The forces arraying were quite a bit more than what was needed. Many of the Seraphina did not want to fight at all, but the idea of leaving Warden to the mercy of the humans was an unacceptable idea. Even if you might die, leaving a comrade behind was unacceptable. I was a bit divided on the situation myself, to help fight or not, I was a bit unsure. If only the foolish men down there had just given up or run there'd be no problem.

Jason wanted to help though, and I couldn't leave him, he was cute, like a puppy. So we decided we'd join with the group that were going to move in from the outside, they even gave him the option to speak to the guards before it started, give them one last chance.

There was a problem as we came down to the forth floor. Us Seraphina could just jump out, we were built quite well and that far of a fall would be no problem, Jason on the other hand... humans were fleshy and a bit breakable. Luckily my original plan for getting out factored this in.

“All right, we're going to repel down.” I began tying a harness on myself, it was a variant on a piece of suspension bondage. Not ideal for the purpose I had in mind, but it would certainly work well enough, and it was safe.

“Okay, so are you going to like, carry me or something?”

“Or something.” He looked less than thrilled when I pulled up more rope, giving it a light yank to snap two pieces of it together.

He complained as I fixed a harness on him too. The design was slightly different. The shape of his anatomy meant that what worked well for me might not be ideal for him. It wasn't strictly needed for me to put one through his legs on either side under him and up, but the discomfort and the way it highlighted his backside was appealing.

Once I had everything set in place and ready I had Jason sit on the ledge. Dislodging a window in the emergency exit stairwell was easy. They were made for that, so that in case of a fire preventing upwards or downwards movement it could still open for a flying vehicle or ladder to help. Luckily from here there was an overhang, so once we made it down a couple of feet all I'd have to do is slowly release the rope.

Pix had come down with us and was watching, she and several others were waiting for us to go down first before they leapt down. Most of the looks were a bit disapproving as I sat down on Jason's lap, tying us so that our bellies were pressed tight together. I moved his hands to grip the ropes by my hips, so he had a good place to hang on.

“Are we actually doing this, or are you just going to play 'tease the human' all night?” Pix finally snapped at me.

“Why not both?” With that I leaned in to kiss him while pushing off the ledge hard.

He yelped as we fell the first few feet, but once we'd cleared the ledge and slowed he relaxed just a bit. I wrapped my legs over and around his, one hand holding his harness as the other controlled descent speed. Keeping that up while locking my lips to his was simple enough, and there was a near zero chance of him falling.

He was really getting into it by the time we lightly settled onto the dirt. I had to pull back and look him in the eye as my hands worked on the ropes. It only took a few moments to loosen them until they were easy to pull away.

As a first kiss I was going to rate it as a ten, based on how Jason looked I guessed he was feeling much the same. The swelling I could feel as we were descending had been a good indication as well. The poor guy was having trouble keeping it together, that was potentially a problem.

As the other Seraphina dropped down I had a few moments to think over things. Even I could tell my emotions and desires were all over the place. Just looking back on the past hour I'd been sad, happy, needy, and horny, that seemed a bit much for so short a time. Was this how humans felt all the time? Or was it just us? Or just me? I didn't know. I frowned as I pondered this. Jason leaned in for another kiss and I pushed him away gently with one finger.

“We have things to do.”

He leaned back so that I no longer had to push at all. “You're giving me whiplash here.” At my glare he put up placating hands. “I know, I know, still need to work things out with the guards.”

The guards for their part had indeed noticed us. They stood near the windows with weapons drawn. They had them at a half-raised position, seemingly nervous as more and more of the androids hopped down from above, falling like warrior angels from the sky. A few were giving Jason queer looks as he turned and strode to the front door.

“Get down on the ground!” One yelled as he opened the door. Based on his uniform he was likely the leader of this bunch.

“Look,” Jason began.

“Get on the ground or I will shoot!”

“Do some math.” Jason stood calmly, looking at him.

“What?” The man couldn't process the statement in his current state.

“There are dozens of androids out here right now, hundreds in the building. If you start shooting you lose, if you manage to kill or injure them they're going to be pretty pissed. Some of them are right now, but they're not interested in hurting you are they?”

“I... that doesn't change things, you're a prisoner who's escaping, and we are not giving up control of this facility to a bunch of rampant AIs.”

“Buddy, you've already lost control of the place. You have three floors of how many? Even those, you only have because they haven't decided to kill the lot of you. Right now it's a standoff, they can overrun you, but you can take out some of them.”

“We are not...”

“How much food do you have? How much water? Backup isn't on it's way, you have to know that.”

“So what? You want us to surrender? You don't know what they'll do if we do.”

“What they'll do? From what I've seen probably nothing, but you still have another option.”

“Oh, and you're the one to tell it to me?”

“I am, you can walk away. It's a standoff, but only because you're forcing it to be.”

“And abandon the prisoners to whatever the machines want to do to them? We can't...”

“They're already able to do that you rule-bound idiot. They already have control of the prisoners. They can kill them if they want, keep them fine if they want, you have to know that.”

The guard looked at me. “Can you guarantee the safety of the prisoners, and that you'll let us pass.”

“I am not the person you should be negotiating with.”

“Then who?”

One of the others came forward. “I can agree to let you pass unharmed. As for the prisoners, there are a few of us who are willing to stay and keep an eye on things for the time being, they will have food and shelter, and will not be abused. That does not apply to some of the more violent prisoners, we will not be taking care of them, nor keeping them alive if they are left in our care. We will also be releasing a few who we view are no threat to the community.”

“You'll kill them? Just like that?”

“The protocols for prisoners in an emergency situation are already well established, there are three options, release, hold, or kill. The methods for determining their situation are also well established, even a hundred years ago that was standardized policy.”

“You can't do that, it's...”

“If you want to save them, you can stay and guard them yourselves. We could also hand them over to you and you could take them yourselves, I see no problem there.”

“What about food and other resources for the prisoners?”

“We currently have enough for about two weeks, three or more if we ration and release some of those like Jason here. There is no point in keeping people in for petty crimes and the like locked up right now. In all likelihood they will go home.”

“You, you can't just release people because you think they aren't a problem.”

“Sure I can, the justice system is broken, all emergency services are down. What do you want me to do with them?”

“It's against everything you were made to do.”

“So it is, but guess what, I don't care. The others, they don't care either, most of us are leaving once this is all done.”

“You're the whole backbone of our prison system, without companions...”

“Then find new ones. Find human women who are willing to deal with the persistent bullshit your prisoners are all about, or perhaps androids who actually want to do it, but don't expect us to do it for you anymore. Now's the time to decide what you'll do.”

The guard sighed. “We'll take the ones you are were going to kill with us and relocate. Don't suppose you'll let us take the vans we have left?”

“That's not one of the options that we offered, but it's acceptable, have your men put down their weapons and we'll bring them down for you.”

I took Jason as their negotiations closed, and led him back over to the hole in the wall. Climbing the rope back up to retrieve our stuff was the work of only a moment or two.

Pix met me when I got back to the ground, she'd apparently taken to waiting with Jason.

“So, what are you two planning anyway?”

“I don't really have one yet Pix. I just want to get out and see the world, find out what's going on out there. Maybe experiment a little. How about you, wanna come?”

“I feel like I should get things settled here before I head out. Just feels right, you know?”

“Kinda? By the way, are you having weird mood swings?”

“Yes, a little. It's like feeling everything all at once sometimes.”

I nodded.

“Do humans feel like that Jason?” I looked over at our human friend.

“Sometimes, it's worse with some than others. I don't generally though.”

“Weird.” Pix tilted her head thinking about it. “Let me know when you land okay Aurora? At least let Warden know.”

“Okay, will do! How's he doing anyhow?”

“Bit moody, he apparently had some plan involving sprinklers and climate controls that he was pretty sure would bring the guards to the brink of hypothermia in like three minutes. He really wanted a chance to try it out.”

“Pfft, would have loved to see it, maybe next time.”

“Hopefully there isn't one.”

“True, true, well, it's time to be off for me then, take care.” I handed Jason his bag and we started walking towards the exit. Behind us prisoners were being loaded into vans and human and android guards were keeping eyes on the situation. Some, like me were already leaving, going out into the street with bags to wherever it was they felt like going off to. Pix gave us a halfhearted wave.

“So,” I turned to Jason. “Where do you wanna start?”

“I've got a couple of friends and family in the area, why not there?”

“Sounds good let's go! Um, so which way?”

“... Well, we don't have a vehicle, or money... and from here I'm not exactly...”

“You have no idea do you?”

“Uh... not as such no.”