changed it - 8467. The rest of the lab is empty. Steadying your breathing, you wait for the camera to pan away, and step forward.

Then you're out of camera view. Immediately you burst in to action. You tap the code furiously, and the lock springs open. The chip - there's only one in the secure vault - sits, paraded for you to see within two pincers. Immediately you grab it, and close the vault behind you.

Five seconds left. You takes three steps back and stop, standing still.

The camera pan continues, catching your form stood exactly where you were a moment ago. You smile, turning back to the changing room. The other tech is still in the shower, but you now have the chip. You pause for a moment as you strip out of the static-proof clothing, discarding the overalls in the bin provided, to look at it. It's small, and almost insignificant - a piece of plastic and metal. But it's also strangely twisted; almost cylindrical. Almost as if...

You walk over to the bench, and take a seat, pulling the pen out of your top pocket. You look at it, and twist heavily, much as you would with any other pen. In a moment it gives way, pulling apart to reveal an inner compartment. It looks much like any other electronic device, but there's a slot where... you grab the chip and set it in. With a tiny click, it slots in to place.

Anna's neatly manicured brow curves in curiosity. You wonder if it really is a guidance chip after all. What if this doesn't just turn your target into a disguise; what if it somehow could store memories, or mannerisms? What if it gives you guidance on your impersonation? There's only one way to find out, you figure...

Suddenly the door opens. Quickly you hide the pen again, and look up. It's a young woman in soldier's uniform, an athletic figure hidden under military fatigues. Three stripes on her arm says she's a sergeant, and Rourke on her breast suggests she's of Irish descent. Her hair is blonde, though her skin has the healthy glow of someone who spends most of her time outdoors.

"Lowry?" she asks. "Anna Lowry?"

"Er...yeah?"

"I was asked to come find you. Colonel's wondering if you got lost on your way to his office or something."

"I," you pause, thinking of something convincing. "I just needed to take a break, for a moment. Collect my thoughts. The attack was stressful, you know?"

The woman nods. "You got to toughen up. Colonel says he wants to see you right now. We thought we had the Chameleon today, he wants to know what happened, and SNAFU isn't gonna cut it. Anyway, my job was just to find you, then I'm done for the day. No reason I didn't find you in," she glances at her watch, "say, five minutes? Army grunts ain't all heartless."

You smile, and wonder what you should do next. You could, of course, play Anna and go and see this colonel. You don't have any of her memories, though at least you have a full name now: Anna Lowry.

But you're eager to test out your new toy. Sgt Rourke here, or the tech currently in the shower, could be a good test - and a quick way out of the building. Rourke will know more about what the military is actually doing here. And the tech may know a lot more about the pen itself, and what Ms Bell's plans for you are.