Exo Saves the Day, Chapter 1

[gynoneko]

Hey everyone, here is another story I have been working on. I have several chapters finished, and I will post the next one soon.
Let me know what you think. It gets much more steamy later on. If you have any suggestions or recommendation, let me know and I'll see if I can write it into the story.
- Gynoneko

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Exo Saves the Day
Chapter One: A hero takes to the streets
By Gynoneko


The evening was young; the sun was just peeking out from over the horizon, as it readied itself for its nocturnal rest. The sky was filled with interesting hues of blues, oranges, reds, and purples, as the cloudless day turned into a perfect night. Walking down the street, you’d think this was a day just as normal as any ordinary day, but I had a chance to make that night an extraordinary one.

For the past few months, my efforts have been put into a new project, something I am not normally inclined to work on, something usually only fanboys and geeks would dream of. Not that I would be isolated from that crowd, you see, I am a nerd; a geek; a fanboy of sorts. I have a certain affinity for technology, a love-affair so-to-speak. I have always prided myself on being the first to own a new product, or the first to figure out a new use for an existing product. The technology I work on the most, that my internet community friends associate me with, is robots.

Not just any robots mind you, these are androids, gynoids, cyborgs, and the like. These are virtual people, virtually living their lives in a real environment. It is like taking the internet back into the real world. Some people love to have these robots for tools, to interact with the world far separated from them. Doctors, teachers, CEOs, and other professionals often use these robots in their daily lives in order to interact with others who are worlds away. It is fairly common for people to augment their own bodies with cybernetic parts as well. Usually this is to repair or replace part of their body to gain back some amount of normality to their lives, but occasionally you find the chic and fashionable “cyborg-ettes”, who use these parts for aesthetic purposes, or the full blown muscle-head cyborgs, who want to make themselves tougher, stronger, and more intimidating. I have even heard of one professor trying to use cybernetics to prolong his life. As for me, I don’t really touch cybernetics too much. Sure I dabble in the occasional custom prosthetic limb, but my real bread and butter comes from the full robots.

There are really 3 types of robots out there. The first are the dolls. These are simply puppets, which people can log into and interact with the environment, other robots, people, and computers, much like they would in their own body. However, the stress on the body limits the usage of these dolls to a few hours a day, usually about 4 tops. It isn’t easy to live in 2 bodies at once.

The second type of robot is really not a robot in the terms most people think. These are genetically engineered robots that are actual living organisms. Usually these are small, often microscopic, and perform maintenance tasks. There are nano-bots, which use organic parts to perform one or 2 tasks within the body, and almost everyone has some of these floating around to combat some sort of disease or ailment. There are also the more unusual and uncommon helper bots which are often the size of a small animal, like a cat. I haven’t seen one myself, but I have seen pictures of military helper bots. They have their uses, but one has to wonder why use these and not regular robots? Recently, there have been a series of rumors surfacing on the net about humanoid bionoids. Oh, yes, that is what they are normally known as; Bionoids. While nano-bots and helper bots are technically the same as bionoids, being that they use organic and biological parts to construct them, they are not called bionoids. Nano-bots are called, well, nano-bots. Helper bots are usually referred to as Bio-bots. The term bionoid is reserved for humanoid bio-bots, which is illegal at the moment, but the internet is a blaze with reports about them. Sometimes I think bionoid reports rival Bigfoot. Anyway, the rumors, if true, could mean a series of massive revolts, and a whole new series of laws. As it lies, most countries ban the practice of developing humanoid bionoids, although the rumors persist none-the-less.

That brings me to the last type of robot, the type I work with the most. These are your regular everyday robots. Mechanical to the core, system programming and AI running computer with wheels, arms, legs, cameras, or whatever else you feel like putting on them. These robots take a variety of forms, everything from spiders to vehicles. Some even look human. Androids are the traditional humanoid machines, programmed to mimic human activity and interact with people when needed. As technology advanced, gynoids made the scene. These are the same things as androids, except female in appearance and manner. While there is really no difference between androids and gynoids, there is a distinct different in their use. While androids are used for all hard labor jobs, gynoids are only used in the more delicate, and often sensual, professions. Most androids can take a licking and keep on ticking, so to say, while gynoids are far more delicate, and require more maintenance and less stressful activities. Gynoids are highly regulated, considering their obvious uses, but can most often be seen in restaurants and customer service desks. It is true that some gynoids work as sex workers, but most men still prefer flesh-and-blood humans, which keeps that niche market small.

Robots are the new wheels that drive our economy, and our technology. Without these daily workers, people would not be free to work on developing more advanced technology as quickly or as cheaply. It is said that America was built on the backs of slaves, and while slavery of humans is long extinct (at least in most of the world), slavery of machines has just begun. Without computers running our cities, everything would fall apart. Without cleaning bots sweeping up our garbage, or cleaning our windows, or doing the dirty work, things would be more expensive, and less efficient. I’m surprised anyone was able to do anything without robots to run their daily lives.

Of course, that is what I usually work with; robots, and dolls, and occasionally cybernetics. I never touch bio-bots; they kind of freak me out. And who’s to say there isn’t a bionoid living right next door? Scary thought. However, this night I wasn’t sporting a new robot, or doll, or even a cybernetic arm. That night, I was carrying something you only see in super hero comics. Sure you read of similar thing in the blogs of military men fighting on the front lines, but what I had was much cooler than that, and custom made by yours truly; designed, engineered, and built all by me. As the sun shot its last rays of light over the edge of the world, I prepared for what I thought was going to be the most fun I would ever have in my short life. What I didn’t know is that my definition of fun was very different from what the evening had in mind.

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The sky started to turn into that odd mix of evening colors, the kind you get in the early autumn just off the shore. As I looked out over the water, I could feel the excitement of a cool, crisp evening setting in, and feel the rush of energy I always get when night comes on. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am a night owl. Not like in the super-hero, but just that the night gets me excited, and wakes me up. I can’t stand getting up in the morning, but I love staying up all night. Sleep is part of that love-hate relationship in my life. I hate getting up from bed, and I hate having to go to bed, but when I am asleep, there is nothing better in the entire world. Making the transition from awake to asleep and back is the biggest pain.

Thoughts meander in my mind as I walk down the sidewalk, toward the darker streets of the city. Usually these are the streets filled with crime and grime. Usually, you could hear a gun shooting off in the distance, or a mugging just around the corner. But tonight, I was going to put a stop to all of that. Not even those hoodlum cyborg bullies would know what hit them, literally. With any luck, I would be the hero of the night, which everyone reads about in the morning paper; or at least the late morning new feed in my case.

It didn’t take long. A few turns down some shady streets, following the back allies of the commercial zones, right next door to the industrial plants that mark the border of the city limits, and I found myself coming to a sudden stop. I heard voices, agitated voices, voices of men yelling, jeering, intimidating. These were voices of a small gang of thugs. I could hear them not far off, just a little muffled. Carefully, I made my way around, quickly but with light feet. I may be tall, I may look like a lanky blundering fool, but underneath that timid exterior was well toned muscle, and years of study at Tae-Kwon-Do. Granted, those years of study ended years ago. I was more out of practice at that than politicians were at telling the truth, but I managed to remember my basics. Working out at the gym every day, even for only an hour, managed to tone my muscles and give me quite the edge at being silent. There is nothing quite like sneaking up behind someone who has no idea you are there, only to have them turn around and see a 6 and a half foot tall man standing right behind them. I swear I don’t do it on purpose all the time, but it is still fun to get that reaction.

With my lightest steps, I walked around a little until I could see the source of the voices. 4 young men were surrounding what looked like the silhouette of a girl. A flickering yellow light shone from the back of the old hardware store behind them, illuminating the scene, but leaving them as only dark shadows contrasting against the bulb. They were not looking toward me, and I couldn’t see their faces, but they were right in the way of the girl. I could barely see her at all, but they were clearly getting aggressive, and dangerous. I made sure I was out-of-sight, peering out from behind a building as I watched the scene unfold.

“Such a stupid girl, walking round our street like that! Bitch, you are begging for it!” the first voice said, clearly the main instigator of the group. This guy was of average height, but was thin and lean.

“Maybe she wuz jus hot and needed ta cool off” said one of the others, who wore baggy clothing that hide the shape of his body, but if I had a guess, he was a third the size of his silhouette.

“She’s hawt” said a deep voice. This one was the biggest of the group, not tall, but round.

Another voice just laughed, but said nothing. He was a stick of a boy, with no muscle tone at all.

“I don’t think she needs to cool off though” said the first boy again, “I think I’m just about ready to knock her up”. He grabbed the girl by the wrist trying to force her down. She pulled away from him with surprising force, but this only angered the punk more.

The ruffian hit the girl upside the head with a fist. The light was dim behind the closed store, but my eyes were adjusting. The moon was just coming out over the tops of the buildings; and the girl fell to a sitting position, letting the light shine down on her, allowing me to see the situation better. She was a young girl, perhaps in her early twenties, with a slim build, a little on the small side, but with a perfect body. I could tell because she had no clothes on to cover it. Wow. She was dirty on her hands and feet, but the rest of her was almost pristine. Her breasts were not too small or too large, but managed to fit on her frame perfectly. So sue me; I’m a man and I notice these things. Her hips were round and shapely, giving her that sensual look of a young healthy woman. I had to blink my eyes once or twice to make sure I was seeing this right. She was sitting in a dazed confusion, as though she didn’t understand what was happening, or even where she was. Poor girl, she must have been drugged.

Quickly, I grabbed my attention, and pulled it back toward the bag I had been carrying. Inside this bag was the invention I was sure would make me the hero of the day. And what better way to start out than to save a damsel in distress; a naked damsel, sure, but a damsel none-the-less. “Looks like a job for super-nerd” I mumbled to myself as I quietly but quickly grabbed the first piece, and started to gear up.

The first piece was a complex padded vest that fit over my clothes, but fit snug. It was tailored to me, and provided me with extra padding, and also improved my core strength and balance. It looked like it was covered in a dark patterned cloth, with that fake-abs look that super-heroes seem to all use, except these fake abs were actually bullet resistant Kevlar pads. It was actually segmented to allow for better movement, but who am I to complain about the added intimidation bonus? From here, I pulled out the second piece, which attached to my arm and hand, the end fitting on like a glove, except with 4 thick hard round metal knuckles over my breakable ones. From here stretched out a fairly flat but curved and molded aluminum rod, painted matte black, which ran up my arm and attached to my elbow at a joint, and from there it followed my arm up to my shoulder. Reaching around behind my neck and up to my other shoulder was another dark-patterned cloth-covered extension, which was attached to the arm rig at the shoulder. I snapped this part into place on the vest, one connection in front of each shoulder, and another behind my neck. The small mechanical motors spun the bolts into place and formed a tight connection. From the shoulder, another matte black aluminum rod protruded to my opposite elbow, where it repeated the same process. With a few tests, this would increase my upper-body strength ten-fold! There was only one large piece left in the bag, which was also the hardest to get on. However, before I could grab the last part of the apparatus, the situation behind me changed as the girl screamed.

Peering back out around the corner of the building, I could see the boys surrounding the young lady, hitting her to the ground. One started to kick at her, while the last boy continued to laugh. She tried to cover her head, but was clearly still dazed and confused. She was panicking too. The boys continued to hit and kick at her, while the big one started to undo his pants. It was almost a pointless exercise, since his pants were so low already he could probably step out of them. Quickly pulling on my gray overcoat and grabbing my hat, I prepared to put a stop to this. With a flick of a switch, all systems were go, well, all systems I had time to put on at least; the leg extensions would have to wait for another time. The boys continued their assault while the girl lay stunned on the ground, repeatedly kicked and hit. Suddenly, they stopped.

“What the FUCK?!” the first boy exclaimed. “She ain’t bleeding!”

“Course she is” responded the big one. “What’s all that red stuff, Rez?”

“It isn’t blood!" Rez replied. "And that girl isn’t bleeding, Big Joe. That girl... that... that...”.

“That THING is a fucking robot yo!” said the second boy. Apparently the last boy thought this was even more hilarious, and laughed louder than before, except more mockingly.

This caught my attention. I looked closer at the girl while putting on my hat and inching forward, ready to jump or run. I still couldn’t see her clearly; the yellow light did odd things to the shadows, and distorted the colors. However, I could see something sticking out of one of her arms. I swear it looked like she had a plastic string hanging out of her. It was no string, it was a wire! She had some kind of cable protruding from her arm where they were kicking at her. She really was a robot!

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/Chapter One

Chapter Two