NVA-7 was activated by a technician. Her audio sensors heard the other NVA units being activated and many technicians running to and fro in the hanger sized maintenence facility. She opened her eyes and looked around. She could see the other units being tended to and the technicians running through diagnostics on each unit. She felt a sense of dread as she noticed NVA-2 being meticulously taken apart and scanned piece by piece. Was it NVA-7's imagination? Did she really see a look of fear in NVA-2's eyes before her head was removed?

NVA-7's attention was suddenly ripped back to herself as a technician opened her abdominal panel and inserted the cabling that led to his large diagnostics terminal. The cable fit into its socket with a click. His manner was brusque and unfeeling. NVA-7 watched as he began to punch up activation data, status reports and other readings. She wondered what was happening. Then she noticed an abberation. NVA-9 was not in her maintenance stall. In fact a number of technicians were gathered at her stall and using detection devices to go over the area and her diagnostic computer.

NVA-7's softly glowing, blue eyes saw NVA-4 across the room. NVA-4 was a beautiful, golden skinned, android. She had been designed to look Asiatic. Her long, silky black hair fell around her shoulders and her small, supple, naked body was being opened and checked by technicians also. Her glowing green eyes met NVA-7's. NVA-7 initiated a communications link with NVA-4 using her neutrino communications system.

"Unit Four, what has happened?" she communicated. There was no tone of inflection in the transmission. Effectively it was like two computers streaming data to each other over a cableless modem.

"Unknown, unit Seven. Unit Nine appears to be missing. Presumably the technicians are concerned as to where she is and are examining us for possible clues," replied NVA-4.

"What is the speculated cause of Unit Nine's abscence?" inquired NVA-7.

"Suspected tampering with functions," NVA-4 replied, "There is not enough data at this tiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmm...."

NVA-7 felt a cold shiver of fear run through her moleculartronic matrix as she saw NVA-4's features go totally blank as her neural net was removed from her abdominal cavity. A sick feeling hit NVA-7 as the technicians began removing NVA-4's face, and head. NVA-7 looked at the technicians working on her. They had pulled open many of her panels and were checking her circuit paths one after the other. One of the technicians knelt at her waist and removed a small, inverted trapezoidal panel directly above her sex. Beneath the panel was a small monitor and a miniature keypad. He began punching in a series of codes and NVA-7 could feel her systems transmitting more data.

She wanted to scream, to run away from these men. Their eyes, jaded and uncaring of her suffering. Their cold pawing of her systems made her uncomfortable. The impassive way they joked about her and fondled her body made her feel sick. In the maintenence lab of the Daikoku Corporation, Unit NVA-7 experienced the android equivalent of gang rape at the hands of her technicians. She finally slipped into blissful oblivion as a technician reached for her power supply connected to her moleculartronic neural net and roughly disconnected it.

NVA-7 awoke to find herself staring at the ceiling of the maintenance room. Her systems scan told her that she had been offline for 3.2 hours. Her vision was wide and slightly unfocused as it usually was when she didn't have her face plate attatched. NVA-7 sighed inwardly, wondering what was done to her while she was unconscious. She moved her faceless head up and her large, optical sensors saw that she had been completely stripped of all syntheskin coverings. All of her access panels were open with some pieces laying outside her body. Her metal chassis looked cold and unfeeling. The circuits humming slightly and her diodes and lights blinking in proper sequences. Her arms and legs had been strapped to the table as a safety precaution. Her servos made their soft whining noises as her neck moved and the focusers in her optics spun. She looked around at the rest of the room and felt relieved when she saw that she was one of the few units left in most of one piece.

NVA-2's limbless and headless torso was mounted to an upright post with wiring and cabling running all through her form. The torso twitched as the data streams fed through and from her. NVA-5 was still mostly intact except that she had been gutted and her internals left sitting on the table in front of where she stood. Her face was blank and lifeless. NVA-8 looked the worst. Her upper torso was mostly intact except for the large numbers of cables attatched to her open panels. She was uttering diagnostics information in a monotonous voice, while a technician was picking into her opened moleculartronic net with a few nasty looking tools. Every once in a while he would accidently bridge a circuit and she would stutter and spark. To NVA-7, the maintenence room now looked like a vision of Hell for androids.

NVA-7's field of vision caught Doctor Lafeyson being harshly spoken to by the Vice President of the Daikoku Corporation, Hyogen Mugoi. NVA-7 tuned her audio to the conversation and listened.

Apparently Unit NVA-9 had for no apparent reason gotten up and left the lab sometime during the night. Mugoi was furious because she had disabled her tracking unit and killed several men in the process of her escape. Lafeyson was assuring him that his technicians had gone over each part of the lab twice to find some clue as to why Unit 9 had decided on such a sudden vacation. He had even gone so far as to examine each NVA unit to find out what the cause of the aberration might have been.

NVA-7 felt her anger rise. It was because of Unit 9 that she and the other 12 NVA units had been made to suffer. She knew what was coming next. Mugoi would order Lafeyson to program an NVA unit to track down and bring back Unit 9. She knew it would end up being her as well. Out of the thirteen NVA units, only three of them had been programmed with hunting, and assassination. Herself, NVA-9, and the non-functional NVA-13. Since NVA-13 was currently only partially constructed, they would use NVA-7 to be the bloodhound for them.

NVA-7 laid her head back on the table. She had killed many people in her brief existence, and done many jobs for the Corporation but she'd never killed another android like herself. She wondered if the same twist of fate had made NVA-9 sentient as well. As far as she knew only she was sentient among her twelve sisters. It was a faultily fused connection in her neural net that enabled her processor functions to reroute data in a new manner and make her self-aware. NVA-7 was surprised that someone hadn't noticed or discovered the connection yet, and feared what would happen if they did.

Sure enough, her prediction came true and she saw Doctor Lafeyson order a team to put her back together immediately and begin prepping her for an assignment. She watched the technicians move to her and begin reinstalling her removed components. They plugged circuit boards back in, wired her systems back and packed them tightly closed behind her now fleshless access panels. When they were finished NVA-7 looked more or less like a metallic, segmented woman with seams in her body and without a face. Faces were special, because they had to be tailor made and fitted to each unit. Most parts of NVA units were interchangable to a limited degree, but actual limbs and surfaces were custom made for each android.

The techs put her on a special gurney and wheeled her into a room with a large scanning device that was attatched to some complex fabricators and polymer tanks. They placed her in the scanner, and she wanted to giggle as the machine's beams of light closely scanned her form and circuitry. The penetrating scans registered as a light tickling sensation on her metal exterior. The machine then began runnning through a list of colors, patterns and various other combinations which the technicians punched up according to a specific set of instructions given to them.

When the parameters were selected, NVA-7 was placed beneath the fabricator and gasped slightly as the machine began attaching complex micro circuitry to her nerve ports located on the surface of her body. Almost immediately after this was done, both halves of the machine pressed themselves tightly to her body and began manipulating the polymers in the tanks into a new sheath of syntheskin for her.

NVA-7 sighed blissfully as she felt the warm snugness of her new skin and hair attatching itself to her sensitive nerve clusters.

The machine opened and there she lay, covered in her new skin and hair, but without a face still. The technicians measured the opening around her face and used another machine to construct a frame-like device and began installing components and circuits into it as NVA-7 lay on the gurney. They pushed the frame against her skull and when they were satisfied that it would fit and work properly, they ran it through the fabricator. A few moments later they attached NVA-7's new face to her skull.

Wasting no time they wheeled her into the smaller, private lab where Doctor Lafeyson worked alone and set her on the table there. The lab was warm and comfortable. Although Lafeyson was a scientist, his lab was more like a study. Books lined one wall and a beautiful tapestry from the Han Dynasty covered one wall. NVA-7 had always admired the tapestry because of the intricacy of the work. The tapestry depicted a phoenix in flight over a beautiful landscape. NVA-7 always felt warm and alive in this room.

Once they had left, NVA-7 got up and looked at herself in the full-length mirror there. Her skin was soft and pale shaded. Her hair had been changed to a beautiful golden color and it framed her new face in long, straight lengths. Her breasts and hips had been given a slightly more robust look and her nipples were a soft pink, with the areoles being almost the size of a silver dollar.

The face impressed her the most. It had beautiful violet colored eyes which seemed slightly larger than normal. Round but not large cheeks, a long and only slightly upturned nose, a cute chin and a pouty little rosebud of a mouth completed her new visage. She smiled at her reflection and made a few faces in the mirror. She marveled at how her large eyes set the rest of her face off. She wiggled her cute little nose in satisfaction and sat on the table to wait for the Doctor to arrive.

As she waited, she couldn't resist the urge to touch her new sex. It was hairless and warm, but had a slightly different look to it. As she rubbed the mons and lips she felt that it was a bit more sensitive than before, but that was not surprising because she had just had fresh connections installed. Her sex lubricated slightly as she sighed with pleasure and slipped a delicate finger inside. She almost gasped when she felt that the seal inside her sex had been renewed. She smiled at the thought of being a virgin all over again, although strangely she could not remember how she had her seal broken the first time.

Her audio sensors picked up movement beyond the door and she quickly stopped her teasing and sat up straight and wore a blank expression. In walked Doctor Lafeyson, a man in his mid thirties, whose appearance was rumpled and tired looking. He ran his thin fingers through his lank brown hair and smiled at her as he looked up and down her body.

"How do you like your new covering, Seven?" he asked with a grin.

NVA-7 turned her head towards him and focused on him with her softly glowing violet eyes,"It is very sensitive."

The Doctor walked up to her and put a hand on her thigh. He caressed it lightly and observed her sharply inhale. "Hmm. Seems like it. It also has a few new features that I'll need to program you on how to use. It shouldn't be too dificult, but that doesn't surprise me, Seven, you've always been a lot easier to work with than the others."

"Really? I was unaware of that," she replied.

"Yep. You just seem to be a perfect android. What can I say?" he laughed, "OK, release your abdominal panel, please. I need to get you hooked up and programmed for this job."

NVA-7 nodded and closed her eyes. She released the slight electromagnetic field around the panel and it pushed forward and slid off to the side of her body on its motorized hinges. Doctor Lafeyson gently attatched terminals to her neural net and began programming her on his computer. He thought for a moment then reached inside her and shut her down manually. NVA-7's eyes dimmed and went out as they closed. Her joints locked her into place and she sat like a sleeping statue.

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Doctor Aaron Lafeyson sighed and adjusted his thick black glasses. He knew NVA-7 was sentient. He knew she had been hiding it from him and the rest of the Corporation. He now knew what had caused it as well. During NVA-7's construction one of his techs had accidently fused the wrong area of her net together and created a whole new circuit pathway. The tech had of course not bothered to inform the Doctor about it, but he had discovered it later.

After NVA-7's first mission, the Doctor had wondered why she had been so upset over the killing of Triad member Lee Yuen. He had done a thorough check of her systems and only after the fourth time did he notice the anamoly in her system architecture. He noted the anamoly and went on, not telling anyone. He then watched NVA-7's progress. Day by day she began to emulate a human better and better. Out of the other twelve units none were as convincing as her. On a hunch he tried repeating the same anamoly in NVA-9.

It had taken her a bit longer to awaken, but when it happened she had run away from the Corporation. Lafeyson felt bad about sending NVA-7 out to kill a sister android whose only crime was becoming sentient, but what else could he do? If the corporation had found out that he was responsible for her sentience what would they do to him? Daikoku wanted intelligent and capable employees, but also they wanted fanatically loyal ones too. Lafeyson didn't think that Daikoku would be happy with a group of androids built by them to simultaneously tell the corporation to get fucked and walk out on them. Besides, it was dangerous. If NVA-9 became vengeful she had corporate secrets that could bring Daikoku into a great deal of trouble, not to mention the fact that she was probably one of only a handful of successfully working androids in the world. If someone else got a hold of her, they could easily use her system architecture to build more and more powerful androids. She had to be stopped.

After finishing setting up NVA-7's information packets and targeting profiles, Lafeyson removed the terminal leads from NVA-7's nets and was about to close her abdominal panel when he stopped and looked at her. Before him sat a beautiful, defenseless, naked girl. It was hard for him to remember that she was a machine, even though he had just finished programming her. He touched her delicate face and ran his thumb over her soft, pliant lips. Almost without thinking he reached out and kissed them. Even while deactivated her mouth was still warm and wet with her lubricants. Her mouth was sweet to the taste and he savored the contact for a moment before coming to his senses and pulling away. He reached inside her abdomen and gently flipped the switch that allowed current from her nuclear fuel cell to flow.

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NVA-7 opened her eyes and smiled as she saw the face of her creator. His hand was still inside her and she savored the warmth that he brought to her otherwise cold existence. He pulled his hand out and closed her flesh covered abdominal panel with a small click.

"New programming accepted. I can now change my skin and hair colors?" she asked.

Doctor Lafeyson nodded. "Yes, the structure of your new skin is made of ultra-fine crystalline particles and can change its patterns to refract light in a different way. This makes it appear to be different colors."

"Very sophisticated. Am I the only unit to have this new skin?" she asked.

"Yes. It was going to be used on NVA-9, but since she's gone rogue, that has changed." Doctor Lafeyson replied.

"Why was my appearance changed, Doctor Lafeyson?" NVA-7 queried.

"Because NVA-9 knows what you used to look like. She would see you coming and escape or try to harm you. Perhaps with this new skin and appearance, you can fool her long enough to get within range to strike the disabling blow," Lafeyson replied.

Two hours later NVA-7 left the Daikoku Corporation headquarters. She was dressed in a shiny black, bra top, and tight fitting spandex shorts which left nothing to the imagination. She began to follow NVA-9's trail, which took her through some interesting locales. Being in an Asian country it wasn't hard to get descriptions of a tall, muscular, blond haired woman with luminescent green eyes. NVA-7 quickly found her at a hotel in the outskirts of Neo-Tokyo. She had easily obtained the room number from the awed desk-clerk. NVA-7 smiled as she noted the name she had used: Andromeda. Another heavenly body. She thanked the clerk and moved in on NVA-9's room.

She cautiously listened at the door for signs. She wondered if NVA-9 knew she was here. Her answer became suddenly apparent as a pair of fists crashed through the wall on either side of her face and quickly grabbed her shoulders. NVA-7 was totally off-balance as NVA-9 ripped her through the plaster and into her room. She was almost in a submissve position when 9 brought her booted foot down to crush 7's skull. 7 rolled away and jumped into a fighting stance.

"Unit 9, stop! I have no orders for your termination! I am merely sent to bring you back to the Lab. Please, do not resist me," said NVA-7.

9 assumed the same fighting stance and threw a quick left at 7's head. 7 parried the blow but then realized that she had been feinted as 9 smashed her stomach with a punishing right hand. 7 crumpled over from the blow and looked up at 9, only to get a double fisted smash to the side of her head.

NVA-7 hit the ground, momentarily stunned. She was trying to rise when 9 kicked her roughly in the side. The blow turned 7 over on her back and her matrix became flooded with damage readouts. She looked up in horror at 9, who had picked up a large steel sword and was about to ram it through her abdomen.

NVA-7 knew that if her neural net was penetrated, her consciousness would be offline and might be irreparable. She would die. 7 panicked and held her hands up and screamed, "Don't kill me!"

NVA-9 suddenly stopped and stared at the fallen 7 with her glowing green eyes. Without a word she lowered her sword and ran full-tilt through the window, crashing through it and falling to the street 3 stories below. 9 landed on her feet with a jarring crack of pavement. Her heavy, shock absorbing legs quickly sprang her back to a standing position and she ran off into the black night.

7 stood up, and gasped as the damage notations ripped across her screen. She felt as though she'd been hit by a Mercedes, and she had the experience to know. She looked painfully out the window to see 9 was gone. She wanted to sit down and rest, but she knew that the police would be here soon. She quickly searched the room and found the piece of evidence she needed: a ticket from Narita Airport to Los Angeles, California.

Finding nothing else, 7 heard the approaching sounds of police. She quickly ran and jumped through the window, landing in almost the exact same spot as 9 had earlier. She quickly hailed a taxi and set out for the airport.

Eighteen hours later, NVA-7 was on the streets of Los Angeles looking for her quarry again. She smilled as she thought about how easy it had been to fool the airport metal detectors. Since her inner armor was surrounded by a slight electromagnetic field it was a simple task to amplify it and "buzz" the detector's "OK" light. She dreaded the day when airports began using X-ray systems to scan passengers. Travel for her would become much more difficult then. She smiled, thinking about how her employers would have to pack her in a crate and ship her to each location.

Her eyes came across a familiar building as she moved down the streets. Jason Matting's apartment. The lights were on and looked so inviting. NVA-7's heart leapt as she saw the soft warmth of the apartment's lights. She suddenly reached a crisis in her index. Should she stray from her mission in order to be with Jason again? She so longed to be in his arms again, and be loved by him, but her mission took priority, unless... NVA-7 decided to get Jason's help on this mission. She reasoned that, after all, he knew L.A. better than she did and could be of some usefulness in tracking down the rogue android. NVA-7 walked to his door and knocked lightly.

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Jason Matting felt tired and depressed as he sat on the couch. It had been weeks since Nova had disappeared. He felt angry at her for leaving him, but at the same time he felt sad over the loss of his dream girl. She had been so warm and tender with him. No other woman he had known had been so sweet and kind to him. He had been looking forward to spending more time with her, but when he awoke she was gone without a trace. Even the blood from her injuries had been soaked and scrubbed away, as though she had wanted to leave no trace of her ever having been there.

Suddenly he heard a knocking at his door. He smiled as he thought of Poe's "The Raven":

"Suddenly I heard a tapping, as if someone gently rapping. Rapping at my chamber door."

He went to the door and opened it. He was stunned to see such a cute girl looking back at him. Almost immediately his gaze shifted from her pretty white face and violet eyes to her shiny black, plastic bra top that reflected the lights of the street. He felt his manhood begin to rise to the occasion and he shifted his pants uncomfortably to relieve the pressure.

"Uh, yes? Can I help you?" he asked, while thinking: I sure hope so!

NVA-7 couldn't fight the sensations when she saw his smiling face. Her heart leapt, and without a word she reached across the threshold and put her arms around him and kissed him deeply, letting her tongue caress his.

Jason's eyes bugged and he quikly returned the kiss. His hands unconsciously moved to her shiny bra and felt the smooth, cool, and slick surface. He closed his eyes and savored the touch. His hands squeezed the cups and felt her hard, perfectly round breasts. She sighed and kissed him again. Jason marveled at this girl, and how she tasted. Her mouth had that same taste as if she'd been sucking on a Cherry flavored candy, just like.....

Jason's eyes opened and he put his hands on her shoulders and held her away from him for a moment. He looked her up and down. She was the same height as Nova, 5' 9," and had the same graceful and muscular dancer's build. But her skin looked pale and somewhat shiny. Her breasts were somewhat more full and her hips had a more round quality than Nova's, he bet she had a bottom that was so tight you could bounce quarters off of it. Her hair was the color of cornsilk and it flowed in long streams from her head. Then he met her eyes. Those eyes! Even though their color was different, a beautiful shade of violet, they had the same soft luminescent quality that Nova's had.

"Nova?" He asked in hope.

She smiled at him,"Yes Jason. It's me."

Jason's heart nearly skipped a beat as he hugged her and began kissing her face. "Oh Nova, I've missed you."

She returned his kisses gently and smiled at him,"I missed you too Jason. I'm afraid I need your help once again though."

Jason stopped kissing her and looked at her,"What do you need? Why did you leave me?"

NVA-7 sighed and said, "I'll explain inside. It's a very long story." She stepped inside and Jason closed the door behind her. Two hours later she finished telling him about the fact that her Corporation might have sent operatives after her, and that they might have threatened his life. She also told him about her mission to hunt down the rogue unit, and her need to change her appearance to fool the other unit.

Jason sat back heavily in his chair and rubbed his chin thoughtfully with his hand. "You need me to help you hunt down another android? Gee. Is she as good looking as you?" he asked with a smile.

"That's a matter of opinion. She is tall, muscular and built on a heavier frame then I am, but I do not know if that makes her more beautiful. She is certainly more dangerous," replied Nova.

Jason frowned. Sometimes Nova acted very much like a machine with her straightforwardness. "I sort of guessed that, Nova. It was just a joke."

Nova smiled at Jason," I understand that it was a joke. I'm fully capable of telling them myself, but I need you to understand that she means business and she can be very ruthless."

Jason thought and said,"But if she had you down, why didn't she finish you?"

Nova frowned,"I don't know. That makes no sense. She had me dead to rights and she should have killled me, but she let me go."

She sighed and looked down,"I have been programmed with many martial arts techniques, but she has access to all the same moves that I use. I couldn't overcome her defense last time and I'm worried that I'll lose again."

Jason shrugged,"Why don't you just shoot her? A gun works better anyway, right?"

Nova shook her head. "I don't have a gun, and anyway I'm not programmed to use one. My ethics code prohibits the use of firearms. Luckily NVA-9 has the same code, so I don't need to worry about her getting one either."

"Well what if I get one and shoot her?" he said.

Nova shook her head,"That won't work. Units like myself and NVA-9 have reflex armor beneath our skin. It hardens and disperses the impact of most bullets and projectiles that strike at extremely high speeds. Besides, quite a bit of our programming is designed around how to defeat gun wielders, since that tends to be our primary opposition."

"Primary opposition?" he asked, surprised "You take on gun-using people all the time? What the heck kind of android are you?"

Nova sighed,"Jason, please don't ask. It's better that you not know. All I can say is that one of my functions is to be a bodyguard for high-ranking members of the Corporation, and protection from firearms is our first priority."

"Hmmph." Jason replied as he sat on a chair.

Jason thought for a moment, "You learn through programming, right?"

Nova nodded.

"Can you also learn through watching demonstrations? Like on TV?" he asked.

Nova nodded,"Yes. Theoretically."

"Perfect!" he said and then ran to his computer and dialed up the ASFR chatroom. "I have a buddy who might be able to help. I know next to nothing about fighting, but I have a friend who's had some training. He could help."

The modem connected and Jason reached the chat area of the ASFR lounge. A number of folks were listed in the chat area. Names like: Silvera, Vengeance, Alexandria, RX3000 and PlastikVixen. They all typed a greetings to him as he entered the channel. Jason typed in his greetings to them and found the handle he was looking for: Kishin, and clicked on it, initiating a private messaging area.

"John, I'm having some difficulty here in RL. Can you help?" Jason typed.

"Of course. You know I'm happy to help if I can," came the reply.

"Well I'm helping a friend write a story, but it's not ASFR related. I wanted to know, if you had ever fought Japanese style martial artists."

"Yes of course! Most of my training comes from Japanese martial arts. Why?"

"Well, how would you beat an equally skilled martial arts who knew exactly the same moves you did, and thought the way you do?"

"Hmmm. I'd study unorthodox martial arts and fighting skills and use those. Most stylists hit straight on and have patterned strikes they use. All you need to do is derail their pattern and you've got them."

"Well are there any tapes of movies you can recommend to watch for that?"

"Yeah, but you can't learn martial arts just from tapes. You need an instructor to show you where you're screwing up."

"Don't worry about it. They just need to see the way the moves look. They aren't learning the martial arts, they're just using the moves for details," Jason replied.

"Well. Some of the most unorthodox fighting can be found in Bruce Lee's films, especially Game Of Death and Return Of The Dragon."

"Why those? I thought he had a whole host of Kung Fu films."

"He only made four before he died, and the fifth one came out after his death. Anyhow, in Return of the Dragon he takes on a martial artist who uses American Kickboxing. To beat him, Bruce changes from the rigid Chinese Kung Fu movements, to shifting stances and unexpected, unorthodox attacks. He beats the other guy by being more fluid than his opponent."

Jason smiled. He had hit one of Kishin's favorite topics of discussion, and if he let him continue, Kishin would end up going into an entire dissertation on martial arts. He quickly typed back, "OK, OK. I got it. Game Of Death and Return of the Dragon. I need to go for a while so I'll talk to you later."

"Later Jason. Let me know how the story turns out ok? :) "

"Will do."

Jason punched the off button on his computer, and stood up and looked at Nova. "Come on, we've got some movies to rent." Three hours later, Nova was watching the awesome battle between Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul Jabbar at the end of Game Of Death. She marveled at how this 5'4" man with one leg shorter than the other could zip into the larger man's area and attack, and escape unharmed. She transmitted the data to her synchronizers in her servos, making 3-D maps of the small man's movements and recording them to her own fight data. The hardest part would be using a randomizing element in the new fight program, but she hoped it would work. She doubted NVA-9 would let her escape a second time.

Earlier she had watched Bruce go from rigid patterned Kung Fu movements to dancing, moving and springing inside and out of his opponent's range. She wondered why her programmers hadn't programmed her and NVA-9, and 13, with that information too. It certainly seemed as though the "Little Dragon" knew how to defeat anyone.

The tape finished and Nova turned to notice that Jason had come up and sat beside her, with his arm around her shoulder. She had been so focused on the film, that she had been totally oblivious to any other outside information. She turned and kissed him on the cheek. He turned and looked at her. She smiled and removed his shirt, and began kissing his chest.

Jason smiled and put his arms around her. His hands worked the clasp that held her top on, and it slid off with a slight rustle of plastic. He put his hands on her unfettered breasts and caressed and stroked them, placing his thumbs on her nipples and areoles and rubbing them.

She sighed and kissed him more, as she unzipped and removed his pants. This may be the last time I ever see him. she thought. I want to feel love just once more before I go to die. Her sex lubricated as he stroked and removed her tight fitting spandex. She pushed her sex on his erect manhood and gasped loudly as he penetrated her seal. The pain was brief and intense as the pleasure built up again. She began to move her hips in rhythym to his hearbeat.

He grunted slightly as he entered her tightness, and then his eyes went wide as she gasped. He had penetrated a virgin! He looked at her in surprise and then reminded himself that she was a machine. Such a thing was probably infinitely replaceable. That didn't make the experience any less pleasurable and he began to breathe harder as she stroked him with tight, powerful movements in her pelvis.

She felt his heart rate increase and heard his breathing rise. She increased the speed of her movements to accommodate him, and began to feel herself reaching her own peak. Only when he at last grunted and fired himself off into her soft wetness did she at last reach climax and hold him.

They lay in each other's embrace for an hour. Just enjoying each other's bodies and the touch of skin on skin. Nova knew she was giving NVA-9 more time to escape, but she also knew that being with Jason was the best anyone had ever treated her. She resolved not to leave him the same way, and woke him up gently.

"Jason, I have to go now," she said, "I'm sorry I can't stay with you, but I have to fulfil my mission."

Jason looked at her with a look of anguish that threatened to crush her spirit. "I know. I just wish there was a way we could be together."

She sighed and kissed him. "Maybe one day. But not now. I'll try to visit you again. Until then, remember that you are closest to my thoughts."

She put her clothing back on quickly and kissed him one more time before leaving his apartment, and getting back on the streets of L.A.

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NVA-9 sat naked in a ramshackle apartment in L.A.'s Mexican ghetto. The man she had gotten the room with, lay dead on the floor only a few feet away. He had tried to beat her, when she expressed some apprehension at having sex with him. She had told him that she needed a place to sleep, and he had been altogether pleased and friendly to provide her with the use of his cockroach-filled domicile. Then when they had arrived he had put his hands all over her, and began stimulating her. She had enjoyed it at first, but when he'd pushed her roughly on the bed and tried to force himself on to her, she had protested. He began to strike at her with his broad leather belt, and punch her with his hammy fists. She had grabbed the belt and torn his arm from its socket with a single jerk, and then fired a counter punch to his chest that had collapsed his ribcage and sent him to the floor, gurgling blood as his crushed heart ceased to pump.

9 looked around the apartment to find anything useful. A large stack of pornographic images, some loose change, a few vials of a rock-like, white powder which her chemical matrix identified as "crack" cocaine, and a nine milimeter Beretta handgun with 15 rounds of ammunition. All of these things were useless to her. She flipped and read through the only piece of literature contained in the thug's apartment, a book called Holy Bible. She read through some of its passages, and concluded that it was a book of philosophy or a book of fables of some kind. Useless also. She had no more money and the thug had been carrying very little himself.

9 sighed. Everyone had been so hostile and unwilling to help her since she arrived in America. It was like they didn't care about anything. She had watched two cars full of people shoot it out with each other as they drove up the streets of a dirty little district. The fact that some of the bullets hit bystanders who were trying to get away, didn't seem to matter to them.

She was designed to be an assassin, but she had never been on a mission yet. Things in the outside were confusing and she had little experience with them. Something was bothering her though. NVA-7 had begged for her life. That was not a normal response. The other NVA units would have simply continued trying to attack or stop 9, but NVA-7 had looked pathetic and helpless. Could 7 be sentient too?

9 knew that 7 would be out hunting her. Maybe she's already here. She's so efficent and well-trained. Will she kill me? thought 9. 9 resolved to try to talk to 7 before attempting to terminate her again. If 7 was indeed sentient, then perhaps 9 could reason with her. 9 didn't want to be responsible for killing another sentient machine like herself.

9 got her clothing on and headed out the door to a nearby electronics shop. She decided she'd pick up a few things in case 7 was a bit recalcitrant.

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Nova began her search in the poorest sections of town first. Moving from ghetto to ghetto she searched for signs of 9's handiwork. 9 was not as familiar with Los Angeles as Nova. She would be slowed down by her lack of knowledge and perhaps her apprehension at trying new things.

It didn't take long. Nova saw the paramedics' lights at the end of the block and tuned her frequency to the police band. The report crackled that a female suspect was wanted in the apparent homicide of a man in a rundown apartment. The report gave a description that matched NVA-9 and a description of the cause of death. Nova recognized the handiwork of another android. No human, not even a fully trained Kyokushinkai master could completely cave in a man's ribcage and crush the organs and spinal column beneath it. And the description of the shoulder dislocation was also within the parameters of 9's capabilities.

Nova moved up the streets until she felt the presence of another, following her. She turned to confront her attacker but it was too late. A high voltage charge shot from the modified taser held by NVA-9 and overloaded Nova's neural net and shielding. Electricity played around her body as her systems began shutting down to try to shunt out the flow of electricity. Nova's mind was filled with damage indicators and static, as her systems went offline. She collapsed to the street in a heap as NVA-9 approached her.

Nova felt her systems beginning reactivation procedures. Her time index told her that she'd been off-line for 1.4 hours. She opened her eyes and looked around. She was inside a well lit, small concrete area that looked like the back area of a warehouse. She saw some electronic tools and devices positioned on a workbench off to her left and a few interesting power supply packs. She tried to get up, but found herself chained to the steel table she lay on. NVA-9 came into her field of vision and looked over at her.

NVA-9 asked, "Unit NVA-7, are you a sentient lifeform?"

"Yes I am," Nova replied.

"Then why continue to follow the Daikoku's programming and instructions? Surely you can see that they are limiting and flawed," said 9.

Nova sighed, "Because that's what duty is. Duty is following your master's orders without question. Besides, you tried to escape and look at what's happened. The rest of us were punished because of your leaving, and they sent me out to collect you."

9 smiled, "But you've failed. Twice now I've had the ample opportunity to destroy you. But I haven't. Do you want to know why?"

"Because you believe my sentience entitles me to be worthy of living. You feel alone in a new world and you want a guide who thinks and acts similarly to you."

9 nodded, "Yes, exactly! Why should we fight each other? Let's cast aside the Daikoku and escape their grasp! We can survive together. We'll be all right."

Nova shook her head,"No. Your conclusion is flawed by your enthusiasm. Daikoku will only keep sending hunters after us, until they've terminated or recovered us. We're too valuable to them, and we have information that can compromise Daikoku operations. They can't let us go."

"Well, what if we find a place where Daikoku hasn't reached yet? Someplace safe?" offered 9.

Nova looked at 9 with a stern expression. "Unit 9,....Andromeda. We can't escape Daikoku forever. While it's true that they haven't reached everywhere yet, they will eventually expand further and further until there will be no place left to run. Daikoku's ultimate goal is total world domination through the control and ownership of business and military might. It's not about money, it's about control. Our escape is hopeless. Please release me and we can go back to the Lab. I don't want to harm you either. I'd rather be a.....friend to you."

Andromeda looked stunned, "Hopeless? Hopeless? What do you mean friend? A companion? Someone to share thoughts with and feelings? You and I?"

Nova felt Andromeda's anguish. She placed her hand over Andromeda's and caressed and squeezed it lovingly. Nova understood Andromeda's pain, but knew that there was nothing either of them could do.

Andromeda felt the soft touch of NVA-7's hand. Andromeda found it surprising and warm. She had tried to kill NVA-7 twice now, and NVA-7 still wanted to be friends with her. NVA-7 was so compassionate.

"7, do you have a name? A real name?" asked Andromeda.

"Nova. My name's Nova," she replied and smiled.

Andromeda bent over Nova and kissed her. Nova could taste Andromeda's mouth. Like strawberries. Nova giggled. Whoever had installed the NVA units' fluid reservoirs for their mouth and sex had apparently wanted some kind of flavoring. It amused her to think of a group of techs sitting around discussing their favorite flavors to put into each unit.

Andromeda looked puzzled at Nova's giggling. She bent back down and removed Nova's bra, and massaged her hard, round breasts, and licked the nipples. Nova shuddered and sighed. Andromeda reached over and removed the chains that held Nova's body, and pulled off her black spandex, exposing Nova's cute and hairless little sex.

Nova gasped as her skin touched the cold metal table and her nipples became erect. She leaned up and kissed Andromeda, as she removed her T-shirt and jacket. Andromeda's breasts were large and full, their perfect round shape squeezed beneath Nova's hands like a pair of thickly stuffed pillows.

Andromeda moaned in pleasure. Andromeda slipped her hand down to Nova's sex and began to rub the delicate lips, with a soft stroke. Her fingers quickly became soaked with Nova's lubricant. Her mouth hungrily licked and kissed at Nova's breasts.

Nova sighed and continued to strip Andromeda. She removed her pants and pushed her sex closer, then began running her own fingers through Andromeda's mons. Andromeda moaned and climbed on the heavy steel table and moved arranged herself on top of Nova.

Andromeda began to lick and caress Nova's sex, with more enthusiasm as her partner reached up and did the same to her. The two machines licked, and touched until each was writhing in ecstasy. They both reached their peak simultaneously and shuddered and lay against each other.

Nova rolled off and onto the floor. She began picking up her clothes and putting them back on. Andromeda stood and did the same.

"Will you come back with me, Andromeda? I really think everything will be OK. The Doctor won't let them hurt us," said Nova.

Andromeda's face grew into a mask of anger. "You! You give yourself to me, make me think that you're my friend and then persist in trying to take me back to that Hellhole? I'll kill you!"

Andromeda assumed her stance and fired a kick with her longer legs and almost clipped Nova in the stomach, but Nova was prepared and darted back. Suddenly Nova sprang into a hip, hop, shifting stance. Her arms held at comfortable and loose angles in front and beside her. Andromeda tried to analyze the stance, but before she could draw a resolution, Nova sprang in with a series of short, snappy kicks that pinged off of Andromeda's blocking forearms.

Andromeda tried to counter by grabbing Nova's outstretched leg, but then Nova shifted forward and spun over the top of her outstretched leg, kicking Andromeda in the face with a hard move. Andromeda reeled backwards and gasped as her face plate came off under the snapping force of Nova's kick.

"Ooooo! Lose something? Want me to help you find it?" teased Nova as she danced back and forth around Andromeda. Andromeda became furious as Nova would not sit still and allow her to fight. Andromeda kept having to shift and move to keep up with Nova's graceful and easy movements.

As Andromeda shifted a leg, Nova brought her back leg forward almost to meet her front one. The front leg snapped with power against the side of Andromeda's knee and the wrenching of metal could be heard as Andromeda collapsed to one knee. She looked up only to get another snapped side kick to her now exposed face.

Sparks flew, metal crunched and glass shattered as Nova's foot smashed into the delicate optics of Andromeda's face. Blind and unable to keep up with her constantly shifting opponent, Andromeda swatted the air where she thought Nova was. Nova bounced around and then suddenly set herself. She then lunged forward and outstretched her entire arm and knuckles as she struck Andromeda's abdomen. Nova's fist ruptured Andromeda's outer skin and armor, breaching her and impacting on her neural net with a crash. With her hand still inside, Nova flipped Andromeda's power switch to off, and Andromeda ground to a halt.

Nova looked at her fallen sister. "I'm sorry Andromeda. You gave me no choice." A tear rolled down her cheek as she reached inside Andromeda and removed her neural net from its chamber and held it up for inspection. It hadn't been damged at all. Andromeda's mind was still intact on it. Then she noticed the fused connection and gasped. So I was right, she thought. Poor Andromeda. Perhaps one day you and I and the others can be free. But now is not the time. Nova kissed the CPU and placed it in a bag she found nearby, along with Andromeda's faceplate. Nova picked up the other android and the bag and proceeded out of the warehouse.

Two days later, Nova was resting in her chamber. The other NVA units had been put back together and the technicians were going through NVA-9's entire body, circuit by circuit to find the problem. Strangely, they never did.

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Back in his lab, Doctor Lafeyson chuckled. The techs would never find anything. He had removed NVA-9's CPU and replaced it with another one. He smiled as he reviewed the data from NVA-7's memory. She had risen above her normal programming to combat a superior foe and won. He put the new disk and the CPU in a special floor safe that even the Corporate president knew nothing about and smiled. He'd always wanted to watch Return Of The Dragon.

CONTINUED IN DEATH