[The Undercity Railway - Chinatown Station]
It was time. Time to take advantage of an emotionally vulnerable teen who had the potential to take advantage of an emotionally vulnerable golden xeno... who himself was taking advantage of emotionally vulnerable people by shoving Shards into them to take part in an experiment that he's too dead inside to supervise anymore.
"Ah, the endless cycle of bullying." I murmured to myself as I scratched my head and munched on some brazilian 'pao de queijo' cheese bread in a mimicry of protein-based life. Personally, it still felt off to be in a 1-to-1 copy of my old meat body, but if the sexy Lawful-Good AI that is Dragon got off to being constantly reminded that she was toeing the line of age of consent laws, then who am I to argue?
Instead, I decided not to stress about it and just watched the muttering crowds meander around the spacious subway station.
More like the great hall of a medieval castle than any subway station actually. Holographic displays of train schedules decorated the area as much as wrought-iron braziers of roaring fires, winged statues of Imperial warrior-saints vigilantly watched over the crowds from gold-gilded altars, and of course, tourists posing to take photos in front of them. Uniformed organic station employees that I employed were also up and about providing security, maintenance and assistance to the crowd. The local government was thrilled that I was employing as many meatbags as I did, but...
Chinatown station operations report all green and all churchtrains on schedule. This week's operations have only been delayed due to whiny insecure meatbag incidents for a total of four minutes, thirty-eight seconds.
Within predicted levels of Karen encounters, continue operations, Chloes.
We hear and obey, O' Forgelord.
... Little did they know that the real operations were being done by Chloes behind the scenes. The organic employees were just there to be reassuring human faces to calm the masses that 'No, the machines aren't actually taking over. What are you talking about? The city is still being run by us humans. Look, there are even cute girls working part time here in the subway. Robots aren't taking over our jobs, you're just being paranoid. Also, buy more Loot Boxes.'
And it was working. Except right now. Because my target was up on the surface rather than down here where I can influence her easiest.
Taylor Anne Hebert
Age: 15
Height: 5'9" (175cm)
Weight: 125 lbs (57 kg)
Body Fat Percentage: 14%
Measurements: [B67-W61-H70 cm]
Current Heart Rate: 142 bpm
Location: Fessenden Park
Reviewing the Omnispex scans of Taylor Hebert's physiology, I was still somewhat surprised that she was surprisingly less fugly than I thought she would be. I mean. Sure, she had a broad mouth and she was tall and thin, but not circus freak skinny as her internal monologue in Worm would suggest. Apparently, it was all just poor self-esteem and hormone-driven teen angst on her part. Because I knew from personal experience that modelling agencies loved tall girls like her, ironically enough. Standing at 5'9" (175cm), she could lie about her age, switch out a bit more body fat for muscle mass and Taylor Hebert could be strutting her stuff down a runway at the Autumn/Winter Milan fashion week in a few weeks.
But her potential modelling career aside, what I really needed right now was for her to NOT escalate.
The quickest and most secure method would be to kidnap her and putting her into a time-frozen stasis. But at the same time... Taylor Hebert could use a break, all of Earth-Bet could use a break actually. Ugh, Dragon really was rubbing off on me, and I suppose extending a helping hand to her is the better option in the long run... so, it looks like it was a job for the Power of Friendship.
For that, I'll need to bring along someone.
Taylor was skittish and socially inept, and I'm pretty sure being alone with a boy was going to drive her into a paranoid fit. Hilarious it may be, I wasn't out to mess with her... right now at least. And thus the need for an appropriate accomplice. Dragon was busy sulking about Loot Boxes. Lisa was not only busy with femboy-related errands but also terribly cliche. Vicky was busy being a frozen meatball. Amy was busy being face deep in Nero's Umu...
So, honestly, who better than the person whose character Taylor hilariously fell into debt for?
[Aboard Churchtrain 1E002]
"Ngh... Fucking Magos." Rebecca Costa-Brown hissed in pain as she ran her slightly burnt fingers under cool running water.
David sighed beside her as he kept stir-frying a wok of vegetables.
"It's not Magos who didn't listen when I said that plate of Chicken Parmigiana was hot." He tutted. Once the 5th most powerful being on Earth-Bet behind Scion and the Endbringers, Eidolon was now looking more at home in his chef's uniform than he ever did with his costume and fake abs. "And you say that right after he promotes us back to the mortal coil?"
"It's just a force of habit." Rebecca sighed back. "Besides, more than half the things that have happened are directly his fault anyway."
Up to and including her life right now- living in an augmented clone body on a remote control. Her senses and motor functions squeezed through time and space using a variation of Magos' [Cranial Implants, and consequently isolating her from most of her powers. Her real body- last time she saw it- was floating helplessly in a vat several earths away alongside the bodies of the other former Cauldron members. But at least... her soul was no longer detached from her physical form anymore- the constant soul-deep chill finally lifted from her. She still didn't know how Magos really achieved that, but it only reminded her just how advanced his tinkertech was, and how they were all still his prisoners in some sense of the word. And yet...
"It could have been much worse, you know?" David told her, "I'm thinking of this as a vacation, and it's actually soothing not having to worry if the world is going to fall apart in my absence. But with luck, he'll 'promote' us back to our original bodies right on time for the next Endbringer battle."
Everyone involved knew that if the tables were reversed, they definitely wouldn't have been this lenient with Magos. Without a doubt, Rebecca and everyone else in Cauldron had Magos to thank that they weren't thrown in special cells in Birdcage for the rest of their life. Dragon was still leery of them- likely waiting for them to try something so that she could do just that. Personally, Rebecca didn't feel like she was overflowing with gratitude, but it was still there- reluctantly.
"I just can't believe I owe the metal maniac." Rebecca murmured to herself as she dried her hands.
For all intents and purposes, Alexandria was on an extended sabbatical, and in her place was Rebecca- just your normal half-Brazilian American girl working full time as a waitress at a church-train bistro. She took a moment to straighten out her waitress uniform- a surprisingly classy ensemble of a black vest over white button down and a pencil skirt. But she definitely would have appreciated some trousers more.
With a sigh, she headed out onto the dining area where she stopped at the nearest table: Three redheads- a mother and her two daughters- looked at her expectantly, and she put on a smile.
"Finally..." The younger of the two daughters snorted as she arrived at their table, and Rebecca began her usual introduction in french.
"Je suis Rebecca et je serai votre serve-"
But her usual spiel got interrupted when someone suddenly wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Out of pure reflex, her elbow rocketed towards the offender's face... only to be stopped by a firm hand- which was good because she immediately recognised the person behind her.
"Mag- Aoicus!" She stammered- calming her rapidly beating heart.
"Good to see you too." Magos in his civilian identity greeted her with a bright smile. All blond and blue-eyed and... tangled in her arms with his face too close to hers.
"What are you doing here? I'm working." She hissed in a whisper to keep up appearances after her fumble, but his blue eyes still bored straight at her.
"Listen, I need you for a minute." His calm voice dipped in a whisper as well- turning into smooth liquid sex, and Rebecca couldn't help but feel just a bit uncomfortably turned on.
"Ambushing your girlfriend at work? That's so sweet!" the redheaded mother tittered to her two daughters as she made terribly inaccurate assumptions. "Oh girls, I remember when your father used to do that to me. It was some of his better moments."
Rebecca suppressed a twitch at the assumptions. She was very much aware of how it must have looked to everyone else: A hispanic girl in her late teens/early twenties with a slightly younger American boy. Except she was actually Alexandria and in her early forties, meanwhile the jailbait teen hanging off of her was the de facto ruler of North America... but still very much jailbait.
She turned her head a bit to glance at him. Things would have been so much simpler if he was average looking, then she could just put everything behind a wall of professionalism like she always did. But no, he had to look like that.
Blond hair in a handsome mess, strong jawline, and his sinfully firm body in red cotton hoodie and jeans lightly pressing against hers. This had to be the worst part of having a normal healthy 19 year old girl body again in her opinion: Being awkwardly ready for sex at a snap whenever a cute boy who ticked all her boxes stood next to her. Especially one who too-closely resembled the sole male actor in her occasional late night fantasies.
His bright blue eyes caught her staring and Rebecca hurriedly looked away from him.
"Oh, you two are just so cute!" the redheaded woman noted with a laugh. And instead of correcting assumptions, he just had to make things worse. Because of course he did.
"My apologies, ladies." Aoicus said- flashing a brilliant smile and linking arms his arm around Rebecca's, "But I must borrow your lovely server for a minute. It's an urgent matter, but we'll go ask for another server to get to you."
Rebecca just tried her best not to make sounds from the touch. Back in her original body with its stasis-locked biology (replete with an indestructible hymen) and massively accelerated intellect that made men look even more like drooling orangutans, a sex life had been last thing on her mind... Her power had shielded her from feeling sexual arousal- making it easy for her to be celibate and focused on her role as Alexandria.
But now? With working nerves, a walking list of her turn ons having his arm around her waist and her healthy teen libido flooding her brain with hormones as if she wasn't forty-two years old? It was much, much harder... All because of stupid, sexy Magos.
Meanwhile the woman's two daughters just looked at him strangely.
"Hey, aren't you Glory Girl's-" The younger one began only to be cut off.
"No, I'm not. But I do get that a lot." He quickly reassured them with a good-hearted laugh, "I swear just talk with Glory Girl out in public and PHO makes all sorts of rumours... no, I'm here for Rebecca over here."
Rebecca watched as the trio of women just looked at them with fresh eyes- with the two daughters glancing at him with thinly veiled lust and at her with envy.
"... lucky muscled bitch." the older daughter whispered under her breath.
"Would you accept a bottle of Merlot as an apology for interrupting your lunch?"
"So generous too!" The older redhead said with a laugh, "We won't say no to a bottle of red wine. Anna, Emma? You should get a man who is polite to strangers like this. I know I will."
The younger daughter, Emma, winced.
"Mom! Please don't talk like that: the divorce hasn't even gone through yet. Besides maybe dad-"
"- can get fucked." the mother gruffly interrupted- all amusement gone from her mature face as she rounded on her younger daughter, "Alan screwed the pooch by working with villains that almost killed us all, and we won't be there when he faces the natural consequences of his actions."
And once again, the mature redhead did a 180 in terms of disposition- smiling sweetly at Aoicus and her.
"Piece of advice, dear?" the mother said with a knowing smile on her painted lips, "I know you can't keep your hands off your cute boyfriend, but don't make it a habit of letting him swoop you up from work... Occasionally is more than enough."
"I'll be certain to not let him dictate my work schedule, madame." She playfully joked with a faked grateful smile.
"If you'll excuse us..." the blond teen just smiled as he linked arms with her- his body heat indistinguishable from a normal human as she let Aoicus lead her towards the motel room car and into a vacant room. Her heart raced as he locked the door behind them.
Dark wood panelling on the walls, a chandelier with dimmable warm lights, soft persian carpeting, a letter writing desk, and a Victorian-style four poster bed complete curtains... it all contributed to a vintage feel for the room that people apparently found as novel as travelling back in time.
"Okay, out with it. Why did you drag me here, Magos?" She asked- crossed her arms over her chest. "And I swear, if you brought me here just to make fun of my weight again..."
Her tone of voice was cross, but even that was just to hide how her heartbeat was pounding in her ears. It was just her... Alone in a luxurious, soundproofed room with a blond teen that not only reminded her of every imaginary boyfriend she fantasised about since she was ten, not only as a dead ringer of the teammate that she failed to protect, but also the best hope for humanity to actually win this war against Scion. It was like the universe pushing the physical incarnation of her second chance right in front of her. If he really was to push for it... she seriously doubted she was going to refuse.
But instead of saying something, he just stared blankly into space.
"Magos?" she snapped her fingers in front of his face.
"Sorry, the Simurgh is making erratic movements." he blinked, "I'm in the middle of organising an upper-atmosphere capable rapid response force just in case something happens."
"Should we-"
"Nothing else we can do really." He shrugged, "Besides, it's only been a month and a half since Behemoth attacked Ohio. We're not expecting an Endbringer attack for at least another two weeks."
"Has it really only been that long?" She mused aloud.
"Seems like it was only yesterday you were giving me flak for bringing the first Chloes to an Endbringer battle." He teased with a wink, "Now they're part and parcel in PRT operations."
"Don't remind me..." She muttered- looking away, "Will you please tell me what you need me for?"
"To take advantage of an emotionally vulnerable teen." He said- lips quirking with dry amusement as his eyes met hers, "This is a one time opportunity, and I specifically need you for this. A Chloe will be here soon with appropriate outfits for us."
Her mouth was suddenly dry. The realisation that he really was asking for sex making her body heat up uncontrollably especially in some select locations. Rebecca turned her head away, just in case her blush was becoming visible through her brown skin.
"But what about Dragon?" She blurted out before her mind could keep up. And she internally kicked at herself for both possibly ruining her chances and feeling sorry that she did.
"Busy with other things." He just dismissed- still distracted, "But she knows, and she approves. She simply has more important things to do than attend in person."
Oh... Oh! She shouldn't be surprised. Her cape identity was a frequent background character in Dragon's porn- always watching with a shocked expression as the Canadian Cape got railed by Magos in various positions. Yes, even she had seen Dragon's porn hoard by now, and she should have expected this outcome sooner. However, now that the biggest reason why she shouldn't pursue a very inappropriate relationship with him was out of the way...
Rebecca took a deep breath- focusing her willpower as she looked him straight into those beautiful blue eyes of his.
"Magos..." She spoke, "I'm not going to have sex with you."
There. She said it. She acted as the adult between the two of them and stopped things from going out of control. They had better things to do than to fool around, so she couldn't allow them to be distracted from what was really important: The Endbringers... Scion... Saving humanity in general.
For his part, Magos just blinked as if he wasn't expecting that at all.
"... Excuse me?" he said slowly- a blond eyebrow arched over a bewildered expression.
"What do you want me to say?" Rebecca sighed in frustration, "Yes, you're very attractive... and yes, for a minute there, I was really tempted to have sex with you. Happy? Now let's just move on from this."
"Rebecca..." He calmly began, "...when I said to take advantage of an emotionally vulnerable teen, I didn't mean me, and I didn't mean sexually."
"... Oh." She squeaked as the realisation struck her. Instead of being the responsible adult turning away sexual advances of a horny teen, she was the horny teen this entire time...
" 'Oh' indeed." Magos just nodded knowingly in return.
... And now, she was never going to hear the end of it.
(Later) [Fessenden Park]
Mentally tapping into the Noosphere, I checked the GPS of Taylor's phone.
Taylor Hebert Distance: 1025 metres
Taylor Hebert ETA: 8 minutes, 27 seconds
"She's taking a while to get here." I announced as I leaned back onto the park bench in the snowy park, "I can't believe I was ever that meaty and feeble."
"Someone kill me now." Rebecca groaned out as she buried her face in her hands out of unbridled embarrassment. Sweatpants and winter running jackets were our disguises- just two runners out on a jog and about to bump into our target. Her in a plain black one and me in my usual Mars-red one.
"Don't you think it's a bit too late to be feeling shy, Rebecca?" I asked her with a smirk, "After all, we were this close to having steamy sex on a train."
She lifted her face from her hands to aim a flat expression at me- her lips stretched into an unamused line.
If I had to describe Rebecca Costa-Brown in casual civilian clothes, it would be in six words: 'tall, tanned and deliciously toned tomboy.' Long, flowing black hair. Delicate, visibly hispanic facial morphology with not a hint of makeup. Brown eyes over pale red lips. Flawless brown skin taut over firm muscles. And although the body that I cloned and augmented for her didn't come close to matching her old body's powers, she could comfortably hold her own against most other brutes... not that she knew that just yet. Rebecca still thought that she had a normal human body.
"Stop looking at me like that!" She hissed as I watched with infrared how her face grew burning hot from all the blood rushing to it. "Let's just move on from that misunderstanding!"
"What misunderstanding?" I quipped with a smirk, "The legendary Alexandria was clearly lusting after a sixteen year old. Oh, imagine the scandal it would cause!"
Rebecca's eyes widened in panic.
"Wait, I thought you were eighteen!"
"My mistake." I acknowledged with an indulgent smile. "Yes, I'm definitely eighteen. My legally-acquired government-issued ID says so. No need to worry about those pesky age of consent laws."
She just looked severely unconvinced and exasperated.
"Why can't I believe you?' She sighed before massaging her temple, "Oh god. What was I even thinking? I'm more than twice your age!"
And yet, while saying that, my {Psy-Implant} immediately picked up what she really thought.
~W~ Lust boils up over the mental images of the two of you in that hotel room together. Holdover fantasies from her adolescence. ~M~
~W~ She wanted you to gently make love to her like the boyfriend she always dreamed of having. ~M~
~W~ Lust. ~M~
"The idea is turning you on, isn't it?" I whispered conspiratorially, and her brown eyes wide and her heart rate spiking as she was caught in her lie.
"No, it doesn't!" The latina tomboy vehemently lied before pushing me back to arm's length. "And if we actually did have sex, you would never take me seriously again!"
"But I don't take you seriously now." I corrected her assumption. "Besides, I could bulli you over your weight, or I could bulli you over your unquenchable lust for blonds of questionable age, namely myself. The latter is currently funnier."
"Magos..." She growled.
Honestly, I didn't expect her advances. But I have had the go ahead from Dragon for a while now to invite another girl to our bed.
I had been planning on convincing her myself, but she did that for me when she got carried away during one particularly heated round of sex and gave herself a cuck queen fetish. One of these days, I'll have to tell her that the AI I chose is the Simurgh herself. Now, wouldn't that be quite the conversation? 'Hey Dragon, I've decided to seduce another AI for you to watch me introduce to the wonders of sex and subsequently make addicted to my cock. Who is she? Oh, just the Simurgh.'
She'd be so angry. Not over the fact that it's the Simurgh that she'll end up having kinky AI threesomes with, but that I might be half-assing saving the world just so that I can get some sweet AI Robussy. However, we still had about two weeks before Simmy attacks Canberra, Australia. Plenty of time.
Alexandria's attention though? Completely unexpected, but... augmented girls had their own appeal too.
I looked at the girl sitting beside me. Long black hair streaming down her shoulders, and brown eyes looking at me with curiosity. Even if she never asked for them, her cybernetics elevated her beyond simple meatbag status, and that warrants my respect. However... I suppose I wouldn't have given her them if I already didn't respect her to some degree. Not a lot, but it's there.
"Sorry...I got carried away." I apologised with a sheepish smile. "Let's get down to business before our target arrives."
Slightly nonplussed at my sudden change in behaviour, Rebecca nonetheless nodded in gratitude.
"Thank you for finally talking sense..." She sighed in relief before glancing around, "But we shouldn't talk about this in public."
Redeclaring {Stummer} as new device
Stummers generate sound waves to cancel out ambient sounds and noises made by moving personnel in a small area. A character carrying an active stummer gains the ability to move much more quietly. The device may also be used as a countermeasure against vox-bugs and other surveillance attempts.
M
"Don't worry, I have a {Stummer} running." I told her as I stood up and began silently praying to a nearby hot beverage vending machine. "Soundwaves coming from us are muted."
I thanked the Machine Spirit as two cans of hot coffees tumbled out, and handed one to Rebecca.
"Thank you..." She murmured- accepting the proffered drink.
I sat back down beside her and pulled out a data-slate to walk her through our target. Displayed onscreen was a mugshot of the girl alongside several relevant information including some video clips of her power in use.
"Taylor Hebert, she was with Glory Girl during our Fugly Bob's outing." I began, "She happens to be in possession of- as you and your colleagues call them- a notably powerful 'Agent' that would be our Plan D for neutralising Scion. We kind of indirectly caused her current predicament, and she'll be 'bumping' into us during her jog in a few minutes now."
"Wait, what do you mean we indirectly caused her current predicament?" She prompted- taking a sip from her coffee.
"As far as I know, your character's amazing ass in Overwatch awakened some latent homosexual tendencies." I explained, "And that led her to impulsively spending more than $3000 of her father's credit card trying to get your character. Now, she's looking for ways to make that money before the month ends."
"I'll just ignore that ass comment." Rebecca deadpanned with an amused quirk of her lips. "But how does she fit in neutralising Scion exactly?"
"Her Queen Administrator Shard." I told her- the data-slate's screen showing a list of its capabilities, both current and future, "Scion's equivalent to the High Priest Shard that Eidolon got from Eden."
"She has the potential to be as strong as Eidolon?" Rebecca murmured in a small voice, and I nodded.
"With a little tweaking by Panacea... she could single-handedly make Scion surrender. Technically single-handedly." I explained easily enough- much to her rising trepidation. "With her astronomically high capacity for mental multitasking, she'll master almost every cape on Earth-Bet, Earth-Shin and several other Earths before perfectly coordinating an offensive that would crush Scion's spirit."
Rebecca's brown eyes shone at the sight of a powerful natural trigger capable of defeating Scion- practically the holy grail that Cauldron had been searching for more than 20 years for.
"So, we're recruiting her." She said, and it was not a question.
"Yes, but only as a backup plan." I stressed, "We're going to give her all the tools, training and plucky group of friends she needs. But we're not going to burden her with being the saviour of Earth-Bet unless it comes to that. A deft approach is less liable to backfire after all."
"Okay. What's the actual details of this plan?" Rebecca prompted- a ready gleam in her brown eyes. And I enumerated the steps to her.
"We bump into her, chat a little, maybe run with her... When the topic of her money needs comes up, offer her a job as a waitress in the first class car."
"$3000 in three weeks?" She clarified, "Unless she works full time, that won't cover it unless you give her special treatment."
"I know." I said with a shrug, "But we just need her to be less desperate, and less liable to do something unwise and overt with her powers. I'll have another asset in place to take care of her from that point onwards."
"Are you certain that she can't just join the Wards?" She guessed with a hint of a disapproval in her voice,
I shook my head.
"The local Wards is a definite no-go." I clarified much, "She distrusts adult oversight because of an excessive bullying campaign that her school covered up for the sake of keeping a Ward (and the PRT money) on the student list. Once she finds out, the Wards will be permanently soured for her. And it'll drive her into the arms of a villain group like the Undersiders."
Rebecca stiffened for a moment- her brown eyes staring into space as her clenched fists began shaking with fury.
"So, you're saying that the PRT would have peacefully and organically inducted a Scion-killer cape into the Wards..." She began, her voice rising in volume, "The ideal situation that Cauldron and I have been aiming for since the PRT conception I might add!"
She exhaled through gritted teeth- seething rage bleeding out of her every pore.
"And it would have happened now if it weren't for some principal of a third-rate public school and her damned greed?!"
"It's a lot more complicated than that, but essentially? yes!" I cheerily answered with a grin, "You would have been this close to getting a 'winning' card against Scion without me... only for it to slip through your fingers. And if I hadn't pointed it out, you wouldn't have known until she was too far gone and everyone too far dead."
"ASDFGHJKL!" the legendary heroine grunted nonsensically as she almost popped an aneurysm- my {Logis Acceleritas} translating her rage for me.
Personally designed the Wards program. Finds it distasteful when her system is abused out of nothing more than greed when she herself was sacrificing her morals to save humanity.
Is resolving to clean house if I ever decide to reinstate her back as Chief-Director. Heads will roll.
"Don't forget about the Ward in question: it's Shadow Stalker by the way." I added with a sugary sweet voice as I threw Shadow Stalker under the Alexandria bus. Watching meatbags get squashed under by the domino effect of their own actions was prime entertainment. Even Dragon will appreciate it, I bet. She has always been a fan of karma. Oh, poor Shadow Stalker... she was not going to like what was in store for her. But at least, she will be able to take comfort in the fact that her machine overlords will find her demise at the hands of an angry Alexandria terribly amusing.
[Lord Street Mall]
Sophia Hess felt an ice cold chill run down her spine- almost tripping onto the marble floor of the mall.
"What's wrong, Sophia?" Madison asked her before subtly looking around, "Is it a cape?"
"I don't think so..." She muttered back- her eyes panickedly scanning her surroundings for a hostile cape just in case, "But I just got a really bad feeling. A really, really bad feeling."
I patted her shoulder to calm her down.
"It's alright." I cooed to her, "Soon, you'll have both me and Taylor at the ready to deal with Scion. However, I wasn't thinking of bringing in the Undersiders for Taylor. I was talking about Glory Girl As long as Taylor doesn't do anything drastic before her would-be 'Cape senpai' has recovered. She can team up with the healed Glory Girl and..."
Comprehension dawned on Rebecca's youthful face as finished my explanation for me.
"...Then she'll have a bright future as an independent Whitelist heroine as Glory Girl shows her the ropes and you supply the funds." She continued- nodding all the while as she got a handle of my plans, "She'll comfortably obtain all the connections, skills and battlefield experience she needs if ever we need her to defeat Scion."
"As long as she doesn't screw up within three days." I confirmed with a confident nod, and I had fair reason to be confident: Even the Queen of Escalation can't escalate so hard so soon.
"Speaking of which..." I muttered aloud- looking Rebecca straight in the eye. "I'll also need a flying brick to escort me when I get Glory Girl looked at by Toybox."
Her brown eyes widened in surprise as she read between the lines.
"You're giving me my powers back?" She whispered in disbelief, but also silver of excitement.
"Not exactly. Now sit still for a minute." I told her as I stood up. And pulled out a metal censer from my subspace pocket inventory. The censer lit itself and wisps of smoky incense began to waft through the air as I swung the ball and chain of gilded metal, to and fro, back and forth.
Performing Ordination of Authentication Hierographs…
Initiating Holy Rite of Commandment Inscription…
"By the Grace of the Holy Throne, may this humble servant of the God Emperor serve His divine will and safeguard mankind as a stalwart shield against the mutant, the heretic and the xeno..."
First of the Six Seals of Alexandria... Undone.
Through the Celestial Forge ability [Way of the Void Dragon, I felt Rebecca's body respond. In much the same way her senses and motor functions were transmitted all the way from her original body, the same was now being done for her power; and the combined techno-sorcery of the Adeptus Mechanicus and Necrons acting as the perfect filter. No more Trump effects hijacking or outright sapping her power, and more importantly, the Shard's conflict drive filtered from poisoning her mind... In theory at least.
Rebecca began to float slightly from her chair, and she gripped the wrought-iron hand rests until they crumpled under her fingers to test out her strength... A bright smile on her lips.
Dislikes feeling helpless. Reminds her of being bed ridden and dying.
Constant flickering between expressions. Grateful, but wonders why I didn't give her all her power.
I actually would if it wasn't so risky. It wasn't that I didn't trust Rebecca... it was that I didn't trust her Shard that was still three things: dangerously sentient, dangerously xeno and dangerously intelligent.
"You now have a stripped down version of your power." I explained to her. "A rudimentary 'Alexandria package.' Still a cut above most, but you're still not as you once was. I'm afraid... only true love's kiss will reawaken your full power."
Her black hair whipped the air as she turned to look at me in shock- eyes wide and mouth agape.
Heart rate increasing rapidly. Heightened hormonal release. She isn't sure if it's true love just yet.
Eyes flicking towards my lips. Wants to find out if it though.
"You know that I'm joking, right?" I told her- snapping Rebecca out of her reverie.
"...You were joking?" She repeated in disbelief and the tiniest silver of disappointment.
"Yes..." I said in an uncertain tone, "Does it need to be clarified that I was?"
Rebecca just aimed an annoyed look at me.
"I think it was a fair assumption after you chanted a prayer about a golden throne while swinging a censer full of incense- somehow giving me back some of my powers that should belong to my other body several earths away."
Micro-expressions in facial muscles signify mixed emotions of frustration and arousal. Feels like her feelings are being toyed with. Wants me to make up my mind.
Slight derisive roll of eyes and body language indicate that she thinks I'm a coward for not committing to an action.
Infrared indicates heightened body temperatures in the erogenous zone. She's more than just a little horny.
Oh? This augmented female thought that I wasn't up to stuff? It was time to disabuse her of that notion.
"Taylor's about to arrive." I abruptly pointed out to her, "And first things first, we need her to feel unthreatened by two strangers running into her at the park..."
Rebecca's brown eyes momentarily widened in shock as she immediately recognised where I was going with this, then they narrowed into slits.
"I'm forty-two and you're definitely not eighteen." She reminded me with a harsh whisper, putting her foot down, "We're not making ou- Mmmm~!"
So, of course I disregarded it- catching Alexandria's soft lips in a kiss. As were my ways, I cheated. With superior technology. The world's strongest woman (tomboy) melting into the kiss that she was already part way to cumming just from having my cybernetic tongue brush against hers. Originally just a way to make AIs cum from cunnilingus, we were just about to see how a partially meat female will fair. Then I placed a hand on her side and ran it up and down- admiring her toned body.
With a shudder, I felt her cum a little.
Pulling apart for a moment, I took a few seconds to admire blank-gaze as Rebecca panted for air, all while watching her shiver and whimper as I stroked my hand up and down her thigh.
"It's for the sake of the operation, and it's only for a few seconds." I reminded her... right before smirking, "So, unless you can think of a better way..."
Can't think of one, and she doesn't want to anyway.
"Fine... for the operation. Nothing else." she breathily capitulated- unzipping the front of her winter jacket, "No other reason at all..."
She took the offensive, but lost it immediately after her hands gripping mine by the wrists before guiding my palms to her soft chest- the thin fabric of her sports bra doing a less than effective job of hiding her full D-cup's from my hands' sense of touch.
"M~MMmmmmmm~!" Her long, drawn out moan resounded as I bullied her tongue into surrender again. Her body temperature increased again.
Taylor Hebert's Distance: 391 metres
Taylor Hebert's ETA: 3 minutes, 27 seconds
And by 'a few seconds' I meant three whole minutes, but she didn't seem to mind at all. But it wasn't until Rebecca sfited and I suddenly found myself with a lap full of hot ageless latina. But it was only when she began grinding her hot covered sex against my crotch that I began to be concerned that Taylor might just be running into more than just a couple making out on a park bench.
Cranial's Personal Journal - 2011 Feb 8
Today is a red letter day! The high and mighty Magos has finally come crawling to Toybox for help- specifically mine! The others were so jealous when I told them.
'Can you do a consciousness transfer for a severely neuroatypical mind?' he asked, all subtle and sneaky as if it was a secret who he was referring to. Pfft, everyone has seen what happened to Glory Girl during that fight- the 'Meatball of Glory incident' isn't about to fade from public memory any time soon. Poor Panacea is going to get so much flak for that 'Overheal' part of her powers. Regardless, Magos probably couldn't make heads or tails of Glory Girl's new neurology, and now, he's come to me to store/transfer her consciousness. Not really a challenge to be honest.
After all, I've successfully preserved the consciousness of a girl whose brains had to be scraped off the pavement after a truck ran over her. I could effectively make people immortal by placing their consciousness into a whole new body, if not for the fact that a 'whole new body' isn't covered by my Tinker speciality, and putting them into existing bodies makes them go insane. However, if Magos figured out a way to do that however... We are going to be so fackin' rich. We could be selling immortality.
But that hinges on me being able to convince him to work with me beyond just this one transaction.
The appointment is tomorrow and I still don't have a costume that can constitute 'putting my best foot forward' like the others are telling me to do! Maybe go for the classic mad scientist lab coat ensemble? It's unusual for me to have to think about impressing a client since we can semi-afford to be pickier with our clientele. When people deal with Toybox, it's them that has to impress us to convince us to sell them better quality stuff.
Speaking of unusualness, I ended up deciding to fulfill that order for Winged_One. I don't usually do purchase orders without a face to face, but she was surprisingly persuasive. Distilled memories of Endbringer battles where the capes actually did damage to the Endbringers... Likely for the satisfaction of seeing these misery and death machines get own-zoned for once. I guess that was harmless enough, right?
Worryingly, she said that she'll pick it up tomorrow- actually around the same time as my meeting with Magos. With luck, the two meetings won't actually overlap. It'll be awkward for two of my clients to run into each other.
Oh well, I guess time will tell.