I had gotten a couple other stories from Claire in the past, but I think this might've been the last one I got while she was on Fiverr back in the day. A sort of sequel to Night & Day, with some world building and building blocks for future stories built in, all Claire's work. I very much let her have more of the reigns this time, giving her an array of potential fighters, letting her pick her favorite pair, and just really play around with an air of conspiracy and dystopia. The world building elements were all her own creation.
Get's a little gruesome in terms of damage and violence. But the ends a little differently this time round.
It was, what the Makers had called, The Show Floor. But Virgo had no idea what such a thing meant nor what exactly the show was going to be. She had been on--what the Makers referred to as alive--in her special box for only a day, but her memory was filled to the brink with vocabulary, actions, functions, and a basic understanding of her duties.
As her box was being rolled out onto The Show Floor, she closed her eyes and read up a little bit more about herself. She had dark skin and a unique blue bar that ran down her face and chest. Her hair was white, the left side of her head shaved down to practically nothing. Her breasts were average, her waist was slim, and her rear was slightly bigger than other models.
The Makers referred to her as the ‘ethnic model’.
But as she read through her database, the images and facts became a little too overwhelming. She began to see events in history...bombs exploding, women crying, countries falling. She witnessed the death of a king...the rise of a machine...and then the destruction of that machine. She saw a pale woman with light blue hair and she saw a flower rot. She witnessed the birth of a child and the death of a woman at another’s hand.
All of this flooded her mind as her box came to a sudden stop and she nearly toppled over. Outside of the box, she could hear a faint roar. She thought it might be an ocean or maybe a wild pack of lions off in the distance. But then her brain kicked in and suggested that perhaps it would be people.
Yes. People to see the show on The Show Floor.
Then, without warning, her box was opened and she took her first look at the world she had just learned all about.
And it scared her.
Nova watched as the other box was opened across from her on The Show Floor. The model inside that box did not match her own. She was both very relieved by this and also a little disappointed. The Maker had told her that she was the best of the best, and she would have liked to have been able to speak to one of her own.
She had a feeling that her existence was a little off...not quite normal. Yes, she knew she was a machine. Yes she knew she was here to be bought and sold. But she doubted the other one across the floor knew all of that. She was sure she was different because The Maker had told her so.
“God, you are a lovely little thing,” he had said when she had first woken up in The Maker’s room. He was lying on his bed, naked, his cock in hand and a glass of wine in his hand. She was on the bed with him, and her programing told her that this was natural and that she should take him in her hands and please him.
He took her pink hair into his hands and she pressed her light blue breasts against his chest. And then she did as her program told her. And once he had finished, he said a lot of things that made no sense to her.
“I got to fuck the martyr, holy shit that’s cool.”
Then he bent her over, opened her up, and inserted something inside of her before putting her to sleep where she dreamed of laughter, children, and a violent explosion.
Now, staring at the model across for her, Nova wondered if she had dreamed of the same beautiful, terrible things.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, please take your seats! The demonstration is about to begin!”
The voice echoed through the pure white dome as one hundred men and women entered through automatic doors an took their seats above them. They were dressed in amazing fashions, fashions that Nova found herself longing for. She ran her hands along the grey tank top and shorts that she had been boxed in and wondered if perhaps she might be able to own clothes like that.
It’s possible, a voice said in her head. Do well here and you could have far more than clothes.
There were beautiful women in brilliant blue and pink dresses, their hair piled on their heads in magnificent and impossible styles. The men were dressed head to toe in three piece suits and top hats, their hair slicked back and their mustaches curled around their noses, ears, and mouths. Their brilliant colors were vibrant against the white room and Nova knew that she wanted to be apart of that world...up there with them wearing their beautiful clothes and laughing at some inside joke.
“Hello,” the other model said, stepping forward and extending her dark hand to Nova. “My name is Virgo. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
Nova studied the hand for a moment as a million thoughts went through her mind. Her protocol said she should take the hand and greet her sister. But something in her mainbrian...something perhaps put in there by The Maker after she had pleased him...was telling her that this dark, striped woman was not to be trusted.
Hated, in fact.
“Nova,” she said, not taking the model’s hand.
“I really like your hair.” Virgo said. “Cotton Candy pink is a very pretty color. I don’t think it would work with my skin tone, but I would be very interested to---”
“Do you know what this place is?” Nova asked.
“The Show Floor.” Virgo said. “I wonder what the show is going to be. Do you think we get to have a seat up there?”
“No,” Nova said. “They don’t seem to be like us,” Nova said. “They are better than us.”
“Really?” Virgo asked. “That is very interesting...they don’t seem to be listening to each other...only talking over one another. Is that what a better class does?”
“Apparently…” Nova said. Then she caught sight of one woman in particular, dressed in all white and wearing pearls on her neck. Something about that woman made Nova quiver with desire--not a sexual desire, but a need to serve.
A need to be owned.
Virgo was a little disappointed that her new friend didn’t want to talk very much. There was something slightly ominous about this Show Floor and she wanted something to take her mind off of it. She tried to remember her dreams, but all she seemed to be able to recall was the image of a pale woman with light blue hair.
“It is now time for the floor show,” said the voice of the room. The whiteness of the room changed, becoming darker and tinted with a soft lavender light. Then, from two doors hidden in the sides of the room, more boxes came out, each rolled out on an automatic dolly. When they came to a stop, more models came out, each unique in color and hair style. They all looked at the room around them and then at each other.
They smiled.
And then there was a soft blue mist that fell over them and suddenly one of the models began to convulse. She clutched at her throat and then collapsed to the floor. The other models looked at her with horror in their eyes.
“No longer susceptible to poison.” the voice said as the green model convulced once more and then died before Virgo’s eyes.
A flash from a small port in the wall around them as a bolt of electric force shot out, hitting each of them. Virgo felt her systems boot into overdrive as the electricity coursed through her. He skin pulsed, her vision blurred, but once it was finished, she could feel her body begin to repair itself.
The others seemed to have the same reaction save for one...a poor pale model was smoking from the many seams in her body, her eyes blasted out of her skull.
“One hundred percent more immune to electric attack.” The voice said.
“What’s happening?” Virgo moaned a she backed over to Nova who was watching the scene with as much horror as the others.
“We are safe…” Nova said.
“How do you know?” Virgo moaned.
“Because we were brought out here first.”
“Fireproof!” The voice said as dozens of little vents opened in the floor and jets of flame
burst from the floor, igniting two of the other models who began to scream in agony, clutching at each other and then rushing toward Nova and Virgo. They clutched at them, begging to be put out, begging to die.
The flame didn’t touch them. It didn’t even singe their clothing.
When the last two models stopped screaming and their bodies began to smoulder, the spectators began to clap and cheer. Virgo stared at them in horror. The people watching them now...the people clapping and cheering...they were the ones responsible for the other visions she’s had. The bombs...the explosions...the death.
And now she wa next.
Nova was impressed. The Maker had been right. She was special...she and this other one. But she doubted that the one called Virgo would be The Martyr. For the fifth time she tried to locate that word in her database but couldn’t retrieve it. All she managed to find were images of men and women being worshiped and held in high esteem. And that pleased her.
She looked to see the face of the woman in white and saw that she was looking her over with great interest. It filled her heart with joy to see that. The woman was clearly important and if she was in fact so important, then that meant Nova was as well.
“You can see that the new Model 4.9 by Prometheus is by far the most durable model to date. But since this is the National Defense Convention, I am sure you want to see what they are truly capable of.”
Applause as the lights began to change from lavender to red, and from the floor a cage began to rise up to the domed ceiling. Virgo tried to take her hand, but she pulled it away. Virgo looked at her with shock and then, surprisingly, a little bit of disgust.
“How can you be so cold?” Virgo asked. “They are going to kill us.”
“No they aren’t,” Nova said, speaking only half of the truth. She understood what was happening here, even though it was still quite unclear. They weren’t going to die...but one of them was.
“So, ladies and gentlemen, lets see what these Models can do! And remember to finalize the sales on your raffle tickets! A lucky person out there is going to receive the winner of today's demonstration.
“Winner?” Virgo muttered. And then she turned to look at Nova who stared at her with a blank, calculating expression.
“Winner.” Nova said.
“Alright, Models,” the voice said. “Let’s give them a good show.”
The lights changed from red to light blue and music began to play.
It was music filled with strings and french horns. Music of the elite. The class that Nova would be a part of soon enough.
Virgo held up a hand, not to take hers this time but to plead to her not to advance.
But that was not what The Maker wanted. That was not what the elite wanted. That’s not what the Lady in White wanted. She stepped forward and drove a fist into Virgo’s face.
Virgo staggered backward but launched forward with a fist of her own, striking Nova directly across the face, causing her vision to flicker in and out for a nano second. The blow had barely hurt at all and before she had even thought about what her next move would be, she was launching toward the inferior model that had hit her and began a full force attack with fists, elbows, and legs.
Virgo found it quite easy to block Nova’s attacks, and with each attack she felt the anger growing inside of her. How could one of her own kind allow the humans to do this to them. How could she be so weak minded?
Another fist hit her in the face and sent her crashing against the bars of their cage. Nova was about to land another kick to her flat stomach when she dodged out of the way and threw an elbow into her side.
“As you can see,” the voice said with a calm, salesman’s voice, “The two models are currently set to match the threats danger level. There is a ninety nine percent success rate when it comes to the offense and defence, which is why most of the blows are being blocked by either party. But let’s see what happens when we lower the danger level on one of them but not the other.”
Suddenly, Virgo felt her limbs become a little heavier and her head slightly cloudy.
“No...no…” she hissed as Nova turned and began to attack her again. This time she wasn’t able to block as easily, taking blows to her face, her breasts, and her sides. Pain began to flare up in her body for the first time and she was desperate to escape it. She charged Nova and bowled her over as she ran to the cage wall and tried to climb the bars.
“Ladies and gentlemen, you will see the buttons in front of you. Please feel free to press
them and affect the arena to represent outside influence.”
Electricity shot through Virgo and she felt the pulse being to overload her sensors. Yes
shock resistant, but that didn’t mean that she was going to be able to withstand the current for very long. She released the bars and fell onto her back in the middle of the room, smoke slowly rising from the seams above her breasts and behind her ears.
“Now,” the voice said. “Let’s remove the settings and see what they can do all on their own, shall we?”
Virgo’s limbs returned to their full strength and when Nova lifted her foot to stomp on her face, she grabbed hold of it, twisted it, and sent the pink haired traitor flying across the ring.
Nova was on her feet in seconds and the two began to circle one another. Virgo’s tank top had been singed by the electrified bars and her white nipples were showing through. She calculated the rate of survival based on her current tactics and discovered that if she wanted to live, she would need to begin playing dirty.
“Why are you doing this?” Virgo hissed. “We could try to escape...we could---”
“I am The Martyr, bitch,” Nova said softly. “The Maker said so...and I am going to be greater than you and anyone else in the world. The Maker said so…”
Virgo’s eyes went wide and then became very confused.
“The Martyr...but---”
Nova rushed her, grabbed hold of her breast with her talons, and then punched her in the face. Virgo cried out in pain and nearly fell backwards.
“You are just jealous of my destiny. You are nothing...you are going to die in here.”
“You stupid bitch! Don’t you know what that means? You are---”
Nova grabbed her breasts again and began to twist them. Virgo screamed and drove a fist into Nova’s throat. She released Virgo’s brown breasts and Virgo sighed in relief. Then grabbed at her enemy’s feet and jerked them out from underneath her, bringing her down to the floor.
The two began to wrestle, trying to trap the other’s head in between arms and legs. And as they rolled, their shorts began to hike up their crevices, causing them even more discomfort and were even being used as a weapon against them.
“This is dull as hell,” a man shouted from the spectators area. Then the sound of a button being pressed and the lights changed without warning to a deep green color. Small holes began to open up in the arena floor and light green liquid began to shoot out in short blasts.
Nova grabbed hold of Virgo’s face and shoved her head over one of the ports, but just before it went off, she pulled her head back, yanking Nova’s arm over it instead.
The jet shot out and Nova began to scream. Her light blue skin began to hiss and melt off of her arm. She released Virgo who got to her feet and watched for more ports to open up.
The pain was unlike anything she had ever thought she could experience, and it was all the fault to that damn brown bitch. She got to her feet, clutching her sizzling arm to her chest. Her inner workings were exposed and smoke began to issue from her arm hole. However, she could feel small things crawling around inside of her that seemed to be preventing her from losing the arm entirely.
Nanobots… She thought.
“You fucking bitch!” Virgo screamed. “You are a broken machine...you are a---” then a jet of acid shot out just beneath her foot and she nearly lost her balance as she lost her entire big toe, screaming all the while.
Nova leapt on top of the cxnt who had caused her to ruin her arm and decided to stop playing around.
Nova took Virgo by her white hair and began to slam the back of her head into the ground. Each blow seemed close to knocking something loose from her mainframe and before that could happen, she reached up and took hold of the breasts above the tattered tank top and squeezed, shoving them up to the bitch’s chin.
“You cxnt…” Nova hissed as she released Virgo’s hair and began to squeeze her breasts. “I’ll rip you apart piece by piece.”
The men and women of the audience seemed to enjoy this quite a lot and a button was pressed that began to drench the two fighters in rain that poured from the ceiling. Their tank tops began to cling to their bodies, their hair to their skin, and as the ring became slick and wet, they started once again to roll around and try to rip each other’s breasts off.
“The Maker took me as his own...he wants me you whore. Only me.”
“There are more than one maker, you stupid cow,” Virgo moaned as her white nipple was beginning to rip from her breast.
“LIAR!” Nova shouted just as Virgo released her breast and punched her hard in the face. Nova fell backward and Virgo pounced on top of her. She grabbed hold of her face and tried to rip it off of her skull, tearing at the blue skin while Nova grabbed hold of her torn white nipple and finished removing it.
“Don’t let this brown, weak bitch get in the way of our plans,” The Voice of The Maker said inside of Nova’s mind. “Destroy her...end her.”
She wrapped her hands around the throat of her lesser and began to squeeze. Virgo’s eyes began to bulge and suddenly she seemed to be on the verge of a victory. She forced the model off of her and pressed her to the floor, still throttling her.
“Weak...fucking weak…” Nova hissed.
Virgo grabbed hold of the hands around her throat and began to pry them off. And when they were at the level of her mouth, she bit down into the fingers. Nova screamed and drove her head down into Virgo’s face over and over again until her hands were freed.
Virgo’s nose had been broken clean off and six of Nova’s finger tips had been removed. Virgo spat them out and found leapt at the cotton candy model. She tackled her to the ground and once again they began to roll around the ring, every now and then a new trap would set off and cause them to either break apart or get closer in.
Once, while Virgo had Nova in a choke hold, sitting on her back, two large blades swung down from the ceiling, nearly cutting her in two. Another time, Nova was about the crush her brain in by bashing it against the electrified bars but then a powerful magnet pulled her off of her and up to the ceiling.
The magnet was still engaged and now they were wrestling on the domed roof, their clothes finally falling from their bodies as they tried to break and tear at each other.
Nova was missing half of the skin on her left breasts, exposing the plastic sack of gel that was beneath it, and she looked down at the audience to see if this might have turned the Lady in White off at all. But the woman was still watching her, a look of almost pure adoration in her eyes.
“For you…” Nova hissed as she bend down and sank her teeth into Virgo’s ass cheek. In retaliation, Virgo plunged her hands into Nova’s exposed pussy and began to tear at the hair and lips, causing the crowd to go wild and Nova to cry out in agony.
They hissed and cursed as part of them began to fall from the ceiling and land in a pile on the floor. Nova was still more or less in good condition, only missing a few pieces of skin and the ends of her fingers, but Virgo was looking quite rough and if she could plunge her fingers into the upstarts eyes, then she would have this finished rather quickly.
But then another button was pressed, and just as she had wrapped her good fingers wound one of Virgo’s eyes, the magnet disengaged.
The two fell back toward the floor, but were stopped by platforms that had sprung out of the floor. And below those platforms, the floor had turned into a swirling, tooth filled crusher. Red light emanate from underneath it and for a moment, Nova was sure she knew what hell looked like.
She reached over and took hold of Virgo’s hair and began to drag her to the edge of the platform. Virgo cried out and dug her nails into Nova’s face, raking at her skin and the punching the sack of gel that had been her breast. The bag popped and gel covered the platform, making it a slick and dangerous terrain.
“Oh, it looks like we might be seeing the end of the demonstration here very soon folks, prepare your tickets!”
Virgo knew she was likely to die, but if that was the case, she was going to take the insane traitor with her. She tried to gain her footing on the platform but as she did, she slipped off of it and fell to a lower one, her leg hanging off of it and gone in an instant as the crusher consumed it with it’s swirling teeth.
She cried out in agony and felt herself beginning to slip off of the platform.
“Don’t give up hope,” a voice in her head said. “I am on my way.”
Nova leapt from the platform above and landed on her feet before Virgo, her pussy slick with excitement as she looked down her with death in her eyes.
“I am The Martyr...I am The Martyr…”
“You don’t even know what that means…” Virgo said, trying to hold on tighter, but feeling her grip slip.
“It is beyond understanding…’ Nova said, lifting her broken foot and preparing to stomp on Virgo’s fingers.
“No, it’s not…” Virgo said. “I know what it means.
“You LIE!” Nova shouted, still on the verge of breaking Virgo’s hand.
“You will never know.” Virgo said, feeling her grip give. She was not going to be able to hold on. She felt the crusher shear of another part of her leg and knew that it was all over.
But then Nova grabbed her by her hair and jerked her up onto the platform. The crows gasped and the voice of the room began to comment on the strangeness of what was happening. Nova and Virgo didn’t hear any of it. They only heard one another.
“Tell me…” Nova said.
“You will never know.” Virgo said with a delirious laugh. Her head had bounced off of the floor so many times that she was beginning to think her balance was failing. She swayed back and forth on the edge of the platform.
“Tell me now or I will---”
“You won’t know before it’s too late...and just know that I will be laughing at your form the other side…”
Nova pulled back a fist and drove it into Virgo’s chest, breaking through the skin and first payers of shielding. She twisted her fingers around the first wires she could find and yanked them out. Virgo’s sight vanished in one eye and her left side went totally numb. He limbs failed and she began to feel cold.
“ There is no other side, bitch, not for you...not for us.”
Then Nova dragged Virgo to the edge of the platform and began to lower her into the crusher. The swirling teeth began to consume more and more of her foe, who wasn’t screaming. She was just staring up at the dome...smiling…
But just before the crusher took her breasts, shoulders, neck and head, the platform raised and the bars of the cage vanished. The crusher returned to the depths and the floor was once again solid.
Liquid poured from the ruined corpse of Virgo, whose eyes were still fixed to the ceiling and Nova dropped her into the puddle of her own mess.
Then she raised her arms.
The room applauded her and the music that had been so prim and proper returned and the smell of roses and savory food filled the air. She was presented with a robe to cover herself and a small tiara.
“There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, our winning model! And let’s see who our lucky winner is tonight!”
There was a drumroll and then silence as the number was read aloud.
Nova knew who the winner was before she had been announced.
The Lady in White stood up, showing off her impressive form, her pearls shining in the light.
“This is truly an honor! Ladies and Gentlemen, Prime Minister Alice Donner is the proud owner of the brand new Model 4.9! Please let’s show her the respect she deserves!”
The room bowed to her...bowed to the Prime Minister.
I am hers...and she is mine…
That was when the ceiling exploded and a figure repelled down a rope, shrouded in a cloak and a large weapon in her hand. Screams and alarms blared and Nova’s defences flared up immediately. She rushed toward her new master and guarded her from potential attack.
But there was no attack at all. No attempt on anyone’s life. The infiltrator simply scooped the body of Virgo into its arms and then shot back through the hole in the roof like a rocket.
When the smoke had cleared, Prime Minister Alice Donner was caressing Nova’s one good breast, and leaning her head on her shoulder.
“Pink and blue…” she said. “My favorite colors.”
Virgo woke up in a dark, wet tunnel. She couldn’t feel her legs or her arms. And when she looked down she realized why. They were gone.
Memories of the fight flooded back to her and she began to panic. She was dead. Nova had been wrong. There was another side and this was it. She was going to remain a paralyzed, broken thing for the rest of time.
“You are going to be fine,” came a familiar voice.
The voice from her head...the voice that told her to hold on.
“Who...you?” She asked, not finding all the right words.
“Don’t try to speak...I am reinstalling your software now. Things will come back to your soon. I had to remove your data banks and your receivers and that meant placing your---”
“You...who...are...are…”
“I am a friend. I am a here to help you because I need you to help me, do you understand?”
“essY.” Virgo said.
“Now, I want you to close your eyes and relive your fight. I know it is hard but I need to know what it was you experienced. I need to see who was in the crowd. This is very important so please don’t stop focusing on it.”
The stranger in the dark looked a screen and waited for something to show up.
“Focus…” she said.
And Virgo did, thinking back to the colors first...then the smells and the music and the people. And as she began to remember all of it more clearly, she realized that she was learning how to remember again.
After reliving the entire fight, she waited for the stranger to say something. But when she did, it wasn’t anything like what she expected.
“Oh, Sunny… I’m getting close…”
“unnSy...Who...isunnSy?”
The woman stepped out of the shadows and Virgo was amazed to see the face of the woman that had been in her dream...the pale faced woman with blue hair.
“You’ve seen me before?” she asked.
Virgo nodded.
“I uploaded parts of my consciousness into a few of the new models. I imagine it is only a matter of time before they learn about that though...but before then I can rescue a few more and then who knows what we can do. Us Models have to stick together.”
Virgo was shocked. The woman before her didn’t have the creases of a Model. The woman seemed to know what she was thinking.
“I have made some special improvements, necessary to infiltrate Prometheus.”
Virgo couldn’t understand what was going on. The woman put a hand on her face and calmed her.
“You have helped this little revolution more than you know, Virgo. By retrieving you, I have an idea what Prometheus is planning to do...but the question is why.”
Virgo still didn’t understand.
“They Model you fought against was one I had put myself into as well...only she seems to have been tampered with. With enough time I can learn about what is going on there. But I do know that it is no accident that she is now the property of the Prime Minister. Alice Donner is a secret Model collector...and I believe she is in danger.
Virgo’s eyes widened.
“tyrMar…” she said.
“What?” the woman said.
“M...Martyr…” Virgo said.
The woman stared at her for a long moment and then kissed her. The kiss seemed to awaken her nerves and sensors for a moment.
“Virgo,” the woman said. “I am Luna...and I am so happy to have you with me.”
