Passing cars smeared neon Amharic across two lanes
Spattering blurry headlights athwart wet asphalt.
Tanis stood under the overhang of the shuttered vape shop
Dragging on a loosie, ignoring the pain of stilettos.
Inhaled to allow scaled titanium lungs and cloned bronchioles
To osmose the spiraling smoke.
Her target exited the door opposite and ducked into
A low-slung hoverlimo, which coiled upward, toward the rotating
Restaurant. It had been close enough for Tanis to transfer
To the onboard computer, leaving her body under the overhang.
She shut down the engine and waited until two feet from impact
To reanimate her body. She took another drag,
Observing the wreckage … and walked away on painful stilettos.