The Fate of Terra

The next morning, Michael walked up the steps leading to Kat's apartment and knocked on the door. It was pulled open suddenly by Kat's mom, who he'd learned was named Jennifer. As soon as he walked through the door the inquisition began: 'Who are you; Where do you live; How long have you known Catherine; Are you the one who convinced her to wear those dreadful clothes...' Michael tried to keep his answers respectful but was having a hard time trying not to laugh.

Jennifer stopped talking in midsentence when Kat walked out of her room. Michael turned to see what she was gaping at and froze in admiration. Kat still wore darker clothes, but she seemed to have opened up more. She walked towards Michael wearing black leather boots, a cutoff jean skirt, and a black tank top. She'd even gotten rid of her black nail polish.

For Jennifer's part, she hadn't seen her daughter wear anything but black pants and long-sleeves when she went out in almost a year and she was suddenly suspicious of what brought about this change. Her suspicions were answered when Kat strode up to Michael, grabbed his collar, and drew him in for a heart-stopping kiss.

After doing a thorough job of leaving him breathless, Kat stepped back and grasped his hand. As she led Michael through the front door, stopping to pick up the mandatory coat Washingtonians are required to bring along wherever they go in case of rain, she called to her still-speechless mom, "I'll be back late."

As they were walking to the car, Michael gazed at her long legs and tight curves. Kat, pleased with the attention, smiled and thrust out her chest. Michael snickered and questioned, "No purse?"

Kat stopped, "No. Do you want me to me to wear one?"

Michael draped an arm around her and got them moving again, "No, it was just an idle thought. I haven't had many girlfriends so I was just curious." Then, softly he murmured, "This is all pretty new to me."

Her eyes sparkled and she snuggled into him as they reached the car and said, "It's new to me too, but don't worry. We'll handle this together. We're too close now to be bothered by every little thing." They kissed and then entered Michael's car.

The couple decided to catch a movie and hang out at the mall that was in the next town over. On the way, Kat asked more questions about Pandora and Michael shared his ideas about communicating with her in public without anyone else noticing. As it was, he could type instructions to her on his phone. They decided to acquire hidden wireless ear buds so she could alert them to problems or updates when they were just walking around or in class. Michael asked Pandora to check if it was feasible to develop the voice modulators from that "Mission: Impossible" movie. They could then talk silently with their throat muscles and Pandora would be able to pick up what they said.

After buying tickets for the action blockbuster they'd both wanted to see, they sat in the back of the theater. Since it was the earliest showing available, the theater wasn't very full and they had the whole last row and the two in front of it to themselves. Kat insisted on sitting on Michael's lap and, when the previews were done and the lights had dimmed, she unzipped Michael, pulled her panties to the side, and plunged down onto his shaft with a stifled gasp.

"See," she whispered to Michael, starting a slow up and down rhythm, "I wore a skirt so you'd have easy access."

Michael grinned and held her by her waist, guiding her movements. He couldn't believe how lucky he'd gotten to have found this spitfire. It wasn't long before Kat had to bite down on her wrist to keep from crying out. Michael stopped her movement, turned her slightly around, and told her that if she needed to she should bite into his shoulder instead.

As the pace picked up again, Kat was having trouble as she didn't want to hurt him. Then Michael spoke softly into her ear, "Mark me." She came on the spot at his words and bit down hard, claiming him. Michael had to grit his teeth but he endured and hugged her tighter.

After they'd both finished and calmed down, she looked into his eyes and rasped, "Mine."

"Forever," Michael promised solemnly.

She turned back to watch the movie, leaning with her back against his chest, his cock still embedded inside her. Michael glided his hands up underneath her shirt and fondled her tits. They stayed that way for the rest of the movie.

Leaving the theater, they both felt hungry and headed in the direction of the food court. While ordering from the Subway, Kat noticed a cute Asian girl behind the counter that had caught Michael's attention. As they were walking to a table she bumped her shoulder against his and said, "She's cute, huh?"

Michael gave a neutral grunt. Kat laughed and assured him, "I'm not jealous." And she wasn't. With the pure devotion and reverence she now felt for him, she simply accepted that whatever made him happy, made her happy.

Before Michael could sit down, she plastered herself against him and groped his crotch. "Do you have a thing for Asian girls," she asked coyly, "or her in particular?" She felt his cock twitch as she said 'Asian girls' and turned around abruptly, taking her seat. "Well then, we'll just have to find one or two for you to satisfy your urges," she said, shooting him a seductive smile.

Michael raised an eyebrow as he sat down. "You'd be willing to share a bed with another girl? Maybe Pan wasn't too far off when she put all those girl-on-girl sites up on your screen," he said jokingly.

She blushed and mumbled, "Well, I wouldn't have to be there if you didn't want me."

Michael's eyes turned cold and he said forcefully, "I don't want to receive pleasure if it means you're going to be left out. Does this mean you want to add other guys into the mix so you can be happy?"

Kat's eyes went wide and she made a cutting gesture. "NO. Never!" she stated emphatically. "You're the only one I'll ever submit to." She reached out to cup his cheek, "Baby, I will be yours alone no matter what. I 'want' you to be selfish and take what you want. I will 'never' betray you, please believe me." By the end of her outburst, she was almost in tears

Michael felt himself calm down. He'd felt a brief prickle of fear that something might be able to come between them, but as he looked at the almost fanatical worship in her eyes he felt his worries wash away. He supposed he should have felt uncomfortable with how quickly things were moving or with the extent of her compulsion to serve him. He did feel a little fear, but only that he would fuck it all up somehow. All he could manage was acceptance. And he just loved the way she had said 'submit.'

Grasping the fingers of her hand in his he brushed his lips over them. "I'm sorry to have doubted you and I'm honored that you feel that way for me," he said gently.

Kat leaned in and gave him a soft kiss. "Never apologize," she paused, as if tasting the word, "master." Michael grinned and his cock soared upward. They both burst out laughing and tore into their sandwiches, talking about some of their more interesting online exploits.

They were walking around the mall when Michael spotted a cell phone kiosk. He'd noted that Kat didn't have one and stopped, pointing out the latest, most expensive model to the guy behind the counter. Michael wordlessly handed the forms to Kat to fill out, but when she reached down to the inside pocket of her skirt to pay, Michael merely slapped her hand away.

They moved to a bench and Michael started opening up the packaging of their new acquisition. "I'm covering all of your expenses now so quit trying to be polite every time we stop at someplace," Michael said absently. "I know you don't have a job, nor are you getting money through illegal means."

"Pan," he said, addressing his watch, "register Kat's name under our offshore account in Belize and send a High Limit Anonymous MasterCard to her address."

"Of course, master," Pandora responded.

Michael turned on the phone and, after playing around with it a little, ordered, "Send a copy of yourself into the phone, Pan. Make sure it's secure and no one else can use it to remotely track or listen in on Kat." The phone in his hand vibrated, signaling Pan had done what he'd asked. Standing up and handing the phone to Kat he told her, "Now Pan can be with you all time and you can ask her for anything you need."

Kat struggled with the emotions she felt. He'd given her so much already and she was sure there would be a great deal more to come. 'Accept any and all gifts from him,' she reminded herself sharply. She calmed down and draped her arms around his neck and gave him a deep, passionate kiss. Pulling back, she whispered, "I'll just have to thank you properly later."

Michael gave her tush a soft pat as they began walking again and Kat whined half-seriously, "Maybe we can just find a restroom." Looking down at the phone in her hand, she asked, "How did Pan access my phone?"

Michael chuckled, "She can use 4G. Right now she can interact wirelessly via Wi-Fi and most radio signals. She's working on a way to talk directly to devices that don't have a receiver; some kind of energy transfer..."

They entered a bookstore and both wordlessly walked to the Scifi/Fantasy section set up in the back. After browsing for awhile, Kat bent over to reach one of the books on the bottom shelf. Seeing no one around, and with such an attractive target, Michael reached his hand under her skirt and begin rubbing along her slit. Kat moaned and almost hit her head as she fell forward, barely getting her hands up in time to catch herself.

When it became apparent that she wasn't going to straighten up, Michael slid his hand under soft fabric and dipped two fingers inside her. After pumping in and out a few times he withdrew his fingers and sucked them in his mouth, enjoying her sweet nectar. "Mmm, delicious," he announced.

Kat finally straightened up and glared at him. "I can't believe you're going to tease me like that and then leave me all hot and bothered," she accused.

Wrapping an arm around her waist, Michael stated simply, "I like to keep my girl interested." Kat beamed when he'd said 'my girl' and melted against him.

As they left the store, Kat grabbed his arm and proceeded to drag him across the lane to the Victoria's Secret. Grabbing a few things off the racks, she placed Michael in the seat outside the dressing rooms and said, "If you get to tease me then I'm going to return the favor." And with that, she turned around and went into the area the stalls were located.

What followed was a truly glorious occurrence that every boyfriend should get to experience. Underwear and sleepwear of every kind was exhibited in front of Michael. Kat flaunted sexy lingerie that teased the limits of propriety and some that jumped clear over them.

Michael's favorite was a skimpy crimson lace-thong and brassiere set that showed off her hair. The fact that it was nearly see-through had nothing to do with it, Michael assured himself. He also chose an emerald green flyaway babydoll which matched her eyes and a sheer mesh teddy that made his mouth water.

Kat finally exited in her street clothes just before a dazed Michael could be overwhelmed. He glanced over at her and grinned salaciously. "So I guess we won't find crotchless panties here?" Michael asked innocently.

Kat blushed and said, "Not here, but I know a place that sells them."

The pair left the shop after Michael bought the purchases he'd picked out, along with a bundle Kat had handed the salesgirl. "For later," was all she told him. They decided to head over to Michael's house where they would attempt to deal with the larger Chinese collective that the 'Force of Heaven' had belonged to. Kat didn't have her laptop with her, but Pandora was much more capable of performing the various tasks she'd need to do.

As they pulled up to his house on the outskirts of town, Kat felt a bit humbled at its size in comparison to her small apartment. Michael let her get out and then parked in the garage. Michael had been born to teenage parents and they were pretty lax when it came to the subject of girls. In truth, when Tiberiu and Elena Dragomir met Kat, they were relieved that their son had finally found someone. Elena immediately invited Kat to stay for dinner before Michael could ask, then shooed the couple upstairs in the direction of Michael's room.

The way he usually went about hacking consisted of sitting at his desk with his laptop in front of him, running three LCD monitors in the background. He'd use the laptop to enter values and do anything else that was easier typed than said aloud, while sometimes it was just easier for him to think of a solution by going the traditional route. Meanwhile, he could direct and monitor Pandora's movements simultaneously on the three screens.

With Kat here, Michael wanted to try something different. He closed the blinds and then led her to his king-sized bed. He had an ultra-high res full HD projector mounted directly above it facing the blank wall beyond the foot of the bed. Usually used to stream movies, it had direct connections to both his PC and the internet. They lay down as Pandora spooled it up without being asked, Michael wrapping an arm around Kat as they used the pillows to prop themselves up.

"Fancy," Kat remarked, happy that they could snuggle while they worked.

As Pandora set up the proxy servers and took measures to make their impending footnote altogether invisible, Michael ordered her to make the screen, which was 12ft. diagonally, split into four equal windows so they could multitask. They decided that since Michael had already sent a clear message to the Chinese and the hacking world in general, they wouldn't need to worry about hiding what they were after or coming up with elaborate plans. The collective was too big to take down all at once anyway and they considered this a prolonged vendetta. It was more about creating a target-rich environment where they could act spontaneously, as they identified a person or organization relating to the collective.

Mainly though, Michael was happy to have a set of targets he could rob blind and create chaos among and not feel guilty about afterwards. This was going to help the US on the cyber front tremendously, but he'd do it for the fun. It was also going to be an opportunity for Kat and him to work together and build another kind of relationship. Michael had Pandora bring up a list of all the contacts that had received a Trojan and they began.

Sometime later they were both jarred out of their concentration as they heard a knock on the door. The couple had been in the zone, completely oblivious to everything else, aside from the other's voice. They glanced at the clock to see it blinking 7 p.m. and were startled to see that four hours had passed since they started. Looking back at the screens, what they'd done started filtering back to them and they began to register the utter devastation they had caused. Viewing it as a battlefield, because that's what it was, they saw the burned out hulks of mangled computers, servers, and system software. The information stored on them had been copied, the originals deleted; their programs crashed, their networks collapsed.

Kat turned and gave Michael a scorching kiss. She was buzzing with excitement at what she'd been a part of. "That's incredible!" she exclaimed. "Security measures that would have taken me days to penetrate, and that's if everything went right, Pan cut through in seconds." She moaned dreamily, "And the destruction she left in her wake... You really named her appropriately. God! It's so easy and seamless now. I can't imagine going back to sifting through line after line of code when Pan can just find what I'm looking for instantly." She hugged him tightly, willing this all to be real and not some twisted dream. "Thank you for sharing this with me," she finally said.

Michael couldn't be happier that he and Kat seemed to meld so well together. He squeezed her arm and said, "Come on. I think that knock meant dinner's ready."

Heading towards the door, Kat stopped. "All the text had been in English. I expected most of the code to be, but I just realized everything we saw was perfectly understandable..." she said, questioningly.

The corner of his mouth quirked up and Michael explained, "You won't find a better translator then Pan. She even knows to simplify what's being said so you get the pertinent information upfront." He pondered a bit, then remarked, "I think she's getting used to you, Kat. I noticed quite a few instances where windows were navigating and script was being altered before you could say anything." Kat just looked amazed.

At dinner, Elena had made a traditional Romanian meal of sarmale, boeuf salad, and Romanian smoked sausage. She also had Tiberiu pour everybody wine, not exactly a supporter of underage drinking laws. Kat told a little about herself and the folks asked those typical questions like, 'Where are you going to college, do you have a major yet, do you play any sports, etc.' Kat found Michael's mom to have a wicked sense of humor and she blushed incessantly.

After dinner, the couple retreated back to Michael's room. There were still a couple of targets for them to go after and they still hadn't claimed responsibility for their actions. Michael asked Kat if she needed to talk to her hacker group before they got started.

Kat shook her head and said, "I quit last night. They weren't happy about it and made a big issue of it, but I left all the same." Michael shot her a questioning glance and Kat explained, "It was their charter. There were a lot of... loyalty clauses. There was a sort of clan mentality in place that required members to always put the group first. After what we shared yesterday, it didn't feel right to swear allegiance to anyone but you."

Michael placed his hand on the back of her neck and locked her lips with his. When they came up for air, Michael asked, "Any regrets?"

"Not a chance," Kat replied, smiling.

"I took the liberty of removing all traces and connections you had with them, mistress," Pandora said. "It appears they weren't planning on letting you just walk away after learning their secrets."

Kat looked up in astonishment. "Anything we need to take care of," Michael questioned, not really surprised from what he knew of hacker groups.

"No, master," Pandora responded, "I scoured the hard drives of each individual carefully and any compromising info of her online has already been taken care of by the bots when we added her to the protection list." "I hope I wasn't too forward in making my decisions, mistress," she said, speaking to Kat, "it's just that you mean a great deal to my master now and seeing you come to harm would hurt him."

"N- No," Kat stuttered, still a bit flustered at the whole ordeal. "Thank you for looking after me, Pan. I consider you a sister in how we attend to Michael." The light in the room turned brighter for a few seconds, simulating Pandora's happiness at the thought of having a sister.

Michael couldn't have been more proud of his little AI then at that moment. He led Kat to the bed and they resumed sowing chaos and discord. It soon became apparent that other hackers were accumulating in the localized areas they were hitting. Some were in the systems they were cracking, trying to get a fix on their location or just trying to figure out how they were doing it. Others were adding to the carnage, getting their own piece of revenge on an organization known to be hostile. Many just flocked like vultures to carrion. The targets had been identified, the battle lines drawn, and all sides wanted to get in on the action.

They had spent the last hour taking apart a major Chinese corporation based out of Shanghai that had turned out to be a front, where many of the collective's ongoing dealings occurred. They had infected all of the company's networked terminals and the massive amount of information they had gathered would take years to sift through. Pandora was able to quickly locate the relevant account data however, so the couple could quickly liquidate their assets.