“And you could overpower him, yes?”
“He was designed by Richard Hewman.”
“Who?”
“The creator of all humandroids.”
“Is he still alive?”
Tesla shrugs. “No one has seen him since his disappearance.”
“That’s right, Lorem Ipsum told me Hajime was a one-of-a-kind,” he says, thinking back to his rooftop breakfast with the head of MercSecure. “But you are newer, better, faster, stronger, are you not?”
“We have the same capacity for combat. He may know more about it, even with all the protocols I’ve uploaded along with the training and experiences I’ve had.”
“But you can match him?” Kodai asks as the aeros picks up speed. He feels the effects of gravity in his chest; the feeling subsides almost instantly. The smell of flowers meets his nostrils as a fresh floral fragrance is pumped into the air of the vehicle.
“I believe I can.”
“Good. Then you will crush him.” He grinds his fist into his free hand. And at that statement, the thought comes to him that he will thwart in his mother’s plan to use Hajime as a carrot on a stick for Ryuk.
Good, fuck her.
He remains silent, his thoughts on the future, as his vehicle nears the skyrise condo he calls home. Once they land, Kodai hardly pays attention to the pair of thugs in the lobby or the single bonsai tree on display as he follows Tesla to the elevator. As soon as they reach the top and they’re in his home, he slips into his house shoes and announces, “I need a nap.”
“Do you want a massage?”
Taken by surprise, Kodai turns to Tesla.
“You give massages?”
She tilts her head and offers him a soft smile. “I do, any type you’d like.”
Kodai gulps and slowly finds himself nodding his head. It’s been years since he had a massage, mostly because he doesn’t like people touching him, especially people he doesn’t trust.
And why do you trust her? he asks himself in his head.
With no answer, Kodai simply waves her into his bedroom.
After removing her boots, Tesla follows close behind him as he walks down a long hall to his bedroom at the very end.
The defining feature of Kodai’s bedroom is an eight by eight Rorschach ink blot above his bed. The black stain matches his sheets, also black and freshly pressed, which he has changed daily. The only other thing in his room is a sleek, gunmetal dresser across from his bed with an obligatory holoscreen above it.
“Take off your shirt,” Tesla tells him, “and lie down on your belly.”
Kodai removes his jacket, his thin black tie, and slowly unbuttons his dress shirt. He moves to the closet to hang everything, and once it is hung, he reenters the room in a white tank top. “Pants too?” he asks.
“Up to you.”
He returns from his closet moments later in a pair of boxers.
“Lie down on the bed.”
Kodai does as instructed, not sure why he’s following the humandroid’s commands but also not opposed to it. Once he’s good and comfortable with his head turned to the side, Tesla tells him to relax his arms and open them slightly.
He does so, and she quickly climbs onto his back, her thighs straddling his thighs.
Kodai feels an erection coming on and tries to will it away.
As Tesla kneads the muscles on his back, he focuses on her hands instead, noticing how much they feel like a human’s hands. Warm to the touch, soft, yet massaging his muscles firmly, Tesla keeps up her pace as a host of sensations wash over Kodai’s body.
“This is … great,” he mumbles, completely overcome by the experience. She seems to know every muscle to hit and the pressure necessary to stimulate it. Tesla moves down his spine, massaging around each bone and scratching her fingers down his back.
“You carry a lot of stress here,” she says, refocusing on his neck muscles.
“You’re right.”
“Your mother stresses you.”
“She does.”
Tesla laughs softly. “What will you do about it?”
Kodai opens one eye and tries to look back at her. “What do you mean?”
“Will she always control you?”
“No,” he subvocalizes. “I will be in control one day.”
And just saying that makes him feel petty for thinking of things in such a black and white way. Is it better to be controlled and powerful or be the one controlling those with power? Aren’t the outcomes similar, the chance for demise intertwined?
Tesla keeps massaging his back and Kodai gives in to her.
He relaxes more than he’s relaxed in years, putty in her hands. Minutes pass, minutes in which he is lost in the ocean of his past trying to focus on a single notion of what he is, what he is meant to be, why it matters, and how things may turn out.
His whirlwind of thoughts eventually leave, yet the feeling of euphoria remains. The urge to turn to Tesla and pull her into him waxes and wanes.
Kodai does his best to suppress it. The spark of something entirely alien to him looms on the horizon, to be visited at another time.
Chapter 22: FeeTwix “Turncoat” Fajer
The Mitherfickers are leveling up nicely, Ryuk thinks as he checks the team’s stats.
Ryuk Matsuzaki Level 18 Ballistics Mage
HP: 569/583
ATK: 112
MATK: 142
DEF: 88
MDF: 67
LUCK: 14
FeeTwix Fajer Level 20 Berserker Mystic
HP: 446/789
ATK: 161
MATK: 29
DEF: 85
MDF: 43
LUCK: 13
Hiccup Level 17 Shield Thief
HP: 800/814
ATK: 108
MATK: 16
DEF: 226
MDF: 103
LUCK: 28
Zaena Morozon Level 19 Brawler Assassin
HP: 619/735
ATK: 205
MATK: 9
DEF: 113
MDF: 43
LUCK: 14
Fat Tony’s Go Juice, or whatever the hell the stuff that boosted their EXP was called, is definitely worth its weight in rupees. Ryuk has leveled up twice, although he hasn’t learned any new skills. He has, however, moved to level two with both his Spit Fire and his Splash Back skills.
“Viewers are surging!” FeeTwix calls out, his voice echoing down a long corridor.
“Fick, Twixy, I think you just woke my dead cousin Spew Gorge up.”
“I thought it was Spew George,” Zaena says.
Hiccup stops and considers this. “Yeah, it was George that died, not Gorge. Good catch, Liz. You may come in handy when I’m older and unable to properly clean my grundle or speak coherently.”
“Grundle?”
“I’ll tell you what it means when you’re older, Marbles.”
“Can we reach four million in the next five minutes?” FeeTwix asks the mirror in his hand. “I feel a boss battle coming on … Hey! Now that I have your attention, I wanted to remind all of you that Spider-Man Middle School Dance is out now! A prequel to Spider-Man Origins, which itself was a prequel to Spider-Man College Doob, an alternative universe Spidey flick about a stoner Peter Parker and his number one gal, Mary Jane. Heh, I liked that one! So be sure to catch Spider-Man Middle School Dance this weekend and get caught up on the backstory to the backstory!”