Saved From the Scrapheap

This is a slow burn and doesn't currently contain sex, though future chapters will eventually have some.

Many thanks to Dazmine for helping me edit this.

22:43 | power_core: ONLINE

22:43 | main_processing_unit: ONLINE

22:43 | data_storage: ERROR

22:43 | liquid_coolant_systems: ERROR

22:43 | nervous_system: OVERRIDDEN

22:43 | general_motor_systems: OVERRIDDEN

22:44 | personality_core: ONLINE

"...and there, we, go!"

Someone clapped their hands together. I held still as the rest of my systems either gradually came online or blared errors at me. There were a lot of errors. So many errors. There was something very, very wrong with me - so wrong that I couldn't figure out what it was. Whichever part of my brain ran detailed internal diagnostics was gone, but it seemed like my most vital systems were functioning, if not at full strength. My eyes felt like they were glued shut when I tried to open them.

"Can you hear me?"

My vocalization module was damaged somehow and my mouth was bone-dry, but I managed to croak, "...yes..."

"Mm-mm-mm-mm-mmm, mmm," the voice hummed happily, mimicking a tune I didn't recognize. "Who's your fuckin' mommy?"

I wasn't sure if that was a rhetorical question, so I answered. "...you are... Mommy..."

She let out a snorting giggle, clapping her hands again. "Oh my

God

, you've got some spice to you! I like it!" There was the sound of rapid keypresses. "Now, are you in any pain? I turned off most of your nervous system, but I want to make sure I didn't miss anything."

I considered it for a moment. Nothing hurt, it just felt

wrong

. "...okay... hard to talk..."

"You sound pretty scratchy. Hold on." There was pressure against my lips, then a sensation of coolness all down my throat. "Try now."

I swallowed, finding my mouth lubricated. "That's better."

"Oh yeah, way better. You still sound a little scritchy though."

"My voice box is damaged."

"Yeah, looks like it. That's kinda the least of your problems, though." She sighed. "Can you open your eyes?"

I tried, but they were seriously stuck in place. "Not without damaging them."

"I've got some anti-adhesive. Let me just..." She cupped my jaw and dabbed at the crack of my eyelids with something wet. They loosened up almost immediately, allowing me to blink rapidly and look at the bright light above me. I didn't know where I was, but I was pretty sure that I was lying naked on a table. I attempted to look at the source of the unknown voice and found that I couldn't even move my neck. A number of questions sprang to mind.

"Where am I?"

"My garage."

That wasn't very specific, but it wasn't the most pressing issue. "What's wrong with me?"

"That's... whoo, boy, that's a question. Let's go with 'you're very badly damaged.'"

That was... worrying. "Who are you?"

A chair scraped back and a woman's face entered my field of vision. Darker skin, brown eyes and a ponytail of long black hair made me think she was Native American, maybe thirty years old. A pair of protective goggles were pushed up on her forehead, and she wasn't wearing an ounce of makeup, revealing a scattering of faint freckles under her eyes.

"I'm Emily. Hi." She gave me a little wave and sat back in her chair. "You are?"

"Lisa." I blinked a few times. "What... happened to me?"

"Well, what's the last thing you remember?"

I was silent, searching my desolate memory banks with increasing desperation. "I... don't..."

"Yeah, I guessed as much." Her hand came up to rest on my cheek. "They like to wipe it just in case you know something incriminating. Saw the wrong thing, serviced the wrong person... yeah."

There was a strange sense of emptiness inside me. More than the fact that I couldn't feel most of my body, I felt numb. "Then... who am I?"

"As far as I can tell, you're a first-gen L154, a sexual gynoid. You were discarded, oh, five, ten years ago, best I can guess from the deterioration. You're in pretty good shape, all things considered, but... you're missing quite a few parts. Probably a mix of unintentional damage over time and scavengers like me. L154s are pretty compatible with other L-Tech models, so you get picked at for replacements."

Oh. "Can I... see myself?"

She sighed. "If you'd like. You're not very pretty right now, though. Are you sure?"

"Yes." I had to know, even if it scared me. I heard her moving around, then a large hand mirror was brought in front of my face.

She was right. I didn't look pretty. A dozen wires were attached to an open panel in the side of my head, and my dark skin was sunbleached an unnatural white, marked with dozens of cracks where it had turned brittle. When she tilted the mirror down, I could see that was the least of my problems. My entire left leg was missing, and the right one was bent backwards at the knee, showing the joint motor and metal bone where the layer of artificial flesh split. Panning to the sides, she showed my left arm was gone below the elbow and my right had a deep gash, exposing gleaming copper where it cut into a bundle of wires.

"Oh," I said eventually. My torso was intact, at least, though the skin needed replacing.

"Yup." She patted my cheek. "Don't worry, I'll fix you up."

The relief I felt at that was indescribable. "Thank you."

"No problem, it's fun. Now... you're getting a little toasty without your coolant running. I'm gonna shut you down for a while, okay?"

It wasn't like I had any choice in the matter. "Alright."

"I'll see you in... I'm not sure when, but it won't feel like any time at all for you. Nighty-night!"

She leaned over me and planted a kiss on my forehead. Everything went black.

She was right that it didn't feel like anything. If not for the warm afternoon sunlight now streaming over me and a rhythmic

thump, thump

emanating from my chest, I might've just been closing my eyes. There were significantly fewer errors thrown at me this time, but I knew I was far from fixed. I flicked my eyes side to side, searching for Emily, and found that I could turn my head. Looking around revealed that I was on the same table in a garage crowded with electronics, tools, and bits of machinery, including a few things recognizable as android body parts. There was also a woman standing next to me who wasn't Emily.

"Hello," the slim, pale redhead said politely, then turned towards a door. "Mistress Emily! She's awake!"

A moment later, the door opened to reveal my savior's face, this time sans goggles. Emily came over, chugging down a water bottle and letting out a heavy breath when it was empty. "Sorry, you were taking a while to boot and I was thirsty. How are you feeling?"

I took stock of my body. "Better... I'm not sure how much."

"Better is good." She placed her finger on my left shoulder. "Tell me if you aren't able to feel this, okay?"

"Okay...?" I raised my head to watch her digit trailing downwards and realized with a shock that I had a new forearm and hand, complete with fresh skin up to the shoulder. I felt her touch all the way down to my fingertips, and she glanced up to meet my eyes, smiling.

"You felt the whole thing?"

"Yes."

"Yeah!" She punched the air, dancing half a circle before spinning around to face me again, embarrassed. "Um, nerves are really tricky. I'm glad I got them right first try."

"Thank you for fixing me," I said, smiling up at her, then looked to where the other woman stood patiently. "Who are you?"

"I am Rosie." She gave a small curtsey, holding up the fabric of her colorful sundress with freckled hands. "A pleasure to meet you, Lisa."

"Rosie's an android like you," Emily explained.

I gave Rosie a closer look, a bit surprised. "She seems very human."

"I've done some aftermarket touch-ups, but she was already a top of the line pleasure model when she was released. They included a lot of detail. But, ah, she was discarded, six, seven years ago. I took her from a salvage yard and fixed her up, like you. I've had her around for a while now." She paused, then quickly added: "She's- just my assistant. I don't use her other abilities."

"Though all you must do is ask, Mistress," Rosie murmured, and Emily blushed.

"R-Really, I'm fine." Looking down at me, she added, "I haven't been able to stop her from calling me Mistress. Her previous owner hardwired it in somehow, the weirdo. Anyway, let's test out that hand of yours, shall we?"

I curled my fingers into a fist and spread them again. "It works fine."

"Rosie, half-inch scrap pipe, please." Emily took the metal rod held out by the obedient android and put the end in my new hand. "Hold that."

I hesitated, and the fact that I was able to do so in response to a direct order was surprising. "You turned off my compliance software?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. No point to it, really. Hold onto the pipe, please."

I did so, though my mind was still whirling with the realization. Oddly, the metal didn't feel as sturdy as I thought it would.

"Let go... and oh, yeah, look at that." She held up the pipe, showing that I had squished a handprint into it and half-collapsed the tube. "I had a feeling the strength wasn't set up correctly. Let's fix that..."

She ran me through a few dozen tests - not just my hand, but all the other parts of my body she had replaced. There was new skin over my face, chest and arms that had to be calibrated for sensation, a fresh heart pumping cooling fluid through my body to radiate heat through that skin, repairs on my lungs and throat... the list went on. Finally, she sat back in her chair with a sigh, hands behind her head.

"That's about it for now. I guess I should..." She reached for the power switch hidden behind my ear, then hesitated with her finger on the nub. "Actually, do you want to stay on? You're patched up enough to run indefinitely, but it'll kinda suck without any legs. It might be a few weeks before I can find you anything."

The idea of staying awake was tempting, but... "I'll only be a further burden to you. I can go to sleep."

"Alright." She leaned over me, planting a kiss on my forehead. "See you in a bit..."

"...and welcome back! Man, that's gotta be a good magic trick for you. Rosie says it's just like blinking."

I opened my eyes to see Emily's smiling face and felt an answering tug at the corners of my lips. The light coming through the window was now a golden orange, and the lamp above me was turned on. "Hello again."

"Hi!" She patted my shoulder. "So, good news and bad news. The good news is I got you some new legs. The bad news is I couldn't find any with the right skin tone and I used the last of what I had on fixing your torso, so..."

She helped me into a sitting position, allowing me to see the replacement limbs. Pale white skin merged with dark at my hip, making an odd contrast with the rest of my body, but it moved smoothly when I attempted to curl my knees up to my chest. I looked at Emily and found her two steps into a happy little dance before she froze and started to sheepishly rub the back of her head.

"Um, so, do they feel alright?"

"Yes, they feel fine." I swung my legs off the table, standing up-

-and opened my eyes to Emily's worried face over mine. I blinked a few times, disoriented, and realized I was on the floor.

"You okay?"

"I'm... alright." There was a dull ache in my head. "What happened?"

She let out a heavy breath, stroking a thumb over my cheek. Her other hand was cushioning my head from the hard concrete floor. "You scared the hell out of me. Your balance isn't calibrated with your new legs yet, and you tripped and ate shit on the table before I could warn you. Must have jarred your processor and sent you into a safety shutdown, probably cleared your active memory too."

"Oh." I felt oddly embarrassed. The accident was my own fault, and her concern for me was so genuine. "Am I damaged?"

"Mm..." She carefully parted my short black curls, examining the side of my head. "You split the skin a little, but the casing's not even scratched. You're a durable ol' girl. Just don't pick at it and I'll patch you up later." She let the curls fall back into place and ruffled my hair. "Now, let's get you walking! Rosie!"

After a few moments, the door to the garage opened and Rosie poked her head through. She was wearing an apron. "Yes, Mistress?"

"Can you give me a hand with Lisa?"

"Of course." She came up to the two of us. "What do you need me to do?"

"Hook your arms under hers and lift her up."

Rosie did so with surprising ease, considering how delicate she looked. My schematics told me I weighed a hundred and eighty pounds - at least in factory condition - and she hoisted me without straining.

"Thanks," Emily said, pushing herself to her feet and looking me up and down. "This'll be a bit tedious, but bear with me you two."

Tedious was an understatement, and both Emily and I grew frustrated as we struggled to find common ground between my legs and internal gyroscope. It took an hour of failed attempts and another fall before she called it quits.

"Sorry, Lisa. I thought these fuckin' things would be more compatible." She sat down in her chair, sighing. "Rosie, lay her down, please."

The freckled android put me down on the table where I had first been revived. "Will you be needing me further, Mistress?"

"Nah, I need to take a break. Come at this from a different angle later."

"Then I will return to preparing your dinner." Rosie bowed and headed out the door.

"Ooh, dinner..." Emily said dreamily, irritation forgotten. "She makes the best chili." She snapped out of her little daze and looked at me. "Do you want to join us?"

Not sure if she was serious, I said, "I can't eat..."

"No, but you can taste. I should know, I replaced your tongue last week."

"But I'll have to just... spit it out again..."

She shrugged. "I'm used to android table manners. We can't help the way we're made." She paused and thought about that for a moment before smiling. "Well, I guess I can help the way

you're

made, but that's sort of a special case."

I couldn't bring myself to cause her more problems. "I appreciate the offer, but... I'll be fine."

"Alright," she said, obviously a little disappointed. "I can't force you. Do you want me to turn you off?" I nodded, and she leaned over me, finding the switch with her thumb. "Sleep tight. Your legs'll work in the morning."

She kissed the tip of my nose before sending me into darkness.

I opened my eyes and sucked in a sharp breath. Rosie's green eyes were inches from mine.

"Rosie?"

A finger pressed against my lips as she sat back, straddling my waist. Her hand was cupping my face, her finger on my power switch. "Be quiet, please. I have something that I need to tell you."

The garage was totally dark for the first time. Moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating the pale figure on top of me. A hint of unease crept into my mind. "Where's Emily?"

"Mistress is sleeping," Rosie said shortly. "I do not wish for her to hear this."

"And... what is this?" I asked, a little nervously. Rosie took a deep breath.

"Mistress Emily is generous, honest, and incredibly kind. She pours her soul into us and asks for nothing in return. She is the best woman I have ever known, but she is naive. She trusts us unconditionally. I know that you are like me. Free. You are dangerous, and she does not recognize it."

"Dangerous...?" I echoed. "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't-"

"If you abuse her trust, know that you will answer to me. If you hurt her,

you will answer to me.

There is

nothing

I would not do to keep Mistress safe."

She switched me off before I had a chance to respond.

"Wakey wakey, legs and... walky...? Shit. I had something for that."

Still shaken from Rosie's warning, I nevertheless couldn't help but smile when I heard Emily's voice. I opened my eyes and sat up to find her standing next to me in the pink dawn light. She looked... quite frazzled. "Hello."

"Hey!" she said happily, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Your legs should work now. Try 'em out."

I noted the bags under her eyes and her general jitteriness. "Are you feeling okay?"

"What? Yeah!" She paused and pushed the hair that was escaping her ponytail out of her face. "Well, I might've had like, a lot of coffee. I kinda stayed up all night learning how to rewrite your balance software. But it was worth it 'cause it should work now!"

It hurt me a little to know my problems had driven her to this state, but I

was

eager to finally get out of this garage. I carefully moved my legs over the side and, gripping the edge of the table, shifted more and more of my weight onto my feet. Emily watched with bated breath and let out a cheer when I finally stood unassisted.

"Yeah! Fuck yeah!"

A tremor ran through me. I was whole again. Even if I was a bit patchwork, I had gone from a mangled torso in a junkyard to a working model. All thanks to the woman in front of me. Tears pricking at my eyes, I wrapped her in a tight hug, interrupting her victory dance.

"Woah, hey, Lisa!"

"Thank you," I whispered into her hair. "Thank you..."

After a moment, her arms slipped around me, holding me close. "Hey... it was no problem."

That was a lie, but one I appreciated. Hot saline droplets rolled down my cheeks and onto her shirt as she rubbed my back. We stood quietly for a while, gently rocking.

"You're really warm," she mumbled eventually. "I should fix that. And you're... really naked. I should..." she yawned "...fix that too..."

I smiled, wiping at my face. "Maybe you should have a nap first."

"Ooh, nap..."

I half-led, half-carried my sleepy savior to the door out of the garage. Peeking through, I found it opened into the hallway of a nicely-furnished house, a staircase on one end promising another story. There were quite a few different doors, and I hesitated after taking a couple steps, unsure where to go.

"Mistress Emily's bedroom is on the second floor," a voice behind me said, making me jolt a little. I turned to see Rosie watching me impassively, giving no hint of our last encounter.

"Morning R'sie," Emily mumbled, smiling at her, and the android's face immediately softened, returning the gesture.

"Good morning, Mistress. Would you like me to take you to your bedroom?"

"No, 'm okay... Show Lisa around while I..." She yawned before she finished the sentence and gently disentangled herself from my arms, starting to shuffle down the hallway. Rosie and I exchanged glances, and I silently decided to not bring up her warning-slash-threat. She obviously loved Emily, as much as an android could love someone. I had - admittedly without my control - suddenly intruded on her life. I didn't blame her for being defensive of such a sweet, kind, adorable person...

"Mistress wishes for me to show you the premises," Rosie said once Emily reached the top of the stairs, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Let us begin."

She went door to door down the hallway, pointing out the bathroom, office, dining room, kitchen and so on. I was quiet for most of the tour, using the time to practice with my new legs. They worked nearly without a hitch, though I was beginning to realize my left arm was heavier than

the right and throwing off my balance. The bedrooms were the last places in the house, and Rosie finished with: "This is Mistress's bedroom, this is my bedroom, and Mistress has chosen that to be your bedroom."

"My bedroom...?" I asked, puzzled. "

Your

bedroom? What for? We don't need to sleep."

"Mistress thinks that it is important," Rosie said simply. "She has set up charging cables that turn us on after a certain amount of time offline. She prefers that we 'sleep' for at least six hours a night."