Chapter Text
It still burns.
Every piston, tubing, joint, and what random few bones he has left. All of them singing a song of pain. Scorch marks dotted his body, each searing with every jump he took. Biolights flickered, HUD screen spider webbed with fine cracks. He's been in worse shape.
With Mara gone, the tower was able to regain some semblance of peace. With what few lives are left, all self policing, and trying to cohabitate, only time will tell who would be foolish enough to take Mara's seat and start the nightmare once again.
Again...
A thought he didn't want to have. Jack sat high above the last survivors, watching as they tried in vain to build a new metropolis for themselves. A few had taken small leadership rolls, pointing at various areas that needed urgent repair. Men and women alike sharing the burden or blessing he caused. Jack huffed, steam slowly rolling from his body. He took off silently, sticking to familiar shadows, blending with the bright neon. No one knew he was still alive, and he planned to keep it that way until the time came again when he was reluctantly needed. A blessing and a curse. He had heard it uttered a few times from the civilians. Calling him a monster and a hero. But he was neither. A neutral party doing as he was programmed. And now, with the program deleted, he was a free as he could get.
A few kliks past the city lay a small chamber, one he had made for himself after being woken up from the rubble. A few Climbers had found him, and repaired Jack as best they could before he realized how badly he wanted out of their presence. Humans were trouble, and he wasn't ready to intergrade into a society that both feared and reveled him. He was best on his own, and everyone was best without him. The area he had chosen for himself was small, but perfect for a single body. Various robotic parts littered the floor, oil cans and lubricant lined the walls on makeshift shelves. He stripped his tattered clothing, soaking in the cool air to calm his overheating frame. Jack reached up, gingerly touching his face plate, following the hairline cracks with fingertips. He hummed to himself, and began looking more deeply into his torn frame. Minor hydraulic lines had been fused together, joints had been lubed with the wrong oil, circuitry was misfiring. The Climbers did what they could with what they had, and it was painful. One in particular, Zoe, had tried her best, reworking his programming and shutting down specific protocols. He looped a video feed of her hovering over him, tools in hand while she dug through his programming, trying to restore corrupted files. She was the only one who stayed at his side, trying for hours to keep the right files and delete the wrong. Jack hadn't seen her since then.
####
Morning came and gone as Jack sit in his little room, properly putting himself back together. Soldering places that should have been instead of whatever adhesive the Climbers had used. Proper oil and lubricant raced through his lines, forcing the sensors to return to normal levels. The blaring alarm in his HUD finally stopped, much to his relief. Systems were returning to normal. The burning was subsiding, and he felt much better. An ex-vent of pressure escaped him, the hot air creating condensation on his frame. His face plate was another story. One that couldn't be so easily fixed. Each Ghostrunner had a very specific design, incase of an incident of a Ghostrunner going rogue and being mistaken for another. There was only once place he could potentially get a new face plate, up in the labs where he was halfway created. Back up to the top where Mara had reigned and ultimately dethroned. His framed rattled with a shiver, thinking about going back up there so soon, albeit a necessary return. Jack closed up his wounds, slipping his clothing back on to take off into the night. Recon was in order before he made his way back up.
Jack ran back towards the city much smoother after repairing himself. He felt lighter without all the adhesive holding him together. Each step softer and more meticulous than before. He almost felt new again. New. His remaining human conscious scoffed at the word. You can't make a human new. But his cybernetics, those could be made new. Jack filed through data logs and old files, trying find a video loop of when he was first brought online. Back to when he felt new. It was wonderful and scary. His human pain gone, but a new set of pain came with. Completely losing function in his left arm if a seal was broken. Adjusting to his new heightened senses. All the alarms blaring in his HUD when one miscalculated step took place. Most physical pain was a thing of the past, but now a pinched wire would shoot through his frame, rendering him almost unconscious at times.
The city was bleak, cold, and quiet. More quiet than he was comfortable with. The almost equally silent taps of his soles echoed through the city, raising his proximity sensors. He stopped and crouched on a high beam, sensors alerting to a heat signature, 97.3° to be precise. The reticle in his left optic zoomed in closer, revealing a thin figure walking through the shadows. A human. Female to be exact. One Jack had never seen before in his scouring of the city's last inhabitants. Her long burgundy hair laid flat, thin clothing subtlety revealing her form in the bright neon, porcelain skin illuminated in the glow. An alarm went off in his HUD.
::Internal Temperature Warning::
Curious. His systems were build to withstand strenuous activity and heat, but he was still, crouched like a gargoyle he had seen pictures of in a long time past. Why was he heating up at a moment like this? Even the laser barriers that lined the tower never set off this alarm. Jack watched the female for what seemed like an eternity before she turned and stopped, squinting up in his direction. The hum of his core motor was deafening to him, she surely knew he was watching, knew he was alive and keeping silent tabs on the city. The biolights adorning his frame flickered and pulsed when the female looked to him, a telltale sign that there was something lurking in the shadows.
A new protocol warning appeared in his HUD
::Initiating Heat Cycle::
::Continue?::
::YES:: ::NO::
Before he could react, a timer counted down...
::5:::
::4::
::3::
::2::
::1::
....
A surge of electricity wormed it's way through his frame, seizing him in place. Heat and steam rolled off his frame, biolights changing and pulsing from yellow to red.
A warm liquidy feeling swam through his frame. A familiar feeling. One he knew long ago, long before he became what he is today. The warmth left, leaving a burning sensation in his core, an itch he couldn't scratch on the surface. An alarm in his HUD went off.
::Core Heat Rising::
Jack felt something shift in his lower abdomen. Another familiar feeling deep inside him. He never once gave it thought, being too preoccupied with taking down The Keymaster, why would he have been equiped with such a device? What reason did it serve?
Was it even human?
Optics hidden behind his face plate picked up on the female again. She was still there, still watching the shadows. She had taken steps closer to the edge of the rubble, desperately trying to see through the darkness and harsh neon. He had full eyes on her, core motor burning inside his chest. The biolights adorning his body pulsed heavily as he slinked closer towards her, keeping in frame with the shadows. Jack could see the cold sweat dripping down her chest with every deep breath. She knew. She knew and she was terrified. Now mere feet from her, Jack could see every hair raised on her arms while she desperately looked to the darkness. Audial sensors picked up her shallow breathing, raising his core temperature higher. A silent panel had slipped away, giving freedom to the adornment he never knew existed. It pulsed and grew, spanning a total of 7 inches long, 3 inches around.
A new message popped up in his HUD
::Pressure Normal::
::Initiating Fluid Transfer::
The biolights dulled, putting Jack into a stealthier focus. He knew this feeling. A basic instinct that humans and animals shared. A deep need to further the human race, whether he could or not was up for debate. The female tensed, her lip trembling.
"He's here..." She whispered to herself in disbelief.
Jack took a swift leap, pinning the female to the ground, one hand over her mouth to silence her. A quick hand ripped through her thin clothing, exposing her to the cool night. She stared up to him, eyes widening as she realized just what was happening. The Ghostrunner they feared and praised, here, on top of her doing something unimaginable. Biolights blazed hot red over his body as he pushed into her. She muffled out a low moan, feeling every inch push it's way inside. Each ribbed section of the false cock tugged at her insides as he pulled out. A heavy ex-vent of pressure left his frame, soaking in the feeling he had almost forgotten about. Jack kept quiet, pistoning his hips in fluid motion. Each re-entry felt like a new sensation, her tightness igniting new sensors in hips. Deep in his subconscious he missed this feeling, the feeling of being enveloped in the sticky warmth of a female companion. The female's eyes rolled back as she gave in. She knew there was no chance she could fight him off. Would he kill her after this? Would he leave her a mess on the ground until someone found her? Would anyone believe her tale of the Ghostrunner forcing himself on her?
Each stifled moan from the female rang in his audial sensors, causing the heat in his core to rise. Deep in his subconscious he knew it was wrong, but something else was driving him, driving his false cock deeper inside the squirming female. His pace quickened, pushing as deep as he could, stretching and filling the female. Every thrust forcing her breasts to bounce, glistening with sweat. Jack dug his fingers into the ground, ratcheting his hips harder.
::Fluid Transfer Complete::
All sensors ablaze, the false cock pulsed, spilling fluid into the female. Another ex-vent along with a shudder of his frame, rattling the metal as he pulled from her body. A milky fluid dripped from her folds as she shivered on the ground. Tears welled up in her eyes. Why? Why her? She sat up, looking to the Ghostrunner with fear in her eyes.
The false cock throbbed between his legs, slowly dripping the milky fluid as he looked to the disheveled female.
::Internal Temperature Warning::
::Core Temperature : 125°::
::Continue Heat Cycle::
A hot surge of electricity wormed through his frame, knocking Jack offline.
::Error::
::Error::