Bonus One - Shot - because I can't post without 500 characters.

Thanks to Andur - I read some of your one-shots and remembered something I wrote about a year ago when I was fantasiing about doing a web-novel.

More than Human

“ALRIGHT ATHLETES, GATHER UP” Coach Pol's voice blasted through the field, amplified by an aug-boosted voice box.

Grumbling, the athletes slowly made their way back from the brunt orange track. Ben, the first to return, was drenched with sweat. An optic sensor embedded into his right-iris HUD announced that his new legs had 57% power remaining; that his run was only 45% energy efficient.

Raising his arms, he placed them on the back of his head, stretching out his quads; slowly steading his heavy breathing.

“LISTEN UP, you young bucks have less than a month before the national qualifier.” The coach slowly inspected each runner, watching their flushed faces and observing the rhythm of their breath. A sensor in his grafted eye displayed rows of statistic and biometrics. “You need to work even harder.”

“Yes, coach!” the athletes replied half-heartedly, somewhat disheartened by the disenchanting news.

“SORRY WHAT WAS THAT?” Coach Pol uproariously retorted, a hand cupping the side of his ear.

“YES COACH!” the athlete’s replied in unison.

The burly man then turned, facing the young man who had once been his protege. There was only sullen silence from Ben.

“I am sorry Ben, but that’s how it is.”

“That’s it huh,” Ben muttered softly. “Twelve years of training and just one little bump from a drone...”

“Cyber-ware's banned in the nationals,” the Coach responded as-matter-of-factly. Ben scanned his teammates, seeing pity on their faces; one or two even smirked, realising that the fall of Mr No.1 meant one more place for them.

“Athletes, say your goodbyes!” the coach commanded, patting Ben on the shoulder. “Know well that if it weren’t for Ben’s force majeure, at least one of you would not be here today.”

* * * *

Ben retired to his dorm, hypersensitively aware of the mechanical tendons flexing and unfolding, trying to keep up with his neuronic pathways. It has been almost two months, and still Ben felt that there was a time-lag, a miss-sync that made it feel as though his legs couldn’t keep up with his brain. He had always had supernatural reflexes, and now they became a curse.

Keith, his roommate, was already relaxing on the dorm’s porch. The ex-soldier was almost twice Ben’s size, a hulking man over six-foot-seven. One arm and both of his legs were textured with dull, cross-hatched carbon fibre - the latest in military cyber-tech. Keith had been a marine, and he had enrolled in college thanks to his Citizen’s ticket after serving in the Pan-African Rare Metal conflict. He had two purple hearts as well, one for his left leg, another for his right.

“Those legs are civilian spec Ben-o” Keith said with a big grin on this face. “Far too weak to keep up with a running man like you.”

Keith had already told Ben many times before that he should swap out his legs for an upgraded model, but until today, Ben held out the hopes that somehow, his Coach could found a way for him to compete. A civilian model was subpar to a well-trained athlete's limbs, and if Ben could bet them wearing that...

“Alright,” Ben replied, much to Keith’s surprise. “Take me to this depot of yours, lets get some high-spec gear.”

“Allllright!” Keith grinned. He brought up the AR console in his augmented eye, and send out a call for a Tesla auto-car.

* * *

It took them half an hour on the auto track before the domed glass car turned into what appeared to be a warehouse district. The buzzing of drones was in the air, looking like swarms of vultures hanging over gargantuan, pre-fabricated storage sheds.

“Here we are,” Keith stepped out of the car, and the entire vehicle seemed to lift itself a few inches, having augmented the lower half of his body and his arm, Keith weighed at least four hundred odd pounds.

They walked into a warehouse were immediately greeted by the sound of grinders and mechatronics digitisers at work.

“Hey there sweeties,” Said a voice behind a low, navel height counter.

The woman that addressed them possessed electric-neon hair and nails that shifted hues as she moved. Her legs were impossibly long, lithe, a silvery sheen of platinum that had an elegant sensuality about them, like two works of modern art in motion.

“Hi Georgina,” Keith smiled broadly. “Brought you a prime customer, ex-athlete, needs a boost so he can feel the need for speed again.”

Ben could almost feel Georgina’s eyes focusing on him, the mechanical irises scanning him and sending out a script of specs.

“Ouch, that what Obama-Care gives you these days?” Georgina said sardonically, her flesh, pink petal lips oozing sex. Ben couldn't help but feel that he'd seen her somewhere, maybe on one of those pay-per-view vid-casts.

“What do you have?” Ben asked tentatively, his family was wealthy, but this place looked expensive.

They followed the girl, whose legs had built in heels that made Ben’s eyes baulk. Her ass, if Ben had to pass judgement, was perfection.

Along the back wall were two dozen cyber-legs, each with a price tag and an install price; arranged in order of horsepower.

“This one?” Ben pointed to a set that looked almost human, a white-ceramic coloured, well formed pair of legs that was positioned by the high-spec spectrum.

Keith whistled, “You got good taste kid.”

“Sit down,” Georgina ordered. Ben sat. She took off his old legs. As her head bent underneath his own, moving between his legs in a compromising position, he could smell the synthetic scent of flowers.

The white legs attached with a hiss.

“300 Kilowatt, Mercedes Benz class 5,” she cooed, rubbing a hand over his new legs. “Go try them out.”

Ben pushed himself from the chair; the lag time felt significantly reduced, maybe two, three Milliseconds.

He took off, and the legs pumped fluidly and gracefully, he felt himself almost lift into the air, it was a feeling akin to when he had discovered running for the first time; when his Coach had told him that he had talent; that he could make it to the Olympics if he trained.

Then suddenly as he rounded the block and returned, he noticed a warning flash across his iris.

“Low power - Core at 9%.”

“Impossible!” Ben thought to himself; he was running for what, ten minutes?

He returned to the garage, where Georgina and Keith awaited.

“How is it?”

“I am out of juice…” Ben lamented. “This thing is thirsty!”

“Yeah, you still too human,” Georgina laughed, her voice perfectly modulated. “Your body produces hardly enough bio-electricity.”

Ben's eyes moved over Georgina, regarding her seriously for the first time. She didn't have an ounce of fat on her body, her figure was perfectly proportioned, if a little excessively so. She moved like liquid, possessing the grace and balance of something supernatural. Electro-tats that glowed a fluoro neon thrummed underneath her sheer blouse, where her round, perky breasts formed two perfect mounds. Most of all, it was her legs.

Ben felt a chub coming on. He couldn't help but wonder about what it would be like to have her legs wrapped around his waist; or if Georgina had an augmented organ down there as well.

He blushed. He hadn't touched a woman since the accident. It was starting to get to him.

“It’s not rare to have a major replacement surgery these days,” Georgie cooed at him, “You need a new spine to hold up your new arms and legs, you need to replace your muscles with electro-fibres, you need to get better lungs and heart to keep up with all of that.”

"It's a whole new world out there, Ben-o!" Keith watched Ben watching Georgina. "With your brain, you could be superhuman!"