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Public relations between the local population of Four Seasons and their new overlords were relatively sour. However, the Dominion had tested the right combination of tactics to win over a conquered populace. The easiest among them was to give the common man what he needed most. Commodities previously thought rare in the wastes, like electricity and clean water. Amenities, like housing and sources of food. And a few luxuries, such as free healthcare at Dr. Nancy Reyncourt's clinic and a trading center founded by a conglomerate business outfit based in Riverside City.
People still grumbled a bit as people were wont to do. Judge Kitty Reyncourt, the no-nonsense iron hand of the Dominion, imposed many strict laws that overruled many that the Four-Seasoners have grown accustomed to following. To her credit, she did abolish many ridiculous policies that always favored the upper echelons of Four Seasons.
When Salvacíon was taken, the days following that fateful event were quite brutal as one of the first things that Kitty did was exact punishments to those found guilty of crimes against Dominion law. Many of them were known criminals even during the time of the ruling clans. How she was able to accomplish this feat with ruthless precision, no one in Four Seasons knew. And now, the same was happening in Summertown, Springtown and Autumntown. As for Wintertown, the Dominion demolished everything to set up a new outpost. The work there would take weeks as the tunnels and great-mines held many hidden insurrectionist cells, survivors of the Crowe massacre.
Big Daddy Jackson, arguably the only active patriarch of the original five families, created a pact with the Dominion. It was a truce, of sorts, an agreement of cooperation. The Jacksons, aside from the Kingsleys, were the only faction in Four Seasons that proved amenable to the transition of power. Their skills as laborers, engineers and forge-workers proved invaluable. In exchange for a higher standard of living for the foreseeable future, the Jacksons would have to submit to Dominion rule. Already weary from the war, and the ones that came before that, Big Daddy put aside his wounded pride and ignored the protests of his kin as he signed the documents which symbolized his surrender of autonomy.
It proved to be the wisest decision he'd ever made, although he'd never admit it. The patriarch and his daughter were given the best healthcare the Dominion could provide. The crippled and mute Mama Helena Jackson had her spine restored and her tongue grafted with a bio-silica replacement. These benefits were extended to their immediate family, as a demonstration of goodwill on the Dominion's part. Tumors and genetic diseases were cured from both young and old, while the more common illnesses were dealt with at Nancy's clinic. The young doctor had found her calling, setting up her practice in the frontier. Like her sister, she was there to stay.
Little John paid her a visit as he was planning on seeing Mama, who was undergoing therapy for her new legs. The clinic was a small and perfectly square building situated inside a perimeter fence. It was heavily guarded by a combination of police robots, like the Sentinel drone, and a detachment of rooks from Aegis. Since the expedition was considered a success, there wasn't much left for them to do except wait for a new assignment. In the mean time, the soldiers would act as peacekeepers. The task proved to be uneventful at times, violent at others. Even with a populace as juxtaposed as Four Seasons, equal parts polite and ornery, some folks were just not so easily cowed.
"Hold." One of the soldiers stopped John with a upraised palm, "Disarm."
"I don't have a gun on me. Just my bowie knife." The man replied, unstrapping his belt along with the sheath and blade. He handed it over.
"Hey clanker, scan him just in case." The rook called to a drone on patrol. The Sentinel swiveled about and approached Little John, its eyes twitching and blinking mechanically as it scanned the man's body. It emitted a hollow beep, then turned away. Seeing that as a universal sign that the visitor was okay to go, the rook gave him a thumbs-up and returned to his post.
No weapons in the clinic, or inside any Dominion establishment. Some rules just made sense.
"Knock knock." John announced as he stepped through the doors of the building. Hardly anyone was there in the clinic at that time of day, but the doctor and her patient was at their usual session. Mama was on her feet, a medical triumph in of itself. Nancy was helping her adjust to the therapy hand rails to help her walk, until her body could get used to the idea like it did before.
"Johnny-boy." Mama smiled, her voice sounding like an uplifting guitar strum in a quiet summer day. That replacement tongue, all that fancy medical technology the Dominion used, nobody could even tell it wasn't the real thing. "Here to see your old Ma make a fool o' herself on the bars again?"
"Come now, Mrs. Jackson." Dr. Nancy said, "You're making good progress each day. Once we've reached the midpoint, you can perform these exercises by yourself at home."
"Bless you for all your good deeds, child." Mama replied kindly, leaning heavily into the rails to drag her lazy legs into an awkward shuffle. There wasn't any pain, but the certain numbness in her atrophied muscles was like a faulty connection between nerves and corresponding limbs.
"I gots the feelin' that midpoint ain't comin' any time soon. The thing is, Ma, Pop wants you back home. Now." John declared, smirking uneasily when Nancy shot him a questioning look. "He didn't wanna see any Doms or make trouble, so's he sent me. Imma drive yall back to Autumntown."
The doctor and her patient stared at him for a good long while. Mama sighed and straightened her back, "Nancy, I suppose it's time for me to get used to those walkers you showed me the other day." Nancy helped her settle into the strange mechanical harness, a lighter version of the exo-suit that industrial workers back in Elysion used in their work. The walker suit helped Mama walk properly and she went off to gather her things from the ward. Nancy allowed her that measure of independence and let her be.
"Doc, I've been meanin' to ask you something." John said, "It's about your sister Kitty, it's been buggin' me for a while now."
Nancy sat down on her desk and arranged some folders containing her records of every patient she'd cared for in the clinic. "Listen, if this is about the way she's running things, trust me when I tell you to let it go. Kitty's the hand, and the Dominion's the mind."
"Naw, it ain't about that, doc." The man leaned against the wall, "You know Kitty and I fought together when we stormed the Crowes at Wintertown, right?"
"I... was not aware of this. When she came to me to get patched up, she hardly said a word about the operation. Funny now that I think about it, I've never seen her so... quiet before."
"One o' the Crowes jumped her and near split her head in two. I saved her."
Nancy nodded slowly, "And I thank you for that, Little John."
"Don't mention it." John wagged a hand, "Anyway, what I'm tryin' to say here is that I've been tryin' to get a bead on her angle. If you don't mind me sayin' so, you Doms are pretty uptight at times but can be real nice when ya want to be. Kitty, well, I think she just plain hates us seasons-folk."
"Oh, she doesn't hate you people. She just hates men."
"Uhh... what?"
Nancy laughed, "I'm generalizing a bit here, sorry. I meant that she hates men like the Crowes, savage and vile boors with almost no distinction from animals. I've yet to see or hear an exception from her, but I think I'd have to wait forever."
John shrugged, "Okay, I think we're gettin' somewhere. Why?"
"You see, John, when we were kids..." The doctor took a deep breath as she dove back into her memories, "Our parents were survivors, vault-dwellers who wandered around after the overseer tried to expel the excess population. Our mother went with him and they were thrust into a life of hardship and violence. Kitty and I were born in the desert, growing up hearing tales about the Dominion. Our father thought it rubbish and went against any idea of seeking it out. When he died, mother brought us with her on the journey to Elysion."
When she fell silent for a minute, John hesitated a bit to get her to continue. "Please, go on."
"We were found by a biker gang of five. Their leader, a scraggly bearded giant named Hoggs, said he hadn't the opportunity for some fine 'poon' in the desert... said he'd make do with us, even the girls however young. Kitty couldn't fight them, neither could I. We were so little, and they were many. So mother volunteered herself, to spare me and Kitty... but even when they agreed to leave us untouched, they made us watch." Nancy shook her head and sighed, "Once they've had their fun, they let us go. Mother didn't survive her injuries. When a Dominion expedition found us a few weeks later, I told them everything that happened. The officer in charge brought us along on a quick detour and showed us a battleground where Hoggs and his boys lay, burned and torn to pieces by shrapnel. I believe that's the moment where Kitty decided that getting to Elysion was going to be worth all the effort, and at the first chance we got we joined up with other caravans and entered Dominion lands."
"Good Lord..." John breathed.
Nancy said, "I tell you this in confidence, so that you'd understand. I pray that you understand."
"I... I do. But I gotta ask, is she holdin' up alright? I mean now?"
"She underwent a memory-snipping operation to spare herself that trauma. I didn't. And if you value your life, you won't breathe a word of this- especially not within earshot of Kitty's."
"Thank you for telling me." John nodded, "My lips are sealed."
"She likes you, y'know." Nancy called out after him, "Said that you've proven to be the most capable non-citizen waster she'd seen so far. That's a good sign."
"Oho!" The man exclaimed, "No thanks, doc. I'm not lookin' at her that way, no sir."
The doctor's tone grew serious, "You're a good man, John. All I'm saying is that if there's even a sliver of a chance in this hellhole that my sister gets some comfort, I'm telling you to go for it. Think of it as a doctor's opinion, free of charge."
John was quiet about that for a while. Even as he drove the jet-train to bring Mama back to Autumntown, his head was full of thoughts about that mean-faced Dominion judge. In such moments he thought of her, he shook his head. She was no Molly, certainly not Calamity Jane. But she was both, if he dared to even think that. John had to admit it, he was lonely again. Lost love can leave a longing like a drinker's thirst. There just wasn't anything else to fill the void.
Mama knew what he was thinking. He usually went with the impulse, if he wanted something he went after it. That's how he got Molly. The only thing stopping John was his loyalty to the clan. Big Daddy Horace wasn't going to be happy about any of this, he had no love for the Dominion. But Mama was another thing entirely, she knew that those people however brutal were far better than they were. And so she made the decision to support John, wherever this path would take him.
"Go to her." She said.
John looked at her and furrowed his brow, "What?"
"I know you want to. It'll work out for everyone. You'll see." Mama gazed out into the countryside, "Go to her."
"But Ma, this is Judge Reyncourt we're talkin' about!"
"I know that, I also know that an icy heart only needs a warm smile. You should move before it freezes up again. You've suffered enough." That last part was all he needed to hear. It certainly helped to have a psychic for a mother.
John, against his better judgement, followed Mama's advice and headed for the canyon city the first chance he got. He didn't tell anyone else what he planned to do. The penthouse was one of many properties seized by the Dominion from the holdings of the once highly esteemed Dolarhyde clan, a tower of opulence amidst humble beech and thatch hut dwellings. And since she was going to live in Four Seasons for the foreseeable future, it was only natural for the judge to indulge herself in whatever comforts she could find in the frontier.
John stared into the rich varnished oakwood door that stood between him and Kitty's room. He hesitated a bit when his fingers closed into a fist to deliver a polite knock on the door. His eyes drifted to the dark amber bottle in the other hand. He didn't quite know yet why he was doing all this, but that semblance of an idea was enough to bring him this far.
He chose to proceed and rapped sharply on the door.
A brief shuffle of feet from the other side informed him of the judge's approach. A quick glance upwards, John noticed the camera installed on the wall. Knowing Kitty, she probably had a shotgun pointed at the door somewhere. John braced himself for the blast of stinging buckshot, later heaving a sigh of relief when the door unlocked with a loud clack. Kitty stood before him in a nice black bathrobe with a towel wrapped around her head.
No shotgun in her hands, but she carried a small 9mm.
"Mr. Jackson?" She said coolly. Her mean face relaxed somewhat when she recognized him.
"May I come in?" John asked, raising the bottle of wine for her to see. "I bring a peace offering."
Kitty smiled and nodded slowly, "Sure." She stepped aside and called out to the Sentinel drone covering her from the corner of the room, "Stand down 335, friendly coming in."
The drone emitted a dull chirp in acknowledgement and disengaged its weapons.
John made himself comfortable on a chair and nursed the bottle in his hands. Kitty tossed her gun onto the bed beside the neatly folded uniform and pieces of her armor. The judge bent down to get some shot glasses from the little fridge built into the wall, offering John a magnificent view of her shapely backside. He dared to wonder if she did it on purpose. "How's the family?"
"A lot better now, thanks to Nancy." John replied, "Mama's healin' alright, she can talk now."
"Glad to hear it." Kitty removed her towel and combed her damp hair with her fingers. "Sure hope the season of healing in this shithole lasts a good long while. Pour us a drink, love. I'm parched."
"Hey um...Kitty?" John said as he popped the lid and poured her a shot. "Mind if I go on and say something bold here?"
"Hold on." She held up a hand and downed the strong amber fluid down in one gulp. Like the tough broad she was, Kitty hardly winced when the drink socked her hard in the throat. "Okay, I'm all warmed up. Go."
"Well, I know things ain't been easy between us and all... I was just wondering if maybe we can move past all our rivalries."
"Yeah? How so?"
"When you and I shanked the Crowes up at Wintertown, I felt some kind o' connection. I realized then that I... well shucks, I kinda like you... y'know?" John swallowed his drink nervously, "That's um... that's all I wanted to say."
Kitty leaned against the wardrobe which housed all her choices of attire for the sandblasted wastes of Four Seasons. She regarded John with amusement and a tiny hint of interest, "And? You gonna lead with that? Here I thought you a smooth one with the ladies."
"Well... you ain't like any lady I've met."
"Ah... there it is." Kitty untied her robe and let it fall off her shoulders. It piled onto the floor and she stepped out of it. John gulped, amazed at what he saw beneath all that armor. He'd never been with a Dominion woman before, she may as well been from another planet.
Kitty's body was a canvas of long supple valleys, rolling hills and beautiful mounds of flesh that protruded and jutted out in all the nicest ways. The tattoos and scars told stories of a hard life that he could spend years getting to know. He wished he could get that chance, he leapt at the opportunity. But it was her eyes that drew him in, those perfect catlike mixes of blue and green, curtained by a lovely shade of golden brown locks.
And all John could manage for this avenging angel was a crude phrase blurted from quivering lips, "You're awfully purty."
Kitty shifted her weight on one leg and placed one hand on her hip, "Why don't you come over here and get a closer look?"
John stepped forward, and suddenly Kitty reached for his shirt to pull him in. She closed her eyes as his hands cupped her face, tipping her head back to steal away her breath. John pressed his lips into hers, tasting the sweet tang of the wine in her mouth. His hands traveled lower, searching for things to grab onto. Kitty moaned into the kiss as he squeezed her tight rump. John joined her in bed, taking his sweet time getting to know her intimately. He smelled the rich civilized aroma of her skin, tasted the salty nectar of her sex, and reveled in the tortured groans of delight that came from her mouth. But when it was time for the main course, Kitty refused to be the bottom. She flipped John and straddled his waist, giving him a sensual lick in the ear in gratitude for all the foreplay. The woman lowered herself onto his swelling throbbing length and proceeded to ride him. With long deliberate strokes, she grinded down on his member till John was a quivering mess. Her fingernails scratched painfully into his chest, drawing blood.
Aroused, John pawed at Kitty, squeezing her breasts together or kneading the succulence of her lovely derrière. The next moments were heaven, it was almost enough to erase the tensions between them.
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