Re-Think

by Natalie Hunter

  "Forever in my debt would be the correct turn of phrase. And how do you intend to repay such a favor? I wasn't anticipating that my first time in the air would be for such a rescue mission, after all. It will be dangerous, too. I don't know how well protected I would be should any Aerquan be in the vicinity..."

  "I can't deny that flying an old helicopter when you've only flown in simulators before will be dangerous, but as for the Aerquan, I have some androids stationed around Brightvale fighting them off, and we'll be able to provide additional cover if needed in our mechas, as you get closer. If it's needed, I mean. Make sure you wear a helmet, to protect your brain so you don't immediately get the bad headaches if you're near an Aerquan, though - I've experienced it without and, well, if you could fly like that you'd be some kind of superhuman."

  "Fighting them off? You have androids fighting them off now? I thought you said they had all been wiped out?"

  Fuck, perhaps I shouldn't have said that - maybe she won't want to come if she knows Aerquan are attacking. But no, it wouldn't be fair to have her fly out here without knowing the situation.

  "Well, all the ones who lived in Brightvale are dead, but they seem to have alerted some other cities. We have only had sights on a small group of them to the north east, which my soldiers shouldn't have any trouble taking out."

  "But the route I'd have to travel... there could be Aerquan along the way, and they'll be out of the range of your androids. I can't risk it - as I understand it, their psychic attacks can kill humans instantly. If I'm taken out like that, you'll still be stuck, and I'll be dead. That wouldn't be a very desirable outcome for either of us, now, would it."

  "Gwen, please - what can I say to convince you? I know it sounds dangerous but as long as you protect your head, inside the helicopter, you should be fine, and if you bring along one of your androids to fire on them... I mean, there may not even be any Aerquan in the air along the way, and if there are, well they'll never have seen a helicopter before, will they? They will probably be too scared to attack you - they just heard of a whole city being wiped out by humans and machines, they're not going to want to engage the unknown."

  "You can't be sure of any of this. And this isn't my fight, Curtis. You've already forced my family into a more dangerous situation than we have ever had to face, and we've tried to look on the sunny side about it, but now you're asking me to risk my life... I'm sorry, it's just not on the table."

  "Fuck. Well, what am I supposed to do? I'm completely stuck here, Gwen, you were my last hope. I was willing to move up to your estate, stay there for as long as it took to give you and your daughters what you've been wanting, give your family its fucking heirs... I was prepared to leave my people, even the woman who's having my first child, to come and do that for you, just to make sure me and Maddy got out of here alive and could do what we set out to do in Newtown. But if you can't help, then, well, I really, really don't know what I can do here..."

  His voice was hoarse, his heart pounding. Was this really it? Was his one plan really going to fail? Were they really stuck here on this stupid roof, with no way out?

  "Oh, really, don't be so dramatic. I didn't say I wouldn't help you, just that I would not personally fly. I wanted to, if it wasn't so risky, but with things as they are, well... I'll have to have Featherby do it. Now, I think you've already expressed quite effectively what your end of the bargain will be. I must say, I look forward to that very much, and my girls will be delighted. What a day - we get our planes to play with, and you, too!"

  "I - uh - about that," he stuttered, realizing that he'd thrown out his offer in a less than ideal way for one who wanted to negotiate favorable terms.

  "What of it? It sounds simple enough to me. Featherby will come and get you out of Brightvale - I'm sending him to the helicopters as we speak - and then when that's done, he'll bring you back to the mansion!"

  "No, I, er, I mean, yes, I did intend to offer to come to stay with you, but I can't leave immediately. I need a chance to set things up in Newtown to run in my absence, and, and also, I would like to bring with me a few of my own androids. It's OK for me to have some of my own servants, right? So, I'll need a little time to prepare. A month, maybe."

  "A month! No, no, I don't think you need that long to put a roof over some refugees and order together a little entourage of androids. But I do see that making you come immediately, today would be a little unreasonable, and I do of course want you to be happy about joining us here. Make it two weeks, and a week from now, Featherby will join you in Newtown, just to make sure you are escorted here properly and have any help you need in making yourself ready."

  Sending him to spy on me and make sure I don't double cross her, she means. Well, I can't expect better, and at least I asked for a month - way longer than I thought she'd give me. Two weeks isn't much but it's enough.

  "Deal. One more thing - the duration of my stay. I can't stay forever, you know that, and of course, you can't let me leave whenever I want, so what will be the terms under which I can go home? Your goal is heirs, right? I propose that my side of the contract is considered fulfilled when I have made three out of five of your daughters pregnant, as confirmed by my own medic android, who will also confirm that there aren't any reasons why it might be, er, impossible to fulfill that condition. Or within six months, whichever comes sooner."

  Six months was much, much longer than he wanted to be away from Newtown, but how easy was it to get three women out of five pregnant? What were the odds of it happening quickly? He had no real knowledge about these things - in Sanctuary it had been implied that he'd cause a pregnancy just by looking at a girl for too long, after all, and with Sky it had been fast, but she was a hybrid... He hoped the six month clause wouldn't be what it came down to, but knew that at least it'd give him a way out of them trying to keep him there indefinitely.

  "Yes, three out of five seems reasonable, although I am of course hoping for a higher success rate! We shall do our best, eh, Curtis!" she said, jovially.

  Well, at least she hadn't contested his terms on that.

  "So, we're in agreement?"

  "Yes, yes, Featherby is on his way. He's programmed for this sort of thing. Send me your exact location in Brightvale however you can, and make sure you're somewhere where it'll be easy for him to lower down a rope to you, and he should be able to just carry you across the water one at a time. I just ask that you afford him the same covering fire should any Aerquan attack as you would have for me, including after he's helped you - if he were to crash, it would be terribly hard to recover his mother chip, and I'd miss him awfully. Not as much as I'd miss the helicopter I haven't even flown yet, mind you, so if you want to stay in my good graces, and I'm sure you do, you'll see to it that he has a safe arrival and departure from Brightvale."

  Chapter 13

  Victor managed to keep the Aerquan at bay in his section of the city's boundaries, and none of the other guards reported any sightings, so Featherby was able to make his approach without any interference. Curtis had already sent Lena and Osiris to cross the ditch when the sound of the whirring helicopter blades filled the sky - a sound that he and Maddy had never heard in real life before, and which for the two android women - the engineer and the recon expert - was a sound both nostalgic and interesting. He was sure they were both getting ideas, and wanted to watch the old helicopter doing its job of carrying first Maddy, then himself over, but he wanted them doing it from the other side of the water, so there were fewer people left to get out once Featherby's own escape had been effected.

  He waved his mecha's arms up at the helicopter, though he was sure Featherby wouldn't be able to miss him. Things happened quickly, and he soon found himself watching Maddy's mecha, clinging to a rope anchored to the aircraft, being swiftly flown over the ditch, to be deposited close to where Osiris and Lena were watching, their hair being blown around in the winds the helicopter was creating. Maddy hadn't been scared about this at all, when he'd told her what she needed to
do. Perhaps dangling from a helicopter over what may as well have been a river of acid was just generally less frightening than being a sitting duck in Brightvale, waiting for the power to run out. He could certainly relate to that. He wasn't in the least bit scared either, when his turn came to go across. He wasn't quite able to enjoy his first time being carried by an aircraft, but the feeling of relief that washed over him when his mecha-feet touched down outside of this wretched city and its stupid ditch, was one he'd remember for a long time.

  "Victor, you and the others stay in position until the helicopter is out of range of the city, and then make your way to the crossing point and get the hell out of there. Thank you for everything you did, today," he said, giving the last important order of the mission into his communicator.

  He was feeling it all now, relief, happiness, apprehension about his deal with Gwen, a strong desire to be in his hotel suite with some good, naked female company, and, perhaps most of all, hunger. He hadn't noticed it during the events of the day, but he hadn't taken a break to eat or drink anything, and he'd guess Maddy probably hadn't touched the supplies in her mecha's cockpit either. He set the mecha to walking on its path to the parking site, where Osiris and Lena would take one of the few remaining cars, and opened the cooler box, where Pinky had lovingly packed him some chicken sandwiches. He'd definitely call ahead once they got closer to Newtown and make sure a big meal was waiting for himself and Maddy in their suites when they arrived.

  They waited at the parking site for Victor and the other androids who had been guarding the perimeter to arrive, so that they could all travel back together - a convoy being safer, and meaning that there'd be people to guard the mechas once they reached the charge points, so Maddy and Curtis could sleep inside them for a little while while the androids and cars charged their batteries. It was strange to see the site that, just this morning, had been full of cars, now with just a few vehicles left. Ian, Curtis' car, wasn't among them. He wondered if Sarge had taken him, or someone else. He would have been packed full of refugees when he left, in any case. That car with its stupid name had never failed Curtis, and had, in many ways, been the first friend he'd made on his adventures outside of Sanctuary.

  The journey back was uneventful, and Curtis was sure he'd dozed off a few times even while his mecha was walking. Unlike on the way to Brightvale, he and Maddy didn't have the energy to talk, so gave each other space, only calling each other when they needed to organize recharging. It wasn't that there wasn't a lot to discuss - there most certainly was. Now they had freed the people, they had to decide how to go about turning what they had into a good, strong community, but the immediate needs of the people would already be being taken care of on the university campus, as had always been planned, and everything else could wait. There was also the uncomfortable knowledge that if he talked to Maddy, she'd want to discuss the situation with Gwen, and with Curtis leaving. She had every right to want to talk about it, after all, she'd be the one having to effect all of his plans in Newtown while he was gone, but he didn't want to think about it, not now. He felt guilty for what he'd promised, even though it had been the only choice he thought he had. He could imagine that perhaps, from Madeleine's perspective, if not now, then in a few weeks time, when she was up to her elbows in the problems of trying to sort out Newtown, and he was balls deep in one of Gwen's lovely daughters, it might look like he was getting a better deal out of all of this than her. But he didn't want to leave. What were a few rich nymphomaniacs when he had a city full of women he could fuck? What was a mansion when he lived in luxury already, and on his own terms, and without the likes of Featherby bothering him. He wanted to stay. He wanted to see his baby. He wanted to be there to inspire those humans he'd put on such a show to win over. It was all a huge pain in the ass.

  Reaching Newtown, and finally knowing they were safe in their heavily android guarded city, so could clamber stiffly out of their cockpits, was almost as great a feeling of relief as Curtis had had when Featherby had deposited him on the safe side of the moat at Brightvale. They'd decided against taking the mechas back to the university right away, and simply left them outside of the hotel. There were dozens of androids to greet them, who had been waiting in the lobby since Curtis had called to say they were close, and a raucous applause, lead by Pinky, filled the lavish setting as soon as he and Maddy strode in. He couldn't help but enjoy this moment - he had, he felt, earned the right to play the returning hero, and of course, it was a special moment for everybody else, too - the plan to liberate the humans and hybrids in Brightvale had consumed a lot of their time for months, and now, it was accomplished. But, in spite of the warm feelings inside him at seeing some of his favorite androids again, it was hard to keep up the bonhomie for long when what he really wanted to do was sink into his suite's jacuzzi, preferably with a couple of girls, and then eat a pile of chicken legs.

  He snuck a look at Maddy and could tell she had her own things she wanted to do right now, too, and smirked to himself as he saw her slip away to the elevator, with Pinky and Sarge beside her. Well, he couldn't blame her. He turned to Osiris and Lena, who were chatting to one of the robotics experts who worked with Lena about their plans to create a new android body for the one guy who had been 'killed' in the assault.

  "I don't know about you, but I could really use some time unwinding in my suite. I told Pinky when I called in earlier to make sure the maids set up a nice feast in there and filled the jacuzzi, if you're not too busy here, then..."

  He could have just ordered them to join him of course, but there was no need. If there were important plans they needed to make here, he could always choose someone else. He just liked the idea of his celebratory fuck being with the girls who'd been by his side during the worst moments of the Brightvale situation.

  "Actually, I should really finish talking to Marla here about the new android body. We are going to go to the old android factory tomorrow and build it, but we haven't had any reason to make all that many new androids in recent years, except to test out new developments, since there were no humans to order them. We think we may be able to do some pretty cool new things to make his new body even better than the old one, and, well, you know, it's interesting, so..."

  Curtis smiled. Lena was enjoying herself geeking out about robotics and engineering, and he didn't want to tear her away from that, even if what he had been planning would have been to his mind a lot more fun.

  "Just you and me, then?" Osiris said, with a suggestive wink, "I'm personally very interested in seeing some water that won't melt my skin off right about now, so I'd be more than happy to join you in the jacuzzi."

  He took her hand and lead her through the bustling, impromptu party in the lobby, to the elevator.

  Chapter 14

  No sooner had they gotten into the elevator to his floor, Curtis had taken the green haired android's shoulders firmly in both hands, pushed her up against the wall, and kissed her hard. Her mouth was hot, and had the familiar taste he was used to now with android women - fresh yet sweet. Osiris’s body was already responding to the signals that he wanted to fuck her urgently, to put all of the stresses, triumphs and questions of Brightvale out of his mind and focus only on her, and on how it felt to be inside her. Just like a human, her heart was beating a little faster and her nipples were hard under her clothes.

  She ran her hands up over his body, stroking him sensuously through his shirt (which he was frankly very keen to get out of, as at this point he felt like he'd been in it for so long it was practically part of him), and then ran them back down again, keeping going until she could press her palm against the bulge of his hard cock straining in his pants. She rubbed her hand against him firmly through the fabric, and he considered for a moment the option of simply taking her right here in the elevator. There was no reason not to, but he was craving comfort, and the warm waters of his jacuzzi just as much as his dick was craving Osiris.

  Curtis moaned slightly against her mouth. She moved her hand aroun
d to his ass and pulled him as close as possible, so she could continue the pressure against his throbbing cock with a grinding movement of her hips. He had turned his attention to groping her breasts now as they continued to kiss each other hungrily, now fully oblivious to where the elevator was on its way up to his floor.

  The elevator dinged and the doors opened, but Curtis quickly threw her against the first solid wall on the landing and continued to kiss her urgently. He pressed both hands against her breasts over her clothes, squeezing gently, knowing he was making her long to feel his skin against her sensitive nipples, which were stiff inside her tight, punky black shirt as he rubbed his thumbs over them. She took hold of one of his wrists and guided his hand down to her bare thigh, leaving his other hand still working on her stiff nipple. Curtis took the hint and slid his hand between her legs between their bodies, squeezing her inner thigh as he moved his hips against her, pushing his now rock hard cock against her body.

  Just an inch higher and he’d feel how wet she was, and the soft fabric of the cotton panties he knew this particular android liked to wear.

  Curtis pinched her nipple through her top, making her inhale sharply. Just a moment later she felt his thumb trace over the outside of her pussy, and had to move her mouth away and break the kiss to gasp in excitement in his ear.

  "Fuck that’s hot.” he whispered, pinching her nipple again and pressing his other hand against her pussy. She ground slowly against it, enjoying the pressure on her clit.

  "Let’s go into your room," she said breathily in his ear, not expecting him to put forward any resistance.

  He took her by the wrist and, opening the door, which was, as always, unlocked, he let her into his luxury suite.

  The suite was just as he'd asked it to be set up for his return, and by the floor to ceiling windows in the living area, with its lavish couches and smell of leather furniture, was laid out a feast suitable for far more humans than he was ever going to be inviting to his living quarters. He had far more pressing urges now than devouring his own body weight in chicken, however, and it was to the bubbling, steaming jacuzzi, set into a beautifully lit tiled area adjacent to his huge bathroom, that his attention turned. It had never been so inviting, as he pulled off his clothes hurriedly, his eyes now on Osiris as she did the same, though with considerably more grace. His body felt somehow both exhausted and underused, where he had been in the cockpit of the mecha for so long, and sinking into hot, soothing water with the lithe yet large-breasted woman now standing nude in front of him, was about the most pleasant thing he could imagine.