Exo Saves The Day, Chapter 20

[gynoneko]

So here I have finally decided how to make the plot development I was looking for, which will play right ino the next chapter. Any feedback is welcome!
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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. Chapter 19.

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Exo Saves the Day
Chapter Twenty: Changing Gears
By Gynoneko


I stood next to Tera's limp form as she lay on a metal examination table.  Her red dress was stained dark with her blood, and 2 or 3 wires ran from the computer next to her to the back of her head.  There were maybe a dozen more cables and wires that were disconnected, which were about to be attach to her  when Tom and Cynthia got distracted by Joan.

Tom stood next to me looking down at her.  "We should get started" he said as he walked to the computer terminal and picked up some more cables to attach to her.  "Umm..." Tom coughed, looking nervously around, "we should... or rather... you should umm... remove her dress".

"Um.  Right.  Sure, I'll take care of that" I said and proceeded to study the dress for any sign of a fastener.  I'd never undressed a girl bore, especially in front of her 'dad'.  I think I was really just buying my time, hoping something would distract him or me.  He must have taken the hint.

"I'll um... get some wash cloths to clean her with" Tom said, more than happy to leave the two of us alone.  I took this opportunity to unzip the side of her dress, and pull the dress down.  I also unfastened her bra, and placed them on a chair beside me.  She now lay on the slab in only her blue striped panties.

Tom came back in with a cloth and a bowl of soapy water.  He set the bowl down and spied her clothes on the chair.  "I can get those washed... would you like to change into something else yourself?" he asked.

"Yes, that would be great.  Thanks."  I ended up getting out of those stained clothes, taking a shower in a nearby bathroom (more like a gym bathroom really), and putting on a dark polo shirt and jeans Jack brought in from the SUV.  I was finally clean and dry, and returned to the lab to help Tom wash off Tera by hand.  She still felt warm, too warm in fact.  I'm sure I would have enjoyed giving her a sponge bath more if she hadn't been in such a condition.

Tom had cleaned up most of her, and was connecting the rest of the cables to her head and torso.  I wasn't sure what they all did, but from what I could tell, they would be monitoring her systems and looking for internal damage as well as checking her fluid levels and the like.

Using the same trick he taught me the other night Tom tried to open Tera up, but nothing happened.  No blue dancing lights, no panels opening up.  We both realized at the same time that he was no longer registered to her as her temporary owner, and only I could open her access panels when she was unconscious.  When I tried, it worked flawlessly, and her chest cavity opened up fully.  A thick layer of artificial blood caked her inner torso, was drying fast.  That would be the reason her vents got clogged up, preventing her from cooling off properly.

We started cleaning her out carefully, making sure not to damage her any further, until we had finally cleared out all the blood inside her.  It took a while, and as we did, we took a closer look at the damage the bullet did.  It had torn through a vertebrae, punctured a lung, and blew out a chunk of her chest, grazing her mechanical heart, among other things.  A lot of circuitry was damaged, but could be replaced or repaired.  The biggest problem was actually going to be her spine.  With one of her vertebrae shattered, there could be damage to her holographic nervous system.

For now, we just focused on cleaning her up.  We were probably about an hour into the procedure when we heard pained screams in the other lab.  It sounded like Joan.  We knew they were working on her, but we assumed they'd turn off her pain receptors while she was being worked on.  Something was wrong, so we rushed in to find out what.

As we hurried in, Joan let out another scream, low and sharp.  Cynthia was working on repairing one of Joan's arms on a nearby workbench while Jen sat next to the robotic girl prodding at her exposed metal shoulder with a tool.  The lab was very similar to ours, but it seemed to have more common equipment, tools I was more familiar with, unlike Lab 1 which had more experimental equipment.  Most everything had the letters MMR printed across it.  I realized what Jen was doing to Joan a second later when I saw sparks literally flying from Joan's joint.

"Joan!  What's wrong, why are you in pain?" Tom asked concerned.  It didn't matter to him that Joan lay there on the tilted table completely naked, but I know I was distracted by it.

"It's her pain receptors" Cynthia said from across the room without looking up at us.  "Liberati's men broke them, so she can't turn them off.  They tortured her, Tom.  Torture!"  I could hear the pain in her voice, but she never looked away from her work.  "And not just physically."

Tom said nothing and just stood there speechless.  Cynthia unexpectedly turned around, tears racing down her cheeks, and embraced her husband.  He consoled her as best as he could, but Joan let out another agonizing yelp.  Jen continued to use the laser cutter sporadically trying to cut around the mangled mess of nerves in Joan's shoulder, but too often sparks would fly up in her face when Joan squirmed in pain.

"Here, let me and Jen take care of this... you two take it easy for a bit" I suggested.  Cynthia nodded and together they left the lab.  Joan breathed heavily laying there, her naked breasts rising and falling with her deep breaths, while Jen sat next to her, no longer prodding at her wound.  With only one leg and neither arm attached anymore, Joan was completely helpless and vulnerable.  Her left shoulder which was wide open for servicing, revealing her metallic joints and wiring.  Only a stub of an arm was left on her right side, which was part of how her interchangeable limbs worked.  Apparently, her shoulders were not so interchangeable.

I stood closer to them and studied Joan's exposed shoulder.  The bullet that hit her must have ricocheted off the joint and managed to shatter it and destroyed some of her wiring.  Artificial muscles were also torn, but the real problem was that her nervous system was registering everything Jen tried to do as extreme pain.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Joan.

She closed her eyes for a moment taking in a deep breath before answering.  "Like shit."

"I'm really really sorry" Jen said.  "But I have to..."

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about" Joan said.  "I know it needs to be done... but it still hurts."

"Would you like me to take a look?" I offered.  They both nodded, so I took Jen's seat next to Joan and studied her shoulder for a bit.  Jen had been trying to tip toe around her wiring in an attempt to avoid causing Joan any pain, but it only seemed to prolong the pain instead.  I figure the best thing to do would be to attack it directly.

"Joan, this is going to hurt... a lot, but I think I can lessen your pain for the rest of the procedure."

"Whatever you want, master" she said looking away from me.

"No!  This is not whatever I want.  This is your body, your pain.  What do YOU want?"

She stared at me in shock for a moment.  My short burst of anger at her reaction seemed to startle her, but I could see she was considering her options.

"If you're going to cut it, will I feel again?" she asked.  "You know... like normal?"

"Of course you will," I said calmly, "but it will take longer until you regain your normal sensation again."

"I've handled pain before.  Lots of it" she replied, with distance in her voice.  "But... I don't want to anymore.  I don't want to keep shoving it to the back of my mind.  I just want it gone.  Go ahead, do it!"  I never thought about how tired of the pain she must have been, no wonder she was so ecstatic about the pleasure I gave her during sex.

I took a laser cutter in hand.  "Are you sure?"

"Yes.  I'm sure.  I want to have some- IIYYAAAHH!!!"  I severed several of her pain receptors in her shoulder while she was talking.  I knew if I did it when she wasn't ready, she'd probably not concentrate on the pain as much, at least I hoped so.

"Sorry.  All done" I said, tool till in hand.

Joan just stared ahead in shock, breathing heavily again, as she tried to recover from my treatment.  "OW!"

"What did you do?" Jen yelled.

"Well her pain receptors were in the way, so I cut them out."

"Why would you do such a thing!?"  Jen was ready to argue, and I know she'd probably win any argument as long as I was her opponent.

"No... no... it's ok" Joan said between breaths.  "It hurt... alot... but I think my shoulder is going numb... weird."

'Will you be alright now?" I asked them both.

"I- I think so" Jen said.  Joan just nodded her head, looking out into space before focusing her eyes on mine.

"Thanks" she said.  "But don't worry about me.  Please, take care of Tera.  She must be in awful shape."

"Yeah.  She's going to need a lot of work" I told her frowning.  "You sure you'll be fine?  I don't want to just abandon you, or Tera."

"Yes, I'll be fine.  Thanks.  But please, see to her."

I smiled at her and left Jen and Joan alone to return to Tera.  Tom and Cynthia were already here working on her some more, and I was relieved to see Cynthia had dried her tears and managed to get some work done on Tera.  It wasn't much, but by now she was essentially cleaned up and ready for the real repair work to begin.

"Will you be alright?" I asked Cynthia.

"Yeah.  Is Joan...?"

"She'll be fine.  I'm sure she'd like your company if you want to..." I suggested.  She nodded and gave Tera one last look before returning to help Joan and Jen.

As soon as Cynthia left, Tom and I turned our full attnetion toward Tera.  Tom started to grab items from nearby shelves, coming back to Tera every so often to take note of the damage, while I prepped her for the real work to begin.  The computer diagnosis was complete, and her nervous system had not been damaged, but it would be tricky replacing the shattered vertebrae without damaging her further.

Tom placed all the items he had been collecting onto a cart, and brought them over next to his daughter.  The tray was littered with bags full of tubes, cables, wires, even a large bladder I assumed was an artificial lung, everything she'd need.  That's when the real work began.

Tom worked fast, and I assisted often handing him tools or helping to participate in the delicate proceedures themselves.  He knew her systems inside and out, and was clearly more familiar being the head of a lab than he let on.  It was almost like working with a chef in a kitchen.  He knew exactly what needed to be done, how best to do it, and relied on his assistant to be skillful and pull his own weight.  I didn't want to let him down.

What's more, I didn't want to let Tera down.  She was relying on me and Tom more than ever now.  I somehow managed to keep up with Tom's breakneck pace, removing, repairing, and replacing parts.  Her punctured lung was surprisingly the easiest part.  He quickly pulled out her old one, and connected the new one before I could barely notice it.  Her mechanical heart proved to be a challenge, since it was not in need of replacement.  It was no longer beating while she was in this state, however, as soon as we finished patching the damage, the computer activated it again.  While I was still holding it, her heart started to beat slowly.  It wasn't like a human heart, it used pumps that mimicked a heartbeat, and it was plastic.  Still, for that brief moment, I literally held her heart in my hand.

"Good job, Rob.  Could you hand me that optical wire?" Tom asked.  He called me Rob, apparently so into the zone, he forgot who he was working with.  It must have felt like working back in the lab again to him.  Part of me wanted him to recognize me as Danny, and to give me credit, but another part of me was proud to have kept up with him so well he mistook me for his old assistant.  He never noticed the mix-up, and I never pointed it out.  I decided to take it as a compliment and handed him the wire.

After her heart had been repaired and activated again, Tom hooked up a supply of her nano-bot filled blood, to compensate for the massive loses of blood she'd had.  The work continued to be fast-paced, and before I knew it, her fluids had been refilled and disconnected.  Her body redirected the nano-bots to where they were most needed, avoiding the damaged skin preventing further bleeding.

As we worked, something caught my eye I didn't expect.  Tera started crying.  No sobbing, just a few tears.  She was not supposed to be able to feel anything in her hibernation status, and yet she was crying.

"Is that normal?" I asked Tom, looking at her face.

He glanced over, and donned a puzzled look on his face.  "That's odd.  Must be a bug in her system.  I'll take a look at it later."  With that, he continued his work, ignoring her tears, but I was still concerned that maybe she could still feel, or at least think.

Several hours had passed by before the repairs were completed in her chest.  Just before we closed her up and were about to work on her back, Cynthia came in, followed by Jen who was helping Joan by lending her arm to help stabilize the newly repaired gynoid on her feet.  Joan looked completely different, so much so I did a double take.  Her left arm had been completely replaced from her shoulder down with one that was identical in shape and size, but was a smooth reflective metal.  Her right leg had also been replaced by one of the same material.

The metallic limbs moved smoothly, but she was visibly uncomfortable with them.  I noticed the toes on her right foot were simplified, with only 2 toes, one big toe and the rest sharing one joint.  It looked like she was permanently wearing one of those Japanese sandals even in her bare feet... well...  bare foot.  Her hand was more intricate, but still lacked details on the fingers, making them look smooth and simplified.  Even though she now wore a tank top, I could clearly see how it was attached to her body.  The muscles from her chest seemed to protrude as part of the mettalic arm, as though metal muscles were jutting from her torso and formed an arm.  It looked tough, intimidating, and yet delicate.  She still had the feminine curves she always had, but also looked worn out.

"Well this is the best we can do, given the circumstances" Cynthia said.  Tom looked Joan up and down, and nodded.

"It will do" he said.  "Do you plan to keep it?"

"Keep it?  I hope not.  It's dummy material.  Of course it's strong and durable, it could work but it just looks so-"

"Fine" Joan interrupted.  "It's fine.  I can live with this.  At least for a while.  If... it's ok with you Danny."

I took a few steps closer and really studied her new limbs.  She blushed as I looked her up and down, which made her look rather cute.  Something about the combination of metal and flesh was rather attractive on her.  She still had all the sexy curves, and the metal was smooth and flexible like skin, but now she looked like she could more than handle herself.  I reached out and gently touched her arm.  It was surprisingly warm, and her entire body shuddered as I touched her.

"She's still getting used to the whole sensation thing" Jen pointed out. Joan seemed to really enjoy it when I touched her arm.  She let out a sigh and closed her eyes as I brushed my hand up her arm gently.  If I kept it up, she might make a noise that would embarrass all of us.

"Sure.  You can keep it as long as you want" I told her, despite Cynthia's wish to make her look as human as possible.  "But why does she need it anyways?" I asked.

"Well... the lab was never fully stocked... we didn't get any joints for her or her sisters... in fact we don't have much at all for the Evelyn 2.0 design."  Cynthia paused a moment, sighing.  "We wanted to, but at the time Liberati already... Tera was our main concern.  She had our full attention, and we needed this lab to help her, so we made sure to stock up everything we'd need for her."

"We have more than enough to rebuild Tera from scratch, if we needed to" Tom pointed out.  "Well... most everything.  Still don't have any more of her brand of voice box, or her power supply unit.  Not to mention a few odds and ends as well as her brain, and her mind.  We don't have access to the tools we'd need.  As long as her brain is ok, we should be able to repair her."

"So what are these limbs from?" I asked.

"They're dummy parts" Tom amswered.  "Designed by MMR as an experiment to help design advanced parts.  They are really only meant for testing and design, but should still work fine."

Joan extended her arm and studied her new metallic hand.  It would take her a while to get used to using these new limbs, but she was already getting the hang of it.  She'd have to practice using them, perhaps physical therapy or maybe a software upgrade would help.

"How's Tera coming?" Jen asked.  All three looked toward the girl still laying with her chest cavity opened and exposed on the table behind me.

"She's coming along.  She still need more work done... but we are getting there" I answered looking back at her.

"Should be a few more hours" Tom explained.  The next few hours would be crucial.  We'd have to deal with her damaged spine, and hope the replacement part they were missing were not required.

"Can I stay?" Joan asked.

"You need to rest, honey" Cynthia said.  "You've had a long day, and we have so much to catch up on.  Besides, its time to take a break."

"Please?  I really want to stay with Tera."  She was sounding more and more like a little girl all the time.

"Let's take a break first, get something to eat, then we'll think about it" I suggested.  Everyone agreed, and we left the lab to join Jack in the main area.  He'd been busying himself with unloading things from the cars, as well as working on his laptop.  Not sure what he was doing with it, but he seemed really engrossed in his computer when we walked in.

"Woah... Joan.  You're... looking different" Jack said when he spied Joan's new 'look'.  She was still limping when she walked so she held onto me, not yet used to her new leg and foot.  Joan just rolled her eyes at him, and yet seemed rather amused as well.

I hadn't really explored the rest of the building yet, so while everyone else went to the kitchen to prepare some foo, I took a look around.  The front of the place was much like a living area, like a club room.  It had the kitchen attached, a bar, nice chairs and 2 tables, as well as a TV.  Down the hallway was the receptionist area and the labs.  It appeared as though the reception area was really more of a control room, with a large console at  desk that allowed the work to be monitored, and would double as a place to take orders from clients.  Beyond that was a sort of dormitory.  There were a series of small rooms, each with a double bed, and one larger room with a queen bed.  I counted 5 rooms in all, one for Tom and Cynthia, and one for each of their 4 girls.  They shared one bathroom, so it was rather large and had 2 showers in it.  Finally beyond that was an empty room, still under construction.

I joined everyone back in the main area, where they had prepared a simple dinner of sandwiches and macaroni and cheese.  Joan and Cynthia were getting along well enough, and surprisingly so did Jen.  As we ate, I watched Joan try to get used to her new left arm.  While she ate with her right hand, she would practice picking up her fork, or a cup, with her left.  She still needed to work on her hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, but she was doing quite well for a girl who just got a new arm.

We ate mostly listening to the girls chat, but at one point Jack turned on the TV to navigate through the news.  He was looking for anything that might be relevant to us, but found nothing.  No reports about a sniper shooting, nothing about damaged cars in a parking lot, nothing.  Our deadly encounter had gone unnoticed by society, and for that I was glad.

As soon as we finished up Tom and I headed back into the lab.  Joan followed us, despite Cynthia's protests.  We decided it would be ok for her to stay for a while, but she did need her rest.  Cynthia, Jen, and Jack prepared the rooms.  It was already getting late, but Tom and I were prepared to work through the night if we had to.

Joan sat quietly in a chair next to her sister, holding her hand in hers.  I couldn't help but notice Tera still had tears in her eyes, and I wondered how it was possible.  Joan didn't seem to notice, and Tom just ignored it.

We closed up Tera's chest, and watched as the blue lights appeared to seal her skin.  There was still a large hole in her chest where the bullet left, but it was now only skin deep.  Finally, we disconnected all the wires on Tera.

I was ready to flip Tera onto her back when Tom stopped me.  "No need.  Here, we can use this" he told me, pushing on some buttons attached to the workstation.

Joan retracted her hand as the table started to tilt up to a standing position. I worried the table would throw Tera to the floor, but just as it brought her upright, a pale blue light appeared from below her, and lit up in a column over her form.  Suddenly the table retracted and moved to the side of the workstation, leaving Tera floating there in mid air.  Her hair seemed to be weightless, and her body seemed to be floating in air.

"Woah" Joan and I said at the same time.  Tom smiled at us, and walked over to Tera.

"It's new" he said.  "Zero-g field.  Should help with working on her back.  Keeps the pressure off her body, and keeps her spine straight and stress-free."

"How does it work?" Joan asked.

"It's...  complicated" he replied.  I made a mental note to ask him more later.  Tom reached out to Tera, and with a single finger, spun her around.  There was so little friction, she kept spinning and spinning without hardly slowing down at all.  He stopped her so her back was facing us, and the work continued.

Once again, blue lights illuminated under her skin down her back, following her spine, revealing a long series of panels, opening to show the damaged vertebrae.  Her spine was very similar in shape to a human's, except the shattered vertebrae revealed glowing holographic optical wires instead of whatever it is a human has.  Blood and grey matter I suppose.

Again, Tom's hands blurred with motion as he quickly started removing broken bits of artfical bone and wiring.  Often, I'd see debris from the wound floating in the field around her.  This was a fascinating device, with huge potential, but something told me Tom and Cynthia were "borrowing" it, just like all their other MMR labled equipment.  I'm sure someone somewhere was working on the various applications for such technology.  And they probably weren't too happy this model had gone missing.

Still, I didn't want to speculate or blame them.  I mean, after all, he was using it to save Tera's life.  There was really very little I could do to help him at this point actually.  The wound was much to small for more than one set of hands, and all the rest of the work was already done.  For the time being, I just gazed at Tera deep in thought.  Tears floated in the air near her eyes, and I continue to debate what exactly could be causing this reaction.  Joan wasn't as interested in this phenomenon, and just sat there next to her, holding Tera's hand.

Something about the way she hung there looking like she was floating in a tank of water... only without the water... or the tank.  Every part of her body floated before me.  Her hair danced wildly around, her arms lifted slightly away from her body, her breasts floated weightlessly... I actually noticed this... her breasts were weightless.

Tom spent probably another 2 hours carefully extracting every shattered piece, resettling every holograpic optical wire, and replacing the damaged faux bone vertebrae.  I actually did get to work on her when Cynthia interrupted Tom.  We were lucky.  Only 2 of the bundles of optical wires were damaged in the shooting, and they were both repaired and reconnected.  It could have been a lot worse.  There were literally hundreds of wires running down her spine, and if the wrong ones were severed, she would be essentially dead.  No pressure.

At last, we had fitted the last piece inside her, a replacement vertebrae for her back, which closed nicely around her holographic wiring.  By now, it was getting really late, and Joan had fallen asleep in the chair next to Tera.  Odd to see an android fall alseep like that.

"There's one last thing to do" Tom explained, as I cleaned up the tools and gear from around Tera.  He sat down at the computer, and typed in a few commands.  He then quickly stood up and gestured with his hand over the 2 damaged areas of skin, one on her back and the other on her chest.  As he did this, a yellow grid projected onto her skin.  Before I could figure out what it was he was doing, 2 robotic arms extended out of the sides of the workstation and started repairing her skin in the 2 yellow grids.  It wasn't at all like the now-seemingly primitive tube of skin goo I used before.  Sure that stuff worked, but this was precision beyond my imagination.  The two arms were literally weaving fine strands of artificial skin into her wound, in a rather slow but impressive display.

"They should finish up with her in half an hour.  Could you wait around and activate her while I take Joan to bed?  You can use room 2 to let her sleep if she needs it."

I nodded to Tom and he proceeded to lift Joan like a child and carry her, still asleep, out of the lab.  "Let me know if you need anything" he said in a loud whisper before leaving.  I checked my watch... it was now 3 am, and the process still wasn't finished.  However, I was relieved the worst of it was fixed.

About 30 minutes later, the robotic arms retracting and disappeared inside a door embedded in the workstation.  They did such an amaing job repairing her skin, I never would have known there was any damage at all.  You could still see faded light "scars" on her skin where I did her earlier repairs, mainly on the side of her neck, and while they were hard to see, they were simply barbaric compared to the latest repair job.  In fact, everything about this repair was more advanced and precise than anything I had done, and Tom knew her design so well he could have repaired her with his eyes closed.

I eagerly pushed in Tera's belly button to reactivate her, and with a click and a whirr, I could hear her systems starting up.  However, nothing else happened.  She didn't open her eyes, she didn't start talking or greeting me, she didn't do anything but remain floating there lifelessly.  Something must have gone wrong!

I ran all the diagnostics I could, and finally resorted to the monitoring system.  Everything checked out.  She was on and running fine with no errors.  I could see that her brain was processing data, and had been for... several hours?  For the past few minutes, since I turned her back on, her brain activity had increased drastically, but it was still processing the entire time she was suppose to be in Hibernation mode, where she shouldn't have had anything processing at all!  That would explain her tears.  Just before I freaked out over this, I got a message on the screen saying an 'unknown maintanance program' was running.  I figured it would be best to let this run overnight.

At least this meant I could take her to bed, let her run her program there, while I got some shut eye too.  It was kind of neat to pick her up from the Zero-g field, and carrying her out of it.  The field turned itself off when she was removed, and I proceeded to carry Tera out of the lab, shutting off lights as I went, until I came to room 2 in the dormatory area.

It was dark in the halls, but there was enough light to make out the door number, and I managed to get inside the room with Tera, and laid her down on the bed.  The room had no windows, but there was a dim yellow light coming from a nightlight, illuminating the double bed inside.  I decided it would be best to let her sleep in the bed on her own tonight.  I covered her with a blanket and pulled up a cushioned chair close beside her, worrying that she'd never wake up.

The last thing I remember that night was holding her hand and thinking of how amazing she was and how much I worried about her.  At some point I drifted off to sleep myself, but I couldn't clearly remember any of my dreams that night.  The only thing I could remember about them was that Leonis, the mystery man's large metallic cougar, was chasing me in it.  Tera's voice woke me as she called my name.

I jerked awake in the chair at the sound of my name, but it was still dark and Tera was still asleep.  With no windows, the room would never naturally light up as I was used to, so it was hard to beleive it was already after 10 am, but my watch confirmed the time.  Tera squirmed uneasily in the bed, suffering from her own nightmare.

"Danny... no!" she mummbled in her sleep.  It was her voice that woke me, maybe it was time I woke her.

I took her hand and called her name, hoping to gently wake her up.  "Tera...  Tera?  Wake up!  It's me!  Danny". 
Instead of waking up, her nervous squirming subsided, and she calmed down to a peaceful sleep again.  At least I could do that for her.

I noted to myself that the two of us have been having some pretty odd dreams lately... and with this same guy in it.  How was that possible?

After a few more minutes of sitting beside her, ready to drift off into sleep again, her eyes suddenly shot open as she quickly sat up grabbing the bed tightly.  "Danny!"  The suddenly motion threw the sheet off her torso, but she didn't even notice.  Tera breathed heavily and looked around in shock.

It took a few seconds for her to process everything, but she soon looked toward me, and her eyes instantly filled with tears as she half-jumped out of the bed and wrapped her arms around me in a giant hug.  She was sobbing quietly as she held me tight.

"Oh Danny!  I thought I lost you!  Thank god!  Thank god you're alright!"  We must have sat there hugging for several minutes before she finally let go and put her hand to my chest.  Pain shot through me and I gasped involuntarily at it.  Tera retracted her hand, and looked at me concerned.

"You're hurt!  What happened?  Where are we?"  I was glad to see she was feeling better, she didn't even seem to remember her own injury.

"What's the last thing you remember happening, Tera?" I asked her.  She looked around the room thinking for a moment or two before turning her eyes back to mime.

"I saw you get shot, I saw you fall!  I... can't remember anything else.  We were running inbetween cars in a parking lot, and you were shot!  After that it's just a blur..."  She wiped the tears from her face, but looked at me quizzically.  I figured her mind must have a similar protection mechanism as a human mind, by blocking out traumatic events.

"I was shot, Tera" I explained.  "But I had on my bullet-proof vest under my shirt.  It was Joan's idea."  I lifted up my shirt to show her the bruising.  I wanted to take another look at it myself actually, since I saw it during my shower the night before, but never really looked at it. There were 3 dark bruises the size of a drink coaster, although they seemed to already be smaller than when I glanced at them yesterday.  She stared at them, her hand to her mouth as she studied my wounds in detail.  They were not pretty.  Two were on my chest, and had more-or-less merged together, and one was on my stomach.  It wasn't as bad as the others, and was already shrinking fast.

"Oh Danny!  I'm so sorry!  Does it still hurt?"  She asked as she stretched out her finger to touch me.

"Yes" I said plainly as I lowered my shirt again.  "But it's not that bad.  I can handle it."

"Something else happened, didnt it?" she asked looking up at me with big eyes.

"Well... she... shot you too."  Her eyes grew even wider as she started to remember bits of it.  She quickly put her hand to her own chest and looked down at her bare skin, searching for the wound.  "Don't worry.  You were damaged pretty badly, but Tom and I manage to fix you up again."

"You did?  You and dad?  I... I..." she continued to look for any sign of the wound.  "I don't understand.  How...?"

I held her hand in mine and looked into her eyes.  "You almost died, Tera.  Tom and Cynthia brought you here to their unfinished lab, and together we saved your life.  Tom did an amazing job on you, but I never once stopped worrying about you.  I was scared of losing you!"

She held my face in her hands, and slowly closed the distance between us.  Her kiss was passionate, warm, loving, and very wet.  She was still crying, but out of joy.  She broke the kiss first.

"I don't want to do this anymore" she said.  "I mean... I don't want to keep running, only to get within inches of dying every time.  I am not going to take this anymore Danny.  I have to do something... I... I... don't know what.   I refuse to just be the victim anymore!  But, I'm not strong or skilled at fighting.  Somehow, I will not be a burden on you any more, Master!  I-"

I intereuppted her with a kiss.  I understood how she felt.  She was trying to get away from would-be killers and live a quiet and peaceful life.  But now I was concerned she'd try to leave me, strike out on her own, so no one had to worry about her anymore.

"Just don't leave" I said.  "I couldn't bear that."

"Never!"  We embrassed again, and she somehow ended up sitting in my lap kissing me passionately.  She straddled me as the intensity grew between us.  "Oh Danny... Oh Master" she'd say between kisses.  She started to rub her hips against me, as her hands rubbed all over my body before runnng down to my pants to unbuckle my belt.

After a few moments of struggling, she finally undid my pants, and pulled my shaft out, aligning it to herself.  Stretching her panties to the side, she slowly lowered herself onto me.  A look of intense plesure filled her face as she took me in all the way.  She felt so good, I started moving inside her right away, and she almost exploded with moans and gasps.  She was really enjoying this already, and I went with the flow.

We continued like that for a few minutes until she all but collapsed into my arms.  I lifted her up, moved her onto the bed again, and picked up the pace.  I thrust harder and deeper into her while she wrapped her arms around my shoulders and threw her head from side to side in uncontrolled pleasure.  She seemed tighter than usual, and I found myself climaxing earlier than I wanted to, but I couldn't stop myself, and ended up cuming inside her.  She was clearly not yet finished hersef, so I rubbed my fingers up and down her clitoris, and she burst into orgasmic pleasure, pushing her hips up and moaning loudly as she lost control of her body.

She collapsed onto the bed, breathing heavily, and eager for more.  I was already spent.  I wanted to satisfy her, but I couldn't perform anymore.  Instead, I just lay there next to her, cuddling with her for a while.  I was still tired from the long night and my recovering injuries, and while the thought of a second round was appealing, it seemed miles away at the moment.  But that didn't stop her from mewing and touching and rubbing herself against me.  I started something inside her, and she wasn't going to let it rest till she was satisfied.

"That was amazing, Master!  You've never been so... passionate before.  I... I'll..." she sighed while deep in thought.  "I will always be by your side, Danny.  I would never dream of leaving you!  But..."

"But what?" I asked running my hand up and down her side.

"It seems everyone is out to kill me.  I just want to be with you and my family, is that too much to ask?"  I shook my head before she continued.  "I will make my dream a reality!  I don't know how, but I will do whatever I can to stop these people and protect you and my family."

"Don't take it all on yourself, Tera.  I'm here to help too, we are all going to help each other.  Besides, you've done a lot already."

"Only out of need.  I'm going to take action this time" she said determinedly.  "I... I can't let them hurt you- us anymore!"

I wrapped my arm around her as she lay next to me.  "Together.  We'll stop them together."  I kissed her forehead as I squeezed her tight.  She mewed with pleasure, still wanting more.

"Please Master!  Let's make love again.  It's not every day a cute girl begs you for it" she playfully moaned into my ear.

"With you around, maybe it could be".

"What's that supposed to mean?" she retorted.

"Just that I've never had as much amazing sex in my life until you were around.  I could get used to having a partcular cute girl beg for more."

She giggled when she heard my explanation, and snuggled with me for a few more minutes, placing herself as close to me as she could.

"Just one more?  PLEASE Master?" she begged with a really cute expression.  LOL cats would have a hard time keeping up with her cute factor.

"I want to, but I... its..." I don't know why I was trying to come up with excuses, so I stopped.  "Alright, but give me a few minutes.  I need to recover."

She beamed at me and started laying a flurry of kisses on my face.  Damn she was cute.  I figured now was a good time to use the bathroom and hope no one else was in there, before round 2 began.

"I'll be in the bathroom, be right back.  Don't go anywhere" I said playfully as I got to my feet and pulled on my pants.  She sat there on the bed, her hair disheveled, as she smiled and meowed at me.  If anything would turn on a guy, it was a naked girl meowing at them.  I quickly left to use the fascilities before she got the better of me.

Something inside her changed.  She was still the same playful girl, with the same needs and desires.  She still made love like a goddess, and still clung to me whenever she could.  However, she had grown more determined.  Something in her changed since her last injury... and I wanted to see how this more head-strong Tera would turn out.  Something told me things were about to change.


------
/Chapter 20
Chapter 21 here.

[gynoneko]

I guess with so few hits and no feedback, no one is really enjoying this story any more... Please let me know if anyone does like it... Otherwise I might have to just end it early and go on to something else.

[NukuNookee]

Liking the story, this latest chapter is good for contributing to the overall plot, but isn't as action / sex heavy as usually attracts comments.

Speaking for myself, I'm enjoying this and look forward to the next chapter. This is a good chapter, and seems to be necessary to upcoming events, so don't get discouraged by the lack of comments.

[gynoneko]

Ok. Thanks! I'll keep working on it. I plan to have more of both in the next chapter. A little sex for fun, and action for plot. The pacing will probably speed up here and should be real fun.

[BA2]

Great story, please persevere!

I loved the repair scenes: good detail and original ideas. Your dialogue is great too and I take my hat off to the effort you've put in to this so far.

BA

[gynoneko]

Great story, please persevere!

I loved the repair scenes: good detail and original ideas. Your dialogue is great too and I take my hat off to the effort you've put in to this so far.

BA

Thanks! I hope you like the next chapter.

[Baron]

Since you already know how much I dig this whole tale, let's cut to the chase, shall we? Don't get too hung up about feedback / criticism over each installment. Exposition is necessary in every long piece, and as long as it's done well {as is the case here}, you needn't worry. Concentrate on the real guts and bone of the work , and you'll do fine. This "attitude" will actually help you use your creative time more efficiently, since you won't be worrying about trivialities so much. Learn it, master it, and live it!! The end results will speak for themselves.

Looking forward to the next chapters - keep up the EXCELLENT work, gynoneko!!

[liliwinnt6]

Well, I'm not prepared to see the story end too early. Please don't just end the story. I'm eager to see how things change in the future!

[gynoneko]

Thanks everyone! I will continue to work on the story as planned. I guess I just felt a little unsure of my story and my writing and wanted to make sure people really were reading and enjoying it. Glad to know Danny, Tera, and the gang have a few fans.
In the next installment, you will finally meet the girl behind the gun. (I like the sound of that... Think I know what the chapter will be called now).

Also, anyone want to come up with a name for her? I've been trying to name them after something to do with their speciality. Tera is short for terabyte and her speciality is hacking, Joan is named after Joan of Arc and her specialty is commanding/leading/being a soldier. So now I need a good name that has something to do with guns, snipers, or something like that. Any suggestions?

[TW]

Sorry to be a bit late to the party, but to echo the others who have posted already I am really enjoying this story and don't want to see it end prematurely! I know exposition sucks (I struggle with being happy about it, too) but keep pushing and have faith in your skills! You've woven a great tale together here.

As for our unnamed huntress (love that word), I remember hearing a story about a Russian female sniper during WWII who had over 300 confirmed kills, widely considered to be the greatest female sniper of all time. Her name was Lyudmila Pavilchenko, so maybe Millie/Mily could work? If you want to keep the historical/legendary theme, try Annie (after Annie Oakley) or Artemis (after the Greek goddess of the hunt. Her name was Diana in Roman mythology, if you're looking for something a bit more "mainstream"). My guess is that you already have something in mind for her character, so pick a name that goes well with her background/psyche.

Keep it up!

[Saya]

Also, anyone want to come up with a name for her? I've been trying to name them after something to do with their speciality. Tera is short for terabyte and her speciality is hacking, Joan is named after Joan of Arc and her specialty is commanding/leading/being a soldier. So now I need a good name that has something to do with guns, snipers, or something like that. Any suggestions?

Hmm. How about Annie? Like Annie Oakley? If you want something a bit more exotic, you could also try "Mila". Short for Lyudmila, named after the best female sniper of all time. If you want something based more on a gun rather than a person, you could also try "Mini". After the FN Minimi light machine gun, which honestly is one of the least sniper-y weapons you could come across.

[gynoneko]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I found a name I like thanks to you guys! It was actually a toss up between 2 of them, but I like the sound of this name more. Anyway, you'll hear it in the next chapter.