Exo Saves the Day - Chapters 21-30

Chapter 21 - The girl behind the gun

The living area of Cynthia and Tom's lab was a lot like a dorm. There was a single bathroom for everyone to share, and a different bedroom for each girl. Well... maybe some dorms were as nice as this, but I honestly don't recall seeing one half as clean as this before. The collection of rooms stretched down a small hallway branching off the main area. This hallway was fairly close to the 2 labs. The 2nd bedroom, where Tera and I were staying, was closest to the main area.

Of course the bathroom was all the way down on the other side of the hall, past all the other bedrooms. The master bedroom was a little separated and probably had its own bathroom inside, but I wasn't about to go look and find out. As I passed the other doors, I couldn't help but notice strange sounds emanating from one of the other bedrooms. Apparently I wasn't the only one getting lucky that morning, as Jen and Jack appeared to have gotten together again. Literally.

Moving on, I proceeded to the bathroom to take care of my bodily needs before round 2. Tera was certainly energetic this morning, but I suppose after all that work we put into her, she was ready for just about anything. The bathroom was pretty big. It had a large mirror with 2 sinks at one end, a bathtub at the other, and 2 showers next to each other. In the middle of the room was a small but long wooden bench that looked straight out of a women's locker room. Not that I would have any personal knowledge of that. Instead of lockers, however, there were 6 large square wooden shelves, a large towel rack, and a closet. Off to one side was 2 bathroom stalls, like in a ladies room. Again, I swear I have no experience inside ladies rooms whatsoever.

This bathroom was clearly set up to support at least 6 people, if not more. The wooden shelves already had towels and soap in them, ready for any of us to use when needed. I'd say it was really a very nice and large bathroom, and yet would be ideal for a large close family rather than friends or strangers. It was a little too open for any real privacy.

I went about doing my business, and cleaned myself up. I figured since no one else was getting anyone up early or preparing anything, it would be acceptable to proceed with another session with Tera. Ignorning the sounds coming from Jack's room, I heard something else in the hallway I didn't expect, laughter. It was only once, abrupt, but strong and undeniable. It was also female, and came from behind door 1. I looked around and noticed the door was already cracked open slightly. Surely I could take a peak in, and see who was laughing and why.

Joan sat alone in the room, at the foot of the bed, looking forelorned at the floor with her head bowed. She lifted her metallic left arm and looked at it closely, twisting the hand to see the details clearly. It appeared she didn't yet notice me, and I still had to wonder if I didn't just hear her Joan laughing.

A smile crept on her face while she studied her metallic arm. It looked as though she had just heard a joke, not one good enough to laugh at, but worth a snicker. Maybe she saw the irony in the situation, a robotic girl that looks human now forced to live with a metal arm, breaking the illusion. Maybe not. Her mind still seemed deep in thought, distant. I cleared my throat to get her attention.

It worked. A little too well. She almost fell off the bed when she saw me standing in the doorway. Somehow she managed to get to her feet, although still a little wobbly. She seemed more than a little shocked to see me.

"Danny! Ho- How long have you been standing there?" she asked nervously.

"A minute or so. Why? You seemed so deep in thought, I just wanted to check in on you."

"Oh... sorry. I've just been a little distracted, that's all" she replied, relief in her voice.

"I can understand that. I mean, a new home, a new family... sort of... and now a new arm and leg. Not to mention getting shot at by your own sister. That would be a lot for anyone to handle". I know this last week was a lot for me to handle, I'm sure she must have been going through something similar herself.

"Yeah... umm... I guess it is."

"So, how do you feel?" I asked her, taking a step into the dimly lit room.

"Well, I'm still getting used to the sensation in my arm. It's more sensitive than before, and I have to get used to using it."

"Ok. But I wasn't really asking about your arm. How are YOU feeling?" I clarified.

"Oh... I don't know. I've... never been one to talk about my emotions. I guess I'm feeling... overwhelemed, nervous, and maybe a little jealous-"

"Jealous? Of what/who?" I asked.

"Well... of you and Tera. I've never had a relationship like that before, and it seems really nice... really special. I don't know. I guess I'm used to being the loner, but it gets hard to deal with everything on my own. Maybe I'm just lonely or something..." She sat back down on the bed, and sighed.

"Hey now, you're not alone. You have Tera and me, and Tom and Cynthia are here too. Not to mention Jack and Jen. We're all here for you."

"I know, but it's not the same. I guess I'm just... I don't know. I'll be alright. I'm just feeling left out is all."

I sat on the bed next to her and put my arm around her. "Come on, cheer up! We'll get through this, you'll see." She put on a weak smile and she leaned into me.

"I hope so..." she said looking up at me. "Want to help cheer me up?" she asked with a peculiar gleam in her eye.

"Um... Yeah. Of course I do" I said, hoping I wasn't walking into a trap or something.

"Well there's one thing you can do that will cheer me up" she said with a sly grin as she slipped her metallic left hand into my lap.

"Woah now! I don't know about that" I said getting up when I realized she was grabbing for my little man.

"Please master! Everyone else has been doing it all morning except me! I'm THAT kind of lonely" she said getting up and wrapping her arms around me.

"You mean..."

"These walls aren't exactly sound proof" she retorted. "Not to mention I can hear better than you can." Joan looked up from the bed with a pleading look in her eye. "Please master. Just once? You always make me feel so good."

"I know we've done it already, but it just seems wrong" I said as she donned an even more pathetic look. I swore she was about to cry.

"Will this change you mind?" she asked as she lifted her top over her head, letting her breasts bounce freely about. I was still impressed with how natural and real they looked- she looked really- and got caught up in the moment.

"Buh- Buh- But...What about Tera? She's waiting for me" I stammered.

Joan ignored my plea, and got up from the bed, standing close to me. Close enough to let her warm soft body brush against me. "I wouldn't worry about her" she replied. "I'm sure she'll get over it."

With that, Joan wrapped her arms around my shoulders and embraced me in a sensual kiss. I don't know how it happened, but I somehow ended up on the bed with her on top of me, straddling me and kissing me furiously. Just then, as though dictated by Murphey's law, Tera opened the door and walked in holding the bed sheets up to cover her body.

"Hah! What's this? My sister stealing away my man from me?"

Joan looked up at her casually with a wicked grin on her face, while I struggled to get her off me and get to my feet.

"It's not what it looks like" I said, quoting the famous last words of every cheating man. "I just came into here to check in on her... I- I..." I said finally getting to my feet, only to have my pants fall down to my ankles in a comedic fashion. I didn't notice when Joan unbuckled them.

"Joan! Master! What am I going to do with you? Maybe I should punish you both. Or maybe..." she said as she let the sheets drop to the floor. "I should join in as well?"

I'd never seen Tera act this way... Maybe a little too forward, but at the same time, far more cheesy than I had expected as well. Something was up... And I was in the middle of it.

"Wait a second... Something isn't right here."

Tera suddenly looked really flustered and Joan spoke out. "She- she's right, I AM trying to steal you away. I should be punished! Please punish me, master!"

"Okay now I know something is going on!"

"N- no there isn't" Tera stuttered. She walked closer stiffly and looked up at me with big pleading eyes. Well that's something Tera and Joan both have in common.

"What's with the cheesy lines?" I asked.

"It was Tera's idea" Joan said behind me. "She wanted to cheer me up and-"

"Shh!" Tera said as thou someone had just revealed her master plan.

"Wait... So you planned this? When? I mean, how did you plan something when you didn't even know-" Before I could finish, Tera jumped into my arms with a hug the pushed me back onto the bed and locked her lips to mine.

"Please Danny. Let's just live in the moment we have now" Tera whispered into my chest with a serious voice.

I decided not to press the issue. Clearly she was being mischievous, but what harm was there in that? I gave my consent, and the two girls pummeled me with affection.

The rest of the event was a bit of a blur after that. I clearly remember the two girls working together, sometimes taking charge, other times following my lead. Their soft warm bodies felt so good againt me I couldn't help but get lost in the moment. I remember Joan getting immense pleasure just from using her metallic hand to satisfy me. Something about the sensation of holding my member combined with the overly sensitive nature of her new hand made her enjoy the experience to the point of moaning and gasping herself with no other stimulation. Not that she didn't get more stimulation.

Tera was particularly experimental in bed, playing with both me and Joan, trying different positions and kinky ideas. While she seemed to find involving her oldest sister a bit embarrassing, it didn't stop her from trying every little idea out. Having the two of them rub their soft round breasts around my not-so-little guy at the same time was the single most memorable experience of the morning.

Every time Joan came to a climax, she would start to go into spastic errors, spurting out error messages and failure reports everytime. As I pleased her from behind, she started overheat and vents started opening on her body to let out heat. That wasn't enough to prevent her the most epic crash to-date. She started to have a ground-shaking orgasm when she involuntarily recited lines of code between her gasps and moans of passion. It went on for 5 minutes and as she erupted in one last bout of pleasure, she literally froze, and reset herself, essentially fainting from her own orgasm. She stayed like that for a several minutes before she awoke again, still riding the afterglow.

Tera and I had just shared a mutual passionate orgasm, with her on top holding me close to her with her own vents opened to let out heat, when she rolled to the side of the bed next to me to take a breather and enjoy the waves of pleasure that rolled over her body. Joan had reckoned that I was getting exhausted, and could maybe get one more go out of me, straddling me to kiss and stimulate me, when suddenly Tera sat up straight, a look of terror on her face and panic in her body movement.

"261!" She said abruptly. Joan and I just looked at her in confusion.

"What?" Joan asked while still straddling me.

"It's 261! She's-" Tera started, but never got to finish.

Without warning, the lights went out. Not just he lights. The central air stopped, the clocks turned off, everything was out, leaving us in total darkness and silence. It was probably the middle of the day already but without windows it was pitch black in most of the lab.

Tera let out a short cute scream and grabbed my hand tightly. Joan got off me, but never let go, keeping in contact with me. At least she remained more-or-less calm.

"What happened? The power's out! I can't see a thing!" Tera panicked, grabbing onto me tighter. I had about as much knowledge of the situation as they did, but she asked anyways.

"Damn it's dark in here!" Joan spat. "Maybe there's a flashlight around here."

"Yeah, if only it was bright enough to see it" I said sarcastically. Tera didn't appreciate the humor, but just squeezed her whole body against my arm, as though she'd die if she let go. It was actually kind of nice to have her hanging off my arm like that, but we did need to get some light. Something came to mind, and I decided to try it out.

"I have an idea. Tera, open your chest control panel" I ordered. She complied, and the room was briefly lit up with blue lit before it faded away, only to be replaced by the soft glow of her control gauges and buttons in her chest. They weren't bright enough to read by, but it was a vast improvement.

"Oh!" Tera said startled at her own illuminating light.

"Brilliant!" Joan exclaimed before opening her own panel. She didn't have the burst of blue light, but her internal panel was... well, more brilliant, and lit up the room better. I pulled on my pants and led Tera into the hallway while Joan threw on some panties and followed us out.

Jen had just entered the hall in the same getup Tera wore before joining Joan and myself, a bed sheet. She looked a little shocked, perhaps from the blackout or the two gynoids using their gauges as flashlights. It's like the ultra high-tech version of using your cell phone to find your keys in the dark, only with fembots.

"What's going on?" Jen asked as she emerged from the room. Jack followed behind her shirtless but as soon as Jen noticed both Tera and Joan were going around without shirts on, and for good reason this time, she pushed him face-first back into the room and closed the door.

"Power-outage" I replied. Tera kept a tight grip on my arm, as though she were scared something was going to jump out at her. She looked nervous, tense, maybe even a little paranoid. "Tera, are you ok?"

"Huh? What? No, I'm fine! I'm- oh" she said nervously before noticing how tightly she was gripping me. She loosened her grip but continued to hold my hand in a firm grip. "Sorry."

"Sure is dark in here." Jen said.

"It's darker in here" Jack's muffled voice said from behind the door. "come on doll, let me out." He pleaded with Jen through the door, but she just rolled her eyes.

"Not with these two running around naked" she retorted.

"I promise I'll behave! Didn't I promise you to give you a week? Is been what... a day? Come on Jenny baby." Jenny baby?

"Don't call me that... in front of the others" Jen hissed in a low voice at the door.

"Please?"

Jen glanced at the others, and they nodded. Tera wasn't as shy about her body as you'd expect, and while Jen was a little more conservative about it, she must have figured he wouldn't see much trying to look head long into the brightests light in the room, but covered her breasts with her hands just to be safe.

"Oh alright!" Jen said and let the door open behind her. As soon as the door was half way open, a loud and distinct wolf whistle echoed through the hallway, and Jen instantly slammed it again.

"Aww come on. It was just a bit of sport!"

"Too late, you promised" Jen said crossly.

"But that was meant for you sweet cheeks. By that I mean I could see your sweet cheeks."

Jen flushed red and lifted the back of the sheet up over her rear. "Too bad! You'll be lucky to see them again" she shot back still red in the face.

"Bollucks!"

Cynthia walked into the hall from the lab carrying a large flashlight. It was by far the brightest light in the hall, since it was actually meant to illuminate.

"Good! You're all up. Is everyone here? Where's Jack?" she asked.

"Grounded" Jen replied pointing back at the door behind her with her thumb. "Hey, you have any more flashlights?"

"Yeah, I'll go grab you some. Tera! I didn't see you hiding behind Danny there. Are you feeling alright?"

All attention went toward Tera who until now was trying not to be noticed. She took a step out from behind me and nodded. "Yes mother."

"Is- is there something wrong?" she asked. Tera politely shook her head.

"I'm fine" she replied timidly. "But... aren't you mad at me?"

"What? Mad at you? Never sweetie! I could never be mad at you!"

"Even after I ran from you when you were trying to stop me, and got myself..."

Cynthia walked swiftly to Tera and embraced her in a loving hug and kissed her forehead. "Sweetie, I'm mad that I couldn't stop you, but not at you. I would have done the same thing if it was Tom laying out there. I was so afraid I'd lost you again." They embraced a little while longer, both wiping away tears as they broke the hug.

"Where's Tom?" I asked.

"He's out back getting the generator started" Cynthia said adjusting herself.

"No!" Tera shouted. "261 is out there!"

"What? Are you sure?" Cynthia asked looking down at Tera's small form. Tera nodded gravely in response. "Tom!"

Cynthia ran out of the hall and we followed. Past the labs, she ran for the door, ready to jump out herself when suddenly a shadowy figure passed in front of the blocked out window. This was the only room that had windows, but they were frosted or something, letting in light but no details about what lie beyond the door.

Everyone froze. We couldn't tell who it was from the distorted shape on the glass, but it looked much to small to be Tom. 261 better be ready for a fight if she was about to enter through the main doors.

Just as the doorknob turned, Tom came rushing in and slammed the door behind him. We let out a collective sigh of relief, as Cynthia approached him to make sure he was alright.

"It was 261" he said. "She took a shot at me, but missed, barely. She must have cut the power lines to the building. The fuel line for the generator has also been cut. We're stuck!"

"You're bleeding" Cynthia said looking up at his face. He reached up to his ear, and pulled his hand back with a pained hiss.

"Guess it was closer than I thought. It's only a graze" he said looking at his blood on his fingers.

"I'll go get a first aid kit" Jen said, taking a flashlight from the counter where Cynthia must have placed some earlier, and vanished into the back hallway.

"I'll be alright" Tom said. "I'm more concerned about our girls."

"What do you mean?" I asked. Tera still covered herself with my body, chest cavity still dimly illuminating the immediate area. Joan had since closer her chest cavity now that this room had more light, and picked up a flashlight from the counter, covering herself with her metallic arm.

"We could go weeks with the food we have, but they run on batteries." Tom explained looking at Tera. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Good, but scared" she answered.

"Wait a sec, I thought they could eat to recharge just like us" I said remembering how Tera would eat meals with me and feel better afterwards. Jen rushed back into the room and started working on cleaning up and bandaging Tom's ear, having him sit at the table while she did it.

"Tera can. But you saw how efficient that is. She could last a long while with the right kind of food, high in sugars. But eventually, she'll need a recharge, especially if she uses up too much energy doing anything. However, Joan..." He gave her a long concerned stare.

"Sure I can eat, but I can't get the energy out of it as well as Tera can. I'll still need to recharge daily" Joan explained matter-of-factly. "And I already used up a lot of energy this morning..." I could hear regret and concern in her voice. "She knew we'd need to recharge. She'll have our only exit covered, waiting for us to get desperate enough to make a move, and then..." her voice trailed off.

"Didn't you tell me you designed these girls for the military? How is a day long operation on the front lines supposed to work?" I was clearly getting cross, but luckily everyone else remained calm.

"We did" Cynthia answered. "But they are still just prototypes. They don't have all their bugs worked out. The biggest problem was their power supply. We were making great progress. Tera could probably operate as a normal human indefinitely if she didn't use any functions that required more energy. But even that is only theoretical."

"Then how is 261 able to stake us out for so long herself?" Jen asked.

"They probably gave her a batter pack something. If she has a car to get around it would be easy to recharge."

"I take it you don't have any battery packs laying around?" I asked

"None that have any charge" Tom answered.

"Tera, how is your battery level?" I asked her. She squished her face and in thought for a moment.

"88%" she answered, visibly getting calmer and more relaxed.

"What about you Joan?"

She stood there silently looking down at the counter of flashlights of different sizes. At first I thought she didn't hear me, but then came her answer. "45%"

"Woah, why so low?" Jen asked.

"I guess I forgot to plug myself in last night, and only charged a little this morning. After this morning's activities in my room... I didn't think I'd need to conserve my energy so I let myself enjoy it too much. I can probably last until this evening, if I don't do anything strenuous."

"Oh Joan! I'm so sorry, it was all my idea" Tera burst out. "I never should have suggested..."

"It's ok, I wanted to do it. Thank you for including me" she said softly.

The room got quiet, although I had to wonder if it was more of an awkward silence given the last conversation, or a nervous one given the situation, maybe it was a bit of both. The tension was thick enough to cut.

"So now what? Jen asked.

I was about to speak when Tera beat me to it. "We plan an attack!" she announced, taking the words right out of my mouth.

I could clearly hear the nervous tension building, as no one had any idea what to do next. A minute of silence pass by, then two. Jen finished up with Tom's ear and sat there deep in contemplation.

Then, with impeccable timing, Jack nonchalantly saunters into the room wearing only his black pants. "So what did I miss?"

Around the mid afternoon, we had all gathered in the living room area fully clothed and ready to go. Tera wore a blue textured skirt that ended just above the knee and a white and blue striped blouse with a blue trim. Joan opted for something a little more utilitarian, jeans, boots, and a black tank top. Jen wore blue jeans and a cute form-fitting shirt with a large printed pattern on it, and Jack wore jeans and a light color button up shirt. It was very stylish. I decided to wear something similar, but I don't think I pulled it off half as well as he did.

We sat eating a meal somewhere between brunch and dinner, brain-storming what to do next. Joan was being particularly silent, and sat still, trying to save her energy. We hadn't gotten anywhere with ideas yet, but it wasn't for lack of trying. I think we were all a little scared and pressured to think of something fast. We dared not try to call anyone for help, lest they get hurt themselves, or get caught up in things with us. There was no way we'd call in the police! Not with all this "borrowed" equipment around.

We had been silent for the past few minutes, still debating our options in our heads as we sat silently eating. Joan let out a short mocking laugh to herself.

"What's so funny?" Jack asked, giving her a slightly annoyed expression, mainly cause everyone had shot his suggestions down the fastest.

"Nothing... I just thought of something funny that's all. Ironic really. I mean what's the point of fixing me up and giving me new limbs if I'm only going to be playing the part of a posable doll in a few hours?"

"Hang on..." I said, my mind working overtime. "I just thought of something too!"

"I hope it doesn't involve using me as a coat rack" Joan said depressed.

"No! Look" I said, getting up from my chair to think while pacing. "This morning, I heard you laughing, which is why I peaked in your door. Then Tera came into the room at just the right time. It wasn't a coincidence, because you two planned it out, right?"

"Yeah. And?" Joan was sounding more like Jen in her depressed state.

"And... How did you two plan anything out at all? Tera only just woke up in that room for the first time while I was with her. She had no time to meet with you to plan anything."

"I sent her a message... like an instant message or a text, but it works just between Evelyn models" Tera clarified.

"I figured it had to be something like that" I said. "You sent a text to my phone from your mind before, and you can communicate with your sister that way too!" She nodded, trying to see where I was going with this. "Didn't you also panic just BEFORE the lights went out?"

"Umm... I guess so. I wouldn't call it panicing-"

"No, you were in a panic alright" Joan confirmed. Tera stuck her tongue out at her in response.

"The point is, you somehow knew 261 was nearby, right?" I asked.

"Well of course! How do you the I recognized Joan in that ridiculous outfit she had on? I sensed her presence" Tera clarified as though it were obvious.

"How?"

"How what?" she asked.

"How do you sense your sister's presence?" I was persistent.

"I... hmm... I guess I recognized her local area network ID. When she walked close enough to us, I recognized her wireless ID, and knew it was her. Same thing this morning." Tera explained, still trying to figure out how this could help us.

"So if you are close enough, you can sense her presence on a network, and you can send her a message too, right?"

"Yeah, but I'd have to get awfully close for something like that... I mean far closer than a gun shot. I never once felt 261's presence when she-"

"Hang on!" Jack butted in, "If you can send a text, maybe you can send something else... Like a virus! Or something to distract her."

"Maybe, but I'd need to get really close-"

"You're not putting a virus in my girlfriend!" I objected. I noticed after the fact that I called Tera my girlfriend, and I wasn't the only one to notice. She started to blush when I glanced at her. "I was thinking something more like sending her a false command, or maybe try to trick her."

"That would never work" Joan explained calmly. "She's not likely to follow a command without the proper authorization code, and if something confused her for too long, she'd default to her last understood program."

That did pose a problem. My idea wasn't going to work, but Jack was relentless.

"Trust me, this will work... I hope" Jack reassured.

"You hope?! This is't a game Jack!" I snapped. "I don't want you to hurt Tera with some computer virus-"

"Let me try" Tera interuppted, giving me a serious look. "I want to try this. It might be the only way. Besides, we are running out of time and options."

I stared back into her eyes, and saw her determination and kindness. They say that eyes are the windows to the soul. As I stared into her deep blue eyes, I found a scared girl who had no place in the world fighting to have some small corner of it she could share with her family and friends. I couldn't possibly turn her down.

"Ah... Alright. How will this work?" I asked.

"Simple! I put a virus into your girl here-" Jack began.

"Stop right there. There must be a better way, a safer way" I objected.

"She'd never get close enough to use it" Joan exclaimed. "261 would shoot her long before she got close enough to detect her."

That put a damper in Jack's idea. We were back to a brainstorming session as we were before. It felt like square one all over again except for one nagging thought. I tried to ignore it, but it decided it needed to be heard, and eventually, I allowed it to speak its voice in my mind.

"If we can't get you close enough to detect her signal... then just extend yours!" I wasn't really sure how to do this, but it was the only thing I could think of at the time.

"That would take major modification work" Tom pointed out.

"Not to mention power to run the signal boost" Cynthia added.

"Brilliant!" Jack said excitedly when he heard my variation of his idea. "It would work all around! Instead of Tera sending the virus, I do it... with my laptop! It has the latest Wifi/5G cards and can easily reach all the way across the city for any signal we are looking for without a huge power boost."

"The forest has Wifi?" I asked.

"There is no forest" Jack replied. "Not according to the state. It's a park, and all state parks have been hooked up for Wifi since 2015."

"But how would we know what to look for?" Jen asked.

"I... I can do it!" Tera beamed at me when she realized our plan was coming togehter, and she was integral in it. "If I control the computer though my data port... sure it will use up more of my power, but I'll easily pinpoint her, and can then send the virus. Do you have a virus to send?"

"I got the perfect one in mind" Jack pointed out.

"Why do you have a virus in your computer?" Joan asked.

"I use them to topple giant corporations... or governments... or those annoying websites about that pop star I hate" Jack joked. "I build virus to hack networks of course."

"But I don't want to hurt her... permenently" Tera said. My God, she was too kind! She was almost killed by this woman, I was almost killed by her, and she has been stalking us for the last few days! I would have gladly fried her brain by now if I had the chance. But... that was actually something I really liked about Tera, she couldn't bring herself to hurt her sister. She might have been niave, but it was endearing.

"No, no, of course not. The virus I got in mind is all about distraction. I doubt my viruses could do much more than distract her anyways. I'm not really a destruction type of guy. I prefer to get in, cause a distraction, take what I need, and get out."

"So what? This is a decoy?" I asked.

"Like none you've ever seen before" he explained. "It sends garbage data in the guise of a simple... well a text message in this case... and keeps upping the data flow, bogging down her systems until she can't move."

"So it will paralyze her?" Tera asked.

"Kind of. It just slows her down till she can't deal with the data flow anymore and has to dedicate more and more of her resources to stopping it."

"So... what if she stops it?" Jen asked.

"Given the specs of the Evelyn model brain she is using, I estimate it will take at least 10 minutes for her to block the program and delete the data flow. It should only take about 10 seconds for it to start... but there's no way to tell if it will work." Jack explained.

"Not until she starts shooting at us" Joan added. The room got quiet again, perhaps it was just nervousness.

"What if the virus spreads to Tera?" I asked interrupting the silence.

"The virus never needs to be in her. The program is self-terminating to avoid leaving a trial, so Tera can't catch it from her sister. She can send it straight from the computer, and as soon as her sister acknowledges the incoming message. Pop! Bob's your uncle! Our little sniper friend will be a drooling nincompoop for 10 minutes, enough time for us to..."

"Do you think we can find her and catch her that fast?" Jen asked.

"Danny and I can, assuming Tera can locate her" Joan explained.

"But I'll need to guide you. I might be fast and light on my feet, but I can't run as fast as you" Tera said. "You'll need me to come along."

"I'll carry you" I said. "With my Exo suit, it should be no problem carrying you while running at near full speed. You can guide us as we run."

"You'll need more than just you 2 to overpower her if she comes to her senses" Tom said. "I'll come along too. Jack?" Jack nodded.

"Me too!" Jen spat. "I can be useful. I can keep up with Tom and Jack."

"It's settled then" I said. "Jack will set up the virus on his computer, and Tera will use its wider signal to locate her sister, and install the virus. Joan and I will carry Tera to 261's hiding place, and then Tera can do the same thing she did to Joan to overpower her while Tom, Jack, and Jen follow behind in case we need help."

"I don't think I can do that" Tera said shyly.

"What do you mean? I have confidence in you" I started saying.

"No... I mean I don't have the power to overpower 261 for that long. It takes a lot of effort to do that... I couldn't possibly hold her for more than half an hour, and then what?"

That was a problem. We needed to do something once we got there. Tera refused to let us hurt her sister, so that meant we had to disable her without 'killing' her.

"Remove her limbs" Joan said. "Like you did to me. That would disable her."

"I guess I can do that" Tera said. "Alright! Let's do it!"

"You realize if this fails," Joan said, "I'll be out of power. I'll use up a good amount just on the run there. If we can't stop her... I'll need to steal power from something".

"You'll be fine" I said. "I'll be there with you. I won't let that happen. We'll bring a charger with us just in case." She nodded, still sitting looking solemnly at the mostly empty plates on the table.

"I'll stay here" Cynthia said. "There's not much I can do running through the woods, but at least I can stay here to make sure she doesn't come snooping around here in case our plan fails."

"Alright. Let's get ready. The sooner the better!" I said, standing up from the table. "I'll go get my suit on, everyone get ready and we'll start in 10 minutes."

We all stood up and nervously started cleaning up and getting ready. I put on my suit, while everyone else got ready. Jack and Jen packed up essentials, just in case we needed to run again I suppose. Tera grabbed a charger, and actually meditated for a few minutes, to prepare herself for the task at hand. It was kind of neat to see her meditating like that, mimicking a yoga position on the floor. Everyone was busy doing something, except Joan. She just sat there, silent and still. She looked like she was brooding.

"Everything ok?" I asked her, getting the last parts of my suit connected. I left off the Kevlar armor this time, not just for speed, but mainly cause the damaged armor poked me in my bruises and hurt. I'd have to replace it but Kevlar was not cheap.

"Yeah" she said in a suprisingly positive tone. "I'm fine. There isn't anything for me to do before we start, so I am just going to conserve my energy as much as I can."

"Well you look so gloomy over here by yourself. You could at least smile" I suggested.

"Oh. Sorry Danny. I guess I'm nervous. Not much to smile about when I risk getting shot or loosing power in the middle of the woods" Joan said. She was clearly a little depressed, but I was sure it would pass if we managed to succeed.

"There's lots to smile about. You are together with your parents and your baby sister again" I said, and that made her smile. "Plus you now have a master who goes out of his way to cheer you up. Not to mention all the good sex." She giggled and looked up at me with a genuine smile.

"You're right. Things have gotten better since I met you, despite all the injuries. It's been worth it. But the sex wasn't that good" she joked.

"Ah! What do you mean? I heard you in the throws of passion" I said with a playful shocked tone.

"It was amazing!" she said with an expression of adoration.

"Was it to die for?" I asked. She laughed much louder this time.

"Yeah. Literally in this case. Thanks. I needed that" she said, and she leaned her head onto my arm for a moment.

A few minutes later, everyone had gathered in the front room again, and this time, we were ready to fight back. Jack sat at the table with his laptop out, prepared to begin. Joan finally stood up, stretched, and approached the door, ready to take action.

"I'm not one for pep-talks" I said. "Go team?" It got a chuckle at least.

"Tera? Whenever you're ready" Jack said.

Tera sat nervously across from Jack, and plugged a cable from his laptop into the back of her neck. Breathing slowly with her eyes closed, she took control of his laptop, and the search began.

I expected this part to take longer, maybe 5 minutes or more, but about 1 minute after she began she already had a result.

"Found her! She's about a mile away... taking note of her location. Got it. Preparing to send message. Processing. Processing."

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No. It's just taking a while to send the file. She's filtering her incoming messages, so I'm trying to work around it- ah!" I grabbed her shoulder, ready to yank out the cable if I needed to.

"What is it?"

"Nothing. It worked. She took it." Tera opened her eyes and smiled. I relaxed as she pulled the cable from her neck and stood up.

"10, 9, 8..." Joan began to chant under her breath. "... 3, 2, 1. That should do it."

"Is it safe?" Jen asked.

"Only one way to find out. Stay here and I'll signal when to go" Joan replied. She opened the door, and nervously took one step out, followed by another. She walked slowly out until she had passed the cars, and was in clear view of any potential sniper position. She looked around and listened, using her keen senses, and then looked back to us.

"Ok, hop on" I told Tera who stood close behind me.

"Oh. Right." She hopped onto my back, literally, in a piggy-back position, and held on tight. My suit was fully active, so as soon as Joan waved, we were off like a rocket. I easily caught up to Joan, just as we passed through the clearing and made it into the woods. No gunshot had gone off, Tera was unharmed, and we were now behind the cover of trees. Her grip around my chest lessened, and she relaxed, allowing herself to be carried almost like I was her horse.

I glanced behind when we made it into the woods, and the others had already started running together in a group, following us. Jack was using his cell phone to track us, to make sure they didn't lose us in the park.

"That way" Tera pointed to my left, and Joan and I took off. We kept up with each other fairly well, finding trails where we could to go faster, and cutting through the woods at other times for shortcuts. It was always harder to run in the the brush, and Tera had to keep her head down to avoid getting hit in the face by a branch. She seemed to really enjoy the ride, and I had to admit I was enjoying the soft warmth of her body against me.

After a few minutes, and several navigation changes by Tera, we arrived at a peculiar sight. A Japanese model motorcycle lay proped against a tree deep in the woods. Someone had deliberately covered it in leaves and branches to hide it, and it would have worked if Joan didn't spot it.

"Time?' I whispered.

"2 minutes 35" Joan replied in a hushed tone.

"She must be close. Tera?"

Tera got off my back, and pointed a little ways farther into the woods, this time taking the lead walking. As we got closer to our destination, we heard someone ahead of us.

"Goddamn mother fucker! What the hell... fuck!" It was rather vulgar language for a young lady, and we knew we had found our target.

We silently approached an outcropping of rock on the side of a hill. Looking out, we could clearly see the lab and the cars in the distance, her position was perfect. On the large rock was a girl, dressed in dark camo gear complete with a cap, a form-fitting jacket, matching outdoorsman pants tucked into heavy-duty black boots, and large sniper rifle at her side. For some reason, she also had a tall and thick black leather collar with a buckle around her neck. She sat on the rock holding her head as though she were suffering from the largest migrane you could imagine. Her pretty face was painted in camouflage and was clenched up tight, and her black hair was short, and hidden mostly by her cap. Besides the gun laying next to her, there was a camo bag behind her, filled with who knows what.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" she exclaimed, holding her head with both hands as though she were trying to crush her brain. "What the hell is this?"

Joan and I glanced at each other, but Tera just covered her mouth in shock. "She's never spoken like that before" she whispered.

"She's not the only one" Joan murmured but I don't think Tera heard. I did though, I knew she was talking about the other morning when I got Tera to talk dirty during sex, which Joan had easily overheard. "90 seconds" she whispered louder.

"Stay here Tera" I commanded. "When we subdue her, run out, ok?" She nodded, and Joan and I positioned ourselves. I took a position on the rocks above her, ready to jump down, while Joan moved in closer to her side, and looked up at me. Just before she gave the ready signal, 261 gasped, let go of her head, and leaned over on all fours on the rock, catching her breath.

Looks like she managed to fight it off faster then Jack predicted, but it was only an estimate. She looked up toward the lab and started to laugh between her breaths.

"Is... ha ha... is that all you got?' she said. "IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?" she repeated at the top of her lungs, getting to her knees as she yelled out. I nodded to Joan, who nodded back and ran out from her hiding place.

I must have made more noise as I jumped down onto her from 12 feet up. As I was falling in the air, 261 turned around and looked up at me with horror in her face. I landed directly on her, and pushed her to the groud with a loud "Oof!". Joan caught up half a second later, and the struggle began.

Joan was designed for close quarters combat, so she had the advantage against her sister, but her run through the forest exhausted her and she was running low on power, so she was not using her full strength or speed anymore. I had to compensate, but holding down this girl was far more of a challenge than I anticipated.

"What the fuck!? Get off of me!" She yelled and fought, kicking, squimring, scratching, and biting. She was fighting back dirty and I couldn't help but get a little more rough with her than I wanted Tera to see me get. Eventually, Joan and I got her to her back, and pinned her to the ground. Joan was holding her down in a highly skilled fashion, practically sitting on top of her with her arms and legs holding her sister down in what looked like a wreslting move. Meanwhile I struggled with her hands, keeping them from scratching and pulling at us, holding them above her head. I was far less graceful than Joan had been.

261 stared up at Joan, snarling and struggling against her. As soon as she looked up at me though, she got worse. With her held down, she couldn't do much, but she started spitting at me and screaming. "I fucking HATE YOU! DIE already you damn PIG! You fucking MAN!"

She kicked hard, and knocked Joan off, and was seconds away from getting out of my grasp as well, when suddenly Tom and Jack jumped at her. "Let's try this again mate" Jack said as she pushed her to the ground again.

This time, with 3 men, and one super strong (although tired) gynoid holding her down, 261 was pinned and defenseless. That didn't stop her from spitting and cursing and biting at us. The whole time, she screamed and yelled at Tom, Jack, and Me, and almost ignored her sister. Each of us concentrated on holding down one of her limbs and that corner of her body. Jen and Tera emerged from the woods a second later, and quickly rushed over to help.

"Danny" Joan whispered, "I'm down to 12%." I nodded, and knew she wouldn't have enough to run all the way back to the lab, but there was little else I could do.

261 didn't seem to notice any of this, and continued to curse at us. "You took her from us you fucking monster! I'll rip your spine out!" I bet she could too if she wasn't pinned down.

Jen helped Joan and I, who were holding down her arms, lift 261 up enough to let Tera get to her neck. Tera pulled out a cable from her neck, and prepred to connect it to her sister when she ran into a problem.

"Her collar's in the way!" She tried to move it up or down to get around it, but it was just too stiff and tall and thick (that's what she said?) to let her get around it.

"There's a buckle on the front" Joan struggled to say under her breath.

Tera started fidgetting with the tight fitting buckle, but 261 kept biting at her, and Tera couldn't get it off.

"Here, let me try" I said. Jen switched with me, and I grabbed 261's chin and lifted it up, while Tera and I struggled at undoing her collar's buckle. It took a minute, but we got it far enough now that we just had to pull it tight to undo it, and it would fall off. That's when 261 stopped fighting and started begging.

"No. Don't do that! Please! Don't touch it!" She sounded panicked, but there wasn't any choice. We had to do something, and I wasn't about to trust her to start behaving just cause she was begging now.

We pulled the collar tight, and loosened the hook, allowing it to fall off her neck. As the strap came loose, however, a piercing loud sound errupted from the collar.

"Holy shit, what is that?" Jen yelled over the noise.

"No! NO! Put it back!" 261 yelled out, struggling against us again.

The collar didn't fall as it came away from her neck, instead it dangled from a cord hidden inside the back of the collar that was attached to her data port. It was't merely attached to her port either, it was soldered into place. Someone wanted to make sure it wouldn't come loose.

I grabbed at the collar, and prepared to yank it out when the alarm suddenly stopped, and was instead replaced by a loud POP!

A jolt of electricity shot into 261 through her data part, and she went wild with convulsions. Her green eyes shot open wide, and sparks flew out from the back of her neck. I yanked hard, and ripped the collar off of her neck, snappng the wire it was attached to.

261 lay there, eyes staring blanky open, stained with tears. Her mouth was frozen in an expression of agony, and her body no longer fought back at all. The distinct smell of fried circuits filled my nostrils, and smoke started to rise from her neck. The collar had sent a jolt of electricty into her system, and terminated her.

Tera held her hands to her eyes and sobbed, occaisionally peaking out from between her fingers. Everyone else got off of her body, while Joan held her shoulders, lowering her to the ground, her own eyes filling with tears.

Tom placed his fingers on her neck, and felt for a pulse. Just as he did, 261 gasped for air. It was shallow and fast, but she wasn't competely dead yet. Tera jumped back, but then approached to see if she was alright. She wasn't. She didn't respond to anything they did. She just lay there, unresponsive, lungs breathing and heart beating, but nothing else.

"Joan" I said. "There was a motorcycle up there. Do you think you can ride it back down and get yourself charged in the SUV?"

She looked up at me as though I were talking another language, before finaly wiping away her tears and nodding. She walked up the hill out of my vision. A few seconds later, the bike started up, and drove off.

"We have to get her back to the lab. There must be something we can do" Tom said.

"I'll carry her" I suggested. He nodded, and I lifted 261 into my arms. Tera helped me get her positioned easier to carry, since it is easy to carry a relaxed human body, but not a stiff one. Jack and Jen stayed behind to scour the site for anything she may have left, while Tom, Tera, and I returned with 261, walking through the woods.

By the time we got back, it was starting to get dark out. The motorcycle was laying in the grass near the SUV, and Joan was inside, plugged into the outlet with the engine running. She was breathing heavily, and had been crying, but once she saw us, she dried off her tears, and put on her tough face again.

"How are you doing?" I asked her.

She cleared her throat. "I'm alright. I'll survive. I got back just in time. How's...?"

I looked at 261 in my arms. "No change. Tom's going to look at her inside."

"Without power?"

"I... I don't know" I answered.

Joan unplugged herself and came over from the truck. "Use me. I mean... my power. I can power his tools."

"Joan. How much battery do you have?"

"I'm up to 50%." she answered.

"Don't lie to me Joan" I said crossly.

She took a small step back and lowered her head. "30%"

"I'll do it" Tera answered.

"How are you holding up?" I asked.

"Almost 60%."

Tom nodded, and the 3 of us went back into the building, leaving Joan alone in the SUV to finish charging. I couldn't help but feel like I had been too harsh on her, and she looked like she was really hurting inside.

Cynthia waited for us at the door, and ran out when she saw me carrying 261.

"What happened?"

"Didn't Joan tell you" Tera asked.

"She just grabbed the keys to the SUV and has been sulking out there ever since. She never said a word."

Tom held up the collar. "They used this to fry her system. Like getting struck by lightning."

Cynthia had the same reation Tera had, covering her mouth in shock, before she rushed us inside. We cleared off a space on the table, and laid her down on it. It was the first time I got a decent look at her, but since it was already getting dark out, we had to use flashlights and the lights from the SUV to see.

Tom disappeared into the lab, while Cynthia and Tera talked. Tera told her all about what happened, and they hugged a mother-daughter embrace. I took the time to study 261 a little more.

261 was smaller than either Joan or Tera, with a much more petite figure. She was thin, with short black hair in a bob cut. Her nose was perfectly sloped with a cute rounded tip, rather like Tera's, but her green eyes were more like Joan's in their shape. She had a lean look, an angular face that held a kind of natural mystique to it, but was cute enough to be the girl next door type. The only thing that was off putting was the camouflage makeup she wore that covered her face.

Her body was still dressed in the camo jacket and pants, with the black boots, which looked good on her in a militaristic way. I decided that since we were going to be working on here, I should probably take off her jacket to get better access to her. I unbuttoned her jacket to find that she was wearing an olive green crop top shirt beneath, revealing copious amounts of her midriff. She had no bra. Her breasts were smaller than Tera's, but still very feminine and shapely. I noticed now for the first time that she had a similar structure to Joan. Her skin showed faint seams outlining her access panels. As with Joan they are easily overlooked, and blend in to the rest of her skin, but they were still there. She also wore a rather thick black belt, that looked like one you'd wear for holding magazine cartridges, except the many large pockets didn't open.

Tom emerged carrying some parts, some tools, and wheeling in a somewhat portable mointoring station. He looked tired, and worried, but started setting up to see what he could do. We turned on some more portable lamps, but it was still rather dim, and would only get darker as the sun went down. Still, Tom was eager enough to start, but things did not look good.

Tera and I took off 261's jacket the rest of the way, and sat her in a chair so Tom could work on her neck. Tera sat down next to them, and lifted up the back of her shirt, allowing Tom to plug in some of the tools. He used an adapter to do it, but I hadn't seen that type before. Nonetheless, he started working in silence Tera holding up a flashlight to help him see better, while Cynthia and I waited. I noticed now that at the base of 261's back was a cable connected to the belt she wore. It occurred to me it was a battery pack belt, which probably allowed her to operate for many days at a time.

Tera looked exhausted, and the tools used up more of her power but she never complained. I worried for her. As soon as Tom started using the laser cutter, she started straining herself, as though all her energy was being quickly drawn from her.

A short time later, Jen and Jack returned, carrying whatever things they could find that were left. It wasn't much, but included her bag, her helmet, a blanket, and some rations. Shortly after they came in, Joan followed, having fully charging herself in the truck. After seeing what was going on, she disconnected the battery to Tom's car and hooked it up to the portable monitoring station. Unfortunately, he still used Tera to power the tools, and the monitor went all but unused. It was already dark, and Cynthia had prepared another meal, but Tom refused any food, and spoke little, working by himself with only Tera assisting.

Tera almost collapsed when I told Tom he had to stop. He had been working non-stop for hours, and Tera was about out of juice. She had started quietly asking him to stop, but he just ignored her, telling her to hold the light steady. I was under the impression that he was not always as nice as he had been, and I was nervous that he was relapsing into a darker side of his personality.

Tom looked up sharply and angrily at me. Tera's pleas to ask him to stop had been completely ignored, and he still refused to listen. I forcefully grabbed the tool from Tom, and disconnected it from Tera, who instantly seemed relieved. Tom was not so happy.

"What the hell? What gives you the right to touch my things?"

"What gives you the right to hurt mine?" I retorted

"Oh! So she's a thing to you now is she?" he shot back, face turning red.

"No! But you can't just ignore everyone around you, as you work on a hopeless cause!" I replied in a lowered tone, but still a firece one.

"I'm trying to save her life!" he said lifting his voice.

"By sucking it out of your youngest daughter!?"

He hesitated and glanced at Tera who was visibly exhausted, before he went into a furious outburst, and threw one of the tools across the room and shattered a window. He stormed outside, and started walking down the road.

I had never seen this side of him before, and I hoped to never see it again. Cynthia was completely embarrassed by it, and Joan stayed quiet and out of the way. Tera was shocked, and cried into my arms, not sure what just happened.

"I'm sorry you all had to see that" Cynthia said finally. "He sometimes has his bad days. He's never been abusive! Just... angry and loud."

"As long as everyone is alright" I replied. "Come on Tera, you're about to faint. Lets get you charged up." I helped Tera to her feet and walked her toward the door.

"Goddamn it!" Jack said, and walked out of the room toward the labs with a flashlight.

"Jack?" Jen said, and followed him.

"The car is low on fuel" Joan said and got up to join us. "We can stop at a station to fuel up while you charge."

The day had started off so well, but somehow it ended up like this. We were all getting stressed out, but at least we no longer had to worry about a sniper stalking us. Instead, we had to worry about what to do next, where Tom had gone off to, and what to do with 261's almost lifeless body.

Chapter 22 - We all scream for...

Tera and I hopped into the back of the SUV while Joan took the driver's seat, leaving Cynthia, Jack, and Jen alone in the lab. Unit 261 remained almost as lifeless as a doll sitting at the kitchen table, and Tom, the only one with any hope of fixing her, had stormed out after I got in an argument with him. This evening was turning out to be a pretty messed up one, and I had to wonder if life would ever return to normal.

I thought about how determined Tom was, almost driving his own 'daughter' to the point of exhaustion, as I plugged Tera into the SUV through a charger port. She was very low on power, and had been dealing with a lot lately. I opted to sit in the back with her to keep her company, and make sure she was going to be ok. Her emotions were on edge, and she was struggling to keep them in check. As natural as this reaction felt, I reminded myself that this girl was nothing more than a robot, a sum of electronic parts. But no, she was something far greater than that.

We never saw Tom along the road as we drove down the street toward a fuel station. While we were technically on the outskirts of town, there were still plenty of bars and fuel stations around the place. I had never been to this part of town, and watched out the window in silence as we drove.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Tera after a few minutes, while Joan concentrated on the road ahead.

"Drained, but getting better" she answered. "A little overwhelmed I guess."

"I know what you mean. There have been so many changes these past few days."

"I feel like I'm drowning. I try to catch a breath when another wave hits me" she said looking down at the floor. "You've been the only breath of fresh air I've had." She was silent for a moment, and looked out the window. "I've never seen dad act that way before. It's confusing. He's always been so kind, so gentle. Do you think he's mad at me?"

"No! He spent all night trying to save you. He's passionate, but frustrated. He..." I thought about it for a moment. What was it like to be in Tom's shoes? He was guided by passion, and this ordeal left him frustrated, and blinded by hatred for what they did to his daughters. He was stubborn, and lost track of himself. It wasn't a pretty thing, but he was bound to regret it. "He loves you and your sisters very much. That's why he got so upset. He was unable to help her, and lost sight of himself."

"He scared me, more than I thought he could" she said. "But you're right. He is passionate, and I guess he got stressed out too."

Joan pulled into a newer, nicer station and silently got out. Of course, she had to turn off the truck, which left Tera without any charge but she didn't complain. She hated to complain. But something really was eating her up, and I knew she needed to talk about it.

"I lost my sister today" Tera said, more tears filling her eyes. You'd think by now she would have run out, but I guess not. "I... killed her."

"You did no such thing! I was there pulling at that collar with you."

"We killed her then" she snapped.

"Liberati killed her. And who said she was dead?"

"You saw her. You called her a lost cause." That shut me up. I really didn't mean to upset her, but now I did.

"I... I didn't mean... She's not gone yet. Tom just got me angry. She'll be alright" I explained.

"Do you... Do you really think she'll be alright?" she asked with hope in her voice.

"Yeah. We'll figure something out. I'm sure she'll be fine" I lied. I hated lying to her, but I knew her sister was toast.

Tera leaned up against me. "Thanks. I hope you're right." A silent moment passed and Tera asked another question. "Danny, what am I?"

I wasn't expecting a deep philosophical quandary, and it caught me off guard. "Uh.. umm.. well, you're uhhh... a highly advanced artificial- no.... manufactured life-form..."

"Life-form? You really think so?"

"Yeah, sure, why not?" I replied. "You're more complex than most animals, more emotional than most humans, and smarter than half of us too."

She laughed, which felt good to hear. "Thanks. But what I meant was 'What am I to you?'."

"To me? What do you mean?"

"You called me your girlfriend earlier..." she said without blushing, but almost disappointed. She had a keen eye for details, and I only mentioned it in passing. I didn't even realize I said it until after the fact. "Then later you called me your 'stuff'. So what exactly am I?"

"I'm sorry Tera, truly sorry. I never meant to imply you were an object. I mean in one way you are, but you are so much more than that. I mean... I... geez. What I mean to say is you are no more an object than I am. I was just getting mad at Tom and I didn't mean to say that. Besides, none of my 'stuff' can feel emotions."

"And you think I can?"

"Tera, I know you can" I said giving her a smile. She blushed shyly as a response. Damn she was adorable.

"So... I'm not just 'your stuff'. Then what does that make me? What does that make us?"

I guess I didn't have a choice anymore. It hadn't even been a week since she entered my life, but I was more concerned for her well-being than anyone else. I had to admit it, I was falling for her. A robot girl. Sure, why not?

I took a deep breath before I plunged into the question. "Tera, we've only known each other for what? 4 days?"

"5" she answered.

"Really? Time flies. We've known each other for 5 days then, and yet so many things have happened. I've felt as though I've known you for years, and yet we really only just met."

"You too? I... feel like you've always been there for me, even before I met you.' she said.

"Tera, I've never known someone like you before. And I would be honored to... I mean, I guess what I'm saying is I've never really been this close to someone like I have with you, so I'd love- I mean I'd like it if we could... you know." Why the hell was I so nervous?

"Yeah?" she said, her eyes getting big as she looked at me with bated anticipation. I took one last deep breath.

"Would you like to go out with me?" I asked.

"Go out? But we are out" she answered puzzled. Damn she was cute.

"No, I mean like, go steady."

"Steady? Is the car shaking?" she continued, looking around as though she were missing something. I wasn't sure if she was playing or not at this point.

"A date? Would you like to go on a date?"

"I don't know the date, I don't have a watch." Was she for real?

"Tera! Would you like to be my girlfriend?" I spurted out. She stopped being silly with me, and just beamed from ear to ear.

"Of course, Danny! Yes of course, I'd love that! There's nothing I've ever wanted more in my whole life! Oh, I've been dying for you to ask Danny! I'm so happy!" She radiated happiness as she bounced up and down, shaking the truck from side to side. I had to wonder what the other customers would say, but what did I care. I officially had a girlfriend again, a hot one too. She embraced me for a long passionate kiss, which felt like it lasted for at least a minute.

"Well, you definitely seem excited" I said after breaking our passionate first kiss as an official couple, getting a breath of air.

She giggled some more and laid her head against my chest, hearing my heart beat. "I've guess I've been feeling... I don't know. It feels like my emotions have been getting the better of me a lot more recently, more than they used to."

Joan was still fidgeting with the pump outside, Tera and I took no notice of her, although I did hear some muffled talking in the background.

"Yesterday..." Tera began, leaning her whole body into mine, "I... Well I want to apologize for running after you like that when I saw you fall."

"It's alright. I forgive you. But next time I'm ordering you a Kevlar vest too."

She smiled at my remark, and put her hand on my arm, gently caressing me. "I wasn't thinking" she started.

"Of course you were" I replied quickly. "You just didn't think about yourself. That's one of the things I like about you."

She blushed crimson at my remark and smiled quietly to herself. "I was sure I lost you. I thought about you all night, I don't even remember how we got to the lab. All I could think about was that you were taken away from me, and I was alone. I kept seeing the same scene over and over in my dreams, where you get shot and hit the ground. I..."

"Now you don't have to have those nightmares anymore. I'm right here for you" I said, but something was bugging me. "wait... You said last night?" She nodded looking up at me. "But weren't you were in hibernation mode? You shouldn't have been able to see, or think, or feel anything."

"I..." she thought about it for a few seconds when Joan interrupted, opening the back door.

"Sorry to interrupt, but it appears I need to pay inside first. I've... never filled a car before. Sorry."

"Oh, um..." I said, looking back at Tera. "Let me help you out with that." Tera gave me a nod of approval, and I got up to help Joan with the pump. "I'll be right back, you want anything from inside? Soda or something?"

"Sure" Tera said. "Something sugary."

She gave me a smile that was becoming her signature look as I closed the door to help Joan. We walked into the convenience store attached to the station, which honestly looked twice as large on the inside than it id on the outside. It was full of all the staples of any college kid, soda, candy, beer, energy drinks, and cheap crap designed to collect dust or break after 5 minutes of use.

I couldn't help but notice how lean and sexy Joan looked walking with her confident gait and sexy hips. The jeans she wore hugged her body tightly, but the black tank top, as sexy as it was, was getting some unwanted looks from people. Her metallic left arm was plainly visible, even put on display for all to see and gawk at. There was no telling what people would think of her arm.

I quickly grabbed 2 Cokes from the soda fridge, and Joan followed, grabbing a Dr Pepper for herself. I glanced around as people kept eyeing her.

"So you two finally made it official, huh?" Joan said.

"What are you talking about" I said with a smile I couldn't hide. She returned a sly smile and a wink.

"I have better hearing than you, remember. Just make sure you treat her right. I have a nasty left hook."

"I know... I remember" I replied, thinking back to the confrontation we had with her in the parking lot at Jen's work.

"Oh... sorry about that. I didn't mean to..."

"Don't worry. I forgave you already. I'm just teasing" I replied. Her expression relaxed and she smiled again.

We got in the short line at the counter to pay for the fuel and the drinks, with every eye in the store looking at us, when Joan got up next to my ear and whispered.

"So what does that makes us then?"

"Wha- What do you mean?" I asked in a low voice.

She looked away from me but continued to talk. "I mean, you saved me just like you did her. You made love to me too. But... I mean I'm not bound to you, but I am still yours."

"Oh..." I said in a lower voice, looking around. No one overheard us. "Well... lets say friends."

"Friends don't fuck" she replied.

"Friends with benefits?" I suggested.

"Friend with benefits... I think I can live with that. But I'm not just your friend am I?"

"I'm not sure where you're going with this..." I whispered.

"I mean, I'm not the girl next door. I'm yours. I belong to you. I'm your property, your gynoid. So, I should have a role as one, shouldn't I?"

I thought about it. She did have a point. While she was good for sex, I never sought it from her freely like I did with Tera. Tera's role in my life was as my girlfriend. Even when she was just a gynoid, even before we were bound, she was always there as a love interest to me. That was her role, and she was good at it. But Joan wasn't really a love interest. She was a fighter, a defender, a guardian. She enjoyed sex, sure, she even craved it, but she wasn't a love interest. I didn't think I was one to her ether, at least I never really picked up on anything or asked her about it. What was her role to me as my property?

Just then, as I pondered this, we got to the cashier and made our transaction. I had no idea how much it would take to fill an SUV, being notorious for poor miles per gallon and huge tanks, so I put double what I normally pay for my car down (which hurt my wallet) and walked out to fill up the truck. The cashier seemed nervous to me, and several people hovered around, as though they were expecting something. She must have noticed, but we just ignored them, went about our business, and left.

"That was weird" Joan said. "What's up with them?"

"I think it's your arm. Kind of a dead give away that you aren't just human. Maybe they see it as a show of force? I don't know. Let's just get our fuel and go."

She looked at her reflective left arm and sighed. I thought it looked cool on her, but maybe not everyone agrees with me. "So what about it?" she asked, catching up to me.

"About what?"

"My role as your personal gynoid."

"I don't know if I like thinking of you as my property" I said. "I mean... you are a girl, and I just hate the idea of treating a girl like an object."

"But I AM an object" she replied swiftly. This was quite the opposite view than Tera, who was concerned with being classified as part of my 'stuff'.

"You're more than just an object Joan. You have feeling, emotions, personality, likes and dislikes. I mean, why chose a Dr Pepper over a Coke?"

"Because I like Dr Pepper" she answered.

"Exactly. You like it. A toaster doesn't like bread. It's just a toaster. You are more than just an object" I retorted.

"Okay. You're right. I am more than just a tool or a toy. But I still need a role. Something to help me define who I am. A friend is great and all... with benefits is even better... but it isn't enough."

"So what you're saying isn't that you want to be an object, but that you just want to fit in" I suggested as we approached the truck.

"Sort of... yeah. I just want to have my place in... well... in our family I guess. Tera is your lover, and while I am your friend, so is Jen and Jack... what makes me different?"

I thought about it for a few moments. "Tell you what... we can define your role based on what you do best. You can be my friend, with benefits, and my body guard."

"Body guard? Yeah, now that I can do" she said nodding to herself. "I can guard you and my little sis. In fact, I'll be in charge of all your security, if that's alright with you."

"Sounds perfect. And even though I am your master now, if you ever do find the right guy, I will support you 100%."

"R- Really? You'd let me date someone else?" she answered shocked, standing still for a moment.

"Sure. I mean, I know you and Tera are fully capable of love, you may even need it, so I won't stand in your way if it does come up."

"I've... never really... thought about it" she said looking at the ground to her left. "Thanks. I really appreciate it."

"Of course. But as long as you are with me, you will still be our security expert. And I promise to always treat you with respect and care, as a friend" I replied.

"With benefits" she answered, and gave me a quick peck on my cheek.

We arrived back at the truck, and I helped Joan get the pump going, showing her how to operate it and finish up, before joining Tera inside again.

"Mmm" Tera said, crinkling her nose as she drank from the bottle. God that made her look cute. I took a swig of mine, and settled in next to her, putting my arm around her petite shoulders.

"I wish we could stay like this forever" she said, leaning into my chest.

"I don't. Imagine having to use the bathroom" I joked. She giggled, and it felt different somehow, more warm. "Besides, I'd rather try a few other positions, if you know what I mean."

"Maybe later, Tiger" she said in her sexy voice. It stirred me up inside. I loved the little playful banter, and kept it up a little longer until Joan finished up, and joined us back in the truck.

"All set. So, where to now? Back to the lab, or do you think you two can keep it in that long?" she joked. We both blushed, and ended up laughing at her joke. It felt good that everyone was in a much better mood now. It was dark out already, so heading back to the lab didn't sound like a bad idea, but Tera needed to charge up some more, and getting away from 261 and all that would keep her in a better mood.

"Let's get dessert" I suggested.

"Dessert?" the girls asked in unison.

"Yeah. I could use a little something more to eat. Plus, I need to thank you two for everything you've done. And besides, you've never had ice cream before have you Tera?"

She shook her head. "Neither have I" Joan replied.

"Really?? You two are missing out! To the ice cream parlor!"

"Hey, I'm your body guard, not your chauffeur" Joan snorted.

"Of course. Please drive us to the ice cream parlor and I'll make it worth your while" I teased.

"Now you're talking" Joan answered, and started up the SUV. She didn't know where there was an ice cream parlor, and honestly neither did I. Luckily, she did have GPS, and looked up the closest one, and got step by step directions to it. If only we all had GPS in our brains.

It was a little ways out, but we finally pulled into a little local parlor, and got out. This time, I made doubly sure Tera tucked her charging cord into her back before she got out. She had a bad habit of forgetting to do that, and Jen wasn't with us to catch it this time.

The place wasn't exactly crawling with people, but there were more here than at the station, and several more children than I thought should be up as late as that. Still, I was no parent, and wasn't about to say anything to them. Tera smiled at the kids who were playing games and enjoying their food, and even waved back to one particularly friendly kid.

Joan took the lead, and the three of us went into the shop, and got in line. Tera was easily distracted by one small child who wanted to show anyone her drawing. Tera opened up instantly, and started playing with the little girl, giggling and smiling all the while. It was really cute, and I didn't want to bother her, so I decided to order for her.

I ordered 3 classic chocolate cones, and proceeded to pay. I took the 3 cones, placed neatly in a paper tray, and turned toward Joan. Without warning, Joan stepped between me and Tera, as though to protect me. Before I even heard the bell on the door ring, I saw a woman step in wearing a black business suit, and dark sunglasses (yes at night). I had never seen her before, but Joan seemed to instantly recognize her.

The woman didn't seem to notice us at first, as though she were coming in for a cone herself, and suddenly paused in her tracks when she saw Joan, and then me. She didn't seem to notice Tera at all, and froze for a second as if caught off-guard. However, she eventually came to her senses, and reached into her jacket for what was probably a weapon.

Everything went into slow motion. Before I could react, the woman pointed her gun right at me with deadly accuracy. Joan adjusted her position, blocking my view somewhat. I worried more for Tera than myself, and saw her move, but Joan's form blocked the movement.

A muffled gunshot went off, thanks to what I assumed was a silencer, and Joan jerked. 'Oh Shit' I thought. I was sure they just shot Joan, and I was next. However, Joan didn't falter, and I managed to get a view of what was going on from under her arm.

The little girl Tera was talking to was being held and covered up by her mother, while Tera faced the mysterious gunman... err... gunwoman. At first I feared she just took a bullet for me, again, but then I realized Tera was holding something up.

The woman's arm was reaching toward the ceiling, pushed there by Tera's hand, who stood defiant before her. The woman, again taken off-guard, dropped her gun, and backed away a step, before running out of the shop. 3 against one were not good odds, and she did the right thing by running.

As soon as the woman was gone, Joan and I ran toward Tera, while everyone else stayed down, terrified by what they assumed was a near robbery. Tera recoiled her hand, holding it to her chest, and bent over, hyperventilating.

"Oh God Tera!" Joan cried as we ran toward her.

"Tera! Are you alright?" I yelled at the same time.

She lifted her head toward us, tears rolling down her cheek, and smiled, still clutching her hand.

"I'm fine. Nothing that won't heal by itself" she said through her pain. I had been ignoring the stream of data she sent to my mind on a regular basis, and only now realized she received a rather minor burn injury to her hand. It was nothing too serious, and would probably heal on its own, but the simulated adrenaline rush was really making her uneasy.

I sat her in a chair while Joan picked up and disarmed the gun. "Let me take a look at that" I said, still holding the ice cream.

She extended her right hand, and I took a look, handing her the tray of cones in her other hand. Her right hand had a dark red mark on two of her fingers, where she was apparently burned by the heat of the gun. It wasn't a bad burn, only first degree (of course assuming her skin would react like human skin, which I started to doubt).

"You got any ice?" I asked the poor lad behind the counter who had to deal with this. He was shaken up, but nodded and grabbed me a cup full of ice, before going back to call the police.

"Here, hold this" I told Tera, handing her an ice cube. She held the ice against her burned skin, and closed her fist.

"Thanks, that's better" she said as she started taking slower deeper breaths.

"We better get out of here... now!" Joan ordered.

"Hey" the boy from behind the counter said. "You can't leave until the cops get here."

"Tell them I'm sorry" I said, and helped Tera up, following Joan out of the shop quickly and into the SUV. Joan was extra cautious, but fast, making sure the woman was gone. She was watching a black car speeding off in the distance, and I only assumed it was the getaway vehicle.

We got in the truck, and drove off. Joan made extra sure she wasn't being followed, while I saw to Tera in the back seat. As I looked closely at her burned fingers, she gently placed her head against mine, leaning over in her seat.

"I am not going to lose you now, not after you finally asked me out" Tera whispered.

"Aren't we already out?" I teased back, relieved to hear her voice, and even more relieved to hear her laugh despite the pain.

"That... was too close for comfort" Joan said. "Maybe next time we won't do ice cream."

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Diane. She works for Liberati, I recognized her. I'm sure she wasn't expecting us here, but she's dangerous. If it wasn't for me, you'd be in serious trouble. She's a grade S cyborg."

"Grade S?" Tera asked.

"It means she has a full mechanical body specialized for military and combat purposes. Had I not been there, and had Tera not taken her off guard, you'd be dead."

I thought about that for a bit, and realized just how close I came to an end. "Thanks for being there for me Joan, you too Tera."

"Of course" Joan said. "I am your body guard"

"And my friend" I added.

"I'd do anything for you Danny" Tera said. "I'm glad I could return the favor and save you this time." She smiled, and wiped away a tear before remembering to plug herself in again.

We drove back to the lab, all of us finally calming down. It took longer to get back than it took to get out there mainly because Joan was avoiding being followed. Tera looked at the tray of ice cream cones, still in her hand, and sniffed at them.

"They don't smell much do they?" she said. "Are they suppose to be eaten cold?"

"Yeah. Here, let me take that" I said and took the tray from her, handing her a cone instead. She leaned back and sniffed it again, looking at me for direction on how to eat it.

I grabbed one from the tray and started licking it, to show Tera how. She shyly stuck out her tongue, and licked the chocolaty goodness curiously; a look of surprise and euphoria filled her face. Even despite her minor injury, she was still enjoying the little things in life to their fullest.

"Oh my goodness... this is... heavenly!" she said as she took a bigger lick of it.

"Careful not to let it drip as it melts" I pointed out. She quickly licked up the drips along the side and off her fingers. "Here you go Joan" I said, handing a cone to her at a stop light. She took it and licked as though she had at least seen other people doing it.

"Wow. This is better than sex!" she exclaimed.

"Really?" I asked, licking at my own.

"No, but it's a close second."

We enjoyed the ice cream on the way back, while I occasionally check Tera's hand. Surprisingly, she was taking the pain well, and her nano-bots were doing a good job of repairing her already. She kept holding the ice cubes, exchanging it from time to time with the bottle of soda.

"So many delicious things" Tera said. "If only there was a way to mix soda and ice cream."

"Heh. Next time I'll have to get you a float" I said.

"A what?"

"A float. It's where you put ice cream in soda. The ice cream floats to the top."

"You're kidding!" she said, looking closer at the cone.

As soon as I got down to the bottom, I started in on the cone, and Tera stared in amazement. "You can eat that!?"

"Eat what?" Joan asked from the front seat.

"He's eating the cone!" Tera said, before trying a bite herself. Joan looked at her mostly finished ice cream and did the same.

"It's not as good as the ice cream, but..." Tera said and took another bite.

I was really enjoying watching Tera experience her first ice cream cone, and only wished it was under better circumstances. "Are you sure you're alright?" I asked her one last time, glancing at her hand. She looked closer at her fingers and turned her hand toward me in a peace sign.

"A-OK!" she replied. I smiled but took a close look at her fingers. The red was dying down, she certainly was a fast healer. I smiled at her and gave her fingers a kiss, making her blush again. Before long, we arrived back at the lab, and pulled in to park at the back. The place was still dark except for the occasional flash of a flashlight in the window.

Tera was still all smiles, as she got out of the truck and finished off the last bite of her cone. I was surprised she didn't get any on her, like I did. She took my hand with her left, and lovingly leaned into me, while Joan led the way back into the darkened lab.

What lay within surprised us. 261 was sitting lifeless on the table while Jen and Cynthia worked furiously on her, with part of 261's head panel opened. They were using tools hooked up to the car battery for Tom's car, which also powered the monitor that Joan dragged in earlier which was now attached and active, and another tool as well which Jack held. Jack sat next to them, working on something else entirely, hunched over deep in concentration. Cynthia looked up at us, and let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank goodness, you're back!" Cynthia said. "We could use some help. Tom isn't back yet, but Jack is convinced he can save 261. He won't explain it, but at this point I'm willing to do whatever it takes."

Jack laughed maniacally to himself and murmured something in science talk. I understood it to be math, but not any math I knew. Tera shot forward, and offered to help wherever she could. Jen and Cynthia gladly accepted her help, as they worked on repairing part of 261's burnt synapse.

Joan went over to help Jack without a word, and started holding up a light for him, as well as offering some advice when she saw what he was doing. I merely looked over everything, trying to see if there was room on the table for me, but there really wasn't any. Too many cooks in the kitchen as they say.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked. For once I was the one being left out. They didn't answer but kept working at a break-neck pace.

I saw that Cynthia and the girls were mainly repairing the connections between different parts of 261's Evelyn brain, and were finishing up the repair Tom had started, by replacing the fried optical connections to her neck. Jack had apparently taken the collar 261 had been wearing, and gutted it. He was currently building from scratch a complex circuit board with various drives and cards attached. He was actually soldering the transistors to the board, as though he were building a computer from scratch.

"Where did you learn to do that?" I asked.

"When I first started out with hacking, I would build my own computers from scratch. I mean from scratch. I got really good at figuring out circuit boards" he answered without looking up from his work.

"What are you making?" I was hoping for an answer, but instead he just giggled like a mad man to himself. Jen shook her head and smiled.

"So... How can I help?" I asked again.

"We could use some more light" Cynthia suggested. "Try aiming the SUV lights toward the window. Oh! See if the generator fuel line can be repaired."

"Um... Sure thing. I'll get right on that" I said backing away slowly. It felt weird not being the one in charge or at least assisting in this type of operation. I was left to do the simple mundane tasks that anyone could do, but I suppose that's what I get for being late to the table.

No one except Tera seemed to notice me back away.  She looked up at me and smiled, nodding, before turning back to try to help them out.  She wasn't knowledgeable or skilled in such advanced electronics, even though she was full of them herself, but she could hold up a light and offer a hand when they needed a simple task done.  She was glad to help, especially if it meant she could save her sister.

I grabbed a flashlight, and headed out. I first decided to turn on the SUV and face it toward the windows to help light up the place. Once I had done that, I went to check out the generator, wherever it was, and see what could be done about that fuel line.

I wandered about the place looking for the generator. The building was much bigger than I thought it was. The area we occupied of it must have been less than a quarter of the entire building, and I had to wonder what else was in there. I looked it up and down, but every window was tightly shut and painted over from the inside. The doors were tightly sealed, and no amount of shoving or pulling would loosen them up. The place as sealed tight, and I wondered how a building as old as this one appeared to be could be in such good condition.

I did eventually find the generator, and noticed the fuel line wasn't just cut, it was shredded. The girl must have gone to town with the thing to make sure we couldn't do a simple patch repair job. I took note of the model and make, a Honda generator, and decided to take a look around and see if I could find where the power line had been cut. No matter how much I searched, I couldn't find a severed line, but I was no electrician and wouldn't be able to do anything about it even if I did find it. It was already dark out, so any serious work on restoring power would have to wait till the morning.

I decided to head back in and see how everyone else was doing. Cynthia and the girls had just finished closing up 261, and laid her down flat on the table, while Joan and Jack were busy sealing up the new electronics inside the collar. It appeared to be a leather collar, but somehow he was actually melting the hole closed, making it water tight.

"Thanks for the light" Cynthia said when she finally noticed me.  "I think we're almost done here.  How's it coming Jack?"

"Almost got it..." he said with eager anticipation. "Done!"

Jack held up the newly re-sealed collar to inspect it. I noticed that this time, the wire that came out of the back on the inside of the collar was not a regular thunderbolt port like it was before. This time it was a thicker bundle of holographic optical wires bound in black tape, and it ran directly into the back of 261's neck. No more soldered wire mess like there was before, it was a clean and strong connection.

"That should do it. Let me just put this around her neck" he struggled to put the collar back on the lifeless girl. "There!"

"Um... what exactly is it?" Tera asked.

"Glad you asked little lady" Jack said in the worst fake-American accent I'd heard in a while. "After carefully studying the monitor and her internal synapses" Jack continued in his normal British accent, "I have discovered that the electronic overload that blasted this poor girl was cut short, partially by our friend Danny-boy here yanking the little sucker clean off her before it had finished, and partially by an ingenious protection built-in to her brain thanks to the lovely Cynthia.

"Now, when the attack hit, it first attacked her personality core, and successfully fried the circuits that comprised her basic personality. It went on to attach her memory and central processing, but by doing so, her main security cortex located in her subconscious mind physically cut off all the connection it could to the damaged area. This limited the spread of damage, and meant most of her brain was unharmed. She should remember everything... with any luck.

"Unfortunately, The collar was designed to initiate a second attack which would have fried the defense mechanism, and taken out the rest of her mind. Luckily Danny stopped that."

"But what was the collar for then?" Tera asked.

"From what I can tell, and it isn't easy figuring these things out from a device that self-destructed itself... it was used to control her mind. It overrode her morality, decision making, and even personality, making sure she did what they wanted her to do. And if anyone tried to stop her and remove the collar, it would kill her and itself.

"She probably still had a hint of her former self showing through, but there was nothing she could do to stop the collar from controlling her."

"So what did you do to it?" Jen asked.

"Simple. Since the damage was mainly to her personality, and the physical connections were destroyed, it meant she was going to be a vegetable until another part of her system failed. Since the collar was already taking over that part of her, I decided why not redesign it to do the same thing, but better.

"I simply built a new, more compact version of her personality matrix and installed it into this collar, so from now on, she should be the same person she was before they took her over. Except of course the fact that I don't have any data there... it's a blank slate."

"So as long as she has this collar on, she'll be fine?" Joan asked.

"Pretty much. No need to worry about taking it off, it no longer triggers anything as long as the connection is not severed."

"So... it is her, but it isn't her" Joan replied.

"Sort of. Look, it's the best I could do. Maybe if you have her old matrix backed up somewhere you can install it..."

"No" Cynthia replied. "We lost all the data when we lost the old lab. Besides, her personality was something she developed herself, based on her memories and experiences. I can do what I can to help her form a new one, but she'll have to do exactly that."

"Will she ever be the same?" Tera asked.

"I'm afraid not. But maybe she'll still have a hint of her old self. Either way, we must help her out as she works through this." Cynthia was sad, but somehow optimistic. She knew that this was the best hope she had of having her daughter back, but at the same time, she would be like a complete stranger, with a different personality, different likes and dislikes, different fears.

"If you want to add something to her personality matrix now, I'd suggest you do it she's ready to go at any time" Jack said.

"Let me just hook up the portable workstation..." Cynthia said, grabbed in the metal case they gave me to help with Tera. "Wait... where's the port?"

"Oh, right" Jack said. "Well, since this has to be hard wired to her system, I moved some basic ports here, to this flap on the side of her collar." He unzipped a small zipper attached to a flap on the side of the collar. Underneath was a replica of the ports that used to be on the back of her neck, allowing them to still connect to her with the collar attached.

Cynthia hooked up the device and started typing away. Joan and Tera watched closely, and started giving input to how they remembered their sister. Or course, Cynthia couldn't add all of it, but she spent a good half hour adding as much as he dared to add.

"How did you get that much storage inside that collar?" I asked Jack while the girls kept themselves busy.

"Joan and 262 there have a... smaller capacity for their personality than Tera has. Tera's brain was upgraded, so she can fit more storage in the same space. I simply used a segment of her more advanced style of brain equal to what Joan has. It wasn't easy fitting it into the collar, but I managed to do it. Thank goodness they're holographic drives, which are more flexible and durable than SSD or HDD."

"Is Tera's mind really that much more advanced than her sisters'?" I asked mostly to myself. I looked at her and saw how dedicated to helping her sister she was. She really did seem like just any other girl, and yet she was something new, something special.

A short while later, they had finished what they could do, and disconnected from the collar around her neck.

"Should we wait for Tom?" Jen asked.

"No. He had his chance" Cynthia said. It sounded harsh. "Would you like to do the honors Danny?"

"Me? This was Jack's idea" I said.

"Oh no thanks, I'm not suppose to touch another girl for a few more days, isn't that right?" he said looking at Jen.

"Why don't you do it Joan?" Jen suggested.

Joan stepped forward nervously. "I... I'm scared it won't work. But... I'll do it".

Joan took a step closer to her lifeless sister laying on the table. Slowly reaching out toward the girl's exposed midriff, she pushed in her belly button, and held it for a second. A faint whirring sound started up, and her eyes started glowing green.

"Wait a second" I said, thinking about something we should have considered earlier. "Did you disable her programming to kill us? Shouldn't we be holding her down?"

Jack and I looked at each other and scrambled to get to her arms. Before either of us could reach, she started arching her back on the table and screamed at the top of her voice.

"NOOO! DON'T TOUCH IT!" Her hand shot up to her collar and she grabbed at it, her eyes still starring unfocused at the ceiling. She suddenly stopped, and blinked, lightly feeling her collar with her fingers, noticing it was in tact.

She started to focus her eyes, and looked around the room at us. She looked straight at Tera, Joan, and Cynthia, and asked "What happened?"

Chapter 23 - Androphobia

Everyone was silent, apparently shocked by the completely unexpected reaction 261 had to being activated. She sat up on the table, her fingers still lightly touching the thick and tall collar around her neck, and stared out at Cynthia with glowing green eyes. Despite all the flashlights and the headlights from the SUV shining through the frosted glass, her eyes were the brightest things in the room, blazing green with life. She continued to look between her two sisters and Cynthia, trying to understand what happened.

"Where..." she started to say before she clenched her teeth in pain, and then grabbed at her head.

"What's happening?" Tera asked, looking frantically at her sister.

"There must be some data corruption or maybe a conflict in her programming" Jack said, taking a step back from the girl. He knew she had no weapons on her to attack us with, apparently while I was out with the girls, they piled all the knives and guns she had as well as her bag in the lab, but she was still dangerous if she got a hold of someone.

"Gahh!" the android girl burst out. "My head! It feels like it's going to explode!"

"Jack?!" Cynthia said looking at Jack for answers. He had none, and just shrugged back shaking his head.

"Data... corrupted... must initialize... NO! Must rebuild... system... Gaaah!" the girl growled through clenched teeth. She seemed to be at odds with her own programming. A corrupt system file in there was wreaking havoc, and her default was to initialize herself. That of course would empty everything in her mind, and she knew that and fought the urge.

"New... device... found" she continued while we looked on helpless to do anything. "Transferring data..." Her voice started to calm down, and her expression began to relax. She opened her eyes, still glowing green vividly, and gasped. "HAA!" She looked up suddenly, and her expression went from a look of pain, to one of shock. Slowly she calmed, and her eyes relaxed, and the green glow died down until they completely dimmed out to natural eyes.

"Honey? Are you alright?" Cynthia asked taking a step closer to her second daughter.

"Y... yes. I think so. Where am I? What happened?" she asked, her voice much more gentle and innocent, and even cute. 261 was smaller in stature than her two sisters, and her voice matched. That wasn't to say it didn’t have some sort of edge to it, she was no little princess.

"Do you remember who we are?" Joan asked, looking serious.

261 nodded, and then pointed at Cynthia, "Mom", she moved her finger toward Joan, "Big sis", and then finally to Tera, "Baby sis". She then pointed at Jen, who was not far off from them. "Umm..." her expression, like her voice, was puzzled.

"Honey, this here is Jen" Cynthia said. "She’s been helping us get you back."

"Hi" Jen said nervously, waving a small wave to her.

"Hi... Get me back? Wait..." She started darting her eyes back and forth, as though she were remembering something. "Where have I... Liberati! Oh God!" She grasped at her hair again as she started to remember the sorted past she was forced to live, the torture they must have put her through, the commands she had to obey, the collar. "Oh God! What have I done!?"

Cynthia came up to her and hugged her in a motherly embrace. "There there Honey. It wasn't your fault. They forced you to do those things. Shh..." 261 leaned into Cynthia, and stared at the floor remembering the things she did while under the control of the mafia.

"I killed my baby sister! But... how are you... gahh! I'm so confused! It's this damned collar!" She grasped at the collar, as if she was ready to rip it off, but faltered. "Damn them... I... can't. But there's something different. The voice in my head... it's gone!"

Joan took a step closer and took her sister's hand from the collar, and held it gently. "It'll be alright. We're here for you now."

Tears ran uncontrollably down 261's cheeks as she stared at her sister with a stern look in her eyes. "I'm sorry. I don't seem to be myself anymore. What happened?"

"Nor will you be your old self" Jack said, "now that I fitted that collar with your new personality matrix."

261 nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Jack's voice. She scrambled off the table and hid behind Joan, looking out over her sister's shoulder toward the strange man she never met. "Wh- Who is that?"

"That's Jack" Joan said, a little startled by 261's extreme reaction. "He's a friend. He's the one that brought you back to us." That didn’t seem to calm the nervous and edgy 261, who seemed genuinely scared of Jack.

"Um... pleased to meet you" Jack said, obviously a little offended by her reaction, especially after all he did for her.

261 shook behind her sister, grabbed onto Joan tightly. "Please don't hurt me!" she pleaded.

"Hurt you? I fixed up your collar to save you! Why would I want to...?" Jack started, but Jen shook her head at him and he stopped. "I promise I won't hurt you" he said in a calmer voice.

I shrugged at Jack and wondered why she'd be so scared of him. Apparently, my movement caught her eyes, and she panicked again, this time turning to put Joan between us. "Who's THAT!?"

"That's Danny. He won't hurt you either" Joan said slowly, giving me an apologetic look.

"Hi" I said. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"What does h-he want with me? Is- Is he going to r-rape me?" she said, said starting to stutter from her violent shaking.

"WHAT?!" I exclaimed. Where in the world did she get that kind of idea! First she thinks Jack is going to hurt her, but with me, it's rape!?

"Never!" Tera interjected. "He's the sweetest man you'll ever meet. He's my best friend."

"Friend? With a man?" 261 asked, genuinely puzzled.

"He saved both of us when we were in trouble" Joan said. "He's our new master."

"M-M- MASTER? A man is your master!?"

"Of course dear" Cynthia said, grabbing her shoulders firmly. "You were all built to have masters, and to be compatible with men. You used to dream of having a man you could love and call your own. Don’t you remember?"

"I did?" 261 grabbed tighter onto Joan, who was feeling the squeeze. She buried her head into her sister's back and started to take deep breaths. "I... did."

Just then, the door swung open, and Tom stood silhouetted in the doorway. He was carrying a plastic bag in one hand, and a bundle of flowers in the other. His eyes were red and swollen, but he stood firmly and stoic. He had been crying, but his face was dry from any tears now, and he appeared ready to face the music.

"I..." he started, before he noticed 261 hiding behind her sister. "261! You're alive!"

"Dad?" she said peering over her sister's shoulder at Tom.

Tom took a step forward, dropping the bag to the floor and ready to run to her for an embrace. Alas, he stopped in his tracks when he saw her reaction. Just as she had done to Jack and me, 261 cowered behind Joan and shrieked when Tom came toward her even one step. He was flabbergasted, and all his effort of hiding his emotions from his family failed as tears splashed uncontrollably on the ground before him. I walked calmly over to him, and put my hand on his shoulder.

"She's scared of men" I whispered, which only made his pain more obvious.

261 must have realized that she was not acting normal. She couldn't even stand the idea of having her dad approach her for a hug. She had a complete emotional breakdown, sobbing and crying as she slowly sank to the floor still clutching to her sister for protection. "Oh God" she said between sobs. "What happened to me?"

It had been a hard night for everyone. Joan took 261 to her bedroom, and stayed with her until she fell asleep. Cynthia thought it would be a good idea to help her calm down and get the past out of her mind. Tera clung to me closely in silent contemplation as she thought about her sister's violent reaction. Jack was just upset that he put all that effort into her, and she turned out that way. Jen tried to calm Jack, which worked pretty well, but she too was feeling uneasy about the situation. Tom sat alone in silence, holding back his emotions, and thinking about what to do next. Cynthia stood around, uneasy and restless.

Luckily, Tom had gone out and purchased the fuel line and extra fuel we needed for the generator while he was out. He tried to explain that the store was closing when he got there, and he got the only one they had in stock, so we were lucky he thought of it. Unfortunately, Tom was too upset to do anything about it, so I had gone out and installed the new line, starting up the generator, and bringing us power for the first time since that morning.

"I'm sorry" Tom finally said, breaking the silence. "I'm sorry for my behavior today. I need to apologize to you the most, Tera. I took advantage of your kindness, and hurt you in the process. I also want to apologize to you, Daniel. I never should have yelled at you when you were looking out for my daughter. You are a better man than I. I'm sorry that the rest of you had to see me like that. I've been hiding those demons for years, and thought I finally won out. But most of all, I'm sorry for every time I ever went out and got drunk, Cynthia. I have no excuses for my behavior."

"What about tonight? Where did you go?" Cynthia said with a voice riding along the edge of heartless and sincere.

"I thought about drinking. I almost did. But I stopped myself. I knew I was wrong, and the long walk to the bar changed my mind. Instead I went to the hardware store, and got the fuel line. And some flowers at the grocer." He held up the partially crushed flowers, but his eyes never left the floor in front of his seat.

"Oh you... stupid... thoughtful man." Cynthia rushed over to him and lowered the flowers, instead giving him a kiss. "Don't ever make me worry about you like that again!"

"I swear" he said, wrapping his large arms around her.

The sudden change of emotion between them lifted the air for everyone, and the tension broke. Cynthia had taken the flowers and put them in a vase on the table, while the rest of us started talking again about the little things in life.

"... and then he started eating the cone! It didn't taste as good as the ice cream but what an ingenious way of getting rid of your trash." Tera laughed with us as she recounted her first chocolate ice cream cone. "But that wasn't the best part" she added.

"Oh? What else happened? Did he eat the napkin too?" Jen joked.

Tera blushed and held my hand while sitting next to me on the couch in the living area. "Danny asked me out." The mix of reactions was interesting. Tom and Cynthia smiled, while Jack donned a puzzled look.

"Wait... so you two weren't dating already?" he asked.

"Not officially" I responded.

"Ah..." he replied. Something tells me Jack never really considered his relationships with the women of his past to be 'official', at least not as far as dating was concerned. However, now that Jen was in the picture, he was clearly going to be under more pressure to make the leap himself.

"Is it normal to date a ro-" Jen started to ask then caught herself.

"Normal to date a robot?" Cynthia responded. "No. It's something special, only a few can really partake in. There are too few robots in the world right now with the capacity for emotions, for love. Sure some people chose to love machines that cannot love them back, but they can never really experience real love unless it is genuinely returned. Is it normal to date a person who loves you? Yes."

"So what makes Tera... um... I mean... How do we know she can 'love'? Like really love?" Jen asked. I was shocked at her.

"What makes you think can really love?" I asked harshly. I was a little upset she would question Tera's ability to feel emotions, especially at this point?

"I-"

"Tera has demonstrated time and time again that she can feel emotions just as strongly as you or I. Why question it now?" I knew she was capable of emotions; I saw it and felt it every day. But what did it mean to have emotions. Even a mediocre robot could fake them, but proving that they're real? Something occurred to me that I hadn't thought of before. Tera had mentioned that she dreamt of me when she was injured by that gunshot. I don't know if she only dreamed after the operation or during it, but I distinctly remembered her crying while we were working on it, something that should not have happened. Tom had shrugged it off as some sort of side effect or something, but perhaps, she was breaking the limits of her own nature. Perhaps she was somehow able to continue to think and dream and feel even when she was turned off. But how?

"I didn't mean-" Jen started. "I'm... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to it that way. I didn't want to upset anyone. I was just... being stupid is all. Sorry. I guess I was asking 'what defines the difference between emotion and simulation'."

"Good question” Cynthia said. "True emotions are a hard thing to prove. Tera and her sisters are among a handful of robots in the world with the capacity for emotion, but that doesn't mean it is real. They react as they were programmed to, but instead of preset responses like most robots, they have to learn their own responses based on stimuli. It is the closest thing to true emotions a robot can have. Besides, the human brain has approximately 100 billion nerve connections; Tera has an equivalent to 120 which is within the realm of a normal human brain. Joan and 261 have closer to 80 billion, which is still normal, and still very high for a robot."

"120 Billion connections? Wow!" Jen said, putting an emphasis on the 'B'. She gazed at Tera seeing her in a new light. Even Tera seemed impressed with the number, I know I was. "I'm sorry I assumed you were anything less than... well... human." Jen looked sorry, maybe even a little sad. I hated to see her like that.

"It's ok" Tera said smiling at her. "I realize I will face challenges like this in the future. I am what I am, but I'm nothing without friends."

We were silent for a moment. "I'm sorry I snapped at you also" I said. "We're cool right?"

"Always" Jen said, looking up at me and smiling apologetically. She sat there pouting, as though she either just got in trouble or just found out something she didn't want to know, maybe both. Jack put his hand on hers, and she looked up and smiled at him. I sure was glad she had someone to fall back on.

"I admit it seems odd" Joan added, entering the room, "a human and a gynoid dating. But that is what we were made for. Human companionship. Gynoids need humans more than humans need us; it is nice to see that for once, a human and a gynoid can actually need each other, be on equal ground. It is sure to be a controversial relationship if anyone ever finds out." She looked around at everyone as she took a seat. "Don't worry, she's asleep."

"You... can count on my support" Jen said. "Congratulations."

"Thanks" Tera replied. "Well... that was more exciting than the stranger at the ice cream parlor."

"Stranger?" Cynthia asked with a raised eyebrow. Oops... I was hoping we could have forgotten about that incident.

"Umm... I mean" Tera started realizing her mistake.

"An old associate of mine showed up at the parlor" Joan explained.

"Associate, what's this all about?" Cynthia asked with more concern in her voice.

"Diane, a combat cyborg, was apparently getting herself an ice cream cone when she ran into us. Tera managed to scare her off though. She wasn't expecting us" she answered in her strong matter-of-fact way.

"A combat cyborg? Does she know we're here?" Cynthia asked.

"I doubt it. She didn't expect to see us at all, but we do have to be careful. They know we are in the area and will be on the lookout for us" Joan said.

"Is everyone alright?" Tom asked.

"Thanks to Tera" I said. "She got a little burned by the gun but she'll be alright."

"Gun?!" Cynthia shrieked. Oops again.

"She dropped it. We're fine. Nothing happened" Tera tried to explain.

"Look, you're going to have to trust us. We-" Joan started.

"I'm sorry" I interrupted. "I should have been more careful. Joan had been getting strange looks all night; I never should have suggested we get ice cream. I was trying to keep everyone's spirits up."

"No..." Cynthia said reluctantly. "No, you are right. You have the right to go wherever you want, with Tera and Joan. They are yours after all. But please be careful. I don't want to lose them again after everything we've been through. You either."

"As long as everyone is alright, we can't ask for more" Tom added. "But we will need to keep an eye out for news reports and anyone who might be suspicious."

"I'll check the news. I'll let you know if I find anything" Jack said and started looking through his phone at what I assumed to be news Apps.

"I see you fixed the generator" Joan added.

"Yeah. I went out and got a new fuel line" Tom said.

"Where did you..." she sighed. "I haven't seen you outburst like that in a long time, since before 262 was finished."

"I'm so sorry Joan! You never should have seen me like that... ever. I've tried so hard to fight it these past few years" Tom said.

"I never understood what it was that you did. You'd get upset and leave, only to come back... different and angry" Joan said.

"I..." Tom tried to talk but couldn't.

"As you know, your father used to be in the mob" Cynthia explained. "When he left, he started drinking. Luckily he was loud, but never violent... at least not toward us."

"Drinking? As in..." Joan asked.

"Alcohol. It does things to humans that can be bad." Tom explained. "It makes us feel good, but we lose all self-control."

"One night" Cynthia continued, "Tom was particularly upset that we might lose the contract with the military, and when he came back... he destroyed 262" she said holding back her tears.

"I don't even remember doing it" Tom added, "but when I saw what I did... I was devastated. I swore never to touch alcohol again, and we rebuilt her from scratch."

"I remember that" Joan said. She saw the pain in her dad, and walked over to him, giving him a hug. "I will support you, Daddy."

"Thanks Hun" he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "I've managed to avoid it ever since then, thanks to your mother."

As touching as the moment was, I was more concerned about the upcoming confrontation with Liberati. We needed to know more about him, where he was, what his security was like, anything, everything. Joan was the only one with personal experience with the man, except for 261 who was not going to be any help. If there was anything we could get, it would have to come from Joan. I waited until things had settled down again, and Joan returned to her seat.

"Joan, do you think you can tell us anything about Liberati?" I asked.

"I don't know. He didn't keep me close" she said. "He sent me away often, usually with Diane and Bruce. He didn't trust me."

"Isn't there something? Anything?" I asked desperate for something to help us out.

"Well I can say one thing; I've never seen that collar before. He had neither the knowledge nor the personnel to make such a device himself. He must have gotten it from someone, but by the looks of it... it was made special for her."

"Made just for her?" I asked, thinking about what that could mean. Obviously Liberati wasn't a tech savvy guy, but he understood the importance of technology. He kept cyborgs and robots around him, and had devices made by experts just for him. But who would make such a device, or even know how. Only one idea came to my mind. It had to be someone with knowledge about Joan and her sisters, about how their EVE system and their Evelyn brains worked. The only person outside this room that would have any hope of knowing this, for some reason, was the mysterious dream man. He seemed to know too much about Tera and was particularly interested in her. I figured, he knew enough to make such a device, and was probably going to use one on Tera too if he got his hands on her.

"I suggest we come up with a plan of action" Jack said. "The sooner we act the better. I know it's a long shot, but if we can stop the mafia, we don't need to hide anymore."

"That doesn't seem likely to happen" Jen said. "Mafias are notoriously hard to evade, let alone stop. If you manage to take out their leader, there is always a new guy to take their place."

"Larry Liberati" Joan added "has no children. He is the last of the line of the Liberati family. Taking him out will probably please whatever distant relative or upcoming mobster who takes his place. The Liberati mob is not as vast as they once were. The police have been very successful at breaking up the group and taking out their members. That's why they're so desperate to use cybernetic and robotic operatives like us. What they lack in numbers, they make up for in money and influence. They can buy or steal the best robotic fighters, and their influence in the cybernetic circles can get them their pick of the litter."

"So they are strong but weak?" Jen asked.

"Brittle, like glass. You can build strong structures like windshields out of glass, but the slightest crack can shatter the entire thing. If we can hit them in the right spot hard enough, their entire empire will come crashing down."

"And you know where that is?" I asked.

"No... I'm sorry. But if we can take out Liberati himself, it would have the same effect. A blow hard enough to any part of it can still break the system."

"So what's the plan?" Jen asked. Everyone was silent. We had come so far, and yet we still had no idea what we were doing. Tera for one was tired of running and hiding, and wanted to fight, wanted to get out there and do something. I was behind her 100% on that. She had been the target of a lot of damage, and continued to be targeted by Liberati and his mysterious benefactor. But without a plan, we were unable to take an initiative.

"I think the only hope we have of achieving such a crazy feat" I said, "would be a stealth attack. You know, covert ops. Get in, do the job, get out."

"There's no way we could get passed mafia security without being noticed" Jen said. "We don't even know where he is."

"I could do it" Joan replied sternly. "If we can find his hide-out, I can get us in and out. She might not be much help now, but 261 probably know the location of their headquarters, and the entire layout.

"Jack, if you can take down their autonomous and surveillance security, then Danny and I can get in and take care of Liberati."

"Hey, I'm not leaving you two to go in without me" Jen objected.

"I'm in too!" Tera added.

"It's too dangerous Tera! You are the one they want" I pleaded.

"Danny, Please! I can't sit here and let you take all the risks. If you go in, I go in too. I will not sit on the sidelines and watch you get hurt." She was putting her foot down on this issue. There was no way she'd take no for an answer.

I sighed. "I don't want to lose you either. But... I can see you won't let this go. Alright, you're in, both of you." She smiled at me and kissed my cheek. I hoped she'd be alright.

"Good" Joan said. "We'll need the help, but I'm just not sure where yet. We need to know the layout of the location before we can plan any details."

"And 261 is the only one that would know" Jen said.

"Maybe" Joan added. "I'm not going to push her though. She's my sister and she's been through a lot."

"Well, we will need her help or this won't work" I said. "Maybe by the morning, she'll feel better."

"She's too fragile" Tom said. "She's still registered to Liberati, but that registration is fractured, thanks to that collar thing Jack made. Her subconscious will want to obey him, but her conscious mind will resist. She will be at odds with herself until she can be cleared of his registration and assigned a new master."

"She will need a new master soon" Cynthia added. "There's no two ways about it."

"Well... Tera and I can't do it. We aren't human, and her master must be a human" Joan stated.

"Why don't you do it Tom?" I suggested.

"No... we didn't build them so we could be their masters" Cynthia pointed out. "No matter what, we cannot assume that role as well as the role of her parents. It would conflict with the nature of the role of master."

"What exactly is the role of master supposed to be?" Jen asked.

"Well, their master is supposed to look out for them, love and respect them, and use them as they are meant to be used" Tom explained. "That means in every way. They are adults, and have adult needs that only their master can give them. They are meant to be peers, not servants or children, despite the name 'master'. It really should be 'companion', but that has certain connotations too."

"I already have Tera and Joan" I said. "I'm not sure I should take 261 as well. I can if I have to, but..."

"Well I'm not doing it" Jack said. "I already have my hands full with Jen, and she'd kill me if I added that complication."

"Your hands are full?" Jen asked sharply. "Oh really? Well maybe I want to be her new master."

"You!?" Tom exclaimed. "But... you're a girl. You can't possibly be her master. She's not a lesbian."

"Now Tom!" Cynthia said sharply. "You know full well it is not a sexual contract. Besides, we always knew it was a possibility, and she is perfectly capable of filling that role if she needs to."

"Sexual contract?" Jen asked.

"The master registration process is a simple registration process, just like with any robot. However, a binding is a sexual contract, and requires a mutual exchange."

"So you're saying Danny and Tera had to..." Jen asked.

"Yes! Yes we did. And?" I interrupted.

"You sly dog!" Jen exclaimed. "Even before I met her you had already..." she fell silent for a moment, which was odd for her.

"So then you didn't have sex with Joan?" Jack asked.

"Um... well..."

"Joan too?!" Jen asked flabbergasted. "Gah! Is there nothing on two legs you won't screw besides m-... mmmrr. But you didn't bind to her!"

"No... it was sort of a... distraction" I said.

"I admit, I was not cooperating when Tera was trying to set me up to be registered" Joan said. "He simply provided an effective distraction that allowed her to gain full access to my systems. That... and I was horny."

"Joan!" Cynthia said. Joan simply lowered her head in shame a little, but smiled all the same.

"My view of you Danny has been thoroughly disillusioned" Jen said.

"Is that really a bad thing?" I asked.

She thought about it for a minute. I knew for a fact she was no saint herself, and had plenty of short-term boyfriends that she dumped because they weren't good enough in bed. "I guess not. Just means there's more com-... um... about you I didn't know."

"Why don't we let 261 decide" Tera suggested. "I'm sure both Jen and Danny will make excellent masters, but she should decide.

"I didn't get a choice" Joan said.

"Oh... I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't realize you didn't like being Danny's..."

"No, no. Don't take it the wrong way" Joan interrupted. "I do enjoy having Danny as my master. I couldn't have chosen a better owner myself. But I'm just saying, we don't always have a choice. I suppose, it would be nice to give her that option, at least."

"She'll probably choose Jen anyways" I said. "She wouldn't want to have a man as her master."

"I'm sure it must have been something that Liberati and his men did to her to make her scared of men" Jen said.

"I... don't want to talk about it" 261 said from behind us. It took us all by surprise, and we practically jumped out of our seats to turn and look at her. She was standing in the doorway, wearing a nightgown Joan had given her, hiding half behind the door frame.

"261! When did you get here?" Cynthia asked shocked to see her.

"I couldn't sleep" she said quietly.

"Are you fully charged?" Cynthia asked. 261 nodded silently, still hidden by half the door frame. "Do you want me to tuck you in or get you some water?" Cynthia asked. 261 shook her head this time.

"I'm scared" she said timidly. Cynthia opened her arms toward her, and 261 took a step forward to run into her arms, but stopped when she saw me and Jack. She looked between us, so we put on our sweetest nicest faces we could, in hopes to not scare her away. She ran forward, passed the two of us, and into Cynthia's arms. Cynthia held her there for a while, just petting her hair and rocking her back and forth.

"I'm so sorry!" 261 said, her voice muffled while she buried her face in Cynthia's chest. "I've done so many awful things, I keep having nightmares!"

"Shh... there there" Cynthia said, calming her down. We all sat quietly while Cynthia and 261 embraced. She really was a good mother figure, but I had to wonder what 261 would normally act like, before all of this happened.

After a minute or two went by, she calmed down and sat down on the floor next to Cynthia. She was close to Tom, and was visibly trying her best to get over her fear of men, especially with her dad. "263," she started, "I'm sorry I shot you. And... also... your master" she muttered that last part. "I'm glad I didn't kill you. I was afraid I did."

"It's ok. I forgive you. But please, call me Tera now."

"Tera?"

"It's the name Danny gave me when he registered me" Tera explained.

"Oh... ok. Tera. I'm sorry I shot you too 260, I tried my hardest not to... but I ended up using you to get to... Tera."

"I forgive you too. And you can call me Joan now."

"Joan?"

"That's right. Danny gave me that name when he registered me" Joan explained.

"Joan... Like in the stories" she said.

"Exactly. He named me after Joan of Arc" Joan said with a smile. It brightened 261's mood, and she dared to crack a smile just for a moment.

"I also forgive you" I said.

She looked nervous talking to me, but held her ground. "Th- Thank you... D- Danny. I'm sorry. I don't want to be this way. I... don't want to be scared of m- men. I'll try my hardest to get back to my old self." She spoke quietly and nervously, but coherently. "Oh... and... umm..." she pointed at Jack and looked up at Cynthia.

"That's Jack" Cynthia said.

"Tha- thank you for the new c- collar... Jack."

"Well I'll be" Jack exclaimed. "You are perfectly welcome little lady" he said in a suave British way.

She actually blushed at this and leaned in closer to Cynthia's leg.

"Are you feeling better now?" Jen asked.

261 nodded her head, and smiled briefly again.

"Well we have a big day ahead of us" Cynthia said. "We should get to bed."

"Wait..." 261 said quietly "please. I heard about your plan. I... I want to help."

"Excellent. We can discuss it in the morning" Joan suggested. 261 nodded.

"I'm still registered to L-... L-... Liberati. So... tomorrow, I will decide on a new master. I'll talk to Jen and... Danny about it."

"Sounds like a plan" Tera said. "And if you need any support, I'll be right there for you."

261 nodded again and took a deep sigh of relief, as though she were glad to have finally gotten something off her chest.

Cynthia stood up and helped 261 to her feet, and we all stood up in response. Joan came over to 261 to give her a hand back to her room, but before she took her hand, 261 abruptly turned toward Tom and gave him a big hug. She whispered something I didn't quite hear, and Tom started crying again, wrapping his arms around her, whispering something back to her. She broke the embrace first, still nervous, but genuinely happy and let out another accomplished sigh, before taking Joan's hand.

The two of them wished everyone a goodnight, and walked toward the Dorm area. "I'm sorry about your arm" 261 said to Joan as they walked past us.

Joan wrapped her metallic left arm around her sister, and replied "Don't be. It looks cool."

With that, they vanished behind the doorway, and bunked together for the night. Jen was next to follow heading to her room, and Jack to his. I suppose actually having to get up in the morning meant no time for messing around. Then again, they went to bed in their own rooms last night and woke up in the same one in the morning... could be a trend. Tom and Cynthia also left, turning out all the lights and wishing Tera and me a goodnight, reminding us we needed to get up in the morning.

"Danny, I want to show you something outside" Tera said, "before we head to bed."

"Oh? What is it?" I asked, but she wouldn't say and took my hand, leading the way.

Tera took me toward the SUV, which we had turned off when Tom hooked up the fuel line, and led me toward the back. It was a near full moon out, so I didn't have any trouble seeing her despite the lack of artificial lights. She giggled as she took me toward the back of the truck. I didn't bring the keys with me, so I hoped she didn't need to get something out of the truck. As soon as we got there, she peaked inside, and gestured for me to do the same.

"See that?" she said, pointing at something in the back of the truck. It looked like some kind of white cloth wadded up in the back.

"What is it?" I asked.

Tera leaned in close and whispered "It's my underwear" before she jumped into my unexpecting arms, kissing me ravishingly.

"Tera!" I said between kisses. "How long... have you been going... without underwear on?" I asked. I held her up, barely, as she pushed her weight into me.

"Ever since you asked me out" she replied, before kissing me deeply. I let her step back onto the ground on her tippy-toes, and turned her around.

"You really are a naughty girl" I said, reaching down and pulling the front of her skirt up. "You could drive a guy like me crazy!"

"Could?" she asked, but just as she did, my fingers reached their target, and she jerked with pleasure, letting out a small squeal. "Ohhh... yes Danny. You feel so good! I want you inside me!"

I continued to caress her exposed womanhood, and enjoyed every little sound and motion she made.

"Is... hah... is there something wrong with me?" Tera asked with her eyes closed, enjoying the sensations.

"What do you mean?" I asked, stopping for a moment to let her talk clearly.

"It's just that... ever since I met you, we've been making love like rabbits. Am I craving it too much?" It was true. Shortly after we first met, she gave me a blowjob in the shower, and we've been doing some kind of sexual act every day since then. This was far more than I ever got normally, maybe even more than Jack but I wasn't sure.

"I... I don't really know. I mean, as long as it isn't getting in the way of anything, I'm sure it's alright" I said. There couldn't possibly anything as too much sex, right?

"I suppose so" she said. "I've just seemed to be in the mood a lot more lately. Maybe it's just being near you."

"If you want, I could take a look at your sensitivity setting, maybe that has something to do with it" I suggested. She nodded, and sat down on the bumper of the SUV.

"Don't lower it too much or anything. Besides, we are doing this right here when you're done" she said as she pulled up her skirt. I placed my hands on her hips, enjoying the view of her exposed lower half, when blue pin-point lights appeared under her skin on her mound, and revealed a small panel that opened to one side. This was the same panel I had to use to complete the binding, and where I could adjust how sensitive she was to sexual stimulation. I took a look inside, and realized that her setting was a little high. I must have adjusted it one of these times, and forgotten to lower it again. I doubt that explained why she wanted sex so often, but I really wasn't concerned about it. I craved it from her all the time and it was nice to see she did the same. Still, I decided to lower the setting back to a normal level, and close her up.

"That it?" she asked. "I don't feel any different."

"Well... maybe it takes a while. Do you want to test it out?" I suggested. She gave me a coquettish grin and nodded. Once again, I let me fingers do the work, and enjoyed watching her squirm and moan. She really was enjoying this, just like all things, to the fullest. I couldn't take much more of it myself, but before I could unzip my pants, she had beaten me to it, and was pulling out my member, stroking me as I caressed her.

We did this for a little, but what I really wanted was what she wanted too, and soon she ended up on the ground with me inside her. Time flew past and stood still all at once. Every moment I was within her felt like an eternity of pleasure, and yet, seemed to vanish as though it lasted only an instant once we have finished. Even though her sensitivity setting was down, she was fully in the mood and reached her peak several times, finishing with one climactic orgasm that sent wave after wave of pleasure through her body. We must have made love on the grass for an hour before she finally collapsed on top of me in an exhausted heap. Even like this, I loved the way her body felt against mine, her soft warm and slender form pressed against me. There was nothing like it in the whole world, and I knew in that moment that she was my everything and I hers. She shone with a radiance of love and sweat in the moonlight, and gave me a look of such love and adoration, that I knew meeting her was no mere chance. With a final long kiss, she settled herself into my arms, and fell asleep. She was so cute and innocent in my arms, I didn't want to move her, but blood circulation deemed it necessary, so I gently laid her down on the grass and bundled up our clothes. She didn't wake as I lifted her up again, clothes in one hand, and carried all the way back to the lab, back to our room as quietly as I could, and into the bed. I was sure to plug her in for the night, and joined her in the bed. She repositioned herself around me, making it comfortable to sleep next to her, and kissed my cheek goodnight without opening her eyes. I felt like a million bucks, and nothing would get my spirits down after that.

Except for the nightmares. Goddamned nightmares. They were still invading my dreams, and I grew tired of having to deal with them every night. Even Tera suffered from them. She awoke once during the night from a bad dream, which woke me up out of one, and we had to cuddle close together to feel comfortable enough to try to sleep again. I started to suspect that these were not normal dreams. Something about them seemed all too... fabricated. How was it possible that someone could manipulate dreams, but how else was it possible that two people would have similar nightmares every night for a week straight?

We awoke, not as well rested as we hoped, but still in each other's arms and that was a nice feeling. Tera and I didn't want to wake, but Joan's relentless knocking made sure we had little other choice.

"Don't make me come in there and get you two up" her muffled voice said through the door. "Cause I will, even if you aren't decent."

"Imaupawready" I mumbled while fighting between sleep and awake. Tera seemed just as groggy as me, but at least she could sit up in bed. I admit I did enjoy the view.

Coffee was a god-send. Just the aroma of it gave me the energy to get up, just enough so I could grab a cup full. Too bad coffee didn't really work on Tera. Apparently it did more harm than good for gynoids. She had to struggle with her own simulated grogginess, although she admitted the coffee smelled fantastic. Jack and Jen joined us, exiting from their own rooms for once, and far more rested than Tera or I were. Tom and Cynthia were already up as well, and were putting together some food and a checklist of everything we had available for our potential assault. There were a surprisingly large amount of guns and knives in that little bag 261 had brought along, with only a few changes of clothes and various other necessities. Joan and 261 were up as well. 261 was wearing a similar getup to what she had on yesterday, a white crop-top shirt, and jeans. They must have been clothes she had from before, because they fit her well. Joan wore a similar getup as well, with a red patterned tank top and what I assumed were the same jeans as yesterday. She gave me a smile, and seemed to really be in a good mood a she helped out 261. They were just finishing eating themselves and were putting away the dishes when Tera and I walked in.

"Good morning two- um... Tera" 261 said with a little more confidence and friendliness than last night. "Good morning... Danny" she said a little more hesitantly. We both wish her a good morning as well, and sat down for cereal. Despite our lack of a goodnight sleep, Tera was surprisingly chipper. I swear she was still riding the afterglow from last night, she looked fantastic. I couldn't help but get in a better mood just because of her. After we had finished eating, 261 decided to sit down first with Jen and talk with her for a little. It sounded more like she was interviewing for the position of 'master', and I chuckled at the thought. An electrician was coming out in an hour, and Tom wanted me to help him find the cut line.

We spent 20 minutes or so looking for the cut line before the electrician showed up. There's a reason these guys get paid. Within 10 minutes, he found, and repaired the line, and then proceeded to charge a hefty sum for his services. At least now we had power properly restored to the building, and could turn off the generator. It was low on fuel anyways, so we shut it down and headed back toward the lab.

"Hey... do you hear something?" I asked, noticing the sound I thought was coming from the generator was still echoing in my ears.

"What?" Tom asked.

"That low hum. Can't you hear it?" I mimicked the sound, and Tom listened more carefully.

"Yeah... I do hear something now that you mention it. It's probably just the power back on" he suggested.

"No... I heard it last night, and this morning, before the power was back. I thought it was the generator, but... I think it's coming from inside."

I walked closer to a large set of doors that appeared to be rusted and ancient, but a faint humming sound was definitely coming through. This part of the building was far from where we were staying in the labs. We must have only taken up a quarter or less of the space; the rest was still sealed up.

"What's in here" I asked Tom. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Beats me. Could be anything. I've never been in there" he explained.

"Never been... it's your building. You bought it and never looking inside?" I questioned.

"I didn't buy it" Tom said. "It's been in my family for generations. I just sort of... found it."

"Found it?" I asked.

"When we were looking for a place to build our own lab to hide our girls in, I sort of stumbled on the documentation for it. It was all up to code, surprisingly, so I moved into the only part I could get opened. The offices."

"The offices?"

"Yeah, there didn't used to be a lab there. I added that with the help of a contractor. The dorms too. I never could get inside the rest of this place, it's just sealed shut too well" Tom said looking up at the building. It looked to be at least 2 stories, but looked more like a factory, which could easily be that tall and only be one floor.

"Well something is in there buzzing" I reminded him. "I don't know about you, but curiosity has gone through many of my cats."

"Heh... well how do we get in?"

I thought about it for a moment, and got an idea. "Maybe a human can't open, but I wonder if a superhero can."

I quickly ran back to the lab, and grabbed my Exo suit, trying not to be noticed by anyone. I briefly overheard Jen and 261 talking, but didn't pay too close attention to it. I discreetly grabbed by suit, and brought it out. I hadn't given it a full charge lately, but it still had plenty if juice left in it. With Tom's help, I got the suit on quickly, and powered it up. I could feel the hum of energy as it powered up. I built tons of safety protocols into the suit, and knew it would not be able to go past a certain limit when I really pushed it, but with any luck, it would be enough to pry open a door or a window.

We approached a rusty door that appeared to be the weakest of the lot. This one in particular was a rolling door that would slide upwards for full and easy access. It was the thin flexible nature of the door that made us decide to try this one first. All the others were solid metal doors that wouldn’t budge in the slightest. I wrapped my hands in some old clothes, to prevent cutting myself on the handle, and prepared to lift. I felt the awesome strength of my suit to its fullest pulling at my hand, and it hurt! I could barely keep a grip, and had to reposition my hand, trying it to the handle with the cloth, like in a rodeo. Another hard tug, and my fingers felt like they might rip off, but the door creaked. It was a low groan at first, but eventually it turned into a sharp high pitched shriek as the metal started to bend. I wasn't sure which would give first, my hand, or the door.

Luckily, it was the door. With a sudden snap, something holding the door down gave way, and it shot up, almost taking me with it.

"Good... GOD! That hurt!" I spat rubbing at my aching hand. It would probably leave a bruise, but at least my fingers were intact, and my bones weren't broken.

Tom let out a whistle while he looked into the dark and dusty room. It was huge, and the door only lit up a small part of it. The humming sound grew louder as we entered, but it was hard to see anything. This place must have gone many decades without sunlight or exposure to the environment. It smelled... old... really old. But as we entered the room deeper, our eyes started to adjust.

The room was a factory floor, a setting for building none other than robots. There were robotic parts laying all around the place, wires, screws, glass, but thanks to the sealed room, no rust. Dust kicked up in our faces as we walked, and we nearly choked trying to get a look inside. A rail with metallic limbs hanging from it crossed our path, and a conveyor belt with torsos from male and female units ran adjacent to us. For a factory, it wasn't terribly big, and probably manufactured only specialized custom ordered robots. I reckoned these robots must have been at least 80 years old! In computer years... it's like another dynasty.

"I think we stepped back in time" I commented through my coughs.

"I... had no idea!" Tom said, staring at his family's past.

"Guess it runs in the family huh?" I joked.

Just then, we found the source of the humming. A server-like device towered over us, with blinking lights and whirring hard drives. Something inside was making this hum, but my attention soon died from the towering monolith to the object it was currently attacked to. Laying before us, at first obscured by the monolithic server, was a gynoid laying flat on a work table, with wires attached to every part of it. The light was still dim, but to my astonishment, I recognized the face in the darkness. It was the exact same face as my old broken gynoid back in my apartment, the one I found in a junk yard and had been working on for months. I had never seen another model like her, and here was one completed, in its entirety. The body of the artificial girl was mostly metal and plastic, with no real skin or membrane like Tera and her sisters have. The whole realistic skin thing was actually fairly recent to the world of robotics, while membranes have existed since the 20th century; none of them looked or felt like real human skin, and definitely didn't react like Tera's did. This robot had a membrane face, which allowed for accurate portrayal of emotions, but the majority of the rest of the body was hard plastic or reflective metal. And yet, she was designed with a kind of grace and beauty that truly defined the golden age of robotics.

"I've seen this model before" I said. I took a step forward to touch the face, but before I could make contact, her eyes opened. I shot back my hand, but she did not react. Her eyes were larger than human eyes, stylized for emotional effect. As they shot open, the glowed yellow, slowly fading in and out as if processing something. After a few moments, her eyes turned green, and she sat up. There was an air of femininity to her motion that reminded me of Tera, but this android was much older than her.

The robot girl turned to look at me slowly, before moving her gaze toward Tom. After analyzing us, she turned on the table putting her feet toward the ground, and announced in a strong echoing voice "UNAUTHORIZED PERSONEL, IDENTIFY YOURSELVES".

Chapter 24 - Amazon killing machine

The metal gynoid stood at full attention before us, wires and cables still attached and dangling from her slender form; her eyes changed from a cautious yellow to a menacing red. For such a slim and sexy build, she sure was tall. In fact, she was taller than either of us, pushing 7 feet! Intimidating? You bet!

"What in the world did you family keep here?" I hissed toward Tom. He shushed me and faced the towering android.

"My name is Thomas Pagmalion."

"PERSONNEL FILE NOT FOUND." The gynoid said coldly. "YOU MUST LEAVE THE PREMESIS IMMEDIATELY." For such a terrifying machine, her dominatrix sex appeal was spot on. Well... not really, but I wasn't going to tell her that.

"Tom, I think we better leave" I hissed under my breath.

"No! I am the rightful heir and owner of this facility" Tom exclaimed full of confidence and energy. Heir?

"PERSONNEL RECORDS NOT FOUND, DATABASE INADEQUATE. EXPLAIN YOUR PRESENCE" the towering beauty demanded, taking a large menacing step closer to us.

"My name is Thomas Isaac Pagmalion, son of Robert Julius Pagmalion, grandson of Isaac Joshua Pagmalion. I am the sole heir and benefactor of this facility." The gynoid looked between us and took a slightly less intimidating stance. Maybe I could take on this machine with my suit still active, but it would be a pyrrhic victory.

"PERSONNEL FILES INADEQUATE. ACCESSING NET. SEARCHING..." For a moment, the robot just stood there still as a statue, processing whatever data she was processing. "DATABASE FOUND. SEARCHING..."

"What are you doing?" I asked Tom in a hushed voice. "And why does your family have an amazon killing machine in an abandoned factory?"

"She isn't an amazon killing machine. She is the central processing unit for this factory. She was designed to allow the factory to run autonomously" Tom explained looking up at her. "And I'm making sure she acknowledges us as friendly. Do you know what this place is?"

"Old and scary?" I replied.

"Well besides that. This is the first factory in America to build class 3 androids for the average consumer" he explained. Class 3 androids were capable of appearing human, although few people were fooled by the earlier models.

"She doesn't look class 3 to me" I said.

"Well maybe she isn't, but look around at the parts left behind. While they are nothing like what Tera and her sisters have, they are definitely passable as human... or at least humanoid." Tom never looked at me when he spoke, and remained standing in place staring at the large gynoid. I had never seen an android of any kind this big before, but I took a quick look around and noticed he was right. While they majority of the parts were unfinished, I could see a conveyer belt with dusty but finished arms and hands that clearly had an appearance of being human. They didn't have skin like Tera, but they did have a hard shell that was colored to match various skin tones. Today it wouldn't convince anyone, but back then it was state-of-the-art.

"Ok... so they are humanoid. And?"

"Don't you get it? This place is historic. They modeled factories after this one. My grandfather built this place, and from it came the revolution in robotics that made modern androids possible. He was years ahead of his time! Without Miss Amazon Killing Machine here, you'd have no Tera."

The robot abruptly came back to life. "DATABASE ENTRY FOUND. SCANNING" she said, her eyes turning yellow and studying Tom's face. "CONFIRMED. PLEASE SUBMIT DNA SAMPLE."

"So you weren't the first to implement that" I mumbled to myself. Tom held out his hand, and the gynoid took it. Her hand was smooth, dainty, but large. One of the fingers on her right hand split down the middle and opened up, allowing a tiny needle to poke through. A steam mist sprayed over the needle, sterilizing it, and she gently and quickly pressed her finger against his, taking a small sample of his blood. Tom didn't even flinch, and stood strong waiting silently for the results.

"PROCESSING. DNA MATCH CONFIRMED. Welcome to the Pagmalion Incorporated fully automated robotics facility. I am Andrea. How may I help you today sir?" Her eyes turned green, and her manner relaxed as her voice turned friendly and inviting. Unfortunately, she remembered I was still in the room. "Unauthorized personnel. Shall I dispose of him, sir?"

"No. This is Danny Hawthorn. He will be the new supervisor for the factory" Tom said.

"What?" I asked.

"Either that or she can escort you out." Tom said facing me. "Look, just go with it for now, it's not like this is a permanent position or anything."

"Please submit a DNA sample" Andrea asked looking at me. Not a permanent position, huh?

I held out my hand, and Andrea took it. With the same finger, and another searing dose of sanitizing steam, she took a small blood sample from my hand.

"Ouch" I said when she made contact. I waited while she processed the new data, hoping her ancient systems were still sterilized.

"DNA sample contaminated. Please submit another sample" she said. So much for sanitary samples. I reached out my hand again, and she took another sample.

"Ow!" I said, sucking on my pricked finger.

"Baby" Tom muttered. I shot him a dirty look but he didn't notice.

"DNA sample contaminated. Please submit another sample" she repeated. Contaminated twice? Either she was really dirty, which would not explain how her sample with Tom worked so well, or there was something screwy going on.

"Andrea" Tom said, "can you use a retina scan?"

"Affirmative" she replied, understanding the implication. Her eyes turned blue, and she scanned my eyes for a moment. "Registration completed" she said as her eyes went green again. "Welcome to the Pagmalion Incorporated fully automated robotics facility, Mr. Hawthorne. I am Andrea. How may I help you today sir?"

"Explain to me what the hell is going on here?" I asked Tom.

"This facility was created by Isaac J. Pagmalion" Andrea answered. "After 15 years of operation, the factory was deemed no longer profitable, and used solely for experimental use. Isaac Pagmalion wanted to keep the factory within the family, but was forced to shut down all operations a few years later, leaving me on standby with a minimal power supply. I have been on standby for..." she froze for a moment, apparently updating her clock or something, "... approximately 45 years. Today, a power interruption activated my sensors, and Thomas Pagmalion registered as the new owner, leaving Daniel Hawthorne-"

"Ok, ok. I got it. Um... Tom... why make me supervisor?"

"I can't possibly run something like this all by myself. And you are just the man for the job" he replied.

"Run this place? You're kidding right? 5 minutes ago you didn't even know this place existed!"

"5 minutes ago YOU didn't know this place existed. I've known about this facility most my life, I just never expected it to be here" Tom explained. "My family owns a lot of property around the world; I always thought Andrea was in L.A."

"Wait... I thought you were a lab assistant. ASSISTANT. And if you're family owns all this land, why did you work for MMR?" I asked getting a little suspicious.

"After my father died, I got mixed up with Liberati. My mother refused to give me any of the family secrets, for fear the mob would use them. After Cynthia took me away from the mafia, I eventually made it up to mother, and she started to let me know about our past. She died a few years ago in a fire, along with all the secrets she never told me. Legally, I was made aware of all the assets I inherited, but I never knew what it all actually was. They were mostly just broken abandoned factories. I cannot see a penny of my family's fortune until I have an heir. Cynthia and I... well... we can't have children naturally, and there's a lot of red tape to deal with, so until we figured out what we could do, I got a job where Cynthia worked to make ends meet. She managed to get me an assistant position, despite my sorted background."

"Oh..." I said, caught off-guard. I didn't expect a sob story, but it made sense. Inheritance laws are a pain in the ass, and while he seems to have gained access to the property his family owned, he could potentially lose all the money they built-up over the years if he didn't have an heir of some sort. I doubted Joan or even Tera would fool a court of law. As human as they are, the matter of documentation and apparent ages are a real killer. No one would believe a 20-something year old girl appeared out of nowhere to be a 40-something year old man's daughter with no birth records or social security number. "I'm sorry to hear all that."

"No, it's ok. I've made peace with my past, and all I can do now is figure out my future" Tom said. "To think I finally found Andrea and the autonomous factory, and she was so close!"

I thought about it for a moment, and realized this was a prime opportunity, plus it could help out Tom who had done so much for me already. "Well, I'll be honored to take part in this endeavor. I needed a more stable job anyways." I turned toward the patient robot and addressed her. "Andrea, what can you do?"

"I am designed to maintain and run the factory, manage personnel, and handle all security measures" she said politely. In short, she was the brains and most of the muscle behind the operation.

"What kind of security are you capable of?" I asked.

"I am capable of both observation and execution. All my exterior and perimeter sensors have been disabled, but my interior sensors are fully active. My exterior defenses are also disabled, but I am still fully equipped with anti-personnel weaponry" she said, before extending one arm and holding it still. I watched as her arm, like her finger had before, split opened and parts twisted and flipped, revealing a heavy duty machine gun! Even a weapon from a century ago was still able to kill a man. This machine gun could rip a man to shreds in seconds.

As I sat there watching the impressive display, something occurred to me. Not only was this gynoid far more advanced than her age let on, but she was an excellent defense for the building as a whole. Imagine fending off any future attacks with a 7 foot beauty like this, I'm just glad she's on our side! I'm sure Joan would love to see her defensive capabilities, and I had to wonder what else she could offer us.

It also looks like Tom had more about his past than he let on as well. I was vaguely familiar with the name Pagmalion, but it never struck a bell before. I dimly recalled hearing about a company with a similar name spearheading modern robotics, but it was just ancient history. Something for the history books. I never expected the grandson and heir to the company that essentially started the craze for androids to be standing next to me. None the less, we stood there debating what our options were, when I decided it was time to make a move of sorts.

"Do you... uh... need those wires hooked up? I mean as long as the factory is on hold like this..." I asked.

"No. I am capable of mobility outside the facility to accommodate-"

"Perfect" I interrupted. "Disconnect and come with us."

"What are you doing?" Tom said. "She's delicate."

"Oh I doubt that, she looks like she can handle herself" I replied smugly.

"Well... what are you doing?" he asked again.

"Introducing her to the rest of the... family" I responded looking back at the enormous girl as she carefully unplugged each wire and cable from her body. I had never seen a robot as old as her look as human as she did. Sure she had no skin, at least nothing that looked like human skin on her, and she had a worn metallic sheen to her body that no human would possess, but her design and personality (except for the scary warrior princess part) were more natural than I expected.. I thought back to my broken old gynoid torso at home. I realized my unit was normal sized, much smaller than Andrea, but she must have come from this very facility to have a face that matched Andrea's. I wondered who owned her before and what was she built for? Maybe Andrea will know if I can ever get back to my apartment to retrieve her.

I led Andrea out into the sun. She faltered for a moment, putting a hand up to cover her eyes.

"Sensory input overload... adjusting... adjusting..." she said as she halted. Apparently she'd been in the dark so long, she had to adjust to regular daylight. It took her a few seconds, but she finally managed. Tom and Andrea followed me as I led a path back to the office area.

"Andrea, could you wait here for a moment?" I asked. She obeyed, standing stoic in the grass outside next to the dented up SUV. Tom came with me, leaving Andrea there alone. She seemed more interested in the damaged SUV than anything else. Sure the SUV still drove, and as long as the rightful owners didn't get home anytime soon, no one would know it wasn't ours or that we had to drive through a garage wall with it to save our lives.

Tom and I entered the door, but were not greeted by anyone, they were all too busy. 261 still sat with Tera and Jen, who were apparently finishing up their conversation. Jack and Joan were looking things up on his laptop, while Cynthia focused on busying herself with chores.

"Excuse me" Tom announced, clearing his throat. Everyone looked up from what they were doing at us. "I don't mean to alarm anyone, but I'd like to invite all of you to meet someone."

"Meet someone?" Cynthia asked.

"Did you go out on your own?" Joan asked, looking a little cross. "You know it's dangerous to wander around with Liberati's people about."

"No no, we didn't take a step off the property" I assured her. She still looked a little miffed, but much less agitated.

"Andrea, come inside and meet everyone" Tom said, waving to Andrea. She looked up from the damaged front of the truck and walked in. She had to duck slightly to get into the door. As she stood up straight, she towered over everyone in the room.

"Whoa..." Jen said. I think she summed up everyone's expressions into one work pretty nicely. They all stared at her unbelievingly.

"Tom? What is this?" Cynthia asked with concern in her voice.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Andrea, the newest... and oldest member of our... um... group" Tom said.

"Danny? Where did you find her?" Tera asked, looked up at her with awe.

"Have you ever been curious as to what the rest of this building had in it?" I asked. I answered without waiting for a response. "Well, it appears there's an old historic robot factory in there all sealed off. Andrea here was... well, in charge of it, before they shut it down and left her on standby."

"Unauthorized personnel present. Should I-" Andrea said looking at everyone.

"No!" Tom interjected. "No they are all new... uh... employees."

Tom walked in farther, and Andrea followed him gracefully. Everyone got up to approach and stood more or less next to each other to behold the tall gynoid.

"Danny" Jen whispered to me, "She’s enormous! Is she safe?"

"I think so" I answered loud enough to everyone to hear. "It appears Tom is the direct descendant of the man who built this place, and her. He inherited her, although he only just found her."

"Oh... ok" Jen said, half listening to me.

"Andrea" Tom projected, "This is my wife, and head of operations at the lab, Cynthia."

"Greetings. Welcome to the Pagmalion Incorporated fully automated robotics facility, Mrs. Pagmalion." Andrea said, offering her hand. She didn't ask for a DNA sample, but she did shake Cynthia's hand with a gentle grasp.

"Um... Thank you" Cynthia said. Joan was standing next to her, so we went down the line introducing each person.

"Andrea, this is Joan, she'll be in charge of security operations." I said this time.

"Welcome to the Pagmalion Incorporated fully automated robotics facility, Joan. Do you have a last name I may enter into your file?" Andrea asked.

"Umm... no. Well... I guess it's uh... Hawthorne?" she said looking toward me. I never really thought about it before. Since she was made by Tom and Cynthia she could use the name Pagmalion. However, since she was registered to me, making me her owner and master, she could use my name. She chose to use mine, so I shrugged back and nodded. I know, mixed message and all, but she understood. "Yes. Hawthorne."

"Joan Hawthorne. Please submit a DNA sample" Andrea requested. I didn't understand why she wanted a DNA sample from Joan but not from Cynthia.

"Um..." Joan said.

"She can't do that" I interjected. "She's the latest model gynoid from the M-" Tom jabbed his elbow into my ribs and shook his head. "-oof... umm... from the Pagmalion experimental... uh... labs." Tom nodded in approval.

"Understood. Please register your model and unit number." Andrea asked.

"Oh. Um... XKQT-114, Unit 260."

"Confirmed. Thank you for registering Miss Hawthorne" Andrea replied.

"Joan is fine."

"Of course. Joan" Andrea corrected. Jack stood next to Joan, and being Jack, introduced himself.

"Jack Ripper. Pleased to meet you" he said offering his hand to Andrea. "I must say I've never beheld a beauty like you before." Jen started giving him a cross look as he shook Andrea's hand, but he just ignored it.

"Jack's our new... Information Technology guru" I said. "He'll be in charge of the computer systems and the like."

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Ripper" Andrea said returning the greeting. I never did find out Jack's real last name, and I never bothered to ask. I suppose if he wanted us to know, he would have told us by now. "Welcome to the Pagmalion Incorporated fully automated robotics facility, Mr. Ripper."

"Please call me Jack" he said... and I got the strange feeling he wanted to say a corny line like 'call me yours' or something... but Jen probably would have gutted him if he did.

"This here is Jen-"

"Jennifer Conroy, you can call me Jen" Jen replied.

"Conroy?" Tera asked silently.

"Yeah. I just go by Jen. Sorry if I never gave you my last name before. It's just a name." She had a good strong name, but didn't seem to think much about it. Not sure why. I never called her by her last name, so it had been a while since I referred to her by it.

"Jen will be our head of... research and development" I said, coming up with something I think she would be good at. She gave me a sort of 'sounds interesting' look.

"Welcome to the Pagmalion Incorporated fully automated robotics facility, Jen" Andrea repeated. She was definitely more robot than human, but it wasn't bad for a 50 year old machine. Again she didn't ask for a DNA sample. I suppose she probably required a sample only from her direct superiors.

"And this is Tera Hawthorne, my girlfriend" I said proudly. "She's... uh..." I couldn't think of a job title for her. She wasn't particularly skilled in technical stuff, but she was pretty good with people. "She's our customer service relations representative."

"Customer relations?" Tera asked.

"Yeah, I'll explain later" I said.

Andrea shook her hand and gave her the same greeting as everyone else, calling her Miss Hawthorne. Tera giggled at this, and didn't correct her. I think she got a kick out of being called that.

"She's also from the same line as Joan" I pointed out.

"Please register your model and unit number" Andrea requested.

"Oh. XKQT-114. Unit 263" Tera told her.

"Confirmed. Thank you for registering Miss Hawthorne." Tera giggled again. I could see Jen silently chuckled to herself while rolling her eyes.

"And this is?" Andrea asked, facing 261. 261 stood there silently, staring up at the female robot without any sign of fear or trepidation. She stood her ground, but remained silent.

"Um... we're still kind of figuring that one out" I said to myself.

"She's XKQT-114, Unit 261" Tom said. "We are still in the process of assigning her... position."

"Confirmed. Understood" Andrea said. With introductions complete, Andrea looked around the room, studying the layout, learning the changes. She walked toward the lab, the dorms, and even the unfinished room. Everyone else just watched and muttered to themselves.

"I don't understand where she came from" Tera said.

"She was locked up in an extended hibernation mode inside the other part of this building" Tom told her. "Andrea was the most advanced robot for her time. She's kind of like your ancestor."

"Ancestor?" Tera asked intrigued.

"Fascinating" Joan muttered to herself.

"Are you sure we can trust her?" Jen asked.

"Positive" Tom answered. "She'll obey any command I give her. She was one of the first to be equipped with the old stricter 3 Laws algorithm."

"So she'll follow anyone's commands?" Jen asked.

"No, she'll only follow her superiors. That would be me, Danny, and Joan apparently."

Just then Andrea returned and walked toward Joan. Joan took half a step back, out of reaction I guess, but stood straight up to face her.

"I request an audience with you, Joan. As head of security, there are several issues I would like to discuss to increase the security in this facility."

"Uh..." Joan said, a little caught off-guard. "Sure." She looked around at everyone else. I shrugged at her and Tom nodded, so she faced Andrea again. "Sure. Let's talk over there" she said pointing to some seats in the corner away from the eating area.

The two of them sat down at a table, Andrea still a head taller than Joan, and started talking. I didn't get a chance to listen in to their conversation, since Tera pulled me aside.

"She's really something" Tera said, "but so is my sister, and it's your turn to talk with her." I was kind of regretting doing this. It made me nervous, but looking at 261, I realized she was far more nervous than I was. I took a deep breath and nodded to Tera.

"First help me out of this thing" I said, referring to my Exo suit, which was still on.

"Oh! Of course." She started helping me disconnect the various parts and unstrap it from me. She brought it over to an outlet near the kitchen and plugged it in to recharge before she returned smiling at me, doing a little dance step as she walked.

"Okay. Let's do this." I said. She kissed me on the cheek and led me over to the kitchen table. Cynthia and Tom started talking as well, clearly discussing Andrea, as they stepped outside. Jack sat back down to his laptop and started going over whatever it was he was going over, while Jen sat near him, but kept her attention on Andrea.

I sat at the table and gave Tera a smile as she went to fetch her timid sister. I knew she would be apprehensive about approaching me, so I tried to look as friendly as I could. I put on a great big smile and left my hands folded and in clear view on the table. Tera led her by the hand toward the table, and pulled out a chair for her. I looked between 261 and Tera, and for once, I could see a family resemblance between them. It was almost as if 261 was the bridge between Joan and Tera, who I didn't think looked that much alike. There was a definite progression in their appearance when the sisters were together.

261 at across from me looking down at the table, while Tera sat next to her, holding one of her hands in hers. I could easily see her nervousness and urge to hide, but she tried her best to repress those urges, and managed to look up at me every now and then.

"Feeling better today?" I asked her.

"... A little" she answered, head bowed.

"Good. I understand you want to talk with me about who you want to be your-"

"Yes" she interrupted. "Yes... I want to find out more about you... before I make a decision."

"Alright. Feel free to ask me anything you want" I said calmly.

"Umm... do you ever... yell at Tera or Joan?" she asked shyly.

"Never!" Tera said.

"I don't like to raise my voice at my friends" I replied after Tera. "But I can't say I never yell at all. However, I promise that I will not yell at you, or Joan, or Tera."

"Even if I did something that hurt you?" she asked.

"Why would you do something like that?"

"I... I still have the urge to follow out my commands" she said plainly. "Until I'm registered, I'll never fully be rid of them. Besides, I can choose to break the rules if... if I want."

"I won't yell at you" I said plainly. I wasn't sure I could keep that promise, but I could at least try.

"Even if I hurt Tera again?"

I looked between her and Tera. Tera gave me an unsure look, but 261 just stared down at the table never making direct eye contact.

"Even then" I answered.

"Okay" she replied, apparently satisfied. "Have you ever hurt Tera or Joan?"

"He'd never hurt us!" Tera objected.

"Never knowingly" I said. "Tera and Joan are among my closest friends, and I could never hurt a friend."

"Will you hurt me?" she asked.

"Of course not! Look at me" I ordered. She winced at my command, but looked up at my eyes. "I promise I will never do anything to knowingly hurt you or your sisters."

She remained staring at my eyes and blinked a few times. I kept my gaze serious, but not unfriendly. She was caught in my gaze, and nodded without looking away.

"Would you rape me?" she asked plainly and seriously.

"I am not those men" I answered. "I would never do such a thing to anyone. I would never do anything to you against your will, unless it was for your own good, and rape is never good."

"Promise?" Her green eyes were beginning to water up as she stared at me.

"I swear to you and your sisters that I will never yell at you, hurt you, rape you, or do anything to you that is bad. Tera loves you dearly. I could never do anything that would upset her, and hurting you would make her furious with me."

She caught a glimpse at Tera, who smiled at her, and then back at me. "I... I'm sorry to ask you such... messed up things"

"Don't be. Those men hurt you, and it will take time for you to fully recover from that. I will help you as much as you will let me, regardless of who you choose as your owner."

"Do you think Jen would still like me if I chose you over her?" she asked.

"Jen? Sure. She's my oldest friend. She and Tera get along great. I'm sure she'd still be friends with you if you let her."

"She does seem nice... really cool. I like her" she said looking down again. "Could you ever be... friends with me?"

"I'm sure we will" I said. "You've already opened up to me more than I expected." This actually made her blush, and I saw her grasp Tera's hand a little tighter.

"Are you mad at me for what I did?" she asked.

"I have to admit that you hurt Tera, and tried to hurt me" I said sitting back a little. "I want to be mad at you, but... I just can't. Tera has clearly already forgiven you, and you were clearly not yourself when you did those things. So... no. I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at Liberati and the men who did this to you."

"Liberati..." she muttered under her breath. "Will you stop him?" she asked loudly, looking me straight in the eye.

"I will do whatever I can to stop him, but I can only do it with your help."

"I..." she looked nervous again, but tried her best to control herself. "I don't think I can get near that place again."

"You don't need to. We just want you to help us figure out where he is, and how to get in and out. Can you do that?"

She nodded to me, and took another deep breath. "I'll do what I can."

"Thank you. We can't do this without you" I said. She blushed again, and smiled. She had a pretty smile, and I was sure I was going to see more of it.

"I'm... still trying my best to... not be scared of men. You are making it... too easy" she said with a smile. I laughed, and she looked a little startled at me reaction at first, but soon calmed down and actually giggled a little. Tera laughed with her a little.

"I'll do what I can to help you get over that. We aren't all bad" I said.

"I know... I just... get so nervous... I used to get abused and attacked every day at..." she started to say before she fell silent again. "Sorry. I felt so relieved when they wanted me to go out on my own to... hunt you" she said nervously. "I didn't want to hurt Tera, but I had no choice. I had to. Every day you avoided me was another day I could be away from the men who attacked me. I admit... I shot you so many times out of frustration for what they did to me. I'm sorry."

"I forgive you" I said. She visibly calmed, like a weight had been lifted off her chest.

"Thank you! It feels good to hear that." She was silent a short while before she asked me another question. "Why did you name my baby sis Tera?"

"Oh! Heh..." I wasn't sure where that came from, but I thought back to last weekend and why I came up with that name. "She was sick with a sort of virus, and had hacked into one of my broken robots to talk to me... and I was just so impressed with her ability to hack into systems like that... I guess I decided to name her something after a computer and 'Tera' came to mind because it was short of Terabyte, and I thought it sounded cute."

"And I love it!" Tera said.

"What about Joan?" 261 asked.

"Umm... well I got to chat with her for a little before I registered her. I learned that she was a fan of history, and historic figures. She recalled Cynthia teaching her, and she felt she had a strong connection with one important figure. So I decided to name her after Joan of Arc, because she was soldier and a leader for her people, much like how she was herself. She was trained as a soldier, and wanted to protect her sisters and friends."

"Joan of Arc... I remember that story" she said quietly. "What... would you name me?" she asked.

"I... uh... I haven't thought about it yet" I answered. "Probably something to do with your interests or specialty. Unless you really don't like that. Is there anything or anyone you are particularly interested in?"

She thought about it for a moment. "I remember I used to like... cowboys, the Wild West. I don't know anymore if I still like it. I used to imagine I was the fastest gunslinger... but that was just for fun. I never really... told anyone... before."

She really was opening up to me if she was telling me something about her pat she never told anyone before. I felt she was getting more comfortable around me. I knew she was going to get over this phobia, and I would do what I could to help her. Getting used to specific men and people she was already familiar with was one step. But being able to handle a complete stranger was a different matter entirely.

Tera seemed just as surprised at this revelation as me, and learned something new about her own sister. I got an idea. While I was never really into that stuff myself, I knew a little about it, and one name came to mind. 261 was a specialist in sniper shooting, and there was a famous Russian female sniper, Lyud-something... but I doubt she'd want to be named after someone who was famous for killing hundreds of people. There was only one other famous female gunslinger I knew of, and it worked perfectly with her old interest. I also thought it would help her feel a little more like her old self if she could associate with her old interests again. Who knows, she might start to act more like her old self again too.

"I've got the perfect name for you, and it's cute like you too." She blushed again, which was something I could never get enough of... making girls blush that is. "How about Annie... named after the famous sharpshooter Annie Oakley."

"Annie? It sounds so... cute..." she said. "Annie... I... hmm..." she thought about it for a while. "I'll have to think about it."

"Annie?" Tera repeated herself as if testing it.

"Is there anything else you wanted to ask me?" I asked.

"Umm... well... I'm not sure. I just want to know I can trust you and be... comfortable around you. Do... do you want to ask me anything?"

"To be honest, I'm surprised you're considering me at all, when Jen would be an excellent master and a woman" I said.

"Yes... she would be... and she is. But I would ever get over this... fear... this hate that I feel inside me... if I didn't confront it. If I just avoided it, I'm afraid I'd get worse. I want to put this all behind me... I just want to be myself again! Besides... if Joan and Tera both like you... you can't be all that bad."

That was very sound logic for her. She recognized she had a problem, and she was doing her best to fix it. If only humans were so... logical.

"If you want to think it over, we'll wait for your answer" Tera said.

"I... I would like that. But... I'm afraid I have nothing to offer you."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well... I mean as a company. It seems dad wants to make this lab a company again... but I'm not good at all that stuff" 261 said.

"We'll think of something for you to do, while you decide. How about that?" I suggested.

"Sure!" she said. We all got up from the table, and 261 went off to the dorms to think while Tera and I went to join the others.

By now, Tom had shown Cynthia the rest of the building, the hidden lab he couldn't access before, and all the goodies within. The place would be little use to us as is, if he was serious about making this a company, but who knows, it could be fixed up. Jen and Jack had started discussing something looking at his laptop, while Joan was still deep in discussion with Andrea.

"So what do you think?" I asked Tera.

"About what?" she replied.

"Who will she choose?"

"I'm not sure... but I think she's leaning toward you actually. She chatted a lot with Jen, but it was mostly small talk, little things. But she asked you some real serious stuff back there. I think she's serious about trying to break this phobia... and she means to use you to help her" she answered.

"Perhaps you're right. Do you think she'll ever be the same again?"

"I... I doubt it" she said sadly. "She's so different from how she used to be. She used to be the life of the family. She'd be telling all the jokes, and was always getting into trouble all the time. She was loud and funny and fun, but now... she's so timid. She's like a completely different person altogether. I... I don't know if she'll ever get that old spark back."

Tera seemed to be on the verge of crying, not a loud sobbing cry, but a silent reserved one. Her eyes watered for her lost past, and her damaged sister. I put my arm around her to comfort her, and it worked. She leaned into me and sighed.

"Let's find out what everyone else is up to" I suggested. She nodded and gave my hand a kiss before walking in front of me in more of a dance than a walk. She was still bubbly and cute, and still danced to her own beat.

We sat down with the others to discuss everything that was going on. Apparently Andrea had some excellent ideas for security, and was quick to learn new things and update her database. She probably needed maintenance that she hadn't seen in years, and so Tom took her into the new labs to work on her. Cynthia was discussing with Jen and Joan what they could do with the new space that we uncovered. It sounded to me like they were planning to use it to build a new facility and re-launch the Pagmalion brand again. Jack was deep in thought staring at his screen. Tera joined the girls while I talked with Jack.

"What're you looking at?' I asked him.

"You" he said. "And Tera and Joan of course."

"What?"

"Take a look at the footage." He twisted his laptop to face me, and on it was a new update showing a security camera feed from the ice cream parlor. There was Diane, the gunwoman, and the 3 of us. I watched as Tera pushed the little girl into the arms of her mother and quickly shoved the gun toward the ceiling as it went off. They never got a clear look at Tera's face, but Joan and I were clearly visible.

"Holy... I should have known..."

"I wish I knew about this sooner" he said. 'Then again, having power and internet would have helped too. I might have been able to do something about this."

"Anyone link it to Exo yet?"

"No. It seems there have been some Exo copycats though... but most of them have been petty crooks using your look to rob stores. No one believes them... and most of them have been caught."

"Typical. Try to do something to help and all the rats come out of the woodwork to take advantage of you" I said bitterly.

"Most people think you are a hero. There's even a small fan club starting up" he said.

"What!?"

"Seriously. They are starting to look up to you for fighting the blatant crime in this city. Liberati is a small fry mobster nowadays, but with so many muggings and attacks, you are the first person to fight back."

"Really? What have the police been doing all this time?" I asked.

"Simple. Staying out of the way, or doing their best when they think they have a chance. They are calling you both a menace and a hero. In fact, they want you for questioning in that ice cream parlor incident."

"Really?"

"If they haven't been to your place yet, I'm sure they will be."

"I have nothing to hide there... as long as Tera is with me. You would be a different story I'm sure."

"Oh don't worry about me, Danny-boy" he said smugly. "My secrets hide themselves."

I looked at him with a 'are you serous' look, but he just flashed his shiny grin at me. "So what do you suggest we do about this?" I asked.

"Well... it's too late to change the information; half the city has probably seen your face by now. Not to mention with one metallic arm, Joan sticks out like a sore thumb."

"Well I'm no big name guy. I doubt anyone even has me on record. Can you maybe help brush this one under the carpet, so to speak? Maybe we can start getting some more positive stuff with Exo out there after all this is over."

"I see what you're saying" Jack said, winking his eye. "Play the media. Let them do what they do best, move onto a more interesting story. That I can do! I can even take them off the trial by bringing up cyborg rights issues."

"What?"

"No one knows Joan isn't human. If they think her rights as a cyborg with an artificial arm are at risk for unwanted media attention, we could change the discussion and lead the media in a whole new direction."

"Good idea. Meanwhile, if Joan wants to continue to help me... she’ll need something to hide her identity" I suggested.

"Forgive me but... I don't think your hat would look good on her."

"We'll figure something out." Jack started tying away and doing his thing, while I left him to take care of it. I decided to join in the discussion of what to do next, and what to do with the rest of the building.

It was sometime in the late afternoon when we finally saw 261 emerge from Joan's bedroom. She was apparently hungry, and without a word she went straight to the kitchen and started to munch on some snacks we unpacked and put away. Tom saw her from the lab where he was still working on Andrea, and followed her. Everyone slowly stopped talking and watched her as she sat there eating an apple.

"What?" she asked. "I'm hungry."

"We were just wondering how you're coming" Cynthia said.

261 kept eating her apple, one large bite at a time, until there as nothing left but a sliver of a core. We all waited patiently for her to answer, but she took her time until she was ready to answer. Finally, she tossed the apple into the trash across the room, a perfect aim, and took a breath with her eyes closed. As she opened her eyes, she looked at us and spoke...

"I've decided." She held for a moment for I assume dramatic interest. "I would be honored if Danny would be my new master."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes. As much as I like Jen, I can't bear the thought of being separated from my sisters again. Since you currently own 2 of them, I want you to take me as well. Plus, I think I can get the most out of a relationship with a man than with a woman."

"Relationship?" I asked.

"I still want to be friends with you Jen" she added. "I really enjoyed our talk, and I hope there are no hard feelings."

"No, none at all. Danny will make a great master, and I'll be glad to be your friend, kiddo" Jen answered.

Tera skipped up to 261 and gave her a hug, while Joan sauntered up and rubbed her short black hair till it was messy. 261 beamed and basked in the attention. Maybe a little of her old personality was shining through. Who knows, she might just become her old self again with time.

"So... uh..." 261 started saying, "how do we do this?"

261 and I sat down in the bedroom Tera and I have been using, while Tera stood behind. We wanted as much privacy as possible, just for comfort's sake really. I really hoped I didn't need to have sex with her just to register her like I did with Tera and Joan. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy it, but I was sure 261 wasn't ready for that kind of interaction. Tera was there not only to help comfort her sister, but also to help us break the link between her and Liberati, and to help with the registration if we needed it. 261 sat on the bed silent and reserved, while I sat on a chair facing her.

"Are you sure?" I asked her one last time. She nodded and breathed heavily. "Ready?"

"Now or never" she said.

"I nodded to Tera, who unzipped the tight zipper on her sister's collar, and lifted the flap, revealing her access panel. With a click, she connected her own Thunderbolt port into her sister's collar, and closed her eyes.

As Tera opened her eyes again, they started glowing blue, fading in and out, as they normally did when she was connected to something. 261's eyes did the same thing, glowing green, her own eye color, in time with Tera's eyes as she was accessed by her baby sister. When Tera had done this with Joan, she had to fight her the whole time, bypassing her defenses to allow her to break the registration she had with Liberati. It was a huge strain on Tera then, and she drained most of her considerable energy to maintain her control over her sister and finally snap that connection. However, this time, she didn't have nearly the amount of trouble getting into 261.

"How are you feeling, Tera?" I asked.

"She's... letting me right in. Much easier than with Joan" she answered.

"How about you?" I asked 261.

She looked at me and blinked. "It feels weird. She's... in my head... I want to push her out but... I can't bear to hurt her anymore." She looked troubled, like someone going to the dentist, and she was clearly fighting her own urges to fight back.

"I think the registration was damaged when she was attacked" Tera explained. "She's able to control her urges to attack back. Relax, this will feel weird, and you might black out for a bit" she said gently to her sister.

"Black out?" 261 said worried with a hint of panic in her voice.

Suddenly, their eyes glowed brighter together, and 261 froze in place for a moment. Her eyes unfocused and she sat up straight, staring blankly ahead with glowing green eyes.

"Registration cleared. New registry applied. Rebooting..." 261 sounded much like Joan had when I registered her. "Rebooting in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."

Tera's eyes dimmed back down to her natural eyes, and she blinked and looked at me, and then her sister, pulling the Thunderbolt cord out of her collar. 261 closed her eyes and slouched and remained still and unconscious for several seconds.

"Let me help you with that" I said, taking the cable from Tera's hand and retracting the cord back into her neck. She smiled as I helped her out; looking at me with a look I had never seen from her before. Usually she looked at me with awe, lust, affection, or even friendship. But this look was something deeper. It was full to the brim of all of the above, and more. It was a look that screamed love, and I was slightly taken back by it. I smiled back, not nearly as deeply as she did, and closed the panel on her neck, watching the blue light hide the seam from view.

Suddenly, 261 started to slowly sit upright again, and opened her eyes, which began to glow green again, focusing them on me. "Good Evening" Unit 261 said. "Detecting new data. Loading data." She sounded mechanical, much like an old automated phone system, exactly like Joan did when she was booting up. The whole thing screamed Deja Vu.

"I am XKQT-114 unit 261, battle-ready prototype gynoid. Thank you for registering me master. Preloaded user specs detected. What is my name?"

Once again Tera had loaded her up with all the specifications I gave her the first time I registered her. It definitely made this an easier process.

"Annie" I told her.

"Annie. A-N-N-I-E?" she asked.

"Yes" I answered.

"Confirmed. Name registered. My name is Annie, and I am ready to assist you. What can I do for you today, master? Master!?"

Her eyes stopped glowing, and returned to their regular state. She apparently already restarted her personality, and was questioning herself calling me 'master'.

"You only need to call me master when you feel like it, but not in public. Just call me Danny, or Exo if I have on my Exo suit."

"Exo? Exo suit? Oh... that exo-skeleton suit thing I saw you wearing. That's what you call yourself?" Annie asked.

"What? The media seems to like it. They came up with it."

"Oh... well... ok. I can do that" Annie said.

"How are you feeling?" Tera asked.

"Mmm... pretty good actually. I... I feel... complete. Like something was missing before, something I didn't realize. I don't have that nagging urge to hurt anyone anymore. I..." she started to tear up, but just sniffed and wiped away the tears. "I feel wanted."

Tera gave her a hug and she hugged back. Something must have snapped inside her, because she started crying much harder into her sister's shoulder, letting out all the frustration she had deep inside until now.

"Thank you" Annie whispered to Tera. "Thanks for everything. And thank you too Danny" she said to me, looking at me from over her sister's shoulder as they hugged. "I mean... master."

"You're welcome" I said, and got up to leave the room, and let the two sisters have some time alone. Before I could get anywhere, Annie shot her hand out to me and grabbed my wrist.

"Don't go" she said. "I don't know if I'm comfortable hugging you yet, but just don't go." I nodded and sat back down. She hugged her sister a little while longer and squeezed my hand tightly.

"Feeling better?" Tera asked as she broke the hug.

Annie nodded. "Yes, much. Could I... have some time alone with... master?"

Tera gave her an inquisitive look, but smiled and nodded, before looking back to me with a smile. She got up and left the room. "I'll be right here if you need me" she said before closing the door.

"I... wanted to thank you" she said "but I'm still nervous."

"You don't need to do anything you aren't comfortable with."

"Both Joan and Tera already had s-... made love to you... shouldn't I s-... serve you also?"

"It isn't like that. And no. In fact, I insist that you don't do anything like that unless we are both willing and ready. You have a lot more healing to do, and that will probably not help. You are not my slave."

"I know..." she said. "I... I don't know. I don't know what I want. I... I wish none of this ever happened."

"But unfortunately it did. However, now you have me to help, and I'll do what I can to help you and your sisters out."

"262 is still in there... I want to get her out. But... I feel so relieved that I am finally out of that nightmare. I feel like I just woke up from a long bad dream, but now everything is different." She sat there nervously, looking up at me every so often. "I... I still want to thank you for getting me out of that."

"You just did. And you're welcome, Annie. Now get out there and go talk with your sisters" I said. She stood up, but hesitated again. Abruptly, she threw her arms around me and embraced me in an extremely tight hug. It was very tight, and I had a hard time breathing. She sat across my lap while she hugged me, and I felt how light and soft she really was. She was smaller than her sisters, and had that certain appeal and sexiness that would drive most men crazy. I resisted as best as I could, but did gently return the hug.

"I promise one of these days I'll make it up to you properly" she whispered in my ear. "Be gentle" she said when she felt my arms touch her sides in a hug. I made sure my hug was not tight as she clung to me. She stayed that way for several minutes, slowly letting her hug loosen as she got more comfortable and used to me. She was so nervous at first; she risked hugging me to death.

"I'm sorry I can't do more than this... m... master" she whispered softly. "Please help me."

"You have my word I will do everything I can to help you, and to help your sisters" I whispered back. She finally broke the hug and smiled at me, before she got nervous again, and stood up. Annie took another deep breath and prepared herself mentally for entering the world again, no longer as 261 the sniper, but this time as Annie the girl.

She opened the door wide, and beheld both Joan and Tera standing eagerly on the other side. Behind them Cynthia and Tom were standing, waiting with bated anticipation for their second oldest daughter to officially return to them. Jen and Jack were standing nearby as well, with smiles on their faces. Her family greeted her, and hugged her, and laughed and talked with her. She turned around, and held out her hand toward me. I stood up, took her hand, and joined in the celebration. She was finally home, and had her family back, with a few more members as well.

Chapter 25 - Clockwork heart

Cynthia took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. "Let's go over this again" she requested.

"Ok... Annie says that Liberati frequents a nightclub he owns" Jen explained again. He had already gone over the plan twice, but we were all so nervous with the idea of what was essentially a frontal assault, no one complained about reviewing it again. "We know he likes to arrive late, and he has a private room where he often has a private session with the dancers." Jen's voice sounded a little disgusted as she spat out the words. We all knew he was a horrible person, and he did horrible things, and having his way with women was only one of them.

"The club has 2 entrances" Joan explained, bringing up a map of the building on the TV, which Jack made sure was connected to the internet. "The front entrance is large and heavily guarded, and that is where the guests arrive. It is possible Liberati will use this entrance himself, but the back entrance is more important. VIPs use the back door, along with the staff, and it is likely they will try to get out the back if something goes wrong."

We looked at the blueprints on the screen and studied them carefully. The nightclub was a small one, but relatively popular in the area, called "Club Liber8". It was a sleazy adult venue with dancing, strippers, you name it. More drugs were probably consumed and dealt there than the rest of the city combined. I'm sure the cage girls were less-than-willing participants most of the time as well. But that was what drew in the crowds. The front was a large, ornate, red-carpet affair, with a valet service, a slew of bouncers, and a security team. No one got in without getting padded down and scanned for weapons. That could be an issue, if we used the front entrance. The back was much more simple. Annie told us that regularly 2 guards would watch the simple unadorned door, and all the real deals went through that entrance. The show of force at the front was merely a display, a farce, to make people think they were safe when indulging in their twisted fantasies. I was sure there were more than enough crooked black market deals and weaponry happening through the back than anyone realized.

"The guards there are cyborgs" Annie explained. "They're..." She tried to continue but shuddered at her memories of the place. Tera placed her hand gently on her, and Annie looked up at her sister finally calming down. "Sorry... It's hard. They're combat cyborgs."

"The plan is simple" I continued. "We split up into teams, and each team covers a different area. Tera and I will-"

"If I may suggest" Joan interrupted. "Tera is not a fighter. I mean, she's not combat ready like Annie or I. One of us should accompany you."

"I won't go near that place" Annie shuddered.

"You don't have to, but I want Tera to be safe" I replied.

"I'm going in with you!" Tera was set on helping out with this attack. "I can't sit by the side lines doing nothing at all!"

"I have a suggestion" Joan added. "If Tera and Tom were to go in together..."

"Tera" I said, talking directly to her. "I know you want to help, but I can't let you run into the middle of a fight like this."

"There must be something I can do!" she objected. I thought about it for a second, and I realized there was a better way to use her. Joan was a combat android, ready to fight hand-to-hand at any moment, but Tera was built for espionage. Maybe I could use that to our advantage.

"I had an idea" I said. "Jen, you are familiar with nightclubs, right?"

"Vaguely" she replied. "I've been to some nice ones before, but nothing like this."

"Well, how about if you and Tera team up, you two can take the main entrance and make sure Liberati isn't hiding somewhere inside with his guests. Who knows, he might leave and we'll need you to alert us."

"Ah... hmm.. that isn't a bad idea" Jen said thoughtfully.

"I can't go with you, Danny?" Tera asked looking at me with big eyes.

"Not this time, but we'll be in constant communication. Besides, I trust you and Jen, and this really is an important task, we need someone who can blend into the crowd to monitor the main entrance, in case he makes a run for it."

"Alright Danny. I'll do it!" Tera looked determined, but I knew she was still nervous.

"What about the back entrance?" Jack asked, looking at the map.

"Well... everyone else will go in that way" I explained.

"And if he sneaks around and get out that way? We'll need someone watching the back as well" he pointed out.

"I suggest you watch the back from a distance" Joan said. "If Annie is willing to join you, she only need watch the back door from a safe distance... there is plenty of cover you can use if you need it."

"I... I don't know" Annie said nervously. "I... I want to help. But I don't want to be reminded of that place."

"Annie..." Cynthia said looking at her daughter with concern in her eyes.

"I'll let you shoot anyone who makes a run for it" I added. "But not the staff... innocent people are out."

"You mean... I can shoot Liberati or his goons?" she asked. I nodded and she got a sly look on her face. "Alright. I'll do it. But does it have to be with Jack?"

"I won't bite" Jack said playfully. I don't think it came off as well as he liked, since Annie shied away from the remark.

"He won't touch you" Jen said. "He has sworn to it." She gave him an icy stare, and he nodded back smiling.

"I swear I will not lay even one finger on you" he added. "Besides, my job is to take out their security, that means all the cameras, sensors, security drones... the lot. I'll be busy up to me arm pits in code."

"Oh" Annie said. "Okay. If Danny and Tera trust you" we both nodded "then I will too."

"Brilliant!" Jack said.

"But you're still talking about a head-on assault" Cynthia interrupted. "This is way too dangerous."

"We don't have many options, Cynthia" Tom added. He had been sitting silently contemplating the plan the entire time, and this was the first time he spoke out. "We need to act, and we need to act fast. Last time was too close, and I'd rather avoid there being a next time."

"I... I know. But I worry." Cynthia had every right to worry, we were all worried and scared. But we had to do something.

"You are part of this too" I added.

"Jen and Tera will enter the front of the club first and observe" Joan added, back in her soldier/commander role. "Once we have the all-clear, Danny and I will enter the back, taking out the guards."

"I... I think I can help with that" Annie added. Joan nodded to her before continuing.

"Once inside, we will take route A" she said, indicating a path on the map through the back rooms and hallways. "Meanwhile, Tom and Cynthia will follow behind and take route B" she said, indicating an alternate path reaching the rest of the rooms. With Tera and Jen at the front, Annie and Jack watching the rear, the entire place would be covered, with one exception.

"What about the second floor?" Jen asked.

"Once we have completed a search of the first floor, we will proceed to the second" Joan said, bringing up a map of the second floor with a swipe of her hand. The second floor was much smaller than the first, as it looked out over the dance floor, but it was a likely place to have increased security. The special VIP rooms were located here, which meant Liberati would most likely spend his time there.

"We'll do the same thing on the second floor as we did on the first. Danny and I will take this route" she said, indicating a small path on the map, "And Tom and Cynthia will take this route" she said waving her hand over an alternate path, "and we will meet here." The two paths ended in a single large room toward the back of the building, which appeared to be the heart of the club. However, there were dozens of smaller rooms which led away from the two paths Joan marked, and would take a little extra time exploring.

"There are security drones here" Annie said, pointing to different points on the map, "here, and here."

"We'll need to take those out first" Joan instructed.

"I think I can help with that" Jack suggested looking closer at the screen. "I'm pretty sure I can take out all their automated defenses..."

"This is too dangerous" Cynthia I objected. "We can't just go running blindly into the serpent's den."

"We need to" I said bluntly. "If we don't go in and try to rescue 262, and do something to stop Liberati, he'll just keep coming after us."

"And what do you propose to do? Kill him? Are you just going to go in and kill him in cold blood?" Cynthia said crossly. She had a good point. I wasn't the kind of person to kill somebody, and I didn't want to see Tera or her sisters take a life either.

"I will" Annie said darkly.

"No you won't" Cynthia and I said at the same time, startling each other.

"The last thing you need to do is start killing people" I added. "It isn't something you can take back"

"We've killed before" Joan interrupted, with a sad expression. We were all a little shocked, but we knew Liberati made them do horrible things, and murder was only one of them. "If I only need to kill one more person to make this stop, I'll take that chance."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this" Cynthia burst out. "My own daughters talking murder!"

"Maybe all we need to do is scare him out of it?" Tera suggested. It was clear to me she was not in favor of killing anyone.

"I'm afraid that won't work" Tom added. "Liberati is not a kind man, he wouldn't be scared easily. I'm afraid we have no choice. If we want him to stop, we will have to make him stop."

After that we all sat quietly knowing what needed to be done, but no one was eager to do it. Taking a life is not something you can leave behind you. It is a life changing experience; one I didn't want to experience myself, but was bound to sooner or later playing the hero. I would do anything to keep Tera from that fate.

"I suppose I can't stop you from going" Cynthia said, resigning to the facts. "If you must, I will be there to support you. But our first priority has to be getting 262 away from him."

That was something we could all agree on, and decided our raid was going to be a rescue mission. We didn't know if she would even be there, or if she would be as much of a problem as Annie was, but we had to at least try.

We talked more that night, reviewing the plan and refining it. Perhaps we were over thinking things or not preparing enough, but we were all frightened but determined to make a change. Tera wouldn't let go of my arm the entire time we were talking. I could tell she was nervous, as we all were, but she seemed to be more on edge than usual.

In short, our plan was to go in, cover all the exists, and start looking for 262 and/or Liberati. We'd have to move fast, and would be carrying guns which Annie still had in the bag we found with her. There was a variety of firearms in her bag, so we each got to chose one. Tera and Jen struggled with the idea of carrying guns into the main entrance, where they were likely to be searched. Besides, they were also unlikely to be able to conceal much with the type of clothes girls normally wore to that kind of a club. Once we got to 262, we would do our best to remove her from the club, even if that meant dealing with another collar. If we confronted Liberati, well... we didn't talk about it, but we all knew what had to be done.

Before we broke for the night, we had to decide one last thing. When would we attempt our rescue mission. Thanks to Annie, we figured that our best chance was the following night, when Liberati was most likely to be at the club. He often showed up late, we we had to make sure we were ready for a long night. Until then, we had all day to prepare.

We soon split up for the night, everyone heading to the dorms for bed and sleep. Annie was a little hesitant, standing in the hallway between my room and Joan's.

"Where should I...?" Annie asked, looking between us.

"I'm not going to make you sleep with me Annie" I said, reassuring her I was not going to make her do things she couldn't handle. "Tera and I will stay in this room, so that doesn't really leave any room for you anyways."

"You're always welcome to spend the night with me" Joan said with a smile. "What kind of big sis would I be if I turned you away anyways?"

"But I was hoping to stay with Tera" Annie said.

"Oh Annie. I'd love to," Tera said apologetically, "but I couldn't possibly leave Danny. Maybe if there was more room... I'll see you bright and early in the morning though, right?"

Annie nodded and smiled. "Goodnight Tera, Danny." She turned toward Joan with a smile, who gladly took her hand and led her into the bedroom. Annie was getting better with me. She didn't seem to struggle so much when talking to me, although she did still seem nervous. She was getting to know me, and I feared she'd have a hard time dealing with a man she didn't know.

Tera snuggled close to me all night. She was very clinging with me, as though she needed to reassure herself that I was there, but too nervous or excited to sleep. I wondered if she was in the mood like she often was, but she never made any kind of move to hint at it. She had a hard time sleeping, which in turn meant I did too. I was tempted to just turn her off for the night to prevent her from tossing and turning, but I knew that was a bad idea and she'd hate me in the morning. Besides, even though I lost sleep over it, I was glad to be the one she clung to for support.

Any dreams I had were short and soon forgotten; she too seemed too worked up over the idea of confronting these men and trying to save her sister that she didn't sleep enough to dream either. I felt this was a blessing for once, no dreaming meant no nightmares. However it also meant neither of us were getting any sleep, and while she would still have energy whenever she needed it by plugging in, I would be tired all day.

Morning came, and with it, preparations for the evening began. Annie nervously got all the guns and ammunition together while Joan sat with her, keeping her company and reviewing the schematics for the club. Jen decided that she and Tera would need to go out shopping for dresses for that night, and were busy discussing ideas. They needed something that would guarantee them access into the club. Jack brushed up on his... well whatever it is he did to prepare for such an event, which apparently involved his phone. Cynthia helped out wherever she could, while Tom finished working on Andrea. She was in the lab still being cleaned and getting much needed maintenance. Even though she was rust-free, she was still showing signs of her age.

I couldn't help but notice how high spirited Tera had become, ready to go shopping with Jen. She would do a little dance and sing a melodic tune to herself every time she walked somewhere. I had never heard her sing before, although she did hum a lot. Her voice was beautiful and enchanting, and I longed to hear her sing more after this was all over.

This left me to work on my Exo suit. It was going to take time, and I was lacking a vital element of the suit to make it fully capable. I didn't have the money to get a decent Kevlar vest that would attach to the frame, and I couldn't figure out what else could work. I designed the frame to work around the vest, so that it would be easy to implement the standard vest size and cut without having to do major work to make it fit, but unfortunately I didn't have any means to buy another vest.

"Hey Jack, who're you texting?" I asked him, watching him fiddling around with his phone. Jack looked up nervously and slipped his phone into his pocket.

"What? No one! I'm just working on some programs for tonight... you know, mobile hacking stuff." He looked calm, although he sounded nervous. Still, I figured he was doing exactly that since he would probably have need for something like that later tonight.

"Ok. Say, do you know of anything I could use on my suit to replace Kevlar? Either that or a Kevlar vest someone is giving out cheap?"

"Hmmm. Can't say that I do. I'll snoop around a bit, but I can't promise you anything" Jack said.

"Alright. Thanks" I said, before turning around to see Tom having left the lab to join us.

"Did you try the old armory down on Maple?" Tom asked.

"Armory?" I asked.

"It's really just a store where you can buy guns and the like" Tom pointed out. "I think we have time to make it down there, I'm pretty sure we can find you something for your suit."

"Sure, wouldn't hurt to look... I just can't afford it right now. I mean, I did kind of abandon my best client."

"Don't worry about that, we'll take a look while the girls are out."

"What about Andrea?" Jack asked looking back toward the lab.

"She'll be fine. I've been upgrading her systems and fixing up the wear and tear in her, but I really need to head out to the armory myself so she has some sort of functional weapons and ammo."

"Functional? You mean..." I asked, referring to her display when we first found her showing off her machine gun arm.

"Sure she looks tough, but in her condition, she'd be shooting blanks at best. More bark than bite."

And so it was decided. Tera and Jen left with Cynthia to go shopping shortly after, and Tom and I left to see what we could find at the armory, leaving Jack alone with Joan and Annie. It occurred to me that this would be the farthest Tera would be from me since we met. Even though we had been separated to some extent, we were always close enough to know where the other was. I wasn't nervous about it though, she was in good hands, but we all had to be careful since we did't have any idea what kid of trouble we would run into.

The girls took Tom's car, with the battery restored in it, since the power had come back on. Tom and I used the damaged SUV, and I wondered what exactly Tom was planning to purchase for Andrea if he wanted to use the SUV that much. I noticed something odd. The farther the two cars got, the less information I got from Tera's nano-machines about her. It seemed the data was tied directly to a signal she emitted which faded the farther we got. Eventually, it faded entirely, and I was left with an eerily silent mind for the first time in days. I didn't realize until then how accustomed I had become to the constant trickle of data about her I got in the back of my mind.

It took about an hour to get to the Armory, which was actually the name of the place, "The Armory". I thought it would have been close to the city, but it was actually fairly far away. The place was a firing range set up on a hill with so much land, they dedicated half the space to a paintball range. In fact, the place was crawling with teenagers who ogled the large gatling gun on display in the back of the store, but were content to shoot pellets of paint at each other for fun.

Despite the kids and parents (and lack of parents) at the facility, the owner was very strict with his clientele. It appeared he once turned away 2 teens who tried to buy guns from him, and reported them to the police. A month later, they were arrested while walking to their school with bags full of guns they 'borrowed' from their uncle, with the intent to shoot up their classmates and teachers. It was a very close call, and could have turned out a lot worse. Thanks to the information this shop owner provided, they managed to capture the boys before anyone was hurt. He was praised as a hero, and made sure his shop kept a strict policy that no one under the age of 21 as allowed to handle the guns, even though the legal age was 18. It was his policy, and everyone respected him for it, except for the 18-20 year olds of course. Sure he could sell them to them, but it was a 2 week process, and that kept most of the ne'er-do-wells at bay. He kept a clipping from a newspaper report on a wall as a reminder of his 'heroic' deed.

Tom knew the owner, and had apparently worked with him in the past. As soon as we came up to the counter, we were greeted by a young man with a permanent 5 o'clock shadow and scraggly hair, who seemed all too young to be involved in owning a business.

"You two here for some paintball?" the guy asked with a certain amount of disdain in his voice.

"No, we're here to see Ralph. Is he in today?" Tom asked, leaning on the display counter full of rentable paintball equipment. The young man's eyebrows lifted, intrigued that he finally had a customer interested in the real thing.

"Sure, one sec" he said in a much lighter tone. "RALPH! CUSTOMER! A REAL ONE!" he yelled toward the back without taking his eyes off me and Tom.

An old man who seemed to have never left the 1970's lifted a curtain covering the back room behind the counter. He had a long white shaggy beard, wore a mid 20th century style army jacket, and a camouflage bandanna around his head keeping his long white hair out of his face. His eyes were small and beady, well at least his right eye was. His left eye was artificial with no pupil, but was capable of spotting a potential thief from 100 yards. His left arm was also fake, nodding back to the old metallic cybernetic limbs which were never popular with the general public. He looked thin, gaunt, and tough, and he wreaked of tobacco.

"TOM!" the old man burst out, his stern face morphing into one of surprise and joy. "How've ya been ya old dog?" He shook Tom's hand like an old friend or partner he hadn't seen in years.

"Surviving" Tom said, giving Ralph a strong shake of his hand.

"How's the misses treating ya?" Ralph asked, before letting out a loud and abrupt laugh.

"Good, good. How's business been?" Tom asked, exchanging pleasantries.

"Ehhh" the man said with more disdain in his voice than his employee had. "Damn kids always trying to get their hands on the real thing, you know?" I noticed as he talked that his artificial eye was not looking at Tom. It wasn't like one of those glass eyes that just stayed stuck in one position, or even one of the nice ones that move but might be off center. No, this eye moved independently watching the kids in his shop. It was rather creepy to see him eyeing the kids looking at all the guns and swords, yes swords, which adorned his walls. It was even creepier to see his eye move over to me and focus on me. "So who is this?" he asked, finally bringing his real eye over to look at me too.

"This here is Danny. He's been helping me out lately, it's sort of a mutual arrangement" Tom said, introducing me. "This here is Ralph, an old friend."

"Good to meet you" I said, offering my hand for a shake.

Ralph stared at my hand for a good 5 seconds, inspecting it as though I were offering him a dead mouse. "A bit clean cut for ya Tom" he said, before finally taking my hand and giving me a tight firm grip.

"Ralph, you know I'm not doing that stuff anymore" Tom objected.

"Yeah, I know. But I didn't think you'd go soft on me." I felt offended by his remark, and let go of his hand, giving him a dirty look.

"This guy's tougher than he looks" Tom said, coming to my defense. "He defeated 5 thugs at once trying to defend my-"

"Tom!" I hissed, transferring an even dirtier look to him.

"Oh did ya now?" Ralph said, eyeing me even more suspiciously. "5 you say? He didn't happen to also get in a fight with one of your girls did he?"

"How-" Tom spurted out, before I stepped on his foot.

Ralph looked me up and down, sizing me up. He apparently decided he liked me after all, and offered me another hand shake, this time with a smile and and a wink. I took his hand, and he gave a much friendlier and hardy handshake. "Pleasure to meet ya, Danny" he said.

"Likewise" I said hesitantly.

"Listen Ralph" Tom started, "I have a few items I need to come home with..."

"And something for the lad too I take it?" Ralph asked.

"A little something" Tom replied, with a knowing look in his eye.

"I think I can help you out. This way mister Danny" Ralph said, opening up the counter to let me into the back room. "Watch the front" he said to his employee who was watching us more than the store.

Tom and I followed Ralph into the back room, which was really just a small room in a dark dirty hallway. It was more of a break room than anything else, except there was a heavy metal vault door on one wall. Ralph turned the handle with his strong left cybernetic arm, and pulled the heavy door open, leading us into an armory full of what had to be illegally obtained items.

Machine guns, rail guns, lasers, and a jeep mounted artillery gun were just a few of the items which greeted us as we entered the back room. Ralph walked over to a wall full of some of the latest weapons the military was using.

"I was thinking a anti-personnel las-" Ralph started.

"No thanks" I interrupted. "I'm really just here for some Kevlar or something."

"Kevlar? What, are you a pacifist boy?" he said angrily. "No, what you need is firepower son!"

"No, really" I repeated. "I had plenty of that already actually" I said referring to the small arsenal of weapons Annie had.

"Nothing like this though" Ralph assured me.

"Actually he really does need some armor" Tom said. "Something that might fit a P55-V58 vest." I was startled to hear Tom rattle off specs for the Kevlar vest I was using. I never even memorized the model number, and he knew it by sight.

"Are ya sure? I just got a shipment in today of-"

"Yeah. We'll talk firepower later for him" Tom replied.

"Well... alright. I think I have just the thing you need." Ralph walked toward us, and leaned in to whisper something to me. "While I'm getting you this, do yourself a favor and at least look at the latest non-lethal weapons on the wall there" he said, pointing to the wall on my right. He walked passed me and proceeded to go through assortment of boxes and supplies that had not yet been organized.

I decided it wouldn't hurt to look, and walked over toward the wall, studying his collection of weapons while Tom looked at larger more lethal toys. I wasn't against using lethal weapons, but I was always fascinated by weapons that disabled instead of killed. He had a collection of stun weapons from grenades to guns, and an assortment of entanglement weapons as well like microtechnology nets and sticky foam. I looked at all the unusual items, cataloging them in my head as I studied them. Sonic weapons, heat weapons, freezing weapons, even a sick stick.

One item, however, stuck out to me. It was an EMP gun. While this was harmless to humans, an electro magnetic pulse gun was capable of permanently destroying any electronics it was aimed it, from a cell phone to a computer, a cybernetic arm to a robot. This was lethal against Tera and her sisters.. it would essentially do the same type of thing the collar did to Annie, only more efficiently and thoroughly. It would only take a second and her entire brain would essentially melt into a fine goo of metal and plastic. The thought terrified me. It was a perfect weapon against robots, with minimal damage to humans if any. An EMP bomb was capable of taking out an entire country's electronics, crippling any nation. Luckily, no one had used one yet.

As I was staring at the EMP gun, something else caught my eye that just didn't belong. It was a golden gear in the shape of a heart, small and delicate with an intricate pattern, hanging from an ultra-fine golden chain. It didn't fit with anything else there, and looked more like a piece of jewelry than a weapon. I picked it up and inspected it closely. It shone with a polish that looked like real gold, and had such fine detail I was careful not to break it.

Ralph returned with a box and vest in hand. "Here we are" he said loudly, holding up the vest, before spying what was in my hand. "Oh. What's that doing back here?" Ralph asked himself in a grumble.

"What is it?" I asked holding the necklace up. It was small, and expertly crafted.

"What's it look like? It's a necklace. The old lady talked me into selling some jewelry at the shop for all the men who shop for themselves can pick up something for the misses as well. Not sure how that one got back here..." Ralph said, holding out his hand to take it.

"It is very nice. Is it real gold?" I asked handing it back to him.

He took it in his outstretched withered hand and gently grasped it. "24 karat" he explained. "I'll just make sure it makes it back to the display case out front." He pocketed the necklace and held up the vest, eyeing me for a comparison.

"I think this should fit" he said eyeing me closely, holding up the vest in front of me to see if it looked like it would fit.

"That looks different" I said eyeing the red vest. usually, Kevlar was either blue or black, or at least the covering was. This deep red material looked different, really different. It was intricate, with lots of straight lines and angles intersecting in a complex pattern along the surface. The shape of it looked like it flowed with a natural musculature design. The color was a deep dark red with black trim and had a slight sheen to it. I wasn't sure what it was exactly, but I knew it wasn't Kevlar.

"Well it is different!" Ralph exclaimed. "Kevlar is old technology, 20th century stuff. This here is a microfiber para-aramid synthetic carbon nanotube polymer Zylon vest." I was lost in all his tech talk... and he apparently noticed me drooling incomprehensibly, and elaborated. "Like Kevlar, but on steroids."

"Got it" I replied, my eyes coming back into focus.

"This here can not only stop a bullet from a rifle, but can deflect a blade, a bayonet, and even a laser. It is lightweight, tough, flexible when needed, and form fitting. It's the latest in smart armor technology. Go ahead, try it on!"

I let him help me put the vest on and was pleasantly surprised. This suit was comfortable, lightweight, strong, and even breathed. It was much better than Kevlar, and if it was as capable as he claimed, it was a much better product.

"This is amazing! But... how much does it cost?" I asked.

"Normally that would sell for around $200,000" a price that made me want to take the vest off and stay far away from it in fear I would do something that would force me to pay for it "but for you..."

"Hey Ralph, what's this over here?" Tom interrupted.

I never did hear the price, as Ralph went over to converse with Tom, and go over the various weapons he was considering on their own. I looked around some more, making sure to take off the vest and lay it carefully back on the box it came from.

About 2,000,000 minutes later, Tom and Ralph had finally finished their hush-hush discussions and negotiations. Both of them were smiling happily and shook hands as they walked toward the exit. Looks like I would have to find something else for my armor, I would either have to do without or pick up something else before we left. I never saw Tom walk away with anything, but it appeared a transaction happened one way or another. I'm sure it must have cost big bucks, but Tom didn't seem to mind. We turned to walk away at the end, after shaking hands and bidding Ralph farewell when he stopped me.

"Hey! Aren't ya forgetting something?" Ralph asked. He picked up the box with the vest inside and handed it to me.

"I can't afford that" I said, turning him down.

"Nonsense. I've been watching you, and I like you. Getting out there and doing the right thing isn't easy, and I would be honored if you'd take this and wear it proudly."

I carefully took the box unsure as to what he was saying. I looked inside the box, to make sure he wasn't pranking me. Sure enough the vest was inside, and a little note lay on top. I grabbed it, and closed the box, reading the note.

'Consider this a gift for your hard work Pleasure doing business with you, Exo. - Ralph'

Well shit, the old man knew who I was, and that made me nervous. Who else will have figured it out by now? I looked up at Ralph, and he winked at me before vanishing behind his curtain again.

Tom and I walked out to the truck silently, and got in. At first I was too shocked by what just happened to notice what else was laying in the back of the truck. The large machine gun and a laser gun were packed neatly in the back seat, with boxes and bags of things to complement them.

"What's all this?" I asked when I finally noticed.

"Just a little something for Andrea. Shouldn't be too hard to replace her old ones with these." Tom answered with a smile, as he drove away from the armory on the hill.

"He knows I'm Exo" I said after a while of driving, showing him the letter in the box.

"I guessed he would. He's very good at figuring out that sort of thing" Tom replied. "Don't worry about it. He is trust worthy, and tends to know things before most people hear about them. I think he is offering you his services in case you decide you need to use them again."

I took out the vest and studied it. It looked like a perfect fit for the suit, I couldn't wait to try it out. As I held it up to look at it, something small fell to the floor of the SUV glinting briefly in the sun. I looked down and saw the golden heart-shaped gear necklace with a tag attached to it. I reached down and picked it up, reading the tag carefully.

'For the little lady you saved Treat her well'

I clutched the necklace and put it in my pocket after removing the tag. I was shocked to see he included this beautiful necklace, but I suddenly could only think of how nice it would look on Tera.

The rest of the ride back was silent, as I contemplated what being Exo really meant. I hadn't done that much, but apparently, people had started already to take notice. No one else was trying to do anything about the gangs and criminals that plagued the city. Liberati was only one of a hundred like him in this city, and he was fairly low on the criminal food-chain. All I had really done was confront thugs and assassins who were after me, and yet it was enough for some people to see me as a hero. We'll see how that works out... but all I was planning to do now was save Tera and her sisters, and if that meant confronting a mobster, so be it.

We got back to the lab, and started to unload the truck. Tom carried in the laser gun, while I carried the vest and several bags and boxes. Just as we were walking toward the door, I started to notice the data stream from Tera starting up again, gradually at first until it regained it's normal frequency. Surprisingly, the girls drove up and parked behind us moments later. We waited for them as they got out of the car, each carrying several bags from different stores. Jen and Tera were chatting like old friends, and even Cynthia was in better spirits.

"I can't believe you boys bought more than us" Jen said, staring at the load of bags and boxes in my arms and still in the SUV. She had apparently gone to the spa and had a whole makeover done. She now sported fancy nails, makeup, and punk-style rainbow colored hair highlights. They looked surprisingly good on her actually. "What in the world is all this for?" she asked.

"Andrea mostly" Tom said.

"And a little something for Exo" I added. Tera came up and gave me a kiss on the cheek, before grabbing one of the smaller bags in the truck to help out. She had also had her hair done, but with no punk colors. She was had a light application of makeup as well, which looked really nice on her.

"You two have been busy" Cynthia said.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to get in before I drop this" Tom said, indicating the heavy large gun still wrapped and bound in his arms.

"Oh, of course!" Cynthia said, and offered her hand to help.

Tera walked next to me as we walked back to the lab, Jen leading the way offering her hand at opening the door instead of carrying boxes. As Jen swung opened the door, she glanced inside and froze. She just stopped moving entirely, blocking the doorway. Even though I was carrying several large and heavy things, I managed to look passed her into the room at what made her come to a complete stand-still.

Inside the building I could see Jack sitting on a chair, his eyes wide open with shock, while Joan straddled him, holding his face her her hands, kissing him deeply. He struggled to break the kiss, but only when Joan let go of him did he manage to. He stared at Jen in the door, shocked and disheveled, while Joan just looked longingly at him, before she nervously noticed us watching. Jack pushed Joan off him, knocking her to the floor, and stood up.

"It's not what it looks like" he said. Famous last words. Jen did not take it well. She marched into the room, and punched him in the jaw as hard as she could. Naturally he toppled over, and Joan backed away defensively.

"I- I'm sorry" Joan muttered as she stood up.

"WHAT!?" Jen said, glaring at her. She turned her attention back to Jack who was rubbing his jaw on the floor. He was wise not to get back up. "You PROMISED!" Jen growled, her voice cracking. She briefly looked back at me, tears filling her eyes, before she ran off toward the dorms, kicking Jack on the way. Joan walked over to the corner of the room and slumped onto the floor, holding her head in her hands.

This was bad. Right before our big attack, Joan went and kissed Jack right in front of Jen. I didn't know what to do to calm the tension, but I knew that this would not help with preparations or the attack that night. We couldn't wait, we had to act fast, but this was not going to help matters.

"I'll go talk to her" Tera said, putting down the bags in the kitchen as she ran toward the back hall to confront Jen.

Jack lay there, rubbing his jaw, and looked up at me as I approached him. "She's not one to slap is she?" he asked rhetorically.

"Can't recall ever getting a slap from her before" I replied, offering him a hand up. I wasn't terribly happy about any of this, but I wasn't sure exactly what just happened anyways, so I was going to give him a chance to speak his piece.

Jack declined my hand, and found his way to a chair, where he remained sitting and rubbed his bruising chin. Joan sat by herself in the corner, and I got the feeling she was punishing herself for what she did. I sat near her, hoping to calm her down.

"Joan?"

"I'm sorry!" she spurted out without hesitation, still looking away from me with her head in her hands, grabbing at her hair.

"sorry for what?" I asked.

"I... kissed Jack. I forced myself on him!"

"Joan..." I placed my hand on her back, and she shuddered, before calming down and turning toward me. She was really upset, scared, but not crying. "I told you I'd support you if you found the right man, but do you really think Jack is it?"

"I... I don't know. I just couldn't control myself. I acted on an impulse! I never do that!"

"So Jack had nothing to do with it?" I asked.

"No... not really. I should have contained myself. Oh what have I done? Jen is going to hate me!"

"I think Jen is going to blame Jack before she blames you, but she'll get over it... that is assuming you let her."

"What do you mean?" she asked with the slightest hint of hope in her voice.

"Every relationship has ups and downs, and if you stay back and don't interfere anymore, I'm sure they'll be fine in time."

"So I shouldn't try for Jack?" she asked.

"Normally, I'd let you try whatever you wanted, but with Jen involved, and the mission tonight, I think it would be best to leave him alone for now."

"I'm so sorry!!"

"Don't apologize to me... apologize to Jack and Jen." Joan looked away, but nodded in agreement. She really messed up the mood now, but hopefully things would clear up. I doubted it.

I got up and helped lead Joan toward Jack. "Jack, are you alright?" I asked him.

"I'll survive, but I wasn't exactly expecting any of that. She just jumped me!"

"I'm sorry!! I don't know what came over me" Joan said. It was concerning that she had this spur of spontaneity that she couldn't understand herself, but then again everyone has one; yet another thing that makes her and her sisters almost human.

"It's alright" Jack said. "Just give me a warning next time you do something like that."

"Next time?" Joan asked.

"I'd rather there not be one actually" Jack added. "I've been wanting to settle so-to-speak, and I thought I could do that with Jennifer but now..." He shook his head and looked down. "I forgive you, but let me just think for a bit."

I lead Joan away from Jack, letting her sit with Cynthia and Annie, who came out of the lab to see what all the commotion was about. I let them talk things over while I went to check on Jen and Tera.

Jen wouldn't let anyone but Tera into her room. The two stayed there for a while, and I was resigned to the hallway, unable to gain access. I decided that this little set-back should not halt our plans, and we needed to proceed forward, so I busied myself with hooking up my new Zylon vest to my Exo suit.

It was a perfect fit. The old Kevlar vest used a similar standard that I designed the frame of the suit to fit with. This new vest actually had a slightly extended coverage, giving me better cover on my neck, shoulders, and sides. I was glad to see these extended sections still worked with my suit with minimal adjustments, and soon the new Exo suit was finished. I plugged it in to make sure it got a full charge before tonight, I knew I was going to need it later.

I joined the others soon after in the living area. Jack was working on his computer again, checking his phone every so often, shaking his head in silent contemplation at the situation. Joan stayed away from Jack, and helped Annie with the weapons she had. The kitchen table was covered with an assortment of blades and guns, each cleaned, loaded, and assembled, ready for the evening's events. Cynthia was helping them get ready as well, giving them advice and helping to sort out the ammunition. Tom was no where to be seen, probably busy in the lab working on attaching the new weapons to Andrea. I did what I could where people needed me, but the tension was uneasy and everyone spoke quietly.

After several hours of planning and preparing, Tera and Jen emerged from their seclusion, dressed in the sexiest dresses I had ever seen. Jen wore a fun number with an all-too short skirt, intricate high-heel shoes, and a green halter top that matched the new green highlights in her hair perfectly and showed off her sexy mid-riff. Tera wore an equally fun but different outfit, with matching shoes, and an equally short blue dress that showed off her shoulders and neck, showing more cleavage than I realized she had. They had matching purses which were only big enough to carry a phone, an ID, and some credit cards. I had never seen Tera in makeup before, and she wore it beautifully. I could feel my pants getting tighter as they walked in.

Jen kept her head up, avoiding eye contact with Jack and Joan, and walked straight to a small unoccupied table sitting down crossing her legs impatiently. Tera made a B-line for me, humming and dancing as she walked. She looked absolutely amazing! I had to pick up my jaw off the floor before I could complement her.

"Wow! You look amazing!" I said, thoroughly impressed. She giggled and blushed as she smiled at me. "But... something's missing" I added.

Tera looked at me quizzically before looking over herself, as though she was making sure she wasn't missing anything. I then pulled out the intricate 24 karat gold necklace of the heart-shaped gear, dangling it in front of her. Her eyes grew wide, and she smiled with a surprised look of awe and affection that it could melt the coldest heart.

"It's beautiful! Is that for me?" she asked.

I nodded smiling, and unclasped the back of the chain. "Here, let me help you put it on."

Tera turned around, and I slipped the necklace around her neck, reattaching the clasp behind her neck under her hair. She turned around looking down at the necklace as it lay delicately on her chest. She looked simply amazing wearing the necklace, but she wore her smile the best. I couldn't help but notice how nice it looked on her dangling over her cleavage, as though to tease me.

"You look fantastic" I said. For that moment, all the worries and stress and tension of the moment melted away. Tera giggled, her chest bouncing in interesting ways while she gave me that look of love and adoration and lust. If we weren't in front of everyone, I would have taken her right there.

"Get a room you two" Annie chuckled. We snapped out of our little moment, and went to join the others. I admit it was hard to take my eyes off her, and she seemed rather distracted by me as well, but we managed to do what we needed to in order to prepare.

Annie and Cynthia started handing out weapons to everyone. Jack didn't take one, being that he would stay behind the lines with Annie, and Cynthia reserved some from Tom who was still in the lab working on Andrea. We didn't have plans for Andrea, but he kept telling us he was almost done, and shooing us away while he worked. I took a mid-sized gun cautiously. I didn't really like guns, but for this I'd make an exception. The real problem came when Cynthia insisted Jen and Tera carry weapons as well. With their outfits, there was no room for a weapon.

"Don't you have anything smaller?" Tera complained looking at the size of her purse and the guns on the table. The smallest thing was a pair of standard hand guns, each was too large for the little bag she carried.

"Naw, the bouncer will catch anything in our handbags in an instant" Jen pointed out.

"Hold on a moment" Cynthia said gesturing with one finger. "I just remembered something that might help..." Cynthia stood before Tera and lightly placed her hand on Tera's outer thigh.

"Oh! Your hand is cold" Tera said startled at her unexpected contact. Cynthia smiled, but kept her hand gently against Tera's leg.

"Please open your panel here honey" Cynthia requested. Tera blinked, and looked down at her leg. The familiar blue pin-point lights illuminated under her skin, and outlined a panel on her leg. A panel extended outward from her leg, and revealed a lightly glowing chamber. It was right at the end of her hand, and were just big enough to carry a standard sized hand gun.

"Woah! I didn't now I had that!" Tera exclaimed.

"Well... what better way for a spy to hide documents and such where no one else can find it?" Cynthia said.

"Cool! I have pockets!" Tera said. She sounded excited and impressed, and I thought it was really cute.

"You have one in each leg" she said as she handed Tera the 2 smallest guns. They were a perfect fit, and her enclosure held the guns snugly as they closed up. You never would have known there was anything different when she had sealed them up again, and yet she could gain access to them in moments, almost like she had on an invisible gun belt.

Tera definitely brightened the mood a little; even Jen giggled a bit. Unfortunately, the tension was still heavy on the air, after all, we were only moments from heading out to confront Liberati on his turf. It was dangerous, stupid, and probably illegal, but what choice did we have?

Just then, Tom entered the room from the lab, with Andrea close behind. Andrea looked a million times better, her body polished and shining, and her joints restored to their former glory. I never realized how cool she actually looked. Her form was still very feminine, but her body had a black metallic sheen to it that was accented by chrome and gold. Something about her felt happier and calmer than before, as she entered the room with the same fixed expression.

"Andrea 2.0 is up and running" Tom joked. No one laughed.

"Is it really a good idea to bring her along? I mean, wasn't she designed for base security?" Cynthia asked.

"She's not coming" Tom replied. "I need her to guard the lab while we're gone. After all, Liberati's goons may already know where we are, and the last thing we want is to come back to a destroyed lab."

"I am ready to defend the facility until your return" Andrea said in her cold but feminine voice.

"Oh. Ok, very well. We should return later tonight, but... well... We don't know how long this will take." Cynthia said.

"Understood" Andrea replied nodding. "I shall remain vigilant until your task is complete and you return."

With that, it was understood that we were essentially ready to go. Everyone knew the plan and had an emergency backup just in case, and we had given everyone the weapons they needed. I quickly grabbed my suit, and with Tera's help, donned the newly armored Exo Suit 2.0, as well as the signature overcoat and hat. Everyone was rather impressed with the new armor, but there was little time to chat, as we walked out the door to see the last rays of the sun died out from behind the distant hills.

As we all went out to the cars to load up, an uneasy silence fell on us. We filled the two cars, Tera and Jen riding with me in the car. Jen insisted Joan drive, since I assumed she didn't want Joan in the same car as Jack, and Jen probably would rather kick Jack out on the highway than ride with him in silence. Joan was particularly silent, especially while driving, which made the tension that much thicker and heavier.

The road and our task was before us, and we rushed toward it. We had officially past the point of no return, and were now ready to face our foes. There was no saying if any one of us would be hurt or killed in the night ahead, but we all knew the dangers and charged toward them head on.

Chapter 26 - Secret agent

Night had fallen dark and heavy as we drove to the club. It was starting to get chilly out, but the girls didn't complain, despite their skimpy outfits. We decided to wait nearby for a few hours as the club scene got rolling. While we were waiting, Tom ran between the two vehicles, passing out tiny ear pieces and two-way radios so we could keep in constant communication. There was just enough for each team to share one radio.

Tom had passed out a radio to Annie and himself, letting me pick who would have the radios in our car. Jen took one for herself, and was relieved to hear that Jack did not have one. That was a blessing to all of us really, because hearing an argument over the radio would be a very bad thing in the middle of a gun fight. I took one radio for myself, and started preparing for the actual assault. I only wish Tera was the one wearing it, but Jen refused, stating that we had enough to deal with already, and we'd only distract each other.

Annie was reviewing the various locations where she and Jack would be staked out, and we got into a discussion about what was the best option. There were several places with a good view of the club, but only a few of them were ideal for the job at hand. Unfortunately, Jack had a thing or two to add to the conversation, and so he convinced Annie to hand him the ear piece, which resulted in a heated discussion between him and Jen.

"Jen, I'm sorry! I swear I didn't do anything to betray you" Jack pleaded.

"Like hell! I saw your hands all over her!" Jen yelled into the earpiece.

"I didn't touch her!" Jack responded.

"Didn't touch her!? Then what the hell was your tongue doing in her mouth?!" Jen retorted. Joan slumped in her seat, trying to hide herself from Jen, knowing it was all her fault this happened.

"She's the one that kissed me!" Jack said over the radio.

"Excuse me" Tom said cutting into the conversation.

"It's takes 2 to tango Jack!" Jen continued, ignoring Tom.

"Excuse me" Tom repeated.

"But I swear I didn't kiss her back!" Jack replied.

"EXCUSE ME!" Tom yelled, feedback briefly screeching into our ears. Everyone halted for a moment while he spoke up. "Jack, let Annie take the radio. Thank you" he said. I assumed Jack handed the earpiece back to Annie, and Tom took charge of the conversation. "It's time to go. Jen, please get Tera and head toward the club. Once inside, you need to keep an eye out for Liberati. We will be waiting for you to give us the all clear."

"Gotcha!" Jen said. "Come on Tera" Jen said to Tera, opening the door and getting out of the car. Tera turned toward me with a concerned face and hesitated before she got out of the car herself.

"Danny" Annie said over the radio while Tera got out of the car. "I think we can use the hotel to get the best angle."

"I think it would be a better if we use the office building" I replied, brining up a map of the area on my cell phone.

Tera came over to my window and leaned in. The window was rolled down already, so she gave me a quick peck on the cheek.

"I love you" Tera said at the same time that Annie said something over the radio arguing against my recommendation.

"Huh? Yeah, thanks" I said absentmindedly while trying to listen to Annie. "Look I think the offices will be easier to get into without the security risk or price of the hotel."

Tera hesitated a moment, and I hardly noticed until she started walking away with Jen. My mind was too distracted at the time, and I wish now that I had paid more attention to her, but there is no point in worrying about the past now. At the last second, I turned toward her and spoke out.

"Tera!" She turned around with hope in her face. "Good luck" I said with a serious expression. She looked disappointed, but nodded.

"Thanks. You too." She then turned around and walked off toward the club, to fulfill her role in the assault. I really did worry for her, and Jen as well, but Annie was still talking in my ear, and I was pulled back into the conversation to prepare for the rest of the job.

We decided that the office building was the best venue for their needs. Jack needed the higher access speeds that the building would provide, and there were plenty of ways for them to get in and out unnoticed, as well as an entire suite that was empty and under renovation. This gave Annie the room she needed to prepare her gun without worrying about being seen by any security or cameras. Tom and I drove our cars over to the office building a few blocks away, and Jack and Annie got out and proceeded into the building.

"We should be in position in 5 minutes" Annie said. "And I swear Jack, if you touch me, you will be pulling back a stump."

I heard Jack mumble something which I only faintly heard through her earpiece but didn't really pay attention to it. I could hear Jen talking nonchalantly to Tera in the background, while Annie and Jack worked their way up to one of the higher floors of the building. It was time for Tom and I to park the cars nearby for a potential getaway, and prepare to go into the back of the club.

As we got out of the cars, we could see the door in the distance, across a half-full parking lot. A single light illuminated the door in the distance while 2 overly large men stood nearby. We watched them carefully, waiting for the all clear from both Annie and Jack as well as Tera and Jen.

"Danny, this is Annie, over" her voice echoed in my ear.

"Go ahead" I told her.

"Jack and I are in position now. We have a clear view of the door and you. Nice hat. Over" Annie was definitely beginning to sound a little more comfortable and started speaking in a way that sounded more like how Tera and Joan had described her. I got the impression that she was acting more like her old self.

"Uhh... thanks" I said looking up at the building behind us where they were set up. I couldn't see anything but a dark building with a few random lights on, but was satisfied that they were in a good position.

"How are you coming Jen?" Tom asked.

It took a few moments for Jen to respond, since they were now clearly in a more crowded area, but eventually her voice rang clear in the system. "We're just getting up to the security now, give us a few minutes."

While we waited, the four of us got ready. Joan and I prepared to take the lead, while Tom and Cynthia planned to follow as our backup if we needed it. Joan pulled me aside and spoke in a lowered tone.

"So how should we actually try to get passed these guys?" she asked.

"Well I was thinking of punching my way through."

"Maybe there's a better way" Joan suggested. She portrayed her plan to me, which sounded equally as plausible as it did ridiculous, but it was the best and only plan we had so far. And we could still save my punching idea as our backup.

"We're in" Jen said over the earpiece. We eagerly waited for Jen and Tera to look around the club for Liberati, and either give us an all-clear or an alert to his presence. After a lot of anticipation and background noise, Jen finally spoke up again. "Oh that's gross."

"What?" I asked.

"This is not the type of club I ever wished to see. There are people doing... things... Wow..."

"What happened?" I asked again.

"Let's just say there's a couple who is way too into themselves in here" she replied.

"But is Liberati in there?" Tera had seen Liberati only briefly before, back when she was still in the lab being finished. However, I didn't want to rely on that for identification, so Jack had shown them pictures of Liberati from the internet so they knew what he looked like before they went into the fray.

"Sorry. I'll look... Mmm no. I don't see him. No. I don't think he's in here, but we'll keep a look out" Jen said.

"His car is definitely here" Annie announced. "I can see it from here. It's the right license plate. Over." Annie could read the plate of a car at such a distance; I was truly impressed.

"You know you don't have to say 'Over' like that Annie" I said.

"I know. Over." She replied. I could hear the grin on her face. "Just teasing!"

"So are we ready?" I asked.

"All good here" Jen said.

"Loaded and ready" Annie replied.

"After you" Tom said from behind. I looked back and saw Cynthia and Tom nodding to us reluctantly but ready to start. Joan and I took a deep breath, and turned to face toward the two guards defending the back door of the club.

"Jack, how are our eyes?" I asked.

"Getting there" Annie replied after asking Jack. "He says he should be in soon. He's seen this design before."

Joan decided to start the plan she told me about and gently put my hands behind my back. She held the gun up to me, and held my hands together as though she had just captured me, and slowly we began walking toward the guards.

"Jack says he got into their system" Annie alerted us.

"That's not the only thing he got into" Jen commented snidely.

"Jen. Stop it" I said sharply but not harshly.

Jen sighed. "Sorry" she said before Annie continued.

"He's disabling the security cameras now. If anything happens in there, we won't be able to see it either" Annie added. "He should have the security drones in a minute or two. Be careful. The guards have spotted you."

Not 20 yards ahead of us the guards became alert, and stared right at us. No turning back now. As we walked into the light, one of the guards raised his hand in a 'halt' gesture and spoke to us in a deep commanding voice.

"VIP only... Wait... It's you!" his deep intimidating voice boomed. The larger of the two men stood at attention with disdain on his face. It was clear that he had cybernetic enhancements all around his body. His eyes were both artificial, and even through his business suit you could tell his body had artificial arms. His companion wore what appeared to be a pair of glasses permanently attached to his face, and a permanent sneer on his lips. He was just as outfitted with cybernetic parts as his partner. He watched us silently as his partner spoke.

"I've brought him in like I was ordered" Joan said loudly. She sounded nervous to me, and I knew this was not going to work.

"We've been ordered to kill on sight" he growled. "Come to think of it... that order was for both of you."

Joan paused before them realizing this was clearly a bad idea, just as the smaller of the two swiftly reached into his coat and pulled out a large hand gun, pointing it at us. He was fast, faster than I could react to him. Joan twitched, but even she was too slow for his sudden movement.

Without warning, the man grunted, and fell to the ground. I realized in that moment that Annie had taken a shot to defend us; the gun was still echoing in the distance. The remaining man stood still and pulled his own gun on us, except he didn't aim at us. He lifted his gun up higher, and took a shot with a loud bang at the building behind us.

Joan and I acted fast. I was fast enough to grab his gun after his first shot. Joan ran to his side and his back, grabbing at his face and head, pulling it back. The gun went off again before he dropped it. However, he unexpectedly twisted his shoulders, and dealt me an uppercut to my gut with his other hand, which knocked the breath out of me. I still managed to take the hit without losing my balance or anything.

"Danny!" Joan yelled, and she jabbed her fingers into the man's neck, pulling out wires, cables, and tubes from his neck. Sparks shot from his neck and he froze before falling to the ground himself with a loud thud. Joan lunged toward me and pushed me to the ground.

"Danny!" he repeated worriedly as she started pulling off my jacket.

"What?" I coughed.

"Don't move!" she said as she started undoing my vest.

"I'm fine! What?" I repeated. Joan pulled the vest off me and lifted my shirt underneath. She froze, staring at my stomach and chest.

"You're fine?" she muttered, staring in disbelief at my torso.

"That's what I said."

"Didn't you see what he punched you with?" she exclaimed. I looked over at the prone figure not three feet away from me and noticed the man's left hand. A steady stream of smoke lifted away from his still closed fist; his arm was equipped with some sort of explosive bolts on his knuckles, which he must have dealt to me when he punched me. And yet, I felt nothing nearly as bone-shattering as that punch should have been, although I noticed my coat was now singed with a black mark where he punched me.

"Woah" I muttered, looking down at my chest to see the damage for myself.

"Wait a second... You're ok!?" Joan questioned. "Weren't you shot there a few days ago? I distinctly remember a bruise there..." I looked again and realized she was right. The bruise that was there just days ago seemed to have completely vanished. So much so in fact that I had completely forgotten about it.

"You're right. That's odd." Joan laid her fingers gently where my bruise was. Her fingers were soft an warm and tickled me slightly. There was no pain. Tom and Cynthia came running up behind us.

"Are you two alright?" Tom asked still running up.

"Yeah, we're fine" I said, pulling my shirt back down. Joan helped me to my feet and adjusted my vest and coat for me. "Thanks for that assist Annie" I said over the radio.

I heard silence on the radio. No response. I looked nervously at Tom who was listening in and equally nervous.

"Annie?" we both asked one after the other. Jack's voice came through over the radio.

"Annie's been shot" he said seriously. The bottom of my stomach almost gave out. "Nothing too bad!" he added a second later. "It's only a graze, it clipped her cheek. She'll be all right." Tom and I took a simultaneous sigh of relief, but there was still a look of concern in his eyes. "But wow... You should have seen her shoot! Half her face just sort of... opened up!"

"Could you put her on?" I asked.

"Sure, hold on" he replied. I heard his muffled voice as he aided Annie and handed her the earpiece.

"That... was close" Annie's voice said through the radio. I could tell she was shaken a bit, but she managed to keep herself together. "Damn it, he cut me!"

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"Yeah... But that bastard has a good aim. He grazed my cheek with one shot! From a freakin' handgun!" She sounded almost as impressed as she sounded pissed off. There was something else inner voice though, fear. She had just been shot at by a man, and her fear of men was still strong, but she managed to keep herself under control. I got to my feet and finished with my vest, pulling my coat over it again.

"It's time to go" Joan said as she helped me.

"Did I kill him?" Annie asked timidly. I glanced over at the man she shot. There was no doubt about it, he was dead. A pool of blood grew slowly around his prone body.

"Yeah. He's dead" I replied. Joan looked over at the man, and then at the one she attacked.

"Oh..." We were silent for a moment while she contemplated this. "I'm sorry... I..." she fell silent again. "I didn't mean to... I mean... I feel bad. It's confusing."

"Do you think you can do it again if you need to?" Tom asked. Annie was silent for a while while she thought about it.

"If it is to protect my family, yes." She sounded confident and I was convinced she'd be able to, but I hoped she wouldn't have to.

"What about him?" I asked Joan pointing at the man she fell. "Is he...?"

"No" Joan said abruptly. "He'll need medical attention, but he should be fine. He's paralyzed. I severed his brain's connection to his motor functions. I suppose being a cyborg has its advantages."

"We'll take care of these guys" Cynthia said.

"We need to get in there now especially with their guards taken out" Joan said.

"Right" I agreed. Tom and Cynthia lifted up the larger of the two men, and propped him up against the door frame. I sure hoped the two propped up men would still look alive and intimidating, but I didn't have any time to worry about it as Joan pulled open the door to the back entrance.

We passed from the cool night air into the hot humid night club. A warm light filled the small cramped hallway before us, as muffled music blasted through the walls. There were no guards, officers, or anyone else in the hallway. It was far more stylish inside than the outside of the club, with nice wooden walls and modern offset lighting. In the corner of the ceiling hung an automated defense unit. It was somewhat like a small dome with cameras and various hidden features, and I watched it carefully as we moved to make sure they were deactivated. Sure enough, Jack had done his job, and the device hung lifeless and unaware.

Joan took lead, while I followed behind. The first few rooms we came to were either empty, or had people in too much of a stupor or high to realize we were even there. The rooms were all darkly lit, and smelled sweet from the repeated use of drugs. Smoke hung in the air, giving everything a musty look as we explored from room to room. It didn't take long for Cynthia and Tom to enter as well and start looking themselves, following their own pre-designated path.

We were only half way through our path on the first floor when we came upon a room full of people. Half of them were naked, most of them were stoned, and a single guard stood near the entrance. Despite the undulating motions of the naked bodies in the room, our attention immediately went to the guard and his hand as it reached inside his jacket. We didn't give him a chance to take the offensive, as both Joan and I lunged ourselves at him. Guns were never really my thing, but I decided to point the assault rifle I was carrying at his, while Joan disarmed him and tackled him to the ground. She was really efficient at this, but I couldn't help but think that she was being rather passionate about it, or at least forceful.

"Who the fuck are you?" a man's voice said a short way off. I turned around to see a naked man emerging from a mound of female flesh to confront us. I decided not to be easy on the guy, and aimed my gun toward him. I recognized him. I remembered his name, his face, his grin. Rez. He was the leader of the group of thugs that I rescued Tera from the night I first met her. I thought he was in jail, but somehow he was taking refuge here in Liberati's place. "It's you! The freak!" He hissed when he saw me. He looked down at my gun and froze, but his mouth apparently didn't get the message. "I see you got a new bitch. Guess that old one wasn't good enough for you after all. Or did I break her?"

"You son of a bitch!" I growled. Slowly, I brought the gun up higher, taking aim at him, but he just smiled with that same sadistic sharp look he had back then. I looked around and saw 2 of his other "friends". Big Joe lay passed out, naked, on the floor, while the formally knife-wielding Jack pounded his way into a girl too caught up to notice or care what else was going on. "What are you doing here?"

"I should ask you the same" Rez said snidely. "Let's see, last time I saw you, my associates and I were laying bleeding on the ground in an alley. Now you dare come onto our territory and call me names?"

Apparently Rez needed a reminder I was holding a deadly weapon pointed at him. I quickly brought it up to my eye again as he took a step forward, and prepared to fire. He saw the look in my eye, and stopped, holding his hands out to his sides.

"Hey now. We're all friends here. Let bygones be bygones." He tried in vain to tempt me, but at least I didn't kill him right away.

"I'm not here for you. Go back to your orgy and forget you ever saw me" I growled. I saw Rez's eyes dart toward another security drone in the ceiling. Like the last one, this was too was inactive, and it looked like Rez was waiting for it to react. I knew it wouldn't, but it put me on edge that he wanted it to. He might just do something stupid.

"Shit" Rez spat a few seconds later, and lunged toward me. Before he could get to me, the drone sprung to life, and shot aimlessly at the ground between us. Rez jumped back in surprise, and I focused my attention on the drone. Startled screams and gasps filled the room at the sound of gunfire. I could hear Jack's muffled voice coming through Annie's radio.

"Something's wrong" Annie said, translating his slew of British cuss words. "Looks like someone else is hacking the system too. Be careful in there."

"What?!" I exclaimed, but it was too late. The drone took aim at me and open fired. A slew of small caliber bullets struck my Zylon armor before Joan returned fire and disabled the drone. It beeped a dying beep before smoke emanated from it, covering the ceiling.

I took a step back, but that Zylon armor did an amazing job dispersing the energy, and I hardly missed a beat when I took aim at Rez again. Apparently seeing a guy take several shots to the chest and barely react was intimidating, even without the gun. He retreated to the bed and sat down among the now startled naked women.

Without warning, a small circular panel on the other end of the ceiling opened up, and a small cylinder emerged, flashing a bright white light every second or so. A stream of white smoke spewed from the device into the room.

"What's that?" I asked.

"I have no idea" Joan replied. "Never saw that before. They must have kept it a secret from me."

More white smoke filled the room, reaching Rez and company first. Within 5 seconds, they each fell lifeless onto the bed. Quickly, I took a step back.

"What is that stuff?" It smelled odd, and I started to feel light headed almost instantly. Joan sniffed at the air before turning toward me with an alert look.

"Agent 15" she said. My confused look must have tipped her off that I had no idea what that was. "BZ" she clarified, but I was still clueless. "Sleeping gas. We need to get you out of here."

Joan rushed toward me and pushed me out the door to the hallway. More white smoke greeted us, and I got a good whiff of it. I staggered, my head spinning and my throat instantly becoming dry. Joan got under my arm and dragged me away. Somewhere in all the confusion, I must have dropped my gun. All I could remember next was Joan lifting me up the stairs, resting on a step halfway up and away from the gas.

Fresh air filed my lungs, and I coughed until I felt like I would throw up. I was parched, overheating, and my heart was racing, but at least I was alive and conscious. I struggled to bring my mind to attention. It kept wandering off, exploring random tangents that I didn't need to be thinking about, and I kept pulling it back to the here and now. Finally, after a few minutes, I composed myself.

"What about Tom and Cynthia?" I asked. Joan shook her head. She wasn't at all affected by the gas; yet another advantage of being a robot.

"What's going on in there?" Annie asked, but her voice was slowly getting drowned out by background voices coming from Jen's ear piece.

"What's happening? Everyone's in a panic!" Jen shouted into the radio.

"Knock-out gas" I said. "Someone activated a security system and filled the back rooms with agent..."

"Agent 15" Joan interjected.

"Yeah. Agent 15. Is it in the main area too?" I asked.

"I don't think so, but people are rushing away from the back toward the exits" Jen explained.

"Just be careful in there."

"Agent 15? They had a secret security system like that in place? Why didn't you know about this Jack?" Annie asked. I heard him repeat the question to her, and she decided not to respond.

Just then, Cynthia emerged from the cloud of white smoke holding a handkerchief to her mouth with one hand while dragging Tom's limp form with the other. She saw us, and dragged Tom toward the stairs. Joan and I helped get him up, as Cynthia took a breather.

"Are you ok?" Joan asked.

"I'll be fine" Cynthia wheezed. "It hit Tom pretty hard." We got Tom on his back, and made sure he had plenty of fresh air. "No. I'll stay here and take care of Tom. You two get up there and keep going. We've gone this far."

Joan nodded, and took my hand. She dragged me up the stairs and away from Tom and Cynthia and white cloud of gas behind them. My head was becoming clearer as we went, although the thirst remained. The upstairs was better lit than the downstairs, but was just as stylish. Luckily, it was clear of gas. It appeared no one could access these rooms without access keys, or a robot girl with incredible strength, or at least an exo suit. We broke open the VIP rooms to find most of them empty.

Before we had finished searching the rooms, Joan and I heard a blood-curdling scream of a woman abruptly stopped short somewhere nearby. It sounded close, and it sounded bad. This wasn't the kind of scream you'd get from someone in a panic. This was the type you'd hear when someone was dying and untimely death. Joan and I looked at each other and decided to skip to the end, the largest room in the upper lever where the scream came from.

Ahead of us was a large glass door, intricately decorate with frosted glass, preventing anyone from seeing in. I was willing to bet it was bullet-proof glass too, but I had no gun with me anymore to test that theory. We ran fast, but before we could reach the doors, another sound, or series of sounds, emanated from within. A low grunt of a man reached our ears first, followed by a thud, and finally a groan.

Joan and I burst through the door, ripping the security locks out in the process, and stormed inside. Joan froze, shocked by the sight within. She was so shocked, she inadvertently dropped her weapon; the gun clattering to the ground before her.

The room was beautifully decorated, with couches, a fountain, a balcony on one end, and a large one-way glass wall overlooking the club on the other. It looked like something that belonged in a castle in Europe, with every detail seen to. It was impressive, and everything was spotless, except for the blood.

I smelled the blood before I saw it, but it was hard to miss. Blood was smeared across the floor, up an intricate pillar, across the furniture, and pooled in placed on the marble floor. However, it wasn't the blood, or the smell, or the room that caught Joan off-guard, it was the figure standing before us in the center of the room.

A young woman with bright, short, spiky red hair hovered over the form of a dying man. She was dressed in nothing but a white and pink Japanese kimono, opened in the front revealing a breast and ample pale skin, and covered in a spray of blood. She held a samurai sword in one hand, buried in the neck of the man she stood over. She hadn't even noticed us, she was so concentrating on her kill.

The man looked up at me for a moment, his eyes connecting to mine. It was Liberati. I could see his plea for help in his eyes, before she twisted the sword in his neck. With a bone-snapping crack, his eyes dimmed of all life, and all that was left of the last of the Liberati family was a pile of broken flesh, bone, and blood. A pool of blood grew quickly around his mangled corpse, while the girl wiped blood from her face.

Slowly, she looked up at us, her gaze intensifying on Joan. There was something twisted and sadistic in her eyes. She was smiling the entire time, as though she enjoyed her job as an assassin, but her sadistic grin grew wider when she looked at Joan. Her voice rang out with clarity and disdain as she pulled the sword out of the body of the man and flicked the blood off it in traditional samurai style.

"Hello... sister."

Chapter 27 - Snafu

"262!" Joan exclaimed staring in disbelief at her sister. "Wha- What are you doing?"

"What does it look like, sis? I'm taking out the trash." 262's voice, while sweet, was cold and calculating. She had a hint of roughness to her voice that some people would probably love, but made me want to clear my throat.

"You m- murdered him!" Joan said shocked. She looked frozen in place, perhaps out of fear.

"Weren't you here to do the same thing?" the red-head gynoid asked. "Or maybe your little boyfriend here was going to do it for you. Oh look at that, you dropped your gun."

She nonchalantly walked over to us, and kicked the gun away, sending it sliding across the room. It was then that I noticed we were not the only ones there. Against one wall, a trail of blood led up to the figure of a woman pinned to the wall. I recognized her, and Joan would have also had she looked her way. It was Diane, the woman that took a shot at us in the ice cream parlor a few days before. A metal rod that looked like it had been torn off a chair jutted from her chest, pinning her to the wall half a foot off the ground. He head hung lifelessly, as though she were a decoration. But no, it wasn't lifeless, she moved. She was still alive, but in her condition there was no way that would last.

On the other side of the room I could hear some most disturbing. A popping, chewing noise emanated from behind a pillar, as though some large beast was eating its kill, snapping bones and pulling at flesh. I couldn't see what it was, but I had a guess.

Joan may have noticed them, but she showed no sign of it as she continued to gaze at her sister. 262 wore no collar, and her face wore an amused expression, as though she just found a new plaything. She shifted her gaze at me, and her eyes narrowed.

"Speaking of your little boyfriend, it is time I took care of him as well." She didn't sound like she was going to thank me, as I felt the aggression in her voice rise. However, there was something else, she wasn't just a heartless killing machine, she was genuinely angry at me, almost as if I had wronged her directly, even though this was the first time we ever met.

"What are you talking about?" Joan interjected.

"I didn't just come here to kill Liberati, I came here to save you." 262 looked like she genuinely believed she was going to save her sisters as she took an aggressive fighting stance with her katana. "Don't worry, sis, I shall soon free you from his tyranny."

"Tyranny?!" Joan spat. "He has done nothing but help us-"

Before Joan could finish, 262 lunged at me with deadly speed and accuracy. She held the blade as though she had been trained by the great martial arts masters, and my few years at Tae-Kwon-Do wouldn't amount to a pile of beans against her skill. All I could do was jump back and try to dodge her sudden attack.

The katana seemed to get longer and longer as it lunged toward me. I realized too late that I had not jumped back far enough to avoid the blade, and my grievous misjudge of distance was going to cost me my life. All I could think about then was how I had led Tera and the others to their death and mine.

Just as the blade was about to slice through my neck, something struck it and parried the sword away. Joan stood defiant of her sister, a machete in her hand. She moved to position herself between her sister and me, and continued to block and parry her attacks to protect me.

"What are you DOING!?" 262 asked with frustrated anger on her voice.

"Defending my master... my... my best friend" she replied, taking a defensive stance.

"Friend?! HA! Don't make me laugh! He programmed you to say that, didn't he? DIDN'T HE!?" she lunged forward and struck hard at the blade in Joan's hand. With a sly flourish, the machete flew from her grip, and clattered against a wall. 262 took a rapid side-step, allowing Joan to follow her, before she rammed her shoulder into Joan and pivoted on her foot, shoving Joan out of the way, and turning in a new direction, directly at me!

I blocked the blow she dealt with my fist, praying the metallic inner lining of the glove would be enough to stop the blade. It worked, but only barely. The force of the blow pushed me off balance, and sent a shockwave of pain up my arm. I grabbed at my arm just in time to see her lower the blade once again at my head. I had just enough time to raise my hands, but it would never stop a katana.

The sword ricocheted off a metallic arm. Joan had managed to block the blow again, this time with her own body. The metal of her left arm was strong enough to take the hit, but she was clearly feeling the pain of the blow. She was probably still sensitive to the new arm, and something like this must have been like torture.

262 stared at her sister, who once again moved between us. Joan's breathing was labored, and I could see the pain in her body language as she twitched involuntarily and grasped at her arm. The red-headed girl grew furious, hate pouring from her eyes to me. She looked at her sister with sadness.

"So that's how this is going to be is it?" she asked to no one in particular. "Forcing my dear sister to be your bodyguard while you hide behind her letting her take all the damage. You disgust me!" I tried to get a voice in edgewise, maybe talk some sense into her, but she refused to listen. "No! You will NOT speak to me with your lies and deceptions! If I have to tear her apart to get to you, so be it!"

With that, 262 flipped the samurai sword to the blunt edge, and started deliberately attacking Joan. Never before had a seen such vicious attacks performed as such terrible speed! Within a matter of a second or two, 262 had unleashed a barrage of attacks against Joan, striking her body with the blunt sided of the blade, and returning the swing against her left arm with the sharp side. Joan tried to stay up, and dodge attacks while blocking others, always defending me, but eventually it became too much for her.

Joan let out a pained scream like I never heard before. Her voice came out broken, like a skipping record, as her agony overtook her. I grabbed at her to pull her away from her sister, but it became apparent she had no strength left and fell back into me.

Still, the attacks came at her. Each blow was directed at the same spot as a previous one, inflicting greater and greater pain, without cutting her or even breaking anything internally.

I realized too late that I was exposed, and 262 had a clear shot at taking me out, however, she never took it. She had become so wrapped up in the sadistic pleasure of causing her sister agonizing pain, that she lost track of her goals. She started a giggle with each strike, finding them more and more amusing as she went on. Most of the attacks now struck Joan's arm, and she started to shake uncontrollably in my arms. The assault had reached a peak as 262 started to laugh maniacally with each successive strike when suddenly a familiar voice rang out.

"262! Our work here is done. She has been retrieved. Retreat immediately." The voice was familiar because it belonged to the strange man who had been haunting my nightmares, literally. 262 abruptly stopped; a disappointed look on her face.

"But master... We must kill him! He-" 262 objected.

"It has been arranged. Your job is complete. You have failed in this final task; do not fail my commands again." I looked for the voice, and discovered it was coming from the same place as the crunching sound.

262 looked up abruptly at the doorway with a look of surprise, and then turned on her heal. Leonis, the man's large metallic cougar, emerged from behind the pillar, carrying the mangled bloody corpse of a male cyborg in his jaws.

"Drop that" 262 commanded as she walked up to meet the cybernetic cat. "You don't know where that's been." Leonis obeyed and dropped the bloody corpse to the ground.

"Why?" I asked abruptly. 262 didn't even look back at me, and continued to walk toward the balcony on the other side of the room. "Why did you kill him?"

Leonis turned to look at me. "His reckless behavior almost destroyed that which I need the most" the man's voice boomed from the unmoving mouth of the cat. "He has become a liability, and so I removed him from the equation. Your calculation is about to be resolved as well, but for now, I have what I came here for. This battle is over."

Leonis turned away from me just as Tom and Cynthia ran up behind me. Cynthia looked at her daughter in the distance, tears in her eyes, but she stayed beside me speechless. Tom instantly began tending to Joan, who still lay against me in pain and shock.

262 gave Leonis a scratch on the head, before mounting the large metallic beast. With a single hate-fill look back, 262 vanished out the balcony as Leonis took a giant leap with her riding the cat. A second later, they were several rooftops away, and still moving.

What did he mean when he said he had what he came for? It didn't sound like killing Liberati was the only thing on his agenda. Cynthia and Tom tended to Joan, laying her on the ground, and saw to her wounds. They opened several panels on her to make sure she was not seriously hurt, but the pain of the blows still lingered. At least she was breathing easier now, calming down as she was tended to.

"What's going on in there?" Annie asked over the ear piece.

"Liberati is dead. It was 262" I told her.

"26-! Was that her I saw jumping out the window?"

"Probably. Status report" I order.

"All accounted for here" Annie said. "But you better hurry, I can hear sirens in the distance."

"Sirens? The police? That was fast! How are things down there with you Jen?"

Jen didn't respond. I gave her some time assuming she was still caught in the confusion of a panicking crowd. "Status report Jen? Jen, are you alright?"

Still nothing. Tom and I looked at each other worried, and a look of realization dawned into his eyes at the same time as it did mine.

"Tera!" we both said.

Quickly I ran out of the room, and toward the stairs. Remnants of Agent 15 still hung in the air, but I just held my breath and ran through the back rooms toward the main dance floor. People were panicked and confused as whiffs of white smoke started to fill the hall. I used this opportunity to locate the closest fire alarm, and pull the handle.

A fire drill went off, followed by a loud friendly announcement to calmly leave the building. No matter how nice it may sound, you can never convince an already panicked crowd to remain calm. People started running toward the exits as I ran into the hall to look around.

In the corner of the room, propped against a sofa, Jen sat unconscious. I quickly ran over to her, fighting the fleeing crowd. Jen lay there motionless, almost as though she was a passed out drunk, or an overdosed druggie. It was clear to me by the trickle of blood on the back of her neck that she was the victim of an assault.

"Jen! Jen! Come back to me girl." I lightly tapped at Jen's face, trying to wake her up. A glass of clear liquid stood on a table nearby, and I picked it up and sniffed at it. No odor, it must be water. I splashed the cold wet stuff on Jen's face, and to my relief, she opened her eyes.

"Ow! My head!" she exclaimed, holding the back of her head in her hand. "What happened? What is this stuff?"

I looked at the glass, and took another whiff, no odor came to my nose, but a taste confirmed it. The glass was filled with was very high quality vodka, but at least she was awake now.

"Jen are you alright?" I asked, avoiding answering her previous question.

"No! My head is killing me-" she complained. "Where's Tera?"

I looked around. Tera was nowhere to be seen. I started to panic too now. I propped Jen up into the seat so she could be more comfortable while I looked around.

"Tera!" I yelled over the crowd. "TERA!" I started to run around, looking everywhere for her. Most of the crowd had already left, and the police sirens were getting closer. I ran toward the exit. Maybe she'd gone outside when the alarm went off.

I continued to yell her name, looking everywhere for her. I realized now that the little stream of data in the back of my head that gave me updates on her had vanished. Now I really panicked. I started asking random people if they had seen her, describing her briefly to them. No one had, and in all the confusion, it was unlikely anyone would have noticed a single girl disappear.

Glinting by the side of the road, a small gold charm caught my eye. I ran over and picked it up. Sure enough, it was what I feared. I held a small intricate gear in the shape of a heart of the end of a necklace, the same necklace I gave Tera earlier that evening. A girl behind me spoke out.

"Oh yeah, I saw her, she was totally drunk and some guy carried her over his shoulder to his car. It looked like her dad. Hey wait... aren't you that Exo dude?"

"Don't tell anyone I was here" I said, just as a police light came into view. SHIT! I couldn't just run back inside, not with the crowd of people still blocking the path, I had to run, but where? Sirens were approaching from both sides of the street. I was out of option, and had to resort to the only one left I could think of, the most dangerous one.

I reached under my coat, and flipped up a flap on the shoulder of my Exo suit. Underneath the flap was a small switch, which I switched to the 'off' position. This was my safety switch. It enabled all the safety protocols I built into the suit, which prevented me from pushing too hard and killing myself, or breaking my foot if I tripped on my own leg. I had just turned it off, which meant any small motion I overestimated could kill me.

I carefully stood there as a crowd started to gather near me, flashes of cell phone cameras going off. Looking up, I crouched down, just as a police car stopped, behind me, and jumped. With my safety on, I could jump over a car, maybe even onto a truck. But my goal here was to jump onto the roof of this 2 story building. I flew into the air, with more g forced against me than I expected. Luckily, my aim was good, and I had only overestimated the distance by a little bit, sending me 6 feet over my intended target. I landed on top of the roof, away from everyone's prying eyes and the police, but managed to land awkwardly and twisted my ankle.

I dared not reach down to tend to my ankle, not with my safety off. I slowly and gently reach up to my shoulder, and flipped the switch back on. Suddenly I felt the restraints of the system kick in, and I could nurse my wound without causing more damage. I couldn't stay there long though.

"Cynthia, can you get Jen, she's in the club on a seat. Someone hit her in the head and knocked her out."

"I can still hear you" Jen said in pained breath.

"Sure, she'll be right there" Tom replied.

"Hurry though the police are here" I warned.

I hobbled to the other side of the roof, and looked down. Sure enough, the balcony was just below me. I carefully climbed down the side of the roof, and hung by the edge of it, still a good 4 feet off the ground. Dropping onto the balcony below, I put all my weight on my good foot and went into a roll. Luckily I didn't hurt myself again, but I had sprained one ankle already so I had to be careful.

I limped over to Tom and Joan, who was now sitting up. She looked like she was feeling better, but I knew my news was only going to make things worse.

"Where is she?" Tom asked.

"She's... she's gone. Tera's been kidnapped! I'm so stupid! I never should have let her come."

"This isn't your fault. We'll... we'll get her back" Tom said through a cracked voice.

"She'll be alright, won't she?" Joan asked. "We're going to go get her right?" She broke into tears as she tried to talk, but by the end, she could only sob.

"She'll... she'll live" a pained voice said nearby. Startled, we looked over, and saw Diane still pinned to the wall, blood pooling on the ground beneath her.

"Where is she?" I asked as I got up and approached her.

"I... I... don't know. He... approached us first." Her breathing was labored, as one would expect with a length of metal sticking out of her chest. Her eyes wandered around the room. "She got Larry... damn." She didn't seem that upset to see her former boss's corpse lying in a pool of blood. Her eyes then wandered farther over and focused on something else. "Oh... Oh God! Bob!"

I glanced over, and realized she was talking about the bloody mess Leonis had been mangling. I take it the metallic cat didn't eat her food, but she still mimicked it. There was little left that could be used to identify him, but she knew him instantly.

"Oh GOD! Not Bob! NO!!" She cried out again, tears filling her eyes.

I remembered something Joan told me about Diane. Usually Diane and Bob were together with her. They must have been very close. "I'm sorry" I said.

"That fucking FREAK! He killed my husband! Oh god!"

Joan came up to me, and placed her hand on Diane's shoulder. "You two were always kind to me. I'm sorry."

"Please... just kill me. I can't live like this."

We hesitated. Joan shook her head. "You ask too much of me" she said.

"Please. Exo. You can do it!"

"No... I can't. I can't kill you. Come on" I said to Joan indicating for her to help me.

Together, we lifted up the injured cyborg and pulled the metal spike out of her chest, lowering her to the floor. Tom came over to look at her.

"Well you aren't a robot, but I think I can help" he said.

"We need to get out of here now" I reminded everyone. "The police are downstairs. We can't be seen near this."

"We'll help her first" Joan interrupted.

"We don't have time" I repeated. "The paramedics can take care of her."

"And send her to jail for the rest of her life? No! She might not be the nicest person in the world, but I can't leave her to this fate."

"Just let me die" Diane begged.

"No!" Joan and I said in unison.

"I will not let you die. Too many people have already died tonight." Joan was adamant about that, and I respected her for it. "Please Danny."

I sighed. "Fine. We can try to take her with us, but we need to leave now! Can you carry her out without hurting her?"

"The spike missed her vitals" Tom said "... I think. Just be careful."

Joan lifted up Diane, despite Diane's pained protests. Yet another advantage of being a cyborg, you don't have to worry as much about breaking your spine when moved. Then again, she probably wish it did.

"Don't take me from him. BOB!" She reached out weakly to her mangled husband. It was hard to watch.

The three of us ran back out, down the back halls, carrying the injured woman. We only narrowly avoided being seen by the police, as they were apparently too busy dealing with the antics and drug use of the unruly crowd.

"Jen, are you ok?" I asked over the radio.

"I've been better" she replied. "We're on the way. Wait for us."

"What about the police?" Annie asked.

"We told them I was hit in the confusion and..." she took a pained breath. "And Cynthia is driving me to the hospital."

"Good idea" I said.

"I thought so" she replied. "But I meant it too. I think I have a concussion."

"We can't. We'd be caught for sure. Plus we have an injured woman with us who might be able to help."

"I'M an injured woman and I demand medical treatment" Jen shot back. I could see her coming into view now, Cynthia helping her walk under one arm. We all walked calmly toward the cars on the other side of the lot, and tried to avoid acting suspicious or guilty.

"Annie, you and Jack come down here too."

"Roger" she said.

I wasn't in the mood for jokes, but something in my head wanted to ask who Roger was. The thought of Tera scared, alone, and kidnapped terrified me and I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to cope with it. I had taken her into the lion's den, and gotten her kidnapped. It was all my fault, and now I had no idea where she was.

"Hospital! Now!" Jen demanded.

"No! We'll only be arrested" I objected.

"How dare you ask me that!" Annie interrupted over the radio. I heard a slap, and Annie continued. "Jen was right about you. What do you mean say it? I will not say that! Don't make me hit you again!"

"What are you two talking about?" Jen asked harshly.

"Jack wants me to hit on him" Annie said.

"No" I heard Jack yell through her radio.

"Whatever. He said I was to say 'hit on me'" Annie corrected with sarcasm in her voice.

"Hit on me?" The sounded familiar. Suddenly it hit me! "Dr. Hitomi! Jack you're a genius!"

Within 5 minutes, we were all piled into the cars, Jen and Diane in the SUV with Tom, Joan, and... Jack? He insisted he ride with Jen, even though she was still upset at him. He was doing his best to make it up to her, and tended to her while Tom looked after Diane. I did not envy Tom, with Joan, Jack, and Jen all in the car with him, a fight was bound to break out. Annie, Cynthia, and I followed behind in the smaller car, Cynthia driving while I called ahead. The clinic was not 24 hours, but usually they would offer some kind of emergency service, and I wanted to make sure this trip was not in vain.

Sure enough, Dr. Hitomi was on call, even at this late hour. She agreed to meet us there, and I apologized for the trouble and getting her out of bed at this hour. The rest of the trip was made in silence. My head was filled with thoughts of Tera, and how I had lost her. I let her down, her parents down, and myself. I blamed myself for letting her come along, and had no idea if I would ever see her again. I realized the last thing I said to her, and it dawned on me that she had said she loved me, and I was too busy to reply in kind. Did I ever say I loved her? I asked her out, but had I ever actually said it?

"It's not your fault" Cynthia said, breaking the silence. Perhaps she heard me quietly sobbing, or just trying to hold it in, but she said it nonetheless.

"Yes it is. I led her into that pit, and never even told her how I felt about her" I sobbed.

"She already knows. She was the one that wanted to go, and she can be pretty stubborn sometimes. You did the right thing, letting her go. She needs to grow on her own-"

"As a prisoner? She's been kidnapped! I should have stayed with her!"

"And would that have helped at all? Either she'd still be kidnapped, or would you prefer Joan gone. No one could have predicted this. Don't beat yourself up over it."

Annie placed her hand on my shoulder, and gave me a solemn but friendly smile. "She's my sister, and I won't let anything happen to her. We'll get her back."

"How about you?" I asked. "How are you holding up?"

"I've been through worse" she sighed.

"And your fear?"

"Of men?" She let out a long slow breath. "I'm still terrified. Even around you I still feel uneasy. I feel like I have to put on a big face, a tough facade, so men won't go mess with me."

"Even with me?" I asked, trying not to think about Tera.

"Not as much as I used to. I'm getting used to you. Plus you are my master, and... I hate to say it but... Outside my family you are my only friend."

"What about Jack and Jen?"

"Jen's alright I guess, but I don't really know her yet. Hell, I'm still trying to get to know you. Jack... He's friendly but I'm still scared of him." She sighed again and I saw her hold her face in her hands through the mirror.

"What's wrong?" Cynthia asked.

"Sorry. I just... hate being like this! Don't worry about me though, we need to save Tera."

I saw the cut on her face where the bullet had grazed it. It was a clear cut across her left cheek, leaving a bloody tear in her skin. I saw a little of Tera in her eyes, and couldn't stop the flow of tears.

We arrived a short while later at the clinic, and were met by Dr. Hitomi. I was beside myself the entire time, and can't clearly recall all that happened. Jack stayed with Jen, worried about her injury, even though she was still angry at him. Jen really knew how to hold a grudge. Diane was seen first though, even though she was a cyborg. Her human parts still needed treatment, and a lot of medical facilities were equipped to deal with it, although the mechanic parts that were not vital to life would have to be looked at later. Tom stayed with Joan in the SUV and watched over her, making sure her injuries were not too serious.

As for me... I fell into a depression induced stupor. I lost all sense of time as the realization that Tera was gone and it was my fault hit me hard. I remember sitting in the car, resting in the waiting room, and hearing pained screams from Diane and Jack. Yes Jack. Did I mention Jen holds a grudge? I remember how nice Dr. Hitomi was, again, but little else until we were on the way home again.

Everyone was tired, especially the 3 who were injured. Even Joan went into sleep mode to reserve power on the way back. As tired as I was, devastation over what had happened prevented me from getting any rest. She was gone. As we arrived back at the lab, we were greeted by Andrea, who helped assist everyone back into the lab, except for me.

While the others got some well-deserved rest, I needed to think, I needed to breathe. As everyone else went inside in the early morning hours, I wandered aimlessly into the forest nearby. No one tried to stop me. I drifted through the trees depressed and half-aware of my surroundings in the eerily bright night for what must have been hours. Eventually, I found my way into a small clearing with a large rock. It was the same place Annie had staked out nights before, and had a great view of the sky.

Cool night air blew through the trees and engulfed me in a numbing cold. Sitting on the rock, I gazed at the stars, thinking about Tera and my previous encounters that night. I barely noticed the sound of the wind blowing through the trees, the crunching of dead leaves behind me as a deer wandered through the woods, the soft sounds of the city in the background, the faint voice calling for help. A voice calling for help?!

I snapped out of my trance and focused my senses. There was no voice, no cry for help, and yet... there was something. I could ever so faintly sense a cry for help. It repeated several times. Finally, I had to slap myself awake more until I realized what it was. It was Tera, or at least the stream of data inside my head. She was alive, and close! She didn’t normally send messages that way, at least not often due to the energy it takes, but given the circumstances, I’d take any message at all.

I quickly got to me feet and started down the rock. The signal faded out, and I lost the little voice. Abruptly I stopped and turned around. The signal slowly came back. It was weak. She was alive, but she wasn't as close as I'd hoped. The clearing on the hill helped me pick up the signal, but if I moved too much, it would fade out. There was nothing I could do. She was alive and needed help, and I had to do something! I quickly ran down the hill, back out of the forest. My exo suit was low on power, and I had flipped it off, so running was back was not as swift as I would have liked, but I dared not turn it on incase I needed the power to mount a rescue.

It took a little while, but I finally got out of the forest, and stormed into the lab. Andrea was sitting in the main room, still active and on guard duty. She instantly confirmed my identification, but I didn't bother to wait for her to tell me. I ran to the back hall, and into the dorms. Throwing open Tom and Cynthia's door, I stopped to catch my breath.

"What in the world?" Tom asked, looking up at the light invading their dark room.

"It's Tera" I finally said between breaths. "She's alive!"

Chapter 28 - Mixed signals

"What are you talking about? It's 4am!" Tom grumbled, wincing at the light from the hallway.

"It's Tera! I'm telling you she's alive" I repeated.

"I know. I know. She's gone, but we'll get her back" he said annoyed as he got out of his bed.

"No! I mean I can hear her... in my head." Tom looked at me like I was crazy. Thinking back, I would have done the same.

"Look, you're tired, you need some sleep. We can talk about this in the morning."

"I don't want to sleep! Tera is out there, and she needs me!"

Tom gave me a hard stare, and pushed me out of his room. By now I had waken the others, and Jen and Joan came out of their room to see what was going on.

"Go to bed Danny!" Tom ordered. I knew he was right, but I didn't want to listen. There was nothing I could do for Tera in the state I was in; I was too weak to even fight Tom back. "We'll discuss this in the morning. Good night!"

He slammed the door, and left me there alone in the hall. Joan came out instantly and put her hands on my shoulders.

"Come on Danny, let’s get you to bed. You need to sleep" she said. Her voice was calming and smooth, and I found myself being guided into my room.

Joan led me to the bed, and pulled off my coat, my Exo-suit, my shirt and pants, leaving me in my underwear and socks. I was too dazed and tired to do anything anymore. She pulled back the covers and gently guided me into my bed. I lay there staring at the ceiling as she tucked me in; her every movement graceful and delicate. I saw a lot of Tera in Joan; in her movements, her voice, even the way she glanced at me. Even though Tera was gone, I was glad Joan was still with me.

"Would you like me to stay the night with you?" Joan asked in a sweet and gentle voice. I was too tired and cranky to give her a proper response, so instead I turned away from her in my bed without saying a word. She understood that I wished to be alone. "Alright. I'll see you in the morning Danny. Goodnight... master."

As soon as I closed my eyes, I was off in a dreamless sleep. It wasn't one of those nights with tossing and turning, or even a pleasant night leaving you feeling energized. It was more like what I imagined Tera and her sisters did whenever they recharged. I get the sleep I needed, and nothing else. I no longer felt tired, but I didn't feel energized either. No wonder they liked to sleep as well as recharge. I had no idea what time it was when I woke up, except that I awoke to the sound of my door opening and closing quietly, and a beam of light from the hallway invading the dark before it went out again.

I opened my eyes and looked over at the door. Jen stood there, dressed in a black lacy cami with thin straps and all-too-short denim shorts. She stood there looked down at me with a sad look on her face. There was enough light now coming through the cracks around the door that I could see her as my eyes readjusted to the dark.

"What time is it?" I asked groggily.

"It's almost noon" she said, her voice gentle.

"What do you want?"

"I came here to apologize."

"For what?" I asked, turning my back toward her in my bed.

"For everything. For losing Tera. For..."

"You didn't do anything wrong. You have nothing to be sorry for."

"Than to cheer you up" she replied with a lighter mood.

"I don't need cheering. I need sleep. I need people to listen to me. I need Te-"

"I need you!" she interrupted. "... to uh... forgive me."

"I forgive you already" I said. I turned over to face her again, except this time she was standing right next to the bed. I sat up as she leaned toward me.

"Thank you. But I need more than that." She was giving me that look in her eye that she never gave me... it was the look that said she wanted me, and I was taken aback by it.

"Jen! What are you-" I tried to protest. She interrupted me though by kissing me hard and deep on the lips; her tongue clashing with mine. She wrapped her arms around me and pushed me back into the bed.

"I need you, Danny. I've wanted you to ask me out since we were kids! But you never made a move. Why do you think I wanted to hang out with you all the time? Just like last week... like every week?"

"But what about Jack?" I asked sitting up again.

"Fuck Jack! I want you, Danny!" She kissed me again. It felt good, it felt really good. She broke off the kiss as she playfully bit my lower lip, pulling back and letting it snap back into place. Slowly, she lowered the straps on her shoulders, and let her form-fitting top slide down, revealing her perky round tits. This was the first time I had ever seen her chest, and it was everything I always imagined it would be. She lifted the top up and over her head, arching her back and lifting her arms as she did. I instinctually reached out and cupped her breasts in my hands, and massaged them. She made playful noises as I caressed her.

"Jen..." I mumbled. My mind by now had turned off, and all I could think about was the half-naked girl standing before me. Scratch that- the fully-naked girl. As soon as her top was off, she unbuttoned her shorts, and with a see-saw motion in her hips, lowered her shorts and her panties bit-by-bit until she was completely naked. I took in the glorious sight, savoring every moment, enjoying every curve and subtle nuances of her body and her skin. She was completely shaved down there, which gave me a clear view of her most private parts. Before I could register everything that was happening, she crawled onto me, and lowered the sheet off me.

"Shh... no more words" she said, putting her finger to my lips. She kissed me softly again on the lips, and then the neck, followed by the chest. She kept going until she reached my growing member, and giggled as she pulled it out of my underwear. Pleasure rushed up and down my spine as she took it into her mouth, licking, sucking, and caressing me. I was about ready to explode when she stopped, and climbed up higher.

"Wait" I tried to protest, as thoughts of Tera came back to me. However, I lost my voice as she lowered herself, caressing me with her moist lower lips. She sighed quietly and breathed in heavily as she rubbed her sensitive areas against mine. Finally, Jen reached down and gently grasped my hard member, and aligned it to her soft folds. "What about Jack?" I asked again. Jen hesitated, and I could see her face calculating, thinking about what she was doing. Still, it didn't stop her. She lowered herself onto me, and completely engulfed me inside her.

She gasped and breathed loudly into my ear as she bounced up and down. She felt amazing, as good as Tera. Somehow, my thoughts of Tera were drowned out by the pleasure Jen was giving me. I stopped resisting her, and moved with her, increasing the action and the pleasure. We continued to make love with her on top, as we both reached our climax. She reached hers first, her face locked in a silent scream while her body convulsed. I lifted her up and put her on the bed on her back to finish up. It didn't take long for me to reach my limit, and I opted to pull out of her and release on her stomach. We lay there, breathing heavily as we basked in the afterglow. Except... it wasn't as sweet as it should have been. This was just sex, and nothing else. It felt good, it was full of passion, but there was no real love in it.

I got up and started getting dressed. Jen sat up on the bed, wiping herself off with my sheets as she eyed me with a dirty look.

"Is that it? Is that all I get?"

I looked back and her, and threw her clothes to her. "I'm still in love with Tera, Jen. I'm sorry."

"Look... She's just a robot! She can't love you like I can. She..." she fell silent as I glared at her. "I... I didn't mean that! I'm sorry!"

"You know she can!" I snapped. I continued to dress as she started to pull her shirt on. "Jennifer... I love you, but not in that way. You are my best friend. I would do almost anything for you... but you ask for too much."

"I- I don't want to be just friends" she said defensively.

"And I don't want to hurt you or my friends."

"I'm not going to give up on you! We can be something more..."

"Yeah? And what about you and Jack?" I said bitterly.

"J- Jack? He has nothing to do with th-"

"Bullshit!" I interrupted. "Why did you hesitate when I mentioned him? Why do you still get flustered when you hear his name?" She paused, contemplative, as I lectured her. I calmed my voice, and spoke to her as her friend. "Before you go off trying to arrange someone else's life, arrange yours. I mean that as your friend. I don't want to see you get hurt. What happened just now... shouldn't have happened. But... there it is. It will always be between us."

I had nothing else to say really. I was upset she seduced me, concerned she was messing up her chances with Jack, and also that she was going down a road she shouldn't. I was afraid she'd get in between me and Tera, but I knew that as long as Tera was alive, she'd never give me up either. Then again, I needed to save her, and time was of the essence. I wasted too much time already!

"I'll see you in the lounge" I said quietly as I opened the door to the room, leaving her still getting dressed behind me. I walked into the bright hallway and practically ran into Jack. He was heading out of the dorms when we almost ran into each other, and for a split second, I saw his eyes dart behind me. For an instance, a look of sadness and a hint of terror crept on his face. He had seen Jen getting dressed behind me. I didn't know what to say, or do, so I just looked away and left the dorms, leaving him behind looking between me and Jen.

Everyone else had already gathered in the kitchen area with the exception of Andrea. For the moment, Andrea was keeping guard over the Labs, where apparently Diane had been confined while they figured out what to do with her. Glancing in, I saw the dark-haired woman sitting on a workstation table with various tubes and cables attached to her torso and arms; after all, she was a cyborg. She stared off into space, her head hanging low, with a look of utter despair and depression, I was sure she'd kill herself if there was anything pointy nearby. She didn't move except to breathe, and I noticed her eyes were red and stained with tears. I thought I had it bad for Tera, but her husband had just been mutilated before her eyes. I couldn't even imagine how she must have felt.

I joined everyone else in the lounge, to discuss what to do next. The sleep did help me think clearer, although Jen's antics upset me already. I wasn't sure exactly how to say it to everyone, but last night I clearly picked up her signal, if only for a minute. I decided to start off with an apology,

"I'm sorry for everything that happened... for my behavior last night, and this morning, for how everything turned out, for everything." Before anyone else could say anything, I continued. "Last night, I picked up Tera's signal. It was faint, but it was definitely there. I don't know how close or far she is, but for some reason, I could pick it up last night."

"You could sense her? Wh- What do we do now?" Annie asked.

"I... have no idea" I said with brutal honesty. "I was hoping you guys would have some ideas."

"We could drive around town till you pick her up again" Joan suggested.

"That would take all day, and you still might not sense anything" Cynthia said. "This is a big city."

"Well we have to do something" I interjected.

We fell into silence as everyone sat around thinking of possible solutions. Jack came in, silent and contemplative. A few minutes later, Jen followed, keeping her head low, and decided to sit apart from everyone else.

"Where did you sense her?" Annie asked after a few minutes.

"It was in the clearing where we found you the other day in the woods" I clarified.

"On the rock in the clearing?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"What are we doing?" Jack asked.

"Danny says he sensed Tera last night in the woods" Joan answered, still deep in thought.

"Sensed? What is she talking about?" he asked me.

"It's the nano-bots in her system. Part of the binding we share is that I can sort of feel her nano-bots when she's close by."

"So they use some sort of wireless signal, right?" he asked to the room in general. Tom had a better chance of answering this than I did.

"Yeah, something like that" Tom said. He sounded a little unsure about himself, and I wondered how much he knew about the system of nano-bots he placed into Tera. They were vital to her systems, and while he might not have built the nano-bots himself, he should have working knowledge of how it works if not more. After all, these were the same nano-bots that did such unique things as the binding Tera and I shared. If he didn't make it, he had to have worked with the people who did.

"And?" Jack asked.

Tom sighed, and sat down next to Jack. "I didn't actually build the nano-bot system, but I'll tell you all I know. Some of the more technical things I'm a little hazy on..."

The two of them chatted for a short while. Jen was still silent and feeling down, and I knew what I said was harsh, but I hated to see her so upset. I decided to have a private talk with her.

"How're you doing?" I asked her.

She looked up at nodded. "I'll live" she said.

"I'm sorry I upset you. I didn't mean-"

"Don't" she interrupted.

"Huh?

"Don't do that. Don't tell me you are all sorry and want to be friends and all that bull."

"Well... What am I supposed to say? I'm glad I hurt you?" I said sarcastically.

"No..." she sighed. "I just... have a lot to think about right now. I'm the one who should be sorry. Sorry I came onto you like that."

"It's alright. If you need me for anything, let me know."

"Right now... I need to think. And to make it up to you, I'll do my best to find Tera. God... I hope she'll forgive me."

"Tera? I'm sure she will."

"Danny" Tom called out. He signaled for me to come closer.

I excused myself from Jen, who continued to sulk, although the loom from her corner was lifted somewhat. Jack and Tom took my by the shoulder and guided me toward Andrea, who continued to stand vigilant over the labs.

"We'll need access to lab 1 please, Andrea" Tom said looking up at the towering gynoid. She stepped aside and allowed us access to the rooms behind.

"What exactly is going on?" I asked. They hadn't told me anything yet when they started guiding me toward the labs.

"We need a blood sample" Jack said as he pushed me into the lab with a sadistic look in his eye.

"WHAT!?" Jack knew about my fear of needles, and with him and Tom blocking the exit, there wasn't anything I could do.

"It's for the nano-bots" Tom said.

"It's for Tera" Jack added. "It's the only way we'll be able to find her."

I knew he was right, but that didn't help me get over the fear of poking me with a needle. I had no choice, but I still struggled to get toward the exit.

"Relax Danny-boy, this will hurt you more than it will hurt me" Jack said. I didn't appreciate his joke. "Besides, you owe me one."

Tom and Jack guided me toward the bench, and sat me down on it. Jack and Tom whispered something I didn't quite hear, and Jack walked away leaving Tom to hold me down. I continued to struggle against him. I knew I needed to do this... I knew something like this would have to happen when they started talking about nano-bots, but I still didn't want to do it. And even if I had to, I wanted it to be under my terms.

"Calm down Danny! We won't hurt you" Tom said calmly, or as calmly as a man holding down his friend could be.

"Poking me with needles isn't going to hurt?!" I hissed. "At least give me some air!" I growled, hoping he'd let go so I could stand up and back away.

"Not until you calm down!" he retorted. I was glad I hadn't raised my voice yet, because I noticed Diane sitting in the opposite lab through the window. I'm sure I must have looked like a spectacle. "Please Danny! I want to see my daughter again, and I'm sure you want to see her just as much as I do. Please Danny. It's for Tera..."

I looked at his calm deep eyes, and started to calm down myself. He was right. If I got myself under control, at least I didn't have to embarrass myself in front of others, and it probably wouldn't be as bad as I was making it out to be. I hated needles, but I took a deep breath and closed my eyes until I calmed down.

"Sorry" I said. I relaxed, and he backed away, giving me some air. Jack returned with a needle in his hand. I closed my eyes and braced myself. Tom and Jack took care of business, swabbing my arm, and preparing the needle. The needle stung like a bitch, and they took a good-sized sample before they finally pulled it out. I exhaled, as they finished up, wiping my arm and putting a bandage on it.

"Does that make us even?" I asked.

"This? Not even close" he said with a twisted grin. "I'll let you know when you've paid off your debt." I got a sick feeling in my stomach. He knew what I did, and even though I didn't start it, I did continue it. I felt horrible for what I did, and feared what he had planned for me to balance the scales.

Jack and Tom took the blood sample to the other side of the lab, leaving me alone, while they hovered over the small vial that fit snugly in the needle and collected the blood. They were probably going to try to pinpoint the signal the nano-bots were receiving, something I was glad I couldn't help them with. Instead, however, I looked at the hunched form of Diane in the adjacent room. I got up off the table, and entered the room.

Diane didn't even look up at me as I approached her. She sat there silently, in deep contemplation. She no longer wore the same clothes from the previous night. Instead, she had on a white bath robe, covering her up surprisingly well.

"What do you want?" she finally asked in a low and quiet tone.

"How are you feeling?"

"How do you think I'm feeling?! My life is as good as over. I've been betrayed, my body is broken, my husband is..." her voice broke up, but she cleared her throat and continued through the pain. "...dead. I have nothing!"

"You're alive at least. That's something" I replied, sitting down near her.

"Life is overrated" she spat. "Why didn't you just leave me there?"

"I don't have the right to decide who lives and who dies. I just did what I thought was right."

"I don't want to live! Look at me! I can't even move. I'm attached to this machine just so I can cling to this shithole you call life."

I took a closer look at her. Discretely running under her robes was a series of tubes and wires attached to a nearby computer terminal. The screen readout told me that it was providing her with full life-support. Her entire body, as far as I could tell, was artificial. She needed the artificial life support of her cybernetic body to keep what little of her biological self she had left alive. Mostly, she was a brain in a jar, all be it a fancy sexy jar. As I looked deeper at the screen, I could see it wasn't just her brain, but also her spine, parts of her torso, and other various organs were still organic. Nonetheless, she was paralyzed without her cybernetic body, and as it was, she was a vegetable. Her systems were in repair mode, and mobility was shut down for her own safety.

"You're a full body cyborg?" I said under my breath in amazement.

"And what of it?" she hissed. "Lots of people are restricted to prosthetics, why should I be treated any different from them?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." I said apologetically.

"No. I'm... Look, I was in an accident a long time ago. I've put it behind me. My husband... Bob was my reason to hang on. Now what do I do? I have no family, no children, no job. I have nowhere to go..."

"You can stay with us until you figure it out" I told her. She sat silently thinking about my offer.

"It's not like I can move right now..."

"We'll get you fixed up, and then what you do next is your choice."

She looked down, with what little movement she had before nodding her head. I stood up and held her shoulder lightly for a moment before turning around to leave. As I turned around and walked back toward the other lab, Diane called out behind me.

"I'm sorry... for pulling my gun on you at that ice cream parlor."

"It's alright. Joan said you were always nice to her. I'll take her word, and give you the benefit of the doubt." I realized just then how similar to Tom and Cynthia he and her husband must have been. Diane was devoted to her husband, and worked with robots every day, although in a very different way. Due to Diane's condition, she was unable to have children, and I clearly remembered Tom and Cynthia once told me they couldn't have children either. I never asked why. Of course, these two couples took very different paths, and one of them ended up torn apart. I felt bad for her, but I didn't know if there was anything more I an do than offer her a place to stay until she could get back on her feet.

I walked through the door into the other lab, leaving Diane to her thoughts. Jack and Tom were just getting finished with their analysis, and Jack, being the hacker he is, started to rig up a device of some sort.

"Thanks again for your help" Tom said as he patted me on the shoulder. "We've isolated the signal, and Jack's working on something now."

"Something that does what?" I asked.

"It makes chips" Jack said sarcastically. "Blimey Danny-boy, use your noggin. It finds the signal, and pinpoints the origin. It's a compass to Tera" he clarified.

I took a closer look at what he was working on. It looked like he was attaching a clear box with metal plates and thin tubes filled with blood to his laptop. He started working on some sort of program to process the data.

Jack was finished doing whatever it was he was working on in a few minutes. He took a step aside, and showed me his program. He showed me the gist of it. It was easy enough to follow. Essentially, it would sample the signal it was receiving as we moved around the city, and would start to pinpoint where the signal was most likely coming from. I didn't like the idea of taking hours to go searching blindly through the streets, but what other choice did I have?

We left the lab to join the others again in the main area. I was anxious to get going and tried to get together what I could in a hurry to keep get on the move. I hadn't had any communication from Tera's nano-bots since late night, and I was concerned I wouldn't pick anything up again. Joan was equally concerned, and was preparing for a rescue herself, gearing up and getting prepared. Annie was also anxious, and nervous. She seemed uneasy, more so than usual, but I wasn't sure why.

"You alright?" I asked.

"Yeah... Just thinking about last night. I know I didn't do much, but I keep thinking about that guy I killed. I mean, I shot him. I killed him, on my own."

"It's not your fault. You saved my life and Joan's" I told her while I packed a bag with food. "We owe you. Besides, I thought you told me this wasn't the first time you..."

"It isn't, but for some reason, it feels different this time. I regret every time I've taken a life when Liberati controlled me, but this was something I did on my own. Even with a new master, I still can't break away from the role of a death dealer."

"You only did it when our lives were in danger. Don't be so hard on yourself. I'm here today thanks to you."

"But I couldn't save Tera..." Those words hurt. I froze in place when she said her name, and I knew she was really beating herself up more than I realized. I continued to pack in silence.

"There's too many of us to fit in one car" Cynthia said. "You'll need speed to find her, but 2 cars will only slow you down."

"Besides" Tom added, "with that cyborg woman here, someone will need to watch after her during all this."

"Why can't Andrea?" Jen asked.

"Andrea is not a medical android. She can't help her if something happens. All she can do is defend or attack. Without a person around, she could die if there was a power failure."

"We'll stay here" Cynthia said, standing next to Tom. "As much as I want to save Tera, we aren't really going to be much help. Take Joan and Annie with you" she said.

"Me too!" Jen announced. She stood up and grabbed a gun from Annie's bag, and stood near me.

"Guess that leaves me out" Jack said. Sure we could fit 5 in the smaller car, or more in the SUV, but I figured he wanted to distance himself from me and Jen right now. "I showed you the program; you should be fine without me. I'll monitor your progress from here." He handed me his laptop but his grip on it was tight. "Don't put a scratch on my Sonya" he said before letting go.

"Sonya?" I mouthed to myself. I looked down at the laptop and the logo for 'SONY' was clearly visible across the top. He had stuck on a sticker of an 'A' in a different font at the end of it. Classic.

"And Danny..." Jack called out as I turned to pack the laptop.

"Yeah?"

Jack looked between me and Jen, and something in his eyes told me he was worried about her. "Never mind."

"If you need us, give us a call. We'll be right there" Tom said.

It didn't take long before the 4 of us piled into the small silver car equipped with weapons, first aid, tool kits, and even food. We had quickly prepared ourselves with food, water, weapons, a first aid kit, a tool kit, and anything else we figured we'd need. We were probably going to be searching all day, if not longer, some didn't bother to wear my Exo suit just yet, but I was glad to find Joan had taken the liberty of charging it up for me the previous night. I was anxious to get moving, as was Joan, who took the helm, and drove the smaller silver car. Annie and Jen got in the back, and I took shotgun.

I watched as we drove away from the building, Tom and Cynthia standing outside watching back. I hoped the next time I saw them there would be a happy reunion. I for one was getting tired of all the running and fighting, but soon it would all be over.

Joan drove for 5 or so minutes down the street heading toward the main roads, hoping we'd get a signal. I popped open the laptop, and started monitoring the program. It was laid out simply enough. A preloaded map of the city would show where we were, and large red areas showed where we hadn't explored. As we drove, the red areas around us changed to gray, to indicate there was no signal there, and strangely enough, it spread out to cover a good sized area with very little movement.

"How's your arm?" I asked Joan, glancing over at her metallic limb. It was covered in numerous small cuts, but they weren't deep.

"I'll be alright" she said. "It hurt like a bitch last night, but dad took a look at it and I feel much better now. I... I'm sorry I worried you. She took me by surprise. I just didn't expect it."

Suddenly I felt the small voice in the back of my head speak up. I could sense Tera's nano-bots sending out a signal again. I quickly looked down at the screen in my lap, and watched, and waited. It didn't pick up the signal as well as I did, but after a few seconds, it started to confirm what I had felt. Was Tera really that close? Parts of the map now turned blue to show that a signal was received. The data in the back of my mind called out for help as it had done the night before. "Help. I'm here. I'm alive." That seemed to be all it said, as though she were caught in a loop or something.

"What is it?" Joan asked glancing over at me.

"It's Tera! I can sense her. But it's faint... weak. Keep going."

We continued forward, and the signal started to get stronger slowly as we went. It took several miles before the computer suggested we turn left. Joan did as it instructed, and the signal remained steady for several more minutes. With a few more turns, some trial and error, and Jack's program to guide us, we found ourselves heading out of town. It took half an hour, and we were already getting close to her.

"Help. I'm here. I'm alive" the data repeated endlessly in my head. I tried to send a response but only got some kind of error. It wasn't easy to send a response; I had to concentrate on using the right part of my brain to do it. In fact, it almost felt like I was typing with phantom limbs in order to send anything. I tried this again, to make sure I didn't screw it up, but the same error message occurred. The signal was strong, and it felt almost as if she was yelling.

Within a few more minutes, a green blob appeared on the screen. I was expecting a green dot, because that was supposed to indicate the origin of the signal. Maybe her message was somehow being strengthened or something. That would explain why I could sense her so far away, while normally a city block would be too far. Without that enhanced signal, what should have been a day or two journey turned into a trip that lasted less than an hour, so I wasn't complaining. Joan turned up a long dirt driveway going up a hill on the outskirts of town. The sign at the base of the hill was rusted away, and the laptop had no information on the location. We came to a stop when we came to a metal rusted gate preventing the car from going any farther. The green blob was just on the other side of the trees, beyond the gate, at the top of the hill.

"Looks like we are going to have to walk from here" Joan said. I was out of the car before she had even finished her sentence. I grabbed a rifle and my suit from the trunk of the car, and got ready. Tera was in there somewhere, and we were going to get her out!

Chapter 29 - Ferocious ferrous felne

We trekked up the dirt road a short ways, armed to the teeth, and ready for battle. I led the way, followed by Joan and Annie, with Jen taking up the rear. Of course I donned my full Exo gear, hat and all. After all, I didn't know what to expect, but I felt that I was ready for anything as we marched head long into the unknown.

"Danny... something doesn't seem right about this" Jen said. I got the feeling that she was probably right, but the constant repetition of Tera's cries for help, and the promise of seeing her on the other side of the trees overclouded my judgment. I pressed on silently, ignoring her concerned comment.

The gate had just disappeared behind us down the trail when there was an unexpected beep and the hum of energy. It was so quiet and so fast that I didn't notice it until it was too late. As I walked forward, I felt a sensation like the hair rising on the back of my neck, followed by the feeling of being weighed down by something heavy. Joan stopped abruptly, eyes wide with shock, and held out her hands to stop Annie from passing her.

"Don't move!" Joan told Annie. I turned around to see Annie looking at the ground ahead of us with Jen behind them.

"What is it?" Annie asked.

"A high-frequency electro magnetic pulsating wave field" Joan answered.

"A what?" Jen asked looking around as if she was expecting to see a wall.

"An EMP field" she clarified. "It fries electronics, computer, microprocessors... robots. And Danny just stepped right through it." Joan took a step back, putting more distance between her and the invisible gate.

"I what?" I asked, before I realized she was right. My suit had shorted out and it now weighted me down instead of providing support. "Oh shit!"

"Danny, are you alright?" Jen asked.

"I'm fine but... shit!" I cussed. "My suit is fried! I know I put EMP shielding in this thing."

"Wait, so you just fried your suit?" Jen asked. She looked around at everything she was holding. She pulled out her phone and glanced at her watch. "Well I seem to be alright. You said it fries robots too? Then how are you two...?"

"We're not in the field" Joan said, still backing away as if she was retreating from a wild animal. "Annie and I have EMP shielding, it was a requirement for our specs set by the military, but a concentrated field or beam could still penetrate our defenses."

"So it's like a bubble?" Annie asked.

"More like a wall" Joan clarified. "Something is transmitting this to keep us out..."

"Or to keep someone in" Annie added.

"A robot? You mean Tera?" Jen asked.

"Or a cyborg" Joan continued. "Or just Danny's Exo suit. Even cars couldn't get through this. But everything on the other side would be fine, provided they don't pass through the wall."

I growled and cussed and complained all the while, cursing the field for destroying my suit, or me for walking right into it. After I was finished mourning the passing of my suit, I started taking it off, disconnecting the various parts and the vest, leaving everything except the vest on the side of the road.

"What are you doing?" Jen asked.

"I can't wear this anymore. It weighs a ton!" I complained. "And of course my watch is dead too. great!"

"And your phone?"

I checked my pockets for the bulge of a phone. "I guess I left it back in the car." At least I didn't need to get a new phone.

"Toss me your suit" Jen ordered reaching out to catch it.

"No. If it passes through again it might cause another short. There's a chance I can fix it as it is, but we'll just leave it here for now. Besides, Tera is in there! We need to get moving!"

"We can't go with you" Annie said.

"I'll go with you" Jen pipped up. "Wait... will it affect my gun?" she asked holding up her semi-automatic pistol.

"No, you should be fine" Joan reassured. "But you better leave your phone with us."

"Right" Jen said, and proceeded to give Joan her phone and watch. She took a deep breath, and walked up toward me. There was no visible change, no sensation that she passed through anything as she walked right through and stood next to me. "Hey wait... what about your nano-bots?" she asked. "Are they still working?"

"The signal faded momentarily when I passed through, but... they seem to be fine now."

"But how...?"

"Nano-bots are not always electronic or mechanical" Joan pointed out. "Usually they are biological, and not susceptible to EMPs."

"Like microscopic bionoids?" Jen asked, looking closer at my face as if she was trying to see them. Bionoids... the thought grossed me out. Little man-made abominations of nature living inside me... I shivered and tried not to think about it.

"Let's change the topic. Or better yet, let's get moving!" I suggested.

"Right. You have to try to shut off the field emitter, if you can find it" Joan said. "Annie and I will try to find a way around."

"Alright. Good luck" I said and turned back toward the path.

"Good luck" Joan echoed. Her voice was somehow more full of emotion than I expected, as though she were genuinely scared for me and Jen, and probably Tera.

"Don't go that way!" Annie interjected.

"Why not?" I asked.

"They'll be expecting you to come by the main path. Take to the trees" she said, pointing to the small forest on either side of the path.

"Good idea. Thanks."

Before I realized it, Jen and I had left Annie and Joan and were already approaching the edge of the woods. I was nervous and scared, but determined to press forward.

As we came to the clearing, we beheld an unusual sight. The area appeared to be a sparsely populated junk yard. There were tall cranes brandishing over-sized magnets, rusted cars, rotting wood furniture, and an assortment of other things laying around. It looked more like an old recycling center, with mainly wood, metal, and glass strewn about in no particular order. I pressed forward, but Jen hesitated.

"Something feels bad about this, Danny" she said timidly. She saw me continuing my pace, driven by the messages sent my Tera in my head, and tried to keep up with me.

"Tera's in here somewhere" I said. "We need to get her out!" I passed into the area, cautious that I was trespassing on what was probably private land. "Stay behind me, you don't have on a vest."

She actually did stay behind, following very close and cautiously as we proceeded forward. I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for, but I figured there had to be some kind of structure nearby where she was being held.

"Danny, I'm scared. Something isn't right here" Jen reiterated.

Faintly, I could hear a tapping noise, almost like a banging of metal. I focused my attention on it, and discovered it was timed to the messages Tera was sending me screaming in my head. With every word, as it was transmitted, there was a corresponding bang.

"This way!" I said in a hushed tone. Cautiously, we walked in the direction of the banging, keeping a weary eye out for guards, Leonis, 262, or even the man himself. There was nothing. Nothing at all! The words Jen had spoken only moments before now echoed in my mind. Something wasn't right, but I dared not turn away now, not when Tera was so close!

Finally, we came to it. A large metal container with a door and a padlock lay in the heart of the junk yard, and the banging emanated from within. Quickly I ran to the rusted object and pulled at the door. The padlock was new, but it wasn't that big. However, without my suit I couldn't just pull it off. I dropped my gun and banged on the door, yelling to Tera trapped inside.

"Tera! Tera! We're going to get you out of there. Hang on!"

There was no answer, but I didn't exactly stop to wait for one. I looked around and found a straight metal rod in the rubble, and dived for it.

"Help me" I told Jen, who stood at a distance looking around nervously.

"Danny..." she said in a very nervous tone, almost like she was asking a question. The pistol in her hands shook violently as she looked around nervously.

I ignored her, and grabbed the metal rod. Ramming it into the space between the lock and the door, I pried at the lock, trying to break it open. With all my strength, I pulled and pulled, and even put all my body weight into it. The metal rod had started to bend, but just when I feared it would fail, the lock gave way and broke.

As I pulled away the lock, something else occurred to me. This entire time, the same message had been sent, without any deviation. Even the timing was the same. Unless she was plugged into a power source, there was no way she could have done that without running out of juice. But even more disturbing, there was no way she was able to send a message across the city while sitting inside a metal tube. She hadn't even responded to me banging at the door. Something was wrong, and this had trap written all over it.

Still, I pulled open the door, and peered inside. An electric motor lay inside, pushing a stick with a wooden block at the end into the side of the metal cylinder. It was making that banging sound, and some sort of wire ran out of it and out of a small hole in the bottom of the container. Tera was nowhere to be found. What's worse was I didn't hear the tiny snap of a line as I opened the door, at least not until Jen's voice screamed out in terror.

A noise from somewhere above me caught my attention. I looked up just in time to see a rusted ancient car plummeting right on top of me. Time stood still, and I realized these were the last moments of my life as the car got ever close. My body froze, and I was unable to do anything to get out of the way of the oncoming doom.

Just as I was about to be turned into street pizza, I had the sudden sensation of falling. The car started to veer off to my side. I hit the ground hard with Jen laying on top of me (for the second time that day), her face buried in my side. Less than a second later, the car came crashing down inches from her feet. The sound was incredible, and deafening.

It took me a few seconds to register everything that happened. Jen had risked her own life to save mine, and managed to push me out of the way of the falling car. It was close, and my entire head was ringing from the impact. As soon as I was capable of thought, I grabbed onto Jen to make sure she was alright. She was dazed, but would be fine.

I got to my feet as quickly as I could. It was a trap, and I survived it by the skin of my teeth, but who's to say there wasn't someone watching this unfold. We needed to get out of there, and for a new plan, and fast! I looked around and realized my gun was crushed under the debris, and Jen's was no where to be found probably thrown into the pile of rubble as she dove to save me.

I got Jen to her feet, and started hobbling toward the trees. I pushed her ahead of me to try to cover her from anyone who might take a shot at us. I owed her my life, and the least I could do was try to keep her safe.

"Run" I coughed, keeping her at a pace ahead of me. "Get to the others!"

Without warning, a large rusty metal muffler came briefly into my vision, just in time for it to strike my chest, and send me hurdling toward the ground landing on my back. It knocked the wind out of me for a second, but it was a great wakeup call, and I managed to get my wits about me.

I looked up as I scrambled to my feet to see something I never expected. The rusty muffler was being wielding like a baseball bat by what looked like a rusty metal statue of a girl. It took me a moment to realize the statue was moving.

I got to my feet and prepared for another blow. I managed to dodge the first one, but the second hit me, sending me stumbling backwards.

"Die already!" the female statue hissed.

I recognized the voice. It was rough, a little breathy, and made me want to clear my throat. 262 took another swing at me with the muffler, but this time I caught it in my hands. I was sure without my suit, I would be toast against her. For some reason, I was holding my own in terms of brute strength. In fact, she was not much stronger than Tera, no where near as strong as Joan. The muffler was about the extent of what she could swing at me, and I managed to pull it out of her grip and throw it to the ground.

"Give Her Back!" I growled.

"Never! She's safe now. Safe from you!" I lunged at her rusted form, still not sure what it was, but they did say she was an expert in stealth. Before I could reach her, she flipped back, and ducked behind a rust-covered canister. Her rusty visage blended right in with the canister, and for a second I lost sight of her. I was not going to let her get away!

I charged at her, or at least where she had been. Somehow she was gone! There was no female figure hiding, no rusty statue. I looked around abruptly, and tried to find her.

A steel pipe struck me in the back. My Xylon vest was still able to help defer the blow so it didn't hurt like I expected it to. I grabbed at the pipe, but missed. She wasn't there. Another blow, this time to my leg. Pain shot up my leg to my hip, and into my spine. She hit me hard, and my kneecap felt like it could have been broken.

Another blow, this one to my neck, would have sent me to the ground unconscious, but she missed and stuck my shoulder, allowing the vest to offer me more protection. This time, I grabbed a hold of the pipe, and followed the path up it to the steel girl that matched the look of the pipe. She was covered in rust a second ago, but now she looked completely different.

I pulled the pipe away, and swung it at her, but missed. Again, she flipped back and hid out of sight. Again, she was no where to be found when I ran, or rather limped to catch her.

"I swear if you hurt her, I'll personally rip you apart" I yelled.

"She's in safer hands now than when she was with you. How many times did she come close to death when you were around?" the body-less voice retorted.

I tried to use the sound of her voice to get a better idea of where she was hiding, but she was able to bounce her voice off of my surroundings, and I couldn't pinpoint her.

"You mean when I saved her life from Liberati's thugs?" I asked. I heard a rush of air in my left ear, and dodged to one side to narrowly avoid a wooden spike that was thrown at my head. I turned to face the direction it came from, but I still couldn't tell where she was.

"Or the time I stopped the MMR virus from overheating her?" I added. "Or maybe the time I saved her from her other two sisters, one of which shot her!"

"What are you talking about?" she asked. I still couldn't locate her but I kept trying. "Don't try to fool me! I can see your lies. She's safer with my master than she could ever be with you!" I walked closer to where I thought the voice was coming from, always on my guard.

Another wooden spike came flying at me. I dodged to one side, only to take another one in my chest. Thank God for that vest! The plank shattered into a dozen pieces before it hit the ground, but it gave me a better idea of where she was hiding.

"I've risked my life to save her from everyone that has tried to hurt her! I am risking it now just to try to get her back. Please, let me see her!" I pleaded.

"Not in your life! What is she to you anyway? Just another sex toy?" she said with scorn in her voice.

"I love her!"

"L-love? Ha!" I had flustered her, and she lost her cool long enough for me to see where she was hiding. I vague form of a girl that looked like half-rotten wood moved, and I took my chance to charge head on at her. My knee still hurt badly from her strike, but I managed to get to a good speed despite it. "Oh shit!" she gasped when she saw me coming.

Without making a sound, Leonis, the giant reflective metal cat, bounded out from behind the wooden boxes behind her. I hadn't seen or heard the cat before now, but there she was.

"No Leonis! I can do this by myself" 262 yelled at the cat but it was too late. The monstrous feline landed right on me, and started clawing at my arms, my chest, and my face. Pain filled my mind as I tried to push the heavy metal beast off of me. Slash after slash, I felt my flesh rip at my arms as I covered my face and neck a best as I could. Blood splattered across my face, and started to cover the beast. My blood. I felt a bone in my left arm snap as she batted at me. The attack was relentless, and aimed to kill me.

I did the bet I could to keep the beast from biting at my neck, a killing move for cats in the wild. Leonis never lost this instinct, or maybe she never really had it in the first place, but either way she kept trying to take my throat into her mouth. I was covered in blood, unable to think clearly, and my thoughts went back to Tera, and my friends.

Jen was still in danger if they caught up with her, and Annie and Joan were vulnerable to the EMP field if they ever tried to help. I had torn apart the still budding relationship between Jen and Jack. Tera was still gone. I could remember seeing her sleeping so cute and peacefully next to me in the bed, her charging cable still plugged in like a tail. She was so soft and warm as she lay on top of me ready to make love. But she was being pulled away from me. She was lifted higher and higher, until she hit the sky with a clang. The weight was gone.

I opened my eyes to see Leonis flying in the sky 30 feet above me. The giant metal cat jerked uncontrollably, but very forcefully, as though she were barely able to move. I realized a second later what happened as I glanced over to see Jen at the controls of one of the cranes.

She had turned the very same magnet that dropped the car on me toward Leonis, and sucked the cat up off me. And if you know anything about computers and magnets, well let's just say Leonis was not going to be pouncing on any unsuspecting heroes again.

Jen smiled at me, but her smile faded to horror when she saw me. I tried to get back to my feet, but the pain was too much, and the best I could do was to get to my knees. I looked up through my blood covered eyes at 262 who stood not 10 feet away shocked at the sight she had just seen.

"Give her back!" I growled.

"N- no" she said, taking a step back.

"I Love Her!" I said in a louder voice, finally able to get one of my feet on the ground. She took another step back, but then reassured herself, and stood her ground.

"You- you can't! She's my sister, and I must protect her from you" she said, almost as if it were some kind of chant or mantra.

"She's my girlfriend and I won't let you take her away from me!" I coughed. I took a step forward as pain shot up my leg. I did my best to ignore it, but I was frozen in place. I wouldn't have been able to do anything to her in my condition.

"G- girlfriend...?" she said to herself. Her face was suddenly revealed through the wood texture she wore, as though the wood melted away. She looked confused and pensive. I tried my best to move toward her, but my leg gave out, and I was left on one knee, huddled over in pain.

She walked up to me menacingly, with a wooden plank in her hand. She blended in amazingly well with the wood except for her face with almost floated there in the wood texture of her body. I put my right hand on the ground, to keep myself from falling over, or at least that's what I hoped it looked like.

"You will never see her again" she said as she lifted the jagged wooden plank over me and prepared for a killing strike.

I didn't give her the chance to strike. I threw the fist full of dirt I had grabbed into her face, and she faltered. The wooden plank bounced off the ground as she grabbed her face.

"Shit!" she cursed as she tried to clear the dirt from her face. The unexpected shock broke her concentration, and the wooden texture of her body started to slowly melt away, almost like they were being pulled back into almost invisible seams around her body. As the wood texture was sucked into the seems lining various parts of her body, her naked body was revealed. She was quite beautiful, and busty, but I couldn't really enjoy her figure in my current state. I notice now, however, that she had a body different from any of her sisters. While Tera had no marks on her skin to show her true robotic nature, and both Joan and Annie had faint seams, 262 had something in between. While she was capable of a fully realistic form like Tera, the seams were still there, hidden, and revealed whenever she needed to open a panel. Or apparently also when she used her camouflage.

262 finished clearing the dirt out of her eyes, and looked at me with anger in her face. I was hoping to use this opportunity to tackle her to the ground, but I was still stuck in my spot. My only hope now was that Jen could do something to stop her. The problem was, she was doing something and it wasn't working. Jen had positioned the large magnet over 262. While it sucked up and destroyed Leonis, 262 didn't even blink. Like Tera, she was fabricated with little-to-no metal in her, meaning a magnet would have as much effect on her as it would on me.

262 grabbed another wooden spike, and took her position over me again. This could be it. She lifted the wooden spike up and prepare to strike. Instead, she hesitated as she looked down at me.

"I should kill you for that last trick" she hissed.

"Then get it over with. I wouldn't want to live without Tera anyways" I said. This time I was serious about it.

"Why do you call her that?" she asked, still in position ready to strike.

"It's her name. I named her that because it suited her, and she deserved a real name."

"A real name?" she asked to no one in particular.

"Yeah. Surely your great master must have given you a name."

"I- I'm..." she faltered again, as though trying to understand why I named my gynoids, but he never named her. "I'm 262, just as I've always been, as he's always called me! Don't try to confuse me!"

262 got angry, and prepared her strike again. I bowed my head, ready to take the blow, ready to have her turn out my lights. Instead, the wooden plank crashed to the ground a few feet from us. I looked up to see 262 staring in disbelief at her hand. The sound of a gunshot in the distance echoed through my ears, and I knew Annie had saved my life again.

Before 262 could look up, another shot struck her in the shoulder. She grabbed at her shoulder and cussed under her breath.

"Fuck!" She tried to turn her camouflage back on, as tendrils of texture started to ooze from the hidden seams in her skin. However, another shot rang out, striking her in the forearm. The camouflage faded away again as she screamed out in pain.

She turned away from me, and started running as fast as she could to get away from her sniper sister. She vanished into the woods just as Jen ran up to me from the crane.

"Oh God! Danny! Are you alright?"

"No" I mumbled. I didn't know if I was going to faint or not, but I did know I was in severe pain. That was about all I knew actually.

"Here, lay down, let me take a look at you."

"No" I repeated. I did not want to lay down, I was afraid I was fall asleep and never wake up again.

"At least let me help you get to your feet" she pleaded.

"No" I said again. I was afraid I had a broken kneecap, and walking was not an option.

"Is that all you can say?"

"No" I joked through the pain. "Ouch!"

"Well at least you have your bad sense of humor" Jen replied. Despite my protests, she still helped me to my feet, taking the weight off my left leg with her own. We hobbled over to the crane operating station, and I sat down in it, leaning back for a second, but changing my mind when I realized I was sleepy.

"Need to turn off EMP generator" I managed to say through the pain.

"I'll go do that. What's it look like?" Jen asked. I shrugged my shoulders, which I realized instantly was a bad idea as more pain shot down my back. "Great, I'll look for that" she said sarcastically. "Don't you die on me now... I'll be right back!"

"No promises" I said. She shot me a dirty look, which melted into a concerned one. Before she left the little control cabin, she turned to face me.

"I don't care if it was a mistake" she said. "It was worth it to make love to you at least once." She then kissed my cheek and ran out to look for whatever it was that was generating the EMP field.

I tried my best to stay awake inside the cabin. I tried to concentrate on something other than the pain. I tried to come up with our next move, the next plan of attack. I tried to think of anything that would help us save Tera. We didn't even know where she was. I found the thing that worked the best was concentrating on the now-annoying false messages that were still echoing through my mind.

Even though we crushed the machine that was banging inside that metal tank to the beat of her messages, the messages never stopped. The transmitted was not on the machine, it was somewhere else.

After what seemed like an eternity, Joan, Annie, and Jen finally made it back to me, this time carrying the extensive first aid kit we brought with us. It was a last minute addition and boy was I glad we brought it. Annie gave me some tylenol and started disinfecting my wounds, which hurt like a bitch, while Jen started to feel my arms and legs for breaks. Joan, meanwhile, whipped out something that caught my attention, a syringe and needle.

"What the hell is that?!" I asked defensively. Again my fear of needles was going to get the best of me.

"Its an analgesic drug" Joan replied, preparing to stick me with it.

"What!?" I asked.

"Pain killer" she clarified, before digging it deep into my arm. I screamed for a moment, but realized there was no pain there at all. In fact, it was making the other pain fade away. If all needles were like that, maybe I wouldn't hate them so much.

The girls worked on me for a bit. Jen had determined my knee was out of place, but not broken, while my arm was broken. One of the bones in my arm snapped and prevented me from twisting or really using my left arm. Joan took over for Jen, who went to start dressing my cuts which Annie was disinfecting.

"I am trained in basic in-field first aid, just relax and I'll have this bone reset in no time" Joan said. Despite the pain killer, it still hurt when she snapped the bone back into place. And gain when she realigned my knee. Luckily the painkiller kicked in again, and I started to feel loopy.

"Hey" I said in a sing-sony way. "Shouldn't we go to the hospital or something?"

"We went yesterday. We'll visit Dr. Hitomi again when we get home" Jen answered.

"Dr. hit on me? Ha! Hey, didn't you hit your head?" I asked. Not sure where this was all coming from, but I was sure the drugs were starting to kick in now.

"Yeah, but I'm fine. It wasn't a concussion" she answered while bandaging my arm.

"You should be in bed."

"I probably should."

The rest of the procedure was more of a blur. I remember the painkiller wearing off slowly, and discovering my left arm in a splint and a sling, and my left leg was tightly bandaged with a supportive sleeve.

"Could someone turn that voice off please?" I asked. It was the first thing I remember asking after the painkiller started to wear off. We were still in the junk yard, and the sun was just setting.

"Voice? Maybe we should send you to the hospital" Jen suggested.

"No... not like that. The message. The fake lead that led us here. It's really annoying."

"Oh. Well... let's see if we can find it." Jen signaled to the others, and the 3 of them left me to rest.

I closed my eyes for a bit to get some rest while they looked for the source of the signal. I actually was feeling much better than I expected to. My arm was the most damaged, and the rest were mostly scratches. Albeit deep scratches, but nothing that wouldn't heal on their own. Everything I did hurt a little, and I was sure it would get worse as the medicine wore off, but I was knew I should have felt worse than I did.

After a few minutes, a voice woke me. Annie was pointing up at the top of the crane I sat in.

"What's that?" she asked.

"I don't know... it looks different" Joan said.

"Like it doesn't belong" Jen added.

They were all looking up now at something above me, way above me. I hobbled out of the cabin in great pain to see what they were looking at.

"Woah Danny, don't get up yet. You're still badly hurt" Jen protested.

"She's right sir, please take it easy! Let me help you" Joan said, before she came up to my side and helped me walk. She sat me down on a metal box nearby and I looked up.

"Thanks. Now what is it you're looking at?" Joan pointed up at the top of the crane toward what looked like an antenna. It was shiny and new, and had wires running down the side of the crane loosely. The rest of the crane was dark, and looked 40 or 50 years old, so the metal antenna was like a sore thumb on it.

"Do you think that could be it?" Annie asked.

"It probably is" I said. "Do you think one of you can climb up there and take it down?"

"Not it" Jen said jokingly.

"I'll do it" Annie said. "I'm used to hiding in high-up hard to reach places."

It didn't take long for Annie to start climbing the metal structure. Joan had a very real concerned look on her face as she watched her younger sister climb up higher and higher.

"Careful! Don't fall!" Joan yelled.

"And here I thought that was a great idea" Annie yelled back, full of sarcasm.

Joan was still concerned for her sister, and watched anxiously as she finally reached the top of the crane. It took her a minute or two to disconnect the antenna, which was an instant relief as the messages finally stopped! I could suddenly feel myself thinking clearly again, but also feeling somewhat lonely.

Annie made her way back down, antenna in hand, and only slipped once. Joan of course freaked out, and almost climbed up to help Annie, but Jen and I talked her out of it when Annie regained her footing and made it down the rest of the way on her own.

The antenna was a good 5 feet long, and was very well built, with a lot of metal in it to strengthen the signal. Annie brought it to us, much to Joan's relief, and presented it to me.

"So what are we going to do with this?" she asked.

"I have no idea" I replied. "Put it on a walkie talkie?" Jen giggled at the joke, but Annie just looked confused.

"I think it's too big for that." Clearly someone needed to explain it to her.

"It was a joke hun" Jen said.

"I- I knew that!" Annie replied. Joan smiled at her reaction, but I saw a light go on in her head.

"I have an idea" she started. "If this device would be used to send a signal that strong to lure you here, couldn't it work the other way?"

"You mean, strengthen our signal to... uh..." I said, still clearly not over the medication.

"No. Strengthen our receiving side to pick up Tera's real signal!" Jen clarified.

"Exactly" Joan beamed.

"Oh, I see, then we can use the strength of this to find a her, like it drew us" Annie added.

"Huh?" I asked.

"It's simple" Joan said. "Just attach this to the laptop, and it will be able to see the entire city, instead of one block."

"Oh!" I said, finally getting it. "But, we need Jack to do that. I don't know how to hook this up to his computer."

"Danny... if this works, we can find Tera tonight!" she exclaimed.

"Assuming it isn't another trap" Jen added.

"I doubt it. But we should probably head back to check it and have Jack hook this up. Besides, you need to rest sir, those wounds aren't going to heal overnight."

It was settled, we were going to return to the lab, and head out again. I was afraid I would be in no condition to go on another rescue attempt, but the thought of losing Tera terrified me, and I decided it would be worth any amount of pain or injury to bring her back. Beside, it would be nice having her act as my nurse.

We went back down the hill together, Joan and Jen on either side of me, with Annie carrying all our stuff. We packed everything back into the car, and made sure to collect my Exo-suit, which was not much more than a pile of metal and fabric at this point. I'm sure I could fix it, but the extent of the damage was unknown. I didn't have the strength to work on it now, so I was going to have to go without it until I had the time to mess with it.

I took the backseat this time. Annie insisted that she stay with me, much to my surprise. This time Jen took shotgun, and Joan, as always, drove. I was feeling very tired, but was sure now that I did not feel in danger of dying in my sleep.

"Please sir... master" Annie whispered to me. "Use my lap for a pillow, if it suits you." She blushed at her own request, and I decided I couldn't pass up such an offer.

I lay down with my head in her lap, and closed my eyes, enjoying her soft skin and warm body. I was in too much pain to really sleep, but the rest helped. I listened to the others talk about 262, her unique camouflage ability, and the brilliant thinking by Jen to turn the magnet against Leonis. Jen decided to call ahead to make sure everything was ok, and see if they could do anything to help me out. By now the sun had set, and darkness was settling in.

"Hello? Hello? Are you guys there?" Jen asked over the phone. I could't hear much on the other end, but there was something going on in the background. "Are you guys alright? What's going on?"

Finally a voice came on the other end. It was Jack, but I couldn't hear was he was saying.

"Jack? What's going on? What wrong?" Jen asked.

Jack mumbled something on the other end of the phone.

"We're on the way back. Maybe 10 minutes away. Tera isn't with us... it was a trap. Danny's been-"

There was a loud bang on the other end of the phone, and we all looked over at Jen. I sat up again, trying to get a better listen.

"Jack! What was that?!" she asked. "A gun?! What's going on over there? Jack - Holy shit!"

Joan swerved the car out of the way of someone in the middle of the road, only to come within a foot of hitting someone else. Standing before us in the headlights of the car was a customer service robot, the kind I usually repaired for a living. Something about it looked off though. It was walking stiffly, and didn't seem to respond to anything or anyone around it. Well... anyone but us. As soon as it spotted our car, it turned toward us and started walked for the door. Another robot, this time a street-cleaning bot, banged at Annie's window as if to break in.

"DRIVE!" I yelled. Joan slammed on the gas and drove forward, running over the service bot and 2 or 3 more that were following behind it. We left the rest in the dust, but looking out the windows, I realized there were probably hundreds of robots wandering around town aimlessly. Except it wasn't really aimlessly, they were all heading in the same direction.

"Oh God! What are they?" Jen asked. Jack answered but Joan spoke as well, drowning out his voice.

"Service robots, low-level bots and drones" she said.

"Someone's hacked them" Annie added.

"Jack! Get out of there!" Jen pleaded over the phone. The phone went dead.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked.

"Jack said the robots have all turned against us... I mean us. They are attacking the lab!"

Joan put the pedal to the metal and sped the rest of the way back to the lab, even running a red light. Granted, there were robots wandering around everywhere, and there was pandemonium on the street as civilians and police tried to stop them. They seemed to ignore everyone else, and only focused on us whenever we were near.

As we turned the corner toward the lab, we could see at least 100 robots of different models and sizes congregating on the building. Andrea stood at the front entrance, her machine gun ready, and was announcing something loudly to the robots I couldn't make out. She then open-fired on the oncoming barrage, her giant metal form lit up in the dark by the occasional tracer round as she fired her built-in gun Tom had only just installed.

The robots surrounded her and started to attack, but she fended them off. Upon seeing our car return, she started to clear a path with her laser gun.

"We aren't seriously going in there are we?" Jen asked.

"Yes we are. My parents and Jack are in there" Joan replied as she turned the car in toward the crowd of robots and started plowing them down.

My mouth hung open at the sight. "Oh my God! It's like that bad movie... 'Attack of the Robot Zombies'!" Only this time, it was really happening, and we were in the middle of it all.

Chapter 30 - Melodrama kills

Andrea cleared a path for us in the sea of metal monsters. The large machine gun attached to her arm, or rather emerging from her arm, was loud and extremely dangerous, but she wielded it with a precision and expertise of an expert marksman. The bullets easily tore apart the metal bodies of our assailants as she made her way toward our as we drove down the short drive.

"The facility is under attack, I highly suggest you seek cover" she announced as soon as the door was opened.

"No shit" Jen said as she jumped out of her door and slid across the hood of the car to the other side. An outdated robot receptionist reached out for her, but was suffering from some kind of malfunction, probably brought on by the virus or whatever it was that caused it to attack us. The robot barely missed Jen, thanks to her agility, and grabbed only thin air before Andrea gave it a healthy dose of vitamin lead.

Annie and Joan were also quick to get out, but I was a little stiff to say the least. Joan was sure to grab a gun or two, as well as the device with the antenna. Meanwhile, I relied on Annie and Jen to help me out of the car while Andrea provided us with cover. The machine gun was very loud, and big, but I didn't mind the volume considering the results were undeniable. Andrea ripped apart robot after robot with her gun, her precision was excellent, and she conserved ammo as well as anyone could.

We ran to the door with Andrea following behind, providing us with cover. I tried hard not to trip on the various mechanical parts that now strewn upon the ground on the way to the lab. Finally, we made it inside, and Andrea remained at the door to fend off the oncoming hoard. Inside, the panicked faces of Tom and Cynthia greeted me, as Jack worked on the computer terminal at the desk.

"Thank God, you're alright!" Cynthia exclaimed. "Where's-?"

"It was a trap, Tera wasn't there..." Jen said as she stood to the side letting me in. Cynthia got a good look at my bandaged and maimed figure before I could put on a tough guy facade; the panic melted from her face and formed into shock.

"Danny! Are you-?"

"I'll live. How are you guys? What is all this?" I asked.

"Hell if I know" Tom said, looking back at Jack expectantly.

"It's some sort of low-level hack" Jack answered without looking up from his keyboard. I got a look around the room. It looked like a bomb exploded! Something must have gotten in earlier. Luckily no one had any injuries. "It's just on a massive scale. And yet only in this area..." he pondered while he typed away. He ignored the gun laying next to him; both Cynthia and Tom were carrying weapons as well.

"What do you mean?"

"As far as I can tell, this is really just a simple hack, affecting the basic rules of behavior. Only low-end industry and retail bots seem to be affected, and it only seems to be in this corner of the city." The machine gun in Andrea's arm roared to life in the background as she fended off another wave of robot assailants.

"So it's an attack? Against us?" Jen asked.

"Probably. Well that's odd..." he said looking at his screen, "it seems to only affects MMR robots..." He started furiously typing away at the terminal, ignoring everyone else again.

"Daddy, why haven't you guys left?" Joan asked with pleading eyes to the closest thing to a father she had. Tom kept his eyes glued to the door and windows, making sure nothing and no one was going to make it in. The walls rattled with the sound of metal fists banging against the side of the structure.

"I can't just leave Diane there. She shouldn't move in her condition; she still needs repairs and despite our visit to the clinic, a hospital would not be a bad idea either." He spoke as if he knew Diane. The most interaction I had with her was a brief conversation about the meaninglessness of life, and another encounter involving ice cream and a gun. "She can't move much as it is, we had to stay! But what about you? You said it was a trap?"

"We won't go into it" Joan said glancing at my broken arm still hanging in a makeshift sling.

"But we didn't leave empty handed" Annie replied. She held up the large 5 foot antenna and small device attached to it which had lured us to the area.

"What-?"

"Hang on! Where did you get that?" Jack interrupted looking up from the terminal but without slowing his typing.

"It was sending me a false signal of Tera's nano-bots" I explained.

"So... you don't hear them now do you?"

"Not since we took this down."

Jack pondered a moment, pausing his typing and looking closer at the antenna. "Let me take a look at that" he said peering at the device. Annie carried it over to him, and he started to investigate the device, messing around with the mechanics of it.

"We were wondering if you could-"

"Use it to find your beau, I think so" Jack said continuing my line of thought for me. "Give me a tick" he said as he started to dive into the project.

As Jack worked at figuring out the puzzle that lay before him, Annie, Joan and I took up what weapons we could find, and manned the windows. I was surprised at how little my arm and leg hurt, considering what I had just recently gone through. My arm was still broken, but Joan had set it, so all I really needed was a cast, but as it was I didn't feel much pain as long as I didn't move it much. Since the windows were frosted over, we couldn't clearly see out, but to our benefit, a few fist-sized holes had appeared in the glass since we were last there probably caused by the robots invaders, and we could use these to see out and shoot at any incoming threats.

We manned our stations for a short while shooting at the occasional rogue bot while Andrea took the brunt of the attack. She remained just outside the door, making sure none of the wave of robots got in. What we were waiting for exactly was beyond me, but I kept glancing over at Jack who was busy fiddling with the antenna and his computer.

Another onslaught of zombified robots assaulted the side of the building, and we could hear the high-pitched beam of Andrea's laser making quick work of them. The laser probably ate up a lot of energy, so she was not going to be able to use it very much. It also concerned me that we had a limited supply of ammo for Andrea's machine gun, and the supply of guns Annie original carried with her was starting to dwindle. How long could we last before we had to abandon ship and get out?

"Tom, we have to get Diane out of here." Cynthia was pleading to her husband as he donned a vest of his own and prepared to join Andrea in the fight. "What are you doing?! You can't go out there alone!"

"What else should I do? Wait for Andrea of run out of ammo? Wait for the robots to find a way in? What else can I do?"

"You can give me a gun." Diane's voice echoed across the room from the lab. She was barely standing with her white robe on, gripping at the door frame for balance. I was amazing she was on her feet at all, and it looked like a stiff breeze could knock her over.

"Diane! What are you doing?" Tom yelled.

"I'm not as fragile as you make me out to be Tom. You know that!" she barked.

"Diane, you can't. You can barely stand!"

"I can still pull a trigger. Just get me over by the window."

"Is that wise?" I asked.

"Don't worry, I won't shoot any of you... I still owe Tom from... last time." Diane faltered, barely able to catch herself. Cynthia ran over to give her a hand, and helped her to her feet. She looked at Tom concerned. Closing his eyes, Tom nodded his approval. He looked over at Joan and Annie.

"Give her a hand please" he asked them. Joan ran to her side, while Annie was reluctant to follow, but decided it was best to obey the order. Together they assisted Diane to a chair, pulling it against a window. Diane grasped the small pistol in her hand as steadily as she could, and held it up to the window, shooting out into the darkness. She stayed there, doing what she could to help in the fight as well.

Diane glanced over at me. "You look like shit" she commented.

"Likewise" I responded. She snorted and focused back on the window and what lie beyond. Jack waved me over with a smile on his face.

"Danny-boy, you're in luck!" he said.

"What? We're kind of busy..."

"Well, that antenna is tuned in to Tera's signal already, and with some finagling, I think I got it working!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean..." he turned the monitor of the terminal toward me. On the screen I could see a map exactly like the one we used before to find the false signal except this time there was nothing on it. Jack flipped a switch and the antenna started to hum with power. Half the screen showed up with a green glow, showing where it could pick up the signal. "With a little filtering..." he said clicking on some buttons, and the green blob shrunk. He continued to fiddle with it until finally there were only 2 dots left. "... We can pinpoint the only 2 sources of that exact signal in the entire city. You and Tera."

I looked at the map again. One of the green dots was indeed right over us, the other was in the suburbs to the north. It was on a just a single green dot nothing special about it... except it was Tera's dot! She was still alive, and now I knew where!

"Tera! We need to go-"

"Hold your horses there lover-boy, we aren't exactly in the best position to go galloping off into the sunset for your lil miss. First let me take care of this army of-"

"Security breach" Andrea announced. The wave of robots had subsided for the moment, and Andrea came in briefly for more ammo, when she noticed Diane sitting at a window with a gun in her hand. "Sir, why have you equipped this individual with a weapon. I calculate an 80% probability that she will self-terminate, and a 12% probability she will assault our personnel."

"I never played the odds before," Diane responded looking out the window, "why start now? Shouldn't you be out there fighting, you stupid bag of bolts."

"We need all the help we can get" Tom explained. "Besides, she's an old colleague..." I had forgotten that Tom was once a part of the same mob Diane was a member of until recently. They must have known each other from years ago when they worked together.

"Tom" Diane interrupted, "tell your tin can to get her shiny butt out there!"

"Please Andrea" Tom said looking up at the ancient gynoid. It took her a moment or two before she responded.

"Understood. Security authorization temporarily upgraded. Resuming defense of the facility." She grabbed another box of ammo from the table and proceeded to load the gun in her arm.

"She still has some bugs to work out" Tom said shrugging his shoulders. Andrea walked back out into the fray, and immediately resumed dispatching rogue robots.

"Wait a second" Jack said out of the blue. "This antenna works on a similar system to how these robots are being hacked. If I can just get figure out how to..." His mind was already distracted with coding as he began to furiously type away again into the terminal plugged into the kitchen. I was going to wait for him to continue his train of thought, but he seemed to have already derailed it.

"Jack... Jack?"

"Huh?" he muttered looking up briefly at me.

"We're waiting on you. If you can stop this, we'll stay as long as we can. But if you can't... we leave. Ok?"

"Yeah yeah, no problem. Leave it to me!" he said, but the nervousness in his voice was more than apparent.

Things were starting to get tense. No one spoke a word, except to hand out ammo when we were running low. We had only a few magazines left, and robots don't go down easily with just bullets. We all noticed that the more delicate robots were usually smart enough to resist the hacking, and that would often cause them to act sporadically and short out. They were easy targets. It was the more simple minded construction droids we had to be careful of. These humanoid robots hardly looked human at all, but they were strong and agile, and dumb. It was easy to hack them, and they were eager to please. Taking one of them out was more of a challenge since they were built to take a licking, but at that rate our guns would be the ones ticking.

The lights unexpectedly flickered, and we all looked around at each other nervously. Jack instantly redoubled his typing, while Joan ran to the kitchen to break out the flashlights, just in case.

As I peered out of one of the holes in the front window, I could see a sea of glowing eyes and metallic parts shimmering in the night. Cynthia tapped me on the shoulder, and gave me a look that she wanted to talk to me in private. I put down my gun and joined her over by the lab doors. Her voice was hushed and quiet, and she had a serious look in her eye.

"Danny, I need you to promise me that no matter what. You'll take care of our girls" she said.

"Of course I will" I replied without hesitation.

"Then... please Danny... Take them out of here, Jen too, and get away. We can hold them off while you get them to safe-"

"What!? Never! I won't abandon you here and run with my tail between my legs!" I tried to hush down my voice again, fearful the others might here. It took me a moment to realize Joan and Annie were probably able to hear everything we were saying, so why did she want to speak quietly so close to them? Even with Andrea's machine gun going off and the occasional shot from inside the building, she must have known they were able to hear us.

"That's not what I meant... I-"

"Goddamn it Tom!" Diane cussed loudly as more metal fists started banging at the door, struggling to pry it open. "Your fucking tin can out there is too slow! We're like sitting ducks in here. We need some real fire power out there!" Diane struggled to stand up.

"Diane, what are you doing?" Tom asked from across the room. The conversation I was having with Cynthia was on hold as we listened intently to the confrontation. For some reason, I got the impression Cynthia didn't want Tom to hear the discussion we were having.

"I'm doing something I should have done a long time ago" Diane said, grabbing the last and only shotgun we had and hobbling her way to the door. I was surprised she was able to move so well despite all her injuries, but somehow she got enough control over her mechanical body again to move quickly to the door with only one hand to support her. Then again, she was a cyborg, and not a robot or a human. She could push herself pretty hard, and had the unique advantage of having her brain hard wired into her body. Any kind of override anyone attempted was apparently easily overcome with a little concentration. I figured Tom tried to disable her motor functions to keep her in bed, but he clearly didn't know a cyborg's system well enough to make it stick. "You saved my husband's life once, and mine. Now I will pay that debt back... with my life if I have to. COME AND GET ME YOU MOTHER FUCKERS!" she screamed as she disappeared out the door.

"SHIT!" Tom yelled. He grabbed his own gun, and rushed out after her.

"TOM!" Cynthia yelled herself, but it was too late, he already outside, and gunfire soon drowned out her voice. She went to run out after him, but I grabbed her with my good arm and held her back.

"Hold on! You don't even have a gun" I pointed out holding her back. "Tom can handle himself, he'll be back. Besides, he has Andrea and Diane with him."

"That's what I'm worried about" she replied, still struggling to go after him.

"Never fear my dears," Jack interrupted as though he had missed everything that just happened. "I've almost got it! Give me just... one... second..." He typed away, slower as he neared the end of his counter-hack programming and lifted one hand in preparation to enter the command to execute.

Almost like it was choreographed, the lights went out, and the quiet buzz of electricity went with it. Jack sat in front of a dead computer in the dark, hand still hung frozen in the air ready to execute the now non-existant code. Melodrama ruined the day. Joan and the others flipped on the flashlights she handed out earlier, and I struggled to get my own out.

"For Chissakes I almost had it!" Jack said with utter disbelief. "I almost had it! I could have stopped them!" He grabbed at the keyboard, and picked it up, smashing it against the monitor. "I HAD IT!" Loose keys went flying from the keyboard as we all focused our lights on him. He stopped to catch his breath. "I guess this means we leave?"

"Tom is still out there!" Cynthia said, concerned for her husband.

"Oh... um... shit..." Jack muttered. "Umm... I... I'm in too deep" Jack said glancing down at his phone before Annie shoved a gun in his hand and led him to a window.

Cynthia pushed me back toward the labs, now in utter darkness except for our flashlights. She looked more concerned and frantic than I thought she was, and spoke in a serious but still hushed tone.

"Danny, you need to leave now. Take the girls and go!"

I was ready to argue back with her when something unexpected happened. The window Annie was using to shoot from suddenly shattered into a thousand shards and she screamed, falling backward with the force of the attack. I turned around to see Annie on the ground, mostly unhurt, but startled, while a see of red and yellow eyes beamed through the now shattered window. Metallic hands reached through the window at her, while in the distance I could see Tom and Diane back-to-back behind Andrea, taking out as many of the invaders as they could. There were so many!

Joan ran to the window with a small table to block it, but before she could lift it into place, a well-aimed shard of glass was hurled by one of the robots through the window directly at me. Only... it wasn't. It was just off to my side. Maybe it missed, or maybe I wasn't the intended target. Cynthia let out a pained scream as the large shard of glass struck her, even though she was behind me!

I turned around to see Cynthia holding her arm with a large shard of glass sticking out of her left shoulder and blood oozing from her wound... and something else I didn't quite see clearly. For a moment it looked like torn skin and plastic. Cynthia looked at her shoulder, then up at me, and her eyes grew huge with shock. She ran into the dark dorm rooms without a word, leaving me to wonder if I saw what I thought I just saw.

It took me a moment to register what happened, but as soon as I did, I ran - or rather limped in after her. It was dark in the small hallway, but I could hear her heavy breathing in the last room, her bedroom. I followed her inside, and shined the light toward her. Cynthia turned her back to me, and tried to hide her arm.

"Don't look!" she said.

"Nonsense, let me look at that." I placed my hand gently on her back, and she calmed down , allowing me to turn her toward me. She was crying silently, but I didn't think it was from the pain. I pointed my light to her upper arm at the shard of glass sticking out of it and the plastic wires that were exposed under her torn skin. Blood dripped down her arm and shoulder, and stained her white blouse. She looked up at me, as if she were gauging my reaction and looking for approval or acceptance.

"So... you're a cyborg too then?" I asked remember how I had mentally compared Diane and her before. She quietly shook her head. "You're a robot?" I asked more than a little surprised. She bit her lip and nodded. That would explain why she couldn't have kids.

I was silent for a moment longer taking in this new development, not sure what to think of it, but then I remembered Tera when I first saw her, with wires and such exposed after her brutal assault. I nodded, and took a closer look at the wound.

"I'll need to get that out" I said. "Do you have a first aid kit... and any tools around?"

"In my nightstand" she said shyly. "... and the bathroom."

I sat her down on the bed and ran to fetch the first aid kit from the bathroom and the tool kit from her nightstand. It was an android specific repair kit, specialized for her. I still couldn't get over the fact that Cynthia was an android too! As I sat next to her, examining the wound with my flashlight, I realized how human she looked and felt. At least as much as Tera, who could have fooled Jen if it wasn't for her voice.

"So... are you part of the same project as-"

"No" she interrupted. "No... I was leading the project to build my daughters since day 1. In fact... I'm kind of my own inspiration for it..." Cynthia suddenly seemed to shy and self-conscious, as though I had just seen her naked. Except it was worse than that, it was her darkest secret and she never wanted me to know about it.

"Oh" I replied, using a cloth to clean the blood down her arm while holding the flashlight with my bad arm. She winced as I got close to the glass shard. I took a pair of pliers out of the toolbox and carefully grasped the glass with it.

"Ah!" she burst out in pain as the glass shard moved.

"Sorry." It was a little awkward holding a light and the pliers at the same time, which also kind of hurt a bit, so she held out her other hand to offer to hold the light for me. Her hand was shaking, but I handed her the light nonetheless, and she took in a deep breath as I continued to work on her shoulder.

"Please don't tell anyone about this" this pleaded through her teeth.

"I promise. But... what about Tom?" I asked.

"Tom already knows, but I rather him not know that you know." I nodded, much to her relief.

"So if not MMR, who made you?" I asked, carefully pulling at the glass.

"I don't know. Ouch!"

"Sorry. You don't know who made you?" I questioned, trying to be more gentle with her shoulder.

"I was a sleeper." I looked at her strangely, not sure what she meant. "Do you know what a sleeper is?" she asked. I shook my head silently. "Well... a sleeper is a type of android that looks so incredibly life-like, so human, that they can pass for human in both appearance and behavior."

"You mean like Tera?"

"Exactly" she answered. "Except, unlike Tera, a sleeper is made to think that they are human. They are given false memories, a fake identification, a real life with no real origin. We aren't meant to know what we really are."

"That's horrible" I said shocked. "Why would anyone want to do that?"

"I don't know... I don't even know who they are. But here I am, an awakened sleeper. Funny... I can still remember my father's smile, my mother's laughter, even my pet cat. None of them ever existed... Ah!"

"Sorry" I said again as I pulled the shard of glass away from her arm. I looked closer at her wound and all the mechanics in her arm. It didn't look serious, but she'd need some sort of repair work. I grabbed a par of pliers and got to work.

"It's ok. Just be gentle with that thing." I almost laughed at the innuendo, but I caught myself.

"How long have you been..." 'a robot' I was about to ask but realized that was a stupid question.

"I'm not sure how long I've been active... They did a really good job of mixing my memories so I can't remember when... But I have an idea. About 8 years ago, I was in an accident... but not really... it was another implanted memory. They used it to explain the death of my parents, and my infertility. I..." she sighed, it wasn't easy to talk about this, but she knew it never really happened. "I was in a coma in the hospital for a few weeks. I don't remember anything else until I woke up at my new apartment. They say I lost my memories... Post traumatic stress or something like that. About a month later I started a new job... I think that was when they activated me."

She was quiet for a while after that, silently contemplating her own existence while I worked on her shoulder carefully.

"When did you find out you weren't..." I was a out to say 'real' but changed my mind. "... a human"

"After Tom and I got married... We were at home, and I accidentally cut myself opening a package. We were pretty shocked to see plastic and wires. I... still have a hard time with it. We decided to build our daughters after that, to mimic my own design. Oh please don't tell them!"

"I won't, but you should." I was just finishing up with the internal repairs as best as I could manage. "Do you really think they would love you any less to learn their mother is more like them than they realized?"

"But I kept it hidden from them for all these years. I just can't-"

"Yet you chose not to hide from them their own nature."

"That would be cruel, and I didn't want them to go through what I did." She was on the verge of tears but managed to hold them back.

"So don't keep this a secret from them either. They deserve to know."

"You're right. I'll tell them... When the time is right." She looked down contemplative while I finished up. I was looking for a skin repair gel or something to close her cut, but couldn't find any in either case.

"Don't worry about that. Just wrap it up in gauze, I'll have Tom look at it later. Tom... I hope he's ok! Come on, let's get back out there."

I finished wrapping up her shoulder, making sure to close the wound and cover it up well so no one would see inside. She still winced at the pain, but was grateful for the help. She sighed as though a weight had been lifted off her chest. Maybe it was the light, but she looked more than a little frazzled.

"You feeling ok?" I asked.

"Yeah. You look awful" she commented.

"Ummm thanks?" I still was getting over the beat down I received from 262 earlier that day. I was essentially running on pain, just glad nothing was seriously broken... well, except for my arm.

We headed back into the main area together, where the tension had built up to a breaking point. Everyone was manning a different window, with Jen at the door, using up the last of our ammo defending ourselves. Tom and Diane were till outside with Andrea; I had no way of knowing if they were hurt or not.

"Damn it Danny, where have you been?" Jen spat.

"Cynthia was hurt, but she's fine now."

"Mom?" Annie said worried, looking back at us.

"I'm fine, but we need to get everyone together."

"What about Daddy?" Joan asked.

"Tom and Diane are still out there with Andrea" Jack pointed out. "What a bloody mess! We have to get out of here!" Jack seemed to have lost his usual cool and was looking around frantically.

"Calm down! We need a plan." I tried to keep everyone calm and collected but I myself was freaking out a bit and decided to take a step back from the situation. "Is everyone alright?"

No one said anything, so I assumed there were no serious injuries. Before I could try to get my thoughts together and form a plan, Tom, Diane, and Andrea burst in. Tom was helping Diane limp in while Andrea covered them from the rear. From inside, I could see the forest of red and yellow glowing eyes. Metal fists started to pound against the walls, and everyone focused their attention back on the situation at hand.

"Diane's been hurt, we need to get her-"

"I'm fine, just sit me down over there" Diane interrupted, pointing to a seat by the window. She gave Tom a sharp look, and he complied, letting her sit near Annie.

"Andrea is running low on ammunition, we need to do something." Tom looked tired, but he was alright. His eyes went wide when he saw Cynthia's shoulder wrapped in bandages. "Cynthia! What happened? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, thanks to Danny" she said looking up at her husband. She hugged him and whispered something I didn't quite hear. His eyes meant mine for a moment, but I turned away, I couldn't stare him in the face after what I learned, at least not before I knew if he was going to kill me to keep their secret. I knew he wouldn't, but I wasn't sure if he would be alright with it.

I looked around; we were all scared and bunkered down, but we had to move. There was no way we could survive through the night at this rate, we had to get out of there and hope they didn't follow. Chances were they would, and we'd end up being chased all night instead. Still it beat the alternative.

"Shit, I'm out of bullets" Jen said as her gun started to click away. We had gone through almost everything we had, and now we were down to what we had left in our guns.

"Damn it!" Jack cussed, pulling at his hair. "I've waited too long. I've gotten too deep! I'm calling this in." I looked at him confused as he pulled out his cell phone in the dark.

"What are you doing? What are you talking about?" I asked.

Jack looked up at me with a serious expression, and then at Joan and Annie. "You've got to go, now! The coppers will be here any minute and I don't want them to see you three here. Take this-" He handed me a piece of paper with an address on it. "It's the address of the place Tera is held at. I pulled it from the map. Go there; take the girls and go!"

"Police? Come to think of it why haven't they shown up yet?"

"We are kind of in the middle of nowhere. But no, the regular police are no help. These are special guys and trust me when I say you don't want to be here!" Jack looked frantic, and I was sure he was up to something.

"What are you-"

"Jack? What did you do?" Jen interrupted turning toward us. Jack pushed me more or less toward the door right at Jen. Annie and Joan were close behind, trying to figure out what was going on. He opened the door and prepared to shove me out.

"Take the car and go!" With perfect timing, a construction bot had just finished turning the small silver car into a pile or rubble suitable for hitting things with. Meanwhile the SUV alarm started going off as another smaller robot went through the contents of the hood like a homeless man looking for food in a trash can. The bike was still relatively unharmed.

"Bugger!"

"What the hell are you doing Jack?" Jen asked sharply staring him in the face. "Throwing people out into that mess is going to get someone killed!"

Jen kept on scolding him, but he didn't listen. His mind was clearly occupied by something else, something huge, menacing, with bullet holes in its head and sparks flying from joints. A construction bot the size of Andrea, maybe bigger, loomed over Jen behind her with red glowing eyes, and suddenly reach out for her head.

"JENNIFER! Look Out!" Jack rushed to put himself between the two of them, and the robot instead grabbed his left arm and lifted him off the ground. He let out a cry of pain as it twisted his harm until I could hear it snap.

"JACK!" Jen yelled out. She lost her balance in the confrontation and was on the floor, but at least she was alright. I grabbed my handgun and unloaded the thing into the head of the robot holding up Jack. I was the next one to run out of bullets, but the robot hardly reacted at all.

Before I knew what to do, a bright beam of white light shone through the robot's head toward the sky. It moved to complete an arc through the top of the head and then dimmed to nothingness. The robot froze in place, and dropped Jack before the top of its head fell to the ground. Andrea stood behind the robot as its body lost balance and fell lifeless and stiff to the ground.

"JACK!" Jen yelled as she went to his side to catch him. "Jack! Why did you do that?"

"T'was nothing my dear... just a flesh wound" he joked even though his voice was full of pain. His arm was slightly twisted, but it looked like a clean break and would heal, if he ever got to a hospital.

Andrea stood in the background before she took one knee. She was beat up badly. Scratches, dents, and holes riddled her body as smoke and sparks occasionally sputtered from her. "Energy levels depleeeted, pleease rrrrechaaaarge uuuunit" she said as she froze in place. She had used the last of her power on the laser gun saving Jack, but she was now no more than an oversized lawn gnome. With Andrea out of commission, we really were like sitting ducks.

"Jack! Hang on" Jen cried. She held him in her arms as dragged him in carefully. "You stupid sexist bastard! Don't go doing anything heroic like that for me, I'm not worth it!"

"I beg to differ" he said as she finally collapsed with him in her arms. Her face turned crimson as she shed tears.

"Danny, go!" Jack said through clenched teeth turning toward me.

"How can I go now?" I said looking at the dire situation.

"We'll be fine, the police should be here in a few minutes" he said through the pain. I could hear sirens in the distance. Damn that was fast! Whatever Jack did got the police's attention faster than a box of jelly donuts.

"Danny, now is your chance" Tom said looking out the door. The yard from the doorway was cleared, with only broken robots nearby. They had cleared a path, and while another wave of intruders was gathering in the distance, we had time to get to the bike. "We should be fine" he said reloading the last clip he had on him into his gun. "We've got enough to get us through till the police arrive. Everyone into the dorms, we'll barricade the door!"

Joan joined my side, ready to follow my orders, while everyone else gathered together and helped carry the wounded into the back rooms. Annie hesitated.

"I- I- Mom? Dad? Danny? What should I do?" She was torn between helping me, her registered master, and helping her parents who were in a life-threatening situation.

"He's your owner now, go to him" Cynthia said gathering things together.

"But Mom! Danny?" She looked at me for an answer.

"What do you want to do Annie?" I asked her. The truth was if the bike was the only thing left we could take, only 2 of us could go.

"I want to help Tera, but... I'm worried for my parents! I want to stay but..."

"Annie, part of being independent means you will have tough choices to make. I can't make them all for you." I was giving her a chance to grow, but I couldn't let her come with me if Joan was coming too. "Help your parents. If we need you, we'll call."

Annie nodded and gave Joan an unexpected hug. She kissed me on the cheek quickly, and then ran back to help Jen carry Jack into the dorms. I wished there was more time, and I wasn't sure leaving now was a good idea at all. There was no guarantee that police would be able to do anything, and we had no idea what we were heading into. I was still hurt, although seemingly not as bad as Jack or Diane, and my Exo suit was toast. All I had left was the vest, an empty gun, and Joan. I had Joan, and I was glad for it. With everything we'd gone through, she was becoming more of a friend than I thought he could, and I somehow knew that with her by my side, I'd be alright.

Joan and I ran into the night toward the bike and lifted it off the ground. There was a helmet nearby, and Joan grabbed it on the way over.

"Here, put this on" she commanded, handing me the helmet.

"But you're driving" I pointed out.

"So? I'm a robot! There is no law that I need to wear a helmet." Oh... right. I knew that.

As she started up the bike, I put on the helmet, which was a little tight, and secured my stuff. Putting on a helmet with one hand isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world to do.

"Here's the address" I yelled through the helmet handing Joan the paper Jack gave me. She looked at it for a moment and nodded.

"Got it!" Thank God for GPS. She had it built-in, which made me a tad jealous. "Take these" she said, handing me 2 handguns. Wherever she got them from, I didn't know, nor did I ask. I took the guns and put them in my coat pockets one at a time as she mounted the bike and started the engine.

The glow of robotic eyes got ever closer as I climbed onto the back of the bike and held on for dear life with my good arm. I had to admit, despite it all, I enjoyed holding onto Joan like that, but I wasn't really in the mood for anything other than getting away from there. Red and Blue lights came into view as we turned the corner of the drive back onto the main road. We didn't slow down, and I'm sure had there not been a robot apocalypse going on, we would have been pulled over, but as it was the cops drove right past us without slowing down at all.

It wasn't just the cops though. There was a SWAT team truck, a HAZMAT truck, a firetruck, 2 ambulances, a slew of police cars, and several unmarked cars as well that were obviously made to withstand high caliber weapons. Whatever Jack was, whatever he did, I was just glad they took it seriously, and help really was on the way for them. I just hoped it wouldn't also mean trouble.

I focused on Joan's driving and the road ahead. Mentally I didn't know how to prepare myself for what was about to lie ahead. I focused my thoughts toward Tera, and how scared she must have felt. I prayed she was in better shape than I was, but I worried that we were too late. It was time to face the demon that haunted me, and save the girl I loved.

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Chapters 11-20 - Index - Chapters 31-34

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