Chapter 9: Episode 09: Cooling Him Down.

Nikki’s jaw dropped.

[OH MY GOD?!!! HELLO?? DID HE JUST—]

Before Nikki could stutter a response, a loud, metallic CRACK echoed through the silent room.

She jumped. B-02 blinked, straightening up, his sensors immediately shifting focus to the source of the noise.

They both turned to look at the head of the table.

General A-01 was still standing there.

There was no anger in his eyes, no human irritation.

But in his right hand, the solid steel stylus he had been holding was snapped cleanly in half.

Nikki shivered.

Shards of metal tinkled onto the black glass table.

“Nikki,” A-01 said. His voice was quiet. “Shall we leave?”

Without even listening to a reply from her, he had grabbed her and left. Without even saying a goodbye to the other leaders.

The other androids blinked in confusion.

It was the first time A-01 has behaved this way.

The ride back to the penthouse was silent. General A-01 sat stiffly in the corner of the hover-car. He hadn’t spoken since he snapped the steel stylus in half.

His eyes were fixed on the passing clouds, but Nikki noticed that his pupils were flickering.

When the doors opened into his living quarters, she noticed the temperature had changed.

It was freezing.

“Wow,” Nikki gasped, wrapping her arms around her body. “Did you leave a window open?”

A-01 didn’t answer. He walked past her, his movements jerky and uncoordinated. He went straight to the wall panel and punched in a command.

Whoosh.

The vents overhead roared to life, blasting air that was colder than a meat locker. The ambient temperature display on the wall dropped rapidly: 10°C… 5°C… 0°C.

“General?” Nikki’s teeth began to chatter. “Whatever point you’re trying to make, I get it. Can we turn the heat back on?”

A-01 ignored her. He stumbled toward his desk, gripping the edge of the mahogany surface so hard the wood groaned.

Nikki took a step closer, squinting. “A-01?”

Had he fucking lost it? That was the first thing she thought.

He let out a low growl and ripped at his collar. Buttons popped off, pinging against the floor. He tore the fabric of his uniform shirt open, exposing his chest.

The skin there was searing red. The air around him shimmered with heat waves, distorting the light.

[SYSTEM ALERT]

[TARGET STATUS: OVERHEATING]

[CAUSE: DATA SURGE]

[ADVICE: Cool him down.]

“You’re burning up,” Nikki whispered, horrified.

She rushed forward.

“Stay back!” A-01 roared. He threw a hand up to stop her, but he didn’t make contact. He leaned heavily against the desk, his head hanging low. “Surface temperature… 65 degrees Celsius… rising. I will… burn you.”

“Shut up,” Nikki snapped.

She was anemic. She had been her whole life. So she was the perfect person to share her cold body.

She didn’t listen to him. She stepped into his personal space.

“Don’t touch…” he grimly warned her.

Nikki reached out and pressed both of her freezing cold hands flat against his burning chest.

A-01 gasped. A sound of pure, overwhelming relief.

His eyes flew open, the blue rings wide and blown out. He stared at her, stunned, as the heat from his synthetic core leached into her ice-cold palms.

For Nikki, it felt good, like warming her hands by a fire. For him, it must have felt like a bucket of ice water in hell.

Though the problem was that he couldn’t feel, the only thing he knew was that his body was not overheating again.

“You are…” he stammered, his processor struggling to categorize the sensation. “Cold. You are… efficiently cold.”

“Yeah, well, low iron has its perks,” Nikki muttered, stepping closer until her body was almost pressed against his.

She slid her hands up his chest, over the hard planes of his pectorals, to the junction of his neck and shoulder, the hottest part of him.

A-01’s knees buckled.

He slumped forward, his heavy frame collapsing against her. Nikki caught him, wrapping her arms around his waist to steady him. He was heavy, solid, and scorching hot, but she held on.

It was like a machine that slowly cools when something cold has been placed on it.

“That’s it,” she whispered, stroking the back of his neck with her icy fingers. “Just cool down. Reset. Or whatever you robots do.”

A-01 wasn’t pushing her away anymore. He was leaning into her. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, seeking the cool skin there.

Every AI needs a cooling agent, and this moment Nikki was that cooling agent.

Nikki froze. This felt… human.

His nose brushed against her pulse point. He inhaled sharply, shuddering as her cold skin soothed his overheated sensors.

He nuzzled closer, his lips grazing the sensitive skin below her ear, his breath coming in hot, ragged pants.

Nikki’s heart hammered against her ribs.

Did he know what he was doing ???

It was intimate. Too intimate. He was practically cuddling her.

She should pull away. She should make a joke. But she couldn’t move. Her hands instinctively moved to his hair, his black hair, and threaded through the strands.

He smelled like rain and for some reason he was messing with her mind.

Her heart was racing loudly.

“Better?” she breathed, her voice trembling as she gulped.

A-01 didn’t answer with words. He tightened his grip on her waist, his large hands splaying over the silver bio-suit. He pulled her flush against him, pressing his hips into hers.

Nikki gasped. She bit her bottom lip hard to keep from making a sound. She could feel the sheer size of him and he was overwhelming.

He wasn’t hard or anything of that sort. He was just trying to consume the cold that seeped out of her.

For a long minute, they just stood there in the freezing room. The most powerful machine on earth, clinging to a broke girl like she was his lifeline.

Slowly, A-01 went still.

The moment of vulnerability ended as quickly as it had begun.

He pulled back. Withdrawing with a slow, calculated movement. He stood up straight, adjusting his unbuttoned shirt, regaining his height and his distance.

He looked down at her. His face was composed again.

“Why is your heart beating so fast?” A-01 asked.

His voice was raspier than usual. He tilted his head, studying her flushed face and the way her teeth were digging into her swollen bottom lip.

“135 beats per minute,” he noted softly, stepping closer again, invading her space.

He reached out, tracing the line of her jaw where he had just had his face buried moments ago.

“Are you aroused?”

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