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 internet-free darkness. All of a sudden, even through the discipline hood’s thick padding, she heard music, and couldn’t help but let out a loud whine. She shook her hooded head, making a pleading noise. “No! Anything but that! Emi! Why’re you so mean?!” she thought frantically, the acutely annoying tune of the Hampster Dance blasting into her ears.
Fighting at her cuffs, Becky shook her head vigorously, trying to dislodge the headphones, but knew they weren’t going anywhere. She hated that song! So much! And Emi knew it, and teased her with it whenever she thought it was appropriate. Now was one such time apparently. Before Becky could get too worked up, though, she felt fingernails on the soles of her feet, and for just half a second she froze. Then the fingers began dancing over her soles, and Becky’s annoyance at the cutesy song filling her ears was momentarily forgotten as she helplessly tried to pull her feet away, squealing into the sock gag, tossing her head back and forth as her body went taut.
Emi’s fingers worked quickly over Becky’s soles, dancing from one spot to another faster than even Becky’s brain could follow, even if it hadn’t been short-circuited by the fierce tickling and the horrid tune blasting into her ears. Becky was breathless in moments, head feeling light as she fought to breathe through the tiny nose holes of the hood. She pleaded for mercy, however unintelligible it may have been; Emi was a smart girl, she could translate, right?
Whether Emi understood Becky’s pleas or not, the Japanese woman’s fingers continued without slowing, switching to target the arches of Becky’s feet. The freedom the cuffs had afforded Becky was small, so it was no trouble for Emi to keep her tickling on target, no matter how Becky jerked or twisted her feet. She noticed the bite of the cuffs around her ankles after a time, her skin no doubt red and raw to some extent, but that little burning sensation just made her want even more, the masochistic streak asserting itself again. The heat from her pussy had to match that of her head within the hood, and she could feel herself approaching a climax.
Head spinning, breathing in short gasps that just couldn’t keep up with her body’s demands, Becky whined and quivered atop the pillows. Her head was on fire inside the stifling confines of the thick hood. As she approached the point where she was sure that she’d pass out, Becky’s body went taut, and she screamed into the flavorful cloth that filled her mouth. She barely registered Emi’s fingers leaving her soles as the orgasms exploded through her, her brain somehow getting the image of a dozen hamsters tickling her all at once.
Somewhere on the edge of unconsciousness, Becky vaguely sensed movement on the bed, the most hated of songs suddenly leaving her ears. As her head swirled, seeing flashes of light in the perfect darkness of the hood, there were several quick tugs at her head. The pressure around her skull lightened, and suddenly her data feeds started coming back online. Though dim, the light from the monitors seemed bright after her time in the dark. Becky breathed deeply through her nose, looking groggily at Emi through sweat-matted strands of hair, grinning behind the tape over her lips.
Emi looked surprised, but still managed a somewhat stern glower after she had confirmed Becky was okay. Emi herself wore a t-shirt and jogging pants, her hair freshly washed and tied off in a loose tail behind her head. “You came just from me tickling you?! When did you start doing that?!”
Still grinning, Becky used her restored powers and tapped into the speakers on her computer. “Tonight, I guess,” she said, wiggling her raised hips. “Ya jus’ do things ta me that other girls can’t do, ya know?” Her native Texas drawl had come out thicker than usual in her post-climax daze.
Emi frowned, crossing her arms. “It was supposed to be a punishment, not a reward. You’re just too kinky for your own good sometimes.”
“Would it make ya feel any better if’n I say I’m feeling pretty let down about you not poundin’ me with a dildo earlier? And leavin’ me to stew for two hours, twelve minutes, forty-two seconds? And makin’ me listen to that damn song?” As soon as her data links had come back online, Becky instantly knew how much time had passed, and had started filtering through all of the new information that had come out about their earlier heroics.
Considering for a moment, Emi shrugged, frown turning to a grin. “I’ll take what I can get. Just means I need to work harder to come up with a proper way to punish you that won’t get you so worked up, don’t you think?”
“There you go, gettin’ me all excited again,” Becky replied, laughing. She tugged her taped hands against the cuffs holding them. “Think maybe you can let me loose? I really could stand to pee.”
Emi giggled and nodded, then snatched the keys to the cuffs from the nightstand and went about unlocking Becky’s limbs before helping her to a sitting position on the edge of the bed. Once Becky was upright, Emi started tugging at the tape around Becky’s head.
“Don’t be gentle; I like it when it stings,” Becky said, rubbing her taped fists between her legs; she couldn’t really get what she wanted, but the teasing sensations weren’t exactly unpleasant.
“Too kinky…” Emi said softly in an admonishing tone, though once she had the end of the tape peeled up, she was quick about pulling it free, jerking it from Becky’s lips. Becky opened her mouth wide so that Emi could pull her socks out, but instead of ungagging her, Emi went to the tape on Becky’s hands, the tape’s hold somewhat loosened by how sweaty she had gotten, though there was still a pleasant stinging sensation as the strands were peeled from her skin. Once Becky began flexing her fingers, Emi finally snagged her socks, tugging the soaking wads of cloth from Becky’s mouth. “Your wrists and ankles look a little raw…”
Becky shook her head, working her jaw a bit before she spoke, using her actual voice instead of the speakers this time. “It’s nothing, hon. I’ll put somethin’ on’em to soothe it out.” She leaned in, kissing Emi’s cheek quickly as she got to her feet, wobbling a moment, steadying herself, before heading to the bathroom. “Reckon you’re eager to get into all that data we gathered from tonight, right?”
“You bet I am. I’ll get some snacks and meet you downstairs, ‘kay?”
* * *
“One thing’s for sure: gonna have to tone down that big gun if’n your wantin’ to use it against people,” Becky said as she padded into the hanger.
Emi turned in her chair, looking toward Becky, chewing on a piece of pocky. Becky wore her long t-shirt again, and probably nothing else under it. Emi had only been at the workstation for a few minutes, pulling up all the various feeds, deciding where best to start. She motioned to the chair beside her, and the bowl of popcorn and various other snacks and drinks she’d brought down. “I’m not so worried about that; it still seems to be pretty good for an anti-armor role, but I definitely need more anti-personnel weapons. Like tasers and stuff. I think I need to focus on two bigger issues, though: internal cooling and better securing those lines that got cut tonight.
Becky slipped into the chair beside her, snatching a can of soda and popped it open. Several of the monitors quickly flashed through various schematics and the two largest ones held the plans for the armor’s cooling system and the power and data lines. Becky took a drink, then grabbed up a handful of popcorn, chewing it thoughtfully. “Those lines are probably going to be your easier fix; shifting them to the sides maybe, or just adding some redundant pathways would probably be better. Coolin’ though, that’s gonna be a bit of a different beast to tame. Your environmental sealing and NBC protections don’t leave a whole lot of options aside from a bigger air conditioning system. May have to go with the bigger backpack after all.”
“Pretty much what I was thinking on the internal pathways. Really don’t like the idea of a bigger backpack though; it just ruins the aesthetic of the suit to give it a hunchback.” Emi chewed thoughtfully at her candy, staring at the screen. “I need to miniaturize things further; the reactor I don’t think I can do anything else with right now, but other internal systems I can maybe shave a few centimeters from, add bigger fans or more fans to circulate the air better.”
“You could go with the sexier look; pretty sure that’s gonna be just as cool as you need.”
Emi looked over to Becky, raising an eyebrow. “And how exactly am I going to protect myself if I’m half naked? We keep coming back to the same problem of me lacking that whole ‘layers of protective armor’ thing that is super important for me if I’m going to be out there fighting criminals with lots of guns.”
Becky grinned around a mouthful of popcorn, chewing quickly and swallowing it down. “I know, but I just love the idea of the true mecha musume experience. I can already see the model kits and the cosplayers, not to mention the hentai. Wouldn’t take too awful long for there to be tentacles involved, ya know.”
Rolling her eyes, Emi returned her attention to the screen, typing rapidly at the keyboard before grabbing the trackball to manipulate the 3D schematics. “As much as I would love to do that, it’s just not practical at all. The armor is too heavy without support from the torso section, to say nothing of me actually walking around without the added servos in the upper legs; just thinking about lifting that rifle without the torso linkages makes me shudder.”
“Throw it at your classes, then; maybe they’ll come up with an ingenious solution to satisfyin’ my needs for sexy mecha girls and all the fan-art that comes with’em.”
“It would make an interesting exercise, I suppose, but I don’t think entry-level robotics courses are the right places for such an advanced concept,” Emi replied with a grin. The same day Becky was to start her job at the FBI was also the same day Emi would be starting her day job, teaching at the Sentinel City Institute of Technology on the subject of robotics. “And until I’ve proven myself a competent teacher, even with my degrees, they’re not willing to give me a more advanced course until next semester at the earliest. I may be a prodigy, but that doesn’t mean much to old guys with tenure who have been at it for decades.”
“Ah, what do they know, anyway?” Becky asked, waving her hand dismissively, taking another drink. “None a them have ever built a mecha suit I’ll bet.”
“Ah, well, it is what it is,” Emi said, shrugging. “If anyone knows the importance of tradition, it’s someone from Japan, yes? Anyway, let’s try to brainstorm some ideas on how we can fix the cooling system.” As Becky leaned forward and the schematics started exploding into various subsystems on their own, her eyes flickering with glowing light, Emi couldn’t help but ponder the idea in her mind. How could she mount armor to herself but maintain full protective ability but maximize her sex appeal? It was hardly practical, but it was an entertaining thought experiment, if nothing else. How could she do it? What would it look like? How would the physics work? So many questions, but no time to ponder them yet…
As I’ve been writing the story, I’d been sticking fairly faithfully to the outline I had worked up, but within the last few weeks, I realized it just wasn’t working…the flow just wasn’t smooth, just seemed to jump around too much. So, I had the idea to indulge my foot fetish a bit and created a new bridging chapter, and then shifted another couple of chapters around. The fix seems to have worked splendidly.
Thanks for reading along so far; I hope you’re enjoying how the story is going! Let me know on my Discord server or over on DeviantArt!
Till next week, see ya!
