Predatory
20
"That was very kind of you."
"Yeah, real sweet. When do I get my lab?"
Missy looked up, over the Fairy Queen's head, at Miles' annoyed face—allowing Marquis' and String Theory's words to wash over them. "I don't like it either, but it beats the alternative."
Humming quietly from where she had one locked with Miles and the other with Missy, Glaistig Uaine, or Ciara as she insisted, looked from one to the other before asking, "Something troubles you, lord husband?"
"Didn't expect there to be kids," Miles answered simply, turning away from the orphanage in rural Texas and opening a portal back to some approximation of home—at least, Earth-Bet anyway. It was the last in a string of more than seventy such orphanages, children's homes, and even a few fire department safe child abandonment drop boxes all across Aleph's United States.
"Children do tend to be the outcome when men and women lie together," Ciara pointed out gently.
Missy sighed as they walked across and the portal closed behind them, leaving them in an empty field in the middle of nowhere. "That isn't what he meant."
"Then what did you mean? Surely you didn't expect the inmates to remain chaste, one they breached the walls between the men's and women's sides," Marquis pointed out.
Shaking his head, Miles said, "Not kids. I was under the impression that Dragon dosed everyone with birth control. I kind of thought she was bullshitting to keep us out when she said there were kids."
String Theory snorted. "Hah! Get real! As if the government would pay to make sure their inmates couldn't mate. Canadian, American, take your pick. Either way, the 'Cage became a little petri dish for a parahuman breeding camp."
"Please do not phrase it in such a crude manner," Ciara requested.
Marquis hummed. "At least they have a chance now. That's more than they had before."
"Let's just… go home," Miles grumbled. Under his breath, he added, "So I can talk to MJ. Get a list of names. Noh Face is going to be very busy soon."
Missy nodded her agreement. "No kidding." Letting go of Ciara, she skipped a step ahead and turned around, turning piercing green eyes on their three… guests. "So, here's the deal. We've got biomatter in your brains and we've eaten your shards—"
"You did not eat my fairy, we joined your embrace willingly," Ciara reminded.
"Except Ciara," Missy allowed. "Short version: we're in your heads and in your power. You even think about betraying us, we'll know, and we'll eat you. We're going to Brockton Bay and we'll see about getting you all places of your own—" Ciara cleared her throat. "Except Ciara. Lie low. Keep your heads down. Don't go out, don't go for a burger, don't go to the movies. Stay indoors until we're ready. We'll come get you."
"And Amelia?" Marquis asked.
"Already told her to come by. You can wait with us until she gets there," Miles answered. A new portal formed before them as space twisted and they stepped through, into Miles' and Missy's living room. "There are two bathrooms if you need them for something. One upstairs, first door on the right. One downstairs, through the hall, first door on your left. Marquis, String Theory, we'll take you to find someplace to settle in later today. String Theory, no Tinkering until we get your lab set up. I'll turn off your power if I have to."
The brown haired, plain looking woman pouted. "Fine," she muttered. Flipping her braid, she headed towards the downstairs bathroom. "And it's Carrie."
Marquis looked around before asking, "May I use your kitchen?"
"Go ahead," Missy waved him off. Once he was out of the room, she sighed and plopped down on the couch. Miles followed, dropping down beside her.
Ciara sat on the opposite end of the couch, toeing her shoes off and tucking her jean-clad legs under herself as she regarded the pair across from her in silence for a moment. In that time, String Theory left the bathroom and made her way into the kitchen. "Ooh, popcorn!"
"Perhaps you should ask before simply taking it," Marquis began, only to be cut off by the fridge opening.
Carrie ignored him entirely. "Oh God, I haven't had a Coke in years. About the only way this could get any better is if someone offered to knock the cobwebs out."
There was a beat of silence, before Marquis asked, "And just why are you staring at me?"
"No reason" the Tinker answered, followed by a lewd little giggle. Then, the microwave went off and she came back into the living room and plopped herself down on the couch opposite them.
Finally, Ciara asked, "I take it 'Amelia' is the third presence I feel within us?" The pair of Missy and Miles nodded. "Then who is the fourth?"
"Cindy. You'll meet her later. Anyway, Amy should be here—" The front door opened and Missy grinned. "Now. God I love mass shifting for travel."
Amy entered from the hall to the front door and paused as she caught sight of the newcomers. Ciara stood and dipped into a curtsy—as much as she could, without a dress. "Greetings, our lady wife."
"What the fuck?" Amy stared, mouth agape, at the blonde woman who had just addressed her.
"You'll catch flies," Missy teased.
"No. Really. What the fuck?" Amy repeated herself, not taking her eyes off Ciara. Despite the change from prison garb modified into a dark costume to street clothes, the deaged woman still carried herself with a certain bearing that assumed authority and demanded respect—a queen, wearing blue jeans.
The blonde in question turned an unsure gaze towards Miles. "Lord husband, I am… uncertain. Should I take this as a slight, or is she merely overwhelmed?"
"What. The actual. Fuck?"
Miles reached out and patted the former inmate on the shoulder. "Don't feel slighted. Point and laugh."
Ciara briefly considered it before shaking her head. "No, I feel it would be impolite and you are having one over on me."
"Yeah, he's yanking your chain," Missy confirmed.
"No. Really. Seriously. Miles? Missy? What the fuck?! You leave town for a week and elope? And somehow I'm in on this? Was I drunk? Did you erase my memory to fuck with me? I mean, sure, that may be fun to try later, but getting off topic! And to Glaistig fucking Uaine no less? I reiterate—" Amy was silenced as Missy put a hand over her mouth and Miles pulled her into a hug.
"We get it. Trust us, we get it," Missy chuckled.
Ciara looked between Missy, Miles, and Amy and muttered under her breath, "Definitely a slight. Though… perhaps that is mine own fault." Speaking up, she asked, "I apologize. It seems my reputation precedes me."
Amy let out a single, hysterical giggle. "Ya think?!"
"Suck it up, Amy. Put your big girl panties on, day's not over," Miles squeezed the girl, earning a quiet grumble before she nodded.
"What else have you got for me, then?" the curvy brunette asked. "Did you knock Missy up? Something even better?"
Miles and Missy exchanged a look, suddenly unsure. It was Ciara who took action, walking to the entrance to the kitchen and giving someone within a nod, before hurrying to sit on the couch beside String Theory—who had introduced herself as Carrie. Carrie offered the bag of popcorn she had been happily munching on and Ciara cautiously accepted and tried a piece, before a smile pulled her lips up and she dug out a fistful. That was when Marquis worked himself up to leaving the kitchen.
Amy stared.
Marquis stared.
Finally, the man broke the silence. "Amelia."
Amy made a confused noise, backing into Miles' chest. "N-no. You're, that, no."
A sudden slurping sound came from the couch, drawing the attention of everyone else to Carrie, who was trying to suck the last few drops of her soda through her straw—a frustrated look on her face as she realized she'd hit the bottom of the can. Looking up to find everyone's gazes on her, she shrugged. "What?"
"Read the fucking room!" Missy grumbled. Stomping over to the couch, she lifted the taller girl bodily over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Hey! My popcorn!" Carrie protested as she was physically removed from the room. "And I want another Coke!"
"No more caffeine for you!" Missy denied, slapping the woman's ass where it hung over her shoulder. "I don't think you'd live through the night."
Miles patted Amy on the arm and drew her over to the couch Carrie had been forced to vacate as Ciara stood, taking the popcorn with her. "Come on, let's give them some space," he told the blonde, only for Amy's hand to clamp down on his own.
Ciara raised an eyebrow, but a small smile tugged her lips. "I shall go make sure our lady wife does not kill the," she paused, opening her mouth, before closing it again. "Carrie," she stressed, before heading off after Missy and the Tinker.
Miles sat down beside Amy and the girl nearly crawled into his lap. Marquis moved to the couch across from them, gesturing towards it and asking, "May I?" When Miles nodded, he sat down on the edge of his seat. "Amelia—"
"It's Amy. I can't even remember a time where I was ever 'Amelia.'"
The man looked like he wanted to protest for a moment but, with a quiet sigh and a nod, he leaned back and settled into the couch. "Very well. Amy. It's good to see you again, after so long. You've grown into a beautiful young woman."
Crossing her arms over her breasts, Amy refused to meet his gaze, glaring at the coffee table instead as she quietly asked, "Why?"
At her side, Miles squeezed her a bit. "Going to want to be a bit more specific. Man's not a mind-reader."
Pouting, Amy nodded. She sighed as she considered what, exactly, she wanted to ask. Finally, she decided on, "Why didn't you just quit? You had a child—a family. And instead of bowing out and laying low for a few years, you decided to keep playing the game. Why?"
"I didn't feel that I could so easily give it up, in good conscience. It wasn't long after the Slaughterhouse Nine passed through Brockton Bay. The Empire were on the rise and I had only recently eliminated Iron Rain. Though, I suppose those are excuses," Marquis explained. "That I did not, and in so doing missed getting to watch you grow up, is my greatest regret."
Amy did not look satisfied with that answer, at all. "Yeah, well, the choices we make bite us in the ass eventually." She blew out an irritated breath, looking away from the table and studying the man for just a moment before turning her gaze back to it. "I don't even know why I'm so mad. I don't know you or the first thing about you. I, I don't even know your name."
"Jean-Claude Lavere. Your full name is Amelia Claire Lavere." He hesitated just a moment before asking, "Who took you in after I was captured?"
"New Wave. Mark and Carol adopted me and when I triggered, I became Panacea," Amy explained.
"That is what I suspected. It was good of them to do so," Jean-Claude nodded at that, a smile on his lips. "I've heard of you. The world's greatest healer."
"Not a healer," Amy grumbled. "I can heal but it's not all I can do. Carol makes me do it because," she trailed off, before gesturing at her father, who nodded sympathetically. "I kind of want to stop doing it, honestly. The Endbringers are gone so there won't be anymore Endbringer fights for me to show up to. I may do it on the side for the PRT and keep doing what I am with the hospital to make money, but I don't think I'll keep going as I am."
"And what do you want to be?" Jean-Claude asked, clasping his hands in his lap as he smiled at his daughter.
"I have no idea," Amy admitted with a quiet little laugh. Looking up at the man, she asked, "What was my mom like?"
"She was…"
Miles collapsed onto the bed face first with a groan into the pillow. To his immediate right, Missy flopped down onto her back. "Finally! They're gone!"
"Mhm," the man nodded.
A quiet pomf! and shifting of the bed to Miles' left announced Amy's arrival. "I hate you both."
""You love us,"" both countered, and the brunette turned away with a pout.
Carrie had been hustled away to Bakuda's old lab. Amy didn't really have anything there at the moment that could be considered dangerous—no unfinished projects or anything laying around—so it wasn't a big loss to her. They wanted String Theory's Tinkering far, far away from the house. And while Miles had adjusted her shard to take off the time constraints, that only gave the woman ideas for even bigger booms. Introducing her to Cindy and letting those two play together may have been a bad idea.
For the moment, Carrie would be bunking in her new lab with Cindy for company, just in case something came up. Missy didn't think it would, but you never knew. Neither of them thought they would see the woman again for a couple of days—at least, not until she got things set up like she wanted and came out of the initial Thinker fugue. Cindy was there as a guard and to make sure she took care of necessities, mostly. She might also do a little co-Tinkering, but with Miles inside her, he could be sure to keep at least one of them from going off the rails and locking into a week long Tinkering bender.
Marquis, they were putting up in a hotel, out of state. In a one-horse town. In the middle of nowhere. Where they didn't even have cable television and he was the only cape for a hundred miles (they checked). For the moment, Jean-Claude was as safe from getting into trouble as they could manage without moving him to a cabin in the woods. Miles and Amy had given him money and picked up a few things for him, but he would be laying low for the time being. Until they were ready.
There were already some ideas circulating about how to reveal Brockton Bay's newest residents, but everyone was in agreement that they needed to secure things first. Clean up the surrounding cities. Collect the shards of every known villain parahuman on their shit list in the Bay. Find somewhere decent in town for Marquis and String Theory to stay, since—as much as Amy had enjoyed connecting with her biological father after she got over her initial wariness and upset—Amy couldn't really volunteer a place under Missy and Miles' roof and no one wanted Carrie around, under the (justifiable) assumption that if left to her own devices she'd disassemble the DVD player and microwave and try to make a weapon out of the resultant parts.
And then there was the elephant in the room.
Ciara sat down on the edge of the bed. "Husband, sister wives," she greeted, toeing off her shoes and following them with her socks.
Amy made a curious, though confused, noise as she eyed the blonde newcomer. "What are you doing?"
"Preparing for bed," Ciara answered simply.
Amy continued to stare. Eventually, she asked, "You've got Miles in you. I can feel it. Why on this green Earth are you wearing normal clothes?"
Ciara raised an eyebrow in return. "I do not enjoy the thought of walking around nude."
"You'd be covered," Amy countered.
"I would be nude beneath our husband."
"Sounds like a good time to me," Missy chuckled.
Amy rolled her eyes. "You're naked under your clothes all the time."
Ciara shook her head slowly. "It is different. A lady should leave something to her husband's imagination from time to time."
Miles sighed, reaching over and groping blindly for Amy's thigh. He caught her hip and decided that was close enough. "Leave her be. If she wants to wear normal clothes, it's fine." Rolling onto his side, he eyed Ciara. "We do have an open guest room if you'd rather sleep there. The bed's kind of small—"
Ciara flicked a hand and the bed expanded, doubling in width. "I will not be denied my wedding night, or have it delayed again. The bedding of the bride is important. Especially with two other brides already, each of whom have already been bedded. This body is not quite yet ready for childbearing, but we can still enjoy each other and learn of each other intimately."
Miles briefly considered asking if she wouldn't rather be romanced properly, before disregarding the thought. Ciara was an adult, even if she looked around Missy's age at the moment—she could make her own choices.
"If you want to get laid because you just got out of prison, you can just say so," Amy pointed out with a chuckle. "I mean, I could smell Carrie ever since I got in. I'm kinda worried she might push Cindy down while they're all alone over there, because she is clearly stuck in 'anything that moves' mode at the moment."
"Nothing so vulgar," Ciara countered.
Missy and Amy exchanged a look. After a moment, the pair nodded and hopped up from the bed. "We'll give you some privacy. Besides, it's not like Miles can't be in two places at once."
Ciara bit her lip and nodded. "I am not opposed to sharing a bed in the future, but I would prefer my first time be just between the two of us. Thank you for understanding."
"Don't worry about it," Amy waved her off. Molding herself to Missy's side and putting an arm around the shorter blonde's waist, she grinned and pulled her towards the bedroom door. "Let's go. There's something you should see down in the lab area."
Missy raised an eyebrow as the pair left. "Oh? I suppose you convinced Miles to keep it a secret?"
"Surprise. It'll be great," Amy corrected, closing the door behind them.
Ciara fell silent as her eyes left the door, returning to Miles. A small, pink tongue poked out and wet her lips nervously. "I," the words stuck in her suddenly dry throat, forcing her to swallow. "I have never…"
A hand cupping her jaw quieted the blonde as Miles leaned in, his lips claiming hers. It was soft and chaste, but firm. His hands found her waist and Ciara made a quiet noise of surprise as he lifted her up and pulled her into his lap—her surprise growing as she felt his hard length pressing against her rear through the fabric of their clothes—or her clothes, at least. One of his hands trailed around to her back, slipping under Ciara's shirt to stroke her skin directly, and the deaged woman drew in a shuddering breath as gooseflesh spread across her body.
Miles took complete advantage, his tongue licking at her lips. Ciara found herself responding instinctively, her own mouth opening and accepting the probing muscle as she sought to taste his mouth for herself. Their tongues met, sliding over each other, and her lips pulled into a faint smile at the delicious taste. She felt her body tingle and the kiss heated up. His hand on her back reached up and undid the hook on her brassiere, partially freeing her modest breasts in the process. The hand on her hip trailed up, slipping under the bra and cupping her breast.
Ciara moaned, breaking the kiss and arching her chest into his touch. "What d-did you do to me, husband?"
"Upped your sensitivity to match Missy and Amy. You don't mind, do you?"
"Lord, no," she breathed out, hands moving around his shoulders and scrabbling his his back through his shirt. His shirt which shifted away, leaving behind smooth, muscular, tanned skin for her fingers to fondle. "Everything feels wonderful."
That was when Miles felt a niggle. A twitching in his biomass, somewhere in the mass of biological crystalline computers. Then it became more than a niggle, twitch, or even a wiggle as Ciara's shard undulated within the mass, tentacles protruding from it to feel its surroundings. Wondering if this was some sort of unconscious response, given the… unique way Ciara's brain and shard worked, he allowed his shard brain to stretch time out and examine what was going on.
A closer look at Ciara's shard and her body showed a bit of a disconnect, and the integration between them was… wrong. Sloppy. Not at all what he had been planning to do in order to copy Missy, Amy, and the others off to their own shards. Humming in curiosity, he set about fixing the problem—but only after 'splitting the timeline' using Coil's shard just in case he fucked it up, using Dinah's shard to predict what would happen before he did it, and a combination of MJ's, Amy's, and Taylor's to help get the job done.
Ciara twitched and spasmed, going into a full blown seizure for several seconds that felt like an eternity as her shard likewise thrashed. And then, it was over.
Bewitching green eyes blinked open, staring into Miles' own gold-brown in reverent worship. "I am whole," she breathed, before practically attacking him. Her power had her clothes exploded into their constituent particles and reassembled across the room and her hands frantically tore at Miles' pants. The jeans in question shifted away, leaving his length exposed to Ciara's questing hands, her eyes refusing to leave his as she lined them up and slowly impaled herself on his cock.
Simultaneously, the biomass-and-crystal computer structure that was her shard-body shifted, rising up from the pile of shards it was connected to as it began to reshape. Calves sprouted where it joined the mass, followed by knees, thighs, hips, stomach, and so on all the way up to a head of long, blonde hair. A very human, very female body writ large, at shard scale. Green eyes opened, surveying the blasted landscape of the hellish alternate world Miles had moved his mass of shards to to convert the planet's mass into energy to refuel.
I wonder, the man mused, before a grin crossed his lips.
Biomass rose up from the miles and miles of shards he had consumed, taking his own form at the same scale. The giant form of Ciara smiled, her eyes dancing with joy as they embraced. "My lord."
"My lord," Ciara echoed in his arms, in the bed, panting breathily as she began to slowly work herself up and down his shaft.
On the other side of the equation, the gigantic forms twinned together as they sprawled out across the barren Earth. Ciara's legs spread invitingly and Miles pressed forward, his titanic cock plunging into her depths. Things got a little strange as her form rippled like liquid, before millions, trillions of tiny tendrils and thousands of much larger tentacles extended from Ciara's shard body, embracing him—and Miles met them all with his own. Two beings that barely resembled human beings shifting the Earth beneath them with the force of their mating.
On the bed, Ciara wailed as her body shook in orgasm, legs and arms wrapping around Miles as she buried her face in his shoulder and wept as her fragile human-brain was overcome by feedback from both her human-body and shard-body. Miles stroked her back, shifting them around on the bed to take her missionary here as well and taking over the work as the woman in his arms came undone across two worlds.
Seeing the young woman—one of, if not the most individually powerful woman on Earth-Bet—panting, sweating, her pale skin flushed red, pink nipples achingly erect atop her modest breasts as she was spread out beneath him… Miles wanted more. Wanted to play her like a fucking fiddle and wring out every note he could get from her lips, see every cute or lewd expression her face could make, imprint himself so deeply on her body that it would be all she could think about. The fact that she was a legend that sent even the monsters of this world, Cauldron themselves, running to find a way to contain her and he was the one whose name she was moaning, it was his cock her pussy tried to milk every time she came, his body (bodies, plural) she wrapped around as she trembled in ecstasy—it made this all the better for him.
"Aren't you glad you left your prison, my lady wife?" he murmured in her ear, rocking slowly within her as she came down slowly.
"Yes, husband," Ciara panted, her lips finding his ear, no longer even bothering to wipe at her still slightly weepy eyes. Miles brought a hand up, wiping away the tears for her, and she smiled as she kissed his hand affectionately. "I had no idea it would be this profound."
"Well, it is a bit different from normal," he admitted, at the same time pinning her shard body's hands above her head as he leaned back enough to get a good angle, before thrusting into her hard enough to cause a small earthquake.
Ciara's eyelids fluttered, green eyes rolling in her head as he began pounding away at both her bodies, alternating strokes so that one of her was pretty much always mid-stroke. The long-haired blonde mewled plaintively as he leaned down and took her right nipple and a full mouthful of the tit around it into his mouth, his tongue swirling around the nipple and occasionally flicking over it as he sucked at her—while on that barren Earth, he did the same with her mountain-sized left breast.
"You know," the man mused 'aloud' inside Ciara's mind. She tried and failed to focus her eyes on his face at the teasing tone to his mental voice, the undertones of mirth and mischief promising something, she knew not what. "There is one more thing we haven't really explored."
'Yes!' she agreed instantly, without hesitation, her own mental voice eager.
Neither Missy nor Amy had the necessary parts for what he had in mind—namely, Ciara was already mentally merged with her shard while they were not. There were, to put it bluntly, mating protocols between entities—and those were stored within each shard, on the off chance it budded into a new entity. It was more of a mental connection than a physical one, though that was there too—he just wouldn't be engaging that part of it seeing as they were already joined at the hip twice over at this point.
A bit of fumbling with the instincts within his shard body had it sending out a connection request, which Ciara hastily answered. And then, the world went white for the both of them as their minds connected and began trading 'data.' Later, Miles would describe it as a sort of VR environment combined with a mind meld and the mental equivalent of two Lovecraftian horrors love-crafting. Entities didn't have souls, to his knowledge, so they did the next best thing by temporarily merging consciousnesses.
He had already explored her mind, and the minds of others, with his own body and powers. He had even shared what he could with Missy and Amy. This was the first time Miles had actually been on equal footing with someone in one of those mind-to-mind exchanges, and it was a whole lot deeper than he tended to go. He got to see and, for a time, experience everything that made up Ciara Morrigan.
Miles wasn't entirely sure about her past from the story he knew from his world—his memory wasn't perfect, it had been a long time since he'd read the source material, and she wasn't exactly fleshed out as a character at the time… But this Ciara Morrigan was kidnapped by Cauldron at a young age, fed a vial, mind wiped, and dumped in Ireland where she was found and taken in by a kind family. She triggered not too long after, when her adoptive parents died. After that, Ciara spent a lot of time living on the streets. She triggered a second time, but the circumstances around the event were… blurry at best, due to the way she partially merged with her shard. And then the Fairy Queen was born, and the screaming and panicking started over what amounted to a simple case of 'wrong place, wrong time.'
"You see me," Ciara murmured, staring up into Miles eyes. "I see you."
"Have I scared you off?"
The blonde woman shook her head(s). "Have I?"
Miles kissed her twice over by way of answer. He felt her need, hunger, loneliness, hope, and a storm of other emotions as Ciara tightened her grip around him, answering his kisses forcefully—desperately.
'Make love to me again.'
"We're away for a week and this happens?" Missy asked, staring up into the webs making up much of the vertical space of their underground lair.
A swarm of insects crawled all over the webs—tearing down old webbing and laying out new webbing. Many of them were spiders of various sizes, but not a breed Missy recognized. The rest were insects that clearly had spider parts and the ability to make webbing, but they could also fly. Some of them were about the size of large dogs and looked like nothing she had ever seen before, but they were clearly meant for close quarters combat.
The spiders were all white, with red eyes, black spines on their abdomen, and a set of what looked like scythes on two of their forelimbs. One of those spiders was larger than the rest, being about the size of a horse, whereas the next largest was about half its size. It shared many of the same traits as the others, but there were clearly some differences—such as the spines being duller, the two 'blades' on the abdomen being missing, the entire spider being white save for the eyes which were pink…
Also, there was a girl attached behind the head, but not quite on the thorax. Like the spider, the girl was white with pink eyes. Pale white skin, long white hair in a braid, pink eyes that looked to have multiple, smaller irises within them.
She was, put simply, beautiful. Tall, even if she weren't mounted on a giant spider. Wide hips, though proportionally less so than Amy's. Large, round, perky breasts. Lithe, toned muscle under just enough padding that Missy felt she wouldn't be bony if she cuddled up to the girl. From the side profile as she moved, a nice, round ass that you could bounce quarters off of. Cute face. Button nose. Full, very kissable lips. Barely clothed, in what looked like tied off homemade white silk underwear that barely contained her breasts and teased at what lie beneath the bottom as she moved.
Missy's mouth watered.
The only reason Missy didn't flinch as the extra large spider bounded down to join them with an incredible, insane amount of dexterity and speed, was that Amy hadn't so much as batted an eye. It had nothing to do with the fact that she was distracted by those tits bouncing. Miles might have gotten distracted, but not Missy. Jumping the rest of the way, the giant spider shot out a web that curved in midair before attaching to another piece of the web and acting as a bungee cord for the spider-girl. She came to a stop and the webbing coming out of the big spider dropped away before it ran over to them and stopped only a couple of feet away.
Fuck me, that's fast, Missy mused as she assessed the thing, before looking up at the girl riding… merged to the spider from the mid-thigh up. Now, the question is, who in the world she was looking at.
Then the newcomer opened her mouth and the mystery was solved. "Hey, Missy. Did you guys have fun?"
Missy blinked. "Taylor."
Taylor nodded, beaming a happy smile. "Yep. Hang on."
With a little grunt of exertion, she placed both hands on the head of the spider and pulled herself out—legs forming as she dismounted and landed on the ground, before hurrying over to hug Missy and Amy. Just as tall as Missy remembered, with muscular thighs Missy wanted to fold up into her chest like a pretzel— "Amy, thanks again for this. I love it! And I think I'm almost ready. The spiders have nearly finished making my new outfit."
"Could just use biomass," Amy pointed out.
Taylor shook her head. "Not if I want to leave physical evidence."
The healer-turned-bio-Tinker sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I suppose so."
Gesturing at the swarm, clearly under Taylor's control, Missy asked, "What is all of this?"
Reaching out, Taylor stroked the big spider on the head—which arched up into her touch like a giant puppy. "So, remember how Lung blasted my legs off?"
"Yeah," Missy dragged the word out.
"We're going with a 'broken second trigger' thing here," Amy explained. "She wanted more options, because normal bugs don't cut it. And while I'm all for Biblical plagues, you kind of have to ask yourself which is scarier: a small swarm of wasps, or a single bug the size of a German shepherd? Until they get into 'blot out the sky' numbers, bugs by themselves aren't that scary unless you've got a specific fear or an allergy. But a bug big enough to rip a car door off and drag a man out kicking and screaming?"
"I notice that is a very specific example," Missy pointed out.
Taylor nodded. "Because I want to be able to do that if someone tries herding me like the ABB did. Also good for car chases."
Gesturing at the other bugs, Missy asked, "And the rest?"
"From largest to smallest," Taylor began, again patting her mount. "What did Miles call this one?"
"Kumoko. Sorry, little busy," Miles answered absently.
Taylor raised an eyebrow in question. Amy giggled while Missy rolled her eyes and explained, "He's dicking down Glaistig Uaine, the Fairy Queen. And I think some weird shit is going on, but he said he'd tell me later."
"Huh," Taylor was left momentarily dumbfounded. "How did that happen?"
Amy and Missy traded a look before Amy said, "You have to tell her at some point."
Missy rolled her eyes, but nodded. "We're Noh Face."
Taylor blinked, before shaking her head. "Yeah, somehow I'm not exactly surprised."
"Good," Missy grinned. "Cause we just finished eating the Birdcage. Killed every prisoner who deserved to be there and ate their shards. Freed every prisoner who didn't deserve to be there, ate their shards too, and set them free on worlds with no powers. Recruited some people, among them was the Fairy Queen. Miles kind of accidentally proposed to her and she accepted, so we just… rolled with the crazy. Also saved a bunch of children who were born there, many of whom already had powers—also ate their shards and disabled their powers. Set those loose across Aleph—one or two per state in the continental U.S.. Which reminds me. Where's MJ? We've got a list of names for her and we need her to run down some people."
A speaker somewhere overhead cut on. "Email me the list. I'll get it back to you ASAP."
"Thanks, MJ," Missy called and the speaker cut off. Shifting her attention back to Taylor, she asked, "Where were we?"
"So, Kumoko is my mount slash command and control center. She can do everything the old stick bug could, but better. She can make webs and Miles tied in some shard powers to alter things about them and control them with telekinesis. Amy gave her wings, so she's actually capable of flying—it works kind of like a bee. And it, uh," her voice trailed off before, very quietly, she added, "it can produce other insects."
"Oh, nice. So you can make your own troops. How fast is that?" Missy asked.
"Very. It takes about a minute to make and grow an egg, then another few seconds for the egg to hatch once it's, um…"
When Taylor trailed off again, Missy asked, "Something wrong?"
Amy giggled, clapping enthusiastically. "You tried it, didn't you!" Taylor nodded and, at Missy's confused look, she said, "Orgasmic birthing. Well, egg-laying in this case."
Missy snorted once, valiantly trying to hold it in… only to erupt into side-destroying laughter. "Oh, wow. That's a good one."
"Shuddup," Taylor whined, blushing as she turned away. "Aaaammmyyyy~ Why'd you have to make the spawning system so embarrassing?! You could've done it without the feedback!"
With a smirk, Amy explained, "You wanted a scary persona—one that's far and away from the family-friendly typical PRT image-consciousness bullshit. Erotic horror is a largely untapped space. And you do want to be heroic, just not nice, right?"
Taylor looked like she knew she wasn't going to like whatever came next, no matter what answer she gave. "Yes?"
"Sooo," Amy leered, "making it clear you're creaming yourself silly mid-battle every time you want to restock on drones will unnerve the fuck out of whoever you're fighting. And between my playing around with it and your shard, you won't actually lose focus or get distracted."
Taylor simply stared. Missy covered her mouth, a squeak escaping her mouth as she tried to avoid laughing.
"Also, I think orgasmic birth is hot as fuck. Kinda jealous, actually. But that doesn't mean that other stuff isn't true!" A grin stretched from ear to ear. "Also, since you and Kumoko both are covered in and full of, well, Miles… Guess who gets to get tentacled randomly, for laughs?"
Missy burst out laughing while Taylor covered her face in both hands. When the blonde finally settled down, and Taylor eventually overcame her mortification, the flustered spider-girl gestured at her mount. "Anyway! Kumoko and I have a whole bunch of powers Miles tied in because I complained about not having enough options. He said something about eye beams and 'enough fake magic to make that guy in Chicago jealous,' but I haven't played with any of that stuff. The biggest of those is Lung's—"
"In the literal sense," Amy interrupted with a grin. "She can do the same thing he could, but instead of a fake dragon Taylor gets a giant mutated spider. We've only tried it on another Earth once and the thing was fucking huge. And strong. Pretty sure it could bitch slap Behemoth into the stratosphere."
"The next size down, with the blade things on the back, are spares for Kumoko. They can do everything she can do already except fly, and if she's destroyed I can just swap to one of them and grow it up to size. So they also expand my bug control range and let me spawn more bugs…"
Missy winced. "Oh, Piggot is going to shit herself." Then, she grinned. "I wish I could be a fly on the wall for that one. What else you got?"
Taylor called over one of the ones Missy didn't recognize. It was eight legged, with a black and orange striped pattern. The two forelegs were actually similar to Kumoko's scythes, but thinner and serrated. They had a large set of vertical mandibles, wings like those of a wasp, and a stinger section that actually produced more webbing. "Miles calls these Warriors—he said they're from something called Starship Troopers, except—"
"He complained that we changed them to suit Taylor's needs better. So now they also fly and shoot webs, so they can subdue targets without, you know, tearing them to pieces," Amy shrugged.
"Fair enough," Missy agreed. "The PRT frowns on that sort of thing. Unless you're Glory Girl—"
"Low blow," Amy muttered. "But yeah, I really shouldn't have covered for her for so long."
The warrior was sent away and a new, much smaller bug flew over to land on Taylor's hand. It was brightly colored and looked very much like a katydid mated with a monarch butterfly. "What's it do?"
"Spits a power-derived compound that works a lot like LSD—based on the stuff Newter's shard produced. It can also shoot spines that deliver the same thing," Amy grinned. "Also—"
"More webs?" Missy asked, and Taylor and Amy nodded. "Why not?" she rolled her eyes. "So, when are you going to start going out like this?"
Taylor shrugged. "When my new costume gets finished. Tomorrow or the next day. I'll spend some more time practicing until then. No more school, so I've got lots of time to practice."
Frowning, Missy asked, "What do you mean, 'no more school?'"
"Miles didn't tell you? I took a page from your book. Left home and quit school."
Missy felt like maybe she should say something… but she was the absolute last person with any room to talk. Amy threw her for another loop. "I'm going to do the same. Well, close enough. I've hired a lawyer to get myself emancipated. He says I should be free and clear within a month, maybe less. They're expediting the paperwork, because Panacea."
Chuckling, Missy shook her head. "Yeah, you've kind of built a lot of goodwill. If you're going to use it for something, this," she yawned, covering her mouth as she did so, "would be it."
"Right! That's our cue for bed. Come on," Amy took Missy by the hand, before pausing and sending Taylor a considering look. "You in?"
Taylor hemmed, blushing a bit under the scrutiny. "I, I don't know. I've only really had sex with Madison—"
"That doesn't sound like a 'no,' it sounds like 'convince me,'" Amy grinned. "Two words: hentai cocks."
"Maybe later?" Taylor squeaked.
Missy hummed, before a small grin crossed her lips. "Yeah, you should wait for Miles for that anyway."
They left the poor girl blushing and stuttering denials as they took the elevator back up. As they ascended, Missy's good mood evaporated. "Oh, right," she muttered. "There's something we forgot to mention." She considered for a moment before shaking her head. "No, I'm tired. It can wait for tomorrow. She's waited this long."
"'She?'" Amy echoed as they stepped out of the elevator into the garage. "The curiosity is killing me."
"Tomorrow," Missy repeated as she lead the way into the house and up to the upstairs guest room.
Amy watched as Missy flopped bonelessly onto the bed, her clothes shifting away as she did. "So, I guess you're too tired for sex? Cuddling is fine too."
Missy made a quiet grunt, before pulling her knees under her and lifting her ass in the air. "Only if you're doing all the work."
The blonde meant it mostly as a joke and made to lower her ass back to the bed, only for a set of hands to grab her hips and a warm, wet tongue to press into her folds. Missy groaned as Amy started to slowly, lovingly eat her out. The blonde girl quickly became wet under her ministrations as Amy's tongue made long, broad strokes up and down Missy's slit, occasionally circling or flicking Missy's clit—in between kissing and sucking Missy's lips and clit.
It didn't take long for Missy to come like that, before her body went limp and Amy's power reported that the smaller girl had given up the ghost and fallen asleep. Chuckling to herself, Amy licked her lips—biomass cleaning the rest of her face off in a brief flicker across her skin. She pulled the covers back and shifted Missy around into a comfortable position before climbing in to spoon the smaller girl and pulling the covers over them.
The next morning, three women sat around the breakfast table as Miles brought in food, plates, glasses, and silverware carried in tentacles—omelets, sausage, scrambled eggs, biscuits, muffins, sliced fruit, milk, orange juice, tea, and coffee. Table set and food out, he took a seat at the end of the rectangular table—Missy to his right, Amy to his left, and Ciara to Missy's right. As everyone started putting food on their plates, Missy kicked Miles' shin under the table.
"Ow."
"That was for not telling me about Taylor," she grumbled.
The man grinned. "It was a great surprise, wasn't it?"
"No," Missy pouted. "Yes. Can we put a camera or something in Piggy's office?"
"Sure, I'll send in some mice or something and set up shop. Probably go ahead and bug all the offices while I'm at it," Miles agreed easily.
Clearing her throat, Ciara looked up from where she was spreading butter on a muffin—actual butter, not solidified oil. "This… is not easy for me," she admitted quietly, green eyes shifting between Missy and Amy, before looking at Miles. "After last night, I've had a change in perspective and some time to rethink things. I apologize for misinterpreting the situation and imposing upon you all. I realize now that you were not actually proposing to me, but in my addled mental state I couldn't discern that. I thank you for going along with my delusion long enough to return me to a sound state of mind."
Missy and Amy exchanged a look over their plates, raising eyebrows, before Missy turned to Miles and asked, "Did you fuck her sane?"
Amy grinned. "It's that hentai cock. Fucks normal women crazy and crazy women sane."
Ciara frowned, but if she felt slighted by the pair's prodding she left it alone. Miles sighed, putting down his orange juice. "Basically, yeah. Ciara was a mess, mentally. I fixed the underlying issue that came from a bad partial merging with her shard by completing the process and doing it right, but she would've still been…"
"Delusional," Ciara supplied and Miles nodded.
"But the 'data exchange' mating thing shards do fixed her by giving her an outside perspective to realign things on, essentially," he finished.
"So you fucked her sane," Missy repeated.
Miles sighed and nodded. "I fucked her sane."
Turning to Ciara, Missy sent her a smile. "Congrats. So, what are you going to do next?"
"If my presence was unwelcome, I had thought about traveling—"
"Wait," Amy interrupted, a frown on her face. "Why do you think you'd be unwelcome?"
Ciara looked confused. "Because, in my addled state, I forced myself into something where I did not belong?"
"I vote keep," Amy chimed in.
Missy shrugged. "Works for me. Miles?"
"No problems here," he agreed. "We're doing this a little backwards, but… Ciara, why don't you stick around? We can all get to know each other better and see where things go."
"Things are going to the bedroom," Missy muttered under her breath, to which Amy nodded with a grin.
"I," Ciara paused, considering the offer. "If that is what you want? I have not known true companionship since… Ever, really."
Amy got up and moved around the table, dropping into the seat beside Ciara and wrapping the shorter blonde—barely an inch taller than Missy—in a hug. "She's a keeper."
"Speaking of," Missy murmured, before turning her gaze on Miles. The pair traded a silent conversation and the man nodded.
"So… we kind of picked up a stray," he began.
"You mean another?" Amy asked with a grin, petting at Ciara's head. The former inmate didn't quite know how to take the sudden display of physical affection and was frozen in Amy's arms.
Miles sent the curvy brunette a look. "Amy, at least let the girl eat her breakfast."
Amy shrugged, before grabbing up Ciara's muffin and holding it out to the blonde's lips. With a put-upon look, Ciara took a bite of the offered muffin. Watching the pair, Missy mused, "Isn't it kind of weird, how… docile she is? I mean, she's the fucking Fairy Queen."
Miles chuckled. "Oh, you should see her in bed—"
"Lord husband—!" Ciara whined plaintively, before her eyes went wide and she slapped a hand over her mouth. "I did not mean—"
Amy chuckled at her side. "That's sticking." Offing Ciara another bite, she asked, "So, what did you two do?"
"Remember how we took out the Nine?" Miles asked.
When Amy nodded, Missy dropped the bombshell in her lap. Figuratively and mostly literally, as a blonde haired girl of around twelve dropped onto the floor beside the table—unconscious. "We kinda-sorta kidnapped Bonesaw."
Reaching out with a foot, Amy prodded the girl in question. "What did you do, rebuild her body or something?"
"Pretty much," Miles admitted. "She modified herself extensively and I wanted to be absolutely sure there was nothing dangerous in there before bringing her out. So I stripped her back to base normal human and reset her shard AI after eating it. Riley's case is… complicated. She was only about six when she triggered and the Nine claimed her. She's spent half her life as Bonesaw, but you can't really blame a kidnap and Stockholm victim for the things they were made to do—at least, not a child. I want to give her a second chance, but at the same time, her power's ridiculously useful—especially paired with the two of us," he gestured between Amy and himself. "And, well, I don't want someone getting their hands on her if they figure out who she is."
Amy hummed, studying the girl with her power. "What do you want to do, Miles?"
"I kind of want to wipe her memory of everything from the time Jack showed up and start her over."
Ciara frowned. "Jack? Jack who?"
Missy snorted softly. "Exactly."
At the blonde's confused look, Miles sighed and poked her brain with a tendril and a power—specifically, Imp's power. "Jack Slash. We erased public perception of him when we killed him."
Ciara blinked, shaking her head slowly. "Yes, I remember now. Thank you."
"Can't erase her memory and leave her like that. Six year old wakes up in a twelve year old body? She'd have all sorts of issues," Missy pointed out.
"Could deage her," Miles suggested.
"Squee!" Amy squee'd.
"Or," Miles continued, "erase her memory and run a simulation in shard with her personality to age her up to where she should be, as if she never lived with the Nine."
"I like that one better. Less mess," Missy pointed out.
"Aww!" Amy pouted.
Looking confused, Ciara asked, "Is there some reason you wish to see her reduced to a child, Amelia?"
"It's Amy," Amy corrected, and Ciara nodded. "And yeah! I want one!"
"One…?" Missy lead.
Amy sent her a deadpan look. "A kid."
"Not touching that with a ten foot pole," Miles muttered. "In any case, we don't have to decide right this second, but we do need to decide soon. I don't want to just leave her on ice indefinitely."
Riley disappeared, back to the safety of Miles' pocket dimension, surrounded by his biomass. "Fine, we can think on it," Amy grumbled. Looking at her plate, she reached out and tentacles extended from her arm to grab it and move it to her so she could feed herself and Ciara both. Looking up at Miles and Missy, she asked, "When can we arrange for you to meet my aunt and cousin?"
The pair considered it for a moment before shrugging as one. "Schedule's going to be busy this next week while we clear out every villain from New York to Bangor while we're setting up for Noh Face taking over the Bay… but we could put it off and do it tonight."
"Thanks," Amy beamed.
Humming as she pushed Amy's hand away when the girl brought up a forkful of sausage, Ciara took a brief sip of her tea to wet her throat before asking, "I assume you plan to reveal our presence then? That is, myself, Marquis, String Theory, and Black Kaze? Where is she, anyway?"
"Still in my biomass. I've fixed her brain and body, we just hadn't had a chance to get her out and ask what she wanted to do." Miles frowned, shaking his head. "She's one of those few who legitimately weren't fully in control of their faculties when they did what they did. From what I've seen perusing her brain, she thought she was trapped in a nightmare that started with Leviathan sinking Kyushu and the only way to escape was to kill everything in her way. We can bring her out and ask later. But yeah, the plan is to eat all the shards first, then have you four finish cleaning up the capes we want to get rid of in the Bay while we take out Kaiser. Kinda wish we didn't have to kill the twins."
Missy rolled her eyes. "Just because they're hot."
"Obviously," Miles agreed readily. "Othala is a good girl and she's off limits, though. Anyone touches her and they're getting my size ten planted in their ass."
"Actually, no need," Amy grinned. Miles raised an eyebrow at that. "You must not have been paying attention. When Rune left the Empire and joined the Wards, she took Othala with her. They're keeping that one hush hush though."
Miles and Missy traded a look before the pair shrugged again. "We were kinda busy, so sue us for not noticing," the blonde waved Amy off. "Anyway, we've got a list of local problems to deal with. We'll hand that out and let everyone take care of it."
Nodding, Ciara asked, "If we are to take over the criminal element of Brockton Bay, how are we to handle encounters with law enforcement or heroes?"
"You aren't," Miles denied immediately. "It's for show. Noh Face et all will be the Sword of Damocles hanging over the Bay, for both the PRT and any villain stupid enough to try to take it. We'll only show ourselves from time to time, just to remind people we're still there. Otherwise, business within the city continues as normal. We won't be committing any crimes or engaging the heroes within Brockton Bay, unless we have call to do so. But we want Piggot out of the hot seat and someone who actually gives a damn to take her place. Preferably without resorting to violence for unassing her from her chair."
"That's a lot of ass. Going to need a crowbar," Missy pointed out.
"Alright, I need to take care of a few things today before we meet up tonight. I'll let you know when we're ready," Amy said, snagging a muffin and downing her cup of coffee before heading out.
"If you could alter my features, I would like to spend some time exploring. It's been too long since I last walked in the light of day," Ciara requested. A moment later, her facial features changed slightly, long with her eye color (from green to blue) and hair color (blonde to black). "Thank you." Standing up, she pecked Missy on the lips before repeating the same with Miles. "I will be back tonight." She hesitated. "That is, if—"
""Tonight,"" Missy and Miles cut her off together.
"Bed's big enough for four," Miles pointed out.
"We told you to stick around already," Missy added.
"And we meant it!" Amy called from the direction of the front door, before closing it behind her.
A very warm look settled onto Ciara's face. "Very well. Until tonight."
As they watched the blonde-turned-brunette leave, Missy and Miles took a moment to appreciate her figure from behind. Once she was gone however, they turned back to their food. "So, I've got a raven in New York…"
"Let's go," Missy agreed with a grin. "After breakfast though."
"You know," an amused feminine voice called from somewhere above Lily, "you're going about this 'secret identity' thing all wrong if you're playing around with your powers in the open like that."
She spotted her observer a moment later, perched on the edge of the building's elevator maintenance shed. Small and lithe, with a very athletic frame, clad in a somewhat familiar skin-tight costume. One of her legs dangled over the edge of the shed, kicking absently, while she had the other curled up with her knee in her chest—unknowingly giving Lily a perfect view of her cameltoe under the jacket/skirt every time her leg flexed. The Japanese-American girl forced her eyes up and away from the treat on display, up to the other girl's exposed face… and knowing smile.
She definitely noticed, Lily realized, but given that she had yet to complain or even move out of her current position… she was doing it intentionally.
Platinum blonde hair framed a pixie-ish face, young-looking but in a way that made it hard for Lily to actually place her age beyond 'between thirteen and seventeen.' Intense, bright blue eyes regarded her in amusement while tall, platinum blonde, triangular canine ears flicked occasionally atop her head.
It was the ears, not the white spider with the ominously glowing red hourglass on her chest that gave away her identity. After all, how many unmasked capes were there that were basically walking fetish fuel for anyone who liked anime. About the only way it could be better in Lily's book was if the other girl, Widow she thought her name was, had a fluffy tail and told her she was single and looking.
"The building is tall enough that the only people who could spot me are fliers," Lily finally pointed out.
"Still sloppy," the blonde chastised, but her tone was teasing. "But I walk around unmasked, so I suppose I've got no room to talk about secret identities. I'm Widow, from Brockton Bay. But for you? Call me Gwen. And you?"
"Flechette," Lily admitted. After a second of consideration, she added, "But if we're going to a first name basis, Yuri is fine."
"Nihongo ga hanasemasu, Lily-chan."
Lily blinked. "I understood exactly one word of that," she admitted. "But yeah, I suppose it was silly to expect someone not to notice. Lily it is. Just… don't tell anyone?"
"Who am I going to tell?" Gwen shrugged, doing interesting things for her small, perky tits that drew Lily's eyes momentarily. "So, want a sparring partner?"
Considering it for a moment, Lily nodded. "You don't mind?"
"Nah. We're only in town to pick up a girl," Gwen admitted, before kicking off the roof and landing lightly on her feet.
She just… came right out and admitted it, Lily mused, her lips quirking slightly in amusement as she took up a fighting stance. "'We?'"
Across from her, the blonde took up… no stance at all, leaving herself wide open, with her arms held loosely at her sides. "My boyfriend and I."
Lily's hopes, small as they were, were crushed underfoot. Aww. Why are the hot ones always straight? …Wait. Hold on—
And then, before she could ask—or do anything more than look briefly confused—Gwen launched herself across the distance separating them. Just before she reached Lily, the blonde's foot tapped the ground and sent her into a pirouette, her other leg hooking around and flying in hard and fast for Lily's head. Lily barely pulled back from the first roundhouse kick, only to be forced to step back out of the reverse roundhouse that followed. Then, it was everything she could do to keep the smaller, much faster, insanely agile girl off of her.
After the first set of kicks missed, Gwen landed and shot forward, hands a blur of punches, palm strikes, spear-hand strikes, and elbows. Lily quickly realized that the blonde so far outclassed her in hand to hand that she might as well be a toddler trying to fend off a black belt of multiple styles. But… But, Gwen never moved faster than Lily could block, parry, or dodge. Always just a hair too fast for her to do anything but react purely on panicked instinct, but never quite fast enough to land a solid blow when she clearly could.
After a solid minute of this, Lily did take her first good hit as one of Gwen's knees came up and caught her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her—slipping entirely past her guard as she was focused solely on the blonde's hands. Lily caught the followup hammerfist blow to the back, sending her sprawling out onto her face and knocking the wind from her lungs. A toe caught her in the ribs and forced her to roll over, but the attack had stopped and the move was clearly just to make it easier for her to breathe.
"You okay down there?"
"Yeah," Lily wheezed as she gasped desperately for air. "Gimme, sec."
"Sure, catch your breath," Gwen nodded, putting her hands behind her head and yawning as she stretched her body out in a way that caught Lily's eye.
Eventually, Lily caught her breath and asked, "Why did you go so hard?"
Gwen raised an eyebrow, sending her an amused look. "Thought you could handle it, for one. For another, I wanted to gauge where you stood in terms of skill level. You're primarily a weapon user, aren't you?"
"I used to use a sword. I use a crossbow now," Lily confirmed.
"It's in the way you move. Your footwork says 'sword fighter,' but you're trying to use your fists. Your attitude says 'ranged fighter' and you try to back off. Both bad habits."
Lily groaned. "So I've been told."
Gwen offered her a hand up and Lily took it, letting the girl haul her to her feet seemingly effortlessly. "You'll grow out of it. Just give it some time. Ready for another round? We'll go slower this time." She paused, then chuckled. "That sounded more lewd than I intended."
The brunette felt herself blushing as the thought landed. "Yes," she squeaked. Is she flirting?
Gwen's fist almost hit her nose before Lily managed to refocus and push it to the side. Grabbing the wrist, she turned her body and pulled the slightly smaller girl into a throw… only for Gwen to turn that into a flip, grab hold of Lily's own wrist, pick the Asian girl up one-handed, and slam her into the roof hard enough to knock the air out of her. Followed by planting her knee in the other girl's chest. "Don't try that on people you know are stronger than you, or you'll wind up eating dirt. Got it?"
Staring up into the other girl's face from barely a foot away, Lily swallowed and nodded. "Got it."
"Okay. Since we're already here, go ahead and break out."
Lily considered her situation. One hand pinned, wrist held loosely in Gwen's hand above her head. Gwen's knee in her chest. But Gwen was positioned awkwardly—her right hand holding Lily's own and her weight uneven… Lily rolled her wrist, breaking Gwen's hold and grabbing the smaller girl's wrist again. At the same time, she rolled right, unbalancing Gwen and sending her falling to the ground. Lily followed up by mounting the blonde, planting her knee in Gwen's back as she torqued her arm up behind her back.
"Oh no, how will I ever escape," Gwen deadpanned.
Lily had just a moment to remember Gwen's previous warning before the blonde shifted one of her legs under her and kicked up, launching them both several yards into the air. Then, Lily lost all control over the grapple as Gwen swung herself around Lily like a balance bar. The brunette got in a few good punches to the blonde's ribs and stomach, and then they were back on the roof—Gwen having landed on her back, Lily's back pressed into Gwen's chest, and the smaller girl wrapping her arms and legs around Lily like a squid. And then she squeezed and Lily felt like a tube of toothpaste in someone's fist.
"What do they feed you?" Lily rasped as Gwen squeezed the air out of her lungs and compressed her stomach.
Gwen chuckled, loosening her hold on Lily's chest and bringing her hands up, before lacing them behind the other girl's head in a full Nelson. "High protein diet. You should try it. So, want to tap out?"
Lily's hand pitifully tapped the roof and Gwen released her a moment later. The blonde bounced to her feet while Lily stumbled halfway. Then, Lily was launching into her own furious attack when she saw Gwen's back was turned. It did absolutely nothing to help as the blonde twisted to the left and came out of it in a kick that forced Lily to duck, but she pressed the attack.
"A hero attacking someone from behind, without announcing themselves? For shame," Gwen teased, but the grin on her face told Lily she approved.
And that was how they spent the next hour, fighting back and forth across the roof with only the occasional break in between bouts. By the time Gwen called it, Lily's whole body was a trembling mass of little bruises, she was sucking air desperately to try to get her breath back, and she needed a change of panties from all the times she'd had that lithe, curvy little body pressed against her.
Pulling her phone out from a pouch on her waist, Gwen checked the time. "It's about noon. You hungry?" Lily couldn't answer verbally at the moment, but she nodded. "Alright, let's go grab something. My treat."
Lily would have protested, but she didn't have the breath. And then, she really didn't have the breath to as Gwen picked her up, slung Lily around to straddle her back, and ran for the edge of the roof. Lily felt something wrap around her waist and thighs a second before Gwen took a flying leap over the edge of the building. Lily swore her life flashed before her eyes as she fell, and fell, and fell—until Gwen's arm snapped out and a line of something shot out and hit a nearby building, and then they were swinging.
"Eee!"
"Why do they always scream right in my ears?" Gwen complained. "They're sensitive, you know."
"Next time, warn a girl!" Lily yelled as she held on for dear life, heart hammering in her chest. But Gwen hadn't dropped her and seemed to have everything under control, so she started to relax as they traveled.
"So, I'm thinking either Chinese buffet or Mongolian. I could really go for some honey chicken. Or orange chicken. Both."
"Well, if you're paying, either is fine," Lily shrugged. Looking around, she recognized the street they were on. "There's a Chinese place close by. Down a block, hang a right, down three more blocks and on the left I think."
They passed the building in question and Gwen swung back around, dropping down into an alley beside the restaurant and bringing them down to surface level. She landed and Lily (reluctantly) climbed off, dropping to her feet. "Ugh, I smell like sweat."
"You smell fine," Gwen waved her concerns off. Between steps, her costume rippled, shifting away into a set of jeans, boots, poison green leather jacket, and a tight black long sleeve under it bearing her spider logo—identical to any one of a dozen merch print tees floating around on the internet. Lily was mildly disappointed when even the cute ears disappeared. "I'm starving."
This is… nice, Lily had to admit some time later, as they sat at a table and shared stories about 'the job.'
"And that is why we don't let Glory Girl drink. Ever. Under any circumstances."
"That explains why there's a topless shot of GG floating around on PHO," Lily giggled.
Gwen nodded. "We're lucky we dragged her out when we did. 'Tequila makes her clothes fall off' alright." Taking a sip of her drink, Gwen considered Lily for a moment before putting it down and asking, "How invested are you in New York?"
Her eyebrows going up in curiosity, Lily asked, "I… could take it or leave it. Why do you ask?"
A faint smile graced the blonde's lips. "Being honest? You're the one we were looking for today. We'd like you to transfer to Brockton Bay. You wouldn't have to leave the Wards if you didn't want to. Just being in the city when the time comes, I think you'll do the right thing."
Frowning, Lily leaned in and asked, "What are you talking about? What 'right thing?'"
A quiet chuckle passed Gwen's lips. "The world is going to change. Very soon, and very quickly. We're in for some rough times ahead. The short of it is, if you're lucky, you might live to see forty. Maybe."
Lily stilled. Her heart felt like it did a flip before diving towards her shoes. Then she shook her head as the denials came. "No, if someone knew they'd be doing something about it."
"You mean something like… making sure parahumans were exempted from the death penalty? Sticking all the really bad but powerful and potentially useful criminal parahumans in one storage facility? Maybe figuring out how to give people powers from a can and in the early stages of the process not quite getting the mix right, so some people come out looking a little, shall we say, worse for wear? Maybe by putting people in positions of power within the government—even creating a multi-national arm of almost every world government that has jurisdiction over all things parahuman?" Gwen suggested.
Slowly shaking her head, Lily murmured, "That's…"
"Crazy?" Gwen asked, and Lily hesitated before nodding. "I know how it sounds. You're free to disregard it as the ramblings of someone who's read too many PHO conspiracy theory threads. On the other hand, how much good are you doing down here, really? The local Protectorate pretty much have the city on lock. If you wanted to really make a difference, Brockton Bay is the place for it. Cape capitol of the U.S.. More violent crime per capita than anywhere else in the nation." Gwen hesitated, before adding almost under her breath, "That is, if they ever let you do anything other than pose for photo shoots and send you on milk runs."
Frowning, Lily asked, "Do you have a problem with the PRT or something?"
"The Protectorate and the Wards, specifically," Gwen clarified. "They're completely ineffectual, intentionally. Think of it this way. What would happen if, by some miracle, crime ceased to exist tomorrow? There'd be no need for police, or for heroes, would there?"
"Maybe a few, but… yeah, not as many as we have now."
Gwen nodded. "So, you'd be looking at budget cuts. Cutbacks. Layoffs. 'Trimming the fat.' And so on. Those big, parahuman specific arms of the government would lose a lot of money. We can have cities like New York, where the Wards and Protectorate keep cape shenanigans to a minimum, because there are places like Brockton Bay that they can point to and say 'look how bad it is! We need more money!' And then turn around and spend the money anywhere but in the problem areas, because then they wouldn't be problem areas they could point to and demand more money. I'm sick of my town being neglected and intentionally mismanaged so some asshole in the PRT can pad their budget."
Sighing, Gwen picked up one of her chopsticks and poked at the remains of her chow mein. "We want you on hand for your powers. The way they work, they can do the job when the time comes. One of the few things that can, really. But even if we're crazy, the fact of the matter is that Brockton Bay could use the help. Whether it's as a Ward, an independent, or as part of another team—there's New Wave and I run a second team. We just don't advertise."
"I," Lily didn't know what to say. Before her mouth could run off ahead of her, Gwen cut her off.
"I know I dropped a bombshell in your lap with this. Take some time, think it over." She pulled out her phone and opened it up, before turning it around so Lily could see it. "Here's my number. Let me know what you decide. Or hit me up if you just want to talk or hang out." Then she shrugged. "Or write me off as a nutjob and forget it."
Lily took out her phone and put the number into her address book. "I'll… think it over."
Chuckling, Gwen nodded and picked up the bill. "I'm heading home. Got some things to do tonight."
Lily watched as the blonde dropped a ten on the table, went up and paid the bill, then left. Looking down at her phone, a question occurred. Shooting up out of her seat, she hurried after Gwen, opening the doors and looking around only to see neither hide nor hair of the girl. Opening up her phone, she sent off a text.
Lily: What's the pay if I join your team?
A moment later, she laughed as she got an answer.
Gwen: Hours are long, pay is shit.
Lily: Nice sell.
Gwen: Just being honest.
Shaking her head, Lily pocketed her phone and started walking towards home. Well, I wouldn't mind a change of pace… but this whole 'cape illuminati' thing is nuts. What's next? The end of the world? The Endbringers come back? Scion's really been a villain all along? Legend is actually some sort of straight playboy and his husband is a beard for tax purposes?
Now Lily, let's not indulge the crazy here.
…Even if I might be tempted to make an exception. He's awfully pretty.
Speaking of pretty. My God, that tight little ass! She shouldn't be allowed to just wave that thing around! It's not fair. …Well, I know what I'm fapping to tonight.