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“Hey dude, you coming?” Bill pulls on Miranda’s face and looks towards Danny. He was getting ready to go out with Julie to the club she’s mentioned earlier - though apparently it was a bit of a drive and they had to leave a bit early.

“Uh, nah. I gotta work on some stuff... you guys have fun though.” Danny tries to give Bill a reassuring grin, but he struggles a bit. Ever since Julie revealed she knew about the suit, Danny’s mind has been racing. For the moment, he didn’t want to be anywhere near her until he got more information. The hardest part was avoiding blurting it out to Bill, but Danny knew if Bill really was into her, learning she was hiding things would only hurt him even more.

Bill starts to try and convince him to come with, but a knock on their door interrupts him. Bill answers it “Hey Julie.”

“Hey, Miranda, ready to head out?” She grins. She makes eye contact with Danny and Danny turns away uncomfortable. Turning her attention back to Bill “Is Danny coming?”

Bill sighs. “I’m trying to convince him to but he’s being a party pooper.” Bill looks at Danny and pouts. If he wasn’t Miranda, Danny would’ve probably thrown something at him.

“I, uh... have stuff I gotta get done.”

Julie smiles knowingly and says. “Oh right, you have that interview tonight don’t you? At Costal Solutions?”

Bill looks at Danny, slightly confused. “Oh really? Already? You didn’t mention that.”

“Uh I didn’t actually -“ Danny gets cut off by Julie.

“You asked me to set one up for you while we were having lunch earlier, remember? Luckily they had an opening before they close and really need some qualified people.” Julie smiles again, though this time Danny senses if he tries to argue or refuse he’d regret it.

“I - Uh - I mean... uh... ye-yeah...” Danny fidgets nervously. “I uh... wasn’t sure if... if it would actually happen...”

Bill looks like she wants to say something but Julie instead says “Well good luck with that! We should get going if we want to beat the crowd, Miranda.”

“Oh, ok!” Bill follows Julie out, still looking a bit perplexed. Julie glances back at Danny before shutting the door. Her look sent chills down Danny’s spine and he felt like he didn’t want to know what would happen if he didn’t do what she told him to. After a few minutes, his phone buzzed with a text from Julie.

[[ Costal Solutions - 523 S. Street Ave. Ask to see Harold. Get the job ]]

Danny sits in silence reading the text. How’d she get my phone number...? another text interrupts his train of thought.

[[ When you’re asked about what’s your future goals are, say this: You’re hoping to discover your own identity. ]]

Danny, not having to deal with her face to face, decides to challenge her and texts back.

<< Why should I do anything you say? You haven’t explained anything to me, just came in demanding I do shit >>

It takes a few moments but eventually he gets a response in the form of a picture. The picture looks like a selfie of Julie and Miranda in a taxi, smiling and laughing. Looking closer, Danny can see Julie has a hand behind Miranda’s neck and is slightly peeling up the edge of the mask, though it doesn’t seem like Bill even notices.

[[ If you don’t help, I’ll have no choice but to take the suit and mask back - by any means necessary ]]

What have I gotten myself into... Danny thinks, concerned for his friend. He debates trying to call or text Bill to warn him but another text from Julie comes.

[[ If you do what I ask, I’ll answer all your questions when we have time. For now though, just trust that I don’t want to bring any more attention to the suit than I have to. You’d better get going if you want to make it before they close. ]]

Danny sighs in resignation. Not knowing what else to do, he heads to the address Julie gave him. He arrives at a multi-story office building and heads in. Looking at the directory, a temporary looking slip of paper says “Costal Solutions - Floor 13”. Danny heads up to the 13th floor where he finds a little lobby leading into a larger room with a few cubicles and cubbies. A few unopened cardboard boxes confirmed for Danny that they really did just move into the area. An older woman comes out from an adjoining office and sees Danny.

“Oh hello. May I help you?” She asks as she places a stack of papers on what seemed to be a very cluttered receptionist desk.

“Oh hey, I’m here for an interview?” Danny shifts his weight nervously.

“Oh really? I didn’t even know we put any ads out yet. Are you sure you’re in the right place hun?”

Danny remembers what Julie told him. “Um, I’m pretty sure - I’m supposed to meet someone named Harold?”

“Oh, I see. Let me check with him, alright?” The woman goes to an office and pokes her head in. After a moment she returns and smiles at Danny. “It seems like you were right hun. Harold’s ready for you in his office.” She smiles sweetly and Danny thanks her. He heads back to the office she went to and cautiously peeked in.

The office is pretty spartan apart from a desk and a few chairs. Behind the desk sits a middle-aged, slightly rotund man. Hearing Danny, he looked up and welcomes him in. “Hello there son, please come in. My name’s Harold Hierig, but feel free to call me Harry.” Danny takes a seat across the desk and introduces himself. The man continues. “Thank you for coming in a bit late today Danny. The mornings are quite chaotic since we’re still moving in.”

“Uh, no problem sir. Thanks for being willing to meet with me...” Danny figures he’d might as well treat this as a normal interview, despite the strange circumstances that led to it. “A, uh, friend recommended I should apply here and see if there’s a possible position for me.”

The man nods. “Of course. I believe your friend recommended you to us as well, assuming we’re talking about the same person, and, well, we could use some more hands around here for sure.”

“I’d... I’d be happy to join if there’s a good opening.”

“I believe there are some options - though we should probably take a look at your skills first here, shouldn’t we?” The man takes out a sheet of paper and studies it. Danny looks closer and recognizes it as one of his resumés he’d sent in somewhere.

Did Julie..? How would she have gotten that? I really need to figure out who she is...

The man hums and has as he reads Danny’s resumé. He asks various questions about it and Danny does his best to answer. As the interview winds down, the man says “Well Danny, you certainly have the qualities we’re looking for here at Coastal Solutions. I think we’d love to have you on staff in the IT department...”

“Oh, thanks, sir. That’d be... that’d be great!” Danny couldn’t help but feel glad. Even though he’d been forced into coming here, after months of rejections and job hunting, to be offered a job feels amazing.

Harold smiles and reads some papers. “I just have a few more questions for you, then if you have any for me, feel free to ask.” The interview continued for a bit until Harold asks Danny. “Now I know this is a cliche question, but it’s still fairly useful: What are your future goals for working here at Coastal Solutions?”

Danny takes a breath to answer but recalls Julie’s instructions. “I... I’m hoping I discover my identity here...”

Harold cocks his balding head a bit at that answer. He looks through his papers, taking one, and reading it. “Well Daniel, I think this’ll be the perfect fit for you then.” He slides the paper to Danny. “If you’re in, I can hire you on the spot.”

“Oh.” Danny’s a bit surprised but says “Um, yeah, yes. I’m... I’m honored, sir.”

“Please, the pleasure is mine.” The man stands and outstretches his arm. Danny follows suit and shakes his hand. “Welcome aboard Daniel. When can you start?”

“Oh, um, right away pretty much.” Danny releases his grip and gathers his bag.

“Very good. I’ll have Becca get your number and get you set up with HR. I must say, I’m glad Gabriel recommended you to us. It makes things a lot easier to have taken care of the IT vacancies this quickly.”

“I’m glad Julie recommended me too sir,” Danny says, somewhat surprised that he actually means it.

“Julie? One of our managers Gabriel was the one who spoke to me...” Harold says. “I guess you were recommended by two people then. That’s even better.” He smiles and they exchange farewells. After getting his stuff set up with the older lady, who he now knew as Becca, the office’s secretary, Danny heads home. The interview lasted longer than he’d thought and the streets are almost empty and dark. He shoots Julie a text.

<< Ok, I got the job. Now you have to tell me everything >>

[[ A deal’s a deal. ]] Julie texts back. [[ We’ll talk after your first day ]]

Danny stops on the sidewalk. He was getting fed up with being bossed around and left in the dark so he texts back.

<< No, before then. I want to know everything before I start doing whatever the hell it is I’m gonna do there. Or else, I’m going to refuse the job and tell Bill about you >> Danny waits nervously for a reply, hoping Julie doesn’t call his bluff.

A reply comes in.

[[ The Dancing Divas Club on T Street. Alleyway behind back in 20 minutes ]]

Danny blinks in surprise. He looks at the map and decides to call a cab. 22 minutes later, he was leaning against a wall in the alley behind the club. He realized it was mainly a lesbian club and got strange looks when he was waiting in plain view, so he was a bit obscured by shadows when Julie came out.

“Now’s when you tell me everything,” Danny says, stepping out of the shadows behind her.

She smirks and turns around. “You’re lucky I‘m not easily startled otherwise your little intimidation tactic there might’ve given you a broken nose.”

“Right... sorry... but I want to know who you are, what you want with me, and how do you know about the suit?”

“I can answer some of those questions - but first, we should go inside. Two people talking in a dark alley might raise suspicions.”

Danny nods but then brings up a point “But isn’t this a ladies-only club?” Julie pulls something from her purse and tosses it to Danny. Letting it roll open he sees it’s a suit of a black-haired girl. “Did you make Bill take this off? Where is he?”

Either not hearing him or ignoring him Julie starts heading back inside. “Get changed and meet me near the back booths.”

Danny sighs and shakes his head. He quickly strips and puts the suit on after making sure nobody can see him. He slips in through the back door and makes his way through the crowd of ladies. He’d never been in a lesbian bar before for obvious reasons but was slightly surprised that, other than the lack of dudes, it seemed like a fairly normal club and bar. He finds his way to the booths where Julie is sitting and slides in across from her. The music is loud but the booths let them hear each other still. “Ok, now spill it,” Danny says in a feminine voice.

Julie takes a sip of a drink and puts it down. “Very well. Where would you like me to start?”

Danny wasn’t entirely sure himself, there were so many questions. “I guess let’s start easy - how do you know about the suit?”

“Because I’m wearing one.” Danny blinks in surprise, though he realizes that he probably shouldn’t have been. Julie takes another drink and clears her throat. “Or rather - I’m wearing a prototype of one.” She prepares to tell her story and Danny settles in.

“Many years ago, don’t ask how many, I was a research assistant at a DNA analysis lab, working closely with a man named Gilbert Humphrey. We mostly were looking at sequencing the human genome, but one day, a project was brought to us. We were tasked to analyze the DNA of a deceased body. Not entirely abnormal for us, but what was abnormal was that this body had been dead for a few months, yet appeared to be as fresh as someone who literally just died in their sleep. Needless to say, we were tasked with finding out why and who the person might be. Eventually, we discovered that the body was covered in synthetic material - but one that had living cells and DNA. We figured out how to remove the material and discovered it was like a suit made of skin. The wearer underneath was a corpse that looked like they’d been decomposing for a very long time. Our research shifted to the suit itself. We learned that it had the capability to rearrange its DNA and shape when given the right signals. Naturally, the ability to change one object into another object has massive implications for future society. We were just a DNA testing lab, so it wasn’t long until we were told to send our data and material to another lab. Well, Professor Humphrey and I spent so much time on this project that we didn’t want to just let it go, so we did something drastic.” Julie sighed and looks sad. “We decided, the night before it was to be shipped out, we’d run some extra, more risky, tests. One such test involved putting the suit on a living subject for the first time. Professor Humphrey volunteered to be the test subject - much to my chagrin. It was going well at first, we’d managed to figure out a basic control scheme and modify the professor’s appearance. We were on the verge of a breakthrough when our lab was invaded by men in combat gear and weapons. Presumably from the government. They were not happy with us as you can guess.” Julie takes another drink, seemingly a bit upset by the memory. “I don’t remember how it all went down, but what I do know is I woke up in the parking lot with the lab burning and no sign of the professor. At the time, my memory was hazy. I could vaguely recall some things, but much of it was blank. After sifting through the rubble, I found a notebook that I must’ve been using for notes. I filled the blanks in my memory with that and since then I’ve been trying to figure out who wanted the suits and burnt down the lab. I also heard rumors of other suits existing, so I tried tracking them down as well.”

“Wait...” Danny says, trying to wrap his mind around it all. “So you don’t know where the suit came from in the first place?” Julie shakes her head. “And what about the camera?”

“That I’m not certain of. I wasn’t even aware of the camera until I saw you two using it. That’s why I’m guessing my suit is an earlier version of yours. Either that or there’s another camera out there.”

“So how did you find us?”

Julie smiles and says “Well that was just lucky. The suits emit a faint signal that allows it to be operated remotely. I have the equipment to detect it, but it’s very hit and miss. That night you two came to that bar, I had tracked a signal to a 2-mile radius, but was giving up until your friend decided to hit on me and the signal became stronger.”

Danny thinks for a moment and rubs her chin in thought. “So, who are you really then? If you’re in a suit now, what do you really look like?”

Julie glances around, making sure no one is looking closely and peels up a bit of her face. Underneath, Danny can barely make out blackened, charred skin, covered with cracks and scars. Julie carefully puts the mask back on and shrugs. “As to who I am, as far as I know, I am Julie. My suit isn’t as advanced as yours. It’s locked to my DNA for the most part. I can shift it, but it overheats if I use it too much. Luckily it seems to be linked to my pristine DNA and not my current, burnt appearance. The fact the suit and mask overwrite nerve endings is a good thing too” She smiles a bit as Danny fidgets, trying not to think of how burnt she got and how much it must hurt without the suit.

“Ok... so I guess that explains some things... but I got the camera from an old lady in a pawn shop - how’d it end up there?”

“A pawn shop?” Julie cocks her head inquisitively. “Which one?”

“Uh... the one downtown.” Danny gave her general directions.

“Interesting... that’s a lead I’ll have to follow up on...” Julie strokes her chin in thought.

“So...” Danny says after a few moments of silence. “If your goal is to figure out who killed your friend and where the suits came from, why do you need my help? And what does Costal Solutions have to do with all of this?”

“Well, truth be told, I don’t need your help per se - just your suit and camera.” Julie shrugs. “But, if you’re willing to cooperate, having an extra pair of hands would be useful.” She leans forward and looks into Danny’s borrowed eyes. “Listen Danny. I won’t lie to you. The people I’m looking for have proven themselves to be dangerous. It would be safest for you and Miranda - erm... Bill, that you two hand the suit over to me and forget about everything.” Danny opens her mouth to protest but Julie shushes him. “But if you’re willing to take the risk and trust me, then you can keep the camera and I’ll share with you everything I find out.”

Danny considers this for a moment. He doesn’t want to trust her, but at the same time, she’s the only person who has had any information about the suit and camera. He sighs and puts her hand out. “I’m willing to work with you, on one condition: We’re partners in this. Meaning there’s no more keeping me in the dark and making threats alright?”

Julie considers this then says “I’ll agree to your terms with a condition of my own - Miranda can’t know about any of this.”

“Why not?” Danny asks. “Wouldn’t it be useful for Bill to know? Maybe he could help out.”

Julie looks away and bites her lip before answering “No. It’s safer for her - him - not to know. I also don’t want them to know the truth about me...” Danny thinks he catches a glimpse of tenderness in her voice when she talks about Bill or Miranda, but doesn’t push it and agrees. Julie takes Danny’s hand and they shake on it. Julie asks if Danny has any more pressing questions to ask.

“Well... I guess I still don’t get why getting a job was so important. How is that connected to all this.”

“I’m not entirely sure, to be honest.” Julie leans back and crosses her arms. “I managed to track down the address where the corpse we were testing was found, and it was listed as an office building for a subsidiary of MegaBusiness. After looking deeper, they appear to have had many different child companies, but only a few would be active at any time. Any time a new sub-company was registered, a previous one would file for bankruptcy or be bought out or just shut down completely. Just last week one was sold out and guess who came in to replace it?”

“Coastal Solutions...” Danny says catching on.

Julie nods. “That’s right. Given that MegaBusiness has no official center of operations, this is the next best thing. I already have a cover job, so I can’t get in.”

“And that’s why you need me... or a suit that doesn’t overheat.”

“Exactly,” Julie says. Danny thinks about the new information he’s learned as Julie finishes her drink. After a while, she says “Well, I should probably get back to Miranda. You should probably get changed.”

“Oh uh, right.” Danny and Julie head back out to the alley and Danny strips the suit off and hands it back to Julie. “Where is Bill anyways? And how’d you get him out of the suit anyway?”

Julie smiles mischievously. “I don’t know where Bill is... but I know Miranda’s waiting right there.” She gestures behind Danny. Danny turns around and sees Miranda walking towards them, holding two brown bags.

“Hey, Danny! I thought you weren’t coming?” Bill smiles.

“Uh... yeah, I was just in the neighborhood after my interview, and uh... wanted to see how’s it going.”

“Oh cool. Well, I’m not sure you’ll be allowed in here without the -“ Bill catches himself before he mentions the suit. He quickly changes the subject and hands Julie one of the bags. He offers the other to Danny. “Want some fries? There’s a Yuri’s right down the street.”

Julie laughs, once again back to her bubbly self. “Miranda saw Yuri’s on the way and wouldn’t stop raving about their food.”

“Yeah... that tracks,” Danny says. “So you... left in the middle of a date to get burgers?”

“Yuri’s burgers,” Bill says, empathizing the name. “Clubs are good for drinks but not so much food. And when was the last time you saw a Yuri’s still operational?” As he defended himself, Julie slid up next to her and wrapped her arm around Miranda’s side. Danny realizes that despite being in a woman’s body, Bill was still the same as always. Turning down the food, he told the pair to have a good time and that he’d see them at home. Before they part ways, Bill says to Danny, under his breath “Hey man, sorry I didn’t realize this place was for ladies only... if you want we can swap the suit for a bit.”

Danny shakes his head. “No man, you’re clearly having a good time. Enjoy it alright?” Bill and Julie head in and Danny watches the two ladies leave. He then comes to a realization. Wait - Bill was in the suit the whole time... so what suit was I...

He catches Julie before the door shuts and quickly asks “If Bill was still in the suit - then where did you -“

Julie cuts him off. “That’s a good question for another time.” And she smiles as the door shuts.

Still flabbergasted from everything, Danny tiredly makes his way home. In the taxi on the way back, he leans back and rests his eyes. He runs through everything he learned that day, over and over. He eventually starts to drift off and thinks If someone was willing to burn down a lab and kill someone for the suit, then how far will they go? Do we even want to find out who they are? And what do we do if we do figure it out? Can we still use the suit for fun or is it too risky? No... if we’re careful I don’t see why we can’t still take advantage of the camera...

Description
“Hey dude, you coming?” Bill pulls on Miranda’s face and looks towards Danny. He was getting ready to go out with Julie to the club she’s mentioned earlier - though apparently it was a bit of a drive and they had to leave a bit early.

“Uh, nah. I gotta work on some stuff... you guys have fun though.” Danny tries to give Bill a reassuring grin, but he struggles a bit. Ever since Julie revealed she knew about the suit, Danny’s mind has been racing. For the moment, he didn’t want to be anywhere near her until he got more information. The hardest part was avoiding blurting it out to Bill, but Danny knew if Bill really was into her, learning she was hiding things would only hurt him even more.

Bill starts to try and convince him to come with, but a knock on their door interrupts him. Bill answers it “Hey Julie.”

“Hey, Miranda, ready to head out?” She grins. She makes eye contact with Danny and Danny turns away uncomfortable. Turning her attention back to Bill “Is Danny coming?”

Bill sighs. “I’m trying to convince him to but he’s being a party pooper.” Bill looks at Danny and pouts. If he wasn’t Miranda, Danny would’ve probably thrown something at him.

“I, uh... have stuff I gotta get done.”

Julie smiles knowingly and says. “Oh right, you have that interview tonight don’t you? At Costal Solutions?”

Bill looks at Danny, slightly confused. “Oh really? Already? You didn’t mention that.”

“Uh I didn’t actually -“ Danny gets cut off by Julie.

“You asked me to set one up for you while we were having lunch earlier, remember? Luckily they had an opening before they close and really need some qualified people.” Julie smiles again, though this time Danny senses if he tries to argue or refuse he’d regret it.

“I - Uh - I mean... uh... ye-yeah...” Danny fidgets nervously. “I uh... wasn’t sure if... if it would actually happen...”

Bill looks like she wants to say something but Julie instead says “Well good luck with that! We should get going if we want to beat the crowd, Miranda.”

“Oh, ok!” Bill follows Julie out, still looking a bit perplexed. Julie glances back at Danny before shutting the door. Her look sent chills down Danny’s spine and he felt like he didn’t want to know what would happen if he didn’t do what she told him to. After a few minutes, his phone buzzed with a text from Julie.

[[ Costal Solutions - 523 S. Street Ave. Ask to see Harold. Get the job ]]

Danny sits in silence reading the text. How’d she get my phone number...? another text interrupts his train of thought.

[[ When you’re asked about what’s your future goals are, say this: You’re hoping to discover your own identity. ]]

Danny, not having to deal with her face to face, decides to challenge her and texts back.

<< Why should I do anything you say? You haven’t explained anything to me, just came in demanding I do shit >>

It takes a few moments but eventually he gets a response in the form of a picture. The picture looks like a selfie of Julie and Miranda in a taxi, smiling and laughing. Looking closer, Danny can see Julie has a hand behind Miranda’s neck and is slightly peeling up the edge of the mask, though it doesn’t seem like Bill even notices.

[[ If you don’t help, I’ll have no choice but to take the suit and mask back - by any means necessary ]]

What have I gotten myself into... Danny thinks, concerned for his friend. He debates trying to call or text Bill to warn him but another text from Julie comes.

[[ If you do what I ask, I’ll answer all your questions when we have time. For now though, just trust that I don’t want to bring any more attention to the suit than I have to. You’d better get going if you want to make it before they close. ]]

Danny sighs in resignation. Not knowing what else to do, he heads to the address Julie gave him. He arrives at a multi-story office building and heads in. Looking at the directory, a temporary looking slip of paper says “Costal Solutions - Floor 13”. Danny heads up to the 13th floor where he finds a little lobby leading into a larger room with a few cubicles and cubbies. A few unopened cardboard boxes confirmed for Danny that they really did just move into the area. An older woman comes out from an adjoining office and sees Danny.

“Oh hello. May I help you?” She asks as she places a stack of papers on what seemed to be a very cluttered receptionist desk.

“Oh hey, I’m here for an interview?” Danny shifts his weight nervously.

“Oh really? I didn’t even know we put any ads out yet. Are you sure you’re in the right place hun?”

Danny remembers what Julie told him. “Um, I’m pretty sure - I’m supposed to meet someone named Harold?”

“Oh, I see. Let me check with him, alright?” The woman goes to an office and pokes her head in. After a moment she returns and smiles at Danny. “It seems like you were right hun. Harold’s ready for you in his office.” She smiles sweetly and Danny thanks her. He heads back to the office she went to and cautiously peeked in.

The office is pretty spartan apart from a desk and a few chairs. Behind the desk sits a middle-aged, slightly rotund man. Hearing Danny, he looked up and welcomes him in. “Hello there son, please come in. My name’s Harold Hierig, but feel free to call me Harry.” Danny takes a seat across the desk and introduces himself. The man continues. “Thank you for coming in a bit late today Danny. The mornings are quite chaotic since we’re still moving in.”

“Uh, no problem sir. Thanks for being willing to meet with me...” Danny figures he’d might as well treat this as a normal interview, despite the strange circumstances that led to it. “A, uh, friend recommended I should apply here and see if there’s a possible position for me.”

The man nods. “Of course. I believe your friend recommended you to us as well, assuming we’re talking about the same person, and, well, we could use some more hands around here for sure.”

“I’d... I’d be happy to join if there’s a good opening.”

“I believe there are some options - though we should probably take a look at your skills first here, shouldn’t we?” The man takes out a sheet of paper and studies it. Danny looks closer and recognizes it as one of his resumés he’d sent in somewhere.

Did Julie..? How would she have gotten that? I really need to figure out who she is...

The man hums and has as he reads Danny’s resumé. He asks various questions about it and Danny does his best to answer. As the interview winds down, the man says “Well Danny, you certainly have the qualities we’re looking for here at Coastal Solutions. I think we’d love to have you on staff in the IT department...”

“Oh, thanks, sir. That’d be... that’d be great!” Danny couldn’t help but feel glad. Even though he’d been forced into coming here, after months of rejections and job hunting, to be offered a job feels amazing.

Harold smiles and reads some papers. “I just have a few more questions for you, then if you have any for me, feel free to ask.” The interview continued for a bit until Harold asks Danny. “Now I know this is a cliche question, but it’s still fairly useful: What are your future goals for working here at Coastal Solutions?”

Danny takes a breath to answer but recalls Julie’s instructions. “I... I’m hoping I discover my identity here...”

Harold cocks his balding head a bit at that answer. He looks through his papers, taking one, and reading it. “Well Daniel, I think this’ll be the perfect fit for you then.” He slides the paper to Danny. “If you’re in, I can hire you on the spot.”

“Oh.” Danny’s a bit surprised but says “Um, yeah, yes. I’m... I’m honored, sir.”

“Please, the pleasure is mine.” The man stands and outstretches his arm. Danny follows suit and shakes his hand. “Welcome aboard Daniel. When can you start?”

“Oh, um, right away pretty much.” Danny releases his grip and gathers his bag.

“Very good. I’ll have Becca get your number and get you set up with HR. I must say, I’m glad Gabriel recommended you to us. It makes things a lot easier to have taken care of the IT vacancies this quickly.”

“I’m glad Julie recommended me too sir,” Danny says, somewhat surprised that he actually means it.

“Julie? One of our managers Gabriel was the one who spoke to me...” Harold says. “I guess you were recommended by two people then. That’s even better.” He smiles and they exchange farewells. After getting his stuff set up with the older lady, who he now knew as Becca, the office’s secretary, Danny heads home. The interview lasted longer than he’d thought and the streets are almost empty and dark. He shoots Julie a text.

<< Ok, I got the job. Now you have to tell me everything >>

[[ A deal’s a deal. ]] Julie texts back. [[ We’ll talk after your first day ]]

Danny stops on the sidewalk. He was getting fed up with being bossed around and left in the dark so he texts back.

<< No, before then. I want to know everything before I start doing whatever the hell it is I’m gonna do there. Or else, I’m going to refuse the job and tell Bill about you >> Danny waits nervously for a reply, hoping Julie doesn’t call his bluff.

A reply comes in.

[[ The Dancing Divas Club on T Street. Alleyway behind back in 20 minutes ]]

Danny blinks in surprise. He looks at the map and decides to call a cab. 22 minutes later, he was leaning against a wall in the alley behind the club. He realized it was mainly a lesbian club and got strange looks when he was waiting in plain view, so he was a bit obscured by shadows when Julie came out.

“Now’s when you tell me everything,” Danny says, stepping out of the shadows behind her.

She smirks and turns around. “You’re lucky I‘m not easily startled otherwise your little intimidation tactic there might’ve given you a broken nose.”

“Right... sorry... but I want to know who you are, what you want with me, and how do you know about the suit?”

“I can answer some of those questions - but first, we should go inside. Two people talking in a dark alley might raise suspicions.”

Danny nods but then brings up a point “But isn’t this a ladies-only club?” Julie pulls something from her purse and tosses it to Danny. Letting it roll open he sees it’s a suit of a black-haired girl. “Did you make Bill take this off? Where is he?”

Either not hearing him or ignoring him Julie starts heading back inside. “Get changed and meet me near the back booths.”

Danny sighs and shakes his head. He quickly strips and puts the suit on after making sure nobody can see him. He slips in through the back door and makes his way through the crowd of ladies. He’d never been in a lesbian bar before for obvious reasons but was slightly surprised that, other than the lack of dudes, it seemed like a fairly normal club and bar. He finds his way to the booths where Julie is sitting and slides in across from her. The music is loud but the booths let them hear each other still. “Ok, now spill it,” Danny says in a feminine voice.

Julie takes a sip of a drink and puts it down. “Very well. Where would you like me to start?”

Danny wasn’t entirely sure himself, there were so many questions. “I guess let’s start easy - how do you know about the suit?”

“Because I’m wearing one.” Danny blinks in surprise, though he realizes that he probably shouldn’t have been. Julie takes another drink and clears her throat. “Or rather - I’m wearing a prototype of one.” She prepares to tell her story and Danny settles in.

“Many years ago, don’t ask how many, I was a research assistant at a DNA analysis lab, working closely with a man named Gilbert Humphrey. We mostly were looking at sequencing the human genome, but one day, a project was brought to us. We were tasked to analyze the DNA of a deceased body. Not entirely abnormal for us, but what was abnormal was that this body had been dead for a few months, yet appeared to be as fresh as someone who literally just died in their sleep. Needless to say, we were tasked with finding out why and who the person might be. Eventually, we discovered that the body was covered in synthetic material - but one that had living cells and DNA. We figured out how to remove the material and discovered it was like a suit made of skin. The wearer underneath was a corpse that looked like they’d been decomposing for a very long time. Our research shifted to the suit itself. We learned that it had the capability to rearrange its DNA and shape when given the right signals. Naturally, the ability to change one object into another object has massive implications for future society. We were just a DNA testing lab, so it wasn’t long until we were told to send our data and material to another lab. Well, Professor Humphrey and I spent so much time on this project that we didn’t want to just let it go, so we did something drastic.” Julie sighed and looks sad. “We decided, the night before it was to be shipped out, we’d run some extra, more risky, tests. One such test involved putting the suit on a living subject for the first time. Professor Humphrey volunteered to be the test subject - much to my chagrin. It was going well at first, we’d managed to figure out a basic control scheme and modify the professor’s appearance. We were on the verge of a breakthrough when our lab was invaded by men in combat gear and weapons. Presumably from the government. They were not happy with us as you can guess.” Julie takes another drink, seemingly a bit upset by the memory. “I don’t remember how it all went down, but what I do know is I woke up in the parking lot with the lab burning and no sign of the professor. At the time, my memory was hazy. I could vaguely recall some things, but much of it was blank. After sifting through the rubble, I found a notebook that I must’ve been using for notes. I filled the blanks in my memory with that and since then I’ve been trying to figure out who wanted the suits and burnt down the lab. I also heard rumors of other suits existing, so I tried tracking them down as well.”

“Wait...” Danny says, trying to wrap his mind around it all. “So you don’t know where the suit came from in the first place?” Julie shakes her head. “And what about the camera?”

“That I’m not certain of. I wasn’t even aware of the camera until I saw you two using it. That’s why I’m guessing my suit is an earlier version of yours. Either that or there’s another camera out there.”

“So how did you find us?”

Julie smiles and says “Well that was just lucky. The suits emit a faint signal that allows it to be operated remotely. I have the equipment to detect it, but it’s very hit and miss. That night you two came to that bar, I had tracked a signal to a 2-mile radius, but was giving up until your friend decided to hit on me and the signal became stronger.”

Danny thinks for a moment and rubs her chin in thought. “So, who are you really then? If you’re in a suit now, what do you really look like?”

Julie glances around, making sure no one is looking closely and peels up a bit of her face. Underneath, Danny can barely make out blackened, charred skin, covered with cracks and scars. Julie carefully puts the mask back on and shrugs. “As to who I am, as far as I know, I am Julie. My suit isn’t as advanced as yours. It’s locked to my DNA for the most part. I can shift it, but it overheats if I use it too much. Luckily it seems to be linked to my pristine DNA and not my current, burnt appearance. The fact the suit and mask overwrite nerve endings is a good thing too” She smiles a bit as Danny fidgets, trying not to think of how burnt she got and how much it must hurt without the suit.

“Ok... so I guess that explains some things... but I got the camera from an old lady in a pawn shop - how’d it end up there?”

“A pawn shop?” Julie cocks her head inquisitively. “Which one?”

“Uh... the one downtown.” Danny gave her general directions.

“Interesting... that’s a lead I’ll have to follow up on...” Julie strokes her chin in thought.

“So...” Danny says after a few moments of silence. “If your goal is to figure out who killed your friend and where the suits came from, why do you need my help? And what does Costal Solutions have to do with all of this?”

“Well, truth be told, I don’t need your help per se - just your suit and camera.” Julie shrugs. “But, if you’re willing to cooperate, having an extra pair of hands would be useful.” She leans forward and looks into Danny’s borrowed eyes. “Listen Danny. I won’t lie to you. The people I’m looking for have proven themselves to be dangerous. It would be safest for you and Miranda - erm... Bill, that you two hand the suit over to me and forget about everything.” Danny opens her mouth to protest but Julie shushes him. “But if you’re willing to take the risk and trust me, then you can keep the camera and I’ll share with you everything I find out.”

Danny considers this for a moment. He doesn’t want to trust her, but at the same time, she’s the only person who has had any information about the suit and camera. He sighs and puts her hand out. “I’m willing to work with you, on one condition: We’re partners in this. Meaning there’s no more keeping me in the dark and making threats alright?”

Julie considers this then says “I’ll agree to your terms with a condition of my own - Miranda can’t know about any of this.”

“Why not?” Danny asks. “Wouldn’t it be useful for Bill to know? Maybe he could help out.”

Julie looks away and bites her lip before answering “No. It’s safer for her - him - not to know. I also don’t want them to know the truth about me...” Danny thinks he catches a glimpse of tenderness in her voice when she talks about Bill or Miranda, but doesn’t push it and agrees. Julie takes Danny’s hand and they shake on it. Julie asks if Danny has any more pressing questions to ask.

“Well... I guess I still don’t get why getting a job was so important. How is that connected to all this.”

“I’m not entirely sure, to be honest.” Julie leans back and crosses her arms. “I managed to track down the address where the corpse we were testing was found, and it was listed as an office building for a subsidiary of MegaBusiness. After looking deeper, they appear to have had many different child companies, but only a few would be active at any time. Any time a new sub-company was registered, a previous one would file for bankruptcy or be bought out or just shut down completely. Just last week one was sold out and guess who came in to replace it?”

“Coastal Solutions...” Danny says catching on.

Julie nods. “That’s right. Given that MegaBusiness has no official center of operations, this is the next best thing. I already have a cover job, so I can’t get in.”

“And that’s why you need me... or a suit that doesn’t overheat.”

“Exactly,” Julie says. Danny thinks about the new information he’s learned as Julie finishes her drink. After a while, she says “Well, I should probably get back to Miranda. You should probably get changed.”

“Oh uh, right.” Danny and Julie head back out to the alley and Danny strips the suit off and hands it back to Julie. “Where is Bill anyways? And how’d you get him out of the suit anyway?”

Julie smiles mischievously. “I don’t know where Bill is... but I know Miranda’s waiting right there.” She gestures behind Danny. Danny turns around and sees Miranda walking towards them, holding two brown bags.

“Hey, Danny! I thought you weren’t coming?” Bill smiles.

“Uh... yeah, I was just in the neighborhood after my interview, and uh... wanted to see how’s it going.”

“Oh cool. Well, I’m not sure you’ll be allowed in here without the -“ Bill catches himself before he mentions the suit. He quickly changes the subject and hands Julie one of the bags. He offers the other to Danny. “Want some fries? There’s a Yuri’s right down the street.”

Julie laughs, once again back to her bubbly self. “Miranda saw Yuri’s on the way and wouldn’t stop raving about their food.”

“Yeah... that tracks,” Danny says. “So you... left in the middle of a date to get burgers?”

“Yuri’s burgers,” Bill says, empathizing the name. “Clubs are good for drinks but not so much food. And when was the last time you saw a Yuri’s still operational?” As he defended himself, Julie slid up next to her and wrapped her arm around Miranda’s side. Danny realizes that despite being in a woman’s body, Bill was still the same as always. Turning down the food, he told the pair to have a good time and that he’d see them at home. Before they part ways, Bill says to Danny, under his breath “Hey man, sorry I didn’t realize this place was for ladies only... if you want we can swap the suit for a bit.”

Danny shakes his head. “No man, you’re clearly having a good time. Enjoy it alright?” Bill and Julie head in and Danny watches the two ladies leave. He then comes to a realization. Wait - Bill was in the suit the whole time... so what suit was I...

He catches Julie before the door shuts and quickly asks “If Bill was still in the suit - then where did you -“

Julie cuts him off. “That’s a good question for another time.” And she smiles as the door shuts.

Still flabbergasted from everything, Danny tiredly makes his way home. In the taxi on the way back, he leans back and rests his eyes. He runs through everything he learned that day, over and over. He eventually starts to drift off and thinks If someone was willing to burn down a lab and kill someone for the suit, then how far will they go? Do we even want to find out who they are? And what do we do if we do figure it out? Can we still use the suit for fun or is it too risky? No... if we’re careful I don’t see why we can’t still take advantage of the camera...