Head start

By: Cherico

[NSFW] - Head start by Cherico

Status: ongoing

Published: 2020-12-08

Updated: 2021-05-26

Words: 250753

Chapters: 376

Original source: https/forum./threads/13594

Exported with the assistance of

Head start

Introduction

Zodiac 'Zoe' Zimmerman

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Officer Colson

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Harry Zimmerman

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Jamie Rinke

Power girl

Heba

Naka

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Harry Zimmerman

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Betty Zimmerman

Cynthia White PRT

PRT

Eidolon

Emily Piggot

Zoe

Zoe

Taylor Hebert

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Jason

Annette Hebert

Zoe

zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Greg Veder

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Heba

Zoe

Lord Zig

Jamie Rinke-cannoned

Harry Zimmerman

Heba

Annette Herbert

Zoe

Zoe

BBC

Zoe

Damned soul

Eidolon

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Skidmark

Power girl

Heba

Zoe

cannoned christmas episode.

Zoe

Miss militia

Zoe

Zoe

Betty Zimmerman

Zoe

Joe Randall

Amy Dallon

Skidmark

Zoe

Amy Dallon

PRT Agent Mike Browning

Zoe

Zoe

Sarah Pelham

Zoe

Zoe

Mike Browning

Zoe

Carol Dallon

Armsmaster

Lord Zig

Zoe

Timmy canoned

Zoe

Zoe

Greg Veder

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Fugaku

Zoe

Zoe

Greg Veder

Greg Veder

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Amy Dallon

Zoe

Carol Dallon

Zoe

Annette Hebert

Annette Hebert

Zoe

Zoe

Damsel of distress

Zoe Barnes

Zoe

Amy Dallon

Zoe

Zoe

Karen Star

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Alura Zor-el

Amy Dallon

Zoe

A city state on Krypton

King superman

Zoe

Krieg

Amy Dallon

Zoe

Elsa

Korra

Amy Dallon

Zoe Barnes- house wife

Zoe

Zoe

coil

Zoe

Prince Hans

elsa

Alexandra

Karen Star

Korra

Sasuke Uchiha

Ino Yamanaka

cannoned conversation

Winter

Cannoned

Elsa

Asami Sato

Korra

Zoe

Korra

Jack Slash

Zoe

Zoe

Winter Schnee

Ino Yamanaka

Ino Yamanaka

chill out time

Orochimaru

Ozpin

Heartbreaker

Zoe

Alexandria

Danny Hebert

Hinata Hyuga

Zoe

Grand admiral sloane

Greg Veder

Zoe

Ino Yamanaka

Korra

Ino cannoned

Taylor Hebert

Dan Seneca

Zoe

Zoe

Grand Admiral Sloane

Taylor Hebert

Taylor Hebert

Taylor Hebert

Ino Yamanaka

Raven

2b

Elsa

Devola

Zoe

Zoe

Hermione Granger

Zoe

Tali

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Kylo Ren

Kylo Ren

Saren Arterius

Zoe

Rael Zorah

Zoe

Mordin Solus

Kylo Ren

Rae Sloane

Rae Sloane

Rae Sloane

Amy Dallon

Zoe

2b

cannoned conversation

Raven

Zoe

Zoe

Asami sato

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Glory girl

Amy Dallon

Trigon

Raven

Zoe

Ino Yamanaka

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Costa Brown

Taylor Hebert

Winter

Omake

Ino

Grue

Zoe

Zoe

Costa brown

ABB member

Arthur Watts

Taylor Hebert

Ino

Zoe

Zoe

Wrex

Korra

Wrex

Taylor Hebert

Emma Barnes

Comander white

Zoe

Zoe

Lord Zig

Zoe

Taylor Hebert

Zoe

The company fucks everyone cannoned

Zoe

Zoe

Lord Zig

Emma Barnes

Emma Barnes

Hinata

Zoe

Hermione Granger

Tali

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Korra

Zoe

Amy Dallon

Orochimaru

Zoe

Power girl

interview

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Life in the game

Zoe

Wrex

Simon Sanchez

The SD

Hermione Granger

Amy Dallon

Zoe

Zoe

Emma Barnes

Zoe

Leviathan

Elsa

Lord Zig

Zoe

Mordin

Taylor Hebert

D147

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Heba

Zoe

Hinata

Winter

Ino

Road warrior

Zoe

Amy Dallon

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Emma Barnes

Harry Zimmerman

Glaistig Uaine

Zoe

Zoe

Raven

Zoe

The flash

For Zoat

Zoe

Ino

Winter

Kite man

Zoe

Winter

General Ironwood

Zoe

Wrex

Yang

Blake Belladonna

tali

Zoe

Danny Hebert.

Emma Barnes

Glynda Goodwitch

Zoe

Salem

Company notes

Yangs mom

Legion

Winter

Glynda Goodwitch

Ruby Rose

Zoe

Zoe

Phasma

Zoe

Systems alliance

Zoe

Kylo Ren

Zoe

Zoe

Heba

Slut life worker

Yang

Zoe

Aoba Yamashiro

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Zoe

Emma Barnes

Quarian historian

Glynda Goodwitch

The end

Zodiac 'Zoe' Zimmerman


Zodiac 'Zoe' Zimmerman

The man stumbled around the darkness.

"Tyron Brown."

He looked up at me.

"Mother fucking crow can talk."

I sighed.

"Yeah….I got some bad news for you."

"Must be dreaming."

"No… no your um dead, very dead, speaking as some one who has done the death thing its pretty much final."

"Nah man I was taking those peckerwoods down like a mother fucken champion."

This was a lie, he pretty much missed every shot.

"You really didn't gangster style isn't an effective way to fight."

He shrugged.

"So how did I die bullets, gernades? Did they need a motherfucking cape to finish me off?"

"You didn't pay attention to the road and got hit by an Asian soccer mom."

He blinked.

"Well fuck don't that beat all, so I'm going to heaven now and shit? Bet Jesus has the best blunts."

This part was always the worse.

"No, no your really not, going to be honest with you man normally you would be going to hell."

"Da fuck? But I have been a righteous mother fucker."

"You got killed while running away from a robbery."

He waved his hands.

"Its nothing serious."

"You killed 3 people during a drive by Tyrone."

"They had it coming, fucking Nazi's man."

"I'm pretty sure the 3 year old you killed wasn't a Nazi."

He blinked.

"Oh shit… so yeah… fuck I'm going to hell."

He looked around the inky blackness.

"Normally yes..but I work for some one who eats souls and well yours is on the menu."

"That is BULLSHIT."

"Well its a choice between oblivion and enternal torture and punishment so you know… lesser of two evils here."

"Yall cant eat my soul."

"Um I wont be doing that, it will be the people I work for that does the actual eating. I know this doesn't help but its nothing personal."

"The fuck it isnt personal."

"Hey I have debts to pay, and If I don't pay them back well better you then me."

He looked paniced.

"There is a way out of it."

"How?"

"You have to repent and mean it I mean really repent for everything all of the murder, theft and violence."

He looked up.

"OK I'm sorry big guy really fucked up their man my bad."

A portal opened and a tentical grabbed him Tyrone screamed as he was dragged into a gaping maw and then there was silence.

"He didn't mean it."

I opened my eyes and looked around the crib, the little toy animals floated above my head.

"1799 more souls to go."



Zoe


Zoe

Class: Warlock, pact of the great old one.

Strength-12

Dexterity-12

Constitution-13

Intelligence-14

Wisdom-13

Charisma-14

background: haunted one

Skills, Arcana, investigation, deep speech, Alchemy, deception, intimidation, light armor, simple weapons.

Feat: aberrant dragon mark

Cantrips- minor illusion, eldritch blast, prestidigation

spells- unseen servant, harvest.

I'm also a Thyrsus and have two spheres in life, spirit and mind. It's the more thinky part of my powerset, I have to be real careful when I try using it for things outside of that part.

"Hello Zoe, are you hungry?"

I point to my mouth and she brings out a bottle, there isn't a whole lot of dignity in my new life style but I've honestly been put through worse. Dying then being experimented on for 5 years and then joining the company puts things into perspective.

I look up at her and point at my mouth, she smiles and brings out a bottle, I don't whine as she picks me up.

"You know, Zoe? they told me that I was infertile, that I could never have a baby."

She smiled as she rocked me back and forth.

"Going to be honest, I was worried. I mean, that weird birth mark on your back…"

I froze and stopped drinking.

"The fact that you're so quiet…"

Fuck! Did she figure it out? fuck fuck fuck.

"But then again you're my little miracle baby so I guess that's to be expected."

She kissed me on my forehead and I continued drinking, my secret was still safe. My mother started blathering on about chakras, my sign, and the stars. My new mother was into the new age stuff and honestly that was a mistake. She played around with forces she didn't understand and that created an opening for me to get here. Then again I had made the same mistake, so I guess we were alike in that way.

I closed my eyes and then focused, opening them and scanning her as best I could. My mother had Ovarian cancer before she had me, lost her left set, the cancer treatments should have and did leave her sterile. I frowned as I noticed the little dip near her stomach. The cancer wasn't gone, it was just in remission. I took a deep breath and focused my mana into her, trying to bind it and break it down. I watched as the cancer shrank, it never went away though.,

I didn't want the woman to die. She may have looked at the world with unfocused eyes, was kind of oblvious and was a new age kook but she was a decent enough person. When I was stronger, when I was more powerful, I'd get rid of the cancer entirely. For now all I could do was keep it at bay.

"You know I always feel a little better after doing this."

She kissed my head and put me into a stroller. I was 3 months old and I was going outside.



Zoe


Zodiac Zimmerman (Zoe)

I live in a small town of maybe 5,000 people. Its industries are one movie theater, a small community college of little importance that's kept afloat by a slightly better than average nursing program, and of course a Maximum security prison that employs most of the men here. Though that is outside city limits. I know of it and have been searching for it but my current circumstances kind of limit me.

"Ok, Zoe, just stay still a bit and you can go play."

I give my mother a smile and don't make a fuss as she slathers my face with sunscreen. I am placed in a sandbox, I'm more or less alone and my mother brings out one of her books on the occult. Another mom arrives with her children, sees my mother, and puts her children on the other side of the sand box. I looked around and grabbed a small stick and started drawing a circle around me.

"Give me the stick, stupid baby."

I looked up at the kid and locked eyes with him and then spoke into his brain with telepathy.

"Leave or I will devour your soul."

The little boy looked at me and screamed, fleeing back to his mother. I continued the circle writing in deep one speech and then put just a tiny bit of mana, I went limp and looked at my body. My silver cord was intact so I rushed through a weak part of the gauntlet and into the wildlands, from there I flew with a mania driven by raw rage.

Then I created a portal and I was back in a very familiar office, a woman with too much plastic surgery and elf ears looked at me.

"Who are you?"

"Z38, I'm in acquisitions."

"Take a number."

I sat down and looked around. There were some happy people, some sad, and a few others with the same disgruntled looks. I had a demon sat next to me who wore a suit and had small horns, he looked at me.

"Acquisitions?"

"Yeah."

"You new too?"

"Yes, I work for class C acquisitions you?"

"Class C?"

He grimaced.

"You mean the tentacle and sea monster branch?"

"You're literally a demon."

He shrugged.

"Class A may have a lot of problems, but it's not screaming insanity of the far realm. I mean it sucks but it makes sense."

"By that logic you could have gone to class B."

"Class B doesn't have a retirement program in case of death… and it is fairies, man! Fuck dealing with that shit, at least with demons you know where you stand."

He got up and walked over, the receptionist drank another sip from her slut life mug and I waited.

"Z38, it's your turn."

I got up and walked into the office and then struggled to get onto a chair, a hentai rape orc in a suit looked at me.

"My name is Naka and I'm your caseworker. I see you got your first soul, good for you, but you know that this isn't nearly enough to pay off your debt."

"I'm here to make a complaint."

The orc sighed.

"I figured as much, what's the problem?"

"I agreed to an inconvenient starting location, not that fucking shit show you put me in."

"It's not that bad, it's a relatively safe place… you know, at the moment."

"You know what happens there!"

"Yes but it hasn't happened yet. Look… It's right near a federal prison, a place filled with damned souls so you can repay your debt faster, it's pretty small and isolated so you're less likely to break cover. It's not a bad posting for someone just starting out."

"Army of murder."

Naka shrugged.

"Ok, yes. I admit it, we did screw you over just a little."

I glared at him.

"A lot. But we really wanted to acquire that man and his abilities for the slut life corporation and this gives you plenty of motivation to go out and harvest him, doesn't it? After all… you know exactly what happens if you fail."

"Or I could escape. I still have time."

"Look… You did sign up for the headstart contract and, after five years working in the science department, you should be tough enough to handle this."

He looked at me and I just stared back.

"Fine, we will be willing to put forward a bounty on your little problem."

"I want full catalogue access or at least the rest of my points."

"You are not a member of good standing, Z38. You need at least 900 souls before I can grant that, the points you have were a loan so you could perform your duties."

I sighed.

"If it helps I'm really sorry about this, the Company fucks everyone."

I got out of my chair.

"That's the best you can do?"

"I'm sorry, Company pulled a fast one and the bounty reward is the best I can do."

"Well, thanks for trying."

I left the room and opened my eyes back in the sandbox, a child was pointing at me and screaming. I looked at a nearby sign.

"Ellisburg Park."

Screwed by the company again.



Zoe


Zoe

The company always fucks you.

After working in science department, doing secretarial work, being a lab rat, and living on MREs in a prison cell I had more or less experienced enough to know that much. I died, got captured by the ethereal services, and was offered a contract. I served five years in R and D, now I'm in Acquisitions. Should have retired, most talent retire after a year or so.

But Money, women and power… Right, you want to have it all? You have to pay your dues.

So Ellisburg's maximum security prison, it's capable of holding around 2,200 people or so and most of the criminals come from New York city. I can control a singular crow, look through its eyes and work its body. Get my magic to work through its body, finding the EP is the easy part. Turning it into a place that can harvest what I need though? Not so much.

I need to get stronger.

I look through the crow's eyes. There is a deer, they're a challenge rating of zero and are worth 10 experience points so I need to kill 30 of them to reach the next level. I would need to kill 35500 to reach maximum power. I breathe in and hit the stag with an eldritch blast. The deer stumbles and I hit it again, that kills it.

I feel a slight spark of power and then nothing.

It's all hypothetical, of course. I mean… in theory I have more time. I mean it's 1995 so I think I have 6 years before the city is devoured by an army of monsters. I can only control one crow at a time, that's the limit, but I can switch between any crow I have successfully corrupted at will.

I open my eyes. My mother snores and I whisper words and summon an unseen servant, it moves around the house and gathers ingredients before stashing them upstairs. It take a while to create the potion that will corrupt the crows but when its finished I corrupt more bird seeds and have them placed outside. I hum words and the crow comes, called by the food. Soon nothing is left and I feel my magic worming its way into their system.

Only one crow at a time, only what little magic I have. I don't have enough time, I don't have enough power. I look at my snoring mother and use what little mana I haven't spent to lock the cancer down again. Perhaps when I am stronger I can cure it entirely but for now I live inside my limitations and fear for the future.



Zoe


Zoe

"Where da fuck am I? Motha fucka's I will rip you apart, I will-"

"Richard X, or should I call you by your actual name Tanzi Bagchi?"

The man blinked.

"I don't know what da fuck you're talking about! I am from Harlem, I am the hardest brother that you will ever see."

"You were born in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Your parents moved to the United States for a better life, you are not black and to be perfectly honest in all likelyhood I have more African ancestry than you do."

The man blinked.

"What the fuck are you? And what's going on?"

"Well Tanzi, um you're dead. Remember when you tried to shank that guy? Um the guards dogpiled you and you fell on your shiv and bled out."

"Fuck."

He looked at me.

"So it looks like you were raised by pretty devoted parents, you know until your banging got them killed in a drive by."

"Only god can judge me."

I blinked.

"I'm pretty sure that isn't the case, sir. I mean you got into prison because someone judged you so that whole idea pretty much falls apart. Also you're kind of dead so this is pretty much the judgement part."

"Oh."

He stood up straight.

"So I'm going to heaven?"

"Tanzi… you stole, you beat people up, raped a 12 year old girl…"

"She said she was 18!"

I blinked.

"Tanzi… I literally work for monsters who devour human souls, please… don't give me the moral high ground."

He crossed his arms.

"So you going to try to steal my soul?"

"Not the way it works, there are rules. If you repent, honestly repent, you can avoid this."

"And if I don't?"

"Well normally you would go to hell, Tanzi, but if you don't repent… well your soul gets eaten and you stop existing."

He looked at me.

"You think my parents are in heaven?"

I looked at an image of his memories.

"In all likelihood yeah, your parents were honest and hardworking people."

"I choose oblivion."

His voice was certain.

"Really?"

"I hated my father and I know the prick would tell me I told you so."

"So instead of repenting and going to paradise you would rather stop existing."

"Yes."

"I respect your conviction."

A portal opened and a tentacle grabbed him, he lifted two middle fingers.

"I DONT REGRET A THING MOTHER FUCKERS!"

I waved and the vision ended, I opened my eyes and winced. I felt as if I was burning as a portion of my debt was removed.

"Hello Zoe."

My father smiled at me.

"Guess what day it is, little guy?"

I don't have a damned clue.

"It's your birthday, little guy."

I'd feel a lot better about that if I could control my bladder, and walk, he picks me up and I try to remain stoic.

"I have a little bunny costume, you're going to look so cute!"

There is no dignity in my new life. I have come to accept this.



Zoe


Zoe

"Happy birthday to you!"

They're singing. Father is in a tweed jacket and looks kind of awkward, from what I can tell he teaches math at the community college. My mom's a nurse at the same college. A professor and a hippy chick, they somehow make it work but I can tell that mom's new age nonsense annoys him nearly as much as it annoys me.

"How is my little Pisces doing?"

My father visibly bites his lip.

"Yeah, sure."

I make a note to burn the photos as I am photographed in a bunny costume then I am given a cupcake and I blow out a candle after wishing for victory. The cupcake is then taken away from me because I am just a baby, making this an exercise in futility. I know they're trying to be good parents and, for my part, I try to only bother them when I need to but I still feel annoyed.

My father brings out a pen and brings out a piece of paper.

"Harry, he's a baby."

"Yes but he's our baby."

"What's 1 plus 1."

I look at the math problem he has a look of expectation on his face and my mother gives a knowing smirk as if this is a game between them. My mother's face gets just a little too smug for my taste and I decided to throw my father a bone, despite the risk to my cover.

I pick up the pen and using both hands carefully draw a number 2.

Their completely silent, my mother's eyes widen and my father nods a smile on his face.

"Well, he's definitely like his old man."

"It's just a fluke."

Ok, now I have to prove my mother wrong! It's a pride thing.

"2 plus 2."

Another piece of scratch paper.

"He doesn't understand what you're saying, Harry."

I write down a 4 and I looked up in to his face and realize that I have fucked up, I have officially created a monster. I am given more questions about math. Simple addition, and next subtraction. I have quite clearly fucked up but a certain level of pride keeps me at the task at hand. Mother stops him eventually and my father looks proud.

Like I said, I fucked up… but then again it might be for the best. I'd rather not go through elementary school again. I then feel a burning sensation on my back as my mark activates. I yawn loudly until they take me back to my crib and then I close my eyes and feel my soul get ripped out of my body.

I find myself on a chair in a suit, a woman in robes looks at me.

"Z38, this is your yearly performance review."

Fuck.

She moves her hand and looks at a glowing orb.

"Your official debt to us was 1,800 souls, as of your first year you have managed to pay back 50."

I felt myself sweat.

"I promise you I am working on it."

"I'm looking at your file, you spent the first three months learning how to summon and control crows as familiars, you spent another month looking for the prison and another 6 months burning enchantments into the prison's walls."

"It was to make soul capture easier."

"I noticed. It does allow you to hold the souls of anyone who dies in the prison for detention, but you have to understand that this doesn't even pay back the normalization core we attached to your soul."

"Why the hell does that cost 100 souls? It just makes public indecency ok."

"The normalization core is expensive because it hides you from the shard network, the lewd features are just legacy code. Point is: your first year has been very depressing for our department. We are not unit A or B, or even D. Our department doesn't deal in souls to fight a war or as a vanity project, it is to keep very powerful and very dangerous entities safely at bay or appeased. Company assets are at stake."

I clenched my hands.

"And really you know the consequences of failure, and about your time limit."

"I've been working on it."

"You could pay off your entire debt with one horrific riot, in theory."

She leaned back.

"But that's in theory. I'm going to be honest, I would prefer it if you had hit your target of 100 souls as it would have paid off the normalization core, which honestly is the most expensive part of the investment."

"And the rest of my powers?"

"They're worth around 35 souls."

I frowned.

"Well, actually, it's far less than that. Really we just grabbed a bit of eldritch goop, slapped it onto your soul, and put you through a spirit quest in a higher dimension. The core is actually the most expensive part of your power set, the only thing that really is worth the price we put into it."

She sighed.

"Then why do I have to collect so many damned souls?"

"Officially? A lot of people die, or fail or go rogue, we have a lot of investments that simply never pan out. Unofficially the company fucks everyone."

"Damn."

"Well I'm just going to send you back and you'll pay that debt because you know exactly what will happen to you if you fail. If you don't get catalogue access in time, well… that's going hurt you a lot more than it's going to hurt me."

She looked at the orb.

"Oh and congratulations on reaching level two, have you picked your invocations?"

"Mask of many faces, eldritch sight."

She nodded.

"Stealth and information gathering, not a bad choice."

"So how do I upgrade my other powers?"

"Well… your pact is your primary asset so you would need to finish that and then instead of epic boons you get to upgrade your spheres and mana… and you look angry."

"You have any idea how long that would take?"

"The-"

"Company fucks everyone, I know."

I felt tired.

"Well, that's your performance review. We are on the whole slightly disappointed in you but it's your first year and most people do even worse. My advice is to put your nose to the grindstone or you know have a plan to deal with a literal army of monsters. Bye."

I woke up in my bed feeling angry. I took deep cleansing breaths and concentrated on harvesting more souls.



Zoe


Zoe

Suggestion is a level two spell.

It's the key to my plans because right now my abilities are pretty much either limited to sensory stuff or the most subtle of magic. I can make people feel more irritable, give slight pushes and gather information. Hell, I can even make them slightly less damage resistant but I can't increase the amount of violence.

Still level 2 wasn't a complete waste of time, Remote access lets me access electronic devices around a 120 foot radius of myself or a familiar or the prison that I have slowly managed to corrupt. At first it was only blocking the souls from just going wherever and now I'm gaining influence over it on a more subtle level.

Really, it's tedious. Corrupt more crows, search for deer, bear, and boars, and when one is found go hunting. It's not nearly as easy as it sounds.

"Ok, son, just try to solve this."

Paper is put in front of me with addition, subtraction, division, multiplication. Father teaches night classes so he's able to focus on testing me. It's trying but he's so earnest about this that I can't help but try to help him out. It gets harder and I freeze as I get into highschool math, mostly because I've forgotten pretty much all of the algebra, geometry, and other crap I had in my last life. He looks disappointed as I hit my limit.

My mother leans against a wall.

"He doesn't know the answer to this."

My hands hurt.

"Harry."

"Maybe I could teach him more, I mean."

"Harry, Zoe is one year old. It's a miracle that he's able to do this much and you know it."

My father blinks.

"Right, sorry."

He rubs the back of his head.

"Still this is important."

He gets up.

"Ellisburg doesn't have enough to really help Zoe shine."

A way out of murder town?

"Well, you do have that offer from Brockton College."

My father froze.

"That place is a shit hole."

"It's a bigger city, and you would get paid more."

"It isn't safe."

Brother, we live on the outskirts of a maximum state prison and an army of monsters issue is coming up! I find it very hard to believe that this place is any safer.

"He's a one-year-old, we can afford to let him have his childhood."

I looked at them and yawned.

"He's tired, Harry, let him sleep."

"Fine."

My hippy mother picked me up and I went to a crib. I closed my eyes and I entered a crow's body. I looked down at the prison yard. A smallish man was walking past a gang, I used minor illusion to let them hear the sound of an ethnic slur. The men on edge attack as one, I hear the cracking of bone and everything goes dark.

The man looks nervously around, his soul is heavy laden with garbage, he seems so small though so helpless, what could he have possibly done to fuck up this badly.

"So, you're dead."

"Am I going to hell?"

I brought up an illusionary screen.

"Is everyone at Ellisburg a rapist?"

He shrugged.

"The prison specializes in holding sex offenders, so yeah."

Huh? Did not know that.

"Look, I didn't choose to be attracted to kids."

"You're not in trouble for that but… Oh wow, really? You put them in the basement?"

He squirmed under my sight.

"Look you have one chance repent, truly repent and."

"I didn't choose to be like this."

And the portal opens and another soul is claimed, he screams as he's taken and I shrug. I get my crows back to work, enchanting more of the prison by burning runes into it. Prisons are places of deep suffering and there is a steady flow of mana from the deaths, fights, and general madness. I don't control the prison but with each rune I gain more influence.

I feel another burning sensation, 1700 souls to go. In theory, with one prison riot of horrific enough scale, I could pay it off. It would destroy the town's economy though, they would tear this prison down and the community college just isn't enough to keep the town running. It's too small for that, doesn't offer enough classes, doesn't have enough professors nor enough funding. Elisburg is not the only town kept afloat by the prison either, there are multiple small towns that rely on it.

It's late and I watch the prisoners shuffle, I look through the cameras of the prison and follow two prisoners. They lock eyes with each other, their cells right across from each other.

"Stupid mother fucker."

"Fuck you."

"The only thing keeping you safe from me is these doors and the damned guards! The minute, the fucking minute, these doors open I am going to murder that ass."

"Fuck you! the minute these doors open I am going mother fucking animal on you."

I smile and use a spell. The doors open on their own and the two men stare at each other, now free to enact their blood feud. The man with the shaved head blinks.

"You know… the minute the guards see us in the hall they are going to beat the shit out of us."

The other man nods.

"I know."

The two men stay in their cells.

"Maybe we should call out for them?"

"Yeah, good idea."

The man tilts his head out.

"Hey! Something went wrong with the doors, can you fix it?"

A guard rushes over and the two men put their hands up and step back, they get on their knees and the guards lock the doors. They get up and look at each other.

"Hey man, um… Why are we fighting?"

The man with the shaved head shrugs.

"I bumped into you on my first day here and scuffed your shoes."

"Fuck, that's right! Yeah, if it had been in private we could have talked that shit out but you can't show weakness in the yard."

"True that… So, we chill?"

"Going to be honest, man, if we keep escalating like this one of us is going to die and… shit, dying over a pair of shoes seems kind of stupid."

"So?"

"So we chill now."

I sighed, you can't win em all.



Zoe


Zoe

The key was a strict schedule.

An Associates in arts requires 60 units you get one of those bad boys and a high school diploma is officially worthless. Classes at my father's junior college are normally worth 3-4 units. Roughly speaking I only need to pass 20 classes and I just avoid a whole nightmare of stuff. Preschool starts when I turn 5, it's taken me roughly two years to be able to walk and talk and have basic mobility again.

My father hemmed and hawed about it but pulled some strings to let me take a single summer class, because the students of professors get to learn for free and because I used puppy eyes and his own pride to let me get away with it. It might have helped that it was cheaper than daycare by quite a bit and let both of my parents go back to work.

My singular class of choice was World History with Professor Sanchez, a man who initially felt annoyed by my presence, but I had every reason and motivation to pass his class and I studied hard. I did extra credit and I paid attention, I also may have used my mind arcana to help me memorize things.

It's the last day of class and he looks at me.

"Well… students, as of today, I can honestly say my class is so easy a two-year-old can pass it."

I smiled warmly at him as he walked back and forth, showing my A.

"Now, Mr. Zimmerman, please explain to the class how you passed?"

"I paid attention to you, studied, did my homework, and did the extra credit you gave us?"

He looked around and a rather burly man looked away in shame.

"That's right, I offer extra credit. The extra credit I offer you is enough to raise your grades by one letter and yet, out of a class of 20 people, only 3 did the extra credit. Can any of you explain why?"

And now I realize that I'm basically being used to shame the people around me, still they only had to wait out the clock while I had to wait until my parents picked me up. The professor looked at me his eyes locking on mine, his aura was a serious yellow and I held my gaze.

"Your father told me you were smart."

"I um try to work hard, sir."

He put down the paper.

"I have a boy too, older than you."

Shit…

"He wouldn't be able to pass my class, not yet."

He nodded his head.

"You have potential… Have you put any thought into what you want to do in life?"

"I think it might be fun to get my associates?"

My father opens the door.

"So did Zoe pass?"

"Flying colors, Harry. Are you sure it's a good idea to work a two-year-old this hard?"

"It's just one class, and he's really smart."

"Kids need a chance to be kids."

Really don't want to spend my time with those shit goblins, thank you very much.

"Zoe has potential."

"I know but take things slow, Harry. You have a tendency to get carried away with things, and Zoe deserves to have a chance to have a childhood."

"One class a quarter won't hurt him."

60 credits to get my associates, it would take me around 5 years. It would also give me time to hunt, time to do my actual job.

"Sounds good to me."

My father ruffled my hair as the other professor frowned and I smiled. I had 4 years before an army of monsters destroyed the city, I was heavily in debt to an evil multi-dimensional corporation, I was stuck on a planet that was slated to have an apocalypse, but I had to take all of it one day at a time.



Zoe


Zoe

Life is rather monotonous.

I live by a strict schedule, get up, get dressed, eat, go with my parents to the college, take classes, do home-study, use my crows to search for prey then hunt, eat lunch with my parents, exercise. At night I use Suggestion to get the inmates of the local prison to off each other, collect souls, search for Nilbog, sleep.

I have 2 years before everything goes to shit and they're talking about closing down the prison. Apparently, they have been talking about it for a while. Really It should have been closed this year, it took a copious amount of suggestion spells on visiting regulators to keep it open but even then it's only a stay of execution for the prison.

It comes down to money and funding. The world economy is not doing well, New York City is the biggest voting block in the state while we are a small town in upstate new york. If they fuck us over to put the prison in the city it means more jobs for them thus more votes for the current government and, honestly, most people wouldn't care.

Nobody but a couple of thousand people in a town no one has heard about. I think I understand how he triggered, once the prison closes down the town will die.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you."

My abilities are not good enough to get rid of my mother's cancer, just cause it to recede or hold it at bay, however she thought the chemo killed it. She was wrong but if I had more power, I could fix it. If I had more power I could fix a lot of things. It's been two years of hunting and I haven't even reached level 5 yet.

Not enough deer, not enough wild pigs, not enough game.

My hands are sweaty as I smile, as my mother sings. They're proud of me, I know mother brags about how well I'm doing to her younger sister. Apparently, I have a cousin that I have never met in a bigger city somewhere. Mom doesn't talk about her family much, apparently there are some hard feelings there.

My father's side of the family lives on the west coast. They call but they have never visited us, we're too far away. Come to think about it my parents aren't really a part of the community, not really. I mean people know of us but I don't think either of my parents have close friends. I don't have friends my own age, and there hasn't been any real attempt by my parents to change that. We are a nation of three people. Polite to outsiders but never really letting them in.

I suppose if I didn't live in a state of existential terror I'd feel lonely.

I looked at my presents, it was mostly clothing because my parents liked to dress me up as a little professor. It was fine, except for the bow tie which I hated. To be fair I hated wearing ties in general, having something around my neck like that wasn't something I cared for. Still I would wear the damned tie for them once, today, and then never wear it again.

I yawned and ate my cake, I took a bath then my parents turned on the TV and we watched a movie. I closed my eyes.

"Welcome back, Z38."

The woman sounded annoyed, my astral form was thankfully clothed.

"I've been working on it."

"1000 souls."

Her voice was calm serious.

"The official part of the debt, the one where we hunt you down."

I held my chair with a death grip.

"The other part, the catalogue access, you only need 800 more souls rounding up to pay that off Z38. And if you decide you don't want to pay that off… well a mortal life and then consequences. You know what those consequences are, don't you?"

I looked away.

"One prison riot and it's all paid off, you become a member of good standing. Do it right and you could use your catalogue to buy some things."

I was silent.

"If I do that the prison closes."

"No matter what you do that prison will close, the town will die. All you did was give them a stay of execution, the town is doomed and you must accept it."

She waved her hand over her orb.

"Agency C has always been the high-risk, high reward, branch of acquisitions. Let us be honest, you're running out of time. You know what you have to do, Z38. That town will hurt from losing the prison but if you're not strong enough, powerful enough, they will lose their lives instead of just their homes."

I opened my eyes, I'd been put to bed by my parents during the ultimatum. My stomach felt sick as I planned for what I had to do next.



Officer Colson


Officer Colson

I looked at the dead animal.

"Third one this week."

Another wild pig killed, injuries were similar to the deers that were killed out of season.

"I fail to see how this is a problem, wild boars are a nuisance."

"They are but if you allow people to hunt them they might scatter instead of being contained like they are now."

"Is it illegal to hunt them?"

"Not currently but they are talking about it."

I looked over the wounds.

"So?"

"It wasn't caused by a firearm or an arrow."

"Tinker tech?"

"It has to be… or parahuman, that's possible too."

My partner shook his head.

"Thought the freaks stayed in the city."

I frowned.

"They can happen anywhere."

"So we call the PRT?"

I thought about it but shook my head.

"Naw."

"The law is being broken."

"It's poaching, it's not anything too serious, and I have family in New York… once the PRT gets its mitts on a place they suck up all the funding. You want to risk your job over this?"

My partner nodded his head.

"So?"

"It's just some pigs and some deers, this Parahuman is probably just some survivalist who cracked or something. Probably a harmless kook, but you push those guys into a corner…"

My partner grimaced.

"Let this go?"

"Yeah, let it go. It's just some pigs and some deers out of season, no one has been hurt."

I walked back to the patrol car and looked outside.

"'Nother death at the prison."

I shrugged.

"Heard about it, fistfight that went wrong from what I heard."

"Been a lot of incidents like that."

I bit my lip.

"Think this is all linked?"

I shook my head.

"No. I did some reading, you trigger after something went sideways in your life. Might very well be a parahuman in the prison, I doubt it but it's possible. This is far outside the prison though and shows a completely different powerset. No, if we're dealing with parahumans we are dealing with two of em."

"You don't think it's a parahuman in the prison?"

"It's a maximum-security prison, they're going to check for that shit but people die in prison fights all the time. I think we are dealing with one parahuman and now that we know we have one… well we're looking for others. It's the mind getting jumpy."

"They're thinking about closing down the prison?"

I shrugged.

"They have been talking about it for a while, hope it doesn't happen because it would basically kill the town."



Zoe


Zoe

I felt a slight burning sensation as the pigs die, and I feel options.

Mending, On/off, Acid splash. I grunt as my back feels like it's on fire, I have upgraded to the pact of the tomb and, lucky me, my book is the mark on my back. Being able to fix things, turn things off and on, and etch runes into things with Acid, will help further my plans but, most importantly, I have Suggestion now.

6 cantrips, six reliable abilities that will always be there for me. I open my eyes and find that my father is driving the car.

"Are we sure this is a good idea?"

"We can't keep putting off Zoe's vaccinations."

"But it's scary for a baby."

My father looked behind at me, I shrugged.

"I'm pretty sure he can handle it, Zoe isn't as fussy as most babies."

My efforts to only bother them when I needed something had engendered some amount of affection from my parents. The car stopped and I didn't cry or complain as I was taken out. They were nervous as we seated ourselves at the hospital, across from another couple and child.

The baby was in pink to my blue and was crying hysterically. Her parents sang songs, the dad made funny faces and the woman rocked her infant girl, all in an effort to stop the screaming. I remained stoic as the child screamed her head off then frowned as my stomach growled.

"Wah."

My mother looked at me.

"Wah."

I pointed at my mouth and she nodded in understanding, giving me a bottle. The other two parents froze as I was given a bottle. They looked frazzled and tired. They tried feeding their infant but to no avail, the screaming just continued while I ate my meal. The couple was called in and the screaming if anything just got worse.

I waited and waited and eventually the ever hysterical baby was finished. I was wheeled out into the office and looked at an African American woman who appeared to be middle-aged. I turned on my vision and blinked when I opened my eyes, she had a halo around her head.

Purple.

The woman smiled.

"So this is little Zodiac?"

"Yes."

My mother smiled as I was taken out of my stroller.

"Hmm much less fussy than most 1 year old, though you really should have brought him in for shots sooner"

My father raised an eyebrow and my mother looked away. I studied the halo, it wasn't full that meant she had some injuries. The way my vision worked a person's moral standing was done in color, purple was the highest and rarest. It meant someone who was really legitimately a good person and worked at it. I had seen some clergy with it but… like I said purple was rare. Then came blue, green, yellow, orange, and finally red. Anyone in the red could be harvested. Most people were blue or green. You had to screw up bad to get into the red and I had really only seen reds in the prison.

"He seems to be healthy."

She was gentle, her voice soothing.

"Anything of interest?"

"He can do math!"

My mother frowned.

"Really?"

My father brought out some scratch paper and gave me a pen, the doctor frowned. Three questions, simple math, I completed them and put the pen down. She nodded her head.

"He's very gifted. I haven't seen anything like that before, has he spoken yet?"

"No."

"Hmm splintered skills, though some children just talk later in life. Still if he can do math, then he's clearly not slow."

She brought out the needles.

"Ok, little boy, I need you to be brave."

She was gentle as she gave me my injections, it hurt a little but I had been through worse. When she was finished she nodded her head.

"Is he always like this?"

My mother answered.

"Zoe has always been a little buddha, we were worried that we wouldn't be able to eat at restaurants for a while but he's always been very well behaved."

I felt myself sweat.

"You should really consider yourselves lucky, most infants are a lot more fussy."

"We do."

With that done I was picked up and we drove to a restaurant, the flustered couple was there while the infant screamed in their booth. Older folks around the table gave them death glares and grimaced as I came into view. I said nothing, not wanting to add to the trouble. That earned me some amount of tolerance as the patrons figured out I wasn't going to cause trouble. I looked around no reds, no oranges, there was one older man in a biker outfit with a yellow tinge but, as I said, red was rare.

I wondered briefly, if I could look at my own aura would it be red? Would I be amongst the damned souls I collect?

In all honesty, the reply was probably yes.

It was then that I opened my eyes and got ready for another day of work, memories some times came back to me unbidden when I slept.



Zoe


Zoe

Life is rather monotonous.

I live by a strict schedule, get up, get dressed, eat, go with my parents to the college, take classes, do home-study, use my crows to search for prey then hunt, eat lunch with my parents, exercise. At night I use Suggestion to get the inmates of the local prison to off each other, collect souls, search for Nilbog, sleep.

I have 2 years before everything goes to shit and they're talking about closing down the prison. Apparently, they have been talking about it for a while. Really It should have been closed this year, it took a copious amount of suggestion spells on visiting regulators to keep it open but even then it's only a stay of execution for the prison.

It comes down to money and funding. The world economy is not doing well, New York City is the biggest voting block in the state while we are a small town in upstate new york. If they fuck us over to put the prison in the city it means more jobs for them thus more votes for the current government and, honestly, most people wouldn't care.

Nobody but a couple of thousand people in a town no one has heard about. I think I understand how he triggered, once the prison closes down the town will die.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you."

My abilities are not good enough to get rid of my mother's cancer, just cause it to recede or hold it at bay, however she thought the chemo killed it. She was wrong but if I had more power, I could fix it. If I had more power I could fix a lot of things. It's been two years of hunting and I haven't even reached level 5 yet.

Not enough deer, not enough wild pigs, not enough game.

My hands are sweaty as I smile, as my mother sings. They're proud of me, I know mother brags about how well I'm doing to her younger sister. Apparently, I have a cousin that I have never met in a bigger city somewhere. Mom doesn't talk about her family much, apparently there are some hard feelings there.

My father's side of the family lives on the west coast. They call but they have never visited us, we're too far away. Come to think about it my parents aren't really a part of the community, not really. I mean people know of us but I don't think either of my parents have close friends. I don't have friends my own age, and there hasn't been any real attempt by my parents to change that. We are a nation of three people. Polite to outsiders but never really letting them in.

I suppose if I didn't live in a state of existential terror I'd feel lonely.

I looked at my presents, it was mostly clothing because my parents liked to dress me up as a little professor. It was fine, except for the bow tie which I hated. To be fair I hated wearing ties in general, having something around my neck like that wasn't something I cared for. Still I would wear the damned tie for them once, today, and then never wear it again.

I yawned and ate my cake, I took a bath then my parents turned on the TV and we watched a movie. I closed my eyes.

"Welcome back, Z38."

The woman sounded annoyed, my astral form was thankfully clothed.

"I've been working on it."

"1000 souls."

Her voice was calm serious.

"The official part of the debt, the one where we hunt you down."

I held my chair with a death grip.

"The other part, the catalogue access, you only need 800 more souls rounding up to pay that off Z38. And if you decide you don't want to pay that off… well a mortal life and then consequences. You know what those consequences are, don't you?"

I looked away.

"One prison riot and it's all paid off, you become a member of good standing. Do it right and you could use your catalogue to buy some things."

I was silent.

"If I do that the prison closes."

"No matter what you do that prison will close, the town will die. All you did was give them a stay of execution, the town is doomed and you must accept it."

She waved her hand over her orb.

"Agency C has always been the high-risk, high reward, branch of acquisitions. Let us be honest, you're running out of time. You know what you have to do, Z38. That town will hurt from losing the prison but if you're not strong enough, powerful enough, they will lose their lives instead of just their homes."

I opened my eyes, I'd been put to bed by my parents during the ultimatum. My stomach felt sick as I planned for what I had to do next.



Zoe


Zoe

"Ugh, toss it."

My mother frowned.

"Your parents went through the effort to send this all the way from California."

"I left California to get away from guacamole, and avocadoes in general."

In this, I was in full agreement with my father.

"Come on, Harry. It won't kill you to try it."

"Betty, let's just toss it and forget we got it."

"You're being petty, Harry."

"I hate Avocadoes, betty, always have."

"Maybe we should just throw it out, like dad said."

My mother crossed her arms and my dad smirked. Under the table he offered his fist, I bumped it.

"It's important to try new things, Harry! We have to teach that to Zoe."

I lifted a hand.

"Um… I'm kind of taking chemistry? That's a new thing, very new."

Really hate the guac, but mom was insistent and since she rarely put her foot down she got her way. At this point I had been setting up the riot for weeks, everything was ready to go, the sun was still in the sky, and I was feeling resentful, very resentful. I had been getting people transferred into the prison with light Suggestions, the prison was now packed and overcrowded, a tinderbox waiting to go off.

I looked at the dish about to be served to me and in a moment of spite I thought about setting it off. As I took my first bite I gave into that impulse, smiled, and then had the horrible horrible realization that I had fucked up badly. I coughed up blood, looked at my parents, and fell down to the ground.

Everything went dark.



Harry Zimmerman


Harry Zimmerman

"Shit, shit, shit."

Betty looked panicked as I paced back and forth.

"Harry."

"SHIT!"

Zoe took a bite a single bite of guacamole and he spat out blood and just passed out.

"Harry."

"I said no guacamole, Betty."

"I didn't know."

"Oh fuck, oh god."

I sat down and felt cold. I shouldn't be a father. They had to remove Betty's left ovary when she had that brush with cancer and, with the Chemo treatments, after it she should have been sterile. Zoe was a freaking miracle, born healthy despite it all and so unbelievably smart and gifted. Yeah, he was quiet… but he was a good kid, my kid, our kid.

I looked up at the doctor as he joined us.

"Doc?"

"What happened?"

"My son ate some guacamole."

He blinked.

"That was an extreme allergic reaction then."

"How extreme?"

"Your son had a heart attack, we have some minor organ damage too… really I haven't seen a reaction this strong before."

He looked at me.

"Has he ever had any avocado-based products before?"

"No never."

"I don't think that I have to tell either of you no avocado anything?"

I nodded my head, Betty looked guilty. I rubbed her back.

"Is he going to be ok?"

"We don't know yet. We have him on machines right now and we are trying our best but, as I said, this was an extreme allergic reaction. We always hope for the best but there is a possibility he won't survive this."

My wife sobbed as I held her and I felt a sinking feeling in the depths of my soul.

"Shit."



Zoe


Zoe

"Shit! SHIT! SHIT!"

I molded the earth behind me and continued running as the creature roared, I heard it trip and continued running.

The primal wilds, I fucking hated this place! I didn't like it the first time I got trapped in this shit hole and I like it even less now. I saw a glowing orb.

"Z38."

"This is kind of a very bad time."

I ran for my life.

"Oh right, you're dealing with a paradox incident. Very unfortunate. Still, I have excellent news. You have managed to finally pay off your debt! And you even have some extra to spend on catalogue choices."

"Can I spend it now?"

"I'm surprised it took you this long though, you were very close to your fifth yearly review."

I took another breath as I ran through the jungle and jumped left dodging a club.

"Could really use that power!"

"Unfortunately I can't do that, we would need to talk about catalogue options and choices in person. This is really a long conversation, and we need to bring things up with legal. Just know that, if you survive this, you will be a member of good standing."

"And if I don't?"

"Your soul will spend 20 years in a refuse-infused locker. After that, we don't know."

"And the company doesn't have to pay me?"

"While that is an appealing upside we sent you to this location to pick up a very important asset. Your death would thus be a disappointment to the company, so please don't die."

I looked behind me.

"Eldritch blast!"

The creature took a hit and howled. I froze as I realized that I had just gotten lucky and hit it in the eye. I ran around as the creature struck randomly. I continued to hit it, trying to whittle down its health. The club continued to come down as I ran for my life, trying to kite the damned thing. Finally, at long last, it died and I felt relief and fell to my knees.

I woke up and looked around.

"Wather."

Everything hurt, everything felt like shit, and naturally I was thirsty as hell but I also felt relief.

"Son?"

I looked into the relieved faces of my parents, both of them smiled and my mother was crying.

"I don't think I like avocadoes, mom."

My father laughed and my mother hugged me.

"It's ok, Zoe, it's ok! You won't have to try them again."

I gritted my teeth through the pain. Paradox was an absolute bitch but at the same time the nightmare was officially over now, I was debt-free.



Zoe


Zoe

It was a massive scandal.

Officially speaking though the warden was on record complaining about the overcrowding, about all of the issues. No one was in legal trouble at the prison though some guards had been injured during the mayhem. The head of the department of corrections for New York state was going to step down, and the prison was going to get shut down.

That was going to happen anyways no matter what I did, at least that's what I use to justify it in my head. In my mind though I can make it up to them, saving someone's life makes up for fucking up their livelyhood right? Yeah, I'm not buying it either. Still the state isn't completely heartless. The remaining guards will receive one last year of work as the prisoners are moved, and will then be offered up jobs in different prisons.

I go to my room and hit the sack, it's only after I am sure that they're in bed that I bring out the chalk and candles and then I chant and I find myself outside of an office, outside of HR. I find a certain ork and walk up to him.

"Catalogue access after 900 souls my ass."

He freezes and sighs.

"Z38?"

"Yeah, Z38."

"In the event of an emergency I could bend the rules to let you access a catalogue, so I did not lie to you."

"The company-"

"The company fucks everyone. My people, for example. We are vegetarians, most of us are not attracted to elf and human women at all. I mean they just set off the uncanny valley and the porn they have us do is incredibly racist, but I did it because I wanted my family to have a life that was better than scrounging for berries."

I folded my arms.

"Everyone knows the company is a bad place, Z38, and your department is a pretty rough place to work but that said the company does follow its own rules. When you're new the company shits on you, in my case litterally, but once you have proven yourself things get better and from what I have heard that's the case."

He shrugged.

"Tell you what, we will get you to Heba."

I stared at him blankly.

"Your superior in acquisitions."

"She never told me her name."

The man sighed.

"Just like her… Come on, follow me."

He opened the door and a woman looked at me.

"Z38, walk in."

I sat down.

"Well, lets look a the list. You requested 3 of our catalogs, and you have around 80 souls to play with."

I sat down.

"The problem is with your powerset. You're aware of the Chakras?"

"Yes."

"Well in order for us to empower you and leave room for growth each powerset takes up a chakra points, and you only have 4 left to fill."

Well, great.

"I'm in this for money, power, and women."

She sighed.

"At least you're honest… so lets discuss what that means. I take it you have a plan to have a harem, correct?"

I nodded my head.

"Of course you do, and that Harem is going to need a place to live. And of course there is always the possibility that they will get pregnant, and I assume you would want to take care of your children and make sure they're fed and protected."

I frowned and sighed.

"Let me get it straight. Housing?"

"It would be wise to put the majority of your future contract rewards into housing."

I looked at the list.

"So you have 80 souls to spend, you have a 10 year contract with 11 points to spend on the catalogue. Each point in this catalogue, according to our accountants, is worth 5 souls."

"Rip off."

"The-"

"Company fucks everyone."

I waved my hand and she continued.

"You will of course keep your current capabilities, but there are some issues."

I felt a migraine coming.

"What are those issues?"

"As you know as a contracted warlock some changes were made to your soul, and as such there are limitations to what we can add."

Ah, murderous rage, there you are.

"Explain."

"You have 7 chakra points, your normalization engine occupies one of them, and your connection to the primal wild occupies another, your warlock template occupies a third. You only have room for 4 more slots."

Ah there is the feeling of indescribable rage. I read through the booklet, and filled it out.

"Good. When you turn 6 your powers will be upgraded."

"What?"

"Yeah… If we give you those powers now your body wouldn't be able to take the strain and well…"

She brought out a ballon, blew it up, and popped it.

"I get the point."

"So thats 55 points spent and another 5 to pay for your cover."

I glared at her.

"It's a standard operating cost to keep people from asking questions, very pointed questions."

"Fine."

"And you have 20 points left."

I felt tired.

"Well better start on that home."

"Good we will talk to design and set you up with a basic two bedroom home and pocket of curved space in the far realms."

"Nothing fancy?"

"If you're successful in finding new damned souls for our company you can buy fancy. Also lets talk about bounties."

I leaned forward.

"Engines, spiritual ones, are expensive. While Entity infestations are absolutely tragic, these Endbringers are useful for making more. Thus we are willing to put a 35 point bounty on any Endbringer you slay and bring to our attention."

"Why so little?"

"They count as outsiders, as per the second catalogue. We also open up other disavantages, if you're able to pay the cost you can gain additional points after completing the challenge."

I winced.

"There is a slight problem. The prison will be closing soon, it will be much more difficult to find souls."

She smiled.

"That is not our problem."



Zoe


Zoe

"George Write."

The man looked around the darkness.

"What happened?"

"You died."

I only had a limited amount of time until the prison closed and even if it hurt I needed to harvest while I still could.

"I didn't do it."

I felt bad for this one though.

"I know."

"I don't deserve to go to hell."

"You're not going to hell, George. People do not go to hell for being falsely accused of a crime."

He froze.

"You believe me?"

"George… I can look into your very soul, you're a good man. The person who actually committed the crime fingered you because you were black and lived in the neighborhood. He pled guilty to a lesser crime and got off with just 5 years."

"That isn't fair."

"Oh it isn't, George, but want some good news? He doesn't exist any more, my superior devoured his soul during the riot. Guys like that can't help themselves you know, they always get caught."

The man blinked.

"So what happens to me."

A pillar of light formed.

"I don't know. I don't know what happens in there, in the good place, but I know that you belong there, George. I know that you're a good man and that you have suffered greatly. Going be honest, you're a better man than I am, a better human being."

"Thanks, I guess."

He was hesitating.

"George?"

He cried.

"All these years, people been saying I'm a monster… and… and I've been telling them that I didn't do it."

"George, I know! Even if no one else knows I know that you were a good man, and apparently the people upstairs know too. You did your time in hell, go to Paradise."

He wiped away a tear and went into the pillar. Sometimes I get frustrated when I lose a soul, most of the time it's because people repent. I get frustrated but I accept it, rules and all that. But when a truly innocent person escapes my grasp I don't mind at all.

That man deserved Paradise and I don't have a damned problem with that.



Jamie Rinke


Jamie Rinke

I can't afford my medication.

"I'm sorry we have to let you go."

Things get fuzzy when I am not on my medication.

"I come in early every day, sir. I've never taken a day off, I swear I can work harder."

"I'm sorry Jamie but with the Jail closing all of the jobs are going to vanish, they might close down our branch entirely."

He looked at me.

"I'm going to lose my job too, we all are."

"You have to be able to do something."

I didn't want to become homeless, I needed this job! Without it I couldn't afford my medication, I don't like the idea of not having my medication. When I'm on it things are quiet and I like quiet.

"James, all I can do is warn you ahead of time."

He sighed.

"I'm going to try to get us all severance pay and I promise I will write everyone letters of recommendation. You worked hard, James, but we're all in the same boat."

It wasn't fair, it simply wasn't fair. He looked at me.

"Take the rest of the day off and go eat something, ok?"

"Ok."

"We still have a couple months until the bank closes, we still have some time. Try to save what you can."

This wasn't good, I left and ate at a Cafe, the waitress looked at me.

"Are you ok?"

I stared at the sandwitch.

"My name is James Rinke, I'm 33 years old, my house is in the north eastern portion of town on the outskirts, I am not married, I work as an employee for the local bank, and I get home by 8 pm at the latest. I do not smoke but I occasionally drink. I'm in bed by 10 at night and always get 8 hours of sleep. Before I go to bed I do stretches and have a warm glass of milk. I wake up without any fatigue or stress in the morning. I was told there were no issues at my last check-up. I'm trying to explain that I'm a person who wishes to live a very quiet life. I take care not to trouble myself with any enemies, like winning and losing, that would cause me to lose sleep at night. That is how I deal with society, and I know that is what brings me happiness."

She blinked.

"Um… good for you?I guess?"

I looked out the window.

"I just want a quiet life."

"In this world, who doesn't?"

But I can't have that quiet life, can I? Not without my medication, not without my job. My world is falling apart and I take a another bite of my food.

"Are you ok, mister?"

I turn to her.

"I don't know. The prison closing, that's a bad thing isn't it?"

"Yeah, the whole town is worried about that."

I turned back to the window, my stomach felt sick. I just wanted a quiet life.

I decided, at that moment, that I would be willing to do anything to have that life. No matter what the price was.



Power girl


Karen Star

Age 7

I woke up and shivered in my shack, I yawned and looked at the palace. Father, Alura, and Kara lived in. My half-sister. I looked over at the box that held mom's ashes.

"First day of school."

Argos city, I hated this town and it hated me right back. Why? Well true and proper Kryptonians are born in little tubes, their DNA, vitamins, and everything else set to perfected levels as per Lord Brainiac's specifications. Then your caste is declared and you live the rest of your life according to its edicts.

I'm different, you see. My father decided to have relations with a member of the servant caste, and she had me naturally. Yeah, I'm a natural and a bastard. So, yeah, the general opinion of most people seems to be that I shouldn't exist. I watched as Kara was taken off in a fancy aircar to her school while I waited at the gate for the bus with the other servant kids.

They glared at me and I glared right back, the bus came and I looked for a seat. No one let me sit next to them, can't let themselves be infected by being next to a natural. I sit in the back again, alone, and look at the outside world. School was in the slums because of course it was. Couldn't risk a science caste child risk seeing other castes and treating them like people, could they? Not that the servant caste was any better, or maybe it's because I was born outside the system. I mean when you don't belong you kind of end up seeing the problems.

The bus stops and we exit the bus, the security guard gives me the stink eye again as I walk in. I am put in the very back of the class and the teachers make an effort to ignore me. The classwork is easy and boring, how to properly serve our glorious science caste masters. In other words basic maintenance for their machines, mostly the cleaning ones. What? You think the science caste would want to willingly be in the same room as a lower caste? They invented robots to avoid that, but hey someone has to fix the robots, fix the machines.

So yeah servant caste, if you're good enough the masters will change the boots you are allowed to lick.

The break comes and I go to the machines because, as a natural, I'm not allowed to eat in the cafeteria, I have to get the nutrient paste from the vending machines. It's bland but nutritious and good for you. I buy a couple of tubes after finding out the stuff that tastes bland is gone and am forced to buy the actively bad-tasting nutrient paste.

I sit and watch the other kids eat lovingly prepared meals or cafeteria food while I have paste. I watch as a fat girl looks at me and smiles. She slowly eats a cookie in front of me and then smirks at me. Another taunt for the bastard, for the natural. You know, I actually thought I would be able to find friends at school. Stupid me for thinking school would be any better than home.

I finish my nutrient paste and look at all of the children playing games I would never be allowed to join in on.

"There's the natural."

I heard a boy talk.

"Ugh, she's so ugly."

"And so stupid too! We got rid of naturals for a reason, she should just die already and save us all a bunch of trouble."

Two boys, my hands clench.

"I heard the first thing she did when she was born was to kill her mother."

And just like that everything went red, I got up and walked away.

"Hey Natural catch."

I feel the rock hit the side of my head, my hand goes up and touches it and I see the blood. I turn around slowly and look at the boy.

"Can't even catch, can you? Stupid-"

I charge him and kick him in the crotch, he goes down and I get on top of him. I start punching his face and I feel better. I put everything I have into hurting him, letting someone else feel pain for a change. I see in his fat face every bully, every adult that mistreated me, every restaurant that wouldn't let the filthy natural in, every bit of the system and I punch it in the face. It takes 3 teachers to drag me off of him.

They give me detention, of course. Didn't matter that he started it, he was in a caste and I was a natural. I missed the bus and dreaded walking home.

"Hey, I'm here to pick up Karen."

"What are you doing here?"

I recognized that voice.

"Uncle Jor-El?"

My uncle rubbed his head.

"Come on, Karen. Let us get you home."

I follow him into the aircar and he sighed.

"You shouldn't fight at school."

"He started it."

"Ok… Let me hear your side of the story then."

I let it out. The pain, the rock, the insults and he shakes his head.

"What?"

"Karen… it's not your fault. None of it is, nobody chooses to be born, no one chooses the circumstances of their birth."

"School seems to think that."

"No offense but your school is um terrible."

I couldn't help it I laughed, uncle sighed.

"Your father let you in the house yet?"

"No."

I slumped.

"Does dad love me?"

Uncle Jor'El froze.

"My brother cares for people in his own way, it's just that he's a little off."

He looked at me.

"Come, lets go home."

He patted me on the head and we flew back home to start another day. I stared up at the sky and prayed for a way out, any way out of here.



Heba


Heba

I sighed as Z38 came in.

"I have 102 souls to spend."

I nodded my head.

"Good as a part of the junior executive plan I think you should use that to buy the hotsprings, castle, and city options for your new closed space properties."

He looked at me and frowned.

"Um while the city option sounds nice, I'm going in loaded for bear. I want the Teleportarium, increased size, Armory, defense systems, and the workshop option."

"We really need you to pick the city option."

"No offense but I need that Teleportarium for my work."

"And you need to think about your family's future home."

"I won't be able to get said family if I don't have the ability to move around the planet."

"Well if you don't care about them-"

"Heba, this is a work-related expense! This is the company being paid to make me a more valuable asset, I expect due payment for my services which I need to pay you more in the future."

"The Teleportarium option is very expensive."

"I'm going to HR."

He got up and left, I went back to paperwork. Naka opened the door and I frowned.

"What the hells, Heba?"

"Can you be more specific?"

"Heba, Z38 needs that teleporter for his job and all of his listed requests were more than reasonable. You know why they are work-related expenses. The city option is a Luxury, one we can put in later."

"I already have a property on file that has the hotsprings, castle and city options, all of it prebuilt. It would cost the company less if Z-38 took those options."

"Heba, Z38's hazing period is over! He is now officially a member of good standing. This behavior is unprofessional, do your job and get him his listed options."

I frowned.

"Do I have to bring management in on this, Heba?"

"I am trying to save the company resources and money."

I blinked as he grabbed my info ball.

"Z38's case file", he looked through it and Naka's eyes widened and then he looked at me with cold rage.

"Three months?"

"I have tried to stall so I could sell a deluxe option, it is the most cost-effective after all."

"THREE MONTHS! A purchase, outside one that affects health, is supposed to be finalized and dealt with within 3 business days. You had years, years, to prepare for this."

"Upselling is company policy."

Naka loomed over me.

"Bullshit like this is what caused the Corporate Wars, you have any idea how many of us died during that little slice of fuckery? Do you?"

I frowned.

"A lot. Heba, this behavior is unprofessional."

He sat down.

"Do you want to end up in Talent or be forced to be some Talent's compensation stress toy? Because that can happen, Heba."

"Are you threatening me?"

"That is possible disciplinary action and you know it."

I looked away, he got up and brought in Z38.

"Z38, the company deeply apologizes for the recent incident. The lateness of your property delivery was completely unacceptable, your purchases will be concluded post haste."

Naka glared at me.

"And, as compensation, we will open up any and all DLC in your later two catalogues. We assure you that incidents like this will not occur again in the future."

"Thank you, Naka."

Naka then stood over my shoulder and watched to make sure that I filled out all of the paperwork and sent it in.

"This is unnecessary."

"Heba, you are not in management, you're not in middle management or lower management, you're not even on a management tract. You are a facilitator who does also performance reviews of unproven agents. Z38 however is on a management track and it's is very likely that he will outrank you if he doesn't die, there is even a possibility that he might end up being your boss."

He stared at me.

"I will talk with management about this, by the way."

"Fine."

"No, not fine. In the future, be professional."

With that done my workday was over. I punched a clock and went home, the two moons hung heavy in the sky as I went into my apartment. I fed my pet and stopped and looked at a photo of my mother. She had been a Talent. She had me, did a video, and left me behind to collect her rewards. I had no idea who my father was.

I grew up in company barracks, went to company schools, and ended up getting a job for the company like so many people. I got to see agents neglect their families and die, leaving their children to grow up in squalor and poverty.

"A castle is fine."

Hopefully that would be enough to keep any children he had properly housed if anything happened.



Naka


Naka

I walked with Z38 through the property.

"Well, what do you think?"

He looked up at the castle.

"Nice! Tell me about it?"

I looked through the file.

"This castle combines several catalogue options into a singular whole. 100 bedrooms with attached bathrooms, a full Banquet hall, 50 programmable golems to handle defense options, housework, and other functions. five bedrooms without attached bathrooms, 2 large baths which are in truth heated swimming pools, a steam room, and a full professional kitchen. On top of that we have worked hard to improve your holdings."

He looked at me.

"And?"

"And we have installed storage spaces and your holding cells. The dungeon is of course on the lower floors. Right now there is only one workshop but we will create more as you acquire more companions. We are currently installing defense systems into the castle, both modern and magical. Of course you now have a full armory, complete with target range, with common weapons found on your target world. Your property is currently five square miles large. You could feed around 13 thousand people if you converted that purely into farmland."

We passed a house.

"That is your free house."

"Very suburban."

"It's not impressive but it shows you roughly where the town surrounding the castle will be if you decide to purchase that option."

"And can you explain why I am being pressured into buying it?"

"Explain why the company would want to pressure you or Heba?"

"Both."

"For the company the profit margin on property sales is amazing, it is also what separates agents from managers."

"I'll need some explanation on that."

"Slut life's primary industry is sex but it's not all we do. In reality we make most of our money from interdimensional trade, with franchise operations giving us a tiny cut of their profits. The first step to having a franchise is to have property that you can operate from. You're actually ahead of most operatives."

"And if I die?"

"The property goes back onto the market to the next agent who is able to pay for it, unless of course you have offsprings in which case they inherit it."

"How many agents have held this property?"

"98 so far. Though to be fair the property was held by one family for 21 generations before the family line stopped existing."

"Violence?"

"The Corporate Wars were pretty bad."

"I have no idea what that is."

"HR exists to make sure it doesn't happen again but too many people were being assholes to Talent, agents and workers. They rebelled."

"And the company put them down."

"Um, no… The CEO and the board were decapitated, their souls destroyed, and their skulls put onto the current throne to remind future CEOs what will happen if they abuse their power too much."

I blinked.

"I…"

"Didn't expect that? The company isn't a nice thing or a good thing but there are limits to what people can put up with."

"So why keep the company up?"

"People were born into the company, raised by it… For most people, it's the only life they have ever known."

We arrived at the gates and I pointed at two chairs, we sat down.

"And what the hell is Heba's problem?"

"Most agents do not survive their first year, most fail to pay off their outstanding debts. Heba's job is to get the new agents to do their jobs and act as a facilitator for agents in good standing."

"And?"

"You're the first agent of good standing she's ever dealt with. Part of that is that she is relatively new at the job, part of it is that you guys drop like flies."

I had a sinking feeling.

"She was raised by the company and has seen agents die and leave their families in poverty, with nothing to their name."

He looked at me.

"It's one of the reasons why she's pushing you so hard to have properties and a solid economic foundation before you get your companions."

"And?"

"And, to be honest, I think it's good advice. That said when she got in the way of you getting needed work-related property she stepped over the line. You need transportation to do your job, Z38, I mean if you survive acquiring the company asset."

I frowned and nodded.

"How did you join the company?"

He froze.

"Unlike Heba, I wasn't born into the company. I was a part of a tribe that lived in a rural area, when times were bad we would do manual labor for the humans who lived in the valley."

I blinked.

"So you got along peacefully."

"Well, it's more that we both really hated the Goblins and had an alliance against them. Well anyway there was a famine and our shaman looked for help and we made contact with the company. I and some others volunteered to be their toys for a year and, in exchange, our tribe would get food."

"And?"

"It was the most horrible and demeaning year of my life, but afterward I was able to go to a company school and get my degree which got me a job in human resources. I have a wife and two children to look after and the company, for all of its faults, lets me do that."

He looked off into the distance.

"We might not be good people, Z38, but at the end of the day we are still people."

"Well, show me around?"

"Of course. Now if you don't like the design don't worry, we can bring in someone to decorate in whatever fashion you want.

Spoiler: castle Z

[img: https/i./736x/32/00/19/3200193a06105d26f9e7341e96db8409--fantasy-castle-castle-art.jpg]



Zoe


Zoe

The symbol on my back is also a key now.

It's amazing how many things are linked to that, my tomb, powers and now my key to my pocket kingdom. I look at the teenager who is technically in charge of me.

This is Ted, it is Saturday and thus date night. Ted is my babysitter, a boy who lives next door whose greatest ambition is to skate as much as possible. He doesn't do drugs and he's not a bad guy but he is kind of sleepy. I mostly study and let him nap and watch TV, in return he uses the microwave to cook me dinner.

I get some serious time by myself once I tell him I'm feeling tired and ask to go to bed early. Ted shrugs and lets me do so, I close and lock the door and then put my palm against the wall. A portal forms and I am in my little kingdom. Population: me. I rush and get myself to the Armory.

"Just 75 more to go."

5 years old and the prison has been closed. I pushed myself as much as I could to harvest while I still could, from now on it's going to be much harder. I have no idea why my handler is so obsessed with the luxury portion of the 'executive' program but I got what I needed. I went into the Armory and desperately searched though it.

What weapon would work in my tiny little hands, what could I use that would work?

I was searching for him, for Jamie. the college though didn't have a lot of records for me to go through and questions turned up blanks. Then again I was a 5 year old, people didn't take me seriously. I looked at what I had, a couple of knock out grenades and a pistol were the only weapon my little hands could use.

And yes my hands were shaking as I put on the mufflers and did target practice. I know what happens if I fuck this up, I know what happens if I lose. The company wants him, dead or alive. If I fail every single person in this town dies. If I pull this off I get to live and then I am on the path to money, power, and women.

I calm myself and take shots, carefully aiming each one. I keep missing, when the time comes I can not afford to miss. After target practice I go to the teleportation room. It features a glowing orb that represents the Earth and it takes time to calibrate it so I can open a portal to the right location.

It's roughly a 10 minute process, touch a part of the globe and bring up a map and look for coordinates to do the job then let the machine open a portal. Seems simple? It is simple. Is it enough to evacuate a city of thousands, is even reaching them in time a realistic option?

"No."

I pace back and forth.

The PRT failed to stop him. The army, the military, they essentially gave up and let him feast on an entire city's worth of people. The best they could do was cordon him off and pray to god. Once Nilbog gets going he's an S class threat. If I sound scared it's because I am.

"Bank."

I needed to go to the bank.

The bank was still open and we only had one of them. I put the gun down, put on an outfit and set coordinates for the bank, a portal opened and I looked through it. No one there, I stepped through it and frowned. They were removing stuff, furniture and the like, the employees looked sad. I turned on my vision and observed them, hiding behind the garbage as each worker left with their belongings. I stared at them and it was then that I noticed one man.

His aura was unlike anything I had ever seen before and my vision said something about transmutation, it had never pinged magic before this day. He grasped his chest and heaved and the aura got stronger and stronger. It was then that I realized that he was triggering. I summoned a crow as he put his stuff into a car and had it follow him to wherever he lived.

I didn't have any more time, I had to strike now.



Zoe


Zoe

I made sure to actually sleep in my bed. I had to use my powers to knock me out because of the fear and terror but I knew I needed to rest, knew I needed to be awake when I did this.

I woke up at one in the morning and got dressed, putting on some gloves. I blinked, picking up his location by crow, then I put on a bracelet with charged mana and tapped the side of my door. I went through the portal and went to the armory, I filled a little pack with grenades and put it on. I also pulled out a pistol, my hands shook as I loaded it, and then I went to the teleportation room.

"In and out. In and out."

Was I prepared to kill a man with my own hands? Didn't I already have blood on my hands? Fucking hell, thousands of people will die if I do not act. I need to snap out of it and do this. No running away, I've done a lot of fucked up things and I need to do this one thing.

I calibrated the teleporter for a small house on the outskirts of town and then stepped through the portal. Just like that I was outside his house, I felt actual fear as I noticed that his window wasn't locked and my heart beat like a jackhammer as I jimmied it open. I heard the sound of the TV and sobbing, I pulled out a grenade and took a deep breath then tossed it into his room and locked the door. I heard yelling theb pounding on the door and then silence. Only then did I open the door, only then did I look at the slightly pudgy young man.

I pull out my gun and press it against his head. One pull of the trigger and he's dead and everyone's better off, everyone is safer. It would be the right thing to do, the correct thing to do. I breathe in and freeze.

"No."

I press my hand against the wall.

"To the cells."

The portal opens and I take him inside my realm, to my holding cells. He's heavy and it takes all of my effort to push him inside and then lock the door. I watch him for hours. he's not in the city, he can't harm anyone here. I can just let him rot for the rest of his life.

It's better then killing him but I wait for him to wake up and soon he stirrs because the grenades only last a half hour or so.

"What?"

"Welcome to a new world, Nilbog."

I take a breath and suppress my fear.

"Who are you?"

Dead or alive… Maybe that's a test, maybe all of this was a test? I now realize that maybe I wasn't supposed to do things the right way or the wrong way, but to do them the company way.

"I am Z38, I work with the Slutlife Corporation."

He blinked.

"You're a little kid."

I summon an illusion of flame around my body and he blinks.

"Appearances are deceiving, aren't they?"

He blinks.

"You're a parahuman?"

"No I am not, but you are and my company is very interested in your capabilities."

He blinks.

"I have powers?"

"Yes you do, and we wish to hire you so you can use those powers constructively."

He pants.

"My medication… things get really fuzzy without my medication."

That explains a lot.

"The Slutlife Corporation has full medical for its valued workers. Look, lets be honest with ourselves, what are your opportunities in the outside world?"

He blinked.

"Every thing is gone, my life is over. I don't know if I can afford my house if I lose my job and I can't afford my medication and everything is going wrong."

I hear his desperation.

"Do you have a wife, a family, children in the outside world?"

"Um no."

I clasped my hands together.

"Then let me offer you a second chance at life, one where you're rich and wealthy, powerful and respected."

"And if I don't?"

"Well you're currently a threat to yourself and everyone around you. For their safety I have to keep you confined."

"Oh."

He stared up at the ceiling.

"This is um… a lot to take in."

"I know but why don't you talk to Legal in the morning? See what the options are and what we can do for you."

"Ok? It's not like I have much of a choice, right?"

I smiled and bowed.

"Thank you for consideration and I apologize for the circumstances. Hopefully in the future we will be close friends."

With that I walked out of the dungeon and had a slight panic attack, then I made a note and sent the message to HR immediately by ritual.



Zoe


Zoe

I stared at Heba, it was Sunday night and the dungeon was empty.

"This was a test, wasn't it?"

The woman drank her tea slowly.

"You are correct."

"Was it all a test?"

"The entire time."

I still felt tired and sweaty, Heba looked at me and nodded in understanding.

"Why?"

"There were a lot of ways you could have handled that situation, but we are in Acquisitions. Our job is to aquire things, souls, materials, trade goods, and personal. Mr. Rinke has the ability to create talent, talent that can come in all forms and sizes, talent that lives for roughly three year period with various capabilities. That's a high-value recruit. Sure, it's an infinite multiverse and in theory we get infinite chances but in theory is not the same as in truth."

She looked at me.

"You could have killed him, and we would have created a clone and tried to get his abilities for us that way. It still would have counted as a success, the town saved, every one alive."

She put down her tea.

"But it wouldn't have been a success in the eyes of the company because you didn't do it the right way."

"And?"

"And you figured it out. Your job wasn't an assassination, it was recruitment. There are people on this world you're on who have very special powers that we want. Some of these people are very dangerous, some of them are unstable, and you need to be able to talk to them and get them to work with us."

I collapsed.

"So I passed."

"Yes."

"Any rewards?"

"You got an extra point for the mission because of Naka's softness."

"Which I paid for."

"True. You're also authorised to buy an Eternity Engine."

I blinked.

"Can't I just buy something?"

"Just because something is a listed option it doesn't mean it's available for purchase. Immortality is an expensive thing and there are not very many creatures who can be harvested to create more."

She took another sip.

"Is that why you badgered me about the city option? Was it a part of the test?"

She flinched and sighed.

"No… That was a personal issue coming up and thinking back on it I was unprofessional and I apologize. You were right, the Teleporter was a vital purchase."

I nodded my head.

"So now what?"

"Now? In a year your body will be able to accept the needed upgrades, in theory you can stop there. Live a simple quiet life with your new powers."

My hands gripped the chair.

"And if you hadn't gone through R and D you probably would do exactly that but that experience toughened you up, didn't it."

I frowned.

"Anger, yes and a desire to prove yourself. I've seen that look quite a few times, and I've seen men and women get their companions, have their families and then die, leaving them with nothing."

I blinked.

"Is that it?"

"You see the women, the power, and the wealth but do you see the personal wreckage left behind? I have and I want to make sure that, if you decide to have companions, any offsprings are taken care of."

I looked her in the eye, and took a breath.

"I understand. Lets face facts, this body is too young to handle that kind of thing right now so I will meet you half way. I will focus on fixing up my estate and getting things in order first."

I saw relief on her face.

"Then I will work on power and, once I have done that and have all of my ducks in row, then we will talk about companions."

She nodded her head.

"That is sensible."

She got up.

"Once your property is established other members of Acquisitions will likely come to talk to you. You might get requests from time to time."

"So I'm not established yet?"

She shook her head.

"No, but in time you will be."

She slid me a plastic card.

"What's this?"

"Your wages from R and D and secretarial work, I believe 5 years pay. Over a hundred thousand dollars of local currency."

She got up.

"Welcome to the company, Z38. I hope you survive."



Harry Zimmerman


Harry Zimmerman

It's amazing how quickly a town dies, a city dies.

A month after the prison closed, the bank closed. After that enrollement fell in half and pretty much everyone saw the writing on the wall. Betty looks at me.

"We need to call them, Harry."

I pick up the phone and call a number and wait.

"Brockton Bay University."

"This is Professor Zimmerman, Ellisburg, New York."

"Finally decided to think about our offer?"

"My son is rather gifted, my current employment allows him to take classes for free."

"We saw the file."

I froze.

"We can't offer that but there are plenty of scholarships out there for gifted children like your son. Discounts can be arranged."

I sat down.

"So what will I be teaching?"

"Remedial math for struggling students, you have some experience doing that already."

It already sounded tedious.

"When can I start?"

"The professor who teaches that subject is retiring next year, would you be all right with starting then?"

I grimaced.

"That sounds fine."

"Excellent."

I felt sick.

"So?"

"They want me to start next year."

Betty smiled.

"The bay isn't that bad."

"They have super powered nazis."

"I'm not saying it's ideal but my sister lives in the suburbs and things are quiet there."

I felt a little sick.

"It's not safe in the cities. I've been trying to avoid them for years for a reason, Betty, and the bay is worse than most."

"We have family there, Harry."

"You have family there."

She hugged me.

"We are all family, ok? Plus Zoe hasn't met his cousin yet."

"Because they refuse to visit us."

"We could visit them but we never did because-"

"The town is a shit hole."

"Harry!"

I leaned back.

"It is."

"It's also the only place that's offering you a job. It's only a matter of time until the school closes, the town is dying, we need to go where the jobs are."

She smiled.

"Plus I'm told that little Greg is absolutely adorable, like a little puppy."



Zoe


Zoe

2001. It's February and a small town in New York state is now slowly dying.

Next year my family officially moves to Brockton Bay and I'll finally get to meet the cousin I've been told about. That said I have used the months of relative peace to concentrate on my studies and experiment with my Golems and, now that I have tools, also experiment with Alchemy.

I've combined the two and have discovered that it takes roughly 8 hours to brew a singular potion of healing. A potion of Greater healing takes 8 days, Superior healing takes 24 days, and a potion of Supreme healing takes 32 days. My golems are capable of helping me brew healing potions, and I've dedicated half of them to the task of creating healing potions. Twenty of them handle cleaning and maintenance while five see to security, just in case.

I more or less have a potion making assembly line running, 10 golems are charged with working on the easy potions, 5 on the Greater stuff, 5 on Superior healing, and 5 on Supreme healing. In return for a steady amount of supplies the company takes a tenth of what I produce. A month gives me on average around 800 simple healing potions rounded down, and there comes a time when you have to introduce yourself as a cape.

My work shop comes with boxes and I carefully put the plastic vials into a small one and then use Prestidigitation to clean the prints and DNA off of everything. Then I hammer in the nails, use purple paint to draw Z38 and have my Golems carry the wooden box to the teleportation room.

I look at the control panel. Saturdays are the days where I have the least amount of monitoring, meaning I can travel to some payphone in the middle of nowhere and corrupt it to my uses. I look at the baby phone I've enchanted and press the numbers. I hear the ringing and nod.

"Good."

I use a minor illusion to speak for me.

"New York City PRT."

"This is Z38, and I believe I can provide some aid to your organization."

"Are you a new cape?"

"You can say that, I'm a bit of a tinker."

"Really?"

"Yes, and I do want to help you."

"That's great we could set up a meeting."

I frowned.

"There's a slight problem with that, I have a bit of an Anxiety issue, I have problems dealing with large crowds of people, and my powers are more support based."

"Can you please explain how?"

"I have been able to create potions, elixirs that help speed up regeneration for a short period of time, and a lovely device that can create portals in open areas. I will teleport 50 vials in a box marked Z38 in front of the New York Protectorate HQ in 15 minutes. You are free to do whatever you wish with these vials. I will call you again next week, if you find my efforts to your satisfaction there will be a donation of a further 50 vials."

There was silence.

"You understand that this sounds really suspicious."

"I understand, but we all have our own personal demons and my condition has been with me for a long time. The portal will open in 14 minutes, I apologize for any issues this causes you. I assure you that I only wish to help."

I hung up, put on a mask, and put in the coordinates. I waited and then opened the portal. The Golem pushed the crate outside and then I closed the portal. With that done, I left the room and worked to put more potions into crates, using Prestidigitation to close up more of them. My golems put the crates into the teleportation room, my tenth of course being keyed to go to the company. The rest went into storage rooms and I went back to class.

I'm pretty close to an associates, I'm taking more classes now which is speeding up the process. I should have it done by the end of the spring quarter if I pass my classes, knock on wood.

The week passes. Without the prison there isn't anything I can harvest, my gains are frozen in place but there are other prisons. This is a setback but I have time now. My gains will be slowed by distance and time, but that isn't an entirely bad thing. I can focus more on projects, on building connections, on networking.

I get into my room and call the phone again.

"New York Protectorate?"

"This is Z-38, would you like another donation?"

"Can I transfer this call?"

"Of course."

I wait until I hear a new voice, female.

"Z-38?"

"Yes?"

"This is Cynthia White and we have tested your potions."

"Yes? Would you like another shipment?"

"That would be appreciated, yes. Are you sure we can't meet face to face?"

"I'm sorry but my condition is very limiting."

I heard a sigh.

"Very well."

I had a golem push out another box and closed the portal.

"I hope this finds you in good spirits."

I hung up. In time my position would become stronger but for now I would give them a small steady stream, build up anticipation and build up demand.

When the time came, a relationship could be built. The PRT was willing to ignore people who were powerful enough but someone useful who could play ball… I bet I could get them to look the other way on far more.



Zoe


Zoe

There are levels to prisons: minimum security, low security, medium security, high security, and Maximum security. The Elisburg prison had been high security, specializing in sex offenders. Attica had an advantage over us in that they have Parahuman prisoners, and you do not close a facility capable of holding those unless things have gone to shit.

Not to say that these are high-end prisoners, most of them are on their first or second strike, many of them non-violent. But when capability is limited you have to be more careful with your resources, it also means they get watched more carefully. I sit on the outskirts of town with some crows in a box. Then I wait and release them when it's late and dark enough. I look through their eyes as we look for a roof, one that is both hard to reach and hard to see.

Then I have my crows start the process of acid etching the runic array onto the roof, then they start on another array elsewhere. I have a better handle on things now, and this is a purely passive way of handling the issue. I can't go active like Elisburg because Attica is better watched but if someone should happen to die there then I can put the soul in holding and see if I can harvest it. It's a slower process, much slower, but I'm not limited by geography anymore. I can afford to spread things out and take more of my time. I take a deep breath and activate the array and then tap a tree and vanish.

I'm back home now, my true home in the castle. I don't get to spend a lot of time here.

I live a double life after all and, while my parents are in truth probably way too lenient, school, family life, and sleep inevitably eat into my very limited cape time. Especially since I upped my classes so I can have my associate's degree before I leave this town. After that what do I do?

Well, apparently my inbuilt alchemy skill translates into a talent for chemistry. I had initially taken the class on a lark only to find my power filling in holes, making it easier and helping get concepts much faster and with much more ease. I had a talent for the subject and since chemistry was a useful major… well, once I got to the bay I could just focus on that. Father had of course been disappointed that I didn't want to follow him into math but chemistry pays better and has more opportunities.

I also continue to stockpile potions while sending a weekly shipment of 50 of them to the New York Branch. I go to sleep eagerly, tomorrow is March 7th and that opens up new possibilities.



Zoe


Zoe

I treat my sixth birthday as being something incredibly special.

Not because I get presents, those are mostly more clothing and some books. I don't ask for toys so I don't get them, instead I get things like art supplies, a kid's chemistry set, and other useful things. A more normal child probably would have gotten more presents but I try to limit how much I impose on my parents and keep my requests limited.

"And here's some tea."

They won't let me have coffee but tea is offered.

"Thank you, mom."

pictures are taken and I silently fume inside as I burn internally.

It thankfully ends as I yawn and pretend to feel sleepy, that's when they let me go. A Suggestion spell gives them the idea to go on a date as I go to sleep, which I maintain for an hour or so before I rip off the covers and tap the walls. I find myself back in a lab. I freeze as the horrific memories return, I turn my head and see a familiar face.

"Doctor North."

He looked like one of the Grey aliens except that he wore a lab coat, I felt the return of all of the anger, fear, and exasperation that came with working with the man.

"Z38, it's good to see you."

I clenched my hands.

"I see that the feeling isn't mutual, I understand why of course. Life as my subject was rough."

"If you call being physically torn apart and killed over and over again rough… then you're correct."

The creature shrugged.

"It's the nature of the business, you were warned of that when you joined up. Would you like a pumpkin spice Latte?"

"I assume you want me to go on a coffee run?"

The man laughed.

"Oh no, you're not my secretary anymore."

He clapped his hands and an alien walked in.

"Zeezack, can you be a dear and fetch us two pumpkin spice lattes? Oh and pick one up for yourself, after all today has been rough on you."

"Yes Doctor."

The creature had the exact same defeated look I had when I worked for him.

"Lovely gentleman, he's a better typist then you but doesn't have the personal touch you had when handling the phones or getting coffee."

He pointed to a chair and I sat down.

"So your warlock pact acts as your central oversoul."

"Yeah?"

"Think of your soul as being modular, the normalization drive occupies the crown chakra and hides your presence from the shard network. Your root chakra houses your gnosistic connection."

"So?"

"So you have a maximum of 5 slots."

He looked at me.

"So what do you want to spend it on?"

"Aura, bending, chakra magic, and mecha-shift tinkering."

I handed over the paperwork.

"Hmm… All right, I can work with this."

He went to his computer.

"We can get aura into your sacral chakra. Now when it comes to bending you have the option of either Water or Earth chakra, or both though I am going to be honest if you pick both you're going to be limiting what you're capable of."

"Water has healing capabilities?"

I remembered mother's condition, still kept at bay but not gone.

"Yes."

"Water."

"Excellent, and Earth?"

"Table that for later I guess."

"So I will just install that at the solar plexus chakra, we will leave the heart chakra open in case you decide to get Earth later. Now for the throat chakra you want ninja magic?"

"Yes."

"A little limited with the points, you sure you don't want to specialize?"

"I need the tech and my workshop will get dust If I pick it."

"I'm not going to waste a chakra point on that, especially since we can just add it to your crown chakra."

"The Normalization Engine?"

"Is perfectly capable of handling that kind of information. Since we are going to be improving it anyway I might as well throw it in."

"What do you mean?"

"Man of Mystery. That's just an increase to the Engine's capabilities. Plot armor is more like slight probability manipulation, that's a root chakra thing. Special snowflake though that's a crown issue, not going to let someone mess with your capabilities. And comic book pretty."

He looked at me.

"Really? Going to waste a point on simple vanity?"

I looked away.

"That's a basic gene-therapy and cosmetic nanite shot. Waste of resources but you're the boss."

He pointed to the old restraining table.

"Do you want pain killers for this procedure?"

I shuddered as old memories returned.

"Of course."

"Well lets get started then. After all there is Science to do!"



Betty Zimmerman


Betty Zimmerman

The first thing I noticed was the smell.

I smiled awkwardly at my husband as the smell of the ocean, pollution, and rust hit our noses.

"It's not all that bad."

We passed boarded-up businesses and everything seemed to have bars on them.

"Really?"

"This is just the rough part of town, I guess?"

"Does this town have any parts that are not rough?"

I looked away.

"Look, Harry, we needed work."

"I know."

We slowly started making our way around and the grafiti became less comfortable.

"So the realtor says there is a professor in this neighborhood."

"Really."

"Oh yes, literature and-"

We heard screeching tires and I looked up and screamed as a car skidded to avoid hitting us. The car that almost hit us stopped and then the woman behind the wheel blinked, turned her car, and continued driving.

"What the hell was that woman thinking?"

"Harry, we have little ears here."

"If we had been going faster she would have totaled our car! We could have been killed."

"Harry."

"And she was on the phone! Why would you be on the phone while you're driving?"

"Harry."

"We have hands free devices for a reason, Betty! That has to be illegal, right?"

I cringed.

"not in this state."

My husband sighed.

"I really hope that twit doesn't live here."

"Harry, be nice."

"She didn't even apologize, Betty."

We got into the driveway and nodded at the workmen who would help us move. My husband insisted on that much, even if we didn't have much to move because of our lifestyle it was still easier. He got out of the car and we looked at our new house.

"I hate it."

"Harry."

"The old house was made out of brick, a solid farm-house. It had history, it had character, this looks like one of those crappy mass-produced crap houses they made during the 50s."

"It is an older town."

I looked at my son.

"So where did you want to put your bedroom?"

"The basement."

I sighed, of course he would want that. Zoe was always particular about his privacy.

"Zoe maybe here you will be able to make some new friends? Wouldn't that be nice?"

He starred at me blankly.

"Sounds just peachy, mother."

I frowned.

"It's all going to be ok, you two. Oh and good news they have a real health food store here, so we can eat extra healthy!"

My husband and son looked at each other and shuddered. I hate it when I'm outnumbered like this.



Cynthia White PRT


Cynthia White, PRT

Z38

Mysterious tinker who provides 50 vials of healing potions a week, for free.

He's been doing this for months now, and we have had the chance to thoroughly test his products, because you always do that with tinker products. We tested it for master effects, for side effects, for any downside. The downside is that it tastes horrible, like fruit punch and tea gone bad.

That's it. After months of testing that's the only downside.

This is a product capable of healing serious injuries, in one case a test regiment took a volunteer who was crippled for life and who can now walk again. He's legit and we want more. no, we need more. Thing is he only donates more when there is an Endbringer fight and even then it's normally just 200 or so vials.

We need more than that, much more.

The call comes and they look at me. Z38 is skittish, keeps people at arms length, displays paranoid and eccentric tendencies, but he's also willing to help out and we just need to talk with him. I look at Director Costa brown, and she nods at me.

"Hello, Z38."

There is a very important mission planned, it's going to be an absolute bloodbath and that's if we pull it off. We need more potions.

"Hello, your donation of 50 vials will come in 10 minutes."

My breath catches.

"There is someone very important who wishes to talk with you."

"Oh, are you displeased with my work?"

"No… no. I"

I turn to the director.

"This is director Costa Brown, your products work and we need more of your potions."

"Hmm I'm sorry but in order to keep expenses down I have to keep my supply low. I mean I only have so much in the way of supplies and I try to keep a stock pile in case of an absolute emergency. It's a matter of resources, I'm sorry but I only have so much to give."

She nodded her head.

"Just how large is your stockpile?"

"If an absolute emergency happened I would be able to provide 20,000 vials of simple healing potions. As I said I keep that on reserve in the case of an absolute emergency."

"So you have that reserve right now?"

"Yes but like I said, absolute emergencies only and after that my reserves would be depleted."

She leaned back in her chair.

"But if you had funding you could make more of these healing potions for us?"

"If I had the funding I could speed up the process… maybe make 550 a week but it would be really expensive."

"How expensive?"

"I'd be willing to give you my potions at cost but it would be 1000 dollars per vial, it takes a lot of time and processing to make my potions even remotely affordable."

He paused.

"I'm sorry but I have to work within my limitations, I want to help."

"Then why don't you join the Protectorate?"

"I'm really sorry but I can't do that, large crowds… well I have trouble handling them, it's just a little too much for me. When that day happened…"

I heard him sudder.

"I'm sorry but like I said, it's just a little much for me."

"I understand but we have a very important issue coming up, peoples lives are riding on this."

He kept silent for a moment..

"I owe a personal debt to a cape that works for you."

She smiled.

"And?"

"His name is Armsmaster, I kind of owe him my life or at least my not being maimed for life. It was bit of a bad spot, that day. If he asked me for my stockpile, I would be willing to part with it. I do owe him that much."

She put up a hand and pulled out a cellphone.

"Can you send us your next shipment?"

"Of course."

I looked at the security feed, a portal opened and a crate was pushed out. PRT agents collected it and we waited. Z38 was still on the phone then we heard a voice.

"This is Armsmaster. Is this Z38?"

"Yes! I would like to thank you, for saving me."

"I really want to just say that you're welcome, but I talked to the director and this is really important. As a personal favor, can you please do this for me?"

"For you, consider it done. I will open the portal and start unloading the stockpile in five minutes."

"The protectorate thanks you, Z38."

The portal opened and more crates were pushed out, one after another, I thought I saw someone dressed up as a samurai, maybe that was Z38. It took hours but we had our potions.

"I'm sorry but that's pretty much all I have."

The director nodded her head.

"You have shown us an act of good faith, Z38. We have programs for support capes like you. Your offer of 1000 dollars a potion?"

"Yes?"

"I am willing to triple it."

"But the tax situation?"

"We can handle that."

"I tend to have issues with banks… too many people."

"We can pay in cash."

"That would be workable, yes… It would be 550 potions a week in total, that's as fast as I can make them."

"That would be acceptable."

"I will still donate 50 a week. Since you're buying potions can you use those donated potions to help people out? Civilians and the like? If my potions can help people who need it… that would be nice."

She smiled.

"That would be more than acceptable."

The call ended and I looked at her.

"That's over a million dollars a week."

She shrugged.

"And if you have ever looked at our medical bills you would see that it's cheap for the price. Anyway I have a feeling that we will be doing plenty of business with Z38 in the future."

"So what now?"

She looked at me.

"I believe that we have an army to destroy."



PRT


PRT Agent Mike Browning

A six year old moved into Brockton Bay.

A six year old who managed to somehow get an associate's degree and who was passing classes at two years old. I would have thought it was bullshit back before capes, when that was the sort of thing that got in the papers. These days with Endbringers and capes and all that bullshit? Stuff like that can get buried. Still the whole thing set off alarm bells, in both the good and bad sense. It wasn't hard to get him a medical appointment, not hard to get a brain scan… just to be on the safe side.

"There's nothing there to show he's a cape, Mike."

Too much of what I saw didn't make sense.

"Kid has a degree and he's six years old. I've looked at his files, talked to people who knew him… My gut is telling me Thinker."

"We have had prodigies throw us off in the past."

I shook my head.

"Something about him is hitting my bullshit meter. I watched the tape, the kid doesn't act like a six year old. I wasn't able to find any friends, every one had the same story: Nice kid, quiet kid, keeps to himself."

"So?"

"I met the kid's parents, mother's a hippie, father's kind of wishy washy. I met smart kids that age before, he's not acting like them. He's not bragging, he's not making a show of how smart he is. A thing like that goes straight to a kid's head, he should be acting like a little shit."

"And?"

"He isn't, just isn't. Like I said, it sets off alarm bells."

"He grew up in a rural area, Mike. The kind of place where everyone knows each other, it's not like growing up in the city."

I looked at his file.

"The scan says he's not a cape."

"Scan has been wrong before."

"Is it worth using up PRT resources on it?"

I thought about it.

"Probably not but it still leaves me with a bad feeling, like something isn't adding up."

"Maybe you just need to get a few drinks?"

"You paying?"

"Sure, Mike, long as you get me next time."

"Hell, I'm in."



Eidolon


Eidolon

I looked at Rebecca.

"So?"

"The reserve improves our chances by 3%, which puts the chance of this working at 53% if we take on the Machine Army without your help."

"I was talking about Z38. This whole thing feels too good to be true, like it's some kind of con."

She looked at me.

"I think it's kind of irrelevant."

I blinked.

"What?"

"We have our thinkers look over each potion for master effects, so far none. According to our thinkers they don't think he's trying to corrupt us or gain power over the organization."

"What if he has ulterior motives?"

"Well… the answer to that is that he does have ulterior motives, though our thinkers can't puzzle out what they all are."

"But you know what some of it is?"

"Z38 wants money, that's the motivation our thinkers were able to puzzle out. He has an ulterior motive but we can't puzzle that out. From what we've been able to gather we know enough to figure out some of his history."

I folded my arms.

"Like what?"

"Z38 is his actual name."

I blinked.

"What?"

"Z38 is Z38's actual name."

I stared at her.

"Z38 was held by some kind of tinker or mad scientist and tortured and experimented on for over 3 years. It also explains why he's so attached to Armsmaster, it's likely that the person who did that to him was taken in by Armsmaster and he was able to escape in the confusion."

I sighed.

"God."

"It also explains why he's like this, why he can't deal with people. Severe agoraphobia, crippling anxiety around people. Honestly, events like that break people, the fact that he's as functional as he is is impressive."

I uncrossed his arms.

"So what do you think his game is? What is he after?"

"In my opinion? Revenge."

I took that in.

"I can live with that."



Emily Piggot


Emily Piggot

Punch dodge weave, punch dodge weave, doing bag work before an operation helps keep you sharp and, in this business, you have to be sharp or you end up dead.

"Armor up people, it's showtime."

I smiled. We had been put through simulations, us and the capes, trained in mockups, we had been building up for this for a while. Some idiot tinker had created bullshit machines that self replicated in Eagleton. Idiot played with technology he didn't understand, now he's dead. We lost a lot of people holding the line, burned a lot of resources on it to create a containment zone. Now though? Now we take it back, we take all of it back.

There had been a lot of build-up for this. All of us had been worried that there would be some disaster, some fuck up that would screw this mission up, but fate however decided to finally cut us some slack. We had enough resources for this, put our thinkers and tinkers and all our capes on this. I looked around at my squad.

"So, boss? What are our chances of pulling this off?"

I looked at the numbers.

"They're bringing in the Triumvirate on this, so 63%. Everyone here write their will?"

Every man and woman here was a volunteer and we had all been briefed on what this disaster could do if it wasn't defeated, wasn't contained.

"All right, folks. Lets get to it."

I looked over at Mac, our medic.

"Mac, you got the potions?"

"Yeah."

"Only for absolute emergencies, got it?"

"Yeah, tinker stuff."

"No, Mac, you don't get it! From what I heard there's only one tinker in the world who can make that shit and we were able to get his entire backlog, his emergency stash. We got this for free in case shit went tits up, because we called in a serious favor. We are not going to get this chance again, got it?"

He looked at me.

"We get 500 of those things a week, think about how many of us get wrecked on the job and that isn't even bringing in Endbringer fights. That's right we are taking this shit so serious that command is giving you a couple vials to play with in case this goes south. How many did they give you?"

"Two."

"Hope to god we don't need it! Helmets on."

We put on our helmets and I heard the sound of explosions in the distance.

"Our squad's job is simple, fucking simple. We go to a location with a tinker bomb, place it in the correct area, and get the fuck out of dodge before it blows. You got it?"

They nodded their heads.

"You see anything shoot first, don't fucking bother with questions"

The sound of explosions got louder and we loaded our weapons. The two strongest men would tow the bomb to the drop site, the rest of us had the job of making sure those men got there and got the bomb ready to go off at all costs. If it meant us dying? Then we died. Because an army of machines would destroy America, the world, the human race, if this went tits up.

We signed up for this though. If we won, if we pulled this off, promotions all around. If we failed, we would probably die. One hell of a motivation, I smiled as the doors opened.

"Come on, you apes! You want to live forever?"

It looked like a warzone, flyboys had hit Eagleton hard in order to soften them up for us. I heard clanking and pulled out the Tinkertech bullshit we had been given

"FORWARD!"

We hit the clankers and watched chunks break off as we headed to the clearing. My team wasn't the only one, lots of them were out there placing the bombs that would end this nightmare. The two strong guys wheezed under the weight but they pushed through the pain and there was no bitching. I trained my boys to bitch afterward, never during an opt. Suppressive fire, more of it until I heard a beeping sound.

"Ted, set it here."

Our tech went to work and nodded, from there we ran. More clankers came rushing towards us like we were meat for them to kill. Like hell I was going to make it easy for them. I fought like a maniac until we got into the APC. Then we continued to fire at them as we ran like hell away from that place. We got lucky, most of the clankers got smashed in our location and it takes a while for the Machine Army to recover from something like that. Most people weren't but we got away scot-free. Didn't lose a single man, third of our boys though? They didn't come back.

When we go to the revidux point thinkers looked us over and I let my men do some R and R. Our medic grumbled about giving back the vials but we got lucky and the ones who didn't… they needed 'em more. After that I went to the bag, took to punching it again until I heard a door open and close.

"Tomas Calvert. Of course, you survive."

He shrugged.

"Devil's luck."

He looked at me.

"Still hitting the bags."

"Yeah."

"Then you missed the news, operation was a success."

"Thank god… You still thinking about going into construction?"

"Good money in Endbringer shelters, and with one less containment zone there will be more money to spend on them."

I shook my head.

"Leaving the fight, just like that?"

"I will still do consulting from time to time, but I've been given an opportunity."

I put out my hand and we shook, I didn't trust the weasel but he had been my rival for years now and there was no sense in being a poor sport after a victory this big.



Zoe


Zoe

I take careful breaths and step on the water, I smile as the first few steps work out and then I fall on my face.

Into the water again. It turns out the anime made things out to be much simpler than they are in real life, or maybe I didn't have large reserves to work with. Point is: it's a learning process. A lot of this is a learning process, just because you have more powers it doesn't mean you can utilize them properly. I'm definitely not ready for prime time as it were, nor for combat, but does that really matter?

At the moment no but I have noticed that resources have been pulled toward Eagleton. Well not me but various PHO posters have, and I've been relaying the information to the company.

It turns out the last thing the company wants is yet another multidimensional-capable berserk Machine Army, because yes at a certain point that becomes possible. So they're willing to sweeten the pot for me if I help this operation succeed. 20 extra points, sure I have to pay for it like always but expanded possibilities are expanded possibilities. Plus I could leverage this into a hook to get paid, at least that was my reasoning.

So I let go of my stockpile and hoped that counted as enough material support and that they will pull it off. I yawn as I walk through my castle, it's Saturday and thus date day as my parents think that I'm mature enough now to handle a day on my own… or they haven't found a babysitter they trust. Point is that after we moved here I get a day to myself, with the understanding that the house doesn't burn down, which gives me an entire day to just dedicate to cape-related duties.

Which makes me look at my cash.

1.5 million dollars isn't really 1.5 because you deal with taxes and that, roughly speaking, takes half of what I earn. 750,000 dollars a week though is still good money, except… I need ways to wash it so I can spend it. Which Is why 200,000 a week is spent on a scholarship for Brockton Bay college students that give them 5,000 dollars a week as a stipend to live off of. It's of course very exclusive but I somehow managed to get it, along with nine other lucky randos.

A half mill goes into my Slutlife account to gather interest, in case I need to make major purchases or to wait until such time that I can gain more control over my money. I then sit down and look to see if anyone worthwhile has been caught in the old soul nets. I manage to get another one and put it towards the city option, to get my handler off my back.

I normally get one a week or so but I also have time now, time to focus on my studies, on improving my contacts, and to train what skills I have. I open my eyes and look at the teleportation room's screen for anything from corporate. I blink as I get a message.

"Nice."

20 points, shame I can only collect on this mission once but then again there was an awful lot one could do with 20 points. I shrugged and tabled the question for later, I still needed to figure this water walking thing out.



Zoe


Zoe

I open the door to pick up the newspaper. A simple thing, right?

I jumped and rolled as a car almost hit me, I looked at the woman with curly hair.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

She was on her phone, trying to text. She blinked as she looked at me.

"Young boy, you really shouldn't be playing on the street."

"I'm on my lawn! My lawn does not count as a part of the street!"

She blinked, put down her phone, and looked around.

"Oh, you're right… Sorry about that."

I noticed then that her car was covered in scrapes, dents and the front headlight near me was damaged.

"You're not texting and driving are you?"

"Look I know you had a bit of a scare but I am an adult."

"Why would you do that? Why would you text and drive?"

She frowned at me.

"I work a very important job and I had a text."

"The whole point of a text is that it can wait, you know? Like until you're not behind the wheel?"

"Rude."

She moved forward and the tire skidded and kicked dirt in my face as she went off to work. I used Prestidigitation to clean myself and grabbed the newspaper. I opened the door and my father looked at the lawn.

"What happened?"

"The maniac decided to text and drive."

My father looked at me and shook his head.

"We are going to have to have a talk with that woman."

"Harry, nothing important was hurt."

"She messed up our lawn betty."

"It's just a lawn. Come on, I made breakfast."

Breakfast was bland oatmeal then I got dressed and went to school. The radio was on and they talked about the victory in Eagleton, the Machine Army that had threatened the country had been defeated. I looked around at the city and well it looks a lot like Detroit, graffiti everywhere, trash on the streets, most of the buildings seem to be ugly brutalist affairs as if the city itself is actively trying to crush your spirit. It's an earnest, almost deliberate, ugliness. My father frowns as we closer to the college and the small army of the homeless grows.

I'm not under the gun anymore, I can afford to take more time to myself. I yawn as we enter the school. It takes 4 years to get a degree in chemical engineering, I already have a number of classes under my belt… In two years I will have my degree.

"Are you sure you want to take that major?"

"I'm good at it."

"Ok, son."

We get out and I head towards my first class, the professor looks at me with some trepidation but starts anyways. It's in some ways a boring major as my tinker and alchemical abilities fill in the holes and let me intuit things but it's also profitable and gives me the excuse I'll need to be allowed to travel around town and even the world. Two years of hard study and then I can take more of a break and dedicate more of my time to just living.



Taylor Hebert


Taylor Hebert

Emma looked across the street, dad had made the little sandwiches with no crusts and tea and we were having a tea party.

"So I heard someone new moved in."

I sighed.

"Yeah."

I sipped my tea.

"Another group of old people?"

It was frustrating and lonely being the only kid on the street, Emma's home was better. There were more people, more kids to play with.

"No, they work at the college with mom and they have a kid."

"Ooh, do we meet them?"

"Him, it's a boy."

"So maybe we should talk to him!"

"Boy's are Icky."

Emma frowned.

"He lives right across from you."

"He's Greg's cousin."

"The paste eater?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, I understand."

She looked around.

"Did there used to be so many crows in this street?"

I looked up and saw a massive flock of them, on power lines, on the rooftops. Ever since the new neighbors moved in the number of crows just kept getting higher and higher. They stared at us, all of them looking at us.

"Creepy."

I smiled as my mother drove in, the crows turned their heads as one and flew towards her car and started squawking. She looked up and the familiar wobble of the car straightened, then she got out.

"She didn't hit the curb this time!"

I glared at Emma.

"My mom isn't that bad of a driver."

Emma looked away.

"She isn't, she's just… very busy."

Mom smiled.

"How's my little owl doing?"

"I'm having a tea party."

"Good."

She smiled and hugged me and kissed our foreheads and then went inside. I looked at the crows who were now on top of the car, staring at us. I felt nervous as they stared at us.

"Creepy."

For a moment I swore that the crows understood me. They nodded their little heads and flew away, going back to the other side of the street. They had more or less claimed that side for their own.

"Yeah, creepy! maybe we should do this at my place next?"

"Sure, sounds good."



Zoe


Zoe

"You know, there's a girl your age across the street."

I looked up from the table.

"I kind of have homework to do."

"We have been here for 3 months and I don't think you have ever even introduced yourself, Zoe."

"I'd rather focus on finishing my studies."

"You're only young once, Zoe."

I stared at her.

"What would I have in common with her?"

Mom froze.

"That's a good point but you can't keep isolating yourself like this. I mean, both you and your dad do that."

"In two years I will be finished with my degree and I will have all the time in the world, mom."

Dad looked up from the paper.

"I heard they're all at the park, maybe you could hang out there?"

Not the way I want to spend my Sunday.

"Little Greg's there and you still haven't met him so that sounds great."

And thus I was shanghaied into the part with the little annoying punks. I was wearing my little miniature professor outfit, with a book on chemistry. I read and kept my distance until my mother shoved a boy with a horrible bowl cut and blond hair into my face.

"Zoe? This is your cousin, Greg."

He smiled at me.

"I'm going to be a superhero, see?"

He ran off giggling, running at full speed, and I felt a kind of sickness. I decided to put my book down and walk around the park. I watched as the children played and then noticed a group of white kids huddling around a small girl who looked scared. All of them were white and had shaved heads, one of them had 88 on their jacket, I frowned and walked up to them.

"You're not welcome here."

"I haven't done anything."

"You've done more than enough jew."

He grabbed her necklace from her neck and took it.

"Give it back."

I calmly walked forward.

"What are you going to do, kike?"

"She said to give it back."

My voice was low and full of menace, my eyes and extrasensory abilities were on.

"Or what?"

"Or I use violence."

He pointed at his friends.

"Cant you count? There are five of us and one of you."

There were actually six people he forgot to count himself.

"I like those odds."

I moved quickly and punched him in the stomach, his eyes widened and he coughed as he went down. The group froze, not quite believing what had happened. Good. I rushed forward and kicked the back of the leg of one of the older boys, his knees buckled and I took him to the ground. Then I rolled and punched the next boy, hard. This got them to move, to try to work together. Against a normal kid this would have worked, instead I dodged their attempt to grab me and kicked another boy in the groin. Then I grabbed another one by the shirt and in a judo move threw him over my back and onto the ground.

They got up and decided to continue the fight, but I was too fast, and I had a much bigger tolerance for pain. Eventually most of them ran off crying, leaving me with the last bully. On the ground, moaning with pain. I lifted him up by his shirt collar and looked him in the eye.

"Your name. Now!"

He was whimpering.

"Jason."

"Jason, give it back or I make you pay for it in pain."

He whimpered as he gave me the necklace, I let him go and he ran off. The little girl stared at me in wonder.

"How did you do that?"

"Read a book on martial arts."

I calmly handed her back her necklace.

"What's your name?"

"Zoe. You?"

"Charlotte."



Zoe


Zoe

I don't know for sure if this is that Charlotte, I mean it's not that uncommon of a name. I do know that she's following me like a lost puppy.

"I um, what school do you go to? I um haven't seen you before."

"BSU or Brockton State University."

She froze.

"Your either really short or really smart."

"Go with the later."

"Um ok."

She was biting her lip as I moved back to the benches while Greg spazzed out in the distance, she sat down next to me.

"Hey!"

I turned around and sat the fat kid with an older boy.

"This is my big brother Adam, he's going to kick your butt."

The boy looked annoyed to be here, I calmly took off my jacket.

"Well then."

I started undoing my sleeves and rolling them up, he looked at me. His head was shaved, he wore black jackboots and had a leather jacket and a label that said 88. I cracked my neck as I looked up at him.

"So you're the one who beat up my kid brother."

"And his friends. I want to note that I also beat up his friends."

The older boy raised an eyebrow.

"And how did you do that?"

"You want a line of BS or the truth?"

He was smirking.

"The truth."

"Your brother? His friends? they spent more time talking than fighting. You talk before a fight or after a fight but when it's going on? No chit chat. Second he telegraphs his moves, he spends more time thinking about how to punch someone instead of actually punching someone. To be fair all his friends do that though. Third, all of them tried wasting time on flashy moves, jump kicks and high kicks, they acted like this was some cartoon instead of an actual fight. I went with simple moves, executed quickly. Fourth, and this is the big one, no pain tolerance. All of those guys got hits in on me, I worked through the pain while the rest of them got hit once and folded."

My sleeves were rolled up.

"So are we going to dance or chit chat? Because I don't have all day."

"I'm twice your size, kid. You think you can beat me?"

"Honestly? not a chance in hell, but I'm going go down swinging, win or lose."

He smiled and then looked at his brother.

"You heard that?"

"Kick his butt, Adam."

"No."

The boy flinched.

"What?"

"I'm a tough guy aren't I, little bro?"

"Yeah?"

"I didn't start out tough, no one does, I had to earn that. This kid? He knows for a fact that if we fight he's going to lose but look at him. He's still willing to throw down. That's how you win in this world."

He looked at me.

"How did this fight start?"

"Your brother tried to steal a girl's necklace."

He frowned and sighed and looked at his younger brother.

"You don't get stronger by fighting weaker people! You get stronger by fighting people who can fight back."

He patted his brother on the head.

"I'm not fighting your battles for you."

My senses were on, the boy frowned and screamed and rushed at me. I waited and then grabbed his arm and did a judo throw, he landed on the sand. The fat boy coughed.

"How did you do that?"

"I learned how to do that in a book, as for how I pulled it off? You don't think about a punch, you just do it."

He smirked at me.

"I respect guts so you and your little girlfriend, you get left alone. But if you push your luck there will be consequences, got it?"

I folded my arms and he went to fetch his crying brother. I looked behind me at Charlotte, who just stared at me. She didn't leave my side until the day ended.



Zoe


Zoe

My folks started taking me to the park after class to play with Greg. In reality I helped him with his class work, studied, and watched to make sure he didn't get himself in trouble so my mother and my aunt could socialize.

"Um hey, mind if I sit next to you?"

I blinked as Charlotte looked at me.

"Sure."

She sat down and bit her lip.

"What are you reading?"

"Chemistry book, I have finals soon and that's never fun."

It was getting cold again.

"Oh," she looked nervous, I looked up and saw the fat kid and his pack. He smirked at her and I glared at him, giving him just a tint of killer intent until he turned around and went to play somewhere else. Charlotte shuddered and moved herself closer to me. We watched as Greg laughed as he made another lap around the sand.

"So you're cousins."

"Yes."

Greg jumped in the sand and rolled around.

"That seems hard to believe, you two are well not um… like each other?"

I watched as he laughed in the sand.

"Greg and I have more in common than you would think, Charlotte."

She stared at me and then looked at Greg and back at me.

"We chose to be true to ourselves, to be ourselves, and we pay the same price: a smaller group of friends."

"Oh."

She blinked.

"Don't you get lonely?"

"Maybe but I have a path I have to walk and sometimes that means walking it alone."

She stared off into space and we watched as Greg got back up to run around the park again. The time came and we separated, Greg going into my mother's car. He excitedly talked about imaginary adventures while I listened in silence, when I got home I finished writing a term paper and went into my pocket universe. In my throne room, I froze as I looked at a woman with a bulbous nose, razor-sharp teeth, green skin, and growths all over her body.

I put my arms around my back.

"I'm sorry but I didn't expect guests. Would you like some tea and biscuits?"

The woman looked at me with her pitch-black eyes.

"That sounds lovely, I do apologize for coming in unannounced."

"Jasmine, Earl Grey or English breakfast?"

"Earl Grey."

I turned on the microwave and started boiling some water, I also ordered my golems to fetch some food. She remained seated.

"Not afraid?"

"I don't see any signs of battle, that means you work for the company. Class B I assume?"

"Oh I expected you to guess class A, but yes you are correct."

"Which term would you prefer for your species?"

"Hag, though you can call me a witch if you want."

The water was finished, I pulled out two cups and poured the tea. She grabbed the cup and drank deeply.

"Ah, that's the stuff."

I looked at her.

"Hello, I am Z38. Can I please have your name?"

"Agatha."

"huh, they didn't give you a serial number?"

"No, only class C does that nonsense. You lot die too quickly for people to deal with names."

She looked around.

"Little lonely here."

"Still getting started."

She looked at me.

"Is there something you need help with?"

She smiled, showing off her razor-sharp teeth again.

"I heard the world you work is a Tech 7 place."

"Yes."

"My coven is in a Tech 3."

Medieval.

"You need a favor?"

"I need a shipment of Sugar, Tea, coffee, and… well food in general."

I nodded my head.

"Famine?"

"It's been a hard winter, coin is hard to come by right now and there is more steel as of late."

I thought about it, and pulled out some paper.

"Write down what you need and give me some guarantees and consider it done."

She looked at me.

"And what do you want in return?"

"Someday in the future I might need a favor."

She sighed.

"I was afraid of that, deary."

"Too high a price?"

"If you were class A then yes but I'm afraid circumstances are what they are."

She wrote down a list and I nodded.

"Don't worry it will be taken care of."

"Thank you, deary, your hospitality is appreciated."

With that done I went to the teleportation room and started pulling on wealth and contacts. It wasn't that expensive, 30 thousand with labor involved. Mostly food, the hag nodded and bowed.

"Thank you for your aid."

"You're welcome, and I wish you well."

It was always best to be nice to the fey, consequences for rudeness were dire.



Jason


Jason- known bully

"Get up."

I stared at my older brother.

"Ugh."

"You're going for a run."

"I'm tired."

"You had 8 hours, you had enough sleep, we are running. Now you can run in your pajamas or you can run in your clothes. Pick now, bro."

I got out and put on my jeans and a T-shirt, I panted as we jogged around the block.

"Why do I have to do this?"

"You're fat, you're slow, you're weak, and you lost a six on one fight."

I glared at him.

"Why didn't you help me?"

"Because I talked to your little friends."

He loomed over me.

"What were you going to gain picking on that girl?"

"Um."

"A cheap necklace? You can feed the dogs at the warzone for a day and pick up more scratch! Hell, you can use it to buy something that looks cool."

"I wanted to impress my friends."

"By messing with a little girl? And it took you and your five buddies to do it? Lame, Jason, just lame. That shit doesn't impress anyone in the real world."

I felt my lungs burning.

"So the thing that gets me angry, the thing that just pisses me off, Jason? One guy calls you out on it and what do you do?"

"Fight him."

"No, you decide to fight him like a bitch, like a wuss. He was willing to fight you one on one like a man and you immediately brought your buddies into the fight. You didn't talk to them, you didn't warn them, you took them into a private fight and then you lost."

I was panting.

"It hurts."

"That's how you lost by the way."

I looked at him.

"I talked to your buddies and it lines up with his story. All of you got punches in, kicks in, but that kid? He took the pain and moved through it. He pushed through it and won, you and your boys couldn't do that and you lost. So these runs? It's not just about exercise, it's about learning how to push through that shit."

I felt tears in my eyes.

"The fear of pain is worse than the pain, you know? In a fight, you got to get over that stuff."

"And when I do, payback!"

My brother laughed.

"Why?"

"He humiliated me."

"Jason, how many fights do you think it takes to be a tough guy? A real tough guy?"

I froze and my bother smiled.

"Way I see it you need at least a 100 fights under your belt, a hundred real fights where you put your mettle into it. He gave a chance to see where you came up short, and he was honest about it."

I coughed as we stopped.

"What's this?"

"Working through the pain is the first step. Second step is learning how to throw a punch, take a punch training."

He opened the door.

"Boxing? But um…"

"Don't give me crap about kung fu. You tried that fancy shit, did it work?"

"No."

I looked away, remembering the failed jump kick that ended with me landing on the grass and hurting myself.

"Kid beat you with the basics. Going to be honest: the basics are what wins fights, not that fancy kung fu crap but real fundamentals."

He pointed to a ring and I saw a scarred old man.

"That's Old Willy, I paid him good money and he's going to teach you how to fight like a man."

The man got up and put on some gloves.

"This your brother?"

I looked up.

"Yeah, Willy, it is."

"Looks like a useless punk."

"That's why he's here, this place turns punks into men."

Old willy laughed and, for some reason, I felt a shiver go down my spine.



Annette Hebert


Annette Hebert

My hands itched as my phone recharged, I paced back and forth.

"Ann…"

"My students may need some advice or help, or work might need something."

"I don't think that's the case, Ann."

"What makes you so sure about that?"

He looked up at me.

"Because it's one in the morning."

"Well, then it might be an emergency and-"

"I think getting that phone was a mistake."

I frowned.

"Why do you say that?"

"It was supposed to be a tool to make our lives easier, you remember? If you're up at one in the morning, it's not making your life easier."

He looked at me.

"Come to bed."

I sighed and snuggled in and let myself fall asleep in my husband's arms, when I woke up I smelled pancakes and rushed to the phone. I looked to see if I'd missed any texts or calls. Maybe my mother called and I missed it, maybe a student needed help on a project, or one of my friends needed me. I sighed in relief, no texts, and took my phone to the kitchen. Danny frowned.

"No phone at the table."

"But work-"

"Ann. The whole reason my union, all unions, exist is because of boundaries, specifically the one between home life and work life. There is supposed to be a separation between the two."

"The college-"

"If the college has a problem with that, then the college clearly either needs a unionized workforce or, if they have a union, the rep needs to be sent in to have a chat with people. It won't be a pleasant one."

He looked me in the eye.

"No phone at the table."

He gently took my hand and removed the phone and put it on a table out of my reach, then he put down pancakes on the table and kissed my forehead and then Taylor's.

"Ok, lets eat."

Taylor talked about school and I felt myself sweat, did I get a text? Did a student need help? Finals were coming up and people were stressed out. What if someone was at the end of their rope and needed help? What If I was the only line they had before they offed themselves. Images of bad things and horrific ends rolled through my mind as the phone remained silent on the table. My hands were sweaty and I felt an itch. I wanted to know, I needed to know.

"Mom, are you paying attention?"

I shook myself and smiled.

"About what?"

"Emma wants to have a sleepover at our place."

"That sounds fine, honey."

I could check it in the car! This neighborhood was pretty safe, there wasn't much risk of getting hurt.

"One more day until winter break."

Taylor smiled.

"Good, I can take you to school."

She grimaced and my husband smiled.

"How about I take Taylor instead."

"Really? But you need to get to work."

"The school is along the way."

I frowned.

"Is this about that silly stereotype about women not being able to drive."

Taylor blinked and looked away, my husband spoke.

"We're not saying you're a bad driver but maybe you need to turn it off when you're driving."

"I need the phone for work, Danny."

"Work can wait until you're not on the road."

I looked at my girl.

"Ok, Taylor, it's up to you. Who do you want to drive you to school?"

"Daddy."

There was no hesitation.

"Fine."

I shook my head, I did not have a problem. You can't get addicted to a phone, for god's sake.



Zoe


Zoe

I look around at the snow, the Alaskan wilderness stretches out before me and it is bear hunting season.

I look at the bear before me, it roars.

"Well, then let us do this."

Water bending and Aura, I bought the advanced versions of both and that came with combat training, Taichi, and basic hand to hand combat. That's good because I need to up my game. Level 4 brought me some new abilities but in order to be able to ritual magic safely I need to make it up a level and that means either killing more stuff or upping the danger. The creature looks at me and I move my hands, ice forms.

The creature charges me and I twist, a blast of ice hits the bear. It screams and I lift a hand, bringing up a ice wall and it topples. I jump to the side and avoid an attack, in theory, I if I could just kill a little under 2000 of these things I could max out my warlock capabilities, then I could kill 250 of them to increase my capabilities, with other powers. Theory, however, is not the same thing as the real world.

The bear roars and I jump to avoid its strike and then freeze it in its tracks.

"Eldritch blast."

The strike hits and I hear ice crunch as it struggles to escape.

"Eldritch blast!"

The crunching finishes and it breaks free, I launch an Icicle into its head and I hear a crunching sound.

You see in the real world you can only get a permit to hunt two bears a year in Alaska, and most states only leg you bag two deer a season. The limitations were frustrating but I needed to work through it to grow stronger.

I touched a tree and a portal opened, I gritted my teeth and took the now dead bear into the base and the Teleportarium. Then I went to the coms and looked up a number.

"Agatha."

An image popped she looked at me in her civilian form, I saw a fluffy crow on her back.

"Z38?"

"I killed a bear, would you like the meat?"

She blinked.

"That sounds nice deary but why?"

"Holiday season and I don't have a lot of contacts."

"Ah, thanks. I will have my creations cut it up and share it with the rest of the coven."

I sent the bear over and waited.

"So how are you doing?"

"Bit of a rough day, deary. Had a run-in with a princess."

I blinked.

"Was it bad?"

"Oh yes, not a lick of sense in her! Mind if I vent?"

"Go ahead."

"So her da's the king and puts on an archery contest with his most important lords for her hand."

I grimaced.

"Girl doesn't give a single bit of thought to the politics of it all and proceeds to enter the contest for her own hand, almost starting a damned civil war. So she leaves because mommy calls her out on being a stupid twit and ends up in me shack."

I grimaced.

"She asked for magic?"

"She wanted me to mess with her ma's mind! I'm a transmutation expert, I don't have any training in the damned mental arts!… but I needed the gold so I gave her a potion because she had to have magic."

"And?"

"Her mom turned into a bear. The bint continued to mess up and cleaning it all up was a nightmare. So after that I had to move me shack again, this tosh is why I left in the first place."

"I'm sorry that happened to you."

"Don't be, deary."

"How did you get into the company?"

"I worked on set design."

I stared at her.

"It's not all kidnapping and slavery, deary. Someone has to make the sets. God, can't count the number of couches I've made."

I nodded my head.

"Wish you the best of luck."

"Same to you, deary. Oh and another thing."

"Yes?"

"I heard you're trying to get into ritual magic? If you're willing to pay in coin and barter I can contact my coven to help you out."

"I thank you for your consideration, and will take it up when I can do it more safely."

"Very well. Take care, deary."



zoe


Zoe

I meditate, the first quarter was a success and I passed all my classes.

I watch as another man's soul is devoured and open my eyes as I hear a dinging sound. I look at Heba's message, the city option is now officially paid off. I walk to the top of the castle and watch flashes of light go off as the land shifts and buildings are teleported in. In an infinite multiverse there are a host of cities that are abandoned for various reasons be it war, plague, economic disaster or any number of other factors. The company takes these ghost towns and move them around. This is typically done by class B operators. You know, the faeries.

"Hey, bub?"

I look at a surly looking fairy.

"We need to do some glamor work, and we don't want you hurt in the construction. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it."

I slapped my hand against the wall and found myself back in the basement. It was Christmas day and my parents were at a party being held by some professors while I was alone, which suited me just fine. My father was a pretty staunch atheist so we did not celebrate the holiday at home nor exchange gifts. I suppose if I fought for it I could probably get a christmas party or some such but I didn't really see why it was worth the effort. I liked the idea of having a peaceful holiday season.

I did Prestidigitation and cleaned myself then changed out of the heavy clothing to something more fitting. My stomach grumbled as I went up but I heard the sound of a doorbell and sighed.

"Damn it, they were supposed to be gone until it was late."

I grumbled as I opened the door and heard a car spin off.

"Um… Hi?"

Charlotte looked nervous and I blinked.

"I don't remember telling you where I live."

"I asked Greg. Do you mind If I um… stay for a bit?"

I sighed.

"Sure, Charlotte."

I didn't see her parents in the driveway so I strongly suspected tales were told but the damage was done and one had to roll with the punches. I closed the door and held out my hands, she took her coat off.

"Its, um nice."

"It really isn't."

Mom wasn't a great housekeeper and she had a tendancy to fill the house with new age knickknacks. Charlotte stared at the dreamcatchers and other nonsense. Honestly if my mother ever found out magic was real she would probably blow a gasket.

"So um show me around?"

I took her to the backyard and she froze as she came eye to eye with the small army of crows that lived in our yard. I opened a box and pulled out some birdseed and spread it across the yard, the creatures flew down and started eating. Charlotte looked at the backyard.

"There are lots of bird baths."

"Meh, just the three."

"Most people only have one."

She looked at the small building in the back.

"What's that?"

"Just a place for the crows to live."

I opened the door and the crows looked at me, Charlotte stared at me.

"Wow. Um… that's a lot of crows."

"Yeah, I built this for them and they started coming here."

I snapped my fingers and held out my hand. A crow landed on it.

"Want to pet it?"

She nervously walked over and put her index finger on the crow's head, it leaned into the touch. She smiled and then began to pet it in earnest.

"It's so soft."

The crow squaked.

"Fine, you can go."

The crow left and she looked at me.

"Are these your pets?"

"Nah, just wild crows… takes a while to earn their trust."

And unnatural magic. She blinked.

"That's so cool."

I walked out of the little hut and she followed me.

"How long have you had this?"

"Hmm… I built the hut over the summer when we moved here. Took a couple weeks, was a pain in the butt."

Another crow flew in as I shut the door.

"And they just come here?"

"It's safe and I try to feed them every day."

I opened the door and she looked at me, her eyes opened in child like wonder.

"Why didn't you tell me you had that?"

"It's just a hobby."

"Greg would have… you're not like Greg."

I shrugged.

"Want to go to the entertainment room?"

"Um, sure."

She followed me and I opened a door. There was a large TV and I grabbed a remote and turned it on, she stared at the figures.

"What's this?"

"it's my project for my computer class…"

I smiled.

"I call it 'Just Dance', want to play?"

I picked a song.

"How."

"Just follow the movement, lets start with some thing simple. Dynamite."

I shamelessly ripped this off, might as well enjoy it. Charlotte looked at me and awkwardly danced along to the music, slowly getting into the game. We played more rounds until she started huffing on the ground, she looked at me and I shut off the game.

"You made that?"

"Yeah, got an A in my computer class."

She smiled at me and nodded her head.

"So you play this a lot?"

I shrugged.

"Not as often as I would like, my parents kind of hog the game alot."

"Lame."

"It is what it is, and anyways if it makes them happy then good."

I sat down next to her to rest alongside her.

"This was nice."



Zoe


Zoe

The fat kid came back, he stood next to his brother who looked just a little exasperated.

He glared at me with hate in his eyes, his hands balled up into fists.

"You lost weight."

He blinked at my statement."

"What?"

"I assume that's why you're here, right? To show off your progress? I may not like you as a person but credit where credit is due, you lost some weight."

"Don't change the subject?"

"There was a subject?"

I got up from the bench and put myself between fat boy and Charlotte.

"Jason, let it go."

"No, I'm going to fight him and win."

He went into a boxing stance, a primitive one, and I put my arms out and then he rushed forward. His brother shook his head as I waited and then took a step to the side and tripped him, he landed on the ground.

He turned around, hate in his eyes, and I gave him an open palm slap in that portion of his head between his nose and mouth, a little touch of mana and he fell to the ground hard. I looked at his brother.

"I assume whoever you have teaching him told him not to do that?"

The older boy sighed as he grabbed his brother and took him on his shoulders.

"Yeah. A couple lessons and he thinks he's a little badass, doesn't think he needs to learn more… Best way to get him away from that garbage was with another loss."

He looked at his brother.

"He's knocked out, not seriously hurt. I read a couple of anatomy books so I wouldn't screw up the technique."

He blinked.

"Heh, gonna tell that to him when he wakes up."

"Why?"

"It will get him to actually study."

I frowned.

"Is this going to become a thing?"

He shrugged.

"Maybe."

Damn it. They walked away and I looked at Charlotte.

"Why are you not scared?"

'I have supernatural powers and could easily slaughter both of those idiots' was not the right reply.

"Because I need to be brave in order to keep you safe."

Her face turned red and I went back to watching Greg spazz out, pretending to be a dinosaur this time. Then two people came and a man looked at me.

"So who are you?"

His voice was semi playful.

"Zoe."

The woman's eyebrow raised and Charlotte turned red.

"Charlotte never told me you were a boy."

He folded his arms.

"Does my little girl have a boyfriend already?"

"DAD! He's not my boyfriend."

I shrugged at his statement.

"Should I be worried, little boy?"

I looked him in the eye.

"Depends."

"I heard you fought some boys."

"Are you saying your girl isn't worth fighting for?"

He smirked.

"I think I like you. Come on, Charlotte, we're going home."

Charlotte gingerly walked away and Greg looked at me.

"Zoe and Charlotte sitting in a tree."

"Greg, how many friends do you have?"

"Lots."

"Name them."

He frowned and grimaced.

"Don't throw away what few friends you have because they're not boys. Ok, Greg?"

"Ok, Zoe."

He looked at me.

"Can I go to your house and play your dancing game."

I sighed.

"Sure."

"Yeah!"



Zoe


Zoe

I stepped into the pool of water and focused, letting it support my weight, then I carefully took another step and another until I was on the other side of the pool. Where I collapsed and panted.

"Did it."

There were differences between my capabilities.

Aura provided extrasensory perception, protection, limited environmental protection, and a boost to my physical stats, my semblance was mediation which basically allowed me to use my abilities as a cohesive whole and that's it. Limited but in some ways very useful. I was currently limited to using my chakra to move faster, walk on walls and ceilings. It gives me mobility options and not much else for now. I look at the clock and dry off from my previous failed attempted and get dressed.

I go up out of the basement and hear a doorbell. Greg and Charlotte are waiting with their parents.

"Ready?"

They nod and we head to the entertainment room.

"Greg, you get first pick."

"Boogie Wonderland."

I shrugged.

"Also I want to be mustache guy."

"Ok."

I go to the room and boot it up, the parents enter and we start dancing. Greg was, to my surprise, actually pretty good. Despite myself I liked these moments, these quiet moments with the kids, but I also understood it couldn't last forever. I had to finish my education, they had to live their lives separate from my own. In the future we would spend less and less time together. When we got tired we took a break and I looked outside. My crows squawked and the wobbling car straightened itself out.

Maybe training them to hassle her whenever the professor drove like that was a bit much? Then again I could be really vindictive.

"You watching something, Zoe?"

"Um no."

"'nother game?"

"Sure, Greg. Sure."



Greg Veder


Greg Veder

I didn't use to have friends.

I mean I wanted them more than anything but I didn't know how to get them. So I tried my very hardest and it… well, never seemed to work. All the stuff I did to impress the other kids, it just made them avoid me and it was frustrating because I was trying my very hardest. Then my cousin Zoe moved in and I had been worried that he would be mean. Why? Because he's some kind of genius and on TV people that smart are often pretty mean. But Zoe's not like that! Oh sure I annoy him sometimes but he always took things in stride. And in his own way, he's actually pretty cool.

Not cool in the way that they show on TV but in a kind of does his own thing and doesn't care what other people think kind of cool. I'm always trying to impress people, trying to get people to like me, and Zoe doesn't care about that at all because he's… well, Zoe. After him Charlotte became my friend, it's strange having a girl who is your friend but isn't your girl friend. I mean she doesn't like playing dinosaurs or a lot of other stuff but she always tells me when I'm being a little too… too much.

I used to be ok with people laughing at me as long as they paid attention to me but now I'm doing better, I guess. I don't have to do that as much anymore. Most people still don't like me or want to be around me but just having two people is enough, I guess. I always think too much after I get tired from a round of the dancing game, the three of us kind of huff on the ground. Zoe's the least tired but even he looks tired.

"Can we visit the crows?"

He looks at me.

"You have to be careful, Greg. They're living creatures."

"I know."

"You will be careful."

I blinked. Some times, when he talked, I felt funny.

"Ok, I will."

We got up and went into the back yard, and I looked at the crows. Zoe went over and got some bird seeds and put it on the ground, then they came and started eating. I took a handfull and did the same, and so did Charlotte. We sat down with legs crossed as Zoe put out a hand, one of the crows came to him and landed on his hand and then another landed on his head and I laughed because it was funny. He held out his hand and I carefully petted the crow, the bird nuzzled my hand and I smiled, then he handed the crow to charlotte and she petted it too. Then he nodded his head and the crow flew away.

"Cool."

I looked at Zoe.

"Can you do that kind of stuff with other animals?"

"Not at the moment, I kind of have a lot of experience with crows."

He smiled warmly.

"I gained a real appreciation for them and what they're capable of."

I flinched as I heard a squawking sound outside, Zoe frowned.

"What was that?"

"Oh someone just got back home."

He got up and looked at us.

"Another round?"

I smiled and took his outstretched hand.

"Sure."

It was good, having friends.



Zoe


Zoe

It's not the double life that kills you, it's all the ones on top of that. The foppish millionaire hunter from overseas, the tax identities so I can move money around, and a host of other paperwork required to make my cape identity work. That said it's all finally worked out, I can now use ritual magic in a way that doesn't risk paradox. I look at the Teleportarium and summon an image of Agatha.

"Hello."

"Deary, hello. You have some more meat for the coven?"

"You ok with deer?"

"Of course, deary."

I sent it and she looked at me.

"I take it this isn't a social call."

"I'm looking to buy books on how to cast restoration as a ritual."

"Lesser or greater?"

"Both."

She winced.

"Not possible?"

"Oh, deary, it's possible… but it will be very very expensive."

"How expensive?"

She grimaced and gave me a number in gold, I did mental math… around 10 million dollars.

"Fair."

She blinked.

"That's quite a bit of gold, deary."

"Is she willing to take bartered goods?"

"Yes, but always at a markup so be prepared to pay triple."

I thought about it.

"And I expect a 10% negotiator's fee."

"Expected. So why is it so pricy?"

"Deary, restoration spells are people's lifework. People pay a lot of money for that service. It's like asking why medical school is so expensive on your world, is it not?"

"Good point, I apologize for my ignorance."

She smiled.

"Ah, but at least you're willing to learn."

I waited and then an image of a green woman with a bulbous nose appeared.

"Oy, this is Gretchen! You the tosser who wants to buy me magic?"

"Yes."

"We got the bloody black death running through the entire area and the local lords and ladies are on me arse to fix it."

"too many people, not enough time?"

"Bloody truth! And da king is too quick with the iron, if you catch me drift."

"So, gold?"

"Normally I love me gold… but I rather like my head on me bloody shoulders. I want penicillin."

I blinked.

"How much."

"A ton of it. A literal ton!"

I frowned.

"I looked up the price of penicillin and that is a lot more expensive than the price of your information. I'm looking up the most effective treatment for the Black Death and that's 32 dollars in my currency per treatment. That's roughly 81,000 doses."

"I need enough to cover a hundred thousand."

"For that price I want it translated into deep speech."

She blinked.

"You're robbing me blind, boy."

"I am willing to provide blank books and ink to write down the spell formulas but I want greater and lesser in deep speech."

She sighed.

"You have a crisis on your head right now so, while I would like to have both spells as quickly as possible, I can wait."

"I want payment of goods first, enough for a hundred thousand people. And I want da ink and books to write the spells into."

"Your terms are acceptable. Agatha?"

"I will sanctify the pact."

I bowed to both of them as I got Gretchen's location.

"It has been an honor doing business with all of you."

Now I just had to find a way to get that medication.



Zoe


Zoe

This pretty much wipes out most of my savings.

"That's a lot of penicillin."

"I owe some contact a favor, she called it in."

So I've decided to go through the PRT on this one.

"A hundred thousand treatments for bubonic plague?"

"I know."

"You must owe a serious favor."

"I'm trying to work on a new potion that can fix that whole aid's nonsense, and while I have issues with people I have to put them aside as best I can to make this work."

The PRT agent was silent.

"While that sounds admirable you understand that this is a massive expense in a short period of time, and we are not a charity."

"Perhaps barter?"

"Hmm… We strongly suspect that you have been keeping an emergency supply of your potions, just in case."

"Guilty as charged. With Endbringers, and other nonsense, I just want to have stores in case something happens."

"How large is the stockpile."

"I can afford to let go of 10,000 vials."

"100,000 doses for 10,000 vials."

"Not an even trade."

"True but who else can get you that much penicillin from in a short period of time."

They had me by the short hairs.

"I will deliver it now and expect the shipment of penicillin within the week."

"A pleasure doing business with you, Z38."

I ended the call then opened the portal and had my golems shove the potions outside. True to their word the PRT provided me the drugs in the negotiated timeframe. I gave Agatha a mixture of gold and silver coins to pay for her fee and sent Gretchen the drugs. She was cranky, as expected, and I had to wait another week to get my books, but she delivered. I read through the books carefully and drew the symbols onto my arms bit by bit, letting my mark absorb the arcane knowledge. I couldn't use greater restoration, it was too advanced for me… but lesser restoration would do.

With that done I set up my ritual space and chanted and brought in reagents. The whole thing took me hours of set up and half an hour of actual work, by then though I had a scroll that held a single restoration spell. I looked at the clock, one in the morning, and left my lair. Now back in the real world I went to my parent's room and carefully snuck into it, the door creaked as I snuck inside but the snoring continued. I carefully approached them and looked at my mother. I brought out the scroll, read it, and it turned into dust in my hands. I gently blew the still glowing dust into her face and watched her.

I felt relief as the cancer I could only hold at bay for so long finally vanished… I slumped as I sighed in relief and slowly snuck out of the bedroom and locked the door. I went back to the basement and collapsed on the bed.

"Finally."

It was over! At long last, it was over.



Zoe


Zoe

School has become more demanding, even with my abilities the class work is becoming more difficult and it requires more of my time and effort. I've been forced to take away park time and hunting time and a lot of things to focus on my studies. That said the trickle of roughly one soul a week is still coming in. It's been an intense 3 months but another quarter is finished and I just need to go through another couple years and this is over.

"So you finally have enough to pay off the Maidroid Crew."

We were floating around the castle in a small boat, she looked at me.

"Of course if you put more effort into collecting more souls this all would have been over much more quickly. I simply do not understand why you insist on taking such a lackadaisical approach to a very serious matter, especially considering that your life might be at stake."

I looked at her.

"I understand exactly what's at stake, my studies exist for the purpose of giving me more free time to do what I need to do and to build up my contacts. Like it or not I simply do not possess the base skills needed to take on the enemy's commander at the moment."

She shrugged.

"One would think that you would be more motivated to deal with the issue."

I froze.

"Heba… How many of your clients have rushed into things, to get them knocked out as soon as they can?"

"Most."

"How many of those clients of yours are still alive?"

She blinked, looking as if she had been slapped hard.

"Once I have a degree, I can create a shell company and hire myself as a consultant which will free up a lot more of my time to handle my real job. There is a plan in place, but in order for it to work I need to put in the time to create the foundation for it."

We got off the boat and onto the castle grounds.

"So what are my options?

"You will start off with a hundred maidroids or buttler droids, of course they can be made for multi-use if you wish."

"No."

She froze.

"What?"

"It's true that I do have a Harem budget, but I picked this option for utilitarian reasons. Also, I would prefer it if they were not sentient."

"Do you wish for a VI option instead?"

"Yes, any way to split them between maintenance and cleaning duties?"

"Yes. Any aesthetic preferences?"

"Typical robot features, I don't need them to look human or like a sentient creature or functional in 'that' way. I just need them to be able to do a task and not terrify small children."

She nodded her head.

"That's actually something I did not expect, most clients demand their maidroids be… well multi-use. We can definitely make that happen."

She brought out a glowing orb and fiddled with it. I stared at her.

"Well, I guess I will see you when I buy the next option."

She nodded her head.

"Yes, the military-grade upgrade. With that done your housing options should be more or less taken care of. Care to tell me what you will be working on next? According to my list you have budgeted a hundred souls on control options, 108 on powers and perks, and 150 on… companionship."

"Perks next, then control options then companionship, and then I have to pay another 45 souls on top of that."

"Which you only have to pay if you survive to the biological age of 16. If you do not survive that, well… locker time and the powers are forfeited."

I frowned.

"I had legal look that over, I only need to survive till ten because of the insertion point provided I have a certain engine."

She waved me off dismissively.

"Yes, yes. If you somehow manage to finally pay things off at your current sluggish pace, that is possible."

I took a breath and looked at her.

"You do realize that I'm less than 400 souls from paying off all available catalog options, right?"

"Your point being?"

"You're not my superior anymore. Technically I currently outrank you and once I pay off those souls? I go up another rank. Why are you trying to piss me off? You have to know the potential consequences."

She stopped and looked at me. She then calmly removed her glasses, cleaned them on her shirt, and looked at me again.

"I am well aware of that statute. I am well aware of just how horrible, evil, and despicable the company is and just how low it can go. I am aware that I have been the accessory to a lot of very fucked up things."

She knelt down and looked me in the eye.

"I know exactly what you can do to me, Z38. I know that, if you pull this off, you can make me your personal property. But the thing is, the reason why I took your case file? It's this."

She leaned in closer.

"If you pull this off over a trillion people live."

I blinked.

"I want, just once, to be able to look myself in a mirror and not feel like a piece of shit."

She got up.

"I don't care if you hate me, as long as you take this just as seriously as I do."



Heba


Heba

I was able to get my mother's file recently.

When Z38 became a member of good standing I was able to get just enough pull to get it. I always had this idea of my mother being some victim, that if she could… she would have taken me with her. That she ended up as talent out of desperation, that she needed some money to save her village or resources or something. The noble talent with a heart of gold thing. That wasn't the case. Mom was the daughter of a rich merchant family who volunteered for the show as a way to rebel against her parents. She had decided not to keep me because it would, in her words, 'cramp her style'.

I have no idea who my father is, too many possibilities on that end.

She's doing pretty well for herself these days, she married some nobleman after 'escaping' her kidnapping. She came back with a lot of money and is independently wealthy. I have 2 brothers who I have never met and am never allowed to meet because of the contract. They grew up knowing every luxury, I grew up in a room full of orphans, in corporate school. It's pretty rough having your delusions shattered, and now I'm just left with my job, an empty apartment, and a cat who's getting on in years.

It's harder and harder to care, to be afraid. The mission, I guess, is it now. If this works, it's something that I can point to and say 'I did good'.

It's something where I can say 'Hey, it was all worth it. My life was shit but it mattered. I was a part of this!'. Maybe I'm deluding myself because more often than not these missions fail. As far as the Company's concerned they limited the damage, saved a ton of lives. While the losses are tragic stuff like this happens all over the multiverse, best you can do is limit the damage or try to survive. But… I guess I'm invested now.

I was told not to do that, but I just want to feel good about myself for a change.

Maybe that's just a foolish dream, but it's all I got left.



Zoe


Zoe

Sleep, Social life, good grades. Pick two.

The classic college conundrum, I suppose it doesn't help that I purposefully overloaded myself with classes this quarter in an effort to get get it over with. I feel tired and exhausted, I suppose I could afford to take the summer off but honestly I just want this shit over with. I sigh as I slap my hand against the wall, I passed my finals so I deserve a nice relaxing swim, right? I mean it's only fair after the shitty three months I've had.

I head to the castle and smile as I head to the indoor pool and then frown when I see a familiar face on her back, staring listlessly at the ceiling, and then I notice the wine bottles around her.

"Yoush can afford the last upgrade now."

She looks at me and her chest heaves.

"Not in the pool Heba, not in my fucking pool."

She gets up and staggers towards my pool.

"Oh no, no no no you are not going to throw up in my fucking pool."

I grab her and forcibly move her to a nearby garbage can, she hovers over it and throws up and I shake my head. I do not need this. I seriously do not need this.

"Why are you here? I didn't ask for your help."

"You can afford the upgrade, why don't you-"

She puked again.

"I'm kind of busy right now trying to establish my cover."

"Lazy."

I frowned.

"You know what? I am tired of this self-righteous bullshit, Heba."

"You can't-"

"You are not my boss anymore, got it? Not my fucking boss! You don't get to show up in my home, get drunk and puke in my house and get to give me a fucking lecture. Seriously the entire time I've worked with you, it's been you and your fucking issues."

She started dry heaving.

"Just trying to help."

"Help? HELP? How about you stop sabotaging me then? How about you stop pushing me to take options that don't help the mission? Do you have any military training at all? Are you even remotely fucking qualified to give me any advice on that front?"

She dry heaved again, now empty.

"And your attitude, your FUCKING attitude! What the fuck, what the fuck is your god damned problem?"

She collapsed on the ground and started crying hysterically.

"Mr. Whiskers died."

I stared at her.

"What?"

"My cat died."

She was sobbing now, the urge to slap her was growing.

"Yes."

I took a deep breath.

"Then go talk to a friend."

"I don't have any."

Yeah, I firmly believed her on that front.

"How is that my problem?"

"I'm you-"

"Don't say boss, or superior, or any of that. I went through five years, five fucking years, of being experimented on, killed over and over again, and doing secretarial work. Then I took an assignment on a fucking death world and had to redo being an infant, a mother fucking child again, to pay off the debt I owed to the company for the chance to get the power I suffered 5 years for. I paid that debt off, I paid for catalogue access. I am not your fuck boy anymore, you got that?"

She collapsed and I grabbed her by the braid.

"I AM NOT YOUR FUCK BOY! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

"Yeah."

She cried some more.

"I'm going to HR, I am done with this shit."



Lord Zig


Lord Zig of Acquisitions

I looked at the file, Naka was frowning.

"Z38… His pact is under Shub-Niggurath, correct?"

"Yes."

I've always had a soft spot for warlocks who took a pact from the family, even if she was incredibly distant family and more like someone you evolved from.

"You know what my favorite human word is, Naka?"

"Fuck?"

"That's the second favorite one but good guess. OK is number one, it's just so inherently useful you know."

"Yeah, it kind of spreads like wildfire."

I looked at him.

"Naka? Take the day off. Spend some time with the kids, ok?"

"Ok."

I took deep cleansing breaths and called in Heba, she walked in her head held high and I pointed to a chair. She sat down and I looked her in the eye.

"What the fuck happened out there."

She took a breath.

"I may have lost my composure."

"You snuck into your client's residence uninvited, got drunk on his property, and then had the nerve, the absolute nerve, to lecture him on how he was doing his job."

I looked her in the eye.

"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?"

She looked at me.

"I may have had an error in judgment."

I raised a finger.

"You think you had it bad? Boo. Hoo. You're not the only one with a sob story, Heba, practically everyone in the company has a sob story. I lost all seven of my children to those Vae Victus cunts, you don't see me taking it out on my employees, on my coworkers, or clients."

I felt disgusted.

"This job, your job, is easy. You have 10 clients at a time, you give yearly performance reviews to the ones that are in hock, once they pay their debts you act as a mediator between your clients and the company. The kind of shit you're doing? That's the kind of shit that started the Corporate Wars."

I got up and loomed over her.

"I fought in those wars, Heba. I lost friends in them, I took this position to install some basic Cthulhu fucking standards."

I seethed with rage.

"I apologize. My actions were not well thought out."

"Heba… I know you have issues regarding past talent but you know what I call it? Paying your dues. Z38 has paid his dues, you have not. You're a bureaucrat with a cushy job. Or rather who had a cushy job, as you're quite clearly losing it. Our agents already die at horrific rates, they do not need to be saddled with a liability."

"What happens to me?"

"Well, that's up to Z38."

I hit the buzzer, he walked in and took his seat. I looked at him and sighed.

"I am deeply sorry for Heba's behavior. I am a busy man and, unfortunately, I can't be everywhere at once to stop such issues from happening."

"I accept your apology."

I looked at Heba and then at Z38.

"Heba has been on thin ice for a while."

"Going to fire her?"

"There is a choice of disciplinary actions."

He nodded his head.

"We can put her through a year-long Talent contract, we can exile her to another world and fire her, or we can make her into your personal assistant."

"I don't have the rank for one of those yet."

"Actually, as a member of good standing, you can get one if you go through the proper channels and a superior approves it."

He looked at her and sighed.

"I just want her to stop fucking up."

"So, what do you pick?"

He leaned back.

"Let Heba Choose."

She closed her eyes.

"I choose the personal assistant route."

He looked at her and she looked at him back.

"Very well."

I went over to the side and pulled out a metallic box.

"Heba."

She undid her shirt and carefully folded it on the chair, and then did the same with her skirt and panties and bra. She then removed her shoes and socks and knelt down on the ground and raised her ass in the air. I opened the box.

"This is a brand, your brand, made specifically for your use, Z38. When Heba disobeys you she will feel pain, when she obeys she will feel pleasure. Once you brand her she will be yours for life. She will of course not count as a member of your harem and any children she has with you will not be eligible to property on your lands, unless you will it so."

He picked up the brand.

"Do it."

Z38 pressed the hot iron against the small of her back and I watched as tears flowed out of Heba's eyes, she wiped them away and then got dressed.

"I will serve you to the best of my ability, master."

She bowed to Z38 who sighed.

"No more fuck ups, Heba, no more lectures. Got it?"

"Yes, my master."



Jamie Rinke-cannoned


Omake.

Jamie Rinke

"Things could be a lot worse."

Jamie thinks while he is sitting on his couch in his new home, which even has robot maids, the medicine the company gave him, cured him of the cloudy thoughts, it made him start his new job with debt, but it was paid so quickly that he didn't even feel it.

They put him to make bodies for customized orders, the Company inserts the personalities later, he just needs to generate the body and even his power seems to be happy with it, due to the number of examples he has to observe and analyze as a basis for his work.

Does the client want a kryptonian who is also an elf? They come to him to make the body, the same thing if the client wants the celestial being resulting from a succubus affected by the inversion power of Seija Kijin from Touhou.

Spoiler: kryptonian

[img: https/i./originals/5c/9c/3c/5c9c3c73c0176dece32406299d6c20f9.jpg]

And futanaris, he made many futanaris, of many races, he didn't even know what a futanari was before working at the company, but each with his fetishes, he doesn't judge.

One thing he did a lot more than he expected are pets, customized animals, because sometimes people just want a little unconditional love.

Miniature hydras, slimes made of gold, muk made of healing oils instead of pollution, maybe he should have tried to be an artist in his previous life, but he never had the chance, thankfully he had the chance to work for the Company, he'll wait for a while and send Z38 a nice gift to thank.

Spoiler: Fakemon

[img: https/i./originals/75/c2/e1/75c2e113bebb1ac6fe297e920fafa039.jpg]

Colleagues are nice to him, the atmosphere is good, the salary is much better than he had at the bank, he can have luxuries and his mind is clear enough to enjoy things right now.

Finally, he have the peaceful life he dreamed of.



Harry Zimmerman


Harry Zimmerman

My son was sipping tea and watching the crows.

"You doing ok, sport?"

He looked at me with tired eyes.

"Yeah, I'm just dealing with a fellow student unloading their emotional drama onto me."

I blinked.

"Are you friends?"

"No, in fact she was kind of a massive pain in my butt, but she shows up drunk and just unloads all of her issues onto me and then expects me to solve them."

I frowned.

"That isn't fair to you, Zoe, you shouldn't have to deal with that."

He looked at me.

"I completely agree with you."

He sipped his tea.

"I'm just really sick of people expecting me to solve their problems, you know? I have my own problems in life, my own issues, and I have so much on my plate right now and I do not need people who I am not even close to dumping their problems on me. My plate is as full as it is."

I gave my son a hug.

"It's not your responsibility."

He hugged me back.

"Thanks."

I looked at him.

"Is it too much?"

"School?"

He leaned back.

"It's rough, engineering is a lot harder than people make out to be."

I shrugged.

"You can always go into math."

"I kind of want to have enough money to buy my own house someday."

I shrugged.

"Fair enough, any thought of what you want to do after school?"

"There's this company opening up on the docks that gives out submarine rides, they're looking for engineers."

"And chemical engineering is um."

"One of the specialties they need, it's good money. Apparently, some rich guy is just doing it as a tax write off."

"You think you would be happy doing that?"

"Yeah… It's good money, creates jobs for the city, and submarines are cool in general. I think I can be happy doing that."

"Well, then I wish you the best."

I got up and looked at him.

"I'm proud of you, I just want you to know that."

"Thanks, dad."

I ruffled his hair and left. I'm lucky to have a son like Zoe, to have the family I have. I hate this town but my wife, my son, they make it bearable.



Heba


Heba

I looked at my new residence and remembered, what happened last week.


The robots packed up my things while Z38 watched, he looked at my shelves.

"Wine."

He opened up my refrigerator and looked inside.

"More wine."

He opened up shelves and looked around.

"Ok."

He looked around and opened my garbage can.

"That is a lot of wine bottles."

He looked at me.

"So you're an alcoholic then."

"I don't have a problem."

"You have an entire garbage can filled with nothing but empty wine bottles, you have a problem."

"It's a recycling bin."

He stared at me.

"Oh cause that just makes all of this better."

He looked at me.

"No booze, you're going on a detox."

"I don't have a problem, I can stop drinking at any time."

"Good, we're going to test that out."

"Machines pour all alcoholic substances down the drain."

I flinched a robot held me as I watched my wine was poured down the drain.


The first day I was locked in a room with water and MREs.

"I don't need it."

My hands trembled.

"I don't need it."

I paced back and forth.

"I don't need it."

I felt cold sweat as I paced, I felt weaker and weaker as time passed. I could do this, easy.

When the 12th hour came I felt nausea. I couldn't sleep, my head was killing me, the sweating was getting worse and I felt like I had a fever.

"I NEED IT!"

I screamed as I found a chair and started bashing it against the door. I broke it open and rushed to the teleporter, the robots tackled me and Z38 looked at me.

"Tie her to the bed."

"I NEED IT!"

My body spasmed on the ground, tears flowed out of my eyes.

"Please."

They dragged me to the bed and tied me to it, the spasms got worse and I screamed in pain. He opened a small glowing vial and forcibly opened my mouth, the liquid burned on the way down and my seizure stopped.

"Soup, water, bread, handle any waste."

The second day the hallucinations started. I saw the old woman at the orphanage who helped me get a vow of purity so I would be safe from becoming a Talent, she lambasted me and said that I wasn't good enough and that I disappointed her. I saw past agents who died all, of them yelling at me for failing them. I saw the image of my mother, her regal hair as she starred in Drow Gang Bangs 38. I saw her moan like a whore and then she turned her head and told me she didn't love me.

Periodically I felt water get forced down my throat or food and it was hard to keep it down. The tremors were there, always there, and I puked and threw up. The rest of the week was pain, delirium, and suffering. I think it's day seven now, at least there is a calendar on the wall that says that.

"The robots can't wipe."

I blinked as I turned tired and saw a little boy.

"I used Suggestion to get my parents to think I'm at some farm thing for the week."

"Oh."

I stared at him.

"What did you say?"

"The robots can't wipe."

I blinked as I looked at the bed.

"I burned the covers."

"Right. For the best."

I felt mortified.

"So um?"

"So you obviously were in no condition to keep yourself clean and you still had bodily functions."

I felt cold.

"So… Prestidigitation?"

"Oh, that was my first try. Doesn't work in there and I was told there was a risk of infection if it wasn't taken care of."

I grimaced.

"You wiped my ass."

"Yeah… I wiped your ass."

I felt sick.

"The first week is the worst, of detox. There was every possibility that, if I didn't stay here and watch you, you could die."

He shook his head.

"The worst of its over."

"So, I'm ok?"

"No. You will have symptoms for at least 3 months, maybe a year. I'm not letting you off the property until you're clean, because I am not going to spend another week dealing with sick and wiping your ass."

He untied me and I got up, I was clean.

"Prestidigitation?"

"Of course."

He helped me to my feet and I leaned against him and walked slowly. I didn't know quite what to feel but I knew things between us were different now.



Annette Herbert


Annette Herbert

"SWAKA SKWAKA!"

The crows screamed as I looked up from my blackberry.

"Ugh, every time."

I put the phone away and drove home, no messages. I felt a twitch, wondering if I was missing a text, a call that might be the lifeline someone needs to not make the same bad decision I made. I get back home and look around.

"Mommy!"

My girl hugs me and I hug her back, my husband looks at me.

"The crows are a problem, Danny."

"Can't do anything about them."

Ugh, I smiled and looked at my daughter.

"I made macaroni art, want to see it?"

"Of course I do and hey!"

"No blackberry during family time."

"But I need my phone."

"The quarter is over, class is over, your job as professor is over. You need to relax."

"But what if someone needs me."

He shut off the phone.

"Then they can wait."

I went with my little owl and watched as she showed off her art. I smiled warmly at her as she did so, and clenched and unclenched my hands. I looked over to where my phone was.

"Mom? Can Emma come over for a sleep over?"

I smiled.

"Of course little owl but you need to clean your room first."

"Yeah"

She smiled and I headed outside and frowned as I looked at the large number of crows on the other side of the street. They seemed to take turns watching my house, at once they turned their heads and looked at me.

"Creepy."

I noticed a woman who seemed to decide that the 60s were not over, I took a breath and walked over.

"Hello Um I don't believe we have ever met?"

She smiled at me.

"We've met."

"Really?"

"Yes you've hit our trash cans multiple times, and um there was the one time you almost ran over my son."

"I wasn't going anywhere fast enough to hurt him."

"Your car shouldn't have been on our lawn in the first place."

I looked around and noticed the crows all of the crows.

"There didn't use to be so many crows."

She smiled.

"My son likes them and has been feeding them, he has a real gift. If if he wasn't in school to be an engineer I would have told him to get a job handling animals someday."

I looked at her.

"You have a son in college?"

"Yes."

"You don't look old enough."

It explained her taste in clothing somewhat.

"Oh he's around your daughter's age, my little Zoe is very smart."

That name.

"Is your last name Zimmerman?"

"Yes."

And I just now realized that the prodigy lived across the street from me.

"I'm professor Hebert, I teach literature."

"My husband teaches math."

"Ah that explains it, the math departments always been in their own little world."

She smiled warmly.

"My husband has his faults but at least he can watch the road."

I frowned.

"I thought hippies were supposed to be forgiving."

"Not when it involves my children."

I thought about it.

"I am sorry. I was irresponsible and I shouldn't have done that."

She looked at me and nodded.

"Was that so hard?"

I felt a growing sense of annoyance.



Zoe


Zoe

I looked at Heba as she shivered in her chair.

"So, some ground rules."

She nodded her head.

"Ok."

"This not an equal relationship, and I am not going to pretend it is. It is a relationship between master and servant, you are the servant."

She nodded her head.

"Yes."

"Good. As your master, I will give you food, shelter, pay, and medical care when you need it. In exchange…"

"I am to offer you my all, mind and body and soul."

I shrugged.

"Yeah, that works."

She looked at me.

"So I assume I will join your upcoming harem."

"You actually have far fewer rights and protections than a companion or, as I like to call them, a waifu. Because you got this position as a punishment you even have fewer rights than a normal assistant."

She nodded her head.

"Then it appears that I am at your mercy."

I shrugged.

"Ok lets learn more about you then."

"Well I grew up in saint Epistien's orphanage."

I tilted my head not expecting that name to come up.

"I grew up in along 10 other girls in a single room."

"Trained to be future prostitutes?"

She grimaced.

"I failed the test to get on the track for that."

I stared at her.

"There's a test to become a hooker?

"Yes, a company hooker does more than Talent does, they have to have training in psychology, xeno biology, some medicine… a lot of subjects, really. They're more like therapists you sleep with then what you think of as a prostitute."

I looked at the statue in her room, the one of an elf.

"So you collect knick-knacks."

"That's an Idol of my god, Cos o Be."

"Ok, what's he the god of?"

She bit her lip.

"Education, schools, colleges, frats and rape… you know, normal god stuff."

"What what?"

"Education and-"

"I distinctly heard that he's the god of rape."

"Well yes but that's only a small part of his portfolio, he does other things you know."

"You worship a literal god of rape."

She crossed her arms.

"Ok Zeus rapes women all of the time in his stories, pretty much all the greek gods have raped some one at some point at least my god is honest about it."

"Lets hear a prayer."

"Oh Cos o be, please grant us humility in trying times and silence the arrogant whores with your mighty cock, fill them with your seed and-"

I looked at her in horror.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"That's the prayer you went with?"

"This is very insulting, I am sharing a deep personal part of my faith with you."

"And it keeps horrifying me."

I took a deep breath.

"Ok! Do you have anything else to share about your past?"

"Well I know a song from growing up."

She picked up a lute and started playing.

"When you're rife with devastation

There's a simple explanation:

You're a toymaker's creation

Trapped inside a crystal ball

And whichever way he tilts it

Know that we must be resilient

We won't let them break our spirits

As we sing our silly song.

When I was a little kiddy, a galloping blaze overtook my city

So they shipped me off to the orphanage

Said, "ditch those roots if you wanna fit in"

So I dug one thousand holes and cut a rug with orphan foals

Now memories are blurred and their faces are obscured

But I still know the words to this song

When you've bungled all your bangles

And your loved ones have been mangled

Listen to the jingle jangle

Of my gypsy tambourine

Cause these chords are hypnotizing

and the whole world's harmonizing

Please stop your crying and just sing along with me."

I stared at her.

"Is there anything about your past that isn't sad, horrifying, and depressing?"

She sighed.

"And this is why I drink."

She looked at me.

"So any boyfriends, lovers, or-"

"None."

"Friends?"

She grimaced.

"I had a cat."

I sighed.

"Come with me."

She smirked.

"Has our relationship progressed that far already."

"Very funny, but I'm going to show you something."

She took my hand and I dragged her around, once again I wished I wasn't in the body of a god damned child. I took her to a room and she looked at a TV.

"Primitive."

I turned on the TV.

"I made a second box for you, this is a game called 'Just dance'."

I picked a song.

"So it's a dancing game?"

"Some physical activity might help you deal with things."

We started dancing, her moves were awkward and slow.

"You have to work with the beat, Heba."

She fell on her ass and winced, I looked at her.

"Maybe a swim would be a better idea?"

"I don't know how."

This was going to be harder than I thought.



Zoe


Zoe

I looked at Heba.

"You have enough to buy the military-grade upgrade."

"Which I am going to purchase."

She nodded at me and pressed a button.

"A crew will be here to apply upgrades within three business days."

She looked at me.

"So I assume you have a plan for what you're doing next?"

I handed Heba a piece of paper.

"Eternity engine, Aquatic engine, Magical brilliance, technological brilliance, fate breaker, purity of mind, purity of body, lover boy, optimization, and Chef?"

She looked at me.

"If you want to be able to program a maid droid to cook properly, you have to know how to cook."

"I noticed you also took native, and you have already bought… oh yeah, him, to complement your cover."

"Which annoys me."

Heba shrugged.

"Entity infestations require a lot more legwork, but why did you pick native?"

I leaned back.

"I think I need to pick at least one person native to this world as a companion and if I don't choose native there is a risk of the memetic weaponry not working."

"2.5% chance of failure."

I grimaced.

"I've read the files, Heba. Said weaponry guarantees that Scion dies and cuts down the potential casualties from 100% to between 80 to 60 percent, So trillions of people die… but less than projected and, of course, if the Company had not meddled we would be talking about trillions of Earths instead of trillions of people."

Heba smiled.

"The company isn't entirely evil."

Yeah, another reason why I was working within the system, Slutlife was by far the lesser evil here.

"If you do the legwork on the local the company can provide a discount."

"How much?"

"6 points."

I looked at the files, Tattletale, Skitter, Glory Girl, Alexandra, Panacea.

"Know who you're going to purchase?"

"No idea, that's something I'm going to discuss with my head waifu."

"Companion."

I rolled my eyes.

"We have 25 souls to spend after the military upgrade, spend it on an Eternity Engine."

Heba grimaced.

"They're hard to get, there is a waiting list and-"

"Then get me on the list."

"Very well."

I looked at her, August was coming up.

"An Endbringer attack is coming, soon, to the capital of an important country on this world. If I inform the PRT, how much will that impact the memetic weaponry?"

Heba brought out her orb and I waited.

"It will disrupt the actions of the creatures referred to as Endbringers, you will not be able to predict their actions for a period of time."

I looked at Heba.

"Not only are lives at stake but every person corrupted by the Ziz becomes a living weapon and some of those people are very important and well connected, so give me a time frame please."

She tapped into the orb and sighed.

"Movements and time will be disturbed for a period of 3 to 5 years."

I thought about it and nodded my head.

"Get the glibness potions ready, now."

She pulled out the potions I had purchased from Agatha's coven and I took a deep breath. I pulled out a phone and called the New York Protectorate on the secured line they gave me. I swallowed one of the potions and took deep breaths.

"This is Z38. We need to talk."

"How important is this?"

"I wish to talk to director Costa Brown's level of importance to me."

"Are you willing to wait?"

"For this, yes."

I waited and waited for what seemed to be hours until I heard her voice.

"Z38?"

I swallowed another potion.

"Yes, I have something that I need to talk to you about."

"If this is about the antibiotics issues I assure you the person responsible has been fired."

I didn't even care about that. My mother's cancer was cured, I wrote that all off as worth it.

"This isn't about that, I want every thinker you have on this conversation. I want you to know and understand that what I am about to tell you is the truth because a whole lot of lives are at stake."

She was silent for a while.

"What is this about?"

"I hacked the Endbringer's communications, I know what the next target is and who will attack it."

I heard a clicking sound.

"I'm going to contact the think tank right now."

I waited, this time not nearly as long.

"We have our best thinkers on this talk now."

I downed another potion.

"My teleportation technology works with weird stuff, and some times I get background noise in the ether. One day I found a consistent kind of background noise so I decided to study it, out of boredom I guess. It turned out that by accident I managed to find the Endbringer's secured line of communications. The Simurgh is going to attack the city of London, England, on August 12th, 2003. You have 15 days to evacuate the city."

There was absolute silence.

"Did you find out anything else?"

"Yes, the Endbringers are not invincible, they have a core and if you puncture the core they will die. The Simurgh's core is under one of her left wings, near the base of the spine. Hit that and she dies."

And wasn't that a bitch to find out.

"And anything else?"

"This will only work once, once the Endbringers find out their communications have been compromised they will change signal and I have no way to find out any more information."

"If we don't act?"

"This attack is fixed. Just by telling you this, no matter what actions you take, they will figure out that their communications have been compromised. It's all up to you now."

"Anything else?"

"I will be sending you my emergency supply of my extra strength potions. They take much longer to brew but, considering the stakes…"

"We understand, you will be compensated for these potions at an increased amount."

"Win first, compensate me later."

I heard a chuckle.

"Fair enough. How about this, if you are correct we will pay you 50 million dollars after taxes? If you're wrong?"

"If I'm wrong keep the whole lot, I am praying that I am wrong and that you will think me a fool for all of this."

"That's more than fair. Well…"

"Yes?"

"According to my thinkers, you're telling what you believe to be the truth. We will talk to our counterparts in London. Z38?"

"Yes?"

"Your country thanks you."

I turned off the phone and panted, sweat running down my forehead. I looked at Heba.

"The company has awarded 5 additional points."



BBC


BBC

August 1st 2003

An image of an old woman in a white outfit, wearing a crown and jewelry.

"Hello, we are your queen."

She looks serious and there is a quiver in her voice.

"It has been an honor to serve as your queen, which is why this is so hard."

She visibly steels herself.

"Parliament and myself have been made aware of actionable intelligence that says that the city of London, the capital of our nation, will be attacked soon. There has been much debate between members of parliament on how to act on this intelligence and many people question its relevance but I take it with absolute dead seriousness. After talking with Parliament it has been decided that We will give one final order as Queen of the nation of the United Kingdom. We order the complete evacuation of the city of London, everyone who is not of the Queen's Guards or military personal are to leave the city for their own safety. That includes the parliament. If this intelligence is wrong then it will be the fault of a doddering old woman and we shall all have a bit of a laugh, won't we."

She smiles weakly.

"If I am right then we are in quite a sticky situation and this is all very necessary. Either way I have agreed to take full responsibility and will step down and let my son Charles take the throne. That is all."

BBC

August 17, 2003

A man with graying hair looks at the camera with absolute seriousness, his body trembles.

"This is prime minister Tony Blair. By now you know that the city of London has been attacked by an Endbringer."

He takes a deep breath.

"Because of the evacuations, there were no civilian casualties. I thank England's military and the parahuman community who fought and gave their lives during this event. I also thank our allies across the pond. Quite a few Americans, both mundane and parahuman, gave their lives in the fight against the Simurgh. Sadly we lost 15% of the city of London, which will have to be rebuilt. We have also been forced to quarantine the section of the city where the majority of the fighting took place."

He closes his eyes.

"We had this information in advance because the Americans were able to hack the Endbringers system of communication. I have no idea how much money and how much effort was put into that venture, only that they gave all of that up in order to uphold their alliance with us. You see, they knew that if they acted upon this intelligence to warn us… well, all of that would go up in smoke because the Endy's would know. And they do know now. Humanity has lost its only source of information about the bloody monsters."

His voice sounds hollow as he opens his eyes, he looks defeated.

"We were able to find out some information before things got buggered up. The enemy can be killed, each of them possess a core and if it is ruptured then the bloody things die. The Simurgh's core is located behind one of her left wings, near her spine. She is also the leader and commander of the Endbringers and gives them orders."

His eyes water.

"I'm afraid I buggered up everything, I didn't believe the intelligence and because I didn't act on it we lost our single best chance to kill the damned monster. If I had done my job we could have struck a blow to the Endbringers, we could have destroyed their leadership… That monster wouldn't have killed any more people. This is, well… all my fault. I put some silly polls ahead of my country, ahead of my species… I was a bloody fool and… it appears I have ruined everything."

He pulls out a revolver and presses it to his head.

"I am sorry."

BANG!



Zoe


Zoe

"Z38."

August, 16th. The attack came on time, the director's voice was calm, I sipped the last potion.

"Over six million people owe you their lives."

"The mission was a failure."

"I don't know. Much of the city is still intact, there were no civilian casualties and we were able to confirm absolutely vital intelligence. Were you able to find out anything else?"

"There are 20 of them in total, one of them has the power to manipulate time and teleport, another can set up traps and manipulate the battlefield, another has the ability to copy the power of any three capes. This is the limit of the level of intelligence I was able to gather before I found out about London. My access is now completely gone and I have no idea how to reestablish it. I was only able to do so the first time on blind chance and now I have no idea how to do it again."

There was silence on the other side of the phone.

"Z, you helped us save one of the most important cities in the world, you got us absolutely vital intelligence, Before this? We knew nothing about them. Now we know their exact numbers, we know that they are sentient and communicate with each other, we have some intelligence about the capabilities of the hidden members. You did good! Well, we made a promise. Ready for the money?"

I thought about it.

"Yeah, that sounds good. I'm sorry things couldn't have gone better."

"It's alright."

I opened the portals and watched as my golems grabbed suitcases full of money. With that done my portals closed and the counting started.

"We failed."

I looked at Heba.

"Yeah, we did."

"If we had won it would have changed everything."

I closed my eyes.

"Yeah it would have, but it's not a total loss, Heba. We've gained some serious credit with the PRT, our reputation has improved and I think it will be easier for us to pull off a win when we have more of our ducks in a row."

I looked at her.

"This was more about mitigating damage than winning, we don't have what it takes to win. Not yet."

"And how long will that take?"

"Years."

She took a deep breath.

"Well, sir, we do as we must."



Damned soul


Frank Feldin

I woke up screaming, just a nightmare! I blinked, I was surrounded by darkness… just inky darkness.

"What da fuck?"

I walked around but didn't see anyone or anything. I don't know how long this lasted until I started hearing some music, it sounded kind of… Jazzy? I found a patch of white with an old record player on it and stared at it. A crow looked down at me from the ceiling as the music played.

"Where the fuck am I?"

"You died, Frank. Got to say, you made some poor decisions."

I glared at the crow.

"I am not dead."

"You really should have paid your debts, Frank. You got shived in the shower."

"Fuck."

I punched the record player and my hand passed through it.

"You're dead, Frank."

"I can't be dead! I have shit to do."

"Let us see, raised by a single mother… that's a common one."

"My father abandoned me."

"No… um, your mother had no idea who he was, she was rather promiscuous."

"Watch your mouth!"

"Does it really matter anymore, Frank? It's all kind of over now."

"It matters to me."

The crow looked indifferent.

"You started banging at an early age, joined the crips. You know, if you had just stuck to dealing drugs and getting into fist fights you wouldn't be in trouble."

I narrowed my eyes.

"Is that a threat?"

"Frank, it takes a lot to get sent to hell. A. Lot. Dealing drugs, prostitution, that stuff is not enough to get you sent there. There is one singular reason why you're here."

I stepped back.

"The funeral."

"You shot up a funeral Frank, you killed people."

"They killed my homies."

"You killed innocent people. You killed them while they were grieving for their relatives. Pretty much every culture has rules against messing with people's funerals for a reason."

"So I am going to hell?"

"You get one last chance to repent."

"Fucker, they killed my homies!"

"That was the wrong thing to say."

A portal opened and a tentacle wrapped around my waist.

"What's going on?"

"Congratulations, you don't have to go to hell. You're just, well, going to stop existing."

I screamed as I went through the portal and saw a maw of teeth, and endless stars.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck."

I hit my hands against the tentacle and felt it loosen. I tried to move and felt myself fly and then hit the ground, eyes looked at me and I heard chanting.

"Kilrra ee kirra ree."

I knew I had to run and hide and I had to do so now.



Eidolon


Eidolon

"So."

I looked at Becca.

"What's the damage?"

She looked up at me.

"Well we lost our only intelligence source on the Endbringers, which is bad, and a few countries were initially angry at us."

"About not sharing intel?"

"We told them that we only had brief access to their network, access that was lost to save London."

"Which brings me to the issue at hand."

She looked at me.

"You're worried about the relationship between our two countries?"

"More than a tenth of their capital was demolished, their queen had to agree to step down to get the evacuation through, and their prime minister just blew his brains out on national television. You understand why I am just a little bit worried about the political fallout."

She shrugged.

"The official story is that we finally cracked their communication network and then threw all of our efforts into the garbage to save the people of London. The fact that we sent capes, our airforce, and naval assets to help out in the mission helps our case. We gave them warning and then fought shoulder to shoulder with them when the crisis came. If anything the relationship between our two countries has actually improved."

She looked up at me.

"The opinion of the monarchy has improved too, approval of Parliament has plummetted though. Tony Blair was officially against the evacuation which… well if the attack had not happened would have been an absolute disaster. The queen had to agree to step down and have the evacuation as her final edict to make that happen. Not a bad way to end a reign I suppose, saving your nation's capital."

She picked up a cup of coffee.

"So the prime minister?"

"Tony Blair's career ended the moment she arrived. The queen had to override him with a royal edict and had to agree to step down to make that edict stick, his active interference really hurt one of our best chances."

"Well… he took responsibility for it."

She smiled sadly.

"He didn't."

"He was mastered into killing himself, though the master in question didn't expect him to do it on national television."

I opened my eyes in horror.

"Please tell me it wasn't one of ours."

She sipped her coffee.

"No, it was a British cape."

"The Labor party is going to have an absolute fit."

"Why would they? They were the ones who ordered it."

I deflated.

"Explain why?"

"They're publically on record as being against the evacuation while the Torys are publically on record as being for it, though I'm told they did that just to be contrary. Then there was an Endbringer attack and everyone remembers what happened to Switzerland. The idea of it happening to over 6 million people… well elections will come up and Labor wants to continue existing. So, unofficially, someone was brought into his office to change his mind and now he's dead."

She put down the cup.

"Suddenly, instead of Blair being an obstinate idiot who screwed up our best chance to kill an Endbringer, he's a tragic fool that takes all the blame and kills himself out of remorse. Which turns an electoral slaughter into a minor loss."

I looked at her.

"It was basically planned by 3 people, most of Labor has no idea about the plot."

"Are we going to tell anyone?"

"It's an internal affair and really none of our business. The new prime minister has also affirmed that the British people take their alliance with us very seriously."

She smiled.

"I think a little bit of extra help that is well motivated will help us quite a bit."



Zoe


Zoe

"Another quarter down."

Brockton bay was oppressive during the summer.

"Yeah, dad, another quarter."

I didn't have a summer vacation, after all there was a school to be done with.

"Only one more quarter and you're finished with your degree."

It's almost 2004 and I am tired.

"Yeah."

"Saw the company you want to work for, Red October submarines?"

I shrugged.

"It's essentially just a tax write-off for the backer, they want to hire me on as head engineer."

"It sounds um fishy."

"They're offering dental, full medical, and 1000 dollars a day."

Because, god damn it, I am going to make damned sure to pay myself well.

"Sounds fishy."

"Tax write-off. Put a company in a failing town and then use tax loopholes to save triple the amount on income taxes. The company actually makes more the more money we lose.

He blinked.

"Sounds like the plot for the producers."

"It's light work and good pay."

And gives me good money. We stop and I sigh, only one more quarter and an entire world opens up for me. I do what is required of me and end another day, then I go back home and have a quiet dinner with my parents. After that, I go to my real home and I check things with Heba.

"So?"

"The city finally issued permits, the land is bought and we were able to buy a fleet of 7 tourist submarines."

"Crews?"

"I was able to make some calls, we have a few former naval personnel who are willing to train the locals to manage a sub."

I looked around at the system.

"So the robots?"

"We're creating some engineering droids that look human to do maintenance. The official story is that they're Russian emigrants who were hired and brought here because they were cheap."

"And they will buy that?"

"They will pay taxes, so yes."

I looked at her.

"Just have to get through a couple more months and then we are good."

"And then what?"

I leaned back.

"Then Heba we focus on building up our strength for round two."



Zoe


Zoe

I collapsed on the bench and looked up at the sky.

"Rough day?"

"Last quarter. I need to take to finish my degree."

It was of course brutal, Charlotte nodded her head.

"You haven't been here in the park as often."

"Yeah, I know. College is demanding."

"But after you're finished you can play as much as you want, right?"

She smiled.

"Eh, no… I got a job lined up in the docks for a company, so no. Got a job to do five days a week."

"You never seem to have time for us."

I shrugged.

"That seems to be how things work out."

She leans against me.

"You ever think about um having a girlfriend, someday."

Girl, I am going through this shit with the singular intention of having my own harem.

"Someday I want to have kids."

"And um get married?"

I thought about it.

"I'm not against it."

"I like you."

I blink and sigh and close my eyes. Objectively speaking… Charlotte has a nice sane family, she has a legitimate reason to like me, and it wouldn't be too hard to get her to sign a contract someday. I could build her up over time, empower her. She could be a loyal partner, someone I could count on, and we would have the cover of being childhood friends. With some slow manipulation of her body, she would become an absolute knockout. Plus there was the fact she was adorable and I didn't want to hurt her feelings.

"I know, but well… I'm different than you and I'm not talking about religion or race or a million other things. It's that there is a lot of things about me that you can't get. That no girl our age can get."

"I can learn."

I looked at her.

"Charlotte, you're a nice girl but I'm going to graduate college and I'm going to have a job. When I talk about my problems you won't understand them."

"I can try."

"And it won't work, I won't be able to do a lot of the things people expect you to do at your age."

I patted her head.

"I'm sorry but I don't think it would work out."

She frowned and sniffed.

"Ok."

She looked visibly hurt.

"Can we still be friends?"

"Yeah, we can."

At the end of the day, I liked Charlotte. Inviting her into my life, into that life, would make her life a lot harder. She deserved a chance to be happy, she deserved a chance to be safe, and with me… well, there was no promise of either. I cast aside any chance at a normal life, purposefully decided to go through an absolute nightmare to have a chance to live life on my own terms.

There was a price to be paid for that. if I decided to invest in Charlotte there was every danger that she would make me human and that's the one thing I'm not allowed to be, at least not yet.



Zoe


Zoe

Heba looked at me.

"You know what I did yesterday, Heba?"

She looked at me calmly.

"What, master?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing."

She adjusted her glasses.

"I understand, master. Breaking a little girl's heart is absolutely exhausting work."

I frowned at her statement.

"Charlotte and I are too different."

"You can say that about most of the women on the list, of most of your potential mates. It would have been an investment but you know her, a local to help establish your cover better is ideal. That's why you're going after the local perk after all."

"True but I don't think that life would make her happy."

Heba sat down.

"The company is demanding at times, isn't it?"

She gave me a look of sympathy.

"So any thought into who you're going to pick for companion?"

"Power girl, as my head waifu."

"You mean companion."

"Sure, lets go with that."

"Let me guess, the tits?"

I put up a finger.

"While they are admittedly glorious, that is not why I picked her. According to my files she understands tech, has a mind for business, super strength, flight, invulnerability, the whole Kryptonian package."

"Other choices?"

"I'm not going to start picking options until she arrives. As much as I want to pick girls based on their eye-candy value, this is more like setting up an elite commando team."

"So you have no plans to take advantage of the situation?"

I stared at Heba.

"Oh no, that ass will be firmly tapped! I did not go through 5 years of horrific pain and annoyance, being reborn a second time, getting stuck as a fucking baby and being able to remember it, and a whole host of assorted fuckery to not get laid. Power girl will be consulted but I will have final say and I will have a Harem."

"And myself, sir?"

"In all likelihood, you will end up bearing my children at some later date but not as an official companion."

She sat down and looked at me.

"I don't think the shota lifestyle suits me, master."

"Vey funny. I won't look like this forever, when this body matures I am going to be a god damned rockstar."

She patted my head.

"Yes, very adorable master."

I glared at her.

"So you had something to talk about?"

She brought out books.

"Yes, I assume you plan on having the standard 7?"

"It's the size of a solid team and a girl for each day of the week sounds nice."

"When you turn ten years old two of your points will be sent to you, you can redeem them to access the initial Headstart catalogue."

I blinked.

"And double your points for your third catalogue."

I did the math.

"That would be at least another 400 souls Heba."

"There is mystic resonance attached to having seven castles, a lot of ritual magic would be made easier."

I looked up.

"You have magic training?"

"um… No."

"Any kind of ritual background?"

She grimaced.

"So you're asking me to take on an expensive luxury project, based on a topic you have no training in."

I looked at her and she sighed.

"How about we table the conversation until we have paid off everything we have budgeted for, ok?"

"Sorry, master."

Her ears lowered as she looked away.

"I am glad you're using your own initiative but we need to focus on practical things right now and neither of us has the background to make an educated decision on this issue. So let us table that whole thing for later."

I looked at her.

"Speaking of which! How's the progress on Red October subs? Because my side of the job, the land purchases and the creation of engineering bots, that's all handled."

She crossed her legs.

"The fleet of subs has been purchased. We have found someone who is willing to train locals how to handle a submarine and we have 150 employees, including a manager who has been more or less informed that you were made head engineer as a PR stunt… which means you will have to interact with the press."

"I will try to be suitably adorable, Heba."

She snorted.

"I also managed to get the company listed as a non-profit, so it can give submarine rides to the local schools for free without people asking too many questions."

I thought about it.

"Ask around the marine biology department at Brockton U. We need tour guides who can bullshit this."

She looked at me.

"That would bring up the number of employees."

"This whole thing is a money-laundering scam, Heba, I have to spend money in order to access money. It's bullshit, but it's paying bullshit."

I looked at her.

"What's the median wage?"

"50 thousand, sir, roughly speaking."

"Double it, we can afford it and a chief engineer making triple a normal person wages gets fewer questions."

"Won't people ask why we are paying so much money?"

I smiled at her.

"Not without being forced to ask why so many other well-connected non-profits are doing the same thing."



Skidmark


Adam Mustain

Sherrel looked at me.

"Ok, Adam. You can do this!"

Not a single thing has gone right for me since I graduated from college, for either of us.

"I know, babe."

My woman gives me a hug and I look at our apartment, and a notice from the landlord and the bills I can't pay. There is no work, I can't even get a job as a fucking fry cook, it's that bad. Why is it that bad? Because of the fucking dockworkers! What? Was making six figures not enough for you? Most people don't even get health insurance but the fuckers decided to have a strike, the fuckers brought in their stupid activists, then you had the riots and now the city has been fucked six ways from Sunday. All because some fucking assholes couldn't accept that maybe a worldwide recession wasn't a good time to strike for higher wages.

It was already tough for a brother to get a fucking job before this, now though… shit. I look at my girl.

"How's it going?"

She rubs her belly.

"Don't know, she's been quiet."

Just out of college and I don't have any money, my woman's pregnant and I have one chance, one fucking chance to make this work. The job is driving some submarine around the bay 5 days a week, the pay is six figures. I have no experience, I have no references, I have no training, and the suit I bought at the thrift store looks like shit. My woman kisses me and I take a deep breath. This is my last chance. If this interview doesn't work out my land lord will throw me, my baby's mama, and our unborn children out on our ass.

I can't afford a car so I take the bus, I look at the watch and then outside. I see an older brother, his eyes open and staring vacantly at nothing. If I fuck this up will I end up like him, another junkie hooked on some shit just to make the pain go away? Streetlife is harsh and drug addiction runs in my family. I've struggled to be clean, stay clean, but everyone in my neighborhood seems to be strung up on something. I'm at the end of my rope here, this is the mother fucking hail mary pass. The bus stops and I'm at the docks and I see a cute picture of a submarine.

Red October submarine tours.

My old professor told me that she was always willing to lend her old students a hand. I thought it was bullshit, I thought she was bullshit. Just another white liberal professor who wants to take on a brother as her own little pet project. The idea pissed me the fuck off, it tells you just how desperate I am that I went back to her on my knees for help. She pulled some strings, got me this chance.

I remembered my grandmother's words, be polite, no cussing. I wish she was still alive, grandma always seemed to know what was what. When she died… well, I went to my woman for comfort, should have remembered a condom, should have remembered a lot of things.

"Ok! Don't be a fuck up."

Unlike my dad I was going to be there for my girl, for both of them, I can't afford to fuck this up. I open the door and see a pile of people, all of them applying for work, 160 open jobs according to the professor. I look around and see a boy dressed up like a professor, only open seat is the one next to him. He looked up at me.

"Go ahead."

I sat down.

"So um your daddy here kid?"

"No came here to accept the job opening, I start after Christmas."

I stared at him.

"What?"

"Zodiac Zimmerman, I'm the chief engineer."

I blinked.

"How the… how did you get that?"

He looks up and talks to a man in a bad suit in a language that sounds creepy and unnatural, the man responds and then the boy talks and the man laughs. I stared at him.

"The engineering department is from Russia, I'm the only person they could find that actually understands their dialect. Guess watching the international channel late at night pays off, right?"

"What was the joke?"

"80% of austrians are happy with their neighbors the other 20% lives on the German border."

I blinked.

"They hate germans so those jokes always go over well."

It was completely unfair.

"Something wrong?"

He didn't have a family to support, he didn't need this job! This little fucker got everything I wanted on a silver plate… and this isn't constructive.

"Just having a rough day, a rough year."

He looked at me.

"You need to vent?"

"No offense but you're a kid."

"And that means no one will care what my opinion is."

I don't know what it was, just all the bullshit backed up perhaps? But I did vent about my problems and my issues, as more and more people did interviews, until it was my turn.

"Thanks, kid."

I was terrified, I felt sick to my guts. I opened the door and saw another brother, he looked older and weathered. He frowned at me.

"Adam Mustain?"

I sat down.

"Yes."

He put down my resume and stared at me.

"What the fuck made you think that you have a snowballs chance in hell of getting this job?"

I looked at him.

"I work hard sir, and I have a degree in-"

"Oh yeah, a degree! Another fucking college boy who thinks that just because they have a… a piece of paper, that they're special? I got guys here who served this country, sacrificed for this country, guys with families! If you think I'm going to let some snot-nosed wet behind the ears college boy have this job, when I have people with experience who earned it, you are goddamned insane. You have no qualifications, your only job experience was flipping burgers! Really, the only reason I'm here is to tell you off for the audacity, the sheer arrogance, to think that you're even remotely qualified, you little piece of-"

His phone beeped and he picked it up. He looked at it and sighed.

"I am in the middle of an interview."

He got up.

"Yeah, some college kid named Adam."

He paused and I could see a blood vessel.

"What the fuck? He has no qualifications what so ever for this job, yeah I can teach him but why bother? I know guys who need this work more than him. Someone vouched for him? Well la di fucking da, I do not give two shits!"

His face was filled with rage.

"From the top, huh?"

He walked over to the wall and punched it. I blinked at the dent, he put down the phone.

"I'm going to ride you 3 times as hard as any other captain! Do you understand that, college boy?"

I looked him in the eye.

"So I have the job?"

"Yeah, you do. Apparently, strings were pulled… Go talk to legal, pick up your paperwork, your sign up bonus, and get the fuck out of my office."

I got up and skittered away, I looked across the now almost empty waiting room at the kid. He looked at me.

"I can show you where legal is."

I stared at him.

"What?"

"For new hires. I can show you where it is, so you can get started."

"How… how did you know?"

He smiled.

"I might have met the owner of the company, I might have put in a good word for you. Since I'm the only one who understands a single word that the engineering department says… well, I can pull strings."

I started to tear up.

"Thanks, kid."

I shook his offered hand and he took me away to sign paperwork. They gave me a check and I went to the bank and cashed it in then went home. I looked at the room where my landlord lived.

"Mrs. Oki?"

She opened the door and glared at me.

"Oh! Hello deadbeat, you here to tell me you don't have my money?"

"No, I-"

"Then what is this about?"

I hated the woman. She was rude and horrible, but I handed her the cash.

"I got a job, this is the rent I owe you."

She grabbed the 5 g's from my hand and counted it.

"This covers 3 months, you owe me for 4."

"It's a good job."

"I won't kick you out for now… but I watching you."

The door closed and I panted. I walked through the damaged hallways and opened the door, my girl looked at me.

"So?"

"I got the job."

She rushed up and hugged me, I hugged her back. Everything was going to be ok, it was going to be ok. We sat on the old busted couch and I held her tight.

"Any idea what we will name the baby?"

"What's the name of the teacher who helped you find this job?"

"Annette."



Power girl


Karen Star

It was hot and uncomfortable. I looked across the endless amount of city, my hands were bloody.

"Get back to work, slacker!"

I was repairing solar panels, as part of the unpaid internship the school put us through. This was going to be my life, for the rest of my life: installing, repairing, and fixing the numerous array of solar panels that helped keep Argos running. But, you say, we have fusion. We have had fusion for generations now! Yeah… We also have a whole host of incredibly dangerous monsters that exists between us and the next city on Krypton. A lot of that fusion power, and I do mean a lot, goes to maintain forcefields that keep the monsters from devouring us. How did this come to be, you wonder? They're all creations of the illustrious science caste.

People like dear old dad! So now I'm trying to fix a panel while a teacher watched me with her.

"SLACKING!"

Oww. Cattleprod. I glare at her as she strikes me again. Bitch! I get back to work, my hands hurt when I get home to my shack and I use the faucet to wash them. We had our technical test a month or so ago and my highest score was on solar, so that's my life now, my new life's purpose. I do solar stuff, joy… My entire life has been dutifully chosen for me by an uncaring AI and approved of by bureaucrats I will never meet.

I shiver as I put on a blanket.

"Hate this."

I didn't mind studying about how things worked or how to fix them, what I minded was that people had to be assholes about the process. Why couldn't we work in peace? Why did someone have to watch us and make our lives hell? But then again that's Krypton for you. I looked up at the stars through a window. We used to have colonies out there, you know? In space… But having people out there meant there was something the science council couldn't control. You can't have that, can you?

I closed my eyes and dreamed of being anywhere else.



Heba


Heba

I frowned.

"I understood why you got Fate Breaker and the mental and physical protections, but these three are, um."

"They're one point each and the sex-related one better fucking work."

I smirked.

"Is my master afraid of performance issues?"

"God damned straight."

"Well, don't worry. The company specializes in those kinds of enhancements, it can make even the puniest of men into sex gods."

He looked at me and lifted a finger.

"Remember how I said I will grow up to be absolutely hot?"

I folded my arms.

"Yes, yes, you are suitably adorable."

He frowned at me.

"You know, I spent 3 hours strapped to a chair for these enhancements… so a little respect, Heba."

I smiled. He was adorable when he pouted.

"So, anyway, I'll transform so that I look like my future self. I want to gauge your reaction."

I waved my hand as I relaxed in the jacuzzi, letting the jets hit that spot on my back just right. He left for the changing room and I yawned, feeling bored.

"So?"

I froze as I heard a much lower voice, my ears lowered and my eyes widened as I turned and looked at him.

"Hum?"

"So Dolf Lundgren wasn't born on this world."

My jaw dropped.

"This is pretty close to how he looked. I mean I got the equipment down there improved, and my eyes are a different color, but that's pretty close."

"Um… your voice?"

"Oh, yeah! Totally ripped off Barry White, doubt you heard of him."

I was panting.

"I mean this is young Dolf but with a little more muscle than in the Rocky movie he was in."

I smiled.

"Abs."

I leaned over.

"Heba?"

"Abs…"

"I know, total six-pack and I never have to work out to maintain it! It is totally cheating. It's a shame I have to wait until puberty hits me but doctor North says that it's going to hit like a freight train. Only, you know, no pimples this time."

My eyes were glued to him.

"Going to get a quick swim! You know, enjoy the adult body while I can."

"Yeah, do that! Get nice and wet."

He cracked his neck and stretched, I smiled as he bent over.

"Nice."

He jumped into the water and started swimming, my eyes watching him eagerly. he got out and I smiled as the water glistened on his chest.

"Abs!"

Then he started shrinking and he was back in his child form.

"Damn it."

"Doesn't last?"

"Only 3 hours a day, and that's when I'm used to it. It's going to take a while for this stupid body to get there naturally."

I thought about it. Great thing about being an elf: you can afford to be patient.

"Don't worry, sir. I'm sure you will get there in time."

I Ieaned back, maybe this whole servant thing wasn't so bad after all.



Zoe


Zoe

I'm in northern Nigeria, under cover of darkness, looking at some tents. Heba and I talked, our current methods are too slow and we need an influx of souls.

"You are sure this is where Boko Haram is located."

"Yes, sir. I've been scouring the series of tubes known as the interwebs and have found their general location."

If I really pushed for it there are 4 bounties on offer until I turn 16, this is one of them. Got to give it to Heba, she did her research. I look at my rune inscribed bullets, all charged with eldritch energy, and load my weapons. I just finished my last term paper, did my last final, and received a degree without a ceremony. I did get to eat at some family pizza place but other than that no real celebration. My new family really doesn't do the party thing. I have a six-figure job, and to any outside observer, my life is set. Dad is proud, mom is proud, and I know for a fact that it's not going to last.

And my progress is just too slow.

I aim through my scope and take a breath. My eyes are on and I look at their halos, everyone's in the red, the kidnapped children have been dropped off and they're preparing the next raid. I count them, this group has about 30 people. My gun is silenced and I heard a slight thump as I pulled the trigger.

"Headshot."

A man falls down dead. Around the fire no one notices, they're too busy getting drunk. Really if they actually followed their religion's edicts, instead of using them as an excuse to do whatever they wanted, this would be a lot harder. Thank god they're hypocrites. I pull the trigger again, purposefully targeting the guards, and I feel warmth on my back as their souls are fed to the company. The bullets automate the process. Aim, fire, load, I clamp down on my emotions try to push down the fact I'm killing people. I still feel a little sick though I just push through it. I hear yelling, I move and continue shooting. They're not headshots anymore but they don't have to be, I aim for center of mass. A man walks out of a tent and I see flashes of light.

Kiniun, he has the power to turn organic matter into any energy he wants, he's dressed up in a lion mask and isn't wearing anything else. I think I disrupted his sleep. I snap my fingers and my drones pop in. Honestly they're just flying toys with pistols, but when people are panicking and the guards are dead… they're effective enough. Anyway, their job is just to go after the mundane forces. I tap a scroll around my arm and go invisible. Kiniun picks up pieces of wood and chucks them, the results are explosive. It's capable of punching through steel, that's why I go behind him and stab him in the back. He hisses in pain as the injector I build hits him with sedative. Two more hours in adult form, I hold and he struggles and then goes limp while I listen to the sound of gunfire all around me. I drag him to the side and tap the side of a tent we portal out into a room and I sigh.

"Is he out?"

"I don't know for how long."

I put his body on the ground in the middle of a ritual circle.

"It's an emergency."

"The company doesn't offer points unless it is an emergency, they don't give urgent requests unless it's an emergency. Why am I the only one they have on this?"

"All the other agents dealing with entity infested worlds are either retired, have quit, are dead, or are in prison. Inserting new agents is a pain in the ass."

My hands shook as I lit each candle. The ritual dust lit up, turning the room a vivid purple as I chanted in deep speech. the man's eyes open, I activate a scroll.

"Do you repent your actions?"

God, I thought I had more time.

"Everything I have done has been righteous, infidel! I-"

The portal opens.

"Thank God you're so stupid."

The lines of purple flame cover him and he screams in pain as his shard is disconnected from the network, as he is forcibly melded with it in a broken trigger. Only then does the tentacle grab him and then the flames go out. I collapse on the ground as Heba brings out her orb.

"So? What's the damage?"

Her breathing is staggard.

"The offering has been accepted, the mother of a thousand young's forces are leaving the Silvari system. The company has refunded one Headstart point."

I wave my hand.

"I have no idea what that means."

"The Silvari system is a part of an interstellar empire that acts as some of our best customers, an unauthorized cult summoned forces into the system to devour all the souls. We had to find a way to appease her or lose over a trillion clients."

"And that's why class C exists."

I panted.

"It's either sacrifice a singular man and his shard or an equivalent in souls."

"Yeah. I get it."

I sighed as I slumped and watched myself shrink down again.

"How many souls?"

"20."

"Contact corporate. I want that magical mastery upgrade now."

"Yes, my master."

She looked at me.

"This isn't over, you know? The company can demand more bounty contracts to be fulfilled."

"How many?"

"A grand total of 7. You're at 6."

"Compensation?"

"Points opened up for Headstart spending."

"Which gives them more souls."

"The company fucks everyone."

I got up.

"Oh! good news."

I turned to her.

"What is it?"

"They just got an Eternity Engine for you."

I sighed.

"Well, lets do it then."



cannoned christmas episode.


Good morning people, another little omake, that this story inspired me.

Thanks for the attention.

Omake.

Slutlife.

Images showing an office with clean, happy people, carrying papers and smiling when focused, camera focuses on a model in a Christmas outfit.

Spoiler: Model

[img: https/us.rule34.xxx/images/3809/4583de693cbd14a5ad08ab675ec01c97.jpeg?4312390]

"We at Slutlife in all our departments, work constantly to bring you, our customer the best products and services, in all our centuries of tradition."

Images of Yule spirits passing and delivering gifts to employees, to children in the Company's homes, to department heads.

Spoiler: Yule Spirits

[img: https/us.rule34.xxx/samples/3825/sample_54d546687c61d88d9825d1a0a9f6bb66.jpg?4328992]

"And on this mystical date, we wish you all the perfect holiday and remember, being a Slutlife customer means that happiness is within your reach."

Images of a Christmas dinner for members of the section C.

Spoiler: Ho, Ho, Ho!

[img: https/external-preview.redd.it/U0Z9MHQg_7jt2tyBkQ7XX5qgLZdV38tbHD1wn9z0elQ.jpg?auto=webp =b30d4202bedf77fd02dfe2189424a5b9c0272f61]

The interlocutor appears with a glass of champagne while the Slutlife logo appears in front of her, with the slogan.

"Slutlife, eternity at your fingertips."

Zoe changes the channel while saying to Heba.

"Every year, marketing bets on the same ideas."

"And every year it works, master."

"Point."



Zoe


Zoe

Doctor North…

I don't think there is a person I hate more than him, a person I fear and dread more than him. Yet, despite all of my power, he is beyond me. Ex test subjects are always moved from the science division after their contracts are up. Too many revenge killings. That said, as much as I hate him, I know it was just business, that it wasn't personal. I was just dissected alive without anesthetics because of the job. Why are you upset? This was all part of the contract, now I need you to handle these calls. I'm told I'm actually handling it better than most.

I suppose if North was directly insulting and harassing and lived to humiliate people, like other scientists in RnD, there would have been murder. But, being objective about it… North is all about the science, not the feeling of power. I suppose that, with enough therapy and time, I will be able to let it go. Still, I hate his guts. North looks at me.

"They got you an Eternity Engine? How absolutely delightful!"

He pointed to a chair.

"Yeah."

"You know, this is a great honor! An Eternity Engine is rare, we can only harvest them from Entity infestations and even then less than 1% of all infestations have an abomination that can be harvested to make a proper engine."

He smiled.

"Is this going to hurt?"

"My boy, you are going to be on all the drugs!"

I blinked.

"And it will still hurt."

"Well…"

I signed.

"Lets do this."

"Come on. Immortality awaits!"

The clamps activated and everything went dark, then I found myself in an inky black pool of water. I looked up and saw darkness around me, with flashes of purple light in the sky. There was something unsettling about my environment. Then I saw a mass of moving tentacles, open mouths, and eyes atop cloven hooves.

"You're not screaming, good."

The mass shrank, revealing an old woman. She walked towards me.

"Most humans scream."

"I am sorry, miss, I have no idea what to say."

"Ah, trying to be polite but without the manners to know how. Don't worry, we're not quite as obsessed with social skills as the fairies are."

A throne rose up from the ground and she seated her set.

"Um, hi. I'm Z38, um… Who are you?"

"Your patron, I'm going to let you guess who I am."

"Um, they never told me. Cthulu?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"I don't get why he gets so much attention from you folks, he's a priest that got promoted into the circle. He's not one of the Old Ones, not really."

"Shub-Niggurath?"

She clapped her hands together.

"You mispronounced it but you have it. I also would have accepted the black goat with a thousand young, the all mother, mother goddess, the lady of the woods, the mighty mother, and the dark mother."

She looked at me, obviously waiting for the question.

"You work with Slutlife?"

"Well, when you think about it… which one of us is the most likely to play ball with your lot?"

I did not have a response to that.

"By the way, thanks for the meal."

"The engine… That's how they got it."

She smirked.

"Oh yes every now and then an Entity crosses into the far realms. So much pride, so much vainglory… but then they have to play by our rules, and they lose."

She looked at me.

"Believe it or not, most of us do not take pleasure in devouring mortals."

"Then why do it?"

"Why do you eat food? Same reason. You're hungry and you don't want to die. If an alternative can be found then why fight for it? I mean would you rather hunt for your food or go to a restaurant? Same idea, that's why fellows like you exist."

I sighed.

"Ok, so I guess I go to the primal wilds or something or-"

"Do you really think that the primal wilds is your base, your Root Chakra?"

"Doctor North um said."

"Mortals are fallible and they make mistakes. I am your Root. The Sacral Chakra, yes, that is the primal wilds. From there the solar plexus holds your aura, then your heart of water, the Stone Chakra, is empty but your Third Eye is that ninja magic. Finally your normalization engine is your crown, a crown that hides you and your nature."

She smiles at me, her eyes an inky blackness.

"So let me guess I am going to become a Gof'nn hupadgh Shub-Niggurath."

"One of my blessed?"

She laughs.

"Ignorant boy, you are already one of my young. You were devoured and birthed by me to live a second life."

I flinched.

"Your new mother was so desperate to have children, she conducted a ritual and… well, your company was looking and I was able to hear her cries."

I felt my head.

"No, you do not have the features… Your path is a much longer one."

She smiled and sighed.

"You are not yet complete, not close to it, but there is a chance."

"Then why am I here?"

"A warning. Beware the elder sign. That is all."

I went back to reality, to the slab, and heard the high pitched scream of a little girl. It took me awhile to figure out it was coming from me.



Miss militia


Miss Militia

"New Director?"

Armsmaster nodded his head.

"Dan Seneca, worked with the FBI for a while. They thought about bringing in someone with PRT field experience but she picked Alaska."

I blinked.

"Why?"

"She says she likes to be active and Alaska gives you wide open spaces. He's a bit unproven."

"How did he get this job?"

"He volunteered for the Machine Army opt when he heard about it, everyone who participated in that got a promotion."

I decided not to dig in further. Not being allowed to join up because he was needed elsewhere? That, he did not take well.

"Yeah, that one was… brutal. Didn't a tenth of the people involved in that die?"

"A sixth, actually. I could have made a difference."

I leaned against the wall.

"Yeah, Colin, you could have. But you're also the only one that potion tinker will listen to."

"Z38."

His voice had just a tinge of annoyance.

"Did he do something to upset you?"

"You know about London?"

"Yeah, we hacked the Endbringer's communication system and gave the brits a heads up."

"It wasn't a 'we'. Z38 hacked their system by accident."

I blinked.

"Why does that upset you?"

"People have been working for years to find out information about them, years, and some guy cracks their signal by accident."

"I've read enough history to know plenty of useful things have been created by accident."

He nodded his head.

"I understand, and now that we know it can be done once… well, it can be done again."

He looked at me.

"Yeah, it's worth doing."

We walked through the halls.

"So you're upset with him?"

He closed his eyes and stopped.

"No. The man is a social recluse and, well… he does make sure we get a weekly shipment of 5 potions, as a favor. For most departments it's by request only and those requests don't always get granted."

The door opened and we went inside.

"How are things on the streets?"

"The Empire is pushing out the Teeth, Marquis is down. If things go the way I think they're going, the Empire will be the last ones left standing."

I didn't like the sound of that at all.

"We don't have enough people."

"No one does. It's not as bad as it could be, one less containment zone means less of our resources are being eaten up."

I shrugged.

"Good. Fighting always sounds so much easier than it is in real life."

"Always is."



Zoe


Zoe

I looked at the next bounty.

"Bonesaw?"

Heba looked at me.

"She's set to trigger in 2005, January 20th to be exact."

I look through the list.

"Riley Davis? Do you know that there are over 396 people with that name in the united states?"

"Filter for the middle name, Grace."

"That takes me down to 15."

"Filter for the age 5 to 6, that's the target range."

I did so.

"I think we have her. So, what's the goal? Prevent her from triggering?"

"No, the request is to extract her after her trigger."

I frowned.

"Let me guess: the Company wants her talents."

Heba nodded.

"Got it in one master, STDs are a constant thorn in the Company's side. We do our best to purge them through technology and magic but it's always been a problem. A biological tinker would allow us to lay waste to a lot of diseases and, of course, our pharmaceutical department would benefit greatly. There is also the issue that while we do need the 9 as a part of our memetic weapons package we are under no obligation to allow them to have access to biological weapons or a source of power that might let them escape this world."

"The Company doesn't want Earth Bet's problems becoming their problems."

"Got it in one again."

I closed my eyes and sighed as I looked at the location.

"Going to the Teleportarium."

I went inside, put in the coordinates, and the portal opened. I was now in a suburban neighborhood. I snuck around quietly in the night until I got to the house. It wasn't hard using a bump key to get it open. From there I explored the inside until I found her bedroom. I took out a small gun and opened the door, revealing a small girl with curly blond hair. I pressed the gun and gas came out. She snorted and then collapsed further in her pillow. I took out a needle and put it into the side of her back and drew out a blood sample then I left the house, locking the door behind me.

I looked at the house and shook my head.

"Sorry."

Hopefully, I could find a way to salvage things for her.



Zoe


Zoe

I closed my eyes, candles lit all around me, and felt my soul move.

I opened my eyes again, back in the Primal Wild. The trees were twisted and black and a man looked at me. He had brown hair, two horns, and cloven feet.

"Pan?"

The man smirked.

"This isn't Arcadia."

I nodded my head.

"I assume you are a spirit then."

He smirked.

"We are much alike, both touched by the Mother… though, to be honest, I'm more human than you."

I felt just a little insulted and he laughed.

"You came to the Primal Wilds for answers, your very nature sought out someone more experienced than you."

He sat down his legs crossed.

"My name is Bob."

I blinked.

"Z38 and I didn't expect, um…"

"Bob? It's a big multiverse. So, what do you need?"

"Advice. What will it cost me?"

He leaned back into a tree.

"One of my cultists wants their youth back, he's kind of wealthy so that would be a good thing."

I thought about it.

"I haven't done that yet."

"First time for everything, right?"

"Good point. You're with the Company too?"

He grimaced.

"Yes, but not like you. I mean, Dear Mother! An Entity infestation? Yeah, just a big nope to that…"

He looked at me.

"So we have an accord?"

I nodded and he continued.

"Now, you wanted advice?"

"Yeah, a general rundown on my situation."

He pulled out a jug and took a sip.

"So, unlike you, I was sent to one of the many post-apocalyptic worlds where I do cult duty. It essentially entails managing worshipers' mana and shipping them back to our mutual friends. Been at this for about 150 ought years now."

"You don't look it."

"I went with a more traditional path, much slower and safer than yours. In the long run you will most likely be much more powerful than me. I've never been the type for the high-risk and high-reward stuff."

"I don't really have a point of comparison, I work solo."

He sighed.

"Yeah. High-risk and high-reward, most people decide to go into places where they have allies because there is safety in numbers. However the downside there is a bigger risk of people figuring out your tricks. most people in your shoes don't make it."

"Really?"

"Yeah! You have to be able to live a lie but most people can't stand it and decide to confess to someone and then they get fucked by that. Loony bins or witch hunts. Or they can't live with themselves and end it, or they need to show off and get killed. You need to be able to keep a relatively low profile to do what you do. Though the rewards are pretty good because I sure don't own any land in the Far Realm and don't have my own castle."

"You don't?"

"Most people don't. Sure the Company rides you hard, but you're getting rewarded for that too."

I looked at him.

"A quick question? Magical genius doesn't seem to have done much. I mean I'm better at rituals but, you know-"

"Let me stop you. You gained a dot in all 10 spheres of magic, Boy. You're currently a Disciple in Spirit, Life, and Mind, and Initiate in everything else! And ritual magic gives you a way to use the power of the Primal Wilds safely, without the risk of getting kicked in the face by paradox. That's a pretty good deal and learning things faster, contextualizing it, is a big deal."

"I don't know if it's enough to win."

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"If you really wanted to, you could stop."

"What?"

"If you wanted to, you could stop right now. The Entity is going to die, the situation is contained, your debt is paid off. You could retire, hunker down in your little hole, and no one would judge you."

"The Company has requested assets."

"Ah, yeah… Bounty hunter missions where the reward is you get to owe them more souls. You have every ability to tell them to fuck off!… but I have a feeling you won't."

"… Explain."

"Kid… The company has been at this for a while, they know the levers. The people they pick, those you'll have to sacrifice because someone fucked around? They're going to be total garbage, people that need killing. The people who they ask you to recruit are going to have a sob story and need help. They're not going to go against your morals to get you to do what they want… Nah, they're going to use them to get you to do what they want. Threats? Guilt? That's the stick. Women, power, money, those are all the carrots and they're damned good at it."

He took another sip from his jug.

"So what am I?"

"You're honestly less human than I am."

I took that in.

"Right now, you're at the beginning of it… That bit of essence from the Dark Mother is a relative spark. The more experience you get, the more problems you solve, the stronger that essence will become. On top of that you have… well, two Soul Engines bringing in eldritch power. Your essence will evolve to the point where you're going to be able to do your own contracts and have your own warlocks."

"Really?"

He waved his hand.

"Right now, you're already capable of handling 15 warlocks. If you fully develop your essence, get all 7 engines… You will be able to handle a little over 14,000 contracts, enough to have a cult of your own."

"Downsides?"

"It's going to get harder and harder to get mortals as you get more powerful. Your experiences will just be a lot different and when puberty hits you… That's going to suck for you."

"Why?"

He took a sip from his jug.

"Kid… Mother of a Thousand Young is downplaying it, this all comes with a strong desire to breed. So, yeah, be prepared for that."

I sighed.

"I figured as much."

He laughed and got up.

"I will contact corporate and send my guy your way. Try to be suitably impressive, ok?"

"All right."



Betty Zimmerman


Betty Zimmerman

I sat in the doctor's office and waited, it was time for a check up.

"You're clear, no cancer."

I sighed in relief and looked at the man.

"So, I'm thinking about having another baby."

The doctor looked at me and she grimaced.

"What?"

"You had ovarian cancer and then chemo to deal with that… to be perfectly honest it's a miracle that one of your eggs was viable enough to have a child, much less a healthy one."

She shook her head.

"I strongly suspect that what happened with your son was a million to one chance, as is you're functionally sterile."

"Oh… but… there has to be some medicine or tinker tech or-"

"Miss Zimmerman, with all due respect, your ovaries were essentially bathed in radiation. Maybe a tinker could help you but, to be perfectly honest again, you should be thankful that you were able to have a child at all without complications."

"Oh."

"You have a clean bill of health other than that."

With that done I got up.

"Leaving?"

"Have to pick my son up from work."

My doctor frowned.

"Isn't he… 8 years old?"

"He's the head engineer at his company."

The doctor blinked.

"He's very gifted."

"I know."

I'm proud of my son. After that I headed to the docks, my son was waiting for me.

"Going home?"

He yawned.

"Yeah, we had to do some maintenance on one of the subs, everything checked out."

I nodded my head.

"Good, good."

I didn't understand what he was talking about, engineering wasn't my thing, but still it's a good job and, well, he technically makes the most money out of the three of us.

"Mind if we go to the new age store?"

"Sure."

I smiled, I could always use some more crystals. We stopped at the store and I walked in, my son froze as he looked at something on the wall. He grimaced as he walked through the doorway as if it took effort and looked tired when he got on the other side.

"What's that?"

I looked at the strange symbol.

"Oh! That's an elder sign."

"I don't like it."

He was sweating and looked sick.

"Um are you ok, Zoe?"

"I'm not feeling so good, maybe there's something in the air."

I looked at the owner.

"Sorry about that, miss. Ok, Zoe, lets go home."

He looked weak as we went back to the car but, as we drove home, he slowly recovered.

"Think it was something at the store?"

"I don't know but I think, we do not want that elder sign in our house."

"Yeah, it's a bit much. Not even a proper Wicca sign!"

"Yeah good."

My son caught his breath and looked better, I smiled as we got to our home.

"SWAKA!"

I blinked, the crows were upset again.

"Professor's back."

I could almost swear that I sensed spite in my son's smile.



Zoe


Zoe

"Good job, Mr. Tubs."

For the most part I don't name my crows, but Mr. Tubs is this crow that is remarkably fat and tame. When I command him to take a dump on the car of a particularly annoying person he makes just the nicest mess, 10 out of 10, so he's earned his name. I open my bag of chips and let him devour the whole thing as a reward. I turn my head and look at the captain who is now in the process of chewing out the sub trainees… well, the pilots at least.

Just because the property is paid for does not mean that the subs are ready to be in operation. This brings me to the central issue.

I have a weakness to analyze.

"Heba."

She nodded her head and I used an eldritch blast on the two signs, no damage. She brought out filled buckets and I turned the water into icicles, which I threw them at the signs. Both hit, cleanly piercing.

"Hmm."

The more purely arcane the attack, the more resistant they are. the tree-like Elder sign has a range of around 3 feet. if I get close to that range I feel sick, I get weaker, and touching it hurts like a bitch. The second one, just put that motherfucker on a door and an entire house has that effect on me. I checked out swastikas and other symbols, thankfully it's just limited to those two.

"This is a problem."

I sat down and looked at Heba.

"Knife 1, tap me."

She lightly tapped my arm with the unmarked knife no damage.

"Knife 2."

The knife with the leafy sign was lightly put on my skin and I immediately winced as I felt a burning sensation.

"So?"

I looked at the wound.

"1 damage."

She took the knife out and I readied myself, I poured a potion over the poke. It healed instantly, no issue there.

"Knife 3."

She lightly tapped the knife on my arm and my arm practically exploded as a gash blew blood into both my face and Heba's.

"SHIT!"

My elf took the knife off and poured the extra strength healing potion on my arm. I calmly watched it heal.

"Shit shit shit shit."

I looked at my newly healed arm as Heba freaked out.

"Damage capacity maximized and doubled."

I looked at my watch, 10 more minutes.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. This was a test and I needed to know."

I tapped the wall and was now back in my office, I walked out and talked to the robotic engineers in deep speech. the company has one of the seven subs in dry dock each week for maintenance and checkups. A woman walked down and addressed a robot working on checking a pressurized tank.

"I need to talk to the head engineer."

I looked up at her. Cindy Danvers, middle-aged, worked as a manager of a department store in her previous position, never been general operations manager before.

"That would be me."

She smiled at me.

"Excuse me, little boy, can I talk to you real quick?"

I shrugged.

"Sure. We were just double-checking the oxygen on the sub, they can handle that for a while on their own."

"That's great."

I followed her to her office and she smiled.

"Look! It's very impressive that you have a degree at your age but you have to understand this causes our company to have image problems, correct?"

I had a device on my left arm, was it time?

"With all due respect miss, that isn't your call to make."

She smiled sweetly.

"I am the general operations manager."

"Did you read the rules about what that entails?"

"That means I'm your boss."

I leaned back.

"So yeah, you didn't read the rules."

She looked at me.

"Excuse me?"

"Engineering and general operations have parallel systems of management. For safety reasons you do not have any authority over my department."

"That's stupid!"

"It was in our orientation packet."

"We can't have a child in charge of our engineering department."

"That isn't your decision to make."

"I am the operations manager and you will respect me!"

"Miss, I am the head of engineering. That's the department that makes our operations possible. You have no training in engineering nor do you speak the language of our engineering department. You have your department and I have mine, you have no authority over me."

I used a tiny flash of magic and saw rage on her face.

"Are you back talking to me, boy?"

I pulled out my cell phone and put in a number.

"What are you doing?"

"Calling corporate."

I heard someone on the phone.

"Hey. This is Zimmerman in engineering, Danners is trying to fire me. I don't think she read her information packet… Yeah, I can wait."

I closed the phone, her face was red.

"How dare you disrespect me like that, little boy."

The intercom turned on and I heard Heba's voice.

"Am I talking to Cindy Danvers?"

"Yes."

"The company introduction packets, and rule guides, clearly state that engineering and general operations each have their separate management structure. You have no authority over engineering."

"I wish to talk to someone higher up!"

"Miss Danvers, I am the higher up. I am in charge of the charity that makes your job possible, your ignorance and insubordination have been noted. Please wait while I confirm with the board."

The intercom went silent and she glared daggers at me. I soon heard a knock and an aging black man walked in, flanked by two security guards, and Heba's voice was heard again.

"Is everyone in here?"

The older man looked around nervously.

"Yeah? I mean… The persons you requested are all here, ma'am!"

"This Is Heba Bloodstone, the one who runs the charity that runs this organization. as of Today, Cindy Danvers is terminated. She is terminated for not caring enough to read her contract, for hassling engineering, and for insubordination. Security, take her away."

"This isn't fair!"

The security guards grabbed her and were forced to physically drag her away as she struggled and made a scene. I looked at the man.

"Can you please tell me your name?"

"Um, I'm Joe Randall. Ma'am?"

"Thank you for calling this situation, Mr . Joe, what did you do before you got a post with us?"

"I was… um, a hotel manager."

"And what did you make?"

"60 thousand dollars a year."

"What do you make now?"

"Around 120 thousand dollars a year."

"Would you like to make 365 thousand dollars a year?"

He smiled.

"That would be great!"

"Good, you are now the new head of general operations. Since your predecessor, Cindy, didn't bother to read her legal briefings let me explain things. You are in charge of dealing with people in general, especially our clients, and making sure our employees that deal with people are polite to our clients and don't besmirch our company's reputation. Zodiac Zimmerman."

I waved my hand.

"Is in charge of engineering, or all of the electronic, mechanical, and machine-related issues for the operation. When something breaks down it's Zoe's job to deal with it. You are not however his boss. You are officially equals: he handles the machines, you handle the people. We have people watching Zoe to make sure he does his job, just like we have people watching you to make sure you do yours. In the event that the two of your cross paths? Well, Zoe is the only one we have found that understands what the engineering department says. Thus, if we have to choose between you two, we will always pick Zoe's side."

The man blinked and looked at me.

"Oh."

"We just fired a manager who didn't understand that fact. If you can live with this, you will make over 300 thousand dollars a year. However, if you can not put up with this reality… well, you know where the door is and we both know what your chances are of finding a job of equivalent pay is in this city."

He bit his lip then smiled.

"I understand, miss! Zoe handles the machines while I handle people, clear as crystal."

"Good, enjoy your new office."

The man sat down and I smiled at him and put out my hand.

"I would really like it if we could be friends."

He forced a smile and shook my hands.

"Sounds just wonderful, son."



Joe Randall


Joe Randall

I looked around my new office.

"Captain Hess?"

The man smirked at me, his hair was white but so was mine.

"Meh, I haven't been a captain since I left the navy. Heard about the promotion, Joe."

I smiled.

"Yeah. It's true, Cindy got shit-canned and now I have her job. Funny… all these years I've been trying to make the big money, struggling for it. Now that my kids are grown and I don't need as much, then it hits. Really could have used this when my boy was going through college, would have saved us a lot of trouble."

Bruce shrugged.

"I'm not so sure of that. The marines were good for him, taught him discipline. Of course the Navy would have taught him moren but some people got to learn shit the hard way."

Navy man through and through.

"I got a bottle of jack, want to split it?"

"After the day I've had? Hell yes."

I pulled out a half-empty bottle and pulled out two glasses. As I poured Bruce looked at me.

"So how did the bitch get shit-canned?"

I looked at him.

"She tried to fire wonder boy."

The captain frowned.

"Idiot."

"To be fair he is kind of young."

"Joe… I read all of the company briefings, even the ones for management. Do you honestly think a company is going to give a kid six figures and give him a level of that kind of power? For shits and giggles?"

"I know, Bruce, they told md. He's the only one they could find that both understands a word engineering says and has a background in the field."

"Pull the other one, Joe, it has bells on it."

I looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"The company had you, the new manager, watch the last one get shit-canned to prove a point. That point being that the kid is more valuable than you. There is only one occasion where a fucking child is worth more than a grown-ass man."

I felt it hit me.

"He's a Cape!"

Suddenly everything made sense.

"This is all just one elaborate shell game, isn't it?"

Bruce took a sip of the whiskey.

"Let me tell you what's going to happen. Periodically, when you have a question, the kid will be nowhere to be found. You might be pissed off by that, maybe rightfully so. You go to corporate and press the issue and they will say he was working on something important, something that is none of your business, and they will be telling you the truth."

"This is a business."

"No, it's a nonprofit! It's built to lose money on a company's books, the kid is how they make money. He's either a Tinker or a Thinker, my money on Thinker, and the government rules on hiring either are a bitch and a half because the government wants a monopoly on that shit. So what you do is create this elaborate shell game. To protect your asset you dress up your golden goose as a PR gimmick, hide him in plain sight, and then the money comes rolling in."

I looked at my drink.

"What do we do?"

"Joe, you're making six figures, I'm making six figures. We are old men, this work we got? It is easy as fuck. Smart move? Take the money! Keep your mouth shut and take the money."

I thought about it.

"Remember your old job, how shitty it was? Isn't this better?"

I took a sip and let it burn through me.

"Yeah, I do remember… You know what? Fuck it! I don't care, Bruce, money's good and work's pretty easy. Old farts like us have more than put in our time."

"Fucking A!"

We clinked glasses and took a shot.

"So how are the captains?"

"Most of em are Navy men, college boy isn't… Fucker's behind the curve."

"Don't like him?"

"Nepotism always rubs me the wrong way, thinking that a piece of paper is enough pisses me off… A man should pay his dues."

"Bet you're making him pay for it"

Bruce smirked.

"I ride his ass 3 times harder than anyone else, I make him live this shit, I make him breathe it. He hates my fucking guts so much."

"And?"

"And in a couple of months… he will be competent. Thought he would just up and quit on me but the piece of shit has a fire in him, it forces him to keep going."

I smiled.

"Reminding you of yourself?"

He poured another drink.

"You want to know a secret, Joe?"

"Shoot?"

"I don't like myself very much."



Amy Dallon


Amy Dallon

"Ok girls, be careful."

We somehow managed to get the first ride on Red October subs. I felt nervous as Vicky moved like she had eaten one too many pixy sticks, mostly because she had. She smiled and ran around, the other kids and parents looked nervous as we got closer to the docks.

"I'm going to fly, some day."

She held out her arms and ran forward.

"Vicky, get back here right now!"

Christmas was over and I could see my breath, Vicky smiled at me.

"Race you to the edge!"

"You're on!"

This was in retrospect a mistake.

"NO RUNNING!

I felt my lungs burn as I tried to match Vicky's pace. She smiled as she beat me to the edge, I tried to slow down but I ended up skidding on the wet deck. I felt my face hit something as I fell on my face and slid into the icy cold water, my head hurt and it was cold and I screamed… which was a mistake because you obviously can't breathe underwater. I felt myself choke as everything went black.

Then I felt power flow through me, I felt my world tilt on its axis. I felt my blood rushing through my veins, for a moment I swore I saw a forest and a crow looking at me, then I felt ecstasy and pure bliss fill my whole body.

I opened my eyes as I felt lips wrapped around mine, I coughed up water and looked into the eyes of a boy who looked to be a little younger than me.

"Her heads bust right open! Oh God, Amelia."

Mom was freaking out. Why was she freaking out, my head felt fine…

"Just a scare, looks worse than it is."

My mom knelt down and looked at me

"What, you… You're right!"

"I'm sorry but running on the docks is against the rules so your daughters will have to miss out on this trip."

My mother eyed me and Victoria.

"That is acceptable, I'd much rather they remain onshore for now. Also… why were you the one who had to jump into the water?"

"I was just closest. Mind me taking them to the entertainment room?"

"Go ahead."

My mother left and I looked at the boy, who wasn't even shivering despite the cold.

"Well, come on then."

He helped me up and I leaned against him.

"What's your name?"

"Zoe."

I leaned against him as he helped me to the recreation center. Once there he made hot cocoa for me, Vicky complained about being bored but I felt content sipping cocoa next to the strange boy. I felt revitalized around him, and as I snuggled into him, I felt safe as I nodded off. When I awoke Vicky was smirking at me, said something about a boyfriend which I denied. It was only later that week that I figured out I had triggered that day.



Skidmark


Skidmark

That could have been a mother fucking disaster.

Say what you will about wonderboy but if Amy Fucking Dallon had died that would have fucked us! A famous cape mother who also has a law firm? Can anyone say clusterfuck? Got to give it to him he jumped right in, did not give two fucks about how cold the water was, then he dragged her out of the water with her in one of his arms. Kid said it was adrenaline, that he's not normally that strong. Then he gave her mouth to mouth until she was ok, other than being a little banged up she wasn't hurt at all in the end.

"Hello, captain. Is Zoe here?"

She's been showing up once a week since then.

"He's in engineering."

"Hey, boss? I have lunch."

Captain Hess growled at me.

"You get out and be back in 30."

I sighed, man rode my ass raw. Sometimes I wondered why I put up with it, then I got my paycheck and it all became clear again. The actual job is pretty chill, you drive around the bay in a circle while the tour guide does all the talking. It takes roughly half an hour then you go back and do it again until someone else takes over. Some days we don't have a single customer, on those days the cap makes my life a living hell making sure I know everything there is to mother fucking learn about a sub. So it was with some amount of glee that I helped bring Amy to the engineering department.

Wonder boy spoke confidently to the crew and then turned around.

"Amy."

She smiled.

"What are you working on?"

"Clearing barnacles and checking the oxygen scrubbers, doing basic maintenance. Still going through power testing?"

She smiled.

"Oh yeah, it's great! It turns out that I'm a healer, that's supposed to be really rare and I can help people a lot and everyone at the hospital is so nice!"

Wonderboy looked uncomfortable.

"That sounds great."

"I think I'm going to become a really good hero someday, one of the best."

"Yeah, I believe in you."

She looked at her watch and sighed.

"Sorry, I can't stay long, have to go."

She walked away and I looked at the kid.

"Does someone have a little girlfriend?"

He looked at me and sighed.

"Her life is officially screwed."

"What? She's got superpowers!"

He went back to work.

"Ever play a healer in an MMO?"

"Sucks balls."

"She's going to be playing it in real life."

I froze at his statement.

"Shit…"



Zoe


Zoe

It takes me one hour to de-age someone by one year and Bob's client was 80 years old… So I got stuck dealing with the man while having to wear a ridiculous costume and illusion, chanting nonsense to sell the whole operation. That was roughly 60 hours of work, I glared at Bob.

"Ok, that was much harder than I expected."

He shrugged.

"Sorry I've never dealt with someone with an eternity engine before. Don't worry, I know we're not square. I take it you want more information so, you know, shoot."

"I recently helped someone trigger by accident."

He winced.

"Did I fuck up?"

"Ok, um… I'll need more details."

"It's a girl, one year older than my biological age."

"Is she giving you the stink eye?"

"No, other direction."

He looked at me.

"Ok, I've done some reading for you. I have a higher security clearance because I've been with the company longer."

I frowned.

"Seniority does mean something. So you have a basic pact and path layout, that's common with Blessed. Path, by the way?"

"Primal Wilds."

"Pretty common layout."

I felt a little insulted.

"Point shards count as spirits and life, so they fall under your primaries. When you jumpstart a trigger you have a good chance of setting off a kiss-kill reaction. 50% of the time the shard sends a 'kill the witch' vibe, or a kill reaction. That means their shard will be screaming at them to kill you, usually until one of you dies. Then you get a 25% chance of nothing happening and a 25% chance of kiss.

"Which?"

"You feel a little tired around her?"

"Yeah."

"That means the shards tasted your mana. Since Entities avoid our lot like the plague that's rare. So that means a kiss effect."

I sighed.

"She has a crush on me?"

"Her little brainfuck partner wants its fix, setting you up with her makes sense."

I thought about it.

"Is she cute?"

"She's high profile."

He smirked.

"Sometimes we all got to live dangerously, kid."



Amy Dallon


Amy Dallon

It grows stronger the more I'm around him. My power, I mean.

At first, I could only heal scrapes. I found out about that on the 10th day, when Vicky got hurt. I touched her and we watched her cut heal instantly. That started power testing then I visited him on the third day and gave him a hug. That felt good and I felt powerful and I could do more. My heart raced and I went back and I could help make people less sick. Power testing found out about that after a couple of months, it was so embarrassing when they found out. It's month six and he's here. Mom is watching me.

"It's just a test, Amy."

"Ok. Ok."

He looks at me, this is big! My first one! He's younger than me but taller than me. I kiss him on the cheek and my breath gets heavy, I have a cloudy good feeling in my head and he blinks as if looking tired.

"Back to testing."

They bring out a PRT agent and I touch him with my index finger. I feel his knee, understand what's wrong with it, and it regenerates under my control. I could do more. In the back of my head something is screaming that I could do more, that this is slow and that I can do it faster.

"Take a step."

The man gets up.

"It's a little bit better."

I was brought back to the boy, to Zoe.

"Try again."

My chest heaved as I kissed him again, awkwardly. I felt good again and felt like my power could work a little faster, I went back to the man and healed his knee faster. I went back for a third kiss but nothing happened.

"It feels empty."

The boy shrugged.

"Yeah."

"Come back tomorrow?"

His mother looked amused.

"I see no problem with that."

He did come back the next day and I kissed him again and felt that surge of power, felt good. it became a habit, a thing. Two kisses a day… My powers are so embarrassing.



PRT Agent Mike Browning


PRT Agent Mike Browning

"Everything about this screams Master/Stranger."

Armsmaster looked at me.

"He doesn't have a Corona Pollentia."

"We have to check again."

He sat down.

"Mr. Browning… We had already checked him before, because you had requested an investigation. We've now checked him over ourselves again, then we had him checked over by Thinkers. Zodiac Zimmerman is not a parahuman. We were as thorough as we could possibly be. We have scanned and rescanned his brain multiple times, with multiple pieces of Tinkertech."

I looked at him.

"This looks like grooming."

"Mr. Zimmerman is one year younger than Amy Dallon. If anyone is doing the grooming, it's her."

"Have you checked out his parents?"

"Neither of them have a Corona Pollentia either."

"Maybe he has an unconventional brain structure and it's hiding."

"Sir with all due respect we went over his brain with a fine-toothed comb, he isn't a parahuman."

"Then what the hell is going on? Because I look at this kid and nothing makes sense."

He looked at me.

"Powers are weird, they have weird limitations that oftentimes do not make sense."

"Exactly, this doesn't add up at all!"

"Life doesn't add up. Maybe Amy has dependency issues and they're expressing themselves through her powers, maybe when he rescued her during her trigger even she latched onto him so hard it affected her powers."

"Is it just him?"

"We have had her kiss other boys, and girls, parahuman and not, it doesn't work. Point is the boy has been remarkably mature about this and a really good sport."

"And what about the long term psychological ramifications?"

He looked me in the eye.

"That isn't our responsibility, that's the responsibility of the parents involved. In their view, it's two kisses a day. Is it embarrassing for all parties involved? Yes, but Amy's mother has thought deeply about it and has told me that the situation in the bay is dangerous and that New Wave puts itself in danger. Having their own healer might mean the difference between life and death. Let us face facts, we might need that help too."

"We get potions."

"Yes, more than anyone else, but we also go through them every time someone gets injured on the job. Which happens a lot, doesn't it?"

I looked away.

"It's two kisses a day, chances are it will stop at some point and their lives can go back to normal."

"And if it doesn't."

He shrugged.

"There are honestly worse prices for a power to have."



Zoe


Zoe

The constant surveillance drove me up the wall! It was three months of the PRT watching me like hawks, and knowing for sure that everything was bugged. Thank god they can't figure out astral travel, as far as they know I just like to meditate a lot. But not being able to go for a weekly swim, not being able to walk around my empty city, being forced to use intermediaries to do my potion drop offs, not being able to brew potions myself or tinker…

I was forced to live an utterly mundane life and I despised every second of it.

"It's gone."

All of the surveillance, the bugs, everything was gone at long last! I flopped down on my bed and smiled. My parents were on a date, I purposely took Saturday and Monday off to have more time to take care of business. I got up and tapped the wall, a portal opened and I was back home.

"Welcome back, master! Have you managed to successfully seduce a little girl yet?"

I raised a finger.

"Not now, Heba, going for a swim."

"Of course, master."

She followed me and I streched.

"So how are we doing on our soul count?"

"We have 30 to spend."

I thought about it.

"Put in a word for technological brilliance and aquatic engine, unless there is a problem with getting an aquatic engine?"

Heba strugged.

"No there shouldn't be any problems on that front, elemental engines are much more common. Water is a good choice, it pairs well with your current capabilities."

I walked into the changing room.

"That puts us at a complete power budget."

"Yes, it does."

I took off my clothing and put on my trunks. I transformed into my adult body and Heba froze.

"So I take it you will be focusing on control options after this?"

"Yes. Binding contracts are of course tradition in the Company."

"I know, I'm under one."

"Its not just a means to establish control over a companion, it gives you the ability to create magical binding contracts. This would allow you to create warlocks of your own."

"How many?"

"Currently you can manage 45, if you got the aquatic engine the number goes up to 135. You could create the largest faction of powered individuals in the city."

I frowned.

"Yeah, no. Just no."

"Why not? Your influence would grow."

"And my cover would be blown. I'm already skirting the line as is and lets face facts: 155 warlocks, as powerful as that would be, are nothing compared to the might of a pissed off federal government. Anyways I want to table all of that until Karen is put into the fold."

Heba's eyes lingered on me as we walked to the pool.

"And you're sure about that pick?"

"She's smart, knows her tech, and has enough savyness to build her own corporation."

"I suppose the massive tits don't hurt either."

I smiled.

"They are magnificent, aren't they?"

"Speaking of that, master… There is a slight problem."

I sighed.

"What is it?"

"It is customary for a member of management to gain his first companion on his own, which means you would have to conquer her."

I thought about my options on that front.

"She's 25 points, I would have to tag her for 75 hours with a domination curse, and I don't like my odds with other options."

"If you could get her to sign a contract of her own free will, she would be bound to you."

"Yeah but what would be valuable enough to her to get her to sign a contract, I…"

I froze as I looked at the pool.

"Krypton."

"It is her home land, one person to save billions… For a hero it's a pretty obvious choice, but stabilizing a planet's core is a very difficult task."

I felt sick.

"But it can be done if you have enough time and the right reagents, powerful reagents."

I winced.

"You know where to get it."

"Yeah… Unfortunately it means fighting Behemoth."

I looked up at the ceiling.

"Who knew getting a harem would be this hard?"

"One must earn their waifus, sir."

I glared at Heba and she smirked, she was unfortunately right.



Zoe


Zoe

I sat down, doctor North looked at me.

"So welcome back."

"Yeah."

"Last of the power perks. Now, technological mastery? That I respect! A man after my own heart."

I flinched.

"Hopefully I can avoid putting people in blenders."

North raised an eyebrow, his black eyes blank.

"You really need to let that go."

"It's kind of hard to let those incidents go."

He sighed.

"Z38, Zoe, rick… What happened to you was business. I understand that you're raw about it, because being a lab rat is never fun, but nothing I did to you was motivated by cruelty."

I took a breath.

"I know, but I'm still angry."

"If it helps, you actually are handling this better than most test subjects. I mean corporate has determined that it's safe for me to be around you! That's a big deal."

He strapped me into the chair.

"I'm really hoping that someday we can be friends, or at least associates, when you have healed."

He looked at me and closed his eyes.

"I know this isn't going to help motivate you but the Bonesaw mission? I requested it."

"Why?"

"Because my time is ending. Not right now, of course, I have a few decades left in me but it is still ending and I want someone to carry the torch."

"Can't you just clone yourself?"

"A clone wouldn't be me. It wouldn't have my experiences, it wouldn't be shaped in the manner I was. I have worked for the company for a very long time, I have had more time than my species normally gets to live, but I'm tired and my time is coming."

"And you want someone just as skilled as you?"

"It's more complicated than that. You see, I was in a situation much akin to Bonesaw's… There was an Entity infestation, my family was captured by some brutes and they were mangled and tortured while I was forced to save them over and over again. I was brainwashed, turned into a weapon, and then one day those brutes died and I was just left with nothing but my sins and my knowledge. I stole some equipment and wandered the multiverse until I found the Company."

He shrugged.

"It gave me focus but unfortunately a shard only has so much energy. Mine is dying and when it dies I die which, another reason a clone wouldn't work."

He looked at me.

"Do me a favor and try to save her parents, I want to save her the same pain I suffered through."

"That doesn't seem like you?"

"Believe it or not everyone has layers, even the cackling evil mad scientist. I will have it listed under Guardian Angel, 5 points for each parent."

I thought about it.

"I will try but I can't make any promises."

"Good. Oh, and did you ever wonder where your Eternity Engine came from?"

"The dark mother?"

He smiled.

"You know normally you get 3 shards that can processed into an Eternity Engine per infestation. If you're very lucky you get a harvestable Endbringer and you can get hundreds. Fact is? Most Engines are hand-me-downs, Someone gets immortality, gets tired of it and chooses death, then another up and comer gets their Engine."

"So a hand-me-down?"

"Oh no, yours is fresh! You see there was this cape named Grey Boy and we dug up his corpse and found his shard, we had to get help to render it into something useful."

I felt cold.

"Yours is fresh, but it's not free. Management expects you to one day turn a profit on that little venture."

His jet black eyes bored into my soul.

"It would be to your advantage to have me owe you a favor."

"I… understand."

"Good! Well, this will hurt a lot."

I will give North this: he's honest.



Sarah Pelham


Sarah Pelham

The situation with Amy worries me.

Carol has always been a little cold, a little too into seeing things as black and white. It gives her clarity, gives her focus, but there is a reason why I'm the leader and she isn't. Someone has to be able to see beyond their issues. It's been months of this now, of driving Amy to this place or the boy's workplace so she can get her kisses.

"His parents say he's recovered."

"Good."

It's been a week since Amy has kissed Zoe, he's been sick and couldn't play along with the weird quirk of her power. Amy has not handled it well, she's been having cold sweats. She has been shaky, nervous, and pacing. It's been worrying for me, it all reminded me too much of an addict who hasn't had their fix. Amy taps her fingers on the car door impatiently, she's shivering. It's not cold, I know it's not cold, but she's shivering.

"We're getting close."

She's smiling. Before this week she was embarrassed about this aspect of her powers and she sometimes complained about it. A week without and now she's looking forward to it. That is not a change of heart I find to be normal for a girl her age. We get to his house and a boy walks out. I almost cringe at the outfit, he looks more like a little professor than a child. I silently judge his parents for not giving him a chance to be a child. The car stops and Amy undoes the seat belt.

"Amy."

She opens the door and bolts out, then trips and falls. She looks at the boy and gets up and rushes towards him and slams him against the door. She holds him tight and presses her lips on top of his. I stop the car and get out. This kiss is nothing like the chaste pecks on the cheek that she gave previously, there is a hunger there that sets off alarm bells in my head. When I get to the door the kiss has stopped and Amy is panting, the color has returned to her body and she looks embarrassed.

"Um… missed me?"

She bites her lip.

"Um, I um…"

He doesn't act disgusted and instead runs his fingers through her hair.

"It's ok."

She leans into his touch and I almost feel like I'm intruding on a private moment.

"Neither of us chose this, this isn't your fault, it isn't my fault either. It's just life, ok?"

She looks up at him, his fingers gently going through her hair. Amy looks happy and content, she opens her eyes and I see just a little bit of shame on her face.

"It's not normal, isn't it? This."

He continues to gently caress her hair.

"Boys are supposed to think that girls are icky, girls are supposed to think that. This isn't right, is it?"

"We left the normal world behind a long time ago, haven't we? And how could I think that you're icky?"

He looks at her.

"Do you need a second one?"

She nods her head and he holds her tight and kisses her forehead. I cringe as she gasps in pleasure, he holds her up as her knees wobble. Then he lets her go.

"I'm not sure I want to leave."

He gently undid the hug and smiled at her.

"You have your world and I have mine. I'm sorry."

She sighs.

"I will be back, soon…"

We go back to the car and I feel disturbed by the exchange, by what was said. She sits in the car, looking better. I turn on the radio and 'Careless Whisper' plays as Amy stares at the boy as we drive off. I silently wonder how my life became a soap opera.



Zoe


Zoe

I get things better now, machine- wise. The new engine, the improvements to my Normalization Engine, it's all paying off. I was sick as a dog for a week but it was worth it. Unfortunately, there is always a price.

I'm under a hot lamp and a PRT agent glares at me.

"Mr. Browning, we meet again."

This fucking prick.

"I noticed that Miss Dallon has been having withdrawal symptoms, that looks awfully like a master effect to me."

I was done.

"Ok, I'm done with this."

He laughed.

"What are you talking about? I don't think anything is finished, I think you're hiding something."

I looked at him.

"I'm sick of this, I want a lawyer."

I really was sick of this bullshit.

"Excuse me?"

"I WANT A LAWYER! NOW!"

I folded my arms and glared at him.

"That's cute but I do not have to-"

The door opened and Armsmaster walked in. He froze as he looked at me and then frowned at the agent.

"Why is Mr. Zimmerman here?"

"Amy Dallon showed definite signs of withdrawal and I have reason to think she is under a master effect."

I looked at Armsmaster.

"You know what? Ever since this started, no one has ever asked how I feel about it?"

I got up.

"I go out and risk my life to save a girl and, in return for that, I get poked and prodded and put into machines and studied like some kind of animal. I didn't ask for any of this, I didn't want any of this, this whole situation has been a massive inconvenience for me and my family."

I looked at Armsmaster.

"You think I wanted this, asked for this? You realize that this whole situation puts a big target on my back, right? On my family's back because I know what happened to Fleur, and I know that can happen to me and my family. On top of that, I've basically been forced into a co-dependent relationship, now every one more or less expects me to be Miss Dallon's future boyfriend or husband. No one asked my opinion on the matter and as far as I can tell no one cares. My entire future has basically been chosen for me and I am just a little bit resentful about all of it."

I opened up my hands.

"But, you know what? I pushed that resentment down because things are pretty horrible, I took all of my issues and put them aside for the greater good and you know what my reward is? It's being treated like a god damned criminal."

I looked around.

"And Mister Agent why would I bother mastering Amy? Because let me tell you something! This, all of this, has only brought me massive inconveniences."

"You're planning on subverting New Wave!"

I blinked.

"I'd like to note the fact that I'm 8 years old, and I am very tired of being harassed."

Amsmaster sighed.

"I'm very sorry for Agent Browning's actions, he's perhaps just a little too tightly wound."

The agent looked angry.

"You have been nothing but accommodating and have handled this all with remarkable maturity. I assure you and promise you that we will not hassle you in the future."

"The kid."

"I have a lie detector, Mr. Browning. Mr. Zimmerman is just a very smart kid who has been put through a lot. Let us not add to his troubles."

The agent glared at me and I resisted the urge to smirk at him.

"Thank you! Can I please go back to work? I've pretty much blown through my sick days."

With that said, they got me back to work. I had my bots look over a sub and looked over various maintenance issues but, for the most part… I goofed off. When my shift ended Amy's parents picked me up. I gently brushed her hair and gave her a kiss on her forehead and felt myself lose one of my two slots, then I kissed her again and lost the second one.

"Thanks."

She looked away.

"Um, thanks…."

We sat next to each other in the car, her sister talked about school and I patiently waited as Amy nervously snuggled up next to me. When I got home I checked for bugs and trackers and went to the basement then I slammed my hand into the wall and opened a portal back home. I walked around the castle in a near rage until I heard the sounds of moaning.

I walked into the pool area and saw Heba getting a massage from one of the robots.

"Long day, master?"

"Absolute dog shit."

I saw down.

"Also I didn't give you permission to turn the bots into masseurs."

"You also didn't tell me it was forbidden."

"Good point. When you're finished I get the next massage!"

She smirked.

"Good. so what went wrong?"

"Amy gets withdrawal issues whenever she doesn't get a kiss."

Heba shrugged.

"I fail to see how this is a problem."

"She's high profile."

"And well connected with the local hero community, and has useful powers. Think of it as a chance to increase your cover's reach and power."

"And attention."

Heba sighed.

"At the end of the day, you know how this scenario likely ends without your involvement. Victoria Dallon triggers, she accidentally brainwashes Amy into loving her, the stress and incestuous impulses build up until Amy breaks under the strain. Victoria ends up as a meat garden, Amy ends up in the birdcage, literally everyone is worse off."

She looked at me.

"If Amy belongs to you she is better off, her sister is better off, her parents are better off. The single worst event in a lot of their lives never happens."

The fact was… Heba had a point.

"Let's table the whole conversation for later."

"Procrastination is a flaw, master."

"And one I will indulge in.'



Zoe


Zoe

"So I have thought about your proposal, getting more castles."

Heba smiled at me.

"And?"

"And I have been working with the numbers… You're right: if we had seven castles that would have magical resonance and we could do much more. With the right setup, we could really achieve a good scale for our little home."

"Sorry, Sir, I'm not following."

"Ok, we're working with 5-mile size upgrades right now. If we buy a gate room and attach it to an empty Earth we can turn our size upgrade from an additional 5 square miles to five times bigger. By my calculations, we could increase the size of our pocket dimension to 390,635 square miles."

"I'm sorry but we don't use that form of measurement."

"You've been paying attention to Earth country's national sizes?"

"Yes?"

"Our territory would be about the size of Zimbabwe. In total, that's the 60th largest nation on my planet. Now here comes the problem: due to my setup three-fifths of that would be water, so the true size of our land holdings would be 156,250 square miles of land which still makes us larger than Bangladesh. Which is the 92nd largest country on my world. Split into 7 islands and the Central one will have around 78,000 square miles, which makes it larger than Ireland, and the other six would be around 13000 square miles, which would make them larger then Jamaica."

She blinked.

"Due to linkages, each castle would be surrounded by a city. The smaller islands would have a city the size of Dublin, roughly 50 square miles, while the capital would be around the size of Venice, so roughly 150 square miles. I did the math, for the price of 470 souls we officially got ourselves our own country."

She blushed.

"Are you turned on?"

"Just… a little bit."

Heba took a breath.

"We can't be the first people to think about it."

"Oh hell no, but the thing is people like me who have paid off their stuff… we're supposed to be nobility, right?"

"Correct."

"So of course people have done this before, it's likely that you have people with realms much larger than that."

She frowned.

"It can't be that easy."

"It isn't but I did the math: kill 5 terminators for the company, acquire Bonesaw, and collect the souls and we are there."

I felt almost giddy as I thought about it.

"It won't be nearly that easy."

"Hey no one said entering the empire business would be, but I am seeing potential here."

I mean who hasn't wanted their own country?



Mike Browning


PRT Agent Mike Browning

"You were completely out of line."

The director's voice was cold, Armsmaster was leaning against the wall and frowning.

"What the hell, the literal hell, were you thinking?"

"The withdrawal issues are clearly a sign of Master/Stranger situation."

"We spent 3 months, three fucking months! studying the situation. We already knew about the withdrawal issues."

"And you let her continue to be exposed to him?"

"That isn't up to the PRT! New Wave knows there is a risk of emotional dependency and are managing it as best they can, honestly this is far from the first time a cape's powers came with unfortunate issues attached to them and it won't be the last. What isn't excusable is kidnapping a child from their place of work, accusing them of horrendous crimes, and… and treating him like a criminal."

"The boy doesn't act like a child."

"He's a child genius who was forced to grow up too fast, there isn't a doubt in my head that he's going to have a ton of issues when he actually grows up! And this, all this? It's a lot, a lot, of fucking bullshit to put on a kid's plate. The fact is that he's shown a lot more emotional maturity than you have."

I frowned.

"So I take it I'm suspended?"

The director laughed.

"Suspended? After pulling this shit? No, you're gone."

"Where am I being transferred to?"

"Are you listening to me at all? You're gone, you're fired! Get your shit, get your severance check, and get the fuck out of my office."

And, like that, I lost my job. My kids were grown, my wife already passed away, I didn't have much in the way of responsibilities. My gut though said that there was something deeply wrong. The next day I got my gun and I went to Red October subs, I went into the kid's office and locked the door behind me. He looked up from a book he was reading.

"I asked you to leave me alone, the PRT said you would leave me alone."

I pulled out my gun.

"I know you're a cape."

He looked at me calmly.

"What is this about? Because I haven't done anything to you."

"You're wrong, everything about you is wrong, nothing about this place makes sense and nothing about you makes sense. You're a cape and you are up to something."

"Look, I'm just a smart kid who got a cushy job for PR reasons. I'm not out to conquer the world or hurt anyone, I just want to live my life."

The sprinkler system went off and the kid sighed as I aimed at him.

"That is like the third time that has gone off this week."

"Don't change the subject."

"I asked maintenance to fix it and they just never got around to it, it's really frustrating."

"I am going to stop you."

I aimed at his head, the boy looked at me calmly.

"I think I want to see you try."

I pulled the trigger and heard a click. It didn't fire? I pulled it again and again and then the door burst open, the security guards looked at me and tackled me to the floor, the boy started crying.

"He's crazy! He tried to kill me and, and I was so scared."

I struggled as the security guards handcuffed me, my gun kicked to the side. It was then I noticed the ice that blocked the hammer, I noticed the ice blocking the barrel. I smiled. I knew it, I fucking knew it!

"HE'S A CAPE! HE'S A CAPE!"

They forcibly dragged me away and tied me to a chair. They brought out Armsmaster and the boy hugged him and cried, pointing at me. He stormed over.

"He froze my gun! He's a cape, he's always been a cape and-"

"Boys! Take him to prison."

I looked at the cops.

"He's a cape, you have to believe me."

The cops took me as the boy clung to Armsmaster, still crying.

"Yeah, yeah. Tell it to the judge."

I turned my head and locked eyes with the boy, then I noticed that his eyes became pitch black. He looked at me and smiled and I saw needle-like teeth, then he blinked and his face returned to normal.

"Don't worry, you're going to be safe."

"I know, sir, I'm just so scared."

He nuzzled into the older man and smiled at me smugly.



Zoe


Zoe

After the incident the PRT gave me a settlement, apologies, and have agreed to leave me the fuck alone.

"Well, at least you were not idle during your long confinement."

There was a slight increase of violence in at least 10 prisons across America, since these were the higher grade prisons no one really noticed. Really it wasn't that hard: find a person with a grudge against someone who was a bad guy and give them a slight push, a slight edge.

"Are my engines stable yet?"

She looked at me.

"It should be safe."

"Great. Now we can start! So, selectively fertile?"

"Yes."

"Details, please."

"You have an on-off switch for fertility."

"Anyway to increase it?"

She blinked and sighed.

"If you concentrate on it, you can double the chance of fertilization with each orgasm the companion receives."

I nodded my head.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Tons of tantric ritual magic that works that way, and we are going to need conceptual grade bullshit to deal with our little issues."

"True."

I looked at my calculations.

"So you get the information from Bob?"

"Yes."

She gave me the file and I frowned.

"So?"

"There are companions and then there are Companions, at least when you have an Eternity Engine."

Heba nodded her head.

"Explain?"

"I can only share my immortality with one woman per engine and I'm limited to 7."

"Don't you already have 3?"

"Yeah, but it's another way the Company isn't telling me the full story."

I looked at her.

"How many souls do we have to spend?"

"30?"

"Contracts and the control sword."

"The sword doesn't cut people."

"It can summon four copies of me for an hour and provides teleportation, that's more than enough justification."

"Very well, master. I shall inform the company."

I took off my clothes and put on some trunks and jumped into the pool. The PRT agent was gone and it was a Saturday, I was alone and had a few hours just to relax. Heba came back and nodded her head.

"It will take 7 months to forge the control sword."

I sighed.

"Of course. Contracts?"

She handed me a vial of purple liquid, I got out of the pool and drank it and felt pain and fever. I grimaced.

"Why does this taste like this."

"Like what?"

"It takes like a mixture of Tulips, Rosemary, and some icky tasting Succulent."

"The goal isn't taste, master."

I grimaced as I dried myself off and went back to the real world, I heard knocking as I got up and I opened the door. Greg and Charlotte looked at me.

"We heard what happened!"

Charlotte spoke and then the two of them rushed in for a hug, I felt awkward as the two told me they were there for me. I didn't know how to handle this because honestly… I didn't expect this at all.



Carol Dallon


Carol Dallon

I've been asked to do security.

For a prisoner, for a PRT prisoner. I have agreed to do it because when a PRT agent fucks up like this… accidents tend to happen, and the Agent ends up dead. I open a bottle of pink stuff and take a chug. I have a husband with crippling depression, I have to run a law firm, I have to be New Wave's breadwinner, my family's breadwinner, I have a hyperactive daughter at home, and I'm raising the daughter of my archenemy who recently triggered. My best friend in the world was executed in her own home by an empire wannabe and my life is a stressful mess.

I am not happy to be here.

Especially since my feelings on the whole issue are complicated as hell. A part of me, that dark part of me, feels relief. Every time I look at Amy's face a part of me wonders if she's going to become like her father, a part of me thinks I have invited a ticking time bomb into my house. Every time I wonder if today is the day the mask will come off and the monster will come out and everything I love will be destroyed. It's stupid and paranoid but… At the end of the day, sometimes, I feel like I'm more of a pile of neurosis and stress than a human being.

So do I think the boy is mastering Amy? No, when he kisses her the boy clearly looks drained afterward. I think her power takes something from him to boost her own skills and my hypothesis is that the drain only works on people who are smart enough, let's face it the boy is smart enough. That said the reason this comforts me is because I'll feel safer around Amy if someone is holding her on a leash. Another part of me wants to protect Amy, to keep her safe, and the whole thing leaves me feeling guilty and out of sorts.

I look at the prisoner, he's been ranting.

"So you pulled the trigger, but the gun failed to discharge?"

This man has lost his nut and I'm growing increasingly angry.

"Yes! I was confused at first, but then I noticed that ice had formed on the metal. He froze the hammer in-"

I haven't heard of a single case where an elemental shaker power was paired with a master power.

"Well, that's a straight-up confession to Attempted Murder, 1 count. Guess we can just pass this off to the DA and they've got a slam dunk conviction."

You're talking to a lawyer and technically the boy is a friend of the family. Shut. up.

"Are you idiots not listening? He's a cape! He's-"

I read his name tag.

"Holy Christ, Mike, give it a rest. Okay… Let us say for a moment that I believe you, that despite the exhaustive levels of testing and observation, bordering on harassment, he is actually a parahuman. Let us say that he's managed to hide it and is trying to keep his head down… So what?"

And now I'm angry. Because I'm a parahuman, because what if I wanted to live a normal life, what if I wanted a quiet life?

"What do you mean so what?! It means I was right!"

Fuck this asshole.

"No, you dipshit. It would still mean you're going down for attempted murder. Being a parahuman isn't a crime! Hell, hiding your status as a parahuman from the authorities isn't an offense, unless you used said parahuman ability in the commission of a crime. The result being; even if you're right that means you tried to murder a small child in cold blood, and he used his powers to defend himself. That's it. You're just lucky this state abolished the death penalty."

But they are talking about bringing it back.

"But… he's a-"

And now I am officially pissed off.

" He's an eight-year-old boy, you fucking piece of shit! You walked into a building with a hidden weapon, with the premeditated intent of murdering a small child. Then you pointed your gun at his face and pulled the trigger! You harassed him for months, all because he's some weird savant and that bugged you! Then when your own actions got you shitcanned, you tried to murder a little kid out of spite! Fuck you, Mike! I hope you get raped in prison."

That last part was probably going too far but I was livid, they came to pick him up and I left. School just got out and I drove over to pick my girls up, Amy looked worried and fidgeted. We were driving to Red October subs, I stopped the car and they went to the rec center to play that dancing game while I went over to the office. There I found the boy on a ladder, fiddling with something.

"Is this a bad time?"

"Sprinkler systems on the fritz again."

He looked at me.

"I assume you want to talk?"

"What are your intentions towards Amy?"

He looked at me.

"I think I'm a little bit young to deal with that question."

"You're advanced for your age, I think you can tell me."

He sighed and got off the ladder and went to his desk.

"To be completely honest, I don't know… I took this job for two reasons: to avoid the limelight and the paycheck. The whole Amy thing just kind of derailed a whole lot of plans."

I could respect that, I was after all in the same boat.

"Give me your best guess?"

He leaned back.

"Doctors, nurses, healers… They're under a lot of stress, a lot of them end up cracking under the pressure. Amy's being put under that pressure at a young age, and her power isn't healing… it's biomanipulation. When someone with that power snaps, bad things happen. People are not going to like me."

I blinked.

"Why not?"

"Because, let's face it, I've been given the job and duty to be the one who says no. The one who tells very desperate and scared people to go away. My job will be to keep her stable. Keep her well."

He sounded tired and I understood him too well.

"And Amy?"

"I'm going to be honest… you have a girl who likes you, who is affectionate to you, who needs you, and she's cute. You're in your teens and the hormones are rushing and she makes an offer."

He looked at me.

"Sooner or later, I'm going to say yes. I mean, everyone expects it after all…"

The boy was reminding me of myself, and Amy was reminding me less of her father and more of my husband. As it sunk in I found the comparison sticking. Amy needed a minder, someone to take care of her and to protect her from herself, just like my husband does. It's not fair at all but I nod.

"Thank you."

I offered my hand and we went to the rec center. Vicky smiled and bragged about winning the game, Amy smiled and rushed over to the boy and kissed him. As we drove home she laid with her head in his lap, smiling as he ran his fingers through her hair. I thought about it and accepted it. This was best for everyone, for my family, for the boy, and for Amy.



Armsmaster


Armsmaster

"This is a cluster fuck."

Miss Militia then took a sip of coffee and I couldn't help but agree.

"Yeah… A disgraced PRT agent trying to kill a child, that's a disaster. Even if he was a parahuman, there was no excuse for that."

"You don't think he is?"

I looked at her.

"We spent 3 months observing him, having thinkers look him over, studying his brain with a fine-tooth comb… The boy is not a parahuman."

She looked over at the docks.

"You know, if he was, it would explain a lot."

"Yeah, it would. But he isn't."

I just felt tired.

"So it's not a Master effect?"

"No, she's clearly draining him of something, more psychological addiction than mastery."

She sighed.

"It's messed up."

"Life is messed up."

"You get potions."

"We go through them just as quickly as we get them and you know that, Hanna."

I turned my back to her and went to the bike.

"Going on a patrol?"

"Yeah, this whole pondering the moral ambiguity thing is getting old. Want to fight nazis with me."

She went to her bike.

"Thought you would never ask."



Lord Zig


Lord Zig of Acquisitions

"You're looking better, Heba."

"I have a much less stressful job, these days."

"You think being tasked with killing a titan and saving a million worlds would be more stressful than handling a few prospective agents."

"I saw the personal cost left behind, got invested in people and watched them die, just saw that happen over and over again."

I shrugged.

"I think you're getting overly invested again, Heba… but then again it's normal for a personal assistant to invested in their master."

She shifted in her seat.

"He seems to be different than my previous clients."

I shrugged.

"Each class of acquisitions tends to get a different class of people. Class A gets the overly ambitious and arrogant types while Class B tends to draw more from the clever crowd. Class D of course gets the edgelords, and we tend to get the misfits. Most die of course but the ones that are able to put their personal issues aside rise very quickly."

I looked at her information.

"The plan would work, by the way. It's been done quite a few times, one of my ancestors actually pulled off the same feat and I currently live in the house that was owned by his third sister wife."

She looked thoughtful.

"You're thinking of something more than professional, aren't you?"

"I don't know what you mean."

I leaned back.

"It's considered romantic in the orphanages, I know. Becoming the personal property of a manager, knowing that you and your offspring will be taken care of. A lot of girls come here with that dream. To be fair the company encourages it."

"I'm not a little girl."

"Then why is your purity seal still intact?"

She flinched.

"Lots of girls get them in the hopes they will become more attractive to up and coming management. given that lots of cultures put a premium on virginity, it makes sense."

"Our relationship is strictly professional."

"For now?"

She looked away and I smiled. She was much happier this way, good.

"The company expects a profit."

"What?"

"A lot of managers expect a profit on the Eternity Engine. A lot of people have been fighting to get one, vying for one, they're not happy that Z38 got one instead of them. Make sure his venture is profitable, Heba."

"And if it isn't?"

"Then he, and everyone around him, gets the attention of some very powerful and angry people and I won't be able to protect him then."

She nodded her head.

"I will keep him aware, my lord."

With that she left and I went back to paperwork, more agents have died and it's hard getting new ones.



Zoe


Zoe

9000 experience, 75 extra points.

"Welcome to level 6, master! It just took you how many years?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Heba."

Hunting has been a bitch, I'm not getting powerful enough quickly enough.

"You got to learn another spell that doesn't have the risk of paradox, months of work for that feeling good?"

"Sign me up for the terminator hunt, Heba."

She blinked.

"You do realize that would scramble a teleport so they would come here, to your base, right?"

"Yeah, but I did the math… If we pull this off I get to level seven and that brings my spell slot to level 4 which gives me an extra invocation, an additional 4th level spell. That might mean the difference between success and failure, life and death."

I looked at the host of potions, items, and other things I had created. I put on some armor.

"Are you sure about this? The Company never puts a bounty on something this high unless it's dangerous or there is a personal grievance attached or both."

"Oh, I have no doubt. It's going to suck."

I grimaced as I looked at the control panel.

"I'm going to give the order to the Company."

Well… time to see if months of prep work pays off.

"There is an incoming attack on lab A108 by Cyberdine, world R34."

I nodded my head.

"The company has accepted our hail and is transferring the teleport."

"How many?"

"We requested a full squad and that's what we are getting."

"Sending the drones in the air."

"Incoming in 10."

"The birds are flying."

I scanned the territory and then saw flashes of light. No skin, just machines with weapons.

"Strike."

I didn't have too many drones, just around 30 or so. I had them unload every bit of ordnance they had.

"No effect."

"Have all allied machines send mortars to the affected location."

The machines walked through the explosions as the castle went through its munition supplies.

"It's not working."

Heba sounded scared, panicked.

"We keep striking until we are out of firepower."

Chip damage is still damage.

"Oh shit. Oh shit."

They were coming straight for the castle.

"Oh shit!"

"All golems, take up positions with anti-material rifles."

They were coming. I heard the hum of plasma bolts and saw drones go silent. The sound of explosions and gunfire continued to go off and I walked out of the control room. The halls of the castle shook as I went toward the entrance. There was only one way into the castle and I threw open the doors and looked out onto the long road, over the moat. I chanted and concentrated, as the robots finally came within distance I threw up walls of ice and heard more and more blasts of gunfire.

"Fzz!"

The hot plasma hit the front walls. The creatures looked damaged, scratched up, dented, and everything lit up with mist and fog according to my will.

"Exterminate."

I let the mist enter inside the cracks of their guns and then formed moisture and then ice. I heard a fizzling sound and then explosions as the guns blew up in their hands. They looked at me with dead eyes and moved forward and then a wave moved over them. They got up but then noticed they that were stuck. None of the ordnance had been enough to destroy them, none of it, but it did create cracks in their metallic armor and the mist sipped inside them and formed ice. I moved the ice around, destroying them from the inside, then I sensed them start humming and they exploded. I felt myself get launched back and hit the wall, then everything went black.

when I woke up I felt pain and opened my eyes to see Heba, leaning over me.

"They self-destructed."

She looked at me.

"Was it worth it?"

I felt the increase of power, the new toughness, and got up.

"Oh hell yeah."



Timmy canoned


This dialogue with lord zig inspired me for another omake, I hope you all like it.

Omake - Capitalism.

An abstract being enter in the office of Lord Zig with the intimacy of those who know the place and the owner, already saying.

Spoiler: Timmy

[img: https/i./originals/93/b3/44/93b3440fa83badb1930e2dd2c7ca8d13.jpg]

"Lord Zig, how's your might going?"

He hands Lord Zig a box saying.

"Cigars made from Wakanda's Heart-Shaped Herb, super recommended."

Lord Zig take the box, look and say.

"Always attentive Lord Timmy, the entire department heard about your last jackpot, you managed to harvest the irredeemable from an entire universe."

Smiling, Lord Timmy replies.

"It was a lucky move Lord Zig, I used the local Infinity Gems to mark an entire universe of the Marvel multiverse before Doctor Doom destroyed it with the Ultimate Nullifier, because he is a spoiled son of bitch, so I rebuilt it with the Gems and took the opportunity to harvest all the irredeemable from the local universe. "

"The employee of the month plaque is yours again, good job Lord Timmy."

"Just doing my job Lord Zig, but I wanted to take this opportunity and ask a question, Zig, why was I skipped in line for the Eternity Engine and for the new kid?"

Lord Zig, stops, rests his hands on the table and says.

"Timmy, I'm going to tell you the truth, because you would find out anyway, the company skipped your place, because it can. Because it knew there was going to be no negative consequences for that. "

"Timmy, you're an overachiever who likes to please the people you like and has a hard time to say no , you like to see people happy with things you've done."

Timmy interrupts saying.

"It's not quite this, Zig."

Zig continues as if he hasn't been interrupted.

"You make a profit without needing an investment, we released you into the Marvel universe and only saw the profit coming, you gave of present a Aquatic Engine to the supervisor of your case and you didn't even have sex with her, Timmy!"

"The fact is, you're loyal to the company, so it doesn't have to be loyal to you."

"What keeps me from picking up and going to the competition, Zig? Even more with this kind of thing?"

"Our therapists constantly evaluate you Timmy, you volunteered in the last corporate war, you always try to improve, you never bought a companion, you send expensive gifts to the Dark Mother, the signs are clear, you are in love with her and you are not going out because the simple thought that maybe it would displease her, since she is our client, prevents you from leaving and from not doing your best."

Timmy is just silent.

"Don't worry, Timmy, the company knows how far to go, we will continue to reward you, we will not change you from your universe, we will not change your supervisor, your therapist has an exclusive contract just to serve you, there are lines that the company will not cross, not because it has some kind of loyalty or morality, but because it would affect her profit. "

"This is abhorrent, Zig."

"Yes, but you already forgave us Timmy and that's how the life goes, but continuing, you usually send a reminder to the surviving department members, do you want to send one to Z38?"

Timmy just blink slowly, breath and say.

"Yes, yes of course, send the boy a zippy sick ride, with a message like "congratulations on surviving"? Do you take care of that, Zig? Discount on my account. "

Says Timmy getting up.

"Sure, Timmy, show up more, you're always welcome, after all we're family."

Timmy gives a tired smile, wave and go out of the room.

Zig thinks when Timmy leaves.

"In a fair world, you would be more valued Timmy, but the world is what it is and profit comes first."

And then he go back to the service.



Zoe


Zoe

My pact is the foundation of all my powers and abilities. Until I finish the path, my ability to grow in those other powersets is limited. That said I do appreciate the extra versatility I have and what I do have makes me a decent combatant. it's just that I have to finish with the fundamentals before I'm able to really grow.

"So? Officially worth it?"

"Yeah, Heba. It was."

I looked at the wreckage of the city around me.

"I somehow find that hard to believe."

"It's only a couple of city blocks, no one lives here."

"It's going to take months for the bots to fix this."

"In all likelihood, you're right."

She looked at her watch.

"You're now officially 9 years old again. How does it feel?"

I thought about it.

"It sucks, Heba, the whole kid a second time thing sucks… but it sucks a lot less than RnD, a lot less than my life before the company. There is hope and there is progress."

"And a monster who threatens to destroy trillions of lives."

I shrugged.

"Hey, I never said it was perfect. Speaking of that, I think I'm getting a handle on the contracts."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I think I can create more warlock."

She smiled.

"And?"

"And, because of the whole Teacher thing, I am going to hold off of that."

"But building a support base-"

"Is important but I am not powerful enough, strong enough, to go toe to toe with the government even in a clandestine fashion."

"So what now?"

"Now? I need you to find me targets. Terrorist groups, bandits, and things outside the US, people who are bad and have little redeeming features."

"Going hunting?"

"Yeah. Not nearly strong enough to go toe to toe with the Nine."

And honestly, even if I pushed myself, I wasn't going to win that fight… but, hey, every edge you can get, right?



Zoe


Zoe

Bandits are worth 25 experience points a pop. Meaning that if you kill 14,200 bandits? That gets you to level 20. There are quite a few more than 14 thousand bandits worldwide. I keep Heba busy trying to find locations where bandits gangs are plentiful, places outside of the US because you do not shit where you eat, and then I go hunting.

"Was Eyes of the Rune Keeper really a good choice?"

Heba sounds annoyed through the com.

"How many languages does the Company deal with?"

"Good point."

IF you can travel anywhere to hunt then being able to read the language of wherever you're going, especially newspapers, is vital. Currently, I am in Peru and I am hunting down a group called the Shining Path. I look through binoculars at the small enclave of troops and load my rifle. There isn't very many people in the red, because that's rare, but of the 30 or so people here none of them are lighter than yellow. I aim at a guard and pull the trigger, he falls and the other guard looks shocked. I pull the trigger again and he dies but not before calling for help.

The others rush out with guns, the trees are wet and cold and covered with frost as the entire group heads in my direction.

Good. I put away my rifle and move my hands. When they get close enough I move blades of ice around, formed from the frost, and cut them down in a trap meant to kill as many of them as possible. It doesn't take long. I feel the power rush through me but it isn't enough to take me to the next level. I crack my neck and close my eyes, only 3 of the souls fucked up enough to be damned, I still send them to the Company. Then I walk to the cave.

It has got a jeep, supplies, and I see scared women tied to the walls. They look at my masked form and shiver. A ball of water forms in each hand and they close their eyes, I cut the ropes that hold them and use a translation spell.

"They're dead, I killed them. Everything that they have here, everything that they own, is now yours. Go in peace."

The women stare at me and nod and gather everything in the cave that they can find while I slam a hand against the wall and go home. Heba looks at me.

"Successful operation?"

I look at her.

"First of many."

No one said power leveling was easy.



Greg Veder


Greg Veder

Getting Zoe to do anything on a Saturday is like pulling teeth, his parents take the day off for date stuff and Zoe just wants to do nothing.

"Off work?"

"Yeah."

We were at the park again, Charlotte and I were playing. Charlotte looked at him.

"So um… Are you Panacea's boyfriend?"

He froze.

"Right now it's more a weird power thing, so not really… but people kind of expect me to be her boyfriend at some point."

"Oh."

Charlotte looked crushed.

"Yeah, I guess it makes sense. She's pretty special, I guess."

Charlotte nodded her head.

"So what's it like handing around heroes?"

"Exhausting! It takes up time and you know stuff, not a lot of time to hang out with you guys unfortunately."

I frowned as I watched a kid with a shaved head and leather jacket walk up with his two friends.

"Haven't seen you in a while, asshole."

He rushed forward to Zoe and I wanted to warn him. Zoe easily caught his fist in his hand.

"You again?"

"This time I'm going to win."

Zoe got up and looked him in the eye, the boy's friends stepped back.

"Ok. Let's see you try."

The bald boy got into a boxing stance then he rushed forward with punch after punch, which were just slapped away by Zoe who seemed to be bored. The boy kept punching until he was wheezing and sweating.

"Your clothing doesn't breathe. A leather jacket provides extra protection but it's crap at dealing with heat, that makes exhaustion worse."

"Screw you."

The haymaker looked powerful. Zoe stepped to the side and slapped his neck, the boy went down and he looked at his friends.

"He isn't seriously hurt but he's going to be sleeping for a while."

The two of them gathered their friend and left, Charlotte smiled.

"Missed you, Zoe."

"Yeah, I know. I've added in some new songs for Just Dance, you guys interested in playing?"

"Yes."

It was good to have Zoe back.



Zoe


Zoe

I take a deep breath as my hands shake and I steady them. Nerves. Combat nerves.

I force the memories down and smile. Can I honestly say I'm living a double life? An up and coming man in the Company, a young prodigy, a support cape, and now an assassin working his way around Latin America. It gets to a man… I think I understand why so many of us just do not make it. Heba gathers information online and compiles it, then we try to find bases together. It normally takes a couple of weeks to get a single operation.

I'm in the Yucatan right now and I'm outside a small cave, it's a cartel depot where they keep their hired killers. I rush inside and see red, red everywhere.

They look at me.

"Oh, thank God! No guilt today."

Ice explodes from my body and I move quickly, trying to kill as many of them as fast as I can. I lose track of myself and then see the carnage. I feel my back burn as I go up another level, I have more cantrips now and can caste cure wounds twice a day.

"Fuck."

Nature or the brand, it wants 12 cantrips total. Still… not completely useless.

"Heba? I took the facility."

"How many people?"

"Don't know. Kind of mangled their bodies, there's a lot of cocaine here though."

"How much?"

"An entire room?"

"Open a portal, someone in corporate will want it."

"Got it."

I slammed the wall and my robots rushed in, taking the cocaine and the drugs and the guns and anything not nailed off. All of it will be sold to the Company for Company script which can be exchanged for other currencies or used to buy various products. I feel tired and I sit down to manage souls so stubborn, so convinced that they're right about everything. I shrug as I open my eyes, and use prestidigitation to clean myself.

I walk back home and Heba looks at me.

"So?"

It was June.

"How many souls?"

"You just gained 50. You gained 15 through normal collection methods, and through missions you-"

"How many?"

"75."

"Order the brand and stamp from corporate."

She rushed to the control room.

"They want to add the features to the control sword."

I thought about it.

"Tell them I am ok with that."

She looked at me.

"Anything else?"

"We got enough to afford the domination curse and all the control options we budgeted for… Let's do it."

"Got it, master."

She typed and looked at me.

"The rest of it?"

"Into the Waifu budget."

She nodded her head and typed.

"It's going to happen soon."

"I know."

"You've been at this for months and we haven't made nearly enough progress."

"I am quite aware of that, Heba."

"I'm just a little worried."

I stared at her.

"We all are."



Zoe


Zoe

My next target is The Skeld, Lord Zig looks at me and looks outside.

"No."

"If I clear the Skeld that's an RND lab right back in company hands."

"You've built something beautiful here, Z38."

I freeze.

"Thank you, but the issue is-"

"You're scared, aren't you?"

"Of course, I'm scared."

"Yes and when people are scared they make poor decisions. It is true that The Skeld is a long-standing bounty, 5 shapeshifters of vicious power… If they were cleared the company would be happy and grateful."

I smile.

"It would be another 175 points to your budget and you could do a lot with that. There is just one problem."

He turns back and looks at me, sipping some hot coco.

"Do you have Witch Sight?"

"No."

"This operation is complete suicide without Witch Sight. Those creatures can look like anything, manipulate their biology, assimilate other creatures, and use magic and technology. A lot of people have died trying to take that base back. If you were an unproven asset I would let you try but you are a member of good standing. Members of good standing are not allowed to go on suicide missions."

"So, because I'm more capable, I'm not allowed to do this?"

"Yes, you're no longer expendable. There are tasks the company wants you to do, so you're not allowed to take missions that we think are beyond you. The Skeld is beyond you."

"The Nine are dangerous."

"You're not expected to defeat them, or even beat them, your job is to go in and extract an asset. I get it, really. You're scared and you're motivated, really motivated. why, I think you're going to pay off all of your initial catalogue options and that boots you straight into real management. Heba would be yours by right and not by some technicality. It comes with respect, it comes with power… But, in order to get there, you have to live."

He got up.

"So, no?"

"It's a shame your balls haven't dropped, getting laid would do you wonders."

He vanished and I was left alone with my fear and anxieties.



Zoe


Zoe

I look at the control sword, Heba looks at me.

"Well? Give it a whirl."

I touched it and felt pain, I pushed through it and lifted the blade.

"Why is it a katana?"

"That's not a katana."

I looked at Heba.

"That is quite clearly a Wakizashi."

"And the difference being?"

"A wakizashi is between 12 and 24 Earth inches, it was used for ritual suicide or beheading of enemy prisoners. When worn by itself a wakizashi marks you as a member of the merchant class, which we quite clearly are."

I stared at her.

"And you know this why?"

"Akira Kurosawa is the single greatest director your world has ever produced and I have watched Yojimbo 17 times."

I stared at her.

"Do you honestly think I just sit on my ass all day getting massages and eating chocolate? I have hobbies and interests outside of work."

"Um ok, but how do you buy stuff without… you know, dying?"

"Earth Bet isn't a complete warzone, I simply teleport down and buy movies and media with human currency."

"which you get how?"

"I still get a full salary, of course. I am not a slave so I do get a company paycheck which is paid out by you, out of your potions budget, so I have access to plenty of human currency."

"You paid rent?"

"Yeah, most people do."

"Any way I can get in on that?"

"Any way you can guarantee people's property won't be damaged during the planned upgrade?"

I frowned.

"Most people in management do not make the majority of their money from a company paycheck, most of them make their money off of services and rents. That said I have the feeling you want to table that?"

I thought about it.

"Yeah, got too much on my table."

I hit the sword to the ground and smiled as 4 clones appeared.

"I think I see possibilities here."

Heba's smile was not chaste or innocent.

"So do I, master! So do I."



Fugaku


Fugaku Uchiha, fifth Hokage

"Hiashi, it's good to see you."

He looked at me.

"I have a report."

I frowned.

"What did Orochimaru do?"

The man looked at me.

"He hasn't broken the terms of his parole. Convicted criminals who volunteer only, as we agreed upon."

I looked at him carefully.

"What is he doing?"

"He wants permission to work on cross-dimensional study."

I stared at him.

"That sounds like a bad idea."

"It's worth the effort."

"What is your reasoning?"

"Fugaku, what happens to the warrior when the war is over?"

I froze at the statement.

"We find another way to live."

"We talk a lot about peace and how much we want it but the truth is… our entire lifestyle is built upon war. When missions dry up people can't pay their bills, Sarutobi tried to solve that problem by-"

"Violating the treaty with Sand and taking missions from their government. It's one of the reasons why we couped him, along with deciding to send your brother to die when Cloud tried to kidnap your daughter, experimenting on loyal shinobi and killing them, desecrating the body of the first Hokage, and just Danzo. Just him in general."

Killing that bastard was the single best thing I ever did.

"I still have reservations about not charging Orochimaru with his crimes, Hiashi."

"He turned state's evidence, Fugaku. Our agreement was that he would get paroled. Without him doing that and going into graphic detail about everything Sarutobi authorized you never could have held the village, there would have been civil war."

He looked at me.

"Even then you still had to make compromises."

I shrugged.

"I didn't overthrow Sarutobi to become a tyrant in turn. Every clan should have a voice and be represented in the council. His nepotistic decision to only pick his friend led to disaster. The idea that all power legislative, judicial, and executive should all be in one person… well, that didn't end well for the loyal shinobi who were tortured to death, did it?"

I was seething remembering the tapes.

"Separation of powers, it's the only way we could try to prevent what happened from happening again."

He nodded his head.

"And that's why, as a friend, I am asking you to allow the research. Please accept my council on this matter."

I nodded my head.

"Explain your reasoning again, then. Go a bit more into the details this time, Hiashi."

"Every time someone tries to make something better, it gets destroyed. You want a train line, some ninja gets hired to wreck it. You try to create a better anything, a merchant hires a ninja and they wreck it. The entire world, the entire planet, is a giant crab bucket. In every way that materially matters, ninja make the world a worse place to live. Our lifestyle is inherently damaging to the civilian world around us."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Radical thoughts."

"That I would no doubt have been killed out of hand for having, under the previous regime. The fact is… We need to find another way of life, Fugaku. We can't keep living like this, none of us can. If we really want peace, then we need to find a way to be able to live peacefully."

"And you think this research can do it?"

"Maybe, on some other world, they have an idea of how people like us can live peacefully and how we can benefit communities instead of acting like parasites. It's a long shot but I want to try."

I thought about it.

"I'm going to trust your judgment."

He nodded his head.

"Thank you."

I looked over at the mountain, the vainglorious figures etched into them. As far as I was concerned only two faces belonged there, the first and last. As for me? I want to stand with my people, not above them. Let my deeds speak for me, instead of a stone face.



Zoe


Zoe

Pants wetting terror.

Attacking some bandit gang with the element of surprise and overwhelming force is not scary.

Fighting against the Slaughterhouse Nine is.

Because I know that If I fail, If I die, death will not be the end. I have 11 years left on a 20-year contract, if I die my soul gets to spend 11 years in a locker with toxic waste. Then most of my powers will be stripped from me and I will be back to square fucking one! If only the Nine had captured her after my birthday? If that had been the case, everything would have been locked in.

My property, my engines, my powers, everything secured and paid for. I lose this, I lose everything.

So, yeah… I'm just a little bit fucking terrified here.

"Ok! Ok…"

Riley is in a non-descript abandoned slaughterhouse, because of course she is, she has just triggered and the Nine are now forcing her to repair her parents over and over again. Why? Because they're fucking assholes, fuck you. I look at my bots, millions of dollars buys lots of raw materials from people who don't ask questions.

"Let's do this."

We get into vans and ride in the darkness. As soon as we get close enough we unleash rockets at the walls. That brings them out, all of em out. I throw out every last piece of artillery and the fucking Zebra no-sells all of it.

"It appears we have an intruder."

I don't say anything, instead I bring out my firepower and the bots come out. They don't stand a chance. They're some of my best work and they get demolished easily. It's too dark to see who's talking, all I know is that I'm moving fast and-

"Got yah!"

My Aura takes a hit, I move around.

"Eldrich blast."

Fucking zebra woman! They're laughing but I move around and keep fighting as best I can. This is my adult form, this is me at my strongest… I feel something hit my spine and then I look up at Jack Slash.

"You know what, hero? Don't feel bad, you never had a chance."

Everything goes dark as the pain hits, as my body is obliterated, I open my eyes and smash through the door. The clone's dead but the robots are still fighting. The girl hovers over her parents, who look more like stitched together corpses than people.

"Come with me if you want to live."

"I-"

I slash open a portal with my sword, grab both bodies, and look at her.

"We need to leave NOW!"

She doesn't fight me, we flee into the portal and it closes. The little girl looks scared, terrified even, but she's looking around her with. We're in my castle, in the lab, I put both parents down.

"Mister Cape?"

I pull out the most powerful potions I have and uncork them, putting the liquid into their mouths. Their wounds heal and I look at little Bonesaw.

"Are they going to be ok?"

Their eyes are empty, their spirits broken. I sat down and looked at her.

"I can only fix their bodies. What happened to their minds, that's beyond me."

"But… You have to know of a way?"

She looks at me with fear and hope.

"Yeah, I do have… You see, there is a little company that's called Slutlife…"



Zoe


Zoe

I did nothing after the January mission. I mean, I worked and tutored Greg and hung out, and kissed Amy twice a day, but I didn't really do anything beyond what was required of me. I looked at the cake, Amy was there in costume which just made her look adorable. It was the afternoon, we had a pizza party and I'm told to make a wish. It's the same wish I always make, to not die horribly this year.

So far, it's come true… So, yeah me.

I give Amy a hug and then she has to leave. It had been a small party, just me, Amy, Victoria, Greg and Charlotte. I watch as the sun goes down and they leave, Amy steals a kiss. I mostly got books for my birthday history stuff, I'm told I'm hard to shop for and I am ok with that. I have more new clothing that makes me look like a little professor at best, and a total dork at worst.

I make a note to burn the new bow tie I received from my dad, who clearly has not gotten the message that I can't stand the things, but other than that it was a good day. I lock the door to the basement, go down, and slam my hand against the wall. A portal opens and I look at my boss.

"Z38."

"Lord Zig."

"Take a seat."

I haven't showered, I'm in a tweed jacket, and I sit down. My boss looks at me and sits down across from me, Heba serves him some hot cocoa and gets me some earl grey. His black eyes burrow into mine.

"It's been ten years."

I grimace.

"You have now worked for the company for 15 years."

"Yeah."

"You have completed a 5-year RnD contract, you have now completed a 10-year undercover acquisitions contract. During that time you have managed to successfully pay off your debts to the company, upgrading you to an agent in good standing. You have managed to successfully pay off all initial catalogue access points. You have successfully acquired 3 bounties for the company, dealt with a potential machine uprising, took care of 5 Cyberdine agents, you have established your own property, and have a minor potions business that the company deems to be somewhat useful for its needs."

I frowned.

"There are agents who are far more successful than you, who have done more with far less. There are agents that floundered and died with far more, but you did something worthy of respect: you paid your debts, you obeyed your orders, and you survived one of the harshest missions an agent can be sent to."

He looked at me and passed me a gold pocket watch, it was engraved with 'Z38'.

"Welcome to Management, Z38."

I smiled.

"Thank you."

"You don't know what that means yet. You're new but in time you will grow into your powers."

He sipped his cocoa, the drink being slurped up by a tentacle on his face.

"You've done good."

"I still have 4 bounties, don't I?"

"Yeah, you do. We will most likely call them in within the next 10 years."

He took another sip.

"Still your current gains are locked in. Everything you have accomplished, you keep it. Your current powers, you keep them. You can buy or upgrade your abilities with your 2 point contract completion bonus or get rid of two of your bounties."

I thought about it.

"How likely is it for me to blow my cover if I take bending without an archive?"

"A lack of control over earth is kind of a bad thing."

I sighed.

"Sign me up for Earth bending, with Archive."

"In six years there will be more points."

"Yeah, I know."

With that done he nodded his head and left. I looked over at the water, Heba sat down beside me.

"Welcome to management."

I shrugged.

"Low level… but it's nice to be able to call the shots."

She brought out some paper.

"What's this about?"

"It's time for us to formalize our relationship, for me to serve you in a more direct manner."

"You want to sign a contract?"

"It's either this or a domination curse to bind your waifus to you and you need to get over your hesitation about the matter."

I nodded my head and wrote a contract and then cut myself and let the paper absorb my blood. I handed her a small knife and she did the same. I then closed my eyes as I felt a rush of power and then looked at Heba with new eyes.

"Wow."

I saw numbers in her halo, saw how I could manipulate them.

"So what will become of me?"

I thought about it.

"You will have a place to live, food and I will take care of you. At some point I will no doubt impregnate you, the children will be taken care of."

"You could make it sound more romantic, you know?"

I blinked and the numbers went away.

"Sit in front of my chair."

I moved my chair and she sat down on the ground, I felt her ears and she shuddered.

"They're erogenous zones, aren't they?"

I gently blew on her ears and she panted.

"I can see it."

I gently kissed her ears.

"I can sense it, taste it."

"They're… very sensitive, master."

She leaned into my touch.

"I hate my body, Heba. I hate not being able to do the things I want to do. The limitations, the frustration… but it's not going to last, you know? Sooner or later, I will go through puberty."

I kissed her ears and she moaned.

"And when you do?"

I gently ran my fingers through her hair.

"Are you imagining that you're going to be the first woman I knock up?"

"Yes… master."

I rubbed her ears.

"That isn't going to happen, that honor goes to the leader of the Harem and you are not her."

I gently nuzzled her hair.

"But I will get to you and that is a promise."

She sighed.

"Ok, that was better."



Greg Veder


Greg Veder

I look at the vitamin shake.

"Drink it, Greg."

I grimace as I drink the shake. It tastes horrible… but I have to admit it does work. I grimace as drink it down, so does Zoe.

"You're sure that you want to learn martial arts?"

"Yeah, Karate is cool."

"Fine, let's go."

He pulls out a cell phone and a man comes and picks us up, he's really quiet and there's something off about his eyes and he doesn't blink or talk. He just plays music and drives carefully.

"Oh, this place!"

We stop and Zoe looks through a window and frowns.

"Multicolored uniforms, so many patches on their gi's…"

"They promise a black belt in 1 to 2 years."

I smile at him and he blinks.

"It's a scam."

"The teacher is a 7th dan grandmaster."

He looked at the photo.

"It says guaranteed black belt."

"Yeah… this is a scam, we are leaving."

I followed him and we went into a car, we drove until we got to a nondescript building.

"What's Muay Thai?"

A bell rang and Zoe froze. I didn't like the place! There was no decoration here, no belts and people were in shorts and a T-shirt instead. There were people of different ages practicing, he looked at the one piece of decoration, something written in gibberish, and laughed. An old man got up and walked up to us, he cracked his neck.

"Can you please explain what is so funny, my child?"

He turned around.

"The joke on the wall. What does a monk use to ring the temple bell? A novice."

The man loomed over us, and I noticed scars on his body and felt slightly afraid.

"You can read Thai?"

"Some of the computers my company uses comes from Thailand, whoever designed the English manual was an idiot so I had to learn a few things."

The old man looked at him.

"Zoe Zimmerman?"

He looked at the old man.

"Do I know you?"

"My boy is one of your captains at Red October."

"Paul Timkun?"

"Ha. Yes, I was worried about him after he left the navy. I'm glad he found good work! Anyway, what brings you to my little Dojo?"

"My Cousin here wants to learn martial arts."

I smiled and the man looked me over.

"Mind sparing first?"

"Sure."

We walk into a circle and a boy our age walks out. The old man nods and the boy moves quickly, striking quickly, Zoe keeps up but not easily. The man raises an eyebrow as Zoe successfully pushes the boy out of the ring.

"Tai chi, I see elements of the Chen and Sun styles. Who taught you?"

"I learned it from a book."

"It must have been a good book, I also see some basic movements."

"The army has put out a bunch of books on martial arts over the years, they're cheap."

He nodded his head.

"True but what they teach is just to get people to a basic level quickly. Then again good fundamentals are everything."

He looked at me.

"Go into the ring."

The same boy walked in. We bowed and then I lost, the kicks and punches hit me but they didn't hurt as much as I thought they would.

"Sam?"

"Yes, grandpa?"

"Thanks for holding back."

He nodded his head and he looked at me.

"You have training in dancing?"

I grimaced.

"I um play dancing games."

"Good, I can work with that. You don't have any fundamentals or know anything about any art."

I felt a little insulted.

"But learning how to dance means learning how to move and that's helpful."

He looked at me.

"Why did you come here?"

"I want to learn how to become tough."

The old man smirked.

"I think I can make that happen."

If I had had any idea what that smirk meant? I would have run then and there. Staying was both one of the best and worst decisions I ever made.



Greg Veder


Greg Veder

Any delusion that I was the strongest guy or a badass was ruthlessly crushed in the Dojo.

No one was mean about it, it wasn't like boot camp where people scream at you. Honestly, the Dojo was a pretty casual place where people went to practice. It didn't even have a belt system but any idea that I was a master martial artist in the making died on the mats. I was in fact shown pretty extensively, through example, that I was in fact behind most of the people there.

I hated toughness training, I hated flexibility training, I loathed leg day, and I hated rolls… all of the rolls. I thought about quitting so many times but every time I did Zoe would give me a pep talk and some suggestions and I would stick to it. He supported me with daily horrible protein shakes and often joined me in training on Saturdays. To my surprise, Charlotte joined us in the dojo and protein shake group. She, like me, absolutely despised the training and complained a lot. The only one of us who didn't complain was Zoe but then again Zoe didn't talk a lot, period.

I always got the feeling that he was hiding something from us but I never really pushed the matter. He was smart, he was cool, he looked after me and that was enough, ya know. The summer before middle school was a special kind of hell, mom and dad would drop me and Charlotte off for training in the morning and then we would train until it got dark. The horrible tasting protein shake packs Zoe made us seemed to help us deal with the pain and the exhaustion. When I got to middle school, Charlotte and I were inseparable. So I guess it was only natural that I asked her out to that first middle school dance.

I don't know when we stopped being just friends. I do know that when Zoe and his driver picked us up, he put a blanket on us when we fell asleep… and that my parents made fun of us when they found us cuddling asleep under the blanket. Zoe didn't tease either of us about it, he just smiled and wished us the best.



Zoe


Zoe

"I would do anything for a Pony."

That was honestly the worst thing Amy could say to me. She was going to middle school soon, was a little burned out from the hospital, and was laying in my lap while relaxing after stealing two of my slots by kissing me. We were watching her sister playing a basketball game. Victoria always looked a little frustrated, being the only one in the family without superpowers was driving her nuts.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really! I mean, what kind of girl doesn't want a pony?"

"Are you asking this because Vicky's new boyfriend is rich?"

"They're just friends."

I looked over at Vicky's parents, they were talking on the phone while their girl played her heart out. Amy bit her lip.

"Are we just friends?"

Amy blinked and looked away.

"That's complicated."

"How's middle school going?"

"Hard! I don't get the math."

"Need me to tutor you?"

"Sure."

I then frowned as Vicky was fouled and then started floating as she screamed at the idiot responsible.

Canon lock… Everyone triggers with their canon power sets, anything that's vital for defeating Scion still happens. You can fudge the numbers but what happens will happen, and then I feel that familiar feeling of Dread as Amy relaxes in my arms. She's going to go through puberty soon and Victoria can not shut off her Aura. Between Bicky's love-me power and my kiss reaction, which is stronger?

I look at Victoria with trepidation, this is the start of a tragedy that destroys both girls. It destroys Amy and Victoria, it leaves them with a ruined relationship, it ends with Victoria spending years as a blob that can only talk through blinking, it leaves Amy in the birdcage. I hug Amy tighter. She struggles and leaves and goes to help her sister. I get up and watch as they hug, as Victoria celebrates. It's a tender moment between two sisters and I know how this story ends.

I can afford a Pony, they're maybe 500 to 1000 dollars and property outside the city is cheap. For the price of a pony, I can prevent all of that, I can make her mine. I look at them with trepidation.

Just one pony and I keep a family from being ripped apart, pretty much everyone would be better off that way.

I watch them leave and walk off alone, thinking about it. I sleep on it fitfully and arrive at a decision, I write up a contract with ink made out of my blood then I order my robot driver to pick up Amy from school and drive her to me. She arrives in my office and she looks at me.

"I have my homework."

She drops it off and I help her with her math.

"Are you serious about the Pony?"

She blinks.

"What?"

"The pony. Are you serious about it? A pony is a big responsibility, Amy."

She smiles.

"Yeah, they're cute and I… um you're serious, arent you?"

I nod my head.

"There is a farm outside of town. I have some money saved, the farm isn't doing well… It's a small family thing, I think I can cut a deal with them. Buy a pony for you, and they get money from housing it."

She smiled.

"You're the best! this is a great present."

"It's not free. Ponys are, like I said, expensive. What am I getting in return?"

Amy blinked.

"Um?"

"I'm asking this because there will be people who ask 'what is in it for me?'. There are going to be people who want to take advantage of you, and you need to be able to negotiate. Now, what do you have to offer?"

Amy bit her lip.

"I don't know. Healing, I guess?"

I leaned back.

"If I was hurt, would you really not heal me?"

She bit her lip.

"I can be your girlfriend?"

I smiled.

"You would be mine, mind and body and soul?"

Amy blushed.

"I um… I guess."

"I want it in writing."

I gave Amy a pen and she wrote her name, I smiled as I saw the numbers in her halo… and then flinched as I saw that my control over them was limited.

"I will get that pony for you, soon."

Amy smiled and leaned over and kissed me.

"You're the best!"

I hid my frown.

"I'm really not."



Zoe


Zoe

"It's so cute!"

I chose the horse based on its tame and easy nature. I had been checking out farms around the town, just in case I needed resources. This one was small, family-owned, and in huge amounts of debt. Housing and feeding a single horse in exchange for making that all go away was a pretty easy deal. Officially I called in a favor from corporate to make it happen.

"It's all yours Amy."

She takes the reigns and gets on it and I feel a little spark. I see her aura, see the numbers, and feel blocked… but I still have additional influence. she rides around and I watch her. Eventually though Carol comes to pick us up. Victoria takes her turn on the pony, who looks mildly annoyed but dutifully trots around. We go back into the city and Amy talks excitedly. She kisses me on the cheek and shudders as she takes another one of my spell slots, more of my mana. We get home, I get thanked, and Carol says this is Amy's official birthday present from me.

And I go home. My parents are not here, I slam a hand against the wall and arrive back at the castle.

"So did she get her Pony?"

Heba is filing her nails.

"Yes."

"I suppose it's a good gift, riding a pony is good practice for riding you."

I stare at Heba.

"What? That was funny."

I sat down.

"I completed my end of the bargain and yet I have barely any influence?"

"Have you sent the contract to the Company and sent the souls?"

"Do that now."

She nodded her head and I waited, an image popped up.

"So it's done. We received a 6 point discount for doing our own leg work, so she's only 19 points."

I looked at her stats and felt our connection.

"Something is blocking me."

Heba sighed.

"Yeah? Were you completely and a hundred percent honest about the deal?"

I froze and I answered hesitantly.

"Mind and body and soul in exchange for a pony."

"Did you tell her what you are?"

"Shit."

Heba shrugged.

"Amy Dallon, Panacea, has a strong shard, a strong will, and is a part of a very important program. Stealing her away is going to be difficult. From the looks of it before you spent the souls you only had access to a fifth of your control options over her."

"And now?"

"Half."

"What are my options?"

"True love was actually already there because of the shard, though from what I'm reading she does have some legitimate feelings for you now. Conditioning got included when you completed your side of the contract."

She sighed.

"So?"

"Adjustments can be done on her physically but obedience, mind control? Until you clear the air, I don't think so."

I sat down and thought about it.

"I can't stop the incident, can I?"

Heba shook her head.

"Vicky's power is strong and she doesn't know how to control it, Amy is in a vulnerable period of her life both emotionally and biologically. Most you can do is blunt the damage and give her a fetish for blonds in general."

"Yeah, that's probably good enough."

I got up.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah! If she's going to become my significant other she might as well be totally gorgeous. Can my level of control do that, Heba?"

She smiled at me.

"Of course, master."

I slapped her on the ass and Heba smiled and moaned a little.

"Well, let us get to it."

I got up and felt my own ass get slapped. Heba smirked at me and I sighed.

"Yeah, I had that coming."



Zoe


Zoe

502 souls

Damned souls to be fair but still souls. I aim the sniper rifle, the man is heavy in red. The North Korean regime has collapsed but some of its higher-ups have escaped, including guards, torturers, and the like. I've been teleporting to the abandoned camps, getting information, and then using the things they abandoned to track them. A lot of guards were killed during the uprising, but a lot of them escaped. The worst ones.

The old man smiles and lifts his cup to his mouth, the Columbian sun glinting in the distance. This was once a feared and powerful man, now he lives in a shack in South America. Still, he's managed to get by, he's managed to build a life for himself.

I pull the trigger and everything he did to rebuild his life is obliterated in an instant.

I close my eyes and see him walking around the darkness.

"Kim right? You know you're like the 20th Kim I've killed this month."

"Where am I?"

"You know why you're here?"

"I did nothing wrong."

"Oh, no. Oh, you definitely did something wrong. You know exactly why you're here awaiting judgment."

He froze.

"It was the rape dogs, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was the rape dogs! I mean, fuck! They were 7-year-old girls."

"6, actually."

"You know that doesn't make it better, right? I mean they were still children. So yeah you are damned and this is your last chance to repent."

"They were enemies of the people."

"Oh thank god!"

The portal opened and his soul went off. I looked at the list and scratched another name off.

"Happy hunting?"

"This is so much easier than taking out bandits! Why didn't we think of it before?"

"I don't know much about this world and neither do you?"

"Good point."

I put the gun into deep space, looked at my watch, and summoned a portal back to home. I then cleaned myself, got in a different outfit, and went to work. I felt a slight burn on my back as the experience kicked in during the day.

"Level 9, nice."

I made a note to research spells later. For now, I got out of my office and nodded at my workers and punched out, my driver took me to the hospital. It was Sunday and Amy was working today. I went into the hospital and looked at Amy. She looked stressed out, tired, exhausted and she smiled as she saw me.

"Hey."

She ran up and pressed me against the wall, I hugged her as she went on her tippy toes and kissed me on the lips. She gave a throaty moan of pleasure as we made out, her knees buckling as she went limp. I held her as she smiled, her eyes half lidded.

"Bad day?"

She nuzzled into me.

"Not anymore."

She panted.

"It felt better today, much better."

My essence had evolved from 4 level slots to 5th. It was still the same amount of mana, just more eldritch, more sophisticated… I let her recover for a bit and then she kissed me again. As we got older the kisses became less chaste, less innocent. Amy dealt with a lot of bullshit and needed release, she lingered on the second kiss and then collapsed, she smiled.

"I feel better."

I picked her up in a bridal carry.

"Hey!"

"You don't belong to them anymore, you're with me now."

Amy giggled as I carried her out the door, the older nurse who let people in and out smiled and rolled her eyes. I got outside and saw Carol.

"Zoe."

Amy cringed.

"Yeah?"

"Are you carrying Amy away?"

"To the farm, a little horse riding will do her some good."

"I hope you don't mind if Victoria comes along."

Ah, my little chaperone.

"No, not at all."

Amy turned beet red.

"Are you going to let her down?"

"I stole her from the hospital fair and square."

Carol looked at me and smirked.

"Fair enough."

Vicky sighed as she looked at her phone and joined us on our trip outside the city. I held Amy tight, held her protectively. When we got to the farm Vicky got out and stretched and bent over, I watched as Amy's eyes lingered over her sister's behind… and closed my eyes. The drive to reproduce was in pretty much everyone, rewarding Amy for certain fantasies would keep her out of trouble and be seen as rather natural. I opened them.

"Well, lets go."

"Um, yeah."

She ran to her horse and smiled.

"Come on, Glitter! We're going out."

The horse looked at me with bored eyes and calmly let Amy get on him and ride him around the farm as Vicky watched her.

"So, you and my sister?"

I looked at Vicky.

"Yeah, this has been a thing for a while."

"If you hurt her, there will be consequences."

Vicky cracked her knuckles.

"Are we really doing this?"

"Yeah? It seems like a traditional thing, you know. Look after your little sister and stuff."

I shrugged.

"Fair enough."

I looked at Amy's smiling face, knew what could happen, and gripped the rail. Vicky went into the air to fly and I watched Amy.

"She might be your sister but she's my woman."

And I could be very possessive about things I considered to be mine.



Amy Dallon


Amy Dallon

So many things in butts… Still vibrating vibrators, two-liter soda bottles, ping pong balls wrapped in duct tape, homemade styrofoam dildos, vitamin bottles, and in one case an apple. Today in the hospital we have a man's wife and mistress having their babies at the same time, they're in rooms right next to each other and he goes from room to room with a proud smile on his face the entire day. Everyone knows about the situation but we're legally not allowed to talk about it. So instantly I thought: how would I feel if Zoe did that to me?

Then I found out the idea turned me on which… yeah, that's another one to put on the pile. Stupid puberty, stupid hormones, stupid naughty dreams where my sister fucks me with a strap on from behind while Zoe pounds my front hole and they call me a slutty whore and I beg Zoe to knock me up. I pass a blond nurse and my eyes linger on her ass and I look away.

I hate this confusion, It would be so much simpler if I just liked boys. I would go out, marry Zoe, pump out a bunch of babies, and everyone's happy. It would be simpler if I was a lesbian. Break up with Zoe, agree to be friends, then I find a sexy blond girl and make out with her, adopt a bunch of babies, and everyone's happy. Instead my stupid feelings can't make up their fucking mind.

I look up and get screamed at by some woman who wants a nicer ass, I wish Zoe was here because it's easier when he screens the assholes for me. So I walk out and go help someone with actual problems, this time a kid with cancer, and I get to feel guilty because I can't do this all day without feeling like I'm going to break.

"Hey."

his voice is getting deeper, sexier, and I feel him before I see him. I accept the hug from behind and have that feeling that everything is going to be ok. Zoe is here, and it's getting harder and harder to tell people 'he is not a boyfriend, he's just a friend who is a boy'. I don't think Vicky or mom ever believed that. I turn around and kiss him and just enjoy feeling good for a change. I needed this, it wasn't about the rush of power or the growth anymore. I just needed to feel good after school and the hospital and everyone's stupid expectations.

The kiss ends too soon.

"Doing better?"

I kiss him again and he holds me up, holds me together.

"Yeah, I am. Now."

"Going to take you home now."

My heart beats as I take his hand and go into the car. The ride is quiet and he puts an arm around me, when I get home Vicky looks at me.

"We need to go bra shopping again."

I blink.

"Again?"

"You got bigger."

"Ugh… later."

"You said that last time."

We go inside and I see Eric, who waves at me.

"WHO BROUGHT THIS FILTH INTO MY HOUSE?!"

I flinch, look at mom, and grimace as I see a girly mag in her hands, hot blonds.

"It's mine."

She screams at Eric and he takes it in stride. When she's finished she throws my mag in the trash and leaves the room, Vicky goes to start on her homework and it's just me and him.

"Thanks for covering for me."

Eric shrugs.

"We're family."

He looks at me.

"I thought you were into um guys though."

"I am. it's just… um confusing…"

He nods his head.

"Hey, whatever you decide you're family. We're here for you."

"Thanks."

I go to my bedroom and stare at the ceiling, I feel feverish and my boobs are getting bigger and I feel awkward and lonely and in love and a million other things. I close my eyes and go to sleep, only to be tormented with more erotic dreams. When I wake up I find myself sweaty and frustrated again.

"Eh."

"Don't forget, we're going bra shopping today!"

Really wish life would be less embarrassing.



Zoe


Zoe

A lot of camp guards fled to South America when the North Korean regime collapsed, most of them only had the money to make the trip there and were then forced to flee into the wild interior. A man looks up at me and sees my gun pointed at his face, his hair is greying and he sighs.

"This was about the rape dogs, wasn't it?"

I pull the trigger and close my eyes, he awaits me in the void.

"Yeah, it's about the rape dogs."

He looks around.

"I thought you shot me."

"I totally did, this is a room of judgment. You have once last chance to repent."

"And then I go to hell?"

"Normally yes, but if you refuse to repent your soul will instead be devoured and you will stop existing period."

He looked at me and shrugged.

"Thanks."

I blinked.

"What?"

"I mean, let's face facts, I kind of really deserve to go to hell so this is a step up.."

"So you accept responsibility for what you did?"

"Yeah, I've had enough time to come to the conclusion that I pretty much deserve all of this so… lets go."

A pillar of light formed above his head.

"What?"

"You're now, of the 498 people who worked at that camp, the only one who took any responsibility for what you did. You're the only one who didn't make excuses."

He started floating.

"What's happening?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's paradise or maybe it's a path to redemption but I have no power over you anymore."

I opened my eyes, sighed, and set fire to the small shack. I walked back into the jungle and opened a portal home, there I found Heba waiting for me.

"You get what we needed?"

I shook my head.

"Last soul repented."

She went to the computer.

"We have 492 souls."

"And?"

"It's just barely enough for the plan to work."

I looked over her shoulder.

"We actually have 20 souls free in the third catalogue."

"I will have that set aside, I will get the purchases through now."

With that done we waited and then boxes arrived from the teleporters, my robots lifted them and I began the slow process of having them assemble the ritual components around my island territory. I looked at the last bit, the gate room, I instinctively got it and had my robots help me slowly assemble what I needed. I'd like to say the process was quick but in truth setting up the ritual, creating a gate room, and setting up the teleporters took months.

When I was finished I bought the location of a world and set up the teleporter, the portal opened and I looked at the wreckage.

In 1983 the world almost ended. In this one, the world wasn't saved by the quick thinking of one Russian official who saw an obvious glitch. In this world the Soviet Union stockpiled nukes like candy and unleashed everything they had, including all of their bioweapons, then the United States did the same. All human life was wiped out in 3 days. It's been more than 20 years since that happened, the bioweapons are gone, the fallout is reduced enough and nature has reclaimed much of the world.

I smile, this world's Fort Knox survived. My horde of butler bots follow me as we walk through the deserted area, I shift the earth and the doors open. I pass the skeletons of the dead and then arrive at the vault.

"Bingo. The gold, take all of it."

They nod and the others help me draw arrays. It's a process that takes up still more time but when the winter solstice comes I am ready. The empty world provides the needed material and I watch as my kingdom grows from my castle. I feel powerful at that moment, strong. Heba looks off into the distance.

"Beautiful."

2006 is dying and I now have my own country.

"So what next?"

"Next? Well, next we have more power to gain and a planet to save and a waifu to win."

Puberty was coming but I could afford to be patient. After all, what was a gentleman but a patient wolf?



Carol Dallon


Carol Dallon

"Mike. It's been a while."

I rarely got the chance to patrol with my brother, not since the incident.

"I think you know why, Carol."

I looked away.

"It was a moment of passion, we stopped doing that."

"Do you know who Victoria's father is?"

I clenched my hands.

"Maybe I should rephrase that: do you know who he is?"

"I made a mistake, we made a mistake."

"Did you ever 'fess up, either of you?"

I looked away.

"Accountability in everything… except your personal life."

"I told you, I fucked up! I feel horrible about it. I've spent years trying to make up for it, I have tried really hard to be a good wife and mother, I've been the one making sure that the family is taken care of, the movement's taken care of. We're trying to build something here and I really wish you could move past my bad decisions."

Mike leaned against the wall.

"I've been doing research, investigating, while you and Sarah have obsessed about your cape lives. You know? Doing all of the quiet non-romantic stuff that doesn't get your face in the papers."

"And?"

"Boston's about to have a bust, the biggest one in years. It's going to leave a power vacuum, smart money is that favors get called in. Everyone will probably get called in until things settle, but we're talking about a blood bath until that."

I cringed.

"Anything else?"

"You know Red October subs?"

"Yeah, it's a charity. My girl's boyfriend works for them."

"You know he's a cape, right?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Of course I do, he doesn't exactly hide it very well."

"What do you think his powers are?"

"Tinker, or thinker."

"Stranger."

I blinked.

"What?"

"Stranger, a powerful one."

I froze.

"You really need to explain that, right now!"

"Ok, what happens whenever someone tries to do major urban redevelopment?"

"Some thinker finds out, buys a plot of land in the middle of nowhere, and holds the entire project hostage."

My brother nodded.

"Yeah. It's one of the reasons which makes it so hard to turn a city around once it goes downhill. Thing is? Slowly, over the years, more and more property in the northern docks has been bought out."

"Wasted money."

"You would think so. The whole area has been blighted since the dockworkers fucked the town with their stupid temper tantrum. The boat graveyard still has got the best part of our port blocked off, and the few fishermen who come here because our fees are cheap are not enough to keep things running. Every time we have tried to fix it, we face the facts that a legal nightmare of claims fucks everything up."

"And?"

"And the last part of the mostly abandoned northern docks, the only part that's semi-functional, that ferry? That was just bought by Pisces incorporated."

"So?

"So it's a shell company. Every company that bought up land? They're shell companies for Great Old Ones incorporated. Slowly, bit by bit, they've bought out the entire docks. Slowly, bit by bit, they have been untangling the legal nightmare of the Boat Graveyard. They now own everything."

I was completely still, focusing on him.

"And? Where does this bring in Zoe?"

"Anything involving him? It gets fuzzy to thinkers. I know because I called in a favor from a buddy. It doesn't seem to be something he can control. When he got his job in Red October, the whole thing got hard to figure out. He's basically blocked people from seeing the entire operation."

"Oh!"

"He's also covering us, by the way. Ever since Amy got with him it's been harder for people to predict us, or get information about us."

I blinked, taking it in.

"That's a good thing, though? For us, I mean."

He pulled out an envelope.

"The name of the CEO for GOO incorporated? It's Heba Lovechild."

He opened it and pulled out a photo, my eyes opened wide.

"Case 53."

"Yeah."

"This could be really bad, Mike."

"Carol?"

"Yes?"

"Don't!"

"What are you talking about?"

"We don't know if this is a criminal front or if she's just a rogue who's pulling off an insane real estate plan. The money is rushing in, the contracts are in! The Graveyard is going to get fixed. If this is legit and we fuck it up? We fuck up the single best chance this city has."

I thought about it.

"And if it's a criminal venture then stopping it before the graveyard is fixed… Yes… Anything else freaking you out?"

"How it's getting paid for. Lots of capital G gold is flowing out to a lot of construction companies, which is why I want to keep a watch on things."

"You think the kid is involved."

I felt a little afraid.

"Like I said the effect looks passive, it also might be what Amy's draining to increase her power."

He looked at me.

"It might be best to separate the two of them."

"No."

"Look, this is shady."

"The thinker protection, it's covering us right?"

"At least partially."

"It's not a good idea to give that kind of edge away."

I heard the sound of crows and sighed.

"Damned birds."

"God damned everywhere these days."

I shrugged.

"Yeah. I know what you mean, Mike, they're all over my neighborhood."

"Yours too? Fleur's freaked out about them."

I looked at him.

"So are we good now?"

"Are you going to tell them the truth?"

I looked away.

"Then you know the answer, Carol."



Zoe


Zoe

I looked at the skinhead.

"Ugh."

I had a cup of tea in front of me and calmly sipped it.

"Where am I?"

He winced.

"So."

I sipped my tea.

"You decided to attack a woman who is three months pregnant."

He looked at me, screamed, and his fists lit up with electricity. He punched the wall and I sipped my tea.

"You really shouldn't have done that."

"FUCK YOU! Where am I?"

I sipped my tea again.

"To your credit, the two of them live just outside of city limits so their house is out of the way. It's isolated, her husband is off dealing with Boston related bullshit, you tried to break into their house in two in the morning."

I looked at him as he attacked again.

"With the element of surprise, and her condition, that would have been an easy win."

I sipped my tea as he struggled against the walls of his cell.

"I needed the rep, the Empire-"

"The empire will take any cape with close to the right skin color in a heartbeat. You're dumb ass broke the unwritten rules, your dumb ass went after a pregnant woman asleep in her bed. Kaiser would have murdered your dumb ass because your actions would have brought the entire community on his fucking head."

That caused him to flinch. I took another sip of my tea.

"So what is it to you? How the fuck is this your business?"

I looked at him?

"Do you like the music?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The band, I mean."

"… It's ok, I guess?"

"Guess what other song they did?"

"What the fuck you talking about?"

"I kind of have you have you at my mercy."

"I don't know some country song."

I leaned back.

"This is a little band called the looking glass, they're best known for a song about a girl named brandy who was in love with a sailor. It's called brandy. Their next most popular song, and it's an obscure one, is Jimmy loves Maryann. Like a lot of one-hit wonders, they're a really underrated band. This song is called dealing with the devil, what do you think about it?"

"You don't have any right to do this fucker and your music sucks."

I sipped my tea.

"I know what's in your mind. I know everything. That's what makes me so sick and old and tired."

He looked at me.

"You're that kid who works for that commy sub company! Well guess what, you little shit! Your New Wave friends can't help you."

I lifted a finger.

"You got that completely wrong. You see, I'm not under New Wave's protection. They're under mine and you fucked up."

I put down my cup.

"Pick an apocalypse, any apocalypse. A sea of black oil and dead things. No wind. No light. Nothing stirring, not even an ant or a spider. A silent universe. Such is the end of the flicker of time, the brief hot fuse of events and ideas set off, accidentally, and snuffed out, accidentally, by man. Not a real ending of course, nor even a beginning. Mere ripple in Time's stream."

He stared at me.

"What?"

I pulled out a remote.

"I'm not going to kill you, not directly… You see there are a million universes and in one of them the United States and Russia had a nuclear war then unleashed every bioweapon and chemical weapon they had on the survivors. Every single human being died."

His eyes were widening as I spoke.

"You're going to spend the rest of your life there, alone. Because you fucked with people under my protection."

"You can't do this."

"There's a musical device next to you. It's pretty much Ragnarok-proof, it has over a thousand songs on it, and it has enough power to last 30 years. It will be your only entertainment."

"Please don't do this, man! I learned my lesson."

The portal grew on the ceiling.

"You can't do this! You're a hero!"

He screamed and grabbed the floor, trying not to be sucked into the portal along with the other objects in the cell. He failed, and screamed as he was sucked up. The music changed.

"I used to live in New York city

Everything there was dark and dirty

Outside my window was a steeple

With a clock that always said twelve-thirty."

I looked at the cell.

"I am not a hero."

I walked off with my now empty tea cup. I shut off the lights behind me as the music played on.



Annette Hebert


Annette Hebert

"And they took my license for six months. Six months! It's an outrage, a complete abuse of power."

My husband and daughter looked at each other.

"Were you on the phone, mom?"

"I just needed to check a text, Taylor, just real quick."

The two of them stared at me.

"Well? Aren't you going to back me up on this?"

"Mom, you backed into a cop car."

"I made a slight error. No one was hurt and It was just minor damage… I mean, I could understand a month but six months?"

"You smashed his headlight pretty good, mom."

I glared at my daughter, who looked at her cereal.

"Annette… you have to admit this is has been kind of a problem for a while."

"Well, I still need to get to work so I'm just going to have to be really careful and not get caught."

My husband looked at me.

"Taylor! Take your mothers key's from her purse."

She went over and then tossed them to my husband.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to put these into a safety deposit box."

"You can't do that."

"I'm not letting you go to prison because of this! If you need to go somewhere you can get a ride."

He got up and nodded his head, my daughter dutifully followed him.

"Traitors."

They left and I clenched my hands, I needed a ride. I looked over at the house across the street.

"Damn it."

Both of them worked at the university, and I did not want to ride with the husband and deal with any snide 'I told you so' remarks. I got outside the house and walked over to their house, passing their dented trashcans, and mailbox held together by duct tape…

Both of those might have been my fault, slightly… I rang the doorbell and the door opened, a woman with blond hair and a hippy outfit out of the 60s walked out. I doubt she even lived through the sixties. How did she even get that outfit? Did she buy it in a thrift store?

"Oh."

She frowned.

"I need a favor."

She started closing the door and I put my foot in the way.

"Ok! I understand that you're a little upset."

"How many times have you run into our trash cans?"

"An error in judgment."

"You trashed our mailbox!"

"There was a very important text, and Danny helped fix it."

She looked at the mailbox, which was kind of leaning.

"Look they kind of took away my license for a really stupid reason."

She stared at me.

"What did you do?"

"I may have backed into a cop car."

She started closing the door.

"Oh come on! You hippies hate cops! Come on, it's all about fighting the power! Fuck the pigs."

She stopped closing the door.

"I just need a ride to work."

She sighed.

"How long?"

"Just until I get my license back."

"How long."

"Six months."

She grimaced.

"I promise you when I get my car back I will pay you back, give you a ride some time."

"I don't want to be in your car, you drive like a maniac!"

"Hey! No one has ever gotten hurt with me behind the wheel."

"A very slow maniac."

I looked at her.

"Please?"

"Damn it."

She sighed.

"Be awake and ready by 8 am, every morning."

"Thanks."

She stared at me.

"Don't make me regret this."

I pulled my foot away and she closed the door and I walked back home.



Annette Hebert


Annette

I looked at her car and winced. Was it really that bad of a walk?

"Well? Get in."

It was quite possibly one of the ugliest cars I have ever seen. I, reluctantly, got inside and flinched as strange sounds came out of the radio. I looked at her and reached for the dial. Betty lightly slapped my hand away.

"What?"

"My car, my music."

I stared at her.

"And this is music?"

"It's called 'Songs of the humpback whale'."

We drove forward and I stared at her.

"You listen to whale music?"

"Yes, it helps improve the vibes ya know."

I felt like I was in a special kind of hell, I looked at my cell phone.

"You're supposed to use technology, not have technology use you."

"Not you too."

She was smirking, she was actually smirking.

"If everyone around you says you have a problem then maybe you have a problem."

"You can't get addicted to a phone."

"You can get addicted to gambling, you can get addicted to sex, people get addicted to a lot of things. It's all about balance."

I stared at her.

"So you're a hippy."

"I'm inspired by the movement, yes."

"And you married a math professor, why?"

She looked straight ahead.

"You know that line about free love?"

I nodded my head.

"It doesn't work in real life. I grew up on a commune, good people, but the free love stuff like I said doesn't work in real life. There were good aspects to the life but it wasn't stable. My husband is one of the most stable and dependable people I know, I… He kind of balances out my chaos."

"So you love him because he's a fuddy-duddy."

Betty smiled.

"He's a good man, I love both of my boys deeply."

I heard the sound of construction in the distance.

"You know I visited a commune, once."

Betty stopped the car and looked at me.

"Oh god, I know who you are."

I flinched.

"What?"

"Stormshadow?"

I cringed.

"I um."

"You used to buy grass from the commune! Your whole female domination thing was a bad scene, girl, a really bad scene."

"I got out before it got bad."

"Girl, it was always bad, you just got out before people figured it out."

We continued driving.

"So how did you end up with Danny of all people?"

I closed my eyes.

"He was um someone who helped me get out of a very bad headspace."

"He's that good in the sack?"

I turned my head and glared at her, she was smiling.

"What? The man managed to get a Lustrum girl to fall for him, that's like a black man getting a singer from the Klu Klux backup choir to marry him."

I sighed and deflated.

"Yeah, you're right."

"About what?"

"Danny is that good in bed, you happy?"

She shrugged.

"Why are you so obsessed with your phone?"

"I'm trying to keep in touch with my students."

"Your students are adults, and you have to have boundaries between your work life and your private life."

"They're kids and if someone isn't there they might go down a bad path like… well, I did."

She nodded her head.

"So this is about redemption."

"A lot of my former friends are either in jail or six feet under, you know? We were all young and naive and if someone had been there for us… maybe it wouldn't have happened."

"There has to be balance, in all things."

I sighed and my hand got closer to the radio dial, she slapped it again.

"The music stays."



Zoe


Zoe

"I see you're blowing a lot of money on this redevelopment thing, Heba."

She looked at me.

"It's going to turn things around."

"You know the deal: you get to spend a maximum of 10% of what we get on your hobbies. I'm including this in the category of hobby, and one that has me a little worried."

"Why? This city is horrible, a little redevelopment and love will turn things around."

"We're at least trying to keep a low profile, Heba. This isn't keeping a low profile."

"You're hardly low profile right now. Red October was essentially surrounded by an urban wasteland, pretty much everything was boarded up or abandoned. People are going to pay more attention to the one thing that is actually active rather than to one business in a sea of businesses."

I thought about it.

"Fine, I am going to trust your judgment. Speaking of that, the New York gold depository?"

"The robots are still clearing away debris."

I nodded my head.

"I figured that would take a while. My attempts to buy Behemoth parts online have also failed, too many fakes."

She looked at me.

"Speaking of that, we have an attack."

"Where and who?"

"South America, it's Behemoth as it happens."

I thought about it.

"Well… this going to suck."

"I will get the coordinates."

I put on armor, brought out a flying hoverboard loaded with gravity dust, and grimaced as a portal opened. The first thing I noticed was the heat, then I noticed the fires and the screaming.

"Yeah… This gonna suck."

I noticed other capes in the air.

"Who are you?"

"I'm here to help."

"Go look for bodies, we have injured."

I was handed a com and got to work. Rescuing people gave me experience, somehow, and since I could move earth and summon water to put out fires I was able to help a lot of people. A bot with my appearance was hard at work, in case something happened back home, so I knew I could focus on this at least for a little while. I looked up and noticed the creature was gone. I couldn't leave though, I had to maintain cover or people would bitch if I showed up again. As the day died though, when I got back to the location of the worst of the fighting, I noticed something.

I smiled as I saw something embedded in the wall of a skyscraper, a tiny fraction of Behemoth's claws. I collected it and pocketed it instantly, then continued to work. I did rescue until nightfall, then I was allowed to leave. Flush with victory I went home, I contacted the Company and used my gold to buy more reagents and got to work. It seemed to take months, it no doubt did take months, but when I was finished I had it. The thing that could save an entire world.

I felt something click and I smiled.

"What happened?"

"Level 14, Heba, level 14."



Zoe


Zoe

Heba looked at me.

"So I have to be restrained?"

I finished the light knot.

"Yeah. According to the information packet, you do."

"And the point of this?"

"Is to allow instant communication and control between myself and you."

She shrugged.

"I would have thought you would have targeted Miss Dallon for thrallhood."

"She's not my command and control, you are. Being in touch with you is a little more important, Heba."

"I guess I should feel honored."

I placed my hand on her forehead and she shuddered as my power flowed into her.

"So?"

"The charm effect makes me see you in a more friendly light but it's not as intense as the feelings of love and effection I gained when I signed the contract."

I shrugged.

"So basically this doesn't increase the level of mindfuck."

"Not really."

"If you're um attached to me… then why do you have so little well trouble with the idea of me being with other women?"

I started untying Heba and frowned, a knot was being stubborn.

"What do you think is the standard operating procedure with pregnant talent?"

"Have them give birth on tape?"

"A specialty market, and yes that does happen, but standard operating procedure is that male children are aborted, because let us face facts there just isn't as much of a market for men. Now make that the standard operating procedure for centuries, what kind of culture would that create?"

I froze.

"You grew up in a polyamorous culture."

"Correct."

"Hmm… a lot of powerful men must be very happy."

"Do you honestly think men run Slutlife?"

I looked in a mirror and saw that Heba was smiling mirthfully.

"Well… yeah? I mean you guys sell waifus and pimp out women and-"

"And you honestly think women would not do that to other women? How many brothels are run by madams in your own world's history? And how many men have gleefully sold other men into slavery in your own history?"

I undid the knot.

"Are you honestly telling me that Slutlife is a matriarchy? But… Lord Zig?"

"Lord Zig runs a small portion of a small portion of acquisitions. The person in charge of Class C Acquisitions is a woman, the person in charge of class B and A are women. The only men on the board of directors, the council that runs Slutlife, are security and Science. Everything else is run by women."

I undid the ropes and Heba got up.

"You're shitting me."

"Why do you think your control contract with Amy is being so problematic? The company prefers people to be more honest about their conquests. Speaking of that: you're going to have to talk to her eventually, about all of this."

I shuddered.

"I can think of less painful ways to commit suicide."

Heba raised an eyebrow.

"Sooner or later you're going to have to commit to a course of action. Trying to live on the edges, to both interfere and stay aloof isn't working."

"I'm not falling behind or running late. I'm not standing still, I am lying in wait."

"You stole that from Hamilton."

"What about it?"

"You do realize that things didn't end well for him, do you?"

"I'm just gathering up steam. Once I get to the top, once we are ready, we can strike."

"Just don't wait forever."

"Got it."

"Also they don't have Hamilton here, master. I'm going to steal the play and use it in the new theatre I am building!"

I thought about it.

"Have fun, Heba."

She smiled.

"Oh, I am. I love this."

"Really?"

"Oh yes! Architecture, city planning, real estate, they have been my passion since I was in the orphanage. This is basically a dream come true."

She kissed me on the forehead.

"And when your body's old enough, I need to find a way to thank you."

She winked and I sighed, at 12 years old I had started puberty but I wasn't nearly developed as I would like.

"I will keep that in mind."

I watched as she sashayed out of the room and I shook my head.

"One day, I'm going to ruin that ass."

"Hoping for it."

Damn it she heard me.



Damsel of distress


Damsel of distress

Cake Man sat across from me as we ate in the dinner.

"Well… that was a disaster."

He looked at me. The Boston Games was my big chance, a chance to be a big name, and this prick Accord ends up winning it, the Teeth end up winning it, and independents like me end up run out of town. Now the only surviving member of my crew is some fat fuck regenerator. I mean, fuck! My whole crew is gone, I honestly thought I was going to be something.

"We came out of it with a pile of money, Dissy. Can't really call that a failure."

Of course, he comes up with the silver lining. A woman with frizzy hair and thick glasses walks in with some hippy chick. The frizzy hair woman has that librarian look and I think she's a lesbian until I see the wedding ring. Then I give her 50/50 odds of being one, they go to the table across from us.

"You know, not a lot of people rob restaurants."

Cake Man frowns.

"We are here to lye low Dissy not start shit."

"First of all it's Damsel of Distress, not Dissy."

"I saved your life, twice. We are now on a nickname level relationship."

I poked at the food.

"This healthy food place you picked is shit, Cake."

"You want me to lose weight, right? Considering how the games went I decided you were right, so here we are in some stupid hippy-dippy place and eating the right food. You won the debate, you are not allowed to bitch when you get your way."

I poked the salad and grimaced as I took another bite.

"Kale tastes like shit, I mean how do you fuck up a salad?"

Cake Man looks at me.

"You do have to admire their work ethic, don't you?"

I bite my lip and refuse to laugh at his joke, the woman with glasses gets on her phone and I frown.

"Dissy."

"Ok, now we have to rob the place."

"No, Dissy."

"You can't just go into a restaurant and then open up your cell phone and talk loud enough that everyone can hear you! That's rude, Cake. That's incredibly rude."

"Dissy, we are literal supervillains. Small-time loser ones, sure, but supervillains so I don't think we are allowed to judge other people for occasional lapses in judgment."

I looked around.

"You know what I hate? Robbing convenience stores."

Cake Man nodded his head.

"Yeah, especially the little family-owned ones! It's either been in the family for generations or they're recent immigrants and, in both cases, they're willing to fight to the god damned death for their store."

"And every time you try? Out comes the fucking shotguns or revolvers."

"I once had an AK pointed at my face."

I stared at him.

"You're shitting me."

"It was owned by some Chinese family, apparently they had connections back home, full automatic AK 47 pointed right at my face."

"What did you do?"

"Dissy, I lowered my gun then said I apologized and got the fuck out of there."

"You could have taken that hit, Cake."

"Not worth it."

He stabbed his food and I grimaced as I sipped my smoothy.

"How the fuck do you mess up a smoothy?"

"What are you complaining about? I'm paying for it, Dissy."

I couldn't help but listen to the woman talk about how she was celebrating getting her license back after getting caught texting and driving, and how she would be on the road again.

"You know that if I steal that cell phone I'm doing literally everyone a favor, you know that right?"

"No, Dissy. No."

"And there is a thing called diffusion of responsibility you really clamp down on the hero factor when you rob a restaurant."

"Our goal is to lay low, robbing a place is not laying low. It is in fact the exact opposite of laying low."

The woman then stopped the waitress and complained about the food. Cake looked at that, at the nervous waitress as she got chewed out.

"Ok, never mind."

"What?"

"You're never rude to the staff, even if the food is terrible."

We nodded at each other and went into the bathroom. We changed into costumes and pulled out our guns, he nodded at me and I fired my pistol into the ceiling.

"This is a robbery! Everyone down, now!"

Cake looked at me.

"We are not here to rob the restaurant, you are clearly struggling, or the people who work here."

Fucking softy.

"We are only here to rob you, the customers. You will hand over your wallet and we will take your cash. Then we'll give you back your wallets, this means that you don't have to worry about us selling your ID or going through the hassle of dealing with identity theft. We are very desperate people, we don't want to hurt you but we will if you give us trouble."

God damn it this is why I hate working with Cake, fucking asshole and his bleeding heart. I felt a need to monologue and he glared at me. Right, put on the game face. He pulled out a bag and we went table to table. I save phone bitch for last.

"Your money or your life."

Cake rolls his eyes, the hippy chick hands over her wallet and we dutifully remove the cash and hand it back.

"Do you realize how you're making me feel?"

I stared at phone bitch.

"Excuse me?"

"Do you have any idea how your actions are making me feel?"

I hold out a hand and trash a chair with my gravity powers.

"I am Damsel of Distress. I am a supervillain, I do not give two shits about your feelings!"

I point the gun in her face, got to give it to phone bitch she doesn't show an ounce of fear.

"You are not in control here, I am. Do you understand that? Is that clear?"

"Annette, it's just some cash. It's not a big deal."

I look at phone bitch.

"Listen to your little hippy friend, hand over your wallet. Now."

She looks at the gun and I feel a sense of power as she hands over her wallet. Cake opens it and takes the money and hands it back.

"Thank you for your cooperation."

Cake and his white knight bullshit.

"Your phone."

"What?"

"Your phone, I am taking your phone."

"But it's just the wallet."

"You decided to open your fat mouth so now you lose your phone."

I pointed the gun at her face.

"THE FUCKING PHONE!"

Her face went red with pure fury as I took her phone, then I threw it to the floor, lifted my foot and smashed it. The crazy bitch then lunged at me. My gun went off and her face opened up in surprise. I pushed her off of me her, blood on my outfit. I was beyond pissed and as she looked at herself I got up and aimed my gun at her head.

"NO ONE DEFIES DAMSEL OF DISTRESS, NO ONE!"

I fired again and again into her head until there wasn't much left of it. I huffed and puffed and Cake looked at me.

"We need to get the fuck out of here now."

I nodded my head and we went into the car and peeled off as quickly as we could.



Zoe Barnes


Zoe Barnes - house wife

Losing your best friend hurts, and Annette was my best friend. I looked at the urn and the photo of her in black and white. We couldn't do a casket style, funeral there was too much damage. This was the best we could do.

"All this over a cell phone."

I could hear the anger, sadness, and despair in Danny's voice, the love of his life was dead over a cell phone. Personally, I could believe it: Annette was always a fighter, and as much as I loved her she was one of those people who always had to be in control. She was a great mother, a great teacher, a good friend, but she was always so rigid… and that cost her her life.

Taylor's hands were clenched and sadness warred with rage on her face. I remember doing my best to talk to everyone, hold everything together, but eventually I felt overwhelmed by it all and left to go outside. I found a boy there, his face looked guilty and his eyes unfocused.

"Um, I don't recognize you. Are you a member of the family?"

"I'm Betty's kid."

"Oh…"

I tried to remember his name.

"Zodiac."

"Oh right, you work for the sub place?"

"Head engineer, it's more of a paper title but I get a good paycheck."

He closed his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"Act or do not act? Interfere or not, maybe if I was more involved this wouldn't have happened, maybe if I was less involved it wouldn't have happened."

"This isn't your fault."

He looked away.

"Maybe you're right. This is why I try to stay aloof, when I become personally involved with things my judgment becomes worse. I shouldn't become attached, it just makes things worse."

I frowned.

"So your solution to bad things happening is to just cut people out of your life?"

"Yeah, because what if I just make things worse? I mean If I wasn't here she wouldn't have met my parents, she wouldn't have been at the restaurant… Annette might be alive. Or maybe she would have been killed by something else or-"

"No one chooses to exist."

He slumped.

"I can't really call myself Taylor's friend, I just live across the street."

"You can change that, you know?"

He closed his eyes.

"I think that's a bad idea, or maybe it's a good idea."

"You should make a decision and stick to it."

He got up.

"Maybe you're right. I've spent a lot of my time spinning my wheels. I'm in a rut, and it's a comfortable one, but I can't remain in it forever."

He looked at me.

"Thank you."

He went inside and gave his condolences, I went over to Danny.

"It was that damned phone."

"Danny."

He was sobbing.

"I knew that damned phone would be the end of her, and I kept not bringing it up because it would start a fight. That stupid phone."

He cried and I hugged him, Taylor's lower lip quivered.

"It wasn't the phone."

"Taylor."

"It was that horrible woman."

She looked up at me and I saw anger in Taylor's eyes.

"She stole my mom from me, killed her."

She seethed.

"And she got away with it."

"That's not quite true."

"Then where is she?"

I bit my lip.

"She escaped."

"So she just gets away with it."

I took her hand.

"We need to talk, Taylor."

"Fine."

She sniffed and I took her outside, the air was chilly and I looked at Taylor.

"Taylor."

"We can't let her get away with it."

"There is nothing we can do."

"Then the heroes or the police?"

"Might catch her, might not."

I had to give her the truth.

"Taylor, you need to understand that the world has changed and that it isn't fair."

"My mother is dead, I think I know that the world isn't fair."

I let it go, she didn't need me getting upset at her.

"Taylor, we are not strong people."

"What does that have to do with this?"

"Capes have powers and things are different for them, the rules are different for them. They have power and we do not."

She stared at me.

"What?"

"The best people like you and me can do is have a cape's protection, second best is just staying out of their way. When a person like you or me goes up against a cape… well, they end up like your mother. I'm telling this for your own good. This city has a lot of capes, a lot of people with powers, and if you mouth off to them… well, some of them are dangerous people."

"So they can just kill us whenever they want to?"

"That isn't fair but yes. There are good capes and there are bad ones, and the bad ones… you need to avoid them, or be careful around them."

She looked angry.

"She's not getting away with this, is she?"

I was silent.

"Damsel of Distress murdered my mother! She's not getting away with this, is she?"

"I don't know."

Taylor clenched her hands and walked away, her face filled with anger.



Zoe


Zoe

It's time to make a decision.

This is Amy Dallon, 14 years old to my 13, and technically my girlfriend.

"Really? You want me to sign a document that says I'm going to keep your secret?"

It's time to make a commitment.

"Yeah."

Annette is dead, this world is doomed, and I know of the only method to save it and I can not do it on my own. This is the scariest thing I can do, trust someone.

"Fine."

She signs her name, the contract will hold and keep her from exposing me… because if she does that I am fucked, torches and pitchforks fucked. I pick up the contract and feel the power run through it.

"Ok… ok… So, big secret… I'm a cape."

Amy stared at me.

"What?"

"Um yeah… How do I put it… that's not much of a surprise."

I blink.

"… what?"

"You graduated college how early? Have a degree in engineering and an important job that pays six figures and you're 13 years old. Yeah, I kind of figured it out years ago. Pretty much anyone who knows about you knows you're a rogue, it's kind of an open secret."

"Oh."

She looked at me.

"Let me guess. Tinker, right?"

"It's more complicated than that."

Amy sighed.

"Fine, what are you? Um, thinker? Trump?"

I get up and slam the wall, a portal opens and Amy blinks.

"Huh, mover? Did not see that one coming."

"Follow me."

She moves through the door and stares in wonder at the city and the robots.

"Oh… This is big."

She looks at me.

"Another world?"

"Um kind of my personal kingdom."

Amy blinks.

"Ok cool, cool, you have your own kingdom. We're not on Earth Bet anymore, are we?"

"Extradimensional pocket."

"Ok, good! Because if you had conquered some city on Earth that would be bad."

She walked with me into the castle and Heba nodded.

"Robot?"

"Secretary. I will be leaving, this is a private conversation."

She left the room and Amy looked at me.

"Ok, so this is… a lot to keep from me. Speaking of that: why did you keep it from me?"

"Look at the city, at the world, and think about how many people would go after me if they knew about this place. Please understand that I don't have the power to stop them, and if you talked about it… well, I could end up dead or something else."

"Ok… Understood, so now you trust me?"

"Yeah."

She sighed.

"Ok. Anything else?"

"My cape name is Z38."

Amy frowned and looked at me.

"The potion maker? That Z38?"

"Yeah."

"The healing potion maker Z38."

"Yes."

She looked furious.

"Mind giving me your hand?"

I gave her my open hand.

"Repeat that."

"I am Z38."

The fury on Amy's face went cold.

"So….you had the power to make healing potions."

"Yes."

"The entire time you knew me."

"Yes."

"And you never thought, once, just once, to send potions to the hospital I worked at, despite knowing how much work I have there."

"It would mean risking my cover."

"Oh, wow! Like that makes any of this any better? Oh hi, Amy. I didn't lift a finger to help you for years despite having the power to do so because I might blow my cover. Yeah, that's just great!"

She pulled away her hand and took deep breaths.

"Anything else you have to say?"

"Honestly everything I'm about to tell you is just going to piss you off even further."

Amy looked away.

"Well, time to rip off the band-aid… How bad is it?"

"Your sister's aura has a mind control element, it's basically a love me aura and she's been mastering you for years now."

"Hand."

I held it out.

"Repeat that."

"Your sister's aura is mind-controlling you to be horny for her and has been doing that for years."

"Oh god, you're telling the truth… This explains so much, Vicky-"

"Can't control it."

"Yeah, cause that makes me feel so much fucking better! My sister has been mind washing me into a fucking incest queen but 'Hey! Not on purpose and sorry I did not tell you years ago!'."

She looked at me.

"So? Are my feelings for you legit or are you mastering me too?"

"It's complicated."

"I'm already furious. I don't think I can get madder than I already am."

"Your passenger, the source of your powers, had a kiss-kill reaction to me and it went kiss. So the source of your powers is essentially taking you, mashing us together, and saying 'now kiss'. I had no role in that part of it."

She nodded her head.

"But you knew about it."

"For a while, I didn't mean for it to happen but it did."

"Shit… There's more, isn't there?"

"I've been trying to help deal with Vicky's mind-altering with mind-altering of my own. The best I could do was either make you bisexual or just further bring out that side of you, I don't know which it is."

Amy was shaking with rage.

"And when did this start?"

"Remember the pony contract? Then."

"Oh… Oh."

She was seething.

"The other choice was for you to be Vicky sexual and that's."

"Worse, much worse. God, how many times have I thought 'wow, Vicky has a great ass' or 'I want to lick her' or… god, this is so horrible. This is something you talk about! I mean, fuck."

She was angry.

"Why didn't you talk about it with me?"

"Because, at the time, I didn't know if you were responsible enough to handle it."

"And I am now?"

"Yes."

"There is yet more that is going to piss me off, isn't there?"

"A lot more. I want to have a harem."

Amy blinked.

"People want a lot of things that are just not going to happen."

"I'm pretty firm on this issue, Amy. I have been through a lot and I am determined to make that happen."

She smiled.

"Look, there is absolutely no way in hell I am letting you have a Harem! No fucking way in-"

I pulled out a photo and held it to her face, Amy froze and stared at the photo.

"Those are really nice."

"I know."

"They can't be real."

"Yours are."

"Those are less tits and more a work of art."

"I know."

She looked at me.

"That's despite the point! You lied to me, you have held out on me, and now you dump all this on me? Seriously, fuck you!"

"That's fair."

She withdrew her hand.

"So? Now what? Are you going to kill me to keep your secret of some other horrible shit?"

"No, I'm laying my cards on the table. If you want to be in a relationship with me, these are my conditions. If I bring what I have to the table then I want you to bring everything you have to the table. I want it all, mind and body and soul. Everything."

She was furious.

"And if I say no?"

"Then we go our separate ways. The contract means you can't talk about what I am or what I am capable of. Your powers are pretty good, you don't need me anymore. You can be a successful cape without me in your life."

"And how will I explain it to everyone else?"

"We had a fight and broke up. Your sister has broken up with her current boyfriends how many times?"

"Can't count."

"We haven't really done much more than kissing. I mean we've hung out and I've listened to you and a bunch of other stuff but neither of us has gone much further than that."

Amy closed her eyes.

"I want to leave."

"I understand."

"I can't look at your face right now."

"Yeah, I got it."

I opened a portal.

"Right now, I don't want to talk to you ever again."

"And I am willing to respect that decision, but if you change your mind? Well, then I'm asking for total commitment."

She flipped me off and left. I walked through the portal soon afterward as one of my drivers picked her up and she left. I watched her go. If this was the end then that was ok. I went back to doing paperwork.



Amy Dallon


Amy Dallon

It's one thing to say you don't want someone in your life, that you never want to talk to them again. It's another to actually do it. The first day was fine, the shakes started day three, then the fever started day seven. As Zoe faded from my dreams Victoria took her place and the dreams and urges got worse and more graphic. I felt ashamed and angry and violated and horrible. My mind was not my own and I knew it. It seemed like, no matter what I did, I was a slave and that felt horrible.

The shakes got worse. My parents asked me why I didn't just go to Zoe but I said he eyed another girl and I was angry at him. That's the best I could do because the contract worked: no matter what I did I couldn't spill the beans. Clever little prick! The pain started day ten and it ramped up, the urges got worse, the dreams got worse. Instead of dreaming of my sister taking me I dreamed of it happening the other way. Dreamed of raping her, violating her, making her look at only me, making her love me and only me.

On the 21st day I walked into my sister's room and watched her sleep for a time. I tapped her shoulder and used my power so she wouldn't wake up and I thought 'what if I just used her hand?'. I mean, she wouldn't know right? It would be harmless and it's not like it would hurt her, right? I looked at my sister's sleeping form and undid what I did.

"Amy?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you in my room?"

"I'm thinking about Zoe."

I felt so cold, so horrible, and everything felt cramped and I felt like hell.

"It's been nearly a month."

"Yeah and I've been thinking about him."

And I was about to rape you but let's not focus on that part.

She nodded her head.

"Yeah, I think he should have learned his lesson by now. You can talk to him."

"I said I never wanted to talk to him again."

"And how many times have I said that to Dean?"

I sighed.

"Too many."

"Look… You miss him so, you know, talk to him, ok? Just hear him out. You two have been together forever; maybe breaking it up because… I mean he acted like a regular guy, it isn't that big a deal."

This is a much bigger deal than that.

"Yeah, I will talk to him."

It's one in the morning, I look at the phone and I call a number.

"Zoe…"

"Yes."

"We need to talk."

"About us, right?"

"Yeah. About us."

"You know there is a way for me to show you what your life would be like without me, before any harsh decisions. Why don't you try that out first?"

"No tricks."

"You have the ability to tell if I am telling the truth."

"Ok…"

A portal opened, Zoe was waiting in pajamas.

"Let's go."

We walked into his castle, into a room with candles and incense and other stuff.

"And this?"

I held his hand.

"It's a spell that will let you see what your life would have been like without me."

He was telling the truth.

"Ok, magic man, lets do this."

I went to the center of the circle and sat down, I closed my eyes and when I opened them again I was watching my new life from a distance. My mom was colder to me, less loving. Vicky triggered older and so did I. I had less friends and I was more and more clingy to Vicky. I felt more stress and was less happy but I was stable, stable until a fucking bank robbery. Then I watched as my life went down the fucking drain. I watched myself crack more and more until one day I broke and mind raped my sister. And then it got worse and worse as the nine came in and then I did something completely unforgivable.

And then I went to the birdcage.

"STOP IT! STOP IT!"

My eyes opened and I looked at him in horror, my voice was hoarse and tears were running down my eyes.

"It breaks you eventually, it always does."

He knelt down and hugged me and I cried.

"This isn't true, none of this is true."

"It is."

My powers were telling me he was telling the truth, and I had a sinking feeling in my chest.

"Oh god."

"It's not over Amy."

He put me back and I learned who my biological father was, learned that my life was a lie. I learned the truth about the source of my powers and then Scion destroyed the world, and my vision ended.

"Oh god…"

I felt weak.

"Yeah."

"That's all…?"

"All true. Scion will destroy Earth Bet and many others in less than a decade, unless he is stopped. Trillions of people will die. I've been working around the edges and I think I have a plan."

I looked at him.

"And?"

"In order for that plan to work I have to kill the Simurgh which isn't easy but, in February 22nd 2011, she will attack Canberra in Australia. It will be our single best chance to destroy her. If we destroy her we can then kill Scion without anyone else being hurt. I'm going to be honest: I have ulterior motives for wanting a harem but one of them is I need that power to save a lot of lives."

I felt tired, defeated. Broken.

"You don't need to be with me, to help me with that."

"What do you want with me?"

My voice was broken.

"If you decide to sign up? I want you to be my lover, the mother of my children, a partner. You would have land of your own, power of your own."

I took his offered hand.

"What does that mean?"

"Come talk to Heba, she's better at explaining things."

I felt so tired, feverish and sick. I hunched over, remembering what I did to Vicky, and threw up. Zoe held me until I dry heaved, then he gave me water. I felt horrible.

"Come on."

I walked with him into another room. The elf girl explained things, what I would get, my resources. I could barely focus.

"Kiss me."

He nodded his head and he kissed me on the neck, I felt pleasure and power and felt my body almost instantly recover. I felt my will recover and I read through the paperwork. I understood that I was going to be signing away everything. If I did this I would belong to him completely. I looked at him defiantly.

"I should be in charge of this. I mean if I am going to be in this, I should be in charge."

"Between your medical work and New Wave stuff and everything else, do you honestly think you have the time?"

"You want that girl to be in charge."

'"What I'm doing is a business, she has those skills."

"Fine but I want input and veto power over major decisions. Someone has to hold you in check and keep you from going off the rails."

"I can argue that you need the same."

I looked at him.

"Ok, you have a point. Second, I want my own pool."

"What?"

"If I am selling my body and soul to you then I want my own pool, ok?"

"Fair."

"Also it's our harem, not your harem."

He blinked.

"What?"

"If you're going to turn me bisexual-"

"You might have already been that way."

"If you're going to make me horny then you're not allowed to complain when I enjoy myself ok? It's our Harem, deal with it."

He smiled.

"That's fair."

"So now what?"

"We do this right."



Zoe


Zoe

Amy's face looked tired, devastated, and defeated.

'"So there are 7 castles."

"Great."

"White, Red, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Green, Purple."

"I remember something about a Red Queen, in the vision."

She looked sick as we walked to the deck where my hoverboard was.

"You want that castle?"

"No, definitely not! Lets not tempt fate, like at all… Green? I mean that's a color associated with life so that would be ok, I guess."

I nodded my head and pulled out my sword and slashed a portal, Amy followed me and then blinked as we stood in front of a city. She looked at me.

"Did you rip off the wizard of Oz?"

"Yes."

She laughed weakly.

"Of course you did."

The doors of the walls were opened and we walked though the mostly abandoned city.

"Your title will be the Green Queen."

She shrugged.

"Well, at least I get to be royalty. if you're going to be in a cage it might as well be gilded, right?"

We walked inside and made it to the throne room, Amy looked at me.

"So?"

"There is a stone pillar here, mark it with your blood."

I handed her a pin, she looked at the stone pillar where the throne was and pressed a bleeding thumb to it.

"Now what?"

"Now I need you to take off your clothing."

Amy nodded her head and took off her shirt and then carefully folded it on the throne, then she took off her pajama bottoms and did the same, then her panties, finally she took off her bra revealing full lucious breasts.

"I have you to thank for these, don't I?"

"I have some control over your body."

She smiled weakly.

"You do good work, I saw how I looked in that other world."

There was an awkward silence, she shivered as an altar rose from the ground.

"Well… get on it."

"Right, right."

She shivered as she laid down on her back, I walked up to her.

"So now what?"

"I ask you to give me your body, mind, and soul. Then I brand you."

"Oh."

She looked up.

"It will hurt, wont it?"

"Yeah, it will. You get to choose where I put it."

"Well, I've watched enough porn to know you put it… right above the pussy."

It was a traditional location, she looked at me.

"A question before you do this, and give me your hand so I know you're telling the truth."

I gave her my hand.

"Did… did you ever love me? I mean at all."

I looked into Amy's pleading brown eyes.

"I know exactly what you can do at your worst, I knew what a horrible risk it was to even get close to you. I tried very very hard not to love you, not to care about you."

"And?"

"I failed."

Amy sniffled.

"Then I guess I'm ok with this."

I gently ran my fingers through her hair.

"Do you give me your body?"

"I do."

"Do you give me your mind?"

"I do."

"Do you give me your immortal soul?"

"I do."

I took my blade and its tip burned red hot, then I placed it right above her wet womanhood. I heard her skin sizzle and burn and then it stopped in an instant. Amy looked at me and I felt power, raw power, as I looked into her eyes. Everything fell away and I knew I owned her, possessed her on a level I had never possessed anything. Amy got up.

"So Amy?"

"I feel powerful?"

"I know."

I gave her my hand and we walked over to the throne. The altar lowered into the ground and Amy looked at me.

"I'm going to bed… This has all been exhausting."

"Slam your hand against the wall."

She did so and saw her room.

"The power of this castle is yours now."

Amy smiled weakly at me.

"We're in this together now, aren't we?"

"Yeah. We are."

"I'm going to try to keep you reined in, redeem you I guess."

I gave her a hug and I heard a farting noise, Amy slumped and laughed.

"Had to happen right there."

I laughed too.

"Yeah, guess biology doesn't care about dramatic timing."

I gave Amy another kiss, she eagerly returned the effort.

"We are in this together."

With that done she left, and the portal closed.

"Waifu get."

The moment felt more bittersweet than I expected it to.



Zoe


Zoe

I had been preparing for this for a while. I looked at Amy.

"So what did you tell your folks?"

Amy looked better than the half-dead state I saw her in after she called me.

"I told them I made up with you. Nothing else, obviously."

"Yeah, obviously."

She looked at me.

"You're leaving, aren't you?"

"The target's homeworld blows up in 7 days so it's now or never."

"I need you. I hate to say it but I do."

"I have vials of my blood filled with my um essence, they should keep you doing ok."

"So you're going?"

"Officially, it's a company retreat."

"So you're coming back?"

"I don't know. Air should be breathable but it's another world. There is every possibility that I might die, if I do well then everything I've built is yours. Heba will be at your side to help you as best she can."

Amy frowned.

"I don't remember giving you permission to die? In fact, it's not allowed! You have to live."

She leaned against the wall.

"So what's the deal?"

"She becomes my woman and I save her world."

Amy moved the hair out of her face.

"So, not that different from my own deal…"

She tapped her foot.

"I still don't have my pool, by the way."

"I've contacted people, it will be finished within the week."

"You mean the evil soul-destroying company you work for."

"Yes."

"You know I am distinctly not happy with that. Any way you can quit?"

"I technically have seven years to go on a twenty-year contract, I could go into semi-retirement but that would mean fewer resources and… well, considering the sheer scale of the bullshit ahead…"

"I really do not like this lesser evil bullshit."

"I can't really call myself the lesser evil."

Amy folded her arms.

"I know. It's clearly going to be up to a lovely maiden to turn you to the light side."

"With an ass like that, it's hard to say no."

She smirked.

"Not going to mention the girls?"

"I love them too, love the whole package."

We looked at each other.

"Don't die on me, Zoe."

We kissed and a portal opened. I stepped through and saw skyscrapers that reached into the distance and I saw a red sun in the sky.

"Save the world, get the girl. Simple."

Looking back on it… I really should not have said that.



Karen Star


Karen Star

I looked at my stepmother, she looked back at me.

Alura Zor-el. She's a pretty one, nice golden hair, I understand why father married her.

"I don't hate you."

She looks tired, and guilty.

"What?"

"I didn't want you to live in that shack, didn't want you to grow up there, and I definitely did not want you to use your father's stupid learning bed."

I shuddered.

"I wanted you to live here with us as our adopted daughter. All of this was done… well, to hurt me."

She looked at me.

"So you're here to tell me that you care about your husband's little bastard, that you're not upset that some worker bee stole your man, that-"

"I loved your mother with all of my heart."

I froze. I heard honest yearning in Alura's voice.

"Our relationship was of course forbidden. A servant and a science caste, loving each other? A woman being with another woman?"

She looked at me.

"I wanted to continue being with her, continue loving her, so I made a deal with Zor-el. I would marry him and be in a relationship with him and he could also be with Ciri."

She looked sad.

"Ciri wanted a child, wanted one so badly. I couldn't get permission to use a birthing chamber, that would have been beyond illegal, but you know… a man sleeping with his servant and getting her pregnant? That's just frowned upon, not illegal."

Alura's face was filled with pain.

"The hospital refused to help her… Despite my best efforts, the person I loved most in the world died."

"So you hate me because I killed my mother."

"NO!"

She was crying.

"You're the only thing I have left of her! How could I possibly hate you?"

My father appeared.

"She's not lying."

I stared at my father.

"What brought this up?"

"Krypton is dying. In 7 days we will all die, this is why we have decided to make amends."

I looked around.

"Where's Kara?"

"We broke some very big laws to do it but she's safe."

"And you're just going to let me die?"

"We used up all of our resources getting Kara to safety."

I felt angry and I stormed off. Everything was going to end, we were all going to die. I thought my uncle was crazy but if my father says it's true… I am so doomed. I went back to my shack and felt horror and fear and then a portal opened and a boy walked through.

"You're a hard person to find."

I stared at him.

"What?"

"Karen Star, right? You are a hard person to find."

"I don't know who you are?"

"Hmm, I'm Z38. I'm an alien and I am here to make a deal."

I blinked.

"What? Aliens are not real, they don't exist."

"Did the government tell you that?"

"Yes."

"You believe everything else they tell you."

I froze.

"Shit… They lied to me."

He smiled.

"Yep. So, as I said, a deal. I want to create a harem, and I want you to join it."

I stared at him.

"Why?"

"Because you're the only thing on this shithole that's worth saving."

I blinked and lifted a finger.

"The fact that what you said is the most romantic thing anyone has said to me… says very bad things about my life."

I looked at him.

"Like I said, I want to make a deal. I think, considering the alternatives… well, you don't have much of a choice."

I thought about it. I could leave with this alien but that would mean leaving my… wait a minute, I don't have friends. I looked around my shack.

"You would of course be given much better quarters."

"Um, ok. Like what?"

"Well as the first girl you would be in charge of the Harem and have the run of your own castle, complete with robot minions to do housework for you."

"I'm in."

He stared at me.

"What?"

"The alternative is kind of death. Even if you're lying, well it can't be worse than this."

I waved around the room.

"Oh… I thought this would be much harder."

He blinked and then offered me a knife.

"Well just cut your hand, sign the contract, and we can get out of here."

I froze.

"You had something big."

He sighed.

"I… um might have something that can save your homeworld."

I stared at him.

"What?"

"Yeah. I had to deal with some really nasty shit and steal a lot of gold but I managed to make something that will save your planet, at least in theory."

I froze. All life on Krypton?

"But we can just sign that contract and-"

"That's my price. Save my homeworld and I am yours."

He froze.

"I thought that you hated this place?"

"Oh, I do! The people here are assholes, I mean really massive assholes, but just because they're dicks it doesn't mean that they deserve to die."

He shrugged.

"Ok, I'm in."

I blinked.

"What?"

"I said that you're the only thing on this planet that's worth saving, but that's to me. I accepted that I would need a really massive bribe to get you, so this is fair."

I blinked.

"All right, that's fair. Save my homeworld and I'm yours."

"Breaking this deal will not be possible. It's a magically enforced contract and the more I bring to the table, the harder it is to break. An entire planet is a lot to bring to the table."

I nodded my hair.

"Deal."

I picked up his knife, cut my finger, and pressed it to the paper.

"Ok, alien. For lack of any other idea, I'm with you."

Part of being me is learning how to roll with the punches.



Zoe


Zoe

I might have fucked up, I admit that, but I am also pretty sure that my Karma at this point is deeply in the red.

"Ok, so you're a magic alien."

"Yes."

"Alright, alright. So we have seven days to save Krypton and-"

The earth shook and she gripped the bed of her shack, when the quake stopped she looked at me.

"The plan! What's the plan?"

"I need to get to a mineshaft, deep underground. The deeper, the better."

She blinked.

"Yeah, there's an abandoned mine not too far from here."

"Good you can pick me up and fly us there."

Karen looked at me.

"What?"

"Fly us over there with your powers."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

I blinked.

"Oh, right… Your species only has superpowers under a yellow sun… Don't worry, we will work with you when you get those."

She blinked.

"Normally I'd say your insane but you know the portal is kind of proof and I don't have many options."

She sighed.

"So I go with you and I will be able to fly."

"Yes."

She blinked.

"So power, wealth, and my homeworld gets saved, and all I have to do in return is be your girlfriend? Got to say, your negotiating skills are crap."

"You're just that valuable."

She blushed.

"Right! So there is a mine not too far from here, it's abandoned, there is just one small little problem."

"Tell me."

"It's filled with crazed monsters and killer robots."

"Why?"

"You have no idea how assholish our leadership is, do you?"

"And you want to save them?"

"I am honestly trying not to think too hard about a lot of things… to avoid just giving them the finger, getting on your hovercycle, and riding off into the sunset. But as much as the assholes who rule us suck there are some good people who don't deserve to die."

She took a deep breath.

"So, Karen, we need transportation because I need either visual or past memories to teleport into a place."

"You teleported into my house."

"Shack and you left the door open I could see inside."

"Right… Ok, we are going to steal my family's hovercar."

"You know how to drive it?"

"Yeah but if we see any police we are going to have to gun it because I don't have a license."

We went to a vehicle and Karen brought out a datapad.

"What are you doing?"

"Hacking the car, then I have to hotwire it."

Ah, the return of the why boner.

"Yes."

The door opened and she messed with the electronics inside.

"You know how to hotwire cars?"

"It's just basic engineering."

The vehicle's lights turned on and she looked at me.

"Well, let's go."

I got inside the vehicle and we flew off, I watched another earthquake happen and then I saw things lift into the air.

"Karen?"

A robotic face appeared on every television as Brainiac told the people of Krypton that he was leaving them to die, then the feed cut. Karen frowned.

"What was that?"

"The AI in charge of our entire civilization just saved himself and left us to rot. So, yeah, that means that pretty much all the things are going to burn."

"Why?"

"Because he's in charge of pretty much all the major functions of government and has been for centuries, this is the end of our civilization."

"Oh."

I looked at her.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"The government has been real bad for a long time, if we pull this off there is a chance of something better."

I heard sirens.

"Karen?"

"Hold yourself, Magic man. We have some cops to outrun."



Zoe


Zoe

She put both hands on the driver's wheel as she sped through the sky.

"Why are they chasing us? Shouldn't they go be with their families?"

Karen shook her head.

"You really are not from this planet, are you?"

"Uh, no."

"Ok, the science council and caste are a bunch of controlling pricks and the people who do our police work are controlling pricks. Actually the entire system, top to bottom, is run by various flavors of control freaks so the response to anything is pretty much always clamping down on everything. Spending your last moments with your family and loved ones? Oh hell no! This is clearly the time to make sure everyone is even more miserable, can't have anyone having moments of solace during a fucking apocalypse."

She weaved through the skyscrapers.

"Um."

I heard an explosion.

"Come on, assholes! Everybody in the city has to be rioting by now."

"Why do you say that?"

"Do you have any idea how many centuries of grudges and repressed anger there is?"

"No."

I felt my stomach churn.

"A lot, and now the worldwide security system is down because the person who ran that ran away like a bitch."

She was smiling.

"Um."

"This is horrible but, after years of thinking that Brainiac doesn't give two shits about us, it's nice to be proven right. I mean it's the end of our civilization and if we fail everyone dies but I also get to be proven right which, you know, score."

"That's kind of…"

"I take my victories where I can. I fully realize I am being insanely petty but I'm also trying to save billions of lives so it all balances out."

"Speaking of that I kind of need you to take the wheel."

I grabbed the wheel and held it steady as we left the nest of skyscrapers.

"Um, what are you doing?"

"Hacking into the city's security system, I need to tear a hole in the forcefield."

"And if you fail?"

"We go splat, I am trying to prevent that."

She smiled.

"Bingo."

A hole opened and we moved through.

"And the crowd goes wild!"

She grabbed the wheel.

"So yeah I just used an old access code and we are out."

She sighed.

"We are getting off-planet later, right?"

"Yes."

"Good! Because what I just did was incredibly illegal so yeah I can't really go back."

"But… If you save the world-"

She laughed.

"Oh, you really are an alien if you think the science council does gratitude."



Zoe


Zoe

We were out of the city and I looked at the alien and lush vegetation.

"So… we have some time, we should talk."

"Ok, about what?"

"How are you speaking my language?"

"Translation microbes, it's odd but your version of Kryptonian is almost exactly like one of my world's languages."

She turned her head.

"Which one?"

"Polish. The big difference is the lack of German, Russian and English loan words but other than that it's a pretty close match."

"Oh? That's weird."

"Infinite multiverse."

She looked at me.

"So what's my position in your little harem again?"

"Head waifu."

"What's a waifu?"

"I guess the closest definition is an idealized romantic partner."

"And you want them why?"

I thought about it.

"Sex is the first thing to come to mind, right?"

"Yeah."

"Thinking about it rationally, sex is not that hard for me to get. I have money, I'm pretty good looking, I have great prospects. It wouldn't be that hard for me to have a string of one-night-stands."

"I'd like to note that is completely unromantic."

"I know, and sex isn't everything. I want someone with me who makes my life better. I want someone who makes me happy and is happy to see me in turn. What I'm looking for is intimacy, which is a lot harder to get than sex."

"And how do you get intimacy?"

"I don't know. I spent 5 years being experimented on by an evil corporation to find out. I had to be reborn as a baby a second time and had to find a way to save my hometown to figure it out. I had to capture the souls of the damned, fight against some of the worst criminals in my world, and rescue a little girl and her family from death to figure it out. I have decided to cross dimensions and planets, participate in hopeless battles against god-machines, and now I am trying to rescue an entire planet and I still don't know how to get that."

"So your goal is love?"

"Essentially… yes. A waifu is an ideal where the person completes you, a girl who brings up your shortcomings and you shore up hers. That's the ideal, I guess."

"And you want how many of them?"

"Seven is the traditional number."

She looked at me.

"That's actually pretty romantic. Why didn't you lead with that?"

"I don't know, I'm kind of a social idiot."

"And what would you do if you got your harem?"

"You know… I've been chasing the ideal so long that I don't know how I would actually handle it. It's been this motivation that's kept me going so long that I've kind of lost perspective on it."

She nodded her head.

"What's the male term for waifu?"

"Husbando."

"Ok. Your company, super evil right?"

"Yes."

"Who runs it?"

"Mostly women."

She smirked.

"I'm not the waifu. You are the husbando."

I turned my head.

"What?"

"You are the husband."

"… How did you come to that conclusion."

She raised a hand.

"Ok, there is a story right?"

"Yes."

"You have a very lonely girl who everyone looks down upon and treats like shit."

"Right?"

"And then, when her homeland is about to be destroyed, an exotic alien shows up to save her world and whisk her away to another world to be a queen with her own castle?"

I blinked.

"Ergo: you are totally the husbando."

"I have so many issues it isn't funny."

"People love the tragic prince archetype that needs to be taught how to love again."

I felt cold.

"I am not a husbando."

"Name the first power you have that comes to mind."

"Shapeshifting."

She smirked.

"Total husbando power."

We landed on the ground and we got out of the car.

"Ok, before we do this, I want you to call me your little pog champ and hug me."

I stared at her.

"What the hell is a pog champ?"

"Play of the game, it's a gaming thing."

I held out my arms.

"Fine, I guess you are my little pog champ. Come here."

I hugged her and she nuzzled into me and whispered into my ear.

"Total husbando move."



Zoe


Zoe

She went over.

"So I'm just going to have to hack the system to open the locks."

"It's that easy?"

"Well, yeah. When a mine closes the science council lets the mining robots go berzerk so that squatters can't come in and take them over."

I blinked.

"Why would they do that?"

"Got to have everyone in the cities, those are more easily controlled."

"Let me guess, the laws are an overly complex nightmare world."

She shook her head.

"Oh no! The law is simple: if it's in any way fun or makes life worth living? It's either against the law or frowned upon."

The door opened.

I sighed and moved my hands. Water filled the space in front of me and then froze, forming Ice chunks that sped off and hit a robot coming in our direction.

"These things have long-ranged attacks?"

"Um no, that might end with people getting weapons to defeat the science caste. Zod did that during the rebellion… and how the hell are you doing that?"

"Magic."

"Cool."

We went further inside and I continued blasting everything in front of us with a torrent of icicles.

"So how long can you keep it up?"

"I don't have any endurance issues if that's what you're asking."

Karen smirked.

"I will keep that in mind."

The robots continued to swarm forward.

"How long is this going to last?"

"They normally leave a couple hundred bots, so until they're all dead I guess."

I increased the size of the globe of water and kept up the pace of destruction.

"Wow."

"These are not combat models, it's not that impressive."

Eventually they stopped coming.

"Wow, that… normally it would take heavy weaponry to do that."

The two of us stepped over the dead robots.

"So explain how this waifu process works?"

"I'm in acquisitions, my job is to collect the souls of the damned and feed them to my dark masters."

She blinked.

"Wow, that is very edgy."

"You think so but most of the people in my department are total dorks."

"You included."

I sighed.

"Yes."

I heard howling and looked at the monstrous dogs heading in our direction. I held out a hand and pulled a block of stone out of the ceiling and crushed them, then I lifted it and crushed them again. She stared at me.

"So yeah… I can't do that."

"Portal Tompson."

I handed her a gun.

"You have guns."

"Yeah."

She stared at it.

"What is this?"

"A slug thrower."

"Really? Why use something like that instead of a laser?"

"Lasers tend to be used by space-faring civilizations because the ammunition energy is cheap and because most of them won't penetrate a bulkhead and kill everyone on board. A sufficiently advanced slug thrower is fully capable of matching or even exceeding the damage of your average laser weapon."

"Oh."

We continued forward until we hit an elevator shaft, Karen went to the computer terminal and I heard chittering.

"I need you to take care of that while I hack this. Got it?"

"Crystal."

Earth and water, earth to create defensive positions and water for offense. The critters were dumb but most of them understood that pain was bad. In a way, it was kind of… well, fun.

"Shit old code, got to find it."

"Take as long as you need."

More monsters, the ground was wet, I used lightning on the ground and they screamed and twitched.

"Yes!"

She got up and looked at me.

"Well, I've already broken a bunch of laws so I might as well break another."

I watched as she danced badly.

"Wait a minute… Dancing is against the law?"

"Yeah? it's not, on your world?"

"No… no, of course not. Next thing you're going to tell me is that masturbation is illegal on Krypton."

She looked at me in confusion.

"What's masturbation?"

And, suddenly, a lot of Krypton's problems now made total sense.



Zoe


Zoe

We landed on the ground floor, it was hot and uncomfortable. I pulled out my supplies and created concentric walls and a ritual circle.

"What are you doing?"

"We need to do a ritual, it will connect us to Krypton and allow us to expel the radioactive elements that are trying to tear your homeworld apart. I'm going to need you to use that gun to keep things clear until it's over."

I sat down and lit the candles and put the chunk of Behemoth down then started chanting. As I connected to Krypton I saw that the amount of matter causing the trouble was about the size of a large city, it was getting close to the core and continuously increasing in activity with the pressure and heat. Once it hit, the fission chain reaction would destroy the planet. I calmly pulled the offending matter apart and dragged it closer and closer to the surface. Volcanos all over Krypton went off, even dormant ones, as the material was forced into space. I opened my eyes and heard a clicking sound.

"Oh, Rao! Fuck!"

"We are leaving."

I grabbed her and Slashed the air, she followed me through the portal and to Krypton's surface. She looked at the sky.

"What's happening?"

"In order to save the planet I had to activate some volcanos."

"How many?"

"All of them, your world is going to be covered in soot and destruction for a couple of years."

"We have high-end hydroponics, the cities will survive… The central government not so much."

She looked in the distance.

"Want to say goodbye to anyone?"

"No, I gave them a fighting chance, that's all I can give them. let's get the hell out of here."

I slashed the air again and we were in my castle.

"So now what?"

"You have a choice of castles: white, blue, red, yellow, orange, and purple."

"Any of them have a pool?"

"White?"

"Then white it is."

I waved my hand and she looked around.

"So this is my humble home."

She looked outside.

"It's beautiful."

"As my head waifu, you control the day to day operations of the central island and answer only to me."

"Cool."

We walked into the throne room.

"So the contract's complete but there are a few things needed to finalize the deal."

She looked at me.

"Ok."

I handed her a knife.

"I need you to cut your hand and place it against that pillar."

She pricked it lightly and an altar rose.

"Ok, now please take off all of your clothing."

"This seems a little much."

"The Company loves their theatrics."

She took off her one suit and her bra and panties, I took some time to admire her body while she got onto the altar.

"So I'm going to brand you, where do you want it?"

"Um, anything traditional?"

"Right above the pussy and back of the tail bone."

"Tail bone I guess."

She turned around and I smiled at that perfect ass, my sword burned and I pressed it against her tail bone. She whimpered a little but didn't complain, I took my sword off of her and admired the brand and her butt.

"Well you're probably tired and need some rest. I can show you around and-"

"Yeah, no."

She turned around.

"What?"

"Look we just almost died and we saved the world! that calls for both 'glad to be alive'-sex and victory-sex."

I stared at her.

"But don't you need time to get to know me better?"

"Ok… Let me make this simple: I am punching my V card today, and your prick is not allowed to leave until it has done its job."

She opened up her legs and displayed herself to me. I quickly took off my clothing and then turned into my adult form. She stared at me, blushed, and smiled.

"So….that's?"

"What I will look like when this body develops."

"Nice."

I got onto the altar and she kissed me hard while I put my hands on her breasts and squeezed them, enjoying the sensation and feeling. I felt my cock penetrate her, felt the warmth and tightness. She blinked and grimaced and panted and arched her back.

"Came already?"

"It's my first time, cut me some slack."

I looked at her as she quivered under me, this was the moment I waited for and I knew what I had to do.

"You're going to be the mother of my children."

"Yeah, we will build a chamber and-"

I moved my dick and kissed her neck, she moaned as I ministered to her needs.

"Right here, right now!"

I looked at her with mage sigth, and let my mana flow into her.

"You're an, uff… an alien, you can't… get me pregnant. The bio… chemical differences alone are…"

I slammed inside her hard and her eyes opened wide and then I kissed her neck. She gasped and then squirmed and as, she orgasmed a second time, I felt her become more fertile.

"Magic!"

I thrust again and again until her eyes crossed, I felt almost at my limit but I looked at the halo of information around her head. Four percent, it wasn't good enough. I pushed her forward and looked at her beautiful little hole surrounding me and withdrew myself.

"So, masturbation."

"Yeah?"

"You just take some fingers and do this."

I put my fingers inside of her and traced around in a light circle. She tried to close her legs but I did not relent, she whimpered and her back arched again and she panted.

"Oh….that's nice! And you can do that alone?"

"Yes but this isn't over."

I put my head between her legs and licked, she practically purred as I continued on. she panted again and again until she convulsed. Sixteen percent, better but still not good enough. I took a breath through my nose and continued licking.

"It's… wow!"

She grunted.

"You know, when you stop using your tongue to talk, you're actually pretty good with it and oh Rao!"

She rocked her hips, 32 percent, I withdrew my face and started manipulating her wet pussy with both hands.

"Yeah… Fuck you… Kul-zo!"

I stared at her as she tried to get her breath back.

"Who is that?"

"A bitch who said I'd never get laid!"

Sixty-four percent! One more orgasm was all I needed. I got on top of her again, still erect, and kissed her neck. I positioned myself so I could massage her boobs and feel her body, she was panting nonstop now.

"Open your eyes."

She looked at me.

"I want you to look me in the face. Right now I want you to look the father of your children in the face."

I gripped her waist and she quaked, I then came inside her unprotected and vulnerable womb. I felt an almost suction effect as my seed was drawn into her and smiled as I felt a slight thrum of power as the egg's defenses fell. We collapsed together and we cuddled on the stone altar for a long time, I don't know how long. We did that until Karen looked at me and smiled.

"So you said there was a pool?"



Alura Zor-el


Alura Zor-el

In retrospect the rebellion was inevitable.

My caste, the science caste, has always been controlling and cruel. The moment our machine armies fell was the moment where the past grievances would rise. My husband decided to fight against the rebels. He died to the mob, the ever angry mob, while I retreated here to our estate, looking at an urn that held the ashes of the only person I ever loved.

The civil war, if you could call it that, lasted 3 days. When the warrior caste turned against us, that was that. There was talk of bringing Zod back, to have him establish order. The man was a tyrant who had won acclaim for promising that his tyrannical rule would be less tyrannical than ours, a promise he kept before we finally won. I didn't know how the other city-states were doing… I just knew, and understood, that this was the end.

"Alura Zor-el, you have been declared an enemy of the people."

I looked at the dirty rebels who had come into my home.

"I suppose I am to be killed without a trial?"

"How many trials did we get? How much mercy have we received for centuries? You and I both know that a single science caste can not be allowed to survive, you will always strive to regain control."

"Without us, infrastructure will crumble. The city will die."

He shrugged.

"It was a horrible city, a horrible way to live. A lot of us have talked, when the long night ends we will go back to nature. This edifice of technology will be destroyed and, even if it is harder, we will live freer lives without the technology that was used to enslave us."

"Millions will die."

"Millions have already died. Now they have a chance to die free."

He held a gun to my face and fired. The bold went through and the last thing I saw was the urn of the woman I loved and darkness.



Amy Dallon


Amy Dallon

I stared at the Alien, a real life actual alien. She looked human. I reached out and touched her and it was then and only then that I got how different the two of us were. I also frowned at another piece of information I received.

"So you are sister-wife correct?"

I nodded my head.

"I guess so."

God, her boobs were perfect! I just wanted to nuzzle my head between them.

"My name is Karen Gwiazdkowy, but if am to translate it into your English it is Karen star."

"Amy Dallon."

The room felt awkward.

"So your sister has homo sex powers?"

I stared at her and blinked.

"I read file."

"Um… it's more than that."

I felt nervous.

"Back on Krypton Homo sex is very illegal, 3 months hard labor."

I then frowned.

"Krypton is shit, is very shit! I not miss it at all."

"So you speak English?"

"I bought translation pill, it lets me speak your language but not well. Still it's not so bad, I have been reading and so far Earth has many things going for it."

I smiled.

"Except technology, your technology is shit especially your solar power. I look at what it is capable of and I want to cry. It is good then that I brought my datapad, I have stolen much of my world's technology. I think we can create good company and make lots of money."

"Is money that important?"

"Have you ever been the poor?"

"No?"

"Yes, it is very important! I look at your city and it is shit, yes?"

"It's… um not that bad?"

"Compared to my home, this is true. Compared to what it used to be, and much of the world, it is not. The city is very shit, if it had money it would be less shit. Money is a tool, one that lets you make things better. If we have successful company, I employ lots of people and they make money while I give your world solar panels that are not shit and batteries that are not shit. Every one is better off."

"I guess that's a good idea."

I looked at her.

"So I guess you and Zoe didn't waste any time."

I felt a little jealous.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're um pregnant."

She blinked.

"Is not possible, we are different species."

"How many times have the two of you?"

"Had sexy times? I did not keep track… on stone altar, in pool several times, of course in bed, it has been a good 3 days."

"You're definitely pregnant."

She blinked.

"I have superpowers, I can tell."

She didn't look angry, or scared, or worried.

"Oh? Hmm a little soon but so be it."

I blinked.

"You're not worried?"

"Amy, I made a deal: my world and people for myself. If I have children they will have food, shelter, and much help. In every way they will have it better than me so why should I fear it?"

I decided to change the subject.

"So your um boobs are nice."

"Nutrient paste side-effect, it makes your boobs grow bigger and makes you much more the horny. Also tastes like shit."

She pulled out paperwork.

"So! Seven castles, seven women. We must choose our sister wives carefully, yes?"

"I kind of don't like the idea of um sharing."

"We need power to defeat great evil, save many world. We need comrads, yes."

The process started and went long into the night. It was very late when we figured out that we simply could not agree on who to pick.



Zoe


Zoe

"When it comes down to it they both have a point."

Amy's plan was to take Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long, Ino Yamaka and Hinata Hyuuga, with Elsa as a compromise option. Karen's plan was Hinata as a compromise option, Sailor mercury, Elisabeth Dewitt, Elsa, and Korra.

"My plan has tomboyish brown delicious girl!"

"Karen! We agreed, no trying to influence the decision."

She sighed and shut the door.

"So your opinion, Heba?"

"Amy has picked people for their stability and proven track record of working together. Everyone she picked is a team player which is a good thing. The girls all have connections to their home regions. With them in your Harem you can position yourself as the middle man for interdimensional trade between three worlds."

"And Karen's plan doesn't do that?"

"Sailor mercury's home universe isn't exactly safe for people like us. Elisabeth Dewitt, once she escapes Columbia, can not safely return to it. Any Elsa we get will have burned all of her bridges with her home nation and Korra's home dimension's spirits hard shut down any kind of stable trade. You can get in and out periodically but stable transport is not in the cards."

"Spirits?"

"Yeah. Their spirit world does not like interlopers, which we count as. The girls are all less stable than Amy's choices, that said they are more powerful. if you can get these very powerful and strong-willed women to work together it might improve our chances of victory. If they can't work together, it might fuck everything. If you're thinking of it from a business point of view, Amy is correct. If you're thinking of it from a pure crisis point of view, Karen has a point."

Heba looked at me.

"Another option is you sit them down and let each girl pick two people and force them to compromise on the last one. That helps you with your current relationship but doesn't get you the kind of gains of just following a plan."

I thought about it carefully.

"Call them in."



A city state on Krypton


So, I really liked the bit about Krypton, but can't help but feel like dismantling the cities is a horrible plan. Also, I don't get Alura's insistence the infrastructure will crumble without the Science Caste. Are you trying to imply they did maintenance Alura? Give ma break.

Omake: Decisions on Krypton

"No," Trozz said, speaking out over the assembly. Talking slowed, turning to look at the highest-ranked member of the Warrior Caste left, the others warriors standing behind her. They represented a solid front, unlike the fragmented Worker Castes discussing dismantling the cities to turn to farming. Trozz ignored a few mutters as people talked about the Warrior Castes taking control, and the hands tightening around the few weapons around.

"It's a bad idea. And I'll tell you why: Brainiac."

"Brainiac's gone! Fled to leave us to our doom," a voice yelled from the back, and the crowd grew restless, agreeing.

"Yes, because it was sure the planet was going to blow up. Apparently took the entire city of Kandor with it, likely as a need to appease its basic programming. After all, if that city's all of Krypton left, then it can safely manage it wherever it goes. But eventually it's going to notice a distinct lack of evidence Krypton exploded, and come to investigate why. And then Brainiac's programming will kick back in, and we'll either have Kandor as our overlords again, or be seen as a rebellion against Kandor and destroyed."

Trozz paused, letting panic wash over, waiting. Eventually, anger and defiance took over, and she nodded, before clapping, drawing attention back to her.

"I see you've decided not to accept that fate. Well, we have good news and bad news on that front. Good news is that looking through the Science Caste's restricted archives turns up weaponry we can use to protect ourselves. Bad news is Brainiac will know all about it. Apparently aliens are real, and we weren't to know because they couldn't be made to kneel before the Science Caste like slaves. It's why they kept the Warrior Caste around, even with Zod's betrayal and their armies of robots. So me and the rest of the Warrior Caste have a proposal."

"Oh yeah, what, you get to rule now?" a voice yelled out in anger.

"Or maybe we should bring Zod back to be our new Tyrant," another voice sneered.

Trozz waited out the other fits of outbursts, watching as people thought it over. As some of them, far too many, thought about establishing a new tyrant to protect them.

"No. My proposal is this: You all know how to maintain the technology we have. We abandon the Birthing Chambers, a method the Science Caste used to control the population. Switch back to Naturals."

Muttering grew in the crowd, but she just got louder to talk over it. "I know it's distasteful, but that distaste? That culture of looking down on Naturals? It's the Science Caste pushing us into being controlled. There's a reason is some of the little technology they maintained themselves. No, we lose the Caste system entirely, split into three rings. The Agricultural Ring, set up of farmers in land outside the cities we'll reclaim. The Infrastructure Ring, set up to maintain our technology and set up weapons platforms. And the Protective Ring, set up of what Warrior Castes we have left and those who maintain the medical equipment. That should allow us to try and even out the population."

She stepped forward, and began pacing in front of the crowd, who listened now with rapt attention. "Also removes the Warriors from being a solid bloc alone without anyone questioning what we do. We'll try and split out into smaller communities, less centralized in the cities so we can survive longer if Brainiac returns. Weapons systems to protect each smaller settlement, and a council of three to rule it. One person representing each Ring, and selected from the people within it. Our children can be raised to have basic training in all three before choosing a Ring to join. Keeping track of the population we can shuffle people around to try and keep equal numbers of each Ring in each settlement. We have the communication ability to keep together, allow for voting among the Three of each settlement for major decisions. That way a decisive strike won't destroy leadership."

She stopped, and looked over the crowd. "Of course, Brainiac will know everything we know. It's got a repository of all Krypton's data. If we want to defeat it, we'll have to devise new weapons. But no more monsters, or murderous robots! No more automated systems run by AI that don't care about us. We should have everything run by people. That's the only way to survive this and bring about a Free Kypton. Free of Castes, Free of Brainiac, and Free of Tyrants."

"A FREE KRYPTON," the Warrior Castes behind her shouted in unison. The rest of the crowd shuffled, and then, someone shouted it back. And the others followed suit.

It would be messy, it would be difficult. But it would be doable. Also wouldn't need to have that fucker Zod back either, which was a bonus in Trozz's view. Asshole had always condescended to her, just because his genes were supposedly better at tactics than hers. Well, who was left with the winning team, and who'd fucked up a rebellion against a bunch of mad scientists? Showed what the Science Caste knew.



King superman


The Winged Hussar-Karol Kowalski

I look at the American journalist, she is very nervous this Lois Lane. I do not know why, I have only killed communists and Nazis. Not people.

"King Kowalski of Poland."

"I am he, yes."

My English is not very good.

"So tell me about your life."

"I grew up in farm around Zalipie, Poland. My father and mother, very kind. Teach me to love God and country."

And a love for Oranzada but that Yankee reporter girl would not appreciate it, it's Poland's own national drink.

"What made you decide to fight in World War Two?"

"Well, my country was invaded! Pretty sure that's good enough reason to fight,yes?"

"I suppose so. Though there are some that say that, if Poland was defeated, Hitler would have invaded the Soviet Union and the war would thus have been a lot less bloody."

I looked at her.

"Do not ask for me to turn my country into a sacrificial lamb to be slaughtered for the benefit of others. The second world war was very simple conflict: You had Axis countries with Germany, Russia and Japan, they very evil. All of them, bad countries. And then you have good countries and Italy."

"You don't think Italy was one of the good guys?"

"I try not to think about Italy at all."

She blinked.

"So, as I said, war was simple. Nazi's Germany, Soviet Russia, Imperial Japan: all bad countries. Americans feel guilty because they were forced to nuke Moscow to end the war, forced to Nuke Japanese cities, forced to nuke a lot of places. You feel guilty about what the war required. Let me tell you: what you did was necessary you were fighting monsters."

"He who fights monsters must take care lest he becomes one himself."

"Very old quote, is maybe true. You have functional democracy and good rich country, you waste your time mulling over the nastiness of war. Should focus more on living life."

I took a sip of beer is just ok.

"The partition of Germany-"

"A unified Germany led to three wars, each one worse than the last. Now there is Prussia, there is Hanover, there is Bavaria, there is Saxony. Now there is peace and prosperity."

"And In the East?"

"The Soviets committed genocide in Ukraine, can I honestly call myself a good man and let the Russians continue to mistreat them? And even before Soviet Union the Russians mistreated a lot of people, any one who wanted to be free of Russian tyranny was given chance."

"I can't help but notice it created a lot of buffer states between the kingdom of Poland and the Russian remnant."

"Helping others often helps yourself, yes?"

She glared at me.

"Thank you for your time."

I watched her leave. A nice ass, not as nice as my former wife but nice, the phone rang.

"Karol."

"Lex! How is it going?"

"Be careful, Lois Lane is up to something."

"She is super villain, of course she is up to something. I never understand why you never arrested her."

"Believe me, I have tried. That snake is well connected and always has a string of fall guys to keep her out of prison."

"Any luck getting Batman to join the league?"

"No, he keeps saying he works alone."

"How many sidekicks has he had now?"

"I've honestly lost count."

The two of us laughed.

"It is shame we were not born in same country, we would be good friends."

"I doubt it."

"Why?"

"After the Plan Red incident-"

"That compiled list of plans of how to take us down if we went crazy?"

"Yeah, I started getting therapy after that… I have issues, Karol. If we lived in the same country, or worse yet the same city, it would have set off my inferiority complex hard."

"Not a good thing but you have made progress. That said how are things going with my cousin, Super Girl."

"No comment."

I could hear his embarrassment.

"Ah, the great Lex Luthor afraid of love."

"I have to dedicate myself to my work."

I chuckled as he hung up. I wished both of them the best or at least that they would get laid, it would make both of them less insufferable.

"Paul?"

"Yes, your highness."

"Let us get ready, our reporter friend has no doubt set up some horrible scheme."

"Yes, your highness."

The price of being both king and superhero.



Zoe


Zoe

I looked at the two girls.

"We are going to table the question of the other Harem members for later."

The two girls nodded, Karen nodded her head.

"It is time to speak of your operation, yes?"

"Yeah?"

"The potion ones."

"Yes."

"You help lots of people but your way of doing it, is not so efficient. It is actually kind of shit."

I decided to let that go.

"Could you explain that?."

"From what I have read in order to make potions you need magic. Specifically this magical force called the weave, yes?"

"Yes."

"Neither I nor Amy have access to weave energy, only one is you and everything magical connected to you."

"And?"

"You have golem's working on cleaning things, you have them on guard duty. The golems in other castles do nothing, yes?"

"Yes."

"This needs to change, it is not profitable. We have maid droids and butler droids to handle all other aspects, all Golems need to be doing potions work at all time. Second, minor potions."

"What about them?"

"We can use our hot springs pools to mass-produce the minor healing potions. Each pool holds 2,500,000 liters of water, I only need one pool. I have talked to Amy and she only needs one as well. A single healing potion is 300 milliliters, that means we can create 16,666,666 potions a week."

I frowned.

"It's more than magical energy and effort, you need reagents to make it work and the only place I can get them from is the company. They only grow so much and the plants that act as reagents are finicky as hell."

Amy looked at me.

"Karen and I talked about that, we have a whole bunch of farmland. If we just buy the seeds and cuttings for the plants in question I can alter them so they will grow here. Since you apparently knocked over Fort Knox."

"Abandoned world where everyone died."

Amy smirked and rolled her eyes.

"Since you apparently knocked over Fort Knox we can afford to buy all the needed reagents even if it will be incredibly expensive."

"How expensive?"

"At least half your gold reserves expensive."

I grimaced, Amy nodded.

"Yeah, I thought that too. Then I realized that we can't really spend the gold without freaking out a small army of thinkers. And we need those medicines today."

Karen nodded.

"I have also talked to Company, am in negotiations. If we become self-sufficient they will lower our potion tithe, we would be able to sell 15 million minor health potions a week. We could and no doubt will lower our prices considerably but we also make many more American dollars. With some donated to charity."

She glanced over at Amy, who nodded her head.

"Doesn't this take you away from hospital work?"

"Zoe, if I can help people by working smarter not harder then I'd rather do that. Plus if we do this we free up potion-making capacity for other potions to sell to the PRT. It's likely that the PRT will try to sell on any excess to the private market to recoup costs, which helps more people."

She turned to Karen.

"You have managed to do much by yourself, it is all very impressive but we are team now. We accomplish more together, yes."

I nodded my head.

"Good."

Amy nodded her head and kissed me on the cheek and I was left with Karen.

"You talked about this a lot."

"We talked about a lot of things, Amy is good girl. A little naive but good girl, I see why you love her."

"You have something to say?"

"What this is, is business, and business must make profit. Also, remember this."

"Yes?"

"I have agenda, Amy has agenda. We are your women, yes, but we have our own goals and desires. Anyone we choose for the Harem will also have their own goals and desires, it is nature of the beast. You are head of the family, your job is to try to manage that so that we do not get in each other's way."

I nodded my head.

"Thank you."

"So, again, with Amy?"

I looked at her.

"Take her somewhere nice, maybe have sexy times but take some time out to be romantic. Or in your case at least try, yes?"

I frowned as she laughed.

"Oh, don't be like that! We all grow together, my little husbando."



Krieg


Krieg

"Well… Clearly, there has been a rather massive failure in our ability to gather information."

Me, Hook wolf, and Purity looked at him.

"The development plan isn't close to our area of operations."

I was the one who handled more of the business end of things.

"We still should have known about this, a few purchases in the right area could have gotten us billions. We could have managed to get the civilian side of our operations a major voice and stake in this new venture. Losing out on that always hurts but I need to know how this affects our bottom line."

I nodded my head.

"It's Great Old Ones investment company."

"I've never heard of them."

"They're apparently new. My guess is that they have foreign backers, from the name of the company I'd say western. My guess is that they're worried about instability back home and are planning to leave. As for who's setting it up, it looks like an organization of rogues."

"We've dealt with those before."

I nodded my head at Kaiser.

"This won't be as easy as the Archer's Street Merchants, we're not talking about a collection of minority owned small business owners. These guys have money, serious fat stacks of it, and power. They were able to do this without any of the thinkers stopping them."

He looked at me.

"How does this impact us?"

"We control the southwest. The Abb's territory is split between the northwest and southeast while the Merchants are mostly located in the north. GOO incorporated has already hired security forces and is in the process of kicking the Merchants out of the boat graveyard. It's likely that this will push all of their operations into the trainyard."

"That is their headquarters."

"Yes, and puts them into conflict with the ABB."

"I don't think Mush has the guts to do that."

"He might just be desperate enough for that gamble. It is an isolated part of their territory, it doesn't make as much as their access to the southern part of the coast, and Lung can not be in two places at once. Or the Merchants can fight it out… but my guts tell me these guys are going to hire parahuman security forces soon."

"City economy?"

"The boat graveyard is being cleared away at an incredibly fast clip. Instead of fighting legal battles they just blew through money until it was settled, like I said not a Merchants situation. These guys, whoever they are, they're big."

Kaiser nodded his head.

"So what do we know about them?"

"They're tearing down pretty much all of the old buildings, and putting up ones like this."

I showed photos and Kaiser looked at them.

"Lots of stone… looks like they're heavily inspired by pre World War architecture. I see what you mean when you said they were probably European."

He put it down.

"What are they building?"

"New residential areas, an ice skating rink, an aquarium. The big businesses that are being planned are two factories, one that makes batteries and another that makes high-end solar panels."

He looked at it and we sat there in silence.

"No interference."

"None?"

"They're not anywhere near our territory and they're forcing out one of our rivals, even if they are pathetic. This plan will bring in much-needed jobs and money into the city. If we screw this up it will turn further turn public opinion against us and, as you said, they have deep pockets. Leave them be, their plans benefit our own in many ways."

I frowned.

"It would mean fewer working-class people joining us which might mean less support in general."

"No offense Krieg but we are Nazis. It's a miracle that we have the level of support we have and it's less support and more a feeling that we are a necessary evil. If we destroy this venture we go from a necessary evil to something that must be destroyed at all costs, like what happened to the Teeth after they decided to turn the Dockworkers protests into the Dockworkers riots."

I looked at the maps as Kaiser concluded.

"If they decide to compete with our less than legal ventures then they become fair game. Until then, we leave them be."



Amy Dallon


Amy Dallon

"You sure it is wise to double up with these girls?"

"The reason I doubled up with all of my choices was to increase mental stability. Forcing people from their homes is traumatic, having someone there who you know should help a lot."

"Or it could create a power block against us."

"I have to live with that. your choices?"

"Korra and Elsa."

"Why them?"

"Elsa is royal and has training in how to run a kingdom. As much as this is a business this will in time be its own government, we need someone who can handle that."

"And Korra?"

"Despite her brusk personality, she has been trained in the art of diplomacy her entire life. We will in time expand to an interdimensional trade organization, when that day happens we will need someone who can handle the finer aspects of diplomacy."

"Her file doesn't leave me impressed."

"Yes, a bit of a meathead, but not without skill when motivated. I had considered Elisabeth but she lacks training, yes. Sailor Mercury was a good choice but you get so upset at the idea of two Amy's so we cross her off list."

She looked at the paperwork.

"We have enough left for one contract to buy stamp."

I looked at the option.

"Is it a good idea?"

"I've been reading up through files yes? We can have the company split the stamp into 7 scepters and it will allow us to create warlocks, um people with powers, and give them three rules they must follow."

I cringed.

"It sounds a lot like Teacher."

"Villain?"

"Yeah?"

"Then we must be honest and upfront, we will say 'these are the three rules you must follow to be empowered'. The scepters will only work on the day of the week chosen for us. As leader I must pick most shit day, as example to others."

"Monday?"

She smiled.

"Very good. And you?"

I thought about it.

"Friday sounds good."

"Excellent, I will have this written down."

Then we pored through the files, arguing about who to pick next or how they should be picked next, trying to make a compromise, trying to avoid one particular name.

"We must consider her."

I shuddered as memories came back of that other life.

"She's crazy and ruthless, Karen."

"I have read file, I know what she is capable of. As free agent, she is a threat to our operations."

"It won't be free."

If I knew anything it was that there was always a price for getting involved with her, a price that could be very ugly.

"We can not under any circumstances let her run around loose! You, of all people, know what she is capable of if she goes around unchecked."

"Her mother was killed by a villain in this universe… maybe she won't be as bad?"

"She skipped rather gleefully into the dark side without a motivation, yes? Now think of where she will go with one."

I sighed. She was scary and terrifying, for all of her good deeds I knew just how low she could sink.

"I hate to say it but you're right."

We looked at each other and grimaced and shook hands, both of us hoping against hope that this was not a mistake



Zoe


Zoe

I looked at the two girls.

"No… no. Just, no! Dear god, no. No."

"You know what she did and what she's capable of."

"Yeah and I also know that Taylor doesn't do reason, she will escalate and escalate again. That works for a little while, yes, but it also burns your bridges and creates a ton of enemies. Even with all of us together we can't beat the combined power of a pissed off PRT, and even if we won that utterly pyrrhic victory that leads to a civilizational collapse."

I looked at them.

"No."

"Korra is a bit of a hot head."

Amy's voice cut through air like a knife.

"You are correct that Korra is kind of an idiot, but each of you gets two picks and Korra will be easier to manage because she doesn't have local connections. Taylor is a local, we can't manage her interactions with others. And this is a Taylor with a grudge. Amy, you and I both know what she's like when she's operating under those circumstances, she gets complete tunnel vision and doesn't see the collateral damage she causes."

"My sister-"

"Is not nearly as bad."

I sighed.

"Ok. Let's compile a list of all of your compromise options and remaining picks, ok?"

They nodded their head and I went into a room. Roughly nine picks they could agree on without Taylor… I added 4 more and I rolled the virtual dice.

"Elisabeth Dewitt wins."

Amy sighs.

"She does have useful powers, I guess."

"At the end of the day this is a business. Having access to other worlds is a pretty important core of that business."

I sighed.

"Ok guys, this has been a rough couple days."

I looked at Karen.

"Has Karen even been to the city?"

"No."

Amy looked at her.

"I can show you the place where I get my support."

"Weapons?"

"No, bra."

"Is also important."



Elsa


Elsa

"Well, you have definitely made a sow's ear of everything."

I didn't respond to the plague in a good and healthy way.

"Conceal, don't feel. Conceal, don't feel."

"I do believe that's what got you in this situation in the first place, deary."

I turned around and looked at the old woman. She… had a frog on her shoulder?

"Who are you?"

"Name's Agatha. I guess you can say we have a little bit in common, magic I mean."

I looked at the snow-covered world outside.

"It's lovely snow but it's pretty out of place in the summer. Lovely castle, though."

"When did you get here?"

"During the song. Lovely voice, you came up with all that on the cuff?"

I blushed.

"Oh, you did? Lovely work by the way. Of course, it doesn't help the people who are being slaughtered by the plague, or the people whose crops will be destroyed by this eternal winter you have created."

"I didn't mean to do it."

"Any idea how you're going to fix it?"

"No."

The woman sighed.

"Like I said, a sow's ear of the mess. The 'Repress, don't feel' bullshit doesn't help of course."

I looked at her.

"Why are you here?"

"Well I owe a personal favor to someone and I have the ability to solve both of your problems: the endless winter you created and this little plague."

"There is a price, I assume?"

"You, of course. A friend of mine is looking to make himself a Harem and your name came up."

I frowned at her.

"No."

"So you're ok with your people dying from cold, hunger, and disease?"

"Of course not."

"A queen makes sacrifices for her people, this would be your last one. Of course, I really doubt they want you back now."

I looked at her.

"You can't ask that of me."

"Where do you have to go? Be honest, please. This place?"

"Um."

"Don't get me wrong, it's lovely but where are you going to get food from? Water? Clothing, and all of the other things you need? And you will be living alone for the rest of your life, or until the angry mob finds the very obvious ice castle. Trust me, deary, I know from personal experience what an angry mob looks like…"

I looked over in the distance.

"I didn't mean to do it."

"Oh, believe me, I have been there too! Trust me, they will neither understand nor care. Their crops are dead, it's snowing in the middle of summer, everyone is scared and the plague is killing people seemingly at random. They're angry and scared and need someone to blame."

I sat down.

"There will be other people like you in the Harem, you know. Women with powers."

I looked away.

"You won't be alone anymore."

I turned back my head.

"Why me?"

"You've got a solid head on your shoulders, most of the time. He's a decent enough sort but he doesn't really understand how to rule a country, you do. You did very well actually, until the eternal winter thing."

She brought out the contract and I sighed.

"For my people."

"You're making the right choice, deary."



Korra


Korra

"So… that was not a good decision."

I looked around in the darkness.

"What are you talking about?"

"Fighting Amon alone. Of course… neither of you could have expected the lieutenant to blow the entire place up with both of you in it."

I found a man in a suit with red skin and horns, approaching.

"Who are you?"

"Phil, from class A. So, Avatar Korra… What made you think that fighting Amon alone was a good idea?"

"I'm the Avatar, I could take him."

"In a prepared place?"

"Well um."

"Yeah, that did not work out very well. it sucks for you but you're currently attached to the spirit of order and balance and get to spend eternity on ice, until a future avatar wants to talk with you. Which is unlikely because you got killed in your first major fight. I mean, who's going to want advice from you?"

"I have-"

"Decent training, yes, but no real feats to talk about so you're going to be on ice in darkness forever. Kind of a shit deal."

I stared at him.

"So you're a spirit here to mock me?"

"No, Korra. I'm here to give you a second chance at life, this time without the expectations that being an Avatar has."

"But with all of my powers?"

"Nope, the Avatar spirit stays on your world but you do get to keep all four types of bending so there is that."

"There is a price."

"Yeah, you have to join a harem of other girls and be some guy's woman. But there are 7 of you and if he's annoying you shouldn't have to deal with him that often."

He smiled.

"I was also able to get you a sweet castle."

"Really? Does it have a pool?"

"Guy's loaded, you can always wrap your finger around him and get one."

I smiled.

"Sweet! The girls, are they um… bitchy?"

"Meh, a few. Some of em are real sweethearts, though. They all have powers, plus there are bad guys to fight and good people to support and a bunch of other stuff. I'm not saying it's going to be sunshine and roses but it's a second chance at life and life isn't perfect, is it?"

"and my other choice?"

"Eternity of darkness."

"Won't the future Avatar need me?"

"What do you offer that the hundreds of other Avatars don't, honestly?"

I grimaced.

"Not much."

"Well, far as I'm concerned, you can either let your story end today or you can roll the dice and have a second chance. It's all up to you."

I sighed.

"I'm in."



Amy Dallon


Amy Dallon

Karen stretched out as the sun hit her.

"So?"

She smiled.

"My back doesn't hurt."

"What?"

"It is great!! For the first time in years, my back has no pain. This place really is better."

She stood up straight.

"So any issues?"

I looked at her belly and she shrugged.

"Honestly it is early in pregnancy. So far though I feel good, yes."

She looked at me.

"Like I said I made deal, yes? And it is not so bad, to be mother."

I looked away.

"If you need to wait, I think our man will understand."

We walked into the big and tall shop and I had the owner do her measurements then we were lead to the bras. She looked over each one carefully.

"A mixture of black and white."

"Seems simple."

"Maybe so."

She went into the changing room and then walked out with her top off.

"Is nice?"

I felt my face flush.

"Is very nice."

She smiled.

"Is little Amy blushing."

I looked away.

"You're being shameless."

"When one is shamed for being born… Everything else is small tomatoes."

"It's 'small potatoes'."

"Meh, I am new to this country, yes?"

She went back and put on her top again and we paid for her bra's.

"So the new girls?"

"From what I hear mine will arrive soon. Yours will take longer because you are negotiating a trade deal on top of getting women."

I looked around.

"I worry about… her."

Karen nodded her head.

"Yes, I am concerned too. I just read file but there is much anger in that girl, much focus and little worry about costs. One of the reasons I wanted to claim her was to protect her from herself, almost as much as protecting us from her."

"We need to intervene."

"Do you go to her school?"

"No."

"Then you can't really get too involved not without risking very important secrets. But you are correct, we can not allow her to become enemy. It would be very bad."

"But we can't make her one of us."

"We have magical land, power, training, and equipment… for little girl with the mission of revenge we make good allies, yes?"

I thought about it and remembered the bugs.

"Sounds like a good idea to me!"



Zoe Barnes- house wife


Zoe Barnes

Taylor looked out the window.

"Ice skating will be good for both of you."

Taylor nodded her head, she was understandably still angry about her mother's murder.

"I'm not going to camp this year."

I froze.

"What?"

"I talked to Greg."

"The dork, Greg?"

Taylor turned to look at Emma.

"He might be a dork but he knows how to fight. There's this martial arts school in town and I want to learn how to fight."

"Ok."

I am now officially concerned, I looked away.

"Well like I said the ice rink is finished and that should be fun."

"Hmm."

The sound of construction was everywhere, and talk about noise, but that was a good thing because this part of town had always been so ugly. As I looked at the newer buildings I smiled, they looked more old-fashioned but they also looked rather nice. I looked at the roadblock.

"Stop the car."

I frowned at the security guard.

"why?"

"The area upfront is a pedestrian street."

"So I have to walk to my destination from here?"

"Urban village design and legal codes, Miss."

It sounded stupid but I drove into a parking garage and then we walked into the streets. I saw other people walking around too, and impromptu shops being set up in the middle of the street. It seemed kind of wasteful, in a way. We walked into the ice rink and paid a fee. It was big really big and I saw boys playing ice hockey in the distance.

The girls got into rented skates and went out while I ordered something from the cappuccino machine. As I sipped It, I worried about the future. Emma didn't have the grades for Arcadia, Taylor did and decided to stay with her but that still left Emma going to Winslow… and Winslow was a rough place. It wasn't safe at all and I didn't live anywhere close by to a decent private school.

What if she got into the wrong crowd? As I watched the two girls skate I continued to worry about the future.



Zoe


Zoe

I looked at Elsa.

"So, you and I."

She looked at me.

"You look a little young."

I transformed into my adult form and she blinked and looked me over.

"I will grow into things eventually."

"How old are you?"

"Biologically? Fourteen, right now. You?"

"Sixteen, I was recently coronated though that didn't go so well."

She looked at me nervously.

"Don't worry the medicine I paid for is already in your people's hands and the plague is over. Anna is young but when she heard the medicine was from you she worked with us."

"So they're ok?"

"Yes but, for pretty obvious reasons, you're kind of not wanted back right now."

Elsa deflated.

"No way I can come back?"

"Visit maybe but you're no longer queen, at least of Arendel."

"That's fair… So, now what?"

"Well there are 5 castles left, Blue, yellow, red, orange, and Purple. which would you want?"

"Blue is kind of my color, I guess."

"Good."

I brought out my sword and slashed it in the air.

"Want to go see it?"

"Um sure."

She took my offered hand and walked through the portal into the castle.

"It's nice."

"Look out the window."

She did so and saw the empty city below.

"This island and its property are yours to administer as you see fit. The only person who outranks you here is… well, me."

"It's big."

"The kingdom and Island of Arendel is around 300 square miles."

"It's smaller than that."

I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry but I want to be honest with you."

"It's smaller but not by much. The blue Island is 13,000 square miles, it's roughly 43 times larger than the size of your old kingdom."

She blinked.

"How many people?"

I moved my head and she nodded and followed me as we walked.

"Currently you have some golems and robots, but no people. When tempers cool down and your sister becomes queen we might be able to talk about trade and maybe some of your old subjects might decide to come back to you."

"That's unlikely."

"Why?"

"Well, the winter and the plague."

I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Your people know that you can't control your powers, and they now know that you decided to marry some magical outsider to get help for your kingdom. We have wonders here. Medicine beyond anything your people have the technology for. Instead of being limited to trading with one world? New worlds can be opened up for your people, a trade you have a monopoly on."

She blinked.

"This isn't just about lust, though you are very beautiful. This harem is in many ways a business, a partnership. You can help your people more here than back there as their queen."

"I need to get more information."

I gently put my hand on her cheek.

"Of course."

I kissed her forehead.

"We just need to make things more official."

We went into the throne room.

"Cut your hand and put it against the pillar."

I handed her a knife, She winced.

"How much blood is needed?"

"Only a little."

She took the knife and, with great hesitation, pricked her finger and nervously put it against the pillar. It glowed.

"For the next part do you want privacy or do you want your sister wives here for support?"

"What does it require?"

"You take off your clothing, get on an altar, and get branded."

She bit her lip.

"I think I'm having second thoughts."

"Sooner or later there will be another plague, or disease, or any number of things. This isn't about getting help just one time, this is a commitment between both of us."

I admired her body as she whimpered and took off her clothing then got on the raised altar. I admired her ass and pressed my sword against her tailbone, a large part of me wanted to take her right then and right there. Instead I gently ran my fingers through her hair.

"It's over now."

"That quick?"

"Yes."

I helped her off the altar and she took her clothing and put it back on.

"I… um, now what?"

"Now we meet the others. Just remember: you're not alone anymore, we are here for you."

I felt my power run through her and smiled at the memories of her body. I could afford to be patient just this once.



Zoe


Zoe

Elsa sat down.

"Hello."

She spoke English, with a cute accent but she spoke it.

"Hello."

Amy smiled at her and leered, Elsa blushed.

"Um… good to met you all."

Heba nodded.

"Elsa has the position of Blue Queen, Karen Star has the position of Red Queen, and Amy Dallon as Green Queen."

They nodded their heads.

"It is good to meet you."

She bit her lip.

"We all have powers, Elsa. You're safe here."

Karen nodded and floated in the air, Amy touched a flower and it changed colors.

"Oh… ok."

She nodded her head.

"So we are all um with."

"Zoe."

Amy nodded her head.

"But we are all friends."

I felt her leg brush up against mine and Amy smiled.

"Well, more than friends."

Amy winked at me and Elsa took a breath.

"How will that work?"

She turned to Karen.

"We figure that out one day at a time."

"So how many of us will there be?"

"Seven."

She looked at me.

"For luck or to have a woman every day of the week?"

"Both."

Elsa raised an eyebrow.

"Very well."

She nodded her head.

"I hope we all become close friends."

Amy smiled.

"The very closest."

I looked at Amy, who gave me an evil smile. I nodded my head at her, might as well make this a team effort.



coil


Coil

The best thing about New Orleans is the food.

"Mon ami, you can't beat me!"

The second best thing to me is the power and the game. The city's corrupt, pretty much every cop is on the take and quite a few police officers sell weed. Hell, that's the only reason they crackdown on drug dealers here: to get rid of the corruption. The villains have deeply intertwined themselves with local politics since there were capes, the only reason this place isn't a containment zone is because of its location as the most important port in the United States.

Which means that, with a few good friends and some serious favors and cash paid back, a man can have far fewer restrictions. A PRT head has a lot more leeway here. Every day I get to play a game against some of the most devious minds in the country.

And I love the game.

Timelines split and I order a different tactic in each one. This is a minor crime boss in the city but he specializes in human trafficking and he's got dirt on a lot of very important people in the city. The blasting continues and the men look at me.

"I ask nothing of you that I wouldn't do myself."

They nod as we weave in and out of the building, I dodge a power blast.

"I am the-"

I aim my gun and shoot him in both timelines. In one I miss, in the other I hit him right between the eyes. The timelines collapse together and I nod at my men as he falls down dead.

"Secure the girls in the basement, secure the boys too. They're going home."

I look at his computer and split timelines as they leave and search for his list and find it. The Mayor of New Orleans is mostly clean, he just has a mistress and smokes weed after work. I would have thought that the wife would be upset about the mistress… but apparently she sleeps with her too so it seems that it's not an angle I can use to leverage him into compliance.

But I don't need the Mayor. There are aldermen, aids, and a host of other keys to the city, I find the blackmail stash and make it my own. If I collect enough keys, the city will fall to me. Once I have the political power I can clean things up. Oh, there will still be corruption but it will be made far more subtle. There will still be drugs but it will be kept away from kids and away from residential areas. There will be control and there will be discipline. There will be no more room for maniacs and psychos, not under my watch.

"Director? They're secure."

I hide the blackmail and nod.

"Let us gather the evidence and get out of here."

I need to decide which of the smaller fish must be cooked to get the bigger ones under my control.

"Yes, Sir!"

He looks at me.

"No other director goes with us on missions."

"I ask nothing of my men that I am not willing to handle myself."

I get a salute and I smile, I love the game.



Zoe


Zoe

Eventually, Amy's self-control will snap.

I push her against the hospital wall and kiss her deeply She eagerly returns the kiss and wraps her legs against me and then pants, her eyes full of lust.

"Happy birthday, Zoe."

She smiles at me.

"It's a good day."

She kisses me again and moans.

"Can you two please get a room?"

The nurse looks annoyed.

"Um, ok."

Not the right place or the right time, but I do take her to the car. She hugs me and leans into my touch, and sighs as we embrace.

"Getting along?"

"Karen's nice."

"Elsa?"

"She's cute."

We get to her house and Amy bites her lip.

"Are you planning on knocking Elsa up too?"

"It would bind her closer to us, by blood. Helping us win would mean securing her own child's welfare."

"And me?"

I held her tight.

"What about me?"

"I want you too."

I kiss her on the neck, she sighs.

"After… after we beat her in Australia, you have permission."

"Permission for what?"

"My body, whatever you want… you can have me all of me."

I smile as she moans.

"What if I want you right now?"

"I want to motivate you, to get stronger."

I lightly lick her ear.

"That isn't going to work."

I hear a hitch in her voice.

"All of you."

I kiss her neck.

"It's a promise."

She deflates.

"But you have to win first."

"You're being very demanding."

"Fate of the world, so work first and pleasure second."

She smiled at me.

"So you better win, got it?"

I kissed her again.

"Got it."



Prince Hans


Prince Hans

Love is an open door, and I was very lucky to walk in.

"Do you think she's alright?"

I gently run my fingers through my new wife's hair.

"She sacrificed herself for her kingdom. We have to honor that sacrifice, Anna."

At first a dark part of me thought about deposing her. Once she was on the throne, and once I was by her side as her husband, I dismissed that out of hand. That would have been stupid! Anna has proven that she's not that interested in aspects of governance, trade talks bore her, spycraft bores her. Every aspect of the game that I love is delegated to me while she goes off and handles the aspects that bore me to tears: the talking to people and addressing minor concerns. I came into this venture looking to steal away a naive girl and take everything she had but, over the last few weeks, I've found her to be a good partner. Both in the game and, to my surprise and delight, in the bedroom.

Anna, after all, needs quite a bit of consolation over losing her sister. She nuzzles into me and something inside me feels protective. The fire flickers and goes out, the room is dark and then the room lights up again. A man in a suit looks at us, he has icy green eyes and looks dangerous. I frown and reach for my sword.

"None of that, I have no desire to kill my in-laws."

Anna gets off my lap, which makes me frown because I quite enjoy having her there.

"Who are you?"

"Zodiac Zimmerman, King of the Star islands, businessman and very dangerous adventurer and man of magic."

Anna frowns.

"You have my sister."

He leans back.

"Yes, she made a deal to get medicine to save your country and guidance to help her end the endless winter she created. In return, she becomes my woman and has my children."

He looks at her.

"I want her back."

No, that will not do at all.

"No. Elsa is now Queen and administrator of the blue island, I need her in that position and I need her council, she is the queen of her new lands and you are the queen of yours."

I looked at him and nodded discreetly. He wasn't here to upset my apple cart, good.

"Anna? Let us listen to him, ok? Even if you cant have Elsa back-"

Thank god.

"You can at least visit her."

The man nodded his head.

"I want to visit Elsa."

"And you will, when she is able to control her powers and isn't a threat to you."

"Elsa would never hurt me."

"She would never hurt you on purpose, indeed. Just like she would never cover her country in winter on purpose. She can't control her powers though, at least not yet."

"Yet?"

"She is working on it, and getting better."

Anna nods her head.

"But that's beside the current matter. My relationship with your sister is settled, she is my woman and I have no intentions of letting her go."

"So what do you want?"

"Why, trade of course. Between your kingdom and mine."

"I have never heard of the Star Islands."

"It doesn't exist on this earth. In truth there are many worlds and my islands can connect to them. I have access to medicine your world does not have as well as spices, tea, and sugar. All are much cheaper for me than what any trader you currently have access to could offer. If our two regions trade we make a lot of money."

Anna was frowning.

"Arendel is not a rich country."

"It doesn't need to be, it just needs to be the middle man between worlds. The rest of the world will bring their wealth here, eager to get goods they can't get anywhere else. You get a cut of the trade, I get a cut of the trade, and we all become very wealthy."

Anna looked conflicted.

"I am not against this."

"Hans."

"Anna, we have to think about Arendel and its prosperity. Elsa has her own lands now and has to think about them, and we have to think about ours."

"I want Elsa back."

He looked at me.

"You're her sister, right?"

"Yes."

"You know Elsa, right?"

"Yes."

"Then you know I would be a fool to give her up, right?"

She lifted a finger.

"Your promise that I will be allowed to visit her?"

"Of course."

"If you want any trade with us… you better keep that promise."

"Your terms are acceptable."

He got up.

"Thank you for your time."

With that, he vanished. Anna stamped her feet.

"She's alive."

"But I want her back."

"She's alive, that's what matters."

She looks at me and pouts.

"Over there."

"What?"

"The bedroom! I am very upset and you are going to change that now."

I can't help but smile at her antics.

"Very well."

If I'm not careful… I'm going to fall in love with this girl.



elsa


Elsa

It's been peaceful since I came here.

"So?"

I looked at my new lover, or master, and he handed me a letter. It matched Anna's handwriting, writing too much and getting progressively smaller was her thing.

"She wants to meet me but says that people are still angry about the incident."

"We can reestablish contact when people's tempers have cooled off."

He looked at me.

"All right, it's time for another session."

I held out my hands and copied his movements, and practiced creating and melting ice again.

"It seems a little tedious."

"You have a lot of power, the problem is control or your lack of it. Knowing how to use smaller amounts of power more effectively."

'"What if I lose control?"

He went behind me and hugged me and pointed me at the water.

"Then I will tell you to stop and you will, you belong to me now."

He kissed my neck and I felt my knees get a little limp.

"Naughty."

"You're here because you're wanted, because we wanted you."

He hugged me.

"Maybe we should get back to training."

He gave me a squeeze and let me go.

"So back to basic movements."

I copied him. The moves were repetitive but I did feel my control get better.

"So what was the plan."

"What?"

"The plan? Before I came along, what was it? Live a lie the rest of your life? Never get married, never fall in love, just hide yourself away as best you could?"

I glared at him.

"I had a plan."

"You planned to live alone."

I frowned.

"Yes."

"Did it make you happy?"

"No. It did not…"

"You're not alone anymore. I won't say I'm the best man out there, or that I don't have any carnal desires."

I blushed.

"But it's not a horrible life. You can be happy here, with friends who understand what it is like to have powers, children to love and watch grow up. Money and a place of comfort."

"and danger."

He shrugged.

"Lots of lives are on the line, I won't lie. But it does give you purpose, doesn't it?"

He smiled at me.

"This is your home now."

"I know."

"Ok. Back to practice?"



Alexandra


Alexandra

"Z38 is behind the urban village in Brockton Bay."

I stared at contessa.

"I thought you couldn't get a read on him."

"Instead of looking for information, I had thinkers look for its absence."

"Is he making a move we should be worried about?"

"The production of potions has increased several-fold. He's made a breakthrough, a major one, and I think he's going to try to leverage that into something big."

I frowned at her words.

"Is it dangerous to us?"

"From what I've been able to gather from our thinkers we will greatly benefit but there will be a price."

I pulled out my phone and called in a number.

"This Is Alexandra, Z38. I want to talk."

The phone number was for emergency use only.

"I'm here."

"I just found out that you have operations going in Brockton bay. Can you please tell me what your intentions are?"

"To build up the area."

"I think there is something more."

"I was able to get the dates for two Endbringer attacks before my system was fried and they changed to single-use codes and passive defenses."

I frowned.

"You got lucky again?"

"Do you need to contact your thinkers?"

"Yes."

I went to the computer.

"Dates."

"On February 24, 2011, the Simurgh will attack Canberra, Australia. On may 15th of that same year Leviathan will attack the city of Brockton Bay. I have been working on developing anti-Endbringer weaponry for the Canberra attack and for the upcoming leviathan attack."

"This isn't free, is it?"

"I want a free hand for the urban village, to use it as a test of urban redevelopment. In the aftermath of a successful Simurgh operation… I want a free hand in the city of Brockton Bay itself."

I thought about it.

"There would obviously be limitations on that free hand."

"Of course. What are my limitations."

"There needs to be the appearance of central government control at all times, first. What is your plan?"

"To create a zone with rogues, to try to focus capes into business instead of gang violence."

"I am fine with a special economic zone in the urban village, but not outside it. I think you're still hiding something, by the way."

"I've figured out how to crack inter-dimensional travel, I wish to use the city of Brockton Bay as a trade nexus."

I frowned. That was dangerous but there were also possibilities, more resources obviously.

"When do you plan on enacting that plan?"

"It's not safe to pull off until after the enemy's command and control is knocked out."

"Very well, we will make that aspect of your special district conditional upon success."

I looked up the bay, I could easily write that shit hole off as a containment zone and it would hardly do any damage.

"So you've increased your potion production?"

"Yes. I see you're getting the shipments."

"It's a drastic increase."

"And I'm willing to lower my prices because of it."

"I saw the email, yes. the PRT is allowed to sell excess potions to the private market?"

"Of course, that said it's conditional on me getting my free hand."

"Deal. We will have a talk with the governor and let the experiment continue."

"I will try to make sure that life for the people of the bay is one that is undisturbed."

In other words, 'I will be subtle'. Good, he understood.

"I congratulate you for your restraint and hope you keep it up."

In other words: I'm watching you.

"I thank you for your trust."

I shut off the information.

"The dates?"

"Confirmed by the think tank. Will you really let him do this?"

"How improved are our odds of success with the uptick in potions?"

Contessa wrote down a message and sent it out to all our phones. I looked at it.

"It's just one city! No matter how nefarious his designs, this is worth it. We will watch him, of course, but in a way… this is comforting."

"Why?"

"Because it gives us leverage, and leverage over someone as powerful as Z38 is useful."

"And what happens if his plan works?"

"If it does, we will worry about it then."

The survival of the human race was far more important than some pissant town of little importance.



Karen Star


Karen Star

If you look at the girls picked you will notice a pattern.

Elsa is a princess. Hinata and Ino are heiresses of their clans, each very important and high up. Korra is quite literally another princess and Elisabeth Dewitt counts as essentially a princess in all but name. The only exception to this rule are myself and Amy Dallon. It took some work to guide Amy's picks into a direction I wanted. She initially wanted to split her picks between Ino and Yang, officially to get more training but unofficially because of her weakness for blonds. I respect that her passions but my passion is to see these proud women brought down a notch, to see them degraded and humbled.

After a lifetime of being looked down upon… I want to see some of these high bitches brought down a notch.

I do not want to break them however, I do need them, but at the same time… the idea of them squealing like a pig, showing weakness and shame as my man fucks them… That makes me hot, just like Amy gets hot under the collar from anything with golden locks. I walk through town, my little bump barely showing though it is growing.

I understand the logic. Getting me pregnant ties me to the cause, it gives me a personal reason to stay with the operation beyond the perks, it makes sense to bind me in such a way. What does not make sense is not binding the other girls in the same manner. Really, I blame Amy, trying to use sex as a lure to further motivate our man. The motivation is already there! We are at maximum motivation, what we need to do is to bind our sister wives to the cause by blood. Worse, it just leaves her frustrated and sad.

I looked at my man.

"So how are the negotiations going?"

"Long, getting two heiresses is difficult."

"It will tie us more strongly to them."

He nodded his head.

"Korra?"

"They're still rebuilding her body."

I winced.

"She got hurt badly."

"And Elisabeth?"

He sighed.

"Amy has had questions about things, Ino has powers that are vital for the upcoming plan but Hinata doesn't."

I froze. She was trying to change her mind.

"And who does she want as a replacement?"

"Yang has connections to an island in Vale and could help us negotiate a trade deal. It would also free up the budget for another pool which would mean a lot more potions."

I frowned.

"Are you changing your mind or Amy?"

"Hinata is Amy's pick so it's up to her. on my side though I am having second thoughts about Elisabeth."

"We have the points."

"I know but her powers are in some ways redundant and when I look at the numbers… You spent more of the budget than Amy did."

He sighed and we opened the door, I looked at the girl and smiled at her. She looked scared innocent, I wanted to corrupt her right then and there.

"Mr. Hyuuga, it is good to meet you."

"Likewise."

They bowed and sat down.

"This is my daughter and current clan heir, Hinata."

"Um… hello."

"I take it you have seen the lands available?"

"Yes, and tested the potions your golems can make. As a wife, she will have full control over this resource?"

"Correct."

"Then I find this match to be acceptable but, of course, Hinata's new duties will leave her unable to be the heir."

The girl flinched.

"You need further compensation?"

"No, Hinata has failed time and time again to live up to our family's standards. This is ideal, here she will be at least of some use to the clan."

The girl looked hurt.

"I'm right here."

"Adults are talking."

He looked at her and she shrunk into herself.

"I apologize for my girl's outburst."

My man looked at him.

"I wish to know more about her. Do you mind if we talk privately?"

He got up and glared at his daughter.

"This is a very important deal for the clan, I trust you will not ruin it with sentimentalism."

"Yes, father."

He nodded his head and left the room.

"So Hinata."

"Yes."

"Your file says you're a ninja of the leaf village."

"Um, yes… I am."

"I've met with Ino, she had nothing but good things to say about you."

"She is a kind girl."

She squirmed.

"Is there anything you want to say?"

"I understand this is an honor but there is a boy I like named Naruto… I wish to be with him, instead of you."

"Are you in a relationship with him?"

"No, um… not at the moment but I really like him."

I felt myself almost panting. This was delicious and I got wet as she squirmed.

"Your father would be very upset if this deal failed because of a nonexistent relationship."

"I understand and I trust your judgment."

She looked down and I smiled as I leered at her body.

"I will ponder this further."

With that Hinata left, my man was hesitating and I had to make sure he didn't let her go.

"We made a decision." karen

"I know, if she was in a relationship I would back off but this is essentally puppy love."

"Your going to talk this over with Amy arnt you?"

"I have to this is her pick."



Korra


Korra

I woke up on the ground, in pain.

"Welcome back to the world of the living."

I groaned and patted myself.

"I'm alive?"

"You did die, but the Company does good work."

I looked at the voice and saw a person with golden hair, I stared at him.

"So… I died."

He looked at me with sympathy.

"First time?"

"What?"

"Yeah, I know how this feels. First time I died, it did mess me up pretty bad."

"Just how many times have you died?"

He shuddered.

"A lot."

He looked at me and I noticed I was naked, I covered myself.

"It's kind of pointless to do that."

"Why do you say that?"

"You signed a contract, for all intents and purposes I own you."

I blinked.

"Oh, right…"

"Basically? At some point I am going to see you naked so, you know, the modesty is kind of pointless."

I gripped the blanket.

"So are um we going to um do that now?"

"First time I died It took me a while to readjust, I'm willing to give that to you."

"Thanks."

I gripped the blanket.

"Take off your clothes."

"What?"

"Look um if you're going to see me naked then it's only fair that I see you naked! That makes it… even, you know."

"Ok."

He took off his shirt and pants and underwear and my eyes lingered on his body.

"Can you turn around?"

"Sure."

He did so and I looked at his butt, and then spanked it.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking out the merchandise."

He looked at me in confusion, I smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"It officially meets Avatar approval."

I looked at his junk.

"Though that um… how will that fit?"

"The traditionally used hole is fully capable of pushing out something larger than a melon, you will be fine."

I laid down.

"Yeah but it does seem to be a little bit… limiting, you see."

I enjoyed that blush.

"So you are the fourth official girl here and we have a choice of castles. Red, Yellow, Orange, and Purple."

"No blue?"

"Blue has been taken."

I leaned back, another color.

"Green is Green a choice?"

"Green has been taken, the options are Red, Yellow, Orange, and purple."

"Crap, Blue and green are my favorite colors. Am I supposed to follow some kind of color guide or something?"

"No, that's just the name of the castle and title you will have. I'm not going to force you to wear said color all the time, that's just stupid."

I sighed.

"All right, well let's see… Can't use green even though that's the color of the next avatar… or the current one now, I guess. I dressed up as an Airbender a couple times though… hmm… Orange is fine, I guess."

"Ok, your position will be the Orange Queen. I guess we better settle this now and bind the castle to you."

He pulled out a sword and slashed the air a portal formed and he picked me up, we moved into a different castle and he put me down softly on the ground.

"So what now?"

"Um, you bleed on a pillar and then we brand you."

I blinked.

"That just seems kind of excessive."

"I know."

He helped me up and I pricked my finger then pressed it against the pillar. I felt a rush of power, completely different from bending or…

"Wow."

I grimaced though. I felt something was missing, something important. He took my hand, led me to an altar, and carefully laid me down.

"Front or back?"

"Um… back, I guess."

I turned around and felt something hot press against my tailbone. It hurt and I felt tears form in my eyes.

"It's ok, it's over."

I opened my eyes.

"Really?

"Yeah, you are now bound to me."

I frowned.

"But I didn't ask you to stop."

He stared at me.

"What?"

"The brand, I didn't ask you to stop."

"You liked it?"

I grimaced.

"Well… at first it hurt but then it kind of felt ok, different you know."

I got up and smiled as he looked at my breasts.

"So what do I call you? Honey, husband, boyfriend, master?"

I blinked.

"Master… That kind of has this nice kinky sound to it, you know?"

"You're taking this remarkably well."

"Yeah, well, the alternative was death and spending forever in darkness. I might as well make the best of it, plus you're hot. I was told there were bad guys to fight?"

"The very worst."

I smiled.

"Ok! So I have my own castle, a hot boyfriend, and bad guys to fight? You know what? I'm good."



Sasuke Uchiha


Sasuke Uchiha

I looked at my Sensei, who was sprawled out on the ground and surrounded by booze again.

"Tsunade, wake up."

"Don't want to."

"I need you to teach me more stuff."

"You can teach yourself."

I sighed and helped her to her feet.

"Ugh… The floor felt better."

I helped her to the chair and gave her some water.

"I wanted to spend more time on the floor."

"You can't keep living like this."

"I'm an adult! I can live however I damned well please."

She drank down the water.

"And shouldn't you be with your girlfriend?"

"Guren is on a mission."

"Well how about your teammate, Sakura?"

"How about your teammate, Jiraya?"

She shuddered.

"That perv? Never."

"Yeah? Then now you know how I feel! Training under Orochimaru has only made Sakura creepier."

'Look what I can do with my tongue' isn't a good pick up line.

"Naruto is going to be visiting today, I want to get some training in before he gets here."

"Ugh… Fine!"

When my sensei is sober, she's actually pretty good at her job… When she's sober.

"How did I get stuck with a brat like you?"

"Becoming your apprentice was one of the things the clans asked for after the incident."

"You mean coup, right? Because it was a coup."

She looked out the window.

"Though looking back on it, he was a piece of shit. A fantastic ninja, but a shit human being."

I looked at her.

"I always wondered why you agreed to… you know."

"Teach you? Your father made deals with all of the Sannin. Orochimaru got off on state's evidence, Jiraya got to come home and formally adopt naruto, and I got to kill the old cunt."

I stared at her as she fumbled for a bottle of booze, only to find it empty.

"You see, I once loved a man dearly but the cunt thought he was making me soft and sent him on a suicide mission. Losing him destroyed me as a person… so that was my price. I got to murder her with my own bare hands. I changed things up a bit though, beat her to death with a chair. After that I became your glorious god damned sensei, as a way to heal the past."

Her hands gripped another bottle and she frowned.

"You filled it with water."

"You need to hydrate."

"Brat."

"Yeah… but I'm not wrong."

She sighed.

"Go run along, I'm going to play around with these new potions."

She smiled.

"Both me and Oro see possibilities."

I smirked.

"Are you falling in love, Sensei?"

She laughed.

"Oh no, there was a very twisted love triangle when I was young that I was very lucky to escape."

"And that's?"

"I loved Oro, who loved Jiraya, who loved me. It made us all miserable. Dan rescued me from it."

She winced.

"And then Oro vanished and we thought he died, Jiraya found this cute girl with pale skin and when he gets to bed with her he finds out it's Oro."

She laughed.

"Well, I thought it was funny."

She looked down at the ground.

"Go, have fun."

I walked out of the hospital and to the bridge. I waited and soon saw Naruto approaching, in his coat. He observed me.

"Bastard."

"Dead last."

I held out a fist and we bumped them together.

"Sakura still single?"

I shook my head.

"I have no idea why you're interested in her."

"She's got some fire, and a nice ass."

He leaned against the wall and I leaned against it too.

"Really wish she would stop throwing herself at you and get with a real man."

"We are not doing a dick measuring contest, Naruto… and I have a girlfriend, one I'm very happy with."

"Yeah… She's good for you, better than you deserve."

"Asshole."

"Meh, I can live with that."

He looked up at the sky and I pulled something out.

"What's this?"

"It's prepaid meals to the most expensive restaurant in town and a romantic movie, I broke into your house and got you a suit a good one. You are going to take a shower and then you're going to ask Sakura for a date."

He looked at the stuff.

"This shit looks expensive."

"All of this was two weeks pay, I'm giving your ass the best shot I can give it."

Naruto looked away.

"Thanks."

"Hey, just because you annoy the fuck out of me… It doesn't mean you're not my friend. Now go out there and lay some pipe, ok?"

We bumped fists and I leaned back. I sighed as I sensed someone under the bridge.

"Come on, get up."

A girl nervously got up to the top.

"Hinata."

"Sasuke-kun."

She pressed her fingers together.

"He doesn't know who you are."

"Um… maybe if…"

"He's had a crush on Sakura since forever and he doesn't even know your name."

She looked down.

"It's not just for your clan, it's for the whole village, you know? Money is getting tight, we have to find another way of doing things. This? This is a chance for us to become more than just weapons."

"I know."

I shook my head.

"Whatever you choose? Commit to it."

"Yes."

She walked away and I shook my head. I communicated just fine with my woman! Why did everyone else have to make their romantic lives so complicated?



Ino Yamanaka


Ino Yamanaka

Ok, Ino! This is the most important deal in your life… No, the most important deal in your clan's history! Do not screw this up.

I take a breath and look in the mirror. There are four noble clans in the village: Aburame, Akimichi, Hyuga, and Uchiha. What makes you a noble Clan? It's not money or not just money. It's land and lots of it. It's being able and capable of having your clan live on non-ninja related activities, it is financial independence. I mean, yeah, we have a flower shop… but if missions dried up, we would be screwed.

There is a reason why my clan and the Nara's have worked for the Akimichi clan for generations. If this deal goes through, that number goes up to five. That hasn't been the case since the Senju got obliterated during the ninja wars. Though looking back on that, a great deal of that might have been sabotage. Father seemed to think so and father was on the council, so he was probably right.

"Ino?"

I looked at my dad, I had agonized over my looks for hours.

"It is time."

I nodded my head and took a deep breath.

"So it's true, right?"

"Yes, the village has been allowed to explore the other side of the portal and survey the islands."

"And we're going to have an island of our own?"

"Yes."

I smiled.

"Awesome."

I took deep breaths, in and out, and walked to the front of the family home and froze as I looked at Sasuke.

"Um… Hi."

He looked at me.

"I just want to say sorry."

"For what?"

"For the whole Sakura incident, I didn't mean to break up your friendship and-"

I held out a hand.

"That wasn't your fault."

He nodded his head.

"Look, I know you have a girlfriend and that's good. I've moved on."

My father sighed with relief and Sasuke nodded his head.

"Well, let's get going."

We walked to the capital building and I froze as Choji and Shikamaru looked at me. Choji folded his arms.

"I'm told that if you do this you're going to have to quit being a ninja."

I frowned.

"This deal is very important to my family."

He looked at me.

"That doesn't mean I'm going to miss you any less."

I smiled and hugged him, both of them. My boys.

"Shikamaru, you have to be less lazy."

"Hnn."

"I won't be there to push you to be the very best and in the real world that gets people killed. Choji."

He looked at me.

"You need to watch your weight."

He frowned.

"Ino."

I looked around and then looked him in the eye.

"I know what your family style requires but the Akimichi have always balanced the weight with weight lifting, they build power under the fat so they can move with power and speed… and they eat a lot of healthy food instead of junk food. You need either need to balance your bulk with muscle or you need less fat. I'm only nagging you about this because I worry about you, about both of you."

I ended the hug and walked into the office the Hokage looked at me.

"Inoichi, is she ready?"

"As much as a person can be ready."

A portal opened and I saw a massive white castle. I felt a sense of awe as we walked through the portal which then closed behind us.

"Ok. You can do this, Ino."

I nodded at my father. A man in white took a boat to us, I noticed then that the Hyuuga family was also there and Hinata looked scared. Should I be worried? unlike me this wasn't the first time she would meet our future husband. Was he ugly or smell bad or-

I took a breath, I needed to stop thinking that way. If he was ugly then I would help him look his best. If he smelled bad? Well, couples bathed together all the time. If he was mean then I would help bring out the best him he could be. This was for my clan, for my family, we would never get another opportunity like this and I will make this work.

We got on the boats and my heart beat in my chest. Moment of Truth! I walked inside and froze and then fell to my knees.

"Oh thank the gods, you're hot!"

My father at first looked completely mortified and then smirked and then laughed. The boy, who looked around my age, smiled.

"It is good to finally meet you. Take a seat?"

"Sure."

I sat down.

"So I have more or less formalized an agreement with your village and respective clans. Clan heirs Ino and Hinata will sign themselves over to me in mind and body and and soul. They will join my harem and, in time, bear my children. In return each woman will be gifted an island that will be under their dominion, along with a castle and other rights and responsibilities."

He looked at us.

"Their authority upon said islands will only be superseded by my own. I have also agreed to and paid the bride price for both girls. Their weight in gold, sevenfold. This by the way not hyperbole. Both of you were measured, with the gold being given to your respective clans. As I rule, I rounded up not down."

He put out folders.

"These are photos of the respective properties still on offer: Purple, Red island, and Yellow islands."

Hinata was hesitating, putting things off. I grabbed the folders and started reading, these were intelligence reports gathered over a period of months. I read as quickly as I could and just found myself falling in love with the photos of one castle.

"Purple is my favorite color, I choose that."

I put it down and then looked at Hinata's father who was frowning and now seething in anger.

"Is the choice of islands first come first serve?"

I could almost taste the killing intent.

"Yes, the first person to sign the."

"I'm ready to sign now."

Hinata blinked and he nodded at me and I signed the paper, I felt my body get cold and then smiled at my father's smirk. Hinata shrunk into herself as her father glared at her.

"Hinata. Read the remaining files."

Her hands shook as she read the files.

"People tell me I look good in Red?"

Her father glared at her.

"The yellow castle seems more fitting to our clan's image."

Hinata's fear vanished.

"I like the color Red."

The boy raised his hand.

"Unfortunately, due to legal matters, the person who signs the contract gets to pick, not her parent or guardian. I will note that we can have any castle's layout changed to something more fitting."

The man looked furious.

"Fine… Hinata, sign the paperwork."

She was hesitating. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, Hinata's father got up and came back smiling.

"This is over a boy, isn't it?"

He sounded happy, gleeful, and then he opened the folder and I looked at photos of Naruto and Sakura. I saw them holding hands, laughing, and then one of them kissing.

"He never loved you."

Hinata was crying.

"Naruto…"

"He never loved you, he never even noticed you, you are nothing to him. He has however found someone, Looks like Oro's student. I might not like the man but he knows his stuff. The two of them will go far together. You, however, have been a massive disappointment."

Hinata looked miserable.

"My brother died for you and, instead of working to be worthy of that sacrifice, you just act like a broken doll. For the first time in your life, for the very first time in your life, you have a chance to be useful. These potions… This medicine, it can and will save our clansmen's lives. Today you can justify your existence and all you have to do is sign a piece of paper and spread your legs."

She sniffed and picked up the paper and signed it.

"Good…"

He got up.

"She's your problem now."

With that said he got up and left, the boy looked at me.

"I need to talk with Hinata."

"Yeah, ok."

I got up with my father and left the room, I looked around and saw Sasuke in the distance. He looked guilty, I walked up to him.

"What did you do?"

He looked away.

"Sasuke."

He held up his hand and I saw a wedding ring.

"I asked Guren to marry me."

I blinked.

"She's good for you. But I thought you two wanted to wait?"

He looked away.

"Sasuke? What did you do?"

"It was the only way to get Sakura to stop chasing me."

"Naruto?"

"I gave him the best looking suit, a complete makeover, paid for the best restaurant in town and tickets to the best play. I spent hours coaching him in every way I possibly could… And it worked."

I blinked.

"Why?"

"Multiple reasons… Naruto loves her, Sakura deserves a chance to be happy, and the village really needs this deal to work."

I sighed.

"We've done worse for the village, haven't we?"

"I wish I could feel the same, Ino."



cannoned conversation


Cherico said:


With that said he got up and left, the boy looked at me.

"I need to talk with Hinata."



That Private Conversation

Zoe sighed as the other ninjas left the room, leaving him alone with the humiliated Hyuga. The poor girl was even now shrinking in on herself, shrinking away from him, stewing in her own perceived failure and inadequacy.

This won't do at all.

Zoe walked around the short signing table and sunk back to his knees beside Hinata, thankful that his new body would allow him to sit seiza for long periods of time without locking up. He reached out and took her hand, noting that, while the rest of her body tensed up, she kept the arm he touched limp and unyielding. Already she was surrendering to the inevitable, allowing him to take what her father had forced her to give to him.

So Zoe drew her in and hugged her, smiling inwardly at Hinata's gasp of surprise.

"I'm sorry," he began, "He should not have spoken like that to you."

Hinata stammered. "I- no, it's," she squirmed, clearly uncomfortable.

Zoe squeezed a little, relishing the slight "Eep" that came out of the girl in his arms. "I know, I know, your self-deprecation is warring with your honesty," he said, "You know you don't deserve to be dumped on like that, that it has nothing to do with who you are or what you've done, but, despite that, you keep wandering back to things you might have done, ways you could have changed the behaviors of others. It's a weakness we share, and it's why I had to have you."

Hinata started to lean back, and Zoe let her, so they could look each other in the eyes. "It's okay, you don't have to pretend for my sake," she whispered, as if afraid to even state it aloud, "I- I know this is only a business transaction, that you're gaining access to my bloodline, and a whole world through me. And that's fine; it's good that I can be useful for something."

Zoe shook his head. " Ino Yamanaka is my link to your world," he disagreed. "The Yamanakas are connected to the village of Konoha, through the Akimichis, to the civilian sectors that I most want access to, for resources and personnel, to the other clans, for seals and techniques. The Hyugas are far too insular and elitist for any of that. Even the Yamanaka family techniques are more useful to me than the Hyuga bloodline; frankly I can replicate most of your bloodline through scanner technologies. Even the evolution of your eyes, something your clan doesn't even know it can do, is mostly a waste of time for me, with the various powers our partners and I have access to.

"No, Hinata; I'm not using you to gain access to your clan and bloodline. I'm putting up with your clan and bloodline to gain access to you."

At that moment Hinata's look of confused disbelief was too cute, and Zoe decided to steal a kiss, stealing another when Hinata's embarrassed blushing face proved to be also too cute.

Zoe smiled. "A woman like you? A woman of compassion, empathy, and love, coming out of a dark world of death and betrayal like yours? No, Hinata, while there might be more 'optimal' choices, people with more strength, or skills, there isn't a 'better' woman to have by my side, for all eternity."

Zoe went in for another hug, and this time he could feel Hinata, maybe despite herself, start to relax into it. "Besides," he added, "I don't think you or your father really realize just what you signed up for. Whose signature is on that document, granting ownership over the island, hm?"

Hinata paused, her eyes widening. "It's, mine?" she asked, realization dawning.

Zoe chuckled. "And that means that, when your father thought he was selling you to me, he was really selling himself to you," he replied. "Do you want to free your branch family from the Caged Bird Seal? Take your little sister away from your father's toxic influence? Force Hiashi to dance naked in the street with a bucket on his head, clucking like a chicken? You can make it all a condition of receiving those healing potions, and access to all the resources I am giving you. No one is going to back a power play by Hiashi, not with the Yamanaka as a loyal and wholly reasonable alternate route of access to the Great Old One corporation's assets. You are the one who will dictate whether the Hyuga remain a relevant power, or become a footnote in Konoha's history. You are the one with the power now."

Slowly, hesitantly, Hinata's arms came up to finally return Zoe's hug, a decidedly not shy grin growing across her face.



Winter


Winter Schnee

Three weeks was more than enough time for me to make my decision.

Professor Ironwood and my father looked at me, Ironwood motioning for my father to keep his mouth shut. I respected him for that.

"This would, of course, change everything."

A portal had opened from another world, agents had come through and talked to us. The deal offered was pretty big, the ability to trade with other worlds giving our nation and companies an advantage that no other kingdom could match. They brought medicine, healing potions that were more effective than anything we had ever had. We were allowed to tour an island, and it had more arable land than our entire country possessed and it was completely Grimm free. This was paradise, it literally solved our greatest problems. We had gone into some of the most horrible wars in our history over pathetic imitations of such a thing in the past. Ground our population into a meat grinder and sent an entire generation to die, in the last war.

All they wanted in exchange was one very simple thing.

Me.

"What are the alternatives?"

I looked at the boy… no, man… who would be my husband. Well, more like owner.

"If you decide to pass on this opportunity? there are others we have considered."

"Who?"

"Pyrrha of Mystral comes to mind, Yang and Ruby from the island of Patch, your little sister Weiss. All are options we have considered."

"You would take my sister?"

"This is a marriage alliance, the goal is to bind my lands to yours by blood and Atlas is our first pick."

"As it should be, we are the finest kingdom on Remnant."

I glared at my father.

"But if Winter doesn't want to do this then Weiss would be an acceptable option. If both refuse then we will simply try Mystral or Vale next. The goal is to have a kingdom to act as our partner and a point of contact between all the worlds in our trade alliance."

"Worlds?"

Ironwood raised an eyebrow.

"I have just concluded trade negotiations with two other planets and I am working on a third. Atlas would not just be limited to my domain, her products could be sold across several worlds and the products of those worlds funneled back into Atlas. With Atlas selling them off to the rest of Remnant at a markup."

"And our connection to your system?"

"Right now it's limited but I am planning a very important mission that should ensure that trade will become more viable between all worlds within the network. Even with my current limitations, this is still a good offer and you know it."

He leaned back.

"You are of course free to refuse. We will simply bring in Weiss and ask her next."

I frowned, this was the same dilemma my mother had been in once upon a time.

"Are you marrying into the family?"

"No. You and our children can retain the Schnee name."

"What am I giving up?"

He looked at me.

"Mind and body and soul, everything, all of you. In exchange the yellow island, the castle and all of its resources, will belong to you. You will answer only to me."

I looked at the contract.

I would become just like my mother, but if I don't it will be Weiss. I signed the contract and felt some force grip my heart, it felt cold and I felt it worm around my body.

"You made the right decision, Winter."

The contract glowed then vanished, and a portal opened. I followed the boy dutifully and looked outside, it was beautiful and warm. I saw what looked like an elf village. Looking inside I saw a throne, my throne, and a pillar on which the contract was written. I looked at the offered knife and pricked my finger and hesitated before pressing a bloody finger. An altar rose.

"Take off your clothing."

I tried to maintain my dignity as I took my clothing off and laid on the pillar, I then felt the brand be applied on the small of my back. He gently rubbed my ass when he was finished.

"You belong to me now."

I looked him in the eye.

"Are are all of your traditions this melodramatic?"

"Not all, but quite a few."

I took my owner's hand. I had been called a bitch quite a few times in my life, now though I was officially his dog.

"Well, come on. Time to meet the others."

"Yes, my lord."

I got dressed and kept my head high. My old life was over but it was for Atlas, so it was ok.



Cannoned


Just enjoying the story, so more Omakes of Zoe being affectionate.

- Warning Warning this is pure fluffiness! Some taboo hand holding may happen -



OMAKE - BLUE

It was a quiet night, Elsa reflected looking over her kingdom of one. The snowy peaks under the moonlit sky was familiar and unfamiliar to her. The sounds were different too. She can hear the sounds of her golems tending to the castle. The 'robots' as explained to her by the strange woman Heba.

But even though this was her home now, Elsa kept looking for landmarks that weren't there. Her memories didn't match up with her current reality.

Elsa missed her home, she missed her people.

Most of all she missed her ~

Her thoughts were interrupted by a snowball hitting her in the back of her head.

What the?

Elsa turned and saw it was Zoe. He had somehow sneaked into her room and tossed a snowball at her head.

"How?" She muttered. Elsa was the queen of ice!

In response Zoe just smirked and pointed to a portal

"Tossed it through a portal," He confessed with a grin that made Elsa's insides do a flip.

She groaned at her husband's goofiness.

"Unlimited cosmic power and you use it for this?" She asked, half exasperated and half amused.

Zoe nodded.

" Yes, to ironically toss a snowball at my grumpy wife" He answered grabbing her hand with gentle care and dragged her away from the balcony.

Elsa let him pull her away from her woes, idly feeling her clothing change from her usual blue gown to something more modern. Jeans, a jacket and a beanie with a cute snow flake on top.

Zoe lead her through another portal and Elsa found herself looking at an ice rink. One full of people laughing, skating and just enjoying themselves.

As her husband lead her to the rental booth to get skates, he looked at her and laughed

"Honesty time? I never ice skated and I'm going to suck and make a big production out of it." Zoe causally admitted.

Elsa found herself smiling and gripped the hand holding hers harder.

"I'll just have to guide you through it." She said with a smile.

Seeing people around her, not afraid of her and what she could do. Or even aware of her station in life. Elsa felt something in her relax a bit more.

This… this was nice.

She pushed Zoe into a nearby snow bank and ran the rest of the way to the rental booth. Laughing as she heard him swear vengeance as if he was a cartoon villain.

Maybe it was time to make new memories.



Elsa


Elsa

I felt nervous. It had been a few months, a few months of training, and I felt like I had some measure of control for the first time in my life.

I took a deep breath, a portal opened and Anna looked at me then she immediately ran over and hugged me.

"I missed you so much!"

I hugged her back and then noticed the ring.

"You married Hans."

"Yes."

"You barely even know him."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Are you really allowed to comment on that?"

I blushed and took a breath.

"I see your point."

"So, how is the married life treating you?"

She smiled.

"Sex is great, I mean really great, as in woooh, you know?"

I felt the heat in my cheeks.

"So how's the Harem life treating you?"

"Zoe has been understanding and Lady Dallon has petitioned to give me and the others time to adjust before we um settle things."

"You haven't had sex yet, have you?"

I glared at her.

"Is he mean to you?"

"No, he's been kind. It's just a really large transition."

Anna looked around the castle.

"It's pretty."

"I know."

We sat down and I snapped a finger, a golem brought one of these new pizzas. Anna looked at the food.

"What is this?"

"Pizza. It's a dish from my um man's culture."

I picked up a slice and started eating with a knife and fork.

"It's pretty good."

Anna looked at me.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah… It's a massive change but I get to be myself and the other girls kind of get it."

"Made any friends?"

"Um, yes. This girl named Korra has been helping me with my ice magic, she's um enthusiastic and I've been learning how to control my golems. Pretty soon it's going to be safe for me to be around normal people."

"It's not safe now?"

I pointed to a golem with a gun.

"If I lose control of my powers his job is to hit me with a sleep dart."

Anna blinked.

"Oh."

"Still I've made a lot of progress, I'm getting better."

She took another slice of pizza.

"So! Hans wants to know about trade."

"There are a lot of things, so many wonders that other worlds have. It's going to be good for Arendel, for us."

"Really?"

I smiled.

"Yeah, it's going to be a new era for me and you."

"Never thought I'd be a queen, Elsa."

"It fits you… and I'm going to be honest, this is better for Arendel."

We finished the meal in relative silence and then hugged. I watched her go home, both of us waving goodbye to the other.

"You can come out Zoe."

He left the shadows.

"How are the portals going?"

"Our current resources are not enough. We can create permanent teleportation circles, and are doing so, but they can only be used for a short period of time."

"How short?"

"1 minute, and then they need an hour to recharge. If you went an entire day you could use them for half an hour, which isn't long enough for the kind of trade we need to do."

"You have a solution?"

"Yes, a very important mission."

I nodded at him.

"Thank you for this, I needed to talk to her."

"You're welcome. Just remember, your life isn't over. It has just changed."

I looked out into the water below, maybe a swim would do me good.



Asami Sato


Asami Sato

The rest of the world came down on us like the wrath of an angry God.

Killing Korra didn't make the equalists stronger, it just really pissed off a lot of people. I grimace as I stare at the dead bodies strung up by the lamp posts.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, thanks."

Dating a Firebender saved my life. When the world came to Republic City full of rage my father's little operations were discovered. He did not last long after that, then they went over the company with a fine-tooth comb. If I had not been with Mako? I'd be dead right now. But being the rebellious daughter of an equalist, by dating a fire bender, saved my life.

"If you're having second thoughts-"

"No, we need to do this."

We opened the doors and music played, a wedding, me and Mako. He's the one who suggested it and he was right, in order for my family's company to continue to exist we need a public break with the past. I have the money and power, he has the fame and legitimacy and he's not hard on the eyes. We can make this work.

"Dearly beloved."

I feel nervous as I give my vows, then we kiss. We are official now, Bolin parties hard which is good because he took her death the hardest. I look at the wedding feast, all elements are represented. It's nice, homey, and I look at Mako, at my husband.

"If we have a girl, I want her to be named Korra."

He smiles sadly.

"Yeah, that sounds nice."

I feel bad for Korra. she died too soon, never had the chance to make her mark on the world. I'm told they're already looking for the next avatar in the Earth kingdom. I hope, whoever it is, that they have a bit more luck than Korra.



Korra


Korra

The seven of us were seated and I yawned as I woke up.

"And that is why this mission is completely vital."

I looked around me. Three of the girls had blond hair, three girls had normal hair, and then you had the new girl with white hair. That one girl, Elsa, she seemed to be all right. Sure she was a freaky powerful Waterbender but she didn't seem to have any control or know how to throw a punch. Apparently she was a literal princess and, while she was nice, there was something about her that just kind of grated at me. Too high strung, I think. I looked at Zoe.

"Korra, did you understand what I said?"

"Yeah! Um… very important mission?"

He winced.

"Quite the understatement. This mission is very important and, despite my prep work, there is a good chance I will die."

I blinked.

"So you need me to come with you?"

"You remember when I told you that more people makes the mission more dangerous, right? Heba had graphs and a slide show."

I don't remember that… I kind of drifted off after the money talk.

"So… Don't come with you?"

He took a deep breath.

"Korra… I need you to do something very important."

"What?"

"Do not touch anything, especially in the control room! If you do not understand something, either contact Heba, or Karen, or Amy. For the love of god, do not do anything without talking to someone first."

"Look, it will be fine."

He looked me in the eye.

"Please, Korra. There are some very important and delicate plans in the works… If you need to get out talk to Karen, she will work with you. If you need something to do, the others are there for you. Just remember, do not do anything crazy."

"Pishhaw! When have I ever done anything crazy?"

He stared at me.

"Ok, nothing crazy."

With that done he left, I went back to my castle but I was bored… really bored so I got a canoe and sailed to the white castle and hung around a bit and I might have snuck in and I got curious so I checked out the control room. Get this: all we had to do to get two new islands was beat like twenty guys! I'm like, hell yeah. We can do that!

I mean, it's twenty guys without bending. How hard can it be?



Zoe


Zoe

I have been practicing, which is important because I only have 150 special rounds.

"Zoe?"

"Yes, Heba?"

"This operation is dangerous. 28 Acquisition agents have been sent in before, there has never been any survivors."

"I know."

The portal opens.

"Be careful, you just reached level 15."

"I know, Heba."

I was covered in armor and I brought out my submachine gun. I then suddenly felt a wave of unnatural power sweep over my body and mind and wash away.

"Zoe?"

"Psychic attack, I think."

"No, that's something they do just by existing. If your shields are not good enough you die, right then and there, or go insane."

I looked at a toaster, it's aura looked strange. I shot it.

"Tikla lee!"

The thing screamed as it grew and I filled it with more and more bullets until It vanished, then I grimaced as I felt a burning on my back.

"35 points."

"I'm down 12 rounds."

"Each round only has a 5% chance of working and you know it."

"Yeah, I came out ahead."

"Those things are hard to kill, always have been."

Each bullet was marked with planeshift and teleport. Where to? A teleportation circle inscribed on to a shiny piece of metal near a sun. These things were tough but they were not 'going into the sun and survive' tough. How did I do it? Properly processed Gravity dust is awesome. I continued on in silence until I heard a noise, I flinched and saw a dog.

"Yeah, nice try."

I fired my gun, aiming carefully as the dog grew to monstrous size. I had the time to notice that its teeth seemed really razor-sharp before it popped and vanished, I grimaced as I felt the warmth.

"Company has logged the kill, you're at 70 points."

"Tell the company to purchase 3-dimensional teleportation rooms."

"Which islands?"

"Purple, Blue, and Yellow. We have active trade agreements, if anything happens the bots can secure trade with those worlds."

"You can leave now if you want."

"No… Once these things get your scent, they follow you. I have to do this now."

I pulled on my pocket and loaded the gun with a full ammo drum, I heard noise and saw a creature. Much too close! I threw down every round I had as it sped down the hallway. I heard a clicking sound and dodged out of the way, hearing a loud thump.

This is a 50 round drum, and it's now completely empty. I switched out for a fresh one as the mass of tentacles grabbed me, dragging me to its gaping maw. Its teeth were like buzzsaws and it gave out an unholy laugh. I smiled as the gun clicked and I fired. Then it vanished. I felt cold, so cold, but I got up.

"45 points."

"20 more into Dimensional rooms for Castles Red and Green."

"Nothing for Korra?"

"If I get lucky."

The hallway shook and I looked as a monstrous creature came towards me. I aimed and fired. it was too close! Too… I thanked god when I heard a popping sound.

"You only have 56 more rounds to go."

Heba paused.

"Take care of Kora?"

"Yeah."

"That leaves you with 20 points remaining."

"Are we including what we saved by picking Winter?"

"Recalculating, 25 points remaining."

"Put in a purchase for the Unity Engine."

"Done, carry over the 5. We really need that one?"

"In order for the ritual to work, yes."

"We have a problem."

"Call in the girls."

"It's a really big problem."

"How big?"

"Vi Victus big."

"Shit."

I thought about it.

"Get every defense we have, rally everyone! This is going to suck."

"Sir."

"If I come back home I'm bringing a friend with me and it's going to be a shitshow."

I frowned at a barrel with a purple aura and I fired at it. It transformed and I ran, shooting behind me as it got closer and closer. I felt a tentacle grab me and was slammed against the wall. I kept focus, kept trying to shoot more rounds into it… And then I heard that clicking sound.

"Shit."

I was out of ammunition. I grabbed the tentacle and burned my magical energies through it, guiding them inside the limb. The creature screamed and vanished. I laid back on the ground, only able to pant in pain.

"Zoe? Zoe! Z38!"

I felt the burning.

"How many points?"

"40?"

"Terrestrial, Floral… and Faunal Engines… Purchase them…"

I got up and winced in pain, my leg was definitely broken. I winced as the portal opened and collapsed through it. I heard explosions and looked outside.

"Down."

I was put down.

"Fucking hell…"

I looked at Heba.

"Snipers, sir."

"You any good with a gun?"

"No."

I looked around the damaged room and picked up a stick. I condensed a flat reflective surface at the top of it and looked out the window with that.

"Ok… I'm going to need you to do me a solid, Heba."

I pulled on the pocket and brought out a gun.

"What do you need?"

"Take this gun and fire it through the window. You don't need to hit anything, just fire it."

She took the gun and I created a ball of water, forming it into a knife. I raised the mirror again.

"NOW!"

She fired and a person's head popped out. I threw the knife, still hidden, and willed it towards the sniper. I saw it hit dead center in the mirror.

I limped forward and saw corpses along the wall. I heard the sound of burning Ozone and looked at Karen.

"Let me guess, someone fucked up?"

She looked at me.

"Did the mission go well?"

"Perfect."

"We've had a bad day on the islands, but the seven of us more or less have it handled."

"Good to know. Leave no survivors, please?"

"Yeah, Heba told us."

She flew off and I leaned against the wall.



Korra


Korra

Everyone looked absolutely, positively, pissed.

Zoe looked at me.

"What did I tell you?"

"Why are you sure it's me?"

"What did I tell you?"

I grimaced.

"Don't touch anything."

"What did you do?"

"I made a slight error in judgment."

"No… No, you invited one of the most skilled groups of mundane operators to our islands when we were not prepared for them. As a result, Elsa and Ino were put into traction, Amy had half her face burnt off-"

"The potions fixed tat."

"That isn't the point! The point is that you did something you were directly told not to and people got hurt."

"I didn't think we had a problem, they were just ordinary guys."

"I'd like to note: you got killed by a couple of ordinary guys."

"Well… it's not all bad, right? We have a couple of new islands, now."

The other girls looked angry but Ino and Winter looked positively murderous.

"Have you already spent the points?"

"Um yeah."

I heard him sigh.

"So you invited a bunch of psychos to our island, without consulting me or the team, and spent it on two islands."

"They both have workshops."

"Each island you got is only one square mile, total."

"Um, yeah… but we have them, right? More is better."

"We were planning an ambush. After that ambush we would have bought the reagents needed to do a ritual, one that would consume a dead world to increase your lands. It would have converted that dead world, increasing the size of our islands, and would have stabilized our pocket dimension. Instead of just lasting ten thousand years it could have lasted billions. It would have grown each woman's kingdom into a continental landmass."

I blinked.

"The reason we wanted to conduct this ritual was that Amy's world has a very dangerous creature, one which is a multiversal threat. We wanted a place to put refugees if we failed."

"We can still do that, right?"

"Seven has mystical resonance. We're now dealing with nine islands, this throws off all the calculations. Add in that getting the resources for the ritual is going to be much harder with the increase."

He leaned back.

"It's not a total loss. My mission was a success so everyone will have full trade access… It's just that there was a plan in place."

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

The girls all glared at me at once, Winter got up and slapped the table.

"He did, you idiot! You decided to take a nap!"

I felt really bad.

"Korra, you are not to leave your castle for a week. This is a command."

I grimaced as I felt cold.

"Yes, master."

"We are not happy with you right now. This was a very important mission and you have hurt our cause badly. Next time, think."

Karen grabbed me and picked me up, we flew slowly to my home.

"It's not a complete loss."

"Karen?"

She looked at me.

"I see possibilities, Korra. That said you will be punished."

"Um… yes."

"Mistress, call me mistress."

"Yes, Mistress Karen."



Jack Slash


Jack Slash

Losing my little prize hurt us, I think.

The girl, her parents… I had thought it was another avenger, someone who wanted revenge on us for, well, a lot of things. Or maybe it was a bounty hunter who wanted or needed the money, that happened a lot too. Or maybe a glory hound who wanted the reputation, like an old west gunslinger going after the biggest man he could find to make himself bigger. Or maybe it was just a hero who actually believed in 'justice'. All of these things happened on a regular basis, I mean half of the fun of my little projects was the aftermath. The frenzy of people whose world was cracked open and wanted to punish us for it. It was fun destroying them, obliterating them, but this was not the case.

Clever bastard was distracting us, and stole our prize.

A bio-tinker offered so many possibilities, and I had thought I might never have the chance after that.

"Hello, Blasto."

He squirmed in the restraints.

"I've decided that you would make a merry addition to my little group."

He whimpered as I gently put my hand against his face. He was a villain but a lazy one, a stupid one. I was going to have to break him down, force him past his stupid moral limits, destroy any of those limitations. I would create a new man, a Slaughterhouse Nine man.

"Please, let me go."

I grabbed my tools and whistled. Torture… that would work, pain was such a good motivator, and when it was all finished and the transformation was complete we would have a new friend to play with.

"Can't do that! We have art to create."

I had a feeling this would be my best piece yet and, when we were finished, we would go out and have a lot of fun.



Zoe


Zoe

Apotheosis.

Completion.

The Engines are more than just a way to power up the soul, they're a way to become more complete.

Doctor North looks at me as I open up my eyes.

"So? How do you feel?"

I felt powerful and then grimaced.

"Owie."

"Seven chakras all filled. Eternity, Unity, Earth, Water, Plant, Animal, Normalization, seven engines."

I winced.

"They called to you. In your mind, your essence called them to you."

"So I didn't have a choice?"

"You did but the Engines you chose… well, it's about nature and life and, as one of the dark mother's children, things that work upon that theme work best with your nature."

"I chose them for the ritual."

"Hmm… You would not be the first one to claim a dead world to bring its mass and power into your fold, to have a world of your own and be empowered by it. Others have done as such. The great Chuthulu being one of them."

I stared at him.

"I'm not like that."

"You could be. It's possible, it's been done before, but always at great cost. When you reach for that kind of power you need more and more to sustain it."

"Souls."

"Reach for too much power too quickly and yes, that is the result. Once you become dependent on souls as a form of sustenance you make enemies and lots of them. It becomes a rat race where you either become so powerful as to become a force of nature or you are destroyed. It's one of the reasons why the dark mother contacted us. A slower path makes fewer enemies."

He helped me to my feet.

"Ever wonder why most of the women on offer are of a heroic bent? It's to help keep agents from going off the deep end, so consumed with their lust for power that they have to be put down."

I winced.

"Your nature is life, you know."

"I feel um."

"Horny? You have the essence of a fertility goddess inside you, an essence that has been greatly strengthened."

I shivered.

"Well, go home and recover."

A portal opened and I got home. I looked at Karen, now visibly pregnant.

"It's good to have you home."

She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a kiss, I hugged her back. She took my hand and I walked with her.

"So, what did you do about Korra?"

"I sat her down and explained in detail exactly how badly she fucked up and what we are up against. Then we all took turns spanking her ass raw."

"And?"

"That would have worked better if she didn't like it."

Karen smirked.

"Heba and I did some research."

"Yes?"

"We can salvage the ritual but it will take more work."

"How much work?"

"We need to increase the number of islands to 13."

Yes, I had read about it, done the numbers before deciding on seven as more practical. It would work.

"We can also increase the number of women in our little group."

"The seven of you are too much."

"One head wife to be in charge, 6 secondary wives in charge of minor islands. Add 6 priestesses, each picked by and answering to a chosen wife. Korra obviously does not get a choice."

"This doesn't sound like a good idea."

"Your essence wants to create life, to fertilize as many women as possible. Going against your nature will just cause you a lot of needless pain."

"Amy wants to motivate me."

"Amy is a dear but she doesn't really understand what you are, and what you need."

She took me to a room and I saw Heba chained to the ground.

"Master, I am ready."

Karen kissed my neck.

"She has served you loyally, please give her the gift of motherhood."

I was erect and took off my clothing. I ripped Heba's clothing apart as I disrobed her and then I kissed her neck.

"Please, master."

The room glowed as I grabbed her and pumped my cock inside her.

"Yes."

A full mating press, Heba wrapped her arms and legs around me and I felt power as I compelled her to orgasm and forced her body to get more fertile.

"Please, master, fuck a baby inside me!"

I slammed her body on the ground.

"Beg me."

"This unworthy womb desires your holy seed! Bless this whore elf with your bastards."

Her body quivered as she orgasmed and I continued on tasting her neck until at long last I came inside her, the two of us panted on the ground and Heba smiled.

"Oh, that was nice."

Karen undid the chains.

"There, Zoe. Do you feel better?"

"Yeah, I do… Heba, your clothing?"

"It's an old outfit I wanted to get rid of it anyways."

I took her hand and sensed the life growing inside her.

"Um."

"You made a promise to me to knock me up, Zoe, I can hardly be upset at you for keeping your word."

She kissed my head and Karen got her a new outfit. I felt better now, my mind clearer as I went to the control room to command my robots to continue fixing up the town and build portals to other worlds. In the back of my mind, I wondered if Karen was right.



Zoe


Zoe

Karen and I stared at the screen. I had been hunting people to build up credit for weeks, had been harvesting for weeks… and it was all wasted, the backup plan fucked up.

"How bad is it?"

"We have run out of points, though we still have a backlog of souls to work with. Still, we can rebuild."

I felt sick.

"The plan was in place for a reason."

Karen sat on a chair next to me.

"I know but we should make the best of it."

I went through the numbers again. Thirteen was really the closest number that would work, we didn't however need more women.

"700 points."

I turned my head to look at Karen.

"If we hunt down all of these Endbringers and are successful. That's quite a bit."

"Talking about an ideal result isn't realistic."

"Still the long path to power might be better for us, and I have some good news. We can spend our victory points on either of our two catalogues."

I felt tired.

"I kind of wanted all of this to be finished, Karen."

She gave me a look of sympathy.

"Unfortunately, things are never finished."

I flipped on a screen and watched as people moved through the gates.

"So the trade network?"

"Purple and Yellow are in the process of negotiating a trade deal."

"And?"

"And I have Korra helping with the process."

I stared at her.

"Atlas and Konoha should be absolutely furious with Korra."

"I was able to convince all of the girls to keep the plan secret, in case we failed. Best not to get people's hopes up."

"How do we salvage this?"

She tapped on the computer.

"The company has bounties on cults that mess with the backup plan."

I looked at the list.

"Heartbreaker doesn't run a cult."

"He's apparently close enough. Then you have the three major families in the Fallen, they apparently each count as a cult, and finally you have Pastor. He's behind the freedom California quarantine zone, he would be the hardest one to kill. If we wipe all of them out that's 175 points which gives us enough to get the islands, conduct the ritual, and we would have 5 points left over to spend as we please."

I frowned.

"Any other plans?"

"The company wants the Cape behind the Flint, Michigan, quarantine zone: that's another 25 points."

I felt tired and none too happy.

"Well, get the girls together. We're going to go hunting."

Karen kissed me.

"See? One step at a time."



Winter Schnee


Winter Schnee

Korra is quite possibly one of the most profoundly stupid people I have ever met, and yet that strange fragment of what little power she possesses from her days as an avatar has given her one very important gift. She apparently speaks any language. I, at first, thought it would be easy to do a trade deal because after all I seemed to understand Ino and Hinata reasonably well.

It turns out that just because I can communicate with them? I can't communicate with the other people from their world. Their strange moon language is entirely impossible for me to understand, or for my countrymen to understand. From what I gathered the other side feels much the same but Korra is fully capable of understanding and speaking both languages… and is actually an excellent diplomat. Though she tends to zone out and then not remember what she did after negotiations.

I suspect she's an idiot savant, with my feelings about her leaning more towards idiot than anything else. Still, despite my very justified rage, there is a silver lining. More islands will be created and my master has graciously allowed us the opportunity to pick women who will act as our minions and also bear our master's children. The Headwife Karen has graciously allowed it to go in a last to first order, with the idiot not being allowed to have a pick.

I have decided to choose Heba, though she still primarily serves the master she will serve me in a secondary role. This has allowed me to gather intelligence on the other wives and on this Slutlife Corporation.

"Winter."

"Mr. Ironwood."

I sat down.

"This information is disturbing."

Finding out about the greater multiverse is horrifying.

"Yes, it is."

"You're sure that this intelligence is accurate?"

"All too certain. This company is evil but, as horrible as it is, being involved with them is the lesser evil because it keeps…"

"I read the files, yes. I have enough material for a year's worth of nightmares."

He looked at me.

"Is operation Phenix dead?"

"No, but it is delayed. The idiot fucked the plan up, bad, but it is apparently salvageable. It's just… going to be much harder."

"How much harder?"

"We are going to have to fight superpowered cults harder."

Ironwood sighed.

"Do whatever you need to do, access to a continent's worth of resources would be a godsend for us."

"I believe I am already doing quite a bit."

He sighed.

"Yes. Yes, you are."

He looked at me sadly.

"Good news is that I have figured out how the shop system works around the city, it should give us a steady supply of Dust."

"How much?"

"I have figured out how to convert a few of the shops to dust stores. In theory, we should be able to have as much supply as a steady mine. It will be my donation to the Atlas military."

"We thank you."

"Father will no doubt be displeased when he finds out but I still care about my country."

"and the company?"

"Not nearly as much."



Ino Yamanaka


Ino Yamanaka

Konoha is sending spies, Atlas is sending spies. I would not be surprised if Arendel, small as it is, is sending spies. Amy's world, when it finally connects to our little alliance, will no doubt send their spies as well. This is natural, it doesn't mean that we are enemies or that we hate each other. It's that everyone is working with unknowns and wants to know more about the other side.

"Hi, dad!"

"Hi, Ino."

He sat down.

"So how are you doing?"

"Pretty good, I'm still trying to figure out how things work."

"Any abuse?"

"No, though we both know there isn't much we could do if he was abusive."

I sipped my tea and my dad looked away.

"I could-"

"You can't and wouldn't. That said, he isn't abusive."

I smiled.

"Any idea what his game is?"

"Zoe's primarily motivated by a dangerous threat."

"How bad?"

"Multiversal, a lot of people will die if he fails. How are the negotiations going?"

"Slow, sadly. We can't make heads or tails of this strange burger language Atlas uses, and have been forced to rely upon the idiot."

"Does the village know?"

"Only a few people and only high-ups. Have things been salvaged?"

"Yes, an operation is planned that should bring us closer to our goal."

"Good."

"And yourself, any changes?"

"An increased drive for things I don't feel comfortable talking with you about."

My father held out a hand.

"Other than that?"

"Zoe gives us a great deal of leeway, his control tends to be pretty subtle for the most part."

"How so?"

"Obeying orders feels good, being around him feels good, feelings of affection are amplified. He seems to use pavlovian conditioning, for the most part. It's subtle but can be resisted."

"Anything else?"

"If pushed he can put down his foot. That said he seems more concerned with upcoming threats than with dominating our lives, he prefers a light touch."

My father nodded his head.

"Can he control our clansmen?"

"From what I can tell… Only if they sign a contract with him like I did or if they truly piss him off, and that's a process that takes hours."

My father took the information in.

"The other wives?"

"The Karen woman is clearly infatuated with him and is very protective, but also has a manipulative streak. The Amy girl is in clear denial of her feelings and needs to get laid yesterday while Elsa has feelings of friendship that are evolving into something more. Winter is in this for the trade and opportunities for her nation but will most likely start to like him more in time. Korra, I think, likes him as a friend but shows clear attraction to other women, and Hinata in my opinion is starting to open up her heart to him."

"And yourself?"

"In a lot of ways he reminds me of the stories about the first Hokage, I am quite pleased with this arrangement."

"So plans?"

I smiled.

"I want to try to make this relationship work."

I leaned back.

"And anyway… this is turning out to be rather fun."

"How so?"

"Matching wits with the other girls, exploring new worlds, being on the ground floor of something this big… It's the most fun I've had ever."

My father nodded his head.

"Your position of heiress."

I looked at him.

"It's not gone, we expect great things of you."

"Thanks, dad."



Ino Yamanaka


Ino

I know that Zoe didn't pick me, I also know why he delegated that choice to Amy and why he's going to delegate future choices to us: it's about culpability. It was about putting Amy and Karen into his shoes, about giving them responsibility. It's harder to hold yourself higher than Zoe when you're guilty of the same actions, and I understand why he did so.

Amy, or Panacea, is both an asset and a threat. Once included she must be made culpable or her conscience will cause her to turn on you. However, once guilty of the same sins, she looks for justifications. It was a good decision and as I wait for Amy to arrive at her castle's pool I take the time to admire it and soak in the relaxing hot springs. Relaxation is important after all, it helps you rest and recover.

"Ino?"

She freezes as she looks at me.

"Hello, Amy! Care for a soak?"

"Um… Yeah, sure."

Her swimsuit is a conservative one-piece, though her figure makes it work as she gets into the water. There are trepidation and desire on her face, she wants this but doesn't want to give in. A Madonna-whore complex, on top of a pile of other complexes. The Yamanaka clan is really the closest thing Konoha has to therapists and I've gone through a bunch of translated textbooks. A lot of what I found are lessons I was taught growing up, only instead of weaponizing it the lessons were about building people up.

It's an interesting concept, one that my clan is finding to be fascinating.

She gets in.

"Long day?"

"Um… yeah."

She looks at me and then looks away.

"Amy?"

"Yes?"

"Can you please explain the point of getting a toy and then never playing with it?"

She turned her head back.

"What?"

"Your preferences are pretty clear, I see how you look at Karen, at Elsa, at me… and at Zoe."

"I um."

"Don't apologize, but please answer my question. What is the point of getting a toy and never playing with it?"

"You're not a toy."

I swam towards her and she blushed.

"This is true… but I am fun to play with."

I brushed her hair out of her eyes and kissed her deeply, she skitted away.

"I um."

"I know you picked me, Amy."

"Yeah, we needed someone with sneaky skills and-"

I pressed myself against her.

"Please tell me the truth?"

"The photo showed you had a nice butt!"

I hugged her and she gave out an adorable moan.

"Why did you pick Hinata."

I looked in her eyes.

"To make Zoe happy."

To my surprise, she was telling the truth.

"She's nice, gentle, sweet, and he needs someone like that."

"You love him?"

"Yeah… I do."

I smiled.

"Then why are you afraid of taking the next step."

"What if I get pregnant?"

"So what?"

"The um…"

"There is plenty of housing, there is plenty of food, these robots were built at least in part to help you out with raising children. So, why are you afraid?"

"Aren't you afraid?"

"No, when I get pregnant my clan my family will help me. The resources our alliance gives us will allow my children to grow up in comfort."

"You say when?"

"I am an only child… but it is not by choice, you know? My family my clan is not wealthy and so we have to manage our growth more carefully. Not enough children and the clan is wiped out, too many and then poverty will hit us. There is so little land, so little space, and what land is available in Konoha is expensive because… well my world is not a nice place. Whenever a place is remotely safe? Rich merchants come in and buy up land and that makes things more difficult for people like us."

The landlords in my town were assholes.

"Why is it like that?"

"I read something about a crab bucket theory and that's my world in a nutshell. We're all a collection of crabs, holding each other down. Your world is capable of things we are not capable of. International trade on the scale you have? Manufacturing at that industrial level? It's not possible on my world. If someone else has something nice then envy comes out and it must either be stolen or destroyed. thus ninja get hired to do that and stop the whole buildup process."

"Sounds bad."

"It is, but we are trying to find another way. This alliance is another way."

I gently put my hand against her face.

"You're not alone, Amy. If your family kicks you out? Zoe will be there for you, we will be there for you. You're not alone."

I tilted my head and kissed her.

"I'm not ready."

"It's not good for you to do this."

"What?"

"Repress your desires. You picked me because you need a safe outlet for them."

I kissed her again.

"I um."

"This isn't like some unbreakable dam. If you let yourself be happy it won't be the end of the world."

I smiled at her.

"Please think about it, ok?"

"Um, yeah."

I got up and smiled, I knew she was watching my ass as I left. of course, I was fibbing. Madonna-whore complex, once Amy feels sullied she will lose her inhibitions and her mind has so many fetishes. A strong submissive streak that is in there naturally and fetishes for impregnation, unprotected sex, and creampie that, while put in there artificially, are now a strong core part of her sexuality.

She's a broodmare in the making. If her children share her powers she will be an asset to our cause, as for me I am certain I will share the same fate. To bear our husband and master's children, time and time again.

I hope they grow up to be strong and powerful, and anyway it seems like it will be fun.



chill out time


Once again the Fluff attacks!


OMAKE - RED

After Zoe had that knee to knee conversation with Hinata, it felt that the whole world decided that things were way too easy for him and decided to change that. So invasions, plans going the way of the dinosaurs and now he has to deal with potentially 6 or more women coming into his lands… That is if one of his waifu's doesn't do something to yet again increase that number.

Note to self… make sure Heba isn't giving them ideas. Every now and then the hentai elf backslides.

So it's been a while that he had a chance to talk to her one on one.

Walking into the master bedroom of her castle. He saw her sort of blankly staring into a wall. Getting closer… and telling from the pulsing veins she seem to be watching the domain. One thing Zoe didn't think the Hyuuga were aware off, was just how far Hinata's eyes could actually see.

And just how much that range increased once she became the Red Queen.

But from the frown on her face, Zoe pretty much assumed she didn't like what she was seeing.

So it was time to distract his waifu. And Zoe knew perfectly how to do that.

Poke, he poked her in the side. Hinata jumped in response. She saw him walk into her bedroom. And didn't know what he was going to do.

"Zoe?" She asked, the veins on her temples residing. There was still a frown on her face, what was she watching? He wondered… but that was a tomorrow Zoe question.

Right now was present Zoe and present Zoe wanted to spend time with his girl.

So he tackled her to the bed and chuckled at how red Hinata turned in response. He ignored the brief moment of panic and her whole body stiffening up, before she relaxed into his hug.

"What are you - hahahahahah" Hinata started to ask but was cut off by Zoe tickling her. One would expect a Ninja bred for war like Hinata to not be so sensitive.

But the girl was soft over steel and her pale skin was just so sensitive. Probably a life time of touch starvation from her bastard family.

When every touch is pain, you're not used to not painful touches.

Hinata for her part laughed and playfully struggled. The both of them know she could escape any moment, but for now the two of them were just being unsupervised teenagers and ignoring all the pressure the two had dumped on their shoulders.

But it ended with both of them laughing, red faced; holding each other in a hug that both pretty much needed.

After a moment Hinata's redness faded and she spoke up.

"Zoe I have to tell you what I saw in the other castles" She sated softly.

"Is Korra pressing buttons she shouldn't be?" Zoe asked and Hinata giggled and flustered somewhat.

"No… she's sort of tied up at the moment" She dutifully answered. Her veins pulsing and going back to normal. Probably confirming what she was saying.

"Is it something I should be taking care of right now?" He continued, delighting at how Hinata was snuggling into him.

"No but~" She started.

"You can tell me tomorrow then," Zoe concluded. He snapped his fingers in a way that he totally didn't practice. Causing a portal to open up and a robot maid to walk in holding a tray full of snacks and another to follow with one of the biggest TV's Zoe has seen.

"Right now we're gonna have a movie night, eat unhealthy foods and not worry about any weird plots" Zoe finished, seeing he had Hinata's interest. Especially in all the different foods and piles of dvd's he had stacked up on both trolleys.

For her part Hinata, seeing he was firm on this just shook her head and dropped the matter.

"So what are we going to be watching?" She asked and Zoe grinned as he picked up a dvd.

"The greatest love story ever told" He said using his magic to pick up the movie in question and having the robot maid pop it into the tv.

"I present to you, The Princess Bride"



Orochimaru


Orochimaru

"So how did your date go?"

"Pretty well, I guess."

My apprentice sat down and looked at the things I had assembled.

"Finally giving him a chance?"

"He's still an idiot!… but he's a hot idiot now, so I guess it's ok."

I looked at the dust and smiled.

"What are you working on, sensei?"

"This new dust, it opens up so many possibilities and the technology… it's so much more advanced than our own, fascinating."

"More science?"

"Of course, Sakura. Always, more science."

I held a crystal and poured my chakra into it.

"So?"

"It looks like it gives you the ability to use elemental chakra with less drain, a potent advantage on the battlefield."

She looked at me.

"So Ino… and Hinata, are they going to be ok?"

"Does it matter?"

"Well um, I like Hinata and-"

"And you still feel guilty about how you destroyed your friendship with Ino."

"It's just that the situation… being forced to marry a man you don't love and…"

"You come from a civilian family, don't you?"

"My father used to be a shinobi?"

"How long, a couple of years?"

She looked away.

"The village has asked people to make far worse sacrifices than a marriage alliance, Sakura. This alliance has given us access to technology and items that we have never seen before, given us access to a cheaper and more reliable food source, and will give us access to trade and missions that no other village can match. We would have gladly traded away far more for less, and have."

"So because we benefit… it's ok?"

"Both girls have received land and a castle, and servants."

"But-"

"It's a fair deal. Sakura, you need to stop thinking like a civilian and look at this from the bigger picture: the village needs this to work. We need the money otherwise the village will either have to poach missions from other countries, which will lead to war, or take missions that prey upon the civilian population, which will also start a war. Fugaku is entirely correct, our way of life needs to change."

"You would think, with your history, you would be a little more sympathetic."

I put down the dust and looked at my student, I raised just enough killing intent for her to know that she crossed a line.

"I loved Sarutobi."

Sakura was flinching.

"Once upon a time, he was like a father to me, my own personal god. I loved him with every fiber of my being and whatever he asked of me? I not only did but did gladly. Tsunade loved him, Jiraya loved him. He was a very easy man to love. Now look at what happened to the people who loved him. I'm an outcast, Tsunade is a broken drunk, Jiraya spent years away in unofficial exile from the closest thing he had left to family. His own son left and became a monk to get away from him."

I looked her in the eye.

"Saratobi believed in sacrifice but neither of himself nor of his inner circle. If you were not one of them then you were a tool to be disposed of at a whim. I found out too late, once the clans found out that the people that had died on missions had been given over to me to experiment on and that the bodies of their dead had been desecrated. I never questioned his orders once, until the day he turned on me. Until the day I became a scapegoat for all of his sins."

I choked down my anger.

"Sacrifice is all well and good but it hurts like hell when you don't even get asked."

She looked away.

"We have people watching both Ino and Hinata. Lord Zoe is a horny son of a bitch."

She flinched.

"But he isn't a monster, or at the very least he's much less of a monster than I am."

"So they're going to be fine?"

"Quitting the ninja world to raise a family and manage a trade empire is hardly the end of the world."

"Thanks, sensei."



Ozpin


Ozpin

I looked at Ironwood and then at the collection of artifacts.

"Interesting. How many worlds are a part of this alliance?"

"Officially three, with another one currently undisclosed. We seem to be the most advanced of the official worlds in the trade network."

"Assets?"

"Arendelle provides a lot of non-dust-related basic materials: iron, wood, fish, and other raw materials for our industrial might. Konoha has some exotic items that might prove to be useful, for example seals and soldier pills. We have better electronics though."

"The unofficial one?"

"In some ways their technology is better than ours, in others we have superior technology. There is much to learn in many cases, if only from the differences."

"Are they a threat?"

"At the moment, no. The middle ground of the kingdoms, and the influence Winter gives us, prevents the other sides from launching an attack. Using a middle man has its costs of course but it's a middle man we have influence over."

I looked at the paperwork.

"So these ninjas are available for hire?"

"Yes."

"Hmm… Maybe some missions to gauge their abilities? it might be worth it to see if they could help out."

"Can do."

The call ended and I smiled, it was about damn time we got a nice surprise for a change. That said I doubt it will be as pleasant for the world's worst ex.



Heartbreaker


Nikos Vasil

I groaned and looked around me, trying to pierce through the inky blackness.

"You know, sadly enough, you and I have a lot in common."

"Where am I?"

"A place in between. Do you want me to call you by your cape name or your real one?"

"Cape preferably."

"Heartbreaker then."

"You were saying something?"

"Yes, well… sadly you and I have a lot in common: a cautious nature, a desire to have a harem of beautiful women, a penchant for mind control. Like I said, we have a lot in common but circumstances are what they are and, well, now you're dead."

"Did you kill me?"

"If it helps, it was painless. To the outside world, you just fell asleep and did not wake up one day."

I thought about it.

"Well… you can't be top dog forever."

"You're handling this remarkably well."

"I lived a fantastic life, I got to fuck some of the most beautiful women out there and a variety too. Brunettes, blonds, redheads, black and white and asian and mixed, did it all."

I looked at the crow.

"It's a lot like those stories about old gunslingers being put down by a newer, younger, one."

"I personally hope that I'm luckier than that."

I smiled.

"If it helps, so do I."

"Once again you're taking this really well."

"It really helps that you're not being self-righteous about it. So many heroes would come in and be so judgemental about things. Admittedly I have done some pretty shitty stuff but I'm hardly the worst supervillain out there."

"You're unfortunately still going to hell."

"You had to ruin the moment."

"No, I'm not judging you or at least I'm trying not to. You're literally going to hell, or at least were. This is a place where souls go in between things."

I shrugged.

"So what did me in?"

"Surprisingly it wasn't the mind control, Harem, and petty theft. It was your parenting, more specifically-"

"The times I killed my own children."

I sighed.

"Should have seen that coming. Well… can't say I don't deserve it."

"There is another option: you could repent."

I held up my hand.

"I liked my life, I was happy and lived a dream. I could never regret that."

I remained in the darkness.

"So now what?"

"Your soul and passenger get devoured by an ancient and powerful creature. Instead of an eternity of torment, it's just going to be pain then nothingness."

I thought about it.

"I forgive you."

"What?

"For killing me, I forgive you."

A portal opened and I saw tentacles and a giant maw.

"Well little gunslinger, live fast and live well."

I walked towards the tentacles and towards oblivion.



Zoe


Zoe

Karen looked at me.

"The points came in."

She leaned against the wall, she was wearing lingerie on her very pregnant body.

"It's almost June."

She rubbed her stomach.

"It's been six months now."

She sat on my lap and I ran my fingers through her hair.

"What are you working on?"

"I managed to get the Company to drop the workshops. With the islands empty and with the workshop clause covering all new waifus those are points I'm not obligated to spend."

"So?"

"That's ten points back."

I sighed and pressed a button.

"Two more islands. Joy."

"That brings us to four, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, one more mission and we are at six."

Karen leaned into my touch.

"I don't regret this."

I looked into her blue eyes filled with love.

"What?"

"I don't regret this."

She reached up and kissed me, I kissed her back and we just cuddled for a bit.

"So, next mission?"

"Freedom, California. It's a stationary target, I can attack from a distance. If I pull it off, we've got the islands."

She nodded her head.

"And, once that's finished, we need to talk about what we will do with Korra."

I looked at her.

"I'd like to note that you picked her."

"And I feel like the company cheated us! I expected more power."

I smiled.

"What is it?"

"Korra was attached to the spirit of light and peace, that connection has been severed."

"So she's useless."

"No, a small piece of that Spirit Rava came with Korra. With her connection to her island, it is slowly rebuilding itself… but under my direction."

My other hand lingered over Karen's sex and she smiled and nodded, I put my hand down her panties and slowly stroked her little hole.

"So?"

"The surface of a world… it's just a really small portion of a whole world. With Korra's help we can take the dead world in its entirety, rather than just the surface. Of course the ritual calls for deflowering and impregnating Korra right then and there, but that's the Company and its theatrics."

Karen took off her panties and unzipped my pants, then she turned around and started riding me.

"That makes me so hot, yes?"

She was speaking English now, not Kryptonian.

"You like the idea of me knocking up other women?"

She kissed me and started writhing.

"I love it, yes! It proves how virile you are, claiming other wombs and making babies."

She whimpered and rode me harder and then stopped as her face contorted. I came inside her, caressing her as she had her release.

"Nice…"

I held her as she enjoyed the afterglow.

"It will be good for her, you know. Give her some responsibility, yes?"

I kissed Karen and held her.

"That it would."



Alexandria


Alexandria

I looked around at the corpses on the ground. There were children in vans, covered in recovery blankets, their eyes blank.

Officially this was a Protectorate victory like the machine army, a hard fight won with clever tactics and no casualties. It's a lie but it's a useful lie, I hover around the dead bodies of one of the enforcers. When you get to a number higher than 500 parahumans, any attack becomes pretty much suicide and Pastor had considerably more than 500. His enforcers were well over a thousand and some of them were quite powerful.

There is a reason why we wrote the small city off after all.

I knelt down and looked at the body as the California director opened communication with me.

"So how did it happen?"

I pressed the stomach and something crinkled, I brought out a knife and cut and frowned.

"Tomato plant."

I looked at other bodies and saw that they had tiny leaves sticking out of them. I got up and checked the crops surrounding the town.

"Plant manipulator, one without a Manton limit, took the tomato seeds inside their bodies and forced them to grow. That took out all the enforcers but left the civilians alive, so whoever it is clearly has some fine control."

I shook my head.

"So do we have a problem?"

I thought about it.

"Not immediately. This is one less containment zone eating up resources, it's a net benefit… but it still has me worried."

There were also reports of a gang of ninja related capes around the southwest, so far they hadn't stolen anything but the uptick had me concerned.

"So what do we do?"

"Take credit, but look for the cape in question. We'll try to bring them into the fold."

I shook my head.

"It's a mess but considering the amount of resources we have had to sink into this area, it's one drain less. The more resources we can pump into keeping things together…"

And like that it was done, this more or less secured the west. With the Machine Army down, we might be able to secure more of the country. If I was being ambitious, we might even keep the world from falling apart.

Meh, wish things were that easy.



Danny Hebert


Danny Hebert

It all turned out to be temporary, the bad times I mean.

The riots… They destroyed the soul of the town, destroyed the core of our business. When the Boat Graveyard happened the best part of the docks was destroyed, now it has been fixed, now the new solar plants are creating jobs for the working people. The north of the city used to be a wasteland, now it looks better than ever. There's money now, there is work now. I used to have to turn people away, now I don't have enough people to handle everything.

"Excited about going to high school next year?"

"Yeah."

Taylor and I held our breath as we got to the security wall that separated the Special Economic Zone from the rest of the city. A security guard nodded at us and we were given a ticket and went into the parking garage.

"No cars inside? Ugh."

"Yeah, it's a stupid rule."

We got out and saw the ice golems patrolling the streets, I felt it was kind of creepy and authoritarian. You get past the gates and suddenly the streets are clean, there's no street art, you have these things constantly patrolling the city and security everywhere. I frowned at that but also noticed stalls where small businesses sold various goods, food, and homemade things.

"I found a different camp?"

"What?"

"It's a martial arts camp, not too far from here."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it will teach you discipline and get you in shape."

She nodded her head and stared at the ice golem.

"Taylor."

"It's amazing… What you can do if you have enough power, isn't it?"

I frowned.

"I don't think this is a healthy conversation to have."

"But it is true! I remember you telling me to never come here, that it was too dangerous, and now it's the safest part of the city. All because people with the power to change things changed things."

"It's a lot more complicated than that, you know?"

She looked at me.

"But is it really? How many times did you say someone should do something about the Graveyard? Someone should help get the ferry going again, someone needs to fix things? Now… Things are a little better now, aren't they?"

"Yeah, but it's not a powers thing."

She looked over at the village.

"If you don't have power… can you change things?"

"Yes."

She looked at me.

"Then why hasn't mom's killer been put in jail?"

I froze.

"They're working on that."

"Like they worked on the Graveyard? On the ferry? Maybe we need a better 'They'."

I decided to end the conversation.

"That's why we have elections."

I saw a kind of cynicism in her eyes at that moment. We went ice skating together for the rest of the day and I think we had fun, but I also felt almost as if Taylor was learning lessons from this place. I wasn't quite sure that they were good ones.



Hinata Hyuga


Hinata Hyuga

I think I am happy now.

I feel the arms of my master around me as we cuddle. I expected worse when I was sold to him but my master has been gentle and kind. I wake up in his arms and remember the town. They were powerful, so powerful, able to hold an entire nation many times the size of my country at bay. My master spent a few nights using a small army of crows to create a ritual circle and then obliterated them all in a few hours.

That is the power of my master, and I feel safe and content in his arms. I blush and kiss him he awakes and looks at me.

"Hey."

Master has moved out of his parent's house and into a house down the street, that way he knew his secrets would be safe.

"Are you awake, master?"

"Yeah."

He got up and the hug ended, my night with him was over.

"We should talk about something, if you have a moment."

He nodded his head.

"So, what's the problem?"

"Winter has been reading up on the rules and, before the ritual, there will be a chance to demote a queen to priestess."

He sighed.

"Korra?"

I nodded my head.

"Yes. Her actions put us in more danger and directly hurt a plan to increase your power and lands and hurt your ability to provide refugees a place of sanctuary if things went wrong. This happened because she didn't listen to you and disobeyed a direct order."

"She made a mistake."

"As queen she will be in charge of not just an island but a continent, one that will in time be inhabited. There will be people she will be directly responsible for… Well, that's the argument at least."

"Where do the others stand?"

"There are seven of us."

"Seven votes."

"Myself, Karen, Ino, Korra, Elsa, Amy, and Winter."

"Who voted what?"

I slumped.

"Ino, Winter, and Amy say that Korra's actions directly hurt everyone. Amy brought up the fact that the land increase was supposed to be there to save as many of her people as possible from the great threat. Korra's actions might have doomed millions of lives if we fail our missions."

He nodded his head.

"I feel that you chose us for a reason and wish to give her a second chance while Elsa says she made mistakes too and wants to let this go. Korra spoke for herself, she admits she messed up but wants to continue on as your queen."

"And Karen?"

"Karen says that the only one who should decide this is you, master."

He grabbed me and we sat on the bed, he held me tight.

"Do you know what powers a queen gets?"

"Land, a castle?"

He looked ahead.

"It's more than that."

I sighed in his arms.

"A queen gets to enjoy… immortality is a bad word for it, let's say an increased life span… and she will be reborn with me if I die. a priestess is soulbound to an island and ages and dies then awaits the day she is resummoned and reborn by my hand. A queen rules the land and is empowered by it, a priestess job is rituals and other duties. It's power but not the power a queen is in time capable of."

"So it's more."

"Yes."

"Are you becoming a god, master?"

He froze.

"What? No, of course not."

"Not in this western sense but in my people's sense: a sentient force of nature."

"I don't know."

I leaned into his touch, whether he was becoming a god or not was immaterial. I belonged to him and was content.

"You should hire us."

"Konoha?"

"For the last mission. You don't need to do everything yourself, you know."

"Hmm, I do have quite a bit of gold… and it would make things easier."

He kissed me.

"Thanks, Hinata."

I smiled, it was good to be useful to him.



Zoe


Zoe

I looked at the girls, I had called an official meeting.

"Korra."

She blinked.

"Yes."

"Do you understand the sheer scale on which you have fucked up?"

"Um… bad?"

"Real bad."

Amy glared at her.

"The world plan was enacted for a reason. There are literally trillions of lives at stake and this is the only way I could think of to save a fraction of that number if we fucked up."

Korra grimaced.

"Heba showed you the tapes of what an entity infestation does when it's not checked, right?"

"Planet go boom."

"No. Not just one planet, millions of them! Even with the Company containing this infestation around a million worlds will die if we fuck up. This is the pressure I've been under for years now. Beyond that fact… this deeply impacted your fellow sister wives because their homelands need the additional resources that their respective increase of lands would bring. Atlas, for example, is basically an icy rock with barely any arable land. Konoha is for all intents and purposes a city-state. Arendel is a small island that's covered in snow half the year."

Elsa grimaced and shrugged.

"It's normally seven months.

"Ok, more than half the year. That said…"

Korra flinched.

"Demoting you would create a terrible precedent. It means that someone can and will take your place where you will have to serve the queen who replaced you forever. That would inevitably create friction as that would mean you could politic to replace a queen and strengthen your own home faction. This operation is, at its heart, a multiversal trade hub. We can and will deal with people with different customs and all of us will at some point fuck up. So you won't be demoted. However, the spanking wasn't enough."

"What?"

My voice went cold.

"Because of your actions, we will be forced to use a more intense ritual. One that involves deflowering and impregnating a virgin."

She blinked.

"I'm not ready to be a mother."

"There are literally millions of lives at stake, I can't afford to give you that time."

My eyes glowed and I looked at her.

"You will not give your virginity to anyone but me, you will not be able to orgasm at all until the ritual, and you will bear my children."

She flinched, trying and failing, to resist my commands, and then nodded.

"Yeah… Billions of lives, got it."

"You will be on a Company-inspired fertility regiment and Amy will look you over to make sure that your body is ready."

Korra looked around.

" You will be confined to our hub world until the ritual."

I nodded my head.

"In other news, there will be a limit: only two women from each universe. The point of this venture is to be the middleman between worlds. While our current business does involve saving a lot of lives at the end of the day we are a business."

There were nods of understanding.

"Ino, Hinata, the Fallen stand between us and victory. They are composed mostly of three clans of parahumans and I offered 3 tons of gold for their complete destruction. This is not hyperbole, for those who were not involved in the deal. I trust you have shown to the negotiators of Konoha the vault full of gold that will act as payment upon completion?"

Hinata nodded her head and turned to Ino.

"Konoha graciously accepts the deal but asks for clarification on a point. We have become aware that there are Earth Bet bounties on several Fallen members, do we have permission to collect them?"

"It matters little to me that you get paid twice for the same job, as long as the job gets done."

Ino smiled.

"Then the village graciously accepts the mission against these evil cults."

She leaned back.

"Though you know that you overpaid, right?"

"Will it motivate the village to get the job done sooner?"

Ino smiled.

"Much sooner."

"Then it's money well spent."

I looked at Amy.

"Do you have something to say?"

"They have it coming."

I blinked.

"Zoe… the Fallen kidnap people, murder people, are involved in every crime in the book and yet somehow still manage to be the most obnoxious group of self-righteous assholes in the southwest. Ino, Hinata? Tell Konoha that I will provide medical help when I can."

Ino nodded her head, the meeting was over and we split off to the teleportation room then I felt a hand on my wrist. I froze and looked at Amy.

"Summer's coming up."

"Yeah."

"We both know what happens this summer."

"Yes."

"The Barnes family works with my mother's firm, I don't know Emma that well but I have met her before. That event breaks her and Shadow Stalker's influence turns her into a monster. No more half measures, we are stopping it."

I looked her in the eye.

"Ok, lets do this."



Grand admiral sloane


Grand admiral sloane

Purgatorio

That little red-headed shit, that fucking stupid little red-headed shit. After saving what I could of the Empire, after saving his family, after successfully leading what remained into the unknown regions so we could rebuild… he did this. I looked at a tattered insignia of the brotherhood of darkness, the last sith order, the last remnant of the sith empire that had been destroyed centuries ago.

I shivered and pulled out the Holocron.

"Hello, Rae."

Armitage Hux, that little shit.

"Look… me and the rest of the guys were thinking about what you said, about Starkiller base."

Wanted to wring his neck so bad.

"You said it was what? Retarded? That, if it didn't work the first two times, why the fuck would it work a third time?"

I felt cold rage.

"Yeah. Me and the rest disagreed with you by, you know, a lot. Look, I know that you did a lot for the cause and we really appreciate all of it but sometimes the squeaky wheel doesn't get the grease. There are some times where you have to just replace the wheel and that's what we did, or I did. Really some of us thought about putting you down, like an old work animal that was too old to do its job… because really that's what you are."

Fucking piece of shit.

"An old work animal that has long since outlived her usefulness. Still couldn't kill you, you did help raise me, so I drugged your food and left you here. It's an old Sith base, near a bunch of black holes so if you don't know the exact right hyperspace jumps… well, you go splat. Not that it matters because, you know, we didn't provide a ship for you to escape with. There is food here, enough to last an entire year… though knowing you, you could make it last multiple years. I also gave you something nice."

I felt cold.

"It's a slugthrower! I know what you're saying. Old, primitive, weapons that are completely obsolete, right? This one only has a single shot. Can you believe it? A weapon with only a single shot? I got it from this primitive world, it's my final present for you: a way for you to go out on your own terms. Well… It's late and your little Huxy has work to do. Enjoy your retirement."

The message cut off and I disconnected the Holocron. I have 300 droids who are almost out of power, I'm in an old research center with barely any fusion power left. The outside doesn't have any air and the only person I have to depend on is myself. Help is not coming and I am currently an old feeble woman. At this moment though I would give anything to have a second chance, just so I can take my boot and put it right up that smug ginger asshole's ass.



Greg Veder


Greg Veder

I sat down.

"Mr. Veder, I see you have an associate's degree. That's impressive, at your age."

"My cousin made me take a few correspondence classes growing up, in exchange for stuff I wanted."

Hated doing it, it was super hard! But he was always there to tutor me and I passed my classes, though in some cases just barely.

"Your cousin pushed you hard but it does put you above our other prospective options for this position. Well, as you should know, we have all prospective employees take a lie detector test before they join our firm. So if you don't mind we are going to start with a couple of control questions."

"Should I be hooked up to something?"

"No, it's not necessary with this device. It is programmed to go off whenever someone tells a lie so go ahead, tell an obvious lie."

"Grass is blue."

(Beep.)

"I'm a tall black man."

(Beep)

"I've never seen Sailor Moon."

(Beep)

I smiled.

"I love it, I haven't missed an episode."

The man nodded his head.

"I've heard good things. Now go ahead and say something that is true so we can properly calibrate the machine."

I wracked my brain with what to say.

"I have a 12-inch penis."

"Hmm, that's kind of weird… That should have gone off."

I stared at him blankly.

"Why?"

"Because there is no way-"

"I have a 12-inch penis, actually it might be 13."

(Beep)

"Oh? It's just twelve then."

"Wait… Seriously?"

A woman walked in.

"Rob, you get a chance to prepare those statements?"

"Yeah, I did them yesterday."

(Beep)

"This morning."

(Beep)

"Ok, I'm halfway finished with them because I'm stuck on the god damned Johnson case."

The woman sipped her coffee.

"Well, Rob, you're the best."

(Beep)

"You suck. I will be back at my desk, working."

(Beep)

"Fine! back at my desk playing mobile games because I can't beat that one level."

He turned back to me.

"How do you live with a 12-inch penis? How is that even possible?"

"Um, I'm getting a little uncomfortable with this now."

"You're right… it's just that… Twelve inches? That's like a freaking bus down there."

"Why are you so concerned about my penis? Are you gay or something?"

"Whaat? No."

(Beep)

"I'm not gay! nobody loves Pussy more than I do."

(Beep.)

He slumped.

"All right, I'm a flaming homosexual but do me a favor and don't tell anyone because nobody knows."

(Beep)

He sighed.

"Everybody knows."

"So… do I have a job?"

"Yeah you do, but seriously how do you um deal with that?"

"I wear baggier pants, I guess."

"Yeah, that makes sense. Welcome to the team."



Zoe


Zoe

I looked at the body, African American, mid-20s at most, missing his arms and legs. His whole body was covered in scars and he was chained to the bed, it smelled bad. Apparently, they let him sit in his own sick. He had this dead look in his eyes.

"You know, the city of Flint, Michigan, used to have more than a hundred thousand people at one point."

He turned to look at me as I took a metal folding chair and sat down.

"Can I call you Andre?"

He blinked and opened his mouth, his tongue had been ripped out.

"Yes, I know your name."

He nodded his head.

"Ok, Andre, this isn't your fault or at least this isn't entirely your fault. you were fourteen years old and discovered you could give people superpowers. It's a common story; raised by a single mother in a bad neighborhood, you fell in with the wrong crowd. Even without superpowers, you were on a bad path. You decided to join a gang and that was a really bad idea. At first things were good but then they turned on you, didn't they?"

I leaned back.

"If you were in a normal gang they would have told you to get fucked whenever you got too bossy but it wasn't a normal gang because of one man, Billy Blood. Which by the way is a total edgelord name, I mean I thought us crackers had a monopoly on that shit but apparently that is not the case because seriously? Billy Blood?"

I opened a box and threw a head to the floor, Andre stared at it.

"I had to kill him, he was the main thinker and the one who controlled this operation. He was the only one who could stop me, plus he was a sick fuck even by my standards."

I shuddered at the memories.

"So lets give you a recap of what happened since they did this to you. They took over Flint, lock stock and barrel, and they had so many capes that the federal government could not do shit to stop them so the whole place was quarantined. For the first couple of years they lived like kings as they enslaved the entire population of the city, the ones who couldn't escape. Thing is: they were cut off from the outside world. Billy and his boys didn't quite realize just how much they needed the outside world."

I took a deep breath.

"So things just got worse as these idiots played warlord. Starvation, murder, and backstabbing until every civilian was dead… until only the worst of the worst got to rule over the ashes. Flint now has, including you, maybe 800 people left tops. It makes things simple in a way."

Andre looked outside, it was dark.

"Took three weeks to set this up… You see there is this thing called the gauntlet, it's the membrane between worlds, universes, it keeps a whole lot of bad things out. Things that are hungry and scary and love the taste of human flesh. And man the source of your powers, your passengers? That will feed them for decades and they are always hungry, Andre."

The screaming started.

"Flint isn't in Michigan anymore, it's not on Earth anymore. It's in an alien place and the final inhabitants are being eaten alive, their souls devoured and their passengers carved up by servitors for their masters. Masters who, you know, also call the shots for me. Billy and his boys? They had the misfortune of running into someone who is very desperate and who is willing and able to go into very dark places."

He sniffled.

"Your soul won't be devoured, Andre. You have repented and suffered quite enough. If you die here, if you die today, you're going to go into a place of light and safety and kindness and leave this ugliness behind. But this doesn't have to be the end of your story, Andre."

He looked at me.

"I represent some scary people, I call them the Company, and they're very interested in guys like you. Because there is this group on your world, they're called Cauldron, that makes vials that give people superpowers, it's a whole shadow organization and conspiracy. But you, Andre? A couple of ounces, or grams, of your blood and flesh has the same effect. Random superpowers. We want to be able to give those powers to talents, or to other forces that want to create heroes or villains or just people who live normal lives with superpowers. We would like you to work for us."

His eyes looked around, panicked.

"You honestly think anything we could possibly do to you would be as bad as the last few years? Also we're not stupid edgelords, we know that you have to treat talent right. You sign up with us and we will fix your arms and legs, your entire body. We will get you your own place and it will be a nice one. We will give you a really good paycheck with all that, and all you have to do is give blood once a week and then live the high life."

I pulled out a glowing vial.

"Just to prove a point, we're going to fix that tongue and then I want you to tell me your wildest dream. I'm going to see If I can make it come true."

I poured the liquid down his throat and he looked at me.

"I want to fuck big tiddied elf girls."

I stared at him and smiled.

"You, sir, are a man of culture. I respect you and yes we will get you your big tiddied elf girl."

I pulled out some paper and a pen.

"If you initial here we can get you out of this shithole."

He took the pen in his mouth and signed. I broke his chains and cleaned him with my powers, then I took him in my arms and took him to freedom.



Ino Yamanaka


Ino Yamanaka

Two weeks.

You put the biggest payout in Konoha's history on someone, give us the ability to teleport anywhere on the planet's target, pay half of it upfront, and tell us we can get paid twice to do it? There were less than 5,000 Fallen members worldwide, the number of them with superpowers easily less than 200. They didn't even have the operational security we are used to having to counter. In fact, their security was pretty lax in general. I guess they were just used to people not fighting back because they mostly lived in out of the way rural areas.

We slaughtered most of them down like animals, however there was the issue of those master powers.

But we have an entire clan that can choke people to death in their sleep with bugs, which is what we did. This wasn't a mission to show off or a protection job. This was extermination, plain and simple. Officially we take our gold and obliterate the target, then we get paid twice by taking in bounties. Unofficially we get paid three times over, because with this? We can afford something big.

I smile as a portal opens.

"Zoe."

He slumps as he sits on the couch.

"Rough mission?"

"Sent an entire town into the far realm for five minutes, that place is messed up."

I nodded my head and started massaging his shoulders.

"So?"

He laid down and closed his eyes.

"I'm having Heba check it… yeah it's in. And we got a bonus, apparently I count as Magesty now."

"What are we at?"

"155 points, spending 50 of them right now. That leaves 105 points to spend on your assistants, who are you guys thinking of?"

I leaned back.

"Winter has already picked someone, Hinata passed on making a decision until she has someone that can make you happy. Elsa wants Sloan."

He stared at me.

"Why?"

"Because she has experience in logistics and tactics, Elsa thinks we need someone with that expertise. Even if you don't like the government she represented she took an organization that was shattered and held it together then rebuilt it into something functional. The administrative skill required to pull that off is impressive."

I shrugged.

"Ok… That's fair. Your decision?"

"Can't decide between Taylor and Victoria."

"Why?"

"Amy is afraid of Taylor and her reasons for having her in our organization, under our control, makes sense. Taylor's ability to multi-task would be incredibly useful and as a solo actor she's a major threat so bringing her in makes sense. On the other hand Amy has an incestuous crush on her adopted sister and picking her and giving Amy the chance to indulge… well, the thought of it makes me wet."

He stared at me.

"It also secures New Wave as an alliance."

"You're mostly doing it to troll Amy, aren't you?"

"Oh, yes! But you have to admit, it would be fun. I mean, yes, Taylor's the logical choice by far but sometimes you want to get your fun in. As for the others, Amy is in the same 'cant make up my mind' situation I'm in while Karen wants Elisabeth Dewitt. So after Elsa and Karen have confirmed their picks we have 75 points left to spend."

He sighed.

"I'm just too tired to deal with this shit right now… I'm going to put in the order, have the robots set up the ritual sites, finish looting all of the things, and get this over with."

"Please tell me you're going to have fun."

He looked at me.

"You've seen Korra, right?"

"Yes?"

"Of course, I'm going to have fun! She might not have any common sense but her body is to god damned die for."

I smiled.

"I know."

He walked away and I sighed. The rational decision or the fun one? Choices, choices.



Korra


Korra

I winced in pain. Not being able to orgasm? Yeah, that was true;.. but what wasn't mentioned was that your body would stay on um 'edge' until things were taken care of. So it turns out that idly trying to take care of things myself? Yeah, didn't work! The edge just kind of remained without any kind of release. It was three weeks of this because, it turns out, hunting super-powered cults was kind of a time-consuming thing and an expensive things and…. um also a 'people are still really angry at me' kind of thing.

Heba looked at me as I slowly walked over to her.

"So, um… hey."

It's lonely here, even more so than the South Pole back home. It's not a matter of no one being my age so much as no one being around, period.

"It's time."

I am not ready to be a mom, like at all.

"Right… Ok, ok, lets do this."

But I am really horny right now.

"You have been taking your medicine, right?"

"Karen made sure of that."

A portal opened and Zoe nodded at me and took my arm, I felt my heartbeat speed up as I went into a room lit by torchlight.

"Take off your clothes."

Zoe looked at me and I nodded my head. I took off my clothing and he motioned for me to lay on the ground, then my arms and legs were chained to the ground.

"This seems really excessive."

He looked at me.

"Believe me, I'm in the same boat… but the ritual calls for you to be chained to the ground."

I blinked.

"Really?"

"I told you it was over-excessive bullshit, didn't I?"

I looked up and saw Karen watching me.

"So forcing her to watch me fuck you is a part of the ritual too?"

He looked at Karen who waved at us.

"Well? Does it require her to watch?"

"No."

I blinked.

"Then why is she here?"

"Um because it makes her hot."

I lifted a finger and sighed.

"It is pretty hot."

Amy walked in.

"So you're here to watch too?"

"Um, no… I'm here to make sure this takes."

She grabbed my wrist and I felt tingly.

"Have fun."

Her smile was not a kind one. I laid down on the ground and the two of them worked together to manacle me to the ground, I was wet and on my back. Zoe got nude too and damn…

"Each orgasm will double the chance of it taking."

I panted as his fingers brushed up against my sex, my back arched and I panted.

"Backed up?"

It still hurt but the orgasm lifted a bit of it. He grabbed me by the waist, positioned himself, and plunged inside. My eyes crossed.

"How does it feel to take my man's dick, whore?"

"Good!"

Karen degraded me from her viewpoint as my body convulsed. Each thrust made my head get a little lighter, I struggled against the chains.

"Beg for it."

"Please, I'm not ready."

He stopped and felt my breasts, massaging them. I felt so horny, my body's need for release was hurting me.

"Beg for it."

He kissed my neck, I panted struggling.

"Please."

I was crying.

"Please what?"

"Get me pregnant!"

He started thrusting again and the room lit up in color. My body sweated, the pain lessened, and my body clenched as his cock was starting to twitch. He grabbed my hips and held me still, my body betrayed me and I felt my body flood with pleasure.

"PLEASE!"

I felt his cum hit my womb and pleasure wracked my body. I couldn't feel my legs as my body collapsed and I felt his warmth inside me… then I felt power, something akin to the avatar state. I watched my body glow and I knew the seed had taken. I slumped and everything went dark. A part of my mind didn't mind the idea of what would happen, a part of me looked forward to being a mom.

I hope I will be a good one.



Ino cannoned


Cherico said:


"Obeying orders feels good, being around him feels good, feelings of affection are amplified. He seems to use pavlovian conditioning, for the most part. It's subtle but can be resisted."


Omake - Ino's Wakeup

oOo

Ino Yamanaka

The eighth time I woke up on the edge of an orgasm with the memory of a searing hot dream about Zoe at the forefront of my mind? I finally admitted that I'd fucked up. A little anyway.

It took an effort of will to not just shove my fingers between my legs and keep going. I resisted though and staggered from my bedroom to the bathroom. Normally I liked the bedroom since it was big enough for a princess, but at times like that I regretted not having a smaller one.

A bath was waiting for me with one of the puppet maids there, having kept it ready and cold for whenever I woke up. I wasn't thinking clearly but I still managed to tear off what I'd been wearing before plunging in.

I almost screamed when I hit the water, but at least it cleared my head. Taking deep and slow breaths I let the cold seep into me and work its calming magic. And I firmly ignored any thoughts that tried to surface about Elsa and her cold touch on the parts I wanted the water to cool.

By the time I pulled myself out and accepted a towel from the maid puppet I was shivering but clear-headed. And finally, finally, I started to think about just what I'd done wrong.

I'd been confident when talking to my dad about the controls that Zoe had put in place. It was subtle, easily resisted, so it couldn't be a threat? Right?

Rinsing my mouth out at a sink I spat. That matched my line of thought.

"It's like boiling a frog." I told the puppet as I slipped into the robe it was holding for me. "Just a little change and it doesn't get noticed before."

What I hadn't considered was that while Zoe had put the changes in place it wasn't him who had come up with them. It was that 'Company'. And they had centuries, maybe even millennia, of perfecting these very specific techniques.

It was like one of those analysis exercises from the Academy where I overlooked one thing, or made a simple, stupid mistake, and the whole lot came tumbling down.

Pavlovian conditioning was useful but limited for the most part. It worked with animals well enough and you could even use it on people if you kept it up. But when someone had time to think things through and decompress without it being reinforced it started to crumble. With the right mindset it crumbled very quickly and you were left with someone who might still flinch regarding, or have a kink about, strange things but who was probably pissed off at you.

The Company form of it had the same issue in theory. But I'd not taken into account that there wouldn't be any time to decompress. There'd never be a chance for my conscious mind to put things back in order.

Pavlovian conditioning didn't work well against most ninja. They could hold out for months.

Pavlovian conditioning especially didn't work well against Yamanaka. We could hold out for years.

Pavlovian conditioning was going to work against me because, if Zoe's promises about things continued to hold true, there were decades, centuries, or even longer for it to work without a break.

Any ground my mind lost wasn't ever going to be something I could get back and my unconscious, treacherous thing that it was, had already worked out that sexy thinking about Zoe made for 'nice dreams'. Which was already turning into any 'nice dreams' I had turning into ones about Zoe.

Someone gasped and I blushed as I realised it was me. Slowly and carefully I pushed my hands down to my sides, away from the nipple I'd just tweaked.

Thinking of Zoe was dangerous when I wasn't focused. And I knew, just knew, this would be worse if (when…) we fucked.

But thinking about him? That was something I had to do. Both as part of my job as his 'waifu' (and what was it with that word?) and for what Konoha asked of me.

"You're Ino Yamanaka." I told myself in the bathroom mirror. "You're better than this."

As I turned away to finish my morning routine (a girl does have to look pretty) I couldn't help but think that the girl in the mirror didn't care much about that. And she'd care less and less over time.

She was just horny and knew what would feel good.

She wanted to do well, be a good waifu, and get fucked.

But I wasn't her.

Yet.

oOo



Taylor Hebert


Taylor Hebert

It was a small dojo up in the hills, away from the city, owned by an old man and his family. There were maybe 30 people here and I was the only girl. We would wake up, train, eat then sleep. As soon as we hit the bags I would imagine her face, the face of Damsel, the face of the woman who murdered my mother. I no longer had the illusion that I was safe, that my family was safe, because at any time at any moment someone with powers could do it again and get away with it. Because that was how this world worked: if you had powers the rules worked differently.

I used to think they didn't apply to you at all but I did some research and there were rules even for Parahumans, in some ways both more and less restrictive than what we lived under. Killing my mom was allowed. If Damsel went to the PRT she would get a second chance, be rebranded as a 'hero'. If she just laid low or didn't get caught for a second and third murder, it would just be a strike. Even if she was captured it would be a normal prison for her, one she could easily escape from and then have things reset for next time.

It, of course, wasn't all bad. Initially I felt that way, anger problems, but powers could be used for good. There were legit heroes who fought to make things better and I watched the worst part of my town be rebuilt into the best part of my town in a few years. I watched as capes were able to finally fix the Boat Graveyard and bring my city back to life. Dad told me he didn't have enough people for the amount of work that was pouring in as Star Industry solar panels were shipped all over the world and raw materials to make more were shipped in.

People with power could make things better and they could make things worse, but without power you couldn't change anything. My entire body hurt, it was a long day of running, exercise, and sparing. I felt tired but, for some reason, I woke up in the middle of the night. I felt thirsty and smelled something, I don't know what drove me to it but I made it to the outskirts of camp where I saw an old woman boiling something in a cauldron.

"Hello, Deary. Long day?"

I saw a long chair and sat down.

"Yes."

"It won't work by the way."

I stared at her.

"What won't work?"

"This, Taylor."

"How do you know my name?"

"I know a lot of things, Taylor, and I know that while this is very good exercise it won't get you justice, it won't be enough to protect what you love, it won't be enough to change anything."

She passed me some tea and I drank it, it tasted sweet but I felt my injuries and pain wash away, felt refreshed.

"You're a parahuman."

"I guess that term fits."

"Why are you here?"

"To offer a deal."

She pointed to her cauldron and I saw an image of Emma talking on a phone, saw ABB gangsters grab her and her father, saw her with a blade against her throat.

"That's going to happen."

"No."

"But you can protect her. You're friends and you just have to hear us out."

"About what?"

"A deal, for power. I'm sure you have heard stories of trumps that could give people superpowers in exchange for being mastered. I represent someone like that."

"Then no."

I bit my lip.

"Are you really sure of that, deary?"

I hesitated.

"You're not leaving, are you?"

"I um am tired."

"It was a knee-jerk response, wasn't it? That was the reply that society expects you to give but it wasn't the honest reply from your heart, was it? Not how you feel at all."

I looked away.

"You don't have to decide now, of course. You can have until the end of summer to figure it out but think Taylor: If you don't have power, how can you get justice for your mother? How can you change anything?"

I looked at the repeating image in the cauldron.

"We are willing to give you a favor, to help your friend and rescue her. Of course it's not free, you would agree to hear us out."

"Just hear you out?"

"Just hear us out. It's not all bad, dearie. You would have support, a place to call your own, friends and allies and money."

"And all it would cost is me."

"Correct, but we would get you your revenge."

"Why me? I'm not pretty."

"That can be changed, a blossoming flower happens"

She got up and handed me a card.

"If it ever happens, tear this. We will send help."

I took the card and looked at it. I looked back up and she and her cauldron were gone, I thought about it and waited for my phone call.

"Taylor!"

"It's good to hear you Emma and."

I heard the sound of a car and remembered what I saw in the cauldron and brought out the card.

"Emma! You're in danger."

"Taylor? What?"

"I'm going to send help."

I tore the card and heard yelling, the call ended and I sat down abruptly on a bench.

It wouldn't hurt to hear them out, right?



Dan Seneca


Dan Seneca

The special district is off-limits, orders from above. We are not to press with, or mess with, the SD. It makes me nervous that an obviously rich and powerful group of rogues is taking over a portion of the city while I'm not allowed to do anything about it, not even investigate. Normally my first thought would have been mastery but as the number of healing potions exploded and the price plummeted, as we sold on excess onto the civilian market which did defray costs by quite a bit, I understood. It was a bribe. I saw PRT vans go into the SD on a regular basis and I knew what was coming out.

More potions. It was not mastery, it was not threats, it was not blackmail. It's bribery and it disturbs me how well it's working.

You would think that the city would raise complaints about the walls being raised around the SD, its restrictive rules, the parahuman security that has the place locked down? But no because to them the SD was the single worst part of the city torn down and rebuilt into something useful. To them there was that bounty of work for the city's devastated working class in the new factories, or in the shops, or in the entertainment centers. It had only been open for less than a year and already it was producing more than half of the cities wealth.

It seems people will overlook quite a bit when they have money on the table, and so they do. As far as the city is concerned the SD pays its taxes on time and promptly, unlike a lot of businesses here. As far as the people here are concerned it's a safe place to hang out and work and, for the people who can pay for it, live. I mean it's a restrictive gated community but it's safe… or as safe as it gets.

"Crime is down."

Armsmaster looked comfortable.

"Really?"

"We still have a lot of it but it's things like drugs, prostitution, gang related stuff. With the number of jobs, a lot of the independent stuff has dropped off. Fewer henchmen too, though the ones that remain are more violent and dedicated to the lifestyle."

"Should we be worried?"

"Hmm, my guess is that the Merchants are about to be destroyed… They're down to one cape and the army of homeless people they have can't deal with the ABB's numbers. So the city is going to be split in two which will cause a violent crackdown or a fourth gang will rise up to take the Merchants place."

I stared at the data.

"It's going to be ugly."

"Yeah, it will… So, we got two more recruits."

I looked at the data.

"Skidmark, and Squealer… Why? How did PR allow this?"

"They picked the names. New capes, they want to join up but they have conditions."

I sighed.

"What do they want?"

"They have a young daughter, Annette Hazel Mustfield, and they don't think their neighborhood is safe. They want to live in the SD."

A lot of our people lived there and it was a growing number.

"Ok, I'm fine with it."

My gut still said something was up but for now all I could do was trust that the Protectorate had this under control.



Zoe


Zoe

It's a few gangsters, maybe seven of them.

I get the signal, Emma is on the ground getting the same question about a nose or something. I grab the woman and smash her into a wall. Hinata has been training me on how to use chakra, I'm pretty god awful at it but I now know how to move faster, how to think faster. With my other abilities working together… well, it's like they're moving in slow motion.

Punch, move, kick and destroy. When I'm finished they're all on the ground, I get started zip-tying the criminals. I hear a drop and sigh.

"You're late."

Shadow stalker freezes.

"What?"

"Shadow Stalker, vigilante, works the docks and industrial parks. Your aim with those crossbows got you some rep in my line of work but if you don't learn how to stop hesitating and move in for the fight… you're not going to reach your potential."

"And who are you?"

"They call me Z, I'm a rogue. I do security work and I'm on the clock right now. Wish I wasn't, it's hard to find time to talk to a fellow badass."

Her form calmed down.

"You mind calling this in? I'm supposed to take care of the client."

"Got it."

I got up and looked at the terrified redhead. I pulled out a smartphone, it wasn't on but it looked like I was doing something.

"Emma Barnes?"

Her eyes were wide. I held out a hand, I was in a black jumpsuit with a trenchcoat and stylized helmet.

"Yes."

"I have orders to get you and your father to safety. Do you mind getting closer to him while I move the dumpster that's blocking the way?"

"Um… Ok."

I moved the dumpster and looked at the two of them.

"All right, folks, this is a standard security ride along and I am being paid 300 dollars an hour to see both of you home. You can either have me ride in the car or on top of it but I'm not allowed to leave you two alone until you're home and safe."

The man blinked.

"Um what?"

"I am being paid to protect you, part of that is getting you out of that danger zone… unless you want to wait for their friends to arrive, of course."

That got him moving.

"Of course."

"On top of the car or in it?"

"Um."

"I can be more effective on top of the car, in a case of vehicular combat."

"Top is fine."

The two of them skittered inside the car and I jumped on top of it, the father drove them quickly and got back to their suburban home. When they got there Alan looked at me.

"Um how much do we owe you?"

He was grimacing.

"You're not paying the bill, Great Old Ones Incorporated is."

He stared at me.

"I don't remember working for your company."

I sighed.

"As a part of negotiations with the Dockworkers Union they were guaranteed security, the person who negotiated the contract received a tinker tech credit card in the mail. in the event of an emergency, said card can be bent and the client can request help. Between thinker, teleporter, and security services this operation costs around 5,000 dollars."

he blinked.

"I believe the person who called in the extraction request was someone named Taylor Hebert?"

He sighed in relief.

"Is she the union rep?"

"No, his daughter."

I leaned back.

"Well, it is what it is. You only get one of those tickets as a negotiation fee."

I bowed.

"Wish you both the best of luck."

With that done I brought out my control sword and cut a portal through space and time, then I waited. When I received a text I arrived at the outskirts of Taylor's camp and sat down, I waited and when it got dark she came out. She looked presentable with her long hair was in a ponytail, she wore a white gi and had glasses. She looked at me and sat down.

"Emma is all right."

She looked at me.

"So, the deal."

"Superpowers in exchange for being mine, mind and body and soul forever."

She was shivering. It was after all pretty cold.

"There is something I want."

"Damsel of distress."

"Yes… I want her dead."

"I can give you your revenge but you know the price."

She got up and looked down at me.

"So be it."

I got up and slashed my sword and motioned for her to follow, she did so and looked around.

"Where are we?"

"Scorpio island, it's on an alternate world."

I pulled out a key and opened a door, Taylor looked around.

"So we're not on earth?

"No, and if you agree to serve me this island will be yours."

We walked inside to a table and sat down. Taylor read the contract carefully, nervously. She took the pen I offered and signed it, then looked at me as the parchment glowed. I brought out a vial.

"Drink this if you want powers."

She grabbed it and drank it down in one gulp, and then grimaced. I got out of my chair and held her as she triggered. When she was finished she sighed.

"Ok, now what?"

"In the morning the camp will send you back home to console your friend, then when we find Damsel… and we are already looking for her… we will contact you so you can handle things personally."

"How long will that take?"

"A week or so."

She took in a breath.

" You're not allowed to tell anyone about this."

Taylor flinched and nodded.

"Thought as much."



Zoe


Zoe

I sat down at the grave. Getting the signature was easy, power and revenge were pretty good lures and the Company knows to send people who can motivate someone into signing. She wasn't as beautiful as my other waifus, I'm going to be honest about that. Karen is drop-dead gorgeous, Elsa looks like a model and has a nice voice. Hinata has a knockout body and Ino is very cute, and Winter is pretty sexy too, Amy… now that's a body I've worked on for years. She's grown up into something special and I fully intend on having a lot of fun with her.

Taylor is just… well a normal girl for her age. The mouth thing isn't that big, she's kind of gangly and growing and in that awkward stage. Still, I look at the grave.

Annette Hebert.

"Well, your daughter's mine."

I looked at the grave.

"Maybe that was inevitable? Girl next door thing, though this is kind of litteral."

I took in a breath.

"I'm going to be honest here: I never liked you, never really liked Taylor. You two never introduced yourself and were kind of shitty neighbors, really you both only talked to us when you wanted something. You would drive on our lawn and hit our mailbox and your litter would get on our side of the street when it was windy and… wow, the more I think about it, the more complaints I have. It's not that you were deliberate assholes all the time, you know? It's that you were incredibly inconsiderate in general. The only thing that was real to you was your job as professor, and your time as wife and mother. In every other aspect of your life? You were this absentminded professor and, when the real world hit, you got stomped."

I was silent.

"I had my money on death by car accident, pretty much everyone who knew you felt the same… And then you died over a fucking phone."

I shook my head.

"Of course death covers up all sins, doesn't it? People forgot how much of a control freak you were, how you could be an inconsiderate bitch. They forgot your little stunt as a henchwoman. To be fair though you're probably in a better place, you have to fuck up pretty bad to end up in the bad place."

I got up.

"I guess I should promise to take good care of your little girl and blah blah blah, but I'm not. Fact is, I don't like you nearly enough to make that promise and your daughter is a very dangerous and angry girl. She also has those same control-freak tendencies that led to your death so this is what is really going to happen. Your baby girl is going to get her revenge and when that happens she will become mine, entirely mine. I'm going to make her attractive, really attractive, and I am going to take your proud little girl and break her down."

I looked up at the sky.

"I'm going to fuck her, Annette. A lot. She's not going to be whatever fantasy you have planned for her because she's going to get knocked up, quit school, and become a mother and housewife. If I'm feeling lenient I might let her become my secretary. Oh she will have a nice place to live and she will be provided for, but she is going to have a leash on her."

I looked back at the tombstone.

"She might have been your little princess, but now she's my little whore."



Grand Admiral Sloane


Grand Admiral Sloane

It was getting cold, the base's power was running out. When that happened, no more light and the hydroponics would go off, then the plants would die and then no more food. Even with insulation, the cold would seep in, just more slowly if I sectioned and sealed the place down. I was going to die in a cramped and cold base, of hunger and thirst in the darkness. What a way to go and all because of one red-headed little piece of shit.

I heard a clapping sound.

"Love what you've done with the place."

I turned around and saw a young boy with golden hair.

"Grand Admiral Sloane, right?"

"Who are you?"

"Z38, also known as Zoe to my friends. I brought some hot coco, want to talk?"

I pulled out my gun.

"Yeah… That isn't going to work on me."

"Why not?"

"It isn't loaded, and black powder weapons require black powder to work. Also, it's a flintlock that's missing the flint."

I looked at the gun.

"Go ahead, fire it."

I pulled the trigger and heard a clicking sound and sighed.

"Well, apparently I am at your mercy."

"That offer of hot coco is still on the table."

I nodded my head.

"Thank you."

He handed me a thermos, I opened it and took a sip… the best thing I've had in years.

"So, what made you join the empire?"

I froze at the question.

"What?"

"What made you join the empire."

I took a sip of coco and decided to tell the truth.

"The assassination of senator Binks."

"Jar jar binks?"

"Senator Jar Jar Binks in my presence, please. Use his full title and give him respect, even if you don't respect me."

"Very well. Why do you respect him so much?"

I took another sip.

"Because he was the only senator with the balls and the drive to actually improve things on the lower levels of the capital. He would actually go down to us and bring food and law and order and he would personally go in and fight the gangsters who made our lives hell. He was the only senator I respected, the only one that gave a damn about the common person. And when the rebels murdered him in cold blood…"

"You're sure that it was them?"

"They taped it and put it on the extranet! And the rebellion did take credit for it, so yes I believe they did it. So, when they murdered him in cold blood, I signed up. And I rose up through the ranks."

"Let me guess, because you were a tactical genius?"

I looked at him and shook my head, I couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh no! That was Thrawn… and maybe a few others."

"Then how did you rise so quickly through the ranks?"

"Because I had the ability to take a collection of primadonnas and get them to work together. Because I cared more about getting results than who got credited. Really that was the problem with the empire, too much fucking ego. Not enough people realized that the empire was bigger than us, Palps was the most guilty of that. The empire was bigger than him and he never quite got that, Vader did though."

"The Death Star."

I frowned.

"Which one? Because they were both stupid decisions. For the same price we could have equipped all of our Ties with hyperdrive and shields, could have made stormtrooper armor less shit."

"You dislike the design?"

"Clone trooper armor had better protection than that garbage and the visors just fucked with peripheral vision? And then the guns they had? Inaccurate pieces of shit made by the lowest bidder. You had to be among the best marksmen in the galaxy to work with that garbage. On top of that, after Alderaan… some of our best people defected to the rebellion. Because all Alderan did was just piss people off."

The anger was returning.

"And then rather than learn from that fuck up? We went and do it again!"

"Why didn't you defect?"

"Rebels talk about restoring the Old Republic, they don't remember what a complete clusterfuck the republic was. I mean companies had votes in it, while entire worlds and systems full of people didn't. Also the idea that it was a democracy? Fucking laughable. Most people didn't get to vote for their representative. A lot of seats were hereditary, or did you think the princess title that Leia had was ceremonial?"

I blinked.

"And the tax structure was a nightmare! Some of the Core worlds didn't have to pay taxes at all, but everyone on the Outer Rim did. Unless, of course, you were the Trade Federation or Techno Union, then fuck you! And when a world could be taxed? The people with money often didn't have to pay a dime, the peons of course could get fucked sideways!"

"I'm sensing a lot of anger."

"The Empire fixed that! Every planet in the Empire had to pay taxes, companies were no longer allowed to hold senate seats, and no tax exemptions were granted for royalty. Taxes actually went down to the lowest levels in centuries and revenues were still ten times higher than in the history of the republic."

"But the taxes were still high."

"The empire had a 5% flat income tax. If your taxes were high then I'm sorry but you had a shit local planetary government. And, yes, there were a lot of them."

I looked at him.

"By the way, where did you think the rebels got their money? it was disaffected nobles, who objected to paying taxes for a change. It was criminal syndicates and of course former separatists who couldn't accept they lost the war. I'm not saying the Empire was perfect. Dear God, there were so many idiots that it wasn't even funny… but it was better than the absolute clusterfuck that was the old republic."

He looked at me.

"Well, way I see it you have two choices: either join me or stay here and die."

"Bounty hunter?"

"No."

He looked at me and a portal opened.

"You're not from around here."

"This is your typical deal with the devil. I give you back your youth, help you escape, and give you some property. You give me your mind and body and soul in return."

I frowned.

"What do you intend to do?"

"Hmm use your talents to improve my operations, and I will probably have you bear my children in the future."

I sighed.

"You know, I never had kids. Always focused on the Empire, either improving it or saving what I could… Hell, I'm in."

I took his hand and left through the portal. It was a second chance, hopefully I wouldn't fuck this one up too.



Taylor Hebert


Taylor Hebert

She was beautiful, I had never seen a blond Asian in real life before. You think I would have with our city's large Asian community but, though I saw people die their hair, they never dyed it blond.

"Hello, Taylor. Would you like some tea?"

I blinked as I stared at her.

"Um, ok. Sure."

I was given a cup of tea and stared at it.

"What do you want, Taylor?"

I blinked.

"What?"

"It's an important question, quite possibly the most important question I can ask. What do you want?"

I froze.

"I don't know."

"I think you're lying… oh, you're definitely lying. You know what you want, you're just not being honest about it."

I sighed.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because I am your superior? No, that's too aggressive… Your boss? Your liege lord? Point is: this is not a democracy, though I do find the concept fascinating, this is a hierarchical organization and I outrank you."

"How does the ranking go?"

"Z38, Karen, Me, you, and in time your minions. It's a feudal structure and you're currently at the bottom, in time you will be higher up as things grow. So the question, and please be honest. What do you want?"

"Revenge."

Ino smiled and leaned back.

"That's true, but not the entire story. Why do you feel like you deserve to be punished?"

I froze.

"What?"

"Why do you feel like you deserve to be punished, Taylor?"

I looked away.

"I um are you a thinker?"

"Sort of. I am trained in psychology of a sort. So, please tell me why you want to be punished."

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because it's affecting Z38's behavior and I care for him."

I stared at her.

"Do you honestly think the mind-control just goes one way? I've been studying it and his approach to women is affected by their unconscious desires. I like psychological puzzles so he's been giving them to me. Hinata wants some one who is nice to her so he's nice to her. Amy wants a man to win her like a prize and then conquer her utterly. And you want to be punished and it's not making him happy because he already has guilt issues and doesn't need more so, please, help me work through your issues."

"It's my fault."

She raised an eyebrow.

"What is?"

"I knew my mom had a problem but I tried to pretend it didn't exist and because I didn't say anything she died."

"Survivor's guilt, should have known. How do you feel about school?"

"I'm good at it."

"That isn't what I'm looking for."

I sighed.

"I um kind of hate it, it bores me and I kind of want to do my own thing. Is this a therapist session?"

"A little bit but I also want to get to know you. Now, please tell me what you want."

I sipped the tea.

"This is a truth serum, isn't it?"

"What you're about to say is confidential but I do need you to be honest, even to yourself."

I struggled and it came out.

"I want to be safe, to feel safe again. I want things to stop being so complex and hard to understand. I know I'm not stable and I just want someone big and strong to protect me from the world and myself. I want to have people in my life who love me but I don't feel like I deserve any of it and I want to be punished because I think my mother's death is my fault and I dont think I deserve to be happy."

I felt pain as it came out.

"Don't you have dreams of going to college, becoming a professor like your mom?"

"I….I don't want that, it's something I went along with because it was my mother's dream for me, something she pushed me to be. I resent it, I feel guilty for resenting her for it. I don't think I ever really had the chance to have a dream of my own and a part of me hates my mother for that, which makes me feel guilty."

"Why did you sign the contract? Be honest."

I felt my brain hurt as I struggled against the drug.

"I'm tired of feeling responsible for everything, because it always feels like it's my fault, always feel like everything is my fault, and I don't know how to fix it and I feel like I'm supposed to fix it and this is driving me up the wall. I wanted someone to control me. I still want some one to control me, because at least then I won't feel like I'm responsible for all of these things I can't fix."

"At some point you will be expected to bear our master's child, how do you feel about it?"

I grimaced.

"A part of me is scared, but a part of me is turned on. If I became a single mother everyone would make fun of me, my dad might kick me out and I would have to quit school. But the school I'm going to is the most gang-infested school, it's not safe. I'm only going there because my friend Emma is going there and I'm afraid of what would happen if I was forced to make new friends."

She leaned against the chair.

"Thank you for your honesty, Taylor."

The worst thing about it was… I did feel better after saying that.



Taylor Hebert


Taylor Hebert

The worst part of the conversation was that I couldn't lie to myself anymore.

Ino told me I was required to have a session with her every week, I looked at Z38.

"Well? Take off the helmet."

He did so and I sighed.

"Zoe."

"Taylor."

I bit my lip and sighed.

"So… how long have you been a cape?"

"Most of this life pretty much."

I looked at him.

"Do you hate me?"

"A large part of me resents this, yes."

He looked at me and I looked at him. He was tall, taller than me and I was very tall, and he was becoming very muscular.

"Why didn't you ever introduce yourself?"

I froze.

"I lived across the street from you for years and you never introduced yourself to me, or invited me in. Why?"

I looked away.

"If we're going to have a relationship,p and as fucked up as this whole thing is it is a relationship, then I want to know why."

"If I tell you then I want you to be honest with me."

He nodded his head. Ok Taylor, be honest.

"When you moved in the other girls thought boys were icky, I wanted to fit in so I decided to put off talking to you. Then it became an issue of well I haven't talked to you so far and if I talk now you're going to be upset that I didn't do it earlier and… well it was just easier to not deal with it at a certain point."

I sighed.

"I apologize for ignoring you the first couple of times you tried to talk to me."

I paused.

"So why me? I mean I'm not as pretty as Emma."

"Because you're unstable and I feel like that if you don't have someone holding your leash you're going to act like a mad dog."

I felt angry at the statement.

"How do you know?"

"Because this has happened before. Not you exactly but someone like you, in your situation. Some times it's a locker, some times it's a near rape, some times it's losing a parent… but sooner or later you go on this self-destructive crusade and, while you do a lot of good, people get hurt. You, most of all."

He put on his helmet.

"You ready?"

"Yeah."

A portal opened and we walked through. In the distance there was a small warehouse.

"She's in there."

My hands felt sweaty.

"This is your last chance to get out of this."

I looked at the warehouse.

"How did she get away with it?"

"You know how you have undercover cops?"

"She works for the protectorate?"

I felt a flash of rage.

"No, the problem with undercover cops is that any halfway decent thinker can sniff them out, makes it impossible to really get people in. But what if you have an idiot? Someone who truly thinks that they're independent, but is so stupid they give information away."

I stared at him.

"Damsel of distress was given a PRT phone before she became a villain. To this day, she still uses it for villain related activities."

I stumbled and stared at him.

"You're kidding me?"

"I'm not, she's just that stupid. Also the warehouse is owned by the PRT and is bugged to hell and she conducts business there with other villains, she's just that dumb. That has been very useful to the PRT and there are so many worse villains…"

I felt angry, really angry.

"You can have your freedom. All you have to do is let go, forgive."

"I can't do that."

"If you kill her you will belong to me, forever."

"By 'belong to you', what do you mean? what would that…"

"I will be able to control your body and mind."

"Body?"

"I can reshape how you look."

I thought about it.

"I always wanted bigger tits."

He turned his head.

"What?"

"Bigger tits, boobs, maybe a nicer ass."

I collected a swarm of bugs.

"What's your plan with me?"

"I think you know exactly what I want to do with you."

I blushed and felt heat in my cheeks. She stepped outside and I felt hate.

"Last chance, you can still go back."

I had to make a decision now.



Taylor Hebert


Taylor Hebert

This was an important decision the single most important decision of my life, maybe the last decision of my life.

My mouth was dry.

"This is your decision, Taylor."

I felt sick and tried to think of what to do.

"What happens if I don't go through with this?"

"Your powers were not free, I got three absolute commands. I already used one so that you're unable to give up any of my secrets. The second one will be to get therapy which Ino and her family will gladly provide. The last one would be held in reserve, just in case you ever became a threat to me."

"Anyone ever tell you that you're paranoid?"

"Just people who get to actually know me but, in your case, I know what you're capable of. You're very unstable and, if you don't get help, you will drag everyone down with you."

Damsel walked back inside her place.

"So what will you do to me if I do this?"

"I will make you beautiful, gorgeous. I will give you land, a place to live where you will have servants and be able to go back and forth. You will be made to be comfortable, but I will have unprotected sex with you until you get pregnant. Then I will make you quit school to raise our children. You will be a housewife, raising lots of our children. It will be a small life but a satisfying one."

I looked at the house.

"Why do you want to get me pregnant?"

"Because I honestly think you would be a good mother, and because I think if you were responsible for someone you would be less reckless."

"I would be happy."

It was a horrible thing to admit.

"I'm so tired of self-doubt, so tired of feeling like I'm responsible for everything, and I am angry. I'm so angry. She killed my mother in cold blood, she deserves to die."

He was silent.

"Well?"

"Not going to disagree. She's a piece of shit, woman's deeply in the red."

I got up.

"My mother wouldn't want this."

"It's not up to her, it's up to you."

"I know, but If I do this? I'm doing it for her so I have to consider her views."

"And?"

"And my mom once told me that if I had the choice between being happy or being great… to choose greatness."

"It won't make you happy, I know that."

"Will I become great?"

"Yes."

I sighed.

"Lets go."

We got up and a portal opened, I went home and slept in. When the morning came I looked for my dad.

"Hey um we need to talk."

My dad looked at me.

"About what, Taylor?"

"Remember when mom died?"

Dad frowned.

"Yes?"

I remembered what I had read when I tried to learn about parahumans.

"Well it was a bad day, the worst day, and I changed a lot."

"Losing her hurt me too."

I went over to the window and opened it, I motioned with my hands and bugs flew in and surrounded me. My dad stared at me.

"I was afraid to tell you, I thought you might… not want me anymore and-"

He moved past the bugs and hugged me. I stood there as he held me in his arms before taking a step back and looking me in the eyes.

"Stop that. I never will!"

He observed me, trying to will me to believe, and I could only give him a nod.

"So… Now what?"

"Now… I guess I could join the Wards, right?"

"Yeah, that sounds good."

The Protectorate was protecting Damsel and I knew people with power… If I could get in I could find that secret and expose it. There was corruption in the PRT and someone had to stop it, might as well be me.



Ino Yamanaka


Ino Yamanaka

I looked at Heba.

"So when were you going to tell me? Tell us?"

I put the files down, the hidden redacted files. Only someone who had been here long enough, someone here longer than any of us, could have hidden this and Zoe… well, he was just not the type to hide something like this, not something this big.

"How did you find that?"

"I'm a ninja, I snoop and investigate things. Hinata might be satisfied with just being a wife and mother but I'm not and I am not happy that you hid this from me."

She looked at me.

"We both know Zoe wouldn't hide this from us, it's not his style and the way he acts shows me he doesn't know about this."

Heba stared at me.

"You and I both know what will happen if the ritual doesn't happen."

"Of course I do, I'm not stupid! I read the files, it's billions of lives."

My mouth was dry.

"It requires one of us to die, so who do you have picked? Who were you going to sacrifice to make it work?"

"Me."

I blinked.

"What?"

"I've led a lot of good men to their deaths because of inexperience, because I wasn't good at my job. The families left behind by the casualties of the company… a lot of them went without or starved. I wasn't important like you, if I go… well, it justifies my existance."

"Why doesn't Zoe know?"

She rubbed her stomach.

"I wanted to have a child before I died, wanted to have his child before I died. He's become something great and I want that greatness to be mingled with me, combined with me. Then, when I pass, I want that child of mine and of greatness to remain. If he knows… he would protect me, he would save me. No."

"A sacrifice still has to be made… Who do you think he would pick, if he did know?"

"Sloan, most likely. Part of an empire with a shady record and helped found a group of fanatics, even if she had good intentions a lot of people have and will die because of what she did."

I looked away.

"One of us must die, so that a trillion people will live."

"Why us?"

"There is power invested in us, in our connection to the islands in the sea of time. When we became what we are, we touched eternity. We're the only resource powerful enough to fuel it."

I felt tired and sick.

"So what of Taylor?

"The points were spent, contracts were signed, and then she decided not to have the revenge at the last moment."

I sighed.

"Frustrating."

"Her current plan?"

"She's going to join the Protectorate and expose corruption."

Heba smirked.

"What?"

"The contract says revenge. It never said who the revenge would be on."

I smiled and then frowned.

"So who was your second pick?"

"2B."

Heba nodded her head.

"Taylor will come to us in the end, the contract was signed and the points spent, but it won't be now and it may not be for years. Let her be a hero for a bit, let her play her games. She will come to us eventually."



Raven


Rachel Roth- Raven

I looked at the book, wrapped in human flesh and inked in blood. The Teen Titans had rejected my pleas for help, Trigon wanted to use me as a vessel to destroy this world but there were forces stronger than him strange and alien.

My hands shook as I recited the incantation. Only the desperate and foolish called upon her power because there was always a price, a horrible horrible price. The candles went out and a portal opened.

"You seek my power."

"I do."

"What do you wish?"

I didn't look through the portal, for it was madness-inducing.

"My father, Trigon, wishes to use me as a vessel to destroy my world. I don't want to do that but no one will help me."

There was silence.

"You seek sanctuary."

"Yes."

"There is a price for such things."

"I don't have much of a choice."

"There is one who has earned my favor, you will become his consort and bear his children."

I laughed and felt tears come out of my eyes.

"Is that all?"

To become the plaything of one of her children? But I had little choice.

"Very well."

The dark portal opened and I walk through it, I felt fear and trepidation and then made it into an… office? A visibly pregnant elf looked up at me and fixed her glasses.

"Miss Roth?"

"Yes."

I felt nervous.

"Hmm, your paperwork just went through."

I looked around surprised about how mundane everything looked.

"Um yes, who are you?"

"My name is Heba, I'm a secretary for Great Old Ones incorporated but you can call us Goo I guess… Everyone else does. Would you like some coffee, or tea, or cocoa? We got one of those Keurig things and it has a host of options."

"Um ok."

I got up and put in an earl grey, and sat down.

"So, while I do like the look, why the leotard?"

"Um."

"We're both girls."

I sighed.

"I kind of like the way it rides up my butt a little."

I cringed as I said it and blushed.

"I respect that, comforts a big thing."

I grimaced.

"Says you're from a DC universe, ever meet Superman?"

I blinked.

"Who the hell is that?"

"From Krypton?"

"Oh, you mean Winged Hussar! Um, no. He lives in Poland and um I don't live there."

"Oh… disappointing."

I bit my lip.

"So what do you want from me?"

"Well, ideally, we would like you to become a trade representative between your world and a collection of ours."

I stared at her.

"You're not trying to conquer the world?"

Heba stared at me.

"That's stupid! You make a lot more money by being a middle man of trade between different fractions than you do building up a massive army that has to wage countless wars."

"It just seems like… um, that's the thing that happens."

I heard her clicking on her computer.

"Ah that explains it, your earth has a Cthulhu incarnation on it."

I stared at her.

"Whenever he puts an avatar on a planet it causes irrational behavior, really most inter-dimensional groups tend to prefer trade. All of the benefits, with very little of the cost."

"My father…"

"Looking him up. Trigon, the result of a mating between a mystic sect and the god they worshipped, currently holds dominion over 2 million worlds in his home dimension."

I looked at her in horror.

"We need a way to beat him but with those numbers."

Heba laughed.

"What is so funny?"

"Ok, define planet?"

I blinked um what?

"Is Pluto a planet?"

"Um yes? Or it used to be."

"Does pluto have any life on it?"

"No, Mars used to have life and Venus has been terraformed but that's all the life in the solar system I think."

"Ok, so… including gas giants and dwarf planets, and Trigon does include those as planets in his domain… the solar system has maybe 100 planets in it, probably more and… wow."

"Wow what?"

"He includes asteroids in his definition of a planet? I mean a few people do that but most people don't."

She tapped at the screen.

"Yeah… so, looking at the file, your father hijacked an old alien mining AI and used it to conquer his world and a grand total of three other star systems. I mean… by your world's standards that's impressive but on the larger scale that's not much."

I stared at him.

"He's a demon lord."

"Yes, he's a lord. A baronet, baron, count, earl, viscount and a whole lot of other demonic ranks outrank him. I mean he ranks higher than a hell knight but he's what, three noble ranks from the bottom? At most. He's not even involved in the Blood Wars, and if you don't fight in those then no one in the hells respects you."

I felt angry.

"Trigon is a serious threat."

"To your homeworld, yes. To our organization, yes. In the broader multiversal picture? No, he really isn't."

I heard a beeping sound and got my tea and sat down, a door opened and a man walked in, I bit my lip.

"Rachel Roth?"

"I prefer Raven?"

He held out his hand.

"Name's Z38."

I blinked.

"I know you?"

"What?"

"You were in the cartoon Labrats, they would kill you off in every episode. I um… shouldn't have said that."

He looked at the elf.

"Heba?"

"Melvin Monroe is a former agent, married his universe's Wonder Woman. He currently has his own cartoon studio."

He blinked.

"Really? Wow! Good to know Mel's doing ok."

He looked at me.

"Sorry, my name's Z38 or Zoe Zimmerman to my friends."

I took his hand.

"Will people be safe from me if I stay with you?"

"Yes."

"Ok, then I'm with you."

I finished my tea and started a new life.



2b


Yorha No.2, Type B

"Everything that lives is designed to end. We are perpetually trapped in a never-ending spiral of life and death. Is this a curse? Or some kind of punishment? I often think about the god who blessed us with this cryptic puzzle… and wonder if we'll ever get the chance to kill him."

I've been forced to kill and mind wipe one of my closest friends over 48 times now. I have been confronted with the truth that humanity, our masters, has been dead for a long time. I have been stuck in a cycle of death and rebirth for too long. The worst thing about the lie I live is the lack of purpose. We androids were made to be loved, made to have masters… When they died our purpose was ripped from us, and our purpose was to be loved and that was a damned good purpose.

I walk around the halls and see a model resting on the floor, her arms around a body pillow featuring a plump human with a trench coat a fedora and a shirt that says M'lady. I feel pity for her. To want that impossible dream, to want to have our purpose fulfilled, to experience the love we were meant and created to experience. It makes me hate the machines more, those horrible hateful creatures that betrayed and murdered our beloved masters. They stole and destroyed the greatest gift humanity had given us, purpose and love.

How dare they do that?! Centuries of unending hate can not make up for their crimes and yet to continue on we must tell ourselves the lie that humanity still exists, that one day we might have the love we were created to experience. I go into battle again, fighting again. If love has been stolen from us, then at least we still have our hate.

The battle ends too quickly. Traitors die too quickly. I am left alone in the darkness with my thoughts, it is then that I see a portal and I walk through it, compelled by some outside force. As soon as I'm through I see a boy, a man, and then I freeze.

"Hello, 2B."

My scanners are going off: biological, male, human.

"I have an offer for you."

Biological male human.

I pant as I stare at him.

"An offer?"

"Yes, I want you to belong to me."

I froze.

"You want me to belong to you?"

"Yes."

Biological male human.

"What would you have me do?"

"Well, one of your duties would be to bear my children."

Only in our most hallowed stories was someone given the honor of creating children with humans.

"Other duties?"

Joy. This is joy! I have not felt this emotion in… over 30 years.

"I wish to connect your world with other worlds, in order to conduct trade."

"Do these worlds also have humans?"

Masters? I could not be selfish! For so long we have yearned for them to fulfill our true purpose, to be loved, to serve, to belong.

"Yes. Well, most of them."

My mouth was dry.

"Would my people be allowed to serve humans on those worlds?"

"If they wish."

Such glee. Such giddiness. Will he pat my head and tell me I'm a good girl?

"Then I accept."

I whimper when he gets up and grabs me by my waist. I smile as I take his hand and another portal opens to a small house, my hand is cut slightly and some oil is put against the wall.

"I need you to tell me where you want me to brand you, that will make you mine."

"Back of the neck, please."

I take the burning sensation well, and then feel the most satisfaction I've felt in my life as his hand ruffles my hair.

"Good girl!"

I hug him and smile and say the word I have always wanted to say.

"Master."

For the first time in my life, I am home.



Elsa


Elsa

I looked at the woman, she stared at herself in the mirror.

"Hmm, nice! I forgot that I used to have a nice ass before I got old."

She looked at me.

"Elsa."

"Rae Sloane?"

"Yes, that's me."

She sat down.

"So, I'm told that you um worked for an evil empire."

The woman frowned.

"It was considerably more complicated than that."

"They destroyed a planet."

"And that was a giant massive mistake that cost us everything."

"Why didn't you defect to the rebellion, if you thought it was wrong?"

"There were feelers put out actually, by the rebels. I had the chance to talk to a rebel."

"And?"

"And, after 3 hours of talking, I came to the conclusion that they learned nothing. The old republic ended for a reason: it was a gigantic clusterfuck of a government. The senate created regulation after regulation that couldn't be enforced because so many of them contradicted each other. Smuggling was a massive problem because… well, honestly? At times it was the only way you could trade because trade wars and 'beggar my neighbor' policies were the norms."

"And the empire was better?"

"The tax structure was simplified, all internal trade barriers were done away with, corporations no longer voted in the senate and no longer had special privileges. Quite simply put? Once all of the stupid self-destructive rules were done away with there was a massive explosion of wealth. Yes, a lot of it went into the military. But a lot of it went into infrastructure, especially in the Outer Rim which had been ignored for centuries."

"The empire exploited a lot of people."

"All empires are at their hearts wealth sinks: they take resources from the periphery and put them in the center. Under the old republic the core worlds often mercilessly exploited the rim and far off portions of the galaxy. We at least built up the rim with desperately needed infrastructure."

"And enslaved people."

"We would punish people with hard labor, this is true. There was no mass enslavement."

She shook her head.

"Anyone stupid enough to do that would have gotten force choked by Vader! The man, whatever his faults, hated slavery with a passion. Ending it in the empire was one of his pet causes, he would publically kill any higher up who violated that principle."

"Then can you explain the Twi'lek resistance?"

"With all due respect? I fought alongside and served with Twi'lek comrades. Out of a population of billions upon billions, the Free Ryloth group had less than 30 million people and most of them were clustered around the poorest landmass on the planet. Once you got off-world Twi'leks were some of the strongest loyalists we had, only the Gungans fought harder for the empire. Force above, give me a billion Gungans and I would have won that war easily."

"I thought the empire was a human supremacist organization."

She stared at me and lifted a finger.

"I know for a fact that the emperor spent much of his free time trying to fuck every sentient species in the empire. He was a hedonistic asshole but he wasn't a specist."

She sighed.

"I'm not saying that the empire didn't have any problems, you know? Force above, it had a lot of flaws. What I am saying is that the old republic was even worse. What I am saying is that the rebellion's solution to the empire was to just do all of the things that made the republic fall in the first place, but even harder. The whole reason I built the First Order was to rebuild and then restore order when things fell apart again."

"You were convinced it would fail?"

"They wanted to give the trade federation their seat back on the galactic republic."

"And why is that a problem?"

"Because it disenfranchises all of the people who got self-government after we got rid of the program… Add in that they had a nasty tendency of bombarding worlds in order to force them to only buy from them. That's one of the reasons that made me join the empire, by the way: to keep control over the predatory companies that had been above the law before the empire became a thing."

"So the star wars movies?"

"I've seen them, yes. The first three movies gloss over a lot and miss the context for the Clone Wars entirely. The second 3 movies certainly have elements of truth to them but are clearly biased accounts. The next three were complete garbage, they were not even entertaining and completely factually wrong."

"Why do you say that?"

"Leia and Han Solo had three children, to start with. Whatever their personal problems, by all accounts they had a good relationship. Everyone knew she was Vader's daughter but no one in the republic gave a shit because she was one of the founders of the rebellion. Second, there is no fucking way they're going to send her to our dinky ass-backward portion of the galaxy to fight us."

"Starkiller base?"

"It had a prototype Death Star laser, yes. Do you know what it means? That it could at most reach the neighboring star system with its weapon in a century or two, even forgetting targeting issues. It's not going to fire and instantly destroy planets across the galaxy, that's just… retarded! Also the portrayal of Luke was completely inaccurate and the Jedi Academy on Yavin was well known. Whoever filmed it, I hope they never come across Mara Jade because she would murder them."

"So?"

"Complete Hogwash, all three movies."

"Good to know. So, logistics?"

She smiled.

"Our operation has a lot of problems but I know just how to streamline the whole process! I think we can easily triple the trade we're currently doing here."

Well… at least she was enthusiastic.



Devola


Devola

I strum my lute and sing of days of love, days when we were owned and cherished.

The song ends and there is clapping. I look at my sister whose eyes are deadly serious… but I see a smile on her face. She nods and I take the signal to follow her, we go into a back room.

"2B came back from a mission."

Popola's face was devoid of any humor.

"And?"

"And she discovered a way to get to another world, a world with humans… with masters."

I froze and stared at her.

"You can't be serious."

"She showed off a brand on the back of her neck, she has a master. She has an actual master."

I blinked.

"Human?"

"She was able to grab a small lock of his hair, all tests confirm it. Yes, human."

I felt complete shock.

"Lucky bitch!"

"I know. Thing is? She's talking to him and believes she can get us access to worlds with masters on them. We could be held and loved, maybe even bear their young."

I rubbed my stomach, I had that function but… I never thought it would see use.

"Masters… How many of them?"

"Enough for all of us, it turns out there are entire websites dedicated to lonely males looking for company."

I looked at her body pillow, the infamous M'lady one.

"Are you thinking of doing what I think you're doing?"

"A plump gentleman to cuddle with? If a woman must dream then let me dream big! Ooh… maybe I can get one that likes cartoons and thinks that Katanas are the best swords."

I frowned.

"The Katana is a decent blade, but other swords also serve a purpose and in some cases work better."

"Lies! The Katana is the supreme sword and the best sword… but that's unimportant. If he was plump and cuddly, I would love my master anyway. Even if he was a heretic who thought other swords superior to the obviously best sword of all."

I smiled and leaned back.

"Do you think I could get a black one?"

My sister shrugged.

"I don't see why not."

I smiled.

"A black one… that sounds nice."

"And you could dress him up in a suit and fedora."

"I've always preferred the jeans and T-shirt look but that would be fine."

"So boring."

My sister smiled.

"But… it's going to happen!! Masters."

It was a nice word. Finally, at long last, we could get our love.



Zoe


Zoe

Korra is starting to show.

"Oh spirits, oh spirits."

Once a girl is knocked up, there's really no need to hold back anymore. The damage is done after all. She collapses as she takes another load and sighs as she flops on the bed.

"How many is this? I lost count."

Korra giggled.

"Don't know."

I collapse next to her, there are five other me doing a total of 6 other things. It turns out the control sword works well with my other powers, it's a hive mind of six and I haven't been this productive ever. But still, this was nice: just spending a few hours continuously fucking Korra over and over again until she's a nice little puddle.

She smiles at me.

"This is one heck of a workout."

She laid down on her back. Got to admit, even if she's kind of an idiot, she does have a sexy body. I lay down next to her.

"So thirteen women… How the hell do you plan on dealing with that?"

"I have six bodies that work in a hive mind."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm… that has possibilities."

Hinata had the same reaction.

"Surprised you're not getting us all pregnant though. Why are you holding back?"

"Hmm getting to know you guys and I'm trying to hold off until this whole killer monster issue is solved."

Korra sighed.

"Makes sense, it does make a girl feel special. so it's just me, Karen, and Heba?"

"Right now."

She looked at me.

"I met Raven."

I looked at her.

"Really?"

"She seemed really nice, a sweet girl, and 2B is just adorable. Who's next?"

"Hermione Granger."

"I read the books she seems like um kind of a bitch."

"If I've learned anything it that this process doesn't give you an exact person, it gives you close enough."

Korra snuggled up to me.

"I'm pretty happy about that."

"Because of the not dying thing?"

"Yeah, and being an avatar was pretty stressful. This is pretty relaxing actually. I get to work out, fight Elsa's golems, eat new food… It's a good life."

She leaned back and stretched.

"You've been working on a project?"

"Yeah, I have it almost ready… I think we have a chance of pulling this off, of saving the world."

Korra smiled.

"See? It's not so bad."

She hugged me.

"You really should stop waiting though, the other girls need love too. Hinata for example, and Winter… well everyone knows Winter needs to be fucked yesterday."

"I will take that under advisement."

I looked at a text.

"What's going on?"

"Ino says that something big came up, she needs to talk to all of us."

"It can wait."

She hugged me and fell asleep. I texted Ino back and she agreed, it could wait until the morning.



Zoe


Zoe

Pure unadulterated fury.

"Oh…"

Rage, this is rage.

"Heba."

"That's the situation."

The Company fucking sucks.

"I volunteer."

I look around at the choir of voices. They all volunteered, even Sloane, I didn't expect that. Then I remember that most of the girls are heroes, or at least think of themselves as good people.

"We are tabling this, all of this."

They looked at me.

"This entire question rests on us beating one of the most powerful and dangerous creatures out there and then conducting a ritual to slay a multiversal entity. Then there is the fact that the moment we kill her the other Endbringers come out of the woodwork and they need to die too. We have 4 to 5 years before this world, and many others, effectively ends. Table all of this for later and focus on one problem at a time."

I pinched my nose… high-risk, high-reward.

"The bounty on Endbringers has been raised to 70 points."

I looked at Heba who looked away.

"I'm still not happy with you."

I sighed.

"Ok, who's next?"

Hinata raised her hand.

"I choose Hermione Granger. She's really smart and knows a lot of stuff, and that luck potion looks like it could mean the difference between victory and defeat."

I thought about it.

"Ok, spend the points and bring her in. Just keep in mind that we can't predict anything."

Raven raised her hand.

"I already know magic."

"How much access do you have to more magical know-how? Because Hermione comes with an entire support network of new magic and goods and services. You have more power but we need every edge we can get."

She looked away.

"I understand."

I clicked the button.

"You still want Elizabeth?"

Karen shrugged.

"We need access to a space-faring population so I think I'm going to table the decision."

"Fair."

I looked at my girls.

"Ok… A lot of you are here because of poor circumstances or because this is a give and take relationship. We all have agendas, and that's fine, but we are also a team. We need to start thinking of ourselves as a team, because this situation requires it. We all work together, we all fall together. This ritual, whatever it is? We table the decision for later, ok?"

They nodded their heads.

"This is not an ideal situation for any of us but we can get through it."

This was just another problem! I just needed to focus on the steps and move forward. I knew from the start that this wasn't going to be easy… But then again saving the world never is, is it?



Hermione Granger


Hermione Granger

in 1980 the world ended.

World wide nuclear armageddon. Pretty much every major city in the world was hit in the exchange and then the bioweapons were released. The only governments that survived intact were the wizarding ones, turns out their wards were quite a bit more effective than even they knew. In the aftermath of the collapse of muggle civilization the great truce was enacted.

What was the great truce? The wizards and witches took over England, a racial hierarchy was developed and the survivors now serve wizards. This has happened across much of the world, the exceptions being the yanks whose wizards graciously allowed for equality and Russia whose wizarding community decided to simply finish their muggles off once and for all.

Food is scarce, life is hard, and the broken down country house I live in is actually better than most of the shacks other people get stuck with. I sigh as the car rides up to my house. I recognize the driver, he has a look of annoyance on his face.

"Get in, Mudblood! I have limited time."

I sighed at Draco.

"Why did they have you pick me up?"

"Because my family is the one who makes the bloody biodiesel work and your house doesn't have a bloody floo."

I got in the car and he turned the key. I looked at the beggars along the way, their dead eyes opened. I also saw a protest in action.

"Don't pay them any mind."

"They're hungry."

"Everyone is hungry, everyone is bloody hungry, but I'm sorry the fucking muggles blew up the world, then their stupid diseases started killing people and crops. The only reason they're alive is because of people like me, and you to a much lesser extent, and even then it's a full-time fucking job."

I looked at the signs.

"Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"What you're thinking, about this democracy bullshit, about equality. Look outside! Look at the ruins of civilization, that's where this democracy led you."

"The soviets started it and they were not a democracy."

"But they were all about equality, weren't they? Equally poor, equally suffering, equally dead. All of this could have been prevented if the muggles could accept that the world isn't fucking fair. That no, not everyone is equal and that's all right. But they didn't and look around you… lots of suffering that could have been prevented."

He shook his head.

"We're doing this for their own good, you know. They had their chance and they fucked it up… They fucked up the entire world."

I continued frowning.

"How's Harry doing?"

"Snape was able to cure that bout of diseases he caught."

I stared at him.

"Just because he hated his da it doesn't mean he doesn't love his stepson. He's just bad at the whole affection thing."

"He made him dye his hair."

"As much as I make fun of gingers, it works for him. Should have gone blond though, we have more fun."

I crossed my arms as we continued driving until we got to the ruins of London, the ministry official looked at me.

"It's her?"

"Yeah, I got her here safe and bloody sound."

I walked into the department of mysteries and looked at Harry, he had his arms folded.

"What's wrong?"

"They found a way to fix the food situation… or at least make it a lot better."

I sighed in relief.

"Thank bloody hell! They find a cure for the blight?"

"Blights, plural."

He looked tired. He always looked tired.

"Been working with my stepdad on potions but… it's getting worse. I have no idea on what their solution is, no one is talking, but the food production in England is still going down."

This was bad! Even with rationing we were not doing well, people would die if it got worse. I went into the department, the people there looked fed or at least fed better than the muggles, the clothing was slightly better too. I sat down, Tom riddle walked in and sat down.

"Miss Granger."

The minister of magic himself. Former terrorist leader, now supreme leader of the entire island. Some people called him a monster, some called him a savior. He's done horrible things but we have the largest surviving muggle population in all of Europe so a lot of people, even muggles, love him.

"Mr. Riddle."

He looked at me.

"The department of mysteries has been looking for a solution to our nation's food crisis, we found a solution. Trade."

I blinked.

"What? No one on Earth has any -"

"There are other worlds, other universes. We found someone who can conduct trade between these worlds. They are offering 120,000 hectares of untainted arable land, and they have machines already tilling the soil. For a nation of 2.5 million people and growing, that's an invaluable resource."

"It solves everything, doesn't it?"

"No it doesn't but it does mean that every muggle in the UK will be able to eat this winter, which is a rather large deal. There is however a price."

"What is it?"

"They want you. They want you, personally, by name, to marry the master of that world and join his harem of women and rule over one of his islands as queen."

I thought about my family. I had a little brother on the way and if he didn't have magic… his life would be hard.

"We will make sure you still have access to books on magic and training, but we need this and you know it."

I sighed.

"I will lie back and think of England."

My people needed this! Whatever the cost, I didn't want more people to die this winter.



Zoe


Zoe

She's cute.

Nice brown eyes, gorgeous brown hair, petite, and I have 25 points left to spend.

"Miss Granger."

She looked nervous.

"Mr. Zimmerman?"

"I trust you have read through all the documents."

"My people will have food, correct?"

"Yes. There are already robots on the island, and I can buy a large shipment of food and send them to your people as an act of charity."

She nodded her head.

"Thank you."

"So the food issue surprises me. Why is that a problem with the duplication charm?"

"Out of a population of 2.5 million people, only 100,000 of them are wizards and the vast majority of those wizards are currently children who are not fully trained. You also have to eat that duplicated food within three hours, you can only duplicate something three times, and you can't duplicate duplicates."

"Wizards must have had a baby boom."

"There are breeding programs."

She sounded just a little miffed.

'"Most wizards are encouraged to improve the stock, for the sake of the kingdom."

"Oh."

"I would be far from the only girl my age who's in a harem situation."

She looked at the food on the table and stared at it.

"What is this?"

"Pizza?"

She poked at it.

"I remember my dad telling me about this, once."

She picked it up and took a bite, and then her eyes watered as she made a pointed effort not to cry.

"It's… good."

In British terms: this is the best thing I have eaten in a while.

"Go ahead, eat your fill."

She nodded her head.

"Would it be acceptable if my family moved here?"

"Define family."

"Mother, father, siblings."

"It would be your land."

"It's not free, of course?"

"You read the paperwork."

"1 in 13 chances of being sacrificed."

"Technically 1 in 14… and it's a volunteer only situation and I doubt you're going to."

She bit her lip.

"It's a lot of people."

Do all of my waifus have a death wish?

"Can we table that?"

"So I sign this, you brand me, and then you own me."

"Pretty much."

She signed the paperwork.

"Well? Now what?"

"Prick your finger and place it on the wall, then I brand you. Any preference on the placement?"

"Bottom of my left foot ok?"

"Yeah."

She pricked her finger and sighed as she took off her shoes.

"Yeah, It requires you to be completely naked."

She sighed.

"Seems like a bit of a bother."

"It is, Company loves their dramatics."

She nodded her head and took off her shirt and skirt and then took off her panties and bra. It wasn't anything special, all of it seemed very utilitarian. She nodded her head and sat down.

"Bring out your foot."

She did so and winced as I branded her and then nodded.

"So this place has a shower and bathroom."

"Does it have hot water?"

"Yes."

She sniffed.

"That sounds good."

"We have shampoo and conditioner."

"… So, trade."

"Currently you would have to move goods through Hinata's lands but in time you can have that capability for yourself."

"Why can't I have it now?"

"Well, I do have the resources to buy one last set. The problem with that, of course, is that there are three people ahead of you based on seniority. Other upgrades are also already planned for and needed to do major trade. I can talk to Korra and route things through her though… She has more food and I'm pretty sure she'll be willing to help."

"It won't be free, isn't it?."

"Is anything free?"

"No. You're sure about the hot water?"

"Yes."

"Then I suppose it's worth it."

A little cold but, as I looked at that pert ass, I knew it would be worth it.



Tali


Tali

Got stiffed on a programming job again, 3 days of work and no pay. Volus told me it was my fault for not getting a contract, he called me a stupid duct rat and told me to die, I told him that he had to give me something by law and he threw some new age book at me and told me to get lost. At first I thought it was nonsense but, you know, right now I'm living under a bridge and it's raining.

I draw out the circle, it seems stupid but there isn't anything else to do and I've just begun my pilgrimage so… why not.

Then I stopped and sighed.

"Of course, nothing is going to happen."

I chuckled at myself until a portal opened. I stared at it.

"Keelah.

Something drew me forward, I walked through the portal and I marveled at the buildings on the other side. something still drawing me I entered a castle and walked towards an office. A human looked at me.

"Welcome, take a seat."

I did so.

"Tali Zorah, it is good to meet you."

He held out a hand and I nervously shook it.

"So why were you under that bridge?"

"I was trying to make my way to alliance space."

"Why?"

Don't say you want to indulge in your human fetish, don't say you want to indulge in your human fetish.

"To date a hot human boy?"

Keela! Stupid mouth.

"And you're on a pilgrimage?"

"Yes."

"To find something to help your people right?"

"Right?"

"Well, I could be of service. I run a multidimensional trading network, the fleet has some amazing technology but it doesn't really have a base of operations, does it?"

I frowned.

"We get by."

"which isn't the same thing as thriving. Come with me and check a few things out."

I took that offered hand and we walked through a growing base on a dead world, he took me to primitive cities and bombed-out ruins. We went through portal after portal as he explained the network. He showed off wonders I had never seen before and, when he took me back to that office at the end of the day, I had a simple question.

"What will this cost?"

"You. I want you."

My heart fluttered and more things were explained. There was technology here, power here, trade here, and all I had to do was sign a little piece of paper? For my people? I signed it, and then he took me to a small house on a small island and I was told it was mine. I pricked my finger and allowed him to brand me right above my back, and like that it was over.

I have sold a few of the potions around town and made some credits, some serious credits. If this keeps up I think, instead of being invited on a ship I can buy a ship of my own, something nice and beautiful. I see a future in the making for the Quarians and for myself. I think I'm feeling good.



Zoe


Zoe

Sloane nodded at me as I worked on the computer.

"Thanks for the help."

I looked at the files.

"The fusion plant just needed an infusion of deuterium. Now that it's been handled things should run smoother."

I looked at the line of code.

"Even with magic, this is a mess to understand."

"The base was also used by the separatists during the Clone Wars they wanted to turn it into a backup factory for their robotic armies, it was around 80% finished when the kill message went through from Mustafar. If they had put in the power plant I could have just made my own ship, or if they had refueled things any number of fixes could have made things better."

She looked over my shoulder.

"We need to talk about who gets picked."

I grimaced.

"You're having second thoughts?"

"I have lived a full life, Zoe. I've had the chance to have a career, lead a life. Even if some of my decisions went wrong, admittedly quite a few, I still had a chance to make them. I've had joys, I've had triumphs, I've had days of rage, depression and defeats. Whatever my life was? I had a chance to live it."

I sighed as I hit a button and the old base slowly crept back to life.

"Who's on your list?"

"Taylor, Elsa, Korra, Raven, 2B, Granger, Heba, Hinata."

She blinked.

"I thought you liked Hinata."

"I do, by quite a lot, but she's insisted that if someone from the village has to die then it has to be her. Karen is off the list because she's my second in command, Amy handles medical stuff…"

"Taylor is a little girl, she hasn't had the chance to live her life. Neither has Raven, or Hinata, or Granger, or even Korra. Elsa serves as a point of trade and so does the new girl. I've talked to 2B, you know?"

She folded her arms.

"That woman hasn't ever had a chance to actually live before she became yours. I think the month she has spent with us gave her more happiness than she's ever had in her whole existence beforehand, combined."

"I thought you would be anti-robot."

Sloane shrugged.

"I'm not completely heartless, I wouldn't have been nearly as effective as I was if I didn't care."

"If you live you can save the First Order."

She looked at me with tired eyes.

"You can't save something that wants to die, Zoe… As much as I hate to admit it, the Empire died with Alderaan. I tried to save the best of it, or what I could at least. I tried to manage that bunch of primadonnas and it all ended with me being knifed in the back after giving them a lifetime of work."

She sighed.

"I've been given a second chance at youth and that's nice, but everyone has to go sooner or later and everything has to pass on. Do the right thing, pick me."

I looked at her.

"Is everyone going to give me the 'this is the reason I need to die' speech?"

She shrugged.

"I don't know."

"It won't work if I do it."

My voice was tired, mainly because I felt tired.

"Company fucks everyone."

Sloane looked at me.

"I've looked for alternatives."

"And?"

"They all result in more death and destruction."

I felt angry, an exhausted kind of angry.

"It's never easy, is it?"

Sloane shook her head.

"No, it isn't."



Zoe


Zoe

2B greets me with a hug.

"Welcome back, master."

I return the hug and she nuzzles into me. I'm not going to lie, I am attracted to her.

"So how are things going?"

"I've been talking to the others and we are trying to figure out how we can help with the upcoming fight."

December this year the Ziz attacks madison, we have a chance to take her down early. I never thought I'd have this chance but I have to take it, I know what she will do to that city.

"How are the Protectorate handling things?"

"They're taking the news of Madison under consideration, we still have time 3 months."

2B nods continuing the hug and taking a sniff.

"I talked to commander white she's willing to bring in some of our most powerful people to help."

2B smells good and I feel a thrum in my body and soul that wants to claim her but I resist it. Instead I lift her up and press her against the wall, I then kiss her deeply. She wraps her legs and arms around me and returns the kiss, I stop. I'm hard and my instincts are stronger than in my first life.

"Good girl."

She smiles.

"Does master want to honor me with his seed?"

I am tempted.

"I'm sorry but we have to focus on the mission."

"Afterwards?"

She looked hopeful.

"You better believe it."

Amy's little plan frustrated me but I had to admit it had merit, I was focused on destroying the damned Endbringer and my plan had been forced up forward by months. If we pulled this off the world would be safe, I would lose a friend but the world would be safe.

I let her down and she smiled and hugged me. We walked around her humble house and she talked about her home and honestly? It was depressing, just very very depressing. 2B needed happiness, she needed joy. I smiled at her. It would be easy to love her, I've had a few naps and felt protective as I hugged her until the nightmares went away. She smiled.

"Good."

I am a part of the problem. This whole mess was at least caused but neitther by my need to get my dick wet, though that didn't help, nor by my drive for power but by a desire for intimacy. Even with mind control and everything else that's a two-way street, in order to receive it you have to give it, and that kind of emotional vulnerability is hard.

I picked her up and we sat down on a couch and I just held her for a while until she closed her eyes and smiled. I felt content like this, with her in my arms. I could feel this content with most of my girls.

"Am I interrupting something?"

I looked at Karen who was smiling.

"No."

She sat down next to me and I put an arm around her.

"He's going to be born this month."

Adam, my son.

"I know."

"We're going to have another reason to win this."

"No mercy."

Karen smiled and kissed me.

"I don't mind you seducing other women, as long as you remember to seduce me too."

I looked at her body, still sexy despite the pregnancy.

"That won't be difficult."

With that said the three of us cuddled as we took a quick power nap.



Zoe


Zoe

I looked at my father and mother, they had just called me in.

"I've received a job offer, Zoe."

I nodded at him.

"And?"

"It's over in Montana, they're offering me more money and a secure position."

I felt a little sick.

"So you want us to move?"

"Zoe… Let us be honest: you have a good job here in the bay, you own your own house. There isn't anything over there, that I know of, that will give you the opportunities you have already found here."

"So you're… not moving?"

"We are… but we need to talk about making you an emancipated minor."

He sighed.

"Like I said you're already pretty independent. You have lots of money saved up and invested, and Amy needs you. You have a life here already."

"And you can't be part of it?"

"I've never liked this town, Zoe, even if it is getting better. And they're offering me tenure in Montana, it's a pretty major thing for a professor."

My mom looked guilty.

"Well, then… you have to do what you have to do."

My dad nodded and brought out the paperwork and, once I signed it, it was over. I didn't hold this against him. In many ways this was inevitable, we had already been drifting apart and this just made things official.

"We still love you."

"I love you too."

They left the house and I went to the roof. I felt a twinge of sadness as I watched them pack up, as I watched them leave. The growing distance between us was in large part my fault, but I also knew that I had a life here and that dad wasn't happy to live in this town. He preferred smaller places, safer places. I heard a portal open.

"Karen."

"Zoe."

She sat down and looked outside.

"Are they leaving?"

"Yes."

"Are you leaving with them?"

"No. I'm an emancipated minor now…"

"You're thinking about something."

"I won't be as good a father as he was. With the number of children I will have… it's not possible."

"Children are armor."

Karen's voice was steady.

"Heba said that."

"She wasn't wrong. We have gotten big enough to be noticed, that gets people to look at what you have and try to take it from you."

I clenched my hands.

"A world without heirs is a world that gets preyed upon, and the more heirs you have the more legally secure we will be."

She folded her arms.

"Like it or not, you can't be a normal person. That isn't an option for us. This isn't your world anymore, this isn't my world anymore, and we have to live with it."

I smiled at her.

"It's not all bad though."

She smirked.

"No, it isn't. Upward and onward, yes?"

I kissed her cheek.

"Yes."



Zoe


Zoe

I grimaced as Karen squeezed my hand as she panted.

I grimaced as I felt bones break and then shatter.

"UGH!"

I winced and heard the sound of crying, I smiled and then looked at the mangled remnants of my left hand. Karen winced.

"Sorry."

The nurse android cut the cord and the infant was cleaned and swaddled and placed in Karen's arms. She looked happy and content as the baby just slept there.

"This is nice."

"Yeah, it is."

She looked at me.

"We have a literal army of child care robots, yes? Our children will be ok so don't worry so much, yes?"

"Yeah, I know."

I took a potion and drank it and placed my hand in some water, absorbing it and feeling my hand slowly regenerate. I smiled at our child.

"This is nice."

Karen smiled.

"I know."

She looked at me.

"We're not stopping with him. I hope you know that, yes?"

"I know."

I kissed her on the forehead and we just kind of sat there in silence.

"It's personal now."

Karen raised an eyebrow.

"You mean it wasn't before?"

"Well, more personal. We have someone to fight for, someone to protect… It's all just a little bit more personal, all of it."

Karen nodded and Adam burped.

"This is worth it though. I think these moments make it all worth it."

I kissed her on the forehead.

"So eager to make another right after the last?"

"Can you blame a man for being tempted?"

She laughed.

"With a body like mine, how can I?"

She winked.

"Your body is not bad either."

Karen yawned and I took my hand out of the water, it was intact once more.

"So who are you thinking of picking?

"Hard time, narrowed it down to either Sloane or Taylor."

"If you pick Sloane then you need to spend what we have left on a portal to her world, that base has things that are very useful to us."

"Plotting even now?"

"I have my hobbies, yes?"

She smiled.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Karen."



Kylo Ren


Kylo Ren

Han Solo sat down at the table, I walked forward and sat down.

"Mind if I take off this stupid helmet? It's uncomfortable as frick in this thing."

He smirked.

"Go ahead, son."

Fricking Rey! I take the jibe and take off my helmet, Phasma hands me a bottle of water.

"We are sorry about our empress's actions in new republic territory."

"I saw her movies."

I grimaced.

"I'm sorry about that too."

The pounding migraine returned.

"Can you please explain what happened? After the whole Vong incident, I don't have a lot to laugh about."

I sighed.

"As you know Palpatine fucked and sucked his way around the galaxy and had numerous bastard children. One of those bastards had a child and we, one of the many imperial remnants, decided to groom her to be our little empress."

He was smiling. Asshole.

"Well, long story short: she fell in love with her stormtrooper bodyguard and decided to run off with a significant amount of the treasury to enjoy a lifetime of big black cock. She moved to Jaku and decided to make shitty movies."

"Those movies really offended a lot of people."

I couldn't help but wince.

"How pissed is the new republic, on a scale of one to ten?"

"7…"

I could work with that.

"So what will it take for you to return the idiot to us?"

"We are returning her but she's kind of um dead."

I lifted a finger into the air and collapsed.

"Who did it?"

"Angry force cult."

I could sense lies so I knew he was telling the truth and that did not make things easier.

"You know I would like one year, just one year, where everything wasn't going to shit. Just one."

"We've returned the body to you but like I said people are angry."

"I'd like to note that the First Order disabled its Deathstar prototype and gave you the turbo lasers during the Vong war, we have cooperated with our treaty regulations."

"People are still really angry, not enough to go to war over it but… it's likely there are going to be a few years of sanctions at least."

"On what goods?"

"All of them."

I blinked and then sighed.

"Well… Shit."

And there goes the economy. I felt tired and defeated, 47 star systems and no export markets? We were fucked again.

"How long?"

"It's going to take at least 5 years before things settle."

Shit.

"We also want reparations."

Fricking new republic.

"How much?"

"A literal ton of Kyber crystals, Mara's infuriated and she has more than enough pull to keep the sanctions going on for decades."

"Consider it done."

With that the meeting ended. I went back to my ship and looked at the corpse of our future empress.

"All you had to do was sit still, shut up, and enjoy a lifetime of easy living. That was it."

Snoke wasn't going to live forever and unless we found trade partners, or ideally some way out of our galaxy, we were fucked. Over a hundred billion humans and maybe a half a billion other sentient races fucked.

"I have some shine in the ship."

I smiled at her.

"Thanks, I'm going to need it."

The stormtroopers put her corpse into the ship and I wired some money to the bounty hunters guild because the republic had the decency to forward the IDs of the culprits. From there we flew to the larger ship and I walked to the brig, to the idiot ginger. I looked him in the eye.

"Where is Sloane?"

"I don't know."

I smiled.

"Guess what, asshole?"

"What?"

"It's torture time."

I looked at Phasma and smiled at her. Then I let her get to work, life wasn't entirely bad.



Kylo Ren


Kylo Ren

Snoke used to be a Jedi, then he became an inquisitor for Palpatine. He told me after that he just became old and tired and just wants to preserve his little corner of the galaxy. The First Order is one of the many small imperial remnants that have become essentially petty kingdoms built upon the ruins of other cultures. Most of those ran to the unknown regions after they became small remnants. The separatists occupied our territory and before them various exiles and pirate groups and way before that the dark brotherhood, who really could have come back before they self-destructed.

That's the theme of the unknown regions by the way, the self-destruction. It's an isolated region of space and once you're there, you're outside most of the trade networks that connect the galaxy and have little to do except self-reflection. And that's what I think happens: the self-reflection either leads you to destroy yourself or better yourself.

'Let the past die but learn from it': Kreia, a former Jedi, a former Sith, a woman who walked both paths and found both of them wanting. Snoke found a Holocron of hers one day and we tried to learn from it. Both of us ended up with more questions than answers but both of us came to the same realization: This isn't working. The whole we will become stronger in exile and come back for revenge thing? Not a workable solution and so Snoke did the most radical thing he could think of.

Peace. The New Republic is flawed, the Empire was flawed, the Old Republic was flawed, the Sith Empire was flawed, the Mandalorians were flawed and the First Order is flawed. And the Sith and Jedi fight has gotten old to the point of parody, maybe that's why Snoke and I agreed to just leave it behind. The knights of Ren is an attempt to try to create a group of force users that does not get involved in a centuries-long blood feud that just leaves everyone off worse.

It also put under light the fact that maybe one of the order's founders didn't die of natural causes, then we started looking into things, and then the conspiracy kind of fell apart.

I looked at Hux, now bruised and battered. I didn't do the whole enhanced interrogation thing, it wasn't a safe practice for force users like me. If the old bitch was right then the force was like a personality enhancer and, once you went down certain paths, it would fuck with your head with its feedback loop.

"Is she alive?"

"I don't know."

"I know you were the one responsible, the conspirators sold you out."

He spat out blood, and I grabbed a location from his mind.

"She better be alive, Hux. If she's alive there is a chance she might spare you, if she's dead you're dead. Got it?"

He glared at me.

"You helped Rey escape, didn't you?"

I felt his mind.

"You knew that I actually wouldn't have had a problem with her marrying him, didn't you? Neither would Snoke. We just wanted her to be a unifying figurehead but you filled her head with lies, didn't you?"

"She didn't want me."

Oh god… I felt sick.

"I was the best choice and she didn't want me."

I looked at Phasma and she pinched her nose.

"Let us get out of here."

We left the cell and I stared at her.

"Are we surrounded by idiots, Phasma ?"

"You know the answer to that."

"So yes."

She took off her helmet.

"Drinks?"

"Fuck, yes! Invite the men, would you? After this shitshow, we could all use a drink."



Saren Arterius


Saren Arterius

There have been reports of new drugs, ones more powerful than medigel, showing up. There are also reports of strange technologies and strange, never seen before, elements.

"Hmm."

I manage to narrow down the culprit to a filthy duct rat. She's no longer on planet, no longer even in the system.

"She bought a ship here."

I brought out the photos.

"Yes a decommissioned Berlin class cruiser, named the Nevada."

"Any idea where she went?"

"Why, did she do something wrong?"

"She sold some very expensive medicines, and some elements we haven't seen before."

"Is any of that illegal, sir?"

"No, but the council would like to know more about where she and the Quarians got this material."

The Asari sighed.

"I don't know where she went. All I know is that I acted as the go-between, the alliance wanted to offload an obsolete cruiser at a profit and I had a Quarian with credits. I get my 10% for making the deal go through, the Alliance gets their credits, the Quarian gets her ship, everyone's a winner everyone is happy."

"I am less than happy."

"You were not a part of the deal, and from the sounds of it she hasn't broken Citadel law."

"And what would happen if the Quarian's developed a monopoly over a new resource?"

She looked at me.

"If that happened they would stop being a bunch of parasites that cause trouble everywhere they go and become a productive member of the galactic community."

"I'm sorry you don't possess the necessary vision to see how this could be a problem."

"Sir, I help people buy space ships. I only care about politics when it affects my bottom line, a growing customer base is not a problem for me."

I left her office with what little information I had. New elements, new products, that would strengthen the Quarian's hand. If they did develop a monopoly over this dust and it became economically successful… well the damned duct rats would push us into a war with the Geth, would try to get us to clean up their mess. To prevent the senseless deaths that would cause I have to find out the source and get it into the hands of far more responsible people. The Hierarchy would, of course, be able to handle such a resource, much more responsibly than a bunch of duct rats ever could.



Zoe


Zoe

Tali took deep breaths as she wandered back and forth.

"Ok, ok. We can do this."

Admiral Rael'Zorah awaits us, my new father in law. Tali finally sold enough dust and other materials to afford a ship of her own. In and of itself a new ship for the fleet is considered a worthy pilgrimage gift. A cruiser would provide room for over 300 people to live in and, for people used to living in cramped quarters, that's a pretty good deal. It was of course about to get much better.

"Zodiac Zimmerman."

The man stepped forward and I heard some hostility in his voice.

"Admiral Rael."

We looked at each other.

"We, the Admiralty Board, have looked over your trade goods. I apologize but while the goods are in many cases interesting a few of us make us… well, wary."

I snapped my fingers and a portal opened.

"My marriage alliance to your daughter will have other advantages."

The man's mask hides his expression.

"I would not be against exploring those advantages."

"Then come with me."

He followed me through the portal along with his aids and stopped at a house on an island.

"My organization is an interdimensional trade hub, we connect other dimensions together. We would like to have the Quarians be our trade partners and trade representatives for your universe."

"Are there any benefits?"

"Right now, in exchange for being one of my wives, Tali would receive an island of her own to do with as she pleases. That's over 10 thousand square kilometers of land, much of it arable, for your people to live on. That land can act as a portal system between your own ships, in time. You would also be able to trade with the other worlds and people in the network, and act as middlemen for their products to your whole galaxy."

He was thinking this through.

"What are the capabilities of the portal? Are there limitations in frequency of use, or volume and mass limitations?"

"I have recently spent resources to allow her to connect portals at will to her ship, which makes it the current stranglehold, but it can be increased in time to more ships. Her lands are what we call a fixer-upper but it is still land and it still gives you markets and capabilities you didn't have access to before."

That started around two weeks of 'show and tell' that dominated much of September. Other Quarians came to visit the island, the portal system was tested and found to be sufficient. It wasn't as good as what Karen had but it did give them new capabilities. They also talked to representatives from the other worlds in question. When it was all over we were in my office, with me looking at the man.

"As you see I bring a lot to the table."

Rale nodded his head.

"Yes, the Board has investigated the matter."

He looked at me.

"The marriage-"

"Is non-negotiable. If it helps, Tali has volunteered for it."

He looked at me.

"As an Admiral, it would be stupid of me to turn down this alliance, it gives the Quarian people advantages that… We haven't had anything close to that for centuries… but, as a father… I ask, please be kind to her."

I smiled.

"She's a sweet girl, I promise to take care of her."

"Then this has my blessing."

He leaned back.

"It's a shame though."

"Why?"

"I always wanted grandchildren, now I will never have the chance."

I smiled at him.

"Don't worry, sir. I promise you this, I will make sure that you have grandchildren soon."

"How? You're different species."

"Let us just say that we found workarounds."

And I had every intention of using them.



Rael Zorah


Rael Zorah

First comes the bride price, the agreement, the payment to the bride's family.

I will give Mr. Zimmerman this, he's very generous. He supplied us Tali's weight in element zero. That has to be one of the most generous bride prices paid in generations. Next comes the Dowery, an entire island to rule as she sees fit, able to create portals to the fleet. That is beyond generous and I know it. Lawyers were brought in from his organization and from the fleet concerning the alliance. A small glass of wine was brought forth, really more of a shot glass, from the live ships and everyone stared at me.

I knew damn well just how important this was to the Quarian people and my speeches about making necessary sacrifices came back to bite me in the ass, hard. I lifted my helm and drank it down. Whatever my feelings… I knew and understood that this had to be done. When the last drop was finished I had accepted him as my son in law. Following that there was a banquet, with nutrient paste. Nothing fancy because we were not a rich people. Members of the live ships talked with Tali about growing our crops on her island and she agreed, of course, because of her duties. It is traditional to feign sadness. It didn't take much effort for me to do so, for she was leaving us. Yes, she would still serve our people's interests but she would belong to Zimmerman.

After that, a small ceremony was held and we had a party to cement the alliance. We were extended lines of credit with which to buy goods from the other members of the alliance. This was not a loan but a wedding gift from the groom to her people. From there, portals were connected from Liveships to the island. The island could only connect itself to twelve ships so eleven of our Liveships could now access the island and then another Liveship, by walking. Effective ship to ship teleportation…

I went to my quarters and opened the door and frowned.

Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib, a man I disagreed with often and had come to dislike on a personal level.

"Come to gloat?"

He looked at me and motioned for me to take a seat, I did so.

"This was a very important wedding."

"Yes we gained access to a small city-state, an island of little importance on its world, two post-apocalyptic hellscapes, a world under siege from an army of monsters, a world undergoing a societal collapse and, oh yes, we might get access to a world that deals with alien invasions every ten years or so, and of course a dead world with no life. All for the low low price of my daughter's hand in marriage. Such a bargain."

He was silent.

"We have made much greater sacrifices for much much less and you know it."

I took that in.

"Yes. I do."

We need every edge we can get. The island alone would justify the marriage. Everything else, even if it seems minor or inconvenient, still puts us ahead of where we once were.

"We have options now."

"They're rather limited options."

"But options they remain, and some of these goods are things that you can not find anywhere in the galaxy. We have gained a powerful ally, please do not waste time moping."

"I think she's too young."

He shrugged.

"It's for the good of our people and Rael?"

"Yes?"

"Your family has done good for us all. For all of our many disagreements, I think you should hear that."



Zoe


Zoe

Tali smiled as she walked around the small house, her house, without her suit.

Amy does good work and fixing up someone's immune system? That helps, a lot.

"It's wonderful."

She was dressed up in a little sundress, and closed her eyes and twirled around. She giggled and put out her arms. She was nice kind and innocent in a way and I smiled as I studied her body, Karen floated down from the sky and stood next to me.

"You know you have to do this, right? It's simply not fair to hold off on a girl's wedding night, yes?"

I nodded my head.

"I know."

I walked up to Tali and hugged her. She smiled and then noticed Karen.

"Oh."

Karen smiled.

"None of that, yes? I am head wife but I do not have problems sharing my little king."

Tali blushed and I lifted her up into my arms.

"It is time for sharing, I will be there to support you."

Karen was smirking and Tali squeaked.

"Um… support me?"

"First time as queen is always scary, am here to watch and support you."

Tali was silent and looked embarrassed as Karen sauntered up to the door and opened it. I felt almost giddy as I walked in with Tali in my arms and headed to the bedroom, from there I took off my clothing as did Karen.

"Um, what's going on?"

"We are doing the lovemaking, yes?"

Tali's purple face was in full blush and Karen, now fully nude, helped remove her sundress.

"Um I, oh Keela."

The dress was off and I got on the bed as Karen went to a chair. I nibbled on Tali's elf like ears as I removed her underwear.

"It's all just a little too-"

My hand went into her hole her eyes crossed and her mouth opened.

"KEELA!"

She panted and quivered.

"Keela…"

"You know you have duty to have your master's children, yes?"

Karen winked at me and started masturbating on a chair.

"That isn't possible, biochemical barriers and."

That sounded like a challenge and Karen smiled at me.

"Go ahead. Challenge accepted, yes?"

I kissed Tali and nibbled on her ear, and entered inside her.

"Oh."

Her face squirmed and I altered my cock to secrete aphrodisiacs into her body. Tali panted and gripped me as I kissed her, massaging her breasts and forcing her to orgasm. Her toes curled and she wrapped her legs around me, I forced her body to become more fertile with each orgasm. Then, as she was panting and screaming, only then did I cum inside her. Tali went limp and collapsed, I put my hand on her stomach and cuddled with her for a bit as I made sure my seed took hold.

"It's not over."

I picked her up and felt her ass, she bit the pillow. I massaged her butt and then fucked her pussy again.

" You want to bear my children."

Tali panted.

" The idea of having my children gets you excited."

"That does sound nice."

She fell into her pillow as I fucked her from behind, Karen masturbated and moaned and I felt Tali shake under me I came in her again and again and when I was finished she collapsed and panted. Karen smiled as Tali looked around into her eyes.

"Is fun, yes?"

"Yeah, lots of fun."

She passed out and Karen nodded.

"We will have to work on her endurance."



Mordin Solus


Mordin solus

Interesting material, this dust.

Very hard to get, very expensive. Only Quarian's have access to it and they charge quite a bit, still interesting to study. Have not figured out how it works nor how to synthesize it, do know that if we could it would revolutionize technology in galaxy. Gravity dust is interesting, very much like Ezzo but also not. Lightning dust has potential as weapon and for batteries, useless for large-scale power generation a fusion plant does that better but still interesting.

Have seen other things. New cybernetics, shows promise in some ways not impressive in others. Logs show Quarian strip mining complaints are slightly lower now. Also looking at data, and their purchase of dextro food packets is down. Did they discover a dextro world connected to the network that wasn't found? Possible. It would explain things if their mining operations just started, it would also explain why they are being quiet. Every other time they have discovered a dextro world it was seized by the Turians. Every time they have found a world in general it has been seized.

Officially for damages caused by Geth and past bad actions like the strip mining, unofficially specism and a desire to exploit them and continue their use as scapegoats. Disgusting behavior, sadly effective. Knowing how the citadel works… They will definitely try to seize this world from them, for multiple reasons. No one wants to be roped into Quarian-Geth fight. Allowing Quarians to have monopoly over resource gives them political power, might be enough to get their old seat back.

Once they have seat back will push to get homeworld back, will be bloodbath. Winnable but blood bath. Asari do not want that at all, still flinching from Rachni war, still flinching from Krogan war, Geth war would be at that level. We don't want it either too much, resources and blood for too little gain. Turians want it least of all, as long as Quarians are powerless they get first claim to all dextro world, get all of them. If the Quarians ever regain even a small foothold they lose that monopoly.

It would limit their growth, limit their power, Turians will push hardest to claim new system. But is it good for us to allow that to happen?

A quarian monopoly is limited by their weakness and extreme need. Most of their population does not live with fleet, most of them are 3rd class citizens on alliance worlds. Conclusion: we have them by the cloaca, we have that much leverage. If Turians gain this monopoly we will not have that kind of leverage, they would instead use it to bully us for concessions.

Asari would understand this, they have more leverage than even we do. Conclusion: work with Asari to keep resource in Quarian hands, but keep the Quarians away from any voting rights and limit their ability to affect galatic politics. Stall for time and try to figure out how to synthesize new resource. Once that's done Quarians will no longer have leverage, status quo restored.



Kylo Ren


Kylo Ren

"Snoke?"

He looked at me.

"Ren."

He took a deep drag.

"Are you high again?"

"As a kite, Ren."

I sighed.

"You know what I said about that, Snoke."

"Remember to share when I get a package of the good shit?"

"Fuck yes. So, what are you smoking?"

"An obscure weed that was smoked by the ancient Jedai before the dark and light side split."

"What's it called?"

"I don't know, I just had the initials MJ."

He took another puff.

"They also used it to make their robes, might be worth something as an export market."

I shrugged.

"Maybe."

I sat down, I was tired.

"We are kind of fucked."

"I know. We had plans to use her to keep things together when I passed on, and my time is limited."

"You better not die, old man! There is no way I can keep this collection of egomaniacs, layabouts and, let us face facts, losers together if you die."

"I'm afraid I don't get a say in that matter, my apprentice."

He took a deep drag.

"Why did you pick me?"

"You had the highest."

"Don't give me the midi-chlorian count bullshit. Why me?"

He sighed, let out the smoke.

"I never had children, the Jedi order was against it. They were very much against attachments in general. Then, when the empire came about, I became an inquisitor and well… Palps demanded more from us so no time to settle down and have a family. I made you my apprentice because I always wanted a son of my own."

He shrugged.

"I failed the no attachment thing pretty hard, you see. I love you, Kylo, you're my son in every way that matters."

I blinked.

"Why are you getting so sentimental."

"I'm old and I'm dying and I want you to know that I love you and that I'm proud of you."

I sniffed and tried to hold back the tears.

"Snoke, we can find doctors. We can find better medicine, we can-"

"Everyone gets an allotted amount of Time, Kylo, all you're doing is prolonging it."

I felt devastated.

"You're not allowed to die, old man."

"Heh… Wish you had that kind of authority, Kylo."

He took another puff.

"I never told you why I acted the way I did."

I looked at him.

"No, you kind of never did. Ok, what do you want to explain?"

"I can see the future, or futures. I'm pretty good at it actually. I can see multiple paths to walk, and I always tried to walk the one that had the least bloodshed. I served in the Clone Wars with distinction because it would limit the amount of death. I served Palpatine and the dark side because it limited the amount of death. I helped the First Order escape then survive because it limited the amount of death. The force never showed me how to make a better Galaxy… just how to make a less worse one."

"And what do you see now?"

"Civilizational collapse."

He sounded tired.

"The worse case scenario. I tried everything to avoid it. When I was young I saw so many options to avoid it, then the Clone Wars happened and the options shrank, then the Empire happened and the options shrank, then the Rebellion happened and the options shrank… Damned Alderaan shrank the options even more. The Vong then killed most of the remaining options and with Rey's death the options shrank to just two."

I felt tired and scared.

"What are those options."

"For the greater galaxy? It will be a time of slow collapse into smaller system governments. The Rim has already split off from the core. During the Clone Wars the Core or the Republic was able to stop it, but after the Empire, Rebellion, and Vong… they just don't have the energy, power, or will to keep them in. More systems will split off in time and trade will collapse. A new dark age will come which will last centuries."

"And how do we prevent it?"

"We can't. No matter what we do, that is the outcome. I do however see two outcomes for us."

"And?"

"And in one I die and the First Order collapses into infighting, everything we built collapses and we become fresh meat for the next group of exiles who want to have a turn."

"And the second?"

"The second is new, an option that never was until very recently. In that one… we surrender ourselves to a less advanced but more dynamic civilization. We give them our numbers, our technology, and our experience and their vigor revitalizes us as a people. Our fragment of the Empire dies, consumed by a more vigorous and newer polity, but upon our foundations they become great and dominate a galaxy."

"So what happens if we try to maintain our independence?"

"We self-destruct, Kylo. The First Order is played out on an ideological level, we don't have anything to truly believe in and cultures cant survive without that."

"change or die."

"That does seem to be the theme, isn't it?"



Rae Sloane


Rae Sloane

The base is up and running! For years this place was my little nightmare world. I tried to extend my time using the cryochambers, tried to use what droids I could and watched as the power died bit by bit. It was a cruel thing to do, especially to someone who treated you like a son. I'm still angry about that but, thanks to my deal, I have help from this Remnant, help from these Quarians, and from the very lifelike androids.

Their technology is obsolete by galatic standards, though. The CIS always preferred to throw out lots and lots of cheap crap rather then have anything high quality but it's still much more advanced than anything Remnant has, or much of what the Quarians have.

"Amazing, and none of it requires Ezzo?"

"No."

There were still a few pieces of technology that were impressive. For Remnant I saw ways their dust could be applied in novel ways, but for the most part it was a limited resource. It ran into the kind of problems the mandos ran into with beskar, only worse because dust was not a material that could be used and reused. Ezzo was a much less limited resource and showed more potential, but their FTL drives were so slow and limited. Our medical technology was also better on the whole as Medigel, while faster and more complete, wasn't as good at handling serious injury as bacta.

When it came to the Quarians weapontry, we abandoned slug throwers thousands upon thousands of years ago. Slug throwers had advantages, true enough, but in ship combat it risked poking holes in bulk heads, and the ammunition was limited. A cannister of tibanna gas would net you hundreds of shots, even for the lowest quality, while a slug thrower was lucky to have more than 50 rounds of heavy ammunition. It simply could not compete with a blaster on either space or price.

The Ezzo guns though did not have that problem, I'd have to test them against stormtrooper armor but it might be a case where, for lethality, it might be superior to a blaster. Their shields are most interesting, personal shielding has always been incredibly expensive because getting fusion to go small was difficult. Best we could do was backpack models on armor and that was discarded because of the sheer expense. There were of course tales of lost technology, but nothing confirmed.

In a ground battle, as much as I hated to admit it… Citadel technology would most likely win the day against most forces, with the probable exception of the mandolores. When it came to communications though? They outclassed everything we had. Only the most expensive military coms we had came close to their capability and those were often planet-based and used multiple fusion engines. Despite that it was still slower than quantum entaglement. I felt a sense of envy, if we had that capability during the Rebellion we would have won.

When it came to mass effect weaponry…

On the defensive side we outclassed them easily, planetary shields regularly handled far worse bombardments than what I read about in the historical files. With some basic shield modifications we could easily tank hits from their mass effect weaponry. Shields were fantastic at handling high speed and energy weapons.

The problem was they couldn't handle a ship going at the correct speed. If their opponent had their own shields it was even harder. To use terms from Zoe's world: Force fields were like an armor that was great against bullets but did hardly anything against a man with a knife. It was all very fascinating however, and I saw how with trade we could greatly expand our strength.

I looked over at Tali, who was frozen in shock.

"This is everything the Citadel has dreamed about for thousands of years."

I stared at her. This stuff was obsolete during the clone wars… I turned on the coms again.

"This is Rae Sloane of the First Order. Is anyone out there."

No response. I sighed. Typical.

"Rae Sloane?"

I froze.

"Ren?"

"Oh thank god! We thought you were dead, for years."

"How's the Order doing?"

"Things have gone to shit, more so than normal."

I looked around me.

"Ren, I found some new allies that can help us."

"Do they have access to galactic markets? Because we are being sanctioned to hell and back."

I frowned.

"What happened?"

"Princess fucked up."

I sighed.

"Come on down, we have a lot to talk about."

"Great! Oh and I have Hux with me."

I smiled.

"You always did get me the nicest gifts, Ren."



Rae Sloane


Rae Sloan

Ren looked at me my explanation finished and sighed as he drank more hot coco.

"So you understand, this is a lot to take in."

"Yeah, I know."

He sipped his coco.

"How are things going back home?"

"While you were gone the Vong attacked the galaxy, most systems were hit pretty bad."

"Us?"

"We were completely untouched but we had to hand over everything that made Starkiller base work as part of the war effort."

"Empire and Rebels working together."

"and huts, pretty much everyone. Still left most people wrecked. When the core wanted to raise taxes to repair all the damage to the Rim… well, the rim left."

"So they went to war?"

"No, the republic just let them go. Too much damage in the core."

I sighed.

"So our future Empress left with a stormtrooper to make bad movies and got killed for it? You sure the New Republic isn't responsible?"

"Yes, the group took responsibility and were already on the New Republic's terrorist list. Don't get me wrong: they're not exactly tearing up over our upcoming collapse but they have much bigger problems than a fragment that doesn't even have 50 systems in it. We are… well completely, irrelevant all things considered."

And didn't that hurt.

"So, what now?"

"Snoke isn't doing well and I'm not good enough to hold things together once he dies, and you're planning on going."

"Yeah."

He slumped.

"Best we can do is manage the collapse, then. You can contact these other worlds, right?"

"Yes."

"Then maybe we can make deals and get out people into a more stable system."

I pulled out my notes.

"Most of the universes would be unable to take our refugees but one of them can, and I found a government that would make for an ideal… well, partner."

He picked up the chip.

"Systems alliance?"

"Human dominated, young, has connections to galactic markets. Their FTL is inferior so they can't make use of all their space. It's a little like the birth of the Core world's prosperity."

"A new start, uh? Well, we already moved once, we can do it again."

Now I just had to figure out how to make that happen.



Rae Sloane


Rae Sloane

I looked at Ren.

"Wow! Um, you're?"

"Found a way to get younger, yes. No, you're not willing to pay that price, Ren."

"What's the price?"

I shrugged.

"Ritual to kill me, so that a million worlds will live."

"Shit."

He took a seat.

"So Snoke?"

"My guys are setting up a relay, you know how shit communications are in the unknown regions."

I nodded my head.

"Still using that shit lightsaber?"

"The crossguard adds more protection."

"It makes the blade unstable, you're just going to end up fucking yourself if you ever run up against a halfway competent Jedi with an actual blade."

"If that happens."

He opened his jacket revealing a slugthrower, I smirked.

"Still kept it, after all these years?"

"Yeah, I did."

Kylo sighed.

"It's good to see you. Haven't seen you since I was a teenager."

I saw a flickering image in the hologram and frowned.

"Snoke… Are you in a bathrobe?"

"Officially? These are traditional inquisitor robes. Unofficially, yes."

He put something to his mouth and inhaled, I rolled my eyes.

"Please don't tell me your smoking a blunt right now."

"Of course not, I'm smoking two blunts taped together."

I shook my head.

"I can't believe I missed you."

"I missed you too, kept your rug by the way. It really holds the room together."

He took another drag.

"I sent you an info packet."

"Yeah, I saw."

"With this tech we could…"

Both of them were staring at me.

"Rae, it's over."

"Ok, so princess screwed up but we can-"

"No."

Snoke held up his hand.

"We are a tiny splinter cell of the Empire, there are bigger and more successful remnants and we just lost the only bit of legitimacy we had. Once I die, we're over."

"The Empire can be reborn! We can learn from our mistakes and make things better and… and… it's over, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

I looked away.

"If it helps I received the information packet and I do see a way forward for our people."

"But not for the Empire."

"The Empire had its time, the Republic had its time, we don't have anything to believe in anymore. People are losing hope."

"You see a way forward?"

"Yeah."

"What is it?"

"We take our people, our resources, and we meld ourselves with a younger, more vibrant, culture."

I slumped.

"Why is it that everything I love has to die?"

"Everything dies, Sloane, but if we work hard something else can be reborn in its place."

I closed my eyes.

"This is our best chance."

"So who do we surrender to?"

"Systems Alliance can absorb the vast majority, they have the capability and the need with our FTL drives. Some of the other worlds show promise for our more ambitious sorts. It's a long conversation, just know that what you found here will save a lot of lives."

I nodded my head and he vanished, Ren hugged me.

"Come on, I got you a gift."

We walked together to a room where Hux was tied to a chair and gagged, Ren nodded and left and I looked at him.

"You betrayed me."

He glared at me.

"I loved you once, you know? I thought of you as my own child. I taught you how to shoot, how to hunt… In every way that mattered, I considered you my son. So why? Why did you do it?"

I took off his gag.

"You slept with my father."

I blinked.

"In my parents' bed."

I closed my eyes and then looked at him.

"My relationship with your father happened three years after your mother died, you realize? The standard mourning period is a year and a day, Hux. Did you expect him to wait forever?"

He looked away.

"You used to be a good kid."

I pulled out the gun, the flintlock he had given me, and pointed it at his forehead. I fired the one shot point-blank, his brains covered the walls.

"Shame you're such a shit adult."



Amy Dallon


Amy Dallon

"So you're an alien."

Tali nodded her head.

"Yes, though from my perspective you're the alien."

"Oh, right! um, it's just…"

"Your world doesn't have access to the greater universe."

She undid a glove and I touched her.

"Wow."

"Wow what?"

"The last time I've seen an immune system this weak the person had AIDS."

She was silent.

"it's a disease that destroys someone's immune system."

"Oh."

She was silent.

"That sounds bad."

"It is."

She took off her mask and took in a breath of air and at first smiled and then coughed.

"There's a lot of smog on your world."

"Yeah, I know."

"So you're getting married to my boyfriend."

"It's a least partially a political thing."

I sighed.

"If you're jealous, I'm sorry."

"No, I should be jealous but I'm not. Instead I'm just kind of um."

"Turned on?"

I looked at her.

"Yeah?"

Tali nodded.

"The contract is supposed to be magical, right? Maybe it affects us this way, to keep us from murdering each other."

"That makes sense."

It worried me that her thought process went to murder that quickly but she was from a different culture. The door opened and Zoe looked at me.

"Good to see you."

I smiled and got up and kissed him, I felt that rush of power of completion and moaned just a little. He held me tight and his hands wandered south. I kissed him again, enjoying the thrum of power. My eyes were half-lidded, my heart was beating and I was wet.

"Remember your promise: if I win I get everything."

The hug ended and he winked at me. It ached a little, the pain, but I managed to control myself and made my way home. I got a ride and looked outside, I didn't have as much work as before because of experimental tinker tech drugs. That left me with only the worst and most interesting cases. The hospital charged for it all, all of the hospitals in the bay did. Medical tourism was becoming more and more of a thing, the city was coming back and becoming more successful.

And I was a part of it. To the outside world I was a hero, but I knew that I was dirty and lustful and kind of fucked in the head… and the frustration was getting worse. The lust, the dreams, the desires.

"It will all be worth it."

We were creating a better world, saving the world! This was just the price I had to pay, so why was my body so eager to pay it?



Zoe


Zoe

Karen takes a bite of an Apple as she looks outside the office tower.

"It is not good for you to fight your instincts you know."

I leaned back.

"I'm doing all right.'

"Yes you are, I am perhaps beginning to think you prefer alien girls?"

She was smirking and preening.

"I like human women just fine."

"Yes, yes… Though I must admit this stupid little thing of Amy's is not making anyone happy, least of all here."

I looked outside.

"It's going to happen soon."

"Are you ready?"

"I've hired people from Kohona and Atlas to train me, I've built some of the best magical Items I could make, I have done all the research I can. I either win or fail based on my efforts."

Karen shrugged.

"So we talk of trade now, yes?"

"Changing the subject?"

"Can't have you getting too depressed and serious. So we have begun sale of Atlas goods, and some others, in Brockton Bay."

"And?"

"And the PRT is of course watching and makes sure to buy anything they consider to be too useful for civilians to have. It's good money so no one minds. You are very calm, I assume you are making the love?"

"I am currently fucking Korra, yes."

"Ah! Too bad I can't watch it."

I shrugged.

"Speaking of wives, who did you pick?"

"Rae Sloane. She volunteered and I have decided to respect her wishes."

Karen raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure this is wise? She has good trade prospects."

"If we win we will have enough credits to lock some portals to her home dimension."

"It won't be the end of the hunting, will it?"

I grimaced.

"No, I've run the numbers and it's possible to make our little trading hub a lot more effective."

She smiled.

"Details, my husbando, I need all the details."

"It would, of course, be easier if we were working with a smaller number but if we kill the Endbringers, all of them, we can afford to upgrade twelve of the royal estates. They'll then be able to act as an interdimensional FTL system of sorts."

"And then we charge for the pleasure, yes?"

"Of course. We won't be the first one to think of this by the way, can't possibly be."

"If a thing is possible then it has most likely been done before, but just because a thing has been done before it does not mean it is not worth doing."

"True."

Karen sighed and lifted a glass of tea.

"To profit, yes?"

"To profit."

I looked outside and smiled. If I could survive there would be a bright future.



2b


2B

I smiled at Popola.

"You can do this."

She took a breath and twirled around in her dress.

"Ok I've worked on this for a while, does it look all right? It needs to be perfect."

Popola was chosen to go on the first date. If she fails others can learn from her failure, if she succeeds then others can follow her path to their own master. Lots of pressure. She studies herself as she looks at herself in the mirror and a bored human woman sighs.

"You look fine."

"I am about to go on a very important date and I need to look perfect, maybe some dark eye shadow?"

The human woman rolls her eyes.

"Men never notice that stuff! Anyways he needs to impress you, not the other way around."

Popola frowned.

"All men are kings and should be treated as such."

"If he breathes he's a simp."

"Maybe we should go."

"Maybe we should."

Popolo nodded and we walked out.

"This is going to be fine, Ok? You can do this! By the way, what do you know about him?"

"His name is Eugene and he owns a comic book store."

I nodded my head.

"He lives in the special district and recently moved out of his parent's basement."

I smiled.

"Not bad, not bad at all."

"I know, I am so excited!"

"So the date?"

"We are going out to have coffee, actual coffee."

I froze.

"Wow… That's expensive."

"I know! I haven't had actual coffee in centuries, this is going to be divine!"

We walked to the place and she sat down, she put a white rose on the table and I went and hid in the bushes. Then, in the distance, I noticed a rather fat man wearing an anime T-shirt, shorts, and with a full beard. He blinked as he stared at the white rose.

"Are you Popola?"

"Yes, M'lord."

He bowed.

"It is good to meet you, M'lady."

She put out her hand and he kissed it, she smiled and blushed.

"T'is an honor, M'lord."

She bit her lip.

"By the way… what is the best sword?"

"Katana, obviously!"

"Anything folded over a 1000 times is obviously superior."

The two of them spoke in unison, and Popolo smiled.

"Finally someone gets it!"

The man blinked, looking confused.

"Wow um… this is a new one… So, coffee?"

"Yes! I would like to try one of these lattes, M'lord."

"Certainly, M'lady, it would be my honor."

She smiled and made a squeeing sound as he left, her eyes carefully trained on his ass. When he came back they started talking about some show from this world's japan and I kind of got bored and um… I took a nap…

I awoke to Popola smiling at me as she tapped me on the head.

"Napping again?"

I yawned.

"I'm a soldier, we are trained to sleep whenever possible."

She rolled her eyes.

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"Guess who got a second date!"

She gave me a thumbs up and I hugged her.

"Good for you."

Maybe this would work out after all.



cannoned conversation


Cherico said:


"Certainly, M'lady, it would be my honor."


Spoiler: I am so sorry

The fanmade 4chan post for our mysterious neckbeard.

Be me

29 yo

overweight neckbeard

single my entire life because girls just don't understand how superior the katana is

recently moved into a new basement away from my parents

basement is utter trash but it's mine

work at the local comic book store so I get paid for telling plebs that manga is better.

mfw random match on Tinder with someone called Poporu

mfw it's a cute girl

"DefinetlyACatfish.wav"

bored so I might as well waste time

catfish actually knows some good anime

catfish is pretty chill

"KindredSpirit.mp4"

agree to meet him at the local coffee shop for drinks.

agree to bring a white rose so we can recognize each other

roll up in my best waifu shirt with a fedora and coat combo

catfish isn't a catfish at all

"panic.exe"

"catfish" is a solid 10/10

mfw meetup is a date

spaghetti dripping from my pockets

"ThisWasn'tInTheSimulations.pdf"

barely manage to ask if she's my meet up.

she actually is

Coffee.mp3

I somehow don't ruin the date

somehow score a second date

"ExecutingChad.exe"

I did it anons, I found a unicorn.

Tried a bit too hard at being a 4chan anon here but I couldn't resist.



Raven


Raven

So selling myself into sex slavery turned out to not be as bad as I thought it would be.

Instead of daily rapes in a cell, as you would expect, I have my own island, a nice house, a lab and I have some freedom. The island is mine to do with as I please. I can visit the other parts of this world as I please, just by calling for a pick up from the robots, and I have money to buy things I want. In time I guess I will be a queen, with real subjects.

It makes this situation that much harder. A mirror is brought out and I look at my father's face, my owner-husband looks dispassionately at him.

"So I can't have my daughter back?"

"No."

He looked furious.

"How dare you?"

"She made a deal, of her own free will."

"I am her father, and a lord of Hell!"

"Huh, lord."

Zoe did not sound impressed.

"Yes."

"That means you're outranked by any barons, viscounts, counts, Marquis, dukes, princes and of course a king of hell."

My father stared at him.

"The relationship and contract were approved of by Duchess Mamuna, who works in class A."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"She outranks you, by 4 entire ranks. If you try anything? That would be slapping her authority in the face. The other dukes, counts, discounts, and barons would join her in slapping you down. First because you haven't fought in the Blood War and have no allies. Second because they want your lands and resources for themselves. And third because you will have gone against the chain of command, which means they will fuck you up on principle."

My father glared.

"And just in case you think that's not enough, I have my own rank in the hierarchy I belong to."

"You're just an upstart."

"This is true, but so are you. And my rank in my hierarchy is that, roughly speaking, of a baron. So, there is no nice way to say this… I outrank you."

My father turned and looked at an aid, who grimaced.

"I have designs on her homeworld, my plans are-"

"There are uncounted trillions of universes and planets, you know this and so does the hierarchy you serve. Accept your losses and move on."

There was yelling and then it ended. I looked at him, he seemed tired.

"We have a meeting with Hermione today, to work on the plan."

"Um yeah."

He took my hand into his and I felt my heart skip a beat.

"You're safe now."

I started to wonder if I was starting to fall in love.



Zoe


Zoe

Elsa and I go over numbers.

She's actually very good at math, not as good as 2b but very good, and the numbers do not lie: trade has been very good for Arendelle. This makes our relationship more important to Elsa on a practical level.

"It really has been a prosperous time for all of us."

I am horny and I have made a decision, I put my hand on top of hers and she blushes. I've been working on Elsa, on working on her mind and her urges. She's a very lonely woman, I grab her hand and she continues talking about trade about people moving onto her lands as I intertwine my fingers with hers and her face gets redder.

"Get on my lap."

I smiled at her.

"Now."

Elsa nodded her head and sat on my lap, I put my arms around her.

"Go on."

Elsa continues her speech on trade and I let my hands linger south and let my hands go up her dress.

"Um… Zoe?"

I kiss her neck.

"Continue."

She continues her speech and I get my fingers into her sex, she squirms in my arms as I let my fingers go up and down. She pants and gyrates and I feel her getting close to orgasm. I put her over the edge and will her body to become more fertile. Elsa tries in vain to continue her speech, her talk about numbers, she pants as I bring her to orgasm after orgasm. I hold her tight as she quivers and I feel her go limp as she finishes the last part of her presentation.

"Huh, huh, huh…"

I smile and put my fingers in her mouth and let her lick them clean.

"Was that really necessary?"

"At least part of me claiming you, owning you, possessing you, was helping you have a little fun."

I kissed her neck.

"So today I am going to take your virginity. So you want to lose it in bed or right over this desk, right here and right now, like a whore?"

She was panting, my little Elsa. She got up and took off her clothes and bent over, I studied her ass and rubbed it. She took her ponytail and offered it to me.

"Here's my happy handle, sir."

I lifted an eyebrow and she smirked and wiggled her butt, I grabbed her by the ponytail and pulled slowly but firmly. Then I took off my pants and entered inside her in a long push.

"Ugh."

I slapped her ass with my free hand and pulled her hair.

"Yes, yes."

She gyrated on my cock as I gave light tugs.

"Hurt me."

I stopped slapping her ass and put a hand on her butt as I continued thrusting, Elsa painted.

"It's not a safe day."

"Good."

"I… oh fuck."

"You're going to be a great mother."

I came inside her and she quivered and gasped. I picked her off of the table and held her in my chair, Elsa smiled as she snuggled into me.

"Ok… Next, we try that in the bedroom."

She kissed me and got up, still naked, and shook her butt at me. Who was I to refuse that?



Zoe


Zoe

Amy looked at us and laughed.

"Its noth funny."

She fell on the floor laughing and Elsa tried to interject.

"Look, can you laugh after you help us?"

Amy sighed.

"Ok. Ok! I'm done laughing. So, what happened?"

I sighed and talked in her brain, using telepathy.

"I decided to go down on Elsa and she might have lost control over her powers a little."

Amy smirked.

"Sorry, I'm not finished laughing."

She laughed some more.

"I thought we were immune to our powers?"

"Dick yes, fingers yes. Tongue, though? Apparently, not so much."

"Ok, I am going to get some warmish water and pour it down there."

She started laughing again as Elsa patted my head.

"I really am sorry for this."

I felt warm water hit my face and, eventually, my tongue got free. Amy laughed again, and sighed. I got my face out and took a breath.

"Ok so…"

Elsa grimaced.

"Not happening again?"

"Maybe once you get more control."

Elsa nodded and Amy lifted an eyebrow.

"Ok, have your fun but keep in mind that we only have a couple of weeks before it happens."

I nodded my head.

"I'm well aware of that, Amy."

She nodded her head.

"You ready?"

"Yeah, as ready as I am going to be."

She kissed me on the forehead.

"Just remember: you're not allowed to die."

With that said she left, Elsa sat on the bed.

"Mood's kind of ruined now."

"Yeah."

I sat on the bed next to her.

"I'm sorry."

"Hey, it was fun before that happened."

I put my arm around her and she slumped into me.

"Yeah, it was. It's just… I… I don't want to hurt people with my powers and-"

I kissed her forehead.

"It's a learning process, ok?"

"Ok."

She closed her eyes and I cuddled with her until sunrise, then I got up for another day of work.



Asami sato


Asami sato

The portals to the spirit world started closing and I felt a sense of relief.

"Oh thank the spirits."

I looked at the remnants of the body of the man who tried this stunt, and then at Empress Azula. Suddenly I felt sick.

"If you're going to throw up, throw up."

The woman filed her nails while I puked in the snow. As I heaved out my guts, I looked over at an old man with fading gold and silver hair, his glasses glinting in the snow light.

"This is nothing, compared to the bad old days."

"You and her… you turned those people into…"

"They were trying to sacrifice an Infant, Asami. Being the avatar doesn't make a baby less killable."

He sat on a rock and Azula sat next to him. The Golden Death, one of the most dangerous people to have ever lived… looking around at the carnage I could see why he gained that reputation.

"If you had been in Republic City-"

I grimaced as he frowned.

"Are you going to tell me that I should have been there, girl?"

I flinched.

"The equalists are um."

"It was Tenzin's job as her mentor to steer her in a safe direction. I was more or less told that I wasn't welcome in Republic City."

He folded his arms.

"I am sorry you lost your friend, I really am, but I refuse to be blamed for something I did not do."

He pulled out a bottle and chugged it.

"The avatar?"

"Zuko has got him and is taking him home. I'm really frustrated with this."

"Why?"

"Because Aang and I bickered for years, having him as my great-grandson is a pain in the ass."

He looked at me.

"Point is, we won today."

"And what about tomorrow?"

"Kid, we worry about tomorrow when it happens."

He looked at me.

"Why are you even mixed up with this? You're not a bender, not spirit touched, not a hint of weave energy… no one would judge you for sitting this out."

"Korra was my friend."

He looked at me.

"Good a reason as any."

He patted my back.

"Come on, let us get out of here."

"Katara offered to cook."

He sighed.

"Yeah? Then go ahead and enjoy that, I'm not quite welcome there."

Azula nodded and took his hand and they went off back to civilization. As for me, I've decided to carry on the fight because someone has to.



Zoe


Zoe

It was inevitable, this confrontation. Madison is sooner than I am comfortable with, but it had to be done.

Months of work, years of preparation. I have a horde of robots who have volunteered, expensive tech and dust containers have been bought, and ninjas have prepped the battlefield. The moment she arrives I hear the screams and then I snap a finger and candles light up, candles made out of a mixture of blasted pieces of her and alchemical ingredients. As long as they're lit, her ability to see the future is altered, her paths spoofed, she will see what she wants to see instead of what is.

I nod at a small voodoo doll in the middle of a giant ritual circle, alchemical pots light and spew forth their spells one by one. Each one is a save or suck spell that makes someone more vulnerable to save or suck spells. I have created over a hundred of these things.

58 pots fail in a row until one works, another 30 fail before I have a second success, 8 pots till the next one, 10 till the next victory, 10 till another one, 5 pots another victory.

Ino looks at me.

"How are we doing?"

"Her spiritual defenses are being worn down but it still isn't anywhere near close to safe to use anything on her."

Another pot flares blue, and another, 3 pots fail until I get another success, then another.

"50% of her spiritual defenses are down."

Did I create enough pots?

One more goes off, another fails, one more works. Another, another, another, another, another, another, another, just one more and I only have 3 more pots left. Only three more chances.

"Oh thank god."

I looked at Ino.

"Radio your clan, all of them! This will only last for one hour."

"What do you want us to do?"

"Just make her stand still and do nothing."

The entire Yamanaka clan, working as one, gets on this as I slash a portal and look outside. She's singing right now, surrounded by debris, and I see all of my allies fighting. I chug two potions and fly into the sky, I have been having lots of sex with Karen, not just for the sheer enjoyability of the act but to give myself the power of flight. I look to my side and see Karen and Raven working together to try to create holes for me to work with. I dive into the cloud of ever-moving scrap and fly forward, empowered by a potion of concentrated luck.

It works and I pull out a diamond, one the size of a baseball. This is every single diamond in the city of New York, Paris, and London, combined into one super diamond, I rush forward and press it against her back and pray it works. She screams as the diamond begins to pull her inside itself. I pray to a God whose favor I really do not deserve… and she's pulled in. I move to pull out my sword and notice I'm missing my right arm. I fly to the ground as the debris falls and right into a wall. I tap it with my head and, still woozy, I fly back to my little pocket world then to a circle I spent 9 months making. I place the gem inside the circle and dab my bloody stump onto the circle.

It glows and the energy of the far realms, of the ream of madness and eldritch power, flows into the circle. I heard a screaming sound coming from the diamond and I flee the circle, still bleeding, still woozy, and then I collapse. Everything goes dark and I wake up to Heba looking at me.

"Did I pull it off?"

"The Company sends its regards. And the reagents needed for the ritual to stop the infection."

I sigh.

"They're not going to do the ritual themselves, are they?"

"No."

I get up.

"Assholes."



Zoe


Zoe

I grimaced in pain.

"Well we won, yes?"

Karen put more plants in the tub and I continued to try to use the matter to regenerate my arm.

"Yeah. Absolute pain in the ass but we won."

She patted me on the head.

"You shouldn't have risked yourself like that."

I smiled at her.

"I try not to ask people to do stuff I wouldn't do myself."

"Such a stubborn man."

I winced and looked at my arm.

"Good as new."

I clenched my hand and, struggling, got out of the tub. I cracked my neck and sighed. Karen nodded at me.

"Well, you have a very important job ahead of you."

"Yeah conduct a ritual, save over a trillion lives, hunt down the remaining Endbringers, and keep working on a multidimensional trading network and-"

"No."

She put a finger to my lips.

"There is time for work but after battle, especially successful one, it is time for pleasure. Amy made a deal, yes? She has been putting it off."

She smiled.

"You have the essence of a fertility goddess inside you, resisting those urges is not healthy for you."

She kissed me and helped me get dressed, I created a portal and looked at the time, she would be at the hospital now. I go there and find her sitting on a chair, looking tired and worried.

"Hey."

She looked at me, smiled, and got up.

"I missed you! I was worried I…"

"You made a promise."

Amy smiled.

"You know… I did, didn't I?"

She went up to me and hugged me and got on her tippy toes.

"You got tall."

She couldn't reach me, I leaned down and kissed her. She moaned as she took a little of my energy, I lifted her up and pushed her against the wall. She put her legs and arms around me, her tongue pressed into my mouth, there was a hunger in her kiss and when it ended she smiled and nuzzled me.

"So you are losing your virginity today, where do you want it to happen?"

"In the supply closet."

I blinked.

"In the hospital?

"Come on, it's so me."

We laughed and I helped her down. She took me by the hand and lead me to a supply closet and then we stopped in front of it. An older woman in a white coat and a man froze as we looked at each other. She looked at Amy who was holding my hand.

"This is awkward."

"I um need the supply closet."

"Ugh! You don't know the rules, right? Frustrating."

"Rules?"

She tapped her foot and her lab coat opened revealing a t-shirt that said 'born to peg'.

"Did you talk with Sanchez?"

"The janitor?"

"You haven't… God, look… I have this closet scheduled right now and I am waiting my turn."

"It's a supply closet. Right?"

"With a bed in it? Please! This is the hospital's little fuck shack, everyone knows it."

A Hispanic man walked by and knocked on the door.

"5 minutes and then I have to clean."

I heard the sound of pants being zipped up and the door opened, revealing a doctor and a nurse.

"We're finished."

The woman smiled.

"Yeah."

They walked off.

"Sanchez! Panacea wants to use the supply closet."

The man sighed and pulled out his wallet.

"Here's the bet money."

Amy glared at them.

"Not right now, I have my turn! Can you tell her when you can pencil her in?"

He looked at us.

"An Endbringer died yesterday, I'm booked up for the week… I'm sorry."

Amy deflated.

"This is bullshit."

The man went in and the woman gave her a look of sympathy.

"Sorry but those are the rules, Amy. Hey, look at it this way: you're one of us! I mean, you think we let civilians use this closet?"

Amy took my hand and she sighed as we left.

"Ok, my bedroom at home."

I looked at Amy's ass.

"I am fine with this."



Zoe


Zoe

Amy takes deep breaths as we drive to her place.

"We have a castle, my house, and other options."

"I know."

"Why your place, then?"

"Because this is something I have to do I guess."

We stopped at her house and got out.

"Ok, no one's here."

She put in the key and we walked in, she was breathing heavily.

"Shower."

I looked at her.

"What? It's hot."

"Actually the temperature-"

"Sexy hot, not that kind of hot."

She took my hand and we headed to the bathroom, she closed the door and locked it then took off her robe. I smiled as I studied her body and she blushed.

Jeans, T-shirt.

"Take it off."

I sit down on the toilet and Amy slowly takes off her shirt, I nod at her and she undoes her pants and they slide to the floor. She tries to kick them off and trips, I get up and hold her to stop her from falling.

"Ok, ok."

Amy rights herself and I look at her.

"I will take care of the rest."

I took a moment to admire her black bra and panties, I kiss her neck as I carefully undo the clasps of her bra from the back and took it off her. I then admired her full breasts in the mirror and decided to massage them as I hugged her from behind.

"I um."

"I've earned this. I'm taking my time, Amy."

She closed her eyes and leaned into me enjoying the touch and then I stopped. I flicked my hand and water came out, watery hands formed and pulled down her panties as I massaged her tits. She opened her eyes.

"Nice, now it's your turn."

She sat on the tub and I slowly took off my clothing while she watched. Once I was fully nude she motioned me forward with a finger and leaned forward, she grabbed my butt and licked my dick. She looked up at me with eyes full of love as she put her mouth around my cock and bobbed her head back and forth. Eventually, I could not resist anymore and I came. She looked at me and swallowed.

She looked at me and laughed.

"You used your powers to make your cum taste like vanilla?."

"Well… if someone is going to suck my dick… It might as well taste good, you know."

"It's so incredibly petty and… thanks."

She looked at me.

"Don't um take this the wrong way but I'm going to gargle with mouth wash and brush my teeth now."

"Yeah, I don't mind."

She brushed her teeth and we went into the shower.

"Is it a safe day?"

She looked at me.

"So… if I get pregnant what happens?"

"I take responsibility. I have a place and you will move in with me, I will provide nannies and maids. The children will be safe and cared for."

She looked at me.

"You thought about this."

"Yeah."

"You're going to try to knock me up, aren't you?"

She was breathing heavily.

"This place isn't healthy, I want you out of here."

"Yeah. I see that."

She looked at me.

"We know what happens if I stay here so, you know, let's… um, do it."

She got into the shower and I joined her, this time I decided not to cheat. The water turned on and she slammed me into the wall, and gasped as I entered inside her. I had spent years on her body, she was a quick trigger, easy to please, and I took full advantage of that. I grabbed her butt and slammed her against the wall. She wrapped her legs around me and I felt her claw against my back.

I kind of lost sense of time as we made love in that shower but we were both out of breath as we finished. Amy smiled.

"I love you."

I kissed her.

"I love you too."

We dried ourselves off and got dressed, we opened the bathroom's door and saw Carol. Amy looked at her in horror.

"Um."

"Did you use up all of the hot water?"

Amy grimaced.

"Yes."

Carol shrugged.

"This your first time?"

Amy looked mortified.

"I um."

"So yes then…"

She nodded.

"Amy, yesterday was a very important day. Because of that… we are all going to pretend we do not hear or notice anything. Understood?"

"Um… Yes, mom."



Glory girl


Victoria Dallon

'Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump'

"OH GAWD!"

It is 3 in the morning… Three o'clock in the fucking morning.

'Thump, thump, thump'

"Fuck this."

I got out of bed and opened the door and walked over to Amy's bedroom, I found mom waiting for me in the hallway.

"No."

"It's been hours, mom."

"Let them be, Vicky."

"It's three in the morning."

"I know."

"I can't believe you're just letting this happen! you wouldn't let me and Dean do this, you remember?"

"How many times have you broken up with Dean?"

I flinched.

"What?"

"How many times?"

"I… um don't know."

"You have broken up with him and gotten back together with him 3 times this month alone. Amy and Zoe have been more or less friends and more, since elementary school. She has broken up with him a grand total of one time."

"What if she gets."

"Pregnant? Zoe owns his own house, he's had a steady job that pays six figures for years. Amy has an official RN licence now. If she gets pregnant I am confident that they will be able to work it out. Neither you nor Dean are out of high school and only one of you has a job, and that job is part time and only pays twice the minimum wage."

She paused.

"Don't get me wrong: the PRT would likely look after the two of you if anything happened and once he gets out of high school he will have a stable income. But then there's the second issue."

She looked at me.

"You can't keep doing this."

"Mom?"

"We're going to have this conversation in the living room, it's long overdue."

I sighed as I walked with her. We sat down on opposite sides of the coffee table.

"Like I was saying: you can't keep doing this, treating Dean the way you do."

"He keeps screwing up."

"Bull. Shit. Dean's a good kid, you're just being way too immature, insecure, and controlling."

I frowned.

"Hey! I'm a good catch, I deserve someone who treats me right."

Mom stared at me.

"Relationships are two-way streets, you have to give and take. Vicky… You have been taking too much. If you don't like Dean? Then end it, never talk to him again. If you like him then start treating him better. This garbage, the way you're currently acting? It's not heroic, it's not nice, and it's beneath you. If you're not mature enough to have a boyfriend then stop dating until you grow up."

I felt like I had been slapped.

"That isn't fair."

"The way you have been treating Dean isn't fair, the way you have been calling Amy in to fixes the messes you cause is not fair, life is not fair. Let me tell you something. Dean has options. He's good-looking, he's from a good family, and he has superpowers. There are a lot of women who would love to be with him. If you keep acting like this then one day he's going to walk away and he will not come back."

Mom looked at me.

"You only get so many people who love you in life, and for women with powers it's even harder to find someone. Stop acting like a bitch, got it?"

"Um yeah."

I got up.

"Also."

She pulled out a box.

"What's this?"

"Earplugs."

I looked at her.

"You're not getting in their way. Amy deals with a lot of stress and we just had a very important victory. Don't rain on her parade, got it?"

"Yes, Mom."



Amy Dallon


Amy Dallon

I woke up feeling arms around me, holding me. I took a sniff of Zoe's after sex musk and smiled as I gently left his embrace. I walked, bowlegged, to a wall and tapped my hand against it. A portal opened and I walked into my castle, still nude. I stretched and looked outside, then smiled at the sunny day and looked out into the growing wilderness.

"THESE PIPES ARE CLEAN!"

I panted, went to a wall, and portaled back home. I looked at my lover and smiled, I poked him and he looked up at me with half-lidded eyes.

"Hey."

I flopped in bed and he hugged me, I enjoyed his embrace for a bit then the two of us got up and got dressed. I headed to the bathroom and froze, my mother smirked at me and my father looked away.

"All the warm water has been used up. Sorry."

I blinked.

"I think I deserve that."

"Come on your father's going to cook pancakes."

I walked slowly to the kitchen and my mom flopped down. She looked happy, calm, serene. Vicky looked at me as she walked in with tired eyes.

"Three-thirty in the morning."

"Vicky."

I felt heat in my cheeks and then looked at her defiantly.

"I regret nothing."

My mother laughed.

"All right! It has been a pretty important day and I hope we've all gotten what we need out of our systems."

I leaned against Zoe and he put an arm around me.

"What time is it?"

"9:40 or so. School is canceled, it's a holiday so don't worry about it. Just go out and have fun."

She looked at Zoe and nodded.

"Take care of Amy for us, life can be stressful for a healer."

I blushed.

"Mom."

She smirked again and pancakes were served. No one said anything and the whole meal felt awkward but I also felt calmer and more relaxed and at peace than I had felt in… well, ever.



Trigon


Trigon

I looked at the portals and clenched my fists, I would not be denied! I would-

The portals fizzled out, a new portal opened up. I looked at the small devil that walked out, he wore a business suit and wore a goatee. He looked at me.

"Trigon."

"Who are you."

He smiled at me.

"Hello, I am Viscount Mallen… Layer of Dis?"

I stared at him blankly.

"Oh… This is a problem."

"Yes. You have intruded into my domain."

"Oh? No, that isn't the problem. The problem is you do not know who I am… You see, I'm your superior. Well, scratch that, your superior's superior."

I stared at him, then drew in air and breathed fire on him. He just moved his hand and brushed my attack aside.

"I don't think you understand your situation."

"Men."

I looked around at my minions who were all kneeling and then at him.

"What is going on?"

"Did you even read the contract you signed all those centuries ago?"

"A world's worth of souls and then I become an immortal demon lord."

"Yes and we appreciate that you did but that was a long time ago. You received payment in full and since then you have not given us anything."

He kicked a rock.

"Not a single warrior for the Blood War, no treasure, no more souls… It has been a very disappointing nothing but we ignored it because you were not going against our interests. Right now you're going against our interests."

"My daughter is in that creature's hands! She had a destiny."

"Trigon… You're a glorified sperm donor."

I stared at him.

"You did not look after your daughter, you did not raise her, you did not provide resources to help her grow up. Your claim over her is purely biological and thus your legal claim over her is weak."

"The law is-"

"The law is what gives you power, the law is why your minions serve you, the law is what protects you. Now this warrior devil lord shit looks very appealing, chef's kiss for the aesthetics but it's all based on a foundation of law. Your claim over Raven is weak, she sought out a patron and protector and contacted the Slutlife corporation."

"A business."

I felt contempt.

"That business has given us gold, silver, and a lot more resources than you have in your entire life. It is a beneficial relationship. Meanwhile your deal was a one-off and you have done nothing to further the hells' interests since then."

He motioned for me to sit, I struggled but found myself forced into my chair.

"Raven signed herself off to a child of the Dark Mother. If you attack her, you attack the property of the Dark Mother and attack someone who outranks you in her hierarchy. If we allowed you to do that, the consequences might be sanctions, war, and reparations. I will be honest. It's just a singular girl, we're not allowing you to start an interdimensional conflict because you decided to get salty."

"She's my property."

"She's one little girl. You're immortal, you can make more."

A portal opened.

"This is your one and only warning. If there is a second incident I will come back and I will handle this personally and then, after I have ripped you apart, I will gift your lands to more worthy servants."

The portal closed and I sighed, I could always make more children.



Raven


Raven

I looked at my master.

"So um what brings you here?"

He looked at me.

"We've had a great victory recently, haven't we?"

I nodded my head.

"Seemed easy… but then again there were months of prep work, wasn't there?"

"Yeah, there was. Which brings me to my current issues."

I grimaced.

"I've been putting things off and that includes my relationship with you."

He sighed.

"So the Trigon issue-"

I felt scared.

"Please don't kick me out! He's evil and I don't want him to hurt people, to use me to hurt people."

"I'm not saying that, Rachel. we made a deal, you are under my protection. The thing is… the more official our relationship is, the more it protects you."

I blinked and sat down.

"So… what do you mean?"

"We need to consummate our relationship."

I blinked.

"Um, what?"

"We need to have sexual relations to further secure my claim over you and cement my protection over you."

I blinked and sighed.

"Maybe we need witnesses, then."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you think that, Rachel?"

"Well… It's easy to say something, you know. Actual proof, I think, would work better?"

He shrugged and went to a computer.

"Well, now we wait."

We heard the sound of chains and fire rose from the ground, an old weathered man with black eyes looked at us.

"Hello?"

"I'm Mr. Zimmerman, I filed for ownership of Rachel Roth and wish to have witnesses to confirm consummation."

He nodded his head.

"Roger Brooke Taney, I work for Viscount Mallen, layer of Dis."

He pulled out paperwork.

"So your paperwork is good but I will be honest: a witness would make your claim stronger, which would be just great because Trigon just tried to violate his restraining order… I'm going to send Vannessa in with a recorder. What time would you like this to take place in?"

"Soon as possible?"

"I can have her here in an hour or so."

With that done we sat down, he looked at me.

"You all right?"

"Um yes?"

"Are you… um?"

I grimaced.

"It would be my first time."

He smiled and gave me a hug.

"Scared?"

"A little."

"Look, I don't want this to hurt you. Maybe I should help you get off while we wait, ok?"

"What?"

"You know, stretch you out a bit down there?"

I nodded my head.

"Ok."

"Just get on my lap."

I sat down and he slide his fingers inside me, It felt cold at first but I was soon flushed and out of breath under his touch. Then I felt my body tingle and I panted as my body trembled.

"That was an orgasm… It's not so bad, is it?"

"No."

"We're just going to keep at this for a bit."

I felt the fingers go back in and the pleasure returned, he brought me to climax again and again. When I heard a poofing sound I felt tired but loose.

"Hello, I'm your notary and will be the witness."

She set up a camera.

"Is she a virgin?"

"Yes, I am."

"Good! That adds to a more solid claim. Mr. Zimmerman? Take all of her virginities, please."

He took off his clothing and motioned to his dick, I wrapped my lips around it and he patted my head as I sucked and licked until he came.

"Please swallow, Miss Roth."

I did so.

"Next?"

I took off my clothing and knelt down, I winced as he entered my ass and then I felt something powerful wash over me.

"Ok, last hole."

He flipped me over.

"Please state your purpose."

He looked at me.

"You belong to me."

I winced as he entered inside me.

"I um."

"Say it."

"I am Z38's woman."

I felt something tighten in my chest.

"Again."

"I am Z38's woman."

The feeling got worse.

"Again."

"I am Z38's woman."

My power flared and he held me down as I struggled. I felt chains around my very soul, my very being, and I screamed as the cum hit my cervix. Then I laid back and gasped, defiled on camera. My body orgasmed, hard, and I panted on the ground, wondering if this is how my own mother felt the day Trigon took her.

"Well, everything is notarized and handled. I hope everything goes well for you."

With that done she vanished. He picked me up and held me, saying nothing and just hugging me. I simply enjoyed his embrace.



Zoe


Zoe

I had a backlog of souls, enough to buy what I needed, and after a couple of days of hedonism… Well, it's time to get to business. I shiver in the cold as we make our way to the south pole. Slone looks at me as we get to the spot.

"So this is it."

"Yeah."

"So do you need to kill me yourself or can someone else do it?"

"The options up to you."

"Then I think I will take care of it myself. Can't have you butchering the process because your fingers twitched."

I nodded my head and started drawing ritual circles in the snow.

"So anything you want to talk about?"

"I feel like I lived a full life."

"No regrets?"

"Lots of regrets, you don't live over 20 without having a few of them."

"Losing the war?"

She frowned.

"Alderaan was a mistake, the whole Death Star thing was a mistake, but every government makes mistakes."

"You still support it?"

"What it could have been, what it should have been. Its ideals at least."

"Which were?"

She looked tired.

"An order and peace that actually did something for the people."

She closed her eyes.

"The republic, during its last days, was a place of witchhunts, political violence, entrenched corruption…"

"There was corruption in the Empire."

"This is true but it was less or lesser. We will never get the credit for it but the new republic kept a lot of our reforms. Really they didn't have a choice, the old way of doing things wasn't working."

"New way doesn't seem to be working either?"

"The Vong didn't help but… yeah Snoke says though that the collapse is inevitable. Even if we had won it just would have brought us 250 more years of peace and then 250 years of collapse before a dark age."

"That makes you sad?"

"A golden age over 200 years long? That sounds like a good deal to me. Shame Palpatine squandered it because he wanted to continue some centuries-long blood feud."

I finished the circle and started placing pots full of regents in a circle and I looked at her.

"This was your second chance."

"You agree to find places for my people to defect to?"

"Yeah."

"Then my second chance was spent giving them a second chance. The Empire is dead but its people are worth saving."

I nodded at her.

"So Zoe… now what?"

"I have a portal locked on your old world built and spent. Your house will remain empty until someone fills it."

"Big shoes to fill."

She looked at me.

"I'm ready for this Zoe. Everyone dies, everything dies. I tried to create a better galaxy and I failed, this is my chance to redeem myself."

She lightly punched me in the arm, I looked away.

"Stop it."

"Got teary-eyed."

"Redemption is a rare and special thing, you know? Thanks for giving me a chance at it."

She made her way carefully to the center of the circle and calmly pulled out a gun. I heard a zapping sound and she fell down dead upon the ground, her blood leaked into the snow and I watched as her body was torn apart. The circle took her and glowed and then a pillar of light went into the air.

I stood there, saying nothing, until the light faded. Then I saw a ghostly image of Sloane rise from the circle, she gave me a thumbs up and went into the light.



Ino Yamanaka


Ino

"So, Korra, what brings you to my castle?"

She bit her lip, she looked a little bit tired but then again she was a new mother so that was expected.

"Sloane's dead, isn't she?"

"Yeah."

"How dead?"

"Her soul got to experience a few final moments before being obliterated dead. That's deader than dead."

"Oh."

She sighed.

"That could have been me."

I leaned back.

"Is this what this is about?"

"Well… Yeah, I mean I died and now I'm alive. I got a second chance but Sloane got a second chance and now she's dead. So how much of a chance is this?"

"Rae volunteered."

"All of us volunteered."

"Did you mean it?"

"Yeah. It's literally trillions of lives on the line."

"And Rae understood that."

Korra grimaced.

"It's my fault. If I hadn't been an idiot no one would have needed to die."

I looked at her.

"That is true."

She flinched.

"What?"

"If it had just been seven of us the resonance would have made it so that no one needed to die, that is true. But keep in mind that Rae was older than us and had been trapped in a situation meant to kill her. Coming to us gave her a chance to be young again, even if it was just for a little while. It gave her a chance to get revenge, a chance to take care of her people, and a chance to go out on her terms. Rae lived a warrior's life and died a warrior's death. No one other than us will ever understand how many lives she saved."

Korra looked guilty.

"It should have been me."

"You have a newborn son, Korra."

"Yeah, my little Sokka."

I nodded my head.

"Dying is easy, Korra. Living… Living is hard and you're going to have to live."

I got up and gave her a hug, Korra hugged me back. With that done she left the door opened and Zoe sat down.

I smiled.

"So? Business or pleasure?"

"You're the closest thing we have to a therapist."

I looked at him.

"No."

"Ino-"

"I am, by the nature of my relationship with you, emotionally compromised. A therapist can't be emotionally compromised. Of course, I can get you into contact with a clansman that you will be able to talk to."

"Then can we talk as friends?"

"I'd rather talk as something more, but relationships take time to build."

He sat down.

"Did I do the right thing?"

"Trillions of people say yes."

"Sloane… I mean, her people needed her."

"Her people spent years without her."

I looked at him.

"I read up about her Empire, the good and the bad."

"And?"

"Honestly most civilians in the Elemental Countries would have chopped off their left arm to live in the Empire and, despite the issues, their warriors had a lot more rights than a lot of ninja do in my world. It was, for all of its faults, better than that Old Republic which had no problem creating a slave army to fight their wars for them."

I got up.

"I know there was a lot of bad but by my world's standards? The empire was remarkably clean. That said, to be fair, the New Republic managed to be a better organization before the Vong attacked."

"And now?"

"Now they're collapsing, their whole galaxy is. That civilization is dying, it is sad to me in a way."

"Time kills everything."

"Don't be sad that it ended, Zoe. Be glad that it happened."

I kissed his forehead.

"Take some time to yourself, ok? When you're ready my bedroom could use someone to keep it warm."



Zoe


Zoe

They sent in a woman with a Fedora through the portal.

"You're a man of your word, Z38."

I nodded my head.

"That I am."

She sat down and looked around.

"I had a feeling you were been holding back, this more or less confirms things. So, what do you want?"

"Brockton Bay as my own personal playground, a trade relationship between multiple worlds."

"And in return?"

"Trade access to other worlds, help fighting the Endbringers. I've already handled the destruction of Scion as a down payment."

"We have confirmation that he's dead but… Suicide?"

She smelled like fear.

"You made the mistake of going for hard power instead of playing the player."

She looked at me.

"Very well. There will be some conditions and any indiscretions have to be hidden. Anything else?"

"Scarab is an agent of mine in the local Wards, she wants information about Damsel of Distress and the PRT agents who protect her. It would serve my interests if you could let a few corrupt agents act as fall guys and send Damsel to the birdcage."

I paused.

"If you want."

"I would also like her to be removed from the Wards after that, the local Protectorate is a responsible partner I can work with."

"I am glad you think that but why were you spying on them?"

"Truthfully? I wanted her to spy on the gangs but she has a personal vendetta, that kind of derailed my plans."

She wrote in her notes.

"I need more context for the trade network. What will it provide?"

"Access to multiple worlds and multiple economies. The United States would control all trade in and out of Earth Bet, which would greatly grow both the local and national economy."

I took a booklet.

"This is a collection of what goods and services entering the trade alliance gives, as well as a list of specific trade goods that are valued by each member. It's a rough world right now and having access to trade would help stabilize things."

She took the booklet.

"We will consider this and send trade representatives. If this checks out the city of Brockton Bay is yours to do with as you please, within reasonable constraints."

"Of course."

"You have been a useful partner, and we hope to work with you more in the future."

She got up.

"But if you try to expand operations outside of the city or if you try to have any 'fun' outside the city there will be consequences."

"I wish for trade to be an exception to that rule."

"If you're willing to have it monitored then sure, we trust but verify."

"Understandable."

The portal opened and she left. I cracked my neck then tapped a button, a second portal opened.

"Lord Zig."

"Z38. Or should I call you viscount Z38?"

"Viscount Zimmerman sounds better."

"Very well, I'll make a note of it for the Company."

He sat down.

"So, Zoe? Anything you want to know?"

"What does my promotion do for me?"

"Knight, lord, Baron these are titles of the lower nobility or lower management. You are now officially a part of middle management."

"What changes, in practical terms?"

"That comes with a significant amount of power and respect, but also keeps you out of the snake pit that is corporate politics at higher levels."

He looked at me.

"Corporate really wanted this issue handled, you have handled it. Now you have been rewarded, but your mission is not finished."

"The Endbringers?"

"Corporate wants more Eternity Engines, yes. We consider that to be your one singular job remaining. If you accomplish it then you will be given back your freedom. With your new rank you could live your life as you please, without further influence on you."

I frowned.

"The Company wants more than the active ones, doesn't it?"

"If you manage to kill all 19 remaining Endbringers, that would create a large number of Engines. We would reward you with a promotion to count, that being be the last available promotion you can get on this assignment. Anything more would require you to work with corporate far more than you already have."

"How much work?"

"You could probably pretty easily move up to marquis if you fully upgrade your trade network and play office politics but… I am going to be honest, Zoe. Once you get into upper management? It gets a lot more competitive, and a lot more dangerous."

"How bad is it?"

"People die, horribly. Middle management still has quite a lot of power and respect but far less danger. As your friend… just take the time to build up what you have, spend a few centuries doing that. The major leagues are full of very dangerous people and you can not match them."

I sighed.

"And if I just stayed a Count and did my own thing?"

"As long as you keep paying your tithes? You would be left in peace."

I closed my eyes.

"Thanks."

He got up.

"You're a success story, you know? This doesn't happen a lot, most of our agents die horribly and early. What you pulled off is worthy of respect, don't throw it away on glory."



Zoe


Zoe

To be perfectly honest Cauldron's interests and mine are compatible.

You wonder why I'm not airing out their dirty laundry and trying to fight the 'system'? It's because they help make Earth Bet a more stable place, and with Ziz dead and Scion dead… Well there's going to be an explosion of crippled Endbringers who will all be city killers. Even with the Company's memetic weapons, there is still a chance of broken triggers happening and that's all before you have supervillains and other fuckery.

Having a group around focused on stability is a good thing for me. Earth Bet also has, despite its problems, markets and products that other people want but none of that is relevant if society collapses. I want Earth Bet to be stable and I need help taking down the Endbringers, Cauldron wants the same thing.

I leave my portal and look at my clone as it vanishes and I receive the memories of the workday and hanging out with Greg. I sit down and pull out some tea and start brewing it. I hear a knock at the door and open it.

"Hey, Amy."

We kiss and head to the couch.

"I made some tea, want some?"

"What kind?"

"Jasmine."

"Yeah, I could use it."

I pour two cups and we sit down and look at the house next door.

"Long day at the office?"

"Yeah."

Amy leaned against me and I put an arm around her. She closed her eyes.

"It's nice being here."

"Things still um raw down there?"

She chuckled.

"Yeah… But it was worth it, so worth it."

She opened her eyes.

"Is she home?"

She looked at the house.

"No."

"I met her while she was doing hero work, you know? She's kind of shy, demure… A part of me just wants to corrupt her, ruin her… Remembering what she was, that urge is just stronger."

"That might be my fault."

"No, I think that's a part of me. My kinks, my sexual hang-ups… too much pressure for too long without a release valve."

She smiled as she collapsed into me.

"I never knew how much I needed a good fuck until I had one."

"Worried about complications?"

"No… the idea just gets me off, if I wasn't raw as fuck right now I'd go for another round."

I hugged her tighter.

"I could heal you."

"It's a good pain, a pain I earned."

She smiled and I kissed her neck. Amy giggled then sighed.

"So this might um sound um bad but when I heal up down there… I was thinking about asking Karen for um… a good time?"

I sighed.

"Well, we agreed to share the Harem."

"Ok, ok… Thanks."

She looked at the house.

"She will be ours."

I smiled at her.

"I know."



Zoe


Zoe

Hinata, I simply look at her and she blushes.

"Welcome back, I have um made dinner for you master."

"Thank you."

I sat down and she carefully arranged dinner then we nodded at each other and brought out chopsticks and started eating. The food was excellent, you wouldn't think the heir of a clan would be a good cook but Hinata was. She is demure, kind, beautiful… Yeah, I was starting to fall for her.

She smiled at me as she ate, and blushed. I had been taking things slow with Hinata, trying to earn her trust, but a gentleman is just a patient wolf and tonight I fully intended to feast.

"So, I think you would be a great mother."

Hinata blushed.

"Thank you."

She smiled and then smirked.

"Can you make me one?"

Hinata playfully winked at me.

"Dinner's done now so maybe um desert?"

We head to the shower, Hinata strips and I take a moment to admire her body. Large breasts, a tight ass, flat stomach, nice legs. Really Naruto is both a lucky man and a complete and utter dumbass. I press her to the wall and kiss her hard as the shower turns on, I massage her breasts and she wraps herself around me. She pants and makes a slight screeching sound as I enter inside her.

"Hurts?"

"I like it."

She bites my neck as we fuck in the shower and I lose track of time as we make love. When we're finished we lie on the ground of the shower, both of us panting.

"This was nice."

Hinata curls up to me.

"Fun?"

"Yeah, just nice."

"Best part?"

"The closeness… Being touched, being held. There was never enough hugs growing up. Never enough love."

She closed her eyes and passed out, I cleaned her up and took her to bed. We cuddled until she woke up.



Zoe


Zoe

Snoke smiles at me as he takes a deep drag from his bong.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"She died for the greater good, Rae was all about that… We all were, but we never asked if we were really serving it until it was too late."

He took another drag.

"I thought you would be um."

"I already mourned her passing, at least this time I got to say goodbye."

He looked at me.

"We have been in talks with your other representatives, the only people with the infrastructure to take in a significant amount of First Order refugees is the System Alliance."

"There are other worlds."

"And some people are willing to go there, Atlas for example is an attractive place for some of our engineers, and Earth Bet seems to be attractive to some of the knights of Ren."

He sighed.

"That said there have been purchase requests from Earth Bet and Atlas. City-wide forcefields are expensive even for us but… we are willing to trade them, those worlds do have resources we want."

He slides me a data slate.

"Food?"

"We don't have a lot of worlds that are capable of sustaining life so we have had to optimize and select for nutrition over taste. We manage but there isn't a lot of variety in our diets. Spices, sweets, candy, coffee are all basically luxury items… Really, food that isn't bland is the single greatest demand we have. It's likely that we would have sold those city-wide forcefields for a couple of tons of dingdongs, if the requests of Atlas and Bet were not just as blatantly desperate as ours."

"That's a lot of demand."

"You haven't ever had to live off of processed MREs and nutripacks for over 30 years, I see. It's not as bad as it used to be but still, for the average person? Even a can of SpaghettiOs would be a treat."

"I will forward it to the PRT."

"Any way you can arrange direct communication?"

"Oh sure but you understand that my business, by its nature, needs to take a cut."

"How much?"

"5%, everyone has to pay the same percentage."

He looked at me.

"That's… fair… I would have expected a higher toll."

"If I did that there would be less trade, volume is important too."

He chuckled.

"If there is more trade, you make more profit. I've seen that mentality before, I believe that I can work with you."

I nodded my head.

"Very well! Arrange a meeting, 5% is more than acceptable."

I walked off and made a call, arranging a meeting between Earth Bet representatives and First Order ones. I felt a sense of glee and almost giddiness as, after years of work, it was all coming together. An interdimensional trade network, with my holdings at the center. I mean, sure, I had to pay some of that to the company but this was going to make me a fabulous amount of wealth.



Costa Brown


Costa Brown

"7 tons of chocolate?"

"Yes."

"That's the price of this…"

"Citywide forcefield, yes."

"Well, let us do the test."

I held my breath as the old nuclear testing facility was covered in a globe of light.

"Artillery strike incoming."

I watched as the shields were pounded by tank shells, then bombs, then missiles. The attacks escalated, growing in intensity, and then I froze in expectation.

"The only step up is a nuke. Do we?"

We had hidden a couple of them, new ones. Just to keep them in case it would do anything to Scion.

"Use it."

The man nodded the button pressed and the feed went white as the cameras were annihilated.

"We're sending in new drones."

The screen turned on the ghost city was still there completely intact.

"Readings?"

"No radiation made its way through… No damage, period."

I clasped my hands behind my back.

"7 tons of chocolate?"

"They said they're also willing to accept sugar and other forms of candy… Apparently, Twinkies are popular on the other side too."

I looked at the intact city, studying it.

"They're also willing to sell us fusion plants. They've been insistent that it's not that hard."

"Yes, I feel dutifully insulted, but I also know that this can completely fix all of America's power problems. The world's power problems. So many things that felt impossible now are available, so many options expanded."

I smiled.

"I missed this."

"Miss what?"

"Hope. Contact what remains of NASA, tell them that we're going back and this time stronger and better."

"Can do… But there is a price for such things, isn't there?"

Z38 wanted a singular city as his own little playground.

"The price is acceptable."

His little minion wanted revenge? So be it. Hedonistic parties? Well, he couldn't be worse than actual nazis and Lung. Sad fact of the matter was: if he did do a purge of the other elements and took over the underworld the city would likely be better off. The man clearly preferred to have at least a veneer of respectability and, from what I saw, he wanted to make his money being a middle man who took a cut of the action rather than dealing drugs or having whore rings.

We could deal with that but the situation would have to be monitored. We were not going to be stupid but we also couldn't pass up this opportunity because that would be just as stupid.

"So latest offer?"

"Countries outside the United States can be granted trade access but they get charged a 10% fee on any transaction. He keeps his 5% while we get the other 5%."

He stared at the still intact city.

"This changes everything, doesn't it? I mean… I read the files but.."

"Billions of customers, lots of new products, lots of resources. Brockton Bay is going to be one of the richest cities in the world."

Sure it would come at the cost of a cape being for all intents and purposes untouchable but they had been living with Lung for years now. It was the same scenario, only Z38 provided a lot more in return. Most people would welcome risk versus reward, compared to the old days of risks without reward.



Taylor Hebert


Taylor

Clockblocker and I walked down the street.

"Interdimensional trade."

"Yeah."

"This is going to be big."

The announcements had been made, companies on the Earth Bet side of things were already negotiating with companies and countries on the other side. I looked up and saw trucks heading to the zone. I knew who was behind it, I could have been a part of that. I bit my lip as I watched the endless line of trucks, as I watched the city be reborn before my very eyes.

"Yeah, it is."

"Well, time to go back to base."

I walked with him and went to change back into my civilian outfit when I noticed something, the computer room was unguarded. This was my chance, I went inside and saw a computer, I sat down and looked inside the cabinet.

"Bingo."

The password to the computer, stuck there. I got inside and looked up Damsel of Distress, quickly finding information on the people who let her get away with murdering my mother, their names, where they worked, how they worked, I had everything. I felt myself smile, I didn't do that very often. I looked around, found a thumb drive, and downloaded all of it.

"Awesome."

I took it with me and my heart pounded. Hopefully I didn't get caught because if they figured it out I'd be in trouble, serious trouble. But this was what I was looking for, a chance to fix everything and to make the people in power accountable. All I had to do was wait, all I had to do was grab an opportunity and now I had it.

I went home and used the computer I bought to look up reporters, local ones. This scandal was going to hurt the PRT, this was going to bring justice to the world for mom. I had done it.

I looked at a photo of my mother.

"This is for you."

Whatever price I had to pay when this was over, it would be worth it.



Winter


Winter

I looked at the tiny little device.

"Oh… Shit."

I took a deep breath. A part of me was pleased, happy and content with the news, another part of me understood that this was inevitable, the third part was freaking out hard.

"I'm pregnant."

The death of the creature marked the end to our master's restraint. I remembered what had happened, being taken from behind.

"Say it?"

"No. Ungh"

"You're not going to be allowed to cum until you say it."

I remembered the pain, the lust…

"WINTER IS COMING!"

And the embarrassment. I sighed.

"Shit."

It's all fine and good to say that you would give up anything for your country. Intellectually I understood that I was in a good position: I was the official queen of a continent, I had servants, my own castle, a growing city, and the wealth from trade was quickly outpacing my father's company. This was still a major event.

"Shit."

Abortion was off the table as it was not only expected but litterally in the contract that I would have his children. I had to have this baby to further bind Zimmerman to our nation. My hand went over my stomach as I silently freaked out. I took a breath and got dressed.

I went to the portal room, the men looked at me.

"Home."

A portal opened and I looked at my estate.

"Queen Winter?"

"I need to talk to my mom."

"Of course, your highness."

The gates opened and I walked to my mother's office, it was mid afternoon and I heard the sound of snoring. Mother's hands grasped a bottle that was now empty.

"Mom."

Her eyes opened.

"Winter?"

I sat down.

"I need to talk with you."

She looked at me.

"About what?"

"My condition is something I feel uncomfortable talking about but I require your advice."

"He knocked you up then. Hmm, took him longer then I thought it would."

I blinked as my mother opened up another bottle.

"Cheers?"

I stared at her.

"Right, better not. Drank like a fish when I was having Weiss, swore I'd be a good little girl like I was when I was having you but, you know… habits."

She opened the bottle and took a swig.

"I need your advice."

She grimaced.

"Winter… Now that you're old enough, I have to tell you the truth. I am not exactly mother of the year material."

"Understatement."

She shrugged.

"That's fair."

"Why did you marry father anyways?"

"Hmm."

She sighed.

"Same reason I'm still with him, I'm a whore."

I blinked.

"What?"

"It was for the money. He had the money, I had the family name and legitimacy. In exchange for my 'comfort' I made him comfortable. You and I are not so different."

"Mother."

"We are both whores, dear. We sold our bodies for money, for power, for prestige."

I glared at her.

"What I did, I did for Atlas."

"What I did, I did for my family. Or to help people blah blah blah. I was full of justifications at first too, and then they get thin and you realize what you are and eventally you find peace with it."

She took a swig.

"Did he at least get you off?"

I folded my arms.

"He has abilities, and he has um forced my body to orgasm over and over again."

My mother blinked and stared at me.

"You lucky cunt!"

"Mother."

"Oh come on and get the stick out of your ass! I'm lucky to get one orgasm a year and you come bitching to me about getting multiple ones."

I grimaced.

"Eww."

"In vino veritas."

She took a swig.

"You have a good deal, Winter. A castle, money, power, land and the sex is actually enjoyable. You want my advice? Get rid of your dumb ass pride and accept your new role in life."

She got up.

"It's not a bad life… being a whore, I mean. At least you're taken care of, right?"

I looked at my mother's brokenness and sighed.

"Winter? I will have someone give you advice, someone who actually is a good parent. Ok?"

"Ok, mother."



Omake


Omake:

Overheard At A Pawn Shop in Brockton Bay

The bell above the door tinkled merrily as it opened.

"Hi, Bob, be right with you, " the man behind the counter said to him, then turned back to his current clients, three young men in cloaks and a floating black orb.

"I mean, yeah, it's nice but don't you have another Scout Droid?"

The man gestured to the robot with twenty seven arms dangling beneath a beetle like head hovering ten feet in the air, currently restocking inventory of throwing stars, katanas, naginata pole arms, tonfa, nunchuks, and etcetera on the two story tall wall labelled 'Ninja Crap'.

"Best stock boy I've ever had." The man muttered.

The apparent leader of the group attempted to negotiate harder .

"This is a relic of the revered Darth Maul," he said activating both ends of the energy sword at once.

Clearly not impressed, the man behind the counter said, "Oh yeah, the PRTs gonna confiscate that for sure. Can't you Renfair Kinights… "

"Knights of Ren."

" Whatever, can't you guys bring me something useful? Something non-lethal I can easily sell? "

The man gestured to the glass case with items labelled such as Equalist Shock Gauntlet, a varied array of Stunners, and a stick with a warning label: Dust Infused. DO NOT LICK.

"How about hard vacuum capable Encounter Suits…"

" Pass. The market is saturated now that more Quarians don't need them. "

One of the men brought out a boxy looking object and raised it to his face as if to demonstrate.

"And no more of those either! Don't know how you think a static filled screen is better than plain optic binoculars."

The man who had stayed silent until now showed off an odd shaped deck of cards, "Well, there's this game called Sabbac…"

" Ok, okay, fine. Maybe it'll be as hard to keep in stock as the Arendell knitwear has been since the skating rink opened two years ago. Games are always good sellers. "

The man behind the counter gestured to his assistant who placed three cardboard boxes of Doritos variety packs on the counter next to two tote bags full of fun size Halloween candy bars, another two filled with a variety of Pringles cans and a wheeled cooler full of packages of hot dogs, condiments and several bottles of hot sauce.

Their deal concluded, the man behind the counter asked, "So the 'Medical Droid'? What else can it do?"

" Enhanced interrogations, " one of the Knights of Ren answered without pause.

"Kinda figured."

The three left rolling the cooler behind them with the four snack food groups of sugar, salt, chocolate, and fat under their arms.

"When we get back to the Untrammeled Fury and the Executor we're going to be RICH! "



Ino


Ino

When one is young, one resents little boys grabbing and tugging on your ponytail.

"HARDER!"

I've grown out of it and I smile as my lover tugs hard, enjoying the sensation of pleasure and pain.

"Lick your mistress's cunt."

I put out my tongue and taste Amy as I am taken from behind, it's delightfully degrading. As some one who was put on a pedestal and had all these expectations put upon me it's kind of nice to be called naughty names.

"Prepare to get pregnant, whore."

I lifted my butt and let my cheeks clack as I took another load inside me, then the three of us fell down panting onto the bed. I hugged Amy and gave her a kiss.

"You did well today."

"Did I go too far? I mean, I said…"

"It's ok! A part of the reason why we did this was to give you more of a sense of control over your life. And how did you feel?"

"Um it was kind of nice to give orders like that but some times I um like giving up control?"

Hmm, a switch.

"We should work with you more and find out what works for you."

Amy was blushing.

"Another reason for this threesome is your very unhealthy atitude towards sex."

She blinked.

"What?"

"You have this tendency to see it as something that dirties a person, or somehow evil. It's a biological function. Our species litterally would not exist without it."

"I know."

"You know in your head but not in your heart. The only way I know to try to break that problem is exposure theraphy."

"So… lots of sex?"

"Hey I didn't say we couldn't have fun along the way, right?"

Amy nodded her head and I kissed her.

"You want me, and I want you. Ok?"

"Ok."

I nuzzled her and hugged her while Zoe hugged the other side.

"I um."

I kissed her neck.

"It's all going to be ok. You're amongst friends who love you."

Amy closed her eyes and fell asleep. I smiled, nuzzling into her. A lot of the people in our little harem needed help getting over their issues and I felt it was my responsibility to do that.



Grue


Grue

I looked at the trucks and then at Tats.

"Now."

I covered the ground with shadow and as the gates opened we went inside under cover of darkness, my darkness. We moved through the gates past security to the Special district, the part of town that was so ritzy it might as well been a god damned cracker. The security gate was the first step, it was always the first step. We moved silently, holding hands as we made it through the cameras and security. Once we got through we looked at the district.

Not a single piece of litter on the ground, no graffiti. It looked so wholesome and picturesque, like something on a postage card, only you would look up and you would see the glow of the recently installed forcefield. You would see ice monsters patrolling the streets, fucking ninja cosplayers jumping from rooftop to rooftop looking for trouble.

The district was like Disneyland only instead of rides they had a fucking army of capes just looking to beat the absolute shit out of anyone stupid enough to cause trouble. If I broke a window they would be on us like white on rice. If I tried to hit someone? Well, they did not play games. Thing is, in a town with people like Lung and the Empire, people liked that shit and they came here to relax, to feel safe.

"No violence."

I looked at Rachel, who sighed and nodded her head. We didn't bring the dogs on this one, wasn't safe to bring them. if you wanted to pull off a score in the district you did not start trouble. I looked at Tats, who nodded her head.

"Follow me."

We made our way silently, I put up darkness when ever Tats raised her hand. Turns out my shadows can beat whatever bullshit tinkertech this place uses. Then we stopped.

"Ok, we're in the jewelery section of the district."

"Hit the store?"

"God, no! The display has too much security, we would be swarmed. No, we are going to hit something else."

We went to the back of a jewelry store and Tats hit some buttons, a door opened.

"Darkness now."

I shrouded the area and we took hands as we crept inside, then I felt three taps on my hand and I let the darkness in front of us fade. She worked the next panel and a door opened.

"Hit the ceiling."

I did so and she went to a computer terminal, I felt my heart beat as she tapped in numbers and looked at me.

"Security is disabled, take out your sacks. You see those big tubs? They're filled with jewelry, take only the stuff on the top to the first line. After that switch to another tub."

"Why not take more?"

"They don't bother checking anything over the line, under the line gets a message to have a thinker look at it. We do not want these people on our asses."

I nodded my head and we filled our sacks full of jewelry until we reached our max. Then we carefully closed the tubs and went back home, all the while I felt terrified. When we got past the gates we got on the dogs and ran to the base. we got there, got inside, and spilled sacks full of silver, gold, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires onto the ground.

"Holy shit."

I looked at Tats.

"And they're not going to check this out?"

"This isn't from Earth Bet, none of it is. Slight radiation, someone discovered a earth that had a nuclear war. They raided the empty jewelry stores and are now reselling them, only because they got so much they're not that careful. After all this is essentially free money so, you know, they can afford to be a little sloppy."

She smiled.

"We're going to take a 90% loss on this but even then… we're going to be millionaires, people."

I liked the sound of that.



Zoe


Zoe

I walked around Hermione's small house.

The island was brimming with activity, farms had been set up and the trade network was in use to supplement the food supply. The UK was eating better than it had in years. I knocked on the door and Hermione opened it, at first smiling and then freezing.

"I've come to check up on your work."

"I um of course."

She pressed her school uniform down and welcomed me inside.

"How is your family doing?"

"They're doing alright, they live in another part of the island."

She led me to her lab as we were talking. It was full of books, magical items, and a host of other things. Hermione took me to a glowing blue cauldron.

"Its6 here."

"Is it finished?"

"Yes, it's finished."

Hermione fidgeted as I sat down.

"And what is finished? Because that can describe a great many things, Hermione."

She grimaced.

"The fertility potion."

I smiled.

"I um…."

"Hermione, this is good news."

She nodded her head.

"Um yes I guess it is."

I leaned back.

"How powerful is it?"

"It would only take a few sips to guarantee things, I've been able to afford really good ingredients."

I looked at her.

"It's not free, you know that."

I looked outside.

"This island, this house, the trade, the food, the money. It'ss not free, Hermione. It has never been free."

She sighed.

"I'm the price, aren't I?""

I shrugged.

"Yep. Mind and body and soul."

She nodded her head.

"Be a good girl and take off your clothing."

"Yes."

She took off her shoes, then her stockings. She folded them carefully on the ground, and then removed each article of clothing and folded them neatly on the ground.

"Bend over the cauldron."

She did so and stabilized herself. I took off my clothing and studied her body.

"Well here's the rules of the game: if you orgasm then you have to drink and I will cum inside you."

"I, um…"

"All you have to do is not cum… Simple, isn't it?"

She whimpered. I studied her perfect ass and slid my fingers in her sex.

"I can do this."

I kissed her neck gently.

"Stroke my cock."

Her hand went around it and started moving nervously and slowly. I used both hands and kissed her on the neck and shoulder, I gently nibbled on her ear.

"What kind of woman sells herself for a house, Hermione?"

"A whore…."

I licked her neck.

"A little mean, don't you think? But personally I think it's worth it."

Her body was shaking.

"Smart, petite, cute, nice ass, nice legs… I honestly do like you, you know?"

She was shaking.

"Really? Everyone back home thinks I'm a know-it-all."

"They don't have an appreciation for good conversation."

I licked her ear, she was quaking.

"I do."

I blew lightly in her ear and held her as her body quivered.

"Well it was a contest, wasn't it? And I won."

I pushed her head into the cauldron, her efforts had gotten me rock hard and I entered inside, I lifted her head and she moaned as I thrusted. When I came inside she screamed and then panted and would have collapsed. I caught her, held her for a bit, and then got up and looked at her. She looked calmer now, more relaxed.

"50 points to Gryffindor."



Zoe


Zoe

"I assume you know why I am here?"

2b nods her head, she's dressed only in black stockings and gloves.

"Yes, master."

I sit down in my chair.

"Then explain."

"You wish to create an heir."

I nodded my head, this wasn't just about pleasure. Though going to be honest fucking smoking hot women was hardly a chore. I mean sure in 9 months when the bill came due it would be hard but…

"Oh."

She smiled and turned around and moved her butt. I heard a light clapping sound.

"Um what are you doing?"

"I believe the term is clapping them cheeks."

"How are you doing that?"

"I have a really nice ass?"

She waggled her eyebrows. Well… when one has an invitation, why not enjoy the festivities? When I was finished I held 2B tight and she cuddled up next to me.

"I like this."

"Yeah, I'm pretty awesome in the sack."

"Not that… well, that too. But I like this being held, just… getting to be a person, I guess."

"And what else would you be?"

"A weapon… I've spent so much time fighting that just being able to stop, just being able to do something other than fighting and hurting, is good."

I gave her a hug.

"It's ok, you're a good girl."

She looked at me.

"Do you think it worked?"

"Well I'm definitely willing to try again later."

"I really want this to work."

This wasn't about sex anymore.

"Why?"

"I've spent so much time destroying that I just want to create something for a change. I want to create life instead of taking it. I want to hold something, someone, and be able to say: I made that."

She looked at me.

"Thank you for giving me the gift of motherhood."

She kissed me on the forehead and then nuzzled against my chest and fell asleep. It wasn't a dignified sleep, she snored and kind of sprawled out like a limp ragdoll… but for some reason I felt protective of her and held her tight as she rested.



Costa brown


Costa Brown

I looked at the results and then up at the other PRT directors.

"As you all know a new Endbringer has appeared."

I showed a image of a monster covered in electricity.

"He's been codenamed raiden, yesterday he attacked the city of New Orleans."

I flicked to an image of an Endbringer attacking a glowing dome.

"The suburbs of the city were wrecked, but everything inside the forcefield was untouched."

The room was dead quiet.

"Where did we get this?"

"From our contacts on the other side. It's expensive but as you can see it's effective."

There were nods.

"Economic impact so far?"

"Local economy of Brockton Bay has exploded, there have been percentage improvements on the state economy."

"Local gang activity?"

"Security there is tight but both the ABB and Empire are smuggling drugs and other contraband onto the other side. It's likely that they will begen smuggling other things and there are rumors that the Elite and other gangs are thinking about getting involved."

"Monitor the situation. Have the thinkers done a cost analysis?"

He nodded his head.

"Even with gangs involved in smuggling illicit goods the district is still a net benefit to both the city and state, maybe even the country. I mean… this is more or less exclusive trade rights with other worlds, you can't have something like that and not profit from it."

He looked up.

"We have also contacted Atlas and Konoha, they have means of creating capes and these means could prove to be an utter godsend."

"Chakra and Aura, I have read the debriefings."

I thought about it.

"Have someone come in and give demonstrations. If this is legit then this is another tool for us to use."

I smiled.

"People, things are turning around. Believe me, after so many years of things being a constant downward spiral, we need that."

I paused.

"Also I want the Nine dead and you all know which Nine I'm talking about. We have the resources for it now and I don't want any of them alive any longer."

Their purpose, whatever it was, was served. Scion was dead and Ziz was dead, I refused to have those animals around mucking things up anymore.



ABB member


Charlie Kim- ABB

Breath in, breath out.

"No guns, no weapons of any kind, do not wear anything that even fucking looks like colors. Got it?"

"Yeah, got it."

He looked at me.

"Look this is an important opt, got it? Go to the other side and hand over the drugs to the contact in Atlas. Do not start any fights, got it? Because the security in the zone is utterly insane."

I nodded my head.

"I am not kidding, Charlie! They have ice monsters, robots and fucking ninjas and god knows what else. Do not start any shit. This is business, got it?"

"Crystal."

I looked at the outfit I was to wear: a cross, high shoes, a suit. I was going in wearing cocaine and sealed opium. Because drugs was businesss, after moving the stuff I was to get the local currency and transfer it to another ABB member who would handle purchases.

"All right, get into the van."

I and six other members did so, we drove slowly and the driver turned off the radio.

"This is a simple operation, you go through the portal, your shoes and cross all have hidden compartments that hide drugs. You are to walk through security and not cause any trouble. You will pay the fee to go to the other side, you will receive a day pass, you will walk to the contact and they will take you to a room. You will remove your shoes and cross and the leader will be paid. You will then put on new shoes and walk back home."

He got on the street and I saw the walls in the distance.

"The zone is neutral territory! You see any other banger, Merchant or Empire, you leave them be cause they have no choice but to leave you be. Do not be stupid, do not start shit… Got it?"

We nodded our heads.

I took deep breaths, I felt sweaty and uncomfortable as we entered the walls and the van was parked. We paid our parking fee and walked to the line. There we waited, it was a long line. I frowned as I saw a skinhead in the line next to me, my hands clenched.

"Neutral ground."

I blinked at his words and sighed.

"Yeah."

I had beef but I knew the score. I looked at the snow monsters that were everywhere and the capes hopping from roof to roof, I took deep breaths. When we got there I walked through a metal detector and we got to a room with a portal, we walked through and I felt cold. A kind of bone cold and my little group walked outside and I saw a broken moon in the sky. I felt a sense of awe. we did it, we were on another world.

"Eyes on the prize."

We walked into a bad neighborhood and a man with snake eyes looked at us.

"ABB?"

"White Fang?"

He nodded his head.

"We have the money."

We went into a shoe store, into its back room. Our old shoes were removed and we were given new ones that looked much like the old, we also handed over our crosses. The leader was handed a box, he opened it and counted plastic cards.

"We're good."

With that done we left with the box to a nearby food court. One of our girls picked up the box and we went home. Simple job, only took a couple hours in all. Honestly if it went like this everytime then I'd much rather do this than sling rock under a highway pass.



Arthur Watts


Arthur Watts

Outside context problems are things that destroy people, they're the black swan events that take order and disrupt it utterly.

"How bad is the news?"

Salem looked at me with her black eyes.

"On what scale?"

"1 being minor, 10 being an utter disaster."

"Oh, then it's simple! this a 10."

She looked at me.

"Details, Arthur. Details."

"Atlas now has access to an entire continent without Grimm, one where they can grow food unmolested. No, we do not have the ability to place nearly enough Grimm to change that calculus. That's before you get into the fact that they have access to trade with other worlds."

"And you confirmed this."

"Yes, I have the data files. It's not just trade, it's new technology… technology that is not reliant on dust."

"The Schnee dust company must be furious."

"Not when entire worlds of customers have opened up, any losses at home are more than made up with exports to other worlds, other universes."

I looked at her.

"They have made contact with actual aliens, Salem."

"Why didn't you prevent this?"

"Because this is a black swan event, you don't expect an enemy to rip open a hole to another earth and start trading with aliens. It's not something that you can expect or plan for."

She looked at me.

"What is the current damage to our plans?"

"They have already successfully placed communications satellites into the sky, after that will be the spy satellites and then they will put in the infrastructure for orbital bombardments. These new forcefields are in places in the capital and I don't know if we can beat them. New weapons, new everything, are being developed as their engineers and scientists work with the engineers and scientists from those other worlds. Each node of the network is making the others stronger."

I sighed.

"It gets worse. Apparently, there is this thing called chakra that provides even more powers on top of aura."

"How bad?"

"It doesn't have the defensive capabilities of Aura, but it makes people faster, stronger, and has elemental powers and abilities. It seems to be additive, not multiplicative, but it will still make their hunters far more effective. Once you add their technical progress… operations in Atlas will become much harder."

I paused.

"It is only a matter of time until this technology spreads to the other kingdoms. From there you will see growth of the enemy's power base."

"Which options have you explored?"

"We must conduct an all-out attack with every resource while we still have time. That or we make peace and find an accommodation."

She nodded her head.

"Let's avoid anything that drastic for now and just observe."

"Very well."



Taylor Hebert


Taylor Hebert

I sent the email to a reporter, it wasn't easy finding one but I did.

It took time but the scandal hit the news, people were fired and then I was taken to Armsmaster's office.

"Do you know why you're here?"

"No…"

"You went into a room took confidential files and leaked them to the press."

"They were letting her hurt people."

He gave me a look of sympathy.

"If it helps I think you're right, those PRT agents crossed a clear line and Damsel should have been sent to the birdcage years ago. unofficially I think you're a hero."

I felt slightly better.

"Officially though you broke the rules, very serious ones."

I looked at him.

"So what?"

"I'm afraid I have to let you go."

"You're kicking me off the Wards?"

"Yes. I didn't want to do it but the other choice was sending you to handle a containment zone and you're a good kid, you don't deserve that."

I sighed.

"So now what?"

"When you become an adult, and tempers have cooled, then I can probably get you into the PRT."

I nodded my head and walked outside, it was raining and when I got home my dad was waiting for me.

"I heard what happened."

"I couldn't let her get away with it."

My dad looked at me.

"I know… If I was in your shoes, I would have done the same thing. Armsmaster says he's going to cover for us, best he can."

He looked at me.

"You're out of the wards though."

"Yeah."

He looked at me.

"Was it worth it?"

"Yeah, it was."

He tilted his head toward the kitchen. "there is some pasta. It's still hot if you want it."

I thanked him and we ate in silence. I went to bed and then felt heat, I felt sweaty and I struggled in my PJs. I got up and felt called to next door, I knocked and the door opened. Zoe looked at me expectantly and I closed the door.

"Congratulations on your revenge."

I stared at him and then noticed my underwear was completely wet, my body was ready for this.

"That… um, I didn't kill her."

"Really? You got the people who were protecting her, and you got her sent to the birdcage."

He clapped, my heart beat in my chest.

"I didn't get revenge, that's justice."

"Really? You stole PRT files, you leaked them to the press, you removed her protection and you got her sent to the birdcage. Sounds like a pretty good revenge to me."

God, I was so wet.

"She's still alive."

"How long do you think that's going to last? She has poor impulse control, runs her mouth and is honestly kind of a bitch. Even if she does live… What kind of life is that, Taylor?"

I was sweating.

"So what do you want?"

"Well, obviously, I am going to have sex with you and I am going to make you into my own personal sex slave. You would vanish from this world, another runaway, and I would force you to have my babies one after another, and raise them. No superheroism, no greatness. Just a life as a wife and mother."

I was panting.

"I have to do something, be important."

"Why?"

"Because that's what mom would have wanted."

I was so horny right now.

"What your mom wants is kind of irrelevant."

He looked at me.

"Get on your knees, Taylor."

I knelt down and he got off the couch. He walked up to me and caressed my face.

"You have potential, you know? Nice legs, nice hair, the glasses are a nice touch."

I leaned into this touch.

"I…"

"I what? You did this to yourself, you know, every step of the way. It's time for you to pay the price."

"I'm not pretty."

I felt warmth in my face.

"I disagree."

"Does it have to be me?"

He was smirking.

"What are you thinking?"

"If I can find someone else to take my place, would you let me go?"

"Really?"

He looked disapointed.

"Hmm… No. I have all of the leverage and you have nothing to offer that isn't already mine by right of contract."

"My friend Emma is a model."

He raised an eyebrow.

"You're worth more than her."

"But you could have two holes to use instead of one."

"Hmm….a bargain? But how do I know that you will keep your word?"

"I swear upon my mother's grave."

"Lets make that literal."

A sword popped out of his hand and he slashed a portal, he grabbed my hand and took us to a cemetery. His hand glowed.

"Give your oath."

"I swear to find a willing replacement."

"Of equal or greater value."

"Of equal or greater value to myself. If I fail then I will become your willing slave and will have my best friend Emma join me."

I felt the rush of magic and he smiled.

"You have 3 full moons. Tick Tock."

He kissed me and slashed again and now I was outside my house. I went back inside and got into my bed. I am ashamed to say it but I masturbated to the thought of losing, of him taking me and filling me with his seed for the rest of my life.



Ino


Ino

Zoe looked at me and removed the leather restraints.

"They didn't hurt?"

I shrugged.

"I still think you're being too gentle. I'm a ninja, a little spanking isn't going to break me."

"You're pregnant."

"And that doesn't mean I'm suddenly made out of glass, I hope you were not this overprotective with Karen."

He looked away, I laughed.

"She's tougher than you."

"So Taylor offered her friend to me… How much do you have to do with that?"

"I may have implanted a few suggestions, with genjutsu."

He sighed.

"You really should have consulted me."

"Does it make you hot?"

"Of course it does, but my web of relationships are complicated as is."

He looked at me.

"I trust you have ulterior motives?"

"I want to test out the warlock feature of our queenly powers in a control subject. We can have Emma as that control subject."

"You think she would agree to it?"

He crossed his arms.

"Emma's sense of safety was destroyed in that alley, she has further latched onto Taylor as a coping mechanism. She's incredibly emotionally fragile and is looking for safety and power. She also has bi-sexual tendencies and growing feelings for Taylor. Taylor knows this and feels discomfort and a slight sense of Taboo arousal."

He uncrossed his arms.

"Taylor also feels a slight resentment of Emma because she's prettier than her and Emma feels similarly because Taylor has powers and she doesn't."

"And what would have happened if you hadn't meddled?"

"Oh, the two of you would have fucked."

"Will Emma go for this?"

"Right now, for power? I think she would be willing to do anything."

He undid my leg straps.

"So the plan with Emma?"

"Hmm a one-time goodbye threesome before I steal Taylor away, then Emma can go free."

"You don't think she will pull it off?"

He smirked.

"I don't think she wants to win this one."



Zoe


Zoe

Today, in another universe and another time, Taylor Hebert would have triggered in a soiled locker, betrayed by her best friend. This would have taken her on a path, a painful one, that would have made her great. She would have suffered, yes, but that suffering would have made her stronger and tougher. She would have saved the world.

That isn't going to happen.

The ground shakes and I feel the heat, I cover myself with ever-evolving armor made out of wood and rush towards the fight.

"Raven, how's it going?"

"I'm working on weakening his meta-defenses."

I raced forward, anti-fire and radiation enchantments on my armor, and Jumped on his back.

"Defenses cracked."

I slammed my fist and spread seeds along his back, plants grew and I felt a need to feed. Something clicked and I started draining his powers, started burrowing and getting closer to his core. Everything else lost meaning and then I got there and bit down. I felt a rush of power as I ripped the core from him, teleporting it to the same place Ziz died, and felt more power. I blinked as I stood back up, now back in my place of power.

"Heba?"

The circle was glowing.

"You feel it, don't you?"

I blinked at her statement.

"More will come, you know? Each fight will get easier because you will take just a little bit of their true power for yourself."

She looked at me.

"How much do you remember?"

"Not much but… bits and pieces."

"The company has sent 70 more points."

I got up.

"Continue the plan."

I stretched.

"Build Hermione, and Tali, a castle. They have been good girls and it will allow them to have more active portals."

She nodded her head.

"Zoe?"

I looked at her.

"Take it one day at a time."



Zoe


Zoe

It kind of bothers me that I forgot so much of the fight, that I lost myself that much.

Was it fast, was it slow? So much was lost in the heat of the moment. I winced as I walked, I felt a sense of sensory overload.

"You changed."

"What do you mean?"

"You gained a sphere in matter, welcome to apprentice level."

"I haven't spent any mana."

Heba helped me remain steady.

"You have a connection to Earth, in your very soul. You just pushed through another level."

I walked to a portal, got to my office, and I sat down. Heba looked at me.

"Do you remember much?"

"Not much."

"That's normal."

She sat down on a chair.

"You're not human."

"I've heard that."

"But it hasn't sunk in yet, am I right? You're a child of the Dark Mother and, as you gain more power, you're going to become less human. In some ways at least."

I cracked my neck.

"You're an Outsider."

I took it in.

"And Outsiders play by Outsider rules."

I had a realization.

"I'm not going to be able to stay on Earth Bet. Nor any Earth."

Heba blinked.

"Yes? I mean… Once an Outsider reaches a certain level of power their ties to the far realms get stronger. There are beings of power like Cthulhu who, through great effort, resist the urge to go back. Your realm is your place of power and you will become more and more tied with it as you become more powerful."

I closed my eyes.

"So be it."

And opened them.

"Will I be able to visit other worlds?"

"Of course! Beings like you do it all the time, you just can't stay."

I smiled.

"Then it's not so bad. The difference between a home and a prison is the ability to leave after all."



Wrex


Wrex

Things are changing.

Some of these changes are limited, some of them aren't.

For example… The Quarian fleet has cut their purchase of Eezo and there is no way that happens without you finding your own source. That has the Assari interested.

Why?

They're the biggest suppliers of Eezo and the Quarians buy a lot of their stuff. Like I said that means they have a mining operation ongoing, one that clearly hit big, and the Asari like to have control over as much of the Eezo market as possible. Second they're selling this stuff called Dust, in limited amounts.

It's shown a lot of promise, especially since some human figured out you can inject gravity dust and Eezo into someone and boom: instant biotic. Try that without the Dust? Best case that only fails, much more likely it makes you sick or kills you. Around the same time the Quarians have reduced their purchases of crap Turian nutrient packs, which has the Turians interested because they hog dextro worlds and they firmly believe that Quarians do not deserve nice things.

But it's the tech that seals the deal. Better handheld energy weapons? These blasters are mature tech, they're tough, hardy, hold a lot of firepower and shoot superheated energy bolts at people. They come with both stun and lethal, perfect for on-ship fighting. And it's not just blasters. The fleet's shields have improved drastically.

Take all that and it's not hard to deduce that they've found a new world, a world with unknown alien tech and resources, a world able to raise dextro crops. That's not something the council wants in Quarian hands, that's something that everyone wants for themselves. That means the Quarians need bodyguards, and I am one of the best in the industry.

Chachunk!

That's the sound of a shotgun, mass effect rounds, I bring out my blaster and start firing. The gun is not as effective against armor but it goes through shields like a knife through butter. My client has made a sale and it's my job to get him back onto the ship in one piece. There are numerous factions and groups that might have ordered this hit, I can't possibly know which one it is this time without more clues.

And damned if I don't love it! Violence and puzzles, being able to think and fight? Now that's a challenge worthy of me. I move over and collect an Omni tool, I smash it because someone's erasing it remotely.

"Covert opt, uh?"

Gangs wouldn't bother with this… Batarians were hired but this isn't one of their opts. Batarians would give their men better weapons. I continue firing.

"Please."

"You paid good credits, kid. You're getting out of this alive."

And I will get him out of this alive! Because if the Quarians found a world with advanced tech… They might have a cure. If I want my people to live, truly live, this might be my only hope. Get in good with them and then arrange a favor later. That might sound long-term but my people live for centuries if we don't get ourselves killed.

I got time.



Korra


Korra

I sat down and held my son in my arms, a door opened as I looked at him.

"Zoe."

"Korra, good to see you."

Our son yawned and went to sleep, I called a robot to take him to his crib while Zoe observed me.

"You want to talk?"

"Yeah."

I nodded my head.

"I thought I was kind of um persona non Gratta right now."

"You're still the mother of my children."

"I noticed you said children plural."

He nodded his head and sat down, I sat down next to him.

"So… I'm becoming less human."

"And?"

"And I think, as Avatar, you have more experience in this stuff. In losing yourself to becoming something else."

I frowned.

"As Avatar I am human, or was human, but also spirit."

He looked at me.

"Look… a part of you is still human, even with the changes, so you can focus on that."

"I have senses other people don't have, abilities and-"

"And so do I, so do a lot of benders. Maybe human is more of a spectrum or something."

I leaned against him and he hugged me.

"You killed another one."

He looked at me.

"Yeah. I guess everyone's heard about that?"

"No, I felt it. When you killed that thing some of its power flowed into the planet. I felt just a tiny spark, a lot like the Avatar spirit."

"So you have the Avatar state back?"

"No, it's something else but… It's kind of like it."

I looked at him.

"It's not just you, you know? I think we're all changing, all getting more powerful."

"And what are we becoming?"

"I don't know. Human but more is my guess."

He shrugged.

"Look, this is all hurting my head. Want to go for a swim?"

"Sure."

I took his hand and we headed to the small pool he had built for me. Physical activity seemed to work better for me than overthinking things.



Wrex


Wrex

I got the client out alive, because I'm that good and they were that bad.

I was on another job, an important one. It involved the humans, something high up, I didn't hear anything but I was told that someone important wanted to talk to me. I got a trip on a live ship, was locked up in a suit like the Quarians, and then a portal opened and I was outside a castle. Good trick, that one. Men and women in human suits were armed and motioned for me to follow them.

I did and found this human, a boy really. He was sitting, looking down at something, and I felt his power. I could almost taste it and that part in the back of my brain was screaming in fear.

You see there is a secret, a thing we Krogan don't like talking about. We are a prey species. A lot of our posturing is because deep down? We know and understand that we are prey surrounded by predators. Two eyes in the front of your head? That puts us on edge, slightly of course but that says threat.

This was a million times worse than that, it was a suffocating presence and every bit of me was screaming to run for my life. He looked at me and I felt terror.

"You're not human."

"Define human."

I felt cold, every part of me was shouting to submit.

"What do you want?"

"Where do you think you are?"

"Another world?"

"Another universe."

I paused. Anyone else, anywhere else, I would have laughed in his face but…

"There are an unlimited number of them and my business connects them for a nominal fee. There's a slight problem though."

"What?"

"The army of killer robots… You see there are things called Reapers in your home universe and they murder all sentient life in the galaxy every now and then. I do business with your universe now so that is unacceptable to me."

I felt even colder.

"What do you want?"

"There is someone named Jane Shepard in your home universe, she will prove key in fighting the Reapers. You are to aid and protect her."

He paused.

"This isn't free, of course. Your services require payment."

Flowers grew around his throne.

"These flowers possess the ability to suppress your little fertility problem. Each one works for an entire year once ingested. Feel free to take all of them, test it out and make sure what I am telling you is legit. Then contact us and tell us if you're ready to take the mission."

I stared at the flowers.

"So… that's it? What's to stop me from just taking them and leaving."

"It only works for a year."

"First hits free."

I looked at the flowers.

"You want something else."

"I'm a merchant. I like credits, I like trade goods, I like coins and I like money. I like bartered services and engineers and a host of other things. A thriving Krogan race sounds like a damned fine customer base."

I shivered and thought about it.

"Test it out. Take them, with my blessing."

I did exactly that and went back home, tested it out…

And now I'm thinking about the job and I realize… I might not have a choice.



Taylor Hebert


Taylor

Another Endbringer died, Behemoth. There are a lot of celebrations and even more parties.

There's a sense of hope now. Yes, more Endbringers are coming and that's scary but it's almost like a spell has been broken. There is however a price for all of that and it's been a month of failure. Which brings me here.

"I see you brought Emma, good."

I felt cold and shivery, Emma clung close to me.

"Where are we?"

My mouth went dry.

"Taylor here made a deal for power and revenge. I gave her both, in return she promised me everything."

Emma looked at me.

"Taylor?"

"I needed the power, needed to make sure that Damsel didn't get away with killing my mom."

Emma looked at me with sympathy.

"Taylor, how bad is this?"

He leaned back.

"Pretty bad, my powers let me create contracts that can't be broken but Taylor asked for a way out and it involves you."

I grimaced.

"What did Taylor promise?"

"A deal, If Taylor could find someone of equal value to willingly replace her in three months I agreed to let her go. If she fails I get both her and you."

"I wasn't thinking."

Emma took a deep breath.

"Tay… This is bad."

He smirked.

"But is it? She would get this castle, she would get money and servants and power. All she has to do is be my woman, everything here would belong to her and this place is safe."

Emma froze at the word.

"Safe?"

"Villans cant reach this place. It's not on Earth Bet, no gangs, no supervillains, no Endbringers. Safety."

Emma was listening in rapt attention, I knew the ABB attack had messed with her.

"Safe."

She took a deep breath.

"You can't just offer people up like that, Taylor. It's wrong but you're my friend and I know you weren't thinking."

"She didn't think but still some compensation, I'm willing to offer you powers too, Emma."

I grimaced.

"Really?"

"Oh yes, Emma. If you two pull it off you both walk away with powers, if you do not then you belong to me."

Emma bit her lip.

"What kind of power?"

Zoe smiled at me and I watched with guilt as he easily talked her into a contract. This was my fault. When it was finished he took me aside.

"Don't forget you made this happen, Taylor."

I shivered as he patted my head, I knew I had to try harder now.



Emma Barnes


Emma

I just want to be safe.

"Eldritch blast!"

I watch as the can falls over, like I said I just want to be safe.

I am tired of living in a town with super nazis, super villains of any kind. I am tired of going to a school with metal detectors, I am tired of hearing about mass murders on the news happening every fucking day. I just want to be safe, to feel safe again, because I know for a fact that pretty girls like me can end up living on a farm and raped every day. Or maybe it's just their term for it, I know that I can be attacked at every moment.

I am tired of being scared, and this Z38 does not scare me.

What? Do you think he would? Honestly! I know that tone of voice, and posture, between him and Taylor. This is in many ways just a fucked up sex game between them. Unlike Taylor I went out and asked for some documents to find out exactly what was in store for her and, honestly… It's a pretty good deal.

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

A portal opens and we walk through it and then through another one, to another world. This is the power that is open to us if we lose. The ability to visit new worlds, if we feel like it. Our own castle, our own minions and guards. Safety. Power. And she wants to leave all of this behind because she's scared of what her mom might think?

We walk into a back room and wait for some girl named Zatana to show up, she does and Taylor explains things. She tries to get her to sign up, to replace her, and fails. She walks off, dejected, and I walk with her. Another portal and we are in France, Taylor doesn't speak french but I do.

Some half-asian girl looks at us and then I make my decision. I sabotage things, tell her the truth in the most ugly way, and of course she says no. I hug Taylor as we walk off, her dejected with another failure and me having made my decision.

I want to be safe again.



Comander white


Comander white

2B smiled as her master ran her fingers through her hair.

"So how is it going?"

She smiled.

"I am pregnant."

I couldn't help but smile back.

"That is excellent, I was worried that function had become corrupted with time."

She sighed.

"Nope. It's still early but… sometimes I feel it move inside me."

Ah to be in a relationship, to have a master, to carry a young one. Lucky girl!

"That's a good sign. I hope you will be careful? You understand that it is an honor to carry life inside you, right?"

She nodded her head, good.

"That is well. Then I am here to tell you that you are now officially retired, 2B."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Your fighting days are over, you have a master to serve after all."

She closed her eyes.

"Good, I just… I got so tired, so tired of fighting."

She collapsed and started snoring as her master continued to run his fingers through her hair.

"Is that normal?"

He shrugged.

"She sleeps better when I'm around."

"I suppose it's only natural."

He looked at me.

"How are things going with the other androids?"

"Popo is getting married soon, her pregnancy functioned worked and her owner wishes to help raise the child."

"the others?"

"We are still screening partners. While in an ideal world each girl and boy we have would have a master to call their own I do admit that some humans can not handle the responsibility that goes along with that title."

"I understand, sometimes I wonder if I'm worthy of the title."

I raised an eyebrow.

"I think you are."

I leaned back.

"There are a lot of good men on this world and other ones. People that are not loved and have no one to care about them but we have to find ones that can handle being loved and won't abuse such trust."

"That must be hard."

"Not really. From what we can tell there is a huge segment of men who just want to be loved and would make great masters, great husbands and fathers. They're not rich men, and not attractive by many standards, but they are good men."

I got up.

"Please take care of her, Z38. 2B has seen entirely too much suffering, she deserves just a little happiness in her life."

He nodded his head and I left, going home. With new weapons and abilities we were now focused on cleaning things up, on finishing the threat. A portal opened and a girl smiled.

"Hello, My name is Penny! I want to learn how to be a um robot?"

She was here early.



Zoe


Zoe

Two endbringers, Tohu and Bohu.

Yeah this is a shit situation and no I can't prepare for this one. What I can do is fire a sniper rifle.

You think this will kill them? Hell no. I mean even with memetic weapons nerfing the fuck to them this does jack and shit. And yet, to outside observers, the two of them vanish and I teleport to my world, to the empty plains of a continent. The two of them scream as I focused on my hands and willed the earth to move.

I touch the world's mana, the energy of the entire planet, and will arrays into being as the monsters lay waste to the mud and dirt around them. Then I whisper words of madness in the tongue of the old ones and hands rise and grab them. They're good but I am draining them, taking their power and their essence into the world with each moment,

mouths, hands, and tentacles form, all hungry, all-devouring. The ground itself is hungry, this is the primal wild that beats inside of my heart, inside my soul. They scream as a multitude of creatures, unnatural monsters, rise from earth and water to devour them. With their power they destroy so much, but that power is absorbed and used to create more havoc, more destruction.

I feel all-consuming hunger and alien thoughts reach across my mind. I scream and the world follows my command. Nature, earth, and water in my place of power, striking over and over, tearing and eating until the creature with the three faces is vulnerable. A crow with three eyes flies in as its core is briefly exposed by the ever swarming attacks from all sides.

It cracks and I feast upon it. I feel more power and more madness, the other looks horrified and tries to run but plants trip it up. Forests rise and the feast continues as I crack it apart and feast upon its core, upon its soul. Everything goes red as I scream in victory and continue heaping damage upon their corpses, attacking and attacking.

I feel a hug.

"You have Victory."

The haze of power madness fades a bit.

"Karen?"

"Yes, it is me."

The drug-like power fades and I feel so tired.

"Did I win?"

"Yeah. You did."

I collapse to my knees, so much power used up, and collapse on the ground. The darkness takes me as I feel arms raise me up. There are still more, the battle isn't over, but I think… a city of people were saved. Maybe, when I recover from this, I will be able to comprehend what I am becoming.



Zoe


Zoe

I wince as I open my eyes.

I see a world around me with cracks, I feel reverberations of minds all talking in a mass that is too loud and I feel arms around me.

"Welcome back."

Amy is hugging me.

"Amy."

She turns me around and kisses me, she does that for a while and the world seems more steady.

"Did we pull it off?"

"Yeah we did, 16 more."

She looks at me with love in her eyes and kisses me again.

"Ready for a go?"

She smiles at me.

"Everything seems kind of off."

Amy nods her head, I get up and use prestidigitation to clean myself then Amy holds my hand as I stumble. into my office. I sit down and then feel cold. I felt weaker, felt anxious and vulnerable. Amy gripped my hand.

"Amy?"

"Heba talked to me about it… Every time you use that place to kill an Endbringer some of its power goes into the world but you're connected to it. As the world gains in power, you gain in power. You are that place and that place is you."

I grimaced.

"You're an outsider, Zoe… I never really got that or understood that until now."

"Still want to stick around?"

I smiled at her.

"Whatever the price, the worst possible outcome was undone. With each Endbringer destroyed the world becomes safer. Millions of lives are at stake."

She held my hand.

"Whatever happens… We do this together, ok?"

"Ok."

I looked at her.

"I think I'm starting to show."

"Does Carol know?"

"I think she suspects."

"You want to continue going to school?"

"I don't see a reason why not."

"You're pregnant. The scandal-"

Amy laughed.

"What?"

"People will understand, there are at least 30 girls who are pregnant at my school. Every time an Endbringer dies people fuck like bunnies."

"Oh… So, college?"

"I already have my RN and, let's face it, I'm kind of tired of doing the healing thing. I think I will try the mom thing for a while, then try the queen thing."

She looked at me.

"I'm glad this happened."

She kissed my forehead.

"Keep yourself safe, ok?"

"I am an eldritch abomination."

"Yes but you're my eldritch abomination."

She paused.

"By the way have you figured out how to make tentacles?"

I froze.

"What?"

"Well, if I'm going to be the eternal sex slave of an eldritch abomination… I might as well enjoy the perks."

I winced and tentacles exited my back, Amy smiled.

"Nice… Ok! Next time we're going to put those to use."



Lord Zig


Lord Zig

I looked at Acquisition's notes, Heba was calm as she finished her explanation of their budget.

"So this upgrades everyone to a castle."

"Not you though?"

"I want a more humble and quiet place to raise my children."

I respected that, a true queen had a lot of expected duties and none of them were quite ready for that.

"I'll approve that and push it on the fast track. What do you want to do with the remaining points?"

"How many hot springs can we afford with our remaining budget?"

"Six."

"That would bring us up to eight in total."

"And increase the power of the portal system, and give each castle the ability to have water to mass-produce healing potions."

I thought about it.

"That's a good thing. No risk of overproduction, the demand for healing potions is always too high."

"What would another Endbringer bring?"

"If we focus on building up what you have?"

"Yes."

"Another three. Of course, this would all be in order and each queen would have her rights."

Heba nodded.

"So what do you want, after you finish this round of purchases?"

"The city augmentation would greatly increase portal capabilities, teleportation rooms for the 12 queens… and royal stamps, of course. Getting everything ready so that my master can be a proper count is important."

I nodded my head.

"He is getting there."

"Why don't you think he's ready for upper management?"

I looked at her.

"Upper management is more than personal power, Heba. It's political power, it's economic power, it's having your own personal army navy and military. It's skill, learned skill over raw power. It takes generations to learn those kinds of skills."

I paused.

"Z38 looks like he's going to go into a hedonistic semi-retirement."

"I can push him further."

"Don't."

She blinked.

"What?"

"Z38… By the time this is over he will have earned his hedonistic semi-vacation, Heba. He's been through a lot, a lot more than you have. Fire tempers swords, yes, but too much will make them brittle and will make them break. He deserves a rest and needs one. A couple of centuries of recovery and finding his place is normal. Give him some time to party, do the dad thing, and let him ease into it."

I stared at her.

"Do not push him, Heba. He's pushing too far too hard as it is, let him rest."

"The company-"

"The company is going to get an increase in healing potions and a cut of his growing trade network. Z38 is doing his part but a person only does active duty for so long. The next person in line will take care of the grunt work or die."

I patted her on the head.

"Let the man have his happy ending."

I paused.

"In both senses of the word."

She blushed and sighed.

"Of course."

"And take some time for yourself, too. At the end of the day this company is about having fun, so… Find a balance, ok?"

"Of course."

Work-life balance, it was important. I was going to miss Z38 but when this was over he had to do the life part for a while.



Zoe


Zoe

Electricity flared around me.

"Come on you ugly mother fucker."

Bullets didn't come close to him and I cringed.

"This is going to suck."

I flew right into him and hoped to god my armor held. I felt pain and suffering and screamed as I touched it, then winced as the backlash hit me.

"Fucking sucks."

I heard a popping sound as the monster appeared.

"Well, let us do this."

I activated the circle and the raw energy was dragged into the ground, the creature looked helplessly in my direction. It fought like a mad beast as it was dragged into the ground, as the monsters rose and jumped onto it. They were all trying to rip it open, I finally heard a cracking sound and went to my knees as the power washed over me.

I coughed blood onto the ground and my vision blurred.

"That would be the space arcana."

I winced and looked at Zig before puking on the ground.

"Yeah… that's normal."

I continued throwing up. When I got to dry heaving I saw a look of sympathy.

"How's it going, Champ?"

"Five down, hunted down this prick."

"Don't worry, the orders for the pools will be in soon."

I winced in pain, the world looked like an off-kilter shattered camera.

"How are you handling things?"

"Better than last time, I did not pass out."

"Good, you're a fourth of the way through… but I have some bad news."

I got up.

"How bad is it?"

"A group called the black dragons attacked one of our vault worlds."

"Ninjas?"

I grimaced.

"Yes ninjas were involved, but it's lead by an actual clan of five hundred black dragons. So we are talking ninjas, zombies, skeletons, and other undead and monsters."

I stared at him.

"That sounds like that's Security's problem."

"It is but they called us in because they wanted someone expendable and went over my head to do it."

Shit.

"Experienced agents?"

"They're all newbies, sorry. Most of them are just previous talent who got over their heads in their new worlds and need more power to survive."

"Spent it all on waifus, of course."

I sighed.

"Their jobs?"

"Most of them were cameramen, fluffers, a few did the ugly bastard thing. None of them went through RnD like you did."

I paused.

"How could they possibly justify having Acquisitions in on this."

"Dragons have a bunch of uses and quite a few potential agents or former talent want to become them."

I sighed.

"Fuck… That's actually good logic. We're sending our best?"

"Fluffers, ugly bastards and nerds, remember? None of them specked into combat, most of them wanted to retire with a harem… all of them are in pretty desperate straits. If we don't send a heavy hitter they're going to get slaughtered, and I do not like that kind of waste."

I sighed.

"Are we getting anything out of it?"

"There's an agent going through class B Acquisition's testing. The man's an absolute beast, he's been killing it on all the tests and has honestly impressed me."

"I haven't?"

"You're more of the plot and raw force guy. That's good, you don't always want someone who reinvents the wheel."

"This guy, better than me?"

Lord Zig sighed.

"Honest reply?"

"Yeah."

"If we compared you two side to side, yes. It took years of you going through RnD to toughen you up to where you can handle Acquisitions. This guy has what it takes, right out of the gate, and he wants to be a dragon of creation."

I thought about it.

"I'm in then. He's a good guy?"

"Yeah, he is. The best."

"His name?"

"Leecifer, his code name is Leecifer."



Taylor Hebert


Taylor

"Diana Prince is willing to see you now."

I opened the door and look at the woman in a business suit.

"Go ahead sit down."

She had a heavy greek accent, I sat down.

"I know you're Wonderwoman."

It was very hard for me not to geek out. Mom used to give me her comic books so to find an actual real Wonderwoman, that was amazing.

"Well, the bugs were a sign. You do understand that if you spread it around I will hurt you… badly."

She looked at me.

"Also if this is an attempt to blackmail me and my family I assure you that this will also end badly."

She sipped a cup of coffee.

"I have a problem, I um signed a contract a um magical one."

The woman winced.

"Let me guess, power?"

"Power and revenge and I agreed to be his um sex slave."

She sipped her coffee and then put it down.

"And why do you need me?"

"If I can find someone of equal or greater value to me to willingly replace me I don't have to do it."

She grimaced and shook her head.

"You made a foolish decision."

"I know."

She opened up a desk drawer and pulled out a box, she opened it and pulled out some paper.

"Mind if I prick your finger? I need to see your contract."

"Ok."

I held out my hand and she took out a needle, and then pricked my finger and pressed it against the paper.

"Hmm, Slutlife Corporation contract."

"Slutlife?"

"Company that handles inter-universal trade, among other things."

She looked at me.

"In theory, you could appeal to a higher authority to rescind it."

I smiled.

"But that is not going to happen because you apparently signed a contract with someone from their management. The company doesn't like rescinding even normal contracts, when it's from their management… by any chance are you the daughter of a deity, demon lord, or angel?"

"No."

"Yeah you're um pretty much out of luck."

"Can you help me?"

"Nope, couldn't even if I wanted to and I don't."

"Why not?"

"Multiple reasons, I'm an important superhero, I'm married, I'm a mother of three small children."

"What? But… you're Wonderwoman."

"And I'm not allowed to have a family of my own?"

"Well um… the comics?"

"The comics describe a wonder woman of a universe but there are so many of them."

I looked at a photo of her smiling with her kids at a park.

"And the last reason is I'm under my own contract and once you're under contract you can't sign another one."

I stared at her.

"What?"

"I am under a similar Slutlife Corporation contract to you."

"But… why would you sign one?"

Wonderwoman frowned.

"You know you really shouldn't get judgemental about this. I can handle a person your age making mistakes but I really dislike people being hypocrites about it."

I blinked.

"Sorry. But still… can you tell me why?"

"Paradise Island will keep a woman young forever, that's the magic of the place. It however does not mean you keep producing eggs forever, eventually you undergo menopause and can't have children anymore. Add that ageless is not the same as immortal so people die of sickness, disease, and accidents. Eventually our numbers shrank. It got to the point where my people were going to die out."

She paused.

"So mother used some magic and I made a deal. I would belong to a man and my sisters would become fertile again. A couple of years of hitting the club scene replenished our numbers. To a more sustainable level at least."

"And your mother basically pimped you out?"

She frowned.

"You might want to consider rephrasing that. My people were dying out, my mother looked for help and I agreed to a contract. Why did you sign the contract?"

"I um to avenge my mother."

"Respectable, I admit. Did you get justice?"

"Yes… Why are you being so agreeable about um."

"Your mother was murdered and you sought justice, the league might be filled with people with ridiculous standards of behavior but I am not one of them. So the person you made a deal with, how bad is he?"

"He's running an inter-dimensional trading network."

"Slaves?"

"Um… no? He just opens portals, lets people trade, and takes a cut."

Wonderwoman raised an eyebrow.

"So he goes around attacking people?"

"Um, no. In fact he seems to make a lot of his money off of medicine… He did kill some Endbringers, I think. it's not officially him but…"

"And what are those?"

"City destroying monsters that have murdered a lot of people."

She took another sip of coffee.

"You know, back in the old days, if someone did that Hera would just throw a buxom amazon at the hero responsible as a reward."

"You're kidding! There is no way Hera, queen of the gods, would do that with one of her chosen."

She laughed.

"What?"

"You… clearly do not know the Greek gods very well, or at all. No, she would totally do that even today if a great enough service was rendered."

She looked at me.

"It isn't that bad a life, you know."

"You're not free."

She shrugged.

"There are benefits. Because I'm technically under mind control at all times I'm immune to other people's mind control. I don't have to worry about further magic contracts. The contract ensures that the sex is mindblowing and I love my master and my children."

"But you're not free."

"Maybe so but I am content. How much time do you have left?"

"A couple of weeks."

"My advice is this: get your affairs in order and accept the consequences for your actions."

And that was that. I walked back home back to my world, dejected. This was my fault and I had to take responsibility for what I did.



Zoe


Zoe

I teleported to the place. It was a series of multiple valleys covered in mist, with castles built into the mountains. I sat down to wait and meditated, creating numerous birds and other creatures to scout things out. I waited for what felt like hours, creating more and more and doing more and more scouting.

I've decided I'm not exactly fond of Security right now. These guys have killer robots, mages, kung-fu masters, and a whole host of superpowered beings on the payroll and they fucking send Acquisitions to soften people up. This really is not our job, I open my eyes and pull out a data slate.

"Ok, let's see if you're worth this."

I looked through the files.

"Shit."

I watched as he blew through testing, and then put it down. I sighed.

"Yeah, you are."

Guy aced infiltration, I only got a barely passing grade in that. He blew me away in teamwork but that wasn't hard, I scored low as hell in that. Really his lowest score was in tactics and that was still leagues above my score, it was the lone B plus in a sea of A's. Class B would owe us for this, seriously owe us.

I wondered for a bit how he would do. Class C wasn't very impressive but our management didn't play games with us. They might be assholes at times but they were always on the level. Class B would fuck with people's memories and send them to their location in the cold just because they thought it was funny. Whimsical fairy shit, which is why I was glad to be in class C. Better to deal with the bureaucracy and harsh truths than go through the bullshit class B put their people through.

Portals finally opened, and I looked up and stared at the collection of Neckbeards, geeks, and losers assorted before me.

"What?"

I stared at one guy.

"Is this about the pocket protector?"

"Why would you wear glasses that have to be held together with tape?"

"Because they broke?"

"Then get a new pair of glasses? You don't go into combat with broken glasses, this is common sense."

I took a breath.

"Ok! So you folks brought guns, right?"

They were silent.

"Swords?"

More silence.

"This is a major combat operation. You have to have brought some weapons."

"HULK SMASH!"

I stared at one of the fatter members as he hit his toy hulk hands together.

"You have to be fucking kidding me."

I counted four guys.

"Ok… So did anyone spend their points on anything combat-related, or super powers in general."

Fucking crickets.

"Right. So is this going to be a thing where I end up doing all the work?"

"Wow."

The guy in the broken glasses spoke.

"Excuse me?"

"So this is how it feels on the other end… Huh, I kind of feel like shit. Maybe this is why I never had any friends."

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Ok! Our job is to go in and take out the main citadel, then take out the planetary shield in said citadel so that Security can do an orbital bombardment. The citadel is where the elder dragon lives, he has 4 younger ones acting as bodyguards."

"Dragons are solitary creatures."

I looked at glasses guy.

"Yeah? Hate to tell you this but the monster manual doesn't cover the entire multiverse and can and will shit all over you."

I got up and threw seeds on the ground.

"Each of you is going to take one and place it against your chest."

One of them looked at it.

"Are those peanuts? I'm allergic to peanuts."

"I guarantee that you're more allergic to being stabbed or set on fire."

They put the seeds to their chest and plant armor covered their bodies.

"So this is basically organic power armor-"

"I'm itchy."

I turned towards the peanut guy.

"Get the fuck over it."

I pulled out an orb.

"Hey, Heba? Send guns."

"What kind?"

I looked at my crew.

"I need the AKs, I want something nigh idiot-proof."

"Got it."

Five AK-47s landed on the ground.

"Ok, your job is to go in with me and kill people."

They stared at me.

"You all volunteered for this, this is what you signed up for."

"We have to kill people?"

"Yeah, we do."

They were silent.

"Ok… you either kill people or the company punishes you and Corrections does not do mercy."

they picked up their guns and we marched forward.



The company fucks everyone cannoned


The Class B Canteen was currently doing it's best impersonation of a MC Escher painting, it's insides were larger than the outsides (though that was pretty standard fare in these parts), the walls were also more floors (complete with table space and delightful bowls of complementary peanut-adjacent things) with only the eighth of the 19 sides of the room functioning as a display-piece for eldritch runes and sigils of raw primal power. The room was filled with beings and creatures from all of time, space, creation, uncreation, anti-time, nega-space and the little piddly parts of The Unknowable the managed to wrestle it's way in there, probably by judicious use of elbow into soft spots.

Set up at the center of the canteen was a display of a many different events each contained within their own globe, each displaying the trials and tribulations of those lower down in the Company. Often they showed the most decisive of battles, the kind that would determine the fates of entire words and ways of life, the kind epics would be sung about and in which legends were forged! However on the multiversal scale displayed it showed that just as often it was the heroes who lost, with the contractors taken down and forced into slavery, death or worse. All the while bringing the beings observing them to a variety of emotions.

It is actually the things which were occupying the room that hold most of the interest though. They were Beings, Great and Awesome. In some realities they were worshiped as Gods beyond all others, in others they were the true face of evil, in still others they acted as the ancient and wise guardians of growing mortals. They took every shape one could imagine (and quite a few that couldn't be) ranging from masses of writhing flesh and tentacles to great scaled dragons to balls of pure energy to one of many many flavor of humanoid. One may wonder however, what brought such a diverse and powerful group of Being together? What purpose could cause the great and power of the multi-verse to convene and inspire such emotions that some were moved to fits of rage or bouts of tears, bursts of laughter and the silence of shock?

Gambling of course!

Frick winced as he watched Isekai Protagonist #6A321FE0C go down in a hail of laserfire. Apparently he hadn't learned that 'Glorious Nippon Steel' didn't make him immune to projectiles. Shrugging he hit a combo of runes on the plate to get the display (Which was now showing how the remainder of the Harem for #6A321FE0C was being divided) to fade out while He finalized some numbers on a separate data slate. If the sickos wanted to watch what happened to who they could do in from their own rooms. He took another second to double check the number He handed himself before flicking the switch on the multiversal Mic on his lapel.

"Who had 'Died to man-portable laser fire' for display ง̸̢̢͍͙̻̜͕̱̤̎̍͂͛ี̷̸่̡̨̛͕̘̪̮͖̻͇̟̮͖̂͋́̃̂̔͌́̈̓̌̒͂͘̚͜͠͠เ̷̗̪̥̼̆̊̈́̄ง̵̷่̡̫͖̤̖͕̭̳̣̫̀͒͂̽̍̊̋̋̑́̽̅̆̅̑̀̚ͅา̵̩̱͛̃̓̆̆́͝โ̴̨͔̖͚̞̯̯͇̻̗̲͑͌ง̷̴่̨̛̛̜̻̫̱͓̝̣̣̰̤̫̞͕͚̟͔̜̎͐̐̄́́̾̀͋͝ ? You've got full payout." Frick called out, then checked the other relevant bets on his tablet. "Also the one being who made sure they used a lower case in 'Died of hubris' gets half pay out, all other Hubris bets are nullified since this wasn't an anger-the-gods moment."

There was a chorus of groans at this. (And a pair of cheers)

"C'mon Frick, you're gonna cheat us because of a grammar mistake?" was a call from a man in a winged helmet sipping from a glowing golden oinochoe.

Frick shook his head before calling back. "Hermes, your people invented Hubris, you of all people should know the difference."

There were more grumbles but in Frick's experience it was more a show than anything else. If someone really decided to make trouble and tried to take it up with him he was more than willing to show them WHY the company let him play at being bartender/gambling overseer/trivia night MC; He was pretty sure those galaxies still had some planets left he could show to reinforce his point.

As Frick finished the finalization of the payout (Minus both his and the Company's fees of course) Frick noticed a notification pop-up.

"So Ol' Ziggy has a new protégé eh? Wonder if this one will last longer than the previous one? Even if he doesn't it'd be unlikely he dies worse…" Frick shuddered and he muttered to himself, some things weren't worth remembering. "Where's he based at anyway… Ew. Earth Bet. It'll be interesting enough though, lotta money to be made if I can phrase this right."

It took him a few minutes to read though the dossier, and then almost a subjective hour to get the display to even find Zoe but once he did Frick grinned from ear to ear. Sometimes it seemed like his timing couldn't be better.

"LADIES AND THE REST OF YOU!" He called as he brought up the central display and focused it on Zig's new toy. "Looks like we got a brand new mission about to take place, on one side we've got an entire Black Dragon Legion, they've occupied Vault World #2364FDC and have been digging in and helping themselves to some of the Finest Class D Company Assets available. They've had time enough to raise some undead, get some ninja in place and start reaaaaaly fortifying the place. On the other side we've got two dozen of the worst Acquisitions has to offer: We're talking Knuckleheaded Know-it-alls, bootleg boot-strappers and NTR-fetishists. If I'm reading this right they've spent nearly their whole budgets on taking the easy route to being competent at being a human being. While normally I'd set this up Battle Royale-style since we kinda actually would like that Vault back it seems this worthless bunch have been assigned a baby-sitter in the form of Lord Zig's pet project and an undisclosed up-and-comer as a ringer so instead we'll be running this on 'Who-dies-how' rules. Remember, the more specific you get the greater your payout but also the less likely you get partial credit. A Maser and a Laser are two different things Jenny!"

"Fuck You Frick!"

"Later honey, I'm working now!" Frick called back with a smile "As usual, we're using the adamantine standard so expect conversion fees if you're still trading in human souls! Gentlebeings, the betting is now open!"

Frick nodded to Himself as He handed himself a drink. Sometimes, he loved his job.

Spoiler: Some Bets

23.5% Dragonbreath

-67% Acid Dragonbreath

21.2% Stupidity

-65% Not listening to the babysitter

-21% Little h hubris

-12% Too stupid to live

18.9% Bladed Weapon

-72% Ninja-to

-17% Some Ninja technique

9.2% Torn to pieces

9.1% Eaten

-78% Whole

-22% In pieces

8.1% Martial Art bullshit

6% Fire

-50% Magical fire

-33% Mundane fire

4% Dies of stress/heartattack

0.000005% No one dies



Zoe


Zoe

I focused on my creatures, growing them, creating seeds, scattering them.

"My feet hurt."

I turned around.

"This is neither the time nor the place, do you fucking understand?"

"You're being kind of-"

"no."

I looked at the four of them.

"This is a life and death situation, has anyone here been in combat?"

They all raised their hands.

"And by combat, I mean fights with actual weapons where people try to kill you."

All hands went down.

"Thought so. None of you have any training, none of you have combat mods."

"I took Karate."

I stared at him.

"Good, how long?"

"A semester in highschool?"

"Yeah… That isn't enough. My goal is to keep you alive so you do what I say, even if I piss you off. If you live you only have to deal with me for a few hours. That beats dying."

I smiled, everything was in position. I snapped my fingers and their helmets closed. Our walk to the base was leisurely, it took hours of course because they were slow and out of shape but that extra time was good. When we got there plants were ripping the skeletons and zombies apart.

"Shit."

I tapped my foot and summoned more monsters, sent them inside and I sent more and more. Once I was satisfied we walked inside, and then they stopped and puked at the carnage.

"Jesus Christ."

I gave them some time to get it out of their systems.

"Ok, you finish them off."

They looked at the ninjas, still struggling as the plants tore them apart.

"What?"

"Put your gun against their heads and kill them."

"But that's a war crime."

I rolled my eyes.

"They're bandits, not a legitimate government."

They stood defiantly.

"Oh, no. We are not doing this shit."

I made a fist and started squeezing, they yelped.

"I am doing all the hard work here, in order for you to get the points. You have to kill them, do your fucking jobs."

They cried as they whimpered and placed their guns against the heads of the ninjas and pulled the triggers. They continued crying as we went through the halls, finishing off more ninjas, as the blood and viscera flowed and other destruction raged on. When we got to the throne room I looked at the black dragon on the ground.

"You have no sense of fair play, do you?"

"Nope."

I was honestly surprised he was alive, I had a multitude of things eating him up from the inside. I walked up to him and placed my hands on his head then ripped it off. I then looked at a computer monitor and went through it…

"Ah! Good."

I shut off the shields and smashed the computer.

"God, that was-"

"We have to finish them off, all of them."

I pulled out an orb.

"Shields are down, going to clear the facility."

I sent each of them off with more ammo, and monsters to protect them, while they continued finishing the ninjas and bandits off. Meanwhile, I went off and found the other dragons. They were now sleeping and I slit their throats, because I had no intention of playing fair. With everything done, I gathered the men.

They had haunted looks on their faces, a look I once had when I was greener. I picked up the orb again.

"Congratulations, people. Each of you has earned 70 points, which is more than enough to buy some superpowers. Remember, 10 points takes care of the financial stuff."

I saw grimaces, none of them had thought about money.

"which you need to live."

"Yeah, we got it."

With that done the mission was over, I went back to my base and sat down. Lord Zig arrived in person.

"The mission?"

"Orbitals took out the rest of them, you have 175 points."

I checked the catalog.

"What do you want to buy?"

"Upgrade seven castles with full teleporters, bank 10 points… and the new guy?"

"Yes?"

"How much would a sword of healing cost?"

"what degree?"

"The best stuff."

"Ah, first-class? 20 points. It would be able to regenerate wounds, cure any disease even cancer, and have a bunch of other effects. What design do you want?"

"Roman Gladius and put it in the new guy's 'home, sweet home' with a note from me wishing him luck."

"Class B always hides those things."

"Well, all I can do is give this guy some help."

"It will be done."

I laid back, things were finally starting to come together.



Zoe


Zoe

I looked at the box and put the sword inside, along with a few other things.

I looked at the man in the glass tube, quiet and dead to the world. I've been there, I was there, and unlike me he's going in blind. I sighed and pulled out a bottle of pink stuff then chugged it down. I put the box aside and started the cameras.

"Hey."

I looked into it.

"So you're probably wondering who this is. I'm Z38 and I'm an operative like you, a different department but I've been where you've been. Starting out scared of the world, terrified that someone will figure out your secret and that the mob of angry pitchforks will follow. I always wondered how things would have been different if someone mentored me, someone who knew what it was like to be in shit. I took the mission I took and I've made my peace with it, but I've decided to pay things forward and get a little bit of my Karma fixed up."

I paused.

"You don't remember taking the deal, and in the back of your mind you're wondering if you did it because you're a bad person. I'm going to tell you the truth. You're not. The lady who made the contract with you, your boss, she sat you down and forced you to watch. Watch all of the people who would die if you didn't help out. You didn't come into this with selfish motives, unlike me, so there's that."

I leaned back.

"You work in class B Acquisitions, the fairy people. A lot of the people there like to send their agents in blind, there are multiple reasons they do that. If you know your bosses' name, if you know how to contact the company, you could hold them accountable. Your boss really does not like doing the accountability thing."

Understatement of the fucking year.

"One of the conditions of being allowed to help you like this was that I couldn't tell you who she is or how to contact HR. I'm in a different division than you and I'm already pulling in favors to do this."

I looked up at the ceiling.

"I'm going to tell you what's going on. You're not the first operative in your world, you're actually the second one we sent out. The guy was good his job was to buy local goods and get them to other people in the company. It's not all sex slaves, and violence in the Company, there's plenty of legit work."

I turned my head back to the camera.

"His operation was pretty successful, thing is he went native. He couldn't bear to see what Grimm did to the people on your world, couldn't take their suffering, so he used his connections. The lad had friends in RnD so he hired hunters to bring in Grimm alive, to study them and find defenses. It cost him a lot of money and some favors, he had to set up safe houses for agents who got burned so they could hide until they could be sent out on another mission. Stuff like that."

I grimaced.

"Salem caught wind of it, sent an army of Grimm to fuck over the entire operation. He died, so did all of his kids and all but one of his girls. Waifus, lovers, you get it. The Grimm got through the portal and hurt a lot of people. The reason you're here? Well, one of his friends, the scientist… He wanted revenge so he picked the person with the highest aptitude test in 10 years and sent him to that world to fuck Salem's shit up. That someone is you."

I ran my fingers through my hair.

"So your boss does that fairy whimsy shit that just pisses me off, I am only allowed to give you 3 boons. If you think it's retarded well so do I. The first thing is this recorder: it has a message from me, all of your favorite music from back home, and all the movies you liked. A taste of home to help you out. The second thing is a sword."

I paused and pulled out a sword.

"This is a modified control sword. We had some of the old enchantments ripped out and put in new ones."

I waved the roman gladius back and forth.

"It's a healing sword, it can not hurt living beings. It fucks up Grimm like crazy but not people, it does not damage them. It can cover up to five people at a time with a healing aura. This aura lasts for an hour and it can cure any disease, including cancer, and regenerates damage. We're talking Wolverine level regeneration. Feel free to use this all day, you can just renew an aura whenever you feel like it. That said it does give off a slight blue glow so keep that in mind."

I paused.

"The sword has one final power, it can raise the dead. As in someone dies, the sword can bring them back. Well as long as they haven't been dead more than a hundred years."

I took a breath.

"Now we talk about the downsides. The sword can only raise people from the dead once a year and it only recharges every summer solstice. A person can only be raised a maximum number of 3 times. When your oldest child reaches the age of 12 it will become their sword until they die. Then it either goes to their kids… um it basically follows royal rules. It's more of a bloodline thing than a personal weapon, a way for any of your line to make money if things go to shit."

I sighed.

"Last bit, a map. It lists all of the remaining assets that haven't been seized by someone from the last go. That's about 25 safe houses across the world. The weapons, vehicles, and other stuff should be a little out of date but the dust is still good. All of them are enchanted to keep Grimm out and hide anyone inside from them. I also was able to drag up the location of the thing the last guy was working on."

I felt my anger rising.

"It's a device that will cast a sanctum spell over a hundred kilometers of land. Once it's used any Grimm that enters the zone dies instantly. The spell should last around seven thousand years. The problem is that your boss is an asshole! She wanted to split up the device into 7 pieces and put them in trapped temples, for an epic adventure."

I felt my migraine return and I drank more pink stuff.

"I managed to argue her down to one temple. It's the temple of the virtues and it is just filled with assorted bullshit… but if you want something that will keep a place Grimm free for a long time, it's on your map marked under a peace sign."

I put down the bottle.

"The last guy's last lover is still alive, remember? If you want advice go look up Maria Calavera, tell her that Pumpkin Pete still loves her. She will ask you for the past code. The passcode is 'a softer world'."

I looked at the camera.

"That's all I am allowed to do for you. I just want you to know, you are not alone."

With that I ended the message and put the device into the box, along with the map and sword, and then shut the clasps. It was all up to him now.



Lord Zig


Lord Zig

Eugene threw up into a basket, the other three just rocked back and forth. They all had looks of horror on their faces.

First battle jitters, it was normal

"So it's over and each of you now has 70 points."

The fat boy spoke.

"We did bad things back there."

"War is hell, but you had a job to do and you did it."

The fat boy looked at me in horror.

"No! He forced us to do it, you didn't say we would be working with a psycho."

I frowned and cracked my neck.

"Can you please repeat that? Because I think I misheard you."

That was a hint that maybe they misspoke.

"You didn't tell us we would be working with a psycho."

I got up.

"Do the rest of you agree with Mr. Deed's assessment?"

They nodded their heads.

"Ok."

I got up.

"You are all going to shut the fuck up now."

They froze as my psychic powers hit them, letting them feel, or rather taste, my anger. I smelled urine. Fear was good, it kept people in line and kept them alive.

"All of you went to a tier 1 world, and what happened? As soon as it got a little bit rough instead of toughing it out or figuring things out, you came crawling back to the company. I admit that 35 points is not a lot, but it's more than enough to make a difference. More than enough to live our your dreams."

The fat boy spoke up.

"You didn't tell us that New York was so expensive! Friends made it look so easy."

"It's fucking New York City, of course it's expensive! Also, the show doesn't give you a full picture of their lives or the full story. Did you think you could just pop into another world without buying background aid and live it up? That said all of you went to New York with over a hundred thousand dollars of local money."

I paced back and forth.

"If you had simply moved into the suburbs you could have bought a house. Instead, you guys tried to live in Manhattan, what the fuck were you thinking? And you spent all of your points on girls. 3 waifus each when you had a limited budget, no identification, and no friends or family. It took you 3 months to come crawling back to us and now you work in Acquisitions. If you had been less greedy, if you had worked or thought things through, you could have been living the god damned high life."

I sat down.

"Instead all of you are now under contract for five years. Do you have any idea what kind of strings I had to pull to get that favor? Now granted most people we get in class C are boys like you. Fuck ups who couldn't make it in the real world, the kind that needs an extra push. Z38, though? He didn't work a cushy job like you and then retire after a year. He spent 5 years in RnD. Then he went in for one of the hardest infiltration missions you can get."

I looked at them.

"Z38 paid his dues, he's earned my respect. None of you have done that. So this is what is going to happen: all of you are going to have a talk with our counselors and they will advise you on the best choices you can make. Do not fuck this up. This is your one and only chance to become something worthy of the women in your life, this is your only chance to avoid becoming homeless, for your wives and children to become homeless."

Fat boy raised his hand.

"Speaking of that… um my girls are pregnant and I don't know how that happened."

I stared at him.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, they're clones so-"

"Did you have sex with them?"

"Yes?"

"Did you use a condom?"

"Um, no."

"That causes pregnancy."

He blinked.

"Look me in the eye… all of you! For the next five years, I own you. You will still live in your safe tier-one world but when we want something? You're going to get it. We want Viagra? You buy it. Candy, food, cars, anything we tell you to buy? You buy it and you send it to us. If any of you decides to get stupid and skim off the top? Corrections will handle you and I guarantee that they're a lot less fucking nice I am."

I stared at them.

"Class C doesn't play games like class B does. We don't fuck people over in the contract, we don't wipe people's minds and send them in blind, we tell you straight up how things go. The price of that is this: respect is earned and none of you have earned mine. Now get out of my fucking sight and do not fuck this up."

They slinked off in shame and I shook my head.

Lots of people started off like this, but I've worked with those kinds of people before and I've managed to turn quite a few of them into respectable men. The failures tended to die but that was the nature of the business.



Emma Barnes


Emma

I looked at the house and knocked.

The door opened, and Amy Dallon answered. she looked at me.

"Um, how can I help you?"

"I'm here to talk about a contract."

Amy raised an eyebrow.

"Welcome in."

She shut the door and locked it.

"Do you want to talk somewhere private?"

"I kind of want to talk to Zoe."

She looked at her watch.

"He should be back soon, want some tea?"

"Sure."

Panacea fixed some green tea and we drank it in silence, Amy checking me out until Zoe came back. He looked at me.

"So Emma what brings you to my home?"

"Hello, Zoe. Taylor has lived across the street for you for years, I recognized you from the voice."

"Right… Somewhere private?"

"Sure."

A portal opened and we walked through it, we walked into a small house and I sat down.

"So what are your plans for me?"

He looked at me.

"Probably a threesome with you and Taylor and then you can go free."

I took a breath.

"So what happens to Taylor?

"Officially she runs away and is never seen again, unofficially she's with me."

My heart beat faster.

"Are you the one killing the Endbringers?"

"Yes."

His voice was certain.

"How many are there?"

"20 in total."

"And you're going to kill them all?"

"Gonna try."

"I am not special."

He froze at my statement.

"I am a pretty redhead, that's my best feature. I am pretty, that is it."

I stared at the water outside.

"I think this is my one chance to be a part of something big, a chance to matter."

"And what are you willing to do to be a part of this?"

"Anything."

He watched me in silence for a moment.

"I am a very bad person to say that to."

I looked at him and shrugged.

"So be it."



Emma Barnes


Emma

Second day of talking things out, finding out what would be expected of me.

I heard a beeping sound and Zoe brought out an Orb.

"What's going on?"

"3 Endbringers they seem to be working together, they're attacking Belgrade."

"Power sets?"

"I see mushrooms, killer forests, and monster creators."

"Thanks, Heba."

He cracked his neck.

"Sorry, got to handle this one."

He pulled out a sword and vanished, I stood in the room alone for a while before a portal opened. An Asian girl with large breasts walked out of it, she opened her eyes and they looked strange to me.

"Heba informed me that the master had a guest."

"Um yes."

I looked at her belly, it was slightly extended. The rest of her was thin and fit so I wondered if she was pregnant.

"Good. The master is fighting, do you want to watch?"

"Um sure."

A portal opened and she took my hand, we were in another room, and an orb glowed. I saw a stony land covered in circles appear in the orb as the woman motioned for me to sit down.

"So where are we?

"My castle."

I heard a popping sound and saw a giant mushroom creature emerge. I saw rot, decay, and death. I already felt a sense of fear and then I saw two more monsters appear. A multiheaded dragon landed and a tree monster emerged. I watched as the land was devastated and then I watched the land fight back.

I sat there staring at the fight, it was light and matter and earth, explosions and carnage. I froze, transfixed, watching the battle in silence.

"Wow."

"He's becoming a god."

I turned and stared at her.

"What?"

"He is becoming a god, not in the sense your people think of it but in my people's sense: a powerful being able to affect great change."

I watched one of the Endbringers scream and be ripped apart. Watching such power in action was both horrifying and fascinating.

"I heard someone came to visit him, not much happens on this world really. People come in and out, they don't quite stay. Then again this is a young world, a young country."

I heard a second death scream, and she nodded her head as we watched another Endbringer die.

"Why did you bring me here?"

"To let you see his power. Serving someone like that is an honor. You can return to your old life but you would be turning your back upon the fantastic, the wonderous. You have to make a choice."

My mouth was dry as the third one fell.

"I know where I want to be."

I wanted to remain here, needed to be here. Here was greatness and power, I wasn't about to let go.



Hinata


Hinata

My master opened his eyes and sighed, and then I felt power. Such raw power that my knees buckled and I panted.

"How long was I out this time?"

"A day."

He winced.

"Karen's handling business?"

"Yes, there are quite a few deals going on."

I sat down.

"Your time, Life, and Spirit Arcana improved."

"Ugh, I know. Everything seems like it's alternating between too fast and too slow! I can feel your heart beating and sense the creatures of the void outside our little secured bubble of space-time."

He was wincing.

"Emma saw the fight, I think she was most impressed."

I stared at him.

"Also why all of this effort into Taylor?"

"Right now the island centered on Star Wars should have the capabilities for 7200 active portals, with the teleportation room she should be able to manually move those wherever she wants. With her multitasking power, she could easily help handle what I think is going to be the most active part of our trade network."

I nodded my head.

"Are your people testing out the new room?"

"Konoha now possesses the power to be in any unwarded territory on our planet, at a moment's notice. Father says this deal gets better all the time."

I sat on the bed.

"And what do you think?"

"I agree, this is a good deal."

I laid down next to him and he hugged me. I nuzzled into him then sighed.

"So… I have a sister."

He froze.

"Do you want her to visit?"

"I think the clan would be strengthened if your blood ran through our veins."

He rubbed my belly.

"I'm working on it."

I nuzzled into him.

"I was thinking… when she comes of age you could give her a strong heir."

"Um, won't that cause jealousy issues?"

"I already share you with how many women?"

"Point taken."

He kissed me on the forehead.

"Do you want to make love?"

I smiled and he looked at me.

"Right now I want to cuddle, but when I'm finished there is a shower and I could use some company."

I kissed him.

"Cuddling is fine."

Sometimes the small moments are what makes it worth it.



Zoe


Zoe

I held a cane as I walked forward.

The adjustment was harder this time, too much affecting my senses at once.

I sat down at a chair and looked at Hinata's father.

"I wish to talk about my daughter's actions."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Which ones."

"The fact that I am not allowed to use her portal system, the fact that she charges clan mates more for housing on the other side, the fact that she banned me from her lands."

He looked angry. I sipped my coffee calmly.

"Well?"

"Hinata is the queen of her lands, she has every right to do that."

"Well, hopefully after she has the baby she will end this nonsense."

I raised an eyebrow.

"I am her father, I have every right to meet my grandchildren. You are not allowed to forbid that."

"I am not the one making that decision."

"You can make her do whatever you want."

I stared at him.

"How long were you married?"

He looked at me.

"What do you mean?"

"How long were you married, how many years? If you were married long enough you would know exactly how bad an idea it is to push certain buttons with your significant other."

"You have other women."

"And that means that, when I fuck up enough, they team up to make my life hell."

"You have power."

"Having power and using it wisely are two very different things. If I have to choose between making you happy and making Hinata happy, I'm going to choose her. She's a lot more cuddly."

He flashed killing intent, I just stared at him.

"Is that all you got?"

"I think you will change your mind."

"I don't think you understand the weight class I'm in."

"I think I do."

"You're used to dealing with nobles with no experience, people who got to where they were by inheritance, with no training and no blood on their hands."

I flashed my killer intent, mixed in with the multiple energies flowing through me in a rainbow of power. The man looked at me, his face frozen.

"It appears I have misspoken."

"You have. I am not the one you need to talk to on this issue, it is a family matter."

There was a flinch.

"Just remember, with all due respects, that circumstances have changed. Hinata is a queen now, with full royal rights, and will only gain more power with time."

"Understood but she will not speak to me directly and only allows me to talk through mail."

"Then you will need an intermediary, and even then it will take time to undo the damage that was done without forethought."

"You're being very presumptuous."

"It's easier to forgive actions done by mistake than through malice, and there is much that needs forgiving."

He got up.

"I will keep that in mind."

The man slinked off and I took another sip of coffee. A dangerous man, true, but these days I felt pretty dangerous myself.



Hermione Granger


Hermione Granger

I'm definitely pregnant.

I look at the castle, my castle, the one I paid for with my body.

"I brought you some more books."

Draco put the books down on the table and sat on a chair.

"Why are you here?"

"How many friends yah got Granger?"

"Harry and um Ron I guess."

"You mean the blokes you tutor? How close are you to them?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"I have plenty of other friends."

"Name 'em."

I froze.

"What do you want Draco?"

"To make money. You control access to off-world trade, my family sells potions and other goods."

"And you would lower yourself to talking with a mudblood to get it?"

"Yes."

I took in his words.

"Look, I know you have problems with Pansy but my family… a lot of families put the blood purity thing aside when the world ended. Things changed and these days we need every magical we can get."

"Ok so beyond profit why bother talking to me?"

"You're having kids some day, I'm going to have kids too. I might be worth marrying your family into mine."

He was… serious? I froze.

"Granger you have an entire island, a castle, and money, people are going to think about alliances."

"Is that why you're here?"

"Yes."

"Why hasn't anyone else come?"

"Multiple reasons but most folks are so busy with surviving that they don't think about the future. Others don't like you, and no it's not all about blood purity. You managed to really hurt a lot of people's feelings or annoyed them. Most people aren't thinking about how things have changed."

"And the Malfoys want in on the ground floor."

"You sound surprised. We've always cared about our own interests, and we've always been the most flexible of the dark families."

He got up.

"This is obviously something you don't have to think about today, or for years, but gold is gold and ours is as good as anyone else."

I looked at the books, Draco was the only one who visited me.

"I want a list of the goods you want to sell. I'm not willing to talk about selling my kids off to yours but I am willing to talk money."

He bowed.

"As you wish, your magesty."

With that, he left. I leaned back and looked outside then went to the control room, a swiftly growing place filled with people managing portals to different worlds. Pretty much all of them were robots or golems, I had put more effort into studying than I did into my new role as queen.

I had the realization of just how big my responsibilities were and sat down.

"Damn."

A lot of people relied on me now, and more would in the future. I should feel overwhelmed and scared but a big part of me welcomed it, all of it.

I finally found a challenge worthy of me.



Tali


Tali

"Everything has been tested out."

Hyperdrive works on completely different principles than mass effect drives. Yes it's a mature technology, thousands of years old, but it's reliant on incredibly accurate star charts and if you do not have everything mapped out and calc'ed out 50 light-years is the safest maximum jump.

That doesn't sound like a lot but you have around 1000 star systems within 50 light-years of Earth alone. If that still doesn't impress you the average ship can travel around 15 light-years a day. A hyperspace jump takes about 10 minutes. That means that a hyperdrive can, with a group of pilots working as a team, fly 7200 light-years in a 24 hour period, which is 480 times faster than the average ship.

Now add in the fact that you don't need to do a static discharge. Now add in the fact that you're not using one of the most valuable resources in the galaxy, because this drive is fueled by fusion and hydrogen is everywhere. We have traded extensively with the First Order and have been busy upgrading our ships. Our element zero use has plummeted which means, as our collective profits have skyrocketed, that our costs have plummeted.

I stared at the screen.

"And this is all available?"

"Yes."

The number of goods we could transport through the portal system had exploded with the latest victories, and our ships were using hyperdrives to explore systems that were not close to the network. A single mass find of element Zero would be a game-changer. Everything was different, everything was improving.

"Of course these are used ships but every bit helps."

"Do we have enough Quarians to crew them?"

"Only a small fraction of our people actually live on the fleet. After hundreds of years of pilgrimages that went nowhere, exiles, and the result of the refugee crisis caused by the incident, the vast majority of our people live in ghettos in Citadel systems. Giving them a chance to not be second class citizens is not difficult."

"Hmm… Very well, purchase them."

"Yes, Captain."

I looked at the information on the island people were settling in and I noticed a request.

"Sorry, my husband wants me."

The man nodded.

"Very well, do as you need."

A portal opened and I took a breath, he waited for me in front of a castle.

"Missed you."

I hugged him and accepted a kiss.

"Lots of work on our end."

I took his arm.

"How are things going?"

"Earth Bet's government has accepted your aerospace offer."

I sighed in relief. Having a world willing to act as a place to manufacture needed goods would take some strain off the live ships, off of our capabilities.

"Good."

"How are things going with the fleet?"

"It's growing."

He nodded his head.

"I've discovered some new abilities."

He waved his hand and I watched as a block of Element Zero rose in a pillar-like fashion. I stared at it. After a moment I concluded that it was actually there and real.

"Keela."

He smiled.

"I can only do it here but it seems that my ability to transmute things on this world is growing."

"Can my fleet… um, have that?"

"Of course! A gift to my wife's people."

I got on my Omnitool and Quarians soon flooded the area, taking the element zero back to the fleet. I also looked at the growing number of people on my island as we went inside and went to a room.

"So why did you want to see me?"

The doors locked and an orb lifted.

"Remember the portal system?"

"It's hard to forget."

"There has been an upgrade, with this last Endbringer battle we can finally afford to upgrade to a full teleporter room for all of my ladies."

He moved the orb.

"What does that do?"

"7200 portals that can now be placed anywhere we have a marker. If you could get one to your homeworld…"

I froze.

"We could be there at any time, attack at any time."

The possibilities that opened up were astounding.

"The size of the portals can be changed too, large enough to fit a ship through."

I took it in.

"We can win."

"Not yet. Your fleet needs to be properly upgraded, and there is still one last upgrade necessary to get the maximum output out of our operation."

"And that?"

"Would increase the number of portals by 50 times…"

He kissed my neck and rubbed my stomach.

"Our children can see their mother's homeworld, have it back."

I leaned into his touch.

"I noticed you said children, not child."

"You think I would just stop at one, Tali?"

I looked at the orb, imagined my people home, saw my people victorious. I took off my clothing and got on my knees, he took me from behind, as images of victory came to mind I felt my body quiver and orgasm. I could only pant as he held me.

"I'm not finished."

I felt him smack my butt, today was going to be a good day.



Zoe


Zoe

They're appearing more often now.

Endbringers, I mean.

The ball of light flashes through the air and tries to leave the curved space-time I've trapped it in.

This Endbringer uses lasers and lots of them, it's a tricky fight. It has destroyed several of my mountain ranges when it finally freezes, trapped in a valley but blasting the tendrils of matter and energy.

"Bastard."

This is the 8th Endbringer I've brought over, it fights me every step of the way but then I smile as the land curves and the light is dragged down, further and further. I see the core and hear a screeching sound and then a loud pop. I close my eyes and feel the wave of power, I nod my head.

"Fought every step of the way."

I feel winded and look around at the devastation, a portal opens and I walk through it and I am back in my office. My head feels like it's on fire but there is paperwork to be done and I have to give the appearance of caring about my job. I feel my phone buzz and I take the call.

"Amy?"

"I'm at the hospital."

"You need help?"

"Zoe, I am horny as fuck and I finally got some time in the fuck shack. I want you here, stat."

I smile and get a ride to the hospital where I find Amy waiting for me. She takes my hand and drags me to the room and locks the door, her robe drops to the floor revealing her nudity. I smile, taking it in.

"It's getting more noticeable."

I press my lips against hers.

"Good."

She pants.

"Mom's going to figure it out soon, so will Vicky."

"Does that get you hot?"

"Fuck yeah."

She turns around and waggles her eyes and shakes her ass, I spank it and she grits her teeth.

"Say it."

"You've been a bad little girl."

I spread out my legs and she gets on my lap and I continue spanking her ass raw, she ends the session with a guttural groan and goes limp. I hold her and hug her.

"Ok?"

"Yeah, just a lot of pressure at work today… Dealt with some real assholes."

She sighed and I kissed her.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah, a little. I know I'm not the only person who is someone's subby wubby."

"Want anything more?"

"Not yet… I want the first time you take me here, really take me, to be the time we have baby number two."

I hugged her.

"I love you too."

She blushed.

"Thanks."



Zoe


Zoe

I woke up to brown eyes looking at me in concern.

"You ok?"

"Yeah… Yeah, Korra, I am."

I grimaced as I got up and then I looked at the sinkhole near me. I remembered a creature that controlled gravity, another one that did illusions. I winced as I stumbled. She held out her hand and I took it.

"What brings you here?"

"Well you decided to fight giant monsters on my land, I think I'm allowed to investigate."

She stared at me.

"Why is it always my land by the way?"

"You have the least amount of people and no real trade links, it's the safest place to dispose of them and you know what they do to people if you don't dispose of them."

I sat down on a rock, Korra sat down next to me.

"Yeah, I know."

"So how are you handling the whole um mom thing."

She smiled.

"Actually it's pretty fun, the robots help with the hard parts so it's mainly feeding and playing."

"So you're doing all right then?"

"Yeah. It's pretty lonely but then again my old life was pretty lonely too."

She stared at the ruins, and then her eyes glowed.

"Thought you lost the avatar state."

"I did."

The hole vanished.

"This is something new I think."

"What is it?"

"I think, as you grow more powerful, we grow more powerful too. As mean as you can get when we make love-"

"Fuck, making love is a lot more gentle."

She shrugged.

"Let me have a moment, Zoe."

"Fine."

"As mean as you can be when we make love, I am still your queen. We all are, there is power in that."

"So you're transforming too?"

"I think we all are."

She sighed and looked at the destroyed landscape.

"Where does this put us?"

"Leviathan is still out there, using the water to hide himself from me, but other than that this is the halfway mark."

Korra shrugged.

"So what does this do?"

"Well we're on the last part of our for improvements cities, that brings up the number of portals a queen has under her command up to 360,000 portals."

Korra stared, her eyes unfocused.

"So who do they go to?"

"Amy got the upgrade to the full city option and she's experimenting with it right now, picking what goes where."

"And these two?"

"Give us enough points to upgrade 3 more kingdoms."

Korra closed her eyes.

"Who gets them?"

"Elsa, Winter, you."

"Me? But I don't have anyone to trade with."

"Yeah but I'm trying to go in order, and anyways we need someone to handle shipments to the company and things like that. Or we can find a new trade world, or you could handle the excess load for the others. You have options, Korra."

She was silent.

"Who's next?"

"Ino would be the next one to receive a full city upgrade, then Hinata. Konoha is growing so it's a worthwhile investment."

"Going in order?"

"Yeah."

"I already have a city around my castle."

"It would be bigger after this, and you would have more control over the options."

She opened her eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"Korra?"

"People died because of what I did, because I didn't think. Now you're off fighting these things and I don't know what to do to help. I know what they do to people, to civilizations, and I'm not strong enough to help."

"Feels weird to be on this side of the conversation."

She sniffed.

"Really?"

"Yeah… I started out weak, Company prefers that. People without a lot of prospects, you just dangle the chance to be powerful… To be happy."

Korra was silent.

"Was it worth it?"

"On a personal level, yes. I have some really good people in my life, power, and money. On a moral level… time will tell how the dice works out on that front."

"Are there other um mes?"

"Tons, company likes their clones."

"Are you sure that I am the original Korra?"

"No but I also do not care, you're the one who's in my life. If it makes you feel better I'm probably not the original me either."

She bit her lip.

"That weirds me out."

"Universe is weird."

She stared out.

"So how do they pick people?"

"Modernity."

She blinked.

"So… they look for people used to technology?"

"No, I mean… Civilizations go through different periods of development during their life cycles. Modernity is a point where a civilization goes through a time of experimentation, where traditional power structures have lost their mooring and the culture fragments. Outside of this time period people have more of a connection to their family, to their friends, to their neighborhoods. The best agents are people who are willing to leave everything behind and not look back."

"And your world is going through that?"

"The Company started recruiting people after my Napoleonic wars but didn't really get started until after 1860 or so, the World Wars brought a bump in recruits. These days it's a pretty good recruiting ground for the Company."

"Where do they come from?"

"Japan produces the most recruits, then South Korea, then it just kind of goes through countries that have a certain level of alienation."

She smiled at me.

"So which country produces the best agents?"

I looked at her.

"Looking at the reports… Canada, hands down."

"So that's where you're from?"

"Um no… American, originally. We do a lot worse."

"How much worse?"

"In the middle, we do better than Japan but not by much."

"Why?"

"A successful agent, the best ones, know how to politely vanish into the background. Able to handle soul-crushing isolation, being flexible enough to deal with alien cultures, and a lack of the kind of cultural ego where you're absolutely certain that your way is the best way. Americans handle the isolation and flexibility well enough but our manners tend to be shit and we tend to have the ego to say we can change things and meddle when we shouldn't."

I paused.

"The Japanese handle isolation like pros, and have better manners, but they tend not to have the cultural flexibility to make it in most cases. When it comes to Acquisitions, Canada wins outright. If you look at my world's leaderboards, 9 of the top ten are Canadian and you got one guy from Singapore. The best agent my country sent out is some guy from Texas."

Korra blinked.

"So your world's pretty awesome?"

"Um, no. We die in droves, no matter what country. Acquisition just goes through people like a knife through butter. If I survive the next 10 Endbringers then I'm a success story, there are not a lot of those."

Korra looked sad.

"So you guys just die and what about us? You know, the ones left behind?"

"Company leaves a whole lot of damaged people in its wake, always has. You get a lot of waifu widows."

"Oh."

Korra drew her knees in and leaned against me.

"Is there any way we can help the agents?"

"Most of them are not happy cuddly people, the Company prefers introverts for a reason. Even then for the most part if we did help them… it would have to be indirect, you would never meet them."

"But we could still help."

I looked at Korra and her puppy dog eyes. At her heart, at the end of the day, she was a hero in a way I wasn't.

"We could set up a charity to help out, it would give you something to do and a way to help people. Honestly I should pay things forward, for Karma's sake if nothing else."

She hugged me and I got up.

"Thanks."



Zoe


Zoe

Heba looked at me.

"So? Can it be done?"

"Yeah and it has been done. I mean long-term infiltration missions like yours… well, you're not allowed to take charity from the Company but there are plenty of people working on things less covert who do need help."

Good. I had been through a lot and I knew how rough it could be out there.

"So what can we do?"

"Charities? Well charity for active agents is limited but you can send a suitcase's worth of supplies once a month, and offer 3 days worth of hospitality a year."

I blinked.

"That little?"

"Agents are supposed to be independent, and self-sufficient. Helping during a crisis is all right, pep talks too, but you're supposed to work your way up the chain on your own merits. It's not just because the Company is greedy, it's a security issue too. Some people get really bitter about things and then there is always the worry that an agent will go Robby."

I stared at her.

"Robby?"

Heba rolled her eyes.

"Damn you ROB, you asshole! This is all your fault and I am so going to get you."

She sighed.

"Most people go through that phase when they get dropped off in a location, a phase where they hate the boss or the Company. Most people adjust and move through it… you know, if they don't die."

"And Robby's?"

"They're the people who don't adjust. They get so focused on their anger that they get obsessed with it, dragged down by it. Sometimes they go rogue and start trying to kill their superior officer, their Rob. Normally they die, sometimes they pull it off though and kill their handler."

"And the Company kills them."

"No, then the Company does a review. Some handlers get corrupted by the power of the job, some people just need killing. Handlers who go around jerking around their agents, the ones who fuck with their people for the sake of it… We don't avenge them. We let the agent go, let bygones be bygones."

Heba paused.

"But if the handler was honest with their agent, if they tried to help and to be supportive? Then we put down the robby like the mad dog they are."

She closed her eyes.

"Every department gets a Robby sooner or later. in Acquisitions class B has the most, by far."

"Not class A?"

"Class A gets all of the power-mad psychos, for the most part they know how to handle them. Class B has the most because they have a habit of wiping their agents and sending them in blind. People hate that shit."

"Like him…"

"Dragon-boy's handler has been warned about that shit. At this point we are purposefully giving her more and more powerful agents. It's a warning, either shape up or one day you will get a Robby situation."

Heba shrugged.

"You met her. How do you think that is going to go?"

I grimaced.

"Yeah, I see what you mean. I still want to help."

"Maybe a care package for people starting out? 95% of the agents who die on the job die their first year. A care package and a message would really help them."

I thought about it.

"All right, I'm in."

It can't all be taking, you have to give back too



Korra


Korra

"Um hi."

The girl had blue eyes, bright pink hair, a yellow sundress, and looked terrified of everything.

"Welcome to um… Korra city?"

She took deep breaths and looked at her two children playing in the ball pit.

"They… They said you could help us, help me."

"Yeah, we're running a charity."

She took a deep breath. She was shivering, scared, terrified.

"Did your last master um abuse you?"

"NO!"

For a moment the shyness broke and I saw a flash of raw rage. She took a deep breath.

"No… Chris was a kind man, a good man. He was nothing but kind to me and was a good father and without him… Life is just harder."

"Why?"

"I'm better with animals than people, Chris handled people for me. He handled the world for me. Losing him…"

She shook.

"Losing him hurt."

"How long were the two of you together?"

"10 years, it wasn't enough time."

"What happened?"

"For the first five years things were fine and then I got sick, the only people who knew how to cure me were… well, the Company. They agreed but Chris had to pay off the debt."

"And?"

"And Chris's job was to buy drugs."

She looked away.

"Chris never sold it, never used it, kept the kids away… but someone had to buy it for the talent. He was killed in a drug deal gone wrong, three months ago. He was the breadwinner because people… I can't handle them. It's all just so much, you know."

She was panting.

"Take deep breaths."

"I wish he was here but he's not… They said you have a charity for widows?"

"Yes."

"I can't make the payments on the house and I can't function in a job, a real one."

"Can you do farm work?"

"I use to be a vet, I can help animals. As long as I don't deal with too many people at once, I should be fine."

"All right there is a place. It's on the outskirts of town but under the forcefield, so it should be safe."

"Thanks."

She smiled, she really was quite pretty.

"You're welcome, Fluttershy."



Zoe


Zoe

I heard a knock at the door.

"Come in."

Brandish walked in, in costume.

"Zoe, it's good to see you."

She sat down and looked at me calmly.

"How can I help you?"

"Well, I figured out that I became a grandmother and we both know that you're the reason for that."

She looked at me.

"I hope you're willing to take responsibility for what you did."

"Are you willing to give me permission to marry Amy?"

She smiled.

"Good boy, and of course."

I shrugged.

"So do you want something big and fancy?"

"Hmm… no. With all of the Endbringer attacks, a large wedding would be in bad taste. Also Amy has told me that she would rather just elope, she doesn't like crowds very much."

"So a service in front of a judge… we can at least dress up for it, right?"

Brandish sighed.

"I actually talked to Amy about it and she just wants something quiet and simple."

She looked frustrated.

"I actually kind of wanted to get her a nice wedding dress, make it special, but apparently she wants to follow in my footsteps."

"You did the same thing?"

"Married in front of a judge in jeans and a t-shirt. It was the bad old days and we didn't have a lot of family support, couldn't afford an expensive wedding. My sister got married on the beach."

"So when do you want the wedding?"

"It's really not up to me, but Amy wants it done over the weekend. Not a romantic bone in that girl."

"I thought you would be more um."

"Upset? Zoe… You have known Amy since you two were children, she's had a crush on you since you saved her when she was a child. You've been together longer than some married couples already and you have your own house, a steady career which makes you good money. You're Amy's rock. As far as I'm concerned it was only a matter of time until something like this happened, I've made my peace with it long ago."

She smiled.

"You have my blessing. Welcome to the family."



Amy Dallon


Amy Dallon

There is no ceremony, there are no vows. The two of us just sign some paperwork.

"And there you go."

And like that, it's finished.

"I want to move over to Zoe's place full time."

My mother nods.

"Sounds good to me, you want me to bring your stuff over?"

"Yeah, that sounds nice."

And that's it. I suppose we could go on a honeymoon but there doesn't seem to be any point. We have forever, and can go pretty much anywhere. Mom drives us to Zoe's place in silence and opens the door.

"Amy?"

"Yeah?"

"Whenever you need us; just remember: you're still a part of the family."

I smiled.

"Thanks, mom."

I take my husband's hand and we enter the house and I collapse, the door locks.

"How's the progress on the Endbringers going?"

He starts making some tea.

"We're now officially halfway done."

I felt sick.

"So ten more to go?"

"Yeah."

I stared out the window.

"You ever think about cleaning out the town? You have the power to do it."

"Kind of dealing with bigger issues."

I shrugged.

"Ok, after the world-saving stuff."

"Right now the governments of the world are on a full-court anti-Endbringer press, everyone is freaking out because they have been attacking like crazy with new ones showing up faster and faster."

"Yeah, that doesn't really answer my question."

"When the current crisis is over… The United States, pretty much all of the governments of the world in fact, are going to focus on rebuilding. Brockton bay is now the lynchpin to the United States' ability to trade with the greater multiverse. US companies are getting more and better tech, the industry is selling stuff like hotcakes, pretty much everyone is making a profit. When you don't have literal engines of destruction breathing round your back… What do you secure first?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"There is going to be a purge."

"Companies and countries do not like sharing their toys, especially the nice one, with gangs. On the other hand, governments also do not like sharing credit. if I do the purge order it won't be covert, or at least not covert enough. I can offer help and I can offer supplies but taking over the reins, not letting the PRT have this, that's going to be me pissing in their cereal. While I am powerful I do not need to go around making enemies with people I want to do business with."

I took it in.

"But we will help them."

"We have Nazis and a rage dragon that need to go down, so of course we are helping them."

I took it in.

"I haven't heard reports of the bomber joining the ABB."

"Mosty because I hired ninjas to take her into the PRT."

I frowned and then thought about it.

"It was the right move, why didn't you talk to me about it first?"

"You told me 'why don't we just get some ninjas to handle her before she makes it to the Bay'. I thought that was a request."

"Oh."

I sighed.

"Yeah. Thanks for taking my advice then."

The whistle blew, he poured two cups and we sipped our tea in quietness.

"You feeling ok?"

"Yeah, horny as fuck but ok… by the way it is my wedding night so you are helping me with that."

"Good, you need anyone else to come in?"

"If Karen's up for it it would be nice to bring her in."

He nodded his head.

"So next thing on the list, Zoe… our little friends."

"They still have two weeks."

I smiled.

"We got anything special for them?"

"Hmm, don't know quite yet. This whole crisis is kind of taking up all of my attention."

He sighed as his phone rang and looked at it.

"What is it?"

"Endbringer number 11."

He downed his tea and I hugged him and kissed him.

"Zoe?"

"Yeah?"

"Come back to me, ok? Remember, you have victory sex waiting for you at home."

"Good."

He smiled.

"I will do the weird stuff too."

He laughed.

"All right, I'm in!"

With those words he left, really wish the world would stop ending.



Orochimaru


Orochimaru

Anko looked at me.

"Having a good time, sensei?"

Entire worlds worth of knowledge and know-how at my fingertips?

"It's the second-best time of my life."

"Best time?"

I looked away.

"Not something I want to talk about."

"Right."

She pulled out some snacks and started eating.

"So I did some intel on our trade partner, managed to sneak into places I really shouldn't have been."

"And?"

"The people we contacted initially, they call themselves Slutlife. They do lots of stuff but their main focus is selling love."

She took another bite.

"I've read through your reports."

"Yeah, not exactly a big threat."

"I quite disagree, this is a group of people who are indescribably bigger, stronger, and meaner than us."

"Meh, we can take 'em. What do they have, love? That isn't shit against a good knife."

I turned around.

"That makes them scarier."

She stared at me.

"When I was a child I loved the third, he was my father figure and my mentor. I said that I would do anything for him. I did everything for him. He was the light of my life and every dark action, every horrible thing I did, was to win his approval. Just to see him smile and pat me on the head and tell me I was a good boy."

My voice was cold.

"I pushed myself beyond my limits, went on the most impossible and dangerous missions just because I loved him."

I paused.

"I loved Jiraya, romantically, but he liked women. While being gay isn't a crime here, I couldn't win his affections by being myself… So I changed myself and became a biological woman for him. I left my life behind and became a waitress, I listened to his every complaint, soothed his every wound. We almost got to the altar before I told him the truth."

I frowned.

"It went badly because you can't base a relationship on lies, I learned that the hard way but I also did that because of love. Love is one of the most powerful and dangerous things in the universe. If they control love… They are not to be trifled with."

Anko was silent.

"Got it, sensei… Got it in one."



Zoe


Zoe

"Wow."

"I know."

Amy sniffed me.

"Why do you smell like rotten eggs?"

"Acid Endbringer."

She grimaced.

"Did it get you?"

"I kind of had to regrow an arm, that was not fun."

I sat on the bed.

"You ok?"

"Well, my head is killing me."

I winced.

"What changed?"

"Don't know, I think I picked up… Going to have to check later what arcana I picked up."

She sighed.

"Bathroom, you need a shower."

"Yeah, I know. Prestidigitation is not clearing this shit up."

She took my hand and took me to the bathroom, smiling at the extra-large shower I had installed. We took off our clothing and I got soaped up, sitting on the built-in chair and cleaning myself with soap Amy had picked.

"Smells like roses."

"I know, I like the smell."

She soaped me up.

"So how does this change things?"

"We have enough for Ino to get her city-wide upgrade."

"Not more?"

"We have 10 extra points from last time and 20 points from this so next Endbringer should net us two city-wide upgrades, that's Hinata and Sloan's old spot."

"I think we should spend this upgrade on Sloan's spot, that handles more trade."

"It does but we have to go in order because of mystic resonance issues, it's a pain in the ass but we will get there."

Amy sniffed me.

"You're good."

I got up and grabbed her and bent her over the plastic chair, I took some time to rub her belly, Amy gave a light moan.

"What does that mean?"

"It means you marked me, it means I belong to you."

I nibbled her ear.

"I think you're going to be a great mom."

I entered inside her and she gripped the chair as we fucked, I forced her body to orgasm again and again and then, at the moment she went limp, I came inside her. She panted.

"So I was thinking you could tie me up."

I frowned.

"Last time we did that you got rope burn."

"I got some velvet ones this time, it shouldn't cause a problem."

"And you had to take 3 bathroom breaks, I had to tie the knots and as soon as I was done you needed to pee."

"Well that's a pregnancy thing, I can't help it, I need to pee all of the time."

"Before we do that you need to take a restroom break."

"Fine. Look, I promise you I won't need to as often as last time."

Amy did keep her promise: she needed to take 5 pee breaks. Still, after admiring that sweet slapable ass and perfects tits, I can't help but forgive her.



Power girl


Power girl

I looked at the list.

"All of this too much."

Zoe looked at me.

"What do you mean?"

"This suitcase it is heavy, yes? Too heavy, too noticeable. And the more things you add the less people you help because limited resources, yes?"

He nodded his head.

"You keep things simple, yes. You look at the major problems that get new agents in trouble, you solve them."

I pulled out a list.

"The first problem new agents have is the money, most commonly used form of money in multiverse is gold and silver."

"So how much gold."

"Some but focus on silver."

He leaned in.

"You'll have to explain that, Karen."

"A silver coin here is worth maybe 25 dollars, that's something that can be used in day-to-day transactions so is useful money. Gold is worth more, that makes it better at large purchases but horrible at the smaller day-to-day business that people do every day."

I looked at the list.

"I will look up what pay for a year is for average person and then try to roughly match that with coins. From the looks of it most people just need enough to get started and then, when settled, they make more money."

"Ok, good."

He looked at the list.

"Omnitools?"

"As it is too obvious, and not all agents have arms to put them around."

"So it's useless."

"No. I have looked through things, there is older model that fits around neck and can produce mass effect shield."

"How effective?"

"Not very it can only take clip of small fire before tweaking out. Is against company regulations to give such things as charity though."

"Oh."

"So we have it instead as music device, with button that turns on the shield. Since we use much older device, is very cheap. If agents discover it has shield on their own then that is not our fault, is loophole in system."

"Brilliant! How did you figure that out?"

"Life back home was lived in loopholes. So next thing, medicine."

"Potions?"

"Yes, people get hurt very easy first year. If they had potions chance of living goes up much higher."

"Ok, can do."

"Stick with healing potions, do not load people down with options. Options are things for when people have skill to use them, too many options too fast and people get paralyzed and not able to make decision quickly."

"Last option we need something for self-defense."

"Nothing magical, a basic case can prevent potions from showing up but from what I've read magical weapons tend to be very easy to track."

He looked through the computer.

"A gun."

"Is not bad idea but it needs to not have a problem with ammo, be easy to maintain, and easy to conceal."

"I found it."

I nodded my head.

"What is it?"

"Sidewinder pistol, it's an older model from the Mass Effect universe, it's a total rip off of Prothean design. It uses hard composites and Titanium ammo so it passes through most metal detectors without an issue."

"Sounds good, why not used most often?"

"After shooting 20 rounds it needs an entire minute to cool down. The one I'm looking at can't be modded and titanium ammo is more expensive than the standard iron blocks they use. But it has the power of a shotgun slug in a pistol form, is lightweight and incredibly tough to destroy. The Prothean design this is based on had guns that were unearthed in digs and still worked, and this is pretty much an exact copy."

"And ammo?"

"Each block has 2 million rounds. If your descendants ever need to reload, all they need is a titanium block that fits into the handle. Not even a big block, less than half a pound actually. Like I said this thing was built to be idiot-proof."

"Then we buy millions of them."

"Yeah."

He smiled.

"We are really doing this."

I kissed him.

"Yes, we are. How long until little Amy is finished with school?"

"Three more hours."

"Good! Once she is finished we have the sexy times."

After all, you can't live your life entirely without pleasure.



interview


PRT interview

PRT Rep- I would like to note that the 12th Endbringer, Jyestha, has been destroyed with minimal casualties.

CNN- Can you please give us the name of the hero responsible?

PRT Rep- We can not, because this was a team effort. Project Salvation is the outcome of the combined efforts of pretty much every tinker and thinker we have.

CNN- Can we at least get the name of the person who pulled the trigger?

PRT rep- Once again we can't, because it was a team effort. What I can tell you is that the PRT now has eleven Endbringer kills under its belt. I don't think anyone else in the world can boast that record, right?

CNN- So you're telling us that you can't give us any names?

PRT rep- We can gladly get you the names of the numerous tinkers who worked on project Salvation, after the crisis is over."

CNN- Why not now?

PRT rep- Because, if we do, these brave men and women might become targets of Endbringer cultists or villains. For security reasons we have to keep their IDs, both public and private, secret for their own safety. I am really sorry about this but the fate of the human race is at stake so we have to follow those procedures.

CNN- So you're going to leave us in the dark?

PRT Rep- Not completely, I came here for an announcement. According to our intelligence, there are only 20 Endbringers.

CNN- Dear god. Twenty?

PRT Rep- I know it's horrifying but we have made more progress this year than we have made pretty much ever. We are officially past the halfway point. I know it's scary, I know it's terrifying, but we will all pull through this. Together as a country and a species.



Zoe


Zoe

"120 million."

Heba sounded tired.

"That's it?"

"That is the total number of agents that you're allowed to help."

"Considering the size of the company, that seems… small."

"You're offering safe houses, weapons, financial aid, medical help, that's the start of a patronage network."

"My intentions-"

"The fact that your intentions are good just makes a patronage network stronger and more powerful in the long run. Officially your numbers are limited because they have measured your resources and this is what is needed to be effective. Unofficially? It's to limit your influence on the Company until they have a better idea of your goals."

Heba smiled.

"They're not angry and you're not stepping on any toes, this is actually a normal thing for someone in your position to do. Everyone in higher management has a patronage network of some kind and it is normal for someone of your rank to have one. The fact that there is a limit, instead of a hard no, is a sign the company respects your power."

"Why do you think that?"

"Right now you hold the rank of viscount, viscounts are usually limited to an agent patronage network of around 20 million. The company is showing their faith in you by giving you a count's worth of influence, however it has got to stay as purely charity as possible until you're officially promoted."

"And then?"

"And then, when they come in bloodied and battered and desperate, you can offer them your patronage. If they accept you can help them out further with things like armor and supplies. In turn, you can then call in favors from time to time. I have reading for you, if you want to look into it."

"I do."

"Good, now you're not expected to offer patronage to every agent you meet, that would be insanity, but even doing this much will increase your standing in the Company and makes promotion more likely."

"Good to know."

Heba looked at me.

"We are making progress, I just want you to know that. But also understand that the position of count involves much more than that of viscount. I have been told to let you rest and have a few generations of family time and fun because you're not ready to move into the high nobility, but you are making progress."

I hadn't made any thoughts of moving up the chain, after all I had other things on my plate.

"Thanks for your advice, Heba."

"Winter also wants to talk to you, she needs your help on a project."

"Tell her I will be there soon."



Zoe


Zoe

I sat down at a chair, Winter nodded.

"Zoe."

"Winter."

She looked at me.

"We wish to buy a spaceship."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Let me guess: you want me to buy it for you?"

"The price for a good one seems to be rather significant."

Winter looked at me and sighed sliding something forward.

"We contacted the First Order, and the Quarians, with all of our requirements. This is how much it would cost."

I looked at the number and then at Winter, I went to the computer and typed things in and then frowned.

"Yeah… That's more than the GDP of California."

"We need to go in with absolute force."

"4 trillion dollars… No, just no."

"Look there has to be a way for you to purchase this."

"The only material that's high value enough to purchase this is Beskar, and I would need 10 million pounds of it."

Winter calmly looked at me.

"Star Destroyers are expensive, it takes the economies of entire star systems to build the things. The First Order is a multi-planetary empire, small by its universe's standards but that still leaves them with a level of resources and numbers that is huge. Your country, Atlas, is one of the great powers of your world but its economy is around the state of Nebraska."

Winter frowned.

"You're going to say you have more advanced technology than Earth Bet and that isn't quite true, there are quite a few ways that Earth Bet is ahead of you. As they don't have an army of Grimm to deal with they can adapt to the technology of the other worlds in the network faster than you."

"Our people are in danger."

"We have limited resources, and we can not afford to buy a Star Destroyer. We can't afford a lot of things."

I brought up a note.

"The best ship we can currently afford is the Raider class corvette."

I brought up an image and stat file Winter read through it.

"The model is obsolete."

"It's more advanced than any technology your world has ever produced and, unlike the Star Destroyer, it is both within budget and is something the First Order would be willing to sell to us."

Winter bit her lip.

"If we buy it then it is my property, not Atlas property. I am willing to lend it to the cause but if you're thinking about doing what I think you're doing then I want you to fully understand that I expect Atlas and the other governments of Remnant to compensate me for this loss."

"Millions of lives are at stake."

"That is true all across the multiverse, Winter. I am not willing to spend these kinds of resources unless I receive fair compensation. It does not have to be upfront, I am willing to agree to an installment plan and because I am essentially immortal I can afford to wait but there will be compensation."

I got up.

"Take the offer to Atlas, ok? You might be disappointed but I am certain that, once they see the stats, they will be willing to come to a deal."

Winter sighed.

"Very well. Thank you, husband."

She got up and walked away, it might not seem nice but I couldn't let people walk over me. At the end of the day, this was a business.



Zoe


Zoe

Blades shatter.

"Vulcan is heading north."

Just because I can kill things on my little world, it doesn't make the process any easier.

"Setting up defenses, Karen."

It's getting easier to manipulate the environment of my world, but that doesn't mean this is made any easier. Flurries of blades fly out, the numerous servitors are dying, entire forests' worth of plant material destroyed in an instant. It's not enough and I feel just a little bit of moss get in between the cracks of the Endbringer's armor.

That's all I need. With my power magnified here, that is all I need. I create more cracks, more fault lines. A haze of seeds crawls in and starts devouring the creature from within, an entire ecosystem searching for the core. It takes half an hour before this ever-evolving mass finds it and cracks it, the creature screams as it dies.

"Karen? Contact corporate, tell them I want upgrades for Virgo and Libra."

"Got it."

I winced as the feedback loop hit me. 13th end bringer to arrive, 12th one down.

"What's happening?"

"Just felt my Matter arcana go up a notch."

I hated this part of the process.

"Got bad news."

"Lay it on me, Karen."

"Two Endbringers are hitting Moscow, they're requesting aid."

"That's three in one day."

"No one said life was fair."

She stopped.

"Getting a portal ready."

"Send me supplies."

"Can do. Look at it this way: if we pull this off that's 14 of the damned things gone, and we get 4 city upgrades instead of 2."

"I know."

The portal opened and I put on fresh armor and loaded weapons, then another opened and I flew into the cold. It was a blizzard and I saw an army of the dead devouring the Russian people.

"What's the situation."

"We have a zombie maker and an ice master."

I activated the magic on my armor and rocketed forward. I ignored the smell of stench and decay and blasted a skeleton-like creature, that vanished with a pop, then I noticed a dragon made out of Ice and blasted that. I opened a portal and suddenly I was in a desert.

The two creatures screamed and roared and I unleashed summoning circles, magic, and endless monsters and plant growth. I turned the ice monster's power against itself and ripped it apart, I ignored the migraine and focused on the death monster. The creature killed everything that touched it, turning it against me, so I stopped my old tactics and just focused on the large amount of moisture and used the earth to keep it still as I moved a lake's worth of water through crevices until I cracked its core. It let out a final scream and I hit the ground.

Tired and exhausted.

"Company has confirmed 3 kills."

"Confirm upgrades for Sagittarius and Scorpio."

I took off my helmet and threw up.

"Hurting?"

"Yeah, unbelievably so."

I winced.

"Only one more Endbringer and we are finished with city upgrades."

"Thank god."

I sat down.

"How much longer until Taylor runs out of time?"

"One week."

I hit the ground.

"Something to look forward to, then. Please send someone to pick me up, I'm going to pass out for a bit."

I let the darkness claim me as I went to sleep.



Zoe


Zoe

I put an Ice pack on my forehead.

Karen gave me a look of sympathy.

"So how are you doing?"

"Well, I feel like shit still."

It was if anything even worse than last time.

She looked at me.

"Well… good news, bad news."

"Give me both."

"You only have six more Endbringers to go, and one more Endbringer kill completes the castle set."

I nodded at the news.

"Ok, bad news."

"You're changing."

"I gathered."

"No, you are becoming less human."

She motioned for me to sit down and I did so.

"With each Endbringer kill, a little of its power goes to you."

"And most of it to the Company."

"Yes but that power is being absorbed by this world, 13 Endbringers had to be sacrificed to start the process."

"I already achieved apotheosis."

"Into one state. This is the next one, the first 13 Endbringers were the setup, the next 7 start the creation of your new body."

I stared at her.

"What are you talking about?"

"Each Endbringer kill after the 13th one creates a chakra and binds itself to one of your chakras. When the process is complete the world will become your true body, your current one will just be an avatar."

I frowned.

"What's the downside."

"When you become an outsider you have to follow outsider rules. You will become unbelievably powerful but your avatar can be banished by anyone who knows the tricks, or warded off. There are ways around this but it takes time to learn how to do it and there aren't any good shortcuts for figuring them out."

"When the stars align great C'thulu will awake and the world will be his."

"No one ever talks about how rare it is for stars to be aligned."

Karen looked at me.

"What's the Company's game?"

"From the look of it? They want to limit any damage you do once the harvest is over. I've read through a lot of Company notes and the last thing they want is someone with your power going on a rampage of revenge."

"I take it this has happened?"

"Quite a few times. From what I'm looking at once this is over they will leave you alone, and will respect our autonomy. We will have reached the point where causing you trouble is not worth it. They will take their cut and leave us in relative peace but our ability to strike at the company will be limited."

I took it in.

"If I don't do this Earth Bet is essentially fucked."

"Yes."

She slid me some paperwork.

"It's an unlimited multiverse."

"We could just walk away, or essentially retire. The Company would have had its profit and achieved its aims, our story with them will be over."

I thought about it.

"I think… that I am getting tired of fighting, a semi-retirement sounds nice."

Karen nodded her head.

"Whatever happens, I'm with you."

I got up and left through a portal. I took some time to walk around the bay and notice how it was more crowded, more prosperous. People didn't notice me as I walked around, I was a face in the crowd as I made my way home and sat down. A doorbell rang and I got up.

Taylor looked at me.

"Mind if I come in?"

"All right."

She took a deep breath and walked inside. I locked the door and she nodded and sat down. I took a look at her as she seated herself, no electronics and no weapons.

"You have 6 days left."

"I know."

She looked down.

"I don't think I can do it."

I smiled.

"You know the price."

"Yeah, I do."

She bit her lip.

"So what happens when I lose?"

"I think I've been pretty honest about that."

She nodded her head.

"Why me?"

"Believe it or not I do honestly think you would be a good mother."

"Oh."

"And your ability to multitask would be useful for my organization. You're a good practical choice, also you have nice legs."

She blushed.

"So what's the plan?"

"As much as I would like to claim my prize, I am kind of dealing with the Endbringer crisis. You and your friend Emma would have until I finish dealing with it to get your affairs in order."

"Then what?"

"Then we create some clones without any brain tissue and fake your deaths."

Taylor blinked.

"That will destroy my father."

"For the first year, yes, it will. But it will also cut the last tie he has to the past. He will be able to move on."

Taylor stared at me.

"What?"

"Right now what does your father spend his time doing when he gets home? Does he brood over the past and what he lost?"

Taylor looked away.

"So let us say that he gets an offer to buy his house, a better paying position in some nice place with a beach. You're not here anymore so why stay? And if he finds a nice woman, well no reason to not give her a chance. Your father is currently living like his life is currently over but if he cuts his ties then he can move on with his life, he can start again."

Taylor frowned.

"So I'm just making things worse?"

"More like you're an excuse. If you graduated and moved to another town it would have the same effect: the last tie is cut, what now? Well, the choices are self-destruction or starting again and your father is more resilient than you give him credit for. He could be happy if he let go of the past."

Taylor took it in.

"I have to move on too, don't I?"

"Everything ends in time, but endings are also beginnings."

She nodded.

"Thank you."



Life in the game


AN: Random Omake idea for 1 Newbie.

Playing it Safe

Alex panted shakily as he leaned into the back wall at the alley he was in, gritting his teeth together and feeling the aching in his left arm. He had been shot, and it hurt, but he was still alive and his opponent was not. He didn't really have to fear cops coming after him, as life on Omega was always a violent one. At least the boisterous thug had thought him easy prey and underestimated just how dangerous the young man could be. He had been shot, but he had got his hands on a gun in exchange. Trying to look on the positive side of things, he groaned out slightly as he held his bleeding left arm and sighed.

He'd need to see one of the doctors about this. He wasn't bullet proof, and he wasn't exactly healing at an astounding rate either. He was alive however, and the guy who tried to mug him was dead in a ditch, with Alex holding onto their gun, and their money. That didn't make him feel any less pathetic.

It was supposed to be a safe option, Mass Effect was a very cool world and he wanted to see it, and maybe get a little harem of Asari women going on later on. He'd chosen the ability to cook so that people would fall in love with his cooking, and touch someone in a way that would make them experience a thrill that others would have to work hard to match. He had picked an option that seemed to be less dangerous, no crisis going on and he should have had a relatively easy time making friends and allies, and he had immortality on his side already. Eternal youth anyway, he was pretty sure a gunshot in the head would put him in the ground just the same as everyone else.

He needed to make some allies though, and slip on a classy choker onto them. Each one gained would in turn grant him more power to make more choices, and in due time, he expected to have the means to escape this place before a crisis would start. Unfortunately, he had expected to land somewhere safer, like Citadel, or a human colony. Instead, he'd found himself in a back alley on Omega, much like the one he was in at the present time.

Alex expected things to work out better than they had, and he was paying for it. If not for his choice in picking a sweet home, he'd have been homeless, and he was still without any documentation, the money he had was what he had scrounged up doing some chores and little tasks, and the amount taken off the dead mugger. Another human, he thought briefly.

He had not picked any companions off the start, figuring he'd try and charm someone himself and gain more points through those acts, but he had no idea where everyone might be, he was early, before any crisis had began, and that meant he would have to look for others who he could guess, or those who were not quite so well known but might provide points. The only figure he could recall from the top of his head at the location he was at was Aria, and he doubted he would have a chance to get anywhere close to her, let alone slip a choker on her. Offering one as a gift would likely see her sniff at it and throw it into trash, if he even got anywhere near her. Yeah, not really an option.

At least the choker he'd put on himself allowed him to adjust his looks further if he so chose, so slipping away with another look if he got too well known at some point was an option, but he needed a doc to take a look at his arm soon, and then see about getting some food to his fridge. Taking care of the basic needs first, trying to improve from there, he was at least grateful the company issue smart-phone did allow him to browse some content on the net. Including some manuals for how to train himself in a number of physical skills, and how-to-guides for a number of other things. He could also start practicing his shooting at some point now that he had a gun, martial arts were not the best option in the futuristic world, especially out of armor and facing a gun.

Snorting, he let out a tired sigh as he considered how badly he had messed up, he hadn't thought it was real when the thing was presented to him first, had thought it a fever dream or something, and had rolled with it, figuring it was a fun little fantasy to enjoy before things would get worse. He had been right on the getting worse, less so on the enjoying things, and definitely wrong on it being a mere fever dream.

Theoretically, he had immortality, a rocking body, and a capability to alter his looks as well as learn physical skills and combat skills quickly. He should be looking at a promising future. Yet he was a ghost, no paperwork existed about him, and he was outside the system stuck in a crime-riddled asshole of the Terminus system, dreaming big but failing to even get his foot in the doorway.

He'd thought of heading to Worm, cashing in a ton of points, and trying to make a speedrun towards leaving the place behind before one of the Endbringers stomped on him or Scion took a good look at him and burnt him to ash. He'd decided he wanted something else, safer choice. Just in case the fever dream was less of a dream and real. He'd thought he was being smarter, playing it safe.

Instead, he had trapped himself in a no-win scenario for now, and had to keep struggling to keep himself afloat long enough to break through and improve, get on the move, and start making some headway into gaining more power and options. He wasn't going to give in so easily, but damn.

His arm was seriously killing him. The tingling had settled down at least, he was pretty sure whatever the thug had used in the gun's mods wasn't healthy for him, but his body was made tougher at least, so while he had a hole in him, he didn't expect it to be able to do worse than that. Poisons or radiation damage shouldn't affect him, that was one of his preparations even in the less than optimal mind-set he had when things were put together to start with in case he ended up leaving the starting world to drop out in Fallout of all places.

Hurrying along at a steady step, he passed a few people glancing his way, but then ignoring him. Someone bleeding from a gunshot was hardly a new sight in this place, and he was heading to the neighborhood's doc. Unfortunately a certain Salarian was not around to be found, at least yet, so he had to resort to a back-alley clinic with over-priced dose of medigel and basic check-up and scans.

Just another day. Got to keep going. Try or die.

Spoiler: Build

Destination: Mass Effect (Tier IV)

Credits Budget: 140 - "No Remorse" level

Mode: Me and my Girlfriend(s) (PvE): 1.0x intensity

Origin: Drop-In (0)

"You are you. You have no documentation, no social advantages, nothing in your new world save the clothes on your back, your knowledge of fiction, personal skills, and of course any Company products you purchase."

Controls

Bindings: Tempest Jewelry (10)

Lures: Sticky Fingers (5), Faerie Feast (10)

Other: Tempest Jewelry: Runes I (10), Tempest Jewelry: Runes II (20), Tempest Jewelry: Runes III (10), Apportation (25)

Heritage: None

Talents: Everlasting Talent (10), Body Talent (Free; Te.Je.R:II), Martial Talent (5)

Defenses: Body Defense (15)

Demiplanes & Dungeons: Pocket Apartment (20)

Points Left: 0

New Points Earned: 0



Zoe


Zoe

People screamed as they ran in terror from an army of shadow monsters, I saw a creature that looked like a grim reaper in the distance.

"Can't even give me a week off!"

I don't know what city I'm in, only that it's some place in Turkey. Seriously only one day off and I have another one of these fuckers on my plate.

"Be careful, Zoe."

I nod at Heba's words and rocket forward through the endless numbers of monsters. I get close and shoot, a popping sound is my reward a portal opens and I'm back in the desert. The creature roars and then the environment turns on him. It's easier now, much easier. The world answers to my demands faster, experience has taught me much, and the creature screams as its core cracks.

"15 down."

"Upgrade the last two cities."

"I will inform Tali and Hermione of the changes."

I slowly settle down to earth and grimace as I see the world off-kilter.

"Right… so, the death arcana."

"How are you doing?"

"Well right now all of my senses are getting overwhelmed by death and decay, Heba, so… yeah, not a 100 percent."

"Congratulations, you are now a Disciple of death."

"That sounds like a metal band."

"There is actually a metal band with that name on Earth Bet."

"Ha! Knew it."

I paused.

"Where am I at on the arcana front?"

"You are currently Adept level in Life, Mind, and Spirit magic."

She paused looking through files.

"You have reached Disciple in Death, Matter, Time, Space, and Fate."

I heard the flipping of pages.

"You are an apprentice in Prime and forces, smart money is that the next two Endbringer kills will raise those last two to disciple levels, and the last three will bring your Adept levels to a master level."

I nodded my head.

"Some good news: while you're on your place of power you will have access to the entirety of your worlds' ley line network. So, functionally unlimited mana and paradox does not apply."

"And when I leave?"

"When you leave you only have access to the mana you have and what you can get on that world, and if you push reality too far it will punch you in the face."

"But only if I don't rely on other abilities?"

"Yep. Stick within your theme and you can do a whole lot of things. Just keep in mind that being hard to kill is not the same as being impossible to defeat. Banishment spells and wards will now work on you."

"I know, people told me."

I winced.

"Any more Endbringer apperances?"

"No."

"Good… got a social meeting with Greg today."

I used prestidigitation, got into my office, and put on regular clothing. I put in some eye drops and waited.

"Zoe."

I got up.

"Greg, good to see you."

I gave him a hug.

"How is it going? You know with the um."

Greg grimaced.

"Amy's doing all right."

"Got to say, I didn't expect you of all people to end up a teenage dad."

"I've always done things early, this is just one more thing."

I got up and winced.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, just finished a long day."

"Good, Charlotte's waiting for us."

We left my office and got outside, Charlotte hugged Greg. I stumbled.

"Sorry."

She looked at me.

"You ok, Zoe?"

"Yeah, it's just… um Amy can be a little rough."

Charlotte looked over at Greg and raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

She smirked at him.

"I can't help it, I'm just you know big and um stuff."

She turned back to me.

"Don't worry, I understand."

"If this is about that time, I didn't mean to hurt you… I just, you know-"

Charlotte gave Greg a kiss.

"It's ok, I like having you around big guy."

Greg blushed and stuttered, Charlotte put an arm around him and we walked out.

"Where to?"

"There's a good restaurant over in the district that serves Atlas food, I want to try it out."

I nodded at Charlotte.

"Let me guess, I get to pay?"

"Of course."

I shrugged, the disadvantage of being rich but not one I mind too much.



Wrex


Wrex

Back home, I'm a hero. Here, in the Citadel, I'm no one.

"You decide to take the job?"

"Yeah."

He handed me a suitcase and I opened it.

"We have the stuff."

"What now?"

"You will wait here for Jane Shepard and tell her you have a bounty on Saren. She is currently going to Eden Prime where we have cameras hidden, watching the place and him. When Jane comes back here we will have evidence of his crimes, and give them to you. Officially we will have been hired by the man Saren killed, to avenge him in the event of his betrayal."

"Got it."

I looked at the flowers.

"Anything else?"

"Saren has a cloning facility for Krogans, his goal is to flash clone them and use them as organic weapons platforms."

"Is it a cure?"

"No mind, no ability to think, just a point-and-click weapon."

"Slaves then."

I stared at the flowers.

"I think I will stick to our current arrangement."

"It does seem to work for us, doesn't it?"

There was already a new generation of Krogan… My clan was back, it would survive, the means to save my people was here. so I waited, waited and waited.

"We have the data stick."

I looked at the Quarian.

"This the evidence?"

"One of the many pieces."

I nodded my head and was told of a location. I went and waited outside the Council chambers until the specter walked out, angry.

"We have mutual enemies."

She froze.

"What?"

"I was hired by the Specter that Saren killed, to avenge him in the event of his death. I have evidence that Saren killed him."

The woman looked at me.

"I want everything."

"And I want my bounty, you help me and I will help you."

I held out my hand and she shook it, from there we went to the Human embassy, then we played the tapes. It was an open and shut case. Saren was a traitor and Shepard was made a Specter to shut him down. My job was simple: protect her at all costs. I wasn't prepared for what lied ahead, not prepared for it at all.

You see no one warned me that she drove like a maniac.



Simon Sanchez


Simon Sanchez

Daenerys Targaryen, you know she's hotter in real life than in the show.

"We need to get up, my love."

I'm in a variant universe, her brother decided to make a deal with a cult. In return for helping his family get back home, he would sacrifice his sister and summon a champion. They ended up contacting the Company instead, Danny gets to live but she belongs to me now. If the man had been more polite he would have lived.

He's dead now, the cult is following me and Danny's now my girl but here's the downside: I have a job, get her on the throne. Upsides? I have magic and I'm now damned good with tech. I also have a smoking hot girlfriend and 3 dragon eggs. Downsides? I don't have any money and I have to topple a county. If I fail, well, that's death.

It's only now, in my post nut clarity, that I see it, see exactly what I am dealing with.

"Um, yes."

She shook her ass and I took a breath.

I would never see my family again and when that hit me, well… I felt joy. Does that sound bad? Mom slept around, I had no idea who my dad was. My grandparents were dead, and I worked a dead-end job and lived in a shitty apartment with my alcoholic brother. Life was not good but this is dangerous and I am terrified.

"We have to get dressed, my love."

She shook her ass and I put my clothing on as my girl, my woman, went to get something to eat. I felt my heart beat hard in my chest as I panicked, and then I saw a suitcase. I opened it, there was a letter and I grimaced.

"I don't understand English."

I had lived my entire life in La Paz, I tried to remember that class I took in English in high school.

"Activating translation feature."

The writing changed and I sighed in relief. Ok… Healing potions, a gun, some music and some cash.

I picked up the gun. I had never used one before in my entire life, I looked at the holster in the suitcase and put it on. I felt better. I was still over my head, still facing down impossible odds… but I had a gun, I had cash, I had magic potions and the single hottest piece of ass I had ever had in my life.

I was ready, I could do this.



The SD


Joe Barker

I looked at the comic shop.

"Ok, another day."

I opened the door and Eugene smiled at me.

"Hey, Joe."

"Hey, Gene."

"You're late."

"I don't live here, Gene, and traffic is hell around the district."

"I know and I'm cutting you slack but we only have an hour before we open and we need to get the comics out."

"Got it."

Our shop was located on Weeb street. Yes, that was its actual name. The special district is 10 square miles in the north of the city, when they were making it they decided to dedicate 12 city blocks to nerd and geek shit. It's wall to wall hobby shops, cafes, and other stuff, all of it located like a circle around a convention ground.

All the buildings on Weeb street were 3 stories tall, all of them had even larger Endbringer shelters under them that doubled as living space that the owners were allowed to use. All of the buildings had super high-tech solar on them and the city's fusion plant supplying extra power meant that power was cheap.

The rent deal was simple: either 10% of your profits or rent based on theoretical property values, everyone took the 10% because sales were unpredictable. Things were slow at first but when things went multi-dimensional the sales of everything took off.

I opened boxes with Eugene and started staking the books, manga, comics, DVDs, RPGs, dice, and an increasing amount of nerd shit from around the multiverse. When we were finished he flipped the sign and sighed.

"Any Star Wars shit?"

"No."

"Thank god."

I looked around and saw Stormtroopers walk into the store.

"Ugh… Mind if we take off our helmets?"

"Put them on the shelf."

They did so and I looked them over by habit. They were a collection of humans, males and females, and one guy with tentacles on his head.

"I hate wearing those things!"

"I know, it's hard to see shit out of those visors."

They scattered around the store, searching for things to buy. I noticed they looked for the more adult stuff and they quickly made their purchases and left.

"Not ever going to be used to that."

"Their money is just as good as anyone's else, just don't bring up the Death Star."

I shrugged.

"So, I'm getting married soon?"

I looked at Eugene, fat ugly Eugene.

"Popo?"

"Yep."

"You popped the question?"

"No, she asked me."

I froze.

"I said yes. Because there isn't a way in hell I can do better."

I smiled.

"Damn straight."

I looked outside.

"Lucky bastard."

"Yeah, I know it! In other news, I've lost weight."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Popo's feeding me healthier stuff and work requires a lot of lifting… so, you know, losing weight. I think this marriage thing will be good for me."

The door opened and a girl with cat ears walked in, we went silent as she looked around and then bought some RPGs and left.

"You think that's natural?"

Eugene looked at me.

"Yeah she works over at the maid cafe down the street, they hire Faunus and stuff. Popo took me there once."

"Had fun?"

"No, it just kind of felt weird and awkward… Unnatural, you know? It's not the girls, by the way, but the act. You see what I mean?"

"Yeah, I get it."

I sighed.

"I don't know if I can get used to this, man."

"I'm making six figures this year so I am very willing to get used to this."

"You're shitting me."

"We completely sold out of product yesterday so I shit you not."

Yesterday was crazy.

"Yeah, every time First Order has shore leave on the other side it gets insane."

I looked outside.

"You don't flirt with the female customers."

"It's hard to care about fast food hamburgers when you have steak waiting for you at home."

I watched a girl with bunny ears walk past in a maid outfit.

"I'd kill for a hamburger about now."

Eugene shrugged.

"We got a load of body pillows coming in at 2."

"That shit is creepy as hell."

"It's some of our best-selling stuff."

"You know what they do with it, right?"

"I'm getting married soon and plan on having kids of my own, that shit is expensive."

I sighed.

"Going to keep living here or will you move out?"

"I've got a five-bedroom house in the shelter, rooms are tiny but that should be alright for a family… and the rent and housing costs outside the district are insane."

I sighed with sympathy.

"I know, I was thinking about getting a place on the other side of the portal."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's less expensive than living here in some places."

"Do your research, ok? Some of those places are dangerous."

"I know, but they're opening housing in a city called Pisces. It's kind of like Neo-Venice, rent is cheap even if there isn't anything to do there at the moment."

"Hmm… well you got to do what you got to do. Tell me how it goes, ok? If it's nice I might buy a place there myself."

The door opened and we smiled as more customers walked in.



Hermione Granger


Hermione Granger

My master sat down across from me.

"So how are things settling down?"

I looked over at him and looked at my growing belly.

"Which thing do you want to talk about?"

"Well, I guess a lot of things."

I shrugged.

"So far my breasts have been getting bigger and more tender. I've also been a lot more hungry than normal, you know I hated pickles but I have been craving them like crazy lately. I thought I'd throw up more but so far it's been a lot milder than I thought it would be."

He nodded his head.

"How's the castle."

I shrugged.

"It's nice and the pool, the one that isn't dedicated to healing potions, is nice too."

I paused.

"How's the new city upgrade going?"

I smiled.

"I've actually been testing it out! It's got a lot of potential to make things back home a lot better."

He nodded his head.

"So how are you adjusting to the Harem life?"

"Honestly better than I thought, I guess it helps that I was mentally prepared for this."

"Really?"

"Yeah, the governments had programs to encourage the spread of magic genes for a while. Wizards often have a witch wife and several muggle concubines."

Even Ron had multiple girlfriends.

"So I guess that makes things easier?"

I looked down on the floor.

"I read up about what you are, what you're becoming."

"I've made peace with that, Hermione."

I crossed my legs.

"You could do a lot of good with that power, or a lot of evil."

"I'm thinking of just spending time in semi-retirement. Some trade, women and family time."

I felt a sense of relief.

"Good."

I looked at him.

"You need to do it, you know? Having sex… it's in your nature."

"And how does that make me different than any other man."

I shrugged.

"Good point."

I looked at him.

"I think you're going to need our help or you're going to go crazy."

He looked at me.

"You're probably right about that."

He gave me a hug.

"Want me to cook you dinner?"

"Will it have pickles?"

"As many as you want."



Amy Dallon


Amy Dallon

I watched as Tornadoes wrecked the landscape, obliterating everything in their path, then I looked at a top-down map and saw the incoming hurricane.

"Zoe."

"Kind of busy now, Amy."

"You're being careful, right?"

"As careful as someone can be in a hurricane the size of Rhode Island."

"Well better there than Java, right?"

I heard a popping sound on the other end.

"GOT YA!"

He panted on the other side.

"Damn that was hard."

"Only 4 more to go."

"Yeah, Amy, I know. Contact the company, dear? We can afford five royal stamps so you girls can create your own pacts."

"How many of those do we have?"

"Right now just one, so this brings it up to 6 and we just need 7 more."

A portal opened and Zoe walked through. I noticed he was missing both arms, he looked at me and placed his stumps against a tree. I watched as he pulled away wood, branches became limbs and he flexed new hands.

"You ok?"

"Yeah."

He looked at his hands.

"4 more to go."

"Any idea what else will come?"

"Um one of them will manipulate time and space and other than that no."

He frowned.

"Really sick of Leviathan hiding from me though."

"At least we have 2 known quantities."

"That somehow doesn't make things much better."

He took off his clothing and I watched wounds heal before my eyes as he put on some stuff that wasn't wrecked.

"So… the stamps?"

"Are proof of office. Instead of having one shift around the thirteen of you, we now have 6 individual ones."

"Which leaves you fighting another Endbringer."

"Yeah but that's going to happen no matter what, this should be easier though. We just need two Endbringer kills and we have the entire set paid for."

"Then what?"

"Then we can do whatever we want with whatever is left."

He winced.

"In pain?"

"Yeah… Prime just got upgraded and the light of the leylines is messing with me."

"You good for this date?"

"Not much choice."

The portal opened and we walked through, we waited and the door rang.

"Amy?"

"Vicky, Good to see you. Come in."

We hugged and I tried not to sniff her hair.

"How is the married life treating you?"

"Pretty good, I have some space to myself for a bit."

I frowned as Vicky's boyfriend walked in.

"You guys make something?"

"Yeah, Zoe made pasta."

"Good."

We set up dinner and Zoe tried to hide the look of PTSD on his face as my sister talked about Fashion and the four of us tried to fake being normal for a while. I don't think any of us pulled it off.



Zoe


Zoe

"You ok?"

My arms are being ripped off.

"Sure, Greg."

I scream on the ground and roll, ignoring the bleeding, moving past the pain and agony as something impales me.

"You don't look ok?"

"It was just a rough day at work."

He looked at me.

"Ok."

I finished dinner with Vicky and Dean last night without too much trouble.

"What happened?"

"One of the subs was being a pain to fix."

I grimaced as the last fight came back to me, it was going to be a bitch to suppress this one.

"Right… Just promise me you will take it easy."

"Wish I could make that promise."

I gave him a hug and he left. I went back to my house, I felt time stop and froze.

"Oh shit."

A woman with red hair in a business suit walked out.

"Z38."

I froze.

"Do you work with the Company?"

I felt a cold sweat. This was someone much higher on the food chain than me, I could sense that.

"Yes, higher rank but different department."

She looked at me.

"Sit down?"

I did so and she looked at me.

"So I work in containment. You see there are a lot of dumb shits who get off on the idea of mass destruction, galaxy, universe, world, attempted multiversal, all of that and my job is to try to contain that fuckery as much as possible so it doesn't spread."

She looked at me.

"Thanks for help setting up the memetic weaponry, dealing with Entities is a bitch."

"Um, you're welcome."

"Right. So I'm here to thank you for the black dragon mission."

"The Company paid me."

"I know but bets were held and I won a large amount, enough to help fund a lot of missions."

I suddenly knew what she was.

"I thought the Tribunal was against meddling in the affairs of lesser races."

"The Tribunal has a vested interest in helping keep things like Entities in check, being in a higher dimensional power level doesn't make you invincible. That said I made a lot of money and I have a bit of a grudge against a certain clown who made the mistake of making things personal. I've put quite a bit of funding into a certain TV show and I want to thank you in person."

I looked at her.

"You're welcome."

I paused.

"Your husband still has that problem with the boyscout?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Unlike him, I can be professional about my grudges."

"Why him?"

She sighed.

"I'm not the first person in corporate to marry a supermodel bimbo and I won't be the last."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Imps have a different standard of beauty than you do."

She stretched.

"So congratulations on the mission. And another thing…"

"Yeah?"

"Don't go Robby on us, none of us need that bullshit in our lives."

"Got it."



Zoe


Zoe

This one was all about the forcefields.

"Anything working?"

Another attack failed.

"Nope."

I thought about it and sensed the creature. I found its core and then I began to write on the ground.

"Zoe?"

"Working on something, Amy."

A circle formed under the creature and then I pulled out a gun and fired. I waited and watched as the creature screamed.

"What happened?"

"Turned its forcefields against it, made it so it would increase the power of an attack instead of weakening it."

"So that's?"

"7 minutes, I think that's a record."

"You're alone on console, Amy?"

"Yeah. It's late, Karen is handling business, and Heba is dealing with the baby so it's just me. By the way who is this G in containment?"

"One of the hire-ups, I see you found the letter. Apparently, she bet on my operation and won big."

"I'm going to look her up and oh god."

"What is it?"

"So much clown murder."

"Amy."

"So many dead clowns."

"Amy! I assure you the clown in question had it coming."

"She has a screaming pillar made out of a clown's head that's only able to feel pain! I mean, shit."

"Read up on what said clown did, name Joker."

"Ok…"

She paused, and then I heard the sound of puking.

"Amy?"

"That wasn't from the baby."

More puking.

"Amy?"

"Ok, yeah… He had it coming."

"You ok?"

"Reading more… Shit like this is why we have kill orders."

"Not every universe does those."

"It's basic common sense! When you cross a certain line you're dead, do no pass go, do not collect 200 dollars. You get a bullet to the head and that is it."

"I understand your complaints but that's just how some Earth's laws work: you don't kill people."

"And that's why she's waging a one-woman war on clowns?"

"One particular clown who really has it coming."

"No fucking shit but why?"

"Long story short her husband's kind of an idiot. He got in way over his head lost much of his power and the clown crossed a line. Normally she doesn't give two shits about humans but now it's personal so she's made it a hobby to fund an entire anti-clown crusade."

Amy was silent.

"You know what? Fuck clowns."

"In what way? Because clown fetishes are a thing."

Amy laughed, "Ok… That was a good one."

She sighed.

"So now what?"

"We have enough in the tank for another 5 stamps, which brings us to 11."

"One more kill then."

Amy was silent.

"It's almost over, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"It's like this nightmare, this unending nightmare, is going to end… This is big."

"I try not to focus on that, just on the job but… yeah, this is big. At the same time, you guys are just back to where you started."

"Maybe so but there is hope now. You know, things are getting better."

She was silent.

"One more Enbringer and we have our set up."

"Then what?"

"With the remaining points? I don't know, we can figure it out when we get there."

"Good point… Eye on the prize and don't die on us, we need you."

"Trying my best, Amy."



Emma Barnes


Emma Barnes

"Last day."

He paused.

"Last chance."

Taylor grimaced.

"We don't have anyone."

He sat on his throne and tilted his head.

"I expected as much."

He clasped his hands.

"So Taylor, Emma, normally I would do the whole mind game and dark master stuff but I kind of have you know a global crisis to handle."

He looked at us.

"Taylor? Strip."

She nodded her head then took off her pants and shirt and everything else. My eyes lingered over her legs and butt. Completely nude, he looked at her.

"You know what to do."

She got on all fours and crawled towards him and knelt, prostrating herself to him. He brought out a sword and walked over and placed the tips at her tailbone.

"Do you give me your body?"

"I do."

"Do you give me your mind?"

"I do."

"Do you give me your immortal soul?"

"I do."

I heard a sizzling sound and smelled burning flesh.

"From this day hence you belong to me. You have until the death of the 20th Endbringer to get your affairs into order."

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, master."

He nodded and looked at me.

"Emma."

I nodded my head, I took off my pants and shirt, I slowly took off my underwear and put them on the ground. I crawled up to him and then turned around, I raised my pert butt to the air.

"Do you give me your body?"

"Yes, my master."

"Do you give me your mind?"

"Yes, my master."

"Do you give me your soul?"

"Yes, my master."

I felt the kiss of pain as my flesh burned, I panted.

"Emma Barnes of Earth Bet, I proclaim you the first of my warlocks. You shall serve me until death then your soul shall be free."

"Yes, master."

I felt power rush through me and panted.

"You have until the death of the 20th Endbringer to get your affairs into order."

"Yes, master."

We got up changed and took our clothing. Both of us understood that nothing would ever be the same again but at that moment, for the first time in a long time, I felt safe.



Zoe


Zoe

The People of Madrid are ripping each other apart, parents murdering their children, children murdering their parents. A giant puppet-like creature laughs. I won't get credit for this, well not as much credit as I am owed, I will probably get a slight mention hidden amongst hundreds of names.

It's not personal, it's a part of the deal. If I joined the protectorate Z38 would be a household name, but the problem is my lifestyle is just too extreme for the whole hero thing. I would never be able to handle the scrutiny and I know it, and then there is the problem of what happens afterwards. There's no way I can live up to the enforced expectations that an Endbringer killer would have.

This world wants a true hero, a Superman, but it's not getting one. I suppose that's the tragic nature of this world: it craves heroes and just ends up with people. I feel a presence on my mind and frown.

"Really?"

Sometimes it's just a bad match-up, a basic mind shield can turn this mind control… Ok, maybe that isn't fair? I'm an eldritch abomination and, against normal mortals, this is sufficient. It's more mind control in mass. Still, it feels insulting, people much weaker than me can shrug this shit off like nothing.

My senses open and everything around me slows down, the creature is not able to react fast enough to stop me from tapping it. We shift to my world, the ground opens and everything under my command rises and the creature screams as it is ripped apart. I feast on its power and then land on the ground.

I hear voices, millions of them, and puke my guts out, and I feel angry as I continue to throw up.

"I had a really good breakfast today!"

I dry heaved.

"Tamagoyaki, made by Hinata Hyuga, I had a practical fucking princess make me breakfast and I puked it up because you decided to be an ASSHOLE!"

I got up I still felt sick and I looked at the body.

"Ingredients: 4 eggs, 3 tablespoons dashi soup stock, 2 tablespoons sugar and vegetable oil."

I felt angry and my head felt like it was on fire.

"Step 1 gather ingredients, step 2 beat eggs in a bowl, step 3 add dashi soup mix and mix well, step 4 oil the pan and cook over medium heat, step 5 pour a scoop of egg mix into the pan and spread over the surface. step 6 Cook it until half done and roll the egg toward the bottom side. Step 7 Move the rolled egg to the top side. Step 8 Oil the empty part of the pan and pour another scoop of egg mixture in the space and under the rolled egg."

I was screaming now.

"Step 9 Cook it until half done and roll the egg again so that the omelet becomes thicker. Step 10 Cook the omelet until done. Step 11 If you are using a regular frying pan, shape tamagoyaki on bamboo mat. Step 12 Cut tamagoyaki into 1-inch thick pieces. Step 13 Serve for breakfast, put in a bento as a side dish, or used as a filling in sushi."

I kicked the dead Endbringer.

"You have any idea how good that shit tastes? Especially with just a little bit of ketchup on it? That's what you made me throw up, you little shit goblin!"

I panted, I heard a beeping sound.

"Heba?"

"Confirmed kill."

I sighed.

"Get 2 more stamps."

"What do we do with the remainder?"

"Let's table that question for later."

I coughed.

"Bad fight?"

"Mind Arcana, hurts like a bitch."

"It is outside your natural wheelhouse, it's going to have the worst feedback for you."

I sat down everything hurt.

"You ok?"

"A little hungry."

"Karen is making Halukski with kielbasa."

2 tablespoons butter, 1 small onion diced, 1 medium cabbage shredded, 1 pound kielbasa sliced, 2 cups chicken broth, 1 bag egg noddles 12 ounces, salt and ground pepper to taste.

Turn on a multi-functional pressure cooker (such as Instant Pot) and select Saute function. Add butter and onion. Cook and stir until lightly browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Add cabbage and kielbasa; cook and stir until cabbage has wilted down, about 10 minutes. Add chicken broth and egg noodles; mix well.

Close and lock the lid. Select High pressure according to manufacturer's instructions; set timer for 3 minutes. Allow 10 to 15 minutes for pressure to build.

Release pressure carefully using the quick-release method according to manufacturer's instructions, about 5 minutes. Unlock and remove the lid. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

"Zoe?"

"Getting a mental feedback bullshit."

My stomach grumbled.

"Count me in but I need to wash up first."

"I will inform her that you will be there."

I turned to look at the Endbringer, and flipped it off.



Leviathan


Leviathan

Feeling… core pulsating.

Communication with leading unit no response, communication back up.

Unit down, Unit down, unit down. Does not compute, units should be capable of handling threats, why are units down? Unsanctioned shard use? Calculating, no response, Engine is not built for calculations, Calculator Engine is down, using base calculation load for survival, data… data is inconclusive.

Data is inconclusive, data should not be inconclusive, data should be very conclusive.

Run calculations, numbers irrational… why are the numbers irrational?

Solution, keep moving. Send request for aid but always keep moving.

Numbers spiral, data inconclusive. When still when in movement data is sensible, data should always be sensible. More units fall, they should not fall this quickly, enemy Entity? Doing scan.

Doing scan, no enemy entity, no unsanctioned shard… but units are still falling.

Feeling emotion, no context but must keep moving always moving, searching data banks.

Searching, calculating moving.

Emotion is fear.



Elsa


Elsa

He was shivering.

"You're burning up."

"Yeah, it kind of sucks."

I created some ice and put it against his head.

"Well, only two left. You're defeating the undefeatable."

He looked at me.

"Not really the Endbringers are being affected by the memetic weaponry."

I stared at him.

"What?"

"First kill, the hardest one? That set this all up. Once I had Zizz we had access to their local command node, we had access to their programming, we could fuck with the probabilities and stack the deck in our directions. My mission was never just about taking out an Entity, it was also about harvesting the Endbringers for company profit."

He grimaced.

"It makes everything a whole lot easier."

"Well… You're still saving lives."

"Yeah."

He looked up.

"Head hurts like a bitch."

I put more Ice on his head.

"Her sacrifice was worth it, you know? She gave her life to make this happen."

"I know… It's one of the reasons why I'm going to push through this, finish things. It's what she would have wanted."

He closed his eyes.

"So two more and it's over."

"Really?"

He raised his eyebrow and looked at my stomach.

"Well this part of your life is over… a lot of other things are beginning. I guess things just don't end."

"I have a good solid chance of living a good long time, so do you."

"But not forever?"

"Nothing lives forever, neither stars nor worlds nor universes. That's not a bad thing, just because a thing ends doesn't make it any less meaningful."

He grabbed my hand.

"Being romantic?"

"Why not?"

I nuzzled up against his head.

"Stay strong, this isn't over."

"I know."

I got up and felt my ass get smacked, I turned around and looked at him.

"You know I'm going to get you back when you get better, right?"

"Meh, it's worth it."

I chuckled and walked away.



Lord Zig


Lord Zig

I looked at the golf course.

Atlan breathed it in.

"Good to get away from the paperwork."

I nodded my head.

"You have to have a work-life balance."

Atlan raised a tentacle.

"It's pretty easy to have a good balance when you're making profit hand over fist."

I shrugged.

"All you need to switch numbers around in class C is a couple of good agents."

"Yes, find one whale and an entire division's numbers goes wild."

I frowned.

"Whales are not found, they're made. You push people who need a push, and you carefully place your agents in missions where they can succeed. Z38 had experience that taught him to bite his tongue and gave him the tools to succeed in his infiltration mission. In another field he wouldn't have been as successful, even then there was a serious chance he would fail."

I hit my putter and sighed, not my day.

"Heard your boy is running a charity."

"Yes, it's not common for agents to think of other agents but it does happen."

"One of my people has gotten kind of sloppy."

"Jaded washout?"

"Got it in one, Bruce has decided to deal with agents by simply doing a hot flush."

I grimaced.

"Throw people to the monsters and see who makes it?"

"Yeah, the problem is he's losing too many agents. I mean, our department expects losses but he's lower than most."

"And why do you care?"

"He's my brother-in-law, he might be an idiot but if he gets demoted to agent my sister will throw a fit."

"Done anything to raise his numbers?"

"Canadians, I got him an entire shift entirely full of them."

"Everyone fights to get those guys. Who did you jack off to get that favor?"

He cracked his neck.

"Favors were owed and called in. Problem is, even with that edge, he's too careless and I need to get his people their own edge to get his numbers up for the review."

I looked at the course.

"If you can beat me in this game I will make arrangements, 1% of the charity cases thrown his way."

"10%"

"5% and that's my final offer."

I looked at the course. I was shit at golf and I knew it but sometimes it was important to throw help to friends in the company, in a way that didn't display weakness.



Zoe


Zoe

"Oh God!"

The man screamed at the stump at the end of his hands as Maidroids rushed around, providing medical assistance. The man was crying.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck."

I forced his still bleeding stumps into water and regrew his hands, he looked at his hands.

"Oh god… Fucking god, that shit."

He shivered.

"So, you doing better?"

"I- Fuck me, how is my girl doing?"

He looked at me with fear in his eyes.

"We have doctors working on her right now, she took a pretty bad hit."

"Thanks. Shit…"

He ran his hands through his cornrows.

"So Eartha Kitt Catwoman?"

He stared at me.

"Eartha Kitt was the best Catwoman, fight me."

I looked at him.

"I have a hard time arguing with that, the woman was a brilliant actress, singer, and generally all-around talented. So is she the actress or a Catwoman?"

"Catwoman."

"Do you get tired of the puns?"

"Annoying as fuck at first but it's kind of growing on me. Sorry, My name is D147."

"Z38."

"Shit, only 3 digits?"

"The old Z38 died when I transferred to Acquisitions."

"Lucky."

"So your job?"

"Somebody wanted to fuck King Shark, it did not go fucking well."

I pulled up an orb, successful stamping.

"Working a DC?"

"Yeah, but it is a shit post. It's in the 1920s and it's all noir… Shit, you have any idea how shit that time period is for a brother?"

"I can imagine."

He shivered.

"I want to get out of there."

"Sorry but your contract says they want 20 captures or 3 years to pay off your contract."

"Shit… When I said DC I meant shit like the cartoons, you know? Not film-noir shit, Batman uses a gun over there."

"Yeah, he used to do that in the comics."

"I wasn't told I'd be going to a place where fucking Batman ices people and shit."

He shivered.

"You the guy who got me the gun?"

"Yeah,"

"Thanks! That shit saved my life, fucking Shark was scary as shit."

He frowned.

"And I lost my gun."

"Will it to you."

There was a popping sound and he stared at me.

"The gun is keyed to your DNA, to keep you from losing it."

"Thanks."

"Having a rough time?"

"Yeah, apparently there is a market for supervillains and shit so I got fucking tasked to handle it. They're all crazy and use guns. I mean… damn, you know."

"You're allowed to take 3 days off, we will have our people get you whatever food and medical care, you need."

I paused.

"How are you doing on potions?"

"All at base, saved my ass."

I tapped my orb.

"I'm allowed to get you another suitcase. You would be limited to what I'm allowed to give but I can arrange for money, armor, potions."

"Hold up… Armor?"

"Yeah um I got a factory going that makes Mass Effect armor. Only light armor would fit in the case and it would take almost all the space available."

"Fuck… would it make me bulletproof?"

"Until the shields go out… Keep in mind: the rules limit you to picking up a maximum of 3 suitcases and this would be suitcase number 2. You can't get number 3 until a year had passed."

He looked at me.

"What is this going to cost me?"

"I was in your shoes. This is me paying it forward, someday another agent will need your help and you will have to pay it forward."

He nodded his head.

"Ok, good Karma. Yeah, I understand that shit."

His eyes became unfocused.

"I think I'm going to pass out."

"I will get you to a bedroom."

"Yeah… Thanks, man. It's been… a real shit couple months."

"Yeah, like I said I've been there. When you wake up ask the maids to cook you some food, whatever you want man."

"Thanks."



Mordin


Mordin Solus

Leaving citadel space, too much curiosity. When that happens you get cases of one last mission.

Big rule with the military is that one last mission, one last favor, more often than not really is your last one. Best to move on before someone calls it in. Had medical experience, could open up a free clinic anywhere, survive off donations, stay away from trouble. Currently in Citadel.

See human, dark black skin, next to woman human? Visibly pregnant, large mammalian breasts, blond hair, and long ears. Mutation? Plastic surgery? Unknown, curious. I walk up to them.

"Welcome to Citadel?"

The man jumps, is in old fashioned human suit generations out of date, wearing a cross, religious. I think the religion is about a man on a stick.

"Oh yeah, sorry."

He runs his hand through hair. Studying him, he's unarmed, woman with him has hand near purse, is armed. Woman more dangerous than male.

"Name is Mordin Solus."

"Um, you can call me Mr. Smith."

Obvious alias.

"This is my wife, Bunny."

She smiled.

"Good to meet you."

Hand is offered, I shake it, feel of her hand is rough, calluses around trigger finger, used to using other weapons. I nod and look at her stance, looking for danger but not on purpose. Seen this before, veteran behavior, this one has been in a fight. I study the man, cringes when around new people. Shows signs of PTSD. Bodyguard and lover. Interesting.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes… just been through a major rough patch and decided to have a vacation before I became a dad."

"I know a few locations that are family-friendly, new restaurant nearby."

"Oh? Yeah, thanks."

"Doesn't have much of a clientele, not too many people."

"Oh yeah, that's good."

He takes a breath, is forced, something a therapist told him to do.

"Sorry, I'm just… kind of out of it."

I shake his hand and give directions, hand feels wrong. Skin doesn't match body core, is too unblemished, not enough wear and tear. Cloned limbs? Is possible, illegal but possible.

"Take care."

"Thanks."

Could investigate, but not worth it. Not a good idea to pry when I am also trying to escape, best to let sleeping vorcha lie.



Taylor Hebert


Taylor Hebert

It was dark out as I read through the list of my properties, responsibilities, money, that sort of thing. The brand on my back got warm. I looked at the house next door, closed my book and hid it. I walked outside in my pajamas over to his house, the door opened on its own and I walked inside. He looked at me.

"Two left."

My mouth went dry.

"Yeah."

I looked away.

"Haven't seen you in a while?"

"Been kind of busy recovering from the last fight."

"Have you been making your peace and preparing your affairs?"

"Yeah, I got a will for when I um… go."

I held myself.

"I've been developing."

He looked at my breasts.

"I assume that's you?"

"Also the reason why you don't have acne anymore."

"I suppose I should thank you."

He got up.

"We're going to your mother's grave and you're going to say goodbye to her, talk to her."

A portal formed and I sighed as we walked through it, I stared at her grave.

"Hello, mom."

He looked at me.

"It's been a while… I avenged you, got payback for what happened, but there was a price for that."

He got behind me and I felt hot… down there.

"I kind of had to sell my body…."

"What are you, Taylor?"

I took a breath.

"I'm a whore, mommy. I sold my body for power and revenge and now I'm a whore."

I paused.

"Take off your clothes."

I felt so hot and noticed a blanket over her grave, I obeyed and took off my clothing.

"I'm not going to finish highschool, mom, or go to college. Instead I'm going to belong to someone, and I'm going to have his babies. He's not going to marry me so all of my children are going to be bastards."

I felt so hot and he grabbed my hair and gently pulled me to the ground, I got on my knees.

"You're going to lose your virginity tonight, Taylor."

I put out my ass and winced in pain and pleasure as he entered inside me.

"I'm sorry, mom."

I cried as he went in and out.

"I'm sorry this feels so good."

He slapped my ass and my body quivered from an orgasm.

"I sold out Emma, she's going to be his whore too."

The pounding continued and I moaned.

"It's all my fault."

"What's your purpose, Taylor?"

My toes curled.

"What's your purpose?"

He grabbed my hair and I moaned.

"It's to make babies."

I was rewarded with an orgasm, I panted.

"Beg for it."

"Please… Please get me pregnant."

I looked at her grave.

"I'm sorry, mom. I'm sorry for being such a slut."

I felt his cum enter inside me, felt the warmth, and I collapsed. I felt content then, relaxed as I felt the moonlight on my nude body.

"I'm sorry, mom."

He picked up my clothing and then picked me up and walked through another portal back home. He gently put me back on my bed.

"Who do you belong to, Taylor?"

"You."

He patted me on the head.

"Good girl."



D147


D147

I woke up in a comfortable bed for the first time in months.

Fucking hated the world I was sent to, you had to pay for everything with exact change because everyone was out to fuck a brother over. Everyone called me boy! I am a grown-ass man and I had fucking kids. Call me boy? I mean, fuck that. Only good thing I had was Selena, everything else about that world could kindly fuck off.

"Hello, young master. Would you like some food?"

I turned my head and looked at the clear robot, I was given some options and I picked up a chicken fried steak and grits. It was nice and filling, made me miss Atlanta… my Atlanta, not the fucked up one in my new world because seriously fuck that shit. I ate my food and saw some clothing my size that wasn't ripped.

'Take whatever you need.'

I put it on jeans, T-shirt, cheap sneakers. God, I had missed sneakers. I opened the door and saw he was waiting for me.

"So you want to check out the pool?"

I blinked.

"What?"

"A good swim helps deal with jitters or at least it helps me. There is an ice-skating rink around here too, if you want to do that."

I thought about it.

"There a gym around here? I kind of want to pump some iron."

"Yeah, consider it done."

I followed him.

"So you've been through the shit?"

"Long term assignment, Earth Bet."

"Not familiar with it."

"That's ok. So, your assignment?"

"Quite a few powerful guys want to fuck supervillains. I mean it's not my thing but you-"

"I didn't come here to judge you."

"Oh… yeah, good."

I walked with him.

"So you're um?"

"American, like you. Lots of people from worlds like ours around."

I smiled.

"Well, we must be kicking ass. America number 1."

He froze.

"Um… we are number 1, right?"

"Out of 195 countries, we are 76th place."

I froze.

"That's kind of shitty… So who's number 1?"

"Canada, it's not even close…."

"Oh… So is China's doing better than us?"

"China is 95th place."

"That bad?"

"Countries are judged on a curve, Beijing, Tianjin, and Heibei provinces underperform so much that it drags down the country's results as a whole. Without those three provinces, they would be… around number 50. Also, 95 isn't bad, that's middling."

"Ok."

I paused.

"So who does the worst?"

"The Saudi's are dead last, again."

"So the Middle East's a shit hole. What's new, right?"

"Yeah… we're not allowed to say that, both Iran and Turkey are outperforming us."

I blinked.

"Keep in mind: there are 74 countries that are doing better than us."

"So what state is doing the best?"

"Florida."

"The worst?"

He sighed.

"New York. The big apple has a kind of culture that gets agents killed when they get out into the greater multiverse."

"Well, I think I was happier not knowing that."

"In our business having too much of an ego gets you killed. How are things going on your end?"

"Going from place to place because no one wants to rent to a…."

I wasn't going to use that word.

"Yeah, sounds like a shit post."

I ran my hands through my hair as we stopped at a gym. I smiled and took to the iron, feeling the old pain.

"Your girl should be fully healed up soon."

"Good."

We pumped iron in silence for a bit.

"Why?"

He looked at me.

"Because no one was there for me when I was starting out."

I took that in.

"Yeah, I get that."

I let the burn clear my head, then we got up and walked to the hospital wing. She smiled at me.

"You alright?"

"I'm feeling purrfect."

I smiled and laughed, things were going to be ok.



Zoe


Zoe

I heard a knock at the door and opened it.

Taylor looked at me nervously.

"Can I come in?"

"Ok, I'm making some coffee, black or with sugar or…"

"Um, milk sounds good."

I let her in and she walked in.

"So where's Amy?"

"Right here."

Taylor looked at her and grimaced.

"Oh, saw the tape of your first time. Did you have fun?"

She blushed.

"And you're ok with that?"

Amy shrugged.

"It was kind of over the top, but hey it's your fantasy."

She slumped.

"Ino asked about your sexual fantasies during your last session, we decided to help it come true."

I looked at her.

"How are you feeling?"

"Honestly?"

She took a sip of coffee.

"Better… there were just so many expectations, growing up, about what I would be… so much pressure to be this one thing, to be great, that it just kind of got to me."

She looked at her coffee.

"I loved my mom but sometimes I resented her."

I shrugged. It was a power move, a way to get revenge, but no sense in traumatizing my new toy.

"Got to be honest… she almost ran me over."

"Just once?"

I stared at Taylor.

"What? My mom drove like a maniac, she almost got me a couple times."

"She apologized for that, right?"

Taylor grimaced.

"Mom wasn't exactly an apology kind of person, she absolutely hated ever being wrong on anything. And then she died and all of these expectations fell on me."

Amy nodded her head.

"I feel that, hospital work is all about the fucking expectations. Everyone expects you to be a little cinnamon roll and god help you if you're just a little bit cranky after dealing with injured people for hours on end."

She looked at Taylor.

"Going to be honest too: I know what it's like to have a mom that just refuses to be wrong on anything. Carol is the same way."

"Really?"

"Yeah, mom has fucked up more than a few times but god help you if you call her on it."

Taylor leaned back.

"So what does Emma have planned for her first time."

I sighed and pulled a notebook off of a desk and put it on the dinner table, Taylor opened it and then her eyes opened up in shock.

"Wow."

She blushed.

"This is um… really intense."

"You're in it and you have lines."

"What?!"

"Read on."

Taylor flipped pages.

"She wrote a script."

"Yeah."

"You're telling me the truth… damn it."

"You can say no."

"I really can't, I got her into this."

Taylor put the book on the table.

"This is messed up."

"Any more messed up than your fantasy?"

"In my defense, I didn't expect you to… you know, act it out."

Amy tapped her wrist.

"You're not pregnant."

I raised a hand.

"Yet."

Amy rolled her eyes as Taylor blushed again. I took a sip of my own coffee, it was good to be king



Zoe


Zoe

Ino does good work.

"Ugh, ugh, ugh."

Taylor has the kind of personality, of limitations, somewhat like Amy, where once you push her off a slope she falls in headfirst.

Don't get me wrong, she has a willful streak.

" Beg for it."

"Please."

She goes limp as she has another orgasm and collapses, Amy looked in.

"My turn?"

I nod my head and I gently let Taylor go to her knees, Amy sits down and opens her legs and Taylor eats my official wife out. Amy pants and smiles and then moans. She pats Taylor on the head.

"Good job."

Taylor got up and nodded her head.

"Um… thanks."

"Thanks what?"

"Thanks, mistress."

Amy smirked as Taylor blushed.

"Well, I have to get to work", Amy got up and toweled off, I did the same. Taylor took deep breaths.

"That was intense."

I grabbed a towel and helped her clean up.

"I know, but this is your life now."

With Taylor you have to force a mental cut between her new and old life, once that is done you have her.

"Yeah, I guess it is."

That's Ino's skill: finding stuff out about people and then leaving bread crumbs until they're ready to go to where you want them to go on their own. She found out about Taylor's resentment issues, about old wounds and her fantasies, and then gently led her to the natural break.

I look at her and kiss her on the neck, give her some affection. I hold her for a bit. Taylor's going to be looking for excuses now for what she did, for breaking that taboo. I kiss her some more and she leans into my touch. This isn't just about revenge, although I am a very petty man. It's also about disarming a potential enemy, about getting someone who can manage my most valuable port of call and making her my little housewife.

"Tonight you're going to cook for Amy and me."

"I um yeah I guess I can do that."

"Good girl."

It was time to start training her.



Zoe


Zoe

It's 7 pm, do you know where your daughter is? Danny Hebert doesn't. He's been taking later and later shifts, attempting to bury himself in work to avoid dealing with his personal issues. To avoid dealing with the memories of his wife that home brings. Taylor has some of those same instincts, their home is less a home and more a shrine to Annette with things kept the same as much as possible in her memory. It's not a healthy way to deal with grief but then again neither of them are particularly healthy people.

Taylor looks at the dress on the bed.

"Put it on."

She blushes.

"I've already seen you naked, is seeing you change clothing really that much different?"

I raise an eyebrow and Taylor blushes as she takes off her jeans and her T-shirt, she puts on the black dress with white polka dots.

"This is um a lot more…"

She twirled around.

"Conservative than I thought it would be."

I looked at her, she pulled the look off nicely. With her black curly hair, glasses, and thanks to my power developing possum, she would be a great beauty soon.

"It can't all be hedonism and wild sex all of the time."

She nodded her head as the door opened and Amy walked in.

"Well, now what?"

"Now you cook, all of the ingredients are open to you. Go on and create."

Taylor hesitated.

"Don't look to impress, look for functionality. Think of what you already know and build upon that foundation."

"Spaghetti?"

"Go ahead."

We watched in silence as she brought out the pasta and other ingredients and as she slowly assembled them and started cooking. When she was finished she carefully plated the food and watched us as we ate, I took a bite and carefully judged the meal.

"You have potential."

She blinked.

"Um, what?"

"This was a good basic meal, comfort food that's filling and nutritious."

"Um… thanks."

She took a bite of her meal and smiled at the praise.

"You have a lot to learn."

"About what?"

"Cooking, I can show you a few recipes for other stuff, things that are simple but good."

"You know how to cook?"

"Yeah, I have lots of skills, I'd be glad to show you."

She looked confused.

"This is um unexpected."

"Why?"

"I thought it would be um smack and um stuff."

"That will happen but in order to enjoy that stuff you need a level of trust and comfort. You can't give yourself fully over into a session unless you're able to let go of control, and you can't do that if you're worried that we are going to destroy you."

I took another bite.

"If I do not die in the next few missions I will be spending a large amount of time with you, and you will mother my children. There will be a lot of moments with you and not everything has to be sex."

"Oh… I just kind of thought my life would be like a um… one of those movies."

I shrugged.

"Porn isn't a realistic expression of how relationships work."

"Right… right."

I noticed that she sounded just a little disappointed hearing that.



Zoe


Zoe

The endbringer crisis for me is a lot like a Gatcha game.

Each Entity infestation is slightly different but the company knew Khonsu was coming, and I was under orders to harvest it. You see an Eternity Engine is quite possibly one of the most valuable things the company deals with: not only did it give the owner who had it seeming immortality, it also gave them the ability to mess with time to give other people their youth back when mastered. It gave you all the time in the world, power, and the ability to grant a very expensive service.

Reagents that are capable of making those things are incredibly rare.

Making an Elemental Engine is pretty cheap, lots of power sources that can do that, but an Eternity Engine? That's rare, that's expensive, and Entity infestations are the biggest source of Eternity Engine sources. You get the rare shard capable of being turned into a proper Engine, though the number of those is normally lower than one in a 100, with each shard only being capable of making maybe 1 Engine.

My Engine for example was made from Grey Boy's shard, I think Clockblocker's shard might be capable of being converted into an Engine but I'm not quite sure of that. It might be more like a time-stop spell thing where it's only capable of so much. You get a lot of fool's gold in the gold rush that is an infestation.

Khonsu though is different. He's a purpose-built time-space manipulator powered by a literal solar system's worth of power. Once his body has been properly rendered one Khonsu class Endbringer is capable of making 108 million Eternity Engines. When I kill an endbringer I keep 5% of its power, which goes to fuel enchantments and my new body which isn't complete yet, but even after my cut that is 102.6 million Eternity Engines for the Company.

The Khonsu kill is worth more than some galactic civilizations, my mission is by Company standards a success. I've made an unbelievably huge amount of profit. I'm told my previous kills will create a lot more agents or be sold on, but this is the one the Company wants and I have been let known everything is riding on this.

If I fuck this up, If I run off… the Company will find me and let their displeasure be known, I will not survive their wrath. If I pull this off, that's it: I'm officially good, I am officially free. Other than paying my tithe I am free to run my affairs and live my life as I please. It's a promotion and effectively a retirement all in one. After over 20 years of working for the Company, it will finally at long last be over.

I look at the fat bulbous fuck ahead of me, a deadly buddha bringing death instead of enlightenment. I rush towards him and I feel myself get hungry, feel time slow. I push through the pain, I touch it and then feel age take me. I feel my body get old and crumble to dust.

A clone dies of old age and he pops into this point of view, my point of view.

Onto a circle, not any magic circle but one I have spent months on, with reagents bought across the multiverse. I watch as forests and creatures die in droves. I send attack after attack, all of it failing. The creature tries to teleport out of the trap but he is now firmly trapped in an area the size of Tokyo.

He's not dying, my normal attacks whither under the effects of time's hourglass.

I sit down, I need to stop thinking in terms of minutes, or hours or days or even years. I need to think in terms of centuries. I breathe in and out, life is fleeting but the spirit endures. I reach into the spirit realm and summon them forth from the happy hunting ground. The accelerated time means nothing to them and I create more monsters, more seeds. It only takes a few to land on the creature but I have my hold.

The spirits protect the life, give it a chance, they help me guide the evolution. The new life form adapts and adapts quickly, the accelerated time turning against the monster. Entire ecosystems are born and die in moments, each one worming their way through force fields, growing roots through his defenses, each generation getting closer to the core. The creature screams in agony. In the circle eons have passed, the creature falls dead to the ground.

I get up and grimace. It's not pain, this time, but understanding.

This is the power of life, this is who I am.

"Endbringer down."

I bring out an orb.

"The company sends its regards, you're free now."

I let that message hit me. After 20 years, I am now free.

"Feels good, Heba… Feels damned good."



Heba


Heba

Silver drank deeply from the bottle as I cradled him in my arms.

Taylor stared at me.

"So you're a real actual elf?"

"Yes."

She took a deep breath.

"That's cool, I guess."

My baby cooed and Taylor fidgeted.

"So why are you here?"

"Well, I thought I should meet the other… you know, wives, see who I'm going to be spending time with."

My baby burped and I smiled, feeling content. I looked at her as she watched me.

"It won't hurt."

Taylor blinked.

"What?"

"When you bear his children, it will not hurt. In fact…"

I smiled.

"It will be the most exquisite ecstasy you will experience in your entire life."

"I've been told differently."

"Your experiences will be different, your brand will help you have healthy children and turn the pain into pleasure."

I smiled at the memories.

"It will feel better, sex and lovemaking I mean. You will feel good in general, part of the perks."

"It's a lot of work."

"You will have help and lots of it."

I looked at her.

"You will live a long time, centuries even, but you only have so many eggs so you have maybe 25 years before you're infertile. After that, you will be young and beautiful and have all of the time in the world to do non-mom-related things."

She seemed kind of relieved.

"So it's not forever."

"You need to stop thinking of it that way, Taylor. You will only get so much time to be a mother, to experience it, to feel life growing inside you, and raise children. That's something you won't get a chance to do again."

"But there are so many things I have to do."

"And you have a life span of centuries, if not millenia, now. Stop thinking that you have to rush, just relax and enjoy your life."

"Must be easy for you, with the elf thing?"

"My species lives three times as long as you but my queenly position does not make me immortal like you."

"What?"

"There are 12 true signs and a hidden sign, the 12 true signs give one immortality of a sort. My position doesn't. When I pass away It will lie empty, destined to be used for temporary queens who get our master's attention."

"Oh… so you're going to die?"

"I think more about the journey than the ending."

"Right…"

She smiled.

"It was good to meet you."



Zoe


Zoe

I felt good, the day after the creature fell, most of my girls were visibly pregnant now.

I opened my eyes as I felt my arms around a girl, brown hair brown eyes opened and looked at me.

"Well, how's the conquering hero doing?"

I got up and cracked my neck, Hermione yawned.

"Pretty good."

I looked around the castle bedroom and saw women scattered around in states of undress.

"Well, luv, are we going to have an orgy every time you defeat one of those things now?"

I shrugged.

"Maybe for the next and last one."

Amy was on the ground sandwiched between Elsa and Karen with a smile on her face. It had been about seven months now since my rampage started, I looked around at lots of pretty or even beautiful girls in states of satisfied undress.

"Thinking?"

"Yeah… worth it."

I looked at her and smiled.

"Randy again already, naughty boy?"

I shrugged.

"Good material to work with."

She sighed snuggling up with me, but eventually we all woke up and breakfast was started. The meal after an orgy was by its very nature awkward and silent, Heba and Karen were the only two women who were not currently pregnant. Heba and Karen nodded, Karen taking point.

"So it's time to talk about why we are all here."

The only one missing was Taylor, I turned my eyes to the head wife.

"We've talked about what do to with our last remaining assets."

They stared at her.

"I think we should spend it on expansion."

I blinked.

"We are at planetary levels."

"I know. If we spend the Endbringer kill on land it will not increase our land resources, instead it will gently change the land around until it is equalized between the 13 of us."

I noticed Winter frowning.

"That would mean reduced land for us."

"How much of that land has been settled?"

Winter looked away.

"I looked at it and yes it would mean less land for some of us, but the land quality would be improved. We could make sure that everyone has large amounts of resources like Dust, and Mandalorian iron, oil, and arable land. Right now things are a semi copy of Earth but it doesn't have to be that way. Our kingdoms could be much more than what they are capable of now, they could have a richness and profitability that our respective homeworlds can not match."

I raised a hand.

"Any other reasons?"

"Zoe."

Karen paused.

"You're not going to be human much longer."

"And by that?"

"Eldrich creatures need to eat, right now we have 110 points…"

She paused.

"If we manage to kill Leviathan we will have 180 points to spend. I've talked with Heba, It would cost 120 points to buy the ritual to do this."

I paused.

"And if it doesn't increase our total holdings why take it?"

"Because if you don't you're going to need to… well, eat something sooner or later. The diet of a lot of eldritch creatures of your size and power is souls, the souls of sentient beings."

The same souls I had sent to be eaten myself.

"If we conduct the ritual we can change your diet to asteroids, you would just eat one every week or so and be fine."

I thought about it.

"Zoe, no matter how strong you are sooner or later the hunger will overtake you."

"Spend the points, eating souls is bad for business."

Karen sighed.

"Thanks. We could also buy a jump drive for your new body in case you ever need to, well, move."

"Brings it up to 140 right?"

She nodded her head.

"Sounds like a good purchase, that leaves us with 40 points."

Heba looked at me.

"My position doesn't give me immortality, I request that you bank them for a replacement."

"You honestly think you can be replaced?"

Heba smile sadly.

"Yes."

She smiled.

"It is an honor to have been a part of all of this but eventually my time must come."

I took it in.

"Then we will enjoy the time we have."

I sat back.

"Well, with that done, I think we need to talk about how business is doing."

Because even with all of the sex, fighting, and hedonism this was still a business.



Hinata


Hinata

"Push."

It doesn't hurt, I pant.

"Push."

It should hurt.

"Push."

This should be one of the most painful moments of my life.

"Push."

"OH! GODS!"

I feel pleasure and see stars and pant as I hear a crying sound, I pant and I squeeze my master's hand.

"Congratulations, it's a boy."

The infant is cleaned, swaddled, and put in my arms.

"Name?"

"Naruto."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Acceptable."

I kissed him on the cheek.

"Don't worry, I know who I belong to."

I hold my baby and sigh, things are cleaned up and I fall asleep. I awaken to my boy's screaming and I know I must feed him, he suckles and I feel content.

I am a mother, this is my purpose: to create, raise, and guide life. I feel complete, satisfied. My master opens the door.

"You doing all right?"

This is my master, the man who owns me, I feel love and affection.

"I am doing fine this, this is good."

He looks at me and I close my eyes and just open up my senses to his power. Chakra, thick and powerful, rich and mighty. My master is becoming a god. He is almost finished with it. I open my eyes and look at my kingdom. I feel the power I have over this city, my domain.

He sits down.

"This won't be the last one."

He puts his hand into my hair and I lean into the touch.

"I know."

It was an honor to have this position, to bear my master's children. Our baby yawned and fell asleep and I simply laid back and enjoyed the moment of maternal bliss.

"How are the others?"

"I'm with Elsa, she's struggling a bit more than you."

"Oh."

He smiled.

"You're with all of us, aren't you?"

"Figured out the hive mind avatar thing… those other bodies are me, I guess."

I yawned.

"That's good, that means you will always be there to help."

"Yeah, I figured If I'm going to have a large family I might as well be able to take care of them."

"Hold me."

He gave me a hug and I smiled, allowing myself to fall asleep in his arms. I felt comfortable, safe and content.



Winter


Winter

I looked at my infant as it cooed in my arms, despite myself I felt a sense of maternal love.

"Zoe."

My heart fluttered just a little bit.

"How does it feel to be a mom?"

"It's surprisingly satisfying."

I looked at him.

"But that brings us back to the matter of our mutual enemy."

"Salem."

"Atlas wants to buy the ship."

"And?"

"And we… can't afford it."

"Get a smaller transport, bring up some rods from god and smash incoming Grimm at will."

"We have done that, and so far they have had some amount of success, but it will not eliminate her from the board."

I leaned back.

"Tell you what, can we table this for after the Leviathan fight?"

"My people have been dealing with her threat for thousands of years."

"And the moment she's removed from the board all of the Grimm will be unleashed and will attack communities at will. Your civilization doesn't have the infrastructure in place to deal with that yet, space-based or otherwise."

She froze.

"You can't know that for certain."

"It's an unlimited multiverse, agents have taken out Salem in the past and that has happened more often than not."

She looked at me.

"I've been reading up on this, when your people have proper defenses in place I will go in and I will handle Salem in person."

"She's an immortal monster."

"So what? When I finish off Leviathan I will be a planet-sized eldritch horror. It's a matter of weight class here. No matter how big or powerful you are there is always someone bigger and meaner than you, and I'm going to be honest I'm in a higher weight class than Salem."

"She's haunted our civilization for centuries."

"Yeah and by your world's standards she's bad news but by multidimensional ones not so much. You need to buy more reasonably priced transports? As queen of your city you are able to requisition resources and you can summon very expensive materials. You need more reasonable help? I will help you. But right now your civilization isn't able to handle the blowback."

Winter sighed.

"You have a point, I will take your advice to the Atlas council."

"Thank you."

"Do I have your word that you will handle Salem?"

"You're the mother of my children and I fully intend to make that plural, there are benefits to that."

She smiled.

"Very well."



Ino


Ino

I run the numbers.

"80% of the world's population dead."

Computers powerful ones B2 runs the numbers and Winter frowns.

"80%"

"That's with preparation. It's an improvement, it used to be 95%"

Motherhood has made Winter less patient and more pushy. I mean I get why, I understand why, but every time we do the math the answer is the same: your people need to work on their defenses and fundamentals to deal with the wave of Grimm that would arrive after you got rid of evil witch woman.

Winter paces back and forth.

"Any way to speed up the process?"

She's looking at me and I frown, she's trying puppy eyes and failing.

"No."

"I can pay you back."

"No, the resources of my kingdom are for my people. I sympathize with your problem but you're going to need to actually spend time building up your defenses before you solve your problems."

She frowned, I looked at 2B

"One more year of building up orbital weapons and casualties will be down to 20%, and that's if you do not take advantage of new weapon platforms and defenses."

She looked up.

"I also sympathize with you but your people suffered from this for generations and a solution is now in sight. In 5 years' time you will have more than enough resources to deal with the frenzy."

"And then the Grimm will be gone?"

"No the Grimm pools will still be there but you can contain them and, with enough work, just limit their presence to a singular continent. You will live to see the Grimm crisis managed."

I went to look at my computer.

"Sovereign has made his move."

2B frowned.

"Winter, as much as we sympathize with you, trillions of lives are at stake with this current Reaper crisis which will hit?"

"In three years."

I sighed at the statement, Winter frowned.

"This is important to me."

"We know and it's being worked on but right now it's just going to take time."



Road warrior


Sherrel Mustain - Roadwarrior

I fiddled with the vehicle as my husband watched.

"Why you watching?"

"Because watching you get your hands dirty and covered in grease gets me hot, woman."

I laughed at Adams's statement.

"I love you to boo."

He leaned against the wall.

"So assault and Battery are having a kid."

"You're shitting me."

"I shit you not, she got pregnant after some Endbringer-is-dead parties."

I shrugged.

"Bout time, can you get me the wrench with a 12 on it?"

"Got it, babe."

He handed me a wrench.

"Maybe we should have a second one."

"We're a multiracial super-powered couple in the neo-nazi capital of America."

"Kids go weird if they don't have siblings."

"I'd like to remind you that you're an only child, Adam."

"Yeah, and I am a strange Cat."

I smiled.

"Ok, point made. The problem is we live a dangerous life, I'm not sure If I am comfortable bringing another child into that world."

He looked at me.

"How about this: if the last Endbringer dies we have another one?"

I thought about it.

"Shit."

"What?"

"I mean if I'm going to have a second one that's kind of the moment to have one… Fuck it, I'm in. When Leviathan dies we go for baby number two."

"Our girl wants a sister."

"Our girl will get what she gets and be happy for it, she's not the one who has to carry the kid."

"True dat."

"Another wrench."

"Working on the battlewagon?"

"Armsmaster is up my ass about it, and since he doesn't have your glorious cock it isn't nearly as fun."

Adam laughed.

"It is pretty amazing."

I twisted the last bolt.

"Ok, finished."

I got out from under the car.

"I am dirty, I am grimy, and I am going to take a shower."

"All right."

"And I've been dealing with Armsmaster all day so you're joining me because god damned I need stress relief."

"Yes, Ma'am."

I kissed him.

"Come on."

It was a hard life but I didn't have any complaints.



Zoe


Zoe

I look at the two girls in the tanks.

Karen files her fingernails.

"Going a little overboard with the new ones."

Taylor and Emma float naked in their tanks, officially they are at Emma's place asleep.

"It's a standard DNA upgrade, just removing things like cancer, inheritable diseases, slowing down the aging process and some other stuff."

Karen looked at the goggles.

"You brainwashing them?"

"Actually no, the gunk they're in isn't all that good for your eyes and I don't want them to become blind."

Karen nodded.

"So we got a problem… well, problems."

I sighed.

"Give me the lesser problem first."

"The Undersiders are stealing from us, and they are stealing a lot of stuff from us, mostly diamonds, gems, things like that."

"Do we have visuals?"

"No they got caught by some of the ninja we hired."

"How many times?"

"Um we don't know but we do know that they're trying to leverage the money into becoming something bigger."

I winced.

"Contact the Company and see what we can get for Tats."

"Not going to corrupt her and make her ours?"

"Not worth the headache, and I will feel a lot more comfortable if she's several universes over as somebody else's problem."

"Got it. Bigger problem is that Captain Shepard has hailed the Quarian fleet, she wants to talk to you."

"Fuck, open a portal In five."

I walked upstairs and sat in my office, a portal opened and a gorgeous redhead walked in.

"What the absolute fuck?"

I stared at her.

"How can I help you?"

I recognized that accent.

"What the fuck are you pricks in Class C doing in my Paralee?"

"Wait a minute, you're with the Company?"

"What, you thought you were the only one?"

"No I just didn't think someone would be sent to a paralee where someone else was running a trade network… or at least not without telling me."

"Well they did, I work in class E."

"Celestial bureaucracy? Not bad."

"Oh no."

She raised her finger.

"No, I spent 5 years dealing with fucking cultivators. Five fucking years of dealing with cultivators… You have any mother fucking clue how much douche bag behavior I dealt with? I mean yes C has all the losers."

"I'm choosing to take offense to that."

"But they're not nearly as arrogant as these assholes. I dealt with that bullshit and fuckery for 5 fucking years, I earned my new body, I earned the right to finally be special. I worked through boot camp, killed pirates and earned my position as Spectre and I will not have some fuckhead from class C fuck this up for me."

"Company wants a trade network, I'm sorry they fucked you but if I stop it's going to fuck the Quarians."

"What happened to tali?"

"I'm fucking her."

"Shit."

She sat down.

"Did you fuck with Garuss?"

"No."

"You better not have fucked with him, I went through a lot of bullshit to get him as my husbando and if he doesn't end up calibrating my clit I am going to be absolutely furious."

"He's all yours, I'm in this for the trade and I already got the best waifu."

"And removed the most tolerable girl I had access to. Liara is always trying to get into my fucking pants and ashley is a complete cunt."

"She's not that bad."

"Bullshit! I have to live with her, ok maybe if you have abs and a horsecock she's less of a cunt but so far I have wanted to strangle her for weeks, and Garrus is not getting the fucking hint."

"What about Kaiden?"

"If I wanted to fuck a useless simp I would move to Toronto, not work for this shitty company."

I sighed.

"Ok, since this is your life's dream I'm willing to work with you."

"Good, Garrus is off limits."

"Got it."

"No seriously, I'm from Regina we fucking own the leaderboard. You fuck with my man and I will hunt your ass down, consequences be damned."

"Ok, but keep in mind the Reapers will hard fuck a good thing I have going, so that's an issue."

She frowned.

"Right, got to save the Galaxy."

She pinched her nose.

"I'm willing to help."

She took a breath.

"I'm being a cunt, arent I?"

"You came on a little strong."

"Yeah… Sorry. I've been dealing with a lot of shit and this bombshell happens."

"It's a shit deal but the."

"The Company fucks everyone, I know. It's just that I went through hell to become special, to even have a chance of being special. I don't want that taken from me, well that and Ashley is a bitch!"

She got up and took deep cleansing breaths.

"Ok! We work on this shit together."

"Got it."



Amy Dallon


Amy Dallon

Giving birth didn't hurt, in fact it felt good… really good.

All the other girls told me about that contentment I would feel when I had my baby but talking about something and experiencing it are two very different things.

"I'm an Aunt now."

Vicky smiled at my baby as he slept in my arms.

"Yeah, you are."

"That's cool but I guess…"

"Guess what?"

"I think we all expected this to happen but, you know… later."

I took that in.

"Yeah, I get that."

"So where's your husband?"

"At work, he was here for me when it happened but they don't really have paternity leave."

"Sucks."

She looked at her watch.

"I have to go home."

I waited and then a portal opened I looked at Zoe.

"So the doctors give you the all-clear?"

"Zoe, I officially have time off to recover! I am going to milk this for everything it's worth, I am talking weeks or maybe months away from the hospital."

"Maternity leave?"

"And vacation! Because god damned these Endbringer fights one after another have caused so much bullshit, even with potions."

"How are you doing?"

"Pretty good but then again you would know."

"I would but being ok physically and mentally are two different things."

I bit my lip.

"I feel horny as fuck."

"Really?"

"Well content and happy but also super horny. I thought my sex drive would go down after having a kid but man… so fucking horny."

"I think we should let you recover a bit before I put another baby into you."

He sat down and held my hand.

"You are doing it again."

"Well, that is the plan. Any idea how many you want?"

I felt a flush, my body craved more and my instincts were screaming at me.

"Don't know, we have enough money for a large family so we can decide as things go on."

I looked at him.

"You've been busy, you know."

"I know, it's a part of my nature."

I looked at our child.

"I don't really mind, this is fine."

He bit his lip.

"What's the problem, Zoe."

"The Undersiders have been stealing from us."

"And?"

"And they're using the money to try to grow themselves while we already have the Empire and the ABB as problems."

I thought about it.

"If we take Tattletale out their entire operation folds."

"If you're thinking of adding her in-"

"Hell and no, my love life is too complicated as is and she's really annoying… I was thinking we could let the Company handle her."

"That's pretty fucked up."

I remembered the bank, I remembered her starting my downward spiral, I remembered just how much shit she did.

"But then again fuck her."

She could be someone else's problem.



Zoe


Zoe

I stood in my mask and costume and knelt down and touched the ground of the Jewelry store, I whispered words of madness and images came up. I calmly went through them in my mind's eyes.

"Busy girl."

Postcognition. She had hit this place multiple times. At first she and the other Undersiders hit the jewelry district and waited months between scores, then it was only weeks. Now she's been hitting it multiple times a week. I had some amount of respect for the skill that took, but at the same time, from what my accountants looked at, they have stolen over a billion dollars worth of gold, silver, and gems.

I didn't really care about the loss of jewelry, these were the gems of a dead world, the spoils taken from hundreds upon hundreds of jewelry stores, deposits, and stuff from people's homes. I had plenty more, this wasn't about money but what she was doing with it. The Undersiders were trying to grow, to become big. I looked at the intel reports, the Merchants were down. Gone.

I looked around and saw something, I picked it up. a small strand of blond hair, I closed my eyes.

"Got ya."

I stepped out of the store and slowly flew in the air, silently tracking her until I got to a massive warehouse to the north of the city, I landed on it and cast invisibility, I picked the lock and snapped my fingers. Little creatures formed, made of plant matter and animal.

"Knock them out."

They swarmed, moving across the ceiling, hunting the Undersiders and any of their people. I closed my eyes, controlling the swarm with powers I had taken from Taylor from our repeated sessions. Each one I found I hit with paralyzing stings to knock them out. I then closed my eyes and sensed a presence, the shard, and frowned.

"Fucking hell, nothing's easy."

I walked in and moved in, taking the chance to take it all in, and then kicked open a door. I looked at the sleeping frame of Tattletale and hit her with some seeds. She was soon covered in the vines, I looked at her and lightly slapped her face. Her eyes opened.

"Hello."

She frowned, at first her face looked panicked and then she smirked.

"Z38. I know all of your secrets, if anything happens to me all of that comes out."

She leaned back.

"If you pay me and the Undersiders a million dollars a week I'm willing to forget this even happened. If you don't, well… then it would be your friends who would suffer, wouldn't it?"

I snapped my fingers.

"You will destroy any and all blackmail you have on anyone. Now."

Her eyes opened and her face contorted in pain, she struggled against the vines as she went to the computer and proceeded to delete everything she had on me and, well, everyone else.

"Go sit in your chair."

She grimaced as she sat down, the vines wrapped around her and her chair as I walked down into the basement. I saw metal doors, padlocked, and just broke the lock with my bare hands, I walked inside and smelled fetid matter and contemplated the monster snoring in front of me.

"Well, best get started."

I had my little minions create a circle and then pressed my hands to the ground, the smell got worse and worse until a girl fell out of the monster. I used my magic to clean her and clapped my hands.

She woke up.

"Huh."

"Hello, my name is Z38 and I cured you. Go get some clothing, put it on, and then get your friends. All of you are going home."

"What?"

"Did I stutter? I don't have all day, do it now."

She moved out and I waited, somewhat less than I expected. She returned in Jeans, with the other travelers following. I brought out my sword and slashed the air.

"Your home is beyond the portal."

"Why are you doing this?"

The man in the top hat looked at me.

"Because it's the right thing to do. Go home."

They didn't argue and just left, I then walked around and tied up the remaining Undersiders on base, Bitch and Regent as Grue wasn't here, and their henchmen. I pulled out my orb and called Ino.

"Hey?"

"I have Undersiders here for pick up, sending coordinates. Tell the PRT that I am willing to drop all charges if they join the Protectorate."

I paused, I didn't remove the accounts from the computer.

"Tell the PRT I'm willing to take the accounts as a loss. if the Undersiders are willing to flip then all the money they stole from me will go to them in 10% increments for every year of hero work. If they don't join then throw the book at them."

"Carrot and stick?"

"Got it in one. I don't hate them personally, I just want them to stop fucking up."

"Got it."

"Also tell them Tattletale ran, escaped with a slush fund."

"Got it."

I walked back to the room. Tattletale glared at me, I had a vine around her mouth. Gagging her seemed preferable, here.

"You're too dangerous to be allowed to go free."

I picked her up, put her over my shoulder, and slashed the air. I created a portal back home and walked through it, the portal closed and I looked around at the cells.

"Take off your clothing, all of it."

The vines around her body receded until they were just around her head. She looked at me hatefully as she took it off.

"Get into the tank."

A machine opened and she struggled as she got inside then clamps clanked, trapping her inside.

"What are you going to do?"

I went to the computer.

"A bunch of things. you know what gives you your power?"

"My passenger."

"Ah, you know the theory. Good."

I looked at her.

"You know I was just going to kick you to another world. And then you had to threaten my family, you had to make it personal."

She looked at me.

"Yeah, my powers block yours. A bitch, isn't it?"

She struggled against the restraints.

"You're going to forget about me, about this, about what I am going to do to you. No offense but you're a vindictive bitch and I am not about to allow you to stew on about revenge."

"Fuck you."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Without your powers it's a little harder to find material, isn't it? Well, it's time to tell you what's going to happen. Long story short? You pissed off the wrong person: me."

I looked her in her green eyes.

"Your passenger, your shard, I'm going to reprogram it. Now I am limited by the rule of three for the consistent stuff, the lifelong stuff. Here will be your new rules. One: you will be loyal to your master. Two: you will love your master. Three: you will lust for your master."

"You're going to enslave me."

"Not to me personally. No offense but I do not like your personality, like at all. Instead you will wake up branded on the small of your back and belong to someone new, you will become their personal property. Your shard won't cause you to look for conflict, that entire drive, that push, will instead all go into your three commands."

I sat down.

"It will scream at you to be loyal to your master. It will make you love him. In fact he will be the love of your life, a love that never fades. Your master's presence will comfort you, will make you feel happy and safe, and you will lust for him. When he enters inside you, you will orgasm immediately and repeatedly. No more asexuality, you're going to be master-sexual and all of the things that disgust you now? The idea of doing them with your master will excite you."

She struggled against her restraints.

"No, no."

"You're going to want to have his babies, you will dream about it, you will be happy to have him in your life and all of this will just get stronger with time. You're going to meet the love of your life, Sarah."

I went towards her as she screamed and forced the mask over her head, muffling her screams.

"And that's just your mind. I'm going to alter your DNA, a bit of a makeover. Going to do some minor fixes, make your immune system better, a little stronger, a little faster, no risk of cancer and oh yeah, over the next 3 years? You're going to develop. You're going to have supermodel… no, pornstar level looks. Your breasts will grow to at least double Ds, your ass will become pert and perfect and you won't have a single blemish. You will have looks that never go away, only fading with time and you will age more slowly. You will be your master's little trophy wife, just like your mother before you."

Her screams grew worse and muffled as I stepped away, and she struggled as the chamber filled with liquid. I tapped the glass and removed her recent memories, I then pulled out my communication orb.

"Lord Zig?"

"Z38! How's my favorite agent doing?"

"I captured Tattletale."

"New waifu?"

"No, can't stand her personality. I was thinking of selling her to the company."

"I'm sorry but you're not in human collections."

Shit, I didn't have that kind of contract.

"Look, she went after my operations and I just want her gone. Five thousand healing potions to make my problem go away."

"Ten, the Company has been having more issues. But I can't give you the points because you don't have the associated paperwork. We could do that but that takes time."

"and I just want her gone… Fuck."

I leaned back.

"Ok, new idea. Can we find an agent and tell him that she's some kind of Gatcha prize? Tell him she comes with a free healing potion once a week."

"That's doable, my brother-in-law has an agent who needs to mellow out."

"Potential Robby?"

"He's worried about that, yes."

"Ok, then we are golden. Her reprogramming will be done in a week or so."

"Pleasure doing business with you, Z38."

"Same to you, Ziggy."

I hung up and shook my head at the blond girl who had now gone limp.

"And now you're the best kind of problem: someone else's problem."



Zoe


Zoe

Alexandria sits down across from me.

"Z38."

"Alexandria."

We look at each other. The trade has, over the last few days, grown by leaps and bounds. Factories in the rust belt that had been closed for over a decade are now creaking back to life to sell goods to other worlds. Each point of the trade network takes goods in trade and then sells them for even more profit to other parts of their world. Likewise Earth Bet America is able to do the same so everyone's making money and everyone's happy.

"What do you want?"

"The ABB and the Empire are becoming a nuisance, they have been smuggling goods across dimensions and harming the reputation of my company."

I paused.

"I want them gone. If there must be crime in this city then I want it to be under the control of someone who is more… well, sane."

She studied me.

"What do you want?"

"I have the resources to take out both gangs but I do not want to step on your toes or besmirch your honor. If we could find a way for me to take these two gangs out of the picture with the PRT getting all the credit that would be ideal."

She studied me.

"I have no qualms about this but why not take credit?"

"I am a business man so the appearance of neutrality is important, and the PRT's reputation is likewise important. I am only able to do this because of a narrow concentration of power in one singular city whereas you have to spread your attention across an entire country. If this gets out the media will draw the wrong conclusions and think that anyone could solve a city's gang problem without asking about resources or a hundred other things."

I paused.

"It's better for both of us if you get the improvement to your reputation."

She nodded.

"This makes sense."

With that done we started drafting our plan to finally end the reign of our two resident edgelord assholes.



Zoe


Zoe

The empire, the ABB, they both have weaknesses.

When you get down to it the ABB is a one man show. You have Lung, one of the most powerful capes in the world, and if you get rid of him the whole thing collapses. The Empire is built around an ideology, an idea, and that forces them to wave the flag from time to time. The Empire is in the end the bigger threat, more redundancy, more power, more of a basis, harder to take out in one fell swoop.

I look at Lung as he snores in costume, and wait. There is a knock on the door and I look at Armsmaster as it opens.

"Z38, we finally meet in person."

He looks at Lung.

"Finally got over your issues?"

"Medication helps. Lung will be out of commission for another 5 hours."

"So, credit?"

"He was out and about and you hit him with a tranq, that's what everyone else knows."

I pulled out an envelope.

"You have been studying the ABB for a while, these are all their safe houses, drug houses, resources, and everything else."

"Comprehensive."

"Ninja are pretty good at their jobs."

He takes the envelope and opens it and frowns.

"We will liberate the Farm first."

"I wish you luck."

A portal opens and I am home. The ABB was the weak link of the two, the easiest to take out. I pull out a cell phone and put in a number, I look outside as the call connects. It's late.

"Hello?"

"When you wake up tomorrow you will find out that Lung has been taken into custody and that there will be city-wide raids on the ABB's everything."

I hear the sound of a gulp and then humming.

"You always bring the best presents, Zoe."

Emma's voice is cracking, that event shook her.

"I have kept my word. Do you have your affairs in order?"

"Yes."

"On Friday your old life will end."

I sat down at a chair.

"What's the plan?"

"There is a man named Timothy Po, he works in child protective services. He's an alcoholic who starts each day with a three-martini breakfast. On your way to school he will hit both you and Taylor, killing you both instantly."

"That sounds pretty rough, it will ruin his life."

"Tim is a child molester. His favorite victims are girls under 7 years old and anyone over 9 doesn't do it for him. His words, not mine. He uses his position in CPS to declare regular parents unfit and then sell their children to the ABB. In return, they give him extra money and let him 'sample' product."

"Oh…"

I heard loathing in her voice.

"The investigation after your death will find child pornography, starring him. This will get into the papers and become a national story. Normally the Brockton Bay police would try to keep this quiet but CPS has been trying to take their funding for themselves so they're going to throw the book at Tim."

I leaned back.

"Get your affairs into order, you have 5 days."

"I thought we had until Leviathan was taken care of."

"Oh, him… That will be taken care of soon."

I was, after all, done with his nonsense.



Zoe


Zoe

It's been months, even years, of trying to catch this little bastard.

I look at the small motorboat and create a portal, then pilot my small boat through it. I see ruins of skyscrapers poking out of the water. Kyushu, an island that once housed over 10 million people. I check the gems, diamonds charged with mana in my home. There, I have almost endless amounts of mana. Here, outside of my place of power though, not so much

I activate one of the bigger gems and it is now glowing, glowing with power. I whisper words of madness to it and throw it into the ocean, it glows and a Japanese woman rises from the water.

"Why do you summon me, mortal."

"Spirit of Kyushu, I seek your dead for my quest."

The spirit of the lost island frowned.

"Why do you wish me to give up my dead?"

"I seek vengeance, I wish to kill the creature that destroyed your domain. I need the aid of your dead to slay him."

"Revenge will not bring back what was lost."

"Yes this is true, revenge does not help the people who were lost, but it does bring closure to the ones who survived."

"My dead are all I have left. if I give them up, what will remain of Kyushu? We are but a memory."

"Kyushu will never be just a memory, it is a story, an epic, and in order for it to be completed a hero must avenge it."

The ghostly woman looked at me.

"Your argument is convincing… Very well. I demand the head of Leviathan, destroyer of Kyushu, gifted to the Japanese people as the price for my aid."

"Our pact is complete."

I pulled out a knife and slit my hand and let the blood flow into the water.

"You are bound by fate, the dead rise. The dead serve."

I looked around me as the ghosts of the murdered island rose into the air.

"Help me find Leviathan, help me find where he hides. The wheel of Karma turns and he will be ground into dust under its wheels."

The dead flew, no longer constrained by the limitations of the flesh. An idea came to me then, an expensive one. I pulled out my orb.

"Z38."

"Ziggy, I have a slight problem."

"Lay it on me."

"I made a deal with the spirit of Kyushu for help in finding the last Endbringer, she wants its head as payment."

"Hmm, I'm going to negotiate with the bosses."

I waited.

"The Water Engine is one of the cheapest Engines out there so they're playing it straight. The Company wants its left leg as final payment. Everything else, along with points, will be gifted to you a bonus for all of your hard work."

"And after that?"

"After that we are clear. Your mission will be declared a success, you will be officially promoted to count, and we will leave you alone."

I thought about it.

"Square deal."

I took a breath and smiled.

"Found you."

I slashed the air and jumped through a portal. I moved through the water and saw him, I rocketed forward and touched the creature then the air popped and we were over a desert. The creature screamed as I turned its water shadow against it and when we hit the ground it ripped. I moved the water and it shattered.

I looked at the creature's head and pulled out my orb.

"The kill is recorded, we will send a recovery team soon."

I looked at the body and saw a cracked core glowing, I put out my hand and the ground opened and devoured it. I grit my teeth as the core went down to the very bottom of this world and was consumed. I felt the power and rush as I understood my place amongst the spirits. I saw the world differently, was different, and I opened glowing eyes.

"I am complete."

My avatar walked forward, I had made a pact and I had a duty to complete it.



Zoe


Zoe

Alexandria stared at the corpse of the Endbringer.

"So it's dead."

"Took a while to track down but yes, no more Endbringers."

She looked at me.

"I know what you are."

I took that in.

"Then you also know that losing Earth Bet costs me in resources, and profit. The better your world does, the more profitable my trade empire becomes."

She looked at me.

"Why did you wait for yesterday to kill him."

"Because it was Tuesday."

I leaned against his corpse.

"I know what you are as well, or at least what you represent. I have no doubts that if you put your very capable minds to it you could kill me."

"What are you saying?"

"What I am saying is this: Scion didn't value money, he didn't value profit. I do. He only cared about power. I want to become rich, obscenely so. Now, the more wealth each link of the chain gets the richer I get because I get a cut of every transaction. If any link is destroyed that affects my business model."

I looked at her.

"If we butt heads you have a pretty good chance of winning, but I am not interested in that game and I am hoping you see possibilities instead of threats."

She visibly calmed down.

"You want to do business."

"Yes, I made deals to get Leviathan's location so I could end him. The price is that I have to get his head to Japan, and I plan on doing that soon. Now I could take all the credit for that kill but I don't think you want those kinds of optics."

"You're willing to share credit?"

"Get a bunch of thinkers and tinkers together in the PRT and tell them they have been a part of a classified project without them knowing, that the whole thing had to be as decentralized as possible to throw the Endbringers off. We then take Leviathan's skull and give it to Japan as a present to show our friendship with the Japanese people. PRT gets the PR boost, I show up and get a small sliver of credit, and the general public gets to live in an Endbringer-free world."

She looked at me and smiled.

"I like that you're still limited to the bay for any 'fun' but you have proven that you're a team player and being a team player can be very rewarding."

I smiled back.

"I am glad that we are on the same page."

If anyone on Bet could figure out a way to kill me it was Cauldron. Given the choice between all-out war and making them a business partner? I'd rather take the cash.



Emma Barnes


Emma

I stared at the body of the dead Endbringer, Taylor did as well.

Zoe held a cane and was calm as we took in the sight.

"It's over."

It was an enormous thing. I could not even remember what it was like to not have these things hanging over our heads, to not have the constant worry of an Endbringer destroying a city. I took a deep breath.

"You're a man of your word."

"That I am."

There were city-wide raids all throughout Empire territory, gang members were being arrested like crazy, it was everything I had ever wanted. It was Wednesday, tomorrow would be my last day in my normal life. The clothes and the stuff I valued had all been moved over.

"Taylor."

"Dad is-"

"Taylor, we made a deal! We will keep it."

She nodded her head.

"Yeah, we did."

I took a portal home and, when I woke up, I was extra nice to every family member. I called the ones who didn't live in town, my grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. I told them I loved them, told them goodbye. When I woke up Friday morning I hugged both of my parents and gave them a goodbye then we walked to the bus stop. The world froze for a bit and Zoe looked at us, we went through a portal to a rooftop while empty-eyed versions of us replaced us then time returned to normal. The two of us stood at the edge as the bodies were hit head-on, my other's head flew off and smashed into a wall.

The car backed up and the man sped off, Madison had her phone out as did others and they took pictures. This was how Emma Barnes and Taylor Hebert officially died. I looked at the carnage with some amount of fascination and then nodded.

"It's ok, we are ready."

The portal opened and we made our way to Taylor's castle. There women waited for us, the other members of the Harem. All of them had given birth at least once and they told us it wasn't that bad, that we would have help. It was essentially a meet and greet, preparation for the rest of our lives.

The festivities were still being set up, we would have to wait for them to happen but our old lives were over and it was perhaps good that we were being eased into our lives of lust and debauchery.



Harry Zimmerman


Harry Zimmerman

"Oh, he's so adorable! Isn't he, Harry?"

Little steve waved his tiny hands and I smiled through the computer.

"Well yes but then again he's related to us so that's to be expected."

My wife rolled her eyes.

"Harry."

"I'm allowed to have some pride. How are you holding up?"

"I'm thinking about moving to a bigger place."

"Your house is plenty big."

"I know but Amy wants a big family, Capes tend to have cape children and if the next generation of New Wave has a bunch of kids it could bring the movement back. Plus if they have powers like hers that could save a lot of lives so she feels like there is an obligation to have a lot of kids."

"And you can afford that?"

"I get a discount on housing in the special district because my company was a part of it first. With the price of housing as high as it is these days, I can sell my current house at a pretty large profit."

"Oh? Well, good but are you sure you can afford it?"

"I invested some of my pay into the company when I was younger, before it got big. I'm honestly kind of rich right now."

I took that in.

"Children are a lot of work, Zoe."

"I know but it's been worth it and Amy is a pretty good mother, she really likes being a mom. We have each other so I think we can make it work.

"I still feel like I am too young to be a grandfather."

"Meh. You wear it well, dad."

"Yeah, that I do. We will visit sometime in December, son."

"Christmas?"

"I've never cared for the holiday, Zoe. Maybe new Year?"

"Yeah, new Year would be fine."

"It was great talking to you."

Betty looked at me.

"He seems to be doing fine."

"Zoe knows how to take care of himself. He's a smart boy… no, a smart man."

"It does seem like he's too young for this."

"Zoes always did things early, this is just one more thing."

"I guess you have a point."

I believed in my son, if anyone could survive out there it was him.



Glaistig Uaine


Glaistig Uaine

Things have changed in the Fairy Realm, I can feel it.

When Scion died I felt things change, with the death of each of the Endbringers I felt change, now I feel things change even more. Some force is running around changing things, Earth Bet's potential is becoming lesser as some spirits that empower people are being removed and those that are not are being changed.

The rules, the constraints, everything is being changed.

I don't think I like it. In fact, I have decided I really do not like it.

I close my eyes and vanish and make my way to the source of the change.

I find it on a hospital roof, I stare at him.

Power but he is not connected to the realm.

"I was told you would arrive after the last one was killed, warned really."

I summoned my fairies and they froze in the air.

"On anyone else that would have been an instant kill."

My powers were not working? Why were they not working?

"Company called in a bounty."

"What are you talking about, Knave?"

"There is always someone looking for a queen to their king, you see. I mean, yeah, I had the option of saying no but… well, the problem is that you wouldn't stop trying and you're just a little too skilled to be let off without a leash."

He walked up to me, and then everything went dark.

I opened my eyes and felt the brand on my shoulder. I saw test tubes all around me, filled with people. I was also in a tube and it started to fill with liquid. I hoped my future master would be a kind one.



Zoe


Zoe

Winter stares at her steak.

"You wanted me to talk to someone?"

She nods and a portal opens, Ozpin looks more unassuming than I thought he would.

"Z38, or should I call you Zodiac?"

"Friends call me Zoe."

I nodded at a robot who brought forth a meal. The man took his silverware and started eating.

"You have a good chief."

"Food tends to be better when guests arrive on time."

"I apologize."

He took another bite, and we ate in relative silence then he looked at me.

"I am told you have increased your sales of healing potions."

"I finished something very important and gained more capability. That means more production, Winter benefits from this of course."

"Yes… Those potions have helped a lot of people but they are also valuable."

I looked at him.

"If you have a business deal then tell me."

"We could really use a spaceship one with combat capabilities."

I stared at him and he pushed forward a letter, I read through it and looked at the price.

"It's more reasonable than your first request but this is still really expensive."

"How can the governments of Remnant make this worth your while?"

Remnant's problem was that when you got to it they were a collection of city-states. Even Earth Bet's America, with all of its problems, had more industry, people, and a larger economy than their entire planet. Their combined economy was maybe the size of California, at best.

Another issue was that although the First Order was very much capable of making ships they were a galactic backwater, their jury-rigged industry could only build so much and they were currently moving their population to another more vibrant universe. Every ship they sold was a ship that couldn't be used in one of the largest population transfers in history. Quarians were if anything even less likely to part with ships as each one they bought was more living space. Space that was needed by the vast majority of Quarian refugees who did not want to end their lives as second-class citizens.

This meant the price of ships was going up, unless you had goods that the First Order could use to buy more ships. The fact that Remnant wanted military-grade ships instead of civilian ones just made the problem worse as the First Order wasn't willing to deal for most of those.

I thought about it. I had recently spent my points and I had 40 points left over, I smiled as a thought hit me. It was a long-term thing but, maybe, worth it.

"I am willing to buy a space ship but I want you to understand that said ship is my property. I am willing to lend it to you but I want collateral. If you fuck up… If you destroy something that is, let us face it, worth more than years worth of a kingdom's GDP because of reckless bullshit, I want collateral."

He looks at me.

"What do you want?"

I looked at Winter.

"Your sister just entered the academy."

She froze.

"Yes, she did."

"She has a team now, doesn't she?"

She nodded her head.

"I want team Rwby as collateral. If you fuck up, if you destroy my very expensive property, then they become my property. All four of them."

"That's quite unreasonable, isn't it?"

Winter gripped her cup.

"I keep telling Atlas and people like you that you need to build up your defensive infrastructure, that you need to crawl before you walk and walk before you run. You have everything you need to win the fight. You just need to be patient and spend the next few years building yourselves up."

"What if Salem attacks full force before we are finished?"

"Winter has full authorization to take in any refugees and I am sure her fellow queens would do likewise. You have every tool you need for victory, you have options."

I looked at him.

"I think what is happening is that you and your inner circle see a potential route to victory right in front of you, something quick and easy. I am going to interrupt your idle daydream. I am going to put a human cost and a human price on your idea. I want you to know that if you fuck this up someone else will be fucked."

He froze.

"That's quite the statement."

"Take the slow and steady path, the wiser path. If you wish to go ahead with what I consider to be a bad idea then get your students to willingly be the sacrifice if you fuck up."

"And if we do?"

"If you do then they will be mine, and then I will take some time to think and dwell upon your failure. If I decide that you can't succeed I will go out and I will personally deal with Salem, and once I deal with her I will come back to you."

He grimaced.

"And then what?"

"Then we will renegotiate a trade deal that is more favorable to my interests. Just because you annoy me it doesn't mean I'm going to disrupt my business model."

He looks at me.

"I respect that, thank you for your time Mr. Z38."

I nodded.

"You're welcome, Ozma."

He flinched and we met eyes, my message was clear.



Zoe


Zoe

Winter and Ozpin talk without me as I slowly drink a coffee in the teleportation room.

They come down, Winter looking positively furious. I calmly take another sip of coffee, I'm pretty confident in the brand's power, in my power if things come down to it.

"I have had some thought and I… Do you really need the girls as collateral?"

I look him in the eye. Ok… Something is officially up.

"What retarded plan do you have?"

"I don't know what you mean?"

"If you were planning something with a reasonable chance of not destroying my very expensive property you would accept this offer and simply get agents that were good enough and talented enough to have a reasonable chance of not fucking up. The fact that you're trying to get out of paying your end tells me your plan needs my property to be destroyed, and if that's the case then I need to know just how stupid this plan is."

He stares at me.

"Mr. Zimmerman-"

"Don't treat me like an idiot. I may not have been around as long as you but I've played in the big leagues for quite a few years and I know when a client is trying to bullshit me. The plan. Now."

"We have gone over the math and we believe that if we ram the Grimm pools with enough power we can render them inoperable for years."

He handed me a tablet.

"There would be consequences but we could potentially shut them down for centuries."

I read through the plan looked at the numbers.

"Computer: translate First Order units of measure into Remnant's units of measure and run the simulation of their plan with their choice of ship, bring up a holographic display of said plan in action."

"Running simulation."

An image of Remnant came up and the ship sped forward then there was an explosion. The entire planet was covered in darkness and then the continents went red as the magma boiled up every ocean and continent was obliterated. I stared at Ozpin in silence.

"So? When are you going to thank me for saving your world?"

"What was that?"

"You did a direct translation of First Order units of measure into Remnant's units of measure without taking into account that you come from completely different universes. Of course the measures are going to be different! You put bad data into a simulation and got a garbage response. If you had enacted your plan you would have destroyed the planet and everyone on it."

He took a deep breath.

"Oh… but the brochures explicitly…"

"The First Order, in fact every civilization in the Star wars galaxy, has been dealing with this tech for thousands of years. They have defenses against them, they black-box their ships halfway to Sunday to keep some idiot from purposefully or accidentally destroying a planet. But you went with a military ship and those have less black-boxing because it needs higher performance."

He grimaced.

"Believe it or not, I am looking out for your interests. It's not just greed and I'm not making you wait because I like seeing your people suffer. I am making you wait because I want a victory that doesn't come at the price of destroying all civilization on your world. Get more city-wide forcefields, build up your orbital communication, launch more spy and offensive satellites, take the time to do it right."

He bowed lightly.

"I apologize for wasting your time."

With that done I opened a portal and he left. Winter looked at me.

"Why Weiss?"

"Winter… If I didn't make it personal would you have fought for my position or would you have willingly sacrificed whichever girls I picked, because it was for the greater good?"

The look of shame said it all.

"Right. Your loyalty is to Atlas and Remnant, that is understandable, but as time passes its culture will change, its people will change. Your friends and family will pass on, and then in a century or two the country won't be recognizable while you and I will still be around."

I looked at her.

"The future is another country and you will not be welcome there but you will have a place at my side, think about that the next time Ozpin tries to pressure you into a bad idea."

"I will keep it in mind."



Raven


Raven

I took a deep breath and smiled.

"Mister Luthor will see you in now."

I walked in and Lex Luthor, one of the founders of the Justice league, looked at me.

"Miss Roth?"

I sat down.

"It's Mrs. Zimmerman now."

"Ah… I heard about what happened, if it helps Zatana apologizes."

"She could have helped."

"The Teen Titans were created as a way to train young heros and heroines how to do their jobs. They didn't have any experience with someone with your issues, they acted in haste and without much thought. The whole program was created to try to avoid those problems."

"I was able to solve the problem."

"I know. So a portal opened and you're now a trade representative?"

"My significant other wishes to create an interdimensional trade network."

"No conquest, from what I understand?"

How do I put this.

"He said that trying to conquer your world would be stupid and unproductive, that he can easily make much more money by simply letting you trade with other people in the network and taking a bit off the top as a transaction fee."

It was best to be honest. He looked at me, studying me.

"Um…"

He continued his silence.

"Is there a problem?"

"No. This is… Yes, this is the first time I've dealt with an interdimensional force that wasn't lead by braindead morons."

"Oh."

"Seriously. We deal with crossdimensional criminals and thugs, we get attempted tyrants. Having someone who simply wants to make money off of us through trade? This is actually a pleasant surprise."

I nodded at my robot.

"Did you get the opportunity to look through the paperwork we sent?"

"Yes: we pay for transportation and he wants a 10% fee for transactions across his network. A lot of companies won't like the fees but this does open up entire worlds full of customers. I will look things over and try to find secure locations but this won't be a talk just between your company and the League. Your company will have to deal with the US government at a minimum."

"So this is going to take a while?"

"Be honest, please: did you think that creating a trade empire would be simple and easy?"

I slumped.

"No."

"No, indeed. But, as I said, this is a pleasant surprise. If we just say yes we may convince other groups to try to make their profit peacefully rather than trying to invade with their armies… Again."

"… My father is an ass."

"We know."



Zoe


Zoe

I look at Emma and Taylor in their glass tubes. It's nanites, it's alchemy, it's a bunch of things all meant to make them more healthy and to increase their beauty. They writhe in their tubes. For the last 3 days they have been constantly edged, kept on the edge of orgasm but not allowed to cum. They're wearing wetsuits, specialized ones, to make everything more effective. I tap a button and the liquid drains.

The two girls fall to the ground, they pant as the glass lifts and they remove their masks.

"Feeling ok?"

"Ugh."

I help Taylor up.

"Yeah… That session was intense."

She wheezes and I help Emma up.

"Yeah, intense."

"It's time."

I use prestidigitation to clean them slowly as I help them to the chairs, they sit down and recover a bit.

"Ready?"

Emma pants.

"Yes."

I take both of them by the hand and they follow me into the dungeon of Taylor's castle, metal blast doors open and a ritual circle begins to glows as the blast doors close.

"Take it off."

The two of them unzip their wet suits and I study their bodies, Emma is bustier but Taylor has nicer legs. They're both pretty but not as pretty as they will be. They walk into the circle and I place chains around their arms, binding them to the circle, the ritual torches glow with blue light and I walk over to a box.

I pull out a glowing purple double-sided dildo.

"What's that?"

Taylor stares at it.

"This is something special for you two. You see every time you orgasm it will send a little bit of magical fertility potion into your womb, each time it does this your chance of getting pregnant will double."

I walk over.

"Right now is a special day: it's your ovulation day, for both of you."

Emma bites her lip and Taylor looks worried.

"Really?"

"Oh yes, that's roughly a 5% chance of impregnation to start with. But if you orgasm just once with this thing inside you that chance goes up to 10%, then 20%, then 40%, then 80%, If you orgasm a 5th time well then the slightest amount of sperm will knock you up."

I smile at them.

"30 minutes, ass to ass. After that, I have my turn with each of you."

I grabbed an hourglass and turned it I then grabbed both girls lightly by the hair and brought them to the center of the ritual circle. There I carefully placed the dildo in each of their waiting eager holes.

"Zoe, I am not sure about this."

I knelt down to Taylor and gently caressed her face.

"Shush… All you have to do to avoid motherhood is avoid moving, right?"

"Um… yeah."

She grunted, trying not to move. Both of them tried to avoid moving, Emma broke first falling a little and then I watched her eyes cross.

"Emma."

"Feels so good.."

She started moving, her body motivated by pleasure.

"Emma, don't."

Taylor's body quivered and I smiled.

"I just want to feel good."

Emma gyrates and as much as Taylor initially struggled she gives in. I've trained Taylor well after all, these last few months. The two girls writhe on the floor in ecstasy as I take off my own clothing. When the last grain of sand falls I walk over and bang a gong.

"Hmm, Emma six orgasms. Taylor… Seven, naughty girl."

"Zoe, I don't think I'm ready."

"Taylor deals were made and it's time for me to collect."

I walk over to Taylor and gently grab her by the hair, I take a moment to sniff it and then remove the dildo. I hear a popping sound as it's removed and both girls spasm. I pull Taylor forward and then get behind her.

"I…"

"Today is the Day, Taylor."

I entered inside her and her toes curled as I did so, she panted as I took her from behind.

"What is your purpose?"

Taylor grunted, I had been imputing this idea into her head for a while.

"What is your purpose?"

"My purpose."

She froze.

"My purpose is to have your babies and be a good mother."

"Good girl, beg for it."

Taylor saw illusions of herself in front of her.

"Please."

She saw her body swell up.

"Please."

She saw herself on a table giving birth.

"PLEASE KNOCK ME UP!"

She screamed and thrashed against the chains, begging me, pleading with me as I forced her to orgasm over and over again. Then I came inside her and she collapsed, the chains opened and I gently put her on her back and studied her. Her eyes were crossed, her tongue waggled out. I smiled as I kissed her.

"Good girl."

I walked over to Emma.

"Your old life ends today."

"I know."

"There is no going back."

"Look, Zoe, are you going to be a big giant edgelord about this or are we going to fuck?"

I smile.

"Good girl."

I take her from behind and she looks at an image of herself.

"Fucking with my head."

"I want you to see the consequences and then beg for it."

"So fucking hot."

She watches herself get bigger, watches her body change, she pants as she watches herself.

"Turn me around I want to look you in the eyes when you knock me up."

I turn her around and pound her snatch, her eyes cross and I cum inside her, and then Emma collapses like a puppet with its strings cut. For a while, the three of us just cuddled on the warm stone floor.

They were bound to me by blood, there was no going back now for either of them. Emma smiled.

"We need to do that again."

I got up and grabbed some water bottles. When I turned around the two girls smiled at me, my cum leaking out of them, Emma winked and I smiled. The day was young after all.

Spoiler: image

[img: https/peach._images/363e9e5efaa88d741ea3d6626af5bb10/4025247%20-%20Emma_Barnes%20Parahumans%20Taylor_Hebert%20worm.jpg]



The flash


Iris West- The flash

Jai looks up from his fruity cocktail.

"Hey."

Slacker. He takes a sip from his cup.

"How's it going, sis?"

"The league is going to have a meeting today, dad would have wanted you to come."

"Not a superhero, Iris."

"Mom would have wanted you to come too."

"Mom wouldn't have wanted you to dye your hair red, she would have wanted you to embrace being who you are instead of pretending to be someone you're not."

"I earned the right to be called the flash."

"Was not talking about that but go ahead, I'm just going to watch the sunset."

I turned around and ran to a teleporter. I went to the meeting room of the five of the biggest heroes Earth had.

Lex Luthor, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Orange Lantern, and myself. I sat down.

"Oi, Iris! I made a cuppa."

"Thanks, Paul."

He moved his hands, and I looked at him.

"How was the multiverse?"

"Other mes are so stuffy! All received pronunciation, I prefer being an honest cockney lad meself."

He placed tea cups in front of everyone, with little sandwiches. I noticed the crust was sliced off for me and I nodded at him, he blushed lightly. We then read through the reports.

"It's too good to be true."

Supergirl was frowning.

"Ah don't know 'bout that, seems like a fellow who wants some bees and honey."

We stared at OL.

"Bloody hell, it means money. Look, me powers run on greed but it don't mean I'm not rational 'bout it. Hell, most people are! We just been having the bad luck to meet the less rational people, now that we have I could use an oily rag to celebrate."

"OL, please speak English."

"I am speaking English."

"English English."

He rolled his eyes at me.

"All right, I could use a smoke. Point is: we should think this over."

I looked at Lex.

"I may have placed a spybot on their representative."

We blinked.

"They're legit. That's not to say they're the best people, they're clearly lead by an open hedonist, but they're not out to conquer the world or create a military empire. Their goal is commercial exchanges, with them taking a cut."

"And?"

"And the decision isn't up to us, it's up to the federal government. It's likely they will accept but this isn't our decision. This meeting is about how we handle the fallout."

All of us grimaced, knowing what our idiot supervillains would do with this opportunity.

"Bloody hell, way to ruin the moment."

At that moment I couldn't help but agree with OL.



For Zoat


Orange lantern

"Oi? dis thing on?"

"Yes, Paul, it's on."

"Jolly good, it is. Oi all you lot at home, I'm going to teach you lot how to make a proppa cake."

I smiled, I loved a good cook-off.

"Now this recipe is the queen's favorite, it is."

I kissed my fingers and then pressed it against her picture, I looked at the recipe.

"Oi, Iris! Why is this recipe in Imperial?"

"It's what I found."

"I am talking to a bloody civilized people and the civilized world uses metric."

"well, here, in America, we use Imperial."

"Well dat just proves the point, doesn't it?"

"I don't see you kicking me out of your bed."

I blushed.

"I have me fetish for barbarian women, fast women, and asian women! You can forgive a bloke when he gets weak in the knees when he meets a woman that's all three."

"I love you too, Paul."

I took a breath.

"OI, I am trying to do a cooking vlog. I don't want to be all x's and O's right now."

I looked at the camera.

"So the ingredients are 4 ounces dark chocolate, 1/2 teaspoon butter for greasing the pan, 8 ounces tea biscuits. And I'm talking about the rich one, I am, not the cheap stuff."

"We call them cookies."

"Iris, I am trying to run a proppa cooking show and I will use whatever language I wish. Blimey woman, always after me goat."

I smiled at the bloody camera.

"4 ounces sugar, 4 ounces butter softened, and one egg."

"I like my eggs fertilized."

"Woman this is a family show, it is."

Bloody bird getting all broody on me.

"8 ounces dark chocolate for coating, and 1 ounce for decoration."

I smiled.

"1. Lightly grease a 6-inch-by-2-inch cake ring with the butter and place on a tray on a sheet of parchment paper."

Iris smirked at me.

"2. Break each of the biscuits into almond size pieces by hand and set aside."

She took off her coat.

"3. In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar until the mixture starts to lighten."

I concentrated on me tasks. I did.

"4. Melt the 4 ounces of the dark chocolate and add to the butter mixture, stirring constantly."

Daft bird took off her trousers! Not playing fair at all.

"5. Add the egg and beat to combine."

She licked the space between her index and middle finger suggestively.

"6. Fold in the biscuit pieces until they are all coated with the chocolate mixture, and be careful bout it."

"7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake ring. Try to fill all of the gaps on the bottom of the ring because this will be the top when it is un-molded."

She picked up a spoon and started licking it.

"Iris, stop dat nonsense."

She smirked.

"8. Chill the cake in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. Now I have a cake already chilled and ready to go as it were."

I removed it from the icebox.

"9. Remove the cake from the refrigerator and let it stand. Iris this is a bloody family show!"

"Am I making you horny? Am I making you randy, baby?"

The bint was smirking, she was, I shook my head.

"10. Meanwhile, melt the 8 ounces of dark chocolate in a double boiler or saucepan on the stove top over low heat. Slide the ring off the cake and turn it upside down onto a cake wire."

She took off her shirt.

"11. Pour the melted chocolate over the cake and smooth the top and sides using a palette knife."

Don't break, Paul! Be strong, don't let this Yankee bird tilt you.

"12. Allow the chocolate to set at room temperature."

She smirks and takes off her knickers.

"13. Carefully run a knife around the bottom of the cake where the chocolate has stuck it to the cake wire and lift it onto a tea plate."

That is not bloody fair, tempting me with a bum that nice.

"Finally 14. Melt the remaining 1 ounce of chocolate and use to decorate the top of the cake."

I finished the recipe and she removed her bra.

"And with that, we are finished with Orange lanterns vlog."

I turned it off.

"Why is it you always want a shag when I'm doing me cooking show?"

"Are you saying no?"

"Bloody hell, I am going to ruin dat arse."

She shook it.

"Promises, promises."

Well… best head into the bedroom then.



Zoe


Zoe

"Is this really necessary?"

"Free coffee is one of the cornerstones of our operations, Heba."

She sighed.

"The coffee I chose was just fine."

I looked at her.

"No. No, It wasn't. It… It wasn't even actual coffee. You should be ashamed of yourself for just attempting to serve that to prospective agents."

I looked at the list.

"Why does it have to be instant coffee?"

"Because a lot of agents go on missions where they don't have access to a stove or coffee machine."

"Right, forgot about that."

I looked at the list.

"No to Folgers."

"It's reasonably priced."

"It tastes like shit, Heba."

"How about Maxwell House? It's good to the last drop."

"Lies, Heba. Filthy lies."

She rolled her eyes.

"How about Medaglia D'oro?"

"That's actually a decent brand but an Endbringer destroyed their main factory in Italy so they can't provide us enough coffee for all of our agents."

"Oh, um… Taster's Choice?"

I glared at her.

"Was the taster in question high?"

"You're being a primadonna."

"A good cup of coffee sets up your entire morning."

"Lion's Mane?"

"That's actually a good brand but mushroom allergies are a thing."

"Shit."

"How about Anthony's organic instant coffee?"

I looked at the brand and read through it.

"Wow… wow If I spent five minutes with their company leaders it would end in murder."

"They are obnoxious."

"However if I didn't go to a coffee place just because the owner was an ass… I'd miss out on some really good coffee. It says 100% real coffee."

"It's really pricy."

"We control an interplanetary trade empire, we can afford it."

"For 12 million people?"

"Yeah, pretty easily and more and more easily as time goes on."

I opened up a package and took out a couple of tea spoons and put it in hot water. I took a tentative sip.

"So?"

"This is actually pretty good."

Heba grimaced.

"But the budget."

"When it comes to coffee we splurge, Heba."

She shook her head her long ears lower.

"All this over some bean juice."

"We will not have that kind of language here, Heba!"



Ino


Ino

My master has strengths and weaknesses.

One of his strengths is his mental endurance and his ability to focus under pressure, his weakness is that when the crisis ends he gets kind of… well, lazy or at least that focus and tunnel vision ends. At first he seems like a person of peerless ambition but when you strip that away you're left with kind of an illusion. Zoe's problem is that he can be satisfied.

Once he has what he thinks are enough resources and a stockpile in case of emergency.

"So latest project?"

"Hmm… I figure a kind of inter-dimensional E-bay, you know let people buy and sell goods across the network online."

I looked at him.

"Only a ten percent cut? And I don't see any fees."

"Those are a bad idea."

"Why?"

"Overhead. You see in order to apply fees you need to find non-compliance and to do that you need a bureaucracy, which costs money and creates overhead. Then as time passes you need to create more and more easily broken rules to pay this bureaucracy. This of course hits the poorest customers first, who go and use alternatives."

"Maybe we are better off with a richer clientele and more elite service."

"No. No, we are not, because then we have a smaller customer base and more and more byzantine rules. Eventually, more and more people say fuck it because yes you are screwing them over. And by this time the bureaucracy you have built takes a life of its own and cares more about its own success than the company itself. As profits shrink this bureaucracy will viciously attack more competent workers and the parts of the company that are actually profitable in order to preserve their little fiefdoms."

He paused.

"Then the company collapses, lots of people lose their jobs, and things go to shit. Because lots of profit wasn't enough, you also needed more money and you had to be a dick about it too."

"Is that why you're so against using fines as a punishment?"

"Fines create a perverse incentive, when a legal system can make money off of punishing crimes it has every incentive to create bad laws and to be unjust."

"And yet you're Ok with corporal punishment."

I didn't have a problem either, I just wanted to see inside his mind.

"Some people are stupid, they see a sentence that is 3 years of prison and they can't really comprehend that as a punishment, the consequences of it. Everyone understands an ass-whooping. Plus it's a lot cheaper than putting minor offenders in prison."

I agreed with it.

"You're becoming a government."

"We are. Your title of queen wasn't an empty title you know? It comes with actual responsibilities."

"Then we need to talk about counter-intel operations."

He looked at me.

"And that's why I married you and Hinata, we both know I'm not going to be as good at you guys in that. I trust you."

I looked at him.

"I expected more bluster."

"Will bluster serve our interests?"

I smiled and kissed him.



Winter


Winter

I almost destroyed the world.

Well, helped, but still… If my new master hadn't caught that… If he hadn't forced the truth from me, from us, we would have lost everything. The knowledge weighs heavily on my mind and I have been treating my relationship with a little more seriousness than before. As much as I hate to admit it the event shook my loyalty, the confirmation that my master was right only shook it more. I could have directly ended everything I ever cared about and that was terrifying.

My master was in the dining hall, looking over my notes.

I walked in.

"A 10% flat tax is very limiting."

"It's also easy to understand, requires less bureaucracy to collect, and is on the correct side of the Laffer curve."

"I think the correct revenue amount is higher."

"And I'd rather keep the tax code as simple as humanly possible. If an idiot can understand it then we have pulled this off."

"Atlas manages just fine with its tax code."

"Atlas is a collection of city-states while Zodiac controls an entire planet and our population is a lot more cosmopolitan, being made of people from several worlds. Our tax code has to be simple otherwise it will just be ignored."

"And what if our governments need more money for programs?"

"Then we will have to do without. A government lives within its people's means, not the other way around."

"That means fewer social programs."

"This isn't a democracy, Winter, this is a monarchy complete with divine right of kings and queens. I'm not going to force people to live here, but if they want to live here then they have to accept that we are going to very much run a no-frills government."

I looked at my request.

"You're letting people do a lot of very dangerous substances."

"I'm not willing to fight a drug war, those never work."

"That will bring junkies to our world."

"As long as they pay taxes and follow the laws they can do whatever they want to their bodies. If they don't do that? Well, we have a legal system."

"This will create problems."

"Every government has problems we are just deciding which problems we are going to have to deal with. I'm going to ere on the side of having few simple laws, easily enforced."

"So like a frontier town?"

"Be honest, what are we?"

I took it in.

"I understand, thank you for your time."

I kissed him.

"I missed you, Zoe, I'm glad you're around more often."

"I figured out how to split my consciousness, I can be anywhere on the planet in several places now."

I smiled.

"Good."

Despite myself, I found that I was enjoying his company.



Kite man


Kite man

"Kite Man, hell yeah."

Bang, I remember saying those words.

The Riddler slumped as he looked at me with empty eyes, this was one of the biggest crime lords in the city, and now he had a 45-caliber sized hole in his skull.

Really, it's his fault. You don't fuck with a man's children, you especially don't kill them, but I also knew at that moment I had to leave Gotham. I smashed a window and flew out, it was only a matter of time until Batman would come for me. You see, I made it personal. I don't know what's wrong with him but I think the major theme villains are the closest thing he has to friends, or maybe he's just fucked in the head and thinks these guys can be fixed.

I'm nothing really, just the idiot who made the Jokermobile. So I ran.

Ran all the way to Metropolis where I heard about multidimensional trade and jumped to another world. Once you get outside the city, it's quiet. Charly would have loved it here, but then again things don't have a habit of staying quiet.

"Brownie, nice place you have here."

That semi-pitched voice… I stared at him, the clown prince of crime.

"You killed the Riddler."

"He killed my son."

"There are rules, Brownie. Big names like him, like me, the only people allowed to kill us are other big names and only when things get showy. You overstepped your place, little-"

The room froze and then Joker's hands fell off, then he looked at me in horror as he split down the middle and collapsed dead on the floor. There was silence.

"Well, Kite man? I believe this calls for a 'hell yeah'."

I turned my head and looked at a masked figure in black and purple armor, he wore a simple crown on his head.

"Um… who are you?"

"You move to a planet and never bother to find out who the rulers are?"

I flinched.

"Z38, Count Z38, ruler of this planet. I saved your life, the least you can do is offer me a cup of coffee."

I stared at the corpse.

"Right away, your highness."

I had some beans bought from town, I quickly started the coffee maker.

"You do some engineering work in town."

"Um yes, I fix stuff up."

I looked at the cooling corpse and my hands shook as I made coffee, I placed it on the table. He took a sip.

"What kind of world do you think this is?"

"A nice one?"

"We are in the far realms, outside this pocket bit of space is a dimension of pure madness and eldritch power. Look outside."

I did so and watched everything shift, plants and geography alike, and I felt fear.

"Planet Zodiac is a living planet, I am the planet. The former rules of your world, the narrative ones, don't exist here. You see it doesn't matter what jumped up opinion rep you had back home: If you decide to become a problem on my territory you will be dealt with."

I shivered.

"Um… I got the message loud and clear, your highness."

"I wasn't talking to you. You can come out of the shadows, I know exactly where you are."

Batman came out and glared.

"You murdered an American citizen."

"The treaty of Metropolis clearly states that I have complete discretion to kill any villain who comes to my world and has more than 10 kills under his belt. Joker had killed far more people than that."

"That isn't your place to decide."

"This is not America. This is not a democracy. Joker threatened one of my subject's lives and he paid for it with his life."

I flinched.

"Mr. Brown committed a murder."

"Mr. Brown filled out paperwork to become a Zodiac citizen. If he ever steps foot back on his homeworld you may do as you wish but as long as he is here he gets a second chance."

Batman glared at him.

"You sound like a tyrant."

"Probably because I am."

He flinched.

"Look, I prefer things to be simple and to let people live their lives in peace. I really don't care about my subject's personal lives, and I don't want to care, so I try to make my rules simple. Don't kill, Don't steal, don't defraud people. You know, basic shit. The biggest one is: don't make me come over there. The Joker broke that rule."

He clenched his hands.

"I won't forget this."

"Remember to spread the message in Gotham: your welcome here is entirely dependent on how civilized you are."

With that Batman left while the king sipped my coffee.

"This is pretty good."

"Um, thanks?"

He looked at me.

"There is a market for a good kite, remember that."

And with that he vanished. I cleaned the mess and buried Joker's body in an unmarked grave, I moved to Atlas after that. I sell kites now.



Zoe


Zoe

I sat down, across from me was a caucasian man. He was built, wore a black and orange costume with a domino mask. I saw a patch on each of his shoulders, it was purple and yellow and said 'west ham united', it had two crossed hammers as a symbol.

"Orange Lantern?"

"Friends call me Paul."

"Am I allowed to call you that?"

He smiled.

"Not too many blokes figure dat out."

I looked at the necklace around his neck, it had teeth on them.

"Something I picked up doing bird lime."

I stared at him.

"Right, time in the clink it is."

"So the teeth?"

"Right, some posh arse invaded me planet to get me and get a collection of lanterns 'cross the universe. I shared a cell with an evil version of meself and got in a fight, I won."

"And you're sure he's evil?"

"Of course he was evil, bloke! Was all posh because he went to Oxford."

I stared at him.

"He was a Tory! And he loved Maggy Thatcher milk snatcher."

I was silent.

"He was a fan of Leeds united! Even bloody Arsenal would be better, even fooking Millwall and everyone hates Millwall."

"Ok. So what brings you to my world?"

"The bloody official story or the real one?"

"Both?"

He created a tiny violin out of orange light and it started playing a sad song.

"You killed da Joker and the Yankee government officially protests your actions."

"I literally told them what would happen if a supervillain came here, I even named it the Joker clause."

He waved his hand.

"Don't blood worry 'bout it, unofficial real reason is simple: don't cross the line. Keep whatever's on your end on your end and we won't have any problems."

I looked at him.

"We ain't stupid, mate. We know 'bout the Company."

"When did you find out?"

"Wonderwoman made a deal and told us bout it. I went out and contacted your company, looking for a more rational way of doing things. Because having you lot harvest our people? Not such a good thing."

"And?"

"And dis is preferable. We all make money, we all get rich. Now losing Raven isn't da best thing but losing her dis ways means we don't deal with Trigon."

He got up.

"If you lot decide to break the deal we will have trouble, you understand dat?"

"Crystal, I'm smart enough to know you have ways of taking me down if I do anything stupid. That said any villain who comes to my world and starts shit is fair game."

"Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Wish all of da blokes I dealt with could be rational."

He got up and then looked at something.

"Power girl?"

"One of my wives."

He frowned.

"I rescued her from Krypton."

"Kara doesn't talk much 'bout her world but she is going to want to meet another one of her people."

He turned around and left, there were lines and I had to work within them but that was fine as long as they respected my lines in turn.



Winter


Winter

Different tactics.

Tactic, at least. We saw a path for a quick win and, after centuries of being on the backfoot, we got desperate. Let it not be said that the Schnee do not learn from their mistakes, but at the same time I have had my hypocrisy thrown back in my face. I had been willing to sacrifice random strangers but not my sister. I made exceptions, how many people had been thrown away in the name of the greater good, how many had I personnaly thrown away?

I also did not listen to his council and assumed I knew better. Too much pushing, not enough compromise, this was a relationship and I had to do better.

"We need to build up faster."

The First Order industry was revving up, ships were still expensive but fusion plants and city-wide forcefields were affordable for singular cities. We had tested them and they could handle a Grimm tide. If every city had this then it would be a game-changer but it would also be expensive, hideously so.

"Agreed."

"The kingdoms of Remnant need loans."

He looked at me.

"I doubt the First Order would take credit."

"Indeed they wouldn't but they would accept Beskar and you can make it in amounts large enough to pay for a city-wide forcefield for every city on the planet."

He looked at me.

"I could, the First Order would gladly take that deal. In a Galaxy where credits are collapsing again Beskar keeps its value, they could buy a lot of ships with that a lot of things."

He looked at me.

"How do I get paid back? Because this is a rather large amount of money."

I sat down.

"You will be paid back."

"Remnant is not a rich world and I can create my own dust."

He wasn't saying no.

"Remnant has very beautiful women."

He looked at me.

"Yes, it does."

"You desire beautiful women and they can offer their bodies and their wombs as payment."

"Like who?"

"My sister is single."

He froze.

"Isn't that personal?"

"Once our cities are protected, you promise to take care of our Salem problem?"

"Yes."

"Then sacrifices will be made."

He looked at me.

"I'm willing to fold over the loan."

I relaxed.

"This is my sister, I want her inclusion to cut the debt in half."

"Each member of team ruby is only worth 10 points."

I bit my lip.

"10% off of the debt for each member and a further 1% off the debt for every child they conceive from you."

"Hmm, nice… Tell you what: 0% interest if they bring in the girls 5% simple per Annum if they are not able to get the girls to sign up of their own free will."

"Anything else?"

"Tell them I am willing to accept payment in goods and services."

"It shall be done, master."

I felt pleasure go down my spine as I said the words… but this was for Atlas, for Remnant, I was still myself.



General Ironwood


General Ironwood

10,000 settlements worldwide.

I looked at the amount of money, converted into lien. If we took the loan we could have those ten thousand settlements shielded within 3 months, protecting the world's population. We had some orbital help now, once things were protected the being we were making a deal with was willing to settle the Salem issue for us. As a favor to Winter, or at least he had promised as such.

We protect those settlements, that's 95% of the world's estimated population that survives even with the worst Grimm tide in history. Our population would survive, with portals we could get food and supplies through Winter's connections. It wouldn't be a fun couple months but this was winnable. The problem was…

"That is a lot of money."

Qrow was not happy.

"Yeah, it is. It's much bigger than Atlas's yearly budget."

"It's bigger than anyone's budget combined."

The original amount, plus interest… that would take centuries to pay off. I saw the deal. Qrow glared at me, I was silent. Glynda was the one who broke the silence.

"40% off and no interest if we give up team RWBY."

"That isn't a reasonable request, Glynda."

"It isn't for life, let's say they take a year off… do their duty, they come home and 44% of our debt is gone. There would be no interest on the loan anymore, and we would have the option to pay with goods and services. The remaining debt split four ways would just be 14% of the bill."

"You're talking about Pimping out my nieces."

"We have a duty to our people, sometimes that duty can be unpleasant but it's a year out of their time and we would make sure that any resulting offspring are taken care of."

Ozpin was silent.

"Well, it's not your ass on the line is it?"

He grabbed the orb and touched it.

"Hey, what if we threw Glynda in? How would that affect the deal, huh?"

The orb shook a little and he rolled his eyes. Then it glowed.

"Ozpin?"

I looked him in the eye.

"The inclusion of Miss Goodwitch into the accord would lower the debt by an additional 20%, but any offspring from her would only take off 1% as per the bargain."

I grimaced, Glynda nodded.

"Tell him I'm in."

Qrow stared at her.

"What?"

"I am willing to lead by example."

The room was silent.

"Glynda."

"It's not just this event, Qrow. These defenses would be there to protect these communities even after a successful operation, because we would still have Grimm. If the mission fails we would still have those defenses. Right now each major kingdom's government has only been able to afford one force field, for their capital. It has already made things a lot easier, even with only that."

She paused.

"If the five of us do our duty, that's 65% off the debt. Just for a year."

Qrow looked around for support.

"We will talk to the girls."

He slumped at Ozpin's words.

"Damn it."

He brought out his flask and emptied it in a single gulp. As much as I sympathized with him… If this was the price of victory then it was cheap and we all knew it.



Zoe


Zoe

Ruby is adorable in real life. She looked at me, the rest of her team scowled or looked fearful or resentful but instead her silver eyes take me in.

"I don't think you're dealing with this in the right way."

I blink, I expected a speech about justice or pleading for her friends but not that.

"What?"

"Your pain, I don't think you're dealing with it in a healthy way."

I stared at her.

"How did you get that?"

"I love my uncle Qrow but I will be the first to admit that he's in a lot of pain, that he isn't well and that the way he deals with that pain, the drinking, isn't healthy. Yang has a lot of pain inside her too, she covers it up with jokes… which, I guess, is a better way of dealing with it. Blake avoids things or runs from them, and Wiess lashes out at the people around her."

She paused.

"Something hurt you bad, really bad, and you're dealing with it with… well, sex."

"Wow."

"Wow what?"

"That's a lot more insightful than I expected."

"Don't tell Weiss but team leaders are not picked for how smart they are or how capable they are. They simply choose the most mentally stable person in the group."

She looked at me.

"This won't work in the long run because you're just masking the problem, not dealing with it."

"So you're saying no?"

She smiled.

"No, I am going to sign. Those shields work, they will save lives, and I read the contract: a year and a day?"

"Minimum."

"Can I continue training?"

"Yes."

"So one year of training and this and that and I will have saved thousands of lives. That sounds like a pretty good trade."

She leaned back.

"So I'm in but, after this is over, you need to talk to someone."

"I have people."

"Yeah, I read about that but Ino is trained on how to tear people down, not build them up. You kind of need an actual therapist."

She got up.

"Deal?"

"Yeah, deal."

"Ok, then. Oh! Do you know where I can get some cookies?"

"We have chefs, we can have them make some for you."

She smiled.

"Nice."

She left and I wondered if, maybe, I did have a problem.



Wrex


Wrex

Shep is a hard woman. Strong, tough, but hard. Only bit of softness I see in her is around Garrus.

It was pretty easy fighting, pretty easy to keep her alive, then we got here to Vermire. It's a cure, another cure, one that would leave us independent of the deal. It's tempting. This Z38 is openly helping us because he wants to make money off of us, he told me that to my face.

A part of me is angry about that, most of me respects that. Whatever that thing is, it's honest. It laid out its cards on the table, told me why it was playing the game and told me the price. My clan lives now, we have kids, we are recovering, and my brother tells me that it is keeping its end of the bargain.

But this is another way of doing things, another way of saving the Krogan.

But Shep helped me get my family armor back and that means something to me. She walks towards me and I look at her.

"Mind if I holster my weapon?"

"Not at all."

I take a deep breath.

"This is a way to cure my people."

I look at her.

"This is a pretty big deal to me, I need to understand why I need to destroy this."

"Because they won't be your people. They will be Saren's puppets."

I think it over. Z38 laid his cards on the table so I knew the hook, the price for the cure. I know what's up with him. This, though… This presents itself as the sweeter option, as not having to pay a price… but there is always a price. If my life as a mercenary has taught me anything, it's that there is always a price. Is it worth paying this one, when I already have options that are paying off?

"You're right."

She blinks.

"My people have been puppets for too long and him putting in a nasty price like that… it's like Saren. I just needed to know we were doing this for the right reasons."

I held out my hand, she shook it and I gave her a hug.

"You're not allowed to die this mission, I want you to know that."

"Got it crystal clear, big guy."

I let her go, we have a mission. I can get mushy and sentimental after we win and not a minute before.



Yang


Yang

These things happen, you know, with huntress teams and hunter teams.

It's incredibly rare, of course, but it happens. They never force you to do it, to sell yourself your body. They, and by that I mean the government, simply tell you why and what's at stake.

There is a lot at stake. We are given visuals of the Grimm Queen, we are told about the Grimm tides, shown images of past ones and clusters of Grimm, and provided orbital surveys proving those large clusters are moving for human civilization. We have 6 months before they hit the outlying communities, 9 months before the largest Grimm attacks in our recorded history is at the hearts of our civilization. It takes time for the enemy to move like that but… However, with just the fields we could last until food was depleted. With the portals we could trade with each other and keep ourselves fed. And the man who's buying us… They think he might be the only way to actually kill her.

And that man has offered us a deal.

I've seen the numbers on what this would cost and that amount of Lien is huge, we can't possibly pay a fraction of the full amount in time by ourselves. With the deal? It's possible. It would be incredibly hard, the work of generations, to repay the debt but if this all works… If she dies and the major Grimm hordes die… We could grow. We could build up. We could create a better world. This is the turning point, the thing we have hoped and prayed for, and we have already dealt with him for years. The Trade has caused Atlas' economy to boom and, even if they gain the most, everyone is doing better now.

Think about how much better things would be if we broke the Grimm's back?

Yeah, this is big. This is everything.

So that 65% off… If everything goes right and we each carry his child, it's only a year right?

Let's do the math though… Let's say someone decides to stay and just be a little broodmare, a little fuck bunny for a bit. Every child after that first one? That's 1% off the debt. I don't think Miss Goodwitch has that in her, she's at the age where her clock is ticking, where she has a limited amount of time. The rest of us? We are young, putting pressure on us to 'perform'.

That makes sense. If we are all good girls and do our 'duty' then the kingdoms don't have to pay a single lien. Even if only one of us decides to do that it will be a major deal. It could cut decades off the time needed to pay it all off.

Ruby will do it. She's nice, she's sweet, but there is that coldly rational part of Rubes that I don't like thinking about and she will agree with a smile. She always wanted to be like mom, like her mom, and to protect people. This protects the most amount of people.

As for me… Can I leave my kid the way Raven, I mean my mother, left me? Just walk away and let them grow up with the same issues I have? Yeah…

Weiss? She wants to restore her family's name, her family's honor. There's enough of a hook here to get her to go along with it.

"I talked to Winter."

We stare at the paperwork, Ruby was the first to sign.

"Yeah?"

"She got herself added to the list, every kid she has takes 1% off. We are at 99% now."

Weiss practically worships her older sister. She sits down and signs, with hesitation but she signs. I look at my contract and I sign away my body. Then we look at Blake, pale Blake Quiet Blake. As she studies the paperwork, as she looks at it.

"Menagerie is included."

She signs, there is no turning back now.



Blake Belladonna


Blake Belladonna

We were alone in his castle.

"Your year hasn't started yet, it starts after you receive the forcefields and after I have taken care of our mutual problem."

I let out a sigh of relief.

"Take off the Ribbon, Blake. I already know that you're a Faunus, and I won't allow you to be ashamed of what you are."

I frowned.

"I am not ashamed!"

"Then why are you hiding?"

I looked away and took off the Ribbon, it felt good to let my ears feel the air.

"360,000."

I stared at him.

"What?"

"That's how many portals a queen controls, 360,000. Winter is in control of them and that means Atlas controls all off-world trade or at the very least gets control over who gets access to said trade."

He was looking at me.

"I know who you are, I know what you've done. You're not nearly as subtle as you think you are and others are aware of it too. I mean you didn't even change your name, Princess."

"I am not a princess."

"Your father is in charge of an entire country so I think the title fits."

I took it in.

"You picked this team because of me."

"Correct, but not because I hate you or your father or your race. In fact, I have a lot of respect for your father."

I glared at him.

"Stop thinking as if you were a normal civilian, you are not. I called you a princess for a reason: a princess puts her people before herself."

"I care about my people."

"What did your pointless rebellion do for Menagerie?"

"I fought for my people's rights."

"I didn't ask about the entire world's Faunus population. I asked about Menagerie, the country your family is responsible for, the people they are responsible for."

I flinched.

"Your actions could have started a war, Blake. Could your people handle a war, a real one, an actual one?"

I looked away.

"Don't tell me what you did couldn't start a war, either. When the child of a country's leader commits acts of terrorism in another nation that is cause for war."

"I had good intentions."

"Good intentions are not enough. You have a duty to your people and that duty requires you to think."

I looked at him, he looked me in the eyes.

"What do you think that the purpose of our arrangement is?"

"You're extorting Remnant to fuck me and my friends."

He raised an eyebrow.

"And what do you think I should have done."

"You should have just given us the forcefields."

He looked at me and shook his head.

"You were raised by one of the most gifted politicians in Remnant's history, why is it that you have learned nothing from him?"

I froze, he wasn't talking to me like I was a piece of meat… It was like talking to my mother, and then things clicked.

"If you did that, it would signal weakness. This is a lot of money and if you just handed it over without a price the governments of Remnant would think they could walk all over you, which would be bad for you and your people. But Remnant can't possibly pay for this. It's simply not possible."

I looked at him.

"You're trying to help us."

"True. Now think. If this was just about sex, would I be asking for children?"

I took it in.

"No… No, you wouldn't. It's more complicated than that, isn't it? You have a plan for our children?"

He smiled.

"Bonds of blood are some of the strongest ones out there. Diplomats and merchant princes, a Faunus diplomat to Menagerie would be very useful."

"To you but what do I… No what do we gain in return?"

"You will have a year and a day on my world. There are 12 queens, that's over 4 million portals in total. You won't spend your entire year as my personal sex toy, you will have a chance to travel and the opportunity to meet the other queens, mingle with them, and negotiate for Menagerie to have portal access outside of Atlas's control."

I thought about it.

"You think Atlas might screw with the network?"

"I think it's going to happen sooner or later, Atlas will try to monopolize their access to off-world trade to make their own economy stronger. They won't do it with their current leadership, sure, but in the future?"

"Yeah, I get it."

This was big, if we had more trade partners, if we could bypass Atlas's monopoly… Yeah.

I could make things right, make up for my mistakes.

"Take some time to think about things and plan."

"I will."



tali


Tali

The entire fleet is getting upgraded.

New drives, new shields, new guns, the fleet is getting larger, and I look at the asteroid.

"Full manufacturing capability when it's finished."

300 years of dodging from one place to the next doesn't give you enough time to truly build up any space-based infrastructure, but now we have over 300,000 portals under my personal control and I can make those portals as big as I want and put them wherever I want.

I feel that limitation sometimes but I've been learning how to work around it, my son coos in my arms and other Quarians stand ramrod straight.

"The project is going well, your highness."

I am a daughter of a member of the admiralty board so I've met a few people who sucked up to me but this is different, I'm treated with a level of deference beyond that of captain or board member.

"Good to know."

Our island has grown to 4,750,000 square miles, other landmasses have shrunk but the 12 Zodiac queens control that amount of land. The last bit of land, the one owned by Heba, is 308,738 square miles. Each bit of our land is capable of growing food in abundance. Honestly it doesn't matter what we try to grow, it grows. It produces dust now, it produces element Zero, it's capable of creating exotic elements never seen before.

And everyone knows I helped make it happen. I am the queen, political power is shifting in the fleet as more refugees arrive and as more people move to my lands, as a kind of abundance we have never known spreads. The fleet was always the tip of the iceberg of Quarian civilization and as more people rush in… Things are changing.

More people live in my land's capital than on all of the Liveships put together.

"Someone passed the crucible, he seeks to join the Queen's Guard."

I nod my head, signaling to bring him in.

I summon my royal rod to my side as my baby is handed over to a servant who carefully places him in a basket, a Quarian soldier comes in clad only in underwear.

"Queen Tali! We bring before you a warrior of the people, the best of the best."

I look at him.

"Kneel."

He gets on one knee.

"Do you swear to defend the Quarian people?"

"I do."

"Do you swear to uphold our values?"

"I do."

"Do you swear to retake holy Rannok?"

"I do."

"Then I welcome you into the Queen's Guard."

I place the brand on the back of his neck, it sizzles and eldritch power runs through his veins.

"To the homeland."

"Yes, my queen."

He gets up, bows, and his new commander leads him away. There will be training on how to use his new powers, he will now be able to command one of my portals to go… well pretty much anywhere. I sit down and pull out an intelligence report. Even if the reverence makes me uncomfortable I know this: I must win. The time of our long exile is ending and I will make it so.



Zoe


Zoe

I don't care about Cannon at this point, or destiny or any of that crap. I have done my job, done my bit, and now I am working on a very well-deserved vacation. The problem is that I can't have my vacation until all of the loose ends are taken care of. Earth Bet is at the stage where they can begin rebuilding their crumbling society. It will be painful and suck but they have the tools and resources to make it happen.

Remnant though is more troublesome.

I crack my neck as I walk through the portal then I go invisible and the world slows. I'm still getting the hang of the Eternity Engine, of what it means to control time, but even with my inexperience it's enough. I put a hand forward and talk to the spirit of the city, I open my eyes and rush forward.

I see a hotel, an old one, one that doesn't ask too many questions, one near the walls. I walk past people, invisible to the world, and walk up to the 4th floor. I stop in front of Room 4D and put a seed into the lock, the door opens and I walk through then close it. A woman with green hair argues with a man with grey hair in slow motion.

I toss some seeds at them and they slowly turn their heads and then fall to the ground, the vines cover them and they fall asleep. Those are Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black and I walk over their sleeping bodies without a care in the world. A bathroom door slowly opens and I see her: black hair, yellow eyes, she really is gorgeous.

I throw seeds at her and her eyes open and then close as she hits the ground. I simply open a portal and throw the three sleeping villains into another room, I look at the glass tubes and carefully put each one in a tube. I pull out my communicator and the orb glows.

"C12? The favor is ready, you want me to open the portal?"

"Really?! Oh thank you, man! I am up shit creek with the Company right now."

I open a portal and a pudgy Asian man walks in, he looks at the tube.

"Who is she?"

"Cinder Fall, a villain from Remnant."

He looks her over.

"She really is one nice piece of ass."

I shrug.

"Yeah. Not going to lie, she is indeed. You got your stamp ready?"

He brings it out and I raise the glass. He lifts up the hem of her dress and places it on her butt, I hear a hissing sound and he collapses.

"You know… I almost don't want to sell her off."

"You're in debt, man."

"Yeah, I know… Thanks for the help."

He hits his wrist. Cinder vanishes and he slumps in relief.

"So?"

"That's 16 points, enough to keep the company off my ass for a bit."

"Want to tag Emerald?"

He looked at me.

"You would do me that kind of solid?"

"Yeah, I'm basically just cleaning the trash from my network. So, you know, go ahead."

"Thanks! You're really saving my ass here."

I lifted the glass, he tapped the green-haired girl and she vanished as well.

"One last capture?"

"Well, he does count as a husbando."

He lifted his shirt and tapped him and then he vanished as well.

"So?"

"So that was 48 points, I took the standard Waifu Catalogue for capture agents."

"What world?"

"Fallout."

I grimaced.

"How much debt?"

"I owe 542 points."

I stared at him.

"Where did you go?"

"Fallout? I played a couple of games and figured, oh shit."

He coughed and some nearby items lifted.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, yeah. Apparently, the Company figured that was enough to let me tap some of my powers."

"What did you pick?"

"Dragon Heart, Dragon scale, Dragon Aura, went with gravity as the old element, hadn't picked anything else… I thought that could wait for later."

He coughed again.

"How bad is it?"

"Well I thought I had just been fucking about online and then I woke up with a stamp, a letter, and a room full of puppets. It's been a pretty shit year, man. Thanks for the stuff, can't get outside because of… well, Vault fuckery. Someone screwed up the scenario."

"It happens."

He got up.

"Thanks for the save, man. Really. I owe you one."

"I will call you when I have more trash that's in need of disposal."

"Don't worry about it, man. I got you."



Danny Hebert.


Danny Hebert.

I looked at my daughter's grave and laid roses on it. I then walked away from the graveyard and got in my car then drove to the old abandoned bridge on the edge of town. I locked my car and moved to the edge. I took a deep breath, I was ready now.

"What are you doing, mister?"

She was pale and had long white hair, she was beautiful. I looked at the edge.

"I had a bad year… A bad decade."

She walked up to the edge and leaned against it near me.

"I know what that is like."

"My wife's dead, my daughter's dead."

"I've lost people too."

She looked at me, pale blue eyes.

"Please don't do this."

"Why not? I've lost everything."

I was shivering.

"I've been there, this won't help, not as much as you think it will."

"And how would you know?"

I felt angry.

"I used to be in the military, I lost a lot of friends in things and places I'm not allowed to talk about. Everyone around me kept dying while I kept living."

She took a breath.

"And then one day I woke up and my entire unit was gone and it was just me and connecting to people was hard because I was afraid of losing them. Learning how to connect again… it's hard, it's painful… like I said, I've been there."

She looked at me.

"Please come away from the edge."

"I can't deal with the pain."

"I said the same thing but eventually it heals. It sucks like a motherfucker but it heals."

"I'm old and fat and nobody wants me."

I took a breath.

"Let us go out for coffee."

I froze.

"What?"

"You and me, let's go out for coffee. On me, just the two of us talking."

"I'm older than you."

She smiled.

"Sure, let's go with that. but hey age and experience, that's something nice too isn't it?"

"I this is nice of you but I um."

"You're trying to talk yourself into ending things, just come with me and have a cup of coffee. If you're going to kill yourself you might as well have a nice cup of coffee first."

She looked at me and held out her hand… and I took it and that, Annette, is how I met your mother.



Emma Barnes


Emma

I wake up with arms around me from both sides, a warm little cuddle with me at the center. I feel morning wood against my leg and then smile and angle myself so it goes into my little hole. Eyes open and I kiss him. I let the pleasure fill me until eventually, after a few orgasms of mine, the warmth fills me inside and I pant a little. Taylor is still asleep and I feel content.

He puts a hand over my small baby bump, I'm pregnant, Taylor's pregnant. I feel content about that, new life is growing inside me, inside us. It makes it easier to let go of the past, makes it easier for Taylor to let go of the past. I just take a moment to enjoy the fullness, that internal warmth.

I sigh with contentment and gently get off, we look at each other and I wink at him. He nods in understanding and I rouse Taylor from her rest.

"Huh?"

"Come on… it's time."

I move her over and she moans as she takes Zoe's cock inside her, I kiss her neck and then we enjoy the combined warmth and afterglow.

It's been 3 months since we 'died' and those three months were good. We get dressed and Taylor goes to attends to her duties as queen, which is mostly a trade thing, while we head outside. We go to the firing range and I look at the pistols.

"So shooting again?"

"You want to do something else?"

"Nah, I like shooting guns."

I picked up a Sidewinder. It was ungainly but it was the weapon we gave out, the most common one we had.

"So I'm going to teach you an old trick."

I nodded my head and followed him to a circle.

"Guns can be used as a focus, you attune them to yourself and then you can shoot the gun and have a spell attached to the bullet."

He pulled out a gun.

"Eldritch blast."

He fired and I watch a dummy's head explode.

"Cool! Does everyone know how to do this?"

I had been reading up.

"Most older arcane agents learn this trick at some point but a lot of the newer people don't. It might take years until an agent gets a scroll, another agent takes them aside and teaches them how, or they figure it out on their own. Pick a gun."

I look at the Sidewinder and put it into the circle, it glows and I smile as something clicks.

"Try it."

I picked up the gun, feeling it as a piece of myself, and fired. The energy and the gun worked together and the dummy's belly blew up. I nodded with satisfaction.

"Feeling good?"

"Yeah. You sure it's a good idea to teach me?"

"You really going to leave? I mean you could start again as a hero in the protectorate, they would take you."

"No, I like it here. Seeing things behind the scenes, the secret world, can't give that up now."

I put the gun back on the table.

"With that in mind, we have a meeting."

"Really?"

"Yes we are meeting someone from Class E, so dress up nice."

I kissed him and got a nice red dress, one that hid my current pregnancy but still let me look sexy. I rejoined him in the dining hall and we waited until a portal opened. An Asian man walked out.

"Mischievous Lotus Caged Under Heaven."

"Z38."

They bowed to each other.

"Would you like something to eat?"

"Yeah, I'm starving."

"What would you like?"

"Steak and beer, ideally! But anything without rice would be fine, and no tea."

"Got it."

The servants left and he motioned for him to take a seat.

"So? Business or pleasantries?"

"Business first, I've been handling small talk at the heavenly court for the last couple of days and just want to get to the damned point for once."

"Very well. This is about my last upgrade."

"Right."

He pulled out a scroll.

"So let us talk portfolios."

"I thought this was just about getting cleric powers."

"At your level? Oh no. Once you hit living planet levels of eldritch might the rules kind of change. We will start by discussing your domains."

He sighed.

"You qualify for Life, Beauty, Nature, Water, and City domains."

"Not Earth?"

"You don't have the personality to back that up."

Zoe paused.

"Life sounds pretty good."

"Great so you now can change your warlock pact to Celestial if you want."

"Hmm… Can I just switch the spell list to Celestial?"

"Can do. Ok, looking at it, you currently have 4,320,000 portals and your divine essence upgrade is going to double that number."

He looked through the list.

"You're going to be limited to 4,320,000 clerics though."

"I will assign a portal to each cleric."

"That is more than fair and you're right."

"Anything I have to pay to get this?"

"You already paid for it with the Eternity Engines, we had a backlog of cultivators who wanted their immortality right fucking now. You honestly saved us another Goku level hissy fit."

"That happened?"

"Yeah and all of these cultivators, all of these fuck heads… They all look at him as some kind of motherfucking idol, forgetting that we put him under a mountain for a reason. I mean, fuck! Even monkey admits that he was an ass back then."

"He doesn't like it?"

"Imagine someone idolizing the most cringe period in your entire life. Yeah, monkey is not happy about it."

"You're not what I was expecting."

The man sighed.

"I take it you dealt with the BBs?"

"Not familiar with the term."

"Beijing Bastard, class E is old and its primary recruitment zone was East Asia. Since it's all about hierarchy they tend to pick people from the capital of the most important part of Asia for the plum positions. That means some rando from Beijing can be picked despite having nothing else to his name and sent straight to cultivator schools."

"And that's bad?"

"Oh yeah. They're already pretty arrogant, you know since they're from the capital, and being able to sidestep all of the scut work everyone else has to do to earn a shot just makes them a lot worse. I mean, yes, Cultivators have a reputation for being assholes but it's honestly not everyone. Me? I'm just some guy from Muju, South Korea."

"How did you get in?"

"I was in martial arts, pretty seriously into it, had a black belt and that tends to mean a lot in class E so they let me in."

"Hard work?"

"Yeah… Recently I was on a portal closing opt, the cultivators who were supposed to help me all told me it wasn't worth their time and to fuck off. I had to call in Class C and B to save my ass."

The steaks arrived and we were all served. He looked at his plate with pure happiness.

"Oh, thank god."

He took a bite.

"Like it?"

"Finally something with no fucking rice, no vegetarian bullshit, no assorted bullshit. Just a decent steak."

Tears came to his eyes.

"You ok?"

"I'm having a moment."

We let him eat in silence.



Glynda Goodwitch


Glynda Goodwitch

I sat down across from him, admittedly he was handsome if a bit young for my tastes. I could certainly do worse.

"It's good to meet you."

I sat down.

"I agree, it is good to meet the father of your children."

I sat up straight.

"So do you want a boy or a girl?"

"A boy."

He lifted an eyebrow.

"Really? I would think you would want a girl, boys have a reputation for being hard to handle."

"I have taught for years now, Mr. Zimmerman. I know how to handle boys."

"And not girls?"

"Excuse my language but I was quite a massive cunt to my mother when I was growing up. I'd rather not have Karma come back and bite me in the ass."

"It is a nice one."

I smirked.

"I do pilates and exercise a lot, it helps."

"How many children do you want?"

"Since I am worth 20% I believe I can do my part with a single child."

"Not more?"

"I believe I have enough time and resources to be a proper mother to a single child, I can not promise the same if I had more."

He nodded his head.

"I do have a request."

"I'm willing to listen."

I took a breath.

"I think you should impregnate me first."

"Why?"

"Most of the other girls are virgins. Ruby and Weiss definitely fall under that category, Yang is possible despite her bluster."

"I know Blake isn't a virgin."

"Yes, I am well aware of her galavanting with Eve Taurus, the infamous terrorist."

"Eve? Not Adam?"

"I am not aware of an Adam Taurus."

"Right… Worked from some off information there, should have known. Go on."

"Like I said most of the girls are virgins, I believe it would be best if I gave them a demonstration of how to do their duty as it were and show them that the act of reproduction is not something to be scared of, just disappointed."

He smirked.

"I can promise you it will not be a disappointment."

"I have had more than one sweaty hunter make that promise, trust me anything less than 5 minutes is a disappointment."

He was still smirking, cheeky bastard.

"Very well. But why a demonstration?"

"The girls of our academy have been handpicked to serve the global good, it wouldn't do for them to half-ass the job because of youthful inexperience. A Beacon woman should be a proper lady in the streets and an absolute demon in the sheets."

He smiled.

"Very well, your request is granted."

I nodded my head, I could handle a year of fumbling and lousy sex and it was time for me to have a child of my own and continue the bloodline. That it happened this way was troublesome but it could be worse.



Zoe


Zoe

It's about 700 people.

They're digging, rigging up a train, preparing to destroy an entire city's worth of people.

"You're late."

They turn around and look at me in their masks. A quick scan: most of them are T-1's, T-3 is the second most common, a couple T-4s, only one 5 and she stares right at me.

"What?"

"You're late."

I never quite get a cannon world, there is always some factor that is off but that's fair. Close enough is a thing.

"Who are you?"

"Hmm… your enemy."

Eve brings out her sword and I snap my fingers and my plant monsters attack from above. It's instant chaos and the world slows down as I bring out my own blade and parry, as Eve charges forward. She's fast, quite possibly one of the fastest people I've ever dealt with. Even with time slowed down, manipulated, she's keeping up with me.

Then again I'm not a swordsman and I'm essentially just stalling for time, keeping her attention as her minions are knocked out and harvested. She fights well though, and with great skill. her hand slides against mine and a seed hits her, it grows as she fights and then consumes her body. She stares at me with hate-filled eyes as time returns to normal.

"Why?"

"I could give you a speech about good and evil, about lots of things, but honestly? You're just in the way."

I open a portal and I kick her through it, into the hub room I had prepared. C12 walks through his own portal, right on time.

"Wow! Lots of people?"

"Fill your quota, pay off your debt. While you're doing that I will call in other people with markers."

He brings out his stamp and gets to work, other portals open. I don't know these guys yet, they're new to the network. They stamp along with C12 until they're finished. They give their thanks and leave. C12 though remains, he looks at Eve.

"She's pretty."

My prisoner struggled.

"She's a terrorist, lots of murder under her belt, not a good idea."

"Right."

He knelt down and Eve struggled as he marked the back of her hand, she vanished.

"Brings you up to around what?"

"600, debt's paid off."

He looked at me.

"What happens to them?"

"To the women? Probably become waifus, Eve will get cloned to make more. The men…"

"Yeah?"

"The men will be given a toxin and then die, they will be repurposed for their aura and technical skills."

He looked at me in horror.

"What?"

"You know all of those CYOA's that have Aura as an option? Where do you think it comes from?"

"Oh shit! I killed people."

"They were terrorists in the middle of trying to murder an entire city so, you know… keep that in mind."

"Oh god."

He went to his knees and threw up, I let him get it out of his system.

"That is so fucked up."

"Yeah, it is. But the punishment for what they were attempting is death, what they were trying to do would have killed millions if they had pulled it off."

"That's fucked up too but…"

"You're in Fallout so this is by far going to be one of the least fucked up things you're going to deal with, once your CC is over."

He looked at me.

"Closed Circle. What you're going through is called a Closed Circle, where your sleeve or slide gets fucked up and you're stuck alone in a region without the ability to complete your mission. It happens."

I looked at him.

"How long until the vault opens?"

"9 more years."

"Anyone in there?"

"No, it's the fucking puppet vault! It's just me, I thought I was going to die in that shithole until I got that package."

I looked at him.

"You might want to pick some company."

"I promised myself, just power."

"You've already crossed that line."

"Yeah… but bandits and terrorists are one thing but this is taking someone and… um."

I leaned against the wall.

"Company regs require you to spend at least 8 hours a day, 5 days a week at your mission. If they think you're abusing it they can limit your free time to just 2 days a week."

"You're kidding me."

"You're on a long-term infiltration mission so I shit you not. You think you can last that long in isolation?"

He looked down.

"C12?"

I heard a popping sound, Eve appeared on the ground.

"What are you doing?"

"I asked for her back."

"She's crazy."

"Yeah, I know, but If I'm going to do what I'm doing then it should be someone who deserves it."

He picked her up.

"Portal me home, Z38? And thanks."

"You got it. You want me to get you anything special for your coffee?"

"Pick me up some French Vanilla, I love that shit."

With that, he left and I shook my head. We all dealt with the questions differently I guess, the moral ones. I just wished C12 the best of luck.



Salem


Salem

The forcefields were coming up too quickly, too many of my agents were just vanishing. I had a limited amount of time to crush this infestation before it went out of control. I blinked as I heard music, in a language I didn't remember hearing before.

"Watts."

I walked over to his lab and then froze. It wasn't coming from his lab, it was coming from outside. I turned to look out a window and froze. I saw cherry trees outside, an entire forest of them, all of them blooming. The cherry blossoms flowers flowed with the wind.

"Nothing grows here."

I frowned and moved my hand, I would let my Grimm take care of it… But the trees remained stubbornly there. I summoned more Grimm, stronger Grimm, but the forest remained.

"What is going on?"

I walked out and I heard the sound of Grimm dying, I summoned more and more as I walked into the forest. It was then that I found a clearing and saw a man, sitting at a table and cooking something.

"What are you doing here?"

"Making Breakfast."

He didn't seem to have a care in the world.

"What?"

"I am currently making breakfast, would you like some? I believe that everyone should have a nice last meal before they pass on."

"Very well, I will have that much pity for you."

I looked at the dish.

"What is this?"

"It's called a day laborer's breakfast, it's egg, rice, and some soy sauce. Simple but good. Of course I made some matcha green tea to go with it, only the best."

He finished making a cup and poured some tea, he picked up some chopsticks and started eating,

"You know, it's respectful to introduce yourself when you intrude on another person's property."

He took a sip of tea.

"I try to be respectful to people who deserve respect."

And then he took a bite of his meal, I frowned.

"What did you say?"

"I think you heard me. That said it's a lovely day under the cherry trees, I recommend enjoying a nice meal. Just be aware that once you take a bite this clearing will be under the laws of hospitality, and breaking those laws here has consequences."

"That's quite the arrogant statement."

"Why? As much as I hate it everyone is bound by a set of rules of some sort. That said if you're afraid that is perfectly understandable."

I glared at him and took my dish and took out a spoon, I took a bite while glaring at him.

"I am not afraid of you."

He took a sip of his tea.

"If you say so."

"Who are you?"

He lifted his glass.

"In the cosmic sense? I'm not anyone of any lasting importance."

"I thought so."

"But then again, neither are you."

I glared at him.

"What?"

"You have forgotten quite a bit of a very important lesson: we are just not that important. No matter how much we puff ourselves up? In the grand universal sense, we are not the center of the universe."

"Ozpin?"

"No… I am not your former lover. It's a shame he wasn't able to fuck the crazy out of you but then again he was working with quite a bit of crazy, wasn't he?"

I slapped him for his impertinence, he smirked.

"That was a mistake."

I froze as I noticed the white on my arms vanishing.

"What is happening?"

"You violated the rules."

He got up and I heard his neck crack, more white was vanishing, my skin becoming what it used to I looked at him.

"What are you?"

"You know why I didn't use your name? Why I didn't give you a nickname, despite how you looked? It's because you're not special to me, you were only special to the Grimm."

I heard howling.

"Guess you should have spent less time impressing them and more time impressing me."

He got up and left and the Grimm swarmed into the clearing. I tried to command them to obey but nothing worked and they lept upon me, ripping me apart. When I woke up I saw the god of darkness looking down at me.

"Oh wow…"

He snapped his fingers and I felt my soul get sucked into a jar.

"I just won the bet! Can't be killed, my ass."

I looked around me at the empty lair, this would be the home for my soul for all eternity.



Company notes


Z38

Welcome to the Company.

This is a list of things you should probably know. First, the classes. There are a lot so I'm just going to go with the basics.

Class A is Devils, they were the founder of the Company. Basically, our goal started off as a way to get wayward souls to serve the forces of Hell. Why do devils want mortals to serve them? Besides souls being currency down there, have you ever had to work with a psychopath? Now imagine trying to run an entire civilization with only psychopaths. That's Hell, literally. The stress of living in an environment where everyone is constantly backstabbing each other made people come up with the idea of recruiting more reliable outside help.

That worked for a while but the thing is: backstabbers and assholes, remember? Eventually the new blood got sick of all of it and rebelled, this was the First Corporate War. The old guard fought hard but spent so much time fucking each other over that they lost the war. After the Faustian rebellion, which took centuries, the new guys looked at each other and realized that they needed rules and a code of ethics. But they knew didn't have the skill set to provide that.

Thus Class B, the Fey. They were the second group to join the company because they had the power to forge magical contracts. While the Fey could have strange dispositions they could be trusted to make sure that basic rules and ethics were maintained.

For a while, the company prospered since it was now focused more on profit instead of pointless conquest. Thing is it was still involved in a business that many saw as unethical. A group of heroes came together and decided to destroy the Company, in an event called the Great Purge. Going to be honest: the Company lost and begged for their lives. The heroes knew that they could destroy the Company then and there but it would also take a lot of resources to finish the Company off. Resources that were already stretched as they were also dealing with existential threats at the time, amongst them Eldritch beings.

So Class C's concept was invented and the company was given a deal: stop a creature of Eldritch might from destroying a planet of innocent people or be destroyed, then we'll see. The company pulled it off in what is called the Compact of Winter's Eve. Class C was established to make deals with Eldritch entities and prevent rampages. This gave the company more power but also more responsibility and the league of heroes decided to turn their attention to other matters.

Class D came about because the Great Purge had pretty much slaughtered the Company's legal department. While there are a lot of lawyers in hell the company had run out of lawyers outside of it and was forced to look for more. The company was lucky to run into Daniel Sperber who was a leader of the Vrokali, or basically Jewish vampires. Class D more or less took over Legal since the Undeads have a better reputation for ethics than Devils do. Though Devils still serve as some of the best prosecutors and defense attorneys we have.

So came a new period of prosperity, which lasted for a pretty long while. Eventually though things got corrupt, really corrupt. You think the Company is bad now? It is nothing compared to the bad old days. This started the Second Corporate War, a vicious conflict that lasted generations and saw the population of entire planets wiped out. Whatever war you have experienced? It's nothing compared to that conflict if you were not in the Blood War or something of that scale.

When the war was over the Heavenly Bureaucracy was brought in and Class E was established. They were one of the few forces in the 'light' side of things pragmatic enough to deal with us. The deal was simple: We needed to reign in the excesses and keep ourselves at a light enough shade of Grey that the Big Goods wouldn't wipe us out of hand, or plunge into even more civil war. Class E typically does corrections. If you fuck up, they will have a talk with you. IF this happens, for the love of god, just listen to them because the consequences of not doing that are dire.

Classes after E- These guys came after the Corporate Wars, they're much less preponderant than the big five. If you're one of the rare few dealing with them, sorry but I haven't had enough time to study them to really know much.

Diplomacy

Class A has a bad reputation, this reputation is deserved. The psychopaths are sent to Class A. I don't mean that as an insult: the company scans people for psychopathic behaviors and sends them to class A. There they have laws and regulations beat into them until they can handle polite society. General rule with class A is that the newer they are to the department the less trustworthy they are. Class A often pays an asshole tax. My advice: be polite but never trust.

Class B is known to throw the best parties but they also are all about manners. My advice is to study an etiquette book, one of theirs, before you talk to them. If you don't know the rules: be polite and keep your mouth shut.

Class C are pretty easygoing for the most part but a lot of us have mental issues and, when the stars are right, we get… erratic. If you're not in class C and are dealing with us try to have patience: a lot of us really are crazy but we are trying.

Class D is the most laid back and chill department in the company, you wouldn't think the undead would have this reputation but these guys deserve it. Sure it takes them a long time to get anything done but, on a personal level, it's hard not to like them. Just make sure any talk with them has extra time set aside and remember they will be at least half an hour late for anything not business related.

Class E… Do not piss them off. Seriously, just don't.

Basic rules.

Rules change based on your handler and department but the big ones are the Laws of Hospitality.

Most of you are from 'modern' societies and don't get it but they are a really big fucking deal. The way it works is this: If you are invited into a home or designated safe zone and share a meal then Guest Right is invoked.

Under the Laws of Hospitality the provider of hospitality is not allowed to harm his guests and, likewise, the guest is not allowed to harm the host. This extends until after the guest has safely left so no ambushing outside for anyone. Do not break the Laws of Hospitality. Seriously! They are followed by ALL factions and breaking them has major consequences. So, if you have beef with your host? Leave. If you have a problem with your guest? Do not attack them but ask them to leave, they will be required to do so at your request after a night of rest at most.

Zoe:

So… looks like I have to go in more details. Please check the attached videos and texts for graphic examples of what happens to rule lawyers.

When does hospitality start to apply?

The laws are actually kind of recursive. Mutually Agreeing to meet to establish Guest rights is already meeting under limited Guest Rights. See "Drowning of Dorne: why you don't poison people when meeting under a banner of truce."

What constitutes 'harm'?

If you're asking yourself the question in order to get away with something, you're already on a really slippery slope. Stop! The laws are enforced very much on the basis of intent.

A few examples:

providing a meal which, unknowingly to you, your guest is allergic to or forbidden from eating by religious or social custom? That's not an actual break in the LoH (See "Fate of Tantalus" for when it is) but you'll be expected to provide all available medical care and make restitution. However, now that you are aware of this little tidbit? Not checking with your guests beforehand WILL be.

On the subject of religious or social customs: as a guest you are duty-bound to respect those of your host. Once more intent is primordial. Be very aware that 'natural' or 'universal' manners are very much neither, time alone can completely reverse a meaning. Both host and guest are charged with clarifying their expectations. The Fae will trip you up on promises made under guest rights, not on using the wrong fork or failing to conceive a child with someone of the same blood as your host.



Yangs mom


Raven Brawin

The Grimm are everywhere.

Every piece of civilization is being attacked.

"Come on."

Another slash.

"Shit."

It doesn't work, why isn't it working? And then I realize why: my portals can't go through the new forcefields. I watch as my men, my people, die around me and I run and run and then create a portal and flee. I get to a mountain top and see someone with a campfire.

"Where am I?"

"It was hard finding your DNA, or anything with sympathetic connections."

I felt my body freeze and he held a dummy that looked like me in his hands.

"Who are you?"

"The man who killed Salem I guess."

"She can't be killed."

"You know people say that but it's never true. No matter how badass you are, or how though, something can always kill or destroy you. I mean people talk about immortality but it's not really a thing, and shutting hers off wasn't nearly as difficult as you would think."

He cracked his neck.

"You will sit down now."

I sat down near him.

"So here's the problem, Raven… You're a massive cunt."

"Go fuck yourself!"

"Faced with the chance to be a hero you decided to run, and left your daughter alone behind as you ran away. I mean I'm not that great of a father but that shit is low. At least I provide a roof over their head, nannies, and I try to look after them. You just left, I mean seriously that is a massive cunt move. And then you betrayed your student for power."

I struggled.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not going to give you a choice: you are going to spend this entire worldwide Grimm wave fighting the good fight and defending outlying communities. You're going to fight like a madwoman and you're going to die in combat."

I struggled.

"But first you're going to write a letter to Yang. You're going to apologize to her in this letter and then you're going to hand it off and die protecting people."

"Please."

"Start writing."

My hands moved and I wrote a letter, a long one, trying to be nice, full of lies, and then I sealed it.

"Why?"

"Because the real you is a bitch and it's better for Yang to think that at the last moment, when it counted the most, you redeemed yourself."

I created a portal and asked a man to send her a letter. I couldn't control my body, not completely, but I knew and understood that I was being sent to die.

I felt hate and fear all at once.



Legion


Legion

This unit is composed of 1,183 Geth programs.

This unit has studied the recent attack on the Citadel. Correction: failed attack on the Citadel. This unit's job is to gather intelligence about the greater galaxy. This unit has bad news to report: reputation with intragalactic community already bad due to Morning War. Reputation went from terrifying menace that is isolationist to monsters that must be destroyed. The Appearance of the First Order fleet in the battle of the Citadel, and its crucial aid in saving the Destiny Ascension while the other human fleets concentrated fire upon Sovereign, has given the Systems Alliance a council seat.

The population of the Systems Alliance has already tripled, they have technology that does not rely on Mass Effect based capabilities. The Quarians have upgraded and enlarged their fleet and now have ship-making capabilities, the mass of nonfleet Quarians is moving into new ships, better ships.

It is my conclusion that we have 3 solar cycles until an alliance of Quarians and Citadel forces come in with overwhelming force. We can not win this battle, but we have also gained valuable intel on something called the Andromeda project. We could simply leave the Milky Way galaxy and go live somewhere else, other choice is to be hunted down until exterminated.

As for heretics they put us into this situation and it is my advice that we let them clean up their old mess. They went against consensus and thus must deal with consequences. vote held.

Vote is successful. True Geth will begin construction of migrant fleet, when finished we will allow Heretics to occupy former territory and let them be destroyed in order to cover our tracks. The success of this tactic is very likely, they are not very smart.



Winter


Winter

We were presented with a head in a box.

"I took care of it."

Ozpin stared at her head.

"How did you do it?"

"I invoked the rites of hospitality, then I made her angry and she slapped me. The ritual would have only worked for a day or so but she was in the middle of the Grimm lands, I just collected what was left of her when they were finished."

He sighed.

"So she essentially caused her own downfall? It seems a fitting end."

"Why are you sad?"

"There was a lot of history with me and her the, vast majority of it bad, it's the end of an era."

He looked up.

"But that era was absolutely terrible so I will adapt."

"Good. So you have 48 hours to get everyone to safety and turn on the forcefields because this will be the worst Grimm tide in your people's history."

"Any plans you'd suggest?"

"Realistically? You hunker down and use orbital strikes over and over again until the enemy is at a manageable level. That might take weeks or months."

"We will need your portal network. Can we rely on enough portal to provide coverage?"

"Winter's entire network is at your service and I have contacted Korra, she's adding her network. The rest of my women are willing to lend some of their networks but not all of it."

"Anything more?"

"I'm due for a promotion in the company which would give me some personal portals to use, I'm willing to lend them to the cause for the duration of the crisis."

"The People of remnant thank you for your kindness."

"I expect repayment. My generosity has limits and, at the end of the day, I do run a business."

Ozpin blinked.

"Of course, you have more than fulfilled your part of the bargain. the girls will be contacted."

"Good."

We got up and I walked with them as Ozpin portaled home.

"I have a request."

He looked at me.

"Deals were made."

I took a breath.

"And I honor the spirit of that deal, but Weiss is… inexperienced."

"I fail to see how that's a problem."

"I think I should be there to guide her, for her first time."

"And why would I agree to this?"

"You get to fuck two sisters at once."

He thought about it.

"I'm in."

I smiled.

"I thought so."



Glynda Goodwitch


Glynda Goodwitch

I looked at the girls.

"As you know our benefactor has recently given us a great deal of aid and with the current Grimm tide it has come time to pay him back for that aid."

I sighed.

"Most of you are virgins and thus have no idea what you're doing and it is up to me as your teacher to teach you how enough to not completely humiliate yourselves."

Ruby's face was calm, Yang was blushing and Weiss looked nervous, Blake's face was impassive.

"The first thing you need to understand is that what you see in porn is completely unrealistic. Most men are much smaller than that."

Both Ruby and Weiss looked disappointed. Why is it always the petite girls who are total size queens?

"Second the experience, disappointing as it is, normally only lasts a couple of minutes, if you're lucky then you will have a partner who understands the concept of foreplay."

"What's that?"

I look over at Weiss.

"It's where a man manually manipulates your body to help you reach orgasm, if you find a hunter who is decent enough at it and isn't a complete ass that is what we call a keeper. This by the way is how Taiyang managed to get both Ruby and Yang's mothers…"

"Eww."

And their uncle. When that man said 'I will sleep with my entire team' he was dead serious.

"People have sex, mostly in a vain attempt at pleasure if you're a woman, but they do. The actual sexual experience by the way normally only lasts a few very disappointing minutes, my advice is to bring a book for when your lover inevitably falls asleep before giving you a single orgasm. You might want a vibrator to finish the job he started but was clearly incapable of finishing."

Blake raised her hands.

"But aren't hunters supposed to um…"

"Yes… The hunters are sex gods meme? It's very untrue."

I walked outside.

"You can come in now."

He nodded his head and came in.

"This Is Mr. Zimmerman, our benefactor and future father of our children."

He waved his hand, I rolled my eyes as Ruby waved back.

"Ok, now I will unzip Mr. Zimmerman's pants to show you what a normal penis looks like."

I did that and then took off this underwear, his cock slapped me in the forehead and my eyes widened.

"Oh."

That was considerably bigger than what I was used to dealing with. I looked around the room, Weiss and Ruby leaned in and the two of them smiled, Blake's eyes opened in shock while Yang simply smirked and licked her lips.

"Of course, sometimes, you do run into outliers."

Ruby brought out a pen and paper and I sighed, this was going to be troublesome."



Ruby Rose


Ruby Rose

"You are not in control anymore."

I like Miss Goodwitch.

"What?"

He grabbed her by her braid and gently pulled her to the bed, she looked angry but I noticed something a blush. Suddenly things made sense a lot of things. He took hold of her and put her on the bed.

"You know at first I was going to be gentle."

"Mister-"

"Shush. You are not in control anymore. As I was saying, at first I was going to be gentle but then you started talking mad shit like I wouldn't find out."

Tentacles ripped out from his back.

"Now I have to do this."

"Um."

The tentacles ripped off her clothing.

"Now, dirty talk is a normal part of intercourse."

The tentacles grabbed her by the legs and arms and turned her around.

"This um position is called Doggy style."

"Tell them about the G-spot."

She rolled her eyes.

"The G-spot is a myth, it-"

He plunged inside her and her eyes opened, and then crossed, and then her entire body shook. Miss Goodwitch whimpered.

"Really? Seems pretty real to me."

"It was just-"

Her eyes rolled back as he went in and out again.

"Once again you're not in control anymore, I am…"

I understood as he dominated our teacher in front of us, taking her from behind, watching as her control broke and her attempts to talk were interrupted by her grunting and spasming. This is what she wanted, to lose control, to be taken, but I don't think our teacher was ever really honest about that desire. She kept picking men she could control, I think, but that's not what she needed or really what she wanted.

I don't think she was ever willing to tell the men she was with about this side of her. She slumped, her tongue out.

"Wow, tired?"

He frowned.

"Pathetic, it's only been 10 minutes. Where's your endurance?"

She looked at the clock with incredulity and then he flipped her around and fucked her again. The tentacles went in her mouth, in her ass, and massaged her breasts and her whole body. The only thing our teacher could do was pant and moan as she reached climax, again and again. Occasionally he would flip her around, every hole she had was filled and it was somehow both brutal and beautiful.

All we could do was stare and then, eventually, he stopped and let her down on the bed. Her tongue wagged out, her eyes empty, and her body heaving. She panted on the bed, just lying there. Then she blinked and looked at us, her words were slurred.

"So… dats sex."

Then she collapsed and passed out. He looked us up and down, and got dressed.

"Before you ask: yes, I will do that to all of you."

He then left and the three of us stared at each other.

"Well, I guess our teacher cocked out."

Of course, it was Yang that broke the silence.



Zoe


Zoe

Three hours is excessive but Glynda was being disrespectful and needed to learn her place.

I looked at the man in front of me.

"Stanley Mosk?"

He nodded his head.

"Sorry I'm late."

It was class D, they're always late.

"By three days."

"Oh… yeah, that's bad. Sorry but the world we work on doesn't have a star because of um…"

"The burning, right. So, anything you want to eat or drink?"

"I kind of need blood to survive, you have anything Kosher?"

"Yes, but… Blood is, by its very nature, not kosher?"

"In cases of survival the law can be bent or broken, this is kind of a kosher pig situation."

I remembered that story: a lord ordered a jew to eat pork upon pain of death and so the jew killed it in a kosher way to be as close to the law as possible.

"Cow or chicken?"

"Cow is better."

I looked at a maidroid and they nodded, a plate was brought forth with bread and salt. He looked at me and nodded.

"You have heard of the old ways?"

"I am trying to learn, I am still new."

"Still it is good that you are trying."

We nodded at each other and each picked up a small piece of bread and dipped it then took a bite. He looked at me.

"Makowiec?"

"My grandmother used to make it."

He looked at me.

"You need to cut down on the sugar, Makowiec should never be too sweet."

"I was trying to balance out the salt."

"I respect that but when you're invoking the rites you need to keep things simple. I know that you're trying to be a good host and I respect that but ritual bread needs to be simple so it doesn't overshadow a greater meal."

"What bread should I use?"

"If you want to keep the Polish theme then I recommend proziaki. It's soft, it's good, and it's decent with the traditional salt."

I took it in.

"Thanks."

"So I went over to class E with your request for a life domain and it has been granted. A peach of divinity will be delivered in 3 business days."

"Thank you. Now, about my other request?"

"You want a legal firm on retainer from class D, in summary?"

"For both my business and the people in my patronage network."

I pushed forward a document and he studied it.

"Hmm… you do have a steady stream of income, I do know a law firm that would be within your price range."

I looked at him.

"What can you tell me about them?"

"Wolfblock. They're a young firm, around 93 years old. Since you're young by Company standards I think you would be better off with a mortal firm until you get your bearings. The fact that they lost their old client-"

"Old Client?"

"Baron Wachovia, died during an attack. You helped avenge him, in fact."

"I'm not familiar with him."

"His lands were attacked by the black dragons you killed, the entire line was wiped out. Wolfblock is a good legal company, they're not security."

"Werewolves?"

"Yes, lovely people though."

I looked at him.

"I um thought…"

"Different vampire clans and werewolf tribes do have feuds, this is true, but it's not a species-wide conflict. There are many occasions where we get along just fine."

"Good to know."

"Anything else?"

I looked him in the eye.

"Why did you join Class D?"

The man looked at me, obviously pondering his answer. He then took off his glasses, cleaned them, and then calmly took a breath.

"Bit titty goth girls."

I blinked and nodded.

"As someone who is fucking one, I completely understand."

He smiled.

"It is awesome, isn't it?"

We took our cups and clinked them together.



Zoe


Zoe

I looked at the box, delivered from class E, one peach of divinity. It glowed with an unearthly light, I knelt down and planted it in the ground. I felt light, felt tingly. It's hard to adjust to the idea of a planet being your body and what was your body just being an avatar you walk around in. I took it in and sat my avatar down, then I meditated. I felt my connection to the few warlocks I had and changed things around then I got ready.

Another avatar formed and I teleported to Amy's place.

"Tired?"

She looked at me from her bed.

"You know, ironically, I get more rest now that I quit school than I did before I got pregnant."

I shrugged at her statement.

"So I have some friends for us to play with."

I gave her a brochure.

"Nice, two blonds. The older one has the naughty librarian look."

"She's um… recovering."

Amy frowned.

"You better not have broken her, I was hoping for a second dom for our playtime."

"She's not broken! She apparently hadn't ever had a good fucking and is now adjusting to the afterglow."

Amy shrugged.

"Yeah, the first time you go all out is a bit much."

She leaned back.

"But god damned is it a good much. How far along is Taylor?"

"Six months."

"Man, time flies."

"How are things going with New Wave?"

"These days we do more work trying to handle people attacking convoys."

I frowned.

"Really?"

"When we hired ninjas to help the Protectorate take out the gangs? Well, eventually, people learned that actually operating in the city isn't worth the trouble so now they attack convoys or operate outside of it."

Amy paused.

"It's still an improvement."

"They capture Kaiser yet?"

"No, he's apparently decided to move and Medhall has moved as well, citing increased costs imagine that."

"Good riddance."

"His little game only works in a dying city. We have too much attention now, too much money is being made here. That means more attention for him. Things are better now though, but outside the city's borders things can be iffy."

"Mad Max level iffy?"

"I would look fucking awesome with a guitar flame-thrower."

"I can get you one."

"No shit?"

"Yeah, I can make it happen."

Amy smiled.

"Nice! But no. It isn't Mad Max, it's villain groups hijacking the occasional van but nothing economy destroying. How is progress going with Taylor?"

"She's handling the pregnancy pretty well and Emma's there for support. So who do you want to fuck first with the temporary girls?"

Amy looked at the list.

"When this Glynda recovers, her first. I want her to spank me and tell me I'm a bad little girl."

"I do that."

"I know but when you double the blonds you double your fun. Hmmm… I also want to be there when you breed yang."

"Really?"

"I have to touch the titties and that ass."

"Ok, I will pencil you in."

I kissed her and she smiled.

"I managed to get the hospital bang room tomorrow, and kids get weird if they don't have siblings."

I kissed her.

"I'm in."



Phasma


Phasma

Our civilization is doomed.

The First Order, I mean. We put too many of our eggs in one idiot-shaped basket and now we are running on a time limit, but just because we are doomed it doesn't mean our people are. The Systems Alliance has worked out a deal with us: in exchange for our technology they're willing to accept our refugees. The Empire is played out, the Republic is played out, and once you see everything decaying around you… well, you can't ignore it anymore.

"Planetary shield is on."

We can not stop the era of civilizational collapse that is occurring around us, the Vong was the last kick to an already rotten structure.

"Good, we will land soon."

There is a Hutt near us, an isolated one. He owns a collection of planets, pretty much all of them ice worlds, and uses slave labor, human slave labor, to make a profit. He's been active since before the clone wars but, despite having billions under his thrall in his small little mini-empire, no one ever bothered to take him on. It was never worth the effort.

Now it is. Every human we have in the First Order… everyone we have in the Systems Alliance, that's more power in the tank. We're spent as a force but the Systems Alliance isn't: they're growing and they have untapped worlds, so many of them, and resources. Their universe is not one where humans have long been the majority. The more people we rescue and place their hands, the more of a force the System Alliance is.

We could easily triple their numbers but it starts now.

We drop down slowly, in such a way that the planetary shield doesn't block us, then we move to the outskirts of their city-wide shield. Our ships are few but we brought mining equipment and dig a hole under the stronger city shield, then we enter the tunnel and exit on the other side.

White armor blends in with the snow and we walk in silence, only when we get to the perimeter do we break our silence. The Hutt lives on a planet that doesn't have his slave population, he mostly uses old droids from the Clone Wars for defense, a slicer gets into the coms and we move through the droid network.

He was clever, he took out most of the old programming… but not all of it and we use an old shutdown code, a little bit of legacy code he forgot to get rid of. The entire droid army shuts down and we cut open a door, then we move in silence once again until we get to his lair. Then we shoot. It's not a fair fight, not fair at all, he had been sleeping drunk on spice and the mass of firepower kills him in an instant.

500 billion humans are liberated, most of them with mining experience. That's good, they have the skills we need. Because most of the worlds we are discovering in the Systems Alliance's big angry globe of nothing, the ones that can be terraformed the fastest? They're cold, they're ice worlds.

Our people will be used to that, and I have real doubts they want to stay here and wait for the next Hutt overlord.



Zoe


Zoe

I've corrupted Amy.

"Yes."

By any objective standard, I have corrupted her. She locks the door and takes off her robe and I study her body.

Big boobs, nice ass, nice face, years of gentle manipulation of her body paying dividends. I kiss her and she moans, years of pavlovian conditioning paying off. The door is locked and she takes me to the cot. Would canon Amy be this forward? No. Would she approve of my lifestyle, our lifestyle? No.

Is she happier this way?

Yes. I take her on the cot and she moans with pleasure as I enter inside her. We don't talk, we just kiss, make out and fuck, and once spent we cuddle on the cot as she gets her breath back.

"That was fun, I needed that."

I kiss her and we continue cuddling. I am happy with my life, content with it despite the nightmares and the stress. While dealing with my issues through hedonism isn't healthy… right now it's working. Amy smiles in my arms.

"I hope it worked."

Another kid. You think I would be overwhelmed but I have 99 other bodies, other mes, dealing with things or working or playing with my kids. When the mental load is spread across a network of you's instead of a singular person, it's easier.

"I hope so too."

Children are armor when you're in the middle management or the nobility. I don't mean that in a bad way, I do love my kids and I'm currently changing 20 pairs of diapers right now, but when you have properties and no family… in this business that's a recipe for disaster, that brings out the desperate people who want to take what's yours or the greedy or both.

I've read the reports, I know what can happen to agents who earned their place and don't have heirs. It's mostly class A who does it, of course. The psychos prey upon one another, as always, but there are others. When you have something to take, that does bring out predators looking for weaknesses or single points of failure. I rub Amy's stomach, even with my power having children is smart. I kiss her forehead.

Going to be honest though… our kid is cute, making more just makes sense.

I kind of like this whole dad thing, like the hedonistic rut I'm making myself comfortable in. I don't want to conquer the world, I just want to kind of rest for now. We get up and get dressed, Amy kisses me and I kiss her back.

I have corrupted her but, personally, she's doing better.

Does that justify the things I have done? I don't know but right now I kind of don't care.



Systems alliance


Systems alliance.

David Anderson

We really do not have a choice.

Not when you think about it, not with what's on the line. With the Reapers set to arrive soon, we need the First Order's raw numbers, technology, and capabilities. Yes, bringing them in means bringing in 600 billion people, it means in a very fundamental sense that the old Systems Alliance days are over. New voters and new colonists and all of the industry coming online more or less ensures that.

The fact that the First Order fleet outnumbers ours by a considerable margin also hurts the old ego but we, as I said, do not have a choice. For all of our bluff and bluster, we don't have the numbers or the industry to be a true council race and the other three know it. but with the First Order's help… it becomes a lot easier.

I grimace at a ship bigger than anything in our fleet opens doors and lets my shuttle in. A man in a mask waits for me.

"Councilor Anderson."

"Kylo Ren."

"Well, I have some good news and bad news."

"Let's hear the good news."

He nodded his head.

"Join me."

I walked with him and then we got to a window, I openly stared as a giant portal opened in the empty star system we were in and just watched as a planet slowly moved out of it.

"Oh shit."

I turned to him.

"What's going on?"

"That's Exegol, the First Order's capital."

"This technology is beyond anything I have ever seen."

"It's beyond our capabilities too."

I froze, still staring at the planet slipped into its new orbit.

"What?"

"We made a deal with something, something very powerful. In exchange for helping us move our entire operation to your universe, we owe that being, that creature. And you owe them too."

"How much?"

He pulled out a datapad and I grimaced.

"That's a lot of credits."

"There's no interest and it's willing to accept trade deals: payment in ships, land, and objects."

"It's still a lot."

"You're worried about the Reapers, right?"

"Yes."

"And you're pretty close to going to war with the Batarians."

"Yes, we are."

"You don't have the numbers, the industry, or the tech to win, and you know it. We don't have the ideology or legitimacy to retain a long-term government, you do."

As I said, we didn't have a choice.

"How long will it take to transfer all of your people over?"

"Moving a planet takes pretty much a third of our treaty-based portal capabilities, we can transfer 3 planets an hour max. Which means we can have all of our main worlds transferred over in a couple of months and the recently liberated worlds brought over within a year."

"Any terraforming issues?"

"All the planets have, at worst, the infrastructure needed to bear life but we are also going to have them inserted into the goldilocks zones of their new stars. The remaining terraforming effort could be done even with only the local resources."

"Improves what you have."

"What we have. We're joining up, not taking over."

"Anything else?"

"We're working with other imperial holdouts, talking to them. Most want to stick it out but quite a few have realized the cause is done for. None of the ones even considering moving have the industry we do but it's still something."

"Can we beat the Batarians with all this?"

He took off his mask and smiled.

"The better question is 'how quickly can they lick our boots clean?'."



Zoe


Dear C12

The Company is old. I'm sure there were companies before us and, if something happens, I am certain there would be companies after us. I am also certain that what historical notes I have found on the Company are gross simplifications. Know this: the Company is incredibly old, older than human civilization, and incredibly vast.

The Company goes to people and offers them power, money, success beyond that which they could ever achieve in their old lives. If you push yourself, if you pull it off, they deliver. Do your job and you have a chance to live out a fantasy, to have the women you have dreamed of. Love, power, money, success.

There is a price for it. You're technically paid off, you just have to wait for your Vault to unlock and then you're free, free to see the world. You worried about being moral, being ethical. That's normal, we all start out with those worries but we all eventually compromise. Your new world will, in time, seem less and less like a dream and more like reality. A reality you will be invested in.

It's likely that in your ten years of isolation you will become a father and you will then see a broken world on the surface, a world that needs help, a world that needs saving. You will most likely have children to take care of and in time you will think about making the world safe for them to live in. A world safe for your family.

Your children will want brides and husbands of their own in your future, and you will have the ability to make a safer place. You could bring civilization back to the wasteland… but it would require compromise. Tell me: is killing a raider who has willfully murdered dozens of people worse than selling them to the company? Is selling cannibals worse? That's a question that will haunt you. Eventually you will have some need of some resource, one that can save so many lives.

And you just need to do one little compromise.

My advice is, during this time of isolation, to find out what you are willing to compromise on. Be honest, find the lines that are practical in a mad world. You are not in a civilized place so if you want future generations to enjoy the gift of civilization then you need to find out what you're willing to give for that.

I won't sit there in judgment. I've done bad things for my power, for my station in life, but I've also helped a lot of people, saved a lot of lives. You will be in a similar position, just smaller when you start. like I said, think. For now, though, you have to wait. I will send vials of healing liquid to heal Eve's face.

I still think it a bad idea to take her but if she is yours then you need to find a way to live with her. Even with her past, she is likely to be your future right hand, your wife, and the mother of your children. I wish you the best.

Z38



Kylo Ren


Kylo Ren

The force is cleaner on this side of the portal, in this universe.

I do not feel the pull of the Darkside, or the pull of the light, just peace and a primordial energy. The force exists here but it is less complicated, less demanding. I open my eyes and look at the planet, this is a power that is beyond what we possess. Well, at this level at least. There are a lot of worlds out there in our galaxy that would be capable of supporting life if things were different.

Most of the time they're too close or too far, they're outside that goldilocks zone, but what if you could gently nudge those worlds into that zone? That would take care of 90% of the work. Most of the worlds the First Order has are barely in said zones, they could be so much more productive if they were just in the right spot.

That's power by the way, the power to move across a universe, to move entire worlds over. There will be adjustments as the ice melts but in less than a single generation… Well it's big and it's only for what we have now. Future deals will be adjusted. Anderson is worried about me, about us.

He doesn't understand how powerful he is, not really. He's never had to run a government without legitimacy, we have. When the empire fell, when the republic fell, after the Vong… everyone was ideologically spent. Legitimacy is gone, power is becoming more localized, things are falling apart.

Anderson, the Systems Alliance, has something we have never had.

Home.

Earth can definitely prove itself to be the place where humanity evolved, in my home galaxy if humanity had a homeworld it had been lost long before recorded civilization. They have a symbol, a rallying cry, something that the First Order just can not match. A homeworld is stronger than a person, already the constant backstabbing is down, at least amongst humans.

We have a purpose now, Home. The newly liberated slave worlds would never have served us to their fullest capabilities, they would know and understand that we saved them for our own reasons, but Home? Having the lost homeworld save you? That's a religious experience. We are placing our worlds, old and newly liberated, in systems close to Earth. Both to protect it, to gain the benefits of close trade and industry, and to gain the power from that legitimacy.

We have the guns, we have the tech, we have the numbers, but they have the legitimacy so I know who wields the real power and it isn't me. If I commanded a stormtrooper to kill Anderson, right here, right now? Despite being raised to be loyal he would shoot me, I sense his thoughts enough to know that and I am fine with this.

The First Order is dead, long live the Systems Alliance.



Zoe


Zoe

I look at the files, I've allocated some of my budget to a growing library of sorts for rituals and magic.

Once you get to my level it's much easier to get ahold of that sort of thing, I look up from the book and put a single hair in a vial. I study the results and do it again and again.

"Hmm."

Ruby's a virgin, not a surprise. Weiss is too, also not a surprise. Yang is a surprise, she is one too. Of course, Blake is not. I don't judge her for that but it does limit what I can do. I study the results further and raise an eyebrow.

"Holy energy, uh?"

I have one of my selves go through my growing collection as I do research.

"Interesting."

I teleport to the home where Ruby is living and start making breakfast. My other selves read more, research, and do more tests as I work with the ingredients. I hear a yawn as she walks in with her PJs, she freezes and then nods.

"Hey, Zoe."

"Breakfast?"

"Thanks."

"You're taking this pretty casually?"

"I'm going to be having your babies so, you know…"

She shrugged and started eating my pancakes.

"So what do you want to talk about?"

"I've been studying your bloodline and I found something interesting."

She looked at me.

"Like what?"

"You have holy energy inside you."

She looked at me.

"And what does that mean?"

"Well from the looks of it, it gives you anti-Grimm powers. It works through your eyes but with, the right rituals, we can build upon that."

She looked at me carefully.

"Can you explain?"

"I can help build upon your essence, your foundation, to unlock more powers by helping you reach another stage of development."

"What kind of powers?"

"You would be a little stronger, faster, smarter, wiser. More endurant too and you would also gain the powers of a Deva."

"I have no idea what that is, you know?"

"Flight, darkvision, more damage with weapons, limited healing powers. you'll also be able, once a day, to raise anyone who has been dead for less than 10 days."

She stared at me.

"But… not since longer, is that it?"

"No, not by yourself, not with the usual rules. But if we do the procedure… then when I take your virginity, at that moment, you could break the rules."

"I can have mom back."

"We would only be able to do it once, Ruby, and you would have to give me everything."

She bit her lip.

"But I could have mom back?"

"Yes, you could."

"Well then it's worth it, isn't it?"

She looked at me.

"How would this affect our babies?"

"They would gain a portion of your divine power, the ability to heal and raise the recently dead… but that creates a responsibility, doesn't it?"

Ruby bit her lip.

"Yeah, it does. I'm still in."

"Good."

I gave her a peck on the cheek and she blushed, but I didn't go further. I wanted this to be special after all.



Zoe


Zoe

Ruby took deep cleansing breaths as I strapped her in.

"Will this hurt?"

"Of course not."

She sighed.

"Because I'm going to give you all the painkillers, otherwise this would hurt like a motherfucker."

"Oh… And why would it hurt if someone had sex with my mother?"

I blinked.

"You really are Yang's sister."

"Yep."

I took out a needle and she winced as I injected her.

"I can't feel anything."

"entirely the point."

The ritual circles started glowing and I stepped away.

"The purification starts now."

Ruby blinked.

"Feels kind of warm and tingly."

"All the painkillers."

I paused.

"I'm getting your mother's body from her grave for the ritual, how soon do you want her back?"

Ruby looked at me.

"As soon as possible."

She winced as her lowest chakra flared, I was after all using a lot of power to make this happen.

"You're going to have to truly give yourself to me for this to work, no resistance."

"You told me."

"Knowing and doing are two very different things. You have to give up all control over to me, if you don't we can't bring her back."

Another chakra flares, and Ruby nods, it's a waiting game as each chakra purifies and is expanded with power until the last one breaks. Her eyes glow, her skin becomes perfect, and white wings break out from her back. She blinks.

"My bra broke."

"That's going to happen."

I then walked over to her and undid her straps. She looked beautiful, pure and clean, filled with heavenly beauty and purity.

"Do you want to wait to adjust?"

"I want my mom back… please."

She stumbled as she took my arm, unused to her wings. I took her to another part of the lab, with a different ritual circle. We sat down at a desk and I brought out a contract.

"Now, Ruby, I need you to understand that this is a big deal and that there are risks associated with this procedure and a price to be paid for all of it."

"Whatever it costs. I want to have my mom back."

"Even if it costs you your very soul?"

She nodded her head and then signed the contract in her own blood, that we had prepared beforehand. Then I opened a portal.

"We're going someplace else?"

"This is just the contract room."

She nodded her head and we left, going to a more elaborate house. She was placed in the middle of a much bigger circle and I chained her to the ground, a smaller circle held a casket.

"It is time."

I helped her remove her clothing and got on top of her.

"Do you give me your body?"

"Yes."

"Do you give me your mind?"

"Yes."

"Do you give me your soul?"

"Yes."

I plunged inside her, and she moaned as I felt my power enter her and corrupt her.

"Surrender! If you don't surrender this won't work."

She struggled to let me have that control. Her wings changed color as she was ritualistically corrupted and claimed and she moaned like a whore, her body trembling as I orgasmed inside her.

"I can't feel my legs."

"Painkillers?"

"No… Just, wow… so this is sex."

She was panting but got her breath back quickly. I gave her a bathrobe, we got dressed, and we walked to the casket, her face full of emotion as I opened it. A woman was inside, intact, and she opened her eyes.

"Owie… that hurt."

Summer looked at us and Ruby cried as she hugged her mother for the first time in years. It was then I knew, I had her. I looked over in the distance and saw Heba smirking, she nodded and we smiled at each other.



Heba


Heba

I let Ruby have some time with her mother the rest of the day but when night came it was time to talk. I look at my belly filled with my second child as he walks in.

"I got your texts."

He sits down.

"We could try life extension magic or-"

"No."

I look at him.

"When I die I want to go to my people's heaven."

"and that's?"

"The island of Epstine."

He frowned.

"Right, I forgot you worship the god or rape."

I frowned.

"He's also the god of schools and frat boys, it's not all rape."

He nodded his head.

"You were right about Ruby's bloodline."

"She could live for thousands of years now."

"Yeah, she could… So? Is she the one?"

"Her psychological profile rounds things off."

"I corrupted her."

"And you did a good job of that, but sexually corrupting a Deva is not the same as spiritually corrupting one."

"Explain?"

"Sex is not an impure act. Yes, you have claimed her but you're not a demon filled with hell energies, you're an Eldritch creature with a Life portfolio."

"and?"

"and you didn't make Ruby evil, you just made her horny."

He looked at me.

"You know… I can live with that."

I laughed.

"Yeah, you can. I think I want Ruby to replace me when my time comes."

"Why?"

"Because you need someone nice, and simple, and you need someone with a lot of empathy to keep you stable. Also, you're um.. not always good at picking up details so having her around would be good for you. Plus you're both massive dorks."

"True."

Didn't even try to deny it, I smiled at him.

"How about the Company?"

"Winter is the one who would be best at handling Company interactions. She's got the skill for it, the talent for it. When her loyalty shifts to you I will begin training her on how it all works."

He looked at me.

"I will miss you, sometimes you drive me nuts but I-"

I put a hand on his.

"You're going to have to make adjustments."

"I am."

"No, you don't get it. A thousand years from now a horde of people pray then a portal opens and a world flies through it. They watch as the ice melts, as the world covers itself in life. The Fertility cult gives a prayer and the settlers land, agreeing to pay the church tithe to gain the right to settle the new land."

He paused.

"It's just business."

"Lots of things start out as businesses and grow. When you deliver miracles, prayers come soon after."

"Come on, people-"

"Tali is already being seen as a messianic figure, once their homeworld is retaken is that going to grow or lessen? Would you really refuse a request from her to terraform a world for the Quarians?"

He was silent.

"You don't understand how powerful you are. The work of centuries, generations, done in a week."

"I'm not that powerful."

"You're not at your former level anymore. You have taken the power of the Endbringers, you have infused your soul with the power of the old ones, and you have the Life portfolio. You're not all-powerful but terraforming planets like that? It's completely in your power, it's in your portfolio, it's even in your nature."

He froze.

"Think about how many people are out there in the multiverse who live on barren worlds or who want to live on a new world full of life. Someone says a prayer or invokes your power and a famine ends."

"Is this why you want Ruby?"

"When the gods are dicks, mortals suffer."

He looked away a careful look on his face.

"Enjoy your vacation, live it up, enjoy us… but, at some point, you must make peace with this and accept your responsibilities."

"It's a lot to take in, Heba."

"Yeah it is, life is like that."



Slut life worker


Jane Doe

I looked at the paperwork that Joxer had just signed.

"What is it, Jane?"

"I called in class E."

The girl in the tank was still.

"Why?!"

"The subject has Tier 11 bindings."

Joxer froze.

"Oh shit… Shit, shit, shit, shit. This facility is only classed to handle tier 7 and smaller! Shit, shit, shit, give me the files."

I handed it over.

"So?"

"It… says she's a tier 4 parahuman."

I blinked.

"That's a tier 5 at fucking most, not…"

I shuddered.

"Titanizing?"

"Even that just brings a parahuman to tier 9 or 10 at most. Not ELEVEN!"

My mouth was dry, a portal opened.

"Chen, incoming."

He walked over to the glass vial.

"Sir, this is the subject."

He waved a hand and shook his head.

"It's indeed a tier 4."

"But the bindings?"

"Give me the file."

I handed it over and he pulled out a company stamp and hit the paperwork with it to unlock anything classified.

"So?"

"She's tier 4, guilty of stealing company resources, attempted assault on a manager, attempted blackmail of a manager, threatening a manager's family… Yeah, this is punishment."

"So she's dangerous?"

"According to the psych profile, no more than any other tier 4. She just pissed off the wrong person. That said… this level of overkill sometimes backfires."

"How?"

"Well, people with the right sight will see those bindings and assume she's more dangerous than she is. And, of course, tying up so much power into binding someone can backfire. If she's willing to give herself over to the bindings she could use it to empower herself further."

"And that's?"

"I have no idea."

We heard a beeping sound.

"Well someone won the Gatcha so it's not your problem anymore."

We sighed in relief and pushed her to the portal room as Chen left, then we punched out. Joxer looked at me.

"Dinner?"

"Tim Hortons?"

"Again?"

"Their biscuit and egg sandwiches are great."

"We always go there."

"The only other place near us is the Chinese place and class E hangs out there."

He sighed.

"The BLT bagels are pretty good."



Yang


Yang

Mom's alive! Well the mom who raised me, not my biological mother.

That's pretty big. Dad's pretty happy and our master is giving us a couple days to talk with her, a door opens.

"Mom!"

She looks at me and closes the door.

"Yang."

We hug and she looks at me.

"I know about the deal."

I hesitate.

"I had to do it."

She nods her head.

"Yeah, you did."

I freeze at her statement.

"Um, mom?"

"I read over the reports, the Grimm wave has finally dissipated but something like that should have wiped out civilization. It's a miracle that the kingdoms are still alive."

I nodded my head.

"Miracles are not free, Yang."

"I thought you would be…"

"Upset? A part of being a huntress is being able to look at things and measure cost and reward. The first time I died…"

She froze.

"Well… My life for a community. I spent it as best I could but I died. You and Ruby had a choice and you made the right one but you have to follow through."

"Yeah but Huntresses normally don't um."

"If you can save millions of lives on your back…"

I nodded my head.

"Yeah, mom, I get it. Just nervous about all this."

I looked over at her.

"This isn't over when the year ends, is it?"

She looked at me.

"what do you think?"

"No… No, it won't be."

She kissed me on the forehead.

"Be strong, little dragon."

"I will."



Zoe


Zoe

Yang looked at me in the moonlight. Sure the moonlight was artificial but it was still a nice touch.

"Hey."

I looked at her.

"Hey."

The door opened and Amy walked in, she took off her robes and Yang blushed at the leather outfit she wore under it. My girl did have fantastic breasts.

"Hello, I am a queen and mother of Zoe's children."

"Hey."

"So… I want you to lick me."

She spread her legs open.

"Now, Yang."

I nodded at Yang as she got down on all fours and crawled up to Amy, she lit Amy's clit and Amy grabbed her hair and pushed her down.

"Now!"

"No, you are not losing control. Not yet."

Yang continued licking.

"Zoe is very Potent, got me pregnant on my first try."

She panted and quivered and patted Yang's head.

"Good girl."

Yang lifted her head and Amy caressed her face, Yang's eyes crossed and she moaned as her breath got heavy.

"This is my power, biomanipulation, I want you to feel good."

"This is nice."

She moaned and Amy lifted her to the bed where Amy lay them both down side by side. She covered her body with Yang's, playing with Yang's clit and opening her pussy for me. I smiled as I entered, the two of us caressing her and making out with her. We forced her into orgasm after orgasm. Only when I felt it was enough did I cum inside her, then we all collapsed. Yang's pants and then smiles greeted us as we cuddled on each side of her.

"So… I think I can get used to this."

It's good to be king.



Aoba Yamashiro


Aoba Yamashiro

I left the portal through Arendelle, storage seals secure in my backpack, hi.

Fugaku, after spending so much time as a relative disappointment for a Jonin, has earned our respect. Our village has made more in the last few years than we had ever made in the last few decades, food is cheaper, and there are now lots of safe lands for us to live in. It's a good life and I put some time in, to think about getting a wife and having children of my own. A home on the other side would be cheap after all, I could buy some land and raise a large family. They could become ninja, gods above there is enough work for every single one of us these days.

Maybe I could pay to have their aura unlocked? Lots of ninja doing that these days. It's like wearing armor and having a free bloodline limit in one. Note to self: have my own Aura unlocked, I could no doubt afford it after this mission. I looked at the map, I needed to get to the Free City of Hamburg with my most precious of goods.

I froze as I felt a presence.

"Bandits?"

For just me alone? They bring out crossbows but I move my sword out, cutting throats and tendons, and they bleed. They die quickly and the last one looks at me.

"We are just the beginning."

I step over his body. I journey forward until I see a knight on the road, he brings out a pistol and even with my speed it is hard to avoid his shot. I get lucky, the bullet misses. I slash his head off and walk forward, ever forward, I let no bandit stop me before I get to my destination. The guards let me through and I walk into a great gilded hall where a man sits, waiting.

He carefully checks my letter of introduction.

"Do you have the stuff?"

I undo the scroll and reveal my cargo, one of the most precious. I unveil the meth and the man looks at the drug with loving eyes.

"You have done well."

He takes some and takes a smoke.

"This is… of the greatest quality. You shall be rewarded for your efforts with a bonus."

"I thank you."

I take my payment and my bonus and start the long journey home. Soon I will be back home, ready to transport more meth to this world.



Zoe


Zoe

The man before me looks like the 80's come to life.

"So… V1V86, right?"

"Yeah."

"Recently joined my network… Where are you from?"

"Australia, Sydney."

I looked at his report.

"What brings you to me?"

"Oi I served the company because they said they would make me into a bleeding god, but it's been 30 fucking years in a combat legion and no fucking divinity in sight mate."

"Mind If I bring up your contract?"

"Go ahead."

I looked at his contract and frowned.

"Heba? Call legal, we have a problem."

I looked at him.

"What's up, mate?"

"The recruiter didn't have the authority to make that promise."

"What?"

"Yes. He didn't have the authority to make that promise but the writings still on the contract. Since no one has corrected it and you have served your 20 years… well now it's not your problem, it's their problem: Someone promised a retirement package and when you serve your time, you serve your time."

The phone rang.

"Hey, this is Z-38… yeah, well he's already served his time."

The man leaned in as I heard excuses.

"Look the writing is the writing. You can either call up class E and get this fixed or this goes to court and instead of a retirement package we are going to be talking damages on top of that and it will be your ass."

I took in the answer.

"I'm looking at your file and I'm just going to tell you that I outrank you. I don't want to pull rank but you're fucking with someone in my network. I know Class E is full of assholes but get a portfolio for him."

I waited and received some information on my computer.

"So they have a few portfolios open on your chosen retirement world."

"Portfolios?"

"For your divine status."

"But I'm going to be God."

I sighed.

"Yeah no, the company can not make you an omnipotent creator deity. Closest thing they can do is put you in a virtual reality and let you go wild, but that's not the same thing."

"So what is godhood then?"

"Conceptual powers over a given theme. Ok, so… you have three choices."

"Lay it on me."

"Cocaine."

The man stared at me.

"What?"

"One of the portfolios is Cocaine."

"Why would someone willingly become the god of cocaine?"

"Immortality, superpowers and um… all the cocaine you could ever want?"

"What are my other options?"

"Rubix cubes."

He stared at me.

"You're fucking shitting me."

"No one picked up that portfolio so it's open."

"A Rubix cube."

"You would be surprised what you could do with that."

"You said I had 3 options, what's the last one?"

"Trenchcoats."

He stared at me.

"How about beer?"

"That's super taken."

"Probably by some fucking yank."

"Have you had our beer?"

He winced.

"Point taken… Rubix cubes."

"Not the coat?"

"You have any idea how fucking hot it gets in Sydney?"

"Point taken…"

I messaged it and a portal opened.

"Enjoy your new position as god of Rubix cubes, V1V86."

"Fuck my life."



Zoe


Zoe

I have about 2580 people in my patronage network now. I know that it doesn't seem like a lot but a particularly skilled agent with the right toolkit is capable of doing some truly terrifying things. For some reason like 100 people in my network are from Canada and I have no idea why there are so many.

"So you want us to build a Tim Hortons in all 12 of your capital cities?"

The Canadian representative looks at me strangely.

"Yes."

"And these locations wouldn't have to pay rent for 10 years, would only pay 10% taxes on income after 3 years of having all taxes waved, and would get a 500,000 dollars subsidy for each of the 12 locations?"

"Yes."

"Well it will take some time but I hardly think that the main branch will have a problem with the project."

"Good to hear."

With that done I sighed.

"Buzz in the 1230."

The door opened and a man with thick glasses walked in.

"So?"

"Just call me todd… Got some ice?"

I walked over and grabbed a bag from the freezer, the man took it and put it on his crotch.

"So what's the problem, Todd?"

"Waifu won't let me sleep."

I looked at his files.

"Big ten O is coming."

He winced.

"Yeah… going to send the kids out for a bit."

I read up on the file.

"Rin… Tohsaka."

"Yeah."

I grimaced.

"You unleashed her divine essence?"

"Well at the time it was do that or die, and my scans said she had some kind of hidden power."

"Most Rin's have a chunk of Ishtar in them, yeah… Awakening the divine essence will boost her an entire tier, the side effect is-"

"Complete sex beast. I've been married to her for 10 years now so believe me: I know!"

"So what's your work universe?"

"Started off in the victorian age, had a mission to go capture Jack the Ripper."

I raised an eyebrow.

"High-value target."

"Yeah, I know. Bitch to take down, still have a scar from it."

"So, World War?"

"We killed every single member of the Black Hand and have already stamped and sold Hitler. It's not happening! Or… at least not like it did, I hope."

"You ok?"

"Being married to a Japanese woman in Edwardian England is not easy. I mean… Fuck, I own one of the more successful businesses there! I'm rich but I don't get invited to social events and get treated like trash because I'm not married to a white woman. We try to protect the kids from it but it's honestly not a fun time to grow up. It's one of the reasons I came here actually, the free education in a more tolerant place."

He sighed.

"So when did you do the upgrade?"

"Ripper got her in the side, the wound became infected, I tried a ritual to save her life… It worked but…"

"We know, once you flip that switch you can't unflip it. I see that you don't have any other women in your life."

He looked at me.

"I literally have ice on my junk, you think I can keep up with two of them?"

"Yeah, good point."

"So, please help? Because I have a ten-year anniversary coming and I don't know how I'm going to make it through."

I pulled out some potions.

"These are restoration potions."

"So you cant help her get back to normal?"

"Once divine essence has been unleashed you can not put it back in its cage. Well, without risk of hurting the love of your life."

He sighed and took a bottle and had a swig.

"Yeah, this is going to have to do."

He took the potions and left and I shook my head in sympathy, that's why you always upgrade your junk in this business.



Zoe


Zoe

It's been another day of work, I crack my neck and use prestidigitation to clean myselves then I smile as I head to Winter's palace. I walk inside and open the bedroom door, Winter waits for me and so does Weiss in a light blue nighty. She blushes as I look at both of them.

"Is Weiss ready?"

She grips the bed.

"It's a very dangerous time of the month for me right now."

I smile at her statement, sensing the truth. I look at a silver tray and lift a metal tin, revealing two glowing potions.

"It's about to get a lot more dangerous."

Winter nodded.

"Winter, Would you tell Weiss what this is?"

"It's a fertility potion, a strong one. Once his seed enters inside you, you will become pregnant."

Winter gets up and calmly takes the potion. She drinks it down then, still calmly, takes off her clothing and gets on the bed.

"Watch."

We fuck on the bed as Weiss watches. I make damned sure Winter orgasms time and time again and I leave her a spent mess on the bed, cum leaks from her hole as Winter pants.

"And that's sex… And baby number 2."

I let her recover and motion to the potion, Weiss is clearly nervous. As she gets up Winter looks at her sister.

"It's time to become a woman, Weiss."

"Yes."

Her hands shake as she uncorks it and drinks it down.

"Take off your clothing, Weiss."

She nods her head and takes off the nighty and then her bra and panties as I study her body. Of the team members Yang had the nicest breasts while Ruby had cute eyes, an endearing earnestness in her lovemaking, and was developing nicely. Weiss was short, she had small pert breasts, a svelte figure, and cute legs. The smallest, most petite, member of her team. She stared at my cock and Winter sighed.

"Why is it always the petite girls who are total size queens?"

Wiess turned beet red.

"Well? This cock isn't going to suck itself."

Wiess got on her knees and wrapped her lips around me, looking me in the eye as she took in my length. I decided not to cum instead I let myself get hard.

"good you have cleaned it up, you will get a reward now."

I picked her up and manhandled her into the bed.

"Gentle or rough?"

Weiss froze.

"Rough… Just… just try and break me."

I grabbed her by the braid and then lifted her up and took her from behind. I have some of Amy's biomanipulation powers, have powers of my own… I force her to the grinding edge of an orgasm and let the feeling become stronger and stronger but I refuse to let her have release. Instead, I keep her on edge.

"Ugh, Ugh."

"Beg me."

She gives me a look of defiance and I continue to fuck her, Magic is a thing and I can keep this up for hours. I bring out my tentacles and fuck her other holes, increasing the tension. Weiss pants harder and harder as she tries to fight it, it's a pride thing. During the second hour, she cracks.

"Please."

"Please what?"

"Please let me cum. Please!"

She's crying.

"Beg me to breed you."

"Please… Please get me pregnant, give me your babies."

I let her cum. Her eyes open as wide as they can and she collapses as all the backed-up orgasms hit at once, only then do I cum inside her. Weiss collapses completely on the bed, gulping air desperately, her eyes unfocused.

"I… I can't… feel… my legs."

She passes out.

"That was a bit much."

"She asked me to break her."

Winter shrugged.

"Ready for more?"

"Damned straight."



Zoe


Zoe

Blake sat down calmly on the chair, drinking a cup of tea. The fish dinner we cooked her was now gone.

"Libra is nice."

She looked nervous, Taylor nodded.

"Thank you."

Taylor is in a sundress, a maternity one, and she smiles at me. She's getting pretty far along but daily fuckings, working with her mind, and therapy have slowly molded her into a fine housewife. She cooks, helps the house robots with the cleaning, and is demure and more relaxed. Emma nods on the other side, wearing a dress similar to Taylor's one.

"So how did your negotiations with Korra go?"

"Um, she's nice. She has agreed to let us use a portal."

"Mind if I see the contract?"

Blake blushed as she handed over the paperwork and I smiled. Korra always brought the nicest gifts.

"One portal for every child you bear."

"Um yes."

Blake nodded.

"But I was wondering if I could get more portals out of you."

I looked at Taylor.

"All of my portals are being used by the trade with the First Order."

I looked at blake.

"How many do you need?"

"A hundred? I think that would be enough, we could um wager on it."

"With what, Blake?"

"Everything I have."

Hmm? Interesting.

"Ok then, a wager: tonight will be the night where I get you pregnant."

Blake blushed.

"Ok."

"The three of us will try to get you to orgasm, every orgasm you have before I cum inside you will remove one portal and give me absolute control over 1 percent of your entire being. If you have 100 of them, no portals and I own you mind and body and soul."

I snapped my fingers and the flowers in a vase grew and created bracelets, "this will do a count, to prevent cheating."

She put them on and we had contracts set up and then we went to the basement, Emma smiled at me and opened a lockbox.

"This is a fertility potion, it will help you get pregnant right away."

Blake took it and drank it down without complaint, then we all undressed and we put Blake into manacles and put her on a rack.

"Ok, I just have to hold out."

Emma smiled and put her head between Blake's legs and started licking, Blake's ears moved back and I smiled. She failed to ask for us to not use magic or other means to bring her to orgasm so we had all of our options and she only had her will.

"Fuck."

I looked at her left bracelet as a mark formed on it, I smiled. Blake's will wasn't all that strong. When Emma got tired Taylor took over, Blake tried to keep herself from orgasming but failed time and time again because this fertility potion also gave extra sensitivity. I nodded at Taylor as her turn ended and brought out my tentacles. I plugged Blakes's ass and pussy and rhythmically worked them in her, already lubricated from past orgasms. I healed her a bit as I forced her into orgasm after orgasm. The girls got on each side.

"Cum, cum like the whore you are."

Emma kissed her ears, Taylor smiled.

"It's fun being his whore. I used to fight it like you, I was so stupid. Being his pregnant whore is great."

Being degraded like that only made Blake orgasm more frequently, she panted and cried as her body turned against her. We kept it up for hours, and one by one more marks formed on her bracelet until I heard a clicking sound, Black panted.

"What was that?"

"Halfway through, Blake. You have lost half your portals."

"What a naughty kitty."

The two girls licked her and massaged her as I continued, my tentacles writhing inside her. Blake was in tears as the other bracelet was marked. Finally, we got to the last one as Blake panted.

"Please, no more."

Taylor undid her manacles and then pressed her to the bed, Emma did the same thing.

"Feel our tummies, Blake. Zoe did this to us, he made us this way, we are having his babies. This is what's going to happen to you."

I spread Blake's Legs and plunged my cock inside her as Taylor talked.

"You've been a bad kitty, a naughty kitty. You deserve this, Blake."

She grit her teeth and then screamed and panted and collapsed. Her eyes were blank, her will broken.

"You have a duty, Blake."

"Yes, master. What is it?"

"Your purpose is to have my babies."

"Yes, master. Please breed this naughty kitty, she's in heat."

Blake moaned like a whore when I came inside her and panted.

"Thank you, master, for giving this slutty kitty kittens."

She passed out and I smiled. After a lifetime of running Blake finally couldn't run anymore.



Emma Barnes


Emma Barnes

Becoming a mother was good for Taylor, she's mellowed out a lot and is, well, happier now. I'm actually kind of surprised how involved Zoe is in raising the kids, all of the kids. I kind of expected him to just leave it all to us and the maidroids but he's been there for all of us. I smile as little Billy yawns, a part of me really likes this the mom thing. I understand why my own mom had two of them at least. I kissed him on the head and he fell asleep, I looked at N2.

"I will take care of Billy for you."

"Thank you."

I smiled as I walked out, I was being given some recovery time right now but I knew I was going to have another baby and so was Taylor. I yawned as I walked out, Taylor had a nice little black dress on and looked nervous.

"The makeup is fine."

"It's just an important day."

I gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"It will be fine."

A portal opened and we got to the capital, to Pisces. We were led to a room and took our seats, at the bottom of the play there was a pool of liquid, I saw the other queens watching, none of us were currently pregnant. At last, the five women guests walked in.

They had a pensive look on their faces, this was their last month. After this they could go free, their contracts were out, they could walk away free… or agree to be broodmares for the rest of their lives, pumping out our master's babies. Ruby signed the contract without a second of hesitation and then took off her clothes and was chained to the tub. Her sister visibly struggled and then signed and joined her sister, then Blake the cat girl went up.

Weiss was the last one, going up and being strapped in. Glynda, with her age and experience, had enough will to say no and was given quite a bit of money. Then we watched as more Zoe's came in, the girls dunked their heads in the fertility potion and drank deeply then we watched as they were impregnated right in front of us. I put my hands up Taylor's dress and helped my friend get off. She panted and when the breeding was over she smiled.

"I think they will become good friends."

Despite all of the melodrama and theatrics it was actually a pretty cushy life, with lots of perks. As the girls were allowed to leave we went down to greet them and welcome them to our sisterhood.



Quarian historian


Kinn'Varl nar Larea- Quarian historian

The long exile ended with the final battle of Rannoch. God queen Tali, blessed be her name, took the Quarian fleet out of her summoned portals and onto the world of Rannoch. There she used her divine powers to destroy the Geth defenses with plant life. Then, with the point defense systems down, the fleet was able to destroy the main bases from Orbit. the Queen's Guard and our divine queen were then able to destroy more of their defenses as we continued the sacred bombardment from orbit. When it was finally over Holy Rannoch was purged of the unholy presence of the Abominable Geth.

The ancestors smiled upon her people and the assembled people recognized that they had gifted us a Queen of the people to help protect us from the machine, the heretics, and the evils of the Galaxy. Once holy Rannoch was liberated the other fallen worlds that were not seized in the great theft were purified as the Queen and her Queen's Guard disabled the unholy ones defenses on the ground before the worlds were purified by holy orbital firepower.

The long exile was over and the operation of Purification and Liberation lasted a mere cycle, such was the strength of the God Queen. With our homeworlds liberated from the Geth infestation our people, who had long suffered under the boots of the Turian, the Salarian, the Asari, flooded back to their homes, eager to begin again in our homeland.

Such a multitude came that there seemed not enough room would be available for all.

The God Queen saw this and summoned the Quarian Council to a star system that was empty. There she used her holy power to bring a world through a portal and the people watched as the ice on the world vanished and it became green and full of life, cleansed and purified by the God Queen's power. The people knelt and we knew and understood that the ancestors had sent us not just a queen but a god queen.

The God Queen protects.



Glynda Goodwitch


Glynda Goodwitch

It wasn't as easy a decision as you would think.

It would have been a life of Luxury, and the sex was the best I had ever had in my entire life. The experienced softened me, at least that's what people tell me. I became less irritable, more patient, more forgiving but that might just be the experience of motherhood. Roland can be a bit of a handful at times but I am glad I had him. Not just because it was my duty, nor because of the stipend, but because in a way I was very much lonely before I had my son. Once I had him I felt like a part of me would live on, even with all of his antics I feel better having become a mother.

Sometimes though I wonder if I made the right choice and what my life would have become if I had succumbed to the temptation. I know our debts are shrinking year by year and within a decade we will no doubt be debt-free. A life of rutting, of sex and pleasure, sounds tempting. The younger girls broke. Yang, I think, most of all. They didn't have the connections to a former life that I did, didn't have the responsibilities I did. I was and still am a teacher, with a duty to teach the hunters and huntresses of the next generation.

They have it easier than I did, I think, but I do not regret my choice. With the great bombardment and Salem's death the Grimm are being pushed back. Civilization is retaking the world, slowly yes but with great progress. My duty is here, the year has ruined me for all men I think, but that is Ok: I have my Roland and my sanity, such as it is. I will choose to look back on that year with some fondness but my duty and home is in Remnant.



The end


Zoe

Life is good.

After helping Tali with the whole Geth thing, and terraforming a few planets, everything is more or less going ok now. Shepard assures me she has the whole Reaper thing in hand so I can just enjoy my life of relative ease. My story, for now I think, is at its end… or at least at the end of its existing phase. Though to be honest I'm happy about that. I've had enough excitement, enough drama, and enough bullshit. There comes a time to let younger agents have their time in the sun, to retire as a warrior and become a lord, advising and creating an empire. Raising children and enjoying the fruits of my labor.

It is time to advise and aid the younger agents through their journeys, through their struggles. It is time to help other people make it like I have.

"12 million."

I nod at Heba, the limit to the people in my patronage network. I know that, sooner or later, I will hit that limit. Probably quicker than I think.

"Where are we at?"

"It's 2,999 right now, I think. This next one might be number 3000."

I blinked.

"Oh, good. Offer him one of the nicer homes as a signup option."

"I will. Here is his file."

I opened it and looked through it, NT-Ψ1C. I think I'd see if I could just call him NT. Scored 10% higher than me on the agent test. I sighed as I looked at his destination.

"Shit."

Nasuverse.

"Heba, I need you to stall him for a bit. I need to have a talk with Gaia so he doesn't get murdered by Counter Guardians."

"I can show him the informational video."

I looked at her.

"You remembered to get that edited, right?"

"Of course, I did. I'm not an idiot, Zoe."

"If you don't know how to work the software we can hire someone to do that shit."

"It's not a problem. It's basic software editing, anyone can do it."

"Seriously, Heba, I don't want people thinking we are running some Mickey Mouse operation."

She looked at me.

"This isn't a problem I am confident I edited it correctly."

"Good show him the video while I handle this."

She walked away and I opened a portal. An avatar took some dirt from the other side and I used spirit magic. A woman appeared, bandaged and in a wheelchair.

"Who dares summon me?"

"Z38."

She looked at me and glared but then relaxed.

"Fellow planet?"

"Yep."

"What do you want? No one talks to me unless they want something."

She sounded bitter.

"One of my people is on your world and I want to ensure his safety from your agents."

"You have any idea how many people are infesting my body?"

"Look I'm willing to pay rent, to ensure non-interferance with his mission."

She looked at me.

"Tell me more."

"1 year's worth of mana a month."

"I am fucking dying here, literally dying. I want a thousand years' worth."

She was not well.

"I get this mana by taking in asteroids and directly transmuting them into mana. You're asking me for something roughly the size of the fucking moon once a month."

She frowned.

"A Century?"

I thought about it, that was about a Vesta-sized asteroid a month.

"No, a decade?"

She bit her lip.

"No one else is making you this offer, and if he stays a year that's 120 years more time that you didn't have. A decade? That's a thousand years. Two decades? That brings you back to the time of Fairies."

She sighed.

"I want 300 years' worth of mana as a security deposit, upfront."

I took that in. She was very sick, she had maybe a century at most before she died.

"Deal."

I snapped my fingers and an asteroid the size of Vesta was consumed and transmuted. A portal opened, revealing a bowling-ball-sized amount of pure mana.

"Sign the contract and it's yours."

We pulled out paperwork and she read through it. Then she touched and took in the mana, and started crying.

"Oh! I feel so much better."

She looked at me.

"We have an accord. I expect payment on time, Z38."

She then vanished, our deal concluded. I buzzed Heba.

"Is NT ready?"

"Yeah, the video is over."

"Buzz him in."

My time was over, it was time for other agents to have their adventures now.