Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay (Worm Lewd CYOA)
By: Vagabond
[NSFW] - Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay (Worm Lewd CYOA) by Vagabond
Status: ongoing
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2024-03-18
Words: 97730
Chapters: 69
Original source: https/forum./threads/12270
Exported with the assistance of
Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay (Worm Lewd CYOA)
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 1
My name was Alan Marris, a native Brocktonite, a graduate of Arcadia, and a self-employed computer software programmer (and fishing enthusiast). Not rich but not poor, I lived on the western edge of the city's Downtown, right where the western suburb borders Downtown.
But a person named Alan Marris did not exist on Earth Bet until ten seconds ago. Twelve seconds ago. Fifteen seconds ago.
This body did not exist until twenty seconds ago.
My existence was new.
Sitting up on my bed, I began to contemplate how I could be here.
I knew that I was in Brockton Bay thanks to this new body's memories. Brockton Bay didn't exist where I came from but it certainly did. Memories of recent history played out in my mind in ways only memories can, and I groaned as I realized that I was on Earth Bet, the world at the center of the fictional story titled Worm.
Again, why was I here?
I remembered doing a Worm CYOA… a lewd Worm CYOA.
And I went the entire length of it without taking any particularly lewd choices.
I hurriedly searched for a piece of paper and pen, found them, sat down by the desk in my bedroom, and wrote down what I remembered about my own choices.
Wake Up in a New Life
Canon Knowledge
For want of a nail
More points
Male, Young Adult, Caucasian, Slim, Fit
Mindfuckery: alcohol
Enemies: ABB, E88, Merchants, S9, Endbringers
Kill List: Kaiser, Skidmark, Lung
Uncontrollable Mind, Blindspot
Different Power Source, Early Start, Contact, Costume
Costume: Armor, self-repairing, force field, thematic, mover
Early: 27 days
Amy Dallon: Friend
Cultivation: Enchantment, Progress renewal, Meridian Awakening, Alchemy
Roleplay Excellence, ST
I stared at the piece of paper in front of me.
And then I screamed in panic.
-VB-
It took me… two hours to calm down. It was embarrassing, seeing as I considered myself better than to break down like that.
Well, here I was.
As I sat down to consider what I was going to do.
First off, I had to make sure that my powers worked. The easiest of them to use was Roleplay Excellence. How did I activate it? Did I just think it? Did I say the role I wanted out loud? I… don't quite remember. The only reason why I chose that option out of everything was because it was the only power that wasn't directly lewd.
Why did I even touch that lewd cyoa again?
I steeled myself and then opened my mouth to speak.
Quietly, I whispered. "I am now an expert parahuman analyst with a meticulous personality who writes down everything important."
For a second, my vision wavered and then returned.
I immediately felt the changes. My mind was thinking differently, connecting different information. It wasn't that I was smarter; it was that there was now newfound knowledge in my head (that won't stay there when I dismiss this roleplay) that allowed me to connect information in ways I didn't could connect because I didn't know they could relate like that.
I recognized that this particular power was notably similar to Uber of Leet and Uber, whose power granted him temporary high skill of the job he wanted-
-no, I was different. I didn't affect just skills; I also affected personality.
Right now, I was already writing down all of the important bits of information I was extracting from this so far short session of self-analysis. It was abundantly clear to me that my power took further steps to change me than Uber's power did. Changing personality could not be achieved by shoving new memories into the brain; it directly affected neural pathways. This meant that my power directly influenced my brain chemistry. My mind was now-
-stop.
Poof. Just like that, my mind was clear of all previous thoughts. I remembered what I thought, but there were some points here and there that seemed like a jump in logic to me.
Hmm.
"Okay," I spoke out loud. "So I definitely have a superpower." I shook in my seat giddily. "I have a power!" I cackled out loud, jumping out of my seat and running around in circles of my room. "GYA HA HA HA HA-!"
I stopped myself not in alarm but in ever increasing excitement.
My other power was Cultivation. The overpowered bullshit that let people ascend to godhood.
I quickly sat down to meditate…
Ring ring ring
I stopped even before I could begin, and stood up, walked to my desk, and looked at the phone there.
[Amy Dallon]
Then I remembered that I was Amy's friend. I had memories of meeting Amy first at the hospital she volunteered and then later on as we became friend, enjoyed cold and dry British humor, and alcohol.
It was to my surprise that Amy spiked her fruit juices.
But this happened because I chose Amy as a friend.
And that made me her only friend.
I quickly answered the call. "Hey, Amy! How's my grumpy healer doing?"
"{Haven't had my shot yet,}" she grumbled.
"Me too! Wanna come and hang out at my place?"
"{… Sure. You have orange juice?}"
By orange juice, she meant the jug of orange juice she'd left with me to ferment, because she couldn't keep that in her house or at the hospital. "Yup."
"{I'll be there after school.}"
And then she hung up without so much as a goodbye.
Ah, good old Amy being her rude self.
"Seeing as she's coming to my house in…" I stared up at the clock. It was 8 am. "Seven hours, I should get me some beer."
I too was starting to feel the need for alcohol.
And while I waited for her, I could start myself on my cultivation…
Oh, there was a lot of knowledge implanted into my head. Nice, I can start there. First, I needed to meditate to understand my body and myself.
-VB-
Thankfully, my house provided some privacy with how it was made.
My house was big, despite being on the border of Downtown.
No, that would be incorrect. My actual house was small, barely three thousand square feet. It had a small front yard and backyard, the latter of which was overtaken by Amy's three fruit trees. I was the only one who didn't judge her for the true spectrum of her power and encouraged her to do more.
Which was why those trees made alcoholic fruits, not regular fruits.
Anyways, my house was big because it had two layers of basements on top of two floors.
Those basements gave me the privacy I needed. The first basement was where I had my laundry machines, dryers, and other necessary household equipments of life were at.
The second basement? It had been sitting empty for years with a few furnitures I no longer needed sitting in the corner.
Now?
It was my training room.
Here, I now practiced very few things I remembered about martial arts. Tae Kwon Do, Boxing, and even a little of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I didn't just do it with my body. No, I overpowered myself with a command of Roleplay Excellence: "A martial artist that has mastered three combative martial art."
With each attack, I exerted everything my body could give me. Into each attack, I unleashed the strength of this new body.
And I felt the difference.
I had memories of this body and my life before this. Both of me practiced martial arts for exercising purposes, and I knew what it felt like to exert while practicing martial arts. Here and now, however, felt different. Spin kick felt faster and winds buffeted heavily against my leg. I followed it through with a knee strike, and ended with a backhand strike with my fist.
Each action felt lighter and stronger. The air resisted far more yet it wasn't because I was weak; it was because each of my strikes cut through the air faster.
I jumped, twirling in the air horizontally to the ground while my feet lashed out twice to the same target area, and I landed with a ground stomp that made the basement shudder.
Oops. Might not want to do that lest the neighbors report "strange happenings" in their neighborhood.
I straightened myself and let out a stream of pent up breath.
I was definitely stronger… but not strong enough to be considered anything abnormal. Maybe the world's elite martial artist at best but nothing that can take on a standard parahuman.
Kiii….
Hmm? Was that the sound of the front door opening?
It must be Amy.
…
Wait, how did I hear that from down here?
…
Whatever.
I walked up and saw Amy on the living room couch with a cup of orange beer.
"The first thing you do is get your pruno and not greet the owner of the house?" I asked her dryly.
She took a sip, sighed contentedly, and looked at me.
Amy Dallon was a good friend of mine for the sole fact that I liked her humor, she healed me once, and she made me alcohol.
I was actually a little buzzed right now from drinking her pruno.
"Hi. There, I said it. Now, let me get back to drinking."
I snorted. "You raging alcoholic."
"Idiotic drowned."
"Grumpy healer."
"Masochist."
"Oi, that was once!"
"Uh huh."
I snorted again and walked up to the second floor bathroom.
When I finished cleaning up, changed my clothes, and came back down, Amy was watching the TV with half-lidded eyes.
I raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you normally at the hospital by now?" I asked her.
"I am, but I haven't given you your check-up yet."
I chuckled. "Sure, sure," I said as I extended my hand towards her. I stopped for a moment to dispel the Roleplay Excellence's control over my body. I slouched a little then, and Amy, looking at me with a raised eyebrow, caught my extended hand.
Her eyes glazed over as she looked through my biology.
As she looked through my biology.
Looked.
My biology.
I realized my mistake right there on the spot, and Amy's eyes widened as they gained focus. Her face and eyes snapped up to me, and I returned her look in equal part nervousness and embarrassment.
I didn't expect to be outed so soon.
The thing about cultivators was that their biology changed with their training. They became more than just humans.
And while I might not have done anything, the very fact that I was a cultivator who could do extraordinary things already set my biology apart from regular people.
And Amy here was a biokinetic.
"What happened?" she demanded angrily.
And she was angry because she was thinking that I must have gone to some bio-tinker to improve my body.
Just as she showed trust in me… I supposed it was my turn to return that trust.
While letting her hold my hand, I moved around the couch and sat down next to her. She stared at me.
"So, where would you like me to begin?"
"Who experimented on you?"
"No one."
"Your biology is different from a mere day ago, Alan," she spat. "Who did this to you?"
I smirked. "What if I said it is the product of my training?"
"… Huh? No, that's bullshi-"
Right there and then, I did one of the few things I knew so far about my cultivation: allowing the Qi to flow through my meridian points."
Her retort froze on the spot as her eyes widened.
I knew that she couldn't detect lies, not completely, so I spun her a story. "We humans once dominated nature. Rocks shattered, earth cratered, trees fell, and mountains disappeared under the might of not weapons but our feet and fists," I said. And it was true in the wuxia genre of fiction.
But then again, Worm was also fiction.
"I've finally woken up today and reached a level of cultivation that you see today. This is something I've been working towards. It's not much… but I can show you what I can do."
Tired as I may have been, but I could power through… with just a sip of beer. I stole a sip from her cup of pruno, earning me a light glare. She nodded stiffly, and I led her down to the lowest basement.
I let her stay by the stairs, and I walked to the center of the room. I contemplated how I was going to go about this.
I mean I was a little tired but… it really wouldn't be much.
And so…
I cut it loose.
-VB-
She didn't know what she expected, but it wasn't this.
The air grew heavy on her as if a thick blanket was weighing her down. At the same time, the basement grew darker than before. The light dimmed yet its intensity was the same.
Her hand quickly reached out and grabbed the handrail of the staircase and held on to it dearly.
She watched as Alan, her only non-parahuman friend, lifted his right leg up.
And stomped.
The basement floor cracked and the entirety of the house shook with how strong it was.
He punched away from her, and yet the air buffeted against her face like she was sticking her head out of a train. He kicked, and the rotation of his attack with his bare foot grinded against the floor.
He jumped and twirled in the air, striking thrice, and she knew that such an attack would have knocked out most people on the spot if the attack connected.
'Brute 3 at the very least,' she thought.
And then she saw his hands curl into fists and strike too many fucking times in under five seconds.
'T-Thirty? No, at least thirty-five… ! And each of those strikes felt as strong as the first fist strike that made the winds whoosh around and buffet her face. If anyone without armor or Brute power got hit by those-!'
Death.
The first three strikes might break a bone. By the tenth, multiple bones would be broken. By the twentieth, entire skeletal structures would be gone and organs would be damaged. By the thirtieth, there would be no organ to speak of.
He stopped with a last flourish of a kick and moved way too fast for her eyes. Vicky might be able to follow it but…
"… What the fuck," she uttered, unable to stop herself.
Alan looked up and grinned. "And I can make you this strong too, though it will be painful."
She looked down at the floor. The cement floor was no longer flat and pristine. It was cracked, shattered, ground down, and… a mess.
And this was done with a bare foot that didn't break or bleed when striking a cement surface hard enough to shatter the entire thing.
"Ah. I went overboard," Alan grumbled. "Now I have to fix everything up."
"What the fuck, Alan."
"Ow," he suddenly muttered. "I think I strained myself."
"Ugh, idiot," she grumbled as she walked up to him, careful to avoid any broken shard of cement, and touched him. Or rather, she tried to. He stopped her with a finger to the palm of her extended hand. "What?"
"I have to heal the old fashioned way. My muscles wouldn't grow otherwise."
Both of them knew that if he wanted muscles, then she could increase them all she liked as long as she had the materials.
"Does it have something to do with your… power?"
"It's not a power if you can do the same with training, Amy."
She snorted. "I doubt I can do that," she said, pointing to the crater on the cement.
"You never know," he teased before going serious. "But I honestly wouldn't want you to start this. The only method to start this would have you screaming for hours in pain."
She winced. "You…?"
"Not sure," he replied honestly. "I just know that you will if you follow me down this path."
She stopped talking. "… Fine," she said as she turned around. "I'm going to the hospital."
"Be careful, okay?"
"I will."
As she walked up the stairs and then out of his house, she couldn't help but wonder.
Could she be as strong?
Strong and glorious like Vicky?
She needed time to think.
Chapter 2
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 2: No Training Montage for You!
-VB-
Cultivation.
Did I mention that it wasn't too different from a Tinker or a body builder in how it functioned?
For me, I had the knowledge of what I must do to advance my body; the mind and spirit were trickier, so I was focusing on the body first. After all, what was a mind if the body could not follow through?
So, the body! There were three paths to advancements of the body known to me, thanks to the knowledge download.
The first path was the rigorous training of flesh against wood, flesh against steel, and flesh against flesh: the Path of Rock Flesh. 'Through endless pain and suffering, the body shall achieve the flesh of a mountain. All shall break before the mountain.'
The second path took martial art into the realm of the supernatural: the Art of Peerless Skin. 'Through the infusion of internal Qi onto the skin, the skin shall harden
The third and final path, the one I intended to take, was the practical application of the accumulated ancient knowledge where Qi was the central overarching force capable of influencing the body. This was the Path of One Thousand Layer.
Now, they all sounded fancy and gave the notion that some kind of supernatural training regiment was needed. Very technically speaking, they did. One could not achieve the Path of Rock Flesh without surviving against throwing your naked skin against sharpened rock and come out stronger for it. The Art of Peerless Skin would have one master the neigong, which took a decade, if not decades, to master. The Path of One Thousand Layer was the easiest of them but also the most expensive.
Qi was not a force limited to each individual human. Qi itself was the human's internal energy, and there existed many other forms of energy, like the infernal Qi, found in hot springs and volcanoes, and the natural Qi, found in plants and animals.
The Path of One Thousand Layer took the understanding of the flow of Qi to gather ingredients infused heavily with Qi and infused them into the body.
This was why it was expensive. Instead of training the body, the Path of One Thousand Layer sought to implement Qi found elsewhere into the body to supplement its progress. I needed medicinal herbs in hundreds of kilograms, and a specific ratio had to be maintained in each medicinal bath I took after each training session.
Alan Marris on this Earth had $55,000 saved up so far as cash and credit. I blew half of that away in a single day for the herbs, and of that 10% was simply from the shipping fee.
I sunk deep into the medicinal bath, luxuriating in the steaming hot mixture of twelve different herbs ranging from Chinese Knotweed to half a century old wild ginseng. I tried not to think about how expensive this bath was. Considering that I chopped in a half of twenty-five year old wild ginseng, it was at the very least two thousand dollars…
A two thousand dollar (at the very least) herbal bath. Didn't think I'd be doing something so… expensive.
'I can't imagine but the most dedicated or the rich doing this in ancient times,' I thought to myself while practicing breathing with my body.
'Breathing with the body' was not actually taking in oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide with my skin. It was the most fundamental part of neigong, where my body took in energy from the outside. This process, coupled with the medicinal bath, took in nutrients and energy from the medicinal bath and reinforced the whole of my body. When I "exhaled" with my body, accumulated wastes related to neigong and Qi.
Under the right circumstances, "bodily breathing" was a way to purify my body as I reinforced it.
Unfortunately, I was not a master of neigong, or even the fundamental step of bodily breathing. If I was, then I would have made this bath cheaper and acquired the same benefit. But I wasn't a master. I knew what and how to do this cultivation roughly but the exact efficiency and path eluded me, because I was nothing more than a disciple in the arts not a master, and even that was because of the knowledge. On top of that, I didn't have a decade to master a single martial art.
Scion may be neutered, but parahuman gangs with their shards' conflict engines was a real thing.
I dove under it, and breathed. The water around me pulsed in rhythm with each breath. I felt the top of my head also move out of the water despite the fact that I hadn't moved. Was I taking the herbal bath water into me?
That's… weird. Whatever. No one ever said cultivation wasn't weird.
Nothing else happened from then on, other than the fact that the bath just got a little dark and stayed that way. Seeing as I wasn't feeling anything different, I pulled the plug on the bathtub, and felt the dirty herbal water drain. The net holding the soaked herbs held, and only the water - nutritiously valuable - left.
Thanks to the makeup of the pipes leading out of the second basement, I knew that this water would end up in the garden underneath Amy's three alcohol fruit trees.
Efficiency for the win, right?
I was, of course, not going to tell Amy I was giving her trees wastewater.
Of course, since I was thinking about efficiency, I also had invested in some… training equipment. At the same time as I had bought the herbs, I also got a baseball launcher, and used it to train my dodging speed. I spent a week dodging but now I was training in lashing out at those high speed murderballs.
Amy had been less than pleased by the bruises all over my body yesterday.
Speaking of Amy…
"Alan, where are you?!"
I wanted to try a few things with her. Also, why was she screaming her head off?
It's been two weeks since I woke up as Alan Marris of Earth Bet and half-lied to Amy (both Alan's did train for the sake of improving ourselves, just not towards cultivation). She had returned a day later but refused my offer of opening her own meridian points. Regardless, she kept returning for the usual routine.
Which was basically to use me and my house as her "alcohol experiment and loot" room.
"Down here!" I shouted as I dried myself with a towel quickly before putting on a dry set of red t-shirt and pair of blue nylon shorts and tossing my training shorts to the laundry bin. By the time I was dry, clothed, and dumping the now useless herbal remains into a trash can, Amy thundered down the stairs and stopped at the base.
"Where did you hide my orange beer?"
"For the last time, Amy, fruit moonshine is called pruno."
"Where is my orange pruno?" she insisted.
I replied as casually as guiltlessly as possible, "I drank it."
I too was an alcoholic and was not above breaking into her stash for a few bottles. I may have practiced the Drunken Fist after chugging three liters worth of Amy's orange pruno, though I did not find much success. "In my defense, you still have a tank of lemon pruno upstairs."
"I like the orange pruno the best!" Amy objected angrily. "You stole my beer!"
"Consider it a fee for keeping it in my house."
"ARGH!" she screamed and jumped at me.
Seeing how slow she was, I neatly sidestepped her. As she fell, I slid one hand underneath her stomach and the other on her back, swung her around, and placed her back on her feet facing away from me. This happened in two seconds.
She stood there for a moment before turning back. "Do that again."
"What, you want to be swung around like a kid by her daddy?" I asked her with a coo.
Maybe she was a little drunk already; she just showed reckless behavior, poor judgement (maybe), and her face was flushed. My words only made that flush deeper.
So it wasn't a big surprise that she decided to headbutt me. She'd been too close for me to dodge, especially since I hadn't expected it. Our skulls conked and I stumbled backward in pain while she dropped to the floor, whining in pain.
"How much did you drink?!" I, the alcoholic man of the house, demanded sharply as I held my forehead.
"Only a gallon…" she whined from her face down fetal position.
"Amy, I thought we agreed on half a gallon per day rule."
She just groaned more. "I had a bad day, okay? Vicky was being her stupid self again… !"
"She kept on blasting you with more of her aura or something?"
From the memories I'd inherited, one of the things Amy complained to me about was Vicky's inability to control her aura. She usually only complained about that when she was really drunk, though.
"No, she set me up on another blind date with another rich snob."
I snorted. "Then what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to call that snob and tell him that I'm not interested. And then I'm going to tell Vicky I'm not interested. That I want her pussy, not a fucking dick."
I whistled. "You must be really drunk. You don't say that so loud normally."
"Shut up!"
"Yes, definitely drunk," I said as I picked her up and moved upstairs.
She touched my skin on my hand, perhaps in habit, and frowned. "I see less of your body than two weeks ago."
"I have been training and cultivating at a very fast rate."
"I still call your explanation bullshit. Tell me what biotinker got to you already~!"
"Will you shut up if I let you drink another bottle?"
"Yessir!" she cheered before she leaned into my bridal carry. She looked sullen and upset. Something was bothering her.
"If you have something on your chest, Amy, go ahead and tell me. You know I'm not here to judge."
"… Hey, Alan."
"Yeah?"
"Am I ugly?"
"No. Why?"
"Why doesn't Vicky look at me, then?"
"… Because you're her sister?"
Amy frowned.
"It's not like you're going to rape her, right?"
Despite her drunken state, those words snapped her out of her stupor easily enough. "What the f-!? NO!" she screamed, pushing me away (or trying to) when I was the one carrying her.
"Then why not just give up? It's not like your attraction to her is natural."
She glared at me. "What the f-?"
She's saying that a lot, isn't she?
"You know deep down that her power must have some effect on you, right? Whenever her aura flares, you told me that you just appreciate and awe Victoria more."
She didn't reply as I set her down on my couch in the first floor living room.
Amy was open with me unlike how she was with the rest of her family and her acquaintances. Some of it was from how loose her lip was when she was drunk but a lot of it was just genuine need on her part to have someone to talk with. The me-before-I-took-over had been a good friend to Amy, and I intended to carry on that distinction.
Amy sighed. "… I still love her."
"As you should, you are, at the very least, family."
She looked up at me before nodding. "So how's your training been?" she asked, blatantly changing the subject. "Your body changed again."
"Faster than I imagined," I replied with a grin. "It's only been two weeks since I arrived at my current level, so I really can't say there's been an increase in my cultivation base. What I have improved though is my body."
"I noticed," she narrowed her eyes. "I could see what you were doing with your body, but not all of it. There were even portions that I couldn't change."
That's good news, actually. If a power as versatile as the Shaper could not change me in the hands of Amy, then there were many lesser Shards and powers that wouldn't be able to do that to me either.
Amy continued to talk. "But why are you training so hard? From what I could tell, you must be training all of the time that I'm not here."
"To do what I want, I need power."
She narrowed her eyes. "And what might that be?"
… What exactly did I want to do?
I was in Earth Bet, the home of Worm. This was supposed to be a pseudo-death world, but I had taken charge of this scenario, twisting away calamity like the Golden Morning, by taking options in a…
…
I don't know. I spoke words that sounded right, but they rang hollow to my own ears. I wanted power, yes, but that's because - in truth - I was scared to fight people on my own level. I didn't want to risk myself. I didn't want to put myself on a kill or be kill scenario. I didn't want to fight, but by the rules of power that existed in Earth Bet, I would not have a choice in the matter. Sooner or later, there will be people who seek me out to fight, to dominate, and to kill me.
I leveled a serious, half-lidded stare at her, meeting her eyes. She blinked and then flinched.
"I don't want to be a victim in this pitiless world," I replied honestly. "I don't want to be just another parahuman who dies in the first year of getting their power. I don't want to be forced into some asshole's gang, federal, corporate, or criminal." I straightened myself up and allowed myself to just… release the frustration that I didn't know I had. "I want to have a family. I don't want to die. I don't want to suffer. Being powerless means that I won't have choice in any of this. Some random dipshit can kill me if I'm weak. If I'm weak, the government can screw me over and I'll have to take it up my ass and deal with it. If I'm weak with a family, then I might have to watch as gangsters break into my home, rape and kill my family, and I'll be too weak to stop them."
I stared at Amy, whose adopted family had an experience in the latter kind of experience.
"I don't want to be weak, Amy, especially not in a city like Brockton Bay."
"… Is that why you're training like a masochist?"
I grinned, letting my serious demeanor fall apart. "Being able to grind concrete into dust with my hands also makes me feel better. Girls also like these muscles," I announced gleefully as I put my left arm up and flexed. Now, my body may be on the slim side, but my training was starting to show off in my growing muscles.
Amy merely raised an eyebrow, and then she snorted.
"What?" I asked curiously.
"I just realized that the only reason I haven't seen a pot belly on you despite your daily dose of alcohol was because of your training."
"… A pot belly that you might get, too."
She gasped.
"Join me in my training! You shall become a macho girl by my side~!"
"Never."
Then we laughed.
Amy left soon afterward, and I was left to nurse a cup of lemon pruno by myself. My conversation with Amy played itself again in my head, and I couldn't help it.
I felt weak. No, I knew that I was weak. In a city that hosted Hookwolf, Lung, Kaiser, Skitter, Amy, Victoria, and so many more, I was weak. There was no way I could survive against Kaiser or Hookwolf. Lung would burn me alive. Armsmaster had more combat experience and thus would wipe the floor with me.
I didn't feel weak; I knew that I was weak.
My jaws clenched hard and my hands balled up into a fist, I finished the pruno in my hand and went downstairs to train again. My skin broke but didn't bleed, my bones buckled but didn't break, and my mind struggled under the exhaustion yet I persevered through.
I would get strong.
I had to be strong.
-VB-
Life, unfortunately, did not give me a chance to get stronger.
I was out in the middle of the night, two weeks after that heart-to-heart with Amy, and getting groceries from my favorite cheap supermarket when I ran into the Undersiders.
Undersiders who had just robbed Ruby Casino.
Undersiders who were just escaping the ABB gangsters.
Undersiders who, in the middle of the night, ran into me in high alert.
And I, who had been training to the point of learning all of my own martial arts movements and strikes were ingrained into my body as a habit, lashed out in habit at the fast approaching team, just like I had ingrained myself to lash out at the baseballs that I used for training.
My hand lashed out and I struck the lead gigantic dog on the nose, earning myself a "Keh keng!" of a dog screeching in pain.
"Ah."
I fucked up.
Chapter 3
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 3:… Just not How I Expected It
-VB-
We stared at each other. I stood by myself with an empty beer can between two fingers and two bags of groceries in my left hand and my right hand remained outstretched. The Undersiders looked at me, but it was only Tattletale who saw the beer can in my hand.
"Brutus, kill!" the barely masked butch looking teenager on top of another dog shouted. This had to be Bitch. The dog-monster she was on quickly sped towards me with its mouth open and fangs bared.
"No, wait!" the helmeted villain, who had to be Grue/Brian, shouted at the same time that Lisa did.
I wasted no time, even if my vision was a little blurry and I couldn't quite control all of myself to the fullest. Tossing the empty beer can in my left hand, I slid across the ground and dodged the charging bulldozer of a dog. At the same time, as the dog-monster passed by me, I lashed out sharply and quickly with a single punch at its rider.
The teenger took the hit and tumbled off of her ride, earning a worried whine from the monstrous pet. Said pet quickly turned on me when it saw that its owner was alright, and then growled at me.
Darkness washed over me, and I knew that Grue had decided to fight.
Instead of waiting for them to attack me, I dashed backward. I got out in seconds, only to be engulfed in the four sense muting cloud again. Clicking my tongue in irritation, I opted to not fight them in this state. Visualizing the area I saw from the brief glance I've seen just a moment ago when I initially escaped the black cloud, I ran for the open stretch of road as fast as my legs could carry me, despite my current less than ideal (and slightly buzzed? Definitely buzzed. Maybe more than a little buzzed) state.
I didn't know how many steps I took, but after what felt like fifteen seconds, I was out of the clouds. I twisted around and came to a skidding stop. I swayed a little to my right after stopping.
The Undersiders stood across from me. Bitch was back on whichever dog she'd been on before, and Tattletale looked at me with such profound confusion that I couldn't help but comment on it.
"Cat got your tongue, fox?" I asked. "Let me ask why the hell you guys thought it was a good idea to try and run over someone?" I swayed to my left a little.
"We weren't trying to," Grue replied.
"You're… not a cape?" Tattletale said out loud. "He's drunk…?!"
Regent whistled. "He's not a cape and he's that fast? That's insane," he laughed. "Hey, can we have him on our team?"
"No, we have to run," Grue shot back. He turned back to me. "I'm sorry about one of Bitch's dogs almost running over you. Can we part ways with that?"
I stared at them for a moment. I… didn't actually want to fight them. There was no point to, and if this was the point in the timeline that I thought it was, then I didn't want to stop them either (Ruby Casino theft).
Attacking them here and now would only draw the attention of Coil and the PRT towards me, which were not the attention I wanted on me right now.
Not when I wasn't ready.
"Very well," I said with a huff. "But please keep your literal bitch on the leash more tightly."
Grue nodded, and they sped off. I watched them go before I turned back to where I dropped my groceries, only to gawk as a truck loaded with gunmen rounded the corner and ran over them.
My groceries!
While I lamented over my roadkill groceries, the truck stopped not too far from me and one of the gunmen walked out.
"Oi, crackhead, where did the monster dogs go?!" he shouted at me. When I didn't respond because I was both a little angry and thinking about what exactly I should do to these gangsters (had to be ABB if they were asking for the Undersiders on the night of Ruby Casino's theft, right?), he walked up behind me and pushed me forward with the tip of his gun.
While I wasn't alright with getting Coil and PRT's attention, I wasn't above punishing these gangsters, especially on a new moon night like today that obscured my face.
I spin-kicked, and I'd twisted myself so fast that I barely saw his face begin to change from irritated sneer into open surprise when my left heel struck his left temple. There was a sharp crack, and the momentum of my kick tossed him away like a ragdoll, flying nearly horizontally to the ground and letting go of his gun.
While his friends gawked at the sudden attack, I grabbed the gun - a Glock - through my sleeves and took aim. Though I wasn't experienced with guns, I had the discipline and muscle strength to keep myself steady.
I fired.
Someone died.
I fired again.
Someone else screamed as they held their shoulder.
I fired again.
They began to hide.
I fired off two more shots before I ran for it.
I wasn't bulletproof. Not yet.
They fired back, but in the dark, poorly lit streets of the Docks South (again, why did I come out during the night for groceries?), they didn't hit me. Their bullets struck the road, the brick buildings, and caused more noise than actual results.
With the sound of return fire to cover the sound of my running footsteps, I disappeared between the alleys.
Time to go home and enjoy this beer~!
-VB-
"I did what?"
"You were laying there, on the couch, with blood all over your feet. Someone else's blood."
I stared up at Amy, trying not to think too hard because hangovers are a bitch and I am still reaching for that canon the countertop-
"Oh no, you don't!" she shouted at me before knocking my hand away from the beer can. "Not until you explain the blood!"
"But I don't remember anything…" I whined. "Give me my sip already!" I lunged for it, and even in my dehibilated state, I was still a martial artist. My body twisted under her clumsy and wide strikes, taking no more than a second to cross four yards in an instant.
And then I gleefully stared at the beer can. I reached for it-.
"YOWCH!" I yelped like a kicked puppy before falling on the ground. "W-What the hell, Amy?!"
She stood over me triumphantly. "It doesn't matter if you're faster than me, Alan. I can still knock you out in one go, even if I'm seeing less and less of your body."
"… you make it sound like I'm some kind of a prude to my wife."
"Who would hang out with you?"
"You?"
"…"
She kicked him.
"Ugh! I thought you were supposed to be a hero! To kick a man while he's down… !"
"Shut up, drunk!"
" Pot calls kettle black!"
"I do not go on murder sprees as a drunk!" she paused. "I go on a healing spree!"
"Damn workaholic, give me my beer!"
"Not until we find out who you killed!"
-VB-
Whatever happened, Amy was able to piece some things together. For one, there was a gunfight in the Docks South and there had been at least two ABB casualties known to the police. Of the two, only one had been left at the spot.
And that man had his left temporal bones shattered to pieces, and his brain had been mulched on the other side.
… If I had struck him with my heel at a certain angle, then I could certainly produce similar results; I don't regularly break flat concrete ground with my heel strikes for nothing.
'Ugh, I feel like I'm missing something.'
"So the gun on the scene didn't have any of your fingerprint, so the police is assuming that you, assuming that it was you, were defending yourself."
"And how are you finding all of this out…?"
"I'm their medic. I'm everyone's medic. They tell me things. Old men gossip like old ladies, don't you know?"
"… Now you have me curious. How often do you have to heal PRT and Protectorate, nevermind the physically weaker and less armored police and firefighters?"
She grimaced. "Too many times," she grumbled. "And sometimes, they have the gall, the gall, to wake me up in the middle of the night for things less than nearly fatal," she groaned dramatically. "Can't they just let me sleep? I can't heal well if I'm dozing off every other minute." She shook her head and then looked at me. "So you were probably defending yourself, even if you are technically a Brute," she poked me in the shoulder, which did nothing but just barely dent my skin.
"I don't think I'm bulletproof."
"Doesn't matter to the PRT. Whatever, it's not like I was going to report you," she grumbled.
I perked up. "You weren't?"
If she had said that she was going to report me, then… I don't think I would have done anything, not against Amy anyway. First of all, she was my second, and second, she was my drinking buddy. Besides, what's a few murder between friends?
I grinned. "Really?"
"Yes," she grumbled. "You already convinced me to make a beer tree, so what's a self-defense manslaughter after that? It can't be worse than my power."
My grin dropped. This… was not where I wanted this conversation to go.
Since I "took over" for this Earth's Alan Marris, I have been doing the right thing by Amy. I made her feel comfortable, made her drunk in a safe environment, didn't blame her for not healing more people, and helped loosen her creative side; aside from fulfilling her Conflict Engine's requirements, people needed to be creative to fulfill parts of self-actualization.
AKA even if she used her powers, being creative was what I considered to be the fastest and best way for me to help her be… not the Red Queen.
"Amy, it's not wrong to use your power however you want," I told her slowly. "I keep telling you that your very thought process goes against our culture."
After all, when one worked, they got compensated.
Amy, however, worked without compensation. Perhaps surgeries and healing worth millions of dollars per month yet received nothing. Yeah, she volunteered, but there was a limit. Whenever she was in the mood to let me "try" to convince her, I did try to get her to demand from the hospital some sort of pay. I've even called them (while a little buzzed) to ask why Panacea wasn't getting paid.
She refused and the hospitals said they had no choice.
Why?
Carol.
The Stockholm Syndrome-addled, baggage heavy, and strict to a fault Carol.
I was half tempted to start calling her a Karen, but that particular meme wasn't popular here. Something about elastic capes with sex scandals that I didn't quite understand…
"Don't say it again," she groaned. "I'm not in the mood right now."
I wanted to push the issue, but it was best not to. Amy, if she was anything like Carol, was stubborn like a bull and tenacious like a donkey in heat. If she didn't want to hear about it right now, then she would walk out of my house to not hear about it.
Sighing, I changed the topic. "Still, you're perfectly fine with a murderer for a friend, hmm? I thought your mommy dearest wouldn't like that."
She glared at me. "I am not fine with it," she shot back. "In fact, I'm upset."
"You are? Why?"
She slapped me over the head. "Because you got yourself in a fight or die situation, that's why!"
"… I honestly don't know whether or not to apologize because I don't remember what I did."
"Isn't that what all of the boys say to the girls?"
"… It is."
"Then what do you say?"
"Sorry?"
"I don't hear the sincerity in that apology."
"I'm sorry, Lady Amy."
"Better."
A pause.
Then we both broke out into giggles.
But on the inside, I began to ponder. Amy considered me important enough to look over a critical issue in her black and white worldview. That was a very good thing for me in more than one way.
That made me wonder… Could I get her to consider me as something… more?
But it was a question for another day and another time, because right now was drinking time.
Chapter 4
As always, thank you to all of my Patrons: Definitely Not Dio, rockus4, k5Josh, Ricardo, Alexander S, Asa King, Slicedtoad, WorkForFood, Crazyfox, Harpy81, and Kejmur.
As of uploading this story now, my Patrons on got early access to "Reincarnated to the Past, Chapter 17: Waking Up Different."
Enjoy your new chapter, folks~
-VB-
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 4: Unexpected
-VB-
I knew that something was wrong with Amy when she came into the house from her stormy and downcast face, but she didn't say anything. I would have said something but I was kind of busy and a little strained.
Because, as usual, I was working out in the free time I had.
One of the fundamental basics of martial arts was endurance, but endurance itself was the average of many aspects of the body rather than an aspect in and of itself. For example, one could be a wonderful swimmer capable of marathoning miles and miles of water yet they wouldn't last as long on a bicycle. A runner wouldn't do well as a climber nor would a climber run as long.
The holistic level of endurance was only as strong as the weakest part of the body.
To that end, I was doing something different. Instead of running, weight-lifting, and similar normal exercises, I took a very fucking uncomfortable pose that used muscles I didn't even know I had… and held it.
I ignored many drops of sweat running down my face in a slow cascade as I continued to hold my hand-stand-into-"flying striking" kicking pose that had my butt horizontal to my head and legs kicking above that line.
And I've been doing this for two hours now.
Everything hurts.
And yet, I kept it up.
Amy stared at me for the seventh time today. "Are you sure it's doing something for you? All I see is you sweating." I didn't know why but she looked a little sad.
"Why not just stare at my biology?"
"Nah. I'm not touching a smelly sweaty old man unless it's work related."
I grunted instead of replying to her bait.
My body strained to keep myself in place.
I could almost see her smirk as she spoke up again. "Come on, it's been over two hours. You can relax."
"Three hours. Amy, I will tickle you so hard that you will cry," I growled as the strain became worse with her goading. My arms trembled from the exertion and -.
"Boo."
I tipped over.
"That's it-!" I growled as I got back up but Amy was already running for it. It took me all of two seconds to reach her, but she tripped over something on the floor. And then I tripped over her. "Oh sh-!"
"KYAAH!"
We tumbled and ended up tangled with each other.
"Ugh, now I'm going to be smelly."
I snorted. "You get what you deserve." I untangled myself from Amy, and helped her up. "Anyways, what are you here for today? I thought you were pulling a long shift."
She frowned. " I was supposed to be, but after the thirty critical patients and one hundred non-critical care patients, I decided I am done with shifts today."
I snorted. "Lucky of you to be able to choose your own shift and no one can do anything about it."
"And you? You're a software engineer."
"That takes a lot of time, Amy. Like a fuck ton of time. If I don't keep a good schedule in how I move through that shit, then I will not be able to present, deliver, or whatever I need to do with that program in time. And if I don't complete it in time, then I don't get paid."
"Hmm," she narrowed her eyes at me skeptically. "Whatever." I looked over her. "Not gonna wash?"
She blinked and sniffed. "Ugh, men odors," she grumbled before walking upstairs to use my bathroom. "I'm grabbing some of your shirt and pants!"
I grumbled. She used my home as her second home. I wasn't against it, because she always seemed more relaxed here than anywhere else (I stalked her twice, okay?), but damn, does she have to be blunt about it.
-VB-
"Hey, Alan."
I looked up from my big serving cooking. Big muscles needed more nutrients, ya know?!
Amy frowned while standing at the second to last step on the staircase and wearing my long sleeve button-up shirt and pair of nylon pants. But why did she keep the front of her shirt open?
"Alan, am I ugly?"
Startled, I stood up and hurried to her. I was a little drunk, but not as drunk as I should have been after a quarter of a vodka bottle. Thankfully, I did not stumble as I walked up to her and held her by her shoulders.
"Amy, did something happen?" I asked.
"Am I ugly, Alan?" she asked again.
I knew that this was an issue I had to take care of carefully, because there were a lot of things going in on her life right now (being an emotionally unstable superpowered teenager in an uncomfortable home life). I didn't want to push her towards… anything in particular.
"Amy, you're pretty," I replied slowly. "But insecurities about your appearance shouldn't be why you come out of the bathroom without buttoning the shirt close," I said as I slowly reached for the buttons and cl-
She pushed my arms aside almost carelessly before wrapping her arms around me.
And then she started crying.
Oh boy.
-VB-
"So Vicky didn't 'want' you," I sighed as I held Amy on the couch. She sat on my lap with her hands clutching my shirt. She didn't respond to my words, but I knew that she was listening so far. "I still don't see why that would get you to come to me half undressed."
"Because you're a guy, idiot."
"Hmm?"
"You're a guy. You can see if a girl is pretty or not."
"I thought girls were the ones who were better at that kind of stuff."
"Sexist."
"Just uninformed."
"… So am I really pretty?"
"Yes, you are," I said without a hint of sarcasm or ass kissing. "You are certainly not the model beauty that people think of, but you are a cute freckled healer. You are very certainly pretty on your own right."
She didn't say anything but judging by the fact that she was touching my skin, she was trying to discern if I was lying or not. Considering that she was able to see less and less of my biology as time went on, I considered it to be a vain attempt, but if it gave her relief, then I wouldn't stop her or mention that I can see her attempting to discern the truth of my words.
Because she was pretty. She wasn't the long legged, S-curved, bombastic, blonde hair, and blue eyed models that so many people thought of as northern European beauty. No, she was closer to the smaller, lean, sarcastic, and appreciative cutie that I liked.
"Besides, you aren't causing collateral damage all of the time," I added. "Pretty or not, Victoria is not the type of girl I want as my girlfriend. She's too much like her mother."
Amy giggled a little wetly. She quieted again before she looked up. "I want a kiss."
I blinked and felt my heart jump a little at the doe-eyed Amy asking me for a kiss.
This was a direction I liked to see… but I didn't want to use her. No, I wanted her to be better, not for me to get into her pants.
"Is it because you want to see if you are pretty enough for your friend to kiss you?"
She blushed, having been caught.
"Yes," she mumbled as she looked down.
"Amy, if I kiss you, then it'll be because I am your boyfriend or husband." The latter, I wanted to be.
She fiddled with her fingers. "I mean, I'm not exactly… you know."
"Straight as a ruler?"
"Rulers bend."
"Pencil, then."
"Yeah."
"You and I both know that your sexuality have been influenced significantly by Victoria's power, not any of your internal decisions and wants."
"You mean that's our current theory."
"Yes."
"Then kiss me. I want to know if I like a boy kissing me."
"I'm a boy?"
"Man. Boy. Whatever."
"Then, for the sake of your experimentation, I shall acquiesce, your highness."
"You and your-mmm!"
I tilted her head up and kissed her. Her eyes widened for a second before she squeezed her eyes close. I took a step further than just a chaste lip-to-lip kiss. I opened my mouth and slipped my tongue out, pushing between her lips. She let out a muffled squeal before she opened her lips and mouth slowly with a little tremble in her body.
My tongue moved in slowly to not surprise her, and touched her tongue. Amy's grip on my shirt grew tighter as our tongues touched, recoiled, touched again, rolled around, and began a private wet dance.
And just as it started, I stopped it. I broke the kiss and leaned away from her, and it was to Amy's surprise when she reached for more. A thin bridge of saliva connected us for a single moment before it broke.
"I take it that you liked it," I grinned.
"… Yeah," she replied as she looked back down with a heavy blush. "I liked it."
"So you're bisexual then, not a straight lesbian as you confessed yourself to be."
"I guess…"
"Then will you go out with me?"
She looked up sharply with wide eyes before they narrowed. "Don't patri-"
Whatever she intended to say was cut off when I kissed her again. This time, I shifted her from a side saddle on my lap into a proper saddle. Amy squeaked and then whimpered with shut eyes as I held and kissed her at the same time.
I broke the kiss again.
"Yes or no?"
"You're a decade older than me-!"
I kissed her again, and she leaned into it. Again, I broke it before she could fully enjoy it. Amy growled at me when I did so, and I decided that I liked this kind of teasing.
"Yes or no, Amy?"
"Yes, just kiss me more, damn it," she growled.
I obliged.
I will continue to help Amy, but I would do it as her boyfriend now.
Chapter 5
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 5: I Have Responsibilities
-VB-
It was April. Soon, the canon timeline for Worm would start.
I, on the other hand, was busy juggling between three responsibilities.
My first responsibility was to myself: to improve my body, my level of cultivation, and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Oh, and booze. All of this was covered by the extensive physical training I did along with a healthy dose of five cans of beer a day. Not enough to get me drunk but enough to keep me at a happy buzz while still allowing me to focus on my life.
I didn't drink my life away, thank you very much. I drank because I had to drink.
My second responsibility was to Amy. As her new secret boyfriend (age difference made any kind of public announcement iffy at best and illegal at worst), my responsibility to Amy was to listen to her, to act when she asked, and to be the guard for all of her booze, apparently.
I was fine with all of that.
And my last responsibility was to keep my job. Just because I was a cultivator did not mean that I suddenly had no worldly obligations. No, I needed to eat more because I was a cultivator, pay the utilities, pay the property tax, and more.
Money was still an issue, and I was not a "parahuman cape" powerful enough to take whatever I wanted whenever I wanted like Lung or Kaiser could. I was, at best, a Brute 3. Maybe Brute 4 under special circumstances.
Which meant that I still had to work my day job of being a software engineer.
Which meant… spending a lot of time in front of the computer, straining my eyes, and being generally stressed over a piece of line that should work but won't FUCKING WORK!
"… Is this the reason why all software engineers are lanky sticks?" Amy asked while looking at and touching my neck. "I mean there's so much stress hormone pumping through your body that you're actually burning your fat stores faster through working than exercising, which is an achievement, I tell you."
Amy stayed at my house for longer periods of time now. In her own words, since I was now her official unofficial boyfriend, it was only "dutiful" of her to spend more time with me. If she did so while wearing a shirt one-size too small for her bosom or her hips, then it was only because I, her boyfriend, didn't take her out shopping yet.
I grumbled. "You can still tell that much?"
"Yeah. I mean, I did say that I am seeing less of you internally through my power, but that's a slow increment so far," she said casually. "It's the difference between ten thousand and nine thousand nine hundred ninety nine, and that's the difference I am seeing everyday."
I grunted.
"So? How is my body doing?" I asked with a grumble and allowing myself to be distracted now.
"Muscle improvements are steady so far," she hummed. "You can probably lift… half a pound more."
"That's a lot."
"But because of your job, you've lost more fat reserve." She pulled out a bottle attached to her hip by magnets and took a long swig. And then she grumbled as she turned the bottle upside down and nothing came out.
"I'm not sure if that's a bad thing," I hummed at her analysis of my body's condition. I paused before sighing. I saved my work and pushed myself away from the desk. I turned to Amy and saw her smiling with a light blush. The smell of alcohol told me that there wasn't anything lewd going on inside her mind right now. At least, that's what I was thinking. "Yes?"
"Let's go out!"
"Amy-"
"As capes~!" she giggled, probably not a little drunk.
"But everyone knows you."
"Yup… Wait, that's not good, right?"
…
"Do you know how to fight?"
…
"… No."
"Then why the sudden -"
She reached for, grabbed, and uncapped the beer bottle I'd left at my table and took a long swig. She moaned as she set it down, completely ignoring my unhappy look.
"Cuz you're… you're a cape!"
"… Okay?"
"You have responsibility!"
"To myself and you, yes."
"No, to everyone!"
"What are you talking about?"
"You're strong, so you should be out there and… smashing villains," she slurred.
"Amy, I think you're drunk…"
"No, no, no. I'm nosh drunk…"
"Amy… Is this about yourself?"
She shut up before… "Shut up," she grumbled-mumbled.
I grinned. "Is Amy grumpy?"
She tried to punch me. "S-So strong but y-you don't do anything with it!"
"I'm still trying to get better," I objected.
"You dust concrete!"
"That just looks impressive," I replied. "Because -"
"That's better than what I can do!"
Oh, it was… she wanted me to do things because she wanted to do something. She lacked initiative. She wanted to change.
Sometimes, however, acting out wasn't the best option. Amy wasn't prepared for a cape combat. She could knock people out if she touched them but before then? What about the rest of the fight that happened before melee?
"Okay, show me what you've got."
"… Huh?" she looked at me quizzically. Still a little drunk, she tried to think but it wasn't going to be easy.
"Think of it as a Shaker or Master effect. If you can't fight drunk to a degree, then you won't be able to fight on the streets," I reasoned.
"B-But that's why y-you have a team!" she countered with a slur.
I opened my mouth to object and then closed them. I leaned towards her a little and grinned. "Oh, so you want to go out as a cape with me… because you want it to be a date?"
Amy smacked me on the top of the head before turning around to leave. Alas, she was drunk, and ran into the doorway.
I have to be honest; I laughed my ass off.
-VB-
The day after her suggestion that I should go out as a cape, Amy brought her sister to my house.
And oh boy oh boy.
That sister brought their mother.
Was our relationship over before it even began?
Chapter 6
Thank you to all of my Patrons over at ! I hope you and the rest of my readers enjoy this new chapter of Lewd Cultivator!
This chapter was released on July 12, 2020 on .
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 6: Testing
-VB-
If a couple of women showed up at my door with no warning, then I would have looked at them and then shut the door on them immediately if I didn't like the first sentence out of their mouths. This applied doubly so for men.
Especially the well dressed men with suitcases or books or whatever.
Unfortunately for me, the two women who'd shown up with Amy at my door were anything but strangers for the sole fact that they were Amy's family. They had also arrived at such a timing that made me a little nervous.
It hadn't been long since Amy and I decided to be a couple, after all.
"Hello," I greeted them. "Ms. Dallon and Mrs. Dallon. Would you like to come inside?"
"We would," Carol Dallon said imperiously. I stepped aside and the three women walked into my house, where I told them to take their shoes off. They did, and they entered my living room. All four of us sat down on the couches and chairs in my living room.
"Hello, I am Alan Marris. You two must be Carol and Victoria, yes?"
"Yup!" Victoria said while Carol merely nodded. Rude bitch.
While Carol focused on the furniture, house, and decorations, Victoria focused on me.
"So you're the parahuman that Amy is trying to convince to go out," Victoria Dallon huffed while looking at me up and down.
Out? Like a date out?
I glanced at Amy, who rolled her eyes.
"I'm trying to convince him to get out there and be a hero. He's a Brute 4 at the very least."
"Brute 3," I objected.
Carol focused on me. Just like Victoria, she looked at me up and down before settling on meeting my eyes.
"Amy told us that you weren't sure of your ability to fight by yourself against the villains. Why not join the Protectorate then?"
That one was easy to answer. "The Protectorate isn't concerned about the city, only the upkeep of parahumans for the coming Endbringer battles."
That caught Victoria off guard while Carol seemed to be… approving? Huh.
"What? They're heroes!" the blond Dallon retorted. "Of course, they are trying to help the city!"
"Individuals might, but an organization as a whole has a different goal," I replied as I leaned back into the couch. "And Endbringers are the Protectorate's reason for existence."
"But they're heroes," she stressed the world.
"There is no such thing as a hero, only those who use their power for directly selfish or indirectly selfish reasons."
Victoria looked at me with a quirked eyebrow before turning to her sister. "You haven't corrupted him, have you? That sounds a lot like what you tell me once in a while."
This time, it was my turn to be surprised. "Oh? You've been telling others about how I feel about the world, Amy?"
Amy grunted and didn't meet my eyes, which only caused me to grin mischievously.
"How did you two meet?" Carol asked succinctly.
I looked at her and saw the paranoia in her eyes. Mistrust. Was it odd that I didn't feel nervous with such emotion laid against me, only annoyed?
Maybe it was because I knew Carol Dallon's true issue.
"I'd like to say that I met her at the hospital, but that would be a lie," I replied. "I met her on the streets when she was heading towards the hospital for her volunteer shift. I hadn't recognized her then, so I asked her what was wrong." I grinned. "She realized I didn't recognize her and decided that it wouldn't hurt to rant to a stranger."
Amy blushed. "Alan… !" she hissed in warning.
Victoria giggled.
Carol - the soccer mom of all soccer moms, the Karen of all Karens, a cape with an issue bigger than Gilgamesh's ego - rolled her eyes.
Huh.
"Hey, so what's your power?"
I quirked an eyebrow. "Now, I might not be well versed in cape culture, but isn't the very fact that the two of you decided to visit me in my civilian identity not a breach of those rules?"
Carol looked unrepentant. "I'm only doing this to look out for my daughter. New Wave already had a similar issue that led to the death of one of our members." She tilted her head. "So when we heard that she's been in contact with an unknown cape…"
The words unsaid were accusations so much as explanations.
Are you a Master?
Shrugging, I stood up. "Alright, let's have a light spar then. Should show you what exactly I can do, right?"
Earn your proof.
Carol stood up with a clear desire to pummel me in her eyes.
"Very well."
I will make you stay away from Amy.
I snorted as I opened the door to the basement and led the ladies down there.
-VB-
Victoria Dallon
Glory Girl
Vicky was a little surprised by her mom's blunt approach to this guy.
'I mean sure, he looks like a drunk, but that's no reason to go for a beatdown right off the bat!' she thought in alarm.
The three of them were more than enough for most cape, and Amy told them that he wasn't a Master or Tinker, so there wouldn't be a workshop down here.
Right?
… Anyways, Amy did tell them that this guy was a Brute, so whatever was below had to be some sort of training ground.
And what she found at the bottomost basement floor was exactly that: a tall and wide training ground.
Mom summoned a pair of spears.
And this guy, Alan, decided to face her with just his fists.
De faq?
"Amy, is your friend an Alexandria package?" she whispered to her sister.
Honestly, it was a little awkward to learn that her sister had a crush on her, but they worked over it. Right?
"Kind of," Amy grumbled as she sat down on a bench that was conveniently there. Vicky decided to sit down next to her.
"So when were you going to tell us about this guy? How long have you known him?"
"I'm not telling you that."
"So what are the rules?" Alan asked.
"Non-lethal, but nonstop until someone's on the knees or on the back."
Wow, mom. Hardcore, much?
Alan shrugged. "Sure," he said and then pulled his shirt off.
And oh boy oh boy oh mama. Those were some chiseled muscles.
"Amy~! Why did you keep this guy a secret?!" she whispered with wide eyes. "He's a beef cake!"
Amy grunted again, which was… odd. Her sister was normally very responsive to her.
There was a few moments of pause as the two of them stared at each other before mom moved first. She thrusted quickly with her spears, and Alan…
He parried them with his hands.
Mom jumped back before switching her weapons to a pair of axes. Then she got back in, expertly swinging to injure but not maim Alan.
This… was getting a little bit serious.
Alan stepped away from each strike effortlessly while his arms and hands deflected and parried what he couldn't dodge with ripples of muscles.
Victoria sighed. She wished Dean had muscles like those.
"Don't you dare use your Aura on him," Amy mumbled.
She looked at her sister in shock. She would never!
Mom sped up.
Alan kept up.
Mom got a little vicious with her attacks.
Alan counterattacked with a single palm thrust to mom's stomach, sending her flying across the basement. She hit the floor with her back, and that was the end of the spar.
"Whew. You're vicious, Mrs. Dallon," Alan said with a grin and a light sheen of sweat which only served to glisten his body. "Are you satisfied that I can keep Amy safe when she's around?"
Mom dismissed her weapons and got up, dusting herself. She glared at Alan for a moment before nodding. "Yes."
"Cool."
"I will allow you and Amy to date each other on one condition."
Victoria choked. Wait, what?!
"Oh, so you found out?"
"It wasn't too hard to see from how Amy shifted when she talked to me. I am a lawyer, and a part of that has to do with reading the body language of all of my clients and others."
Vicky gawked and looked at Amy, who was blushing and covering her face.
"What is that condition?"
-VB-
Carol Dallon
Brandish
She didn't trust this man. He was too experienced. Too strong. She was fighting at her max capacity - or as max capacity as movement restricting civilian clothes could be - and yet he put her down with a single attack.
He reminded her of Marquis if not for one thing.
He drank. She could faintly smell it on him. He also drank a lot. The trash can in the kitchen had been filled to the brim with beer cans, and all of them were of the same brand and same package.
He wasn't the cool and collected villain like Marquis or her kidnappers. He was a loose cannon.
She doubted that Vicky - now that her daughter knew about this man - or Amelia would stay away from him even if she told them to. That's just how teenagers worked.
No, she had to force a situation to keep this man in sight at all times, but the fact that he was already dating Amy without having been notified?
That irked her.
She was just going to make it seem like she knew about it.
"You will join New Wave."
She could hear Vicky shout in shock from the corner of the basement, but her eyes were on this man.
"Sure."
Utterly dismissive.
She gritted her teeth but didn't say anything else. "Then Victoria and I will be leaving. Let's go, Victoria!"
"Mom, w-wait!" Victoria chased after her as she made her way out of this man's house.
-VB-
Amy and I remained down in the basement, a little embarrassed and uncertain. Seeing her discomfort, I decided to do my job as her boyfriend.
I walked over to the bench and sat down next to her. She looked at me, trying to figure out what I was trying to do. That quickly changed into indignant shout when I held her by her sides, lifted her up, and set her down on my lap sideways.
Then I wrapped my arms around her, keeping her tightly in a warm embrace.
"Well, your mom's okay with us."
She mumbled a bit before quieting down. A moment later, she leaned into me and closed her eyes.
"Yeah."
We sat there like that.
"… You're not going to try anything right?"
Confused, I pulled back a little to look at her.
"What?"
"Now that we're officially boyfriend and girlfriend, you aren't going to try anything that I don't want under that pretense, right?"
What could she be thinking of…?
"You mean something lewd?" I stressed the word and Amy blushed a little.
"Y-Yeah, that."
"Nothing that you don't want."
"Then… if I say that I-I want to kiss you?"
I leaned forward and met her forehead with mine. "Then I'll kiss you."
"I-If I want to go a step further?"
"I'm certain there are videos out there that we get us all hot and bothered. Why? Do you want to try something new now that we are officially a couple?"
"… Yes."
"Then let's start with a date. We can go out for a dinner, movies, hold hands, and -"
She slapped me on the shoulder as she grew more and more embarrassed, but she certainly looked happy at the thought of a date.
"I want to go to Makovichi's."
I paused. Makovichi's was a rather expensive restaurant in Boardwalk.
But it was going to be our first date, too.
"Sure," I said with a smile even as I felt my wallet burn metaphorically in my mind.
Whatever. Anything for Amy, right?
Chapter 7
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Interlude: Amy I
-VB-
If she was being honest, then Amy had to admit that after her family's unforeseen visit to Alan's house, she could no longer affect him with her power. Processes of his biology were locked away from her, leaving her out of control for the first time since she gained her power.
It was refreshing.
She missed the sensation of not having to be in control. She missed just being able to touch people without her power constantly tempting her to use it on them.
When she straddled him yesterday and they kissed the daylight away, it was just… She just enjoyed it.
She wanted to do it again, but alas, she was stuck in school.
"So~."
Oh God.
She woodenly turned to her left on the lunch table, where Vicky was sitting with her. It was one of the rare times that her sister was alone with her in school. Back before she met Alan, this would have been one of the most wanted precious times she would have sought after.
Now, it was a trap in the making with her sister's inability to not gossip.
"You kissed him."
"Yeah, so?" she replied defensively. "Not like you and Dean are celibate."
Vicky shrugged. "But I've been with Dean for a long time."
"You mean you've been broke with Dean for a long time," she snarked back at the weak defense.
"So?"
"Hmm?"
"Did you kiss him?"
"Ugh, you're not going to leave me alone, are you?"
"Nope, and I am subtle enough to know not to spread rumors about you."
Amy blinked and really looked at her sister with narrowed eyes. "Who are you and what have you done with my sister? I can make you have diarrhea for the rest of your life if you don't answer me."
It was a joke.
Her sister didn't think so.
"Wow, chill, sis. It's just that you and your boyfriend is kind of… well, I think everyone who learns of it will know how much of an age difference there is."
Amy grunted in annoyance.
One of the few problems in their relationships was the age difference. Alan certainly looked older than her. Did she care? No. Alan was better than all of the rich snobs. So what if he was like ten years older than her? He helped, cared, and listened to her. She wasn't sure, but he was also a great kisser.
(Not like she went around kissing people when all of them were icky as Fuck.)
"Yes," she grumbled.
Vicky giggled.
Amy wanted to dig a hole and hide.
"Okay, okay. I'll keep it a secret from other people."
Then she flitted away, leaving Amy mentally drained.
She let her head drop and her forehead thunked on the thin aluminum table. "I wanna drink…" she mumbled.
-VB-
So when school went out, she did just that. Amy headed straight for Alan's house.
"I'm home!" she shouted before rushing to the refrigerator and pulling the door open. She grabbed a fresh can of beer rather than her own creation, closed the refrigerator door, snapped the can open, and chugged it down.
She reveled in the cool, burning sensation of alcohol drizzling down her throat, and when she was done…
"Kaah!" she hissed out in joy. "That hits the spot."
I turned to the refrigerator for another can but stopped.
She and Alan had a date tonight. If she got drunk, then she wouldn't be able to enjoy it.
Frowning, she stopped reaching for the refrigerator door and walked away. She jumped on the couch and laid down.
'… Where is Alan, anyways?'
She got back up and walked around the house in a half-shuffling gait. He wasn't on the second or the first floor. Was he training underground?
She walked downstairs… and yes, he was training.
Topless and sweating, Alan went through the motions of his martial arts. Watching this, Amy couldn't help but think about how tight and strong those muscles were.
'It took him one good hit on mom to knock her down,' she thought, remembering yesterday's fight. Mom wouldn't talk about the fight to uncle or aunt, but she did certainly try to bend the team her way into accepting him with Amy herself as some kind of twisted bride price.
She didn't exactly hear the full conversation, but aunt was very adamant about leaving the decision to her.
And boy, Aunt Sarah had been surprised by her response.
"Alan-"
He suddenly stopped and looked at her with a big grin.
"I improved!"
A pause. "Huh?" she uttered in confusion.
"Look, look!" he said excitedly before he took a ready stance with his fists lowered and legs bent at the knees and spread apart. Then-.
He was on the other side of the room before she could blink.
Her eyes blinked in confusion, suddenly aware that Alan wasn't standing where he was, and then she saw him at the edge of her vision. Her head turned towards him and her jaw dropped.
"Y-You just teleported!"
"No, but I bet it seemed like it," he said while gesturing to the camera behind her. "Certainly seemed like that on the camera."
"…. Wait, did you just record this?"
"Maybe?"
"… You will delete it," she said as her face burned in embarrassment while imagining how gawky she looked to others.
He laughed. "Sure, sure."
"Anyways, what was that? How did you suddenly move that fast?" she asked him.
"Well, I told you that I grow stronger with more practice, meditation, and whatnot?"
She nodded dumbly.
"Fighting's one of them, I guess. That fight with your mom pushed my own understanding of my body, and I learned how to utilize more of it."
She just stared at him dumbly. "Those networks growing in your body. It has to be because of that, right?"
"Yup. It's called the meridian network. Think of the Force in Star Wars franchise except internal."
"… That's stupid."
"Oi."
She snorted. "Anyways, what are we doing today?"
"Well, we're going on a date, right?"
She beamed happily. "Yup!" Then she gathered up a bit of courage and spoke again. "But before we go… can we kiss again?"
He smiled. "Sure," he said as he walked up to her slowly. She fidgeted as he came closer, and then she smelled his sweat and musk when he stood right in front of her. He leaned down and she looked up. Their lips met, and…
When they broke the kiss, she giggled.
Yes, she was happy.
Chapter 8
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 7: Anger I
-VB-
Our date at Downtown went smoothly. We chatted, ate our fill of delicious morsel, and enjoyed our time together.
I was distinctly aware of three pairs of eyes constantly watching me, one within the restaurant and two outside. I ignored those in favor of making Amy giggle with a joke of mine.
The bill was… Ugh.
I might actually have to go out and loot from some of the gangs if I want to supplement my income.
As I walked Amy home, I pondered on the realization of my advancement. I hadn't noticed it, but I became strong in the span of a month that I spent hiding and training in my house. I was sure that my medicinal baths which bordered on the alchemical definitely helped me, too.
"What are you thinking about again?"
I stopped thinking and looked down to meet her eyes while continuing to walk beside Amy. "Just… didn't realize that I might be far stronger than I thought I was."
Amy frowned. Then her eyes widened. "Wait, does that mean-!?"
"That I will soon go out as a cape? Yes."
"As part of New Wave, right?"
I nodded. Though it was kind of a forced upon decision by Brandish, I didn't mind joining New Wave if it meant I wouldn't have any trouble with Amy. In fact, I might be able to get Brandish to "sign off" on our relationship completely.
Amy was, after all, still a minor, and if Brandish wanted to, then she could force this adult-minor relationship into the open to publicly end me.
I wasn't scared of that scenario, merely uninterested in seeing Amy distressed from such an outcome.
"But I will be operating differently."
She tilted her to the side, just a bit that it was noticeable to me, but I wasn't sure she noticed it. Cute.
"Different how?"
"I think I will hold my ground centering on my house."
"Yeah, New Wave does that too… Wait, are you…?" she asked suspiciously, stopping her walk. I stopped only a feet in front of her. "You're going to hold territory? Like a gang?" she asked, aghast.
"Less of a territory and a permanent patrol route where I take down any and all criminal activity with extreme prejudice," I objected with a sigh. "Unlike many in New Wave, I cannot fly. I am stuck on the ground. Maybe once I advance enough, then I might be able to mimic flying, but it would expend strength and effort better used elsewhere."
"… So you know that you will grow stronger."
"Of course. We've seen it already, haven't we?"
"I did."
I nodded. Then I planted a kiss on her forehead, making her cheeks just a bit red with her blush and making her wear a surprised look that wiped away her serious stare.
"W-What was that about?"
"You look cuter this way."
"Ugh," she punched me in the chest in embarrassment. "Ugh," she murmured while cradling her fist in pain.
I laughed.
"Oh, what is this~?"
… Just the slimy-ness of the voice was enough to get their intent. I looked over my shoulder - we were still a ways away from the Dallon household - and saw five bald and tattooed stereotypical E88 gangsters.
And I couldn't help but sigh.
They took that as an insult - and rightfully so.
"Yo, this guy thinks we're a hassle," one of them sneered. "Should we make an example out of him?"
Even Amy looked nonplussed and unthreatened, which was about the right reaction considering how I beat Brandish in our spar.
"Should I let them go?" I asked Amy, not even bothering to look at the thugs.
Amy faked a pensive look.
Seeing that they were being ignored, all five of them began to walk towards us.
"Nah," she said with a gleeful look.
Away from her house, family, and workplace, she was allowing a bit of entertainment. A bloody entertainment, but the thugs were asking for it.
"Of course, my princess."
The clearly Empire gangsters began to pull out switchblades and… was that a pistol?
I met the eyes of the leftmost gangster.
You're first.
Before any of them blinked, I slid from where I had been standing in front of Amy and came right up to the pistol-holding gangster's face.
I lowered myself into a horse stand, and in the same instance, punched with my right, extending from myself directly away.
The ground trembled when I stomped upon taking the stance, and the gangsters, none of whom were no more than two yards from me, stumbled while the poor soul that I'd struck flew off like a ragdoll. He sailed over twenty yards before hitting the ground and rolling over another five.
I stared at the downed thug before turning to the rest with a spin kick, hitting not their faces but their shoulders.
I spun and struck one, tossing him to the side. I hit the ground with that leg and spun around with the other, and when I touched down after striking the third gangster, I stomped down into a horse stance again, and… that was it.
That was enough to take out all five of them.
Amy walked over to the gangster I had thrown with but a single fist strike while I stood over the other four.
"Now," I grinned. "Wanna tell me why you've been following us for the past hour?"
Amy gave the whizzing gangster (I'm surprised that he was still conscious) just enough healing to keep him "alive" and then walked over to me. "You broke his sternum and seven ribs. Less force next time. It's nothing a braindead idiot wouldn't have suffered pulling a gun on a cape," she chided.
"But I was threatened with a gun~!" I replied with a faux defensive girly voice.
Amy gave me her best disgusted face. Then she got serious and turned to the gangsters. "They have been following us?"
"I don't have evidence I could show in court, but yes. I've felt their eyes on me for some time. I think since we entered the restaurant."
The coincidence of which led me to think that - just maybe - the restaurant may be in cahoots with E88. It would explain the strictly white-skinned staff in a port city with a very diverse skin portfolio. Why else would Amy and I suddenly get eyes watching us after entering an establishment?
Amy glared down at the four, no doubt thinking about how they ruined our night.
"F-Fuckin'… !"
I turned around and my eyes widened just in time to see the would-be-pistoler that Amy just healed raise up his gun that he had some-fucking-how held in his hand and aimed.
At Amy.
Who just healed him.
I moved.
She turned to ask why I pushed her.
BANG!
…
CRUNCH
Chapter 9
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 8: Emergency
-VB-
BANG
I was too late. I moved, but bullets still flew faster than I ran.
"AMY!" I screamed. I didn't shout, I didn't roar. I screamed in fear.
As I whirled to her, hoping that the bullet had missed, all I saw was Amy jerking backward. She stumbled and I quickly caught her before her legs gave away from shock. Her hands shakily reached for her side, where there was a hole in her shirt and a splotch of red grew.
I saw red. I turned towards the paling Neo-Nazi and-.
CRUNCH
"ARGGGHH-!"
The shooter cried out in anguish at his mangled and pulped hand now decorating the asphalt macabrely.
I almost left the rest of the trash behind unmolested, but I had also learned my lesson.
A hold on their wrists and a few snaps of my wrist was enough to get the job done; this took me no more than two seconds when I blitzed through them all without a care. If few of them got dislocated joints, it wasn't my concern.
I knelt next to her, pulled my shirt off and ripped it to pieces. I manage a makeshift bandage and wrapped it around her stomach, where the shot was. She was breathing… less than thirty times a minute.
'Have to check perfusion,' I thought quickly as I applied pressure to her arm and then let go. The color returned over four seconds. Not good. Radial pulse present.
"Amy. Amy, look at me," I urged her. She continued to whimper but didn't do as I asked. "Amy, please look at me." Still no response.
FUCK!
I left them screaming and crying like babies while I scooped up Amy in a bridal carry and ran for the hospital, placing one hand on her bullet wound to keep the pressure there. I tied it tightly, and Amy whimpered in pain, trying in vain to clutch to my arms but failing as her strength failed her.
The night wind buffeted harshly against me and Amy, almost as if it was pushing back against me. Like the winds didn't want me to go faster to save Amy.
I growled as I pushed myself faster. My legs pounded against the ground harder, and I jumped further with each push.
I didn't even bother to use the street; I just jumped onto a car parked in front of a one-story shop, and jumped onto the roof.
Then I was roof-jumping, speed through gaps as if they didn't exist because of how faster I ran.
I glanced down and grimaced. Amy grew paler by each second. A shade I would not have recognized only a month ago, I now saw with clarity. And each turn of the shade made me nervous. More nervous than anything else I'd ever felt.
I ignored all of the pain of pushing my body to the limit.
I cushioned all shock she might have felt with my own knees. My knees and bones croaked and creaked with each stride, but I ignored it all. I bit down on my own bites, feeling the briefly hot blood turn cold on my skin from how fast I was moving. I bit down to keep myself from screaming.
HOSPITAL! 3 blocks!
I tilted myself forward in the run, clutching Amy tighter to me while boosting my seed even further.
2 blocks… !
I felt her blood on my hand.
My legs rushed back and forth faster. They burned, heated up to the point of pain.
1 block-!
I jumped up, clearing the last of the buildings and crossing over the hospital's parking lot now. Instead of tilting my head forward, I pushed my legs forward.
20 yards above ground-
10 yards-
5-
IMPACT!
My feet touched down and carved a groove into the asphalt. My entire body shook, but I kept my arms loose, making sure that Amy wouldn't feel any of it.
And halfway across the parking lot, my momentum gave out, but not before the rest of my body was pulled straight up from the feet-first slanted angle that I came in at.
I took off on a run towards the closest hospital doors: the Emergency Room.
My body didn't slam through the doors so much as I was able to slip through the doors as they opened for someone else.
"Panacea's hurt!" I shouted hoarsely. "She's been shot in the left stomach!"
Everyone there saw me when I first shouted, and then the nurses and doctors rushed towards me. The first pair of nurses who reached me quickly took Amy from my arms.
Then I collapsed. In surprise, I looked down and then grimaced.
I'd pushed myself too far too fast. The speed I'd achieved wasn't one that I shouldn't have been able to at this point, but my body gave it all.
And my legs paid the price: swollen, throbbing, bloody, and complete with shredded soles.
I hissed in pain as another nurse quickly came to my help.
-VB-
It didn't take long for New Wave to rush into the hospital, demanding to know Amy's condition.
They found me waiting for them.
All seven of them rushed into the hospital, and then they saw me in the lobby of the emergency room.
When Brandish saw me being tended to by a nurse, she turned on me wrathfully.
"ALAN, WHAT HAVE YO-!"
"Mom, his legs," Vicky interrupted her, pale and wide-eyed and tugging on her mother's costume.
Brandish stopped when she felt Vicky pull and looked. She grimaced when she saw the pool of blood under my feet and the blood-soaked bandages wrapped around.
Lady Photon rushed to the front to prevent her sister from making any scene. "What happened?" she asked coldly but didn't aim it at me.
"Empire gangsters jumped us. Knives and guns. We took them down, and Amy healed one. The one Amy healed shot her."
New Wave stared at me with wide-eyes before Brandish stormed out. Seconds later, I heard a roar of an angry lioness.
"S-She's okay, right?" Vicky asked shakily. I looked at her and saw her hands clenching and unclenching. I could tell that she was trying really hard to contain herself; the girl knew better than to fly out right now and attack gangsters. Yet.
"She'll be okay," I said with certainty. "I did triage and brought her over. Took me… no more than two minutes to get her over."
"From where?" Lady Photon asked.
"14th and Euclid."
She blinked. "That's over four miles away."
"I cleared four miles in two minutes? Go me…" I cheered weakly. I felt the adrenaline start to wear off. Actually, it's been wearing off and I was just now hitting the last of it. "I think… I'm going to sleep now. Pushed myself hard."
I closed my eyes.
And slept.
Chapter 10
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 9: Trouble with Allies
-VB-
It was a nightmare. Quite literally. I was in a literal nightmare where I couldn't save Amy. Almost in a loop, the images of Amy losing strength and falling down, the red blotch of her blood spreading on her clothes, and her shaky breaths slowing down repeated in my dream over and over again.
A nightmarish loop.
With each reset of the loop, I tried harder than the last loop to reach that bullet faster and faster.
I was always slower than the bullet.
Again, I tried.
Again, I failed.
Failed and failed and failed and failed and -.
Somewhere in that nightmare, I snapped. Watching Amy die a hundred times made me snap.
I will not fail again.
And this time, in the last loop, I made it. I reached Amy before the bullet and took the bullet to my chest. I felt a bloom of…
Strength?
I woke up.
My eyes slowly opened not to a calm white and bland hospital room but one of a silent shock of a single doctor and her cohort of nurses backed up to the walls and staring at me with wide eyes.
I didn't feel groggy at all. I felt light. Strong.
Raising myself up from the bed, I frowned. "What's going… on?" I asked before I noticed that the hospital bed I was on was kind of sticky and wet. I looked down, and there were all of these gunk and stuff splattering the floor and the bed.
And the splatter pattern seemed to be center on me.
Slowly and unsurely, I slipped out of the bed and touched the floor with both of my feet.
And then I remembered that I'd busted my feet trying to get Amy to the hospital in time.
"Amy!" I blurted out. I whirled on the doctors, stepping towards her once and then stopping. "Is Panacea okay?!"
"She's okay," the doctor said as she regained her composure slowly but surely. "… But can you explain what just happened?"
"What happened?" I asked.
And then I remembered again that my feet were okay.
Why were they okay?
I looked down.
Yeah, not a single spot of blood on them. Or pain.
I looked back up. The doctor, now that she was completely composed, was unasmued.
I didn't know what happened, either.
"Umm… I'm not a parahuman."
"Sure, you're not," she agreed half-heartedly. "But I don't care about that." She then pointed down.
I looked down, and then blushed red when I realized that I was naked in front of half a dozen people.
I quietly and quickly made my way back to the gore-wet bed and sat down, and then pulled the ruined cover over myself.
"For the purpose of documenting a public show of power, I would like for you to explain what happened," the doctor repeated, pulling out the pen from the clip of her clipboard and waiting for my explanation.
I licked my lips and grimaced. "Well, I might need a bit of help with that, because I only woke up after whatever happened."
It took a minute for them to tell me their perspective. So what happened, as I have been told, was that I was waking up, but my skin began to darken and crack. Mere moments before I woke up fully, my skin ripped apart with the force of a bomb and sent all of my… stuff everywhere, including bits of skin and blood. This was the cause of my darkened blood getting everywhere and training everything in the room.
It had to be [Progression Renewal] from my cultivation choices, an additional power upgrade to my cultivation that lets me "reset" myself physically to perfect health. But it's supposed to only happen when I broke into the next level of cultivation. So why did that happen now…?
'… The only explanation is that nightmare. While it isn't real, my body had reacted to my desire - reacted to the near constant stress - to end that nightmare, and gave me the push needed to take a bullet for Amy. But that makes no sense! I'm not training; I was dreaming! Dreams can't lead to cultivation breakthroughs… right?'
"You seem like you have an idea," the she-doctor hummed.
I looked up and quickly schooled whatever tells I might have given off by composing myself.
"No, I don't. It makes no sense to me. I also need to see Amy. I need to see how she's doing."
-VB-
They were unwilling to let me go, so I just told them that I was either going to walk around the hospital naked to find Amy, or they could just guide me to her after giving me my clothes back.
They chose to guide me.
After I wore a hospital gown.
"Amy will be making a full recovery," the doctor in charge of the local miracle maker told me. "I have already told the rest of New Wave this, and except for her, they all went to meet with the PRT."
The person in question was Vicky, who was now sleeping in a chair pulled up right next to Amy's bed.
The doctor pushed his glasses up his nose. "I don't know what you did to get her over here so quickly but thank you."
I looked at him. "Of course, I did. She's my girlfriend."
He stopped and looked at me. "You do not look like a high schooler."
"Because I am not?"
He frowned. "Are you saying that you are dating a minor?"
I thought about it.
I shrugged.
"I will have to call the police about this."
"Wow, wow, wow. What's with the hostility?" I asked with a frown. "Hell, who are you even to question our relationship?"
He frowned. "You may not know it but Amy is very respected in this hospital, and I am the doctor who's been helping her the longest," the doctor began. "I don't know what put her in a relationship with you - and I know that you're a parahuman if that shitshow I heard about is real- so I swear if-"
"I tore my feet apart and threw away my civilian identity to get her to treatment in time. I think that's more than what most boyfriends would do, ten years apart or not."
The doctor shutted up after that. Then he nodded. "I can't say much after that. I expect you to continue to keep her safe."
I didn't reply for a moment, just staring at the two sleeping sisters. "So how is she? Really."
The doctor sighed. "I can't tell you, legally speaking. You aren't her spouse or her immediate family or her guardian."
I grunted in annoyance. "Fine."
"But I will tell you that it was close. Too close."
I grimaced. "I'll be faster next time."
"You'd better." Then he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "On another note, the PRT, specifically Director Piggot, wants to see you once you were conscious and coherent, which you are."
I knew that she disliked parahumans because of my canon knowledge. I believed that she would be antagonistic towards me. Hell, I didn't want to meet her.
Communication, unfortunately, needed to be had.
"Alright. I guess that's where I am going soon."
"Of course, as a doctor, I will not allow you to leave the hospital without an overnight observation to see how you are doing. While you seem okay externally, we have no idea about your internal problems, nevermind whatever mess you made that had four different nurses contaminated with blood. So no need to stress about meeting Director Piggot today. As the majority owner of Brockton General, I can assure you that I can and will keep you overnight. I will be telling Director Piggot to fuck off if need be for Amy's friend." He paused as he turned away. "Sleep well tonight, because it'll be stressful for you tomorrow."
The doctor left after those words. I continued to stare down at Amy and Vicky before leaning down and planting a kiss on Amy's sweating forehead.
"Get well soon."
-VB-
After I had returned to my room and had experienced the litany of medical examinations for hours on end, I was left to myself to think about my most recent discovery: cultivation breakthrough.
First off, my body was better than it had ever been. I just felt like I could lift a hospital bed without any issue.
Second, the energy reserve inside me felt larger than before. Whereas I felt it and knew that I had it but couldn't use it beyond very minor at the moment boosts to specific portions of my body (this may be why I was so tired and so busted when I reached the hospital; I'd provided too much for my legs and feet to handle), I could now provide continuous "enhancements" to my body.
I tested this enhancing my fingers and twisting the unfortunate door knob into a scrunched up ball without hurting my skin.
With these two facts, I knew that I could no longer deny myself the mantle of "cape." I did promise Amy that I would go out as a hero for her anyways.
I tucked in for the night and dreamt of peaceful days with Amy.
-VB-
The next day, the doctor who had been taking care of Amy - General Physician and Owner of Brockton General Michael Enesstan - released me after scolding me for breaking the door knob. As soon as I left the hospital's front doors, the PRT was there to ask me politely to come with them.
The fact that they didn't send a Protectorate cape to further "persuade" me spoke well of my situation.
I allowed myself to be escorted, entering the back of their truck.
Ten minutes of leisurely driving later, I was in front of the Parahuman Response Team East-North-East Headquarters.
It was an ostentatious building like many government buildings were: colorfully loud with its bright white and blue scheme in the middle of the city where limestone beige and concrete/steel grey ruled, visually outstanding with its tall glass building in a city where most buildings were four stories tall and made with bricks and mortar, and guarded visibly by many PRT troopers in full riot gear as if the USA was some kind of a police state (Oh wait, it was).
I was more concerned for the guards than the tax money wasted to build a showpiece of a building rather than a proper bunker against possible parahuman attack. Do they even have climate control in those riot gears? They had to be hot and heavy.
It was April for crying out loud, not December.
The escorts led me into the building and through its lobby, where I was given a guest pass, and then escorted me deeper into the building.
Finally, after what seemed like half an hour of checks, I was more or less pushed into a meeting room.
Sitting in this room were Armsmaster, Assault, blonde diabetic patient who had to be Director Piggot, and Lady Photon.
"Ah, Mr. Marris. Please, have a seat."
The set-up of the room was very close to an interview with their tables and chairs close together and mine apart and facing them. I sat down in the prepared seat and rested my arms on the table, crossing my fingers together while hunching forward just a tad bit.
Armsmaster wore his full set of powered armor suit, so I couldn't tell what he was looking or doing. Assault tried to look cool, but his eyes were analyzing me. Lady Photon looked upset in general. Director Piggot was… well, she was glaring at me.
Emily Piggot started the "meeting."
"Mr. Alan Marris, Panacea's current condition and the powderkeg that's about to explode this city are your fault."
I wanted to punch the bitch.
Chapter 11
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 10: Fault of the Medium
-VB-
A moment of silence reigned in the meeting room as everyone but Piggot and I looked uneasily between the two of us.
The thick tension broke when I spoke up.
"My fault?" I drawled lazily but I made it clear that it was anything but disinterest as I popped my finger joints with a gruesome crack-p-p-pop. "It's apparently my fault that the gangsters assaulted me and Amelia, right?" Honestly, I just wanted to punch Piggot right now for insinuating that. But that wouldn't be adult of me, right? "If you have something other than bla-"
Piggot cut me off. "You think we're bla-"
I stood up abruptly, pushing the chair off and tossing it behind me with the force of my standing, and at the same time, slammed my open palms on the table.
"One more chance. Say something useful before I walk out," I growled. "My girlfriend got shot, I ripped my flesh to get to her to emergency service in time, and I woke up with exploded gunks of gore of my own body from a side effect of my power. I don't give a shit about what you and your goddamn inefficient bureaucracy want, Piggot!" I snapped angrily.
"There are laws and proce-"
"You are untrained, uneducated, and dangerous. I cannot allow you to roam free, not after Panacea has been wounded under your own inadequate protection," Piggot spat right back.
I glared at her. "Protection that was needed in the first place because America lacks a competent fucking law enforcement!" I countered on the spot. "How long has the PRT been in Brockton Bay? How long does it fucking take to remove Nazis from the city, huh?!"
Piggot slammed her hands on the table and shot up. "We've been dying every day! Don't you dare belittle the PRT's sacrifice!" she spat. "When the government goes to war, then the majority of the casualties are never the combatants; it's the goddamn people who die!"
Oppressive silence reigned in the meeting room as the truth regarding the status quo was revealed not just to me but everyone.
In war, the bystanders always lost more.
I hadn't stopped to consider it. I would like nothing more than for myself to rush out there and crush all of the fucking Nazis but…
Would Amy approve of that? Nevermind the fact that my personal crusade would result in numerous deaths but also numerous injuries not just from the Nazis I might spare out of ignorance of their living condition but everyone else nearby.
It wasn't a woman's fault that her son and husband were white supremacists, though she definitely should have chosen better.
It wasn't a father's fault that his children are white supremacists, though he definitely should have taught them better.
It wasn't a child's fault that their parents are white supremacists, because they can't choose which parents they are born to.
Whatever their coworkers, ignorant or aware? Their bosses?
"Ambushed," I asserted. "Outnumbered." I looked at Lady Photon. "In her civilian identity." I looked back at Piggot as I sat down. "Is it my goddamn fault that they pulled out weapons on Amy?" I asked, stressing my girlfriend's name. "No one should have known about my being an unknown cape. That's the thing about being unknown. This is completely the fault of the Empire Eighty-Eight. If you can't simply attack them because of consequences, then fucking use this chance to demand their goddamn heads before the rest of the world comes screeching in, calling for blood."
Because that's what was about to happen.
Amy's position and role were often glossed over in the Worm, but when you are here to see her work, then that's when true appreciation comes in.
For the simplest of explanations, Panacea, Amelia Lavere Dallon, had been involved in thirteen Endbringer Battles, and on ParaHuman Online forum alone, she received favors of the capes she'd saved.
It wouldn't be long before social media would leak that Panacea got attacked by white supremacists, and capes of all shapes and sizes would come roaring in to wreak vengeance on behalf of Amy.
Nevermind what I was going to do.
"You want to pin the blame on me to prevent an outbreak of violence," I hissed in realization. "You can't have the fucking world come down on your city, because it'll be war you can't afford-"
"That is not what the PRT wants," Armsmaster interceded, getting the rest of our attention. "Director Piggot is correct in saying that you are indeed uneducated in regards to policing acts, take down procedures, and laws surrounding all of the mentioned subjects and more. If you want to be an independent hero like New Wave are and not a law-breaking vigilante or worse villain in your pursuit of revenge, then I highly suggest that you take sessions with the PRT in proper and lawful procedures."
Admittedly, I didn't expect this from Armsmaster, but I also noted that he wasn't strictly recruiting me. In fact, if I took what I knew about him and applied it to his words now, then it was clear to me that he didn't want to waste time with other capes nor did he want more competition for recognition.
I gritted my teeth at the thought of being this hero's use, but it would work out in my favor. Piggot would push for integration into the Protectorate citing my "recklessness" and need for oversight to keep me under control, but Armsmaster's current stance would hopefully deter Piggot from pushing her own agenda too far.
Her agenda being "dragging unruly parahumans under control with bureaucracy."
Because that's what the PRT really was: a bureaucracy.
"… I can agree that I may need a bit more education in law enforcement," I replied. "But by no means was I in fault for anything that has happened."
"Then we are in agreement," Armsmaster nodded to Piggot's barely perceptible chagrin. "I shall send you some information and classes you can take to your email."
Talk after this was bland, and the meeting ended quickly. After giving Armsmaster a throwaway email, I went home.
I wanted to go out there and rip the Empire a new asshole, but that would mean that I was being irresponsible to Amy. What would she prefer? That I go out and kick ass or that I be there when she woke up?
The answer was obvious, wasn't it?
Chapter 12
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 11: Bedside Care
-VB-
The doctors allowed me to stay by Amy's side, and they mostly let it happen because Victoria was adamant about letting me stay once she saw me in the room.
I took to Amy's left bed side with my back against the window while Victoria kept on switching between the seat in the corner of the room and Amy's right bed side.
"I need to be out there," Victoria mumbled.
I looked up from Amy to stare at her blonde sister and wondered if Victoria was being influenced by her shard.
"What would that achieve?" I asked quietly.
Victoria's face snapped up towards me with a small frown. "I would be punching the Nazis, that's what," she grunted out. "I know you want to."
That was true. "It wouldn't make Amy's situation any better."
She deflated at my words. "But it'll happen again. It's already happened twice."
Fleur and Amy. Yes, it's happened twice to New Wave now.
"Then we all go out there and punch the Empire once Amy has recovered. We don't listen to the old guard for their status quo bullshit and ruin our enemies' day."
Victoria grinned if a little sadly. "I'd like that. Not that Amy could take part in the fighting."
"She can if she wants to."
"… What do you mean?"
"I asked if she wanted to be like me, you know."
Silence.
Victoria's eyes widened. "Wait, you're a Trump?!"
"Of a sort," I half-agreed. "I can help people unlock certain powers, but they will have to train to reach where I am and it'll take them longer than it took me."
She continued to stare at me.
"But Amy refused. She also hasn't explored much beyond the trees I have in my garden in using her power."
Victoria looked upset, and stopped talking after that, staring at Amy intently and worriedly.
I too went back to waiting for Amy to wake up.
-VB-
She did wake up, but it was in the middle of the night and we were alone in the room.
It was the sound of a distant explosion that woke her, and I was there awake when she slowly climbed out of her slumber.
"… Alan?" she mumbled out.
"I'm here," I said quietly as he held her hand.
Her bleary eyes tried to look for me, but the room was dark from lack of illumination.
"Go back to sleep," I told her even when I wanted her to be up and be with me. She still needed her rest and waking up in the middle of the night wouldn't help her recovery.
"'m hungry."
But if it was for food, then I supposed I could help her.
"I'll be right back with food, then."
Seeing as the hospital cafeteria did not operate in the night, I sped out of the hospital and came to a 24-hour convenience store. With a quick swipe of my card, I bought chicken noodle soup. I returned to the hospital in minutes, turned on the light of Amy's room as I came back in, heated up the soup in the microwave in Amy's room, and gave it to fumbling Amy on a tray.
"Slowly," I advised when she also grabbed the bowl to chug its content down. She hesitantly stopped trying to grab the bowl and picked up the spoon.
When she finished her soup, she gulped and took a deep breath.
"Thanks."
"I am your boyfriend. This is what is expected of me."
Amy suddenly burst out laughing. "No, it's not!" she giggled. And then she blushed. "Maybe if you're my h-husband…" she mumbled out.
I cleaned the tray and the empty bowl from her lap before sitting back down next to her by the bedside with an apple and a knife. I began to peel the skin before talking.
"Well, I am your boyfriend and you are my girlfriend to see if we truly would lik-"
"I-I do!"
I stopped and looked at her in surprise.
She continued hastily. "Y-You're always here for me. Even Vicky and mom aren't - dad can't because of his depression - but you are. You always ask for my opinion, listen to me, and help me!" she squeaked out hurriedly. Her face grew redder and redder with each sentence. Soon, she looked like a tomato.
"It's too early for you to think about marriage, Amy," I replied with a happy smile. "I'm happy. I really am happy that you feel that way. I feel that way too."
Amy looked like she was going to burst into tears.
"But I can't take your life from you."
I must have said the wrong words because she snapped. "You're not taking my life from me!" she glared. "I want this!"
"Amy, what does marriage mean?"
"H-Huh?" she uttered in confusion at the sudden turn of topic. "What does that have to do with-"
"You told me that you would very much like me to be your husband as much as I want you to be my wife," I confessed at the end as I put the knife and the half-peeled apple down. Amy's blush deepend at my confession. "But what does it mean to be a husband or a wife?"
"… I don't know? We have… babies…?" she whispered towards the end, looking slightly away.
I chuckled. "That's certainly part of it," I replied. "But marriage means that you are no longer responsible for only yourself but also your spouse. By marrying me, you are declaring that you are giving up certain liberties, exercised or not, to attain me."
"… That sounds good to me?"
"It does to me, too," I added. "But have you asked yourself what that means in your position?"
"I'm not sure what you're asking…"
"Amy, to marry is to declare that all of you will be putting your best foot in and make the best effort to make our relationship work. Are you then willing to use your powers beyond simple healing and minor experimentation?"
She looked thunderous not in anger but shock. "W-What does my power-"
"It is a part of you, and in marriage, all part of you is involved in the relationship."
She continued to stare at me.
"Amy, I love you. I really do. For me, that includes a burning desire to murder every single Nazi in this city to avenge what's been done to you."
She paled.
"B-But that's not heroic!"
"But it is something a husband should do for his wife."
She gawked at my declaration.
"Hurting you, Amy, is an attack not just to you but to me and our relationship. Am I to let such an attack go? Am I to let a threat to us live when I could remove it completely?"
"B-But killing is…"
"It would be more heroic of me to kill a hundred to save a thousand, Amy. How many people die because the Empire? I think you are intimately familiar with the data."
She winced.
"And if you are truly married to me, then you would have to help me in what I do just as I would do everything in my power to help you in what you do."
"But it's wrong! I can't help you kill people!"
"But you can help me keep bystander casualties low."
Amy looked truly lost now. On one hand, she looked happy that I would kill for her. On the other hand, killing was morally wrong.
I placed my hands over her right hand and smiled. "Amy, I am here now because I believe that you need me, and I care more about that than hurting others," I said quietly. Amy looked downright embarrassed by my statement, but her hand didn't pull away even after honest desire to murder all Nazis. Instead, she gripped my hands tightly.
"T-Then stay with me until I'm released from the h-hospital," she stuttered.
"… I will. I would have anyways."
"… Give me goodnight kiss."
I laughed a bit.
"Kiss!" she insisted with a blush.
"Yes, princess," I said as I stood up, leaned over, and caught her lips with mine. It was a soft, chaste kiss. It wasn't a battle of tongues or dominance. Just an acknowledgement of each other and where we stand in our relationship.
It was a short kiss. Afterwards, she stared up at me intently if a little sleepily. "We will talk more."
"It's what husbands and wives do," I chuckled.
"… Stupid Alan."
-VB-
Over the course of a week, we talked intensely each night. My desire to crush and maim versus Amy's moral compass took up much of our time to sort.
In the end, I agreed not to go on a killing spree. Amy agreed to awaken her meridian channels and train so that she wouldn't be unprotected and exposed again.
When she was released, it was to my surprise that Brandish allowed Amy to live with me. She still didn't trust me, but my efforts to keep Amy company worked in my favor to sooth Brandish's paranoia.
Somehow.
Paranoia didn't work that way(most paranoid folks would get more paranoid regardless of what happened), but apparently, whatever I did satisfied Brandish.
So I helped Amy gather some more of her belongings from the Dallon household before bringing her back to my house in my car (yes, I had a car).
And that night as I came out of my bathroom, I stopped when I saw Amy sitting on my bed… in a lingerie. Even though the lacy blue lingerie should have covered her slim figure, it did more to accentuate it.
Her wavy hair slid down around her shoulder, her arms crossed underneath her unexpectedly large, firm, and round breasts, and her legs met at the knees and feet remained spread apart.
Despite blushing rather hotly, she looked up and met my eyes with firm determination.
She gulped when she saw me only with a towel around my waist. The blush that had previously only occupied her cheeks extended down to her neck in seconds.
"I…" she trailed off. "I want to give myself to you."
I didn't say any other word. Instead, I walked up to her and knelt down. I subtly let go of the towel, ignored the way her eyes drifted down, and leaned forward.
I caught her lips with mine. Our lips opened, and our tongues began to touch and slid around each other. I gently pushed her down onto the bed. Our kiss continued. Our hands and fingers intertwined and held fast. Somewhere in our shifting, Amy pulled her legs up and hooked them over my thighs.
The kiss broke, and I was left staring down at Amy's flushed face.
"Amy-"
-VB-
"-I love you," he whispered.
"I love you, too," Amy whispered back. He smiled and straightened himself.
His hands reached down and held her side. Then they began to slowly crawl up… and then he groped her.
Her breath hitched in anticipation before her lips quivered when he began to massage them. It… felt nice, she supposed.
And then he leaned down as he pulled the lingerie down from her boobs and licked her nipple.
She giggled in surprise, tickled by it. M-maybe she should have moaned? That's what the internet said her man might like…
Her giggling didn't stop Alan. No, he just engrossed himself in playing with her tits.
Her giggling stopped and she let out a moan, which was a surprise. It felt different now. Then he mouthed her left nipple and pinched her right nipple. She squeaked from the sudden flow of pleasure when his tongue began to flick and circle her nipple.
"H-Hey, aren't you liking my boobs too much?" she asked, embarrassed to even voice the question.
He stopped sucking and looked up at her with just a bit of saliva on his lips. "I love your boobs."
She looked away. Stupid Alan saying stupid things…
His hands stopped touching her boobs and snaked around her back. With a few clicks, her lingerie came off, and she was exposed completely nude to him.
And then she felt it.
His penis.
She looked down and her eyes widened. I-it looked big. Like really big.
"T-That's supposed to fit in me?"
"With a bit of work, yes," he cooed as his hand reached down and -.
"EEK!" she squealed when he pinched her clit. "O-Ooohhh!" and then moans came out of her when he began to do something to make his fingers vibrate. "A-A-Alan-!" she whimpered, only to be cut off when he caught her lips in a kiss. "Mmppphh mmpphh mmpphhh!!"
His fingers twisted, pinched, rubbed, and -.
Her mind began to go blank. She knew she was nearly screaming into Alan's mouth, her eyes rolling over in their sockets, and her hips buckling to his fingers.
And then her back arched, something pushed out from inside her, and she nearly fainted.
When he broke the kiss, she was left panting with tears in her eyes while her body trembled in pleasure.
"I think you're ready now," he said as he pulled back. He spread her legs apart, and his dick brushed against her opening. "Are you ready?"
She nodded.
Then her eyes widened as he pushed into her, and the sensation was -.
She didn't know how to describe it. Filling? Big? Completing?
"That's half way."
"O-Only?" she asked in suspense.
And then she squeezed her eyes shut as he pushed in deeper, spreading her apart to impale her on his dick.
Then he pushed against the deepest part of her vagina.
She gasped, a little in pain but nothing like what they said it could be. And it felt so good…
"Tell me when you're ready, Amy," he said as he pushed her hair aside.
She laid there, her vagina quivering to adjust to his big size. It wasn't long before she felt ready. She looked at him and pulled her arms up, reaching to him.
"H-Hug me…"
He smiled as he leaned down, letting her wrap her arms around his neck and shoulders while his hands pulled up from her thighs to her waist.
He began to move, and she moaned into his ears not because that's what he would have liked but because it felt ecstatic on its own.
"Amy," he cooed. "I'm going to make your vagina take on my dick's shape."
Her core tensed at his words, and her breath hitched as she did feel her vagina mold itself after her man's dick (she secretly called Alan her man all the time).
Her ass clapped with each thrust, and she whimpered and moaned. She sweated from making love with her man, and felt her juices dribble down and out of her.
She was so wet and… and…
Her legs tightened around Alan's waist as her arms did around his shoulders and back as she climaxed for the second time.
Gasping for hair and nearly hyperventilating while moaning at the same time, Amy knew she must have looked naughty. So… lustful and wanton.
And Alan just looked at her with those love-filled eyes and accepted her.
It wasn't long before he was moving again, but this time, it was a frantic rutting. She didn't know how fast he was moving in and out of her, pumping her with such speed that made her hair stand on their ends and her eyes roll into their sockets again.
Somewhere in the middle of it, she climaxed but didn't have the time to relish in it while he continued to ravage her.
And then it got faster. She knew what was coming.
She knew knew knew knew -!
And even though she knew, her legs tightened around his waist while hse pulled her chest and head back to look at Alan with wide eyes.
"A-Alan!" she mewled loudly as he slammed into her. "Ehhehh… ehhhhhh…" she moaned as she felt sputters of hot jizz paint her vagina and spurt into her womb. Her vagina tightened around his dick almost painfully even as her mind blanked out and her vision whited out.
Amy felt her arms give out and she laid back down on the bed, gasping for air as she came down from her carnal high.
She looked at Alan's face, and saw how happy he was, reveling in cumming inside of her and enjoying her warmth.
He opened his eyes and looked at her. He cupped one of her boobs with his hand and rolled it around.
"Well, you made me cum in you," he said without a hint of regret.
Amy shakily grinned.
Her power looked for his semen but found nothing. She couldn't see or manipulate them just as she no longer could see Alan with her power.
And that was fine with her.
That was more than fine.
"Since you made me cum inside… I guess it won't make any difference if I come in you again tonight, right?"
Tonight? Again?
"U-Uhh… EEK!"
Suddenly, she was on her stomach with her legs hanging off the edge of the bed.
"A-ALAN!" she mewled out when he began to pound into her. Before she could grunt and groan, his left hand came out of nowhere and wrapped around her mouth while his right hand touched her clit and began to vibrate.
She screamed in ecstasy but it was muffled by Alan's hand.
She climaxed again and again just as Alan jizzed in her vagina again and again. It was as if they were an actual married couple, trying to make a baby.
She liked that.
Her. Married. Alan.
Her mind blanked as she climaxed again, and this time, she fainted.
-VB-
It felt like a long time, but the whole sex only took an hour.
I pulled out of Amy and watched in satisfaction as my cum dribbled out of her. She was also now sleeping, breathing in and out soundlessly.
But I knew that she wouldn't like waking up sweaty, sticky, and slick. I rolled her over, carried her up into my arms, and moved to the bathroom.
Maybe she might even like morning sex if she woke up fresh and puffy instead of sweaty and sticky.
Chapter 13
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Interlude: Brockton Bay 1
-VB-
Kaiser (Max Anders)
The current situation differed from the past incident. The murder of Fleur inside of her own home could be waved away as an outlier. Fluer and her New Wave were unmasked, which made their civilian lives a part of their cape lives, too.
They could argue otherwise, but didn't it take them less than the drop of a hat to go from civilian to hero?
It was in that same vein of thought that made the murder of Fleur in her own home(one of the bases of New Wave) a perfectly acceptable act to some.
What happened a week ago?
None of that mattered.
Fleur was a single cape doing what a single cape in a team do: fight, live, and die.
Panacea was a single cape who performed one of the rarest services: (mostly) free healing. She had already volunteered thousands of hours, healing normals and capes alike who came to the hospitals she volunteered. Medical tourism was not only a thing in Brockton Bay but one of the main sources of attention the city received despite being an utter dump and failure of a city.
From this act alone, Panacea would have over a hundred capes willing to fight and bleed for her.
And then there was the Endbringer Battles. Panacea, despite being a teenager who hasn't graduated college, was a veteran of thirteen Endbringer Battles.
In terms of participation, this put her in the top one percentile of most respected capes.
But she didn't fight in those battles, she healed. She healed, in each battle, dozens of powerful capes - regardless of their affiliation as a hero, villain, and rogue - and hundreds if not thousands of civilians in the aftermath of the battle.
If Max had to name capes more influential than her, then he would have to start naming the Triumvirate, the CUI leadership, the Elite's western leadership, and no more.
"Is New Wave on the offensive now?" he asked Krieg. Sitting in the meeting room underneath Medhall Tower, they were doing their best to plan out their defenses before the inevitable tidal wave of capes crashed down on top of them.
Even the Gesellshaft was considering cutting ties with them.
"No, they are completely on the defensive," Krieg denied with a dissatisfied grunt. "They are holding their 'territory' down, and move very close to each other."
"And their new member? This Alan Marris? What is his rating and power?"
"A middle tier Brute package." Which meant that he had to be at least a Brute 3. "And Mover. According to reports our spies looked at, Marris was able to cross ten kilometers in under two minutes. This would make him Mover 3 at the very least. If he can exert his Brute strength while moving at that strength, then he would be considered Brute 5, Mover 3."
"So nothing Hookwolf can't handle."
"Yes."
"And Panacea is with him right now?"
"Yes."
"Leave them alone for now then. Our hands will be full even without the sedentary and defensive New Wave adding to the pile. What is the enemy composition like?"
Krieg grimaced. "We know of at least fifteen capes who are in the city right now, and are forming a group to fight against us for the short term."
"Average rating?" While such a concept would not help anyone in a fight, it would help Kaiser formulate his response teams.
"With the exception of Stranger and Master, it's 4 across the board."
"The strongest?"
"Vacaneer."
Kaiser winced.
Vacaneer was a New York state cape, and the closest thing to an American government sanctioned warlord on American soil. He was a cape capable of lifting a spear, throwing it accurately at a moving target over a kilometer away, and striking a kill. On top of that, his attacks were known to bypass most physical defenses with only certain projections, tinkertech, and Shaker effects able to keep his long ranged attacks at bay.
Up close, he was a ferocious close quarter combat master who'd gone toe-to-toe with Alexandria. Alexandria couldn't hit him, but he couldn't defeat her because his attacks were meaningless against Alexandria.
Oh, everyone else died in a hit or two but not Alexandria.
Max still remembered the hushed up rumors of Vacaneer and Alexandria fighting so furiously that some mountains no longer existed in the Appalachians.
The only reason people didn't care about him was the fact that he struck a deal with the Triumvirate: in exchange for being able to set the policing policies of his hometown of Albany and keep villains out of the town to the best of his ability, he would work as an independent contractor for the Protectorate.
This contract was the reason why he joined the Endbringer Battles.
This contract was the reason why despite being strong enough to kill Lung - he killed people stronger than Lung - and rule over a chunk of North American if he really wished, he stayed put and played house.
And now, he was here.
The man who rivaled Alexandria was here to fuck Max and his Empire.
Fuck.
"Okay. We still have this," he breathed out. "They don't know our identities. They don't know our holdings as well as Lung does."
Krieg grimaced. "About that…"
"… What?"
"Lung volunteered all information he had on us in exchange for all capes fighting against us publicly swearing to not take territory in Brockton Bay."
BOOM, Max's fist slammed down on to the table in rage. " FUCK!"
-VB-
Sarah Pellam (Lady Photon)
Sarah glared at her sister.
Carol didn't look at her, glaring off to the side and crossing her arms.
Their husbands sat to the side. While Mark was out of it due to his depression, Neil looked alert at the topic of discussion.
"Why aren't you by Amy's side?" she had asked pointedly.
"Because she will be fine. I don't need to be there when he is."
"You're her mother."
Carol finally met her eyes. "Against my will." It was a sentence spoken with such sincerity that Sarah felt her throat close for a second. "I didn't need her or want her. No one knew of her identity, and she would have been fine in foster care-"
Sarah felt aghast at her sister's words.
Nothing was fine with foster care in this nation or anywhere else. There was a reason that children who came out of foster care found themselves entangled in crime one way or another.
" - and she's his child, not mine!" she finished vehemently. "I'm already doing more than what I need to do by housing and feeding her!"
Sarah didn't recognize the woman across from her. How could she say such callous things? Their responsibility, the core idea of their team, meant that regardless of their individual feelings on the matter, they completed their mission to the best of their abilities. For Carol, it meant being a real mother to Amy.
She was wondering if Carol even gave the poor girl a chance.
Then a spark of enlightenment hit her like a lightning strike during a cloudy day. Expected but somehow dismissed as being not an issue until it was there.
Sarah felt like a man who just had their house hit by such a lightning bolt without a lightning rod to keep his house safe.
She felt devastated.
"You didn't meet any psychologist like you said," she stated. "You promised us all that you would. You lied to us about taking care of yourself."
It was a promise made when they had formed Brockton Brigade. They considered themselves upright and just people, but being parahumans - as they learned little by little over time - meant that they weren't stable people. So, after voting as a team, they agreed for each of them to meet with a psychiatrist.
Carol had voted no at the time.
Carol looked away again.
"… Carol, I'm putting you on suspension."
Her sister snapped back to her, and Sarah couldn't help but see only an irrational woman in front of her.
"Don't go out as a hero until you've had those psychiatrist sessions-"
"You can't do that-!"
" - BECAUSE YOU LIED TO THE TEAM!" Sarah roared out, jumping out of her seat.
Carol flinched back.
"If I ever see you dress up after this," Sarah snarled, having reached her patience's breaking point. "Then I will oust you from the team!"
Chapter 14
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 12: Plus One
-VB-
The Empire Eighty-Eight suffered for their transgression.
Oh, Kaiser attempted in vain to assuage the angry masses and capes by stating that they were in no way connected with the shooter. Unfortunately, the idiom was "once is a happenstance, twice is coincidence, and thrice is enemy action." The white supremacist villainous organization had been involved in too many "accidents."
There was no denying this time. No jail out of free cards left for them to use.
I was so tempted to go out and crush them, too. Thanks to an influx of external capes taking the fight to the Empire, I would have had an easier time exacting my revenge, too.
But I made a promise to Amy. She wanted me by her side instead of out there.
So I did.
And Amy fulfilled her promise to me, of becoming stronger herself, by allowing me to open her meridian channels and train her.
Amy sat nervously at the center of the padded basement floor.
"So I-I'm going to become like you?" she asked me.
"Maybe," I replied with a shrug. "It really depends on how you guide your advancements."
"So… some kind of customizable Trump power?" she asked me.
I thought about it for a moment. "I suppose it is, but it'll take a very long time before you can reach truly 'parahuman' levels."
She frowned. "But I thought we were trying to make myself stronger."
"We are. It just won't be an instantaneous show of power. Remember what I did half of the time I spent in the house?"
"Train," she groaned. "You trained so fucking a lot."
"Yes, and we'll be doing it together now," I grinned. It turned lustful in an instant. "Among other things."
She blushed and fidgeted on the spot.
"So how is this going to happen?" she asked me. "Is it going to be like what happened to you? Slowly becoming something… more?"
I nodded. "Yes. As you advance through the stages, you will become stronger, but there are procedures that you need to do first. It's the same as not expecting the body to become stronger without first ingesting and digesting food."
"So what is this procedure?"
"Well, first, I have to open the channel. That is the most basic of the procedures." I sat down behind her and placed both of my palms on her back. "This might be painful with how abrupt and invasive it is, so brace yourself." A pause. "Are you ready?"
She tensed her body, took a deep breath, and nodded curtly.
"Then… here we g-!"
I was already at a stage where I could control the flow of energies, externally or internally. I wasn't sure what to name the stage I was at, but I'd already passed through energy stockpiling, body adapting, and so on. If I had to roughly give it a name, then it would be "middle stage."
It was with this ability to control and direct the ebb and flow of energy that I used to push my own into Amy and then force their way through Amy's closed pathways.
She jolted on the spot and shrieked a little.
I grimaced as my energies just barely made it through her two of her eight internal meridians, the ones associated with her internal organs.
Two became three became four became six became seven-.
I caught Amy as I opened the last of her internal meridians, but she was already unconscious from the pain of forcibly opening the pathways. Grimacing further, I scooped her bridal carry and tried to stand, only to realize that I've used a lot of my own energy to open her pathways.
Groaning, I laid her down gently and flopped down next to her.
Hopefully, no one would bother us until at least one of us recovered from this…
-VB-
Amy glared at me even after finishing the breakfast I'd prepared for her in my own pained state.
"That hurt," she hissed at me.
I laughed nervously. "I did say it was going to hurt. At least, you have new powers!"
She scoffed. "What new power is better senses?" she grumbled.
My smile dropped a little. "Say what?"
She looked at me and my slightly confused face. "I can smell stuff better?" she repeated. "And tasting, too. I know you tried hard to bribe me with… whatever that was," she added as she gestured to the licked-clean plates.
I blinked. "Huh. I didn't expect that."
"What?" she asked tersely and maybe a little apprehensively.
"Nothing. It's just… your body already recognizes what's good for your advancement."
"… Huh?"
"The breakfast I made for us used ingredients that cultivators like ourselves would appreciate. I would actually go so far as to say that the ingredients alone were worth nearly a thousand dollars."
Amy choked on her spit before her wide eyes stared at the empty plates. She rounded on me. "You should have told me to enjoy it, then!"
I raised my hands up in surrender. "It's the kind of meal we need to take every now and then."
"No, I want it everyday!"
I blanched. "U-Uh, honey? I don't exactly have that kind of cash flow…"
She scoffed before narrowing her eyes. "What exactly was in it that made me feel so… good? Like I was getting filled up in parts that I didn't even know about?" She paused and then blushed. "And not sexually!"
I chuckled. "That would be your body feeling your meridian pathways fill up a little."
"My meridian pathways?"
"They would be a conceptual pathway and reservoirs through which energy flows through. Unfortunately, our bodies don't make those energies, so the only way we would fill up those pathways and points would be to-"
"-eat things that have those energies," she finished for me. Really, it should have been a basic concept for her to grasp because the how's of lower level cultivation had many similarities with regular biology.
"Yes. And some of the roots I used to cook our breakfast are long-living plants that absorb the natural energies. Eating it made your body happy because it could fill up your internal energy in turn."
She frowned. "Sounds new age."
"New age got their stuff from the ancient age," I scoffed. "All of their talks of karma, qi, chakra, and stuff are just concepts that they nicked from more traditional philosophies and ideas of the ancient world."
She hummed. "So what do I do?"
"You eat."
Amy blinked confusedly. "That's it?"
"And take medicinal baths, if you want tough skin."
"Not into that," she frowned, and then her eyes brightened, opening up wide. "Wait, can I fly?"
I blinked. "… Actually, yes. If you-"
She jumped into my arms, laughing. "I'm gonna fly! I'm gonna fly!" she cheered with a big fat smile on her face.
Seeing her smile, I couldn't help but smile too. "Yes, you will fly!"
Chapter 15
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 13: Training (for May)
-VB-
"Don't pull your punches, Amy," I instructed her as I took her right jab into my palm without a flinch. To the role of a professional boxing coach that I had donned to help train Amy, this kind of spar was nothing. "It's better to sweat now then to bleed later." It felt great to share this kind of training with someone.
Sweaty and sexy Amy dressed in only a tight tank top didn't feel so great. "You keep saying that!" she growled and punched forward with her fist with all her might for a single straight punch. This fist hit the same palm again, and I again felt nothing. My body was just that hard. "I don't even feel strong!"
I raised an eyebrow before throwing a casual jab her way, and she dodged.
From the side, Victoria Dallon whistled in appreciation. "Damn, sis. That's a pretty fast punch, and you dodged it just like that," she said and snapped her finger at the end.
Amy blushed and grumbled underneath her breath to Vicky and my snickering.
The truth of the matter was that Amy had a very good progression rate. Even though it's only been a week since her "conversion," she was well on her way to achieving her first breakthrough.
Part of me wondered if this was the norm for breakthroughs or if Amy was influenced by my energy to achieve such a thing. I did give her a lot of my energy to open her channels, so it was possible that enough of it remained in her to bolster her own progression.
It also helped Amy that Vicky and I were willing to push her physically.
From Amy's perspective, the previous week had been a double entendre of physical exercise, one that took place in my bedroom and in the basement.
Her breakfasts also helped in that I used many ingredients that were traditionally known for possessing a lot of energy, not just calories. Even then, if I had to calculate the calories alone, then I would have to say that Amy was eating as much as a soldier would.
It was just how hard I pushed her.
Amy, however, didn't complain aside from a few quips like the one she just threw at me. As she had confessed to me, she was tired of being just the healer, of staying in the sidelines, of waiting and being weak.
She took to the training with gusto, but it didn't mean it wasn't hard.
"Alright, we're stopping here today," I said as I took a step back without a single drop of sweat on me.
Amy finally stopped and fell backward on her bum, making her boobs jiggle deliciously, and groaned in exhaustion. She didn't even talk, just sat there gasping for breath.
"My turn!" Vicky said as she "bunny-hopped" to the training mat. Amy waved her in before crawling away on all her fours. Dramatic.
Vicky stood where Amy stood mere seconds ago and took a boxing stance. She twisted her body to the right, narrowing the target her body made, and then she bounced her feet in place.
I already knew that Vicky was a capable fighter who had been trained.
Unfortunately, I beat her trainer with relative ease even before my latest breakthrough.
"Powers?"
She paused before grinning. "Out of bounds loses?"
"Sure."
My basement was big enough for a bit of a tumble.
I glanced at Amy, and made sure that she was far away enough from the padded floors.
"Give us a signal, Ames!" Vicky shouted.
"Go," my girlfriend grunted without preamble.
Vicky was in my face in a second, and I was already dodging.
I spun vertically, delivering a powerful spin kick to her sternum. I heard her shield shatter mutely, and Vicky came down to the ground with wide eyes.
"Hot damn," she mumbled. "I didn't know you were that strong," she said. Then she engaged me again, flying.
'Her shield's recharge is invisible,' I noted mentally before dodging again.
But this time, Vicky tried an aerial maneuver of her own in which she lashed out with a hit-and-run punch as she flew by. I took the hit to my palm and skidded back, making grooves in the padded floor.
With a vicious I didn't expect, Vicky charged me. It wasn't, however, a charge intended to down an enemy in one clean hit.
It was a glancing shot meant to distract. To prolong the fight.
'I mean, a spar like this wouldn't be fun if we all went down in one hit,' I thought in agreement with her action even as I intentionally stood in the path of her charge - much to her surprise - and delivered my fastest knee strike to her abdomen as she passed above me.
She'd learned from my last attack and had her guard up. Regardless, my attack shattered her shield again, and she landed in a roll.
Outside of the padded ground.
She looked down and groaned. "Damn it," she grumbled as she stood up and then huffed. "No one's beaten me like that before."
I grinned. "You haven't met a Brute capable of proper martial arts, then."
She waved me away irritably. "Whatever."
I paused. "Is something wrong?"
She didn't answer, just heading over to Amy's side and sitting down. "… Yeah."
"What's wrong?" Amy asked as she put her hand on her sister's exposed arm. She frowned. "I don't see anything wrong but your stress levels are high."
"They would be fucking high," Vicky growled, though it wasn't directed at anyone here. "Because I'm fucking stuck doing nothing while people from outside of the goddamn city comes to fight on behalf of my sister!"
Ah.
"The Empire's not going to be playing easy in this conflict, Victoria," I said firmly. "And I think I showed you exactly how easily your weakness, once discovered, could be put to stop you." I frowned. "If the likes of Victor were especially smart enough, then all he needs to do is double tap you with a pistol. With his known skills, that would be easy enough."
Unsaid were the words that lack of information on Victoria's weakness and Unwritten Rules probably kept the man from doing exactly that.
Unfortunately, the Unwritten Rules were being thrown out of the window right now, and chaotic battlefields were the prime locations to get hit from multiple directions.
Vicky froze before deflating. "I know."
"I'm just happy you're with us," Amy said, trying to soothe her sister.
"Alright, let's go at it again then, Vicky," I said. "This time, no powers. Just skills."
She looked up at me for a moment before sardonic grinning. "You realize I can't exactly turn my power off, right?"
"Then it's a good thing that I can take a hit or two," I replied with a vicious grin. "Don't be surprised if I down you more than you down me."
"Oh, you're on! I'm going to show you what hero-ing for years got me!"
Amy sighed in exasperation. "I'm surrounded by meatheads."
"And proud of it!" I cackled.
To my surprise, Vicky downed me first, but I made up for that by winning more bouts in the end.
However, as Vicky flew home after the training session, I couldn't help but feel that disaster would soon come to me, much sooner than the expected May Leviathan attack.
… For the first time since I arrived in this reality in this body, I went to the lowest basement floor… and then went a floor lower, hidden from any casual observer.
And I found the power armor - one that I hadn't even checked up on after choosing the option in the CYOA - hidden within that layer and readied it for the troubles to come.
(It was a smart move because I got attacked two days after).
Chapter 16
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 14: Home Invaders
-VB-
The attack came in the morning.
I was just getting up after finishing an all nighter, but I heard something from beyond my house.
I knew something was up when boots pounded the asphalt outside of the house.
And it turned out to be a very mean business these people wanted when the first bullet shattered my front window and destroyed the coffee machine.
Cussing up a storm, I rushed to the basement door and flung it open. In seconds, I was heading deep underground in search of my power armor.
Above, I heard boots thunder into my house, and shouted orders of unfamiliar people telling others to look for me by title.
"FIND THAT NEW WAVE RECRUIT!"
Oh yeah, they wanted me, but I wasn't about to let them find me unarmed!
"He's in the basement!" someone shouted.
How the fuck did they hear me?! I was already two stories down!
I jumped down the last flight of stairs to the "official" lowest basement floor and then pushed open the secret entrance. I jumped down those stairs too, a feat made possible by my improved body, and landed on the ground floor with a thump.
A normal person would have tripped trying to run forward, but my ki reinforced muscles and skin blew off the stress like it was a cool spring breeze and pushed me forward with the burst of a pouncing jaguar.
In seconds, I was in front of the mechanized locker holding my power armor and I pressed the button.
Wheeeerrrr….
"Come on… !" I hissed as I heard the rushed stomping of boots coming down the stairs grow louder each second.
Wheeeeerrrrrr….
"Are you fuckng serious-?!" I hissed before grabbing a wrench I'd left here last time I visited and threw it at the stairs just as the first of the home invaders came down to this floor. The wrench struck the unarmored head of the vanguard and caved the cranium in with the same ease of a child smashing in a watermelon with a hammer.
Chu-kung!
"Finally-!" I shouted and then jumped into the now open and blue light-lit cabinet, where my open power armor was waiting for me. My jump took me directly into the power armor with precision only controlled push could have achieved.
Bullets were flying, but they had been aiming for where I had been, not where I was now.
As soon as the entirety of my body made its way into the power armor with that jump, the power armor snapped shut.
There was a whirl of hydraulics and electronics coming online while the sounds of bullets bouncing off of the armor plates rained in the background.
A deep bass voice that threatened unsettling levels of violence with its tone alone rumbled from the power armor as it came fully online.
"{Close Quarter Combat Veteran Armor Mark 2, all systems online and ready for combat. Waiting for biometric confirmation… }"
The blue lights on the armor lit up red.
"{Confirmed. Welcome back, operator.}"
"Hello to you, too, sonny," I mumbled before I charged out of the cabinet.
The gangsters in my base were allowed half a second to gawk and realized how fucked they were before I punched the closest of them..
I noticed before his head exploded that it was a skinhead with the E88 tattooed on the left temple of his head.
The two ton armor hissed and vented out superheated air made by the sudden explosion of movement.
Turning on the exterior comms, I growled.
"You should have run when you had the chance."
-VB-
I charged up the stairs, bashing aside anyone who got in my way and disabling anyone who didn't die in the first hit.
Then I was back to the first floor of the house, and my furniture was trashed. I looked around. My work station and laptop were in pieces!
I didn't save the last program!
"I didn't know you were a Tinker, too."
I snapped towards the owner of the voice in anger, and narrowed my eyes behind my helmet.
Standing there with a small retinue of armed E88 gangster was a masked man dressed up with claws and fur.
"Stormtiger," I grunted. "What is the meaning of this?"
"It's because of you that the Empire is suffering. If it wasn't for you, then no one would have known anything."
"And this makes your situation better?" I asked incredulously.
"No, but it makes us feel better when we hang you up for your girlfriend to see! And if we're going down, we're taking you down with us!" he shouted and lunged at me.
"Too slow," I growled as, even with my power armor, slid underneath him on my knees with speed that surprised the Empire's fastest cape, and punched up into his sternum.
There was a sickening crack and blood splattered down onto me and from the man's back. He gagged and spat blood before I whirled around in place and slammed Stormtiger onto the floor.
With a squelch, I pulled my fist out of the cape's chest cavity and watched as the lights in his eyes faded away into stillness.
Looking up, I stared at the Empire gunners.
"All of you are dead!" I roared and lunged.
-VB-
The first Protectorate hero to arrive was Velocity, which made sense. Fastest hero arrived first to assess the situation and whatnot.
Unfortunately for Velocity, the one-sided fight was over by the time he arrived. The moment he entered my house from the broken front door, he nearly slipped on the pool of blood that one of the dead Empire gunners made when I tore his face apart.
Apparently, people still lived for a bit even after the front quarter of their face was ripped apart. His scream hadn't been pleasant at all.
Velocity looked around the bloodstained and body-ridden living room and kitchen in horror.
"What the fuck…"
"You're here," I called out as I walked out of the basement with the bodies of the dead.
"What the-?!" he quicktimed his words, but I understood them nonetheless because he didn't speak too fast. "Who are you?!"
"Alan Marris," I replied easily as I dumped the bodies on the floor. "Owner of the house."
Velocity blurred a little bit before he relaxed. "Oh. Right. Umm…" he looked around. The exposed lower half of his face paled as he really took in the scene and came to the logical solution. "The Empire attacked you in your own home…?"
"Yes," I replied. "Stormtiger there," I gestured to the body Velocity was staring at with wide eyes. "Blamed me for the Empire's situation and said something about taking me down with them."
"That's… That's…"
"Stupid, I know," I scoffed before I headed downstairs to collect more bodies.
"You killed them all."
"Most, not all," I replied.
"But you're a hero-"
"And this hero is also a person who just had his home invaded. Save the propaganda for the appropriate occasion," I snapped before I fully went down the basement.
When I came back up with the two survivors of this assault, I dropped them onto the ground in front of Velocity's feet.
"Deal with them how you will, but if I see them again, then they are dead."
Velocity's pale face hardened just a bit to make him look more professional. "Don't threaten others in front of me."
I stared at him for a moment before nodding. "At least you have the balls to say what you want, not the law."
Mere minutes later, both New Wave and PRT arrived in droves. As I watched them arrive, I felt my nerves grow more and more tattered as the adrenalin ran out and the heavy weight of killing made itself known on my mind.
I would break down later. Not now.
I gulped silently underneath power armor and soldiered on for now.
Chapter 17
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Interlude: Discord
-VB-
Velocity
Velocity knew that the situation was precarious. It was only thanks to Alan - PRT codename: Rabbit - that he wasn't being reprimanded; the obscure and recent New Wave recruit didn't bother to complain to the higher-ups about Robin's verbal faux-pas. It was fine to question whether killing was bad, but in a home invasion situation?
There were better questions to ask and many more that wouldn't offend the defending party.
As it was, the situation remained precarious not just for him but for all of Brockton Bay.
The Empire Eighty-Eight was being assaulted by outraged capes from all over Americas and Europe, New Wave's newest member was attacked once more in his home, and the PRT's hold on the situation was slipping too far and too fast.
They were struggling with just handling twice their number spread across three gangs. How were they supposed to handle a single group of nearly thirty capes? Thirty outraged capes?
The PRT ENE had already put out a warning to the incoming capes that they would not tolerate a full-out gang war in the city, but the warning and demand had been ignored.
Of the thirty capes, two were dead. Of the Empire's ten active members, four were dead and two arrested; only Kaiser, Menja, Krieg, and Othala remained. Stormtiger hadn't even fought in the big fight that delayed the Protectorate's response to this home incursion.
And hadn't that been a big fight? It was, historically speaking, the biggest cape fight that had broken out in all of New England once one excluded all of the Endbringer fights. Twenty capes in the "coalition" and nine active Empire capes went to fight. The result was an expected figurative slaughter for the outnumbered Empire that turned into a literal slaughter when PRT agents on site leaked information, unintentionally, about one of the Empire's capes attacking a New Wave member in their home.
Before that point, two had been captured.
After that point, six had been killed.
Velocity had sped here as fast as he could afterwards… and honestly, more people died at Rabbit's house numerically than at the big battle.
And that was the problem.
In the meeting room for the combined PRT and Protectorate
"He's a cold heartless murderer! He's no hero!"
Because Director Piggot was being swarmed by internal PRT politicking captains and directors over her leniency on the issue.
Yes, leniency.
Unlike what many members of the PRT and the Protectorate thought, the director didn't push the self-defense case. It was a decision made with prudence, Robin thought. After all, punishing someone who acted in self-defense, regardless of the casualties involved once it was clear that all of the casualties were there with ill intent in mind?
No sane prosecution would take up the case.
Who the fuck would defend Nazis anyways?
Robin sighed, knowing the dystopian answer completely well.
Right now, the people calling for Rabbit's arrest were the politicking directors in line with Director James Tagg the Warhawk. The man was a proponent of extreme measures in response to any capes who broke the law, and the death of two dozen citizens, regardless of their action, by a relatively unknown cape was, as he put it, the perfect chance to bring another cape under the PRT's guidance.
Velocity didn't see it that way. Armsmaster didn't see it that way. Director Piggot didn't see it that way. Director Armstrong didn't see it that way. Hell, even the firm Chief Director Costa-Brown didn't see it that way.
The only reason why this internal debate was continuing was because Tagg was an ally of Colorado Senator Michael McConnell, who was a strong supporter of extreme punishments for "villainous" capes, and the senator was backing the man's public denouncement of Alan Marris.
Director Piggot opened her mouth to retort to Director Tagg but stopped. She listened to a report coming into her ear piece before slacking in her seat.
"Vacaneer just executed Kaiser in public," she muttered out loud.
Velocity winced as he imagined the coming shitstorm.
-VB-
Tattletale
She stared at the pictures spread across the internet, videos found online and in private, and the reports filed by internal PRT agents - filched by none other than Coil's moles within the PRT.
Staring at one picture didn't give her any meaningful information.
There was a video showing Alan Marris, New Wave's newest recruit, bursting into gore only to be shown whole and healthy, giving her powers information along the lines of "rejuvenation" rather than "regeneration." That and the size of his penis in all measurements along with how often he washed them.
Okay, so the guy might be a Breaker.
But then there were pictures showing Alan Marris in some kind of martial arts stance with… muscles. A lot of muscles. Looking at such a picture, her power only gave her information about how skilled he was… and how visibly he was improving.
She wasn't a martial artist, so she didn't know jackshit. If her power said he was improving, so he was improving.
When she took those and the internal PRT report all together into one big picture, that's when her power went off properly.
And she relayed her findings to Coil as the man had requested, thinking nothing more of the fact.
Tattletale smirked as she got off the phone with Coil, wondering if her boss intended to use Marris against New Wave.
Because she "forgot" to tell him that her report to him about Marris?
It was outdated.
She whistled, wondering if the ever growing soon to be powerhouse might kill her boss for her.
He certainly wasn't above murder if the need called for it.
Chapter 18
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 16: Young Things do Young Things
-VB-
With the death of Kaiser and much of his capes, the Empire Eighty-Eight, a criminal white supremacy gang that had stood since the dawn of parahuman age, fell apart. Its fall signaled a change in history for the city and the surrounding region, and perhaps signaled a change even beyond New England.
For now though, its death meant that I could rest easy… for now.
I planned to spend the next week fixing my house along with hired help from the Dockworkers. Say what you will about a union without a purpose, but most of them had a firm grasp on being a handyman. I digressed. The E88 gangsters hadn't done my house any favors by riddling her front wall and windows with bullets, so there were a lot of places I needed to fix.
But I also knew that Leviathan was coming, so the future value of my house was in question, primarily due to the fact that the house sat in the area that might or might not become the future "Leviathan Lake."
But I began to fix her up anyway; I don't think Amy would like it if chilly wind came into our room during the night.
As it was, we were spending our nights in a nearby hotel while my house was getting fixed. It didn't exactly stop what we usually did for our nights, though.
Our tongues slid and danced around each other. Amy sat on top of my lap with her legs straddled over mine. My left hand gripped her hair and head together while my right hand kept a firm hold over her left ass cheek. Her arms wrapped around my shoulders and neck, and her hands gripped my own hair.
I stayed still while she grinded her naked clit against the length of dick.
Our kiss broke when we broke for air, and I immediately attacked her freckled neck, biting and sucking. Amy giggled and pushed her boobs against my upper chest and neck, enjoying everything that was going on.
We were just loving each other right now. We didn't care about the crisis the city faced or the fact that we were ten years apart in age or anything else that might cause us grief. Right now, we just loved and loved and loved.
"Alan, put it in already~" she whined when I got lost in thought and just loved cuddling her.
"Is my Amy becoming naughty for my dick?" I asked playfully as I pulled back.
She bit her lips and blushed. "I'm always n-naughty for you," she stuttered, and honestly, I loved how cute it sounded.
"Are you wet even when I'm training you?" I asked as I gently laid her down on the luxuriously soft bed (it was so worth the one hundred fifty dollars a night I was spending for this hotel room).
She wasn't going to let herself be beat in a battle of words, though. "You mean, you don't e-enjoy training me? I thought you loved it when our skin s-smacked and grinded~!" she asked with a coo. But the way she was blushing up a storm and stuttering told me enough about how embarrassed she was saying all of these things.
I laughed and kissed her again.
At the same time, I slid into her wet folds, earning myself a moan from Amy.
I broke the kiss and opted for a tight hug sex, wrapping my considerable frame over Amy. Amy squeaked as I pinned her between myself and the bed. Only her head, arms, and legs peeked out from underneath me. Even her big boobs found themselves completely covered by me.
Amy squeaked when I thrusted into her roughly.
"Amy, I think I want to make you a teen mom," I whispered into her ear as I started pounding away.
Amy moaned, completely incoherent from this point, as I began to push her towards her climax.
My arms and hands slid down from her mid back to her lower back. Then I bent my back forward and pulled her towards me.
Amy gasped and moaned at the same time as my dick penetrated deeper into her, and almost became a putty in my arms. Her arms gripped my arms now, and her nails dug into my skin.
"C-Cum in me, 'lan-!" she whimpered.
Her words spurred me on, and I began to almost falter in holding my strength back.
Amy shrieked as her vagina tightened around me, and I climaxed together with her.
We laid there on the bed, unmoving yet gasping for breath.
Then I moved first. I turned her around with my dick still inside of her. A bit of my cum dribbled out, but I didn't care. I pushed her onto all four of her limbs, and grabbed her hair. I kept my grip slack but my thrusts were anything but.
Amy began to mumble and whimper incoherently, only making sense when she was begging me for more.
Seeing her in this state, I actually gripped her hair tight and began to pull her back to me.
She shrieked but didn't tell me to stop.
I came into her like that.
Then I was giving her the mating press.
And finally, I finished off the night while giving her the full nelson.
Satisfied with my repeated conquest, I finally let her rest and fell asleep with my arms secured around her.
-VB-
Amy tried not to blush from her sister's teasing during school lunch hour.
"He must be great at bed, isn't he~?" Vicky cooed while poking her cheeks. Thankfully, they were sitting a bit far from the rest of the school, so no one was hearing their conversation… hopefully.
She half-heartedly swatted her sister's hand, but really couldn't stop the blushing.
"Did you two do it raw, too?"
"Vicky!" she shrieked in annoyance.
"Oh, you let him… do it inside you?"
"VICKY!"
"You're louder than me, Ames. Are you that loud too when he's in you?"
Amy stood up and ran.
Her sister flew after her anyways, rendering her efforts moot. In the end, she gave up and offered some details.
What she didn't expect, however, was for her sister to return the day after she "confessed" about her nightlife to Vicky to find her sister sullen and pouty.
"What happened?" she asked her beautiful blonde sister.
"Dean didn't want to do it with me."
Amy blinked before frowning. "Didn't want to or couldn't?"
"What's the difference?"
She sighed. "Vicky, you know that he's not exactly as free as you are. I suspect me may be busier than I am."
"So?!" Vicky shrieked. "He's just ignoring me because of his duties and I'm here just -!" Vicky stopped, cutting herself off. "I know that he's busy," she grumbled with bits of tears in her eyes.
Amy sighed.
In the aftermath of E88's fall, a lot of things changed - and that was putting it mildly.
With the Empire gone, the centralized nature of Brockton Bay's white supremacists was broken, and they had fractured into at least nine different feuding groups. Of those, only two groups had capes. The first group, which called itself the Pure, was led by the largest gathering of former Empire capes who had survived the previous slaughter or had come out of retirement: Purity, Night, Fog, and Crusader.
The other was a newly parahuman-centralized Herren Clan, a white supremacist family that had jumped into the cape scene upon realizing that Kaiser and his dominating influence in Brockton Bay was gone. Led by Othala, she had Rune and Alabaster with her, latter of whom had been broken out of prison merely days ago.
Unfortunately, these two groups lacked the high numbers of regular gang members. As such, while they maintained control over the territory they claimed, they held little to no influence beyond that.
And this complicated explanation was just for the remnants of the Empire Eighty-Eight.
Lung and his ABB was expanding crazily, constantly fighting the rest of the E88 remnants but leaving Purity and Othala's groups alone; they were far from his core territory anyways, so news analysts explained that they weren't his concerns.
The true headache right now, though, was the Merchants and the resurgent Teeth. Upon the news of the Empire's death, the Teeth came roaring back to Brockton Bay. The Butcher, thankfully, remained in New York City.
If that wasn't all, then some of the villains from the Anti-Empire Coalition had decided to move into the bay.
The result?
The PRT and the Protectorate was hemorrhaging manpower patrolling, intervening, and fighting. Not many were dying, thankfully, but it felt like everyone working for the government had double shifts now.
But Amy didn't care much about all of that aside from the fact that her own volunteer shifts were now packed with injured PRT, Protectorate, and civilians.
No, she cared more about Vicky.
Or rather, getting Vicky to join her and Alan, because despite how she felt about Alan, she still loved her beautiful blonde sister (just not as much as Alan anymore).
"Then… why don't you hang out with us?"
Vicky looked up. "Huh?"
"Dean might get jealous if you hang out with me and Alan a lot, right?"
"… Maybe." A pause. "Okay."
Amy grinned.
Chapter 19
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 17: Hot and Bothered
-VB-
Amy whimpered underneath me, pinned to the bed by my body, while my hips thrusted down onto her butt as my dick pushed into her vaginal depths.
Our sweaty bodies clapped loudly in our new bedroom in a new house.
Yes, we were having a move-in sex to break in the bed.
"ALAN-!" she screamed before shoving her face into the pillow to muffle herself. Her entire body spasmed as she hit her climax. Her tight vagina pushed onto me, and I grunted as I hastened myself.
It wasn't long before I too climaxed, and jizzed all I could into her.
Muffled as she was, I could still hear her moan as my jizz warmed her folds.
"Alan, y-you know that I'm pregnant, right?" Amy asked after lifting her face off of the pillow and letting her face rest on its side and away from me. I buried my face into the back of her head and hummed. "Y-you know you don't have to keep -"
"Amy," I called her softly. "Your pregnancy and me wanting to love you are two different things."
There was a pause before she snuggled her hips deeper towards me, which only served to push my dick against her cervix.
Deciding that I've seen and felt enough of her back, I pushed myself off of Amy, and flipped her around gently. Her bouncy and wavy hair sprayed around her head like a halo and her deeply blushing face.
Amy wasn't one of those model beauties who had an hourglass figure complete with an S-curve. She was a bit on the short side with a pair of firm boobs I could play with all day long, and complete with an ass that was just the perfect cushion to our incessant sex.
Our eyes met, and I smiled softly simply from knowing that I loved her and she loved me.
Amy smiled back.
Then I pressed down on her, holding her gently which she returned.
Her hips started to gyrate against me, and I moaned for Amy to hear my pleasure. I thrusted to her rhythm, and she gasped shallowly into my ear.
It was a slow sex, one that we luxuriated simply in the embrace of one another.
"… !" Amy gasped one more time before her legs tightened around my waist. I too buried myself deeper into her. We laid there on the bed, just breathing loudly and deeply and feeling.
"AMY-!"
And just like that, the mood was broken when someone decided to barge into our room.
Both Amy and I slowly turned our heads sideways to look at the door to our bedroom. Standing underneath the doorway was none other Amy's adopted sister, Victoria Dallon.
Who shouldn't be barging into other people's bedrooms.
"VICKY!" Amy screeched angrily.
"SORRY!" Vicky ran away with a blush on her face as she slammed the door close.
There was a creak.
I sighed as I got off of Amy so that she could get up too.
"I think we may have to fix that door soon," I quipped.
Amy sighed in exasperation.
-VB-
Vicky sat on the Marris home couch in the living room with a heated face. She knew she was blushing, but she couldn't exactly stop herself!
Because unlike Dean, Alan was a hunk.
And she blamed dad for it!
Growing up with a man like Flashbang as your dad set pushed the standards up for what a girl considered a man.
Sure, Dean was fairly fit and muscular for someone his age…
But Alan?
All of that training made him very sculpted and and and…
Seeing her sister getting laid by that kind of muscles just made her hot, okay?
Then she realized that she was pinning after a claimed man, and sighed in dejection. Alan was… he was a good person, a good man. He listened to Amy, Amy listened to him, and he wasn't exactly the hands-off approach kind of guy Dean was.
'I mean, Dean has his own good points,' she quickly thought, but the sole reason they kept getting into fights and breakups was because Dean kept on putting his "duty" over her! Always missing out on something, always having to do something!
It was like he was trying to say that she was worth less than his duty!
She huffed, knowing that there was no point to continuing that train of thought.
"Vicky, aura."
At this point, it was habitual. She heard Amy telling her to keep her aura in control, so she did. She mentally pressed down on her power, and felt it recede.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Amy dressed in a simple green sundress that covered maybe only two-thirds of her impressive boobs.
Victoria wished she was as big as Amy's, then maybe Dean might focus on her more, if only because her body was great.
… No, she did not have body image, but she did see Dean look at Amy quite a bit, so she was thinking that maybe that Amy's body type was his type.
"Sorry about that, Amy," she laughed sheepishly.
Amy just raised a single eyebrow, looked over her, and then hummed.
"Did you at least like the view?" her sister asked, and Vicky choked on her spit. She gagged and choked before she got control of herself and looked up at Amy with wide scandalized eyes.
"A-Amy!"
"Well, did you?"
"When did you get so brutally honest?!"
"You mean when have I never been honest?"
"Ugh." Then she looked down. "I-I guess?"
Amy giggled. "You know, you're welcome to come and look."
Vicky felt like her head was swimming. "Umm… I'm… I'm going to go!" she said quickly as she rose up. "Auntie said we have a meeting tomorrow, so Alanneedstobethere,byebye!"
And she was out of the house that made her hot and bothered.
GAH!
Chapter 20
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 18: Training Never Ends
-VB-
It was just great not having to go through an infatuation period between Amy and I. Because of how long we've known each other, we weren't blinded by love. We saw each others' flaws rather well, and acted to help each other fix it.
Most of the time.
Amy had no intention of fixing my lustful nature. She actually encouraged me actively to bone her sister.
That was a story for another time, however, because right now was the time of action and practice!
I was actually surprised a week ago when I invited Assault and Battery to join me and Amy in our training. While Amy was now pregnant and starting to show and unwilling to participate in anything too strenuous, she still stretched, practiced stances, and tried to cultivate within reasonable limits, which was the reason why I invited the Protectorate heroes over for sparring practice.
I suspected that the PRT was keen on keeping an eye on me, even if I was part of a long standing independent hero team.
And honestly speaking, Assault fought well for someone who's power should have given him a measure of complacency.
I crouched low to avoid one of Assault's left jab, and then spun around with a low spin kick. He jumped back easily on his bouncing feet before rebounding on the spot and coming at me with his fist drawn. I let him come closer before jumping to the side while rising up and leaving my left feet on the spot where I was as the limb that propelled me away from his attack. He twisted on a dime, no doubt drawing his own kinetic energy away from his forward momentum.
But that was a trap from me.
As he turned to engage me in my new position, my left leg snapped up like a snake as I pushed myself forward. Assault's eyes widened as my leg landed on his thigh with a powerful snap-kick.
See, what I learned about parahuman powers was that not all powers were created(distributed) equally. Assault's power, Kinetic Redistribution, allowed him to absorb attacks that came at him but only if he was generally aware of the attack. He knew his own weakness in that regard, so he rarely engaged his enemies upfront like he was doing here.
But then again, this was a spar and not a life-or-death fight in the streets or in an Endbringer Battle.
Assault, however, was now aware of my attack, and my kick less damage than I wanted.
That's where the rest of my "kit" came in. My ki flowed through me, already having been spread out throughout my body, and I spun around, pulling back my left leg so that it was now the standing leg while I snapped my right feet and leg in another attack.
Assault, now aware of the attack, smirked and tried to barrel right through.
He didn't expect my kick to bypass his power and send him sprawling to the side.
I noticed Battery shoot up from her seat on the sidelines. Assault rolled on the ground before he kicked himself back up.
"… ow!" he hissed as he held the left side of his jaw. "How'd you do that?" he asked me incredulously.
"I have some internal energy shtick that I can do," I smirked. "That was just a love tap compared to what I can really dish out with it."
Assault narrowed his eyes and grinned. "Oh ho, you mean you can leg it when you want to?"
I frowned. "Was that an attempt to make a pun out of my kick?"
"Kind of?"
"It's horrible."
Assault used my deadpan to rush me, using what had to be a significant boost from his kinetic energy reserve to literally fly at me.
But I wasn't a street-fighting martial artist for nothing. I reacted just quickly enough to dodge his charge and then strike right at his upper back as he passed by me. My attack did jackshit, but it was the thought that counted!
Assault came to a stop on the other side of my sparring ring.
He came to an abrupt stop and turned to whistle at me. "That was just barely underneath supersonic. How'd you dodge that?" he asked, relaxing.
I took that as a sign that the spar was over. I relaxed as well before shrugging. "Part of being a martial artist is being ready to dodge. Though my particular path doesn't focus on dodging, dodging in and of itself is a foundation of close quarter combat that all fighters should have learned to the point that it is instinctive."
"Alan, you're lecturing again," Amy pointed out. "Assault is a veteran in the cape scene. He probably knows more than you."
I thought about it before nodding. Turning to him, I nodded. "Sorry if I sounded condescending."
"Not a problem, big man!" he said with a wide, friendly grin.
"Big man?"
"Yeah, you do that intimidation thing that makes you look before!"
"… What intimidation thing?"
Turned out that I did use intimidation.
From the more technical standpoint, all I did was exert the level of ki available on the ready by distributing it all over my body, but this also had the effect of allowing my ki to leak out and become a kind of a negative emotion-intensifying "aura" not unlike Vicky's.
I knew that Assault and Battery would report this new development to their superior, and I would get a Shaker rating.
After all, if Vicky got a Shaker rating and my "aura" did less than hers, then what other rating would I get?
Right?
Chapter 21
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 19: New Status
-VB-
As the leader of New Wave, Sarah had gone and met with the PRT ENE director along with other heroically inclined parahumans to hear new information. What she had heard and shared with us was not good news.
The death of Kaiser and many of his lieutenants did not turn out to be the death of the Empire Eighty-Eight. It just provided room for foreign takeover.
Yes, the Gesellschaft of Europe decided that with Kaiser's death, Brockton Bay was "ripe" for the right sort of goal-oriented white Aryans.
"So what's happening with them?" I asked Sarah in the second ever meeting I've had with New Wave. All living members were part of this meeting.
Sarah looked at me owlishly for a second as my question registered but didn't connect well with any of the information she just provided. "You might have to elaborate on that. What else would be going on aside from foreign racists taking over one of the gangs in the city?"
"Exactly that. While I may not be a social scientist tracking hate groups, I do know that there are differences between European and American hate groups."
"I'm not sure about that…"
"So you're saying that in the name of their hate, Americans will listen to European overlords?"
When I put it that way, it seemed to click with all of the adults.
"You're right," Neil muttered. "They accepted Krieg in the first place because they received help from Gesellschaft… It isn't a widely known fact, but it was still known."
"Are they sending anyone famous over?" Carol asked with narrowed eyes. Famous capes meant information that was easier to obtain on them and, thus, a weakness that was easier to find.
Sarah shook her head in negative.
I thought about this. If they sent a cape who was not famous, then I would have to say that there was a new problem on the horizon. Not for us heroes but for the remnants of the Empire.
"I think…" I started off slowly, getting everyone else's attention. "That there is a high chance that should another American white supremacist against European influence enters Brockton Bay, the Empire remnants might fracture itself apart."
It was Carol who understood what I was suggesting first.
"Absolutely not! We are not consorting with the likes of white supremacists nor are we bringing one into the Bay!" she objected harshly with a scowl on her face.
Her words got the other adult members to be on guard, but Neil looked like he was contemplating on the viability of the idea.
"Look, I'm not suggesting that we directly talk or meet with any white supremacist," I replied quickly as I raised my hands up in a placating manner. "What I am suggesting is that we allow the knowledge of European controlled gang's existence to the wider cape community. And if someone decides that they don't like that…? It doesn't even have to be a villain, you know?"
"You are inviting trouble, and you know it."
"Maybe."
Sarah spoke up. "it is unlikely that they will attempt anything big in the immediate future. Since Brockton Bay is recovering, let's focus on helping the city first."
"… Okay," I sighed. "But you all realize that the Empire will rise back up like a phoenix at this rate, right?"
The death of Kaiser and almost all of his cape lieutenants led to the dissolution of the coalition. Most had gone home, which meant that the overwhelming firepower that ended the "first dynasty" of the Empire Eighty-Eight was no longer here.
Speaking of the first dynasty, I wondered what happened to Theo. He should have inherited Kaiser's civilian assets unless villainous Thinkers got in on the action (Coil) and ripped the pharmaceutical fiefdom to shreds. This was a distinct possibility, but with no information regarding it, I was going to keep my mouth shut.
I may need to begin my own investigation on the side to discover what happened to Theo, Aster, and Kayden, because I didn't think that the Gesellschaft wasn't above using their civilian identities. After all, there were worse acts white supremacists did than extortion.
"What do you think, Amy?" I asked her quietly while the rest of New Wave discussed out loud.
She looked at me. Dressed in her usual medic costume but with a kevlar vest underneath, she looked small despite how big tracts of land she possessed. I certainly knew how big they were for a fact; I've played with them enough times to know. I almost thought at one point that Amy tied her tits to make them look smaller, even though she didn't. Again, I knew this for a fact because I've ambushed Amy before in her costume for a rough, cloth-tearing, wall-banging, boob-groping, ass-grinding, and scream-inducing sex.
Thinking about our past sex made me want to fuck her again.
… You know what? I was fucking Amy after this meeting back at our house.
"So what would our stance be against this new iteration of idiots?" I asked as the minor familial debate died down.
They looked between each other before Sarah spoke up. "We will be coming down on them hard, but it will have to be reactionary and defensive, unfortunately. We have neither the authority nor the information required to go on a manhunt for the Gesellschaft capes," she stated firmly. "I do not want our families to go out and fight with so much unknowns. That said, I will be allowing any active and aggressive engagements against white supremacists criminals and capes south and east of Downtown."
Basically, the team would be keeping to its usual patrol routes and "territory."
I grunted. "I'll be a bit more aggressive with where my house is."
"That's fine," Carol quickly replied. "I expect you to protect Amy, and you can't protect your family when your neighborhood is ridden with Neo-Nazis and drug dealers."
I nodded in thanks to her support.
"Alright, the meeting's done. Let's get back to our daily lives."
Victoria chose this moment to jump-fly to us, glomping Amy from her left while I was to Amy's right.
"Amy, Alan, let's go shopping!"
I quirked an eyebrow as we walked out of the Pelham house.
That would put a wrench in my short-term plan to fuck the daylight out of Amy… but Amy had this glint to her eyes that told me that I should go with Vicky's suggestion.
"Sure," I shrugged. "Parians?"
"If Amy's getting herself a proper artsy fashion dress? Definitely."
Amy looked like she immediately regretted this.
"What about Alan? You saw how sparse his wardrobe was!" Amy quickly rebutted.
Oh no, you didn't, woman!
"I like my clothes just fine as they are: plain and interchangeable."
"You only have two pairs of formal wear and nine pairs of street wear!"
"Exactly."
"Nuh-uh! That ain't gonna fly with me!" Vicky grinned cheekily. "Amy, get your man out of the house! It's time we get some clothes to show off those abs of his!"
Amy blushed and looked like she wanted to refuse suddenly. Then she looked up at me and then down. Her face grew suddenly determined. "Okay. I want everyone to know my boyfriend is a chiseled hunk of meat." Her blush grew hotter even as she said it and then she buried her face in her hands. "I can't believe I said that… !"
"So, we're going to fly there?"
"Totes, yeah? How else?"
"Cuz neither of us can fly?" I asked while pointing to myself and Amy. "Besides, I have a car."
"I'll carry Amy as I always do. You just follow us."
"I don't think I like this idea."
Amy, on the other hand, looked like she did. "So what you're saying, Vicky, is that my boyfriend will show up in Downtown, sweating and hot, and I'll go and call him my boyfriend in front of everyone?"
What was with Amy's current desire to stake her claim on me? I wasn't going to leave her or anything because I've already tapped that ass.
I wanted to tap that ass constantly and ferociously.
Vicky looked so proud of Amy.
"My sister is learning!"
"Do I get a choice in this?"
"I mean, yes?" Amy asked. "But you want everyone to know that I'm your girlfriend, right?"
"Aside from telling the public that I am dating a minor?"
She paused and then quirked an eyebrow." You care?"
"No, not really."
"Then what do you want to do?" she asked me pointedly.
"Take you home and fuck the daylight out of you."
She blinked and then blushed.
Vicky leered like she was hearing some deliciously scandalous.
I pulled Amy closer to me and hugged her. I leaned down to her ear and spoke up.
"I want to fuck my pregnant girlfriend and leave her unable to walk tomorrow."
She buried her face in my chest. "U-Umm… Vicky?" she muttered muffledly. "I want to go home."
Vikcy threw her hands up even if she had a blush on her own face." Fine! But you two are definitely hanging out with me tomorrow!"
"Okay, okay," I chuckled as I ushered my girl to our car and to home.
-VB-
"Yes, yes-!" Amy screamed into the pillow she was using to cover her face as the entire bed shook from the force of my pounding.
Holding her legs spread wide open, I spared her no mercy in using her pussy to pleasure myself. Faster than what most hands could shaft to masterbate, my hips were moving at an incredible pace, sliding my dick in and out of Amy's tight pussy. While my left hand kept her right leg from closing and kept it spread as far as it would go with her left thigh held in place by my side, my right hand was down at her clit, vibrating and pinching her.
Her back arched and she squealed as she climaxed again. Her vagina wrapped around me, desperately milking me with rhythmic and pulsating grip.
This was Amy's fourth climax tonight. Her previous three were from my licking of her pussy and clit, holding her hips and thigh in place while I tortuously made her experience slow orgasm after orgasm.
This was her first explosive release.
I wasn't done, though.
"Amy, you're fucking sexy!" I hissed as I felt my own climax coming. "How did I get so fucking lucky with you…?!"
Amy squeaked and gasped as I kept shafting her even tighter pussy. She let go of the pillow, showing me her ahegao face and drooling lips. "Y-You can't s-say that… !" she whined before she she threw head back as I upped the vibration of her clit. "NOOOOOO!"
Her hands lashed out and grabbed my forearms, clawing and squeezing. Despite her newfound cultivation, she was far weaker than I was, though. Her clawing was no more damaging than a dull pencil lead breaking on a rock.
She screamed as my dick penetrated right up to her cervix.
I let go of her leg and clit and pulled her up, so that she was now on top of me. She looked at me in the eyes while I felt her pussy trying to milk me and her slowly showing pregnancy press against my abs.
"My beautiful, beautiful wife," I whispered. "I love you."
"I-I l-l-love you, t-too," she whimpered before lost herself as I cummed into her. I grunted and buried my face in her neck, biting and sucking her skin. She cried out in ecstasy, ending in whimpers and gasps as her pussy overflowed with our juices and spilled out of her between the gaps of our sexes.
I pulled back and saw her glazed eyes and open lips.
I caught her in a kiss… and began moving my hips again. Her eyes widened, but the ecstatic haze only deepened in her. She kissed me back, wrapping her arms and hands around my back and head.
"Keep… me happy, Alan…" she whispered when she broke the kiss.
"Always," I whispered back intimately as her hips matched the rhythm of my thrusts.
"… Then use me to make yourself happy, too," she smiled wetly.
Instead of answering, I buried my face in her neck, and gripped her ass. Just like she asked me, I used her. I held nothing back as I pounded up into her. My thrusts slapped loudly against her ass, and she whimpered with each thrust.
She held onto me like her life depended on it with her head placed on my shoulder. Her legs wrapped around my waist, but I paid little attention.
I knew that I was actually a little longer than how much her vagina could stretch. As great as sex was, I was always holding back just that tiny bit.
So I let go this time, just like she asked me.
She cried as my dick pushed against her cervix and stretched it. She whimpered in relief as I pulled back out before crying out again as the full length of my dick sheathed itself in her.
I picked up speed, and Amy began to really sob.
Then I cummed.
She choked on her own spit. Her legs twitched by my side, and her arms tightly wrapping around me.
"Thank you," I cooed into her ear and she giggled.
"D-didn't think it would be t-this intense…" she muttered even as her pussy continued to twitch.
I pulled out of her, and she gasped. I laid her down, and she smiled up at me.
"Did you enjoy tonight?" I asked.
"Yes," she whispered with half-lidded eyes while I pulled out some tissues from the tissue box on the nightstand and wiped ourselves down.
"Even the last round?"
"K-kind of. A bit… painful."
"I guess I won't be pushing myself-"
She tiredly set her hand down on my hand. "Next time, you can use m-my asshole," she grinned weakly.
I looked down at her before leaning down and kissing her on the forehead. "Thank you."
I threw away the used tissues and then covered ourselves with the comforter.
It was good to be loved.
Chapter 22
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 20: Friendly Testing
-VB-
Being young and married (more or less) made for a very happy or very angry life.
Case in point, we were very happy. A lot of that had to do with the fact that we didn't really have daily reasons to fight - we didn't fight over money (the biggest reason for most married couples) - and we spent a lot of time indoors, either sparring or fucking.
Amy bit her lips as she tried to keep her moans quieter.
My fingers, on the other hand, kept sliding in and out of her vagina. My rough fingers brushed up her clit and then down as my fingers slid back in.
I certainly didn't think that Amy was any weaker than she was before her pregnancy, and she was definitely showing it now. But there were some limits that were being put in place. For example, we couldn't do our marathon rough sex that took nearly half a day. It placed a lot of stress on her body to do that, and as pregnant as she was - and due to her inability to affect herself and the baby -, undue stress was unwanted.
So we spent a lot of time with foreplay before we got into the short main course.
While I fingered her, Amy stroked my dick with both of her hands. Sitting next to each other and turned to each other just slightly just so, we were pleasuring each other because it was Friday night, the day Amy came home from one of her more intensive shifts at the hospital.
This was, in effect, her stress relief.
"C-Cumming…"
I planted a kiss on her forehead as her body shuddered, shivered, and then relaxed.
"Love you," she mumbled.
"Love you, too," I whispered as I caressed her barely showing belly.
I didn't want to make her clean herself off, so I stood up to go to the bathroom.
I stopped when Amy grabbed my hand. I looked back at her, and saw her determined face. "Umm, Amy?"
"Where are you going?"
"To the bathroom."
"When I haven't gotten you off?" She pulled me closer and made me turn around. My throbbing dick nearly slapped into her face, and she took a hold of it with her lips and then dipped her head down onto it while her hands grabbed my waist.
I groaned as I felt her sticky, wet, and warm mouth envelop around my entire length, and then she started to bob her head up and down.
Lubricating the entire length of my dick with her spit and shoving it repeatedly against the back of her mouth, she didn't choke or gag as she just swallowed it all.
Then I came.
The moment she felt my cum in her mouth, she pulled right up to the head of the dick, keeping it closed by locking her lips all around it. She looked up at me as she swallowed one load after another before I stopped cumming.
After what felt like five minutes but was really only a minute, she popped her lips off of my dick and smiled.
"There," she said proudly. "I made you cum."
"You didn't have to go that far," I grumbled half-heartedly. Then I knelt and kissed her.
Sure, I was tasting myself but Amy went a step further than she had to to make me feel better.
But I made it a short kiss, so I didn't have to taste it any longer than I had.
She giggled.
"Now, take me to the bathroom. I need to brush my teeth for that."
"Can't you just break them all down?"
"Tut tut," she clicked her teeth condescendingly. "I know my power better than you do, and I can't break down random organic matter, only living cells."
"Alright," I said as I scooped her up. "Alan Express here to take Amy to her toothbrush. Choo choo."
She laughed. "Oh my god, that's so lame!"
-VB-
Sometimes, we stop at foreplay. It may be me or her or it may be both of us, but sometimes, just cuddling was great.
I was also very sore from exercising and training before Amy came home, so I was also not too keen on making my tomorrow too hard on myself.
That said, when tomorrow became today, I found myself having to push myself.
Why?
Because I felt it coming.
I didn't know how I felt it, but I felt it. It was a gut feeling. It was a gut feeling that tickled my new senses, and I trusted it explicitly.
Leviathan would be here in the bay, soon. It wouldn't be today, but I would not be surprised if it came here by the end of the week.
I had exactly one safe day. Today.
I walked up to the PRT ENE headquarters, and requested an all out spar: Me versus everyone they could spare. If they didn' accept, then I would have to go and
To my surprise, they accepted.
(Probably, they wanted to test me.)
I stood at one end of the sparring room.
This room was big, bigger than any other room I've been in. Whitish-blue thick metal panels studded the entire room, ceiling, floor, and all four walls. There were exactly four view ports, one on each of the walls, and they were thick reinforced glass. I didn't know where the lights were coming from, but light poured into the room as if we were standing under a cloudless summer sun.
On the other side of the room were four capes: Armsmaster, Assault, Battery, and Triumph. They were all in their regular costumes, though the Tinker had a bit more gear than usual.
I was surprised they let Triumph join.
Armsmaster spoke up. "Why did you want this spar?"
I contemplated the question and my answers. When I spoke, I spoke to the heroes of the city. "I feel something bad is coming. Today might be the last day I can really push myself before it comes."
"… Anything confirmed?"
"No, just a hunch." After all, I may be wrong. Leviathan might not come here. I already fucked over canon by having the Empire explode and causing a coalition of all sorts of capes come to do that. But my gut feeling remained.
"Very well. As this is an inter-team training exercise, all participating members will not use any lethal attacks. Is that understood?"
"Yes," all of us responded.
"Very well. Observers, give us a countdown."
I slid into a narrow stance.
"Five," an unfamiliar voice spoke. "Four. Three. Two. One. Fi-!"
Assault blasted towards me. He was both the tank and the distraction.
But he still had so much to learn.
He came to strike me, and I stomped on the floor.
The floor panel snapped in half, and the half I snapped flew up to greet Assault. When the man skidded to a stop by - assumedly - pulling all of his kinetic energy in, I slid around the panel while spinning and landed a spinning kick not to his head but to the back of his knees.
I learned in my prior spars with him that Assault needed to see where he was absorbing or at least give him the indication of how much energy he needed to absorb.
With his face full of the panel, he couldn't see nor see me coming.
He keeled backward with a yelp, and then I jumped away towards the rest of the Protectorate in the room.
Battery was right there to greet me.
Again, she had much to learn just like her husband (boyfriend?). I let her strike me with an overreaching right jab, and then I turned that against her by slapping the outside of her right arm and made her spin on the spot as I kicked her feet in.
She spun on the spot, and came around on me with a kick of her own.
And then as I was about to deflect that, Armsmaster jumped down from above.
Instead of dodging, I spun horizontally to the ground. Battery's kick swung under me, and I dodged a slash meant for a retreating foe and someone who stood to block the attack.
One spin later, I lashed out with two kicks.
One kick smashed into Battery's waist and hip and the other smashed into Armsmaster's power armor suit's chest exactly half a second later.
Battery slammed into the ground and tumbled away while Armsmaster's armor compensated for the hit as he came down from above and barely budged him. He pulled his halberd up to push me away, but his prior attack had driven him too close to me.
I knew that his armor could compensate for my actions, so I put more power into my palm strike to his elbow and then to his abdomen. The first attack sent his arm away from me, and the second strike forced him to cave in.
And then he jumped away.
I looked towards where Armsmaster had glanced very briefly before he jumped, and I saw Triumph there.
There was no one on the other side.
He roared.
I pushed back.
My "aura" manifested and the entire room creaked.
Triumph's throat clenched up and he fell to his knees.
Armsmaster moved.
I pulled my aura back in, and spun myself while grabbing his halberd and his arm. Heavy as he was, I'd moved in just a bit forward before my grab, and so I still had his momentum to work with.
I threw him over my shoulders… right towards Battery.
Oops.
Battery rolled out of the way, charged up, and zoomed towards me at the same time as Assault did.
And to my surprise, they pulled off a coordinated rain of fist assault.
I dodged all of Assault's attacks while parrying and redirecting Battery into his path. I broke their synergy, and then kicked her into his arm.
Assault's playfulness took over.
"Oh no~! Whatever will I do with this maiden in my arms~!" he cackled as he wrapped his arms around her.
"Damn it, Assault!"
"We're down," he said with a chuckle. "If he kicked you at full strength, then you wouldn't have your ribs right now." She stopped fighting and gave up with a sigh.
Armsmaster was still on me. He'd recovered in the few seconds the duo had given him, and charged me not with a long jab but with the tips of his halberd slashes.
I narrowed my eyes. That was actually a good way to deal with me. I couldn't touch the blade, and if I moved in, then he could move back and strike me.
And then Triumph was behind me.
Trapped.
Or so I thought briefly before I stomped again-.
BEEEEEEPPPPP.
"Due to exceeding property damage, spar has been called off," the unfamiliar voice from earlier - Observer? - declared. "Winner by casualty: Rabbit." Wait, that was my designated cape name? "Winner by rules: Protectorate ENE."
I stopped with a huff. "Well, I guess I am trying to be a hero."
"Heroes don't cause a lot of damage, Mr. Rabbit," the voice said.
"I guess," I said before bowing quickly. "Thank you for the spar. Need my help with the clean up?"
"No. These panels are designed to go back to their original shape once left alone for 24 hours," Armsmaster replied.
"… Really?" I said as I gave them a poke. To my surprise, they moved towards their previous positions.
"It was designed by Dragon and I. It made spar room repairs… very efficient."
"You mean costless?"
"Yes, efficient," he said proudly.
I laughed a little. "Well, good luck with your teammates then."
I walked off, a little happy with the work out muscle burns. That had been a fast paced action, and I'd loved it.
As I walked home though, I grew slowly more somber and calculating.
How could I best protect this city and my home? From this fight alone, I knew that I could not take on Leviathan up and center.
But I'd done this spar without the power armor. Maybe with it, could I?
… Perhaps I needed to test it out, but that wouldn't happen soon. I would have to risk it.
With a heavy but paradoxically light heart as I had found out roughly where I stood, I went home to our home.
Chapter 23
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 21: Upon the Ground
-VB-
"What is to pierce the heavens?"
It was an odd question, and I didn't understand why it was being posed to me right now.
"I'm not sure?"
"Hu huu… You were supposed to think on the question, disciple."
Was I seeing someone's memories? Or hearing it?
I tried looking around but my head continued to stare ahead. I saw a long bearded man in dark blue long gi, and his stern and sharp eyes stared down at me disappointingly.
What is to pierce the heavens?
It sounded like something I should be thinking about as well. Cultivation and all that, right? To my surprise, I found that I had no idea what to think of the question.
What is to pierce the heavens?
To answer the question, I needed to know what the heavens were.
What are the heavens?
They were… a place?
Uh, holy shit. I was going through cultivation without even knowing what I was doing, was I?
Okay, okay, okay. Being a cultivator meant that I was going against the Will of the Heavens. Will of the Heavens often meant a predestined path for all those who lived under it.
Heaven… was… fate?
No, that wasn't it. If it was, then couldn't there be "immortality" that was a fate for someone?
No, I think I knew what the Will of the Heavens was.
It was the natural order, of what the world is supposed to be according to the Heavens.
So then the Heavens were…
If I was being loose with the terms, then were they like the administrators?
To pierce the heavens.
"To break the system," I/the disciple answered.
The master smiled. "Good. You understand the second step that all cultivators take: to break the natural order of the world."
-VB-
I woke up to Amy's disgusted screams which then changed abruptly to angry shouts.
"Goddamnit, Alan!"
Blearily, I woke up. I didn't bother overcharging my senses or anything because apparently this was my fault-?
I stopped as I felt something squishy and warm around me. Feeling around as my eyes adjusted to the dim light of the morning. As I got used to it, I realized that it happened.
I'd broken through another level.
Of course, this also made my body just explode with useless excrements, aka parts of my body that the body saw as no longer viable or useful, which wet the bed and Amy in blood and viscera.
"This is going to take forever to clean!" she hissed at me angrily.
I raised my hands in surrender.
"I'll clean it," I mumbled sleepily as I got up. She huffed and walked into the master bathroom, ignoring me staring at her toned ass and taut pregnant belly.
Shrugging, I collected the ruined bedsheet, comforter, and pillow cases. I was just content with the fact that it happened in the morning and not in the middle of the night. That would make Amy very cranky.
Cranky Amy or not, I had just achieved a breakthrough.
I wanted to test it out.
But not before I had a sip of beer.
-VB-
With no true advanced materials for me to work off of, all I could do was reinforce what I did have.
"HO!"
Instead of practicing inside the basement, I decided to do this somewhere that wouldn't mind taking a beating: the Boat Graveyard.
"HO!"
It was invigorating just how much of a difference a breakthrough made in how strong I was.
"HO!"
I excelled the last of my breath with my last punch to the ground, admiring the deep crater I'd made with a properly guided punch.
Of course, I had guided my fist with ki and exerted it outwards like a shell, but the point was, I was advancing through the cultivation. If I was going by the single term levels, then I supposed that I was in the Spirit stage. Numerically speaking, I would be in the Third Stage.
I was reaching a point where I would definitely be classified as parahuman without a doubt. Or rather, the world already has done so, but it would be cemented.
I drew my fist back from the ground and held it at my side as I drew in a deep breath of air.
"You must be that new New Wave cape!"
I paused and turned towards the source of the voice.
To my surprise, I saw people I didn't expect to meet.
The Boat Graveyard was a literal junkyard filled with not just the sunken and abandoned boats but also trash that people left behind. There were mounds and mounds of plastic bags and other things here. Standing between two particular mounds was the Undersiders.
I was half tempted to pretend to not know them, but it felt needlessly complicated.
"How may I help you?" I asked them. "Undersiders?"
Tattletale stood at the center with Grue to her left and Bitch and Regent to her right and back.
"We were just curious to see the main figure of the latest clusterfuck to hit Brockton Bay just chilling and training out in the open," Tattletale began casually. "You weren't trying to hide, but then why would you be out here? Too much damage to the house?"
I grunted in annoyance. She was trying to bait information out.
"Yes," I replied with a sigh. "Does it matter to you?"
"Eh. I'm just curious what the new guy's doing. You know, his power getting stronger and all."
Grue seemed to tense a little at her words.
"And you know that I do spar with the likes of Assault, yes?"
"Ye-"
"And that I could pummel anyone else who's squishy enough if they bother me too much?"
She narrowed her eyes at me behind her mask. "Heroes don't threaten, Rabbit. It wouldn't do you good to have what you just said be released online?"
"I don't mind."
She blinked. "What?"
"It's not like my hands are not clean," I replied as I turned to face her fully. I didn't have my power armor with me, but these four?
They were the perfect opponents for me. I also haven't forgotten the fact that they ran over my groceries into paste in the early days of my arrival and left me alone to deal with the gangsters when I was still a regular and squishy person.
Tattletale paled. "Oh. Right. Hero. Villain." A pause. "GRUE!"
Immediately, a bellowing darkness covered everything.
But it didn't stop me from moving.
And none of these villains were Brutes or Movers.
With a single jump, I flew high into the air and out of the smoke like a dogfighter plane flying out of the clouds, and twirled in the air to reorient myself.
I knew that fighting in the smoke would lead to an immediate loss. There was no information I could use coming in, so why even bother?
But up here?
I could see.
And I saw the smoke only around where I had been, not around Grue or his teammates.
"Big mistake," I grunted as I began to fall.
I gathered ki around myself, ignoring the way Tattletale was shouting at her teammates.
And landed back in the smoke with enough force to cause the ground to crater and split.
With another push, I jumped towards where I remembered the Undersiders being and jumped out of the smoke. The smoke was closing in again, but I saw them.
And I rushed.
With a clean swipe, I struck Grue right in the chest with a palm strike as he was about to flee, and watched in amazement as he tumbled away like thirty feet. I turned, but then my feet gave out for no reason.
'Regent!'
I whirled around and found the scepter-taser wielding bastard, but before I could run towards him, Bitch's empowered dogs - each the size of a small truck - jumped me.
I ducked under the flying bite of the first, jumped to the side of the second, jumped over the third, and used the fourth as a stepstone to reach Bitch first.
The girl tried to fight back, but I was the Brute, not her, and her dogs weren't as fast as I was.
When she threw a punch, I pushed it to the side with the strike of her force and then once I pulled that arm open, I punched her right in the solar plexus. Or I would have because Regent fucked me over again and I missed her at point blank range!
She kneed me in the stomach (I think she was aiming for my dick), and I spun around instead of a full spin kick. This one made it and struck her right at the temple with my heel. She keeled over, and the dogs immediately began to lose their form.
Turning to Tattletale and Regent, I attacked the two of them with the full blast of my "aura."
Regent dropped to his knees.
Tattletale held on, but she ended up falling on her ass and scrambling backwards.
In three strides, I was between the two of them with my hands pulled back.
T-Tap.
One strike each to the back of their necks sent the two teenage villains into the la la land.
Letting out a deep breath, I turned my attention towards the dogs, who were whimpering and crowding around Bitch's unconscious body.
Humming in satisfaction, I pulled out my smartphone from my pocket and called.
"Hello, this is Rabbit as you guys call me. I'm in the Trainyard right now and have the Undersiders with me, all unconscious. Wanna come pick them up?"
Chapter 24
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 22: One More Day
-VB-
In my new home with Amy out and helping in the hospital, I found myself in an odd situation.
Technically speaking, I gave permission for it to happen; when they asked some of the things they overheard from New Wave, they asked to check the "safety" of my procedures. I let them, which resulted in… this.
"And this medicinal bath helps?"
"Yes."
Despite my misgivings with the PRT and the Protectorate, I have been communicating a lot with them and showing them some of the works that I do. The latest of these show-and-tells was my medicinal bath.
It was something Amy and Vicky knew about, and no doubt word had already trickled from them to the PRT through one manner or another. It wasn't as if I forbade them from talking about it.
Doctor Tassani and his two PRT subordinate researchers took samples of the medicinal bath. They completely ignored the fact that I was naked under the murky brown medicinal bath with twigs, leaves, and more. A normal person might have called it just muddy water, but they would only say that if they lacked a nose. All three PRT scientists had pins on their noses because of how strong the smell was.
Ever since my latest breakthrough, I realized that my normal medicinal bath was not cutting it. I couldn't feel the growth - and hardening - of my body at a pace I wanted with the regular bath. As such, I had gone and made some significant changes.
The result was the bath I was currently in.
"… This bath is very rich with heavy metals," one of them noted. "It's too toxic for a normal person. I would go so far as to consider it carcinogenic."
Eh?
"Excuse me, what?" I asked incredulously.
"Our branch is already aware of your increasing Brute strength," Dr. Tassani hummed. "Is it possible that you are improving your body with metals found in organic substances?" He turned to me. "As Dr. Jibria over there said, this 'bath' is more toxic than some landfills, and yet shows no sign of damaging you."
But there shouldn't be anythin-.
Wait.
"Umm, I forgot to tell you all that this is the end result of a bath."
That stopped them all.
"Excuse me?" the third researcher asked.
"Yeah, when I use these baths, I breathe through my skin, and things my body does not want leaves and enters the bath while the medicine within the bathwater enters me."
"But your skin does not 'breath' as you would with your respiratory system," Tassani muttered. What I heard however was the man not rejecting what I was saying. "Is that how your power works? Improving yourself through integration of external materials? And if so, how does 'expelling' unwanted materials from your body explain the toxicity of the bath?"
"I don't know about toxicity," I shrugged. "But part of what I do does involved in-takes, so I would say yes?"
"Hmm, and you have been doing this after testing it out yourself?"
"Well, I kind of knew what to do…" It wasn't a lie.
"Got it." The three of them took notes, but from how I saw their hands move independently and in movements not the same as each other, I expected they were writing down different things. Maybe they were writing down opinions or different aspects of what they thought was related to their fields? "And thank you. We'll see ourselves out and lock the door."
"Hmm?"
They packed up in seconds and left the first underground floor, walked up the stairs, and then I heard the front door click shut.
"… I don't know how to feel about this." And because I had allowed them in the house in the first place, I had no one but myself to blame for the awkwardly vulnerable feeling in me.
After another minute of staying in the now lukewarm medicinal bath, I got out of it and walked over to the shower stall in the corner of the room. A quick scrub later, I drained the bathtub of its content down the drain (wait, didn't they say that my used medicinal bathwater was carcinogenic?). Cleaning the bathtub of the dead skins, leftover herbs, and other stuff took even more time despite my increased control and strength. Once that was done, I turned on the ventilation to suck the air out of this floor and out to the world.
… Wait, would the neighbors complain about the smell?
After thoroughly ending today's cultivation session, I had more jobs to do.
House cleaning and programming, the two most tedious jobs put together.
How great.
-VB-
When Amy came back home with Vicky in tow, I just finished completing dinner.
"Ooh la la, what is this, what is this~?" Vicky sang giddily as she slid into the third seat. Before she could lift the fork, knife, and the chopsticks, Amy came around and lightly knife-chopped her sister over her hands. "Ow!" Vicky whined as she looked up to Amy with a pout.
"Wait until everyone is at the table," she chided sternly and Vicky huffed.
I chuckled from the kitchen as I slid the now brown-coated mackerel into a plate before sprinkling it with cilantro and parsley on the side. I untied the apron, hung it on its rack, and came out to the dining area where Amy and Vicky waited.
I set the plate down and smiled. "Dig in."
Vicky was the first to do so.
It's been a week since I arrested the Undersiders, and it was also May. It's been a week of good living. I trained. I fucked. I slept. I ate.
But time was coming close.
"So what's the occasion?" Vicky asked as her eyes sparkled with delight.
I grinned with pride. I did put a lot of work into these, after all.
"Nothing special," I hummed as I slowly ate my own food.
As the day of Leviathan's attack came closer and closer, I found myself praying everyday.
Just one more day. Just one more day.
Just one more day of this bliss.
"Well, at this rate, I'll be the breadwinner because I would hate to not eat this," Amy grumbled. "Wait, how am I supposed to make money to make you a house husband?"
I chuckled. "I'm sure I can do cooking at the very least."
Amy looked happy about that. "Good!"
I prayed as I savored this normality that I've come to like and loathed to lose. I spent each day like a gift. I put all my into them, whether it was work, training, or simply things like cooking dinner for the family.
Just one more day.
-VB-
A/N: 4 more chapters on
Chapter 25
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 23: Here It Comes
-VB-
"All good things come to an end sooner or later."
When I saw the clouds gather scarily fast on May 11th, 2011, I knew that my utopia had come to an end.
When it began to rain, I went back inside and began putting on my armor.
Amy, who was here on a rare day off, looked at me in surprise. "Alan, you're going to patrol?" she asked me. I rarely patrolled. The idea of me patrolling was foreign as I would rather spend time with her indoors then by my lonesome outdoors.
"Something doesn't feel right," I lied. I didn't like lying to her, but it would be better than the possible chance of my "precognitive" abilities being leaked. I promised to protect her as her husband, but there was a reason why I had her promise and work on martial arts as well; the world was vast and unknowable in all, and to be complacent in the face of it was to bring about my own downfall.
When the sky began to rain, I knew for certain that today was the day.
Was it irony working against me? The moment I finished putting my powered armor on…
WRRRAAANNNNGGGGG
Amy jolted in place, but she didn't react like the civilians who'd been walking outside on the road.
WRRRAAANNNNGGGGG
Her face paled a little.
WRRAAANNNNGGGGG
Her face paled a little more.
WRRRAAANNNNGGGGG
At this point, she was paler than a page of printing paper.
"Endbringer… here?" she whispered hoarsely.
I grunted as I pulled myself off of the equipment rack. "You need to leave Brockton Bay, now."
She whirled towards me. "What? I'm a -!"
"You're pregnant."
She froze. She was nearly two months pregnant.
The young woman before me - my wife - struggled. "You're making me send you out by yourself!" she screamed with tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry," I replied earnestly. "I will come back."
She quickly pulled out her phone and called someone.
"Vicky? Vicky! I know, I know. Alan… i'm not going. I need to leave the city."… "Because I'm pregnant." Silence. "No, I can go with dad or mom or someone else. I need you to be with Alan. Keep him safe for me. What? No! Go with him-!… okay. Okay. Thank you." She put the phone back in her pocket and glared at me. "Vicky is coming for me. We'll leave the city and come back after. You promised to return. Okay?"
"I promise."
Our kiss was passionate, brief, and desperate.
She quickly left to grab a few essentials to pack while I turned towards the Rig and jumped away.
As I made my way, I got a call. I patched it through to my powered armor's helmet, and then answered.
"[Alan!]" It was Carol.
"Carol," I grunted as I landed. "Amy is not coming to the fight. She is pregnant."
Whatever she was about to say didnct come out. Then she spoke up.
"[I know. Are you fighting?]"
"I am."
"[Don't you dare fight Leviathan.]"
And then she hung up.
I snorted. Even Carol could be a proper mother in a situation like this.
But I knew that she was right. As powerful I had become compared to my past, I was nowhere near tough enough to withstand a single sandbagging attack from any of the Endbringers. I knew that the best I could do, even with my powered armor, was act as a search and rescue operative.
Two minutes of constant high jumping that cleared small houses with ease got me to the PRT ENE headquarters. There were people all over, teying to flee the city. Cars got jammed in traffic and there were even more trying to get to whatever Endbringer shelters were available in the city.
I ignored it all and walked up to one of the PRT officers on-site. "PRT calls me Rabbit. I'm here to help."
"They're meeting at the rooftop. Take the elevator in the lobby, press RT, and then code in 1334."
"Thank you."
When I got on the rooftop, there were already some capes here. And then more capes arrived with the help of a blue caped cape. He had to be Strider.
"Rabbit."
I turned and saw Dauntless. "Hello, Dauntless."
He extended a hand and I shook it.
"Glad to see you here. And Panacea..?"
"Pregnant. She won't be joining," I stated bluntly.
He looked surprised. "But if she doesn't-"
"Respect our decision, Dauntless," I snapped as I pulled away.
I saw his jaw work around over some words before he sighed and nodded. "Understood. Still glad to see a strong Brute like you here." He walked aeay after that.
There was a burst of green laser… And then I realized that it wasn't laser so much as concentrated and directed light coming down from the sky.
It labded on one of the raised platforms, the he'll pad, and turned into a man.
Legend.
Everyone paused to stare at one of the Triumvirate and arguably the best Breaker/Blaster this continent had to offer.
There was a sonic boom, and a black and gray blur landed next to him gently despite the rush of wind and speed it had come with.
Alexandria.
Something like a portal opened up. Through this new portal, a stream of capes rushed onto the rooftop, and the very last person to do so also closed the door behind him. Dressed in a flowing green cape and hood, he was the help everyone wanted.
Eidolon.
But when I looked at him, I only saw the cause of the Endbringers. I only saw the cause behind even the momentary divide Amy and I had.
No one else knew it, though, and I was too weak to do anything about it. No evidence, no idea, and, oddly enough, no willingness.
Endbringers would, after all, fight against Scion on that day in the future. Stopping Endbringers from rising up meant that Amy would indirectly see her chance of dying increase that day.
I would not let that happen.
So even though I could privately prove to Eidolon and Cauldron, I did just as they did.
I let something terrible continue for the sake of someone else.
I would gladly see a continent drown in blood if it meant Amy would be fine.
I snorted as I waited for the speech. 'Some hero I am. After promising Amy to be a hero, I act in truth like a villain.'
I closed my eyes to appreciate the last few moments of peace.
Chapter 26
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 24
-VB-
Action for the bay happened instantly.
Obscured by the pouring rain, we only had Dragon's words through the comms to know where and what was happening, but it did happen.
"Tsunami incoming!"
Alexandria was quick to begin "Shield Shakers to the front! Keep the water out of the triage point!"
"Leviathan made landfall! E14!"
I did not want to fight Leviathan, but I also knew what he was after: the underground reservoir. I was neither strong enough to prevent him from sinking half of the city nor was I tempting enough to get him to chase me.
All I could do was rescue the wounded.
The entire building we were on shook as something to our east impacted the ground. Standing here in the middle of the torrent, I still saw a mini-tsunami rise up from the impact site and crash into the nearby buildings.
My body involuntarily shivered in… delight? Anticipation?
I didn't want to fight him. Fighting him was risking my life over nothing. Maybe once I advanced to higher levels of cultivation, I might consider it, but right now, I couldn't.
I couldn't-.
"Jackalope down, E15!"
That's my que.
Ignoring all other calls from this point except for Leviathan's position, I jumped off the side of the building, and despite the rain and water coating everything, I didn't slip when I landed three stories below. Augmented by my armor, I pushed off towards E15.
Water level in the streets was already at ankle-height and rising.
"Leviathan is MIA! Last seen at C11!"
I was at… D14, only one block from E15.
I ran around the corner between two buildings, and then froze.
Leviathan was right there.
How?! He was at C11 at-!
My helmet blinked at the clock.
2 minutes ago.
It crossed the equivalent of five city blocks in 2 minutes?
Its head snapped towards me, and my heart dropped inside my chest.
Fuc-
And then I was flying.
Blood on my helmet screen, loss of balanc-.
I crumpled as I hit the flooded streets and then bounced away.
Gritting my teeth, I kicked my legs around and drew my arms out. My spin slowed down and I managed to upright myself.
And one of Leviathan's famous water shadow was in front of me, ready to explode and bombard me with enough water to drown me a hundred times over.
I pushed off the ground in a jump and then kicked the air and shot up. I didn't even know it would work, but it did because I was over the city's skyline.
And Leviathan was jumping towards me from behind the exploding water shadow.
And he would have gotten me if a black blur didn't slam into the back of his "head" and made him spin in the air.
I saw the identity of the blur for a split second as it came to an impossible stop.
Alexandria.
Then she blasted off again, slamming into Leviathan's back mid-spin and propelled him away from the city center.
Leviathan wasn't having that.
When I landed only three seconds later, Alexandria was flying away from Leviathan and slammed into a derelict office building. It took her one second to blast right back into the fight. I saw in the sky Legend and Eidolon arriving together, and they began pelting the water lizard with everything they had.
I, on the other hand, knew I was fucked if I stayed -.
Capes I knew who were weaker than me jumped into the fray.
And one of them got backhanded right towards me.
I caught them and booked it.
"N-No, I can still f-fight… !" an agonized voice rasped from between my armored arms and chest. I glanced down.
"Half of your ribcage is broken!" I snapped. "Shut up and let me get you to the med tent!"
I tried my best to not jostle her. It was just like with Amy when she got shot. I booked it. My legs burned as both of us were pelted by the nearly painful rate of rain falling on us.
I landed on the rooftop of the PRT ENE headquarters with a crunch, and then zoomed into the medical tents.
There, I saw capes from all over the USA shouting, healing, and defending.
"I need help here!" I shouted as I ran over to the nearest empty bed.
One of the healers quickly came over but stopped right when he was over the bed.
He shook his head and ran off elsewhere.
"W-What are you doing?!"
"She's already dead!"
I froze and then looked down.
Glazed eyes, chest no longer moving, and silent.
I gritted my teeth.
"Fuck!" I shouted before jumping back out into the raining city.
I screamed as I rolled to dodge a flash flood in one of the streets. Crashing into a alley, I got up and ran, almost stumbling, but I could hear the water behind me.
I grabbed onto a fire hatch ladder and then jumped off from one wall to the other, climbing up and up and up-.
And then I was once again over the skyline.
I spun around and then landed on the gravel rooftop of the shorter building, and then paled.
Leviathan was within a block of me, again.
It saw me.
And charged.
"FUCK YOU!" I shouted as it came within its punching distance. It swiped at me from above, and I rolled to the side, tossing gravel everywhere. Leviathan's attack cut the building in half.
I shot back up and then jumped away as the same hand that cut the building in half came back for a backhand strike. It swung past me, but the air pressure generated by the passage of the hand sent me off course.
And I plummeted down to the street where the flash flood just passed through.
My armor splashed against the flooded street and I sunk in. I twisted in the water and tried to swim up.
But the water pulled me down.
My eyes widened inside my airtight helmet.
And then a shadow fell over me.
I screamed in pain when it came down and punched me through the water. Water didn't stop it. In fact, it seemed to enhance its speed and striking force. My body armor crumpled all around me as I slammed into the ground.
Leviathan punched me again, and this time, it broke through my armor.
I laid there in agonizing pain as water rushed… rushed…
And then suddenly, I was out of the water.
And no longer in pain?
I sat up quickly and looked up.
Eidolon was above me.
"Get out of here."
And then he was gone, flying high into the sky to rain down death alongside Legend.
I grimaced as I caressed my smooth if muscled stomach.
I took three hits and nearly died.
I booked it.
Chapter 27
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 25
-VB-
The call came when I had only ran two blocks from the sight of my near-death. "Trumpteer down, F-9!"
I ran… and then turned around.
With my newly healed body, I sped towards F9 and found the aforementioned cape. She struggled on the flooded asphalt road, legs and arms trembling while blood dribbled down from her head and chest.
I landed right next to her and splashed water everywhere. I quickly scooped her up and then bounded away.
After failing one and nearly dying myself, Trumpeter was the first life I saved in this battle.
-VB-
Leviathan "fled" after putting a hole in Brockton Bay twice as big as I remembered from canon. The storm abated and… well, it wasn't pretty.
The idea of a tilting building always seemed like a realistic thing to me. It was just a building leaning on the side, right?
No, what I was seeing told me that all those leaning buildings were but a danger to everyone nearby.
Because with the water's pushing force gone, these buildings began to collapse, and as if Leviathan was the architectural Simurgh, those buildings fell at the most inopportune moments.
I rolled with the nearly dead cape in my arms onto the road as the building they were under collapsed under its own weight. Concrete rubble bounced away, smashed into the ground, and pebbled my back. I grunted in pain, though slightly protected by my currently self-repairing power armor's undamaged backside.
I felt each and every impact, though, because the missing front side could't absorb the kinetic energy.
And then it was over.
Grunting in pain of rocky assault and exertion from the seventh hour of excavation and search and rescue work, I jumped away once more towards the triage point.
Only two minutes later, I arrived and gently set this cape down on the nearest empty bed. "MEDIC!" I shouted. "Bradycardia and hypotension! Open wounds on their legs and torso!"
And then I left to rescue another person.
In and out.
In and out.
With each person I rescued - and with each person I failed to save - and with each rubble I had to dig through, I grew progressively dirtier and dirtier.
When I finally stopped as the sun began to set, my pristine silver power armor was now black and brown from soot, dirt, mud, blood, and asphalt.
Hungry, exhausted, and mentally drained, I collapsed next to the triage tents and fell asleep.
-VB-
"ALAN!"
It was Amy.
My eyes snapped open and I whirled around.
I was still next to the medical tents, but it was night now.
Where was…?
I felt someone crash into me in a hug, and I absentmindedly hugged them back.
It was Amy.
She started crying. Befuddled, I just rocked her back and forth as I sat there.
Why was she here?
Oh, right. The Endbringer fight was over. Of course, she'd come back home.
I closed my eyes as I continued to rock her back and forth.
I felt so tired.
My eyes drifted close again.
-VB-
"Master, must you leave?"
Master stared back at me, stroking his short platinum white beard and moustache. "If I do not leave, then you will never grow."
"But I learn plenty from you!"
"No. There are lessons one must learn by themselves without help. All of the wisdom you can gain from me have already been given to you. I cannot help you anymore."
"But-"
"But nothing. I leave now with a heart full of pride, because I believe that you will succeed in the world out there. No, I know you will."
"Then… why must you leave?"
Master smiled.
"Because you love me like a son loves their father, but you are too cowardly to leave on your own. So just as a tiger kicks their cub down a slope and forces it to get back up, I too must do the same. Goodbye, Qi Huan. May you break the Will of the Heavens."
-VB-
When I woke up, I was home.
Blearily, I sat up. I didn't have the armor on me, I was clean, and I was super hungry.
Pushing myself up, I felt… wonderful. My body didn't feel like it got punched by Leviathan or spent half a day rescuing people out of the wrecked part of the city.
I looked down and saw Amy.
She had dark bags underneath her eyes.
My heart clenched at the sight of it, and knew that I was the cause.
"I'm sorry," I muttered as I laid my hands on her.
She slept soundly. She must have been tired.
Did she work while I was out? She was still Panacea to the world. She must have.
Stifling my groan, I got out of the bed.
Perhaps she'll like breakfast in bed.
I walked downstairs from our bedroom and paused.
On the couch was… Neil and Sarah?
I checked the other rooms.
Crystal and Eric were in our first floor guestroom. Victoria, Mark, and Carol were in the upstairs guest room.
…
I guessed then that I was making breakfast for everyone.
Humming lightly and quietly, I walked into the kitchen to make food.
'Why were they here?' I thought as I cracked the eggs open and dropped the egg onto the pan, throwing away the shell to the food waste bin with a precise underhand toss. 'Something must have happened to their houses, which are in Downtown.'
As far as I know…
…
I ran from Leviathan while running through Downtown.
'Oh God, am I responsible? Did their homes get wrecked? I didn't go near where their houses are, but it's Leviathan. He wrecks entire cities, their regions, and sinks islands. So what if I didn't go near, it's still within his area of effect,' I thought dejectedly.
I laid down stripes of bacon on another heated pan.
I opened the fridge, and pulled out a heart of romaine lettuce. I deftly pulled out a knife from the rack and sliced away into bite-sized chunks before tossing them all into a bowl. Rather than use anything heavy, I chose to go with simple salt and pepper seasoning for breakfast.
"Alan…?"
I looked over my shoulder and saw Victoria.
"Hey," I grinned as I turned back to focus on making breakfast. "Breakfast will be ready in about five minutes. Do you mind waking everyone up?"
"O-Okay."
They all woke up and I served breakfast. It was a humble affair of fried bacon and egg, reheated mashed potatoes, and lightly seasoned romaine salad. Our dinner table wasn't big enough, so some of us had to sit on the couch and eat there.
To my surprise, breakfast turned out to be a quiet affair today.
Why was it?
"… So what's the aftermath of the battle like?" I asked when we finished eating.
My head snapped to the side. My cheek hurts.
I've… been slapped?
"You're not allowed to die," Amy hissed from the side.
"… Understood."
And that was that.
Sarah cleared her throat. "Coastal Downtown is heavily damaged. Most of the infrastructure is down. Say how are you getting electricity here?"
"I have batteries."
"For house electricity?"
"Part of how I have powered armor. What about the rest of the city?"
"The Docks suffered the most damage. They now have a lake that takes up half of the Docks. Docks South survived for the most part. Trainyard was untouched, but it is heavily flooded."
Amy, at this point, leaned on my shoulder, and I wrapped an arm around her.
The Protectorate ENE was half dead. What had remained of the Empire Eighty-Eight was more or less gone. Coil supposedly died. The Merchants didn't suffer any damage. ABB lost Bakuda and Oni Lee. These were only the big players. A large number of small-time villains - and not a small number of independent heroes - had also gone and got butchered by Leviathan.
Wait.
"Does that mean…?"
"Yes, heroes now outnumber the villains two to one."
Chapter 28
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 26
-VB-
The Endbringer Fight was a wake-up call.
Before that point, I've defeated any and all adversaries that came my way. I was strong.
I am strong.
But by no means was I the strongest or even close to it.
I needed to get stronger.
"Easier said than done," I grumbled to myself while laying down on my back in my recently flooded underground training room. This was the second lowest level.
Leviathan's floods may not have swept the houses down where I lived, but the waters still did come crashing in, and my many levels of underground floors had been flooded. I've spent the last week just pumping the water out.
There was no time to train, and it has only made me fret and worry over my need to train to get stronger, especially since I knew that the Slaughterhouse Nine, Accord's Ambassadors, and the Teeth would be showing up here soon.
I wasn't growing stronger yet the threats to me and my family grew closer. At the same time, I couldn't simply abandon any other duties nor could I pay someone to do them for me because the city was a wreck and everyone, including people who would have pumped out my flooded underground floors for money, were fixing their own properties and situations.
The soft tappings of someone's feet walking down the stairs got me to glance over, and I saw Amy in only shorts and a tank top. She leaned against the railing to steady herself because her center of gravity was in her taut pregnant belly.
… It's only been two months. How was it that she was already showing more than she should? Or rather the baby was more developed then it should be?
God, I did not need the baby to be in danger, too.
Oh God, Amy and the baby were going to be here when the Nine came!
I sat up as she reached the bottom of the stair and tapped on the ground.
"Damn, you really got it done, huh?"
"Yup," I grunted as I rolled my shoulders. "Just one more floor to go."
She hummed as she walked over… and then dropped herself into my lap. I didn't even grunt; objectively speaking, she didn't feel heavy at all to me, which was a side benefit of being a muscle, endurance, and strength based cultivator.
She leaned sideways into my bare and sweaty chest, and I noticed that she was sweaty, too.
"It's too fucking hot and humid," she grumbled.
"And sitting on your sweaty and hot husband makes it better?"
"Yes."
I laughed and wrapped my arms around her.
"Ugh, you're sweaty," she grunted half-heartedly. We sat there in comfortable silence, but I knew that I would have to ask some questions. Having been stuck in the house for an entire week, I remained somewhat disconnected from the rest of the city. The rest of the New Wave went out each day, though they returned to our house to clean up and sleep well, but everyone was tired at the end of the day, and though I was comparatively energetic, conversation needed two parties at the very least.
Today was Amy's first day off. She's been working in the hospitals constantly to keep people alive.
(I got Vicky to stick by Amy to prevent her from overworking).
"… How is the rest of the city?" I asked cautiously.
She groaned as she turned her face on my chest. "I never had to stay for Endbringer fights before but this is ridiculous… !" she moaned pathetically. "There's so many people hurt and then there are idiots going around getting hurt so I have to heal them again!"
"Rough. Is it the heroes?"
"I wish it was the heroes," she growled with a scowl on her face. "At least then I can use my medic privileges to slap some common sense into them and get away with it. No, it's the fucking vigilantes and newcomers!"
I blinked. "You mean the people who stayed after killing the Empire?"
"No, worse! New Triggers!"
"Should I be out and about? Only the last floor is left, and I can push it to the side for a bit."
"I don't know," she mumbled. "I don't fight, even though I want to."
I caressed her arm and back.
"Well, at least our baby seems to be getting pretty big."
"I know. I actually asked the doctors to check, you know?"
"You did?"
"Mhmm. They said she's healthy."
I blinked.
"She?"
She looked up at me as I looked down. She had a grin on her face. "Yup. We have a girl on our hands, Alan."
I gawked.
And then I was up on my feet, lifting Amy off the ground.
And laughing.
Happily.
She laughed with me, and I loved how happy she sounded.
-VB-
Well, I did notice it but my little brush with death… might have been good for me.
0.1 seconds-.
My left fist lashed out thrice.
0.2 seconds-.
I whirled around and snap-kicked with enough force to crack the air, not my clothes.
0.5 seconds-.
Carrying my momentum forward, I spun vertically and came down with an axe kick. The earth beneath me, not concrete at home but earth out in a park not too far from home, cratered.
0.9 seconds-.
And then I brought everything to a halt by using the same leg from the axe kick to snap a chin smashing knee striking at the air.
1.1 seconds passed.
And then I dropped to the ground.
I let out a deep breath of air not of exertion but to calm myself.
I wasn't that fast or strong before.
I brought myself back to attention. Okay.
"I'm ready for a patrol, Eric," I said as I turned around.
Eric, Shielder in his costume, gawked at me. Then he snapped back to attention and shook his head as if to remove mental cobwebs. "Wait, wait, wait, what the fuck was that? I thought you were a Mover/Brute 4! That's not a 4!" he yelled exasperatedly before sighing. "This is that 'improvement' thing Amy and Vicky said you did, right?"
I blinked and shrugged. "Yes. Apparently, near-death experiences count as a good reason to get improvements."
Eric nodded solemnly. "Right. You… nearly died," he muttered.
"Took a punch directly from Leviathan," I grimaced. "If it wasn't for Eidolon, then I would have been dead."
He grunted. "… You know that would have left Amy a widow, right? Even if you two haven't legally married yet."
"Yeah."
"Good. Vicky asked me to do this."
My head snapped to the side as a fist slammed into my maskless and helmetless face. But that's all it did.
"YYOOOOWWW!!!!"
The one who was hurt wasn't me but Eric.
"Did you forget to encase your hand with your shields or something?" I asked confusedly.
He stared at me incredulously. "My shields don't work that way!" he whined as he cradled his fist.
"If you say so." I could be snarky and ask if he, who's been a cape for far longer than I have, hasn't ever experimented with his power. Nevermind rude, that was outright disrespectful to him. "Where we heading to first?"
"Well, I guess we'll go around Downtown first and then head up to the Docks…"
It was a quiet night.
Chapter 29
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 27
-VB-
I brought myself to a stop when I heard sobs, and then I found the source.
In one of my training runs around the city (because that's something I did now as part of a more enhanced and intensified training regime), I found Vicky crying on the edge of Boat Graveyard's defunct and ruined wooden pier. It was a wonder how this thing was still standing.
Unsure of what to do, I slowly walked across the pier.
On my fifth step and less than a hundred yards from her, the wood underneath my feet creaked.
Vicky jolted up and whirled around.
Her puffy eyes and snotty nose didn't make her any prettier than her usual self but it made her look like a beautiful tragic figure.
Forgoing subtlety and stealth, I puffed up and walked right up to her and then sat down next to her.
"… Dean, right?"
Vicky's sobs petered out and then burst back out to full strength almost immediately.
I wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
Gallant, otherwise known as Dean aka Vicky's boyfriend, died during Leviathan's attack. Though their relationship had always been rocky and passionate, she loved Dean. To hear his death and not even have his dead body…
She held out. She held hope that Dean was still alive and that he just needed to be rescued. She spent days in the rubbles, trying her damnedest along with me.
But she had to face the facts eventually.
Dean died.
It brought her down. She broke down hard when the news finally came.
Despite the fact that she kept up a cheerful appearance a month after his death, the truth of the fact was that she did love him. I saw this. Her parents saw this. Amy saw this.
Vicky still grieved as I suspected, but she did it far from friends, family, and home. Out here where no one ever came by, she could be a sobbing wreck no one needed to see. A hero who hid her sorrow from others because a hero wouldn't cause sorrow in others.
… Or so I assumed why she was doing this. In truth, she may just feel shame at grieving like this, though no one would blame her for grieving.
I sat there with her as she worked her sorrow out of her system for today.
As her crying abated, we were left in a somewhat uncomfortable silence.
"… You probably think that I'm a wimp."
I didn't look at her as I answered. "No."
"A cry baby."
"Everyone cries for those they lost."
She didn't look at me, either.
"… Amy's so much stronger than me."
"How so?"
"When we heard that you died… well, you didn't, but Dragon said you did-"
"How did she take it?"
"We didn't find out about it until Amy came to help with the aftermath. Some of the capes began to offer condolences, you know."
I grimaced.
"Amy refused to believe them. She just went right into healing people. It's always possible that your wristband broke and it just reported you dead. So she healed and healed hoping to find you among the injured."
"But I wasn't there."
"No. You were out and about reducing people without letting us know."
"Eric punched me for that."
"I heard that he came back with a swollen fist."
"He punched me too hard."
She snorted. "Yeah. Your body's closer to that of a rock than a man," she grumbled. "… How did you get so strong?"
"Me? Strong? What are you talking about?"
"Most people get vaporized after taking a punch from Leviathan."
"I was underwater when it punched me."
"That's even worse. He's stronger underwater."
"Oh."
If what she said was true, then… fuck, I really should be a red mist. Or a red stain in the flood. How did I survive that with only a hole in my chest?
"I don't know."
She laughed. "That's so like you!"
"Hey, you're making me sound dumb!" I protested half-heartedly.
"Well, ya! Amy was sticking to you for years and it took her jumping your bones to finally get the message!"
" She's underage!"
"Barely now."
"She was much underage years ago."
"And?"
"… What do you mean and?"
"Did you forget that you're living in Brockton Bay? We live hard and fast, whether we're a cape or normie."
I clicked my tongue at that.
"Besides, you love Amy, too. You certainly didn't say no too hard, or all of us would have heard about it." She paused. "No, we did hear about it, just that you're great in bed."
"Vicky… !" I moaned into my hands.
There was a difference from hearing that from your friends and your in-laws.
She sighed. "… It's time I moved on, right?"
I looked up.
She had a wistful look on her.
I looked away, staring at the boat graveyard.
"Some people never can, Victoria. It's not their or your fault if you can't. No one would blame you."
"Bah! I'm not going to become a goddamn cat lady!"
I chuckled. "I don't see you as one. If anything, I think you might become that hot MILF everyone wants if you do last being single that long."
She squawked and punched me in the shoulder.
And… I didn't get hurt. I mean, sure, it stung, but -.
She gawked at me.
"HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KEEP GETTING STRONGER SO QUICKLY?!"
I ran for it and she chased after me.
It was better than seeing a depressed and sobbing wreck.
Chapter 30
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 28: Teeth and Groceries
-VB-
"HO!"
My hands slammed into the werewolf cape, and I watched in satisfaction as he flew away.
The Teeth were in town.
Around me, the Teeth's violent anarchists howlered as they shot their guns and got shot in return in an unplanned skirmish in the middle of an intersection. While there were no fires yet, there were plenty of overturned cars and bullet holes on the asphalt road, concrete sidewalks and walls, and broken glass.
They obviously expected to go in and out in a hurry, but they encountered me during my grocery run, and to my surprise, their Trump-Changer cape, Animos, had no power effect on me.
My navy blue t-shirt fluttered in the wind with bullet holes everywhere and only bruises where bullets had struck and failed to penetrate.
Considering just how much of my body had been bruised that way, I was just happy I was as far along in my cultivation as I had been as well as the fact that I chose a path that had strengthened my body to be bulletproof.
One of the thugs screamed as Animos crushed her underneath his body as he tumbled away from me and my strike.
I sped forward, crushing the asphalt beneath me into a crater with a single step that took me from where I punted Animos to my next target some ten yards away.
Now, I was supposed to be a hero.
I was also officially a member of New Wave.
But no way in hell was I going to let these pillaging and raping motherfuckers leave here alive.
Spinning low and then kicking high, I ignored the crunch of bones as my boots slammed my current target's jaw up into his skull. I snapped the gun out of his twitching and trembling hands before he even fell over and then turned to the closest target.
At this point, I was in the center of the Teeth's entrenched position, from which they had been fighting me after I overturned their armored and heavily armed getaway trucks.
Then I saw a yellow and red blur: Velocity.
The man switched in and out of his Breaker form, slamming fists into thugs and then disappearing in a blur.
Animos got up, and instead of fighting me again, he overturned one of the downed trucks. "We're leaving!" he roared and then roared again towards us.
Velocity fell out of his Breaker form, and I saw three of the Teeth thugs take aim.
In a second, I was in front of him as the bullet rain came down.
I gritted my teeth as I held my arms out in front of me to protect my face.
"OW!" I shouted when someone decided to take a potshot at my dick.
"He's got steel balls!"
"We're out! We're out!"
I heard the truck skid away and lowered my arms. They were fleeing.
Gritting my teeth, I picked up the manhole cover nearby like it was a dinner plate and then flung it at my full strength.
The manhole cover whistled as it flew and curved in the air.
And then CRACK.
They screamed as they ran.
I stood there in my last throwing position grumbling before I straightened myself. I turned to Velocity. "Thanks for the assistance, Velocity," I huffed with a grin.
The man wobbled as he got up. My eyes widened when I saw his hands bleeding. Bullet holes. "Y-Yeah, no problem," he replied with a grimace.
I walked up to him as I reached down… okay, my belt and the tags were intact. I uncliped a green tag and then gestured for him to give me his hand. He did and I placed the tag over his hand and wrapped it fully around.
He sighed in relief. "Thanks," he said. "Your tags are awesome."
"No problem," I replied.
My medical tags were one of the few alchemical products that I developed. At Amy's insistence, I supplied all of New Wave and sold some to the PRT ENE after getting safety approval with exceptions for those with bee sting allergy.
They classified it as a tinkertech, and paid me half a grand per tag; I quit my computer job to make these tags instead. They were more practically useful than software programming for me, family, and allies.
"They didn't give you any for your patrol?" I asked as I surveyed the damage. This was going to be a mess to clean up. Oh, someone intentionally riddled my groceries with bullets if the spray pattern said anything. Wonderful.
"They did, but this isn't the first Teeth attack I had to fight today," he sighed. "I used five tags."
I whistled. "Damn. How'd that happen?"
"Civilians."
I hummed. "Critically injured?"
"Yes. They weren't going to make it if I didn't use it."
"Good job, then. I would've lambasted you if you wasted them."
It wasn't easy making them.
He shrugged. "They cost half a grand each. They're not exactly cheap."
"And I can only make so much. So what's this about Teeth attacks elsewhere?"
He grimaced again.
"They're moving into Brockton Bay. We had to fight the Butcher in the southeast by the coasts."
"Not the Docks?"
He shook his head.
"The Butcher?" I asked as I patted my back left cheek pocket. Good, my phone wasn't damaged.
"They were there," he grumbled. "The fucker attacked civilians to keep up unbalanced."
I hummed again before moving to clear the road of bodies and cars. As I dragged the body of the Teeth thug I clearly killed, I pulled my phone out and called.
"{Alan?!}"
"Hey, Amy. Just got into a fight with the Teeth. I might be coming home late because someone riddled the grocery with bullets."
"{Nevermind the groceries! Are you injured?}"
"Nope, honey. Bullets only bruise me."
I heard her sigh in relief. "{Then can you go over and help Vicky in Downtown? I know you're hurt but -}"
"What trouble is she having?"
"{One of the new independent villains is giving her trouble. You know the guy who turns into a thousand tiny balls and reforms at one of the balls along with clones?}"
"Oh, you mean Grenadier?"
"{Whatever his name is. Vicky's fighting him right now, and she can't land anything on him.}"
"Alright. Send me the exact location for me."
"{Stay safe.}"
"I will. Love you."
"{Love you, too.}"
I dropped the body, quickly dragged the car to the curb, and then sped off.
I read the text as I ran. I was… five minutes out if I pushed it.
So I pushed it.
When I arrived, I found Vicky… the fucker was sexually harassing her.
I slammed down onto his back just as he was about to jump her while she was occupied by his clones. I spun in the air and slammed down with a spin kick.
Grenadier screamed as my kick landed on his shoulder and crunched the bones inside.
"Oh, suck it up, pedophile," I spat as he went down clutching at his shoulder and sobbing like a baby. "That's what ya fucking get."
Vicky turned around and she gave me this wide, beaming smile. "Alan!"
"Heyo," I said as I lightly kicked Grenadier's jaw, and sent him to the dreamland. "Heard he was giving you trouble."
"Ugh! Whenever I landed a hit, he just turned into a bunch of high speed tennis balls!" she growled as she glared down at him. One of the clones had been touching her ass when I came down and had just got a fist to the face. "How'd that work for you?"
"Something about my power I guess."
"Bullshit power," she grumbled.
I just flexed in front of her. "The power of well trained muscles~."
To my surprise, I saw her eyeing me appreciatively instead of her usual huff.
"Hmm."
Huh. Was she…?
Well, something to think about later.
"So, where to next?" I asked.
"We sh-. Oh God, what the fuck happened to your shirt?"
I looked down. "Oh, I fought the Teeth. Apparently, Animos' anti-power roar-thing doesn't work on me and bullets bounce off."
"Nice! You can take out half the Teeth then!"
I grinned. That sounded nice.
"But you're going to go see Amy, because all of your chest in one blue bruise."
I looked down. It did look bad.
Well, whatever. I'll just cultivate a little faster today.
But before I left…
"Oh, can you buy some groceries for me, Vicky? The Teeth thugs put bullets through mine."
Groceries didn't care if you got into a fight; you needed to buy them regardless of situation.
Chapter 31
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Interlude 28a
-VB-
The world wasn't fair.
"Did you have to be so violent with the arrests, Rabbit?!" one reporter asked while thrusting his smartphone towards my face and attempting to climb over other reporters.
"You eliminated the Teeth that came to Brockton Bay! Does this mean that you'll be taking the fight to any villains who come to our city?!"
"Rabbit, why is your name rabbit?!"
The world wasn't fair, because these kinds of people existed.
Victoria wanted to talk with Amy and Alan, but she was now kind of afraid to go out to the front of the crowd.
Especially when they were not hesitant about throwing personal questions out there.
She shuddered to think about what kind of questions the team would get if she appeared right now.
So she waited outside and away from the eyes of the reporters and journalists.
…
And then she remembered that Alan and Amy had a backdoor.
She flew around rather than high, and used the buildings and other houses in the block as cover for herself from the ravenous hyenas of the media. Then she lightly dropped herself into their backyard and walked in.
Vicky blinked when she saw Amy in the living room.
And she also noted the size of her pregnancy.
"Amy!" she grinned quickly with a chirp as she flew over slowly and then scooped her up sister into a hug.
Amy, who looked distracted until then, blinked and then grumbled. "Hi, Vicky."
"… What's wrong?" she asked while setting her sister down.
Amy huffed. "Alan's getting a whole bunch of attention."
"… And?"
"I don't like it."
She stared incredulously at Amy. "You… don't like it?"
"I mean, I know that I'm supposed to be helpful and supportive, but… apparently, taking care of the Teeth was far more impressive to people than what I ever did."
"… You're jealous?!"
"N-No! Not jealous! Just… exasperated? Tired? Frustrated? Hell no, am I jealous of Alan's new fame!" Amy huffed again.
Vicky wasn't convinced. "… Alright, what's really wrong? You were never like this when I got famous for whatever reason," she prodded with a grin.
Amy pouted and refused to answer.
"Come on, Amy~," she whined.
"Ugh."
"You sound like a cavewoman."
"Shut up."
"Nah! Tell me!"
Amy glared at her. "Fine. I don't like the hussies draping themselves on him, alright?" she snapped waspishly.
Vicky blinked and also felt something tight and quivering inside her chest.
"You mean like when I hang off of him?" she blurted out her question.
Wait, what?
Amy gave her a confused look. "No? I mean the bitches who just want my husband because he's famous!"
"Ah, right. I actually haven't seen any of them," Vicky recovered quickly.
Her sister snorted. "My man's a good man. He keeps them at arm's length at all times."
Vicky giggled. "Well, he does have some chiseled muscles, you know."
Amy leveled a flat stare at her. "You would know, wouldn't you? You spar with him too often to not know."
She hesitated. "… Hey, Amy."
"Yeah?"
She was taking a big risk with this. Merely asking this question was going to put some cracks in their relationship.
But she had to know.
"What if… what if I liked Alan, too?"
It was a feeling that was there long before Leviathan came and killed Dean along with a whole bunch of people. She met with him so often that it became a norm. He was kind, strong, and resourceful. What more could a girl ask for? Sure, she had Dean back then, but it was simply knowing that an unrelated man like that was nearby and always niggled at the back of her head.
And then Dean died.
And Alan was there for her more than her parents and Amy. He listened to every little thing she sobbed, ranted, and screamed about. He didn't complain - at least until she started throwing stuff at him when he inevitably said something that upped the mood.
She knew that Alan was Amy's.
… But could she join them, maybe?
It was a desperate and hopeful thought. Vicky knew that. She could still be suffering from grief and using the only relatable, successful, and kind man as clutch, even for her loneliness.
Instead of looking for someone else, she was asking for a taken man.
She felt so shitt-.
"… Kind of took you long enough to say it."
Vicky blinked and stared at Amy. Then her jaw dropped in shock at Amy's non judging exasperation.
"Huh?"
"Vicky, who takes care of your health?"
"You…?"
"Who always checks on you after you spar with him?"
"You…"
" Who knows everything about biology, Vicky?"
"… You."
"Right. Did you really think that you could hide your attraction to my man?"
… When Amy put it that way, Vicky felt ridiculously stupid.
Her only answer right then and there was to pull her hands up and cover her face as she began to blush.
"Did you know that he likes you, too?"
Her hands dropped and she stared at Amy as her heart pounded inside her chest.
"W-What?"
"Oh, we talk, you know," Amy grinned. "We talk about everything with each other. We keep very little secrets from each other."
Vicky stared at her sister incredulously. "You two knew?!"
"Yeah. Did you know he said the most romantic thing when I actually told him and he told me that he knew? 'You come first for me, always and forever.'"
Vicky wanted to squeal and moan in despair at the same time.
"And did you know what I said?"
"… What?"
"'If only Vicky didn't have a boyfriend, then I could watch you ram my sister.'"
Amy grinned slyly.
It was too much.
Vicky squealed.
Chapter 32
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Interlude 28b
-VB-
"Amy… !" Vicky hissed at her. "Stop joking!"
"But I'm not," Amy replied with a salacious and sly grin. "I mean… It's kind of hot. My man's bulging muscles and form ravaging my sister… Think about what mom would say~!"
"N-No!"
For Brockton Bay's perfect girl, Vicky could be a little bit prude at times.
"Come on, I already know you like him," she cooed as she lightly touched Vicky and got all of the information on Vicky's state. "I mean, you're already pumping a lot of estrogen merely at the mention of my man…"
"Amy, you're married," her sister hissed at her.
Amy shrugged. "I don't mind sharing with you, you know that, right?"
"We aren't sharing a doll! He's a person and your husband for crying out loud!"
"And I told you exactly what we talked about already. He wants you underneath him and screaming his name."
Vicky blushed and looked away. She was being so cute right now…
"Hey, if you feel uncomfortable about doing it yourself, then why don't you watch us? You know, see if we're something worth joining in on."
"T-That's voyeurism…"
"Voyeurism is only when you don't have permission to watch or do it clandestinely. Alan and I are giving you full permission," she grinned… and couldn't help but pump a bit of dopamine. It wasn't something that wasn't already coming out; she was just… accelerating things a bit.
Because after years of being exposed to Vicky's aura, Amy did have more than a few dreams and fantasies about fondling her adopted sister.
And seeing her man dominate the same girl?
That was going to be too sexy to not help make it happen.
Vicky's blonde hair bounced when she jolted up. "C-Can we stop talking about this?"
"Hmm. Okay. I can always convince you next time."
"There won't be a next time," she growled.
Amy just giggled.
"Oh, I'm sure there will be. You don't know the things Alan can do in bed. The things he can do with his tongue alone…"
"LA LA LA I DON'T HEAR ANYTHING!" she shrieked as she shot up and ran away.
Amy laughed.
She laughed harder when the front door opened and Alan came through, and Vicky, who was on her way out without thinking, slammed into Alan, pressing her entire body up against his chiseled form.
"Hmm? Vicky? When did you get here?" Alan asked as he looked down.
Vicky looked up at him and Amy grinned as she saw Vikcy's blush exploded into a deeper red and spread down her neck, too. And the way she was eyeing his tongue…
"Nothing! Absolutely nothing! I'm leaving! Bye!" she blurted out and then swerved around Alan, flying away as quickly as she could.
Alan stared after her for a moment in confusion before shrugging and closing the door. When he turned to face her, he stopped. "… What did you do?" he asked pointedly.
"Oh, I may have spilled some beans about a few things we talked about in bed…"
"… You mean what kind of fetishes we wanted to try out?"
"No, the other one."
He blinked and then his eyes widened. "Oh. Ohhhhh…"
"Yes~…"
"You didn't."
"I did."
"But she's -"
"She's had plenty of time to get over Dean," she huffed. She had never particularly liked the white knighting Ward anyways.
"Still."
She shrugged as she got up. "I don't care. Vicky's lonely. She needs to get laid. It's been months. I'm pregnant, and you won't go as rough as we used to anymore, so I need to live vicariously through someone. I'd rather have Vicky for that instead of some random gold digger or one of your fans." She paused. "Besides, she likes you, too, but her prudeness is keeping her from joining us in bed even after I bluntly told her that she's invited."
He sighed. "Amy, that's a bit abrupt for that kind of thing, isn't it?" he asked her. "And you know she's not a prude."
"I'm just egging her on. Also, she's liked you for ages, you know."
"I know. You told me."
She got up from the sofa, walked up to him, and held her hands and arms up.
He smiled and then leaned down. With him closer to her, she wrapped her arms around his back and neck and planted a deep kiss on his lips.
Soon, it devolved into french kissing where their tongues slid and slicked around each other.
His hands slid down, pulled her skirt up, and groped both of her ass cheeks.
She moaned a little as he kneaded her flesh, and she pressed her boobs more against his chest, rolling her body around to let him feel her boobs more.
She panted as they broke the kiss. "All that talk about wanting to see you fuck her silly got me a little wet. Make me happy?" she asked, widening her eyes and looking up at him to make those perfect puppy eyes.
He chuckled as he scooped her up. "Sure, my queen. I'll satisfy you however you wish," he cooed into her neck as he gave her kisses all over.
She squealed happily as he carried her to bed.
They tossed the clothes aside, and soon, she was moaning as Alan began pumping her pussy with his dick.
By the time they needed to eat dinner, she laid there on the bed with Alan's cum plastered on her hair, face, boobs, stomach, and dribbling them out of her vagina.
And she felt great.
"Make me dinner?" she asked tiredly.
He laughed but after kissing her a kiss on her un-plastered cheek, he went out to do just that after a quick shower.
As she laid there satisfied on their bed, she couldn't help but feel good about all of this. What more could she ask for?
Huffing, she realized that life could be better; it just needed a fucked silly Vicky moaned on this bed with her.
Chapter 33
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 29
-VB-
My home life was not my only life.
I still operated as a hero, joining New Wave periodically as one of its members to patrol the streets and help the still ruined city.
As one of the few pure Brutes in the city, I went out and volunteered a lot in debris removal and demolition. Part of this was because the still flooded streets of Brockton Bay as well as the debris strewn about everywhere made any kind of large construction equipment hard to reach where they needed to be, but damaged buildings and debris still needed to be removed.
Of course, the city was only all too happy to have me working for them for free.
Actually, I spent more time these days working as a man-sized construction equipment than a bigger-than-life maskless hero.
It did, however, help me with my own cultivation training.
See, despite the fact that I got one-shotted by Leviathan's direct attack, I still hung onto the Path of Stone, which was a plus.
There are downsides to life as well. I wasn't sure why, but two things no longer worked for me: Roleplay Excellence and the Armor; the former just stopped responding and the latter broke down a few days after Leviathan's attack. Without RE, I was left with what I already knew how to do and what this body knew how to do prior to my takeover. Without the armor, I was no longer capable of hitting above my weight class, but my weight class was in the A-tier anyways.
I digressed. I still walked the path of the tank, so to speak, because I still believed in it - as well as the fact that I didn't believe suddenly switching over to another path would be beneficial for my body without spending god knows how long to make that switch as seamless as possible. One of the consistent training methods for my path was to exercise physically in ever increasing intensity. Moving and hurling concrete boulders and steel beams? That was some good fucking exercise for me.
But I was also a man of the house before I was a hero, and as such, I turned in for the night like the rest of my team unlike the Protectorate heroes and the police who had to patrol the city wherever they could because it was their job.
I didn't envy them at all.
-VB-
My home life was getting a bit more complicated, though.
"So let me get this straight."
It's been a week since Vicky last visited us and left flustered. Since then, Amy had become rather enthusiastic about certain ideas. I mean, I wasn't complaining too much; a hot and bothered Amy was Amy who wanted me to "get in the bed and start pumping me already, you meathead!" Amy.
Tonight had been one of those nights, and we spent hours just making love to each other after dinner.
Alas, her enthusiasm came to a head today.
"You want me to… seduce Vicky."
"Yes!" she answered giddily, bouncing away on top of me while our sexes made squelching noises from the bodily fluids that were everywhere at this point.
I rested my hands on her hips and began to pull her down, and she squealed as my dick stretched her pussy.
"It's not l-like I want her to be sad! Y-You know she'll be happy with us~!"
I let go of one cheek and pulled my hand up to grab a hold of her perky and jiggling tit. I pinched her nipple with my thumb and index finger and gave it a squeeze. She moaned, slumping forward even as her hips continued to bounce on top of me.
Amy panted as she came close to her climax again.
"More more more… ~!" she moaned as she pressed herself down against my chest, squeezing her tits between us, and then kissed me.
With one hand on her back and another on her hips, I helped her pump herself on my dick, and after an uncontrollably rapid pace, she clamped down on me and orgasmed. I held down tight on her as I came into her vagina again for the fourth time tonight, and she mumbled incoherently.
"Fuck…" she mumbled as she tiredly pushed herself off of me before staring down with a satisfied small smile. "God, I love you, Alan."
"Love you, too, Amy," I grinned as I planted a brief kiss on her sweaty forehead, and ignored the way that my cultivator dick was still throbbing inside Amy and raring for more. Pulling out of her, I let myself calm down.
"You know my tits are perky as hell, right?"
"They are."
"Vicky's is perkier, and her ass is so fucking tight."
I groaned when half-erect little-me came right back up to full size from that imagination alone. "Really?"
She giggled.
"You're not going to stop until I actually try, aren't you?"
"Nope, because I know all of us like each other."
I sighed in faux-exasperation. No, wait, it was with genuine exasperation. Amy's been more and more assertive lately. "Fine. I'll at least try."
"Try~?" she asked slyly. "You don't even have to try. Just whisper into her ear about wanting to see her on your bed, and she'll be there."
"Your sister is not a slut-"
"Alan, you've been 'dating' her as far as I am concerned with your spars where your sweaty bodies are interlocking and pounding each other-"
I stared at her flatly. "Really?"
She giggled before resting on top of me. "I just want her to be happy, too."
"All the better if she's with us, huh?"
"Tots, yuh," she drawled in her best Victoria impersonation.
"… Let's shower. We're sweaty and disgusting as shit right now."
Chapter 34
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 30
-VB-
My fist blurred from up and down and left to right. Across from me, a desperate gunman screamed as he unloaded his entire clip yet no one died with bullet holes on their bodies. Civilians behind me screamed in fear as the thundering staccato of gunfire echoed ear-piercingly in the room.
And then the gun clicked dry.
The gunman froze as I breathed out a long stream of air before opening my hand.
Like tinkles of coins, the flattened bullets landed heavily and somewhat mutely on the carpeted floor of the colorful classroom filled with children and a single brave teacher who'd just tried to shield the kids with his body.
"W-Why is a hero here?!" the gunman screamed as he reached for another clip.
But then he blinked and I was within arm's reach of him.
He started to scream again, this time in shock and surprise.
I narrowed my eyes in disgust before striking thrice: one each to his neck, gun-holding wrist, and solar plexus.
For a moment, everyone remained still as the gunman's wrist snapped, stomach caved in, and his own neck cracked. Still breathing, he collapsed to the floor, dropping the empty gun on the way down.
The children started crying.
I laughed nervously as the teacher started crying while hugging the kids.
-VB-
"THANK YOU SO MUCH!"
I smiled for the crowd, but I didn't quite feel up to it as I shook the hands of the thankful parents and staff. I watched the gunman get taken away by the police roughly and couldn't help but wonder why he would choose to try and kill children at an elementary school of all places.
Or why he was merely the latest in this week's sudden rise in crime here in Brockton Bay.
I waved the people goodbye and joined Vicky who'd been waiting for me.
She looked happy for me.
"You know, at this rate, you'll become even more famous than I am, and you're not even half as pretty as I am!" she giggled at her own joke.
I rolled my eyes. "I'm sorry, princess. It must hurt to have me infringe upon your fame."
"Well duh~! I'm supposed to be the Brute of the team but you took that over!" she huffed playfully before she took off and flew up.
I jumped up… and stayed up.
It was only yesterday that I got the hang of "kicking the air," and Vicky stared at me for a moment before looking at me in exasperation.
"Seriously? You fly now, too?!" she complained.
I laughed and laughed harder when she playfully hit me in the shoulder. I dropped a foot when I lost focus but I regained that after focusing on "kicking the air."
She huffed as we made our way towards the Brockton General Hospital. After fifteen minutes of flying, we landed softly on the rooftop of the hospital. While Vicky ran off to find Amy, I stopped because something niggled at the edge of my vision.
Walking over to the edge of the rooftop and leaning against the guard railing, I looked down.
And frowned.
Were there supposed to be four black vans there?
Then I saw armed men stomp out.
"What the fu-?!" I hissed before vaulting over the railing.
What the fuck was going on this week?!
I slammed down right in front of the first gunmen, shattering the concrete sidewalk. None of these guys had the PRT or police badges on them.
Good enough for me.
I lashed out without warning with my fists.
The first one went down even before he had a chance to recognize the change in his situation. He flipped thrice mid-air before crashing into the ground unconscious, and he was soon joined by the second that saw but couldn't react fast enough to dodge my uppercut, sending him flying six feet off the ground and then crashing back into the ground.
"OPEN FIRE!" someone shouted from their back.
But bullets pinged off of my skin and I ploughed through them. One of them tried to get back into the van, but I tore the gun from the nearest gunman, bent it, and threw it like a boomerang. The improvised boomerang flew and then struck through the hood of the van through sheer force.
I turned to the rest, who'd all run out of bullets from their clip nearly simultaneously in their panic to put me down quickly.
"Surrender and you'll have less bones broken," I growled. I was not in the mood for this shit right now.
The gunmen looked at each other before slowly dropping their guns and putting their hands behind their heads.
-VB-
"What the fuck is happening?!" I snapped angrily.
Right now, I was in a meeting with all of New Wave, local PRT leadership, Wards, and the Protectorate. The sheer number of crimes being committed was through the roof, and I only managed to stop what I did because I was fast and patrolled for hours on end.
"Most of the criminals all of us caught have direct or indirect contract with the Elite," Director Piggot sighed as she looked over the compiled summary of the arrests. "There is a high chance that a new cell of the Elite wants to 'break' into the city, and they are putting us off-balance with these attacks so that they can sneak in before we can stop them."
Brandish frowned. "I find the entire situation to be absurd. What exactly makes them think that this is all necessary?" she asked. "It makes them more of a target to remove, not any less."
Piggot turned and stared at me.
"… Me?" I asked incredulously.
"According to one mercenary who we have verified to be in the Elite's retinue, the Elite are deathly afraid of you."
"What the fuck did I do to them?"
"Not what you did but what you have done," Lady Photon sighed. "I am honestly happy to have you in the team, Alan, but you do know that your arrest records are… very spotty."
"Huh?"
"You break bones at a minimum and threaten to kill them if your enemies don't surrender. Like how you arrested the Merchants."
It was about two weeks ago. A week after Amy and I had a serious talk about bringing Vicky to our bed, I did end up finding and then fighting the Merchants who were on the move. Skidmark was among them, and I demanded that he surrender. He refused and in the ensuing fight, I ended up killing Skidmark. Part of that may have been because I wanted to fulfill my Kill Contract (source of my power) and didn't want to lose my powers again.
Because that's what happened with the armor and my Roleplay Excellence. I failed to kill Kaiser, so I lost them.
So I made it look like an accident when I killed Skidmark.
Still, that one death painted me in a rather harsh light compared to the rest of the heroes.
"Skidmark fucking deserved it and all of you know it."
What fueled my need to kill Skidmark may have also been because I found him raping a drugged out teen girl who looked too much like Amy.
"Regardless, the Elite runs each of their branches autonomously. As such, we won't know what they want unless we get in contact with this particular branch. And considering how skittish they appear to be, we might not get a chance to talk with them before we have to put them down."
Right, because talking to the Elite wasn't a big deal for the PRT; it was a regular occurrence across the nation where the branches were willing to play ball. This new branch didn't seem like they were going to be playing ball.
"Then don't pin their actions on me like that Piggot," I snapped at the obese director. "If their fucking branch head acts like a douche, dick, and dipshit, then it ain't my fault. If you think talking tough with your allies makes them easier to work with, then you're dead fucking wrong."
Lady Photon and Assault facepalmed.
"You speak as if you are above reproach, Rabbit," she snapped back with equal fervor. "Do you know how much destruction you leave behind with each attack?"
"You can fix concrete. You can't fix dead," I retorted. "And your troopers' ineffectiveness against the new trigger capes leaves more dead, Piggot. Fix your own shit before you start the blame game."
Did I mention that Piggot and I hated each other?
Her PR department's attempt to deflect their ENE's recent failures towards me, for my brutal takedowns and bloody results, and then her willingness to pull them back started this little feud.
"Whatever," I grunted before standing up."
"Alan, where are you going?!" Lady Photon asked.
"Away from the pig and her circus!" I replied.
It wasn't like I was going to be hero'ing while I was stuck in a meeting room.
… I should find these Elite and give them a piece of my mind.
Chapter 35
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 31
-VB-
Knock knock.
I paused in my computer work. I may now be a "full-time" hero, but I still liked to work with programming for fun. It was now a little hobby that I barely got to do, but it was something I still did.
I rose up from the chair and walked over to the front door. Then I peered through the peephole… and nearly choked when I found a deer skull masked man in a business suit. This guy was definitely a cape, but I had no idea who this was. For all I knew, he could be a Master.
Well, it wasn't like I could be mastered. No, what I was worried about was whether or not Amy would be mastered because she was in the house as well.
I quickly opened the door, stepped outside, and then closed it behind me. Drawing myself to full height, I looked at the man who invited himself onto my porch.
He was as tall as I was, cleanly dressed, and smelled of fir and oil.
"How can I help you?" I asked politely. A cape was still a person, and it would be rude to be on the offensive just because a man wore a mask. What I also "sensed," however, was that there were more waiting with him.
Even if I had a hunch about who this was.
And if my hunch was right, I should be punching the shit out of him.
To my surprise, the deer skull masked man bowed. "You are Rabbit, yes?"
"Yes."
The man nodded. "I am here on behalf of the Elite's leadership to apologize for the inconvenience caused by those claiming to be a part of our prestigious organization."
'The fuck?'
I blinked and tried to get his words through my head. "Wait, are you telling me that the Elite that's been wrecking havoc on the bay…"
"Is not part of the Elite, yes," the man said as he straightened his back. "We came to you because you were the one most involved in fighting them."
"Not the Protectorate?"
"As great as an institution and ideal the Protectorate and the PRT upholds, we find them lacking in too many ways. They promised so much, delivered too little, and oppress those who only sought to thrive," he harrumphed. It sounded a bit personal to me. "And the rest of your team are not so friendly with the Elite, even when we did have a branch here."
"I see-."
"And these fakes will not bother you anymore."
I blinked.
"Come again?"
The man looked just a bit more sinister. "The Elite takes care of its problems, and imitators are one of those. Rest assured that your city will no longer suffer from them. After that, we will leave."
I was half-tempted to pick a fight with him right now. "Takes care of problems" for underground organizations usually meant executions and disposal where necessary and distribution of seized assets, and parahumans fell into too many organizations' definition of seized asset.
However, what was I going to get out of this if I picked a fight?
The Elite, however, could provide an alternative to the current problem in the bay: power vacuum.
"I have no problem with the Elite as long as it is managed and operated by those like Uppercrust," I replied. "I do not see Uppercrust as a criminal, merely someone who associates with criminals like Bastard Son."
The man looked surprised by my admission.
"In fact, I give the Elite permission to stay and open a new branch in Brockton Bay should the cell here be led by those like Uppercrust."
"… On what grounds would you be 'granting' us this permission?"
I hummed. "What's your name? Cape name, that is."
"Hannover of Chicago."
An odd name, but I was called Rabbit, so I couldn't point fingers.
"Hannover, I declare it so because I am the strongest parahuman in the bay, and I have yet to reach my ceiling."
Two things happened at the same time as my declaration.
Hannover backpedaled and then two identically dressed and armed almost ninja-like capes dropped out of nowhere and placed themselves in front of Hannover.
"… What?" I asked, completely unbothered by the two of them. "Did something happen?"
John "Hannover" Merrills steadied his trembling hands and body to the best of his abilities as his power crooned over what he was seeing. His mind felt like someone just punched his brain. Everything was only held together because his power refused to let him collapse while it bathed in the unexplainable downpour of oppressive aura that had come and disappeared just as quickly.
When Rabbit made that declaration, the world seemed to quake but he knew that it wasn't the physical world but something deeper. It was instinctive.
He stood before his better when his better made that declaration.
"N-No," he replied quickly, unwilling to annoy the man in any measure. "No, I think I misstepped."
The man eyed him critically for a moment before shrugging and turning around. "Well, you got the message." Then he paused and turned back around. "You said you got them already, yes?"
"Yes…?"
"How did you?"
John smirked behind his mask. "Many branches of the Elite holds Thinkers on retinue, if not as a member of the cell. Those Thinkers were merely put to use."
"Hmm. What were the names of the imposters?"
"Coil."
The man blinked. "That bitch was still alive?" Again, he paused. "Is he still alive?"
"No. We made sure to kill him and his body double."
"Oh good," Rabbit chuckled. "I knew that the bastard was always skulking around, but man, I really thought he died during Leviathan's attack. Whatever. Good job. For that alone, I might give you a bit more leeway later. Cheers."
And then he closed the door softly behind him after going back into his home.
John wasted no time. He gestured for Ni and Mi to follow him back to his limousine.
It was only once he got in that he broke down as his literal supernatural control of his body broke down. He broke down between the two Finnish twins, and bawled like a baby as they held him, their own hands trembling from whatever it was that all three of them had been subjected to.
It felt like he almost died. If Rabbit wished it, then he and his women would be dead.
When his crisis ended, it left not just him but all three of them drained in the safety of their tinkertech armored and armed limo.
"T-That wasn't what any of our Thinker said he was…" Ni whimpered. He wrapped his arms around her and Mi as their own control broke down.
No, it wasn't. They said Rabbit was one of the strongest. They said this was an easy job to appease perhaps someone who may yet reach Triumvirate level.
They didn't fucking mention that he was a reality warper.
His power - he named it "Sherlock's Eyes" - gave him deep insights into those he saw activate their power. He wasn't a cell leader, but he sure also wasn't a low level street thug for the Elite. He had worked with others on Brockton Bay after reports of the fake Elite came in.
He came here to appease one of the factions, but instead, he crawled away with his life from the jaws of a sleeping bear.
"Fuck, there goes my mind being flowery with description and events," he moaned. It was a quirk he developed after he got his power.
"H-How bad was it, John?" Mi, his Evaline, asked.
His power categorized individuals and their powers in combination. It could be as low as "negligible" to as high as "king."
"Count right now-," he mumbled.
He only ever encountered a king once, and that was Alexandria. Legend was considered Duke, which was only one step above Count.
But there was an additional qualifier to his ratings.
"And?" Ni asked hoarsely even though she should know what it was already from the three of them felt.
" Tyrant."
A title that he had only gotten from the Endbringers for the potential that they could do.
"He's a fucking Tyrant…" he muttered as his eyes began to close from the stress (he was always such a wimp. God, it sucked to need two women to take care of him…)
And then he fainted.
Chapter 36
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 32
-VB-
I hit my upper limit.
I let a deep and steady breath, trying in vain to get my Qi to circulate faster. Unfortunately, I found a hard limit.
Inner Arts… It was something I hadn't focused on. I've focused so far on my Outer Arts, which was the Path of One Thousand Layers. However, I have neglected my Inner Arts which led to a limit on my Outer Arts.
"So balance," Amy summed up for me.
I grunted. "Yes," I replied easily as I opened my eyes.
"How are you going to fix that?" she asked with a hum as she wiped down my body with a wet towel. I couldn't move from this position right now, because my flimsy attempt at Inner Art Qi manipulation was still ongoing and needed to complete the steps.
The Qi I sent out to all corners of my body slowly drifted back towards my core, and I grunted in pain as their absence left behind discomfort that slowly rose in intensity to pinprick stabbing pain. Which was happening all over my body.
Amy winced when she brushed her hand against my skin and caught a wind of what was happening beneath the skin. She didn't say anything, yet, because I've told her that I needed all of my concentration to do this properly. Once it was over, however, I expected a bit of tongue lashing.
There was a good thing that came out of this pain, though. I knew instinctively that by doing this, I made the channels thicker, meaning that channeling Qi would be smoother once this session was over.
I shuddered as pain wrecked my lungs and breathing became hard for a moment.
Amy looked like she was about to interfere, but then I got my breathing under control. She still looked tense, though.
Finally, after what felt like an hour, it was done.
"Done," I said loudly as I stiffly got up.
Amy quickly touched my back with her hand and checked me over.
"How does a little manipulation of energy make you so exhausted?" she asked rhetorically. She already knew the answer, considering that she had a bit of Qi in her as well at this point. Unlike me, she didn't focus on it as much. She did, however, get more inventive as the days passed about how she used her biokinetics.
"Here," she said as she handed me a child can of beer.
I didn't even bother to read the brand or the label, I just popped it and drank it. As the liquor ran down my esophagus, I rumbled in pleasure. "That hits the spot," I muttered. I turned around… and then raised an eyebrow. "When did you get here?" I asked.
Sitting on a bench next to the wall behind Amy, Vicky sat there with a light pink dusting on her face and one leg over the other.
"An hour ago."
"An hour ago?" I muttered before turning to look at Amy. "How long have I been doing this?"
" Four hours," she growled with a glare. Ah, she was very upset with me.
"Was it my turn to make lunch?"
"Yes." She paused. "But you also forgot to join the team meeting."
"Ah shit, was that today?" I muttered.
She slapped my shoulder lightly. "Yes, you big dolt. Now, get dressed up. Lunch is waiting for you, and I'm not going to have you or anyone running around the house shirtless."
"Ooh, getting bossy with your man, Amy?" Vicky crooned.
Amy blushed. "I can do whatever I want!" she snapped with no heat in her voice and upturned her nose.
I chuckled and then gave Amy's bottom a squeeze, making her squeal in surprise.
"I think I like this Amy," I said faux whisperingly in her ear as huskily as I could take it.
She glared up at me with a blush before huffing. And then she had an idea. She turned ot Vicky. "Hey, Vicky, can you look after my lug of a man? I need to go to the hospital today."
Amy's been going back to her regular role as a volunteer healer, though with reduced hours, since the eradication of the false Elite and the introduction of a much calmer and quieter Elite, who moved into Lord's Market.
This left me alone a bit more than usual.
"Uh… yeah, sure!" the blonde replied quickly. "What's he going to do today?"
"Probably nothing, but he's stupid enough to toss everything to the ground when he hears a single gunshot. Keep him ground, okay?"
Now, I felt a little insulted. "I don't jump at every single gunshot!" I did not whine.
"Yes, you do. Last time you jumped in, it was a firework."
"It's not my fault for being more than a little prejudiced, even if it was near July 4th!"
"Uh huh. Keep him grounded."
And then she was gone, walking up the stairs without issue despite her four month pregnancy taut belly; having had her Qi awakened in her, she's been using that to reinforce her muscles.
However just as she was about to leave my sight, she paused for just a moment and then she mimed a finger going into a hole and then pointed at Vicky.
Hold up, girl, are you telling me to fuck your sister behind your back? What happened to your threesome aspirations?!
Chapter 37
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 33
-VB-
I… wasn't actually sure about how I should go about this.
I mean, yes, just like Amy, I liked Victoria.
… Okay, I'll be more thorough and honest.
Victoria Dallon was a hot blonde woman who also liked me. She was funny, if a bit ill tempered and judgemental, strong, and… Just a good person in general.
Did I mention that she was sexy?
Because she was in front of me right now with too much skin showing right after Amy urged me to pop her cherry.
Speaking of which, I would be very happy to be the one to take her virginity.
… Again, how should I go about this? Rough? Aggressive?
Forbidden fruit-esque?!
Ugh, analysis paralysis was a thing, people.
Vicky jumped when she felt hands on her shoulder from behind. She looked over her shoulder and found Alan so very close to her. Her back was almost touching his chest.
"A-Alan?" she stuttered out. And then she squeaked. She squeaked because his hands ran around towards the back from her shoulder and then started to run down her sides. "W-What are you doing?!" she shrieked.
She froze completely when she felt his hands slid down and around her stomach and his arms came around. She found herself in his arms… and she liked it.
And then she remembered that Alan was Amy's husband, and this… this… She momentarily raised her hands to break herself free-.
"You know I don't mind, right?" Amy giggled.
She fidgeted as she tried to keep herself calm, but all she felt was how hot everything was.
"T-This feels wrong-" she protested weakly, but that was a lie. It was the first time she found herself in Alan's arms that wasn't some sort of sparring, and she liked how his thick nearly trunk-like arms wrapped around her securely yet gently.
Alan didn't say anything. Instead, he leaned down and kissed her ear. Vicky bit her lips as he began to kiss her in different places, slowly sometimes, chastely at others, and too long and wetly in some places. He was down to her neck, leaving hickies and -.
She reached out and gripped his arms as his hands began to slide down. His hands roamed around her taut belly and to her sides before they slid down. She shivered as he hooked his fingers on her shorts… and pulled down.
She whimpered when she felt him pull not just her shorts but also her panty down.
I paused, holding myself back from carrying her to the sofa to ravage her on the spot. Instead, I flipped her around.
She looked at me with surprise and not a little want. Her sparkling eyes and full lips just invited me in.
So I dove and caught her lips in a kiss. She kissed me back, wrapping her arms around my neck and back.
She moaned wantonly as I completely pulled her panty and pants off. One hand came back up and I groped her tit, making her squeak and whimper, while the other hand took a handful of her asscheek and squeezed.
To my surprise, she used her ability to fly to just… mount me on the spot, pulling herself up and wrapping her legs around me, letting me hold all of her without the strain of supporting her weight (which was never a factor for either of us, but it was the method and thought that counted).
Our kiss broke and she looked at me with a glare. "Take them off."
With a grind, I did just that, taking no more than a second each to pull my shirt and pants off. She took off her top at the same time, and unhooked her bra quickly.
I took a moment to look at all of her.
She was the definition of a blonde bombshell, and that's wasn't her mastering aura making me think that.
"You are sexy," I whispered huskily, and her lips curved upwards even as she tried to hold it back.
"And you are a built man," she replied in kind as she ran her fingers over my abs and chest.
God, there was a reason being a cultivator was better than a magician.
I grabbed her waist and pulled her in for another kiss. Unlike last time, our nude bodies pressed against each other at all curves. Her tits pressed against my chest, our abs grinded against each other, and my dick parted her folds just a bit and rested there.
And we began to grind.
She moaned as her hips bucked along with me. My dick throbbed as we ground ourselves against each other.
"Oh fuck… !" she whimpered after breaking the kiss for the second time. She rested her head on my shoulder and picked up the speed. "Alan-!"
"Vicky… !"
And then she stopped.
Pulling herself away from me, she looked at me. I could see it in her eyes.
She was ready (or at least wanted this too much to not give in to any anxiety of her first time or apprehension of consequences).
I set her down on her back on that very sparring floor where Amy left us and kissed her again.
When we broke apart again, she bit her lips.
"D-Does this mean that I'm the mistress?" she asked playfully.
"Yes," I hissed as I pushed into her.
She didn't flinch; I doubted that her hymen lasted through all of her strenuous exercise and hero'ing. Vicky shuddered as I pushed deeper into her warm and wet pussy.
To my surprise, her pussy was smaller than Amy's.
"E-Eh?" she uttered as the tip of my dick pushed against her cervix. Then her eyes widened as I held her close and tightly before pushing myself deeper into her. "E-eek-!"
Her pussy stretched just a bit before I stopped and pulled out. She moaned. Her chest and tits heaved up and down with her panting, pushing against my chest. Her tits, round and firm globes that barely lost their shape even when she was laying down, flattening only a little when I pinned her to the floor with my body.
I pushed back into her gently and pulled out as slowly.
She bucked her hips and picked up speed on her own.
I pulled myself off of her and supported myself above her with my hands planted on either side of her head. She wanted it, so I was going to give it to her.
"I'm going to go fast now, Vicky."
She giggled. "Oh, you think you can go fast?"
I raised an eyebrow before I began pumping her. My hips came down on her forcefully, making her bounce a little. Her eyes widened as our flesh clapped wetly with our juicy and sweat. She quickly reached and gripped my arms, holding tightly as she moaned and yipped with my thrusts.
"O-Oh fuck- fuck fuck-!" she shrieked as I stretched her insides further and further.
The grooves of Vicky's vagina met the shape of my dick and squeezed tightly as my dick swiftly parted her on repeat like trying to catch a slippery eel and being left wanting each time she failed.
Wanting with pleasure, that was.
Her legs wrapped around my waist, and the near-rutting rate of her hips thrusting against me only got me to return it in kind.
She screamed as her back arched and wrapped herself around me. She moaned as she went through a full-body tremble as her vagina wrapped around even more tightly.
You know what? Let's just give her a simultaneous cumshot.
I pounded into her for a few more thrusts and came unrestrained on the first impulse. She shuddered a bit more as I spurted into her and filled her up.
"F..uck…" she mumbled as I wrapped my own arms around her.
We laid there on the floor, reveling in the post-coital ecstasy.
But then again, being a cultivator - especially someone who followed the Path of One Thousand Layers - came with a few advantages.
"Are dicks supposed to be… this hard after sex?" she asked after a while, slowly running her hands up and down my chiseled back.
"No," I replied as I pulled myself off of her. She looked up at me quizzically for a moment before her eyes widened when I slowly pulled out of her before sliding right back in.
Her eyes nearly crossed there and then did cross on my second thrust.
"Is today dangerous?" I asked, even though if it was, it was already too late.
"… K-Kinda?"
"Good."
"H-Huh?"
"Vicky, I have a fetish."
"U-Uh? Okay? Why the s-" Her eyes widened. "I-I don't think I'm ready for that."
"You didn't stop me when I did it just a moment ago."
"T-That's different!" she yelled embarrassedly. Then she bit her lips. "… A-Are you going to stop?"
"Do you want me to?"
"… No."
I leaned down and kissed her again. She returned it eagerly and when I broke the kiss, she looked back up at me. "Well, if you get pregnant, then I'll be taking responsibility."
Because I was very into the idea of having the two sisters as my women. They loved me. I loved them, and they weren't likely to fight over minor issues.
Everyone wins!
I just win a bit more.
Chapter 38
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 34
-VB-
Late that night, all three of us sat around the living room.
Dressed in her red netting lingerie, Amy stared flatly at Vicky.
Vicky fidgeted guiltily under her sister's stare, which only made her firm and big tits jiggle sideways underneath her nearly transparent and white satin slip lingerie
Sitting next to Amy in only my grey tight boxer, I sighed in exasperation.
"Amy, let her off already. You've had your fun," I huffed as I pulled her closer to me.
Amy giggled abruptly as she lost her flat stare.
Vicky squawked indignantly. "You were playing with me?!"
"I had to know!" my wife cackled. "So did you like it? Was he rough or gentle with you?"
Vicky blushed up a storm, and I thought she looked cute like that. From the way Amy cooed, she also thought Vicky was cute. "W-Why did you even tell me to dress up in this anyways?" she groused.
"Well, I know you're sexy, but I want to see you when you're trying to be sexy," Amy crooned. "Besides, I want to see exactly how you squirm when my… our man gets you in bed."
Vicky lost her frown and blinked. "Our…?"
"Of course!" Amy cooed as she stood up from the couch and from my side and sat down next to Vicky before pushing herself up against her taller sister. She glanced at me. "Sisters share, you know?"
I really didn't expect Vicky to be the innocent one of the two, but apparently, she was.
"Amy!"
"Stop it with that innocent and naive name-calling," Amy cackled as she groped her sister. "Hye, Alan, whose boobs do you like better? Mine or Vicky?"
This wasn't a trick question.
"Victoria's boob is better," I replied factually. "But your ass is a grade above."
"I know, right?!"
Vicky looked lost.
"We're more open between us about stuff," I shrugged as I stood up and walked up to them. Kneeling down in front of Amy, I pushed her legs apart and lingerie aside, leaned down, and licked her clit. She shivered even as she continued to grope and massage her sister, no doubt tweaking Vicky's biology to "ready" her for me.
I licked again and again, flicking my tongue against her clit repeatedly, and she finally gasped, letting go of Vicky in favor of grabbing fistfuls of my hair.
"Oh fuck fuck -!" she shrieked as she shoved my face down.
Just a bit of note, but Amy wasn't a pretty and delicate flower anymore; despite her appearance changing very little, she had achieved a cultivation breakthrough of her own and had strength to prove it. Unprepared as I was, my face did get clapped into her crotch, but I just used it as a chance to push my tongue into her vagina and reach deep.
Amy shuddered as she orgasmed and I pulled away from her. Her eyes rolled up slightly and she was holding herself as if she could control her reaction.
Vicky was watching from the side with a gawk.
Grinning, I wiped my lips and mouth with my forearm before sliding over to her.
Just like Amy did, I groped her while holding and pinning one of her hands to the back of the couch.
She closed her eyes and squirmed, moaning lightly as I cupped her tit and then pinched her nipple.
"Do you want to be pleasured like that, Victoria?" I asked her with a whisper. "Do you want me make you cum with my tongue?"
She shivered before opening her eyes and looking up at me.
"You and Amy are mean," she whimpered as I kneaded her boob roughly this time.
I just smiled before leaning down and catching her lips in a kiss. She kissed me back passionately, letting our tongues intertwine and roll on top of each other. When our kiss broke, she gasped and moaned wantonly.
"I corrupted you, Vicky," I whispered into her ear. Taking my hands away from her, I took my boxers off and pressed myself against her crotch. She jolted but didn't break our stare.
"I-I just had some pent up things to get rid of, okay?" she complained in vain. "I just- oh fuck… !" she whimpered at the end when I unceremoniously lined myself up and slid into her wet pussy.
"That's the idea," I said before kissing her again, this time holding her towards me, and began thrusting. She moaned and whimpered into my mouth as we kissed.
I glanced at Amy and saw her smirking and touching herself.
I started rutting faster and faster and Vicky screamed as her ecstasy climbed. She twisted and turned, covering her face with her hands, turning away, and sometimes hanging onto me.
Then I slammed into her and she melted in my arms as I filled her up with my cum.
I broke our latest kiss, and she nearly flopped like a dead fish, exhausted and coming down from her post-coital high. I smiled and kissed her on the forehead before pulling out of her, and treated myself to the sight of her cunt squeezing and leaking my cum.
I turned to Amy.
As much as I wanted to fuck her, too, she was approaching the point where rough sex was inadvisable. It was why I gave her a good licking instead of a dicking.
She waved me off. "I'm good," she said with a smile before glancing at Vicky. "I think we're good today."
I nodded… and then scooped both of them up.
"But we are now filthy, so we need to wash."
Chapter 39
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 35
-VB-
The morning next day brought the three of us to the breakfast table, and Amy was the one to make breakfast today.
"What has you so chipper?" Victoria asked curiously Amy while I ate from my plate of bacon bits sprinkled scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli.
"Oh, I don't know. I'm thinking about how many kids will be running around the house."
I suppressed a chuckle at how quickly Vicky flushed. She cleared her throat and went back to eating as if nothing happened, but her blush wouldn't go away and she looked cute like that.
Amy nudged her sister with a sly grin. "Come on, I know you want some."
"Amy!" Vicky's composure broke and she shrieked indignantly at her adopted sister. "I'm trying to eat!"
"Oh boo hoo, I can't decide if I want to keep fucking one of the hottest guys in the city," Amy snarked. "Oh, and did I mention he's rich?"
"Amy," I grunted.
"Yes?"
"Pushing too far."
"Alright, alright. Kill my fun, would you?" Amy grumbled as she also went back to eating.
Rest of the meal remained comfortably silent while all three of us were absorbed in our meals. While I ate, I thought about how I was going to present this to the rest of the team. Sure, Amy and I were an "item" for a very long time, so it was not only acceptable but also expected. Victoria, on the other hand, would throw the team off when she announced that she would be joining the two of us.
It would also be a scandal for the cape community.
It was a scandal I was willing to brave, because I honestly liked Victoria. As did Amy.
Actually, I was very sure that Amy liked Victoria more than I liked Victoria.
Hmm, was my wife… cheating on me?!
kek* No, that's a joke in poor taste. Amy wouldn't cheat on me, though she did encourage me to bring in a new partner; said partner was someone Amy saw as attractive for some time either because of the aura or physical appearance.
Was I a bad husband for going with Amy's suggestion?… Well, it was something that already happened. Besides, Amy was happier with Vicky rather than without. Was Amy polyamorous? She could be. Hmm, it was something to think about.
All three of us got dressed in the upstairs bedroom and were about to leave-.
CRASH
My instinct kicked in when the front door blew open.
"Vicky, keep Amy safe!" I hissed before jumping down the stairs in one-go and came face to face with… "Carol?"
Yes, the person who broke my front door was none other than Carol Dallon, mother to both of my women. Oh, and she also had her costume on.
"You… YOU… !" she hissed.
Oh dear lord, she looked angry. Scratch that, she looked absolutely infuriated.
Oh, she's starting to swing.
Yeah, I couldn't have her wreck the house for whatever reason she was pissed with me. I opened the door leading down to the basement and ran for it.
Carol let out a guttural roar - kind of scary - and chased after me.
Since when was she a berserk?!
Soon, we were at my reinforced sparring floor.
And I let her attack me first.
"Carol, what the fuck?!" I shouted as I parried attack after attack as Carol - Brandish, really - swung axes and swords made out of hardlight with a clear intent to murder me.
"It was a fucking mistake to let you in the team!" she shouted.
I narrowed my eyes.
Okay, she's getting a little personal - a little more than before - and I wasn't having it.
I kicked at her axe as it came down, and shattered it. Carol stumbled forward, eyes wide and her entire body frozen in her stunned and disbelieving stare, as the shards of her hardlight weapon fizzled out as they flew through the air. Then I whipped around and palm-struck her at the center of her chest. I held back, but the strike was still strong enough to toss her backward.
She flipped through the air and then landed on her feet.
She stood up… and then faltered.
"Carol, what the fuck is going on?" I asked her pointedly. "Because this aggressiveness is not alright."
She just growled, because obviously something about what I said ticked her off. Another hardlight axe appeared to replace the one I broke, and she charged me again.
Mid-vertical slash down attack with her axe, it changed into a longsword. Grunting, I palm-struck it away from us, and jumped back, which got me five yards of room to work with.
'I don't know what the fuck is happening here,' I thought as I parried, countered, and dodged to keep Carol contained. 'Is she mastered?'
"Okay, it's obvious you're mad at me, but why are you mad at me?"
"Like I said, it was a mistake to let you in the team!" she snarled. "Who's next?! Crystal?! Who are you going to seduce next?!"
… Oh, was that what this was about?
I narrowed my eyes. "I don't think this is something you should be swinging your power about," I snapped right back at her. This time, I burst forth and in two swift - but gentle - strikes, I send her arms flying up. A quick hook and pull sent her down to the ground, and I pinned her down by her wrists.
She tried to struggle, but I narrowed my eyes. "Stop. Now."
Abruptly, I saw her struggling attempt collapse and blood drain from her face. She stared at me with wide eyes.
It was oddly similar to what happened to the Elite capes.
Was it something that I was doing?
Whatever it was, I needed to stop.
I took a deep breath in and allowed myself to stop… being unhappy with Carol.
It seemed to do the trick.
She fell to her hands as well and gasped.
… Oh, we're very close now.
I pulled myself off of her and let her recover on her own.
It was at this point that Amy and Vicky came to a skidding stop appearance at the top of the stairs of this basement. I looked up at them and smiled. "I think we've calmed down a bit."
The incredulous looks they sent me told me what they thought about what I just said.
I turned back to Carol, who had shakily gotten back up. The way she gritted her teeth told me that she knew clearly who was the stronger of the two of us and she could do nothing about it.
"Now, let's talk like adults."
Chapter 40
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 36
-VB-
Carol's assault led to an all out New Wave meeting. As my house was still the only house in condition and capable of hosting the entirety of New Wave with room to spare, my house once more became hosting ground for all of New Wave.
And for some reason, a liaison of the PRT ENE.
"Hello, I am Kelly McNairter. It's a pleasure to meet Brockton Bay's latest hero," the auburn haired woman with black eyes and a sharp nose greeted me with a business smile. Her eyes, however, locked onto my eyes like a cat homing in on a mouse.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, but I have to ask why PRT would involve itself in internal matters of an independent hero team…?" I asked her without making any funny faces that I felt like making. It felt, to me, extremely rude and invasive to come and allow a government agency to take part in this meeting. Had it been someone like Piggot or Armsmaster, I might have raised eyebrows, sneered, and the like, but Kelly here had yet to do anything offensive towards me other than obeying a mostly benign order from her superior.
Unless she was here to use our internal discord as an excuse to get the PRT to intervene. If that was the case, then… then I'll give her a taste of whatever it was I did that kept making people collapse and sweat like children in sweatshops.
… God, that was a horrible comparison.
"What is this about?" Sarah asked pointedly as she stared at Carol.
"He's-"
"She attacked me with her power," I interrupted her before she could speak. Carol might have been able to twist her words to change the first impression the rest of the uninvolved team members might have of the situation, but I was not going to let her do that, which was why I interrupted. "Had I been a civilian without power, then there is a good chance that Carol might be in a jail and I might be hospitalized or in a morgue."
(But it made no sense. I literally had sex with Vicky yesterday. How did Carol find out so quickly?)
All of the Pelham family present - only Crystal was missing - looked at Carol in shock.
"Carol, what-?!"
"He's sleeping with both Amy and Victoria!"
Their heads whiplashed to me, though Eric looked ill at hearing about his cousins' sex life.
"And…?" I asked without drawling or sneering, because it would have made me look angry and not in control of myself. Doing that would be, even in a familial setting, admitting to doing something wrong. "Are you suggesting that they are incapable of giving consent?"
"That is not what this is about!"
"This is exactly what you came rushing at me axe and sword raised to make me bleed, Carol," I sighed.
"You are already married to Amy, so why are you -?!"
"Umm…"
Everyone turned to Vicky.
"I liked him first?"
" Him?" I wasn't sure who said that, but from the strangled tone, Carol said it, probably.
"On a serious note, how many people can I even consider for, you know, partnership?" she asked even as her face reddened. "I'm a Brute, mom. I can get married to so many people."
"But he is already married."
"And both Alan and Amy were very open with me for a very long time, mom." Sarah raised her hands to forestall the argument, but Vicky wasn't having it. "If Amy wasn't already on him, then I would have asked him to be my boyfriend!"
To my surprise, it was Eric who nodded. "I remember hearing that from Crystal. You told her or something?"
"Yeah, I was like a little drunk when that happened," she laughed nervously.
"Why are you all talking as if this is alright?!" Carol asked angrily. "This will hurt -"
"This isn't about Vicky or Amy, Carol," Sarah snapped. "It's about why you decided that attacking your own teammate was a good idea with the intent to harm. From where I am, they are clearly happy with each other. I don't have time to deal with this bullshit! What made you ATTACK a teammate?!"
I realized only once Sarah stopped shouting that I and others had leaned into whatever furniture we had been sitting on. Mark and Neil also looked a little nervous.
Carol glared to the side and refused to respond.
"Alright. Then this is what we're going to do. Carol, consider yourself on leave from any and all cape activities until I can be -"
The living room broke out into a pandemonium as
"You want me to not fight when the city is in this sta-?!"
"I think that's a bit too much-"
And myriad of other arguments for and against Sarah's decision echoed in the living room, but I saw the steely glint in her eyes. Whatever reason she may have had, she was done with-.
She briefly glared at Neil.
Wait. What? What did Neil have to do with this…?
Regardless of the why's and the how's, Carol's indefensible attack against me landed her in trouble.
And to my surprise, the PRT liaison left without speaking a single world after her initial greetings. After her, Carol and Mark left. I wondered what was going to happen from now on…
"Alan."
I turned to Sarah, who looked at me with a glare of her own. The rest of the families had also moved on, with Amy and Vicky going upstairs and the rest of the Pelhams waiting outside the house.
"Yes?" I asked her.
"I know that you didn't start as part of the family, but would it have hurt to let the rest of the team know so that… this kind of situation didn't happen?"
"Once all three of us acknowledged that we were going to go for the long haul, we would have," I replied back as if it was the obvious thing.
Her glare died down. "Maybe you were the wiser one between you and my sister. Regardless, what is done is done. While you haven't done anything wrong, I expect you to pull Carol's weight, too."
I grimaced. "More time in the patrols then, huh?"
"Yes, unfortunately. "
"What about Carol?"
"She… I don't know why or how she went off the handle that hard."
"… Have you checked for possible Master influence? It doesn't even have to be a direct thing, yo know. Any new capes lately that she's been in contact with?"
Sarah blinked.
In hindsight, the possibility of a Master, one who could peripherally alter their target's behavior not unreasonably, made sense in that it was a possibility.
"Asking the PRT for that kind of information might set things off."
I scoffed. "The liaison, if she was a suspicious one, might already have reported it to her superior. It might make the rest of us look odd when we noticed a change in Carol's behavior but don't report it for possible Master/Stranger influence. Besides, how did she find out? I slept with Vicky literally last night."
Sarah blinked. "Wait, this isn't…?"
"No, it's not an old news. It's so fresh we haven't even gotten to drying the bedsheet in question."
Now, she looked alarmed. "Wait then, why didn't you say anything?!"
"You mean alert the victim of a possible Master influence in their face?" I asked incredulously.
She calmed down. "Okay. I'll… I'll have to alert the PRT."
"I'll just keep an eye out," I said with a tired sigh as I stood up.
Because if this entire episode happened because there was a Master out there, I knew that "patrol" would become synonymous with "hunt" for me.
Chapter 41
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 37
-VB-
Thankfully, the little spat didn't become a public scandal and remained an internal affairs issue.
What I am now worried about was that glare Sarah gave both her husband and her sister.
… It couldn't be, right?
Nah…
Just… gonna put that thought out of my mind.
Now, what was I going to do?
Or right.
Work on my cultivation.
I would have gone right into that (I only had three hours to do so today before I started patrolling for four hours), but Vicky raised an issue that left me in another conundrum.
"I'm not leaving," she objected stubbornly. "Not when mom's like that."
I couldn't refuse her either.
"You do know that it'll hurt her, right?" I asked her slowly.
She glared at me. "Then she shouldn't have started attacking!"
'But that's what you would do,' I thought without showing any of it on my face.
"I'm also mad at her!"
I raised my hands to block her attacks.
See, Vicky, despite all of her feminine appeal, worked out some of her stress physically. Usually, this meant patrolling and finding a vict- a villain and beating them blue and purple. Other times, she would go out on a shopping spree, which was not an option at the moment with the city in ruins. So she only had physical release as an option, and she was too worked up for sex.
That led to the current sparring session right now where I offered myself (without consent) to be her punching bag.
The ground shook as the impacts of her punches traveled through me and into the ground through my feet.
If I still had neighbors, they would have felt tremors non-stop.
"No one got hurt," I laughed it off. I was, however, still concerned about how quickly Carol went from approving of me to homicidal. I still believed there had to be some sort of Shaker or Master out there.
"Mom's a veteran, Alan! She could have killed you!"
I raised an eyebrow. "I may not be up to the Triumvirate level, but I know I'm pretty strong, durable, and quick," I replied. Just to make a point, I parried her punches with the back of my hands to make them glide away from me rather than by striking her limbs away. She growled and started punching faster and faster.
And I continued successfully in parrying her.
She finally stopped and gasped as sweat poured down. "Damn it, let me hit you!"
And she punched.
I let her punch my chest. All it did was make the basement tremble worse than any of her previous attacks, but that's all it did.
… Okay, it stung a little but nothing worse than that.
She paled.
"Does Vicky not like my hard chest? Am I too rough for you?" I cooed at her.
She blushed. "Argh!" She punched again. This time, it was her own shield that snapped and shattered. "Ridiculous!" she shrieked angrily.
"Your cousin said the same thing," I chuckled.
To my surprise, she jumped me as her shield came back up. On instinct, I tried to catch her.
We fumbled before collapsing to the floor.
We laid there for a moment before laughing.
-VB-
I took a deep breath in and reached down.
From my Qi alone, I could tell immediately that my outer arts, my body, did not need to be trained. Rather, I could not advance right now because whatever had allowed me to breakthrough my previous limits had not occurred yet; I was stuck.
So now, I tried to train the inner arts.
I pushed and pulled, trying to increase the amount of qi I could use at any given point.
See, qi - as I felt it - wasn't quite like an ocean that sent waves and waves when I demanded it. It was closer to bullets in a magazine. If the whole magazine was my qi capacity, then controlled shooting would be how much I could effectively use qi without causing undue damage to myself.
Right now, I could only do the equivalent of single-shooting while controlling the recoil and accuracy, but wanted to do tap-shooting. Faster and in burst. More without losing power and accuracy.
… All of this felt like a cycle. I kept coming back to do this, I did a little, but then fell into introspection about what I needed to do, what it was all about, and whatnot.
Was it because even while in meditation, my mind just kept wandering?
How horrible. My concentration was just that horrible.
Ugh.
I hastened the pull.
And then promptly grimaced as a stinging pain erupted from one of my meridian points from how too quickly I've pulled. I stopped immediately and gently coaxed the qi back in there. Once the pain receded and the qi stopped roiling, I tried again.
This time, I felt no pain, probably because I went just a tad bit faster but still slower than the speed that caused the pain.
… Nice.
How about the same speed as the previous attempt but with more qi?
… OW OW OW OW-!
I whimpered a little, pathetically, as the pain, not a stinging one but a full-blown stabbing and bleeding kind of pain, left me hunching forward. I shoved the qi back in there, and winced as the push ended up also causing me pain from my carelessness.
I stopped myself forcefully and then started again.
Slowly. Slowly. Little. Moderate. Slowly.
…
Okay.
I stopped all motions and came out of my meditation.
"Gah…" I mumbled in relief.
I'm just happy my outer art didn't begin like this.
Speaking of which, if I had to "grade" my arts based on some of the tiers I remembered about cultivation, then I would have ran my outer arts at high spirit realm and my inner arts at a pathetic middle mortal realm.
Yeah, such was the disparity between my two arts
I glanced over at Amy, who was sitting and meditating right besides me.
I wondered how her progress was -.
I blinked when I felt something surge inside of her.
… Well, shit. Did she just advance from middle to high mortal realm?
She opened her eyes slowly and let out a long stream of breath. Glancing over to me with her sweaty face, she grinned.
"Well, my lady wife knows the inner arts better than I do," I grumbled half-heartedly and playfully.
"Of course, I do. I'm your better half," she snickered.
I snorted.
"I guess I'll be making lunch today."
"Hey, what do you-?" she tried to stand up only to stumble. I stood up quickly and caught her before she could fall forward.
"That's why. Advancements aren't easy on the body, you know. A new vacuum of power and all that that needs to be filled up by your body."
"Fine, fine. Go back whatever you want to make."
"Spaghetti?"
"Ugh. Again?"
"Fried chicken?"
"Do we even have the equipment?"
"I can buy them, right?"
"With the city in ruin?"
And so we continued to discuss what we would eat.
Today was a good day.
-VB-
A/N: bit of a filler, info, and cultivation chapter.
Chapter 42
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 38
-VB-
"That city has survived the Second Lord's trial."
A black costumed man, with a pointed tip hat, hummed from the speaker's left. "I am interested in seeing what kind fo people are there. Surely a city that passed His trial must have some individuals who sees the truth as we do."
The speaker nodded, which made the feathered decorations on her hat sway with her head.
"The Elite has already moved in," someone else grumbled. "Fucking Elite."
""""Fucking Elite,"""" four voices rose up in unison over their shared distaste of their rival.
"Still, this doesn't change the fact that we should be out there to spread the Faith," an elderly woman muttered. "Ever since the Roman Catholic Church visited the Josdottor Clan, we have been on the decline."
"… Seriously, what happened over there?"
"The Church came to us with the intent to eradicate us," a scarred man gruffed. "They spared no one. Not woman, elderly, or child."
"Bastards…"
"Ever since their pope in Italy gained power, they have been doing this all over the world. Our brothers and sisters across the globe are reporting similar hits. It's only because the USA is intentionally countering the pope's influence that we haven't been hit more."
Someone snorted. "To think that we're being saved by the very ignorant pagans incapable of understanding the greatness of our lords and lady. This is a shame upon us all."
A heavy and somber silence fell upon the group.
"It was Lord Leviathan who blessed that city," someone rose up. "So it should be us Crowleys who go to see if there are any worth recruiting in that city."
"Hmm. I can understand that, but surely, you won't be sending your older brother…"
"No," the man grumbled. "He is busy with… matters at home."
"You mean abducting college girls and fucking their brains out?" someone sneered. "Absolutely disgusting."
"Shut up, Mathers. Like you and your clan have anything to say," Crowley snapped back.
Said Mathers slowly stood up. "I think you should take your words back."
"You mean you want to fight after insulting us?"
"Both of you sit down." And just as those words were said, the entire room creaked and groaned as everything became heavier by a factor of two.
The two standing capes buckled under the stress. They glared at each other even under the increased gravitational pull before slowly, ever so slowly and at an even pace with each other, sat down.
Only when they sat did the effect go away.
The third voice spoke up. "I do not give two shits about the grudge the two of you have with each other, but if this happens every single time we hold a meeting. It is plain unacceptable. You will either compete productively or not at all, because the last time the two of you got into a fight, it has had a deleterious effect on the Fallen as a whole. Is that understood?"
""Yes,"" the two of them answered demurely.
"… Does anyone else have anything to discuss?"
-VB-
Hannover, the leader of the newly established branch of the Elite in Brockton Bay, drummed his fingers on his black mahogany desk.
Recently, he heard that New Wave had gotten into a fight with each other, though only two members were clearly outlined in the report: Rabbit and Brandish.
This was a good chance to fracture the family-oriented hero team. Brandish was a cold yet emotionally compromised woman. If he backed her up in whatever she was pursuing, then he might get the team to become inactive over internal issues.
He flinched as memories of his visit to Rabbit rewound itself in his head.
However, if Rabbit ever found out that he was involved after he's gone through the lengths of assuring the man he was not involved with any of the recent attacks, then the monster might come deal with him.
And he wasn't sure if he could fight that monster as he was. The potential talent of the man was staggering, and Rabbit also presented a significant percentage of New Wave's power. Even if the team fractured, Rabbit would still be strong by himself. The thought of fighting the cape unnerved Hannover.
After all, Rabbit was currently being considered among the Elite as one of the strongest Brute/Mover combo in New England. Making an enemy out of that was ill-advised.
So what was he supposed to do? He was supposed to carry out his usual business in Brockton Bay without somehow triggering Rabbit? Rabbit was a hero, and while Hannover knew that he was considered a rogue, Rabbit might not care about such distinctions if the man ever knew what Hannover's true business with the city was.
After all, heroes fought for the status quo, not a better tomorrow.
But he, Hannover, fought for a better future! That's why he was with the Elite and not the Protectorate!
Because the Protectorate refused to use him properly. They forced him to watch from the side as half a city starved. Regulations and laws blocked him. "It's not our job," they said. "Leave it," they said. "It's pointless," they said.
All those shits and necrophiliac ass-lickers only cared about what looked good and who they could punch!
Still, touching the man and his team would surely lead to personal pain. The man was still growing in power. He needed to act, finish this phase of his plan within the year. Any further than that and he would have to remake the plan.
… But what if there was no other villains in the city?
If he gave the PRT enough reasons to believe that his Elite branch would not be trouble at all, then could it be possible for him to use his influence to turn them against New Wave ? After all, Rabbit might be popular now, but the man was brutal; sooner or later, the public would turn against him - and once the public turned, the PRT would have to follow suit if they didn't want to be considered discriminatory or even lose their PR standing.
No, removing the villains wouldn't do it.
If he was going to do his job here properly, then he needed at least all of the independent hero teams removed so that he could replace them with his corporate ones. Only once he achieved that could he bring this city up from the muck and mire it found itself in.
"Sir?"
He looked up from his table and found his beautiful assistant standing by the doorway.
"Yes?"
"There's a report you need to read right now. Friends, Tab 5."
He turned on his laptop and navigated towards that app and to the tab.
His eyes read the title and froze.
"Cursed."
"Sir…?" his assistant asked, a little perturbed by his sudden quietness.
"This city is cursed! I knew I shouldn't have accepted the nomination for branch leadership if this is how shit's going to turn out!" he hissed as he let his head drop onto the table. "Fucking Fallen!"
Wait.
Wait!
He knew how to take care of both the Fallen and Rabbit without getting blamed for either!
"Samantha, contact Rabbit for me. Tell him that I have a vital news that he must hear."
The startled woman quickly left to do as he asked.
This was the way.
This was how he was going to kill a giant before it could reach its full height.
Chapter 43
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 39
-VB-
You'd think that the three of us - Vicky, Amy, and I - would be young and hot. You'd think that we would indulge in sex constantly, even with the scrutiny of the rest of the New Wave.
Well, we did, initially. After Brandish Trouble ended, there was a lull seen in our first threesome, but it lasted only a week before we were making love all over the house. For a month, we lived the highlight of our youth.
And then, while the appeal of sex didn't disappear, other things needed to be done. Vicky had her studies, Amy had her hospital runs, and I had patrols. There was only so much time we could spend having sex when we also had everything in-between those stated needs.
So yeah, we had sex, but it wasn't like the first month where we spent literally all day and night rutting, fucking, and cumming.
No, we just limited our sex to nights, instead. It didn't interfere with our daily activities that way.
So… it's quite easy to understand my irritation if I got a phone call right before I was about to reach climax, right?
And wouldn't stop ringing?
Hmm, seriously?
The thing about being a hero meant that there was no such thing as a "silence" mode. Heroes needed to respond quickly, and having one's phone on mute went against that. Even a Protectorate hero was not exempt from this. In fact, because their job was being a hero, they had less of an excuse to not take a phone call, especially when part of their pay was the bitch shift and the hazard pay of having to deal with temperamental villains.
Vicky moaned as she rolled onto her back, which only my eyes wander towards her firm and jiggling tits as they bounced lightly on her chest. "Oh, come on. Who did what now?" she grumbled as if she didn't just cum twice in the last thirty minutes.She curled up until she was sitting up and curled her back as she bunched up her hair in her hands.
She saw me looking and raised an eyebrow. "Can you answer the phone already, Alan? It's annoying now," she grunted before whirling to Amy when my equally nude "first wife" slapped her adopted sister's ass. "Hey!"
"Okay, okay," I grinned as I answered the phone. "Rabbit speaking."
It was a cape name that I was stuck with much to my dislike.
"{Ah, Mister Rabbit. It's a pleasure to speak with you again. This is Hannover from the Elite. We've met.}"
"Uh huh, we did," I grunted as I vaguely remembered a deer masked guy flanked by two bombshells-. Wait, that sounded familiar. Like Kaiser and his two valkyries. Just a coincidence? Probably. "How can I help you?" Even as I asked, I couldn't quite keep the annoyance out of my voice.
"{… Ah. I must have caught you at a bad time.}"
"You did."
"{Then I will make this quick. I wish to meet you to give you information on several villains that are looking to move into the city. As you told me, this is your city, and they are not my friends.}"
I hummed before nodding to myself. "Alright. What time are you available?"
"{Would tomorrow at noon suffice?}"
"Sure. Where?"
"{I need to inform the Protectorate and the PRT as well, so why not at the PRT Headquarters in Downtown?}"
"Works for me. See you then."
And then I hung up.
"O-OH FUCK! AH A-!"
I turned around.
Vicky usually wasn't one for obnoxiously loud orgasms, so I was curious as to why she was screaming her head off.
Amy had Vicky's head on her leg and her hands on either side of the head, and Vicky looked like she was having some… unique experience.
Amy looked up and grinned. "Vicky wanted to know what it's like to relieve the peak of orgasm for the same duration as the post-coital high. I think we both know why humans don't have that level of stimulation."
"You're going to reset her nerves after, right?"
"Of course! Vicky agreed to it, too. Otherwise, she'll never enjoy sex again."
I scoffed. "Like you'll ever let that happen. You like watching her get railed way too much."
She shrugged silently but the playful grin told me all I needed to know about how she felt about the subject.
"Come here," I grinned as I crawled over our ten foot family bed to her before picking her up and setting her down on my laps. Then I started fingering her, using all methods of stimulations I could muster with my nimble and quite readily vibrator-replacable fingers.
Amy didn't go to sleep until she got her three orgasms.
-VB-
Hannover pressed his hands against his vested chest and slid down and off as if to brush off the dust that might have been there.
Being a member of the Elite required each member to portray themselves in the best representation of their responsible branches. The likes of the Bastard Son did that by being crude and rude while others like Hannover himself set up meetings and communicated like good business partners and good neighbors did.
Bastard Son would be that one guy who blasted their music at 3 am while he would be the man who invited his whole neighborhood, if only to have the excuse that if some of them didn't come to the party, then at least they knew it was going on.
Being nice mattered, especially when violence might crop up whenever for whatever reason.
"May I have your attention, please?"
Everyone in the meeting room turned to look at him, and Hannover suddenly felt a little on the spot.
Maria always did say that he wasn't a great public speaker because of the stage fright he never got over. What he could do, however, was fake it til he made it, and then have a breakdown in the car.
In this meeting room, all of the movers and shakers - not the cape classification but the term for powerbrokers - of Brockton Bay sat quietly but the tension weighed heavily, because on one side of the table were the heroes but on the other side were the villains.
"This meeting is not about us but rather who is trying to enter our city, and they are a people none of us want."
That caught their attention.
"The Elite and the PRT have been fighting them for a long time. Some of you might not think high of them, but their tenacity matches that of cockroaches while spewing filth. I talk of the Fallen, and they aim to move into Brockton Bay."
The PRT officers and heroes looked cautious while the villains grumbled.
"The Fallen are composed of more than three main groups," Armsmaster recited word for word from the PRT's own warnings about said group. "Do you know which of them are coming this way?"
"The Crowleys."
The Elite had no shortage of all kinds of capes to keep the Fallen at bay. If there was none in the immediate area, then a quick negotiation with nearby branches ensured at least the ability to fight back.
Brockton Bay did not have that system. In fact, the Elite was keenly aware of the lack of supply and manpower the PRT ENE struggled with ever since its inception.
Add to that, there was not a single Thinker nor Stranger that could detect and counter the Crowleys, whose cape members were half Strangers and all Shakers.
"Crowleys? They are the Leviathan worshippers, right?" Vacaneer asked.
The fearsome cape that led the coalition against Kaiser and his Empire Eighty-Eight, which led to said organization's fall, had stayed in Brockton Bay. He was, however, not a problem for Hannover simply because he knew how to supply the man his… needs.
"Indeed," he replied.
"Anything specific about them?"
Hannover turned towards the latest speaker. "Yes. Crowleys are known for… kidnapping young ladies. I need not tell you what they do to them."
And the point of this meeting was to specifically tell Rabbit this. While he was not one hundred percent certain, Hannover was relatively sure that Rabbit would be the one to react the worst to this piece of news.
And considering that he had a tendency to aggressively strike out against gangs, why should he act so differently against the Fallen?
Then the tension in the room changed. It warped. It burned.
Suddenly, the entire room felt like it was under multiple G's. Hannover struggled to breath and saw the others in same shape. And then it was gone.
He glanced at Rabbit…
The man sat in his seat, quiet, but his fingers slowly drummed on the table. Each tap sounded like a dull thud of a crashing ship and the concerned look on his face came across more as a snarling lion's sneer.
He "looked" calm on the outside, but everyone here just felt what the man truly felt.
This was his victory.
Now, all he needed to do was use an intermediary to warn the Fallen about a reckless hero who might be coming their way…
Chapter 44
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 40
-VB-
"The Fallen are coming to the city, soon?"
Thanks to Carol and the still unsolved mystery about how she found out about Vicky's newfound relationship with Amy and I, the New Wave team meeting didn't happen with the whole team. The "core" members and the Pelham second generation held their own meeting, and the "Rabbit" squad held our own meeting.
Was it effective? No.
Was it necessary? Yes.
Carol was still being a bitch and still on probation. Sarah made it very clear that until Carol did something about her attitude, she would remain permanently on probation, but it also didn't stop her from attending strategic meetings like the ones each group held in preparation for a new shitstorm.
Of course, our wise Sarah Pelham made sure Carol didn't barge in our meeting.
So when I broke the news, it was just Vicky, Amy, and I in my house.
Amy shuddered. "They are the worst."
And they were, especially more so for a city like ours that was hit by an Endbringer. Their mere presence spat on the city and our struggles for survival, and I knew precisely what I intended to do to them if I spotted them. They weren't like Uber and Leet or even like the late Kaiser. They reveled in violence and death. There was no negotiating with them.
Thankfully, it wasn't the Mathers who were moving in but the less known, less competent, and overall less powerful Crowleys who were.
I didn't remember much about them from Worm. Mathers Clan was the big bad of the Fallen, after all, and, honestly, I skimmed over a lot of the content. I regretted skipping so much now, because I was over that line of information. I was no longer operating with detailed foreknowledge.
Oh sure, I had some more shit I could use to weave some of the bullshit that might be headed our way (Tagg and his ilk), but overall, the total upturning of the Brockton Bay cape scene with capes I've never read about that I, the original owner of the body, knew of - like Vacaneer - and the deaths of so many of the original capes from the city pretty much totaled any and all foreknowledge.
Besides, Worm after Taylor's arrest was all about Chicago, not Brockton Bay.
On top of that, I was a hero, despite my initial attempts at neutrality and non-intervention. Tagg, even if he did get PRT ENE's directorship with Piggot still alive, kicking, and raging, wouldn't be coming after my ass. In fact, if he did come here, then I had a hunch that he would be after Vacaneer and the rest of the villainous rogues and villains who matched the heroes in equal number.
"You're going to go and punch them, aren't you?" Amy accused with a glare.
"Yes. What else do you expect me to do?" I asked her in turn without being childish. She was being concerned for me, so there was no need for me to return a glare for a glare, even if there was something irksome about how she accused me. "If you forgot, Amy, then let me remind you that Vicky and you are the prime victims for those bastards."
"If you forgot, Alan," she repeated my words. "That Vicky and I are some of the strongest capes in all of Brockton Bay. As much as we love being cuddled, we aren't weak damsels in distress."
Vicky nodded firmly next to her adopted sister. "Yup. Besides, you made Amy a Brute on top of her healing biokinetic thing. She can probably whip up something that helps us fight the Fallen. What are their specialties again?"
"Strangers and Shakers."
"Then I'm sure Amy can make something."
I thought about it.
Well…
Technically speaking, she could, but there was no way that a simple organism Amy could make, even with qi meddling, could produce something that could work to protect our senses. She could make a lot of different ones to create overlapping senses, but she would have to hook those up with our senses. We would have to get used to those new senses, which might not work or even work against us depending on how much information the Fallen could gather while fighting us.
However, I'm also an artificer. I have used it so far only to make herbal baths and brews.
"Do you want to try?" I asked her. "I can make something, too."
They looked at me in surprise.
"You can?"
"It… won't be field tested," I admitted. "But I can make something that might be able to supplement whatever Amy makes." I sure as hell wasn't going to be aiming merely to supplement, but at the same time, Amy had better experience with that aspect of her power because of my own meddling (alcoholic oranges we ate every morning was one such product). I would be aiming to make something equal but I haven't been focusing much effort on my own "tinkering."
Amy blinked. "Wait. Those pills, teas, and the bath. That's… those are part of your power. You can tinker on top of being a Mover and a Brute?"
Vicky whined. "That's bullshit!"
I laughed. "What can I say? I'm the perfect man."
My two girls slapped me for that.
"But speaking of fighting," I muttered as I pulled Amy closer to me and caressed her stomach. "You know you can't fight, right?"
She grimaced but nodded; she'd just entered her last trimester in her pregnancy. While I was confident that our baby wouldn't die from a normal punch, why should we take any chance where parahuman rapists were concerned?
Vicky cracked a fist onto her palm. "I'll do your part of the fighting, too!"
"… No."
"Huh?" we looked at Amy.
"I'm not going to just make a few things and let you all fight while I do nothing," she mumbled as she stood up and walked over to our indoor avocado plant, which was something she bought… just last week, which was when her trimester got announced to our close group of friends.
She touched the plant, and it twisted. Its bark twisted and tore off as the green trunk underneath unfurled and twisted around themselves. The bark came back as the tree, now with four legs, uprooted itself. I saw a jaguar's head on it, though made out of leaves and bark. Powerful legs cracked to life and its paws stomped on the ground.
But most of all…
I sensed qi running through it.
I looked at her in awe.
She grinned at me. "Surprise~!"
She just made a Spirit Beast.
"Amy."
"Yeah?"
"OP, Please Nerf."
Vicky looked at me in disgust. "Ugh, you sound like Uber and Leet."
I laughed.
Maybe this wasn't going to be as serious as I thought it could have been. Vicky and I watched as Amy brought to life four more life-sized jaguars, each brimming with bits of her qi.
"I'm not just a healer, darling," she crooned as her jaguars purred underneath her hands. "I'm a fucking Queen."
Chapter 45
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 41
-VB-
The news of a missing college girl was the only sign heroes and villains alike needed to know that the Fallen had arrived.
With almost all of the cape population on high alert, I found myself sitting mostly at home or escorting Vicky and Amy from their school and hospital, which were locations that the city and the PRT began to heavily reinforce with agents, police, and heroes alike.
Well, Amy was at the hospital right now.
"Oh, fuck-!"
I gripped the arms of the sofa lightly while Vicky knelt in front of the sofa and had her head between my legs. Her moist lips wrapped around the girth of my erect dick while her tongue ran along the side and rim of my dick within her mouth.
She glanced up at me mischievously as she continued to suck my cock.
Her left hand fondled my balls while her right hand caressed the insides of my thigh sensually.
She popped her lips off of my dick and grinned up at me with a seductive smile. "Do you like having your dick sucked while your wife is at work?" she asked coyly as she shifted her left hand to jerk off my saliva-coated dick. "You have a baby coming in a few months, but you're here with me~"
"My wife likes watching me nail you, mistress," I played along with her.
She giggled. "You're a lecher. How the hell did you make me fall in love with you in the first place?"
"Because I'm great at sex and have a great body," I said and then paused. "I am also a decent guy."
"Yeah, well, that's true," she hummed before she opened her mouth and began sucking me again.
"Fuck-!" I hissed before grabbing the back of her head and hair. "Coming… !"
She pushed herself down on my dick, driving my dick deep into her mouth and then down her throat.
She gagged as I came, and held her position until I finished. Then she swiftly pulled herself off and coughed a little. "Damn. Still can't get used to it."
Smiling, I pulled her up onto my lap. Despite the fact that Vicky was a tall girl, most of her height was in her legs. Sitting as she was on my lap, the top of her head was just lower than mine.
I brought my lips down on top of her, and she moaned as she opened her lips. My tongue momentarily scrapped alongside the edge of her mouth before our tongues intertwined and began to fight for dominance.
While her lips and tongues danced, she pressed her bare breasts against my naked chest. Her hips pushed forward and my dick pressed against her crotch and lower stomach.
We ground ourselves against each other, building higher and higher towards that desperate need to plunge in and carelessly rut like rabbits.
When our kiss broke, I looked at her and saw the same lust inside me reflecting in her eyes.
She smiled and laid herself down the length of the sofa. She raised her hands up.
"Take me," she whispered. "I'm ready."
She looked so vulnerable.
It made my heart throb.
I turned and held her legs before plunging myself into her.
She gasped and squealed a little as I filled her up completely. "Oooh, g-give me a heads up, damn it!" she whined half-heartedly.
I came down on her and wrapped her in a hug. Her arms wrapped around my back and shoulders and held tightly as our hips began to swing and pound together.
Vicky whimpered as she orgasmed, and limply hung onto me as her second orgasm crashed into her almost soon as her first come down ended.
She grew only tighter as time passed, and finally, I rammed all the way into her and came.
Vicky closed her eyes and shuddered along with me.
We laid there like that for a good ten minutes before I peeled myself off of her.
She grinned up at me happily.
"I'm pregnant."
-VB-
When Amy came home, we celebrated Vicky's pregnancy.
Our celebration ended shortly, however, when a boom shook the city.
We ran out to the front of the house and looked around, and soon enough, saw the fire rising high into the sky over Downtown.
"It's Bakuda all over again," Amy grumbled. She turned to me. "Alan, we're keeping to our area. The Protectorate can take care of that. We need to stand our ground here, or otherwise, it'll overwhelm the others."
I nodded. It was what I was about to suggest.
"I'll get the tags ready."
All three of us walked back into the house, but I went down into the basement towards my Alchemic Lab. I walked up to a small cabinet and opened it.
Within it was a stack of paper tags. Its ink came from my blood and roots of the very few spiritual herbs Amy had managed to grow with her power.
With them in my hands, I walked back up and began to tag the house and the area discretely. I hid them under bushes, on the undersides of cars, on roofs, and anywhere I thought that people won't find them easily.
I was very close to done when I noticed that there was a group of people swaggering down the street. They wore shaggy and barbaric attires painted and dyed in green and blue.
It was very clear to me who these people were.
I pulled out my phone and called Amy.
"Amy. The Fallen are here."
"{Alright. I'm sending my jaguars to you… Be careful.}"
"I will."
I hid the few tags I still had into my pocket along with my phone and stood up straight.
They spotted me.
"Oh, look who it is! It's the guy who took a hit from our god and didn't die!" the man at the lead cackled. He had a blank blue mask with only one visible eyehole and a cape that would have looked like a lion pelt if it wasn't for the fact that it had scales. It was very clear once again that this guy was definitely trying too hard to mimic Leviathan.
"So you guys are all Fallen?" I asked leisurely even as my entire body tensed.
They chuckled and laughed at me.
"Ooh, is the big hero going to put us down?"
"Ah, so you're a Fallen copycat!"
My accusation made them angry. "No, we're the Fallen's Crowley Family!"
"Ah!" I grinned.
They tensed. They did not like my grin.
"That's wonderful."
And then Amy's Spirit Jaguars, four of them, stepped out from around the corners and fences and bushes behind the Fallen.
I allowed my grin to widen and show them my two sets of shiny white teeth.
"I don't have to go looking for you!"
I jump-kicked.
And promptly passed right through the leader's body, flesh and blood body as well as his costume, and plowed instead into the others behind him.
I winced when the blade of my boot smashed into some poor bastard's skull and tore the head right off.
I came to a skidding stop a few yards after that.
I looked at them and…
"Hold up. Are you guys frozen in fear right now?" I asked incredulously.
"You- you- you just killed -!"
They thought that I was like any other villain or hero.
They didn't do enough research.
"But you guys are the Fallen," I drawled. "You guys terrorize and kill. I'm not letting you live to do that to my city. I'll deal with the lawsuits as they come," I replied before charging at them again.
Chapter 46
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 42
-VB-
I struck first again.
Unlike last time, the Fallen mooks and leaders quickly spread apart, but now, they had to divide their attention into two.
Amy's Spirit Jaguars roared as they pounced on the mooks unlucky enough to be close to them. With strength and speed unmatched by any land predator, these jaguars cleared nearly thirty yards in a single jump in under a second and latched onto their targets before biting into the backs of their heads. The Fallen mooks turned their guns upon the jaguars, and fired.
RATATATATATATAT-!
P-P-P-P-P-Ping-!
ROAR!
CRUNCH!
"FUCK-!"
While they fought in the back, I wove through the rain of bullets fired upon me by the second Fallen cape's ethereal replicas of their - her? - M16 rifle. They floated about her and fired upon me like some kind of upgraded version of Crusader and Miss Militia's powers.
But I was too goddamn fast for her!
With a sweeping jump, I blurred across the air above their heads and then landed right behind her.
And then I punched.
My fist slammed into her back while she was half-turning and half-stumbling, and broke through her ribcage. Her toros wobbled as she spat up blood, but I didn't stop there. Before she was even halfway fallen, my other hand lashed out with a fist and slammed into the back of her head.
And crunch!
She faceplanted with the back of her head caved in and all of her torso's bones shattered.
She was dead even before she hit the ground.
A quick and nearly painless death.
I turned to the other two capes.
"T-This isn't what they said about you!" the one that I had phased through laughed nervously while the other…
"You killed my sister!" he roared and launched himself at me.
To my surprise, he threw a punch.
And I got even more surprised when fifty fists appeared out of nowhere and slammed into me from all directions.
"How do you like th-?"
I lashed out, grabbed his forearm, and squeezed.
It snapped underneath my fingers, and he screeched in agony.
My other hand struck out and grabbed his throat.
And squeezed.
His face didn't even discolor before his spine snapped.
For good measure, I shook him around like a ragdoll and then dropped him next to his sister.
The last of the Crowley capes looked at me before shaking his head.
"This is nothing like the information said…. They deceived us!" he hissed quietly but I heard it nonetheless.
"You lot worship Leviathan," I hummed. "It's ironic that you die in this city."
Was I possibly taking out my frustration of my near-death by Leviathan on these Fallen?
Yeah. Yeah, I was.
"Grrrrr…."
I looked around and saw the Spirit Jaguars prowling forward and then circling closely around me. Looking back, I saw none of the other cultists alive and standing. All of them had either their throats or the backs of their heads chewed open.
It was a very jaguar thing to do. I wondered if Amy knew about their hunting techniques and made them do this on purpose. If so, then I was going to tell her how vicious she was.
Hearing soles on asphalt, I turned back to the cape to look at him run.
I blinked.
Huh.
Well.
I let him run for ten more seconds.
"Get him."
And the jaguars ran forward. It almost looked like they were competing with each oth-. Oh, oh yeah. They were.
For an instant, normal attacks didn't work on the guy. The jaguars phased through him like I had.
And then they tried Qi-infused attacks.
The Fallen cultists screamed as he collapsed with bleeding ankles.
The jaguars all pounced on him immediately.
When his scream cut off soon after that, I only felt pity.
Pity that it didn't last longer for the cruel fucker.
I gathered all of the Crowleys in one pile and wondered what I should do. Burning their bodies would be disrespectful, but it wouldn't be lasting and some would see it as a blessing even because their bodies would be spared the humiliating desecration.
'I have changed,' I thought to myself as I stared at the pile of bodies. I used to want nothing to do with the cape scene. It was only after Amy brought me headlong into it that I… No, it wasn't that Amy was responsible for the change but rather that I knew even before I became a cape that I would be a violent killer.
What else was a cultivator if not that?
More than that, I was a vengeful person, both as Alan Marris of Bet and myself from my original world. I let a lot of things go under the bridge because they weren't worth the time, but things that truly pissed me off…?
I've done some shit. None of it permanent but I've done some pretty cruel shit.
I looked once again over the pile of dead cultists.
What to do to them?
They came after me and my family. I wanted their deaths to be used as a message, but how could I do that?
I looked again and then noticed the cultists' uniforms and the unique outfits of the capes.
An idea popped into my head.
-VB-
The next day in Downtown…
"What are you doing?" Amy asked me as she and Vicky accompanied me to Downtown. I carried a large plywood board with me and a cardboard box filled with clothes.
She gave me her best "I know you're up to something" look. You know, the ones patented by wives and mothers alike?
Yes, that one.
"Nothing too crazy," I grinned.
It only made her suspicion worse.
I set the board down against a wall and the box next to it. Opening the box, I pulled out first costume.
An Endbringer cape's costume.
I pulled out a hammer and some nails from a box of nails within the larger cardboard box, and nailed that costume to the board before clearing my throat and turning to the now somewhat curious public.
"Come right up, come right up! It's only five dollars to punch a hole in an authentic Endbringer cultist cape's costume! Form a line and step right up!" I advertised loudly.
Taking a photo of myself with the dead cultists would not sit well with some people, allies and enemies alike. Hanging them like they deserved would be seen as archaic.
But taking only their costumes after turning in their bodies and getting paid by the people to let them hammer a nail into the already nailed costume?
The eager looks some people gave me were priceless.
Amy and Vicky just looked at me with shocked exasperation from the sideline as did many other heroes who came by to see the spectacle as the day dragged on.
Now this was what I called petty revenge!
Chapter 47
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 43
-VB-
No good deed ever goes unpunished.
Despite the fact that I had more or less wiped out a branch of the Fallen that had tried to infiltrate Brockton Bay and make mockery of everything we held dear, I found myself in a tribunal held by the older generation of the New Wave team.
"Displaying a dead cape's costume in Boardwalk is not -" Sarah glared at me. "- how New Wave operates, Alan."
The Pelhams and the Dallons thought that it would be rude for me to be lectured within my own house, so we held this tribunal - sorry, meeting - in the Pelham's new house.
"I beg to differ," I replied back to her. "As petty revenge as it was for me, I don't think I have done anything wrong, morally, legally, or ethically."
"You had the public stab the belongings of a dead man!"
"A dead man who made mockery of everything good and true of not just American ideals but common human decency," I countered. "I think the public agrees with me in that there is no need for us to give those anarchistic bastards common decency and respect when they don't give nor acknowledge it."
"This is not about their issues but your lack of accountability!"
"Accountability? Sarah, I have been accountable with you lot since I took my mask off. I never shied away from fighting and have paid all of my dues."
At this point, I pulled out my smartphone - some brand called Melon - and showed her my bank statements under the Expense tab.
"Ignore the groceries."
Crystal leaned in just after I said that. "Those are some expensive groceries."
"It has to do with my power."
"Expensive groceries?"
"Don't detract us from the topic at hand, Crystal," Neil told his daughter sternly, but allowed Sarah to pick the conversation back up instead of doing it himself.
"… You've been using your share of the donations on repairs?"
"Of course," I replied. "Just because the law states that I can ignore any and all 'reasonable' collateral damage in the pursuit of law and order doesn't mean that I should ignore the people and the infrastructure that I damage. I paid for a quarter of the repair bill for the damages my actions cause. In the same way, displaying the cape costume and letting the people take out their own frustrations for their powerlessness is another one of my ways of being accountable."
"How is that being accountable?" Carol - still suspended but still part of the team - asked me with a raised eyebrow and a glare of her own.
"Because I understand how the regular people feel."
My statement earned me a lot of glares.
"Need I remind all of you that I haven't been a parahuman last year? That I had to watch capes destroy parks, roads, and businesses every weekend as if it was some sort of sports?" I asked them.
My question softened their responses a little.
"Being accountable by myself does jackshit. Sure, it makes me feel great about not having anything to hide, but why are we even superheroes if we are not the ones to bring justice for the people?"
"Because that is not the scope of our responsibilities." To my surprise, it was Mark (Flashbang) who responded to me. We turned to him as he spoke again. "New Wave is an independent hero team, and - legally speaking - have limited duties, responsibilities, and liabilities. That limit is what actually keeps us from being sued to kingdom come for the damages we cause Victoria."
She chuckled nervously.
Collateral damage barbie, she was no longer, but she made regular newspaper articles for the damages she caused.
I would not be surprised if the next time she caused a big enough damage, which could be a car thrown at her, she might make the headline that questions whether or not she was back at being CDB.
"I have to agree with Alan in how accountable he is being by actively not hiding behind the laws, but I can't agree with encouraging violence like you did."
Huh? What violence encouragement?
"There is a reason we don't encourage people to fight back against capes just like we don't encourage regular people to fight a soldier. The difference in scale of conflict is different. A riot is different from a military skirmish just as the limits of a single person's violence is nothing compared to a single cape's limits of violence," he explained. "By allowing the people to feel comfortable with 'sticking it' to the capes, literally, you were encouraging people to go out there and do the same in real life."
"And shouldn't they have the choice?"
"Individually, yes," he nodded wisely. "As a society, I'm not so sure."
His words surprised everyone, including Carol.
"Our society is not just the public as we say it. It includes people like Skidmark and Kaiser. We can't keep people out of society just because they don't fit; we either include everyone or exclude everyone, barring those who have legally lost their rights."
No one had anything else to say to that so far, and waited for him to continue.
He visibly struggled to get the words out, not because he didn't what to say but because we could see his depression start to set in as he thought about the darker parts of life. Or had he been pushing and just losing steam while already in his depressed state?
"People can be… impulsive," he just noted before falling silent.
"And I incited the people instead of the individual, are you saying?"
He nodded.
I supposed that my action wasn't as… great as it could be. Funny and full of petty vegenge, yes, but great?
Not quite.
"Just don't do it again," Sarah sighed.
"Alright, I won't," I accepted.
And that was that.
-VB-
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Chapter 48
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 44
-VB-
The Fallen came too fast.
They died too quickly.
Rabbit killed too easily.
He killed too effectively.
Hannover sat in his chair in his office and wondered where his plan went wrong. Did he underestimated Rabbit and overestimated the Fallen? Well, certainly, he didn't expect the weakest of the three main branches to be here; he expected someone like Valefor and Elligos.
He bolted up from his chair.
'Don't tell me. He got stronger in the month between our first encounter and then his fight against the Fallen?!' he thought frantically in panic.
It was unprecedented. How quickly was the bastard growing?!
He sat back, trying to calm himself while shelving the theory away.
Regardless of the fact that Rabbit himself hadn't been injured at all, the Fallen had taken a huge hit by losing an entire branch of their organization. That was a victory not just for him but for all of the Elite. He would not only get credit for organizing and warning the heroes and villains of the city, he would be counted on as a neutral mediator between the two sides (and there was nothing more profitable than being able to straddle the fence).
But Rabbit was a problem still.
The man went from a casually comfortable man to a ruthless killer at the drop of a hat.
Unpredictable, powerful, and growing.
He was already beyond Hannover's ability to manipulate and puppet.
He…
He needed to get on his good side.
But how?
… Well, Rabbit had to be a normal man, right? He must have normal man's wants and desires. He was obviously wanting a family if Panacea's pregnancy indicated anything.
His eyes widened behind his mask.
He had a brilliant idea.
What if.
What if.
What if he got them tickets to tourist destinations? A whole cruise?
Could he even try to set them up a place outside the city? His men and women already discovered that Rabbit's "faction" within New Wave was having issues with Brandish.
Hannover grinned as a plan started to come together.
Yes~. He could still make this work!
First, he needed to enlarge the gap between the team.
"Paulie? Can you leave a note for the local news station as if the note came from Brandish?"
-VB-
Brandish was a bitch.
I frowned as I stood in the doorway of my house.
The crisply dressed woman with a microphone held in one hand stared up at me with sparkling eyes.
This was a social hunter, and I was the prey of the day.
"I… do not believe that such an interview was set up," I spoke. I needed to be careful with how I spoke here. Letting any detail of the team's current condition leak would not also lead to a public scandal but also cause all members grief.
I did not want to find out how many people would blatantly and rudely approach Amy and Vicky - nevermind the others - while they are at work or school and ask about the team's situation after they hear any news about the team.
At the same time, I could not not be polite and open about the team. To do anything otherwise would give them a reason to continue to dig. After all, only those who have nothing to hide were open with themselves, and if I said too little, then there was something to hide.
But why did it have to be me…?
"Our station received a note from Brandish herself!" she said enthusiastically. "Surely-"
I held a hand up and then pulled out a phone.
I called Sarah first.
"{Hello, Alan?}"
"Yes, it's me. I have station 8 here at my doorstep for an interview I never made an appointment for. Apparently, Brandish sent them a note or something?"
I could almost hear the frown from my side.
"{She doesn't organize interview appointments. That's my job.}"
"Can you ask her, because this lot doesn't seem like they're going to leave if I don't give them something."
"{Will do. Good luck.}" Unsaid was the need to keep the current team issue under wrap.
"Thanks."
I turned back to the now distracted journalist. "Did your station check if the note you lot received was actually from our team?" I asked. "And from what I remember, New Wave never assigns a single person for their interview but multi-family interviews. Did you two-" I asked the journalist and the cameraman. "- come and visit a cape's home without even confirming if you weren't being pranked or tricked?"
The two tried to say a few things to cover their ass, but even without listening to their words, I felt the insincerity of their words.
I quickly took control of the rising temper with the harshness of a boot camp drill sergeant.
"Either speak the truth with honesty or leave with your lies and dishonesty. I am not going to entertain fake smiles and insincere excuses," I snapped at them.
I could prevent any damage from going to the team by directing it all to me.
The journalist's eyes narrowed momentarily in irritation but widened quickly afterwards with a still fake smile.
"I don't know-"
I flexed.
I didn't exert any of my Ki or make threatening moves. I just flexed.
It was enough to make the journalist shut up.
"Let me make one thing clear," I too smiled with teeth on full display. "Where Protectorate heroes might capture the Fallen, I summarily executed them. Do you know why?" I asked as I leaned forward.
It was at this point that the two of them finally realized who they were talking to.
I wasn't New Wave. I wasn't the two veteran independent hero families.
"Are you threatening us?" she asked incredulously.
I gave her my "I'm done with this shit" look. "You entered my property without my express permission. You then gave me shit excuse regarding why you entered my property without my express permission. You are still on my land." I glared at her. " Threatening you? I do not threaten, woman."
"Alan, that's too much."
I paused and glanced over my shoulder.
Amy was there, nursing his bloated pregnant stomach.
She looked at the journalist. "When you heard that we did not invite you, you should have left immediately. Please leave before you further inconvenience us."
The two of them fled.
"… That's going to cause a problem," she remarked with a sigh.
I snorted. "Station 8 is known for rumormongering and lying. I don't give a shit. Anyone who views their news is dumb fuckers I also don't need to listen to."
-VB-
Hannover grinned when he heard his reporters talk about how they were threatened.
He could just imagine the headlines tomorrow.
"Rabbit: Hero or Loose Cannon?"
This plan was so much better~.
Chapter 49
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 45
-VB-
"… So?"
"What do you mean so?"
"Did it do anything?"
"Well, it certainly shook the public's-"
"No," a third voice interjected. "We wasted time and money for something that did nothing."
"Oh." The first voice, a twin of the third voice, turned to the owner of the second voice in the trio's shared bedroom. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
Normally, Hannover would be the one in charge, but when he made mistakes, his two girls always made sure to let him know what he did wrong.
"Too many plans."
"Too many ideas."
"Always searching for one."
"While looking at another."
"That's how you got us two."
"And that'll be the last of your indecisiveness."
He raised his hands in surrender but also a little protest. "I have only been doing what I thought was necessary for our prosperity," he replied back as he grabbed and peeled his mask away.
In the sanctity of their new home and civilian identity, he felt safe to do this. Well, to be truthful, this place was an addition he had built with the help of his fellow Elite members outside of his cell. The twins took their masks off as well because nothing but Behemoth was going to get through the secure vault doors of this mini-Endbringer Shelter.
"Decide how you want to approach your non-existent Rabbit problem."
"Either encourage him to leave."
"Or kill him by any means necessary for our future prosperity."
Hannover fidgetted as his two girls got on either side of him. "It's not that I haven't decided. It's just that I'm trying to work within the confines of the limits I've been given with the situation. We need to handle Rabbit very delicately unless we want our heads cracked open."
"It's a simple thing to add poison to the water their neighborhood drinks."
"You can even publicly come out to buy out the 'corrupt and embezzling' utility company to fix it up."
"You will get the honor."
"Wealth."
"And most importantly."
This was why he couldn't choose one of the two girls. They were the other half of the other, and to lose one would be like never having had them at all.
Mi, his Evaline, and Ni, his Anna, leaned in as they began taking their skintight suits off.
"You get to have more time with us."
"So hurry up already."
-VB-
I paid the local news absolutely zero attention, more so of the gossip magazine level of uselessness that was the local station 8.
The PRT ENE also paid them absolutely zero attention.
The Protectorate gave no attention either.
New Wave did care; they cared that someone came up to one of their members' house with an unverified invitation.
The villains didn't care, too.
The neutrals and rogues gave no shit.
Life went on as if nothing happened, because it was exactly that: an insignificant gossip from an insignificant news channel.
What did catch my attention, however, was an offer made by a cape I knew.
Once again, we talked over the phone, and the bastard actually managed to not call me in the middle of sex.
"You want to what?"
"{I would like to offer you a chance to visit other cities! A reward for your good deed in the brief Fallen conflict.}"
"… You're hiding something."
"{Of course, I hide my civilian identity. No, what I am really doing is trying to get you to just understand that one of the leaders of an organization that has repeatedly clashed with the Fallen is trying to show some appreciation, Mr. Marris. I am more than happy to give you some vacation time away from all of the shitshow that is the normal cape scene. I'm sure your two wives would also agree?}"
I looked down at Vicky and Amy's sleeping forms. Amy with her four-month pregnancy made me feel protective. Vicky looked fresh from her shower, but only half an hour ago, she had been covered in my cum from head to toe, begging me to fuck her more.
Because making my dick and fingers vibrate wasn't that hard as a cultivator. What was hard and needed quite the skill to accomplish was using my own Qi to gently arouse her own nerves all over her body.
Vicky's had more full-body seizure-like orgasms lately. I stopped using it on myself after the experimental phase because… there was a good chance I might just sit and home and drool my life away.
Drugs?
Who needed drugs when one could trigger all sorts of feelings without tolerance build-up?
'Well, I didn't get to give Amy a proper honeymoon, and Vicky will surely want one. A vacation, that is,' I thought to myself. Humming, I grinned to myself.
"Say…"
There was a pause.
He must have heard my mischievous tone.
"{Uh. Yes?}"
"Tell me, would a full nationwide tour be within your budget?"
-VB-
Hannover, in his office once again, slammed his fists and masked face onto his desk repeatedly.
"Fucking Rabbit! Filching my money! Fucking fucking fuck fuck fuck FUCKKK-!!!!"
Mi sighed as she dragged her twin sister to James's office. He needed to be taken back home. Whatever deal he'd just made, he was shedding bloody tears over it.
"A million fucking dollars?! He's not a fucking hero!" he screeched as Mi dragged him out of the office. "He's a fucking scammer! A SCAMMER! EXTORTIONIST! GAAAHHHH-!"
Ni slammed the door shut on him before sighing and taking his seat.
Then she began to do his paperwork.
How the hell did she and Evaline fall in love with such a neurotic man?
Chapter 50
Sponsored by Southmonk
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 46
-VB-
I was more surprised that Hannover agreed.
Free one million dollars~!
Well, he obviously wanted me out of the city. It probably involved being a shady criminal, but then again, I was getting paid to see nothing, hear nothing, and speak nothing. Of course, once my new honeymoon phase came to an end, then it would be a return to normalcy (as normal as capes came).
And speaking of honeymoon… !
"I want to go to Hawaii!" Vicky shouted with a raised hand.
"Brazil!" Amy retorted with a glare.
"But the beach!"
"The animals!"
"The culture!"
" THE TREES!"
Unfortunately, I didn't get a vote because "I was the man," and my two girls were fighting. It was a nice sibling-ish(?) fighting, but there was also something else involved in here.
Oh yeah, and that one million dollars? It would be used to invite all of their closest friends (even Carol). I… didn't have any, so I would keep my cut(?) of the million dollars. Of course, I would be expected to host a marriage here in the bay where I would marry Amy. And also where we had our honeymoon, where I would be marrying Vicky.
Yes, we've already gone and planned out how our trio's relationship was going to be, and it was going to be simple. I would be married to both of them. Seeing as how New Hampshire wasn't a fan of polygamy (most of USA wasn't), we were registering with different locations to bypass the law.
So, we had a plan!
What we needed to do was choose, but my two women were very adamant about where we were going to go for vacation.
See, as unmasked capes, traveling was a very hard thing to do. Never mind the fact that they might be swamped by fans, there was also the troubles of unknown Masters and the like who liked collecting capes (Heartbreaker was one such example).
My appearance and shared power changed that. No one in my small family worried about the details anymore. Why would we when Amy was in the process of making anti-Master implants, Vicky who was naturally tolerant to Master attacks now exhibited immunity, and I who… would smash.
'I sound like a brute,' I thought to myself.
"… spiration for more cats!" Amy finished with a huff. "You like my kitties, don't you?!"
Vicky stuttered a little.
Everyone knew that she liked the spirit jaguars, especially after Amy turned one of them into Vicky's personal ride. Yes, Vicky went around town riding that thing, and considering that the spirit jaguar in question - a lightly colored one with dark eyes - ranked a mid-tier Brute, Mover, and Striker by itself. Combined with Vicky, the pair had been… let's say that there was a new mascot for the city.
PHO, in particular, was roaring as they realized that Amy was a biokinetic, and people, especially rich people, started requesting their own personal spirit jaguars. And kittens. And dogs.
I still could not believe someone would want a chihuahua spirit beast. Like… why?
"Alan!"
I jolted in place. "Umm, yeah?"
Vicky and Amy looked at me intensely.
"What?"
They rolled their eyes together.
"We're going to Brazil."
Vicky looked pissed at Amy's declaration. "No, we're trying to get his opinion!" she snapped.
"Well, obviously, we're gonna go outside the USA for a proper honeymoon."
'I am not partial to mosquitos, and both locations have them,' I thought to myself but didn't voice it out like an idiot. I didn't want to hurt either of their feelings by siding with one side but that was easier said than done. How could I make them like my opinion without being upset?
… Could I make them think that my opinion was their opinion?
"Honestly?" I asked, and they nodded. "Hawaii would be easier on us because none of us know Portuguese, but I also do not want to spend our honeymoon on signing autographs."
Vicky's lips parted into a sneer at the thought of it.
"Brazil will probably help us in the long run by helping Amy compile some interesting biological… stuff, but I don't want to deal with the villains there. I think everyone knows that the Brazilian government is more than happy to just lease out land to villains if they pay high enough of a price…"
It appeared in news often enough (like twice a year) that people never forgot and Brazil earned a nickname from it: "Jungle of the Villains." It was a twist to the "laws of the jungle" with a literal jungle involved.
Both of them frowned as they thought about it.
"How about somewhere safer, communicable, equally biodiverse, and with beaches like Hawaii?"
"Where?" Vicky asked with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, does some place like that exist?"
"Of course!"
"… I mean, if it's as good as Brazil, then I'm okay with an alternative."
I grinned.
"Australia."
""You crazy son of a bitch.""
Fair. Their capital did get Ziz-bombed and the aboriginals were… let's say that they have formed their own unrecognized but nevertheless powerful and independent state in the Outback and was in a state of constant low level conflict with the Australian oil and mining industries.
"At least there's no cartels and we can understand English," I replied back with a shrug. "Oh, and we're less likely to be scammed."
"Alan, their capital got Ziz'ed," Vicky hissed. "It happened less than a year ago!"
"I know! The people there won't recognize us, and even if they do, they have their own survival to take care of."
"… I feel like we're taking advantage of -"
"Huge. Fat. Tarantula."
"Amy-!" Vicky hissed at Amy's blank look.
"Beaches with clean waters and coral reefs to enjoy."
"… Fine, I'm in."
Perfect.
Chapter 51
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 47
-VB-
To my surprise, Dallons and Pelhams had been Catholics, even if they weren't devout.
I stood before the altar with Amy next to me. Dressed in the white wedding dress and gown respectively, we were perfect. Sure, Amy stood before the altar with her late pregnancy for all to see, but it only made me happier. In the church with her was her entire family and relatives.
Unlike me, she had also been important enough that the Bishop Emeritus of Manchester traveled to Brockton Bay to personally oversee the marriage proceedings.
Bishop Quenville* smiled. I saw no judgment in his eyes nor feel it through my extra senses.
"Alan Marris and Amy Dallon, have you come here freely and without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage?"
""Yes.""
"Will you honor each other as man and wife for rest of your lives?"
""Yes.""
"Will you accept children lovingly from God, and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his church?"
Personally, I ascribed to the bible itself when I did decide to follow rather than any church, but that was close enough on most occasions.
""Yes.""
"Then you may speak your vows."
I turned to Amy as she turned towards me.
My heart raced a little. "I, Alan Marris, take you, Amy Dallon, to be my lawful wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life."
She beamed with a smile as she spoke her vow. "I, Amy Dallon, take you, Alan Marris, to be my lawful husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life."
"Then with the Lord as your witness, you may kiss."
Despite our current misgivings, Carol seemed awfully satisfied with this result.
-VB-
Our honeymoon to Australia was on!
If Vicky was on the same plane as us, then that was just a coincidence!
If there was a well-paid bureaucrat waiting to take a thousand dollars for registering Vicky and me as married, then that was also just a coincidence!
If there was a wedding already ready to go and Vicky and I had our wedding dress and new suit ready, then that was also just a coincidence.
The three of us now laid on an Australian beach, no more than ten miles from Sydney, sunbathing to our heart's content.
Because Australia was in the southern hemisphere, their weather was the opposite of those in the northern hemisphere, and because of that, the summer of Australia was just starting as it ended back home.
"… This is the best," Vicky sighed after sipping her… what was she drinking?
"We should be drinking a cocktail or something for the mood," Amy also sighed from the other side. "But then again, both of us are pregnant so we'll have to stick with juice."
"Mmhmm," her step-sister agreed.
"Eh," I muttered as I laid between the two of them, all three of us facing up towards the sun with sunscreen liberally applied.
We also didn't have anyone coming over to ask for autographs like it happened in Brockton Bay. No one recognized us.
This. Was. Perfect.
"… I'm bored."
"Me too."
I sighed. "Yeah, honestly, this is too perfect."
Amy sat up. "Should I try to recreate the Healing Tree?"
The Healing Tree was Amy's last spirit experiment before we got married and then came over to Australia for our honeymoon and marriage with Vicky. She only succeeded once out of the four dozen trees she grew, but it did one job: those around it would slowly regain their "optimal" condition. This included combating aging.
"Australia will surely like it, especially here in Sydney."
I've done my research on this continent.
Ever since Canberra fell, Sydney became Australia's capital.
Well, truthfully speaking, there were two capitals: Sydney for Australia and Alice Springs for United Outback Tribes.
Yes, the aboriginals revolted. See, the thing about this Earth was that persecution and bullying led to the victims triggering and gaining superpowers. Sure, the government might realize this and they preferred if any and all superhumans worked with them rather than against them.
But can the people, culturally ingrained to discriminate and persecute those "lesser" than them, be smart?
Considering that there was a full-on rebellion in the heart of the Australian Outback that Australia cannot dislodge, the people have proven that, no, they cannot.
Of course, this only led to more discrimination. The idiots who still didn't realize what was good for them started throwing rocks at their neighbors. Lynchings happened. People triggered.
In one internationally famous case, a riot broke out as white supremacists broke into a school in a slum where a lot of the poor aboriginals and other minorities went to and started executing kids, completely ignoring that among those who trigger, children were stronger than adults, and so when thirty schoolchildren triggered - whites, blacks, indigenous, and Asians - and started rampaging across Sydney? Not only did the racists all die rather violently, but Australia also lost over ten thousand people that day.
Those children now make up not just the elite defenders of the Free Tribe's Nation after they ran away but made up the rebellion's core founders. Sure, not all aboriginals joined. In fact, Australia "proudly" showed off more than a few aboriginal capes who joined its federal parahuman agency, Bull Guard.
Regardless, Australia as a nation had fewer capes than the United Outback Tribes did, and cherished those they had with fanaticism.
The only reason why Australia was not at war was that despite their initial failures, their government did some really great work at reforms and diplomacy.
So while the UOT was in rebellion, technically they were also a self-autonomous region of Australia. Without ever having signed papers with the government.
I didn't care anymore beyond those details, because it wasn't like I was going to be dealing with them. I just felt bad for the regular people who had to pay more tax for the fuck ups of the government and the brainwashed idiots among them. Most Australians were just normal regular people.
"Yeah, sure, go for it," I told Amy.
This would just be good PR while Vicky got to do some bodyguarding/posing/modeling, Amy got to experiment, and me?
I was going to actually develop my own martial arts style to focus this power of mine.
-VB-
Not the actual bishop IRL.
Chapter 52
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 48
-VB-
Was Australia rich?
Not really. With the loss of the Outback, they lost a lot of their usual mines when Australian export was dominantly raw material export, particularly coal and iron. Leviathan didn't help, of course, but it didn't mean that shipping didn't happen; it just happened far less frequently and the danger involved also made it super expensive.
So Australia was not rich, and with eighteen million people living in it, this was not good news. Their healthcare hung by a bare thread, and so when Amy came around with me as her husband and bodyguard and offered to create a tinkertech healing device approved for use by the PRT…
The doctor in charge of Blacktown hospital, Doctor Hellen Kim, stood next to us with teary eyes.
"It's been so long since we've got help," she whispered quietly while dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. "Even though we're no more than ten kilometers from the new federal district and take in the majority of West Sydney's needy, sick, and injured."
Vicky was all for the PR.
"Don't worry. Heroes will come to help if they know more about the situation!" she said as she took the matron's hands and shook them. Seeing as the matron wasn't flying away, screaming about broken bones, or otherwise, she was doing a good job at controlling her strength while giving the appearance of putting her all in that one firm handshake. "I mean, I already posted to PHO about it and my hubby there set up a donation pool."
I gave the matron, who turned to look at me, a victory sign. "It's already linked to your hospital's own donation site, so there won't be a fee for intermediaries as people will be giving directly to you."
She began to openly weep now.
Politely ignoring her for a moment as she pulled Vicky and Amy both into a bear hug, I pulled out my phone and looked up how many donations the site recorded. The pity story I wrote with Amy and Vicky's confirming it was enough for ten thousand dollars to be deposited over one hundred eight donations in the past three hours. From a single glance, our little trip to the poorest hospital seemed to be working.
More importantly, seeing Amy and Vicky feel good about the good they were doing.
"REPENT! THE END IS NIGH!"
The matron's tears dried up almost instantly, and the handkerchief of hers squeaked from the grip strength applied to it.
I turned towards the sound, which seemed to come from the front of the lobby.
"Who's the crazy?" I asked after turning back towards the doctor.
"A local man who lost his entire family," she sighed. "Usually, he has a minder."
"Daniel, stop bothering the nice people and the sick patients!"
I looked down as the voices grew away and saw a… was that a nun? Yes, that was a nun dragging an elderly man away from the lobby of the hospital.
"He's… he has but a single grandchild left. Please forgive him for the disruption."
"Shouldn't he be taking care of his grandkid then?" I asked her with a huff.
"The kid's in the army."
"Ah."
"Yes. Daniel… was always a good neighbor. Always helpful and kind. A good Christian like the way the old pastors and priests told people to emulate, not the Christians of profiteering megachurches."
"What happened?" I asked, more to keep a conversation going than with actual curiosity.
"Simurgh happened."
No more needed to be said.
"Are there a lot of people like him?"
"Yes, unfortunately."
And that was that.
-VB-
After another hedonistic night, I found myself on the rooftop of the hotel we were staying at.
I would normally get right down to doing something, but I also knew that making my own martial arts needed proper guidance as well.
Martial art, as I understood it, wasn't just a show of punching, kicking, and fighting in a pleasing and effective manner. Martial art, at its core, was a way for a trained expert to gain an advantage over the untrained or even those trained in the more traditional and standard methods.
Of course, guns fucked that trend up badly, but one good soldier training video still showed everyone that a trained martial artist versus someone who wasn't trained in such close-quarter combat.
First and foremost, I needed a martial art that could switch between non-lethality and lethality on the fly. As a hero, I needed to be able to hold back but also dish out the necessary firepower when murderers like Slaughterhouse Nine came around.
With that in mind, I had already compiled a list of moves and arts that were already proficient in both. Judo was a must for its grappling techniques needed for me to lock down my enemies that I didn't want to kill, taekwondo for the powerful kicks, and LINE for fully lethal attacks. I would go for single strikes for both incapacitations and kill strikes.
Time to get started.
Chapter 53
Resubbing to WoW TBC was a mistake.
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 49
-VB-
Breath in.
Breath out.
Breath in.
Breath out.
I opened my eyes.
"Yes, Amy?"
My wife - I was not going to get tired of thinking that - stood in front of me with her hands on her hips and said hips slightly swaying from side to side.
"Yes?" I asked her while thoroughly enjoying her standing in front of me with… what could only be called cosplay.
When my pregnant wife stood in front of me trashy white tank top barely covering her generous tits and a pair of daisy dukes cosplayed as a pregnant teenager, was it cosplay or just fact? The only difference would be that my pregnant teenager wife wasn't dumb, jobless, or weak.
No one would ever call Panacea poor or weak.
"… You are very cute," I told her honestly and got a grin out of her.
My Amy wasn't a dime a dozen shy, stuttering flower but a thorny yet utterly priceless rose.
However, I was concerned about exactly what she wanted from me right now. After all, it was only yesterday that we had anal in a threesome with Vicky. Did I create a sex maniac?
"Nothing. I just thought you might like seeing us walking around you nearly naked all the time because you've been teasing us all day every day for the past week doing exactly that."
I blinked.
Well, I did walk around without a shirt and my short pants wasn't exactly that short.
"Wait, we-?"
Vicky glomped me from behind, and her impressive-for-her-age tits pressed up against me. What got my dick erecting a tent in my pants was that I barely felt anything cover her tits.
"… You're not going to go out wearing that, are you?" I asked them. "They might make me feel… possessive."
"We girls like to flaunt what we have, you know?" Vicky crooned into my ear as her arms came around my shoulder. "But maybe we won't want to if our man makes us feel even more appreciated?"
I stood up and stripped.
"I think you can see how appreciative I am of what I am seeing. And feeling."
I didn't even bother undressing them when I jumped them.
-VB-
So that's another hot blood-induced threesome.
We were doing that a lot. Was it the weather? It was probably the weather. It was just so great to strip and move…
Speaking of moving, our honeymoon in Australia was coming to a close. We visited both Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne. We saw the Opera House. We saw a lot of wildlife, though I didn't quite understand why people liked that literal shit-eating and dying-engine noise-making animal. Vicky still liked them, and Amy, being a biokinetic, loved the local scorpions and jellyfish more. She already had ideas about the next kinds of spirit beasts she intended to make back home.
As for home, nothing significant happened. With the strong showing from me and my two girls, we declared, unofficially and only through our actions, that Brockton Bay was off-limits. Villains came, and they died, unlike how it was for most cities. Sure, we weren't there anymore, but once we got back, whoever thought it was a good idea to settle in would not enjoy my fisting.
But that was for future me to worry about. The present me and my two wives intended to visit one more place before we left.
Specifically, we headed north to Darwin for some saltwater crocodile sightseeing.
"Are you excited?" I asked them as our cruise ship ride sailed.
Amy shrugged. "It's just a big lizard."
"Yes!" Vicky replied.
Now, their responses differed from their usual wildlife tours because Amy didn't care about big animals; she already saw most of them. On the other hand, Vicky really liked big animals. It helped that she didn't have to worry about them harming her because of her aura - which now, coupled with cultivation, made her more or less even more protected against weaker opponents. She had been an oppressive enemy against weaker opponents before, but now, she was even more oppressive.
As for me? I-.
I heard screaming and turned around to look from the front starboard side of the open deck of the cruise ship.
"Hands in the air!" I heard someone shout and looked towards the voice.
There, at the foot of the midship, stood seven men. Five of them had the same uniform: some kind of pixelated game-related picture (blue Mario?) while the front two men wore personalized costumes. The taller one hunched his back in his pink skimpy biker's outfit that showed off his muscles while the shorter one stood with his back straight in his
Oh, they were the local Uber and Leet, weren't they, if only, you know, more malicious?
"Bring out your wallets, we know you have them!" the shorter one cackled as he pulled up some kind of laser gun out of its holster.
I glanced over at Vicky and Amy.
Amy shrugged, indifferent to the situation at hand. Or rather, she already knew the outcome.
Vicky sighed. "Weren't we supposed to not be fighting during our honeymoon?"
It was a bit of a selfish thing, but then again, this was our honeymoon.
"I'll go punt them."
"Woo. Our strong, bulky husband is going to solve our problem~!"
Amy just smirked.
I rolled my eyes before bursting into action.
One, I jumped forward. I landed a total of three times, each time to dodge a fleeing or panicking cruise-goer. Instead of the usual concrete-crunching footsteps I normally took in battle, I tried for a softer approach. Instead of stomping, I slid forward, using my qi to reinforce or negate my own inertia. By doing this, I, someone who weighed over a hundred eighty pounds, repeatedly turned on a dime to dodge the slow people.
Two, I identified the targets. That was enough easy; they'd already marked themselves for me.
Three, I struck.
Before the capes even realized what was going on, I slammed my open palms onto their faces and slammed them into the deck. The wooden deck crunched and splintered from impact, and then I injected qi into them to mess with their inner balance. The result? Two knocked-out villains.
The five normie minions, again, didn't have time to react before I blitzed by them, knife-handing their nerve clusters at the sides of their necks. They crumpled to the floor.
I stood up and dusted my hands. "… Can someone call the Bull Guard?" I asked politely with a smile before I began a leisurely walk back to my wives.
"HEY!"
I turned around at the angry voice and saw a… holy shit, there was a short and wide (not fat) man dressed in a stereotypical movie director outfit; he had everything from the clapboard (the black and white board) to the black beret.
The short angry man stomped towards me. "You just hurt my actors!"
… Oh shit.
"Uh, okay, sorry, who are you?" I asked, panicking a little as I realized that there had been something more than meets the eyes, in the more literal fashion.
"I'm James Holster! You know, the guy who directed the Invincible Woman?!"
I blinked. I've never heard of that movie.
His shoulder sagged and looked depressed.
Wait, had I said that out loud?
"What's… going on?" I asked as I leaned in. Even the cruise-goers looked alarmed but not at the "villains" but at me.
"This was the movie set for my new movie, but you just…"
"I'm more surprised that you aren't phased by what I did."
This time, he looked confused, though his anger was still there. And then he realized something. "Oh. Um. You're a cape."
"Yes," I nodded slowly. "Unmasked cape from the USA. Nice to meet you, Mr. Holster."
He stared up at me with wide eyes before he grinned.
"Okay, you can compensate me by playing the villain for my new movie."
Wut.
Chapter 54
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 50
-VB-
"Oh darling, you. Are. Perfect."
I did not like the attention of the director of cosmetics of this movie production.
Maybe it was because the director of cosmetics was a middle-aged man and his hands were going everywhere on Vicky… except he was being respectful and professional. His words, however, dripped with oil and honey.
Vicky, for her part, looked abashed as everyone around her showered her with praise for her beauty.
When the director had gotten me to join the movie production for my part in causing disruption, Vicky had joined in as well and the director was perfectly fine with that.
So now, I was the "evil villain" Brute who would be holding the cruise ship captive while Vicky would be one of the heroines who would make me realize the folly and cruelty of my actions.
I must admit, however, that the director of cosmetics and his cohort of make-up artists did great.
Victoria Dallon transformed from a pretty girl into a beautiful woman in her prime.
How great did she look?
If I wasn't paying back to the director, then I would be taking Vicky back to our room and not leaving it for a long time. Amy would be there to film it, too, if the appearance of a phone stand in her possession that she used along with her phone to film Vicky right now was any indication.
"Good job beating up fake villains," Amy said seriously without looking my way. Her eyes were glued to the screen as she captured every single second of Vicky's transformation and more.
I just grunted.
"So what exactly are they having you doing?" she asked me.
"I have to wear a mask they're going to give me, do some poses, and do some semi-serious sparring with the rogue Brute stuntman they hired for the scene. I have to make sure to show that I am a competent fighter but lose because I make a critical mistake."
"Like what?"
"I'm going to ask them, just to make sure, but it'll be something like overreaching, overcommitting, and over-whatever."
"So just like any real cape fight?"
"More or less. Their fake villain made that hard, but now that I'm here, I guessed that they're going through with their original script. Apparently, the director is a bit of a motormouth and told me straight up that this movie would have been horrible if they had to go with the investor approved B-rated fight scene."
She hummed. "Who is this movie supposed to be marketed for?"
"Adults."
Amy's head snapped towards me. "What?"
"Apparently, the main actress is a porn star? So she and the 'heroic' rogue will be doing some serious bedroom scenes, though they're going to gloss over the details in favor of the romantic tale they hope the movie will spin."
She looked downtrodden. "Aw, the actress looked cute, too."
I snorted. "If you want to look for porn, I'm not going to stop you. I might even bang you to it."
She blushed a little along her cheeks, and I laughed.
"So are you also going to be shit-talking?"
"… I mean, I usually don't do that, you know it."
"No, you shit-talk. Remember the Fallen?"
"I shit-talked idiots who thought they were hot shit. I didn't shit-talk the Empire before I killed all of the idiots who decided to break and enter my home."
I heard some of the people who have been eavesdropping slowly shift away from us.
Amy noticed it, too, but she didn't comment on it.
"You know, I can also give you a cosmetic update, if only for the movie."
I glanced at her. "You can?"
She smirked at me as she turned to face me in full. "Of course! You think you're the only one experimenting with new ways to fight?" she asked before reaching down to her bag. She popped out a seed and let it rest on her face up palm. She blew on it, and it sprouted. "Now, this is supposed to be my prototype 'plant' armor, so hold still as it grows on you."
She pressed the seed against the middle of my bare chest, and it exploded in growth.
With groans and creaks, the seed soon became a deep blue bark that spread outward from the center of my chest. It wrapped itself around every single inch of my skin and under my swimming trunks.
When the transformation came to an end, I found myself with a stretchy wooden second skin. Its deep blue barks contrasted against the dark orange veins that spread sparsely throughout the surface. I held my hands up and turned it around.
Damn, this looked great. Like, I wouldn't mind wearing this out to fight since I no longer had my adaptive and regenerative power armor.
I glanced up and saw the director, who had been notified of the circumstances by his aides, gawk at me.
I opened my lips to speak and felt the bark around my lip area of the bark armor break and creak before snapping open.
He looked happy.
-VB-
XX years later…
"Oooh!!!" XXXX and YYYY ooh'ed as they watched the screen as the movie that spawned the multi-decade cartoon series "Shantyman and Australian Adventures!" played out.
Shantyman's greatest enemy and rival, Kei Shen, dropped down from the top floor of the cruise ship and landed on the wooden deck in a three-point heroic landing without causing a single wooden board to break.
"Ho~!" Kei Shen, the martial artist villain who has conquered and plunged New Zealand into turmoil, grinned. His black spandex suit showed each and every single muscle twitching and flexing with every single move, no matter how small. "Shantyman, I did not know you were in town today!"
Shantyman, a fledgling hero, growled with a grimace as he faced off against a Tyrant he knew he could not win. 'I can't win against him!' he thought, his inner voice reaching the audience. 'But if I don't fight… !'
His eyes panned around and saw the terrified civilians.
"I have come to stop your evil plan!" he declared. "EN GARDE!"
He jumped -!
The screen blinked off.
XXXX and YYYY snapped their head towards their mom.
"MOM!" the two children whined.
"You can watch it after you two do your homework," the blonde woman chided. "I swear, ever since Amy left, all of you think that I'm some kind of an easy-going mom. I swear I'm not! Now, get to your rooms! I want to see those homework papers after you are done with them!"
The two discouraged children let their shoulders droop and dragged their feet up the stairs.
"Mom" huffed. "I swear. Amy and Alan better come home soon, because taking care of six kids by myself is hard as… heck."
Chapter 55
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 51
-VB-
Our honeymoon came to an end, and we returned to Brockton Bay.
(This was after Amy had her fun with the saltwater crocodiles, tarantulas, gympie gympie, and dingos. I don't know what she did, but where there was once swimming, I had heard stomping instead and the croc didn't go back into the water. And the gympie gympie became a vine. And dingos. Goddamn the dingos. Why did Amy make them bigger?)
(AL: "Amy, I'm not going to be happy if I get a call from the Australian government or the rebels. No one wants bigger dingos.")
(AM: "What? They're so cute, especially I made them bigger and fluffier! They're even less aggressive towards people.")
(V: "Amy, that's not the problem.")
(AM: "Exactly, there's no problem. The walking gympie gympie is just a surprise, not a problem. It helped me learn how to incorporate pain into my spirit animals. Can you imagine the kind of pain a gympie incorporated squirrel can do to someone like Lung?")
(AL : ""AMY!"")
(AM: "Hey, I held back! I could have gone full biotinker and made gympie tarantulas.)
Our return was actually met with cheers from the locals.
Why?
Well, Panacea had been gone for almost a month from the city, and during that time, everyone came to realize just how big of an impact she's had.
How big of an impact?
"Let's start off with the gangs," Vicky cheerfully started as the three of us sat around. "So most of what I am getting is coming from PHO and the PRT, so there might be gaps. Don't judge me if there's discrepancies!" she said as she spread some charts in front of us.
"We won't," Amy and I responded at the same time.
"Good! Okay, first off, the Merchants. They might have suffered the most in terms of manpower, because a tenth of their members died from overdose over the last month."
My eyebrows shot up at that and Amy shrugged. "I guess it was expected," she sighed.
I turned to her. "What do you mean?" I asked her cautiously at her forlorn stare at the data in front of her.
"Well…" she began slowly. "Overdose patients do make up a significant number of patients I healed all of the patients I treated, especially when I volunteered at Brockton General Hospital."
"… But you don't do brains?"
"I don't do brains," she nodded. "But I can stabilize their body for the most part."
"But enough for a tenth of their numbers to just go off and die?" I turned back to Vicky. "They must have had some party."
"They did. They were apparently celebrating our absence."
I raised an eyebrow. "Celebrating the absence of the only healer who can fix them at their worst… by doing more of their poison. You know what? I don't know what people think. I'm just lost at this point."
Vicky giggled. "Well, the next is the ABB and the Teeth," she said and became somber. "The Butcher is in town."
I grimaced. "Damn."
"Yeah, it's not looking good. They basically took over where E88 used to be."
"Wait, I thought Coalition remnants were in E88's old territory."
The Coalition had been the capes who took up Amy's cause(?) and tore apart the Empire after the Neo-Nazis hurt the most prolific healer in all of the world. Vacaneer, the cape who led that coalition and had roughed it out with Alexandria in the past, was still in the Bay.
How could they take over E88's old territory?
"What happened to Vacaneer?" I asked, dreading the answer. Vacaneer was someone on par with the Triumvirate.
"He apparently left when he heard that the Butcher came to the bay. Something about his contract with the Triumvirate stating that he was not to be in the same city as the Butcher if he could help it."
"And the others who stayed?"
"Nothing much. Our dear friend Hannover and his Elite branch allied with the remaining Coalition remnants, so I guess I was exaggerating by saying that the Teeth took over the former E88 territory? It's more that they took some of it between the Elite, the coalition, and the ABB, and are getting reamed by all three for daring to show up in the city after their last cell got wrecked by you."
Right, I did that.
"The Fallen came by, but Vacaneer handled them before he left."
Vacaneer was a good guy. And absurdly strong. I tried to imagine what his handling would have looked like in comparison to mine, and knew that the comparison was not great; I was strong, yes, but he was a sanctioned warlord. Of course he probably swept the floor with them!
I needed to do more training and soon.
"And the Elite?"
"They are busy. They used our absence to kind of push their influence in and around Downtown, but not enough to get themselves into a tussle with the PRT or New Wave."
What was Hannover's game, anyway? I knew that he wanted more power and influence, but he used the time I graciously gave him for… what I would let him do regardless?
"Probably has other things we don't know happening under the veil," I hummed.
Vicky nodded in agreement and Amy shrugged as she stood up. "I'm going to go water the trees."
Vicky stood up as well. "Well, I guess I'll have to catch up with my friends."
I waved her goodbye as well and made my way downstairs to train.
Home sweet home.
Chapter 56
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 52
-VB-
Hannover felt… quite upset.
It felt as if every little plan, action, and foresight failed him.
First off, dealing with Rabbit proved to be far less about outmaneuvering a hero than outright buying him off (EXTORTIONIST!). Rabbit then took both Glory Girl and Panacea (anyone with a brain could see that he was sleeping with the sisters, despite having married one of them) off on his vacation.
What Hannover had not realized was just how much Brockton Bay depended on Panacea. After New Wave proclaimed that Panacea had gone on vacation with money generously donated by him, legitimate local businesses, gang-associated businesses, and basically most of the locals began to give him the stink eye.
Why?
Because Panacea had made the people of the city complacent when it came to injuries, and within the first week of her leave, all hospitals in the city already had lines of patients.
And they all blamed him for their inability to get well quickly.
Even though they were the careless pieces of shit who got hurt!
Second, the Teeth came into the town along with the Butcher. Having a mind-transplanting psycho murderer in town… well, healing was ever more needed as the Teeth always tried their goddamn hardest to kill everyone while they couldn't kill the Butcher. He realized why everyone in the Elite avoided this city like a plague outside of expendable association; this place was cursed. The world shat on Brockton Bay, its own people beat you down while you're down, and then neighbors would come to join in on the fun for shits and giggles all the while the federal heroes and the media threw shit at each other.
Third, when the trio of New Wave's youngest came back from their "well-earned" vacation, Amy broke the news that she was now taking time off from work due to her pregnancy.
See? The city and its people beat the shit out of you while you're down.
Oh, New Wave was happy right now. Very happy! For some reason, even though Brandish and Rabbit supposedly had near feud-level hatred against each other. Speaking of whom, Brandish wasn't happy with him because "he was associated with that damn boy."
Hannover could not win anything in this goddamn-.
"Umm… hey."
He paused in his depressed ruminations and turned his armchair around. Standing by the doorway were his wives: Evaline (Mi) and Anna (Ni). They weren't dressed in their costumes, though. He also wasn't at the moment, but those details weren't important. What was important was Mi's tone.
"Yes, Evaline…?" he asked cautiously because Evaline and Katherine only ever used that tone - a slight lilt at the start and even higher rise at the end - when something big happened, in or out of costumes. Sometimes, it was good, when the twins accepted being his girlfriends (they were a package deal). Sometimes it was bad, like when Evaline confessed that she cheated on him once. It could be anything-!
"We're both pregnant," Anna said.
And whatever thoughts he's had prior to their interruption all came to a grinding halt as his eyes froze while staring at his blue-eyed and blonde Finnish wives.
"… What?"
"We're pregnant," Anna repeated as she held up a stick.
He could clearly see the red line even though he was quite a ways away.
He quickly shot up from his armchair, ran around his desk, and then scooped up both of his wives as he began laughing.
-VB-
Vicky bit her lips and kept her eyes closed as Alan's dick ground against the walls of her vagina while Amy laid next to her as he fingered her.
Unlike her, Amy really let those moans out, looking up at Alan as she panted and gasped to his fingering while holding her late-pregnancy belly.
Vicky also held hands with her sister as their man pleasured them both.
Her breath hitched as she felt her climax start to rise, and her hips bucked to his thrusts. Their hips met with repetitive wet claps, and she finally opened her eyes to see Alan looking down at her.
"Gonna cum," he whispered and she nodded, gripping the arm he was using to support himself.
" Fuck!" Amy hissed as she came and moaned.
Alan immediately pulled his wet fingers out and used both of his hands to grip her waist. Soon, he was slamming into her with full force behind each thrust, and she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him in deeper.
She groaned as she came, and felt his dick throb before he came in her, too. She rode out her pleasure before sighing when he pulled out of her, leaving her feeling empty and her pussy gaping.
"I mean…" she spoke up. "I love sex. I love threesomes," she said breathlessly. "But is sex this late in your pregnancy alright?" she asked as she wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Amy was in her final trimester, and it showed on her very clearly. It didn't help that Amy was on the short side, which only accentuated her pregnant belly.
"Yeah, it's alright. As long as we don't, you know, get too wild and frisky," Amy replied while her bountiful chest heaved with each breath.
'Well, my boobs are bigger,' Vicky thought as Alan fondled both of their tits. He liked doing that. Fondling, groping, and sucking. What he didn't care for were boobjobs.
Alan laid down between them, and Vicky snuggled up to him as she felt his cum drip out of her pussy. She then pulled herself up a little, brushing her nipples against Alan and making her feel good just a bit more. "Hey, Amy, are you sure about not doing hospital work?" she asked.
She thought that it was… controversial. Mom certainly thought so.
"Yeah," she huffed. "I've worked like crazy. Besides, I'm not completely leaving them out to dry. I did hand over the heal salve aloe vera over to PRT." Amy then glared at Alan. "Also, I am still upset you convinced me to name my second best creation after with such a lame name."
Alan just chuckled.
With her curiosity satisfied, Vicky got out of the bed to shower. She knew that Alan and Amy would shower after her.
This was a good life.
She was… happy. Very happy.
Chapter 57
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 53
-VB-
We had this plan, you know? Amy would get into the hospital before she gives birth. We did that. She would have the best services the entire country could provide because between the Elite wanting to bootlick us if only to keep us out of their way and the PRT/Protectorate who continued to benefit the most from Amy's hospital work, everyone important wanted her safe.
It didn't make her screams and grunts any easier to hear.
My legs vibrated too fast for most people to see, and I knew that I was being a hassle to the staff with how my powerful legs were causing a slight tremor around me.
I froze to a stand still when the midwife (a man) walked out of the room. He had a lot of blood on the front of his uniform.
He smiled with his eyes and gestured for me to come in but held a finger over his mask.
I nearly burst into the hospital room but remained as quiet as the midwife asked me to be.
Sweaty and exhausted, Amy looked up with bags under her eyes and smiled from atop her birthing bed.
And in her arms was a bundle of cloth with a baby inside it.
"Come meet your daughter, Alan," she smiled gently, holding herself up on pure adrenaline.
I moved quicker than I intended to and was by her bedside in less than a tenth of a second.
Held in her arms was a red faced baby as raw as babies came minutes after birth.
My lips trembled as she wordlessly held out our daughter for me to hold. My arms gently wrapped around and under the bundle and held her myself.
"Hi." Lame, Alan. Super lame. Hi? That's the best you could do? "Welcome to the world."
Amy giggled.
"I decided on a name."
I shifted my attention from our daughter to Amy.
"Yeah?" I asked curiously. We'd previously agreed that I'd name the boys and she would name her girls just as Vicky would name any girls she gave birth to.
"Olenna."
I blinked. "Like the old lady from the Aleph Game of Thrones show?"
Being rich like we were meant that we had access to a lot more things that normal people didn't have. Early access to TV shows from alternate Earths was one such thing.
"Yes. I want her to grow up to be a wise and shrewd girl," Amy nodded resolutely before she leaned back and sighed.
"Go get some rest," I said as I caressed her hair before planting a brief kiss on her forehead.
The midwife walked up to me and silently asked for the baby. All babies had a ton of procedures they went through to check up on their health, and while Amy could make sure of it, they still wanted everything from weight and height measurement to vitamin K administration.
I let them, gently handing off Olenna.
Now, I had an announcement to make.
I walked back out and saw the rest of New Wave waiting for me.
I gave them a beaming smile. "They're both okay!"
Despite my misgivings, Carol let out the biggest sigh of relief among them all followed by Vicky.
"Amy's sleeping, so we'll see her maybe tomorrow," I said in addition. Vicky protested a little but she gave up after a moment or two. Vicky and I, on the other hand, walked into the hospital room to join Amy in her sleep. It's been an awfully long seven hours that felt even longer than that.
- VB-
Topic: A Little Reminder and Warning -Rabbit
In: Boards North America East Coast Brockton Bay
Rabbit (Original Poster)(Verified Cape)(New Wave)
Posted on September 26, 2011:
Good morning, Brockton Bay.
Most of you who heard of me know me as Rabbit. My name, however, is Alan Marris of New Wave and I have a message to Brockton Bay. Heroics is my hobby and one I participate because my wife, Amelia Marris aka Panacea, asks of me not because I am interested in good karma. So, yes, you may thank Panacea for the lives I've saved and collateral damage I've prevented.
Because she is the topic of this little reminder and warning.
You see, we just welcomed our firstborn daughter into this world. Her name is Olenna Marris, and both of us would do a lot for her sake.
This also means ensuring that our city remains calm. Panacea will be out for another few weeks if not for a full month and then some. This means that the most expedient and best healing service in all of the world will be out of commission. My wife needs her rest and I very much intend to give it to her.
That's your reminder.
This is your warning.
To not make me go over there. I don't care if you run a business. I don't care if you run a crime ring. My wife and my daughters come first to me and anything - anything - that pulls me away from them in this critical stage of our lives will receive no mercy from me. I will remind you that I am one of the fifty-two capes in the entire world that tanked Leviathan's strikes and being a Brute is not my main power but a secondary effect of my main power: growth.
I have grown significantly since then.
Here is a video to show you just how much.
A third of the capes in the bay will answer my call if I call for war on Panacea's behalf.
Do not test me on this. In fact, ask the rest of the capes what happened to Empire Eighty-Eight.
I simply don't care.
Do not make me start caring because if it comes down to a mugger taking my time and throwing him into the ocean, I will choose the latter.
Again, do not make me go over there. That's all.
XxVoid_CowboyxX
Posted on September 26, 2011:
FIRST!
Also, are we sure this guy's a hero? He sounds more like a cartoon villain.
Chapter 58
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 54
-VB-
Amy stared at herself in the mirror and then turned to her left.
Despite the fact that she gave birth no less than two weeks ago, she felt… completely fine.
Now, she knew what birthing did to women. She had some experience healing many mothers-to-be, especially in her early cape career. Birthing did a number of a woman's body. It wouldn't be wrong to say that the average woman lost half a year of her life with each birth. Of course, she would be somewhat exaggerating by saying that, but the simple fact was that birthing was fucking hard on a body.
Most women needed a full month, or even two, to recover fully.
'But look at me right now,' she thought as she looked at herself in the mirror, admiring how her abdomen had flattened out and regained the muscles she's lost during pregnancy. Her ass was… well, she always had better ass than tits but they were now almost bouncy.
She lightly jumped on the balls of her feet and marveled at how… marvelous her ass was.
She frowned.
'Actually, does a bouncier and firmer ass make me look fatter?'
She turned her ass towards the mirror and got a better look.
Her ass didn't sag. They didn't spread outwards like some weirdos like theirs. Hers didn't even look disproportional to her body… she thinks.
She narrowed her eyes in contemplation as she bounced again. After staring at her ass for a minute more, she gave up and turned her front back to the mirror to admire a distinct lack of chub that women tend to develop because their skin got stretched to its limit during pregnancy.
Amy had none of that, and she couldn't tell if it was because she had good genetics or because of what she's been doing with Alan.
Not the sex. Every mother had sex, and most got the flab if they didn't work it off or had good genes.
Carol had good genes, but she wasn't Carol's kid, so that didn't help. She didn't know her mother and her dad was… irrelevant? Probably.
"Has to be the special training," she muttered. "Because there's no way I look this good."
Speaking of which, Alan had to be down in the sublevels doing just that.
It seemed to her that the more Alan got involved in this cultivation thing, the more time he spent working on it than with her.
Admittedly, she's also been deep in trying to figure out how to better her "cultivation." It was really fascinating, and she couldn't help it! Alan probably felt the same way, but her husband probably also felt the need to become some kind of a top-tier Brute like Alexandria. It sucked that he didn't have the means to prove that he's come much further than his participation in the Brockton Bay Leviathan fight. It mattered because it was something he didn't like to talk about.
She suspected that he wasn't even thinking about it. Not many people would talk about how close they came to dying aside from a specific few who took joy in surviving such encounters.
She was, however, his wife and living with him. She saw the effort he put into himself every day even during vacation. Vicky may be the only other person who might notice it, but her blonde sister was also too busy with her own pregnancy and what little training she could squeeze into her schedule while working towards an Associates degree.
"Are you done in there?" Vicky asked from outside the bathroom.
"I'm done!" she replied as she pulled her skirt back up and shirt back on. She skipped out of the bathroom and grinned at Vicky and Alan waiting for her, and waiting in Alan's arms was a sleepy Olenna.
Every time she saw her daughter, Amy felt… content? She loved her daughter but didn't know how to express it. It wasn't as if a baby was capable of understanding love outside of their basic needs.
"So where are we going again?" she asked her husband and sister.
"Just the Downtown," Vicky grinned. "I'm pregnant, too, you know, and I don't feel lik wearing your hand me downs."
Amy froze.
"Wait, you tricked me into a shopping spree?" she asked in horror. "I thought this was supposed to be a family outing!"
"It is a family outing," Alan grinned. "Shopping just happens to be involved for half of the activities. Besides, don't you want to find the perfect pajamas and onesies for Olenna?"
She opened her mouth and then closed it. Then she glared at the two of them.
"I will get back at both of you for this!" she faux-promised. "Maybe I'll develop hyperallergic spores to spray you both in training!"
"Oh no, what will I do?" Alan half-heartedly bemoaned. "I will be sneezing. Oh no~."
They walked out of the house, happy to be with each other.
Chapter 59
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 55 (NSFW)
-VB-
It was abnormal how Rabbit grew stronger each week.
All members of the Protectorate - sans Velocity, who was on vacation - stood around the ring during one of their own fought Rabbit.
Even though this was only sparring between friendly and cooperative teams, Armsmaster and Rabbit fought ferociously. Neither went all out on their powers and equipment; someone would die if that happened. However, this only meant that the two relied more on their skills, and the unending and blurring series of punches, blocks, parries, kicks, and jumps showed just how powerful they were.
As he watched the two spar, Assault noted how their speed was completely out of his league. He could absorb as much kinetic force as possible, but everyone also knew that Rabbit was a Striker whose attacks seemed to bypass most non-physical defense. If he walked up there right now after Armsmaster, then he would get his ass kicked.
… But he was going to because he was a hero and a hero did not hesitate to improve themselves.
(That's what his better half would and does say, so he went with her demand that he improve himself.)
Armsmaster finally swung wide. A big mistake.
Rabbit blitzed into his guard and thrice-thumped the power-armored hero on the chest.
BBBTTTTZZZZZ!
And that was game.
Armsmaster and Rabbit both stopped and backed off before nodding to each other.
No one in PRT ENE has won a single match against Rabbit since he returned from his vacation from the land down under and got hitched to both of the Dallon sisters.
Yes, polygamy was illegal.
No, no one was going to do anything about it when it was obviously a consensual marriage. On top of that, it involved the world's best healer quickly becoming a well-practiced biotinker and two Alexandria-lites. The mere thought of Panacea withholding healing because someone pissed her off was enough to keep everyone's hands off the third New Wave family's domestic affairs.
Rabbit grinned and shook Armsmaster's hand before Armsmaster walked down with a slight limp in his left leg.
Assault grimaced.
It wasn't just non-physical defenses that Rabbit penetrated but also physical defenses. The man could move as fast as a fighter jet, strike like an artillery shell, and ignore any of the defenses of employed by his targets. The only thing he couldn't do was fly but he made long jumps that may as well be flights.
He's also been active in the background. Unlike New Wave who still remained quiet, Rabbit went out to hunt down troublemakers and criminals. He left all of them scared shitless, too.
Speaking of criminals Rabbit hunted down, the Undersiders were finally processed. Grue's circumstance was taken in to account, and so he was given provisionary Protectorate membership and custody over his little sister. Regent was shipped elsewhere so he wasn't ENE's problem. Hellhound(Bitch) also gained Protectorate status but was pushed to another branch. Tattletale was relegated to Watchdog, because no one wanted to work with her here.
"Alright, who's next?" the confident man asked as he looked around the room.
Miss Militia stepped up.
Assault sighed in relief. This was probably going to be the last spar of the day.
He wondered what he should do. Aside from hanging out with his love, that was.
-VB-
When I got back home, I got a surprise greeting from my two wives.
"Anyone home?" I called out as I walked in and locked the door behind me. No one answered for a moment.
"We're up in the bedroom!" Vicky replied from the second floor. "We have something to talk to you about."
Now…
Normally, when your wife (or wives) say that she had something to talk about, then the situation was generally serious (unless it was something less than serious that she constantly brought up).
As I began shucking off my jacket,
Both sat next to each other in bed and dressed in skimpy lingerie.
"Hey, Alan," Amy crooned as she rolled her off of Vicky's tits. She eyed me up and down and licked her lips.
"Alan~," Vicky called me salaciously before gesturing for me to come hither with one hand and caressing her baby bump with the other.
I grinned as I took off my costume. Sure, I was a little sweaty, but so what? We were all about to get sweaty.
Vicky got off the bed before I got on the bed, and made me stand still as she got down to her knees. With that lustful smile on her lips, she undid my pants and pulled them and my boxers down. My dick almost hit her face, but she grabbed my shaft before it did.
Her fingers drummed on my rock-hard penis as Amy got up and stood behind Vicky. As the blonde sister parted her lips and took my dick into her mouth, Amy tiptoed forward and draped her arms over my shoulders and back and pulled herself up to kiss me.
I kissed her, groping her right tit with my left hand, and used my right hand to caress Vicky while gently guiding her as she sucked me off.
"FUCK FUCK FUCK-!" Vicky screamed in ecstasy as I railed her asshole with her laying fully on her bed.
Her swollen tits squirted milk as I groped and squeezed them while she gave my forearms and wrists a death grip as she came to my dick again. Her pussy clamped down on my dick and I groaned as my cultivation-boosted flesh throbbed at her wet, warm pussy's squeezing ministrations.
Amy mumbled incoherently with her face and the rest of her front planted to the wall as I pounded her from behind. Her feet hung a few inches off of the floor, and they jerked and curled up every time I filled her pussy with my rod.
Her entire body jerked as she came, and I came with her. Her already cum-filled pussy couldn't take my latest shot, so they dribbled to the floor between her legs while they trembled and spazzed.
Then when I began pounding again, she let out helpless whimpers.
Tonight was… fun.
We regularly have threesomes because when one of the sisters get in the mood, both of them get in the mood.
Still, they can't keep up with my stamina, even Amy with her nascent dive into cultivation.
So while they laid next to each other, arms wrapped around and their tits pressed up against each other, I pulled the bedsheet over them - the one we use whenever we know we're going to get frisky - and let them sleep it off.
They'll hate the fact that they fell asleep without brushing their teeth.
While they slept, I walked on over to my daughter's room.
There, sleeping in her crib surrounded by a literal wall of cultivation-enriched tags that could and would fry any uninvited trespassers, was Olenna Marris.
I loomed over her, almost wishing I was clean right now so I wouldn't soil her bedsheet and cute onesie with sweat.
And when I looked down at her, I just smiled. The smile just came naturally.
I was bloody happy.
-VB-
I was not happy the next day when I learned that the Gesellschaft decided to muscle in on Brockton Bay.
Chapter 60
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 56
-VB-
Carol and Sarah turned out to be frequent visitors to the Marris House.
Why?
They wanted to see Olenna.
It's been a long time since a new baby joined the family, and Olenna was getting a lot of attention from her adoptive grandmother and grandaunt.
Carol still didn't like me. Hated me for "stealing" both of her daughters, even though she also approved of it. It didn't matter that she was a cold bitch to Amelia for the longest time. She felt like I had stolen from her, so that's what truly mattered underneath the veneer of her career as a lawyer. She loved to make smart remarks about me.
Dealing with her was annoying at best and frustrating at worst, and the fact that she was now my mother-in-law didn't help, especially because she was only a decade older than I was.
However, these were details I could think about some other time.
"You called me to tell me that outsiders are looking to move into the bay?" I asked my one and only underworld contact, a simple man with a simple need that had been easily solved with Amy's touch. The man was loyal to me for arranging that which saved his baby boy.
(A lot of things happened between my home life, PRT/Protectorate cooperation, and daily night hunting.)
I pushed the mug of beer towards him.
"Yes," Justin replied. The bearded and bald man accepted the beer. The denim jacket, pants, red cotton shirt, and steel-toed brown boots wearing ex-Empire (his wife was black) took a sip before he set it down. "Gesellschaft is sending three capes: Sprengritter, Auckenschneider, and Bo."
"… Bo?"
"His name is too fucking long."
"Okay, and anything you can tell me about them that I can't find online?" I asked him.
The bar we were at was empty save for us and the bartender.
Justin shrugged. "I'm sure you won't finding anything about them online. They're supposed to be some secret pr-"
"You mean like Night and Fog."
"… Yeah, like them."
I blew out a stream of air. "Well, that sucks. When are they arriving?"
"Supposedly within the week," he replied as he took another sip. "They expect to be able to convince the Empire's remnants to join them."
I snorted. "I think Gesellschaft is a bit optimistic if they think the idea that ideology will be enough to gather their American 'compatriots' together."
"You said it, not me."
"Hmm. Any details on them?"
"Supposedly," he set the empty mug down (when did he finish it?). "Sprengritter is supposed to be a counter to you."
"Me?"
"Yeah. The fact that you are constantly growing is a concern for them. They think you're the next Triumvirate, and one that has reason to seek them out to end them."
I chuckled. "I'm still a bit away from Alexandria."
As much as I liked to strut around once in a while about how I was the strongest cape in Brockton Bay, I knew and told my close friends and family that I was nowhere near the level of the Triumvirate. Stood definitely on par with Lung, but no one acknowledged Lung to be Triumvirate level.
I've even hit a plateau after my vacation. I wasn't growing stronger at the same rate as before. I was stagnant, and it was something that irked me. However, I was not here to find answers to that. I was here for information.
I squeezed my fists for a moment.
If the Gesellschaft sent their capes with me specifically in mind, then wouldn't at least one of them be strong? Could I grow in power again like I did before?
"Bo is to be their counter to the independents and coalition remnants."
I grunted. "And Auckenschneider?"
"He's supposed to be anti-Tinker."
"… Oh?"
"I don't know any more details than that," he shook his head.
"What about the fanatics? How are they these days?"
"With only two capes to their name, they are struggling a little."
I nodded and then slid him a small if thick envelope. He took it and left.
I nodded to the bartender and slid him a big tip, and he smiled and nodded in return. I finished my own mug of beer and left after that.
I picked up some groceries on the way home, walking of course, but my mind was on the supposed newcomers soon to enter the city.
The fragmented Empire was not one divided by masters but by ideology. Those who were true to the toxic supremacy gathered in one extremely fanatical group, those who were in it for power went in another group, and the last group was more remnants of Empire that fit into neither group but couldn't just leave the gang life.
They hated each other more than they hated the other groups. One called the others traitors, the others called that one stupid fanatic, and so on and so forth.
If the Gesellschaft capes came, then I wondered how the Empire remnants would react.
'They're probably going to fight back against the Gesellschaft capes,' I snorted in amusement. It wasn't as if the remnants were lacking in firepower. New capes joined those gangs either looking to benefit from them or become their leader. 'I think there's around two to three capes each in their roster.'
If they united again, then they would be the second biggest cape group in the city. Combined with the Gesellschaft capes, they might even be the biggest if the PRT/Protectorate moved some Protectorate members out of the city.
But the independents and coalitions wouldn't let that happen.
So what was I going to do with this information…?
I could release it. Just flat out tell everyone, through a proxy, that someone wanted to reforge the Empire. I would, of course, react publicly and go on my own little crusade to break at least one of the three remnants. This might, however, galvanize the Gesellschaft to act quickly and might even get them to send them more capes. After all, if they could fight off a bigger - and looser - confederation of capes and establish their beachhead, then they will be hold on.
I could go silent and attack the Empire remnants independently, leaving nothing for the Gesellschaft to unite. It might, however, make me the target of the villains, both remnant and not, because of my aggression.
I snorted.
As a former Europa Universalis IV lover, I was all too aware of aggression in politics. Push too hard and get the backlash. Real life was no different. If I "expanded" too fast by taking out the villains, then the villains will unite to take me out.
Considering that I was Panacea's husband, they wouldn't do anything too permanent, not unless they want her to refuse any and all service. That and the fact that she was also capable of making "pets" that could and will bite, tear, burn, and kill them also factored into it, and Vicky would not spare them, either.
I did want to get the PRT involved if only to have more manpower and people to spread the aggression out among ourselves, but the bureaucracy would move slowly at best or not at all.
If I acted by myself, the most I could do was take out one of the three remnant gangs.
I rolled my shoulders just before I walked into our house. I noticed that Carol and Sarah's cars were gone.
"Welcome home!" Amelia greeted from inside the house. "I'm making spaghetti bologna!"
"Nice," I hummed.
I'll have to take out the fanatics. Two capes only for me to crush, maybe three dozen regular members, and the rest would flee.
It shouldn't be too hard.
Chapter 61
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 57
-VB-
Honestly, I didn't know why Gesellschaft was trying again. It wasn't as if they hadn't tried this right when the Empire fell. It was their meddling that led to the Empire fracturing.
Still, they were trying again and it was my job to make sure they didn't remain.
It turned out to be harder than I imagined. Not only were most of the Empire remnant gangs skittering around the edges of my usual patrol route in an effort to not draw my attention but they had a network of observers in their territories and without watching for any hero activities.
It was something they had even during the Empire days, but this felt more… premeditated. Almost as if this was the plan given to them by someone else so that Gesellschaft would not lose their footing even before they arrived.
I had a week at most before the European racists came, but I wasn't sure if I could find our fanatic racist remnants before that time.
The problem with being small hero - and that's what I was realistically, even if I was the strongest combatant in all of the city (probably) - was that I lacked the resources in times like this that would help me.
What did I know about the Empire Reborn?
-VB-
"You want me to make a bunny."
It was an odd request, but Alan was asking her. She'd do it, but she was curious as to why he wanted a bunny with such specific abilities.
Alan nodded.
"That can detect powers."
He nodded again.
"You realize that we're New Wave, right? We don't go around finding people's identities. Not like the IRS at any rate."
Amy still remembered when Alan told her about the IRS's plan to collect taxes after the apocalypse if there was one. She still couldn't get over that fact.
Like… there's an apocalypse and your priority is to collect taxes?
"I just want a general sense of direction," he told her. "I got information from a contact that Gesellschaft, Empire's European ally, will be sending over a few capes to try and cobble the Empire back together. I don't want that to happen, so I'm going to go and hunt down the remnant gang that is most likely to accept the Gesellschaft capes as their own."
She grimaced.
She and the Empire was a tricky thing. Yes, they hurt her when they really shouldn't have. It took Alan running across the city at an unsustainable pace that left his feet mangled. She saw those pictures, even if she never told him that. It was, after all, all over PHO at one point. Them hurting her was what led to the Coalition forming from across the USA and attacking the Empire until it shattered.
Though they were nowhere near as large as they were before, they still lived and that connected them to her. It wasn't as if they were ever going to forgot who and what led to their downfall.
"I can make one that detects abnormal spatial folds, I think," she frowned. "But it might give you false positives since there are capes with abilities like Vista's that warp space."
"Anything would help. Can it be done today?"
She nodded.
"While I'm working on it, why not go and ask the former Coalition? You know that most of them are pretty much anti-anything related to the Empire."
He rubbed his chin and looked off into the distance. "Yeah, that might be something I should do. I don't know any one of them personally, though."
She smiled as she pulled out her phone. A few taps later, she showed him a PHO group.
He raised an eyebrow, took her phone, and read the name and some descriptions.
"Post-Coalition Meet Up?" he asked.
"Well, it started off with me telling a few of them that I'll give them some priority healing for taking care of the Empire. It kind of snowballed when other members of the Coalition got involved, and that's what it ended up as."
"Huh."
"I like to think of them as my little guardians to your big guardians."
"Little guardians, huh?"
"Uh-huh. And my spirit jaguars are Purrdians."
He cringed at her joke.
"Amelia, no."
She pouted. "But I already named them all! They're the Purrangers!"
"No!"
"YES!"
Then they laughed together.
And then cringed together when Olenna began crying from the loud laughter.
-VB-
I took Amelia's advice and went out of the way to find the members of the Coalition who settled down in the city.
Honestly, I didn't care if they were indies or grouped; rogues, heroes, or villains; or new or veteran. They helped me and Amelia out by taking care of the Empire, so I always gave them some slack. It wouldn't last forever, but the more they helped me, the less I'd give a shit as long as they didn't cross some pretty fucking obvious lines.
But the person I was meeting was above my judgment because he was as strong as I was.
I walked into a club and followed the gesture of the bouncer who recognized me. It wasn't long until I found myself in a private room, and sitting with a girl in his arm was Vacaneer.
"Rabbit."
"Vacaneer," I greeted the burly man. The man who'd led the Coalition to its completion and settled into Brockton Bay was a villain, but despite his occasionally dramatic fights with powerful heroes like Alexandria, he actually didn't do much. He called himself a villain, but he headed no criminal organization, didn't do hard drugs, and generally just provided protection for some clubs that did do hard drugs.
"Please. Take a seat."
I did.
"So, how can I help you?" he asked me while tilting his head over his girl, who giggled and pushed herself up against him. Her scanty dress that barely covered her breasts squished against Vacaneer.
Hers reminded me of Vicky's, and my girl's girls were better.
"Location of the Wahrreich's capes."
"… Not homes, I hope."
"No. Their meeting place will do."
"Alright then," he hummed as he pulled out his phone. A few taps later, I got a message through the PHO group.
"Just like that? You aren't going to ask me for any money or favors?"
The girl wrapping herself around him giggled. "If he wanted money, then he would just beat up villains for it." She then looked up at him. "This guy's not that smart, is he?"
I snorted as Vacaneer laughed.
"Hey, Rabbit. Mind leaving now?" he said.
When our eyes met, I saw the lust in his eyes, and his gaze drifted down to the girl.
I chuckled as I rose up.
"Sure."
And I left quickly after that.
Chapter 62
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 58
-VB-
"Why do men fight?"
"For prosperity."
"Why do women scheme?"
"For prosperity."
"Why do children fight?"
"For prosperity."
"Why do elders die?"
"Because they cannot fight."
"Then what must you do to defy the heavens?"
"Fight."
"Why should you fight?"
"For our prosperity!"
"How will you fight?"
"With all we have!"
"And what do you have!"
"OUR MIGHT!"
-VB-
I opened my eyes.
Another dream.
It's been a while since I had one of those.
I took a deep breath in and pulled myself off of the bed, only to stop halfway through when I noticed that both of my girls were clinging to me in their sleep. Pregnant Vicky held my arm rather tightly to my left, and no longer pregnant Amelia was glomping me from my right.
I snorted and looked at the wall clock.
5:31 a.m.
Nowhere close to anything or when we had to do for the day. So why did I have this indescribable urge to cultivate?
… But then again, my cultivation involved dunking myself in medicinal bath and "breathing" it in.
I pried Amelia off of me and got off the bed. Then I pushed the sisters together so that they would stay warm and pulled the quilt over them. Once I did that, I made my way down to the basement. Once there, I turned on the hot water and poured it into the tub I used for my bath.
Once it filled up, I loaded the herbs. These days, I needed more than I used at the start of my journey. It was… around quadruple? Yes, almost four times as when I first began. I needed more time as well within the medicinal bath.
It was actually becoming an issue, which was also the reason why I have been doing less of it. I couldn't spend four hours a day just sitting in a tub now, could I?
But if I woke up a little earlier like I did today, then I could.
I looked at this basement floor's wall clock. 5:49 a.m. So I would be done with it all by around 10:00 a.m.
I stripped and dipped myself into the medicine bath. I took a deep breath in, dunked my head into the waters, and allowed my body to breath.
-VB-
Amy placed her hands on Alan at lunch.
He's gotten even tougher than before. At this point, she wasn't sure how a human body could become so tough, resilient, and flexible, but Alan's body had.
'But then again, my own "arts" is becoming weirder and weirder,' she thought to herself as she glanced over at her house guard spirit jaguars. These were smaller than the "outdoor" variant she liked to show off once in a while, because their primary purpose was to remain unobtrusive while also serving as guard "dog."
It was also tougher than the showpiece variant. Each house guard variant might be smaller than the outdoor variant, but was stronger, faster, and tougher in general on top of the plant-specific tools of war like irritants, poison, powders, and more that it could deploy.
"Auuu…"
Her attention snapped down to where she held Olenna with her left arm, and bounced her baby. Olenna cooed a bit more before falling asleep again.
Olenna was a quiet baby. Oh, when she had her fit, she would scream like it was nobody's business but hers, but when she wasn't, she wasn't.
Thankfully, Alan took care of her during the night, so she wasn't a sleepless zombie whenever she got up in the morning.
Amy shivered as she, once again, saw evidence to her motherhood and could not help herself. She felt like tearing up for some reason. She just… felt it.
She sniffed once before going back to her breakfast.
Breakfast was also something that was changing. When Alan made breakfast for everyone, it leaned towards Asiatic style and foods. This generally meant that there was a larger fare than usual. Aside from taking a lot of time, there was around half a dozen side dishes with a bowl of rice.
This was different from how she and Vicky prepped their breakfast. Theirs was… lacking in comparison. It was why Alan ended up with more and more roles in the house, because - as much as it hurt her pride as a woman - he was better at housework than the women of the house.
(She was secretly taking cooking classes to surprise everyone, but that's neither here nor there yet.)
"Something wrong?" Alan asked her. "You're touching me longer than usual for a check-up."
She blinked and looked back at him. Ah, she was still touching him.
"It's nothing," she dismissed the question. "Well… Aside from the fact that you got a bit tougher than yesterday. Did you take a herb bath?"
"I did," he hummed as he went back to his breakfast. He had the largest bowl in the family and the largest serving of brown rice.
(She could never eat that, no matter how good it was supposed to be for her. It was just too rough.)
"Exactly how much herb did you use this time?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"… About four bag's worth."
She nearly did a spittake. "Four bags?! That's a whole week's worth!"
"Sorry. Less than that and it wouldn't have worked optimally."
She huffed.
Considering that he no longer had to worry about any kind of bullets except maybe high end tinkertech ones, she wasn't going to complain, even if it meant having to stay around her wonderful garden for a bit longer.
Vicky, as always, was a grouch, insensate, and slow zombie in the morning.
"Ugh."
Case in point.
It didn't help that her pregnancy also made her sluggish.
"Amy…" Vicky whined after already finishing her bowl of rice. "I wanna a boost…"
"No. Drink coffee."
Vicky whined.
Alan snorted.
Amy giggled.
This was her life and she loved it.
"So what are you two doing today?" Amy asked her husband and sister.
"Sleeping," Vicky moaned out.
"Hunting down Neo-Nazi remnants."
Vicky blinked awake at Alan's bland statement.
"Uh. They were still around?"
"Some," he hummed. "But actual Nazis want to take over them, so I'm going to put them all down before they become a threat again."
And now she was worried.
This was her life, and it wasn't all good.
Chapter 63
Just to make this not a necro and get it locked… have an update.
-VB-
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 59
-VB-
It was another morning and another…
I stared down at Olenna. My little daughter suckled on her bottle while Amy and Vicky slept in. It was good that our daughter was not picky with food, just that she had easy and frequent access to it.
I should be thankful that Olenna was like this.
She stopped suckling and I took the bottle away.
"Who's my burpy little girl?" I cooed as I helped her do just that.
It was only 7 a.m., but I needed to be out soon. "I'll be back soon, 'lenna. You keep your moms busy, alright?"
She gurgled at me. Chuckling, I laid her back in her crib and then left her room. Instead of heading down multiple floors below ground to train, I stopped at sublevel one and pulled out my costume.
It was a new outfit that Vicky had Parian commission for me. Honestly, they were just a pair of reinforced white jeans and a white hoodie zipper jacket.
See, unlike my previous outfit, which was basically an average casual runner's outfit that I lazily used as a heroic outfit, this one was custom-made with my name and reputation in mind. It was white, just like the majority of New Wave outfits, but it wasn't spandex or latex. It fit my form but not snugly or tightly. I could run and jump around in these without feeling any restrictions.
Whether they were going to survive the coming fight was another thing. Reinforced as they were, I wondered if they could survive one of my punches.
… No matter.
Today, I'll deal with the Empire remnants and the Gesellschaft trying to take advantage of the situation.
"You're going hunting, aren't you?"
I paused and turned around.
Amy stood at the bottom of this sublevel's staircase, leaning on the railing and looking at me… not disappointed but exasperated.
"Yeah," I said as I began putting on the clothes.
"And you didn't think to get others for help?"
"… You know what I would argue."
"Yes. Uncle and aunt have lives of their own, Eric and Crystal are busy with school and college. Vicky is pregnant and I-"
"Just in case something happens to me, you know?"
She glared at me. "You will not even consider losing."
I smirked at her as I pulled the hoodie over my head, walked up to her, and gave her a kiss. She kissed me back.
Her lips were warm and soft. I wanted to just keep kissing her-.
-but there were remnants of assholes I needed to clean up before they threatened us.
When we broke the kiss, she looked up at me.
"Take the jaguars with you."
"Okay."
"And come back whole and alive, got it?"
"Right, right."
"I'm serious."
"Me, too."
She gave me one more glare before nodding reluctantly.
-VB-
Did I mention that Amy had a whole company of her spirit jaguars?
When I say company, I mean that in the military term.
Amy had somehow hidden away eighty-five spirit jaguars, and I had reasons to believe she had more. I thought I was preparing for the big leagues. Amy's been preparing for a goddamn war.
I ran leisurely (read fifty miles per hour) through New England forest with myself at the center of a large formation of spirit jaguars running through the forest with me. We headed towards the location that Vacaneer provided me.
It was actually smart of Gesellschaft to arrange a meeting location that was outside the city. It neatly avoided facing any of the former Coalition members and myself. However, they forgot that I had a higher stake in this than regular capes did. Directly or indirectly, Amy and I have caused the white supremacists the most grief. Even if she was the healer, there was a good chance that they would come down hard on us.
And I was not going to let that stand.
All of us stopped as we neared our destination, and with one hand gesture from me, they began to move slowly, blending in and out of the shadows of the forest as they and I converged upon the meeting point.
It was a small town on the northern outskirts of the city, and I could see Gesellschaft agents and Empire remnants already arguing; I came late to the party.
I waited for the spirit jaguars to get into position, which was completely surrounding the town. I focused on the completely oblivious to the fact that their doom inched toward them.
To my surprise, the fight between the Gesellschaft and the Empire remnants - taking place at the back of an IHOP of all places - escalated as the gangsters pushed the foreign agents. Both sides tensed up as their shouts went up even higher.
So focused on their arguments, they completely missed one of the spirit jaguars falling out of the tree after missing a step. Granted, it was a third of a mile away but still!
Briefly, I took in the sights of the Gesellschaft… before I pulled out my phone. Taking their features into account, I looked them up on PHO. I got nothing on most of them.
But I did get a hit on one of the capes waiting in the back. Orlamunde, a Breaker-Master who created a fear aura. She looked like a nun, though I wasn't sure why she was dressed like that.
I needed her either incapacitated or dead.
Crouching down, I picked up a pebble and flung it at her.
I winced when my pebble hissed as it traveled through the air and struck her right in the middle of her forehead. Her head snapped back and she keeled over.
The assault riled up both sides and soon they were shooting at each other.
I watched bemused as evil people killed evil people. The townspeople had vacated the area long ago, having seen the armed skinheads. So for me, watching the skinheads kill each other was guilt-free entertainment.
And when the fight died down as the well-trained and well-organized Gesellschaft fighters won the day… I made a single gesture.
The spirit jaguars silently prowled out from the woods surrounding the town, and it wasn't long before they noticed.
The racists quickly went back into formation, pointing their guns out and others kept their hands out with their powers ready or ready to rumble again. They began shouting something in German and English, but I was too far away to hear them properly.
So I gave them a look from where I sat atop a tree, picked my ear, and gave the order.
"Take them down," I commanded and the jaguars jumped at the Gesellschaft agents. Two Brutes fought back, but the jaguars were brutes, too. One jaguar got its head punched clean off, but there were just too many spirit jaguars.
I listened to their screams as the jaguars bit down on them to immobilize them, and soon, all of the racists were either unconscious or downed without me having to lift a single finger.
That was super anti-climatic.
Chapter 64
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 60
-VB-
When I reported that I had nearly a hundred subdued, formerly armed gangsters and foreign agents, it wasn't just the PRT and the Protectorate that came rushing but the FBI, CIA, ATF, and the nearest SWAT teams.
Nearly two hundred federal and local agents showed up to make the arrests for those still alive, and quite a number of sheets had to be produced for the dead.
Some of the officers and agents didn't like the fact that I essentially took the law into my own hands, but the fact that there were foreign agents mixed in with the gangsters kind of dampened that line of thought among their numbers, especially because Gesellschaft agents were proudly bearing their insignias and thus there was no question about who they were working for.
Sure, it wasn't the same as Nazi Germany spies popping up in America in the 1940's or a Soviet spy in the Cold War, but this was the closest thing my contemporaries would encounter to what our parents did.
(Hell, there was a good chance quite a few of them joined the forces because of stories they got told when they were children.)
Regardless of the circumstances and reasons, this also presented a problem. See, when these federal agencies all got together, they didn't like to share whenever they didn't have to. This meant that the PRT, FBI, CIA, and ATF were all arguing over who had jurisdiction over what. ATF backed out first because while guns were involved, their jurisdiction was quite dry and clear. FBI threw in the towel after PRT and the CIA made it clear that this was an international matter.
CIA absolutely refused to give up. PRT didn't let go on their end, either.
Now, all of them were also wary of me. Aside from the fact that I took down a lot of people, which would seen me arrested myself if it wasn't for the fact that these were clearly foreign agents colluding with local gangsters, it was also the fact that I seemed to be at the head of an army of my own. Amy's spirit jaguars scared the shit out of more than a few federal agents, though local PRT agents from Brockton Bay seemed more or less fine with me and the jaguars.
Why wouldn't they be? They've seen or heard about the jaguars before.
In the end, I left after I got bored of their legalese. I did promise to come home as soon as I could.
When I came back home, I got greeted by my wives and told them what happened. They were just happy I was back safe and sound and laughed over the headbutting of federal agencies.
And then Vicky's water broke out of nowhere.
-VB-
Unlike last time, none of us panicked. Why?
Because Amy was there.
It's one thing to have the healer go into labor, and it's another to have her sister go into labor with said healer right there to help her along. Hell, we didn't even go to the hospital!
It actually didn't even take an hour, and Vicky felt only minor pain after Amy suppressed it.
Vicky held another ugly baby, but he was our baby.
"… Mark."
"Hmm?" I asked her.
"Mark. His name is Mark," Vicky grinned, only slightly sweating.
"After your dad?"
"Uh-huh."
"… Okay," I grinned. "Well, everyone is waiting outside the house. Wanna let them come in and see the newest member of the family? If you are up for it?" I asked and looked at Amy, who nodded.
"Sure," Vicky replied. "Man, I thought my own labor was going to be a mess like yours, Amy."
"Oh, shut it. I didn't have a healer helping me along," Amy grumbled playfully.
Growl.
Vicky blushed a little at the abrupt complaints from her stomach.
"I had to use a lot of energy to keep her body from getting too tired like I was," Amy quickly responded. "She's lost something like two pounds of fat from the labor alone, not counting the baby, of course."
"Mark."
"Mark, yes," Amy hummed before poking at the rapidly tiring baby. "Hmm. Healthy. I don't see any problem whatsoever, physical or genetics."
"That's great," I smiled and then blinked when Vicky held up Mark towards me.
"You can carry your son, too, you know."
… right. My son.
My hands weren't as steady as I thought they'd be when I gently and gingerly took him from Vicky, and held it the way I've already been taught to hold babies.
My son squirmed and crooned in my arms, and I couldn't help but feel that misty-eyed feeling I had when I held Olenna for the first time, too.
We walked out into the living room of the house, and met all of the in-laws.
Crystal was quick to coo over the youngest of the family as did Carol and Sarah.
"So a boy or girl?" Eric asked.
"Boy."
"Finally!" he huffed, and some of us laughed at that.
"And did you guys choose his name yet?"
"Vicky did," I said and turned to her, wanting to let her say it herself.
Vicky smiled. "Say hi to Mark."
For a moment, her dad looked at her and then back at the baby.
"As in-?"
"Named after you, dad," Vicky grinned brightly.
Mark had a moment of stunned silence along with the rest of the family before he had to cover his face as the tears began to fall. Not too long after that, he began to really cry. Vicky got teary, too, and she started crying.
Some of us laughed with the two's happy tears and it was generally a good time for us.
-VB-
"So he has two kids now?" Hannover asked.
"Yes," Mi replied as she looked at her phone with her legs draped over his thighs. "They just posted that. 'Welcoming Mark into the family!'"
He didn't know what to feel about that. On one hand, taking care of children was a stressful and endurance-testing life that left little time for anything other than work (depending on the condition of the kid, not even work). This also meant that their dear old Rabbit would be stuck changing diapers and not messing with any Elite operations.
On the other hand, if any of his goons ever touched a single hair of either of those kids, then it would be met with a much more powerful, much angrier, and probably nearly unstoppable murder-machines.
Oh, he knew about Panacea's wood jaguars. Everyone fucking knew about them, and his informant within the local police force sent him a report about an ambush Rabbit sprung upon the Germans. The pictures… Even as a veteran cape, it was hard to look at crushed heads, some chewed with teeth longer than his fingers. So it wouldn't be just Rabbit that would come after anyone who touched the kids but Panacea.
So. If any of his goons ever touched the kids, then it would get him killed. Even if he wasn't killed, there was a good chance that the Elite as a whole might be blacklisted from ever getting healed by Panacea, who was the only cape that could reliably heal non-brain cancer with 100% success rate. That blacklist would see him lynched by the rest of the Elite.
"Make sure everyone knows about… Mark. Anyone caught snooping around any of New Wave's houses without approval will talk to me."
"Okay~!" Ni replied from above him, her thighs around his head.
He rubbed his cheek against her naked inner thigh. Her smooth naked inner thigh. Hmm, so soft…
"Too bad for me that neither of you wants babies."
"Ugh, no thank you."
"Yeah, no."
He chuckled.
"But sex is awesome?"
"Definitely. I actually like your finger more than your pecker."
"Really? I like his tongue more than his dick or fingers."
"Spare this guy some feelings, girls. It's heartbreaking to hear his dick sucks."
"But you always make us feel so good~."
"Yeah, yeah."
Chapter 65
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 61
-VB-
My daily life came down to four, maybe five, activities.
Family time. Whether it was having a threesome, one-on-one loving, eating a meal together, going out for some outdoor fun, taking care of my babies, or whatever else, this took up a good fourth of my waking hours.
Public cape activities. Patrols, cooperative spars, or even meeting fans, this took up another fourth of my waking hours.
Cultivation. Despite the fact that a true cultivator would focus on this almost exclusively to the point of being a mania, my personal cultivation barely reached three hours a day, if that. Most recently, I was able to discern people's intent. It was a… very useful ability.
Exercise. Though technically speaking cultivation required a lot of control over the body which meant that cultivators exercised a hell lot, exercise in and of itself was not cultivation. This took up two hours a day.
I would frequently get involved in some charity work like removing as much of the literal trash and scrap all over the city, including the Boat Graveyard, but they never ate up more than three hours a day, if I even participated. With up to two hours spent either moving or loitering, my days were full and well-scheduled, though Amy might disagree with that.
So I was less than amused when I walked into the PRT ENE headquarters one day and found Legend talking with the troops. There was no immediate disaster in the area, no S-class threat or even a history of Legend going out of his way to visit the branches when there was no crisis.
This?
This smelled - no, stank - of shenanigans.
Legend saw me and immediately his eyes brightened.
"Good morning! You must be the Rabbit of the Bay."
Rabbit of the Bay?
That's… I guessed that if someone arbitrarily took my name and tacked the bay at the end of it because I lived in Brockton Bay, it would work. Not that I would personally call myself that.
"Sure, I guess," I replied. "You guys call me Rabbit."
He nodded along. "It's great that you're here. I was hoping to talk with all of the independent capes in Brockton Bay. If you ask them to come by, I'm sure many of them will show up."
I stared at him, and he smiled back at me as if he was doing nothing wrong. He probably thought that, too.
"Can I talk to you in private?" I asked with a fake smile of my own.
"Um, sure," he replied.
"Aight. Let's go to the rooftop, then."
-VB-
"So what is this about?" Legend asked Rabbit after he followed the man to the rooftop of the PRT ENE headquarters.
The man looked irritated for some reason. He might not have entertained this private conversation if this was just a random independent. However, Rabbit was not a random independent but one that the national PRT, including Rebecca, kept their eyes on for one reason: growth.
He was like Dauntless, growing ever so slowly but at a noticeable rate.
Eidolon dismissively talked about Rabbit because he saw the man get hit by Leviathan and barely survive. While Legend agreed that there was a definite minimum floor to notoriety, he also knew that there was good work in helping people reach it.
And Rabbit, much like Dauntless, deserved some attention if only for the services he's rendered to the wider parahuman community and their nation. After all, not many capes of any affiliation could claim to have defeated a dozen parahumans and over a hundred of their minions with only one support.
The incident, which the internal PRT directors dubbed "New Hampshire Meet," remained classified for now while federal agencies tried to piece all of the puzzles together while contacting their counterparts across the pond. This incident also raised the internal PRT rating for one Amy Dallon, aka Pancea, up from a mere Striker 6 to Master 7, Striker 7, Tinker 6, Master 5. This put her up on a vaunted list of "Treat with Kid Gloves," all of whom had a combined total of 15 or more in their threat ratings and weren't hostile to the PRT or the Protectorate. Her "spirit jaguars" were also powerful: Brute 4, Mover 5, Striker 3, Stranger 2; she could make and control dozens of them. This new change… could have only happened because of Rabbit. He was the only variable that changed for Panacea.
Rabbit himself also got an upgrade to his ratings as well.
The man started his cape career as a Brute 5, Mover 3. After the New Hampshire Meet and his latest sparring with Protectorate heroes(more latter than former), PRT changed his threat rating to Brute 7, Mover 5, Striker 5, Trump 2. Discounting the Trump rating (because it was not a rating so much as a category), Rabbit was also a very powerful cape himself.
The reason for those ratings was simple: the capes he took down during the New Hampshire Meet. One of them was the Gesellschaft cape "Hohenheim," an infamous cape in Europe for his ability to change the landscape at will, which he called Alchemy. What few knew was his secondary Trump power: the Sins. It allowed him to alternate between multiple powersets, one of which was super strength and defense last rated at Brute 6. His death was the only instance in which Rabbit took part in the fight, leaving the rest for his wife's spirit jaguars to finish.
"I don't like the fact that you're here."
Legend blinked in surprise. Rabbit wasn't known for hostility against the Protectorate or the PRT.
"It smells too much like bullshit that Legend shows up less than a week after having the entire PRT shown up," he added with a glare. "I don't care about fame or shit like that, but when there is some kind of obvious power play being made, I don't take kindly to that."
Legend raised his hands up. "That isn't the intention, Rabbit. I just finally got time to leave New York." Was Rabbit territorial or just aggressive to someone of… his preference.
Rabbit continued to glare at him before finally relaxing.
"I still don't believe you."
The man's belligerence wasn't in his files. Legend stared at the man for a moment before he decided that Rabbit was the kind of man who needed a firm hand in handling. "Regardless of what you believe, you are acting extremely rude. Will you stop it?"
Rabbit didn't even look like he was entertaining that thought. "Only after you truly put in the work to deserve the respect of the city," he replied. "You came after all of the troubles were over. Not before. I respect Armsmaster with that stick up his ass more than I do you."
With that, he turned and left.
Legend let out a sigh, looking at the angry man's back. "What was that about…?"
Chapter 66
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 62
-VB-
Legend came after Brockton Bay overcame another crisis on its own and wanted to meet all of the independents. It felt like a shitty PR campaign or recruitment pitch to me, but I didn't have the kind of power or influence to tell him to go back.
… Whatever.
"I'm home!" I announced loudly as I opened the door to my distinctly suburban-looking home. The dozen-plus sublevels would say otherwise, but hey, who's looking except for me and my girls?
"Welcome home," Vicky hummed from… was that the new monitor I installed? I looked to my left and saw a screen built into the wall, which I built, and showed Vicky down in one of the sublevel gyms. While Amy was training her muscles, Vicky was doing… cultivator stuff.
Huh?
"Wait, when did you start doing cultivator stuff?" I asked her as I quickly made my way downstairs after locking the door.
Then getting distracted and having to check if I actually locked the door because brain fart.
When I finally made it to the gym level, Vicky finally answered. "I wanted to surprise you!" she grinned. "It's been a month since I gave birth to Mark, so I finally did something I've been holding off on." She stood up from the murky herbal water and sniffed herself. "Ergh. Those are the stuff that's supposed to be inside of me?"
I looked at her in surprise. I turned to Amy, who put down her dumbbells. "Did you teach her?" I asked, and she nodded with a grin.
Right, they didn't know how bad cultivation can go wrong.
I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
I walked up to Vicky and hugged her, making her squeak.
"You smell bad," I taunted at her and she squawked.
"So what made you want to do cultivation?" I asked her.
We all cleaned up and ate dinner, which I had prepared.
"I was getting a bit jealous, you know?" Vicky pouted after swallowing a piece of roasted salmon seasoned with herbs. "Amy and you get to enjoy your own little things and I was left on the side."
Ah. I should've known about that. I guessed… even if she said she didn't want to do it, that was different from how she felt.
"So I asked Amy to give me some hints on how to start my own cultivation thing."
"And?"
"I did not expect the murky water," she grimaced. "I really didn't."
"And how long has that been going for, by the way? Learning without letting me know for a surprise?"
"Ever since Amy healed me after the birth."
Amy gave me a cheeky grin.
I rolled my eyes.
"Well, did she tell you the dangers of it?"
Vicky paused and looked up in thought. She looked back down at me. "I think she did but I wasn't paying too much attention after I got to experience some of the stuff you guys do."
I hummed. "Well, I guess you can't know since I didn't tell Amy. But did you know that you can get high off of cultivation?"
That got both of the girls to stutter.
"Wait, what? It's a drug?" Amy asked with a frown.
"Nope," I quickly spoke up. "You get high off of the feeling that you are so far above the rest of the people that you… become a villain."
"But don't I already have powers?" Vicky asked me while flexing. "I don't feel 'superior' to people who don't."
I shook my head. "You won't get it until you reach that point. That's when it really becomes rough because it'll also compound with hitting a wall in improvement." I paused. "Well, I guess you two have a different mindset, so you might not even get the arrogance that comes with this power."
Amy looked at me with narrowed eyes. "You talk like this power… is not from you."
"… It isn't. It's something that's been with humanity for a long time."
My sudden revelation made my two wives rock back in shock.
"And it is inheritable."
There was a pause before I saw what was going on in their minds.
"Well, I guess that's good," Vicky spoke up first, making Amy look at her in shock. When she noticed her sister's look, she raised her hands. "No Trigger Event, right?" Amy blinked at Vicky's words and hummed. Yes, that's how strong of an impression Trigger Events left in people, even Second Generation parahumans.
As for me…
"I guess I'm not against you growing stronger," I smiled. "Did you have what you wanted to do with it?"
Vicky hummed. "… I want to be able to heal."
"Vicky?" Amy asked.
"I can already punch good-"
"Punch well," I corrected with a grin.
She punched my shoulder. "Well," she grunted. "But I can't do anything if someone is already hurt. So if I can heal someone… I guess I'm just trying to round out my skills."
Amy huffed. "You know how shitty healing role is."
"Yes. I pick you up from the hospital enough and listen to you complain to know. It's disgusting how you talk on and on about the stuff you find in people. Cancer and diseases are one thing but I didn't want to know why a dildo was in the guy's small intestines."
I reared back. "Wait, what?"
"Yeah, it was all chopped up, too, according to Amy!"
Amy gagged. "I don't want to remember that, Vicky!"
I laughed.
This was how family night should be. No foreign militants. No local capes going apeshit. No Endbringer.
Too bad the world decided it wanted to mess with me anyways…
Chapter 67
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 63
-VB-
… It was quiet.
Too quiet.
Even though thinking those words and being suspicious of everything around the corner made me feel paranoid, I lived in Brockton Bay. There was simply no way that Brockton Bay was going to stay quiet.
'Now, how did the canon timeline go? Taylor and ABB happen followed by the Bank Robbery and then the Bakuda Spree. Endbringers came after that and then finally the Slaught-.'
I froze.
Slaughterhouse Nine.
Slaughterhouse Nine.
I completely forgot about them.
Panic began to well up inside me. 'Fuck, I should have extended the vacation permanently!'
I quickly made my way around the house, using my precision and speed to pack up exactly six bags filled with the basic -.
I stopped.
… Why was I thinking about running away?
I dropped everything and just sat down on the bed.
… I was afraid for my family. I didn't want any harm to come to them. I was ready to abandon the city to keep them safe. But would they be happy with me for it, though? Would Vicky and Amy be alright with me just… abandoning the city?
I stood up from the bed and walked over to our kid's room. It was decorated in green and blues with baby animals and bright lights. And still sleeping in their cribs in the middle of the day were my two babies.
I placed my hands on their cribs and looked at them.
… No, my babies were more important than the city. My family's safety was more important, but if I acted without thinking and evidence, then I was sure to run into objections. I needed something to work with, and just bailing wasn't going to work.
I bundled up Olenna and Mark together and held them in one arm, and then quickly made my way over to the Dallon house. Since they were bundled up and cushioned (with extra diapers in the bundle), I ran over instead of using the car and got there in under five minutes instead of the twenty or so that it would have taken me.
I knocked on the door, and a minute later, Mark came out.
"… Alan? What are you doing here?"
"I need to go on a long recon," I told him as I carefully and gently placed my babies in his arms, and he took them unsurely but held on well like a long-time father should.
"… Recon? For what?"
"I just got a very bad feeling."
And then I was off.
-VB-
Vicky got the phone call during lunch.
"He went where?" she asked as she made her way to her car; as great as flying was, it was rough flying with a bunch of stuff.
" He said he was doing recon but didn't say what for," Dad told her from the other side of the call. " But he left Olenna and Mark here."
She bit her nails as she wondered why Alan would do something like that.
"Okay. I'll be over there soon after I visit the house for some supplies," she replied. "My classes are over anyway."
" Okay. Drive safely."
She drove home and found… bags. Just a number of bags that had been hastily packed but then suddenly tossed aside. She warily walked around the house and collected a few items for Mark and Olenna and drove to her parent's house. As she drove, she pulled out her phone and called Amy.
Amy answered pretty quickly.
" What is it, Vicky?" her sister asked with exhausted sigh.
"Alan just disappeared after leaving Olenna and Mark with Dad," she explained. "He said he was out recon'ing but he didn't say why or for what."
There was a moment of pause before she heard a snap order.
" Go find my idiot husband!"
As soon as the order went out, everyone on both sides of the call heard and saw plant jaguars appearing from rooftops, alleys, and parks as they dropped their camouflage and began to leisurely run out of the city.
Vicky's jaw dropped as she stopped her car and looked around at what had to be hundreds of jaguars glowing dimly under the sunlight appearing all around her as far as she could see. She saw one particular jaguar that had walked out of an alley
"Amy…? When did you make so many of your kitties…?" she asked breathlessly in absolute shock.
" Not manually, that's what," she snorted. " Our idiot man should have asked for help."
"… Definitely."
" But first, we get to beat him up for being stupid, regardless of whatever he was trying to do."
"I can get behind on that. Let me first get our babies settled in with Dad."
" Sure."
Chapter 68
A/N: hope y'all are enjoying your Thanksgiving weekend!
Yeah, I am a bit late uploading this to the public, arent I?
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 64
-VB-
First, Slaughterhouse Nine. They liked to hide and carry out their misdeeds and slaughter away from prying eyes unless they couldn't hide when they attacked (or were recruiting). For example, cities tended to be where they held their all-out battles while towns and villages in the rural countryside was where they had "fun."
Second, New England was the least populated of all regions at just over ten million people and most of whom lived along the coast (Providence, Boston, Hartford, and New Haven).
Third, New Hampshire might not be the least populated but it was certainly less populated than Massachusetts, and so it was very easy for a small band of marauders like the S9 to roam without being found.
Which was what I suspected they were doing and, if canon timeline still applied, what they were doing prior to hitting Brockton Bay.
What I was doing right now was to essentially act as a scout, find the S9, and call down the artillery by contacting the PRT by providing them with active, real-time tracking of the Nine.
I first started my scouting not with the main roads and highways leading in and out of Brockton Bay but the more rural areas, starting from the southern areas between Brockton Bay and Boston.
The thing about New Hampshire most people often forgot was that it was a very sparsely populated state. Out of one or two areas like Brockton Bay and Manchester, the capital city of the state, there were very few towns, nevermind towns, that had more than twenty thousand people. It was a state that could be described as "self-sufficient do-themselves," Brockton Bay excluded. This self-sufficiency, not only in their homes but also economics, made it one of the least impacted states from the declining global trade. Again, Brockton Bay was excluded, of course.
This also meant that unless something went truly wrong, these people were less likely to call for help, especially if it was something they could fix on their own.
I checked those areas first.
When I found nothing in the south, I moved to the southwest. Southwest was even less populated than the area between Brockton Bay and Boston. Between my speed and sparsity, I finished up my search even faster than I did in the south. Then I checked the east, the area between Brockton Bay and Manchester.
That's where things got interesting.
The thing about being a cultivator?
If you live long enough and advance far enough, then you become that sage. You know, the tree-walking, beard-stroking, leaf-cutting with intent, glaring at you with raw intent to make you pass out, and all of the other stuff sage. The "holy" man.
Well, I couldn't do all of that, yet, but I could jump really far, really fast, and land on branches that had no right to remain intact when a two-hundred-pound, six-foot man landed on it.
Yes, I had reached the tree-walking stage of cultivation but I was putting that to full use now as I zipped across the forests of New England while blasting a very rudimentary life-sensing pulse to find any place where a group of people were moving on the road or where life was being snuffed out.
I marked off any area that I visited by grids using the GPS on my phone, too, so I wasn't just running around like a lunatic. I always made sure to stay out of sight, though, which was easy enough with the forest obscuring line of sight pretty effectively.
Oh, and most people don't look up.
It's also been twelve hours since I left home to look for any signs of the S9 passing through, and this deep into the night, most people had stopped moving around and had gone to sleep, so it was easier for me to detect towns and villages.
So when a town that should have been asleep was on fire and its members disappeared from my senses rapidly, I knew I found the Nine or at least a copycat.
I… didn't attack.
No, I wasn't an OP character in some bullshit xianxia or wuxia. I was strong, yes. Strong enough to fight all of the Nine? No. I might be able to sneak kill one or two, maybe even brute-force my way in and kill two or three.
But I couldn't win against Crawler and Siberian.
No, the best I could do was call it in and have someone else deal with them before they reached my home.
With those thoughts in mind, I jumped as close as I thought I could get before detection and grimaced as I saw Slaughterhouse Nine at work. Burnscar was burning people and houses, Jack was talking the ears off of one already too-fucked-up elderly, Crawler was rolling over a car in obvious boredom, Siberian was munching on the severed limbs from the same elderly Jack was verbally torturing, and Bonesaw… where was Bonesaw? I also didn't see Mannequin, Shatterbird, and Cherish.
I pulled out my phone… and just started posting, alerting not just the PRT through their anonymous report system with pictures of the Slaughterhouse Nine but also on PHO.
I put my phone away with the intent to update my status thirty minutes later.
"And let the storm gather…" I muttered to myself with a grimace as Jack finally killed the old guy he'd been taunting to death.
Chapter 69
A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 65
-VB-
It took less than an hour before the entire internet caught fire. It took another hour before people from all over the surrounding area began to move.
Unfortunately for the Slaughterhouse Nine, I stuck to them like a lamprey. I remained out of their reach and sight, but I still stuck to them. I reported their location every five minutes.
People took notice.
People saw the videos.
People began to run while others began to hunt.
See, for all of the myth that the Slaughterhouse Nine was surrounded by, they were, by and large, still a group of people that were individually on par with Hookwolf and not someone like the Triumvirate. Even the Siberian wasn't that powerful if you saw how big of a weak point she had. She was a projection whose master remained out of sight and reach of the rest of the Slaughterhouse Nine.
Once you eliminated the master, then the Slaughterhouse Nine was no longer an S-class regional threat but a S-class bandit gang. Yes, they were still powerful together as a group and still a threat, but the difference between a regional threat and a powerful bandit group wasn't the same.
I looked down at the white van from where I sat on a thin branch high above him among the tree canopies. The Slaughterhouse Nine was out of my sight and reach like how I liked them. I had one chance now to kill Doctor Manton. If I missed this chance, then all of the Slaughterhouse Nine would be on high alert and Siberian will stick by his side and use her shared invulnerability to make killing Manton impossible.
However, I was above him and the van hadn't moved in some time. Was he in the driver's seat? Was he in the back?
I didn't know and I wasn't going to risk it.
So I waited above him patiently, waiting for the van to start so that I knew for a fact that he was in the driver's seat.
I continued to post the position of the Slaughterhouse Nine, and even got some replies from heroes and villains alike that they were on their way to kill the bastards.
A lot of people really liked the idea of fighting the Nine somewhere in the forest where there weren't going to be any hostages, even if the standing policy for hostages in S9 situation was to "kill them humanely." Oh, and the bounties of their heads.
Yes, people really liked the idea.
The Protectorate was apoplectic about it, but I was posting not just on PHO but on multiple sites. They couldn't stop me without ordering Dragon to attack all of those sites, which would be… bad.
Cauldron, I'm sure, might try something, but the lazy bastards haven't done anything so far, so I didn't have a reason to stop. Besides, I even left a message in my first PHO post for them to read, something they would recognize, but I haven't gotten a response back.
IE I'm going to kill Manton.
The screen on my phone changed to a call and I saw that it was Amy calling. With a grimace, I didn't answer.
I was going to get a lot of scolding, time on the couch, and a lot of cold shoulder after this. But this was the Slaughterhouse Nine…
Maybe I should answer? Communicate with them?
-VB-
"That idiot!" Amy snarled along with Vicky.
Vicky flew above her while she rode on one of her spirit jaguars, but they didn't dare to move any closer than where they were now.
Because they knew now why Alan had gone out in a hurry out of nowhere.
Because he had somehow known the Slaughterhouse Nine were coming and went to act as scout… and pinpoint their location for all of the goddamn world to see.
Mom called them and told them to not move, and Alan refused to answer his goddam-!
The ringing stopped.
The call connected.
Suddenly, all of her anger manifested like a cold wave. She didn't stop her frosty tone from leaking through.
"Alan," she hissed. "What. Do. You. Think. You. Are. Doing?"
" I wanted to prevent them from reaching Brockton Bay."
"You knew. You somehow knew where they were. And thought that, instead of informing the PRT and the Protectorate, you decided to… post the Nine's location for the world to see…?!" she shouted. Vicky came down and stood on top of Daniel's head. The spirit jaguar mewred with displeasure but didn't shake her off. Not when Vicky was pissed off as she was.
"And that involved going at it by yourself?! Like an idiot?!"
" … In this instance, yes. I think so. I can keep an eye-"
"FUCKING IDIOT!" Vicky shouted and whirled away, grabbing at the bridge of her nose. "Tell him to come home. He's already done his job. Everyone's coming for the Nine now. I don't think I've ever heard of the Nine getting caught out like this."
" Need to kill Manton first."
"Wha-?!"
" Be right back."
And then he hung up.
Amy pulled her phone away from her ear and looked at it.
"He hung up on me."
"… I'm going to kick his ass when he gets back," her sister hissed as she turned back to look at her.
And then Amy realized something. "Wait, who's Manton?'
Vicky looked confused, too. And then she remembered. "Wait, Manton? Like Manton Effect?"
-VB-
I hung up and stared down at the white van under him as its engine rumbled to life.
I waited just a moment longer… and then dove down.
I had only a second or two to think, so I didn't think and just acted.
I pulled my fist back.
Path of Rock Flesh: Heavy Fist.
The Ki in my arm shot out from their pathways and into the muscles, bones, and skin. My body hardened like a rock and then grew even harder.
And then I punched just as I got in reach of the van.
My fist struck the top of the van, and the aluminum roof caved in under it. My fist continued onward and I felt something hairy. And then something hard. And then something warm and wet.
My feet slammed into the roof and the entire van shook up and down from the impact. It veered off to the right and then slammed into a tree. I winced as the shredded aluminum car roof uncomfortably - but not painfully - dug into my arm. I quickly pulled my fist out and saw blood all the way up to my wrist. Jumping off of the van, I looked at the driver seat… and yeah, that was Manton, looking roughly like he did in the last public picture he took.
I warily looked around.
Now, this could be Cauldron putting in a pretty good double for all I knew, so I looked around.
I waited.
Nothing. No Siberian. No portal. No Contessa.
Okay. Alright.
I just killed Siberian and Manton. Nice.
I took a picture of the scene and made a quick post.
[Siberian's Master, Doctor Manton, killed.]
And then I took off. I didn't want to stick around when Jack realized that he just lost his invulnerable stripper. Let the other capes deal with him.