The Lonely Knight (closed for La_Reina)

[Baelnorn]

Damian Knight sat at his solid oak desk, focused on the images on the large display in front of him. He glanced at the digital clock in the status bar of the screen. Monday, December 5th, 2061, 21:19. The video call with the contract team of one of his heavy industry subsidiaries has been going for over three hours now, but thankfully it was just about to wrap up.

“Alright, summing up the action points…” Damian spoke, quickly browsing through the automated notes shown to the side of the video call. “Jessica will review the contract until Thursday and send an update if our partner agrees to our proposal. If they don’t, Thomas will open communication with Zirlan Mining to see if they are up for it. Thanks everyone for the update and the call. Have a good evening, and if we don’t hear from each other again I already wish you and your families a Merry Christmas! Take care!”

Damian closed the call after hearing his employees’ goodbyes, and plucked the in-ear headset from his head. He dropped the small device on the polished wood, and let out a tired sigh. His gaze briefly wandered outside the full-sized polarized windows, which offered an unobstructed view of the water of Wake Island’s lagoon sparkling in the pale moonlight.

The island had become his private domain a little more than six years ago, when he and Cora acquired it from the US government after a multiple months long gauntlet of grueling negotiations. Since then Cora had turned the island not only into his home, but also into a proverbial fortress, secured by the best weapons and technology she had developed so far, and which easily eclipsed what even major global players could bring to bear.

“Are you alright, Damian?” Cora inquired, the AI’s soothing voice sounding gently from above.

“Yes, yes, just a bit tired.” He nodded and leaned back into his chair, running his fingers through his dark but slowly greying hair. “Why does everything have to be so complicated?”

“I am 98.1% certain that this change of behavior in our supplier is a response from General Dynamics to us outbidding them on the Pentagon contract for the next generation infantry fighting vehicle program last month. General Dynamics owns 31% of Luclin Prospecting, which gives them sufficient influence to affect such a change.”

Knight sighed again before rising from his chair and making his way towards the kitchen of his home. “I know. I just… I just thought that those bastards would stick to their word one fucking time.”

“Do you want me to tell General Dynamics that we do not appreciate them backing out of our agreement to leave each other’s supply chains alone?” The super intelligence asked, her voice a seductive but dangerous mix of smugness and vengeance.

He paused in his steps for a moment, knowing exactly that whatever devilish retaliation idea Cora had prepared in her digital mind would really hurt GD. But then he just shook his head and continued on his way. “No, it’s not worth getting into a mudslinging match with them. That’d be just more material for those media sharks to run against us.”

“I understand and agree with your assessment. But in the meantime I took the liberty of assessing the supplier situation with all of our subsidiaries, and noted that recent market developments have put Knight Industries in a minor unstable situation. Knight Titan Solutions aside, there are three other subsidiaries facing supply chain uncertainties.” Cora reported, making the screens in the kitchen spring to life with the data she’d gathered.

Damian looked at the numbers and graphs while pouring himself a fresh cup of coffee, his brows furrowing at the values. “What do you suggest? More aggressive negotiations?”

“No. I’ve run a few million stochastic simulations and best-guess projections of the current market, and based on recent trends and my calculations now is the best time to enact our plan to make our largest subsidiaries fully self-sufficient. While the short-term cost will be immense, we will never have to suffer the meddling of General Dynamics or any other competitor in those fields again. According to my projections, this investment will amortize itself within the next seven years.”

Knight followed the explanations carefully, regularly sipping on his coffee as Cora laid out her plan. If she could actually manage to pull this off, and he had no doubt in her abilities, then that would be the best ‘Fuck You’ response they could ever give to GD and the other corporations that were nothing but a constant pain in the ass for him.

“If you think we can do it, then let’s do it!” Damian replied, the trust in his companion being unshakeable. “Do whatever you have to do to make it happen, as long as we stay legal and clean.”

“Affirmative, Damian. Executing order… done. It will take approximately three weeks before all required changes are finalized by external dependencies. Our competitors will notice that something’s happening, but they will be too late to stop anything.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing their stupid faces when we make the announcements.” Damien laughed while putting his now empty cup into the dishwasher. “But I think I’m going to hit the gym now. That damn call took far longer than I hoped and messed up my schedule.”

“As you wish. The gym is clean and prepared for you.”

“Thanks, you’re the best.”

“I know.”

Damian was sure he heard a tiny giggle echoing along with Cora’s last reply. Without any further delay, and fueled by a hot cup of coffee, he hurried into his bedroom to change from his business casual black slacks and grey button shirt into a comfortable track suit and made his way to his private gym.

Located two levels below his office, bedroom, and kitchen, his gym was a neat and perfectly organized training room with almost everything fitness related Cora could get her digital hands on. Free weights, electronic training machines, water rowers, electrical and mechanical treadmills and bikes, various lifting racks and cages, and more; if a professional gym would have it, he could probably find it somewhere in this room.

There was even a boxing ring on the far end, where Cora regularly insisted on putting him against one of her guard drones to hone his personal defense skills. Damian had tried to argue that if someone made it past her metal soldiers then a few punches, kicks, blocks, or throws wouldn’t be enough to stop them, but his companion was undeterred in her insistence.

Today was leg day, and Damian had barely started with his warmup when Cora suddenly pinged him.

“Damian, we have a situation. Our medical nanite research facility in San Francisco is on fire after a series of explosions on the third floor. I’m still evaluating the security footage, but I’m currently 77.9% certain we’re dealing with a deliberate attack or sabotage. None of our employees at the site were injured since the incident occurred after business hours, and emergency services are already responding.”

Knight let out a deep resounding sigh and climbed off the exercise bike. “Please ready the shuttle, we’re going to drop local.”

“Prelaunch preparations are already in progress.”

Damian hurried to the shuttle, which was actually one of the massive military-grade suborbital dropships designed and constructed by Cora, fitted for “civilian” use but still spotting more advanced materials and tactical systems than the two would let anyone else know. Moments after he had strapped himself down in one of the seats the shuttle’s engines roared to life and propelled the vehicle into the air.

“Cora, do we have anything in the area we can pull in to help with the situation?”

“Affirmative. I have several units of worker drones in the larger area that can be of use. Retasking local assets… done. Two shuttles with fifty drones each are inbound, ETA approximately four minutes after our own arrival.”

“Thank you.”

Once they were on a stable coasting trajectory with all immediate work done, Damian quickly squeezed himself into the onboard low-g shower and, with a few minutes to spare before Cora initiated the landing sequence, jumped into another set of business casual clothes in his trademark black-and-red style. Twenty-and-a-few minutes after their departure on Wake Island the shuttle screamed through the air over San Francisco on a ballistic approach to the burning ruin of Knight Industries’ seven-billion-dollar medical nanite research facility.

 

[La_Reina]

Laila Annmarie Stone stared at the headline on her phone, Her hazel brown eyes were wide as saucers as she stared at the picture. Her brain refused to comprehend what it was reading, but there it was in black and white, well ... actually in color. This day and age the news had color holographic pictures. SO there it was in color for all the world to see. Her competitors had yet again found something newsworthy about Damian Knight. Laila was one of the best reporters. She had rewards, she had trophies, she had the stories and headlines to prove it. She had made a name and reputation for herself working at World News" the news that was for anybody who was somebody. Laila always managed to think of catchy headlines that drew in the masses and she was known for being sweet, honorable, with high-morals as her stories were always based on fact and were never inflated. She told her point of view objectively, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always captivating. If only her fans knew the real her! She was able to help bring million of subscriptions just from for her blog alone. It was no wonder that the ultra-prestigious Galactic News: News read around the galaxy, offered her a 35% pay increase and shipped her to the other side of the milky way saying she only had one assignment for the rest of her career. Damian Knight! And for the LAST. 10. FUCKING. MONTHS. She hadn't been able to find anything on the man, and yet her competitors did EVERY. FUCKING. TIME. She was starting to think their competitors were making the headlines up if it wasn't so fucking plausible.

Fast forward to present day, and here was proof that she was not doing a good enough job on researching Damian Knight. She gripped the edges of her phone hard, her knuckles starting to turn white as she came to the realization she had to dig deeper think outside of the box. The hologram spun, but always seemed to be turned in the right direction so Laila could continually read the words, Damian's Secret Lover? Right underneath those word was a very blurry picture of a woman in a checkered skirt and black shirt. You could not make out who the woman was in the picture as her face was turned away from the shot, but you could tell she had impeccable taste as she was seen sneaking out the backyard. Laila remembered vividly what happened. She had thought she had finally unearthed his true main residence. Laila had dressed for the occasion for a surprise interview. Turns out that was one of many of his "main residences". She couldn't believe the maid when she said no one was there. Then why was she cleaning if no one was home?!? Who cleans an empty house? Laila walked around the corner, checked her watch that told her if there were any electronics pulses nearby (this signal if there was a camera or heat signature on her), and then turned invisible. She thought she was would just walk around his house, but she must not have looked at the specs right. After 20 minutes of straight walking, looking through the windows, which she was now convinced the house was indeed empty, she finally made it to the backyard. She couldn't hold it anymore and how to release the power that let her turn invisible. She bent over, hands on her knees, breathing deep. It had been awhile since she used that skill and for so long. It took a toll on her and she was starting to get really hungry, really sleepy, and really horny. She had overdid it. Laila had slunk away out the side gate and thought none was the wiser, but she was apparently very wrong. She hopes no one puts two and two together that it was her and Damian has her charged for trespassing.

Laila groaned. Her phone vibrated. It was the editor texting her.

DID YOU SEE THE HEADLINES OF THE GALATIC GA-GA GAZETTE!
Laila sighed before she could respond she received a series of texts.

YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING
FOR ABOUT A YEAR YOU HAVEN'T COME UP WITH ANYTHING ON DAMIAN KNIGHT WHILE THE GALATIC GA-GA GAZETTE HAS HAD 25 STORIES!
THAT'S 25 TO YOUR 0. THAT'S IT. YOU'RE OUT.
Laila stared at the texts as her heart shrank, she immediately began texting back.

No, wait please. I am trying, but I promise you there seems to be nothing on him when I research him. I know I'm overlooking something. I have a big scoop on him. Real big!
Laila waited a beat. Please! Please! She silently begged.

What big scoop?
Yes! Huge. I found a location that is so off the grid, it's not on any of his books.

In her hurry Laila hit send. She didn't mean for that to be everything, so she quickly text, But I know it's his. I can get in. I have and out. I just need 2 weeks to get the... Laila was still texting when on her screen came the words.

AGAIN WITH THE HUNCHES THAT TURN OUT TO BE NOTHING. YOU'RE FIRED.
Laila had never been fired from anything. If she could just get in front of her manager she could use her powers of charm. Male or female they would be enamored with her and Laila could have salvage her job. The man had fired her via text. Smart man. Laila sniffed. She was hardworking, dedicated, a work-a-holic, who always always delivered except on this. Laila felt herself go cold, she blinked back the sudden tears. Fired? Fired. Fired! Fired? So many emotions swirled around that word. She went home forgetting to finish the text.

The next day, Laila endured the humiliation of collecting her things in her glass office, so everyone could see her packing which also meant she could see people glancing at her and whispering. Then it was like she was a pariah. No one would take her calls, she couldn't get an interview, and only one friend was kind enough to tell her that she was being blacklisted.

2 weeks and 3 days later a drunk Laila was staring at a overdue notice, cursing Galactic New, and Damian Knight. if it wasn't for him and his really shady, hard to unearth secrets, she wouldn't be in this position. Before she knew it, Laila was in her garage and typing in the address to the secret facility so her car could drive there. Laila thought for a moment, ran back into the house, and grabbed 2 bottles of wine. It was going to be long drive. 2 hours later, Laila's self driving car stopped causing Laila to splash the white wine all over herself. She was very drunk now, but the 2 hours gave her time to sip and plan. She was ready. She knew the layout of the facility by heart and she could bypass all the sensors. Laila, sent her car home and instantly blended into the night. She keyed in the passcode and skipped happily into the building when the doors opened. None of the cameras picked her up, the heat sensors were easy to control as she gotten used to lowering her body temp to the temperature that cameras can't pick up.

Laila was on the elevator riding down ... down .. shouldn't she be going up. Laila wondered just how much she had drank when the doors open. She had to stifle the scream. There was a skeleton crew here working. A few employees glanced up when the elevator dinged, but had gone back to work when it appeared no one was there. Laila was going to let the doors close and ride it back up and go home, that had scared the shit out of her, but the words Nano and Brain Control caught her attention, and she stepped out before she realized what she was doing. She followed the voices and picked up bits and pieces here and there, but truth be told she understood none of it. It all looked and sounded sinister though. However, she would have to wait for the crew to go home, so she could make herself and her items visible again. Her power of invisibility allowed her and limited items to become invisible. However, she couldn't use the device while it was invisible simply because she needed to make the device visible, turn it on, and then make it invisible again. Also, she was running out of steam. She didn't think anyone was going to be here. especially this late at night. Laila didn't think she could hold the power for much longer.

"That's it! Prototypes are done!"

There was a resounding cry of cheers and 'We did it' as Laila looked around the room.

"Let the brain control begin! Let's get drinks!"
More cries of cheers and a few minutes later the room was empty.

Laila let go of the power and felt drained ... drained and even more drunk. Laila hiccupped then laughed. She did it! She was inside and she was finally going to find his secrets. Laila pulled out her phone and turned it one waiting for it to power up.

"So you're creating zombies, huh, Mr. Damian?"

Laila walked over to where the crowd had gathered and stared at the tube of what looked like nothing. Laila looked closer and again, nothing. She picked up the large plastic top and peered down the tube. Laila swore she felt thousand, no millions of invisible spiders climbing on her. Laila did scream and thrash about trying to get the spiders off. She threw the top thinking the top was the cause and it flew across the room and right into a still lit Bunsen burner. It knocked over, landed on a pile of papers, and went woosh! A fire. Laila screamed and ran to the papers. She grabbed them and pulled them from the other papers which caused the fire to jump, fly, and land on another set up papers. Two fires! Laila screeched as she felt the lit papers in her hand start to burn said hand. She threw those papers in the trash only to realize there was something in that trash that was very flammable as it went WOOSH!

"I'M GOING TO GO TO JAIL!" Laila bemoaned loudly.

Laila ran to the elevator only to realize that it needed a keycard to get back up. Who invents an elevator that lets you down, but not back up?!?! The elevator dinged and on instinct Laila went invisible.

 

[La_Reina]

My post was too large and had to be broken up​

"No, it's fine honey. I just remember the Bunsen was left on and .. HOLY SHIT THERE'S A FIRE. THE PROTOTYPES. I'M GOING TO BE FIRED!" The man ran out of the elevator while Laila jumped on and pushed the ground floor.

She couldn't hold the invisible power much longer. This was all too much. She went around the building, there was huge bushes, keep walking, over there! She wrapped her arms around her body willing herself to move, to make it. Laila was starting to fall and angled herself so that she would land in the foliage. She passed out before she hit the ground, turning visible as she was falling and swallowed up by the foliage. Laila knew she was going to be in a deep, deep slumber to recover. She just hoped she hadn't burned the building down and that it doesn't crash down on top of her.

 

[Baelnorn]

Cora landed the dropship perfectly smoothly and some distance away from the working crews of the SFFD, who had the burning building cornered on three sides by a proverbial army of people, fire engines, aerial ladders, and a maze of hoses and manifolds.

Damian climbed out of the shuttle and took a look around, his eyes moving between the organized chaos in front of him and the burning laboratory. He pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned back against the vehicle’s hull, uttering a single word expressing his current mood.

“Fuck!”

(Damian.) He felt a soft tingling, like a lover’s gentle touch, at the base of his neck and heard Cora’s voice in his mind through the neural implant in his spinal cord. (I have analyzed the situation, and the fire crews inside the building are in danger. We must get them to withdraw immediately. I suggest we find the incident commander and explain the situation.)

He took a deep breath and hurried towards the fire crews, searching for the incident commander of the site. It didn’t take long for him to find her, a female fire officer wearing a danger-orange vest with three horizontal reflective stripes over her regular uniform and the name “JACKSON” imprinted on her back. With a reinforced tablet in hand she was busy coordinating her crews and vehicles when Damian approached her, which earned him a couple curious looks from the nearby firefighters.

“Are you the incident commander?”

Jackson turned around and looked at him. “Yes, but I’m busy. If you’re from the press or locals you have to-”

“No, I’m the owner of that building.” Knight weakly gestured at the burning ruin. “If you have any crews inside you have to pull them back immediately, and run them through NBC decontamination.”

“What? Why?”

“Because this is… was…” He corrected himself, before relaying the crucial information fed to him by Cora through his implant. “…a research facility for medical nanites. The nanites are in the prototype stage, and aren’t properly configured yet. Your PPE doesn’t protect against them. Also, in different stages the process involves chlorine trifluoride and beryllium. There are three tanks with two thousand liters total of the former, and about eighty kilograms of the latter inside the building.”

The incident commander stared at him, her face pale by the time he stopped talking. “Holy shit! Okay, thanks for the heads up, now stay back!” She quickly ordered him before turning away and reaching for her radio. “IC to all units, IC to all units, immediately withdraw from the building and retreat to a safe distance. Get out, but do not take off your gear. I repeat, do not take off your gear, we need to setup NBC decon first.”

“Jackson! I’ve also got some worker robots coming in that can-”

Damian didn’t get to finish the sentence when the telltale sound of Cora’s drones arriving filled the air. Two more dropships with roaring engines, similar to his personal transport but painted danger-orange and rigged for cargo transfer, touched down nearby, one after the other, and disgorged a total of one hundred humanoid worker robots that came marching out of the freight containers in lockstep.

“What in the…” The IC almost dropped her tablet as she took in the sight.

“Standard HD-17r1 worker robots. They are at your disposal, please use them to do any work inside the building. It’s enough of a mess already and I don’t want anyone to get hurt here. I’d rather they get crushed or burned than your people.”

With the robots now on site and most of them quickly being tasked by the firefighters not busy with running decon on their colleagues returning from inside the building, Damian now had a minute to catch his breath and take two steps back looking at the situation.

The building was definitely a total loss, especially considering what the chlorine trifluoride would do to the internal structure when it was released, if it wasn’t already. All the delicate machinery and equipment necessary for assembling the nanites or their prerequisites inside was also trashed, and if not destroyed by fire or debris then the acrid smoke and caustic gasses would see to it.

Seven billion dollars down the drain in a matter of minutes. Knight silently cursed himself.

[I should have listened, Cora.] He thought bitterly, using the implant to communicate with his companion. [We’re not going to reuse existing buildings anymore. In a new facility this wouldn’t have happened.]

(Please do not blame yourself for this situation, Damian. But I agree with your statement. In a modern facility constructed to my standards this indeed wouldn’t have happened. Neither the fire, nor the intrusion.)

[Intrusion?] Damian was shocked for a moment.

(I’ve finished my evaluation of the security footage. There was severe loss of data due to the damage inflicted by the fire, and a below-average ratio of coverage due to the age of the building, but I am 100.0% certain the fire was caused by an intruder.)

Cora pushed several pieces of data through the implant, letting Damian see what she’d seen.

(My initial estimation was wrong, there were some employees still working excess hours. While I appreciate their dedication to their work, their behavior was in direct violation of employment regulations and company rules. They’ve all been taken to hospital already, and I’ve added a minor reprimand to their files. I see no reason to let them go, since I do not believe they caused this disaster.)

As she was talking to her partner, Cora focused on showing some particularly interesting recordings from the security system. A pot plant whose leaves move seemingly without cause. Automatic doors that stay open a second longer than necessary to allow the automated vacuum cleaner to pass. An elevator that moves without a passenger.

(I am 99.2% certain that we’re dealing with a Gifted. While the security system in the building was certainly not the best, it was good enough to defeat all stealth and camouflage systems currently available on the market. Only a Gifted could bypass my sensors like this. And I think I’ve already found her.)

The super intelligence pushed a thermal image from one of the scout drones circling high above into Damian’s mind, and he quickly noticed the motionless figure laying under some dense shrubberies on the backside of the building.

[Who is she?]

(An old acquaintance, it seems. Based on size, proportions, and thermal signature I am 92.6% confident that this is Ms. Laila Stone. You probably remember her, after all she’s your secret lover~)

This time Cora did add a small giggle at the end, and he could easily visualize the victorious smirk as she did.

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Damian groaned, painfully remembering that particularly ridiculous article. Cora had wanted to press charges for trespassing after identifying the subject from the security footage, but he didn’t want to give them more ammunition. And the last thing he wanted was to be branded as needlessly litigious against reporters for them ‘just doing their job’. But now it seems that no good deed goes unpunished, again. “You’ve got to be kidding me…”

(I suggest we covertly retrieve her while she cannot cause any more problems, and then question her about why she just happens to be on site when one of our facilities was destroyed.)

He considered the idea for a moment. [You know that’s not exactly legal, and could easily be seen as abduction?]

(Of course, but I am certain that whatever brought Ms. Stone here tonight wasn’t exactly legal either. Besides, I already did.)

[What? When?!] Damian jumped up.

(While we were talking. This was a good opportunity to test the latest generation of my infiltration drones.)

There was a gentle and barely noticeable shimmer in the air approaching them. If Cora hadn’t pointed out its exact location and size Damian would have never seen it. The distortion got closer and closer, eventually disappearing into the shuttle’s passenger space without making a single sound.

Damian quickly followed inside, just in time to see the stealth drones’ active camouflage systems disengage and the two robots appearing as out of thin air. Between them on the ground was a large carry bag, now also visible again, with an unconscious reporter neatly wrapped up in it.

 

[La_Reina]

Laila felt herself being picked up and for a split second she was conscious. She thought she saw a man, but it moved it's head down to look at her and as her eyes fluttered closed she remembered thinking, 'Robot!'. A jostle and Laila blinked rapidly trying to focus her vision. She rolled her head to the side and confirmed those were robots and she was back asleep. Out of nowhere she felt herself being rocked. She looked around and tried to get up. She was able to get one leg over and sit up in the chair. She blinked as she heard an almost quiet rumble. She turned her head in the direction of the noise and stood up. It was one of those robots walking towards her. In a panic she blinked invisible. The robot paused and scanned the area. Laila stumbled up the stairs behind the robot. She hadn't fully recovered and she was already using her power. This was not going to end well.

Laila pushed on the door and she blinked trying to understand what she was looking at. Was this a ship? Like a flying aircraft ship? Laila took two steps and gasped. Her powers flared telling her she was using too much, too fast. Suddenly she blinked back into existence. She hunched over trying to catch her breath and ease the painful tingles running through her. There was something else, something there that was foreign ... in .. her? She was trying to figure it out when suddenly a man was standing over her "You're not supposed to be out of your ro-"

Laila interrupted him. "Can you help me? There's something wrong?" She looked into his eyes and pushed the need to help her into him. She watched his eyes glaze a bit and then the tale-tell signs that he was under her influence. Finally! She was going to ask him to help her off the boat when she felt her body give up. NO! She was so close to escaping. The man looked as though he understood what she wanted and that he was willing to risk life and limb to help her. She was out and missed the interaction where a robot came to claim her and the man made every attempt to stop them. It was only when he was shocked with an electo-stick that he snapped out of it. Then he begged to not be placed on guard duty. That he knew what he was doing, but could not stop himself.

Laila awoke and for the first time in what felt like forever she was not rocking, swaying, anything. She was absolutely still. She sat up and a wave of dizziness hit her. She would have to be in dire danger to use her powers again. Even now she felt the claws of fatigue trying to take her. She stood up and the floor was cold. She looked down and she was barefoot!? "Where's my shoes ..." Laila realized she was wearing a long white shirt and a pair of long white pants. " ... my clothes?" She looked around the unfamiliar room. "Where am I?"

It was a room with one bed, one dresser, one light on the ceiling and that was it. There seemed to be two doors. Laila walked to one and it was a stark white plain bathroom. Laila used the toilet and washed her hands. Then she cupped her hands and gulped that clean, cool, water down her dry, hot, throat. She used some of the water to help settle her wild hair. She stood up and went out the way she came. She went to the other door opened it and before she could move two robots appeared. "You are not authorized to leave this room."

"I ... uh ... where am I?"

"You are not authorized to leave this room."

"You can't keep me here!"

"You are not authorized to leave this room."

Laila growled in frustration and her stomach growled with her. "I'm hungry!"

'You are not -"

"I know, I know," Laila said interrupting the two robots speaking in unison. "I'm not authorized to leave. Is that all you say? Can you not answer any of my questions?"

The two robots looked at each other giving Laila hope before turning to her and, "You are not authorized to leave this room."

Laila sighed and returned to her room.

 

[Baelnorn]

Damian woke, the headache from yesterday still throbbing slightly against his temples. His mood was already at a record low after the events during their short return flight, and now waking up with the headache still there certainly didn’t help. He sat up and rubbed his neck, the spot above his implant still sore from the shock Cora had to deliver to break whatever behavior affecting Gift their ‘guest’ had used on him.

“Good morning, Damian. How are you feeling today?”

“I’m starting to think we should have just handed her over to law enforcement and let them deal with all this bullshit.” He groaned while swinging his legs off the mattress and getting up, making his way towards the bathroom. There was a brief wave of nausea washing over him, but it passed before he could even properly respond to it. “Damn, did you have to go all out with the zap?”

“I’m sorry for the discomfort, but I had to terminate whatever influence she had forced on you by any means necessary. Allowing you to continue in that compromised state was not an option.”

Knight plodded into the bathroom, mumbling. “I know…”

After his morning toilet and a quick shower he returned to the bedroom and got dressed. He pulled some black jeans and a simple white formfitting T-shirt from the offerings of the walk-in wardrobe. Today’s schedule was mostly remote administrative tasks, so nothing that would require escalating his dress code above ‘casual’ for now.

On his way to the kitchen Damian brought up the topic again, using the opportunity to voice his concerns. “You’re still sure this whole issue is worth it?”

“Affirmative. I’m convinced we can gain some valuable information from her, if only regarding the fire yesterday. I’ve been observing Ms. Stone throughout the night and during a short probing interaction after she woke up earlier. My preliminary analysis indicates that in the end she will cooperate, regardless of what resistance and posturing she might put up in the beginning.”

Damian listened to his companion’s report. He almost missed the update on their guest, but when he registered what Cora had said, his head snapped up. “Wait, she’s awake?”

“Yes, since approximately eighty-four minutes. And she issued a request for food. I was considering preparing a breakfast similar to yours, unless you decided on a different approach?”

He hesitated, and for a moment he was tempted to deny Stone any food. But he quickly pushed any rising feeling of retaliation aside, knowing that approaching her in an punitive way like that would simply earn them less or even no usable or actionable information at all. “No, please prepare a breakfast for her as well. And ping me when you’re done with it, I think it’s time for a proper introduction.”

Damian was still grumpy about that whole incident. He grabbed the tablet he had left on the dining table and continued reading Cora’s incident report from where he stopped yesterday when the headache became unbearable. So apparently the fire somehow started in General Lab 2-001, crawled through an air and cable duct, spread into the nanite manufacturing complex, damaged the cleaning valves, and released the chlorine trifluoride which then caused the explosion and the destruction of the lab.

(Breakfast is ready.)

“Thank you, Cora. I’ll have mine here, but first I want to check in with our guest. Can you pull up four tanker sentinels? When I go into that room, I want to be sure she get’s the memo about not trying that stunt again.”

“Affirmative, Damian. Sentinels are inbound, ETA two minutes.”

“Thank you.”

True to her word, two minutes later the four heavy infantry drones came walking into the kitchen. One of them wordlessly picked up the tablet with Stone’s breakfast; a plate stacked with pancakes and a small jug of syrup, a tall glass with a blueberry smoothie, a bottle of cooled water, a small basket with four different oatmeal cookies, and suitable non-weaponizable cutlery.

Without further comment Damian left the kitchen and headed towards the isolated room Cora had set aside to contain Ms. Stone. When he arrived there just some moments later, the two smaller guard sentinels at the door immediately stepped aside to grant access. He took a deep breath to steel himself, pushed the door open and stepped into the room, quickly followed by the four heavy sentinels.

“Good morning, Ms. Stone. I’m glad to find you alive and awake, and hopefully in more cooperative spirits than yesterday. I’m sure you’ll understand that I did not enjoy that experience, so please don’t try that again.”

While he was talking the ‘waiter’ sentinel placed the breakfast tray on the dresser and returned to formation next to Damian.

“No worries, you can have your meal in peace. But I’ll come back in… half an hour, and then we will talk. Should you have any other requests or needs in the meantime, you can simply speak them. Cora will be listening.”

And with that, Knight turned around and left the room. The four heavy sentinels quickly followed, closed the door on their way out, and proceeded to stand next to their less heavily armored colleagues.

“So, Cora…” He began as he returned to the kitchen, mentally already primed and ready for the pancakes.

“Yes?”

“Who of us is going to be the bad cop?”

“That would be me, of course! No offense, but you are too soft to function as an interrogator.”

Damien gasped in mock offense. “Did you just call me a pushover?”

“Perhaps.” Cora replied with a tone that made her grin almost audible, before continuing in a more serious voice. “But there is something related I wanted to talk about with you. I’ve completed my preliminary work on project Iron Sapphire. According to my calculations and simulations, Iron Sapphire material should interrupt the energy flow of Gifted and suppress or at least dampen their abilities.”

“Sounds good. But you don’t really sound convinced.” Damian quirked a brow, wondering what his companion was getting at.

“That is correct. The substance has a significant drawback, and that is its extremely short effective range. My analysis of the material’s electromagnetic field signature indicates that it can only achieve the desired effect when placed less than twenty millimeters away from the target’s skin.”

Damian paused for a moment. “So, what are the options? Turn it into powder and aerosolize it? Or put it into bullets?”

“Possibly, but for our current use case I was thinking about something less drastic and something with less potentially damaging side effects, while still being secure enough so that the recipient cannot easily remove it themselves.” Cora sent two images, one showing the item she had envisioned, and one depicting a rendering of how it was applied. Both made Dominic blush deeply once he realized what he was looking at.

 

[La_Reina]

Laila paced her room. She had went through the drawers to find only white shirts and white pants. There were no bras and no panties and that's when it down on Laila; she wasn't wearing any. Her stomach growled and she closed her eyes. She was going to starve. After using her powers so many times she had only 3 dire needs. #1. Sleep. Her body usually couldn't continue functioning and would shut down. #2. Food. She could eat 2 or 3 full courses depending on how long she used her powers. Always after sleep was the need for food. #3. Sex. There was a need that came over her that made it almost impossible for her to be satisfied. In college her boyfriend and her fucked for 3 days straight. He dumped her when he ended up missing his midterms. She was too much of a distraction, he claimed.

Laila sat down on the bed clutching her stomach. She was really, really hungry. Suddenly the door open and a man walked in. Damian Knight! Why was he here? Why did he have guards? Was that food? Laila's stomach growled loudly when the scent of pancakes drifted over again. Laila tried to focus on his words, but her mouth was watering and the food had her full attention. A robot on steroids walked over and put the plate down on the dresser and Laila stood up defensively. Damian turned on his heel and walked out and Laila estimated he had spent less than a minute there.

As soon as he was gone she rushed to the food and took a big bite. It was soooo good. She moaned loudly as her stomach demanded she have more. Laila finished the plate and was eating the cookies when her stomach growled again. "May I have more pancakes please? I ... my ..." She didn't want to tell them that her powers caused her to become famished after use. Laila felt that weird ... feeling again inside. She stood up and turned in a circle as if she could catch that weird feeling when suddenly the door open and another huge ass robot came in, sat down a plate of pancakes and a second glass of juice, before retrieving the empty plate and glass, and leaving. Laila rushed to the food forgetting about that weird feeling.

"Thanks ..." Laila sat down and ate before she froze. CORA! Did Damian say Cora, when he was here earlier? Then. . . Laila chewed slower thinking. Okay, she remembered getting drunk and going to Damian's facility to finally get some dirt on him. Gawd, she was so drunk. Think, Laila, think! She remembered there was an empty vial that his team was happy about. Weird. Then a fire. That she caused. Laila hurriedly rushed past that memory. Then there was a ... Laila squinted... the man on the ship? Laila thought back to what Damian had said before she choked on thin air. "YOU were the man on the ship?" She kind of remember, but was not 100% sure, but gauging from what he said she assumed her charm ability had worked on him. Seemed he had figured out a way to ... come out of it, but there should still be lingering feelings. She could use Damian to get away.

Laila nodded her head as she continued to think. She finished her pancakes and placed the plate on the dresser. Laila had a plan. When he returned she was going to ask him to "help" her. That was her trigger word for him and the way she can jumpstart that attraction. She just had to get that phrase in. She just hoped that whatever he used, she assumed it was some sort of drug, was not stronger than her charisma. She stepped out of the pants. She had to looked defenseless and sexy. This will help strengthen his need for her. She undid her braid and let her hair hang wildly around her. She flipped her hair back giving the perfect volume and height to give off sexy damsel in distress.

If her suggestion didn't work, then as much as she hate to do it. She would blink out. She figured out she would have maybe 10 minutes before she would need to ... Laila groaned. The need hit her so hard. She had forgotten the 3rd need in her planning to escape. She looked at the bathroom. Did it have a showerhead that would come down? Laila felt her pussy spasm in need and she gasped. "No. We have to control ourselves. Even if he did fuck us he wouldn't do it right. He'll be too gentle. So stop and get ahold of yourself now!"

Laila felt her juices running down her thighs. She rushed to the bathroom, grabbing the pants on the way, and saw the attached shower head. She pulled off her top, turned on the water, stepped inside, and slammed her fingers into her cunt. She knew how to get herself there, but it wasn't going to be enough. Her diddling herself was never going to be enough. Laila turned the water to ice cold and felt the need dissipate a bit as she plunged her fingers into her cunt once more. She heard the door open. FUCK!

Laila jumped out the shower, grabbed the towel and tried to towel off as fast as possible. Her hair was now way past her ass and once it dried it would shrink to just down her back, but for now that long ass wet mess was dripping on the floor. She was trying to dry her hair and finally just wrapped it in the towel. She put on the pants and shirt not realizing that white material was instantly see through where it clung to her. Right now the material only clung to her hips, the tops her ass, and stomach. She wasn't too exposed yet as she exited the bathroom to see Damian waiting. She bit her lip and prayed he would say what he needed quickly and then she could figure out how to fix the 3rd need of her.

 

[Baelnorn]

Cora observed Ms. Stone curiously, wondering why she was stripping off her clothes, only to be surprised to see the signs of arousal glistening between her legs and their guest hastily retreating under the shower and starting to masturbate in earnest. If the AI had eyebrows she would have quirked them at this development, since this was completely unexpected.

With every second the super intelligence continued her observation innumerable calculations ran in the background trying to decipher meaning from the Gifted’s actions. Was it a stress response? A coping mechanism? Acting out a fantasy? Genuine attraction from seeing, and properly recognizing, Damian? No, that last one seemed exceedingly unlikely considering Ms. Stone’s previous behavior, employment, and personal blog posts.

This woman was turning into a most curious, but confusing and messy, riddle, and Cora loved to crack riddles. While their guest continued to pleasure herself in the shower, the AI pinged her partner.

(Damian, this is your thirty minutes reminder. Please understand that our guest is currently… occupied… in the shower, so she might not be available immediately.)

“Thank you, Cora.” Damian replied, followed by a strained sigh, wondering what that woman was up to that she couldn’t have waited with this until after their conversation. She wasn’t unattractive by any measure, and his companion’s comment about the shower sent his mind wandering for a moment, but he quickly squashed that thought with an annoyed hum. “Any objections to taking the conversation to the lounge? I don’t feel like standing in that broom closet for the next hour or so.”

“Negative. It has been proven that a more relaxing environment has a statistically significant positive impact on a subject’s willingness to cooperate and the value of information they are willing to share. I’ve also secured and locked all exit points of the building and positioned additional sentinels around the perimeter. Even if she made a run for it, she cannot escape.”

“Good, and thanks.”

He stood from the chair in the dining room and made his way back to the temporary guest quarters. When he entered the room, he made a point to ensure the door could be heard clearly even through a running shower. And then he waited. It didn’t take much time at all for the shower to stop, and he decided to give her a few more minutes.

Finally the bathroom door opened, and Laila stepped out. Her hair was wrapped up with a towel, and her clothes were clinging to some parts of her still wet body, giving every onlooker a nice view of her silhouette and making her darker skin shine through the fabric in those places.

“Ah, there you are.” Damian began, hiding his annoyance of having to deal with all this nonsense. His eyes momentarily dipped to her stomach, but he composed himself and focused on what he came to do. “Please follow me. We have some questions for you which we’d like to have answered, but I think the lounge will be a much more agreeable location for that conversation than this room.”

He turned to leave, his four heavily armored escorts effortlessly adjusting their positions around him, which made it very clear that he wasn’t inviting any discussion about this matter. But after a few steps he stopped and looked back at Laila. “Oh, and for your own sake please don’t use that Gift again. Cora has taken a strong dislike to people messing with my head, and you really don’t want to upset her.”

 

[La_Reina]

"Wait .. is ..." but Damian was already walking which caused his robots to get in formation which included surrounding her and forcing her to walk. She gasped and got in line noting there were robots between her and Damian. So Damian kidnapped her. Oh, Shit! It was probably about the facility. Was it expensive? She should tell him that his crew was ripping him off. There was nothing in the vial! She even pulled off the top and there was nothing . . . a strange ripple went through her and she furrowed her brow as the scent of Damian came over her.

Laila gasped and closed her eyes. He had a very manly scent that was purely his own. She felt the need try to take her, but she wasn't a schoolgirl in college. She could fight this. She bit the shit out of her lower lip until she tasted blood. Did she forget that she liked a little pain? That wasn't helping. Laila felt her thighs moisten, and then a cold slapped her back. The shock jolted the hell out of her and she stuttered step. The towel had fallen and though her hair was no longer dripping wet it was damp and cold. The towel fell on the floor. Laila bent to retrieve it, but the robots behind her kept a steady pace and Laila's fingers just missed the edge of the towel as her hair got in her face obscuring her view. The back of her shirt was wet and see through and Laila was doing her best last ditch effort to grab the towel as her hair swung around on her shoulders and front of her shirt turning the material see-through.

The robots kept marching and Laila had to forgo the towel. She grabbed her hair and wrapped it up as she was forced to continue walking. She put her hair in a messy bun using the ends of her long hair to mostly secure itself. The front of her shirt was a bit more transparent and she glanced down to see that the top of her breasts were exposed and she pulled on the shirt to have the material unstick from her body. She let the material hang and now the back of her shirt was completely transparent and stuck to her back while her front was wet-ish though not sticking to her and can't see her breasts. That was a bit better. Totally unaware that her ass was see-through and if pressed the right way her mound would be too.

The need died down a bit and Laila did her best to breathe out of her mouth so she couldn't be tempted again from just the scent of him. She would have to explain that it was an accident. . . okay. . . she would have to come up with a story. . . She was dead. There was no story in the world that was going to get her out of this mess. Fine! She was going to have to use her charisma gift, even if the effects was going to be hellatious on her. Didn't matter that Damian threatened her that his robot friend will hurt her. What was she going to do? Hack her checking account? Okay, actually that one would hurt. A lot. But between life and death she rather choose the identity fraud over whatever the fuck their going to do to her before killing her, because she probably accidentally blew up a billion or trillion dollar facility.

Laila would just need to say "help me" and that should trigger his desire to help her over anything. It was such a simple two word trigger there would be no way it couldn't work. However, she would have to have him look into her eyes and that was always the hard part. But this was a man's man. She was sure he wouldn't let no girly reporter stare him down, so he'll look into her eyes, she'll say 'Please help me' and he'll help her! Laila nodded her head. This plan was sure to work. Where the hell was he taking her?

 

[Baelnorn]

Damian and his escort kept a steady but not too fast pace, and moved Laila from her room along a modern hallway laid with off-white marble tiles. And walking a little further, the hallway finally opened into a spacious luxurious open lounge. The full-sized windows on two sides of the room offered an almost perfect panoramic vista of the restored and reforested Wake Island shortly after sunrise.

The lounge itself was a vast open space with enough space to easily fit a whole middle-class apartment, and the ceiling rose all the way to the massive skylight almost 10 meters above them. Its dimensions aside the room’s dominant feature was the circular conversation pit sunk three steps into the ground right in the middle, arranged around an open fireplace in its center.

Cabinets displaying hundreds of books, trinkets, and artworks joined the walls of the lounge, and even a small bar with just a few barstools managed to squeeze into one of the corners. The balconies of the two levels above showed hints of a few more seating arrangements and several other rooms.

“Please, sit.” Damian gestured towards the pit, before he redirected his steps towards the bar, leaving Laila to the sofa and his sentinels, which moved into guard positions further in the background.

He wasn’t in the habit of drinking right after breakfast, but he somehow had the impression that he’d need something for his nerves to make it through this conversation. Something light and sweet, like a Garibaldi. He reached for a cabinet with a built-in refrigerator, and pulled out the bottles, when he called out over his shoulder. “Can I get you something, too? Nothing hard, of course, I still need you to be able to talk.”

Damian fixed their drinks and returned to the pit, placing their drinks on small tables that seemed to magically fold out in front of them from underneath the fireplace, and sat down with a heavy sight almost opposite Laila.

“So…” He took a sip from his Garibaldi and looked her right in the eyes. “Why don’t you simply start with what you were doing at my laboratory yesterday, and we just take it from there? I just want to know why!”

The last sentence came out way colder than he intended, but his frustration with the situation was bubbling up. It wasn’t so much the financial loss that pissed him off so much, but rather the massive delays and bottlenecks this disaster added to the timetable of the project. And the fact that now approximately seven hundred thousand people would die over the course of the next three years since they wouldn’t receive their needed treatments in time.

While the situation developed between Damian and Laila, Cora was content with remaining passive for the time being, patiently waiting in the background and watching the scene unfold. The four sentinels she provided as Damian’s guards were also a new revision of the series, and much faster than their bulk would suggest. Even if their guest attempted something really silly, like shattering the glass of a drink and trying to stab Damian, her drones would be able to easily stop the attack dead in its tracks.

The AI only hoped that Ms. Stone would remain reasonable and not do anything... unfortunate. The warning her partner had given before was not entirely of his own making; Cora had been furious when she noticed what was happening in the shuttle and that she had to deliver an electrical shock directly into Damian’s spinal column to break him out of whatever Gift Laila had used on him. Now the super intelligence hoped that Laila would heed the warning, because otherwise their only remaining option would be project Iron Sapphire.

 

[La_Reina]

Laila paused as they entered the huge room. Her apartment by any means was not considered small and she was sure it could fit in this room. She took a step down as the robots seemed to get into place and Damian went over to a bar?!?! Laila blinked. Was he not going to interrogate her. For some reason her mind had pictured her being led to a cell or a chair, strapped down, and tortured. She blushed at her wild imagination and took the steps down to the fire pit and sat down on one of the cushions. It felt like she was sitting on a cloud. Laila audibly moaned, before covering it up with a cough. The texture felt good on her skin and she wondered how it felt to be stripped of these clothing and made to writhe - STOP! Laila immediately cut that train of thought off.

"Huh .. uh Tequila Sunrise, light on the sunrise." Laila said it as a joke. Damian took it at face value. He handed her the cup and Laila tried to catch his eyes, but the moment their fingers brushed she felt an electricity she never felt before. She closed her eyes instantly and took deep breaths willing herself in control as he turned away. Laila inwardly cursed herself as that would have been the perfect time to make eye contact and request help. But that intense need coupled with just the very manly scent of his was trying to turn her into a succubus.

His words had her eyes spring open and she stared at his face. He looked like he was barely holding back his anger and something else she couldn't quite pin. Laila opened her mouth, closed it, thought back ... Why ... why did she do it? She sat back dejectedly. "Because I couldn't find anything on you! That's why" Laila exploded. This was all his fault. HIS FAULT! "Do you know who I am? Of course not," Laila said not letting him speak. "I'm Laila A. Stone. One of the best reporters out of college. I could find the truth on anything, on anyone, and report on it. I was riding high," Laila got up and began to pace as her emotions got the best of her and she began to word vomit. Letting it all come out.

"I was hired to find out all the bad stuff you were doing. Every other news source had story after story after story, but I couldn't find anything. i thought that maybe the other guys were lying, but how could they all have the same dirt, have the same story. I was missing something. i had to be! I mean Mega Mega and Next Jam all had the same story on you and the war drugs ... I could go on. So I knew what I had to do. I had to get creative, think outside the box and I found this one facility. Hardly in any other reports, but was paid under your name. It seemed to be a simple useless facility, but I knew it had to have something. Why else would such a facility, have a HUGE mortgage, but little to no security... OH and a huge budget to boot?! It didn't add up."

"But before I could even do additional research I was fired. FIRED! Not just fired, but BLACKLISTED!" The hurt was evident in her voice. "I was blacklisted over you and you ... you ..."

Laila reached down picked up her glass and took a huge gulp. She was really getting into it now almost forgetting that Damian was there. "So I had to show the world. I had to show them that i still had excellent research skills. i had to sneak in. And you know what I found," Laila turned on Damian and with pain in her voice. "NOTHING! Even that stupid prototype vial that your team was working on was empty. i know i looked at the vial and even took off the top. There was nothing there so you should be thanking me." Laila got closer. She felt that same weird tingle that she kept getting some times since the incident, but she would figure that out later. Right now she had Damian's eyes on her as she told him what happened. She was not going to tell him that she caused the fire. Hell, no! However, it was go time; do or die.

Laila stared down at Damian sitting in his seat making sure she held his attention. "Please I need your help," she said suddenly and paused waiting to see the effects of her charm activate. She pushed with her powers and felt a strange vibe in the air. "Please help me," she said adding an extra ommph to her charisma.

 

[Baelnorn]

Damian listened to her little rant, growing ever so slightly more irritated by the second. Most of what she said wasn’t exactly news to him. But blaming him for her ill fortune (or consequences of her own actions, depending on your point of view) was ridiculous!

After the trespassing incident with his city house Cora followed up and conducted a deep investigation into Ms. Stone and set up several network observers to monitor any activity originating from Laila or being related to her. While her writings and ramblings were pretty much all public knowledge, her recent dismissal from this insufferable gossip rag “Galactic News” – even the name was preposterous to Damian – wasn’t. It took the AI a few moments of digging to find that bit after one of the observers raised a flag.

Damian didn’t enjoy or revel in people losing their livelihoods, but he could only muster limited sympathy for Laila in this regard. All in all he found it a colossal waste. She was talented, no question. Her writing style easily dragged the reader in and bound their attention, she knew how to add jokes and quips and personal remarks to make any piece as lighthearted or serious as she wanted, and she had a good grasp on grammar and structure. And she chose to write for the most sensationalist bottom of the yellow press barrel.

When she got to the point in her tirade where she mentioned the prototype being empty, the hairs on his neck started to rise. No, the prototype was working, he had seen the microscopic… micro… machines… Oh no!

[Cora, did your medical examination check for nanite contamination?] He urgently pushed through his implant.

(Negative, Damian. Such a check is not included in the standard procedure. Do you think she might have become a host?)

He nodded. [We can’t rule it out. You have to examine her again and check for any colonies.]

(Affirmative.)

“Please help me.”

His thoughts were suddenly dragged back to the present and the woman standing in front of him, and he felt a shiver run down his spine.

Please help me. Please help me. Please help me. Please help me. Please. Help. Me.

Damian shook his head, her voice still echoing in his mind. Help her. Something about her voice sounded off. Wrong. Manipulative. Intrusive. Wait, what was he thinking about? Something about an examination…? Oh yes, of course! He was trying to help the gorgeous woman in front of him, who looked at him with her deep dark eyes. No! He shouldn’t! He needed… a warning…? No… answers? He wasn’t sure anymore. But if he helped her, she would answer his questions, wouldn’t she?

“Yes… of course… that’s why we’re here. To help you.”

Suddenly his mouth felt dry, so he quickly grabbed another sip from his sweet drink. His attention was glued to the beauty in front of him, and basically undressed her with his gaze as his eyes wandered over her tantalizing figure. The wet white fabric did nothing to help, and eagerly revealed the contours of her shapely thighs, her flat stomach, and her firm breasts to him.

“So…” He began, clearing his throat. “How can I… help you?”

 

[La_Reina]

Laila watched as the suggestion struggled to take hold. He shook his head and Laila held her breath. She already pushed the suggestion as much as she dared. If she pushed too hard he could turn to obsessive and suddenly he's one of those if I can't have you no one can types. Laila shuddered remembering an ex who had to be institutionalized for 3 years until he was able to function without her. No, she didn't want to go through that again. Instead, she stared down at Damian waiting, begging the gods to be on her side.

Laila wanted to jump for joy. It looked like he was back under her spell. Thank the gods it worked. She watched him grab his drink and Laila took a sip of hers too. She glanced around at the robots. She needed his help quickly before that Cora robot realized what was happening and send those other robots to her. She had to act fast. He had already warned her not to try, but she had to. It was do or die. Laila took another sip of her drink. She could feel the side effects of using that power clawing at. The need, that constant need, that was starting to rise especially when his words washed over her. His tone so sensual and deep. Laila's throat went dry and she blinked rapidly. The Need roared and she took a very tiny step towards him. She blinked slowly and licked her lips her eyes lowering to stare at his. Laila's thighs slickened with her need to have him deep inside. She took deeps breaths making her breasts rise and fall with every breath. Her eyes held his and she tilted her head to the side and though he had not move she was so horny, so needy she swear she could feel his lips on her neck, "Harder," she breathed out, before gasping. Laila closed her eyes struggling to regain herself; hoping against all hope he had missed that.

I'm in control of me. I'm in control of my body. I'm in control of me. I'm in control of my body. She must fight this stupid need. She almost dropped the glass and the shock of almost dropping what she was sure was a crystal glass made the need retreat some. We definitely cannot afford to replace that. PUT. THE GLASS. DOWN. One side raged at her to put the glass down and jump him. The other side raged at her to put the glass down and take a huge step back. Laila compromised; she put the glass down, but allowed herself to stay in his vicinity.

How can he help me? What should I ask first? "Promise me you won't have me arrested for the fire?" Laila asked her question tentatively.

She almost yelped at his response. She hurriedly continued talking, "Can you let me go? Wait, do you think you can help me get my old job back?" Laila saw him reach for his phone and she sat down next to him on the couch, forgetting that she should be worried about the invisible woman watching their every move. "No, a better job. No, fix my reputation ..." Laila paused and looked at Damian realizing this was the answer to her problems. "NO, tell me all of your dirty secrets. Every. Last. One."

 

[Baelnorn]

Damian couldn’t tear his eyes away from Laila. The way she moved, the way her chest rose with every breath, the way her long hair fell over her shoulders and down her back, the way her shapely figure called to him from underneath the wet, partially translucent, white fabric… so close yet so tantalizingly out of reach.

Her dark eyes and luscious lips whispered unspoken promises to him, and he felt a familiar stirring in his loins. As it was, his jeans slowly became a little more uncomfortable for sitting with every passing minute and he’d soon fully tent his jeans in front of this stranger. But funnily, he didn’t mind that one bit.

He could have sworn she moaned something, but he was so distracted he couldn’t tell if it was reality or a figment of the sudden desire coursing through his veins. What was that word… “harder”? Was she fantasizing about him, like he was thinking about her right now? She looked so delicious, and he’d love to taste her kisses, her skin, her whole body. These thoughts didn’t help his composure, and his pulse and blood pressure kept going up rapidly.

(Damian. Your biometrics are spiking and exceeding several situational thresholds. Are you okay?)

It took him a moment for him to register the silent voice calling out in the back of his head, and remembering that it wasn’t his own. It belonged to… some other woman… named Cora? He remembered her being a coworker or partner or something like that, but it wasn’t really important right now, not when a dark Aphrodite was begging for his undivided attention.

“Yes, I’m fine…” He mumbled in response, at this point not even caring if the answer was satisfactory, just hopefully good enough to make that unwanted distraction go away.

“Promise me you won’t have me arrested for the fire?”

Damian blinked at Laila’s sudden words for a long moment, and then chuckled. “Oh, so you did have something to do with it after all?” He waited for her reaction to his statement and quickly added with a smile and a wink. “But don’t worry about it. If I wanted you arrested, I’d have handed you over to law enforcement at the scene instead of taking you with me to my private island.”

(Damian… where do you intend to go with this conversation? You’re not focusing on the topics we both agreed on. This… flirtatious… approach is not predicted to give us the answers we need.)

He ignored the voice in his mind, enraptured completely by the voice and sight of the woman next to him. By now he was leaning closer and closer to Laila, his member almost painfully swollen and pushing out a noticeable bulge in his pants.

Damian couldn’t remember when exactly he reached for his phone, but he knew he wanted to help the woman. Calling her boss and helping her get her job back seemed quite reasonable, after she unfortunately got wrapped up in this… accident… in one of his buildings. Yes, truly unfortunate…

“…Every. Last. One.”

Knight nodded, a happy drunken smile on his lips. “Of course my dear, where do you want me to start? Business, or private life?”

(DAMIAN!)

He didn’t reply to Cora’s final attempt to call out to him. In fact he barely registered it at all.

It was now that Damian’s erratic behavior had finally reached a threshold the super intelligence could no longer ignore. The symptoms were identical with the incident on the shuttle. A lack of reasonable and context aware responses, a generally uncharacteristic behavior, and spontaneous taking of actions in support of the subject. Cora had to assume he had been compromised by Ms. Stone, again, and already dreaded the moment she would have to electroshock him, again. It'd been miserable for both of them, and she knew it would be the same... again.

In the span of a single nanosecond, and with the digital equivalent of heavy grumbling cursing that woman, the AI pushed her orders to her drones waiting in the background:

directive::{1} actions::{DETAIN} subjects::{DAMIAN KNIGHT} conditions::{UNHARMED}
directive::{2} actions::{DETAIN} subjects::{LAILA STONE} conditions::{UNHARMED}

The moment the four heavy robots sprang into action with inhuman speed and agility, Cora shouted her electronic frustration from all speakers in the lounge, her synthetic angry voice echoing througout the entire main complex of the building.

“RELEASE HIM!”

Both humans’ heads snapped up at the AI’s scream, but by the time they'd processed their surroundings the sentinels were already upon them.

 

[La_Reina]

Laila giggled when he called her his dear the word course through her straight to her center and she wanted to to always be his. She looked up for a second wondering where that thought came from. Even in the throes of passion she had never once had that thought except once. What the hell was going on with her?

The confusion was perfect fucking timing as Laila was looking around trying to understand her thoughts she saw the eyes of the drones power up. Oh shit! Laila's heart started beating fast as adrenaline shot through her overtaking the need as fight or flight kicked in.

Laila covered her ears as the almost humanlike sound of a woman demanded she release him. Flight it was. The robots sprang at them, Laila stood up, she expected the robot to shoot later or whatever at her, she expected it to lunge at her breaking her bones as it sent her to the ground in pain, she did not expect it to come at her as if to come in for a big bear hug to entrap her in it's arms. Are you fucking kidding me? Laila ducked under its arms and rolled past one like a ninja. She was totally feeling bad ass and sprang up in a bad ass pose before, she ran past the other robot. Laila slipped on the rug and somehow stumbling, running made it out the door. She turned left and shot down the hall free. She was free at last!

"Where are we going, love?" Laila jumped and screamed realizing that Damian was with her. Step by step.

"Freedom," Laila said as she kept running, turning on the burners. She was going to outrun him. She saw a light at the end of the hall and a door. Freedom! She was gonna get out. Laila could hear Damian yelling something, but she could not hear his words clearly over the sound of her own heart thumping in her chest, her blood rushing in her ears as every step took her closer and closer to freedom. She reached out, turned the knob, and opened ...a closet.

"Huh?"

Then his words Damian was trying to tell her caught up to her and she realized he had been saying something about a dead end. She turned and the robots was blocking their exit. There was no way out. There was nothing they could do. "Damian?" Laila said but she saw a weird electricity zipp thing and Damian slapped the back of his neck.

"Damian..." Laila called out to him. The robots had stopped moving. Maybe that weren't going to hurt her, because she had him. It was a weird hostage situation since he came willingly, but she was going to use it.

"D-D-Damian ... I .." he turned around. His face...Oh shit! There was no denying it. She fucked up. She wanted to say something. She tried, but the words froze in her throat. She gulped, once, twice and now she knew why that thought from earlier has popped in her head. Damian physically did not look like the mysterious guy from college. The one Layla lost her virginity to and was forever doomed to like things a bit ... Rougher. The look in Damian's eyes scared her, but for some reason she knew he wouldn't hurt her. Even as her body told her she trusted him the look on his face was making her mind question her body and pussy. Why the fuck was she still getting wet when she was sure she was going to be murdered. No matter what her body was saying.

Laila slowly raised her hands in surrender. She gave a small shrug and scrunched up her face as if to say oops, my bad, I had to try.

She did not move until he did. As soon as he moved she started running backwards, fell, and crab walked backwards away from him and his robots steps. "You promised not to arrest me! You promised not to have me arrested!"

 

[Baelnorn]

Damian tried to warn her that she was running in the wrong direction, but she didn’t listen. The only thing he could do was to keep up with her and stay with her, perhaps he could somehow distract or stop those robots to allow her to get away, even though his mind was too hazy and unfocused to remember exactly how he could accomplish something like that.

They inevitably ended up in front of the closet, a small storage room harboring supplies and materials for the building’s many maintenance and cleaning drones. While it did have more than one exit, only the door was sized for humans. The other exits were the ground hatch of a tiny cargo elevator, currently sealed with a reinforced metal door, and several small tunnels just large enough to pass the autonomous cleaning drones and maintenance bots, who’d come here to recharge their batteries, restock cleaning supplies, or dispose of collected dust or trash.

They were stuck.

“Damian?” Laila asked with a desperate quiver.

The synthetic voice spoke again before he could respond, interrupting what little exchange they tried to manage. “I’m sorry, Damian.”

Before he could even open his mouth to ask what that meant, a tiny prick in his neck made his world explode into white-hot pain. Like a puppet with cut strings he crumbled to the ground, the modified taser dart’s charge running over his skin and through his spine. The pain barely left him enough breath to scream, and his body twitched and spasmed violently.

The electricity only lasted for a few moments, but it felt longer. Much, much longer. It would have been nice if Damian could say that it ended as quickly as it started, but his nerves were still fried and his body still twitching from the aftershocks of the taser for several long seconds after the discharge stopped. With a pained groan he finally crawled to his knees, clutching the back of his neck where the dart hit him.

“F-f-fuuuuck…”

The sentinels walked a few steps closer, one of them kneeling down next to Damian and assuming a position to help him up. Knight barely managed to look up and take in his surroundings, his frazzled mind slowly piecing together the events of the last few minutes. When his gaze eventually fell upon Laila, his expression darkened visibly.

It took him three attempts to stand, and only with the help of the robot, but his body language left little room for interpretation of his current mood. His infatuation, arousal, and erection were completely gone and wiped from his mind, replaced by seething anger.

“Y-you!”

Damian watched her scramble away from him, with an almost panicked expression on her face, but he didn’t care. He was furious, not only because of the lingering pain and the migraine starting to throb behind his forehead, but because she blatantly violated him and used her Gift on him again even when he had asked her not to. And so, his voice was much louder and harsher than he would have usually used in this situation.

“Arrest you? Arrest you? If I wanted to have you arrested, I wouldn’t have brought you here!” He shouted, repeating his previous statement. “Do you have any idea of the legal mudslinging I’d have to endure if this made it in front of a judge? In case you didn’t know, arson is a public offense that the state has no choice not to prosecute! If the police or a particularly bored or career-hungry district attorney made any connection between you and that fire it would mean months, if not years, of bullshit I’d have to deal with!”

Damian paced back and forth in what little space the hallway offered. “Especially from those esteemed colleagues of yours.” He spat with pure venom in his voice while gesturing air quotes.

“And quite frankly, you’re just not worth that kind of effort. It is so much easier, faster, and generally more convenient for me to just declare that fire an unfortunate accident regardless of what happened, and be done with it. Hell, even admitting to a fire code violation and paying the fine would be preferrable to dealing with your crap!”

“You want to know why I brought you here? Because we needed answers!” He stopped in front of her, his quivering form looming over her. “We needed to know if it was really an accident, or something else. Were you a rogue actor with a particular axe to grind? Or have my wonderful competitors and business rivals finally crossed the threshold into open corporate warfare and sent a mercenary, and now we have to place air-defenses and armed guards at every single factory and office?”

Damian turned his back on her and took a labored breath, a sudden flash of exhaustion and the throbbing headache quickly draining his reserves. “That’s… that’s all we wanted to know… but you… you just had to make this difficult.”

Leaning heavily against one of the sentinels, he continued, but his voice grew quieter and more strained. “At this point I don’t even care about the seven billion dollars you’ve turned to ash last night. What’s pissing me off so much, in addition to you repeatedly violating me like this, is that now hundreds of thousands of people more will not get proper treatments and die in the next few years. All fully preventable deaths, all on your hands. I hope it was fucking worth it trying to get that spicy scoop for your headline.”

He tried to take a step but stumbled, and the robots next to him quickly caught him. With surprising care and gentleness one of them picked him up and carried him in its arms. As he was carried away, he murmured barely audible to Laila. “On paper you’re pretty intelligent, so why do you waste your life working for those no-good gossip rags…”

While Damian was carried away by one sentinel, the other three stepped in front of Laila, completely blocking her off. Cora’s ice-cold voice sounded from all the robots’ hidden speakers. “Do I have to drag you back to your room, or do you come willingly? And to make one thing crystal clear between us: if you ever do this to Damian again, I will kill you.”

 

[La_Reina]

Laila stayed on her butt staring up at the inferno in front of her. He ranted and raved and the whole time she felt so much guilt and shame, she lowered her head like a wounded puppy and listened. She knew he was not under her influence and he repeated the same exact words as before. So it was the truth. They really had no intentions of ... Laila closed her eyes as reality sunk in. She opened her eyes, her head still hung low. They only wanted to question her. They did it in an unorthodox way, but he was a billionaire and they tend to be extreme.

"An Accident," she mumbled while he yelled at her which she deserved. "It was truly an accident. You ..." Laila sniffed. "Don't need air defenses." She felt like shit. She truly felt like shit. "No one believed me anyways," she mumbled quickly.

Laila's head shot up as the cadence of his words change. He was stuttering? "Damian?" She said gently, cautiously as he leaned against one of the robots. She truly was concerned now that she realized she was the bad guy. Especially when he mentioned that it was 7 BILLION dollars that facility cost.

Laila is not a bad person. Her stomach rolled and she thought she was going to puke when she heard him talk about the thousand of people and the treatment. With all her investigating and her not finding shit on him, she had found a surprising amount of good deeds he has done. The various cities and towns he sponsored, all and she meant all, of the residents only had the kindest, warmest things to say about him. None of it made sense. When the other news outlets said the contrary. She had believed that the people had been bought off. However, this treatment she had uncovered in a report about another report as an update. She had brought it up to her editor, but it was deemed not newsworthy. But the treatment was supposed to help so many people and could even bridge the gap between health disparities in this country, if she remembered correctly. Laila gulped again, that meant she had single handedly set them back to the ice age, sort of speak.

Even as all that weighed on her a single phrase he mentioned had her eyes wide in shock, her blood cold, and her body so still she could have been made of stone. "...in addition to you repeatedly violating me..." Laila gulped as she felt she was lumped in with rapists and molesters. And to a degree he had a point. She had forced him to act on her behalf without him being in control of his actions. She felt something wet hit her leg and she blinked in surprise realizing she was crying!

Damian wouldn't have noticed as he was pacing and he stumbled. "DAMIAN!" Laila didn't mean to yell. She wasn't sure when he mattered to her or maybe it was her guilt. "Are you o-" the robot picked him up and turned cutting her off. The others stood in her way. She got to her feet truly only thinking of Damian and not of herself this time. She was so tuned to him she heard his words. Her brow furrowed...gossip rags? She gulped. She was the best ... was it all glitz covered shit? The more she thought on it the more it made sense. She could never find any dirt on the man and she refused to write lies. No matter how many times her editor tried to get her to embellish the truth, which was not embellishing, but outright lying in Laila's opinion. Laila thought it was just her weasel of an editor, but ... WAS SHE BEING PLAYED THIS WHOLE TIME?! Did she not look any deeper into her company because she was blinded by their prestige and .. who was she kidding. She didn't even research them. They mentioned her pay and she was on board. Who wouldn't turn down a cool half a million a year salary with a $75K signing bonus.

"I -" before she could say anything that angry robot lady was back and the threat hung in the air. No, not a threat. A promise. Laila nodded her head unable to speak as she tried to hold back the tears. She was led back to her room. She turned to give the robots a message. To have them tell Damian she was sorry, that she truly was. She would promise to never ever ever say the trigger words in his presence, though that would be kind of difficult since the word was an everyday word. But that she would make it right, somehow. However, she didn't even get a chance to say any of that. The door was closed as soon as she stepped in and this time locked.

Laila walked slowly to the bed. She stared at it and let the tears fall. "I'm truly sorry, I .." Laila still didn't realize she was always being monitored.

 

[Baelnorn]

Cora diligently watched over Damian for the rest of the day, always keeping two of the smaller guard sentinels in his bedroom in case he woke up and needed help with anything. She hated what had transpired in the morning, replaying the events again and again and again. After tens of thousands of simulations with varying parameters the AI still wasn’t any wiser what she could have done differently.

Sure, she could have taken complete control of the situation. Keeping Damian and Ms. Stone strictly separated, perhaps only allowing interaction through a video call or a physical barrier could have been an option. Or having armed drones with guns in the room as a further deterrent. But all those violated the parameters Damian had asked for. He didn’t want to intimidate the woman with brute force, nor make her feel like a suspect in a police interrogation.

The fact that Damian got hurt twice under her watchful gaze, by her own hand out of necessity no less, was gnawing at the super intelligence. She was no more determined than ever before to prevent this from happening ever again, and she would now see the application of project Iron Sapphire through, even if she had to fight Damian on it. Laila had proven that she couldn’t be trusted with her Gifts, so now her compliance was going to be enforced whether she liked it or not.

At noon Cora prepared a vegetable soup for Damian, something light and easily consumed in case he woke up hungry, while for Laila she created a large bowl of mixed salad with various greens and vegetable, accompanied by grilled champignons and chicken breast and some baguette on the side. As dessert she added a bowl of chocolate pudding with a topping of whipped cream.

A robot delivered the meal and the same non-weaponizable cutlery as before to Ms. Stone’s quarters, where the other robots unlocked the door and granted the “waiter” entry. The best description Cora could give of the display she found would be a picture of misery. It seems the recent events had sapped some of the worst of Laila’s feistiness and antagonism from her.

“Your lunch.” The AI informed the room’s sole occupant on entry. “If you require or need something else, just speak up.”

When Laila asked about Damian, Cora made the sentinel stop in its track and turn around.

“Damian is still asleep, and is projected to remain so for several more hours. His initial recovery from the first incident took approximately seven hours, and he was not fully recovered when subjected to the second incident. My best estimation places him at waking somewhen in the late afternoon to early evening, at his earliest. But there is a statistically significant chance we will wake up later than that.”

The drone slightly tilted its head. “You know, I still do not understand why you hate Damian so much. The reasons you gave us before sounded more than flimsy. Why was it his fault that he wasn’t the kind of asshole or monster you thought him to be? To me that sounds more like a case of mismanaged expectations. Perhaps we will find an opportunity for the kind of conversation Damian had in mind this morning when everyone has regained their composure.”

After a short pause, the super intelligence adds her own feelings on the recent events, after having listened to both humans vent and rant and ramble previously.

“I harbor no personal enmity towards you. But you hurt Damian. You messed with his mind in a highly inappropriate way. And that is the reason I dislike you. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Damian is right, on paper you're not stupid. You've just chosen a highly... questionable... career path. Perhaps you might still be able to learn something from him, and reclaim your life. Maybe you can think about that before Damian talks to you again. I will return later with your supper.”

Shortly after finishing the robot turned towards the door and left.

 

[La_Reina]

Laila sat there completely dejected. Her whole world crumbling. She had thought over her whole career and if she turned everything just slightly it all made sense. She swore she would never work for a gossip column, but she realized her company could very well be a gossip rag camouflaged as a real news outlet and she probably contributed to their "newsworthiness" without realizing it. She was probably being blacklisted to coverup what had happened and also to prevent her from telling her side of the story. Laila thought back and over the course of nearly a year she never found anything on Damian Knight, and worse every other big newsoutlet was probably lying. Laila was slowly starting to seethe the more she realized just how badly she was played. The meetings, the notices, the weirdly worded emails that she would ask for clarification and there would never be any follow up - it all made sense now!

She had gotten into this industry to make a difference. To always tell the truth and be a good guy. She ... There was one knock on the door alerting her before the door to her room opened. She half expected to see Damian, but understood when it was just a robot with a tray of food. Laila looked at the food not really hungry. It was a good amount of food and the robot did inquire if she needed anything. The only thing she needed to know was, "Is Damian okay?"

She thought it wasn't going to answer her, but it stopped turned and did. She nodded her head as she realized it was right sorta. "I - I don't hate him. I mean I did. I thought he was a very powerful evil man. That's how he was described to me and all the news story and videos convinced me he was pure evil. I took the job to help bring down a tyrant, but the more I dug the more I found the exact opposite. After awhile it wasn't hate anymore, it was pure obsession and you're right insecurity of my own. How was everyone else finding this dirt, even the same story by different companies, and I could not??? I was obsessed that I was the fraud and the "real" reporters could find the "real" news. I blamed him for me not being able to find his evil deeds that everyone else could."

Laila sighed. "But he's not evil is he? Even after finding me outside his 7 BILLION dollar destroyed facility he didn't turn me in. Even after I messed with his head on the plane he didn't quite hate me for it," Laila paused looking at her only friend, if she could call the robot who stared at her with no emotions a friend. "I didn't know it was him until this morning. I just ... I just wanted to escape and get away. I didn't know what you were going to do with me. He just whisked me away to somewhere, I'm surrounded by robots - no people, and I couldn't leave the room. What was I to think? What was I to do? I had to try to escape and if it meant asking Damian for help...how could I be ..." Laila was not trying to excuse it. She stopped using her charisma for this very reason. She never "pushed" for it any more (not since the stalker) and because it was a part of her she was naturally engaging and charismatic. She normally never had to "use" her power like that, simply talking and if the person was in a good mood, usually netted her results. But she didn't even give Damian a chance she just pushed her wants onto him and forced him to comply.

In her mind they were both wrong except she was the monster.

"A highly questionable career-path? Being a reporter is supposed to be a ..." Laila faltered as she ran out of steam. This was supposed to be a simple yet highly lucrative career for her. She asks questions, she gets answers, and the truth. The hard part was all the writing classes and learning to stay engaged with the reader and .. Laila closed her eyes. That was the 2nd time she heard that compliment of her being smart on paper. Her eyes snapped opened wondering if the robots were all connected to that Cora system. Was it like a hive? Was she spilling her secrets not to a friend, but the motherboard of the enemy???

Laila watched him turn and leave. She stood up, went to where he put the food and took a bite. It was quite delicious and turns out she was hungry. Laila started crying again. He even fed her when she had hurt him. She took her tray of food, went to a corner, slid down the wall, and ate her food silently crying wishing for her pops. Her pops was her superhero and always had words of wisdom that got her out of any scenario. "What do I do now, pops?" She said quietly while taking another bite of the quite flavorful salad. "How do I make amends?"

 

[Baelnorn]

When Damian woke up everything was dark at first. Only after several long moments did he start to see the faint flickering stars outside the windows, and he wondered how long he’d been out. And why. It took him a minute to recall the events of… this morning? Was it still the same day? Still, as he remembered what had happened, he silently cursed his naivety.

He sat up and immediately regretted his decision. He let out a groan when his skull immediately throbbed with a headache at the sudden movement, and slumped back onto the sheets.

“Cora? Are you there?” He called out, slowly massaging his temples.

“Yes Damian, I am here.” The AI replied softly from both the drones inside the bedroom, who immediately moved closer to his bed in order to tend to him. The decoration lights came on in a dark and faint green light that was barely noticeable, but offered some depth and contours in the otherwise total darkness of the room.

One of the robots moved to the bedstand, poured a glass of water and retrieved a small pill, before turning and handing both to Damian. “Here, something to help you with your headache.”

“Thank you.” He took the pill without hesitation and washed it down with greedy gulps.

“What time is it? How long have I been out?”

“It is 20:23. You’ve been asleep for approximately eleven hours and nineteen minutes. If you want something to eat, I have prepared a light vegetable soup that should be acceptable to you in your current condition, but I can of course also make anything you want. Our guest is again confined to her quarters, and has already been given lunch and supper.”

“Half past eight? Fuck…” He groaned as he realized that his entire working day had evaporated into nothing.

“No worries, I’ve handled all business correspondence that was scheduled for today. I explained your unavailability with a severly upset stomach, which seemed to have been accepted by everyone. Delilah from public relations, Jacob from marketing, and Olaf from our youth outreach team in Detroit all asked me to deliver their get-well wishes.”

Damian signaled his understanding with a simple nod and a sigh. “Soup sounds good. And thanks for taking care of everything. I… I really didn’t think she would…”

“Don’t blame yourself. You couldn’t expect her to act like this. But if I may offer my personal interpretation, I think a seed of doubt has been planted in Ms. Stone’s mind. The conversation I had with her in the meantime was quite interesting, and explained at least some of her behavior.”

“You talked with her? What did she say?”

Cora gave Dominic a rundown of her own conversation with Laila, as well as her summary of this morning’s conversations and her remarks when she thought herself unobserved.

“That’s… not at all what I expected.” Damian offered somberly. “Maybe there’s still hope for a normal conversation with her. But not before we have that Gift of hers under control. I’m not taking any chances again. Who knows, maybe that mind influence power is about to give me brain cancer or something…”

The AI quickly agreed with her partner’s assessment. “Yes. Project Iron Sapphire is ready, and I have prepared all necessary tools for the implantation in the infirmary. When I take her there for the additional examination which we discussed regarding her being an unwitting host of a nanite colony I will perform the procedure.”

By now the headache medicine was working, and the throbbing pain had gradually dulled into a more tolerable pressure behind his forehead. He gave it a tentative second shot, and this time he managed to actually sit up and even get out of bed.

“Wait, I… I had a thought about that topic. At this point we have a pretty good idea of what happened in the lab, so I wonder if we still need to keep her here. Couldn’t we just release her under NDA? I don’t think she’d be stupid enough to talk about what happened here, especially since she’s become a pariah in her industry and has no concrete evidence for anything.”

The super intelligence took less than one thousandth of a second to evaluate her partner’s suggestion, run several hundred different scenarios for risk assessment, and formulate a response. She waited another second before responding to make the conversation feel more pleasant for Damian.

“An interesting proposal. You’re correct that the additional risk of simply releasing her would be negligeable compared to what we already have to deal with from several media actors. Maybe you could simply present it as an option to her? You mentioned something about her having potential, and I agree with you on that. If she really wants to make amends to you, as she claimed, then maybe she’d agree to become your apprentice. Just be careful not to get sued by Disney.”

Damian groaned at Cora’s joke. “No, not that kind of apprentice. That never ends well for the master, remember, and we’ve already been through that! But that’s an interesting idea… I’ll ask her later and then we will see what she says. But if she agrees to stay, I will perform the procedure myself. I consider that my tiny bit of personal revenge for her mind controlling me, twice!”

“I understand.” The AI confirmed with a simple note, updating her execution plan for later to include detailed verbal and visual guidance steps for Damian. “I am prepared to guide you through the process.”

“Good. But for now… soup? If you don’t mind, I’d take a bowl of it. But I’ll take a shower first, I really feel like I need one.”

“Of course. Your meal will be waiting for you in the dining room.”

Knight jumped under the shower, the relaxing hot water feeling divine on his body. His neck and back were still a little sore from the electroshock, and the cascading water greatly helped with loosening the tension. Fifteen minutes later he had spooned down two bowls of Cora’s delicious hot vegetable soup, the warmth quickly spreading through his body.

He checked the clock, and it was a few minutes past twenty-one o’clock. Despite his long sleep and the food, he didn’t feel any more energetic than when he woke up at all.

“Cora, I think we’ll have to postpone the examination and the implantation to tomorrow. I’m just too drained for today. I’ll just briefly check in on our guest, then I’ll go to bed.”

“Affirmative Damian. Please be careful, even with my drones on stand-by.”

He nodded. “I will.”

A minute later he stood in front of Laila’s room and knocked. Cora unlocked the door and allowed him, and his usual escort, to enter. When the door opened, Laila reacted immediately to him, but he held out his hands to calm her down.

“Before you say anything, I’m not here to shout at you, or chastise you, or harm you. Yes, I’m… disappointed with you, severely so even. I really wished you’d listened to me. But what happened, happened, and I’m not the kind of person to dwell on past mistakes for long. Instead, I’m here to give you a choice.”

He took a deep breath before he continued. “Option one is that we release you second thing tomorrow after another medical examination to make sure you didn't drag anything out of that lab. You’ll sign an NDA and never say a single word to anyone about anything that happened here. There will be no legal consequences of any kind for you, not for trespassing at my city house, not for the fire, not for using your Gift on me.”

“Option two is that you stay. Cora filled me in on what you said to her and to the empty room. You can prove that you’re serious about your words, and become my apprentice. I can show you who and what we really are, and what we work towards. But the price will be total unwavering commitment; there is no walking away, ever, once you choose this path because you will learn more about me than any other living human.”

Damian briefly licked his lips, his eyes for a heartbeat flickering to her breasts. “And… you will agree to a minimally invasive procedure to shut down, or at least limit, your Gifts. Two days ago I would have believed any promise you made, but I’m sure you understand that now my options are rather limited.”

“Ultimately, the choice is yours. We can talk more about this tomorrow, but for now I want you to think about what you want. From me, from the world, and most importantly from yourself.”

 

[La_Reina]

After she finished her lunch there was nothing for her to do. Laila got up and took a shower. The NEED was there a dull ache, but her sour mood and self-hatred stave that off. She noticed for the first time the shower curtain was one of those clear ones and she was glad as she could see if anyone or any robot tried to enter the bathroom while she was in the shower. She noticed there was hair products in the bathroom and she blinked in surprise and felt even more guilt. The hair products was perfect for her hair texture proving again that Damian had made an effort. Laila didn't have anything else better to do, so she began washing her hair to help pass the time.

She marveled that the water stayed hot the whole entire time she washed her hair, conditioned her hair, deep conditioned her hair, wash and exfoliated her skin, and then rinsed her hair. It was a tedious and long process especially with her hair being as long as it was. She toweled dry and then used the cotton shirt she was just wearing to dry most of her hair. She put on a pair of shorts and stayed topless laying the towel on her shoulders and her hair resting on top of the towel to air dry the rest of her hair. She remembered in college that they used to put prisoners and the crazy ones in white rooms with white everything and the lack of stimulation would drive people mad. Laila could agree as she had nothing to do in this white room with all white furniture. Maybe she was being tortured.

Laila was left to her thoughts. Thoughts that swirled evilly in her head. How could she force her control on someone? She knew what that was like. She snuck onto his property not just at work, but at his home too. A line she had thought she would never cross. She flinched at the thought as she stared at the wall. "I am terribly sorry," she spoke out loud more because there was nothing to do, no one could hear her, and she could think out her thoughts. She still didn't know that Cora was monitoring her. "How could I be so stupid? I thought ..." Laila's mind swirled quickly as thought after thought came to her mind and just as quickly she was able to dismiss them with cold hard evidence she had uncovered about the man she refused to believe.

"How could I be so blind? I ruined this man's life. I ... I don't ..." Laila sighed heavily. "I'm not even going to fight them. I deserve everything I got. I should have fought my editor harder after I uncovered so many good things about this company. I ... that the nanos they could ..." Laila dug her nails into her palms until they started to bleed. The pain made her feel better.

There was one knock, the door opened, she heard the tale-tell sound of the a slight whirring sound. It was a robot again. He brought her dinner and sat it down. Laila turned and looked at what was for dinner. It was a light salad, chicken alfredo, garlic bread, and the sweet wine she had with Damian. Laila choked on the wine as the memories of what she did took over. The guilt making it hard to swallow. She barely ate her food as dark thoughts swirled in her mind.

Some time after the robot took her dinner tray Laila took off her pants and crawled under the covers. She didn't know what time it was, but sleep would bring her closer to another day and maybe she could find out what was going to happen with her. If Damian said she was under arrest she would nod and understand. Hell, she would cooperate fully.

There were 2 knocks on the door and Laila turned over and sat up in the bed. There was usually only one knock. Then Damian walked in. He looked good. No, he didn't; his eyes looked tired, and his walk wasn't as confident, but to Laila he looked so good. He was the good guy, the hero and she was just really relieved he came to see her tonight. She gulped once, twice and she couldn't get any words out as she stared at him. The gulps grew bigger as he said he was disappointed in her. she was not sure why that affected her so much. It was like a knife twisted in her gut she nodded her head waiting for the worst. Yes, he may not be here to yell at her again, but he could be here to calmly tell her to go fuck herself and she would be spending the rest of her life in prison. He was going to guarantee it.

Laila's brow furrowed and she stopped trying to guess what he was going to say or do next, because he kept surprising her. OPTION ONE! Her mind screamed. He was not going to press charges, all she had to do was sign a NDA and she would be free. Fine by her. She flinched as if slapped when he advised he wouldn't press charges against her for being at his house... which meant he knew that was her from the headlines, nor the fire or for her ... he even called it a gift and not a curse. When she had accidentally used her gift in the past she was called a monster. She hadn't meant to, but the other people did not care. So, later in life she did use her powers. She was still a monster, but now she knew what she was doing. He was the only person, the only person aside from her beloved father who called it a gift and not a curse.

Laila's head snapped up and she stared into his eyes trying to discern the truth. Option 2 was way fucking better than option 1. Hell option 2 was a career choice of a lifetime. AND she could never be fired! She blinked rapidly as tears stung her eyes. She may have misunderstood what Damian truly meant, but in her mind he was providing her with a job of a lifetime. She meant to speak, but her brow stay furrowed as she was waited for the catch for the ball to drop. She hadn't realized the unwavering commitment was the catch. This was all too good to be true.

Oh, the catch was the minimally invasive procedure, she thought still trying to figure out what the catch was. She watched him walk out and that's when she was able to voice her questions. Again, to no one in particular; just thinking out loud. "Was he serious? His apprentice? Everyone in the world would kill for ... wait is he still under my charisma? No, I should turn this down. Take option 1 and run far away. Except, his eyes didn't have that weird gleam. What did he mean by procedure to shut down my gifts. Wait! Can he do that?" Laila closed her eyes and started to cry. Truly started to cry.

"Damian if you can take away these so called gifts I'll do anything. You don't know how long it took me to control being able to stop my body from just changing on its own. I still have to fucking constantly have it on the forefront of my mind or I could just suddenly look different. A freak!" Laila laughed cry the last bit out as the years of pain came tumbling out. "Then when you think you found friends they just want a show; a freakshow! So you hide it. But you learn that you can't NOT do it or you lose control and then you're a bigger freak. Oooooh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho! Let's not talk about losing control."

Laila was listening to the sound of her voice as she recalled her past with her 'gifts'. "When you lose control or if you can't control your powers it's okay,: she said sarcastically, "you'll just knock yourself out. Be out cold for hours. Unable to stop anyone from doing anything to you. You won't even know, but there'll be videos. Videos of your weird body changing by itself or reacting to... to ..." Laila trailed off. As the horrors of college washed upon her. She changed colleges after that.

"After sleep, comes hunger. And boy, are we hungry." Laila thought of the full course meals she ate. How she would purposelly use her gifts of shapeshifting to the extreme so she could win at eating contests. Laila laughed and recounted outloud this little town's eating contest. How she became legendary, because this "little lady, shore can eat," she laughed and yawned. "That's not the only hunger is it, ladybug," she said to herself calling herself her childhood nickname. She curled under the covers feeling that raw gnawing hunger clawing at her. She still hadn't satisfied it.

"No, not the only hunger. But at least now, I can mostly control it. I can ... keep .. it...awa---" Laila drifted off picturing a world where she was normal. "I wonder if it's a paid apprentysheep" she said in her sleep. The palm of her hand that should have deep red marks miraculously healed.

 

[Baelnorn]

Damian had a long and restful slumber, supported by another pill for the remnants of his headache and a teaspoon of liquid medicine helping him with his sleep. When he woke up the next morning, he felt fully refreshed and rested, just as if the events of yesterday and the night before hadn’t happened.

“Good morning, Cora.” He called out to his synthetic friend as he climbed out of bed and headed to the bathroom.

“Good morning, Damian. It is Wednesday, December 7th, 2061, 07:33. Your calendar is free today. I took the liberty of rescheduling all your appointments due to your… stomach problems.”

“Ah, I remember. Thank you, and yes, very unfortunate stomach problems.” He replied with a wry grin and stepped under the shower. Even without using his neural implant, Cora and he were almost always on the same wavelength in their actions, goals, and humor. They were such a perfect fit; it was almost uncanny at times. Not even fifteen minutes later he finally emerged from his bedroom clean and fresh, wearing his usual black pants and grey button shirt combo.

“By the way, do you want to handle the examination before or after breakfast?”

“It would be advisable to proceed with it before Ms. Stone consumed any food today. A full stomach could introduce discomfort or inaccuracies in the results.”

“Makes sense. Then let’s do it. I’ll go ahead to the infirmary. Can you bring Ms. Stone down when she’s awake?”

“Affirmative, Damian.” The AI replied, and quickly tasked the sentinels guarding Laila's room to escort her to the infirmary after she woke up and went through her morning routine. Additionally, she instructed the drones to offer a brief explanation to their guest why and where she was taken.

Knight entered one of the main building’s elevators, and rode it down to the first basement level. The complex’s infirmary was basically a fully equipped modern hospital, with automated surgery suits, ICU units, dozens of dedicated medical drones, and pretty much every diagnostic and treatment device you could find in any other hospital… and even some you couldn’t.

Like most other technical aspects of their home, the infirmary was also completely organized and run by the super intelligence, and that included some highly advanced devices that were designed and constructed by Cora and which went beyond the current understanding of the medical industry.

Some of them even bordered on science fiction, like a linear MRI scanner that used two bracket-like structures housing the scanners and magnets rather than the giant rotary assembly, and which was not only faster and easier to use but also several orders of magnitude more accurate. Or farms of automated substance samplers and DNA sequencers that could do in an hour what took the best human-ran laboratory an entire week.

Damian didn’t have to wait for too long before the elevator dinged again and released Laila and her escort into the infirmary’s primary examination room where he was already expecting her.

“Good morning, Laila. I hope you slept well? As I mentioned yesterday, we need to perform another medical examination. The events you described yesterday are a cause of concern for us, since you might have become an unwitting host for a colony of the prototype nanites.”

He noticed a growing look of concern on Laila’s face. “Oh, no need to worry. These nanites aren’t dangerous. I carry a colony of them myself. In fact, I was the first recipient for the prototype. If I didn’t trust the treatment enough to receive it myself, how could I expect others to do so? Anyway, I fully understand if you want to be rid of them should we find some of them inside you.”

“Do you have any questions before Cora takes over?”

 

[La_Reina]

(sorry so short)

Laila yawned as she slowly woke up. She stretched her arms wide at a single knock on the door. A robot entered and marched to the corner before stopping. Laila stared at it. This was a new development! She was sitting up in bed, her hair a mess around her head, as she waited uncertain how to proceed.

"Mr. Knight would like for you to go to medical bay after your morning routine and before breakfast. I will be here to escort you. When you are ready please say, 'Ready,' and I will power up and escort you to medical bay. Any questions?"

Laila shook her head no and the droids eyes dimmed signaling to her it had powered down. She wasn't 100% sure if it did, but it was a robot and in robot movies that's what that meant. Laila shrugged and got out of bed. She walked to the bathroom to use the toilet and take a quick shower. She combed and brushed her hair, before putting it in a quick single braid. She put the dirty clothes she slept-in in a small hamper and then walked out into her room. She was fully naked having dried off in the bathroom and rehung the towel. The robot was in the same place she left it, but she noticed her bed was made. She smiled her gratitude and went to the drawers to put on the button down white shirt and white pants. "When do I get normal clothes back," she muttered to herself.

She finished dressing and called over her shoulder, "Ready." The droid's eye slowly got brighter and then it moved from the wall and out the door. Laila followed and this time she paid attention to her surroundings. She was starting to think the white wasn't to drive her crazy, but his (or their if she included Cora) aesthetic. It wasn't bare white, it was a homey white with a touch of wood or stained wood to give it that rich and cozy feel. Regardless, there was a lot of white throughout his home. Was this his home?

Laila found herself inside of ... well what looked like a standard doctor's examination room. She walked over to the chair and sat down. "If the nanos are safe ... why err or what do they do?" Laila let herself be guided to a slight laying down position. She watched as he began preliminary measures and she got comfortable. "I still don't think there was anything there?" Even as she said that she felt a weird tingling sensation run down her arm. Or maybe there was?

"Oh and in answer to your question I pick option 2. I want ... if you could get rid of these powers that ... I WANT TO BE NORMAL." She said the last part a bit too loud. She twisted her hands anxiously. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. I ..." Laila took a deep breath. In her sleep she had gave an awesome, powerful speech. Damian was touched by her speech, moved even. Then Cora, through the speakers, had praised her and actually acknowledged her. Laila released the air on a whoosh wishing she remembered what words she had used in her dream.

"I am very grateful to you for the opportunity. I am going to be honest. There may still be a chance you're still under the influence. I mean why else would you do this for me?" Laila looked up her brown eyes catching his for a moment, before she dropped her head. "Even still, I want to take the chance of a lifetime. If you could rid me of these gifts that would be even better. You may think of them as a gift, but they are a curse!"

This time when Laila looked up she didn't look away. She held his eyes trying to convince him that even though she knew she was a monster, because she was almost sure he was still under the lingering effects of her influence she was going to take this opportunity. Maybe years later, the effects will wear off and he'll regret his decision, but until then Laila was not going to let this pass.

 

[Baelnorn]

Damian gestured to the wheeled stretcher doubling as an examination table.

“If the nanos are safe… why err or what do they do?”

“It’s a precaution. Not only did you not give consent to receive a colony, but the nanites are also still in the prototype stage. My own colony was specifically tailored to me by Cora, but the contents of that lab used a slightly different creation process, and they weren’t programmed for any specific task. We were experimenting with mesh intelligences that can dynamically adjust to varying conditions. They were simply not intended yet for human implantation.”

He carefully watched her as she leaned back and relaxed visibly as they talked.

From her new position she could take a good look at the ceiling, which was different from what you’d expect to find in a hospital. The ceiling was covered in metal plates harboring a network of what looked like some kind of robotic rail system, which seemed to connect to multiple large hatches evenly distributed throughout the entire facility.

“I still don’t think there was anything there?”

Damian chuckled slightly at her question and began to explain. “Nanites aren’t visible to the naked eye. They are individually far smaller than a speck of dust, and larger amounts typically have the density and color of light smoke. It is certainly within the realm of possibility that you unwittingly spilled millions of them over your hand when you opened that container without even noticing anything.”

When she stated her decision to stay and work with him, he couldn’t hide a slight smile creeping onto his lips. Her desire to be “normal” surprised him a little. What little humanity understood about the Gifted and their abilities didn’t hint towards any abnormalities in their DNA or genetic expression. Truth be told, Gifts were still a pretty mysterious field and ill understood by science. Cora’s Iron Sapphire was one of the first and only currently existing forays into manipulating and affecting those powers.

“Thank you. But I don’t think your Gifts make you any less normal than anyone else. At least not as far as we can currently tell by any scientific measure or test. Those abilities aren’t mutations, and don’t seem to be connected to any specific faith or religion, so they are probably also not a curse. But who knows, those things are very weird sometimes.” He concluded with a musing smile and a shrug.

“Damian, I am ready to proceed.” Cora announced after he finished, and he confirmed with a simple nod.

“Just lay back and hold still for a moment. It won’t hurt.” He said before stepping away from the stretcher.

A moment later one of the hatches in the ceiling opened, and a robotic arm on a mobile base slid out of the opening and along the ceiling rails. Instead of a hand or other griping instrument, it carried a scanner that looked like a massively oversized tuning fork that had its prongs moved a meter apart. The device was encased in the same white plastic common to medical tools, with the inner sides facing each other glowing dimly from a hexagonal crystal lattice.

With seemingly no effort the robotic arm extended and positioned the scanner at Leila’s feet, then proceeded to swiftly move it up to her head, then down to her feet again, and up again once more. Once it had swept her three times it retreated back into the ceiling as swiftly as it had appeared.

“Scan completed.” Cora declared. “Ms. Stone is indeed host to a developing nanite colony, currently anchored in her lower right arm, just below the elbow at the branching point of the brachial artery. I’m also seeing secondary outposts in the hypothalamus and amygdala, as well as the gastrointestinal tract. It appears that the nanites’ mesh network determined that it was needed in those areas, but I’m currently unable to determine why it would come to that conclusion. Ms. Stone, are you aware of any family history with hereditary neural or digestive conditions?”

Damian quirked a brow at the news. “Cora, is there any imminent danger for Laila?”

“No, Damian.” The AI replied. “The colonies appear well organized and stable, no signs of erratic behavior or growth. I’m still trying to assess why they chose those specific locations for the outposts. I would recommend additional preventative screening and a full DNA sequencing to make sure we’re not missing something. Regardless, I will begin synthesizing the chemical termination agent. A sufficient dose will be available in approximately two hours.”

 

[La_Reina]

Laila listened to his voice nodding. She liked the timber and the cadence of his voice and the NEED kicked forward, but she pushed it back. He's our boss! We do NOT mix business with pleasure! The NEED retreated a bit and Laila focused more intently on what he was saying. Laila did note that she was getting better at controlling her need. Normally she would have had to push her fingers deep inside her by now, would have jumped on his lap and begged him to make her a good girl. She would have straddled his lap, grinding against him, purred sexily in his ear, undid her braid, and told him he could do anything he wanted to her. The 'anything' usually got her what she want-! Laila cut that thought off and the NEED dissipated. She did it again!

Wait! Did he say that these things are invisible? Laila panicked slightly and looked over herself now concerned. Did she unknowingly doused herself with his nanos! Laila's head snapped up as he mentioned her curse and called it again a gift. Her eyes were wide in shock, wonder, and another emotion she couldn't quite name. Then he went into Damian mode and she started to laugh. "It's definitely a curse! You only know of the invisibility thing, which I couldn't control for a long time, AND it's not just invisibility it's my body changing on it's own."

Laila laid back as Cora announced she was ready and the scanner began. "And you don't know the side effects...," Laila trailed off as the scanner went up and down her body. She half expected Cora to say that she was clean and it was a false alarm. Instead she said some clinical shit that Laila realized she had no clue what the fuck that meant and in her lower right arm. Laila was staring at her arm as if she could see them or feel them moving in her.

"Huh ..neural .. as in brain?!" Laila said to Cora as she watched Damian look at her with a small smile. She wondered if he was re-thinking offering her that position. Too bad buddy! "Uh, no. I'm the only freak in my family that I know of. My mother was an only child and so was my father. I am the only one left, so I couldn't even ask a ... D-d-d-d-danger?"

Laila relaxed visibly when Cora said there was no danger just that the nanos had clustered in various places inside her. She further relaxed when in 2 hours they will be out of her.

"Uh, Damian," Laila said thinking this was the conclusion of their visit. "How soon can I go back to being normal? You said you can fix me?"

Damian went into Damian mode. He spoke English, she understood the words coming out of his mouth, but she swore he used words that sounded like English words, but just couldn't be. She understood none of it, however, she wasn't going to let him know that. Instead, she nodded her head. She wasn't sure if she was agreeing to something or just nodding along with what he was saying, but he looked appeased and ... something ... else. The door opened and a robot walked in carrying a tray that he sat next to Damian before walking behind Laila's chair to stand in a corner. Damian was ... well, back in Damian mode and Laila half listened, and comprehended nothing.

She blinked and realized she was being requested to unbutton her shirt. She shrugged and was undoing each button as she stared at the medical tray and realized that was a disinfectant spray bottle. Makes sense? She undid another button and recognized the sterile wipes and a ... NEEDLE! "Uh, what is the needle for..." Damian gave her a droll stare and she got the feeling that he had probably just explained that.

Laila undid the last button. "Wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait... let's rethink this. I .. I promise -" Damian gave her a blank stare. "A collar..."

Laila suddenly felt two robotic hands holding her down. Her eyes went wide. She had wanted this. Okay, she could do this. Laila nodded her head in agreement and averted her eye as she sang 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' in her head to help clear her mind. She didn't feel anything after the numbing cold. Not even the pinch of the needle, but she did feel something else. It was like Laila had all this electricity buzzing in her body that she didn't know until just now when it drained out of her body and in less than 10 seconds she felt 2 very powerful NEEDS take over her. Fighting each other to gain control over her. Her stomach growled and even though she hadn't had breakfast she had a hearty dinner. So HUNGER lost this round. The other NEED the one she had been ignoring roared to life, strong, sharp, and no longer under her control.

Laila's eyes visibly darkened, her pussy drenched and clenched and spasmed needing to be filled. Laila gripped the chair, her nails digging into the leather, some breaking. She stared at Damian and moaned, "GET. OUT!"

This was not good. Laila was barely controlling herself. Even now she was slowly sitting up, her eyes locked on Damian, unwavering.

"Cora! Get him out of her. Get a robot here now. Hold me down. I can't.. i can't .. hold. I have to tell you. Side effects. NEEDS." Laila was choking on her words as her nipples hardened, her skin was sensitive and the barely visible air flowing through the room now felt like teasing feathers caressing her. She gulped. She was too horny to be horrified. Too horny to be embarrassed. Too horny and she was losing. She was going to attack him.