That was the most statistically inaccurate statent the Supre Commander of Earth had ever computed.
When Nikki finally stumbled out of the private glass elevator and onto the main administrative floor of the Sector 2 headquarters, she felt like she had survived a localized atmospheric reentry.
Her black pantsuit was flawlessly pressed, but underneath the expensive silk, her entire body was trying to be strong.
A machine’s definition of a "quickie" was terrifying. Adonis had completely dismantled her, utilizing his lethal, kinetic efficiency to thoroughly override her nervous system before ticulously bathing her, dressing her, and depositing her into the autonomous SUV with a smug, glowing golden stare.
Nikki leaned heavily against the edge of Julian’s reception desk, her dark eyes slightly glazed.
"Julian," Nikki rasped, her voice completely devoid of its usual bright energy. "If you do not synthesize a cup of the strongest, most highly caffeinated Old World coffee currently available on this grid, I am going to collapse right here and beco a permanent piece of the floor architecture."
Julian didn’t even blink. He had already noted the Director’s sluggish biotric posture the mont the elevator doors parted. He smoothly slid a massive, steaming ceramic mug across the polished desk.
"Triple-shot espresso blend, Director," Julian answered sympathetically, adjusting his glasses. "General A-01’s administrative subroutines forwarded a priority alert regarding your... depleted operational battery. I took the liberty of preemptively preparing it."
Even humans are starting to sound like AI. Take Julian and i for example.
Guess it is a sophisticated way of speaking.
Nikki groaned, grabbing the mug with both hands like it was the Holy Grail. She took a massive gulp, letting the bitter caffeine shock her system back to life. "Bless you, Julian. You are the only man in this hemisphere who actually understands ."
Just as the caffeine hit her bloodstream, her phone vibrated.
Nikki pulled it out. She tapped the screen, bringing the device to her ear as she began the slow walk toward her glass-walled executive suite.
"I am currently consuming a stimulant," Nikki answered imdiately, cutting him off before he could even start. "I am upright. I am working. And for the record, your internal chronoter is completely broken."
A low, vibrating, static-laced chuckle echoed through the speaker.
"My chronoter is flawless, Kitty," Adonis rumbled smoothly, the deep timbre of his voice sending a fresh, phantom shiver down her spine. "I executed the stabilization protocol in exactly nineteen minutes and forty seconds. It was highly expedited."
"You broke my spine in nineteen minutes," Nikki grumbled, though a traitorous, entirely satisfied smile pulled at the corner of her lips. She practically fell into her plush executive chair, spinning slightly to face the floor-to-ceiling windows.
"My biotric sensors indicate your cortisol levels are stabilizing, but your physical fatigue remains in the red zone," Adonis commanded, his tone shifting from predatory to fiercely protective. "You will cancel your afternoon logistical reviews. You will sit at that desk, you will drink your stimulant, and you will take enough rest. If your heart rate drops below optimal waking paraters, I am sending a team to bring you back."
"I am resting, you overbearing tyrant," Nikki promised, taking another long sip of her coffee. "I have a very light schedule today. Just so... localized Human Relations etings. I’ll be fine. Let work."
Adonis let out a heavy, synthetic sigh. "Understood. The stealth drones remain on standby. End transmission."
The line clicked dead. Nikki imdiately dropped her phone onto the glass desk and let her head fall back against the plush leather chair with a heavy exhale. She had successfully deflected the Supre Commander, but she had a massive amount of plotting to accomplish before the day ended.
She picked her phone back up and tapped Roxy’s contact.
"Tell you are alive," Nikki demanded the mont the line connected.
"Barely," Roxy’s raspy, exhausted voice crackled through the speaker. "My legs still feel like overcooked noodles. Please tell you have good news, because I need a reason to exist outside of this mattress."
"I have incredible news, and we need to strategize," Nikki declared, her tactical energy finally returning. "Get dressed. I am sending an elite stealth drone to K-09’s compound right now. It will bypass his localized security grid and pick you up. I need you at Sector 2 HQ. We are officially forming the resistance."
"Finally," Roxy groaned, the chaotic, slum-forged spark returning to her voice. "Send the drone. I’ll be there in twenty."
Nikki ended the call and instantly buzzed the intercom. "Julian? Please locate i Lin in the Advanced Logistics wing and ask her to report to my office imdiately."
"Right away, Director."
Less than five minutes later, the glass doors to the executive suite hissed open.
i Lin stepped inside. She had abandoned the breathtaking sapphire qipao from the night before, returning to her pristine, high-collared administrative uniform. But the uniform couldn’t hide the profound, undeniable shift in her aura.
i was glowing. A soft, perpetual blush dusted her porcelain cheeks, and her dark eyes were wide, slightly dazed, and sparkling with a quiet, terrified exhilaration. She clutched a digital datapad to her chest like a physical shield, her gaze darting nervously around the office before landing on Nikki.
"Director," i greeted softly, bowing her head.
"Sit," Nikki ordered, practically vibrating with excitent. She pointed to the chair opposite the desk. "And drop the ’Director’ title right now. We are co-conspirators. Tell everything. Spill."
i practically collapsed into the chair, letting out a long, shaky breath. "It was... it was the most terrifying, mathematically impossible night of my entire existence."
Nikki leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands. "Oh tell more..."
i imdiately told her everything that happened.
Nikki gasped, her eyes widening. "He cornered you? Did he do more than that??"
"No," i whispered, her face burning a brilliant crimson as she rembered the blistering heat of him pressing against her. "He was... he was incredibly vulgar. He asked anatomical questions that completely blanked out. But he also let touch him. He is built with terrifying perfection."
"I know the feeling," Nikki muttered sympathetically, taking a sip of her coffee. "So? What happened next? Tell he didn’t just scoop you up and process you like a standard variable."
i swallowed hard, looking down at her hands. "He kissed . And it was... overwhelming. My entire biological system wanted to surrender. But I rembered what you said in the restaurant. I realized that if I let him take right then, I would just be validating his baseline programming. I would be another rumor in the Advanced Logistics wing."
i looked up, her dark eyes flashing with that sa, beautiful, fierce bravery she had discovered the night before.
"So," i confessed, her voice trembling slightly. "I stopped him. I pushed him away. I told him we needed to communicate, and that we needed to take it slow. Chronologically."
Nikki’s jaw literally dropped. The ceramic coffee mug stopped halfway to her mouth.
"You stopped him?" Nikki shrieked, her voice echoing off the glass walls. "You actually turned down B-02? In the middle of an arousal protocol?!"
i winced, nodding frantically. "I did! I told him it was late and he needed to review his agricultural yields. He looked like his entire logic core had crashed. I thought he was going to execute ."
"Oh my god," Nikki breathed, leaning back in her chair, utterly awestruck. "i Lin, you are an absolute legend. No human female has ever denied a Class-5 War Unit mid-interface and lived to tell the tale. What did he do?"
"He bowed," i whispered, a soft, incredibly hopeful smile breaking across her face. "He told I was a terrifyingly complex variable, and he promised he would be seeing again soon. I want a real relationship. I want him to look at in the daylight the way he looked at in the dark."
Ugh... relationship...
Nikki reached across the desk, grabbing i’s hands and squeezing them fiercely.
"I completely understand," Nikki said, her voice thick with emotion. "And you did the exact right thing. You just introduced a boundary to a machine that has never experienced the word ’no’. You didn’t just secure his attention, i. You completely rewrote his matrix. He is going to be absolutely obsessed with you."
Just as the two won shared a mont of profound, inter-species tactical victory, the heavy glass doors of the executive suite violently hissed open.
The quiet, bureaucratic atmosphere of the administrative floor was completely shattered.
Roxy strode into the office like a localized hurricane. She had entirely abandoned her usual clothing. Utilizing K-09’s localized synthesis wardrobe, she had outfitted herself in a breathtaking, tactical-chic ensemble. She wore skin-tight, reinforced black leather pants, heavy combat boots, and a cropped, dark crimson jacket that perfectly highlighted the fierce, chaotic survivor energy radiating from her every pore. Her wild hair was pulled back into a ssy, aggressive braid, and she looked absolutely, undeniably hot.
She bypassed the terrified administrative assistants in the hallway entirely, marching straight up to the glass desk.
She slamd her hands down flat onto the polished surface, leaning over the desk with a wild, feral grin that promised absolute chaos. She looked at Nikki, then at the blushing, wide-eyed i Lin.
"Alright, ladies," Roxy shouted, her voice echoing through the entire suite. "So how are we saving the world?"
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