Now he's just looking at you confused.
"I, uh, I don't have a sister." He's too afraid of you to say it, but you can hear the 'What're you on, dude?' in his voice nevertheless.
You, of course, raise an eyebrow at this new information.
"Is that so? I just so happen to distinctly recall that the entire reason you- aaand now a little girl came in and started poking you without you noticing."
"Wait, what?"
"Wait, what, you can see me?"
"And hear you, though I suspect your brother can't."
"What's going on? What're you doing?"
Yeah, this is going to get old really fast. But hey, at least you solved the mystery of why Brian couldn't remember his sister pretty fast.
Now how the fuck do you deal with this?
Facepalming with a sigh, you stretch a hand out towards Brian.
"Just... just give me a moment here, okay? I need to figure this fuckup out so I can fix it real quick."
Looking at Aisha, as you know Brian's sister to be called (and the family resemblance is there, meaning you could identify her rather easily), you let out another sigh.
"Okay, you got any idea why he can't remember you? Also, the hell are you doing in here, anyways?"
"I have no idea! One moment to the next, nobody had any idea I existed, and anyone I tried talking to kept on ignoring me! I found this place by following Brian, but then I got lost, and I only found him again a few minutes ago."
"Uh-huh. And how long ago did that happen?"
"Dunno, a few days? I've been eatin' and drinking what I could find in these fancy meeting rooms, but I'm seriously thirsty anyways, and I'm pretty sure I'd have starved by now if it weren't for those pastries I stole from random people."
"Sounds a lot like you triggered, congrats on being a cape now, and your power is some kinda cognitive scrubbing. Doesn't work on me because nothing does, but it would explain why nobody can really interact with you."
"I'm just really fucking glad I finally got someone to talk with. And maybe a way outta here."
Brian is just looking around extremely confused. looks like your earlier mention of his sister has effectively scrubbed everything that happened in this room from his memory. Joy.
"Alright, fuck it, this may take a bit. Brian, you go get to Sarah while I try to fix this. To clarify, there may or may not be a fairly powerful Stranger fucking about, but don't worry, I got the situation under control."
"Uh, if you're sure, Cain."
"And please, feel free call me Gabriel."
Yoshi, desummoning and resummoning you in a sec. I need your expertise for something.
"Heh. He really doesn't want to talk to you."
"No, duh. That's why being all casual freaks him out. But back to you for the moment. Now, whatever shall I do with you..."
"Oh, uh, politely let me out of here? Maybe get me a bottle of water, while you're at it?"
"Nah, I'll do you one better." Breathing you Yoshi, you gesture towards her.
"Alright, let's see what we can figure out about your power."
Yoshi looks at you. "You know, when you called me, I expected you to need assistance with something engineering-related, not a black girl."
"If you weren't technically part of me, you wouldn't be able to even recognize her existence, so get that analysis power to work already."
It takes Yoshi a bit to actually use his power, a time during which you mainly just have Aisha stay where she is for a while while you go off to organize her something to drink. She did complain about being thirsty, after all.
Once you're back and she's greedily drowning herself in mineralized water, whenever she isn't coughing due to the unfamiliar drink, anyways, you simply have to wait until your exposition fairy can tell you something new.
"Alright, so she's basically a walking memetic hazard, according to what I got."
"Hey!"
"What's that mean in layman's terms?"
"To put it simply, everything about her is erased, both memories in people's heads and physical evidence of her existence, if much slower. She could walk up to and smack someone and they wouldn't really quite notice.
Doesn't work on you, of course, because of that weird effect you got going where you're both alive and dead at the same time, and what she does doesn't work on corpses. I can only assume the reason I can perceive her is the same."
"Any way to shut off the effect on her end? As it is, it's a serious impediment to her daily life."
"Well yeah, she should be able to suppress it with enough effort and concentration."
"What? You saying it's that easy?"
"No, little lady, I'm saying that's how you do it. Doesn't make it easy."
"Mhm. Any idea how her power would react with the enhancements I can give out?"
"Shouldn't be detrimental, at least."
"Alright then. Okay, Aisha Labourn, here's the deal. You have kind of intruded on my secret little base here. Normally, I'd just throw you into the dungeon for that, but I'm a reasonable enough guy to understand you didn't do it to try and spy on and/or murder anyone."
"Wait a sec, you have an actual dungeon in your bond villain lair?"
"Holdover from the previous tenant I took the place from. Anyways, I'm not gonna get all on your case over this, but I do heavily recommend you just join up at this point, if only to extremely annoy your brother once he realizes you exist again."
"Dunno, big guy, I'm not sure I want to hire on just like that."
"Offer includes a power-up package that adds a bunch of goodies onto what you already have, and never underestimate the ability to call a dozen or so capes in to save your ass if your power's being hard countered."
Looks like she isn't being convinced quite yet. Not the type to put value on safeties and backup plans, huh?
Luckily you have just the thing.
"We also got laser rifles for all our loyal members."
"Sign me the fuck up!"
Heh. Hook, line and sinker. You'd almost feel bad if it wasn't so well-deserved.
"So how're we doin' this? I want my lasers!"
"Oh, first we're taking care of the powers I'm handing out. Come over here and get ready to drink a bunch of blood."
"...Is that some kinda euphemism?"
"I fucking wish it were, but no, it's how my power works. Don't worry, I haven't had anyone complain about the process so far."
You spend the next while explaining to her how her new powers work, as well as regaling her with stories mainly about what you used your shadow powers for so far, what you trained them for, all that good stuff.
Eventually, though, you're done, and despite some hesitant wiggling, get Aisha to get off of your lap.
"Alright, I'll go play with this a bit. See ya!"
Aaand there she goes. Completely forgot about that laser rifle you promised. Ah well, she'll remember in time.
"Hey there, Jeremy. How you been doing?"
Jeremy, of course, flinches as he hears your voice before turning towards you.
"Oh, um, hello, boss. What'd you need?"
"Nothing much, just wanted to have a little talk. Get to know you a little better and all that good stuff."
Heh. It's just way too much fun fucking with your 'employees'.
"For starters, how 'bout you tell me a little about how you ended up out on the streets?"
He isn't at all comfortable telling you about himself, but over the course of the time you specifically allocated for this, you keep on working on him, getting him to think of you as a friendly open ear and sympathetic spirit.
Turns out he actually used to work at the docks back when they were still operational, fixing up any busted machines inside the ships that came through on a daily basis.
Keeping a shipping industry running took a LOT of specialized manpower, and when all of that work dried up, it didn't do so gently. Masses of people needed suddenly needed new employment, and there were few jobs to be taken locally, so... anyone that could afford to, left, of course.
Jeremy is one of those people that couldn't afford to. He was a decent enough engineer, sure enough, but there were a LOT of low-level engineers suddenly in need of work, and before he knew it, he'd used up all his money just trying to stay afloat while looking for work... until he gave up the excuse to be looking for work while busy dumpster diving, anyways.
So, that was the man named Jeremy. From what you can tell, he really just wants to have a stable job with a stable income again, the idea having turned into somewhat of an obsession for him during his time on the streets.
"Y'know, come to think of it, you should probably know about my plans for the docks area.
Now that our gang took pretty much complete control of the area, we're buying up the properties before I'll basically use a bunch of powers to completely rebuild and refurbish everything around and clean up the graveyard, actually get some shipping going in this city again."
"Y-You're joking."
"Nope, full truth over here. Let's be honest between the both of us, Brockton is kind of a shitheap nowadays. City's been going down the drain ever since the protests that put the boat graveyard there in the first place. Like, a coastal city's docks and trainyard shouldn't be places nobody ever actually uses for industrial purposes, and yet there we are, with cockroaches like the Merchants settling in, of all things.
I want money and power, but I also acknowledge that Brockton, as it is, isn't that great as a city. And once we've taken it over in all but name, we can't exactly have that, now can we?"
"If- I mean, are you sure you can just... do that? If it was that easy, someone would've done it by now, wouldn't they?"
"Oh, but it's that easy to me. Anyone else would be shit outta luck. I just so happen to have the power to be able to do it.
If you're doubtful, you could feel free to carve out your own place over in Engineering. Ask Lea or Sherrel about it, they'll be able to show you the robot benches and manufactories I've built. Once you really think about what they can do, well, casually rebuilding entire city blocks is all in the cards. May even pick up a trick or two for yourself while you're there, anyways."
It takes you a bit, but some insistent mental poking gets Aisha to respond to you.
What'cha want? I'm busy over here.
I'm not even gonna ask what you're busy with. Just come meet me in the side room we met in, I got something for you. You'll like it.
You have to wait a bit and help her find her way when she gets lost inside the base (again), but soon enough, you bemusedly observe a shadow the size of Aisha gliding in.
"BOO!"
"Fun fact, I saw you just fine."
"I know, it's about the principle of thing. So, you got pressies for me? Also, why am I naked?"
And indeed, Aisha is standing before you quite naked, having jumped out of her shadow form with no training to retain anything whatsoever.
"Clothes get left behind when you start out, you gotta practice to take anything with you. Didn't you see them left behind when you transformed?"
"Oh, suuure. You totally gave me that power to get me naked, didn't'cha?"
She isn't hiding anything, either; if anything, Aisha is making a point of showing off to elicit a reaction.
Looking down at her tight, slightly athletic body, taking a moment to properly take it in, you note the swell of her breats starting to grow in and the light smattering of pubes hardly enough to hide her little pussy.
With a smirk, you reply to her cocky words.
"I mean, I'm not saying I'm complaining about the sight, I'm enjoying it either way, but no. I called you here to actually give you something cool."
"You suuure?" She slowly inches towards you.
You, in turn, can't help but laugh a little as you push a hand against her forehead to keep her back. "Yeah, I'm sure."
Twisting the hand on her forehead so it rests to her side, you crouch down a little so you're on the same eye level as her.
"And this, is what I'm giving you." Pressing yourself forwards, you initiate a kiss, much to her wide-eyed surprise.
Though her eyes only grow wider as you use your entire inhumanly long tongue to explore the inside of her mouth, playfully dominating her tongue as you transfer the soul over, the free hand not pulling her head towards you hugging her to yourself across her shoulders.
"Whad... Whazzat 'bout not wantin' me naked?" She asks, more than a little breathless.
Heh. She just can't help it, can she?
"That was me giving you a nice and proper kiss. Oh, and also transferring what amounts to a projection over to you. You now got a guy that has to follow your every order... that can also let others teleport so long as they're unobserved. Given your power..."
"Oh shit, that's so sick!" She grins at you. "So how do I do this?"
"Just gotta think about wanting the guy to do something. He also has to answer your questions truthfully and all- just make sure you don't get him killed, these things are uniques."
Coughing a little as the sudden emergence of silvery mist from her mouth and nose surprised her, she stares in awe as Blinkdog congeals before her very eyes.
"This is soo cool... Hey, you! Strip!"
"Just remember he can still be seen by others, I'm pretty sure, so... just don't waste 'im, okay?"
"Gotcha, bossman!"
"Also..." Walking towards the door leading outside, you lean over a bit to give her (still naked) ass a slap, making her shriek pleasantly to your ears. "If you want some of the gabepie, you're gonna have to try harder than coming onto me naked."
"Oh, now it's ON!" And thus, you have acquired an invisible puppy following you for whole minutes at a time before wandering off.
You should probably make it a habit to carry a few sweets and something to drink around with you, at least until you get around to showing her a way out she can actually use.
Hey Sarah, you got some time tomorrow night?
Sure, what's up?
Oh, nothing big. Just wanted to do something together again.
Now you couldn't keep me from coming if you tried.
Also, we got another cape, pretty powerful stranger.
Really?
Yeah, Brian's sister got powers, as it turns out. She's streaking through the base right now, though I think I lost her a few rooms ago.
...Gabe. What'd you do this time? Wow, that was an impressive mental sigh.
Nothing, I swear!
While you're having that little conversation with your sister, you're also changing up your soul loadout, desummoning Phillip and getting out Nolan instead.
You then send the latter out to meet up with Yoshi, giving both of them orders to hash out some way to cure dementia between each other.
Leaving you with ample time to go at Shay once more.
This time around, once she's done with the usual spiel of excrutiating pain and yadda yadda, the moment she puts a hand onto the ground as she tries to get up, her surroundings look like they twist for a moment and before you know it, there's two of her.
Then four. Then eight. However, just when it looks like you may be looking at exponential growth, the next load is a mere two bodies, all of which are slowly getting up now.
"""This is... strange."""
All speaking in complete unison.
"You know... this could be useful."
Two Minds, Many Bodies: Shay can divide herself into up to ten seperate bodies, all of which share the same skills and HP pool, meaning any wounds or changes in condition are shared among them.
Mini-Interlude
'Yoshi' let out a large sigh. Really, it may be the biggest sigh he'd let out yet, and that was saying something.
Lea, of course, asked him about it, seeing as they were just working on finetuning the VI meant to be part of her new design. "Whassup, brain-boy?"
"Boss just brainbeamed me. Looks like I have to pull the cure for dementia out my ass now." It'd taken him some time to get used to the rougher lingo his current company kept to, but he had to admit, it kind of grew on him.
"Larger issue is, he's sending Nolan in here to make it happen."
"And who the fuck's Nolan, now?"
"Oh, only the sickest fuck I've ever seen. One of the many people he's eaten by now, too."
"Sounds like there's a history behind that."
"There is." He just didn't really want to get into the madman's attempts to get around the rules inside their little world.
"Whassup, bitches? Anyone know where to get us some test subjects?"
And there was why.
Alright, first off, this new power isn't the best in a fight, as a quick test showed any damage done to one body translated to all bodies. That said, it works just fine in a less... intensive profession, if what you're theorizing here is correct.
With that in mind, your next stop was, funnily enough, Engineering.
"Hey everyone! Where's Lea?"
"Over there, wrangling the crazy chick."
"Thank you, Nolan."
Leaving Nolan and Yoshi to their work (and ignoring Yoshi's scowl), you make your way into Sherrel's part of the workshops, big, veiled projects taking up most of the space.
Actually, she expanded quite a lot, recently. Wonder what she needs all this space for.
Anyways, once you find Lea and Sherrel, it is only a short kerfluffle with a feverishly typing Sherrel and a sandwich and water bottle later that you and Lea can take a moment to talk.
"Sorry 'bout that, boss. She's getting better about eatin' regularly, but every now and then I still have to feed her by hand."
"That's quite alright. In fact, I even got you an assistant for all your hard work!"
Initiating your by now usual way to do this, you take a moment to lightly grope her but with both hands as kiss her deeply before letting up so she can breathe.
"Whooh. What gives, boss?"
"That's how this power works. Try thinking of something you need done while concentrating on what I just did and you should get her out just fine."
Watching Lea breathe out Shay, you nod approvingly once she's done.
"This is Shay. She got a few nice little powers and can be in ten places at once. Figured she oughta be useful for you."
"Aww, you shouldn't have!" And here you go, with a happy Lea giving you a hug.
"Don't worry about it."
And no, Shay, you wait your turn. You may not be able to command her telepathically anymore, but the look you're giving her has her close her mouth just fine.
So, here you are, standing in a room together with where someone must've carted Gash and all the corpses from that little kerfluffle with the E88. You sure didn't order it to come here of its own volition.
Anyways, you... probably really should get on upgrading the abomination in front of you. It's done more than its fair share of work, the already changed body of Mush allowing even an inexperienced you to create something truly marvellous, but you can't help but think you could probably do... more, now.
Also, may as well get on repairing those holes you never bothered fixing up after the last battles you had it in.
Alright, looking over the materials available and within your reach... you probably can do quite a bit to make Gash even better than it already is.
First off, it still has a few dents from way back when you took care of the last merchants, and luckily enough, you happen to have a load of nazi corpses just lying around gathering dust at the moment. A few patch jobs later and Gash is nearly completely renewed, the few bullet holes hardly worthy of mention.
That bit of soul you stuck in there really did some great work. Too bad you're going to replace it.
Before that, though... yeah, you can envision a few changes to be made. For starters, those arms may as well get with the theme you've got going here- make them a bit longer and stronger, all that good stuff. So what if they end up technically a little too heavy- Gash doesn't really need to move on its legs all the time, anyways.
Another easy fix, those bone spikes you'd stuck into the tentacles... They do their job, don't get you wrong, but they also tend to glide off of any harder materials, you'd imagine, and a cursory examination shows you several of them have fallen out over time and use.
Luckily, you happen to have a bunch of Hookwolf parts lying around from Okita throwing a little tantrum when the guy ran. Obvious combination is obvious.
In short order, you consciously lift the spell keeping Gash running, turning it into a lifeless corpse... only to raise it again a moment later, stuffing one of those angry soul pieces inside this time. The effect is immediate- the eyes inside the gap of the concentric skulls burn with an inner fire (literally) and the abomination begins to move again, the tips of the tentacles blurring with speed.
You can work with this.
You quickly conduct the upgrades you'd been thinking of, making those tentacles much more dangerous (though you use a mix of bone pieces and Hookwolf parts, gotta economise with the materials, after all) and burn through two whole nazi corpses, cannibalizing most of their musculature to enlarge the arms, all that good stuff.
While you're at it, you also streamline the eyes inside the skullgap, ordering them into neat rows and adding a few neo-nazi eyes to the collection. You also go on ahead and do some cosmetic work on the skulls you've wrapped around the head, just for the aesthetics.
Now... all that would be left is to add some magic, maybe through Nolan's help, or maybe fashion a pair of femurs into hidden bone blades the like of which you also used on the 'cuties'.
Yes, you've given up using their proper name, Okita can have that one.
A quick trip to Engineering later has you equipped with a small sack of a specific neurotoxin Nolan apparently enjoyed using, mostly for how easy it is not to overdose anyone on the stuff and how it maintains feeling in the unmovable areas it has affected.
For you, though, it will be a great way to increase Gash's useability, depending on how well you can incorporate the stuff. A few short experiments show that, while you can't make Gash produce the substance ex nihilo just like that, you certainly can grow an internal sack at the torse, fill it with the stuff and have it start to slowly 'regenerate' when some of it is pumped through the series of tight internal tubes you grow out of muscles along the tentacles.
A few bits of finetuning and some actual openings to let the crap coat the spikey parts are all you need to make the idea practical.
Incidentally, reshaping a pair of femurs torn from another fresh nazi into blade-like appendages and throwing them inside the arms so as to allow them to pop out and skewer unarmored victims is child's play after working semi-blind on all these entirely internal parts.
All in all, you did asome good work here, you feel.
"Hey Kate, there anything I can help you with?" You ask, having decided to ease her workload if you can, just a little bit.
"Hey Gabe, uhm, gimme a moment, I'm sure we have more than enough to do for you if you have some time. Just have to find it in this mountain of paperwork..."
"Ah, here we go. This is a list of companies Coil was either looking into buying up or outright taking over by putting cronies of his into power. Now, while we did take over most of his blackmail, and thus said cronies, snakey-boy never did complete all of this, so to enact all these corporate takeovers it'd be nice to 'grease the wheels', so to say.
What this means is that I'd like for you to go around several businesses here in the Bay and 'collect' some data, mainly by breaking into people's work computers and copying everything for later use."
"Alright, I guess I can do that if someone gives me the tools to do so."
"No need to worry, I've had Samantha talk to people down in Engineering and whip something up. Just need to stick this little baby in and it'll automatically copy anything on any device it's in, nicely waiting to be analyzed at a later date."
"Huh. I had no idea we even have anything like this."
"You can thank the sheer bullshit that is combining basic technology with that one soul you keep on throwing at our tech."
Taking the USB device and making sure to put it securely into your pocket, you nod at Kate and turn to leave.
"Oh, how I wish to shoot something..."
You'll just pretend you didn't hear that last one.
It took a little bit to organize a car and someone to drive you around to the addresses on the list Kate gave you, but soon enough, you're hitting the road and driving straight through the nightly streets of Brockton Bay.
You can actually observe some more traffic than you usually see at night, given that you're moving straight into the less rundown areas of the Bay.
"So, what're we doing exactly?"
"You're not doing much of anything, you're mainly just here to help me find the buildings I'll be taking a look inside. Don't worry, this is a literal milkrun."
"If you say so, boss."
And it turns out that you are quite right; pretty much all you have to do, once you arrive, is to go shadow, climb the facade of a given building until you can see the kind of office you want to see, squeeze through any opening you can find, and there you are.
Few companies, as it turns out, have security cameras running at night, or inside employees' offices. Complete milk run, all in all, the honestly hardest part is finding the office of whoever is the most important person on the corporate ladder locally.
Now all that's left is another ten or so of these, and you're done.
"Hold it, saw something."
"Whatever you say, boss. Can we get some waffles when you're done with the next one?"
"Again? Sure, why not. Get enough you won't eat them all by the time I'm back, though. Be back in a few, though, so wait a moment."
Shadowing out of the car again, you slide and slither into the darker alley you were driving past but a moment ago. Looking around without being limited by light the way literally anyone else would be, you confirm you did indeed see something interesting... namely, a trio of skinheads with several crossbow bolts sticking out of them, trying to get deeper into the alley even as what you identify as Shadow Stalker stands upon a nearby roof, reloading her crossbow.
Interesting.
A momentary trip back to the car later you have a perfectly functioning mobile capable of, among other things, taking videos.
Oh how you love the advancement of science right this moment.
Taking position on another roof outside Stalker's direct line of sight, you make sure to stay in the shadows thrown up here. Most people never really realize how dark a roof is at night until they think about it, but streetlamps aren't really designed to shine upwards, you know?
Thus, with a reasonably comfortable perch to work from, you begin filming as much of the encounter as you can, starting with a nice shot of Stalker up on the roof and reloading, then down and showing what can be seen of the skinhead thugs.
It is too dark to make out anywhere as much detail as your own eyes are capturing, unfortunately, due to the light conditions all around, but you simply do the best you can for now.
It helps everyone all around is shouting a bunch of things, from 'Shadow Bitch' to 'Skinhead-Shit' recognizably enough- you only hope the camera picked up her voice cleanly enough.
To keep it short, before long you have filmed Shadow Stalker placing several more crossbow bolts inside the gangmembers who are by now retreating into a doorway... only for her to use her power to appear right on the other side after a few moments, having jumped onto the building and presumably made her way downwards from there, now going for the kill shots.
Several gunshots are fired in response, none of which do much of anything, and soon Stalker has several corpses lying before her... before she begins dragging them inside, anyways.
Looks like she has a plan on how to deal with the bodies, at least.
Oh, I know just what to do right now.
Hey Sarah, got a moment?
Sure, anything to escape reading more paperwork left behind by Thomas.
Thomas?
Coil's civ name.
Ah, gotcha. Anyways, so, I was just on a little errand for Kate, and just when i was passing through the area, you wouldn't believe what I saw. Shadow Stalker, in the flesh, peppering a few skinheads with crossbow bolts right in an alley I was passing by.
Oh, please tell me you did something.
I did better than 'something', I borrowed a mobile and filmed everything. Lighting is shit, but I got video of Shadow Stalker killing three men and dragging the bodies off.
Fuck yeah. I hate the bitch. Did you know she shot Grue with a broadhead once, after becoming a Ward, just because their powers interact badly for her?
Focus, Sarah. I need you to arrange an anonymous call to the police about just having heard gunfire and screams at... gimme a sec.
You take a look around, luckily finding the address of the building without having to stop filming.
Did you get that?
Got it. Anything else?
Nope, going in to keep filming now. Wish me luck!
Alright, time to go inside after the third corpse. Let's see if you can't climb along the ceiling to stay undetected...
In the end, it is laughably easy to evade Shadow Stalker's notice by simply keeping above her eye level. Turns out that yeah, nobody ever does look up.
She still seems to have picked up on something being wrong subconsciously, what with how she keeps on looking around every now and then, but as it is, you just get a great shot of her from up close.
Seeing her like this, and unbothered by the darkness, you can clearly verify she's a teenage girl, just, y'know, in a slightly ridiculous costume and all. She certainly did seem used to handling that crossbow of hers earlier, though, so you'll assume she's actually better at this than her inherent edginess makes you think.
Silly PRT PR. As if anyone was ever going to take her seriously... well, okay, maybe that pile of corpses she's arranging in the middle of the room says otherwise, but anyone that actually matters, anyways.
On a side note, it's a surprisingly great pain to crawl on the ceiling with one hand occupied with the mobile, or it would be if you weren't able to completely negate gravity. As is, you just keep filming as Stalker goes through the corpses and carefully rips out the crossbow bolts she sank into them.
In the corner you can see why she brought them here in the first place- a canister of gasoline and bare beton walls combined with a window means she can burn the corpses up for a while before destroying what's left.
She's clearly used to this.
Just as she's finishing up the last one, however, you can hear the lovely sound of police sirens. Look who's here to fuck up someone's day!
It isn't much longer before Stalker can hear it, too, and when shouting can be heard as the policemen (and one woman) find the trail of blood left by her current victims, she loudly curses and hastily takes care of the rest of the bolts, cramming the bloody sticks into her pouch and taking off in a running jump straight through the wall opposite of the approaching police thanks to her power.
Soo then... what next?
"Alright, got everything I wanted. I'll need that mobile for a bit once we're back, it's got some amazingly hilarious footage on it."
"Gotcha, boss. We still gettin' those waffles?"
"...Alright, we can swing by a place on the way back. You'll still keep on driving while eating, though."
"Yay!"
Honestly, the things you have to deal with. Not as bad as being a nazi in this town after dark, but still.
Once you're finally back in the bunker (and ate your waffles on the way, of course), you take both your driver's mobile and that USB stick thingy along as you go to meet with both Sarah and Kate, whom you explained the situation to while you were coming back.
"Alright, here's the data I grabbed before that little situation happened. And on here, we got the epitome of funny home videos."
Giving Kate the device, you give them a bit to actually watch what you filmed.
Sarah's smile is very adorable, and not at all either overly smug nor malicious, of course.
"This is... great, honestly. Question is, what do we do with it?"
"Basically? Use this to mildly inconvenience the PRT ENE's PR department and, more importantly, create a casus belli between the E88 and the PRT."
"I see. Get them at each other's throats while we're busy otherwise. You sure this vid alone will be enough, though?"
"It doesn't need to do much. Even if the PRT entirely denies its veracity, and Kaiser decides against kicking up a stink to make his own agenda more appealing, that still at least keeps their PR busy for a while.
Best case? We manage to drag everyone into a city-wide brawl once tensions overflow, giving us the epitome of opportunities to... thin the competition, as it were. Especially with Lung in the mix if we can swing it."
"Gotcha. And I suppose you'll want someone to take care of this?"
"Duh. You think I am going to? My schedule's packed enough as is."
With a sigh, Sarah waves a hand around. "Alright, I'll take care o' this. Just lemme copy this baby and I'll go to town on it."
"I knew I could count on you, Sarah." You try patting her head for a moment, but she wards you off with both hands, her face scrunching up. Cute.
"Actually, while you're at it, could you check out my parawiki entry and make sure it's got a link to my streams somewhere?"
"Sure, sure. Now shoo! I have actual business with Kate aside from taking care of stuff for you."
Kate, who has been just leaning back and smiling at your sibling byplay so far, leans forwards. "You heard the little lady, shoo!"
Ah well, you know when you're outnumbered. Women.
Mere moments later, you've arrived at Engineering, several stacks of currently folded flat turrets ready to be used at your discretion. Wonderful.
A quick check reveals that Sherrel isn't in the process of tearing them apart, either. Wonderful. Similarly pleasant is the rough map of the territory you've taken aboveground, with annotations on where to best place your babies.
Looks like Kate took enough time with Phillip to plan this out and even leave the map here. Seems like you got just about everything you need, then. Aside from, maybe, a way to transport these turrets in bulk. Placing them may just become incredibly tedious and time-consuming without a way to bring a bunch with you.
Actually...
"Hey Sherrel, how much weight can the invisivan take?"
"Enough. Need me to transport something?"
"Oh, do I ever."
As it turns out, you actually did keep ease of transportation in mind when designing the foldup-feature. It's not perfect, given the turrets were never meant to be rapidly redeployed on a whim, but with some effort, they can be folded up and stacked into the back of the van.
Which is able to fit more space inside itself that it should.
As in, way more.
Asking Sherrel reveals she actually did finish working on the van a while ago, which is why it now has nearly thrice the holding space it should have, a laser-minigun, a trio of rocket launchers, a whole bunch of drones to be deployed and sent off with simple instructions and a bunch of guns capable of, y'know, popping out of the sides and aiming at anything on that side.
In addition to the invisibility, sound-cancelling, turbo-boost and charging stations that let anyone with your electric-hand trick stick one hand inside and shoot a beam of electricity out the other.
And, of course, the basics of really comfortable seats, a gaming console, drink holders, all the quality-of-life stuff you could ask for.
Yeah, tinkers are fucking bullshit, you're calling it now.
Anyways, once you've loaded your cargo inside, you're off to stealthily install a bunch of atonomous heavy ordinance consisting of lasers. This can only be a good idea, with no way of things going wrong.
What follows is a mostly uneventful, though still quite laborious time whence you first deploy the turrets by basically plopping them down, pushing a button and watching them unfold, then making sure they were sitting securely and not malfunctioning enough to shoot at you.
None do. You did actually know what you were doing when designing the things. Mostly, anyways.
Thanks to your shadow power, you can pretty easily just take one or two of them at a time, shadow to where you want them placed, deploy, shadow back, rinse and repeat.
The part that takes the longest is honestly driving around to where they're supposed to go, time you spend idly conversing with Sherrel, mostly.
Everything goes nice and quiet. Just how you like it.
At the end of the night, you've placed all the turrets that fit into the van in the first place. You could still do with placing another load or two down, but hey, as it is, there's few neighborhoods inside your territory that aren't defended by at least one turret, and most ways further isnide get you blasted unless you're a completely unthreatening civilian.
Should work well enough for now.
You, in the meantime, are well on your way back into the safety of the bunker inside the invisivan. Glorious thing, really.
With a lttle extra time on your hands due to temporal differences, you proceed to Maid over to the workshop and grab a bit of parchment and some coal.
That's right, it's practice time! Also, you didn't really do anything like this before, so you thought you may as well try it out now.
As inspirations, while you don't exactly have any perfect models around right this moment (the Maids don't count, you don't want a repeat of the Maidpile incident), you make do with a few sights you remember from sitting on your throne, as well as a few visits to the Dungeons to see how the Warden has been doing.
WHich, as it turns out, means a short tour through several torture facilities, everything from an iron maiden to throw Skidmark into for ten minutes for every swear he lets off over to a complicated set of cages filled with painful traps requiring one participant to set them off and suffer while the other deactivates it on their end.
It's actually downright... enlightening.
Today's fusion experiment involves two powered, or 'true', by what the Siren told you, souls you don't ever really use anyways.
After a short description, the Maid fetches both of them by the lapels.
"Alright, you two, into the creepy river with you."
"Bloody fuck you."
"Yes, yes, love you, too. Get on with it." It's always amusing watching them struggle against your commands uselessly. So, what will come out this time?
Well, after the Siren does her little spiel, what emerges thrown out of the bloody river is a brand new man, the features of both guys that went in combined more-or-less gracefully.
"So the, let's see what we have here..." You drawl.
Hey Sarah, we still on for tonight?
Yup, I didn't forget. You got everything you need?
Uh, I think I do. I'll double-check my outfit while I'm at it, though.
You better.
Alright. Now where are you going to get a fresh new suit on the fly? At least you don't have to waste time on redoing your soul configuration, those can just keep going as they are.
"There you are, Brian. I am really sorry how things turned out last time, but hey. Sometimes things just happen."
"I understand, sir. Did things turn out alright with that stranger you mentioned?"
"Eh, more or less. The power's still messing with everyone's perception, but at least everyone involved has come to an... agreement. But enough about that business, let's get caught up on why I asked you to come by the other day."
"Ah, yes, the... power enhancement. I'm not talking to the others outside of jobs all that much these days, but they may have mentioned it once or twice. I'm still not quite sure whether I should ask you for it or not, though."
"In that case, let me just plain lay out why I think you should, and we can go from there. I don't particularly want to pressure you into doing this, either, after all."
"Makes sense."
"Okay, so first off? It makes you harder to kill. Now, I know that actually being wounded means something's already gone wrong on one of your jobs, given the Undersiders' team composition and methods of operation, but it's always better to be able to take a bullet or two in the moment than not."
"About that, how does it work, exactly? Like, does it negate damage or regenerate, what?"
"It's nothing too fancy, it basically just lets you tolerate hurt beyond what you should be able to. It doesn't exactly dull your sense of pain so much as it lets you continue going in spite of it, along with letting you survive what should normally be lethal wounds to a human being.
Don't get me wrong, it's not a ticket to take on Hookwolf in a boxing match, but it does work nicely as an insurance against dying too easily."
"Mhm. Alright, I'll admit that sounds really good. Some extra insurance just in case is always good. But what about those powers the others got all of a sudden? I saw Rachel run around with dog ears and tail when she wasn't just a wolf outright."
"Why, I'm glad you asked! You see, beyond the minor brute package, there are three more perks to having me do this. One, you get just a little bit better at everything you do. Slightly stronger, faster, smarter, you get the idea. Two, I can mentally communicate to everyone that got it. It's not perfect, it only works once I initiate and only with one person at once, though I can technically have several connections going on on my end. And number three, what you were asking about.
To put it simply, I can give others two powers from a small collection of powers, you may have to practice a bit to get a proper grasp of them, but that's all the issues you may experience."
"And there's no... backlash, no hidden cost or anything?"
"I'll be honest with you here, there is a cost to this. It's just pretty minor, all things considered. Basically, the way this works is that you drink some of my blood over a few hours in small doses, and once that's all over and done with, you need to 'refresh' the charge I put in you every few months. Just a sip of blood is enough for that, though.
Aside from that, nope, no real costs or hidden clauses. There are some powers like that, but mine is remarkably straightforward.
Take your time, think it over. If nothing else, you can always just not come back for more, get a month or two of free powerup, then decide whether you don't think it's for you. Not like it's some kind of greatly addictive experience or anything."
"Thank you, sir." Brian says softly. All told, though, in the end it only takes ten minutes for him to likely talk his own paranoia down and look you square in the eyes.
"Okay. I'll do it."
Hook, line and sinker. And you were actually entirely honest throughout that whole conversation- there are no direct hidden costs involved.
After all, loyalty isn't a cost. It's a feature.
Discussing things with Brian over the course of the thralling, the two of you settle on making him bulletproof rather than anything else- he seems to appreciate the straightforward power boost.
Anyways, with that whole thing finally done with and all the Undersiders either turned, in the case of your sister, or thralled, you'd say it's about time you spent a little more time with Bitch for a change.
The poor girl seemed generally distressed when you last saw her, and while you hope the power you threw her made things easier on her (they certainly seemed to at the time) so as to elicit gratefulness, it never hurts to make sure one way or the other.
A short telepathic conversation to determine where the two of you meet later and off you go.
Waiting inside the warehouse she asked to meet you arrived inside via shadowing through the sewers, you're none too surprised when what the uneducated observer might mistake as an unusually large dog scampers up to you.
"Hey there, Bitch. Want me to scratch you behind the ears?"
She doesn't even answer in a way your aminal speech can pick up; Bitch just sits down in front of you and waves her tail.
Chuckling, you begin scratching her, escalating to whole-body petting when she can't get enough. You also make sure to smile, but without teeth, and keep on talking softly the whole time.
Eventually, though, Bitch has enough for now and gets up again.
"Want me to transform, too?"
"Yes!"
Well, that was succinct, at least, you suppose. Taking a look around, you head deeper inside, Bitch following right behind you, and transform into your wolf form in a single moment.
Bitch is right on you, cuddling into your side. You allow it.
The two of you play around a little in your canid forms, chasing each other through the empty warehouse. You take your time to actually tire Bitch out a bit, play-fighting her a little when you begin understanding her body language enough to realize she'd be up for it.
Eventually, though, she slows down a bit. She's very energetic, for some reason, but you've got literally limitless stamina. You can go full tilt for as long as you want.
"Fun. Play more?"
"Later." For some reason you have a harder time communicating in full sentences while transformed yourself. It's nothing too problematic, though- Your mutual animal speech lets you interpret what you say to each other rather easily even like this.
Looking around for a relatively clean spot, you pad over, Bitch following after you once more. Setting down after turning in a circle a few times to get this just right, you lie a little on your side and look at her.
"Naptime."
Bitch immediately takes your invitation for what it is, sitting herself down next to you and lying down in short order, her side cuddled into yours.
This isn't necessarily exactly what you had in mind, but it works to make her happy and thus keeps her firmly loyal to you. If it works... it just works.
Also, cuddling as a wolf is surprisingly comfy.
After a while, though, Bitch begins to stir, idly bumping her tail against your stomach as she slowly blinks to clean her eyes.
Aaand now she's shifted around a bit, bumping into your nether region. Now, while you could just ignore this, you could just as well get up and tell her you're fucking now, before you have to get back to what you were doing again.
"Transform back. Fuck."
Bitch looks a little unsure at you for a moment, but quickly relents when she sees you stretch your form back into that of a human.
"You don't have to transform all the way, feel free to keep a few parts."
That convinces her just fine, seeing her shift into her humanoid form with added wolf ears and tail.
Also entirely naked.
Thinking about it, you're none too surprised at the idea of Bitch simply transforming the once when you first thralled her and never bothering to turn herself back, thus never needing or even caring about clothes.
Not that you're about to complain, mind you. Bitch, meanwhile, seems to have switched to social submission mode, her eyes lowered to your feet.
If you were to guess, going human immediately unsettled her, making her turn towards mannerisms she's internalized in hopes of them working.
Not that they don't, though perhaps not in the way she thought.
Leaning closer to her, making her shrink back, you softly growl at her. "Turn around and bend over."
A little confused, she does she she's told, giving you the opportunity to fish your dick out of your pants. With that ready, you first grab onto Bitch's butt with both hands as you kneel behind her, having spotted a significant lack of lubrication across her nether lips.
Now that just won't do.
To recify this situation, you lean in closer and place a long, drawn-out lick along her pussy lips, starting at just the edge of her clitoris and pushing your tongue along the entire surface, eliciting hitched breathing and a small moan.
"If this is great for you, just wait until I'm done with it."
With that, you promptly begin eating Bitch out from behind properly, her knees buckling and her arms shooting towards the wall to keep herself up as she begins to come in short order, becoming louder and louder as she screams out.
You still got it.
A half-dozen orgasms later, Rachel having tried to stifle her moans with one hand halfway through but given up when she couldn't hold herself up like that, you place one last kiss near her clit and rise instead of plunging your inhumanly long tongue into her tight pussy again.
Lightly massaging her lightly quivering buttcheeks, you press down on them, a whispered "Down." telling her what you want.
Once you have her all nice and kneeling with her back to you, her head carefully shifting to watch what you're doing in the corner of her eye, you stretch yourself across Rachel's back, your hands landing on her shoulders and lightly kneading the tension out of them.
Angling your hard dick to rub along her pussy down south, you carefully begin controlling her whole body with yours before withdrawing until only your tip is touching her.
"Mine." You growl into her ear as you slide forwards, turning her needy whimper into a gasp. You don't stop claiming all of her insides until you've filled her up to the very last, the head of your cock meeting her womb.
You stay like that for a moment, her breathing going from moaning to raspy, before you withdraw and ram yourself home again, and again and again.
Rachel begins screaming in ecstasy soon enough as you rail her doggystyle, her front pressed downwards by yours and her pussy clamping around your dick. You, though, just keep on fucking her, making it very clear who she belongs to now.
Judging by the way she pressed back towards you, she isn't complaining the slightest bit. It is thus that you come deep inside her, filling her up as far she she can be and flooding her womb's entrance with your cum.
You don't stop, though. Not at all.
She can call herself Bitch if she wants to, but she'll be your Bitch, and it's high time you made that clear. You'll just take her ecstatic howling as confirmation as you simply keep on going for as long as you took time for this, only stopping long after she lost the strength to hold herself up, requiring you to basically hold up her waist as you fuck her.
She's still panting and trying to stay conscious even at the end, though. You can't help but chuckle as you mussle her hair a little.
Such an energetic puppy you have.
Taking a moment to pat Rachel a little longer, you nevertheless return your dick to the inside of your trousers and shadow your way back through the sewers and into the restroom of the underground parking garage connected to the bunker you started your delightful little detour from.
Once back inside what you've firmly taken as your room by now, you take a moment to reassign your souls so as to access your little training boosters and promptly get back to training, what with your training ban having run out earlier today.
Mini-Interlude
Aisha couldn't believe her luck, having spotted Cain as an unnaturally dark shadow himself racing along a wall she was going to cross herself... and seemingly not noticing her.
Ironic, given he was the only one that even could have, whether she was shadowed at the time or not, anyways.
Anyways, no way was she gonna ignore this. She HAD to know where he was going in a hurry, so of course she began sneaking after him.
Strange change of pace to suddenly have to sneak again, but hey, it was neat. And really cool, being a shadow tailing another shadow. Agent Shadow, at your service! Heh.
Kinda boring he was just heading to some random empty warehouse, though. At least she didn't have to wait long until something happened.
Namely, a dog! It just showed up and approached her tentative boss.
"Hey there, Bitch. Want me to scratch you behind the ears?"
No way. No fucking way. She knew about her brother's teammates from a short internet search once she'd figured out who he was in costume, but there was no way Cain had actually turned the one calling herself Bitch into an actual dog.
And then... he turned... into a dog himself. God dammit, what was this and where was the popcorn? The greatest cross between mystery and adorable animal documentation ever!
Especially when both of the doggies started chasing each other around and playfighting. If only she could actually hold a phone right now, she'd film it and put it on the 'net.
After a while, one of them started to slow down, prompting the other one to pad into a corner and sit down, the other one following it and lying down to sleep.
Squeee!
Really. Ad. Orb. Aisha even took the risk of creeping closer to take a closer look.
The way one of them, presumably Cain, was keeping up to keep watch over the sleeping one was really cool, too.
No matter how adorbs the sight was, though, it still got boring after a while, but she was too afraid to be seen if she were to move too much, so she just kept hiding as a shadow in the corner.
After about half an hour, though, the sleeping doggy began to move around again, soon getting up after. The real hammer came when first Cain, then Bitch transformed back into people!
Well, mostly. Bitch was still naked and with a few dog bits. Maybe the same situation as with her when she transformed back for the first time?
What came next was, uhm... have you ever seen a really weirdly attractive older white guy order a girl older than you (but not that much older!) to bend over, only to eat her out 'till her brain comes out her ears, which she does obediently, then proceed to fuck her for an hour straight into a stupor, without stopping until his spunk came out of her in a small river?
Because that's what she saw. Wow.
In her new hiding place, she could simply wait for Cain to move away back the way he came before transforming back and approaching the deliriously panting Bitch. With a sense of morbid fascination, she crouched down behind her, eyeing the other girl's pussy from the safety of her power.
Hesitantly (not that she'd ever admit it) touching the slightly swollen lips before her, Aisha swiped a bit of cum with her index finger before tentatively tasting it, with that sense you get when seeing a car accident.
You can't help it, you can't not watch. Same here, she couldn't not try and taste it. It wasn't... bad or anything, either. Tasted pretty neutral, really.
So why did she end up deliciously licking the older girl incapable of noticing her clean as deep as her tongue could reach?
Probably just because of how kinky this was. As her hand buried in her own crotch could attest.
Sarah hummed to herself as she laboriously chose her clothes for the night. She'd been hemming and hawing over this for two hours now, easily, but it just couldn't be helped.
Some things simply took time.
Even with her strange premonition that Gabe was being unfaithful and doing another girl rather than herself again.
Some things simply took time.
With a bit of preliminary training to 're-target' dimensions done with, you take a moment to return your previous souls to their duties before casually greeting Kate as you move out to return to a very specific location.
That being your art broadcast room. Time for Painting with Cain! But first, you set up a countdown so people actually have a bit to find out about it beforehand.
You're nowhere as rude and abrupt as your 'brother' Abel, after all.
Quickly taking care of your preparations, you make sure your tank top sits correctly before taking a seat and going live.
"Hello everyone, and welcome to Painting with Cain."
"Now then, let's see what we have today... and done! You can now vote and post your own suggestions for today's first theme."
Leaning back to let the comments roll in for a moment, you begin responding to them as a way to keep the audience engaged while this happens.
"Yes, I normally have something picked out already, but there were so many creative suggestions last time, I decided it would be a shame to just ignore them, so I took my own ideas together with them to do a first poll this time.
No, I'm afraid we won't have any fun discussing the cures for baldness nor erectyle dysfunction this time. Any such things are scheduled only for Professor Abraham's little shows. I don't mind conveying your greetings to him, though.
Now then, before we get too deep into chatting, let's see... ah, close race between 'World In A Cup' and 'Archetype Sky', I see. Let's keep this up for a little while longer, then.
Whether I prefer cats or dogs? Ooof, that's a hard one. Let's see... Both are really cute and fluffy for the most part, and both can develop a deep bond to humans. Can I just say I like both of them?
No, honestly, I'm not just saying that to avoid pissing off one side. I genuinely like both kinds of animals. Also, let's see... World In A Cup looks to be eking out a win, after all. Let's get started."
You can't believe a silly question like that ended up sparking your first minor shitstorm while live with this stream, but here you are. Ah well, at least they're liable to return to normal topics once you initiate the next poll.
Entirely aside from that, though, you'd best get on this. Mhmm... Yes, this picture will put a lot of emphasis on subtle realism, porcelain smudges, fluffy clouds, the works, to contrast with the surreal subject matter.
Everything starts with a rough circle. You'd never taken the time to appreciate just how easy your various enhancements make drawing precise geometric figures, but they do, they really do. It's actually harder now not to make the circle too perfect, given you want the saucer to be viewed from a proper angle and all.
The background requires a lot of detail work, naturally, though you take care of most of that first, the clouds and sea easy enough to identify for your audience after a bit of work.
The best part, of course, the small collection of clouds atop a brighter colored body of water with a plane flying through right inside the cup, are for last. Oh, and a small heart-shaped cloud.
Perfection.
"Well, here we are, ladies and gentlemen. The world in a cup, or at least an abstraction of such. Came out rather nicely, I'd say."
"So, archetype sky won this time around, after all. Pretty... broad, theme, but I think I can work with this."
Grabbing some of the black paper meant for just such occasions, you get to work dotting it with varied, small white dots all over. It'll do, especially as they're just background, in the end.
Taking several cups filled with water, you begin to mix the several gradients of the colors you'll be using for this.
"Archetypal skies is such an incredibly broad theme specifically because the sky is just very hard to pin down any one exact way, so please excuse me if I sidestep the problem in this a little."
Putting brush to paper, you begin dividing the picture into rough thirds by colors. This'll work just fine.
"And here you have it, everyone, three archetypes as constellations, nicely color-coded for your viewing pleasure. Now then, let's take a look at the poll for what to do next, hm?"
"Huh. Draw the Endbringers, hum? Any of you trying to tell me something with this?"
Shit, shit, shit, you remember seeing pictures of them way back in college, but your perfect recall doesn't cover anything from before you going vamp. You'll have to improvise on this based on what you can remember.
"Remember, however, that this is an entirely artistic streaming channel. Painting with Cain does not condone the destruction of human civilization in any forms. With the disclaimer done, time to draw!"
Alright, so, uh... backgrounds first, with the picture divided into three to require less work from you. Sundered, bare earth for Behemoth, a city in the process of being flooded for Leviathan and just a cloudy sky, maybe with an understated sunrise for the Simurgh.
Probably going to need to save Leviathan's background details for drawing the thing itself, make it look more dynamic and all and just go with a partially visible skyscraper and all...
"By the way, there aren't any Fallen sneaking into the polls, are there? I believe in freedom of religion as much as the next guy, but I certainly can't have anyone trying to sneak in on my turf."
So, Behemoth. Big, color of obsidian... single eye? Man, you just realized how hard it is to remember stuff without your perfect memory. Meh, throw in some electricity and call it a day.
Leviathan, smaller, more slender, uh... long tail, three eyes on one side?
It's been a while, okay. Something green-ish will do for color. Also, floodwave.
Lastly, Simurgh. Smallest, though perspective will likely eat that. Loads of wings, just white overall, though like hell will you just not use shading as an excuse to give her some proper color gradients.
"Mhmm... I think this'll do. For a change, the background wasn't the hardest part overall, though I do admittedly just have a lot of practice drawing buildings and such, which was the most work-intensive this time around.
Either way, here you have it; three Endbringers, as I envision them, anyways. Can't say I've seen them in person, after all."
Would you look at that, this one actually took way less time than you'd have expected. Good enough reason to keep going a little longer, you suppose.
"Alright, we have enough time for just one more piece. Come on, everyone, don't be shy; throw as many votes and suggestions at the poll as you can!"
"Huh. Eidolon this time? Ah well, I suppose we can't go a whole episode without drawing a cape nowadays."
At least Eidolon doesn't wear anything particularly complicated, just a dark green bodysuit, a cowl and featureless mask under that, to start with.
"I'm a little surprised you guys would want me to draw Eidolon, I'd think he has more than enough official promo artwork flying around, but hey, I won't complain. Whatever floats your boat. Bit too straightforward from a costume design perspective, if you ask me, but not everything has to be a challenge."
Background... Eh, you'll keep it to a simple color brightened by that light effect he reportedly has for his head. No use in skimping on musculature, either, so may as well make him really ripped under that bodysuit.
"Well, here we are. One fresh Eidolon. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we have enough time left for a proper Q , so that will have to wait until next time. See you all then, and make sure to stay safe!"
Interlude: Wagging Tongues
Emily Piggot, Director of PRT ENE, heard a tone she was hoping would at least have the decency to wait another few days before ringing on her office desktop.
Renick knocking on her door just got a tired snort from her at this point.
"Come in, and yes, the new app works just fine."
"I brought the snacks, too."
Emily could feel a vein throw on her temple, but calm and regular breathing kept her from lashing out.
"I wasn't aware we were making this a drinking party, Renick."
"We have to make the best of things whenever we can, ma'am. At least this way the analysts aren't the only ones getting drunk during office hours."
Fuck. He had a point, the sonuvabitch.
"Fuck it." With a sigh, Emily opened the drawer containing her bottle of reserve whiskey.
"I've informed the medics ahead of time again, ma'am. Also, it's his 'normal' stream, this time."
"Small mercies, Renick. Small mercies."
"No, I'm afraid we won't have any fun discussing the cures for baldness nor erectyle dysfunction this time. Any such things are scheduled only for Professor Abraham's little shows. I don't mind conveying your greetings to him, though."
Avery Carmichael slumped bonelessly in his seat, the near solid layer of sweat perspirating off of him in waves drenching his suit uncomfortably.
Him and others in his position had been running damage control, running a smear campaign against this new cancer cure on the 'net and making sure it would take years before it would be sanctioned by any official channels.
Testing of medical technology took years anyways, they just made sure it wouldn't speed through the system on grounds of being extremely simple and straightforward, the chemicals involved being harmlessly excreted during every stage of the process.
Still didn't do shit when half the cancer patients in the world could just fucking look it up and DO IT anyways, but at least they could contain the damage to some extent.
His little attempt at an assassination squad had failed spectacularly, unfortunately, but at least they had confirmation the madman would refrain until a specific stream happened to destroy their livelihoods.
Still meant he would do it when the time came, though, and he just openly admitted to it, too. There was some faint hope in his heart the cancer thing was a one-off, a single breakthrough in medical science the madman dispensed to attain international fame, but he as much as said he would continue doing WHAT HE DID.
ED and baldness weren't his biggest worries, the industry could've eaten their losses a month ago, easily, but what if he continued to target the highest-paying diseases worldwide?
Avery needed a plan, any plan, and he needed it fast, before it would be too late!
Dragon carefully observed the parahuman known as Cain, analyzing every twitch and gesture. Perhaps he didn't necessitate such personal attention from her, but the last time he'd casually spread the cure for cancer, he'd upended the world, and she wasn't too keen on surprised like that again.
She wasn't complaining about the cure, mind you, on the contrary. Would that more humans were altruistic enough to help their fellow man after gaining powers. No, the issue was that any such global changes needed to be responded to, and promptly, by many people all over the world, including her.
Not to mention she wasn't too sure the man actually was human. He certainly looked the part, but thorough analysis revealed certain... inconsistencies.
Such as the way he drew and painted incredibly precisely. Too precisely. Almost mechanically so.
Of course, this was no conclusive evidence whatsoever. But it certainly had her take a closer look. What if Cain wasn't so much a person as he was an incredibly sophisticated robot, most likely tinkertech, given the sheer range and precision it could emote? Controlled by its creator or, heavens forbid, an artificial intelligence much like herself?
This was why she began analysing any and all information she could attain indirectly. Maybe her fears were entirely unfounded, the conspicuous details of 'Cain's' mannerisms the result of a power of some kind, but she couldn't risk it.
And this 'World In A Cup' painting, as it was already dubbed on certain forums? It certainly didn't alleviate her concerns.
Legend took a sip of his coffee, carefully eying the parahuman on the screen.
"Archetypal skies is such an incredibly broad theme specifically because the sky is just very hard to pin down any one exact way, so please excuse me if I sidestep the problem in this a little."
Well, he, for once, wasn't going to begrudge him that one. Legend was no great connoisser of fine art, his calling in life as a hero, a symbol for others not allowing much in terms of leisure, which he prioritized on spending with his husband and son, but even he could see the man knew what he was doing.
Watching as a deftly assembled starry sky was overpainted by a trio of rough constellations and watching as the explanation of how to best dilute certain colors for specific effects came along, he found himself nodding along.
He fancied himself a people person more times than not, and he could see how Cain was working his charm in. The man was dangerous in the way he could influence his viewers... and he wasn't just saying that due to his scarce clothing revealing a perfectly muscled body.
He was happily married, thank you very much. Oh, and speaking of which, it looked like an alert just came in. Time to dispense his 'gay agenda', as his power was sometimes called.
He just found it hilarious.
Before he could go, though, he saw the next picture taking form, having zoned out on the video for a moment, and reflexively clenched his fist.
Seems this will require in-depth analysis, after all.
"Remember, however, that this is an entirely artistic streaming channel. Painting with Cain does not condone the destruction of human civilization in any forms. With the disclaimer done, time to draw!"
Contessa switched screens, looking up the definition of every single word and assembling a closer understanding of the disclaimer in precise detail. This was important, insofar as his precise wording may betray more about his exact intentions.
Her power did not work on him directly, but it worked for this purpose, circumventing whatever effect he was using! Genius.
Valefor watched the device with no small measure of satisfaction, their fellow believers and conscripted provisional members achieving success in turning the attention the strange man received towards the Gods.
"By the way, there aren't any Fallen sneaking into the polls, are there? I believe in freedom of religion as much as the next guy, but I certainly can't have anyone trying to sneak in on my turf."
So he was telling them to stay off his lawn, huh? Very well. They weren't planning to physically advance towards his reported location at the time, anyways.
For now.
After asking Mama, of course.
"I'm a little surprised you guys would want me to draw Eidolon, I'd think he has more than enough official promo artwork flying around, but hey, I won't complain. Whatever floats your boat. Bit too straightforward from a costume design perspective, if you ask me, but not everything has to be a challenge."
David couldn't help the chuckle forcing its way out of his mouth. He had to work quite hard to keep the sheer amount of promotional material for his cape persona down, thank you very much. He didn't think this was why people would vote for a picture of himself to be drawn, but it was an amazing thing to be reminded of right this moment.
And yes, perhaps a normal parahuman didn't have to challenge themselves all the time. Perhaps it was even unhealthy, the way he focused himself on his mission, his calling.
But he was and remained humanity's greatest hope against the storm brewing just out of sight, and he had to find a way to return to his prime, despite what fantasies Rebecca may be spinning.
Speaking of which, time he set his beer down and got ready for the meeting. 'Becka was going to be hilarious to poke.
Rebecca once more sat down onto her seat in the conference room they used for this purpose, once more leafing through reports she had already read and thus memorized.
"Alright, so to sum it all up? We got a few things."
David snorted, the traitorous swine, but she ignored him. He could be amused at her expense all he wanted; she'd get back at him in due time.
"To start with, World In A Cup? Pretty piece of art in a vacuum, but when viewed in the context of what we know about the Entities as well as his following work, it becomes an implicit message. 'The world is smaller than you think'."
"A notice that he is trying to say something, but more a gateway for what comes next. The next pictures?" Doctor Mother asked.
"Three constellations in the sky, highlighted as archetypical roles in a story. The three Endbringers, arranged in order of appearance from left to right. Lastly, David. There's a lot to unpack here."
"Yes, because the male stripper is surprisingly good at painting."
"Look David, if you don't want to take this seriously, you don't have to stay here."
He just raised his hands placatingly.
"To keep it short, he is clearly stating that the Endbringers are extraterrestrial in nature, not surprising, given what we know. What is perhaps more troubling is how he is implying greater knowledge about them, as well as the connection towards David implied in his last picture."
"Do you believe he may be trying to tell us something about David's power, perhaps how he can recover his full strength as a way to combat them more effectively?"
"Perhaps. Hard to say with what we have so far, and it may be a while before he picks up that 'line of conversation' again."
David, who she could see what holding back laughter, and he knew she could, raised a hand.
"You do remember he doesn't actually choose what he draws? Literally everything was decided through votes this time."
Rebecca scoffed.
"Don't be naive, David. Of course the votes are manipulated. Heck, I had people manipulating the vote for the Endbringers theme myself, and it was readily apparent someone else was also doing so. Cain is trying to tell us something."
Putting on a casual outfit to look the part of the rich boyfriend, though that shirt is a bit tight on you (dammit Kate), you put on a few of your smiles as you pose in front of the mirror before deciding on alternating between 'smarmy smile #3' and 'smug smile #5' as the situation demands.
Perfect. You are ready.
Taking a sec to clear things up with Sarah, you walk on over to her room (on actual foot, rather than just shadowing, of course) and politely knock on her door.
Opening it, you are treated to the sight of Sarah in a dark blue blouse and form fitting skinny jeans, a white shirt providing contrast underneath the former with some designer jacket slung around her shoulders above it. Added to this, she's got a pair of sunglasses sitting on her lightly made up face.
Also, heeled shoes. You have no idea about brand names and such, never having had much opportunity to get into fashion, but she really went all-out for this.
"Hey Sarah, hope I didn't keep you waiting?"
"Oh, you did, Gabe, but it's alright. I'll forgive you as long as you satisfy me on this little... outing."
"Very well, then. Let's get going, I got us a cab... time to hit the boardwalk."
"And what will we do on tourist trap central?"
"Why, go shopping of course." At her subtle look, you elaborate. "I know you must've went there at least a few times, but how often did you do that knowing you could have me buy up the entire boardwalk in an afternoon? We're going there to wave around fat stacks of cash first, actual shopping second."
Sarah hooks herself into the crook of your arm, all smiles. "As I said, all's forgiven. Let's go already!"
Man, you sure are happy you remembered to have Henley set up a credit card with a few mil in case you needed it. May be that the time has come.
Stepping out and politely coming around to open the door of the fancy sedan you rented as a taxi for this, you help a giggling Sarah to her feet.
"Some cab you called us, here."
"What can I say, only the best for the best." Smiling at Sarah, you keep hold of her hand as you lead her towards the tackiest accumulation of tourist traps in this whole city.
Granted, the only real competition are, like, one or two malls you can think of, but Brockton Bay being Brockton Bay doesn't change the facts.
"Say, where shall we go first? We have all night, if you want us to."
"Let's go to that cafe first, Le Fabe, it's got great coffee and reviews online."
"Perfectly alright with me." You shrug. Not like you had any deeper plans beyond 'go boardwalk, do date', so Sarah having a concrete idea of what she wants to do suits you fine.
Sauntering down the boardwalk arm in arm, the two of you attract more than just a little attention, glances thrown your way by a wide variety of demographics. You're a little worried Sarah might be bothered by it for a moment, but then you recall what a little diva she can be sometimes.
Yeah, she's just soaking up the attention like a sponge.
Chuckling a little, it isn't long before the both of you arrive at the cafe in question, quickly being ushered towards a two-seater table at the windows. You can't help but smirk a little at the obvious usage of the two of you, but hey, you won't begrudge the management the urge to show Sarah off.
Fuck knows you are having fun doing just that.
Ordering a coffee each, you and Sarah peruse the menus for a moment as you keep up idle conversation, making sure to show off for your surroundings.
You aren't going to go so far as to say that everyone turned to stare in comolete silence the moment the two of you entered, but ambient sounds certainly took quite a nosedive, and you're earning more than your fair share of stares, though most people around are at least trying to hide the way they're staring.
That's right people, this little sister here is adorable!
Smiling happily, you ask Sarah what you should order next, though you settle on the tiny short cakes she swears by and the chocolate mousse, just because it's in the upper pricing ranges.
Once your coffees have arrived and your orders have been received, you first add a little milk from the little creamer that came with it, along with a package of sugar.
"Still can't take your coffee straight?" Sarah asks with a teasing smile as she carefully spoons the froth atop her coffee into her mouth. A little embarassed, you begin lightly pouting in response.
"Not everyone likes black coffee, it's perfectly normal." Also, is it just you or did your surroundings just hold their breath before launching into renewed whispers?
Must've been Sarah's smile.
"Hey Gabe, you see those three by the corner?" Sarah whispers, indicating the direction with a flicker of her eyes.
"White, black and whiter?" You ask, referring to the three teenage girls you can see out of the corner of your eyes easily enough.
"Yup. Pretty sure something's up with them."
"I mean, blackie's been visibly agitated since before we came in, may just be that." Speaking up at normal volume, you move your head to smile at the waitress. "Oh, look, the pastries have arrived. Just in time, too."
Going all maximum manners, you politely nod towards the waitress in thanks as she deposits the sweets in front of you.
Sedately lifting your fork, you cleanly seperate a bit from one of the short cakes, blueberry flavored if your sense of smell doesn't betry you... but when you look at Sarah's pleading look, you just can't resist.
With a teasing smile of your own this time, you hold the bite up to her mouth. "Go on, eat it. That's what it's here for."
Sarah stares at you, blushing a little... but still, she obediently opens her mouth to envelop your fork, slowly chewing what you're feeding her.
"What're you all hesitant about? There's a lot of mousse to get through yet."
Sarah just whimpers cutely. Oh, you just HAVE to tease her harder now!
Keeping your attention where it belongs, that is, on Sarah as the two of you continue to work on the desserts. She tried to pick up her own cutlery and start a counter-offensive by feeding you instead, but you just confused her by eating the next bite herself, alternating between eating yourself and feeding Sarah from there on.
She also started letting out cute little noises, such as 'Mmgh!', 'Mnh...' and even a few 'Auh's here and there. Apparently, it didn't help how you started quietly telling her she was your little princess midway through.
Really, you should be doing this more often.
Eventually, however, after you order a lavacake and some lemon tarts to keep on feeding the both of you (though you have to wink twice, the waitress is busy with her phone for a moment), you start to notice Sarah isn't eating quite cleanly; she has a few crumbs stuck next to her mouth, too flustered to notice.
This will not do, you think with a downright evil smirk.
Everyone else seems to be realizing something is about to happen, the entire audience waiting with baited breath for your next move.
Sarah looks on like a deer caught in the headlights as you stretch out your hand... and wipe the crumbs from her mouth, with your thumb.
"Do I need to be more careful when I feed you again?" You smirk at her, idly licking the crumbs off your finger.
Sarah, of course, goes red immediately, recalling the time when Little Sarah, back when Sarah couldn't quite pronounce your name yet, and also demanded to be fed on the regular, but also carefully.
Being a big brother was so rewarding in moments like these.
"W-We both know that doesn't count and never did!"
"Sure, sure. Now say 'Aaahh'." When Sarah pouts and turns away this time instead of eating her sweets, you can't help but chuckle as you begin poking her mouth with your other hand.
"Stop it!"
"Never."
"Stop it or I'll bite your fingers!"
Picking up a lemon tart whole by hand this time, you poke her with it instead.
"Oh, but you'd never bite the hand that feeds you, would you? You're a good little sister, after all."
Grumbling and munbling something about a 'Stupid Gabey', Sarah returns to eating what you give her, much to your happy smiles. Of course, this way of eating also produces much more crumbles sticking to her, but you've already established a way to deal with that, haven't you?
Also, why does everyone keep on pointing their phone cameras at you? Not like there's much to see, and they should've just gotten Sarah's cuteness out of their systems by now.
Sarah just sighs as she peers up at your face.
Scooping up the last of your parfait, you push it into Sarah's mouth as you contemplate that yes, maybe you really did overdo it, after all. Ah well, nothing for it.
Signaling the waitress you'd like to pay, you don't have to wait long despite her regretful look. You can understand, really, if you weren't in a position to keep Sarah all to yourself, you'd be contemplating kidnapping her, too.
She's just too cute.
Still, best get on with this. The bill is rather expansive, though a generous discount has been applied for some reason- it couldn't be that Sarah's loveliness has literally reduced prices, could it? Still, you proceed with your initial plan to double up on the bill as a tip.
"Keep the rest." You casually say as you languidly put a few hundred dollar bills on the table, quietly happy you remembered to bring cash just for this purpose.
Style.
Sarah, generally happy again by now through the power manyfold sweets tend to have over young ladies, once more hooks herself into your arm once you're both ready to leave.
Well, it wouldn't be a real date without clothes shopping, would it?
"And this, and this, ooh, and I have to try this on! Can you still hold all this, Gabe?"
"I'm alright." Comes your muffled voice from within the small mountain of clothes you have found yourself in.
"Good. We still need to pick out your clothes."
On second thought, you may have overestimated your ability to keep up with this. You're supernaturally strong, but simple physics says that you still need leverage to move all this stuff around.
Curse you, physics!
"You look beautiful, as always, really. Color's a little off, though. Maybe see if there's any similar ones in another tone?"
"Gotcha."
Sitting in front of the changing room, the bench you're on placed there specifically for this purpose, you do your divinely ordained duty.
"This one looks cute, you should definitely wear it. maybe as a casual wear thing?"
That is, praising your sister and calling her cute and/or beautiful as many times as possible without becoming repetitive. He was actually doing rather well, in his humble opinion.
"Shows a bit too much skin. Definitely would keep you to myself in this."
Ooops, were you teasing your sister again? Ah well, nothing you could do about it. Your other divinely ordained duty had to be fulfilled as well, after all.
She still did pack the backless dress into the 'keeping' pile despite her blush, though.
All good things must come to an end, however, and in this case, that was when Sarah declared she was "Finished!" and began ushering you into your own changing room, piling the clothes she wanted you to try on into it.
"I'd ask if you're sure I really have to try all of this on if I wasn't sure of the answer anyways."
As you idly keep up the conversation through the changing room's door, you begin methodically reorganizing the pile of clothes you have to work with today. At least they'll all look good, you suppose.
Sarah picked them out for you, after all.
"You be glad I held back, Gabe. My respect for your feelings is all that kept me from making you try on twice as many clothes."
"Duh. Not like we have an actual budget to start with."
Are you bluntly reminding Sarah of things that make her happy? Maybe.
Are you ashamed of pulling something that obvious? Not at all.
Adjusting the shirt one last time, you step out of the changing room to let Sarah look over you in a nice red shirt, some fancy jacket and skinny jeans of your own.
"Oh, this looks great on you! We should definitely get it all."
"Alright, keeping this outfit, then."
And so it goes, you changing from outfit to outfit, Sarah insisting you buy... nearly all of them, really. As you do so, however, a small crowd assembles near the changing rooms, eerily reminiscent of the way everyone stared at the two of you in the cafe.
I-It can't be that Sarah's charm is this powerful, can it? Then again, though, it's Sarah you're talking about. Hmm...
Still, may as well give the people a show while they're here already, maybe distract them from Sarah a little. Thus it happened that you began demonstratively walking out of your stall, striking a few poses and showing yourself from several angles.
Sarah seems to appreciate it, at least, smiling happily and clapping her hands every now and then. Totally worth it.
Over time, though, the clothes you have to try on get a little more... suggestive. Tighter and tighter shirts, shorts, the works. Pretty much anything you could imagine being worn without being outright lewd in public. Still you persevere, given the way Sarah's eyes lit up every time you come out.
When you find yourself holding a bloody speedo of all things, though, you hesitate.
Well, if this is how it's gonna be, then this is just how it's gonna be. You've started this, time to end it, too.
It is with this determination that you strip yourself down entirely and promptly put on that damn speedo... only to be brought short by a significant obstacle.
You, uh... You don't fit.
Seriously, no matter what you try to do, your junk doesn't fit inside. Something always pokes out, no matter how much you try adjusting the thing.
Well, shit.
Poking your (naked) torso out the door (much to the audible delight of parts of the audience), you speak the words that seemingly halt time for everyone present.
"I tried it on, but that speedo is just too small. Can't get it to fit."
Amidst perfect silence, Sarah tilsts her head, closes her eyes for a second and puts on a determined look.
"Alright, Gabe. That's alright. I'll help you make it fit."
The silence now taking on a stunned tone instead, Sarah gets up, walks over to you and pushes you inside, following right after herself.
"Help me make it fit, huh? And how do you figure that?"
"By giving everyone watching and listening a show, obviously. If it's too large to fit, I just have to get it smaller again."
"Bold of you to assume I'd ever fit inside this thing."
Biting her lip, Sarah looks up at you.
"Well, show me I'm wrong then." Not waiting for you to respond, Sarah keeps matching your gaze with hers as she places her hand on the impeding piece of cloth, slowly pulling it down and away from you.
She gasps when your cock, slowly hardening, is freed for her viewing pleasure.
"My, is that what all this has been from the start? A convoluted scheme to get me naked just for you?"
"Shut up and let me enjoy the moment, Gabe."
You dutifully shut up.
In short order, you and Sarah have her stripped naked, straddling your lap and making out as you sit on that little bench, your clothes scattered to your sides or on the ground, forgotten.
Hands roaming each other's bodies, you look deep into each other's eyes as Sarah carefully takes hold of your dick as it rests against her lower body, stroking it leisurely as you return the favor, laying a finger against her clit as you gently play with her bald pussy.
"You know, I think I always wanted this."
"Oh?"
"Yup. Who could ever measure up to my Big Gabey in any way? You spoiled me too much."
"Oh my, I'd best take responsibility, then."
"You really mean it?"
You just kiss her by way of responding. From how she wraps her arms around you in a hug, you think Sarah got the idea.
Heh. Sorry Little Sarah, Big Gabey just wasn't ever going to do anything you weren't prepared for... though maybe waiting until she explicitly went for you was a bit much.
And here she goes, lifting herself up little by little. Aww, Little Sarah's all grown up now, isn't she?
Come to think of it, being her boyfriend means you don't need to murder any boyfriends for daring to touch her. Two birds with one stone and all that.
Placing your head at her entrance, Sarah glides down your length, swallowing it up into her tight little pussy with a loud, drawn-out sigh, clinging to you as she seats herself on your lap.
"Careful, they might hear you."
"Fuck that, I want them to hear me. I'm claiming you, Gabe, and I want the whole word to know."
"Oh? Gonna tell the others, too, then?"
"Heck yeah. I'll tell everyone I'm your first wife now. We're gonna have a whole council of Gabriel's wives going in no time, just you wait, with cute little pets for everyone, too."
"I can't help but think you may be taking to this a little too well."
"I can finally, finally have sex without cringing hard enough to kill it. You better bet I'm gonna have all the fun now. Now shut up and fuck me, Gabe!"
"At your command." Grinning at your cute little sister-wife, if that's what she wants this to be, you bend down to lavish kisses and licks onto her nipples as you grasp her waist to assist her in riding your lap.
Sarah, naturally, immediately sets to moaning and grunting cutely, making no secret of what's going on inside your stall. You just hug her towards you, now peppering her neck with kisses as you settle into methodically fucking your sister for all you're worth.
It soon becomes apparent that two vampires with entirely unlimited stamina can have sex for about as long as they want to, presumably until they need to feed, anyways.
What this means is that neither of you are tiring. Where a normal couple might keep an intense pace for a few minutes at most, you and Sarah can keep on going at each other for arbitrary amounts of time.
"Uhm, sir? We do not condone people using the changing rooms in this manner."
And here you go, someone finally called an employee after, what, twenty minutes of readily apparent sex going on in here?
"Oh, go jill off!" Is all that Sarah responds with, immediately having the woman turn around and fuck off.
"Someone's been busy training, I see."
You just pat her head as you thrust into her from behind. "Someone's been improving, I see."
"I may have been busy with paperwork, but not that busy. Also, YES! HARDER!"
Chuckling a little, you speed up again, letting the clap of flesh on flesh tell the story for everyone outside.
"Laying it on a bit thick, aren't you?"
"Hey, if they're attending the show, they may as well get something out of it."
Lifting her upwards with both hands, you press a kiss on her cheek.
"Whatever you say, my little princess."
Aww, she's immediately getting flustered!
Thoroughly tongue-wrestling with your adorable sister as you bounce her up and down, stading with her clinging to you, you groan as you fill Sarah up once more, breaking through the big fifty by now.
"Hey Sarah... We've been at this for... a while now. Think we should wrap it up and continue back at the bunker?"
"Mhm... Okay. But you gotta promise we're doing butt stuff then, okay? It's on my list of things to try out."
"Why do you have a list of things to try out?"
"Hey, I had some time since my power didn't clamjam me anymore. You have a looot of work to do before I've crossed everything on it."
Chuckling a little, you once more muss up her hair (not that you do much damage on that account at this point) and let her down.
"Actually... how much of these clothes are still salvageable, do you think?"
"Are you kidding? We're taking them all, and if the smell never goes out, I'll just take them myself."
You just shake your head with an indulgent smile. "Let's pack this all up, pay and then get home already."
The atmosphere turns a little awkward as step out, a bunch of clothes with the cum stains hidden the best you could balled up, but you don't let it bother you as you bring a cute little Sarah with visibly ruffled hair with you to the checkout.
People are filming. Good. Everyone must know, after all.
It isn't much longer until you're back in that fancy sedan of yours, being driven back to the bunker. Sarah's cuddling into you much more blatantly than when you came, naturally, but you just hug her towards you.
"I wonder how many videos of us are going to be online by now."
"I mean, we can check together once we're back."
Interlude: Elswhere...
"Look, I still think we really need some test subjects for this. Inducing a state similar to dementia is easy enough, so what's the holdup?"
"The holdup, Nolan, is that it's a giant pain to actually get people down here, and the 'dolls' you've made before are reserved as His blood supply. The fact that I don't have to watch you torture people is just an added bonus."
"Man, you just don't geddit, do ya? It's literally impossible to actually do this without some way to verify our solutions work. If the bossman wants us to develop this cure thingy, there's just no way 'round that."
"I literally have your knowledge base right now, like hell we can't do at least some preliminary work. Heck, that's what we've been doing so far!"
"Yeah, but that ain't... wait a sec."
"Oh, what is it now."
"Well, shit, I can't be-fucking-lieve it, but I think we can keep on going still. Ah just got, like, the weirdest trip ever."
"We can't actually get high anymore, Nolan."
"Shh, shh, shh. I got, like, some weird-ass 'lucination, here, but I think it's a powah thing. I can, like, figure out exactly how stuff makes stuff happen inside people."
"... This is going to be either great or the greatest pain, ever."
In a certain place (fairly) far underground, a pair of brother and sister was indulging in the simple pleasures of life.
That is, the female of the pair was impaling herself on her brother's cock, sitting in his lap as the two of them browsed the internet for any footage of their activities that night.
And they found some, easily enough. Apparently, they had successfully gained a lot of attention at every turn, spawning discussion threads such as 'Cuteness Couple Overload' or 'Nameless Hottie Appears' in local boards.
Of course, with attention came scrutiny, and the topic of their outing had enough of such that a variety of lip-reading experts and software were used to divine the words they spoke quietly while out of range of any cameras brought to bear.
This, combined with the videos and soundbites of their rather 'enthusiastic' shopping trip, specifically the time they spent inside a certain changing room, spawned enough Alabama jokes to choke up any actual discussion for a day straight.
Both of them were rather smug about this.
Bidding Sarah farewell- much as you'd like, you can't realistically spend every moment of the night with her- you first review the progress your souls made, only to find that Nolan has, apparently, improved upon his weird mishmash of powers, having gained the ability to model what would happen to an organism when subjected to his treatments.
Interesting, but mostly in the sense that he ran the models for their work so far and basically kept on trying subtle variations until they worked. That did mean he apparently had to keep first inducing dementia in his model of Yoshi repeatedly, a fact he was quite happy to share with him, much to Yoshi's exasperation.
Anyways, that's that done, so you'll just desummon them and get your training souls out while you get on that ability to accurately return to dimensions you've been to before, rather than just the very last one.
"Why do you have to put fusion technology literally everywhere?"
"It's cheap and easy to access with most resource bases I find myself with, that's why. Duh."
"Do you know- of course you know how dangerous this technology could be if it were to reach the wrong hands."
"Depends on how you define 'wrong hands'. Case in point, I probably shouldn't be given this much power with my general state of mind from a moral perspective. Too bad I don't give a fuck."
Taking a moment to make use of your daily fusion, you step towards the edge of the River, causing the Siren to surface and regard you with neutral curiosity.
A quick description of what you want later, the Maid brings you two former smiths, who are then promptly thrown into the River, only to be chucked out once more as one.
You don't waste much time with the newly formed Stongid, instead leaving him be for the moment and exiting your inner world to send a message at three people you consider very special.
Alright, this is a general message I am sending out to all three of you, Kate, Nora, Sarah. I am planning to return to Nora's home dimension shortly, and I wanted to ask if you want to come along.
Oh, you can take all of us now? Count me in.
Sure, may as well get back to that searching for my son business.
Gladly, Gabe.
Alright, that's that taken care of. Next on your to-do-list, time to unload a few more mage souls.
Giving this batch of the girls the same spiel as the first one, you breathe the mage souls out into the room and onto them without much theatre once you managed to bring them all into one room.
For general ease of understanding, you also made sure a few of the girls part of the first batch are also present and ready to explain any details you can't be arsed with. You do blatantly ignore the way a few of them immediately describe how they can abuse their souls, of course, you don't really care what they do with them so long as they don't waste them.
Also, Ethan is immediately smitten with the slightly muscly guy you bound to him. Looks like you chose correctly, after all.
Now then, with your work here done, time to get back to training... though you don't see anything against paying Nora a quick visit before that.
Interrogating the newly refined soul as to its newly named capabilities, you spontaneously rename it Vectyon (not like you cared about its name up to now) as a pun and desummon it after instructing it to refer to itself as such from now on.
Time to take your usual snack and decide on what to do tonight.
"Alright, that's everyone. You all ready?"
"Yup."
"I already know I'll pop up buck naked."
"I'm just looking forward to shooting something again."
"Perfect, then. All of you grab a hold of me, and we can go."
It was but a quiet pop of displaced air later that Gabriel, his spawn and his two thralls vanished for less than a moment.