How do I trans— Violet sprouted arms and legs and found herself lying on her belly in the grass before she even finished the thought. Oh, right. Instincts. She raised her head, hoping that the glow of her eyes wouldn’t give her away. If my eyes glow. Do they? Camera lenses don’t need to glow, why should my eyes? But the men were looking in the other direction.

This is dumb, Vi. If those sedans are robots, too, they could squash you like a bug. But her programming insisted. Rae was her mistress, and she had to protect her mistress. Nngh! She’s just my fri—my fri—my mistress. Oh bugger. That does it. I’m going to rescue her just so I can beat the crap out of her. Programming or not.

Moving as quietly as she could, Vi drew herself up into a crouch. She felt the hydraulic pinions in her legs charge up just enough…there. And release! Violet leaped twenty feet into the air, and the tasers in each arm fired. Darts trailing wires slammed into the neck of each suit…followed by 40,000 volts. Gotcha.