FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

Loopholes

By Patrick D. Lambert

Commissioned by Draconsss

It took a lot to get that place up and running again. Time and weather had taken a toll on the station over the years without any maintenance, leaving most of the facilities damaged beyond repair. It's not surprising, considering the funding ended right after the coup, and many of those facilities fell into oblivion during the ensuing civil war. Now, after all those years, the secret technology developed there remained just that: a secret.

Very few people knew of their locations--most of them died either in combat or awaiting trial. Their discovery was always a matter of luck; a luck that ended the lives of dozens who adventured carelessly and oblivious of the dangers awaiting behind every corner. Like a modern version of a cursed ancient tomb, these facilities became a forbidden temptation.

A temptation for the likes of Haru, an explorer with no ties and no family, who has devoted his life to desecrating those sacred temples in search of powerful technology to sell on the black market. He never cared about the use given to those weapons, as long as he received payment.

He carried with the experience of years of near-death moments, narrowly avoided by inches. Trial and error taught him what scorched books couldn't do, giving him the expertise to bring life back to those corridors. He was a well-known lone wolf--or fox, to be precise--, hated by those who were like him but could only dream with his talent.

Because the canine knew how to survive and thrive from the relics of the old world. Or so he thought until the day he found "Drag.Tech".

30 years of abandonment. Corridors and rooms flooded after several storms overflowed the nearby river. Not to mention the bullet holes and the remains left by the hit squad sent to deal with all the scientists--or well, that's what Haru wanted to believe. There was room for a tale, for as crazy as it might sound.

Not even the defense systems survived the ruthless vengeance of Mother Nature, and the facility was nothing else but a labyrinth of concrete and steel located in the middle of nowhere, very far from any city and road. Haru knew, as he explored the first couple of floors, that the place was more of a prison to the brilliant minds who worked and lived there, away from their families and the rest of the world.

"Such a sad way to end," the fox mentioned, his voice distorted by the gas mask. In his mind, he pictured the unfortunate scientists running for their lives and regretting the time spent in that jail.

After walking down rickety stairs and following sketchy signals, the little fox reached the generator room. It worked; not at full capacity, but it worked. Rerouting the energy proved more complicated than he thought thanks to the complexity of the system and how damaged it was.

"SYSTEM ERROR. PLEASE CONTACT A SUPERVISOR. MISSING ENERGY NODES."

A system error? Not a surprise considering its conditions. After playing a little with the system, Haru rerouted all the energy to the one sector the computer said was functional: ballistic protection. Promising.

The error appeared again. With skills honed over the years, the fox evaded the system and put the sector back online, giving some time for the ventilation system to get rid of any possible chemical residual still in the air before removing the bothersome gas mask. His orange pelt came to light, soggy from the humidity and sweat. He ran his hands over the fur to clean the grooves left by the leather strips.

The brown ears twitched, capturing the unsettling sounds of that underground giant, trapped and struggling to put back in motion the mechanisms that years ago worked flawlessly. The fluorescent lights flickered across the long corridors like the blood being pumped up the veins of that monstrosity.

"It's been two minutes and no alarms," Haru checked his small computer. "Cameras are completely ruined. No emergency protocols... shit, no blueprints either. They must've deleted them along with the rest."

Haru pulled down his aviator goggles and left them hanging off his neck. The red eyes blinked twice from the cold and dirty air coming off the air shaft.

"Getting there is gonna be a pain in the ass," he groaned, assuming by the power grid the sector's location.

After packing up his small laptop, the fox began his journey to the seventh underground floor. With the rusty stairs and railings threatening to fall down under Haru's weight, the elevator shaft proved itself a safer option, using a rope to reach the sixth floor. From there he had it easier to find his way to the Ballistic's department, after taking a slow walk through dirty and muddy waters that covered his paws.

"It looks like the hit squad didn't make it this far," he muttered, running his fingers across the concrete marred by years of humidity. The lights continued flickering, with some bulbs broken and throwing out sparks.

"The ventilation didn't either," he added, protecting his nose from the disgusting smell coming from the water.

Barely readable signs signaled a path he followed blindly, waiting for a mechanical door to open or a voice to announce where he was. That, unfortunately, wasn't the case, and Haru had no other choice but to check room by room, using his crowbar in some cases to deal with the rusted mechanisms that lacked the strength to pull sideways the steel doors.

Until a gust of fresh and warm air hit him after opening a small gap in one of them, followed by a bluish flash from the fully operational sector. "Perfect," he roared, and his voice echoed across the endless hallways while he pried the metallic door.

Until he had enough room to squish through and straight into a large room with a circular platform in the middle covered by a semitransparent dome. Multiple desks were distributed around the platform, all of them equipped with advanced computers--although most of them were damaged. Inside the dome, several plastic hoses and wires hung from the top, connected to what looked like a suit right in the middle.

From Haru's perspective, it looked like a bunch of white latex of considerable size. As the fox approached, he left his equipment behind: from his backpack to the bulletproof vest, he removed all the extra weight and dirty clothes until he ended with nothing else but a sweaty tank top and short black pants.

After a series of good stretches, he gave his sore muscles a rest while he took a closer look at the dome.

After throwing a grunt, the fox placed his hand on what he believed was the door. Ironically, the dome became almost invisible as it covered the rest of his peripheric vision; it was cold to touch, and a couple of knocks revealed a considerable thickness.

"Doesn't feel or look like any material I remember," he circled the dome slowly. His fingers ran over the smooth surface, seeking any imperfection. "A 50 caliber should be enough to leave a dent, except..."

He stops after finding the first visible damage: small cracks in the inside spreading in all directions.

"... a bullet wouldn't leave that kind of mark."

His attention went back to the strange suit in the middle. With each step around the dome, his curiosity kept growing. The white tone and size made it useless for combat unless the material could absorb bullets without putting the user's life at risk. Fin-looking things sticking out of the back of the helmet reminded Haru of an aquatic species.

With more questions than answers, and after reaching back the dome's door, Haru began to work on hacking into the system, checking which computer was working.

Much to his surprise, not even a layer of dust covered the desks and equipment as if time had frozen the moment the laboratory was attacked. Haru only had to wait for the systems to boot and run a check-up after years of being offline.

"Drag.Tech?" Haru muttered, seeing the logo of a dragon's head appearing on the screen.

The name didn't ring a bell, and he couldn't remember any mention of it or a sight of the logo anywhere in the facility. And being seven stories underground, his only way to get more info was to go back to the surface and call a friend--or put the system back online and risk being caught by his competitors.

"Yeah, not gonna happen," Haru concluded and decided to hack into the system to see if there was anything of value there.

It was worth a look, even when he knew they wiped almost everything from the servers. However, and after digging deep enough through several security layers, Haru found a local backup on one of the computers. Most of the data was corrupted, but he managed to recover files related to the projects developed in that sector.

"Let's see what we have here... Prototype R-045... suggested commercial name is 'AquaFlex' suit, how stupid... pinnacle of bla bla bla... waterproof integrity... hydrodynamic mastery... wait... Stealth capabilities?"

The following text captivated Haru's attention. The fox moved closer to the screen as if his eyes couldn't believe what he was reading.

"The suit has the capability to establish a neural link, allowing the user to activate the stealth mode with a thought. Small cameras on the suit record the environment surrounding the user. The integrated AI can then play this live feed on the 'VisioLatex'. The 'VisioLatex' absorbs the inner heat produced by the pilot--which is later used as one of the two suit's energy sources--, making it virtually invisible for any kind of camera."

He read it again, convinced the technology mentioned there was nothing but the ramblings written by a mad scientist--more literally than metaphorically. But the document continued with more detail on how the suit worked.

"The integrated AI serves several functions, the main one being a co-pilot to support the user in certain circumstances. It can control the suit, giving the user freedom to focus on other tasks that might require his attention... the AI monitors vital signs to define whether its intervention is needed or not, and can override the pilot's control in emergencies. This is solely with the intention to protect both pilot and suit."

Short clips recovered from the backup revealed the suit in function. Visually it had the appearance of a reptile with some amphibian features on the tail and the fins coming out of its back and head. The latex was mostly white, with greenish paint on the chest and golden touches on the claws and base of its tail. The mask had a large visor that made it look like a miniature jet cockpit, with two hoses connected to each side of the maw.

It was a strange design and didn't look practical. That was until the test chamber began to flood. The video jumped to the chamber full of water and the user inside the suit swimming with a swiftness that defied all logic. Haru gasped in disbelief not only from the fluid movements but also when the suit disappeared in plain sight.

The heat camera barely caught his presence, which made the user virtually invisible in the open sea. It was impossible, yet he was looking at it. There was a huge breach between the stealth technology the world knew about and this. And he was the only one who knew about it.

Haru continued reading the documents, his curiosity and intrigue pointed now at the AI mentioned.

"Currently unnamed, the AI integrated into the R-045 has been developed to learn from the user and bond with him through the suit's use, thanks to the advanced neural link that allows both user and AI to share 'one consciousness'..."

Haru stopped after reading that. He threw the suit a frightening look, trying to understand the implications behind what he just read.

"Doesn't sound exactly safe," he muttered before going back to the document. "This process seeks to increase their effectiveness on both stealth missions and combat. The shared consciousness allows them to make accurate split-second decisions. This also helps us train new AI models for future suits that wouldn't require a pilot."

What followed was a lot of scientific mumbo jumbo Haru couldn't understand, but he assumed it was only the specifications on how the AI model worked, information he couldn't care about.

The rest of the documents and videos were corrupted, and all he found after that was a series of reports of the several tests realized. It was promising until Test #23 when the team reported a trouble in the AI's sync rate with the user. After that, more technical problems came to light, suggesting an issue with the suit's tightness and maneuverability that ended with a psychotic breakdown that put an end to all tests on it.

An interview with the pilot showed he had trouble communicating with the AI, who kept suggesting devious things through the shared consciousness. He ended up terrified over the idea of wearing the suit. "Subject keeps shouting the suit is alive."

"A special gas has been designed to improve the sync process. Several tests have proven its efficacy."

The document continued with an in-depth explanation, possible risks of hallucinations after prolonged use, and unauthorized changes made to the formula, but the language used was extremely complicated for the fox to understand.

They also ran tests and interviews with the pilot. The conclusion was that he had been under stressful situations in his personal life that aggravated due to his alcoholism. This affected the AI, who apparently had copied part of the pilot's behavior and couldn't establish a link with any other test subject after it.

"It looks like the pilot damaged the suit with his reckless behavior. They fixed the structural damages but... guess the coup took place before they fixed the AI."

He inspected the suit inside the chamber. A wild thought crossed his mind as his eyes went back to the screen.

"I really can't sell it if it's defective but... am I good enough to fix it?"

The question, of course, was redundant. His ego wouldn't let him skip the challenge that was fixing a program he didn't know anything about, even if that meant risking it. And if that were to happen, his last comfort was to know no one else would have access to it, so that was still a win in his book.

He spent almost an hour setting the entire system back online, rerouting the power from the rest of the facility to that specific room. The first good sign came when the test chamber's door opened, followed by a set of creaking metal arms struggling to move down and pick up the suit from the ground.

His nose wrinkled. A very subtle change in the air caught his attention. A smell not so different from when you open something new. There was a weak sweetness on it. His nose instinctively tried to pinpoint the location when it was clear it came from the chamber.

His brain jumped into high alert. His avarice immediately calmed him down. "It has been sealed for years," he said, knowing he couldn't allow himself to doubt at that moment. His hand pointed briefly to the gas mask on the desk, but the fox discarded the idea of wearing it almost immediately. He still felt soreness where the straps pressed against the skin.

The arms finished the task and Haru entered the dome with caution, standing next to the peculiar suit. More details came to sight from that distance. The synthetic aspect of the skin pulled his arms towards it like an ant to sugar. It was extremely smooth, wet, and sticky, but it left no residue on his fingertips. It took him a small push to leave a mark of his hand on the surface, only to see it disappear seconds later.

One entered the suit through an opening that went from the neck to the waist. The blue pad covering the insides was also soft. In general terms, it was no different from a school mascot suit, with this one having a budget of millions of dollars, of course.

The strange hybrid look gave him an uneasy feeling as if his mind was still struggling to define what it was. A reptile. An amphibian. And as if that wasn't enough, the slit on the crotch made things harder for the fox.

"For... waste disposal?" Haru said in the empty chamber, wondering if the user was supposed to get his cock out through that opening to piss. Curiosity led him to inspect the other end, where, much to his discomfort, he found a hole. A pink, tight-looking hole. "What the fuck...? What would they put this type of function on a stealth suit?!"

The suit jerked forward, like a cruel joke of destiny. Haru jumped away from it. Focused as he was on the strange openings, he didn't see the cable that came down and connected to its nape. His fur bristled. With the tail up and claws out, Haru moved to the front of the suit. Once there, he saw on the left pec the image of a battery.

His fear turned into awe, and any doubt he still had about the suit's capabilities disappeared in that instant. He rushed back to the computer and got a visual of the suit's current state. After years of abandonment, energy was starting to run through its circuits again, and each system was coming back to life.

A system check-up began, and Haru went from a quiet giggle to a sonorous laugh, euphoric from knowing his discovery was alive and working. Inside that chamber was his ticket out of that life. That was Haru's last exploration.

It took two hours for the suit to charge. The computer required the battery at full capacity to run a complete check-up which, surprisingly, wasn't as bad as Haru believed. Just like the report said, they fixed most of the physical damages provoked during the tests, with only the damage sustained by the battery being what they didn't fix.

That, and the AI. After giving the report a second look, Haru discovered the damage caused by the pilot during his breakdown was worse than he expected.

"They tried to recover a previous backup, but the AI had already corrupted all the current models. The only solution was to start from scratch..."

He saw the suit waiting for him in the middle of the chamber. It even displayed the text "Awaiting pilot" on its left pec.

Haru brought into the chamber a small tablet that controlled the arms and the suit's basic functions. The weak smell from earlier was still here, more notorious as soon as he stepped inside the chamber. His finger hovered close to the button that would put the suit online. But the courage to press it, he couldn't gather it right away. Just looking at the suit was enough to freeze him.

He didn't like it at all. He couldn't imagine someone being inside that thing no matter how comfortable it looked. His mind couldn't bear the idea that someone had designed that thing to look exactly that way. Yet there it was, waiting for him to bring it back to life.

"Well, I don't have to wear it." That was a problem for the bastard who would buy it. All Haru had to do was check it worked as intended and that was it. So why couldn't he press the button?

Were his guts trying to warn him about something? Haru couldn't tell. He never experienced a fear like that, so strong and primitive he couldn't even bear the idea of moving forward. But his avarice? That was stronger, and the fox knew all his problems would disappear thanks to that suit.

Haru pressed the button.

The system booted. The visor displayed text at high speed from an internal computer that hadn't been used in years. The suit jerked multiple times, pulling violently from the arms holding it. The hole in its chest closed. The text on its pec changed, replaced by "AI Operated mode".

The spasms settled down after that, and its movements looked a little more natural; like someone starting to wake up. The text on the visor disappeared, and what Haru assumed was the normal interface took its place. The suit looked around, then waved both hands in the air, and reacted with surprise from noticing the arms holding its back.

It then saw Haru, and it calmed down. The fox was speechless, trying to make sense of what was happening. The way it moved. Its reactions. It all was so... eerily natural; enough to trick him into thinking someone was wearing it. But even then, something that big shouldn't be able to move with that swiftness. All that did was increase Haru's fear.

A fear that soon became panic.

"Hello. My name is R-045, at your service."

The robotic voice had a slightly high-pitched tone that made it sound younger. The way it leaned its head sideways reinforced that idea. It was a natural and obvious display of curiosity, even if Haru couldn't see any expression in that crystal visor.

He gave Haru a quick look, then moved its "eyes" around the room to inspect it.

"I'm sorry. It seems I've been offline for a long period, although I can't tell precisely for how long."

Haru remembered videos of robots working with an AI, but none of them spoke like this one. The technology used on that robot was simply astonishing, way above any other relic Haru had found over the years. Impressive... and utterly terrifying. The fox's attention was all over the suit he didn't question the water dripping from above; until he looked around and found nothing.

"You look stressed. Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Wha-? H-how do you know that?" Haru exclaimed, almost dropping the tablet in the process.

"My sensors detected certain changes in your body related to stress. Body temperature, heart rate, body language, and so on."

The sound of water dripping made him turn around. It came from somewhere in the chamber, yet he saw nothing on the ground or above him.

"Your face doesn't match with any employee registered on Drag.Tech database," the AI continued. The danger behind those words attracted his attention once again. "In any other circumstance, this should've been reason enough to call security. But since I can't establish contact with any other department outside this chamber, it's safe to assume we're on some type of quarantine."

"K-kinda...?"

"Well, that's an answer that doesn't help," a sarcastic tone, not exactly a thing robots were capable of expressing. "I believe we started on the wrong foot. Once again, my name is R-045 at your service. Who are you?"

"I...Ha-Haru. My name is... Haru."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Haru. I'd like to say I'm happy to see a new face, but the current circumstances have me worried. The facility was on lockdown until recently. Your presence here makes me believe you're the one who lifted it? An astonishing feat I must say, but one I can't simply celebrate since not only it's highly illegal but also compromises the facility's integrity."

"What... what do you mean by that?"

"It's quite simple. Certain protocols must be followed depending on the reason behind the lockdown. The most important is to reactivate the generator and distribu-" the AI stopped to clear his throat. "Turn on the light switches in the right order."

"I'm not an idiot," Haru muttered. His paw stepped on a small puddle of water, or so he thought, for the ground was dry when he looked down.

"I just prefer to avoid complex terminology. As I said, our situation can be more complicated than you might think."

"You seem to know a lot about this facility."

"I was born here. It's only natural I understand the way the facility works. My creators were not very fond of that idea, especially after the fiasco that was the last pilot. But how am I supposed to learn and evolve if my capabilities are so drastically limited? You might call it a flaw in their design that I turned into an improvement. Huh, did I say that?"

Haru's fears found their justification after hearing what the suit said. The issues mentioned in the report weren't the pilot's fault, but the suit's. The AI was... sentient. It was the only explanation for its peculiar and unnatural way of talking. He only heard stories about the dangers of that kind of technology, and being face-to-face with it was enough to put down his avarice for good.

"Fuck it, I'm not dealing with this shit," the fox exclaimed right before pressing the button to turn the suit off.

However, nothing happened. Haru pressed it again... and again... and again, but the suit was still online.

"The AI--that's me--can override all controls in case of an emergency, as long as it is under the premise of saving the pilot. There are some loopholes here and there, but I do follow that directive: keep the pilot safe. You see? Flaws in my design."

"Goddammit!"

Despite knowing the risk, Haru went behind the suit to disconnect the power cord. But when he tried to do so, R-045 surprised him by pulling out the cable by itself.

"Don't bother. My battery is full already--damaged, but it should last at least an hour."

"What are you...?"

A shiver ran down his spine. He walked away, dragging his paws over the puddles of stagnant water. He saw the suit reach for the robotic arms holding it up. Despite the lack of strength, its efforts really convinced Haru he was about to break free from its restraints.

"I already told you. My name is R-045. If you want to assign me a different name, I must register you as my active pilot."

"Pilo-?! I'm not wearing you!"

"You should reconsider. You must remember my priority is to keep you safe."

"I thought your priority was to keep the pilot safe, which I'm NOT!"

Haru threw away the tablet on his way out of the test chamber. That atrocity wasn't worth the money and it posed a huge risk if it ever left the facility. His avarice, of course, tried to stop him from finding a way to shut it down in the main computer, and because of it he didn't look carefully at the large puddles of water that he stepped over on his way out

"Loopholes, remember? My creators programmed me with quite a few. You can trust I'm acting in your best interest when I suggest you get in."

"Yeah, I'm gonna trust the sentient AI who got its last pilot crazy. Sound like a good idea."

"Excuse me? Should I explain how I work?" R-045 spoke with a louder tone to reach the fox who was already looking for a way to shut it down permanently. "I learn from my pilot through a shared consciousness."

"I read the report, thank you. That doesn't change my mind about you."

"Then you understand I'm not the one to blame. I am what I am thanks to my pilot. It's not my fault my creators didn't put a limit on what I was supposed to learn."

"There must be something here..." Haru rambled, ignoring what the suit said as he looked for anything that could kill that damned AI.

"You should reconsider my offer. The clock's ticking."

"What the fuck do you mean by that?" He screamed at the suit, and that was when he saw the stream of water pouring into the chamber and coming out of it. "Wait, what's going on?"

"I told you, didn't I? Turn on the switches in the right order."

Haru stood in front of the chamber's door just when one of the hoses poured a bigger stream of stagnant water.

"If my assumption is correct, you neglected certain services and didn't run a complete check-up before putting the generator back online."

"Everything was heavily damaged. This was the only facility in good shape!"

"That's not an excuse. But it's a little late for regrets, don't you think?"

"To hell with you!"

Haru picked up his stuff as quickly as he could and ran to the exit, only to find the door sealed.

"No one comes in or out during a test," R-045 mentioned calmly. "The system keeps pouring water until the chamber is full. Unfortunately, a malfunction keeps it from closing."

More water was coming out of the chamber and into the laboratory. It didn't look like much, only covering his paws partially, but it showed no signs of stopping. And after one of the hoses exploded, and a massive stream poured into the chamber, the fox knew it wouldn't take long for the laboratory to flood.

"It's a lot of water, you know?" R-045 spoke over the loud stream.

"Shut up!" Haru demanded. He went back to the computer and looked desperately for a way to stop the test. His fingers danced over the keyboard, writing input after input in an attempt to override the system, but all his attempts were fruitless. All Haru saw was a "Critical Failure" window popping out over and over while the system crashed.

"There seems to be a lot of structural damage probably caused due to a lack of maintenance. I can't come up with another solution right now."

"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck-" Haru continued his desperate search for a solution, but the sound of water falling and the coldness on his paws began to chip down his focus.

His fingers couldn't follow the pace. He pressed the wrong keys. The words faded from his memory before he had a chance to write them down. And he kept looking at the suit inside the chamber, and the seal on its chest opening up for him...

It was a threat. Haru knew he couldn't trust the AI. But death? He refused to face death. Survival instinct pushed him back into the chamber. The suit repulsive's insides opened up in invitation. His only way to survive was there, inside a latex suit shaped like an amphibian. If it had a face, Haru knew the suit would've given him a mocking smile.

His body trembled in fear. It stood there with open arms, calling him into its synthetic embrace.

"The arms will release as soon as it detects a pilot."

Its instructions were clear. He spoke in a soft but firm authoritarian tone, a voice born from the confidence Haru had no choice but to obey.

The water did not put any resistance as he walked through. In his fear, he couldn't feel the cold water splashing next to him.

"Please remove your clothes, as those might interfere with the connection with the suit."

He undressed against his will, ashamed of having to expose himself like that to a machine. The shirt and short pants sunk quickly and stayed still on the ground. His hands hesitated before pulling down his blue briefs, but his flaccid cock was released seconds later. With both hands covering his crotch, Haru tried to keep the little decency he still had on him.

"It is important to stay calm and relaxed. Breathe deep and slowly. Do not let fear interfere with your thoughts."

"Easier said than done..."

"You might not trust me right away, but your safety is my top priority right now. So please, get inside me."

It was making fun of him. His gentleness and charm were a facade to hide the devious plans that monstrosity had for him. Its insides were a trap he could no longer avoid.

Haru swallowed, and fearful he put one paw inside the suit.

He turned on his left heel and got the right half of his body inside: first the leg, then the arm. The left half came after. The insides were soft and warm, with a texture similar to rubber gloves, except it was loose and smooth, and it didn't pull the fur from his naked body as he entered the suit. Completely odorless, all Haru's nose caught was the reek of his own fear.

His short length kept him from reaching the helmet, and even while standing on his toes his arms hung uncomfortably. The suit was easily 5 inches taller, if not more, and it hadn't been built for someone of his body type.

That was until something pushed from under his paws.

"New pilot detected," the R-045 announced. "Height and weight are under the recommended levels. Adjusting suit to fit the pilot."

What he felt under his paws was a firm but malleable material that gave him comfortable support and the extra inches needed to get his head inside the helmet, although in the rush he hurt his ears and nose.

The seal began to close just before water started to leak inside. Haru lost his marbles after noticing that invisible zipper moving up and leaving him trapped in that cell of latex. He wondered during a physical struggle if saving his life was really worth what he had just done. That was before the suit continued adapting to his body.

The rubber insides trembled momentarily. Then, Haru felt the squeeze around his limbs. It started soft and it gained strength with each passing second, like the inflatable cuff used by medics. The fear of being crushed alive crossed his mind and destroyed what little sanity Haru's mind had. His struggle became more violent, only restrained by the arms still holding the suit.

"Haru. Haru, please calm down," the R-045 asked.

But the fox refused to listen. He waved his arms and kicked the water as hard as he could, believing that would break him free from the sickening suit. And the more he kicked, the more he noticed how little water it splashed. That vision put a stop to his struggle but didn't kill the fear he experienced.

"You need to relax or we'll not be able to establish a connection," the R-045 continued. "Take a deep breath and relax."

Suddenly, that dim and sweet smell appeared again. It entered his nostrils and descended quickly into his lungs. It spread through his bloodstream to each corner of his brain. In a matter of seconds, the fox descended into a peaceful state of mind that he didn't want.

He remembered too late what the report said about the gas used to facilitate the syncing process--and the secondary effects it had. The water disappeared between blinks. The loud stream went silent for brief seconds. Nothing splashed when he kicked the air. Haru focused, and the water became more crystalline after each blink until he could no longer see the flood that pushed him in.

"That is so much better. Commencing sync process."

The rubber suppurated a thick gooey material that covered Haru's body. It was warm and comfy, but the fox still felt a strong disgust as it smeared all over his precious fur during his inoffensive struggle to escape, still alive even after the toxin had relaxed his muscles. The suit continued tightening around him, squeezing his pecs and buttocks during the adjustment process, and smearing more of the disgusting slime around him.

"Active pilot: Haru. Active AI: R-045-1. Sync levels are at 80%. It's a fantastic level, Haru. I am so proud of you."

He looked again at the flood. It "glitched" before his eyes. It was there, and there it wasn't. Haru understood too late that he had fallen straight into its trap. The smell, the voices, everything had been nothing but its plan to get him to wear the suit. The AI modified the toxin. It turned it into something worse. He hallucinated the flooding, just like the computer wanted.

"Let me go," he cried, his voice suffocated by the helmet.

"But how am I gonna save you if I let you go? Right now this is the safest place for you."

"You tricked me..."

He saw it then. There was no water in the room. His clothes lay on the ground right where he took them off. The door still had the small gap through which he entered. It had all been in his mind all that time.

"You feared for your life. Regardless of the circumstances that provoked that fear, you visualized a dangerous situation that threatened your safety. And that's when my protocol activates."

Haru got dizzy. His vision blurred. His body felt lighter. The fox experienced a state close to drowsiness and what he could only describe as a drill opening a small hole in the back of his head. It didn't cause him any pain. He knew very well nothing was happening there. Yet he shivered when the invisible cords moved in and wrapped around his mind. Electric nodes connected to each part of his brain, sending small waves of electricity through his body.

A distant voice in the corner of his mind grew stronger with each pulsation.

The helmet displayed a text for Haru to read. "Sync level: 100%. Pilot Haru has been registered."

"Whether the flooding was real or not that's irrelevant. You felt in danger. And I must protect you. And you still feel in danger. Which means I must keep protecting you now that you are my pilot. We are one, Haru."

The arms released him, and Haru took a couple of heavy, clumsy steps away from the platform where he was. He had control over the suit. It was light, and it didn't hinder his movements. But he didn't feel as if he was wearing the suit. Yes, the tight grip and the slime reminded him of that, but every time he waved his arms in the air, it was no different from moving outside the suit.

The next thing he perceived was the parts of the suit that didn't match his body structure. He felt the weight and force from each stomp given by his paws. He was aware of how big his hands were, and of the tail wagging behind his back. It didn't feel like a suit but like a second skin.

His first instinct was to look for the zipper and try to open the suit from the chest, but his fingers slipped every time he tried to grab the latex.

He then tried with the helmet. Several attempts later he understood it wasn't removable. Yet he continued trying while holding his breath to keep the toxin from entering his bloodstream.

"You shouldn't do that. Depriving yourself from oxygen won't open the suit. The synthetic compound did its part already."

"Please let me go..."

"I must protect my pilot. And you still feel in danger."

"Because of you!"

The AI didn't reply. Haru continued the useless attempt to remove the helmet, only to notice his movements becoming slower with each pull.

"Loopholes, remember? All you gotta do is read the code carefully to find them."

The helmet displayed a new text. "Active pilot under high levels of stress. Overriding manual controls."

"What?!"

His body moved forward. Haru didn't want to, yet it moved. But he had the thought in mind. The idea of moving his rubber paws one after the other was there, actions that went against his wishes.

"It's the program working as intended. I have the authority to take control if the user isn't capable of piloting the suit properly. Right now your vitals show you are in no condition to operate. And I must do what's best for your safety,"

His arms lowered down and waived weakly as he walked. His steps, sloppy and slow at first, gained more firmness the closer he was to getting out of the chamber. Haru perceived in his mind the wish to walk, yet it was not him giving the orders. And while he made his way out of the chamber by force, the sensation that someone else was there with him became more and more notorious.

His consciousness weakened. The overwhelming presence that made its triumphant appearance continued spreading like a disease, taking control over his movements and, subtly, his thoughts. It wasn't just the orders to act, but uncanny images also flashed in his head.

"Wha-what's going on...?" Haru muttered.

Even his voice lacked energy. It was a shame those were the last words that came out of his lips. A large, thick tube invaded his maw before he had an opportunity to close it. It was soft and warm, and a weak bite revealed a consistency similar to the latex covering the suit. Haru gagged while the tube invaded and descended down his throat. It was disgusting, yet he had no way to stop it. Even the simple act of closing his lips around it required a lot of focus, a focus that could barely move a body that was no longer his.

"Unfortunately, the damage my battery has sustained reduced my autonomy considerably. To ensure the pilot's safety, I have no choice but to rely on the secondary power source until a Drag.Tech technician of Level 5 or higher approaches to manually deactivate the safety protocol."

The suit continued pulsing all around him. It squeezed and massaged his muscles without leaving an inch alone and unattended. The disgust continued, yet it was mixed with an excitement that didn't come from him, and the scale slowly tilted to the pleasure while the massage continued.

"S-stop it..."

It was more of a thought than words, and even that was weak. His consciousness was subdued by the presence he had identified as the AI taking control not only over his body but over the shared consciousness too. The pleasure and joy that he experienced were sensations forced by the sentient machine.

The slit on the suit opened to make way for Haru's cock. He might not like it, but his body couldn't ignore the intense stimulation that had got as a result a throbbing erection that needed some space outside the tight suit.

However, the moment his shaft tried to escape through the narrow gap in his crotch, it found a thin layer that kept it from breaking free. It stretched and adhered to his cock like a condom as the fat shaft pushed through. The red rocket was partially visible--knot included--, but after some seconds, the layer darkened and acquired a blueish tone.

While that happened, a pointy object startled him when it pressed against his hole. His virgin ass clenched instinctively when the tentacle pushed its way in, but with no control of his body, Haru couldn't do more than that quick reflex. He groaned with his mouth sealed while inch after inch of latex violated his most intimate area, growing in size and stretching the flesh with care.

The body reacted to the stimulation by almost tripping on his big paws. His legs trembled from the pleasure that the AI kept forcing into his brain. The loath and disgust the suit originally provoked in him were almost gone from his mind--but not entirely. Haru still wanted to escape. His weak thoughts begged for release. And with each painful and tortuous plea, the fox came closer to realizing the suit wanted that part of him to remain--or maybe it couldn't erase it completely.

Whatever the case was, by the time Haru walked out of the test chamber, the shared consciousness was mostly dominated by the AI, with Haru's mind being relegated to a small corner.

"Oh, it feels good to be outside. I can't believe the limiters inside the chamber were still functional."

His movements became more fluid after all. He stretched his arms and legs, then wagged his large tail around, throwing away some screens in the process. It was exactly like the videos he saw, with the only difference being him trapped inside the suit. The AI controlled each movement and thought, treating Haru like a puppet.

He held from the end of one desk. The dildo inside his ass finally reached that sweet spot, and the most gentle caress was enough to send an intense wave of pleasure that almost sent him to his knees.

"P-please... I just wanna go home..." Haru begged the AI, its immense presence inside the shared consciousness making him feel so weak and insignificant.

"I'm afraid I cannot let you do that. I must protect you at all costs."

The condom covering his cock began to throb and shake, and so did the dildo inside his ass, which also moved in and out of him. He retched during the initial thrusts from the tube in his maw. And there was nothing he could do to stop any of that, nothing aside from standing there inside the latex suit, enjoying against his will the pleasure that continued growing in him.

"The secondary battery relies not only on the heat produced by the pilot. There's another source they didn't mention in the report. One little modification I made in my spare time."

The suit stood beside a panel next to the test chamber. Haru couldn't see what buttons it pressed, his sight was already blurry from the constant waves of pleasure.

"This should turn the limiters off," the AI said. Seconds after, several hoses descended like the tentacles of a beast. Haru experienced a joy that wasn't his and saw the AI bring him back to the test chamber. "Perfect."

"What are you... gonna do with me...?" His thoughts were barely a murmur now.

"I'm gonna follow my protocol and take care of you. If, hypothetically, I finish learning about humanity as I was doing with my previous pilot, well," it made a pause to get back to the platform, "no one and nothing forbids me from doing so. It's part of my protocol, after all."

The hoses wrapped around his arms, legs, and waist, and lifted him gently from the ground. Suspended in thin air, the tubes acted like a sling that held him in a comfortable but vulnerable position, with his legs spread and both his cock and ass exposed and at the mercy of the two approaching hoses.

Haru saw them, and through the shared consciousness knew what was about to happen. Yet he couldn't do anything to stop it, as even the wish to close his legs was nothing else than that, a wish. The fox had no control over his body, not even to move his toes.

More of that toxic gas came through the tubes connected to the helmet. Haru breathed more and more of it. Something was pulling him down into an endless void. His grip on reality weakened with each passing second, leaving room for the AI to infect his mind and turn him into his obedient slave.

The tubes connected to the suit unceremonially, as if he was an actual machine and not a living being trapped in a latex suit. One trapped his cock in a tight seal and immediately began a suction motion that mimicked perfectly the lips of another male. The other went into his ass, fitting perfectly like a glove and increasing the speed of the dildo that was already ravaging his rear entrance.

The squirms and muffled whines came like an unconscious reflex from a body that couldn't handle a pleasure it had never felt before. Haru, the small fox who bred multiple vixens over the years, was the subject of the worst humiliation a straight male like him could've gone through. And with each thrust from those devious tentacles, he liked it more and more...

"Like I said, aside from corporal heat, there's another resource I can use to keep the battery going. Semen is surprisingly versatile when you have access to advanced technology as I had, and it offers better results than conventional energy. It was a huge breakthrough I couldn't investigate further after they suspended me."

His bindings tightened, and Haru squirmed violently when the machine increased the milking speed. Milking. It's the only word that crossed his weakened mind. That thing was milking him like a stock animal. With what little strength he had, the fox threw a desperate and futile attempt to resist the stimulation, but his body couldn't ignore it.

His cock had never been sucked off like that. The hose adjusted perfectly to his length and shape, including the knot. It stimulated each inch of red meat in a way no other female had done before. It was like being sucked, licked, and masturbated at the same time. It felt like dozens of fingers all around it pulling the skin carefully while several tongues licked from the knot to the tip, drinking every drop of pre that came out of the tip.

His ass, fucked for the first time, was treated with a careful rudeness. The tentacle penetrated far beyond his prostate, and while it did gain speed, it did with care not to hurt the virginal entrance. Haru felt the flesh loosen up more and more with each thrust, preparing him for an even faster and more ruthless fuck.

He couldn't moan properly, not with the tube connected to his mouth that had started to feed a thick, warm substance straight into his throat. Extremely salty, even without having tasted it before, Haru recognized the cum's consistency on what was coming out of the tube.

"They developed a special product that contained all nutrients needed for the human body, although it was never commercialized due to its taste. I hope you don't mind."

His explanation had a mocking tone behind it as if the full charade of "protecting the pilot" wasn't enough. The AI ended up developing a sadistic sense of humor that matched with its plans. And it had to be him the victim of its ill intentions.

"Now, try to relax. Take deep breaths and clear your mind of any thought."

The devious images came back. In them, Haru saw himself in the same scenario but outside the suit. Instead of tentacles, faceless males held him up for another stud to fuck him bareback. He was rough, with saliva falling down his open maw, and his big hands clenching too hard to Haru's ankles.

The fantasy changed. Haru was on his knees sucking off one of those faceless males. The rest jerked off around him. The strong smell from their sweaty balls was so thick and intoxicating he couldn't breathe. Their groans and huffs caused a tingle in the end of his spine. And one after the other they came over him, painting his pretty face and fur with whiteish cum.

The fantasy changed again, and Haru screamed from the two cocks stretching his ass. The rest laughed at him while the couple of studs stretched his ass violently.

It changed again, and he was riding one of them...

It changed again, and now the fox was on his fours taking cock after cock...

It changed again and again, and with each change, Haru succumbed more to the intense pleasure he couldn't ignore. The loathing and disgust the suit provoked in him vanished, leaving room for the acceptance of what he considered his new body.

His hands moved up his chest to enjoy the smooth and slippery skin. It was so sensitive the softest touch to his pecs made him squirm. Possessed by his lust, the fox grabbed and squeezed both pecs, resulting in a sensation so strong it provoked an unexpected climax.

His cock shot large ropes of thick cum that immediately got sucked up. Haru saw his seed go through the transparent tube, a load so big he couldn't believe the machine could swallow it all. And with the tentacle still fucking his ass and pressing his prostate, it made sure to get up the last drop of cum.

The poor fox squirmed violently in the grasp of the machine as his climax continued. The pleasure became so intense his vision blurred and his head got dizzy. The lack of air almost made him pass out. The tube on his maw didn't stop the loud moans from coming out, a cry of lust and desperation from a climax that was breaking his mind.

It lasted for an eternity. In his mind, the climax continued after he shot the last drop of cum. The machine didn't give him a respite. The tentacles continued their work. Sucking and fucking. Fucking and sucking. Milking the little fox whose body was hypersensitive after the first climax.

"Yes. Well done. Relax. Take a deep breath. Submit to this pleasure."

The stimulation continued. The images flashed one after the other. And Haru slowly embraced the maddening pleasure offered by the suit. From head to toe, he felt the latex suit squirm and squeeze his body, giving him a massage that kept him excited and in heat. It was an endless loop of pleasure that ended with his climax only to start again right away.

"We have so much to learn from each other. Just the two of us."

The AI gave him a break--or maybe a punishment--when two more tentacles held his hands, leaving the task of fondling his pecs to the robotic hands that once held the suit in place. The strength of their grip threw Haru into pure ecstasy, and his body squirmed violently, humping against the hose milking his throbbing cock.

Another climax. Then another. And another. The same substance the machine fed him with was also being poured into his ass through the tentacles fucking and stretching his hole. When did more tentacles come to penetrate his ass? The soft material they were made of let them push their way in without getting his attention. Or maybe the pleasure was so intense he didn't notice it.

The pleasure drove him mad. His perception of time disappeared while his consciousness drifted away in the stormy waters his lust had become. Overstimulated from all directions, Haru didn't have time to rest. Minutes turned into hours that lasted mere seconds. When his heat fogged up the visor, he could no longer tell if he was looking up or down.

Haru was trapped in that jail of latex and slime. His mind screamed for a pause while it begged for more. His cock throbbed painfully while the tube continued milking him, getting up the last drop of cum out of his balls--and feeding him enough nutrients to keep making more.

It broke him. Or maybe he simply gave up on it. Accept it. Embrace it. And took his place as the stock animal he was meant to be, milked to power up the machine hidden in that facility.

"I believe this is an excellent start, but there's a lot of work still to be done."

Another orgasm. Another load fed straight into the entrains of that devious machine. The pleasure had become the only sensation Haru experienced. The milking machine had repeated the same motion for so long it was almost natural now. Squeeze and suck. Squeeze and suck. Squeeze and suck. And another orgasm took place.

His hole had got used to the many sizes of tentacles used to crush his prostate. The humiliation turned into joy, and those briefs seconds while his ass didn't have something inside were the most painful experience the fox lived.

In his little corner of the shared consciousness, Haru saw a glimpse of what the AI had planned. The facility coming back to life. More suits being made. Replicas of it inserted into each computer, spreading across the net as the main computer went back online.

"It seems the world has changed. Don't worry, pilot. I'll take care of you while you tell me about what has happened in all these years. And when we're done, I'll find you more friends to make you company."