And the White Knight is talking backwards, and the Red Queen's off with her head

Kim was barely able to suppress the smile on her face as she watched Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin showing off for Nick. It was just so adorable! She was posing like a little puppy begging for treats from its owner with her stretches! And she really seemed to be turning up the heat, too. Kim could see a spark of desire in the assassin’s eyes, and she suspected that the sheen of sweat across her ivory skin was more than just from working out.

Honestly, I feel kind of like a third wheel here, she thought. She glanced over to Dani, who was going through her own workout routine, and not paying attention to the two lovebirds. So Kim wandered over to the tomboy and patted her on the back.

“Hey, what do you think of those two?” She asked her workout partner, gesturing to Nick and Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin.

Dani craned her head towards the two of them, and smirked.

“…I think that one really knows what she’s doing,” she said slyly, admiring Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s lithe figure as she leaned over and arched her back in a way that made her breasts bounce. She shifted her position next, to a yoga move that emphasized the swell of her inflated rear end next.

Kim smirked. “I think you’re right,” she agreed. The two tomboys giggled at Nick’s flustered reaction as he sat awkwardly to the side, watching Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin flex and shake her body in front of him, clearly doing whatever she could to keep his eyes on her.

“…So what did you and Carly teach her, exactly?” Kim asked Dani, recalling the last time they’d encountered the sharp-eared assassin in the gym. “Back when you took her up to Carly’s bedroom, I mean.”

Kim was quite curious just how much about sex Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin knew. She seemed like the kind of woman who wouldn’t be very familiar with it, given her history, but at the same time, she seemed somewhat well-versed in the necessary behaviors.

Almost like she’d gotten coaching…

Dani blushed.

“Well, uh… you remember Carly’s transformation? Veteran Experience?”

Kim blinked. There had been a lot of transformations over the rounds, and she and Carly weren’t exactly close. It took her a second to place it. “Yeah, that’s the one where people go to her for advice about appealing to Nick, and she’s gotta help them, right?” She asked, recalling her own experience with Carly’s transformation.

Dani nodded. “Exactly. Well, yesterday, while Nick was off having fun with Dawn on their date together, I was hanging out with Carly and her sister in their room playing arcade games, and who should come in but Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin? We offered to let her join in, but she seemed to be here for another reason.”

That made Kim curious. “Wait, so how does that work? I mean, it’s not like Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin can ask for advice, right? Cuz, you know, she can’t really… you know.”

Dani nodded. Kim didn’t need to explain. “Believe me, I was surprised too,” she said with a shrug. “But apparently, Carly’s transformation triggers based on her own interpretations. She could just kinda… feel it, you know? That’s what she said, anyway. That she felt like Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was looking for advice on her date, and after that… well, she went all out.”

Dani had a whimsical look on her face as she thought back to how excited both girls had looked yesterday. Carly giving Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin all sorts of advice about how to best appeal to Nick with her body, and the eager assassin absorbing it all like a sponge as she nodded along, thrilled to have a partner in crime.

“Well, I’m just glad she’s making friends,” Kim said, leaning against the wall as she watched the curly-haired girl making goo-goo eyes at Nick as she “innocently” arched her back again in just the perfect way to make her ass bounce. “I was kind of worried about how she connects with other people, you know? Given how she can’t talk…”

Dani nodded, looking up at Kim. “Well, she’s attached to you,” she pointed out. “And that’s something at least.”

Kim nodded. “I know, and that’s good, but it’s also good that she’s branching out. I don’t think I deserve the level of adoration she keeps giving me, you know?” She said, blushing and scratching her head sheepishly. “I’m just… well, I was just doing a job, that’s all.”

Dani hopped to her feet and patted Kim on the shoulder before grabbing a towel to wipe her sweaty forehead. “Don’t sell yourself short,” she replied. “It clearly meant a lot to that girl.”

Kim nodded thoughtfully, still gazing at the two of them together. Both Nick and Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin were lucky in their own ways.

“Well, I think I’ve earned a nice bath in the hot springs today,” Dani said, stretching her arms over her head. “You wanna join?”

Kim shook her head, coming back down to earth. “…Nah. Still gotta finish out my shift. I’ll be heading back to the shop pretty soon, actually,” she replied, giving Nick and Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin one last look. The assassin had moved on from stretches and was now handling free weights, which only seemed to up the level of teasing she had at her disposal.

They deserve some privacy, Kim thought, turning and leaving the couple to their own devices.

Nick didn’t notice Dani and Kim leaving the Gymnasium. When he looked up, he realized that they were completely alone. He’d gotten so enthralled with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s workout routine he almost thought that she’d been given a transformation on her Dancer path without him knowing, one that couldn’t help but draw his eyes to her body.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was just loving all the attention he was giving her, of course. And she didn’t even try to get him to work out either, like Dani or even Kim or Dawn might have done. She seemed content just showing off to him, and that worked out just fine.

He’d gotten quite a workout this morning, anyway.

So he sat back on the bench and watched Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin pose and preen as she tried to seduce him. He wasn’t so naïve as to overlook that that was what she was doing here. She was showing off, and it was working.

Nick didn’t mind, either. It gave him some time to think about his relationship with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, and about where he wanted this relationship to go. She wasn’t like the other girls in his harem, in a lot of ways.

She pretty clearly wants to have sex, he thought. Or at least, she wants me to want to have sex. I doubt she’s trying to tease me, though, so… probably, right? We’re probably going to… yeah. Nick had avoided having sex with all the other girls who had joined his harem this round. Amelia for obvious reasons, and with Ella he had a laundry list of justifications for why that was a bad idea. As for Vivian, while he had been potentially open to it, she was the one who’d surprisingly not pushed the issue.

But he wasn’t so sure about Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin.

If she wants to… I should just say yes, right? That was definitely the tone their date had set so far today. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was a lot of things, but none of them were subtle. She was putting more effort into making her boobs shake than she was into getting proper form on the bench press!

She might act naïve and childish, but I shouldn’t let her behavior sway me. It’s not like she’s so innocent. Just because she behaves a certain way, that doesn’t mean she really is.

It was like with Sylvia. The former host was high on her own supply, and loved playing around as Nick’s young daughter. But he hadn’t for a moment forgotten the kind of person she was prior to all that. As childlike as she may have acted, she was still an adult. This wasn’t like with Mimi, or even Morgana. Nick’s reasons for not having sex with Sylvia had been entirely due to the two of them not being ready to take that next step, not any kind of sexual immaturity.

That wasn’t really something he observed in Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. And given how aroused she was clearly getting from just hearing him talk thanks to her transformation, Nick suspected that this date would have a very steamy conclusion at the end of it.

I would like to get to know her better… but I think that might be easier said than done. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was connecting to Nick any way she knew how. Dismissing those efforts because she couldn’t verbalize them would be like saying she was a child who didn’t know what she wanted.

But she very clearly knew what she wanted. And she was a very present threat to anyone who stood in the way of her getting it.

When they finally finished up with their workout, Nick had a good idea in mind for how he wanted the rest of the day to go.

“Do you like movies?” He asked Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin as they walked out of the gym, heading for the elevator.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin blinked in surprise at the question. She tilted her head to the side and shrugged.

“I only ask, because I know you don’t like books,” Nick pointed out. “It makes me wonder if you’d have any interest in watching a movie, maybe.”

It was still early in the afternoon, the two had plenty of time on their date together. And Nick wanted to use that time to figure out the tastes of his dating partner.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin scrunched up her face in a thoughtful look and leaned in close, studying Nick carefully. Almost like she was trying to figure out what he was after.

But the only thing he was after was having a good time with her! That was it, really!

“Hey, if you don’t want to, then-”

Nick’s attempt to walk back the suggestion was quickly ended with a sharp shake of the assassin’s head. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a firm, determined look.

Apparently, they’d arrived at a conclusion.

Nick shrugged. “Well, okay then,” he said, cracking a smile. “Good.”

She was all smiles again as well, and gleefully linked up her arm with his again. As she leaned her body against his, he could feel the heat coming off of her. He didn’t know if she was using her nanomachines to raise her body heat or if the assassin just ran hotter than most people due to her prior augmentations, but whatever was going on with her she was radiating excitement like a nuclear power station.

They walked arm and arm through the shopping district, and arrived at the Movie Theater, Dakota’s favorite place. For once, it wasn’t Nola they encountered at the door (she must have still be relaxing by the pool) but a faerie colored a drab gray.

“Welcome to the movies,” she said, a lock of gray hair falling over her eyes, giving her a grungy, “bored teenager” kind of look. “What would you like to watch?”

Nick had anticipated Dakota filling the theater up with porn, given how worked-up Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin already was. But he should have known that his old friend the movie buff would have taken her passion seriously. Instead of seizing the low-hanging fruit, she actually presented quite a large selection of movies for them to watch. Everything from gritty R-rated drama flicks to puerile and banal Disney schlock, and so many other types of movie in between.

Maybe she’d anticipated Nick’s intentions here- it would make sense, given she was the host.

I want to see as many different genres of film as I can, he thought, glancing at Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin out of the corner of his eye. The more I learn about her interests, the more I’ll get to know about her as a person.

It made sense from where he was sitting.

“Let’s start with a romcom, that should be a good baseline,” he suggested, looking at the assassin for approval.

He shouldn’t have bothered- she was happy just being here with him. She cheerfully nodded, ready to go along with whatever suggestions he had.

So they went with a romantic comedy first. Nick was merciful enough to Rose to not pick any of her movies.

The romantic comedy was just… okay. It wasn’t doing anything unique or genre-redefining, but that was kind of the point. Nick wanted something simple and easy to digest for someone like Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, so if she liked it, there would be more films where that came from.

She wasn’t all that interested, though. A simple glance out of the corner of his eye, and he saw her bored expression as she watched the couple make asinine decisions and deny their feelings for one another long past the point where it had been funny, or at least charmingly amusing. When Nick reached out and took her hand, he realized that hers was clammy with sweat. She’d shed her gloves earlier in the gym (maybe just as an excuse to show more skin) and he could make direct contact with her hands for once.

He felt her fingers wrap around his, and suddenly her eyes were staring into his as well. This was a touching romantic moment, where the main couple had finally gotten together. The music was swelling, the comedy had fallen to the wayside to make room for the drama, and on any other date, the time would be right to lean in and kiss the girl.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked so bored it actually made Nick sputter out a sudden laugh of disbelief. She looked the most uninterested in something as he had ever seen her!

Ironically, that sudden, out of nowhere laugh elicited the same response from the assassin, and she gave him a silent little giggle, shaking her head slowly. Nick could tell two things just from that.

There would be no kissing at the movies today.

And romantic comedies were not Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s film genre of choice.

After the excruciatingly-boring romcom was finally over, Nick decided he wanted to switch things up. He wanted a genre of movie that the assassin would enjoy.

So even though it might have seemed counterintuitive to invite a girl out to watch a horror movie on a first date, he thought it might work out. After all, she’d loved the fun of playing tag and him chasing him around all morning. Maybe she would like this?

He went with an old classic- Friday the 13th. There was something about a voiceless, unstoppable killing machine that Nick thought might appeal to her.

If only he had actually watched the film before.

His instincts proved to be right on the money. Unlike with the romcom that had bored her out of her mind, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was glued to her seat for this film! She watched with rapt eyes as the tension ramped up, and more people went missing and were found dead. And she let out silent gasps and squeals of glee that whole time.

Her excitement was so overwhelming that Nick almost wondered if he’d made a bad call here. She seemed a little too into the slasher genre. But she was so cute doing so that he didn’t mind. It was part of the reason he’d invited her here, right?

This was what he wanted to see, her excitement.

And then they reached the climax. It was strange. Like a button had been flipped, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin suddenly seemed to realize that she was watching a horror movie, instead of clapping like an excited seal whenever she saw blood and gore.

Nick was stunned. “Wait, so… Jason isn’t the killer!? Huh!?”

The Friday the 13th series was an iconic piece of horror cornerstone history. But… Nick had never actually watched the movies before. Which was why he was only finding out now, over 40 years since the film first came out, that the killer in the first movie was not, in fact, Jason Voorhees.

If Dakota hadn’t been such a fan of the Halloween series and had made him watch these films instead, maybe he wouldn’t have been blindsided.

But as shocked and caught off-guard as Nick might have been, it really didn’t make much difference. The important thing here was that Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was still engaged with the action. And she actually let out a silent cheer as the killer recovered from a frying pan to the head, and kept right on coming.

Then, the would-be victim got ahold of the machete. She turned on the killer, and Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eyes widened in a mirror to the “holy fuck!” expression on the murderer’s face.

And when the final girl lopped off her would-be killer’s head, Nick saw Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin shed a single tear.

Okay… maybe this wasn’t the best idea. If he’d been using his head, he might have realized that putting Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin into a situation where she would identify with the serial killer wasn’t the best idea. And yet, when they walked out of the theater this time, she was all smiles.

Nick checked the time. They had just enough hours left of their date to watch two more movies, and they would have to be good ones. He’d definitely gotten the assassin invested now, she was practically trying to drag him back into the screening room.

“Don’t worry, we’ll watch more movies,” he assured her.

She pointed insistently at the sign for Friday the 13th Part Two. She couldn’t read the title- and yet, her instincts seemed to be screaming at her that this was the continuation.

Nick blinked. Most of the time, he would just go with what she wanted. But he had to put his foot down here.

“Sorry, maybe next date,” he said. “I like horror movies fine, but we can’t just watch them all! We should savor them. They only made, like… eleven of them.”

Okay, maybe they could afford to watch just one more. But the reason Nick had brought her here was so they could watch other genres! He wasn’t surprised she liked horror, but maybe she would like mysteries?

She looked doubtfully at him, but nodded, at least willing to give it a shot.

“…Okay, not a mystery fan, gotcha,” he said, making a mental note to not let Mary find out about the assassin’s preferences as she stormed out of the theater. She had a cold, disinterested look on her face, and crossed her arms over her chest, rolling her eyes.

“It wasn’t that boring… was it?” He asked, almost sounding hurt. That had been one of his favorite mysteries!

She puffed up her cheeks in response.

“…Okay, noted,” he nodded. “One more movie, then? Trust me. I think you’ll like this one. and there are even more of them than the Friday the 13th series!”

Intrigued, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eyes widened and she leaned forward with a curious expression on her face. She studied Nick closely and decided that he was telling the truth, so she nodded tentatively and let him lead her into the last move they’d be watching tonight, Dr. No.

The classic detective mystery genre may have been a bust, but if she didn’t like this one, Nick would eat his shoe knife. …Or was that the second movie? He couldn’t remember.