Stephanie Steele
Chapter 15

Two weeks had passed since the incident at the mayor’s mansion. The official story was that Steele had gone rogue and tried to assassinate the mayor after murdering the chief of police who had discovered her plan and tried to stop her. She had also destroyed a good cop in Detective Nixon as well as two of the mayor’s personal body guards who had left behind four children and two wives between them with a third seriously injured.

The media played it as if the mayor had been a hero, saving many of his own security team. Hundreds of get well cards and bouquets of plastic flowers were sent to his hospital bed. So many that the hospital had to put them all into a special room all of their own. The nurses all treated him like royalty, many of them volunteering to take extra shifts just to take care of their brave hero.

In the wake of the massacre at the mayor’s mansion the mayor had wasted no time in installing his twin brother Gustav as the new chief of police. He had been a deputy chief of police in the city of New York for twenty years and was only too happy to help out his brother’s cause. Their partnership, the mayor had stated proudly in an interview for local TV, would mean a closer working relationship between departments to never allow this kind of thing to happen again. It also reinforced the need for an upgrade in artificial police officers. He would be working closely with the chief and Cyber Corp to advance the plan to bring in their new super cop droids they had been trialling with great success and phase out the old humanoid versions who had many weaknesses in their programmes. The new droids would look like droids, thereby giving a more prominent presence on the street, making a safer city for the public.

Face TVs local station in the city ran constant updates on the mayor’s progress with interviews from doctors and nurses and the mayor himself. Gustav, the new police chief, was full of praise for his brother’s bravery in the face of certain death, risking his life to save his own body guards. Many of the PD’s finest also praised their fallen chief’s bravery in trying to stop the rogue detective who had turned on those she was programmed to serve and protect.

Face sponsored advertising hoardings ran updates between advertisements for Coca Cola Coffee Deluxe, McDonald’s latest nutritional McSchool lunches for growing kids and the latest personal state of the art hand blaster just new on the market which every law abiding house owner needed to protect themselves.

Not once in the dozens of broadcasts about the terrible incident was a little girl by the name of Mia Kalarjian ever mentioned. She was quietly filed as a missing person, a run away, just another statistic. The city had many of them. She was nothing special. Her body was quickly cremated and her ashes scattered in a garden of remembrance where plastic flowers eternally bloomed but didn’t grow. Only one person attended her funeral. A nerdy guy with fly away hair, glasses and wearing a super hero t-shirt.

Freddy held Annie’s buttocks tightly as she rode him, her legs astride his skinny body, her tight lubed cooch working her magic on his hard shaft while her swinging breasts bounced in his joyful face, his mouth sucking at their pink ends.

“Yes, yes, yes baby!” Annie sighed, ending her encouragement with her usual cutesy squeak.

He shot a hot load into her and fell back on the bed breathing heavily, his body wet with sweat, a contented smile on his face. He laughed and thanked himself for having the foresight to build this goddess who served his every whim and fetish.

Annie lay beside him and draped an arm about his chest, curling his ginger chest hair around a finger. “You’re the best Freddy.” She cooed.

“I know.” He’d programmed her to say that, to shower him with compliments, to massage his ego whenever possible. He never tired of hearing her say how good he was in the sack. She would never complain. Ever.

If one hot beauty massaging his ego and dick was Heaven then what would it be like with two? He could make another one and have a threesome. He cracked a smile and thought maybe that was not a bad idea at all. Why stop at two though? What if he had one for each night of the week? He could give them different personalities, maybe different hairstyles so he could tell them apart.

She interrupted his thoughts about constructing another version of her. “It’s a real shame about Steele. I liked her.” Annie said with a tinge of sadness. There was no high pitched squeak this time.

Freddy’s mind was still half on the multiple partners as he answered. “A real shame. I’m gonna miss the old Steele.”

“You wanna go again?” She said eagerly and cupped him in her hand, trying to bring him back to attention.

He raised an eyebrow at her request. “I’m only human sweet cheeks.” He loved her encouragement but there was only so much he could do. Even with more versions of her he still had his limits. “I need a rest every now and again.” He kissed her forehead.

She tickled him, trying to get him to make love to her again. His cackles made her shriek with laughter and their tickling developed into a play fight. Their legs got tangled in the bed sheets and they fell in a pile on the floor, a mass of hot human and synth flesh.

“What the hell is going on!?” Said a disgruntled voice from the doorway.

A mess of red frizzle and raven curls poked up from the knot of duvet and legs and Freddie and Annie looked towards the voice and the striking image of Steele wearing only a sexy pair of Annie’s underwear. Freddy put on his glasses to see better the shapely android. Steele self consciously covered herself from Freddy’s eyes which were peeling away that final layer of clothes. “What am I doing here? And why am I wearing these?” She was less than happy at her situation. Despite her disgruntled demeanour Steele was in perfect working order and looking like new.

“They’re mine. I hope you don’t mind.” Annie said. Unlike Steele she wasn’t shy about her naked body. Freddy’s programming at its best. “Your clothes were destroyed in the explosion.”

Freddy pulled the sheets up to disguise his rapidly expanding manhood. Despite Annie having the identical body as Steele, there was nothing more guaranteed to give him a boner than the sight of the nearly naked original. “You rebooted faster than I expected.” He said, slightly reddening.

“I feel strange.” Steele said, touching her head.

Freddy grabbed a dressing gown which was draped over a nearby chair and put it on as he stood. He padded towards her, brushing back his shaggy curls and adjusting his glasses. “Your system is adapting to the upgrades. You were pretty torn up. I had to do some major work on you.”

It came back to Steele now. The mayor, the gunfight, the grenade. “Mia?” She asked tentatively. Freddy’s look said it all. She hadn’t made it. She got a sinking feeling in her midriff. Her inner core tightened.

“Sorry.” He said.

“Freddy pulled you out of there before the police arrived. Freddy’s very skilled isn’t he? You look brand new.”

Annie’s chirpiness and unawareness of the way they were feeling didn’t really help. “She got an off switch?” Steele said testily.

“She’s just being nice. You should try it some time.” He bit back. Annie was his girlfriend and as her man he would defend her, even against the original. “But don’t thank me.”

Steele turned to leave. “Get dressed. I want an update. And get me some clothes to put on.”

“I’ll sort you out something nice.” Annie chirped sweetly.

Steele looked back over her shoulder. “His, not yours.”

Ten minutes later Steele emerged from the bedroom wearing a set of Freddy’s clothes; Khaki pants, a Super Girl t-shirt and sneakers. She found Freddy sitting on a chair. The kind usually found in an office with wheels on the legs which allowed the user to move around without standing. He was scoffing a bowl of cereal. He grinned at her obvious discomfort. “Relax, you look kinda sexy in a manly kind of way.”

“Cut the crap. Just tell me how you found me.” She plonked herself on a couch to wait for the details.

Freddy discarded his cereal bowl, wiped milk from his chin and swallowing down the food he stood up to speak. Standing and telling her what he was about to just seemed right. “Remember the last time I patched you up?” He waited for Steele to give a nod of confirmation. “Well, I installed a tracker.” He grimaced, waiting for the fallout. She didn’t disappoint.

“You did what?” Steele yelled.

Freddy held both hands in a surrender posture. “I never used it, I swear.” This seemed to calm Steele a little. “Believe it or not I do care about what happens to my favourite cop. But I knew you were headed for a shit storm. Call it intuition. But shit storms usually follow you around.” He paused thinking she was going to speak. She just raised an eyebrow. “If I hadn’t activated it you’d be spending the rest of your days rusting in a junk yard somewhere. Again no need to thank me. And by the way, you owe me . . . A lot.” He quickly carried on when Steele flashed a pissed look at him. “I rebuilt you to the highest spec. Non of that factory cheap shit. That, costs a fortune. I’ve increased your speed, strength, combat ability, a tougher chassis and a whole host of neat stuff.” He waited for the thanks with open hands, closed them again when none was forthcoming.

“Like what?”

“I installed a programme to make you fall in love with me.” He chuckled at this point, picked up his bowl and chomped another mouthful of cereal.

Steele just stared dead pan at him.

He brushed over that quickly. “Just joking about the last one. But I could if you wanted me to.” He shuffled from one foot to the other awkwardly and gave another titter. “No? Well, you’ll like this one. I copied the entire Paradise City Police Department database to your drive.”

He swallowed the nutty mouthful and did a little celebratory dance.

Steele stared off to one side as she accessed her databank. She looked around the room and in her visual display was able to pick up many different finger prints scattered about the room. She zoomed in on a number of prints on different surfaces. With each new print she found a match and was able to access files of known criminals and their wrap sheets. She made an agreeable ‘Huh’ sound.

“You’ve had some interesting people here Freddy.”

“Reminds me, I need to clean this place more.” Freddy shuffled uncomfortably. “You like? You were always griping about having to go into the office every time you had to look up files. Well now you don’t courtesy of your friendly neighbourhood tech guy, who by the way you owe big style.” He emphasized the last part especially but Steele showed no response to it.

“You have a lot of friends the PD would like to talk to Freddy.”

“Don’t ask questions and I won’t implicate myself. That’s the deal here. I help you and you help me. Deal?”

Steele was hardly about to turn in her greatest asset. But she didn’t want Freddy knowing that. She sniffed and pretended to brush it under the carpet. “How long have I been off-line?” She was keen to replace out what had happened after her hard drive had failed.

“Two weeks.”

“What’s the word on the street? Did they arrest Leonard? Find him holding up in some bolthole?”

Freddy ignored her and turned on a holo vid player. He pushed his glasses up his nose with one forefinger. “It’s easier if you watch.”

Steele sat forward on her seat as he played news cast after news cast. The faces of mayor Leonard and chief of police Gustav Leonard dominated the reports. Their smug faces turned her coils and tightened her wiring into knots. There was even Face vid footage of her shooting at Edwards’s cruiser and causing the crash. Of course the footage of Edwards knocking down Nixon had been conveniently omitted. There were many angles from the mayor’s own security cameras showing her killing his security guards, but nothing of what really happened inside the house.

A reconstruction using actors showed a totally different account of what happened. A handsome guy played the mayor who bravely fought off a savage attack by a female actor who had been made up to slightly resemble Steele. It showed the actor playing the mayor disarming the fake version of her and easily over powering her with some martial arts style take-downs in a different bedroom. Presumably the real one had been destroyed in the blast.

Then when the fake Steele pulled a grenade the fake mayor dove across the room in an impossible leap, landing on the bed and pulling the mattress on top of himself to shield from the blast. Unhurt from the blast the fake Steele with now demonic eyes took flight with the mayor heroically giving chase with a blaster. Fake security camera footage finally saw the cowardly portrayal of Steele scaling the high security wall and disappearing. More footage asked the public to be vigilante for her but not to approach her as she was highly dangerous in her deranged state.

They’d stitched her up good and proper. Now she was a fugitive on the run. Top of Paradise City PD’s most wanted. Steele sat back in her seat to take in the enormity of the situation. He’d won. Leon had outsmarted her by twisting everything to his advantage. Now he had the entire city on his side, and the entire PD at his disposal. She couldn’t even try to turn herself in. They’d take her down on the spot with a grenade like before, then her head would literally be exhibited on TV to prove they’d got her and all before she could give her side of the story. She could tell Freddy was more than a little nervous. Could tell he wanted to ask her if any of this was true. She spared him the uncomfortable questions.

“Edwards killed Nixon and tried to take me out because I’d found out the mayor was Leon. The mayor had Mia chained to the wall in his bedroom. God knows what he’d have done to her if I hadn’t stopped him.” She read his mind again. “I know, I fucked up, and now she’s dead. I killed her Freddy. I let Mia down.” Steele stood and paced.

Freddy didn’t say anything. He could see how upset she was about Mia.

“I’m gonna kill him Freddy. I’m gonna kill that bastard stone dead!”

“Hey, now if you’re thinking about paying him another visit, forget it. He’s got security tighter than a virgin’s snatch and body guards everywhere he goes. There’s just no way you’re going to get anyway near him. Even the party he’s throwing tomorrow is a high security affair. The new chief of police is going to be there in person with half the PD and those Frankenstein cops.”

Steele continued pacing, her head hung low. She could feel her new body was heavier than the old one. The new tensile chassis Freddy had given her was stronger and weighed more. She could feel her strength was ten percent more than her older self and she sensed new programmes had been installed. She adjusted her sensors to compensate and the strange feeling went away. She felt normal again. What about the mayor? How was she to get to him? There had to be a way to get to him. There was always a weakness. Somewhere there was a chink she could exploit. An idea began to form. Maybe, just maybe.

“How do I get an invite to this party?”

“Did you not hear what I just said about the army he’s got? And besides that, you’re number one on the most wanted. The most recognisable face in the city. You won’t be able to go anywhere without some low life trying to take you down. How do you think you’re even gonna get within ten miles of the place? If I were you I’d get the hell outta Paradise. Just cut your losses and disappear.”

“That’s not going to happen. The mayor’s got all that security because he knows I’m going to come back. I don’t want to disappoint him.”

Annie entered, oblivious to their conversation and the mood, clutching two small dresses, one red, one blue. “Which one do you think I should wear today sweetie?” She held them out for Freddy to make a decision.

“Whatever, baby doll.” He barely glanced at the dresses. “You look great in anything.”

Steele stared at Annie and her dresses. Yes, that was it. She had a way to get passed the mayor’s army of guards.

“Actually, can I use that?” Steele’s finger pointed to the red dress.