January 29th, 2011 Collins Home, Brockton Bay, New Hampshire 10:00 PM EST- SP:110,100

This time, when I headed in to read out my new stuff, I didn't do it alone. I brought Blake along, because I figured she might have been able to help. Blake had been tearing through my book collection since arriving, when she wasn't out patrolling or at school she was reading, and she read about as fast as I did.

"So we're looking for powers for Kim and an item to counter Leviathan," I told her as we settled into my room. "I have pretty solid ideas for both, but I want you to go into this blind so you can give me your opinion and I can compare."

She snorted. "Using me as a dissenting opinion?" She dug through a few books, coming up with one. "Ok, well this series is about a guy who is the son of a sea god? If we bring the guy himself here he would probably be a good counter." She showed me an Earth Aleph book called The Lightning Thief.

I picked it up and flipped through, skimming for details, but upon checking the pricing shook my head. "Nah, for a few reasons. People are one rank higher cost wise, and while I can BARELY afford to summon him, that means he's objectively B-rank."

"Ok, how about this demoness from these light novels," she held up an LN with a busty twin tailed magical girl on the cover. "She has super ice powers at the continental level, I bet she could counter Leviathan." High School DxD, I took the book, flipping through it for a bit, but once again, that wasn't going to work.

Tossing it back to her, I pointed out. "Firstly, she's S-rank, which means she COSTS ten times more than an S-rank. I also have no viable method of controlling her, and she's notoriously unreliable. I can't say what she would do once she got here, and she might turn hostile at being taken away from her loved ones. I could send her home, but using that as leverage would most likely piss her off, and she's BASICALLY a demon god. Hard pass."

I'd actually considered the demi-god, but ultimately he wasn't strong enough outside that one area to be worth the points, and he was way too big of a goody goody. She looked pensive. "So basically, you don't want to summon any people who are too strong, because you're worried it might backfire?"

"Plus it's not cost effective," I pointed out. "I summoned you because I met you and wanted to bring you here, but it was still kind of pricey. You're not even that strong, at least not until we add some powers. No offense."

She snorted. "No argument. I have some skills, but I'm not built like any of these people. But for items…I don't honestly know what would work. Leviathan's hydrokinesis is pretty broken."

"My original thought was this," I handed her a Pokemon novelization, flipping to an entry about Groudon. "But there are some problems. I'm obviously not going to summon a primordial monster who has existed since the dawn of time to beat Leviathan. That's just shooting ourselves in the foot. What about what happens after it DOES? The ability might work, but there's no direct method of learning it that I can read out. I'd have to read out another ability learning device and modify it, which would cost me several OTHER expensive items."

She nodded along at my logic. "I can see where you're coming from. But you make it sound like you have other ideas. What did you come up with?"

Walking over to my computer, I booted it up and opened a webnovel, scrolling through "I have a Cultivation World" until I found the item I needed. "I was thinking about THIS."

Sufficient point total! A-Class elemental artifact. Sea-Stabilizing Pearl: A powerful artifact that can dominate the waves and shape the seas, commanding water for a thousand miles. Fuelled by life energy.

I showed the entry in my book to Blake, who winced. "That's…I mean it sounds great, but fuelled by life energy? I know you're immortal, but still."

"Yeah, that's what I keep bumping up against too," I grimaced. "I was hoping you had an alternative, because while I'm pretty sure I can use it, I'm also sure it's going to fucking SUCK. I've been scouring my book collection for something to counter large scale water manipulation, but there are shockingly few options. Apparently being able to control oceans is basically an instant I win button."

She blew out a breath. "Ok, so that one seems locked in. I assume you're similarly unsure about Kim's powerset?"

"That one I have a solid idea for," I admitted. "I'm just wondering if you can think of something better that I missed. You got anything?"

She shrugged. "Well, there's the formula from Captain America. That Earth Aleph story about the ultimate super soldier? Kim seems like a pretty moral person and they make a big deal about it working best on people with strong character."

"Considered it, but honestly the power isn't worth the points," I shook my head. "It'll make her like a Brute 5 at most. Plus we don't know how it mixes with other abilities. She already took that cheerleader serum. Could cause problems. What else you got?"

Humming, she flipped through a few books. "Well There's a ring in the sequel series of the Chronicles of Amber that gives magic, the Honorblades from The Stormlight Archives were made by a god, and the Subtle Knife from His Dark Materials gives some amount of power. But I'm not sure what any of those would cost."
"I hadn't considered Amber and haven't read the Archives, though I knew I had them around, the Subtle Knife is weird and kind of vague, plus probably expensive." I sighed. "It's fine, there's no real downside to the one I found for her, I was just hoping you saw something I missed."

Snagging the Ultimate Spider-Man graphic novel, I found the Oz formula spider. "This thing is kind of bullshit. Not only does it give you some crazy powers, I'm PRETTY sure it grants immortality. Not like mine, but like, you can recover from most stuff if your head isn't destroyed. Add in some higher Brute level shit and some insane Mover powers, not to mention a Thinker ability that lets you predict danger, and I think this is probably the best for Kim."

"It IS interesting," she admitted. "Can you get it again? I might be interested in having that kind of power too. My aura would act as a base modifier to anything I take, so it would be pretty effective on me, and that goes pretty well with my preferred fighting style."

She was playing it cool, but I could see her ears perk up in interest, and it was kind of adorable. I smiled. "Yes and no. I can only take unique items from a universe once, because I'm reaching into a real world. Normally that would mean I'd need to get you a different version of those powers…but this particular powerset wasn't unique. There were a few spiders modified with that formula. From what I know, the original and the forty second variant both gave powers."

Seeing her perk up, I had to smile at the enthusiasm, but I still cautioned her. "It'll be a while before I can afford that. You have Aura already, so it's less urgent than giving Kim her powers. With all this nonsense going on in town she's in a lot of danger."

"Can it just bite both of us?" she asked disappointedly. "I can wait if not, but it IS a spider. Plus this one didn't die naturally after the bite, it says here someone killed it."

I waggled my hand. "Honestly I'm not sure, and I'd rather not risk it. Frankly the science behind all this is pretty weird, at least compared to our own world's laws of physics. Who knows what kind of nonsense could happen. Maybe all the formula gets expelled in the first bite and the second is just super venom, maybe a second bite turns YOU into a spider. It doesn't seem worth the risk when I could just save up more points."

"Fair," she admitted. "I can wait. How are you going to get her to let you give her a spider bite?"

"I'm going to lie and tell her I invented the formula in a tinker fugue," I shrugged. "It's no more ridiculous than some of the other shit tinkers do."

I decisively focused, using my points to read out the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl, then the spider. As soon as I finished reading them out, I read them directly back in for storage, but they were read into my personal story rather then back to their own, obviously, so I could retrieve them at any time.

I'd considered buying a space ring, or some variant that held creatures, but I couldn't justify the expenditure when I was so low on points, not when my book worked fine for storage.

Staring at the book, I pushed down the urge to immediately read the pearl back out. I'd put it away specifically because I was so tempted to test it. I knew it wouldn't permanently kill me, but I also worried I might wreck the city if I used it without practice. I planned to find a small body of water inland and try to slowly work it out.

The spider though…I hopped to my feet. "Alright, I'm going over to see Kim." I decided. I'd had a long day, it had been hard and sad and just downright heartbreaking at times. I wanted to see my redheaded cheerleader. Kim was sweet and kind and being around her made me feel like a better person, and I kind of needed that right now. Blake's flirting had helped a bit, but aside from needing to know Kim was protected by her new powers…I kind of just wanted to be around her.

Blake, to my surprise, just smiled softly. At my strange look, she rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to get pissy you're taking care of her. I like Kim. She's sweet. I was worried you might just be using her, but seeing how worried you are actually makes me feel better. I know that keeping your identities secret is important for maximizing the benefits of both sides of the cape scene, but I've felt bad for Kim since we got here. Go see her."

She flopped down on the bed, grabbing a book from the pile we'd been sifting through and I grinned, reaching out to slap a bodacious cheek as a goodbye as I headed for the window. She snorted, rolling her eyes, but I saw a small smile on the corner of her lips as I left.

Hopping out the window, I landed silently, then slipped a hand into my pocket and pulled out my book. A quick read of the book brought forth my Nightfall costume, and I immediately took off for Kim's place. I'd never actually been to her house, but she'd invited me over and I knew where it was, so it didn't take long to get there.

Reaching down, I picked up a rock and tossed it up at the window pane. It clinked off the glass, and I waited a moment before triggering my bat cloak. Kim came to the window, opening it up to look outside in confusion, and I slipped past her as a bat, earning a squeak of surprise that she quickly choked back after recognizing me (how many people in Brockton could turn into a bat). I resumed my human form and she raised an eyebrow at me. "Most people use the door."

"Most people aren't here to give you superpowers," I responded with a laugh. "Probably best your parents aren't aware that I'm up here. Lucky can cover any noises we make." I flopped down on her bed, pulling off my mask and shooting her a wide grin. "So…you ready to become a real cape?"

January 29th, 2011 Possible Home, Brockton Bay, New Hampshire 11:00 PM EST- SP:300 (nsfw warning)

I was buzzing with excitement. I could finally give Kim the powers I'd been working on, and she'd be much safer once she had them. The rescues of all the trafficked girls from the ABB had left me deeply unsettled about Kim's safety. Sure, she was tough, especially with the cheerleader serum, but she wasn't superhuman, not really.

Kim was pretty and popular and had a strong sense of justice, and I knew if she saw something bad happening she'd absolutely get involved. I was proud to be dating her, but I couldn't help but worry.

Nightfall, in the back of my head, once again pointed out the hypocrisy. I ignored him. I even considered telling her my version of the truth, about Vagabond and how he influenced me, but…I couldn't. Not right now. It was selfish and shitty, but I really needed Kim tonight, after all the things I'd seen. Being with her was sweet and uncomplicated. I was going to tell her, but not tonight.

As I mulled over what to do, Kim darted around her room, cleaning up various articles of clothing and magazines frantically, clearly mortified to have her boyfriend see the mess she lived in.

It was kind of cute, and I allowed myself the pleasure of watching her bounce around in the tiny shorts and tank top she wore to bed. Her body was toned and lean, her skin smooth, and the play of the muscles in her legs as she darted back and forth was almost as hypnotic as the slight booty jiggle that resulted from it.

She caught me staring and pouted. Ron was right, that pout was dangerous. I'd already read my costume away, so I was just lying on her bed in normal civvy clothes, enjoying the show. "You could at least PRETEND not to leer at me."

"Oh?" I asked lazily. "Am I bothering you? I could just leave the spider and go?"

She flushed cutely, averting her eyes. "What? No, don't be silly. So not the drama, you're my boyfriend, you can look at me a little. I've already had your…you know, your thing in my mouth."

"Kim," I said wryly. "If you can suck it, you can say it."

She glared at me, all but stomping her foot in outrage. "You always make me say the dirtiest things. C-cock. I sucked your cock, okay?" Her face was beet red. "You're such a perv, I know you like hearing that stuff."

"Guilty," I said with a laugh. "But I'm not here to perv. I'm here to help you. Are you ready?"

Her embarrassment turned to genuine nervousness. "This is…safe? I mean I know it is, I trust you, I'm just…should we be doing it upstairs from my parents?"

"It's fine," I reassured her. "Lucky has a short range sound jamming field. Come here." I patted my leg, and she walked over and shyly sat on my lap sideways. "Alright, I'm going to take out the spider, and then I'm going to hold you still. Make as much noise as you want, or bite me if you need to muffle it, whatever you have to do. This is probably going to hurt, are you ready?"

She nodded against my chest, and I stared down at her. She was such a contradiction sometimes. She was this total badass in battle or in the field, but she turned into a little mouse when we were alone. I touched the book, reciting the passage I needed from memory, and the spider appeared. I was careful not to let it bite me, setting it on her exposed collarbone as I wrapped my arms around her to hold her tight.

It skittered across her pale skin, seemingly searching for something, until it found her jugular, then bit quickly, striking like a tiny arachnoid cobra.

Kim stiffened against me, and I clamped down, pinning her. Before she could start reacting, I plucked the spider off her, tossing it to Lucky. We didn't know if repeat uses were safe, so he chewed it up and swallowed it. His digestive tract could condense actual metal, so I wasn't worried about ending up with a mutated spider cat.

In my arms, Kim started to shake, her body twitching and spasming. Her teeth were gritted so hard I thought they might crack. I just held her, whispering and stroking her hair as she shook and moaned. She was tougher than I was, no screaming, just groans of agony as her body was wracked with pain.

I considered offering her my neck to bite down on, but I realized after a second of thought that Extremis would superheat the wound and she'd get burned, so I resisted, watching worriedly.

Unlike my own upgrade, she didn't emit and purified filth, though she did sweat a bunch. It took about twenty minutes for the process to finish, and when she was done she was left weak as a kitten, curled up against me panting and unable to move.

I smiled down at her, happy to see she was through the worst of it, and moved to lay her down on the bed. I figured I'd let her sleep, but she caught my arm. I stopped, turning to look at her, and found her shyly glancing away. "I...I'm really dirty now. Can you help clean me off? I've got a water bottle and a rag you can use."

"I mean, if you want," I shrugged. "But your clothes might-"

Her face burned. "No clothes," she said quickly. "You can take them off. It'll be better if I'm naked, right? For the cleaning?"

She was literally too cute for words, and I couldn't help teasing. "I bet you'll still be plenty dirty with your clothes off."

Pouting, she sat up, reached down, and stripped off the sweaty tank top, then shimmied out of her shorts and dropped them on the floor. She put her hands on her hips as she sat up, boldly exposing herself to me.

She looked like a fucking goddess. Her tits weren't as big as Bonnie's or even Shego's, but they were perky and her nipples were the cutest strawberry color, and she had a small patch of trimmed red hair over her tight little pussy. Some of that combat fire peeked through as she raised an eyebrow challengingly. "Tough talk, is that all you can dooOOO-" her challenge ended in a squeal as I reached out and grabbed her ankles, yanking them up and apart as I dragged her across the bed, diving in to seal my mouth over her cunt.

"Si- oh God, oh God your tongue is so hot, it's wriggling around inside, God, you're licking it! You're licking my p-pussy! Please! Please don't stop, I need more, I need, I nee- FUCK!" She squealed as she finally lost the fight with her shock and arousal and squealed as she exploded all over my face, hips mashing her pussy on my tongue as hard as she could, which was pretty fucking hard.

I was fucking ravenous for it. Kim was amazing, she was sweet and pretty and caring, and now she was safe and it was because of me. I let myself really enjoy that thought, and enjoy her. I hadn't tasted her pussy before, so I didn't know if it was different after getting her powers. But hold her fully spread by the ankles as I ate that juicy peach, listening to her squeal and beg, I felt…good.

Climbing up onto her, I stripped off my clothes, kissing my way up her flat belly and over her perky tits, then up the very collarbone the spider had been skittering across, she was lying back, eyes on the ceiling, expression hazy but ecstatic, pouty lips peeled back in a wide dopey smile.

I captured them, kissing her long and slow before pulling back. "I want to be inside you," I told her bluntly. "Tell me you'll take it."

She shuddered at the commanding tone, eyelids fluttering. "It's…it's yours. My p-pussy is yours. You like when I talk like that, don't you?" Her tone was needy and vulnerable. "I want you to feel good. You made me feel so good. I want you to feel good…in my pussy."

I pressed the head of my cock to her soaking lips, kissing the other pair gently. "Kimmy, I promise you don't have to worry about that."

Slowly, so slow I thought I might go insane, I pushed into her. She was…fucking paradise. Snug and wet and hot as a volcano. Not as hot as Shego using her powers, but still warm and tight and sweet. Her pussy clutched at me as I slid in, somehow tentative and pleading rather than hungry, like it was begging me to get deeper instead of trying to force me to stay.
I slid inside her, one inch at a time, and swallowed the groans of her mouth against mine. She adjusted quick, her powers probably helping, and when I bottomed out, I pulled back, looking down at her flushed face. Her eyes were wide, sparkling with adoration as she stared up at me. "I'm so full," she whispered in awe. "Like…I was empty before, but now I feel so safe and warm and…" she blushed dark red. "I…I think I love you Simon."

Leaning down, I kissed her again. "I love you too, Kim," I said, and it was honestly kind of true. I was very attached. She was mine, in a way that demanded I protect her and keep her safe. I was pretty sure it was a little early for me to declare my love in the way she was, but I also knew she probably didn't mean it, and was just dopamine maxxing from the powers and the sex. Regardless, I made a promise to myself as I slid out and back into her.

I'd protect Kim. Keep her safe and take care of her. I sped up, fucking her a little faster but trying not to really pound my strokes in. She could take a little rough fucking, but I didn't want her to be too sore. She whined and begged and even giggled a little as I took her, and I grinned, enjoying the feel of the sex.

Shego and I fucked like rabbits, Bonnie took dick like a champ, and Blake was a subby little slut with a glorious mountain of booty, but sex with Kim was more…intimate. Like we were on an adventure together. It was kind of sappy, but I couldn't help but smile as I rode her to an orgasm, pounding in from on top of her but trying not to break the bed. Which was a big concern, because it was creaking and groaning like a fucking haunted house, but I couldn't stop.

She was fucking perfect, sweet and needy and responsive, and she just threw her hips back at me, trying to get me as deep and snug into her as she could, and I had to grit my teeth to resist just wrecking her like she clearly thought she wanted.

But I did resist, and my hand flicked down to rub her clit, her eyes crossing cutely as she stiffened and squealed, squirting all over my cock, which was just enough to tighten my balls and set me off into one of the longest orgasms I'd ever had, my cum painting the inside of her tight little pussy like a fucking pressure washer.

When I finished, I slumped down next to her and she snuggled up against me, giggling. "I should have know 'giving me powers' was a euphemism."

"Excuse me, who stripped naked and claimed I was all talk," I leered at her, sliding a hand down her stomach to trace her clit lightly. "But I'm not done if you aren't, or is spider-stamina not one of your new powers." She gasped in faux outrage and rolled over, hips straddling mine, and the fun began all over again.

January 30th, 2011 Trainyard, Brockton Bay, New Hampshire 10:00 AM EST- SP:500

In the morning, we slipped out Kim's window before her parents woke up and made our way to the trainyard. Kim, to my amusement, was much more touchy feely after we'd had sex, she kept finding reasons to hold my hand, or cuddle against me, or pretty much any other form of physical contact she could think of.

Naturally, this was easier on the trip, but when we arrived at our destination she had to pull back so we could focus. Part of me was darkly amused by the situation. The last time I'd come here I'd been testing Vagabond powers with Bonnie, and now I was here testing Nightfall powers with Kim.

To maintain deniability, I decided to spar with my girlfriend using my Aura rather than my healing of flame powers. Just the baseline Aura enhancement should be more than enough, especially combined with my Unarmed Combat Skill, which after quite a bit of skirmishing since my return, had made it to level thirty two.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Kim asked nervously. "I mean, what if I hurt you? Or what if we break one of the trains? Will they make us pay for it?"

I grinned at her wryly. "You know, you were more fun blissed out of your mind on orgasms. It's fine Kimmy, just calm down. We're only sparring, and as for hurting me, my Aura can take a beating, even from you. I'll know if it's about to break and tell you so we can disengage. I'm literally the safest possible person you could spar with."

With Kim now having powers, we'd run into a pretty important issue. She needed to train. Serum aside, Kim was still mostly a normal person before the bite. Her skills were polished to a truly absurd degree for someone her age but her physical prowess was still within the standard human norm.

If you learn to drive in a beat up Ford Fusion, train and hone your driving skills in that car, and then someone slaps you in a Bugatti and tells you to be a getaway driver, there's going to be at least a little adjustment period.

Kim was understandably worried she might hurt someone with her new strength if she didn't acclimate, and I knew from the comics that she had other powers too, and that learning to use them would be important for her development. So I'd talked her into knocking around with me a few times in a spar.

While I couldn't use the Extremis abilities that healed me because they were VERY obvious, I was still superhumanly physically strong even without Aura, and the combination of the two powers should let me keep up with even Kim's spider strength.

So I reminded her it would be fine, and she switched almost immediately from concerned girlfriend to combatant. It was one of the things I loved about her. Kim could always get serious when it was needed.

"Alright," she said with a smirk as she dropped into a martial arts stance. "But don't come crying to me when I beat your ass."

I winked at her. "I think we both know I'm not the one who loses it over a little spanking."

Pouting, she blurred forward, ready to engage. The last time I'd fought Kim, I'd been a novice in combat, but I'd been stronger than her. This time, I was much more practiced, but the strength gap was mostly gone.

She almost appeared in front of me, spinning off her back heel in a shockingly fast spinning kick. She whirled on her pivoting leg, planting her hands and swinging the other one up in a brutal followup, then bent her body at the waist and swung herself down and around like a gymnast on the parallel bars, bringing both legs whipping in at my shins.

Cursing, I jumped over the sweep, one foot smashing down at her head in a stomp kick to get some distance, but she smoothly rolled away, popping back up to her feet gracefully.

I realized that I'd made a small mistake coming into this. I was comparing Kim to Peter Parker. Peter Parker was an asthmatic lab nerd with bad eyesight and no formal combat training before he became spiderman. Kim was a nearly olympic level gymnast and a professional grade martial artist who had ALSO been enhanced by the cheerleader serum.

If Peter's starting point was one, Kim's was eleven, and when you multiplied eleven by a hundred, you got a much higher number than if you did the same to just a single point.

Grinning, I focused on my Aura. Aura had two components. I liked to think of them as shield and sword. Shield was the passive Aura defense. You could turn it off, but otherwise it was always there, tanking hits and keeping you safe.

The sword aspect was the active combat enhancement. That had to be trained, and the better you got (and the more Aura you had) the stronger it would make you. I'd been using my Aura quite a bit lately, and while I wasn't a genius with it like Pyrrha, I was getting better. Which meant my active enhancement was increasing.

I blurred forward, body glowing with released energy, and transitioned into a blistering combo of punches and kicks. Fuelled by my Aura enhancement, my already absurd physical strength turned me into a veritable forest of afterimages.

Kim wasn't even phased. Between her spider sense and enhanced reflexes, by the time my punches arrived she was already gone. The only real upside was that I was coming at her so fast she was on the defensive, reacting instead of acting. She was dodging so quickly she didn't have time to counterattack.

What was even more impressive was that I could see her IMPROVING. One of the benefits of the Oz formula was the ability to stick to things with a sort of electromagnetic sealing force. It was much more effective than just being sticky on your hands, and I could see her adapting to that as we fought, her feet sticking to the ground for stability, allowing her to dodge and bend like a ballerina without ever losing her balance or footing.

Obviously I had other things I could do, of course. If I'd drawn my blades she wouldn't be able to keep up the evasion, but I was HELPING her not trying to beat her, so I just kept up the attack.

What I did do, however, was take the opportunity to learn. Unarmed Combat had plenty of room to grow, and a master level combatant who would passively let me throw moves as I went to train up my skills was pretty much the perfect training partner.

Kim clearly agreed, because her face was split with a manic smile as she whirled and danced, avoiding every blow. It wasn't a passive affair. I was improving by the second, getting used to her rhythm, and she was getting better control as I did, improving her evasion. She started having to mix in some flips and handsprings, her feet coming off the ground for a bit here and there, then more often as she started integrating other surfaces like walls and traincars into her technique.

As we moved, the air cracked and shattered, fists and feet breaking the sound barrier as our attacks became more fluid and perfected. Her legs were like whips, smashing into my limbs and torso as she adapted, but I tanked the hits with my Aura, which while not limitless was substantial due to my inherently strong physique.

Similarly, Kim was shedding the few blows I was starting to land, incorporating the principals of tai chi into her deflections and allowing her body to move with the hits to bleed off force

I felt heat rising in my chest. Not the heat of excitement (though that was there too) but the heat of Extremis, beginning to burn inside me, stoking the bellows of my regeneration and filling me with energy.

If it had been before, I wouldn't have had a way to deal with it and we would have had to stop, luckily my Burning Sun Blast could be used as a heatsink for this kind of low level Extremis buildup.

The symbol on my hand began to burn with an almost invisible light, and my gloves covered it up anyway, so Kim didn't see it, distracted as she was by our battle.

I leveled up. Then again. And a third time. When I hit level thirty five, I noticed a qualitative shift in my martial arts. Nothing crazy like a special ability, just a noticeable uptick in my ability to land hits and avoid taking them in return.

If I'd had to guess, I would say that Kim herself was equal to a level thirty four unarmed combatant, and surpassing her had changed the game. My hits were stacking, landing more frequently and a bit more solidly. Kim was sturdy enough to take it, and I knew the powers came with healing, so I didn't hold back, I knew she wouldn't want it.

Finally, I landed a solid rib blow and I felt her fail to deflect, She tumbled backward, rolling to bleed off the force but unable to avoid the main thrust of the hit, and I finally stopped. She sprang back to her feet, clearly ready to keep going, but I could see her favoring her left side. She frowned at me. "What are you doing? We're not done!"

"Yes we are," I chuckled. "You needed testing, and I gave it to you. Any more and you might get hurt." She opened her mouth to retort but I held up a hand. "Also my Aura is about to break, so I can't afford to take any more hits."

She paused, glaring suspiciously, but eventually just pouted and relaxed her stance. "That was fun," she said sulkily. "I wasn't done yet. Are you really tired out, or are just using that as an excuse because you're worried about hurting me?"

I held up a hand solemnly, three fingers extended. "I'm done for the day. Scouts honor."

"Were you even a boyscout?" She asked suspiciously. "Because you don't exactly seem like the survivalist type."

I grinned at her. "I can promise you, I'm better at surviving than anyone you've ever met in your life. And what about you? I'm guessing you were definitely a girlscout. Probably had all the badges and everything."

She pouted. "I'm not THAT much of a goody goody."

I pulled her against me, leaning down to kiss her and grabbing a handful of tight cheerleader ass as a bonus. "I know exactly how bad you can be."

Giggling, she shoved at my chest. "Stop, I know what you're doing. You're distracting me so I don't keep asking about whether you were taking it easy on me. And don't think I didn't notice how much you improved. I'm just too busy wondering if we could have kept going. I need some more combat. A bit of a beating will help me adjust."

Smiling, I reached down and spun her around, earning a surprised squeak from my girlfriend as I pinned her against the nearest train.

Reaching down, I pulled her workout pants down over her ass cheeks, exposing her perfectly sculpted booty, and slapped a cheek. She whined and wiggled a bit, but I cut off the sound with a kiss. When she stopped I pulled back and grinned at her. "Well if you wanted me to beat your ass, all you had to do was ask."

She bit her lip, but to my surprise, didn't object to the public display (not that it really was, I had Lucky on lookout. Submissively, looking down she let me nudge her legs apart as I pushed her pants down even further. I really needed to train with the other girls a bit, it led to all kinds of fun times.

January 30th, 2011 Ruby Dreams, Brockton Bay, New Hampshire 6:00 PM EST- SP:700

After my day of training with Kim, I got in touch with Faultline. I was mostly just checking in, but I learned two important pieces of information. First, The conclave date had been set. I wasn't sure if the Dark Dragon's involvement or the chaos around town had affected things, but it had been pushed to February 7th.

I'd been expecting it to be sooner, but almost ten days wasn't exactly a problem either. The second piece of information was a bit more immediate. I'd had Faultline keeping her ear to the ground about the ABB, planning to learn more about their mysterious Tinker. I'd stirred things up, planning to take advantage of the chaos to track them down, but we had to actually listen for movements.

With all of the brothels being hit, the ABB was consolidating, and all their higher ups (except Lung, who apparently believed that it would be seen as weakness for him to 'retreat') were gathering at the Ruby Dreams casino to discuss what to do about the recent attack on their assets.

Based on Faultline's information, the tinker in question would be in attendance, though whether she was going to be in costume was somewhat up for debate. Apparently this particular tinker was usually low key, or at least she didn't spend much time in costume.

With my resources though, I doubted it would be a problem. I still had the snowdrop, which could help me luck into fortunate encounters (provided I was strong enough to handle them), and so I decided to check it out. Since our subterfuge was almost at an end, we went in our normal identities.

Which was how I ended up here with Blake and Shego on my arm. Blake was wearing her Cheshire outfit, while Shego had come dressed to kill in a black and green wraparound dress that showed off her long toned legs.

I was wearing a tux, along with my Vagabond mask and hat. It looked frankly ridiculous, but I didn't give that much of a fuck, and if anything I found the odd looks amusing.

"Did you have to dress like that?" Complained Shego as we stopped outside the casino. "At least take off the hat. It's fucking absurd." She was in a good mood, the idea of getting a lead on helping Drakken doing a lot to alleviate her stress. Being cooped up at home the last day or two hadn't been fun for her, and I was glad I was getting the chance to bring her out to blow off steam.

I shrugged. "I could not honestly give less of a fuck what other people think about how I look. The opinions of random assholes are the last thing on my priority list." I caught a glare from a pair of passing businessmen and saluted them. "That's right, I'm talking about you."

Blake giggled, and I saw Shego's lips quirk up a bit at the corners. She didn't want to encourage me, but I knew that was the kind of humor she enjoyed. Honestly I wasn't lying. I didn't give much of a shit about how other people saw me, but I usually wouldn't be so confrontational about it for no reason.

Still, this was actually looking like a fun night out. Ruby Dreams was an interesting place. I'd never really been to a casino before, but I enjoyed the atmosphere. The inside was loud and bright, with lots of shades of red and a strong smell of cigarettes. In the background loud dings and chimes heralded the possible winnings of the players, though not many actual jackpots came up during my short scan.

"This place is…overwhelming," Blake said sedately. My kitten wasn't a loud and flashy kind of girl, and places like this weren't her scene. Beyond that, I realized her cat ears were pinned down to her skull, and that the loud noise might actually be causing her pain. Putting a hand on the back of her neck, I rubbed the base of her skull, in a spot I'd found helped reduce her tension when she was upset.

Purring unconsciously, she wriggled back into my touch, and I smiled at the genuine fondness in the gesture. Shego, noticing how unhappy Blake was, pulled us both across the floor. "I've been here before. We want to head to the poker rooms. They keep them soundproofed so they don't get disturbed by the slots."

Blake gave the other woman a grateful nod, and we made our way across the floor to a sectioned off area. The poker rooms were made of rich, dark red wood, carved with vines and flowers and set back into the walls of the casino. It was almost like another building in the casino, and the small eaves above the rooms only reinforced that impression.

Two men stood in front of the double doors, towering menacingly as we approached. "Invitations?" The smaller of the two asked menacingly. He was wearing dark sunglasses (which I got, inside or not this place was bright) and his face was covered in rough scars.

I glanced at Shego, who looked confused. "We need to be invited to play poker?" I asked dryly.

"Private party," said the other one, whose face was much more refined. "The poker rooms are closed for the night."

I got it immediately. The meeting we were here to scope out was going on in there. I smiled and thanked him, then led the girls to the front desk. The Ruby Dream, as with most casinos I'd heard of, had a hotel component. I quickly rang us up a room and pulled the girls along, bringing them up to the penthouse.

"If you just wanted to have sex with us," Blake sighed. "You could have done that at the base."

I laughed. "First of all, I always want to have sex with you. Second of all we came here to spy on a meeting, and that poker room is where the meeting is going to be. So obviously we need a place to lay low to do our spying. Or did you think I was planning to crash an ABB party. Showing up in a mask and a crazy hat would probably draw attention."

I'd wanted to come to be close by when it was time to act. I mentally sent Lucky down into the meeting room, and with a bit of finagling, I had him project what he was seeing up to my phone.

Inside the poker room, a few dozen men and women (mostly men) in suits and dresses mingled. The women were mostly waitresses, tiny, pretty girls in cheongsams, quietly serving drinks. I noticed Blake tense as she caught more than a few hands straying where they shouldn't be, and the girls just quietly endured.

I put a hand on her leg. "They're ok," I assured her. "Doing anything overt there would be disrespectful to the host. Nobody wants to offend Lung over a waitress. We can see about freeing them later."

Tonight was going to be our big move. As long as we found the Tinker, we would be able to abduct them and force them to fix Drakken. Once we had them, we had no reason to stay low key. Especially since I was pretty sure they couldn't detonate his head bomb without the Tinker to set it off. As for Lung and the Dark Dragon, without the leverage from Drakken, and having confirmed via my meeting with the latter the other day that he had no idea who I was, I wasn't scared of mixing it up with those bastards.

In fact, I was itching for a fight. The only thing that kept me from just storming the poker room was how much effort we'd put into this operation. We needed to confirm the Tinker before we struck. Of course, once we did, I had an extraction plan, and the girls were on standby to take them away while I wrought havoc to distract everyone. Perks of being an immortal.

For the moment, we were just watching the proceedings. The dozens of men were mostly muttering and speaking in about ten different languages, but a particularly old guy with short cropped grey hair and a full beard finally stood up, bellowing "SILENCE!" as he slammed his hands down on a poker table.

Everyone stopped talking. "You know why we are here," the man intoned in slightly accented english. I knew the ABB had members from various asian countries, and the accent was faint, so I wasn't sure exactly what it was. "We have been challenged."

Another man snorted. "Petty thieves and cowards. Running before we arrive and hiding behind the authorities. It can only be the Merchants. I say we wash the streets in Merchant blood."

The other men started to speak up, some agreeing, some arguing. It seemed like they spoke so many different languages they'd decided to just keep the whole meeting in english for ease of communication. While I could have translated this later over recording, this was much more convenient.

"Lung says we do not move," the first man said, his average volumed voice managing to cut through the commotion, silencing everyone. "There are important things afoot. We cannot afford to stir the water. Which means the Bakuda plan will also be pushed back."

Another pair of hands slammed down on a table, but this time, it wasn't a big man in a suit. In fact, it was a girl, about my age. She was tiny and cute and VERY busty. Like…weirdly stacked for such a small person. Her face was kind of round in an adorable way, with pink cheeks and a perpetual pout, her hair done up in a pair of buns. "Nonsense!" she snapped. "I was promised room to practice my craft."

I was momentarily distracted by watching what must have been E-cups jiggle at the table smack, but I immediately refocused enough to guess what was going on. This was the Tinker?

I sighed, palming my face. Apparently we had been overthinking this. Lung had managed to keep her a secret probably by terrorizing his people into silence, but this girl was ANYTHING but low key. She looked like a bratty short stack pornstar.

"Bakuda," said the older man in a tone of obviously forced patience. "Your contributions are appreciated, but it is too soon for the other forces to learn of you. Your great power is too potent a threat, and if warned, they may unite against us. We must keep you hidden so we might maximize your might at the moment of greatest opportunity."

That was the biggest load of ass kissing bullshit I'd ever heard, but Bakuda seemed to buy it. Her pouty expression became smug, her plump lips peeling up into a smirk. "Very well, I see you understand my importance. I will humor you all, for Lung's sake. I can allow the needs of lesser beings to come first for a time. I am magnanimous as well as mighty."

The man clearly wanted to roll his eyes, but he nodded solemnly…and I smirked. Time to start. "You'll go out the back, avoid the main entrances. Blake, scout with clones, Shego punch your way out if needed. And don't let her wake up."

They both looked confused, but I just winked, before telling Lucky to do something he'd only done a few times since he got the power.

With a surge of energy, Lucky triggered ally swap. There was a swirl of space, and I was no longer in the room, I was now sitting at a poker table surrounded by two dozen armed gangsters, all of whom turned to stare at me in shock.

I didn't attack, or start throwing fireballs, or any of that. I just sat there, reaching down to pick up a drink from the table and taking a small sip. "Borrowing your Tinker. Hope that's cool." And then the whole world went insane.

January 30th, 2011 Ruby Dreams, Brockton Bay, New Hampshire 7:00 PM EST- SP:900

Fun fact, gang members carry a lot of guns. Funner fact, indestructible mithril shirts are still just shirts. I got shot. Like…a bunch of times. It sucked actually. Not enough for me to lose my composure, not with the body I had, but it was still painful.

Bullets slammed into me, punching through arms and legs (and my neck in one case) and lodging in my densely muscled form. Once they were in (only a few inches deep) they started to melt as the Extremis began to superheat my perforated flesh to knit it back together. I smiled, raised my arm, tilted it up slightly to make sure I wasn't going to blast a hole through the slow floor, and then unleashed my Burning Sun Blast.

Flames erupted from my hand, a column of white hot fire consuming about a dozen gangsters and chewing a hole the size of a buick in the wall behind them. I'd aimed it so that I was mostly shooting out the side, so I could see the open air of the cold January night through the hole, at least what wasn't obscured by the colossal plume of STEAM that burst forth when my column of fire hit the frozen air.

Boiling mist erupted in a cloud, some spilling into the room, some covering the parking lot. I heard screams from the men nearest the wall where it burned them, but there were only a few ABB there and no civilians so I wasn't fussed. I leapt, landing lightly on the half melted wall, my boots making balancing a breeze. Looking down at the confused, burned, boiled gang members, I called cheerfully. "Meep meep!" and then jumped out the side of the casino to land in the parking lot.

Just for dramatic effect, I crouched down, getting into a runner's pose while I waited for them to follow me out. Of course, I wasn't waiting long. With the steam cloud still dispersing, they didn't (or couldn't, considering how high it was) follow me out the hole in the wall, but within minutes, the front doors of the casino banged open and a small crowd of men charged out, screaming in several languages.

With a whoop of amusement, I pushed off, purposefully running slower than necessary by essentially jumping forward in long, low leaps, making sure to maximize my hang time. I could have sped up by kicking off the ground more, but I was trying to stay in sight.

Sure enough, noticing me running, they all busted out their guns, screaming and firing at me as I hopped away. Landing on a nearby wall, I turned to wave at them. Screaming in outrage, they bolted to a series of nearby cars, piling in and peeling out as I jumped down, tearing around the corner of the wall to follow me.

I kept up the light jog for maybe ten miles, then I started to pour on some gas, pounding the pavement as I sprinted, letting my body shift into a powerful lope that had my legs hitting the ground like pistons, shoving me forward so fast the cars couldn't keep up.

They kept firing at me, bullets punching into me, and I laughed as I let the power build and drain off into my hand, once I had enough energy, I took a sharp corner out onto a bridge and then fired a burning sun blast into one of the pursuing cars. There was an earthshaking explosion and the burning wreckage of the SUV was flipped sideways off the bridge.

The two other cars screeched to a stop, and the men all peeked out, guns pointed my way, seemingly trying to figure out what to do.

Of course, I knew what to do. I'd planned this route beforehand. With a laugh, I bolted for the edge of the bridge, pushed off the side, and hurled myself up and out over the river. I flew high into the air, then came down at speed, my feet slamming into the water…and stopping.

I'd been wanting to test this particular trick for ages. While the boots allowed me to land perfectly and take no fall damage, the damage to the boots themselves from high falls implied there might still be force dispersing. When you hit water at high speed, the molecules couldn't move out of the way fast enough, and the water become a solid for a moment.

People falling from a great height need to disturb the water, putting it in an excited state so they don't hit solid water (water molecules don't have any give like 90% of other materials, they JUST move, making water extremely hard if you hit it at speed). This is called 'breaking the plane'.

Since i had jumped far enough out to avoid the disturbance from the burning car hitting the river, I was able to step on the water like a solid surface, and by kicking off with enough force and speed for my next steps, I was essentially RUNNING on the surface of the river, a feat which not only tickled me pink, but also confused and frustrated the gangsters.

I ran for about a mile before hitting land, then circled around to an agreed on spot to meet up with Shego and Blake for my pickup. In the backseat, the asian girl with the big tits they'd called 'Bakuda' was unconscious, her breathing steady and her features relaxed.

"How did you knock her out?" I asked as I climbed in, pushing her over. "You didn't hit her did you? That can cause all sorts of brain damage."

Shego snorted. "Bitch, please. I've been kidnapping top heavy rich bitches for longer than you've been shaving. I used chloroform. I always keep some in the glove compartment, and I had a rag in a bag taped to my stomach just in case. Always be prepared, that's my motto."

"Well, that brings up a whole bunch of questions I'm not sure I want the answers to," I said dryly. "But good to know, I guess. I suppose it's for the be-"

My eyes widened and I lurched forward, grabbing the steering wheel and yanking it to one side as a dark form appeared in front of the car. Shego shouted in surprise, and she and Blake each grabbed their respective "oh shit" bars as the car jerked off the road and slammed headfirst into a tree.

Luckily, we were driving a Squealer car, so the impact did more damage to the tree than the car itself. I was forced to throw myself sideways to catch Bakuda, who was unconscious and not in a seatbelt. Only my enhanced reflexes let me react fast enough from my position leaning into the front seat.

We all sat in shock for a second, dust filling the car, and I waited for my brain to reboot after the shock.

"Sorry," I told Shego as I looked up towards the road. Luckily we'd driven away from the river, and though we'd dropped down a short hill, hitting the tree was the worst of the damage. "Everyone alright?" I set Bakuda back down, climbing out of the car to assess the damage. I also retained my awareness. The dark form that had appeared in front of us had been a person.

Shego groaned as she got out. "Yeah, I'm fine. I ju-" There was a burst of white smoke, and a figure appeared behind her, a knife aimed for her throat. Unfortunately for him, I'd been waiting for that. A quick thought to Lucky triggered ally swap, and I took the knife to the throat without flinching as my fist lashed out at the enemy. I felt skin and bone cave in, and briefly thought I'd managed to hurt him, but realized I'd only punched ash.

Which finally solidified my suspicions of who this was. Not that the grinning demon mask hadn't pretty much sealed the deal. "Blake, Aura," I said sharply. "And protect Bakuda. Shego, be careful. Seems like the ABB finally sent an A-lister." I raised my voice. "Oni Lee, right? I've heard terrible things."

A burst of white ash flickered in front of me, a carbon duplicate of the dark suited man with the oni mask appearing in what he probably thought was my blind spot. I heard a click, and my eyes widened as I realized he'd left something behind. Cursing, I grabbed him and crushed him to my body with the grenade between us.

There was a muffled thump, and my teeth rattled as the clone burst in a fiery explosion. Even with my mithril shirt, the concussive force cracked several of my bones, and the ash obscured my vision as I snarled, spinning to try to find him.

I listened closely, trying to hear any sign of movement, and my mind reached out to Lucky. He swept in, and I reached out to touch my book. I briefly considered bringing out Kanshou and Bakuya, but they were Nightfall weapons, and sadly I wasn't sure I could kill this asshole. Instead I called out something…different.

The plasma pistol had been seriously altered. By combining it with a sizable chunk of high grade lightning Dust, I'd massively increased its firepower. The formerly sleek weapon was now shot through with streaks of crackling yellow, a few sharp spikes tapering out. It was unrecognizable from the weapon I'd used as Nightfall, so it wasn't a risk to show it off.

My hand snapped up as I heard a small sound off to the side, and I depressed the trigger lightly. A sphere of blue green electrical plasma exploded out of the barrel, smashing through several trees before striking a hill, which exploded in a shower of small stones and dirt.

I grinned viciously behind my mask. The plasma pistol was a useful item, but it had keep of been left behind. The idea to enhance it with the Horadric Cube had come to me in a fit of boredom, but the results had been excellent. Since the pistol used a solid energy based power system, Dust was a perfect match for it, and the electrical damage had massively increased the raw force output.

I'd briefly considered using gravity Dust, but had decided it was too likely to punch a black hole in the universe or something. Lightning had seemed more…controllable.

I listened carefully as I slowly spun. "You still there, Lee?" I called cheerfully. "Just whistle if you can hear me."

There was a sharp sound from behind me and I whirled and fired twice, huge blasts blowing holes in the surrounding trees. After that, things got quiet. On the street above us, I saw a man appear, too far for a decent shot. He stared at me intensely for a minute, then vanished, leaving behind a white ash shadow.

Snorting, I put the gun away. Not in the book, I just stored it in my jacket in case I needed it, then I turned to check on my girls. "You two alright?" I asked them worriedly. I'd soaked the damage from the grenade, but explosives were dangerous.

Blake, who had Bakuda over her shoulder, nodded. "My Aura protected us from any shrapnel you didn't take for us. Are YOU ok? That looked…nasty. I know how tough you are, but I don't like seeing you hurt like that."

"I'm fine," I assured her. My body was already repairing itself and was nearly good as new. Between my immortality and the regeneration from Extremis, physical damage was pretty much irrelevant to me at this point. More than that, any lasting trauma from it seemed to be soaked up by the book the same way the negative feelings from killing had been. I remembered it, but in a detached way, like I read it in a story.

Glancing around, I noted the craters and smoke. "We should get out of here before someone comes to check this out. Blake, pass science tits to Shego. I'm gonna need some help with this car so I don't need to gouge handholds in it." With a sigh, I headed over to our SUV to start the process of prying it out of the tree. This was shaping up to be a long night.

AN:/ As usual pat-reon has the advance chapters at that site /malcolmtent hope everyone enjoys.