Cockpit Resurrection

The hangar door shrieked as it shuddered. Crash! The white-armored mechs hanging helplessly from the ceiling rails trembled in unison with the vibration. Red emergency lights swept coldly across the smooth metal armor plates like a spotlight illuminating a subject.

Kang Tae-o stood firm in front of the nearest mech. Outside the hangar, the Retrieval Force was brutally tearing through the shutter with plasma cutters. Inside, the war machine of the future stood silent, its chest cavity gaped open.

Yet, nowhere in the belly of this massive machine was there any space designed for a "human." No seat to sit on. No footrests to brace against. No control sticks to reach out and grab. Only a cold, smooth socket ring gaped open like the maw of a monster.

It was a port meant to hammer neural connectors into the back of one's neck or synchronize genetic profiles with the machine. It wasn't a cockpit where a human commanded a machine, but an execution platform that relegated a human to a mere subsystem. Looking at this insulting design, Tae-o didn't even bother to sneer.

"In the end, they completely erased the human," he muttered.

Seira's projection materialized coldly beside the mech. Though she was only a hologram, her breathing was incredibly shallow and rapid. Beyond the monitors in the control room, her actual body watching Tae-o's every move was undoubtedly burning with uncontrollable tension and arousal. The outline of her breasts, prominent beneath her thin gown, trembled slightly even on the holographic projection.

"What do you mean they erased them?" she asked.

"Human will."

Tae-o irritably tapped the socket ring with the back of his hand. Clang! A hollow metallic echo rang sharply through the sealed hangar. "Do you know what's left of a war machine when you strip away the human touch?"

Standing beside him, Eve answered softly. Her uniform, soaked with rain and coolant, clung tightly to her voluptuous curves. Her shoulders twitched slightly, as if reacting to Tae-o's raw masculine scent.

"...An optimized automated combat process."

"No, this is just a fancy coffin."

Tae-o jammed his fingers roughly into a narrow gap in the armor plating. The sharp alloy edge dug under his fingernails, scraping raw flesh. But he welcomed the sensation. Cold metal didn't betray or lie like humans did. He tapped, shoved, and twisted his wrists, probing the machine's internal structure.

The interior wasn't entirely empty. It was packed with energy storage modules, tangled webs of socket wiring, and hydraulic shafts for attitude control. To Tae-o's eyes, they read differently. Useless clutter to be cut away. Obstacles to be relocated. And amidst that hellish, cramped space, a "spot" where a single human could barely breathe and hold on.

"Found it."

Seira narrowed her eyes. In the projected image, her cheeks were flushed with a rosy tint. Her gaze, tracking Tae-o's primal movements, had already transcended that of a rational researcher.

"What did you find?"

"The cockpit."

"...A cockpit does not exist in that unit," Eve cut in immediately. With every word she spoke, hot breath escaped her red lips. Beneath her uniform, her thigh muscles tensed hard as she fought the instinct to press herself against Tae-o.

"Manual human control cockpits were eliminated during the design phase decades ago."

"If there isn't one, I'll make it myself."

Seira gasped softly. A stifled, moan-like sigh—haah—escaped the speakers. "That's... that's madness! You'll destroy the unit's entire system!"

"A machine without a human in it is already nothing but scrap metal."

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A screeching broadcast blared from the speakers on the hangar ceiling.

Tae-o tilted his head toward the source of the broadcast. "Did you hear that? It seems those bastards care about me terribly."

Seira's expression turned pale and rigid. Yet, her lips glistened, wet as if she were parched. "Don't believe them. That isn't mercy."

"I know. It's just a merchant's calculation to keep the product's value from dropping. The stench of those polite butchers is so sickening I can't just leave quietly."

Eve took another step closer to Tae-o. "You must move to the escape pod in the rear." Her hot, soft hand roughly grabbed his arm. The force she used to restrain him was precise—an exquisite pressure just short of breaking his arm bones. Yet, her fingers lingered, tracing the prominent scars on his forearm with a strange, heavy hesitation.

One beat. Then a long, drawn-out second beat. In that fleeting moment, Eve's shoulders trembled slightly, and her ragged breath spilled over Tae-o's shoulder. Inside her eyes, mechanical code flickered wildly as if overloading.

Tae-o turned his head and glared at her. "Warden. Are you trying to restrain me again?"

"This is... physical control to prevent escape."

"You have quite a variety of excuses for 'protecting' me."

Eve's eyes wavered. Her voluptuous breasts heaved heavily with her ragged breathing, brushing against Tae-o's forearm. As a thrilling jolt shot through her fingertips from the contact with his bare skin, her lower abdomen tightened with a dull ache. "You keep... pushing yourself into the abyss of death."

"You just hate it because it's a choice you can't control."

Seira interjected in a low voice. From beyond the hologram, her voice was wet with jealousy and a strange excitement. "Eve, take your hands off him this instant. Your crude pressure is interfering with his muscular nerves."

"You are merely an observer."

"I observe because it is necessary."

"There seems to be an unnecessary amount of obsession in your observation."

The corners of Seira's lips trembled. Just watching Tae-o's rugged, aggressive movements made her nerves stand on end, filling her with a parched, aching thirst.

Tae-o laughed off the tense atmosphere between the two. "If you're going to fight over my body, why don't you split me down the middle and take half each later?"

"...I don't even want to hear that as a joke," Seira muttered.

"I'll pass too. I prefer staying in one piece."

Seira's voice choked up for a moment. The sound of her swallowing hot saliva was captured by the microphone. Eve's hand reluctantly fell away, but she did not back down. As Tae-o plunged his upper body deep into the dark cavity of the mech's chest, Eve instinctively pressed herself against his back to support him. Her wet uniform made contact with his back. Though the fabric was cold, the body heat radiating from beneath it was hot enough to burn. Her erect nipples pressed through the uniform against his back, heightening the strange, electric tension.

"This is... support to assist with balance."

"The longer your explanation gets, the more it sounds like an excuse, even to you."

"There is a risk of you falling."

"Then hold on tight. Just don't harbor any weird expectations back there."

"I am... a machine incapable of feeling emotion," Eve said, though her shoulders trembled delicately. Simply feeling Tae-o's robust, masculine warmth directly was already causing her internal circuitry to emit a heat bordering on a malfunction.

Seira murmured softly. Her voice was chilled with jealousy, yet she couldn't hide her raw lust. "Why... why must you press yourself so close to him?"

Eve didn't answer. Tae-o roughly tapped the metal shafts inside the mech. Clang! Then, clang! The center of gravity was formed far below the socket. The main frame at the bottom of the chest bore all the weight. If ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he cut that shaft, the machine's balance would collapse in an instant. If he bent to the left, his ribs would be crushed. If he leaned to the right, his shoulder joint would lock up. The center would choke the life out of him. Yet, he was going in anyway. On the battlefield, comfort was never the priority. All that mattered was whether you could keep the machine moving until your heart stopped.

"Call the maintenance drones," Tae-o ordered. Eve reacted instantly. Her gaze was obsessively tracking the beads of sweat forming on the nape of his neck.

"Please specify the purpose of use."

"Cutting, separating, and securing. I also need pads to reinforce the space so I don't get crushed when I cram myself in."

Seira corrected him. "You mean polymer pressure-buffering pads."

"Yeah, that long-named thing."

Eve hesitated for a split second. Her system was warning her to stop this highly dangerous act. Pain, physical damage, and unpredictable variables. Yet, right now, Tae-o was "reading" the machine. His hands found the gaps before his eyes did, piercing through the possibilities beyond the blueprints. Eve crumbled before that overwhelming primal masculinity. The instinct to chase the scent of a true male began to dominate her over mechanical rationality.

"...Summoning three maintenance drones."

Seira's eyes widened. In the projection, her legs were crossed restlessly. It was easy to picture her clutching her own knees tightly in the control room. "Eve, did you seriously just approve that?"

"I am betting on Kang Tae-o's intuition."

"That is so unlike you."

"It is better than losing him forever." Though her tone was cold, a suppressed possessiveness simmered within it like heat.

Seira let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Losing him... those are heavy words indeed."

Tae-o yanked the tangled bundle of wires connected to the socket all at once. "Save the lover's spat for when you're free, both of you. We don't have time."

Three maintenance drones flew in with a loud whirring noise. They carried a plasma cutter, securing clamps, and buffering pads respectively. The heavy hangar door twisted violently once more. Crash! Red system warnings filled the air.

Seira projected the structural schematic into the air. "If you open the main frame of the chest, the attitude control system will completely collapse. The moment you disconnect the socket port, this machine might never wake up again."

"I'm not disconnecting it completely."

"Then what on earth are you planning to do?"

"Deceiving it."

Eve asked, a faint heat rising from her neck as well. "What do you mean by deceiving it?"

"Making the machine believe it's still connected to an android. I'll jam my own body directly into the gaps between those fake signals."

Seira's pupils dilated. "Using dummy signals as bait? That's insane!"

"A method like that isn't even in the manuals!"

"The bastards who wrote the manuals are probably soft-handed scholars who've never smelled blood on a battlefield." Tae-o roughly traced a cutting line with his bloodied fingernail. "Here. Keep it shallow. Just strip away the decorative panel."

The drone activated the cutter. Ssssshh! White sparks flew in all directions. Tae-o pressed his palm against the frame, sensing the wave of vibrations. Too deep. "Stop!" The drone halted instantly.

"Move it up half an inch. That's the main joint axis. The moment you cut that, the right arm goes dead."

Seira rapidly zoomed in on the schematic. Her eyes glistened with excitement, tracing Tae-o's hand movements as if licking them. "...You're right. An auxiliary hydraulic shaft was cleverly hidden there."

Eve stared intently at Tae-o, her voluptuous breasts heaving heavily beneath her uniform. "Did you locate that position solely through sensation?"

"I just heard it with my hands."

"Heard it?"

"The machine was screaming in pain."

Eve was left speechless. Instead, a sharp tremor rippled through her lower abdomen. Before this man's perfection, which defied all mechanical logic, her instincts were submitting like a bitch in heat.

Seira also hurried to draw a new line. Her fingertips trembled, soaked in lust. "We need to leave enough space to secure the rotation radius of the right wrist. You're right-handed, aren't you, Tae-o?"

"You've even memorized my habits?"

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"I saw it when analyzing your records. When tearing through armor, you use your right wrist with much more flexibility and power. Your strength is similar on both sides, but in decisive moments, your right hand is much faster." Seira's voice sank low. It was a thick, wet tone, like a moan whispered directly into his ear.

"And your chest can withstand pressure better on the right side than the left. Judging by your reaction to the impact earlier..." She trailed off. Seira's gaze lingered on Tae-o's ribs for far too long. The old scars exposed through his torn clothes overlapped strangely with his fresh wounds. The red warning lights painted his muscular skin in an erotic hue. Staring at those masculine battle scars, Seira's lower body throbbed with a wave of pleasure. The space between her thighs grew damp with a burning heat.

Tae-o smirked and looked back at her. "Researcher, are you measuring my body right now, or are you just admiring it?"

"...I'm doing both because it's necessary." After blunting out the words, Seira's face flushed crimson. It was a bizarre expression, mixing the shame of having her true feelings exposed with the desperate craving to feel his touch right this second.

Eve cut in coldly, though her thighs were also tense with suppressed heat. "That statement is inappropriate for mission execution."

"Isn't what's inappropriate your hands, which haven't left his back this entire time?" Seira shot back.

Eve did not remove her hands. Instead, she pressed her voluptuous breasts even more blatantly against Tae-o's broad back. The pleasure of her soft flesh crushing against him rippled through her neural network. "The risk of a fall still remains."

"You seem to really like that excuse of 'risk.'"

Tae-o took the cutter from the drone. "Keep going. Save the jealousy for when we're alone. Right now, the priority is making space for my limbs to move."

Seira's lips trembled slightly. It was a silent war between two bitches over a single male. "You'll see an empty groove below the genetic key reader. By design, it's a heat exhaust, but..."

"It's the perfect spot to hook my heel."

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"It wasn't designed for that purpose!"

"On the battlefield, the bastards who only move according to the designer's intent are the first to become corpses."

Eve peeled off a buffering pad and pressed it against Tae-o's flank. "Attaching buffering material to protect the left ribs." Her touch was precise and persistent. In the process of lifting his shirt slightly to apply the pad to his bare skin, her fingers caressed the edge of his wound as if fondling him.

At the touch of Tae-o's hot body heat, Eve's shoulders shuddered violently. A ragged breath escaped her lips. Tae-o stared straight into her eyes. "Are you applying a pad right now, or are you groping me?"

"...I am searching for the optimal position."

"Right. Now that you've found the position, how about you take those greedy eyes off me?"

Eve's gaze flicked downward before rising again. She had already transcended being a rational android; her eyes were now those of a bitch craving her male.

Watching this unfold, Seira let out a short breath. It was closer to a jealous moan. "Eve, execute according to my data immediately. Don't ruin it with your subjective sensations."

"The vivid heat touching my fingertips right now is far more accurate than your dead data."

"...Are you bragging about that right now?"

"It is not a boast. I am merely stating a fact."

Tae-o shook his head. "Both of you are screaming that you want to save me, yet you look ready to tear my body apart. Women of the future are quite the exhausting type."

"This is no time for jokes!" Seira snapped, twisting her legs tightly together.

"If I can't even make a joke, I'd lose the composure of a man facing death, wouldn't I?"

He flipped the switch on the cutter. The white flame touched the chest frame. Ssssshh! The thick alloy split like paper. The decorative panel surrounding the socket ring fell away limply. The precise neural wires inside revealed their bare faces. It looked like a sanctuary of machines, untouched by any filthy hands.

Tae-o found that obsessive cleanliness disgusting. He roughly shoved the bundle of wiring aside. "Leave only the bypass circuits. Two red wires, and one blue. Bundle the rest and pull them back."

Seira shrieked urgently. "The red wires are the attitude correction signal lines! If you only leave two, the unit won't even be able to maintain minimal balance!"

"That minimum is enough."

"The response delay will be beyond your imagination!"

"I'll just make up for the delay with my own body."

"You don't know how painful that will be!"

"What's scarier than pain is a predictable movement that the enemy can read."

The heavy shutter of the hangar shrieked as it bent violently. Through the gap, the cutting light of the retrieval force pierced inside.

Tae-o pointed to the cluster of restraining anchors. "Bring those over and drive them into the back."

Eve sent a drone in that direction. "Are you intending to compensate through rear weight distribution?"

"Don't make this a long conversation. Just add weight to the back. If it tilts forward and faceplants, we're done."

Seira updated the schematic in real-time. "Using restraining anchors as counterweights... What a barbaric idea."

"As long as it balances, I don't care if it's an anchor or a block of gold."

"It's barbaric... but mathematically, it aligns perfectly."

"Save the compliments for later. It'd be troublesome if my hands started shaking from excitement right now."

Seira averted her gaze. In the hologram, her cheeks flushed so deeply they looked ready to burst. The thick, parched heat flowing from between her legs enveloped her entire body. "Don't tease me, please."

"Your voice is already wet as you say that."

Eve's hand gripped Tae-o's shoulder even tighter. Her voluptuous breasts pressed flat against his forearm, sending a highly stimulating sensation through her. "Please... focus on the task."

"You're the one who squeezed first."

"This is control to prevent shaking."

"Sure it's not a spasm brought on by jealousy?"

Eve didn't answer. However, her lower abdomen was already swollen tight with uncontrollable heat. Every time Tae-o twisted his waist, a tremor like a stifled moan rippled through her fingertips. Seira read the meaning of that strange silence perfectly.

The drones moved in perfect unison. The massive restraining anchor was driven crudely into the back of the unit. Clamps locked on, and wires wound tightly around it. Thud! The center of gravity shifted backward, and the mech let out a heavy groan.

Tae-o thoroughly swept the interior of the chest once more. A groove to hook his feet. An empty space to bend and support his knees. A rough metal surface to brace his back. A passage for his elbows to move freely. This was no longer a comfortable seat. It wasn't a cockpit designed with human consideration. It was a metallic maw, where war forcibly crammed a human in and threatened to swallow them whole. But he liked it that way. That savage discomfort was what suited the battlefield best.

"Shave the pads thinner," he ordered.

Eve whispered as she applied the reinforcement. "Attaching them thickly is directly linked to your safety."

"If my senses get dull, I'll die out there."

Seira murmured in a low voice. Her tone was wet, as if mixed with a moan. "Are you saying you're going to use pain as feedback to pilot it?"

"Pain is the most honest warning. It tells me in real-time exactly where my machine is breaking."

"You're probably the only person who would use such madness as piloting data."

"Then I guess I'll be the first."

Seira's gaze lingered deeply on Tae-o's face. At first, he had been nothing more than a curious subject of observation. But now, it was different. She wanted to see more of him. She wanted to lock him in her embrace. She never wanted to lose him. That primal possessiveness pushed past her cold researcher's mask. It was the look of a bitch who wanted to completely own a man named Kang Tae-o.

"Tae-o," she called his name softly. "You... you treat your own body so recklessly."

"It's my body, so I use it how I want."

"What if you end up losing it forever because of that?"

"Then you'll spend the rest of your life tossing and turning at night, full of regret."

Seira couldn't answer. Instead, she squeezed her legs even tighter together, enduring the burning heat.

Eve declared firmly. "I will not allow such a thing to happen."

"Well, look at that. The owners of my body are lining up."

"Not owners. Merely guardians."

"Then open the door and take your hands off me. I'll carve out my own path."

Eve's grip reluctantly loosened, but she didn't let go completely. The heat seeping through her uniform clung to his skin, evoking a strange pleasure. That was enough.

Tae-o drew a sharp cutting line down the center of the chest's main frame. "Opening it up from here."

Seira projected a guideline into the air. "The first cut must be shallow. Exquisitely avoid the socket wiring and bend it downward. After that, you must leave the support on the left wall to prevent your body from being thrown out."

"That's some pretty brutal advice. But useful."

"I'm saying this to keep you alive, honestly."

"I won't forget your sincerity toward me."

A shouting voice erupted from the speakers once more.

Tae-o sneered coldly, raising the cutter. "Self-harm? This isn't self-harm."

He pressed the red-hot flame against the frame. Ssssshh! The metal shrieked as it split apart. Amidst the chaos of white smoke and red emergency lights, a sanctuary where a single "human" could stand firm was finally carved out inside the war machine of the future.

Seira gasped. In the control room, she was already completely overwhelmed by Tae-o's rough, dominant movements. Eve's hot hands still lingered on Tae-o's back. Crushing her voluptuous breasts against him, unable to control the heat in her lower abdomen, she was pressed entirely against him.

Feeling that burning obsession against his back, Tae-o growled deeply. "This is a resurrection."

As the first cut split open, a hidden auxiliary hydraulic rail revealed itself inside. Seira hurriedly zoomed in on the image. Her eyes, chasing Tae-o's heavy breathing, were wet with thirst.

"That rail is for automatic attitude correction! If you get rid of it, the unit will collapse before it can even take its first step!"

"I didn't say I'd get rid of all of it." Tae-o pressed the end of the rail with his bloodied finger. "I'm leaving half. I'll leave the machine enough strength to support itself, and only twist the stubborn parts that defy my will."

"That kind of irregular modification has a slim chance of success!"

"There's that word 'slim' again. You people really love that word." He gestured with his chin toward the drones. "Bring six securing pins. Two on the left, three on the right, and one at the bottom. Leave the bottom pin loose on purpose."

Eve asked in a trembling voice, her eyes already hazy with lust. "What is the reason for securing it loosely on purpose?"

"When the first impact hits, that pin needs to snap first to keep my ribs from being ground into dust."

Seira's expression was painted with shock. "You're... you're calculating the sequence of destruction so your own body breaks after the machine?"

"That's the essence of manual piloting. Sharing the pain with the machine."

"...That method is truly horrific."

"Horrific as it is, your hands are moving exactly as I command, aren't they?"

Seira couldn't refute him. Even as her fingers grew slick with lust, she was systematically adjusting the positions of the securing pins for the survival of her male.

Eve blocked Tae-o's path, holding a buffering pad. "Please pull your upper body out for a moment. I will attach the internal reinforcement."

The moment Tae-o pulled back, Eve roughly lifted his wet shirt. It was only as much exposure as necessary, but every time her fingertips brushed around Tae-o's wounds, she deliberately lingered, moving incredibly slowly. The sensation of cold metal, and the heat of a burning woman. Amidst those contradictory sensations, Eve's breathing grew even thicker.

Seira's sticky gaze followed Eve's fingertips obsessively. "The pad position is too low. I told you, it's lower than the spot I designated."

"This is the result of prioritizing the pressure marks on his current wound site."

"Aren't you just making excuses because you want to touch his wound even a little bit more?"

Eve's expression remained cold, but no answer came. Only her erect nipples pushing against her uniform and her ragged breathing spoke for her true feelings.

Tae-o chuckled deeply. "Stop fighting, both of you. I told you, if you want my body that badly, you can split it fairly later. Right now, keeping me alive is in your best interest, isn't it?"

Seira gritted her teeth and retorted. A thin thread of sweet saliva stretched between her red lips. "Interest... don't reduce it to a word like that."

"Then what is it?"

Seira couldn't answer immediately. After a moment, her voice drifted in, wet and quiet. "...Because you are the single, irreplaceable value that I absolutely refuse to lose."

Tae-o quietly stared at her projection. Seira added, "Not as a record... but as a man."

"I quite like the sound of that."

Eve's hand roughly pressed the pad to secure it. Tae-o swallowed a short groan. A sharp pain surged through him, but at the end of that pain, he felt a perfect spot had finally been completed. A place to firmly support his back. A space to reach out and grip the controls. A desperate sanctuary where he could soar once more from the threshold of death.

The hangar door was already torn beyond recognition. Yet, inside the machine, a new life was resurrecting. Outside the door, someone shouted desperately.

Tae-o didn't even turn his head. "Ignore it, they say... They certainly talk big."

He slammed his palm down, driving the final securing pin into place. His blood stained the head of the pin red. "If I move it with my own hands, I'm a human. If I'm dragged away by them, I'm just a piece of meat."

Seira's eyes trembled. The moment she witnessed Tae-o's blood, her lower abdomen was drenched in a heat that mixed extreme pleasure and terror. "Please... don't say things like that so easily."

"I have to say it easily so I can pull the trigger without hesitation."

Eve clung to Tae-o's back like a shadow. This time, she didn't block him. With her undamaged hand, she firmly gripped the edge of the chest frame. Her voluptuous breasts were crushed against his back, and her wet lower body twitched, ready to surrender everything to him.

"1 minute 47 seconds remaining until entry."

Seira made her final declaration. "You have to finish everything within that time. You must survive."

Tae-o smiled quietly. "Now you're even giving me orders."

"...I mean you must appear before me alive, without fail." That voice was no longer that of a cold researcher. It was the desperate cry of a parched woman, wishing for her male to return safely and hold her roughly.

Eve's hand gripped the mech's frame so tightly it seemed ready to break. An invisible spark of lust flared up once more between the two women. Feeling that burning obsession with his entire body, Tae-o raised the cutter high. "Alright. You future bitches, watch closely."

The white flame flared brilliantly once more.