Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek. Reviews are welcome. I don't own any characters other than Fenix Flarestone. Enjoy and stay ethical y'all.

Chapter 3: I'm Already Fully Functional

Previously…

He chuckled, "You know… you had the opportunity to see me naked but I didn't get to see you... naked… that's not very fair is it?" Fenix stomped in annoyance and embarrassment, "Ugh! I don't care! I'm cold!" and stomped off with blushing cheeks. Lore laughed in amusement of her childish antics as he resumed studying the objects in her bag. Silly girl. Lore wanted to examine her and see if he could find what the humans couldn't find, but he needed equipment in order to that. He won't be doing anything that causes her any more pain that she endured. He won't do such things to her. She too, was used then discarded just as he was. Fenix came back wearing a baggy black shirt and a pair of fitted black pants and leaned against the wall with crossed arms, "Say Lore… Can you fight? You know, like spar?" He put the unknown contraption down and locked his eyes with hers with a faint smile. Now that's more like it...

Lore looked at her with a smile, interested in the challenge, "I wasn't built for combat, but I'm capable of such." She returned the smile, "Sweet, Let's go!" and ran outside, with Lore running with just as much excitement. She stretched out her kinks as she warmed herself up, "If you hurt me, I'll just keep regenerating so don't hold back." Lore chuckled, "I'd rather you hit me first so I know how strong you are." Fenix raised her eyebrows, "Ah, very wise. That's one of Bruce Lee's philosophies. You won't know how to hit without taking one yourself." she grinned. They sauntered in a circle, waiting for the other to attack, their intense eyes locked onto each other's, never breaking. "Ladies first." Lore tantalized. For an instance they both stopped dead in their tracks, everything went quiet, and then Fenix lunged for him, slugging him right in the face. Lore blinked a few times and assessed her overall strength and speed. She is averaging around 27% less stronger and slower than I. Not bad, not bad at all. Fenix shook her hand out from colliding with his hard face. Lore was content at blocking her movements in the beginning, he was observing and learning her movements to anticipate her strikes. She had a unique style, similar to Wing Chung, a style of Kung Fu but not completely. Then it clicked. She mentioned Bruce Lee… This is Jeet Kun Do! That's what she's doing, with her own added flair. And I thought everyone in this time had no interest in martial arts or hand-to-hand combat. Everyone sees it as barbaric and primitive. Not I… I'm glad to see someone appreciates the lost art. Interesting. Lore's smile never faltering, his yellow eyes sparkled like a predator as he started to send hits at her, she blocked and avoided them gracefully. Her punches, her kicks, blocks, they were of decent strength, enough for Lore to stay occupied and he let her land a good punch or a kick on him to learn how she executed them. He went flying into a boulder. She stopped her attacks, shaking out her foot that made contact with his face as she winced, "Oh fuck! You're hard!" unintentionally letting him compose himself. He chuckled, "It's not just my face that's hard." as he skilfully jumped back on his feet. Fenix's eyes widened to see his prominent erection tenting in his pants, "Oh, what the fuck!?" Before she could comprehend what was happening, he started to attack with more power and speed. It took more effort but she was still able to diligently block all the hits Lore was sending her way. He noticed the look of determination burning in her amethyst eyes, the quickening of her heartbeat and her quick intake of her breaths, the single drop of sweat on her brow... This was exhilarating for him. Her vital readings are so elevated! I can smell her, the cortisol levels are up, her heart-rate is top notch, her breathing is erratic, her body temperature is raised… I love seeing her readings being to elevated! They were almost equally matched, until Lore kicked her in the stomach colliding her into a dead tree. She got up, dusted herself and cringed as she tore out the branch that stuck out of her rib. "You know... I'd like to keep this shirt from further damage since it's the only shirt I have, the other one's ripped and still wet." Lore saucily replied, "It's just you and I here, if you're really concerned about your shirt, you could just... take it off." And he winked. He was determined to rile her up and he succeeded. Fenix shook her head with ridiculously wide eyes, "Ugh! You perverted, mandroid! And you still have that damn boner for some fucked up reason!" Lore bellowed. It's so easy to ruffle your feathers Fenix! Just too easy! They danced until the two moons spot-lighted them.

Lore swiped Fenix's legs from under her, resulting in her falling aggressively on her back, he took this opportunity to swiftly pin her to the ground, "Okay! No more! I surrender!" declared Fenix. Lore grinned victoriously. He held his left hand out to help her up. They were both covered in dust, Lore's hair was dishevelled, it made him look more human. "Your hair's a disaster, looks kinda good, actually. Or do you want me to fix it?" He stood still in his usual perfect posture and tilted his head with an amused expression, "I don't care." "You learn fast. I know I'm stating the obvious but you still impressed me." She noted as she ran her fingers from the back of his head, leaving the rest dishevelled and finished with her standing face-to-face with him. He lifted his left hand tucking a strand of her hair behind her delicate ear. Their eyes met, she faintly smiled while he stayed expressionless. She was the first to break eye contact and began walking back to the facility. Lore followed suit, and found her struggling to pop her shoulder back into place. "Stand." He commanded her. He grabbed her dislocated shoulder and she grunted in pain, one sickening 'crack' later, it was fixed, "That feels better, thanks dude." He stealthily scanned over any visible sections of her body and not a single bruise, scratch or inflammation on her. Lore demanded, "Lift your shirt." Rolling her eyes, she did as she was told. Lore inspected her ribs that gouged her with a branch. His fingers touching her ribs. Once he was finished, he retreated, "Go clean yourself, you reek of blood." Fenix rolled her eyes at his insistent need to check over her previous wounds and went to the bathroom. Taking her clothes off, she hopped into the shower again to rinse off the blood on her ribs. She checked the still-drying shirt and wore it feeling it was dry enough. Leaving the bathroom, she scavenge for any bedding supplies from the bunker, anything to make it the slightest more comfortable when sleeping on a couch. She found a couple of dusty pillows and blankets. She made her make-shift bed and laid down with a sigh, eyes closed but not yet asleep. She couldn't sleep, her many thoughts were noisy. Lore turned the main light off then laid down on another couch across from her, he didn't need to lay down, he didn't require sleep either, but he did so simply because he wanted to.

"Hey Lore, why were you here when I got here?" He stared at the ceiling and coolly replied, "I was disassembled by my father because the Colonists were jealous of me. They demanded him of my deactivation, and he complied." He's not telling the details... I have a feeling the colonist were more scared than jealous, but I don't want to jump the gun. Fenix stated, "He abandoned you, and then the Crystal destroyed the planet..."

"I summoned it here." Silence fell between them for a moment. Fenix knew she needed to choose her words carefully, "I don't blame you. It's no different than my bitterness towards the ones that experimented on me." Lore remained silent. She doesn't seem to hate all humans and organics, only the ones that have wronged her. Why wouldn't she just hate them all? Wouldn't that be easier? Fenix didn't pity him, no, but she understood and continued, "It sucks when you're misunderstood. Or when people assume things about you. I can't speak for your father since I didn't know the guy, but I think your father found himself responsible when the colonists were pushing him to deactivate you since he created you. I'm not saying that was the right way to go about it at all… I'm also not defending your father, but maybe he was put into that predicament or something. I don't know. I believe it's morally wrong to control or use a sentient being, whether it's born or made. I've always seen the concept of androids as people, with their own ways of thinking, they deserve the respect and freedom as any other individual." Lore mulled over what she had just said and asked, "Why did you reactivate me in the first place?" She thought for a moment, "I'm not even gonna hide the fact that I was really curious. But, when I saw you in pieces stuffed in storage to possibly never have the chance to be reactivated again, I wanted to help you. It wasn't out of pity at all… but if I was in your shoes, I'd like it if someone gave me a second chance at life. It didn't matter what your past was at all." Just like how Oisin and Ayame adopted me when my biological parents abandoned me when I was a baby. Why didn't they want me?Lore remained quiet, mulling over what she just confessed. He wasn't sure what compelled him to say what he was going to say next, "We're both jaded. Difference is... you still have humanity, you still have compassion. I was made to be very sentient with advanced emotional programming, but as my father put it, 'something went very wrong.' So, instead of fixing me and upgrading my substandard parts he deactivated me, and moved onto constructing my brother who can't feel emotions. Data has always been his favourite..." He turned his head to her who was facing him from across the room, "You reactivated a broken, unstable android that have no qualms about killing humans, including... you." Lore acidly spoke, hoping to instil some fear in her. Fenix had to tread even more carefully, "You're definitely capable of killing me. I too, exceed human capabilities, but I'm not as strong, fast or anywhere near as intelligent as you are, I never will be. You're superior. But one thing that piqued your interest in me is my hyper-regeneration, something even you aren't capable of. For the first time in your life, you met someone who had the upper hand in some way." Lore remained silent, his eyebrows knit together in annoyance but remained silent. "Oh yeah, and I reactivated you. There's some code of 'you gave me another chance at life so I won't take yours' kinda shit. You kinda have some vague semblance of a moral compass." A sarcastic titter escaped his lips. Perhaps I do… But I'm not going to dwell on that. You did indeed give me a second chance at life, you do intrigue me, and your view of things are rather different from everyone I've met. None of the colonists were like you, they didn't think like you… they were irritating and annoying."Lore, I'm confident I can fix you, at least so you don't have such intense hatred with homicidal tendencies, but only if you want me to..."

He stood up and walked to her with an incomprehensible expression, she got out of her make-shift bed to stand acknowledging him. Part of her was uneasy and mildly weary, uncertain of what his intentions were. He extended his hand out to her, "Let's restore this place, with your bag of strange contraptions and what's here..." he smugly grinned, "and yours truly, it should be easy." A smile graced her face as she reached out to grab his hand, an agreement, a promise, and he helped her up. Hands still connected and eyes locked on to each other's, they felt an unparalleled understanding. Lore smiled and casually mentioned, "However, if you try to alter me in any way for your personal gains, I will repeatedly tear off all your limbs and count how many times you can regenerate. I'll find that to be very entertaining." Fenix grimaced. For fuck sakes... You just had to add that, didn't you, Lore? You sadistic mandroid. "Ew… Wait… What do you mean by 'personal gains'? I'm not going to turn you into my personal pleasure mandroid or something. Creepy..." Defended Fenix. As charming as he could he smiled as he conveyed, "I find it humours how easily your thoughts go to the topic of sex. Besides, I'm already fully functional. I'm programmed in multiple techniques. A broad variety of pleasuring." His eyes seductively lowering to her lips, fully intent on provoking her. "Uh huh. Wait, what?" Caught off-guard her purple eyes widened in flabbergast. Heat rose to her cheeks. "I said, I'm fully-" She abruptly pulled her hand out of his grasp and covered his mouth to prevent his retelling. "Stop! Don't even finish that sentence! Oh, my God!" She tried to cover her furiously blushing face as she scampered around the corner, away from him. "Come back, Fenix! You promised to fix me. We shook on it, remember?" Spouted the still-grinning Lore. She sauntered back giving him a still-blushing scowl which progressed into laughter. Lore chuckled with a smirk and shook his head. She did a mental double take. Hey, he just used my name for the first time. Who would've thought...? Her thoughts were interrupted when her stomach growled loudly. Lore smirked, "I think I'll start with the replicator… you seem to need much more caloric intake." He tilted his head and continued, "Which makes sense, you expend much more energy because of your hyper-regeneration, increased strength and speed..." Fenix smiled brightly "Really? You would do that?" "Well, yeah." Carelessly shrugged Lore. You've proved your worth to me, after all. Lore didn't want to admit that he enjoyed having her around. For the first time, he felt that he was able to connect with someone. She was someone that treated him as a person, an equal. Fenix beamed, "That would be so awesome! Trekking all the way to the oasis is such a pain in the ass... Dude, I'm so happy right now, I could hug you." A look of amusement donned his face and lifted his arms. She jumped into his arms giggling, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Retreating herself, she added, "I can help you, too! I'll be your assistant, I'll fetch things for you or something." Lore commented, "A dog would be more appropriate than an 'assistant'." Fenix animatedly retorted, "Rude." Lore chuckled. Who would've thought something mundane as fixing the replicator in hopes for food would bring her such joy. Silly Fenix.

The next hour they spent together fixing the food synthesizer, with Lore secretly upgrading it enabling to synthesize more than just food. "It's fixed. Tell it what you'd like to have, Fenix." Without thinking, she blurted out, "Assorted platter of sashimi, four servings, please!" Lore looked at her with disbelief, "Really? You just ate raw fish earlier in the day." She nodded in realization, mildly faltering, "Uh huh, I'm aware." Her voice slightly cracking from realizing her mistake, she tried to save-face by adding, "B-b-ut it's prepared different, this tastes way better. A-and I got soy sauce and wasabi this time. Oh and it came with four bowls of rice! Sweet!" Lore still looked doubtful of her attempted cover up and smirked as he watched her tuck into the large amount of food.

By the time Fenix finished half way she asked, "Hey did you wanna try some? The octopus is really chewy and weird." Lore sighed, "That's not a very appealing description when you're trying to get someone to try food, just saying." Tilting her head, she agreed, "Yeah, chewy and weird doesn't sound appealing at all. If you want to try any of it, go right ahead." Lore grabbed a pair of chop-sticks and watched how she used them. Getting the hang of it, he picked up a very soft white swiggly nigiri. She smirked as he ate it and commented, "That was shirako." and chuckled. He looked at her unamused, "What's a 'shirako'?" Fenix burst into laughter, calming herself down she mumbled, "Fish semen." He stared at her, if looks could kill, this was his moment. Fenix defended with laughter, "Hey, I didn't make you eat it! You picked it out of all the plethora of food we got here." and ate a shirako nigiri without any shame. Lore smirked, "You like eating semen." She choked on her food, her face turning red from coughing, "Why the hell did you put it like that. Ew! Ew! Ew!" And started placing all the shirako nigiri off to the side, "There's way better ones here, like salmon roe, or any of the fishies, and the sweet egg nigiri. What did you think of the fish semen?" He made a face, "As you put it, it was meh." She nodded in agreement, "Same here." Lore tried one of every kind and decided he liked eating most things. It was an odd feeling for him, sitting at the counter eating with someone. It was something he never done, but realized Fenix was happier when he ate with her even when he didn't require food. Her cranial chamber has brightened quite a bit when I started eating with her. I wonder why she likes it when I eat with her. Strange girl. Lore smiled in amusement and enjoyed this very organic act of having food with her.