Opening your eye, you idly wiggle inside your cocoon. Slowly coming back to consciousness, you take a little time to enjoy the slight sleepiness.
It's not often you can feel like this, may as well enjoy it, after all.
Pushing your clawed hand out of the cocoon, you slowly work your way out of it while telepathically contacting everyone on your 'contact list', receiving responses ranging from 'noted' to 'be right there'.
As you emerge into the free air, however, you quickly note something is off. First off, you have issues getting your head free, as though something were stuck to it and getting tangled in the red stuff you're webbed inside.
What's more, as you finally pull your way free, you note you have some stuff stuck to you all over, and are dragging along something stuck to your back...
Okay, no kidding, this isn't you back in your coffin. You have wings, And a tail. And, as you look around, either this whole room is smaller than you last remember it, or you grew somehow.
You look down.
So. This is a thing now.
In just that moment, the door opens and Kate comes inside.
"Whoa, there. You had a growth spurt while I wasn't looking, Gabe?"
Holding up a hand to tell Kate to wait for a second, you start to flex for a second and work on getting a grasp of your new form.
One thing you do note is that you do not have any apparent genitals, which would be a shame- for several reasons, really. So you begin to feel around your waist area, and- there, you can actually 'open' these spiralling growths, pulling them away to reveal your dick.
Which did, as a matter of fact, scale with the rest of your size, so you're looking at a whole lot of dick.
Whistling, Kate comes over to casually stroke it to hardness, measuring the sheer size of the organ in her hand.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you did this just to make me happy, loverboy."
In just that moment, you perk up as you can see something move beyond the walls, followed by your sister walking in and staring at what the two of you are doing.
It is then that you decide to telepath at both of them.
I just realized, but I don't think I can speak in this form.
Shaking yourself a little as the process itches quite a lot, you transform back into a vampire rather than... whatever you just were, your clothes once again having perished in the line of duty.
Standing there naked, with Sarah still staring at you, you clear your throat and speak out loud.
"So, what happened while I was out? Anything urgent I should deal with right away?"
Kate looks amused for a bit as she takes charge in answering your questions.
"Nothing too urgent, though there's a few things you should know. First off, we have relocated the girls into this base and brought everything we could, so this is our main headquarter now. Sherrel actually asked me to get some stuff for the workshop, got that all squared away already.
The kids are doing well, your sister smoothed any ruffled feathers and they're just hanging around and waiting until we need 'em. Probably should find something for them to do soon, actually.
I've been talking with that one cape girl, Spitfire, you remember, but she's been a bit hesitant in actually joining up. Maybe talk to her yourself, or just wait a bit, I think she's warming up to the idea.
One thing, though; there's rumours the ABB got a new cape, from over in Boston. Fresh trigger, a tinker of some kind. Apparently tried to bomb her college before being apprehended and later sprung by Lung himself."
Mhm... This is a lot to unpack.
"So, anything else new you got, Gabe?"
"Well you saw the new form. Aside from that... I think I can have my souls bound to other people instead of myself some way, though I'm fuzzy on how exactly that's supposed to work. I can also stick to surfaces with my bare skin, turn into a wolf and control blood. Hemokinesis.
In fact, I think my own blood is somehow dangerous to others now? And I can see blood through skin or walls, which I think could come in handy. Also, animal empathy. Nearly forgot about that one.
All else I got are some mild mastering powers- appearing threatening on demand and making it harder to resist doing as I say."
With a grin, Kate sidles up to Sarah, who still hasn't said a word since entering the room.
"Quite the package, eh, sweetie?"
"Oh, stop teasing her, Kate. Anyway, it's high time I got out of here and started doing shit, so let's get started on that."
Summoning Kate's secretary soul and Coil, you send them off with Kate and Sarah, respectively while you yourself wander off to see how the rest of the gang is doing yourself.
Turns out the girls are mostly content as is, though they'd like to see some kind of action again, soon. You might just have to bring up organizing another weapon shipment with Kate; it'd certainly be preferable to having them sit on their thumbs.
The only really notable thing is that Lea has taken over the duty of producing laser muskets, which mostly means throwing the materials into the processing intake and watching the finished product roll out, but she seems happy at the process somehow, so you don't comment on it. Sherrel, too, is hard at work, doing things you just don't get to a new project, the invisivan standing inside a garage a few rooms over.
You do go out of your way to bother Samantha into setting up the timer for your livestream, despite being perfectly capable of doing so yourself. You just like bothering her for fun, if you're being honest.
After a few hours of just chilling with them, you decide you may as well spend some more time with your sister, now that you finally found her and have some time.
So you send a quick message over to Kate and are on your way once you know where she is, which happens to be that unused room you found during your first infiltration of the base.
Arriving there, you find Sarah idly playing with her laptop while ordering Coil around, mostly making him clean the room with a toothbrush. Huh.
Nice thing she's getting some fun out of her toy, you suppose.
Coming up to her, you sit down at her side and start to talk.
About anything, really. It takes just a few awkward moments for her to return the attempts at being an awkward family.
The two of you end up spending the next few hours just fooling around and bonding over degrading Coil, which is a high point of your day. In fact, Sarah asks you a few questions about how to draw, leading to a discussion about art you quite enjoy.
Who would've thought she'd go back to trying to draw herself?
Leaving your sister to nap in her room (you had to put her to bed, of course), you go to find Nora, who is currently spending some downtime in her personal room.
Did you ever mention, actually, how insane it is that your lair is now an officially 'unfinished' abandoned Endbringer Shelter, complete with a security system and dozens of unused rooms, even with your gang's core living inside? Because you feel that you should mention how insane this is.
But still, insanity aside, you knock and come inside Nora's room, finding her idly reading something on her laptop with some tea to the side.
"Hey Gabriel, how're you doing? Sorry I didn't come to celebrate your return among the living, but I didn't want to interrupt your sister and girlfriend."
Smirking, you sit yourself down to the other side of her table.
"Well, I'd say I didn't mind, but you completely missed me coming out of my cocoon as a monstrous creature with a disproportionally grown dick."
That has her spurting some of her tea out her mouth, alright. Using some of the nearby napkins she keeps around, she dries her mouth off while shooting you a halfhearted glare.
"That was uncalled for. But hey, I'm sure you didn't come here just to tell me the show I missed, so what brings you here?"
"Well, I decided I may as well spend a little time with you now and again, and now that we finally have some breathing room, I'm following up on that. Being a vampire makes me a natural sociopath, but that's no reason not to try being friendly, at least.
It does help when I can honestly appreciate the company, of course."
Wry smile, aaand perfect. Nora starts to blush.
"Well, I could tell you what I've been doing if you're interested?"
At your nod, she continues.
"So, after I got over my initial cat videos phase after discovering the internet, I've been researching the differences between the legal system of Earth Bet and home. Did you know that it's illegal to so much as recycle waste products using anything parahuman-related? It's crazy. I can tell you more about stuff like that, if you want. Oh, and I watched your streams, of course. They're actually really good, I felt like I really learned something even aside from being entertained."
You smile once more. This will be fun, you can already tell. You were speaking the truth earlier, too- you truly do appreciate some good company every now and then.
You have a grand time ranting about NEPEA-5 and its economic consequences together with Nora, but eventually, you have to excuse yourself from tea and biscuits with her and go take a look at what Sarah apparently dubbed your new 'broadcast room'.
It is basically a carbon copy of the setup you had back in the warehouse, just with a few additional cameras for some reason. Why, you have no idea, but you'll certainly take it.
So you go get ready real quick, including finding a new very tight tank top (the old one got either destroyed or lost somewhere, it happens) and set everything up.
Once the timer runs out, you're already standing in the correct pose and announce what will happen next.
"Hello, everyone, and welcome to Painting with Cain! Today we will go over a few things that build on the basics we have established in earlier episodes and advanced techniques for anyone that is confident in those."
So, let's see how you're going to do this...
"So, first I'll draw an instructional picture while I leave you guys to vote on the two following ones. Is that alright?"
Not breaking stride, you shift the camera perspective and begin by drawing a simple circle. You won't need more background than this.
"Well then, here come the basics on how to use perspective to your advantage when drawing a person, and how to get away with ridiculous proportions if your design demands for them."
And so you draw, and so you talk, and speak, and explain.
Heck, you actually feel that you've learned something yourself by the time you have finished your relatively simplistic drawing, at least by the insane standards of your usual pieces nowadays.
Looking over at the poll, you can't help but laugh a bit as you take in the two winning options.
"Looks like you guys really liked the last time, huh? No worries, I can work with this."
The winning options are 'A Monster' and 'Open Sky', clearly inspired, at least in part, by the sky dragon you drew the last time you ran. Good on them, and good on you. You already have an idea as to what to draw for the first one.
It takes quite a bit of work, both on the background and on the focus itself, but soon enough, you have drawn a very close copy of your own looks from right when you woke up, with a few appropriate things added to the back.
"There you have it, folks. It turned out to be more 'demon' than 'monster', but I'd say it counts. Now for the next one..."
Again you keep on talking, blathering on about one thing or the other, just to keep the audience engaged, even as you proceed to do what you are talking about as you sketch and draw and color.
It is really hard to avoid repeating yourself, but you manage by actively answering things asked in the comments as they scroll by.
"Oh, would you look at the time? Sorry, everyone, but we'll have to stop here. Thank you all for watching, and see you in the next episode of Painting with Cain."
After shutting everything off and putting things away, you take a moment to telepathically contact Nora, Kate and Sarah all at once.
So, everyone, I am planning to hop dimensions again later tonight. Mostly to get some more time to train. A new dimension this time, though, just to see where I end up and if there's anything cool i can steal from it. Anyone wanna come with?
I'm calling dibs!, Sarah thinks.
I'd like to come with, but I don't mind that much either way, comes from Nora.
Same. That was Kate.
Well, how are you going to do this?
Meh, if neither of you particularly want to come, we can just leave that slot open in case we find someone we want to bring back.
Sounds good/Fine/Alright.
Okay, with that out of the way, Kate, would you organize some of the mercs to teach the slaves any useful skills and/or have them work as runners for the gang? I figure actually doing something should help them become useful.
Not sure how good an idea it is to have their rapists be their teachers, but sure, let's do it and see what happens.
Aside from that, how about doing some more good ol' crime? The girls are getting a bit antsy and everything. Maybe return to doing weapons smuggling, just on a larger scale?
Could be done, sure. Just keep in mind moving that amount of merchandise around will attract attention.
No problem, we can deal with it.
Ending the telepathic conversation there, you wander over to the workshop areas to ask Lea and Sherrel how the installation of the self-destruct went on your robot schematics, being rather happy when they tell you they got it done and programmed into the workbench.
Deciding you may as well have them keep on working on stuff (and making it a point to look over the schematics they changed so you can copy them yourself), you draw up the schematics for fusion cores and ask them to take a crack at doing the same to these things before you start to mass-produce them.
Sherrel is salivating when you show her the blueprint.
Anyway, with that out of the way, you ask Sarah where Brian and Bitch are, respectively, but she does you one better and tells you she can have them come to an empty conference room in about half an hour.
You'd call that great, but then again, she's your Sarah. It's only to be expected, really.
Smuuug.
So, after a few minutes of walking, you find yourself in the room Sarah told you she'd send them to. It doesn't take long for Brian to arrive, as Sarah telepathically tells you Bitch will be there in about half an hour to a full hour. Seems she's busy walking her dogs.
Probably for the best, really. One-on-one talks tend to work better for this kind of thing.
Once your victim employee arrives, you politely greet him, have him take a seat and even offer some water you brought just for this, you get into the meat of the matter.
"So, how are things working out with your family situation? I recall having someone take care of it, but I was busy for the last few days."
"Yes, yes you... helped me. Thank you for that again, by the way. Why did you call me here, though? I don't imagine it was just to ask after my issues."
"True enough."
So you go on, making your spiel about thralling and why it is just such a good idea. To be fair, it really is, who doesn't want more power, not to mention the overall improvement it gives out.
"Uhm... Can I think about it? This seems like a really big choice and all."
"Of course, of course. Just get back to me if you want it. No pressure or anything. I'm just slowly working my way through our capes with the offer."
Letting him leave, you can't help but find something strange about that conversation, but you just shrug it off and lean back as you wait for Bitch to arrive.
It doesn't take too long, thankfully, you'd taken your time with Brian for a reason, but soon enough the butch girl comes in.
You don't speak at all for a bit, just motioning for her to come closer. Once she's approached the desk you're sitting at, you take a moment to consider how you're going to do this.
"You're going to drink my blood, it will make you stronger, and it will give you extra powers. Just remember you need some more every month or two to keep it up."
Not waiting for a reply, you use your claws to slit your wrist and push it towards her mouth. She obediently opens up and starts to swallow.
You spend the next hour or so in silence, though oddly, it's not an unpleasant silence between you.
Once you're done, she gets a weird look on her face, before she shakes and starts concentrating.
About a minute or so later, you're looking at a female wolf rapidly running in a tight circle, trying to take in everything around her. Laughing, you snap your finger, getting her attention.
"I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but turn back for now. You'll need to anyway to get back to your dogs."
She looks at you and gruffles.
"Of course you can change back and forth. I gave you a power, remember?"
It takes a bit of encouragement and ear scratches, but soon enough you have a naked Bitch picking up the clothes she shed during her transformation. Not long afterwards, she is dressed and on her way out of the bunker, presumably to go be a wolf elsewhere. You can only hope she took your suggestion to train her new power to heart.
It is just as you exit your trance of meditating on your thrall connections that you get a call from Kate.
"Hey Kate, what's up?"
"Gabe, that Spitfire girl wanted to talk. I think she may be looking to join up, or else it's an opportunity to convince her anyways. You want to go or should I send someone?"
"I'm coming, just give me the place and everything I need to know and I'll have Sherrel drive me."
Twenty minutes later and you're on your way, having Sherrel drive you around the city, or, more specifically, into Empire territory, the outer ranges of which apparently being the area she lives in.
Arriving in the alley Kate told you to look inside, you find a slim, obviously homeless girl inside, a scarf slung around her face. You, of course, make sure to have your face shadowed before getting out of the van, to her making a rectangular black hole appear from which you come out of.
She swallows. Good.
"Are you Spitfire, then? I was told she was waiting here."
"Yes, that's me. Look, I don't want anything to do with any mass murders, but I also don't want to live on the streets if I can avoid it. Do you guys do anything I could do with that in mind?"
Whelp, time to deal with this.
"Sure, we can arrange that. We do lots of stuff that doesn't involve my feeding requirements, after all. You would mostly be doing protection for our dealers and maybe cape back up if it is needed. If you don't want to participate in raids then that is perfectly fine.
So, you on board?"
You hold out a hand.
Taking your hand, she steps closer.
"Alright, we got a deal. Just keep in mind I can't really use my power without burning people to a crisp."
"I don't mind, just using it for deterrence in a fight is good enough."
So you take her back through your mysterious rectangle of doom... into the comfy confines of your invisivan.
"This is Sherrel, she's our tinker and driver. Sherrel, Spitfire. Now let's get out of here and back to base."
You can't see her face itself, but you can make out how her jaw drops as she looks around. Heh.
Once you're back on base, you take a little time to lead Spitfire around, making sure to ask Kate to have someone get her a costume of some kind so she doesn't have to run around with a scarf around her face.
Soon enough, however, you leave her be in one of the free furnished rooms, enjoying the wonders of an actual bed, as you go off in search of your sister.
You find her in Coil's former office, talking with Kate about something, but as soon as you enter, the two stop and she turns towards you.
"Is it time?"
"Yeah, let's go into a side room and get to jumpin'."
Taking hold of Sarah's hand once you're both in Coil's former bedroom, you give her a nod and start to concentrate.
The world starts to waver around you, and with a resounding plop, you're gone...
...and reappearing elsewhere.