Exo Saves The Day, Chapter 19

[gynoneko]

Almost to the sexy... sorry, but this was a hard chapter to get done... and I am really looking forward to getting the next one out, which should be fun.
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Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 4.
Chapter 5. Chapter 6. Chapter 7. Chapter 8.
Chapter 9. Chapter 10. Chapter 11. Chapter 12.
Chapter 13. Chapter 14. Chapter 15. Chapter 16.
Chapter 17. Chapter 18.

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Exo Saves the Day
Chapter Nineteen: Daddy Dearest
By Gynoneko


Tera lay twitching on the ground feet away from me.  I knew in that instant that she was still alive, but my mind was filled with so much data, so many errors her nanobots had transmitted to me, that I didn't know for how much longer she'd live.  All I knew was that I had to get her somewhere safe, away from her sister, or we'd both be dead.

My feet struggled to get beneath me, but somehow I managed to run to Tera as she lay twitching on her side.  My lungs burned, by arm was sore, and my chest felt like I had been hit repeatedly with a bulldozer.  But despite it all, I was able to get to her side and put myself between Tera and her murderous sister.

Tera looked around aimlessly as she tried to figure out what was going on.  I rolled her to her back in hopes of lifting her to safety.  Despite the fact that Tera was a robot, her spine was just as important and delicate as a human's, and could have possibly been injured.  I was worried that rolling her to her back would cause further injury, but I had litte choice, I had to act fast!  She was still in shock, and looked up at me with a dazed expression.

"I... I just errored" she said quietly.  "What happened?"

"You've been shot!"  I was panicked, and I could see now her blood staining an ever growing dark patch on the front of her red dress.

"... Oh" was all she said before she started to twitch more in a violent fashion.  Her movement had become more mechanical and less human every time she convulsed.  "Fatal System Error" she said calmly, almost as though it wasn't her speaking; it was almost too friendly for the situation.  Her face was virtually emotionless still, not having really registered what just happened yet, and growing pale.  I could actually hear her error at the same time she transmitted it to me, it was like stereo in my mind.

"But- but- but- but-" she repeated a few times in some sort of error loop.  She spasmed again, breaking the loop.  "But weren't you shot?"

I pulled back the collar of my shirt to show her the kevlar vest I had on.  "I'll survive thanks to Exo."  It made her smile briefly, but shock returned to her face as she looked around confused.

I realized that if I didn't get out of there now, 261 would make sure the next shot she made would end any possibility of me helping Tera one way or another.  There was only one thing left I could think to do, get her up and run!

So I did exactly that.  I reached under her, lifted her into my arms, and prepared to run.  I don't know how I lifted her so quickly, perhaps it was thanks to an adrenaline rush, or maybe just the benefits of a lightweight frame Tera had.  My arm was burning with ravenous pain, my lungs still struggled to breathe normally, my chest felt like putty on fire, and my emotions where on edge.

When I felt the impact of another gunshot to my back, my mind decided it had taken enough abuse, and filed away the pain for later.  For now, I was only aware of the fact that I had just been shot again, but I didn't let it slow me down or even register as pain.  It had to take a number and wait like all the other injuries.  This was shot number 4 which 261 had delivered to me, all of which hit my armor, but this time, instead of falling to the ground like a baby, I carried Tera at breakneck speed to the car to get cover.

Tera's face filled with pain as I carried her, the gunshot finally coming through to her subconscious as a serious wound.  Before I could even get to the little gray car, I saw Cynthia and Tom jumping in the front and yelling for me to hurry.  I've never managed to figure out how I did it, but I practically dove into the back seat of their little car with Tera in my arms, and set her down laying across the seats with her head on my lap.  Tom slammed closed the door, and like thunder we were off!

Another familiar sound of a bullet piercing metal invaded the cabin.  I realized we were still being shot at but it didn't take long for Tom to get us out of her sights.  I didn't even notice that the black SUV with Jack, Jen, and Joan was following us, my attention was focused only on Tera, who lay there bleeding to death in my lap.

Her body convulsed in jerks as she experienced error after error.  There were too many messages for me to keep track of them, and she'd quietly repeat the words "Fatal System Error" every so often in a distant but natural voice.  Her breathing had become more labored, and yet she only took shallow breaths with each attempt.  It wasn't until she had a brief but violent spasm which made her cough up blood did I realize time was running out.

One simple way to tell if a robot isn't getting the air and blood flow they need is to check their temperature.  They tend to over-heat when they can't release the built-up heat from their system through breathing and distributed heat throughout the skin.  Tera was even capable of sweating, something I'd never seen in a robot before.  I checked her forehead.  She was too warm already and getting warmer.

It was more than just painful to watch.  Tera was in real serious pain herself.  Unlike her regular robot counterparts, Tera was an advanced Evelyn model gynoid which gave her the ability to feel real pain and pleasure, and react to it.  Right now, her reaction was clear, and intense.  With every involuntary shudder, she'd clench her eyes shut, and grit her teeth.  She grabbed ahold of my arm and squeezed tightly every time she had a spasm.  Thank goodness she had human strength unlike her sister, or else I'd be in more pain than her.

My own aches were coming back to me again.  I was dealing with it, but it was leaving me feeling tired with dull pain all over my body.  The pain from my maimed arm was sharper than the rest, and left it very sensitive to touch.  My chest was clearly going to be bruised and sore, and I shuddered to think of how bad it was going to look when I took off the vest.  My back now had a matching injury, but only one.  It was right next to my spine, and I was lucky it hadn't cause more serious injury, but it made it painful to sit back.  And for some reason, all the dull aches and pains across my entire body, from my legs to my head, thumped with my heart beat, filling the rest of me with dull pain.  I chose to ignore the pain as best I could, and focused instead on Tera.

We drove down the road for several tense minutes before I looked out the window.  "Where are we going?"  I didn't recognize this part of the city, but we couldn't have been that far away from where we were.  I was glad to see the SUV following us, but feared that they were also being followed.  I was getting really tired... too tired to think straight.

"I know a place not too far off" Tom said as he drove.  "It's just outside the city, and should have all the equipment we need to help her."

"Do you think we'll make it on time?  She's bleeding badly."  I pulled back the torn dress from her chest enough to reveal the wound.  Her chest was covered in her orange-red blood, and directly between her breasts was a hole the size of a baseball.  Well it wasn't as much a hole as it was a mess of blood, wires, artificial skin, and other parts stretching back into her body.  It looked bad, as though the bullet broke up inside her and took out a large chunk of her as it exited, along with wreaking havoc to her internal systems.

I couldn't tell how bad it was without a thorough investigation, and I left all the repair equipment in the SUV with the others.  Our best hope was to let Tom drive us to his hideaway where we could fix Tera as fast as we could.  And then thee was Joan.  I just remembered seeing her for an instant with blood running down her arm before I got shot.  However, it was Tera's terrified pained face I was staring into, so naturally my main concern was her.

"We'll make it" Tom said, and his foot got a litte heavier on the gas.  "Give me 10 minutes or so."  I hoped Tera would last that long.

I didn't dare touch the mangled injury in Tera's chest, in fear of causing her more pain or damage.  Her face was covered in tears as she silently sobbed between her convulsions.  I brushed her hair back and tried my best to console her, but I knew there was nothing I could do without some serious equipment.

"Where's Rob?" Tera wheezed looking around confused.  She must have still been in shock, and I only hoped she didn't hit her head when she fell.

"Honey... Rob isn't with us anymore" Cynthia said, emotion in her voice.  "He's... he's gone."

"Oh... He died didn't he?"  I was surprised to hear Tera say this so matter-of-factly.

"Yes" Cynthia said, and the car was silent for a few moments.  Tera let out a yelp when another wave of convulsions attacked her, leaving her crying in pain as it passed.

"I'm so sorry" Tera said silently, her voice weak.  "I'm so timid.  So weak.  I'm sorry I'm not..." she groaned in pain and gritted her teeth before she continued.  " ... not like my sisters."

Cynthia turned around her in her seat to look at Tera and offer her a comforting hand to squeeze.  "Don't apologize for that, honey.  It's who you are.  Your sisters were designed to take this kind of abuse.  They were modified to have a more emotional response later on.  But you have always been my gentle delicate little girl.  It's who you are, and I wouldn't want to change anything about you."

"Modified?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

She looked up at me and cleared her throat.  "Her sisters were designed to restrict emotion and pain, but we modified them to react to stimuli more naturally.  However, they still have a tendency to hide their pain.  Oh my goodness!  That looks bad" she said looked at the bloody mess on Tera's chest.  I got the impression she didn't want to talk about it, but at the same time, Tera was lying there bleeding in my lap.

"It hurts so much, I can't think straight" Tera whispered.  "Danny, please..." she said putting one hand up to my face.  "Take the pain away."

I didn't have any idea of how to do that.  "Can I do that?" I asked Cynthia.

She sighed.  "Tera was not designed to just turn off her pain receptors.  She can't just ignore the pain as data like her sisters can.  But..."

"I'm tired, and thirsty" Tera whispered.  Cynthia grabbed a bottled water from the front, and handed it to me.  Carefully, I guided the water to Tera's lips, and she slowly sipped at it.  Meanwhile, Cynthia pulled Tera's dress up her back.

"What- What are you doing?" I protested.

"I need to get to her charging port" she said, reaching up to Tera's back.  "There!" she said as she pulled out the extendable thunderbolt cord Tera used to charge herself with.  She pulled it up to the front, and plugged it into an adapter she pulled out of the glove compartment.  A few seconds later, Tera's blue eyes started glowing, fading slowing in and out, as she charged in the car.

"You were going to say something" I said to Cynthia.  Before she could answer, my phone went off in my pocket.  I pulled it out, and saw a picture of Jen I'd taken months ago to show she was calling.

"Hey!" I said.

"Hey..." she replied.  "How are you?"

"I'll survive.  Got shot, but the vest saved my life, thank Joan for me."

"And Tera?  It looked pretty bad" she asked.

"It is.  She's hanging on, but..."

"Can I talk to her?" Jen asked.

"Sorry, she's a little weak right now.  We can talk when we get there."

"Yeah... Where is 'there' exactly?"

"I don't know..." I said looking out the window.  It was odd, I still didn't recognize where we were.  "Tom said he knows a place we can repair Tera, where we'll be safe.  He said it should take about 10 minutes."

"10 minutes?  Ok...  Um... Joan's been hit too" she said nervously.  "I'm trying to help her out, but she seems to be in a lot of pain."

"I'm fine!" I heard Joan's voice say in the background.

"Where was she hit?" I asked.  Cynthia looked at me concerned when I said that, but I just looked away.

"In the shoulder.  Her left one.  She can't move her arm anymore.  I'm afraid her joint is shattered."

"It's nothing.  I'll be fine" Joan continued to protest.

"She'll survive.  We'll look at her when we get there.  She should be able to ignore the pain till then.  Just have Jack follow closely behind."

We said our goodbyes and hung up.

"Was someone else hit?" Cynthia asked worried.

"It was just Joan, she can handle herself" I said.  I knew Joan was tough, but I actually did worry about her.  She put on a big face but she was really very insecure inside, and craved comfort.

"Who's Joan?" Cynthia asked.

"Oh... Well.  I wanted to formally introduce you.  260 is now Joan.  I'll do some sort of intro-"

"Was she hurt?" Cynthia interrupted.

"Is Joan alright?" Tera whispered looked up at me.  Still concerned more for her sister than herself.

"She was shot in the shoulder, but she'll be fine" I told Tera.  Looking back at Cynthia I added "She has more damage from earlier.  We can look at her when we get there."

Before Cynthia could reply, Tera gasped in pain as she had another attack of convulsions.  She coughed up more blood as the event subsided, while more orangish blood oozed from her chest.  I was sitting in a pool of her blood by this point, and didn't even realize she had been loosing blood from her back as well.  I quickly unbuttoned my shirt, pulled it off, and wadded it up, before pushing it into her wound.  Maybe pressure would help, at least it couldn't hurt to try.

She gasped again and groaned, clenching shut her eyes in pain, but I continued to provide pressure in the hope that it would help stop the bleeding.  Her skin was burning hot, and I was concered she would start to overheat.  2 panels opened on her chest right on cue, one over each breast, to provide ventilation.  This was a protective measure her body took when trying to prevent overheating.  Her shoulders also opened up, to let more heat out.

The problem with this was that instead of letting out hot air, her chest vents were clogged with more blood.  She'd had a lot of internal bleeding, and it suddenly looked even more serious than before.  If we didn't do something fast, she'd have a fatal crash and would probably never recover from it.  Holographic and optical cirtuits are extremely sensitive to heat.

"Oh crap, she's overheating!  Quick!  We have to do something!  Cynthia, there must be a way to help her.  Can't I just shut her down?"

"No.  She might never start up again!  There is one thing we can do.  Put her into an emergency hibernation mode.  She's been bound to you right?"  I nodded, and she flustered for a second before recalling what it was that I had to do.  "Okay, you need to place your thumb on her belly button, and give her the command: Emergency hibernation mode Sigma Omega Sigma".

Quickly I pulled up the front of Tera's dress to reveal her stomach.  It was probably the first time I pulled up a girl's skirt and didn't look at her sexually.  Then again... I wasn't in the habit of pulling up girls' skirts.  I placed my thumb on Tera's cute belly button and repeated what Cynthia said.  Tera's eyes started glowing brighter without fading in and out anymore, and she blinked twice before confirming the order.

"Emergeny hibernation mode activated" she said in a friendly but distant voice.  It was still quiet but eerie at how much it sounded like her but didn't sound like her.  She looked down at me and smiled "Thank you" before her body stiffened before going limp.  Her eyes returned to their previous state of fading in and out with dim blue light, but she now lay there motionless, like a dead body.

I realized that the data stream in the back of my mind had gone silent.  Once again I was alone in my head.  Surprising how lonely it made me feel.

"What did I do?" I asked,  making sure everything that happened just now was normal.

"She'll be fine now.  The EHM backs up a copy of her current memory, her profiles, her personality, and so on, so she can always return to how she just was.  It then freezes her functions, all of them, except for things like recharging.  She won't be able to feel or think anything until we reactivate her.  She won't dream or sense any time passing, and for her it will be like an instant."  Cynthia sighed.  "I never thought I'd have to use that on one of my girls, especially her."

"Is there something wrong with it?" I asked, sensing she was regretting having to do this.

"It's never been tested, and it is really only for emergencies, like this.  How would you like to lose all track of time, being completely vulnerable to anything, even reprogramming?  It isn't something I want to be used too often.  Besides, what if we can't fix her, she'll be stuck like that forever."

I thought about it for a moment, but decided that given the circumstances, it was the best option.  For now, she should no longer continue to bleed as much as she had been, and even if she did lose more blood, she wouldn't overheat from it anymore.  She would also be free from the pain, and easier to handle when we repair her since she wouldn't react to anything until we were ready for her to.

I nodded and thought for a moment or two while we continued down the road.  I could see why Cynthia wouldn't want to use that tool very often, but something she said earlier continued to bug me.

"Why didn't you tell me what the Evelyn series was made for?"

Cynthia froze in her seat for a moment.  "I- I don't know what you're talking-"

"Bullshit.  You lied to me again.  You never told me they were designed to be weapons.  Soldiers to be used to kill people.  Joan told me all about it.  Why didn't you?"

Cynthia sighed and lowered her head.  "I'm sorry, Danny, we didn't mean to keep it from you.  We were planning on telling you the other day, but Tera had that virus, and we spent all night helping her.  We knew she had fallen in love with you, that she would want to bind with you, and we didn't want to get in the way of that."

I listened to her excuse in silence, trying to calm myself down.  Unfortunately, with a bloddy body in my lap and a half dozen injuries all over me, I wasn't in a calm mood.

"Like Hell."  It came out more harsh than I intended, and made Cynthia flinch.

"It's true... Danny.  We didn't want to keep any more secrets about the girls from you, but there was no time.  We really were going to tell you."

"You do realize that 260 almost killed Tera yesterday, then tried to kill me, and it was only thanks to Tera that either of us survived?  Right now the sniper that shot both of us was 261!  Her sisters are using their training to try to kill us."

Cynthia put her face in her hands and sighed.  "I'm so sorry.  I never wanted any of this to happen.  We've been running from this for so long, and it's finally caught up to us."

I realized I had been on edge, and was coming off rather harsh to Cynthia.  She didn't deserve my anger, after all, she's the one that made Tera in the first place.  "Why don't you fill me in on the details.  Joan gave me a good idea, but maybe you can tell me more."

"Okay.  I'll tell you everything I can.  It all started years ago when Tom and I had the idea to make robots that would help people.  Robots that people would have a strong emotional attachment to.  We didn't want to just make your average helperbot, we wanted to make the next evolution in robotics... Self-aware free-thinking robots that would benefit society.

"I didn't want to make them look human at all, but Tom insisted, and it wasn't long before out first prototypes were designed and under development.  I admit, I fell in love with them, and can't imagine making them look any other way.  Most of the designs didn't get far before we had to make redesigns.  The 250 series was close, they looked human, could act human, but weren't human enough.  They couldn't think for themselves, and they had no real emotional impact.

"Rob, our partner who joined us when we were making the 240 series, thought the 250 robots were perfect, but we insisted on taking it further, and his help was invaluable.  We were running out of funds on this project, after spending years developing robots that never got released.  It was thanks to Rob that we made a connection with the Military, to continue funding our research.  They wanted to see what we could do, so the 260 series was designed to cater to their needs as well as our own.

"We designed 260 to meet the needs of-"

"Yes, I know" I interrupted.  "She told me about it.  She was designed for the army, 261 was designed to be a marine, while 262 was supposed to be special forces.  Tera was originally suppose to be a spy, or homeland security, I'm not clear on that one, but she was never assigned after you lost the contract with the Military when they found out the girls could think for themselves."

"That's right" she clarified.  "Each of our girls had a specialty they were good at.  260 was trained in CQC, Close Quarters Combat.  You know, hand to hand.  261 was trained in sniper rifles.  262 was designed to be... well... how do I put it?"

"Like a Ninja?" I asked.

"Yes, exactly.   Like a Ninja" she repeated.  "263 was meant to be an espionage specialist.  Get in, steal information, plant data, get out, that sort of thing.  But her design changed  before we could implement such a protocol.

"They all used EVE, but 263 was capable of more than her sister.  When EVE was asked to perform the tasks of a soldier, it rejected the idea of becoming a killing machine.  We had to fight the A.I. at every turn.  The emotional impact of such acts of violence was too great for the girls, and we were forced to build emotion limiters into their bodies, allowing them to suppress these strong emotions.

"When the military pulled out from our research, we decided to re-purpose all our girls, with the hope of letting them live normal happy lives.  We decided to try to focus on our original goal, to make the girls capable of benefitting mankind, to spearhead the next evolutionary change in robotics.  We needed money to do this, and Rob was able to find us a private company who'd support our lab.  Without that support, we never could have finished 263.

"I couldn't wait to test her, so we started her up in the lab before she was completed so she could run tests and learn with the other girls.  They were genuinely all happy for several months.  But that's when Liberati showed up.

"Rob was furious, and made sure we hid 263 from him.  Unfortunately, Liberati took her sisters.  I was devastated, and focused all my efforts on 263.  Tom procured a place outside of town that he started converting into a lab for us.  He kept both Rob and I out of the loop.  Rob and I finished 263, only to have Liberati find out we'd been hiding her."

"You really should call her by her name" I interjected.  So far she hadn't used Tera's name much, and instead called her by her model number, 263.

"Oh, I'm sorry.  Of course" Cynthia said.  "Tera, right?  I'm just so used to calling her 263, I have to get used to it.

"Anyway... you should know the rest.  Tom arranged to get Tera to the new lab, but we had to get her out of the MMR facility, so Rob drove us to a safe-house to try to stay under the radar.  But it didn't matter, they found us on the way there, and we barely got away only to end up in a crash.  Tera wandered off in a daze, Tom and I were lucky to be alive, but the entire front of the van was flattened... Rob died on impact.

"And that brings us to you.  There isn't really much more to tell that you don't already know.  But why don't you tell us what happened these last few days.  Last time we saw you, Tera was preparing to register you as her new owner."

It was a long story, and I took it all in.  I knew mostly what had happened before, but some of the other details were good to know.  I glanced down at Tera, and lightly brushed her hair with my fingers, even though she couldn't feel it.

I took a deep breath and told her about everything that's happened.  I told her about how Tera struggled with her memories, and that we were bound.  I told her about Jen helping us, and how Joan attacked us in the parking lot.  I made sure to go into a lot of detail about the mysterious man we met at their motel room, and his cat Leonis.  She listened quietly, sure to take in all the information she could.  Unfortunately, she had no idea who the strange man was either.  She heard that Lberati had a benefactor who was pulling his strings, but she knew nothing about him.

Tom didn't say much while driving, but he usually didn't say much anyways.  He had once worked for Lberati, or at least his father.  He never heard of anything like that when he was there, and figured it was something his old boss's idiot son did.  Then again, there had been a lot of changes from what he could tell between the old and new outfit, and while he was a very dangerous man, he had lost a lot of the political power Liberati senior once held.

The car was silent for a while as we drove through suburbs and away from the hustle and bustle of the city.  "Tera is really lucky you found her" Cynthia said.  "There are so many people out there that would want to harm her, or steal her.  If people knew what she was capable of, they'd destroy her.  But you... you accept her, and her sisters.  You don't know how rare that is."

"Maybe... I don't know.  She needed my help, and I gave it to her.  I can't help it if I fell... I mean" I cleared my throat.  "She um... she's someone special, someone worth protecting.  To be honest I used to think it would be cool to have a robot girlfriend, but I never expected it to actually happen.  She's a lot more work than I thought."

"Oh... I'm sorry if she's been trouble for you.  She's not really finished..." Cynthia started.  "I wanted to put more programming-"

"No, don't get me wrong!  She's worth it" I interrupted.  "I've really enjoyed being with her... when were aren't being attacked.  I just wish I had more time to get to know her."

By the time we left the city, the rain had completely stopped, and the clouds were clearing up.  It was still daylight out, but night wasn't far off.  We drove onto an old road that has clearly seen better days 50 years ago.  All the buildings in the area were old and worn and mostly abandoned.  They were covered in grafitti, and those that were inhabited were surrounded by electric fences and signs warning trespassers about their abnormally large dogs.

We turned onto a small dirt road, and drove to the backside of an old grafitti covered building that looked like it had once been a factory or a warehouse.  It was brick, with wood planks covering all the windows, and there was no sign that anyone had been there in a long time, expect for the fact that the dirt road was not completely overgrown.

Tom parked the car in a srot fo alcove close to the building in the back, where it was surrounded on 3 sides by red brick walls and tall trees across a small field to the back.  It was a forested area beyond the field, which was close to a national park, so there was little chance of any further development in the area.  The black SUV Jack drove followed close behind and parked perpendicular to us, granting us cover getting to the door in case we needed it.

Tom quickly got out of the car, and came to the back.  I helped get Tera into Tom's arms before he and Cynthia dashed into the building carrying her limp form.  I was feeling too worn out to go dashing anywhere.  I realized now just how covered in her orange-red blood I was, and I was glad it was too orange to be my blood or I might have thought I was worse off than I really was.

I took off the vest, which had been uncomfortable to wear with the shape of it deformed where the bullets struck it, causing it to poke into my chest and back.  I did not want to take off the t-shirt underneath in fear of seeing the bruises the shots must have caused.  Instead, I stood up slow and stiff, and walked over to the SUV, where Jack was just getting out.

Jen opened the side door, to show that Joan was sitting in a chair with a very pained expression on her face, and blood running down her one arm.  She looked over at me and smiled, before gritting her teeth in pain again.

"Joan, can't you just turn off your pain receptors?"  Cynthia told me Tera was the only one of her sisters that couldn't do that.  It should be a breeze for Joan to literally turn off the pain.

"Not anymore" she said through clenched teeth.  "Liberati's men made sure I could feel everything they did to me."  What a monster.

"Let me help you" I said.

"I tried to help" Jen said, "but there isn't much I can do.  Her joint has been shattered, way too damaged to repair.  She needs it to be replaced."

"I hope Jen hasn't been bugging you too much" I said to Joan as I helped her out of her seatbelt while Jen closed up the metal case she'd been using to monitor Joan.

"Nah.  This is nothing.  She's been really gentle" Joan said through her teeth.  "She's got delicate fingers."

"That's not what you said 5 minutes ago" Jen muttered.  Joan chuckled a little but whinced in pain afterward as I helped her get out of her seat.

"I'd love to help you ladies, but I swore not to lay a finger on another girl..." Jack started.

"This is different Jack!  You can help" Jen shot at Jack.

Jack came over to help, but I didn't really need it anymore.  "I think I got this, thanks though."  He still offered a hand, and tried to pitch in.

"Danny, are you sure you're all right.  You're covered in blood" Jen asked concerned.

"I'm fine.  It's mostly Tera's..."  Everyone paused in their tracks when they heard that.  "Tom and Cynthia are looking at her now.  She's in hibernation mode so she shouldn't get any worse."

"Tera... I hope she'll be alright.  That vest helped?" Joan asked as I got her out of the can, and wrapped my left arm around her, letting her rest her shoulder and the stump of her missing arm on me for support.

"Yes.  Thank you.  It saved my life.  You saved my life."  I smiled at Joan and she returned the gesture.

"Glad I could help" she groaned as I started to move her again.  She limped heavily keeping weight off her right leg, which didn't move well.  I did my best to walk her to the door, and Jack helped by getting the door to the building for us while Jen grabbed the equipment and followed us inside.

Once we were inside, we were greeted by a sort of living room.  It was more like a community club house, with chairs and tables and a bar and a miniature kitchen, as well as several couches and a TV.   It was well lit, and there was a hallway leading further into the buiding.  As nice as it was, we walked straight through without slowing down to look.  We walked down the hallway with several doors on the left and a giant glass door on the right.  Inside the glass door was a reception area, and 2 doorways marked Lab 1 and Lab 2.  Inside the room, we could see a window behind the desk where Tom and Cynthia were in view.

As soon as Joan and I walked into Lab 1, both Tom and Cynthia stopped what they were doing and looked over at us.  Tera lay motionless on an examination table where they had been connecting wires and tubes to her, in preparation for repairing her.  Tom all but ran over to us with a big smile.

"261!" He said as he ran toward us, Cynthia following behind.

"Daddy!" Joan said as she tried to get out of my grasp holding her up.  I didn't let her go until Tom was close enough to grab her.  She called him Daddy... something I never would have imagined coming from her.

"Allow me to introduce Joan" I said as they embraced.

"Joan" Tom repeated burying his head in her hair as they hugged.

"Daddy.  Momma.  I missed you so much!"  She was unable to hug him back, but she leaned into him and buried her face in his chest.  Momma?

Cynthia came over to her other side and hugged her too, but it didn't last too long.  Joan took in a deep sharp breath as the pain from her shoulder redoubled in their embrace.

"Oh dear, let me take a look at that" Cynthia said.  She looked closely at Joan's shoulder, shaking her head.  "You're sister really did a number on you didn't she?"

"Don't blame her momma.  She isn't being herself.  It's-"

"I know, I know.  Liberati. What has he done to you poor girls?  Here, let's get you looked at and you can tell me all about it."  Cynthia started to help Joan toward the second lab which was right next door and directly attached to this one, with a window between them letting you observe from either lab.  "Jen, could you please assist me?"

Jen looked a little surprised, but followed along.  Cynthia must have really regretted how she had treated her earlier, especially after learning all she did from me in the car.  It was good to see her taking the initiative to get to know Jen better.  Before walking off, Joan turned back toward me, and kissed me unexpectedly.  It wasn't a sensual kiss, but it was nice.  I stood there a second while the girls vanished into the other room, leaving Tom and Jack here with me.

"Danny, we need to work on Tera... if you will..." Tom said.

"Of course!" I said, snapping out of it, and followed him toward the table Tera was laying on.

"Oh.  Alright then.  I'll just... empty the bonnet... bring in the stuff... don't mind me..." Jack said.  He was feeling a little left out, but vanished back to the cars and kept himself busy for a while.

I was tired, aching, and sore, but eager to get started helping Tera.  So many things had happened in the past few days, but I was glad she was a part of my life now.  She didn't deserve to die this way, not because of me.  Tera was running to my side when she was shot, and I would never forgive myself if I couldn't undo the damage done.

------
/Chapter 19
Chapter 20 here.

[liliwinnt6]

Glad Exo could made it. Let's hope Tera would be alright.

Nice Story. Keep up, please.

[gynoneko]

As a hint, she'll come out of this changed a little. But not as obviously as the changes to Joan. Next installment will bring back "teh sexy", as well as a long awaited confrontation.

[liliwinnt6]

I'm not so interested in "teh sexy" contents because they are wounded or after battle, let's just hope them to be cured.

[gynoneko]

No worries. I have no plans to have gratuitous random sex... well at least not without a reason. I mean, I don't want to destroy their characters for a little T&A. I think I've worked out a nice way to add some more... but I will double check everything to make sure it all works. First thing first, the girls need to get repaired... and there is still that pesky sniper following them.

[liliwinnt6]

Excuse me, what is "T&A"?

[gynoneko]

heh heh... T&A stands for 'Tits and Ass'. Short way of saying showing skin or getting naked.

[transhuman]

Forgive me for having not commented in so long, but what a gorgeous story. I haven't been online to comment in a while. I especially love the part about Tera talking about her"Fatal System Error" in a distant kind of voice. It conveys this kind of helplessness, that makes me plead with the author not to kill her off, though I know it is probably inevitable. What a wonderful story! I look forward to what happens next.

[gynoneko]

Really glad you like it so far! I do hate it when an author kills off a popular character... but I also hate it when someone spoils things so I won't. But I can say this isn't the end yet... there are still plenty more chapters to come. The next one is almost ready... needs some more adjustments, but it should be up before too long.