The RIBRUNT Series Pt. 05: Sota and Sheila

"What the fuck's this?"

* * *

In another part of town, a phone was answered on the third ring by a fairly short, blonde woman with a permanently cheeky expression.

"Hello?"

She listened intently for a few minutes, her face gradually transforming from a mischievous smile to a wide-eyed, slack-jawed expression of fear.

"We'll be right over."

* * *

"Is it him?" asked Abi.

"Yes." replied Maria, after a pause. "How did you know? And what have you done?"

"It was an educated guess. Then I figured that he must have the nanobots in his system too, so I froze him."

"Quick thinking. How frozen is he? Does he know we're here?"

"No, he's totally paused, in every way. The question is, what are we going to do about him?"

"Kill him." replied Maria, without a moment's hesitation.

"Now hang on," said Abi, "I don't think I can bring myself to go that far. Can't we just wipe his memory and send him back out?"

"Kill him. If you don't, I will. As long as he's alive, I'm not safe. He'll keep coming back, keep trying to find me. I made a promise to myself, if I ever had the chance, I'd take it."

"There's got to be another way. We can use RIBRUNT to change him, turn him into someone else, someone good. I can give even him a new past, I've got the resources."

For a few seconds, they stood at an impasse. Then Abi's phone began to ring. She glanced over at the screen.

"It's Gemma. Go on Gemma, you're on speaker."

"I think I've got an idea."

* * *

The following morning, Kelly awoke to the smell of fresh coffee brewing. It took her a second to remember what had happened the night before, and when the memory finally hit her, she smiled a smile so wide that her facial muscles started to hurt. Her phone chirruped - a message from Gemma.

"Hey babe, sent a little present your way last night. We should meet up sometime so you can tell me how it went. G"