More and more bodies!

Not wasting any time, you let Tex provide a new set of Angel 800 wings for your new Angel to use. At the moment, Five's head remained active, though you knew Seven was also watching from behind the scenes. Knowing this was about to get a lot more confusing, you'd agreed to mostly just use the name 'Angel' and let Tex transform the head as needed when one wished to speak. With Five serving as the 'core mind', it was sort of like Seven and Five were just variations of the same person anyway, just... different variants? Flavors?

Screeching to a halt in front of a Yabusa Robotics facility, you and Angel spoke briefly with the front desk before a Yabusa employee escorted you to an elevator and then down a hall filled with brightly-colored circuit designs painted on the walls, bringing you to an Angel 800 workshop. The clean and bright room housed multiple beds, with the Angels you recognized from the other units you worked with plugged into various machines monitoring their vitals. The only other Angel in the room not plugged into a machine was Angel Two, who had been watching over her friends but hurried over to you and your Yabusa escort once she saw you enter.

"Hey guys," the raven-haired woman said, trying to sound upbeat but struggling on account of the state of the other Angels. She adjusted her tank top, wearing her SCPD badge but otherwise in a fairly casual outfit. "Good to see you're safe, Fives. I was wondering when someone else might show up... Sarge has me keeping an eye on them."

You walked over to look at Angel Eight, a tanned brunette with braided hair. She, like the others, appeared to be asleep. "Are they stable?" you asked.

"At the moment," the Yabusa employee said, looking at the monitors. "It would be best to not disturb them though, awakening them for questioning might interrupt their recovery and complicate things. I'd have to get clearance from way, way up the chain for that."

Angel Five held something out to the Yabusa employee--an orange card. Angel Two and the employee eyed it curiously. "You might want to take a look at this for clearance, then."

The employee took the card into his hand, tapping it against a console--and then turning to Angel Five in disbelief. "Where did you get this?"

"I have full clearance from Mona Yabusa to investigate any aspect of the Project Angel as well as Project Lithos as I deem fit, and this incident covers both," Angel Five said, likely paraphrasing Tex's words on her behalf. "I'm actually going to need some privacy for SCPD business, if you don't mind."

Pausing for a moment to take in the executive-level clearance this relative stranger had, the employee shook his head. "I don't mind, of course not. I'll leave you be, phone down to the front desk when you're ready for an escort back." He handed the card back to Angel Five and shook his head in disbelief once again before departing.

"And just what in the world was that?" Angel Two asked.

You turned away from Angel Eight, moving back to the other conscious Angels. "Would you believe that a Yabusa synthetic entity has combined Angels Five and Seven and is going to help with the nanite investigation?"

Angel Two shook her head, squinting at you.

"How about now?" Angel Seven's head appeared back on her body, shifting instantly as she spoke. Angel Two screeched in shock at seeing such a rapid transformation!

"A-Seven? How... what... wait. You DID tell me the truth?"

Angel Seven nodded. "Unit Five has been watching over me, as well as Tex, this intelligent orange goop Yabusa made... I'm kind of in trouble, myself, thanks to the nanites, but Tex has me stabilized, with Angel Five's help. It's not easy to explain... but basically Angel Five replaced my Endo with herself, and we want to do that with the others in here. We'll combine our memories and hopefully figure out some clues for who might have done this."

Angel Two paused as she processed this info. Surprisingly, she didn't seem totally surprised by all of it. "You must've gotten the idea from Angel Three for some of this, huh? She was talking about it with me before they put her in stasis. I, uh. I would be interested in, y'know, helping out with some of that." You could see the blush forming on her face--it seemed like her interests in the concept went beyond merely a professional realm, as had Angel Five's. "How would this even work though?"

"Like an Angel Sandwich," Angel Seven said, pressing her hands together. "Angel Five is at the core, then thanks to the phase binding, we could enter the internal structures with each new body. Tex can help stabilize each body better than these machines, and then we'd have you at the outer layer, Two. If... I mean, you'd have to be okay with us all basically using your body. That's eight heads and personalities that Tex could swap out, taking control at different points of time, and using your body in, uh, various ways under A-Five's guidance."

Blushing redder than before, Angel Two bit her lip and looked at the other girls. "...I-if it gives us a better chance of, uh, catching whoever did this..." she trailed off, but nodded.

Tex didn't waste any time. Tex promised to 'ask permission' while integrating into a body and leaving it if the Angel's mind rejected the presence of others in their body, but you watched as Tex, aided by yourself and Angel Two, made nesting dolls out of the remaining Angels! Opening the back flaps, entering and closing up, making an immediate mental connection, the process seemed to go smoothly each time. Each Angel, all except Six and Ten who were still on duty, gave a thumbs-up or a peace sign or a kind smile in their own personal ways to indicate their willingness to participate, seemingly having everything explained the moment the neural link was made between each body.

Sitting up as Angel Nine, a woman with a fairly cyberpunk-esque fashion sense and pink streaks in her dark hair, the Angel combination turned to Angel Two. "Okay, I think we're all set. Tex has confirmed no presence of active nanites to do further damage, and is temporarily patching us up enough to function as a singular person. You don't have to do this if you don't want, A-Two. You look a little freaked out."

Angel Two shook her head rapidly. "No, it's fine! I want to do this. It's just, it's a lot, y'know?"

Angel Nine grinned. "Don't I know it. Just open up, and we'll settle in and get cozy and then figure everything out from there, alright?"

Nodding, Angel Two turned and opened up her back port. Angel Nine immediately dove within, not wasting any time as this process went remarkably smoothly. Angel Two shuddered a little as her body closed up, eyes widening. You could see flecks of orange appearing in her eyes for a brief moment, as Tex made the necessary links to her as well. "...Oh wow, this feels so weird," she said, looking down. She brushed her black hair behind an ear as she shook her head. "They're all here, but it's... not like a mess of voices like I thought. More like a choir, everyone's singing their own parts..."

"Okay, so it seems like everything's good. A-Five, are you still with me?"

Two's head shifted instantly, just as things had done before, where Tex phased the features in and out without any trouble. Still fairly handsy, Angel Five grabbed this time at her rear. "I always liked Angel Two's butt, she always looks good in jeans. Even if we're nearly the same shape, there's just enough difference that I can really appreciate borrowing this body!" Angel Five grinned, brushing her blonde hair back with Angel Two's hands. "So. We could jump right into things, but I think all of us in here need a little, uh... calibration, in order to work together. A shared activity we can all participate in."

"And what exactly did you have in mind?" you asked, raising an eyebrow.

Angel Five grinned. "I think you'll like it."