Pretty blue lights along the way, help you right on by

Nick woke up dazed and confused… and immobilized.

Huh?! The realization that he couldn’t move snapped him awake. His eyes fluttered open and he squinted, letting his eyes adjust as he realized he was in a dark room. There was pressure against his back, and his arms were tied behind him, to something hard and rough, like… a chair. That was it. He was tied to a chair. As feeling returned to the rest of his body, he could feel that his ankles were bound to the legs of the chair as well, and as for his mouth…

“Mmmfg! Mnnngggg!” Nick tried to scream, but a gag was tied tight around his mouth. Once he realized that it was pointless, that he was all alone in a dark room and bound to a chair, he calmed down and started to think.

Okay, so… how the fuck did I get here? He asked himself. The last thing I remember, we were on the beach. Dakota brought… that’s right, there are four new Auditionees… or, wait, they aren’t Auditionees, because she got rid of that system. They’re just members of my harem now. And now… right! She wanted me to get to know them better, so she had each of them create a dream date for me. That’s what this is!

…

Okay, so what the fuck kind of “dream date” is this?!

Nick wasn’t sure if he was ready for a hardcore sadist in his harem. Some consensual spankings like with Gina were fine, but someone who was willing to tie him up against his will as a “dream date” was not someone he wanted to be with.

…He really hoped this wasn’t his mother’s dream.

As Nick mulled over the possibilities of what was going on, he was shaken out of his thoughts by a crack of light breaking into the room. He winced and squinted, trying to make out the figure standing in the doorway.

Wait, no.

Figures.

“So there he is, Mr. Nick Reynolds himself!” A man who looked like he stepped right out of a sleazy gangster movie swaggered into the room with a sneer on his face. He was flanked by two massive men that both topped out well over six feet tall, and looked equally mean and intimidating.

“Come on, don’t look at me like that,” the sleazy gangster said, walking over to Nick and taking the gag out of his mouth. “We didn’t want to have to kidnap you. Don’t worry, once we’ve got what we want, you’re free to go.”

“What?! What’s even going on here?” Nick demanded. He looked around. “Hello? Anybody?”

The gangsters looked at each other.

“Listen, bub-”

“You guys shut up for a sec. You aren’t real. Someone created you, and I don’t know where the hell they are. So back off, okay?”

Nick didn’t like this situation one bit, and he didn’t have the patience to deal with a bunch of thugs from the era of Al Capone.

The gangsters all looked thoroughly confused. They all glanced at each other.

“Is, uh… is he okay?” One of grunts asked.

“No, of course he ain’t okay, he’s dating that crazy chick, remember?” The boss snapped. “He’s probably just playing dumb, so we’ll think we’ve got the wrong guy. But we don’t!”

Crazy chick? Oh. Now they were getting somewhere.

“Crazy chick?” Nick asked innocently. “Who are you talking about?”

The gangster regained his air of superiority now that things were finally back on script. “You know which one. Her. The assassin.”

He dug into the pocket of his pinstripe suit, and pulled out a photo for Nick. A photo of a very familiar face.

Nick sighed. Great. It’s her.

The Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin.

“We know you know her! My boys have seen you going on dates with her! You were spotted in an ice cream parlor just last week!”

“Look, buddy, first off, you’re not real. You’re a dream that’s been thought up by this woman, and so is this whole backstory,” Nick said, unloading his frustration onto the guy, even though it was fruitless. “And so is this stuff about us going out. So can we just speed things along?”

The mobsters were really thrown off by how nonchalantly Nick was taking this whole thing. They didn’t really have the ability to process the situation they were dealing with here, so they just stared at him with confused expressions on their faces.

“…Well, listen, we-”

And just like that, the door was kicked open, flooding the room with light.

Nick sighed. There she was.

This woman, she really did look unnaturally elegant. She stood tall on her high heels, wearing the same leather outfit she did on the beach. Her umbrella was open, resting lazily over her shoulder, and her blue eyes flashed with playfulness as the side of her mouth turned up in a half-smirk.

“Ah! There she is!” The gangster boss shouted. “Get her!”

His men pulled their guns, but it was fruitless. Before they could open fire, the Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin flicked her wrist, putting the shiny black material of her umbrella between herself and the barrels of their guns.

RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATAT! The bullets flew through the air as Nick stared in horror, each of them bouncing harmlessly off. It was like something out of an anime. He had no idea what that umbrella was made out of, but it certainly wasn’t what a normal one would be.

Not that he knew what normal umbrellas were made out of, either…

The assassin flicked her wrist again, closing her umbrella and sweeping it to the side, batting away the last of the bullets. As the men struggled to reload, she pounced.

“Watch out, you fools! She’s-!”

He didn’t have a chance to say anything. The small girl was inhumanly fast, and closed the distance in an instant. She leapt up, jamming her elbow into one of the goons’ throats, while kicking out her legs and wrapping them around the other’s neck. She slithered around him like a snake, perching on his shoulders with her thighs clenched tightly around his head.

She jerked her hips.

SNAP!

As the first man fell dead to the ground, the second finally managed to reload. But before he could aim his firearm, the swift woman had already knocked it out of his hand with her umbrella. She planted one foot on the ground and pivoted, driving the tip of her heel into his stomach.

“Yaaargh!” He groaned at the injury, trying to overpower her with his size. But she brought her leg back and shifted to a defensive stance. Grabbing onto his arm, the trained killer turned the goon’s own weight and momentum against him, and with a simple tug, flipped him onto his back and slammed him into the floor.

Then she brought up her foot and planted her heel sharply down on his throat, piercing his windpipe and leaving him to drown in his own blood.

With the muscle handled, she stalked towards the fleeing boss. The twisted smile never left her face, and her eyes seemed to glow with excitement.

“W-wait, please… I-I didn’t mean to… I just… we weren’t going to hurt him, I swear!”

Having nowhere to run, the gangster pleaded pathetically for his life, while Nick just watched the scene play out in a bizarre mixture of horror, disgust, and detached annoyance. It felt like he was watching a fight scene in one of those gross goresploitation films Dakota had gotten him to watch, where people were brutally killed but the plot was so boring you just didn’t really care. He knew none of this was real, so this little display was just her showing off.

“…Hah! Fooled you, bitch!” The moronic mobster shouted, drawing his gun as the assassin had clearly programmed him to do. She rolled her eyes and grabbed his wrist before he could fully lock onto her. With a sharp strike to parts of his hand with her thumb, she forced his fingers open and grabbed the gun as it fell, turning it around on him with her other hand.

“BANG!” A single head shot was enough to finish him off. But just to make sure, she shot him in the head two more times for good measure. Then with a silent scoff she tossed the gun over her shoulder like a used gum wrapper and stalked over to Nick.

She was smiling like a happy puppy looking for a treat.

Maybe, if Nick was a little smarter, he would have handled things with more tact. But he knew Dakota wouldn’t actually let this woman do anything to him, and he was really kind of annoyed that she’d had him tied up for their “date”.

Not to mention killing those people in front of him, that wasn’t exactly endearing.

“Did you have to tie me up?” Nick groaned as she undid the ropes binding him. He rubbed his wrist as he finally stood, feeling sore all over.

The Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked at him with confusion. Frowning, she pointed at the body of the dead mob boss.

Nick wasn’t buying it. “No, just because THEY were the ones who tied me up, that doesn’t change things, this is YOUR dream scenario, right?” He realized he was losing his temper, and needed to rein himself in a little. He didn’t actually want to make this woman mad, even if Dakota wouldn’t let her hurt him.

She crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes, blowing air of the side of her mouth. Then she waved at the dead bodies again.

“…Yes, I can see that,” Nick said, sighing. “What are you trying to say? I’m not getting this. Look, let’s just get out of here, okay? This isn’t really how you should win me over.”

She blinked.

Then, like clockwork, a bunch of shouts and cries came from the hallway.

“Did you hear that!?”

“It sounded like gunfire!”

“It must have been the assassin!”

The black-haired girl’s blue eyes widened and she held her hand over her mouth in a silent gasp.

Nick rolled his eyes. “Right. I’m sure you’re shocked. Listen, we-Hey!”

Before he could respond, she lunged forward and scooped him up into her arms in a princess carry.

“H-hey! Put me down!” Nick couldn’t believe what was happening here. She was carrying him like it was nothing, and she was as short as Holly, maybe even Dawn! That’s right, her body was modified by scientists, he remembered. So that’s the “Augmented” part of “Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin” then.

Needless to say, it wasn’t difficult for her to run down the hall with him in her arms, either, even though he was a grown man, and she was… not.

“Look, when I said we should ‘get out of here’ I didn’t mean to keep going on with this scenario!” Nick groaned. “This is your dream. You can just change the entire situation with a thought, you know!”

The only response he received from the mute was another eye roll, along with her puffing up her cheeks in frustration.

They rounded a corner at just the same moment a pack of thugs came down the other corner. They responded instantly, drawing their guns, but the Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was even faster. She skidded back, shifting Nick so she was only using one arm to hold his weight, while the other raised her umbrella and opened it to shield them both from the storm of bullets.

Nick turned red. He doubted it would actually hurt (after all, he’d never been shot before- how would he know what it felt like in a dream?) but this was definitely a heated, if forced, scenario. It didn’t help either that by carrying him this way, with one hand, the assassin was pressing him against her.

Apparently, it wasn’t quite close enough to a hug to trigger any points, but that was the last thing on either of their minds.

When the gunfire stopped, the Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin closed her umbrella.

Then SHE started firing.

To Nick’s amazement, bullets began to fly out of the tip of her umbrella like a machine gun. With her augmented strength, she could fire one-handed, and easily dispatched all of the grunts with a simple flourish.

Then she shifted her umbrella back to hanging on her arm, and scooped Nick up again, and they were off.

Nick just closed his eyes and tried to ignore the gunfire and the screams. Only when he felt a burst of fresh air hit him in the face did he finally dare to open his eyes, and see what exactly was going on.

“Wait… the roof!? We’re on the roof?!”

They were standing on the roof of a large skyscraper. Lights shimmered all around them, lighting up the dark night sky, but the ground below was so far away Nick could only see shadow.

“Why… why did you bring me here?” He asked, looking up at the sparkling face of the Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin.

The excited gleam in her eyes didn’t fill him with hope.

“…How are we going to get down?” He tried next, expecting to dread the answer to that question just as much.

She shifted him to one arm again, and then pointed at the ledge of the roof.

“WHAT?! No! Are you crazy!? We can’t jump! We’ll die! Or, I’ll die, anyway! I’m not some superhuman killing machine like you, I’m normal, I- why are you rolling your eyes?!”

The assassin let out an exaggerated sigh, that was rather odd to see when it came with just the sound of air escaping. Ignoring his struggles, she strutted right to the edge as more goons came flooding out of the rooftop exit.

Standing on the ledge, she turned sharply on her heel and held her umbrella out in front of her, blocking the wave of bullets. While she did, she glanced down at Nick, and winked.

Then she leaned back, and let the sky catch her.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Nick screamed enough for the both of them, clutching tightly to her slender figure as they plummeted towards certain death. Even though he should have been aware that this was a dream, the intensity of the last hour had completely shaken that thought from his mind, and he was fully immersed in the fearful thought that he was going to die.

Only… they began to slow down.

Soon, Nick didn’t feel the same rush of wind coming up from beneath them. It felt almost like he was being rocked in a cradle. He opened his eyes slowly and looked up.

They were still in the air. But instead of plummeting like a stone, they were gliding gently down to the ground below, carried entirely by the assassin’s umbrella.

You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me! Nick exclaimed internally. There’s no way that’s possible! What’s with this Mary Poppins bullshit!? This isn’t some spy movie, this is real life, this is-

Wait. It wasn’t real life.

Right. It was a dream.

Nick’s rationality returned to him and he sighed, trying to keep his heart from blowing up in his chest.

A few minutes later, they landed noiselessly on the ground. Somehow, the Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin managed to guide him right to the crevice between two buildings, and they landed gently in an alley.

Nick pulled away from her the second his feet were on solid ground, and promptly threw up. He didn’t even want to think about how THAT was possible. But he did it anyway, because… honestly, he didn’t fucking care.

Dakota had brought him here to get to know this woman better. But like… she was a killer. An assassin! Someone grew her in a lab to kill people. What was he supposed to do?!

He looked up and saw her staring down at him. For a second, he flinched, but… she wasn’t upset or murderous.

She really did look at him like an excited puppy. The big smile on her face reminded him of Holly, in fact.

“What are you looking at me like that for?” He sighed, rising to his feet and wiping rain and vomit off his mouth.

She stood up as well. Thanks to her heels, she almost came up to being eye to eye with him.

“…Right. You can’t talk. I keep forgetting…” Nick sighed and rubbed his temples. This was going to be hard for him to deal with. How did he communicate with someone he couldn’t talk to? How was he even supposed to get to know her, or what she was interested in?

…As an artificial person raised to be an assassin, was there even anything she was interested in besides killing?

That was a scary thought for Nick.

Then he had an idea.

“Okay, look, um… Augmented Synthetic Humanoid… okay, what should I even call you?” Nick asked, knowing there was no way she could answer.

She tilted her head to the side and scrunched up her face in contemplation as she stroked her chin. Then she shrugged.

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking… what was the other part? Unit 27 or something?” Nick asked. “That’s less of a mouthful. Would that work?”

The dark-haired woman made a face like she was chewing ground glass.

“…Okay, well, I guess you don’t like that one,” Nick sighed again. “Well, what do you want me to do? Pick out a name for you myself, or something?”

Her face lit up and she nodded excitedly.

“…Wait, for real? You want me to pick out a name for you.”

She nodded again, harder this time.

“Ugh, well… I don’t know!” Nick groaned. “What about… um…”

He was really worn-out mentally, and wasn’t really good at coming up with names on the fly. Even when he was writing his book, he agonized over what to call his characters.

So he picked the first name that came to mind.

“How about… Bella?” He tried.

He stared blankly at him. Then she looked at the umbrella in her hand. Then she slowly looked up at him with a face that said “are you kidding me?”

“What!? It was the first thing that popped into my mind!” He protested.

She shook her head sharply and crossed her arms, and started tapping her foot impatiently.

“Okay, um… what about Natasha? That’s the name of a rather famous assassin, and you kid of remind me a lot of her, so…”

She shook her head even more fiercely.

“Well… I don’t know, okay?” Nick groaned.

What did she even want from him? Well, she wanted a name, that much was clear. But Nick couldn’t even figure out a pet name for Sylvia. And at least Dakota could express herself with words. But this woman…

He tried another stab at it. “So you’re an Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, right? Well, we could take the first letter from each of those words, and what about calling you ‘Asha’ that sounds like a nice name.”

She scrunched up her face into a frown. She considered it briefly, stroking her chin, and for a moment, he thought that maybe he’d found something she’d actually be okay with.

But then she shook her head again.

Nick sighed. “…Okay, I give up. I’ll come up with something later, but right now, my brain isn’t in the right mental state to come up with a name for you. Sorry.”

He winced, and braced himself for some sort of backlash from her.

But she didn’t get angry, or even that upset. She just looked…

Sad.

Her eyes turned down to the wet street, and she nodded gently. In that moment, Nick didn’t see some ferocious assassin. He just saw a sad, rejected girl.

Not even realizing the danger, he reached out to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, I mean… look, I’ll come up with something, okay?” He tried to reassure her. She glanced up at him, and the light returned to her eyes.

She gave him a cheerful nod.

“In the meantime, though… it sucks that we can’t really communicate,” Nick sighed. “Do you know sign language?”

The mute girl tilted her head to the side. Then her eyes widened and she nodded. Turning on her heel, she rushed to the mouth of the alley and pointed up at a billboard standing over the street. She glanced back at him with big eyes.

Nick groaned and shook his head. “No, it’s not that kind of sign… look, it doesn’t matter anyway, since I don’t know it either… wait! That’s it! It’s so obvious!” He slapped his face in frustration. “This is a dream! We can do whatever we want!”

The first thing he did was shut off the rain. What he was planning wouldn’t work well if it was raining. Then he created a pad of paper and a pencil.

“Here!” He said, offering them up to the assassin. “With this, you can just write down whatever you can’t say!”

She glanced down at the pencil and paper and then looked up at him. She had a sad expression on her face. Then she shook her head.

Nick blinked. “…Huh?” He shook the pencil and paper slightly to offer them to her again, but she shook her head again.

“…What’s the matter? You know how to write, don’t you?” Nick couldn’t believe he even had to ask that question.

And he couldn’t believe the answer she gave him was “no” either. She shook her head again.

“…Seriously?” Nick’s jaw dropped. “You… you don’t know how to write? Or read?!”

She kept shaking her head. A look crossed her face that Nick could only describe as shame.

“…I see… they never taught you, did they?” He asked quietly, really coming to grips with the weight of what this girl had gone through. “Were you just a weapon to them? So much so, that they didn’t even think to teach you how to read and write?”

The dejected nod she gave him was answer enough. Nick felt like his heart was going to tear in half.

No wonder she killed all those people on her “date” with me, he realized. That’s the only world she knows.

Well… Nick couldn’t let that stand. The woman in front of him might not be able to speak, but he could recognize a cry for help in everything she did. He lunged forward, startling her, and grabbed her by the shoulders. For a moment, he feared that she’d strike back at him the way she did those gangsters, but she just stood in quiet repose, staring at him with eyes wide with surprise.

“Okay. Forget about all the stuff I said before,” he urged her. “Let’s go do something together! There’s gotta be something you want to do, right? So lead the way!”

She opened her mouth like she was going to say something in reply, but obviously she couldn’t. Then she straightened up and nodded, cracking a smile.

Before Nick realized what was happening, she slipped from his grip and snatched up his wrist, and yanked him out into the street. The rain was gone, but it was still the middle of the night. And yet, the crowd was bustling. She weaved him through the people, making use of her skills as an assassin to lead him down the path with the least disruptions.

After they walked for a few blocks, Nick began to realize that this all looked very familiar. He’d been here before, they were in London! Now he could start making out the famous landmarks that he’d overlooked before. He’d only been to London a few times, with his mother. It rained like this all the time back then, too. So the Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was from the UK? But then why…

She tugged sharply on his hand to get his attention. He looked up, and followed her pointing finger towards a building down the street.

Nick gasped. It was an old ice cream parlor. It seemed vaguely familiar to him, and that’s when he realized something else. He remembered now, where he had been the last time he had walked down this street… and who he’d been with.

But… but that was years ago. It couldn’t be, could it?

He took another glance towards the woman at his side, to try and get a better view of her. He compared her to that little girl he remembered from his last time here, the lost child who he’d bought ice cream for at that very same parlor. That girl’s hair was black, too, and her skin was pale… she had blue eyes, as well, and would be about the right age…

That’s right, even back then, she never said anything, did she? Nick had tried to ask her for her name, but she had remained silent the entire time. After finishing off her ice cream, he’d intended to take her to the police station, but she’d disappeared right out from under him. He’d never understood how she’d managed to do that.

If she had been groomed to be an assassin since infancy, that would explain a lot.

“You… you’re that girl?” He asked quietly. “The one I met before? All those years ago?”

The assassin’s eyes widened and began to water. She bit her lip and nodded sharply.

“But how? I thought…” Nick’s words died off in his throat. Those questions didn’t really matter. And even if he asked them, it wasn’t like she could ever answer.

“…That’s why you agreed to join my harem, then, isn’t it?” He asked instead. He was slowly getting better at communicating with her. Instead of asking open-ended questions, I should just ask questions she can answer with a yes or a no, he reminded himself. It’s like Captain Pike rules.

The nod she gave him was a sign he was on the right track.

“Okay, well… that… that changes things,” he sighed. Then he forced a smile to his face. It was hard, after the carnage he’d seen already, but then, those weren’t real people. Just a construct of a lonely assassin. And while she may have killed real people in the past, it wasn’t like she had to stay on that path.

Maybe if I look out for her, if I help her and give her support, she’ll be able to change her life for the better, he considered. That’s probably why Dakota brought her on. Because she knew that she’d say… well, *nod* yes. Because she has nowhere to go, either.

As they entered the ice cream parlor, Nick couldn’t miss the way her face simply lit up as soon as she laid eyes on the sweet treats behind the glass. She ran over like an eager child, not even paying attention to him.

The smile she wore touched his heart. While she always seemed to have that playful smirk on her face, it couldn’t compare with the brilliant exuberance she displayed now.

She must really love ice cream, he thought, even though he knew that certainly wasn’t the case. The reason why ice cream was so important to her… No, it’s because that must have really meant a lot to her.

He still remembered what she looked like that day. Like a hollow, empty shell without a friend in the world. And even though Nick knew it would look really weird to buy ice cream for a young child who looked like she was homeless, he’d done it anyway, because something in him told her that he couldn’t leave her alone.

After they’d gotten their food, and sat down at one of the tables, Nick decided to ask something that had occurred for him. He didn’t know if she’d be able to articulate an answer, or if she’d be honest with him, or what he would do if he was right.

But he wanted to have an actual conversation with her and get to know her, even if she couldn’t talk with her words.

“Hey, um… you… sorry, I still don’t know how to talk to you,” Nick apologized. The Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked up from the veritable sundae of ice cream he had bought from her and just shrugged.

“…Well, you SAY that… or, well, shrug it, but it clearly DOES matter to you,” Nick protested. The smug smile on her face as she licked the little pink plastic spoon didn’t help either. “…Wait, I’m getting off topic. Look… um… Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin… I want us to have a serious conversation, is that okay with you?”

She blinked, then pointed at her throat.

“…Yeah, so it’ll be a one-sided conversation, sue me,” Nick grunted.

That got her to laugh. An actual laugh.

It was strange to see. Her eyes squinted up and her mouth opened wide, as she bobbed her head, but no sound came from her lips. A silent laugh for a silent girl, and it was one of the most genuine things he’d ever heard.

“I’m serious here. I know it meant a lot to you… what I did before,” Nick said softly. “Buying you that ice cream. That’s what this is about, isn’t it?”

The assassin put another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth and tilted her head to the side in confusion.

“Joining my harem is what I mean,” Nick clarified. “Look, if this is some way you’re planning to repay me for everything, you don’t have to. I didn’t help you out with any ulterior motives. I was just doing something nice. I’d much rather you live your life than repay me like this. I just want to be clear about that.”

Even as he said that, he knew there was no point to it. After all, whether she was having second thoughts or not, it wasn’t like Dakota would just let her back out now. But at least he could maybe help her see that she didn’t have to be some sex slave or bodyguard or whatever it was she was trying to show him.

She shook her head, and stared adamantly at him.

Nick sighed. “Well… it was worth a shot. I just want you to know, I’m not going to do anything to you that you don’t want, okay? I don’t know what kind of experience you have with this stuff, but I don’t want to hurt you.”

He wasn’t sure if he even could. But he just wanted her to know that he wouldn’t.

She nodded, still wearing that eager smile.

“So… I just want to help you live your life, okay?” Nick asked. “Maybe, you can find something that you enjoy doing just as much… or, hopefully, even more than killing? What do you think about that?” He asked hopefully.

She contemplated his question as she finished off the rest of her ice cream. Then she raised her head, tilted it to the side, and smiled.

“Hands up, everybody! This is a robbery!”

Suddenly, a man rushed into the ice cream parlor, brandishing a gun and ranting like a lunatic.

“Hands up! I said, hands up! Give me all the money in the register, now!”

“O-okay, sir, I’m opening the register, please, you don’t have to shoot me-”

“STOP TALKING BACK! Give me the money, now!”

Nick sunk into his seat and sighed. He cradled his forehead and shook his head slowly.

Still chipper, the Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin snapped the head of her plastic spoon off, forming a shiv. She rose from her seat and whipped around, flinging it at him like a dart. The chunk of plastic dug itself into the back of his hand, and he yelled out in pain.

“YAAARGH! AGH! FUCK! WHAT THE FUCK!?” He screamed, clutching his bleeding hand. He whirled around just in time to see the point of the assassin’s umbrella strike him in the face, breaking his nose. He collapsed to the ground, cradling his face with one hand and waving his gun with the other.

With a smile, the dark-haired girl pinned down his hand with her heel and kicked the gun away from him. Then she grabbed his other arm, pulled it behind his back, and yanked until it snapped.

“YAAARGH! GAWD! MY ARM! YOU BITCH! YOU FUCKING BITCH!” He roared in pain, thrashing around and sobbing on the floor.

While keeping him in a bound lock, the Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked up and turned to Nick, staring at him eagerly like a puppy waiting for a treat after doing a trick.

“…I see we have a long way to go here,” Nick sighed, shaking his head in exasperation. He got up and walked over to his devoted little killing machine. “Let him go.”

Confused, the assassin got off of him, and let the injured man scramble to his feet. He ran out into the rain, sobbing and crying for his mommy as the woman who beat him down stared at Nick with a confused look on her face, trying to make sense of why he wasn’t pleased.

“…No, it doesn’t matter that you let him live,” Nick stated. “Violence isn’t something to admire, you know.”

The assassin rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips, clearly disagreeing.

“What? What’s that look? Are you trying to say that you saved me again?” Nick pressed.

She nodded.

“But… again, you’re the one who put in danger in the first place, because this is your dream,” he pointed out.

The assassin rolled her eyes again and flapped her mouth open and closed, while at the same time bending her hand into a mouth and flapping that open as well.

Nick’s eye twitched in frustration. This woman may have a sweet side to her, but she was definitely going to be a pain to deal with.

“She’s just great, isn’t she?”

Nick jumped and nearly fell over. He whirled around to see Dakota sitting at the table they’d just been eating at, holding a cone of chocolate ice cream and licking it saucily with a big smirk on her lips.

“Howdy, Nick, enjoying your new harem member? Isn’t she everything a man could ask for in a woman? Loving, obedient… never talking… and just a tad bit homicidal.”

The homicidal woman in question silently scoffed and rolled her eyes. Nick gestured to the bloodstains on the linoleum.

“…Fine, a lot homicidal. But you like that, don’t you?” The host purred. “Someone you can fix?”

Nick couldn’t deny that. But he definitely didn’t want to be responsible for the damage that the Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin might end up doing.

“Dakota…”

“She’ll bring a taste of spice to your harem, with the sweetness of ice cream,” Dakota purred, taking another lick of her cone. “But we can deal with that later. For now, though, let’s talk about your current situation! As fun as this date was to watch, it’s coming to an end, now.” She raised her cane. “So let’s get down to business. This is Harem Hotel, after all! We need to move on to the transformations.”

Nick winced. “Transformations… Dakota… could you give her back her voice?”

The assassin’s eyes widened in wonder and she turned to Dakota. But the golden-eyed woman seemed rather cagey all of a sudden.

“…For the transformations, things will be a little different,” Dakota said, blatantly changing the subject. “Here’s how it’s going to go down. Because Mary had six transformations when she was eliminated, I’ll be giving six transformations to our little homicidal psychopath here.”

“Six?!” Nick couldn’t believe his ears.

The Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin tilted her head to the side, not looking that bothered by the proposal. In fact, she actually shrugged.

“Of course, it’s not going to work out if we just dump six transformations on her,” Dakota said with a shrug. “I know that the more transformations you get the more you’ll be able to help Nick, but six would start getting cluttered. So what we’re going to do, is we’re going to give her three transformations! Three for this round, and three more, after the next challenge. That sounds fair, wouldn’t you agree? And you’ll be able to better appeal to Nick, as well,” she added, winking to the other woman.

The assassin brightened. She nodded eagerly. Apparently, the prospect of transforming to suit Nick better was well worth it.

Nick should have figured that, given who he was dealing with. But he had other things on his mind at the moment.

“Wait, are you going to do with for all the girls?” Nick asked.

“Yes,” Dakota nodded, looking annoyed, as if she’d answered that question several times already. “For all the girls. And since I’m such a sweetheart, we’ll even avoid the ‘you expressing your desires’ part, since there’s no one here but us chickens! Now, let’s begin! Take a look at the first set of transformations! Remember, you’ll be getting three of them, one from each!”

She tapped her cane, and a screen appeared in front of them.

First Poll:

• Cockpillows: What good are lips on a mouth that can’t speak? Bimbos don’t want to be heard from anyway. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s lips will receive a massive inflation and become soft pink cockwarmers designed solely for the use of blowjobs. Sadly, no bimbo slurring stutters will come with them. (Bimbo)
• Nanomachines, Son!: Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s body will be installed with special self-modifying nanomachines that are stored in her breasts. As the round proceeds, her breasts will expand moderately as they fill with nanomachines. She can use these nanomachines to make slight changes to her body, such as increasing her strength or recovery speed, but in doing so her breast size will decrease. [NOTE: Each round, her nanomachines will purge themselves from her system, returning her breasts to their natural size.] (Body Modification)
• Body Language: Without a voice, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin must find other ways to communicate with the people around her. She will now feel compelled to act out her desires and wishes through erotic physical gestures. (Dancer)

https://strawpoll.com/Dwyo3E6DJyA

Second Poll:

• Pinkalicious: When you hear the term “bimbo” you think pink! Pink, pink, pinkety pink! From now on, everything about Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin will be pink! Her hair will be pink, her eyes will be pink, and any clothing that she wears, even those given to her by other people, will become pink! (Bimbo)
• Life in Plastic, It’s Fantastic!: Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s body is completely artificial, but wholely organic- she was born in a test tube. Well, not anymore! Instead of flesh, her skin will be transformed into a synthetic plastic that feels pleasant to the touch, resilient to harm, and very malleable. Like a high-quality sex doll, but one that can respond back to your touch and remember what you like! (Body Modification)
• Tear Away: Dancing isn’t just a sensual act, sometimes the purpose is to tease and titillate. Like any good stripper, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s clothes are now all tear away garments. Whenever a piece of clothing is stripped off her, her sexual arousal increases along with her agility and her strength and endurance. (Dancer)

https://strawpoll.com/jVyG2p028Z7

Third Poll:

• Resting Bitch Face: Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s face is very expressive, conveying her feelings well without a voice. But now, she’ll mainly be conveying lust! Like a good bimbo, if she’s not making a conscious effort to change her expression, she’ll always look DTF with a flushed complexion, dilated bedroom eyes, and slight pants of desire. [NOTE: The change is purely cosmetic, and does not affect her libido.] (Bimbo)
• All the Better to Hear You With: Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s ears will change to resemble the more graceful, pointed features of an elf. Along with this, her hearing will improve, so that she can take orders better; hearing Nick’s voice will cause her arousal to slowly increase during the day. [NOTE: Resets back to base with an orgasm.] (Body Modification)
• Statuesque Stunner: Part of being a good dancer is the ability to perform gracefully regardless of their footwear. But for a sexy dancer, it’s gotta be heels! Now, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s feet will be adjusted so that she’s only comfortable wearing very high heels; any other type of footwear will feel cumbersome. In exchange, she’ll be very graceful and agile while wearing heels, as though she weren’t even wearing them. (Dancer)

https://strawpoll.com/bVg8BRGB2yY

“Uh… these are a little…”

Nick glanced at his date, not sure what she had to say- err, gesticulate about this.

“…Dancer? Really?” That was the one that made the least sense.

The assassin rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. She let out a silent sigh in what might have been exasperation.

“Uh… you’re fine with these?” Even after spending most of the night with her, Nick was still getting used to how she expressed herself.

She smiled cheerfully and nodded.

“Well… good?” He tried to smile too, but he still didn’t know how he felt about one of the girls in his harem being a professional killer.