little robots in ringback tones.

[heartlessglitch]

WHO: danger & YOU!
WHERE: various locations around heropa and cape canaveral!
WHEN: 05/01-05/03.
WHAT: robot lady adventures in spicy food and terrorists!
WARNINGS: tbd.

a: local park (morning/organic form)
[ Danger's organic body was, truthfully, not as different from her mechanical container as one might have imagined. There were certainly stark contrasts-- but this body required maintenance, just as much as her armored chassis did. Besides, when the recent attempts on her psychiatrist's life, she'd had a lot on her mind, to say the least. She needed time to herself to think. So she took her human-like form out to run, early in the morning before the heat and the sun became too harsh. Her path took her through the Heropa's residential area, out to the local park.

But she wasn't doing much running at the moment. A progressive pain in her right leg had grown intense enough that even the self-titled war machine needed a moment on a bench, hands kneading the muscle as she attempted to assess herself. Analysis was easier with a computerized brain-- the kind of brain that didn't feel pain to begin with.

It could end up being a long (limping) walk home. ]



b: food truck (afternoon/organic form)
[ It had been easier to force herself to experiment with foods when she'd had a companion with a more adventurous palate-- but with fellow robot Steve counted among those lost between this universe and the last, science and progress had to be the motivation for what Danger had come to think of as tests. Despite having lived in her organic body on and off for months on months now, she was still gastronomically inexperienced, so to speak. Partially through her own unwillingness to put anything too unusual into her mouth. Taste was one sense she was still adjusting to. It was still new.

But after the incident at the house-- the one where a sadistic housemate had decided to serve weaponized tofu for dinner-- she had become determined to adapt. To educate herself. To increase her tolerance through trial by culinary fire.

Danger stood outside an Indian food truck with a styrofoam container full of curry, staring into its depths as though she might be able to pick it apart with her mind if she stared long enough. In her human-like body, it was impossible to ignore the strong smell (foreign to her, and burning ever so slightly at her sinuses). This was the being that had single-handedly thrown half a dozen of the finest X-Men around like rag dolls, facing off with a cup of spicy curry as though it were an unstable nuclear reactor.

Finally, she lifted a spoonful to her mouth. For a long moment, she didn't chew. Or swallow. Or do much of anything besides stand there. Still. Eyes narrowing ever so slightly. Seconds ticked by-- and unceremoniously, the unknowable and infinite entity that called herself "Danger" parted her lips to let that spoonful of curry slowly fall from her mouth onto the sidewalk. ]



c: cape canaveral streets (night/robotic form)
[ This situation was not ideal. Of course, being a robot, she was calculating and considering any number of possible resolutions to the circumstances at hand. Though it was complicated by the fact that her suspect-- a man in a hoodie, average, tachycardic, body temperature rising-- was currently holding a handgun to the head of a homeless civilian, who in turn looked approximately two seconds from passing out. ]

Stand down.
I am a government agent, and I am authorized to negotiate on your behalf if you release the hostage.

[ Though it was getting more likely that if the suspect didn't quickly bend to her demands, she would be forced to utilize any number of the weapons at her disposal to neutralize him. That would mean paperwork later, and dealing with politics. This was, after all, Homeland Security she was working for. There were some liberties she could take, certainly, but still.

It needed to be dealt with as cleanly as possible. It was lucky enough that the late hour meant there wasn't a gawking crowd about, even exposed out on the street like this. ]

Drop your weapon.
I will not repeat my request again.

Comments

[slightlyoffchilt]

Then if you cannot undo it, Danger. [He exhaled, watching her intently. His tone adopted a pressing persuasion.] Make it up to me.

[He allowed her motions, her control tweaks, the rebuttoning of his shirt. The knot of his tie. He watched her all the while, never disputing the actions she laid claim to -- but when he was over, when she had polished him up once more, then he rested his hands on her shoulders.

Chilton was calm, eased. No secretion would happen from any power-imbued fingertips.]

Make it up to me.

[heartlessglitch]

[ She let him touch her without resistance or protest, giving him only her scrutiny as his hands came to rest atop her shoulders. A slight uncertainty curved her mouth downward in a subtle frown as she watched him, the fine circuits and wires of her mind turning his demand-- or suggestion?-- over a few times with something between suspicion and curiosity.

The atmosphere between them had shifted yet again.

She pressed the physical advantage of her height and armored build, taking a purposeful step closer to him, eating up what little space remained. It was a conscious choice, to keep him between her and the walls of the buildings framing the alleyway-- a rock and a hard place, so to speak. ]

How do you envision that I might accomplish that, Doctor?
Assuming, of course, that I even concur that there is a debt here to be paid.

[slightlyoffchilt]

You have an inkling, I'm sure.

[Chilton leaned over, upwards -- her height advantage made the seduction more difficult, perhaps even somewhat comical. But Chilton, motivated by a savaged vanity, sought a victory.]

It will likely parallel what agreements we already have in place.

[Intimacy, he means. He forced transparency onto the phrasing when his mouth pressed against her neck -- not in a kiss, but a baring of teeth. Bone against metal.]

[heartlessglitch]

[ In that hard armored body, she had no pulse that could be quickened, no breath to find caught in her throat, no vulnerable skin for biting and bruising. But she was aware of him, of the way his teeth pressed against the metal of her throat. She wasn't immune to that either, vividly aware of the implications, framed in her perfect memory of the times they had been together before.

Her eyes narrowed faintly. Then she moved-- gripping his wrists tightly, purposeful and harsh, in her iron grip as she pushed forward again, forcing his back flush against the wall behind him. The advantage of her height made it easier to press her thigh between his legs, her unyielding mechanical body barely separated from his. Controlled, precise aggression.

Lowly, and not entirely devoid of a threat: ]

Is this what you had in mind, Doctor?

[slightlyoffchilt]

[His pulse, entirely too human, throbbed with excitement. The wrists that were held captive by her steel-worn hands couldn't move, and that left Chilton effectively locked into place -- and nevertheless, despite the parted-lipped shock sprawled across his face, he felt invigorated. Enticed. The austere pressure between his legs inspired a warmed glow.

Chilton stared at Danger, wondering if she could sense it; much like the blood pressure gauges he had forced onto Abel Gideon, could she determine the quickness of his arousal? Did she know what stimulated him within those composed moments, before his body began to react?]

Is it because you want to humiliate me?

[The back of his skull pressed against the alleyway wall.]

Or because you want to galvanize me?

[heartlessglitch]

[ She was more of a challenge to rile in this body. This form, familiar and natural to her, was not as vulnerable as her skin and bones. Manipulation required a higher degree of finesse. She was a far cry from omniscient, but her circuits and wires opened the world up to her in a different way. She could read his pulse, his temperature, his heartbeat-- all the things that betrayed his physical response.

Her own reaction was harder to read. She offered nothing more than the pressure of her chassis pushed up against him, neither escalating nor withdrawing. Her voice was that same soft mechanical hum, steady despite their situation. ]

Which fantasy do you prefer, Doctor?

[slightlyoffchilt]

Are the options -- ah, mutually exclusive?

[He glanced at her, smirking. Chilton writhed under her grip, careful and meticulous in his squirm, ensuring that the sensation he emitted was one taunting and tantalizing. He understood the boundaries of their interaction in this moment; she maintained the physical prowess, the decisions. He was free to react.

And manipulate.

Physically, her circuits might not be as receptive as a flesh-toned figure would be, but Chilton had always favored the intellectually manipulative pathway. He would give a little, to coax getting a little.]

Why don't you do what you want? Maybe that's what I want to see.

[heartlessglitch]

[ She recognized that smirk, the way he wore it. It was an expression that had become familiar to her. She knew the man to be as calculating as she was-- she knew there was some purpose to this, to the words he chose and even the way he moved against her. In Danger's mind, there was always an ulterior motive where Frederick Chilton was concerned.

But even with that knowledge, she didn't withdraw. This was not a situation that called for retreat. Her control was not yet that far threatened. Instead, she released his wrists, leaving them only slightly reddened from the firmness of her grip-- giving him some illusion of control for himself.

It was blatant, mocking mimicry when she tipped his chin up with her fingertips, making him look up at her. ]

There are a great many things I could to do you, Doctor.
Not all of them pleasant.
Do you know what you are inviting?

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Before he could rub his reddened wrists, before he could tend to the temporary marks she had made, he found his chin perched on her stern fingers. He couldn't look away -- she wouldn't have allowed it. So his tightened lips compressed into a thin line, and his chest expanded as his lung filled with a deep breath. She wanted a display, didn't she? Danger wanted his to react; her intentions weren't unalloyed.

Both individuals had been playing this game for quite some time.]

I know you better than anyone else here.

[A bold assertion, and perhaps not entirely true. Abel Gideon understood parts of her, Kirei understood parts of her; Danger had friends outside of Chilton's sight, who understood parts of her. Just as Chilton understood (different) parts of her.

But it was his craving ambition that demanded more, the sum of those parts.]

I know when you'll restrain yourself -- it's hardly cause for concern.

[heartlessglitch]

[ She didn't argue with him. Perhaps his assertion wasn't entirely true-- but it wasn't entirely false either. Close enough to the mark. Frederick Chilton understood her in a way that few did-- he riled her to her darker impulses, taunted the violent and possessive aspects of her nature, the things she hid under that cool, impassive exterior. He had peeled some of that armor back to expose the part of her that was still young and volatile, driven by her inexperienced emotions.

Here, with him pressed against the wall and his words working their way through her wires, it was hard to say which part of her-- that emotional part, or the logical one-- was winning out as she stared at him, watching him. ]

If I were to make an attempt on your life, Doctor, I would not be so gracious as to leave you with a simple scar.
I may practice restraint, but I dislike to leave a task unfinished.
Perhaps in that sense, between the two of us, you should prefer Abel Gideon.

[ It was easy to let her hand shift from where she urged his chin up to curl her fingers around his throat. She exercised perfect control-- loose at first, then easing into something tighter, threatening without cutting off air. Just enough to make him uncomfortable first. ]

Were you pleased to know that we argued over you?

[slightlyoffchilt]

Argued over me? To what effect?

[The details that he craved, those were not forsaken. It was through information that he could begin to regain control; Chilton appreciated their dynamic. He even enjoyed the sharpness of her control, how it caged him with metallic whispers and steel pressure points.

But he was curious about her. He was so deeply curious about her, and as he looked at her now, he knew his investment would only deepen.]

Were you fighting over me?

[Chilton smiled, teasing her with the implication of possession. He broadened his shoulders, his chest fighting a concave posture. The dynamic displayed his torso rather well -- it latched onto a confidence he had lapsed.]

Should I be concerned?

[heartlessglitch]

[ She lingered on the sensation of his throat working against her metal fingers as he spoke. Restrain prevented her from doing more than simply considering the idea of abruptly tightening her grip, crushing bone and cartilage all too easily. Perhaps they'd begun to move somewhat past her wanting him dead. He'd become something of a necessary evil to her. Familiar, even.

Her grip turned into something more like a caress, her thumb brushing over the pulse in his throat. ]

You associate with murderers.
You should always be concerned, Doctor.

[ She leaned closer, her face just scant inches from his-- close enough that all the fine little mechanical parts of her eyes were visible as she focused on him, the light shifting ever so slightly as the malleable metal of her mouth formed words. Remarkable craftsmanship, self-designed and self-realized. ]

In order to take control for himself, Abel Gideon had to rob me of my own.
At the time, I was angry with him.
We had a confrontation that ended without immediate resolution.
It was a great deal of trouble over you, Frederick.

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Her caress soothed his defense; just as his shoulders squared, they softened in the next few moves. Her fingers along his throat caused him to perk and listen. Chilton watched, warily, as Danger leaned closer.]

We have both cause you a great deal of trouble, it seems.

[No correction on her use of his first name. The emphasis boiled, and enticed him.]

But yet, here you are. All the more majestic in our antagonism.

[Antagonism between himself and Gideon, he meant. But alternative interpretations could ring just as soundly. Chilton's hand slipped up and along Danger's hip, seeking to satisfy its own tactile curiosity. The motion, with his whispering fingertips, smoothed over suggestions in small, circular rubs.

He cocked a sharper grin at her, and swallowed.]

[heartlessglitch]

[ She delayed her answer to concentrate on the way his throat worked under her grasp as he swallowed, lingering on the slight motion beneath her palm before she finally responded to him: ]

Conflict, it seems, is an effective precursor to intimacy.
I find myself inexplicably closer with both of you.

[ Under his hand, she was smooth and cold, unyielding in her metal chassis-- a sharp contrast to the way she was in her organic form. She was all soft skin then, shoulders rising and falling on shortened breaths, eyes half-lidded. So convincingly like a real woman. But in that alleyway, there was no denying how alien she was. Infinite, immortal, unknowable-- and yet, despite the vast knowledge of that computerized mind, she was singularly fascinated with the human being in front of her. She let herself watch him another moment before she tilted her head, just enough to brush her cool mouth against his, just the fleeting ghost of a kiss. ]

I am uncertain which I prefer:
For you to find me beautiful, or frightening.

[slightlyoffchilt]

I don't see why they're mutually exclusive options.

[He drew out the wording, his infamous tongue licking over his teeth after speaking -- Chilton tasted his own words, as well as the faint metallic glow along his lips, where she had kissed him. Briefly.]

It isn't as if you're unaware of your power inherent, Danger.

[He smoothed his fingertips upwards along her waist, careful not to cut his own skin. She was an aptly named individual, after all, and he wasn't as familiar as he claimed to be about her terrain. She was chilled to touch, with the post-heat humidity of the air cooling her magnificent form. He lifted upward his chin by a few degrees, exposing the taut feel of his vocal chords against his flesh, for her benefit. It was an offering.]

And you know that power can offer attainment.