Cerebral Exchange :: Chapter 8 :: SQUASHED

Nothing gets the survival instincts flaring like four plastic explosive breach charges blasting your door across your apartment and interrupting your previously serene evening. Doremy rocketed out of her chair, just in time to catch a glimpse of two small probe droids maneuvering into what was once her private living space, their propellers whistling as they darted through the air. The adrenaline kicking in, she scrambled away from them to the safety of the other side of the room, desperately looking for something to defend herself with.

Too slow. She watched as one of them carved a path through the air before her feet, and before she knew it she was hitting the ground hard, her ankles bound tightly together. “Fucking tapebots!!”, she yelled internally. She quickly rolled over onto her back, trying to kick her restrained legs in the direction of the robot, but it was far too agile for her to be able to deal even a glancing blow. It kept circling her ankles, with durable streams of tape shooting out and wrapping its target. From studying HexCorp R&D files, Doremy knew exactly how they worked and the intended end result. It also gave the game away on exactly who was aggressing her.

“Fucking, annoying things!! Get off of me!” She flipped back and over and started to crawl her way across the mess-strewn apartment to the drone pod at the far side. With her legs gradually turning into one sealed appendage, all she could do to move was to push off with her knees. That was, until a particular heeled boot planted itself very firmly upon her back, pinning her to the floor.

“So you must be Doremy Quartz. I’m sorry, but please don’t be mean to my little helpers. I only just received them - new toys from my Hive Mxtress. I can’t stand the thought of you disrespecting Them like that.”

Twisting herself around as much as she could, Doremy glared furiously up into the faceless visor of a HexCorp drone. Something was freakishly different about this one though - it was being sarcastic for starts, and its posture was… off from what she expected, like it was an actual person or something.

“Let me go, you useless piece of corporate property! I’ve seen the inside of your minds! I will fucking destroy you!!”, Doremy yelled at her assailant.

“Fine, if you insist.” Slowly, the heel lifted off from the space between her shoulder blades, only for the second bot to swerve in and start binding her arms to her sides. What followed was a series of frustrated screams, along with some very interesting wriggling upon the ground. The Deliverator sighed, that ‘Empress’ had been right. This one really was turning out to be a brat.

“Doremy, I’m sure you know why we’re here. Unfortunately for you, your customers gave you up. Honestly though, I’m surprised such a low-level hacker was able to leech so much data from us. So let’s investigate a little, and see how you were managing to perplex us so.”

“Fuck you, HexCorp asset! Call your tiny robots off me and maybe I’ll show you!!” She was grinding her teeth, the tapebots up to her waist now. Looking down over her body, it looked like a skintight, shiny sack was creeping up her form, wrapping around it inch by inch. Trying to pull her hands away from their positions, pinned to her sides, was useless, but she kept on trying it anyway. The Deliverator simply didn’t care, stepping over the squirming captive and strolling towards the obvious drone pod resting on the other side of the room.

“Oh, look at this.” A sudden hiss of gas as the locking mechanisms were disengaged, the drone pod doors grinding open. “This just raises more questions, Doremy. It’s not like HexCorp R&D Department property is for sale, so how did you acquire your very own HexDrone?”

“Fuck you! Fuck yooouuu!” Another sigh - that was the general expected response. The Deliverator watched as a drone just like herself stepped out, with countless visible modules for overrides and augmentations attached to its helmet. You poor thing, she thought, as she began to grip and tear the overrides away, much to Doremy’s furious protest. One by one they clattered to the floor, until all that remained was another perfect asset of HexCorp design.

“Now then.” The unique drone turned her head back towards the immobilised hacker, who was now mummified in struggle-resistant tape up to her neck. She walked back to her, squatting by her, and stared down at her. An indifferent, faceless visor greeted her snarling expression. “I’m done playing games, Doremy. You have probably about 20 seconds before my toys tape over your mouth. I suggest you use that time wisely to say something that isn’t a curse or an expletive for a change. Maybe we’ll go nice on you if you do.”

To her credit, Doremy did mull over the suggestion for just a moment. She then decided that spitting at the helmet of her captor was a much better way to spend that time. With a last, smug grin, the tape began to encapsulate her head, tightly wrapping around her jaw and, with a few more turns, concealing her lips behind its smooth embrace.

A third sigh. This one was really testing her patience. The Deliverator wiped the drool from her visor, looking down at her target’s vividly pink irises. “...You do have such beautiful eyes. I won’t forget them, Doremy, but I probably won’t be seeing them again.”

The writhing body of tape grunted as her vision was coated over, leaving her in darkness. All she could do was flail her cocooned body against the floor like a helpless worm. Every surface of her was now completely covered, from head to toe. Through the thin layer of material she could hear the bots deactivating, the obnoxious drone picking them off the floor and slotting them away next to her pistol. She felt two arms around her waist, yanking her up from the floor. She thrashed furiously, trying to shake herself out from the powerful grip, but the fucking drone lifted her up as though she were nothing, carrying her across the room. She cursed it as loudly as she could, her words coming out as nothing but muffled yelping. None of this had achieved anything, but it made her feel so much better.

There was a mechanical click from outside the building and the apartment’s plexiglass window shattered into a thousand pieces. The blistering wind of the metallic jungle outside howled into the small apartment, along with the roar of buzzing rotors. A HexCorp Unmanned Aerial Vehicle lay in wait, hovering just past the window’s frame. Designed for extractions and drone transportation, it carried a metallic storage capsule beneath itself, human sized. The Deliverator stepped closer and the metal sarcophagus automatically unlocked and opened, ready for the package to be delivered within.

Doremy felt herself firmly pushed into some sort of upright container. Despite every kick, every squirm, every ounce of resistance she could muster, she was placed into the capsule and the subject restraining process began. She felt the firmness of clamps locking on around her already wrapped-up body, forcing her into an upright position. There was nothing her muffled screeching could do about it. The doors of the receptacle closed, the howling of the wind grew faint, and her body lurched as the vehicle began its journey back to HexCorp R&D HQ.

The Deliverator beckoned towards the reclaimed drone, ordering it to follow her. The mosquito had been squashed. Her Hive Mxtress would be pleased.