WilliamDArand
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System Overclocked 2 -Ch 2-
🕑 Added 2023-07-06 03:40:53 +0000 UTCStripe and Seventh had ended up taking Wrench back to the medical ward. Where Peaches let him use the shower and gave him a new gown.
Though it’d taken him telling her what he’d done, the complete story including his involvement in her two new patients, for her to offer all that. Apparently she had a rather strong dislike for the Lower Parts Brawlers and the actions they took.
She did warn him that it was likely the Admini wouldn’t be very happy with him. While they didn’t support the Brawlers actions they didn’t work to stop them either.
In the end she let him raid her supplies though he had to promise to come back and work on a few of her systems. Apparently her task priority with the Fixers’s here was low. So long as people could be healed and taken care of, it didn’t matter if it took her two hours or four hours.
Walking back across the Upper Field, Wrench felt better. A shower, seventeen protein bars, getting news that the two people he’d saved were recovering though in shock, had done a great amount of good for his mood.
“We should go to the Supply Depot,” Seventh murmured, glancing sideways at him. He didn’t miss the way her eyes lingered on him.
To be fair, given her personality, that wasn’t abnormal. She was a woman who was very much in tune with her desires and needs.
Her getting an eyeful of him fit within the expectation box for Seventh.
On the opposite end Stripe was dutifully staring at the ground.
“Probably,” Wrench admitted. He was still only dressed in a beige medical gown and holding his wrench. Though he didn’t think it’d ever function as a tool again. The adjustment wheel was quite completely stuck. “I know I already said it a few times already but still, thank you, you two. I know I’d be dead without both of you.”
“Course,” Seventh said with a flick of her hand. To her it wasn’t even worth discussing anymore. Though he didn’t miss the note of satisfaction in her voice.
“It was-it was too early for us to part ways,” Stripe added in a quiet way. “Far too early. We have a lot more to do and experience.”
“Like more sex,” Seventh put in helpfully.
“I-yes. We’ll do that, Seventh. I wholeheartedly will make sure that happens. I owe you… a great deal,” Wrench promised. He already had permission from Stripe previously so this wasn’t much of an issue. “Beyond that it’s not like I don’t want to. It was just awkward timing.”
“That’s assuming we get a Pen together,” Stripe put in with concern in her voice.
“Ha, they can give us a Pen for three people, or we can all be together in a Pen for one person. As if I’m letting either one of you out of my sight,” growled Seventh. Somewhere along the line, Seventh had gotten protective over Stripe.
Which tickled a question in Wrench’s head that he had wanted to ask. With Peaches asking him so many questions, as well as everything that happened, he hadn’t asked either of his companions what happened after the explosion.
“I don’t really remember what happened. Things blew up,” Wrench deadpanned.
“Oh, I found you. I needed help, so I went and got Seventh. When we went back, someone had already taken the Hab away,” Stripe explained succinctly. “We got into the carrier, sealed it up, and waited.
“A day passed, maybe, I’m not really sure. Then a Tongsta came and picked us up. We got dumped in with a bunch of others in a massive Hab. There were a lot of other Hume there. I talked to a few. Seventh protected us and I… ah… negotiated. The Humes there were from a few different places. Hume transport I think.
“Then we ended up here and… well… here we are. The Mender here wasn’t sure what to do, I told them, or I guess Peaches, to load you up with anything with calories. I don’t think she liked that there was nothing wrong with you but you were unconscious.”
Okay.
Stripe… Stripe is the best.
Seventh is a close second.
Without these two risking their lives for me, I wouldn’t be here at all.
“He’s just different,” Seventh dismissed, her head slowly rotating one way, then the other. Surveying their surroundings. “He’s the peak of Hume male genetics. There should be no one else I make Eigth with. No one. Anyone else ever even thinking of being atop me would be an insult to my entire line.”
“You don’t represent that line anymore though?” Stripe asked, peering up at the taller woman.
“I… no, I don’t. Not officially. But I think if I can have Eighth, raise him, or her, well, then ask Goodie to let me see my mother, she might make it happen,” hypothesized Seventh. “I might get to see my mother and grandmother. To show Sixth and Fifth Eighth, even if it isn’t in the scope of the original line. They’d like that.
“Maybe I could convince Wrench to let me bring a few of my sisters and brothers over, too. That’d help really push our genetics.”
I mean, she’s got her lineage tattooed on her side. It’s no surprise she couldn’t let it go that easy. If anything, her having a direction to work in is probably what she needs.
“How many Brawlers did you kill?” Seventh asked, her head moving to the Skybridge and staying there.
“I don’t know. Eight? Nine? Ten? Something in there,” Wrench guessed with a shrug of his shoulders.
Seventh’s head turned back ahead and she once more began to scan their surroundings. Wrench had been doing the same.
Everyone kept a wide birth from them. No one got near them and everyone got out of their way.
Stripe let them to the supply depot, a large squat one story building that had a number of windows on one side. Each window had a person standing in it.
Most were filled, though one was open.
“That’s new arrivals,” Stripe said and pointed to the open window even as she began walking over there.
“We were getting our assignments,” Seventh remarked while catching Wrench’s eyes. “Or trying to at least. Then someone started screaming as those women shambled by to the medical ward.
“Won’t lie, I didn’t make the connection immediately. Stripe did. ‘That’s Wrench’ she said and took off.”
One of Stripe’s inhume ears had swiveled around and locked on Seventh and Wrench while the other was pitched forward. She was clearly paying attention to both them and the window.
“Hi, we’re new arrivals. I brought our third individual with us. His name is Wrench,” Stripe started. “You were going to get us a three person Pen as well as supplies? He needs some clothes as you can see.”
Wrench put a hand to Seventh’s hip and gently nudged her a few steps away. So that they were near Stripe, but not right behind her.
He caught the female Brawler’s eyes and held them. With a smile, he left his hand on her hip.
“Everything alright? Other than the sex stuff. This is obviously a lot to take in, in a really short time,” Wrench whispered. “Is there anything I can do? Anything I can work at solving for you?”
Seventh smiled back at him, put her hand atop his, then put her other hand on Wrench’s hip. It was a very possessive hold in her way.
“No, nothing to fix. Other than the sex. I want sex. I am-you don’t-I’m attracted to you,” Seventh said bluntly. “I’m so damn attracted to you I can’t even explain it. I don’t just want to have sex, but I want to spend time with you. It was hard not to just follow you around while you worked like a stupid trainee.
“I’m not-I didn’t-I… ugh. Ughhh! Ugh… I sound so stupid. This is stupid. I’m stupid. Everything is stupid.”
Blinking, feeling his brain slowly grinding into the right gear, he realized that Seventh was more or less admitting that there was more than just sex. Or that she wanted more than just sex.
“You wanted to follow me around?” he asked, his smile becoming more of a grin.
“I-yeah? Yeah. I mean, you’re really interesting and-and you talk to me like I’m smart,” Seventh grumbled. “You don’t talk down to me just because I’m a Brawler. You don’t look at me just as a Brawler that might kill you.
“You look at me like a woman. A smart woman. A woman you’re interested in. Stripe-Stripe told me you just didn’t want to have sex because you want a relationship. Not a deal or anything.
“We talked a lot while you were unconscious. It helped me figure out where my head was. I didn’t-I… I’ve ever only thought about winning. Winning and getting the chance to live my life. I got what I wanted, just not in the way I expected, and didn’t know what to do with it.
“Stripe helped me figure out some things and… yeah. Yeah. I want sex. Definitely. But I uh… am open to other stuff?”
Not expecting any of this, Wrench just stared at Seventh.
“Your-your mouth is open,” she mumbled, holding his gaze in return. Her hand came up and she poked his chin with a long finger. “Is it that-am I stupid after all?”
Wrench snapped his mouth shut, shook his head, then cleared his throat.
“No, you’re not stupid. I just didn’t expect it. I’m more than willing to talk more about it. More than willing,” Wrench answered. He, thankfully, noted that Stripe turned toward them in that moment. Nodding his head at Seventh, he gestured at Stripe and then joined her. “Whats up?”
“Did someone take your your information?” Stripe asked, looking at Wrench.
“TomTodd,” he replied after a moment of thought. “TomTodd took my information. I told him I’d need a three person Pen. Also, I have these and want to exchange them for things.”
Wrench put the blood covered bag filled with tokens on the counter of the window. Wrench met the young woman’s eyes in the window and he smiled at her.
“Can you show us to our three person Pen soon? As well as my clothes? I feel drafty,” Wrench offered. “Draft and a little bored. I haven’t explored much. Maybe I should poke around a bit like I did in the Lower Parts. I’d really rather sit in my pen and take a nap. I’m rather tired from what brought me to this shelter.”
It wasn’t a threat, but it was a promise that they really should try to just get him settled. That if he was settled, he’d be happy to sit and relax rather than prodding about and looking into things.
The woman’s brown eyes looked to the bag, then back up to Wrench. A shaky hand came up and she pulled a strand of black hair back behind an ear.
“I-yes! Yes. We do indeed have your three person Pen all set up. We were just making sure of our new arrivals and getting them all set up,” said the woman. “Your neighbors are both one person Pens on either side and also new tenants just like you. That’s good, right?”
Wrench had no idea why that’d matter. All he could assume was they thought all the new people were known to one another.
Then he realized what it was.
Broken implant.
Damnit all.
I never would’ve thought so much would fail just because the implant isn’t working that well. Then again… didn’t we go about damaging them on purpose, forcing them to stop working correctly, just to remain in the resistance?
“Great, thank you,” Wrench said and then put his wrench onto the counter with a clatter. “I’ll need to exchange my tokens, get my free set of clothes, and have someone show me where our Pen is.”
Then he gave his wrench a small shake.
“I’ll also need a set of tools to do Fixer work. I’m a Fixer, after all. I’m sure I can help out in the Hab. I have experience at a level that I could easily be the Fixer Head,” Wrench finished. “Please set up a meeting for me to speak with whoever’s in charge. I’d appreciate it.”
“Ah! Actually, yes. That’d be wonderful,” said the woman, regaining a large deal of composure suddenly. “We have only a few Fixers. They get adopted out almost as son as they arrive! There’s only a few here and they’re all very old and… and…”
The woman’s voice fell away.
“And unwilling to learn the systems you have,” Wrench finished. He’d met a number of Fixers that just became too stubborn to continue working. They’d get new tech, give up, and get dumped in a shelter.
Just like this one.
Only to be adopted back out to another Hab that had older tech and needed a steady hand to manage it. Older Fixers that weren’t interested in having partners or power had a number of uses, just often not in the Hab they came from.
“Well… tools, clothes, tokens, escort?” Stripe prompted with a wide smile and tilting her head to the side slightly. “And thank you so much for your help. Please forgive my poor Wrench here. He just can’t leave broken things alone. People or otherwise.
“Having people abducted to be abused against their will, well, that’s definitely a problem that needs fixing.”
“Definitely,” the young woman said, meeting Stripe’s gaze. There was a new found determination there. “Definitely! I’ll take care of everything myself.”
***
“Going to go knock on both doors. See who’s here,” Seventh said no sooner than the door closed behind them. “This little building only has three rooms. Need to know who they are, what they’re about, and what they intend. Can I kill’em?”
She asked the last looking at Wrench.
“Better if you don’t. The split is kinda obvious here. Upper Parts and Lower Parts. Upper Parts are Admini, Fixers, Schools, anyone who can stand on their own,” Wrench stated with a small shake of his head. He felt pretty good about his clothes, the tool-set, and the room they were given. They’d refused taking any of his tokens as well and provided them with even more, in fact.
He was hoping it was based on his Hume type as Fixer, rather than the fact that he’d murdered a number of Brawlers.
“Got it. So unless we go down that little walkway, I gotta keep it to beatings,” Seventh summarized.
“Pretty much that, yeah,” Wrench said. Then he picked up his broken wrench from where he set it, and held it out to her. “Good club. Breaks bones if you aim it right. Kills if you don’t.”
Seventh took it, smiled, nodded her head at him, then opened the door and left.
As soon as the door clicked shut, Stripe was on him. Hugging him tightly and pressing herself to his front. Her head snuck into the space beneath his chin and she clutched to him.
“I’m so-so glad everything is okay. That we’re here together,” Stripe murmured against his chest after pressing her face to his shirt. He could feel the warmth of her breath traveling down his front. “I miss Goodie, and our home, but she’ll come for us. I know she will. It’s just a matter of time. Of when they fix our implants and they go live.
“As soon as that happens, Goodie will come for us. She’ll take us home. There’s no reason she wouldn’t. We saw her get carried away. In fact, I’d be she wanted her Hab picked up, which is why her Hab went with her. She thought we were there. I know she’s looking.”
Wrench hesitantly put his arms around Stripe. His hands pressed to the backs of his shoulders.
He found that Stripe might be bigger in some ways, and smaller in others, than her clothes had led him to believe. That perhaps she’d been hiding more than she let on.
Since it was pushed up against his chest it was hard not to think about.
“I’d say you’re right. There’s no way Goodie isn’t looking for us. I agree about the implant being our ticket out of here. Just have to wait for a Tongsta to show up and fix them,” Wrench confirmed, then leaned his head down. Putting his mouth against the top of Stripe’s head. “Thank you for saving me. Thank you for getting me out of there when I was all alone. I wasn’t expecting you and… and without you’d I’d be dead. You and Seventh both.”
“Of-of course. You’re… ah… yes. Yes. You’re welcome. Seventh was the one I took with me to help, but I do have to tell you, Wrench, everyone offered to come,” Stripe murmured. “Even the Schools. The whole School, in fact. Every single one offered to join, saying that they could provide strength in numbers.”
The School did? Holy crap.
That’s definitely not something they’d normally do. Not at all.
Even if half their School was captured, the other half might make a half-hearted attempt, but then give up if there was any true resistance to it.
Schools just aren’t brave.
“Dusky, Starlight, Sparkle, Popsicle, and Pistol had already made a group out of themselves and were moving to the filter,” Stripe reported. “I got them to back down. I told them they’d need to be here in case something happened.”
Wrench had identified the sound of someone knocking. Then a door opening. Followed by Seventh talking in a low rumble. The walls here weren’t very thick.
“She cares, she just doesn’t know how to really say it,” whispered Stripe. “You beat her, were forced to bed her, then asked her to join you. You asked nothing of her other than if she wanted to come. It’s kinda weirdly romantic in a way. I didn’t think—”
The door to their Pen clacked then was shoved open. Stripe stepped away from him and looked to the door at the same time.
Ah, we’re still trying to hide this from others. That’s okay.
I don’t want to rush it, anyways.
Though that’ll make it hard or weird to have any intimacy in this room.
Wrench lost his brain’s ability to think as Seventh dragged the young woman Wrench had saved earlier in behind her. Her hair was brushed, her face was washed and clean, her swollen lip healed.
Looking at her now, Wrench felt really strange.
As if he should know her.
That he did know her, in fact.
“She wanted to talk to you,” Seventh explained tersely and stepping to the side. She gestured to the young woman who’d followed her in.
Closing the door behind herself, the woman looked at Wrench, Seventh, Stripe, then back to Wrench. She chewed at her lip and then smiled.
It was a beautiful, warm, and all encompassing smile. There was no anger, hate, or guile in it. A pure thing that bared her heart to anyone who saw it.
“My name is Joy. Thank you… thank you so much for helping me,” she said in a frighteningly sexual voice that made Wrench’s spine tingle.
Her voice was known to him, though not the way she spoke.
Because of that, Wrench realized who it was as soon as she spoke.
Or at least, who she was when he’d met her.
It was Pain.
Pain before she became Pain.
Pain, when her name was Joy. Before she’d experienced a great tragedy that permanently changed her life.
Which apparently had been today.
“Hi, Joy,” Wrench murmured, not really sure what to say. “I’m Wrench.”
Comments
Nick Cartwright
Who is fifth and sixth referring too? The mother and grandmother? Because I thought the father was the one from the prestigious brawler line and this reads like it was on the mothers side, at least to me.
William D. Arand
That's really all it was. She was mentioned in the previous book
Drew Risch
Who was Pain again? I only vaguely remember them being mentioned in the last book. Can someone give me a quick reminder summary 😅?
