Only time will tell.

The following day found Aloy finishing up the last of her preparations. The morning sun had just barely begun to peak over the horizon indicating how early in the day it still was. She had packed all the gear she thought she would need for this journey, and was just going over it one last time just to be sure. Only moments ago, her focus gave a short little *BEEP*, and a new destination marker appeared. As promised by Dr. Rain, it showed her where they wanted her to go. She grabbed her pack and turned around, ready to head out once again.

Only to come face-to-face with Talanah. Her girlfriend had snuck up behind her while she was busy and was now standing right in front of her. Startled, she took a step back, only to bump into the table behind her. Talanah had obviously just left their bed, as she was still naked from the night before. For a second, Aloy's eyes wandered across her lover's body, taking in the almost flawless dark skin that contrasted so nicely with her own. Her strong muscles, the result of years of fighting machines. Her firm, round ass and breasts. And most of all, her amber eyes, which always managed to captivate her as they smouldered with an inner fire and passion.

"I hope you weren't planning on leaving without a proper goodbye?"

Talanah took a step forward and wrapped her arms around Aloy. She leaned close and pressed her lips firmly against Aloy's. Not even thinking about resisting, Aloy opened her mouth to allow Talanah in. For the longest of moments, they stood like that, locked in a passionate kiss, with Talanah's naked body pressed squarely against Aloy's. It wasn't until they broke the kiss and Talanah began to place smaller kisses along Aloy's neck that the red-haired machine huntress managed to get a few words out.

"Talanah, I.. Ah... I really don't have.. the time."

Talanah had reached that little spot on Aloy's neck that always sent tingles down her spine, and she was attacking it with all the skill she had. Meanwhile, her hands had let go of the hug and were instead focused on Aloy's breasts. Fondling them through her clothes, she put just the right amount of pressure on it to little away Aloy's resistance.

"Really Tal, I should...I should...I..."

Talanah had wormed her other hand inside Aloy's pants and was currently in the process of slowly pushing her fingers inside Aloy's rapidly wettening lit.

"Hmm. But leaving without saying goodbye is just not right. Who knows when I will see you again? Who knows how long it will be before I can do THIS again?"

She curled her fingers inside Aloy's now wet pussy brushing against her special spot, making the other woman moan wantonly in the process. She let go of Aloy's breast and reached behind her to undo the clasps of the top. The top, a mix of Nora and Carja styles, was a gift from Teb to symbolise the union between the two tribes, and Aloy's part in it. The piece of clothing made a metallic clank as it fell onto the floor between them.

"Aaaahhh, sweet Mother. Tal...I must...I should."

Each time she tried to say something, Talanah curled her fingers against that one special spot inside Aloy, making the young woman tremble as her legs were about to give out.

"What you should, is to get that cute ass of yours back onto the bed, so I can give you a proper goodbye."

She removed her fingers from Aloy's soaking pussy, and began to walk towards their bedroom, her hips swaying seductively with each step she took. Aloy was left panting, half-naked, hormones raging through her body. On one hand, she had to go to make the most of the day, the waypoint she had received was a three-day trip, even with the help from a Strider. On the other, she was a young woman, still discovering the full depths of her sexuality.

"Well, are you coming?"

Aloy looked towards the doorway leading into their bedroom. Leaning against the frame, one arm above her, was a still very naked Talanah. Their eyes met, and again Aloy was drawn in by the passion burning inside those amber orbs. She stepped away from the table, undoing the clasps of her pants as she did. She was just as naked as Talanah by the time she reached to doorway, and easily allowed herself to be guided back to the bed.

---

The sun had just passed its highest point in the sky when Aloy stepped out of the elevator and into the smaller Meridian village. From there, it was a short walk to the edge of Carja territory, and the nearby Strider herd. She had a dopey smile on her face the whole time, and for once, she didn't care about the way the people stared and pointed in her direction. She was happy, she was sated in a way she never thought possible. But now she had to go. Finding an isolated Strider and overriding it was all too easy by now, and a few minutes later, she rode off into the wider world, towards an unknown location, and new adventures.

---

Unknown location.

"Ma'am? We just had confirmation from our agent in Meridian. She has left the city, and is heading in the general direction of the first vault."

Looking up from her desk, the beautiful face of Dr. Ashley Rain scowled as she looked at the nearby clock.

"It's about time. She was supposed to leave hours ago. Do we have any idea what caused this delay?"

"Nothing confirmed ma'am. But the only place she has been since you made contact is the dwelling she shares with her partner, so our agent speculates she might have been responsible."

"That makes sense. Though such behaviour is still unacceptable. Keep me informed on the target's progress. And send word to my daughter that I wish to speak to her."

"At once ma'am."

Alone with her thoughts, Ashley went through the plan once more. It was basic and simple, but it had to do for now; Use Aloy, or more specifically, her alpha clearance, to get access to the other vaults scattered throughout the world. During her journey, her field agent would ensure the young impressionable woman would be exposed to the right amount of stimuli to mould her into something they can use. And if not, no big loss. The primary goal was getting her hands on those alpha clearance codes. The rest was just extra.

"You asked for me, mother?"

Ashley looked up to see her daughter standing in the doorway leading into her office.

"Yes, come in, and close the door behind you."

The door closed with a soft click and the other woman walked towards her mother's desk.

The woman was fairly young. Early to mid-twenties at most. She had smooth white skin, that was slightly tanned from hours of outside work. Her arms and legs showed clear muscle definition and her entire posture spoke of a trained and disciplined huntress or warrior. Her hair was a shade of flaming red, with streaks of dark brown through it. Bright blue eyes took in every detail of her surroundings. At first glance, she bore a striking resemblance to a certain famous scientist from the old world. This was by design, but on further observation, you could see the effect of several other genetic donors. The shape of her face was just a tad sharper, her eyes a bit larger. Little things, but all in all, enough to differentiate her from the target of their latest project.

"Take a seat Tisiphone, I have an important assignment for you."

"As always, Mother, I am yours to command if it furthers our cause or APHRODITE's wishes."

"Good. Here is what I want you to do."

---

In a different part of the underground complex, in a modest mechanical workshop, a young woman was climbing the stairs leading to a second-floor gantry. The metal-grated framework that made the gantry clanged under her boots as she walked purposefully towards a corner of the gantry. She was wearing a simple combo of sturdy pants and a tank top. Simple, and practical, perfect when working in a place with running machinery. The top left her long, slender arms bare, exposed a modest amount of cleavage, and accentuated her perky breasts. Her skin was unusually dark, almost ebony black, and she almost disappeared from sight as she turned into an isle created by two rows of man-high metal shelves. Her chocolate brown eyes darted across the shelves, looking for something only she knew. But her most striking feature was her hair. Cut short into a messy, spiky mob that barely reached her ears. It was also bright neon pink and clashed violently with her otherwise flawless appearance.

You would think that Charis was some sort of supermodel from the old world. And you would be right. Being the result of splicing the DNA of a French supermodel, and a genius-level mechanical engineer, really won the lottery. Humming a quiet tune to herself, she leaned down a bit to look at the contents of a box on one of the shelves.

A strong hand covered her mouth, and she was pulled back up until she hit somebody behind her. A second hand grabbed her perfectly proportioned breast and gave it a rough squeeze.

"Not...A single...Sound."

The voice was low and husky and laden with lust. Charis nodded her head, the only thing she really could do, as raw physical strength was not her strong point. For a few minutes, the unseen assailant continued to grope her breasts, the fabric of the tank top not really doing much to lessen the sensations. And it seemed that the person behind her noticed as well.

"My, are those nipples getting hard? You're enjoying this aren't you?"

Charis's cheeks turned red as she blushed madly. She wanted to respond, but the hand clamping her mouth prevented that, she could only let out muffled grunts. And an occasional moan. The hand let go of her breast and slid down across her stomach towards her pants. The grip on her mouth tightened, and she was pressed deeper against the other person. It took some effort, but they managed to undo the buttons and work both her pants and panties low enough to expose her sex. The hand quickly latched onto her pussy, and began to tease it.

"Already wet? I was right, you ARE enjoying this."

The hand disappeared, and she heard the rustle of clothes behind her. A moment later, something warm and hard poked against her slit.

"Hold still now. And remember, not a sound. Unless you want the people below us to look up and see you."

They were right, Charis thought, the gantry they were on was made from steel grating. Completely see-through. Anyone who was directly below them would just have to look up and get a perfect view of the situation. The pressure against her pussy increased, and her lips easily parted to allow the cock entry. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't fully suppress herself, and a long moan escaped her as the cock slid into her wet folds. She tensed as the cock sank deeper and deeper until it was completely inside of her.

For a moment, neither person said or did anything. The person pulled back until half of it was still inside, before slamming back in with a violent thrust. Charis gave a muffled yelp as the rocked her lithe body. The person quickly set a pace of hard deep trust, each time they bottomed out, Charis softly moaned or grunted. The hand not silencing her grabbed the hem of her top, and yanked it upwards, exposing her flawless tits. The hand grabbed one and pinched the hard nipple sitting atop the dark mound.

"No bra today? You kinky minx"

Nothing more was said for a while as Charis was violently fucked in the dark corner of the workshop. It really was a wonder no one had walked in on them yet, as nothing was hiding them. The thought of being discovered like that fueled the emotions inside of her, and her pussy convulsed around the cock violently fucking her from behind. The hand mauling her breasts returned to her pussy, and began to finger her clit. This caused Charis to let out the loudest scream yet, and for a moment, she feared everybody in the workshop could hear her. Her eyes rolled back as the fingers deftly toyed with her clit. She couldn't hold out much longer, and the person behind her knew it as well.

"You're close, aren't you? Go on then. Cum for me."

The finger pressed down hard on her clit, and that proved to be her undoing as she climaxed. She threw her head back as her whole body shook from the of her orgasm. Her pussy convulsed madly around the cock buried fully inside of her, milking it for all that it had. This was what set the other person off, and she felt the cock swell lightly inside of her. A second later, the other person came as well, and long powerful shots of thick semen filled her womb and pussy. After a long moment, Charis's orgasm began to fade, and she felt the cock begin to soften inside of her as well. Breathing heavily, she leaned her head on the other person's shoulder and took deep breaths as the hand was removed from her mouth.

She tilted her head to the side and gave a soft kiss on the cheek of the person behind her.

"Fuck Tis, not that I'm complaining, but what brought this on?"

The now soft cock left her still quivering pussy, and they both took a moment to make themself presentable. As she turned around, she looked at Tisiphone who had just finished putting her cock back inside her pants. She gave her girlfriend a quick hug, then stepped back. Charis and Tisiphone were born on the same day, so they grew up together. And as they got older, their friendship took a deeper level. From friends to lovers. And she loved everything about Tisiphone. Her deliciously dominating personality was not so different from her own. Her sharp and intelligent mind could keep up with her own often erratic thought patterns. And of course, that wonderful cock of hers that was sized just perfectly for her. At first, she was slightly put off when she heard about it. But as her mind began to understand the benefits and drawbacks of the gene splicer technology that was used in their inception, she accepted it as a part of who her best friend was.

The fact that said best friend regularly used it to utterly fuck her senseless, had nothing to do with it, obviously.

Charis noticed the gloomy look on her girlfriend's face and quickly wrapped her arms around her in a comforting hug.

"I just got out of a meeting with mom. She sent me on a mission, and it might take a while before I get back."

"A while? Does that mean you'll be missing our anniversary?"

Tisiphone nodded.

"Most likely. Sorry Char. I tried convincing her to delay the mission, but she said it was important and I had to go right now."

Tisiphone ran her hand through Charis's pink hair, further messing up the already messy style.

"I just dropped in to say goodbye. I'll try to be back as soon as I can."

"Yeah, I know. Bring me back something nice. Oh, or something pretty. OEH OEH. How about nice AND pretty?"

Charis's voice grew more excited with each word she spoke, and she was practically bouncing by the time she was done talking.

"Char, the last time I did that you broke it in less than a week."

"Well, how was I supposed to know they broke from that? I swear those savages are just so fragile. One hour testing a new machine I made, and suddenly Miss What's her name's mind broke."

"Testing a machine? It fucked her at top speed, for an hour. That was twenty-two THOUSAND strokes a minute Char. What did you think was going to happen?"

"I DIDN'T KNOW. That was the whole thing. Now I know they can't take it, or at least, not that long."

Tisiphone sighed.

"See? This is why I'm not getting you a real pet. You need to take care of living creatures."

Charis crossed her arms under her chest and pouted.

"Well, that's just mean."

Tisiphone activated her focus and tapped a button. Charis's own focus sprang to life, and an image appeared in front of her. It was that of a woman roughly their age. Dark sunburned skin, common to Carja. Short black hair, amber eyes. Nice figure, she had to admit. Nothing like her own, or Tisiphone's, but still.

"That's my target. Mom wants her secured since she has ties to this Aloy chick. I'll tell you what. I'll get her, bring her back here, and then you and I can both work on her. You'll get your pet, love. We'll just have to be careful this time."

Charis Smiled and wrapped Tisiphone into a big, long hug.

"Well, I guess I'll have to read up on how to care for those savages. Also, since you're going to be away for it, there's no point in keeping this a secret anymore."

She tapped some things on her interface and selected two programs which she transferred to Tisiphone's focus where they began to auto-extract. Tisiphone saw them appear in front of her; Recon_V2.13.46 and Tisiphone special.

"Right, the first one is the latest version of the recon extractor. This one allows you to pull the recon data straight from any recon class machine out there. So no more breakneck acrobatics to get manual access from a tallneck. Unless you want to, of course, but please be safe. The second one, I made just for you, and no one else has it. So, you know those stupid, boring ostrich-like longlegs you seem to love? Well, this little program SHOULD allow you to directly control one. It should also be able to let you ride it. But no guarantees, it's completely untested. I'm fairly certain it will work, but I have no idea until you do."

Tisiphone's eyes grew wide as Charis explained the function of the second program, and she was bouncing on her feet like a giddy schoolgirl by the time her girlfriend finished explaining.

"For real? Are you serious? Char, that is, fucking AMAZING. You are the best girlfriend ever. I might even pretend to ignore you calling them boring. They are miles better than those stupid little ice things."

"THEY ARE CALLED PENGUINS AND THEY ARE THE BEST CREATURES OUT THERE. I will not be convinced otherwise and UMPH..."

Charis was pulled into a deep kiss, and the two quickly engaged in a passionate battle of tongues. At one point, Charis lowered her hands to grab Tisiphone's bum and gave it a good squeeze. Eventually, they broke the kiss, and Charis stepped back with a sad look on her face.

"Well, best get going before your mother gets angry. Be safe out there, and get back to me as soon as you can."

"I will. And tell Marcus that if he touches you again with his grubby hands, I'll do more than break them."

"I will now get going."

On queue, both Charis's and Tisiphone's focus activated, and Dr. Rain's voice came from both of them directly into their ears.

"Charis, when you are done fucking my daughter, tell her to get her ass topside. She has an important mission to attend to."

Both girls had the decency to blush slightly from the way Dr. Rain talked. But never one to back down from anything Charis opened the channel.

"Technically mam, it's your daughter that's doing the fucking, but I'll pass it along."

"Did you just call me mom on a public channel?"

"Wouldn't dream of it, Ma'am. But she's leaving right now, so mission accomplished, I guess?"

Tisiphone shook her head as she began to walk away. Charis and her mother always got into these verbal sparring matches, and it could be a while before they wrapped it up. She made her way through the underground complex of the APHRODITE bunker, and out into the open world. The entrance was, as always, hidden high in the mountains, and she had to take a narrow path down the side to reach the valley below. In the centre of the valley was a large metal plate, that split in half to allow an elevator to rise up from underneath. This was where the nearby cauldron deposited its machines. And right now, a caravan of shelf-walkers emerged from it. As always, they were flanked by several Longlegs. She refused to believe the deployment of them and her arrival in the valley was a coincidence. Somehow, Charis had managed to time the deployment just right.

Being careful to not give her presence away, she approached one of the Longlegs. Once she was close enough, she used her focus to hijack the communication signal controlling it and uploaded Charis's program. She watched with bated breath as she followed the process on her interface.

'Uploading Tisiphone special.'

'Connecting...connected.'

'Transferring data.

'15%'

'29%'

'48%'

'73%'

'Transfer complete. Extracting Tisiphone special.'

The Longleg stopped in its tracks, and its blue optics began to flicker. They turned yellow as the programme began to work. For a brief moment, they switched to red, before they flickered once more, and the optics turned the same neon pink as her girlfriend's hair. The Longleg stopped moving, before walking towards her. With each step it took, Tisiphone grew more and more excited, and she was practically jumping in place from sheer joy as the great machine stopped next to her. At her command, the Longleg got on its knees, lowering itself low enough for her to mount it.

"Best, fucking, girlfriend. EVER. Of all time."

With glee and enthusiasm she would never show anyone else, she got on the machine and ordered it towards Meridian.