Arc 3 All These Squares Chapter 10

I didn’t much like this room, enclosed, no windows, no light save the flickering horror movie florescent on the ceiling. Yeah, this ain’t looking good. That is of course before we even got into the torture restraints that held me against the wall… This is definitely the super interrogation room. But how did I get here? My antenna flicked about, still smelling long since dried up blood and other things like ammonia. Somebody pissed themselves at some point.

This was not a happy room. I shifted a little rattling my restraints, straining against them. These things were tougher than they looked. Since I was trapped I couldn’t do much. I relaxed a little, if I broke something that would make this worse most likely so I needed to calm down.

Minutes, hours, days perhaps? I don’t know there was no discernible way to tell time in here. All that I did know was that I was getting hungry from my stomach growling.

Finally the door opened. In walked Neon Nurse, Dr. Arbor, and Dreamer. The pink glow of the cyborg’s tubes glinted off of the light blue of the scantily clad magician themed woman and the eccentric green full body suit of the bioengineer. Something felt, wrong, off. Uncanny.

“Thank Swolix you are here Neon Nurse.”

Her glowing green eyes assessed me, it was an odd feeling, no familiarity or even recollection in her face. “Do I know you?”

Dr. Arbor had gotten closer observing me, “What an interesting specimen. Where was it found again?”

Neon Nurse replied, “It crawled out of the sewers. So Dr. Arbor, assess it and give us a thorough debriefing once you have analyzed it. We need to know if it is a threat or not.”

“Even you, Dr. Arbor? What happened to all that you made me stuff you were going on about before?” I said, feeling a cold sweat.

Her chromatic eyes looked me over puzzled, “You are not one of my creations. What are you?”

I blinked a few times at that. “You are fucking with me. You made me a genetically engineered pet.”

Dr. Arbor and Neon Nurse looked at each other then back at Dreamer, “What is wrong with her? Some sort of delusion?”

Dreamer stepped up, arms crossed her breasts. “It is very odd, I will need to do some digging but she does seem to think that she knows us or has met us before.”

For a moment my stomach dropped, until I noticed something odd about this place. A flicker, a slight haze at the edge of my sight. Sub materializing out of the wall behind them was the final straw, this wasn’t reality it was in my head. Sub chopped with her hand cutting off Dreamer’s head. No blood came out, just the fading of the surroundings as reality came rushing back.

****

I held my head. These dreams were getting weirder by the day. My eyes opened to the familiar containment cell. My gaze lingered on the empty part of the desk where Mr. Bubbles used to reside. Instead my attention shifted to Neon Nurse who was quietly sitting at the desk, typing away at her usual reports.

“How long has it been?” I asked, sitting up.

“Since?”

I shifted looming over her, gazing down at the screen, “Since extension.”

“Eight days.” Replied Neon Nurse.

“I see. What you working on?”

“Why your super suit of course. With Chief’s help it should be fabricated within a week of the final design. Of course we can always add to it later should any modifications be needed.”

She shifted lightly letting me get a better view. A more refined vision of the super suit was taking shape there seemed to be different versions. This one had wings, there were several different types from bird to butterfly, it seemed to not be decided yet. This was very much in the prototyping phase. The rest of the design seemed to be pretty much the same as before. A tall feminine figure with a smooth faceplate that gave it a bit of mystique and anonymity. That thing certainly was caked up, it had big titties and firm sculpted cheeks on it. Did it really need to be that sexy? Yes, yes it did. Better to be a sexy robot than a fugly bug.

“That thing has some personality to it.”

“Well it will be your super persona so it should be striking, visually and functionally. Here and here I have added extra padding to add protection due to the lack of plating needed for mobility.” She said pointing to the ass and chest.

“Is that the only reason?” I smirked playfully.

She articulated, my joke flying over her head, “Due to the requirements of your unique anatomy the joints are rather vulnerable since they need to be flexible or they would reduce your range of motion. For now under the outer layer in these areas I have added a more durable layer of my synth flesh, the same kind that the cyber swat teams are augmented with to act as a shock absorber. Current parameters project not only being small arms proof but being able to harden on impact in order to disperse kinetic force.”

“So it has buns of steel?”

“Plasteel, more flexible and durable. Anything short of a super or large caliber weapon should simply bounce off. Though the impact would still knock you around.”

“So why the extra booba on the chest then? Isn’t there a full layer of the plating there?”

She expanded the diagram showing the concave plate and added layer of padding under it. “Shock absorbent and comfort padding you will be wearing the suit for long durations. Since your chest has major organs extra protection will keep you from being seriously harmed.”

She continued bringing up the elongated helmet, it was larger than my current head and I could see why, there was a layer of gel like padding that covered everything but the face plate. “This is an even more absorbent material to protect your brain from severe trauma. From testing it should be able to nullify the impact of a rank 3 strength Super and greatly reduce damage up to a rank 5. Anything past that though and it won’t hold up for long.”

I observed it for a moment, “Why isn’t the whole thing made out of that?”

She tilted her head gazing up at me, “It is a prototype material and is extremely difficult to produce. Just that small quantity for your head took over a month to synthesis and material costs would be upwards of five million dollars. The only reason I was even able to get approval of its use is because your suit is being used to test it. If the results are good then I can get proper funding and begin making it and refining it in much higher quantities. For now though that is more or less this quarter’s entire project budget, well at least from the Hero League.”

“Only five mil? I would think there would be more funds for super stuff.”

She crossed her arms, “Need I remind you how tight funding is? The Hero League gets some from governments but it is certainly not enough to fully fund all projects. I don’t tend to have much for personal projects almost all of it is allocated to the cyber swat team maintenance and research and development. Even that much I am only getting because I have produced results. Just getting to this point took years, thanks to my efforts and the sacrifices of many brave officers we have expanded the program from a mere five agents to over two hundred. And that is still barely enough to contain the Slums, let alone keep the city peaceful.”

I nodded. Seems even the stoic Neon Nurse had things she was worried about.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked wanting to be of use.

She thought on it. Her green glowing eyes shifting as she read through things on her internal display. “Professionally not at the moment, though I will need your help with stress testing your suit later on, but that is after we get you out of here.”

“Professionally? So what about unprofessionally?” I asked.

Her fingers formed an arch, almost looking villainous, “Well for personal matters, there are plentiful things that you can help me with.”

I apprehended a little, “What, eh what do you mean by that?”

“Well… I do have some products that need quality testing.” Her eyes shifted to the boxes that she had brought before.

I followed her line of sight to the ‘gifts’. It was all those synthetic toys she had delivered before. I contemplated it.

“Quality testing?”

She smiled slyly, “Oh yes, after all you showed me last time that my inferior robo pussy was inadequate.”

I rubbed my head a bit feeling embarrassed, “You eh heard that?”

She nodded, “Mmhm the entire affair has been cataloged for reference. It was most stimulating, and enlightening. Thanks to that I have made some alterations and adjustments to the newest models.”

“I see… wait you recorded all that?”

“Why certainly. After all this entire room is being recorded at all times, from every angle.”

“Oh Swolix so you were watching? That is kind of creepy.”

“Well, this is a containment cell so it is heavily monitored. It was a very passionate and intense matter, so naturally it has been saved for future reference. How else can I modify myself to your preferences?”

“So people saw that? Wait, modify yourself? Why would you do that?”

“No, just me. I do oversee most of the security systems and what I don’t do is handled by the Overseer, who more directly monitors all systems. Things involving you tend to be more than just a professional matter and tend to bleed over into personal for me as such I have been giving you extra care. After all, my components are lacking and need improvements to meet your physiological standards. For human standards I am far more than competent, but for you, I find myself wanting.”

“Overseer?”

Her face lit up with pride, “Oh yes the Overseer is an AI that I created to help manage the local Hero League systems and operations, from dispatch and autonomous janitorial to security it helps organize and deploy most of the forces here in the city. Well, officially it is a Hero, normies probably wouldn’t like that an AI is operating vital systems of the city.”

“You made it?”

“Well, not fully I did get some help. I might be a genius, but even some things are out of my expertise. When it comes to cybernetics I am a leader in the field, but digital systems are complex.”

“So this Overseer is watching us right now?”

Neon Nurse nodded, “It is indeed, through the cameras, through my systems, and other varied data points. It is very good at multitasking.”

At her words I noticed the little cleaning robots lining up to form a smiley face. I wasn’t sure if that meant Overseer was happy or simply trying to be disarming. It was kinda cute, though the robo scorpions were not helping its case.

“So how come it didn’t record that night the scientists broke in and killed Mr. Bubbles?”

The robots formed a sad face.

She pondered on that, “I am still diagnosing the outage of surveillance at that time. It might be unrelated or someone caused it deliberately. As to for what that means, could be anything. Bringing down the entire local Hero League network for ten minutes one can do a lot of things in that time. Which makes it very difficult to narrow down the culprit or what they were after. Though being able to do that means that they must be a techy which does narrow things down a bit. But that is assuming someone got in and it was not just an error. From my assessment, I do not believe that the scientists caused it, though they did take advantage of the outage. Either way I have already adjusted Overseer’s systems and reinforced its security measures.”

“That is a bit concerning, I mean getting hacked is serious.”

She waved her hand dismissively, “So far I haven’t seen any sighs of an unauthorized access, so I am more inclined to believe it was a temporary system error. They do happen on occasion. Even machines are not without their flaws. Besides the Overseer runs on a unique operating system that isn’t compatible with other systems, this is another layer of defense since it can’t be influenced by incompatible code. That would be like trying to run Wac 20 on a Doors 23 system. Simply not possible unless you have had intimate knowledge of how both worked and coded a program to make them compatible with each other. For my system that is impossible, there are only two people who understand the system enough to code it. Not to mention the security encryption changes every hour.”

A good bit of that flew over my head. “I am going to assume that means it is safe.”

She nodded, “Very much so.”

“That is reassuring…” I started glancing over her screen and seeing a rather detailed model of my… yeah that is definitely my wasp shaft. “What is that?”

She tilted her head innocently before looking where I was looking, “Oh this? This is the biometric model of your ovipositor. I have been using it as reference to adjust the models to better accommodate your anatomy.”

I stared at it, a bit conflicted. On one hand that was one hell of an invasion of privacy, on the other hand she was using it to make me custom devices. Well I did break the last one so clearly it needed upgrades to handle this massive wasp wang. Ok, maybe I am just tugging myself off here.

“So that is what you meant by quality testing?”

She nodded, not batting an eye. Well I suppose she wouldn’t she does make these things and sell them. Am I just being weird about it? I mean I am a pervert, but talking about it with somebody is a bit different, let along using one of these things while somebody is watching… though she did see me pounding that thing last time. Hmm, maybe I do have some shame and am surprisingly more shy than I thought.

I glanced outside to the team of scientists monitoring the room. Yeah not testing nothing in front of these guys. I need my privacy, I am sensitive.

“Maybe after I get my own space or if you got like a private testing room or something.”

She nodded, “That is acceptable, I wouldn’t want you under performing while product stress testing.”

“Under performing?”

“Indeed, I believe I have heard it referred to as limp dicked. I have seen it a few times during testing where they wouldn’t get it up or got soft. I believe it is a psychological issue in most cases. Insufficient arousal or too much discomfort. Though that was during the early models when they were much more crude.” She replied after a moment.

For some reason that felt insulting. I know that not what she intended, but Sub felt like she was saying our wasp cock was weak. Questioning my wasp womanhood. Wait, why am I even thinking that? Sub gets competitive over the oddest of things. Maybe being locked in here is making me go a little loopy. Certainly not good for my morals. I mean I am locked in here with my horny other half and a cyborg sex bot.

I diverted the conversation, “Still it is weird, Dreamer hasn’t done anything yet. I was expecting something by now.”

Neon Nurse thought for a moment, “Well she could be busy, or could be that she doesn’t really know what to do with you. Of course could also be that since I am here she can’t do as she wants.”

“Something tells me she wants to strap me down and fuck my mind.”

“That would be highly frowned upon, I doubt she would do something that unprofessional. Dreamer does have a very good track record. She can be rather forceful if she perceives a dangerous threat, which apparently she sees in you. I still can’t see it, you are not dangerous.” She shifted her eyes glowing for a moment with some sort of message or alert, “Oh you will have to excuse me, I have some matters to attend to.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“It seems some of the cyber swat members need maintenance, it shouldn’t take too long.”

She rose, leaving through the air lock sealed door. The room grew very still and quiet without the hum of her mechanical body. Though the murmur of voices outside and the slight rattling of the fan in the vent soon replaced it. Once more I was alone, yet always being watched.

~~***~~

Neon Nurse arrived in the cold sterile operating room. It was marred with black oil, blue servo fluids, and red blood. Metallic pieces of what once was a cybernetic person lay strewn about the table, in fact going by how many limbs and parts there were four to five people here, dismembered and ripped apart. Scratches, gouges, bite marks marred the metal surfaces. Luckily, despite this extensive damage, none of them were dead. They were simply in a catatonic state induced by the life support systems to preserve their organ functions. So long as the head and chest were operable these could be salvaged and repaired.

“My, oh my, what happened here?” She asked the tall silhouette looming in the corner.

“The Mad Dogs jumped another patrol.” Replied the mechanical voice of Enforcer. “They are getting more territorial lately.”

“How did they get close enough to attack?”

“It appears they covered themselves with mud to blend in with the surroundings and fool the heat vision. Also doesn’t help getting a bus thrown at them.”

“Huh, didn’t think that could work. Make adjustments to the gear.” Neon Nurse inspected the damage closely, “Was it the Mad Dogs, or the ferals? Seems a little odd that the Mad Dogs would be acting up during this time of the month, usually their aggression is tied to the full Spore.”

She hummed, setting to work as they talked, slowly repairing them limb by limb, sometimes tossing out a broken part and putting on a new component.

“It wasn’t the ferals, if it was they would have been eaten rather than left in pieces, this was a warning to stay out of their turf.”

“That makes sense, I was wondering why there were no casualties. From the impacts this appears to be the work of Den Mother. She could have easily killed them if she got her hands on them. At least Glitter Kitten is keeping her end of the bargain and not killing our patrols. Still, attacking them is getting pretty close. I believe Medavac was going down there soon for some… pussycat time. Organics and their baser desires. I will have him see what this was all about. He does have a way with them, or do they have a way with him?”

Enforcer nodded, “Still, if they want us out, it means they are up to something. We should increase surveillance.”

“Indeed, Overseer, dispatch more drones to monitor the Slums and the Mad Dog’s movements.” Neon Nurse tapped her temple.

“Acknowledged, Creator Xava.” Replied a synthetic voice that was similar to Neon Nurse’s. “Additional recon drones have been dispatched. Is there anything else you desire?”

“Status on compiling the evidence in favor of Vespidian release?”

“Creator your interactions with the wasp creature has negatively impacted your production quota by 5% this last month. Not to mention you have focused a lot of time and energy into studying its anatomy for designs. Is there an efficiency purpose to this?”

“Overseer, that is not what I asked.”

“My mistake Creator, recalibrating request. Compiled, under normal circumstances, evidence should already be more than sufficient for release. However, Ring Master has refused our request yet again, citing, ‘Uncertainty’. It is abnormal. Dreamer, like you seems to be unhealthily obsessing over the wasp creature, though your attention is positive, hers is filled with fear and skepticism. She seems to be plagued by the organic and irrational emotion of terror rather than logic. Much the same as you, Creator. Your ardor and ‘love’ are organic constructs. They are interfering with your decisions.”

“Terror, you say? I suppose if we can prove that she isn’t thinking clearly then her opposition can be disregarded as irrational paranoia.”

“That line of progression will only succeed if the creature in question proves to not be a threat. Given how unstable it is, this one calculates a 30% chance of success and a 70% probability of another out burst setting your attempts further back. Creator you should not invest more valuable time into the creature as it is deemed as unproductive. Do not fall into the sunken cost fallacy.”

Neon Nurse sighed, “Overseer, what is logical and productive often are not the morally correct decision. Organics are very odd in that way. Emotion drives humans more so than logic in a lot of cases. But that is both a feature and a flaw of humanity. You know how single minded I get when pursuing my desire. Besides, I am allowed to be a little greedy with all the good that I have been doing. I suppose it is something that you haven’t been programmed to understand. The whims of humans are often based on feel. Just in case we will make contingencies.”