Call Me Master
"Doooooom! What is this… what… what's happening…! Aaaah… aaaah… aaaah!!!"
The citizens' terror-stricken screams tore through the air. Peko did not miss a single one of them.
She deliberately worked the switches on her controller, amplifying the chaos outside the Slave Walker and piping it straight into the internal speakers so that every raw, panicked cry slammed into Sonia's ears in vivid detail.
"Ugh… uuh… th-this… this isn't…! I'm…!"
The consequences of her mistake came roaring back as those horrible screams, and Sonia's body shuddered hard.
To the naturally cowed Sonia, Peko continued in a voice that held not a shred of pity—as if to say that no matter how pure the intention or how righteous the heart that started it, the result was all that mattered. No: as if she meant to use this chance to brand her own authority deep into Sonia's core, she looked down on her and spoke, slow and deliberate.
"You know what you're doing? Whatever else, you weren't planning to drag completely innocent civilians into this, were you, Sonia?"
"Th-that's… Peko! This is… this is…! Yes, I made a mistake, but… you kept telling me to look, and I was so startled… it wasn't like that! I got in here to help people… but… but…."
She had hoped for the sweet reward of results, but at root the choice had come from good intentions.
Sonia had rashly accepted the request to become the Slave Walker's unit. She had also received help from this very machine first, so even as resentment rose in her, she could not strongly argue back—what had just happened was clearly her fault.
Her introverted nature played its part as well. Under Peko's sharp, pressing reprimands, the middling D-class hero of Sky City shrank smaller and smaller.
Imagining the inside of the Slave Walker beyond the monitor—like a frightened puppy whimpering—Peko went on. She delivered a line that, on first hearing, was hard to make sense of: something like I'm really grateful for the help, but people could have gotten hurt, so I trust you'll understand!
"I told you earlier to look straight at the drone… understand for me, Sonia? I don't want to do this either. I think you'll get that."
"Un… understand? I'm not sure what you mean…?"
Sonia tilted her head slightly, as if she truly could not grasp what Peko was saying. Perfectly synchronized with her movement, the Slave Walker itself tilted its massive head to the side—a bizarre sight.
Whether she understood or not, a cold click sounded from the wireless controller in Peko's hand as a switch was pressed.
Until a moment ago Sonia had not understood at all what she was supposed to understand, or what Peko was apologizing for. The Slave Walker unit now learned—with her entire body, in pure agony—exactly which switch Peko had pressed, and why she had demanded both apology and understanding.
"Hngh… hgaaah…?! Agh… haah…?!"
Zzzt… zzzzt…! Zzzt…!
From the cold metal choker encircling Sonia's slender throat, a flash of light burst out with a sharp crackling noise.
At the same instant, a powerful electric shock erupted from the metal collar that had been gently gripping her neck. Irresistible current of pure pain flooded every inch of Sonia's body as she remained on all fours inside the Slave Walker.
"Hngh… hah…?! Hnngh… Pe… Peko…! Th-the electricity… hyaah…!"
The flustered hero of Sky City—now naked, bound, and on all fours inside the Slave Walker in Milli's place—received no comforting "Are you okay? Did it hurt too much?" in answer to her desperate scream. Only Peko's cold, warning encouragement.
"If you mess up again, you'll look back on this as a joke, Sonia! So pull yourself together, got it?! Let's try again properly!"
"Hnggh…?! Pe… Peko! This is a little… hnngh… you said it would be fine if I just got in…! Hgyaah…?!"
Peko ignored Sonia's protest and pressed the shock button once more. The behavior of a Slave Walker pilot without a shred of shame.
One drop, then a trickle. Hot tears seeped out over the yellow contact lenses covering Sonia's golden eyes. Every muscle in her body locked rigid; a metallic, bloody taste filled her mouth.
It was true that Peko had helped her when she nearly got badly hurt a moment ago, and that she had climbed inside to repay that debt.
But as the sharp pain bored into the back of her neck against her will in real time, the reality that she should have been lying in a warm bed at home right now hit her with crushing force, and the strength drained from her limbs.
"Sorry, Sonia. But Milli and I are both deployed here. I can't let you get hurt too while we're getting out of this dangerous place, can I? Understand for me. I'm sorry!"
"B-but Peko, this feels a little…."
Before Sonia could finish, Peko pressed a button she normally only used when powering the Slave Walker on.
A function she had never once needed for her little sister Milli, who had completely accepted herself as a Slave Walker unit. As if simply clearing leftover stock, Peko pressed it without hesitation.
Press… beep! The button triggered a robotic arm that dropped from the ceiling inside the walker, peeled off a new transparent film sticker coated in sticky adhesive, and slapped it firmly onto Sonia's forehead.
"Eyah?! Wh-why are you hitting my forehead again… e… s-saying sorry doesn't make everything… okay… e…."
A calming-effect patch meant for taming rebellious criminals or slave-origin Slave Walker units. Something that should never have been used on Sonia, a free citizen of Sky City.
Peko rationalized her own actions. If Sonia messes up and gets hurt, there's no way I can get Milli and Sonia out of this hell alone….
She decided, after a brief objective analysis, to calm Sonia first and apologize later. Right now she had to focus on what was in front of her.
Confirming that the additional calming patch was taking effect—Sonia's voice trailing off and going slack—Peko finally began explaining step by step, the way she taught first-time criminal or slave-origin units boarding a Slave Walker.
"Don't lower your head. Keep looking straight ahead, firmly. See that ruined building right beside us? You never know what might jump out of a shadowed place like that, so always check your surroundings carefully."
"E… yeees…."
Whether it was the robotic arm pressing the calming sticker more firmly onto her forehead, or simply that she had zero resistance to this kind of drug effect, Sonia's voice came out even slower and more hazy.
Hearing it, Peko naturally recalled the times she had "educated" Slave Walker units in the past.
Treating Sonia—who had climbed naked into the walker of her own free will to help, been depilated, and was now on all fours like a dog—the way one treated a criminal or a slave sat a little uncomfortably even with Peko.
But the fact that Sonia's mistake a moment ago had nearly gotten innocent people hurt, and for the safety of herself, Milli, and Sonia all three, she had to turn Sonia into a perfect Slave Walker "unit" at least for now.
"I trust you'll understand, Sonia?"
Peko wrapped every action in the justification of "safety." In this moment she was no longer Milli's older sister. She was a combat walker unit instructor—a woman in a black military uniform wearing Peko's face.
"Right… then, Sonia. You still don't seem to understand your position, so I'll explain again. Right now you are a Slave Unit for walker control, inside a Slave Walker."
"A Slave Unit must obey the pilot's orders absolutely. So from now on, don't call me Peko—call me 'Master.' Understood, Sonia? Your answer?"
"…Yes…? What did you just… say… hgyaaaah?! Hngaaah?!"
Even with the dazed haze of the calming pad still lingering, Sonia was about to question Peko's sudden talk of "absolute obedience" and "Master"—words that belonged in some cartoon—when another sharp electric shock cracked from the choker around her neck before she could finish.
"I have no choice, so understand. I'll say it again. Right now Sonia is a Slave Unit inside a Slave Walker. Absolute obedience to me, the pilot. From now on, answer with Master. If you got that, answer me, Sonia?"
"B-but, Peko. Do we really have to go that far—hgiit…?!"
Peko allowed no resistance. Another electric shock speared through her body.
"Understand for me. We all have to get out of here safely, right? I don't want to do this either… but I'm just as thrown by Milli's behavior. So. Will you answer me, Sonia?"
"…Yes… Master…."
She had no lewd desire to call the black-uniformed pilot she had only just met "Master." She hated the repeated pain of the shocks. Using the excuse of I received help from Milli, so…, Sonia obediently put the word of submission in her mouth.
Like this… I really do feel like a Slave Unit… like a slave who climbed into a Slave Walker… just naked on all fours… nngh…♡
In the midst of the humiliation, Sonia's full E-cup breasts began to pound hard. Her stiffly erect nipples brushed the cold metal floor and sent strange, tingling sensations through her. Combat walker pilot Peko was her Master. She herself was a Slave Unit—in other words, a slave… the thought made her head spin.
Hnn…♡ I… I shouldn't be like this….
Sonia herself did not know that the sticker pressed firmly to her forehead was sending fine electrical stimulation directly into her brain with tiny vibrations.
As her mind grew hazy, complying with Peko's instructions began to feel natural. Without realizing that her way of thinking was being gradually rewritten, Sonia trembled with flushed cheeks, smiling faintly as if embarrassed.
"…Yes, Mas… ter…."
"Good. Same situation as just now, Sonia. Your visual sensor recognition is way faster than me designating every target one by one, so I won't micromanage that far."
Peko's voice had grown noticeably softer than before—as if the harsh scolding and painful punishment of a moment ago had been a lie.
"If I have to order every single thing, there's no point in putting an expensive human in there, is there? It'd be the same as a cheap AI module. A Slave Walker unit has to be different. Your answer?"
Peko's words were a high-level psychological technique: gently stroking what remained of Sonia's pride while clearly branding her role as a "unit."
"…Yes… Master…."
The word of submission that slipped quietly from Sonia's lips. The instant it fell, a strange sense of liberation wrapped her entire body.
…Thump… thump…?!
Wh… what… my… head…? It feels light… and… good…♡
She had only answered "Master" to the combat walker pilot who controlled her completely—yet the worry, fear, and humiliation that had filled her mind vanished in an instant, as if smoothed flat by a hot steam iron.
In their place remained only the peace that came from being completely empty, and the anticipation of waiting for her master's next command.