Chapter 1 – Test Drive The street lights streaked by in a flash, but in the next instant they were far below the small figure that ascended towards the heavy clouds of the night’s sky that cloaked Sentinel City, trails of white-hot flame streaking out in the night behind them. The whine of jet turbines filled the night and threatened to shatter the windows of the upper floors of the...
Chapter 2 – Dinner to Go “Miss Catherine is still on her training trip?” Laura blinked, bringing her eyes away from the window she’d been staring out of, and turned to look toward her server, one of Mr. Wong’s very girlish sons by the name of Mitsu. She never would have guessed he was a he if it hadn’t come up in conversation several months back while she and Cat had been enjoying a late...
Chapter 3 – Combat Test Emi hoped that her voice sounded intimidating as she leveled her particle beam rifle at the heavily armed maids. From the surprised looks on their faces, she’d made an impression with her landing at least. Diagnostics showed that the rifle was fully charged and ready to fire, control linkages were all engaged, recoil compensators were all active. She thumbed off the...
Chapter 4 – Cyber Solutions “Emi! Emi, answer me dang it!” Becky shouted into her headset, watching as all of her data readouts from Emi’s armor suddenly went offline. The video feed from Emi’s visor had shown the vault door flying at her in the last half second of the feed, then had cut out. There was no reply from her radio either. “Shit shit shit!” Becky’s mind went a hundred different...
Chapter 5 – Reboot “Damn it, come on, hurry up!” Emi spat inside the darkness of her helmet, blinking more sweat from her eyes. She was practically boiling inside the armor, despite the fact that the emergency batteries were still running the cooling fans. She could feel the pressure of the vault door on top of her, and could feel her armor threatening to compress beneath the massive weight...
Chapter 6 – Cleaning Up the Gang Laura had been crouched behind the truck the walking tank had pulled the engine out of, hearing gunfire and explosions from inside the store, loud crashes, all hell breaking loose, especially when that group of maids had been brought out and wrapped in a light pole by said tank. She’d stayed on the line with the office, and finally heard the sirens getting...
Chapter 7 – Celebrations As Emi rocketed toward the clouds, she laughed hard, her gut actually aching from it. “Oh my god, Becky, where did you come up with that voice?” “I did spend an unhealthy amount of time in Cali when I was in college if you’ll recall,” Becky replied, her native southern accent back in full force, laughing as well. “I couldn’t just let her know I’m from Texas, now...
Chapter 8 – Pussyfooting Around “Now I get why Sassy never wants to leave the Sanctum,” Liz thought as she sauntered through the streets of Sentinel City during the pre-dawn hours. She’d spent the better part of the day and the night exploring, her first time outside the Order’s sanctum in about forty years. To say that things had changed would have been one helluva understatement:...
Chapter 9 – Magical Punishments “Alright, youngin’, strip off and get up again’ the horse,” Sassy ordered as she closed the door to the punishment chamber behind them. Liz hesitated, rolling her eyes and turned back toward Sassy. “Why do I always have to get naked for this? Do you make everyone get naked? Do other teachers make their students get naked?” Sassy crossed her arms and returned...
Chapter 10 – Of Soles and Circuits Becky let out a muffled cry around Emi’s flavorful socks as something was pressed over the padding around her ears, jerking at the cuffs holding her limbs spread. She’d been about as close to sleep as she could manage these days, in what she could call a meditative trance, listening to the static in her brain after Emi had left her to squirm in her...
