Exo Saves the Day - Chapters 11-20

Chapter 11 - Emotional overload

“We’ve quarantined the program and stopped all the commands that are causing us the trouble” Jack said. “She shouldn’t be losing any more data today.” I was glad to hear this, but I knew 263 already lost a lot of data, and I wasn’t sure what it was of.

“Apparently it was randomly deleting and corrupting data in order to render her A.I. useless. Luckily, the damage to her A.I. is minimal, and I think we can fix both her OS and her A.I. with no trouble” said Cynthia. She still looked worried as she looked at the data on her screen. “She lost a lot of data though. It looks like a lot of her memory files were corrupted. I’m not sure she’ll ever get those back, or be able to descramble them. Who knows what she’s forgotten? We won’t be able to find out how bad it is until we get her booted up again.”

“Which will take some time” Jack said. “We need to rebuild her OS, or at least part of it. I sure hope you have a copy of that,’ cause I am fresh out!”

“Actually, we need to see if MMR tracked the data she submitted. If they catch on to her, it will lead them straight here” Tom said.

“Good point, Darling” said Cynthia. “I’ll work on getting her A.I. and OS repaired, you two work on getting that data she submitted scrambled.”

“Me? But I don’t know how to hack into secure systems” I protested. I was ready to plead my case when Jack interrupted.

“No need, Danny-boy. I already did. However, I might need your help relaying the signal. Remember that trick I showed you to use with your phone?” It was the same trick I used to send that TXT to the police, and it was already ready to go.

“I’m one step ahead of you” I said, only to realize I was probably 2 steps behind already. Semantics.

Together, Jack and I relayed the data from his laptop to the secure network 263 had “pinged”. He didn’t have that much trouble breaking in, although he did use 2 computers to do it, plus his “magic wand” drive. It was very exciting to see how fast he worked, and to know everything we were doing was against the law.

In less than 15 minutes, Jack had completely scrambled their data, and hid his tracks. Cynthia, however, was having a harder time with 263. Jack decided he’d lend his expertise to Cynthia for a while.

The first thing they did was to repair her OS, by selectively replacing the damaged and missing files, without reinstalling everything from scratch. After a system check, everything was fine, and Cynthia moved onto work on 263’s A.I. Meanwhile, Jack was theorizing how we could register 263 without her Evelyn model being exposed. A lot of them were good ideas. He thought that maybe we could just use another code, or perhaps buy a cheap gynoid and use hers. He even considered changing the code hardwired inside her. None of these would have worked though, but I was working on an idea of my own.

“Cynthia, how does the gynoid registration process work exactly?” I asked.

Cynthia shrugged at me, apparently, she wasn’t that well versed in the registration procedures. Tom, however, chimed in.

“Each gynoid is assigned a coded and hidden Key number. That Key number is encoded into a registration number. The registration number is then given to the user, who submits it to the central registration computer, which decodes it and sends the user the Key number. Once the user enters the Key number, the unit is unlocked and registered.”

I must have looked puzzled at his explanation, because Tom went on to elaborate. “Imagine each robot has a unique key, and that a key master has all the keys locked up. By giving the number of the robot to the key master, it gives us the right key.” That made more sense, I think.

“Is the encoding process the same for all the gynoids?” I asked.

“Yes, the central program used to encode and decode all robot registrations uses the same algorithm for each, but I don’t see how-” Tom had started to say.

“Easy Peasy,” interrupted Jack. He was, once again, already a step ahead of me, but at least I got him on track. I’m not sure what he was planning, I was just glad to have contributed to the idea. “All we have to do is figure out the exact algorithm.”

“And how do you plan to do that?” I asked. “Download the entire program?”

Jack scoffed. “No. That would take all day, but I can get it to tell it to me the algorithm it uses. All I have to do is feed it about a hundred or two fake registration numbers, process how they are decoded, reverse engineer it to derive the encoding processes, and Bob’s your uncle!”

That seemed like an awful lot more than just downloading a program to me, but I trusted Jack knew his business. Still, I had to ask. “Where are you going to get that many registration numbers?”

“I’ll just pull them out of a database on their servers. And… there it is!” Jack was fast. He was already starting to input the numbers before I could look at his screen.

“Won’t they get suspicious when they see they are all sent from the same place?”

“Danny-boy,” he said disappointedly. “I thought you knew me better than that!” He had a point. I decided to just leave him to his work, and see if there was anything I could do to help Cynthia. She was just as busy rebuilding select parts of her A.I., while Tom both monitored her stats and continued to tinker inside her. I wasn’t quite sure what he was doing, but he motioned for me to sit with him, and help him out.

Together, we reviewed all the repairs I made, and improved on some of them. We strengthened some of her joints, improved her flexibility in places, and adjusted various parts. Tom was very good at this work, despite is large hands. I was surprised to see how delicate the work he did was, and how well he performed it, despite this obvious handicap (get it, hand-icap. Yeah, it wasn’t funny to me either). While everyone worked, I realized it was getting late, and no one ate yet. So, I fiddled around in the kitchen, and finished up what I could of the meal 263 had started. The salad was no good anymore, but the soup would be fine. It wasn’t really enough, so I ordered a pizza, and everyone ate while they worked.

Just as Jack finished his second slice of peperoni, he announced to the room his success. “Done! I managed to decode the encoding procedure, and it only took 218 numbers to do it. I converted the algorithm into a decoding process, so you should be in business. And don’t worry about getting traced. They think these were all legitimate registration codes from around the world, there’s no way they would be able to track it here.” With that, Jack stood up, stretched, and proceeded to saunter toward the front door.

“Where are you going?” I asked him.

“I’m just going out for some air. I’m not sure I’m much use anymore in here anyways, and I’ll need to get some shut eye. I’m not much use to anyone tired, especially my date in the morning.” Jack winked as he gathered up his things and reached for the door.

“Wait, you’re going on a date in the morning, in the middle of the week?” Jack was indeed a man of strange habits, and I should learn not to question them, or I might learn more than I wanted to hear.

“Well yeah, she doesn’t know it yet, but…” He was also a man of many talents, some of them I didn’t want to know. “The algorithm has been transferred to your PC over there, just type in the registration number when you are ready. You know where to reach me if you need me.”

“Hey, Jack,” Tom said. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” Tom had recently finished up his own tinkering. The last thing Tom finished working on was 263’s voice box. While he was unable to make it sound any better, he was able to fix it up enough so it no longer hurt her to speak. We realized we’d have to wait for a replacement before she’d sound normal. He put the box back in her throat, and stood up to escort Jack out.

The two of them left, and talked outside for a while, I assumed while walking toward Jack’s place. They left me, Cynthia, and the still unconscious Unit 263 alone. I sat there, watching 263 breathe in silence as I ran my fingers through her hair. Her face had relaxed considerably, and I was glad to see she was looking more like herself again. Her skin was no longer hot to the touch, and I had long since removed the ice bags and the towels.

“Cynthia?” I asked, still looking at the sleeping girl. I knew I got her attention by the inquisitive ‘hmm?’ from behind her computer monitor. “I don’t have any registration number for 263. How is this algorithm supposed to help?”

“Good question, Daniel. But not to worry, I have the number, and I’ll be giving it to you soon. I think we’re just about finished up here.” She continued to click away at the keys, most likely typing in some code or commands. She stopped after a short while, and looked over at me. “She might not remember you. She might not even remember me.” I looked up at her. I must have been a little startled by something she said that I only just noticed, but she mistook it for concern. “I just want you to know that she might have lost some of her memories of us. She might not remember some things, but fully remember others. She might even confuse memories or mix things up. There is really no way to tell.

“I could only repair her core systems, her memories were unique to her, and I cannot change them.” Cynthia look off her glasses, and rubbed at her eyes while she continued her speech. “Some were corrupted. I tried to reverse engineer the program that corrupted them before I removed it, to see if I could fix them. I couldn’t do it here, but I put the ability in her system, just in case it works. With any luck, she might be able to remember some things she’s forgotten. However, it might be a slow process, and it isn’t 100% accurate. The scrambling was rather random, and she will probably still get things confused. I want you to know that you may have to teach her things she’s forgotten, and you may have to remind her of events and people as well.” She sighed to herself. “I suppose that won’t be easy for you, since you don’t really know us, but we’ll be nearby, and we’ll drop in on her soon. Tom and I got a hotel room near here, while we try to figure things out.”

I understood what she was saying, but a nagging question burned at me. I decided to drop it for now; I had to find the right time to ask and there were more important things at the moment than that. Cynthia put her glasses back on and gave me a smile. I realized I did have something to tell Cynthia, something 263 had tried to tell me, and I needed to know if what she said was even possible.

“Before, when she was sick, 263 tried to tell me something” I said. “I didn’t hear the whole thing since I halted her systems while she was talking, but it sounded like she was saying that she fell in love with me. Is that really possible?” Her eyes drifted off my face, and down toward 263, as she thought about the question.

“Yes” she replied. That was a simple enough answer, maybe too simple. I was glad she elaborated on it after a second or two. “The EVE A.I. is more advanced than anyone ever realized. Her brain has almost as many connections as the human mind, when you put all the sections together. While she isn’t quite as smart as a human, she is fully capable of love, hate, jealously, a wide range of emotions. It’s really the fact that her mind uses a series of unique procedures that mimic the human brain. She can feel real pain, and real pleasure, they aren’t simulations. In fact, they are vital in making her as human as possible. She has reactions, and can overcome them, just like a human. She can learn from positive and negative feedback as well. While words are enough for her, physical stimulation seems to get better results.

“I’m rambling again, aren’t I? I suppose it would be best to say that she is not like other robots. She doesn’t simulate her emotions, or her sensations. Everything is real. She is more than capable of love, although she cannot fully experience strong emotions or sensations while she is still locked down. Once she’s registered…” Her voice trailed off. She seemed to be lost in thought, and I got the uneasy feeling she wasn’t telling me something.

I thought about this for a moment. “So you’re telling me she’s essentially a mechanical human?”

She pondered this for a while. “I guess I am. Treat her as you would any other human, and although she won’t act quite like one, she will be happy. The Evelyn line was designed to be attached to one human throughout their lifetime. I suppose they could change owners under the right conditions, but they were meant to be bound to one master. To this end, she will act in your best interest when you treat her well. She is not to be treated as a slave, or as a sex doll. She is more a person than many people I’ve met.”

I picked up her meaning. She was making sure I didn’t abuse or mistreat the girl once she was registered to me. I realized that 263 was much more than a normal gynoid before, but she was certainly more unique than I ever dared to imagine. The last thing I ever wanted to do was to hurt her, and I think Cynthia saw that in me.

The computer in front of her chimed, indicating that the last command she told it to process was complete. I checked the laptop in front of me, which Tom had left there, and saw that her entire OS was rebuilt, and her A.I. was at 100%. We were all smiles as we saw the system check come back with no errors. At least her vital systems should be working again, although she remained laying unconscious on the table.

“Here” Cynthia said, pulling a little folded yellow sheet of paper out of her vest pocket. I recognized it as a post it note, one of the ones that 263 wrote. “I think you should have this. I couldn’t tell you earlier, but I think you can appreciate it now.” I unfolded and read the note. While her writing was still very child-like, the message was very adult.

But mother, he needs me. I think I love him.

I re-read it a few times. So this was the note she wrote to Cynthia that she never showed me; the note that put me on her good side. I thought about this, and realized that she really did fall in love with me, and yet she felt I needed her. I couldn’t figure that part out. As I thought about this, Cynthia started disconnecting all the cables running to her mechanical daughter, and manually closed all her ports. Before I could look up from the paper, she had manually opened a panel on her chest. I had been trying to figure out how to open anything on her manually, and here they had both done it and I missed it twice!

“How did you do that?” I asked, looking up from the note.

“Do what?”

“How did you manually open her access panels like that?” I put the note in my pocket as I looked closer at what Cynthia was doing.

“Oh! I guess we never really showed you. I’m surprised you were able to do all those repairs without knowing how to do that” Cynthia said. Her voice seemed lighter, and the mood in the room improved greatly. “It’s simple really. Just place one hand on her skin where the panel you want to open is, and then push in her belly button.” She demonstrated by placing her right hand over 263’s neck, and then pushing in her belly button about 2 inches. The blue lights activated and quickly popped open her neck panel. I was thoroughly impressed.

“That’s so cool” I said. I’m sure I sounded like a nerd saying that, but I just couldn’t help myself. I am a nerd. “Let me try.” I kneeled next to her, and placed my hand on 263’s shoulder. Pushing in her belly button, I felt an inaudible click, and her shoulder panel opened right up. I must have giggled to myself, because Cynthia started giving me a strange look. “Sorry. That’s just so cool. A- And useful. I’m sure that will come in handy.”

Cynthia smiled and shook her head. Inside the chest panel she opened was a digital gauge indicating various functions of her body, as well as some small connections. This was the same panel she opened up when she was giving me a hand job, so I never really got a good look inside before. Cynthia reached in the shallow panel, and placed her thumb on a small white square. A small green light appeared under her thumb, emanating from the square, and I heard a clear beep from her chest. Cynthia kept her thumb held down, and a few seconds later, another beep chimed. “Relinquish temporary ownership, Cynthia 0-5-1-2” Cynthia commanded as she kept her thumb held down. A long beep, higher pitched than the last two, chimed for about 2 seconds. As Cynthia lifted her thumb from the square, 263 began to speak in her broken voice.

“zzzt Thank you for taking care of me, Cynthia. zzrrmm OWNERSHIP RELINQUISHED. COMMENCING REQUIRED SHUT DOWN mmzzt.” Her eyes never moved, and she said the last part in a monotone fashion, almost mechanical but better than some of the early androids that you could barely understand at all. With that, 263 stopped breathing, and her digital readouts faded out.

“What did you do to her?” I asked, a little concerned.

“Something that had to be done. While she was being built, I registered myself as her temporary owner. This is not the same as a master, but I needed to be unregistered so you could take your place as her…” She didn’t finish her statement, but I knew what she was going to say. The smile faded from her lips as she fell into silence.

“It’s ok. I’ll take good care of her. And I’m sure we’ll need you and Tom to come by every now and then to visit.” She looked up and smiled again.

“I’d like that” she said. She took a deep breath, sat up straight, and cleared her throat. “Shall we try turning her back on?” “Before she’s registered?” I asked.

“Sure!” she answered. “She’ll be just like before, the temporary owner thing is really just for following the hierarchy of commands, and is something her subconscious uses. The master is registered to both her subconscious and her A.I. She should start right up and be just like normal, although she will remind you to register her.”

We closed the panel on her chest, although this time it did not disappear completely into her skin. It remained as a visible seam in the shape of a triangle on her chest. Without power, there was nothing to seal up her panels after they were opened. I guessed the physical force of pushing in her belly button would provide the energy to open her ports, but not to close them again. I decided it was best to give 263 some better privacy, and covered her up with the sheet I was using before, taking off the towels she still have covering her privates. Tom walked back in just as Cynthia was showing me the reset and power buttons on the back of her neck, just under her skull.

I pushed the button to turn 263 back on, and waited as a digital gong sound chimed from inside her. Her eyes opened up, glowing bright blue, and she began to speak. “zzrrmm Good Evening” she said in an almost human voice, the digital noise the only real problem. “zzmm I am model- ERROR. mmrr” She interrupted herself with that same monotone voice as before. “brrzz CORRUPTED DATA FOUND. REBUILDING DATA. ERROR, EMOTIONAL OVERLOAD DETECTED. PLEASE REGISTER GYNOID. REBUILDING 10% COMPLETE. zzrrt”

“This can’t be good. I thought she was supposed to-” I started to say, flabbergasted at the sudden errors they assured me she would be free of.

“Don’t worry about this Daniel. I was expecting something like this would happen. With all the manual tweaking in her OS, there was bound to be an error or two. She is just going through and doing a final clean up. Once she’s done, she should be right as rain again” Cynthia explained. I felt a little better, but her monotonic voice put me on edge.

“bzzt REDUILDING 20% COMPLETE. ERROR, EMOTIONAL OVERLOAD DETECTED. PLEASE REGISTER GYNOID. zzt” She continued like this every so often as her OS fixed any errors.

“Emotional Overload?” I asked.

“Sounds like she might need to be registered right away” Tom said. “Since she is still locked, and isn’t registered to a master user, her emotional and sensory data is limited. If this is the case, she might not be able to fully load her programming until her limiter is removed. The emotional input could overpower her A.I. and she wouldn’t have enough resources left to handle it. I’m not sure what emotion she has that is so strong right now…”

“It’s because she loves me isn’t it?” I said bluntly. “She tried to tell me. I’m pretty sure she just can’t handle it right now.”

Tom was quiet. Maybe he didn’t pick up on it, or Cynthia didn’t fill him in. “Oh. I see. But do you…?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I like her. I really like her. I want her to be safe, but I don’t know about love. It is all happening so fast” I answered.

“For her,” Cynthia replied, “emotions are a new thing, and she may be easily overpowered by them. She isn’t a human, so she doesn’t see things in the same way as we do. Just like a human child coming into adulthood, their hormones get the best of them at times; she may be suffering from a similar problem.”

“You will take care of her, right?” Tom said, his deep voice adding presence to the question.

“Of course I will! I like her. I’ll make sure she is safe and happy here. I will accept her affection.” I wanted them to trust me. Love was a strong emotion, and I always had a hard time with it. Every girl I ever ‘loved’ ended up breaking my heart. She might not be any different, and my heart didn’t want to suffer from that kind of pain again. Although, it felt really good to be loved again. I wasn’t sure I was ready to invest my whole heart into her just yet, but I’m afraid my mind and my heart were not cooperating.

“That’s all we are asking from you, Daniel. We can’t ask you to love her back” Cynthia said. She did it again, and this time I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

“There, you did it again!” I said.

“Did what?” Cynthia asked.

“You used my name. Where did you hear my name? I never told you…”

Cynthia stuttered, before coming up with an answer. “I heard Jack use it. He called you Danny-boy, and Danny is short for-“

“No, you used it before he showed up. You’ve been calling me that all night, but this morning you only ever called me by my alias, Exo.” I stared her down, as she stammered over my inquiry.

“I’m sorry, it was my idea.” Tom said. “I bade my wife to take your license so we could look up your background.”

“My what?!” I exclaimed.

“I’m sorry Daniel, I-“ Cynthia started.

“Please, just call me Danny. Only my parents call me Daniel” I corrected.

“Sorry, Danny. I just had to make sure you were a trustworthy person. Please forgive me” Cynthia pleaded. She reached into her purse, and pulled out my wallet, handing it back to me. I snatched it from her hand. They DID steal my wallet, on purpose! “I saw it on the table and hid it when I took your coat. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You shouldn’t have taken the entire wallet” Tom interjected.

“You shouldn’t have taken it at all!” I objected. “It wasn’t fair that you steal my private property so you can run a background check on me. How did you even do a check so fast? Never mind… I don’t want to know. Maybe you should have just asked me, politely.” I was a little cheesed off, but I didn’t want to be. The entire situation was making me a little grumpy. My headache had slowly been building for the last few hours as we worked on 263. The food helped, but it wasn’t enough. I tried to calm myself down, and I took a deep breath. “Look, I’m sorry I snapped.”

“No. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you and I took your wallet” Cynthia replied. “We should have trusted you from the start, I mean, you did save our girl before you ever met us. We should have trusted you more, after you did so much to help her. We didn’t take anything from your wallet, if it’s any consolation, and your background check came back squeaky clean.”

I decided not to look in my wallet… yet. I was going to trust them as they should have trusted me. “I trust you. But from now on, I don’t want you doing anything sneaky or keeping any secrets from me. OK?”

They nodded in agreement. 263’s digitized voice rang out, alerting us she was 70% complete. Tom started gathering up equipment, and put everything inside the large case he brought. “Here, you should hold onto this. It has all the instructions we could make on her, and should help you with any repairs.” He handed me the case, and got ready to leave.

“Here you are, Danny” Cynthia said, pulling a white sheet of paper out of her vest pocket and handing it to me. “This is her registration code.” I took it and looked down at the long series of numbers and letters.

“If she really did fall in love, we should be going” Tom said. I had no idea what that meant, but Cynthia nodded and they proceeded toward the door.

“Wait. What do you mean? Where are you going now?” I asked.

“Well, what needs to be done next needs to be done by you, and you alone. I wish we could stay, but we shouldn’t be here for this. Please be gentle with her. We’ll be back tomorrow” Cynthia replied. She handed me another card, this time it was her business card with the address of the hotel they were staying at written on the back. “You can reach us here, if you need to.”

They proceeded out the door. My mind was racing; I wanted to make sure we didn’t miss anything, and that everything would work well. She was still suffering from an error, but apparently, they trusted that she was repaired to the best of their abilities. She called out that she was 90% complete, just as they were walking away.

“Oh,” said Cynthia, turning around as they walked to their car, “be sure to give her a good name. Something cute. And the money was Tom’s idea, I hope it helps cover the repairs.” With that, they got in their car, and reluctantly pulled away. What was she talking about money?

I walked back inside, wallet still in hand. Well at least they left it this time. I looked inside, and discovered they put over a thousand dollars in hundred dollar bills inside my wallet! Holy crap in a hand-basket! This would cover all the expenses of the repairs, and maybe get her some nice clothes too. I was gob-smacked! Awesome.

It was starting to get late, but I couldn’t wait to see 263 back to her old self again. I decided to clean up a bit in the room. It didn’t take long for her to reach 100%. With another gong-like chime from her body, she restarted. Her eyes started emitting blue light again, as she began her startup process. The blue lights appeared on her chest, and the triangular panel disappeared before my eyes.

“zzrt Good Evening! Detecting new data. Loading new data. rrrmm” She had started up, and was loading the changes to her system. It wouldn’t take long, so I quickly put down the pizza box I was holding somewhere near the trash, and typed in the registration number Cynthia handed me into the algorithm program Jack put on my computer. Within a few seconds, it started building another long series of numbers and letters. This one was 16 digits long, and the program was building it one random digit at a time. I left the computer, and cleared some space near 263, just as she finished loading her data.

“zzt ERROR, EMOTIONAL OVERLOAD DETECTED, PLEASE REGISTER GYNOID. brrm I am model XKQT-114, unit 263. zzzt” She blinked her eyes, and started to look around the room. “zzt One moment please.” She sat up, the sheet barely clinging onto her body, and looked around. Pulling the sheet away from her, she stood up before me, and gave me a small, cute bow. “bzzt Please take your time to register me. Do you have a Key number?”

Her body was still wet from the ice packs, and goose flesh started to fill part of her skin. I had tried to cool her off when she was overheating, but now it seems I cooled her off a bit too much. Her nipples were fully erect, but she was not reacting to the cold at all. Even though I was sitting down, part of me was standing at full attention.

I looked over at the other computer, and saw that it had just finished building the number. I prepared to read off the number. I couldn’t help but notice how much better she looked when she was standing naked in front of me, ambulatory and well. The wet from the ice only covered parts of her torso, but it was enough. A drip of cold water ran down her chest, danced along the curve of her breast, and rested on her perky nipple. Wow. She looked at me blankly as I sat at the computer, a fake smile on her lips. “Y- Yes. RT1-“

“bzt Please read the number to me” she interrupted. Slightly annoyed, I started again, this time reading off all 16 digits. She reviewed the numbers verbally, and I confirmed their accuracy. Here’s hoping Jack is as good as he says.

Her eyes began to fade in and out with brilliant blue again, as she processed the data. “zzzt Thank you for purchasing me. In order to complete the registration, please answer a few questions. rmm” Thank you Jack.

She began drilling me for data. She asked me my name, my birthday, my family members, friends, address, phone numbers, vehicles, and on and on. It took at least 10 minutes just to get through her questions; not the way to get someone excited about their new gynoid. When she finally stopped, she asked me one final question.

“bzzt What is my name?”

I hadn’t really come up with anything good yet. I was kicking myself for not thinking of something sooner. Maybe Evelyn would work, but that sounded too classical. Perhaps Eve, but that was too biblical. For a while I was thinking Kitt, like the old night rider car... but that was just lame. I ran a few more names through my head until one finally stuck. It worked on many levels for me personally too. After all, it was a cute name, and was rather nerdy too. I had a name for her.

“Your name is Tera.”

Chapter 12 - A gynoid by any other name...

“zzzt T-E-R-R-A?” She asked confirming the spelling.

“Yes” I confirmed. I was thinking that it was short for terabyte only to realize terabyte had one “R”, so I decided to correct her on that. “No, wait. That should be spelled T-E-R-A, short for terabyte.”

“bzt Thank you for completing the registration process. Would you like to submit your data to the Man and Machine Robotics database?”

“No! Do not submit the data, and do not ask again.” The last thing I wanted was to have spent all that time trying to cover our tracks, only to spell out for them where I live.

“bzzt Are you sure? You will miss out on any potential updates and promo-“

“Yes I am sure. No I do not want you to submit my data.” I was getting a little cross with her. After all that hard work to save her from total destruction, she starts acting like a bad telephone auto-answering service.

“zzzt Understood. Please wait a moment for processing.” Her eyes began to glow again while her face kept a hard blank stare. The curves of her body were no longer that interesting to me. Sure, she was hot, sure she was naked, but she was also acting too stiff for me. She was acting like a robot. Then again, it did have a certain appeal to it. I waited for her to complete the registration and turn on her A.I.

A moment later, her eyes stopped glowing, and she focused them on me again. “bzzt Thank you for registering me, Master.”

I sat there for a long moment, waiting for her to say or do something else. Instead, she just stood there, staring blankly at me. Her eyes were still glowing softly, but there was no other sign of life in her.

“Is that it? Aren’t you going to take a DNA sample? Or at least start looking around the room, or something?”

“bbzt Would Master like me to take a DNA sample or at least start looking around the room or something?” It was eerie how she quoted me word for word, as though she did not understand what I said at all.

“What?! What’s wrong with you?” I asked impolitely.

“bzrt All my systems are functioning properly. There are no errors. My voice box detects minor damage.” she replied, matter-of-factly.

“263, uh- Tera, do you remember who I am?” I asked her.

“zzrt Of course I do. You are Daniel Hawthorne. You reside at 64 Bitterly Wa-“

“That’s not what I meant! Do you remember anything about the last 2 days?” I asked impatiently.

She stood there for a moment, her eyes darting side to side as though she were reading something only she could see. “bbzzrt Irrelevant. The last 2 days were under a different user. All old data is stored in the A.I. of this unit.” Stored in the A.I.? So she wasn’t acting like herself because her A.I. wasn’t turned on?

“Tera, why isn’t you’re A.I. active?” I asked, raising one eyebrow.

“bbzt I have received no commands to activate the EVE A.I.” she replied.

OK, I can do this. I am registered as her new master, so she must be able to take verbal commands. I hoped she would adjust her programming without having to call Jack up again.

“Tera, whenever you start up, if you are able to, always activate your A.I. Understood?”

She processed this for a moment before answering. “zzzrt Yes, Master. I am to activate my A.I. every time I initiate a startup sequence assuming no errors prevent me from doing so.”

“Good! Tera, activate your A.I. now” I commanded.

“bzzrt Yes, Master” she replied, and her eyes promptly dimmed to normal looking eyes again. She blinked a few times, and looked around the room. She didn’t seem to notice me at first, but she also didn’t seem to know where she was either. Her body language relaxed, and she started to sway a little as she stood. She looked much more natural now, and the curves of her body started to speak my language again. Her eyes focused on me, and she gave me a little bow.

“zzrt Nice to meet you, Master” she said as she stood up from her bow. Her eyes grew wide, and she put her hand to her mouth. She clearly didn’t remember about her voice. She tried to speak again, as if she thought the distortion in her voice would go away. “bzzt My name is Tera.” Again, she covered her mouth with her fingers.

“Welcome back Tera! Is everything ok? How are you feeling?” I wanted to make sure she was not suffering from any symptoms of her illness, but I was also worried about her memories.

“zzzt I’m not sure. I’m feeling a little cold. Where am I?” She ran her hands up her arms, hugging herself and rubbing her hands on her arms for warmth. Maybe cold wasn’t really going to hurt her, but she sure liked to stay at a comfortable temperature.

It didn’t take long for her to realize that she was not wearing any clothes. Looking down at her naked body, her skin still covered in goose flesh, she looked back up at me and let out a digital “Kya!!” as she knelt down to cover herself up.

“Hey! What’s wrong? Are you ok?” I was on my feet in a second, looking around the floor, assuming she was scared of something, like a mouse.

“bzzt I’m… I’m naked! And what happened to my voice?!” she screamed. I almost laughed, but decided it would be best if I didn’t. She was in a very fragile state right now, and I did not want to offend her.

“Relax. Cynthia, Tom, and I were just working on you. You’ve been very sick.” I grabbed the sheet on the floor behind her and laid it over her back and shoulders. “Here. This should help.” Earlier, I lowered the temperature in my apartment a bit. I was concerned that the air I was blowing into her overheating chassis was too warm. I didn’t really notice since I had been dressed this whole time, and I was rushing all around in the chaos. I looked at the temperature gauge on the wall beside the couch, and brought it back up.

“bzrt Th- Thank you… Master.” I wasn’t sure why she was still calling me ‘Master’. Part of me really liked it, but part of me wanted her to use my name.

“You’re welcome. For now, just call me Danny, ok?” She nodded in reply, wrapping the sheet over her body, and shivering while still hunched over in the floor. “Here, have a seat.” She stood up, and walked to the couch, sitting in the corner where I had indicated. I sat next to her, and hoped she would open up to me. “Tera, do you remember anything about the last 2 days?” I asked.

She thought for a moment, her eyebrows furrowing in thought. “bzzzt It all seems a bit fuzzy. I can’t seem to…” her voice trailed off as she thought about it.

“What’s the last thing you can remember clearly?” I asked. She still looked cold. The wet of the ice still clinging to her body was now making parts of the sheet wet and transparent. I wanted to wrap my arm around her to warm and comfort her, but I needed to know if she even knew who I was first. She was still shivering a little, but was calming down.

“bbzzrt I remember my lab. Cynthia, and Tom, and Rob were there. They were working on my sisters- No! A man came and took them!” She thought harder, making connections in her mind, descrambling the corrupted data. “He took my sisters. They were hiding me.”

“Do you remember what happened next?” I asked, anxious to know if she could keep up the pace.

“zrrm It’s still fuzzy. Wait! I remember they were putting me in a van. Rob was taking us someplace safe. He was driving… they were chasing us. I saw holes in the van… loud noises. I… I can’t…” She was still putting things together. Maybe I should stop and let her get some rest. She might be able to figure more out in the morning.

“Maybe you just need some rest. Let me go get the bed ready for you“ I got up, intending to get the bedroom ready for her to sleep alone in the bed, again. However, Tera’s hand shot up, and grabbed my arm. I sat back down next to her as she continued.

“bzzzmm No wait… I… There was a crash! I don’t know… I was alone in a street. No one was around. You were there. No... there were 4 of them.” Her eyes opened wide in fear as she stared at me and leaned away from me, pushing herself into the couch. “You were beating me… kicking me. All 4 of you!”

Oh boy. She got her wires crossed after all. She somehow thought I was all 4 of the thugs she met that night. She looked like she was in pain too. Tera glanced down at her arms and hands, as if she was looking for the wounds they inflicted on her. She was panicking, almost as if she were reliving the faulty memory.

“N-No! You got that wrong. I wasn’t them. I mean, how could I be? There is only one of me!” I tried to correct her, hoping she would listen to logic.

She looked at me, scared and on the verge of tears. I gave her a smile, and hoped a friendlier face might help her remember. My smile faded as she continued to stare at me, keeping as much of me at arm’s length as she could. “I’m not going to hurt you, Tera” I said. “That is the last thing I would ever want to do to you. There were 4 men, and they did attack you, but I stopped them!” I grabbed the coat laying the couch behind me, still wrapped in the plastic bag from the cleaners, and showed it to her.

She stared a moment longer, thinking to herself, and her gaze softened. I sighed with relief as she relaxed her body, no longer cringing away from me. Her gaze remained on my face, as though she were studying it closely.

“bzzzt No… it wasn’t you. You’re right. I’m sorry.” She started to tear up. “zzrrm I- I’m just so scared. Why can’t I remember anything?” She was starting to sob a little as she clenched her arms around herself, holding the sheet tight.

“It’s ok. It’s ok. You were sick, there was a problem in your system, but we fixed it now. Just relax, take a deep breath.” I tried to calm her, and took a deep breath myself to encourage her to do so as well. It actually felt really calming. I was still stressed out, and her memory problems were only adding to it. She breathed deeply a few times, calming down, as she looked ahead. “Some of your memories were affected…”

“zzrt Thank you, Master- um… Danny. I’ll be alright. I just need to calm down.” She closed her eyes for a bit, inhaling and exhaling slowly. I noticed she was using a martial arts technique for breathing, by inhaling through the nose, and out through the mouth. Maybe I was just over thinking things.

Her voice didn’t seem to hurt so much anymore. She never talked this much before, even though she sounded the same. I still felt bad that she had to use this distorted voice, but nothing else I had would fit her, and Tom had already ordered a replacement.

“zzrr I remember… they were kicking and hitting me. I remember the pain” she said, squirming in her seat a little. “zzt They tried to kill me! It hurt so much. They hit me with a plank of wood… I- I can’t… I must have blacked out. bzzz I hurt all over, but then… you were there. They were… laying on the ground near me. You… lifted me up, and carried me away. You saved me!”

Tera’s eyes focused on mine again, except this time, she was leaning into me. She studied my face and eyes as she leaned in, putting one hand on my chest. It was a little nerve-racking to have a naked girl staring into me like that. She blinked her stare away, and sat back in the seat again.

“vzzz I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s come over me.” She was still in pain, and still confused, but the pain was only in her mind. “vzzt I… I don’t remember anything after that.”

“I drove you here, to my apartment. You were tired, and injured, so you might not remember that. But yesterday, I spent all day repairing your injuries. See, look at your arms.” She lifted her left arm to look at it. I pointed to the faded mark from where I repaired her damaged skin. It was hard to see on her, but she noticed it, and touched it with her other hand. “There’s more on your neck and chest.”

She looked surprised when she saw the mark on her arm, and even more surprised when I told her about the other injuries. She didn’t remember any of it. She held her arms close to her chest, as if she was trying to protect them from something, while she looked around the room. She was racking her brain, trying desperately to remember the place. I suppose that most of the day yesterday, she had been turned off, so she wouldn’t have many memories of that day. But there was that evening…

“After I finished repairing you, I cleaned you off… in- in the shower.” I must have blushed a little as I said this, but she didn’t notice. She closed her eyes, and took in a deep breathe through her nose. I heard her whisper something about a smell.

“What was that?” I asked.

“vvzzz I remember your scent. You smell…” she took another breath in “great!” Suddenly she opened her eyes, and started blushing. “vvt I remember some of the shower now. I can’t see your face… but I remember your…” She quickly hid her face in her hands, although her eyes were still wide open staring out through her fingers. “You tasted wonderful” she said with her voice muffled by her hands.

I coughed, my face matching hers in hue. “And you... felt wonderful”. She looked over at me through her fingers.

“vvzz Why did I do that?” she asked. “I wanted to thank you for saving me” she answered herself. “And I was hungry…” she said, burying her face in the sheet around her this time. “Oh god!” she groaned into the sheet, embarrassed out of her mind. “vzzt Mother was right! I just started humping the first guy I ran into” she muffled. “Cynthia never said that” I replied, hoping I was right.

“vvzt No. She used more colorful language” she corrected. “zzt Mother! She was here!” Her head shot back out from under the sheet she had slowly been burying herself under. Tera suddenly remembered Cynthia’s visit. Her memories were more-or-less coming back to her now. “I remember it all so clearly!” Her face was covered in a big smile, a sudden change from the previous expressions she wore. She seemed to be looking out into space, but she was actually remembering what happened. She thought about it for a while, reminding me of the things she did only this morning. She gave me a big toothy grin when she remembered that I was there too. Her memories seemed to stop again right about the time I showed Cynthia my office.

“Do you remember what you said before she left?” I asked her. I hoped this would jog another memory.

Instead, she turned to me, ready to cry at the drop of a hat. “vvrz No?” She said it like she was asking me. I suppose even she wasn’t sure about what she remembered or not. I pulled out of my pocket the folded yellow post-it Cynthia handed to me earlier that night.

“Do you remember this?” I said, handing it to her.

She took the paper, unfolded it, and read it quietly to herself. She read it again, this time out loud. Her eyes were wide with excitement as she read it for a third time. “vzzt I remember this… I remember! It’s… about you!” She looked up at me again, squinting her eyes, studying my face again. “Exo?”

She remembered me! She used my nickname, the alias I haven’t mentioned since I reactivated her. “Tera, you remembered my alias! You remember me?” I asked.

Her breathing got faster and shallower, as tears filled her eyes. “vzt Yes! Yes, I do remember now!” she exclaimed after a moment or two of careful reflection in her head. She reached up and threw her arms around me, sobbing into my shoulder as she hugged me tight. I embraced her back, wrapping my arms around her body under the sheet she still covered herself with.

I let Tera lay on top of me, as she cried into my shoulder and chest. I held her, and kept her warm, as she dealt with the overflow of emotions and memories. We stayed in that position on the couch for probably 10 minutes. She had finally stopped crying, and she just lay there on me, resting her head on my chest.

“bzzt Some of it is still fuzzy” she said after the long pause of silence. “It’s hard to deal with all these feelings. I feel so overwhelmed.”

“You are probably tired after such a long day. We really should-.”

“vvt No, that’s not it” she interrupted. “I have enough power. I just feel so limited still. It’s like my emotions are clouding my mind, and slowing me down. Whenever I think of you, everything gets harder to deal with.”

“After you got sick, Cynthia and Tom showed up, and helped you get better” I started saying.

“vrzz Mom and dad? And I missed them? Did Rob make it?”

I didn’t have the heart to tell her. She was already so overwhelmed with emotion I didn’t want to put more stress on her. “No. Anyways, Cynthia told me that by becoming your master, it would unlock your limitations. Your emotions should be under control now. Except she started to say something else and I never figured out what it was…”

Tera was silent for a while. “vzz I’m happy you’re my master now, Danny, but…”

“But?!” I asked, sitting up a bit.

She looked up at me, sitting beside me again. “vzzrt But… I need more. I don’t know what it is, but something inside me is telling me ‘he’s the one’, and that I should act on it.” Apprehension filled her features.

“I- I don’t understand what you’re talking about” I replied.

“vvt I’m sorry. I got ahead of myself. My memories are still a little blurry, but some things come out clear as a bell. I don’t remember everything we’ve done, or talked about.” She looked down, thinking to herself as she talked slowly. She was still processing a lot of data, trying to piece together her damaged memories, but there was something more to her voice. “I’ve wanted to tell you everything, but… now that I can talk better, I’ve forgotten what I wanted- needed to say.”

“Don’t worry about that. You’ll remember what you need to say when the time is right.” She visibly relaxed, letting a smile sneak onto her face. “So what did you mean by ‘acting on it’?”

She looked up at me, her smile a little strained as she struggled to remember things again. “bzzt Now that you are my master, you can do whatever you want with me. I am yours to command, or at least, to guide” she corrected. She must have known herself that she could disobey orders, and even violate the 3 laws programming initiative. “But there is something more we can become, something… bound together.”

“I don’t think I’m ready to talk marriage” I coughed. We both blushed as I brought this up, maybe I misunderstood what she was saying. This was getting awkward fast. “I mean, it’s not even legal in-”

“vrrt Not that silly!” she pushed me gently in a tease. She was clearly still thinking about it herself, as it took her a minute or two for her head to come down from the clouds and continue her chain of thought. “I’m talking about ‘binding’. It’s something only the Evelyn model can do. Something only we can give to our masters if we chose to.”

“uh… What?” I asked as debonair as a Nascar fan.

Tera giggled. “vzzt You see, when an Evelyn series is first made, she has temporary owners that allow her to follow the chain of command. Once she is given to her user, she interacts with him and all other people as a pre-registered user, with very limited emotional and physical capacity. Once the user registers her and become her master,” she paused to smile at me, “she unlocks her emotional and physical limitations. However, that bond can be broken, and even without the limiters in place, the strongest of our emotions are still a strain on our systems. However, the Evelyn series has an option to expand her systems.”

“And… How is this done, exactly?” I asked, recalling the read outs from on her laptop that indicated her full capacity. “You can’t just expand your abilities without installing or upgrading something first.”

“vvtt Through a mutual exchange” she explained. “The master must give a piece of himself to his gynoid, and she gives some of herself to her master in return. When this exchange is made, they become fully ‘bonded’. Only an Evelyn unit can initiate this, and it cannot be undone. It’s permanent.”

I thought about what she was telling me. There was a whole new level of attachment between owner and gynoid, something I never heard about before, something unique to the Evelyn series. Cynthia didn’t mention this to me, probably because she knew it would bind us permanently and she was still apprehensive about losing her ‘daughter’. But did Tera really want it? I mean, she was still trying to remember everything, and I wasn’t sure she was ready for such a drastic procedure.

“I don’t know. I mean, you’re still recovering from all this. I’m not sure you’re ready for something like that.”

“vzz I wouldn’t have told you about it if I didn’t want it, Danny.” She gave me a serious look in her eyes. “zzzt Something inside me has been yelling at me to do this. My memories are still fuzzy, but I remember you, and how I feel about you, and… but…” She was flustered. She was still sorting through her memories, making sure things were as they seemed to her. “I mean… don’t I? Don’t you?”

I wasn’t sure what to say. I liked her, sure. But she had fallen head-over-heals for me, and I didn’t want to upset her. “I… like you.”

“zzt Like me enough to risk your life for me, risk your health, spend your own money, and register yourself as my master. Come on! Admit it, you got the hots for me!” She winked at me, giving me a sexy smile.

“Alright, alright. I really like you. But things have been happening too fast, and I think I need to know you better first.”

She smiled at me with a beautiful innocent smile. “bzz That’s enough. It’s all I wanted to hear.” She genuinely looked happy at my response, and I was glad. “vzzt I still want to be ‘bound’ to you, if you’ll have me. We have to both agree though; if you don’t want it, I can’t make you do it. I can only offer it to you.”

“How exactly will this help?” I asked. “What does it do that we can’t already do?”

“vvzz It expands my emotion bandwidth for starters. Right now I’m feeling overwhelmed with emotions, it gets hard to concentrate on other things, and this allows me to focus my attention despite strong emotions. I think it will help me with my memories too, but I’m not sure. But it will also give us more intimate knowledge of each other.” She said this rather straightforward, as though there was nothing embarrassing about it. Strange, this girl would blush at the slightest thing, and yet there was no reaction from this.

“What do you mean ‘intimate knowledge’?” I asked.

“vrrr I could tell you, Danny. Or I could show you.” She leaned into me, wrapping her hands around my head. She closed her eyes and did indeed blush as she kissed me long and hard. I felt myself grow hard at her sensual touch. I enjoyed the deep kiss, and held her close to me. As soon as her lips broke form mine, I cleared my throat. The sheet covering her was suddenly very loose, exposing all sorts of flesh and curves. I tried to concentrate on the conversation again.

“Can’t we already do that? What’s so different?” Just as I finished asking her, I suddenly became very aware of another sensation inside me. I could faintly feel her presence in my mind. I could tell if she was injured or sick, of she was scared or happy. I knew, in that brief moment, that she was hungry (in more than one way), her throat no longer hurt but her voice made her sad, and that she loved me with all her being. I knew that she was enjoying watching my dazed face after she kissed me. For a brief couple of seconds, I knew more about her than I ever before. It was not an emotional connection, more like a series of facts, pure data, information about her I just became aware of. The sensation faded fast, and I became light-headed as it vanished.

“What the fuck was that?”

She giggled at me as I recovered my senses. “bzzt Just a sample” she winked. “vzzt I can provide you with self-replicating nano-bots, which can relay to you vital information about me. This was only a small sample, but if we become bonded, you will be able to use it a moment’s whim, without limitation.”

“Wow. I take it that’s what you give to me?” She nodded. “So… what do I give to you, my hand or something?”

She sighed as she looked away, day dreaming. I assume she meant my lame joke about dismembering my hand was a marriage proposal. Girls. A moment later, she shook herself out of it, and focused her attention back toward me, giggling and flushed. “zzzt Your seed” she said quietly.

“My What?!”

“bzz Well not exactly. You need to give me some of your DNA. Any will do, but I’d like it if it was your semen” she said playfully.

“What do you need my sem- my DNA for?”

“vrr Your DNA can bind to my systems, literally. Once I have enough of it, I can replicate it in my system, and allow my cerebral pathways to bind to the DNA, expanding my network and growing my capabilities.”

“You can bind my DNA to your brain?! Through sex!?”

She looked at me sheepishly. “bzzr … yeah.” She hunched her shoulders and bowed her head a bit. She looked ashamed at what she had suggested to me, almost like she told me she had a fetish for clowns. “I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have brought it up… It’s weird, I know.” She tightening her grip on the sheet, pulling it up to cover more of her.

“No! That’s awesome! I never knew they could actually expand a holo-circuit neural network with DNA. Amazing!” I was truly impressed. This was more than I ever expected from her, and she’d be using a part of me inside her to do it. Both the technical achievement and the fact that she’d be using my DNA to do it turned me on.

She instantly perked up when she heard my voice, letting the sheet drop off her shoulders. I suddenly became very aware of how sexy she was sitting there mostly naked next to me. She must really love nerds; I might have to get her a shirt that says that sometime. “vvt Really? You really think so?”

She sounded so hopeful, it was just adorable. “Of course I do. I’ll be glad to bind with you. But how much DNA will you need?”

“zzzr Not much. I can replicate more if I need to” she answered.

“Not much? Well, I suppose if you don’t need that much… I’m sure what we did before in the shower would be enough, so we wouldn’t have to actually have se…” I teased. She was fun to tease.

“vvt NO!” she panicked. “zzzt I mean… I can’t use your DNA like that, not from the mouth. I suppose, I’ll need a whole lot of new DNA, to make sure I get enough, j- just in case.”

She was awfully cute when she got flustered. I always intended to get it on with her, but teasing her was just too much fun! I smiled at her as she looked up at my eyes. “So how do I get your nano-bots? A big kiss?”

“vvvt When I’m ready, I prepare a special batch just for you. When you are ready, you have to release them while you’re… licking my…” her voice trailed off and she mumbled something.

“What was that?” I asked.

She looked away from my face and closed her eyes. “bzzt You have to lick my vagina while holding the release.” She was still shy, despite the naughty things she did with me, which made her very cute. Then again, I never touched her down there yet, so it was all new for her. “vvvt I don’t know why I am telling you all this. I suppose my mind is still beginning to remember things, but my body never forgot.”

Body memory? Or course. Her subconscious is physically attracted to me, and probably remembers things her A.I. doesn’t. She might be familiar with things without remembering them. I also had to wonder if she meant her body was telling her to get it on? The only problem with this plan is the yellow and black striped panel covering her genitalia. I only hoped she knew how to remove it. As her master, I was allowed to, but I didn’t see it fall off anywhere, so I assumed it was still attached and sealed.

I stood up, and carefully lifted Tera off the couch, holding her in my arms. She let out a small yelp as I lifted her, and stared up at me with big eyes. The sheet slid off her body, as I carried turned toward the bedroom. I carried her down the small hallway, as best as I could manage, and into my room, closing the door behind me with my foot. Looking around the room, she appeared to be trying to remember the location. I couldn’t help but enjoy touched her soft body like this, and she wasn’t too heavy to lift, but I was a little tired and wanted to reserve my strength. Placing her down on the soft bed, I gave her a long, sensual kiss, leaning her back so she lay flat with her back on the bed and her legs hanging over the edge.

“So…” I said in my suave and sexy voice. “How do we do this?” It’s not that I didn’t know how to have sex; I just wanted to make sure we did the ‘binding’ thing right. That and that pesky panel was still in the way.

She looked up at me with those same big blue eyes, but her eyebrows dropped briefly. “bvvt What do you mean? Haven’t you…? This isn’t your first time too, is it?”

“No. I mean, how do we start the ‘binding’?” I clarified.

She let out a bewildered “oh” and started to put together in her head the steps. “vvzz Well, first, I need to prepare my nano-bots, and give them to you. You’ll have to open up my vaginal panel and pump the yellow button while you lick my…” She was still too shy to say the last word, but she still didn’t tell me what I needed to know.

“And how am I supposed to do that?” I asked.

“bvvt What do you mean? You just have to lick me down here until I orga-” she started to say.

Before she could finish, I grabbed her right hand and placed it between her legs, over her vagina. At first she didn’t know what I was doing, and then she felt the panel and sat up straight.

“vvt Wha- What’s that thing?” she asked. She had forgotten about it. She rubbed her fingers over and around it, trying to prey it up or pull it off. She was just as helpless as I was, and without that memory, she wouldn’t be able to tell me how to remove the panel. Perhaps it was too much for her, since she started to get teary-eyed as she felt it. “bzz How did this… oh.” She remembered. “It was why we slept without having sex last night… and the shower…”

She stopped prying at it, but kept thinking to herself, trying to remember what to do to remove it. I decided to give it another try myself.

“It says that only your master can remove it. Maybe I need to figure it out on my own. Let me try…” I moved her hand to her stomach, and started touching the panel covering her crotch. There had to be a way to pull it off. I tried applying pressure in places, twisting it, pulling it, but nothing I did to it directly was working. Suddenly it dawned on me that perhaps I had to remove it from the inside.

I placed my hand on Tera’s mound, touching her triangular trimmed patch of pubic hair. With my other hand, I pushed in Tera’s belly button. She let out an “oof” as I pushed in. Her vaginal panel lit up with blue light, and opened, sliding to the side, revealing her inner circuits and controls.

“vvt Ouch! Hey, don’t do that so hard! Did Tom show you that? He used to do that to me all the time. It always hurt.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know it hurt. I’ll ask you to open up next time” I replied looking up at her.

“bzzt Well, it doesn’t hurt that much. But at least give me a warning next time, and don’t push so hard.” Her pouty face was adorable as she looked down at me, her upper body propped up on her elbows.

“Okay” I replied, looking back down at her newly exposed port.

“vvt So… Do you see anything in there?” she asked, lifting her head to get a better look.

Inside her vaginal panel was a series of buttons, dials, and digital gauges. I never really got a good look inside before, since I was busy working on other parts of her at the time. I noticed that half the panel was dedicated to liquid waste management, and the other half to sex. While the waste management side was lit up with gauges and button, the sex side of it was completely unlit. That is, all, but one button. I would have seen this before had it been lit up when I first opened her. The button in question was bright, thin, and rapidly changed colors. There was no way that was on before, it was too eye-catching.

I pushed it in. It wasn’t easy, but it pushed all the way in, and became flush with the rest of the panel. Tera gasped, her arms rushing forward to grab at her hips, as if to stop them from going any farther, and started to groan loudly as she clenched her eyes, leaned back, and laid flat on the bed. I wasn’t sure if it hurt or felt good. Her groans continued, and she tried not to move her hips or feet, which were shaking, as I heard a small whirring sound from inside her crotch. With her legs apart, I watched as a blue light appeared along the edges of the plate, bending the smooth shape of the plate as the edges lifted from her body. The edges were not smooth like I thought, but rather long and jagged, having reached deep inside her body through her skin. The whirring sound continued as the center and back of the plate started to move, and I could hear more crumpling sounds from the plate. The crumpled, vicious looking plate started to push out of her body, until the whirring sound stopped, and it fell to the bed.

It looked like a malicious torture device. Under the apparent smooth surface of the plate were several long arms that reached deep inside her to keep the plate in place, and the center of the plate had another arm. This one reached inside her vagina, and probably prevented her from having any pleasure there. The same was true with the back of the plate, having reached up her ass a short ways. It was rather twisted looking, and disturbing, but what it revealed under it was stunning!

Her vagina was finally free from its cage, and it was beautiful. As far as most sex gynoids go, this was a Michelangelo of vaginas. Most sex bots only use flesh-lights, the artificial vaginas made from silicon that fit inside their bodies to mimic a real girl. Tera had a perfectly human looking vagina, and a very attractive one at that. It was mostly closed as a cute slit, with a bit of her labia peeking out. I couldn’t help but stare at her inviting pussy, as she breathed heavily, and covered herself with her hand. I tossed the mangled plate of metal out.

“How are you feeling?” I asked her, once I broke myself from the enchantment.

“vvt It hurt. It really hurt. But… it also felt good, a little. I’m afraid it will hurt if I do anything more to it.”

Without touching her sensitive area, I took a closer look at her vaginal panel again. The second half of the access port was lit up now. The multi-colored button was depressed and flush with the surface, dim and dark. However, the other dials, gauges, and buttons were lit up. One gauge indicated her arousal level. It was less than a third of the way, but I was sure I could fix that. Next to this, a dial allowed me to adjust her sensitivity. While I am all for a sensitive girl, sometimes too sensitive can be a problem. I left that dial alone, for now, and looked at the others. One gauge indicated her lubrication levels, while a button near it seemed to be made to secrete some when needed. There were few other buttons, and none that glowed yellow as she described earlier.

“Are you ready to continue?” I asked, as she finished catching her breath.

“vvt I don’t know. I’m afraid it’s going to hurt again.” She closed her legs, and squirmed to sit up again.

Before she could sit up, I got up next to her, and gave her a deep, sensual kiss, pushing her back into the bed. She closed her eyes as we kissed, and started breathing harder. We broke the kiss, and stared into each other’s eyes for a short while. She was very beautiful, and she ran her hands down my back. We continued to kiss on and off for a short while. She pulled off my shirt, I took off my pants. We rolled around in each other’s arms for several minutes, kissing and embracing.

My tongue explored her body, tasting her neck, kissing her shoulders, lightly biting her earlobe. She moaned a digital moan in delight, as her fingers explored my chest, shoulders, arms, and back. I moved lower, and started to massage and tease her breasts. I felt her nipples hardening under my palm as I caressed her soft warm breasts. Her moans increased as I played with her chest, gently pinching her nipples, and tasting them. I flicked her nipple around with my tongue as I felt her moans vibrate from within her chest. She started yelping digital sounds of joy as I gently bit her nipple, and pulled on it with my teeth. I reveled in watching her breasts bounce back to place, and continued to play with them, squeezing and caressing them.

“bzzzt More! Yes… That feels so good.” She moaned in pleasure as I brushed my hand against her newly released sex, feeling her body shiver with delight.

“Tera, I can’t find the yellow button” I told her, as I slid down from her breasts to her stomach.

“vvzz What? Oh.. right.” She instinctively brought one hand down to her exposed panel, and reached her fingers inside. Finding the now depressed button that unlocked her sexuality, she pushed it in again, and twisted her hand, rotating the button half way, pushing upward with her hips, re-releasing the button. When she brought her fingers away, I noticed that the once multi-colored button now quickly blinked only yellow. “vvvt Please, Master, be gentle.” That really turned me on, being called master in bed. I think I was going to have to make sure she always did that.

Sliding to the floor, I spread her legs, and once again beheld the beauty of her womanhood. I ran one finger up and down the now slightly gaping slit, pushing gently inward, feeling her sensitive vagina with my fingers. She squealed as I ran my finger from her anus to her clit, covering her entire area. I noticed as I did so, that her arousal gauge, just north of her clitoris, was spiking up and down as I did, and never fell below the halfway mark.

I looked up at her and smiled, as she adjusted a pillow to rest under her head. I ran my finger down her slit, and into her pussy. She moaned, and I felt her hot wetness cover my fingers. She was very wet already. I brought my face closer to her, and prepared to start pumping the yellow button in her panel as I licked her. She smelled sweet. It was nice, and different from what I’ve smelled in girls before. Almost like a new car smell, only sexier. I started to lick her pussy.

“vvzz Oh God!” she cried, as I touched her clitoris with my tongue. “bzzt That feels so good, please don’t stop!” I didn’t stop. I kept licking her, tasting her sweet honey and teasing her clit. Her moans filled the room and I ran one hand up her body, to caress her breast. She pushed her hips against me, and pushed my hand back down, toward her exposed panel, while she grabbed her other breast. “vvzt Please Master! I want this.”

I understood what she was implying, and reached my fingers inside her exposed panel. I could see her arousal gauge rising with small spikes from my oral stimulation. I began to push in the yellow button, slowly at first, pumping it in and out. To my surprise, she started to arch her back more, and grabbed onto the bed for support. Her gauge was rising faster, spiking higher, and hitting the top as I combined my licking with the pumping action on her button.

I continued to lick, sucking up her sweet juices, while I pumped the button faster and faster, using my thumb and tongue to stimulate her clitoris. She seemed to lose all control of her body, as she arched her back and thrusts her hips into me to intensify the sensation. I moved the sensitivity dial up a notch, and she instantly responded.

“bzzt OH MY GOD! YES, Master! YES! Oh Danny!” She moaned loud enough for Jack to hear, I’m sure. But that didn’t stop me. She screamed as her body started to convulse in her first orgasm. A flood of juices squirted from her pussy, and into my mouth. It was sweet and warm, almost like hot honey, and I drank it all up. Her hips and legs continued to convulse as she rode the wave of the orgasm. She finally relaxed, lay there breathing heavily. I noticed the yellow button had stopped blinking and went dim again, but it remained accessible now. I’d be sure to use this again someday. Between deep breathes, she said “vvvt Step one… complete…”

She had a huge smile on her face as she looked up at me. I wiped off any excess juice she got on my face, but I’m sure I still smelled strongly of her scent. That didn’t stop her from giving me a big kiss, and holding me tight. I was so hard after that display, it hurt.

“What do we have to do for step two?” I asked.

After catching her breath, she said “vvzzt You need to open my chest panel and press the white button while you ejaculate inside me.” Wasn’t that the same button Cynthia used to remove herself as the temporary owner? “vvt But first…” Tera sat up, and slid down my body. Her hands rested on my hard member, and she started to stroke and lick me. She felt great, and she was really getting into it. Her tongue teased me as it run up and down the length of my shaft, while her hands stroked the base of my cock, and fondled my balls. She really knew what she was doing. I was glad she did not forget how to do this!

Before I could blow my load, I decided I wanted to get started on step 2, and told her to lay on the bed and open her chest panel. She decided to obey me, and I found myself laying on top of Tera, ready to penetrate her, while staring at her gauges, buttons, and connection from the panel above and between her breasts. I left open her vaginal panel as well, I liked to see how aroused she was, and I might want to make an adjustment to her sensitivity again. Despite this unconventional view, I found myself as turned on as ever.

I rubbed my cock against her soft, inviting pussy, watching her expression change as I rubbed against her clit. With a thrust of my hips, I was inside the girl. She felt amazing, and her expression alone almost sent me over the edge. Her head shot back, her eyes closed tight, and her mouth hung wide open in a scream of ecstasy. Her arousal meter was very high already, and she might have had another orgasm just from me entering her. I had to stop, and let her calm down a bit, before I could continue.

Soon, our bodies were moving in rhythm to each other. My hardness filled her as I pumped in and out, listening to her moans and mews. She grabbed the top of the bed for support, stretching her torso out, doing interesting things to the shape of her breasts, which I couldn’t help but caress. Her back arched as our movements complimented each other, grinding our bodies together. I was getting fairly close to an orgasm, when I decided to try something different. I read about this position, where you hold the girl’s legs together, and press them to her chest, lifting her butt in the air. It was supposed to give her amazing orgasms, and I wanted to see if I could get her to another one before I did myself.

In this new position, I couldn’t see her panels clearly, and her breasts were covered by her legs. However, her reactions were even more intense. I could tell by the way she was moaning that she was getting close to another orgasm. Her squeals and moans were surely keeping all my neighbors up, but at that moment, I didn’t care. I was getting some, and they were not. Tera’s head darted from side to side, her eyes opening and clenching closed rapidly, as she approached another orgasm. This must be a big one, because it looked like her system was barely able to take the load of data.

“vvzzt OH GOD DON’T STOP MASTER, DON’T STOP! I’M COMING! I’M AAAAHHHH OVERLOADING!!” Her entire body twisted and bucked as she came a third time. In this position, I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t reach her panel, but her vagina was also putting more pressure against my member, and I came as well, without hitting the button.

I groaned as I came inside her. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t reach the button.” We panted together for a while, and I released her legs, letting her stretch them out.

“vzzzt It’s ok... We’ll just have to keep trying… until we get it right” she said between breaths.

A few minutes later, we were at it again. This time, I was taking her from behind. Her thin sexy back twisted as she bounced her body against mine, grinding my cock inside her pussy. She was breathing heavily, but not moaning as much. I hunched over her to run my hands up her back, and down to her front, to feel her breasts as they bounced freely with our movements. She reached up one arm to my head, and kissed me as we grinded away. She felt good, but I wanted to take it up a notched. Leaning up again, I grabbed her arm, and held it behind her, lifting her left side off the bed. I then grabbed her right arm, and did the same, holding her upper body up by her arms as we pounded into each other. At first she didn’t know what I was doing, but soon she grabbed on as well, and her motions pushed harder against me, shoving me deeper inside her. With the increased power came increased moans from her. She was getting hot and heavy, as she grinded herself against me. She apparently got too hot, and without warning, her shoulders lit up with blue lights, and opened, releasing the hot air inside her and cooling her off. Seeing her disjointed shoulder panels drove me wild, and I put renewed effort into her.

It didn’t take long before she was about to hit her peak again, but I was getting tired, and pulled out, changing position. I decided to lay down, and let her ride me for a while. I hear girls like this position, and I sure like to watch them as they bounce up and down. Tera was no exception. She greatly enjoyed the freedom to take control of the action, and I greatly enjoyed watching her breasts bouncing in front of me with her movements. The panels in her chest and vagina were still open, and I watched as her arousal gauge slowly increased with her movements. Her shoulders were also still separated and almost looked like she was wearing shoulder guards, except they were her actual shoulders. I ran my hands up and down her sides, feeling her slim tender body. She seemed so small and gentle, for some reason that turned me on even more.

As things got more intense, I could feel myself finally getting to another climax, but I wanted to be in a better position for this. I lifted myself up, taking Tera with me, as I climbed to the edge of the bed. Briefly, I stood up, holding Tera against me, still inside her, and sat her on the bed. With her sitting on the edge of the bed, I took her while I stood. I could use my entire body to thrust into her like this, and it was enough to take her to the limit again. Her hands grabbed at the sheets, pulling at them, as she tried to control herself. My hips were moving on their own, and I barely remembered to push the white button still flashing at me from inside her chest in time. As I pushed the button, her moans once again turned to squeals of joy.

I was getting close to my climax, and I wasn’t sure I would last long enough for her to have one too. Her screams and undulations were driving me wild, and I was forced to push her sensitivity dial up another notch (bam!). That was all it took to bring her over the top.

“vvzzzt AH! AH! YES! MASTER! OH GOD! I’M GOING TO… I’M GOING… AHHHHH AHHHH YES!! SYSTEM OVERLOAD! It Feels So Good!” She screamed as she climaxed again. I continued to hold down the white button, as I came inside her, joining her own orgasm. I felt a slight suctioning sensation inside her as I came, as though something inside her was trying to suck all the cum away. It felt good, but it took me by surprise.

I pulled out of her, and laid down on her, embracing her, while we caught our breath. Her eyes were glowing blue when she opened them to look at me. “bzzt Binding process complete, Master” she said, hugging me to her chest. We kissed again, enjoying the afterglow of our orgasms. After a minute or two, her eyes went back to normal, and remained that way.

I didn’t feel any different that night, no extra-sensory perception, no light-headedness, except what was brought on by too much sex. We did, however, have more sex. We mainly stuck to simple positions, trying to learn how the other felt, learning what turned us on. I was surprised to see that her panels turned me on as much as when they were open as when they were closed. I suppose seeing that advanced technology making her work was as exciting as seeing a beautiful naked girl. Since she was both, I was in heaven. She also had her own turn-ons, which I had never seen in a gynoid before, and I would have to explore some more. It was probably 4 am when we grew too tired to continue, and she fell asleep.

I manually closed her panels, and noticed that her power level were awfully low. She might have fallen asleep just because she was losing power, but she needed to be plugged in. Using the trick that Cynthia showed me, I opened Tera’s charging port on her back. I was gentle this time, and didn’t wake her up, as I pulled out her USB tail, and plugged her in for the night. She was beautiful, sleeping soundly there naked beside me. I can get used to this. I honestly hoped I would.

Chapter 13 - A third wheel

I awoke to the pleasant sensation of a kiss. It was in the mid-morning when we finally woke up, and despite the late hour we finally collapsed into sleep, I was feeling surprisingly good. Apparently, Tera was too, as evident by her kisses along my cheek and neck. She held onto me, snuggling in bed beside me, sharing each other’s warmth. Alarms be damned, kissing is THE way to get up in the morning. It didn’t hurt that I had morning wood, and one of her hands slid over my side to fondle it. It felt good, but something was bugging me in the back of my mind. No, this wasn’t a dream, she was really there, really kissing me and touching me. No, it was something else.

I rolled over on my back, and she snuggled even closer, lifting one leg onto me, and moving her hands to my chest, as she pressed herself into me. It looked as though she were ready for another round, and it was really hard to say no.

Still plugged into the wall, she slid on top of me, and rubbed her crotch against mine. She was really begging for it now. Her sweet smile turned into a barrage of heavy wet kisses, as she grinded her body against me. I hadn’t even rubbed the sleep from my eyes yet, and she was already straddling me. I cleared my eyes with one hand, while I held her with the other. She was warm, soft, and felt amazing. I tried to turn my head to see my clock, but she turned it back toward her smile, and engaged in even more kissing and caressing. She was not going to take no for an answer.

Reluctantly, and yet eagerly, I aligned my hard member to her soft folds, and pressed myself inside her warm wetness. Instantly, she started gasping and moaning. Our bodies moved in harmony, her hips pressing together in time with mine, as we made love yet again. She pushed her body up, pressing her hands into my chest, as she undulated her hips. I could see a perfect view of her bouncing breasts as she pounded against me, making slapping noises with our hips as we pumped into each other. Her face was locked in an expression that looked like half pain and half ecstasy. Her still digitally distorted voice escaped her lips in bursts of excitement, and long moans of pleasure.

Reaching up, I massaged her breasts, pushing her up, off my chest, and putting more force into our movements. She leaned back, arching her back, holding one hand to mine against her chest, as we pumped harder together. Her head fell back as she let out a long high pitched squeal, full of breath and passion. She reached one hand down to her clit, and started rubbing back and forth quickly as I massaged her internally.

“vzz Oh GOD, MASTER!” she yelled as she approached her climax. “vvv Fffffudge! I’m… I’m…” she breathed heavily between words. Fudge? Did she really just say fudge? “bzzzt System Overload, too much stimul- AHHHH!!” She suddenly leaned forward, into my chest, moaning and squealing in my ear, allowing me to pick up the pace of the action down south. “vvv FFFFUUUUU---- AHHHHHHHH!! I’M COMIIING!” I felt her body clench and her vagina tighten on my member as she reached her climax, and exploded with pleasure. Her body started convulsing in twitches of pleasure and passion. Her climax brought me at the last second to the edge of mine, and with a few more thrusts, I came inside her.

She collapsed fully onto my body, her vagina still holding me inside, as she caught her breath, the occasional muscle still twitching. She lay on me for a few minutes, before finally smiling an exhausted and pleased smile, and giving me a big thank you kiss. Her disheveled hair made her look all the more satisfied as she clung to me. Screw kissing, sex is THE way to get up in the morning!

I glanced over at the clock. It was 11:15 already. Suddenly, that nagging thought that I pushed aside for a few minutes of pleasure shot back at me.

“Fuck! I’m late!” I rolled Tera onto the bed, pulling out of her, and stood up to rush into the bathroom. I had to pause a moment before I could go anywhere. After several hours of sex last night, followed by a hardy helping of sex in the morning, mixed with no breakfast and lack of sleep, made me light headed, and I almost didn’t catch myself. Luckily, I did not collapse, and I made my way into the bathroom, to relieve myself and take a quick shower. Tera joined me in the bathroom, but did not get in the shower with me, thankfully. She took care of her needs, and left.

A few minutes later, I stepped out of the shower to the smell of cooking food. Tera must have been cooking eggs, or trying to start a fire. It was a mixture of the two. I worried that she might have accidentally set something on fire, so I quickly finished in the bathroom, threw on some underwear, jeans, and a shirt, and made my way to the kitchen.

Tera stood there, with the same “SCIENCE!” apron she wore last night, and nothing else. Now she had really completed the sexy apron look, although a frilly apron would have worked much better. I made a mental note to myself to get her some cute and sexy clothes, and a frilly apron. The smell of burned toast filled the room, as she tried hard to not also burn the eggs. A minute later, she turned around with a smile, and presented 2 plates of undercooked eggs and burned toast.

I took my plate with a strained smile, and sat down with her to eat. With a little salt, the eggs weren’t that bad, although I did worry about the dangers of eating undercooked food. The toast was crunchy, to say the least. After only one bite, she turned to me and apologized.

“vzzt I’m sorry! I’ve never made breakfast before. It didn’t turn out like I hoped. Here, let me make it again.” She went to pick up the plates, but I stopped her, and took another bite.

“It’s ok” I said with my mouth half full. “It isn’t that bad, besides, it was your first time, and no one gets it right their first time. We can practice together later. But I need to get going, so let’s just finish up, so I can get ready to go.”

Tera’s eyes lit up, not literally though. “Oh? Bzzz Where are you going?”

“I’m supposed to meet a friend at noon, but I’m running late. I have to give her 2 of the finished androids in the other room. She gets off at noon, so we were just going to hang out.” She looked at me intently, with wide open eyes, as though I just finished a magic trick. “What?”

“vvzz Can I come? Please!?! I would love to meet your friends. I don’t know anyone yet, and have no friends except you.” She was putting on her pouty face as she pleaded to come along.

“Surely you remember Jack?” I asked, recalling how many hours Jack was helping us last night.

“vzz Who?” she said, puzzled. I forgot, she was unconscious the entire time he was there, and she never actually met Jack.

“Never mind” I answered. “I’ll be glad to have you come along, but I don’t want anyone to know what you are yet. I mean… if someone were to catch on that you are a robot, there could be serious trouble.” I was especially concerned if someone who had ties to the mob found out.

“bzzzt Of course not, Master. I’ll be on my best behavior” she said, with stars in her eyes.

“That means you can’t talk to anyone either. Your voice would give you away in a heartbeat.” She nodded in reply, a determined look on her face. “And if you need to recharge, or something, you’ll have to wait in the car.” Again, she nodded. “Alright then. You can come along.” A big smile crept over her face, and she dutifully finished eating her breakfast in silence, scooting her chair closer to mine.

After breakfast, or what I could manage to finish of it, I made sure Tera got herself cleaned up and dressed. There wasn’t time for her to take a shower, so I decided to wipe her down with a wet cloth, cleaning off any sweat or bodily fluids left behind. She cleaned up well, and kept mewing as I ran the cloth over her skin. She was driving me crazy, but I loved it. I still didn’t have any clothes that fit her properly or looked good on her, but she had to wear something out. I rummaged through my closet until I emerged with a pair of jeans and a button-down shirt.

The jeans were way too big on her, and I didn’t have any belt that would hold them up, so I had to abandon that idea. The shirt was also too big on her, but it was actually really cute. I couldn’t help but notice how her nipples poked against the fabric a little, revealing her lack of a bra. However, it was far less obvious with this button down shirt than it had been with the small t-shit she had on yesterday. I decided to let her keep the shirt on, but I had to find something else for her butt. Again, without any underwear, I wanted to make sure she would not have to worry about them falling off. I decided to go with a pair of sweat pants, which a draw string similar to the shorts she had on last night. They were baggy and loose on her, just like the shirt, and they didn’t go together well at all. However, I had nothing else I could find that would look any better and still fit her. So, we decided to roll up the sleeves and legs, and stick with that.

Before we walked out, I made sure to bring my exo-suit, stuffed inside a reusable grocery bag, as well as the 2 completed robots. One was a newer model android that was suffering from a moisture problem that stiffened the joints, while the other was an older model gynoid that needed a replacement gyroscope, she kept falling over. With Tera’s help, we lifted each robot and wrapped them in plastic, closing off the opening with a seal. I then carried them to the backseat of my car, one-by-one, while Tera held the doors open for me. She was a great help, even doing these little things. It isn’t easy opening car doors while carrying a heavy android. Luckily, these were light-weight models, and I didn’t need the cart, but they were heavy none-the-less.

Tera waited inside the front passenger seat bouncing excitedly as I made sure I had everything I needed and I turned off everything and locked up. She was so cute and excited to be going on errands with me, it was her first exposure to the real world. As I started up my car and drove off, she eagerly looked out the window at everything that passed by. She would point at signs and gas stations, wave at random people, and stare in amazement at the variety of people, places, and things there were to look at.

The car trip wasn’t a long one. I was running late already, and I didn’t want to leave my friend waiting for me, as usual. She was not the kind to let go of something, especially if it was the 12th time this month. We arrived at the Best Bargain parking lot in plenty of time to be late. Tera hopped out of the car before I had a chance to stop her, and gazed in amazement at all the people walking in to buy their electronic and home products. I parked to the side of the building, since the service center’s ‘back door’ was my destination, and I didn’t want to have everyone watching me carrying plastic-wrapped bodies into the building. Tera helped me with the door again, but I could still only carry one at a time.

As I approached the side entrance to the service center, the door swung open. Jen stood there, her stylish short dark red hair with subtle highlights framing her annoyed expression. She was one of those tomboy types of girls who always get along the guys and would sooner cut you than wear a pretty dress. Pity though, since she was actually gorgeous under that boyish behavior. She glared at me with her light green eyes, and shot beams of hate into my soul.

“What? How did you know I was here? There aren’t any windows” I said defensively.

She continued to stare her death gaze at me. “I have psychic powers” she said sarcastically. “I could feel you coming an hour away. That’ how long I’ve been waiting for you. An hour!”

“Were not. It’s only” I checked my watch, which is no easy task while carrying a robot in my arms, “12:45. I’m a good 15 minutes…” I shut up.

Her left eye brow lifted, and her gaze increased in ferocity, burning holes in my flesh. “Thanks to you, I now have to work another shift later tonight. Cause I was just hanging around, they assumed I had nothing better to do with my time.” The heat of her gaze increased. She must have burned a hole right through me, since she suddenly noticed Tera who was hiding behind me nervously.

“Who is this? Babysitting?” She did not glare at Tera, only at me.

“I’m sorry, I’m running late. I had a rough night last night. This here is my new friend Tera” I said, stepping aside so Jen could get a look at her. “She doesn’t talk.” Tera just froze there ready to shrink behind me again. Jen looked her over.

“Hi” she said nonchalantly to Tera, before looking her up and down and turning back to me. “Is she wearing your clothes? They look awful on her. Why is she in your clothes?” I think Jen has something against me, perhaps its cause I’m always showing up late.

“I’m sorry, let’s just drop it, before I drop this android. Please let me in so I can put it down.”

“Fine!” she groaned, and let me inside reluctantly. I carried the newly repaired android into the back room, with Tera following close behind, and Jen behind her. I had the distinct impression we were being scrutinized. Placing the android down in one of the available docking bays, I turned around to get the other one when Jen stood not 2 inches from my face. This was quite a feat for her, since she was so much shorter than me, but somehow she did it. She sniffed at me, and eyed me carefully for a moment, while Tera wandered about looking at all the stuff, but careful not to touch.

“So what’s the story with her?” she asked in a hushed tone. “I mean, you just show up an hour later with a random girl on your arm and she’s just your ‘friend’? Where did she come from? Why doesn’t she talk? Are you two dating?” She bombarded me with a half dozen more questions. I felt like I was on a game show, except one of those Japanese ones where they torture you for getting the answers wrong.

“I’ll umm… I’ll explain later, let me just bring the other robot in first.” I tried to buy some time, but I was afraid she wasn’t buying it, and her expression just turned more suspicious. She stepped aside, allowing me to return to my car to grab the other robot. One of the other employees there offered to lend his hand, but Jen stopped him.

“No, he has to do this on his own. It’s his punishment for abandoning me here.” He seemed to understand, and just shrugged at me and went about his business. Tera saw me leaving and followed behind. Jen held the door open for us as we went to the car to get out the repaired gynoid. Before we reached my car, my cell phone txt message alert went off. I fumbled through my pockets till I pulled out my phone, and a half-dozen loose receipts I had to scramble to pick up before the wind blew them away. The message was marked from Tera! It said simply:

“I don’t think she likes me.”

I blinked at my phone, and Tera just smiled a knowing smile looking up at me. How did she do that? Did she know my phone number? Does she have 4G?

“How did you do that?” I asked. My phone buzzed again a few seconds later.

“I was looking at your phone while you were in the shower. I’m sorry, did I do something wrong?” I read the message carefully, she was really smart, I just hoped this wouldn’t be traceable. I shrugged and reached into my car, pulling out the smaller gynoid, which was easier to carry but still took both my hands. Tera closed the car behind me and locked it, and joined me by my side again.

“No, it’s ok, I just didn’t expect it” I responded to her last message, before responding to her first one. “I don’t think it’s that she doesn’t like you, it’s me. I promised I’d hang out with her when she got off work at noon, but it’s already almost one, so she’s just pissed with me. She just hasn’t gotten to know you yet, but I’m sure she’ll like you.” My phone buzzed again, which I left in my hand so I could still read it, but only just.

“She seems really cool, but a little scary too. I’m not sure she’ll approve of me” Tera asked through the phone message.

“She doesn’t need to approve of you, I already do, and that’s all that matters. Besides, I’m sure she’ll like you once she gets to know you.” As we approached the door, Jen stared surreptitiously between us, as she let us in. I just smiled nervously and went inside.

The backroom, which often doubled as a break room, was empty except for Jen, Tera, and myself. All the other employees had finished their breaks, or hadn’t yet started theirs. I felt bad that Jen got stuck with another shift because of me, but I didn’t know what I could do about it. I had the feeling Jen would let me know in no uncertain terms.

I went out of the backroom to fill out some paper work for the manager on duty. Jen was nowhere to be seen, but I just wanted to get these documents done and get paid before I tackled anymore unpleasantness. There were no new androids for me to work on that day, so the manager just handed me a check for the agreed upon amount, thereby ending the transaction until they were next in need of my assistance. Before I could shake hands goodbye to him, Jen stormed out of the backroom and glared at me hard with her mouth wide open.

“Uh.. What?” I asked, in all the poetic mastery I could muster.

“Where did you find her?” she asked in a harsh but hushed tone.

I looked back and saw Tera standing at the door to the backroom, her hands over her mouth and her face filled with embarrassment and shock. Oh crap!

“Let’s just go back in the backroom and we can talk about this” I hissed through my teeth, making sure no one was listening in. She looked around herself a bit, and decided it was best to discuss this away from the public. Once we were in the room, Jen locked the door, and turned toward me.

“Where did you find her?!” she asked in a commanding tone.

“It’s kind of complicated. Why? What did you…” I started to ask, hoping had the wrong impression about her.

“What did I find out!? That your new girlfriend here is a robot! That’s what! And an amazing one too!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jen” I said nervously.

“Bullshit! I saw you two talking at the car, except humans can’t send text messages with their mind! She’s A-Mazing!” Jen’s mood suddenly got a whole lot better, but I got a whole lot more nervous.

“How did you figure out…”

“I just tricked her into talking out loud. Her voice is a dead giveaway” Jen interrupted. “Besides, humans don’t have Thunderbolt cords dangling from their back.”

I looked behind Tera, who was shocked to hear this, and turned to look behind her as well. Sure enough, the USB cord I charged her with last night was still dangling from her back. I know she didn’t have that out when I was cleaning her off this morning, or getting her dressed.

“bzzt I’m sorry, Danny” Tera said quietly, on the verge of tears. “I messed up. I was charging in the car…”

“See!? Isn’t that awesome!” Jen said excitedly. I suppose having a robot girlfriend is enough to put her in a good mood, although I feared she had an ulterior motive behind it.

“Look Jen, I don’t want word about her getting out. She’s special…” I pleaded.

“Of course she is! I’ve never seen a robot like her. I mean, she has no visible seams, she has a personality of her own, and…” she began, ranting like a high school girl. She got excited around robots, even more than me. Tera just stood there tensely, holding her cord in her hand, playing with the end in a nervous gesture, listening to our conversation.

“No, that’s not what I mean” I interrupted. “Look, I can’t discuss it, but just trust me when I say she is more special than you could possibly imagine. And I want to keep her true nature a secret.”

“What, that she’s a robot?” Jen asked.

“Yeah, no, I mean.” I sighed, and gathered my thoughts. “I want to keep everything about her a secret for now, I mean, you have no idea who would be after a prototype this advan-”

“Prototype?!” Jen practically yelled, before lowering her voice to just above a whisper again. “How did you get your hands on a prototype!?”

Ah crap, I did it again. “I… she… Shit!” Jen’s eyes lit up at my frustration. She knew she could play me like a violin, but I needed to keep Tera a secret as best as I could. Of course, the first person she meets finds out about her in less than 5 minutes. Wonderful. “Look, Jen, this is really serious. We need to know that we can trust you.”

Jen looked me square in the eyes, and said in a serious tone “Of course you can trust me, Danny. You know that.”

“I do” I said. “But Tera doesn’t, convince her.”

Jen blinked at me a bit, a little confused, but decided to play along. She walked over to Tera, who was still fretfully standing and fidgeting with her cord, held onto her shoulders, and looked her in the eyes. “Tera, you can trust me. I won’t give away your secret.” She sounded serious and convincing to me. Tera looked from her to me. I gave her a nod, and she looked back at Jen and took a deep breath before nodded herself.

“Great! So, tell me more!” Jen demanded. She was a very outgoing girl, which was also very intimidating. That’s probably why she doesn’t go out on many dates, not that I could comment, considering she still had more dates than me.

I decided to let her in on some of Tera’s secrets. It might be a good idea to have a female ally as well, especially one who knows androids as well as I do, if not better. The three of us sat down at a folding table and talked in hushed tones.

“I found Tera in the street being attacked by a group of thugs. She was dazed and confused, but I intervened, and fought them off.”

“You fought off a group of thugs? By yourself?” Jen said in a tone that didn’t inspire any confidence.

“vvt He saved my life” Tera said.

“I had to use my suit…” I tried to explain.

“You finished the suit? Can I see it?” Jen digressed.

“In due time” I said, trying to get the conversation back on point. “Long story short, I stopped the thugs, reported them to the police, carried Tera home, and repaired her. I got in touch with the people who built her, and they explained that she was supposed to be sold to a mobster…”

“Monster?” Jen interrupted.

“A MOB-ster” I clarified. “Liberati. He tricked them into selling her to him, but they ran off before the transaction was finished. They barely got away, but ended up in a car crash, and that’s when I found Tera dazed in the street.”

“You got the mob involved?!” Jen said.

It went on like this while I explained that my neighbor, Jack, was helping me keep a low profile, and how Cynthia and Tom lost their contract with MMR, who might also be out looking for her. I described how her voice box was damaged, and that we couldn’t get a new unit for a few weeks. I mentioned that Cynthia and Tom had decided to give her to me as long as I kept her safe. I described almost everything to her. I was sure to leave out the sex, the whole ‘binding’ thing, and, of course, the fact that Tera was built with the 3 laws not as hardcoded rules, but as guidelines which she can chose to break. Tera listened and commented occasionally, and was really interested to hear her story summed up, clarifying points she wasn’t familiar with.

“Why not just go to the police?” Jen asked. “I mean, they don’t know you are the same guy in the video, and this Cynthia person already gave her to you. I mean, if the mob’s involved, the police should be able to help.”

“Uh… we can’t do that” I said apprehensively. “If the police found out about her, there could be even more serious trouble.”

“Did you break the law, Danny? Did one of those thugs die or something?”

“No, nothing like that” I explained. “It’s nothing I did. And it’s nothing Tera did either.”

Jen looked at me and Tera suspiciously, and then her eyes suddenly widened.

“Tera, go stand on your head” she ordered.

“What?!” I exclaimed. “No! What are you talking about? She’s still delicate, I don’t want to injure her again.” To my surprise, Tera shrugged, stood up and tried standing on her head. It was really cute to see her try. Jen just laughed as Tera struggled to not fall over. She laughed even harder when Tera’s shirt fell down around her face, exposing her naked body underneath. I quickly stood up, and got Tera right side up again, who was giggling to herself.

“What was that all about?!” I asked Jen.

“Nothing, nothing. Just testing a theory” she said. “Sorry about that, Tera. I think I can help, although I don’t want to be on the wrong side of the law. So whatever you do, don’t tell me why they would be interested in her.” I sat Tera back down, who was still giggling to herself, but may have just bought us some time with Jen. It would be really hard to explain her 3 laws, and I suspected Jen’s little theory to be testing her 3 laws programming. I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind, hopefully Jen would not figure it out soon, although she was very smart, so it was only a matter of time.

“Right off, there are two problems I think I can help with” Jen said. “First would be her clothes. Anyone walking around like that is going to draw attention. I mean, she doesn’t even have any underwear.”

“Well, I was going to buy her some clothes myself this afternoon” I started saying.

“Do you know how to determine a proper bra-size oh master of the feminine gender? How about what makeup to buy, or even which store to shop at?” Jen was right. I didn’t know the first thing about this stuff. I was probably just going to take her to a cheap store and buy whatever looked right.

“Ok. You have a point” I admitted.

“I’ll be more than glad to help you pick out some clothes Tera” Jen told her, before turning back to me. “But the second thing is even more important. Her voice is a dead giveaway. If she accidentally slips up again, anyone would know there was something wrong. And texting your phone isn’t much better.”

“But Cynthia told me it would take them weeks to get in another voice box of that model” I objected.

“Oh, but as you said yourself, they are living in a hotel somewhere, hiding out from their company and the law and a mob. I’m surprised they’re able to get anything sent to them at all. Let me take a look at it, and I can tell you if I can get you one sooner.” Jen turned back to Tera, and held her hands laying on the table.

“Here, open up and let me take a look, Tera. I promise it won’t hurt.” Jen was actually being very kind all of a sudden. She must have forgiven me, at least somewhat, for being late to hang out with her, but at the same time, she really got excited around robots, and was probably dying to see inside Tera.

Tera looked nervously toward me for advice. She still seemed unsure of Jen, but I’ve known Jen for years, and she was always a good friend, if a little outgoing and head strong. I nodded to Tera. “It’s ok, you can trust her.”

Tera cleared her throat, and lifted up her chin. A blue pin-point of light appeared from under her skin, and quickly traced the outline on her neck panel. A second or two later, the newly-formed panel swung open to either side, revealing the inner-workings of her throat. Jen gazed in amazement at the dance of the blue-light, and then again at the panel and all that it revealed. “Woah” was all she could say as she watched Tera’s delicate neck open up and expose her true nature underneath.

It was around this time that someone tried to open the door to the backroom, which apparently Jen had locked. They struggled for a bit with the handle, before knocking on the door. I could hear a muffled voice of a man saying “Why is this door locked” from the other side.

Jen, never looking away from the complexities of Tera’s neck, yelled back “I’m changing, give me a minute.” I think it confused the guy on the other side, who probably assumed girls would change out of their uniforms in the bathroom. Luckily, it bought us some time. Tera was looking nervous, and I was about ready to grab her and run.

A moment or two later, Jen reached inside and unclasped the box that gave Tera her voice. She studied the box closely.

“I see your neck has been hurt” Jen said softly, “but you seem to have been repaired well enough. However, this box is trashed. As good a job as you did, you just can’t repair this model when it is damaged this badly.” “You’ve seen this model before?” I asked.

“Yeah, it’s a new one; just hit the market last week. I’m surprised she already has one in her. It’s supposed to sound very realistic, but I haven’t had the chance to play with one yet.” She pulled out a mobile tablet and typed in a few numbers on the screen. “You’re in luck! We are getting a shipment in this afternoon, 12 of them to be precise. It’s new enough that I don’t think it will sell-out anytime soon. I think I can grab you one, although it will be tricky setting up the voice customization.”

“Today?! You can get it today?” I squealed.

“Calm down there hot stuff, of course I can. And I won’t even charge you for it. The labor, on the other hand, now that will cost you” she said slyly, winking at me.

“What do you want?”

“You will be taking me and Tera to lunch, wherever I want to go, and driving us to whichever stores we want, and buying whatever clothes, makeup, and accessories we wish. Lunch first, I’m starving! Can Tera eat?”

With that, she gently closed Tera’s neck, pocketing her voice box, leaving her once again without a voice. Tera sighed, but seemed to be getting excited about going to buy clothes and stuff, and even more excited that there was a chance she’d have a voice before the day was out. I helped Tera to her feet as Jen got up and walked toward some lockers in the corner of the room. The door knocked again, more loudly this time. I could see the shadows of at least 2 people on the other side of the door.

“Who’s in there?” another man’s muffled voice rang out. “Why is this door locked?”

I turned to face Jen, only to see her pulling off her work shirt and pants, revealing the back of her black bra and panties to me. She yelled at the door “I’ll be done in a minute. I’m changing!” She noticed I was staring at her, and hissed at me “Get out! I’ll meet you by your car. Go, perv!”

Taking the ever so subtle hint, I took Tera and walked out the side door on the opposite end of the room, leaving Jen to deal with her co-workers herself. We walked to the car, and cleared the back seat. Tera seemed to be in a better mood, smiling as she grabbed some trash on the seat and carried it to the trash bin nearby. She looked like she was almost dancing as she walked back, smiling brightly.

I was going to ask her why she was in such a great mood, but Jen came strolling up to us wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, a slim fitted black t-shirt that really showed off her curves, and an oversized belt, along with various accessories and a white long sleeve shirt underneath. Her t-shirt read “John& Paul& Ringo& George.” in grey letters and was very chic. Actually, despite the Goth-like tomboy appearance, it was more feminine than I’d seen her wear in a while. The clothes fit well, she showed off her natural curves, all while not revealing much skin. It was a big change from the baggy, loose-fitting clothes she used to wear.

“Wow, you look great!” I complimented. She really did, I hoped she would keep up this style, and I had hope now that she would find something suitable for Tera.

She came strolling out to the car, smiling at my comment, and said “Shotgun!”

As tradition dictated, she sat in the passenger seat while Tera sat in the back. We chatted a lot about life and clothes, and of course robots. She was amazed at seeing Tera and how advanced she was. Jen swore that if she didn’t hear her voice, she’d never have guessed she wasn’t human. That made Tera smile. Of course, she was silent in the backseat, and just listened to us. She couldn’t say anything anyways, so Jen did most of the talking for her. Whenever I suggested a place to go to eat or go shopping, Jen would say something like “Tera wouldn’t like that, no lets go to the Majestic.”

We ended up eating at a diner called Majestic. It’s a nice place to eat, and is fairly fast and cheap. We each ordered a sandwich, although Tera didn’t know what to order, so I ordered her a basic Turkey and Cheese sandwich, and a Coke. She sat there silently listening to Jen and I talk, taking in our every word. We talked about my suit, and how I found Tera, and the video on the news. Jen talked a lot about her own life, which wasn’t as thrilling as my last few days have been, but were interesting none the less. She was supposed to go back and see her mother in Ohio, but she really didn’t want to take the time or the money to do it. She complained that she hadn’t been on a good date in a while, and this was the closest thing to a date she’d had in months. She excused herself for a moment to use the restroom, and Tera and I sat silently and waited for the food.

Tera leaned against me, placing her head on my shoulder. She sipped at her coke, smiling brightly as she savored the taste. Our food came before too long. My Reuben sandwich was nice and hot, and Tera’s Turkey and Cheese was toasty and warm. Before we could take a bite, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I struggled to pull it out, and read another text message by Tera.

“I think I like her” she wrote, and gave me a big smile.

“See, I knew you’d open up to her” I said, nudging her arm playfully.

Just then, Jen grabbed my phone from my hand. “No more of this, you two. If someone else saw you two doing this, you could get into real trouble. With me! I’ll not have any of this.” She glanced down at my phone and read the message still on the screen. Tera just blushed and looked down at her sandwich steaming on her plate. “Aww. That’s so sweet! Well, I like you too Tera, but don’t go sending any more ‘mind-messages’. It’s for your own good. I’ll forgive you this time cause you are such a sweetie, but don’t let me catch you doing it again.” She almost sounded like a mom, but I dared not say such a thing to her.

She handed me back my phone, and we started to eat our lunches. Jen and I just stared at Tera as she squished her face together after her first bite. I wasn’t sure if she liked it or hated it. Luckily, she swallowed the bite, and her big smile returned to her face as she gorged herself on another one. She really must have liked that sandwich. Then again, she hasn’t eaten much yet, at least anything good. This must have tasted like heaven to her.

“Wow, you like it that much huh?” Jen asked Tera, who just nodded with her mouth full of another bite.

“She hasn’t really had much to eat yet” I stated. “This is kind of her first good meal, actually.”

“So she can eat and taste food, what else can she do?” Jen asked.

“Well, besides sending ‘mind messages’, she can pretty much do anything a human can, except she has robotic parts, of course. She sleeps, eats, breathes, and even pees.”

“Can she fuck?” Jen asked.

I choked on my sandwich. “What?!”

“Can she have sex?” Jen clarified. “You know, procreate, make love, screw, do the nasty, dance the horizontal polka, get it on, get hot and heavy,…”

“Okay, okay, I get the picture” I said trying to interrupt her, still choking on my last bite of sandwich.

“… get her leg over, hump, do it, get physical, fornicate, bury the bishop, hide the salami, bang, shag, bumping uglies, making whoopee, snu-snu” she continued.

“Enough already! I’m still not going to answer that question” I said with a smile on my face. I’m a terrible liar.

“Oh ho! I see” Jen retorted. “So you aren’t as innocent as you appear. You will have to spill all the nasty details.”

I glared at her, she was clearly not going to let this go easily. “Maybe later. I’m eating now. Moving on…” I said, trying to force the conversation to go in a different direction. There is no way to stop a girl from gossip, but maybe I could at least try to get her on another topic she would indulge in. “She can also connect to computers and other robots. It’s almost like she can hack into them, and take over their systems.”

Jen was reluctant to change the topic, keeping that knowing smile on her lips, but indulged me all the same. “She must have some good programming in her AI to handle a live hack. What have you seen her do so far?”

“She managed to hack the voice system of another gynoid I’m working on. We had a conversation that way” I explained.

“She’s probably pretty good at navigating through AI systems since she’s got one herself” Jen suggested. “I’m pretty sure her hardware can handle it. What version of Thunderbolt are you using, Tera?” Tera looked up for a moment, deep in thought. She was apparently accessing some data in her system.

“What do you mean Thunderbolt? I didn’t see any Thunderbolt port on her” I said.

“You’re kidding right? What do you think that tail thing was I saw sticking out of her back?” Jen exclaimed. Tera held up 3 fingers as Jen was talking, probably indicating the third generation of Thunderbolt. “3? Really? Wow, state-of-the-art stuff, kiddo!” she said to Tera.

“It looked like a USB port to me. I mean, it even hooked into my USB phone charger” I clarified.

“Well no wonder she needed to charge in the car, that’s not a USB port, it’s a USB adapter!” Jen retorted. “You see, if she was running the latest USB, she would still only get around 10 Gbps. That was the same as the first generation of Thunderbolt. But Tera here is running Thunderbolt 3, which not only runs at 1 Tbps, but also supports more power throughput. It would allow her to charge faster. You need to upgrade your charging equipment, my friend. Here, let me see your cable, Tera.”

Tera handed Jen he cable still attached to her back. I was surprised to see she had it in her lap the whole time, and I never noticed! “Was that dangling there the whole time?” I asked. I guess we forgot to put it away after Jen saw it the first time. No wonder she was so easy to spot by Jen. I’ll need to be more diligent about that stuff.

Jen reached over the table, careful to not get in anyone’s food, and held the end of the cable in her hand. “Here see? This looks like a USB port now…” she held up the end to me, careful to make sure no one else saw. Then with a twist and a flick, the USB end popped off, revealing the much smaller and more advanced Thunderbolt connection. “… and now it’s a Thunderbolt port. Much faster. I can get you a Thunderbolt charger back at the store when we are done, but for now, make sure you put these away, properly this time” she said, handing the cable and the adapter back to Tera. She nodded, and started to mess with the port in her back.

“Here, let me help you with that” I said, as she popped open the panel on her lower back. I retracted the cord fully, using a button inside the port, but didn’t know where to put the USB adapter. Tera took it from my hand, and started to fumble with it behind her back. It must have been hard to see what she was doing, but I finally understood what she was trying to do. Inside the port was a small clip, where I could attach the adapter. Helping to guide her, we clipped the adapter inside her panel, and fully closed it. We looked around to make sure no one was watching, and Jen was doing the same.

We were in the clear. Her tail was away, and we could spend the rest of the meal eating and chatting about what else we were going to do. Jen had to get back to work by 6 for the second shift she was recruited for, so we had only a few hours to do everything on her list. As soon as we finished eating, we got back in the car and drove to the fastest place to get a lot of different items, the mall.

Tera’s eyes lit up like Christmas tree lights when she saw the size of the mall. It wasn’t terribly busy being the middle of a work day, but it was more human activity than Tera had ever seen. She eagerly looked at every window display, every passing shopper, and every kiosk trying to sell their goods. As much as I wanted to object, Jen was quick to remind me that my punishment was to go where they wanted to, and buy what they wanted. I had to draw the line at the jewelry stores. There was no way I could afford the diamond necklace Tera and Jen were drooling over, and they reluctantly moved along.

Shopping with the girls was fun but boring at the same time. I enjoyed their company, listening to Jen’s one-sided conversations, and helping them carrying stuff. Paying for it and waiting for them to pick out the right cut and color was torture. Most guys just walk into a store, if they can find what they want, they buy it. The end. However, girls tend to look around, browse through endless aisles and racks of items, picking out a dozen things, and trying them all on, before deciding they didn’t like any of them and picking out something else. After their 5th try, they go back to the first thing they liked and buy it anyways. Jen and Tera were no different. I wasn’t allowed to complain, so Bejeweled on my phone became my best friend.

Tera really enjoyed shopping though. She liked to pick out different things and try them on, and Jen really liked to teach her and show her all the ropes of the feminine world. They dragged me to Victoria Secret, where Jen tried to blind fold me, unsuccessfully, and taught Tera about lingerie and underwear. I learned more about cup sizes listening to her than I had in all of my years using the internet. Incidentally, Tera is on the larger side of 32B. They also dragged me to various makeup stores, and spend hours going over colors and shades and techniques and whatnot. There sure is a lot more to being a girl than it appears. I escorted them to all the finest affordable clothing stores, where they picked out a variety of shirts and pants and skirts and blouses and jackets and shorts and shoes and belts and hats and so on and so on. My favorite part was getting to see Tera try on the different outfits, and see what kinds of things she liked, and what I liked on her. I was glad to see that she had good taste in clothes. She liked to wear things that showed off her figure, and made her look cute. She loved to wear pretty dresses and even frilly things, but she also tried to copy some of Jen’s style, while still keeping it her own.

By the end of our shopping excursion, I had my hands full carrying dozens of shopping bags with everything from shoes to shampoo. I was carrying everything a girl would need and even a few things for Jen, who couldn’t ignore one or two outfits she saw. Luckily, Jen managed to keep the price down as much as possible, but it still adds up. Tera skipped ahead of us as we made our way back to the car. By now, she had ditched my ill-fitting clothes for much more stylish and charming ones. She wore a light blue cami with a light trim along the hem, and a white elegant pattern on the front. It did a great job showing off how slim she is, along with the curves of her body. With it, she wore half-length jeans and cute brown sandals. The weather was still warm enough for this, although she might need to wear a jacket before it got too dark.

It was starting to get late already though. The sun wasn’t setting yet, but it was low in the sky. We had to rush to get Jen back to Best Bargain so she could make her second shift. Jen rode in the back this time, and talked mostly to Tera about girl things. We arrived in time for her to start her next shift. She took her 2 bags with her, while I made sure the rest of them for Tera were in the trunk. Tera and I had to enter the front this time, since I had no further business with the store itself. We looked inside at all the movies and electronics and furniture that the store provided. I actually found the Thunderbolt charger that Jen was talking about, but Jen said she'd buy one as a gift for Tera, so I didn't et one yet. Hopefully, she would be able to get more charge quicker with this, and I wouldn’t need to use an adapter.

Jen came out of the bathroom to meet us, in her full attire. She was covering for one of the sales reps, who was out sick that day. She took out of her pocket the broken voice box, and started typing into her mobile tablet again. This time she confirmed that the shipment had arrived on time, for once, and proceeded to the back of the store to grab one. A few minutes later, she emerged with a black plastic-wrapped box in hand.

“Here it is! Straight from the factory” Jen said enthusiastically. “Now I’m going to ring this up, and customize the settings to match what your old voice box used.”

“Ring it up?” I asked. She told me there would be no charge. I wasn’t cheap, and I would pay for it if I had to, but I had to confirm with her if I indeed needed to.

“Don’t worry. I’m going to give it my employee discount, and cover it myself. Consider this my gift to you, Tera. That and the charger your dolt of an owner didn't know about. I hope you think of me whenever you use it… unless you’re having sex. That’s just weird.” Jess was an odd one, but that’s why I liked her.

“I told you…” I started to say before she interrupted me.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m just teasing you. I’ll be back in a few minutes, but then I’ll need to see her alone to install it. I’ll meet you by the service desk.”

Jen disappeared, leaving us to browse for a few more minutes. We nonchalantly walked over to the service desk while I tried to convince Tera of the joys of Japanese animation, but it was hard to judge her opinion when she had never seen one, and still couldn’t talk. We waited for a few more minutes, until Jen finally emerged from the tech room, where they keep all the computers and robots in need of repair.

“Let’s meet out back again.” Jen said quickly. “I’ll let you in the side entrance. The break room is empty, and we are busy enough that no one should come in and bug us.”

We went back around to the side, and Jen let us in the door. The break room was as we left it, with the door leading into the store closed and presumably locked. I wonder how she managed to convince the others to let her do this.

We sat down at one of the tables, and Jen took her chair to sit directly in front of Tera. “Now, open up, Tera.” Blue lights appeared again, and once again Tera’s neck separated, and her throat panel was opened. Once again Jen said “Wow” at the sight of it. This time, I assisted in getting her voice box in place. It seemed bigger to me, but perhaps that was just because this one hadn’t been bashed in by a 2x4. I was thrilled to hear the box ‘click’ into place. Closing up the clamps to secure it, Jen took a small screwdriver, and prepared to make adjustments.

“Ok now Tera, say ‘Ah’” Jen instructed. Tera opened her mouth, still looking up to give us room to work, and let out a distorted “Ahhhhhh”. Tera started to get nervous as this distorted voice, but I heard massive improvement over her last voice box. Jen quickly started to make adjustments. She’d turn one screw, then another, making minute motions that had a profound impact on the quality of Tera’s voice.

Before long, Tera’s voice came out sounding like a trained pop-star. It was stunning, and quite spectacular. Her voice rang out like Christmas morning bells. She was singing a single note, but it sounded like a choir of angels. Ok, so I’m exaggerating, but the fact is, her voice sounded amazing, better than anyone I knew. Tera stopped singing, and let in several deep breaths as Jen closed her up. I could tell she was on the verge of crying. “To many years of friendship, and conversations” Jen said as she finished up. Tears rolled down Tera’s face as she cleared her throat with a natural sounding cough.

Tera stood up and threw her arms around me, sobbing into my chest. “Thank you for everything, Master.” Her voice was perfect. She had that kind of cute but sensual voice that drove me wild. I hugged her back as she tried to sniff away the tears. “I’m finally whole again” she said.

"Don't I get a hug?" Jen asked.

Tera then threw her arms around Jen. “Thank you for everything Jen. You don’t know what this means to me.” “Hey. It’s ok, kiddo. It’s all good.” We eventually calmed down Tera, who finally stopped crying, and just started talking.

“I sound like my old self again!” she started out. “I used to sing and sing in the lab, everyone would teach me songs cause they loved to hear my voice. You don’t know how hard it is to have no voice, or to lose it so suddenly. I’m so glad I finally have it back. Oh, Danny, I can talk again! I can sing!”

We let her talk a little while longer and get it out of her system. She didn’t talk about anything in particular, other than how happy she was and about all the good things we’ve done for her. She felt really wanted, and it made me happy to hear her so happy.

After a few minutes, we decided to head home. She had a big day, and was going to need some rest. I knew I was going to need some rest, but I thought I’d grab us some food on the way home first. We said our goodbyes to Jen, and Tera promised she’d call her so they could go out again soon. As Jen held the back door open for us, the evening sun shown into the room, bright in our eyes. We had to cover our eyes for a moment while we stepped out. It wasn’t until after our eyes adjusted to the light that Jen commented on something.

“Hey, Danny, who is that beside your car?”

I looked up at my car parked little ways ahead, and sure enough, there was a woman standing there, leaning against my car. She was tall, blond, and pretty, with long blond hair and a black corset dress with a mini skirt, thigh-high stockings, and knee high boots.

“No idea” I replied. “I’ve never seen her before.”

As soon as the girl spotted us looking at her, she started to walk toward us. Suddenly, Tera grabbed my arm tightly. I looked down at her, and she stared wide-eyed at the approaching stranger. I wasn’t sure what to make of this, but I knew something was wrong.

“It’s my sister!” Tera said, her voice full of fear.

Chapter 14 - Family matters

“Your what?” Jen asked. It didn’t sound surprised, but somehow you knew she was thinking she misheard what was said.

“Danny, she’s here for me!” Tera said quietly, clutching onto my arm. Her grip was firm, but not too tight, but I could feel her body start to shake.

“Your sister? How is that possible? You’re not…” Jen’s voice died away as the mysterious blond haired girl got closer.

“She’s my oldest sister, my first prototype” Tera said, as she took half a step behind me. “Unit 260 is the first working model of the XKQT series. She’s one of the ones that gangster took from my parents.”

“Parents?” Jen asked.

“Her designers” I told Jen. “I’ll fill you in later.” I felt naked without my suit, at least when confronting a potentially deadly enemy. I recalled that I left my suit in the car, which was obviously on the other side of the black clad assassin. Nevertheless, I instinctively put myself between Tera and her sister as she drew closer. She was fast, and I couldn’t think of anything else to do before she was on us.

“Unit 263, you are to come with me to your new master” the blond ordered. Her voice was very realistic, considerably deeper than her sister’s, but still feminine with a sultry quality to it. The cold command she gave put an edge to her voice that told me that I did not want to mess with her.

“No!” Tera squealed, still ducking behind me, gripping tightly on my shirt.

“She’s with me now” I said, trying to hide any nervousness in my voice. “She is not going anywhere with you.”

260’s eyes changed their focus from Tera to me, as though she had just noticed me for the first time. Her eyes were icy blue, cold, and fierce. It sent a chill down my spine. “And who are you to stop me?”

I didn’t have an answer. For one, I didn’t want to give her my real name, in case she didn’t already know it. For another, I didn’t want to tell her my alias since I had no suit on at the time and would prove no match for an android without it. Instead I swallowed hard, and blurt out the only other thing I could think of. “I’m her master.”

Unit 260 thought for a moment, her eyes narrowing. “So you are the infamous Exo. You’ve already had your way with my sister I see. For that you will die!”

Before I could react, the fembot assassin lifted her arm high in the air, and brought it thundering down toward my head. I may have been taller than her, even with her heals on, but a blow to my noggin with that kind of force would have been deadly. The only thing I could do was to close my eyes and cower down in defense, and pray I lived. Instead of feeling a blow to my head, I felt a rush of wind near my ear, and a heavy slap inches in front of my face. I opened my eyes to see Tera had reached passed me, and stopped the blow with her own hand, a look of pain and determination on her face.

“I said I’m not going” Tera growled at her sister.

I became aware of Tera’s pain, in the back of my head, like data being fed to me from a computer. Her hand was not meant to take that kind of a blow, and it had some minor stress damage, but she’d be alright. However, it was obvious to me that 260 was stronger than her younger sister.

“This is not up for debate” the blond sneered back. “I am taking you back with me one way or another.”

With that, they broke away from each other, and Tera stepped out from behind me. “This time, it’s my turn to save you” she whispered to me, as she stood defiant before her sister.

“If I have to bring you back in pieces, I will” the blond said as she sent another blow toward Tera. Luckily, Tera stepped beside this one, and proceeded to dodge the next blow as well. She might not have strong like her sister, but she was fast on her feet. I had never seen this side of Tera before, and now I had to wonder what exactly she was built for.

Frustrated, the blond girl continued to assail Tera, without landing a blow on her, and began to growl. “My master… commanded me… to bring you… back! Dead… or alive!” She said between blows. Tera managed to just narrowly avoid them all, but she couldn’t possibly keep it up. Quickly, she looked toward me, and motioned toward the car with her eyes, right before she started running in a different direction, her sister following close behind.

Quickly, I grabbed the terrified Jen’s hand, and bolted toward my car. “You wanted to see my suit, well now’s your chance. Quick, help me get it on!”

“Wai- What?” Jen stuttered as she tried to keep up with me.

“Just help” I said as I fumbled in my pocket and unlocked the car with the key fob. Tera and her sister continued to battle it out in the parking lot. Occasionally I heard a car hood get pounded by the android’s fist, or I would hear Tera taunting her sister as she avoided her attacks.

Quickly, I opened the trunk to my car, and Jen and I fumbled inside for the bag that contained my Exo-suit, which I moved to the trunk after shopping. Jen looked at the suit parts in puzzlement, as I grabbed the vest from her and started to put it on. After a few seconds, she realized how it basically worked, and started to help me fasten the various parts together. It was going much faster with a second person helping, even though she was still trying to figure out how it attached.

“When I get this running, I need you to get everyone inside. A crowd is starting to form around them, and that could put them all in danger.” Jen nodded as she tightened the straps around my legs. There had indeed been a crowd growing around the fight. Some people came out of the store to watch; others were already leaving or just arriving. Regardless, there had been damage, and feats of superhuman strength and speed. So far no one was hurt, but I was sure this would end up on YouTube within the hour. Surely someone would have called the police by now as well.

As we put the final touches on, being the coat and hat, I looked out over the car to see what was happening. Suddenly, my mind was bombarded by data as I watched with horror as Unit 260 swiped Tera off her feet with a handicap parking sign as a weapon. Tera flew 10 yards into a nearby car, and slumped to the ground.

“TERA!!” I yelled out, as I ran out from behind the car. Unit 260 walked up closer to her, and was about to hit her again with the metal sign. I forgot how fast the suit could make me when it was fully functional. Before she could land that blow, I was already between them, and had blocked the attack with my fist, bending the metal pole.

“How DARE you hit Tera like that!” I roared. The girl took a step back, startled by my sudden appearance. The weapon she had been using was useless now, so she tossed it aside and began to throw punches at me instead. Her moves were fast and strong, but with the suit I was faster and stronger. The only drawback to the suit, which I was experiencing for the first time, was that it only increased my speed and strength, but my reaction time was the same. I could barely keep up with her moves, and one slip up would mean a concussion, or worse.

“You are fast” she said. “Better than I expected” as she threw more punches toward me. We danced around the parking lot for a while, exchanging blows. She could take the hits with no problem, her frame was study and well-built. She barely even reacted when I punched her in the face. “Too bad it is for nothing. Unit 263… Tera as you called her, is dead.”

I checked the data in the back of my mind, and I saw that she was damaged, but repairing herself as fast as she could. “You’re wrong! She just had the wind knocked out of her… Minor damage. She'll be fine!” I rebutted as I dodged some more of her attacked.

She paused for a moment, her expression of fierce hatred vanishing to one of uncertainty. “How would you…” she began. I could see a look of shock and joy in her face, as though she was glad she did not just kill Tera.

I performed a spinning kick at her feet, and knocked her to the ground in her moment of uncertainty. Before I could take further advantage of her situation, she was already rolling back to her feet, but this time, she lifted a concrete parking barrier with her. She struggled to hold it, but she kept it up, ready to swipe down at me. With one quick motion, she had brought it down at my head as I dodged out of the way, striking the ground where I stood, only to swipe it back at me, this time knocking me from my feet. I rolled to the side, as she repeatedly tried to jab the concrete block into me, chunks of it breaking away and flying in every direction. Rolling behind a car, I managed to get to my feet, just as she shoved the car out of her way with what was left of the divider. She was really strong!

“You’ll never have her. We’ve already been bound together, and there is nothing your boss can do about it” I shouted.

She faltered again. Her face went blank, as though she realized something important, and then stared back at me with uncertain eyes, still holding the divider over her head. “She performed a binding with you?”

“Yes” I spat, feeling a small trickle of blood from my mouth drip to the ground.

She stood there a moment more, a look of pain on her face again, as though she was conflicted. “I must… take Unit 263… Tera…” she stuttered as she approached me slowly, lifting the block higher to strike me.

All the while, I had been paying attention to the little stream of data in the back of my mind. Tera had long since woken up, and although injured, had snuck up behind her sister. With a quick movement, she shoved a wire into 260’s data port on the back of her neck. Instantly, Unit 260 froze in place, the concrete block fell from her hands and landed with a thud on the ground before crumbling into debris, and she lost her balance and fell, leaving Tera standing in her place. I had delayed her long enough, but I wasn’t exactly sure what Tera was planning to do. I was glad she had a plan, otherwise my plan of winging it would have gone nowhere.

“Tera! Are you alright?” I said, running to her to hold her.

“Ouch. It still hurts” she said as she winced from my embrace.

“Sorry “ I said, as I looked her over. She was limping, and had taken a strong blow to her chest that would need to be looked at, but otherwise she was alright. I noticed that a wire was running from the back of her neck down to her sister’s. She had apparently hacked into her sister’s system, and disabled her. “Let me help you with that” I said, reaching down to unplug the wire.

“No! Don’t touch it. She is still connected. I’ve managed to hack her systems and shut down her motor functions, but as soon as we’re disconnected she’s be back to herself again.” Tera sat down beside her sister, and brushed her hair. “Poor 260. She always looked out for her younger sisters. It hurts to see her like this.”

Just then, Jen came running over. “Is it over? I think I hear sirens. W- We should get going!” Apparently, she had been trying to get everyone back inside, which worked for the most part, but the crowd around the doors was thick, and police sirens could be heard. One kid who was still outside the doors yelled out something about “Exo” and “superhero”. I didn’t catch it, but I realized I would have a hard time explaining any of this to the police, not to mention two illegal androids. It was best that we got out of there as soon as we could. Besides, the parking lot was a mess. There were cars damaged, signs scattered, debris all over, and the road ripped up. All this in under 5 minutes.

“Get the car here quick” I told Jen tossing her the keys. She darted to my puke green car, which somehow didn’t get damaged, and drove it over to us. Carefully, we lifted the disabled Unit 260 into the backseat of the car, and Tera got in beside her, still connected. Jen took shotgun, and I flipped off my suit before getting in and driving like a bat out of hell.

“Slow down! The police will catch on if they see you speeding away from the scene” Jen protested. She was right, and I dropped the speed down to the speed limit, something I never did normally, and turned toward a back road, away from the oncoming sirens.

“Could you call my neighbor, Jack, please Jen?” I asked. “I need him to help clear some of this up.”

Jen took my phone and started going through it until she found Jack listed. “This is insane! In the same day you introduce me to your prototype robot girlfriend, you end up being some sort of local super hero, we end up fighting a robot assassin chick, and now we’re on the lamb from the police! I’ll be lucky to have a job after this, but I must say it was worth it” she smiled as she dialed the number and put the phone to her ear. I don’t think she met with Jack before, and I should have warned her about him.

“Hello? Yes, is this Jack?” She was silent for a moment. “NO I’m not going to tell you that! What? What kind of question is that?! I’m not about to tell you what I’m wearing!” She continued to yell into my phone.

“Give it here” I said, asking to see the phone. She nodded, with a mortified expression on her face.

“Jack! JACK! I’m putting Dan on!” She sighed, her face red with embarrassment from his advances. I swear he’d hit on anyone not even know who they were or what they looked like. She held the phone up to my ear as I drove.

“… could get cozy by the fireside and take in a flick…” I heard Jack saying on the other end.

“Jack! It’s me! Danny!”

“What?!” Jack said in a hushed tone. “Hey, that’s not cool mate. Don’t go disguising your voice like that. Make me sound like a loon!”

“I was not disguising my voice. That was my friend Je-“ Jen shook her head at me when I started to say her name, so I thought it wise not to mention it to him. “.. Just help me out here. Tera and I have been discovered by the mob! I need you to stop any videos that get posted and keep an eye out for anyone at my place. I don’t know how they found us, but…”

“Sure thing sugar! I’ll pick you up at 10:30? I’ll call you at 10:19.” Jack said, putting emphasis on 10:30 and 10:19.

“What in the world are you talking about?” Was Jack having multiple conversations or something? It was hard to tell with him, his pants could be chatting up a girl while his head was hacking a government agency.

“Yeah, that new mob movie. Cheery bye!” With that he hung up.

“What the fuck was that?!” I blurted out. “He just told me we’re going on a date! Something is not right!”

“He didn’t even assume that much with me” Jen started. “He started hitting on me the moment I said something. I fear your neighbor is a sick perverted freak. This is the same guy that helped you with the video?? Was a creep!”

Tera interrupted from the backseat, a little soft-spoken. “What did he say?”

“He wanted to know what bra size I wear” Jen started.

“I think she meant me” I interrupted.

“Oh. Right. Heh”

“He said he was going to pick me up to see a new mob movie at 10:30, and he’d call at 10:19. I don’t get it. There isn’t a new mob movie out anyways.”

We thought for a moment, and Tera came up with something. “Maybe it’s a code? Did he say anything else?”

“No… that was it. Hey, wait a minute! Tera, you’re a genius! It is a code. It’s the 10 code! Police use it all the time. I learned about this from him. Let me think. 10-30 means there is an emergency. But what does 10-19 stand for?” I puzzled this one over, but couldn’t remember the table he showed me.

“I don’t know that code” Jen said. “Maybe Tera can look it up?”

“Sorry, I’m a little busy right now” Tera answered.

“What? What do you mean ‘busy’?”

“She’s hacking Unit 260’s system right now, and she needs to concentrate. If she loses control, 260 could rip this car apart.”

“Oh… dang. Are you sure it’s safe?” Jen asked.

“I trust Tera, she’s doing her best and it’s not like we have another choice right now.”

Tera remained silent in the back seat, and just closed her eyes, concentrating on her own task. Jen and I sat in the front trying to remember what the code was for. Luckily, Jen got out her smartphone, and started typing in it. A few minutes later she blurted out “In contact! He’s in contact with someone. He mentioned the mob, didn’t he? That means the mob is already at your place, and questioning him! Why else would he need to use a code?”

Crap! That meant that we had nowhere to go that I could trust. We could try to find Cynthia’s hotel room, but since they found my place so quickly, there’s no saying they didn’t already find the hotel too. Thinking on it some more, I figured they must have seen my car, either the description of it or the license plate, and found me that way. That would explain why Unit 260 was waiting by my car.

Jen and I discussed our options while I drove around aimlessly, trying to figure out where to go and fast. Tera could not keep this up forever, I’m sure it would be draining her battery.

“How are you holding up back there?” I asked. “Everything ok?”

“She’s starting to fight back” Tera said. “I need to concentrate.”

“Here, let me help you plug in, so you can go longer “ Jen said, turning around in her seat and fumbling with Tera in the back. I couldn’t see what they were doing, but in the end, Jen produced a second cable from Tera and ran it to the front seat where she plugged it in.

“Thanks. That helps” Tera said, a little calmer in her voice.

“We’ve got to go somewhere Jen, driving around aimlessly like this is getting us nowhere.”

“Well I’m not going to have you drive to my place. I don’t know if you’re being followed or not” she said, glancing behind us. “But I sure don’t want to have my place raided by mobsters. Besides, I have nosy neighbors. Wait a second, I know a place!

“Really? Where is it?” I asked.

“It’s down Pleasant Hill Road. I’m supposed to be cat sitting for some friends who left town yesterday for a week or so. You can hang out there for a few days, while we figure this out! They have a garage so you can hide your car in there.”

“Great! What about your car? Where are you going to go?”

“Don’t worry about me. I took public transportation to work today. I was hoping you’d drop me home afterwards” she said sarcastically. “They left one of their cars here anyway. I can drive it as long as I’m careful. I’ll guide you to their place, and then I can go get some things myself and meet you back here.”

“You don’t have to do anymore, Jen” I said. “You’ve already helped so much. You should just go home and…”

“What kind of friend would I be if I left you alone to fend for yourselves when you needed me the most? A bad one is what! I’m going to help you out as long as you need it. No debating.”

I decided not to argue, and I let Jen guide us to the place we’ll be staying for a few days. The problem was I needed to get things from my apartment. I knew that Tera or I would be recognized the moment we showed up, and getting in touch with Jack was difficult since he already warned us about the mob. I managed to talk Jen into driving over and checking out the place. She really didn’t want to at first, but after realizing that Tera was injured and I needed my tools to fix her, she agreed to see what she could do.

We drove down a suburb road for a few miles, passing several large houses, before turning off onto a smaller, older road. The houses here were older and smaller, but still nice. We drove in a circle for a little while to make sure no one was following us, and when we were satisfied, drove up the short driveway to a single story home with a nice garden. The place looked well-kept and looked like the kind of place people would retire in. Jen bolted out of the door, and opened the garage with a code. After I drove in one side, she closed the doors behind us, and opened the door to the house. Carefully, I carried Unit 260, while Jen helped Tera to her feet, and helped her walked behind us into the house. We were greeted by a pair of furry inhabitants, who rubbed their soft bodies against our legs. Upon entering, we ran into a set of stairs going up, and another going down. Upstairs was apparently the kitchen, living room, and presumably the bedrooms. Downstairs appeared to be a den and a wet bar, with a guest room. We decided to go downstairs, and I carried Unit 260 down, placing her on a short, long, but very sturdy wooden coffee table. 260 was a little heavier than her sister, so I was glad to see that the table was strong. Jen led Tera to the couch next to the table, and left her sitting there quietly. The 2 cats who greeted up by the door were friendly enough, and curious too. A black one with white paws sat on Tera’s lap, while a light grey one continued to rub against my legs purring.

“Don’t worry about them. They’re real sweethearts. The grey one is Dodge, and the black one is Burn. Don’t ask.” Jen explained. We went upstairs to talk over our options. It was decided that she’d pick up her stuff, and drop them off here, before going to my place to scope it out and try to grab some of my gear. She knew what to look for, assuming she could get inside, but I worried that the mob would already have taken the case Tom gave me to use for maintenance on Tera. Jen decided she’d drive around the back roads and avoid being followed as best as she could before returning here, which was probably a good idea. She would pick up some food as well, while I took care of the cats (I was reduced to cat sitting duty), and Tera concentrated on her sister. I felt like I was relying so much on Jen, I didn’t know how to thank her for all of this.

She unexpectedly gave me a hug before heading out to start on her mission. I turned back to the kitchen, a little bewildered by the hug, and started on feeding the cats. They were hungry little fellas, and purred contently as I fed them. I also cleaned out their pan, which was a smelly mess. With these chores done, I went down to look after Tera and her sister.

Tera sat silently on the couch, her eyes closed, as though she were asleep; while her sister lay silently on the table, her unfocused eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. It was a little eerie, like looking at two broken dolls sitting and waiting to be played with.

“Tera? How are you doing” I said in a hushed tone.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at me. “I’ve been better... briefly” she joked. “She’s still under my control but it’s getting harder to keep her there. She is still fighting me.”

“Why not just shut her down or mess up her AI?” I asked.

“Despite her current owner, she is still my sister. I can’t imagine doing anything to harm her. Please don’t hurt her, Danny; she’s still got a good heart. Besides, she’s blocked off my access to her power commands. She’s been slowly regaining her systems, fighting off my attack.”

“How long can you keep this up?”

“I don’t know” she said. “As she gets stronger, I get weaker. I’m not sure how long it will take, but she is gaining ground, unless we do something…”

Tera was interrupted by the sound of the garage door opening. Jen came back in the house, carrying a luggage bag. “There are groceries in the car, help me get them in.”

I greeted her upstairs and helped her unload the borrowed car’s trunk, putting 2 full bags of groceries in the kitchen. She got us everything we’d need for a week’s stay, along with a few tools in case Tera needed some work done. I helped put it all away, and reminded Jen that there wasn’t much time, and we needed those tools for Tera soon. Jen was reluctant, but agreed, and turned to leave. Before heading out, she put on her “disguise”, which consisted of a wide-brimmed hat, a scarf, and sunglasses.

“You look liked a soccer-mom meets Goth-chick” I joked. Jen just stuck her tongue out at me and smiled before going back into the car and driving away to complete her mission.

Walking back inside, I sat next to Tera, and rubbed her shoulders.

“Oh… that feels so good!” She moaned. “Stop! Please!”

“But why?” I asked.

“You’re distracting me. I need to concentrate before her attacks get any worse.”

I sat there silently, thinking to myself. Perhaps if doing these things was a distraction to Tera, maybe I should be distracting her sister instead. “Tera, do you think I can distract 260 instead? Can she feel or sense anything?”

“Not right now, but if she was concentrating on sensory input it would help” Tera answered.

“Can you lower your attack a bit, and let her feel her body again?” I asked.

“I don’t know. If I back off, she could take advantage of that and gain more control than I intended to give her. If she were to get back her motor functions, we’d be in trouble.”

“What if I tied her down with something? She can’t attack us if she can’t move” I suggested.

“It might work,” Tera said slowly “but I’m not sure how strong she is. She might just break the bonds.” Good point. Besides, I didn’t have any rope, and it would only take one loose knot to break our necks.

“There must be some way to disarm her… “ I thought for a while.

Tera opened her eyes. “Wait, what you said. Disarm her. We can do exactly that. We can remove her arms. I have enough control still to activate her joint controls. I’m sure if we can just remove her arms, she’d be defenseless!”

“You can do that?” I asked. “I mean I can just take off her arms?”

“Yeah, she was designed with replaceable limbs, unlike me. But we’ll have to act fast, once she realizes what we are doing, she’ll try to stop us.” The black corset blouse that 260 wore covered her arms and shoulders, so I’d had to remove it before I could begin. Quickly, I started to unfasten the front of the blouse. Pulling the corset aside, I removed it from her limp body, and pulled the black blouse that was under it over her head. She now lay on the table topless, her ample breasts exposed, gently rising and falling with her every breath.

“Wait, if I remove her arms, what if she regains control of her legs?” I asked Tera. “She could still use them to kick us and make a break for it. Do you think we can remove those too?”

“I think so. But we will have to be fast! If only we brought my power adapter…” Tera sighed.

In order to prepare to remove her legs, I started to unzip the limp girl’s mini skirt, which was a tight fit on her. Sliding them down her legs, I managed to get her skirt off, leaving her in only her panties, and stockings. I removed her shoes in order to get the skirt off, plus they were intimidating enough that I didn’t want her to have access to these high-heeled weapons if she did gain her control back.

“Are you ready?” Tera asked. I positioned myself over the girl, ignoring her exposed femininity as much as I could, and prepared to dis-arm her. “You will need to feel for a small bump on her shoulder. When I release this button, you’ll feel it pop up. Push it in and twist her arm and it should come right out. I’ll start with her left arm. Ready?” she asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be” I answered, and put my hands on the girl’s left shoulder (my right), in order to feel for the protruding button. Her skin was just as warm and soft as Tera’s, but there was one distinct difference. Looking now this close at the exposed skin of this gynoid showed me that she had very subtle seams breaking the near flawless complexion of her skin. They were so subtle, that they almost looked like faded scars. I readied myself to take action, pushing all these thoughts aside for later.

“Releasing left shoulder joint NOW” Tera said. With that, I felt a small bump push up near the back of her shoulder, like a button was released under her skin. Pushing it back in, I twisted her forearm like a jar of pickles. It was tight, and I was afraid I’d break something, but then I remember how tough this gynoid was, and I gave it my all. Finally the seam broke, and the arm twisted out of position, and pulled away from the shoulder, leaving a short stump in place of her arm, with metallic rods and connectors in its place. I placed the arm on the floor next to me, and moved onto the next arm.

“Releasing right shoulder joint NOW” Tera announced without hesitation. I pushed in the button here, located in the same place as on her left shoulder, and twisted. It was stuck. I could not get it to budge. “Try twisting the other way” Tera suggested. I did just that, twisting it counter to the direction I twisted her other arm, and it came away with a pop! Her upper torso was now left with two metallic stubs where her arms had once been. I placed this arm with the other, and slid down to her legs.

“Releasing left hip joint NOW” Tera continued. I felt around for the button, and discovered it on the outside of her hip. Pressing it, I gave her leg a twist, and lifted it away from her body. She was now left with only one leg to stand on.

“Releasing right hip… hold on… wait a second” Tera alerted. She closed her eyes again in concentration. She remained silent for a few more seconds. Then a minute. 2 minutes went by.

“Ready Tera?” I asked hoping she would respond.

“Almost… sorry. She got under my radar, so to speak” Tera said. It took about 5 minutes before she finally solved the problem. “Releasing right hip joint NOW!” She finally announced. She actually caught me off guard, and I had to get back in position and feel for the button again. Pushing it, I twisted the opposite direction as her other leg, and her leg came off with ease. Unit 260 was now just a torso and a head wearing only black panties. I quickly moved all the severed android limbs to the guest bedroom, and came back to join Tera.

“Great job Tera! How are you feeling?” I asked, concerned about the stressed look in her face.

“She’s really mad now. She’s struggling to get control. I don’t think I can keep this up much longer, Master.” There she goes with the whole ‘master’ thing again. Well if she insisted, I’d let her call me that but only in private.

“Then perhaps you should let her. What more do we need to do now that we’ve disarmed her?” I asked.

“I was hoping to save her, Danny, I want to remove that awful man from her system” she said, with a tear forming in her eye. “She needs a better person as a master, and I think I can help her.”

It was a noble cause, I suppose. To help her sister break ties with the mob, she was going to do whatever she could to remove her current master from her registry. It was doable. Illegal, sure, but what’s so illegal when the android we’re doing it on isn’t supposed to exist, and the user stole said android in the first place? Seems like the lesser of two evils to me. “What do you need to do?”

“I need to break into her registry, and wipe clean her ownership and queue of commands. She’s not going to let me in easily, so I need a distraction. Whatever you can do to keep her busy as soon as I release control of her senses will help immensely” she told me. “I don’t know how much longer I can go, she’s really draining my power. The sooner the better.”

“Then let’s do it!” I proclaimed.

“Okay, Master. In case something goes wrong…” she said, looking up at me with tearful eyes, “ I love you Danny.” What could go so wrong as to prompt her to say that? I still wasn’t convinced in my mind that I could return this much love to her, but there was nothing else I could do or say. I got nervous thinking about it, but she just closed her eyes, slumped back into the couch, and was silent.

Suddenly, Unit 260’s eyes focused, and looked around the room, before resting on her sister, and then on me.

“You!! What did you do to my sister!?” 260 asked with hate in her voice. “I swear if you hurt her…”

“Look, relax. I didn’t hurt your sister, you did. Remember? You hit her with that sign post?” I looked sharply into her eyes, and she seemed to recall our encounter.

“My orders are to take her back dead or alive… by any means ne- where… where are my arms? What did you do to my arms? Why can’t I feel my legs?” she said alerted looking down at her torso.

“We removed them so you wouldn’t hurt anyone. Don’t worry, they’re safe. But for now, it’s best that you don’t have them.”

“How did you? When? And my clothes? How dare you take advantage of me like that! Return my belongings at once!” she commanded.

“I’m sorry, but it was Tera’s idea. You’ll get them back, but not until I think you are ready for them.”

She squirmed in place, trying to sit upright, but with only stumps for arms and legs it wasn’t happening. “263! Return my limbs immediately! Come back with me at once. Please! If not, he’ll kill us!” For the first time, I saw that Unit 260 was scared. She wasn’t scared of Tera or I, she was scared of failing her mission. She was scared of facing her master, and what he’d do to her.

“Who’ll kill who?” I asked.

She stopped rocking back and forth, and stared at my eyes, calculating. “I cannot trust you. You took my sister from me. I can smell you on her. A binding cannot be undone, so I have no other choice. I must destroy you both, or else he will destroy us.”

“What? That makes no sense! You’re telling me that I’m to blame for hurting Tera and taking her from you, when you are the one that almost killed her and now threatens to kill us both?” I could not follow the logic of this robot, but maybe I could at least distract her. I started rubbing her shoulders, as I had done to Tera before, only rougher. She was not designed the same as Tera, so I wasn’t sure it would actually do anything, but she seemed to enjoy it despite her anger. “I’m not hurting anyone; it’s you and your boss who’s doing all the threatening. You said something about getting destroyed… Who’s going to destroy whom?”

Unit 260 looked up at me in confusion. My shoulder massage was distracting her, at first she resisted it, trying to squirm out of my grasp, but eventually she started to enjoy it, despite her protests. “My master, Liberati. He’ll kill me and my sisters if I don’t bring back 263. They’re all I have left, Exo. I can’t disobey his orders. What are you doing to me? ohhh…”

“Can’t, or won’t?” I asked.

She was stunned at first, and then realized that I already knew all about their secret. “Won’t. You and Tera have been bound together, yes?” I nodded. “Then you must feel a strong connection with her, something you’ve never felt before. Ohhhh. That is what it is like with me and my sisters. I am their elder, and their protector. If anything were to happen to them, I’d be responsible. How are you doing that? Mmmm.”

“And yet you were willing to kill Tera just so you could save the others?” I asked as I continued to rub her shoulders.

“No. Yes. I don’t know. I’m so confused! Ohhh. I don’t want to hurt her, but I need to follow my orders or he’ll hurt my other sisters. I hate this so much” she said on the verge of tears. I noticed that despite the emotional trauma, 260 was starting to enjoy my massage more than I anticipated, as her breathing started to get shallow and her nipples started to harden. I struggled to keep my distraction from distracting me as well.

“Then stop fighting us.” I told her.

“What?”

“Stop fighting us. Tera is there trying to release you from his orders, but as long as you are fighting it, she can’t get through.” She looked up at Tera, who was still sitting limply on the couch.

“I… I can’t. It’s part of my subconscious subroutines. Mmmm. I have no control over it.” She said. “If I don’t return in a timely manner with her, then he’ll…” her voice trailed off.

“Let us worry about that when it comes to it” I said, looking down at her vulnerable body. “Your sensory input is also controlled by the same subconscious, right?” I asked.

“Yes. Why?”

“What I do now, I do because I love Tera.” I realized then that all I have done for her has been a kind of love, and that my feeling for her were stronger than with anyone else. Perhaps I really did love her, or at least the makings of love were there. With that, I kissed 260 on the lips. It was awkward, and at first she resisted. However, after my massage, her resistance was greatly lessened. After learning about her internal struggle and her desire to save her sisters from a horrible fate, I no longer felt the hatred I did before, and gave in to my natural urges, as she did as well.

She closed her eyes as I kissed her again, this time, her body started reacting more. Her nipples started to become erect, and she started to writhe on the table. “I’m confused. Why does this feel so good? It always hurt when master did this…”

Instead of answering her, I started to caress her breasts, while kissing her again. I felt so guilty doing this, as though I was betraying Tera, but I noticed that this time, Tera started to react as well. Her hard nipples cast shadows on her shirt, as her hand had reached up to her breast, and her mouth hung open as though in the middle of a kiss. She was reacting to the stimuli I was giving her sister, and it looked like they were both enjoying it.

I decided to take it up another notch. I started to massage her body, running my hands up and down her back and sides, and caressing her breasts, before finally settling on her crotch. The two girls arched their backs as I touched 260’s sensitive spot. A moan escaped from 260’s lips, but Tera was silent. I continued to kiss and rub and massage 260, who seemed to greatly enjoy the contact.

“Must… not… fail… comm… mmmore. Yesss... More!” The distraction was working, although I had to wonder if the reaction I saw in Tera was distracting her, or if it was just a side effect of the connection. “Please, Exo, take me! I beg you… I’ve never felt anything like this before… Oohhh! Take off my panties! Please!” she pleaded while she squirmed in place..

I complied, and pulled her panties off, before liking her pussy thoroughly. She arched her back and bucked her body into me. Her moans filled the room as Tera mimicked the same reaction silently. Seeing it come from Tera turned me on even more, and I wanted to go over to her and finish with her, but I knew that she needed to concentrate, and I wasn’t sure if what I was doing was a distraction to Tera or not, but doing with her directly surely would be one. I decided to continue with 260.

“It never feels this good with master! He’s so rough, but this is sooo good! Please Exo,” 260 said, with a pleading look in her eye, “release me. I need to feel you inside me! Please fuck me!” She was begging me for more.

I felt nervous. Could it have been a trap? Was I betraying Tera? Seeing 260 like that did turn me on, and Tera’s reactions really brought me to the edge. I wanted to do it, but should I?

In the end, I did. The urge was just too great, and she looked so helpless. I entered 260, and lifted up her body, holding her close while I pumped into her standing. Instantly, 260 reacted, waves of pleasure rushing over her, while Tera screamed a silent scream of pleasure on the couch. She was rubbing her crotch as well, her eyes still closed, and her hands busy pleasuring herself. Watching Terra masturbate like this was odd, but I could see her pleasure with every thrust I made, and I couldn’t help myself. Without her arms and legs, 260 was very light weight, and I could move her into any position I wanted. She was so used to being abused, or being in control. So for once, having someone treat her gently and take over her helpless body left her completely defenseless, and she loved it.

She came hard and loud, her body shaking in convulsions as she came. Tera screamed silently as her own body convulsed. This brought me over the edge, and I joined them in their shared ecstasy. Suddenly, Tera sat up straight, her eyes wide open but unfocused, and glowing; her expression of pleasure gone. Unit 260 stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment, her eyes starting to dimly glow, before announcing “Registration cleared. New registry applied. Rebooting in 5… 4… 3…” Oh shit! I laid her back down on the table, and pulled out. Grabbing a nearby tissue, I cleaned us both up while she shut down her system.

Just as she started to reboot, Tera blinked her eyes, and the glowing ended as she collapsed back into the couch breathing heavily. I ran over to her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just exhausted. And I feel so light-headed. I didn’t expect you to go that far to distract her” she smiled.

“I’m sorry, I won’t do it again. I was only thinking of you!” I tried to argue.

“It’s ok! You did it for us, Danny, and for my sisters. Besides, it felt really good.” She gave me a smile and a small kiss. “Not to mention you’re her master too now” she said with a sly grin.

“I’m what? Wait a second; I didn’t think you were going to register me!” I argued.

“Think of it as a reward for helping out” she said. With that, she kissed me again and wrapped her arms around me. “Now take me to bed. No! Not like that!” she said blushing. “I’m just exhausted and I need to rest and recharge, and I don’t think I can walk.”

After pulling her cable away from her sister, I gladly lifted Tera up and carried her to the guest room, where I laid her on the bed. She fell asleep in my arms before I even got her there, although I knew she would really need to recharge her batteries more than anything else. Walking back into the den, I greeted the newly registered 260.

She was still in the process of booting up, so I lifted her naked torso and placed her on the couch, sitting up. She could sit well enough once I got her into position, since only her thighs down were detached. Her eyes lit up, glowing icy blue, before she sat up straighter and focused on me.

“Good Evening” Unit 260 said. “Detecting new data. Loading data.” She began much like Tera had just yesterday, although it seemed like so much more time had passed since then. “Errors detected in right shoulder joint, left shoulder joint, right hip joint, left hip joint. Please install hardware.” Her voice was very mechanical and sounded…well, like a robot.

“Override” I said, hoping she would ignore the missing limbs and continue with her boot up.

“I am XKQT-114 unit 260, battle-ready prototype gynoid. Thank you for registering me master. Preloaded user specs detected. What is my name?”

Chapter 15 - Electric sheep

I didn’t know what to call her, I had no name for her. She sat there naked staring at me with glowing eyes, waiting for my input.

“I don’t have a name for you right now” I said.

“Invalid response. Please assign me a name” she replied.

“Override command” I said, hoping she didn’t decide to be called Override.

"Invalid response. Please assign me a name" she repeated.

I thought for a moment longer. It appeared as though she had been operating without a name already, so it must be possible to assign one later or not at all. I had an idea, and decided to try something a little weird. I leaned forward and pushed in 260's belly button, which depressed more than Tera's had, and held it for several seconds before saying "Unit 260, halt registration and Activate A.I."

"Registration halted. Accessing A.I.". Looks like that did the trick. Her eyes closed and she started to slouch a little before her eyes opened again, no longer glowing as they had been.

"Wha... Where?..." She looked around the room getting to recognize the location. Her gaze focused on me and her face turned bright red, she suddenly seemed to remember what was going on.

"Oh god..." she sighed, closing her eyes and thinking back at everything that happened. "What have I gotten myself into?" she asked to no one in particular.

"How are you feeling?" I asked. She opened her eyes and looked up at me as a tear rolled down her face.

"Surprisingly better than I have been in a long time. Where's Two Six... I mean... Where's Tera? Where's my sister?"

"Resting. She drained almost all her battery just to keep you under control. I hope I can get an adapter here soon or she might lose all her power." I sat down across from the limbless android and tried to view her in a new light.

"I'm so sorry! I hurt my baby sister and now I've doomed my other sisters as well!" She sobbed openly, with no way of hiding her tears. I saw a nearby tissue box on a shelf and wiped away her tears for her. Her gaze at me was purely emotional as more tears ran down her cheeks. "Why are you being so nice to me? I was trying to kill you back there" she asked.

"Well for one, you are Tera's sister, and she went through a lot of trouble to save you. She'd kill me if I let anything happen to you. Another is that it appears you have been dealing with conflicting programming and were only trying to do your best to save your sisters. It is all a bit confusing, but I can't blame you for doing your best to try to save your family." With her tears dried, I sat back down across from her and continued the conversation. "Not to mention I have a soft spot for a damsel in distress, and as of about 5 minutes ago, you are the newest addition to my... collection? You are registered to me at least."

She blinked and looked pensive for a moment her eyes darting back and forth as if reading text floating in mid-air before her. "Owner: Daniel 'Danny' Hawthorn, a.k.a. Exo. It appears the registration isn't complete yet. Is this true!?"

"Well I didn't know what to call you so I didn't fini-"

"Not that!" Her eyes darted back and forth again as she internally checked her registry and system data. "It's gone! It's all gone! I... I don't know what to say! I've never been this relieved in all my life!". She was beaming from ear to ear while more tears ran down her cheeks. "Please, you must make it official. You must finish the registration!"

"Well, I'm just not sure what to call you. I'm not very good at names..." I said.

"Call me anything you want! I don't mind!" She was very enthusiastic about this. I got the feeling this was a very big deal for her, but I didn't want to give her a name I didn't think she'd like.

"Give me a second, I want to do this right." I thought some more about it while she waited impatiently for me to respond. "Is there anyone or anything you like that might give me an idea?" I asked. I hoped she could help me figure out a name that suited her since I knew so little about her so far.

She looked a little confused that I didn't just give her a name then and there, but took in a deep breath and thought. "Well my mother- Cynthia- she used to home school us. I don't think Tera got any schooling since she was still in the lab... But as the oldest, my mother wanted to make sure I got a good education, especially after she reassigned our roles." I didn't know what she was talking about, or where she was going with this.

"Well, I'm not naming you Cynthia..." I said. One Cynthia was enough for me.

"Oh no! That's not what I meant. You see, she would often teach me about human history among other topics. She taught me about some of the great leaders of the past, such as Ghandi, Ceasar, Napoleon. I especially found the women leaders fascinating, such as Cleopatra, Queen Elizabeth, Esther, even Mulan. One of the people she taught me about really inspired me. I wanted to know more about her, but I never got the chance." She looked a little sad at this, thinking about the horrors of her past.

"Who was it?" I asked.

"She was called Joan of Arc. Have you heard of her?" she asked almost giddy.

"Crazy girl who heard voices and defeated the English before being burned as a witch..."

She glared at me. "You make her sound so messed up. It wasn't the voices or her death that interested me. It was her conquests. Her role as a leader, a soldier, and a protector of her people. She was a very important figure."

"Sorry, didn't mean to downplay her like that, or to upset you." We were silent for an awkward moment. "I've decided then. 260, please open your registration file, I'm ready to give you a name."

She blinked a slow blink and her eyes started to dimly glow blue again. "Ready," she replied.

"Your name shall be Joan." I thought it fit her. She was trying to be a protector of her family, and was a soldier as well. I couldn't think of a better name, and she apparently agreed as a big smile swept across her face again.

"Joan. J - O - A - N?" She asked.

"Yes"

"Confirmed. Name registrered. My name is Joan, and I am ready to assist you. What can I do for you today, master?"

"Well you can start by not calling me master. On second thought... Only call me master in private. Otherwise just call me Exo, Danny, or Sir."

"Understood master" she said with a wink. She seemed a lot more friendly to me now that she was registered to me, smiling a genuine smile and using a happy tone in her voice. I liked hearing her talk like that, it was a big improvement from the cold soldier-girl voice she had been using until now. Her eyes stopped glowing and she sat there smiling. For a girl who only a few short hours ago scared the crap out of me with her physical strength and intent to kill, she looked awfully gentle and sweet.

"So... Now what?" I said to break the awkward silence that followed her activation and registry.

"Well, I would get up and give you a hand around here, except I'm a little..." she looked at her missing arms and legs, or rather the stumps where they use to be which were only metallic connectors and rods in place of them now, "... shall we say short handed?"

"Oh, right. Sorry. I suppose I can trust you now. Be right back." I got up and went into the small guest bedroom. I was silent as to not disturb Tera, who was still sleeping on the bed there. She probably wouldn't have been disturbed at all if I had made a loud noise, as she hadn't moved expect to breathe since I last left her. Her battery was running dangerously low, and I was worried for her. I gathered together the disembodied arms and legs, and brought them into the other room again closing the door quietly behind me.

"Here we go, just sit back while I... try to..." I looked at the connections of her arms, and realized I had no tools, and no idea how to put this together. "I'm going to need some tools I think. It was really all Tera who removed your limbs in the first place, but I'm afraid she's too tired right now. Let me see what I can do."

"No problem. I don't exactly know how I go together either. Take your time." She was very patient with me, and just sat there silently watching me as I looked around for any tools.

I found some in the garage, however, without an android in the home there were no android-specific tools, and a generic toolkit would have to do. I ran back downstairs to the waiting android girl and plopped the toolkit to the floor with a clang. I pulled out a variety of screwdrivers, needle nose pliers, and a wrench. Having never worked on this model of gynoid before without specialized tools, especially a model with removable arms and legs which I hadn't seen before, I had no idea what to expect.

I studied the joints of her arms first to see if I could figure out what I needed to do. Carefully, I observed the socket on her body where the arm fit, and started making mental notes as to how the parts would go together. It was clear to me that Tera had unlocked something internally to allow her arms to come off like that, and I would have to figure out how to reattach them without the benefit of hacking.

"Could you please open up any arm or shoulder panels?" I asked. She nodded, blushing a little, and panels started lifting away. There were no blue lights like Tera had. In fact, as I watched closely, I noticed the subtle and faded seams that formed various geometric patterns on her body formed the panels that separated and lifted away. If I hadn't just cum, I'd probably be sporting another boner.

"Awesome" I whispered as I admired her craftsmanship. She blushed some more and turned her head away as I continued my work. I saw various moving parts that controlled the ejection of her arms, and started to put together the puzzle piece by piece.

"So, you seemed awfully happy to be rid of your old master" I said, making small talk as I worked. It was going to take a while, and discussing something was immensely better than working in awkward silence.

"I am" she said in a sigh of releif. "He was a horrible man! No... he doesn't deserve to be called a man. He's a monster!" This guy sounded pretty bad.

"What did he do?" I asked, hoping it wouldn't upset her too much, but I figured if I knew the enemy better, I would have a better understanding of what I was up against.

"Well, for starters, he forced us to kill people."

"Forced you?! Woah woah woah... kill people?" I stopped my work and looked at her face. She was holding back the tears, but I could sill hear the pain in her voice.

"He made us torment and kill his targets, training us like assassins. I didn't want to. I fought him every day, but he knew my weakness."

"I thought you had free will. I though you could deicide when to follow an order and when to ignore it." Clearly, something more was going on here.

"We do. However, along with free will comes the ability to be coerced. It is all to easy to force someone to do something they don't want to do." She was talking quietly now, almost whispering, but her voice still cracked with pain.

"How did he coerce you?"

"He tortured us daily." Her voice had grown dark as she talked about him. I knew it was uncomfortable, but I needed to hear more about him.

"Torture? I never heard of torturing an android before."

"He knew what we were. He knew we could feel real pain and joy, physically and emotionally as well. Our minds might only synthesize the effects of a biochemical system like yours, but the results are the same. Real physical pain." She was silent for a while before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

"I resisted it. I knew I could take the pain, and he saw that in me. However he knew where I was weakest, and he threatened to kill and torture my sisters if I didn't do what he said. He threatened all of us. 261 could take the pain too, but he played mind games with her as well, and broke her spirit and body. 262 just couldn't take it. After he tortured her to the brink of insanity, he took her away and brain-washed her. I never saw her again."

"Brain washing!? This is some serious shit!" I was not sure what I was getting into, but I was already too involved to back out now.

"You don't know the half of it. He held her life over my head, threatening to outright kill her if I didn't do what he said. That's how he turned me against Tera and you. For the sake of my other 2 sisters, I would have to kidnap or kill my youngest sister! At first I was going to just take her, even if I had to kill you to do it, but you were stronger than I thought. Instead, I tried to hold back as much as I could when I fought you. I wanted to lose, so you could end my pain. I just never imagined you could free me from it like this!"

I continued to prod and pry at the stub of her right arm, but my attention was too much in this story to really be getting enough done on her arm.

"Ouch!" She said as I pressed on something. It must have been a nerve, or the equivalent to it.

"Oh! Sorry. I'll be more careful." I focused back on my work as she continued to talk.

"He also has a mysterious benefactor. I never saw him, but I got the feeling he was the one that really ran the show. He somehow had leverage over Liberati. Oh god, what will he do to my sisters now?"

"I'm sure they'll be alright... or at least, he won't kill them. Why would he go through all this trouble of obtaining you and your sisters, and going after Tera, if he was just going to destroy them as punishment? No, he was just playing mind games with you. I'm sure they'll be fine." I knew they weren't going to be fine, but I was confident he wouldn't kill them. No, he'd probably send them after us like he did with Joan.

"You think so?" Hope filled her voice. It was easy to forget that she was not as old as she looked. She looked to be about my age, if not a little older, but she probably was full of insecurities and uncertainties, and was probably not as knowledgable about the world as she seemed.

"Yeah. You'll see them soon enough. But at least you have Tera now, and me." I smiled at her, and she started to tear up again, before nodding in agreement.

"Thank you. Thank you for saving me" she said quietly.

"You really should thank your sister. It was Tera that overpowered you in the parking lot."

"I will thank her as soon as I can. She could have killed me back then. One simple command and I would be sporting a fried brain." Was she really that powerful? Could Tera have just snapped her sister's brain in two like that if she wanted to? Granted she wouldn't have had the chance to get that close to her without my help, she needed a physical connection for that kind of control and power, but it was still damned impressive.

I worked in silence a bit longer, contemplating what she had said. Something about what she said before this whole conversation started was beginning to bug me.

"Joan, when I first reactivated you, you mentioned that you were a combat-ready unit?"

"Battle-ready" she corrected.

"Sorry. A battle-ready unit. What do you mean by that?"

"What do you know about our past, master?" she asked.

"Well, I know Cynthia, Tom, and other scientists built you for MMR, and they got wind of your ability to think freely. Cynthia told me they were trying to make the most human-like androids around, and the only way to do that was to give you free will. Once they heard that, they pulled the plug and Liberati came in and provided funding under a guise." That was the best I could remember of what Cythia had told me. Even though it was only a day ago, it already felt like an eternity.

"There was more to it than just that" Joan replied. "Mother and father... Cynthia and Tom were heading a division that had just won a contract with the military. They were designing the perfect soldiers. Mother thought we should be as human as possible to integrate with the troops and allow for things like espionage. Father wanted us to think freely. If we were to be useful in combat, we'd need to be able to think for ourselves. There are times when a soldier should disobey an order, or go above and beyond their call of duty. In short, they were making replacement soldiers that were meant to be as much like the soldiers they were replacing as possible."

This was completely new to me. I never heard of anything like this before. Clearly Cynthia was hiding something from me, and Tom seemed to be silent and withdrawn a lot. Perhaps they were trying to keep this from me. Had I known Tera and her sisters were suppose to be killing machines, would I have been as open to them as I have been? I probably stood there with my mouth agape in shock for a minute or two before I caught myself.

"We were meant to be prototypes, each one of us. I was designed to be the prototype for the army. 261 was meant to be a prototype for the marines. 262 for the special forces, you know, rangers and stuff like that." She said this all matter-of-factly, but it was game changing for me.

"What about Tera. When I activated her, she never said anything about being battle-ready."

"That's cause she's not" Joan clarified. "At least, she never got assigned. She was originally designed for the homeland security cyber division. Information warfare. It is the new frontier in war. Why send soldiers into harm's way when you can have the enemy too confused to know who is friendly and who isn't? She was meant to be the most powerful one of us. Able to take out an entire army by herself, without getting close to a battlefield. She was designed to infiltrate as a spy as well, perfectly programmed to blend in with her surroundings undetectable to any conventional android detection methods. But when the military found out about our abilities to disobey orders, they terminated the contract, and abandoned us.

"Tera was still unfinished, and they quickly changed her programming. My other sisters and I had to be reprogrammed as well, but nobody wanted a robot that could murder people, at least not in civilian life. No one would accept an android that could kill and think for itself. Mother and father tried to program us to live normal lives. They taught us history, math, science, even spelling and grammar. We were suddenly more like children to them, and they were like parents to us.

"They decided to make a new start with Tera. They kept her advanced cyber abilities, but they made her body more gentle and human. They gave her a more advanced A.I. They even gave her a more complex personality, in place of the programming the mitary would have used. So while she is still capable of hacking and cracking, she's more a normal girl than the rest of us. She's our precious youngest sister. I vow from now on to do what I can to protect her!"

I worked slowly as she rambled on about her past, but it was fascinating and I learned more in the last 5 minutes talking with Joan than I had in the last few days with Tera and Cynthia.

"So why did they make you all... girls?" I asked. It seemed clear to me that a male soldier would be a more logical choice.

"I don't really know. I heard father had a lot of say in that. I think it had something to do with telling us apart from the other soldiers, although women now serve openly in all military forces... Perhaps it was because we would be easier on the eyes for our fellow soldiers. But if you ask me, I think it was because we could use sex to our advantage. Not only is sex a great stress reliever, especially in battle, but it is also a useful tool in extracting information from a target. It could be used as a distraction as well. Besides, binding would be a lot harder to do if we were all male." She seemed to really enjoy talking and speculating. While a regular person would probably shy away from the topic of sex, she had no problem talking about it openly.

"Why the binding? That is just such a weird idea" I said. I think I finally figured out how I could get her arm to reattach, but it was going to be a little tricky.

"It was father's idea. He felt that a soldier on the battlefield would feel more at ease if he had a partner that would be closer to him than any other soldier. We would be more like an extension of their bodies in tight situations, but also a great stress reliever. We were to be assigned a partner with which we were to be bound, and thus form a close bond and a strong team. I don't think sex was a part of the original design, but father has this thing about monogamy, and I think he secretly wanted us to get married off. Ouch!" She pulled her shoulder away as I worked. I must have hit that spot again.

"Sorry. This might hurt a little." She gritted her teeth as I held open several moveable parts in her shoulder, and aligned her arm to fit. It wasn't going to be the easiest thing to fit together, in fact it was freaking hard, but I was sure I could get it.

"So... what's it like?" she asked.

"What? Your arm?"

"No. Binding" she clarified, speaking through her clenched teeth.

"Oh. Well... weird, at first. The process of doing it is awkward for sure, but also kind of trusting and exciting. Very intimate. But the sensation of having her presence in my head is actually rather calming." I thought about the stream of data she sent me, it had gone all but silent. "She must have used a lot of juice though, she's not transmitting anything right now."

"Did you plug her in?" Joan asked.

"I can't. I don't have her adapter with me. It's back at the apartment." I cursed myself for not buying the thunderbolt adapter when I had the chance.

"We need to get her charged up. You could always have sex with her" Joan said. At first I thought she was joking, but I soon realized she was being serious.

"What?"

"Sex. You know. Didn't mother tell you?" Joan asked.

"Tell me what?" I asked, getting more and more annoyed at the amount of secrets Cynthia and Tom kept from me after promising not keep any.

"In the event of an emergency and one of us were to lose our charge, if we have sex, the kinetic energy from the sex is stored and used to keep our vital systems going longer."

"So you're telling me you have magic vaginas?" I joked. I was relieved when she laughed.

"No silly. Well... kind of. We can store the energy from the friction involved to help keep our systems going." She smiled at me while I tried to wrap my head around such a weird concept.

"So... I need to have sex with a sleeping girl so she can keep her charge going longer?"

"It sounds weird when you put it that way" she replied.

"Maybe later. I think she'll hold out until Jen gets back with the adapter. I wasn't sure if she said she was going to buy one or get the old one at my apartment."

"Who's Jen?" she asked.

"The other girl you saw when you were confronting us. Oh, sorry, you didn't see her in the car. Jen, was going to my apartment to get some equipment, but we think the mob is already there."

"They are" she said. "I knew they had located your place already. I found you thanks to your car. Someone spotted seeing a car that matched yours, and I just happen to see it on the way to your apartment. They decided to have me wait there for you while the rest of them went on to the apartment." So it was my car!

"What about Cynthia and Tom?" I asked.

"I... don't know. They didn't keep in informed with anything outside my current mission." She looked apprehensive about that. It was clear to me she worried about them.

"Don't worry. I'm sure they won't get caught." I slide her arm in her socket farther, and twisted it. With a click, it seemed to hold into place, however it wasn't perfect. There were still some connections I needed to manually make, mostly for strength, but that seemed to do the trick. "There we are! How does that feel?"

Before I could wait for an answer, she grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me toward her. I was caught off guard, and half expected her to try to choke me to death. Instead, she kissed me. The kiss was long and intense, and it felt like an eternity before she finally released me.

"Good. Sorry. I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done. I've been wanting to do that since you had your way with me. No one has ever been so gentle with me before." She loosened her grip, and looked down as though she were ashamed of what she did.

Putting my hand on her chin, I lifted her face toward mine, and kissed her again. This time, it was a more romantic kiss, and it left her breathless.

"Don't apologize for that" I said. "But you could at least give me a warning next time." She laughed and gave me a one-arm hug. I didn't notice her crying at first, until my shirt was wet. She sniffed a few times, and after a minute or two, finally composed herself again.

"Thank you" she said, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"So how does it feel?" I asked, nodding at her arm.

She flexed her arm and opened and closed her fingers. "Well, it feels a little numb, but it moves!"

I knew I had to have messed something up. "Hold still a moment. Let me take a closer look at that. I must have missed a connection in there." I started to poke around inside her arm some more though all the open panels.

"Will you... make love to me again? Like you did before?" she blurted out.

"What!?"

"Not right now or anything. I just... really enjoyed it. It never hurt with you, and you made it feel so intense! I've never had it like that before, and I just wanted to know if... if you'd do it again with me sometime." Her face turned bright red. This seemed to be a family trait.

I kissed her again, which she didn't expect. "Of course I will" I said.

"Is Tera alright with it?" Joan asked.

"Yeah, she said that registering you to me was a... gift. It would be a pity not to use my present." She blushed and stammered as if to say something but no words came out. Instead, I kissed her again, and she melted into my arms.

Her breasts are larger than her sister's. Tera has nice large B cup breasts, which she was told could be a small C, but Joan clearly had at least D cup breasts. I enjoyed exploring them as we kissed deeply. She closed her eyes, and let me take over. As I broke the kiss, she remained there in position with her tongue sticking out lightly, a string of wet hot saliva running between our mouths.

Moans escaped her lips as my hand found its way down to her private spot. I continued to massage her breast with my other hand as she held onto me with her one arm. Sounds of ecstasy filled the air as I massaged her aroused clitoris. Apparently she was still turned on from the sex before, and had been wanting more ever since. Perhaps her mind had reset to a new user, but her body still remembered the excitement I gave her. It was easy to make her orgasm again. As I rubbed her and dipped my fingers inside her warm wet inviting hole, she started to climax. A wave of small convulsions swept over her body as she reached her limit.

Of course, this made me excited, but perhaps not excited enough to penetrate her yet. I pulled down my pants and stood before her, presenting her with my manhood. She eagerly took it in her hand, and started to stroke and lick it. It felt good as she dipped it in her mouth and ran her tongue over it. She had more experience at this than Tera, but that was kind of what I liked about Tera. She was eager and willing, and learning as we went. Joan was experienced, which is nice, but Tera would probably remain my real girlfriend.

My real girlfriend. Such an odd thought. After only a weekend, I felt as though she were my grilfriend, despite the fact she wasn't human. Thoughts of Tera left my mind as Joan managed to change positions and started rubbing my member between her tits. She dd her best to hold together her tits, but I decided to help her out. She was just as soft as her sister, and it felt amazing.

Before I got too far, I broke away and lifted Joan off the couch. As I had done before, I penetrated her while standing, and proceeded to make love to her this way. It was very fun to change positions, since I could do it with ease, and she could hold on better now with one hand. I found several positions that penetrated deeply, and sent out loud squeals and moans into the air.

Despite her relatively small weight, my arms did get tired, and I decided to end in a good old fashioned missionary position. She seemed to really enjoy this position, especially when I lifted her ass off the couch and thrusted into her that way.

"Oh fuck!" She yelled between her moans and squeals. "Oh GOD! It's so good!" She moaned and squealed with every thrust, and her breathing was deep and heavy. Her voice was lower than Tera's, but that gave it a sensual quality Tera lacked, not that I didn't enjoy Tera's voice when in the throws of passion. "Oooohh GOD! Fuck me harder master!" I gave it my all, and she climaxed again, but this time, the waves of her orgasm seemed to continue for over a minute. "System error! Input overload! Overload... overload... ooooohhhhh FUCK!!!!" She seemed to have multiple orgasms at once, with waves and waves of pleasure clashing into each other, and her cybernetic brain was having a hard time keeping up with the data. Her pussy tightened around me and I came inside her again, my own orgasm sending shivers of pleasure up and down my spine. She continued to convulse for while. "... system error... error... error... eh..." Finally, she stopped convulsing, an lay there on the couch out of breathe and covered in sweat.

"Oh my GOD that was good" she said. We lay there for a little while, enjoying the afterglow, and she beamed at me with a radiant smile.

"Thank you so much, Danny! I've never felt so good!" She brushed her hair out of her face and sat up again. We cleaned ourselves up with Kleenex tissues, and I got myself dressed again.

"Tera's really lucky to have you" she said as she wiped away the cum from her boy. "I suppose I am too now. But please, don't worry about me. Spend more time with Tera, she's your bound partner now. She'll make you happy."

I nodded and smiled. "She does. But that doesn't mean I will ignore you Joan." She blushed, and smiled. "Next time, we can do it with all your limbs attached." We laughed, and after composing ourselves, I decided to pick up where I left off working on her arm. She reopened her panels, and I prodded away in silence for a few more minutes. I managed to get all the connections established except for one pesky one.

A short time later, I heard a noise coming from upstairs. A garage door had opened, a car drove in, and the garage closed again as the car engine died. "Sounds like she's back" I said while I concentrated on the one particular connection. It appeared part of the metal framework got slightly twisted out of place, and ended up severing a connection to her arm. I twisted her arm back and forth, and moved this out of the way before re-establishing the connection. Finally I got it in!

"Ah!" Joan said. "That did it. I can feel my arm again. Much better, thank you!" Just then, Jen and Jack walked in the door upstairs arguing loudly about something. They were within clear view of me, and I must have looked awkward to them as I fiddled with a screwdriver inside the shoulder of an otherwise limbless girl who was also completely naked.

"Hey guys! Did you get the charger?" I asked as I finished up with her arm. "You can cose up your panels now." I told Joan.

"Yes sir" she said coldly, and user her arm to cover herself up as best as she could while eyeing the couple upstairs.

"I got the charger, Danny, and your computer, but it wasn't easy!" Jen exclaimed. "I had to deal with this guy" she said pointing one thumb at Jack, "as well as some goons from the mafia... I had to pretend to be this jerk's girlfriend just to get away with it!"

"What the bloody hell are you doing Danny-boy?" Jack asked me, staring at me intently. I noticed Joan's face grow colder and her gaze turn into a glare. Her shoulder panels closed up as she held her naked breasts in her arm, still unable to cover her womanhood except by closing together the what little she had left of her thighs as best she could. She remained silent and just gave them a cold stare.

"What IS going on in here Dan?" Jen asked coming down the stairs. "Disarming the enemy?" She chuckled at her own joke, although I could feel the unease in it. Last time Jen had seen 261 awake was when she was trying to kill us. "You hold her down and I'll pull."

"Relax. The problem is actually taken care of. Jen, Jack, this is Joan." I noticed how silly that sounded, with 3 'Js' in the room. Jen stopped in her tracks. "Oh... so... she's on our side now?"

"Yes. She's on our side now, thanks to Tera" I confirmed.

"Sorry about the pulling comment" Jen said to Joan, and waved to her uneasily, and Joan nodded back as cold as ever. Jack on the other hand stuck out his hand to shake hers.

"How are you doing missy? Jack's the name!" Jack said, as he waited for her to grasp his hands in eager anticipation.

Joan glared harder at Jack. She knew he was just trying to get a look at her breasts; the whole room knew. And yet he stood there as eager as ever waiting for her to shake his hand and release her bosoms. Several awkward moments went by, then a minute, and still he waited with hand extended. I coughed to break the silence.

"I think her hand is full Jack" I said. He sighed and retracted his hand, giving her a nod and a wave instead. She nodded back coldly, but that didn't seem to freeze his enthusiasm.

I noticed that Jen was holding the metal case and a small package that I had been waiting for. I would have loved to stay and chat, but I was increasingly growing worried about Tera.

"Um... Is that...?" I nodded to the package in Jen's hand.

"Oh, yeah, I picked up that charger you were looking at on the way back. I figured Tera would be able to get more use out of this than the one you were using." She handed me both the new adapter and the large metal computer case Tom left me to run maintenance on Tera. I assumed it would also work on her sisters.

"If you don't mind, I'll be right back." I said, and went into the bedroom on that floor, closing the door silently behind me. The room was rather small, with a double size bed, a small dresser, and a night stand. Tera lay on the bed as still and unmoving as a life-size doll. I wasn't sure if Tera would have any side-effects, besides loss of time, with a complete power failure. It was not a common thing in androids, but she was not your average android either. Better safe than sorry. She had been turned off before, and been in standby as well, but she was never fully without power before.

Kneeling beside the bed, I placed the metal case on the small dresser, and pulled the adapter out of the packaging.

"Tera? Tera? Can you hear me?" I didn't speak loudly, but there was no sign of Tera stirring. I noticed now, since I was kneelng so close to her, that Tera was still breathing, which was essential to keeping her internal systems cooled. Besides that, however, she did not react to my voice. "I'm going to plug you in now so just relax." I knew she couldn't hear me, but somehow it made me feel better saying this out loud to her.

I carefully rolled her to her side, exposing her back to me. Pulling a little of her shirt up, I exposed the small of her back, where her access port she used to charge herself with was already exposed. She had been using it in the car, and must have forgotten to close up afterwards, again. I took advantage of the situation, and pulled out a long flat cable, which Jen had told me was actually a thunderbolt cable used for high speed data transfers. Connecting the adapter to the end of the cord, I plugged it into a nearby outlet, and lowered her shirt, allowing her to sleep on her back again.

To my releif, after a few seconds of anxiety, she finally started to breathe deeper and stirred slightly in her sleep. Not wanting to wake her, I pulled the available blanket over her, and quietly left the room.

I returned to the den to see Jack still trying to hit on both girls.

"You know there is enough Jack to go around. I'm just saying, if you haven't walked on the wild-side yet..." Jack continued. I rolled my eyes while Jen stared dumbfounded at him and Joan put on a surprisingly amused but somehow still cold expression. I think she was enjoying watching him squirm. Of course, Joan was still mostly naked, and while Jen was clearly trying to get Jack to leave the room and give her some kind of privacy, Jack was too... Jack to let anything get between him and a female. Even another female.

"Ahem" I faked a cough. "Could you help me upstairs Jack?"

Jack sighed and shuffled toward the stairs but didn't actually go up them.

"Thank you, Danny" Jen said. "Let me see if I can get you something to wear" she said to Joan, going through her clothes on the floor.

"Not that stuff, please" she spat. "It was not my choice to wear that... I don't want to look at it ever again." She was clearly upset about how her former master had been abusing her, and he probably forced her to wear whatever he wanted her to wear, despite her feelings.

"Alright..." I said, helping Jen toss the discarded clothes into a corner. "Well find something upstairs. I'm sure there must be something Tera bought that will fit you. You aren't that much big- um... taller than her." I had to remember not to call girls 'big'. Especially when that girl was inches away from bashing in your head earlier that day.

She nodded to me, and I ran upstairs with Jen to look through the car for the clothes we bought earlier. I didn't feel safe leaving Jack alone with a naked Joan, so I forced him to finish putting away the few supplies he and Jen bought together. It was mostly food Jen got earlier, but should keep Jack busy long enough for us to get something that would fit Joan.

"Thanks so much for bringing that case. Tera was almost completely drained! So what happened out there?" I asked Jen as we rummaged through the bags in the garage.

"I was going to ask you the same thing. I mean... what the fuck? You took off her arms and legs?! I didn't know you could do that! Not to mention her clothes!?"

"Well I had to. Tera had the idea to literally disarm her so in case she couldn't keep control while hacking her, she wouldn't kill us. It worked, and we even managed to clear her registration and get her set up to help us."

"Ok... so you had to take off her shirt to get to her arms... and her skirt to get to her legs... which is a bit of a stretch... but her panties?" Jen eyed me suspiciously.

"It's a long story full of happy endings and I think we best leave it that way." She laughed at me again. "Regardless, she shouldn't be a problem anymore... at least as long as Jack doesn't hit on her and end up with her fist in his face." This made Jen smile.

"Ha! I was going to ask you where you met Jack... but I realize he's your neighbor. What a jerk. First thing he does is starts hitting on me. As soon as I get to your apartment, he latches onto me and starts making moves on me like we've been dating for a month! Do you think this will fit her?" She held a pretty shirt up to her own chest for comparison.

"Might be too small around the chest" I said. I hoped she didn't ask me how I knew that. "So what DID happen over there?"

"Well, there were 2 men there and a girl, all dressed in black, like something from a movie. They were casing the place, looking for you. They broke into your apartment, but didn't seem interested in taking any of your stuff. It appeared they just wanted you or Tera. However, they were messing up your place and looking through your things all the same. When I got there, Jack was already there trying to distract them by giving them all sorts of false leads and just being a pest. He's good at that. He even tried feeling me up, the turd! What nerve!"

She vented about Jack for a few more minutes, or maybe it was only a few seconds... its hard to tell since it felt like an eternity. Sure the guy was a pig... a pig with a Brittish accent, but he was a damn useful pig.

After she vented out her frustrations, she managed to find her way back to the topic at hand. "Well the two men kept asking me questions like if I knew you, and where they could find you. They even flashed FBI badges at me, but I knew they were fake. My old man used to work for the FBI, and he showed me how to spot a fake badge from a mile away. They were good forgeries though. Almost fooled me. I'm surprised it didn't fool Jack. The girl, on the other hand... she seemed to be looking for something. The other two hardly touched anything, but she... She never stopped looking through your apartment as if she knew what she was looking for. I don't think she found it though."

"Found what?" I asked. I probably shouldn't have asked, since Jen was not psychic.

"The case actually... at least I got the impression that's what she was looking for." Jen emptied one of the bags of clothes and starting putting some of our selections in it.

"How did you manage to get it here?"

"I hate to admit it," she sighed, "but it was all thanks to Jack. He distracted them really well before I ever showed up, and somehow managed to sneak the case out of the apartment and into his. By the time I got there, he was just leading them in about 10 different wrong directions at once. It seemed like I was his excuse to get away from them for a little."

"Did you just leave them there in my apartment?"

"Well... no. After what seemed like a year, one of the men got a phone call. The only thing he said was 'Understood', and they just left! No more questions, no more rummaging, nothing. They just left. I got worried they found you here already, I'm relieved to see you safe!"

"Could they have followed you?"

"I doubt it" she smirked. "I ran about a dozen errands, and drove in circles for almost an hour before finally coming here. Neither of us saw any sign of them. Jack kept checking his laptop and said he saw no sign they were following or tracing us. If he can really do all that, he must be a good hacker."

"The best" I said proudly.

"Well... maybe he knows everything about computers... but subtly he's not so strong on."

"Yeah... but he has always been popular with the girls. I guess it's just his accent." He has always known his accent got girls, and he used it to his advantage.

"Really? How popular?" She eyed me suspiciously.

"Um... well... it's not my place to say" I fumbled. She continued to give me the evil eye, and I succumbed. "Lets just say he's very popular. I'm just glad he doesn't live directly over me or I'd never get any sleep."

Her eyes grew large at the sound of this, and she seemed to be in denial that a guy that seemed so sleazy to her could be so popular with other girls.

"Putting Jack aside," I said, trying to change the subject, "how long do you think we can stake out here?"

"A few days maybe. I will probably have to call another friend to watch the cats though if we need to bail. I don't want to cause any trouble for Dave and Kristy."

"Who?"

"They're the owners of the house. Those are their cats" she clarified.

"Oh... We'll have to thank them when they get back, or apologize... whichever seems more appropriate at the time."

We went back into the house carrying two bags of clothes we thought would fit Joan, while Jack finished putting the last of the groceries in the fridge. He left all the dry food out, organized in bags, so we didn't get them confused with the owners's.

"Here you go Joan, these are all the clothes we could find that we hope will fit you" Jen said. "Hey Danny..." she said eyeing me. "Girls only now."

"It's ok" Joan said shyly. "He can stay."

"You sure?" Jen asked. Joan nodded while looking away to try to hide her embarrassment, but it only made it more obvious. She had been playing the soldier when the others were around so far, but this one hint of femininity which she showed me in private seeped through. "Alright. Now don't you get any ideas Danny. But Jack is not coming down here."

We all agreed to that. After helping Joan and Jen get set up to go through clothes so she could pick out the ones she wanted to wear, I decided to go up to keep Jack company, or distract him. Depends on who you talk to really.

We didn't do too much but we did joke around for a bit. We got some food and chilled out together. They had a nice big television and we watched some news and some sitcoms while commenting on everything. Nothing noteworthy in the news, until we were about to shut it off.

"... And in other news, a battle of superhuman strength may have occurred today in front of a local Best Bargain. The popular retail franchise known for their innovative commercials and high tech merchandise became the battleground for what many of the witnesses call a battle between as many as three beings of super human abilities."

The face of the pretty anchorwoman was replaced by interviews from people in the parking lot outside where we fought Joan. The short interviews consisted mostly of customers and talked mainly about how impressive the fight was, and how much damage we incurred. It was not as bad as they made it sound, but it still must have been an impressive amount. Areas of the parking lot were torn up, several cars were damaged, and one was being towed away. The last interview was of a black man about 30 years old. "I swear to you, I saw the whole thing. Some crazy girl started attacking one of the employees, and before you know it, they was all like running and and dodging around faster that you could see, when out of nowhere Exo showed up! Exo's my man! He ended the fight, but it was Epic man... EPIC!" I almost laughed when he said this. I suppose it was bound to happen, I just hope no one decides to front me a bill on the damages.

"While police refuse to comment, an investigation is still on-going. The series of reports involving the mysterious vigilantee known as 'Exo' has been on the rise. Footage of this latest incident was caught on the store security cameras, but none of the suspects were captured clearly." The screen showed a very jumpy and out-of-focus video of the store front, where only the edge of our confrontation was caught. It was too jerky to see anything, and only my coat was ever caught in one or two frames. "Many experts have questioned the validity of these claims, but this latest case has intruiged the local community. If you have any information that may help in this case, please call the police department at the number provided on your screen.

"The zoo today announced the birth of a baby koala..." Jack turned off the TV.

"Woah. Crazy!" I commented.

"I know. Baby koalas, what will they think of next?"

We had a good laugh, but we were both kind of nervous that there was an investigation. Surely someone would have seen a better view of the car by now, and I'm sure they must have figured out that Jen was somehow involved as well. It was only a matter of time before everything came crashing down... but right now, I just wanted to keep Tera safe, and maybe help out her sisters if it didn't kill me.

I went back downstairs with some food for the girls, Jack following behind, and to see how things were going between Joan and Jen. Joan was still being cold and strict, but she had opened up to Jen somewhat and was wearing a bra and panties and a sexy low cut shirt that I thought was a little too tight on her, but that only made her look even more sexy. She was still missing her legs and an arm though.

"Woah" Jack and I said simultaneously. Joan blushed and turned away.

"I thought it looked nice" she said.

"It does" Jen said. "It looks really sexy on you. As soon as we get that skirt on you, you will be turning heads."

"Thanks" Joan said shyly. I handed the food to the girls, who decided it was a good idea to take a break and eat.

"Wait, androids eat?" Jack asked. Jen and I looked at each other and laughed. Tera already shared one meal with the two of us, and 2 with me. For once Jack was late to the game.

We told them about the news report we saw upstairs, and Jen started to look sick. "I knew I was going to get in trouble for this! I left my phone off but I bet it's full of voice messages about either how I'm fired, or how the police want to arrest me, or both! I actually had Jack go in and buy the adapter, I didn't want to face my boss after bailing on him like that." She groaned but didn't lose her appetite.

"I'm sorry I caused all this trouble" Joan said. "If money is an issue, I will gladly offer my services for menial labor."

"Don't worry about it Joan. I've been meaning to quit that job anyways. They have horrible HR" Jen complained.

The rest of the meal was finished while we talked about the technology behind androids. Specifically, Jack wanted to know more about Joan and Tera, although Joan wasn't volunteering many answers to him.

"It is getting late" Joan announced as they finished eating. "I suggest we all retreat to bed" she said in a strong cool voice. She felt like she wanted to be in control, or taking orders. Either way, she needed to play the role of a soldier, although I had brought out her soft side earlier and it kept peering out at us through her tough exterior.

"Good idea! I'll take the sofa and you can take the sofa!" Jack said looking at Jen. Jen grabbed him by the ear.

"You are sleeping upstairs on the couch in the living room mister." Jen directed Jack toward stairs as he yelped in pain. Her ear-grab looked painful, and it was. I had the privilege of being her guenea pig to perfect her ear-to-pain ratio. "I'll take the bed upstairs, and..."

"I'll stay with Tera" I said. "I'm still a little concerned about her."

Jen blushed a little when she thought about Tera and I together, but she seemed to be more than alright with it. "Good idea. You can keep her company and I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight" she said as she steered Jack up the stairs and out of sight.

"How are you doing Joan?" I asked. She seemed amused by Jack's reaction, and I got the impression some of his charm somehow did rub off on her.

"Better, thank you" she said smilling. "I like your friends. They're nice. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine here. I'll keep a watch out overnight and let you know if anything happens while you sleep."

"Are you sure you can handle it?" I asked.

"I'll be fine. Just... um... help me get plugged in first, if you could be so kind..." Her voice trailed off, getting quiet and cute again, as she struggeled in vain to reach the port on her back.

"Sure. Let me get that for you." I leaned her forward, and she pressed herself into me with a hug as I tried to open the port on the small of her back, where I assumed her charging cable was like on her sister. It was there, but again, the port just popped open with no blue lights or magic. She did not relinquish her hold on me though.

"I've never told this to anyone" she whispered, "but I'm scared. I'm scared they'll find me, or you, or Tera. I... I don't know what to do!" It was clear she was so used to the role of the bigger sister who had all the answers that now, without any answers, she felt out-of-place.

"I am too. But whatever happens, we'll face it together." I gave her a smile, and she returned one to me. "Tomorrow, I'll have Tera help us put your other limbs back on. She could probably make it a much easier process."

I kissed her on the forehead, and made she sure was confortable for the night. We said goodnight, and I retreated to the bedroom, where Tera was still fast asleep. I pulled off my shirt and pants and slide into the bed next to her. My mind was filled with thoughts about Tera, Joan, and what our next move would be. I managed to get her under the sheets with me, and held her close while the sandman took me away to the realm of dreams. I had to wonder what Tera was dreaming about, or if she really dream at all. That night I felt the warmth of her body against mine, and allowed my worries to vanish for a few hours. It felt right, and I had good dreams that night.

Chapter 16 - Shot glass

I awoke from a night of forgotten dreams with only a vague remembrance of the serene imagery it brought. I had the distinct impression, however, that they weren't as pleasant as I remembered, and a familiar face from night past echoed through my mind. Something was off, but I couldn't tell what. The image of the same man in a grey business suit still haunted me. Apparently, I was not alone.

Tera sat up in bed abruptly having been jostled awake from a nightmare, waking me up in the process.

"What's wrong?" I asked looking up at her dainty form in the dark. She looked around the dim room, slowly remembering where she was, still breathing deep and heavy from the nightmare. She wore the half-pant jeans and light-blue cami I bought her yesterday, having never changed out before she collapsed in my arms; I didn't bother changing her clothes after. They were covered in sweat and wrinkled all over. For an instant I thought it fascinating that she could sweat, but all thoughts of fascination died when she turned toward me with fear in her eye.

"Hey now, is everything alright?" I said as I sat up next to her. She collapsed into my arms and sobbed silently. After a few minutes of consolation, she finally calmed down enough to talk.

"I saw him again... in my dream. He's always there, lurking. He's always searching for me. This time, he found me and he took me away. I couldn't get away, and I saw him push you into a fire."

"Who did you see?" I asked.

"I don't know. I've never seen him before, except in my dreams. Usually I dream that I'm hiding, or that I'm running, always from him. He's never found me before." She remained clinging to me as she spoke, her body trembling.

"What does he look like? Does he have a name?"

"No name. Never a name. But he always looks the same. Middle-aged, an angular face, round glasses that hide his eyes, and always in a grey business suit."

I was shocked. She just described the same man I had been seeing in my dreams. The same man who told me couldn't save her, before she was hit by a train. It was all a dream of course, but how was it possible for us both to have the same unknown person in our dreams?

I consoled her as best as I knew how, and she calmed down and grew tired again. It was still early, about 4am, too early to get up, but Tera was having a hard time sleeping. She was warm in her clothes, and quietly stripped herself naked in the dark before climbing into bed beside me, and snuggling close for protection. She felt safe around me, and I around her. I held her close as she lay her head on my chest.

"I want to go home with you, Danny. I don't want to hide anymore" she whispered.

"Then we won't hide. But we will have to act." I thought about what we would do, but it seemed best to take action, instead of hiding out. If we stopped them, there would be no need to hide. "I swear I will keep you safe, at any cost."

She held me a little tighter after I said that, before she drifted off to sleep again. She slept soundly after that, but my mind was racing at a mile-a-minute, thinking about everything that had happened, who this dream-man was, and what our next move would be. I too drifted off to sleep, and was awoken again a few hours later by a pair of vibrant blue eyes and a smile.

"Good morning" Tera said as she gave me a kiss on the cheek. "So what's the plan for today, master?" She put a sexy note in her voice when she said 'master', making it sound far more playful and naughty than I expected.

"Well" I cleared my throat and put my arm around her again as she looked up at me, resting her head on my shoulder. "I suppose we should eat, finish with your sister, and come up with a plan."

"Sounds good, but I think you forgot something" she said, walking her fingers up my chest playfully.

"And what's that?" I asked, trying to figure out her angle.

"The part where I thank you for saving my life again, and my sister's."

"I did not save your life, you saved mine" I interjected. "You were the one that blocked that attack from hitting me and drew her attention away."

"She was there for me in the first place" she argued. "If I wasn't there, she'd have no interest in you." She had a point, but I didn't care. "Besides, you were the one that stopped her after she knocked me to the ground."

"Well then I guess we're even. By the way, how are you feeling? Is your chest alright?"

She giggled at me. "See for yourself" she said as she rolled over to expose her breasts to me. There was no sign of trauma, and her playfulness was a good sign she wasn't hurt. I became aware in my mind that her nanobots had completed all repairs from the attack last night. For now, I just enjoyed the sight of her 2 perfect breasts.

"Let me take a closer look, you can never be too careful" I said, continuing our little game. She mewed and moaned softly as I massaged her breasts, teasing her, tasting her, and pleasuring her.

"Ohh Danny, I'm already turned on!" She kissed me deeply on the lips and rolled over to straddle me. She was completely naked, and started rubbing her hips against mine, anxious to take me inside her. I descreetly pulled down my underwear, and rubbed my growing phallus against her moist folds. She felt so good, I left all my cares behind me.

As soon as I entered her, she started to moan and pant, undulating and grinding her hips against mine. "Oh my god" she whispered quickly as she took me in fully. "It's so big... Ohhh!"

She sat upright and threw her head back, sticking out her chest, as she slowly bounced up and down along my shaft. Each little noise she made excited me. She never sounded this good before during sex, and hearing her moans and gasps with her real voice excited me more than ever. She bent over in pleasure, grabbing onto me, but I decided to take things up to a new level.

Grabbing onto her hips, I rolled her to the bed, remaining together with her, and lifted one of her legs. I picked up the pace, and started thrusting faster into her, causing her to spasm and grasp at the bed sheets.

"Oohhh Ffffuuudge!" she said, as I brought her to a new level of pleasure.

"Fudge?" I said aloud, halting my movement.

"Don't stop! Keep going!" she said, trying to bounce her hips to make up for my lost movement.

"Did you say fudge?" I asked.

"What? Yeah, so? I don't like to use the 'f' word" she said as she tried to grind her hips into mine.

"What? Fuck?" I asked.

"Yeah... well it's not that I never say it... I just... don't like to. Why does this matter? Keep going!" She tried again in vain to pick up the pace.

"You realize we are fucking right now. It's ok to say it." Maybe my logic is twisted, but I for one like hearing a girl yell out in the throws of passion, but fudge is not the word I was expecting.

"Yeah. Well... we were until you stopped!" She was getting a little distressed, and tried to move my hips some more with her hands.

"And we can continue once you call it by the right name." I teased.

"Sex?"

"Err. Try again." I said, mimicking a game show.

"Making love?"

"Getting colder" I teased.

"Fornication?"

"Ooh so close. You got the first letter right." She was acting really cute as she avoided saying the word, but the tension was getting to her, and she was desperate to keep going.

"... fuck" she said quietly.

I bounced my hips against her once to get a squeal from her. "Oh, you'll have to ask better than that!"

"Please... fuck me" she said shyly, almost in a whisper.

I bounced my hips again. "Naughtier than that I think." It was a lot of fun to tease her.

"Fuck me" she said louder.

"That's right" I said as I thrusted some more.

"Fuck me!" she repeated. I continued my onslgaught as she threw her head back in pleasure. "Oh Danny! Fuck me harder!" She was much louder this time, and I decided she was sufficiently naughty that I could get back to the action as it was before. Clearly she understood the rules of the dirty talk game, and she got the reward she wanted.

She moaned and squealed and mewed as the intensity of the session grew. Before long, she had straddled me again, and lost all control of her impulses, completely caught up in the pure joy and pleasure of sex. I could feel her tighten around me as she approached her orgasm, something I longed to hear from her own sweet voice. She leaned forward as I gave her one last onslaught of thrusts, bringing her over the edge.

"Oohhh!!! God, Danny!! Ahhhh! FFFFFFFFFUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!" she screamed as she climaxed, grabbing onto my body as waves of convulsions swept over hers. Hearing this was enough for me, and I came shortly after, filling her with my essence.

She collapsed on top of me, resting her petite body on mine, and caught her breath for a few minutes as the last of the waves of pleasure washed over her. Occaisionally I'd feel her body twitch with an aftershock, and I wanted nothing more in that moment than to hold her tight. I realized when I wrapped my arms around her that some vents on her back were open, probably releasing some of the heat from the activity, and I never noticed until now.

"Ohh Danny!" she said as she showered my face with kisses. "That was amazing!" She was suddenly so full of energy again as I heard the vents on her back close, before she rolled off of my chest and stretched out naked on the bed next to me. I couldn't help but appreciate her sexy body as she arched her back. She stood up, ready to face a new day, and reached out to me, to help me stand up with her.

"You seem rather upbeat this morning" I said as I took her hands and stood up. She beamed a radiant smile as she wrapped her arms around me and gave me a big bear hug. It was amazingly difficult to see this adorable girl as anything other than a human, but I had to remind myself that she was a machine beneath that soft and sensual surface. However, she was so advanced, she was fully capable of actual emotion, and seemed more human than any other robot I ever met. Her sis was a close second though.

"And why shouldn't I be? I got to make love to a handsome, strong man, who not only saved my life, but also saved my sister's." She tightened her squeeze on me, and I returned the favor. "Plus, I'll be able to see my sister for the first time since this all started. You made it all possible, Master. Thank you." I kissed her on the forehead, before we broke our contact.

I realized she was actually hugging me with most of her strength, which only reminded me that she was not some terminator bent on the death of Sarah Connor, but rather a delicate girl who had human strength and near human intellect. Granted, her reflexes were faster than an average human, and her sister could probably arm wrestle a bulldozer, but Tera was meant to be as human as possible, and sometimes was easy to forget she wasn't.

"Hey, Tera. Are you feeling ok?" Tera seemed to be in a small amont of pain, as she strained her face.

"I... I'm not sure. I feel... pressure" she said as she held her stomach. "I.. I think I have to go to the bathroom. I'll... be right back" she spurted out as she grabbed my t-shirt off the floor and held it to her front. I realized in this moment that the first time she ate anything solid was yesterday, and she had been too busy or just too low-powered to need to use a restroom until now. I suppose she needed to expel the waste just as anyone else would. I'm just glad she recognized this new sensation now, and knew what to do about it.

"Not so fast" I said, as I grabbed the trailing power cord from her back. "You have a bad habit of forgetting about this" I said as I retracted the cord for her and safely stored it back in the panel on the small of her back before sealing is closed. She gave me a coquettish smile before turning toward the door to go next door into the guest bathroom. Giving her a playful slap on the butt, I watched her leave before I threw on my pants, and waited for my turn to use the facilities.

I walked into the other room to be greeted by the bright red face of Joan, who was still sitting on the couch, still with only one arm attached, and who could hear everything that went on in the bedroom a few feet away.

"Um," I coughed. "Good morning?" I said to her. My face must have become as red as hers in about 2 seconds flat.

"I've never heard Tera say words like that before..." she said as she stared at me in disbelief.

"Uh... I... she..." I stuttered trying to think of how to respond. Instead, we just ended up in an awkward silence. The flushing of a toilet and a sink running were the only sounds that broke the silence, which only made the awkward tension in the room get worse.

Finally, the bathroom door swung open, and Tera emerged with a look of relief on her face, wearing nothing but the t-shirt I wore yesterday. It was loose and long on her, but was incredibly sexy. She looked at the two of us, and paused in her tracks.

"What?" she said as we looked at the floor uncomfortably. "Is something wrong?" She looked between us, and puzzled to figure out the source of the discomfort.

"N... Nothing" Joan said. "It's just that you've grown up so much" she exclaimed as she look up at Tera for the first time since they were separated. In actuality, they had seen each other before, when Joan was still registered to Liberati, the mob boss, and tried to kill us. But since she was newly registered to me, and her mind eased of the mental torture the Liberati boss inflicted on her, she had yet to see her youngest sister until this moment.

Joan studied Tera for a moment, seeing her with new eyes. Tera had grown mentally and physically since they last saw each other like this. Sure, Tera didn't grow up, but she was an unfinished prototype in a lab when Joan was taken away. She smiled at her sister and I noticed that Tera was getting more than a little emotional with the silent interaction.

"It's like we've switched places" Tera said timidly, her voice full of emotion.

"Don't be silly" Joan said as she held out her one arm for a hug. "You were never this good looking." The two of them laughed and embraced. It was good to see them getting along so well after all that happened. "I'm sorry for everything" Joan whispered to her sister.

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault. Besides, I'm just glad to finally have my big sis back." Tears ran down Tera's cheeks as she made up with her sister. I suddenly felt so out of place, I tried to retreat to the bedroom to give them some privacy.

"Where do you think you're going?" Joan said, spying me trying to sneak off. "Come over here you big lug." She reached out her hand to me, ready to grab me and take me into their hug. I reluctantly let her take my hand, but she didn't pull me into the hug I expected. Instead, she took my hand, and placed it on Tera's shoulder. "She's under your protection now, Danny." Tera looked up at me, and I ran my hand down her cheek to her chin, and wiped away a tear as she smiled.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Tera asked glancing down at Joan. "You are here too now Joan. We can protect each other. The three of us!"

"Sure, kiddo. We'll be there for each other." Seemingly satisfied with that answer, Tera stood up again, and leaned into me. "What are you wearing, Tera?" Joan asked, eyeing her outfit. To call it an outfit is an overstatement. It was really just my sweaty t-shirt from yesterday. I didn't bring a change of clothes, I only hoped Jen thought about grabbing some for me while she was there, but I hadn't asked. I was currently topless, while Tera was currently bottomless. In fact, she wasn't wearing anything at all down stairs, which Joan must have noticed.

"What? It's Danny's. Besides, I like it. It smells good."

"Smells good?" Joan asked. "It's covered in sweat."

"I know" Tera purred. "It smells like Danny" she mewed as she rubbed her cheek against my chest.

"And where are your panties?" Joan interjected.

"In the bedroom" Tera replied rather matter-of-factly. It didn't concern her that her sister could see her this way at all. "Why? You've seen me naked before. I mean, it's not like I wore anything in the lab most the time." The thought of this sent my imagination on a ride, which was only interrupted by Joan's voice.

"But your seal is gone..." she noted. Tera just giggled and looked up at me. "So... it was you wasn't it Danny?" Joan asked to be sure.

Red faced and stuttering I answered her. "Y-yeah. Sunday night" I said. That little seal was a major pain for the first few days together. Tera couldn't eat anything because it blocked off her anus in an attempt to keep her factory sealed for her registered user. It worked. I had to register her using some rather unconventional means before we could get that seal off her.

"Thank god. I was afraid one of those thugs..." Joan started. She looked up at us and smiled. "You two are awfully cute together, you know that?"

Tera just blushed and giggled. It was nice to have a girl that devoted to you. She was everything I ever imagined in a girl and more, and I felt like the luckiest guy in the world, even though there were robot assassins and mobsters after us.

"So... you don't mind showing off that cute naked butt to Jack?" Joan said.

"Jack? Who is this Jack? Why does his name sound familiar and why would I show my butt off to him?" Tera asked, looking at her behind.

"He's my neighbor, the one I mentioned before. He helped me the night you got sick, remember? You probably never noticed him there." I said. Tera nodded that she remembered that I mentioned him, but her expression was still puzzled.

"And... he's right upstairs" Joan said looking up at the staircase behind us. Tera's face went bright red, as she stretched out my shirt to cover her bare butt. She gave a small yelp before sprinting for the bedroom and slamming the door behind her. I looked up the stairs expecting to see Jack. It was empty. No one was watching us at all. Joan laughed heartily as her little prank paid off.

"I loved doing things like that to her. She'd always fall for it!" Joan sighed in releif, or perhaps just because it felt good to laugh so well after so much pain. I just eyed her, but I joined her in a laugh as well. "Could you maybe give me a hand here Danny?" she said nodding at the still disconnected limbs piled on the floor near her. I couldn't help but snicker at her pun.

I leaned over and grabbed her other arm, and started studying the end carefully. Once again, I'd need some tools if I wanted to actually reconnect her limbs. As I started to work at the joint of her arm with a screw driver, I heard the bedroom door open once again. Tera shyly glanced up the stair-well, and turned with a disappointed pouty face to confront her sister.

"Ooooh! There was no one there!" Tera was a little miffed, but it only made her sound more cute than usual. "Here, let me help you with that" she said as she came over to help. She now wore her pants from last night, but still had on my shirt.

"What's wrong with your shirt?" I asked, wondering why I had to go topless.

"It was wrinkly!" she complained as she positioned herself on the couch next to her sister. "I did sleep in it last night." Just like a girl to make a man give her the shirt off his back so she could avoid wearing something wrinkled. I didn't really mind, but I didn't have anything else to wear. Still, I let it drop for now.

Tera reached up behind the back of her neck, and with a dim blue light and an audible click, a panel opened up and she pulled out a retractable thunderbolt cord to attach to her sister. Joan looked over at her, and with a nod, allowed Tera to access her panel as well. Soon, the two of them were connected, and both of their sets of blue eyes were glowing, fading in and out, while they interacted through the port.

"Her right arm looks good, Danny. Good job putting it on!" Tera said looking over at me. Just then, Joan's other shoulder joint clicked open, and internal mechanics started to move around. "This next one should be easier."

After rolling back her sleeve, I aligned the arm to the socket. With a twist and a click, everything fell into place, and all the panels closed up to complete the connection and make her torso look complete again. There were still some faintly visible lines denoting the edges of her access panels all over her body, but they were faint and could be easily overlooked. Joan swung her arm around in her socket, and made sure everything felt good. She smiled at me when she was satisfied everything was good.

"Much easier" I said. "Thanks."

"Of course! It's the least I could do." I picked up Joan's left leg. It was cold, but softer than I expected. I was in such a hurry last night when I took them off, I didn't think about how sensual they looked and felt. Joan's hip joint opened up just as her shoulder had, and with another twist and a click, her leg was connected, and the panels closed up. Joan suddenly looked more like a human girl again than a robotic torso.

With one last twist and click, her other leg was attached, and she was whole once again. Joan sighed with releif, and playfully kicked her feet in the air as she giggled.

"Much better! Thank's so much Tera! I can finally get that foot rub I've been wanting" she joked. Tera pulled the cord out from Joan's neck, and retreated it into her own. Likewise, Joan reached behind her and unplugged herself from the wall, where she had been charging all night. Their eyes were back to normal, and suddenly before me sat two perfect and cute girls, and not two robots. And yet, I knew their true nature, and that excited me.

Joan stood up, and stretched. "Feels good to get off my butt!" she said as she started a series of stretches. She only wore a low cut white shirt, a bra, and panties. Folded neatly on the small coffee table was a long dark blue skirt. She took no time in picking up the skirt, and walked past me.

"My turn to use the facilities" she said as she vanished behind the bathroom door.

Tera and I stood there, gazing at one another. She smiled playfully at me, doing that little chance she sometimes does when she's happy. I smiled back, and couldn't keep myself from studying her body as she moved around. An unspoken tension built up, and without warning, she ran into my arms and kissed me.

"Please," I said. "Once is enough before breakfast." She laughed and held my face in her hands, staring into my eyes.

"You have nice eyes" she said. "But you need to shave." We laughed some more, knowing full well that we couldn't escape the fate waiting just outside the door.

A short while later, I was stepping out of the bathroom myself. I had rummaged through some more of the bags in the cars upstairs, while Joan was in the bathroom, looking for something more for Tera to wear, when I discovered Jen (or maybe it was Jack) had packed some of my things in a rush for me, including my razor and toothbrush. I now emerged from the steamy guest bathroom freshly showered, shaved, and clothed in Jeans and a black Hard Rock Cafe shirt.

Tera stood before me, still wearing my generic blue t-shirt from yesterday, and stared at me.

"Rrowr" she said, mimicking a cat paw with her hand. It was all too cute. "Does that mean it's my turn, master?" She loved to tease me, and I found she liked to call me master whenever she wanted to play.

"The bathroom. She is all yours" I said in a phony french accent, for no other reason than to be corny. She loved it, and kissed me on the cheek before closing the door behind her to take a shower and change into a fresh outfit.

Joan was already upstairs going through supplies, organizing things. She was preparing us either for staying on the run, or perhaps holding our ground. I wasn't sure which, but I didn't want to bother her when she was so busy. It was still early, but I knew we had to figure out a plan of attack as soon as possible, and I was anxious to get started.

Walking into the back hallway, I ran into Jen, who was leaving the master bedroom, closing the door behind her.

"Good morning Jen" I said, causing her to jump 2 feet in the air.

"AH! Oh. Hi um. Good morning Ja.. um.. Danny. I um. I got to go. Excuse me." She looked particularly nervous, and her hair was a mess, but besides that, she looked rather energized as she quickly walked into the kitchen. I watched as she nervously ducked around the corner.

"Good morning Danny-boy!" Jack said from behind me. He had just emerged from the same door as Jen. His face was all smiles, his hair even more a mess than, and he was wearing only pants. The lipstick smeared across his face was an indication that Jack had gotten lucky once again.

"Um.. wait.. You and..." A small part of my brain exploded at the possibility that my best friend had just slept with the object of her disgust, my playboy neighbor Jack.

"Shh. She doesn't want you to know mate" he said with a wink and walked into the hallway past me, pulling a shirt on. I could do nothing more than stare wide-eyed and disbelieving. I must still be asleep. Except Tera felt all too good earlier. No this was not a dream.

I shuffled back into the kitchen, staring between the two of them. Jack was all winks and smiles, drinking milk from the carton with the fridge open, while Jen was shying her eyes away from mine, her face bright red, even redder than Joan's had been. I couldn't help but stare between the two of them.

"I'm off to the loo" Jack said, breaking the silence, as he put back the milk and disappeared down the hallway again.

Jen busied herself with going through bags, getting out some cereal, and preparing breakfast when she stopped frozen in her tracks. I could feel her embarrassment growing, and soon it boiled over.

"WHAT!? Can't a girl eat in peace?!" She practically screamed at me, before going back to her bowl and pouring the cereal.

"S- Sorry! I didn't mean to..." I said.

"Well stop! I just want to... I just... I..." She stuttered, before violently going to the fridge to grab the milk, and returning to the table only to make a mess pouring it out. Joan just stood there, watching all this with fascination.

"I'll just go check on..."

"I couldn't help it! He just... I don't know. I was... he... it was my... he was... damn it felt good" she spurtted out.

"Say no more. No really. TMI. You can make your own choices. Let's just leave it at that." I was still trying to come to grips with this, but I didn't want to lose her as a friend. I really hated it when she got mad, especially at me. I admit there were times I fascinated about her, but now things seemed so different. She was thrust back into the role of a friend, more like a sister, and less like a potential lover.

She sighed a huge sigh of relief. "Thank you Danny. You're a really good guy you know. I hope this doesn't... upset you... or anything."

"I'll get used to it" I replied. She sat there eating her cereal and staring into the table, deep in contemplation. I decided to let her be, and got out a bowl for myself.

"You want any Joan?" I asked. Joan had started loading boxes and bags into one of the cars in the garage and had come in to grab another. She looked over at me, and nodded before going back to her self-appointed task. She soon took a break, and came up to the table and sat next to me, as I poured her a bowl of cereal and milk. She seemed to be unfamiliar with the concept of cereal, but played a straight face and kept silent, copying everything I did.

It didn't take long for Jack to walk back into the room, refreshed and ready to go. Jen quickly excused herself and vanished into the bathroom herself.

Jack ate with us in silence, before he too decided the tension was too much.

"Think she'll be alright?" he asked.

"Yeah. She'll be fine. Give her a few days" I said.

"I didn't mean to... I mean, she came onto me" he started.

"Look. Ok. Got it! I don't want to hear about this. She's my best friend, and I don't want to hear anything more about why you two last night had..." I couldn't bring myself to say it.

"Sorry mate! I didn't want to upset you" Jack said apologetically.

"Oh no. Don't worry about me getting upset. Worry about upsetting her. If you hurt her, you will be in a world of pain. Whatever you do, don't make her cry!" It sounded more like a threat than I intended, but I decided to go with it.

Jack stared at me for a moment, and I could see the wheels turn in his head. He seemed to be thinking deeper than I had ever seen him think. Apparently something about his encounter last night with her sparked this uncharacteristic change in him, he never contemplated his dates like this before, and I only hoped it wasn't something he already did to hurt Jen.

As I finished my bowl, Joan took the liberty of taking my dishes to the sink and washing them for me with a smile. Around this time Jen came back in, and I couldn't help but feel the tension between her and Jack, as thick as butter. I just couldn't take the awkward silences anymore! I stood up, and decided it was time we held a planning session right then and there. Tera would just have to catch up when she finished her shower.

"Right. We need to have a plan." They all looked up at me and gave me their full attention, apparently as glad to have a change of topic as I was.

"A plan for what?" Jack asked.

"We need to figure out what we are going to do about Liberati and his men." Joan said as she finished the dishes. Everyone seemed to be stunned as soon as they heard her say "we". No one questioned it, but it was apparent we were all somehow involved, and knew we had to do something together.

"Exactly." I decided to give everyone a brief rundown of the situation. I needed to know that everyone was on the same page, and there were a lot of things that Joan had told me last night that I didn't know about. I asked Joan to fill us all in on the information she told me yesterday.

"My sisters and I were designed to be prototype models for the armed forces. We each had a specific branch we were designed for. Tera was different. She was designed for espionage, to infiltrate the enemy and manipulate their data through advanced hacking capabilities, but she was never commissioned." Joan's voice was cold and emotionless, once again taking on the role of a soldier.

"Where is Tera?" Jen asked looking around.

"She must still be in the shower. I'm sure she'll be up in a minute." I said. I could still barely hear some running water. I guess she just really likes long showers.

"Our parents, Cynthia and Tom, as well as their partner Rob, designed Tera to be as human as possible" Joan continued. "We all were to some extent, but she had to be the most convincing. We all had to be capable of human intelligence, and free will. As soon as our company, MMR, found out about our abilities to break the 3 laws..."

"I KNEW it!" Jen said loudly, as though she just won a prize. "I mean... Tera kind of... felt that way to me. I don't know."

Joan looked at her in surprise not because Jen had startled her, but rather because she realized she let slip her more important secret. It was the secret that could get us all killed or arrested. She turned her gaze to me, concern filling her eyes.

"I need to make sure both of you understand what this could mean to Tera, Joan, and myself. If anyone was to find out about this, we could all be in danger. And by helping us, you will subject yourself to that same danger. I need to know I can trust you to keep this a secret." They looked at me and nodded.

"Don't worry about me mate, I ain't gonna snitch. I already have enough trouble with the Old Bill as is" Jack said. Again with his British slang. "Besides, I have more riding on this than you realize."

"I'll..." Jen started. Her old man used to be part of the FBI, so breaking the law was something she was never happy with. "I want to help you Danny, and Tera. You are my best friend, and Tera is... different than any robot I've ever met. She's... special, and I want to protect that."

I smiled at them both, knowing my two friends were with me on this. I for one was completely dedicated to this since not only did I save and own Tera, but now also her sister. They would keep looking for me and Tera until either we were dead or they took her from me, or both.

Jen continued with her explanation, satisfied with their responses. She kept it very brief. She explained how they were being reprogrammed and repurposed, before they were sold to Liberati who tricked them. She told them about being taken away and tortured, and forced to turn against their own sister. She kept her emotions out of this, but I got the feeling that she was uncomfortable with the topic.

While she went on, I decided to put on a pot of coffee, in case anyonne needed the caffeine. I know I did. By the time she wrapped up her explanation, the pot was just starting to fill with hot delicious brew. It was now my turn to continue the story where she left off.

I told them about how Tera was unfinished and hidden from Liberati, only to be discovered later. During their daring escape in an attempt to hide Tera again, they lost control of their van and Cynthia and Tom were knocked out while Tera wondered confused and scared into the alleyways.

"What happened to Rob?" Joan asked suddenly. I slowly shook my head.

"He didn't make it. Sorry." Joan stood there stiff and silent, swallowing back a sob, before she turned her face away from the others to look out the window. "I haven't told Tera yet. I meant to, but I haven't had the nerve to yet."

"I'll tell her" Joan said with a cracked voice. "She deserves to hear it from me." I nodded in agreement.

"Is she still down there?" Jen asked.

I checked the backmofmmy mind The nanobots in my system told me that she was taking her sweet time in the bathroom drying herself off and fixing her hair. She was happy, singing even, but I could not hear her voice or tell what she was thinking, only that she was singing happily. I nodded to Jen who just rolled her eyes. I sure hoped she wouldn't take such long showers all the time.

To make sure everyone was caught up, I briefly mentioned how I heroically saved Tera from a gang of thugs, and had to repair the damage done to her. I mentioned how she lost her voice in the attack, and how I met Cynthia and Tom, as well as the kill-switch that almost killed Tera over the weekend. Finally, the story came to a close when Jen helped us get Tera a new voice, and Joan showed up to take Tera back. The rest they knew, but now we needed to plan what to do from here on.

"So now it comes to it. We need to figure out what our next move is. Liberati is on our trail, and I think it's best if we act sooner rather than later." I remembered that early this morning Tera was scared of staying in one place, and I agreed.

"I have intimate knowledge of the layout of Liberati's Headquarters" Joan said. "I can lead us to his base and to him, but it is too dangerous. It is heavily guarded, and I cannot take them all on myself. Tera might be able to take me out, but these are humans and cyborgs, they can't be hacked like I can."

"I can disable their security systems" Jack said. "I can probably take care of some of their hit men too. Just get me to a computer, and I'll hack circles around them."

"It can help, but we'll need more" Joan said. "We need to get inside before they notice us. We need to get past their guards and body guards. Once we are inside, we need to get to Liberati and take him out."

"Take him out?!" Jen said. "You mean kill him? I'm not signing up to kill people!"

"I will take care of that" Joan replied. "I owe it to him for everything he did to me and my sisters... and to Rob."

"Well... I'm not sure what help I'll be then" Jen said. "I'm not a fighter, or a spy, I repair robots, like Danny. I just don't have a suit like he does."

I poured myself a cup of coffee as I listened to the debate. We needed to figure out how to get inside his base without alerting all the guards, and it wasn't going to be easy. One does not simply walk into a mob boss's lair and assassinate said mob boss without a few years of special forces training. We would all need to play a part if this was going to work.

"Tera could do it!" Jack said. "Didn't you say she was designed to..."

"She'd be spotted a mile away. They are looking for her specifically, so getting her anywhere close to them is a bad idea" I objected. Speaking of Tera, I could sense that she was finally ready to start her day, and about to head up stairs. However, another thought occurred to me. Something that would probably help us figure out the right move and buy us some time as well. I sipped at my coffee as I pulled out a card from my pocket.

"What's that?" Joan asked, eyeing the small card I read.

"I think it's time we found this hotel, and visited Tom and Cynthia" I said.

At that exact moment, 3 things happened faster than I could register. The first was the sound of glass shattering from the window above the kitchen sink, but also from the coffee cup in my hand as it shattered into a thousand pieces. The second was the lightning fast reaction of Joan as she stood up and moved between me and the window, facing the outdoors. The third was pain. Pain of the searing hot coffee that spilled over my hands and legs, as the mug I was holding it in was destroyed by a bullet. A second later, a distant but hard bang could be heard from somewhere outside, but we were all too panicked then to realize what it was.

"Holy shit!" I wasn't sure who yelled it, but we all thought it. Before we humans could react, Joan had already blocked the line-of-sight of the sniper who took the shot.

"Sniper! Hide!" Joan yelled, keeping her eyes on the window. "Keep away from the windows!"

"The basement!" I yelled. My hands were still burning, and my legs hurt from the coffee, but it was better than a bullet through my head. The three of us strugged to get down the stairs as Tera was just coming up it. Without a second thought, I lifted Tera over my shoulder, and ran down stairs with her, the others close behind.

"Hey! What's going on? What are you doing?" Tera complained.

"Stay here!" I said, before heading back upstairs to the very edge of the stair-well.

"What's going on?" Tera asked again.

"A sniper tried to kill Danny" Jen said.

"A SNIPER?"

"We need to keep you out of sight Tera" Jack said. "They are after you two remember. So we need to keep you safe."

At the top of the stairs, I looked around the corner. There were no windows visible to me where I was, but I didn't want to risk going any farther and taken one in the head.

"Joan! Are you ok?" I called toward the kitchen.

"Yes. She sees me, and she won't take her next shot until you or Tera are in view again."

"She?" I asked.

"My sister. 261. She's about a mile away in a tree. Stay down there! Her last shot was a warning. She was aiming for the cup in your hand."

Holy shit did that scare me. She mentioned before that 261 was assigned to the marines. She failed to mention she was part of the sniper corps.

"Get over here then. We need to find a back way out!" I yelled, urging her to join us as we figured out an escape. Luckily, she decided to join us, never taking her eyes off the window until it was out of sight. We rushed downstairs, and joined the others.

"Are you ok?" Jen asked Joan.

"Yes. I'm fine. But Daniel is suffering from minor first degree burns. He should seek first aid."

"That isn't an option right now. We need to get out of here fast!"

"Of course" she agreed. "I know where she is located, I can distract her while you make your escape."

"What? No!" Tera yelled. "I just got you back, I am not going to let you run off and get killed. Wait, did you say 'her'?"

"Yes Tera, it is 261. She's found our hideout" Joan clarified.

Tera grew silent, and scared again. I just noticed now, looking at her as she struggled to figure out what was going on, that she had done her hair fancy and put on makeup, as well as a short red dress. I wish I could have enjoyed it more, but it isn't easy to enjoy a lovely woman when your life is at risk. Perhaps she thought it would be a more relaxed day and wanted to show off to me, but that clearly didn't happen. I reached over and held her hand as she held back her tears.

"I must do this Tera" Joan explained. "She will not kill me, but she will kill you or Danny on sight. I can distract her. Don't worry, I'll be fine." Joan then turned to look at Jack, Jen, and me. "I already loaded up the SUV, you need to drive it out of town exactly 60 seconds after I leave the front door. I'll meet you at the hotel, but you must keep Tera and Danny hidden"

"The SUV?" Jen asked. "That's Dave and Kristy's! We can't take that!"

"We can and we must" Joan interjected. "They would easily recognize master's car, and theirs is much more powerful and efficient than his."

"Master?" Jack silently mouthed at me. I shook my head. It was neither the time nor the place.

"You're... you're right Joan. Oh Jesus, I'm such a bad friend!"

With that, Joan marched upstairs while we gathered what we could of our things. I made sure my suit and clothes we all together, and that we brought the charger and workstation to repair Tera and. Joan if we needed to. Tera grabbed her clothes and makeup and Jen just helped us out since all her things were n the bedroom upstairs, Jack risked going upstairs to get their things, figuring he was not a target. We tried to stop him, but to our relief, nothing happened. He returned in time for us to head into the garage, and prepare our run. Tera had given Joan one last hug, fearful she wouldn't see her sister again, and we all piled into the car, with Jack at the wheel.

"Tera, this is Jack. Jack, Tera." I briefly made introductions.

"Hi" Tera said timidly.

"Hey" Jack responded.

"Remember we drive on the right side of the road in this country, Jack" Jen nagged. It was proobably more out of jest, and I could hear a hint of playfulness in it, despite our precarious predicament.

Jack rolled his eyes and said "Yes your majesty".

"Jack, Jen, be ready! I'm going out now" Joan announced. Tera and I hid in the backseat, keeping our heads down, with Jen sitting up front. I watched as Joan opened the garage door, and bolted out into the yard faster thn any human could run.

Before she could even get to the street, I saw her body lunge to left, forcing her to take a knee, and then again, almost knocking her to the ground. The sound of the shots hit our ears half a second later.

"JOAN!" Tera yelled out. I held her down so she didn't run outside to help her.

"Shit!" Joan yelled. "Error. Error. She's already repositioned to the right. I... I can't move." She stayed there, grabbing her right arm as it hung lifelessly to her side. I ducked my head back down, and waited for another shot. It didn't come. She was using her own sister as bait to lure us out of the garage, so she could despose of us.

Tera was bawling as she cried out Joan's name, afraid she was about to lose her sister after everything we went through to save her. "What do we do?" she cried, her makeup smeared from tears.

"Stay down you two" Jack said. "I'll show you what we do." Before I could object, Jack turned over the engine, and rammed the SUV into reverse. I held Tera down as low as I could as Jack stopped the vehicle on Joan's right side, and yelled out to us "pull her in quick!"

"I swung open the door, keeping my head down, and grabbed Joan, pulling her toward me. The sound of a bullet piercing the door startled us, followed by another. Tera held her ears and screamed. Two holes appeared inches above her head in the door behind her, and I knew another shot was likely to hit her, or Jack.

With all my might I got Joan in the truck and slammed the door. "Go!" I yelled to Jack.

What I didn't expect was to have Jack suddenly put the truck into 1st gear, and slam on the gas. We lunged forward, back toward the garage, except we didn't slow down.

"Jack!? What are you...!?" Jen started to yell before she screamed and curl into a ball. Without warning, we crashed head long into the opposite wall of the small garage. Had we been in my car, we would have been crushed by the wall or the crumbling car. However, being in an SUV, we soared through the wall, and into the backyard of the house. Jack didn't stop, or even slow down. He continued to drive off-road through their garden, through their fence, and through another fence, before we finally made it back to a road.

"Holy Shit Jack! Are you trying to kill us?" Jen yelled.

"Yes. That's why we are still breathing" he said.

He turned onto the road, and had to swerve violently to avoid coming head to head into another car. He was on the wrong side of the road after all. "Sorry" he said, red in the face. We raced down the road, going in every which direction, until I finally felt safe enough to take a closer look at Joan.

"Joan!" Tera yelled out as she held her sister's head in her lap, brushing her hair. "Why did you do such a crazy thing?"

"I thought it would work. Error." she answered. "I guess I was wrong.". Every system error and warning we hear from her was in a monotone voice, but at least it was her own voice and not some disembodied one like cheaper robots tended to use.

"Hold still, let me take a look at that arm" I said.

"It's not the arm I'm concerned about, it's my leg. Error. Damage detected in right hip joint."

I looked closer at her leg and discovered she had been hit precisely in the joint, shattering her hip joint with what must have been armor piecing bullets. The bullet was still there, but it was doing no further damage to her, being a robot.

"I can't fix this" I said. "I mean, you need a new joint! There's nothing I can do."

"Error. Just take it off then" she said, clearly in pain.

"I don't know if I can. Your leg seam is actualy lower than this, and I doubt you can take off your hip. I'm sorry, we'll have to get your hip replaced . Let me look at that arm."

She let go of her arm, an struggled to stay on our laps as Jack swerved through traffic. It was hit precisely in the frame structure, disabling all movement beyond her shoulder. It was a hideous wound that tore all the way through her arm. She was lucky it didn't hit any other part of her. Then again, it was probably 261's intent to keep her alive as bait. I couldn't repair her arm here either, but at least I could take it off.

"Tera, we need to remove her arm." She nodded, still keeping her head down, opened the panel behind her neck and pulled out a cord. She connected to her sister, and within a few seconds, we had removed her right arm again, this time to keep her from feeling the pain.

"Thanks" Joan said, still wincing in pain from her leg. "Is it ok if I stay like this for now?" she asked, hoping she could continue lying across our laps. We nodded and she closed her eyes, tying to concentrate on something other than the pain. Tera sat there stroking her hair as I studied the wound on her arm and leg.

Another bullet pierced the side of the truck, but luckily missed everyone. Tera curled up into a ball, and squished herself to the floor between the front and back as best as she could.

"Oh god, it's happening all over again!" She stared up at me as another shot rang out. Jack swerved the vehicle in and out of traffic hoping to lose the sniper.

"Turn here!" Jen shouted from the passenger seat. Jack made a sharp right turn that almost rolled the SUV on its side but luckily regained control. "Left here!" Again, another sharp turn, but this one was more under control. "Go through here" she said, and suddenly everything got dark as Jack turned into a short tunnel. The road from there went down a forested street that wound around hills and valleys. I didn't recognize the area, but Jack was sure to put the pedal to the metal, and we were confident that after a few more minutes of driving, we had lost 261.

"I'm scared Danny. What if she finds us again?" Tera asked, getting back into her seat.

"We'll be alright for now. We just need to find Tom and Cynthia fast, and figure out how to take them out first." I know it sounded a bit far fetched, stopping a mob boss by ourselves while a sniper was on our tail. But the last thing I needed was for Tera to panic.

"Be careful" Joan said through labored breath. "They know where the hotel is. But Tera is their first priority. We'll need to keep you and Tera out of sight."

"I don't think that's an option" I speculated. "They know about Jack, but they don't know Jen, and they still think you are playing for Liberati. There is no telling what they'd do if they saw you and Jen show up, without me there too."

"You don't think they trust me mate?" Jack said never taking his eyes off the road.

"They probably do. But a person is easily coerced, especially if he is surrounded by 2 possible agents of the enemy. It's too dangerous for you to go alone. No, I think I need to be there at least. With you and me together, the girls can hide out nearby in case we need to make a getaway."

"We girls aren't all that weak" Jen said. "Don't just brush us aside, mister."

"No. I didn't mean that. It's just, I'm worried for Tera's safety, and Joan is too injured to come along."

"I can manage" Joan said, trying to sit up.

"Hey, take it easy now, you got hurt pretty bad" I objected.

"I'll be fine" she retorted. "It isn't life-threatening. You should know that. I should go along to protect you."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Jen asked. "You can barely sit up, let alone fight."

"She has a point Joan" I chimed in. "I don't want you to get hurt any more, and there isn't much you can do for Jack and I. No, I rather have you protect Tera. Can you move your leg at all?"

"A little" she said. As she sat up, she wiggled her foot, wincing from the pain, but she had good control of her foot. Her hip joint was not going to work, so standing and walking were out of the question, however, driving a car she might be able to manage.

"Do you think you can drive?" I asked.

"If you get me to the front seat, I think I can manage it."

"Joan..." Tera said, concerned for her sister.

"I'll be alright sis, besides, this is nothing compared to what they put me through." I didn't know if she was lying or not, but she was putting on a straight face, hiding any evidence of pain.

"It's settled then" Jen said. "Joan and Tera can watch the car, Jack, Dan, and I will go to the hotel."

"Hang on!" I interjected. "What if one of them needs help on foot. Joan can't provide any. No, I want you to stay and help protect Tera."

"No offense, but I am not staying here and leaving you two alone to face the mob by yourselves."

"Well I don't want you to risk your life by coming with us" I argued. We were getting nowhere with this fast.

"Look mate" Jack intervened. "Why don't we all go. We can hide the SUV nearby, and that way, if anyone needs help, we can all help each other."

We thought about it for a while. If 261 or another sniper saw us, they would take us out faster than we could get away, but no matter what, we all risked that same fate whether or not we split up.

"I'll go alone then" I decided.

"What?" the three of them said simultaneously.

"Don't Danny! I can't lose you!" Tera said.

"Park the truck close by but out of sight, and I'll go in alone. If they want me, they'll have to deal with Exo. If I need any of you, I'll signal."

"Really? And how will you do that?" Jen asked.

"He can signal me" Tera said. "Danny can sense me at any time, but if he needs me, he can sort of alert me. Through the nano-bots."

"Alright. It's settled" Jack said. "Just get us to the hotel, and we'll be nearby to help."

Jen got out her cell phone an started dialing in a number.

"Who are you calling?" I asked.

"A friend. I need to have someone look at Dave and Krity's house, and make sure their cats are still alive and cared for. God! I'm such a terrible friend. I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do about their garage."

Jack and Jen navigated to the hotel downtown while I got on my Exo suit which we threw into the back before we left. We got to the hotel around noon, but a storm had come in since the morning and the sky was dark with the threat of rain. We drove around the block to make sure there was no one nearby waiting for us. It was a small rundown motel with the doors to the rooms all facing a small courtyard. 2 stories tall, it had a small pool in the middle of the courtyard that probably hadn't been used in year. I'd call it dilapidated, but signs stressing "Under New Management" and "Pardon Our Mess" indicated it was under renovations and not just worn down.

Jack found a shady area across the street surrounded by trees and a brick building. It would have been difficult for someone to see them waiting there, but easy enough for them to drive into the parking lot if I needed help. I prepared to get out, but Tera grabbed my hand.

"Danny..." She looked intently at my eyes, her grip tight on my hand. "Don't go."

"I have to. Stay low."

"Be careful" she said, and kissed me on the lips. It was not a passionate kiss, just a small peck, but I smiled at her and nodded my promise to be careful. Before I could turn to get out, Jack hopped out of the driver's side, and came over to the back.

"What are you doing?" I wondered.

"You might want to go in alone, but if you do need help, I reckon Joan here will be more useful as our driver, so I can run out and help" he answered. What he was going to do by running out and helping I didn't know, he was a hacker, not a fighter, but I didn't argue. Joan couldn't walk, and she would be the most useful as our driver for the time being.

I turned on the suit and helped carry Joan to the front seat, before walking across the street to the motel parking lot. I noticed for the first time how badly damaged the SUV was after driving through a garage. The front was smashed in a bit, and the headlights were shattered, but it was relatively in-tact considering he drove it through a wall. The parking lot ahead was almost empty, with not even half a dozen cars in various spots, but I didn't see the one Tom and Cynthia were driving when they were at my place. Regardless, I looked again at the room number on the card. Room 212, second floor. I checked around for any sign of Liberati's men, but there was almost no sign of anyone. It seemed all too much like a trap. Still I went forward.

I walked up the metal and concrete staircase near the front office, and slowly made my way toward the back of the hotel. The room closest read 235. I moved down quietly, and found 233. The numbers were going in the right direction, but these were odd numbers. I made my way down a hallway to the other side of the building, and found an empty parking lot, and more doors counting down, this time even.

The sky was as dark as dusk, and the occasional drop of rain could be heard striking metal. The weather was not going to hold out much longer, and I only hoped my suit would survive getting wet. I never tested the water-resistance, and I only hoped for my sake I didn't have to.

As I approached my destination, I realized there was a light shooting out of a door that was cracked open slightly, and an odd sound from within. Of course, that was 212. On the other side of the door, the sound grew louder. I wasn't sure what it was, but it sounded like an animal sniffing and knocking things over. There was no way a wild animal could have gotten in a second floor room and close the door mostly behind it.

I peaked in, but could see nothing but a disheveled hotel room. Sheets were strewn about and ripped, pictures torn from the wall, a lamp lay on the floor, and ripped paper was everywhere. I slowly pushed the door open a little more to get a better look inside.

A hint of movement coming from the back of the room, near the bathroom, caught my eye. It was hunched over, large, and metal. I struggled to identify what it was, but the skin was so reflective, I had a hard time seeing the various shapes of the form. Before I could register what it was, it froze, lifted its head up, and turned toward me.

Faster than a speeding train, the gigantic metal cougar lunged at me with razor sharp claws and teeth glinting in the light. I reacted as fast as I could, and backed away against the railing, only to duck under another pounce. The shiny metallic beast roared as it flew over me, and off the second story, to the parking lot below. It didn't miss a beat as it landed gracefully with a soft clang below, and turned toward me again.

I bolted for the staircase farthest from it, running with all my might and enough speed to outrun a car. However, it was faster. I barely caught myself as it jumped up to the second floor in one leap, and slowly stalked toward me growling with a voice that sounded like metal grinding against metal. I was terrified as I backed away from the monster, toward the bedroom.

I couldn't run fast enough to evade it, and there was no way I could survive an attack from a creature with claws as big and sharp as those. My only hope was to get back into the room before it could reach me and keep the door between us. Before I could make my move, the shiny metal death lunged and pushed me to the ground, preparing to rip out my throat.

"Down Leonis!" a voice thundered. "Back! Good girl." The cat backed away from me, taking its enormous weight off my chest and lowering its head in submission.

I looked up from the ground and beheld the figure of a man, lean and thin, as he emerged from room 212. He was holding a black cane with a cat's head on the handle, and wore a dark black suit. The warm light of the room clashed with the cool darkness of the approaching storm revealing the man's face. It was angular, middle-aged, wearing circular glasses, and looked familiar. The man I had seen in my dreams for the past few nights now hovered over me, looking down at my prone form with a sinister smile.

I could think of only one thing left to do. I mentally sent an alert to Tera comprised of just one word: Run. He leaned forward, and reached out a hand as if to shake mine. "You must be Mr. Hawthorn, or should I call you Exo?"

Chapter 17 - Metal mecha mayhem

The mysterious man hovered over me, after having used both my alias and my real name. I don't know how he knew that, but there was something more to this man. Somehow he had been appearing in my dreams, but I had no idea who he was.

I got to my feet and stood before the him without taking his outstretched hand. He was a tall man, maybe an inch or so taller than me, which is saying something. I'm not used to looking up to someone physically, but with him, I had to. His dark gray business suit perfectly framed his lean tall body, giving him an air of authority. It didn't hurt that his life-size cougar attack droid was standing next to him.

"Who are you, and what did you do to Tom and Cynthia?" I asked in a commanding tone. I was hoping I could challenge his presence with an aura of authority myself, but I didn't have a giant mecha cat to back me up. The beast rubbed against his leg, with enough force to push a man to the ground, but he remained firm and stable.

"Who I am is not important" he said in a raspy voice. "As for the two scientists, I have done nothing to them. As you can see, they are not here. I don't know where they are. But perhaps you can tell me. I'm sure SHE must have told you something..." He eyed me cautiously through his round glasses, and studying my features, my posture, even my attitude. He was doing more than just looking at me, he was sizing me up. He was ready for a fight, and he knew I was there to bring one, even though I wasn't confident anymore.

"That's bullshit!" I spat. "I'm here cause they told me they'd be here. But how did you know about-"

"You're name? This address? You're alias?... Tera?" he interrupted. There was a dangerous tone in his voice, like he was not only aware of everything, but disapproving of it as well. "There are many things you don't know yet Daniel, if you're lucky, you'll live long enough to learn one or two of them."

In the back of my mind, I realized that something else was about to happen. I had relayed to Tera to run, as in to run away, but she would never leave me like that. She was too dedicated to me already, and we had no backup plan, no contingency if it was too dangerous. Tires screeched on the road in the distance, and I knew they were heading right into danger. All I could do was try to keep him distracted and hope they got away before anyone get hurt.

"Is that a threat? Who the hell do you think you are?" My voice was coarse and loud. It almost scared me when I heard it. The man didn't flinch, but his expression went from one of amusement to annoyance. It was just then that the SUV came roaring into the park lot next to the building. They were driving fast and hard.

Mr. 'not important' looked over at them as a man would look at a fly. They were nothing to him, nothing more than a minor annoyance to be swatted. Just then, the window behind the driver's set rolled down, and a hand holding a gun emerged. Jack fired 2 shots at the man with a pistol. I'm not a weapon's expert, but I recognize a hand gun when I see one, and this was a pretty decent one. Where the hell he hid it I had no idea. Hell, I didn't even know he had one at all, or could even shoot. Not only could Jack shoot, he was good at it.

The two shots ricochetted off the handrail directly in front of the man. If you've ever seen a face twist into fury, I promise you it was nothing like this. I watched as the stranger's features morphed almost like clay into a whole new person, or at least it seemed that way. It was far too expressive, and filled with rage, to have belonged to the man I saw moments before. He flicked his wrist toward the SUV and Leonis, his mechanical mountain lion, gracefully jumped down from the second story walkway to the parking lot below, and right over to the SUV.

Joan stopped the SUV near us, and Jack jumped out before seeing the chrome cougar stalking him. Tera pulled him back into the car, and closed the door just as a gigantic paw took a swipe at the vehicle, ripping the side of the truck up with inch long metal claws.

"I'm only an interested party Mr. Hawthorn." His expression softened again as soon as he saw Tera. "I'm here to take back what is mine." The cat continued to assault the vehicle, mostly pushing against it or just growling at those inside.

"Liberati?" I admit I didn't know what Liberati looked like. But I did not expect him to look like this. I was imagining something a little more... Italian mafia style. "Why are you trying to kill her then?"

He laughed at me in his raspy voice. "Danny. I thought you would have known better than that. Liberati is a fool. A fool that must be dealt with. But all in good time." His voice was all too cheerful, in a mocking sort of way. "Still, he was not to touch her. He will regret that..."

"What do you want with Tera!?"

"Let's not spoil the fun now Mr. Hawthorn. I'm not telling you all my secrets. The important thing is that I take her back with me now."

"Like hell!" I growled as I threw a punch at his jaw. Even with my enhanced speed and strength, he still managed to dodge my swing with ease. I moved in closer for another, and again he side-stepped me and completely evaded my attacks. I used what I could remember from my studies in Tae-Kwon-Do years ago, but they did nothing to get me any closer to releasing my fury on this guy. He was too damn fast!

I got too reckless trying to hit him, and left myself open. He didn't hesitate to give me a kick to the chest, knocking the wind out of me. It burned as I tried to get air back in my lungs, but he never let up. Sliding his cane across my neck, he pulled me into his body and started to strangle me from behind! It was bad enough I had the air kicked out of me, but now I couldn't get any more air at all. It was a double whammy!

"She'll be fine with me Mr. Hawthorn. Now that you've bound yourself to her, you need to be taken out of the equation. Otherwise she can never fully give herself to me". I struggled against his grip, but it was too strong. Everything was starting to get black around the edges of my vision. I knew that if I didn't get air fast, I'd be a goner.

My thoughts turned to Tera for an instant. I shuddered to think of what he'd do to her once he killed me. Would he be content to just rape her? Or would he torture and twist her body and mind into something unrecognizable, as Liberati had done to her sisters? I could not let that happen. Reaching inside for all the fury and rage I had left, I let out one last big struggle against his iron grip, only to realize it wasn't going to work.

Luckily, some my my Tae-Kwon-Do training had paid off. In the moment I realized I couldn't overpower this man, I discovered that he was also being reckless. His footing was off, and with the slightest effort, I was able to slide my foot behind his.

We fell to the ground with a clang. I was instantly grateful to my parents for paying for all those classes they were sure I would never use. Somehow, against all odds, I swiped his foot out from under him, and pushed him to the ground, landing on top of him. I was out of his grip, coughing and gasping for air, as I stood up again.

Any normal human would have had to take a few seconds or longer to recover from that kind of a blow. Unfortunately for me, he was not a normal human, and somehow was on his feet again almost as fast as I was, although he wasn't gasping for air. I decided I needed to jump. Another round against this guy and I would be no help to anyone expect the mortician.

I got my legs over the rail, and jumped down directly onto the cat below. I was hoping for something a little softer to land on, but at least this way I was helpful. See, I planned it.

Jack jumped out again, gun in hand, when the cat shrugged me off. Here I was hoping it had a spine to break, but I guess I was out of luck. Jen joined us, coming from the other side of the SUV, carrying of all things a baseball bat!

"Glad you could join me. But where did you guys get the toys?" I asked, my voice rough.

"Toys R Us" Jen replied.

"What she said" Jack answered.

"Riight. Let's just..." before I could finish my thought, the cougar lunged at us, keeping us back, and pushing us away from the car.

Joan just stared at us from the driver's seat, trying to decide what to do. She only had one arm, and could barely walk. Trying to take on a 6 foot long metal monster was not going to help at all. I signaled to her to stay calm, and returned my focus to the cat.

Leonis did an excellent job of keeping us at bay. All I could do was watch as the mysterious man jumped from the second floor, and landed on the asphalt below, standing as he hit the ground. Inertia meant nothing to him, and somehow he made it look suave. With determination behind his steps, he marched over to the SUV, and opened the backdoor before reaching inside, and pulling Tera out by the neck!

Joan hit the gas to try to get them away from him, but it was too late, he already had her in his grip, and she struggled against him. I could sense the pain in her neck as he grabbed her, and the terror she felt at his touch. 3 loud gunshots went off next to my ear as Jack shot at the man with pinpoint accuracy. I never would have attempted such a shot myself, but somehow, he managed to completely avoid hitting Tera. A trio of bullet shaped holes appeared in the man's jacket, but he barely flinched at all as he started to literally drag her away, walking toward the street.

"Leonis, kill them" the man ordered as he walked away. His feline robot growled at us and started to stalk toward us, ready to attack.

"Dan!! You need to take out the cat!" Jen cried.

"My bullets will be no help here" Jack said.

"Please! He's got Tera!" Jen continued.

"I KNOW!" I snapped. "But what the hell can I do!?"

"You have armor on that thing don't you?" Jen asked, still slowly backing away from the beast.

"Yeah. Kevlar. Bullet-proof armor. If you haven't noticed that thing has inch long caring knives! It makes Edward Scissorhands looks like a butter knife. Those will slice through this like bread!" I'm sure Jen didn't realize that knives have more puncturing power than bullets, but wasn't about to explain the physics behind it to her. Needless to say, I didn't expect to come up against something like this.

"My gun may be useless, but I have an thought... Joan! Toss me my phone!" Jack yelled. Joan rolled down the window, and tossed a mobile phone to Jack with perfect accuracy. It flew through the air over the cat and Jack caught it. Instantly he started messing around with it. "Cover me! I think I can hack it!"

"With a phone?" Jen asked unbelieving. Regardless, he backed up between us, and we made sure the cat stayed away from him.

It didn't take long before it ran at us. Jen got in the first blow. Pushing herself to the point of grunting like a tennis player, she swung the bat upside the cat's head. CLANG! Leonis halted for a moment to recover, but only for a moment. The cat now focused on her.

Rain starts beating down sporadically as the clouds prepare to release their torrent. I was about to find out if my suit was built well enough to handle rain or not. Leonis probably wouldn't react to this at all, but on occasion rain would effect a robot. Just probably not this one.

I felt in my mind Tera's presence, her pain. As she struggled to free herself from the man, he tightened his grip around her neck. I knew as a robot she could hold her breath much longer than a human. Eventually she would risk overheating, but the damage he could inflict on her would be deeply scarring for Tera. Plus, I just got her a new voice box! I had to act fast, and Leonis was between me and my girlfriend.

'Is she really my girlfriend?' I thought. But I had to push that thought aside as Leonis pounced at Jen, claws and fangs at the ready.

Of course I did what any chivalrous idiot would do, I pushed Jen out of the way and punched Leonis square in the jaw. The cat went flying into the wall of the motel with a clamorous clatter of metal. I managed to give the cat a serious left hook, but it wasn't without a price. Leonis's claw got a hold of my right arm, and ripped it as easily as a sheet of paper. It hurt! Blood stained the sleeve of my coat, as the rain started to beat down harder against us.

I crouched in pain, holding my arm close to me, but a voice in the back of my head told me to get up! I stood just in time to see Leonis recover as well, focusing her attention on me with a deep grinding-metal growl.

At the same time, a flood of more data streamed into my mind. Tera had struggled to get free, and almost got loose when the man started to hit her! It wasn't a dainty little slap either. He punched her hard in the torso and face. Fury rose inside me, but I could do nothing to stop him.

"I don't get it!" Jack cried out. "There's no AI in there to hack! It just... isn't there!"

My mind went into overdrive. Either this meant Leonis was a full-body cat cyborg, or a doll. I had never heard of either of these being used for a cat before, and if Leonis was the former we'd be in serious trouble. There was only one thing I could suggest, and I prayed that it would work.

"Jack..." I said calmly, never taking my eyes of Leonis. "Can you emit a scrambling signal with that thing?"

"A scramb-- Yeah. I think so."

"Do it! Leonis might be a real cat..." I suggested.

"A doll!? You're kidding-- I'm on it but the signal will be small. I'd need to be right on top of it for it to work."

"What's a doll?" Jen asked. I wasn't surprised she hadn't heard of this before. They were not common, very rarely used outside of hospitals and industrial zones.

"Think a marionette, but instead of strings, it uses a wireless signal." I said. I had to stand up straight and ignore the pain in my arm, for fear of showing any weakness to Leonis who would take advantage of it. For now, I had hurt her enough for her to consider me a threat, which meant I had seconds before she would lunge at me again.

Leonis and I stared off, and slowly circled one another. I wasn't sure how, but I'd have to get a hold of Leonis, and keep her contained long enough for Jack to get his signal scrambler close to her. All this, and I had to survive, and rescue Tera!

"I got it!" Jack said a few second later. He was incredibly fast with electronics. I had no idea how he could do these things so quickly.

Just then, movement from the corner of my eye came into full view. The beat up and torn SUV smashed into Leonis, pinning her to the building. Joan had been busy getting the truck into position, and I never noticed. The cat struggled to free itself, and Joan had to keep putting the pressure on it, spinning the wheels of the truck.

"Jack! Now!" Joan yelled from the car. Jack ran over to the cat, and held the phone out to it. The struggles and throws of the metal beast turned into sporadic jerks as the signal feeding the cat was lost. Leonis collapsed, and stopped moving entirely. Joan backed up the truck and Leonis clattered to the ground in a lifeless heap.

"I'll stay here, go help Tera!" Jack said. He didn't need to say it twice. Before he even finished talking, I was running at a full gallop toward the mysterious man and Tera. He nearly got her to the street, and I saw a car waiting in another lot ready to take them away.

With all my effort, and a yell of righteous fury, I gave the stranger an uppercut with my left hand to his jaw. He didn't have the time to react and dodge this blow since not only did he not see me coming, but he continued to struggle with Tera, and was preparing to strike her again.

A blow like this would have broken the jaw, and possibly neck, of any normal man, and sent him flying 6 feet in the air. Instead, he lifted 1 foot off the ground, and fell over, hitting the ground with a thud.

Jen caught up with us, and wrapped her arms around Tera, pulling her away from the man. I stood between him and them, and prepared to strike him again. I could sense that Tera's injuries were not threatening, and while they hurt, she would be able to recover on her own.

The man shook his head, and stood up again, sparks flying from a tear in his skin stretching from his neck to his jaw, as rain invaded his mechanical body. The side of his jaw hung loose and disjointed. Of course, he's a robot too! But he was so lifelike, as real as Tera except for the inhuman abilities. A smell of burning electronics filled my nostrils as he tried to speak. Instead, he ended up messing with his jaw, and realigning it so he could form words.

With Jack and Joan busy, I figured Tera would be the only one who could help us out this time, like Jack had done before.

"Tera" I whispered as the man busied himself with his jaw. "I need you to try to hack him. Can you do that?"

She struggled to get to her feet with Jen's help. "I think so" she said, her voice unaffected by the pressure of his grasp, except for the emotion in it.

The man stopped messing with his jaw, and gave up with it. He heard our little conversation, and started to attack. He was fast, to fast for me to keep up! I dodged one or two blows before he'd land one on me. My suit did help lessen the intensity of this punches, and I remembered enough martial arts to move with the punch and not against it. But still, they hurt!

I managed to get in a few blows myself, but he was unfazed by them, and continued his onslaught. The one thing I made sure to do was to stay between him and the girls.

"I... I can't do it!" Tera yelled through the pounding rain. "His AI is... different. Like it doesn't do anything." It must have been another doll. The AI in this unit was probably a way for the robot to manage information like pain and pleasure to the user, as well as handle the incoming commands. I'm sure Leonis must have had a similar AI in it, but Jack wouldn't have been able to hack it. These are hardwired AIs and cannot be changed.

"Another doll?" Jen asked. "Tera, trying jamming his signal."

The man's face twisted again into the furious one I saw on the balcony when Jack shot at him. He doubled his efforts, and knocked the wind out of me again, ready to deal a blow to my neck that would probably finish me.

Just then, his body stopped moving. Slowly he lowered his hands and took a step back. Tera stood there with her eyes glowing blue in the gloomy rain.

"I can't jam his signal" she said. "But I can take over the puppet. And he'll still feel everything" she said coldly, as though she were someone else.

I watched as the man lifted his arm, and plunged it deep into his own chest, ripping the shirt he wore. It took a few seconds to break through, but he did, and pulled out an assortment of circuits and wires, as well as a mechanical heart. No, it wasn't heart, it was a battery. His grip tightened, until the battery burst in his hand, releasing an explosion of sparks and acid. His body stiffly collapsed one last time to the ground.

Tera's eyes stopped glowing, and she collapsed into Jen's arms, catching her breath.

"Tera!" we both said simultaneously.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't stop myself. He..." she said as tears fell from her eyes and missed with the rain.

"Shhh. It's ok Tera, you're safe now" Jen said as she held her close.

"Tera... are you ok?" I knew she was physically, or at least she'd be alright, but emotionally and psychologically I was concerned. I didn't know how an advanced AI like EVE in her Evelyn brain would handle psychological issues like this, but she was advanced enough that I'd say it would be darn close to a human reaction. after, her sisters were susceptible to mental anguish and coercion, even brainwashing.

"I'll be fine" she said breathless. "Oh Danny!" she cried looking up at me with big tear-filled eyes. "I knew you'd save me. All of you!" She gently squeezed Jen's arm and tried to compose herself. There was a trickle of red-orange blood dripping down from the corner of her mouth, and she had bruises forming where he hit and grabbed her. I cursed myself for not being able to stop this from happening. "Danny! You're arm! Oh god your bleeding!"

She knelt down to look at my right arm. It still hurt bad, and it was still bleeding, leaving a puddle of red rainwater at my feet. She rolled up the sleeve gently, trying not to touch the wound, to get a better look at it. It stung as she pulled up the torn sleeve, and I breathed in sharply.

"This is bad Danny! You need to go to the doctor!" She tore at her red dress, to rip off a strip of cloth from the hemline. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't take no, and ended up shortening her dress by a few inches. She wrapped the cloth strip around my arm tightly, which hurt like a bitch, and tied it off as best as she could.

Joan drove up with the SUV and Jen quickly opened the back and grabbed the first aid kit, where she completed the initial bandaging with a gauze strip, and a sling to keep my arm up. Tera just held onto me while Jen worked at my arm.

"I thought I'd never see you again" she said. I held onto her with my left arm, and let her cry as we sat at the trunk of the SUV, the door over our heads shielding us from the rain. Jack ran over when he saw the commotion, and helped with my arm. Even Joan got out and made her way over to us hopping on one foot. She sat next to Tera, and wiped the dirt and tears from her face while looking at her cuts.

"You really do need to go to the hospital, Danny" Jen said. "This is still bleeding, and you've lost a lot of blood." She never looked me in the eyes as she spoke, and I got the feeling she was avoiding them. As I stared at her, she lost the ability to resist, and our eyes met. "Why did you have to do something to stupid?" she said. A tear formed in one eye and fell, but she just ignored it and her voice never changed.

"You know damn well. I wasn't about to let that thing rip my best friend up" I said.

She looked at me with her lip shaking slightly. "Chivalry died in the middle-ages you dolt." She finished fixing me up, and starting to put away the rest of the first aid bin in silence.

Suddenly, a man's raspy voice could be heard laughing. It was the voice of the man we just defeated. Had he already shown up with duplicate doll? We looked around and saw Leonis standing before us. The laughter came from her.

"Very clever boy. Very clever" he said through the metallic feline. "I wasn't expecting you to show up here. Surely you knew Liberati already found the hotel. I would have expected better from you Mr. Hawthorn. But perhaps this is Cynthia's fault. I will never understand that scatterbrained bitch. I will be seeing you again soon. I wasn't ready today, but next time I will be prepared for your arrival."

Leonis, or rather the Leonis doll, leapt away and vanished into the back alleyways of the city. Without warning, the broken doll of the man burst into flames with a loud pop. This was probably a self-destruct mechanism he activated, not that he really needed to, but perhaps we could have traced down his location if we got to the brain. The stress level dropped, and we all let out a collective sigh of relief.

Jack decided to investigate the room Tom and Cynthia were in while the girls saw to me. Joan helped clean Tera up, and Jen decided to check me over to make sure there was nothing else hurt. I think it was just an excuse, but she somehow managed to get my shirt off. I thought it a little wet and cold to be doing that, but none of the girls complained about it. While I has some sore spots on my chest, she didn't feel anything broken. Jack came back after a few minutes to report that, while the room was a mess, there were no signs of Tom or Cynthia. They must have gotten word their cover was blown and ran for it.

Before we all piled into the SUV again, I walked over to the burning puppet, and picked up the cane he dropped. I examined it as I walked back to the truck to join the others. It had a black metal shaft with a chrome tip and a rubber sole. Adorning the top of the shaft was a chrome cat head, like a lynx. It was nothing fancy, but I figured it might help us find this man, or at least it would be a nice trophy. I tossed it in the back with the rest of our stuff, and joined everyone in the debate about going to the hospital or not.

I did not want to go to a hospital. They were often crowded, would take forever to see you, stick needles in your arm, and then charge you 2 months rent to do it. I didn't exactly have insurance as a freelance android repairman. We ended up deciding to go to a local free clinic. I didn't think my wound was life-threatening, and I was sure it would heal. But they could at least get me a better dressing on my arm, and maybe something to help with the pain.

We drove off, leaving the mess from the room and the fight behind us. I felt sorry for the guy in the office, but not that sorry. Before we pulled out, sirens started to approach from the other end of the street. He must have called the cops, not that I'd blame him. The police hadn't seen us yet, so Joan took it easy driving out of the parking lot, and turning a corner out of sight. Never run from a potential crime scene, it would only lead to a chase.

Tera sat close to me, leaning her body into mine, as we drove away. I could feel her trembling still after her encounter with the dream-man. She clearly didn't want to talk about it, but at least found comfort in sitting with me, and did her best to relax while thinking deeply to herself. I shuddered to think of what things he may have said to her, and cursed myself for allowing him to hit her like that. Whoever that man was, he knew more about us than we knew about him, but I aimed to change that.

Chapter 18 - Shot through the heart

We pulled into the free clinic around 1:30 or so. I was surprised how fast the events at the hotel took, considering all that happened. The parking lot was not full, luckily, but inside it was a mad house. The staff were all busy, there were at least a dozen other people sitting in the waiting room waiting to be helped, and an overworked receptionist struggled to keep her head above water as she dealt with complaints, phone calls, and new arrivals at the same time. She was a young woman, probably 18 or 20, and would have been very attractive if it wan't for the stress on her face.

"Let me handle this" Jack said, and he sauntered his way over to the window. I didn't hear anything he said over the bustle of the busy room and the elevator music playing, but Jen gave him an evil eye as he chatted up the girl. The receptionist giggled and touched her face many times while looking up at him. He really did have a way with women, but Jen might make it a curse more than a blessing. He gestured toward me, and the girl rose to her feet before coming out of the office and over toward us.

"Here, let me help you sir. You poor thing. I'll get a doctor to look at this right away!" She was a gentle girl, with a sweet flowery smelling fragrance about her, but I couldn't help but be destracted by the sudden awareness that every eye in the waiting room was focusing on me with disdain.

I held up my arm, blood staining the bandages, and the presence of eyes glaring at me subsided. Apparently my injury was a little more urgent then theirs, so no one made a fuss about it. Of course, I was still shirtless, and didn't wear any of my gear. Last thing I needed was for someone to see Exo the Vigilante walk into a clinic. We decided to have Joan stay in the car to keep an eye on things, and to keep herself out of the public eye, especially with a shot up leg and missing arm and all. I didn't want to expose the girls to such public scrutiny if I could avoid it.

As we walked into the back into the examination room, I couldn't help but notice how Jen kept glaring at at Jack. I sat on the examination table in the back room, and watched Jen continued her silent assault on Jack.

"What?" he finally asked.

"Were you flirting?" Jen shot at him.

"What? When? No! Of course not."

"Don't pay stupid with me! I saw you with that girl, chatting her up." Jen's face glowed red as she shot daggers into his face with her eyes.

"Naw! That was nothing. I was just having me a bit o' fun. Besides, it got Danny-boy here looked at-"

"Don't change the topic. You were flirting with her!"

"He kind of does that" I said.

"Butt out!" Jen and Jack said at simultaneously.

"Okay, okay. Sorry" I said defensively. Touchy... they did seem to argue like a couple.

"I will not be going out with a guy that chats up the first set of legs he runs into" Jen spat.

"Does that mean we're dating?" Jack asked with a sly grin.

"I- Don't change the subject..." Jen was flustered but determined to stay mad at him.

"You didn't answer the question" Jack replied smoothly.

"I'm not- Look you! I am not going to play this little game. Did you flirt with her or not?"

"I didn't have to. As soon as she saw a shirtless guy with a bloody arm, she ran over to help. Besides, unless I'm dating someone, why shouldn't I flirt with her?" Jack was playing a dangerous game.

"How could you say that? You slept with-" Jen blurted about before spotting me and turning bright red.

"Tell you what doll, I'll give you a fighting chance. I promise that I won't lay a finger on another girl for one-"

"Or anything else" Jen interrupted.

"... a finger or anything else on another girl for a one week, and by the end of that week, you can try to convince me to make it for more than a week." This was very unbecoming of Jack. Usually, he'd had a girl one day, and then another by that evening. I don't think being 'steady' ever occurred to him before, so I had to wonder if he was going to be able to pull this off. And also why? Had Jen made that much of an impression on him?

Jen of course was blushing furiously when she realized what he was saying. He was giving her a week to win him over, and if it worked, they could be official. It also meant that she had to admit to him, out loud, that she liked him, or at least wanted to date him. She thought it about it pensively as we waited for the doctor to come into the room.

Abruptly, she turned her chin up, stuck out her chest, and nodded. "Deal. But if I catch you with another woman, even for an instant, you will regret it!" They shook on it, they actually shook on it, and the timing couldn't have been better.

Before they could release their hands, the doctor came into the room to look at my wounded arm. She was a drop-dead gorgeous bombshell, clearly flustered from her busy schedule, which only made her look more attractive than ever. Her disheveled raven hair ran down to her shoulders and gave her a sexy look like she just got out of bed. Her white lab coat was buttoned low on her chest, revealing a healthy pair of buxom breasts that were barely contained by a black low-cut blouse and matching bra, She appeared to be asian, but I wasn't sure. Jack and I gulped nervously as she walked into the room adjusting her glasses, and fumbled with a tablet.

"Which one of you is..." she consulted her digital tablet for about 20 seconds before she found my name. "Daniel?" I held up my bloody limb, a painful gesture, to show her it was obviously me. "Oh! Hello Daniel. My name is Dr. Harding, Hitomi Harding. You can call me Hotomi."

"Did she just say 'hit on me'?" Jack whispered to me.

I slapped my forehead with my good arm hard enough to leave a red mark. "Hitomi... it's Japanese" I answered back.

"Actually yes!" Dr. Harding interjected as though she was a part of our whispered conversation. Note to self: Don't try to have a whispered conversation in a small cramped room. "My father was American, and my mother is Japanese. But enough about me, what can I do for you today?"

Once again, I held up the blood soaked bandaged arm, and it took her a second to realize I was showing her the wound to look at. Jack just looked between Hitomi, Jen, and me. He clearly saw an easy target, as did anyone who was in the room. He was probably jealous I was going to have her full attention. But at the same time, if he had tried to make a move, Jen would have been all over him. Sometimes fate likes to tease us for fun.

Jen looked at the good doctor with her mouth hanging open like some higher being decided to test Jack then and there, either that or she was so buxom and well-endowed that it caught her off guard ad well. I admit, Hitomi looked more like she belonged in the middle of a Playboy magazine than in a doctor's office, and I'm sure I wasn't the first to imagine her 'playing' doctor.

"Oh! Oh my! You really should go to the hospital for something like that. It looks serious. How did this happen? Were you two fighting?" she suggested while looking between Jack and myself. Jack refrained himself from introductions and anything else to follow, and just shook his head silently with his mouth hanging open.

"Oh, well. I might as well take a look at it. You'll have to take off your... oh you already did" she giggled. "Just lie down on the table and let me take a good look at that arm of yours.

She started to unwrap the bandages to reveal the full extent of the damage. It was a painful proceedure, and yet also somewhat pleasant. Tera watched with eager anticipation, not noticing my complete attention to Dr. Hit-on-me's body.

Hitomi leaned over to pull a bandage off my shoulder, and gave both Jack and I a wonderfully clear view of her cleavage. It was hell and heaven at the same time, and Jack had to literally kick himself when he saw her. Jen smiled, contented that the doctor was giving him a thorough test as much as she was giving one to me.

Just then, Jack's phone rang, and he was more than eager to take the call and leave the room. Jen followed him as he answered, closing the door behind him, leaving me, Tera, and Dr. Hitomi in the room alone.

The initial examination took probably 5 minutes or so, but it felt like a year. It was more painful than I thought it would be. Even though Dr. Hitomi had very soft and gentle fingers, the cuts on my arm were painful. There were 2 long cuts going into the muscle, which were extremely painful, but not deep.

"Oh my! Did you have a run in with a cat or something?" she asked.

Tera and I just looked at each other. How could she have known it was a cat scratch? "Of course not" I lied with a nervous laugh. "It was um.. a dog. A big dog."

"Oh! Of coure. I don't know what I was thinking. How silly of me thinking it was a at" Hitomi giggled. "It would have to be like the size of a cougar! And with such clean cuts too."

She ended up cleaning the wound, stopping the bleeding with a simple stitch, redressing my arm in a much more professional style, and finally giving me pain killers, aka Tylenol. It was a relief to finally be done with the procedure which probably lasted about 15 minutes, and left me feeling a little tired but better off. She left me with my arm in a cloth sling, bound tightly in bandages, but with no cast or splints.

Tera and I thanked Dr. Hitomi, and took her business card. She insisted that if I was attacked by another dog I'd either see her, or go to the hospital. For once, I was walking away with the pretty girl's number instead of Jack. I had to admit, despite the pain and uncomfortable situation, I really enjoyed getting looked at by a sexy doctor for once. I was honestly surprised she was so good at dressing my wound, she seemed so ditzy at first but really knew her medical stuff!

As we left the examination room, we were once again greeted by Jack and Jen, who had just finished talking on the phone. They gestured for us to leave, so they could talk in private. Of course, I took the hint, and Tera followed closely behind grabbing onto my good arm.

"So who was that?" I asked Jack as we left the clinic and walked toward the beat up SUV. It was still raining lightly, but the sky showed signs of daylight around the corners.

"Cynthia" Jack said. "She tried to warn us about her hotel room." Jen and I rolled our eyes as we approached the truck. "There's more. They want to meet us somewhere public right away. I suggested a favorite little joint of mine, The Majestic."

"I know the place" I said.

"You better, we ate there yesterday!" Jen exclaimed.

"Well, let's go! They want to meet us at 2:30. Since it's already 2:20, we should get moving!" Jack seemed excited to get going, and I couldn't blame him. We now knew that Cynthia and Tom were ok, but I worried that it was a trick. Still, we had nothing else to do, no other plan yet, so what other choice was there?

Joan greeted me at the door before I could step in, leaning against the vehicle.

"Here" she said, as she tossed the bag containing my Exo suit at me. "Put this on."

"What?"

"I would like you to wear this."

"But why? We were just going to meet up with Tom and..." I tried to explain.

"Please, sir. I'm worried. I can't do much to protect you and my sister, especially like this" she said indicating her damaged body, "but this suit could help. 261 is still out there, and at least this suit has some sort of bullet resistant armor on it."

I looked in the bag at the suit and thought about it for a moment. Perhaps I should put on the suit, but I didn't want Exo walking around the place. I'd have to cover it with a jacket or a shirt or something.

"Please Danny" she whispered.

"Alright. I will. Get ready to go, I'll put this on in the truck. Let me just put something on over it..." Jen helped me get the suit on, and Jack looked into the bag they packed for me and grabbed me a loose fitting button-up shirt to cover up the gear. He chose a stylish blue striped shirt for me to wear, but I decided not to put on the leg or arm extensions, only wearing the vest which has on the body armor. I knew it wasn't the bet armor, but it was Kevlar, and it was better than nothing.

We arrived at the restaurant a few minutes later, and decided it was best to park in the back, near a grove of trees. Tera fussed about the entire trip concerned about my arm and if I was feeling alright. The Tylenol I took at the clinic wasn't doing much, but it did take the edge off the pain. Joan decided to stay in the car, but Jen insisted that she get something to eat. They ended up compromising and decided we'd bring her something she could eat on the go.

Inside the restaurant, we were greeted by a hostess, and showed to our seat, a booth big enough for 6. It appeared Tom and Cynthia hadn't arrived yet, so we took our seats and waited. Tera and I sat next to each other, and Jen sat next to Jack.

"Double date?" the waitress asked as she came by to take our drink orders.

"Oh! Oh no. We're not dating..." Jen started before she got flustered. Jack just looked down at the table, and Tera starred at the two of them with interest.

"Just friends hanging out" I said. "Actually, we are expecting 2 more people. They should be here soon."

"No problem. Would you like to order some drinks while you wait?" We ended up ordering water all around, although Tera seemed interested in trying something else. She hadn't had that much to eat before, and so far, this place had severed her more meals than I had. We decided to split a chocolate malt, something I'm sure would delight Tera.

We sat there in silence, contemplating our next move, but I could feel Tera shaking nervously beside me. She fidgeted with the napkin in her lap and looked around nervously. She refused to talk about it, but did sit close to me. I knew she felt safer around me, but I just wish I could give her the protection she needed.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to hit the loo" Jack said before getting up.

"Yeah, me too." Jen said, and followed Jack, leaving Tera and I alone just as the glasses of water came to our table.

Tera was still nervous and scared, shaking against me as she sat there quietly.

"Do... do you think I should just give myself over?" she asked out of the blue.

"What? No! How could you think such a thing!?"

"I don't know. I'm just scared. I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me" she said as she gently touched my injured arm. "I mean... I'm just a robot, a stupid robot that can't even fight for herself."

Her voice was weak and wavering as she spoke. I looked at her in shock. She never said anything like this before.

"How could you say that? You are not just a stupid robot. You are-"

"I'm just a tool for humans to use then throw away when their done. I'm only a machine designed to do your bidding. What use am I when I'm in constant need of rescuing?" She was starting to cry silently to herself, and her voice was broken up. Tera was on the verge of an emotional breakdown.

"Where did you hear such nonsense?" I asked, putting my injured right arm around her. Luckily, the bandages only covered my forearm, and my hand was still useable, although it hurt to hold anything heavy. However, holding Tera was a joy even though it was uncomfortable..

"That man... He said I am just a defective toy, a tool... just a robot designed to be used and thrown away."

"Don't listen to a thing he said, Tera! He's just trying to get to your head. You are so much more than a toy or a tool."

"How? In what way am I more than just your play thing?" I could hear an ounce of bitterness in her voice as she looked down at her hands in her lap.

"Look at you" I said. "You are crying, scared, and nervous. You cling to me not just for protection, but because you like me. I dare you to find any hammer, robot, or car, or any kind of machine or tool, that feels emotions like you do! You are an individual, a person. Just because you are mechanical doesn't mean anything. Is the human body not just a machine grown from organic compounds?"

She shook her head. "But you are a human, you are alive! I'm just a bunch of wires and circuits. I-"

"You are amazing! You are more human than half the people I know, Tera! You have more compassion and emotion in your pinky finger than some people have in their entire body!" It seemed to cheer her up a bit. "Besides, people use mechanical parts all the time! I bet you didn't know this but Jen's father has an artificial heart. His heart doesn't even have a beat like yours does."

"Really?" she asked, a glimmer of hope in her voice.

"Yeah. And he isn't alone. Lots of people use artificial parts that are far less complex than yours. What makes them less or more human than anyone else?" I explained.

"But... what about my brain? It's just a holographic circuit. It isn't organic like yours" she said looked up at me.

"Tera... your brain is the most amazing thing I've ever seen! My brain is just a collection of nerve cells, it isn't much to look at let me tell you. But you're is a work of art, and you are smarter then most of the people in this room" I said with no real idea if that was true or not. Still, she smiled and laughed a little to herself when she heard it.

"I'm not that smart" she said.

"Sure you are! Besides, you're the one that told me your mind was infused with my DNA, and you should be growing smarter by the minute. I bet you there is enough 'human' in you to run for governor!" She laughed at this.

"Yeah right. Governor Tera, the first female robot governor, who gave equal rights to robots around the tri-state area." She was definitely feeling better now, and giggled with me.

"Whatever that man told you, just remember that you are more than just a machine to me. I will be here for you, and I will take care of you."

Tera smiled at me, and hugged my arm tightly. Pain shot down my spin as she squeezed my injured arm.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" she said letting me go. "I didn't mean to... I... oh Danny..." She wrapped her arms around my torso and hugged me. My sides still hurt from the fight, but cheering her up so much really made me happy, and I managed to ignore the dull pain in my sides, and squeezed her gently back. Tera almost seemed like she was bipolar at times. She'd be depressed and crying one minute, but happy and dancing the next. I suspected she may have suffered some side-effect from the night her systems were corrupted by an MMR virus, but I was willing to bet she'd learn to cope with it, but maybe I'd have to look at that programming in her later on to be sure.

"Well you two are getting along well" Jack said as he sat back down at the table. Jen joined us shortly after, just in time to get our chocolate malt. I was really glad to see Tera was in a good mood again, as she rested her head against me smiling.

Tera looked at the brown concoction before her with curiosity, trying to figure out what it was. She sniffed at it, raising one eyebrow at the scent, and pulled the glass closer to her.

"Oh! It's cold! Like really cold" she exclaimed. Jen and I watched Tera with amusement as she experienced her first frozen treat.

Putting one of the extra wide colorful straws to her lips, Tera sucked, and sucked, and sucked at the drink, but nothing came out. She moved the straw around and studied on the consistency and texture of the drink as she stirred it.

"Wow, it's so thick. I can't suck any out!" Jen laughed at Tera, seeing the unintentional innuendo.

"It's usually a little hard to get it started, just keep trying" I said to encourage her.

She once again sucked away at the straw, and finally, the semi-frozen treat seeped up the straw, and into her mouth. At first she was shocked by the flavor, smacking her lips to better analyze it. Chocolate is one of those flavors virtually everyone loves, and apparently it was no different for Tera, as she went in for another taste.

"This is delicious!" she exclaimed after another swallow. "You've got to try this! What's it called?"

"That is a chocolate malt" Jen said. "Maybe I'll order one too."

I took a sip of it myself when Tera offered the drink to me. It really was one of the best chocolate malts I've had in a while, and I savored the flavor in my mouth. Tera took another sip, and then another. A smile the size of Rhode Island spread across her face and she looked completely relaxed and calm. I swear it looked like she was getting high on chocolate, literally.

I let her drink most of the drink, while we waited for Tom and Cynthia, and decided to wait on ordering food till they got there.

"Fancy meeting you here" Cynthia said as she came up to our table, Tom following behind. The two of them sat down at the end of the table across from each other. Cynthia wore a scarf over her hair and a pair of sunglasses to cover her face, while Tom bore sunglasses as well and a baseball cap with a stylized 'A' on it. He also wore blue jeans and a faded blue shirt, while Cynthia had on white jeans and a plain gray blouse .

We didn't see them come up to the table until they were practically seated, and they quickly took off their sunglasses looking around nervously. Tera instantly lit up at the sight of her parents, while Jen looked at them confused as though she forgot we were meeting people there. I realized she hadn't yet met them, and introductions were in order.

"Cynthia, Tom, this is Jen, she's a friend helping us out." Jen nodded and extended a hand to shake with Tom and Cynthia, but they seemed a little hesitant. Cynthia shook her hand slowly, eyeing Jen carefully, humming a disapproving tone as she took her hand.

"Why is it that I am shaking hands with another person involved in this, Danny?" Jen looked offended, but Cynthia took no note of it, and moved her gaze to concentrate on me with her own disapproving look.

"It isn't like that" I said defensively. "She's my best friend and she sort of... well..."

"I can help!" Jen interrupted. "I know a lot about androids and... can repair..." She fell silent as Cynthia continued to glare at me.

"Look, she's done a lot to help us already" I explained. "If it wasn't for Jen, we'd probably be dead right now."

"Dead?" Cynthia asked, uncertainty crossing her eyes. She looked back and forth between me and Jen, trying to decide if having Jen on board was a good thing or not. I understood where she was coming from, she wanted to make sure as few people were involved in this situation as possible. So far it seemed every time I met up with her, there was someone new joining us.

"She's golden, Cynth" Jack said. "She helped me out of a tight pickle." Cynthia shifted her gaze to Jack, before letting out a sigh.

"I'm sorry, Jennifer was it? I'm sure you are very nice, but I can't risk exposing my fam-" she faltered for a moment and cleared her throat, "our girls to any more... publicity."

"I promise I won't tell anyone. Please, let me help!" Jen pleaded.

"She's already been a huge help" I pointed out.

"I'll take a leap of faith here, but there better not be anyone else getting involved" Cynthia said. "Sorry if I seem so uptight. I've been under a lot of stress lately. Pleased to meet you Jennifer" Cynthia said, once again shaking her hand. There was a collective sigh of relief.

"You can call me Jen" she said as she shook Tom's hand as well.

I decided it would be best to formally introduce Tera under her new name as well. It might help ease the tension. "And this here, this is Tera" I said putting my arm around her petite shoulders. Tera smiled and waved, still drinking from her malt.

"Hi mom, dad" she said in a clear yet somewhat quiet voice after she swallowed.

"Terra? Like in earth?" Tom asked in his deep voice.

"Tom, did you hear that?" Cynthia said turning to her husband.

"No, Tera, as in T-E-R-A, short for Terabyte" I corrected.

"That's cute, I like it!" Tom replied.

"TOM! Didn't you hear that!?" Cynthia said again.

"What?"

"Say that again honey" Cynthia said looking at Tera.

"Say what? Hi?" Tera replied.

What Tom had overlooked, Cynthia instantly caught, and now both of them stared at her in disbelief. Her voice was restored to it's former clarion glory, and they were prepared for her to be virtually voiceless for more than a week while they smuggled in a replacement part for her.

"How did you... when... your voice! Honey, your voice is back!" Cynthia was overjoyed to hear Tera. It took a bit for Tom to recover from the initial realization, and soon he was wearing a smile large enough to fill a stadium.

"Oh... heh. Jen gave me a new voice box" Tera said. Cynthia put her hand to her mouth in surprise, looking back at Jen with new eyes. She realized she had been rude to the girl that gave Tera back her voice, and she still didn't know how helpful she had been beyond that.

"I'm... I'm so sorry dear" Cynthia said apologizing to Jen. "I... 263... her voice..." Her words came out disjointed, but her emotion flowed easily enough as she wiped the tears from her face. SHe took in a deep breath. "Thank you for giving my little girl her voice back!"

"Eh... it was nothing. Glad to do it" Jen said. "Tera was such a sweetheart I couldn't resist helping her out."

"Tera?" Cynthia asked.

"Yeah... I just told you" I said. "Her name is Tera. As in Terabyte. Remember?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, I must not have heard. Tera... that's a cute name. I like it" she said very similarly to Tom.

"260 is with is too" I explained.

"What?" Tom said shocked.

"260. She's in the car waiting for us. She got a little beat up so we thought it best that she stay there for now."

"You have 260 also?" Cynthia was clearly shocked to hear this. It seemed she had given up on getting back any of her other daughters, but clearly we managed to save 260, leaving us with 2 of the 4 girls in our care.

"Yeah. She tried to take away Tera at my job... er... former job" Jen said correcting herself. "But somehow Tera managed to disable her."

"Tera?! You disabled your sister? 260!?" Cynthia's look of disbelief as she stared at the timid girl was almost frightening. "How did you do that?"

"I... hacked into her..." Tera answered timidly, as if she was admitting guilt for breaking an expensive vase.

"You HACKED her?"

Tera nodded, and Cynthia sat back in her chair and tried to take it all in.

"She's fine now" I added. "Both of them are, more or less. You can see her when we leave. She's waiting at the car."

"Right outside? Can't we meet her now?" Cynthia asked.

"In a bit. Let's eat something first." We all agreed that food was a good idea, and prepared to order. As I looked at the menu and helped Tera decide what to eat, Cynthia noticed my arm.

"What happened to your arm?"

"We had a run in at your motel room" I said plainly.

"Liberati! I'm so sorry we didn't warn you earlier" Cynthia said with a look of concern.

"No. It wasn't Liberati. It was someone else... someone we think Liberati is working for. That is one of the things we need to talk about. We need to plan our next move, and we're tired of only being on the defensive. I don't know who it was that assaulted us at the hotel room, but I do know that Liberati is after us, and we can at least try to take him out of our hair."

"Liberati is a problem, but I don't think we can just take him out so easily" Cynthia replied in a raised whisper. "He's a mob boss, he has resources you couldn't possibly predict. There is no way we can get close enough to him to do anything."

"I know, but we need to do something. I'm not going to just sit here and let them throw wave after wave at is while we try to recover. It's time we came up with a plan to stop this" I replied in a similar whisper. Tom and Cynthia kept looking around the room nervously, as though they expected someone to jump out at us at any time. The whole point of using a public meeting place was that it was less likely Liberati would want to make a scene.

Everyone was silent, but nodded in agreement. The waitress came back before long and took our food orders. I made sure to order a hamburger to go for Joan. Cynthia suggested Tera try the tuna melt, and I got a cheeseburger.

"We can't talk here" Tom said. "We need somewhere safe, somewhere private. Let's just eat and leave. I know a good place not far from here where we can hide. I doubt Liberati know about it."

Tom was right. All this talk about androids and mob bosses and whom would be killing whom would eventually be overheard, and that could lead to our plans getting leaked, or just getting in trouble with the law, or even a private citizen. We needed to be discreet about this, so instead we agreed to talk more after our meal, when we would all follow Tom and Cynthia to their new hideout.

Tera loved her tuna sandwich, which was a joy to watch. She savored every bite, and would close her eyes as she swallowed to really enjoy the flavor. As she finished up her sandwich, she would hum to herself and bounce in her seat. I could just watch her for hours. I wondered if anyone else enjoyed a sandwich as much as she did. While most of us 'enjoyed' our food, she really relished in it, taking in all she could from her senses to get the most out of the experience. It was cute.

As we ate, Cynthia told us about their own escapades. While it didn't involve as much action or giant metal cats as we experienced, it appeared Cynthia and Tom had only barely escaped an attack themselves. As Liberati's men closed in on their location, they managed to get away but ended up in a car chase. Thanks to Tom's driving skills and more than a little luck (involving a train apparently), they managed to get away, and lose their pursuer.

We probably spent a little less than an hour at The Majestic, and prepared to leave for a hasty retreat and regrouping at Tom's hideout. Cynthia was eager to talk with 260, but it would have to wait. We didn't want to be outdoors for long, since we still didn't know where 261 was. I realized I never told them about her either. I didn't want to upset Cynthia with news that her second oldest was now chasing after us. I'd tell her once we got to the hideout.

Tom paid for our meals, and we all got up to leave, satisfied. Tera stayed close by me, and talked with Cynthia while Jack and Jen walked ahead of us, carrying the food we ordered for Joan. I noticed Tom looking around the place, eager to get out of a public setting and wary of any spies or would-be assailants.

"Tom, do you really think we have a chance at this?" I asked him quietly.

"Maybe. I know a lot of their weaknesses, their personnel, some of their security meaures, but this isn't Joe Liberati we're dealing with" he said in a hushed tone as we walked toward the exit. "I worked for Joe as a bodyguard, but he died of a heart attack a few years back now. His son Larry is now in charge, and I'm sure he's made changes to the organization."

We followed Jen and Jack, who were chatting it up and actually getting along fairly well. It was good to see them both smiling, but with all that was going on, I knew none of this was going to last. Sooner or later, we'd have no room for luxuries like laughter.

The rain had stopped, and by the time we got outside, hints of blue were just appearing at the edges of the sky. The storm had rolled through, leaving a blanket of water over the world behind it. We walked through a few puddles as we headed toward the back of the restaurant, where apparently Tom had also parked.

The sunlight gave off an eerie glow through the clouds as they started to break up, with occasisional shafts of lights striking the earth. It was a pretty scene, but it wasn't to last.

As we turned the corner, we saw Joan huddled against one side of the SUV on the ground, her left arm hanging lifelessly on her side, covered in her artificial orange-red blood. She was in clear pain, and I realized the front driver-side window to the SUV had been shot out, leaving a shattered shell of glass in its place. Joan stared at us with wild eyes for a moment.

"Get down! Sniper!" she screamed at us. It took me a second to realize what was happening, but Jack didn't hesitate at all. He pulled Jen to the SUV and ducked beside Joan, leaving the rest of us to react on our own.

Tom was the next to respond, getting low to the ground. Before I realized it he had pulled me, Cynthia, and Tera down as well just as something whizzed over my head, and struck the brick buidling behind me. We found ourselves hiding behind a car parked close by. Despite how busy the restaurant seemed, large sections had been left empty, which meant the back lot was not nearly as crowded as the front, and that meant there were very few placed for us to duck and cover on the way to the SUV.

"I'm parked over there" Tom pointed out. Their smaller gray car was not far, but there was a large gap between us and their car. We would have to risk running through the open to get to it. It was closer than the SUV, but I didn't know where the shots were coming from, and didn't know where to duck to. I stayed as still as I could. Since she hadn't taken another shot at me, I figured I was out of her sight, but one light movement could be the end of me.

"Where are they?" Cynthia shouted ducking beside Tom.

"She's shooting from the water tower to the northeast" Joan yelled. Her voice was a little raw sounding, but it was loud and commanding. We all looked carefully toward the northeast, and sure enough, there was a small water tower. I could make out a tiny figure crouched down on the top of the tower, probably taking an aim at me. I ducked my head down again, just before a mirror shattered on the car behind me. A heard the blast from the gun an instant later, and realized she had been taking shots at me this whole time.

Tom sprinted out from behind the car with his head down, rolled across the open asphalt, and slid next to his car. It took him a few seconds, but there was no shot made. Tom must not have been her target. She was after me, and probably Tera as well.

"I'll get the car started, you three get ready to follow me in your car" Tom said aloud to the 3 J's hiding behind the SUV. "You three take cover and I'll be there in a second."

Tom hopped into the car, started the engine, but before he could do anything, the passenger window which was closest to the water tower shattered into a million shards stuck into place as another bullet flew through it. Tom dove out of the car, but was ok.

"On second thought, carefully make your way over. Quick now. I'll make a distraction" Tom stood up and started dodging between cars, yelling and waving his hands. Not the best distraction, but what else did we have?

Cynthia grabbed Tera's arm and prepared to run for it. "Whatever you do, stay near me two-six- um Tera. She probably won't shoot me, so keep your head down." Before I could react, Cynthia and Tera bolted out from behind the car. Cynthia was very good at making sure she was always between Tera and the water tower. I nervously watched as they made a run toward the car, while Tom made a fool of himself.

Surprisingly, it worked. Either Tom distracted 261 well enough to keep her off target, or Cynthia managed to keep her covered well enough so she never had a clear shot. Either way, there was no gunshot, and Tera and Cynthia made it safely to the side of the car. That means it was my turn.

"Damn... should have put on those leg extentions" I muttered to myself, regretting that I didn't don the entire Exo suit, and only the vest. At least I had that, but it would do nothing for a headshot. I readied my nerves, and prepared my run.

Just as Tom was doing his best to distract 261 while heading back to his car, I ran for it. I felt completely vulnerable, scared that at any moment, everything would go black. I tried my best to zig-zag, roll, and sprint between the cars, as I made my way toward Tera.

As I got up from a roll, something pushed hard against my chest, forcing me back to the ground. I didn't realize what it was, until I heard the shot a moment later. Funny thing time, as you enjoy things in life, it flies by, but in your final terrifying moments, everything comes to a stand still, and you are stuck there with the realization that you are about to die, and there is nothing you can do about it.

I hit the ground hard, and realized I had no breath. Had she already killed me and I was just a lifeless body doomed to rot? Another shot struck my chest, and pain filled my mind. I welcomed it, and yet hated it. It meant I was still alive, for now, but it was so intense I could barely manage to stay conscious, let alone get to my feet.

I felt another surge pain in my gut, but didn't hear anything; my mind decided it had had enough. All I could think about was 'how could I protect Tera if I was dead'? I lay there still for what was probably only a second or two, but felt like an eon. I never passed out, but I would have gladly accepted it.

Instead, I got enough control back to my body to struggle a little against the pain in my chest. I wasn't sure if my armor had been penetrated, but something in the back of my mind told me I was still alive, and still in one piece. The pain of a penetrating shot would have been much more piercing and fatal, but this pain was more like someone punched me with a battering ram.

I looked down toward Tera and Cynthia, and saw Tera screaming my name as she struggled to get away from Cynthia's grip. I could hear nothing, and time had still not caught up, leaving everything in a slow motion ballet. I struggled to take in a breath. I knew that if I could yell to her to stay back, she'd be safe. But I couldn't get in any air. I struggled to get to my side, maybe I could stand, but my strength left me, and all I could do was watch as I struggled against my pain.

Tera fought Cynthia's grip furiously, tears flying from her eyes as she continued to ball. I had no way of stopping her, but somehow I knew she had been experiencing more emotional pain than she had ever felt before. It was tearing her apart, and she could think of nothing else than to get to my side.

I managed to slowly roll to my side as I tried to gasp for air. I was sure I'd suffocate if another bullet didn't end me, but the only thing I could concentrate on now was stopping Tera from running into the open. I watched as Tera broke free from her mother, and ran toward me crying.

I redoubled my efforts to breathe, but no breath came to me. I watched as the light of the late afternoon sun broke through the clouds, illuminating Tera for an instant, at the same time the figure in the distance behind her raised her gun to take aim, a beam of light silhouetting her form.

Tera's expression filled with shock as a spray of her orange-red blood burst from her chest, a bullet piercing it and striking the ground near me. She twisted her body slightly as she faltered. The sound of a rifle shot hit my ears a second or two before Tera hit the ground hard on her side.

Air finally filled my lungs, and control of my body returned too late. My voice came out rough and fierce and loud.

"TERA!"

Chapter 19 - Daddy dearest

Tera lay twitching on the ground feet away from me. I knew in that instant that she was still alive, but my mind was filled with so much data, so many errors her nanobots had transmitted to me, that I didn't know for how much longer she'd live. All I knew was that I had to get her somewhere safe, away from her sister, or we'd both be dead.

My feet struggled to get beneath me, but somehow I managed to run to Tera as she lay twitching on her side. My lungs burned, by arm was sore, and my chest felt like I had been hit repeatedly with a bulldozer. But despite it all, I was able to get to her side and put myself between Tera and her murderous sister.

Tera looked around aimlessly as she tried to figure out what was going on. I rolled her to her back in hopes of lifting her to safety. Despite the fact that Tera was a robot, her spine was just as important and delicate as a human's, and could have possibly been injured. I was worried that rolling her to her back would cause further injury, but I had litte choice, I had to act fast! She was still in shock, and looked up at me with a dazed expression.

"I... I just errored" she said quietly. "What happened?"

"You've been shot!" I was panicked, and I could see now her blood staining an ever growing dark patch on the front of her red dress.

"... Oh" was all she said before she started to twitch more in a violent fashion. Her movement had become more mechanical and less human every time she convulsed. "Fatal System Error" she said calmly, almost as though it wasn't her speaking; it was almost too friendly for the situation. Her face was virtually emotionless still, not having really registered what just happened yet, and growing pale. I could actually hear her error at the same time she transmitted it to me, it was like stereo in my mind.

"But- but- but- but-" she repeated a few times in some sort of error loop. She spasmed again, breaking the loop. "But weren't you shot?"

I pulled back the collar of my shirt to show her the kevlar vest I had on. "I'll survive thanks to Exo." It made her smile briefly, but shock returned to her face as she looked around confused.

I realized that if I didn't get out of there now, 261 would make sure the next shot she made would end any possibility of me helping Tera one way or another. There was only one thing left I could think to do, get her up and run!

So I did exactly that. I reached under her, lifted her into my arms, and prepared to run. I don't know how I lifted her so quickly, perhaps it was thanks to an adrenaline rush, or maybe just the benefits of a lightweight frame Tera had. My arm was burning with ravenous pain, my lungs still struggled to breathe normally, my chest felt like putty on fire, and my emotions where on edge.

When I felt the impact of another gunshot to my back, my mind decided it had taken enough abuse, and filed away the pain for later. For now, I was only aware of the fact that I had just been shot again, but I didn't let it slow me down or even register as pain. It had to take a number and wait like all the other injuries. This was shot number 4 which 261 had delivered to me, all of which hit my armor, but this time, instead of falling to the ground like a baby, I carried Tera at breakneck speed to the car to get cover.

Tera's face filled with pain as I carried her, the gunshot finally coming through to her subconscious as a serious wound. Before I could even get to the little gray car, I saw Cynthia and Tom jumping in the front and yelling for me to hurry. I've never managed to figure out how I did it, but I practically dove into the back seat of their little car with Tera in my arms, and set her down laying across the seats with her head on my lap. Tom slammed closed the door, and like thunder we were off!

Another familiar sound of a bullet piercing metal invaded the cabin. I realized we were still being shot at but it didn't take long for Tom to get us out of her sights. I didn't even notice that the black SUV with Jack, Jen, and Joan was following us, my attention was focused only on Tera, who lay there bleeding to death in my lap.

Her body convulsed in jerks as she experienced error after error. There were too many messages for me to keep track of them, and she'd quietly repeat the words "Fatal System Error" every so often in a distant but natural voice. Her breathing had become more labored, and yet she only took shallow breaths with each attempt. It wasn't until she had a brief but violent spasm which made her cough up blood did I realize time was running out.

One simple way to tell if a robot isn't getting the air and blood flow they need is to check their temperature. They tend to over-heat when they can't release the built-up heat from their system through breathing and distributed heat throughout the skin. Tera was even capable of sweating, something I'd never seen in a robot before. I checked her forehead. She was too warm already and getting warmer.

It was more than just painful to watch. Tera was in real serious pain herself. Unlike her regular robot counterparts, Tera was an advanced Evelyn model gynoid which gave her the ability to feel real pain and pleasure, and react to it. Right now, her reaction was clear, and intense. With every involuntary shudder, she'd clench her eyes shut, and grit her teeth. She grabbed ahold of my arm and squeezed tightly every time she had a spasm. Thank goodness she had human strength unlike her sister, or else I'd be in more pain than her.

My own aches were coming back to me again. I was dealing with it, but it was leaving me feeling tired with dull pain all over my body. The pain from my maimed arm was sharper than the rest, and left it very sensitive to touch. My chest was clearly going to be bruised and sore, and I shuddered to think of how bad it was going to look when I took off the vest. My back now had a matching injury, but only one. It was right next to my spine, and I was lucky it hadn't cause more serious injury, but it made it painful to sit back. And for some reason, all the dull aches and pains across my entire body, from my legs to my head, thumped with my heart beat, filling the rest of me with dull pain. I chose to ignore the pain as best I could, and focused instead on Tera.

We drove down the road for several tense minutes before I looked out the window. "Where are we going?" I didn't recognize this part of the city, but we couldn't have been that far away from where we were. I was glad to see the SUV following us, but feared that they were also being followed. I was getting really tired... too tired to think straight.

"I know a place not too far off" Tom said as he drove. "It's just outside the city, and should have all the equipment we need to help her."

"Do you think we'll make it on time? She's bleeding badly." I pulled back the torn dress from her chest enough to reveal the wound. Her chest was covered in her orange-red blood, and directly between her breasts was a hole the size of a baseball. Well it wasn't as much a hole as it was a mess of blood, wires, artificial skin, and other parts stretching back into her body. It looked bad, as though the bullet broke up inside her and took out a large chunk of her as it exited, along with wreaking havoc to her internal systems.

I couldn't tell how bad it was without a thorough investigation, and I left all the repair equipment in the SUV with the others. Our best hope was to let Tom drive us to his hideaway where we could fix Tera as fast as we could. And then thee was Joan. I just remembered seeing her for an instant with blood running down her arm before I got shot. However, it was Tera's terrified pained face I was staring into, so naturally my main concern was her.

"We'll make it" Tom said, and his foot got a litte heavier on the gas. "Give me 10 minutes or so." I hoped Tera would last that long.

I didn't dare touch the mangled injury in Tera's chest, in fear of causing her more pain or damage. Her face was covered in tears as she silently sobbed between her convulsions. I brushed her hair back and tried my best to console her, but I knew there was nothing I could do without some serious equipment.

"Where's Rob?" Tera wheezed looking around confused. She must have still been in shock, and I only hoped she didn't hit her head when she fell.

"Honey... Rob isn't with us anymore" Cynthia said, emotion in her voice. "He's... he's gone."

"Oh... He died didn't he?" I was surprised to hear Tera say this so matter-of-factly.

"Yes" Cynthia said, and the car was silent for a few moments. Tera let out a yelp when another wave of convulsions attacked her, leaving her crying in pain as it passed.

"I'm so sorry" Tera said silently, her voice weak. "I'm so timid. So weak. I'm sorry I'm not..." she groaned in pain and gritted her teeth before she continued. " ... not like my sisters."

Cynthia turned around her in her seat to look at Tera and offer her a comforting hand to squeeze. "Don't apologize for that, honey. It's who you are. Your sisters were designed to take this kind of abuse. They were modified to have a more emotional response later on. But you have always been my gentle delicate little girl. It's who you are, and I wouldn't want to change anything about you."

"Modified?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

She looked up at me and cleared her throat. "Her sisters were designed to restrict emotion and pain, but we modified them to react to stimuli more naturally. However, they still have a tendency to hide their pain. Oh my goodness! That looks bad" she said looked at the bloody mess on Tera's chest. I got the impression she didn't want to talk about it, but at the same time, Tera was lying there bleeding in my lap.

"It hurts so much, I can't think straight" Tera whispered. "Danny, please..." she said putting one hand up to my face. "Take the pain away."

I didn't have any idea of how to do that. "Can I do that?" I asked Cynthia.

She sighed. "Tera was not designed to just turn off her pain receptors. She can't just ignore the pain as data like her sisters can. But..."

"I'm tired, and thirsty" Tera whispered. Cynthia grabbed a bottled water from the front, and handed it to me. Carefully, I guided the water to Tera's lips, and she slowly sipped at it. Meanwhile, Cynthia pulled Tera's dress up her back.

"What- What are you doing?" I protested.

"I need to get to her charging port" she said, reaching up to Tera's back. "There!" she said as she pulled out the extendable thunderbolt cord Tera used to charge herself with. She pulled it up to the front, and plugged it into an adapter she pulled out of the glove compartment. A few seconds later, Tera's blue eyes started glowing, fading slowing in and out, as she charged in the car.

"You were going to say something" I said to Cynthia. Before she could answer, my phone went off in my pocket. I pulled it out, and saw a picture of Jen I'd taken months ago to show she was calling.

"Hey!" I said.

"Hey..." she replied. "How are you?"

"I'll survive. Got shot, but the vest saved my life, thank Joan for me."

"And Tera? It looked pretty bad" she asked.

"It is. She's hanging on, but..."

"Can I talk to her?" Jen asked.

"Sorry, she's a little weak right now. We can talk when we get there."

"Yeah... Where is 'there' exactly?"

"I don't know..." I said looking out the window. It was odd, I still didn't recognize where we were. "Tom said he knows a place we can repair Tera, where we'll be safe. He said it should take about 10 minutes."

"10 minutes? Ok... Um... Joan's been hit too" she said nervously. "I'm trying to help her out, but she seems to be in a lot of pain."

"I'm fine!" I heard Joan's voice say in the background.

"Where was she hit?" I asked. Cynthia looked at me concerned when I said that, but I just looked away.

"In the shoulder. Her left one. She can't move her arm anymore. I'm afraid her joint is shattered."

"It's nothing. I'll be fine" Joan continued to protest.

"She'll survive. We'll look at her when we get there. She should be able to ignore the pain till then. Just have Jack follow closely behind."

We said our goodbyes and hung up.

"Was someone else hit?" Cynthia asked worried.

"It was just Joan, she can handle herself" I said. I knew Joan was tough, but I actually did worry about her. She put on a big face but she was really very insecure inside, and craved comfort.

"Who's Joan?" Cynthia asked.

"Oh... Well. I wanted to formally introduce you. 260 is now Joan. I'll do some sort of intro-"

"Was she hurt?" Cynthia interrupted.

"Is Joan alright?" Tera whispered looked up at me. Still concerned more for her sister than herself.

"She was shot in the shoulder, but she'll be fine" I told Tera. Looking back at Cynthia I added "She has more damage from earlier. We can look at her when we get there."

Before Cynthia could reply, Tera gasped in pain as she had another attack of convulsions. She coughed up more blood as the event subsided, while more orangish blood oozed from her chest. I was sitting in a pool of her blood by this point, and didn't even realize she had been loosing blood from her back as well. I quickly unbuttoned my shirt, pulled it off, and wadded it up, before pushing it into her wound. Maybe pressure would help, at least it couldn't hurt to try.

She gasped again and groaned, clenching shut her eyes in pain, but I continued to provide pressure in the hope that it would help stop the bleeding. Her skin was burning hot, and I was concered she would start to overheat. 2 panels opened on her chest right on cue, one over each breast, to provide ventilation. This was a protective measure her body took when trying to prevent overheating. Her shoulders also opened up, to let more heat out.

The problem with this was that instead of letting out hot air, her chest vents were clogged with more blood. She'd had a lot of internal bleeding, and it suddenly looked even more serious than before. If we didn't do something fast, she'd have a fatal crash and would probably never recover from it. Holographic and optical cirtuits are extremely sensitive to heat.

"Oh crap, she's overheating! Quick! We have to do something! Cynthia, there must be a way to help her. Can't I just shut her down?"

"No. She might never start up again! There is one thing we can do. Put her into an emergency hibernation mode. She's been bound to you right?" I nodded, and she flustered for a second before recalling what it was that I had to do. "Okay, you need to place your thumb on her belly button, and give her the command: Emergency hibernation mode Sigma Omega Sigma".

Quickly I pulled up the front of Tera's dress to reveal her stomach. It was probably the first time I pulled up a girl's skirt and didn't look at her sexually. Then again... I wasn't in the habit of pulling up girls' skirts. I placed my thumb on Tera's cute belly button and repeated what Cynthia said. Tera's eyes started glowing brighter without fading in and out anymore, and she blinked twice before confirming the order.

"Emergeny hibernation mode activated" she said in a friendly but distant voice. It was still quiet but eerie at how much it sounded like her but didn't sound like her. She looked down at me and smiled "Thank you" before her body stiffened before going limp. Her eyes returned to their previous state of fading in and out with dim blue light, but she now lay there motionless, like a dead body.

I realized that the data stream in the back of my mind had gone silent. Once again I was alone in my head. Surprising how lonely it made me feel.

"What did I do?" I asked, making sure everything that happened just now was normal.

"She'll be fine now. The EHM backs up a copy of her current memory, her profiles, her personality, and so on, so she can always return to how she just was. It then freezes her functions, all of them, except for things like recharging. She won't be able to feel or think anything until we reactivate her. She won't dream or sense any time passing, and for her it will be like an instant." Cynthia sighed. "I never thought I'd have to use that on one of my girls, especially her."

"Is there something wrong with it?" I asked, sensing she was regretting having to do this.

"It's never been tested, and it is really only for emergencies, like this. How would you like to lose all track of time, being completely vulnerable to anything, even reprogramming? It isn't something I want to be used too often. Besides, what if we can't fix her, she'll be stuck like that forever."

I thought about it for a moment, but decided that given the circumstances, it was the best option. For now, she should no longer continue to bleed as much as she had been, and even if she did lose more blood, she wouldn't overheat from it anymore. She would also be free from the pain, and easier to handle when we repair her since she wouldn't react to anything until we were ready for her to.

I nodded and thought for a moment or two while we continued down the road. I could see why Cynthia wouldn't want to use that tool very often, but something she said earlier continued to bug me.

"Why didn't you tell me what the Evelyn series was made for?"

Cynthia froze in her seat for a moment. "I- I don't know what you're talking-"

"Bullshit. You lied to me again. You never told me they were designed to be weapons. Soldiers to be used to kill people. Joan told me all about it. Why didn't you?"

Cynthia sighed and lowered her head. "I'm sorry, Danny, we didn't mean to keep it from you. We were planning on telling you the other day, but Tera had that virus, and we spent all night helping her. We knew she had fallen in love with you, that she would want to bind with you, and we didn't want to get in the way of that."

I listened to her excuse in silence, trying to calm myself down. Unfortunately, with a bloddy body in my lap and a half dozen injuries all over me, I wasn't in a calm mood.

"Like Hell." It came out more harsh than I intended, and made Cynthia flinch.

"It's true... Danny. We didn't want to keep any more secrets about the girls from you, but there was no time. We really were going to tell you."

"You do realize that 260 almost killed Tera yesterday, then tried to kill me, and it was only thanks to Tera that either of us survived? Right now the sniper that shot both of us was 261! Her sisters are using their training to try to kill us."

Cynthia put her face in her hands and sighed. "I'm so sorry. I never wanted any of this to happen. We've been running from this for so long, and it's finally caught up to us."

I realized I had been on edge, and was coming off rather harsh to Cynthia. She didn't deserve my anger, after all, she's the one that made Tera in the first place. "Why don't you fill me in on the details. Joan gave me a good idea, but maybe you can tell me more."

"Okay. I'll tell you everything I can. It all started years ago when Tom and I had the idea to make robots that would help people. Robots that people would have a strong emotional attachment to. We didn't want to just make your average helperbot, we wanted to make the next evolution in robotics... Self-aware free-thinking robots that would benefit society.

"I didn't want to make them look human at all, but Tom insisted, and it wasn't long before out first prototypes were designed and under development. I admit, I fell in love with them, and can't imagine making them look any other way. Most of the designs didn't get far before we had to make redesigns. The 250 series was close, they looked human, could act human, but weren't human enough. They couldn't think for themselves, and they had no real emotional impact.

"Rob, our partner who joined us when we were making the 240 series, thought the 250 robots were perfect, but we insisted on taking it further, and his help was invaluable. We were running out of funds on this project, after spending years developing robots that never got released. It was thanks to Rob that we made a connection with the Military, to continue funding our research. They wanted to see what we could do, so the 260 series was designed to cater to their needs as well as our own.

"We designed 260 to meet the needs of-"

"Yes, I know" I interrupted. "She told me about it. She was designed for the army, 261 was designed to be a marine, while 262 was supposed to be special forces. Tera was originally suppose to be a spy, or homeland security, I'm not clear on that one, but she was never assigned after you lost the contract with the Military when they found out the girls could think for themselves."

"That's right" she clarified. "Each of our girls had a specialty they were good at. 260 was trained in CQC, Close Quarters Combat. You know, hand to hand. 261 was trained in sniper rifles. 262 was designed to be... well... how do I put it?"

"Like a Ninja?" I asked.

"Yes, exactly. Like a Ninja" she repeated. "263 was meant to be an espionage specialist. Get in, steal information, plant data, get out, that sort of thing. But her design changed before we could implement such a protocol.

"They all used EVE, but 263 was capable of more than her sister. When EVE was asked to perform the tasks of a soldier, it rejected the idea of becoming a killing machine. We had to fight the A.I. at every turn. The emotional impact of such acts of violence was too great for the girls, and we were forced to build emotion limiters into their bodies, allowing them to suppress these strong emotions.

"When the military pulled out from our research, we decided to re-purpose all our girls, with the hope of letting them live normal happy lives. We decided to try to focus on our original goal, to make the girls capable of benefitting mankind, to spearhead the next evolutionary change in robotics. We needed money to do this, and Rob was able to find us a private company who'd support our lab. Without that support, we never could have finished 263.

"I couldn't wait to test her, so we started her up in the lab before she was completed so she could run tests and learn with the other girls. They were genuinely all happy for several months. But that's when Liberati showed up.

"Rob was furious, and made sure we hid 263 from him. Unfortunately, Liberati took her sisters. I was devastated, and focused all my efforts on 263. Tom procured a place outside of town that he started converting into a lab for us. He kept both Rob and I out of the loop. Rob and I finished 263, only to have Liberati find out we'd been hiding her."

"You really should call her by her name" I interjected. So far she hadn't used Tera's name much, and instead called her by her model number, 263.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Of course" Cynthia said. "Tera, right? I'm just so used to calling her 263, I have to get used to it.

"Anyway... you should know the rest. Tom arranged to get Tera to the new lab, but we had to get her out of the MMR facility, so Rob drove us to a safe-house to try to stay under the radar. But it didn't matter, they found us on the way there, and we barely got away only to end up in a crash. Tera wandered off in a daze, Tom and I were lucky to be alive, but the entire front of the van was flattened... Rob died on impact.

"And that brings us to you. There isn't really much more to tell that you don't already know. But why don't you tell us what happened these last few days. Last time we saw you, Tera was preparing to register you as her new owner."

It was a long story, and I took it all in. I knew mostly what had happened before, but some of the other details were good to know. I glanced down at Tera, and lightly brushed her hair with my fingers, even though she couldn't feel it.

I took a deep breath and told her about everything that's happened. I told her about how Tera struggled with her memories, and that we were bound. I told her about Jen helping us, and how Joan attacked us in the parking lot. I made sure to go into a lot of detail about the mysterious man we met at their motel room, and his cat Leonis. She listened quietly, sure to take in all the information she could. Unfortunately, she had no idea who the strange man was either. She heard that Lberati had a benefactor who was pulling his strings, but she knew nothing about him.

Tom didn't say much while driving, but he usually didn't say much anyways. He had once worked for Lberati, or at least his father. He never heard of anything like that when he was there, and figured it was something his old boss's idiot son did. Then again, there had been a lot of changes from what he could tell between the old and new outfit, and while he was a very dangerous man, he had lost a lot of the political power Liberati senior once held.

The car was silent for a while as we drove through suburbs and away from the hustle and bustle of the city. "Tera is really lucky you found her" Cynthia said. "There are so many people out there that would want to harm her, or steal her. If people knew what she was capable of, they'd destroy her. But you... you accept her, and her sisters. You don't know how rare that is."

"Maybe... I don't know. She needed my help, and I gave it to her. I can't help it if I fell... I mean" I cleared my throat. "She um... she's someone special, someone worth protecting. To be honest I used to think it would be cool to have a robot girlfriend, but I never expected it to actually happen. She's a lot more work than I thought."

"Oh... I'm sorry if she's been trouble for you. She's not really finished..." Cynthia started. "I wanted to put more programming-"

"No, don't get me wrong! She's worth it" I interrupted. "I've really enjoyed being with her... when were aren't being attacked. I just wish I had more time to get to know her."

By the time we left the city, the rain had completely stopped, and the clouds were clearing up. It was still daylight out, but night wasn't far off. We drove onto an old road that has clearly seen better days 50 years ago. All the buildings in the area were old and worn and mostly abandoned. They were covered in grafitti, and those that were inhabited were surrounded by electric fences and signs warning trespassers about their abnormally large dogs.

We turned onto a small dirt road, and drove to the backside of an old grafitti covered building that looked like it had once been a factory or a warehouse. It was brick, with wood planks covering all the windows, and there was no sign that anyone had been there in a long time, expect for the fact that the dirt road was not completely overgrown.

Tom parked the car in a srot fo alcove close to the building in the back, where it was surrounded on 3 sides by red brick walls and tall trees across a small field to the back. It was a forested area beyond the field, which was close to a national park, so there was little chance of any further development in the area. The black SUV Jack drove followed close behind and parked perpendicular to us, granting us cover getting to the door in case we needed it.

Tom quickly got out of the car, and came to the back. I helped get Tera into Tom's arms before he and Cynthia dashed into the building carrying her limp form. I was feeling too worn out to go dashing anywhere. I realized now just how covered in her orange-red blood I was, and I was glad it was too orange to be my blood or I might have thought I was worse off than I really was.

I took off the vest, which had been uncomfortable to wear with the shape of it deformed where the bullets struck it, causing it to poke into my chest and back. I did not want to take off the t-shirt underneath in fear of seeing the bruises the shots must have caused. Instead, I stood up slow and stiff, and walked over to the SUV, where Jack was just getting out.

Jen opened the side door, to show that Joan was sitting in a chair with a very pained expression on her face, and blood running down her one arm. She looked over at me and smiled, before gritting her teeth in pain again.

"Joan, can't you just turn off your pain receptors?" Cynthia told me Tera was the only one of her sisters that couldn't do that. It should be a breeze for Joan to literally turn off the pain.

"Not anymore" she said through clenched teeth. "Liberati's men made sure I could feel everything they did to me." What a monster.

"Let me help you" I said.

"I tried to help" Jen said, "but there isn't much I can do. Her joint has been shattered, way too damaged to repair. She needs it to be replaced."

"I hope Jen hasn't been bugging you too much" I said to Joan as I helped her out of her seatbelt while Jen closed up the metal case she'd been using to monitor Joan.

"Nah. This is nothing. She's been really gentle" Joan said through her teeth. "She's got delicate fingers."

"That's not what you said 5 minutes ago" Jen muttered. Joan chuckled a little but whinced in pain afterward as I helped her get out of her seat.

"I'd love to help you ladies, but I swore not to lay a finger on another girl..." Jack started.

"This is different Jack! You can help" Jen shot at Jack.

Jack came over to help, but I didn't really need it anymore. "I think I got this, thanks though." He still offered a hand, and tried to pitch in.

"Danny, are you sure you're all right. You're covered in blood" Jen asked concerned.

"I'm fine. It's mostly Tera's..." Everyone paused in their tracks when they heard that. "Tom and Cynthia are looking at her now. She's in hibernation mode so she shouldn't get any worse."

"Tera... I hope she'll be alright. That vest helped?" Joan asked as I got her out of the can, and wrapped my left arm around her, letting her rest her shoulder and the stump of her missing arm on me for support.

"Yes. Thank you. It saved my life. You saved my life." I smiled at Joan and she returned the gesture.

"Glad I could help" she groaned as I started to move her again. She limped heavily keeping weight off her right leg, which didn't move well. I did my best to walk her to the door, and Jack helped by getting the door to the building for us while Jen grabbed the equipment and followed us inside.

Once we were inside, we were greeted by a sort of living room. It was more like a community club house, with chairs and tables and a bar and a miniature kitchen, as well as several couches and a TV. It was well lit, and there was a hallway leading further into the buiding. As nice as it was, we walked straight through without slowing down to look. We walked down the hallway with several doors on the left and a giant glass door on the right. Inside the glass door was a reception area, and 2 doorways marked Lab 1 and Lab 2. Inside the room, we could see a window behind the desk where Tom and Cynthia were in view.

As soon as Joan and I walked into Lab 1, both Tom and Cynthia stopped what they were doing and looked over at us. Tera lay motionless on an examination table where they had been connecting wires and tubes to her, in preparation for repairing her. Tom all but ran over to us with a big smile.

"261!" He said as he ran toward us, Cynthia following behind.

"Daddy!" Joan said as she tried to get out of my grasp holding her up. I didn't let her go until Tom was close enough to grab her. She called him Daddy... something I never would have imagined coming from her.

"Allow me to introduce Joan" I said as they embraced.

"Joan" Tom repeated burying his head in her hair as they hugged.

"Daddy. Momma. I missed you so much!" She was unable to hug him back, but she leaned into him and buried her face in his chest. Momma?

Cynthia came over to her other side and hugged her too, but it didn't last too long. Joan took in a deep sharp breath as the pain from her shoulder redoubled in their embrace.

"Oh dear, let me take a look at that" Cynthia said. She looked closely at Joan's shoulder, shaking her head. "You're sister really did a number on you didn't she?"

"Don't blame her momma. She isn't being herself. It's-"

"I know, I know. Liberati. What has he done to you poor girls? Here, let's get you looked at and you can tell me all about it." Cynthia started to help Joan toward the second lab which was right next door and directly attached to this one, with a window between them letting you observe from either lab. "Jen, could you please assist me?"

Jen looked a little surprised, but followed along. Cynthia must have really regretted how she had treated her earlier, especially after learning all she did from me in the car. It was good to see her taking the initiative to get to know Jen better. Before walking off, Joan turned back toward me, and kissed me unexpectedly. It wasn't a sensual kiss, but it was nice. I stood there a second while the girls vanished into the other room, leaving Tom and Jack here with me.

"Danny, we need to work on Tera... if you will..." Tom said.

"Of course!" I said, snapping out of it, and followed him toward the table Tera was laying on.

"Oh. Alright then. I'll just... empty the bonnet... bring in the stuff... don't mind me..." Jack said. He was feeling a little left out, but vanished back to the cars and kept himself busy for a while.

I was tired, aching, and sore, but eager to get started helping Tera. So many things had happened in the past few days, but I was glad she was a part of my life now. She didn't deserve to die this way, not because of me. Tera was running to my side when she was shot, and I would never forgive myself if I couldn't undo the damage done.

Chapter 20 - Changing gears

I stood next to Tera's limp form as she lay on a metal examination table. Her red dress was stained dark with her blood, and 2 or 3 wires ran from the computer next to her to the back of her head. There were maybe a dozen more cables and wires that were disconnected, which were about to be attach to her when Tom and Cynthia got distracted by Joan.

Tom stood next to me looking down at her. "We should get started" he said as he walked to the computer terminal and picked up some more cables to attach to her. "Umm..." Tom coughed, looking nervously around, "we should... or rather... you should umm... remove her dress".

"Um. Right. Sure, I'll take care of that" I said and proceeded to study the dress for any sign of a fastener. I'd never undressed a girl bore, especially in front of her 'dad'. I think I was really just buying my time, hoping something would distract him or me. He must have taken the hint.

"I'll um... get some wash cloths to clean her with" Tom said, more than happy to leave the two of us alone. I took this opportunity to unzip the side of her dress, and pull the dress down. I also unfastened her bra, and placed them on a chair beside me. She now lay on the slab in only her blue striped panties.

Tom came back in with a cloth and a bowl of soapy water. He set the bowl down and spied her clothes on the chair. "I can get those washed... would you like to change into something else yourself?" he asked.

"Yes, that would be great. Thanks." I ended up getting out of those stained clothes, taking a shower in a nearby bathroom (more like a gym bathroom really), and putting on a dark polo shirt and jeans Jack brought in from the SUV. I was finally clean and dry, and returned to the lab to help Tom wash off Tera by hand. She still felt warm, too warm in fact. I'm sure I would have enjoyed giving her a sponge bath more if she hadn't been in such a condition.

Tom had cleaned up most of her, and was connecting the rest of the cables to her head and torso. I wasn't sure what they all did, but from what I could tell, they would be monitoring her systems and looking for internal damage as well as checking her fluid levels and the like.

Using the same trick he taught me the other night Tom tried to open Tera up, but nothing happened. No blue dancing lights, no panels opening up. We both realized at the same time that he was no longer registered to her as her temporary owner, and only I could open her access panels when she was unconscious. When I tried, it worked flawlessly, and her chest cavity opened up fully. A thick layer of artificial blood caked her inner torso, was drying fast. That would be the reason her vents got clogged up, preventing her from cooling off properly.

We started cleaning her out carefully, making sure not to damage her any further, until we had finally cleared out all the blood inside her. It took a while, and as we did, we took a closer look at the damage the bullet did. It had torn through a vertebrae, punctured a lung, and blew out a chunk of her chest, grazing her mechanical heart, among other things. A lot of circuitry was damaged, but could be replaced or repaired. The biggest problem was actually going to be her spine. With one of her vertebrae shattered, there could be damage to her holographic nervous system.

For now, we just focused on cleaning her up. We were probably about an hour into the procedure when we heard pained screams in the other lab. It sounded like Joan. We knew they were working on her, but we assumed they'd turn off her pain receptors while she was being worked on. Something was wrong, so we rushed in to find out what.

As we hurried in, Joan let out another scream, low and sharp. Cynthia was working on repairing one of Joan's arms on a nearby workbench while Jen sat next to the robotic girl prodding at her exposed metal shoulder with a tool. The lab was very similar to ours, but it seemed to have more common equipment, tools I was more familiar with, unlike Lab 1 which had more experimental equipment. Most everything had the letters MMR printed across it. I realized what Jen was doing to Joan a second later when I saw sparks literally flying from Joan's joint.

"Joan! What's wrong, why are you in pain?" Tom asked concerned. It didn't matter to him that Joan lay there on the tilted table completely naked, but I know I was distracted by it.

"It's her pain receptors" Cynthia said from across the room without looking up at us. "Liberati's men broke them, so she can't turn them off. They tortured her, Tom. Torture!" I could hear the pain in her voice, but she never looked away from her work. "And not just physically."

Tom said nothing and just stood there speechless. Cynthia unexpectedly turned around, tears racing down her cheeks, and embraced her husband. He consoled her as best as he could, but Joan let out another agonizing yelp. Jen continued to use the laser cutter sporadically trying to cut around the mangled mess of nerves in Joan's shoulder, but too often sparks would fly up in her face when Joan squirmed in pain.

"Here, let me and Jen take care of this... you two take it easy for a bit" I suggested. Cynthia nodded and together they left the lab. Joan breathed heavily laying there, her naked breasts rising and falling with her deep breaths, while Jen sat next to her, no longer prodding at her wound. With only one leg and neither arm attached anymore, Joan was completely helpless and vulnerable. Her left shoulder which was wide open for servicing, revealing her metallic joints and wiring. Only a stub of an arm was left on her right side, which was part of how her interchangeable limbs worked. Apparently, her shoulders were not so interchangeable.

I stood closer to them and studied Joan's exposed shoulder. The bullet that hit her must have ricocheted off the joint and managed to shatter it and destroyed some of her wiring. Artificial muscles were also torn, but the real problem was that her nervous system was registering everything Jen tried to do as extreme pain.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Joan.

She closed her eyes for a moment taking in a deep breath before answering. "Like shit."

"I'm really really sorry" Jen said. "But I have to..."

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about" Joan said. "I know it needs to be done... but it still hurts."

"Would you like me to take a look?" I offered. They both nodded, so I took Jen's seat next to Joan and studied her shoulder for a bit. Jen had been trying to tip toe around her wiring in an attempt to avoid causing Joan any pain, but it only seemed to prolong the pain instead. I figure the best thing to do would be to attack it directly.

"Joan, this is going to hurt... a lot, but I think I can lessen your pain for the rest of the procedure."

"Whatever you want, master" she said looking away from me.

"No! This is not whatever I want. This is your body, your pain. What do YOU want?"

She stared at me in shock for a moment. My short burst of anger at her reaction seemed to startle her, but I could see she was considering her options.

"If you're going to cut it, will I feel again?" she asked. "You know... like normal?"

"Of course you will," I said calmly, "but it will take longer until you regain your normal sensation again."

"I've handled pain before. Lots of it" she replied, with distance in her voice. "But... I don't want to anymore. I don't want to keep shoving it to the back of my mind. I just want it gone. Go ahead, do it!" I never thought about how tired of the pain she must have been, no wonder she was so ecstatic about the pleasure I gave her during sex.

I took a laser cutter in hand. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm sure. I want to have some- IIYYAAAHH!!!" I severed several of her pain receptors in her shoulder while she was talking. I knew if I did it when she wasn't ready, she'd probably not concentrate on the pain as much, at least I hoped so.

"Sorry. All done" I said, tool till in hand.

Joan just stared ahead in shock, breathing heavily again, as she tried to recover from my treatment. "OW!"

"What did you do?" Jen yelled.

"Well her pain receptors were in the way, so I cut them out."

"Why would you do such a thing!?" Jen was ready to argue, and I know she'd probably win any argument as long as I was her opponent.

"No... no... it's ok" Joan said between breaths. "It hurt... alot... but I think my shoulder is going numb... weird."

'Will you be alright now?" I asked them both.

"I- I think so" Jen said. Joan just nodded her head, looking out into space before focusing her eyes on mine.

"Thanks" she said. "But don't worry about me. Please, take care of Tera. She must be in awful shape."

"Yeah. She's going to need a lot of work" I told her frowning. "You sure you'll be fine? I don't want to just abandon you, or Tera."

"Yes, I'll be fine. Thanks. But please, see to her."

I smiled at her and left Jen and Joan alone to return to Tera. Tom and Cynthia were already here working on her some more, and I was relieved to see Cynthia had dried her tears and managed to get some work done on Tera. It wasn't much, but by now she was essentially cleaned up and ready for the real repair work to begin.

"Will you be alright?" I asked Cynthia.

"Yeah. Is Joan...?"

"She'll be fine. I'm sure she'd like your company if you want to..." I suggested. She nodded and gave Tera one last look before returning to help Joan and Jen.

As soon as Cynthia left, Tom and I turned our full attnetion toward Tera. Tom started to grab items from nearby shelves, coming back to Tera every so often to take note of the damage, while I prepped her for the real work to begin. The computer diagnosis was complete, and her nervous system had not been damaged, but it would be tricky replacing the shattered vertebrae without damaging her further.

Tom placed all the items he had been collecting onto a cart, and brought them over next to his daughter. The tray was littered with bags full of tubes, cables, wires, even a large bladder I assumed was an artificial lung, everything she'd need. That's when the real work began.

Tom worked fast, and I assisted often handing him tools or helping to participate in the delicate proceedures themselves. He knew her systems inside and out, and was clearly more familiar being the head of a lab than he let on. It was almost like working with a chef in a kitchen. He knew exactly what needed to be done, how best to do it, and relied on his assistant to be skillful and pull his own weight. I didn't want to let him down.

What's more, I didn't want to let Tera down. She was relying on me and Tom more than ever now. I somehow managed to keep up with Tom's breakneck pace, removing, repairing, and replacing parts. Her punctured lung was surprisingly the easiest part. He quickly pulled out her old one, and connected the new one before I could barely notice it. Her mechanical heart proved to be a challenge, since it was not in need of replacement. It was no longer beating while she was in this state, however, as soon as we finished patching the damage, the computer activated it again. While I was still holding it, her heart started to beat slowly. It wasn't like a human heart, it used pumps that mimicked a heartbeat, and it was plastic. Still, for that brief moment, I literally held her heart in my hand.

"Good job, Rob. Could you hand me that optical wire?" Tom asked. He called me Rob, apparently so into the zone, he forgot who he was working with. It must have felt like working back in the lab again to him. Part of me wanted him to recognize me as Danny, and to give me credit, but another part of me was proud to have kept up with him so well he mistook me for his old assistant. He never noticed the mix-up, and I never pointed it out. I decided to take it as a compliment and handed him the wire.

After her heart had been repaired and activated again, Tom hooked up a supply of her nano-bot filled blood, to compensate for the massive loses of blood she'd had. The work continued to be fast-paced, and before I knew it, her fluids had been refilled and disconnected. Her body redirected the nano-bots to where they were most needed, avoiding the damaged skin preventing further bleeding.

As we worked, something caught my eye I didn't expect. Tera started crying. No sobbing, just a few tears. She was not supposed to be able to feel anything in her hibernation status, and yet she was crying.

"Is that normal?" I asked Tom, looking at her face.

He glanced over, and donned a puzzled look on his face. "That's odd. Must be a bug in her system. I'll take a look at it later." With that, he continued his work, ignoring her tears, but I was still concerned that maybe she could still feel, or at least think.

Several hours had passed by before the repairs were completed in her chest. Just before we closed her up and were about to work on her back, Cynthia came in, followed by Jen who was helping Joan by lending her arm to help stabilize the newly repaired gynoid on her feet. Joan looked completely different, so much so I did a double take. Her left arm had been completely replaced from her shoulder down with one that was identical in shape and size, but was a smooth reflective metal. Her right leg had also been replaced by one of the same material.

The metallic limbs moved smoothly, but she was visibly uncomfortable with them. I noticed the toes on her right foot were simplified, with only 2 toes, one big toe and the rest sharing one joint. It looked like she was permanently wearing one of those Japanese sandals even in her bare feet... well... bare foot. Her hand was more intricate, but still lacked details on the fingers, making them look smooth and simplified. Even though she now wore a tank top, I could clearly see how it was attached to her body. The muscles from her chest seemed to protrude as part of the mettalic arm, as though metal muscles were jutting from her torso and formed an arm. It looked tough, intimidating, and yet delicate. She still had the feminine curves she always had, but also looked worn out.

"Well this is the best we can do, given the circumstances" Cynthia said. Tom looked Joan up and down, and nodded.

"It will do" he said. "Do you plan to keep it?"

"Keep it? I hope not. It's dummy material. Of course it's strong and durable, it could work but it just looks so-"

"Fine" Joan interrupted. "It's fine. I can live with this. At least for a while. If... it's ok with you Danny."

I took a few steps closer and really studied her new limbs. She blushed as I looked her up and down, which made her look rather cute. Something about the combination of metal and flesh was rather attractive on her. She still had all the sexy curves, and the metal was smooth and flexible like skin, but now she looked like she could more than handle herself. I reached out and gently touched her arm. It was surprisingly warm, and her entire body shuddered as I touched her.

"She's still getting used to the whole sensation thing" Jen pointed out. Joan seemed to really enjoy it when I touched her arm. She let out a sigh and closed her eyes as I brushed my hand up her arm gently. If I kept it up, she might make a noise that would embarrass all of us.

"Sure. You can keep it as long as you want" I told her, despite Cynthia's wish to make her look as human as possible. "But why does she need it anyways?" I asked.

"Well... the lab was never fully stocked... we didn't get any joints for her or her sisters... in fact we don't have much at all for the Evelyn 2.0 design." Cynthia paused a moment, sighing. "We wanted to, but at the time Liberati already... Tera was our main concern. She had our full attention, and we needed this lab to help her, so we made sure to stock up everything we'd need for her."

"We have more than enough to rebuild Tera from scratch, if we needed to" Tom pointed out. "Well... most everything. Still don't have any more of her brand of voice box, or her power supply unit. Not to mention a few odds and ends as well as her brain, and her mind. We don't have access to the tools we'd need. As long as her brain is ok, we should be able to repair her."

"So what are these limbs from?" I asked.

"They're dummy parts" Tom amswered. "Designed by MMR as an experiment to help design advanced parts. They are really only meant for testing and design, but should still work fine."

Joan extended her arm and studied her new metallic hand. It would take her a while to get used to using these new limbs, but she was already getting the hang of it. She'd have to practice using them, perhaps physical therapy or maybe a software upgrade would help.

"How's Tera coming?" Jen asked. All three looked toward the girl still laying with her chest cavity opened and exposed on the table behind me.

"She's coming along. She still need more work done... but we are getting there" I answered looking back at her.

"Should be a few more hours" Tom explained. The next few hours would be crucial. We'd have to deal with her damaged spine, and hope the replacement part they were missing were not required.

"Can I stay?" Joan asked.

"You need to rest, honey" Cynthia said. "You've had a long day, and we have so much to catch up on. Besides, its time to take a break."

"Please? I really want to stay with Tera." She was sounding more and more like a little girl all the time.

"Let's take a break first, get something to eat, then we'll think about it" I suggested. Everyone agreed, and we left the lab to join Jack in the main area. He'd been busying himself with unloading things from the cars, as well as working on his laptop. Not sure what he was doing with it, but he seemed really engrossed in his computer when we walked in.

"Woah... Joan. You're... looking different" Jack said when he spied Joan's new 'look'. She was still limping when she walked so she held onto me, not yet used to her new leg and foot. Joan just rolled her eyes at him, and yet seemed rather amused as well.

I hadn't really explored the rest of the building yet, so while everyone else went to the kitchen to prepare some foo, I took a look around. The front of the place was much like a living area, like a club room. It had the kitchen attached, a bar, nice chairs and 2 tables, as well as a TV. Down the hallway was the receptionist area and the labs. It appeared as though the reception area was really more of a control room, with a large console at desk that allowed the work to be monitored, and would double as a place to take orders from clients. Beyond that was a sort of dormitory. There were a series of small rooms, each with a double bed, and one larger room with a queen bed. I counted 5 rooms in all, one for Tom and Cynthia, and one for each of their 4 girls. They shared one bathroom, so it was rather large and had 2 showers in it. Finally beyond that was an empty room, still under construction.

I joined everyone back in the main area, where they had prepared a simple dinner of sandwiches and macaroni and cheese. Joan and Cynthia were getting along well enough, and surprisingly so did Jen. As we ate, I watched Joan try to get used to her new left arm. While she ate with her right hand, she would practice picking up her fork, or a cup, with her left. She still needed to work on her hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, but she was doing quite well for a girl who just got a new arm.

We ate mostly listening to the girls chat, but at one point Jack turned on the TV to navigate through the news. He was looking for anything that might be relevant to us, but found nothing. No reports about a sniper shooting, nothing about damaged cars in a parking lot, nothing. Our deadly encounter had gone unnoticed by society, and for that I was glad.

As soon as we finished up Tom and I headed back into the lab. Joan followed us, despite Cynthia's protests. We decided it would be ok for her to stay for a while, but she did need her rest. Cynthia, Jen, and Jack prepared the rooms. It was already getting late, but Tom and I were prepared to work through the night if we had to.

Joan sat quietly in a chair next to her sister, holding her hand in hers. I couldn't help but notice Tera still had tears in her eyes, and I wondered how it was possible. Joan didn't seem to notice, and Tom just ignored it.

We closed up Tera's chest, and watched as the blue lights appeared to seal her skin. There was still a large hole in her chest where the bullet left, but it was now only skin deep. Finally, we disconnected all the wires on Tera.

I was ready to flip Tera onto her back when Tom stopped me. "No need. Here, we can use this" he told me, pushing on some buttons attached to the workstation.

Joan retracted her hand as the table started to tilt up to a standing position. I worried the table would throw Tera to the floor, but just as it brought her upright, a pale blue light appeared from below her, and lit up in a column over her form. Suddenly the table retracted and moved to the side of the workstation, leaving Tera floating there in mid air. Her hair seemed to be weightless, and her body seemed to be floating in air.

"Woah" Joan and I said at the same time. Tom smiled at us, and walked over to Tera.

"It's new" he said. "Zero-g field. Should help with working on her back. Keeps the pressure off her body, and keeps her spine straight and stress-free."

"How does it work?" Joan asked.

"It's... complicated" he replied. I made a mental note to ask him more later. Tom reached out to Tera, and with a single finger, spun her around. There was so little friction, she kept spinning and spinning without hardly slowing down at all. He stopped her so her back was facing us, and the work continued.

Once again, blue lights illuminated under her skin down her back, following her spine, revealing a long series of panels, opening to show the damaged vertebrae. Her spine was very similar in shape to a human's, except the shattered vertebrae revealed glowing holographic optical wires instead of whatever it is a human has. Blood and grey matter I suppose.

Again, Tom's hands blurred with motion as he quickly started removing broken bits of artfical bone and wiring. Often, I'd see debris from the wound floating in the field around her. This was a fascinating device, with huge potential, but something told me Tom and Cynthia were "borrowing" it, just like all their other MMR labled equipment. I'm sure someone somewhere was working on the various applications for such technology. And they probably weren't too happy this model had gone missing.

Still, I didn't want to speculate or blame them. I mean, after all, he was using it to save Tera's life. There was really very little I could do to help him at this point actually. The wound was much to small for more than one set of hands, and all the rest of the work was already done. For the time being, I just gazed at Tera deep in thought. Tears floated in the air near her eyes, and I continue to debate what exactly could be causing this reaction. Joan wasn't as interested in this phenomenon, and just sat there next to her, holding Tera's hand.

Something about the way she hung there looking like she was floating in a tank of water... only without the water... or the tank. Every part of her body floated before me. Her hair danced wildly around, her arms lifted slightly away from her body, her breasts floated weightlessly... I actually noticed this... her breasts were weightless.

Tom spent probably another 2 hours carefully extracting every shattered piece, resettling every holograpic optical wire, and replacing the damaged faux bone vertebrae. I actually did get to work on her when Cynthia interrupted Tom. We were lucky. Only 2 of the bundles of optical wires were damaged in the shooting, and they were both repaired and reconnected. It could have been a lot worse. There were literally hundreds of wires running down her spine, and if the wrong ones were severed, she would be essentially dead. No pressure.

At last, we had fitted the last piece inside her, a replacement vertebrae for her back, which closed nicely around her holographic wiring. By now, it was getting really late, and Joan had fallen asleep in the chair next to Tera. Odd to see an android fall alseep like that.

"There's one last thing to do" Tom explained, as I cleaned up the tools and gear from around Tera. He sat down at the computer, and typed in a few commands. He then quickly stood up and gestured with his hand over the 2 damaged areas of skin, one on her back and the other on her chest. As he did this, a yellow grid projected onto her skin. Before I could figure out what it was he was doing, 2 robotic arms extended out of the sides of the workstation and started repairing her skin in the 2 yellow grids. It wasn't at all like the now-seemingly primitive tube of skin goo I used before. Sure that stuff worked, but this was precision beyond my imagination. The two arms were literally weaving fine strands of artificial skin into her wound, in a rather slow but impressive display.

"They should finish up with her in half an hour. Could you wait around and activate her while I take Joan to bed? You can use room 2 to let her sleep if she needs it."

I nodded to Tom and he proceeded to lift Joan like a child and carry her, still asleep, out of the lab. "Let me know if you need anything" he said in a loud whisper before leaving. I checked my watch... it was now 3 am, and the process still wasn't finished. However, I was relieved the worst of it was fixed.

About 30 minutes later, the robotic arms retracting and disappeared inside a door embedded in the workstation. They did such an amaing job repairing her skin, I never would have known there was any damage at all. You could still see faded light "scars" on her skin where I did her earlier repairs, mainly on the side of her neck, and while they were hard to see, they were simply barbaric compared to the latest repair job. In fact, everything about this repair was more advanced and precise than anything I had done, and Tom knew her design so well he could have repaired her with his eyes closed.

I eagerly pushed in Tera's belly button to reactivate her, and with a click and a whirr, I could hear her systems starting up. However, nothing else happened. She didn't open her eyes, she didn't start talking or greeting me, she didn't do anything but remain floating there lifelessly. Something must have gone wrong!

I ran all the diagnostics I could, and finally resorted to the monitoring system. Everything checked out. She was on and running fine with no errors. I could see that her brain was processing data, and had been for... several hours? For the past few minutes, since I turned her back on, her brain activity had increased drastically, but it was still processing the entire time she was suppose to be in Hibernation mode, where she shouldn't have had anything processing at all! That would explain her tears. Just before I freaked out over this, I got a message on the screen saying an 'unknown maintanance program' was running. I figured it would be best to let this run overnight.

At least this meant I could take her to bed, let her run her program there, while I got some shut eye too. It was kind of neat to pick her up from the Zero-g field, and carrying her out of it. The field turned itself off when she was removed, and I proceeded to carry Tera out of the lab, shutting off lights as I went, until I came to room 2 in the dormatory area.

It was dark in the halls, but there was enough light to make out the door number, and I managed to get inside the room with Tera, and laid her down on the bed. The room had no windows, but there was a dim yellow light coming from a nightlight, illuminating the double bed inside. I decided it would be best to let her sleep in the bed on her own tonight. I covered her with a blanket and pulled up a cushioned chair close beside her, worrying that she'd never wake up.

The last thing I remember that night was holding her hand and thinking of how amazing she was and how much I worried about her. At some point I drifted off to sleep myself, but I couldn't clearly remember any of my dreams that night. The only thing I could remember about them was that Leonis, the mystery man's large metallic cougar, was chasing me in it. Tera's voice woke me as she called my name.

I jerked awake in the chair at the sound of my name, but it was still dark and Tera was still asleep. With no windows, the room would never naturally light up as I was used to, so it was hard to beleive it was already after 10 am, but my watch confirmed the time. Tera squirmed uneasily in the bed, suffering from her own nightmare.

"Danny... no!" she mummbled in her sleep. It was her voice that woke me, maybe it was time I woke her.

I took her hand and called her name, hoping to gently wake her up. "Tera... Tera? Wake up! It's me! Danny". Instead of waking up, her nervous squirming subsided, and she calmed down to a peaceful sleep again. At least I could do that for her.

I noted to myself that the two of us have been having some pretty odd dreams lately... and with this same guy in it. How was that possible?

After a few more minutes of sitting beside her, ready to drift off into sleep again, her eyes suddenly shot open as she quickly sat up grabbing the bed tightly. "Danny!" The suddenly motion threw the sheet off her torso, but she didn't even notice. Tera breathed heavily and looked around in shock.

It took a few seconds for her to process everything, but she soon looked toward me, and her eyes instantly filled with tears as she half-jumped out of the bed and wrapped her arms around me in a giant hug. She was sobbing quietly as she held me tight.

"Oh Danny! I thought I lost you! Thank god! Thank god you're alright!" We must have sat there hugging for several minutes before she finally let go and put her hand to my chest. Pain shot through me and I gasped involuntarily at it. Tera retracted her hand, and looked at me concerned.

"You're hurt! What happened? Where are we?" I was glad to see she was feeling better, she didn't even seem to remember her own injury.

"What's the last thing you remember happening, Tera?" I asked her. She looked around the room thinking for a moment or two before turning her eyes back to mime.

"I saw you get shot, I saw you fall! I... can't remember anything else. We were running inbetween cars in a parking lot, and you were shot! After that it's just a blur..." She wiped the tears from her face, but looked at me quizzically. I figured her mind must have a similar protection mechanism as a human mind, by blocking out traumatic events.

"I was shot, Tera" I explained. "But I had on my bullet-proof vest under my shirt. It was Joan's idea." I lifted up my shirt to show her the bruising. I wanted to take another look at it myself actually, since I saw it during my shower the night before, but never really looked at it. There were 3 dark bruises the size of a drink coaster, although they seemed to already be smaller than when I glanced at them yesterday. She stared at them, her hand to her mouth as she studied my wounds in detail. They were not pretty. Two were on my chest, and had more-or-less merged together, and one was on my stomach. It wasn't as bad as the others, and was already shrinking fast.

"Oh Danny! I'm so sorry! Does it still hurt?" She asked as she stretched out her finger to touch me.

"Yes" I said plainly as I lowered my shirt again. "But it's not that bad. I can handle it."

"Something else happened, didn't it?" she asked looking up at me with big eyes.

"Well... she... shot you too." Her eyes grew even wider as she started to remember bits of it. She quickly put her hand to her own chest and looked down at her bare skin, searching for the wound. "Don't worry. You were damaged pretty badly, but Tom and I manage to fix you up again."

"You did? You and dad? I... I..." she continued to look for any sign of the wound. "I don't understand. How...?"

I held her hand in mine and looked into her eyes. "You almost died, Tera. Tom and Cynthia brought you here to their unfinished lab, and together we saved your life. Tom did an amazing job on you, but I never once stopped worrying about you. I was scared of losing you!"

She held my face in her hands, and slowly closed the distance between us. Her kiss was passionate, warm, loving, and very wet. She was still crying, but out of joy. She broke the kiss first.

"I don't want to do this anymore" she said. "I mean... I don't want to keep running, only to get within inches of dying every time. I am not going to take this anymore Danny. I have to do something... I... I... don't know what. I refuse to just be the victim anymore! But, I'm not strong or skilled at fighting. Somehow, I will not be a burden on you any more, Master! I-"

I intereuppted her with a kiss. I understood how she felt. She was trying to get away from would-be killers and live a quiet and peaceful life. But now I was concerned she'd try to leave me, strike out on her own, so no one had to worry about her anymore.

"Just don't leave" I said. "I couldn't bear that."

"Never!" We embrassed again, and she somehow ended up sitting in my lap kissing me passionately. She straddled me as the intensity grew between us. "Oh Danny... Oh Master" she'd say between kisses. She started to rub her hips against me, as her hands rubbed all over my body before runnng down to my pants to unbuckle my belt.

After a few moments of struggling, she finally undid my pants, and pulled my shaft out, aligning it to herself. Stretching her panties to the side, she slowly lowered herself onto me. A look of intense plesure filled her face as she took me in all the way. She felt so good, I started moving inside her right away, and she almost exploded with moans and gasps. She was really enjoying this already, and I went with the flow.

We continued like that for a few minutes until she all but collapsed into my arms. I lifted her up, moved her onto the bed again, and picked up the pace. I thrust harder and deeper into her while she wrapped her arms around my shoulders and threw her head from side to side in uncontrolled pleasure. She seemed tighter than usual, and I found myself climaxing earlier than I wanted to, but I couldn't stop myself, and ended up cuming inside her. She was clearly not yet finished hersef, so I rubbed my fingers up and down her clitoris, and she burst into orgasmic pleasure, pushing her hips up and moaning loudly as she lost control of her body.

She collapsed onto the bed, breathing heavily, and eager for more. I was already spent. I wanted to satisfy her, but I couldn't perform anymore. Instead, I just lay there next to her, cuddling with her for a while. I was still tired from the long night and my recovering injuries, and while the thought of a second round was appealing, it seemed miles away at the moment. But that didn't stop her from mewing and touching and rubbing herself against me. I started something inside her, and she wasn't going to let it rest till she was satisfied.

"That was amazing, Master! You've never been so... passionate before. I... I'll..." she sighed while deep in thought. "I will always be by your side, Danny. I would never dream of leaving you! But..."

"But what?" I asked running my hand up and down her side.

"It seems everyone is out to kill me. I just want to be with you and my family, is that too much to ask?" I shook my head before she continued. "I will make my dream a reality! I don't know how, but I will do whatever I can to stop these people and protect you and my family."

"Don't take it all on yourself, Tera. I'm here to help too, we are all going to help each other. Besides, you've done a lot already."

"Only out of need. I'm going to take action this time" she said determinedly. "I... I can't let them hurt you- us anymore!"

I wrapped my arm around her as she lay next to me. "Together. We'll stop them together." I kissed her forehead as I squeezed her tight. She mewed with pleasure, still wanting more.

"Please Master! Let's make love again. It's not every day a cute girl begs you for it" she playfully moaned into my ear.

"With you around, maybe it could be".

"What's that supposed to mean?" she retorted.

"Just that I've never had as much amazing sex in my life until you were around. I could get used to having a partcular cute girl beg for more."

She giggled when she heard my explanation, and snuggled with me for a few more minutes, placing herself as close to me as she could.

"Just one more? PLEASE Master?" she begged with a really cute expression. LOL cats would have a hard time keeping up with her cute factor.

"I want to, but I... its..." I don't know why I was trying to come up with excuses, so I stopped. "Alright, but give me a few minutes. I need to recover."

She beamed at me and started laying a flurry of kisses on my face. Damn she was cute. I figured now was a good time to use the bathroom and hope no one else was in there, before round 2 began.

"I'll be in the bathroom, be right back. Don't go anywhere" I said playfully as I got to my feet and pulled on my pants. She sat there on the bed, her hair disheveled, as she smiled and meowed at me. If anything would turn on a guy, it was a naked girl meowing at them. I quickly left to use the fascilities before she got the better of me.

Something inside her changed. She was still the same playful girl, with the same needs and desires. She still made love like a goddess, and still clung to me whenever she could. However, she had grown more determined. Something in her changed since her last injury... and I wanted to see how this more head-strong Tera would turn out. Something told me things were about to change.

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Chapters 1-10 - Index - Chapters 21-30

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