The town of Bossier wasn’t very far. With HVP as a viable option, Nexus Alpha, Reefdancer and Cerberos all arrived within fifteen minutes. They hadn’t been able to fly at top speed, risking showing up on radar, but they were still well ahead of the arriving hostile mechs. And it had given Epoc some time to really let the chair go to work on her. She was practically cooing in her cockpit’s gentle grip by the time they arrived. 

“How are you two holding up?” Aaliya said as they walked through the streets of Bossier. There wasn’t that much to walk through, but they had to find the best places to lie in wait. It was highly unlikely the TransAm Frames would avoid the town. After all, if there was an artillery station here, it would have the perfect cover to fire on them if they tried to go around. 

“Peachy keen, Wardog,” Epoc said. “Eager to get going.”

“Glad to hear it, Nexus. Hey, who knows, maybe you’ll earn yourself a callsign. What about you, Barrier?”

“You think I could get a potato chip dispenser installed in my chair if I bent over for my Handler?” Hexacorallia asked. “There’s gotta be someone I can bend over for who will do it because Diana isn’t interested.”

“I think that means she’s doing alright,” Epoc said. She could feel Aaliya rolling her eyes through the com. 

“Why does Mako Group keep her around?”

“Mascot potential,” Epoc said. 

“Of course.” Cerberos smacked itself in the forehead, creating a loud, hollow bang that reverberated through the windows of the town. “How did I not think of that?”

Looking around, Epoc moved her mind to tactics. The gentle caress of her Handler continued, and she found herself gently riding the constant wave of endorphins. Still, a plan had to be made. “What are you thinking?”

Aaliya pulled up a map on their shared link. It was easy to miss, but there was a little note in the corner that told her Hex did not have editing permissions. Probably for the best. She was a beast in battle but that didn’t mean she didn’t draw cocks on your map. 

“They’re going to be coming in from the northwest,” Aaliya said. “I recommend Reefdancer and Nexus take the two large towers here, since it covers your silhouette better.”

“And you?” Epoc asked.

“Taking suggestions,” Aaliya said. “I want as many of them to pass by as possible, so we can pincer them. If we can take out three or four of them in surprise, the others will likely scatter and they’ll be easy to pick off.”

“What about the plaza, over there?” Epoc said, pointing. “It’s enclosed on three sides by the structures around it. The garage next to it creates enough shadow for you to hide in if you power down.”

There was a moment of silence, then Aaliya’s voice came back over the coms. “Shit, Epoc. Yeah. That’ll probably work. Alright, I’ll wait for them to pass me. From that angle I’ll have several in my sights if they keep their formation and — let’s be honest — these corpo Frames aren’t usually all that imaginative.”

“Wardog, we’re corpo Frames.”

“Hardly. Alright. Barrier. Nexus. Get in position. Wardog out.”

Epoc moved out ahead of Hexacorallia and tried to contain her excitement. This was her first time going out on a mission with the other two, and she wanted to make a good impression. And her Handler, of course. That was a given. “Winter?” she asked.

“Here, Epoc. Always. You’re performing well with the others. I’m proud of you.” Epoc purred as the handler’s invisible fingers ran across her jawline. A more integrated headset. Another part of the changes she’d made. Freeing up her mouth for… other things, should her Handler so desire. 

“Please advise,” Epoc said. 

“Now, you wait,” Winter said, a little more businesslike. “The enemy will be on you in approximately five minutes. Keeping an eye on their location. How fired up are you?” 

“I could be more fired up,” Epoc said, a little hopefully. 

A finger grazed her lower lip and her mind, already addled and fully activated, opened her mouth for her. She was a good girl. A loyal Hound. A Good Hound. She drooled around the finger as it pressed down on her tongue, Winter’s voice whispering sweet everythings in her ear. 

“You’re my Hound,” the Handler said. “You’re the most powerful pilot in the most powerful machine on this planet and you’re mine to do with as I please. I’ve tasted you and I’ve been inside you and I will consume you, over and over and over again, until we are both satisfied.” 

The hands on her body continued their relentless assault, the plug inside her started to slide in and out at a slow but steady pace, every single *pop* of it slipping out causing Epoc’s brain to explode in tiny stars and lightning bolts for a second, before sliding back in, her cock being incessantly milked and pushed to the edge, over and over again, before denying her release. 

“Now, Hound,” Winter said. “Bark.”

The fingers pushed down more, pushing her jaws apart. She tried to bark. All that came out was a needy, desperate moan. She could feel her saliva dripping down the digits in her mouth and she didn’t care. She wanted to please her Handler. 

“Good girl. Now.” The plug popped out. A hand squeezed the base of her cock. “Get ready. Combat routines initializing.”

Epoc shook her head and bit her lip. “Fuck.”

“Good?” When they had a moment in private, Epoc would have to find a way to tease Winter about how cute she was when she was insecure. Would that be okay? Was that overstepping? Well, one way to find out. Worst case scenario, she’d be ‘punished.’ Oh no.

“Very good,” she said, her hips still bucking slightly. “Weapons charged.”

“Excellent. I can see your systems from here, but talk me through your choices, Epoc.”

“We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for this mission,” Epoc said as she kept an eye on her map. Nine dots moved across simulated terrain, with a little reminder that these were estimates and not exact actual locations. “Because of that, I had to prepare for several different outcomes. Right hand is a high-spread ENCANTO shotgun, core ventilation rounds.” 

One of Diana’s inventions. Nexus Alpha ran hot. Hotter than most Frames, due to the extensive Higgs field that kept it light. So, that heat needed venting. Where better to vent it than into a specifically designed ammo chamber? Only thing worse than taking a faceful of buckshot was if that buckshot was superheated slag. Sure, it was estimated to go through barrels at a rate of — roughly — one per sortie. Estimated, because nobody so far had been stupid enough to try it. Enter Epoc. Epoc had brain damage. Epoc wanted to watch the gun go boof.

“Left hand free with a forearm guard to deflect fire at the cockpit, for mobility and versatility,” She continued. She didn’t want to elaborate on the fact that, if track record was anything to go by, she was pretty good with her bare hands. Big punchy. “Left shoulder is high velocity high yield grenade launcher for medium and long range encounters. Last resort in urban environments, but it pays to be prepared.”

“Excellent choices. And the right shoulder?”

“Happy Newyear,” Epoc said. There was a short laugh on the other side of the line.

“And I’m sure you had no selfish reason for picking that one,” Winter said. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, it’s an incredibly effective weapon at both short and medium ranges, and is ideal for both armored and soft targets.” That the DT-RED ‘Happy Newyear’ Gatling Cannon it had a theoretical firing rate of 2,000 rounds per minute, which was going to set her every nerve on fire when she pulled the trigger, was just, uh, well, it was just convenient, wasn’t it?

“Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out, Epoc. Now, be a good Hound and boost those sensors. They’re coming and I want you on your toes.” The plug slid in a little deeper. 

Epoc gasped, and overtuned her sensors. It wasn’t something that was recommended pilots do. It wasn’t something she had ever trained for. The neural load. Of course. Which meant it was available to her now. Not that she had no idea what she was getting herself into. Boosting sensors meant that every single camera, every single tactile, thermal, electromagnetic and visual sensor on the Frame sent its information into her, all at once.

It wasn’t quite a neural interface, but the fact that Nexus Alpha could read her movements like someone reading a book wasn’t a one way street. Not entirely. 

As every sensor came online, Epoc burned like the sun. Every single one of her nerves sparked with an impossible electricity as it tried to process information it wasn’t designed for. Her eyes tried processing vision in a full 360 degree radius. Her skin itself tingled where she could feel the electromagnetic vibrations. She could taste the coolant in the air as it was being filtered through exhaust vents. And every movement from Nexus Alpha she felt in her bones a hundred times over. It was like someone had grabbed her brain with both hands and pulled, stretching it to its limit. 

“Holy shhhhit,” she whispered.

“You’re okay, Epoc,” Winter said. “You’re doing just fine. Neural activity is off the charts but you can take it. I know you can.”

“Thanksss fffor the vvvvote of confffidence, Hhhhandler,” Epoc slurred. She moved her shoulders. Nexus Alpha was like a bundle of raw sensations, but she was more connected to it than ever. And she could feel everything. Including the hostiles that had entered the town. Three on her right. One on her left. Three more close to Reefdancer. Two tailing behind. She opened the map, not so much to look at it but to feel it. The last two were coming up on Cerberos. 

She took a deep breath, both in person and as Nexus, the Hound and her Frame both sniffing the air, trying to get any more information. They were almost on her. Just one more street and one of them would turn a corner and see her. Well. Best not to let them wait.

“I’m going in, Handler. Wardog, Barrier, now.”

Nexus Alpha moved, so much quicker than it had any right to. First, eliminate threat from one side. She spun to her left, around the corner, leveling the ENCANTO with both hands. In an instant, Nexus Alpha bombarded her with data. She didn’t need to read it, she could feel it like her Frame could. Where the shoulder joints connected. The weakness on the upper legs. She recognized the make and model of the cockpit. She could almost taste the paint on its chassis where its name, NOVA, had been lovingly stenciled. 

Her Frame’s cyberwarfare package launched everything within a microsecond and uploaded all of it to her Handler. Epoc cracked open her target’s com link and shoved her whole face into it, like a hyena in a carcass.

“Hi!” she shouted over their network, then pulled the trigger. The feedback was perfect. The recoil of the massive weapon against her shoulder was ecstasy. The sound. The heat coming off the gun. The smell of superheated ammunition filtered through the air. The way the wall of lead tore through the beta frame, easily forty feet shorter than her, and ripped its internals away in a hail of soot and steel. 

She was rock hard. She was dripping. She was in her element. Epoc gyrated in her seat. The hiss of cooling metal was the only sound for a second, and then the town exploded as ten other Frames all opened fire at once. 

With a howl and a grin, Epoc jumped into the fray.

Elamimax

Alright! If you want to support me, you know where to do it. Currently I'm working on an already-novel-length work called Far Horizon that is only available for Patrons that is Not About Pirates, I Swear, as well as a few other things :)

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