Author Note
The Pan-Dimensional Marketplace is my own invention, but feel free to use in any story that involves people travelling the multi-verse.
Slayer Gothic 3 - Chapter 21
The Pan-dimensional Marketplace.
After jumping through a portal, along with Fred and Faith, I now found myself standing within the strangest settlement I had ever witnessed, a place well beyond anything I'd ever seen portrayed in any fictional series.
This city, for lack of a better term, was quite large, there were hundreds of buildings that I could make out and more in the distance, also I could see thousands of people, if they could be called that, bustling through the many streets.
The city itself seemed to be a mix of fantasy and Sci-fi, the buildings and most of the people looked like they were right out of the middle ages, yet at the same time I could see different devices that were far more advanced than anything found on my world if I was any judge. It was all mashed up together, yet it seemed to be working smoothly enough.
There were also the inhabitants of this place to check out, too many take them all into account; I could clearly see creatures and beings straight out of fictional works, and many more that I didn't recognise at all.
All sorts of aliens, demons, cyborgs and much, much stranger things passed me by, each focused on their own individual tasks as they visited the multitude of stores all around us.
"Fucking hell" Faith said.
That did summarise it up rather well.
"So there's more than one Citadel" Fred reasoned.
Thinking on I realised that she was right. This was much like the Citadel of Gothics in that it was a small dimension that had been set up with the intention of giving a select group of people, in this case dimensional travellers a way to sell their services, buy supplies and so on. Although from what I'd heard about this place from other Gothics I doubted that it could be considered a safe haven. It was well evil really.
"Welcome to the Pan-Dimensional Marketplace" I said to Fred and Faith "It's a place where people who can traverse the multiverse can do a bit shopping. You can pretty much get anything you want here. Including souls, and slaves".
Including lots of other things that were illegal everywhere else I'd bet.
"Stay close and don't make eye contact" I instructed my girls.
After saying that we started to get moving.
"Do you barter here, or do we need money?" was Fred's question.
They did both here according to what I'd been told and there was a goblin run back, they looked very similar to the Goblins from the Harry Potter movie. Which wasn't encouraging.
Quickly I made my way to one of the empty tellers, who looked at me with a sneer. Clearly my species was not well liked here.
"A human" the Goblin teller remarked while glaring down at me from his high seat. "Most humans that pass through here tend to be of the magical nature, and I do sense some power coming from you".
Well I was magical, although I was hardly a normal mage.
"I want to trade for some of your money" I told the short humanoid "I have jewels".
All of which were inside my pouch of holding.
"Good, gold has been devalued" the Goblin told me "Some of your fellow humans got into their heads to loot a place called Fort Knox in different zombie worlds".
Now why hadn't I thought of that?.
"We still take gemstones, silver and other rare materials" I was now being informed "But not gold, we've got more than enough to supply our needs".
I handed over some of the treasures I'd picked up on my travels. Silver coins, bits of jewellery. Plenty of gems from Mareth. All of which were scanned by a metal wand.
"Sign your name here in order to make an account" the Goblin said with a grumble, while passing me a sheet of paper and a pen.
At least they're more advanced than the Harry Potter Goblins, they didn't expect people to use a quill. They had proper pens here.
"Mr Mason" the Goblin read out "Not another Gothic then".
What did they know about Gothics?
"Sorry?" I said.
At this point I didn't know what else to say.
"I'm sure you are" the creature said in a bland tone before getting on with our business "Now we don't actually convert your valuables into a local currency like a regular bank. What we do here is set up a vault for you that contains whatever you want to store that has value. The worth of what is in your vault is then shown by these tokens".
I was then handed some different colour pieces of metal, each was larger than a coin and they had numbers on them.
"So there sort of like a cross between a poker chip and check book?" I asked.
The goblin nodded.
"Should you sell anything and receive more tokens they can be traded here for material wealth in the form of gold bars, we have a lot of those" it was explained "We don't trade in souls here or slaves, be warned".
With that the humanoid dropped out of his seat and walked away, without a goodbye or anything, how rude. I also left without saying goodbye, since there was no one to say that to, and anyway my business here was complete so no sense in staying.
"So are we shopping?" Faith asked.
I'd been advised not to linger here, but now that I had some tokens it made sense to go spend them.
(Line Break)
Clothing Store. The Pan-dimensional Marketplace.
"Arms behind your head" instructed the owner of this business.
Both of my girls looked to me, and after I nodded they did as they had been told. A moment later a red beam fired out twice and the end result of this was that now both Fred and Faith were naked as the day they were born.
"What the hell!" shouted out Faith.
Fred's reaction wasn't verbally made, she just attempted to cover herself up as best she could with her hands, but this was a pointless reaction and she soon stopped trying. Time spent in Mareth had robbed them of most of their modesty, but not all it seemed.
My reaction had been to reach for my weapon even though I'd known what the device would do. It was called a defabricator what else would do other than get rid of fabrics. Normally I'd be loathe to let other people see my women in such a state, but this was important.
"Calm down" I ordered.
The saleswoman, for lack of a better term, soon began scanning my girls with some sort of device. It seemed harmless enough, and even an evil business was unlikely to harm its customers as that didn't led to repeat customers, which all businesses needed.
Before long both of my girls were dressed in what I could only label as science fiction bikini armour. I didn't think what they were wearing was all metal, but it looked all futuristic. Fred and Faith were also given wrist and ankle bracelets to wear a long with a wristwatch each.
"This is the best you have?" I asked.
Given the price for the armour I'd expected more.
"Select the battle armour" the female near-human looking saleswoman.
Fred did so and just for a second I found myself looking at Illyria, only that wasn't actually the case, it was just Fred in a suit of armour that looked a lot like what Illyiria had worn during season 5 of Angel.
"Light armour that is proof against stabbing weapons and small arms fire" the saleswoman told me "Comes with a personal forcefield which is triggered by sensors that keep an eye on the user's well being. Anyone who throws a punch, a spell or fires a gun at whomever wears this armour is in for a surprise. The shield is always active so you don't really need the full suit of armour, but even the best tech can fail, and there are always methods around defences so its best to have layers of protection".
Hearing this pleased me as I wanted my girls to have better protection if we were going to be wandering around the multi-verse.
"You can also select a variety of outfits using the control device" the girls were informed "Everything from formal evening wear to sleepwear. If you scan an outfit the system will mimic it for you. So need to worry about lugging a lot of clothes around with you. The system uses nanoweave technology to keep itself clean, and it can repair itself".
More needed to be explained.
"The bracelets enhance strength, stamina, reflexes and speed to near super human levels" the saleswoman was now saying "Nothing too outrageous, but more than enough for personal defence".
This sounded very good.
"If you want something with fire power and more defences than I can suggest a good armourer" I was now being told "But when it comes to mixing style and self defence, this is the best we have".
Faith was now admiring herself in the mirror as she made her new sort of armour transform into different outfits.
"How does it come off" she wondered.
As it turned out it came off like another set of bra and panties.
"I'll take them" I decided.
This would use up a lot of my tokens, but I could get more gems from Mareth. Besides the safety of my girls was what mattered most.
(Line Break)
Streets. LA.
Boris grinned as he surveyed the two blondes he and his two companions had dragged into the alley. They were real babes, a pair of late teens with models' faces and cheerleaders' bodies. Just the sort he'd always been into but never got close to before William the Bloody had turned him back in 1987. But now, he could take all the women he wanted.
"Oh," he said with a leer, as he ran an ice-cold finger down the a girl's neck. "You're a cutie aren't you?"
His smile broadened as she whimpered in fear.
"We're going to have some real fun" Boris stated.
That was when someone new entered the scene.
"Somehow I doubt she'd enjoy it" a voice said.
Boris turned his head upon hearing that only for his world to explode in pain when a bone-shattering fist collided into his jaw. Surprised, he stumbled backwards, and soon blood was filling his mouth, his own blood and he had tears of pain blurring his eyes.
"Who the fuck are you?" he growled at his attacker.
She was a curvy brunette with brown eyes..
"I'm the Slayer," she explained. "Maybe you've heard of me?"
Boris was now scared for the first time in over a decade, the skill and strength of the Slayer was something he'd only heard about, but terrified him and now he was facing one.
Quickly looking around for some sort of escape or distraction he glanced at his two minions.
"Get her!" he ordered.
After a moment's hesitation, his two minions lunged forward. The Slayer leapt to meet them, side-stepping to the right before snapping out a heel kick that cracked into the nearest vampire's knee. His other minion tried to grab the powerful young women, but she sent him sprawling into some nearby bins with a clatter.
Boris roared, half in fury, half in fear. He leapt forward, and the Slayer crouched down, and he started to fly over his target's head only for the teen's hand to fly up and grab him in an incredibly strong grip before flinging him into his childe by the left wall.
His two minions, vampire he had created were still in the fight as it took a lot to take a vamp out of action, and what didn't turn them into dust tended to heal fast depending on how often they fed and these vamps fed often. As such they still had a chance.
That was until another woman appeared, and this was when Boris noticed they wore matching armour of some kind, and to make matters even worse, this second woman had a wooden stake in her hand. Which she clearly knew how to use.
As one of his childe, a vampire he'd sired, was being slain, Boris had to deal with the Slayer coming for him. Boris was no master vampire, but he'd gotten turned by Spike because even as a mortal he'd been good in a brawl and William the Bloody at the time had needed some muscle.
He started by narrowly avoiding a downward strike, undeterred, the raven-haired beauty slammed a foot into his stomach in a move he didn't see coming. She fast as well as strong.
Boris winced in pain, but not for long as she'd driven a stake through his heart. Wait no not a stake, some kind of knife, it shouldn't have been lethal, but already he was exploding and turning to dust.
The last remaining vampire couldn't quite believe what he had just seen. There were two Slayers, which was impossible, and one had killed his sire with a knife that made him explode into dust rather than just collapse into it as a vampire should when slain.
"Tell ya what stud," said the raven-haired beauty as she began to move nearer him with that strange knife "You tell me where you demon types hang out and I won't kill you."
As the Slayer talked, her companion, a young male, too young to be a Watcher, and too well armed to be civilian, moved to cut off the vampire's only means of escape. The other woman, who looked a little older, but still young enough to be a Slayer had the other side of the alleyway covered.
Knowing things were hopeless he quickly babbled out some directions. Afterwards the Slayer winked and turned away.
"Thanks" she said.
Seeing his chance, the young vampire, he'd been turned less than a year ago made a run for it. Taking his chances with the human man, but this proved to the biggest mistake of his unlife as the man took out a gun and vaporised the vampire.
"How dumb do you think he was?" the man asked the two women "Actually thinking we'd let him live?"
Faith grinned.
"Maybe he got me mixed up with B huh?" she said.
The male smiled.
"Just remember who the real Slayers are" he chided "That armour doesn't make you one of us".
The subject was soon changed by the third member of the group.
"What happened to the girls?" she asked.
The male answered.
"They ran away" he answered.
"Smart," Faith said "Don't think they'll be going out much in the near future. So we heading for the demon bar?"
The man, who really was a slayer, grinned.
"Well we should really test out those suits" he said.
(Line Break)
Alien Planet. Stargate Verse.
The sound of hunting horns and shouting filled the air as I ran. Soon weapons fire was being exchanged, which only made things more noisy and dangerous. Which was making it harder for me to focus on escape.
All we'd done is beat up a minor Goauld and take his fancy wrist device, and that we were being hunted down like dogs, it just wasn't fair. It wasn't as if those parasites couldn't heal themselves.
Thankfully we only had Jaffa chasing us, and those guys couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with those stupid staff weapons, and the zat guns didn't have the range needed here. Which I knew because I'd grabbed one and had found it to be less than helpful.
Not that I was defenceless I still had my Mass Effect pistol, and it was one of the older designs that didn't need heat sinks. Predator Gothic had been using a ten millimetre pistol, that must have come from the Fallout Verse he liked to use as a hunting ground. That had long since run out of ammo, so he'd fallen back to using his shoulder mounted plasma caster, and while it had a slow of fire, it was accurate, and deadly even over a distance.
Dragonborn Gothic could have Shouted us open a portal at any time, apparently he could do that, he was that he powerful, but rather than do this was being forced to use his great power to Shout Death Gliders out of the air while Predator Gothic and I ran for it.
"This was a bad idea" I said, once we had stopped in some woods "if we get out of this I'm going to find an easier way to travel the multi-verse!".
I took a few deep breaths.
"Jaffa, Kree!".
That was when I spotted something that even for me was just ridiculous. The Dragonborn was running towards while carrying a Gao'uld sarcophagus over one shoulder. Which was just insane.
"He went back for that?!" I yelled.
"How strong is he?" I heard Predator Gothic ask.
At this point I was starting to understand why all the different versions of myself didn't hang out much. Clearly it was no good for our already fragile sanities.
(Line Break)
Warrior Lodge. Realm of Gothics.
So far this whole lodge idea was proving to be an enjoyable investment. Winifred ever the smart one had booked the baths here for my private use so that she make a report, hopefully without anyone overhearing us.
This bathroom contained a large tub, that wasn't really a tub more of a shallow and large hole in the ground that was filled with water from massive taps. Clearly some magic was involved as you didn't normally get bubble bath piped into places.
I'd sent Fred to work in the kitchens for an evening so that she could find out if the women being brought here as servants were being treated fairly or not. She'd been my spy, and her job had been to access the quality of life for the girls here so that I further invest with some peace of mind.
While I took pleasure from having attractive ladies serving me in anyway I desired I also didn't people being preyed upon, most of the time this was a literal concern as vampires and many kinds of demons did eat people, but I was also an enemy of slavery. Which might seem odd considering I had a harem and had invested a little in this place, however I was an odd person.
Currently Fred was in one of her more maternal moods, an emotional state that often involved her trying to bath me or feed me, as in actually cooking She got so engrossed in her work sometimes that she tended to forget that she had a sort of boyfriend and a life outside her lab. No doubt when she did remember she felt guilty and tried to compensate.
"How did you escape?" Fred asked me.
A few moments ago I'd just finished telling her about my most recent adventure.
"Oh Dragonborn Gothic was able to do a Shout that sent us to safety. So how was your evening?" I asked.
I'd left Faith at the Citadel in the apartments I kept there. She'd have been bored here at the lodge, but that wasn't a concern at the apartments as they were fully equipped with all modern comforts, some of which hadn't been invented yet in her world. She could amuse herself with DVDs and video games for the night.
"Not too bad" Fred reported as she took her time in washing my back "They worked me pretty hard, and I got whacked with a wooden spoon by he woman in charge of the kitchen a few times, but we had breaks and a big dinner, so at least the girls here aren't being starved or beaten".
That was good to hear. I didn't live in a world of black and white, I understood that there were shades of grey. Still I had a code, there were things I was willing to tolerate and things that I simply didn't put up with. At least not if I could help it.
"So its not like I aided in setting up a sweatshop?" I asked.
I felt rather than saw, Winifred shrug.
"Willow and Buffy would demand you close this place down" she then said "But they always think they know what is right and wrong. I think its better than what those girls would have had if they were slaves somewhere else".
Fred had for a short time actually been a slave to demons in another dimension until she'd run away. I'd saved her from that world, and while her experience had been a bad one it did give her a different perspective about cultures that my other girls lacked.
"All the girls here seem eager about getting a patron" Fred was now telling me "I hope you remember that your harem is full".
Yes I had more than enough girls to be getting on with. In fact I might have too many.
"Most people just want attention and affection" I said to Fred as she began washing my hair "And when you've had so little it doesn't take much for someone to win your loyalty".
Which was one of the reasons why I kept Faith around and favoured her so much. Aside from being sexy, adventurous in bed, and fun to hang out with, she was very loyal to me personally.
"Come we should get some sleep" I said to Fred when I realised she yawning quite a bit.
She rubbed her eyes as she got out of the bath.
"Fine but we're having sex" she insisted "I don't want you get tempted by the serving girls".
All in all I really did love my harem, or at least I loved having a harem.