Chapter 6 Fracture
Rebel leader Toriszi sticks his graying head into the chamber and hums a note in surprise. He has traded his weapons belt for a tool belt and is as covered in ashy grease stains like Esthi and Roxi. “This is bad.”
“Yes, sir. I’m working on the list,” Roxi replies.
“Going to need a lot of parts.” He gives her another tablet. “Build the schems. I’ll prep the teams so the moment we have what we need, they’ll be familiar.”
“Copy.” Roxi points up again. I have to move in close to her this time to reach what she requests.
I grab the crackled glass box hanging by a thread of wire and tug it free. The lights in our area of the maintenance shaft go out.
“Lovely.” Roxi sighs. She bumps into me, and grabs me to steady herself. “Sorry.”
But that moment of warmth, that split second she was against me, has me wanting more. For just a breath, I felt the solid nature of my base husk ripple through me, before my synthskin crackled over again. Then I rotate my fragments so they refract the light from the access into the chamber.
Roxi looks around at the dappled lighting. “Ooh. Neat trick. That’s…a first.”
“I’ll get out of your light.” Toriszi backs out, and the room brightens. “Holler when you’re ready, Roxi.”
She tries not to smile when she glances at me. “Has anyone ever told you how pretty you are?”
Pretty? “Never. I am a dangerous Titan to get close to. Most humans stay away from me. Only Titans can touch me. And they don’t use such words.”
She curls her lips inward and then laughs. “I’m teasing you, Fracture.”
“Oh.”
“And while I wouldn’t mind looking at this again, another time, I really need something more evenly distributed, or I might miss things.”
“I know who to call. Just a second,” I tell her.
Fracture>>Flashbomb: We need a glowstick.
I hear rapid footsteps outside, and a Titan Brother wiggles himself into the chamber. He lands headfirst and awkwardly fights to turn himself around.
Roxi snorts a laugh, then covers her mouth.
I help Flashbomb right himself.
When he is vertical again, he grins. “You called?”
“I don’t need more ash,” Roxi remarks, reading his digibadge.
“He knows how to light up a room.” I chuckle and encourage Flashbomb with a wave of my hand. “And it’s not just his charming personality.”
Flashbomb blinks. His eyes brighten, and his pale white-and-gold husk glows with increasing luminosity until the chamber is radiant again.
Roxi looks him over with intrigue. “Quite the control.”
“Thanks.” Flashbomb blushes gold hues.
Flashbomb>>Fracture: That was embarrassing.
Fracture>>Flashbomb: Not as embarrassing as being called a pretty Titan. I am not…pretty.
Flashbomb>>Fracture: That’s a compliment from a human female. Raven says that means females like that skill. Roxi must like you. Menace seems to think so. Evo definitely says you’ve taken her side with Crezlith, which seems impossible. And Diesel says he caught you staring at her ass.
Fracture>>Flashbomb: You are as gossipy as those females from Marst.
Flashbomb>>Fracture: I want to see my Brothers happy. Every time I do, I feel like maybe there’s a chance for us super dangerous models. I really don’t want to be alone forever.
Fracture>>Flashbomb: You must learn to be happy now. Because now is all we may get.
Flashbomb dims slightly.
Fracture>>Flashbomb: But do not lose hope. I can touch Roxi, and I don’t hurt her.
Flashbomb scans between us like he’s wondering how.
I wish I knew.
Fracture>>Flashbomb: Maybe she can figure that out and make more of us safe for humans.
His body brightens again.
Roxi works through her list and builds schematics with a speed that seems almost artificial. She finishes the area and walks to another, doing the same mapping until we’ve circled the ship.
“Recognize any of these things?” Roxi asks, leaning so close to me that I can feel her body heat. She shows Ash and me her tablet.
I skim the list and point out a few items I’ve seen on the Relics’ BlazeStar, but it won’t be nearly enough.
“Yeah, I don’t, uh, do well in the tech department. Are you two good?” Flashbomb asks. “Castor is calling me.”
“We’re good. Thank you, Ash.” Roxi extends a fist to him, which Ash hesitantly bumps. When she doesn’t get burned by his heat, he smiles up at me before side-stepping his way around the maintenance shaft, looking for Castor.
That little gesture of contact is the kind of thing I didn’t get to have with humans until Roxi. Something is definitely different about her.
But now that Flashbomb knows she can handle him, I wonder if he’s going to try to steal her. I really want to keep her for myself because of the way she looks at me, like I’m not a broken man in a metal husk barely holding his pieces together.
Lotus>>Aegis Local: Asteroids headed our way. Maneuvers will be abrupt. Please brace yourselves.
Lotus repeats the message over the coms.
Esthielle>>Local: We need Titans on the Recuperating floor now! Secure the patients!
Roxi grabs onto a handrail just as Aegis tips in a hard banking maneuver. But her fingers slip on the greasy metal, and Roxi loses her grip.
Panic takes over my nerves, tearing me apart. I thrust myself down the narrow shaft after her, race by her in fragments, and reassemble myself at the other end.
Roxi lands hard in my arms. I clutch her as my graying husk bashes into the far wall.
The impact knocks a grunt out of me. It takes effort to reposition and wedge myself in the shaft, so I can endure the shifting G-forces that pull us left then up and down, right, and back again.
I keep Roxi against me with an arm and spread my feet and hand against the walls.
“I’m sorry. I know I’m hurting you, but I can’t let you die.”
Roxi curls herself up inside my arm. Momentum sways back the other direction, dives, and presses us against the wall so hard that I almost can’t hold our position.
A groan escapes Roxi’s gorgeous lips. I hate that she’s under stress, but I’m doing everything I can.
The ship rumbles, sending vibrations from strained motors through my body into hers. And she suddenly seems so vulnerable that I fear I won’t be enough to hold her together.
Finally, the ship slows, and Lotus calls out an all clear.
Lotus>>Aegis Local: BlazeStar through the path. Rebel ships exiting now.
I ease Roxi back to the floor, only she doesn’t let go as I anticipate. She shivers against me. All the fight in her is gone. Her confidence has vanished. Her focus is chaotic, and her beautiful gold eyes are wide with fear.
I crouch down in the passage, brace her sides to steady her, and summon her gaze. “Hey…”
She wipes her eyes, draws in a breath, and shakes her head. “I’m fine.”
“Bullshit. Talk to me.”
Roxi’s lips quiver for a moment, then still. I can see her pack away her feelings like a Titan, burying them under a mask of apathy.
“Every time I have tumbled through space,” she says, “I have been escaping something horrible. Torture on Ravenger II, bounty hunters on Spaceport Alloy, orbit above Planet Lencio…”
Roxi rakes a clawed hand into her hair. “It just brings out this deep sense of doom and panic that overrides my body. I can’t… I can’t stop it. But I should be able to. I know what the problem is. I know it’s in my head. I have to be able to outsmart this instinct somehow.”
“You’re not a machine. And you’re not Solcrue. Those instincts protect you. You’ve lived through those ordeals because of your instincts.”
“I know. And I preach instinct over assimilation, but you don’t understand how critical it is that I don’t lose my head. It’s an adrenaline dump that pushes me too far.”
I reach up and wipe away a wet streak on her cheek before I can stop myself. As I do, I notice my hand has changed. Holding her has made me a gray metal Titan again.
“Why does this keep happening?” I ask as I dry her cheek with my thumb.
She shrugs and looks skyward. “Titan Creators left out so many details. All I know is that Titans were built to be responsive to humans to assist with Bonding.”
She closes her eyes and leans her cheek into my hand. “You’re very warm.”
I’m burning up inside with feelings and urges that I’ve never had to deal with before. “You’re sure you’re not hurt anywhere?”
“I’m fine.”
“Not like last time fine where you were still bleeding?”
Roxi opens her eyes. “You didn’t hurt me this time. Your husk recognized me. Thanks for catching me.”
I’m not sure she realizes just how much she already commands me. But when my titanhood swells, I swear. I’m certain she has an idea now. “And I’m fucking naked again. Great.”
Roxi giggles softly. “Happen often?”
I get to my feet. “It is difficult to get nanoreceptive suits made out here. Mission-critical Brothers get them first.”
“Well, if it’s any consolation, I don’t mind.” Roxi leans into me. “You are…impressive.”
The pressure of her soft body against my bare cock sends a rush through me that makes me wish we weren’t in the middle of a critical problem.
She beams up at me. I’m certain she is fully aware of what she’s doing to me when she bites her lip because my damned cock swells against her. “Thanks again.”
I can’t speak with the way my ultromotor is charging in my chest. All I can muster is a grunt.
“Guess we better go see how everyone is doing and see if I need to build any new connectors,” she says, stealing one more quick, flirtatious glance up me.
Finding the nearest access hatch, I help her climb out. Staring at Roxi’s ass as she crawls through it makes me even harder. I brace myself on the walls and shake my head.
Stop it. Everyone is going to see.
There’s only one solution.
I fragment and exit into a humanoid field of glass.
A hundred of my Brothers have stabilized the injured in the recuperation area. The sight instantly crushes my desires and reminds me of my mission.
Chasm enters, his glittering black body a difficult one to miss. “As soon as they’re secure, I want everyone in the conference room for a meeting ASAP.”
Back to work. Only this time, when I solidify myself and kneel to help Roxi reconnect Echo to his nanosolution feeders, she gives me a confident smile.
I’ll do anything for just one more touch from her.