Chapter 1232 - bb

Questionable Questing

Gusfes, PsylentFox replied to a thread you are watching at Questionable Questing.

[NSFW] - Do What You Can [Worm][SI-OC][Celestial Forge V3]

 

[February 21st]

[Jason Wilke]

Okay, I had wanted to go out without a mask, mainly because I was feeling pretty secure in the power that we had obtained. However, my women had put a stop to that line of thinking full stop- there were still plenty of whacky and crazy things that could potentially end up causing us trouble. So we ended up wearing the modified domino masks that we used for patrolling, and I even made one for little Julian; he was just the cutest.

It was also superb blackmail material for when he got older and eventually became a teenager. The number of baby pictures in the soon-to-be burgeoning baby book will be astronomical. Almost half of my T-Dolls desired children of their own, and requested that we make a baby the next time we take a trip into the Superbolic Time-Space Complex; that would be quite soon, but with a smaller group as we needed to expand to other cities like New York and Boston and begin cleaning those places up as well.

While we set up a reservation for later in the evening at a rather chintzy place called 'La Petite Maison' in the Financial district we also called ahead to Fugly Bob's to let them know that we would be swinging by his place later in the evening- all 48 of us- and that he just might have more than a few taking the Fugly Bob's Challenger Challenge; though they would most assuredly win, we would still pay for everything because we wanted to support our local All-American businesses.

He thanked us for the heads up and we all futzed around for a while, most notably P90 was still trying to educate the girls on the finer points of the Force- most strode towards the Light Side while a few leaned more toward the Dark side; she felt that we were at our best when we were more in balance, and I agreed with her entirely. Though she was pretty sad that our Lightsabers had decreased in usefulness the stronger we got- when we could create Ki blades like that one French alien in Cooler's entourage having a Lightsaber seemed superfluous, however it was nice that we had stepped tiers of escalation.

I had always wanted to say: "Trust me, you do not want me to get out of the giant robot. It's the only thing holding me back."

Super chunni, I know, but what's life without a little chunni-ness?

Still, wouldn't that be utter hilarious?

I digress.

After spending some time with P90 and the girls I left and fixed up a few cars for the business, and then built a few more with the help of the Engineers because we needed some way to get to the restaurant without flying. Once I had a half dozen tricked-out minivans I went down to Tiffany's trailer and Springfield came with me, the beautiful woman glowing as she walked beside me with our son in tow.

I knocked on the door and the wooden door opened up to show the old biddy's wizened face, "Eh? What do you want, boy...?"

She tugged the cigarette out of her lips and tucked it behind her right ear before pushing open the screen door which I held open. "And who is this image of motherly beauty I see standing before me?"

Springfield's cheeks blushed red as a beatific smile pulled at her lips; if she hadn't had her hands full with little Julian no doubt she would have held a hand up to her cheek. "Oh, goodness me, you are too kind, Miss Tiffany. My name is Spring, it is a pleasure to finally meet you after all this time; I'd only heard about you through stories from the others."

"Stories, huh?" The old woman grinned wryly as she stepped back and allowed us entry, "Only good ones I hope?"

"Oh, yes, of course," Spring smiled as she stepped into the living room and took a corner seat on the couch so that she could rest our son's head and shoulders on the cushion, "My favorite one has to be of the night you and Jason met; a shotgun held to face? Why, I don't think there could possibly be a more American way to say 'Hello' to a home intruder!"

A loud snort issued from Tiffany's throat as she shook her head and closed the door behind her, "Heh, well, at least someone appreciates the old ways; nowadays you can't shoot someone trespassing on your property with ill intent without there being a full-blown investigation- trust me, I know. Back in my day the police would have shown up, asked a few questions, collected the body, and then tipped their hat with a 'You have a nice evening, ma'am'."

The old woman moved around into the kitchen and filled up her tea kettle before placing it on the stove, "So, you didn't visit at all yesterday, boy. I was wondering if you hadn't gone out and died or something, but I figured you probably had some important Tinker bullshit to work on, so I decided I would give it a few more days before I started rooting around."

A laugh issued from my throat, "Good lord I didn't realize how much I missed you until now, Ma'am."

When she looked back at me I'd noticed she had the cigarette between her lips, and she noticed it too before tucking it back behind her ear. She arched an eyebrow, "You make it sound as though we hadn't seen each other a few days ago."

"Weeeeeeellllllllllllllllll......." I sort of shook my hand, "You wouldn't be wrong about the Tinker bullshit."

"Jesus Tap Dancin' Christ, boy. Just what madness did you get yourself into now?" She reached up into the cupboards and began pulling out teacups and saucer plates as well as a trio of teabags.

"Well, I discovered how to distort the localized time and accelerate it to produce a rather novel effect-"

"In English, boy. I can hardly wrap my head around half of the Bullshit regular Capes can do, let alone Tinkers." She interrupted as she poured the water into the teacups just before the kettle reached the boiling point, and she waved me off when I stood up to move the teacups into the living room and placed them on the coffee table, "Now, 'something-something' - Time - something-something', was it?"

I quirked an amused eyebrow as the old biddy sassed me in her usual fashion. Truly, Tiffany was a breath of fresh air. "Well, essentially, I created a bubble where time moves faster inside of the bubble than outside of it."

She sipped her tea and nodded, "Okay, so it sounds like something that would be very useful if you were in a time-crunch. Though it sounds like you also just took a few years off of your lifespan."

I shook my head as I sipped my own tea, hmmm, earl-gray; not the crappy cheap stuff she used to drink- I guess decided to step up from the Super Mart Super Value brand on her last shopping trip? "Well, with the Lifegivers like Subee we are effectively immortal, so... it's not really that much of an issue. What it allowed all of us to do was get a lot of designing, Tinkering, and training done in a very short amount of time."

"Heh, forgot about the pink fart, okay, so that does allay some of my concerns. How much more time did you get?" She leaned back in her armchair and started to rock, the springs and frame not squeaking at all as they used to after Enbee got his grubby, greedy tendrils on the comfort device.

"Well, I had the dilation set to one day in the outside world was equal to three years worth of time inside-"

Tiffany damn near dropped her teacup, the old woman just barely avoiding getting her hot tea splashed into her lap, "Dear Lord, boy. Has it truly been three years for you?"

I nodded, "Yes, it has been. There are a few things the Team wants to take care of, but we plan on going back in after the next Endbringer fight. The main priority is the Slaughterhouse Nine. They're on their way to Brockton right now, but based on what we were able to gather they will be swinging by a town north of Boston; we think they're going to target Mouse Protector, so we'll be intervening there."

Speaking of which, I pinged Nugget and asked him to send Mouse Protector a priority text message; we probably had two days roughly before the Slaughterhouse Nine reached Newtown, Massachusetts. She deserved a heads up, though we would be handling the problem.

"The Nine? Christ, boy," She murmured before looking up from her cup and over to me, "You... really think you can do it? End those bastards for good?"

I grinned and looked down at Springfield as I reached down a took Best MILF's hand and gave it a firm squeeze, she smiled back before looking down at our boy and running her fingers through his wispy blonde hair; she wanted him to have my hair and her eyes, and once Subee confirmed that was the case, we didn't feel the need to make any modifications. My son was already going to be born from two Super Serum enhanced Prometheans, ones who had strong life forces as well as mana and a very stable connection to the Force; he was going to grow up just fine.

"So, I take it that the child is yours, boy?" She clicked her tongue and sat her teacup on the saucer.

Spring hummed as she looked up and regarded Tiffany, "Yes. We decided that training and expanding our current technologies was the smartest course of action. So we gathered the supplies we needed from the local markets-"

"Well that explains why I couldn't find any bacon," Tiffany muttered as she lifted her up and sipped at it.

"-and once we were certain that everything was taken care of and the city was safe we entered into the... time chamber and began our training and Tinkering in earnest." Springfield looked up and me from our baby, "Well, three years in a long time to be isolated from the world, and when there is only one strapping man around..."

"Phaw," Tiffany huffed as she waved her hand dismissively in front of her, "I know for a damn fact that we women have our needs, I was young and randy once myself. So you don't need to try and explain it to me, dear. Though I was more surprised that with your line of work you both allowed a slip-up like this to occur; a beautiful slip-up the child may be, but not something I would have thought you, Jason, or any of the other women would have made."

Springfield blushed deeply as she looked off to the side, "W-we do have things in place to prevent pregnancy and the like, but... at that moment in time he was just so... so... mphm! Yes, definitely a heat of the moment thing; it was incredibly risky, but I think that only added to the excitement."

"I don't need to know that, dear," Tiffany rolled her eyes as she grabbed the cigarette off of her ear and tucked it between her lips, though when she remembered the baby she sighed and put it right back. "Alright, tea's finished. Come on you two, let's go to the back porch so that I can smoke this damn thing."

We stood up and followed the old biddy through the kitchen and onto the back patio where she passed me a cigarette and I took it gratefully; it had been three years since I last enjoyed one with Tiffany. We lit up, judged which way the wind was blowing, and then stood downwind.

[Attempted Re-Forge: 7.0280 - Industrial Fabber - 400CP - Schlock Mercenary Rebuild - Facilities Mundane]

[NOT Purchased: Insufficient Balance: 300 CP]

The Forge spun up for the first time in a long time, almost over a year now, and it made an attempt at a star from the "Facilities Mundane" cluster but was unable to drag it into my orbit.

"So. A child is a huge responsibility, young man. Do you think you have what it takes?" She gazed at me with hard eyes as she puffed on her smoke.

"Well, if I can stare down murderous capes and the like I think that I might just be okay," I chuckled before flicking the ashes over the side of the patio railing, "All jokes aside, I've read up on just about every parenting book in existence, and so has everyone else. I know that books aren't a substitute for first-hand experience, but I had some taking care of my kid-sister before I wound up here."

"Yes, indeed, we are all well-read up on the subject, but sometimes intelligence would be better served if checked with someone who has knowledge on hand," Spring looked at Tiffany with a soft smile on her face, "It may be presumptuous of me, but I would like to know if I can come to you for advice from time to time. None of us would dream of foisting our son on you, of course, as there are plenty of us who're more than willing to step up, but we will not turn away help freely given."

"Ha, you don't have to ask me, girl, I've got nothing better to do, and children, despite how messy they can be, are one of the greatest joys in this dark, cruel world we live in," She waved her hand in the air, "Maybe if I start sending my granddaughter some pictures she'll think about settling down again and give me a grandchild of my own to tend to in the waving years of my life."

Julian chose that time to get fussy and Spring began gently bouncing him up and down before cooing, "Oh, seems like someone is hungry."

Tiffany blinked before finishing the last of her cigarette and tamping it out in the ashtray, she wandered off inside and came back a moment later with a small blanket, "Here, girl. While there aren't other people around it would be improper to just plunk out your titty, even if your present company is an old woman and the father of your child."

Spring's smile grew wider and she began draping the blanket over her shoulder, and when Tiffany looked out towards the gravel road with another cigarette tucked between her lips the T-Doll dropped the top of her sundress down, letting a single, pale-skinned breast with a pert brown nipple leaking with milk fall out. Her hooded gaze was quite lascivious and she brought my boy's mouth to her nipple and he immediately began suckling. The blanket was draped over Julian and her breast just before Tiffany turned around.

I would like to think that as a man and a new father that I would never get jealous of my son, but the tightening of my trouser leg told me a different story. Lucky little bastard, will get to grow up surrounded by beautiful women, be a super-powered teen; God, I was going to have to watch my son like a hawk because once he started flying around the girls would stand no chance.

"So, tell me more about all of the technical foolishness you got up to while you were in this special time bubble of yours?"

I finished off my cigarette and leaned up against the railing, "Well, there was a lot of technical foolishness, we had more than enough time to research everything from weapons, to armor, to giant robots-"

"Giant robots, huh?"

I get the feeling that she didn't sound too impressed.

Damn her, I really wanted to show her to prove her wrong, but Ted was the exact opposite of what I was going for with the Titans, and until I could find a space to put him... well... even with the upgrades and aesthetic changes the Canoptek Spyder was still nightmare fuel; shining blue, white, and silver-colored nightmare fuel, but still nightmare fuel nonetheless.

[hr][/hr]

While Springfield and I were away the girls contacted Parian and asked if she would be able to whip up some dresses for the upcoming Gala... which was tomorrow. If I was being dramatic I would insert into here how much I dislike politicians and high society, but while the statements would be true, I wouldn't be so silly as to 'shiver in revulsion' or some such tripe.

To my surprise, Parian was actually quite happy to have us in her shop, even offering to stay after hours to make sure that everything was finished in time- that was provided we signed a contract with her. With her powers, she would be able to make a dress in record time, and I could understand her desire to work her ass off for this opportunity. Not only had we eliminated the gangs that had been harassing her, but we were also going to become national icons here soon enough; if we wore her dresses then she would move from being a regional curiosity in the fashion industry to possibly making her way onto the national or even world stage.

Our dinner reservation was at 5:00 pm, and we'd be at Fugly Bob's around 6:30-ish, so setting a time for 7:30 pm seemed easy enough.

The moment Springfield laid our son down in his crib in the spare bedroom of the trailer... that was when I pounced. I wrapped my arms around her waist and dragged her into the kitchen, lifting her up behind her thighs so that I could deposit her bottom onto the counter. She let out a shuddering, heady breath. "Oh, goodness, Commander. Such a greedy man you are."

I captured her lips with my own, and while her hands were working to free my length my own was lifting her sundress up and pooling it on her waist. Then I slipped the straps down and freed those beautiful, milk-laden breasts of hers and I broke the kiss, leaning down so that I could capture the one that my son hadn't drained. Springfield had freed my length, and one was stroking it while her other hand curled around the drooling tip and slathered my pre so that squeeze and twist the head.

Her milk was just as delicious as the rest of her. The boy would never accept formula now that he'd gotten the good stuff.

"Ahn~, dear, you really are greedy, you know?" She bit her lip as her hooded green eyes gazed down at me with lust, love, and desire, "That milk is for our baby."

I released her nipple and captured her lips once more before pushing her soaked white panties off to the side and without prompting she dragged the head of my cock along her lips before pulling me inside. We both moaned- me because her womanhood was hot and sticky, gripping and clinging to my length- and her because I was hot and hard, and I stretched her out perfectly. "I am a greedy man, Springfield. I can't help but want you, and all of your sisters to be mine and mine alone. No one else could have you."

Her bare heels found the tops of my buttocks and she pulled me deeper until I could go no further; if we were doing this missionary or doggy she could accept the entirety of my manhood without issue, but as curled up as she was it shortened her sex by a few inches. "We are yours, Commander. From now until the day we no longer function, we will always be yours."

Her smile widened and her fingers roamed up my chest and neck so that she could thread them through my hair. She tilted her head to the side, "We had plenty of time to show you just how much we love you, Jason, but truth be told we all look forward to our return to the STSC; more time to grow stronger, more time to love you without the worries of this world plaguing your mind. Yes, we all can't wait for our next three-year stint."

I started moving, slowly pulling my hips back- I was going to go to the tip but her heels stopped my retreat after just a few inches, so with nowhere else to go but forward that was where I went; Springfield was one of the T-Dolls that liked lovey-dovey sex the most. Body contact and intimacy were more important to her than raw pleasure, though she didn't say 'No' when I chose to reduce her to a blissed-out, teary mess.

"It was like a dream, our time there," She spoke before pecking my lips, her fingers dragging my head down until our foreheads were nestled together; a soft gasp left her lips as I ground against a particular spot deep within her that she liked, "Every day was exciting. Magic, The Force, our Ki training. We all thought that we'd reached the peak of what we were capable of- we thought that the only way we could do more was to branch out and - nhf - yet we were proven wrong. We could grow stronger, strong enough to protect you, to support you... to give you something you've always spoken about in passing but never gave serious consideration to because of our current situation."

"A family." I breathed, the realization wasn't that shocking to me, so it wasn't enough to make me stop my motions that were drawing such delightful sounds from her throat.

"Mhnmmmm, yes. We drew lots, for the honor of being the first, and I somehow won despite the long odds," Her beautiful smile widened, "I know that it was manipulative of me to do, to ask you to put a child in me while we were making love like this... when your defenses were lowered and - ammnh~! - your self-control lessened."

I huffed and kissed her firmly before I pulled back and firmly gripped one of her breasts, kneading the flesh as I picked up the pace, "You don't need to apologize for it, Spring. None of you do, at the rate this world goes to shit if I kept saying 'when it's safer, when it's more stable' then we'd likely be many, many years down the road."

I grasped her thighs and unwound her legs so that I could roll her over onto her belly; she was tall, but not tall enough for her toes to touch the ground with her hips on the counter. In this position, I could give her my full length, and I could savor the feeling of her muscular yet plush bottom smacking against my hips. I kept my strokes short but I began putting more force behind them, one hand grasping her breasts while the other craned her neck by the jaw so that our tongues could intertwine. Her moans grew increasingly louder as our lovemaking continued, and finally, I let the pleasure overtake me as her own orgasm feathered her womanhood across my length.

We both sighed in ecstasy as our respective climaxes ran their course; her womanhood clenched and squirmed as my cock spurted and spilled its seed deep within her belly. As our heart rates began to level out I broke the kiss and tugged at her earlobe with my teeth. "I've grown to love your girls. You are all incredibly important to me, and it will always be that way. So don't apologize for asking me to give you something you want, even if that is a child to fill your belly."

I nipped her neck firmly and she let out a pleased sigh as I slowly pulled out, and when she turned around I planted a gentle kiss on her lips, which she returned a little bit more forcefully. "Well, now that we're back, for the small amount of time we are, I should probably start baking some things."

A snort escaped my lips, "Well I have heard good things about your pies, dear, so let me say that I look forward to it, though we'll have to overhaul the kitchen; we could maybe fit six pies in this one. Maybe make a super oven so that you can bake everything you want at the same time?"

She dropped her sundress right there in the kitchen and she bit her lower lip, the woman's eyes hooded in that particular fashion that made it impossible to naysay her, "Take me again?"

With a request like that, what else was a man to do but give the woman what she wants?

[hr][/hr]

When we were getting ready to go out to the restaurant we had been planning on taking Julian with us, but Tiffany shoed us off. We warned her that the baby was quite strong, but she showed off her rings and amulet; it would greatly reduce the amount of force she would take, but I still didn't feel so hot about it, so I asked Subee to watch over them both. If he got too fussy then the very strong Huragok had my permission to baby-handle him and put him to sleep; a simple touch with her tendrils and he would be out like a light, after she handled whatever his problems were. Springfield's enhance body produced quite a lot of milk, so we had plenty of filled bottles with which to feed him; she almost didn't believe us when we told her he would drink at least six bottles before he was satisfied.

Then we reminded her of our superhuman natures and she sighed and shook her head.

So with the Turner Classic Movies channel turned on, some dinner we made for her already to go with a mobile crib, a blanket, and some toys we left with after giving our boy a kiss on the head.

The lot of us piled into our vehicles and we began our procession back into Brockton Bay after applying our domino masks; they self-adhered so it wasn't as though it was a pain in the ass like normal domino masks were- they hardly felt like anything at all.

We drove through the South-West and North-West shanty-towns, moved through the South Ferry district, and then back up into the Financial District where the 'La Petite Maison' was primely positioned on a corner street nestled between two office buildings that had financial and law firms as their tenants. Right across the street from it was a generous parking lot that was quite packed, but we managed to find enough spaces for seven vehicles; I was glad I decided to take the mini-van route because the parking was quite tight with all of the other customers driving wide, sporty or luxury vehicles- the backward sliding doors were a Godsend.

We all squeezed out, though M16A1's van had to fold the back seats down and climb out through the lift-gate trunk; UMP45 was fussing the whole time. "You would have thought that with the Heroes who cleaned out their city coming they could have at least reserved us some parking spaces."

I honestly didn't disagree with her- if we were coming to patronize their establishment and drop $10,000 or more on a high-class meal then that seemed like something a restaurant might do; that was if they gave a shit at all. 'La Petite Maison' catered to the upper crust of the Brockton Bay scene, and from what Qi told me they would also be one of the three restaurants that would be catering for the Gala held in our honor tomorrow evening. Well, we'll see if they're worth their weight in the cash I was about to drop.

Once everyone was out of the vehicles we took a moment to fuss over each other's clothing, making sure everyone's hair looked good, dresses were correct, no wardrobe malfunctions imminent- not that there would be, mind you, these were made by The Boiz.

Ted thought that clothing was superfluous when we could all just have Necrodermis flesh, but I vetoed that plan pretty quickly.

Then we linked arm in arm, six across, eight ranks deep, and walked across the street where I broke the from my place in the middle to grab the door and hold it open as the ladies began filing in one at a time. I heard a scratchy voice squeak out- "U-uh, 'Frontline', party of... 48???"

Why are you acting so surprised? We called ahead well in advance, my guy.

"That would be us," M16A1 spoke out easily as she flicked the simple braid over her shoulder. She tilted her head and from what I could see the teenage boy couldn't tell whether to stare at the bust she had on display or the rakish, confident grin on her face.

God, she was just too damn cool. If I'd been in his place when I was his age there was no way in hell I could have kept my head.

He coughed into his fist before gathering a massive stack of menus and smiling tightly, "I-if you'll come with me right this way, w-we have your table all set up."

As we walked he looked at M16A1 and whispered under his breath, "Hey, before you guys go, do you think you could take a few group photos with the staff?"

"Ha! Yeah, sure thing, Gerald, that's too easy man," Emmie clapped him on the shoulder gently as we walked out of the lobby area with the bench seating and through some fancy glass double doors with bronzed door handles that spanned the length of the door frames and into the restaurant proper. With the number of people we had, we ended up taking a third of the restaurant's floor space with our seating; six long tables sat end to end with 46 chairs on the sides with one at the head and another at the foot of the table.

The girls all filtered in and found their spots- as the Commander I sat at the head while M16A1 sat at the foot. Though none of them sat down, all of them were waiting by their chairs with amused and expectant looks on their faces. Artie was downright giggling behind her hands while G41 was blank-faced with her mouth open slightly.

I blinked and then I remembered that at fancy establishments such as this it was only proper for a man to seat a lady.

While I was pulling out the chair and seating every single woman present, the Forge grew hot and made a reach for not one but two stars from different constellations that were close by and brought them together.

Guess he was feeling greedy after being dormant for three years.

[Attempted Re-Forge: 34.006 - German Engineering - 200CP - Smash Up - Quality Durability]

[Re-Forge Successful]

[Purchased: 200 CP Remaining]

[Attempted Re-Forge: 36.0120 - Scrap Hound - 100CP - Dead Space - Quality Resources]

[Re-Forge Successful]

[Purchased: 100 CP Remaining]

I entered into the Strategy Trance to look them both over real quick as I lifted my hand to gently flick the tip of Artie's right ear; she was far too smug for me simply seating her in her chair and pushing it in.

German Engineering was a rather plain perk, but a rather powerful one- everything I've built and would build would gain a 20% improvement in strength, durability, efficiency, and potency. Potency was... subjective, but from what I could see it meant effects- so if I build a battery not only would it be more efficient in its storage, but it would also store 20% more charge at 20% more output; a great thing if you needed as much as possible, but boy you better have a power regulator because sometimes 20% throughput isn't what you need. Though this also applied to weapons, concoctions, explosives, tracking hardware, tracking software, power distribution, etc, etc, etc.

My implant was already noting an exact 20% increase in computing power and efficiency, so it does indeed work. 10/10, would purchase again.

With how far along we were with the quality of the materials we were using we had pretty much squeezed every single drop of power, durability, and efficiency out of everything we made. There wasn't much higher we could go without getting something divine- it was pretty hard to beat the combination of Necron and Forerunner engineering, so a free 20% boost to everything we do from now on will be a huge help.

The second perk, Scrap Hound, was pretty simple but also pretty potent. It allowed you to essentially find 20% more stuff when you're searching for it, and it reduced the cost of building something by 20% as well; Echo 22 just pinged me and confirmed that when sifting for nanomaterials he got back 1.2 pounds of nanomaterials from a single sift instead of 1.0 pounds like we usually did. I put in an order to have a new storage wing put in place in the HQ- I wanted a massive warehouse with tons of storage for nanomaterials; we would keep the nanomaterials we had in the hanger as our emergency supply should we ever need to pack up and abandon the HQ.

I exited the Trance and seated Springfield, whose hand came up and patted my own before I seat Qi and then moved down to the end of the table to seat the last woman. A huge grin came across my face as I pulled back her chair, and the cool beauty blushed but sat down demurely; as with the other chairs I suffused the chair with my Ki to strengthen it so that I could gently heft it off the ground and placed her up against the table.

With that, I moved over to my chair and I managed to seat myself just fine.

The wait staff came over, and took our drink orders- bottles of good wine all around- but when one of the poor waitresses slipped on her tongue and asked to see the IDs of G41 and ART556. The two looked at each other and then back up to the young woman.

"I'm 43 years old, miss." Artie pointed to herself.

"Yes. I am 28 years old." G41 nodded, her heterochromatic eyes blinking slowly as she too pointed to herself.

"Besides, I thought you weren't supposed to enquire about the identities of Capes, miss?"

The red-head blushed furiously before she stammered out an apology, "I-I'm sorry, that was my mistake."

Artie chuckled, "Nah, it's fine, it's fine. No worries. Just didn't want you to get it in your head that G41 and I were children, because we most certainly are not."

"I'm wearing a dress," G41 spoke, nodding again with her arms crossed underneath her small but delightful breasts- as if that statement had explained everything.

I rolled my eyes at the antics of the two troublemakers and P90 just grinned as she leaned back, twisting in the chair so that a chorus of snapping pops from her spine rang out. "Yeah, don't worry about those two, Miss. They like causing trouble."

When we got around to ordering I settled on two entrees- the Fois Gras and the Steak Tartare- and was surprised to find that if prepared properly, raw beef steak and duck liver seared in its own fat was actually quite delicious. Though it was hardly what I would call a 'filling' meal.

Still, we ate, we had a few drinks, chatted back and forth with those around close to us, and a group chat was started in the implant chat rooms where we all spoke to one another. It was pretty damn nice and very relaxing. The music was good, and after everyone finished their meals there was just enough time to have a few dances from the live band; I chose LTLX7000, G36, ACR, NTW-20, Five-Seven, and Lee-Enfield to be my dance partners- I hadn't spent as much time with them as of late. The small, polished hardwood dance floor was packed with my girls as they all took turns leading and following in the slow dances that followed; Five-Seven was particularly cheeky, as was her nature, and she tried to turn a simple slow dance into a make-out session.

However, I, being the respectful person I was to everyone else in attendance, put a stop to that with a gentle 'Nuh-uh' and a 'Nope'. I hated it when people got way too into their PDA, and I wasn't about to become a perpetrator.

Lexi and Bigi were just happy to have me to themselves, even if it was only for a few minutes long dance song; all the while we moved about the floor Lexi was telling me all sorts of nasty things she wanted to do to me (and me to her), while G36 wanted to have some special Maid-play when we got the time. We didn't take costumes into the Superbolic Time Chamber, so she was bereft of 'her thing' for that entire time; not that she minded with all of the action she was getting- both of the training and the sexual varieties- but it did leave an aching hole in her breast.

Acer was a blushing mess, barely able to follow along as we gently twirled; no doubt if the hadn't had as much training as she had I would have likely been requisitioning a new set of toes. Enti was content to let me lead her wherever, the quiet woman just enjoying the closeness; her eyes closed and head on my shoulder.

I had just finished up my nice and proper dance with Enfield, the woman insisting on a proper Waltz when the right music began playing for it, and we were just about to leave when I was accosted by none other than Emily Piggot.

"Horizon, before you leave, if I may have a word with you?" Her words were firm, a tone that brooked no argument, but she was still smiling warmly as the other patrons weren't within earshot. I nodded and handed over the keys to the mini-van to Emmie before I followed the Director of the ENE branch of the PRT to a small room in the back of the restaurant. The walls were very thick and I was quite a bit surprised when the door shut with a 'thunk'. A quick scan with one of the drones in the area showed me that this place was heavily shielded; well, it would provide protection from pretty much everything else short of my own technology.

"Don't act so surprised, Horizon. The PRT usually has at least one room like this in a more upscale restaurant in each city; sometimes it pays to be able to take a lunch or dinner break while still being able to have secure meetings," The woman hobbled around the side of the table before seating herself back in front of her meal and picking up her fork and knife.

Not to be the only one standing in this room I moved over and took the seat opposite of her, "So, I have to ask, Director, were you waiting for me? Or...?"

"This was merely an attack of opportunity," She huffed, setting her fork down to take a sip of her water, "I had finally cleared enough of the paperwork and held all of the press conferences from your efforts, and I decided that I would take some time to have a nice dinner by myself to de-stress; then, lo and behold, in walks through the door the source of all of my headaches. Truly, you have impeccable timing."

I chuckled and shook my head, "Well, I do hope that our good timing will continue to hold then. However, you didn't call me in here for pleasant chit-chat, and most certainly you wouldn't be here with me alone."

"I'll admit, I'm taking a very significant risk- I don't like Capes or trust them for a variety of reasons- but they are very, very good reasons," She cut into her fish dish and took a bite, chewed, and then swallowed, "One of which is why I'm speaking to you about this; that Hebert case you referred us to- the attempted murder."

I blinked but then nodded, "Ah, yes, that was Python and AK74U's case; they stopped those boys from accosting that young woman- well, any more than they already had."

"Yes, well, it turns out that the reports we received from your Team and the Brockton Bay PD allowed us to get a great many search warrants and with those warrants, we were unable to uncover a... conspiracy. Between the cell phone footage recovered from the phones of students, the diaries, printings of electronic emails from the Hebert girl's school email accounts, along with the numerous write-ups and disciplinary notices placed into the girl's school files... everything points to the Winslow faculty, staff, and board being implicit in the cover-ups of those three girls wrongdoings."

"You're telling me this because... one of the students involved in this bullying campaign was a Ward?" I narrowed my eyes, "And you want me to keep quiet about it?"

A deep frown settled onto her face before she shook her head, "I suppose that by process of elimination it would lead you to that conclusion."

"Well, you wouldn't still have control over this case if there wasn't confirmed Parahuman involvement; it would have been passed back over to the BBPD and the District Attorney's office if your investigation turned up nothing. It is also why you would approach me in a more private setting like this, asking me to hush up about PRT and Protectorate malfeasance and criminal neglect leading to attempted murder, blackmail, and biological terrorism, among whatever else was involved." I placed my hands flat on the table, "If it were any other Director asking me this I would have been the first one to blow the whistle, but I get the feeling that you weren't in the loop about this Ward's criminal behaviors."

She let out an aggravated groan and pinched the bridge of her nose, "No, I keep all of the Parahumans under my purview under close observation; anyone steps out of line...? Well, the Wards don't call me a raging bitch for no reason. However, in order for that to happen, I have to have people underneath me that I can trust, and this particular handler was noted as being stellar when they transferred into my department. We've only been investigating this particular Agent for a while now, and we've already uncovered similar behaviors from her going back years."

"You're being awfully free with this information, Director," I spoke, tilting my head.

"Nothing I'm telling you now won't already be in the papers in the coming weeks as we finalize and publish the initial findings of our investigations," She leaned over the table and interlaced her fingers over her plate, "What I'm asking you to do for me is to keep what you do know under wraps until we can at least get that done. I cannot say what will happen to the Ward, as that particular headache is above my paygrade, but I foresee a very major settlement in the future."

"Well, if you pay well enough then I think that you should be in the clear, but be sure to pay through the nose because that particular little number isn't going to be cheap," I crossed my arms under my chest.

"Of course, it won't be, shit like that never is. There will end up being some budget cuts all around, but seeing as the Ward was ultimately Armsmaster's responsibility his budget will be taking a more severe cut," She grinned somewhat vindictively, "Regardless, the only thing that is going to save my ass is the fact that I presided over the city and didn't flub the ball when you and your team, working hand-in-hand, with the Protectorate and PRT, cleared out all of the gangs in what was essentially one fell swoop."

"Now, the other thing that I wished to speak to you about," Her posture became far more severe, "We have reason to believe that the Slaughterhouse Nine might be coming to Brockton Bay; they aren't ones to let people enjoy life, and upon hearing that all of the Villain opposition has been swept out of the city? Raining on people's parades is what the Nine does; I do hope that you're prepared."

I nodded, "We are already tracking them, and we'll be taking care of them in the next few days; we have to attend the Gala, but after that? The Nine will be no more- we need to take them out before the next Endbringer fight because we'll likely be tied up in the recovery efforts for some time."

The Forge tried to grab onto another star from the "Toolkit Magical" cluster, but fell short with only two charges.

[Attempted Re-Forge: 6.0240 - Unique Uniques - 400CP - Modded Skyrim - Toolkit Magical]

[NOT Purchased: 200 CP Remaining]

Director Piggot visibly relaxed and began eating her meal again, "Good, good. As much as I hate to admit it that does bring me some relief to hear, though make sure that when you do it you go in hard and fast; don't be like some other cocky fools and try to showboat. It never ends well."

I stood up with a nod and made my way to the door, resting my hand over the exit button, "We have been incredibly restrained with the gangs in the city because we know that optics matter. The Slaughterhouse Nine will see no mercy from us. Neither will Nilbog, or the Machine Army. Or any of the other S-Class threats in the US, to include the Fallen and all of their ilk."

Her eyes widened slightly, "We've been planning this out for years, Director Piggot. We will get them all."

With that, I opened up the door and pushed out, leaving the Director alone with her meal.

I just barely caught the muttering as the door closed behind me, "Drop more shit in my lap, why don't you?"

Just before we left we took a group photo with all of the staff of the restaurant, right out in front of the building. It looked very nice and would look great on our home page.

[hr][/hr]

Fugly Bob's.

Good old Fugly Bob's.

The fancy meal was certainly nice, and it was great to have an extravagant palate cleanser after having eaten (decidedly) delicious nutrient pastes and other easy-to-store meals for the past three years. The wine was good, the atmosphere was good, and the company even better... but there was a massive hunger within me that just couldn't be satisfied by some duck liver and raw beef steak.

I, like many of my T-Dolls, decided that the only meal fit for conquering, returning Kings, was the Challenger.

Two pounds of meat fashioned into four 1/2-pound beef patties with eight slices of processed American cheese, sauteed onions and mushrooms, twelve bacon strips, an extra-large french fry, and an extra-large milkshake of your choice. It needed to be eaten within half an hour in order for the challenge to count, but honestly? That was easy mode, though I took my sweet time, just enjoying the absurdly meaty, fatty burger, hot and greasy fries, and super sweet strawberry milkshake. I clocked in at just under the 30-minute timer, and I, like half of the other girls, got our instant Polaroid pictures taken and put up on the Fugly's Wall of Fame.

We got put in a special section right in the middle where all of the Capes who successfully completed the challenge. It was hilarious that Skidmark's photo was up there, the photo was years old and it was from a time when he was just starting out his Cape career; he hadn't yet established the Merchants. His photo sat right next to Marquis', the more gentlemanly Villain had apparently once had a deal worked out with Fugly Bob to ensure his establishment was protected. Frontline's names were cleanly written in on the bottom with a black sharpie and put up on the wall before a clear plexiglass board went up over the top of them; more than once someone tried to come in and strip the Villain's photos off the walls, but Fugly refused to allow anyone to fuck with it: If they made it up on the Wall then they deserved to stay- Villain or Hero.

We all looked stellar- me in my handsome charcoal grey suit- and the ladies with their outstanding dresses; it was hard for me to take my eyes off of the impressive busts the women had on display in the photos, and I got to see them every damn day! VSK-94's was particularly daring, with only the cups of the dress preventing her wonderfully gelatinous bosom from spilling over the sides. I was going to have to do something with those tonight, her and Lexi.

While we were there in the restaurant, the place was utterly packed from wall to wall; it had quickly become standing room only, and curious teens, adults, and children all stood around eating their Fugly burgers and chatting with every member of Frontline they could.

Artie was flabbergasted when a little girl no older than eight told her that she was very cute and that when she grew up she wanted to be a hero just like ART556. The fox loli's smile was beatific as she patted the child on the head and accepted a hug from the little girl, and while the child's face was buried in her breasts she looked up at the parents with a pleading look on her face. "Please, please, please. This is just a phase, right? I'm a terrible role model! I'm an internet troll, and I do dangerous things every day! Don't let her grow up like me, I'm begging you!"

The mother and father were quite relieved at the admission, but their relief turned to amusement as Artie and G41 were swarmed by children who all wanted to hug and pet them. G41 looked quite content to receive the head pats, though she did warn them off of her tail, as did her fellow fox loli. One overly ambitious child tried to eat her burger and stroke some ears at the same time, but the two were quite adept at dodging her questing fingers while still somehow managing to not knock the other children over. "Greasy fingers. Go have your mommy clean them."

Artie looked to me for help, but I just gave them my biggest smug cat smirk.

Springfield and Lee-Enfield were more than willing to intervene, the pair scooping up the kiddies in their arms and wading through the crowds to go and have nice little chats with their parents. Qi was speaking to the Asian members of the crowd, seamlessly answering questions in Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Tagalog, and a host of other languages. M16A1, being the cool cat she was, was engaging the trio of skater-boys and lone skater-gal at the counter while sucking down a second milkshake.

I had remained blissfully unbothered, at least, that was until a teenage girl slipped through the crowd and sat down in the seat next to me that Springfield had vacated when she went to rescue Artie and G41. A big Cheshire smile, blonde hair that hung to the middle of her back let down, freckles, and bottle green eyes that crinkled just a touch. "So, you look like you're a little bored, Mr. Horizon."

I grinned right back, "And you look like you could use some rescuing, Lisa Wilbourn."

The big smile she had crumpled like wet paper, and she popped her lips before looking around the packed restaurant, "Wow. Just com'in right on out there and saying it, huh? What gave it away?"

"Well, Frontline has done a great deal to clear out Brockton Bay, but one solitary snake still remains; we haven't handled him yet because we have much bigger fish to fry at the moment. If he's intelligent he'll pack the hell up and go somewhere else, but Coil isn't the type to do that; he's waited patiently in the shadows for far too long to just give up and establish himself elsewhere." I shook my head as I sipped at my paper cup filled with water before I waved over Fugly Bob and slapped down $5,000 onto the palm of his hand and ordered a second milkshake for myself- chocolate this time instead of vanilla; I looked at Lisa, "You want one? My treat."

"Yeah, Strawberry, if you wouldn't mind," Her grin returned full force and she turned away, spinning in her chair to lean back against the diner's counter, "So, you seem to have him all figured out."

"Well, we've been looking over the city for a lot longer than we've been public; intelligence gathering is an important job that needs to be done thoroughly," I shrugged, looking at her out of the corner of my eye, "We have an outstanding intelligence group. One good enough to know that our presence has driven him to wit's end."

"Oh? How do you figure that? The guy's pretty slippery," She spun around just long enough to grab our milkshakes from Fugly Bob, the blonde handing me mine while she began slurping on hers.

"Well, you're here, aren't you? Hoping to ask me some innocuous questions and extrapolate some hopefully juicy information from it," I gave her a shark-like grin, "If he sending in his only Thinker to gather intelligence then it means he doesn't have anything else. Now, we have some contacts in all places, so purchasing some information about him from those he regularly deals business with wasn't too hard; the money was good, and the information solid."

"Well, with the right motivation... I might be able to fill in some of the blanks, maybe... help you confirm some of what you got?" She smirked a little bit, "But it won't be cheap, as I'm in a bit of a tight spot."

"Well then, name your price, and we'll see if we can't figure out a happy medium," I nodded and gestured at her with my shake.

She swallowed. "If... I do this, I'm going to need your word, Horizon. I'm not fucking around when I say I'm in a tight spot."

"You have it."

"I need protection. Well, extraction and protection; Coil's got my life in the palm of his hand- if I fuck up he's not going to stop coming after me until I'm six feet under," She winced, "And I have a team; they're... good kids, for lack of a better term. They were picked up to sort of act as cover for some of his movements, B&E, petty theft, that sort of stuff; he was planning on having us hit the ABB in a little while to stir up the nest and test the waters, but since the ABB is gone that little plan of his fell through."

"You? I can guarantee, but I'm not about to negotiate for all of the others through you; if they want the help of Frontline they can contact us on PHO, we'll see the message and then we'll set up a Date, Time, and Location to talk things out," I shook my head, "Now for you? You can leave here with us, we'll go to Parian's and get the gals their dresses made, and you can come to stay with us at our HQ in the meantime."

"Can... we stop by my apartment first? I don't need everything there, but I would at least like to grab my laptop and some other stuff." Her voice was hopeful.

"Of course, we can stop by and collect your things, though the mini-vans are sort of packed, you'll end up sitting on someone's lap." I chuckled in amusement.

"Well if I have to sit on a model's plush thighs for the duration of the ride I guess I'll just have to suffer through it, as long as they don't get grabby with me we'll be cool," Her eyes narrowed at me, "I'm not going to have to pay for this with my body, am I?"

"No. Not no, but hell no. We're Frontline, not the ABB." I grunted, "Christ Wilborne, give us some credit."

"Well, there does seem to be some pretty strong Master vibes going on with your team, all of those beautiful young women and only one guy? Pretty sus." Her tone was teasing, but there was a hint of worry that I could easily hear.

"Well, you're just going to have to take a leap of faith here, Lisa, either jump and get caught by our strong, capable arms, or don't and end up in one of Coil's little torture dungeons."

She looked at me and then winced before staring down at her milkshake in consternation before a look of understanding dawned on her face, "Mother fucker. No wonder he knew-..."

I felt the Forge fire again, the sound of hammers growing loud as the ephemeral hand reached out and pulled a star from the "Magical Large Scale" constellation and pulled it in close.

[Attempted Re-Forge: 12.0050 - Field of Heart-Shaped Herbs - 300CP - Marvel Cinematic Universe Vol. 2 - Magical Large Scale]

[Re-Forge Successful]

[Purchased: 0 CP Remaining]

I blinked. This wasn't as powerful as it could have been, but it would still serve some purpose- the Herb would improve our basic abilities, similarly to the Subee Serum, this would make us stronger, faster, and tougher, with improved agility, reflexes, and it came with baked-in combat instincts as well. The magical nature of the herbs would also serve to improve our magical abilities and no doubt that would stack nicely with the Force and Ki as well. Overall, not a game-changer, but any pick-up is nice to have, especially after not having any for a number of years.

My pause got Lisa to perk up a little bit, "Something up?"

"Nope, not much, just realizing..." I made a show of pulling out my phone and checking the time, "That we need to get moving if we are to meet Parian at our appointed time. Come on, Lisa, let's herd these cats."

"If herding cats means I don't need to worry about taking a bullet to the face then I'll herd as many cats as you want," She chuckled nervously as she stood up off of her chair and chewed on the end of her straw, "You sure that we'll be safe? Once Coil's watcher outside sees me leaving with you... we might get attacked."

"I wish he would give me a reason to handle him sooner," I smirked at her, "But dresses take priority."

"Dresses over Villains, huh? Guess when you got it like that then Coil really does seem like small potatoes. Damnit." She muttered under her breath as we all gathered up and began making our way back to the vans in the parking lot, taking a few last photos and signing some things before we piled in and made our way towards Lisa's apartment.

With the drones we watched a few SUVs packed with men in tactical gear following us, but they didn't do a thing other than follow. No doubt Coil wasn't making a move because he couldn't utilize his timelines properly with our Anti-Thinker amulets on; I was honestly quite surprised that he was still here in the city given that he couldn't do jack shit with us around. Granted, I feel like I had him pretty well pegged; he'd been lying in wait for this city to become his for a long time, and he wasn't about to give up on it that easily.

While I was thinking about it I sent Contessa a message to have him captured and brought to me just after we arrived home; a quick implant and then the Coil problem would be taken care of, and Cauldron would have a nice little asset that they could make use of in other places around the country. Just as long as he wasn't within range of our amulets he would be able to function quite nicely.

Eventually, the mercenaries pulled back upon seeing that they wouldn't be able to make anything happen, and Lisa was more than happy to stuff all of her belongings into the various vans and we moved onto Parian's.

Now, I didn't have as many interactions with the doll-cape as I would have liked- she barely even spoke to me beyond the pleasantries, and my measurements were taken within the span of a couple of seconds. Meanwhile, the girls all needed to go behind a screen and strip practically naked for the woman to get their measurements. I didn't blame her, not really, my women were gorgeous and the one-half of the famous Worm lesbian couple was more than happy to take her time. The girls knew what was going on, but they didn't really care; a few errant touches in some jiggly places wasn't worth the effort of complaining about.

"You know that she's... queer as a three-dollar bill, right?" Lisa stage whispered to me with a small grin on her face, "She's abusing her privilege to try and get some gropes in on your girls."

I looked at her and arched an eyebrow, "You do realize that the girls do far worse to each other in the showers, right? A few gropes from useless lesbian isn't going to bother them that much, hell, they might try and get a few squeezes in themselves."

There was a squeak from Parian, and considering it was Artie behind the curtain with her I knew exactly what happened. "P-please don't do that, Miss."

"Awww, but I thought it was open season?" The fox loli mock-pouted, but then that fake disappointment disappeared with the swishing of her tail and the shit-eating grin on her face, "Not so fun when people make grabby hands at you, now is it?"

"No... I mean, it's not that I don't like it, it's just that it was rather sudden," The doll-cape murmured lowly.

"Hee, hee, hee, well as long as we're all on the same page."

The rest of the dress measuring process was a lot more painless, though I thought that Parian was going to have a meltdown when VSK-94 stripped out of her dress, clad in only her panties as her pendulous breasts jiggled too and fro; she practically invited the cape to squeeze and grope. Lexi got a similar reaction out of her, but she was far less inclined to be touched untowardly; "Just the measurements, please. Thank you."

Within half an hour we were all ready to go, and Parian said that she would have all of these dresses done by tomorrow at 6:00 pm; just two hours before the Gala. Huh, that was a lot of work to get done in less than 24 hours, but as we left I could already see Parian getting to work- the woman using a bolt of cloth to make an exact mockup of the first girl's figure and then the rest of the fabrics, scissors, pins, needles, and thread all coming into play soon after. She had almost finished with the first dress the moment we got into the vehicle; a quick search of her internet history showed that she had been planning to make an offer for outfits the moment the team stepped onto the field. Almost every search was of a photo or a screen capture from the live streams, and...

I blinked.

A horrible chuckle escaped my throat as I looked at Emmie sitting next to me. "Hey, guess what?"

She arched her lone visible eyebrow, a small smirk coming onto her lips, "Okay, I'll bite, what?"

I snorted and sent everyone the link. "We have fanfiction now."

"Noooooo fucking way, for real?" She began pulling up the various websites and scanning through them. The Assault Rifle found one that really seemed to tickle her fancy, and I braced myself for whatever horror she found.

"Hey, there's a Hero x Horizon story... Ha-hem, 'Horizon, the newest Tinker in a world bereft of capable Tinkers, gets thrown back in time due to an accident. All alone without his team to support him, Horizon has to make his way into Washington D.C. to meet with the only Tinker capable of possibly helping him out. Let's just say it will be Big Trouble in Little China when these two Tinkering prodigies meet: Will they come to blows, or will they try to make things work so that Horizon can return to his own time? The bigger question is, will he even want to go back?'"

"Fucking gag me, that's God awful," I chuckled and shook my head.

"For real, half of this stuff is terrible!" P90 chirped in from the very back, "Oh~! I know! Why don't we all write our own fanfiction? We write stuff that's terrible and then stuff that's amazing!"

Like Charlie Sheen hearing the word 'cocaine' ART556 immediately added her own two cents, "Oh, I know just the story to tell! 'In an alternate universe where World War III has just finished, a Mercenary group has pioneered the use of Androids as weapons platforms-'"

"That sounds a little too close to home, Artie," Emmie muttered under her breath.

"No! No! I haven't even gotten to the best part! It's Sir that's the Commander this time around! I don't know how I'll move the old Commander out of the way though... can't have two Sirs running around, giving orders and stuff."

"Meh, why not have him heroically killed off or something right at the beginning? Never like that guy anyways, he always went for UMP45 and never even gave me the time of day," P90 muttered sullenly, "He missed out on our annual Star Wars marathon just to mess around with her! Seriously, what a prick, that guy."

"I get what you're saying, he refused to play with me because I 'looked like a child' but then he goes around giving G41 walkies and stuff! The nerve of that guy."

[hr][/hr]

We had the rest of the girls take Lisa to the HQ and offload her stuff into her assigned room, and we gave her a helpful, handy-dandy MRVN unit to show her around all of the areas she was allowed to be in and would act as her assistant and point of contact.

Meanwhile, my van pulled up to the house and the seven of us removed our amulets so that Contessa could door in with Coil's unconscious body. The man was asleep and in his snake-themed body suit; with a twist of the key on the front door, we were inside the warehouse where Subee and Enbee were waiting. It took us less than a minute to have his head opened up and an implant installed, and then we were waking him up.

It took a handful of seconds for him to wake up, and when he did his head tilted to the side. "Well, I must say that I am quite surprised, but I knew there had to be some sort of Master component to your powers; the likelihood of you managing to accrue so many Capes in such a small amount of time was highly irregular."

"I would ask how you managed to stay off the PRT's radar this whole time with these concerns," He turned his head and regarded Contessa, "Though I now know why."

"Horizon was going to have you killed off, Coil, however, we have come to an agreement to have you spared," The woman tipped her fedora back with the tip of her finger, "We were content to ignore you, but the situation has changed. You will be incredibly useful to the Protectorate... and Cauldron."

"It's far more than what you deserve, Thomas, but the day you start shoveling your own grave isn't today," I spoke, which directed his masked face back to me, "You are going to close down your operation as Coil, removing all of your failsafes, deactivating all of your counter-measures, and you will be transferring 90% of your wealth to the accounts provided. You can still keep Fortress Construction, its shell companies, and its subsidiaries."

"My, how... generous, but, I suppose I am keeping my life, and despite the Mastering, I will still be able to live my life how I wish to," He shook his head, "Far more than what most people who live in our world get."

"Indeed," I looked down at him, "You will follow all of the orders that come from Contessa, Alexandria, and Rebecca Costa-Brown as if they came from my own lips. If there are conflicting orders then you will consult with Contessa to see which orders take precedence; if you are not able to get into contact with them then you will follow the orders based on the order above."

I sent him a packet containing all of his orders and rules, which covered just about everything everyone could think of. They were ultimately simple, but iron-clad without any wiggle-room; he was loyal, but that didn't mean we would put additional restrictions on him.

"The implant should reduce a lot of the strain that your power has on your mind, so you should be able to perhaps run more concurrent timelines than before; that will be up to you to experiment."

"Three timelines," Coil spoke up, "I've been able to run three timelines now, which is a significant improvement, though only a small percentage is actually being utilized by my power, leaving the rest of the processing free."

"It is likely that the Passenger doesn't quite know what to make of it," Contessa supplied before shaking her head, "Regardless, it is inconsequential. Come, Coil, we will need to make our way back to your hideout, where you will do exactly as I tell you to."

"Of course, Contessa," The snake-themed Cape slid off of the table and stretched minutely, "Though what will we be doing?"

"We will be orchestrating your 'trigger' event for the Protectorate, and we will also be folding your mercenaries into the Non-Profit that Frontline will be creating to provide security for the worksites that they will be building to improve the Bay." She turned on her heel and strode outside of the warehouse with Coil hot on her heels, "Door, Coil's Office."

We saw the inside of the Super Villain's office, the stark cold concrete walls, and the large table with a single laptop and numerous buttons that could only be seen from the backside. The masked villain sat down behind his laptop and opened it up before he began typing away. Contessa looked back at me and nodded before sending a request to keep our girls out of the city for the next 12 hours so that she could work her paths without interruption.

I forwarded that request to the rest of the girls and nodded back.

The door closed, and that was the last I ever saw of Coil, at least in person; the Villain would quietly slink out of Brockton Bay, never to be seen or heard from again. Coincidentally, a new Protectorate Hero by the name of Split-Stream would be joining a mobile group of Capes handling sensitive and important matters under Alexandria.

Well, the Frontline organization ended up getting about 50 Million dollars richer, and thanks to the Number Man we had legitimate accounts now to go along with the other 47 Million dollars we had accrued; truly, the Empire was far too kind, Kaiser himself especially. What a guy.

Half of the funds were transferred into an account directly managed by the Number Man himself to ensure excellent returns on investment, of which the profits would be fed into the non-profits that would revitalize the Bay. Of course, we would contribute a lot of money, but I would make sure the City paid its fair share- we were running a charity, yes, but the City Officials had to do more than just rubber-stamp every proposal that came across their desks.

With all of that done I had Subee whip up an improved version of the Heart-Shaped Herb, the crazy girl managing to energize the formula by using some of the lessons learned from re-making the Super Soldier Serum, and funnily enough, it was Ted that helped the most with her project. The Necrontyr had come up with a large variety of medical marvels, but those were all focused on attempting to increase their lifespans because their DNA had been so riddled with radiation that they lived short, tortured lives... even after leaving their rock of a planet. Some of the techniques for refining the herb to make it even more potent were from the Necontyr, and it would give us that much more of a boost.

Shipping the Product really proved its worth here, as we had to use three herbs for one serving, which more than doubled the potency, but the issue of actually waiting for the herbs to grow was settled by sticking its mobile garden inside of the Time Chamber. Within a few seconds, we had all of the herbs we would need and more. After that, Subee began picking them just to run future experiments on.

We all met in the Time Chamber, laid ourselves out on the provided mats, and then waited for the Lifegivers to poot around and administer the improved Heart-Shaped-Herb formula.

It tasted awful, and boy oh boy did it fucking burn.

The pain was so immense that I could barely register the Forge missing a large star.

[Remaining: 100 CP]

Thankfully, Subee, being the best gurl that she was, she put me to sleep as soon as it started taking effect.

[hr][/hr]

I was surrounded by dust and ash. Sun-baked clay and cracked ground as far as the eye could see.

For the first time in a long time, I felt so... weak.

Helpless.

My body felt like it was lacking the strength to even take a step forward in this desolate place, but I felt my heart beat, and I felt my Ki circulate and flow into my body. Then my mana flowed, and The Force surrounded me.

I took a step forward.

Then another step.

Then another.

The winds began to pick up all across the barren landscape, the dust and dirt being picked up and carried. It stung my eyes and forced me to cover my mouth and nose up with my hand, cupping it so that it wouldn't fill my lungs. It didn't help, not one bit, but it gave me the mental strength to take another step.

I flared my Ki up hoping to abate the wind, and to my surprise, it did in fact do something; the dust and dirt were now flowing away from me; the howl of my lifeforce canceling out the dust storm. Still, it helped me concentrate on where I was and what I was feeling. There was an energy that was suffused into the surroundings; it had a taste to it... something wild, powerful, untamed... yet it also gave off the feeling of that of a protector.

Eventually, the dust storm died away, and when it did I easied back on my Ki until it was roiling just underneath the surface. I was ready for anything, though it appeared that the trial (was that what it was?) was over. The cracked, sun-scorched earth had been replaced by soft, loamy soil and waist-high grasses; thin trees dotted the landscape, and upon the branches roosted a dozen black panthers. Their golden eyes pierced into me, but rather than judging they looked on with curiosity.

It was a fairly small space, the edges were warped but I could tell that it was powerful magic that created and sustained this pocket dimension; the stars and aurora borealis-like effect stretched across the sky and terminated at the edge of the pocket.

"When I had made a deal with the Forge I had not expected that it would take so long for a prospective candidate to step forward... let alone so many at one." A deep, feminine voice rumbled out over the savannah, and I spun around to see a large black panther with glowing blue eyes stride languidly towards me. Her body was made of shifting pebbles of black onyx and what appeared to be chunks of blue, glowing vibranium; she was tall, easily thrice my height at the shoulder.

Spoiler: Bast - Goddess of Wakanda

So this was Bast, huh?

"If you're talking about 'many', then I would assume that you are referring to my girls?" I asked, standing up straighter and relaxing my body; despite her status as a Goddess I was the stronger of us- I could destroy worlds while she could merely scorch a single nation with her fury. Though, that didn't mean that I wasn't on guard... I was just being polite.

"Yes, I am indeed," Her blue eyes closed and then opened, the feline Goddess' head tilting to the side, "Normally it is but one who drinks the Herb, and normally not with such a potent brew; by all rights, you and every one of your paramours should be dead... yet... hmmmm... the Forge is staying the harmful effects? Interesting. To see a mortal so favored by the Forge of Universes that it would protect thee so."

I doubted she was clued into the fact that it was a combination of Perks and the excellent brewing skills of Subee and Ted, but I wouldn't gainsay her, especially not on something like this. "If that is true then I am quite flattered to hold the Forge's attention."

She sniffed and began to pace around me, "Why have you come, child of Man? You already hold great strength, more than even a Goddess such as I, and yet you still come here, to my realm, to ask for the blessing I have bestowed upon the Herb?"

"Everything starts with a good, solid foundation," I spoke easily, I didn't have the implant to give me time to think about my words, but the words flowed easily from my mouth. No, something had settled upon me with her presence; it wasn't so much that I was telling her... but more the truth was being drawn out of me; no doubt I could have kicked this effect if I flexed my abilities, but I had no problems with telling a Goddess the honest truth.

"I started with a new physiology, a new body from a Humanity whose reach extended far into the stars. Then I improved upon that foundation with a modified Super Soldier Serum that expanded and enhanced the new body's capabilities. After that, I began honing my magic, building up my strength and control in conjunction with the Force, a mystic power from a galaxy far, far away to improve it further. Then I worked on my Ki, my lifeforce, honing it as one would a knife, I trained my mind, my spirit, and my body to achieve heights that some of the greatest known protectors have reached."

I held up a clenched fist, "I hold the power to annihilate entire worlds with but a flick of the wrist, and yet I am not a conquerer. I am a protector; hundreds of trillions of lives across hundreds of different Earths are counting on me and my girls to defeat a threat that they have so little chance of beating it isn't funny."

I lowered my hand and I felt a soft, self-deprecating smile cross my lips, "I won't claim to be as altruistic as Steve Rogers, nor as Duty Bound as T'Chala, but I know what I have to do, and I'll do what it takes to see my mission through."

A rumbling purr escaped her nose and she shrugged her feline shoulders as she stopped her pacing to settle down in front of me in a very impressive catloaf. "Merely acceptable, but it is not as though I have dominion over thee; you are not an adherent to my faith, nor are you to be my Black Panther- my next champion. Regardless, I am bound to obey the deal I have reached with the Forge, and thusly the enhancements are yours."

She reached down with her massive face and placed her nose against my chest before giving me a shove that knocked me off my feet; the moment my back hit the earth it swallowed me up and I heard her chuckle. "You will not be able to return, Blacksmith. Though do send more of your... T-Dolls. They were quite delightful to tease."

[hr][/hr]

When I woke up it was a slow process, something that I hadn't experienced in many, many years; most of the time when my eyes opened up I was fully awake and ready to start the day.

A groan escaped my lips as I gently raised myself up off of the mat; my whole body was tender, like someone had just taken to smacking me all over with a meat mallet.

A quick check over with my Ki told me that my physical body had indeed been enhanced once more. If I dropped my Ki down to normal earthling levels I would be... thrice as strong as I had been before taking the Subee Heart Serum; that translated to a much more substantial gain in my power level when my Ki was fully invoked.

I went from 500,000 to just over 8,000,000 with this infusion alone, and with the mystical backing of a Goddess I felt that I could grow much more quickly. The next three-year stint in the Time Chamber was going to be a massive amount of fun, I could already tell.

Subee whistled shrilly at me, the best gurl signing rapidly. Huh, we've been out for three weeks? Damn, I guess Bast wasn't kidding when she said that the triply-potent serum should have killed us.

I would have been more surprised if I didn't know that even with insane amounts of Ki a powerful poison of mystical origin like a thrice-distilled Heart-Shaped-Herb could have done us in; a simple heart virus that could have been cured with a single dose of medicine almost did Goku in.

Reliable Invention was the Perk that really carried the day here; anything created functions as intended, every time, unless there is enemy action. The rings and amulets' additional heartiness and healing also likely helped quite a bit. I gave Subee and all of the Lifegivers within my reach a kiss on the top of their lil' snakey heads and a gentle squeeze; just enough to get a little 'toot'.

One by one all of my girls woke up, and they immediately started chatting with each other about their experiences with Bast. I threw in my two cents as well.

It took us two more days to recover, and we spent that time just enjoying each other's company. Food, snuggling, cuddling, and rest. Our bodies weren't up to the hot and sweaty orgies that we probably would have been having otherwise.

When we left the Superbolic Space-Time Complex it was less than a minute after we'd left, and we all parted our separate ways to go eat something from the Cafeteria that wasn't more nutrient paste, or to take hot showers and lounge around on our own; just because we all loved each other dearly didn't mean that we wanted to spend every waking moment together. It really gave us all some space away from one another.

I myself left the HQ after donning my amulets again and went out to the barn-shop and spent a few hours pulling apart an old Pontiac Firebird and putting it back together; Grizzley wanted it for her personal vehicle, but I nixed that and promised we would build her a custom one- this one was going up online to sell.

Speaking of which, I had hard offers for three of the six cars I'd put up already, and after painting it and getting some photos this one was ready to be posted as well.

I walked away from the gravel lot and into the house, and waiting for me inside was LTLX7000. She was wearing a swimsuit of all things, and had these coverings that left her heels and most of her feet bare. The Italian shotgun blushed but didn't avert her gaze from my prying eyes. "I would like some of your time, Commander. Just you... and I."

Spoiler: LTLX7000 - Lexi

I grinned a little bit at her and moved over to the sink to wash my hands with Enbee's super special goop remover; the Gojo had done an admirable job, but if I was going to fool around then I wanted my hands to be clean. "I haven't had a chance to take a shower, so I might smell a little bit."

Her platinum tresses swung as she shook her head before turning around and walking very, very slowly to the door, her smile growing wider when she caught me watching her every step of the way. "A little smell is fine, Sir. In fact, I like it when you stink... as long as it's just a little."

I dried my hands off and strode behind her, ignoring how the Forge spun up in another attempt to grasp onto a large star from the "Knowledge Abilities and Skills" constellation. It was so large that I couldn't even glean the Perk's name, but that wasn't what I was really focusing on.

[Remaining: 200 CP]

When I walked through the door I caught sight of her kneeling on the side of the bed, and laid across the bed was a large plastic sheet of some kind. In her hands was a large, clear plastic bottle filled with a clear fluid; on the label was a cartoonish strawberry with what appeared to be Subee's face- she was wearing the thick-rimmed glasses and everything. "Subee's Luff Juice - 100% all-natural sexual lubricant."

I snorted as I sat down at the edge of the bed and toed off my boots before quickly stripping myself of the rest of my clothing. The plastic crinkled as I shifted my weight and skooched over towards the center of the bed, and one of my hands came up to palm over the gorgeous, sizeable swell of her breasts while my other hand went behind my head. She bit her lip as her hand came down to stroke my half-hard length, swiftly bringing me up to full hardness. "Mhm... Sir. This isn't the time to get handsy. This should be a time for relaxing."

You say that, but your hand is squeezing my dick, woman. I sighed and released her left breast after giving it one final squeeze; the combination of her firm yet jiggly flesh with the sheer slickness of the swimsuit was quite nice. She motioned for me to roll over, and I did, my full mast sandwiched between my abdomen and the soft, plastic-covered mattress.

Her long legs easily straddled my waist, and I felt just how wet she already was when her ass settled onto my own. The popping of a cap filled the room, and I fought down the reflex to shiver as a large amount of lubricant was applied all over my back. I grabbed the pillow in front of me and used it to prop up my head as I looked back at her. The woman smiled as she gently spread the slippery liquid over my muscles, her hands quickly warming it up to a more comfortable temperature.

Then her fingers started questing, digging firmly into my now vibranium laced muscles; her tips followed the thick cordage of my back before the heels of her palms followed suit with a pressure that was borderline painful. Each passing stroke seemed to melt away the tension that had been baked into my muscles ever since the Heart-Shaped-Herb serum was imbibed. Her hands swept up on either side of my spine, the beautiful T-Doll pressing down until the joints popped and released the tension stored within.

Already I could feel my Ki circulating just a bit more easily than before, and a sigh escaped my lips. Lexi spoke out, her voice low and husky, "Does that feel nice, Sir?"

I chuckled softly, "It feels really good, Lexi. Is this your first time giving a massage like this?"

"Yes, but I watched a whole library's worth of massage instructionals before this, so I can only guess if I'm applying what I've learned properly," Her open hands became closed fists, and she began dragging her knuckles across my back in firm strokes; whenever she found a place that was particularly tight or knotted she would focus on that spot and really grind it down. It had gotten painful, but not enough to kill the raging boner that twitched every time she shifted her weight- her pussy was dripping down the crack of my ass.

It was impossible to miss the subtle grinding she would do every time our bottoms met. <