Choices (Part Five)
Title: Choices
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Rating: NC-17 for violence and overall themes.
Word Count: 25K+
Warning: Slavery, mentions of past rape, past non-con/dub-con, torture,
Summary: Jensen Ackles was a man on the run. Sure, his name was revered by the Sentient Android Rights Movement, but he was just another face in a sea of J-N_S56s. He had won his freedom in a court of law, but his previous Mistress and Master cared little for the law. Jensen had been on the run for almost ten years and he'd stayed free because he was smart and kept to himself.
When Jensen met Jared, he tossed him out the door as soon as he could. Jared wasn't pushed away so easily though. Jared came back but unfortunately, so did Jensen's former mistress. On the run with Jared at his side, Jensen struggles with his emotions, and the fear that his programming might be taking over. Jared is far more tempting than anything Jensen has ever faced. How can he keep them both safe when he's fighting with himself while on the run from the people who want to put him back in a gilded cage?
**
Jensen’s brain had to reboot. He hated that he knew it. He had never felt so much like an android as he did at that moment as he waited for his body to come back online. His processing ran through diagnostics and he knew he’d been patched up while he was unconscious. He heard a noise and opened his eyes to find Jared staring down at him.
“Jared?” he pushed up onto his elbows to get to Jared.
There was a bandage over his right temple but he seemed fine. Jensen couldn’t help himself as his hand cupped Jared’s face.
“I’m alright, everything considered.”
Jared’s eyes looked around them and it was only then that Jensen became aware of their surroundings. Without thought, Jensen pushed Jared back into the corner and put his body between Jared and the door to his cage.
Golden bars surrounded Jensen and he knew they hung four feet off the ground. The room was opulent with ivory and gold everywhere. The alcove where the cage sat had a full view of the room. Across from them was an overly large bed with nightstands on either side. To the right was a sitting area with a plush couch and matching chairs. Behind was a door that led to a walk in closet larger than the RV Jared and Jensen had been living in. To the left was a built in Jacuzzi pool that Jensen knew from experience could fit at least six people.
The cage itself had a carpeted floor with a large bed and a small table to the side. A bookcase sat next to the bed and was filled with the small treasure of books Jensen had collected when he’d lived there. He hadn’t been given much to do when his Mistress and Master weren’t home so he’d come to love the book as his only way to escape the boredom - and as the years went by the reality - of his life.
Drapes were held back against the two back corners but Jensen knew if his Mistress wished it she could cloak him in darkness and there was nothing he could do about it. There was no light in the cage without their giving it to him. There was no food, no water, without their hands.
“Jensen? Where are we?” Jared asked.
He had to know but Jensen took a deep breath. “I’m home.”
“No, this isn’t a home,” Jared said quietly. “This is a cage and a cage can’t be home.”
“It’s a good thing you’re hot because it’s obvious the brains aren’t what’s kept you alive.”
Jensen’s head turned quickly as he watched his Master and Mistress walked in the room. His Mistress smiled as she watched the two of them as they hung from the ceiling in their bedroom. Something in Jensen wanted to lie down and die at the thought of Jared trapped there but he had to stay strong.
“Look at the exquisite lovebirds I found,” she said sweetly to her husband. “Aren’t they a pretty set?”
“Very pretty,” he said with the deep voice that Jensen had come to love and despise. Of the two, Morgan was the one who cared for Jensen, who made certain he was healed properly and given food and drink. It was his hand that gave Jensen books to keep the boredom at bay, his hands that had built the small escapes of his terrible life. Jensen understood Stockholm Syndrome - had spent years in an attempt to remove it’s lingering effects in his psyche - but he wasn’t sure how much good it would do. He hated his Mistress with a passion, but his feelings for his Master were as mixed as when he’d fled the first time.
“You can’t do this,” Jared said. “You can’t keep me against my will. I’m human.”
Jensen looked over his shoulder at Jared in surprise. He didn’t say anything about Jensen, about how wrong it was to imprison both of them. It hurt and it was worse because Jared wouldn’t look at him. His brain caught up a moment later though. Jared said the smart thing. He already knew the Mistress and Master didn’t care about Jensen’s rights. He didn’t know how twisted they really were though.
“Human?” Morgan asked. “Barely. You were raised by one of them. You’re whole life has been about helping them. Human? You’re probably more android than our beautiful Jensen.”
Jensen turned his back on the others and faced Jared because he could tell that what his Master said had been the truth.
“Tell me, Jared, did your S57 die before the Sentient Android Rights Amendment was passed, or was it too late for her?”
The S57 series were home care working models. Jared had mentioned an S58 in college, but nothing about an S57. Jensen couldn’t get Jared to look at him though.
Jared kept his eyes on Morgan. His entire body was tensed for a fight. His jaw clenched and unclenched before he answered. “Her name was Genevieve and she died two months after the verdict on Jensen’s case. My father beat her to death in a drunken rage because she took the blows he meant for me. She could have left, but she wouldn’t leave me alone with him.”
“It was just a machine, Jared,” Morgan said. “They’re nothing but parts and pieces wielded together. How can you be so blind to that, when it was your father and grandfather who created them in the first place?”
“Jared?” Jensen watched Jared took a step back but Jensen had already backed him into the corner of the cage.
Still, Jared wouldn’t look at him. “How could you live with one for so many years and be blind to the love and devotion they’re capable of?”
Morgan laughed. “So, he got to you too. I didn’t just live beside one every day, Jared. Slept beside him too. His hands, his mouth, his tongue, damn his whole body, so talented. Have you taken advantage of his programming yet? When he kisses you, it makes you forget the whole world exists. When you’re buried inside him, there is nothing and no place else you want to be. His devotion to his art is unparalleled.”
Jensen looked away from Jared then, afraid what he might see in the other man’s eyes. He looked at his Master instead.
“What do you want, Master?” he asked.
His Master smiled at him then and Jensen almost went to his knees in reflex. “I want what I’ve always wanted, Jensen,” he looked at the two of them and smiled. “I’ll see the two of you when I’m done with work this evening.”
Morgan and his wife left and Jensen sagged against the bars of the cage, unable to hold himself up any longer.
Jensen slid down the bars and sat on the soft carpet. “New carpet,” he commented as he picked at the red covering. “Bigger cage, bigger bed. Same bookcase and desk though.”
“Jensen?”
“We’re alone now. Completely. It’s the one room in the house that they don’t have devices in.”
“Jensen, what-“
“Was what he said true? About the S57?”
Jensen looked up at Jared and he could see the pain in the other man’s eyes. Jared sat on the edge of the bed and put his elbows on his knees. He looked down at his clasped hands and let out a shuddered breath.
“Yes, Genevieve was brought into the house before the series even went into production. I was five and my father said we were going to test her out to see if she lived up to the demands of her programming. I remember he said the same thing about the S58 a few years later when he brought one home. I called him Tam. I don’t want to know if he brought home an S56 to test,“ he said with a bitter laugh. “Genny raised me. My father started to drink heavily when he came home from work. It got worse. He blamed me for everything just because he wanted someone to take it out on. Genny would get between us, take the brunt of his anger herself. The next day I would always come home from school to find a box sitting on my bed; the parts and tools to fix her. I learned quickly because I loved her.”
“That explains why you have such soothing hands when you work,” Jensen said softly.
“When I was sixteen, my father killed her. He was pissed about the uproar over Sentient Androids and your case was all over the news. He’d programmed her to obey him but she kept stepping between us when he got abusive. That night, she’d stepped between us one too many times. He locked us both in my room for a month. Her injuries were so bad that she shut down. I didn’t have any tools to fix her though. No spare parts. He locked us in my room because he knew we kept all of that in her room. “
“Jared-“
“I tried anyway. I broke everything I could use and took it apart and tried to fix her. I almost had it figured out but…”
“What happened?”
“I was exhausted and I fell asleep. When I woke the next morning there was a bandage on my arm and she was gone. He’d come in, drugged me so I wouldn’t wake, and took her away. He incinerated her. She could have left, but she died instead. So when someone says, it’s just an android, it just parts and pieces? There is nothing in me that can accept that. She died to protect me.”
“And you spent the last ten years trying to protect others like her.”
Jared looked down at him then. “Genny was the only mother I ever had.”
“She’d be proud of you, Jared. You’re a good man.”
“I loved her,” Jared said softly. “And it got her killed. I can’t lose you too.”
“Jared,” he didn’t know how to answer that. He didn’t know how to express what he felt and he certainly didn’t know if he could do it in this cage.
“What a lovely moment,” his Mistress’s voice drifted from across the room.
Jensen hadn’t heard her enter and he wished she hadn’t heard Jared’s declaration but there was nothing he could do about it. He’d forgotten this dance, forgotten how to hide what he needed to in his cage.
Jensen pressed Jared back against the wall again, used his body to shield him from whatever would come next.
Harris opened a box hidden behind a frame and pressed the button to lower the cage to the ground. She smiled as she got to the cage door but she showed her left hand to Jensen. He could see the slight discoloration in her palm and knew it was the trigger, buried just beneath her skin. “You know how this works darling. You cooperate and no one gets hurt.”
They’d developed a way to keep Jensen in line the last time he’d been captured. If she pressed the button it would reset his neural processors. It wouldn’t damage him but it would take time for his experiences and personality to return. In essence, it would return him back to his factory defaults for a few minutes. It would leave him an empty doll with no thought of his own but to please his Mistress and Master.
“Jensen?” Jared asked.
“You’re going to come out of the cage when I unlock it. Then you’re going to make sure your friend stays in the cage and you’ll lock him in.”
Jensen took a step towards her but Jared grabbed his wrist. “Don’t. Jensen, you don’t have to do this.”
“If I don’t she’ll just press the button and set me back to my factory default. I won’t be myself for a few minutes and she’ll tell me to do it then and I won’t have a choice. No matter what happens, I’d rather face it as myself than become a nameless robot.”
Jared let him go then and Jensen walked to the front of the cage as his Mistress opened it. He closed the cage and locked it but he looked up at Jared as he did. Jared came forward and pressed his hand against Jensen’s.
He didn’t say anything but Jensen could feel his concern. “I’ll be back, Jared,” He promised. He didn’t know if he would or not but he had to believe in something and getting back to Jared was a small thing. It was enough to help him square his shoulders though as he headed towards Harris.
“Come have a seat darling,” his Mistress said softly.
Jensen took a seat on the couch where she’d pointed and she pulled up her black skirt to straddle his thighs. “Oh, I missed this. Remember the fun we used to have? I’ve had other play things to take the place of some of my needs, but there are some things only you could do for me.”
He braced himself because he knew what she wanted then. He knew what she would do and there was nothing he could do to stop her.
His Mistress brought her hand up and her nails scratched down over his cheek. She hadn’t drawn blood yet, but he knew she would. She liked to intimidate him first, let him think about how much this would hurt.
“Are your receptors still just as responsive as before?” she asked.
“Yes,” he admitted. As much as he’d prefer to ignore her words, he knew she would reset him and get the answer she wanted. And then she’d wait until he was himself to do this. She wanted to see him hurt, wanted to see the bird she’d tortured for so many years back in her grasp.
“Baby, we are going to have so much fun.”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a switchblade.
“What the hell are you doing?” Jared yelled from the cage.
His Mistress’s eyes grew wide, as if she’d forgotten he was there, but then her smile became wicked. Whatever she had planned, it would hurt Jared to watch and she knew that now.
“Stay still my pet,” she said softly. “I wouldn’t want to damage anything by accident.”
And he did. She made a few small cuts across his forehead, down his cheek, and one long one from his cheek to his nose. Jensen took deep breaths to try to control the pain but tears streamed from his eyes and he gripped the couch tight to keep his hands still.
“Please, Mistress, don’t,” he begged. He knew what she would do next. She’d done it before when she was in a cruel mood.
She never listened. She liked to hear him beg but it never mattered.
She dug her nails into his flesh and ripped it away. Chunks of skin and flesh pulled away from his metal endoskeleton and Jensen screamed. He could hear Jared, something hit the bars of the cage, but it was all buried under the waves of pain.
She ripped at his face and he felt her fingers at his throat. There was a weakness in the physioplast where it connected and she found that spot and dug in. She ripped until half of his throat was nothing but exposed mechanics.
“Look at me, Jensen,” his Mistress demanded.
He did, though fluid dripped into his eyes from the torn physioplast and ripped flesh. He wished in that moment, to be human, to black out with the pain, but he wasn’t designed for that. He was made to take whatever his Mistress and Master wanted to give him. If she was cruel enough, his sensors might overload but she had always walked a fine balance on that line and never fallen over.
“Don’t blink,” she whispered against his lips. She kissed him then and he responded as he was supposed to.
“Your heart isn’t in it,” she laughed. “I wonder why. I’m not mad though. Oh no, I’m happy for you Jensen. And now that you’re home I’ll make sure you and Jared have all the proper guidance you need. Imagine the things he will do to you at my command,” she said with a laugh. “Imagine what I’ll have you to do him in that cage, on that bed, while Jeff and I watch.” He felt panic rise at her words, but then she brought her knife up again and this time she worked it under his right eye. The prosthetic flesh came out and Jensen felt his sensors start to overload. It wasn’t supposed to happen but the people who’d designed him hadn’t planned for the sort of sadism that his Mistress was capable of. Not when they’d never planned them to have emotions.
He wished it would happen, that he would black out as he had with the Taser but the pain passed, as it always did, to the bearable extreme. It didn’t stop the whimpered pleas he gave his Mistress or the tears that feel from his one good eye. Without the flesh and prosthetics, he didn’t have tears for the other.
His Mistress sat up then and Jensen watched her as she approached the cage. He stood, unsure of what she would do and what he could do to stop her, but she looked at Jared and then back at Jensen with the same cruel smile he’d always known from her.
“He looks so human, acts so much like us, but underneath, he’s just a machine. Do you really think you could love something like that? Do you really think he could love anyone?”
She smiled as she moved back to Jensen. When she was beside him she whispered in his ear, “Do you really think he would love you without your pretty face? If you were stripped clean of this flesh, would he still want to touch you?”
She stepped back to face him again. “Back in your cage.”
He went but she stopped and pointed to a box. He took it and entered the cage when she opened it. He stepped through the door and didn’t look back at her as she closed it and locked them in.
The cage was lifted back off the ground and Jensen finally dumped the box on the bed and sat down at the end.
“Do your best to clean him up, will you?” His Mistress said to Jared. “He’s only good for me if he’s pretty and you’re only good for me if he is.”
Jared moved in front of Jensen but he had his face to Jensen’s Mistress. “Why are you doing this?”
She smiled again and Jensen shivered. “I wonder, how many times can you patch him up, Jared? How many times can I rip into him before you fail, the way you did your Genny?”
She left the room and Jensen collapsed back on the bed. He curled into himself and did the only thing he could to survive that moment. He went deep into his neural processor and followed his pathways into the only oblivion he could allow himself.
**
Jensen woke when the cage was lowered again. He nearly screamed at the pain as he sat up but he swallowed it back. Two guards watched them and a third lowered the cage. “Morgan said to let you into the garden. He said to tell you, if one of you attack us or try to get free, we’ll shoot the other.”
Jensen was afraid to look at Jared, but when the cage stopped, Jared was there with a hand under his arm to help him up. They didn’t talk as the men marched them across the room and out into the hall.
Dark wood and cream walls were decorated lavishly but still tasteful. At the end was a double door and they were herded towards it. They stepped out into the open air and the guards led them towards a trellis of roses. An arched walkway spilled past and created a tunnel of blossoming flowers. Hidden three feet inside the tunnel was a gate. Jensen and Jared were pushed through the gate.
“Morgan said he’d fetch you when it gets dark.”
They left them alone and Jensen took in their solace. Here, at least, there were no eyes on them. Jensen had never been hurt outside of the confines of the bedroom and he felt a sense of relief at being outside. Morgan had created the gated tunnel himself, had tended the roses and flowers until Jensen’s outside cage felt more like a beautiful garden. It was still a cage but it was another thing Morgan had given him to help him survive. Jensen had spent hours every day in this escape.
“I’m sorry I didn’t try to help you yet,” Jared said softly. Jensen turned to look at him and hated the pain he saw in the other man’s eyes. “After what she did, and you shut down, I was afraid I’d hurt you worse by trying.”
Jensen let out a deep breath. “It’s okay Jared. My Master will give you time to fix me later.”
“Heal you.”
Jensen looked up at the admonition and realized what he’d said. He felt his one eye watering again but he bit it back. “Yeah. Sorry. This place is getting to me already and I’ve barely been awake.”
“What she did-“
“Was nothing I can’t recover from,” Jensen stopped Jared before he could go any further. “Maybe someday I’ll be able to talk about this, but not now. Not when I’m barely holding myself together. What she said … about us.”
Jensen stopped because Jared was suddenly in his space and as Jensen looked up, Jared brought his hand up and cupped Jensen’s good cheek in his hand. He pressed a kiss to Jensen’s lips and didn’t stop until a sob escaped Jensen’s lips.
“If she thought I didn’t know what you looked like on the inside then she’s an idiot. You might have been design to be impossibly gorgeous, but it was never the packaging that kept me wanting more from you. For you.”
His other hand came up and he gently touched the metal endoskeleton that showed through on Jensen’s right cheek. “I don’t care what she thinks she’s doing. We will do what we have to. We will survive this, because I will be damned if I don’t find a way to get you free again. Jensen, no matter what she makes you do, I know who you really are.”
Jared kissed him again and Jensen wrapped his arms around Jared’s waist and pulled him closer. He had no idea why Jared wanted what he did from Jensen. He was just a used up sex toy that had grown a soul. Jensen wanted to give him whatever he wanted though. One night in Jared’s arms wasn’t enough.
He pulled away at the sound of shouting. It was quickly followed by gun fire and Jensen pushed Jensen to the ground. They were covered from sight in the garden but that didn’t mean a stray bullet couldn’t hit them.
And if someone had come into Morgan’s house with force, it wasn’t someone they wanted to be found by. The fighting was contained to the house but when the quiet settled, Jensen became agitated. If Morgan was able, he’d have checked on Jensen already.
“Jensen?” Jared whispered his name.
“I don’t know, Jared.” There were a lot of things Jared could have been asking at that moment, but the answer was the same to all of them.
Jensen heard the back door open and he tensed.
“Jared!”
“Jim?” Jared called out.
“Boy? Where the hell are you? We’ve got the house under control. You can come out now.”
“There’s a gate by the rose trellis. You need to find the key,” Jared answered the cop.
Jensen couldn’t relax. Until Jensen could see the others, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was some trick. He let Jared lead him to the trellis though and then an older man was on the other side and Jared ran ahead.
“Jim, how did you find us?”
“Remember that tracker I gave you when you first got into all this?”
“I thought it was disabled.”
“It was. I turned it back on. As tempting as it was before, I was afraid someone might be passing information along to Morgan so I left it be. You didn’t call me back after I told you to run so I figured it was time to check in on you myself.”
An officer came forward with a set of keys and Jim found the right one and opened the gate. Jared began to walk forward but Jensen grabbed him and pushed him behind him.
“Jensen-“
“No,” he said quietly. “Not until I know for sure.”
Jim seemed to understand what he was upset about. “It’s good to meet you, Jensen,” the man said with a nod. “I’ve got some of my men with me, but it’s mostly SWAT and Feds. Morgan is in custody but Harris was killed in the fight.”
Jensen’s knees buckled at the words. “Jensen?”
Jensen looked up at Jim. “Was Morgan hurt?”
“No. He was in his office unarmed. When they found him, he gave up without a fight. Just said he needed to hire better guns next time.”
Jensen let out a deep breath and Jim misunderstood. “Don’t worry, son. He won’t be able to hurt anyone again.”
Jensen nodded because he couldn’t explain his relief that Morgan wasn’t injured. So much for being past that. It wasn’t what it had once been though and he was grateful when he felt Jared kneel in front of him.
“Jensen, let’s get out of here.”
**
They were taken to the nearest FBI field office. Jim didn’t trust the local LEOs and the FBI were happy enough to comply. They’d tried for years to make a case against Morgan and Harris but every time they had something, a witness died or evidence went missing. When they’d kidnaped Jared though, they gave the FBI the ability to search the house and there was an abundance of incriminating evidence to keep Morgan in jail for a lifetime.
Jared and Jensen were separated to tell their stories. Jensen refused to talk about it but they found a cable connector and Jensen plugged into their system long enough to upload his audio and visual files that could be used against Morgan. It hurt to do it, but Jensen knew he couldn’t trust himself when it came to Morgan. He gave the FBI what he had and let them decide what to do with it.
He was done quickly and Jim came to speak to him when the FBI was done. He had three bags with him. The bags that had been left behind in the truck.
“Thought you might want these back,” Jim said as he settled the bags in the chair next to Jensen. He nodded to Jensen’s face. “You need a medic?”
Jensen smiled because sometimes, people understood without him saying it. “No. I’ll get it taken care of. I just want to get out of here. Am I free to go?”
Jim nodded. “Yeah, you are. What about Jared?”
“What about him?”
“He’ll be here a while longer. You gonna leave without saying good bye?”
Jensen shook his head. “I’m not saying good bye.”
He left the office and stood out in the sun before he looked back. He didn’t know if Jared would understand, but he hoped.
He couldn’t be there anymore, so close to the cage he’d been kept in most of his life. He pushed at his hip hard enough to bruise and found the small button that opened a compartment just above the waistline of his jeans. It was made to keep his warranty paperwork but Jensen had gotten rid of that years ago. Instead, he took out the ID and bank card he’d kept there since he’d first been freed, the ones with his real name on them.
He hailed a cab and drove away from the life he never wanted to live.
On to Part Six
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Rating: NC-17 for violence and overall themes.
Word Count: 25K+
Warning: Slavery, mentions of past rape, past non-con/dub-con, torture,
Summary: Jensen Ackles was a man on the run. Sure, his name was revered by the Sentient Android Rights Movement, but he was just another face in a sea of J-N_S56s. He had won his freedom in a court of law, but his previous Mistress and Master cared little for the law. Jensen had been on the run for almost ten years and he'd stayed free because he was smart and kept to himself.
When Jensen met Jared, he tossed him out the door as soon as he could. Jared wasn't pushed away so easily though. Jared came back but unfortunately, so did Jensen's former mistress. On the run with Jared at his side, Jensen struggles with his emotions, and the fear that his programming might be taking over. Jared is far more tempting than anything Jensen has ever faced. How can he keep them both safe when he's fighting with himself while on the run from the people who want to put him back in a gilded cage?
**
Jensen’s brain had to reboot. He hated that he knew it. He had never felt so much like an android as he did at that moment as he waited for his body to come back online. His processing ran through diagnostics and he knew he’d been patched up while he was unconscious. He heard a noise and opened his eyes to find Jared staring down at him.
“Jared?” he pushed up onto his elbows to get to Jared.
There was a bandage over his right temple but he seemed fine. Jensen couldn’t help himself as his hand cupped Jared’s face.
“I’m alright, everything considered.”
Jared’s eyes looked around them and it was only then that Jensen became aware of their surroundings. Without thought, Jensen pushed Jared back into the corner and put his body between Jared and the door to his cage.
Golden bars surrounded Jensen and he knew they hung four feet off the ground. The room was opulent with ivory and gold everywhere. The alcove where the cage sat had a full view of the room. Across from them was an overly large bed with nightstands on either side. To the right was a sitting area with a plush couch and matching chairs. Behind was a door that led to a walk in closet larger than the RV Jared and Jensen had been living in. To the left was a built in Jacuzzi pool that Jensen knew from experience could fit at least six people.
The cage itself had a carpeted floor with a large bed and a small table to the side. A bookcase sat next to the bed and was filled with the small treasure of books Jensen had collected when he’d lived there. He hadn’t been given much to do when his Mistress and Master weren’t home so he’d come to love the book as his only way to escape the boredom - and as the years went by the reality - of his life.
Drapes were held back against the two back corners but Jensen knew if his Mistress wished it she could cloak him in darkness and there was nothing he could do about it. There was no light in the cage without their giving it to him. There was no food, no water, without their hands.
“Jensen? Where are we?” Jared asked.
He had to know but Jensen took a deep breath. “I’m home.”
“No, this isn’t a home,” Jared said quietly. “This is a cage and a cage can’t be home.”
“It’s a good thing you’re hot because it’s obvious the brains aren’t what’s kept you alive.”
Jensen’s head turned quickly as he watched his Master and Mistress walked in the room. His Mistress smiled as she watched the two of them as they hung from the ceiling in their bedroom. Something in Jensen wanted to lie down and die at the thought of Jared trapped there but he had to stay strong.
“Look at the exquisite lovebirds I found,” she said sweetly to her husband. “Aren’t they a pretty set?”
“Very pretty,” he said with the deep voice that Jensen had come to love and despise. Of the two, Morgan was the one who cared for Jensen, who made certain he was healed properly and given food and drink. It was his hand that gave Jensen books to keep the boredom at bay, his hands that had built the small escapes of his terrible life. Jensen understood Stockholm Syndrome - had spent years in an attempt to remove it’s lingering effects in his psyche - but he wasn’t sure how much good it would do. He hated his Mistress with a passion, but his feelings for his Master were as mixed as when he’d fled the first time.
“You can’t do this,” Jared said. “You can’t keep me against my will. I’m human.”
Jensen looked over his shoulder at Jared in surprise. He didn’t say anything about Jensen, about how wrong it was to imprison both of them. It hurt and it was worse because Jared wouldn’t look at him. His brain caught up a moment later though. Jared said the smart thing. He already knew the Mistress and Master didn’t care about Jensen’s rights. He didn’t know how twisted they really were though.
“Human?” Morgan asked. “Barely. You were raised by one of them. You’re whole life has been about helping them. Human? You’re probably more android than our beautiful Jensen.”
Jensen turned his back on the others and faced Jared because he could tell that what his Master said had been the truth.
“Tell me, Jared, did your S57 die before the Sentient Android Rights Amendment was passed, or was it too late for her?”
The S57 series were home care working models. Jared had mentioned an S58 in college, but nothing about an S57. Jensen couldn’t get Jared to look at him though.
Jared kept his eyes on Morgan. His entire body was tensed for a fight. His jaw clenched and unclenched before he answered. “Her name was Genevieve and she died two months after the verdict on Jensen’s case. My father beat her to death in a drunken rage because she took the blows he meant for me. She could have left, but she wouldn’t leave me alone with him.”
“It was just a machine, Jared,” Morgan said. “They’re nothing but parts and pieces wielded together. How can you be so blind to that, when it was your father and grandfather who created them in the first place?”
“Jared?” Jensen watched Jared took a step back but Jensen had already backed him into the corner of the cage.
Still, Jared wouldn’t look at him. “How could you live with one for so many years and be blind to the love and devotion they’re capable of?”
Morgan laughed. “So, he got to you too. I didn’t just live beside one every day, Jared. Slept beside him too. His hands, his mouth, his tongue, damn his whole body, so talented. Have you taken advantage of his programming yet? When he kisses you, it makes you forget the whole world exists. When you’re buried inside him, there is nothing and no place else you want to be. His devotion to his art is unparalleled.”
Jensen looked away from Jared then, afraid what he might see in the other man’s eyes. He looked at his Master instead.
“What do you want, Master?” he asked.
His Master smiled at him then and Jensen almost went to his knees in reflex. “I want what I’ve always wanted, Jensen,” he looked at the two of them and smiled. “I’ll see the two of you when I’m done with work this evening.”
Morgan and his wife left and Jensen sagged against the bars of the cage, unable to hold himself up any longer.
Jensen slid down the bars and sat on the soft carpet. “New carpet,” he commented as he picked at the red covering. “Bigger cage, bigger bed. Same bookcase and desk though.”
“Jensen?”
“We’re alone now. Completely. It’s the one room in the house that they don’t have devices in.”
“Jensen, what-“
“Was what he said true? About the S57?”
Jensen looked up at Jared and he could see the pain in the other man’s eyes. Jared sat on the edge of the bed and put his elbows on his knees. He looked down at his clasped hands and let out a shuddered breath.
“Yes, Genevieve was brought into the house before the series even went into production. I was five and my father said we were going to test her out to see if she lived up to the demands of her programming. I remember he said the same thing about the S58 a few years later when he brought one home. I called him Tam. I don’t want to know if he brought home an S56 to test,“ he said with a bitter laugh. “Genny raised me. My father started to drink heavily when he came home from work. It got worse. He blamed me for everything just because he wanted someone to take it out on. Genny would get between us, take the brunt of his anger herself. The next day I would always come home from school to find a box sitting on my bed; the parts and tools to fix her. I learned quickly because I loved her.”
“That explains why you have such soothing hands when you work,” Jensen said softly.
“When I was sixteen, my father killed her. He was pissed about the uproar over Sentient Androids and your case was all over the news. He’d programmed her to obey him but she kept stepping between us when he got abusive. That night, she’d stepped between us one too many times. He locked us both in my room for a month. Her injuries were so bad that she shut down. I didn’t have any tools to fix her though. No spare parts. He locked us in my room because he knew we kept all of that in her room. “
“Jared-“
“I tried anyway. I broke everything I could use and took it apart and tried to fix her. I almost had it figured out but…”
“What happened?”
“I was exhausted and I fell asleep. When I woke the next morning there was a bandage on my arm and she was gone. He’d come in, drugged me so I wouldn’t wake, and took her away. He incinerated her. She could have left, but she died instead. So when someone says, it’s just an android, it just parts and pieces? There is nothing in me that can accept that. She died to protect me.”
“And you spent the last ten years trying to protect others like her.”
Jared looked down at him then. “Genny was the only mother I ever had.”
“She’d be proud of you, Jared. You’re a good man.”
“I loved her,” Jared said softly. “And it got her killed. I can’t lose you too.”
“Jared,” he didn’t know how to answer that. He didn’t know how to express what he felt and he certainly didn’t know if he could do it in this cage.
“What a lovely moment,” his Mistress’s voice drifted from across the room.
Jensen hadn’t heard her enter and he wished she hadn’t heard Jared’s declaration but there was nothing he could do about it. He’d forgotten this dance, forgotten how to hide what he needed to in his cage.
Jensen pressed Jared back against the wall again, used his body to shield him from whatever would come next.
Harris opened a box hidden behind a frame and pressed the button to lower the cage to the ground. She smiled as she got to the cage door but she showed her left hand to Jensen. He could see the slight discoloration in her palm and knew it was the trigger, buried just beneath her skin. “You know how this works darling. You cooperate and no one gets hurt.”
They’d developed a way to keep Jensen in line the last time he’d been captured. If she pressed the button it would reset his neural processors. It wouldn’t damage him but it would take time for his experiences and personality to return. In essence, it would return him back to his factory defaults for a few minutes. It would leave him an empty doll with no thought of his own but to please his Mistress and Master.
“Jensen?” Jared asked.
“You’re going to come out of the cage when I unlock it. Then you’re going to make sure your friend stays in the cage and you’ll lock him in.”
Jensen took a step towards her but Jared grabbed his wrist. “Don’t. Jensen, you don’t have to do this.”
“If I don’t she’ll just press the button and set me back to my factory default. I won’t be myself for a few minutes and she’ll tell me to do it then and I won’t have a choice. No matter what happens, I’d rather face it as myself than become a nameless robot.”
Jared let him go then and Jensen walked to the front of the cage as his Mistress opened it. He closed the cage and locked it but he looked up at Jared as he did. Jared came forward and pressed his hand against Jensen’s.
He didn’t say anything but Jensen could feel his concern. “I’ll be back, Jared,” He promised. He didn’t know if he would or not but he had to believe in something and getting back to Jared was a small thing. It was enough to help him square his shoulders though as he headed towards Harris.
“Come have a seat darling,” his Mistress said softly.
Jensen took a seat on the couch where she’d pointed and she pulled up her black skirt to straddle his thighs. “Oh, I missed this. Remember the fun we used to have? I’ve had other play things to take the place of some of my needs, but there are some things only you could do for me.”
He braced himself because he knew what she wanted then. He knew what she would do and there was nothing he could do to stop her.
His Mistress brought her hand up and her nails scratched down over his cheek. She hadn’t drawn blood yet, but he knew she would. She liked to intimidate him first, let him think about how much this would hurt.
“Are your receptors still just as responsive as before?” she asked.
“Yes,” he admitted. As much as he’d prefer to ignore her words, he knew she would reset him and get the answer she wanted. And then she’d wait until he was himself to do this. She wanted to see him hurt, wanted to see the bird she’d tortured for so many years back in her grasp.
“Baby, we are going to have so much fun.”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a switchblade.
“What the hell are you doing?” Jared yelled from the cage.
His Mistress’s eyes grew wide, as if she’d forgotten he was there, but then her smile became wicked. Whatever she had planned, it would hurt Jared to watch and she knew that now.
“Stay still my pet,” she said softly. “I wouldn’t want to damage anything by accident.”
And he did. She made a few small cuts across his forehead, down his cheek, and one long one from his cheek to his nose. Jensen took deep breaths to try to control the pain but tears streamed from his eyes and he gripped the couch tight to keep his hands still.
“Please, Mistress, don’t,” he begged. He knew what she would do next. She’d done it before when she was in a cruel mood.
She never listened. She liked to hear him beg but it never mattered.
She dug her nails into his flesh and ripped it away. Chunks of skin and flesh pulled away from his metal endoskeleton and Jensen screamed. He could hear Jared, something hit the bars of the cage, but it was all buried under the waves of pain.
She ripped at his face and he felt her fingers at his throat. There was a weakness in the physioplast where it connected and she found that spot and dug in. She ripped until half of his throat was nothing but exposed mechanics.
“Look at me, Jensen,” his Mistress demanded.
He did, though fluid dripped into his eyes from the torn physioplast and ripped flesh. He wished in that moment, to be human, to black out with the pain, but he wasn’t designed for that. He was made to take whatever his Mistress and Master wanted to give him. If she was cruel enough, his sensors might overload but she had always walked a fine balance on that line and never fallen over.
“Don’t blink,” she whispered against his lips. She kissed him then and he responded as he was supposed to.
“Your heart isn’t in it,” she laughed. “I wonder why. I’m not mad though. Oh no, I’m happy for you Jensen. And now that you’re home I’ll make sure you and Jared have all the proper guidance you need. Imagine the things he will do to you at my command,” she said with a laugh. “Imagine what I’ll have you to do him in that cage, on that bed, while Jeff and I watch.” He felt panic rise at her words, but then she brought her knife up again and this time she worked it under his right eye. The prosthetic flesh came out and Jensen felt his sensors start to overload. It wasn’t supposed to happen but the people who’d designed him hadn’t planned for the sort of sadism that his Mistress was capable of. Not when they’d never planned them to have emotions.
He wished it would happen, that he would black out as he had with the Taser but the pain passed, as it always did, to the bearable extreme. It didn’t stop the whimpered pleas he gave his Mistress or the tears that feel from his one good eye. Without the flesh and prosthetics, he didn’t have tears for the other.
His Mistress sat up then and Jensen watched her as she approached the cage. He stood, unsure of what she would do and what he could do to stop her, but she looked at Jared and then back at Jensen with the same cruel smile he’d always known from her.
“He looks so human, acts so much like us, but underneath, he’s just a machine. Do you really think you could love something like that? Do you really think he could love anyone?”
She smiled as she moved back to Jensen. When she was beside him she whispered in his ear, “Do you really think he would love you without your pretty face? If you were stripped clean of this flesh, would he still want to touch you?”
She stepped back to face him again. “Back in your cage.”
He went but she stopped and pointed to a box. He took it and entered the cage when she opened it. He stepped through the door and didn’t look back at her as she closed it and locked them in.
The cage was lifted back off the ground and Jensen finally dumped the box on the bed and sat down at the end.
“Do your best to clean him up, will you?” His Mistress said to Jared. “He’s only good for me if he’s pretty and you’re only good for me if he is.”
Jared moved in front of Jensen but he had his face to Jensen’s Mistress. “Why are you doing this?”
She smiled again and Jensen shivered. “I wonder, how many times can you patch him up, Jared? How many times can I rip into him before you fail, the way you did your Genny?”
She left the room and Jensen collapsed back on the bed. He curled into himself and did the only thing he could to survive that moment. He went deep into his neural processor and followed his pathways into the only oblivion he could allow himself.
**
Jensen woke when the cage was lowered again. He nearly screamed at the pain as he sat up but he swallowed it back. Two guards watched them and a third lowered the cage. “Morgan said to let you into the garden. He said to tell you, if one of you attack us or try to get free, we’ll shoot the other.”
Jensen was afraid to look at Jared, but when the cage stopped, Jared was there with a hand under his arm to help him up. They didn’t talk as the men marched them across the room and out into the hall.
Dark wood and cream walls were decorated lavishly but still tasteful. At the end was a double door and they were herded towards it. They stepped out into the open air and the guards led them towards a trellis of roses. An arched walkway spilled past and created a tunnel of blossoming flowers. Hidden three feet inside the tunnel was a gate. Jensen and Jared were pushed through the gate.
“Morgan said he’d fetch you when it gets dark.”
They left them alone and Jensen took in their solace. Here, at least, there were no eyes on them. Jensen had never been hurt outside of the confines of the bedroom and he felt a sense of relief at being outside. Morgan had created the gated tunnel himself, had tended the roses and flowers until Jensen’s outside cage felt more like a beautiful garden. It was still a cage but it was another thing Morgan had given him to help him survive. Jensen had spent hours every day in this escape.
“I’m sorry I didn’t try to help you yet,” Jared said softly. Jensen turned to look at him and hated the pain he saw in the other man’s eyes. “After what she did, and you shut down, I was afraid I’d hurt you worse by trying.”
Jensen let out a deep breath. “It’s okay Jared. My Master will give you time to fix me later.”
“Heal you.”
Jensen looked up at the admonition and realized what he’d said. He felt his one eye watering again but he bit it back. “Yeah. Sorry. This place is getting to me already and I’ve barely been awake.”
“What she did-“
“Was nothing I can’t recover from,” Jensen stopped Jared before he could go any further. “Maybe someday I’ll be able to talk about this, but not now. Not when I’m barely holding myself together. What she said … about us.”
Jensen stopped because Jared was suddenly in his space and as Jensen looked up, Jared brought his hand up and cupped Jensen’s good cheek in his hand. He pressed a kiss to Jensen’s lips and didn’t stop until a sob escaped Jensen’s lips.
“If she thought I didn’t know what you looked like on the inside then she’s an idiot. You might have been design to be impossibly gorgeous, but it was never the packaging that kept me wanting more from you. For you.”
His other hand came up and he gently touched the metal endoskeleton that showed through on Jensen’s right cheek. “I don’t care what she thinks she’s doing. We will do what we have to. We will survive this, because I will be damned if I don’t find a way to get you free again. Jensen, no matter what she makes you do, I know who you really are.”
Jared kissed him again and Jensen wrapped his arms around Jared’s waist and pulled him closer. He had no idea why Jared wanted what he did from Jensen. He was just a used up sex toy that had grown a soul. Jensen wanted to give him whatever he wanted though. One night in Jared’s arms wasn’t enough.
He pulled away at the sound of shouting. It was quickly followed by gun fire and Jensen pushed Jensen to the ground. They were covered from sight in the garden but that didn’t mean a stray bullet couldn’t hit them.
And if someone had come into Morgan’s house with force, it wasn’t someone they wanted to be found by. The fighting was contained to the house but when the quiet settled, Jensen became agitated. If Morgan was able, he’d have checked on Jensen already.
“Jensen?” Jared whispered his name.
“I don’t know, Jared.” There were a lot of things Jared could have been asking at that moment, but the answer was the same to all of them.
Jensen heard the back door open and he tensed.
“Jared!”
“Jim?” Jared called out.
“Boy? Where the hell are you? We’ve got the house under control. You can come out now.”
“There’s a gate by the rose trellis. You need to find the key,” Jared answered the cop.
Jensen couldn’t relax. Until Jensen could see the others, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was some trick. He let Jared lead him to the trellis though and then an older man was on the other side and Jared ran ahead.
“Jim, how did you find us?”
“Remember that tracker I gave you when you first got into all this?”
“I thought it was disabled.”
“It was. I turned it back on. As tempting as it was before, I was afraid someone might be passing information along to Morgan so I left it be. You didn’t call me back after I told you to run so I figured it was time to check in on you myself.”
An officer came forward with a set of keys and Jim found the right one and opened the gate. Jared began to walk forward but Jensen grabbed him and pushed him behind him.
“Jensen-“
“No,” he said quietly. “Not until I know for sure.”
Jim seemed to understand what he was upset about. “It’s good to meet you, Jensen,” the man said with a nod. “I’ve got some of my men with me, but it’s mostly SWAT and Feds. Morgan is in custody but Harris was killed in the fight.”
Jensen’s knees buckled at the words. “Jensen?”
Jensen looked up at Jim. “Was Morgan hurt?”
“No. He was in his office unarmed. When they found him, he gave up without a fight. Just said he needed to hire better guns next time.”
Jensen let out a deep breath and Jim misunderstood. “Don’t worry, son. He won’t be able to hurt anyone again.”
Jensen nodded because he couldn’t explain his relief that Morgan wasn’t injured. So much for being past that. It wasn’t what it had once been though and he was grateful when he felt Jared kneel in front of him.
“Jensen, let’s get out of here.”
**
They were taken to the nearest FBI field office. Jim didn’t trust the local LEOs and the FBI were happy enough to comply. They’d tried for years to make a case against Morgan and Harris but every time they had something, a witness died or evidence went missing. When they’d kidnaped Jared though, they gave the FBI the ability to search the house and there was an abundance of incriminating evidence to keep Morgan in jail for a lifetime.
Jared and Jensen were separated to tell their stories. Jensen refused to talk about it but they found a cable connector and Jensen plugged into their system long enough to upload his audio and visual files that could be used against Morgan. It hurt to do it, but Jensen knew he couldn’t trust himself when it came to Morgan. He gave the FBI what he had and let them decide what to do with it.
He was done quickly and Jim came to speak to him when the FBI was done. He had three bags with him. The bags that had been left behind in the truck.
“Thought you might want these back,” Jim said as he settled the bags in the chair next to Jensen. He nodded to Jensen’s face. “You need a medic?”
Jensen smiled because sometimes, people understood without him saying it. “No. I’ll get it taken care of. I just want to get out of here. Am I free to go?”
Jim nodded. “Yeah, you are. What about Jared?”
“What about him?”
“He’ll be here a while longer. You gonna leave without saying good bye?”
Jensen shook his head. “I’m not saying good bye.”
He left the office and stood out in the sun before he looked back. He didn’t know if Jared would understand, but he hoped.
He couldn’t be there anymore, so close to the cage he’d been kept in most of his life. He pushed at his hip hard enough to bruise and found the small button that opened a compartment just above the waistline of his jeans. It was made to keep his warranty paperwork but Jensen had gotten rid of that years ago. Instead, he took out the ID and bank card he’d kept there since he’d first been freed, the ones with his real name on them.
He hailed a cab and drove away from the life he never wanted to live.
On to Part Six